Bloomberg Businessweek USA - October 30, 2017

10

Asia

 IN BRIEF

JOHNSON: MARK KAUZLARICH/BLOOMBERG; FLAKE: SAMUEL CORUM/ANADOLU AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES; ABE: KYODO NEWS VIA GETTY IMAGES; RIHANNA: DIMITRIOS KAMBOURIS/GETTY IMAGES; IPHONE: COURTESY APPLE; NAIROBI: BAZ RATNER/REUTERS

○ Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe easily won reelection on Oct. 22. Seeking

a mandate to address North Korea’s increasing aggression, he has said he intends

to amend the part of the country’s constitution outlawing war.

○ Singapore said

it would freeze the

number of cars

on its roads next

year and pledged

to expand public

transportation.

○ Sony will unveil a smart-

home-enabled robot dog at

a media event in November.

The cyberpuppy will be

similar to voice-activated

personal assistants such as

Amazon.com’s Alexa, only

much cuter and creepier.

○ The unemployment

rate in France dropped

more in September than

it has in almost 17 years,

as optimism surged in the

manufacturing sector.

○ Global wine

output is expected

to fall 8 percent,

to its lowest level

since 1961, after

spring frosts put a

chill on European

vineyards. The

devastating

California wildfires

are unlikely to

have an impact on

○ Puma posted a record production.

$1.3b

in sales for the three months

ended Sept. 30, thanks in

part to a collaboration with

Rihanna.

○ The world’s

biggest apparel

maker, Crystal

International,

which supplies

Uniqlo and

L Brands, filed

plans to raise

as much as

$574 million in a

Hong Kong initial

public offering.

Europe

○ German banks tightened

restrictions on funding for

businesses with ties to the

Turkish government. The two

deeply intertwined nations

have exchanged diplomatic

salvos in recent months.

○ Former HSBC executive

Mark Johnson

was found guilty

of fraud and

conspiracy as part

of a U.S. probe into rate-

rigging in currency markets.

His lawyers, saying he’s

innocent, plan to appeal

the verdict.

2000 2017

300m

270

240

Projected

Global wine production,

in hectoliters*

*EXCLUDES JUICE AND MUSTS; DATA: INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION OF VINE AND WINE

○ At the end of its weeklong

congress, China’s Communist

Party enshrined President

Xi Jinping’s ideology in its

constitution, alongside

those of party founder

Mao Zedong and reformer

Deng Xiaoping. Xi’s “thought

for the new era of Socialism

with Chinese special

characteristics” will now bear

on party decision-making.

 39, 49

ihanna.