International News

Bloomberg Covestro AG, the German chemical maker with roots dating back more than 150 years, is acting like a young upstart as it considers its first acquisitions after former parent Bayer AG completed cutting ties this month. Covestro wants to add polymer technology and broaden its coatings, adhesives and specialty-products offerings, said Patrick Thomas, who steps down as chief executive ...

Bloomberg China will cut the import duty on passenger cars to 15 percent, further opening up a market that’s been a chief target of the US in its trade fight with the world’s second-largest economy. The Finance Ministry said the levy will be lowered effective July 1 from the current 25 percent that has been in place for more than ...

Bloomberg After years of being sidelined by Japan’s laws against ride-sharing, Uber Technologies Inc. won government approval for a taxi-hailing pilot programme in Japan. Starting this summer, Uber will connect local drivers and passengers in Awaji, a remote island that’s home to 120,000 people and a dozen taxi companies, the company said in a statement. The pilot, which will last ...

Bloomberg Hyflux Ltd., the Singapore water treatment firm, is considering seeking a form of court protection to facilitate negotiations with creditors, people with knowledge of the matter said. The company is considering asking the Singapore courts for a 30-day moratorium preventing creditors from taking certain actions that could hurt its financial position, according to one of the people. The move ...

Bloomberg Sony Corp., once known for pushing the boundaries of technology, is starting to look a little bit boring under Kenichiro Yoshida. The new CEO’s reputation as a stoic numbers guy was demonstrated on Tuesday when he unveiled mid-term targets for the first time as chief executive officer, predicting conservative profit growth across most divisions over the next three years ...

Bloomberg Eight years ago, before China’s Xiaomi Corp. had sold a single smartphone, 56 of the earliest employees pulled together $11 million to invest in the startup. Rank-and-file workers dipped into savings and borrowed from parents. One receptionist tapped her dowry. Today, they’re the Lucky 56. Xiaomi is one of the most successful smartphone makers in the world and it’s ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump retreated from imposing tariffs on billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods because of White House discord over trade strategy and concern about harming negotiations with North Korea, according to people briefed on the administration’s deliberations. Trump also succumbed to pressure from farm-state Republicans, who heavily lobbied the White House to resolve its trade differences with ...

Bloomberg Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond received a boost on Tuesday as figures showed Britain borrowed less than predicted in the first month of the new fiscal year. Spending exceeded revenue by 7.8 billion pounds ($10.5 billion) in April, the smallest deficit for the month since 2008, the Office for National Statistics said. A shortfall of 8.5 billion pounds ...

Bloomberg The European Union scrambled to come up with a strategy to avoid US tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum, signaling a readiness to accept American import quotas and to slash some EU duties in return for a permanent waiver. With an EU exemption from the metal levies due to lapse on June 1, European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom indicated ...

Bloomberg Intel Corp, the biggest maker of computer processors, said it found another way to attack computers related to the chip security flaws announced earlier this year. The means to protect against the vulnerability is already in place and there is no evidence of it having been used to hack computers, Intel said in a statement on its website. “We ...