Bloomberg Euro-area confidence extended its slide in May as cooling economic growth in the region was met with budding political uncertainties. The European Commission’s index of sentiment slipped to 112.5 from 112.7, taking the gauge to its lowest in nine months. While the decline was less than economists had forecast, it’s the fifth straight drop after optimism reached a 17-year ...

Bloomberg KKR & Co. agreed to acquire BMC Software Inc. in a deal that valued the information technology management provider at about $8.3 billion including debt, according to a person familiar with the matter. KKR will buy BMC from an investor group led by Bain Capital and Golden Gate Capital together with GIC Pte Ltd., Insight Venture Partners and Elliott ...

Bloomberg German unemployment fell to a fresh record low as companies in Europe’s largest economy stepped up hiring to work through backlogs even amid signs of slowing growth. The jobless rate dropped to 5.2% in May, Federal Labor Agency in Nuremberg said on Wednesday. The number of people out of work fell by a seasonally adjusted 11,000 to 2.358 million, ...

Bloomberg Tensions are rising between the US and China ahead of Asia’s biggest security conference this week, even as the two powers push for peace on the Korean Peninsula. Defense Secretary James Mattis said while en route to the annual IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore that he was planning to raise US concerns about China’s recent moves to “militarise” the ...

Bloomberg India and Pakistan agreed to abide by a 15-year-old ceasefire agreement after years of sporadic firing across the disputed border in Kashmir, a move which signals a potential thawing in deteriorating relations between the arch-rivals. The nuclear-armed nations agreed to put an end to ongoing border fighting and to fully implement the ceasefire understanding of 2003, India and Pakistan’s ...

Bloomberg Italy’s League leader Matteo Salvini dismissed an offer from the anti-establishment Five Star Movement to revive efforts to form a populist government, calling instead for early elections without revealing whom he might form an alliance with. “Di Maio’s overture? We’re not at the market and it’s also a question of dignity,” Salvini of the anti-immigrant League told a rally ...

Bloomberg A Russian journalist critical of President Vladimir Putin was shot dead at his home in Kiev, the third assassination in two years of a Kremlin foe in Ukraine’s capital. Arkady Babchenko, who moved to the city last year following threats in his homeland, was fired on after returning from buying bread and died of his injuries in an ambulance, ...

Bloomberg The Socialists, Spain’s biggest opposition party, are negotiating on two fronts for the support they need to oust PM Mariano Rajoy in a no-confidence vote on Friday, according to people briefed on the talks. The party has made inroads in the past 24 hours but the result is likely to remain in the balance until the last moment as ...

Bloomberg South Africa’s main opposition party has been its own worst enemy as it attempts to unseat the African National Congress. The Democratic Alliance has botched attempts to fire Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille, igniting infighting and irking supporters ahead of next year’s elections, while an agreement that sees it run other major cities risks unraveling. With the ANC ...

“Are you on the road or in the ditch?” That’s the question labor reporters used to ask about big contract negotiations back when I covered the United Steelworkers union 40 years ago in Pittsburgh — and it’s the right one to pose now as President Trump zigs and zags toward a summit meeting with Kim Jong Un. Trump and Kim ...