When the European Commission published a “white paper” this month on the future of Europe, something was missing. Two weeks earlier Pierre Moscovici, EU economy commissioner, had told an audience in Athens that the blueprint would include “ambitious ideas” for “deepening of the economic and monetary union” — code for overhauling the system of budget rules and policy co-ordination that underpins the single currency. Instead, amid warnings […]
By Heather Somerville | SAN FRANCISCO SAN FRANCISCO Ride services company Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] has been thrust deeper into turmoil with the departure of company president Jeff Jones, a marketing expert hired to help soften its often abrasive image. Jones quit less than seven months after joining the San Francisco company, an Uber spokesman said on Sunday. In a statement to Reuters, Jones said he could […]
Mansour Bin Jabr’s idea of a hard life may not resonate with everyone. “The cars, the jets, they don’t make me happy. I’m a hippie in a way. I love islands, beaches,” says the 30-year-old chief operating officer of Bin Jabr Group, having just returned from a business trip in the Maldives. “I see myself retired in the Bahamas in a resort I own with my toys. […]
Authored by ‘Vaniam’ via The Burning Platform blog, This is an Arizona patriot’s unique view on John Sydney McCain As of late, we the people of Arizona are very shocked to see what he has become. He is a caricature of a man who, around here, is about as popular as the ping-pong president. How could the people of Arizona, the state that brought you the O.K. […]
It has been almost five years to the day since Mahmood Hashim Al Kooheji took over as head of Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund, Mumtalakat, restructuring several investment interests and making other changes to whip the fund into shape after years of losses. It followed a term at Gulf Air in which he managed the national carrier’s controversial restructure that saw 15 percent of its staff, around 600 […]
Last weekend, after looking at the latest H.8 statement by the Fed, we noted something concerning: total loans and leases by U.S. commercial banks were rising at an annual pace of about 4.6%, based on weekly Fed data. That is down from a 6.4% pace for all of last year and peak rates of around 8% in mid-2016. This is the slowest pace of debt creation since […]
Tech Times reported on March 11 that Tesla co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk backed up Lyndon Rive’s bold claim at the Powerwall 2 launch at Newport, near Melbourne, that the company can solve South Australia’s energy storage problems in 100 days with its new battery. Rive, Tesla’s Vice President for Energy Products, cited the company’s experience in building a power plant in South California in 90 […]
By Patrick Markey and John Davison | MOSUL, Iraq MOSUL, Iraq Iraqi army helicopters strafed and fired rockets at Islamic State positions in Mosul’s Old City on Sunday as troops on the ground closed in on the strategic and symbolic prize of the al-Nuri Mosque. Federal Police troops had advanced past the train station in western Mosul closer to the mosque. A police commander said they were […]
The United States has declassified its secretive footage of the nuclear tests it conducted between 1945 and 1962 and published them online on YouTube. Much of the footage will make viewers run for cover as they see chilling reminders of the arms race for military superiority during the Cold War. The footages were captured by multiple cameras at various angles. They documented each explosion at the rate of […]
BEIRUT Syrian government forces battled rebel groups at the fringes of Damascus on Sunday, after the insurgents launched an attack from the east of the heavily fortified capital, a monitoring group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the army and allied forces had engaged in heavy clashes with rebels in the Jobar district, at the eastern edge of Damascus. Insurgent groups attacked government positions in […]
By Angus MacSwan | QAYYARA WEST AIRFIELD, Iraq QAYYARA WEST AIRFIELD, Iraq U.S. troops are hard at work rehabilitating this battle-scarred, rubble-strewn airfield as a logistics and support hub for Iraqi and international forces in the decisive battle against Islamic State for the city of Mosul 60 km to the north. Map of Mosul battlefront: tmsnrt.rs/2fd0nGE The whirl of activity and the return of American soldiers signify […]
For the first time ever, new research examines data from the 2007-2009 financial crisis to show how the US Federal Reserve can effectively assist banks in times of financial uncertainty. (via WSJ)
