International News

Bloomberg Alphabet Inc’s Google was sued by a company that claims it was driven out of the digital advertising market by the search giant’s anti-competitive behaviour, which is already under scrutiny by state and federal officials. Advertising technology company Inform Inc alleges that Google has used its monopoly power in internet search and mobile operating systems to undermine competition in ...

Bloomberg Angela Merkel said Europe should set up an agency that certifies components for the region’s fifth-generation wireless networks, in a bid to address safety concerns over equipment from Chinese suppliers including Huawei Technologies Co. The agency could set standards for components built into Europe’s 5G networks and be modelled on the European Medicines Agency (MDA), which evaluates pharmaceutical drugs ...

Bloomberg Europe’s not really ready for facial recognition technology. That’s the verdict of the European Union (EU) Agency for Fundamental Rights, whose 36-page paper says the region needs stronger rules governing the use of such technology by states, be it at national borders or in public spaces. “Given the novelty of the technology as well as the lack of experience ...

Bloomberg Prime minister Narendra Modi must invest trillions of dollars on roads and other critical infrastructure if he’s to pull India’s economy out of its slump, with at least half coming from provincial governments that are out of his control. India will need to spend 235 trillion rupees ($3.3 trillion) on infrastructure over the coming decade to return economic growth ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong’s government fetched a record HK$42 billion ($5 billion) for a plot of land, a sale coming in at the lower end of estimates as the financial hub has been rocked by six months of pro-democracy protests. A tender for the site, which sits atop the high-speed railway station in Kowloon that connects to mainland Chinese cities, was ...

Bloomberg Japan’s measures for encouraging the spread of cashless payments will likely need more funding beyond the end of March and could be extended as part of a planned government stimulus package. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommended that Japan consider lengthening the time frame of its measures to support consumption after an October sales tax increase to support the ...

Bloomberg The earliest-available indicators of China’s economic performance point to a continued slowdown in November. Economic growth was already the slowest in almost three decades in the third quarter, and Bloomberg Economics’ gauge aggregating the earliest data from financial markets and businesses shows that continuing, with a worsening picture for trade, sales manager sentiment, and factory prices. While tensions with ...

Bloomberg Thailand backed down on a plan to prohibit three pesticides from December 1 after coming under pressure from farmers, the US government and lobbyists for chemicals companies. The ban on paraquat and chlorpyrifos will be delayed until June 1 next year, industry minister Suriya Juangroongruangkit said in a briefing. Glyphosate — commonly sold as weedkiller Roundup — won’t be ...

Bloomberg Prime minister Narendra Modi is finally attempting to overhaul India’s most controversial labour laws to attract investment and make it easier to do business in a country where changing archaic rules is a challenge for any government. After a long struggle, his government will push a crucial industrial relations bill allowing companies to hire workers on fixed-term contracts of ...

Bloomberg Troubled Singapore water treatment firm Hyflux Ltd has entered a restructuring deal with Middle Eastern utility Utico FZC. Under the agreement, Hyflux will get investment totalling S$400 million ($293 million) from Utico, according to an exchange filing. The pact caps drawn out negotiations between the two companies. Hyflux, Singapore’s highest profile debt restructuring, had been looking for a white ...