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Frontrunning: April 25

  • Obama sending more forces to Syria to consolidate gains against Islamic State (Reuters)
  • Global stocks, dollar stumble ahead of Fed, BOJ meetings (Reuters)
  • The Rise and Deadly Fall of Islamic State’s Oil Tycoon (WSJ)
  • Oil Producers Lock In Once-Snubbed Prices (WSJ)
  • Yellen's Scope for Summer Rate Hike Widens as ECB Signals a Hold (BBG)
  • 11,000 jobs at risk as BHS teeters on brink (The Times)
  • China's Xi Shakes Up Rival Power Base Before Party Reshuffle (BBG)
  • As Bond Yields Rise, Some Investors Fear Another False Dawn (WSJ)
  • It's Dangerous Out There in the Bond Market (BBG)
  • Yieldcos enabled SunEdison's debt-fueled acquisition spree (Reuters)
  • Fed Statement Could Offer Clues Toward June Rate Decision (WSJ)
  • Shanghai CBRC Halts Banks' Business With 6 Property Agencies (BBG)
  • New York Times plans to cut hundreds of jobs later this year (Post)
  • Department Stores Need to Cull Hundreds of Sites, Study Says (WSJ)
  • Large majority of Senate pushes Obama to boost Israel aid (Reuters)
  • Gannett Proposes to Buy Tribune Publishing Co. for $12.25 per Share (BBG)
  • Kenyan police fire teargas at opposition march on electoral body (Reuters)
  • Saudi investment fund will turn kingdom into a global player (Reuters)
  • Decades-Old Oil Reliance May Stymie Saudi Prince’s ‘Vision’ (BBG)
  • Xerox's revenue falls on lower printer sales (Reuters)

 

Overnight Media Digest

WSJ

- The United States plans to send up to 250 additional military personnel to Syria to help local forces fighting Islamic State, significantly expanding the small American footprint in the war-ravaged country, according to U.S. officials. (http://on.wsj.com/1SYDy2d)

- U.S. President Barack Obama made an emphatic pitch for international trade deals during a visit to the German city of Hannover on Sunday, as he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel tried to lift momentum for a trans-Atlantic agreement that is facing resistance in both countries. (http://on.wsj.com/1SYDLlX)

- In an unprecedented last-ditch effort to stop Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, his two remaining rivals, Ted Cruz and John Kasich, announced Sunday night they are divvying up the upcoming primary states to try to block the New York businessman's path to the GOP nomination. (http://on.wsj.com/1SYDPSU)

- Airbus Group SE will open itself up to financing from an unlikely source when the first jet is delivered Monday from its new factory in Alabama, the U.S. Export-Import Bank. (http://on.wsj.com/1SYDYWn)

 

FT

U.S. private equity firm Carlyle Group LP to team up with former Barclays Plc chief executive Bob Diamond to prepare a joint bid for Barclays' African banking operations.

EDF will delay the final investment decision on its Hinkley Point nuclear power plant project in Britain until September, the French economy minister said.

A group of specialist metals producers in South Yorkshire eyeing a potential approach for Tata Steel's niche business in that region, and plan to redevelop the facilities and invest in new technology.

 

NYT

- Beyonce's album "Lemonade", which was released late Saturday night, is expected to be available for sale on Apple iTunes at midnight on Sunday, according to two people briefed on the plans for the release. (http://nyti.ms/1Wl0Ogh)

- Vox Media, the start-up that runs Vox, SB Nation and The Verge, is starting a new gadget blog called Circuit Breaker, (http://nyti.ms/1Wl1anc)

- The U.S. Justice Department said Friday night that it had gained access on its own to a locked iPhone used by a Brooklyn drug dealer, the second time in less than a month that it had unlocked such a device after initially insisting it could do so only with Apple's help. (http://nyti.ms/1Wl1vGs)

- Microsoft and Google agreed on Friday to withdraw complaints against each other with regulators around the world, as the two American tech giants continued recent efforts to settle the once-bitter conflicts between them. (http://nyti.ms/1QtFvCc)

 

Canada

THE GLOBE AND MAIL

** Industrial auctioneer Ritchie Bros will hold what it says is the largest-ever Canadian industrial auction this week - a selloff of more than 10,000 items, including many pieces of idled equipment from the country's battered energy sector. (http://bit.ly/1Wlq6uE)

** There are no plans to outlaw corporate or union donations to municipal parties, the British Columbia government says, just weeks after similarly rejecting a ban on provincial parties collecting funds from those groups. (http://bit.ly/1WlqQQE)

** As drug overdose deaths continue to climb in British Columbia, new figures on the use of naloxone, which can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose within minutes, show there has also been a significant increase in drug users being pulled back from the brink. (http://bit.ly/1WlrBZW)

NATIONAL POST

** The federal government has identified public pension funds as a potential source of cash to help pay for Canada's mounting infrastructure costs - and these could involve leasing or selling stakes in major public assets such as highways, rail lines, and ports. (http://bit.ly/1Wlr5eD)

** Nunavut is considering changing one of the most basic facts of economic life for its households and businesses by allowing them to buy the land their homes and buildings sit on. (http://bit.ly/1Wlrfm9)

 

Britain

The Times

11,000 jobs at risk as BHS teeters on brink

The high street is braced for up to 11,000 job losses as BHS approaches collapse. Administrators are expected to be appointed to the beleaguered department store chain this week, bringing to an end its 88 years of trading. The demise of BHS would be the worst retail failure since Woolworths, which went bust at the height of the financial crisis in 2008 with the loss of 30,000 jobs. (http://bit.ly/1SDAnQA)

The Guardian

Bob Diamond preparing bid for Africa arm of Barclays

Bob Diamond has teamed up with a major private equity firm as he attempts to develop plans to mount a bid for the African operations of Barclays Plc, the bank he ran until four years ago. In linking with U.S.-based Carlyle Group LP, Diamond will be hoping to start to amass the financial firepower needed to bid for the business in Africa that Barclays is selling. (http://bit.ly/1WkFwPT)

Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant decision delayed again by EDF

The decision on whether to go ahead with the 18 billion pound Hinkley Point C nuclear power project has been delayed again, after France's economy minister said the country's energy giant EDF may not give it the green light until September. (http://bit.ly/1Ss5hsL)

The Telegraph

Co-op chairman Leighton steps up campaign to cut pay of mutual's boss

Co-op chairman Allan Leighton has called for the mutual's members to back a deep pay cut for its chief executive. Leighton wants the 2.5m people eligible to vote on proposals at Co-op's annual meeting on May 21 to support a cut in boss Richard Pennycook's base salary from 1.25 mln pounds to 750,000 pounds. (http://bit.ly/1XQqQXE)

Whitbread boss hoping to froth up Costa Coffee after lukewarm start

The new boss of the FTSE 100 leisure giant behind Costa Coffee and Premier Inn will seek to rebuild investor confidence this week when she sets out how she plans to meet the company's ambitious growth targets. Alison Brittain has had a rocky start since she took the reins at Whitbread Plc from her long-serving predecessor Andy Harrison in early December. (http://bit.ly/26mOyka)

Sky News

Boris Hits Back After Obama's Brexit Warning

Anti-EU campaigner Boris Johnson has hit back at the Remain side following U.S. President Barack Obama's Brexit warning. The London mayor, one of the most high-profile figures in the Vote Leave camp, said the rival group "think they have bombed us into submission". (http://bit.ly/1WkJzf5)