International News

  AFP An International Monetary Fund team arrived in Kiev on Thursday to check on cash-strapped Ukraine’s books and set out a series of tough conditions for the disbursement of further loans. The IMF approved a $17.5-billion (15.8-billion-euro) rescue package for the war-scarred former Soviet republic in 2015 to help it recover from two years of savage recession and allow ...

  Bloomberg Global oil majors BP Plc and Rosneft PJSC are eyeing a piece of India’s $117 billion retail market for fossil fuels, threatening to shake up government-owned companies that have faced little competition for a decade. BP has already secured licenses to open as many as 3,500 fuel stations in the world’s second most-populous nation. Rosneft gained access to ...

  Bloomberg China United Network Communications and Baidu Inc. agreed to collaborate on areas ranging from mobile internet to artificial intelligence amid government plans for ownership reform of state-owned enterprises. China United Network, the state-owned parent of Hong Kong-listed China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd., said on Wednesday it will cooperate with Baidu including on big data and basic telecommunication services. ...

  Bloomberg Marriott International Inc., the world’s biggest hotel operator, is betting its future in Asia on the growth of leisure tourism, particularly from China. “We look at the long term and we feel very bullish,” Craig Smith, Marriott’s Asia-Pacific president and managing director, said in an interview in Sydney. The company plans to more than double its number of ...

  Bloomberg Tata Sons Ltd., reversing course after ousting Chairman Cyrus Mistry, plans to seek Indian approval to pay $1.17 billion to estranged partner NTT Docomo Inc. as it looks for an amicable solution to their legal tussle, people with knowledge of the matter said. Ratan Tata, who suddenly returned to the helm of India’s largest conglomerate last week, has ...

  Bloomberg South Korea’s government said it will take steps to ease overheating property markets in Seoul, Sejong, and some areas in Gyeonggi and Busan. Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said the government will limit resale of rights to buy new apartments and strengthen bidding requirements for new apartments in the regions, while monitoring markets and designating anti-speculation property zones if ...

  Tokyo / AP Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held talks with Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday and pledged 40 billion yen ($390 million) in aid to back her government’s peace process with ethnic minorities, amid growing international concern about reported army attacks on a Muslim group. Abe told Suu Kyi that Japan fully supports her efforts at ...

  Bloomberg Malaysia said it will buy at least four Littoral Mission Ships from China as Prime Minister Najib Razak announced “new steps” in military cooperation between the two countries. Najib oversaw the purchase of the vessels on Tuesday during a state visit to Beijing. While no details were released on the value of the ships, the deal comes after ...

  Bloomberg Sony Pictures Entertainment is planning an initiative with writers in China as part of the film company’s efforts to increase its presence in the world’s second-biggest movie market. The studio, part of Tokyo-based Sony Corp., plans to work with and host established as well as up-and-coming writers, the company said in a statement. Sony executives are participating this ...

  Bloomberg India may ease a deadline to cut pollution from coal-fired power plants blamed for causing the world’s worst air quality amid pressure from generators who say it’s too difficult to implement the $37 billion reforms. The deadline to meet all the new standards may be pushed back beyond the original December 2017 target, said S.D. Dubey, chairman of ...