International News

Bloomberg The “deal dividend” promised to Britain by Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond might be tantalisingly close amid signs an amicable divorce from the European Union could be within sight. Hammond said that a Brexit agreement would allow him to end austerity. Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said the economy would finally see a way through the fog ...

Bloomberg Billionaire Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma called fighting over trade senseless and decried once again a widening conflict between the US and China. China’s richest person — who warned just last month that a trade war could last two decades — argued it was pointless to target goods because the Asian nation was on its way to becoming a major ...

Bloomberg China will set up a new trading venue in Shanghai that will make it easier for high-tech companies to access funding, as President Xi Jinping vows more opening measures to boost the world’s second-largest economy. The Shanghai Stock Exchange will also start a pilot programme on a registration-based system of initial public offerings, Xi said at the opening ceremony ...

Bloomberg India’s IT outsourcing giant Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. needs to offer a good explanation for why engineers hired at its American outposts are 13 times as likely to be fired if they’re not South Asian. The company was expected to go on trial on Monday in California over racial discrimination claims by American workers who lost their jobs at ...

Bloomberg Tencent Holdings Ltd. will expand its age-verification system to encompass its entire games line-up, an unprecedented undertaking in response to growing criticism it encourages addiction among youths. The Chinese social media and entertainment titan intends to check all gamers’ identities against police databases by 2019, extending a procedure it pioneered for the mobile phenomenon Honour of Kings. It will ...

Bloomberg BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company, halted all train operations in Western Australia on Monday after it was forced to derail a runaway train in the Pilbara. The driver was inspecting an issue with the train when the locomotive ran away. While rail operations are suspended, mining operations continue, it said. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said ...

Bloomberg A range of European venture capital firms are seeking to raise more money in fewer funds as they ride a global trend towards larger investment vehicles. For five prominent firms in the region, sizes are expected to range from $100 million to $350 million each. Idinvest Partners SA, one of France’s largest VC firms, is targeting a $350 million ...

Bloomberg Advanced Micro Devices Inc ad-ded its name to a growing list of semiconductor companies that were battered with huge share declines after reporting disappointing results and forecasts. The stock slumped 20 percent. AMD’s results came on a day when investors were already pressing the sell button on a sector that many now fear is signaling a wider technology industry ...

Bloomberg The UK economy kicked off the fourth quarter on a disappointing note as Brexit concerns pushed growth in services to a seven-month low. IHS Markit’s index for the sector fell more than economists expected last month, recording the lowest reading since March when the nation was battered with bad weather. New business growth and optimism over the outlook were ...

Bloomberg Abbott Laboratories won US approval for its FreeStyle LibreLink diabetes-monitoring app, giving users a way to keep track of their glucose levels from their iPhones. The app works with Abbott’s FreeStyle Libre glucose sensors, which have rapidly become some of the top-selling medical devices in the US. It is likely to be a welcome addition for millions of customers ...