BLOOMBERG  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy suggested his country was losing control of Bakhmut after months of fierce fighting but downplayed Russian claims it now fully occupied the eastern city. “Today our people are performing an important task — they are in the Bakhmut, Zelenskiy said in Japan where he had met with leaders from the Group of Seven nations and ...

BLOOMBERG  US President Joe Biden said he expected ties with China to improve “very shortly” after a spat over an alleged spy balloon earlier this year derailed relations. Speaking to reporters on Sunday at the end of the Group of Seven (G-7) summit in Japan, Biden said the US’s move to shoot down a “silly balloon that was carrying two ...

BLOOMBERG  US bank deposits fell for a third week to the lowest level in nearly two years, extending a yearlong slide as customers continue seeking higher returns in money-market funds. Lending was little changed. Deposits at commercial banks decreased by $26.4 billion in the week ended May 10 to $17.1 trillion, according to seasonally adjusted data from the Federal Reserve. ...

BLOOMBERG  India is withdrawing its highest-value currency note just months before a national election, when cash in circulation typically surges. People have until September 30 to deposit 2,000 rupee ($24) notes into their bank accounts or exchange them for other denominations, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a statement citing its “clean note policy.” It didn’t say what ...

BLOOMBERG  Federal Bank Ltd, the Indian bank backed by the International Finance Corp (IFC), plans to raise as much as 40 billion rupees ($486 million) in the next few months to support its expansion. The fundraising could be via debt or equity, or a combination of the two, with the final structure still under consideration, the bank’s Chief Executive Officer ...

BLOOMBERG  James Gorman, who transformed Morgan Stanley after it nearly collapsed during the global financial crisis, plans to step down as chief executive officer (CEO) within the next year and assume the role of executive chairman. “It is the board’s and my expectation that it will occur at some point in the next 12 months,” Gorman, 64, said at the ...

BLOOMBERG  China’s yuan jumped after the country’s central bank moved to shore up the currency following a recent selloff, vowing to curb speculation and calling for more stability in the foreign exchange market. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and the foreign exchange regulator will “strengthen market expectation guidance and take actions to correct pro-cyclical and one-way market behaviours when ...

BLOOMBERG  India is unveiling a 170 billion rupee ($2 billion) financial incentive plan to draw makers of laptops, tablets and other hardware to the South Asian nation as companies look to diversify supply chains beyond China. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is capitalising on the early success of Apple Inc’s local assembly operations — which have helped the US company produce ...

BLOOMBERG  Vans haven’t always been objects of desire. When Fiat launched its Multipla model in the late 1990s, supporters of the soccer team Juventus — many of whom worked for the Italian carmaker — were subjected to stadium banners calling them as unpleasant-looking as the van they built. While Mercedes-Benz’s passenger car division likes to trumpet its popularity among royalty ...

SHARJAH / WAM Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi, President of American University of Sharjah (AUS) and of Sharjah Research, Technology, and Innovation Park (SRTIP), has urged leaders of technology companies to be more proactively inclusive by factoring women’s needs into corporate thinking from the start. Keynoting Wired’s third anniversary ‘Arab Women in Tech’ conference, in Dubai, Sheikha Bodour said it was ...