Bloomberg PPG Industries Inc. is preparing a renewed takeover bid for Akzo Nobel NV, according to people familiar with the matter, taking a second run at Europe’s largest coatings company after a previous offer was rejected. Exact details of the new proposal couldn’t immediately be learned. Akzo rebuffed PPG’s unsolicited 20.9 billion-euro ($22.4 billion) takeover bid on March 9, …

  The prospect of a halt to the European Central Bank’s bond-buying program at the end of the year removes a powerful bulwark against rising government borrowing costs. Together with the rise of anti-euro parties in Europe, it has also spooked investors. Now, perhaps it’s time to resuscitate the old idea of centralizing bond issuance by all euro members. Spanish …

  It’s not often that we hear updates from Asia’s cybersecurity companies. That’s because there aren’t very many of them. NEC Corp. announced on Monday it will set up a security operations center in California under its Infosec Corp. affiliate. The initiative adds to teams in Japan and Europe, allowing NEC to run a “follow the sun” operation, similar to …

  China’s Communist government has never shown much concern for the privacy of Chinese citizens. If you have something to hide, the thinking goes, we probably need to know it. In one form or another, surveillance and monitoring have evolved into a well-honed form of social control. And as a result, neither companies nor consumers have traditionally had very high …

  Bloomberg Google is giving marketers more control over their online ads after a slew of brands halted spending in the UK over concerns about offensive content. The Alphabet Inc. unit also expanded its definition of hate speech under its advertising policy to include vulnerable groups, which includes those discriminated against because of their identify, socioeconomic class or country of …

  Bloomberg Eighth-grader Lakaysha Governor spends two hours on the bus getting back and forth to school each day. Thanks to a grant from Google, she can now use that time more productively and get her homework done. The aspiring forensic anthropologist is one of nearly 2,000 students in South Carolina’s rural Berkeley County who will ride to school on …

  Bloomberg SoftBank Group Corp. invested $300 million in WeWork Cos., a person familiar with the matter said, an influx of cash that values the New York-based coworking giant at more than $17 billion. The investment from SoftBank is the first in what will probably be a much larger stake, said the person, who asked not to be identified . …

  Bloomberg ARM, the UK-based semiconductor design firm, introduced a new chip targeted at markets ranging from self-driving cars to artificial intelligence. The new design, DynamIQ, is an update to ARM’s existing Cortex-A offering. The latter made up almost 20 percent of all ARM-based chips in the first three quarters of 2016, according to the company’s last available regulatory filing. …

  ABU DHABI / WAM Total energy investments in the Middle East and North Africa could approach the US$1 trillion mark over the course of five years, according to the latest edition of the MENA Energy Investments Outlook published by the Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP). This is in spite of uncertainties that have been clouding the regional outlook. While …

  ABU DHABI / Emirates Business Aldar Properties PJSC (“the Company”), Abu Dhabi’s leading listed property development, investment and management company, announced details of its current investment programme. This programme will expand Aldar’s asset management portfolio, driving growth of recurring revenue. The investments announced comprise mid-market residential, hospitality & leisure, and retail assets on Yas Island and Reem Island. They amount …