Sydney / AFP Australia’s central bank held interest rates at a record low of 1.50 percent on Tuesday despite a recent run of soft economic data but weak inflation figures kept the door open for future cuts. The Reserve Bank of Australia has cut rates by 300 basis points since November 2011 to support growth in non-resources industries as ...

  Bloomberg Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA shares seesawed on Monday after Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s decision to resign added to uncertainty about the bank’s plans to raise as much as 5 billion euros ($5.3 billion) in capital by the end of the year. The struggling lender was down 0.8 percent at 11:12 a.m in Milan as investors ...

  Manchar Lake / AFP For generations the Mohanna tribe have lived, loved, worked, and played on Pakistan’s Manchar Lake; their floating settlement serving their needs from birth to death. But an unrelenting flow of toxic wastewater is pouring into the lake — a byproduct of industrialisation and aggressive agricultural practices upstream — and has slowly rendered it inhospitable, poisoning ...

  Reykjavik / AFP An island of ice and lava battered by the Arctic winds, Iceland’s dramatic and pristine landscape is attracting a growing number of tourists, not all of whom are respectful of the fragile ecosystem. Along with hikers, nature lovers, reality TV starlets and fans of the series “Game of Thrones” which was partially filmed in Iceland, 1.3 ...

  Bloomberg The European Union signaled Prime Minister Theresa May must first strike a deal for the UK’s post-Brexit trade ties with the bloc or lose out on a transitional phase that banks and businesses want. As both sides prepare to face off in the new year, Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday that ...

  Bloomberg The US trade deficit widened to a four-month high in October as overseas sales weakened and American companies imported more equipment and consumer goods. The gap grew to $42.6 billion from the prior month’s revised $36.2 billion, Commerce Department figures showed on Tuesday. The 17.8 percent increase from September was the largest since March 2015. The Bloomberg survey ...

  Copenhagen / AFP Danish toy maker Lego announced a management shake-up to develop the brand beyond its iconic plastic bricks under the leadership of its veteran chief who brought the company back from the brink of bankruptcy. Chief executive Jorgen Vig Knudstorp took over Lego when it was on verge of collapse in 2004 and transformed it into one ...

  Bloomberg Verizon Communications Inc. agreed to sell its data-centers business to Equinix Inc. for $3.6 billion in cash as the company turns its focus to mobile video advertising. The deal includes 24 facilities across 15 metropolitan markets, according to a statement on Tuesday. Equinix, based in Redwood City, California, operates as a real estate investment trust, mostly holding interconnected ...

  Bloomberg Opposition from South Africa’s state power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. and government infighting threatens to sabotage the world’s fastest-growing green energy program. Eskom is stalling on signing government-brokered deals to buy renewable energy from private producers, encouraged to develop capacity after outages over the past eight years hobbled Africa’s most industrialized nation. With the economy in the ...

Bloomberg Egypt’s net foreign reserves rose to the highest level in more than five years in November, as the country started receiving money from the International Monetary Fund and global lenders. Reserves reached $23.1 billion, up from $19 billion in October, according to data posted on the central bank’s website. Egypt got the first $2.75 billion installment of a $12 ...