As President Vladimir Putin further tightens his grip on power after dubious elections that gave his party an absolute majority, Russia is sliding into protracted stagnation. The Economics Ministry has adjusted downward its forecast through 2019 and Russia is now expected to underperform the global economy even more than previously anticipated. That is the background against which Putin’s continued ...
Read More »Questions that Clinton and Trump should be asked
The U.S. is still fighting a war in Afghanistan and has troops in Iraq, the Iranian nuclear deal remains controversial, the Islamic State is weakened but continues to be threatening, North Korea is launching missiles, Russia flaunts international norms and China has expansionary designs. It’s a dangerous world. Yet in the U.S. presidential election the foreign policy debate chiefly ...
Read More »US should not give a pardon to Snowden
The movement to pardon NSA leaker Edward Snowden is picking up momentum, with human-rights groups, editorial boards, the Libertarian candidate for president and some former intelligence officers hopping on board. Even Eric Holder, the former attorney general, has said Snowden performed a “public service.†But to show leniency for the man now enjoying Vladimir Putin’s hospitality in Moscow would ...
Read More »Tourism sector must focus on sustainability
The non-oil tourism sector is one of the key cornerstones of the UAE’s economic diversification plan. And the country is giving the much-needed impetus to the segment. The Dubai Opera, Guggenheim and Louvre Museums in Abu Dhabi, Warner Bros. theme park in Yas Island and Dubai’s Mohammed bin Rashid City District One are the latest projects in the list ...
Read More »UK Labour Party stands up for irrelevance
Shortly after British voters defied the leaders of both major political parties by deciding in June to leave the European Union, it was tempting to write the political obituary of Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. His party’s polling was at a three-decade low. Most of his shadow cabinet resigned, furious that he was a no-show during the Brexit campaign. Labour ...
Read More »Good schools, bad schools and ugly rankings
There is a certain tragic irony in the fact that a crackdown on U.S. colleges with low graduation rates was announced during the very week when the Times Higher Education Supplement published its annual list of the world’s best universities. The coincidence provokes the thought that there is too much of this going on. By “this†I mean the ...
Read More »Latin America has a different migration problem
A recent survey by Datincorp, a Caracas-based pollster, found that some 57 percent of Venezuelans wanted to leave the country. That number, up from 49 percent just four months ago, is just one facet of the rolling collapse in South America’s most benighted nation, which has gone from oil powerhouse to global exporter of people in a little over ...
Read More »Airlines ‘pollution plan’ could cost sector $24bn
Bloomberg The aviation industry is supporting a United Nations proposal to limit pollution from international flights even though the measure may eventually cost companies $24 billion annually. Trade groups representing United Continental Holdings Inc., Boeing Co. and other industry leaders are pushing nations to join the agreement, which would require companies to offset their emissions growth by funding environmental ...
Read More »Southwest Air flight attendants to vote on proposed contract
Bloomberg Southwest Airlines Co.’s 14,500 flight attendants will decide whether to approve a tentative contract agreement following “intense discussion and debate†by leaders of their union. The board of Transport Workers Union Local 556 voted Friday to send the pact to members after two days of deliberation, the labor group said in a statement posted Friday on its website. ...
Read More »Aldi ramps up UK expansion plans
Bloomberg The British division of Aldi is ramping up plans for expansion, unaffected by the shock Brexit referendum, as the German discount retailer enjoys booming demand. Aldi UK announced on Monday that it will invest £300 million ($389 million, 346 million euros) to revamp its stores over the next three years. “Future capital expenditure plans are unaffected by the ...
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