Bloomberg India’s push towards universal health-care has Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s political opponents worried, a top government adviser said. Modi’s government announced a plan to provide health insurance to 100 million poor families, which would cover about 40 percent of the population. India plans to cover the entire population “sooner than later,” according to Rajiv Kumar, vice chairman of the ...

Bloomberg Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Cnooc Ltd. are among 11 companies that will join the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, while China Railway Construction Corp. will be removed, Hang Seng Indexes Co. said in its quarterly review. The changes will take effect on March 5 and increase the number of constituents on the gauge to 50, the index compiler said ...

Bloomberg South Korea’s spy agency has begun investigating the possibility that North Korean hackers orchestrated the theft of about $500 million worth of digital coins from Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck Inc., said a lawmaker who attended a meeting with the head of the intelligence service. The National Intelligence Service is investigating last month’s incident— one of the largest cryptocurrency heists ...

Bloomberg As the equities selloff spread from Asia to Europe, gold proved its status as a safe haven. The metal added 0.3 percent to $1,343.19 an ounce, extending yesterday’s 0.5 percent advance. FTSE/JSE Africa Gold Mining Index gained 1.7 percent, while silver and platinum also rose. But across other risk markets, screens flashed red as everything from bitcoin to Japanese ...

Bloomberg Cofco International Ltd. has already overtaken some of the world’s oldest agricultural traders to become one of the biggest shippers of soybeans in Brazil, the top exporter. Now, the Chinese food giant is considering acquisitions that would extend its position even further. The company is looking into buying warehouses and other facilities related to logistics deep in Brazil’s agricultural ...

Bloomberg China’s pension shortfall is emerging as the next big challenge for policy makers as they intensify their years-long campaign to keep rising debt from derailing the economy. Aging in the world’s most populous country means pension contributions by workers no longer cover retiree benefits, forcing the government to fill that gap since at least 2014. Pension expenses rose 11.6 ...

Bloomberg BP Plc dodged the disappointment that afflicted other oil-company earnings as it did a better job of exploiting the upswing in crude prices. Oil and gas output rose following the startup of seven new projects last year, helping the London-based giant post a fivefold increase in fourth-quarter profit from a year earlier to the highest since the start of ...

CAPE TOWN / Reuters Angola sees no further OPEC cuts in 2018 and Africa’s No. 2 crude exporter hopes to join the ranks of gold producers next year as it strives to diversify an economy long based on oil and diamonds, its minerals and petroleum minister said on Tuesday. Angola, where oil wealth has failed to translate into wider prosperity, ...

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia plans to spend 120 billion riyals ($32 billion) on subsidised home loans for borrowers, as it seeks to create conditions for an expanded private-sector role in a mortgage market dominated by the government. The kingdom’s new housing program, announced, also includes an 18 billion riyal loan-guarantee program to boost access to funding, and 12.5 billion riyals to ...

Bloomberg Halliburton Co. isn’t content to limit its battle for market share with Schlumberger Ltd. to the oil field these days. It’s opened a new front in an unlikely place: the patent office. The Houston-based provider of drilling services is waging an aggressive campaign to persuade the US Patent and Trademark Office to cancel some of Schlumberger’s fracking-related patents, telling ...