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1December 16th News 
2https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-economy-activity/chinas-factory-retail-sectors-shine-as-trade-tensions-thaw-idUSKBN1YK042
3Growth in China’s industrial and retail sectors beat expectations in November, as government support propped up demand in the world’s second-largest economy and amid easing trade hostilities with Washington. However, growth in infrastructure and the property sector, both key growth drivers, remained lackluster in November, underlining key challenges for Beijing in its efforts to stabilize economic performance next year. Industrial production rose 6.2% year-on-year in November, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed, beating the median forecast of 5.0% growth in a Reuters poll and quickening from 4.7% in October. It was also the fastest year-on-year growth in five months. Cement, crude steel and pig iron production all rose from a year earlier in November, compared with a fall in the previous month. Output growth in steel, auto and telecommunications sectors accelerated from October. China’s economic growth cooled to 6.0% in the third quarter, a near 30-year low, but policymakers have been more cautious about growth boosting measures than in past downturns. Soft patches were also seen in the property sector, once a bright spot in the economy.
4https://www.reuters.com/article/us-singapore-fakenews/singapore-opposition-party-corrects-posts-under-fake-news-law-idUSKBN1YK09E
5Singapore opposition party corrects posts under 'fake news' law
6A small Singapore opposition party has corrected online posts critical of the government following an order by the labor ministry under a new ‘fake news’ law that rights groups say is being used to chill dissent. Seeking to stir support ahead of a parliamentary election expected within months, the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), which has no seats in parliament, posted articles in recent months on its website and Facebook arguing that an increasing number of white-collar workers were losing their jobs.
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8The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) ordered the SDP to place a correction notice on these posts because it said jobs for professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) had been steadily rising since 2015.  In the latest use of the law, the Ministry of Education on Monday directed opposition politician Lim Tean to correct a Facebook post about foreign students receiving more government funding than local students. Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a press freedom non-profit rights group, called the law “totalitarian” and said it was aimed at eliminating public debate.
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10The government says the city-state is vulnerable to misleading and inaccurate news because of social sensitivities arising from its mixed ethnic and religious population, and widespread internet access. 
11https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-killings-iran-insight/how-one-deadly-day-prompted-iraqi-leaders-exit-idUSKBN1YK1QI
12How one deadly day prompted Iraqi leader's exit
13https://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-banks-popolare-di-bari-minister/italy-says-popolare-di-bari-rescue-meets-eu-state-aid-rules-idUSKBN1YK10B
14Italy says Popolare di Bari rescue meets EU state aid rules
15The European Union will have no reason to object to a rescue of Popolare di Bari, an Italian government minister said on Monday as the Bank of Italy highlighted the central role the cooperative bank plays in the country’s struggling south. Late on Sunday, Rome passed emergency measures worth up to 900 million euros ($992 million) to prop up Popolare di Bari, the biggest lender in the south, after its management said it urgently needed 1 billion euros in capital. Italy’s coalition government has approved a cash injection into Banca del Mezzogiorno-Mediocredito Centrale, a state-owned regional development bank which will then help to rescue Popolare di Bari. Mediocredito will use 500 million euros to buy into a capital raising at Popolare di Bari setting aside the rest for future requirements, a source said on Sunday.  Rome, which has spent some 20 billion euros to help its banks since 2015, has partly limited losses for retail investors by getting EU approval for compensation schemes or for winding up smaller lenders under domestic liquidation rules.
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17The Bank of Italy said Popolare di Bari customers had financed most of a 550 million euro capital strengthening it completed in 2014-2015 to fund the rescue of rival bank Tercas.  Like other regional banks, Popolare di Bari never recovered from Italy’s worst post-war recession which bankrupted thousands of businesses, saddling banks with a mountain of unpaid loans.
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19Popolare di Bari’s problem debts stand at 23% of total lending this year, up from 13% in 2011.
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21The Bank of Italy warned Popolare di Bari’s home Apulia region and neighboring Abruzzo and Basilicata could not afford to lose a bank with a 10% market share and 100,000 local companies among its clients. 
22https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-rareearths-texas-mineral-resource/texas-rare-earths-mine-developers-to-build-u-s-refinery-idUSKBN1YK1Q9
23Texas rare earths mine developers to build U.S. refinery
24Pilot plant in colorado to do 100 kilos by 2020, then ufll scale in texas by 2023. US dropped the ball on rare earths.
25https://www.reuters.com/article/us-argentina-grains/argentine-farmers-balk-at-new-grains-export-taxes-say-output-will-suffer-idUSKBN1YK1MA
26Argentine farmers balk at new grains export taxes, say output will suffer. “The increase in export taxes will be horrible for production, and that will trickle down to local rural economies felt by people who sell farm machinery, seeds and fertilizers. Later it will be felt in the national economy,” said David Hughes, a grower in the Buenos Aires town of Alberti. Grains shipments are Argentina’s main source of much-needed export dollars. The central bank needs to sell dollar reserves to control the swooning local peso currency, which lost more than 83% of its value over the previous four years. The weak peso has contributed to inflation raging at about 50% per year.  Export taxes are paid to the government by international export companies that in turn discount the tax from prices paid to farmers. So growers end up paying the tax whether or not they are having a profitable year.
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28It costs about $300 per hectare to sow and grow soy on his farm, Hughes said. Corn costs $550 and wheat $380. So with profits on the line, he and other farmers say they will likely cuts risks by reducing corn and wheat plantings. “Farmers risk all their capital in planting. The crop is then subject to weather conditions. When risks skyrocket due to higher taxes, it’s only natural that we’ll risk less, invest less, harvest less,” said Eduardo Bell, a grower in the town of Saladillo, at the heart of the Pampas grains belt. 
29https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-boe-banks/bank-of-england-tweaks-capital-rules-to-allow-banks-to-lend-more-in-downturn-idUSKBN1YK1P9
30Bank of England tweaks capital rules to allow banks to lend more in downturn
31The Bank of England said on Monday it planned to tweak rules on the amount of capital that banks hold to allow them to lend more after an economic crisis.  “By shifting the balance of capital requirements from minimum requirements that need to be held at all times toward buffers that can be drawn down as needed, these changes will mean banks will be more able to absorb losses while maintaining lending to the real economy through the cycle,” the BoE said. British lenders currently hold so-called Tier 1 capital equivalent to just under 14% of risk-weighted assets.
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33The BoE designates 1% of risk-weighted assets as a ‘counter-cyclical capital buffer’ (CCyB) which can be used to support lending in a downturn. Under Monday’s proposals, the size of this buffer during normal economic times would double to 2% by the end of 2020, and the BoE could reduce it to zero in a downturn, as currently.
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35This would allow major British lenders to absorb up to 23 billion pounds of losses in a downturn without restricting lending, supporting up to 500 billion pounds of loans to British homes and businesses - the equivalent of five years’ borrowing. 
36https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bayer-glyphosate-lawsuit/bayer-asks-u-s-appeals-court-to-reverse-25-million-roundup-verdict-idUSKBN1YK1OT 
37Bayer asks U.S. appeals court to reverse $25 million Roundup verdict
38Bayer AG on Monday said it has asked a U.S. federal appeals court to throw out a $25 million judgment it was ordered to pay to a California man who blamed the company’s Roundup weed killer for his cancer.  The lawyers during the trial argued Monsanto had failed to warn consumers of Roundup’s cancer risk and said the company concealed damaging evidence from public and regulatory view. Bayer rejects those allegations.
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40The German company’s main appeal argument in Hardeman’s case centers on repeated findings by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that glyphosate is not a carcinogen and not a risk to public health when used in accordance with its current label.  https://www.ewg.org/release/analysis-epa-ignored-scientific-research-showing-monsanto-s-glyphosate-causes-cancer
41A new analysis from the peer-reviewed scientific journal Environmental Sciences Europe documents the diametrically different approaches the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization took when determining the cancer risk from exposure to Monsanto’s weedkiller glyphosate.
