Bloomberg Russia vowed to ignore US and European calls to free jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny after he urged Western governments to sanction key allies of President Vladimir Putin. Navalny, 44, identified eight people as potential targets for punitive measures, including billionaire Chelsea soccer club owner Roman Abramovich and tycoon Alisher Usmanov as well as top officials, in a list ...

Bloomberg Sudanese forces quelled latest inter-communal clashes in Darfur, a state governor said, as authorities grapple with violence that’s killed more than 100 people in broader region after peacekeepers began withdrawing. A joint military force managed to control fighting that erupted between Arab and non-Arab communities in South Darfur and left dozens dead and wounded, state-run news agency reported, citing ...

Bloomberg The European Union (EU) needs to find new ways to recapitalise businesses so that the hole on corporate balance sheets doesn’t derail the recovery, according to a financial-industry group. Companies face an equity shortfall of as much as $724 billion, as existing government programs and private funding won’t suffice to fully cover the roughly 1 trillion euros ($1.21 trillion) ...

Bloomberg Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak can’t afford to wait for the budget on March 3 to provide extra support for hobbled UK firms, according to the UK’s biggest business lobby group. With Britain back in a severe lockdown, urgent action is needed to help companies survive, the Confederation of British Industry said in a letter to the Chancellor ...

Bloomberg The European Union (EU) risks squandering the potential of its recovery fund unless spending is properly policed, according to the biggest business lobby groups in eight Nordic and Baltic countries. The 27-member bloc agreed on a 750 billion-euro ($907 billion) pandemic relief package in December to help end the worst recession on record. The money is also supposed to ...

Bloomberg European car sales plunged the most on record last year as relatively resilient demand in the second half did only so much to make up for the collapse during the initial outbreak of Covid-19. New-vehicle registrations fall 24%, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association said on Tuesday, the biggest annual drop since records began in 1990. A strong finish to ...

Bloomberg Call it the prop-up effect. As France lived through its worst economic slump since World War II, business failures paradoxically slid to the lowest in 33 years. The number of bankruptcies and firms seeking protection from creditors or entering receivership fall 38% in 2020, as government aid in the face of the coronavirus pandemic kept French companies afloat, according ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong stocks closed at the highest level since May 2019 as mainland investors continue a record spending spree in the city. The benchmark Hang Seng Index rises 2.7% Tuesday, soaring past last year’s peak as stock turnover in the city rose to a record $38.9 billion. A rally since late December has been powered by Chinese investors, who ...

Bloomberg Global markets climbed ahead of a speech by Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen in which she’s expected to call for expansive government action to bolster the US economy. The advance was broad across equities, with futures on the Russell 2000 Index of small-cap companies registering strong gains. Banks led the advance in Europe’s Stoxx 600 Index. Ten-year Treasury yields ...

DUBAI / WAM Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) and Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) on Monday announced that the UAE has become the first country in the world to produce aluminium using the power of the sun. Under an agreement signed on Monday, Dewa will supply EGA’s smelter with solar power from the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. ...