International News

  Frankfurt / AFP Strong foreign trade and buoyant consumption drove Germany’s economy, Europe’s largest, to better-than-expected growth in the second quarter, federal statistics office Destatis said on Wednesday. Gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.4 percent between April and June, adjusted for seasonal, calendar and price effects — twice as fast as analysts surveyed by Factset predicted. However, the ...

  San Francisco / AFP Tesla unveiled speedy new model electric cars capable of traveling more than 300 miles (482 kilometers) before needing to be recharged. A Model S P100D with “Ludicrous mode” was billed by Tesla founder Elon Musk as the third fastest accelerating production car ever made, capable of going from zero to 60 miles per hour in ...

  Caracas / AFP Hospitals in crisis-hit Venezuela are facing shortages of about eight in 10 medications and medical supplies needed to treat patients, according to a study. The 2016 National Hospital Survey found that 76 percent of the medicines and 81 percent of the medical and surgical supplies that doctors need had run out or were hit by severe ...

  AFP Mining giant Glencore reported reduced first-half losses on Wednesday, as the company pushes forward with an aggressive cost-cutting plan to recover from a brutal 2015. The Switzerland-based company posted a loss of $369 million (327 million euros) through the first half of the year, an improvement on the $676 million Glencore lost in the first six months of ...

  AFP British drugs giant AstraZeneca on Wednesday agreed to sell part of its antibiotics business to US giant Pfizer for up to $1.6 billion (1.4 billion euros). The deal for the company’s small-molecule antibiotics, or those developed using traditional chemistry, is expected to complete in the fourth quarter, AstraZeneca said in a statement. The news comes days after Pfizer ...

  Bloomberg PetroChina Co., the country’s biggest oil and gas producer, posted its smallest half-year profit since it was publicly listed in 2000 as the crash in oil prices continues to drag on earnings. Net income dropped 98 percent to 531 million yuan ($80 million), the state-run explorer said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Wednesday. ...

  Bloomberg APA Group Ltd., Australia’s largest natural gas infrastructure business, is seeking to buy distressed pipelines that transport the fuel in the U.S., as it targets expansion opportunities overseas. The Sydney-based company that owns pipelines that transport over half of Australia’s natural gas supplies is seeking U.S. assets as operators there face increasing pressure over whether their contracts with ...

  Bloomberg Singapore is reviewing the rules for venture capital firms as it attempts to draw more capital to the country’s financial technology startups, according to the head of Singapore’s central bank. Though Singapore rivals other major fintech centers such as Silicon Valley, London or New York in terms of startup activity and innovation, it still lags behind in terms ...

  Bloomberg China Coal Energy Co. swung to a profit as it maintained steady sales while production and costs fell. Net income during the first half of the year was 225 million yuan ($34 million) from a 1.07 billion yuan loss a year ago, the Beijing-based coal producer said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange. Revenue fell ...

  Bloomberg GLM Co., a Japanese automaker backed by former Sony Corp. Chief Executive Officer Nobuyuki Idei, said it’s close to winning its first deals to supply customized vehicle frames to companies seeking to produce electric cars. The Kyoto-based automaker is close to signing deals to supply vehicle platforms for about 10 carmakers, including some in China, founder and CEO ...