Bloomberg Close contests in five key states mean the US presidential election may not be decided for days, or longer, even as President Donald Trump’s falsely claimed victory over Democrat Joe Biden with millions of ballots still to be counted. As of 6 am New York time on Wednesday, Biden had 238 electoral votes while Trump had 213, leaving both ...

Bloomberg Italy is poised to ban people from leaving or entering cities and towns in high-risk areas, likely including the financial capital Milan, as part of the government’s latest attempt to check the rapid spread of the coronavirus. A 10 pm to 5 am curfew will also be imposed across the country, according to a draft decree seen by Bloomberg. ...

Bloomberg Ethiopia’s leader ordered the military to respond to an alleged attack on an army camp in the restive Tigray region, escalating a standoff between the federal and state governments. Military operations began in Tigray overnight and a six-month state of emergency has been declared in the northern region, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s spokeswoman Billene Seyoum said by phone on ...

Bloomberg Thai pro-democracy activists rejected a parliament-initiated plan to form a reconciliation committee, calling it a “political ploy to buy time,” and reiterated the demand for the immediate resignation of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha. The Thai parliament is setting up a committee to discuss the demands of the protesters in a bid to ease political tensions and restart the stalled ...

Bloomberg Boris Johnson was set to push fresh coronavirus lockdown rules through the UK Parliament on Wednesday, facing down rebels in his own Conservative Party who reject the erosion of civil liberties they entail. The regulations were due to take effect from Wednesday, enforcing the closing of gyms and non-essential shops in England, and restricting social contact between households. The ...

Bloomberg Australia’s central bank cut interest rates and announced purchases of longer-dated bonds to complement its yield curve control program for shorter-length maturities as it seeks to drive a rapid economic recovery. The Reserve Bank of Australia lowered its key interest rate, yield-curve target and bank lending facility rate to 0.10% from 0.25%, as forecast by an overwhelming majority of ...

Bloomberg Germany will take the lion’s share of the assets that lenders are moving out of the UK as a consequence of the Brexit, according to the Bundesbank. Non-German lenders are in the process of moving an additional 397 billion euros ($462 billion) of holdings to the country, taking their combined balance sheet there to 675 billion euros at the ...

Bloomberg JPMorgan Chase & Co and Citigroup Inc. joined rivals in asking the vast majority of employees in England to work from home following government rules to stop a surge in coronavirus infections. The Wall Street banks told staff in separate memos Tuesday that most workers will be required to work from home until further notice from Thursday, when a ...

Bloomberg Credit Agricole SA got a boost from clients selling bonds and set aside less money for expected bad loans, joining peers in taking a benign view of the pandemic as Europe enters a second phase of lockdowns. Revenue from capital markets, the biggest driver of Credit Agricole’s investment bank, surged 25% in the third quarter to beat analysts’ highest ...

Bloomberg BNP Paribas SA got a bigger-than-expected boost from trading and painted a relatively optimistic picture of the pandemic’s impact on its loan book, as it joined European peers in signalling an eventual return to dividend payments. Third-quarter revenue from trading fixed income, currencies and commodities surged 36% to 1.25 billion euros ($1.45 billion), the Paris-based bank reported, surpassing the ...