International News

  Frankfurt / AFP A British exit from the EU would have “unforeseeable consequences” for European cooperation, European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker has warned in an interview with German media. Britain is to hold a closely-watched June 23 referendum on whether or not it should stay in the 28-nation bloc, and opinion polls are showing that the nation is still ...

  Bloomberg Get ready for a pro-European Union onslaught. This week, voters tuning into the fraught battle over the U.K.’s future will hear from three heavy-hitters who have already warned about the risks of leaving the single market. The chancellor of the exchequer, the governor of the Bank of England and the head of the IMF are set to speak, ...

  Bloomberg It’s not hard to see why Brexit campaigners tout Switzerland as a model for Britain’s life outside the European Union. The Swiss have kept prospering as one of the world’s richest countries despite opting for treaties instead of membership to define their relationship with the bloc that surrounds them. While the EU accounts for 1 in 3 francs ...

Bloomberg Russia and the U.K. give companies the lowest effective tax rates among the world’s leading economies, according to a report by UHY, a network of auditors and consulting firms. Companies in Russia pay corporate tax at 20 percent while in the U.K. it’s 21 percent, UHY said in the study of rates applied to $1 million of taxable profit. ...

  Bloomberg German factory orders picked up in March as strong global trade helped offset a lull in domestic demand. Orders, adjusted for seasonal swings and inflation, advanced 1.9% from the prior month, when they fell a revised 0.8 percent, data from the Economy Ministry in Berlin showed on Monday. The reading, which is typically volatile, compares with a median ...

  Bloomberg A $62 million construction project on the banks of the Danube River is the biggest bet to date that Hungary’s crumbling public health-care system guarantees a bright future for private hospitals. Deteriorating conditions at state hospitals, where patients routinely need to bring their own toilet paper, have pushed people to pay for care outside the communist-era relic. Private ...

  Bloomberg Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said his chief economic concern is giving the middle class a sizable tax cut, while other proposals, including lowering taxes on businesses and the wealthy, were starting points for negotiation. “I have to negotiate now with senators and congressmen,” Trump said during an interview that aired on Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the ...

  Bloomberg Brazil’s consumer inflation accelerated more than all analysts forecast in April, pushing the market to temper bets the central bank will lower interest rates. The benchmark IPCA consumer price index climbed 0.61 percent after a 0.43 percent rise the previous month. That was more than the median forecast for a 0.54 percent increase from 44 economists surveyed by ...

  Bloomberg At times, Chile’s economy has appeared super-human. Rapid economic growth, low inflation, trade surpluses and a strong currency have all combined to make it the wealthiest nation in South America, overtaking traditionally richer economies such as Argentina and Uruguay. That was achieved even as the government amassed savings of more than $23 billion in two sovereign wealth funds. ...

  Bloomberg Brenntag AG’s first-quarter profit missed analyst estimates after the world’s largest distributor of chemicals was hit by a currency devaluation in Venezuela and slump in demand for additives used by the oil and gas industry. Earnings were “surprisingly low” due to weakness in the Venezuelan currency, oil and gas and the North American industrial environment. Brenntag stuck to ...