WASHINGTON / AP Two US government-funded news outlets are launching a global Russian-language TV network aimed at providing an alternative to slick, Kremlin-controlled media that critics say spread propaganda and misinformation. Current Time, run by Prague-based Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty with help from Washington-based Voice of America, is targeting Russian speakers across the globe with round-the-clock programming intended to ...

  Bloomberg As freezing weather triggered energy shortages across southeast Europe at the start of the year, Bulgaria’s refusal to export power was typical in a region where everyone had to fend for themselves. Nations from Greece to Hungary hoarded power last month in response to the coldest winter in a decade, exposing the weakness of the region’s power markets, ...

  Bloomberg Total SA raised its dividend by 1.6 percent and said it may give the go-ahead for almost a dozen new projects in the next 18 months after fourth-quarter profit beat analysts’ estimates. “We’re going to propose to increase the dividend as we have confidence in the future,” Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne told reporters in Paris. “My goal ...

  Bloomberg Norway’s economic growth picked up slower than anticipated in the fourth quarter as western Europe’s biggest crude producer emerges from a protracted slump in its oil industry. Mainland gross domestic product, which excludes oil, gas and shipping, grew 0.3 percent from the previous quarter, Statistics Norway said on Thursday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had estimated a gain of ...

  Bloomberg The quest to supply everyt- hing from data server halls, insurance companies to large furniture stores with green electricity has flooded the Nordic region with wind power and crashed a $100 million renewable-certificates market. While that’s good for the environment and the image of companies from Google Inc. to Ikea Group, the growth in renewable energy has been ...

  Bloomberg Suncor Energy Inc.’s production rose to a record last quarter after the oil-sands giant took control of the Syncrude processing unit and put it at full throttle. Canada’s biggest energy company produced 738,500 barrels of oil equivalent a day in the period, up from 582,900 in the previous quarter, according to an earnings report. The jump was largely ...

  Bloomberg SoftBank Group Corp. is aiming to close the first round of investment in its planned $100 billion technology fund by the end of this month, giving Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son an enormous war chest to go on the hunt for deals, according to people familiar with the matter. The initial investments will likely include $45 billion from ...

  Bloomberg The board of Infosys Ltd., India’s second-largest technology services company, is facing questions over executive compensation and corporate governance in a letter sent by at least three of its founders, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani and Kris Gopalakrishnan have signed the document asking why Chief Executive Officer Vishal Sikka’s compensation was ...

  Bloomberg PT Bumi Resources will post its first annual profit in five years as a rally in fuel prices help Asia’s biggest exporter of thermal coal push through a debt restructuring. The company, controlled by the family of Indonesian politician Aburizal Bakrie, had net income of $101.6 million last year, compared with a net loss of $2 billion in ...

  Bloomberg Syngenta AG, which sees its $43 billion takeover by China National Chemical Corp. closing by the end of June, said it’s open to pursuing assets that might become available as a result of antitrust reviews of other mega deals in the agricultural industry. There could be attractive seed acquisition opportunities stemming from the merger of Dow Chemical Co. ...