International News

Bloomberg Malaysia will terminate a $20 billion rail project with contractor China Communications Construction Co, Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali said. The Cabinet decided the East Coast Rail Link project was “beyond the government’s financial capability,” he said. Malaysia Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng wouldn’t corroborate Azmin’s comments, saying an official announcement would be issued if necessary by next ...

Bloomberg As China goes, so goes Starbucks. The chain, which helped introduce Americans to European coffee culture, is under pressure from Wall Street to do the same in China. It’s opening stores at a rate of nearly 600 a year, but an economic slowdown there, exacerbated by the trade war with the US, have curbed its previously breakneck sales growth. ...

Bloomberg The prospect of a delayed Brexit may be pushing up the pound, but it’s not the best news for the UK economy. Sterling has rallied above $1.30 this week amid increasing signs of support from lawmakers across Parliament for extending the negotiating period set to expire on March 29. While that would remove the imminent possibility of a chaotic ...

Bloomberg Verizon Communications Inc is cutting 7 percent of its media staff, part of a bid to overhaul a struggling operation that includes the former online icons AOL and Yahoo. The cuts would represent about 800 jobs at the division, which previously went by Oath. Verizon dropped that short-lived name, which was ridiculed on social media, earlier this month. Some ...

Bloomberg Filings for US unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level since 1969, signalling the labour market remains tight. Jobless claims declined 13,000 to 199,000 in the week ended January 19, bucking economist forecasts for an increase, Labor Department figures showed. The four-week average, a less-volatile measure, decreased to 215,000, the lowest since early November. The surprise drop ...

Bloomberg Johnson & Johnson, the world’s largest maker of health-care products, is pursuing an acquisition of Auris Health Inc in a deal that would bring it cutting-edge surgical robotics technology, people with knowledge of the matter said. J&J is seeking to purchase Auris at a premium to the valuation from its latest funding round, according to the people, who asked ...

Bloomberg California’s utilities could get closer to junk-bond status as PG&E Corp’s collapse highlights the hazards of wildfire liability in the state. Edison International’s Southern California Edison Co as well as Sempra Energy’s San Diego Gas & Electric Co were downgraded by S&P Global Ratings. The credit grader cited the continued risk of climate change crises and the absence of ...

Bloomberg Carlos Ghosn’s arrest is triggering a reckoning at the Japanese carmaker he once saved from near bankruptcy, with Nissan Motor Co reviewing its global operations and relationships with key dealers as part of an expanding investigation into the auto titan’s alleged misdeeds, people familiar with the matter said. Hundreds of people — including regional and legal compliance teams as ...

Bloomberg Vodafone Idea Ltd plans to raise as much as $3.5 billion via a rights offering to help India’s largest mobile-phone carrier fend off Asia’s richest man, who continues to roil the industry by providing 4G Internet at prices that would drive most carriers bankrupt in other countries. Vodafone Group Plc will contribute as much as 110 billion rupees, while ...

Bloomberg Tata Power Co is seeking to set up electric vehicle chargers in the Indian capital, a company official said, as one of the most polluted cities on earth plans an ambitious push towards cleaner vehicles. Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd, which supplies electricity to 1.64 million consumers in Delhi, has written to the local government saying it wants to ...