November, 2019

• 25 November

  Impeachment reaches decision stage as Dems review evidence

  

  Bloomberg House Democrats are starting to compress weeks of depositions, documents and testimony into a report almost certain to result in articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, as the White House wages a campaign to discredit the investigation. Intelligence chairman Adam Schiff won’t rule out more witnesses or other avenues of investigation beyond a central focus: whether Trump tried ...

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• 25 November

  Abe presses China on ‘free’ Hong Kong, maritime disputes

  

  Bloomberg Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe urged China to preserve a free Hong Kong and backed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” principle of governing it in a meeting with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, just as pro-democracy candidates triumphed in an election in the city. Abe also “strongly pushed” for China to deal positively with disputes over the East China ...

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• 25 November

  Johnson aims to consolidate his lead in polls

  

  Bloomberg UK prime minister Boris Johnson is aiming to consolidate his lead in the polls in the final weeks of the general election campaign. He announced a safety-first policy package based on “sensible” promises, which included hiring 50,000 nurses for the country’s cherished National Health Service and cutting taxes for working people. Johnson carefully avoided the radical language and out-of-the-blue ...

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• 25 November

  EU’s rejection speeds emigration from west Balkans, says leader

  

  Bloomberg Depriving western Balkan countries of a clear chance to join the European Union risks speeding up the already alarming pace of people emigrating away from the region, North Macedonia’s president said. Stevo Pendarovski said that France’s decision to block the opening of accession talks with his country and Albania — and president Emmanuel Macron’s insistence that there should be ...

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• 25 November

  Hong Kong doubts China to soften stance after election shock

  

  Bloomberg In early June, chief executive Carrie Lam kicked off unprecedented chaos when she dismissed enormous crowds of Hong Kongers who marched peacefully to oppose legislation allowing extraditions to China. The masses again spoke clearly and peacefully — this time giving 85% of 452 District Council seats to pro-democracy candidates, a swing of more than 50 percentage points. Nearly 3 ...

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• 25 November

  President Trump is now sabotaging his military

  

  Navy Secretary Richard Spencer was travelling in California on March 30 when he received a 4 am phone call from President Trump. The president demanded that the Navy release from the brig a SEAL named Eddie Gallagher, who was awaiting trial for allegedly murdering an IS detainee in Iraq in 2017. “Get him out!” Trump told Spencer, who was visiting ...

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• 25 November

  German cities aren’t ready for future

  

  Now that Germany has dodged a recession, political decisions on fiscal stimulus have been postponed. Yet the country’s employers and labor unions are still demanding an infrastructure investment program worth at least 450 billion euros over 10 years, not to give an immediate boost to growth but to keep the country competitive in the future. The World Economic Forum (WEF) ...

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• 25 November

  ECB issues a mea culpa in wake of Woodford, H2O

  In a rare bout of introspection, the European Central Bank has conceded that it’s partly to blame for creating the landscape that led to the misadventures in illiquidity that undid Neil Woodford and prompted investors to pull billions of dollars out of GAM Holding AG and H2O Asset Management. It’s right to be worried about asset managers stocking up on ...

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• 25 November

  Alibaba’s HK share sale presents a $43b dilemma

  After its $11.2 billion Hong Kong share sale, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. will be sitting on $43 billion in cash. That sounds like a great problem to have. Only one publicly listed, non-financial company has more: Apple Inc., at $49 billion. Then you realise that management literally has more money than it knows what to do with. Sitting on the ...

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• 25 November

  Palm oil’s price switch won’t save the world’s rainforests

  

  If you see a flowering of “palm-oil free” labels on supermarket shelves next year, then thank Indonesian drivers, President Donald Trump’s trade negotiators, and sickly pigs in China. Palm oil — the red, semi-solid fat used in everything from noodles and soap to pastry and lipstick — has rarely been less attractive to consumer-product manufacturers. That isn’t so much a ...

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