April, 2022

• 18 April

  Don’t expect Lee era to end soon in Singapore

    Singapore’s finance minister, Lawrence Wong, has solidified his place as the front runner to succeed Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. As the now-undisputed leader of a rising political class, the top job is his to lose. Just don’t expect the Lee era to end next month, or even next year. Wong’s ascent puts to rest a rare period of ...

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• 18 April

  Pakistan’s political crisis is an energy crisis, too

    The political crisis that pitched Pakistan’s prime minister Imran Khan from office wasn’t just about the failure of his anti-corruption agenda and mismanagement of an economy where inflation running at nearly 13% has driven months of opposition protests. It’s also, as with so many of Pakistan’s political crises, about energy and exchange rates. For decades, heavy dependence on imported ...

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• 18 April

  Texas gas pipeline triggers methane leak

  

    Bloomberg A natural gas pipeline in Texas leaked so much of the super-potent greenhouse gas methane in little more than an hour that by one estimate its climate impact was equivalent to the annual emissions from about 16,000 US cars. The leak came from a 16-inch (41-centimeter) pipe that’s a tiny part of a vast web of unregulated lines ...

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• 18 April

  China eyes Tibet’s wind for clean energy

  

    Bloomberg China has identified enough wind energy potential in Tibet to power the UK, Germany and France combined, and plans to further develop the region to help meet its ambitious climate targets. Tibet has enough sites with strong, steady wind to install 600 gigawatts of turbines, with another 420 gigawatts possible in parts of the plateau in neighboring regions ...

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• 18 April

  Pakistan cuts power to households on fuel shortage

  

    Bloomberg Pakistan is cutting electricity to households and industry as the cash-strapped country can no longer afford to buy coal or natural gas from overseas to fuel its power plants. The South Asian nation is struggling to procure fuel from the spot market after prices of liquefied natural gas and coal surged to records last month as the war ...

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• 18 April

  Party urges support for Xi as anger grows on lockdowns

  

  Bloomberg The Chinese Communist Party’s flagship newspaper called on the nation to support President Xi Jinping’s Covid Zero strategy, showing any shift in policy is unlikely even as lockdowns in Shanghai and elsewhere threaten to hurt the economy. In a front-page commentary, the People’s Daily said Xi’s strategy to snuff out the virus has proven “correct and effective” and China ...

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• 18 April

  French prosecutor investigates Le Pen after EU fraud report

  

  Bloomberg The Paris prosecutor is looking into allegations that nationalist leader Marine Le Pen and several of her party members misused hundreds of thousands of euros of European Union funds between 2004 and 2017 when she was a member of the European Parliament, with just a week left before she stands in the final round of the French presidential election. ...

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• 18 April

  Mariupol defenders hold out; missiles hit Lviv

  

  Bloomberg The remaining defenders of Mariupol are encircled by Russian forces but have not surrendered the strategically important port city, Ukrainian officials said, as a deadly strike was reported in Lviv near the Polish border. Ukrainian troops in besieged Mariupol still held out at the giant Azovstal steelworks, one of the largest metallurgical plants in Europe. Air raid sirens were ...

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• 18 April

  Sri Lanka must show IMF debt plan for aid

  

    Bloomberg When Sri Lankan officials arrive in Washington to meet with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) amid an economic and political crisis, the main question they’ll need to answer is how the country plans to manage its billions in debt. Sri Lanka is seeking up to $4 billion this year to help it import essentials and pay creditors. To ...

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• 18 April

  Hong Kong confirms Lee as sole chief executive candidate

  

    Bloomberg The Hong Kong government confirmed that John Lee was only candidate nominated for chief executive, clearing the way for him to take power after an uncontested leadership election next month. Lee, 64, a former chief secretary for administration and police official, received 786 valid nominations from the roughly 1,500-member Election Committee that picks the city’s leader, the government ...

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