International News

Sydney / AFP One of the world’s biggest gas plants has begun shipping fuel after months of delays and cost overruns, operator Chevron said, with a vessel leaving Australia bound for Japan. The US$52 billion Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) project off Australia’s northwest coast — the country’s largest resources project — started production in early March, with its first ...

Mumbai / Bloomberg India’s richest tycoon also seems to be its luckiest. While many a formerly gung-ho Indian businessman is being crushed by debt, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries is getting one break after another. First came the fall in globalcrude prices, which has already given the conglomerate’s refining business $10-plus-a-barrel margins for four straight quarters, its biggest windfall in almost ...

TOKYO / AP Major Japanese airports were crammed with thousands of passengers unable to take domestic flights on Tuesday due to problems with airline computer systems. The delays began in the morning, with major Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways posting a notice on its website apologizing for delays and cancellations due to a “system malfunction.” The airline said Internet check-in, ...

Bangkok / DPA Thai Airways International plans to trim more staff this year to stop the financial bleeding. The company has set a budget of 2.2 billion baht (US$63 million) for the new cost-cutting plan,” Narongchai Wongthanavimok, chief financial officer, said. There is still no targeted number nor time frame for this round, but it should begin in one or ...

Kathmandu / DPA In a bid to shift away from heavy dependence on India, Nepal signed an agreement with China to use transit facilities for third country trade by using the ports of the northern neighbour. However, poor infrastructure on the Nepali side, difficult geographical terrain and without the reach of Chinese train up to Nepali border in Kerung (Gyirong ...

Singapore / DPA The contract to build a four-in-one rail and bus depot in Singapore- said to be the world’s first such facility – has been awarded to South Korea-based GS Engineering & Construction Corporation for around US$1.46 billion. The East Coast Integrated Depot will contain three train depots and one bus depot within a single site of 36ha. It ...

Bloomberg President Barack Obama is in Cuba, and Silicon Valley is tagging along for the ride. Executives from several technology companies are traveling with the U.S. president on his goodwill tour or introducing new business initiatives focused on the island—or both. Among the companies joining the Cuba parade this week are Google parent Alphabet Inc., Airbnb Inc., PayPal Holdings Inc., ...

Bloomberg A gauge of the dollar dropped, halting a two-day advance, as comments by Federal Reserve officials suggesting the central bank may raise interest rates as soon as next month failed to boost the U.S. currency’s appeal. The dollar weakened against most of its major peers as traders saw only a 10 percent probability of a U.S. rate hike in ...

Bloomberg Venezuela, owner of the world’s largest crude oil reserves, suddenly has a deep thirst for American oil. Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the state-owned oil company, has ordered millions of barrels of crude from the U.S. this year, according to published reports and data provided to Bloomberg, in a sign of how the lifting of the ban on U.S. oil ...

Bloomberg Coffee, which entered a bull market last week, may climb further this year amid increasing concern that global supply will continue to shrink because of El Nino-induced crop losses in South America and Southeast Asia, according to traders at an industry gathering. Worldwide demand may exceed output by as many as 4 million bags in the season that will ...