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Bloomberg A cut power cable leading to Ukraine’s defunct nuclear power plant in Chernobyl prompted officials on Wednesday to warn of potential safety risks. The 2,600 square kilometer (1,000 mile) Chernobyl exclusion zone, site of the deadly 1986 meltdown, also houses a nuclear-waste facility, where spent fuel from Ukraine’s reactors is encased for safe long-term storage. Operator Energoatom said the ...

Bloomberg Venezuela’s government released two political prisoners, days after it held a rare meeting with members of the administration of US President Joe Biden to discuss lifting oil sanctions. President Nicolas Maduro released Gustavo Cardenas, a US citizen and former executive from oil firm Citgo, according to his lawyer Diego Barboza. Cuban-American citizen Jorge Fernandez, arrested in February 2021, was ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong’s “high degree of autonomy” from China could last for 50 years after legally expiring in 2047, a top Beijing official said, despite China’s greatly expanded control over the financial hub in recent years. Xia Baolong, director of the mainland agency responsible for Hong Kong, made the comments Wednesday to delegates from the finance hub at China’s annual ...

  Bloomberg Kenya named Marjan Hussein Marjan as chief executive officer of its Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, barely five months before a general election. Marjan has been acting CEO at the agency since October 2017 when Kenya held a repeat poll after the initial count was nullified by the Supreme Court over irregularities. His task will be to boost ...

  Bloomberg UniCredit SpA signaled a hit of about 200 basis points to its capital buffers in an “extreme scenario” in which its Russian banking assets are wiped out, joining European lenders detailing the potential fallout from the financial turmoil after the Ukraine invasion. The Milan-based bank doesn’t consider an extreme scenario — the entirety of its exposure to the ...

  Bloomberg Countries around the globe face a challenge in replacing supply of commodities from Russia and Ukraine that has been cut off by the war and should remove restraints to production, according to the World Bank chief. Nations could look at easing constraints such as the Jones Act in the US—which requires that ships moving between ports be built ...

  Bloomberg A group of banks led by UniCredit SpA is considering options including a state-backed guarantee for a 850 million euros bridge-loan for troubled Italian engineering firm Saipem SpA, according to people familiar with the matter. The team of banks, which includes Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, started discussing the option in a confidential meeting, the people said, asking not to ...

Bloomberg The European Central Bank is concerned that lenders’ balance sheets could suffer a series of hits after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine plunged the global economy and markets into turmoil. The regulator has told banks to assess whether they need to set aside money for potential losses not just on loans to Russian firms, but also on lending to companies ...

  Bloomberg Royal Bank of Canada, Shopify Inc. and Bullfrog Power Inc. have agreed to buy a combined 90,000 megawatt-hours of energy a year from a Berkshire Hathaway Inc. wind farm in Canada. The firms are purchasing the power from Berkshire Hathaway Energy Canada’s 130-megawatt Rattlesnake Ridge Wind Power Project in southeast Alberta, according to a release Wednesday. The project, ...

Bloomberg US index futures and European stocks rose as dip buyers wagered the global economic impact of escalating sanctions on Russia is already reflected in market prices. Contracts expiring later this month on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 gauges added at least 1.2% each after US equities tumbled to a nine-month low. Banks and automakers boosted Europe’s Stoxx 600 ...