August, 2017

• 15 August

  Big oil follows Silicon Valley into backing green energy firms

  

  Bloomberg Major oil companies are joining Silicon Valley in backing energy-technology start-ups, a signal that those with the deepest pockets in the industry are casting around for a new strategy. From Royal Dutch Shell Plc to Total SA and Exxon Mobil Corp., the biggest investor-owned oil companies are dribbling money into ventures probing the edge of energy technologies. The investments ...

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• 15 August

  Philippines weighs China energy deal in disputed South China Sea

  

  Bloomberg The Philippines is considering potential ways to jointly develop oil and gas resources with China in a disputed part of the South China Sea, according to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano. Any joint ventures would conform to Philippine law and wouldn’t lead to the loss of Philippine territory, Cayetano told a House of Representatives hearing on Tuesday in ...

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• 15 August

  More Indians pay tax after cash ban, GST regime: Modi

  

  Bloomberg The number of new taxpayers in India more than doubled in the past five months and about $47 billion came back to the banks after the government’s cash ban brought more people into the fold of the formal economy, PM Narendra Modi said. “Black money which was hidden was forced to come to the mainstream,” Modi said in his ...

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• 15 August

  China’s sluggish growth may reignite bond default wave

  

  Bloomberg China had unexpected buoyancy in its economy to thank for an easing off in corporate defaults in the first half. But as growth shows signs of pulling back, the question is: will it last? Despite alarm over the risks posed by China’s daunting debt pile ticking up in the first six months, the country actually saw a drop in ...

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• 15 August

  Airbnb to quadruple China tech team

  Bloomberg Airbnb Inc. is ramping up its investment in China, quadrupling its engineering team over the next 12 months to focus on affluent millennials who’re increasingly exploring the world’s second largest economy. Airbnb will grow its technical cohort to more than 100 in Beijing—the only office outside the US where the home-sharing giant employs an engineering division, according to co-founder ...

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• 15 August

  Singapore home sales rise 35% with new projects

  

  Bloomberg Singapore home sales rose 35 percent in July as new projects were launched. Developers sold 1,108 units last month, compared with 820 in June, according to Urban Redevelopment Authority data. A total of 692 new units were offered, up from 159 in June, the data showed. Singapore’s leaders, determined to keep a lid on home prices in the city-state, ...

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• 15 August

  Moon vents Korea frustration by asserting right to veto US war

  

  Bloomberg South Korean President Moon Jae-in has signaled his country will no longer stay quiet as tensions escalate between the US and North Korea. In a forceful speech on Tuesday, Moon asserted the right to veto any military action against Kim Jong Un’s regime, saying that decision should be made by “ourselves and not by anyone else.” He vowed to ...

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• 15 August

  Iraq bombing IS-held Tal Afar ahead of assault

  

  ERBIL / Reuters Iraqi forces are carrying out air strikes on Tal Afar, a town held by IS west of Mosul, in preparation for a ground assault, an Iraqi military spokesman said on Tuesday. IS’s self-proclaimed caliphate effectively collapsed last month, when US-backed Iraqi forces completed the recapture of Mosul, the militants’ capital in northern Iraq, after a nine-month campaign. ...

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• 15 August

  ‘Iran could quit N-deal in hours if new US sanctions imposed’

  DUBAI / Reuters Iran could abandon its nuclear agreement with world powers “within hours” if the United States imposes any more new sanctions, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday. “If America wants to go back to the experience (of imposing sanctions), Iran would certainly return in a short time — not a week or a month but within hours ...

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• 15 August

  Trump denounces white supremacists in Virginia clash

  

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump called out white supremacists for their role in the deadly violence over the weekend in Virginia as the administration sought to counter a backlash against his initial failure to directly hold hate groups accountable. “Racism is evil and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and ...

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