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43The report shows that the EPA ignored a large number of peer-reviewed independent studies that link glyphosate to cancer in humans, instead using research paid for by Monsanto to support the agency’s position that glyphosate is not carcinogenic. In contrast, in 2015, after reviewing extensive U.S., Canadian and Swedish epidemiological studies on glyphosate’s human health effects, as well as research on laboratory animals, WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, or IARC, classified the chemical as “probably carcinogenic to humans.”
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45“IARC’s evaluation relied heavily on studies capable of shedding light on the distribution of real-world exposures and genotoxicity risk in exposed human populations, while EPA’s evaluation placed little or no weight on such evidence,” wrote Charles Benbrook, Ph.D., the author of the new study.
46https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-citizenship-protests/india-citizenship-law-protests-spread-across-campuses-idUSKBN1YK0DD
47India citizenship law protests spread across campuses
48Protests over a new Indian citizenship law based on religion spread to student campuses on Monday as critics said the Hindu nationalist government was pushing a partisan agenda in conflict with the country’s founding as a secular republic.  World News
49December 16, 2019 / 1:21 AM / Updated 30 minutes ago
50India citizenship law protests spread across campuses
51Sankalp Phartiyal, Aftab Ahmed
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534 Min Read
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55NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Protests over a new Indian citizenship law based on religion spread to student campuses on Monday as critics said the Hindu nationalist government was pushing a partisan agenda in conflict with the country’s founding as a secular republic.
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57Students pelted stones at police who locked up the gates of a college in the northern city of Lucknow to prevent them from taking to the streets. About two dozen students at another college in the city sneaked out to protest.
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59Anger with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government was stoked by allegations of police brutality at Jamia Millia Islamia university on Sunday, when officers entered the campus in the capital New Delhi and fired tear gas to break up a protest. At least 100 people were wounded.
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61Under the law passed by parliament last week, religious minorities such as Hindus and Christians in neighboring Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who settled in India before 2015 will have a path to citizenship on grounds they faced persecution in those countries. Critics say the law, which does not make the same provision for Muslims, weakens India’s secular foundations. Muslims, who make up 14 percent of India’s population, are especially worried as the law follows the revocation of the special status of the Muslim-majority Kashmir region, and a court decision to build a temple on the site of a mosque razed by Hindu zealots in northern India.
62https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-southsudan-sanctions/u-s-imposes-sanctions-on-south-sudan-officials-for-perpetuating-conflict-idUSKBN1YK1K7
63U.S. imposes sanctions on South Sudan officials for perpetuating conflict
64The United States imposed sanctions on two senior South Sudanese officials it accused of fomenting conflict, the U.S. Treasury Department announced on Monday in its latest move to pressure the country’s politicians to form a unity government. The sanctions freeze any U.S. assets held by the officials and prohibit Americans from doing business with them.  Civil war broke out in oil-producing South Sudan in 2013, less than two years after the country gained independence from Sudan following decades of war. The conflict has killed an estimated 400,000 people, triggered a famine and created Africa’s biggest refugee crisis since the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.“We are designating two cabinet-ranking officials in the South Sudanese government for their role in inhibiting political unification, expanding the conflict, and profiting from South Sudan’s war economy,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Justin Muzinich said in prepared remarks for a speech to non-government organizations (NGOs) and financial institutions on Monday.
65https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-johnson/welcoming-new-lawmakers-british-pm-johnson-vows-a-speedy-brexit-idUSKBN1YJ0NL
66Welcoming new lawmakers, British PM Johnson vows a speedy Brexit
67The priority is to leave the EU on Jan. 31 and then secure a trade agreement with the bloc before the end of next year, Johnson’s spokesman said.
68https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-china/u-s-top-trade-negotiator-praises-deal-china-remains-cautious-idUSKBN1YJ0GL
69U.S. top trade negotiator praises deal, China remains cautious
70 The deal, announced on Friday after more than two and a half years of on-and-off negotiations between Washington and Beijing, will reduce some U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods in exchange for increased Chinese purchases of U.S. agricultural, manufactured and energy products by some $200 billion over the next two years.  China has also pledged in the agreement to better protect U.S. intellectual property, to curb the coerced transfer of American technology to Chinese firms, to open its financial services market to U.S. firms and to avoid manipulation of its currency. Chinese purchases of agricultural goods were expected to increase to $40 billion to $50 billion annually over the next two years, Lighthizer said. The United States exported about $24 billion in farm products to China in 2017, the last full year before the world’s two largest economies launched a tariff war on each others’ goods in July 2018. “(The deal) is a phased achievement, and does not mean that the trade dispute is settled once and for all,” said a source in Beijing with knowledge of the situation. That source said signing and implementing the pact remained the main priority for success.
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72Several Chinese officials told Reuters the wording of the agreement remained a delicate issue and care was needed to ensure expressions used in text did not re-escalate tensions and deepen differences.  The deal suspended a threatened round of U.S. tariffs on a $160 billion list of Chinese imports that was scheduled to take effect on Sunday. The United States also agreed to halve the tariff rate, to 7.5%, on a $120 billion list of Chinese goods including Bluetooth headphones, smart speakers and flat-panel televisions.  The deal ultimately left 25% U.S. tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports, limiting stock market gains on Friday.  Beijing imposed a 5% tariff on U.S. crude oil shipments from Sept. 1, the first time U.S. oil had been targeted since the trade war between the world’s top two economies started more than a year ago. The 5% tariff was not affected by Sunday’s deal.
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74China, the world’s biggest crude importer, has sharply lowered U.S. shipments from a record high hit last year. Chinese customs data showed imports in the first 10 months were halved year-on-year to 146,275 barrels per day. China removed an additional 5% tariff on U.S. propane shipments which was set to take effect from Dec. 1. A 25% duty that Beijing imposed on U.S. propane on Aug. 23, 2018 remains in place.
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76Chinese firms process U.S. propane into petrochemicals such as propylene. Imports last year were worth an estimated $2 billion. China imposed a 10% punitive tariff on U.S. LNG shipments in September 2018, raising it to 25% in June. LNG duties were not affected by Sunday’s deal.
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78Imports of the super-chilled fuel in the first 10 months of 2019 shrank 87.2% on the year to 258,955 tonnes, according to Chinese customs. China imposed tariffs of 25% on U.S. methanol and MEG in June this year. These were not affected by Sunday’s deal.  No additional duty had been scheduled to come into effect on Dec. 15.
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80A 25% tariff on soybeans in July 2018 had halted all buying by commercial buyers, but Chinese crushers went back to the U.S. market following a trade truce leaders in the two countries agreed in December last year. An additional 5% duty came into effect in September. The Chinese government has given tariff exemptions to some U.S. soybean imports. China bought 11.3 million tonnes of soybeans from the United States in January-October, down 31.8% from last year. U.S. has sold at least another 1.5 million tonnes of beans to Chinese crushers since early November American pork faces total import duties of 72% after including the 12% ‘most-favoured nation’ tariff. These duties were not changed in Sunday’s deal, but Beijing is expected to boost U.S. meat imports into China, where a severe African swine fever disease has decimated the world’s largest pig herd and sent domestic pork prices soaring to record levels.  An additional duty of 5% on U.S. aluminum scrap, which was to go into effect on Dec. 15, has been canceled. The material was already affected by an initial 25% tariff in April 2018, following by another 25% hike in August 2018.
