Bloomberg China downgraded ties with Lithuania to the level of charge d’affaires, further raising tensions after Taiwan opened a diplomatic office in the Baltic nation. Lithuania is “walking back on political promises” made in a communique for establishing diplomatic links with China, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement. China withdrew its ambassador from Lithuania in August in protest ...

Bloomberg Tens of thousands gathered in Vienna to protest the Austrian government’s new vaccine mandate and a national lockdown to contain record coronavirus cases. The demonstration came as unrest is on the rise in Europe, where governments, desperate to end the pandemic and its damage to their economies and healthcare systems, are increasingly focusing on the unvaccinated. Austria will enter ...

Bloomberg Bulgarians are voting in a presidential runoff that is likely to re-elect incumbent Rumen Radev to a new five-year term and cement gains for political forces who ousted long-serving Prime Minister Boyko Borissov. After winning the first round of elections with nearly 50% of the votes, Radev faces Anastas Gerdzhikov, the head of Bulgaria’s largest university and backed by ...

Bloomberg Chileans headed to the polls to choose between diametrically opposed paths to address growing social demands that have been laid bare by the pandemic and two years of popular unrest. Voters will choose between seven contenders for the top job, including conservative Jose Antonio Kast and leftist Gabriel Boric, the two front-runners. They will also elect deputies for the ...

Bloomberg Venezuelans went to polls on Sunday in regional elections poised to strengthen President Nicolas Maduro as the country’s political opposition slips further into disarray. The country of 28 million will elect mayors, governors and local officials from roughly 70,000 candidates in the first elections that are being contested by opposition parties since 2017, and monitored by the European Union ...

Bloomberg Two of Europe’s banking giants picked the leaders who will help chart their next era as they named successors for the chairmen who steered them through a decade of restructuring. UBS Group nominated former Morgan Stanley President Colm Kelleher to succeed Axel Weber as chairman next year. A day earlier, Deutsche Bank AG proposed Dutch insurance veteran Alexander Wynaendts ...

Bloomberg Banks must report major cyberattacks to regulators within 36 hours if the incident is likely to disrupt their business, according to a new rule from US regulators. Any “computer security incident” that threatens a lender’s operations, services to customers or the stability of the financial system has to be disclosed to the bank’s primary government watchdog, according to a ...

Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG completed Europe’s first commercial real estate collateralised loan obligation, according to lawyers involved in the deal, breaking into a market that’s more than doubled in the US. The bank sealed a deal with commercial real estate lender Starz Real Estate, according lawyers at Reed Smith who represent the borrower. The agreement, denominated in euros and ...

Bloomberg Iceland’s central bank delivered its biggest hike since the coronavirus crisis struck in a bid to quell inflation and a rampant housing market. Policy makers in Reykjavik lifted seven-day term deposit rate by 50 basis points to 2%, highest level since March 2020. “The inflation outlook has deteriorated somewhat since August, owing in part to more persistent global price ...

Bloomberg Banks will play a key role in helping drive a reduction in carbon emissions through advising clients on how best to address their environmental footprint, according to a senior executive at HSBC Holdings Plc. “Catalyst is the word I use, but it’s in a very proactive sense,” Colin Bell, who leads HSBC’s European unit, said in a panel discussion ...