Business News at a Glance

Taking the Pulse of Nigerian Style

It’s not easy running a fashion magazine in Nigeria. Roughly 87 million people in the country live below the poverty line. But thanks to industries like oil, Nigeria is also awash in wealth and opulence, and luxury brands are eager to establish firmer footholds there. So the Nigerian fashion magazine industry has found a receptive young readership. People turn to the publications looking for the latest news about movie stars, Afrobeats artists, fashion models, social media personalities and African reality TV figures. And it has benefited from the cultural cachet that Nigerian fashion and entertainment have built around the globe.

Election Ads Turn Nasty, but Candidates Still ‘Approve This Message’

There was a time when Democrats and Republicans could breathe the same air without choking on it. It was in 2002 that they worked together to make the ads that flood the airwaves every election season a little less nasty. That year, the “Stand By Your Ad” provision was passed as part of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. The idea was simple. A mix of shame and self-preservation would make candidates less inclined to put out ads that were false or designed to whip up racist or xenophobic sentiments. But 16 years later, negative political ads seem to be everywhere.

Reporter Gets Trump Scoops, and Criticism

To cover President Donald Trump’s White House is to play in a treacherous arena. But Jonathan Swan, the star correspondent for the upstart news outlet Axios, has struck a bigger nerve than most. He’s scaled journalism’s most competitive beat with brute force (competitors say his calendar is booked weeks ahead), a TV-ready persona (he’s a regular on the cable circuit) and a truffle-pig’s nose for news. Last week, Swan landed a big story when he cajoled Trump into acknowledging that he wants to end automatic citizenship for immigrant children born in America. But liberals were disgusted with Swan’s gleeful reaction.

Booksellers Protest Amazon Site’s Move to Drop Stores From Certain Countries

More than 250 antiquarian book dealers in 24 countries say they are pulling over 1 million books off an Amazon-owned site for a week, an impromptu protest after the site abruptly moved to ban sellers from several nations. The flash strike against the site, AbeBooks, which is to begin Monday, is a rare concerted action by vendors against any part of Amazon, which depends on third-party sellers for much of its merchandise. The protest arrives as increasing attention is being paid to the extensive power that Amazon wields as a retailer — a power that is greatest in books.

Did You Vote? Now Your Friends May Know (and Nag You)

VoteWithMe and OutVote, two new political apps, are trying to use peer pressure to get people to vote Tuesday. The apps are to elections what Zillow is to real estate — services that pull public information from government records, repackage it for consumer viewing and make it available on smartphones. But instead of giving you a peek at house prices, VoteWithMe and OutVote let you snoop on which of your friends voted in past elections and their party affiliations — and then prod them to go to the polls by sending them scripted messages like “You gonna vote?”