International News

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump might withhold payments under Obamacare that are used to help poor people afford medical services in order to force Democrats to negotiate changes to the health law, he told the Wall Street Journal in an interview. Those payments to lower-income people, called cost-sharing-reduction subsidies, have been at the center of an almost three-year legal battle …

  Bloomberg The battle for control of Akzo Nobel NV escalated after Elliott Advisors called for the chairman’s ouster, drawing a fiery retort from the Dutch paint maker suggesting the activist shareholder is working with PPG Industries Inc. on its $24 billion takeover offer. The removal of Chairman Antony Burgmans would be irresponsible and damaging, and Elliott’s move for a …

  Bloomberg The view from the biggest coal plant in the US West is spectacular: red rock buttes and wide desert vistas that change color with the movement of the sun. Set against this backdrop, the station’s towering smoke stacks seem to disrupt the serenity of the landscape, its three concrete pillars spewing a perpetual stream of heat and gas. …

  Bloomberg Drawn to India by an explosion in metro-rail projects, Alstom SA and Bombardier Inc are now poised to use the nation known for being the world’s back-office as a manufacturing export hub. The French and Canadian multinationals set up manufacturing and engineering operations between 2008 and 2010 to tap into India’s rapidly-growing urban transportation market and will now …

  Bloomberg PetroVietnam Power Corp., Vietnam’s second-largest power producer, said the sale of a 49 percent stake to strategic investors and through an initial public offering could fetch about $600 million. PV Power, as it is better known, is open to selling as much as 60 percent of the company, contingent on government approval, according to a document posted on …

  Bloomberg The UK is eyeing a deal with the US to give London-based banks free access to Wall Street, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said as he predicted Britain’s economy would thrive even without a Brexit deal. In an interview with Bloomberg, Fox said he wanted to open up commerce with the US “in every sector” including financial services, …

  Bloomberg Europe is likely to end the wheat season with the smallest stockpiles in 13 years. Inventories of wheat held in the European Union will probably plunge 37 percent to 10.1 million metric tons at the end of June, according to Tallage SAS, publisher of the Strategie Grains report. The combination of a poor harvest, strong consumption and higher-than-expected …

  Bloomberg Anil Agarwal has sealed the merger of his mining and energy businesses in India, creating a BHP Billiton Ltd.-like resources conglomerate, even as a recent investment in Anglo American Plc raises questions about how far the billionaire’s ambitions stretch. Vedanta Ltd. combined with unit Cairn India Ltd and fixed April 27 as the record date for determining the …

  Bloomberg Not even the cheapest shares in 13 years can lure investors to China’s banks. On a price versus book value basis, Chinese financial firms are trading at the biggest discount since 2004 to both the MSCI China Index and their Asian peers. The stocks have underperformed all but two other industry groups this year. While that’s spurred bullish …

  Bloomberg China’s producer prices surged again at close to the quickest pace since 2008 last month, though pulled back slightly from February, suggesting the reflationary boon to industrial profits is set to moderate. Producer price index rose 7.6 percent from a year earlier, versus median estimate of 7.5 percent in Bloomberg survey and 7.8 percent increase in February. Consumer …