September, 2020

• 15 September

  Alibaba in talks to invest $3bn in Singapore’s Grab

  

  Bloomberg Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is in talks to invest $3 billion in Southeast Asian ride-hailing giant Grab Holdings Inc, according to people familiar with the matter. The Chinese e-commerce giant, a sole investor in the round, will spend a portion of the funds to acquire some of the Grab stock held by Uber Technologies Inc, one of the people ...

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• 15 September

  HK injects economy with ‘virus stimulus’

  

  Bloomberg Hong Kong announced HK$24 billion ($3.1 billion) in virus relief stimulus and will lift some social distancing restrictions as the city’s economy suffers from a recession prompted by protests and Covid-19. The government will spend HK$4.5 billion to help affected industries, HK$13 billion on virus prevention measures and HK$6 billion on rent concessions, Chief Executive Carrie Lam and senior ...

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• 15 September

  Ghosn’s former aide pleads not guilty as trial starts in Japan

  

  Bloomberg Former Nissan Motor Co director Greg Kelly pleaded not guilty to charges of helping former Chairman Carlos Ghosn hide millions in compensation, vowing to prove his innocence in a trial that’s starting almost two years after their arrests in Japan and in the absence of the main suspect. “I deny the allegations,” said Kelly, when asked by the judges ...

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• 15 September

  TikTok China twin has 600 million users

  Bloomberg Douyin, the Chinese-market version of ByteDance Ltd’s TikTok video-sharing app, surpassed 600 million daily active users in August, rising from 400 million at the start of the year. The service has produced 41.7 billion yuan ($6.1 billion) in revenue for more than 22 million creators over the past year and the company intends to spend $1.5 billion in a ...

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• 15 September

  Toyota halts India expansion over high tax regime

  

  Bloomberg Toyota Motor Corp won’t expand further in India due to the country’s high tax regime, a blow for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who’s trying to lure global companies to offset the deep economic malaise brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. The government keeps taxes on cars and motorbikes so high that companies find it hard to build scale, said ...

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• 15 September

  UK’s Raab warns not to get sucked into China ‘Cold War’

  

  Bloomberg Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has told his officials to work carefully to manage relations with the US and China — and avoid the UK becoming trapped in a new “Cold War” between the two countries. The minister held an internal meeting of British diplomats and officials on September 2 during which he set out his vision for “global Britain” ...

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• 15 September

  China border tensions serious: India minister

  

  Bloomberg India’s defense minister told parliament on Tuesday the current border tensions with neighbor China were serious and the result of Beijing’s violations of boundary agreements. Rajnath Singh told lawmakers the situation was tense “both in terms of troops involved and number of friction points” but India wanted to pursue dialog for a peaceful resolution of the conflict that has ...

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• 15 September

  Mali junta holds talks on path back to democracy

  

  Bloomberg Mali’s ruling junta will try to convince regional leaders to accept its road map for a return to civilian rule as an ultimatum for it to name an interim president expires. The junta last week unveiled a political charter that could see a military officer heading a transitional government for 18 months — a proposition opposed by members of ...

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• 15 September

  Putin critic Navalny plans to return to Russia after surviving poison attack

  

  Bloomberg Alexey Navalny returned to social media on Tuesday for the first time since he was poisoned last month, as allies said he plans to return to Russia once he’s recovered. “No other option was ever considered,” Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said by text message. “We haven’t discussed concrete plans yet.” Navalny’s health has continued to improve after he collapsed ...

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• 15 September

  Ivory Coast president to seek a third term

  

  Bloomberg Ivory Coast’s Constitutional Council cleared President Alassane Ouattara to seek a controversial third term in next month’s election as it rejected the candidacy of two prominent opposition leaders. The incumbent and his main challenger, Henri Konan Bedie, are among four candidates out of 44 presidential hopefuls that the panel allowed to participate in the October 31 vote. It barred ...

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