Bloomberg Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, facing a key referendum at home later this year, accused Germany, France and Spain of breaking European Union rules on deficit control and spending in an interview with Corriere della Sera. Nations “will have to justify themselves for failing to respect the rules,” he told the Italian newspaper. “The size of Spain’s deficit ...

  BLOOMBERG Denmark’s government is ready to tackle liquidity shortages that have hit the world’s biggest market for mortgage-backed covered bonds, as it addresses risks that both the industry and investors warn are a serious side-effect of global regulation. Business Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told Bloomberg he will back a proposal by a government-appointed panel to stop forcing mortgage lenders ...

  Bloomberg The U.K. is losing its appeal for Poles seeking work abroad. While Britain is still home to more Polish expatriates than any other European country, Germany has become more of a lure, with about 41,000 moving there in 2015. That’s the fourth consecutive year that Europe’s biggest economy has been more attractive to them than the U.K. In ...

  Montreal / AFP Donors pledged nearly $13 billion on Saturday in the fight to eradicate AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria by 2030, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced at an international conference. “It is my great honor to announce that for the fifth replenishment conference for the Global Fund to end AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, we have reached our goal ...

  Beirut / AFP Syria’s ceasefire was hanging by a thread on Sunday, after tensions escalated between Moscow and Washington over a US-led coalition air strike that killed dozens of Syrian soldiers battling extremists. The truce saw violence drop across Syria for several days after it came into force Monday, but fighting has since erupted on several fronts and besieged ...

  Dubai / Reuters Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said Tehran supports any move to stabilise the global oil market and lift prices, the Iranian oil ministry news agency SHANA quoted him as saying on Sunday. “Instability and falling oil prices are harmful to all countries, especially oil producers,” Rouhani was quoted as saying by SHANA. “Tehran welcomes any move aimed ...

  Benghazi / AFP Forces loyal to Libya’s UN-backed unity government launched an offensive on Sunday aimed at retaking key eastern oil ports seized last week by fighters from a rival administration. The Tripoli-based Government of National Accord has struggled to assert its authority over the country since the GNA was formed in December last year. Oil is Libya’s key ...

  Washington / AFP Syrian children love playgrounds like kids all over the world but in rebel-held towns near Damascus swing sets are made of spent rockets and jungle gyms are tucked underground. Eastern Ghouta, a besieged opposition stronghold east of Damascus, has been battered by regime air strikes and shelling since Syria’s conflict erupted more than five years ago. ...

  Srinagar / AFP Militants armed with guns and grenades killed 17 soldiers in a raid on Sunday on an army base in Indian-administered Kashmir, the worst such attack for more than a decade in the disputed Himalayan region. The rebels broke into the base near the town of Uri before dawn and lobbed the grenades at tents and barracks ...

  Peshawar / AFP The death toll from a Taliban suicide bomb attack on a mosque in northwest tribal Pakistan has risen to 36, including eight children, officials said on Sunday. The Friday attack targeted a mosque in the Mohmand tribal district bordering Afghanistan where the army has been fighting Taliban militants. “We have now compiled a list of victims ...