🌂 Hong Kong riot police fired tear gas at crowds in a popular shopping district on Christmas Eve as hundreds of protesters took to streets and malls to demand greater democracy. The turmoil will likely continue into the new year. The organizer of some of the city's biggest rallies is calling for a march on Jan. 1. https://bloom.bg/378diBG

💶 A generation ago they didn’t even exist. The rise—and sometimes fall—of these East European billionaires tells the story of a region’s transformation. https://bloom.bg/375cmxD

🔮 Will 2020 be a quieter year for monetary policy? Here's a guide to what economists say the top central banks, which set policy for almost 90% of the global economy, will do next year. https://bloom.bg/35VyACi

Bill Clinton’s impeachment two decades ago sets the modern template for Donald Trump’s upcoming trial in the Senate.
But lawmakers in 1999 were navigating a very different political landscape than today.

The White House wanted the entire process discredited as a partisan vendetta, but many Democrats were upset by Clinton's conduct and didn’t want to defend it. Republican senators, meanwhile, were acutely aware of GOP losses in the midterm House election, which were held in the middle of the process and widely seen as backlash to the impeachment push.

This time, there’s little sign that Senate Republicans feel the need to distance themselves from the White House. Trump holds a firmer grasp over his party than Clinton did—the biggest political threat to Republican incumbents is primary challengers, not Democrats. https://bloom.bg/350NkhQ

🇨🇳 A decade ago, defaults almost never happened in China. Fast forward to 2019 and the government is just letting a wave of corporate bond defaults happen, marking a major shift in policy. https://bloom.bg/2St3E8z

🇷🇺 In the space of weeks, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most ambitious projects — a natural gas export system — has taken its final shape. It all makes sense now, but not in the way Putin envisaged, writes Bloomberg Opinion's Leonid Bershidsky. https://bloom.bg/37aP35K

🚢 Want to take a life-affirming luxury cruise? There’s a whole world to explore beyond the Caribbean. We pick eight emerging cruise destinations worth sailing to in 2020. https://bloom.bg/39jDriS

🏦Banks around the world are unveiling the biggest round of job cuts in four years. https://bloom.bg/2EX3vSP

👀The world's longest-serving ruler must reveal his assets in order for his nation to receive an IMF bailout. https://bloom.bg/2MxgC10

📈In the markets, stocks climbed worldwide and propelled global benchmarks to new records as robust gains in tech shares make 2019 a year to remember for risk assets.
https://bloom.bg/39haXWQ

💰 The wealth of the 500 richest people on Earth surged 25% in 2019.

Such gains are sure to add fuel to the already heated debate about widening wealth and income inequality.

In the U.S., the richest 0.1% control a bigger share of the pie than at any time since 1929, prompting some politicians to call for a radical restructuring of the economy: https://bloom.bg/2MzZ0BK

📈 There were some surprises among 2019's biggest markets winners. Here's how much you could have made if you'd invested $10,000 in these standout assets. https://bloom.bg/2ZzB4nr

🇨🇳 Looking ahead, China’s big bang opening of its $45 trillion financial industry begins in earnest next year — and the opportunities are immense. https://bloom.bg/2Q7kg3Z

🎓 Want to future-proof your career? Here are some jobs that may see growing demand in the next decade, from behavioral scientists to digital detox planners. https://bloom.bg/2MF60xw

🎆 The show will go on: Sydney Harbour is moving ahead with a planned fireworks display to ring in the New Year, as Australia grapples with a wildfire crisis.

Fire service volunteers have been battling blazes in several states, reigniting a debate on the impact of climate change.

270,000 people signed a petition calling on the Sydney city council to cancel the iconic fireworks show and for the money to be donated to bushfire and drought relief projects.
https://bloom.bg/39yYwG6

🚗 Tesla just delivered its first-ever China built cars. It’s a major milestone for Elon Musk’s company as it pushes into the largest EV market: https://bloom.bg/2u4N30F

🔬 The Chinese scientist who created the first gene-edited babies has been sentenced to 3 years in prison and was banned from working in reproductive technology: https://bloom.bg/37qmYYn

🍴 Here are 7 ways food will change in the new decade: https://bloom.bg/36a9zU7

Carlos Ghosn, the fallen automotive titan facing trial in Japan for financial crimes, has fled the country for Lebanon.

It's a stunning twist in a saga that began with his shock arrest in Tokyo just over a year ago.

“I am now in Lebanon and will no longer be held hostage by a rigged Japanese justice system where guilt is presumed, discrimination is rampant, and basic human rights are denied,” he said in a statement.

Ghosn had been awaiting trial for what prosecutors called a pervasive pattern of financial misconduct and raiding of corporate resources for personal gain — allegations that he denied.