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82Shipments to China were down only 17.3% year-on-year in the first 10 months of 2019, but those of U.S. scrap copper, subject to a 25% tariff since August 2018, crashed by 76.6% over the same period. Beijing, which this year raised the prospect of restricting rare earth exports to the United States but has not announced any formal measures, removed the extra 5% tariff on imports of U.S. permanent rare earth magnets from December as part of the phase-one deal. There has been a 25% tariff on U.S. rare earth ore imports since June 2019.
83https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-fed-credit/u-s-consumers-show-greater-demand-for-credit-rejection-rates-drop-ny-fed-survey-idUSKBN1YK1L6
84U.S. consumers show greater demand for credit, rejection rates drop: NY Fed survey
85U.S. consumers showed greater appetite for loans this year - driven by stronger demand for mortgages amid lower rates - and they had an easier time accessing credit when compared to a year earlier, a survey from the New York Federal Reserve showed on Monday.
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87Applications for credit rose slightly this year compared to 2018, and rejection rates declined, according to the New York Fed’s Survey of Consumer Expectations Credit Access Survey. Applications for any kind of credit rose to 45.8% on average in 2019 from 45.5% in 2018. Rejection rates dropped to 17.6% in 2019 from 19.9% in 2018.  The greater demand for credit was driven by consumers seeking to take advantage of lower borrowing rates to buy homes. Mortgage loan application rates rose to 7.9% this year from 7.1% in 2018. That corresponded with a drop in mortgage rates, with the 30-year fixed rate mortgage dropping to 3.73% as of Dec. 13, 0.9 percentage point lower than the same time last year, according to Freddie Mac. Most of those home buyers had strong credit, with credit scores higher than 680. Overall, consumers who applied for new credit this year had an easier time accessing those loans. Rejection rates declined for credit cards, mortgages and mortgage refinance applications, the survey found. The main exception was auto loans, which saw rejection rates rise to an average 7.1% in 2019 from 6.1% in 2018. The study also examines the financial fragility of U.S. households. The perceived probability of facing a sudden expense of $2,000 in the next month rose to 33.6% in 2019 from 32.9% in 2018. But consumers also felt more confident in their ability to afford such a bill, with 69.8% of consumers saying they would be able to come up with $2,000, up slightly from 68.6% in 2018.
88https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lebanon-protests-economy/potential-imf-world-bank-help-for-lebanon-is-credit-positive-moodys-idUSKBN1YK1H8
89Potential IMF, World Bank help for Lebanon is credit positive: Moody's
90Lebanon’s possible pursuit of assistance from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank is credit positive and reduces the risk of extreme macroeconomic instability, Moody’s said on Monday.
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92“Without technical and financial support from the IMF, World Bank and international donors, a scenario of extreme macroeconomic instability - in which a debt restructuring occurs with an abrupt detribalization of the currency peg, resulting in very large losses for private investors - is increasingly likely,” the ratings agency said in a note. 
93https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-unrest-amnesty/amnesty-says-304-killed-in-iran-unrest-thousands-arrested-including-children-idUSKBN1YK1GL
94Amnesty says 304 killed in Iran unrest, thousands arrested including children
95“At least 304 people were killed and thousands were injured between 15 and 18 November as Iranian authorities crushed protests using lethal force,” it said. Thousands have been arrested including children as young as 15 in a crackdown that followed the protests, London-based Amnesty said in a statement.
96https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-palm-eu/indonesia-files-wto-palm-oil-suit-as-tensions-with-eu-grow-idUSKBN1YJ0DG
97Indonesia files WTO palm oil suit as tensions with EU grow
98Indonesia has filed a lawsuit at the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the European Union, claiming the bloc’s restrictions on palm oil-based biofuel are unfair, the latest in a series of disputes between the two sides.  The European Commission concluded this year that palm oil cultivation results in excessive deforestation and should not count toward renewable energy targets.  The result is that palm oil-based diesel would not be considered a biofuel and its use in transport fuel would effectively be phased out between 2023 and 2030.
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100Indonesia, the world’s biggest producer of palm oil, has repeatedly said it will challenge the EU’s renewable energy directive at the WTO’s dispute settlement body.  Business News
101EU consumption of palm oil in food has been in steady decline, but its use as a biofuel has increased. Last year, the bloc consumed more than 7 million tonnes of palm oil, with some 65% of it used for energy.  
102https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sweden-cenbank-preview/sweden-set-to-end-sub-zero-rates-ecb-and-others-far-behind-idUSKBN1YK1C4
103Sweden set to end sub-zero rates; ECB and others far behind
104Sweden’s central bank is expected to become the first in the world to claw its way out of negative interest rates on Thursday, as worries about the unwanted side-effects of such a policy trump signs of slower growth at home and a shaky global outlook. The Riksbank cut rates below zero in early 2015 to head off the threat of Japanese-style deflation in the wake of the euro zone crisis.
105The European Central Bank, Denmark and Switzerland had already gone sub-zero - the first central banks ever to experiment with such an extreme policy. Japan and Hungary have since joined the club. On Thursday, if analysts are right, the Riksbank will hike its benchmark repo rate to zero from -0.25%, making it the first to return to more normal territory.  Savers have suffered at the expense of borrowers. In Denmark, banks are now charging for holding deposits of over 750,000 crowns, while some house buyers are being paid to take a mortgage. Ultra-cheap borrowing also means uncompetitive companies are being given a life-line, reducing economic efficiency, while low yields make it harder for pension funds and life insurance firms to meet their long-term commitments without taking on higher risks. Many economists believe negative rates are the wrong tool for fixing economies beset by structural problems or for tackling more fundamental economic trends such as an aging population.  “We have to talk about fiscal policy. Monetary policy isn’t going to be able to solve this alone,” Magnus Billing, CEO of pension firm Alecta said at a panel debate on negative rates in October. 
106https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lebanon-protests-government/lebanon-delays-pm-designation-as-political-crisis-deepens-idUSKBN1YK0KP
107Lebanon delays PM designation as political crisis deepens
108The nomination of Lebanon’s next prime minister was postponed on Monday as new complications surfaced in efforts to agree a government that is urgently needed to pull the country out of a destabilizing economic crisis. More than seven weeks since Saad al-Hariri quit as prime minister, prompted by protests against the ruling elite, politicians have been unable to agree on a new administration despite a deepening financial crunch.
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110The impasse took a violent turn at the weekend when Beirut was clouded in tear gas as security forces clashed with protesters who blame the politicians for corruption and bad governance. Dozens were wounded.  The heavily armed Hezbollah has said the next government must bring all sides together to tackle the crisis, including the FPM. Hezbollah’s leader has said the formation of a new government will be hard even if a prime minister is designated.
111https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bausch-health-litigation/bausch-health-agrees-to-pay-1-21-billion-to-settle-share-price-lawsuit-idUSKBN1YK163
112Bausch Health agrees to pay $1.21 billion to settle share price lawsuit
113The company, previously known as Valeant Pharmaceuticals, did not admit to any liability and denied all allegations of wrongdoing as part of the settlement for the litigation originally filed in October 2015.
114https://www.reuters.com/article/us-qatar-saudi/qatar-fm-says-early-talks-with-saudi-arabia-have-broken-stalemate-idUSKBN1YK0MU 
115Qatar FM says early talks with Saudi Arabia have broken stalemate
116Qatar’s foreign minister said recent talks have broken a protracted stalemate with Saudi Arabia and that Doha would study demands by its Gulf rivals but not turn its back on ally Turkey. The 2-1/2-year row between U.S.-allied Arab states saw Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic and trade links with Qatar over claims it backs terrorism. Doha denies the charge and says the embargo undermines its sovereignty. The boycotting nations set 13 demands, including closing Al Jazeera television, shuttering a Turkish base, downgrading ties with Iran and cutting links to the Muslim Brotherhood.
