Caracas, Venezuela / AFP Citibank plans to close the account Venezuela uses to make international payments, President Nicolas Maduro said, accusing the US-based bank of mounting a “financial blockade.” “Citibank, with no warning or communication, says that it is going to close the Central Bank and Bank Of Venezuela account. That is what you call a financial blockade,” the ...

  Berlin, Germany / AFP German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny said on Tuesday they expected Britain’s new government to quickly define its relationship with the EU after conservative Theresa May becomes PM. The European Union could not put forward any proposals on the two sides’ future relationship “until it’s clear what the strategy from Britain ...

  Brussels, Belgium / AFP The European Union on Tuesday launched a controversial deal with the United States aimed at curbing government spying on the personal internet infomation of European citizens. The deal replaces one struck down by the EU’s top court in October, a decision which left firms like Google and Facebook in legal limbo over whether they could ...

  WASHINGTON Since its unfortunate “Brexit” vote to leave the European Union, Britain has experienced a tragi-comic round of backstabbing, foot-dragging and second-guessing. Europe, meanwhile has mostly behaved with admirable good sense. The Europeans seem to understand that the Brexit vote is a wake-up call about dissatisfaction with the EU that’s nearly as widespread on the continent as it is ...

  With Brexit impact hanging over Europe, European finance ministers’ warnings over adverse economic impact on the EU, were also loaded with a political sarcasm that the UK, which voted to leave at its own choice, risks becoming a “Little Britain” in the referendum’s aftermath. This is a clear signal to Scotland and North Ireland to remain in the EU. ...

  Mark Whitehouse U.S. job growth rebounded in June from a brief slump that had many concerned about the outlook for the economy. The crucial question now: How long can it go on? The employment report for June suggests that U.S. employers were doing well in the weeks before Britain’s vote to leave the European Union. The Labor Department’s establishment ...

One of the U.S.’s biggest economic challenges is the slump in productivity. After climbing steadily for many decades, productivity has slowed dramatically since 2011: Productivity is the key to long-term prosperity. It represents a hard ceiling on the amount of valuable things that a society is able to produce. If productivity flatlines, it means that the pie isn’t growing, and ...

  BLOOMBERG A surge in prices for existing homes in Vancouver and Toronto is fueling new construction in Canada’s two most expensive cities. Housing starts jumped to an annualised pace of 218,333 units in June, the Canada Mortgage & Housing Corp. said, the highest since September and a 17 percent increase from a month earlier. The data suggests that builders ...

  Hong Kong / AFP Hong Kong property tycoon Thomas Kwok was granted bail on Tuesday, clearing the path to appeal his graft conviction over a high-profile cash for favours scandal. Kwok was jailed in 2014 over a series of payments totalling HK$8.5 million (US$1.1 million) to the city’s former deputy leader Rafael Hui, who was also convicted on graft ...

  Bloomberg Aberdeen Asset Management Plc appointed broker Strutt & Parker LLP to sell a London office property that’s part of a UK real estate fund currently suspended from trading, according to three people familiar with the matter. The asset manager will offer 10 Hammersmith Grove, an office building valued at about 105 million pounds ($136 million), the people said, ...