International News

Bloomberg As the Pentagon struggles to recruit a more tech-savvy workforce, it’s facing the confusion of many an old-timer: What to make of people who invest or trade in Bitcoin. The question is whether owning Bitcoins or lesser-known cryptocurrencies such as Ripple and Ethereum is an indicator of risky personal behaviour — one that should flag extra scrutiny in security ...

Bloomberg Hyundai Motor Group bowed to pressure from billionaire Paul Singer’s Elliott Management Corp. by shelving a controversial $8.8 billion deal, marking an unprecedented victory for shareholder activists in South Korea. The group’s Hyundai Mobis Co. unit on Monday withdrew a proposal to sell two of its most lucrative businesses to affiliate Hyundai Glovis Co., Mobis Chief Executive Officer Young-Deuk ...

Bloomberg The US and China declared a truce in their trade dispute over the weekend, but that will prove temporary if the world’s two largest economies fail to deliver on their vague commitments to re-balance trade. “We’re putting the trade war on hold,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said after the two sides released a joint statement a day earlier. “Right ...

Bloomberg The biggest asset sale under India’s new bankruptcy law offers a breather to the nation’s banks, a number of which posted record losses for last quarter. Tata Steel Ltd. bought insolvent Bhushan Steel Ltd. and is paying 352 billion rupees ($5.2 billion) to Bhushan’s creditors. This is about 63 percent of the 560 billion rupees claimed by a consortium ...

Bloomberg Currency intervention is becoming a daily necessity for Hong Kong as the local dollar continues to trade at the weak end of its trading band. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority spent HK$5.99 billion ($763 million) buying local dollars as the weekend began, bringing its purchases over the past week to HK$19 billion. Lower interest rates relative to the greenback ...

Bloomberg China is planning to scrap all limits on the number of children a family can have, according to people familiar with the matter, in what would be a historic end to a policy that spurred countless human-rights abuses and left the world’s second-largest economy short of workers. The State Council, China’s cabinet, has commissioned research on the repercussions of ...

Bloomberg Three days after agreeing to sell off the last of its Hilton stake, Blackstone is buying another hotel company. Blackstone Group LP has agreed to acquire luxury hotel owner LaSalle Hotel Properties, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The all-cash transaction values LaSalle at $33.50 a share, or $4.8 billion including debt, said the people, who asked ...

Bloomberg IPhone users suing Google over data-collection claims may be seeking as much as 3.2 billion pounds ($4.29 billion), the search giant said in a court filing. The group representing iPhone users, known as Google You Owe Us, now includes 4.4 million people, according to documents filed with the court at a hearing on Monday. The group says the Alphabet ...

Bloomberg Italian assets were pummeled again on mounting concern over the populist coalition’s fiscal plans, with the moves rippling across European debt markets. Bond yields climbed to the highest levels in almost three years, while the premium to cover a default in the nation’s debt was the stiffest since October. The local benchmark stock index dropped for a second day, ...

Bloomberg The UK government will set laws to stop cyber bullying among children, which may include multimillion dollar fines for social media companies like Facebook Inc. if they flout new statutory codes of conduct. “I don’t want the trolls to win,” Culture Secretary Matt Hancock told ITV after his department published further details of an Internet Safety Strategy. The government ...