117https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kazakhstan-independence-protests/dozens-detained-in-rare-kazakhstan-independence-day-protests-idUSKBN1YK1B1
118Dozens detained in rare Kazakhstan Independence Day protests
119Police detained dozens of people in Kazakhstan’s two main cities on Monday at rare protests demanding political reform and the sidelining of the family of former President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Groups of up to 100 anti-government protesters marked Independence Day with simultaneous demonstrations in the capital, Nur-Sultan, and in the commercial hub Almaty.
120https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-pensions-protests/in-blow-to-macron-france-pensions-reform-tsar-resigns-idUSKBN1YK11U
121In blow to Macron, France pensions reform tsar resigns
122France’s minister for pension reform resigned on Monday over a potential conflict of interest, dealing a blow to President Emmanuel Macron as trade unions staged a 12th day of strikes and prepared for more street protests against the planned changes. The unions have said they will step up their protests unless the government withdraws the reform. Much of the rail network remained gridlocked on Monday as days of traffic chaos continued across France. Unions have branded any attempt to raise the retirement age a “red line” and have asked their members, including doctors, teachers, dockers and others to join mass protests on Tuesday after the government’s broad plan was published on Dec. 11. 
123https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southkorea-japan/japan-south-korea-find-common-ground-in-trade-dispute-talks-agree-to-meet-again-idUSKBN1YK09W
124Japan, South Korea find 'common ground' in trade dispute talks, agree to meet again
125Relations between the neighbors have been plagued for years for bitterness over Japan’s colonization of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945, which saw forced use of labor by Japanese companies and the use of “comfort women”, a Japanese euphemism for girls and women, many of them Korean, forced to work in its wartime brothels.
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127Japan’s July trade restrictions came after a South Korean court ruled last year that Japanese companies had to pay compensation to South Koreans forced to work in Japanese factories during Japan’s occupation.
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129Japan believes the issue was settled under a 1965 treaty and the court ruling violated international law. 
130https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-warren-wallstreet/wall-street-banks-court-moderate-democrats-to-blunt-warrens-hostility-idUSKBN1YK135
131Wall Street banks court moderate Democrats to blunt Warren's hostility
132Wall Street bank lobbyists are seeking moderate Democratic allies in Congress to deprive Elizabeth Warren of votes and curb policies they consider hostile to their interests, according to more than a dozen lobbyists, consultants and campaign data.Banks are targeting Democrats on the U.S. Senate banking committee who need war chests for re-election bids, including Virginia’s Mark Warner and Alabama’s Doug Jones, as well as other senators with bipartisan track records such as Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema and Michigan’s Gary Peters, lobbyists said. 
133https://www.jpost.com/International/Boris-Johnson-to-pass-anti-BDS-law-official-says-611044
134Boris Johnson to pass anti-BDS law, official says
135The new Conservative government in the UK will pass a law making it illegal for public bodies to engage with BDS, UK Special Envoy for post-Holocaust issues Eric Pickles said at the International Institute for Strategic Dialogue’s conference in Jerusalem on Sunday night.
136"BDS is antisemitic and should be treated as such," Pickles said, explaining that the new law will not allow public bodies to work with those who boycott, divest from or sanction Israel in any way.
137https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hongkong-protests-carrielam/hong-kong-leader-says-china-to-offer-economic-support-to-embattled-city-idUSKBN1YK0WC
138Hong Kong leader says China to offer economic support to embattled city
139Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said on Monday she had briefed China’s leader Xi Jinping on the city’s protests, and said China would continue to support and offer favorable economic policies for the financial hub.
140https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-hedgefunds-sustainable-analysi/villains-or-visionaries-hedge-funds-short-companies-they-say-greenwash-idUSKBN1YJ097
141Villains or visionaries? Hedge funds short companies they say 'greenwash'
142Investments defined as “sustainable” account for more than a quarter of all assets under management globally, according to the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance. About $31 trillion has been invested, buoyed by analyst reports that show companies with strong ESG narratives outperform their peers.   (this is me typing, this seems to be a quesitonable amount of green investment, will look into further)
143https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-economy/german-economy-stagnating-despite-signs-of-industrial-rebound-ministry-idUSKBN1YK0PX
144German economy stagnating despite signs of industrial rebound: ministry
145The German economy is more or less stagnating, the economy ministry said on Monday, adding there are initial signs that an industrial recession could be coming to an end as orders stabilize.
146Consumption has helped keep Europe’s biggest economy humming by compensating for weak exports. Trade tensions this year pushed the German manufacturing sector into a recession but the overall economy narrowly escaped the same fate.  There are fears that should the manufacturing sector continue to shrink, the slowdown could spread to an otherwise resilient services sector. The German central bank said last week that Germany faced another sluggish year despite a likely rebound in exports as households see their spending power shrink. The Bundesbank said households’ real disposable income fell due to a slowdown in employment growth.
147
148It trimmed its growth forecast for this year to 0.5 percent and halved its prediction for 2020 to 0.6 percent. 
149
150https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/12/16/613838/Iran-China-banking-ties-confidentiality-ambassador-Hua
151Iran, China keep banking initiatives secret to evade US sanctions: Envoy
152China’s ambassador to Iran Chang Hua says the two countries have agreed on new banking mechanisms that could facilitate bilateral trade although he insists that the initiatives would remain confidential to avoid the American sanctions imposed on Iran.
153
154Hua told semi-official ILNA news agency on Monday that officials from Iran and China have been holding "regular meetings" to coordinate efforts that could facilitate banking and trade relations in the face of the US sanctions on Tehran. Unconfirmed reports have shown that China, the top buyer of Iran’s oil over the years, has continued to import crude from Iran despite an outright ban imposed by the US on such trade since May 2019. 
155
156A main issue, however, has been how the Chinese could pay for the Iranian oil as Washington tightly monitors any transfers made into the Iranian accounts in major international currencies.Speaking to a gathering of businesses in Tehran earlier this month, Hua said US sanctions had effectively failed to hamper trade between Iran and China as the bilateral trade between the two reached a total of $20 billion in the first eight months of the Iranian calendar year ending in late November.
157https://www.reuters.com/article/us-arsenal-china-ministry/china-says-arsenals-ozil-deceived-by-fake-news-after-uighur-comments-idUSKBN1YK0TV
158China says Arsenal's Ozil 'deceived by fake news' after Uighur comments
159Ozil’s posts called Uighurs “warriors who resist persecution” and criticized both China’s crackdown and the silence of Muslims in response.  “(In China) Qurans are burned, mosques were closed down, Islamic theological schools, madrasas were banned, religious scholars were killed one by one. Despite all this, Muslims stay quiet,” Ozil, who is a Muslim, said in his posts.  “The content he expressed is entirely Ozil’s personal opinion,” the official account of Arsenal said in a post on China’s Twitter-like Weibo platform.  A search on Weibo for the hashtag translatable as “Ozil issues inappropriate statement”, which had been one of the top trending topics on the platform, returned no results on Saturday afternoon.  “Ozil’s comments are undoubtedly hurtful to the Chinese fans who closely follow him, and at the same time his comments also hurt the feelings of Chinese people. This is something we cannot accept,” the news outlet quoted an unnamed official from the association as saying. 
160https://www.reuters.com/article/us-philippines-politics-marcos/philippine-court-dismisses-case-seeking-3-9-billion-of-marcos-wealth-idUSKBN1YK0TM
161Philippine court dismisses case seeking $3.9 billion of Marcos wealth
162 A Philippine court threw out a high-profile, 32-year-old forfeiture case on Monday involving the family of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, citing insufficient evidence to order the return of $3.9 billion of allegedly ill-gotten wealth. The country’s anti-graft court decided in favor of the Marcoses for the fourth time since August, with judges ruling that photocopied documents could not be used as evidence, so the case would not proceed.
