Bloomberg Top US and Russian diplomats agreed to keep talking even as they acknowledged a first round of security discussions did little to resolve their differences over Russia’s troop buildup near Ukraine or Moscow’s concern about the possibility that Nato may expand its presence further east. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov repeated Russia’s insistence it has no plans to ...
Read More »Mali junta urges talks after bloc imposes sanctions
Bloomberg Mali’s military ruler said he’s open to talks with West Africa’s economic bloc about returning the nation to civilian rule and asked the group to reconsider sanctions imposed over his refusal to hold elections next month. While the government regrets the “illegal, illegitimate and inhumane nature of certain decisions, Mali remains open to talks with the Economic Community ...
Read More »Maduro suffers defeat in Chavez’s home state
Bloomberg Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro suffered a rare electoral loss when his candidate was defeated in a vote to elect the next governor of Barinas state, the birthplace of Hugo Chavez, who started the so-called socialist revolution. Jorge Arreaza, a former foreign minister and Chavez son-in-law, conceded defeat to little-known opposition candidate Sergio Garrido. The Electoral Council said Garrido ...
Read More »Canada caps record jobs year as monthly gain doubles estimates
Bloomberg Canada’s labour market beat expectations in December, a strong end to a record year for employment gains. Employment rises 54,700 last month, Statistics Canada reported in Ottawa. That’s more than double the 25,000 gain economists were predicting in a Bloomberg survey. Full-time jobs actually surged by 123,000, as many part-time workers shifted to more permanent employment — another ...
Read More »German floods cost a record $40 billion
Bloomberg Germany suffered its costliest natural disaster on record last year, as flash floods led to damages that vastly exceeded the amount covered by insurers. Torrential rainfall that devastated parts of western Germany in July 2021 cost Europe’s biggest economy $40 billion, according to a Munich Re report. Roughly a quarter of that will be met by the insurance ...
Read More »New York Times to buy the Athletic in $550 million deal
Bloomberg The New York Times Co agreed to buy the Athletic, acquiring a sports-news website with more than 1 million subscribers. The newspaper publisher is paying $550 million for the Athletic, which will remain a standalone product, Times Chief Executive Officer Meredith Kopit Levien said in a statement. The deal is expected to close by the end of March. ...
Read More »UK tells developers to repair dangerous apartment cladding
Bloomberg UK property developers must contribute to a 4 billion-pound-fund ($5.4 billion) to fix dangerous cladding on low-rise apartment blocks by March or face new regulations that would force them to pay, Housing Secretary Michael Gove said. Gove said it was “morally wrong†that homeowners were still trapped in unsafe and unsellable apartments more than four years after the ...
Read More »Polish inflation reaches 21-year-high
Bloomberg Polish inflation hit a 21-year-high, exceeding most analysts’ forecasts and boosting expectations that the central bank will keep raising interest rates. Consumer prices in December jumped 8.6% from a year earlier, compared with 7.8% in November, preliminary data showed. The reading was above a median of 8.2% in a Bloomberg survey of 23 economists. This week, Governor Adam Glapinski ...
Read More »Euro area inflation hits record to test ECB resolve
Bloomberg Inflation in the euro region accelerated beyond already record levels, defying expectations for a slowdown and complicating the task for European Central Bank officials who insist the current spike is temporary. Consumer prices jumped 5% from a year earlier in December — faster than the previous month’s 4.9% gain and more than the 4.8% median estimate in a ...
Read More »Stock recovery in Europe led by tech; dollar drops
Bloomberg European stocks bounced back from their biggest decline in six weeks as Treasury yields steadied a day before a key American inflation reading. Technology stocks led the advance in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index after the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 recovered following four negative sessions. US futures edged higher. Benchmark Treasury yields stabilised near 1.75% after reaching 1.8% in ...
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