October, 2017

• 1 October

  Spanish police storm polling stations to block Catalan vote

  

  Bloomberg Spanish police in riot gear smashed in the doors of polling stations and dragged protesters away by the hair, beating some with batons and firing rubber bullets at others on Sunday as they tried to shut down an illegal referendum on independence in Catalonia. Despite the force of the police against peaceful demonstrations, voting began in many locations across ...

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• 1 October

  Won’t allow Nigeria to break apart: Buhari

  Bloomberg Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said the government won’t allow Africa’s most populous country to break apart amid growing calls for secession by “irresponsible” groups. “We cannot and will not allow such advocacy,” Buhari said in a national broadcast on Sunday to mark Nigeria’s 57th anniversary as an independent nation. “At all events, proper dialogue and any desired constitutional changes ...

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• 1 October

  Duterte refutes allegations he’s hiding millions

  

  Bloomberg Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte dismissed allegations he’s hiding hundreds of millions of pesos in his bank accounts, calling them “lies” and vowing to snub a probe into his wealth initiated by the country’s top anti-graft agency. In a profanity-laced speech before lawyers in his hometown of Davao City, Duterte said his lifetime savings don’t exceed $786,0000. The savings come ...

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• 1 October

  May insists UK cabinet united as Johnson rocks boat on Brexit

  

  Bloomberg UK Prime Minister Theresa May is battling to assert her authority over a divided Conservative Party as she faces calls to quit as its leader before the next general election. While May insists she will fight on, a former party chairman said she could not be allowed to stay until the next election in 2022, amid reports that Foreign ...

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• 1 October

  ‘Cutting US aid’ prompts EU geopolitical-risk warning

  

  Bloomberg Europe’s disaster-relief chief leans back in a chair in his Brussels office and fires off a warning: President Donald Trump’s plan to slash US international aid could undermine global geopolitical stability—and threaten America’s interests. The admonition by Christos Stylianides, the European Union commissioner for crisis management, highlights the extent to which Europe is grappling with Trump’s “America First” policy. ...

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• 1 October

  Marseille knife man kills two women in suspected terrorism

  

  Bloomberg Two women were killed at Marseille’s Saint Charles train station by a man wielding a knife and crying “Allah Akabar.” The man was shot dead by soldiers. Prosecutors opened a terrorism investigation into the attack, which happened just outside the southern French city’s train station at about 1.45 pm on Sunday. One woman’s throat was cut, and the other ...

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• 1 October

  Saudi driving ban lift could increase gasoline demand

  

  Meed Saudi Arabia’s lifting of the ban on women driving could lead to an increase in its demand for gasoline, according to energy consultants First Global Energy (FGE). Saudi Arabia is the biggest consumer of gasoline in the region and is the world’s nine largest gasoline market. Current demand is around 580,000 barrels a day (b/d) – a figure that ...

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• 1 October

  SATORP achieves ISO certification

  

  Emirates Business Intertek, a leading Total Quality Assurance provider to industries worldwide, certified Saudi Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical Company (SATORP), an oil and petrochemical joint venture refinery between Saudi Aramco and TOTAL, as being compliant with the standard requirements of ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management Systems Certification. This globally-recognised standard was developed by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and ...

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• 1 October

  India needs to double refining capacity to meet fuel demand

  

  Bloomberg India needs to double its refining capacity by 2040 to meet rising fuel demand as an expanding middle class buys more passenger vehicles and its economy grows, a top refinery official said. India’s refining capacity must increase to 465 million tonnes by 2040, from about 230 million tonnes currently, and investments are already being made, said Shrikant Madhav Vaidya, ...

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• 1 October

  Australian gas supply crunch squeezes east coast LNG exporters

  

  MELBOURNE / Reuters The Australian government warned that the country’s east faced a worse-than-expected natural gas shortfall in 2018, but the competition watchdog said the gap could easily be filled by diverting uncontracted exports to the local market. It is now up to the government to decide by November 1 whether to pull the trigger on its Australian Domestic Gas ...

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