Bloomberg The White House denied reports that President Donald Trump had been briefed by intelligence officials about, but had done nothing to respond to, an effort by Russian President Vladimir Putin to put bounties on US and allied troops in Afghanistan. The statement came shortly after Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden slammed Trump for the alleged inaction, which was first ...

Bloomberg China’s top legislative body will vote on Hong Kong’s security legislation on Tuesday morning, the day before the city’s handover anniversary, Now TV News reported, signalling Beijing may soon hand down a measure that pro-democracy activists and business groups say could erode the city’s unique freedoms. At a three-day meeting that started on Sunday, the National People’s Congress Standing ...

Bloomberg Polish citizens are voting in a presidential election that will determine the fate of the east European country’s nationalist makeover. After voiding a ballot in May due to the coronavirus pandemic, Poland on Sunday held the first of an expected two rounds of voting to determine whether to re-elect President Andrzej Duda. More than 27,000 polling stations catering to ...

Bloomberg Lazarus Chakwera was sworn in as Malawi’s new leader on Sunday, a day after trouncing Peter Mutharika in a court-ordered election rerun, and pledged to unite the deeply dividend nation and clamp down on graft. “I know that there are many of you who did not vote for me in this election, and perhaps the prospect of my presidency ...

Bloomberg After two decades in power, Vladimir Putin’s approval ratings are at an all-time low as Russia’s economy reels under the impact of the coronavirus epidemic and the slump in oil prices. What better time for him to seek to extend his presidency for potentially 16 more years? It’s a measure of how tightly Putin has controlled the operation to ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed the UK will spend large sums on hospitals, schools and roads to jump-start the economy as it emerges from the coronavirus lockdown that has plunged the country into what may be the worst recession in three centuries. In an interview in the Daily Mail, Johnson rejected a return to the austerity policies that followed ...

Bloomberg Brazil, the nation with the second-highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths, reached a deal with the UK to produce the Covid-19 vaccine that’s been developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca Plc. Brazil will spend $287 million to buy vaccine doses and ingredients for as many as 100 million shots that it will be able to produce locally with ...

Bloomberg Employers probably kept hiring millions of Americans in June as states gradually lifted pandemic-related restrictions on businesses in a delicate balancing act of getting economies rolling again while limiting infection rates. Economists project the Labour Department will report a three million increase in payrolls after a surprising 2.5 million gain a month earlier. The back-to-back gains, nonetheless, pale in ...

Bloomberg Wirecard AG expects its provisional insolvency administrator to be appointed shortly as the scandal-hit payment company said its business activities will continue. Once lauded as one of Germany’s most successful up-and-coming businesses, Wirecard filed for insolvency after the company said that 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion) previously reported as cash on its balance sheet probably doesn’t exist. In a ...

Bloomberg Peru will lift quarantine measures for most of the country starting July 1, easing one of the world’s strictest lockdowns as it faces a severe economic slide. Mandatory isolation orders will end for all but a handful of departments, according to a government decree, which left in place a state of emergency until July 31. Children and the elderly ...