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Bloomberg US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin paid an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Sunday, the Associated Press said, citing local media reports. The stop comes as President Joe Biden is under pressure to decide whether to abide by an Afghanistan peace deal reached in Donald Trump’s final year aimed at bringing home the roughly 2,500 troops remaining in the ...

Bloomberg Malaysia said it expelled all North Korean diplomats in Kuala Lumpur following Pyongyang’s decision to end ties with it. Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Malaysia resorted to the action in response to North Korea’s “unilateral and utterly irresponsible decision to sever diplomatic ties,” according to a statement. Pyongyang said it was ending relations after a Malaysian court ruled that ...

Bloomberg The European Union (EU) must honour its vaccine contracts even as the sluggish rollout puts pressure on governments there, Ben Wallace, the UK defense secretary, told Sky News on Sunday. “The commission knows deep down that this would be counterproductive,” Wallace said. “They’re under tremendous political pressure at the European Commission. It would damage the EU’s relations globally if ...

Bloomberg Germany is mulling around 70 billion euros ($83 billion) in extra debt spending this year to fight the fallout from the coronavirus crisis, according to a person familiar with the plans. Finance Minister Olaf Scholz needs those additional funds because the country’s lockdown is dragging on much longer than expected, the person said, cautioning that the exact number is ...

Bloomberg Latin America faces risks as its economy rebounds from the worst downturn in two centuries, with better fiscal policy needed to ensure a sustained recovery, according to region’s development lender. Output will grow 4.1% this year as vaccine rollouts proceed and businesses continue to open, the Inter-American Development Bank said in forecasts released at its annual meetings. The bank ...

Bloomberg France amassed its biggest-ever green bond orderbook in its second sale of new debt, extending a pole position in the market to finance environmental projects. The nation raised 7 billion euros ($8.3 billion) from the securities maturing in 2044. Investors bid over 34.5 billion euros, about 50% more than for its first such offering in 2017, reflecting the surge ...

Bloomberg British officials are drawing up contingency plans in case the government needs to step in to save Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty Steel from collapse, amid fears that thousands of jobs in a critically key industry are at risk. Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng and other senior officials have been holding intensive discussions with the company in recent days, aiming to secure ...

Bloomberg Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Elon Musk used an opportunity to speak to an audience in China to strenuously deny the electric carmaker would ever use a vehicle’s technology for spying. Appearing at the China Development Forum, a conference organized by a unit of the country’s State Council, in a session titled “The Next Disruptive Innovation?” Musk said ...

Bloomberg A negative yield was quoted for the first time ever on India’s sovereign bond trading platform, traders said, triggering intense speculation about the motive. The 6.17% bond maturing in 2021 was offered at a negative yield of around 1.5%, according to traders who saw the quote on the Clearing Corporation of India’s Negotiated Dealing System — Order Matching, or ...

Bloomberg If investors keep pouring money into equity funds at their current pace, it could add a “breathtaking” $1.6 trillion to stocks this year, Bank of America Corp. (BofA) strategists say. Despite the market volatility spurred by rising bond yields and inflation bets, equity funds attracted a record $68.3 billion in the week through March 17, according to a BofA ...