Bloomberg The European Union defended its airport slots rule following complaints by some airlines including Deutsche Lufthansa AG that the requirement forces it to fly empty planes. Lufthansa last week launched an onslaught against the EU’s use-it-or-lose-it rules that stipulate flights must take place or takeoff and landing slots will be forfeited. The carrier, whose units include Swiss, Brussels ...

  Bloomberg Russia won’t wait “endlessly” for a security deal with Nato and progress depends on the US, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday, keeping up pressure after a week of high-level talks with the West failed to yield noticeable progress. “We’re waiting for written responses from our colleagues” in the US and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Lavrov told ...

  Bloomberg Sweden’s armed forces are boosting preparedness in regions including the Baltic island of Gotland, citing Russia’s increased military activity in the area. Military resources will be “reallocated to strengthen operations in several different places” in Sweden, with a “visible” change on Gotland, Michael Claesson, chief of operations at the Swedish military, said in a statement late on Thursday. ...

  Bloomberg An agent of China “has been engaged in political interference activities” in the UK Parliament, Speaker of the House of Commons Lindsay Hoyle warned lawmakers in an email seen by Bloomberg. Citing an alert from British security service MI5, Hoyle named Christine Lee and said she has been working for the Chinese Communist Party to engage with members ...

  Bloomberg North Korea hit back at US sanctions in response to recent hypersonic missile tests that raised new security concerns, vowing a “stronger and certain reaction” to Washington’s attempt to halt its weapons programs. The pursuit of the advanced hypersonic missiles system, which are designed to evade existing defenses, is North Korea’s “legitimate right,” the country’s Foreign Ministry said ...

  Bloomberg Boris Johnson’s office apologized to Queen Elizabeth II following revelations of partying in Downing Street the night before her husband’s funeral, heaping further pressure on the prime minister as his government faces a string of allegations over pandemic rule-breaking. The Daily Telegraph on Friday said that on April 16, 2021, two parties were held in Downing Street to ...

  Bloomberg Several of China’s largest banks have become more selective about funding real estate projects by local government financing vehicles, concerned that some are taking on too much risk after they replaced private developers as key buyers of land. At least five state-run banks have imposed new restrictions this year on loans to weaker local government financing vehicles (LGFVs) ...

  Bloomberg Visa Inc joined its rival Mastercard Inc. in offering central banks a way to test retail applications for digital currencies they might issue. The card payment provider will begin piloting a program this spring with ConsenSys Inc, a blockchain software company, after discussions with roughly 30 central banks about goals related to government-backed digital currencies. Governments across the ...

  Bloomberg The Swiss National Bank (SNB) and partner organisations said they successfully conducted the second stage of their experiment to process digital currencies within the country’s financial system. During a three-day test in December, five commercial banks — Citigroup Inc, Credit Suisse Group AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Hypothekarbank Lenzburg AG and UBS Group AG — were able to ...

  Bloomberg Brazil’s central bank signalled inflation will end 2022 above target while saying a “significantly restrictive” cycle of interest rate hikes will help pull cost of living increases be low 5%. Inflation is converging to target over the relevant time horizon, which includes 2022 and 2023, bank chief Roberto Campos Neto wrote in a letter published on Tuesday. “In ...