August, 2017

• 8 August

  Macedonia eyes NATO to ward off Russian meddling

  

  Bloomberg The Republic of Macedonia’s new government is stepping up its efforts to join NATO, arguing that membership in the military alliance will protect the Balkan nation from Russia “interfering” in its affairs, the country’s defense minister said. “Influences interfering in this strategic goal aren’t helpful, and they’re not friendly,” Defense Minister Radmila Sekerinska said in an interview in Skopje ...

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• 8 August

  Poland ramps up case for World War II reparations

  Bloomberg Poland’s ruling officials are stepping up calls to demand compensation from Germany for damages caused in World War II, potentially deepening a divide between the European Union’s largest eastern member and the bloc’s biggest economy. Deputy Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki lamented that Poland was “massacred” by the country’s neighbor in the war, echoing recent statements by Defense Minister Antoni ...

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• 8 August

  Disaffected youth wild card in Kenya’s cliffhanger vote

  

  Bloomberg Having watched Kenya’s economic boom pass him by, security guard Frederick Kibaraza is skeptical whether there’s any point voting in Tuesday’s cliffhanger elections. “I am not falling for the ideas of politicians,” Kibaraza, 27, said as he strolled along a dusty street near his home in Kawangware, a slum in the capital, Nairobi. “We vote for them and they ...

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• 8 August

  Trump’s dollar mess

  

  President Donald Trump loves to trumpet the record run in US stocks. “Stock market hits another high with spirit and enthusiasm so positive,” he tweeted on July 12, in one of nine posts about the market last month. But he’s hardly tweeted a word about another, less rosy measure of Trump’s America: the US dollar. The greenback has fallen hard ...

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• 8 August

  SE Asia—The global growth leader

  

  The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has much to crow about as it marks its 50th anniversary: economic and social progress, a manufacturing powerhouse and relative political stability. The 10 Asean members boast of some of the world’s fastest expanding economies like the Philippines and Vietnam, with growth rates of more than 6 percent. With a combined population of over ...

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• 8 August

  This shipbuilder’s fortunes turn around

  A recovery in demand for new bulk carriers has helped Singapore’s worst-performing stock in 2016 become its best this year. Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings Ltd., which specializes in dry-bulk carriers, has rallied 83 percent in 2017 to lead the benchmark Straits Times Index. The Chinese shipbuilding firm has made a comeback after it won 13 contracts worth $318 million in the ...

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• 8 August

  Why are they pouring big money into malls?

  If you are one of those people who thinks America’s retail industry is doing just fine, well, there are three possibilities: You’ve been living under a rock; you think Amazon refers to a South American river; or you’re a real estate developer. As everything from once-mighty department stores to niche clothing chains announce plans to shutter hundreds of locations, and ...

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• 8 August

  This town was left to die, and suddenly economists care

  

  Suppose a bunch of economists were to show up in the Virginia town of South Boston to preach the benefits of free trade. How would local people react? In an old, red-brick tobacco warehouse near the Dan River, W.W. “Ted” Bennett Jr. ponders the question. The former state delegate looks over his shoulder, squints a bit, then says with southern ...

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• 8 August

  Buffett approaches a milestone he dislikes

  

  It’s a milestone Warren Buffett probably wishes he weren’t approaching. Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the conglomerate he’s run for more than five decades, reported that it held just shy of $100 billion in cash at the end of the second quarter. While that figure highlights the staggering money-making ability of the businesses he’s collected over the years, it’s also a burden. ...

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• 8 August

  Baby boomers: Housing sector’s new dominant force

  

  Jake Yanoviak is hunting for houses. On a weekday afternoon in North Philadelphia, the 23-year-old painter cruises along on his bike, its black paint obscured under stickers from breweries and rock bands. He turns onto a side street, where he spots a few elderly neighbors, standing on adjoining porches. He parks, leans on one handlebar and makes his pitch. “Anybody ...

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