BitGou: Wednesday Morning Briefing: Military firms flourish in Sisi’s Egypt

2018年5月16日星期三

Wednesday Morning Briefing: Military firms flourish in Sisi’s Egypt

Highlights

North Korea threw next month’s summit between Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump into doubt, threatening weeks of diplomatic progress by saying it may reconsider if Washington insists it unilaterally gives up its nuclear weapons.

There are plenty of problems lurking on America’s career ladder, but here is a big one: the healthcare systems are designed for the workforce of 1950. If you have a lifetime corporate 9-to-5 gig, then you probably have group health insurance. But what if that is not the kind of job you have? Well, good luck with that. More Americans than ever are falling into that second category, a mix of the self-employed, solo entrepreneurs, freelancers and contract workers.

Democrats’ quest to take control of the U.S. House of Representatives and stymie Trump’s agenda began in earnest after voters in Pennsylvania chose a slate of nominees to compete in a pivotal battleground state.

World

Reuters Special Report: The biggest armed forces in the Arab world comes with its perks. While Sisi's government says there is an even playing field, Egyptian businesses complain that tax breaks are giving military firms an advantage.

Exclusive: A senior official at Iran’s state-owned oil supplier met Chinese buyers this week to ask them to maintain imports after U.S. sanctions kick in, three people familiar with the matter said, but failed to secure guarantees from the world’s biggest consumer of Iranian oil.

Reuters Top News

@Reuters

.@Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been detained in Myanmar for 156 days. See a timeline since the arrests: https://reut.rs/2rKzOgN

7:24 AM - May 16, 2018

Guatemala opened an embassy in Jerusalem, two days after the United States inaugurated its new site in the contested city in a move that infuriated Palestinians and drew international condemnation.

Sponsored by Barclays: The fate of human jobs. Advances in technology have brought us to a tipping point. Is this the end of work as we know it? Get the report.

Commentary: There's no quick fix for the political conflict in Gaza. But "nothing’s wrong there that, on a humanitarian level, can’t be significantly improved in a few months," writes Galen Guengerich, a senior minister of All Souls Unitarian Church in New York City, after a recent visit to the territory. "A fundamental tenet of civilized behavior in the modern world is that human beings shouldn’t die of disease, starvation, or other forms of neglect while political conflicts are addressed."

Crispian Balmer

@crispiandjb

The draft program shows the difficulties 5-Star/League face in finding the funds needed to pay for their mega electoral promises https://reut.rs/2rM4jTr

6:47 PM - MAY 16, 2018

TECH

Amazon cuts Whole Foods prices for Prime members in new grocery showdown

Amazon.com and Whole Foods Market are making a surgical strike in the already brutal grocery price war. Whole Foods debuted a much-anticipated loyalty program that offers special discounts to Prime customers, including 10 percent off hundreds of sale items and rotating weekly specials such as $10 per pound off wild-caught halibut steaks.

4 Min Read

U.S. lawmakers push back on Trump talk of helping China's ZTE

U.S. lawmakers rejected any plan by Trump to ease restrictions on China’s ZTE, calling the telecommunications firm a security threat and vowing not to abandon legislation clamping down on the company.

4 min read

Meet Tesla's new bondholder: Billionaire George Soros

The investment firm founded and chaired by billionaire George Soros took a stake in Tesla bonds during the first three months of the year, giving the electric carmaker run by Elon Musk a prominent supporter.

2 min read

Netflix's next act: feeding the service with its own movies

As Hollywood studios unleash their summer blockbusters into theaters, Netflix is trying to give film buffs a reason to stay home. The streaming service is on track to release at least 86 Netflix original films in 2018, the company told Reuters. That exceeds the scheduled output of the top four traditional studios combined, as well as Netflix’s previous record of 61 films last year.

6 min read