Bloomberg India’s core infrastructure industries’ output contracted for the first time in more than four years in August, reflecting weak demand in the economy. The index of eight core infrastructure industries, which comprises output of coal, crude oil, cement and electricity among others, fell 0.5 percent in August. It had last declined in April 2015. The overall output was weighed ...

Bloomberg Kansai Electric Power Co is set to disclose more details of a nuclear payoff scandal as investor scrutiny intensifies and the government orders an independent investigation. The utility plans to identify the 20 company officials who accepted gifts, including details about the cash and goods they received, at a press conference at 2 pm in Osaka, according to Kyodo ...

Bloomberg A blanket of smog covering Vietnam’s capital of Hanoi is causing officials to warn residents to avoid going outside and wear protective masks. Hanoi was listed as having the worst air globally for pollution in major cities at 2 pm local time, data from monitoring firm Impair Air Visual showed. The Vietnam Environment Administration attributed the increase in smog ...

Bloomberg A century ago, Indian Motorcycles were the brand of choice for Japan’s police. They were called “aka-bai” — or red bikes — because of their color. Now, the maker of big American two-wheelers is seeking to recapture some of that glory with a brand relaunch. Recreational vehicle maker Polaris Inc, which makes and sells Indian bikes, is betting that ...

Bloomberg Japan is delaying export approval of a material vital to South Korea’s semiconductor manufacturing industry, Korea’s trade ministry said in a statement, as the trade fight between the neighboring countries shows no signs of abating. The trade ministry issued a statement saying Japan has not approved the export of liquid hydrogen fluoride — a highly purified chemical used to ...

Bloomberg Saudi Aramco is producing more than 9.9 million barrels a day of crude as it fully recovers from the worst-ever attacks on its energy infrastructure. Output reached that level on September 25 and is a “little bit” higher now, Ibrahim Al-Buainain, chief executive officer of state-owned Aramco’s energy trading unit, said. Saudi Arabia has also restored some spare capacity ...

Bloomberg Petroliam Nasional BHd and its South African partners plan to conduct an initial public offering in their fuel retailer Engen to fund the upgrade of a refinery in the coastal city of Durban and to expand its network of gas stations. A yet to be decided amount of shares in the company, which is South Africa’s biggest fuel retailer, ...

Bloomberg Big tech firms are about to face yet another congressional headache. House Small Business Committee Chairwoman Nydia Velazquez plans to invite Amazon.com Inc, Alphabet Inc’s Google and Facebook Inc to face questions from her committee on how the companies may be damaging the competitive landscape for small businesses. The hearing, which the committee hopes to hold in late October ...

Bloomberg Greggs PLC has defied the decline of the UK’s retail districts with a popular range of cheap pastry products. Now it’s facing a new threat from a possible no-deal Brexit. The largest bakery chain in the UK is preparing to alter its recipes if its supply of perishable ingredients such as lettuce and tomatoes is delayed by a disorderly ...

Bloomberg Airbnb Inc’s long-awaited Wall Street debut is officially earmarked for 2020, but the home-share startup is charting an unconventional path to the public markets. San Francisco-based Airbnb is laying the groundwork for a direct listing rather than an initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named discussing private information. Airbnb declined ...