International News

  Tokyo / AFP The head of crisis-hit Mitsubishi Motors said on Wednesday that sales in Japan have fallen off a cliff since the company admitted last week that it has been cheating on fuel-efficiency tests. Tetsuro Aikawa, the automaker’s president, revealed that orders have dropped by almost half since the scandal erupted, as the crisis takes a toll on …

  Sydney / Bloomberg Australian consumer prices fell in January-March for the first time since 2008 during the global financial crisis, data showed on Wednesday, putting pressure on the central bank to cut interest rates and sending the local dollar tumbling. The statistics bureau said the consumer price index (CPI) fell 0.2 percent in the quarter from the previous three …

  Seoul/ AP Kia Motors Corp., South Korea’s second-largest automaker, posted a solid first-quarter net profit on Wednesday on the back of a weaker Korean won and strong demand for its SUVs and motorhomes. Net profit stood at 944.6 billion won ($822.7 million) during the January-March period, up 4.6 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory …

  Seoul / AFP An extended export slump and weakening domestic consumption saw South Korea’s economic growth slow in the first quarter, despite record low interest rates, the central Bank of Korea said. Asia’s fourth largest economy expanded 0.4 percent in the January-March period from the previous quarter, and 2.7 percent compared to a year earlier.On-quarter growth in the final …

  THE HAGUE / AP Royal Philips says an international arbitration panel has ordered Japanese company Funai Electric Co. to pay the Dutch electronics firm $152 million compensation over a breach of contract. Philips launched the arbitration proceedings in 2013 after terminating a $200 million deal to transfer to Funai its audio, video and media accessories unit and license the …

  Tokyo / AFP Troubled conglomerate Toshiba announced it had booked a $2.3 billion write-down of its US nuclear unit Westinghouse but said the sale of its medical devices business would reduce its forecast net loss for the year ended March. A once proud pillar of corporate Japan, the company has been besieged by problems, most notably a profit-padding scandal …

  Shanghai / AP The financial services affiliate of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba raised $4.5 billion in funding, it said, calling it the largest single private placement by an Internet company. The move values Ant Financial Services Group at roughly $60 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported, quoting people familiar with the situation. Previous media reports had said the company …

  Ratnapura / AFP From the Queen of Sheba to Britain’s Duchess of Cambridge, Sri Lanka’s sapphires have adorned royalty through the ages, but a flood of cheap imitations is threatening the island’s reputation for the precious stones. Ceylon sapphires, known after the island’s colonial-era name, enjoyed a huge boost five years ago when it was revealed that one formed …

  Beijing / AFP Troubled Malaysian state investment fund 1MDB said on Tuesday it had defaulted on $1.75 billion in company bonds after missing an interest payment, heightening fears of a market-rattling bailout of the scandal-hit company. The fund, founded in 2009 by Prime Minister Najib Razak, is teetering on the brink of collapse amid multiple investigations around the world …

  New Delhi / Bloomberg Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. shares rose after the automaker posted revenue that beat analyst estimates as it sold more of the new Baleno hatchback and automatic variants of some existing models. The shares gained as much as 4.1 percent, the most intraday since April 13, in Mumbai trading. Total revenue in the quarter through March …