Tokyo Prepares for a Once-in-200-Year Flood to Top Sandy

Tokyo, the world’s most populated metropolis, is building defenses for the possibility of a flood in the next 200 years that could dwarf the damage superstorm Sandy wrought on the U.S. East Coast.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Hagel Set for Vietnam Embrace as Wary Asia Eyes Rising China

When Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel served in Southeast Asia as a U.S. Army sergeant, Nguyen Tan Dung fought to expel him and other American troops from Vietnam.
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Special IRS Prosecutor Favored as Obama Support Drops

Three-quarters of U.S. voters want a special prosecutor to investigate the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of Tea Party groups, according to a poll that showed a drop in President Barack Obama’s approval and trust ratings.
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Tesla Expanding L.A.-New York Car Charging Network

Tesla Motors Inc.’s Elon Musk is expanding a network of fast-charging stations, letting owners of his luxury electric cars drive coast-to-coast this year.
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Monsanto Modified Wheat Not Approved by USDA in Field

Genetically modified wheat created by Monsanto Co. that wasn’t approved for use turned up on an 80- acre farm in Oregon last month, threatening the outlook for U.S. exports of the grain that are the world’s largest.
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Alcoa Cut to Junk by Moody’s as Aluminum Price Declines

Alcoa Inc., the largest U.S. aluminum producer, had its credit rating cut to one level below investment grade by Moody’s Investors Service after the metal’s price fell amid a global oversupply.
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SoftBank Gets National-Security Approval for Sprint Deal

SoftBank Corp. won U.S. national- security clearance for its $20.1 billion takeover of Sprint Nextel Corp., helping shore up the deal as the Japanese company tries to ward off a counteroffer from Dish Network Corp.
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Gamblers Betting $1.6 Million a Visit Aid Macau Casinos

Sky 32, an elite oasis of luxury on the 32nd floor of the Galaxy Macau casino, offers commanding views, a waterfall, a bar with vintage single malt whiskeys -- and six sumptuous rooms where players must commit to betting at least 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) per visit.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Obamacare Unveiled as California, New York Lead U.S.

While politicians in Washington argue over the Affordable Care Act, its ultimate fate is being decided far from Capitol Hill.
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Nigerian Smartphone Boom Challenges Nokia Africa Dominance

Agbaje Olushola stares longingly at the Samsung Galaxy S4 and Tecno N7 smartphones on display in the Banex Plaza technology market in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.
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Li Tells Germany That China Targets 7% Growth for Decade

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told German business leaders his country is confronted by “huge challenges” as it seeks 7 percent annual growth this decade, down from more than 10 percent in the previous 10 years.
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Europe’s Banks Turn to U.S. Subprime For Salvation

The U.S. mortgage bonds that were exported around the globe and triggered the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression are now helping Europe’s banks and governments repair balance sheets after jumping in value.
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U.K. Banks Cut 189,000 With Employment at Nine-Year Low

Britain’s four biggest banks will have eliminated about 189,000 jobs by the end of this year from their peak staffing levels, bringing employment to a nine-year low amid a dearth of revenue. More cuts may follow.
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Jet Air to Buy More Boeing Planes as AirAsia Enters India

Jet Airways (India) Ltd. plans to order more aircraft as it prepares to fend off competition from Asia’s biggest budget carrier, which seeks to start operations in the country this year.
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Billionaire Swedes See Lundin Jump After Matching Apple: Energy

Lukas Lundin, investment manager for his billionaire Swedish family, said the oil stock bearing their name should double in value this decade after making its biggest North Sea discovery.
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European Shares Rebound as Yen Strengthens; Oil Declines

European stocks rose, rebounding from the first weekly loss in a month, and Asian shares fell after Japan’s top central banker suggested interest rates may gain as the economy improves. Oil retreated for a fifth day and South Africa’s rand weakened while the yen and gold climbed.
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BOJ Split Highlighted as Slumping Stocks Jolt Abenomics: Economy

Minutes released by the Bank of Japan highlighted a split among policy makers over achieving 2 percent inflation and mixed views on bond market turbulence after Governor Haruhiko Kuroda cited signs the economy is picking up.
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Gold Bets Cut to Five-Year Low as Prices Whipsawed: Commodities

Hedge funds are the least bullish on gold in more than five years as speculation about the pace of money printing by central banks whipsawed prices, driving volatility to a 17-month high.
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Even at Half Speed, Nadal Still the Man to Beat in Paris

Rafael Nadal’s knee injury means he isn’t the same player who won seven titles on the clay courts of the French Open. He’s still the man to beat.
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Merkel Vows to Avert China Trade Row as Li Rejects EU Duties

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that she’ll work to resolve a European Union trade dispute with China over complaints that the Chinese solar industry is flooding the global market with cheap products.
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French Soldier Stabbed While on Security Patrol in Paris

