September, 2019

• 23 September

  Vonovia becomes Swedish top landlord with $1.3 billion deal

  

  Bloomberg Vonovia SE will become the largest landlord in Sweden after buying Stockholm-based apartment owner Hembla AB for about $1.3 billion. Following its 2018 purchase of Victoria Park, the deal is the German company’s second in the Swedish market and will increase its portfolio in the country to more than 38,000 apartments, overtaking Rikshem and Heimstaden, according to Vonovia. Germany’s ...

  Read More »
• 23 September

  Google to listen to users’ audio snippets again, but ask first

  

  Bloomberg Google workers will listen to audio snippets of people speaking to its digital voice assistant to help improve the product’s quality — if users give the company permission to do so. Alphabet Inc’s Google paused all human review of assistant audio in July after a Dutch contractor leaked some clips to a journalist, who was then able to identify ...

  Read More »
• 23 September

  Germany may see no growth as manufacturing slumps

  Bloomberg Germany’s private sector is suffering its worst downturn in almost seven years as a manufacturing slump deepens, raising pressure on the government to add fiscal stimulus. A Purchasing Manager’s Index fell to 49.1 in September from 51.7 a month earlier, according to IHS Markit. The reading was worse than economists predicted and the lowest since October 2012. It’s also ...

  Read More »
• 23 September

  UK launches tourist airlift after Thomas Cook collapse

  

  Bloomberg The UK government deployed the “largest repatriation in peacetime history” to bring home more than 150,000 tourists stranded on overseas beaches and in vacation hotspots by the collapse of tour operator Thomas Cook Group. The massive airlift, using chartered jetliners, follows the collapse of the 178-year-old company after eleventh-hour fundraising talks with investors failed. The move saw all bookings, ...

  Read More »
• 23 September

  Trump sucks Ukraine’s novice leader into his re-election battle

  

  Bloomberg Ukraine’s novice leader may have thought Vladimir Putin would pose his biggest diplomatic challenge. Five months after being elected, it’s Donald Trump who’s giving him a crash course in the perils of international politics. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is being pulled into the storm surrounding the 2020 US election over a July phone call during which media allege Trump repeatedly ...

  Read More »
• 23 September

  White House working on diplomacy after Iran ‘war’ act: Pompeo

  

  Bloomberg Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said the US is “working diligently” towards a diplomatic resolution with Iran after accusing the Islamic republic of attacks on Saudi Arabian oil fields, but that President Donald Trump is prepared to take other action if necessary. “Make no mistake about it, if we’re unsuccessful in that and Iran continues to strike out in ...

  Read More »
• 23 September

  Trump, Modi hand-in-hand on border security at US rally

  

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump endorsed India’s need for “border security” at a rock concert-like event in Houston with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose government seeks to expand its control of the disputed territory of Kashmir. Sharing a stage in Houston and later walking hand-in-hand around a football stadium, Trump received Modi’s endorsement in front of more than 50,000 Indian Americans ...

  Read More »
• 23 September

  Johnson takes bid for Brexit deal to US 

  

  Bloomberg Boris Johnson started a week of intense diplomacy on Monday, as he tried to push for a Brexit deal on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The British prime minister was expected to hold meetings with all the key players — Germany’s Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and ...

  Read More »
• 23 September

  20 killed as fresh violence rocks Indonesia’s Papua

  

  Bloomberg At least 20 people were killed and dozens injured as fresh clashes erupted in Indonesia’s restive Papua region, according to military and police officials. Four people including a soldier were killed in clashes in Jayapura, the province’s capital, while 16 people were killed in Wamena, a city in the Papua mountain region. The death toll from Wamena, a region ...

  Read More »
• 23 September

  Deutsche Bank shifts its prime brokerage to BNP with 1,000 jobs

  

  Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG finalised a deal transferring its business with hedge fund clients to BNP Paribas SA as part of the German lender’s historic retreat from investment banking. About 1,000 Deutsche Bank employees will move to the French rival through 2021, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Ashley Wilson, one of two executives at the German bank ...

  Read More »