By Elisabeth O’Leary | ABERDEEN, Scotland ABERDEEN, Scotland Refusal by Britain’s prime minister to discuss an independence referendum would “shatter beyond repair” the United Kingdom’s constitutional structure, Nicola Sturgeon told her Scottish National Party on Saturday. Sturgeon pledged to press on with plans to hold a new Scottish referendum as announced earlier this week, deepening a standoff with the UK government. Party faithful gave her a rapturous […]
Forced applause usually follows a regulator’s remarks to the regulated. Not so inside the pink stucco walls of the Boca Raton Resort and Club in Florida this week. Chris Giancarlo of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission received a standing ovation when he spoke to hundreds of traders, brokers and exchange executives. The enthusiastic response reflects hopes in the derivatives industry for a better relationship with the CFTC, its principal […]
By Abdelaziz Boumzar | MOSUL, Iraq MOSUL, Iraq Thousands of Iraqis surged out of western Mosul on Saturday during a lull in heavy fighting in districts around the densely populated Old City where Iraqi forces are facing fierce resistance from Islamic State militants. Five months into the battle to take Islamic State’s last bastion in Iraq, government forces have cleared the east and half of western Mosul, […]
BEIRUT Rebel fighters and their families began leaving their last bastion in the Syrian city of Homs on Saturday, state media and a Reuters witness said, under an evacuation deal with the government that is expected to be the largest of its kind. The first two buses carrying rebels and their families left al-Waer district in the morning, heading for other rebel-held areas in northern Syria. Homs […]
Democrats on a congressional committee have accused Wells Fargo of stonewalling them as they investigate the US bank over sham customer accounts, hinting they may intensify their probe as a result. In a letter on Friday to Wells’ chief executive Tim Sloan, the party’s most senior member of the House financial services committee complained the bank had yet to agree to put forward executives for interviews despite […]
By Ben Blanchard | BEIJING BEIJING China is likely to express its anger at being told to rein in nuclear-armed North Korea when U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrives in Beijing on Saturday, his first visit to the country since taking office last month. Beijing is expected to call on Washington to share responsibility in lessening tensions in the region, while strongly opposing this month’s deployment […]
AIG’s outgoing chief executive Peter Hancock is in line for a $5m payment on top of his regular pay deal, part of an exit package that the insurer said was “consistent with a termination without cause”. The disclosure comes a week after AIG rocked the insurance sector when the company said its chief was leaving after less than three years at the helm following a series of […]
Havas, the French media agency, has joined the British government in pulling all of its digital ad spending from Google and YouTube in the UK, after it was revealed that government and corporate advertisements were being displayed alongside videos that advocate extremism. Havas, one of the world’s largest marketing groups, spends about £175m on digital advertising in the UK annually. It said it was also considering a […]
Mulesoft, a software “unicorn”, gained 46 per cent in its trading debut in New York on Friday, the latest in a number of hot listings that are reviving the US market for initial public offerings. Mulesoft rose to $24.75 after pricing at $17, giving the IPO the best first-day “pop” this year, according to Dealogic. The performance follows recent first-day gains from Canada Goose, the maker of […]
BEIRUT The head of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said a U.S.-backed assault to drive Islamic State from its de-facto capital Raqqa would begin at the start of April and the YPG would be taking part, despite fierce opposition from neighbouring Turkey. A spokesman for the U.S. Pentagon said no decision had been made yet on the Raqqa offensive, which is part of a two pronged attempt […]
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister who served as the eurozone’s chief dealmaker during some of the bloc’s biggest crises, may become a high-profile casualty of his national elections, with his Labour party unlikely to remain in government after losing three-quarters of its seats. The drubbing means Mr Dijsselbloem, who has served as eurogroup president for more than four years, may have to relinquish the post before […]
Markets do not have a clue how to handle political populism. They are still frightened of it, even though last year’s populist earthquakes in the UK and US are yet to have the drastic consequences that had been feared, and they cannot gauge its chances of success. This might yet create opportunities for those who can stomach some risk. This was a great week for European stocks, […]
