September, 2016

• 21 September

  Poll debacles won’t deter brave Merkel

  

    Many people seem to expect Chancellor Angela Merkel to apologize. Her party, the Christian Democratic Union, keeps underperforming in regional elections. Most recently, the CDU took a drubbing in parliamentary elections in Berlin on Sept. 18. The reason: the backlash against the kindness Merkel showed toward refugees last year. There have been five defeats this year, in every state ...

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• 21 September

  Don’t kill the driverless revolution with regulation

    In publishing new guidelines for automated vehicles this week, the U.S. Transportation Department tacitly acknowledged two important truths: This technology will probably be great. And no one knows what will happen. The regulators took a restrained approach, offering a safety checklist for manufacturers and better guidance for state officials but stopping short of issuing restrictive new rules. That’s prudent: ...

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• 21 September

  Mellowed BoJ adopts prudent flexibility

    Bank of Japan (BoJ) comprehensively reviewed the sustainability of a series of daring policy decisions that it had taken since January at its meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. The mellowed central bank weighed the effectiveness of these decisions and unveiled a massive overhaul of monetary policy. The latest steps to commit itself to stoking inflation over the longer term ...

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• 21 September

  Making ‘Africa Rising’ a reality in Nigeria

  

    Until a few years ago, Africa Rising was a dominant theme in conversations about the global economy. That enthusiasm has since cooled, so that in newsrooms and think tanks and conference panels, “Africa Rising!” has given way to a more questioning “Africa Rising?” While some of that pessimism may be justified, we do not have the luxury of distracting ...

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• 21 September

  Official nudging works. Now, do more with it

    Last Wednesday was a historic day for behavioral science. The White House released the annual report of its Social and Behavioral Sciences Team. The U.K.’s Behavioural Insights Team released its own annual report on the same day. With the recent creation of similar teams in Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and Qatar, the two reports deserve careful attention. Outlining dozens ...

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• 21 September

  Preparing for North Korea’s inevitable collapse

  

    Let’s be honest. The world would be a better place if a revolutionary tribunal in the near future sent North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and his henchmen to the gallows. Kim’s subjects are so malnourished that North Koreans are notably shorter than their South Korean cousins. The state’s gulags are so large, you can see them from space. Survivors of ...

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• 21 September

  India to ink €8bn Rafale jet deal

  

    Bloomberg An India ministerial panel is said to have approved the purchase of 36 new fighter jets made by France’s Dassault Aviation SA, concluding a major step in its decade-long quest to modernize the country’s air force. The Cabinet Committee on Security, which includes the prime minister, defense, foreign and finance ministers, has cleared the deal worth 8 billion ...

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• 21 September

  Jet2 targets Ryanair stronghold with 6 Boeing 737s at Stansted

  

    Bloomberg British discount airline Jet2 will station six new Boeing Co. 737-800 jetliners at London Stansted airport, opening its first base outside the northern U.K. and taking on Ryanair Holdings Plc in its own backyard. The move will see Jet2 serve 21 European leisure destinations, with the first flights commencing March 30, putting it on a par with EasyJet ...

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• 21 September

  Zara owner Inditex posts $1.8billion profit in 6 months

  

    Bloomberg Inditex SA, the world’s biggest clothing retailer, reported earnings that beat analysts’ estimates as the company prioritized online expansion over store openings. First-half operating profit increased 8 percent to 1.61 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in the six months through July, Inditex said on Wednesday. Analysts expected 1.58 billion euros. Revenue rose 13 percent in the first weeks of ...

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• 21 September

  ‘Delta’s Korean Air pact could become joint venture’

  

    Bloomberg A flight-sharing partnership between Delta Air Lines Inc. and Korean Air Lines Co. could transform into a joint venture, the US carrier’s Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian said. The code-share agreement between the two operators “could lead to deeper relationship” with the possibility of becoming a joint venture, Bastian said at an event in Atlanta, where Delta is ...

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