The Drive (May 20)
Germany “is turning its back on traditionally powered cars and looking towards electric for its future. Data provided by Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority…shows a surprisingly sharp upwards trend in EV purchases compared to 2017.” The data also shows diesel sales are “withering” and reveals an unexpected surprise: “Kia’s Soul EV topped the charts by selling 721 units in April, followed by the BMW i3 with 491 cars.”
The Economist (May 19)
Unless European “companies or their governments take the fight all the way to the White House, they have little choice but to abide by the long—and sometimes wrong—arm of American law.” America’s threat of sanctions on companies doing business with Iran impacts major players including Total, Airbus, Peugeot, Renault and SWIFT. Still, it remains to be seen if “there is the stomach for such a battle.”
Tags: Airbus, European, Fight, Governments, Iran, Law, Peugeot, Renault, Sanctions, Swift, Threat, Total, White House
Wall Street Journal (May 17)
“American women are having children at the lowest rate on record, with the number of babies born in the U.S. last year dropping to a 30-year low…. The figures suggest that a number of women who put off having babies after the 2007-09 recession are forgoing them altogether.” This could spell trouble as America’s aging population is already “creating a funding imbalance that strains the social safety net that supports the elderly.”
Tags: Aging, Babies, Children, Elderly, Funding, Population, Recession, Safety net, U.S., Women
Institutional Investor (May 17)
“Having witnessed the Cambridge Analytica-Facebook disaster…. Asset managers are getting behind a new set of voluntary best practices in using data that includes personally identifiable information, or PII.” This January, the Investment Data Standards Organization was launched with members including “data vendors and users, such as hedge funds. It has published a set of standards that it views as a work-in-progress, meant to govern and adapt to the fund industry’s early and exploding use of alternative data.”
Tags: Asset managers, Best practices, Cambridge Analytica, Data vendors, Disaster, Facebook, Hedge funds, Investment Data Standards Organization, Personally identifiable information
Popular Mechanics (May 16)
“Scientists have confirmed that plastic bags litter the very depths of the Earth’s oceans inside the Mariana Trench. The findings highlight a polluted region of the ocean often ignored: the very bottom.” While disturbing, the knowledge could prove a source of hope. “The better understanding of the damage being down there, the better chance there is of correcting the damage.”
Tags: Correcting, Damage, Earth, Litter, Mariana Trench, Oceans, Plastic bags, Polluted, Scientists, Understanding
LA Times (May 15)
“There is a lesson for Trump in the North’s sudden change of tune…. Kim remains an unpredictable figure, and it is way too soon for Trump to boast about his succeeding where his predecessors have failed. And don’t rush to make room in the Oval Office for that Nobel Peace Prize.”
Tags: Boast, Kim, Lesson, Nobel Peace Prize, North Korea, Predecessors, Trump, Unpredictable
CNN (May 15)
“The dream of ‘peace in our time’ in the Middle East died on Monday.”
Tags: Died, Dream, Middle East, Peace
New Yorker (May 14)
National Security Adviser John Bolton said moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem was “merely ‘a recognition of reality,’ but it was actually a suspension of disbelief.” Though dignitaries at the opening ceremony were exuberant, “none of this alleviated the sinking feeling that young Gazans had gained the world’s attention, and sympathy, through their deaths” as Turkey and South Africa recalled their ambassadors to Israel while other countries lodged condemnations.
Tags: Ambassadors, Bolton, Deaths, Dignitaries, Disbelief, Embassy, Gazans, Israel, Jerusalem, NSA, Reality, South Africa, Sympathy, Turkey, U.S.
The Star (May 13)
“The message from Malaysians, cutting across all races, has not merely been clear, but deafening, too. For the first time in the nation’s history, the people voted single-mindedly. Race and religion…were no longer attractive propositions to the electorate…. The massive defeat of the Barisan couldn’t have happened without the bulk of Malay and Muslim voters pushing for this historic change.”
Tags: Barisan, Defeat, Electorate, Malay, Malaysians, Muslim, Race, Religion, Single minded, Vote
The Guardian (May 13)
“The American president has thrown into confusion old alliances and imperilled Middle Eastern peace.” His “stark rejection of the multilateral 2015 nuclear deal with Iran poses complex and momentous challenges for Europe, and the UK in particular. This reckless US action upsets the geopolitical furniture in troubling ways. The European democracies now find themselves at odds with their principal ally on an issue of fundamental importance to their security and to peace in the Middle East. By insisting they will uphold the Iran deal… European countries have embarked on a collision course with Washington.”
Tags: Alliances, Ally, Collision course, Confusion, Europe, Iran, Middle East, Nuclear deal, Peace, Reckless, Rejection, U.S., UK