Bloomberg BMW AG would like to start offering up the back seat on motorbikes and scooters to get around congested cities—if the issue of helmets can be solved. “This is definitely an option, but we haven’t found the solution for the second helmet yet,†Peter Schwarzenbauer, who heads BMW’s Mini, Rolls-Royce and motorcycle brands, said at the Geneva International Motor ...
Read More »May faces calls to crack down against Russia after spy attack
Bloomberg UK Prime Minister Theresa May faces calls to crack down on Russian influence in Britain amid reports that investigators have linked Vladimir Putin’s regime to last week’s poisoning of a former spy in a city southwest of London. The Times and Telegraph newspapers reported that May could blame Russia publicly for the attempted nerve-gas murder of Sergei Skripal and ...
Read More »US arms exports surge amid growing Middle East, Asian demand
Bloomberg US arms exports surged 25 percent over the five years to 2017, according to data released on Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Extending its lead as the world’s biggest arms exporter, the US accounted for 34 percent of total arms exports. Russia, the next biggest exporter, saw its arms sales fall 7.1 percent to 22 percent ...
Read More »Tillerson cuts short Africa trip amid ‘pressing matters’ in US
Bloomberg US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson cut short his trip to Africa by about a day to deal with pressing matters in the US. Tillerson is ending his trip early to deal with work that needs to be attended to in Washington, D.C., Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Steve Goldstein told reporters Monday in the ...
Read More »No US concessions before North Korea talks
Bloomberg The US will make no concessions to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in discussions leading to potential talks between the reclusive leader and President Donald Trump, and during any subsequent negotiations, CIA Director Mike Pompeo said. Kim, on the other hand, must stand by the concessions he’s offered, including ceasing nuclear and missile testing, continuing to allow US-South ...
Read More »Slovakia premier’s key ally to resign as political crisis deepens
Bloomberg Slovakia’s interior minister will resign to prevent the collapse of Prime Minister Robert Fico’s government, which is trying to fend off calls for early elections following the murder of an investigative journalist. Interior Minister Robert Kalinak told reporters on Monday he hopes his resignation, sought by the opposition and the junior coalition Most party, will help to stabilise the ...
Read More »Abe’s govt under fire as Japan scandal grips inner circle
Bloomberg Japan’s government said on Monday that the names of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, his wife and his finance minister were deleted from documents at the heart of a land scandal that erupted last year, a revelation that threatens to derail his administration and its economic strategy. Finance Minister Taro Aso apologised and said an internal investigation was ongoing as ...
Read More »One-man rule in China isn’t good for economy either
China’s defenders are putting an optimistic spin on the country’s tilt towards one-man rule. Now that President Xi Jinping has set himself up to remain in power indefinitely, they suggest, he will have the runway to see through painful but necessary economic reforms that have long been resisted by various actors within China’s political system. In other words, even if ...
Read More »Privatisation can change Indian banks’ DNA
India’s unreformed banking system needs a massive privatization drive. The sooner this dawns on authorities, the better for taxpayers, investors and borrowers. Exhibit A is an index of share prices of state-run banks. It took one $2 billion fraud at government-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) to snuff out all the excitement over a $32 billion recapitalization of these moth-eaten institutions. ...
Read More »Taxes aren’t the real problem with Congo mining industry
There’s a strange thing about the fear going through the global mining industry after the Democratic Republic of Congo signed an order to lift royalties last week: Compared with most other countries, these levies are still relatively low. The existing 2 percent rate on copper extraction compares with royalties five times that level in Chile and Peru, the two biggest ...
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