International News

Bloomberg A standoff between Italy and ArcelorMittal over the future of the European Union’s biggest steel mill escalated, after the country’s economic development minister lashed out at the company. “We won’t allow ArcelorMittal to blackmail the government by threatening over 5,000 job cuts,” economic development minister Stefano Patuanelli wrote in a Facebook post. “Commitments should be upheld.” ArcelorMittal started legal ...

Bloomberg Medopad Ltd, a UK artificial intelligence startup teaming with China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd on new approaches to disease, raised $25 million for clinical studies of its health technology. Leaps by Bayer, an investment arm of Bayer AG, led the series B round, Medopad said in a statement. The London-based firm is focused on finding and using digital indicators of ...

Bloomberg Producers of prominent children’s YouTube channels will appeal to the FTC to change its recent settlement with the video service and will circulate a new petition online urging certain changes. In September, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) fined YouTube and its parent, Alphabet Inc’s Google, $170 million for violating privacy laws by tracking children online. With the settlement, YouTube ...

Bloomberg State and federal agencies have filed dozens of wildfire-related claims against PG&E Corp., making California and Washington two of the biggest creditors in the utility’s bankruptcy case. The three biggest demands total more than $6 billion to compensate the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. The claims, related to the North Bay and ...

Bloomberg Uber Technologies Inc disappointed investors with quarterly results showing lackluster gains in bookings and monthly active users, two of the metrics most closely watched by Wall Street. The ride-hailing company beat estimates for quarterly revenue and loss, improved its annual loss forecast and pledged to turn a profit by 2021. Those weren’t enough to lift the stock, though. Shares ...

Bloomberg Angela Merkel’s visit to a revamped Volkswagen AG electric-car plant in Zwickau is a stark reminder of what’s at stake both for the German chancellor and VW boss Herbert Diess. Merkel — who critics say has long been soft on the auto industry — has come under fire for failing to make more progress in curbing greenhouse-gas emissions, while ...

Bloomberg Sila Nanotechnologies, a San Francisco Bay-area battery startup, is getting an additional $45 million in funding and has hired two new executives, including a former Tesla Inc manager who helped build the electric-car company’s relationship with battery-cell makers. Bill Mulligan, a former vice president at solar-panel maker SunPower Corp, joins Sila as its first chief operating office, the Alameda, ...

Bloomberg European companies are upping the pressure on China to go beyond rhetoric at this year’s China International Import Expo, asking for “more tangible outcomes” than at the launch in 2018. “We expect this year’s event to be supplemented by concrete measures to facilitate further market opening and increase foreign investment, not by empty promises that we have heard many ...

Bloomberg Euro-zone manufacturing remained near the weakest in seven years last month, a poor start to the final quarter that raises pressure on the region’s governments to add fiscal stimulus to insulate the region from a worsening global slowdown. Factories from China to the US are suffering from flagging demand. While a Purchasing Managers’ Index for the 19-nation euro region ...

Bloomberg UK construction extended its longest contraction since 2013 in October as domestic political turmoil and a weak economic backdrop weighed on demand. IHS Markit’s index of building activity rose to 44.2, from 43.3 in September, but remained below the 50 threshold that indicates expansion for a sixth month. Civil engineering led the drop, with residential home building also losing ...