Bloomberg The Czech Republic’s billionaire prime minister rejected intensifying calls for him step down as he tries to save his hard-won coalition from collapsing amid public outcry over an investigation into whether he committed fraud. The fraud probe has imperiled the political career of Andrej Babis since his upstart ANO party defeated its traditional mainstream rivals in elections a year ...
Read More »Modi heads to Maldives to reset ties
Bloomberg Prime Minister Narendra Modi will make his first-ever visit to the Maldives for the swearing-in of its new president, signalling a shift in the island nation towards India and away from China. The visit — the first by an Indian head of state since 2011 — is expected to reset strained ties with the Maldives as Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, ...
Read More »Merkel enters final act firm on refugee stance
Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for tolerance in a city that’s been a flashpoint of anti-immigrant unrest, laying down a political marker that may lead to conflict during the final phase of her chancellorship. As far-right protesters organised a “Merkel Must Go†march, the chancellor faced hostile questions on a visit to the eastern city of Chemnitz. Meanwhile, her ...
Read More »The world is adapting to the reality of Trump as president
One of the assumptions that economists sometimes use to frame their models is to specify that some variables will be held constant, a concept that’s expressed with the Latin phrase ceteris paribus. We often make the same mistake in politics and foreign policy. We concentrate on our own domestic issues and assume that the rest of the world will remain ...
Read More »Bankers get nothing from Brexit
Whichever way you slice it, the draft Brexit deal unveiled by British Prime Minister Theresa May is no big win for financial services, despite being lauded as such in some quarters. If she gets it past parliament, still a huge if, the accompanying transition period – which may well be extended – will give banks and other finance firms more ...
Read More »Tencent’s WeChat giant is still quick on its feet
Any thoughts that the sheer size of Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s omnipotent chat app would slow it down appear unjustified. Monthly active users for WeChat hit 1.083 billion in the September quarter, the company said. That’s one in every seven people on the planet. Even more interesting is the number of users it managed to add: 102.5 million from a year ...
Read More »Do not let Italy block crucial eurozone reform
The fight between Italy and the rest of the European Union (EU) over Rome’s rule-defying budget has only just begun, but it’s already causing serious damage. Above all, the dispute is delaying Europe’s plans to strengthen the monetary union. That’s an effort that cannot wait — because a crisis in Italy might test the resilience of the euro zone like ...
Read More »Your old smartphone is a security risk. Live with it
That obsolete smartphone stashed away in a drawer or closet may not look like a national security risk, but the Trump administration is contemplating treating it as one. Unscrupulous Chinese recyclers and manufacturers could transform old phones into “counterfeit goods that may enter the United States’ military and civilian electronics supply chain,†according to a draft rule. To prevent that ...
Read More »Indonesia is a mature kid on emerging block
Indonesia has just delivered a strong – and unexpected – dose of confidence to foreign investors. The central bank was sufficiently worried about the rupiah’s slide that it raised interest rates for the sixth time this year. Only three of 31 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had predicted an increase. With the benchmark at 6 percent and a projected inflation ...
Read More »Amazon may have outsmarted itself with HQ2 tactics
This season of “The Bachelor: Amazon†has ended. Next up may be the season of recriminations. It has been more than a year since Amazon.com Inc. trumpeted its hunt for “HQ2,†which was billed as a co-equal company headquarters on which Amazon pledged to spend more than $5 billion on construction and eventually hire as many as 50,000 people. More ...
Read More »