Hong Kong / Tribune News Service In a landmark for Asia, Hong Kong has been named the world’s most competitive economy for 2016, moving from second place last year to push the United States into third spot behind Switzerland. But while Asia might top the world in business, a separate report has shown the Nordic nations lead in life …

  Tokyo / Bloomberg Japan’s peak power prices may ease as the country’s solar-power expansion taps scorching summers to displace fossil fuels. The resource-poor country, which has boosted solar capacity more than sevenfold since 2011, may follow a similar path as Germany, where electricity prices fell along with fossil fuel use during high consumption periods, according to Trevor Sikorski, an …

  Seoul / AFP South Korea on Thursday cut its key interest rate to a record low 1.25 percent in a surprise move to address concerns over the impact of corporate restructuring on the sluggish economy. The Bank of Korea’s 0.25 percentage point reduction was the first in 12 months but there had been little hint of such a move, …