March, 2016

• 3 March

  Billionaire Pan’s Goldin beats rivals for US$821 million plot

  

  Victoria City / Bloomberg Hong Kong’s exclusive club of residential property developers will have to make room for a new entrant after billionaire Pan Sutong’s Goldin Financial Holdings Ltd., beat out other bidders including Cheung Kong Property Holdings Ltd. to win a land site for HK$6.38 billion ($821 million). Goldin, a relatively unknown company that’s among the worst performers in ...

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• 3 March

  Trudeau’s message to world: Let govt spending do the work

  

  VANCOUVER / Bloomberg Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is urging global leaders to rely more on government spending and less on monetary policy to spur growth as he prepares a budget that will push his country into deficit. In a wide-ranging interview in Vancouver, Trudeau highlighted the importance of infrastructure spending and measures to bolster incomes of middle classes he ...

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• 3 March

  Growth bound CentAm is loving the oil slump

  Bloomberg The slump in raw materials prices that has hurt Brazil, Chile, Peru and Colombia is leaving Central America unscathed. The region is bucking a trend of sluggish growth in the rest of Latin America as cheaper crude prices cut its fuel bills and faster growth in the U.S. boosts remittances and tourist spending. The region will grow by 4.2 ...

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• 3 March

  Oscar posts $105 mn loss in 2015

  

  NEW YORK / Bloomberg Startup Oscar Health Insurance Corp. lost $105.2 million in its New York and New Jersey businesses last year, a sign that insurers of all sizes are struggling in the new markets created by President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul. The losses, $92.4 million in New York and $12.8 million in New Jersey, were disclosed by Oscar in ...

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• 3 March

  Brazil’s economy shrinks less than forecast in Q4

  RIODE JANERIO /Bloomberg Latin America’s largest economy contracted less than economists expected late last year as a boost in agriculture output helped offset an overall decline in production. Gross domestic product contracted 1.4 percent in the three months ended in December, after a 1.7 percent drop the previous quarter, the national statistics institute said on Thursday in Rio de Janeiro. ...

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• 3 March

  Venezuela in disarray as politicians argue about way ahead

  

  BLOOMBERG As Governor Henri Falcon takes his morning jog through Barquisimeto, the hub of Venezuela’s farming heartland, he crosses a bleak landscape. It’s not yet dawn and hundreds of perspiring shoppers are lining up for food, neighborhoods are dark from rolling blackouts and hospitals so crowded that the sick share beds. Falcon is a rarity in a deeply polarized country: ...

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• 3 March

  Neglected interior poses risk for struggling Tunisia

  

  Tunis / AFP Government neglect in central Tunisia, where poverty and unemployment rates are several times the national average, risks undermining the gains of its revolution and creating a breeding ground for extremism, experts say. Five years after Tunisia’s popular uprising, which set the tone for the momentous Arab Spring wave of protests, the wealth gap between its impoverished interior ...

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• 3 March

  Ankara: Turkey-EU meet ‘shouldn’t just be about migrants’

  Istanbul / AFP A summit next week between Turkey and the European Union billed as crucial for combatting Europe’s migration crisis should not just be about migrants but also discuss Ankara’s relations with the bloc, a Turkish official said on Thursday. The March 7 meeting in Brussels is seen as a crucial chance for EU and Turkish leaders to take ...

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• 3 March

  Iran: GCC moves against Hezbollah harm Lebanon

  Tehran / AFP Iran warned on Thursday that its Gulf Arab rivals were jeopardising Lebanon’s stability by blacklisting the leading force behind its government, Hezbollah, as a terror group. Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said that the Shiite militant group, which is one of Iran’s closest allies, was a bulwark against terrorism in the region. “We are proud of ...

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• 3 March

  IS-inspired militants on offensive in Philippines

  

  Manila / AFP Militants fighting in the name of the IS group are escalating attacks in the southern Philippines, analysts said, deepening fears for the volatile region after its main Muslim rebel group failed to seal a peace pact. Gunmen who have pledged allegiance to the extremists controlling vast swathes of Iraq and Syria have instigated a series of deadly ...

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