December, 2018

• 16 December

  From Adobe to AI, China’s 40-year transformation

  

  Bloomberg Forty years ago, 18 villagers of Xiaogang in Anhui Province banded together to disobey the orders of China’s government, risking their lives by deciding to farm individually instead of collectively. Now, they’re celebrated as the pioneers of Reform and Opening Up — the process of turning China into a market-based economy that celebrates its 40th anniversary this week. As ...

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• 16 December

  Rules guiding pollution cuts adopted at UN talks in Poland

  

  Bloomberg Envoys at a United Nations conference adopted a set of steps on fighting climate change meant to guide efforts to rein in greenhouse gas pollution worldwide. The diplomats drawn from energy and environment ministries in almost 200 countries backed rules to implement the three-year-old Paris Agreement, which called for drastic reductions in the use of fossil fuels by the ...

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• 16 December

  Apple nears 7-month low as more analysts cut iPhone estimates

  

  Bloomberg Apple Inc fell with shares on course to close at their lowest level since April, as more analysts joined the chorus of bears and skeptics warning about the prospects for iPhone sales. The stock dropped as much as 2.9 percent, and shares are on track for their 10th negative week of the past 11. At current levels, Apple is ...

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• 16 December

  ‘Canada’s borrowing is crowding out firms’

  

  Bloomberg A borrowing spree by the Canadian federal and provincial governments is threatening to increase costs for companies just as the economy turns, according to BlackRock Inc. Public-sector borrowing is set to swell as issuers including the federal government, Ontario — already the world’s largest issuer of sub-sovereign debt — and Alberta continue to run budget deficits, BlackRock’s head of ...

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• 16 December

  PG&E accused of falsifying pipeline safety records

  

  Bloomberg PG&E Corp, already under scrutiny for a deadly California wildfire last month, now faces potential penalties for allegedly breaking natural gas pipeline safety rules and falsifying records, state regulators said. The California Public Utilities Commission said that the state’s biggest utility owner systematically violated rules to prevent construction crews from accidentally damaging pipelines during excavations. PG&E also allegedly falsified ...

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• 16 December

  Health investors get selective as US markets churn into 2019

  

  Bloomberg Healthcare investors may have to be a bit more selective than they’re used to in 2019. With US health stocks poised to wrap up their second straight year of outperforming the broader market, the focus on hunting for innovation and next year’s winners is even more in vogue after recent market volatility. Small- to mid-cap biotechnology darlings that saw ...

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• 16 December

  Sri Lanka president reinstates Wickremesinghe to end crisis

  

  Bloomberg Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena caved in to mounting pressure and reinstated Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister, ending nearly two months of a protracted leadership crisis that prompted Moody’s, S&P and Fitch to downgrade the island’s credit rating. Sirisena on Sunday swore in Wickremesinghe, who he had abruptly fired on October 26 and replaced with former strongman president Mahinda ...

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• 16 December

  North Korea tells US sanctions ‘won’t work’

  

  Bloomberg North Korea told the US that sanctions and pressure — as evident from the past — won’t work to force the country into action on its nuclear programme. “The US should realise before it is too late that ‘maximum pressure’ would not work against us and take a sincere approach to implementing the Singapore DPRK-US Joint Statement,” the country’s ...

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• 16 December

  South African party postpones conference

  Bloomberg South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) postponed its conference on finalising lists for elections next year to give provinces time to conclude the process, the party said. The conference would be rescheduled to January 4-5 from this weekend to accommodate the North West province, which hadn’t submitted its nominations, ANC acting spokesman Dakota Legeote said by phone. The ...

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• 16 December

  Georgia swears in first woman president

  

  Bloomberg Georgia’s first woman president took office on Sunday after a rancorous vote that triggered allegations of election fraud from the losing candidate. French-born Salome Zurabishvili, an ex-Georgian foreign minister, was sworn in as the Caucasus republic’s fifth president at a ceremony at a former royal residence in the eastern city of Telavi, about 95 kilometres (59 miles) from the ...

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