Bloomberg Afghanistan’s US-backed president used his first public appearance in days to say he’s turning to the international community for help against Taliban militants advancing across the country. Ashraf Ghani made brief, nationally televised remarks on Saturday as Taliban fighters continue to make rapid territorial gains in the vacuum left by departing US and NATO troops. The president said he ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong’s largest protest group that drew upwards of two million of the city’s residents on to the streets in 2019 will disband, according to local media reports. Members of the Civil Human Rights Front, which organized many of the largest rallies during the Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy protests, endorsed a resolution to disband, local media including the South ...

Bloomberg Finland’s opposition Finns Party picked a new leader who said the anti-immigrant populists won’t sacrifice their controversial policies in order to become more palatable to other politicians. Riikka Purra, a 44-year-old lawmaker considered the favourite in the race, won by a large margin, securing majority support at a party convention in Seinajoki, western Finland, on Saturday. Incumbent Jussi Halla-Aho ...

Bloomberg Representatives of Nicolas Maduro’s government and the opposition signed a “memorandum of understanding” in Mexico City to begin talks aimed at ending a five-year political impasse and addressing the nation’s economic collapse. The head of opposition’s delegation, Gerardo Blyde, said each side’s willingness and the common understanding that Venezuela is in the midst of its “worst crisis” in modern ...

Bloomberg Zambian opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema took an early lead as the first results were announced from cliffhanger election. With results tallied from 15 of the 156 constituencies, Hichilema had 171,604 votes versus President Edgar Lungu’s 110,178, chief electoral officer Kryticous Nshindano said Saturday. Total valid votes counted so far are 287,996, he said. The partial count may not be ...

Bloomberg At a campaign stop outside a picturesque market town in Saxony, Armin Laschet was faced with a very delicate political dilemma for a German politician: what to put on his bratwurst. With cameras clicking, the faltering favourite to replace Angela Merkel as chancellor hesitated before picking ketchup, while a local ally from his Christian Democratic party subtly noted Saxony’s ...

Bloomberg Climate activists are starting to map out a coordinated campaign to oppose the potential re-nomination of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, because they view his record on fighting climate change through the banking system as scant and not aggressive enough. The campaign will kick off on August 26 at the start of the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, a gathering ...

Bloomberg Argentine digital bank Brubank, founded by a former Citigroup Inc executive, is looking to expand to Colombia and Peru in 2022 after raising more financing at the end of this year. The Buenos Aires-based company is planning a Series B funding round during the last quarter of 2021 to invest more in Argentina and to finance an expansion into ...

Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG nominated former UBS AG executive Axel Lehmann to head the board of directors’ risk committee and the ex-chief risk officer at Lloyd’s Banking Group Juan Colombas for a seat on the board, in the latest effort to reinforce the bank’s management team. The proposals will be put before an extraordinary shareholders meeting set for October ...

Bloomberg National Bank of Canada Chief Executive Officer Louis Vachon is stepping down after 14 years and will be succeeded by Laurent Ferreira atop the country’s sixth-largest bank. Ferreira, 50, who was promoted to chief operating officer in February, will take over as CEO on November 1, the Montreal-based lender said. Since taking the reins in 2007, Vachon, 59, helped ...