Global Biz: Latest Financial Topics from The New York Times

Here is the latest Business News from The New York Times.

UBS Chief Executive’s Pay Rose 28 Percent in 2015
The Swiss bank’s directors said that Sergio P. Ermotti’s leadership was crucial to its strong results in a “challenging market environment.”

Sinosphere: With ‘Smog Jog’ Through Beijing, Zuckerberg Stirs Debate on Air Pollution
When Mark Zuckerberg, of Facebook, posted a photo of his run Friday, he set off reactions that ranged from mocking to genuine concern about his health.

TransCanada to Buy Columbia Pipeline Group in $10.2 Billion Deal
The all-cash deal will make the Canadian company a major force in the distribution of natural gas produced in the northeastern United States.

Once a Darling, Spanish Solar Company Abengoa Faces Reckoning
Abengoa’s global ambitions are now the source of its troubles as it tries to avoid what would be the largest bankruptcy in Spanish corporate history.

J. Walter Thompson Chief Resigns After Suit Accuses Him of Bias
Gustavo Martinez was accused in a lawsuit filed by the ad agency’s chief communications officer of subjecting employees to racist and sexist behavior.

A Whole Planet of Modern Art
Curators are thinking beyond the West to embrace the origins of Modernism in Asia, Africa, South America and beyond.

ZTE of China Delays Earnings Report After U.S. Restrictions
The maker of telecommunications equipment and smartphones said it would delay its annual results to assess the effect of export restrictions.

Eurowings, Lufthansa’s Budget Service, Off to a Rocky Start
Eurowings is a key part of Lufthansa’s long-term strategy to expand low-fare operations, but poor service has added to the parent company’s headaches.

Economic Trends: What Donald Trump Gets Pretty Much Right, and Completely Wrong, About China
A combination of legitimate complaints and misstatements of how things work between the world’s two largest economies.

Rio Tinto Appoints New Chief Executive
Jean-Sébastien Jacques will succeed Sam Walsh as chief executive of the mining giant, which faces the worst downturn in the sector in nearly two decades.

Brazen Heist of Millions Puts Focus on the Philippines
The country’s lightly regulated casinos and tough bank secrecy laws had prompted warnings from the United States and money-laundering experts before the theft.

An Afghan Bazaar Parachutes Into Washington
“Turquoise Mountain,” organized by the Sackler and Freer, imports rug weavers, jewelers, carpenters and other artisans into museum precincts to show off their crafts.

Florence Journal: Florence Tackles Duomo Defacement With a New Tool: Virtual Graffiti
After scrubbing tower walls of “we were here” markups, officials create a digital space for all those symbols, signatures and notes to posterity.

China Seeks to Avoid Mass Layoffs While Cutting Production
Remarks by Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday reflected the difficult — some say unsustainable — policy combination that China’s leaders hope to achieve.

London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse Agree to Merge
The two exchange operators hope to create a European champion to compete globally in an industry that has rapidly consolidated in recent years.

British Treasury Chief Expected to Warn of E.U. Exit’s Economic Risks
With a vote looming, it was anticipated that George Osborne would try to placate voters in announcing a budget complicated by a worsening economic backdrop.

Pressure on Valeant Puts William Ackman’s Image as Moneymaker at Risk
Mr. Ackman of Pershing Square has stayed in the stock and sustained enormous losses on paper.

Fair Game: Figuring Out What Valeant Is Really Worth
As Valeant Pharmaceuticals’ market value sinks, the company’s future may hinge on what it can get now for the companies it bought.

Bounty Hunter Tracks Chinese Companies That Dupe Investors
Robert W. Seiden has built a legal specialty representing American investors who are suing Chinese companies saying that they were swindled.

Valeant Reports Loss and Cuts Forecast in Preliminary Financial Statement
The company, which is facing inquiries over its drug-pricing policies, had previously delayed the release of its earnings. Its shares dropped sharply.

Bangladesh Bank Chief Resigns After Cyber Theft of $81 Million
The banking official quit and three subordinates were fired after an electronic theft from Bangladesh’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Google’s Computer Program Beats Lee Se-dol in Go Tournament
AlphaGo’s 4-1 victory was a historic stride for computer programmers and artificial intelligence researchers.

British Authorities End Criminal Inquiry Into Currency Markets
The Serious Fraud Office of Britain said it had “insufficient evidence” to pursue criminal charges for manipulation of foreign currency trading.

VW Financial Services Lowers Profit Outlook in Wake of Scandal
The emissions scandal “intensively challenged” Volkswagen and its in-house bank, the unit’s chief said, and the unit expects costs to go up.

