International News

  Bloomberg To Nguyen Tan Phong, a farmer in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, the foreign-owned paper mill built upriver from his catfish ponds was an ecological disaster waiting to happen. Phong feared a repeat of last year’s toxic spill from a steel plant owned by Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics Corp. that devastated central coast fishing communities and cut annual economic growth by ...

  Bloomberg Chinese-owned Key Safety Systems Inc. has emerged as the leading bidder for Takata Corp., the embattled air-bag maker that’s seeking a buyer after causing the biggest safety recall in automotive history. An external committee appointed to spearhead Takata’s restructuring recommends Key Safety, the Tokyo-based supplier said in a statement, adding that no final decision has been made. Key ...

  Bloomberg Toyota Motor Corp. and four of its biggest car-making peers are joining oil and gas giants including Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Total SA with plans to invest a combined 10 billion euros ($10.7 billion) in hydrogen-related products within five years. In all, 13 energy, transport and industrial companies are forming a hydrogen council to consult with policy ...

  Bloomberg India is planning to allow more foreign investment by relaxing limits in various industries in the year starting April 1 to help regain its lost position as the world’s fastest growing major economy. The government will make it easier for foreign companies to seek approval and could ask ministries to clear investment proposals, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das ...

  Bloomberg If Donald Trump slapped China with punishing tariffs, the pain would also be felt by Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, vital cogs in a regional supply chain that allows China to build widgets and gadgets for the world. But Asia boasts a fast-growing middle class now numbering in the hundreds of millions, meaning China and other regional exporters ...

  Bloomberg Jindal Steel & Power Ltd., seeking to cut debt after eight straight quarters of losses, is in talks with companies including billionaire Gautam Adani’s Adani Power Ltd. about selling a 2,400-megawatt Indian electricity plant, people with knowledge of the matter said. The New Delhi-based company has been in discussions about selling the plant to Adani Power as lenders ...

  TOKYO / AP Tokyo-based Honda Motor Co. reported a 36 percent jump in profit for October-December on year, shrugging off damage from a strong yen, and the Japanese automaker raised its full year forecast. Cost cuts lifted fiscal third quarter profit to 168.8 billion yen ($1.5 billion), up from 124.1 billion yen the previous year. Also helping was the ...

  Bloomberg Hyundai Motor Co, South Korea’s biggest automaker, plans to partner with billionaire Mohammad Mian Mansha’s Nishat Mills Ltd. to start assembling cars in Pakistan as vehicle sales accelerate in the $271 billion economy. Nishat Mills’ venture, which includes Hyundai and Sojitz Corp., will assemble passenger and one-ton commercial vehicles in Pakistan, the company said in a stock exchange ...

  Bloomberg Costly delays, growing complexity and new safety requirements in the wake of the triple meltdown at Fukushima are conspiring to thwart a new age of nuclear reactor construction. So-called generation III+ reactors were supposed to have simpler designs and safety features to avoid the kind of disaster seen in Japan almost six years ago. With their development, the ...

  Bloomberg Apple Inc. will begin assembling iPhones in India by the end of April, a regional minister says, heightening its focus on the world’s fastest-growing major smartphone market as growth slows elsewhere. The US company has tapped Taiwan’s Wistron Corp. to put together its phones in the tech capital of Bangalore in Karnataka, said Priyank Kharge, the state’s information ...