Bloomberg Vodafone Group Plc agreed to merge its Indian unit with Idea Cellular Ltd., joining forces with a local partner to confront a raging price war in the world’s second-largest mobile-phone market. The European carrier will own 45.1 percent after selling a 4.9 percent stake to billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla’s holding companies, according to a stock exchange filing on ...

  Bloomberg Flipkart Online Services Pvt has completed a $1 billion fundraising and aims to raise as much as $1 billion more over the next few months, according to people familiar with the matter, giving India’s largest e-commerce company capital to battle back against rising competition. Flipkart secured its latest funding at a valuation of about $10 billion, said the ...

  CANBERRA / AP Five Regional Express Airlines passenger planes had been grounded as a precaution after a near disaster in which a propeller fell off an airliner as it approached Sydney Airport, the Australian airline said on Monday. A Saab 340 carrying 19 passengers and crew landed safely in Sydney on Friday after one its two propellers fell off ...

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump is calling for privatizing the nation’s air traffic control operations in his budget proposal, a top priority of the airline industry. The proposal says spinning off air traffic operations from the Federal Aviation Administration and placing them under an “independent, non-governmental organization” would make the system “more efficient and innovative while maintaining safety.” There are ...

  Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business Etisalat postpaid subscribers can now make an online purchase of a customised mobile number based on their personal preferences from the comfort of their home. This is the first time in UAE customers can select, customise his/her mobile number and activate the same from any location in the country and offering a huge pool ...

  KHAN YOUNIS / AP The young Palestinian women don baseball caps on top of their Islamic headscarves and field tennis balls with fabric gloves, giving a decidedly local feel to the great American pastime. They are trying to bring baseball to the Gaza Strip, an effort that is still in its early innings. The players, who work out on ...

  Bloomberg The Asian energy companies sitting on the largest hoard of cash outside China are ready to put it to use. Thailand’s PTT Exploration & Production Pcl and its parent company have nearly $11 billion combined in cash and marketable securities, such as bonds and other short-term investments. The explorer is ready to spend from its portion on projects ...

  Bloomberg GreenWish Partners, a Paris-based independent power producer, will invest $280 million to build solar-power plants in Nigeria that are expected to start producing electricity in the first quarter of next year. A plant in the southeastern state of Enugu will produce 100 megawatts, while the company will build two others of 50 megawatts each in the northern Kaduna ...

  Bloomberg Oil fell as US drilling continued to rise, undermining the potential for even an extended OPEC output-reduction deal to rebalance the market. Futures lost as much as 1.6 percent in New York after gaining 0.6 percent last week. Producers added more oil rigs to US fields, extending a drilling surge into a 10th month, Baker Hughes Inc. said. ...

  Bloomberg China Shenhua Energy Co., the biggest coal miner in the world’s largest producer, jumped the most since 2008 after rewarding investors with a special dividend as it posted its first profit growth in four years. Shares in Hong Kong closed 16 percent higher at HK$19.14, paring earlier gains of more than 20 percent. The city’s benchmark Hang Seng ...