Good morning. Here’s our daily summary of all the media news you need to know. Want to get this briefing in your inbox every morning? Subscribe here. Since Jim VandeHei and John Harris proved most everybody to be idiots, VandeHei can only hope that reflexive suspicion of his new gambit again proves to be entrepreneurial bliss. The two journalists famously pitched the notion of an all-politics digital […]
Investors poured money into US equity funds and pulled it from European ones in a week dominated by hopes for an acceleration in US economic growth and anxiety over Italy’s referendum on constitutional reform this weekend. European equity funds lost $2bn in the week to November 30, according to data from EPFR, while US funds attracted $4.4bn. That takes the total inflow for US equity funds since […]
Photo The fully-restored 3,800-year-old jug with a human statue that resembles Auguste Rodin’s “The Thinker,” which was found in Yehud, Israel. Credit Israel Antiquities Authority/Clara Amit European Pressphoto Agency Reading this article right now, you might resemble this 3,800-year old statue resting its cheek upon its hand. It’s a common pose for computer browsing, but a rare sight in Bronze Age pottery. A group of high […]
Coutts, the taxpayer-owned bank, provided offshore services to controversial clients including a member of the Brunei royal family accused of stealing billions from his own country, and a banker charged with assisting the sons of Egypt’s deposed president, Hosni Mubarak, in financial crime. Known as the Queen’s bank after its most famous customer, Coutts is revealed to have managed secretive tax haven structures for the Sultan of […]
By Anshuman Daga and Marius Zaharia | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Singapore’s central bank imposed penalties on the local units of U.K.-based Standard Chartered (STAN.L) and private bank Coutts for money laundering breaches related to Malaysia’s scandal-tainted 1MDB fund and said it was nearing the end of its probes. The penalties – of S$5.2 million ($3.65 million) and S$2.4 million, respectively – were the latest punitive measures taken by […]
In late July, Moussa Aksar, the director of Niger’s L’Évènement newspaper, answered his phone and heard a familiar voice warning him that he was, once again, in danger. “Be careful,” a friendly source told Aksar. “Look out for yourself and be careful what you say on the phone.” Aksar had just published Niger’s first exposé from the Panama Papers, the investigation based on a leak of documents […]
A terrorist cell formed by a group seeking recognition from the ISIS terror network is already operating and planning a big attack in Manila. This comes as the Philippine capital was placed on its highest terror alert for the first time in 16 years following the arrest of two alleged militants over a makeshift bomb planted near the US Embassy on Monday. A senior police officer, who […]
Tim Leissner, the former star dealmaker for Goldman Sachs in Southeast Asia, is to be banned from Singapore’s securities industry for 10 years over breaches relating to the multibillion-dollar scandal at Malaysia’s troubled state investment fund 1MDB, while Standard Chartered and Coutts have both been fined. Mr Leissner, who joined Goldman in Asia in 1998 and helped raise $6bn for 1MDB with three bond issuances, is being […]
As a microcosm of the wrenches and stresses enterprise services are experiencing, Cognizant‘s week has been pretty fascinating. Last weekend Elliott Management took an activist controlling role in Cognizant, one of the most strategic services firms, with an open public letter to Cognizant’s management essentially chastising them for too much investment in the future and for not squeezing enough money out of the IT services world as […]
Submitted by Jake Anderson via TheAntiMedia.org, Some of the weirdest and most disturbing advertisements ever created are done so for military campaigns. They come in the form of propaganda leaflets, which are dropped by air or otherwise disseminated into a country or territory that is being invaded. Virtually every war since the beginning of the 20th century has produced these leaflets, which are also known as psyops […]
By Joseph Guyler Delva and Makini Brice | PORT-AU-PRINCE PORT-AU-PRINCE The winner of Haiti’s presidential election, Jovenel Moise, vowed on Thursday to reform the constitution and tackle corruption when he takes office next year. The electoral council said Moise won a majority of votes and prevailed by more than 25 percentage points, according to preliminary results for the Nov. 20 vote that Haitians hoped would put the […]
Three weeks after India invalidated its largest bank notes overnight, cash shortages are choking the world’s fastest-growing large economy. While it is too soon for much of the pain to be read from broad economic indicators—in India, even monthly ones, such as industrial output, are released with considerable lag—early signs are coming in. Some of them imply the disruption might not be as deep, or as long-lasting, […]
