Los Angeles Times (August 16)
“America’s top business executives may have bristled over President Trump’s ban on refugees, his withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and his decision to bar transgender Americans from the military.” Still, “it wasn’t until the embattled president all but defended white supremacists in the aftermath of the deadly clashes over the weekend in Charlottesville, Va., that the country’s corporate elite decided they had had enough.”And, “by Wednesday, so many executives had resigned from Trump’s economic advisory and manufacturing councils, including the heads of General Electric Co., Intel Corp. and Campbell Soup Co., that the president announced on Twitter that he was disbanding the panels.”
Tags: Advisory councils, Ban, Business, Campbell Soup, Charlottesville, Clashes, Deadly, Economic, Embattled, Executives, GE, Intel, Manufacturing, Military, Paris accord, Refugees, Transgender, Trump, U.S., White supremacists
Financial Times (July 28)
“More than 420,000 auto jobs in Germany could be imperilled by a 2030 ban on combustion engine cars” that’s currently under debate. “The beguilingly deceptive electric car… might look like any other car from the outside but inside, it is more like a computer on wheels.” For example, UBS analysts discovered a Chevy Bolt “had just 24 moving parts compared with 149 in a VW Golf, mainly because electric motors are so much simpler than combustion engines.” Moreover, it was much cheaper to produce than expected, leading to their conclusion that “with further cost falls likely, electric cars would probably disrupt the industry faster than widely understood.
Tags: Auto jobs, Ban, Bolt, Combustion engine, Disruption, Electric cars, Germany, Golf, Imperilled, Moving parts, UBS
USA Today (June 13)
“The abundance of assault weapons, and the ease with which they can be purchased in the USA, is a gap that gives mass shooters an edge.” No ban will be perfect, but banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines would “save lives and make it harder to carry out mass murder.” This is reason enough to make a ban worthwhile.
Tags: Assault weapons, Ban, High-capacity magazines, Mass shooters, Murder, U.S.
New York Times (November 6)
“Support for making marijuana legal is increasing around the world, and that is a good thing…. Laws banning the growing, distribution and possession of marijuana have caused tremendous damage to society, with billions spent on imprisoning people for violating pointlessly harsh laws.” Moreover, “marijuana is far less harmful than alcohol and tobacco, and can be used to treat medical conditions like chronic pain.”
Tags: Alcohol, Ban, Damage, Distribution, Legal, Marijuana, Pain, Possession, Prison, Society, Support, Tobacco
New York Times (July 22)
“Given the rapid changes in that region, the fishing ban hasn’t come too soon.” With the Arctic melt proceeding faster than many imagined, the U.S., Canada, Russia, Norway and Denmark have proactively “put a ‘No Fishing’ sign on the high seas portion of the central Arctic until full scientific studies have been conducted.”
Tags: Arctic, Ban, Canada, Changes, Denmark, Fishing, High seas, Norway, Russia, Scientific studies, U.S.
New York Times (August 17)
China is both the world’s largest consumer of coal and the world’s largest producer of CO2 emissions. Encouragingly, that may be set to change. “The wretched air in China’s cities is forcing Chinese officials to change their energy policies. If they do a good job tackling local pollution, they could also have a big impact on climate change.” Details are still scarce, but could include a ban on the use of coal in urban areas by 2020.
Tags: Ban, China, Cities, Climate change, CO2 emissions, Coal, Consumer, Energy policies, Officials, Pollution, Producer, Urban areas
Wall Street Journal (July 8)
“Just when the Ukraine crisis makes clear that the need to diversify Europe’s gas supplies couldn’t be greater, Germany wants to ban fracking.” If Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks gets her way, “most forms of hydraulic fracking will be prohibited until 2021,” cutting Germans off from the estimated 2.3 trillion cubic meters of shale gas that lies within their border.
New York Times (December 31, 2013)
“The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is moving to lift Japan’s ban on the export of weapons…. It is doubtful that Japan or other Asian nations can resolve the many differences in the region by enhancing their military capabilities, which only aggravates a futile arms race.”
Tags: Abe, Arms race, Asia, Ban, Export, Government, Japan, Military capabilities, Weapons
New York Times (March 13)
New Yorkers will still be able to buy their supersized drinks. A court struck down Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s ban on large servings of sugary drinks, the day before it was to be enforced. “The big-drinks ban was ill conceived and poorly constructed from the start.” Instead, the Mayor should work to “impose a penny-per-ounce tax on sugary drinks. Just as taxes helped cut the use of cigarettes, taxes could help cut the public’s indulgence in high-calorie, giant drinks.”
Tags: Ban, Bloomberg, Calories, Cigarettes, New York, Supersized, Tax
The Independent (April 11)
Starting today, women in France may no longer wear burka or other facial coverings in public. The “burka ban,” passed last October by the French Parliament, was “seen as a defence of women’s rights and a re-statement of the liberal and secular traditions of French society.” There is, however, concern that the law might lead to unrest. Some have called it Muslim baiting. Officials are taking steps to minimize conflict. Police have been ordered not to force women to remove their coverings, but rather to forward cases to the state prosecutor. A woman may be fined €150 for wearing a burka or other facial veil.
Starting today, women in France may no longer wear burka or other facial coverings in public. The “burka ban,” passed last October by the French Parliament, was “seen as a defence of women’s rights and a re-statement of the liberal and secular traditions of French society.” There is, however, concern that the law might lead to unrest. Some have called it Muslim baiting. Officials are taking steps to minimize conflict. Police have been ordered not to force women to remove their coverings, but rather to forward cases to the state prosecutor. A woman may be fined €150 for wearing a burka or other facial veil.