Bank of America Hires Ex-Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt
Mr. Reinfeldt will serve as a senior adviser for the American bank’s business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

R.B.S. to Cut 448 Jobs in Corporate and Investment Bank
The bank is shifting about 300 back-office and support positions to India, where it already has similar operations.

Avon to Cut 2,500 Jobs and Move Headquarters to Britain
The move is part of a three-year turnaround plan for the cosmetics maker, which sold most of its North American business in December.

Bangladesh Bank Chief Quits Amid $100 Million Hacking Uproar
The head of Bangladesh’s central bank resigned on Tuesday, after hackers managed to divert $101 million from the country’s account with the Federal Reserve Bank in New York.

Campari Agrees to Buy Maker of Grand Marnier
The deal would value Société des Produits Marnier Lapostolle at about $761 million.

Société Générale to Buy British Units of Kleinwort Benson
The French lender plans to merge the wealth management businesses in Britain and the Channel Islands with its Hambros private banking service.

Economic Scene: On Trade, Angry Voters Have a Point
Recent studies suggest that the disruptions from freer trade, an issue in the current presidential campaign, are more persistent than once thought.

Bangladesh Central Bank Chief Resigns Over Cybertheft of U.S. Account
Atiur Rahman said he resigned after $81 million was stolen from Bangladesh’s account at the New York Fed and was sent to Philippines casinos.

Qube Joins Rival in Bid for Australian Port and Rail Operator
A Canadian investment firm is now part of a consortium with Qube, a port operator, that is offering $6.8 billion to acquire Asciano.

Japan Keeps Steady on Rates and Stimulus
The central bank maintained its monetary policy but offered a bleaker view on the economy, warning of waning inflation expectations.

DealBook: Unpacking a Chinese Company’s U.S. Hotel Buying Spree
Chinese companies have been on a foreign acquisition spree in recent years, looking abroad for deals in an effort to diversify.

VW Whistle-Blower’s Suit Accuses Carmaker of Deleting Data
A fired Volkswagen employee in Michigan contends that employees erased electronic files as U.S. officials were investigating its emissions cheating.

Boston Journal: As More Immigrants Arrive, Some Britons Want to Show Them and E.U. the Door
Their presence has caused anxiety and resentment in Boston, a town in northeast England that has come to epitomize the country’s rising antagonism toward immigration.

Labor Protests Multiply in China as Economy Slows, Worrying Leaders
Concerned about their prospects in a gloomy job market, workers are fighting back with unusual ferocity.

Starwood Receives Unsolicited Bid, Putting Marriott Plan at Risk
Marriott agreed in November to acquire Starwood. Now, the Chinese owner of the Waldorf Astoria is among the competing bidders.

News Analysis: In the Apple Case, a Debate Over Data Hits Home
The debate that began three years ago after revelations about government surveillance has become more personal, now that smartphones are involved.

Chinese Owner of Waldorf Astoria Bets Big on More U.S. Hotels
China’s Anbang, an ambitious insurer, will purchase properties from Blackstone Group just six months after the private equity firm bought them.

Official Admits He Gave Misleading Account of Chinese Miners’ Plight
The governor of Heilongjiang Province said wages at a state-owned company were in arrears and obliquely blamed underlings for his earlier statement that they had been paid on time.

Global Manager: Going With Her Gut
Christiane Fischer, president of the insurer AXA Art Americas, says she was criticized, then applauded, for moving quickly to save artworks after Hurricane Katrina.

Culture Gap Impedes U.S. Business Efforts for Trade With Cuba
As President Obama prepares to visit Cuba this month, the lack of trade with the former foe threatens to sap momentum from the process of building relations.

WhatsApp Encryption Said to Stymie Wiretap Order
A fight with WhatsApp, the world’s largest mobile messaging service, would open a new front in the Obama administration’s dispute with Silicon Valley over encryption, security and privacy.

China Weighs Letting Banks Sell Bad Debt to Investors
The tentative proposal, which officials said Saturday would be modest in scale, is meant to help alleviate one of the major drags on China’s economy.

BP to End Sponsorship of Tate Museums
A BP spokesman said the “commercial decision” was prompted by the collapse in oil prices and the decline in the company’s profit since mid-2014.

Fair Game: Stock Buyback Plans, Seen as Shareholder Boon, Can Backfire
Investors typically like the programs, but they can do serious damage: LPL Financial’s buying spree increased its debt but mostly benefited only an insider.

Shari Redstone Prepares for Battle to Control a Media Empire
Ms. Redstone says she has patched up her relationship with her media mogul father as a legal battle looms over money and power in the family business.

