Bloomberg Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government is working on targets to cut pollution on Germany’s roads that may effectively force carmakers to switch most of their sales to electric vehicles by the end of the next decade. Merkel’s chancellery is reviewing a draft of her coalition’s Climate Protection Plan 2050, which would require fossil-fuel emissions cuts of 45% for cars …

  Bloomberg German unemployment extended its decline in June, signaling economic growth remained robust before Britons unexpectedly voted to exit the European Union. The number of people out of work fell by a seasonally adjusted 6,000 to 2.69 million, data from the Federal Labour Agency in Nuremberg showed on Thursday. German companies shrugged off the risk of the U.K. quitting …

  PARIS / AFP President Francois Hollande said he expected the French economy to perform better than expected this year and add at least 200,000 new jobs, as the deeply unpopular leader shifts into campaign mode ahead of next year’s elections. In an interview published Wednesday on the website of Les Echos daily, the Socialist president also repeated a promise …

  Bloomberg U.K. bonds are closing the first half with a 12 percent gain, more than double what Treasuries have returned, on concern Britain’s decision to leave the European Union will drive the nation into recession. The extra yield 10-year Treasuries offer over same-maturity gilts widened to 57 basis points Wednesday, the biggest difference since December 2000. Yields plunged globally …

  Bloomberg The odds of Deutsche Boerse AG successfully taking over London Stock Exchange Group Plc is just 26 percent after the U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union raised questions about the deal’s logic. That’s according to the average estimate of 25 event-driven desks, equity analysts and fund managers surveyed by Bloomberg News. A common market calculation based on …

  Bloomberg Christopher Shepherd helped build a Nissan Motor Co. factory in Sunderland, England, that thrives on the U.K.’s membership in the European Union. Last week, in the EU referendum, he cast a ballot to quit. Shepherd, a 73-year-old retired construction worker, was joined by 61 percent of the electorate in Sunderland, making the gritty city in England’s Northeast a …

In a service to all South China Sea watchers, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) announced that its award in Philippines v. China will be announced on July 12. For the outgoing Aquino administration in the Philippines–the initiator of the arbitration–the award has come a little too late. But, for Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines’ new president, who’s sent mixed signals …

  Michael Reilly SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS Taiwan’s trade figures with China should not make comfortable reading for any Taiwanese legislator or policymaker. True, between 2008 and 2015, China’s imports from Taiwan increased by almost 40 percent, vindication, presumably, in Kuomintang (KMT) eyes of Ma Ying-jeou’s cross-straits policy. But that growth pales into near insignificance against the 300 percent plus …

Catherine Putz SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS After seven months of stalled relations–barbed comments and sanctions–Russia and Turkey may be moving toward a rapprochement. On Monday, according to the Russians, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter “in which the Turkish President expressed his desire to settle the situation concerning the downing of a Russian military aircraft.” In the letter, …

  Tokyo / AFP Japanese industrial production dived in May for the first time in three months, official data showed on Thursday, in a worrying sign for the already fragile economy. Factory output dropped 2.3 percent in May from a month earlier, much worse than the average 0.2 percent drop expected by economists, according to Bloomberg News. The weak figures come …