A French soldier stabbed in the neck yesterday while patrolling at a Metro-station mall in La Defense on the western edge of Paris remains hospitalized without life-threatening injuries.
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Army Probes Base Commander Amid Sexual-Misconduct Report

The Army is investigating the commander of a battalion at the main U.S. missile defense base for condoning sexual affairs at the remote facility in Alaska, creating what subordinates called a “toxic environment.”
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Rockets Hit Lebanon as Nasrallah Vows Victory in Syria War

Rockets slammed into a Hezbollah stronghold outside Beirut, injuring at least four people, hours after the Lebanese militant group’s leader declared he could mobilize thousands of fighters to help Syria’s rulers beat an insurgency.
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Ferrari Racer at $11.9 Million Beats 1970s Porsche 911s

A Ferrari that competed in the 1953 Le Mans 24-hour race sold last night for $11.9 million at an auction at Lake Como in Italy.
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Vietnamese Painting Fetches Record $390,000 in Hong Kong

A painting that was initially valued at just 50 pounds ($75) sold for HK$3.03 million ($390,000), setting a record for a Vietnamese artist’s work at Christie’s International in Hong Kong last night.
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Sony Board Discussing Loeb’s Entertainment IPO Proposal

Sony Corp. directors are discussing whether to adopt billionaire Daniel Loeb’s proposal for an initial public offering of its entertainment business, a week after the TV maker said the assets weren’t for sale.
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Samsung-LG Misstep on TV Screens Creates Opening for Sony

Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. are reworking their strategies for high-end TVs after spending billions of dollars on a new display technology that’s behind schedule and costs almost $10,000 a set.
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WTI Crude Drops a Second Day as U.S. Supplies Gain a Fourth Week

West Texas Intermediate fell for a second day after industry data showed U.S. inventories rose for a fourth week, the longest run of gains since February. China’s oil stockpiles climbed for a second month.
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Tumblr’s 26-Year-Old Founder Celebrates $1.1 Billion Deal

Tumblr Inc. Chief Executive Officer David Karp, a 26-year-old who started the company in 2007, signed a note announcing Yahoo! Inc.’s $1.1 billion acquisition with the closing, “F--- yeah.”
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Rescuers Seach After Oklahoma City Tornado Hits Suburb

Rescue workers frantically searched the rubble of a collapsed elementary school for two dozen missing students after a mile-wide tornado flattened a suburb south of Oklahoma City, killing at least 91 people, including 20 children.
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Vitamins That Cost Pennies a Day Seen Delaying Dementia

A cheap regimen of vitamins in use for decades is seen by scientists as a way to delay the start of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, a goal that prescription drugs have failed to achieve.
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John Malone Buys Irish ‘Green Banana’ as Castle Prices Fall

Billionaire John Malone is the largest private landowner in the U.S. Now, he’s expanding his reach to the land of his forefathers.
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U.S. Bonds Cheapest Since ’90 Versus Bunds Counter Buffett

The longest decline in Treasuries this year has left U.S. government debt the cheapest since March 2011 when measured by real yields and the best relative value compared with German bunds in more than two decades.
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Yen Rises Most in 3 Weeks as Amari Signals Concern; Kiwi Gains

The yen strengthened the most in three weeks against the dollar as Japan’s Economy Minister Akira Amari said further losses in the currency would have negative effects after it fell to the lowest since 2008 last week.
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Silver Plunges to Lowest Since 2010 as Gold Drops for Eighth Day

Silver slid to the lowest since September 2010, sending its ratio to gold to the highest in almost 33 months, while bullion extended the longest slump in four years as investment holdings contracted and stocks rallied.
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North Korea Test Fires Six Missiles in Three Days Off Its Coast

North Korea fired its sixth missile in three days, demonstrating its military capabilities in defiance of global sanctions and diplomatic efforts to convince the totalitarian state to return to talks.
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Bill Gates Retakes World’s Richest Title From Carlos Slim

Bill Gates is once again the world’s richest person.
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Pandit Takes Stake in India’s JM Financial With Lead Role

Former Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit is buying a stake in India’s JM Financial Ltd. and taking a leadership role as it seeks to set up a bank, the Mumbai-based company said.
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Soros Joins Gold-Stake Cuts Before Bear Market Drop

Billionaire investor George Soros joined Northern Trust Corp. and BlackRock Inc. in cutting holdings of exchange-traded products backed by gold before a bear market in prices last month, while John Paulson maintained a stake that lost about $165 million in the first quarter.
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Oil Price-Fixing Probe Widens as Neste Helps EU Inquiry