Your Money: A Smaller Down Payment, and No Mortgage Insurance Required
Traditionally, home buyers needed a 20 percent down payment to avoid the added cost of mortgage insurance. Now there are several ways to get around that.

Lanvin Names Bouchra Jarrar as Artistic Director of Women’s Collections
The designer, who is closing her own brand to concentrate on the new job, says she wants to “bring to Lanvin harmony and coherence.”

Old Mutual to Split Into Four Businesses
The London-based financial services company’s decision follows a strategic review announced in November.

For China Banks, Swapping Stock for Debt Is a Stopgap With Pitfalls
If more troubled Chinese companies used shares to pay overdue loans, banks could temporarily shore up their balance sheets. But the strategy could cause greater difficulties down the road.

PMK-BNC Absorbs the Boutique Publicity Agency Prime
Cindi Berger, PMK-BNC’s chief, said the publicists Joy Fehily and Michael Donkis, who ran Prime since 2009, would fold operations into her company.

The Assets of the Ultrarich Come Closer to Earth
That real estate, art and luxury cars do not command the prices of 2015 may say something about the fortunes of those at the top of the wealth scale.

Economic Trends: Mario Draghi Throws the Kitchen Sink at Europe’s Economic Distress. Again.
The last seven years have upended what we thought we knew about how central banks can and should operate; today’s actions offer another example.

What the E.C.B. Did
The central bank on Thursday announced several steps intended to stimulate the eurozone economy.

Where’s My Mercedes? Egypt’s Financial Crisis Hits the Rich
Wealthy Egyptians have been among President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s most ardent supporters. But that loyalty is being tested as the economy struggles.

Bits: Signs of Life for Public Tech Companies
Square, the mobile payments company, and Box, the cloud storage company, reported earnings that were better than Wall Street expected.

China February Consumer Inflation Rises at Fastest Pace Since 2014
China’s consumer inflation beat forecasts in February, accelerating at its fastest pace since July 2014, while producer prices slowed their slide for the second straight month.

European Central Bank Is Expected to Move Against Deflation
The bank would increase the penalty it charges banks to store money in its virtual vaults, hoping to force lenders to put that money into the economy.

Nasdaq to Buy International Securities Exchange
Nasdaq’s $1.1 billion deal with Deutsche Börse for an options exchange operator comes as even bigger takeovers loom.

Protesters in France Take to Streets Over Proposed Changes to Labor Law
Thousands marched in Paris on Wednesday to protest proposals that would make it easier to fire workers, but that the government says could mean more jobs.

Awash in Empty Homes, China Asks Migrant Workers to Settle Down
Beijing hopes to turns the country’s hundreds of millions of itinerant laborers into homeowners as the slumping property market drags on the economy.

Head of VW’s Scandal-Tainted U.S. Unit Is Out
The executive is the latest departure at Volkswagen, which continues to deal with the fallout from its emissions scandal.

Padma Lakshmi Opens Up About Rushdie in Memoir
The host of “Top Chef” gets deeply personal about her marriage to Salman Rushdie, motherhood and being Indian.

Court Orders One of Japan’s Two Operating Nuclear Plants to Shut Down
It said that the safety measures at the Takahama Nuclear Power Plant, which had been back online for only two months, were insufficient.

State of the Art: The Echo From Amazon Brims With Groundbreaking Promise
The voice-controlled computer has the potential to become a dominant force in the most intimate of environments: our homes.

UBS and Deutsche Bank Lose British Tax Case on Bonuses
The decision by the Supreme Court of Britain related to shares paid as bonuses through offshore vehicles in the 2003-04 tax year.

BMW Reports Better Than Expected Profit
The carmaker said results were driven by healthy sales of sport-utility vehicles, but investors were disappointed by a lower than expected dividend.

Go Master Walloped by Emotionless Challenger, a Google Computer Program
The match between Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo and Lee Se-dol was described as a crucial test of how far research into artificial intelligence has come.

No Mystery Bidder for Burberry; Shares Down Nearly 6 Percent
Market speculation that Burberry might be the subject of a takeover bid sent the luxury fashion brand’s shares higher on Tuesday.

After Living Brazil’s Dream, Family Confronts Microcephaly and Economic Crisis
In the wake of the Zika epidemic, hundreds of families in northeastern Brazil are facing the prospect of raising a disabled child in poverty.

Brazilian Businessman Gets Stiff Sentence in Petrobras Scandal
Marcelo Odebrecht got more than 19 years in prison after being convicted of corruption and money laundering in the investigation of the state-owned oil company.

