EU introspection must speed up intergration

Bratislava summit was meant to fast-track the European Union’s introspection and it seems to have served its purpose. Waking up from its complacency after Brexit, the 27 leaders’ meeting looked into ways to prevent the disintegration and dislocation that the bloc is facing. The EU is grappling with the greatest ever threat to its existence. And minus Britain, it is ...

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Fear of Clinton dominates some voters’ choice

  One of the hardest things for a foreigner to understand in U.S. politics, especially its rather extreme 2016 version, is the willingness of voters to support candidates they deemed unacceptable earlier in the campaign. Because the U.S. presidential election narrows to a two-candidate race, the calculus of voters and political operatives shifts in spectacular ways. Plenty of this was ...

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A coming backlash against technology companies

  The financial crisis and the bailouts that followed unleashed a wave of populist anger, targeting almost everyone with power, from Wall Street to government officials to “elites” more generally. Except in one sector: technology. Why has tech been spared the torches and pitchforks? Because everybody loves a winner. As the economy began to grow again in 2009, it had ...

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Age-old dream of Arctic shipping still just a dream

  For centuries, a harsh climate and ice-choked seas dashed the dreams of sailors attempting to cross the Canadian Northwest Passage between Asia and Europe. Now, thanks to climate change and reduced ice cover, the trip isn’t nearly so daunting. Last weekend, the Crystal Serenity, a luxury cruise ship, carried a record thousand-plus passengers and crew through the passage. Next ...

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Syrian rebels ‘regrouping’ under truce: Putin

  Slavyansk / AFP Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Syrian rebels on Saturday of using a fragile ceasefire to regroup, as diplomatic tensions between Moscow and Washington simmered over a lack of humanitarian aid access. Fresh shelling and clashes were reported overnight in some areas of the war-torn country, but the US-Russia brokered truce which took effect on Monday appeared ...

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Under fire Trump admits Obama is American

  Washington / AFP After years of fuelling conspiracy theories, Republican White House nominee Donald Trump admitted that President Barack Obama is an American as he tried to neutralize damaging charges of racism. But he also stepped up attacks against his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, accusing her of initiating the doubts about Obama and later raising the specter of violence ...

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Non-aligned summit opens in crisis-torn Venezuela

  Porlamar / AFP The Non-Aligned Movement opens a summit on Saturday in Venezuela, seeking relevance in a post-Cold War world as the crisis-torn host country seeks to lessen its growing isolation. Leaders from the 120-nation group will gather for two days on the Caribbean island of Margarita, where Venezuela will take over the movement’s rotating presidency from Iran. Venezuela, ...

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IDBI Bank selects arrangers for $896 million share sale

  Bloomberg IDBI Bank Ltd., the state-backed Indian lender, picked arrangers including Citigroup Inc., Credit Suisse Group AG and Deutsche Bank AG to manage a share sale of about 60 billion rupees ($896 million), people with knowledge of the matter said. The Mumbai-based bank also chose HSBC Holdings Plc, JPMorgan Chase & Co., SBI Capital Markets Ltd. and IDBI Capital ...

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Canada Bank to generate 10% profit from global business

  Bloomberg National Bank of Canada seeks to generate at least 10 percent of profit from its international business by 2020, while looking to expand its stakes in Africa and Asia lenders into controlling positions, Chief Executive Officer Louis Vachon said. “We are looking to complement our Canadian growth — not substitute, but complement our Canadian growth — with a ...

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BBVA to cut 35 banking posts to reduce costs

  Bloomberg Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA is reducing its corporate and investment banking staff in the U.S. by about 10 percent as Spain’s second-biggest bank streamlines its business to focus on core clients. About 35 employees will leave the bank’s CIB business at BBVA’s offices in New York, Houston and Dallas, a spokesperson for the Bilbao, Spain-based bank said ...

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