News Headlines - 16 November 2018

▽Bank of Japan's balance sheet now larger than country's GDP | Reuters

Japan’s central bank has become the first among G7 nations to own assets collectively worth more than the country’s entire economy, following a half-decade spending spree designed to accelerate weak price growth.
The 553.6 trillion yen ($4.87 trillion) of assets the Bank of Japan holds are worth more than five times the world’s most valuable company Apple Inc. (AAPL.O) and 25 times the market capitalisation of Japan’s most valuable company Toyota Motor Corp. (7203.T).
They’re also bigger than the combined GDPs of five emerging markets — Turkey, Argentina, South Africa, India and Indonesia.

▽Toyota to slash thicket of officers so new talent can shine - Nikkei Asian Review

Toyota Motor will overhaul its leadership structure in January, scrapping more than half its executive posts to make room for younger employees who may not necessarily have the seniority traditionally required for major management roles.
The automaker has 55 top executives, including the president and vice presidents. Abolishing the post of managing officer next year will reduce the count of the top executives by 60%.
A new, flexible class of managers will instead encompass anyone from current department heads to managing officers, as well as lower-level managers, some still in their early 40s, for a total of more than 2,000.

▽The Pathway from Micro Solid State to EV Batteries - EVWORLD.COM

We know that Toyota has said it wouldn't get serious about building battery electric vehicles until they had perfected the solid state battery. In the meantime they'd stick with trusted, reliable NiMH for most of their hybrids. They know it works... And while other carmakers are pretty much following Tesla's lead and have gone the lithium battery route, Toyota quietly turned to a small UK startup out of Southampton on the English channel with orders to explore various materials Toyota researchers had identified that could be used for a solid state battery, one that eliminates the flammability inherent in the electrolyte found in today's lithium-ion cells.

▽Stolen credit card details of nearly 250,000 British Airways customers on sale for up to ￡9.4m

redit card details stolen from nearly 250,000 customers of British Airways during a cyber-hack on the airline's website in August could have raised up to $12.2m (￡9.4m) for Russian hackers on the dark web, the Telegraph has learned.
Research from cyber security experts Flashpoint and Risk IQ has shown that credit card details were for sale for between $9 (￡6.94) and $50 (￡38.58) each.
The hack, attributed to a Russia-linked group known as Magecart, took place between August 21 and September 5, with 244,000 payment cards compromised.

▽Aung San Suu Kyi: Amnesty strips Myanmar leader of top prize - BBC News

Amnesty International is stripping Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi of its highest honour, the Ambassador of Conscience Award.
The politician and Nobel peace prize winner received the honour in 2009, when she was living under house arrest.
The rights group said it was profoundly dismayed at her failure to speak out for the Rohingya minority, some 700,000 of whom have fled a military crackdown.
This is the latest honour in a string of awards Ms Suu Kyi, 73, has lost.