Airbnb to quadruple China tech team

Bloomberg Airbnb Inc. is ramping up its investment in China, quadrupling its engineering team over the next 12 months to focus on affluent millennials who’re increasingly exploring the world’s second largest economy. Airbnb will grow its technical cohort to more than 100 in Beijing—the only office outside the US where the home-sharing giant employs an engineering division, according to co-founder ...

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Singapore home sales rise 35% with new projects

Bloomberg Singapore home sales rose 35 percent in July as new projects were launched. Developers sold 1,108 units last month, compared with 820 in June, according to Urban Redevelopment Authority data. A total of 692 new units were offered, up from 159 in June, the data showed. Singapore’s leaders, determined to keep a lid on home prices in the city-state, ...

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Moon vents Korea frustration by asserting right to veto US war

Bloomberg South Korean President Moon Jae-in has signaled his country will no longer stay quiet as tensions escalate between the US and North Korea. In a forceful speech on Tuesday, Moon asserted the right to veto any military action against Kim Jong Un’s regime, saying that decision should be made by “ourselves and not by anyone else.” He vowed to ...

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Iraq bombing IS-held Tal Afar ahead of assault

ERBIL / Reuters Iraqi forces are carrying out air strikes on Tal Afar, a town held by IS west of Mosul, in preparation for a ground assault, an Iraqi military spokesman said on Tuesday. IS’s self-proclaimed caliphate effectively collapsed last month, when US-backed Iraqi forces completed the recapture of Mosul, the militants’ capital in northern Iraq, after a nine-month campaign. ...

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‘Iran could quit N-deal in hours if new US sanctions imposed’

DUBAI / Reuters Iran could abandon its nuclear agreement with world powers “within hours” if the United States imposes any more new sanctions, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday. “If America wants to go back to the experience (of imposing sanctions), Iran would certainly return in a short time — not a week or a month but within hours ...

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Trump denounces white supremacists in Virginia clash

Bloomberg President Donald Trump called out white supremacists for their role in the deadly violence over the weekend in Virginia as the administration sought to counter a backlash against his initial failure to directly hold hate groups accountable. “Racism is evil and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and ...

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‘Dual-citizenship’ fiasco embroils New Zealand

Bloomberg Australia’s game of tit-for-tat party politics took a diplomatic turn on Tuesday, with New Zealand drawn into a row over whether Deputy Leader Barnaby Joyce should be thrown out of parliament amid revelations he has dual citizenship. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop accused New Zealand’s main opposition Labour party of conspiring to undermine Australia’s government by helping to expose Joyce ...

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Odinga’s options run out as 4th bid to lead Kenya falters

Bloomberg Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga’s chances of overturning the outcome of last week’s elections are fading, as he faces international pressure to take his allegations of vote rigging to court and the security forces crack down on his supporters. The US, European Union and African Union have all urged Odinga to seek legal recourse if he wants to challenge ...

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The US can’t go it alone against North Korea

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has defiance in his blood. It’s said his grandfather once asked what would happen if America defeated North Korea in war, to which his father answered: “If we lose, I will be sure to destroy the Earth. What good is the Earth without North Korea?” President Trump has decided to confront what’s probably the ...

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Why countries like Macedonia need a benevolent protector

Traveling through Macedonia this week led me to ponder the importance of a hegemon. More generally, many small, vulnerable countries—including Macedonia—will require an outside benefactor to secure their futures. A summary of Macedonian history doesn’t sound entirely promising. In the late 14th century, the region was absorbed by the Ottoman Empire. That boosted Macedonian development in some regards, but it ...

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