163
164It has been referred to widely as the “mother” of cases in a three-decade effort by a special presidential panel to recover an estimated $10 billion allegedly siphoned off by Marcos and a family that had lived lavishly during his 20 years in power, 14 of which were ruled under martial law.  In a 58-page verdict, the court “acknowledged the atrocities committed during martial law under the Marcos regime and the ‘plunder’ committed on the country’s resources”.
165
166“However, absent sufficient evidence that may lead to the conclusion that the subject properties were indeed ill-gotten wealth, the court cannot simply order the return of the same to the national treasury.” 
167https://www.reuters.com/article/us-australia-bushfires/australia-firefighters-accidentally-spread-blaze-ahead-of-heatwave-idUSKBN1YK0LV
168Australia firefighters accidentally spread blaze ahead of heatwave
169A backburning operation intended to contain a massive wildfire in eastern Australia sparked out of control, damaging buildings and cutting off major roads, authorities said, as the country heads into another heatwave that may topple temperature records.
170https://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-economy-unemployment/turkey-joblessness-dips-below-14-still-high-after-recession-idUSKBN1YK0LL
171Turkey joblessness dips below 14%, still high after recession
172Turkey's unemployment rate edged down to 13.8% tmsnrt.rs/2NQX20M in the August-October period, from 14.0% a month earlier, according to official data on Monday that suggested jobs remain elusive despite the economy having emerged from a recession.
173
174The economy expanded 0.9% year-on-year in the third quarter, breaking three consecutive quarters of contraction brought on by last year’s currency crisis. Unemployment has been volatile but lofty after hitting a 10-year peak of 14.7% early this year.  Youth unemployment is 26%, headline unemployment is 13.8
175https://www.reuters.com/article/us-singapore-fakenews/singapore-fake-news-law-ensnares-government-critics-idUSKBN1YK0KH
176Singapore 'fake news' law ensnares government critics
177A Singapore opposition politician was asked to correct a Facebook post criticizing state education spending on Monday, the fourth use of a new “fake news” law that has been used against government opponents. Since the law was invoked on Nov. 26, three figures linked to the opposition and an opposition party have been told their online posts must carry a banner stating that they contain false information. The posts ranged from accusing the government of influencing decisions by the state investment fund to an assertion that white-collar unemployment was rising. Facebook has said it was concerned the law grants broad powers to the government.
178
179Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a press freedom non-profit group, called the law “totalitarian” and said it was aimed at eliminating public debate. 
180 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-50808996
181Is Scottish Labour's position on independence changing?
182During the election campaign, Labour's position on the holding of a second independence referendum softened somewhat.
183
184The party had previously sought to take a firm line against independence and indyref2, but seemed to accept that should SNP votes be needed to prop up a Labour administration at Westminster, this could eventually shift. As well as having a position on a referendum, though, Labour are going to have to decide which side they are on when it comes to the issue itself. Jeremy Corbyn's attempt to have a "neutral stance" on Brexit doesn't appear to have done him any favours.
185https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china/china-lodges-stern-representations-with-u-s-over-expelling-chinese-officials-idUSKBN1YK0K9
186China lodges stern representations with U.S. over expelling Chinese officials
187The U.S. government covertly moved to expel two officials from the Chinese embassy earlier this year after they drove onto a military base, the New York Times reported on Sunday.
188“The U.S.accusations against Chinese personnel severely disregard reality,” said Geng. The Chinese officials breached security at a base in Virginia this fall, and only stopped driving after fire trucks were used to block their path, the Times said.
189
190The United States in recent years has stepped up efforts to combat concerns about suspected spying by the Chinese. “We strongly urge the U.S. to correct its mistake, cancel the relevant decision and protect Chinese personnel’s proper rights according to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” said Geng, referring to an international treaty on diplomatic privileges.
191https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-emirates/indonesia-targets-more-investments-from-uae-during-visit-in-january-idUSKBN1YK0JN
192Indonesia targets more investments from UAE during visit in January
193The Indonesian government is keen to attract more foreign investors to help boost its economic growth, which has held near 5% for several years.
194
195Earlier this year, companies from Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates signed agreements worth a total $9.7 billion during an official visit by the Abu Dhabi crown prince to the Southeast Asian country.  During Widodo’s planned visit in January, the government aims to sign a memorandum of understanding with sovereign wealth fund Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) “to support infrastructure development Indonesia”, the Coordinating Ministry of Maritime and Investment Affairs said in its statement. Indonesian state aluminum company PT Inalum is also planning to sign an agreement with Emirates Gold Aluminium to build a 500,000 tonnes-per-year smelter in North Kalimantan province on Borneo island.
196https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lebanon-protests/clashes-rock-beirut-as-security-forces-fire-tear-gas-at-protest-idUSKBN1YJ0M4
197Clashes rock Beirut as security forces fire tear gas at protest
198Tear gas engulfed central Beirut as security forces chased protesters near Lebanon’s parliament on Sunday in a second night of street clashes that wounded dozens of people. Protesters had returned despite a fierce crackdown by security forces the night before when clashes also injured dozens.
199
200It marked the most violent unrest in the capital in a historic wave of protests that has swept Lebanon since Oct. 17 and pushed Saad al-Hariri to resign as prime minister.  Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces said they fired tear gas after demonstrators pelted them with fireworks and stones, injuring some officers. On Twitter, the ISF called on people to leave the streets. Crowds of men and women ran for cover chanting “revolution, revolution!” as white smoke streaming out of tear gas canisters encircled them. Some hurled the canisters back at riot police standing nearby in body armor. Lebanon’s main parties have fueded over forming a new government, and Hariri is expected to be named prime minister again at formal consultations on Monday. But political rifts look set to hinder agreement on the next cabinet, which the country badly needs to ward off an even worse crisis. 
201https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-13/hopes-dim-for-broad-deal-on-global-carbon-market-at-un-talks?srnd=new-economy-forum
202Hopes Dim for Broad Deal on Global Carbon Market at UN Talks December 13, 2019, 7:43 AM EST
203Their disputes concern the final corner of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, which opened the way for using financial markets to allow countries to trade certificates representing cuts in greenhouse gases. While developing nations are eager for that cash to flow, they’re reluctant to sign up to the accounting and scrutiny that environmentalists and industrial nations demand. “This process has stalled out a bit not just in the last year but in the last couple of years,” said Alden Meyer, who has been following the talks for more than two decades at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a Massachusetts-based non-profit. “Part of that is due of course to President Trump, but it’s also the fact the EU hasn’t had it’s act totally together yet.” This year, the talks are meant to flesh out Article 6 of the Paris deal, which endorsed the principle of using markets to help countries find the most efficient way to cut emissions. Without elaborating on how that would work, companies and policy makers can’t design securities that do the work. 
204https://www.politico.com/amp/news/2019/12/16/tobacco-sales-under-21-086113?__twitter_impression=true
205Congress on the brink of banning tobacco sales to anyone under 21
206Congress is on the verge of a sweeping health care reform: Federally prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to people under 21. The legislation significantly raising the age cap from the current age of 18 on cigarettes and e-cigarettes is increasingly likely to be included in the year-end spending deal, the result of support from a diverse coalition of lawmakers, according to four people familiar with the matter. While the deal has not been finalized, it is more than likely to be in the package, according to sources in both parties. 
