Editing

Errors of curation: On collections edited by Otto Penzler, and how even respected anthologists can get things wrong

When we trust someone as an expert in a field, we want them to be informed as well as scrupulous. Otto Penzler's errors are a caution not just to editors but also to critics and teachers who are tempted to sound more knowledgeable than they are about a book or film.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey hints at a 'tweet edit' function for the microblogging site

Dorsey started an impromptu Twitter town hall with the users last night asking them about the most important thing that Twitter can improve or create in 2017.

ANALYSIS - Pain before gain for Indian banks after Modi's cash gamble | Reuters

By Devidutta Tripathy and Manoj Kumar | MUMBAI/NEW DELHI MUMBAI/NEW DELHI India's shock move to abolish high-value banknotes was expected to deliver a windfall to lenders, and banks have indeed seen coffers swell after people deposited 12.4 trillion rupees($183 billion) in cash into the system.But while banks may benefit in the longer term, so-called "demonetisation" has hit them hard in the immediate aftermath, with demand for credit plummeting and additional costs incurred to make the transition.Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to remove 500 and 1,000 rupee notes to funnel illicit cash into the formal financial sector has led to a severe cash shortage as the central bank has replaced barely a third of the higher-value notes that had been in circulation.That has hit business confidence and dented demand for loans, hurting banks that were already battling the weakest loan growth in nearly two decades.Not that they have resources to process loans anyway. Removing 86 percent of currency in circulation from Asia's third-largest economy has proved harder than expected, and staff have focused mainly on customers changing old money for new."Our top priority is to provide relief to our customers, while lending could wait for some time," said Vaibhav Anand, who manages a branch of state-run Bank of India in Parliament Street, near Modi's office in New Delhi.For a sector that has long struggled with low profitability and sour loans currently totalling $136 billion, even a temporary hit is painful.And the impact could be longer than expected, if businesses recover slowly.The government needs a healthy banking sector to channel loans and fuel private investment to power an economy that grew 7.3 percent in July-September, the fastest pace among large countries but below 8 percent needed to sustain full employment.Avtar Singh, owner of a small auto parts manufacturer in Ludhiana, in the northern state of Punjab, was applying to increase his credit limit to 20 million rupees from 15 million to expand his business.Now, no bank official has time for him, and 40 of his 150 employees have stopped working since he can't pay all the salaries."No bank is ready to give a new loan to us, as all of their staff are busy exchanging currency," said Singh.

ANALYSIS - Pain before gain for Indian banks after Modi's cash gamble | Reuters

By Devidutta Tripathy and Manoj Kumar | MUMBAI/NEW DELHI MUMBAI/NEW DELHI India's shock move to abolish high-value banknotes was expected to deliver a windfall to lenders, and banks have indeed seen coffers swell after people deposited 12.4 trillion rupees($183 billion) in cash into the system.But while banks may benefit in the longer term, so-called "demonetisation" has hit them hard in the immediate aftermath, with demand for credit plummeting and additional costs incurred to make the transition.Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to remove 500 and 1,000 rupee notes to funnel illicit cash into the formal financial sector has led to a severe cash shortage as the central bank has replaced barely a third of the higher-value notes that had been in circulation.That has hit business confidence and dented demand for loans, hurting banks that were already battling the weakest loan growth in nearly two decades.Not that they have resources to process loans anyway. Removing 86 percent of currency in circulation from Asia's third-largest economy has proved harder than expected, and staff have focused mainly on customers changing old money for new."Our top priority is to provide relief to our customers, while lending could wait for some time," said Vaibhav Anand, who manages a branch of state-run Bank of India in Parliament Street, near Modi's office in New Delhi.For a sector that has long struggled with low profitability and sour loans currently totalling $136 billion, even a temporary hit is painful.And the impact could be longer than expected, if businesses recover slowly.The government needs a healthy banking sector to channel loans and fuel private investment to power an economy that grew 7.3 percent in July-September, the fastest pace among large countries but below 8 percent needed to sustain full employment.Avtar Singh, owner of a small auto parts manufacturer in Ludhiana, in the northern state of Punjab, was applying to increase his credit limit to 20 million rupees from 15 million to expand his business.Now, no bank official has time for him, and 40 of his 150 employees have stopped working since he can't pay all the salaries."No bank is ready to give a new loan to us, as all of their staff are busy exchanging currency," said Singh.

Vivendi denies plan to take over Italian broadcaster Mediaset | Reuters

By Stephen Jewkes | MILAN MILAN Vivendi denied on Saturday it was planning to take over Mediaset after buying a fifth of the Italian broadcaster in a move that has riled the government and stoked an ongoing row between the companies over a pay-TV deal.Vivendi, led by French billionaire and corporate raider Vincent Bollore, became Mediaset's No. 2 shareholder behind Fininvest - the holding company of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi - when it reached an initial goal of building a 20 percent stake this week.The Italian government cautioned Vivendi against mounting a hostile takeover bid for Mediaset, Italy's largest private broadcaster and one of the country's biggest employers.Officials are concerned that Bollore, who controls Telecom Italia and is a key shareholder in Mediobanca, could end up wielding even bigger influence over Italy's corporate landscape.The country's communications watchdog warned Vivendi this week that any bid to concentrate control of Mediaset and Telecom Italia could be illegal.But in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera on Saturday, Vivendi CEO Arnaud de Puyfontaine said the move was not hostile but rather part of Bollore's broader plans to build a European company with global reach."We have a long-term interest, we want to be an industrial partner (of Mediaset)," he said.He denied Vivendi was seeking to take over Mediaset, saying if that had been the case it would have launched a takeover bid."We have the means to do so," he told the newspaper, adding that the French company had spent about 800 million euros ($836 million) to build the 20 percent stake.However, he declined to say whether Vivendi might launch a bid at a later date.

Colombian government and rebels agree on demobilization plan | Reuters

HAVANA Colombia's government and leftist FARC rebels took another step towards ending more than a half century of conflict on Friday, agreeing on a U.N.-supervised security protocol, timetable and other details for disarming the estimated 9,000 guerrillas. The announcement came after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the government of President Juan Manuel Santos signed in June an historic agreement that stated they had reached deals on all major issues and established a de facto ceasefire and the parameters for the rebels to disarm and rejoin civil society.

S&P 500 and Nasdaq close at record highs | Reuters

SAN FRANCISCO U.S. stocks notched their best day in a month on Friday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closing at record highs after a second straight month of robust labor market data increased optimism that economic growth is accelerating. The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 191.48 points, or 1.04 percent, to 18,543.53, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 18.6 points, or 0.86 percent, to 2,182.85 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 54.87 points, or 1.06 percent, to 5,221.12.

Economists tell Sri Lanka president, finance minister, their policies inconsistent | Reuters

COLOMBO Two Sri Lankan economists told a summit attended by President Maithripala Sirisena and his finance minister on Tuesday the government's economic policies were destabilising and inconsistent, one calling its price controls "supreme idiocy". Sri Lanka has been struggling against a balance of payments crisis, partly caused by heavy external borrowing under the previous government

Fed's Kaplan urges patience in raising rates, points to global risks | Reuters

BEIJING A raft of global risks that could adversely affect the United States remains on the horizon and requires close monitoring, Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan said on Tuesday. Kaplan, along with several other Fed policymakers, has urged renewed caution in trying to lift rates again since the U.S.

Wall St. edges up; Alphabet and Amazon rise after the bell | Reuters

Wall Street edged higher on Thursday as investors looked beyond disappointing earnings from Ford and bought shares in Apple, while Alphabet surged after the bell following its quarterly report.