Israeli Cabinet approved first Jewish settlement in West bank in 20 years, the latest blow to any peace prospect in Middle East. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was alarmed by Israel’s decision to build a new settlement. Guterres has consistently stressed that there was no Plan B for Israelis and Palestinians to live together in peace and security. Israel ...
Read More »End the filibuster’s power of obstruction
The Senate’s coming confirmation of Neil Gorsuch will improve the Supreme Court, and Democrats’ incontinent opposition to him will inadvertently improve the Senate — if Republicans are provoked to thoroughly reform the filibuster. If eight Democrats will not join the 52 Republicans in providing 60 votes to end debate and bring Gorsuch’s nomination to a vote, Republicans should go ...
Read More »Enjoy your India moment, Xiaomi, it might not last
Xiaomi Corp. is going to double down on India. Literally. Chairman and CEO Lei Jun sat down with Bloomberg’s Saritha Rai and Jason Gale in Bangalore this week to explain how he plans to resume rapid growth. The Chinese smartphone maker will spend $500 million in the country over the next three to five years, after spending a similar ...
Read More »Privacy is the price we pay for our internet lives
President Donald Trump is poised to sign legislation to overturn Federal Communications Commission rules forbidding internet service providers from selling data they have vacuumed up about the online habits of their customers. Privacy groups are understandably perturbed. But I wonder whether all the brouhaha is just shouting at the horse to come back long after he’s left the barn. ...
Read More »UK seeks to kill foreign bank rule as Brexit snare looms
Bloomberg The UK is trying to kill a planned European Union rule for foreign banks that will become crucial for its own lenders after Brexit. Teaming up with Luxembourg, a host for many foreign banks’ EU units, London declared its opposition to plans to force banks from outside the bloc to consolidate their activities under a single entity, according ...
Read More »Credit Suisse taken by surprise in five-nation tax probe
Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG and its home country of Switzerland were surprised by a tax evasion and money laundering investigation that spans five countries from Australia to the UK and potentially involves thousands of account holders. Two people were arrested by Dutch authorities, who also seized a gold bar, paintings and jewelry and are still probing dozens more ...
Read More »PBOC raises interest rates on SLF loans
Bloomberg China’s central bank raised interest rates for standing lending facility loans (SLF), aimed mainly at small- and medium-sized financial institutions, it announced on Saturday. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) increased the rate for overnight SLF loans by 0.2 percentage points to 3.3 percent effective from March 16, it said in a statement on its website. The bank ...
Read More »Jeep’s Compass misses out on SUV boom
Bloomberg After practically inventing the sport utility vehicle, Jeep is missing out on the segment’s latest boom. While SUV sales in the US jumped 11 percent over the past four months, Jeep saw its volume drop 10 percent. One of the problems: A lack of supply that’s kept dealers waiting for the all-new 2017 Compass compact crossover, which replaces ...
Read More »Ford to hire 400 staff for connected-car research
TORONTO / AP Ford Motor Co. will hire approximately 400 employees from software company BlackBerry Ltd. as part of sizable new investments in Canada that include a connected-vehicle research center in Ottawa, company officials said. Ford said the Ottawa research center is part of a $500 million Canadian (US$376 million) investment. It comes amid a race by automakers to ...
Read More »Hertz shares bear brunt of used-car price plunge
Bloomberg As investor panic spreads about the plunging prices of used cars in the US, one company and its high-profile top investor are enduring the biggest beating: Hertz Global Holdings Inc. and billionaire Carl Icahn. Hertz shares lost one fifth of their value last week, as a troubling reading for a used-vehicle price index was followed by warnings that ...
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