February, 2017

• 5 February

  Serb wall in Kosovo city pulled down with no incidents

    PRISTINA / AP A concrete wall erected in the northern Kosovo city of Mitrovica that has provoked tensions between Kosovo and neighboring Serbia has been pulled down. The move followed an agreement between the government and the country’s ethnic Serb minority, facilitated by the European Union and the United States embassy. The wall’s destruction by two excavators on Sunday ...

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• 5 February

  Turkish police detain over 440 people in anti-IS operation

    ISTANBUL / AP Turkey’s anti-terrorism police have detained over 440 people for alleged links to the IS group, the state-run agency reported on Sunday. The Anadolu Agency said 60 IS suspects, the vast majority of them foreigners, were taken into custody early Sunday in the capital, Ankara. It said a total of 445 people were detained in simultaneous pre-dawn ...

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• 5 February

  Trump must shun ill-planned actions against Iran

  

  By putting Iran ‘on notice’ for its aggressive behaviour, President Trump has taken aim at a country that’s opposed by many US allies. But he has begun this confrontation without much preparation or strategic planning, continuing the haphazard pattern of his first two weeks in office. Iran is a convenient enemy for Trump. Israel and the Gulf Arab states share ...

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• 5 February

  Indian tech was on the edge even before Trump’s shove

  

    India’s technology outsourcing industry was facing peak pessimism even before Donald Trump. But if the new president signs into law a draft executive order to tighten the US guest-worker regime, the moment of reckoning for the likes of Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. and Infosys Ltd. could arrive much sooner than shareholders anticipate. Since investors know very little about how ...

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• 5 February

  Guns for the mentally incompetent

  

    Of all the measures to improve gun safety, background checks are among the most reasonable and popular. House Republicans lost no time this week in voting to weaken them. A bill approved on a mostly party-line vote in the House would rescind a rule on gun background checks that was initiated by the Barack Obama administration in 2012 and ...

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• 5 February

  South China Sea dispute should be resolved through dialogue

    US Defense Secretary James Mattis said diplomatic efforts should be exhausted to find a solution of South China Sea dispute. Mattis’ stand is in contrast to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who appeared to advocate a tougher action to resolve maritime issue. Last month, Tillerson said the US should send a clear signal that further island-building should stop, and ...

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• 5 February

  Why Latin America and Africa struggle to grow!

  

    The great macroeconomist Robert Lucas once uttered a memorable quote about the mystery of economic development: Is there some action a government of India could take that would lead the Indian economy to grow [more rapidly]. If so, what, exactly?…The consequences for human welfare involved in questions like these are simply staggering: Once one starts to think about them, ...

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• 5 February

  The problem with Snapchat’s IPO

    Earlier this week, I commended Snapchat for bucking Silicon Valley convention and going public at a relatively young age, while other high-profile startups such as Uber do everything possible to avoid IPOs. After seeing parent company Snap Inc.’s financials and its strategy, I have changed my mind. Snapchat would have been better off staying in the lush forest of ...

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• 5 February

  Alarms are sounding in European bonds

    Jean-Claude Trichet, the European Central Bank’s former president, used to argue that one of the euro’s greatest achievements was driving government borrowing costs down to match those of Germany, the region’s benchmark borrower. In recent weeks, however, fissures have emerged that reflect investor concern about the political and economic outlook for at least three of the common currency’s members. ...

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• 5 February

  Saudi, Kuwait retreat; UAE stock merkets strong

  

    DUBAI / Reuters Saudi Arabia’s stock market fell in a broad-based decline on Sunday and political tensions helped to pull down Kuwait, while United Arab Emirates bourses rose. The Saudi index closed 0.7 percent lower with decliners outnumbering advancers by 121 to 29. Atheeb Telecom , which jumped last week on news of a deal to sell part of ...

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