News

  Tokyo / AFP Toyota and Suzuki said on Wednesday they are holding talks about a possible partnership to handle “unprecedented” changes in the global auto industry, as Japan’s vehicle sector sees a wave of consolidation. Toyota, the world’s biggest automaker, and small car specialist Suzuki did not announce details but suggested any partnership could focus on new safety and ...

  Tokyo / AFP Tokyo was hit by a major blackout on Wednesday that temporarily knocked out power to a total 580,000 homes and some big office and government buildings, while two train lines were also brought to a halt. Officials said the power outage could be traced to a fire at a facility run by utility Tokyo Electric Power. ...

  Bloomberg Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., the world’s second-largest shipbuilder, plans to eliminate 3,000 jobs, or 24 percent of its workforce, this year as part of a restructuring plan to improve its financials. Daewoo is receiving applications for a voluntary retirement program until Oct. 21, the Geoje, South Korea-based company said an e-mailed statement Wednesday. The company had ...

  SINGAPORE / AP The wealthy city-state of Singapore — with its flourishing trade, orderly life and almost non-existent crime — is hardly a place one would associate with illegal trade. But a new report by a reputed organization reveals that in fact the country has a poor record of preventing just that. The new Economist Intelligence Unit released a ...

  Bloomberg Singapore Press Holdings Ltd., (SPH) Southeast Asia’s biggest newspaper publisher by market value, plans to merge two of its tabloids to form a new free-distribution publication as part of a restructuring effort, three people with knowledge of the matter said. The publisher is planning to merge The New Paper and My Paper, they said, declining to be identified ...

  Bloomberg The red lines Britain has signalled it will adopt in Brexit talks are “fully incompatible” with its aspiration to keep membership in the single market, and there won’t be any negotiations until the U.K. triggers the process, Slovenia’s prime minister said. Miro Cerar, premier of the former Yugoslav Republic of 2.1 million people, echoed other EU leaders, saying ...

  Edinburgh / AFP Scotland’s ruling nationalists gather for their annual conference on Thursday with the issue of independence back on the table following Britain’s vote to leave the European Union. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), has vowed to explore “all options” to protect Scotland’s place in the EU after Scots bucked the ...

  Bloomberg The amount of electricity generated by U.S. nuclear reactors hit its lowest seasonal level in a decade as malfunctions and closures tied to Hurricane Matthew combined with routine maintenance to drag down production. The nation’s nuclear output fell on Tuesday to 81,600 megawatts, or about 79 percent of capacity, according to U.S. government data. That’s the lowest level ...

  Bloomberg Spanish bonds dropped, pushing the 10-year yield to the highest in more than three weeks, amid speculation that caretaker Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy could face a confidence vote this month. Spain’s securities led declines among euro-region sovereign debt. The country has been through two inconclusive elections since December and has repeatedly missed European Union targets to cut its ...

  Karlsruhe / AFP Germany’s top court on Wednesday heard complaints from some 200,000 citizens and campaigners who want to stop a planned EU-Canada free trade agreement set to be signed later this month. They are asking the Constitutional Court to prevent the government from endorsing the so-called CETA accord at a gathering of EU ministers next week, arguing that ...