February, 2017

• 25 February

  ‘Britain should find cheaper way to tackle climate change’

    Bloomberg The UK government should stop intervening in power markets and better manage its carbon budgets in order to curb the cost of tackling climate change and boost energy security. That’s the conclusion of a report by a panel of lawmakers in the House of Lords, which says government policies to encourage investment in low carbon energy have all ...

  Read More »
• 25 February

  VW’s diesel damages hit $23bn after latest charge

  

      Bloomberg Volkswagen AG’s provisions for the diesel-cheating scandal rose to 22.6 billion euros ($23.9 billion), as the German carmaker continues to tally damages from the worst crisis in its history. The company took a charge of 4.4 billion euros in the fourth quarter, more than double the total from the previous nine months, to reflect a settlement related ...

  Read More »
• 25 February

  Vale CEO ousted as Brazil seeks new blood before reorganization

    Bloomberg Brazil is moving to cast off the last shackles of government influence at iron-ore giant Vale SA — but not before replacing the CEO with someone more politically palatable. Murilo Ferreira’s six-year contract won’t be renewed when it expires in May, the Rio de Janeiro-based company said in a statement on Friday. The announcement came days after Vale ...

  Read More »
• 25 February

  Health insurers to meet Trump on Obamacare plans

  

    Bloomberg Top US health insurance executives will meet on Monday with President Donald Trump, according to people familiar with plans for the session, a sign of the White House’s deepening involvement in efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare. Attendees will include chief executives of some of the biggest US health insurers, like UnitedHealth Group Inc., Aetna Inc., Cigna Corp., ...

  Read More »
• 25 February

  Pfizer summoned in DOJ probe of drugmaker charity connections

    Bloomberg Pfizer Inc. said that it received two subpoenas from the US Attorney’s office in Massachusetts related to charities that help Medicare patients afford co-payments for drugs, the latest company to disclose involvement in the probe. The New York-based drugmaker said in a securities filing that it received subpoenas on December 2015 and on July 2016 requesting documents related ...

  Read More »
• 25 February

  Canadian inflation surges to 2.1% in January on gas prices

  

    Bloomberg Canadian consumer prices surged in January on the back of rising gasoline prices and new carbon levies, bringing inflation to the highest in more than two years. The consumer price index advanced 2.1 percent from a year earlier, Statistics Canada reported Friday from Ottawa, up from 1.5 percent in December. Economists had estimated a gain of 1.6 percent, ...

  Read More »
• 25 February

  32 killed as twin attacks hit Syrian security buildings

  

    BEIRUT / AP Twin attacks on two Syrian security offices in the central city of Homs Saturday killed at least 32 people, including a senior security official who heads the feared Military Intelligence services, state media and officials reported. An al-Qaida-linked insurgent coalition known as the Levant Liberation Committee claimed responsibility for the attacks, which also left another high-ranking ...

  Read More »
• 25 February

  Iraqi forces facing stiff resistance in western Mosul

    SOUTH OF MOSUL / AP Iraqi forces pushed deeper into western Mosul on Saturday amid stiff resistance from entrenched IS fighters, a commander on the scene said. Special forces Lt. Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi said that his troops are “moving very slowly” and that IS fighters are responding with car bombs, snipers and dozens of armed drones. Hundreds of civilian ...

  Read More »
• 25 February

  PM launches ‘yes’ campaign over Erdogan powers

    ANKARA / AP Turkey’s prime minister has officially launched his ruling party’s campaign for a “yes” vote in a referendum on ushering a presidential system, which critics fear will concentrate too many powers in the hands of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Binali Yildirim formally got campaigning going on Saturday telling supporters in a sports arena that the proposed new ...

  Read More »
• 25 February

  Merkel formally nominated for German election run

    BERLIN / AP Angela Merkel’s conservatives have formally nominated the German chancellor as her party’s top candidate for the September parliamentary election in the region where she has her political base. The dpa news agency reported that Merkel won the support of 95 percent of delegates at a convention of the Christian Democrats’ branch in northeastern Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state ...

  Read More »