Bloomberg Malaysia and Singapore said they will allow travel between the two countries on compassionate grounds or for family emergencies from May 17. The visits would be for death and critical illness reasons, the two sides said in a joint statement after a two-day visit by Malaysia Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein to the city-state. The countries agreed on procedures and ...

Bloomberg Canada’s economy continued its run of surprising strength at the start of the year, validating expectations that activity will soon return to pre-pandemic levels. Gross domestic product grew (GDP) 0.4% in February, Statistics Canada reported in Ottawa. A preliminary estimate shows momentum kept up in March with output expanding 0.9%, which would be the 11th-straight monthly gain in the GDP. ...

Bloomberg The US economy probably notched up another bumper month of hiring in April, tallying with other reports that suggest growth momentum is building in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. Payrolls may have risen by 978,000, according to median estimate of economists, above the 916,000 gain in March, while unemployment is seen falling below 6%. The Labour Department report ...

Bloomberg Overflowing cargo ships, snarled production lines, copper above $10,000 and a start to earnings season that’s smashing records. As developed economies reopen and the newly vaccinated embrace their pre-Covid ways, the global rebound is proving vigorous but messy. For equity investors, the most pressing question is whether the return of inflation spoils returns and eats into corporate profits. Accelerating ...

Bloomberg Warren Buffett’s capital-deployment machine pulled back on several fronts at the start of the year as the billionaire took a more cautious stance on stocks. Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s net stock sales in the first quarter were the second-highest in almost five years and the conglomerate, where the billionaire is chief executive officer, slowed its buyback pace, according to a ...

Bloomberg India’s Covid-19 crisis has pummeled demand for transport fuels to the lowest in several months, highlighting the risks for energy consumption amid an uneven global recovery from the pandemic. April sales of gasoline — used in cars and motorcycles — fall to 2.14 million tons to the lowest since August, according to preliminary data from officials with direct knowledge ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The central bank of the UAE (CBUAE) has issued a new regulation covering licensing, prudential and conduct requirements for specialised banks. Specialised banks are licensed under the CBUAE’s new regulation and are allowed to practice different financial activities to serve the local community, such as account opening, card issuance, and retail and wholesale lending. Specialised banks ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence, stated that despite the exceptional circumstances that the whole world is going through due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the precautionary and preventive measures imposed by the pandemic, the UAE workers were and are still in the hearts and minds of “our wise leadership”, and ...

Dubai / WAM Since its inception in May 2017, Area 2071, the innovation ecosystem of Dubai Future Foundation (DFF), hosted more than 780 physical and over 80 virtual events, including conferences, forums, workshops and interactive sessions, attracting more than 26,000 participants from around the world. The ecosystem has also organised many innovation programmes, including ones from TechStars and Microsoft, and ...

Bloomberg The UK, seeking to put a value on the environment, said nature contributed 12 billion pounds ($17 billion) to tourism and outdoor leisure in the latest year for which data is available. The figure from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the result of a 30% increase in spending enabled by the natural environment from 2011 to 2019 ...