Bloomberg Angela Merkel’s first foray into politics after the fall of the Berlin Wall was as spokeswoman for an East German party called Democratic Awakening. The last act of her political career may also be marked by a drive for a new beginning—this time from within her own parliamentary bloc. The defeat of Merkel’s candidate for caucus leader, Volker Kauder, ...

Bloomberg Theresa May ruled out a return to the ballot box to settle the UK’s political stalemate over Brexit and hunkered down on her plans for leaving the European Union. “It would not be in the national interest to have an election” before the scheduled Brexit date in March 2019, the prime minister told reporters en route to New York. ...

Bloomberg When President Donald Trump said a year ago that the US was considering a “military option” for Venezuela, hardly anyone in Washington thought it was a good idea. Today, as Venezuela slides towards dictatorship and collapse, triggering a millions-strong migration crisis, support for such a move is being discussed openly. The notion of using force to topple the government ...

Bloomberg India’s top court has refused to scrap the world’s largest biometric database, upholding the validity of the sprawling digital-identity program but imposing restrictions on its use — including preventing the government from sharing citizens’ data with private companies. Four out of five Supreme Court judges said the program is constitutionally sound for the distribution of state-sponsored welfare subsidies in ...

Bloomberg Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and an arm of Keppel Corp. are considering making a general offer for the shares they don’t already own in the city-state’s smallest wireless operator, M1 Ltd., people with knowledge of the matter said. The pair has approached M1’s biggest shareholder, Malaysian carrier Axiata Group Bhd., about the potential transaction, the people said, asking not ...

Bloomberg China will cut import tariffs on goods including machinery, paper, textiles and construction materials from November 1, in a move that would lower costs for consumers and companies as a trade war with the US deepens. The decision will lower tariffs for 1,585 products, state radio reported, citing a meeting of the State Council. The combination of these and ...

Bloomberg Lupin Ltd. has started a strategic review of its Japanese operations, people with knowledge of the matter said, as the Indian pharmaceutical company seeks to focus on higher-growth areas. The Mumbai-based drugmaker is working with advisers as it explores options for the Japan business, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. ...

Bloomberg How has the king of buy-and-hold investment fared in China? Not bad, based on a bet Warren Buffett made a decade ago. On September 26, 2008, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agreed to buy what is now equivalent to 24.59 percent of BYD Co.’s Hong Kong-traded stock. Those shares in what is now China’s biggest maker of alternative-energy vehicles have soared ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump on Wednesday plans to announce a framework for bilateral trade talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, three people familiar with the matter said. The negotiations are likely to focus on the trade in automobiles, according to one the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity about private deliberations. Both leaders are in New York this ...

Bloomberg Alphabet’s Google, Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc. and other tech and advertising companies have committed to implementing new measures and investing in new technologies to fight the spread of hoax news online in Europe, according to a draft of the agreement. The group, an ad-hoc alliance that includes Mozilla Corp. and advertising business organisations, is set to present its code ...