Bloomberg John Lee, named Hong Kong’s next chief executive in a rubber-stamp election that’s been criticised as unfair, vowed to strengthen national security and accelerate the city’s integration with mainland China. Speaking in Cantonese and English shortly after his victory was announced, the former police official and security minister outlined his service to China and Hong Kong and said his ...

Bloomberg US first lady Jill Biden crossed into Ukraine from Slovakia for an unannounced visit. Hungary continues to block the European Union’s latest package of sanctions against Russia, and Sunday’s talks in Brussels ended without an agreement. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy issued a video to mark Ukraine’s Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation, a day before Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected ...

  Bloomberg The UK government plans to move quickly to “fix” the Northern Ireland Protocol despite the election victory of the Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein, which favours keeping the contentious post-Brexit trade agreement. “It must be dealt with,” Dominic Raab, the UK’s deputy prime minister, told Sky News. Raab declined to comment on a report in the Telegraph that ...

Bloomberg The Russian invasion of Ukraine has spurred a rush of loans to help tiny Moldova defray the economic hit from the war raging next door. Things are so perilous that the International Monetary Fund is now calling on nations to send cash. The conflict is piling pressure on the ex-Soviet nation, just as it started trying to fix graft ...

Bloomberg The two candidates for Australia’s next prime minister were grilled on cost-of-living issues, corruption and rising inflation at a second leaders’ debate less than two weeks from a national vote to be held on May 21. During the debate, held in Sydney, the conversation often deteriorated into a yelling match between PM Scott Morrison and opposition Labor leader Anthony Albanese, ...

  Bloomberg Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva officially launched his bid to return to Brazil’s presidency more than a decade after he left office. The widely expected announcement, marked by an official event in Sao Paulo, kicks off a new phase of the campaign, in which Lula and his running mate Geraldo Alckmin will start traveling across the nation trying ...

Bloomberg Kenya plans to go ahead with a Eurobond sale at possibly the worst time in years. The government still intends to raise $1 billion before the end of June, Treasury Secretary Ukur Yatani told reporters in Nairobi. His remarks came days after his department expressed concern in a document that rising global yields meant borrowing might be too expensive ...

  Bloomberg Ireland’s banking sector needs to be allowed to move on from the financial crisis in order to retain staff, the IMF said, as the debate over caps on bankers’ pay intensifies. “It is important to resolve lingering issues” from global financial crisis which include “recognising banks’ need to retain talent, and noting importance of divesting government ownership,” the ...

  Bloomberg Argentina’s central bank dealt cryptocurrencies a blow, prohibiting financial institutions in the South American country from offering clients any operations involving unregulated digital assets. The monetary authority banned operations that allow bank clients to purchase crypto, just days after two large institutions announced they would let clients buy Bitcoin and other digital currencies. The ban also includes assets ...

  Bloomberg China’s foreign exchange reserves fall for the fourth straight month in April, as capital outflow pressures grew and the yuan weakened. Reserves fall to $3.1197 trillion in April from March’s $3.188 trillion, the People’s Bank of China said in a statement. That compares with the median estimate of $3.13 trillion in a Bloomberg survey of economists. China in ...