Serious prospect of Britain leaving the European Union could trigger a domino effect within the UK itself, as Scotland could opt for another referendum, with intention to secede from the UK to join the EU. At worst, Brexit is widely believed to lead to a breakup of the UK if Brexiteers get their way on June 23. Northern Ireland and …

  Franz-Stefan Gady SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS On June 15, China and the United States held their second round of bilateral talks on cybercrime and other cyber-related topics in Beijing. Originally intended to be a ministerial meeting, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson had to withdraw their participation to focus on the ongoing Orlando …

  Leonid Bershidsky The shocking murder of British parliament member Jo Cox and the Orlando shootings were both hate crimes that defy political labels, whatever the professed motives of the killers. Nobody can predict what will set off a deranged killer and it would be deplorable to tar legitimate political campaigns because a killer identified with one cause or another. …

  BLOOMBERG Abu Dhabi stocks climbed the most in 18 months as two of the emirate’s biggest banks said they’re in talks to merge in a deal that would form one of the Middle East’s largest lenders by assets. The ADX General Index advanced 4.7 percent to close at 4,524.41, the strongest level in almost two months. National Bank of …

  Bloomberg Kenya, the world’s biggest exporter of black tea, is considering introducing the world’s first futures contracts for the leaves to help stabilize prices and enable growers to guarantee income from their production. INTL FCStone Inc., based in New York, has held talks with industry representatives in the East African nation about introducing the derivatives, Stuart Ponder, senior vice …

  Bloomberg European cows may soon be feasting on more French wheat as downpours threaten to reduce the quality of the grain used to make bread. The deluge that recently hit crops in the European Union’s biggest producer has the potential to reduce the grain quality, adding to global supplies of wheat used to feed animals, said Peter McMeekin, an …

  Bloomberg German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said European Union policy makers have safeguards in place to avoid “chaotic developments” should Britons vote to leave the bloc. “Ultimately you have to wait for Britons to decide and then you have to respect the decision,” Schaeuble told reporters after a speech at the Institute for the World Economy in Kiel, Germany. …

  Bloomberg Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said that it plans to launch a financial technology accelerator programme to tap the expertise of startups as a flurry of innovations reshapes finance. This may be the first time a central bank has employed this approach to research and development, a practice long used in Silicon Valley as a way to …

  Bloomberg Bank of Canada Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Wilkins wants to help companies develop new technologies such as digital currencies and ensure they meet tough standards to protect consumers and avoid market crashes. “Authorities should support innovation, but the bar will be high, especially for core financial services,” Wilkins said in Calgary. “I worry that players not covered currently …

  Bloomberg Atop a hill in southern Spain sit a cluster of cement apartment blocks surrounded by scruffy gardens. Built during the go-go years of the country’s property bubble, the development was eerily still on a recent June morning. Banco Popular Espanol SA, which took ownership in a foreclosure, is offering flats for as much as 147,000 euros (US$165,100). Fatima …