International News

  London / AFP India’s Tata Steel on Wednesday completed the part-sale of its European assets, safeguarding 4,800 jobs, but thousands more are threatened with no buyer found for the rest of the business. Tata Steel UK announced completion of the sale of its European piping business to Greybull Capital, a British-based family investment firm for an undisclosed sum. The ...

  Beijing / bloomberg Upstart smartphone maker Xiaomi has bought nearly 1,500 patents from US technology giant Microsoft, the companies and reports said, as part of a “global partnership” that will help the Chinese firm expand outside its home market. The patents cover wireless communications, video, cloud and multi-media technologies, Bloomberg News quoted a Xiaomi spokeswoman as saying. “This will ...

  Jakarta / Tribune News Service Farmers in the Pelalawan village of Pelalawan, Pangkalan Kerinci, used to employ the slash and burn method when it came to clearing their land for farmland or rice fields. That approach triggered massive fires as the soil in the village was combustible, especially with peatland at a depth of around 3-9 meters. In a ...

  Paris / AFP The world risks getting caught in a low-growth trap, denting the future of generations to come, unless governments step up spending quickly, the OECD warned on Wednesday. Tepid worldwide recovery since the global economic crisis in 2008 “has precipitated a self-fulfilling low-growth trap” said the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s chief economist Catherine Mann said ...

  Berlin / AFP Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands would be the first of Britain’s EU partners to bear the brunt if voters back an exit from the European Union, the OECD said on Wednesday. Britain itself could be buffeted by financial market turbulence akin to that seen at the height of the eurozone crisis in 2011 and 2012, the ...

  Bloomberg Germany’s 10-year government bonds held on to their biggest gain in more than two weeks as the nation auctioned five-year notes at a record-low yield before the European Central Bank announces its latest policy decision. German sovereign debt has returned 1.1 percent in the past month while holders of Treasuries have been left with no gains, according to ...

  Bloomberg The Renault-Nissan alliance will begin hiring at least 300 tech experts this month, becoming the latest carmakers to try to lure workers away from Silicon Valley. Most recruits will be software engineers with experience in vehicle connectivity and mobility services, a category that includes car-sharing, the alliance said. They will join a team led by Ogi Redzic, 45, ...

  Geneva / AP Just like Hannibal in ancient times, Swiss engineers have conquered the Alps. More than 2,200 years after the commander from the ancient North African civilization of Carthage led his army of elephants and troops over Europe’s highest mountain chain, Swiss leaders have completed another gargantuan task — and on time: Burrowing the world’s longest railway tunnel ...

  Bloomberg Canada’s economy was already on track to crumble in the second quarter as the Alberta wildfires last month took more than 1 million barrels of oil a day out of production. When you add in details from Tuesday’s report on first-quarter gross domestic product, the outlook becomes dismal. Here are some of the reasons the economy doesn’t appear ...

  Bloomberg Argentine confectioner Havanna is looking to raise as much as 277.5 million pesos ($19.9 million) in the first local initial public offering since 2013. Havanna plans to sell a 17.5 percent stake on June 6, consisting of as much as 7.5 million common shares priced at between 32 and 37 pesos, Horacio Aguilar, head of capital markets at ...