Bloomberg Mahathir Mohamad said he may stay on as Malaysia’s prime minister for “one or two years,” after earlier agreeing to step aside for jailed coalition leader Anwar Ibrahim. In remarks on Tuesday, the 92-year-old said that Anwar — a former enemy turned ally — may just join the cabinet for a while after his expected release from prison on ...

Bloomberg Britain’s quest to leave the European Union is riddled with infighting, and now another domestic political battle looks set to rumble on through the increasingly tricky negotiations. Barring an 11th-hour deal, the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh is expected to withhold consent on Tuesday for Prime Minister Theresa May’s key Brexit legislation. The UK Parliament has the right to disregard ...

Bloomberg Ex-Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou was sentenced to four months in jail for leaking details of a criminal investigation while still in office, although the former Kuomintang leader could still avoid jail time by paying a fine or winning on appeal. Taiwan’s High Court on Tuesday found Ma, 67, guilty of violating the Communication Security and Surveillance Act, according to ...

Big ideas are in the air. After a few years of fighting over a few percentage points in the top marginal tax rate, some leaders are starting to discuss sweeping changes in economic policy. One of these is the universal basic income, the idea of giving every adult citizen a yearly stipend. A second is the job guarantee, in which ...

Global banks are rushing to plant their flags in China. That doesn’t guarantee they’ll be winners. Last week, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lodged an application to take a majority stake in a securities company, having exited a venture where it was a junior partner. The Wall Street firm follows UBS Group AG and Nomura Holdings Inc., which were the first ...

Fujifilm Holdings Corp. should see the big picture. The Japanese company may have lost face in being beaten by activists, but the collapse of its $6.1 billion takeover of Xerox Corp. is a relief. Management can now go back to focusing on growth, rather than fighting the likes of Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason. The attempt to double down on ...

Can China, Lisbon, Brussels and international shareholders all get on? Last week’s bid for Portuguese power generator EDP-Energias de Portugal SA by China’s biggest clean energy group throws contrasting agendas into stark relief. Lisbon appears intensely relaxed about China Three Gorges Corp.’s 9.1 billion-euro ($11 billion) buyout plan. But shareholders, the European Commission and possible counter-bidders stand in the Chinese ...

Neither this year’s impressive corporate earnings results nor the synchronized pickup in global growth nor record levels of stock buybacks by companies has led to impressive gains in stocks. Despite a seven-day winning streak, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the May 11 trading session just 0.03 percent above where it started the year. It’s a similar story for the ...

Cracks are beginning to appear in the investment theses pinned to the future of robots and the rise of machines. Over the past 30 years, the cost of robots, now a feature of almost any production line, has fallen by about 50 percent, according to McKinsey & Co. Demand from industries from automotive to food, where the marginal value of ...

It’s been nearly two years since the UK voted to leave the European Union. But the intervening period has done nothing to resolve the question of what that should mean. Consider the latest Brexit-related fracas, which has seen members of Prime Minister Theresa May’s cabinet publicly squabbling about Britain’s future trade relationship with Europe. For many Brexit supporters, the debate ...