International News

Bloomberg General Motors Co.’s strategy of shunning discounted sales to rental-car companies to focus on more profitable deliveries of pickups and SUVs to U.S. consumers is boosting its bottom line. Adjusted earnings of $1.89 per share in the three months ended in June beat analyst estimates of $1.70 a share. The largest U.S. automaker sold a richer mix of sport …

Bloomberg Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. agreed to buy Jimmy Choo Plc for about 896 million pounds ($1.2 billion), as the maker of handbags popular with the commuter set seeks to restore lost luster. The purchase of Jimmy Choo, Michael Kors’ first deal to expand beyond its own brand name since its initial public offering in 2011, gives the New York …

Bloomberg India’s ambitious ‘Housing for All’ plan is bumping up against some harsh realities. Prime Minister Narendra Modi set a target in 2015 of building 50 million homes in less than a decade, or about seven million a year. The nation has since added only 180,877 under the scheme, underscoring the challenge in achieving that target. “It was a moon …

Bloomberg Economists raised their forecasts for China’s economic output after growth in the first half beat estimates. That robust activity is giving policy makers’ room to curb excessive and speculative borrowing. China’s gross domestic product will expand by 6.7 percent from a year ago in the third quarter and 6.6 percent in the fourth quarter, according to the median of …

Bloomberg The rise of the machines is coming. In technology-proficient Singapore, their integration into the economy could help the domestic growth rate to almost double and significantly lift labor productivity, according to a report by consultancy Accenture. It found that artificial intelligence, once fully adopted, might lift Singapore’s annual growth rate to 5.4 percent in 18 years. That would be …

Bloomberg India’s top court is considering whether privacy is a fundamental right of every citizen in a case that could have implications for the country’s biometric identity programme and a slew of global technology companies. Activists, lawyers and politicians have challenged the government over the legal basis of the programme known as Aadhaar, with the Supreme Court in New Delhi …

Bloomberg A recurring challenge for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is how to make them work in the real world. A Singapore-based startup says the answer is its Visa card. TenX is pitching its debit card as an instant converter of multiple digital currencies into fiat money: the dollars, yen and euros that power most everyday commerce. The company said it …

Bloomberg Tokyo’s commuters offered mixed reviews on Monday as the government launched a campaign to get more of them to work from home. July 24 marks the first dry run of a “Telework Day” encouraging people to work remotely as the city gears up to host the 2020 Summer Olympics. Authorities are seeking ways to make room for 920,000 spectators …

Bloomberg WeWork Cos., the co-working space company that’s among the world’s most valuable startups, is in advanced talks to rent a building in Hong Kong’s popular nightlife district near the city’s business centre, according to people familiar with the matter. The New York-based firm is seeking to rent Hotel LKF by Rhombus on Wyndham Street, said the people, who asked …

Bloomberg The world is leaning less on its biggest economy to sustain the global recovery, according to the International Monetary Fund. The fund left its forecast for global growth unchanged in the latest quarterly update to its World Economic Outlook, released on Monday in Kuala Lumpur. The world economy will expand 3.5 percent this year, up from 3.2 percent in …