Bloomberg Chile’s inflation rate was unchanged in May, above the target range, as central bank President Rodrigo Vergara used price-growth to explain the bank’s continued tightening bias in monetary policy as unemployment rises. Prices increased 4.2 percent from the year earlier, the National Institute of Statistics reported on Thursday. In the month, prices gained 0.2 percent, the agency said. ...

  Bloomberg Oil advanced for a fourth day after government data showed U.S. inventories fell a third week and a new wildfire prompted Canadian producers to shut output. Futures gained as much as 0.9 percent in New York, rising from the highest close in 10 months and extending its run of advances to the longest since April 22. Crude stockpiles ...

  Reuters Saudi-based ACWA Power expects to win further business in South Africa this year as the power plant developer rides out concerns about the country’s currency to tap into its need for more electricity, the firm’s chief executive said. South Africa’s economy has been hit hard by a significant fall in the rand’s value against the dollar, while businesses ...

  Hong Kong / Tribune News Service In a landmark for Asia, Hong Kong has been named the world’s most competitive economy for 2016, moving from second place last year to push the United States into third spot behind Switzerland. But while Asia might top the world in business, a separate report has shown the Nordic nations lead in life ...

  Tokyo / Bloomberg Japan’s peak power prices may ease as the country’s solar-power expansion taps scorching summers to displace fossil fuels. The resource-poor country, which has boosted solar capacity more than sevenfold since 2011, may follow a similar path as Germany, where electricity prices fell along with fossil fuel use during high consumption periods, according to Trevor Sikorski, an ...

  Seoul / AFP South Korea on Thursday cut its key interest rate to a record low 1.25 percent in a surprise move to address concerns over the impact of corporate restructuring on the sluggish economy. The Bank of Korea’s 0.25 percentage point reduction was the first in 12 months but there had been little hint of such a move, ...

  New Delhi / Bloomberg India will introduce competitive auctions for wind farms this year in a bid to fulfill Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal for 60 gigawatts of capacity by 2022. Varsha Joshi, joint secretary at the new and renewable energy ministry, said the auctions for 1 gigawatt of capacity will start in two months and have a minimum ...

  Tokyo / AFP Conservation activists on Thursday showed undercover video they say suggests that a “huge loophole” in Japanese law enforcement is hindering efforts to rein in illegal ivory trading. Experts say most illegal ivory heads for China, where it is seen as a status symbol. By some estimates the country accounts for as much as 70 percent of ...

  An overwhelming majority of respondents in a recent Pew Research poll, 70 percent, believe that Britain leaving the EU would be bad for Europe. It’s not that hard, however, to make the opposite case — that Brexit would open up opportunities that would drive the bloc’s popularity back up in the remaining member states. Will Britain Leave the EU? ...

  Adam Minter The story first turned up in mid-May: Foxconn, Apple’s favorite manufacturer, was replacing 60,000 of its workers with robots. Everyone from the BBC to Apple fan sites soon reported the ground-shifting news. There was just one problem: It was mostly false. Last weekend, a Foxconn spokesperson told Chinese media that the company hadn’t laid off anyone, much ...