International News

Battered islands in crosshairs as Hurricane Maria speeds up

Bloomberg For the third time this month, a hurricane is spinning towards the already battered Caribbean and gathering strength along the way. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) upgraded tropical storm Maria to a hurricane as winds picked up to 150 kilometres per hour by Monday morning. The storm, 100 miles east of Martinique, is intensifying, and hurricane warnings have been ...

Read More »

Slack gets slice of SoftBank’s $100bn tech bounty

Bloomberg Slack Technologies Inc. closed a $250 million funding round led by SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund, giving it more ammunition for expansion in an increasingly competitive market for workplace messaging services. The financing round values the startup at $5.1 billion, up from $3.8 billion the last time. The Vision Fund is joined by Accel and other investors, Slack said. ...

Read More »

London’s black cabs going electric spurs aluminum sector

Bloomberg London’s black cabs going electric shows the new wave of automobile technology is already reshaping the metals industry. After being closed for three years due to a weak market, Sapa SA’s aluminum plant in south Wales will reopen this week to supply lightweight parts for automakers such as London Electric Vehicle Co., the maker of black cabs. It’s part ...

Read More »

Ford reunites with Mahindra to raise India bet

Bloomberg Ford Motor Co. gave its lagging Indian operations a boost by reuniting with local SUV maker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. to explore electric cars and new technologies, as the US automaker tries to gain a foothold in a country that’s set to become the world’s third-biggest car market. Ford and Mahindra formed a partnership for three years, aiming to ...

Read More »

Irma stirs fear of setback to $16 billion Everglades restoration

Bloomberg For two decades Steve Davis has made it his life’s work to save the Florida Everglades. Davis, a wetland ecologist with the Everglades Foundation, has been part of a push to restore millions of acres of marsh grasses and mangroves to their natural state. The effort, comprised nearly six-dozen projects carrying an estimated price tag of $16 billion, is ...

Read More »

Google joins mobile payments race in cash-reliant India

Bloomberg Alphabet Inc.’s Google introduced a digital payments service specifically designed for India as competition heats up for the country’s billion-plus potential users. Tez, the Hindi word for fast, debuted on Monday for download on iPhones and Android devices and joins an increasingly crowded field. The service is compatible with the Indian government-backed Unified Payments Interface, which simplifies financial transactions ...

Read More »

Chinese online insurer ZhongAn starts $1.5 billion Hong Kong IPO

Bloomberg ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance Co., China’s largest online insurer, started taking orders for a Hong Kong initial public offering that could raise as much as $1.5 billion. The Shanghai-based company is offering 199.3 million new shares at HK$53.70 to HK$59.70 apiece, according to terms for the deal obtained by Bloomberg. Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. agreed to purchase 71.9 million ...

Read More »

CBS’s Ten acquisition overcomes legal hurdles

Bloomberg CBS Corp. overcame a last-ditch attempt to derail its planned takeover of ailing Australian broadcaster Ten Network Holdings Ltd. after a Sydney court dismissed a challenge by local media mogul Bruce Gordon. CBS is free to vote on its proposed acquisition at Tuesday’s meeting of Ten creditors, Justice Ashley Black said in a ruling on Monday at the New ...

Read More »

Fosun takes Gland Pharma bid to $1.1 billion

Bloomberg Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co. scaled back its proposed purchase of control in Indian drugmaker Gland Pharma Ltd. to a level that would allow it to avoid a government review of the biggest Chinese acquisition in India. Fosun Pharma, backed by Chinese billionaire Guo Guangchang, will now buy a 74 percent stake for $1.1 billion, according to a statement. ...

Read More »

Facebook, Google limit robo systems that allowed racist ads

­­­­­­­­­­­Bloomberg The world’s largest digital advertising companies reined in their automated money-making machines after the systems were shown to spit out ads based on racist and other offensive information. Facebook Inc. shut off a key self-service ad tool, while Google stopped its main Search ad system automatically from suggesting offensive phrases for targeting. The moves are the latest sign of ...

Read More »
Send this to a friend