The European oil price-fixing probe expanded as Neste Oil Oyj, Finland’s only refiner, said it was asked to provide information regarding potential manipulation of global crude and biofuel markets.
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J.C. Penney Loss Widens as New CEO Ullman Starts Changes

J.C. Penney Co.’s net loss widened in the first quarter as the department-store chain works to rebound from former Chief Executive Officer Ron Johnson’s failed makeover.
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Japan GDP Jumps Most in Year as Consumers Open Wallets

Japan’s economy expanded the most in a year last quarter as consumer spending and export gains outweighed the weakest business investment since the wake of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
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Taiwan Drills Mark Turning Point With Aquino Over Sea Death

Taiwan held military exercises off its southern coast and told people to avoid traveling to the Philippines in what Premier Jiang Yi-huah called a “turning point” in relations with the Southeast Asian nation.
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James Bond’s Pinewood Turned Down on $300 Million Plan

The owner of Pinewood Studios Ltd., where movies including James Bond’s “Skyfall” and “The Dark Knight” were filmed, was denied approval to develop new studios and stages at a campus about 20 miles west of London after an earlier plan was rejected last year.
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Sony’s $100 Billion Lost Decade Supports Loeb Breakup

Sony Corp. has a $100 billion reason to consider Daniel Loeb’s breakup proposal.
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Russia Ousting U.S. Official Accused of Being CIA Spy

Russian authorities are expelling a U.S. official they accused of being a CIA officer who offered a member of the special services in Moscow as much as $1 million a year for information.
Read more: Bloomberg news

King Declares U.K. Recovery Is in Sight as Outlook Raised

Bank of England Governor Mervyn King declared a U.K. recovery is now “in sight” as he presented his final forecasts with an improved outlook for the economy.
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Pentagon Furlough of 680,000 Seeks to Save $1.8 Billion

The Pentagon is ordering furloughs of 680,000 civilian workers in an effort to save $1.8 billion of the $37 billion in spending cuts it must make this year.
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BMWs Cheaper Than Hyundais in Korea as Tariffs Crumble

Lee Tack Young says Hyundai Motor Co.’s luxury vehicles are oversized, overpriced gas guzzlers. So he opted for a more modest alternative: a BMW 528i.
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Used Gold Supply Heads for ’08 Low as Sellers Balk: Commodities

Consumers will sell the least used gold in five years after prices tumbled into a bear market, curbing a source of metal that typically accounts for about one in every three ounces of global supply.
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Obama Says Congress’s Benghazi Probe Is Political Circus

President Barack Obama said his administration made no attempt to cover up the involvement of terrorists in last year’s deadly attack on a U.S. outpost in Libya, dismissing a congressional inquiry as a “political circus.”
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Airbus A350’s Paint Job Points to Paris-Show Blow for Boeing

Airbus SAS engineers are working 13- hour days to get the company’s latest A350 plane off the ground in time to scoop the headlines at next month’s Paris air show.
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Pot Shops Can’t Take American Express or Deposit in Banks

Every month, Elliott Klug or one of his business partners walks into the Colorado Revenue Department with a messenger bag holding thousands of dollars in cash and watches as state employees start counting.
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Ex-BlackRock Manager Said to Be Arrested in U.K. Probe

Former BlackRock Inc. fund manager Mark Lyttleton was arrested April 30 as part of an insider trading probe by the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority, two people familiar with the matter said.
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Gold Bears Pull $20.8 Billion as BlackRock Says Buy: Commodities

Hedge funds increased bets on lower gold prices after investors pulled a record $20.8 billion from bullion funds this year while BlackRock Inc., the world’s biggest money manager, said it’s still bullish.
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Bond Sales to Fall 1st Time Since 2010 as U.S. Revenue Soars

Wall Street’s biggest bond dealers are starting to forecast that the U.S. Treasury will reduce the size of its debt auctions in coming months for the first time in three years as government revenue soars.
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Carson Block Says He’s Shorting Standard Chartered Debt

Carson Block, the short-seller who runs Muddy Waters LLC, said he’s betting against the debt of Standard Chartered Plc because of “deteriorating” loan quality, triggering a 13.5 percent jump in the cost of insuring against losses on the debt of the British lender.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Dollar Rises as Retail Sales Top Forecasts to Bolster Outlook

The dollar rose against most of its major counterparts after a report showed U.S. retail sales in April exceeded forecasts, bolstering optimism in the world’s largest economy.
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Anwar Vows Battle Over Lost Malaysia Vote as Thousands Rally

Malaysia opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim plans to hold protest rallies around Malaysia after vowing to contest the results of 30 seats lost in the country’s May 5 election, enough to swing the vote.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Colleges Soak Poor Students to Funnel Aid to Rich

