Jack Ma Makes Ant Offer to Placate Chinese Regulators
As Jack Ma was trying to salvage his relationship with Beijing in early November, the beleaguered Chinese billionaire offered to hand over parts of his financial-technology giant, Ant Group, to the Chinese government, according to people with knowledge of the matter. “You can take any of the platfor…
Global Markets Are Partying Like It Is 2008 (But a Crash Is Coming)
The Bank for International Settlements keeps warning us, global asset and credit market prices have once again risen well above their underlying value—in other words, they are in bubble territory. In addition, as our health experts keep warning us, we still have to get through a da…
To end the pandemic, WHO says $28 billion ACT project is ‘the best deal in town’
The group has three big targets, Dr. Aylward said: two billion doses of vaccines at least by the end of 2021, 500 million new rapid diagnostics for low and middle income countries, and 250 million therapeutic tests. “The accelerator is all about an integrated end-to-end solution to the pandemic”, Dr…
Sleepwalking Toward the Nuclear Precipice
There is much Biden can do to signal an immediate shift in U.S. policy. He can begin to rebuild alliances and regional security structures that have atrophied under his predecessor. He can set out a national security strategy that reduces the role of nuclear weapons. And he can articulate these…
What Will a Joe Biden Presidency Mean for the Balkans?
Americans still have questions about their future, even a month after the elections. But for Europeans in general, and the Western Balkans in particular, a few things are clear. The style of American foreign policy will change, and it will align itself more with the efforts and preferenc…
A Revolutionary Change in Thailand: Protests Against the Monarchy Signal a Break With the Past
Thailand has experienced political convulsions before. In the past 15 years, street protests have precipitated the rise and fall of two governments, in 2006 and 2014, respectively. But the latest unrest reveals a revolutionary cultural shift in the country. In the past, the principal battle was amon…
The Countries With the Most to Gain—and Lose—Under a Biden Administration
Donald Trump may not be over the U.S. elections… but plenty of other countries sure are. As the congratulations for president-elect Joe Biden and vice president-elect Kamala Harris from foreign leaders stream in, here’s a quick look at which world leaders have the most to gain and lose with the chan…
Contribution of life in soil ‘remains largely underestimated’, says UN agriculture agency
“Soil biodiversity and sustainable soil management is a prerequisite for the achievement of many of the Sustainable Development Goals “, said FAO Deputy Director-General Maria Helena Semedo. “Therefore, data and information on soil biodiversity, from the national to the global level,…
Brexit: Are both sides running out of road to make a deal?
The EU – infamously talented at the old goalpost-moving – has admitted that not only does the European Parliament not need to ratify an agreement for it to be provisionally applied as of 1 January, but that EU leaders don’t even need to sign off on the treaty in person. An approved member of their g…
Pubs and venues may turn away people not Covid-vaccinated, says minister
Customers who have refused a Covid-19 vaccine could be turned away by hospitality and sports venues, the government’s vaccine minister has suggested, as he discussed the idea of using technology to reopen the economy. Nadhim Zahawi, who was appointed on Saturday to be responsible for ove…