International News

  Bloomberg Tencent Holdings Ltd. posted a 43 percent rise in third-quarter profit that only just missed expectations, as its consistent ability to attract Chinese gamers and social media mavens fueled advertising growth despite growing competition. Net income climbed to 10.6 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) in the three months ended September, the Shenzhen-based company said Wednesday. That compares with the ...

Äänekoski / AFP Nokia was once the motor of Finland’s economy, but since the demise of the company’s mobile phone business the Nordic country has struggled to find a new engine for growth. But after nine sluggish years and a three-year recession that ended in 2015, could Finland’s centuries-old, if unglamorous, forestry sector, hold the answer? A rare bit of ...

  Bloomberg Mercedes-Benz is rolling out a 300,000-euro ($323,000) limited-edition convertible under its ultra high-end Maybach nameplate, as the German automaker seeks to burnish its luxury image and bankroll its investment in electric cars. With a limited run of 300 vehicles, the Mercedes-Maybach S650 will be available next year and come with quilted leather seats, matching luggage and a device ...

  Bloomberg Google is going ahead with delayed plans to expand its London offices, saying it will build a 10-story building on the site in a move that the UK government called a vote of confidence in the country’s post-Brexit future. The company, the largest unit of Alphabet Inc., said it would be able to house as many as 7,000 ...

  Bloomberg The US has more gasoline than it knows what to do with. Exports have risen above imports for three consecutive weeks as recurring pipeline outages and higher production levels by refiners caused Gulf Coast inventories to grow. Typically a net importer of gasoline, the US has shipped a record amount of the motor fuel abroad and doesn’t show ...

  Brussels / AFP The EU unveiled plans on Wednesday to charge travellers five euros ($5.30) for security checks to get visa-free travel to Europe’s borderless Schengen area, and confirmed the fee would apply to post-Brexit Britain. The proposal is based on a US system and will allow EU countries to quickly cross check identity documents and other details from ...

  Bloomberg The crisis sparked by the shortage of cash in India following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s anti-graft measure to ban high-value currency bills has hit the movement of goods in Asia’s third-largest economy. More than half of an estimated 9.3 million trucks under the All India Motor Transport Congress have been affected as drivers abandon vehicles mid-way into their ...

  Bloomberg Shipping companies are threatening to scrap their Pakistan services after the South Asian country increased tariffs at its largest port in a blow to an industry that is already grappling with global overcapacity and low freight rates. Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. is “seriously considering” dropping deployment of larger vessels in Pakistan, the South Korean company wrote in a ...

  Bloomberg The Philippines is training its sight on billions of dollars of investment from the Middle East. The Philippine Economic Zone Authority, which oversees hundreds of industrial parks offering tax perks, is identifying sites that can stock Qatar’s oil reserves and land that can be planted with crops for export to the United Arab Emirates after receiving proposals, Director ...

  Bloomberg A South Korean shipping company that filed for bankruptcy protection five years ago emerged as the surprise winning bidder for some assets of the collapsed Hanjin Shipping Co., pipping a bigger rival that is undergoing a creditor-led debt revamp. Korea Line Corp., the nation’s second-largest bulk carrier, beat Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. to be the preferred bidder for ...