Bloomberg The worst crisis to hit Japan’s nuclear industry since the 2011 Fukushima disaster threatened to entangle PM Shinzo Abe’s ruling party amid scrutiny of donations to lawmakers. Hiroshige Seko of the Liberal Democratic Party received 6 million yen ($56,000) of donations from the president of a company linked to the furor surrounding Kansai Electric Power Co’s nuclear operations, Kyodo ...
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China open to partial US deal despite tech blacklist
Bloomberg China is still open to reaching a partial trade deal with the US, an official with direct knowledge of the talks said, signalling that Beijing is focussed on limiting the damage to the world’s second-largest economy. Negotiators heading to Washington for talks starting on Thursday aren’t optimistic about securing a broad agreement that would end the trade war between ...
Read More »Beijing proposes punishing officials on data manipulation
Bloomberg A draft amendment to China’s Statistics Law will make officials and their bosses directly accountable for data accuracy and also increase the ceiling on fines for companies that report false information. The draft amendment was published by the National Bureau of Statistics on its website, with the bureau calling for feedback until November 9, according to a statement. If ...
Read More »J&J unit ordered to pay $8b in anti-psychotic drug case
Bloomberg Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen unit was hit with an $8 billion punitive-damages verdict — the largest jury award in the US this year — over its alleged mishandling of an anti-psychotic drug blamed for disfiguring the physique of adolescent boys. A state court jury in Philadelphia concluded the Janssen’s wrongful marketing of its Risperdal drug to teens warranted the ...
Read More »Tesla’s cell supplier hires battery expert for key gigafactory role
Bloomberg Panasonic Corp has hired a former Tesla Inc battery guru to a senior role at the so-called gigafactory the two companies share in the US. Celina Mikolajczak, who left Tesla in early 2018 for short stint at Uber Technologies Inc, joined Panasonic this month as vice president of battery technology. She’ll be based in Reno, Nevada, where Tesla and ...
Read More »American farms face long-term losses from trade war, says BCG
Bloomberg US farmers and agribusinesses face a rising threat of long-term losses in export sales as President Donald Trump’s trade war with China continues, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) warned in a report. The finding by a blue-chip management consulting firm could feed mounting fears among major US agricultural players that the damage done from a tariff war that has already ...
Read More »US loses top spot to S’pore in competitiveness rankings
Bloomberg The US dropped from the top spot in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual competitiveness report, losing out to Singapore. Hong Kong, the Netherlands and Switzerland made up the rest of the top five, according to the WEF survey published on Wednesday. On the US, it noted growing uncertainty among business leaders. The forum focussed its report on continued ...
Read More »GE gaping pension deficit tiny part of companies’ $269b gap
Bloomberg General Electric’s gaping pension deficit certainly stands out for its size. But the company is hardly the only one at risk of potentially shortchanging some of its employees come retirement. All across corporate America, underfunded pensions have become the norm. Even now, a decade after the financial crisis, the largest plans face a shortfall of $269 billion, right about ...
Read More »ERC initiative to support 10k orphans in 25 nations
Sharjah / WAM The Emirates Red Crescent (ERC), launched a new humanitarian initiative titled, ‘Orphans Kafalah Programme’, to support 10,000 orphans in 25 countries, under the slogan, ‘Be Their Families’. The programme was launched on social media and SMS in cooperation with Etisalat, and is being promoted in malls for three days around the country, including in Yas Mall, Abu ...
Read More »Aviation industry to add $80b to UAE GDP by 2037
Abu Dhabi / WAM The International Air Transport Association (IATA), presented its latest study on the importance of air transport to the UAE showing that ongoing prioritisation of aviation as a key strategic asset could generate an additional 620,000 jobs and an extra $80 billion in GDP for the nation’s economy by 2037. According to the IATA study, air transport’s ...
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