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Bloomberg Vietnam’s economic expansion this year may exceed the higher end of an official estimate, President Nguyen Phu Trong said. Growth may be more than 6.8%, and gross domestic product may surpass $266 billion, Trong said in a government statement on Sunday. That compares with the official 6.6% to 6.8% range forecast. Vietnam’s 2019 inflation rate is expected to be ...

Bloomberg Australia is advancing separate talks with the US, Japan and South Korea over the development of local rare earths mining projects in an effort to bolster production outside China, which dominates the output of the materials. Rare earths, a group of 17 elements needed in components for missile systems to consumer electronics, had been flagged as a potential weapon ...

Bloomberg Japan tackled rescue and cleanup operations after a powerful typhoon ripped across the country, causing major flooding and landslides and leaving at least 21 people dead and hundreds of thousands without power. More than 160 people were injured and at least 16 were missing as many areas were hit by record amounts of rainfall and violent winds, according to ...

Bloomberg Two more meetings are planned to try to wrap up the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade pact before an Asean summit next month, Thai Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit told reporters after a RCEP ministerial meeting in Bangkok. Senior officials from 16 nations will meet next week in Bangkok to discuss the remaining key elements, while RCEP ministers will ...

Bloomberg Singapore has received responses from several companies offering to collaborate on its plan to operate autonomous buses, the Sunday Times reported, without citing sources. The Land Transport Authority and the Economic Development Board wouldn’t disclose which companies responded but they are likely to include Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd, ComfortDelGro Corp, SMRT Corp, French automation startup EasyMile, Nanyang Technological University ...

Bloomberg Indian companies struggling to tackle false information and speculation doing the rounds on WhatsApp and other social media sites are finally seeking help from the authorities. Yes Bank Ltd this month registered a police complaint against what it said was “fake news” about its financial health “to create panic and fear in the mind of its depositors.” Piramal Enterprises ...

Bloomberg The Irish border issue isn’t the only Brexit-induced headache the island is facing. How to keep the lights on in the long term is also far from resolved. Weeks before the UK is due to leave the European Union, questions remain over trading agreements and Ireland’s 12-year-old single electricity market, known as the SEM. While nobody thinks there will ...

Bloomberg Royal Mail Plc faces the prospect of Christmas chaos, with letter and package deliveries grinding to a halt, should its workers agree this week to strike, the Sunday Times reported. About 110,000 Communication Workers Union (CWU) members have been balloted and the results on Tuesday are expected to lead to a mass strike over pay, conditions and employment terms, ...

Bloomberg Twitter users following the #savepizzaexpress hashtag will probably get what they want, at least in part. Creditors to troubled casual-dining group PizzaExpress Ltd, which has around $1.4 billion of debts, expect to see much of their money returned and the brand survive, according to analyst Helen Rodriguez at CreditSights in London. “There’s a brand and a business for PizzaExpress, ...

Bloomberg In the event of a no-deal Brexit there will be no special rules for trade between the UK and the European Union, the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) director-general Roberto Azevedo said in an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. A trade without customs duties would only be possible, if customs would be removed for all other trading partners, too, he ...