Global Macro/Economics/Investing
- The Gambler’s Ruin of Small Cities (Wonkish) – NYT
- When Forecasters Get It Wrong: Always – NYT
- The best work on political economy in 2017 – WaPo
- “The markets are happy”: Why Wall Street didn’t panic about democracy under Trump – Apple News
- Major Banks Reportedly Just Began Freezing Accounts of Bitcoin Users – Freethoughtproject
- 2018 will be the ‘worst for humanitarian crises’ since the Second World War – Telegraph (its going to be tremendous, fantastic, believe me)
Americas
- How the Russia Inquiry Began: A Campaign Aide, Drinks and Talk of Political Dirt – NYT
- On Jan. 1, California is basically becoming a different state – Quartz
- New tax law expected to slow rise of home values, creating winners and losers – WaPo
- Trump Boasts He’s Signed More Laws Than Any President Since Truman. He’s Actually Signed the Fewest. – Slate (Trump lies? Shock..horror)
- Venezuela raises minimum wage 40 percent, stoking world’s fastest inflation – Reuters
- Canada: Too cold for penguins. – CTVNews (must be global warming?)
Europe/Middle East
- UK may use taxes to get tech giants to do more to fight extremism, minister says – Yahoo
- Why the Iran Uprising Matters – The Atlantic
- Iran’s president urges protesters to avoid violence as unrest grips the country – WaPo
- Brexit-Battered Pound as Volatile as Emerging-Market Currencies – Bloomberg
- Germany starts enforcing hate speech law. – BBC
- Nuclear reactor to shut down amid Germany’s atomic phase-out: DW.com
- UK Minimum wage would be £26,000 if rate matched executive pay rises, GMB finds – GMB union highlights huge gap as top earnings soar ahead of worst paid workers’ wages – The Guardian
Asia
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- Kim Jong-un says US ’cannot declare war’ on nuclear-armed North Korea – ABC
- China bans 553 car models in fight against smog – Autoblog
- South Korea seizes another ship suspected of transferring oil to North Korea – Reuters
- North Korea’s Kim says nuclear weapons will prevent war with U.S. – Reuters
- North Korea calls for a peaceful new year. Hopes to send athletes to Olympics. – BBC
- China’s growth engine stutters as factories slow down – The Guardian
- Japan’s need for foreign labor to get dire as 2050 nears – JapanTimes
Australia/New Zealand
- Thousands flee fireworks explosion at Australia beach – BBC (there’s safety in staying at home and going to bed at 9pm, I’m just saying…)
- The Australian ambassador to the United States Joe Hockey personally steered Australia’s dealings with the FBI on explosive revelations of Russian hacking during last year’s presidential campaign. – SMH (good on ya Joe!)
- Pro-Israel group calls Lorde a ‘bigot’ in full-page ad in Washington Post – The Age
- Malcolm Turnbull says postal survey could decide future of Australian republic – The Guardian (can we leave everything to the post please?)
- ‘He was impossible’: Beazley says Rudd had 24-hour media obsession – The Age
…and some more
- I Helped Popularize The Term “Fake News” And Now I Cringe Whenever I Hear It – Buzzfeed
- Niagara Falls is coated in ice — and absolutely jaw-dropping– WaPo
- Who was Marcus Aurelius? An introduction to the last great emperor, leader and stoic of Rome – FarnamStreet
- Pope, in year-end message, says 2017 was marred by war and lies – Reuters
- Airline safety: 2017 was safest year in history for passengers around world, research shows – Independent
- His name is a household word. Who was he? – The Age