A DOJ corruption investigation into Alstom ended in 2014 with GE's $17bn takeover of the French company Over the past decade, American legal and regulatory authorities have subjected scores of large foreign companies to extraterritorial actions. Paying large fines, which can top $1bn, has often been the only way finally to settle such accusations of serious misconduct outside America, typically ..
The British prime minister suffers a crushing parliamentary defeat On January 15th Britain's prime minister, Theresa May, lost the parliamentary vote on her Brexit deal by the huge margin of 230 votes, the largest-ever defeat for a ruling party. Some 118 Tory MPs seem to have defied their party whip to oppose the deal, one of the biggest-ever such rebellions. Coming after five days of debate dur..
The government is belatedly beefing up its prevention measures In the end, God turned out to be a 20-year-old amateur hacker living with his parents in a small western German town. Throughout December God, or "G0d", to give him his proper Twitter handle, had leaked the phone numbers, addresses and, in some cases, private photos and credit-card details of nearly 1,000 German politicians, celebrit..
It's bad news for Apple shareholders, but good news for humanity When Apple cut its revenue estimate for the last quarter of 2018 because of unexpectedly slow sales of iPhones, markets convulsed. The company's share price, which had been sliding for months, fell by a further 10% on January 3rd, the day after the news came out. Apple's suppliers' shares were also hit. This week Samsung, the world..
The new geopolitics of the Middle East It did not take long for America's announced withdrawal from Syria to be felt across the Middle East. The Syrian regime, along with its Russian and Iranian allies, rejoiced. Arab states hurried to make up with Syria's leader, Bashar al-Assad. The Arab League will soon debate his return to the fold. America's Kurdish allies, crying betrayal, urged him to hel..
Thin trading alone does not explain recent ones Most regular flyers will have experienced an "air pocket", when their plane hits turbulence and suddenly dips, with unwelcome effects on their heart rate and digestive processes. In financial markets these have become known as "flash crashes" after a particularly volatile day for stockmarkets in May 2010. But markets can be more stomach-churning th..
The tech giant revises down its earnings forecast because of poor sales in China Investors were skittish as 2018 drew to a close, fretting about global economic prospects. Fears about a slowdown in China have swirled in recent weeks: the pace of GDP growth fell over the course of 2018, as did retail and vehicle sales. The purchasing managers' index survey, released on January 2nd, suggested that..
They mostly want to change the world, not just fathom it "The solution in Vietnam", said William DePuy, an American general in 1966, "is more bombs, more shells, more napalm." But where exactly to drop it all? To help guide the bombing, the Pentagon's whizz kids calculated the threat posed by different hamlets to the American-backed government in South Vietnam. Fed with data capturing 169 criter..
Several important anniversaries loom. The Communist Party is nervous Thirty years ago, as 1989 approached, political storm-clouds were gathering over China. Bitter divisions had emerged within the leadership over how far and how fast to pursue economic reform. Inspired by the Soviet Union's liberalizing leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, some people in China were daring to suggest that their own country..
Britain's political crisis exposes the inadequacy of its leaders In the past year the British body politic has endured an astonishing list of maladies. The cabinet has lost a foreign secretary and two Brexit secretaries, not to mention lots of lesser fry. Parliament has voted to hold the government in contempt. The Conservative Party has held a vote of no confidence in the prime minister and lef..
How to get the best from an outbreak of nostalgia Politicians have always exploited the past. But just now, rich countries and emerging economies are experiencing an outbreak of nostalgia. Right and left, democracies and autocracies, all are harking back to the glories of yesteryear. Even as President Donald Trump vows to "Make America great again", President Xi Jinping is using his "Chinese dre..
An elf-and-safety nightmare Memo from: Bognor Consulting Group. To: Santa Claus, North Pole HQ, Lapland. Thanks for asking us to have a look at your business model. Our staff have now recovered from their frostbite and have a number of significant suggestions for a revamp before next year. First, the brand name. The business seems to use several different monikers, including St Nicholas, Santa C..
Captain Robert Falcon Scott was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition of 1901-1904 and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition of 1910-1913. On the first expedition, he set a new southern record by marching to latitude 82°S and discovered the Antarctic Plateau, on which the South Pole is located. On the second venture, Sc..
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton was a British polar explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Born in Kilkea, County Kildare, Ireland (then part of the United Kingdom), Shackleton and his Anglo-Iris family moved to Sydenham in suburban south London when he was ten. His first experie..
The Terra Nova Expedition, officially the British Antarctic Expedition, was an expedition to Antarctica which took place between 1910 and 1913. It was led by Robert Falcon Scott and had various scientific and geographical objectives. Scott wished to continue the scientific work that he had begun when leading the Discovery Expedition to the Antarctic in 1901-04. He also wanted to be the first to ..