April, 2022

• 19 April

  Nato-linked centre to hold live-fire cyber exercises

  

  Bloomberg A cyber organisation accredited by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) will conduct what it bills as the largest and most complex “live-fire” cyber defense exercises in the world beginning on Tuesday. The Nato Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence, which is based in Estonia, said the annual event, called Locked Shields, is intended to boost the skills of ...

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• 19 April

  Solomon Islands signs China security pact

  

    Bloomberg China said it signed a security agreement with the Solomon Islands, which had faced pressure from nearby Australia and the US to reject the deal. Foreign Ministers Wang Yi and Jeremiah Manele “officially signed an intergovernmental framework agreement on security cooperation the other day,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular press briefing in Beijing. ...

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• 19 April

  Pakistan’s airstrikes on Taliban show tension

  

  Bloomberg Pakistan’s rare air strikes inside Afghanistan over the weekend that killed more than 40 civilians shows simmering tensions with the Taliban following the US withdrawal from the region. The cross-border strikes, the first in decades, elicited an unusually sharp response from the extremist group in Kabul and a warning that more such attacks would stoke retaliation. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry ...

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• 19 April

  Australian election tightens after rocky start to campaign

  

  Bloomberg Australian voters are turning their backs on the two major parties ahead of next month’s election, with new polling showing the center-right government and the opposition Labor Party could both struggle to win a majority in parliament. Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Liberal National Coalition government saw its primary support fall to 35%, while the opposition Labor Party’s fell to ...

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• 19 April

  Sri Lanka PM offers olive branch to protesters

  

    Bloomberg Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa promised to reduce the sweeping powers of the president, the government’s biggest concession yet to protesters as it seeks to stay in power amid a spiraling debt crisis. The premier told parliament that he would reintroduce the 19th amendment to the constitution, “with certain amendments,” as a possible “temporary solution” as the ...

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• 19 April

  Trump fundraiser meets with Jan 6 riot committee

  

  Bloomberg Kimberly Guilfoyle, a Trump campaign fundraiser and Donald Trump Jr’s fiance, was re-interviewed in-person by the House committee investigating the January 6 assault on the US Capitol. Her lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, said that the interview, which had begun in the morning, was continuing. The appearance is a follow-up to Guilfoyle’s abbreviated session with the panel, which was done virtually ...

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• 19 April

  China’s central bank announces 23 measures to revive economy

  

    Bloomberg China’s central bank rolled almost two dozen measures and promises intended to boost lending and support industries that have been battered by recent Covid-19 outbreaks and lockdowns. The 23 steps include everything from lending guidance for banks and promises to make it easier for companies to expand the cross-border use of the yuan, to general pledges for more ...

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• 19 April

  Japanese yen extends its longest losing streak in at least 50 years

  

    Bloomberg The yen extended its longest-losing streak in at least half a century as traders ignored government warnings about the speed of the currency’s decline, focusing instead on the widening gap between Japanese and US interest rates. Japan’s currency slid for a 13th day against the dollar, the longest run of losses in Bloomberg data starting in 1971, after ...

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• 19 April

  BOJ to model digital yen tests on Sweden’s approach, not China’s

  

    Bloomberg The Bank of Japan (BOJ) will explore the design issues of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in measured steps like Sweden rather than pressing ahead with large-scale pilot tests like China, according to the BOJ’s point-man on digital yen research. “Sweden’s staged and planned expansion of experiments is a better fit for us than China’s big-scale tests ...

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• 19 April

  Nigerian banks hit by exodus of tech talent

  

    Bloomberg Nigerian banks have been hit by an exodus of tech talent, chief executives of the nation’s lenders say. “So many of our very experienced talents especially in the area of software engineering are either leaving the industry or leaving the country,” Abubakar Suleiman, chief executive officer of Sterling Bank Plc, told reporters at the end of a meeting ...

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