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Russia has likely suffered 1 million causalities since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the UK Ministry of Defence said, a staggering human cost from the war with no end in sight.

The toll from the conflict includes around 250,000 Russian soldiers who were killed or are missing and presumed dead, and comes largely as a result of President Vladimir Putin’s “desperate tactics,” the ministry said in a post on the X social media platform on Thursday.

Bloomberg was unable to independently verify the figures. Neither Russia nor Ukraine provide official figures for the number of combat casualties. Moscow has said previously that the losses suffered by its troops are far lower than western and Ukrainian estimates since the invasion began in February 2022.

While Donald Trump hailed the outcome of trade talks in London, Xi Jinping walked away with an understated strategic gain: a negotiating process that buys China time and helps defuse the threat of more harmful tariffs and technology curbs.

Shortly after two days of negotiations wrapped, Trump declared on Wednesday on social media that a deal had been “DONE” to restore the flow of critical magnets from China, and pledged to lift curbs on student visas. Hours earlier, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick revealed Washington would unwind its recent tech curbs, if niche metals essential to US auto and defense firms now flowed fast enough.

China’s focus was very different. A People’s Daily commentary on Thursday — Beijing’s most substantial comments so far on the talks — made no mention of export controls. Instead, the Communist Party mouthpiece touted an “institutional guarantee” established in Geneva for the two sides to bridge differences via a “consultation mechanism.” In a long-awaited leaders’ call before the London negotiations, Xi told Trump the importance of using this channel, it added.

Tesla Inc. sued a former engineer with the company’s highly secretive Optimus program, accusing him of stealing confidential information about the humanoid robot and setting up a rival startup in Silicon Valley.

Zhongjie “Jay” Li worked at Tesla between August 2022 and September 2024, according to a complaint filed in a San Francisco Federal Court late on Wednesday. Li worked on “advanced robotic hand sensors—and was entrusted with some of the most sensitive technical data in the program,” Tesla’s lawyers said in the complaint.

The suit, also filed against his company Proception Inc, alleges that in the weeks before his departure, Li downloaded Optimus-related files onto two personal smartphones and then formed his own firm.

Chronos Capital, an early backer of emerging market unicorns Tyme Group and Optasia, is looking to invest in companies deploying artificial intelligence in healthcare as it seeks to capitalise on a technology that’s expected to transform the medical industry.

“AI in healthcare is going to have the biggest impact on humanity,” Roger Grobler, a partner at the investment firm said in an interview. “AI in healthcare is probably where fintech in financial services was 30 years ago. All the upside is still to be made.”

Gold rose as tensions escalated in the Middle East, and President Donald Trump ratcheted up trade uncertainty by saying he intends to impose unilateral tariffs on dozens of US trading partners within two weeks.

Gold climbed as much as 1% following a CBS report overnight that Israel was ready to launch an operation aimed at Iran, prompting the US to move some embassy staff out of Iraq and allowing military families to leave the region. A gauge of the greenback fell 0.6%.

A final warning from Singapore’s regulator has prompted major crypto exchanges operating in the country without a permit to plan for a hasty exit.

Bitget and Bybit — two top-10 exchange operators by volume with a presence in Singapore but no local license — plan to reorganise their teams, according to people familiar with the matter. Bitget will shift staff to jurisdictions including Dubai and Hong Kong, while Bybit is weighing similar moves, said the people, who refused to be identified as the plans are confidential.

Singapore is among Asia’s foremost crypto hubs and a regional base for major global players such as Coinbase and Crypto.com. But it still bears the scars of a string of local blow-ups from the last industry downturn in 2022. Even as it doles out licenses, authorities in the city-state have warned consumers against trading cryptocurrencies and restricted related advertisements.

BioNTech SE agreed to buy former Covid vaccine rival CureVac NV for about $1.25 billion in an all-stock transaction that will boost its growing oncology business.

CureVac investors will get approximately $5.46 in BioNTech shares for each CureVac one, the companies said Thursday. The price represents a 34% premium to CureVac’s closing share price on Wednesday. CureVac shareholders will own between 4% and 6% of BioNTech once the deal closes.