Find out more: https://bloom.bg/2Qax61p

🇺🇸🇨🇳 President Donald Trump tweeted that he will sign the first phase of a China trade deal Jan. 15. He added he will be going to Beijing at a later date, where talks will begin on the second phase of the deal: https://bloom.bg/2F95IL1

🔵In Baghdad, dozens of Iraqi militia and their supporters stormed the U.S. Embassy complex to protest deadly U.S. airstrikes against their Iranian-backed force: https://bloom.bg/2Qcbv8Z

🎥In 2019, Netflix made more movies than any other Hollywood studio. Now it wants its Oscar: https://bloom.bg/2thtEcn

Happy 2020 🎉 Here’s what we’re following:

🇭🇰 Hong Kong rang in the new year with tear gas. Riot police battled crowds into the night after mostly peaceful demonstrators — including families with children and the elderly — flooded the streets. Organizers said more than a million people took part, while police said 60,000 showed up at the march’s starting point. https://bloom.bg/36htale

📈 If someone told you at the start of the decade to forgo stocks and buy an unknown digital token, you’d call them crazy, right? Bitcoin’s 9,000% rise over the past 10 years has left the skeptics aghast. Nothing else comes even close to beating it. https://bloom.bg/2ZI1PGa

🇦🇺 Thousands of tourists in Australia are being told to evacuate as wildfires destroyed hundreds of homes, cut off rural towns and left at least eight people dead. Officials said anyone in the southeastern tip of the country’s New South Wales state should get out in the next two days. https://bloom.bg/2QjMCIB

📉 For stock market experts, there is at least one easy prediction to make about the next 12 months: Investors are going to earn less. A lot less, probably.

Despite the trade war, political turmoil and more, most major assets posted a once-a-decade performance in 2019, but even uber-bulls know the chances of repeating the feat are slim.

Here's what Wall Street expects for the year ahead: https://bloom.bg/2MPvrwb

🔴 Former Nissan and Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn says his family had "no role" in planning his escape from Japan to Lebanon ahead of his trial: https://bloom.bg/35jple3

💻 Artificial intelligence can spot breast cancer more accurately than doctors, according to a study by Google Health. The technology’s reading of mammograms reduced both false positives and negatives: https://bloom.bg/2QCPbo4

✈ If traveling is one of your resolutions in the new year, we have 24 must-see places to add to your list: https://bloom.bg/36mmRwA

Breaking: One of Iran's top commanders has been killed in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad.

Qassem Soleimani, the general who led the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds force, died in the attack near the city's international airport. https://bloom.bg/2tqCS62

A strong Iranian response appears certain. The attack is the latest in a series of violent episodes that have further strained U.S.-Iran relations. They began last week when an American contractor was killed in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base in Kirkuk.

Meanwhile, oil futures in New York and London surged more than 4% after the airstrike. https://bloom.bg/2rQSqQn

Donald Trump ordered the killing of a top Iranian general in an airstrike, and in his characteristic style, the president made sure the world knew the U.S. was responsible. https://bloom.bg/2tmBRMC

Qassem Soleimani was regarded as the second most powerful person in Iran and personified the country's projection of power abroad.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed "severe retaliation." https://bloom.bg/2sGyOyA

Trump's decision was hailed by his allies as one of his boldest strokes in foreign policy and lambasted by his critics as likely his most reckless.

Soleimani's death heightens fears of escalation between the U.S. and Iran, which could easily pull in other countries. https://bloom.bg/2ttXIkZ

🔽 U.S. stocks drop sharply, heading for their biggest decline since October, following the U.S. airstrike that killed a top Iranian commander.

Oil and gold also surged, with crude jumping 3.4% to $63.24 a barrel: https://bloom.bg/2Fi94eF

🇯🇵 Asia’s biggest dealmaking force right now isn’t China. Over $200 billion of domestic and foreign deals shook up Japan’s business landscape last year, and the buying is set to continue into 2020. https://bloom.bg/35vaXiF

📈 Gold surged to its highest level in more than six years as rising tensions in the Middle East stoked demand for haven assets. Palladium also extended gains to an all-time high. https://bloom.bg/39I87KD

🐟 A bluefin tuna was sold for the second-highest price on record at a Tokyo fish market on Sunday. It weighed a staggering 276 kilograms (608 pounds) and went for $1.8 million. https://bloom.bg/39KU86L

Mourners packed the streets of Tehran on Monday ahead of the funeral of Qassem Soleimani, the top Iranian general killed in a U.S. airstrike last week. https://bloom.bg/2QsS248

The economic costs of the strike are mounting: oil surged above $70 a barrel, equities around the world fell and gold rose to the highest in more than six years. https://bloom.bg/36tAnic

Meanwhile, European leaders are scrambling to come up with a response to the escalating tensions between Iran and the U.S. https://bloom.bg/2Qtm1ZJ

✈ Boeing fell following reports that the company is weighing a move to raise more debt after the grounding of the 737 Max and that the jetliner’s return to service could face further complications: https://bloom.bg/2s4bBX2

😐 From Argentina to Chile to Lebanon, we're seeing a high degree of political and economic uncertainty among emerging market economies: https://bloom.bg/2N3o98m

⬇ Stocks fell for a second session as rising tensions in the Middle East rattled investors. The dollar dropped and Treasuries rose: https://bloom.bg/2ZTSsDw

☀️ Why was a $1 billion solar plant obsolete before it ever went online? The Crescent Dunes plant in the U.S. looked like the future of renewable power, but it couldn’t keep pace with technological advances. https://bloom.bg/35uIZnx

👟 Nike’s Vaporfly Next% sneakers have been called “groundbreaking” and described as a “supershoe.” For Japanese shoemakers Asics and Mizuno, they are something else: trouble. https://bloom.bg/2T0Qqjw

🌭 First there was the Impossible Burger. Now there's Impossible Pork and Impossible Sausage. https://bloom.bg/2tzhbRt