Bloomberg Copper skidded to the lowest since mid-2017 as investors faced fresh evidence of a global slowdown and fading prospects for a deescalation in the US-China trade war. Long known as a canary in coal mine for the economy, copper has slumped 16% since mid-April on the back of a sharp downturn in factory output and warnings that major economies ...

Bloomberg China softened its tone towards Hong Kong’s protesters, saying peaceful demonstrations were allowed under the law, even as it ruled out a fundamental demand for direct democracy that has fuelled the unrest. In a wide-ranging briefing in Beijing, Chinese officials overseeing Hong Kong sought to make a clear distinction between violent protesters who have thrown petrol bombs in running ...

Bloomberg Ukraine revoked the immunity from prosecution long enjoyed by lawmakers, part of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s efforts to stamp out corruption. Parliament voted for a constitutional amendment placing its members on the same legal footing as other citizens, starting from January 1. The bill was originally submitted in 2015 by ex-President Petro Poroshenko, but was sidelined until Zelenskiy’s ruling party ...

Bloomberg US Vice President Mike Pence came under fire on Tuesday for staying at President Donald Trump’s golf resort during his official visit to Ireland, despite most of his meetings with Irish leaders taking place more than 200 kilometres (125 miles) away in Dublin. The vice president’s staff defended the decision, noting that Pence — who is travelling with his ...

Bloomberg South Africa has been hit by an outbreak of attacks on migrants from other African countries as the nation prepared to host a meeting of political and business leaders from across the continent. A spate of violence that broke out in suburbs south of Johannesburg’s city centre and spread to the central business district saw the destruction of more ...

Bloomberg A key legal test of Boris Johnson’s plan to suspend parliament got underway in Edinburgh, with an attorney for a group of lawmakers saying that the prime minister’s move shows a “breathtaking” contempt for the UK’s constitution. “This prime minister says in his own words, in his own handwriting, that the further sitting of Parliament is only a ‘rigmarole’ ...

Bloomberg Georgia’s ruling party nominated the top law enforcement official, who was blamed for a harsh crackdown on demonstrations in June, as the new prime minister, prompting protesters to gather outside parliament to denounce the decision. Giorgi Gakharia, 44, the interior minister and formerly the economic development minister, was put forward by the ruling Georgian Dream’s billionaire leader Bidzina Ivanishvili ...

Bloomberg Hurricane Dorian is starting to move again, inching towards the northwest and potentially up the US East Coast after bashing the Bahamas for almost two days with high winds and driving rains that have inflicted huge damage, killing five on one island alone. The storm is now crawling at 1 mile per hour with sustained winds of around 120 ...

Bloomberg J2 Acquisition Ltd, the investment vehicle backed by serial dealmaker Martin E Franklin, made its debut acquisition after an almost two-year search with an agreement to acquire U.S. engineer and oil pipeline contractor APi Group Inc. for about $2.9 billion. London-based J2, which is run by Franklin and long-time partners James Lillie and Ian Ashken, is looking to build ...

Bloomberg US factory activity unexpectedly contracted in August for the first time in three years as shrinking orders, production and hiring pushed a widely followed measure of manufacturing to its lowest level since January 2016. The Institute for Supply Management’s purchasing managers index fell to 49.1 in August, weaker than all forecasts in a Bloomberg survey of economists, data released ...