Bloomberg Two US strategic bombers led a joint military exercise in South Korea on Saturday in response to this week’s launch by North Korea of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of striking Alaska. The B-1B Lancers, deployed from the US base in Guam, conducted an air-to-surface firing drill in Gangwon province, near the border with North Korea, the US Air ...
Read More »May mulls political reset to deliver Brexit
Bloomberg UK Prime Minister Theresa May is planning to relaunch her political mission to deliver Brexit and help ordinary working people, as she tries to put last month’s disastrous election result behind her, according to a senior government official. May is lining up significant interventions in the next week, including a major speech, setting out her commitment to social and ...
Read More »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 ...
Read More »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 ...
Read More »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 ...
Read More »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 ...
Read More »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 ...
Read More »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 ...
Read More »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 ...
Read More »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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