Headlines

European companies are suffering yet more strain on supply chains already snarled up by the coronavirus pandemic as the conflict in Ukraine leads to growing shortages of key components, they warned on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The new snags pose a further threat to economic recovery in Europe, potentially prolonging existing bottlenecks that in some sectors were not expected to clear until next year. The conflict has added to the trade chaos that followed the global economy's emergence from pandemic lockdowns.

Gina Raimondo, the secretary of commerce, issued a stern warning on Tuesday to Chinese companies that might defy U.S. restrictions against exporting to Russia, saying the United States would cut them off from American equipment and software they need to make their products, the New York Times reported. The Biden administration could “essentially shut” down Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation or any Chinese companies that defy U.S. sanctions by continuing to supply chips and other advanced technology to Russia, Raimondo said.

China’s central bank stepped up its financial support for the economy, saying it will transfer more than 1 trillion yuan ($158 billion) in profits to the government to help finance fiscal spending, Bloomberg News reported. It’s the first time the People’s Bank of China has disclosed this kind of transfer, although it’s required by law to hand over profits to the government every year.

In a U.S. court, former Goldman Sachs partner Tim Leissner has admitted to taking $60 million in kickbacks, lying to the bank about his corrupt deals, and twice forging divorce documents to take on new wives, Reuters reported. Despite his history of deceit, Leissner is the key witness prosecutors are asking jurors to believe in the trial of Roger Ng, a former colleague of Leissner's at Goldman who is charged with helping loot Malaysia's 1MDB sovereign wealth fund during a scheme that lasted from 2009 to 2014.

Sri Lanka’s painful decision to effectively devalue its currency this week could pave the way for the island nation to get help from the International Monetary Fund as a $1 billion debt payment looms in four months, Bloomberg News reported. The country’s dollar bonds due July 2022 gained 1.6% on Wednesday to halt five days of losses, while the rupee advanced 0.3% after plunging as much as 12% -- the most in more than four decades -- in reaction to the central bank’s announcement that it was letting the currency float as international reserves dwindle.

As the government in Hong Kong struggles to contain the city’s worst Covid outbreak ever, some residents have panicked, the New York Times reported. Tens of thousands of new Omicron cases are being reported each day, and deaths have surged. The anxiety gripping Hong Kong is not just about the explosion of infections, but also about what the government will do next. Under pressure from Beijing to eliminate infections, Hong Kong officials have vowed to test all 7.4 million residents.

Italy's economic growth will be hit by the consequences of the war in Ukraine, including the surging energy costs, Prime Minister Mario Draghi said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. "Growth will certainly be weakened," Draghi told parliament, adding that his government would do everything it could "to mitigate the effects" on households and companies. The government's official forecast for this year, made last autumn, envisages a rise in gross domestic product of 4.7%, but this is now widely considered unrealistic.

The European Commission has prepared a new package of sanctions against Russia and Belarus over the invasion of Ukraine that will hit additional Russian oligarchs and politicians and three Belarusian banks, three sources told Reuters on Tuesday. The draft sanctions were adopted by the EU executive on Tuesday morning and will be discussed by EU ambassadors at a meeting starting at 1400 GMT, one source said. The draft package will ban three Belarusian banks from the SWIFT banking system and add several more oligarchs and Russian lawmakers to the EU blacklist, the sources told Reuters.

The European Commission published plans on Tuesday to cut the EU's dependency on Russian gas by two-thirds this year and end its reliance on Russian supplies of the fuel "well before 2030," Reuters reported. he European Union executive said it will do so by switching to alternative supplies and expanding clean energy more quickly under the plans, which will largely be the responsibility of national governments for implementing.

Japan has frozen the assets of an additional 32 Russian and Belarusian officials and oligarchs following the invasion of Ukraine, the Ministry of Finance announced on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The newly added sanctions target 20 Russians including deputy chiefs of staff for President Vladamir Putin's administration, deputy chairmen of the state parliament, the head of the Chechen Republic and executives of companies with close ties to the government such as Volga Group, Transneft and Wagner.