Bloomberg Australia saw off recession fears this week, though the economy remains anemic. The local dollar surged toward its best weekly gain since March, only to run into turbulence when data dump showed a tumble in exports. A flattening yield curve and a sliding stock market also highlighted concerns that the nation’s 26-year streak of recessionless growth is getting weary. ...

Bloomberg The largest real estate buyout of all time is set for its final chapter as Blackstone Group LP moves towards selling San Francisco’s landmark Ferry Building and two other properties. The waterfront icon, with its soaring clock tower modeled on the 12th-century Giralda bell tower in Seville, will go on the sales block in coming weeks, a decade after ...

Bloomberg The UK election result will create more uncertainty for the London property market, affecting values and sales volumes, real estate brokers say. London homebuilders that develop high-end homes dropped after the hung parliament. Crest Nicholson Holdings Plc fell 6.7 percent, the most in 11 months, and was down 5 percent at 580 pence at 1:16 p.m., making it the ...

Bloomberg Of all the things the UK economy needs, more uncertainty isn’t one of them. Prime Minister Theresa May’s loss of her majority in Parliament after an election gamble has muddied the outlook for oncoming Brexit negotiations and the economy. After a campaign largely devoid of economic arguments, the new government faces a slew of policy challenges and threats to ...

At a cafe a few blocks from the old KGB headquarters at Lubyanka Square, investigative journalist Andrei Soldatov tries to explain the murky world of Russian intelligence that’s now the focus of a US criminal investigation into the hacking of the 2016 campaign. Big events in today’s Russia often aren’t the product of broad strategy, argues Soldatov, but rather are ...

There was a flicker of anticipation last year when an Indian borrower issued the first masala bond, a local-currency note sold outside the country. Gadfly expressed the hope that, once a thorny tax issue was sorted, the securities would go on to become the Indian version of dim sum debt, which has played a large role in internationalizing the Chinese ...

There is only one acceptable response to Wednesday’s deadly terrorist attacks in Iran: swift and unequivocal condemnation of the perpetrators, and condolences to the victims. By joining the other world leaders who have offered their sympathy, US President Donald Trump can reaffirm both America’s standing in the community of nations and its determination to defeat terrorism, whatever and wherever its ...

At a time when the UK’s most pressing need is for competent leadership, it’s saddled with two of the most bungling party leaders in living memory. Even a well-run government would struggle to control the short-term damage likely to be inflicted by Brexit. Whatever happens in Thursday’s vote, there’s no prospect of a well-run government by Friday. On this evidence, ...

As soon as Donald Trump withdrew the US from the Paris Agreement on climate change, eyes turned eastward. Even as the US reneges on its promises, the argument now goes, China and India will show leadership instead; they at least are committed to low-carbon growth. I wouldn’t be so sure, at least where India is concerned. It is true that ...

The entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley are undoubtedly finding many ways to make the world a better place — with tunnels, flying cars, interplanetary travel. Yet I can’t help noticing a growing divide between the problems people have and the problems tech companies are willing or able to solve. This divide has two sources. The first is related to inequality: When ...