A handful of international stories you might want to consider on a very slow news morning at home and abroad:

• The Dubai Financial Market is (finally) planning to introduce short selling “in the coming months.”
• We’re about to get some competition for offshore oil investment from … Lebanon? “Lebanon approved two measures allowing it to auction its first offshore oil and natural gas rights, ending three years of delays that kept the tiny country from joining a regional race to tap energy wealth in the eastern Mediterranean,” Bloomberg reports.
• “America’s Roster of Public Companies Is Shrinking Before Our Eyes” declares the Wall Street Journal (paywall), explaining that plentiful private capital and a merger boom is causing listings to plunge by more than 3,000 since the 1997 peak. “The U.S. is becoming “de-equitized,” putting some of the best investing prospects out of the reach of ordinary Americans. The stock market once offered a way for average investors to buy into the fastest-growing companies, helping spread the nation’s wealth. Since the financial crisis, the equity market has become bifurcated, with a private option available to select investors and a public one that is more of a last resort for companies.
• The West’s Biggest Problem Is Dwindling Trust, by Russian business journalist Leonid Bershidsky for Bloomberg View, will resonate with many of us here.
• The Donald is thinking about restructuring the US intelligence community, the Wall Street Journal reports.
• The Amazon Effect: US retailer Sears is closing 150 stores while iconic brand Macy’s will shutter 68 outlets and slash 10k jobs as part of the ongoing shakeup of the US retail space.
• Weep, children of the 1980s: The Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Manhattan will close indefinitely for renovations on 28 February. Even if you’ve not visited, you’ll recognize the place from films and TV shows including Welcome to America, [Redacted] and the City and the tango scene in Scent of a Woman.