Bloomberg Hong Kong has returned to the top five Asia-Pacific investment destinations by property consultancy CBRE for the first time since 2020, thanks to an expected pandemic recovery and low pricing. The report on real estate investor intentions for 2023 showed the Asian financial hub came in at number five after Tokyo, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City and Sydney …

  Bloomberg An expansion of Tesla Inc.’s plant in Shanghai has been delayed, according to people familiar with the matter, over data concerns that risk putting a roadblock in the way of the US electric-car maker’s ambition to keep growing in China. The so-called phase-three expansion originally slated to start mid-year would have seen the plant’s capacity double to around …

  Bloomberg Fosun International Ltd. is weighing a sale of International Gemological Institute in a deal that could value the diamond-grading firm at about €200 million ($215 million), according to people with knowledge of the matter. The Chinese conglomerate is working with Deutsche Bank AG on the potential divestment of the Antwerp, Belgium-based institution, said the people, who asked not …

  Bloomberg Malaysia, the world’s second-biggest palm oil producer, will consider halting exports to the European Union in retaliation for the bloc’s new deforestation regulation, according to the country’s deputy prime minister. The regulation is an act to block market access for palm oil and Malaysia will discuss with Indonesia — the top producer and exporter — about the option …

Bloomberg The European Union and the UK are preparing to enter an intense phase of negotiations starting next week aimed at overcoming the dispute over the post-Brexit trading relationship well ahead of the anniversary of Northern Ireland’s peace agreement in April, according to people familiar with the matter. The aim is to move into a negotiating “tunnel” after UK foreign …

  Bloomberg The US hasn’t changed its policy on sending Navy vessels through the Taiwan Strait, the Pentagon said, describing a decline in the number of transits last year as nothing out of the ordinary. “Many factors affect the planning and execution of these operations including ship and aircraft availability, other military operations and exercises both in the Indo-Pacific and …

  Bloomberg Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese used a historic address in Papua New Guinea to call for a “swift conclusion” to negotiations over a bilateral security agreement, in the latest move by Canberra to counter Chinese influence in the Pacific. In an address to Papua New Guinea’s Parliament on Thursday, Albanese praised the close historic ties between Australia and …

  Bloomberg Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu changed the military leadership in Ukraine, appointing Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff, as head of the nation’s combined forces. General Sergei Surovikin, who had held the post since October, will become one of Gerasimov’s deputies, the Defense Ministry said in a statement Wednesday. Oleg Salyukov, chief of the land forces, …

  Bloomberg Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan ally won a confidence vote as chief minister in the Punjab Assembly, the latest electoral win for the popular opposition leader demanding early general elections. Chaudhry Parvez Elahi secured 186 votes from lawmakers in the 371-member house, speaker Muhammad Sibtain Khan announced the result in a session that lasted more than an …

  Bloomberg India has relocated some troops from areas surrounding a sinking Himalayan town that’s near a disputed border with China, Army Chief Manoj Pande said. Pande didn’t give details on how many soldiers would be moved away for safety but said over 20 military installations around the town of Joshimath in the northern state of Uttarakhand have sustained “medium …