Bloomberg
“Uber’s London Private Hire License Revoked by Transport Body.”
Facing criminal investigations and government inquiries around the world, Uber Technologies Inc. has lost its license to operate in London in a surprise decision that potentially affects 3.5 million people and 40,000 drivers who use the app in Europe’s largest city.
Regulators in London faulted Uber’s safety and security practices in revoking its permit starting at the end of the month, concluding the company is not «fit and proper to hold a private hire operator license.» The company has 21 days to appeal, and can continue to operate during the appeal process. «We intend to immediately challenge this in the courts,» said Tom Elvidge, general manager of Uber in London.
Uber has faced resistance in markets from Paris to the Philippines, but London’s ruling is one of the most aggressive to date. The decision pits the popularity of the free-wheeling company among millions of customers, against regulators and taxi drivers who want tighter controls over the company’s operations.
Uber cars have filled London streets since it’s arrival in the British capital in 2012, identifiable by the smartphones drivers keep holstered to their windshield. Uber says 3.5 million people use its app every three months. While its corporate image has taken a hit in recent months, city officials are now risking a backlash from customers who find it’s often cheaper and more convenient than hailing a black cab. In a previous showdown with New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio, Uber lobbied its customers to fight proposed restrictions.
Reuters
“A North Korea nuclear test over the Pacific? Logical, terrifying.”
Detonating a nuclear-tipped missile over the Pacific Ocean would be a logical final step by North Korea to prove the success of its weapons program but would be extremely provocative and carry huge risks, arms control experts said on Friday.
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho suggested leader Kim Jong Un was considering testing “an unprecedented scale hydrogen bomb” over the Pacific in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat at the United Nations to “totally destroy” the country.
“It may mean North Korea will fire a warhead-tipped (intermediate range) Hwasong-12 or Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile and blow it up a few hundred kilometers above the Pacific Ocean,” said Yang Uk, a senior researcher at the Korea Defence and Security Forum in Seoul.
While a missile would be the most ideal means of delivery, it is also possible to put a bomb on a ship and detonate on the surface of the ocean or in the sea, the experts said.
Either way, the radioactive fallout could be significant, as well as the diplomatic backlash from around the world. North Korea’s recent missile launches over Japan especially drew stern rebukes from Tokyo and the international community.
Bloomberg
“Canadian Inflation Accelerates to 1.4% on Gasoline.”
Canadian consumer prices continued to show some signs of pick up last month, Statistics Canada said Friday in a report that could bolster policy makers’ confidence inflation is trending higher from extremely low levels.
After two rate hikes since July, investors are anticipating as many as three more increases from the Bank of Canada by the end of next year on the expectation the central bank will act to quash any inflation pressures.
While the inflation rate remains below the central bank’s target, the Bank of Canada has justified the rate hikes by citing quickly vanishing excess capacity in the economy and by claiming the forces keeping inflation subdued are temporary.
The clearest sign the recent weakness in prices has at least bottomed out are signs of rising key core inflation readings. The 1.53 percent reading is the highest since February.Sluggish inflation has primarily been a goods phenomenon. The prices for goods have actually been deflating on a year-over- year basis in recent months, but showed some pick-up in August with a 0.4 percent reading. Service price inflation has been at or above the central bank’s 2 percent target for 10 months, and posted a 2.2 percent gain in August.
BBC News
“Brexit: Theresa May sets out UK offer to break deadlock.”
Theresa May has begun her key Brexit speech by telling EU leaders: «We want to be your strongest friend and partner as the EU and UK thrive side by side.» But she added that the UK «never totally felt at home being in the EU». The British had made a choice to leave – but the country will not be «leaving Europe,» said the prime minster. The speech, in Florence, Italy, is a bid to break the deadlock in Brexit negotiations, which are due to resume on Monday.
It is understood she will back a two-year transition after March 2019 while a permanent trade deal is worked out. It could include payments worth 20bn euros (about £18bn) over the two years.
In her speech in Florence, Italy, Mrs May is expected to make what has been described as an «open and generous» offer, potentially worth 20bn euros over the two years – which could plug a black hole in the current EU budget to 2020, created by the UK’s departure.