The US Supreme Court has said it will consider a challenge to one of President Barack Obama’s key immigration reform plans.
The plan would lift the threat of deportation from five million migrants living illegally in the US.
A coalition of 26 mostly conservative states, led by Texas, has been successful in lower court challenges.
The battle between London’s black cabs and upstart incomer Uber has been a relatively subdued affair thus far — aside from the odd scuffle and some roadblocking demonstrations last year. Not for Brits the violent displays of anger seen over the channel in France last summer.
But despite the lack of open street warfare in London there’s still no love lost between London’s distinctive — and heavily regulated — Black Cabs and the Silicon Valley upstart.
And now a group of London Black Cab supporters, called Action for Cabbies, is hoping to step up the fight by launching a crowdfunding campaign to push for a judicial review of Transport for London’s 2012 decision to grant Uber a licence to operate in the city.
It’s arguing that the procedures followed were wrong and that TfL has subsequently failed to enforce the law. The group is led by Artemis Mercer, the wife of a cabbie, who has also been running a campaign group on Facebook.
LONDON — Members of Parliament have begun debating the issue of banning Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump from the UK.
The scheduled three-hour session was prompted by a petition to ban him from the country as well as a counter petition saying he should be allowed in, after he made a series of controversial remarks.
The debate is being led by Paul Flynn MP, a member of the Petitions Committee. It will be on the motion: “That this House has considered e-petitions 114003 and 114907 relating to the exclusion of Donald Trump from the UK.”
Morgan Stanley has shaken up its trading business.
The bank has put Sam Kellie-Smith, who used to run global equity trading, in charge of fixed income and commodities.
One way to read this? In appointing a stocks specialist to run bond trading, Morgan Stanley is making clear where its focus lies.
Walmart announced its first ever mass store closing on Friday, with 269 stores worldwide set to close their doors.
Of these closures, 154 are in the U.S., including all of the company’s 102 smallest Walmart Express stores.
The Bentonville, Ark. big-box giant will abandon its Walmart Express format, focusing on existing Supercenters, its growing Neighborhood Market grocery chain and its e-commerce business, according to a statement.
Walmart said 16,000 employees will be affected by this decision, 10,000 of whom are in the U.S.
“More than 95 percent of the closed stores in the U.S. are within 10 miles on average of another Walmart, and the hope is that these associates will be placed in nearby locations,” said Walmart in its Friday news release.
BOULOGNE-SUR-MER, France — A French court convicted a British ex-soldier Thursday of endangerment for trying to spirit a 4-year-old Afghan girl from a squalid migrant camp in Calais to family members in Britain, but dropped a tougher smuggling charge and handed him only a suspended fine.
The conviction appeared to be a symbolic punishment and a victory for Rob Lawrie, who apologized for what he called an “irrational” move. His case epitomized the clash between the heart and the law amid Europe’s record-breaking migrant influx.
The State Department expressed gratitude to Iran on Wednesday for releasing 10 U.S. sailors briefly detained after their two small boats drifted into Iranian waters but denied apologizing to the controversial Middle Eastern power.
“Absolutely ZERO truth to rumors that @JohnKerry apologized to Iran over Sailors. Nothing to apologize for,” State Department spokesman John Kirby tweeted.
The dramatic crash in crude oil prices just got even more stunning. Oil plummeted below $30 a barrel on Tuesday for the first time since December 2003. The latest wave of selling leaves crude oil down 19% this year alone. It represents an incredible 72% plunge from crude oil’s June 2014 peak of almost $108.
“The fundamental situation for oil markets is much worse than previously thought,” Barclays commodities analysts wrote in a client note.
Twitter played a big role in making hashtag usage so widespread, and now the company is introducing an exclusive new ad format that utilizes the hashtag even further.
Called “conversational ads,” these ads are essentially promoted tweets. The Twitter hashtag ad will include call to action buttons with several custom hashtags the advertiser has created for their campaign. The buttons let you pick between hashtags under the tweet and then retweet the ad.
v.20 n. 1 – Released January 6, 2016
Dispatches From The Front 