The UK government’s 25% windfall tax on oil and gas company profits, along with the accompanying investment allowance that will let them avoid most of it, will do little to address the country’s pressing energy needs. Speaking in parliament, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, didn’t dare utter the words “windfall tax” — something the opposition parties had been urging ...

  It feels like Singapore has only just switched from combating the pandemic, with some of the developed world’s strictest curbs, to plunging headlong into a fight against inflation. The central bank tightened policy three times since late last year. Now, the highly urbanised island that imports most of what it eats has a front-row seat to food nationalism. Neighbouring ...

  Japan has been a little bemused to find that a long-running family-favourite TV show, known here as Hajimete no Otsukai (My First Errand), has suddenly achieved international fame on Netflix as Old Enough. The program, which features preschoolers running errands by themselves, has triggered worldwide debate about parenting standards. One article in the UK blasted the reality TV show ...

  Moving the Champions League soccer final to Paris from the Gazprom Arena in St Petersburg was supposed to be a diplomatic poke in the eye for Vladimir Putin. It has instead turned into a post-pandemic stress test of the French capital’s ability to manage a major international sporting event — and all the visitors that go with it — ...

Bloomberg European Union leaders agreed to pursue a partial ban on Russian oil, paving the way for a sixth package of sanctions to punish Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, for the invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions would forbid the purchase of crude oil and petroleum products from Russia delivered to member states by sea but include a temporary exemption ...

  Bloomberg Hong Kong’s next leader John Lee said the financial hub faces difficulties before it can reopen the border with mainland China, after returning from his first meeting with President Xi Jinping since being selected to run the financial hub earlier this month. Lee said he told Premier Li Keqiang there are “a lot of challenges and difficulties” to ...

  Bloomberg Gustavo Petro ceded his front-runner status for Colombia’s presidency to a little known 77-year-old construction magnate, in a sign of how voters are increasingly willing to gamble on untested leaders who promise change. Rodolfo Hernandez’s surprise surge to place second in the election sets up a June 19 runoff with Petro, a former mayor of Bogota whose program ...

Bloomberg Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the country needed to focus on new areas of growth as a panel laid out proposals for his “new form of capitalism” aimed at reducing social disparities and driving the economy. “We’ve put together a grand design for a new capitalism,” Kishida said at a meeting of the panel. “We’ll seek new growth, ...

  Bloomberg Chinese authorities are facing an uphill battle convincing companies and households to boost borrowing as long as Covid outbreaks and lockdowns continue to crush confidence. After loan growth weakened in April to the worst level in almost five years, several indicators suggest the data for May won’t be much better. Housing sales have continued to slump, indicating a ...

Bloomberg European Union (EU) countries are set to cut Russia’s largest lender Sberbank off the SWIFT international payments system, as the bloc readies a sixth package of sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. The proposed restrictions also target Credit Bank of Moscow and the Russian Agricultural Bank, according to people familiar with the discussions. The EU, the US ...