207https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-16/the-ceo-trying-to-fix-palm-oil-says-he-s-no-orangutan-killer?srnd=new-economy-forum 
208The CEO Trying to Fix Palm Oil Says He’s No Orangutan Killer
209But then comes the caveat. “Having said that, it’s also wrong that the skeptical fraternity or the NGO fraternity continues to paint the entire industry with the same brush,” he says. “There has never been a wild orangutan in the whole of peninsular Malaysia right up to Bangkok,” he says. “But yet we are painted with the same brush.” Palm oil, used in everything from pizza dough to shampoo, lipstick and biofuels, is an industry on the rise. Worldwide production has climbed about sixfold since the 1990s, according to Gro Intelligence, and use of the oil is projected to increase to more than 100 million tons by 2025, up 50% from 2016. Plantations have grown exponentially, and now cover about 22 million hectares (54.4 million acres) in Indonesia and Malaysia -- an area almost the size of the U.K.
210
211But palm oil is also increasingly under fire, accused of destroying rainforests and peatlands, driving endangered animals like the orangutan, pygmy elephant and Sumatran rhinoceros toward extinction, and exploiting poor plantation workers, who often come from abroad. Bek-Nielsen says that while there are “rogue players” in the industry, there are those working to clean up its act.
212United Plantations is ahead of the curve in producing sustainable palm oil and committing to environmental, social and governance practices, according to Ivy Ng, regional head of agribusiness at CIMB Investment Bank Bhd. The “secret to their success,” she says, boils down to a hands-on approach by management, strong agronomic practices at estates, and the close attention they pay to sustainability.
213
214But while Bek-Nielsen has been tending to his plantations, the backlash against palm oil has grown. The region is routinely suffocated by stinging smoke from thousands of fires across Indonesia’s carbon-rich peatland, which environmentalists and others say are linked to illegal slash-and-burn techniques to clear land for palm oil plantations -- an allegation the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries denies. The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service estimates Indonesian fires that spread across more than 4,000 kilometers, or about 2,500 miles, this year pumped out more carbon dioxide than the record burning in the Amazon rainforest. The European Union moved this year to curb and eventually eliminate the use palm oil in biofuel on concerns that its cultivation caused deforestation and aggravated climate change, landing a blow to producers that were already struggling to improve the perception of palm oil. Indonesia and Malaysia called the policy discriminatory and said they would lodge a complaint to the World Trade Organization. Indonesia filed a WTO lawsuit on Dec. 9.  “There are rogue players out there who are doing things which are a liability to the industry and which have got a short-termism built into their DNA, which is totally wrong,” Bek-Nielsen says. But boycotts also punish efficient growers that can produce palm with half the greenhouse gas emissions to that of rapeseed oil, he says. “One has to stop this indiscriminate impact of a boycott because that will hit the guilty and the non-guilty evenly and will not help to transform bad practices into good practices. Why should people move in that direction if they’re going to be clobbered?” The way forward, Bek-Nielsen says, is for both producers and buyers to commit to sustainability. Growers certified by the RSPO comply with what he says are the “strictest criteria for any agriculture crop” and commit to an “NDPE” policy, which is no deforestation, no planting on peatland, and no exploitation. But take-up of certified sustainable palm has been low. Consumers are unwilling to pay more for environmentally friendly supply and less than 60% of it is sold as sustainable, he said.
215
216“If there is no demand for sustainable palm oil, then how are you going to convince more people to produce it?” Bek-Nielsen says. Producers need a carrot as well as a stick, he says.  “The RSPO standard for sustainable production is very high, but it is critical that the standard translates into practice,” says Elizabeth Clarke, WWF’s global palm oil lead. The RSPO needs to improve its audit and complaints mechanisms, and build on existing tools to better monitor certified plantations and their surrounding landscapes so all members are held accountable to its standards, she says. Buyers, she says, must take “urgent and accelerated” action to ensure their palm oil chains are fully certified and free of deforestation. Only about 20% “of global palm is certified as sustainable by the RSPO, and if that volume is to increase then there needs to be confidence that sustainable palm oil means sustainable,” Clarke says.
217“I’m not here to say that palm oil is God’s gift to humanity. But neither am I here to say it is what the Devil has produced,” he says. “There are bad practices out there. Go after those who are not doing it well, but also stop this nonsense about making blanket statements about the entire industry, and giving people the insinuation or the belief that the entire industry is into malpractices, and the entire industry is killing orangutans.”
218https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2019-us-gdp-concentration-counties/
219A Third of America’s Economy Is Concentrated in Just 31 Counties
220Just 31 counties, or the top 1% by share, made up 32.3% of U.S. gross domestic product in 2018, according to data released last week by the Bureau of Economic Analysis that included nearly 20 years of county-level GDP data. That's despite these counties only having 26.1% of employed Americans and 21.9% of the population last year. Their combined GDP share is also up from a recession low of 30.1% in 2009.  Looking at the largest counties by output, Los Angeles County, which has a GDP equivalent to Saudi Arabia, added $395.2 billion to total U.S. GDP from 2001 to 2018. New York County, home to Manhattan, added $340 billion.  A large population and workforce is only part of the story. Last year, these counties represented $1.3 trillion more of nationwide GDP than the share of workers alone would account for. Looking at population, their combined share of GDP rose even as their share of overall population fell. The difference may stem from other aspects of a city, such as clusters of activity or networks, that improve productivity.  The data also highlight differences in industry concentration. The information sector, dominated by West Coast tech giants like Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Amazon.com Inc., is particularly consolidated, with nearly three-fifths of its output squeezed into just a few dozen counties.
221
222Finance and the arts are also highly concentrated. While the New York City region still dominates national finance, Manhattan's grip on the industry has eased since 2014. Los Angeles has held the top spot in the arts and entertainment space from 2001 to 2018, but New York has increased its share from 4.6% to 7.2% over the period. 
223https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2019-county-gdp/
224https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-13/how-kim-jong-un-keeps-advancing-his-nuclear-program-quicktake?srnd=new-economy-forum
225How Kim Jong Un Keeps Advancing North Korea’s Nuclear Program
226Kim has rolled out new solid-fuel ballistic missiles that are easier to move, hide and fire than many liquid-fuel versions. He has launched some two dozen since May including nuclear-capable, hypersonic KN-23 missiles that can strike all of South Korea -- including U.S. forces stationed south of Seoul -- within two minutes.  It has been self-sufficient for decades. The program, which once turned out enough plutonium for one nuclear bomb a year, now relies largely on uranium enrichment and, according to weapons experts, produces enough fissile material for about six bombs a year. The Trump administration says North Korea has enlarged its stockpile since nuclear talks began. Experts estimate the country has enough for roughly 30-60 nuclear weapons. North Korea may be working on ICBMs that carry multiple warheads and in-flight countermeasures to throw interceptors off the trail, according to Datayo, an open-source weapons research site. Kim has pushed to develop his fleet of submarines and is looking to deploy a new vessel soon that experts say could fire missiles. He may even try to revive the country’s satellite program, arguing that North Korea has the right as a sovereign state to develop a space program. Weapons experts say satellite launches could be used by North Korea to advance missile technology.
227https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-12/can-palm-oil-demand-be-met-without-rainforest-ruin-quicktake?srnd=new-economy-forum
228https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2015/12/01/indonesias-fire-and-haze-crisis
229Can Palm Oil Demand Be Met Without Ruining Rainforests?
