April, 2022

• 4 April

  Bucha horrors drive Europe to add sanctions on Russia

  

  Bloomberg The European Union said that work is under way on additional sanctions to penalise Russia for what appear to be war crimes in Ukraine, condemning “in the strongest possible terms” alleged atrocities committed against civilians. In a statement on behalf of the 27-nation bloc, Josep Borrell, the EU’s chief foreign envoy, laid the blame for the “haunting images of ...

  Read More »
• 4 April

  Putin’s pre-war allies dominate Hungarian, Serbian elections

  

  Bloomberg The two European leaders most closely allied to Russian President Vladimir Putin before he launched his invasion of Ukraine won decisive election victories on pledges to stay out of the war. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has spent 12 years consolidating his grip on power and clashing with the European Union over democratic values, clinched a fourth consecutive ...

  Read More »
• 4 April

  Sri Lanka names new ministers as old team quits amid economic crisis

  

  Bloomberg Sri Lanka named a new finance minister as President Gotabaya Rajapaksa began reworking his cabinet to pull the economy out of its worst crisis in decades. Ali Sabry will take over from Basil Rajapaksa as the head of finance, while GL Pieris will continue as the foreign minister, Sudewa Hettiarachchi, director general of the Presidential Media Division, said by ...

  Read More »
• 4 April

  Biden to stay out of Jan 6 prosecution decisions

  

  Bloomberg White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said Attorney General Merrick Garland, not President Joe Biden, will make decisions on prosecutions in the January 6th, 2021 insurrection and in other cases. Klain was responding to a New York Times report that Biden told his inner circle last year that former President Donald Trump should be prosecuted. The Times cited ...

  Read More »
• 4 April

  Khan bets Pakistan drama to help him return to power

  

  Bloomberg To avoid losing a no-confidence vote in parliament, Pakistan leader Imran Khan instead triggered an unprecedented political crisis. Now the question is whether voters will reward him at the next election. In a series of events that stunned Pakistan, a member of Khan’s party scrapped the parliamentary vote over alleged foreign interference before the prime minister swiftly called an ...

  Read More »
• 4 April

  US hiring stays robust in March as jobless rate falls, wages pick up

  

    Bloomberg The US added close to half a million jobs in March and the unemployment rate fell by more than expected, highlighting a robust labour market that’s likely to support aggressive Federal Reserve tightening in the coming months. Nonfarm payrolls increased 431,000 last month after an upwardly revised 750,000 gain in February, a Labour Department report showed. The unemployment ...

  Read More »
• 4 April

  European regulators raise questions about Microsoft cloud practices

  

  Bloomberg European regulators are asking Microsoft Corp. partners and rivals for information related to a complaint made against the software maker alleging anti-competitive behavior in the cloud-computing services market. The European Commission in March circulated a questionnaire, seen by Bloomberg News, focusing on how Microsoft licenses its products. The questions may lead to a formal inquiry, and follows an antitrust ...

  Read More »
• 4 April

  UK firms expect pay rises in record numbers on inflation

  

    Bloomberg A record number of UK companies expect to increase wages as the war in Ukraine deepens the cost of living crisis, a survey showed. The Lloyds Bank Business Barometer found that a half intended to boost average pay by at least 2% in the next 12 months. A fifth of businesses that have annual turnover of more than ...

  Read More »
• 4 April

  Italian inflation surges to 7% in March

    Bloomberg Italian inflation surged to the highest in three decades as energy prices continued to rise following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Prices increased 7% in March from a year earlier, statistics office Istat said. That’s the fastest pace since 1991. Rising prices and the ongoing conflict are impacting the economy with Finance Minister Daniele Franco saying last week that ...

  Read More »
• 4 April

  Brazil exports, imports hit record high in March

    Bloomberg Brazil posted record monthly exports and imports in March on the back of a surge in global commodity prices fuelled by the Russian invasion of the Ukraine. Exports rose almost 20% from the same month a year ago to $29.1 billion, a record for the data series that goes back to 1959, the Economy Ministry reported. Imports increased ...

  Read More »