Bloomberg As Kazakhstan’s leader celebrated his 76th birthday this week, the social bargain that’s underpinned his more than quarter-century in charge is crumbling. President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s plans to retool his nation for an era of low-cost crude are meeting resistance from protesters opposed to land reforms and, more recently, from religious radicals. The struggle to implement his overhaul is ...

  Bloomberg India’s steel consumption dropped in June for the first time in at least 15 months, as curbs on imports raised prices in the domestic market. Demand fell 4.3 percent to 6.8 million metric tons from a year ago, the first drop since at least April 2015, when the Steel Ministry began to publish monthly data. Steel output in ...

  Bloomberg Takata Corp., the scandal-stricken air-bag maker that’s seeking investors, is reaching out to as many as 20 possible buyers in an effort to narrow down a list of suitors, according to people familiar with the matter. Takata is working on restructuring the company and is open to a sale to a private equity partner, a parts supplier or ...

  AFP India is considering a proposal to increase the limit on foreign direct investment in local newspapers and magazines, two government officials said. The Finance Ministry recommended raising the cap to 49 percent from 26 percent, bringing it on par with that on news television channels, the officials said, asking not to be identified citing rules for speaking with ...

  Bloomberg Telefonica SA, facing roadblocks in the planned sales of its assets following Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, is paring a stake in China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. to raise as much as US$367 million. The sale of 361.8 million shares began today and the stock is being offered at HK$7.75 to HK$7.85 apiece, according to terms ...

  Bloomberg Boeing Co.’s historic agreement to provide 109 aircraft to Iran’s national airline is coming under increasing pressure from lawmakers in Washington. “I am extremely concerned that by relaxing the rules, the Obama administration has allowed US companies to be complicit in weaponizing the Iranian regime,” Republican Representative Bill Huizenga of Michigan said on Thursday at a hearing of ...

  Bloomberg Virgin Galactic Ltd, the commercial space company founded by billionaire Richard Branson, is set to resume test flights next month in a new spaceship that replaces the craft that crashed in a fatal accident two years ago. The company is due to complete ground tests in August and move to testing the vessel in the skies while attached ...

  Bloomberg Air France-KLM Group Chief Financial Officer Pierre-François Riolacci announced he’s stepping down a week after a new CEO took charge, leaving the airline scrambling to find a successor amid tensions with French pilots over cost-cutting efforts. The stock dropped to a 3 1/2-year low. Riolacci will leave the carrier in November to become CFO at Danish facilities manager ...

  Bloomberg Marks & Spencer Group Plc reported its steepest drop in clothing sales in eight years as new chief Steve Rowe’s efforts to win back customers with cheaper prices on leggings and fewer clearances came at a cost. Same-store sales of clothing and home goods fell 8.9 percent in the 13 weeks ended July 2, the London-based company said ...

Bloomberg Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s plane-servicing business, the German airline’s most profitable unit, is more than quadrupling research and development spending to shore up its dwindling market share and fading margins. The Lufthansa Technik maintenance, repair and overhaul division is in the middle of a 200 million-euro (US$221 million), five-year R&D program that’s come up with products such as sharkskin-like fuselage ...