International News

  Bloomberg French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said he is determined to get a European Union agreement on a global corporate minimum tax, setting up a clash with Hungary at a meeting of officials in Luxembourg on Friday. Disagreements over how to implement the levy have dogged France’s six month presidency of the EU that concludes at the end ...

  Bloomberg Germany’s biggest union said it has won a 6.5% pay rise — the biggest in 30 years — for steel workers in the northwest of the country, setting the stage for upcoming talks in the metals- and electronics industries. The 18-month deal for about 68,000 steel industry employees includes one-off payments of 500 euros ($524) for June and ...

  Bloomberg Europe’s new-vehicle sales slumped for an 11th consecutive month as record inflation and falling consumer confidence joined prolonged supply-chain disruptions. Registrations fall 12.5% to 948,149 vehicles in May, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association said. Hardest-hit among major automakers was Volkswagen AG, which saw sales drop by more than 21% from the same month last year. After nearly a ...

  Bloomberg Canadian telecommunications company Telus Corp. said it will acquire digital-health provider LifeWorks Inc. for about $1.8 billion, expanding further into health services as it pursues a diversification strategy. Telus will pay C$33 for each LifeWorks share and is offering the option to take cash or stock or a mix of the two. It’s about an 80% premium to ...

  Bloomberg One of the architects of the European Union’s sweeping General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) admitted the law needs a revamp to ensure its fit for purpose amid growing attacks on citizens’ privacy. Four years after it took effect, European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova said “targeted improvements” are now needed to the GDPR “in the age of tools ...

  Bloomberg US inflation accelerated to a fresh 40-year high in May, a sign that price pressures are becoming entrenched in the economy. That will likely push the Federal Reserve to extend an aggressive series of interest-rate hikes and adds to political problems for the White House and Democrats. The consumer price index increased 8.6% from a year earlier in ...

  Bloomberg The European Union (EU) is nearing an agreement on key legislation to regulate the cryptocurrency sector that would set common rules across the 27 member states, people familiar with the matter said. France, which currently chairs the EU, and the European Parliament are optimistic about resolving remaining issues holding up the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) package and reaching ...

  Bloomberg Boris Johnson took aim at his own government’s tariffs on imports of food that is not produced domestically, saying their removal could ease the UK’s cost-of-living crisis. But even his officials say otherwise. “Why do we have a tariff of 93 pence a kilo on Turkish olive oil?” Johnson said at a speech in Blackpool, northern England, days ...

  Bloomberg The French economy will grow this year despite soaring inflation and uncertainty over the war in Ukraine, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said. The minister declined to give an estimate, saying he would update country’s growth forecast once a revised budget bill is presented following the legislative elections later this month. “It was 4%, it’s obvious that with ...

  Bloomberg A glut of fertilisers at the biggest Brazilian ports signals that the price of the nutrients may have to drop further before farmers start buying. In Paranagua, private warehouses reached their maximum storage capacity of 3.5 million tons, according to Luiz Teixeira da Silva, Paranagua’s operations director. A terminal operated by VLI Logistics, one of the two at ...