News

  Reuters Western insurers are slowly reaching deals with Iran as they seek to re-enter a multi-billion dollar market although the pace of business is hampered by banking restrictions ten months on from the lifting of international sanctions. Shut out of international financial markets for years, Iran is still trying to reap the benefits of last year’s nuclear deal with ...

  Bloomberg Australia just found out the price of blocking foreign investment. The New South Wales state government announced it had sold a 50.4 percent stake in power network Ausgrid to two local funds in a deal valuing the entire company, including debt, at about A$20.8 billion ($16 billion). Two months earlier, the federal government barred New South Wales from ...

  Bloomberg The first Japanese utility to restart a nuclear reactor under post-Fukushima rules has restarted a campaign urging users to increase power consumption discontinued after the unprecedented triple meltdown in March 2011. Kyushu Electric Power Co., which expects at least two nuclear reactors to be online next year, aims to start a television advertising campaign to promote the adoption ...

  AP The International Monetary Fund has warned of weak growth prospects in Central Asia and the Caucasus and called for active reforms to energize the post-Soviet economies. In a report, the 189-nation IMF forecast economic growth in the region in 2016 at just 1.3 percent, the lowest estimate since 1998. The slowdown is mostly due to low commodity prices ...

  Bloomberg India’s quest to become a cashless economy has been dealt a blow by a data breach that compromised as many as 3.2 million debit cards. Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Indians in a radio address in May to use cashless payments to discourage corruption and keep track of money. Convincing them may get harder after India’s national card ...

  Bloomberg  After a decade of unrivaled expansion, Australia’s largest gas-pipeline owner is facing growing pains. Complaints from industrial gas users, frustrated by supply shortages and hefty price spikes following the start of Queensland’s liquefied natural gas export plants, sparked a regulatory review last year aimed at boosting competition in the eastern seaboard market. APA Group Ltd. is now looming ...

  AP  India’s capital, laboring under the label of being the world’s most polluted city, is trying something new to help clean up its air. A smartphone application that allows residents to report the presence of construction dust or the burning of leaves and garbage in New Delhi’s public parks to authorities was launched on Friday. The “Hawa Badlo,” or ...

  Bloomberg European Parliament President Martin Schulz said he’s optimistic he can salvage a trade deal between Europe and Canada after talks broke down on Friday amid opposition from the Belgian region of Wallonia. Schulz met Canada’s International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland in Brussels on Saturday and had separate talks with Wallonia’s Minister-President Paul Magnette. Negotiations to rescue the Comprehensive ...

  Bloomberg General Electric Co. may not grow this year as low oil prices, a strong dollar and a sluggish economy crimp demand for oilfield equipment and locomotive parts, a setback for Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt as he pursues a sharpened focus on manufacturing. The stock fell after GE cut its outlook for organic sales growth, projecting the figure ...

  Bloomberg In Germany, fretting about inflation is a political currency that never seems to lose its value. In the past week, for example, at least three national newspapers have run prominent articles telling the populace that their savings — denied the magic of compound interest by the European Central Bank’s low-rate policies — are in for a renewed onslaught ...