News

  Bloomberg More than 6,000 workers cycle through the world’s biggest nuclear plant every day to operate and maintain a facility that hasn’t sold a kilowatt of electricity in more than four years. The buzz at Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc.’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant plays out daily across Japan, where utilities employ thousands of workers and spend billions of dollars ...

  Bloomberg Have you been mixing up your Chinese debt with your Chinese leverage? If so, economists at Nomura Holdings Inc. want you to stop that right now. In a note published this week, they argue that the conventional wisdom that “debt” and “leverage” are basically the same doesn’t really work for the world’s second-largest economy. In fact, the two ...

  Bloomberg A Singapore-based shipping trust that operates container ships is asking creditors for leniency on about $253 million of debt, in the latest sign of debt woes in the industry and in the city-state. Rickmers Maritime won’t be able to repay $179.7 million of senior debt due in March 2017 and the interest and principal on S$100 million ($73.3 ...

  Bloomberg Australia’s unemployment rate fell to the lowest in almost three years in August as fewer people sought work, while the economy unexpectedly shed jobs. Employment dropped 3,900 from July; economists forecast 15,000 gain Jobless rate declined to 5.6% from 5.7%; economists forecast 5.7% Full-time jobs rose by 11,500; part-time employment fell by 15,400 Participation rate, a measure of ...

  Wellington / AFP New Zealand economy’s maintained strong growth in the April-June quarter as record-low interest rates fuelled a construction boom, official data released Thursday showed. Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) reported gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 0.9 percent in the second quarter, just below market expectations of 1.1 percent. The data means annual growth for the year to June ...

  Yangon / AFP Myanmar cheered a US promise to end sanctions on Thursday, with residents in its commercial capital clamouring for American brands while politicians and business moguls heralded a new era of transparency and trade. US President Barack Obama vowed to scrap the trade limits during Aung San Suu Kyi’s first visit to the White House since her ...

  Bloomberg The U.K. government has approved Electricite de France SA’s controversial plan to build two nuclear reactors for 18 billion pounds ($24 billion) in southwest England. Hinkley Point C will proceed under the condition that EDF won’t be able to sell down its controlling stake prior to completion of construction without government approval, the Department for Business, Energy and ...

  London / AFP Retail sales in Britain fell 0.2 percent in August from July, official data showed on Thursday, with no real indication that the Brexit vote outcome was hurting spending. “Regarding the EU referendum in late June, our data on retail sales since the vote show little evidence of a departure from recent trends,” the Office for National ...

  Paris / AFP Protesters took to the streets across France on Thursday for fresh demonstrations against the Socialist government’s labour reforms, although opposition to the measures appeared to be running out of steam. Demonstrators also marched through the eastern city of Belfort where the government is locked in a battle with train-building giant Alstom over the future of an ...

  Washington / AFP The International Monetary Fund resumed its bailout of war-torn Ukraine, approving disbursement of $1 billion from an aid package that had been held up in part on corruption concerns. Kiev had been waiting for the resumption of lending since August of last year in a $17.5 billion program intended to help stabilize the country after the ...