16 июня.
Amazon is buying Whole Foods Market in earth-shaking, $13.7-billion deal.
Dropping a bombshell on the U.S. grocery industry, online shopping giant Amazon.com Inc. said Friday it has agreed to buy Whole Foods Market Inc. for $13.7 billion in cash.
The deal’s announcement instantly sparked a selloff in the stocks of other major U.S. supermarket and big-box chains on expectations that Amazon would bring its low-price expertise and technology prowess to bear with Whole Foods, putting further downward pressure on prices in the already hyper-competitive, $611-billion U.S. grocery industry.
Russian Military Says It Might Have Killed ISIS Leader
MOSCOW - Russia’s military said on Friday that it was looking into whether one of its airstrikes in the Syrian desert had killed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-declared caliph of the Islamic State.
In a statement, the Defense Ministry said that the Russian Air Force struck a meeting of Islamic State leaders on May 28 outside Raqqa, Syria, the group’s de facto capital, possibly killing Mr. Baghdadi.
The statement offered no explanation for the two-week delay in publicizing the airstrike. And it was also not clear whether the Russian military had known in advance that Mr. Baghdadi was at the gathering, or had learned of this possibility only after the strike was carried out.
Rumors of Mr. Baghdadi’s death had circulated for months before the Russian announcement. But a Pentagon spokesman, Capt. Jeff Davis of the Navy, said on Friday: “We have no information to corroborate those reports.”
U.S. Stands With Qatar's Foes, While Selling F-15s to Qatar
The deal could give the Gulf state the impression that it can defy its neighbors and remain a frenemy of the U.S.
You would be forgiven for thinking the U.S. backs Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in their current standoff against Qatar. President Donald Trump himself has taken the Saudis' line against their fellow Gulf monarchy, tweeting last week that Arab leaders all pointed to Qatar as a serial financier of terrorism.
This was certainly the impression the Emirates' ambassador to Washington, Yousef al-Otaiba, gave to journalists this week. When asked about his meetings at the Pentagon and the State Department, the ambassador said, "I don't think we have a problem with the State Department. I don't think we have a problem with the Pentagon."
Earlier this week, General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Saudi-led diplomatic and economic boycott of Qatar would not affect military operations out of Qatar's Al-Udeid airbase.
This is why it's so strange that Defense Secretary James Mattis would sign a $12 billion deal to sell F-15 fighter jets to the Qataris on Wednesday.
To be sure, the deal was in the works well before the current crisis between Qatar and its Gulf neighbors. And the sale is nowhere near as large as recent multi-billion arms packages negotiated between the U.S. and the Saudis or the Emiratis. Nonetheless, the symbolism matters.
Dropping a bombshell on the U.S. grocery industry, online shopping giant Amazon.com Inc. said Friday it has agreed to buy Whole Foods Market Inc. for $13.7 billion in cash.
The deal’s announcement instantly sparked a selloff in the stocks of other major U.S. supermarket and big-box chains on expectations that Amazon would bring its low-price expertise and technology prowess to bear with Whole Foods, putting further downward pressure on prices in the already hyper-competitive, $611-billion U.S. grocery industry.
Russian Military Says It Might Have Killed ISIS Leader
MOSCOW - Russia’s military said on Friday that it was looking into whether one of its airstrikes in the Syrian desert had killed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-declared caliph of the Islamic State.
In a statement, the Defense Ministry said that the Russian Air Force struck a meeting of Islamic State leaders on May 28 outside Raqqa, Syria, the group’s de facto capital, possibly killing Mr. Baghdadi.
The statement offered no explanation for the two-week delay in publicizing the airstrike. And it was also not clear whether the Russian military had known in advance that Mr. Baghdadi was at the gathering, or had learned of this possibility only after the strike was carried out.
Rumors of Mr. Baghdadi’s death had circulated for months before the Russian announcement. But a Pentagon spokesman, Capt. Jeff Davis of the Navy, said on Friday: “We have no information to corroborate those reports.”
U.S. Stands With Qatar's Foes, While Selling F-15s to Qatar
The deal could give the Gulf state the impression that it can defy its neighbors and remain a frenemy of the U.S.
You would be forgiven for thinking the U.S. backs Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in their current standoff against Qatar. President Donald Trump himself has taken the Saudis' line against their fellow Gulf monarchy, tweeting last week that Arab leaders all pointed to Qatar as a serial financier of terrorism.
This was certainly the impression the Emirates' ambassador to Washington, Yousef al-Otaiba, gave to journalists this week. When asked about his meetings at the Pentagon and the State Department, the ambassador said, "I don't think we have a problem with the State Department. I don't think we have a problem with the Pentagon."
Earlier this week, General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Saudi-led diplomatic and economic boycott of Qatar would not affect military operations out of Qatar's Al-Udeid airbase.
This is why it's so strange that Defense Secretary James Mattis would sign a $12 billion deal to sell F-15 fighter jets to the Qataris on Wednesday.
To be sure, the deal was in the works well before the current crisis between Qatar and its Gulf neighbors. And the sale is nowhere near as large as recent multi-billion arms packages negotiated between the U.S. and the Saudis or the Emiratis. Nonetheless, the symbolism matters.