International News

  Hong Kong / Tribune News Service In a landmark for Asia, Hong Kong has been named the world’s most competitive economy for 2016, moving from second place last year to push the United States into third spot behind Switzerland. But while Asia might top the world in business, a separate report has shown the Nordic nations lead in life ...

  Tokyo / Bloomberg Japan’s peak power prices may ease as the country’s solar-power expansion taps scorching summers to displace fossil fuels. The resource-poor country, which has boosted solar capacity more than sevenfold since 2011, may follow a similar path as Germany, where electricity prices fell along with fossil fuel use during high consumption periods, according to Trevor Sikorski, an ...

  Seoul / AFP South Korea on Thursday cut its key interest rate to a record low 1.25 percent in a surprise move to address concerns over the impact of corporate restructuring on the sluggish economy. The Bank of Korea’s 0.25 percentage point reduction was the first in 12 months but there had been little hint of such a move, ...

  New Delhi / Bloomberg India will introduce competitive auctions for wind farms this year in a bid to fulfill Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal for 60 gigawatts of capacity by 2022. Varsha Joshi, joint secretary at the new and renewable energy ministry, said the auctions for 1 gigawatt of capacity will start in two months and have a minimum ...

  Tokyo / AFP Conservation activists on Thursday showed undercover video they say suggests that a “huge loophole” in Japanese law enforcement is hindering efforts to rein in illegal ivory trading. Experts say most illegal ivory heads for China, where it is seen as a status symbol. By some estimates the country accounts for as much as 70 percent of ...

  Bloomberg The World Bank cut its outlook for global growth as business spending sags in advanced economies including the U.S., while commodity exporters in emerging markets struggle to adjust to low prices. World gross domestic product will grow by 2.4 percent this year, an “insipid” pace that’s unchanged from 2015 and down from the 2.9 percent estimated in January, ...

  Bloomberg The World Bank forecast Brazil’s recession will extend into a third consecutive year, while Venezuela takes the world’s deepest plunge in 2016. The two will drag Latin America into back-to-back economic contractions for the first time in more than three decades. Brazil will contract 4 percent in 2016 and 0.2 percent next year, with the 2017 outlook revised ...

  Bloomberg Brazil’s Senate confirmed Ilan Goldfajn as the country’s next central bank chief, putting him in charge of controlling above-target inflation without exacerbating the worst recession in over a century. Senators voted 56 to 13 in favour of the former chief economist at Itau Unibanco Holding SA. Goldfajn won’t participate in the rate decision on Wednesday during which economists ...

  Bloomberg Soc. Quimica & Minera de Chile SA, the world’s most profitable major chemicals company, risks fines and losing permits after Chilean authorities said it breached environmental rules. The environmental regulator is charging SQM with setting up water pumps in parts of the Llamara salt-flats where it didn’t have permission, failing to monitor the site as agreed and failing ...

  Bloomberg Yahoo! Inc. is exploring the sale of more than 3,000 patents as part of an effort begun earlier this year to look into ways to monetize its intellectual property. The company has extended efforts on the divestiture of patents and pending patents held by its Excalibur LLC unit that include search, advertising and cloud-based technology, the company said. ...