International News

  New York / AFP Millions of Americans will spend the weekend hot under the collar as soaring East Coast temperatures and stifling humidity slapped excessive weather warnings on New York and Philadelphia. The combination of heat and humidity would make it feel as hot as 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius) in the two cities. Temperatures would stay in ...

  London / AFP The British government pledged on Saturday to match European Union funding for farmers, universities and infrastructure projects following Brexit, as it sought to allay fears over key sectors. The commitment, intended to address uncertainty arising from the June 23 vote to quit the bloc, could cost £4.5 billion a year, finance minister Philip Hammond said. The ...

  Paris / AFP The IEA said on Thursday it had cut its oil demand growth forecast for 2017 because of a weaker outlook for the world economy following Britain’s vote to leave the European Union. Global oil demand growth is now expected to slow to 1.2 million barrels per day in 2017 from 1.4 mb/d this year “due to ...

  Bloomberg Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s Mexican unit agreed to sell its Suburbia clothing chain to El Puerto de Liverpool SAB, Mexico’s biggest department store chain operator, in a deal valued at 19 billion pesos ($1.03 billion). The transaction, which involved 119 stores, is subject to regulatory approval, Wal-Mart de Mexico SAB and Liverpool said in statements after markets closed. Liverpool ...

  Paris / AFP Commodities giant Glencore has extended production cuts across key sectors as part of its strategy to reign in debt and offset the damage from slumping prices, the company said on Thursday. First half results put zinc output at 249,000 metric tons, down 31 percent compared to the same period last year. Coal was down 14 percent ...

  Madrid / AFP Spain’s energy giant Abengoa, struggling under a billions-strong debt pile, said on Thursday it had reached a deal with creditors and investors allowing it to ward off bankruptcy. The renewable energy firm had until October 28 to strike a debt restructuring agreement after announcing last year that it was filing for preliminary protection from creditors following ...

  Berlin / AFP German-British travel giant TUI said on Thursday it is weathering the hard times brought on by a series of terrorist attacks despite a slide in revenues in its third quarter. “People still want to travel, but they’re travelling differently,” chief executive Fritz Joussen said in a telephone conference. “The overall number of travellers will be higher ...

  Bloomberg China’s infrastructure investors have had a tough two weeks, with plugs being pulled on at least $15 billion of potential deals in nuclear power and electricity distribution. Britain and Australia refused to sign off on investments where state-owned Chinese companies were ready to provide much-needed funding. In both cases, the long-term utility programs were halted in the later ...

Bloomberg For Indonesians seeking to bring back billions of dollars stashed overseas, the government just opened up more avenues to park their funds under a tax amnesty plan. Individuals who sign up to the amnesty will be allowed to invest in assets such as gold, property and infrastructure projects, according to the Finance Ministry. Participants can also move funds between ...

  Bloomberg Palm oil imports by India probably fell for a third month in July as some buyers switched to soybean oil. Imports dropped 20 percent to 585,000 metric tons in July from a year earlier, according to the median of five estimates in a Bloomberg survey of processors, brokers and analysts. Total vegetable oil purchases rose 11 percent to ...