News

  Bloomberg The UK government said it is leaning toward intervening in 21st Century Fox Inc.’s proposed 11.7 billion-pound ($14.3 billion) takeover of Sky Plc, citing the potential impact on media plurality and broadcasting standards, and will make a final decision within 10 days. “I have concerns that there may be public-interest considerations — as set out in the Enterprise ...

  Bloomberg AT&T Inc., the largest US phone-service provider, will bring about 3,000 jobs back to the US as part of a tentative labor agreement with union employees in Texas and four other states. The Dallas-based phone company has committed to adding the jobs in its Southwest district by the end of 2018, a spokesman said Friday. The Communications Workers ...

  Bloomberg Mexico’s top trade negotiator will grant President Donald Trump this: Nafta is in need of updating. He doesn’t agree, however, that the US auto industry has gotten the short end of the stick. The North American Free Trade Agreement has served the US, Canada and Mexico well, Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said on Friday at a luncheon hosted ...

  Bloomberg PSA Group and General Motors Co. are set to announce on Monday the purchase of the Opel brand by the French company, creating the region’s second-largest automaker and allowing GM to exit the European market, according to people familiar with the matter. The two carmakers, which sent an invitation for a joint press conference in Paris on Monday, ...

  Bloomberg Vitol Group BV is offering to sell Nigerian crude oil from a storage terminal in South Africa, five traders familiar with the matter said, in what may be a signal that the global supply glut is beginning to ease. The world’s biggest oil merchant has been offering 4 million barrels of Nigeria’s Qua Iboe for delivery to Europe ...

  JOHANNESBURG / AP Nigeria wants Royal Dutch Shell to reopen one of its main pipelines but the oil multinational is resisting, analysts say, for fear it could once again be bombed by militants. The Trans Forcados Pipeline, the main feed to the 400,000-barrel-a-day Forcados export terminal, has been shut for all but three weeks of the past year, Lagos-based ...

  BEIJING / AP China will raise its defense budget by about 7 percent this year, a government spokeswoman said Saturday, continuing a trend of lowered growth amid a slowing economy despite regional tensions over the South China Sea and other issues. Total defense spending would account for about 1.3 percent of projected gross domestic project in 2017, said Fu ...

  Bloomberg The world’s biggest pension fund posted the biggest quarterly gain in its history as Japanese stocks surged and a plunge in the yen boosted overseas investments after Donald Trump’s election victory. The Government Pension Investment Fund returned 8 percent, or 10.5 trillion yen ($92 billion), in the three months ended December 31, increasing assets to 144.8 trillion yen, ...

  Bloomberg A private survey signaled the first expansion in four months for India’s key service sector, adding to signs the economy is bouncing back from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s shock clampdown on cash late last year. The Nikkei India Services Purchasing Managers’ Index inched up to 50.3 in February, a report showed Friday, from 48.7 in January and November’s ...

  Bloomberg Nintendo Co. shares rose to their highest in a month after a smooth debut of Switch, a hybrid console that aims to bring together the worlds of mobile and home gaming. Retailers in Tokyo and Sydney began selling a limited number of units early, while fans in New York and Toronto waited in the cold to buy the ...