Tokyo / Bloomberg Japan’s major companies are giving lower wage increases next fiscal year as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts to boost the economy falter. Toyota Motor Corp. agreed to increase monthly base salaries 1,500 yen ($13) in the year beginning April, according to a statement from the company on Wednesday. That compares with a 4,000 yen hike this fiscal ...

Beijing / AFP China’s economy will not suffer a “hard landing”, Premier Li Keqiang said on Wednesday, stepping up Beijing’s charm offensive to reassure investors that the government can manage slowing growth. “We have long-term confidence in the Chinese economy and this confidence isn’t without a foundation,” Li told his once-a-year press conference at the end of the National People’s ...

Islamabad / AP Turkmenistan’s president has arrived in Pakistan on a two-day visit that is likely to focus on a proposed gas pipeline from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan, Pakistan and on to India. The project, known as TAPI, is aimed at meeting the regional energy needs. Pakistani state-run TV showed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif receiving Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov on Wednesday, complete with ...

Hong Kong / DPA Music and video retailer HMV will be sold for HK$408 million ($52.5 million) to film makers and distributors China 3D Digital Entertainment Limited, which has agreed to the deal with parent company AID Partners Capital Holdings Ltd, according to a statement the two companies filed to the stock exchange on Tuesday. Both China 3D Digital Entertainment ...

Tokyo / Bloomberg Japan is aiming to have 40,000 hydrogen-powered cars on its roads by 2020, with plans for a 20-fold expansion to 800,000 by 2030, according to a report released by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on Wednesday outlining the future use of hydrogen and fuel cells. The country, whose prime minister has vowed to turn it ...

Dhaka / Bloomberg A printer error first tipped off Bangladesh’s central bank to one of the biggest cyber heists in recent history, according to a complaint filed to police that provided new details on the attempted theft of nearly $1 billion. Zubair Bin Huda, a joint director of Bangladesh Bank, found the printer tray empty when he looked on the ...

New Delhi / Bloomberg India plans for the first time to include energy storage as a requirement when a solar project is tendered this month, opening what could become a significant new market to battery makers such as Tesla Motors Inc., Samsung SDI Co. and Panasonic Corp. The state-owned Solar Energy Corp. of India, which is responsible for implementing the ...

Bloomberg Consumer prices in the U.S. excluding food and fuel climbed more than forecast in February for a second month, adding to signs inflation is moving closer to the Federal Reserve’s target. The overall cost of living fell amid cheaper fuel. The so-called core measure, which strips out volatile food and fuel, rose 0.3 percent from a month earlier, the ...

Bloomberg The Colombian peso dropped with oil as Morgan Stanley said that measures to tackle the current account deficit and inflation will end up lowering growth. The currency, which last week rose to the highest level since November, dropped 0.8 percent to 3,177.58 per U.S. dollar at 11:37 a.m. in Bogota. Oil, the country’s biggest export, fell from a three-month ...

Bloomberg Brazil’s national unemployment rate in 2015 rose to its highest since the data series began three years earlier, piling pressure on President Dilma Rousseff who was a prime target in one of the nation’s largest protests ever on Sunday. The unemployment rate in 2015 averaged 8.5 percent, up from 6.8 percent the prior year, according to data released by ...