International News

  New Delhi / Bloomberg India’s finance minister has ratified a decision that Apple Inc. must meet local sourcing rules to open its own stores, according to people familiar with the matter, dealing what may be a fatal blow to the iPhone maker’s effort to open retail outlets in the country. Minister Arun Jaitley decided to support the decision by ...

  Tokyo / Bloomberg Mitsubishi Motors Corp. booked a 19.1 billion yen ($174 million) charge to reflect losses related to its fuel economy testing scandal, which reduced profit last fiscal year by 19 percent and prompted a shake-up in top management. The Japanese automaker said it earned 72.6 billion yen for the fiscal year ended in March, rather than the ...

  KUALA LUMPUR / AP Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. said on Wednesday that it will build a second factory in Malaysia as part of expansion to meet rising local demand. The new 2 billion ringgit ($488 million) plant will be built by Toyota and its local partner, UMW Corp. Toyota said that the plant, to be built in the ...

  Singapore / AFP More than 60 percent of all computer software installed in the Asia-Pacific in 2015 was unlicensed, the worst of any region, despite growing economies and anti-piracy efforts, an industry watchdog said on Wednesday. The Software Alliance — which includes giants like Microsoft, Apple, Intel, Oracle and Adobe — said in a report that the unlicensed software ...

  KUALA LUMPUR / AFP Malaysia’s Sime Darby, the world’s biggest listed palm-oil producer, on Wednesday announced a 60 percent quarterly profit rise but warned of a tough outlook amid slow global demand and lower weather-reduced output. In a statement, Chief Executive Mohamad Bakke Salleh attributed the improved year-on-year earnings to sales of certain assets. The company had said in ...

  Brussels / AFP Eurozone ministers reached a vital deal with Greece on Wednesday to unlock bailout cash and start tackling the country’s debt mountain as demanded by the IMF, but analysts warned details are sketchy, spelling trouble further down the road. The agreement unlocks €10.3 billion ($12 billion) in bailout cash that Greece urgently needs to repay big loans to ...

  London / AFP Energy giant Royal Dutch Shell on Wednesday said it was cutting at least another 2,200 jobs owing to low oil prices and following its takeover of smaller rival BG Group. “Shell staff have today been informed about the progress being made on integrating BG into the company, and on further measures that are necessary to ensure ...

  Bloomberg Electricity prices in Britain may rise this winter as the El Nino weather system ebbs away, driving up energy demand while quelling breezes that wind farms depend on to generate renewable power. The La Nina weather patterns that generally follows El Nino may cool temperatures and curtail wind speeds from the U.K. to Germany, according to U.K. government ...

  Bloomberg A Brexit wouldn’t just weaken the pound — it would jeopardize its status as a reserve currency used in world trade, according to S&P Global Ratings. Sterling lags only the dollar and euro in central banks’ holdings, a legacy of Britain’s large economy, its trusted legal system and use of the global lingua franca. But a vote to ...

  AP The EU’s decision on whether to extend economic sanctions against Russia for its actions in Ukraine should be transparent and discussed openly, Hungary’s foreign minister said on Wednesday. Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said after meeting Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov that Hungary will not accept an “automatic” decision regarding the sanctions currently in place until the end of July. ...