International News

Private investment gains ground in Hungary’s hospitals

  Bloomberg A $62 million construction project on the banks of the Danube River is the biggest bet to date that Hungary’s crumbling public health-care system guarantees a bright future for private hospitals. Deteriorating conditions at state hospitals, where patients routinely need to bring their own toilet paper, have pushed people to pay for care outside the communist-era relic. Private ...

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Middle-class tax cut is ‘floor’ for talks in Congress: Trump

  Bloomberg Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said his chief economic concern is giving the middle class a sizable tax cut, while other proposals, including lowering taxes on businesses and the wealthy, were starting points for negotiation. “I have to negotiate now with senators and congressmen,” Trump said during an interview that aired on Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the ...

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Brazil’s inflation accelerates above all forecasts in April

  Bloomberg Brazil’s consumer inflation accelerated more than all analysts forecast in April, pushing the market to temper bets the central bank will lower interest rates. The benchmark IPCA consumer price index climbed 0.61 percent after a 0.43 percent rise the previous month. That was more than the median forecast for a 0.54 percent increase from 44 economists surveyed by ...

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Latin America’s only net creditor about to rejoin mere mortals

  Bloomberg At times, Chile’s economy has appeared super-human. Rapid economic growth, low inflation, trade surpluses and a strong currency have all combined to make it the wealthiest nation in South America, overtaking traditionally richer economies such as Argentina and Uruguay. That was achieved even as the government amassed savings of more than $23 billion in two sovereign wealth funds. ...

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Brenntag slumps after profit misses on oil, Venezuela

  Bloomberg Brenntag AG’s first-quarter profit missed analyst estimates after the world’s largest distributor of chemicals was hit by a currency devaluation in Venezuela and slump in demand for additives used by the oil and gas industry. Earnings were “surprisingly low” due to weakness in the Venezuelan currency, oil and gas and the North American industrial environment. Brenntag stuck to ...

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Aussie PM vows to carry out economic plan

  Canberra / AFP Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Sunday called an election for both houses of parliament on July 2, as he seeks his own mandate with the public just eight months after deposing predecessor Tony Abbott in a party coup. The widely expected announcement was the latest chapter in the turbulent world of Australian politics, where a ...

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Vietnam breaks up mass fish deaths protest, scores held

  Hanoi / AFP Vietnamese police detained scores of people on Sunday as they broke up a protest against a Taiwanese company accused of being behind a toxic leak that has caused mass fish deaths off the central coast. The protest in Hanoi, which follows a similar demonstration last weekend, was swiftly dispersed by authorities on Sunday morning, an AFP ...

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Honda to recall 20mn more Takata airbags

  Tokyo / Bloomberg Honda Motor will recall an additional 20 million Takata-made airbags globally, a newspaper said on Sunday, in a widening scandal that has led to the biggest auto recall in US history. Tokyo-based auto parts giant Takata is struggling to deal with a defect that can send metal and plastic shrapnel from the inflator canister hurtling toward ...

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China trade shrinks in April in troubling sign for economy

  Tokyo / Bloomberg China’s trade shrank in April in a sign government stimulus is failing to jolt the world’s second-largest economy out of a prolonged slowdown. Exports contracted by 1.8 percent from a year earlier to $172.7 billion, falling back into negative territory after March’s temporary burst of 11.5 percent growth, customs data showed on Sunday. Imports plunged 10.9 ...

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Disney lifts veil in sneak preview of $5.5bn Shanghai Park

  Beijing / Bloomberg Walt Disney Co. employees and guests received a sneak preview of Shanghai Disneyland, as the world’s largest entertainment company gets set for next month’s official opening of its first theme park in mainland China. A trial run for the $5.5 billion Shanghai Disney kicked off recently. Guests are limited to the resort’s employees, partners and stakeholders, ...

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