­­­­­­­­­­­Bloomberg Electric-car production in the EU got a spur on Wednesday as EU regulators acted to close a technological gap with China by seeking stricter emission curbs on manufacturers such as Volkswagen AG and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV. The European Commission, the EU’s regulatory arm, proposed a 30 percent reduction in car discharges of carbon dioxide by 2030 compared with ...

Bloomberg The UK’s exit from the European Union should be prevented due to the “far-reaching impact” Brexit would have, Germany’s Council of Economic Experts, which advises Chancellor Angela Merkel, said on Wednesday. If Britain does leave the bloc, an agreement is needed that would minimise the damage for both sides, the council said in its annual report. With talks likely ...

Bloomberg Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s app is close to surpassing Apple Pay in usage for mobile payments in the US, giving the world’s largest retailer even more clout as a growing number of people shop with smartphones. Available in 4,774 stores, Walmart Pay is enrolling tens of thousands of new users a day, up from thousands four or five months ago, ...

Bloomberg Two former Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc executives pleaded guilty to US charges that they orchestrated international bribes at the engine maker for more than a decade. The cases, also involving three other individuals, focus on efforts to secure a $145 million contract to power a gas pipeline from Kazakhstan to China. The action comes about 10 months after Rolls-Royce agreed ...

Bloomberg Snap Inc. still isn’t meeting much-lowered projections for growth. Now the company is taking drastic measures to shape its future. While ad prices fell as part of a transition in the company’s sales system, the larger problem, Snap said, is that people complain they don’t know how to use the Snapchat mobile-messaging app. Once part of the app’s allure ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump toured parts of Beijing on Wednesday after arriving for a high-stakes state visit where he’ll look for wins from Xi Jinping on everything from the US’s massive trade deficit to reining in North Korea. The third leg of Trump’s five-nation Asia tour comes after stops in Tokyo and Seoul. Addressing South Korea’s parliament earlier on Wednesday ...

Bloomberg Russia said North Korea is still two to three years from being able to carry out a long-range strike on the US, offering diplomacy a chance to halt the secretive Communist state’s nuclear and missile programs. “Unless we can find a political solution,” it’s “inevitable” that Kim Jong Un’s regime will have intercontinental ballistic missiles within that time, Mikhail ...

Bloomberg Czech President Milos Zeman is in the lead over a wide pool of contestants vying for the country’s highest office in a January vote. Eighteen candidates have registered, the Interior Ministry, which has until Nov. 24 to review applications, said on its website. The latest CVVM poll showed that Zeman, 73, would win the Jan. 12-13 first round with ...

Bloomberg Catalan separatists failed to heal their divisions in time to establish a com- mon front for December’s election, boosting Spain’s chances of restoring some normality to the rebel region. The main parties in favour of independence are set to run on separate platforms December 21 after Esquerra Republicana ruled out an alliance less than two hours before the midnight ...

Bloomberg French President Emmanuel Macron is keeping his hand in Chancellor Angel Merkel’s efforts to form a new German coalition. His Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire is spending Wednesday in Berlin, meeting with key players in Merkel’s coalition talks. Le Maire is seeing both Christian Lindner, the head of the Free Democratic Party, and Cem Ozdemir, of the Greens — ...