September, 2016

• 26 September

  Lanxess to buy Chemtura for $2.1bn in additives push

  

    Bloomberg Lanxess AG agreed to buy U.S. competitor Chemtura Corp. for about $2.1 billion in cash, more than doubling the size of its additives business and accelerating a shift towards specialty chemicals. Shareholders of the maker of lubricant additives and flame retardants will get $33.50 a share under the terms of deal, Cologne, Germany-based Lanxess said in a statement ...

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• 26 September

  German biz confidence soars to record high as Brexit fears ‘disappear’

    Frankfurt / AFP German business confidence soared to its highest level in more than two years in September, the Ifo economic institute said on Monday, recovering from a post-Brexit slump and signalling a rosier outlook for Europe’s largest economy. The closely-watched index unexpectedly jumped to 109.5 points from 106.3 points in August to reach its highest reading since May ...

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• 26 September

  Traders sceptical Mexico can avoid downgrade as debt surges

    Bloomberg Traders are growing increasingly pessimistic about Mexico’s ability to stave off a credit-rating downgrade. It costs 0.23 percentage point more to insure Mexico’s bonds against nonpayment than debt from lower-rated Panama, based on trading in credit-default swaps. That’s the most in six years. Mexico is also more costly to protect against default than Peru, which shares the same ...

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• 26 September

  Russian economy takes hit from Putin’s grip

  

    As President Vladimir Putin further tightens his grip on power after dubious elections that gave his party an absolute majority, Russia is sliding into protracted stagnation. The Economics Ministry has adjusted downward its forecast through 2019 and Russia is now expected to underperform the global economy even more than previously anticipated. That is the background against which Putin’s continued ...

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• 26 September

  Questions that Clinton and Trump should be asked

  

    The U.S. is still fighting a war in Afghanistan and has troops in Iraq, the Iranian nuclear deal remains controversial, the Islamic State is weakened but continues to be threatening, North Korea is launching missiles, Russia flaunts international norms and China has expansionary designs. It’s a dangerous world. Yet in the U.S. presidential election the foreign policy debate chiefly ...

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• 26 September

  US should not give a pardon to Snowden

    The movement to pardon NSA leaker Edward Snowden is picking up momentum, with human-rights groups, editorial boards, the Libertarian candidate for president and some former intelligence officers hopping on board. Even Eric Holder, the former attorney general, has said Snowden performed a “public service.” But to show leniency for the man now enjoying Vladimir Putin’s hospitality in Moscow would ...

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• 26 September

  Tourism sector must focus on sustainability

    The non-oil tourism sector is one of the key cornerstones of the UAE’s economic diversification plan. And the country is giving the much-needed impetus to the segment. The Dubai Opera, Guggenheim and Louvre Museums in Abu Dhabi, Warner Bros. theme park in Yas Island and Dubai’s Mohammed bin Rashid City District One are the latest projects in the list ...

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• 26 September

  UK Labour Party stands up for irrelevance

  Shortly after British voters defied the leaders of both major political parties by deciding in June to leave the European Union, it was tempting to write the political obituary of Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. His party’s polling was at a three-decade low. Most of his shadow cabinet resigned, furious that he was a no-show during the Brexit campaign. Labour ...

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• 26 September

  Good schools, bad schools and ugly rankings

  

    There is a certain tragic irony in the fact that a crackdown on U.S. colleges with low graduation rates was announced during the very week when the Times Higher Education Supplement published its annual list of the world’s best universities. The coincidence provokes the thought that there is too much of this going on. By “this” I mean the ...

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• 26 September

  Latin America has a different migration problem

  

    A recent survey by Datincorp, a Caracas-based pollster, found that some 57 percent of Venezuelans wanted to leave the country. That number, up from 49 percent just four months ago, is just one facet of the rolling collapse in South America’s most benighted nation, which has gone from oil powerhouse to global exporter of people in a little over ...

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