International News

  Bloomberg Thailand is nursing a slide in Chinese holidaymakers after cracking down on low-budget tours from the world’s most-populous country, muddying the Southeast Asian nation’s economic growth outlook. Arrivals fell 16 percent in December from a year ago, extending a slide that began after Thailand in September clamped down on operators bringing in large groups from China on cut-price ...

  Bloomberg Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying hit out at independence advocates and called for developing city parks to cool housing prices in his fifth and final policy address. The speech represented Leung’s last chance to define his legacy and set the agenda for potential successors after his surprise decision last month not to seek a second term. The ...

  Bloomberg Toyota Motor Corp. Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada, known as the “father of the Prius” for his work on the world’s best-selling hybrid car, said fuel-cell vehicles will take longer than gasoline-electric autos to become popular because of the need to build infrastructure. “The hybrid sold much faster than we had anticipated,” Uchiyamada, 70, told Bloomberg Television’s Francine Lacqua at ...

  Bloomberg Smallpox, syphilis, plague, cholera – some of the planet’s most notorious scourges dramatically expanded their reach thanks to unsuspecting travelers. With a record 3.77 billion air passengers worldwide last year, new disease-causing microbes have never traversed the planet faster. The recent case in Reno, Nevada of a woman who died from a rare bacterial infection is a tragic ...

Bloomberg UK Prime Minister Theresa May will plow 170 million pounds ($210 million) into setting up new technology institutes, placing scientific education at the heart of her drive to boost Britain’s productivity through a new industrial strategy unparalleled since the 1980s. The institutes will specialize in teaching science, technology, engineering and math, providing high-school graduates with the skills demanded by ...

  Bloomberg Twitter Inc. is showing other Silicon Valley firms it’s possible to set public goals for a more diverse workforce and actually meet them, especially if those goals are modest. In December, 30 percent of the people in Twitter’s leadership positions—defined as those director-level and above—were women, the San Francisco-based company said. That compares with 22 percent in 2015—and ...

  Bloomberg Revlon Inc., the beauty giant that bought Elizabeth Arden Inc. last year, aims to reach $5 billion in sales within five years by reinvigorating brands and stepping up marketing. Chief Executive Officer Fabian Garcia, speaking to employees in a video memo, said Revlon would become a top 10 global beauty brand by hitting that target. Including Elizabeth Arden, ...

  Bloomberg French billionaire Vincent Bollore’s push into electric vehicles has been a huge success, at least in terms of publicity and eye-catching contracts. For investors, it hasn’t worked out so well. Shares of his battery company, Blue Solutions SA, have plunged by more than two thirds since peaking 2 1/2 years ago, wiping out 775 million euros ($823.5 million) ...

  Bloomberg American International Group Inc. agreed to pay $9.8 billion to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. to take on long-term risks from commercial policies written in prior years. The reinsurance deal transfers liabilities on certain US policies from 2015 and earlier, representing reserves of about $34 billion as of Jan. 1, 2016, New York-based AIG said in a statement. ...

  Bloomberg French lensmaker Essilor International SA agreed to buy Luxottica Group SpA, the maker of Ray-Ban sunglasses, for about 22.8 billion euros ($24 billion) in stock, combining the largest manufacturer and retailer in eyewear. Leonardo Del Vecchio, who created Luxottica in 1961 and controls 62 percent of its stock, will be executive chairman and chief executive officer of the ...