January, 2017

• 2 January

  High retail CFO turnover is a sign of the times

  

    What do retailers want? Apparently, new Chief Financial Officers (CFO). Neiman Marcus Group Inc. is on the hunt for a new CFO. So are Kohl’s Corp., Coach Inc. and Nordstrom Inc. Whole Foods Market Inc.’s CFO of 29 years — and the longest-serving female CFO in the Fortune 500 — will be leaving next year. In fact, the finance ...

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• 2 January

  Sanctioning Russia is just a start

    President Barack Obama’s imposition of sweeping new sanctions against Russian spies is long overdue, risky and tarnished by political calculation. It is also the right thing to do. The Obama administration expelled 35 suspected spies and their families out of the country; sanction two intelligence agencies, four intelligence officers, three companies and two alleged hackers; shut two compounds used ...

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• 2 January

  NATO must support Turkey’s fight against IS

    A gunman opened fire at a crowded nightclub in Istanbul during New Year celebrations. The assailant, armed with long-barrelled weapon and wearing Santa Claus costume, first killed a cop and a civilian outside the club. Then the attacker rained bullets mercilessly on innocent people partying inside the club. It left 39 people dead. The man is still on the ...

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• 2 January

  The Islamic link to success at Jamestown

  

    The arrival of the earliest English settlers in Jamestown is one of the cornerstones of American history. But few people know that the voyage was inspired and made possible by a financial innovation — the joint-stock company — that emerged in direct response to Queen Elizabeth’s outreach to the Muslim world. The Virginia Company was chartered by King James ...

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• 2 January

  In Europe’s bank bailouts, the spoils go to the swift

  

    Nationalizing your biggest bank is never a happy affair but, if you have to, do it quickly. Ukraine moved swiftly last weekend — alongside the International Monetary Fund — to clean up its banking system by taking over Privatbank, securing a stable deal for depositors and preventing systemic risk. There was a $5.5 billion capital shortfall to be filled, ...

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• 2 January

  Traditional medicine won’t cure China’s ills

  

    For decades, practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine (or TCM) have disputed accusations that their craft is a pseudo-science, a placebo, exploitative of endangered species, poisonous and ineffective. Now China’s government is fighting on their behalf. On Christmas Day, it passed the country’s first law regulating TCM, with the aim of placing it on an equal footing with science-based Western ...

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• 2 January

  Baghdad suicide bombing kills 36

  

    BAGHDAD / AP A suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden vehicle on Monday in a bustling market area in Baghdad, killing at least 36 people, Iraqi officials said, hours after the arrival of French President Francois Hollande to the country and amid a fierce fight against the IS group. The bomber driving a pickup truck attacked an outdoor fruit and ...

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• 2 January

  Police to question Netanyahu for corruption

    JERUSALEM / AP Israeli media is reporting that police are expected to question Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a pair of corruption allegations. A black screen was placed on Monday in front of Netanyahu’s official residence in apparent anticipation of the police investigators’ arrival and to obstruct the view of journalists seeking to film them. Netanyahu has denied what ...

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• 2 January

  Afghan police officer killed in a bomb blast

    KABUL / AP An Afghan official says that at least one police officer has been killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Logar province. Salim Saleh, spokesman for the provincial governor in Logar, said on Monday that four other people including a district police commander and three road construction engineers were wounded in the blast. Meanwhile at least six ...

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• 2 January

  Iran detains 21 fishermen from Arab nations in its waters

    TEHRAN / AP Iranian state TV is reporting the country’s coast guard has detained 21 fishermen and their three boats from neighboring Arab nations for straying into its territorial waters and fishing rare species. The Monday report said the traditional boats, known as dhows, had entered Iranian waters near the country’s Kish Island in the Persian Gulf. It said ...

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