F.D.A. Deal Allows Amarin to Promote Drug for Off-Label Use
The Food and Drug Administration will now allow Amarin to sell Vascepa, an omega-3 fatty acid, for both high and low triglyceride levels.

Business Briefing: Kanye West Is Making Rounds at Ikea’s Offices in Sweden
The company would not comment on whether Mr. West and Ikea were planning a joint project, saying, “Time will tell.”

U.S. Broadens Sanctions on Joseph Kony and His Group
The Treasury Department action against Mr. Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army, an African guerrilla organization, could hamper their ability to raise money by selling poached ivory.

World Briefing: Brazil: Former C.E.O. Is Sentenced to 19 Years in Corruption Inquiry
Marcelo Odebrecht, the former chief executive of Brazil’s largest construction company, was convicted of corruption and money laundering.

Economic Scene: A Few Solutions to the Working Class Revolt
On the wrong side of globalization, workers supporting Donald Trump have embraced his proposals. But there are better ways to make things better.

Breakingviews: Revamped United Airlines Board Could Be a Winning Compromise
A week before Oscar Munoz returns as C.E.O., the hedge funds PAR and Altimeter say they are aiming to install six new directors at United Continental.

DealBook: Lurid Suit Over Hate Mail Embroils Isaac Perlmutter, Marvel Chief
Isaac Perlmutter, the enigmatic head of the Marvel Entertainment unit of Disney, is accused of orchestrating a slander campaign that called a neighbor a murderer and child molester.

Volkswagen Inquiry Expands to 17 Suspects
German prosecutors said that they had widened the inquiry into illegal manipulation of tailpipe emissions and that they had not ruled out involvement by top management.

Penny Pritzker on the Privacy Shield Pact With Europe
Ms. Pritzker, the commerce secretary, discussed the difficulties in reconciling differing privacy protections in Europe and the United States.

Tom Hayes Denied Latest Bid to Appeal Libor Conviction
Mr. Hayes had sought to have his conviction on charges of manipulating a global benchmark interest rate reviewed by the Supreme Court of Britain.

E.U. Ministers Agree to Share Tax Details on Multinationals
The measures are a response to growing concerns about corporate tax avoidance that costs the European Union billions a year.

U.S. Subpoenas Ex-Goldman Banker in 1MDB Probe: Bloomberg
Former Goldman Sachs Group Inc banker Tim Leissner has been subpoenaed by the U.S. Justice Department in a money laundering probe linked to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), Bloomberg reported on Monday.

China Posts a Steep Fall in Exports for February
Some of the decline can be attributed to the lack of business activity during the Lunar New Year holiday, but the numbers still point to persistent weak demand.

Oil Prices Perk Up, Suggesting a Rebound Has Taken Hold
The price of crude is up more than 40 percent since last month. But the stockpiles that drove prices down remain at 80-year highs.

Prayer Dispute Between Somalis and Plant Reshapes a Colorado Town, Again
The conflict offers a case study on what happens when matters of religious accommodation knock heads with the demands of the American assembly line.

Unease After Donald Trump Depicts Tokyo as an Economic Rival
In an attack reminiscent of another era, Donald J. Trump has chastised Japan as a country where “we are getting absolutely crushed on trade.”

U.S. Restricts Sales to ZTE, Saying It Breached Sanctions
The Chinese phone maker will be blocked from buying American technology without a special license for violating sanctions against Iran.

Gaiole in Chianti Journal: Italy’s Famed Wine Region a War Zone, Invaded by Boars and Others
Efforts in Chianti to reduce an exploding population of wild boars and deer, which devour grapes and the vines’ tender sprouts, are creating issues of their own.

Royal Bank of Scotland Loses Finra Arbitration Over Firing
The bank botched the firing of a former executive so badly that a Finra arbitration panel ordered it to pay $2.05 million in damages.

Embargo Lifted, Iranian Oil Reaches Europe
A Spanish refinery received Iran’s first shipment of oil for Europe since the 2012 embargo was officially lifted in January.

Breakingviews: Dow-DuPont Deal Seems Impermeable to a Bid by BASF
Tax benefits make the planned union of Dow and DuPont seem ironclad were BASF, the German chemical giant, to make a counterbid.

Barclays Hires 9 From Boutique Firm CMC Capital
Carlo Calabria, CMC’s founding partner, will join Barclays as chairman of mergers and acquisitions for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Old Mutual Says It Hasn’t Decided on Strategic Review
The London-based financial services company responded to news reports over the weekend that it was considering a split into four companies.