Bloomberg President Joe Biden said the US is committed to its partnership with Afghanistan, even as American and other foreign troops withdraw from the country despite a surge of violence. “The senseless violence — it has to stop,” Biden told Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the start of a meeting in the Oval Office. “It’s going to be very difficult ...

Bloomberg Greater Sydney was put into a two-week lockdown to fight an outbreak of the highly-transmissible delta variant of the coronavirus, straining Australia’s so-called “Covid-zero” strategy as vaccinations lag behind other developed nations. Residents can only go out for reasons such as food shopping, medical care or essential work and education that can’t be done from their own homes, New ...

Bloomberg Vice President Kamala Harris shot back at Republicans who’ve criticised her efforts to curb Central American migration, after she visited migrant children on her first trip to the US southern border since taking office. “This issue cannot be reduced to a political issue,” Harris said at a US Customs and Border Protection station in El Paso, Texas. “We’re talking ...

Bloomberg The US, European Union and Canada said they are “willing to review sanctions policies” against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his regime provided there are “substantive, credible advancements” in negotiations to restore the democratic process in the South American country. “A time-bound and comprehensive negotiation process should restore the country’s institutions and allow for all Venezuelans to express themselves ...

Bloomberg The United Nations condemned the killing of three Medicins Sans Frontieres employees in Ethiopia’s Tigray region as a breach of international law. “This is totally unacceptable and an appalling violation of International Humanitarian Law,” UN Secretary General António Guterres said in a statement. “The perpetrators must be found and severely punished.” The three staffers — Maria Hernandez, MSF’s emergency ...

Bloomberg HSBC Holdings apologised to customers in Hong Kong after an update to its online and mobile banking terms stoked fears over overseas access to its services in the financial hub. The quick mea culpa by Hong Kong’s biggest bank — triggered by a Twitter post — underscores growing concerns in the city over not only civil society but also ...

Bloomberg Danske Bank has been charged by Danish police for allegedly violating rules intended to protect investors from market manipulation. Denmark’s biggest bank, which is separately being investigated in the US and Europe amid an ongoing money-laundering case, says it received notice of preliminary charges from the Danish State Prosecutor for Serious Economic and International Crime, or SOIK. The case ...

Bloomberg Thailand’s central bank held its benchmark rate unchanged, signalling a need to preserve policy space as the country grapples with its biggest wave of Covid cases and a weakening outlook for the tourism-reliant economy. The Bank of Thailand’s rate setting committee unanimously decided to hold rates at a record low of 0.5% for a ninth straight meeting, as expected ...

Bloomberg The European Central Bank (ECB) said it will start overseeing “systemic” investment firms as a long-planned legal change adds to responsibilities that have steadily expanded in recent years. Firms with more than 30 billion euros ($35.8 billion) of assets that underwrite or trade financial instruments on their own account will now have to apply for banking licenses under new ...

Bloomberg The Irish government plans to sell part of its 676 million euro ($807 million) stake in Bank of Ireland group over the next six months or so, the latest stage in its bid to recoup the bank bailout that almost bankrupted the nation. Part of Ireland’s 13.9% shareholding in the bank will be sold through a pre-arranged trading plan ...