CNN (August 20)
“Someone gets shot an average of about once per hour. That was the sobering reality in Chicago this weekend, when at least 58 people were shot.” Chicago’s “latest rash of violence happened despite an additional 600 officers on the streets.”
Independent (August 20)
“The end of the Greek bailout is a reminder, however, that for the EU as a whole enormous tests remain with or without Britain: both as a consequence of the economic uncertainties that continue to plague much of the continent; and as a result of the ongoing need to define the European Union’s status and purpose to the satisfaction of its members, and their own populations.”
Tags: Bailout, EU, Greece, Members, Populations, Purpose, Satisfaction, UK, Uncertainties
Ekathimerini (August 19)
“Greece’s formal exit from the bailout program does not mean that the country has reached the end of an era and is turning over a brand-new leaf.” During the next phase, Greece will require “even more determination and discipline to meet stringent targets and push through more reforms that will help it get back on its feet.”
Tags: Bailout, Determination, Discipline, Era, Exit, Greece, Reforms, Targets
The Economist (August 18)
“It is not just in Italy that questions should be asked about monitoring and maintenance regimes. Bridges throughout Europe, America and Asia are all showing signs of deterioration…. With the world covered in reinforced concrete, this is a problem that spans countries. The failure of the Morandi bridge shows that it must not be ignored.”
Tags: Asia, Bridges, Deterioration, Europe, Failure, Italy, Maintenance, Monitoring, Morandi, Reinforced concrete, U.S.
Financial Times (August 16)
“It is only five years since so-called unicorns—private tech companies valued at $1bn or more—sprang on to the public consciousness. They were succeeded by “decacorns”—$10bn and up. What comes next could put all this in the shade.”
Reuters (August 16)
“Banks still have to work to rebuild public trust, despite years of restructuring and paying fines and compensation for misbehaviour.” A YouGov survey found that “66 percent of adults in Britain do not trust banks to work in the best interests of society.”
Tags: Banks, Compensation, Fines, Misbehaviour, Public trust, Restructuring, Society, Survey, Trust, UK, YouGov
Los Angeles Times (August 16)
“The largest fire in California history continued to grow Thursday while firefighters worked to protect threatened communities…. Conditions have been ripe for the erratic fire behavior that has led to the explosive growth of the Ranch fire, which along with the River fire makes up the 364,145-acre Mendocino Complex fire. The days are so hot and dry that whatever gains firefighters see overnight when the humidity goes up quickly fade when the sun hits the fuels and sucks the moisture out.”
Tags: California, Dry, Erratic, Explosive, Fire, Firefighters, Hot, Humidity, Mendocino Complex fire, Ranch fire, River fire
Traders Magazine (August 14)
Despite the fear, “stock predicting AI will never take over the world,” markets are a level two chaos event (L2CE): they respond to predictions. There is “a feedback loop. The program would have to predict share prices based upon variables including the share price it has just predicted. In other words, the forecast given by a stock prediction bot can never be right, if the amount traded because of this prediction is great enough to make it wrong.”
Tags: AI, Bot, Chaos, Fear, Feedback loop, Markets, Share prices, Stock predicting, Variables, Wrong
Washington Post (August 14)
“Even in a world where the United States’ military and diplomatic power seems to be in retreat, there is an element of the U.S.-led order that’s as strong as ever — our dominance of the global economy.” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey “may think he can bluff his way through the Brunson crisis, but Turkish banks, construction companies and bondholders know better. In the still-global economy, going it alone really isn’t an option… This summer, as ever, we sink or swim together.”
Tags: Banks, Bondholders, Brunson, Construction, Crisis, Diplomatic, Dominance, Erdogan, Global economy, Military, Power, Retreat, Turkey, U.S.
Barrons (August 13)
“Turkey makes up less than 1% of the emerging markets index, but its small size hasn’t kept it from creating big ripples during the dog days of summer. Most investors are steering clear of Turkey, as it grapples with the fallout from years of binging on dollar-denominated debt, but the bigger question is who else could get caught up in Turkey’s crisis.”