The deal caps decades of rivalry between the two companies that came to a head during the race to develop a Covid vaccine. BioNTech won the race with its partner Pfizer Inc., transforming into one of Europe’s leading biotechs. CureVac’s shot never made it to market after proving less effective in clinical trials.

UK goods exported to the US dropped by £2 billion ($2.71 billion) in April, figures published by the Office for National Statistics on Thursday showed, marking the biggest monthly decrease since records began in 1997.

The value of Britain’s exports stateside was the lowest since February 2022 at £4.1 billion, with the ONS saying the shift was “likely linked to the implementation of tariffs on goods imported to the United States.” Cars, chemicals and metals exports all saw declines, the ONS said.

US imports to the UK dipped by £400 million for the month to £4.7 billion, taking Washington back to a trade surplus in goods with the country for the first time since May 2024.

The European Central Bank’s interest-rate cutting campaign may soon be over, with inflation and the economy both on track, Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel said.

“This monetary-policy cycle is coming to an end as medium-term inflation is stabilizing around target,” the German official said Thursday in Brussels. She described underlying consumer-price growth — projected to be 1.9% in 2026 and 2027 — as “right at target.”

Schnabel stressed that the growth outlook is “broadly stable, despite the trade conflict” and that ECB policy “has been smoothly transmitted to financing conditions, which are no longer restrictive.”

“We are aware of initial reports and are working to gather more information.”

A detailed statement from the company is awaited.

Gold steadied, after rising on escalating tensions in the Middle East, while President Donald Trump ratcheted up trade uncertainty with remarks that he intends to impose unilateral tariffs on dozens of US trading within two weeks.

Gold rose as much as 0.7% during Asian trading hours, after CBS reported that US officials have been informed of Israel’s readiness to launch an operation aimed at Iran, prompting the US to move some embassy staff out of Iraq and allowing military families to leave the region.

Bullion pared gains later Thursday morning as a gauge of the greenback gave up some losses.

Iran said it would build a new uranium-enrichment center in response to a decision by the United Nations atomic watchdog to censure the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program, deepening a crisis that’s also drawn in the US and Israel.

The new site will be at an unspecified secure location, and will be accompanied by the replacement of enrichment devices at an existing site, Fordow, with newer machines, the Atomic Energy Organization Of Iran said in a statement Thursday. Other measures would be announced later, it said, without elaborating.

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s board of governors approved a resolution in Vienna on Thursday that deemed Iran in non-compliance of its international obligations, setting up a potential referral to the UN Security Council for a renewal of sanctions.

Shares of Boeing Company Ltd. are down 7% in pre-market trading on Thursday after an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner, heading towards London from Ahmedabad, crashed minutes after take-off.

Follow this blog for all the live updates on the Ahmedabad plane crash.

The US ordered some staff to leave its embassy in Baghdad, officials said, after Iran threatened to strike American assets in the Middle East in the event it’s attacked over its nuclear program.

The decision to reduce staffing in Iraq was “based on our latest analysis,” according to the US State Department. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorized family members of US military stationed across the region to leave, according to a Pentagon statement.

Neither statement cited a specific threat. But they came after the New York Post published an interview with President Donald Trump in which he said he was less confident the US will reach a deal with Iran. The countries are negotiating an agreement that would curb the Islamic Republic’s nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief.

Iran warned it will retaliate following a decision by the United Nations atomic watchdog to censure the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program, deepening a crisis that’s also drawn in the US and Israel.

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s board of governors approved a resolution in Vienna on Thursday that deemed Iran in non-compliance of its international obligations, setting up a potential referral to the UN Security Council for a renewal of sanctions.

Iran will “consider appropriate responses, including initiating the process of withdrawing from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,” Iran’s ambassador to UN, Saeid Iravani, said ahead of the vote, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

European stock markets have opened sharply lower, with the Stoxx 600 index falling 0.42% and almost all sectors in the red led by travel, down 1.5%.

The FTSE in UK initially dipped after closing at a record high on Wednesday, but was last fractionally above the flatline after figures showed the British economy contracted 0.3% in April as exports to the U.S. dropped by the most on record.

Futures on Wall Street are down even after US President Donald Trump announced that a deal with China is “done” and is only subject to approval from leaders of both countries.

