Bloomberg BusinessWeek, May 2, 2016 (I)

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(1) Ladka Bauerova and Kateryna Choursina. In Ukraine's 'Klondike,' a Rush for Stolen Gems.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/ar ... ush-for-stolen-gems

Quote:

"The locals call the place a 'Klondike,' an illegal mine where hundreds of men and women dig amber—the fossilized resin of trees that died 40 million years ago—out of the swampy soil. Using gas-powered pumps, the miners inject water 10 to 20 feet into the ground, dislodging dirt and the occasional load of honey-hued gems [take note: valuable as gems, not for academic research].

"The site is one of scores of Ukrainian amber fields where wildcat prospectors dig up the stones. The State Geology Committee estimates the country has as much as 15,000 tons of amber buried in its western forests

"The trade has taken off in the past three years as exports to China have soared, with prices up roughly fivefold, to as much as $5,000 per pound, miners say.

Note:
(a) summary underneath the title in print: Despite a ban on mining, an illegal trade in amber is flourishing
(b)
(i) Klondike Gold Rush (1896-1899; after Klondike River)
(ii) I spent a lot of time but can not locate Klondike River.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klondike_River
("The Klondike River has its source in the Ogilvie Mountains and flows into the Yukon River at Dawson City. Its name comes from the Hän word Tr'ondëk (/ʈʂ'ontək/) meaning hammerstone, a tool which was used to hammer down stakes used to set salmon nets")

* hammerstone
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammerstone
(iii) Dawson City
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawson_City
(a TOWN called Town of the City of Dawson; The population was 1,319 at the 2011 census; The townsite was founded by Joseph Ladue and named in January 1897 after noted Canadian geologist George M. Dawson, who had explored and mapped the region in 1887; Dawson City was the center of the Klondike Gold Rush)
(iv) Still neither www.google.com nor images.google.com yields a map of Klondike river emptying into Yukon River.  HOWEVER, google with the term ("Klondike River" dawson) , a Google map pops up, identifying the two key elements in the search term (Klondike River discharges into Yukon River

(c) There is no need to read the rest of text, which is about Ukraine.

choi

(2) Yuji Nakamura, Anna Kitanaka and Nao Sano, The Bank of Japan Buys Blue Chips.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/ar ... stakes-in-japan-inc

Quote:

"They may not realize it yet, but many of Japan's executives are working for a shareholder unlike any other: the nation's central bank. Since 2010 the Bank of Japan has made 8.6 trillion yen ($77 billion) in exchange-traded fund purchases, becoming a top 10 shareholder in about 90 percent of the Nikkei 225 stock average, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg from public data. (ETFs are index funds that trade like stocks.) The bank is a major owner of more Japanese blue chips than BlackRock, the world's largest money manager, and Vanguard Group, the mutual fund giant, combined.

"To critics * * * its [Bank of Japan] growing influence in stocks risks distorting valuations and undermining efforts to improve corporate governance. * * * says Shingo Ide, chief equity strategist at NLI Research Institute in Tokyo[:] 'But this is clearly distorting the sanity of the stock market.'

"The estimates reveal a presence in Japan's top companies rivaled by few other big investors, often called 'whales' in industry jargon.

"State intervention in stock markets has worked out well for some countries. The US government spent $245 billion to prop up banks during the global financial crisis in 2008, earning a profit. At the height of the Asian financial crisis, in August 1998, Hong Kong bought HK$118 billion ($15.2 billion) of local shares to defend its currency peg, helping to fuel a rally that allowed it to dispose of the entire stake within five years.

Note:
(a) summary underneath the title in print: The central bank props up share prices just as it has with bonds
(b) The quotation comes from the print. The print version of this report is substantially re-written from the online one, which does explain "They may not realize it yet" in the print. The online reort says "the Bank of Japan's name is nowhere to be found in regulatory filings on major stock investors"

choi

(3) "Manufacturing[,] Not Sweating the iPhones[:] Taiwanese manufacturer Pegatron, which makes iPhones for Apple in China, has faced years of accusations that its employees put in grueling hours. Its vast factory outside Shanghai now tracks workers via face scanners, and it swipes badges to assure no one logs excessive overtime. —Shai Oster

"Maximum schedule[:] 60 hours a week, or six consecutive days
Lunch[:] 50 minutes
Workplace audits[:] Apple did 646 in 2015 to verify hours for more than 1.6 million workers

"The factory employs as many as 55k workers.
Last year, employee turnover averaged about 16%

Note:
(a) The above is all there is; that is, the above is the entire report in print of BusinessWeek.
(b) The above is crystallized from

Shai Oster, Inside One of the World’s Most Secretive iPhone Factories. Bloomberg, Apr 24, 2016.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/fe ... ve-iphone-factories

There is no need to read the online (Bloomberg) report, unless you are an activist.