Bloomberg Police used tear gas and water cannons to control thousands of protesters on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, some of whom were setting fires, as a week-long series of demonstrations against higher gasoline taxes converged on the French capital. Among the protesters were members of far-right political movements who confronted riot police, according to Interior Minister Christophe Castaner. Police used ...

Bloomberg Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) tapped Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat as the de facto successor to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, kicking off the city-state’s third leadership transition in its 53-year history. Heng, 57, was named the PAP’s first assistant secretary-general — widely seen as second in command to Lee — at a meeting of the party’s ...

Bloomberg Two of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s most popular opposition politicians joined forces to compete in next month’s presidential election. Felix Tshisekedi, the head of Congo’s biggest opposition party, will run for president backed by Vital Kamerhe, who came third in the last election in 2011, Kamerhe said in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, where the two leaders signed a ...

Bloomberg The Czech Republic’s billionaire prime minister survived a non-confidence vote and defeated a challenge sparked by fraud allegations. Andrej Babis, who rose to power by attacking the political establishment and campaigning against Muslim refugees, has been facing a crescendo of calls for his ouster over investigations into his conduct as a businessman. The pressure escalated this month after his ...

Bloomberg Germany’s industrial southwest, Switzerland and parts of France face a dearth of fuel supplies in the coming weeks just as freezing temperatures threaten to lift demand for heating oil. A prolonged drought this summer has led to record-low water levels on the Rhine river, closing many parts of the key transport artery to barge traffic. With little relief in ...

Bloomberg Embattled commodity trader Noble Group Ltd — which is pushing towards the final stages of a complex $3.5 billion debt-for-equity restructuring — reported another quarterly loss, with the result driven by costs from the revamp as well as getting caught out in the LNG market. The energy segment, which consists of liquefied natural gas, coal and oil liquids in ...

Bloomberg Power plant developers in Britain are overestimating the need for natural gas-fired generation to back up intermittent renewable energy. The nation needs only 38 percent of the gas capacity it has now to keep the power on, according to a report by New Resource Partners, a consultancy that advises governments and investors on renewables. “Our modelling shows that the ...

Bloomberg Porsche AG has an ambitious plan to improve operating profit by 6 billion euros ($6.8 billion) over eight years by streamlining operations as the automaker spends more to develop and manufacture electric cars, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Porsche aims to increase earnings before interest and taxes by about 750 million euros annually over a timeframe ...

Bloomberg iDreamSky Technology Holdings Ltd., a Chinese game distributor, has attracted Sony Corp. and JD.com Inc. as cornerstone investors for its planned Hong Kong initial public offering, people with knowledge of the matter said. The Shenzhen-based company plans to start taking investor orders on Monday, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The firm ...

Bloomberg The Philippines’ richest man Henry Sy will start rolling out robots next year to help customers navigate his massive shopping malls. Initially three androids will be deployed in the first quarter of 2019 in SM Megamall, the nation’s second-biggest shopping centre, said Steven Tan, chief operating officer for the shopping malls of SM Prime Holdings Inc. The talking bots ...