Bloomberg Low interest rates are helping to reduce euro-area public debt, but rigorous enforcement of European Union fiscal rules is also needed to bring the burden down by a “sizable” amount, the European Central Bank said. Since the end of the financial crisis, euro-area countries have struggled to unwind a debt ratio that stood at around 93 percent of ...

  Bloomberg The U.S. may be the lone bright spot in an otherwise sluggish global economy as American consumers continue to buy expensive new vehicles at record levels. The U.S. industry sold 1.51 million cars and light trucks in April, according to researcher Autodata Corp. That broke an 11-year-old record, according to Edmunds.com. Sales skewed toward more expensive sport utility ...

  Bloomberg Petrobras has agreed to sell assets in Argentina and Chile for about $1.4 billion as Brazil’s state-controlled oil producer looks to raise cash and focus on deep-water projects in Brazil. The Rio de Janeiro-based producer has completed negotiations to sell its 67.2 percent stake in Petrobras Argentina SA to Pampa Energia SA for $892 million, it said Tuesday ...

  Bloomberg Brazilian prosecutors filed a 155 billion reais ($44 billion) civil suit against Vale SA, BHP Billiton Ltd. and their iron-ore venture over a November dam rupture that killed as many as 19 people and caused severe environmental damage. The prosecuting task force is demanding the two companies and Samarco Mineracao SA provide initial payment of 7.8 billion reais ...

  Bloomberg The best rally for corn prices in 10 months meant U.S. farmers were frantic to sell from the mountain of grain they’d been hoarding. Growers have been stockpiling supplies following a string of bumper harvests, waiting patiently for a rebound in prices. Their hopes have finally been answered after dry weather threatened crops in Brazil, sending futures traded ...

Bloomberg Located just 30 miles east of Rio de Janeiro’s bustling Copacabana beach, Itaborai looks like many oil boomtowns after the bust — except the deserted stores and empty glass towers that loom over this town of 220,000 speak of some bigger cataclysm than the collapse of crude prices. “They said this would be the new oil city,” says Jefferson ...

  Astana / AFP US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Syria’s Bashar Al Assad of “repercussions” if his regime flouts a new truce under negotiation, as talks to halt the violence shifted to Berlin on Wednesday. Russia has said a new ceasefire to halt fighting in Aleppo could be imminent, with Syria’s divided northern city hit by a wave of ...

  Brussels/ AFP The EU on Wednesday gave conditional backing to visa-free travel for Turks under a migrant deal and unveiled new asylum rules including fines for countries that refuse their share of refugees. In its latest bid to tackle the biggest migration crisis since World War II, the European Commission proposed making countries pay a “solidarity contribution” of 250,000 ...

  STUTTGART / AP The combat death of an American Navy SEAL in Iraq shows that despite recent gains against the IS in Iraq, “this fight is far from over,” US Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Wednesday. Carter spoke at the outset of a closed-door meeting in Germany with his counterparts from 11 countries contributing to the military campaign against ...

  Kuwait City / AP Yemen’s warring parties are to resume face-to-face peace talks on Wednesday after a three-day break triggered by a walkout by the government delegation, the United Nations said. The negotiations, which began on April 21, broke off on Sunday after the government delegation quit in protest at the apparent surrender of one of the few loyalist bases ...