International News

  Bloomberg A majority of French say that economic and social issues should be the top priority for candidates in next year’s presidential election, an Elabe poll showed. About 64 percent of voters say the economy and social matters are more important than questions about the French identity and security in the presidential campaign, according to a poll of 1,002 ...

  Bloomberg The European Commission said Germany requested that it mediate a dispute with Italy over whether Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s vehicles breached emissions rules. “We will now assist the German and Italian authorities to the extent possible with a view to facilitating a common understanding of the car manufacturer’s compliance, or lack thereof,” commission spokeswoman Lucia Caudet said by ...

  Bloomberg UK pension deficits surged by 100 billion pounds ($131.4 billion) in August, as the gap between company set-asides and their obligations to retirees ballooned by more than 16 percent in a month. So-called defined benefit pensions, which pay retirees fixed amounts based on service, were underfunded by 710 billion pounds as of August 29, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP’s ...

  AFP Apple chief Tim Cook on Thursday slammed a European Commission ruling demanding the US tech behemoth pay Ireland €13 billion in back-taxes as “political crap”, urging the Irish government to launch an appeal. “It’s total political crap,” Cook told the Irish Independent newspaper, of European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager’s assertion that the company had paid a tax rate ...

  London / AFP Britain’s manufacturing activity hit a 10-month high in August, rebounding strongly from a slump triggered by the country’s vote in favour of exiting the European Union, data showed Thursday. A slump in the pound caused by longer-term Brexit fears lifted export orders last month, according to the closely watched IHS Markit UK Manufacturing purchasing managers’ index. ...

  Brussels / AFP The European Union on Thursday cleared a mobile phone tie-up between Hong Kong’s Hutchison and Russia’s VimpelCom in Italy after they agreed to sell some of the business to boost competition. Hutchison, owned by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, and VimpelCom agreed last year to merge their 3 Italia and Wind networks but the European Commission ...

  Washington / AFP The International Monetary Fund said that it could remove its unprecedented 2013 censure of Argentina in November after the country improved its reporting of key economic statistics. The IMF Executive Board said that Buenos Aires had made “extraordinary efforts and important progress” in improving the accuracy of growth and inflation data that they are required to ...

  Miami / AFP Some 8,000 heads of state, policymakers and environmentalists convene in Hawaii this week for the world’s largest gathering aimed at forging a path forward on the planet’s toughest conservation problems. US President Barack Obama is expected to be among the world leaders in Honolulu as the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) opens its ...

Bloomberg Billionaire Mukesh Ambani said his Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. unit will offer mobile phone calls for free, pressuring existing carriers to follow suit in what’s already one of the world’s lowest-priced wireless markets. Jio’s service will debut Sept. 5 and will be free until December, after which the company will begin charging subscribers as little as 149 rupees ($2.22) ...

  Bloomberg The good times in the world’s top steel producer may not last long. China’s biggest mills including Hesteel Co. Ltd. are warning that the improved conditions and rising prices in the first half that helped them to lift earnings may soon be about to give way. “Industry prospects are not optimistic,” Hesteel, the listed unit of China’s biggest ...