December, 2018

• 15 December

  Shell, Eni face $1.1bn Nigerian lawsuit

  

  Bloomberg The government of Nigeria is suing Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Eni SpA and other companies for more than $1 billion over a 2011 oil deal it says was tainted by corruption. The suit, filed in London, alleges that money the companies paid to acquire an oil exploration license in the Gulf of Guinea was diverted to bribes and kickbacks, …

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• 15 December

  China’s home-price growth eases amid dull buyer demand

  

  Bloomberg China’s home-price gains slowed in November in a further sign the nation’s property market is cooling. New-home prices rose an average 0.98 percent from October when they increased 1.02 percent in the 70 cities tracked by the government, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data released by the National Bureau of Statistics. November’s result snapped five straight months of …

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• 15 December

  Brexit drives UK housing to weakest in six years

  

  Bloomberg The Brexit battering of the UK housing market has no end in sight. An index of prices by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors slipped in November to the weakest level since 2012, while the outlook for pricing and sales for the next three month slumped. The persistent uncertainty around Britain’s impending exit from the European Union was the …

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• 15 December

  Everyone involved in facial recognition sees problems

  

  Bloomberg An unusual consensus emerged recently between artificial intelligence researchers, activists, lawmakers and many of the largest technology companies: Facial recognition software breeds bias, risks fuelling mass surveillance and should be regulated. Deciding on effective controls and acting on them will be a lot harder. The Algorithmic Justice League and the Center of Privacy & Technology at Georgetown University Law …

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• 15 December

  Pokémon Go’s maker to go after $3.9 billion valuation

  

  Bloomberg Niantic Inc., the company behind the popular game Pokémon Go, is looking to catch a $3.9 billion valuation, according to a person familiar with the matter. The San Francisco-based company is planning to raise at least $200 million in a round led by venture capital firm IVP, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the discussions …

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• 15 December

  Ride-hailing firm raises $150mn from Yamaha

  

  Bloomberg Grab is attracting more global backers after the ride-hailing service defeated Uber Technologies Inc. in Southeast Asia. A motorcycle maker has become the latest investor. Yamaha Motor Co. agreed to invest $150 million in Grab and the two will collaborate on motorcycle-ride services in Southeast Asia with a focus on Indonesia, the Japanese manufacturer said in a statement. Singapore-based …

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• 15 December

  Play video games with K-Swiss ‘sneakers’

  

  Bloomberg K-Swiss Inc. is introducing a line of sneakers designed for video-game competitions, another attempt by athletic brands to capitalise on the burgeoning esports market. The new shoes sell for $110 and bear the logo of Immortals, an esports organisation that fields teams for the games Overwatch and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. K-Swiss is now readying a “performance” version of the …

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• 15 December

  Economic risks worsening even as QE era ends: Draghi

  

  Bloomberg Mario Draghi said risks to the euro-area economy are worsening even as he called time on the European Central Bank’s flagship deflation-fighting tool. The ECB president told reporters in Frankfurt that while risks are still “broadly balanced,” they are now “moving to the downside” because of a range of concerns over geopolitics, trade protectionism and market volatility. The significant …

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• 15 December

  Fed set to slow 2019 interest rate hikes amid downside risks

  

  Bloomberg Federal Reserve officials will pull the trigger on another interest-rate increase next week before slowing the pace of hikes in 2019 as risks to the US economy mount, according to a new Bloomberg survey of economists. They expect the Fed will raise rates by a quarter percentage point at its December 18-19 meeting while dialing back the number of …

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• 15 December

  RBI board buys time as worries on autonomy linger

  

  Bloomberg The Reserve Bank of India’s board bought more time to review the government’s demand for a greater say in the central bank’s functioning, one of the issues that had fostered hostilities between the two sides. “The board deliberated on the governance framework of the Reserve Bank and it was decided that the matter required further examination,” the central bank …

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