Bloomberg South African President Jacob Zuma’s fate is set to be sealed when the top leadership of the ruling African National Congress meets to conclude the transition to a new administration. The National Executive Committee was expected to assemble on Monday in the capital, Pretoria, as Zuma, 75, has defied growing pressure to resign since his deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, replaced ...
Read More »Israel says US not in Syria ‘game’ as Russia seen dominant
Bloomberg Israel is counting on Russian President Vladimir Putin to keep confrontations with Iran and Syria from spiraling into war as the Trump administration mostly watches from the sidelines, a senior aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “The American part of the equation is to back us up,†but the US currently “has almost no leverage on the ground,†...
Read More »May starts drive to end Tory civil war over Brexit
Bloomberg Conservatives’ infighting over how to engage with the rest of a united Europe has helped bring down the party’s past three prime ministers. Now, Theresa May has given her government a few weeks to forge a position—and flesh out details—they can all get behind as the UK negotiates its way out of the European Union. With interlocutors in Brussels ...
Read More »Merkel defies critics saying she’ll serve another full term
Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she’s determined to serve another full term, rebuffing party critics who say she sold out to the Social Democrats to extend her 12 years in office. Faced with a backlash against last week’s coalition agreement and calls by some in her Christian Democratic Union to start thinking about a successor, Merkel defiantly brushed aside ...
Read More »Shale surge won’t thwart plan to clear glut, says OPEC president
Bloomberg Surging output of US shale oil won’t be a “huge distorter†of efforts by global crude producers to clear a glut, according to OPEC’s president. The market should re-balance this year, given robust demand and producers’ compliance with their pledges to curtail supply, United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei, currently the president of OPEC, said on Monday ...
Read More »Booming Asian gas demand ripples all the way to Norway
Bloomberg Asia’s rapacious thirst for liquefied natural gas is sucking supplies from surprising places. China to Japan and South Korea are paying top dollar for the super-chilled fuel. The pull is so strong that Norway’s Statoil ASA, which usually exports most of its LNG to Europe, is shipping a rare cargo east. It plans to send more. Asia gets most ...
Read More »S Korea’s KOGAS enters LNG arbitration with Australian JV
SEOUL / Reuters South Korea’s Korea Gas Corp has entered court-administered arbitration with Australian joint venture North West Shelf Gas seeking to settle a dispute over a liquefied natural gas (LNG) contract that expired in 2016. A spokesman for the state-run Korean firm, known as KOGAS, confirmed an arbitration process was under way but declined to give details. Woodside Petroleum, ...
Read More »Singapore seen leading race to tax $38 billion shopping boom
Bloomberg Singapore may unveil an e-commerce tax in next week’s budget, setting the tone for a region that’s grappling with online retail’s assault on brick-and-mortar vendors. Eight of the 12 economists in a survey said the February 19 budget will contain a new tax on online vendors, with another betting that cross-border digital transactions will now be included in goods-and-services ...
Read More »Takata settles air-bag claims to exit bankruptcy
Bloomberg Takata Corp.’s US operations, pushed into bankruptcy by the largest automotive recall in US history, settled with two groups representing victims of its faulty air bags, the company said in court documents. Two committees for people suing over the air bags have agreed to support a bankruptcy-exit plan that would resolve lawsuits by channeling them into a trust funded ...
Read More »Sebi examines Fortis after ‘$78mn money taken out’
Bloomberg India’s capital market regulator is examining Fortis Healthcare Ltd. and will look into Religare Enterprises Ltd., following reports alleging money was taken from the companies by Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, who are part of the founding family of both companies. “We are examining the Fortis issue,†Securities & Exchange Board of India Chairman Ajay Tyagi told reporters in New ...
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