Bloomberg Pakistan’s rare air strikes inside Afghanistan over the weekend that killed more than 40 civilians shows simmering tensions with the Taliban following the US withdrawal from the region. The cross-border strikes, the first in decades, elicited an unusually sharp response from the extremist group in Kabul and a warning that more such attacks would stoke retaliation. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry ...

Bloomberg Australian voters are turning their backs on the two major parties ahead of next month’s election, with new polling showing the center-right government and the opposition Labor Party could both struggle to win a majority in parliament. Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Liberal National Coalition government saw its primary support fall to 35%, while the opposition Labor Party’s fell to ...

  Bloomberg Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa promised to reduce the sweeping powers of the president, the government’s biggest concession yet to protesters as it seeks to stay in power amid a spiraling debt crisis. The premier told parliament that he would reintroduce the 19th amendment to the constitution, “with certain amendments,” as a possible “temporary solution” as the ...

Bloomberg Kimberly Guilfoyle, a Trump campaign fundraiser and Donald Trump Jr’s fiance, was re-interviewed in-person by the House committee investigating the January 6 assault on the US Capitol. Her lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, said that the interview, which had begun in the morning, was continuing. The appearance is a follow-up to Guilfoyle’s abbreviated session with the panel, which was done virtually ...

  Bloomberg China’s central bank rolled almost two dozen measures and promises intended to boost lending and support industries that have been battered by recent Covid-19 outbreaks and lockdowns. The 23 steps include everything from lending guidance for banks and promises to make it easier for companies to expand the cross-border use of the yuan, to general pledges for more ...

  Bloomberg The yen extended its longest-losing streak in at least half a century as traders ignored government warnings about the speed of the currency’s decline, focusing instead on the widening gap between Japanese and US interest rates. Japan’s currency slid for a 13th day against the dollar, the longest run of losses in Bloomberg data starting in 1971, after ...

  Bloomberg The Bank of Japan (BOJ) will explore the design issues of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in measured steps like Sweden rather than pressing ahead with large-scale pilot tests like China, according to the BOJ’s point-man on digital yen research. “Sweden’s staged and planned expansion of experiments is a better fit for us than China’s big-scale tests ...

  Bloomberg Nigerian banks have been hit by an exodus of tech talent, chief executives of the nation’s lenders say. “So many of our very experienced talents especially in the area of software engineering are either leaving the industry or leaving the country,” Abubakar Suleiman, chief executive officer of Sterling Bank Plc, told reporters at the end of a meeting ...

Bloomberg The European Central Bank (ECB) renewed its pledge to end bond-buying in the coming months, as record inflation raises the odds it will also lift interest rates for the first time in more than a decade before the year is out. The Governing Council reiterated that it will halt net asset purchases in the third quarter — an accelerated ...

  Bloomberg Bank of America Corp (BofA) joined Wall Street rivals in capitalising on market volatility while also benefiting from an increase in lending. The company’s trading operation posted $4.72 billion in revenue, down just 7.1% from a year earlier after analysts expected a 16% decline. The best results were in the equities business, which posted a 9.5% gain, the ...