U.S. colleges such as Boston University are using financial aid to lure rich students while shortchanging the poor, forcing those most in need to take on heavy debt, a report found.
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Goldman Said to Earn $500 Million Arranging Malaysia Bond

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. made about $500 million arranging three bond sales in the past year for 1Malaysia Development Bhd., the state investment fund led by Prime Minister Najib Razak, said a person familiar with the matter.
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Cucinelli Becomes Billionaire Knitting $1,920 Cardigans

Brunello Cucinelli, the 59-year-old founder of the luxury fashion house that bears his name, has become a billionaire.
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Enron’s Jeff Skilling May Get Decade Off Sentence in Deal

Jeffrey Skilling, the convicted former Enron Corp. chief executive officer, may get out of prison in as little as four years if a judge approves a deal with prosecutors over objections by victims of one of the biggest corporate frauds in U.S. history.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Najib Win Masks Biggest Test After Malaysian Chinese Exodus

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s election win without the bulk of ethnic Chinese voters is set to pose the biggest test yet for the pro-Malay affirmative action policies instituted by his father more than three decades ago.
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Egypt Investment Collapsing as Citizens Turn Into Vigilantes

In a dimly lit Cairo workshop, Hussein spins a metal pipe on a lathe, sending sparks flying. In a few minutes, it’ll become the barrel of a gun. Sometime after that it will join the growing arsenal of illegal weapons on the streets of Egypt.
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Navy Ship Can’t Meet Mission, Internal U.S. Report Finds

U.S. Navy leaders were warned last year that a $37 billion program to build Littoral Combat Ships can’t meet its promised mission because the vessels are too lightly manned and armed, according to a confidential report.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Singapore Breaks Into Homes to Stem Dengue Fever: Southeast Asia

Singapore’s dengue cases are set to surge to a record this year, prompting the government to break into homes that could be breeding grounds for mosquitoes that transmit the disease.
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Obama Vows Action After Air Force Officer Assault Arrest

President Barack Obama vowed to “exponentially step up our game” to combat military sexual assaults after the Air Force’s top officer for sexual-assault prevention was arrested on charges of sexual battery.
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Philippine Unemployment Rising Undermines Aquino’s Growth

Jeany Rose Callora left her home on the Philippine island of Negros last year to work at a soft- drinks factory in Manila, hoping to earn money for college. When her contract ended six months later, she said she couldn’t get another job in Southeast Asia’s fastest growing economy.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Gore Is Romney-Rich With $200 Million After Bush Defeat

In 1999, Al Gore, then U.S. vice president and a Democratic candidate for president, sold $6,000 worth of cows.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Germans Splurge on Italian Homes Locals Can’t Afford

Yasemin Rosenmaier has been selling homes in northern Italy since 2005 and she’s finding that there’s never been a better time to work for a German broker.
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Anwar’s Malaysia Leadership Push Derailed in Rural Heartland

Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim struggled to swing voters in government strongholds where his own ethnic group is dominant, thwarting his ambition to take power from a ruling coalition he helped lead before his ouster in 1998.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Syria Threat Over Israel Air Strike Risks Wider Conflict

Syria threatened retaliation against Israel after an aerial strike on the outskirts of Damascus caused explosions that rocked the capital, increasing the risk of a wider regional conflict.
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Gold Bulls Split With Buffett as Traders Say Sell: Commodities

Hedge funds increased bets on a gold rally by the most in three weeks as central banks signaled no end to economic stimulus, driving prices higher just as analysts and traders turned the most bearish in three years.
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France Declares Austerity Over as Germany Offers Wiggle Room

French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici declared the era of austerity over after his German counterpart offered flexibility on deficit cutting amid renewed bickering between Europe’s two biggest economies.
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Malaysia Government Defeats Anwar to Extend 55-Year Rule

Najib Razak was sworn in as Malaysia’s prime minister after his coalition won a mandate extending its 55-year rule, with stocks and the ringgit rallying even as Anwar Ibrahim’s opposition vowed to contest some results.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Alibaba Seen Avoiding Facebook Flop With IPO Below $100 Billion

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. doesn’t want to be the next Facebook Inc. -- at least for its prospective initial public offering. The world’s biggest online retailer is considering a more conservative valuation than what the social-networking company achieved last year, a person familiar with the situation said.
Read more: Bloomberg news

Gold Traders Most Bearish in Three Years After Drop: Commodities

Gold traders are the most bearish in three years after investors sold a record amount of metal held in exchange-traded products and prices tumbled in a bear market.
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Singh Withdraws From PGA Tour Event After Deer-Antler Ruling

Vijay Singh withdrew from the Wells Fargo Championship, one day after the U.S. PGA Tour cleared the golfer of wrongdoing for using deer-antler spray because the World Anti-Doping Agency said it was no longer outlawed.
Read more: Bloomberg news