International News

Bloomberg Germany’s government is ready to run a budget deficit if Europe’s largest economy collapses, magazine Der Spiegel reported. Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz would be willing to increase debt in order to offset a tax revenue shortfall due to an economic slump, the magazine said, citing sources in the chancellery and the finance ministry that it ...

Bloomberg With interest rates on 30-year US debt hitting all-time lows this week, the government is once again considering whether to start borrowing for even longer. The US Treasury Department said that it wants to know what investors think about the government potentially issuing 50-year or 100-year bonds, going way beyond the current three-decade maximum. The government stressed that no ...

Bloomberg For Brits looking to escape the UK in an increasingly wet August, the pound might offer some relief with a recovery against the euro. Sterling ended a record run of losses against the common currency this week and analysts are cautiously optimistic on its near-term prospects. Growing resistance among opposition lawmakers to a no-deal Brexit has led traders to ...

Bloomberg As economic growth falls across Europe, Ukraine may be embarking on an upswing. Data showed expansion in the former Soviet republic surged last quarter, even as US-China trade tensions and a wider global slowdown weighed on most of the continent. The pace — 4.6% — was unexpectedly quick. The World Bank had warned that if growth didn’t top the ...

Bloomberg Steinhoff International Holdings NV former Chief Executive Officer Markus Jooste sees the retailer’s claim for more than $56 million against him as “vague and embarrassing.” The owner of Poundland in the UK and Pep stores throughout Africa said in June it will look to claw back base salaries, bonuses and other incentives paid to Jooste since 2009 because of ...

Bloomberg The Earth is losing its plants and humanity is to blame, according to a new study. Global vegetation growth has been in decline since the late 1990’s, due to changes in the water content of the atmosphere. An atmospheric vapor pressure deficit (VPD), or the difference between saturation water vapor and actual water vapor, was found to stall or ...

Bloomberg Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the biggest assembler of iPhones, reported better-than-projected earnings after snagging additional business from Chinese smartphone giant Huawei Technologies Co. The company reported a 2.5% decline in net income to NT$17.1 billion, compared with the average analyst estimate of NT$16.3 billion. Revenue for the April-June period reached NT$1.16 trillion, according to Bloomberg calculations from previous ...

Bloomberg The European Union (EU) imposed tariffs on biodiesel from Indonesia to counter alleged subsidies to producers in the country, risking tit-for-tat retaliation by the Indonesian government. The EU duties on Indonesian exporters of biodiesel, a type of biofuel made from vegetable oils and animal fats for use in diesel engines, range from 8% to 18%. The levies mark the ...

Bloomberg Australia is pushing back against calls from Pacific Island leaders to ditch its commitment to coal mining to help combat climate change, saying its neighbours need to respect the country’s reliance on the industry. The world’s second-biggest coal exporter is increasingly a flash point in the battle against carbon emissions after Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government was reelected in ...

Bloomberg Chinese officials are sticking to their plan to visit Washington in September for face-to-face trade meetings, people familiar with the matter said, signaling that talks remain on track for now despite an abrupt escalation in tariff threats this month. The US on Tuesday delayed the imposition of some new tariffs after top negotiators spoke on phone, with President Trump ...