Bloomberg China’s official factory gauge steadied at the highest level in almost two years while services picked up, suggesting that the economy’s stabilization continued last month and reducing prospects for additional policy easing. The data add to evidence of improvement as government fiscal support and a soaring property market help underpin growth. Fresh signs of stability may lead policy ...

  Hanoi / AFP Thousands of Vietnamese protesters surrounded a Taiwanese steel plant on Sunday, some scaling walls and holding signs demanding its closure, as anger flares against the firm for dumping toxic waste into the ocean killing tonnes of fish. Huge crowds on motorbike and foot gathered at the Formosa plant in central Ha Tinh province, with some holding ...

  Bloomberg Lloyds Banking Group Plc, Britain’s largest mortgage lender, may take a 1.6 billion-pound ($2.1 billion) charge in third-quarter earnings to cover a pension deficit and customer compensation, according to analysts. The London-based bank may set aside 800 million pounds to cover its pension fund liabilities and a similar amount for customers who were wrongly sold payment protection insurance, ...