Bloomberg Walmart Inc’s Indian e-commerce operation Flipkart invested 15 billion rupees ($204 million) in Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd as it looks to bolster its presence in one of the world’s fastest-growing retail markets. Billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla’s retail business will issue preference shares to Flipkart, giving it a 7.8% stake, Aditya Birla Fashion said in an exchange filing. ...

Bloomberg The recovery in Canadian retail sales is fizzling Sales eked out a gain of 0.4% in August, Statistics Canada said in Ottawa. That fell short of the 1.1% median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Excluding vehicles, receipts rose 0.5%, versus a forecast gain of 0.9%. After cratering in April on mandatory lockdowns, retail sales increased for four ...

Bloomberg A coalition of airline and travel industry groups is urging top US officials to develop standards for rapid testing and other measures to sidestep the growing quarantine restrictions imposed by states. Eighteen states have some type of quarantine for people arriving from Covid-19 hot spots, but “this patchwork of rules is confusing and discourages travel,” the group of 20 ...

Bloomberg Thailand is set for a fresh wave of street protests by pro-democracy activists with PM Prayuth Chan-Ocha ignoring their deadline to quit by Saturday. Free Youth and the United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration, two of the main protest groups, have vowed to stage mass gatherings until all of their demands, which include a rewriting of the constitution and ...

Bloomberg Warring parties in Libya signed a permanent ceasefire agreement ahead of a conference to appoint a unity government for the fractured North African country. Representatives of the internationally recognised government based in Tripoli and eastern military commander Khalifa Haftar agreed to the ceasefire after talks in Geneva, the United Nations said. The pact promises to end a war started ...

Bloomberg Malaysia’s king will meet with the country’s other royal leaders to discuss proposals by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, with media reports saying the government plans to declare a state of emergency to try to control the coronavirus pandemic. The king understands the need for continuity in the country’s administration to combat the threat of Covid-19, the palace said in ...

Bloomberg Guinea’s President Alpha Conde won a comfortable majority victory in a vote marred by protests over the legality of his third-term bid. Conde will rule the world’s biggest bauxite exporter for another six years, after defeating former prime minister Cellou Dalein Diallo with 59% of the vote, Kabinet Cisse, the head of the electoral commission, said in a speech ...

Bloomberg The Somali parliament on Saturday approved a new cabinet named by Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble last week. All the 188 lawmakers in attendance voted in favor of the cabinet ministers, according to Parliament Speaker Mohamed Mursal Sheikh. In September, the Somali parliament ratified Roble’s appointment, less than a week after his nomination. Roble, a Swedish-Somali who had been ...

Bloomberg The Italian government is expected to approve further virus containment measures as soon as Sunday and is mulling additional economic support even as the threat of tighter restrictions prompts protests. New infections soared above 19,000 cases on October 23, just a day after Naples — Italy’s hardest-hit city — imposed a night-time curfew in a bid to contain spread ...

Bloomberg The Swiss National Bank (SNB) could be forced to sell a chunk of its more than $100 billion US stock portfolio as part of a campaign to ban it from investing in defense companies. A poll by gfs.bern for public broadcaster SRG showed 54% of voters in favour of the proposal, which goes to a national vote on November ...