European Union bureaucrats have come up with an ingenious mechanism for getting maverick governments, mostly in Eastern Europe, into line. The EU wants the power to cut off funding to countries it sees as weakening the rule of law. At the same time, if the bureaucrats get their way, the affected governments would be forced to provide financing for the ...

After a two-day ‘informal summit’ between Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi, China and India agreed to avoid military disputes on their contested Himalayan border. Left unresolved was a much bigger issue: what China is doing in Pakistan. Fifty years ago, Pakistan’s foreign minister gave a box of mangoes to Mao Zedong, little realizing that this gesture would secure a special ...

The Microsoft antitrust trial, which will have its 20th anniversary this fall, began with the legal equivalent of shock and awe. To the surprise of everyone in the courtroom, the government’s trial lawyer, David Boies, decided to use video clips of Bill Gates’s deposition as part of his opening statement. A Justice Department lawyer would touch a laptop button, and ...

Bloomberg John Flint is off to a bumpy start at HSBC Holdings Plc. Costs at Europe’s largest bank rose at a quicker pace than revenue in the first quarter and it took a surprise charge for past misconduct. HSBC also said a $2 billion share buyback would be the only one this year given the “growth opportunities,” signaling the bank ...

Bloomberg Argentina hiked interest rates for the second time in less than a week to stem the peso’s sharp decline, a tactic that many investors say will again bring only temporary relief. The central bank raised its key interest rate to 33.25 percent, the central bank’s press office said. The peso has fallen more than 5 percent since the day ...

Bloomberg India’s clampdown on unaccounted cash has sent a flood of money into the private banking industry, prompting a major lender to embark on a hiring binge for wealth managers. HDFC Bank Ltd — the most preferred wealth manager in India among high net worth clients surveyed by Euromoney — plans to add as many as 150 relationship managers by ...

Bloomberg Brazilian Daniel Marques hoped to parlay his Dreamer work permit into a job with Bank of America Corp. Instead, he’s suing the firm for discrimination. Marques claims his application to work in the bank’s wealth management department was denied after he told a vice president who interviewed him in 2016 that he’d be required to renew his work authorization ...

Bloomberg The chief executive officer of Danske Bank A/S has apologized for management’s failure to prevent criminals from using his firm to launder billions of dollars in illicit funds over several years. The apology follows an unusually harshly worded public reprimand by the financial regulator. The Danish government said management’s failings were “unforgivable” and the central bank warned that the ...

Bloomberg For a brief moment these past weeks, it appeared that France’s once-mighty unions had lost their clout. Rail workers, once synonymous with crippling strikes, staged a walkout that went largely unnoticed as travellers shrugged, turning to buses and ride-sharing instead. But over at Air France, that well-oiled worker conflict played out in a decidedly more retro fashion. On May ...

Bloomberg Nestle SA is close to a deal for parts of Starbucks Corp.’s business that sells coffee beans and drinks in supermarkets, according to a person familiar with the situation. An agreement was expected to be announced on Monday, according to the person, who didn’t want to be identified as it isn’t public yet. Terms were not immediately available. The ...