- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
Sberbank faces protests, cash withdrawals outside of Russia
From Budapest to Zagreb, Sberbank branches outside of Russia have seen worried customers line up to take out money, while others have become the target of protests after Moscow invaded Ukraine.
The European Central Bank said on Monday the European subsidiary of Russia's state-owned Sberbank is facing bankruptcy in the wake of sanctions aimed at punishing Moscow.
"I'm just taking my money out quickly," Otto Szucs, a 77-year-old pensioner, told AFP at one Sberbank ATM in Budapest after Hungary's monetary authority ordered the bank to close for two days to avoid bank runs.
In Zagreb, one woman in her 50s tried in vain to withdraw cash from a machine next to Sberbank's main branch office.
"I don't trust anyone anymore," the woman, who did not want to give her name, told AFP.
"It reminds me of the 1990s," she added in a reference to the collapse of banks during the wars that accompanied Yugoslavia's break-up.
Sandra, a 33-year-old housewife whose husband has a business account with some 40,000 euros ($45,000) at Sberbank, told AFP that they were "really very, very scared by the possibility of Sberbank's bankruptcy".
"It's his life savings," she said.
Monetary authorities in affected countries have assured bank customers that provisions on the securing of deposits are in place.
- Pelted with eggs -
Sberbank Europe AG, headquartered in Austria and well-established in eastern Europe, has 800,000 customers and employs 3,900 people, with assets amounting to 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion).
The ECB said Monday that Sberbank Europe has "experienced significant deposit outflows as a result of the reputational impact of geopolitical tensions".
The two largest Russian banks, Sberbank and VTB, were targeted Thursday by tough US sanctions aimed at limiting their ability to conduct business internationally.
The sanctions were stepped up over the weekend with the announcement that selected banks would be expelled from the international SWIFT payment system.
Sberbank Europe AG -- which is 100-percent owned by the bank's Russian parent company -- also has subsidiaries in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Czech Republic and Slovenia.
In the Czech Republic, the bank closed local branches on Friday, citing security reasons.
Employees are "facing physical attacks," said Sberbank spokeswoman Radka Cerna.
In central Prague, someone used a pepper spray inside a Sberbank branch on Friday, while its window later was sprayed with words calling Putin a "killer". Another Prague branch reported a broken window, also on Friday.
Angry clients pelted the windows of a Sberbank branch in the southern city of Ceske Budejovice with eggs on the same day, while in the southeastern city of Zlin, someone smashed a can with red paint against a Sberbank window.
burs-jza/spm
E.Ramalho--PC