Bloomberg The anti-establishment party Podemos is poised to become a key part of the puzzle when Catalan politicians come to piece together a new government after this month’s regional election. Polls suggest it’s a toss-up whether the three Catalan separatists parties retain their majority after the vote on December 21. If they fall short, Podemos’s Catalan ally, known as Catalunya ...

Bloomberg The Democratic Republic of Congo’s government recruited fighters from a rebellion it defeated in 2013 to suppress protests by opponents of President Joseph Kabila in December last year, Human Rights Watch said. Senior Congolese security officials mobilized “at least 200 and likely many more” M23 combatants from camps in Rwanda and Uganda, where many fighters have been based since ...

Bloomberg Shares of US banks and industrial conglomerates rallied and the dollar strengthened after progress on the Republican tax-overhaul plan spurred bets on higher corporate earnings, while technology shares slumped. Gains in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 were led by companies that stand to be big winners from the tax overhaul. An index of the biggest tech ...

Reuters Qatar’s stock market jumped by its biggest margin in nearly five months on Monday because of hopes that Doha’s diplomatic dispute will be resolved. Most other Gulf markets were firm. Qatar’s stock index, which has been trading near six-year lows, surged 2.2 percent as trading volume doubled. Real estate firm Ezdan Holding, which has been hit hard by a ...

RIYADH / Reuters Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Monday oil producers might start discussing in June when to raise output once the market out-look was clearer, even though OPEC was expected to conti- nue output curbs in the second half of 2018. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC producers led by Russia have agreed ...

NEW DELHI / SINGAPORE / Reuters Two of India’s state-owned oil refiners have issued tenders seeking to charter tankers for at least five years while giving preference to Indian companies, tender documents reviewed by Reuters showed, which would boost domestic shipping firms battered by slumping tanker rates. India’s Ministry of Shipping asked the refiners to issue long-term crude import tenders ...

RIYADH / Reuters Saudi Arabia has invited US firms to take part in developing its civilian nuclear power programme, Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Monday, adding the kingdom was not interested in diverting nuclear technology to military use. Reuters has reported that Westinghouse is in talks with other US-based companies to form a consortium for a multi-billion-dollar project to ...

Bloomberg From oil majors to trading companies to pipeline operators, US companies are jumping at the chance to supply a newly free Mexico fuel market. After years of preparation, Mexico finished liberalizing prices for gasoline and diesel across the country. Foreign companies were allowed to start moving fuels in April last year, but now consumers’ costs will be more closely ...

Bloomberg Don’t expect Big Shale to rush and fill the hole left by OPEC in the oil market. Executives from three of the biggest independent US drillers say they won’t increase activity just because prices rise after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies agreed to extend output curbs. The emphasis, instead, will be on maintaining spending discipline ...

What the Republicans are offering on taxes is a bad bargain for America’s future. They would borrow — roughly $1.5 trillion over a decade — to finance tax cuts that are pleasing for the present. Future Americans would pay the bill. There are at least three reasons why the Senate should reject its version of this self-serving deal. First, it’s ...