Up through the 1980s, the blessings of the Industrial Revolution seemed largely confined to a handful of countries in Western Europe, East Asia, the US, Australia and Canada. But in the past three decades, there has been a sea change, and developing countries have made great strides in catching up. Although inequality has risen within some nations, at the global ...
Read More »Thomas Cook: Holiday from hell
As the operation to fly home stranded Thomas Cook Group Plc passengers begins — and the blame game gets going over why the 178-year-old travel agent collapsed — another parallel process is underway: Seeing what can be salvaged from the ruins. Even before the company entered liquidation, there was never going to be much left for shareholders. They would probably ...
Read More »Small diet changes have big climate effects
Global meat consumption has more than doubled since the 1960s, and meat production is set to double again by 2050. In one way, that’s a good thing — proof that rising incomes are supporting higher living standards in developing countries. But Americans, famous for enjoying too much of a good thing, still eat three times as much meat as the ...
Read More »UK PM Boris Johnson’s Brexit gamble is failing
As UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson sat at the United Nations in New York, his political strategy was collapsing at home. Last week, Britain’s Supreme Court shot down Johnson’s decision last month to suspend Parliament. It was an unequivocal rebuke: All 11 justices concurred that Johnson’s plan was “unlawful, void and of no effect†and rejected each of the government’s ...
Read More »Putin is finally worried about climate change
After years of procrastination, Russia, the world’s fourth-biggest greenhouse gas emitter, has officially joined the Paris climate agreement, which it signed in 2016. It shows that President Vladimir Putin’s views of climate change are evolving and he wants his government to do more. Putin was never a fully-fledged climate change denier. Rather, he once didn’t take it seriously enough. Addressing ...
Read More »Aston Martin’s pricey insurance policy
The maker of Aston Martin sports cars is buying what it calls an insurance policy against the risk it runs out of cash before the most critical product launch in its 106-year history. The terms of a new $250 million debt package show just how limited the UK company’s options for securing funds are as it seeks to challenge Bentley ...
Read More »This dirty word is driving economic change in Japan
Workers born outside Japan are playing an increasingly important role in the world’s third-largest economy. Just don’t call it immigration. The country is often said to pride itself on homogeneity and an aversion to outsiders. But as Japan’s population declines and ages, employers are becoming aware of their constraints. The number of employees from overseas has more than doubled since ...
Read More »Alexa privacy in focus as Amazon unveils new gadgets
Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc defended the privacy features of its Alexa digital assistant — and introduced some new tools to reassure users — following months of debate about the practices of the technology giant and its largest competitors. “We care about this,†Dave Limp, leader of the company’s devices business, said at Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle. “Privacy is absolutely foundational to ...
Read More »Chinese drone maker EHang to raise $200m in Nasdaq IPO
Bloomberg EHang, one of China’s largest drone makers, has made a confidential application for an initial public offering with Nasdaq Inc, according to people with knowledge of the matter. EHang plans to float 10 percent to 15 percent of its shares, with the company’s valuation not yet set due to volatile market conditions, said one of the people, who asked ...
Read More »China battery giant to spend $1.4b on first plant
Bloomberg China’s top maker of electric-vehicle batteries plans to spend $1.4 billion building its first factory in the southwest of the country, adding to ambitious plans for next decade even as the short-term EV outlook get buffeted by subsidy cuts and demand uncertainties. Contemporary Amperex Technology Co will build the facility in Sichuan province, an outpost of China’s car industry, ...
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