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  Bloomberg France’s private-sector economy shrank for the first time in four months in June, with manufacturing slumping the most in more than a year. A composite Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 49.4 from 50.9 in May, London-based Markit Economics said on Thursday. That’s below the 50-point mark that divides expansion from contraction. A gauge for manufacturing dropped to 47.9, ...

  Bloomberg The euro will strengthen this year no matter which way the U.K. votes in Thursday’s referendum on its European Union membership, according to one of the most accurate forecasters of the currency. A record current-account surplus and rising inflation-adjusted bond yields will limit any declines in the shared currency to $1.10, said Daisuke Karakama, chief market economist at ...

  Bloomberg Volkswagen AG’s typically close-knit owners publicly split for the first time over the diesel crisis after the German state of Lower Saxony withheld support for two executives under investigation for their role in the scandal. Volkswagen’s second-largest shareholder abstained from what is typically a ceremonial vote at the annual meeting, declining to back former CEO Martin Winterkorn and ...

  Washington / AFP US Democrats failed to force Congress to vote on gun safety legislation following the Orlando nightclub massacre as Republican leaders adjourned the House early on Thursday after a dramatic overnight sit-in by Democrats. The scenes on the House floor, unprecedented in recent history, began after Democrats took over the chamber’s proceedings for most of the day, ...

CHICAGO / AP Powerful storms packing multiple tornadoes swept through parts of the Midwest on Wednesday night, damaging homes and a gas station in central Illinois and sending tens of thousands of soccer fans seeking shelter during the Copa America semifinal in Chicago. Chuck Schoop, emergency manager for Livingston County in central Illinois, said a tornado destroyed the canopy of ...

  TOKYO / AP There will be no Fourth of July fireworks for American troops in Japan this year due to restrictions imposed after a former US Marine was accused of murdering and raping a woman on Okinawa. The US Navy in Japan said Thursday that it had canceled planned annual Independence Day fireworks at its bases as part of ...

  NEW YORK / AP Facing questions about meager fundraising, slipping poll numbers and campaign instability, Donald Trump is tending to business — in Scotland. In his first international trip since becoming the presumptive Republican nominee, Trump plans to check on a pair of his championship golf resorts. Some Republicans worry that the billionaire’s attention is divided between his businesses ...

  Seoul/ AP Leader Kim Jong-Un threatened US military bases across the Pacific after North Korea’s test of a powerful new missile triggered emergency UN Security Council talks late Wednesday on curbing Pyongyang’s nuclear programme. Kim, who personally monitored Wednesday’s Musudan missile test, applauded a “great event” that significantly bolstered the North’s pre-emptive nuclear attack capability, the official KCNA news ...

  WELLINGTON / AP A New Zealand man was sentenced on Thursday to more than three years in prison for distributing militant videos in the first case of its type in the South Pacific nation. After his sentencing, 26-year-old Imran Patel had to be dragged by security guards from an Auckland courtroom , according to The New Zealand Herald newspaper. ...

  Nicosia / AFP Cyprus finally brought a massive wildfire under control on Thursday after a five-day battle that saw two firefighters killed and five foreign governments send aircraft to help, a minister said. Hundreds of firefighters remain on standby to put out any rekindling flames, Agriculture Minister Nicos Kouyialis told reporters. Firefighting aircraft deployed by Britain, France, Greece and ...