October, 2016

• 17 October

  For Democrats, Senate majority also is crucial

  

    If, as polls are indicating, Hillary Clinton is the next U.S. president — the election forecaster Nate Silver says there’s an 86 percent chance — her initial years in office will depend less on the size and shape of her victory than on which party controls the Senate. Although the battle for control of the chamber, where Republicans currently ...

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• 17 October

  Cocoa leaves bitter taste on forests

  

  Bloomberg After disease ravaged his cocoa farm, Philippe Zongo walked into one of West Africa’s last remaining rainforests to hack out new acreage. Like thousands of young men from Ivory Coast and more arid neighboring countries, Zongo set out to find the best soil to plant new cocoa trees. He found it in the western Cavally forest, an area bigger ...

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• 17 October

  Exploring Panama waterways

  

    Panama City / DPA Residents of Panama City are unlikely to say anything good about Henry Morgan, the well-known pirate who planned to stage his biggest raid there in 1671. With 1,800 men, he went from the mouth of the Chagres River, in the Caribbean, to Panama City on the Pacific Ocean, hoping to steal the gold and silver ...

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• 17 October

  China’s growth slumps to seven-year low

  

    AFP China’s growth slipped to a seven-year low of 6.6 percent in the third quarter, according to a survey, despite ample stimulus and a red-hot property market in the world’s second-largest economy. The median forecast for expansion in gross domestic product (GDP), based on a poll of 18 economists, represents an easing from the second quarter’s 6.7 percent. It ...

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• 17 October

  China may ease coal curbs to boost supply

  

    Bloomberg China will continue to relax policies designed to shrink its coal production capacity by allowing some mines to boost output to cool rising prices, according to Australia’s Whitehaven Coal Ltd. The world’s biggest producer and user of the fuel may increase the number of days of production allowed at “better mines” while limiting activity at less efficient ones, ...

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• 17 October

  Japan’s top producer sees Zinc surging to 5-year high

    Bloomberg Zinc, this year’s best performing metal, has the potential to extend gains to the highest level since 2011 because of a shortfall in ore production, assuming that Glencore Plc doesn’t restart idled mines, according to Japan’s biggest producer. Prices could advance to $2,500 a metric ton by March because of “super tight” ore supply after companies cut output, ...

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• 17 October

  China to grant low-speed electric car makers legal status

  

    Bloomberg China plans to plug a regulatory gap and begin overseeing low-speed electric vehicles used mainly in the country’s rural areas, legitimizing a market segment that dwarfs sales of regular battery-electric cars made by the likes of BYD Co. and Tesla Motors Inc. Under the current regulatory framework, there are no rules governing the production and sale of electric ...

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• 17 October

  United reports 41% earnings

  

    Bloomberg United Continental Holdings Inc., longtime laggard of US airlines, is up 41 percent since late June as investors buy into the troubled carrier’s promise of an imminent turnaround. The next five weeks may tell if that faith is well-placed. United’s new president, Scott Kirby, an airline industry star — plucked soon after he parted ways with American Airlines ...

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• 17 October

  Sainsbury’s to open Argos in all UK supermarkets

  

    Bloomberg J Sainsbury Plc will open Argos branches or collection points inside almost all of its stores, as the U.K. grocer detailed how it plans to integrate the catalog retailer it acquired last month. “Over time, we envisage that there won’t be a single Sainsbury’s shop, with the exception of some very small convenience shops, where you won’t either ...

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• 17 October

  Alitalia bans Samsung Note 7 phones from flights

  

    Milan / AP Italy’s flagship airline Alitalia has banned the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone on all flights effective immediately, following an emergency order prohibiting the phone on flights in the United States. The airline said in a statement Saturday that it imposed the ban based on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s emergency order “to guarantee maximum security standards.” ...

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