Financial Markets and Economy
World’s Best-Funded Pension Market Has a $650 Billion Warning (Bloomberg)
No country on the planet is better prepared to pay for its aging population than Denmark. But a nation whose pension industry has been ahead of the curve for decades is now bracing for a fundamental shift that most people probably aren’t prepared for, according to the financial regulator.
Wall Street is worried Trump may bring back an economic disaster from the 1970s (Business Insider)
One of the dirtiest words to come out of the 1970s, at least in economic circles, is stagflation.
Abu Dhabi Stocks Drop Most in Month to Lead Decline Across Gulf (Bloomberg)
Abu Dhabi stocks retreated the most in a month after three banks said they were unaware of plans for possible mergers, dashing investor optimism that competition in the emirate’s financial sector will ease.
Dubai Real Estate Prices Seen Falling 5% in 2017 Before Recovery (Bloomberg)
Real estate prices in Dubai will continue declining in 2017 with a recovery only starting late next year, property consultancy Cluttons said.
Trump is about to use a budget trick to steal from an entire generation (Business Insider)
Donald Trump is about to engage in a massive generational theft, and he is likely to use a classic budget trick to pull it off.
Non-Traditional Funders Give Entrepreneurs A Leg Up (Forbes)
If you’ve been following my startup story here on Forbes, you know that the search for startup capital has posed a hurdle for me. Oddly though, that same lack of capital has also fueled my creativity in finding ways to surmount business obstacles, while creating a deep-rooted belief in forming partnerships with others who can offer support in what I’m building.
Companies
Shell Fights Lawsuits Over Environmental Record in Nigeria (The Wall Street Journal)
LONDON—Royal Dutch Shell PLC is fighting lawsuits this coming week in London and the Netherlands over its environmental record in Nigeria, highlighting the quagmire of problems the energy company faces there as it tries to pivot away from the West African nation.
Technology
A tech entrepreneur explains what it's like to get acquired by Amazon (Business Insider)
When your small startup gets acquired by a megacorporation like Amazon the impact is life-changing.
That's exactly what happened to Cambridge entrepreneur William Tunsall-Pedoe back in 2012.
Mark Zuckerberg Explains How Facebook Plans to Fight Fake News (The Wall Street Journal)
Mark Zuckerberg late Friday outlined several steps Facebook Inc. is testing to fight misinformation, an acknowledgment that the social network could be doing more to avoid its proliferation.
U.S. Regulators Move to Stop Chinese Takeover of German Tech Firm Aixtron (The Wall Street Journal)
U. S. regulators are yet again set to block a takeover of a European technology company by a Chinese buyer, a further sign of how China Inc.’s recent shopping binge is raising security concerns in the Western world.
Forget wearables. In the future, your clothes will connect to the internet (Quartz)
Imagine you’ve just purchased a new jacket from your favorite brand. You put it on for the first time, and scan a tag embedded in the sleeve with your phone. A menu of options pops up.
Swedish IoT startup H&D Wireless raises $3 million, considering IPO (Tech.eu, Venture Beat)
Swedish IoT startup H&D Wireless has raised $3 million from Blasieholmen Investment Group and its network of 40 Swedish and European private entrepreneurs and investors. The company says it has the option of bringing in an additional $4 million from the same investors.
Samsung Says It Has not Found Any Battery Failures With The Galaxy S7 (Digital Trends)
With the debacle that was the Galaxy Note 7 in its rearview mirror, Samsung now turns its attention to its Galaxy S7 line of phones, which have shown up in the news for some of the same reasons as their larger sibling did. However, Samsung wants to assure users that, whether they have the Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge, either smartphone is safe to use.
Elon Musk shows how Tesla self-driving cars will be fun and easy (Mashable Asia)
Tesla founder Elon Musk made waves last month when he announced that the company would begin equipping all new vehicles with self-driving hardware.
Awesome Tech You Can't Buy Yet: Custom LED Sneakers, Invisible Drums, And More (Digital Trends)
At any given moment, there are approximately a zillion crowdfunding campaigns on the web. Take a stroll through Kickstarter or Indiegogo, and you’ll find no shortage of weird, useless, and downright stupid projects out there — alongside some real gems.
Helping autonomous vehicles and humans share the road (The Conversation)
A common fantasy for transportation enthusiasts and technology optimists is for self-driving cars and trucks to form the basis of a safe, streamlined, almost choreographed dance. In this dream, every vehicle – and cyclist and pedestrian – proceeds unimpeded on any route, as the rest of the traffic skillfully avoids collisions and even eliminates stop-and-go traffic.
Politics
Philippines Duterte Steps Up Attack on West in Talks With Putin (Bloomberg)
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte stepped up his attacks on the U.S. and other Western nations as he held his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima, Peru.
Nigel Farage says he would stand for election again in South Thanet (The Guardian)
Nigel Farage has said he would stand for parliament again if there were a re-run of the South Thanet election, going back on a previous pledge to retire from frontline politics.
How Wall Street Firms Make Money From Donald Trump’s Prison Policy (International Business Times)
President-elect Donald Trump is a fan of privatization in general, and the privatization of prisons and detention facilities in particular. That's good news for the two corporations that dominate the industry— Tennessee-based CoreCivic and Florida-based GEO Group.
Weathering the Trump Climate (TruthOut)
Yes, there are reasons to fear an impending environmental disaster: Donald Trump has spent much of his campaign claiming the mantle of climate-change-denier-in-chief, and his vice-presidential running mate isn't much better.
Angela Merkel expected to announce she will stand for re-election (The Guardian)
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, is expected to announce her bid for re-election Sunday in a move that is likely to be welcomed in many capitals as a sign of stability following poll triumphs for Brexit and Donald Trump.
Trump's $1 trillion plan hits D.C. speed bumps (Politico)
It was supposed to be a big, beautiful infrastructure bill. But President-elect Donald Trump’s pitch for a $1 trillion upgrade of the nation’s roads, bridges, tunnels and airports is already running into potholes as it meets reality in Washington.
Health and Biotech
Zika: Let's give women the contraception they so desperately want (The Guardian)
As Zika continues to spread through the western hemisphere, the women’s health aspect of the virus has not entered the public conversation. Perhaps more than the failure to control mosquito populations, lack of access to widespread, effective contraception is the root cause of microcephaly in most of Latin America and the Caribbean, and yet remains the least talked about aspect of the epidemic.
Life on the Home Planet
Train Derails in Northern India, Killing 104 and Trapping Many (AP, Bloomberg)
Pukhrayan, India (AP) — At least 104 people were killed when 14 coaches of an overnight passenger train rolled off the track in northern India early Sunday, with rescue workers using cutting torches to try to pull out survivors, police said.
Church in northern Iraq reopened after two years under IS control (Reuters)
The bells have rung out after two years of silence in the Mar Korkeis church in the town of Bashiqa, some 15 km (10 miles) north of Mosul, Islamic State's last major city stronghold in Iraq.
Syrian family, pupils among dozens killed in Aleppo attacks (Reuters)
A barrel bomb killed a family of six in rebel-held eastern Aleppo early on Sunday and rebel shelling killed eight children at a school in the government-held sector almost a week into one of the heaviest government bombardments of Syria's civil war.
