International News

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 ...

Bloomberg Chile, widely viewed as a model of stability and democracy in a region plagued by impropriety and upheaval, is facing a campaign funding scandal that has cast a shadow over politicians of all major parties. More than a year of revelations has helped drive to record lows the approval ratings of the government, President Michelle Bachelet, the Chamber of ...

Beijing / AP Vietnam risks being vulnerable to external shocks if it doesn’t push through reforms to strengthen its banking system and restructure state businesses, according to International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde. The Southeast Asian nation isn’t in a position to withstand economic blows from tightening of monetary policies elsewhere, a deep and prolonged drop in commodity prices and ...

Beijing / Bloomberg China plans to more than triple solar power capacity by 2020 to as much as 143 gigawatts to help reduce carbon emissions. The country will add 15 to 20 gigawatts of photovoltaic power annually in the next five years, Nur Bekri, head of the National Energy Administration, said in a conference in Beijing on Monday. China accounted ...

Beijing / Bloomberg Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. sold 3 trillion yuan ($463 billion) of goods through its online shopping websites in the year ending March, as China’s largest e-commerce operator moved deeper into the untapped countryside and courted foreign brands. The company wants to bring in more quality non-Chinese goods and continue to increase its footprint in rural areas to ...

New Delhi / Bloomberg India just ushered in an interest-rate cut, via the backdoor. Although paying postal-savings depositors slightly less for their cash may appear a minor tweak, the move could end up having a bigger salutary effect on bank balance sheets, and the country’s nervous bond market, than the Reserve Bank of India’s 125 basis-point reduction since early 2015. ...