November, 2019

• 26 November

  Modi’s labour reform push may remove hurdle for investors

  

  Bloomberg Prime minister Narendra Modi is finally attempting to overhaul India’s most controversial labour laws to attract investment and make it easier to do business in a country where changing archaic rules is a challenge for any government. After a long struggle, his government will push a crucial industrial relations bill allowing companies to hire workers on fixed-term contracts of ...

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• 26 November

  Singapore’s Hyflux inks $293mn deal with Utico

  

  Bloomberg Troubled Singapore water treatment firm Hyflux Ltd has entered a restructuring deal with Middle Eastern utility Utico FZC. Under the agreement, Hyflux will get investment totalling S$400 million ($293 million) from Utico, according to an exchange filing. The pact caps drawn out negotiations between the two companies. Hyflux, Singapore’s highest profile debt restructuring, had been looking for a white ...

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• 26 November

  Thai protestors want delay in pesticides ban

  

  Bloomberg About 2,000 demonstrators marched to Thailand’s Government House to demand a delay in a ban due from December 1 on three pesticides, as a dispute over the plan escalates. The protesters submitted a letter to prime minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha asking for time to assess scientific evidence, the economic impact and whether alternatives are available. Outlawing the chemicals will hurt ...

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• 26 November

  China, US reach consensus on resolving ‘relevant issues’

  

  Bloomberg China and the US “reached consensus on properly resolving relevant issues” and agreed to stay in contact on the remaining points for a “phase one” trade deal during a phone call, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement. Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin discussed core concerns, according ...

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• 26 November

  Hong Kong exports fall for 12th straight month

  

  Bloomberg Hong Kong’s exports declined for a 12th straight month in October with the financial hub mired in recession under the ongoing US-China trade war and pro-democracy protests. Exports contracted to HK$348.5 billion ($44.5 billion), a 9.2% drop from a year ago, according to a government release. The median forecast was for a 8.4% retreat, according to economists surveyed by ...

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• 26 November

  UK super-sizing its wind farms

  Bloomberg One of the UK’s biggest wind farm developers will combine three offshore wind projects into one massive development, making it more likely the venture will move ahead. Iberdrola SA’s Scottish Power Renewables’s decision means it will consider all the work on a facility with 3.1 gigawatts (GW) of capacity as a single project. The East Anglia wind farms would ...

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• 26 November

  China’s solar ‘wobble’ drags down growth

  Bloomberg Slumping solar development in China is hobbling growth worldwide. While worldwide installations are still forecast to rise this year, BloombergNEF lowered its global outlook 6% from its previous forecast as an anticipated building boom hasn’t materialised in China, the world’s biggest clean-energy market, according to a report. BNEF now expects 121 gigawatts of solar to be installed globally. “China, ...

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• 26 November

  Google fires four employees including protesting staffer

  

  Bloomberg Google fired four employees for what the technology giant said were violations of its data-security policies, escalating tension between management and activist workers at a company once revered for its open corporate culture. Alphabet Inc’s Google sent an email describing the decision, titled “Securing our data,” to all employees, according to a copy of the document obtained by Bloomberg ...

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• 26 November

  Striking rail workers in Canada served with lay-off notices

  

  Bloomberg Workers are receiving lay-off notices and chemical companies face shutdowns as the effects of Canada’s largest rail strike in a decade ripples through the economy. The strike by about 3,200 conductors and railyard operators at Canadian National Railway Co (CN) is entering its seventh day, disrupting cargoes of everything from wheat to propane. In Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Canada’s ...

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• 26 November

  Jewels worth $1.1 billion stolen from historic German museum

  

  Bloomberg Thieves made off with jewellery and artifacts worth a reported $1.1 billion after an early-morning burglary at a German museum. The robbers stole three sets of jewellery from Dresden’s Grunes Gewolbe — or Green Vault — after entering through a window just before 5 am local time on November 25, Joerg Kubiessa, the head of Dresden’s police, told reporters. ...

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