Bloomberg A sprawling Pacific trade deal led by Japan is on the verge of kicking in provisionally after Canada became the fifth country to sign off, according to a government official. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government sent formal notice of its ratification on Saturday to New Zealand, which is compiling records for the 11-nation Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific …

Bloomberg A Chinese archipelago that served as a pirate’s den in centuries past and was governed by President Xi Jinping in the new millennium is luring the world’s energy giants. State-run Saudi Arabian Oil Co. and US behemoth Exxon Mobil Corp. were among firms that signed $24 billion in preliminary deals last week at the International Petroleum and Natural Gas …

Bloomberg The Trump administration has authorized Hilcorp Energy Co.’s plan to build an artificial gravel island in the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska and use it to extract crude — marking the first approval of an oil production facility in federal Arctic waters. The Interior Department’s conditional approval — subject to seasonal restrictions and other required permits — represents a …

Bloomberg Adani Enterprises Ltd., best known in Australia for its stalled Carmichael coal project, is nearing completion of a solar power farm in the Bowen Basin in Queensland, a region closely associated with coal mining. Commissioning of the first phase of the Rugby Run solar project will begin in December and power will be delivered from early next year, Adani …

Bloomberg The staggering growth of cloud computing can’t go on forever. And reports from tech companies that make data-center hardware and sell the services suggest the industry’s expansion is cooling. Western Digital Corp., a maker of memory chips, neatly listed everything that is suddenly wrong with the technology industry when it gave a disappointing forecast. A boom in spending by …

Bloomberg In Haidilao International Holding Ltd.’s hotpot restaurants, robots are replacing chefs and waiters. Asia’s biggest listed restaurant chain by market value is partnering with Japan’s Panasonic Corp. to open what the two companies say is the world’s first eatery with a fully automated kitchen on October 28 in Beijing. At the new Haidilao restaurant, robots will take orders, prepare …

Bloomberg The only person in a kimono at a recent Japanese government meeting on flying cars was Kotaro Chiba, a former online-game executive turned fina- ncier of a very specific kind. For Chiba, 44, who wears the kimono on special occasions to show his pride in Japanese culture, is gathering money for what he calls the Drone Fund. It invests …

Bloomberg Mario Draghi defended the independence of central banks hours after Italian populists blamed him for adding to market tensions that threaten the health of the nation’s banks. “Credibility hinges on independence,” the European Central Bank president said in a speech in Brussels. “The central bank should not be subject to fiscal or political dominance and should be free to …

Bloomberg India’s central bank wants more independence to regulate state-run banks as it seeks to clean up the country’s banking system, which has one of the highest stressed loan ratios among major economies. In a speech in Mumbai, Viral Acharya, deputy governor in charge of monetary policy, said the central bank has limited powers to discipline errant government-owned banks as …

Bloomberg Russia’s central bank kept borrowing costs unchanged, pausing despite persistent inflation risks after a surprise hike last month. The key interest rate will stay at 7.5 percent, according to a statement. The decision was forecast by 39 of 41 economists surveyed by Bloomberg, with the rest predicting an increase to 7.75 percent. “Holding the rate unchanged is a good …