Bloomberg South Korea’s manufacturing activity expanded at the fastest pace in a decade in February, even as the Lunar New Holiday across Asia cut demand and spurred a slowdown in China. A report from IHS Markit showed a purchasing managers’ index for Korean manufacturing jumped to 55.3 last month, rising further above the 50-threshold that separates expansion and contraction to ...

Bloomberg India is set to miss its goal for sugar exports this year because of a late start to shipments and logistical challenges, potentially providing further fuel to the sweetener’s blistering rally. The world’s second-biggest producer, grappling with massive stockpiles, will ship almost 20% less than the government’s target and a forecast from a top industry group, according to the ...

Bloomberg The Biden administration is set to announce sanctions against Russia over the poisoning and jailing of opposition leader Alexey Navalny, according to people familiar with the matter. The penalties — like those just approved by European Union ambassadors — will match sanctions the EU and the UK imposed earlier on other Russians allied to President Vladimir Putin as punishment ...

Bloomberg Insurgents, security forces and a private military company contracted by the government have killed hundreds of civilians in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province, according to Amnesty International. “The people of Cabo Delgado are caught between the Mozambican security forces, the private militia fighting alongside the government and the armed opposition group locally known as ‘al-Shabaab’ — none of which ...

Bloomberg Myanmar’s military has asked security forces responsible for deadly attacks on anti-coup protesters over the weekend not to use live ammunition as international condemnation grows. The announcement was made in a broadcast on state-run MRTV after the Southeast Asian nation saw its deadliest day since the February 1 coup, with the United Nations saying at least 18 protesters were ...

Bloomberg Gunmen in Nigeria freed hundreds of schoolgirls abducted last week in the northern state of Zamfara, the police said. “They were released in the early hours of this morning,“ state Commissioner of Police Abutu Yaro said by phone on Tuesday. A total of 279 girls were released, state Governor Bello Matawalle said on BBC Hausa radio. No ransom was ...

Bloomberg Chile’s Constitutional Assembly is shaping up to be far from the radical hotbed some investors had feared, as a split political left increases the odds that fringe candidates will be shut out from the rewrite of the nation’s charter. Parties open to changing the nation’s economic rules failed to coalesce behind one list of candidates for the body that ...

Bloomberg New Zealand’s central bank (RBNZ) signalled it is in no rush to remove monetary stimulus, saying inflation will slow next year and the economic outlook remains highly uncertain amid the Covid-19 pandemic. “Prolonged monetary stimulus” remains necessary and “considerable time and patience” will be required to meet its inflation and employment targets, the Reserve Bank said in a statement ...

Bloomberg The central bank of Myanmar is limiting cash withdrawals from banks and automated teller machines a month after the country’s military coup. Individuals will not be allowed to withdraw more than 2 million kyat ($1,406) from their bank accounts while businesses will be allowed to withdraw up to 20 million kyat a week, according to a directive signed by ...

Bloomberg Christopher Laskowski, head of Hong Kong corporate and investment banking at Citigroup Inc., is leaving after 23 years at the US bank, according to people familiar with the matter. Laskowski, who also heads Citigroup’s Asia global asset managers with a focus on private equity and sovereign wealth funds, recently resigned. He joined Citigroup in New York in 1997 and ...