Bloomberg A Johnson & Johnson unit was accused of injuring hundreds of patients by selling “defective” hip implants, according to lawyers suing the company on the first day of a London trial. Some of DePuy International Ltd.’s Pinnacle hip replacement parts cause metal particles to be released into the body, causing a range of health problems, lawyers for the 341 ...

Bloomberg Daimler AG is firming up plans for its biggest corporate overhaul in a decade, granting its car and truck operations more independence in a move that could pave the way for spinoffs and other deals as the automaker confronts the disruptive shift to self-driving electric vehicles. Under the plan, the German automotive giant would break up its conglomerate structure ...

Bloomberg The US Supreme Court accepted a case that could roil the credit-card business, agreeing to consider reviving government allegations that American Express Co. thwarts competition by prohibiting merchants from steering customers to cards with lower fees. A federal appeals court had thrown out the lawsuit, saying the US government and 11 states failed to prove that the American Express ...

Bloomberg North Korea warned that a nuclear war “may break out any moment” as the US and South Korea began one of the largest joint naval drills off both the east and west coasts of the peninsula. Kim In Ryong, North Korea’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, said that his nation had become a “full-fledged nuclear power which possesses ...

BAGHDAD / KIRKUK / Reuters The Baghdad government recaptured territory across the breadth of northern Iraq from Kurds on Tuesday, widening a sudden and dramatic campaign that has shifted the balance of power in the country almost overnight. In the second day of a lightning government campaign to take back towns and countryside from forces of the Kurdish autonomous region, ...

Bloomberg The Venezuelan opposition has been boxed in. The socialist regime’s sweeping victories in elections marred by fraud accusations left opponents with scant hope of a fair 2018 presidential vote. International pressure has failed to move President Nicolas Maduro. Nor have months of street protests. Now, opponents are splintering over the basic question of whether the ballot box is the ...

Bloomberg Spain’s National Court ordered the Catalan police chief to surrender his passport after finding evidence that his force spied on its rivals in Madrid. A judge in the Spanish capital told Josep Lluis Trapero to report back to the court every two weeks, citing evidence that the Catalan police force, known as the Mossos d’Esquadra, may have conducted counter-intelligence ...

Bloomberg Asia’s two biggest economies both have their most powerful leaders in decades — and neither one has much incentive to mend a relationship that has long been volatile. Polls show Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling party is heading for a landslide win in an October 22 election, putting him on track to become the longest-serving leader in the ...

Bloomberg As Buenos Aires goes to the polls for midterm elections, Maria Eugenia Vidal is everywhere — except on the ballot. Vidal is the province’s governor, a key ally of President Mauricio Macri, and the public face of a Senate campaign that’s turning into a referendum on his economic plans. It’s her picture that’s plastered across billboards in the industrial ...

In this week’s crisis over Kirkuk, Iraqi Kurds are experiencing a painful version of Newton’s Third Law: In Middle East politics, as in physics, every action creates an equal and opposite reaction. The initial action was Kurdistan President Masoud Barzani’s decision to push ahead last month with a controversial independence referendum, despite strong warnings from the United States, Turkey, Iran ...