Bloomberg The final session for Malaysia’s special parliament sitting on Monday has been postponed indefinitely because of an outbreak of Covid cases, likely easing pressure on embattled Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin amid mounting calls for him to resign. The deferment follows an assessment by the health ministry, which found the parliament building to be at risk of a spread in ...
Read More »Myanmar general to assume premiership, plans elections by 2023
Bloomberg Myanmar’s military regime said it’s forming a caretaker government and will install army chief Min Aung Hlaing as premier, further entrenching the junta six months it seized power in a coup. The state of emergency — set for a year when the regime took over in February — could be extended through August 2023, the senior general said in ...
Read More »NZ leader Ardern’s Labour support slips amid virus
Bloomberg Support for New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party has slipped by almost 10 percentage points amid increasing scrutiny of the government’s response to the coronavirus, according to a poll by Newshub-Reid Research. Labour’s support fell to 43% compared with a May survey, while New Zealand National Party’s backing rose to almost 29% and ACT Party’s increased to ...
Read More »Pelosi bid to stop evictions crumbles in setback for Biden
Bloomberg House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s bid for a last-minute extension of an eviction moratorium for renters collapsed, leaving millions of Americans at risk of losing their homes after the ban lifts on Saturday. Pelosi’s efforts, coming on the heels of a public plea made Thursday morning by President Joe Biden, marks a rare political defeat for the speaker, who has ...
Read More »Sunak demands easing of UK travel rules
Bloomberg Chancellor Rishi Sunak has urged an easing of the UK’s travel restrictions, which he said are damaging the country’s tourism industry and overall economy. Sunak wrote of his concerns to Prime Minister Boris Johnson before ministers are due to discuss August travel guidelines this week, the Sunday Times reported. In the letter, Sunak said UK border policy was out ...
Read More »South Korea-US drills will hurt ties, says Kim’s sister
Bloomberg The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said planned joint military exercises between South Korea and the US will “cloud†inter-Korean relations, Yonhap News Agency reported. North Korea will “closely watch†if South Korea goes ahead with the drills, report said, citing a statement from Kim Yo Jong via the Korean Central News Agency. Kim Jong-un and South ...
Read More »Deutsche Bank struggles with slew of departures in US wealth
Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG has lost a string of US-based wealth management executives over the past year, as Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing struggles to expand in the lucrative business of managing rich people’s money while keeping a lid on expenses. At least 10 senior bankers and numerous junior employees across the world’s largest wealth management market have left, according ...
Read More »NatWest reversing more loan provisions, plans buyback in Q2
Bloomberg NatWest Group Plc is reversing more of the provisions it took early in the Covid-19 pandemic as the British economy rebounds, helping it beat earnings forecasts in the second quarter and return cash to shareholders. The UK’s biggest corporate lender posted an operating profit before tax of 1.6 billion pounds ($2.2 billion) in the second quarter, compared to a ...
Read More »Monte Paschi is Europe’s worst lender as UniCredit deal looms
Bloomberg A day after UniCredit Spa announced talks to buy it, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA was the worst performer in European regulators’ stress tests and the only one to have a key measure of capital wiped out. That’s creating questions over the mechanics of a deal engineered by UniCredit Chief Executive Officer Andrea Orcel and the Italian ...
Read More »Lloyds raises outlook on improving UK recovery
Bloomberg Lloyds Banking Group Plc beat forecasts in the second quarter and lifted its guidance for the year as it released further provisions it had set aside for loans going bad during the pandemic. Pretax profit of 2 billion pounds ($2.8 billion) came in ahead of analyst expectations for 1.4 billion pounds, according to a consensus compiledby Bloomberg, and compares ...
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