By Roslan Khasawneh | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Oil prices slipped on Friday as some investors opted to cash out after Brent touched 16-month a high on Thursday, with optimism over this week’s OPEC-Russia accord on cutting output giving way to questions on the “sticking point” of implementing the deal. International Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were trading at $53.36 per barrel at 0446 GMT, down 58 cents, or […]
ABU DHABI // This National Day, a celebration of 45 years of the UAE, is an opportunity to pay tribute to the country’s remarkable progress and its Rulers. Around the country, Emiratis, residents and tourists are expected to flock to public places to celebrate the occasion. Aziz Al Shamsi, 45, an Emirati, said National Day was a day of unity for all who live in the UAE. […]
Photo Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, after a Republican caucus at the Capitol on Tuesday. Credit Stephen Crowley/The New York Times WASHINGTON — The Senate voted on Thursday to extend American sanctions against Iran for a decade, sending to President Obama a measure that supporters said would help ensure that the United States could fully respond if Iran were to violate its obligations under the nuclear […]
Hello Bill, I’ve followed GATA and LeMetropoleCafe since 1999. Following the work of you, Chris and GATA contributors has been most interesting. I follow a lot of media, including many sites not under the control of the Russian government, such as the Wall Street Journal. For an American who is not an insider GATA is the single best source news and analysis of the economy and financial […]
Scientists have taken spectroscopic snapshots of nature’s most mysterious relay race: the passage of extra protons from one water molecule to another during conductivity. The finding represents a major benchmark in our knowledge of how water conducts a positive electrical charge. (via WSJ)
Wells Fargo has changed its boardroom rules to require the roles of chief executive and chairman be kept separate, adding to pressure on other US banks to end the contentious practice of combining the top jobs. The bank, which has been in the spotlight for months over sales malpractice in its branches, had prised apart the two positions when John Stumpf quit suddenly in October. He was […]
|By Arabian Post Staff| Reporters have faced consequences both in nations where media crackdowns are common and also in nations with reputations for high levels of press freedom In late July, Moussa Aksar, the director of Niger’s L’Évènement newspaper, answered his phone and heard a familiar voice warning him that he was, once again, in danger. “Be careful,” a friendly source told Aksar. “Look out for yourself and be careful […]
By Emily Stephenson | INDIANAPOLIS INDIANAPOLIS President-elect Donald Trump warned on Thursday that U.S. companies would face “consequences” for outsourcing jobs abroad, as he touted his early success in persuading an air conditioner maker to keep about 1,000 jobs in the United States rather than move them to Mexico. “Companies are not going to leave the United States anymore without consequences. Not going to happen,” the Republican […]
By Emily Stephenson and Dustin Volz | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON President-elect Donald Trump, who pledged on the campaign trail to “drain the swamp” in Washington, is staffing his on-the-ground transition teams mostly with government veterans, including ex-lobbyists, a Reuters review of publicly available information shows. Drawing heavily from former military, congressional and agency staff, he has named about 140 operatives to “landing teams” at various government departments to […]
December 1, 2016 by: Anne-Sylvaine Chassany in Paris François Hollande announced on Thursday night that he would not run for a second term in next year’s French presidential elections. The unprecedented decision was driven by his historically low popularity ratings, which left him little chance of success against centre-right candidate François Fillon and far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen. He would also first have had to […]
By Ingrid Melander | PARIS PARIS French President Francois Hollande said on Thursday he would not seek a second term in office in the presidential election in 2017, an unprecedented move that leaves the way open for other left-wing candidates. It is the first time in decades that an incumbent French president has not sought re-election. Hollande is the most unpopular president on record. “I am aware […]
After securing a deal to save 1,100 jobs at a Carrier plant in Indiana from being exported to Mexico, Trump is set to kick off his Midwest “Thank You Tour” with a speech there which is expected to get started around 2pm EST. As we pointed out earlier this morning, Trump’s deal reached with Carrier keeps 1,100 jobs in the U.S. in return for $700,000 in […]
