International News

Bloomberg In the shadow of an escalating trade war, momentum is picking up to protect the World Trade Organisation from turning irrelevant. The European Union will host trade ministers from the US and Japan next month in Brussels, according to two officials with knowledge of the meeting. The gathering will be part of an effort to address China’s trade practices ...

Bloomberg Apollo Global Management LLC, the investment firm led by Leon Black, agreed to acquire Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd. for $2.6 billion, in the latest example of private equity investors expanding their insurance assets. Apollo will pay $42.75 a share for the Hamilton, Bermuda-based insurer, a premium of 6.6 percent to Monday’s closing share price, in an all-cash deal. The ...

Bloomberg Toyota Motor Corp. is expanding an alliance with Uber Technologies Inc. through a new investment and a plan to get self-driving cars on the road. The Japanese automaker is investing $500 million in Uber, the companies said. The deal values the ride-hailing giant at $72 billion, said a person familiar with the matter. As part of the pact, Toyota ...

Bloomberg Netflix Inc. hired Facebook Inc. executive Rachel Whetstone as the company’s new chief communications officer, putting a Silicon Valley veteran in charge of the streaming service’s messaging as it grapples with regulators and competitors in 190 countries. Whetstone has worked in communications at Google, Facebook and Uber, three companies that have faced controversy at home and abroad. She replaces ...

Bloomberg Judging from the jump in General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. shares, the market thinks President Donald Trump’s accord with Mexico to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement will enable US automakers to carry on business as usual. This could be right, with one big caveat: The companies are going to need Canada to join the deal, ...

Bloomberg Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said foreigners won’t be allowed to buy property at Country Garden Holdings Co.’s $100 billion project, or be granted visas to live there. The Forest City project near Singapore had targeted buyers from China for its mixed-residential development, as well as investors from Indonesia and Thailand. Malaysia’s My Second Home programme allows wealthy foreigners ...

Bloomberg Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s energy unit is nearing a deal to acquire a 1,370-megawatt thermal power plant backed by GMR Infrastructure Ltd., according to people with knowledge of the matter. Adani Power Ltd. will take over about 38 billion rupees ($543 million) of loans out of a total of 58 billion rupees that GMR Chhattisgarh Energy Ltd. owes, said ...

Bloomberg Three bankrupt US companies with links to Indian billionaire Nirav Modi were “directly involved” in transactions related to the alleged multibillion-dollar international fraud for which Modi has been charged by Indian authorities, according to an investigation by the court-appointed examiner. The examiner, John J. Carney, found “substantial evidence” that senior officers and directors at Firestar Diamond Inc., A. Jaffe ...

Bloomberg Jewelers in India’s biggest gold-buying state expect sales to drop during the peak festival and wedding season after heavy rains and floods caused more than $3 billion of damage. The usual spend of 200 grams to 1 kilogram of gold per wedding in Kerala may drop 50 percent in the next month, B. Govindan, president of the All Kerala ...

Bloomberg Apple Inc. is not only doubling down on the iPhone X, it’s tripling down. The world’s most valuable company plans to launch three new phones soon that keep the edge-to-edge screen design of last year’s flagship, according to people familiar with the matter. The devices will boast a wider range of prices, features and sizes to increase their appeal, ...