However, Dow futures are currently down 250 points, S&P 500 futures are down 35 points, while the Nasdaq futures are down 150 points.

Japanese borrowers have already sold more corporate bonds than they have for any June in four years, and the month isn’t even halfway through.

It’s a sign that investors are becoming more willing again to take risks, parking their cash in the debt of companies like Nomura Holdings Inc. and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. rather than staying in the relative safety of sovereign notes.

Those were among the Japanese companies that issued ¥1.55 trillion ($11 billion) of yen bonds through June 12, already making this month of June the busiest since 2021, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Rakuten Group Inc.’s card unit priced a total of ¥110 billion in bonds on Thursday.

Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. slashed output guidance for its Kakula copper mine this year — and withdrew an estimate for 2026 — after restarting parts of the flood-hit operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Seismic activity at the Kakula mine last month caused flooding deep below ground, forcing underground mining to halt and adding to supply uncertainty for the global copper market. Mining in the western part of the project is resuming in a “conservative manner,” Ivanhoe said in an exchange filing on Wednesday.

But another section remains offline, and Ivanhoe cut its expectation for the mine’s output this year by more than a quarter. Production is now targeted at between 370,000 tons and 420,000 tons in 2025, down from 520,000 tons to 580,000 tons. A goal of 600,000 tons for 2026 was withdrawn pending a review.

The UK economy shrank for the first time in six months, calling into question whether Prime Minister Keir Starmer can achieve the growth he is counting on to fund his government’s spending ambitions.

Gross domestic product dropped 0.3% in April after healthy growth in the previous two months, the Office for National Statistics said Thursday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had predicted a 0.1% decline. Services and manufacturing shrank, while construction grew.

The figures set the stage for a tepid second quarter as firms and consumers navigate mounting job losses, tax rises and Donald Trump’s tariffs. Economists expect growth of just 0.1%, a reality check for Starmer who has repeatedly hailed Britain outperforming the Group of Seven in the first quarter as evidence that the economy has turned a corner.

Thai exporters and importers risk more than $600 million in added annual logistics costs as congestion worsens at the country’s main deep-sea port, driven by a surge in shipments ahead of potential steep US tariffs.

The Thai National Shippers’ Council has urged the government to address the growing congestion at Laem Chabang Port in Chonburi province. The call comes after the Land Transport Federation of Thailand announced plans to raise trucking fees starting in July, according to a statement Thursday from the council.

A sharp increase in shipment orders — spurred by a 90-day pause in high tariffs proposed by the Trump administration in April — led to a 14% rise in Thai exports during the first four months of the year. The export growth has provided a lift to an economy weakened by declining tourist arrivals and sluggish domestic consumption.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said he won’t rush into a trade deal with the US that would hurt the nation’s interests, although he’d welcome any progress made before an expected summit with US President Donald Trump.

“If there’s progress before I meet the president, that’s in and of itself good,” Ishiba told reporters in Tokyo Thursday. “But what’s important is to achieve an agreement that’s beneficial to both Japan and the US. We won’t compromise Japan’s interests by prioritizing a quick deal.”

Ishiba is expected to meet Trump on the sidelines of the Group of Seven leaders gathering in Canada starting Sunday, but Ishiba said the time and date for the bilateral hasn’t been set. The prime minister spoke following a gathering with opposition party leaders to discuss US tariffs. Collaborating beyond party lines is necessary to deal with what can be considered a national crisis, Ishiba said.

President Donald Trump remains open to communications with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the White House said in its latest comments expressing willingness to resume dialogue with the nuclear-armed North, despite little signal from Kim seeking engagement.

“The President remains receptive to correspondence with Kim Jong Un and he’d like to see the progress that was made at that summit in Singapore,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Wednesday when asked about a media report that said Trump tried to send a letter to Kim but was rebuffed.

The renewed call for dialogue comes as US ally South Korea seeks to reduce tensions on the Korean peninsula following the inauguration of new liberal President Lee Jae-myung last week. In one of the first conciliatory steps since Lee’s tenure began, South Korea suspended the broadcast of loudspeakers criticizing the Kim regime near the border this week.

