International News

  Bloomberg The pound rose to its strongest level in more than a month versus the dollar amid signs the “remain” camp is pulling ahead in the campaign over Britain’s membership of the European Union. Sterling touched a six-week high against the euro, after posting its longest winning streak in 10 months through Friday, as U.S. President Barack Obama backed ...

  Bloomberg German business confidence unexpectedly deteriorated in the latest sign that Europe’s largest economy is losing some of its pace. The Munich-based Ifo institute’s business climate index fell to 106.6 in April from 106.7 the previous month. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists was for an increase to 107.1. The Bundesbank said last week that it ...

  Bloomberg Norway increased its withdrawals from the nation’s wealth fund again in March, running ahead of estimates made by the central bank just two months ago. The government withdrew 7.4 billion kroner ($898 million), according to monthly data published by Norwegian Government Agency for Financial Management. That’s up from 6.7 billion kroner in each of the first two months ...

  Bloomberg The currency market is becoming more convinced that the Brazilian real’s world-beating rally this year is far from over. Foreign investors have reduced their bearish bets against the currency in the futures market by 33 percent since the end of 2015 to $15 billion, the least since November 2013, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and BM&FBovespa SA, ...

  bloomberg Believe it or not, companies still want to make deals. Half of executives expect to pursue acquisitions in the next 12 months and 40 percent aim to boost sales through partnerships, according to EY’s Global Capital Conference Barometer, a survey of more than 1,700 executives in 45 countries. While that’s down from the 59 percent of participants who ...

  Bloomberg President Barack Obama said he expects the U.S. Congress to vote on a trade deal with Asia-Pacific nations after the primary season over, and that his administration will complete negotiations on a similar pact with the European Union by the end of his presidency. “When we’re in the heat of campaigns people are naturally going to worry more ...

  Vienna / AFP Ukraine marks the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster today, when human error and flawed Soviet reactor technology led to the world’s worst nuclear accident. AFP looks at the steps taken since 1986 to improve nuclear safety around the world and — as Fukushima showed in 2011 — the challenges that remain. Only in the USSR? ...

  Russia / AFP Russian pensioner Anna Venderenko says her village wrestles daily with the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster, dreading the moment when a lifeline provided by the government in Moscow is slashed. The 70-year-old lives in Starye Bobovichi, 180 kilometres northeast of the stricken nuclear plant in neighbouring Ukraine. On the night of April 26, 1986, a blast ...

  Bloomberg Chernobyl, Ukraine|AFP: Defying radioactive contamination and a government evacuation order, Yevgeny Markevich returned to his beloved Chernobyl shortly after it suffered the world’s worst nuclear accident 30 years ago this week. The sturdy 78-year-old former teacher is among 158 people still living in the 30 kilometre (19 mile) exclusion zone around the Ukrainian nuclear power plant where reactor ...

  Beijing / AFP Electric cars have their highest-profile prophet in US-based entrepreneur Elon Musk and their widest adoption in Norway, but China’s vast auto market will decide their worldwide future, experts say. Top global brands will be fighting it out to electrify buyers at China’s premier car show opening on Monday in Beijing. The country is already the world’s ...