Bloomberg Germany’s Angela Merkel will quit as head of her Christian Democratic party after almost two decades, a person familiar with the matter said. She intends to stay on as chancellor and step down when her current term ends in 2021, the person said, despite a series of political setbacks that have eaten into her authority. The shock decision from ...
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White House braces for GOP losses and staff exodus
Bloomberg White House officials are largely resigned to losing Republican control of the US House and are bracing for an exodus of staff worried about a torrent of subpoenas from Democratic congressional investigators. President Donald Trump’s team still sees a possible path to victory. But talk of a “red wave†has ceased, advisers inside and outside the White House said. ...
Read More »Georgia presidential race faces runoff
Bloomberg The contest to be Georgia’s last directly elected president is heading to a runoff after the two main rivals were practically tied first round. Salome Zurabishvili, who’s backed by the ruling Georgian Dream party, topped the list of 25 candidates with 38.6 percent support, ahead of Grigol Vashadze of the Strength in Unity coalition, who received 37.7 percent, with ...
Read More »Swedish speaker takes over process to break deadlock
Bloomberg The speaker of parliament took over the government formation process after more than a month of talks have led nowhere on forming a new Swedish ruling coalition after last month’s inconclusive election. The willingness to compromise has been “limited†so far, Speaker Andreas Norlen said at a press conference in parliament. He will now lead group talks, starting as ...
Read More »Russia oil industry set to lose billions in ship-fuel overhaul
Bloomberg Russia is set to suffer the biggest revenue losses from rules mandating cleaner marine fuels from 2020, because the world’s top exporter of the sulfurous residual oil that powers ships doesn’t look prepared for the change. Refineries across the world are bracing themselves for the once-in-a-generation shift intended to reduce pollution caused by ships. While plants in Europe and ...
Read More »New York’s C2 invests $21mn in new projects
Bloomberg C2 Energy Capital LLC, a New York-based clean-energy developer, raised $21 million to invest in new projects. About half of the money raised for the C2 Taiyo Fund I LP fund is already committed to specific projects. The fund will target renewables and storage investments, including a 51-megawatt solar portfolio being built in South Carolina. C2 develops, owns and ...
Read More »Shipping costs make Europe a LNG hot spot
Bloomberg Forget Asian hunger for energy or where liquefied natural gas (LNG) costs the most, at the moment it’s all about tanker rates. Northwest Europe has seen a boom in LNG imports this month, with cargoes arriving from atypical sources including Peru and Egypt, while the US and Russia are also sending tankers into the most liquid gas market outside ...
Read More »Curb steel production, says ThyssenKrupp CEO
Bloomberg Steelmakers in China and the rest of the world need to do more to reduce overcapacity, according to Guido Kerkhoff, CEO chief executive officer of Germany’s ThyssenKrupp AG. While China made good progress in curbing over-production, there’s room for even more cuts, Kerkhoff said. China has reshaped industry in past three years by closing plants, tightening environmental controls and ...
Read More »China Inc. $287bn perpetual bonds flash warning signs
Bloomberg Chinese firms combating tight funding conditions are bracing for the next shoe to drop: a record amount of perpetual bonds up for redemption. Some 48.9 billion yuan ($7 billion) of perpetual notes will have first call dates this quarter, which means they either have to repay the debt or be forced to increase interest rates by as much as ...
Read More »Bharti Airtel delays IPO of its $8bn Africa business by half a year
Bloomberg Bharti Airtel Ltd., India’s second-biggest wireless carrier, is delaying a planned initial public offering of its Africa unit due to the turmoil in emerging-market stocks, people with knowledge of the matter said. The company, which was originally aiming to list the unit in London by March, has pushed back the share sale by about half a year, according to ...
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