Foreign investors accelerated purchases of South Korean bonds at a record pace in May, highlighting growing appetite for the asset class in the run-up to the presidential election and ahead of the addition to a major global index.

Overseas investors snapped up a net 11.34 trillion won ($8.3 billion) of listed bonds last month, according to a statement from the Financial Supervisory Service. That marks the largest monthly inflow since Bloomberg began compiling the data in 1998, extending April’s strong momentum. Foreign holdings of outstanding listed bonds rose to 300.5 trillion won during the period.

Overseas investors have been net buyers of South Korean bonds for 31 consecutive sessions through June 10, the longest streak since 2023.

The premium that Chinese stocks command over their Hong Kong-traded peers has narrowed to a five-year low, suggesting that some investors may look to snap up onshore stocks that have become cheaper.

Stocks listed on mainland exchanges, known as A-shares, are now trading at a 27% premium to their counterparts across the border, according to the Hang Seng Stock Connect China AH Premium Index. The valuation gap often widened again when the premium dipped to below 30% in previous occasions.

The CSI 300 Index, a benchmark for onshore shares, has lagged the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index this year, set for the widest underperformance since 2003. While the HSCEI gauge entered a bull market earlier this week, the rebound on the mainland has been much more tepid as the market lacks policy catalysts to draw fresh money.

The dollar extended its decline versus major peers as worries over US tariffs increased after President Donald Trump said he would notify trading partners soon of unilateral levy rates.

Bloomberg’s gauge of the dollar slid as much as 0.3% on Thursday to touch its lowest level since July 2023 following the news, with the safe-haven yen and Swiss franc leading the advance against the greenback. The dollar was already under pressure from a weaker-than-expected US inflation print, which helped spur traders to fully price in two quarter-point Federal Reserve interest rate cuts this year.

“The weak US CPI reasserts the soggy dollar backdrop, while the Middle East headlines also failed to spur a bounce in the dollar, which reflects its waning status as a haven currency during geopolitical flare-ups,” said Alex Loo, macro strategist at TD Securities in Singapore.

US President Donald Trump’s tariffs threaten to batter Japan’s vital auto industry and derail the country’s long-standing efforts to engineer a sustainable economic recovery.

With the 25% US tariff now in place on cars and auto parts, Japan’s major automakers — including Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co., Mazda Motor Corp. and Subaru Corp. — are bracing for a collective hit of more than $19 billion this fiscal year alone. And it’s not just the household names feeling the pain.

Northwest of Tokyo in Gunma Prefecture, where Subaru operates its main factory, the effects are already being felt. With costs rising, Yoshiyuki Nakajima, president of Shoda Seisakusho Co. — a supplier to Subaru — warned that his firm will be forced to slash profit margins if the tariffs persist. Worst case, layoffs will be unavoidable. “We’ll have no choice,” he said.

President Donald Trump said he intended to send letters to trading partners in the next one to two weeks setting unilateral tariff rates, ahead of a July 9 deadline to reimpose higher duties on dozens of economies.

“We’re going to be sending letters out in about a week and a half, two weeks, to countries, telling them what the deal is,” Trump told reporters Wednesday at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington where he was attending a performance.

“At a certain point, we’re just going to send letters out. And I think you understand that, saying this is the deal, you can take it or leave it,” he added.

Gold gained for a second day on increased tensions in the Middle East, with its haven status also supported by President Donald Trump’s comments that he will inform trading partners on tariff rates within two weeks.

Bullion rose as much as 0.6% to around $3,373 an ounce, extending a 1% gain from the earlier session when it was also boosted by a declining dollar. Buying interest increased after the US ordered some embassy staff to depart Baghdad and allowed military families to leave the Middle East, after Iran threatened to attack US bases if talks over its nuclear program fell through.

Separately, Trump said he intended to send letters to trading partners in the next one to two weeks setting unilateral tariff rates, ahead of a July 9 deadline to reimpose higher duties on dozens of economies. The president also said a trade framework with China has been completed, with levies between the two largest economies to be maintained at their current levels.NewsLive TVMarketPopular CategoriesCalculatorsTrending NowLet's Connect with CNBCTV 18Network 18 Group :©TV18 Broadcast Limited. All rights reserved.