International News

Bloomberg Carmakers are discovering there are limits when it comes to influencing European Union climate policy. A decade after the EU crafted its first caps on carbon dioxide from autos by heeding manufacturers’ calls to go easy, the bloc will likely ignore similar pleas regarding the next set of proposed reduction targets. Slated for 2025 and 2030, these limits will ...

Bloomberg The UK’s painful pay squeeze in the aftermath of the financial crisis helped save 800,000 jobs, according to new research. A report published by the Resolution Foundation showed that real average earnings in the UK fell by about 7 percent between 2009 and 2014, the equivalent of a 1 billion-pound ($1.3 billion) weekly wage loss. Still, that pain saved ...

Bloomberg European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called on Italy to redouble its fiscal efforts to avoid deviating from the goals agreed to with Brussels, saying the government in Rome has already enjoyed concessions on spending. The commission “has to look out for the observation of the rules, and in the case of Italy we have introduced lines of flexibility in ...

Bloomberg Verizon Communications Inc. is offering buyout packages to as many as 44,000 management employees as part of a cost-cutting drive, potentially eliminating more than a fourth of its workforce. The offer, which excludes executives in sales or crucial company roles, is part of a four-year, $10 billion cost-reduction program that Chairman Lowell McAdam put in place last year. A ...

Bloomberg The US boom won’t be enough to stop the rest of the world economy from slowing. Finance ministers and central bankers head to Indonesia next week for the International Monetary Fund’s annual meeting, with the lender signalling it will cut its global growth forecasts for the first time in two years after the best upswing since 2011. That’s despite ...

Bloomberg Downside risks to Japan’s economy have increased in the past year and more work will be needed to sustain the recovery, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said after its annual consultation with the Japanese government. Near-term risks include weaker global demand from trade or geopolitical tensions, which could undermine growth and trigger a strengthening of the yen, as well ...

Bloomberg The US is losing its edge as the world’s foremost destination for venture capital investment, a new study shows, with US startups capturing a rapidly declining share of global dollars invested, and Chinese companies grabbing more of the total. Because startups play a critical role in economic dynamism, the study bodes well for the global economy as a whole, ...

Bloomberg Any increase in capital outflows could make it more difficult for companies and governments to refinance foreign debt in developing East Asia, with Indonesia and Thailand most at risk, says the World Bank. Outflows pose “potentially disruptive implications for business operations and solvency on the corporate side, and for deficit financing and debt sustainability on the sovereign side,” the ...

Bloomberg Traveloka, Southeast Asia’s largest online travel startup, is in talks to raise about $400 million from new and existing investors to accelerate its expansion, according to people familiar with the matter. The money will be used to push beyond traditional airline tickets and hotel bookings into activities for travelers like concerts or amusement parks, said the people, asking not ...

Bloomberg Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. are betting on a future when consumers and businesses will order up their transportation needs on demand, forming a new venture that will develop and deploy ride-hailing and self-driving car technologies. Monet Technologies Corp. will initially introduce ride-hailing services for Japanese public agencies and private companies, followed by a rollout of ...