International News

  Frankfurt / AFP German inflation in September jumped to its highest level since May 2015, data showed Thursday, in welcome news for the European Central Bank’s efforts to boost prices with a massive stimulus programme. Inflation rose by 0.7 percent this month compared to the year before, according to preliminary figures from Germany’s federal statistics office Destatis. The figure ...

  Bloomberg Bond investors are giving Chile’s Masisa SA a vote of confidence as the wood-panel maker unloads assets, pays debt and becomes less reliant on Venezuela. Its $200 million of notes due in 2019 have returned 27 percent in 2016, almost twice the average for emerging-market corporate debt. The junk-rated securities sank to a record low last year on ...

  The Hague / AFP Dutch authorities are taking the US makers of Pokemon Go to court, after the company failed to meet pleas to stop hordes of fans flocking to protected beaches. Since the game was launched in The Netherlands, thousands of fans have been crowding the vast, windswept beaches of Kijkduin where hundreds of the game’s most popular ...

  Jakarta / AFP Thousands of workers rallied on Thursday in the Indonesian capital Jakarta against a controversial government scheme to raise revenues that, critics claim, has allowed wealthy tycoons to avoid paying tax. The tax amnesty programme began in July, offering low rates to people who came forward to declare their untaxed wealth stashed at home and overseas. Wealthy ...

  Bloomberg China has punished coal and steel companies for illegal production or unsafe operations as part of the government’s efforts to reduce industrial overcapacity. Following safety checks at 4,624 coal mines, the regulator revoked the licenses of 28 and halted production at 286, the National Development and Reform Commission said in a statement on its website. Thirty-three coal companies ...

  Seoul / AFP Samsung said on Thursday it would resume sales of new Galaxy Note 7 smartphones in South Korea this week, hoping to turn the page on the troubled device after an ongoing global recall prompted by battery explosions. The company on September 2 suspended sales of the oversized “phablet” and recalled 2.5 million units shipped worldwide after ...

  Bangkok / AP Thailand, the world’s biggest exporter of seahorses, is suspending trade in the animal because of concern about threats to its wild population. The decision was announced at a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES. Dr. Amanda Vincent, a seahorse expert at The University of British ...

  Hanoi / AFP Vietnam’s economy dipped slightly in the third quarter year-on-year, data showed Thursday, but analysts say the communist country will remain one of Southeast Asia’s star performers. GDP growth in the three months to September hit 6.4 percent, down from 6.81 percent in the same period in 2015, the Government Statistics Office said in a statement. Vietnam ...

  Bloomberg Shareholders at Reliance Capital Ltd. approved the appointment of Jai Anmol Ambani as an executive director, grooming a prospective heir to his billionaire father at parent Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group Anmol, the older son of 57-year-old Reliance Chairman Anil Ambani, was appointed as an additional director by the board in August. A majority of institutional investors, which ...

  Sydney / AFP South Australia braced for a second night of severe weather on Thursday, with tens of thousands of homes still without power after “catastrophic” storms knocked out supply to the entire population. The total blackout caused chaos and widespread damage was reported, as authorities warned of more wild conditions to come including floods, high winds, heavy rain ...