November, 2019

• 19 November

  Brookfield eyes Brazil, India for green bonds

  

  Bloomberg After selling three green project bonds in the US and marketing a new one in Canada, Brookfield Asset Management’s renewable power business is setting its sights on South America and Asia. The Toronto-based company is selling bonds to refinance the existing debt of a pool of four hydroelectric facilities located in Ontario, according to a S&P Global Ratings. The ...

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• 19 November

  Bangchak targets vegan meat to boost business

  

  Bloomberg Bangchak Corp, one of Thailand’s top oil refiners, is targeting the bioplastics and plant-based meat industries to diversify its business. The move is part of a strategy of focussing on value-added products rather than just commodities sectors, president Chaiwat Kovavisarach said. “The market has really picked up for alternatives for plastic,” Chaiwat said, adding that a unit producing compostable ...

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• 19 November

  Japan seeks home battery networks

  Bloomberg After recent typhoons ravaged Japan’s grid and disrupted power to almost 1.4 million customers, the government is encouraging homeowners to invest in storage systems, seeking to marry batteries with existing rooftop solar capacity to create backup electricity networks. The backbone would be the 2.3 million rooftop solar installations across the country.

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• 19 November

  Lebanon standoff worsens with parliament paralysed

  

  Bloomberg Lebanese protesters flocked to the capital on Tuesday and forced parliament to postpone its session indefinitely after facing off with the army and anti-riot police, adding to a political storm in the country even as banks reopened after a weeklong closure. The legislature will meet at a later date after demonstrations prevented enough lawmakers from reaching it to form ...

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• 19 November

  Esper: US increased sea patrols to send message to China

  

  Bloomberg The US is conducting more patrols in the South China Sea to send a signal to China that it intends to maintain freedom in the area that’s crucial for global trade, defense secretary Mark Esper said. Esper said at a media briefing in Manila the US “rejects attempts by any nation to use coercion or intimidation to advance international ...

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• 19 November

  US walks out of ‘military talks’ with S Korea

  

  Bloomberg The US walked out of military cost-sharing talks with South Korea, after the key American ally balked at President Donald Trump’s demands for a five-fold funding increase. The chief US negotiator, James DeHart, said that the American side cut short talks in Seoul because the South Koreans “were not responsive to our request for fair and equitable burden-sharing.” The ...

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• 19 November

  Polish judicial overhaul gets setback in EU ruling

  

  Bloomberg Poland’s populist government suffered another blow to its sweeping judicial reforms after the European Union’s highest court raised fresh concerns about the independence of judges. The EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg said it was up to Poland’s Supreme Court to decide if a new disciplinary body for judges was autonomous from political influence, leaving the fate of the ...

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• 19 November

  Hong Kong hospitals flooded by injured PolyU protesters

  

  Bloomberg Hong Kong hospitals were overwhelmed with injured protesters who evacuated from a university campus after a standoff with police that’s transfixed the city, as schools were due to reopen following days of chaos in the financial hub. Leader Carrie Lam said on Tuesday that she wanted a peaceful end to the showdown between protesters and police at the Hong ...

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• 19 November

  While Trump played games with Ukraine aid, people died

  

  As the House opens public impeachment hearings into the Ukraine scandal, the bottom-line question is dead simple: Did President Trump, for political reasons, manipulate military aid to an ally in a war that has cost 13,000 lives? When you think about the Ukrainian soldiers in the front lines of this nasty proxy battle against Russia, the debate becomes more visceral ...

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• 19 November

  No, Germany doesn’t need stimulus

  

  Now that Germany has avoided a technical recession, posting an economic output growth of 0.1% in the third quarter of 2019, it’s highly unlikely that the German government will deviate from its zero-deficit policy and offer any substantial fiscal stimulus. For now, the country’s domestic market has shown an uncanny ability to compensate for external turbulence. But faster growth is ...

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