Japan / AFP British finance minister George Osborne warned on Saturday that the UK would find it “extremely difficult” to conclude trade deals with EU countries if it quit the bloc. Speaking to the BBC at a meeting of G7 finance ministers in Sendai, Japan, Osborne said it would be tough to strike those deals while also trying to ...

  Bloomberg The pound may have rallied amid evidence U.K. public opinion is shifting away from a Brexit, but one fund manager isn’t taking any chances. Investec Wealth & Investment Ltd. has increased its holdings of non-sterling government bonds to protect against a slide in the U.K. currency should citizens vote to quit the European Union on June 23. The ...

  BLOOMBERG Workers at three Total SA refineries in France voted to halt the plants amid discontent over the government’s handling of a proposed labour law. Workers at the Gonfreville refinery in Normandy, Feyzin near Lyon and at Donges, close to Nantes, voted to shut down the facilities, according to Total union members from the Confederation Generale du Travail and ...