Bloomberg Tech giants such as Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google will face tougher penalties if they flout privacy laws, under a plan Australia’s prime minister said is necessary to safeguard personal information. Australia’s government will introduce measures to increase fines for breaches, strengthen disclosure policies and embolden its privacy regulator to crack down on data misuse, according to a ...

Bloomberg Billionaire Ajay Piramal’s son is seeking to take advantage of teetering Indian developers to expand his property business. Piramal Realty, which counts Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Warburg Pincus & Co as minority investors, is looking to buy land from distressed developers and build a portfolio of commercial assets, Anand Piramal, the group’s executive director, said in an interview ...

Bloomberg A political party created by Thailand’s ruling military government was leading in the first election since a 2014 coup, putting junta chief Prayuth Chan-Ocha in position to return as prime minister. Palang Pracharath won 7.5 million votes with 92 percent counted, according to unofficial results posted on the Election Commission’s Facebook page. Pheu Thai, a political party linked to ...

Bloomberg An attack by an ethnic militia on three villages in central Mali claimed 134 lives, the latest clash in an increasingly violent conflict that is fuelled by extremism. Another 46 were injured in the attack on ethnic Fulani villages on Saturday morning near Bankass in the Mopti region, Boubacar Diallo, a spokesman for the defense ministry, said by phone. ...

Bloomberg Theresa May’s cabinet is in open revolt against the prime minister and wants an interim leader to complete the Brexit process. According to the Sunday Times, at least six senior ministers want her deputy, David Lidington, to take the job until there’s a formal leadership election. They’ll confront her at a cabinet meeting on Monday, and threaten a mass ...

Bloomberg Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro vowed a major shake-up in his government, a sign he is feeling pressure from US sanctions and an international outcry for him to resign. “I will in the coming hours announce new government methods and a profound change in the entire government of Venezuela,” Maduro said in a speech at a political rally broadcast on ...

Bloomberg Democrats uniformly called for the public release of Robert Mueller’s report, but that unity will be tested as they weigh whether the special counsel’s findings should be used to pursue an impeachment of President Donald Trump. It’s a quandary for party leaders. There’s a hunger for impeachment among many Democratic voters who believe it is merited regardless of the ...

Bloomberg Investors are starting to doubt that Jerome Powell’s magic dust can keep working miracles in equities. The US Federal Reserve’s remarkably dovish stance got a polite but restrained nod from markets after trade tensions and profit woes returned to center stage. The S&P 500 Index fell 0.8 percent over the five days while the Stoxx Europe 600 Index posted ...

Bloomberg South Korea’s won has been the worst-performing Asian currency this year. Data this week may add to its woes. Industrial production and consumer confidence numbers will be in focus as traders seek to gauge whether the recent weakness in exports and inflation is spreading. Signs of slower growth may fuel bets the Bank of Korea will follow the Federal ...

Bloomberg Sinopec Corp. aims to raise spending to the highest since 2014, joining state-owned peers in their mission to churn out more domestic oil and gas to ease China’s reliance on imports. Refining profit tumbled in the fourth quarter. Capital expenditure is budgeted at 136.3 billion yuan ($20.3 billion) this year, the world’s largest refiner said in a statement to ...