Business Point Today

European leaders expressed solidarity with Ukraine on Friday as it marked 100 days since Russia invaded, but were challenged to state outright that they want the Ukrainians to win the war. Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, one of Russia’s fiercest critics in Europe, said it was “high time for us to believe in victory, just as firmly as Ukraine does”. His Estonian counterpart Kaja Kallas, another hard-line opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said western support “must continue until Ukraine wins and justice prevails”. Read More : https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/europe/2022/06/03/leaders-challenged-to-say-ukraine-must-win-after-100-days-of-war/

Nigeria’s government has directed its state-run oil company NNPC to implement a deal on a gas pipeline to Europe through Morocco. Africa’s gas resources are increasingly in the spotlight as the European Union looks to wean itself off Russian supplies following the invasion of Ukraine in February. Approval for a memorandum of understanding on the gas project with West African regional bloc ECOWAS was given after a cabinet meeting, Nigeria’s Petroleum Minister Timipre Sylva told reporters in Abuja late Wednesday. Nigeria is Africa’s top oil producer and a major supplier of gas and liquefied natural gas. Read More : https://english.alarabiya.net/business/energy/2022/06/02/Nigeria-agrees-step-on-new-gas-pipeline-through-Morocco-to-Europe

European Union leaders agreed on Monday to ban most imports of Russian oil to the 27-nation bloc as Ukrainian and Russian forces battled on the outskirts of Sievierodonetsk, the last city still held by Kyiv in Ukraine’s strategic Luhansk province. In the bloc’s toughest sanction on Moscow since the invasion of Ukraine three months ago, European Council President Charles Michel said the ban agreed at an EU summit in Brussels would immediately cover more than two-thirds of oil imports from Russia and cut a “huge source of financing for its war machine.” The leaders said they had agreed to cut 90 per cent of oil imports from Russia by the end of this year, with exemptions for Hungary - a landlocked country that relies heavily on crude piped from Russia - and others concerned about the ban’s economic impact. EU leaders also agreed to cut off the largest Russian bank, Sberbank, from the SWIFT system and to ban three more Russian state-owned broadcasters, Michel added. Read More : https://w...

Blackstone is seeking a tenfold increase of assets in its Asia-Pacific private credit business to tap a market with a growing appetite for such financing. The US alternative asset manager aims to expand its private credit assets to at least $5 billion in the “near term” from the $500 million committed as of the fourth quarter of last year, said Paulo Eapen, who heads the operations in Europe and Asia-Pacific. Blackstone Credit began investing actively in the region in 2021. While Asia makes up only a tiny fraction of the global private credit market, Blackstone is betting that demand will build as companies in the region increasingly look to diversify debt financing away from bank loans. “Asia’s nascent private debt markets are set to be on the rise given the accelerating growth in private equity activities,” Mr Eapen said in an interview. “There’s a tremendous opportunity for Blackstone Credit to contribute to the underserved Asian private debt market and address the rising financing ...

  Ukraine fighting: Russian forces have made no significant progress in the previous 24 hours, with continuing supply problems and aggressive resistance from Ukrainian fighters, UK defence officials say. Poor morale and a lack of momentum have compounded the problems facing Russian forces, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said in its latest intelligence briefing. Heavy fighting continues around Mariupol as Russian forces try to capture the port on the Sea of Azov, which connects to the Black Sea, the ministry said. Russia was also maintaining a blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, cutting off maritime trade with the country. The Russian navy has launched sporadic missile strikes against targets in Ukraine, the ministry said. Chernobyl fires: Fires covering more than 10,000 hectares across the Chernobyl exclusion zone could lead to increased radiation pollution levels in the air spreading on prevailing winds heading west, Ukrainian officials have warned. Russian military forces are t...

 President Joe Biden’s apparent call for his Russian counterpart to be removed from power has created a stir in US policy circles and alarm among its allies, although the White House downplayed the remarks. At the end of his speech from Warsaw on Saturday, Mr Biden said of Russian President Vladimir Putin: “For God's sake, this man cannot remain power.” The remark caused concern within the US political establishment and America’s Nato allies as they try to contain the war in Ukraine and present a united front. US President Joe Biden meets Ukrainian refugees at the PGE Narodowy Stadium in Warsaw during a visit to Poland.  The White House clarified within moments that Mr Biden was not in fact advocating change, and the president replied “no” to reporters who asked if that was what he meant. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also spoke to reporters to clarify the president’s point. “I think the president, the White House, made the point last night that, quite simply, President Pu...

  Kyiv hit: A Russian air strike hit a residential building in Kyiv on Monday and killed at least two people, according to Ukraine’s emergencies agency, which said at least 12 others were injured. The explosion at the nine-storey building came after Russian ground troops reached the outskirts of the capital. Russian forces fired artillery on Kyiv’s north-western suburbs as well as points east of the city, said Oleksiy Kuleba, the head of the regional administration. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said the capital was preparing to mount a “relentless defence”. Outside Kyiv, Britain’s Defence Ministry said Russian naval forces were hitting “targets throughout Ukraine” with missiles. Humanitarian cost: Authorities in the besieged coastal city of Mariupol say nearly 2,200 people have been killed there since hostilities began, with the death toll rising by almost 1,000 in the last five days. “The enemy is holding the city hostage by performing real acts of genocide,” s...