July, 2017

• 8 July

  Venezuelan opposition leader Lopez sent home from prison

  Bloomberg Venezuela’s Supreme Court said early Saturday that the country’s most renowned political prisoner, opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, was transferred from military prison to house arrest after three years in jail. Lopez, who’s been serving an almost 14-year sentence for allegedly inciting violence in a wave of protests against President Nicolas Maduro, left the Ramo Verde facility outside Caracas, where ...

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• 8 July

  China, EU bolster greener global shipping to curb emissions

  

  Bloomberg The trillion-dollar global shipping industry may soon be forced to curb greenhouse gas emissions under new rules backed by the European Union and China. Over 200 representatives convened this week at the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations shipping supervisor based in London, to discuss regulation that could turn their industry, currently responsible for as much as 3 percent ...

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• 8 July

  Oil posts weekly decline as US drillers resume expansion

  

  Bloomberg Oil prices declined for the week, as expanded US drilling activity and added production offset a larger-than-expected drop in stockpiles. Futures fell 3.9 percent, even after US data showed the nation’s crude stockpiles dropped by 6.3 million barrels, three times as much as expected. US drillers went back to adding rigs this week, after breaking a record streak of ...

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• 8 July

  Hungary commits to Russia gas route as Poland looks to US

  

  Bloomberg Hungary sees a new pipeline for Russian gas as the “only realistic” step toward energy diversification now, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on the same day Poland used a visit by US President Donald Trump to announce plans to wean itself off fuel supplies from its Soviet-era master. Hungary signed an agreement this week with Russian energy giant OAO ...

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• 8 July

  Chernobyl radioactive zone may get solar park

  

  Bloomberg Ukraine is talking to one of France’s largest energy companies about building a giant, billion-euro ($1.25 billion) solar park in the uninhabited radioactive zone surrounding the abandoned Chernobyl nuclear reactor. Engie SA is beginning a pre-feasibility study funded by the French government next week with the results expected for the end of the year, Ukraine’s minister of ecology, Ostap ...

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• 8 July

  Buffett’s Oncor deal faces possible Elliott bid

  

  Bloomberg Berkshire Hathaway Inc. may face a challenge from bondholders led by Elliott Management Corp. to its $9 billion all-cash deal for Texas utility Oncor Electric Delivery Co. Billionaire investor Paul Singer’s Elliott, the biggest creditor of Oncor’s bankrupt parent Energy Future Holdings Corp., may seek to put together a rival bid, according to a person with knowledge of the ...

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• 8 July

  Australia bets $68bn navy spend on export industry

  

  Bloomberg Australia wants more from its $68 billion investment in new ships and submarines than just a more capable navy. With final bids due this month on a A$35 billion ($27 billion) contract for nine anti-submarine frigates, Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne said Australia is seeking a bigger role in naval shipbuilding. “From an industrial point of view, it’s a ...

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• 8 July

  China’s liquidity rush has bond market looking for catch

  

  Bloomberg China’s bond investors are being given the chance to ratchet up leverage once again, but they may not want to. Months of scarcity have given way to a mysterious rush of liquidity in China’s financial system, with money-market rates back near levels seen in April. The market has responded accordingly, with bonds rallying in the last two weeks of ...

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• 8 July

  Ofo eyes global expansion after raising over $700mn

  

  Bloomberg Chinese bike-rental startup Ofo Inc. raised more than $700 million in its latest funding round to expand its business globally amid rising domestic competition with Beijing Mobike Technology Co. and more than a dozen rivals. The series E round is led by billionaire Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Hony Capital and Citic Private Equity, according to an emailed ...

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• 8 July

  Japan’s economic growth gains momentum

  

  Bloomberg Japan’s economy is running the hottest relative to capacity since the global financial crisis. More than four years after the Bank of Japan launched its radical monetary easing, key conditions are aligning in its long battle to truly escape from deflation. The latest reading of the nation’s output gap is another milestone on the journey to that escape, economists ...

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