Bloomberg Xi Jinping bet that establishing a “no limits” friendship with Vladimir Putin could prevent the US from containing China. Now that agreement threatens to leave Beijing more isolated and alone. A phone call between Xi and US President Joe Biden appeared to achieve no major breakthroughs. The US continued to threaten unspecified consequences if China provides support to Russia, ...

  Bloomberg The UK blamed Russia for hoax calls made last week to three cabinet ministers, calling it “standard practice” from the Kremlin as Vladimir Putin’s administration seeks to distract from its failings on the battlefield in Ukraine. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and Home Secretary Priti Patel both said last week they’d received calls by impostors posing as the Ukrainian ...

  Bloomberg China slashed the amount of goods it purchased from Lithuania by almost 90% in the first two months of the year after the two countries became embroiled in a political and trade dispute late last year. Imports from Lithuania dropped 88.5% in dollar terms in the two months from the same period last year, according to figures by ...

  Bloomberg The European Union (EU) looks set to reinforce the US warning to China that Beijing would face serious consequences if it tried to cushion the blow of sanctions against Russia or provide Moscow with military support. The EU and the US have been coordinating closely ahead of a virtual EU-China summit on April 1 and will continue to ...

Bloomberg Argentine President Alberto Fernandez called on his government to implement “all necessary measures” to combat 52% inflation that’s been aggravated by the surge of global commodity prices due to the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In a sombre, 18-minute speech, Fernandez said his ministers would start rolling out new measures without providing specifics. Earlier in the week, he declared a ...

  Bloomberg Italy’s economy is strong enough to handle a slowdown and its debt will remain manageable even as European Central Bank stimulus winds down, Prime Minister Mario Draghi said. “I don’t see risks for Italy’s debt,” he said after a meeting of European Union leaders in Versailles, France. “We are ready to withstand a temporary slowdown in growth, and ...

  Bloomberg More than 100 UK-listed companies have warned of negative effects from the war in Ukraine, with few of them so far quantifying the impact on their earnings, according to research by Bowmore Asset Management. The majority of the 115 companies the firm identified cautioned about effects specific to their businesses in the region, while many others referred to ...

  Bloomberg Brazil’s Supreme Court banned the popular messaging service Telegram, in a widening crackdown on what authorities describe as fake news and hate speech in the lead-up to presidential elections later this year. Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered internet providers and digital stores to block the app after repeated attempts by the federal police to get in touch with ...

  Bloomberg Chinese equities fall on Monday as traders remained concerned about whether there would be adequate policy support to spur growth after lenders left the borrowing costs unchanged. The CSI 300 Index closed down 0.2% after falling as much as 1%. Rate-sensitive financial firms and property developers weighed on the market. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, which tracks ...

  Bloomberg Dentists, surgeons and other suburban millionaires don’t loom large on the client rosters of buyout funds run by the most elite investment companies. But inside Blackstone Inc, plans are afoot to develop its first private equity fund targeting such individuals as part of a project codenamed “BXPE.” The goal: build new war chests that would eventually gather tens ...