StanChart to launch $1.5bn buyback

Standard Chartered announces it is launching a $1.5bn share buyback after missing Q4 bottom line expectations. The U.S. administration has reportedly refused to call Russia an ‘aggressor’ in a key communiqué following a week of difficult exchanges between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy. We speak exclusively to former Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba who says Trump is only focused on the United States. Alibaba shares surge after the Chinese e-commerce giant announces ‘aggressive’ investment in A.I. and reports its fastest revenue growth in a year. In Germany, campaigning is coming to a close ahead of this Sunday’s elections. The CDU’s frontrunner candidate Friedrich Merz says that Europe’s future is on the line.