Bloomberg Market manipulation is still on the rise in the UK even after a decade of crackdowns on schemes to rig foreign-exchange rates and other key benchmarks. And the coronavirus pandemic could make things worse. Reports of suspected market manipulation made to the Financial Conduct Authority have increased by 23% since 2017, with a sharp jump in 2018 followed by ...

Bloomberg Germany’s spring showers haven’t materialised this year, and that’s drying out the country’s most important river, prompting concerns that key industrial goods might have trouble making it to their destination. Typically one of the wettest months, Europe’s biggest economy has received just 5% of its normal April rainfall so far, according to Germany’s federal weather service. It’s on course ...

Bloomberg The Trump administration will square off against House Democrats on Tuesday over a crucial question: Is a congressional subpoena of White House officials a formidable weapon or an empty threat? The battle, which is likely to reach the Supreme Court, could shape legal fights ranging from the quest for President Donald Trump’s tax returns to a conflict over his ...

Bloomberg US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential bid on Monday, citing the fellow Democrat’s role in helping to manage the federal response to the 2008 financial crisis and in passing Obamacare. In a video published on Biden’s YouTube page, Pelosi said that the presumptive Democratic nominee “has been a voice of reason and resilience, ...

Bloomberg Kim Jong-un has not been seen in public for more than two weeks. If he’s hale and hearty, to dispel the frenzied speculation to the opposite, it should be a simple matter of having him pop up somewhere to have his photo taken. Officials in South Korea say they think Kim is fine. The regime’s ally China is trying ...

Bloomberg Julian Assange’s extradition trial, set to begin next month, has been delayed amid the coronavirus pandemic. The three-week trial was due to begin on May 18 in London, but was postponed until July or even November, because of the extension of the UK lockdown. Assange faces extradition to America on charges that he conspired to disclose documents passed to ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Boris Johnson returned to work and moved to stamp his authority on a government under pressure over its handling of the UK coronavirus outbreak, warning that to lift a nationwide lockdown now would risk both a health crisis and an “economic disaster.” Speaking exactly one month after he went into isolation with a case of Covid-19 that ...

Bloomberg Emergency measures invoked used to enforce lockdowns during the coronavirus pandemic can’t be used to abuse detainees, the United Nations’ top human rights official warned. Locking up curfew breakers who were simply looking for food in already overcrowded prisons is just one example, Michelle Bachelet, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said on Monday. Reports of police enforcing lockdowns ...

There’s a booming market in conspiracy theories about the origins of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China. But the Chinese government has no one to blame but itself for this explosive debate. They have put the truth on lockdown. China has an obligation here: For its own sake and the world’s, it should promptly begin a serious, credible investigation into ...

Almost 6% of mortgage loans are in forbearance, meaning about 3 million homeowners have delayed payments, according to data released this week by the mortgage bankers’ trade group. That’s a 60% jump from the prior week, and industry observers estimate that the number of loans in forbearance could eventually climb to as high as 15%. So who’s postponing their mortgage ...