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Beijing / Bloomberg Talk about a hostile takeover. What seemed like a straightforward consolidation of two Chinese cement makers has morphed into a test of President Xi Jinping’s push to streamline bloated industries and rebalance a lagging economy. Missing company chops, seized corporate offices, $700 million in bond defaults and suspended shares are major plot points in the story of ...

Bloomberg The Canadian government is signaling it could test the waters of quota-free softwood lumber trade with the U.S., a move expected to reignite a dispute that simmered for decades. Canada’s trade minister wouldn’t commit to reaching a deal before the U.S. is allowed to again place tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber. The previous softwood agreement, which included quotas and ...

Bloomberg Mexico’s Finance Ministry is preparing a support plan for Petroleos Mexicanos and studying all potential options, including a capital transfer or reducing the company’s tax burden, chief economist Luis Madrazo said. Capital aid for Pemex could come from part of the special revenue that the government will receive from the central bank’s operational surplus, Madrazo said in an interview ...

Bloomberg Hours after Argentina cut a deal with New York hedge funds to end a nasty, 15-year-old debt dispute, the government’s top economic officials took to the podium in Buenos Aires to bask in the moment. First to speak that February evening was the finance minister, Alfonso Prat-Gay. He’s an old JPMorgan Chase & Co. guy, a currency strategist. To ...

Bloomberg Brazil’s consumer inflation slowed more than expected in February as a prolonged recession eats into Brazilians’ purchasing power. The benchmark IPCA consumer price index rose 0.9 percent from the previous month, following a 1.27 percent jump in January. That was lower than the median forecast for a 0.98 percent increase from 43 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Twelve-month inflation slowed ...

Bloomberg Freeman’s, the oldest U.S. auction house, is changing ownership for the first time after more than two centuries in business. Three senior managers, who have led the company’s turnaround since 1999, are buying out the family that has owned the auction house since founding it in 1805, according to a statement from the company. Terms weren’t disclosed. The Freeman ...

U.S. Special Operations Forces working with a widening array of partners are slowly tightening their squeeze on IS fighters in eastern Syria — moving toward an eventual assault on the extremists’ self-declared capital of Raqqa. The Pentagon’s top priority in the campaign against the IS remains disrupting external operations against potential targets in the U.S. or elsewhere. Sources say that ...

Europe’s biggest banks will need billions of dollars from September to meet collateral requirements for derivatives and hedge them from potential risk amid signs of global economic slowdown. This new key rule will be approved by the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm. Whether they could afford or not, these regulations will require banks in Europe to hold more cash ...

India is slated to announce a public tender to assist its indigenous defense industry in building the country’s fourth aircraft carrier, with a Russian supercarrier design as the front-runner, RT reports. The news that New Delhi will shortly be announcing a procurement tender for a heavy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, 300 meters long and 70 meters wide and displacing 65,000 tons, ...

With an alleged test of a thermonuclear device, a rocket launch, and a recommissioned plutonium reactor, 2016 is shaping up to be a very busy year for North Korea (DPRK). After years of delay and South Korean (ROK) opposition, the United States finally entered into formal discussions with the ROK government over the prospective deployment of the American-made Terminal High ...