230The use of palm oil in food products has doubled worldwide in the past 15 years. About half of all items in a supermarket are now likely to contain it, and global consumption could climb to more than 100 million tons per year by 2025, 50% more than in 2016, according to researcher Gro Intelligence. To meet the demand, critics say, some growers in Indonesia and Malaysia, which together account for 85% of global production, use “slash-and-burn” land clearance techniques that routinely blanket parts of Southeast Asia with stinging smoke. In 2015, forest fires in Indonesia alone pumped out more greenhouse gases per day than all sources in the U.S. The fires not only spew carbon dioxide into the atmosphere but also destroy significant carbon-absorbing forests and ground cover. In an effort to reduce demand for palm oil, the European Union is restricting the types of biofuels made from palm oil that can be counted toward the bloc’s renewable-energy goals and aims to phase out palm oil-based biofuel entirely by 2030. Indonesia and Malaysia have called the act discriminatory, and on Dec. 9 Indonesia filed a lawsuit at the World Trade Organization arguing that the EU’s move would hurt Indonesia’s trade and create a bad image for palm products. Currently, about one-fifth of global palm oil is compliant with the Roundtable’s sustainability standards. However, the value of the label is somewhat disputed. In early November, Greenpeace called eco-friendly palm oil “a con” because some Roundtable members are still cutting down forests. More than a dozen environmental advocacy organizations also endorsed a new report concluding that violations of the agreed-upon standards by Roundtable members are “systematic and widespread.” One challenge that has plagued the Roundtable is how to draw in small growers, known as smallholders. The rules to meet sustainability requirements can threaten the viability of these farmers, who make up about 40% of production in both Indonesia and Malaysia. To ease their burden and encourage compliance, the Roundtable in November introduced a new, separate standard for smallholders that allows them to meet sustainability regulations in phases and provides training and support along the way.  Oil pressed from the fleshy fruit that grows near the trunks of oil palm trees has a neutral taste, long shelf life and high smoking temperature. It’s used mainly for edible purposes such as cooking and confectionery-making, as well as for biofuel and animal feed. Oil pressed separately from the kernels inside the fruit is more saturated -- and thus semi-solid at room temperature -- and is used to make soaps, cosmetics and detergents. Oil palms can grow on a variety of soil, are resilient to short spells of drought or floods, and bear fruit year-round for decades. Palm oil also has a much higher yield per acre than alternatives -- up to ten times more than rapeseed, soybean, olive and sunflower oils. Its cultivation uses only about 7% of the world’s farming land but accounts for about 40% of total vegetable oil production, according to Oil World. That means that if palm oil were replaced with alternatives, more land would be needed to produce similar volumes. 
231https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-16/fintech-lenders-tighten-standards-as-they-become-more-like-banks?srnd=future-of-finance
232“We, together with others, are being increasingly picky about the loans that we are booking,” LendingClub Chief Executive Officer Scott Sanborn told investors last month on the San Francisco-based company’s earnings call. “Across the board, you’re seeing a number of people, LendingClub included, kind of prudently pulling in and tightening a little bit on the credit they’re offering.”
233Last quarter, the average personal loan in the U.S. went to a borrower with a 717 credit score, the highest ever recorded, according to preliminary figures from credit-data provider PeerIQ. The typical borrower reported $100,000-plus in annual income, also a record. Fintechs are now so focused on borrowers with pristine credit that only about a quarter of their new unsecured loans this year have gone to households with below-prime credit scores, making the companies more conservative than credit unions, according to TransUnion.  Until 2018, more than 60% of fintech personal loans went to borrowers whose credit scores were prime and below, TransUnion data show. Some 53% of LendingClub’s borrowers between 2008 and 2015 were rated internally as C, D, and E on an A-through-G scale, according to the Treasury Department. A-rated borrowers enjoyed interest rates as low as 5.99%, while E-rated borrowers paid as much as 28.26%. Loss rates on loans fintechs sold to investors ended up much higher than forecast “almost across the board,” said John Bella, who oversees coverage of U.S. asset-backed securities at Fitch Ratings. “Even in a relatively benign economic environment, these issuers are underperforming their own models and expectations.” For subprime customers, fintechs’ pullback mirrors what they’ve experienced generally when borrowing money in the past several years, according to the Financial Stability Oversight Council, made up of U.S. banking and market regulators. The group said in a report this month that total loan balances for borrowers with subprime scores remain well below pre-crisis levels, which it attributed partly to “somewhat tight” credit availability for higher-risk borrowers.
234https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-11/robinhood-launches-its-cash-management-service-a-year-after-botched-launch
235Robinhood Launches Its Cash Management Service, a Year After Botched Launch
236Robinhood Markets Inc. has finally launched its take on a bank account, albeit a very different version of the service it once hoped to offer. On Wednesday, the online brokerage firm rolled out Cash Management to a subset of users. The product will sweep the money customers don’t currently have in stocks into a separate account with 1.8% interest.
237https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-12/facebook-s-consolidation-moves-ahead-with-payments-tools?srnd=future-of-finance
238Facebook’s Consolidation Moves Ahead With Payments Tools
239Facebook Inc. is consolidating its various payments features into a single product with a new name, with plans to roll it out across all of the company’s apps.
240
241Facebook Pay is a rebranding of a number of existing payment features into one user experience across the social network’s apps, the company said Tuesday. You can already make payments in the form of donations and in-app purchases inside various Facebook-owned products, and soon you’ll be able to do that across Facebook’s apps through one system that will store user credit and debit cards.
242https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-08/the-plan-to-turn-your-car-into-a-virtual-atm?srnd=future-of-finance
243The Plan to Turn Your Car Into a Virtual ATM
244So the former derivatives trader who spent 14 months as finance chief at Toyota’s innovation hub launched a non-profit that aims to turn cars into rolling wallets able to autonomously make and receive payments in a virtual currency. Drivers would earn small sums for sharing data on everything from traffic congestion to weather and be debited for infrastructure use and contribution to pollution.  “When tech is applied to cities and transportation by smart people who understand tech but don’t understand cities, the outcome can actually be bad for cities and create new or bigger problems,’’ says Brent Toderian, former chief city planner in Vancouver. “There’s a danger to boosterism with these kinds of ideas, and a need to be cautious and critical in a way that tech folks often aren’t.’’  As an example, he said new technology could lead to more driving, reducing any positive environmental impact such advances were supposed to deliver.  For the vision to materialize, city infrastructure will have to be equipped to communicate with vehicles. Smart cities, urban metropolises pulsating with sensors and powered by artificial intelligence, are on the drawing board. Alphabet Inc.’s urban innovation unit Sidewalk Labs LLC is working on creating a “city of the future” on Toronto’s waterfront.
245https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-08/banks-may-need-political-help-to-survive-big-tech-a-nordic-view?srnd=future-of-finance
246Banks Facing Data Crisis May Need Politica“The biggest issue that needs to be decided at a high level of politics is, do we somehow make rules in relation to sharing and use of data similar, or do we keep a difference?” Berg said. “We need to think about whether, and when, we set rules that are different for different types of companies, where the activity is basically the same.”l Help, Denmark Warns
247https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-02/ping-an-co-ceos-talk-about-the-chinese-insurer-s-move-into-tech?srnd=future-of-finance
248China’s Insurance Giant Is Morphing Into a Tech Company
249Just 31 years after it was founded in China’s southern city of Shenzhen, Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. has grown into the world’s second-largest insurer by market value after Berkshire Hathaway Inc.—more valuable than Allianz SE and AIA Group Ltd. combined. A financial supermarket that offers insurance, asset management, banking, and trust services, Ping An (which roughly translates to “safe and well”) added a focus on technology in the wake of the financial crisis. Now it has five groups of internet platforms, which it calls ecosystems, focused on finance, property, automotive, health care, and services for the “smart city.” More than 576 million users and 100 Chinese cities are connected to at least one of those ecosystems. One of the businesses, Ping An Healthcare and Technology Co., which runs the health-care portal Good Doctor, has already listed separately.
