Drop in at Air India Ltd’s Mumbai office in early 2001, and you might have come across an elderly, white-jacketed man winding up the clock. With 17,400 employees and just 24 planes — three times the staffing level at major US airlines — silly tasks like timekeeping in the headquarters had become someone’s job description. Still, optimism was in the ...

The opening scene of a brief online documentary by Chinese state-run media channel CGTN shows jaywalkers in Shenzhen getting captured on video, identified and then shamed publicly in real time. The report is supposed to highlight the country’s prowess in artificial intelligence, yet it reveals a lesser-known truth: China’s AI isn’t so much a tool of world domination as a ...

By going officially and formally rogue, Poland may unwittingly have done the European Union a favour. In blatantly challenging the bloc’s legal authority, Warsaw is forcing the EU to decide whether it wants to become the “ever closer union” it claims to be, or to remain the malleable club of nations it actually is. Union or club — either way ...

That was one sharp hawkish volte-face from the Bank of England (BOE). Over the weekend, three Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) members, including Governor Andrew Bailey, made clear that they are ready to raise rates sooner rather than later. The UK government bond market really doesn’t like it. Gilts, which UK Treasury bonds are called, have been the worst-performing major fixed-income ...

Bloomberg Kim Jong Un showed off his increasingly varied arsenal of missiles designed to frustrate US defense systems, in a rare display that appeared to be the North Korean leader’s latest effort to break a diplomatic stalemate over his nuclear program. Blaming the US for “creating regional tension with wrong decisions and action,” Kim vowed at a defense forum to ...

Bloomberg Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, on Tuesday announced an expanded support package to Afghanistan worth about $1.15 billion to try and contain a spiraling humanitarian crisis. The package combines European Union aid “with the delivery of targeted support on basic needs in direct benefit of the Afghan people and neighbouring countries,” von der Leyen said ...

Bloomberg The French government will help state-controlled utility Electricite de France SA develop so-called small modular nuclear reactors by 2030, betting that the technology will be exported to regions looking to accelerate their transition to cleaner fuels. The announcement, made by President Emmanuel Macron, signals that he sees nuclear power as key to reducing global carbon emissions, alongside renewable energy. ...

Bloomberg The corruption investigation that forced Austria’s Sebastian Kurz to resign as chancellor has wiped out his lead against his closest rival. Support for the People’s Party dropped to 26% from 33%, putting it almost on par with the Socialist Party, which stood at 25%. That is according to a survey conducted by the IFDD pollster as the political turmoil ...

Bloomberg Social Democrat Olaf Scholz’s bid to succeed Angela Merkel as German chancellor is reaching a critical phase as the party seeks to work through vast policy differences with its two prospective junior partners. After 14 hours of talks this week and sparring over the weekend, the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats said they made progress in finding common ...

Bloomberg French President Emmanuel Macron unveiled a 30-billion-euro ($35 billion) plan to create the high-tech champions of the future and reverse years of industrial decline in the euro area’s second-largest economy. The plan, dubbed “France 2030,” foresees investing the funds over five years in sectors including nuclear and renewable energy sources, electric cars, semiconductors and robotics. “I want us to ...