December, 2018

• 31 December

  Russia’s oil bosses brush off price drop

  

  Bloomberg Russian officials and executives from its biggest oil companies put on a brave face, even as Brent trades near 16-month lows. “The drop in oil prices hardly bother us because our budget is based on $42 a barrel,” First Deputy Prime Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters ahead of a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and big business in Moscow. ...

  Read More »
• 31 December

  Gasoline prices in South Africa’s Gauteng set to fall

  Bloomberg The price of gasoline in South Africa’s economic hub of Gauteng will fall to the lowest since March in January 2019. A liter of 95-octane gasoline will decrease 1.23 rand to 14.01 rand ($0.97) in Gauteng, which includes Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria, the Central Energy Fund said in an emailed statement. Diesel will decline 1.53 rand a liter ...

  Read More »
• 31 December

  Exxon Mobil heads for worst annual performance since 1981

  

  Bloomberg Things haven’t been this bad for the world’s biggest oil stock since Ronald Reagan became president. But brace yourself, 2019 may not be much better. Exxon Mobil Corp, down 22 percent for the year 2018, is headed for worst annual performance since 1981, when US was in recession and a 20-year crude glut was just beginning. The decline comes ...

  Read More »
• 31 December

  Landslide victory for Hasina in B’desh violence-hit polls

  

  Bloomberg Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s party won almost 90 percent of the seats to give the premier an unprecedented fourth term in a vote marked by tight security, violence and a crackdown on the opposition. Hasina’s Awami League and its close allies won 267 of the 299 seats up for a vote, Election Commission Secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed told ...

  Read More »
• 31 December

  Russia apartment block blasts kill 4

  Bloomberg Four people died and 68 remain unaccounted for after a gas explosion in a residential building in Russia on Monday morning. Russia’s Investigative Committee launched a criminal case into the incident in Magnitogorsk, about 1,700 kilometres east of Moscow. The inquiry will consider all possible versions of what happened, according to a statement. “Currently, the priority version is explosion ...

  Read More »
• 31 December

  Moscow detains US citizen for ‘espionage’

  Bloomberg Russia’s Federal Security Service detained a US citizen in Moscow on suspicion of espionage on December 28, Interfax news agency reported. The investigation department of the FSB, as the domestic security service is widely known, started a criminal case and investigations are underway, Interfax said, citing the FSB. It didn’t provide any details on where the person was being ...

  Read More »
• 31 December

  Indian PM plans cash handout for farmers before vote

  

  Bloomberg Prime Minister Narendra Modi is studying three options, including a cash handout for farmers, people with knowledge of the matter said, as his administration seeks to ease an agrarian distress and shore up popular support ahead of next year’s general election. The government is weighing options including a monthly income support programme for farmers, a cash handout plan for ...

  Read More »
• 31 December

  UK needs leadership, says US envoy

  

  Bloomberg The UK is in need of leadership, US Ambassador to London Woody Johnson said, as he also cast doubt on the chances of a bilateral trade deal if Prime Minister Theresa May manages to push her Brexit agreement through Parliament. “I’m feeling the country is in need of leadership,” Johnson said on Monday in a BBC Radio interview. “You ...

  Read More »
• 31 December

  Opposition decries flaw as Congo counts votes

  

  Bloomberg The Democratic Republic of Congo counted ballot papers on Monday after an election that the opposition described as chaotic and flawed, with problems ranging from broken voting machines to delays and vote-buying. Congolese went to the polls on Sunday to find a successor to long-serving President Joseph Kabila in a vote that was already two years overdue, with Kabila’s ...

  Read More »
• 31 December

  US stocks pare December slide; dollar edges lower

  

  Bloomberg US stocks rose, paring a December slump that is among the worst in history, after President Donald Trump reported “big progress” in trade talks with his Chinese counterpart. Treasuries slipped and oil erased gains. The S&P 500 trimmed its monthly loss to 9 percent, the steepest of the record bull market, as Trump said in a tweet that negotiations ...

  Read More »