US shale cheers OPEC as oil cut ends years of starvation

  Bloomberg The US shale industry, gutted by 2 1/2 years of bankruptcies, writedowns, credit downgrades and layoffs, is poised to step back from the brink, thanks to an old enemy: OPEC. Abandoning a policy that sought to starve shale explorers and other high-cost drillers into submission, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries relented on Wednesday and agreed to curb ...

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Canada’s growth surprise affirms rise of services

  Bloomberg Canada’s economy just posted its best quarterly growth in two years. Third-quarter growth of 3.5 percent (at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate) topped the consensus estimate by one tick, and in doing so helped vindicate Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz and his vision for the future of the Canadian economy, which continues to grapple with the impact ...

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Carmakers sustain sales with big discounts

  Bloomberg Deep dealmaking wrapped in a holiday bow brought US carbuyers back into showrooms in late November, saving a month whose first half was dominated by a nasty political campaign. “Fifty percent of the people were convinced the world was going to end no matter what happened” with the presidential election, said Sean Sellers, general manager of Charles Gabus ...

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Nestle finds method to cut sugar in chocolate by 40%

  Bloomberg Nestle SA says it found a way to reduce the amount of sugar in chocolate by as much as 40 percent, a discovery that may give the KitKat maker an edge as food producers face increasing pressure from governments, health advocates and shoppers to make products healthier. The world’s largest food company has developed a process to alter ...

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Troops advance in Aleppo as UN warns of ‘giant graveyard’

  Aleppo / AFP Hundreds of elite Syrian troops moved into east Aleppo on Thursday ahead of a push into the most densely populated areas, after the UN warned the city risked becoming a “giant graveyard”. Despite fierce global criticism, forces loyal to President Bashar Al-Assad have pressed an assault to retake control of all of Aleppo, once Syria’s commercial ...

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Putin says Russia not ‘looking for enemies’

  Moscow / AFP President Vladimir Putin adopted a conciliatory tone to international rivals in a key speech on Thursday, saying Russia needed has “never looked for enemies” in the international community. “We do not want confrontation with anyone. It is not needed—not by us, our partners, the international community,” Putin said during an address on the state of the nation. ...

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Lavrov denies Russia, Syria role in Turkish deaths

  Istanbul / AFP Moscow and Damascus were not behind an air strike in northern Syria that killed four Turkish soldiers, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday. “Neither Russia nor Syria, its air force, had anything to do with this,” Lavrov told a news conference in the southern Turkish resort of Alanya, alongside his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu. ...

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Russia proposes four humanitarian corridors for Aleppo: UN

  Genevat / AFP Russia has proposed setting up four humanitarian corridors to battered eastern Aleppo to allow in aid as well as hundreds of desperately needed medical evacuations, the United Nation said on Thursday. “The Russian Federation announced that… they want to sit down in Aleppo with our people there to discuss how we can use the four corridors to ...

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Abbas is Israel’s top ‘ideological’ foe: Netanyahu ally

  Jerusalem / AFP A leading minister called Mahmud Abbas Israel’s top ideological enemy on Thursday after the Palestinian president suggested he could withdraw recognition if progress was not made towards peace. Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, seen as close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, called the Palestinian leader’s remarks at a Fatah party congress in Ramallah on Wednesday “a sad joke.” ...

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China to ‘seriously’ implement North Korea UN sanctions

  Beijing / AFP Beijing will “seriously” implement new United Nations sanctions imposed on North Korea over its nuclear and missile programmes, it said on Thursday, with the measures set to hit Pyongyang’s lucrative Chinese coal exports hard. UN Security Council resolution 2321, passed on Wednesday, caps the North’s annual coal exports at little more than four months of current ...

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