December, 2018

• 19 December

  UK companies face action on ‘loyalty penalty’

  

  Bloomberg Providers in the UK’s markets for cash savings, mortgages, insurance, mobile phone contracts and broadband are burdening customers with a “loyalty penalty” of around 4 billion pounds ($4.4 billion) a year, the Competition and Markets Authority said. Vulnerable people, including the elderly and those on a low income, may be more at risk of overpaying for key financial services ...

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• 19 December

  Micron forecasts weaker sales on slowdown in chips

  

  Bloomberg Micron Technology Inc, the largest US maker of computer memory chips, gave a forecast that fell short of analysts’ estimates, adding to concern that a two-year surge in demand for its products is over. The shares declined as much as 9 percent in extended trading. Revenue in the current period will be $5.7 billion to $6.3 billion, the Boise, ...

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• 19 December

  ‘US to review curbs on North Korea humanitarian aid’

  

  Bloomberg A US nuclear envoy said Washington would review policies preventing Americans from providing humanitarian to North Korea, including the travel ban, in a potential overture to restart talks with Kim Jong-un. Stephen Biegun, the US’s special representative for North Korea, disclosed the move, as he began a four-day trip to South Korea. The former Ford Motor Co. executive will ...

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• 19 December

  Buhari proposes $24 billion budget

  Bloomberg Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari presented an 8.8 trillion-naira ($24.2 billion) budget for next year to lawmakers after the cabinet agreed to reduce spending plans as the nation struggles to meet revenue targets. Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer and most populous nation, has “recovered from recession” after a slump in 2016, Buhari told a joint session of the Senate and ...

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• 19 December

  Theresa May pushes no-deal Brexit dangers as splits grow before key vote

  

  Bloomberg Prime Minister Theresa May, who has just 28 days to convince rebellious lawmakers to back her Brexit deal, put the UK on high alert over the dangers of crashing out of the European Union without an agreement. Her cabinet ministers agreed to implement “in full” plans for a no-deal break from the European Union, including 3,500 troops put on ...

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• 19 December

  Sweden hopes ‘break’ to solve its govt crisis

  Bloomberg After three months of gridlock, Sweden still doesn’t have a government. Now, party leaders will get a three-week respite in the hope that they can come back with a solution. Parliament speaker Andreas Norlen said that he will meet again with party leaders on January 14 and called for a prime minister vote two days later. If that fails, ...

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• 19 December

  France’s Yellow Vests might enter politics

  

  Bloomberg France’s Yellow Vests may have peaked as a protest movement, but they are contemplating a next step: presenting candidates in next May’s European elections to provide another outlet for voters angry at President Emmanuel Macron. The limited amount of polling so far suggests a Yellow Vests campaign wouldn’t impact Macron’s party in selecting legislators for the European Parliament. Instead, ...

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• 19 December

  South Africa issues arrest warrant for Grace Mugabe

  

  Bloomberg South African authorities issued a warrant of arrest for Grace Mugabe, the wife of former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, civil rights organisation AfriForum said. A charge of assault was laid against Grace Mugabe in South Africa last year, after local media including the Star newspaper reported that she assaulted a woman at a hotel in Johannesburg. While she agreed ...

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• 19 December

  The EU plays Trump as it played the Brexiters

  

  The Trump administration has pulled out all the stops to attack the European Union (EU). Realising its relative weakness, the EU hasn’t tried a muscular response. Instead, it has used the same tactic as it did with Britain’s Brexiters. On December 11, the US ambassador to the EU, Gordon Sondland, accused Europe of disregarding all the goodwill built up since ...

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• 19 December

  May’s immigration ‘obsession’

  

  Cracking down on immigration is how Theresa May has chosen to interpret the Brexit campaign’s promise to “take back control.” As a result, the UK prime minister has ruled out one of the more plausible alternatives to her own EU withdrawal deal: The so-called “Norway-Plus” idea, which would keep Britain in the European single market and force it to accept ...

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