250https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-23/trapped-in-new-york-salt-cap-haters-find-moving-isn-t-that-easy?srnd=wealth
251New Yorkers Trying to Flee High State Taxes Find Moving Isn’t So Easy
252July 23, 2018, 4:00 AM EDT
253Of course that data doesn’t account for movement among certain groups, like the ultra-rich, for whom the tax savings may just be too great to ignore. In recent years, hedge fund titans including David Tepper, Paul Tudor Jones and Eddie Lampert have moved to Florida. This year, some money managers are planning to relocate as Miami and Palm Beach officials ramp up their advertising efforts following the new $10,000 limit on state and local tax deductions. There are two main hurdles for New York residents looking to flee. The first is the domicile test, which requires proof that a resident moved to a new home with no intention of coming back. Submitting a change-of-address form alone isn’t enough, nor is obtaining a new driver’s license or registering to vote in a new district, though checking those boxes is still important.
254
255Instead, New York tax collectors look at five factors: homes that are owned, how time is spent, where favorite possessions are kept -– the so-called “teddy bear test” -- and business activities and family ties. Potential relocators are finding they can’t just buy a one-bedroom condo in South Beach, but leave behind a 20-room palace in Westchester County, or kids in a Manhattan private school.
256
257Former New Yorkers must meet another test as well, called the 183-day rule, if they move but then hold onto a home in New York state. They must prove that they haven’t spent more than 183 days per year in the state. The rules are strict: Any days without proof can be counted as a day in New York, and even a second inside the state’s borders can count as a whole day.  The tax issues created by a move can linger for years. Taxes are generally subject to a three-year statute of limitations from when a return is filed, but taxpayers who start spending more time in New York even years after they’ve made a move -- like around the birth of a grandchild -- may come to auditors’ attention and be forced to provide evidence of a move that happened a decade or more in the past.
258https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-16/youtuber-draws-china-fire-for-calling-taiwan-leader-president?srnd=next-china
259YouTuber Draws China Fire for Calling Taiwan Leader ‘President’
260A YouTuber in Taiwan said his Chinese talent agency is demanding he remove a video in which he addressed Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen as president, the latest clash over China’s assertions of territorial control in Asia.
261
262Chen Chia-chin, better known as Potter King, published a video on Facebook and YouTube Saturday, showing Tsai visiting his media startup. He used his signature humorous pickup lines and repeatedly addressed Tsai as “president,” which is in fact her title.
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264His Chinese agency, Papitube, demanded he not use the word in his videos, nullified his contract and took over his Weibo account without his consent, Chen wrote in a Sunday post on his Facebook page. Facebook and YouTube are banned in mainland China.
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266”I have told them not to interfere with our content,” Chen wrote. “We totally cannot accept this. This is absurd.”
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268The incident is the latest in a growing number of attempts by Chinese officials and companies to impose political views beyond the reach of mainland censors. While Taiwan and China split amid a civil war in 1949, Beijing continues to exert claims over self-governing Taiwan and bristles at any language or action that bestows Taiwan with the image of sovereignty. Global brands such as Calvin Klein, Coach and Givenchy drew the ire of Chinese internet users after implying the island is its own country.
269https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-12-15/china-s-semiconductor-drive-risks-debt-buildup-failure?srnd=next-china
270China's Chip Quest Is All Heart, Not Enough Brain
271Most of these multibillion-dollar projects will be state-financed. For instance, the government holds 74% of the equity in three-year-old Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. The company is managed by Tsinghua Unigroup Co., the business arm of prestigious Tsinghua University, President Xi Jinping’s alma mater. Yangtze Memory’s NAND memory technology shows potential, and is only half a generation behind the global flash memory leaders. Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon, meanwhile, is seen as a leading design house for smartphone applications.
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273These promising examples are too few and far between, though. Elsewhere, it’s mostly too much effort for too little reward. China’s chip manufacturing technology is three to five years behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s leading contract supplier, and the country is sub-scale in assembly and testing, industry experts say. 
274https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-12-10/cancer-treatment-china-mulls-looser-experimental-therapy-rules?srnd=next-china
275China’s Curing Cancer Faster and Cheaper Than Anywhere Else
276The therapy Zhang received was Chimeric Antigen Receptor-T cells, known as CAR-T, and it’s being hailed as one of the most exciting developments in the quest to cure cancer. First developed by Israeli scientist Zelig Eshhar in the 1980s, CAR-T re-works the genes of the body’s own immune cells so that they actively seek out and destroy cancer cells. While it’s been embraced by researchers and drugmakers around the world, perhaps nowhere is CAR-T having more impact — and being pushed dangerously close to its limits — than in China, home to the world’s biggest cancer population and some of the most ambitious experiments.  And they’re doing it much cheaper in some cases than global pharmaceutical giants. Gracell has developed a process using genetic engineering that speeds up the cell production stage, according to founder William Cao Wei. Gracell plans to price its CAR-T treatment for about 500,000 yuan ($71,000), well below the $475,000 price tag for Novartis’ Kymriah, the Swiss company’s CAR-T therapy used to treat the type of blood cancer that Zhang had. A similar treatment from Gilead, based in Foster City, California, costs $373,000.
277https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-16/how-to-return-online-purchases-for-free-retailers-hate-it?srnd=checkout
278Retailers Gave You Free Returns and You Ruined It
279She’ll order the same item in several sizes, just in case, spending, briefly, as much as $600. Keeping what fits best, she sends the rest in for refunds in what retailers call bracketing. Half of retailers are disposing of over 25% of returns, as surveyed by CNBC. Amazon wont disclose how much they destroy.  One amazon facility sent 293,000 items to a local dump during a nine month period. Burberry used to burn up to 28.3 million Pounds worth of products to keep the brand exclusive.
280It has all become a bugbear for businesses selling stuff. Last year, $369 billion in merchandise, or 10% of total retail sales, was returned in the U.S., according to a study by research firm Appriss, up from $260 billion in 2015. And the holiday season, of course, is the one to dread in the returns departments: United Parcel Service Inc. expects to handle more than 1 million such packages every day, reaching a peak of 1.9 million on Jan. 2, which would be a 26% increase from the 2019 high point. Sometimes it ends up in landfills, another cost to the environment, along with the shrink-wrapping, padding and cardboard boxes, not to mention the carbon emissions from the trucks and planes that haul everything. “Amazon has basically ruined people,” said Brett Northart, co-founder of Le Tote, the parent of Lord & Taylor, which still issues pre-paid shipping labels. “You just have to make your supply chain efficient enough to handle it.”
281https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-19/urban-farming-coming-to-kroger-grocery-stores-seattle-first?srnd=checkout
282Kroger Brings Farming to Its Stores in Push to Get Greener (and Sell More Kale)
283Visitors to Seattle-area Kroger supermarkets next week will be able to walk out with fresh parsley, cilantro and other greens grown in the store, the latest example of grocers bringing the farm right to their aisles.  
284
285Kroger’s deal with German startup Infarm includes two stores with plans for 13 more to come online by March of next year. It’s part of a broader push by the nation’s biggest traditional supermarket chain to improve sluggish sales by amping up its fresh-food offering, while also enhancing its environmental cred. While this is Infarm’s first stateside venture, the Berlin-based company is already well established, with more than 500 farms dispersed through partnerships at more than 25 major food retailers internationally, including Edeka and Amazon Fresh in Germany, Marks & Spencer in the U.K., and Metro in France. Its farms grow a variety of herbs and leafy greens including stalwarts like parsley and kale, as well as more specialized options like green mizuna and Peruvian mint. In the U.S., sales of fresh herbs and spices are up 6% for the year, and leafy greens are up 9%, according to data from Nielsen. That coincides with surging investments in innovative farming methods, too. In 2013, vertical farming startups received $4.5 million in venture funding, according to AgFunder, an investor in food and ag tech companies with an active media and research arm. In just the first half of 2019, they raised $140 million. Infarm, for its part, raised $100 million in a Series B round in June.