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Bloomberg Economic sentiment in the euro area plunged the most on record after the furious spread of the coronavirus forced businesses in vast parts of the region shut and prospects dwindled that life will return to normal any time soon. The European Commission reading — following similarly downbeat reports out of the region’s biggest economies — comes at the end ...

Bloomberg Before the coronavirus pandemic besieged Europe, Kike Sarasola worried about whether he was building enough hotels to capitalise on the region’s long-running tourism boom. Such concerns have disappeared, along with the tourists. The only guests at three of his six boutique hotels in Madrid are doctors and nurses fighting the deadly disease. The transformation of Sarasola’s Room Mate Laura ...

Bloomberg Bulgaria’s plan to join the euro area hit a road block, with the central bank saying the coronavirus crisis had rendered targets to integrate deeper this year “unrealistic.” It’s the latest setback in efforts of the bloc’s poorest member to join both the ERM-2, known as the waiting room for the euro area, and the euro-area’s banking union by ...

DUBAI / WAM Smart Dubai has launched the ‘Dubai Registers’ initiative to build a network of accurate, reliable, and interconnected data registries for a sustainable and happy city. The project is part of the Government Development track — one of six development tracks announced by the Dubai Council in early 2020, said a Smart Dubai press release on Monday. The ...

ABU DHABI / WAM PayBy, an innovative fintech company, has officially launched its mobile payment services in the UAE on Monday. In partnership with the First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) PayBy offers a secure payment solution that is superior to cash and payment cards. The new payment solution will allow consumers to use their smartphones to make contactless and cashless ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM The National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority (NCEMA), held a joint meeting with the Emirates Scientists Council, to discuss ways of employing scientific research to contain the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19). The meeting was attended by Sarah bint Yousif Al Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Sciences and President of the Emirates Scientists Council, Saif ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM The Abu Dhabi Chamber announced the addition of more e-services to its digital platform, including attesting documents electronically, and annulling e-services subscription fees in support of its digital approach. The new services come within the government’s campaign “Stay at Home”, a press release issued by Abu Dhabi Chamber said on Monday. The initiative is also in ...

Bloomberg It’s the phone calls at all hours of the night he remembers. As swine flu ravaged northern India in 2015, a radiologist working at a hospital in a Delhi suburb said people would call begging for a bed. That outbreak ultimately infected more than 31,000 people and killed nearly 2,000, as many died waiting for treatment. With the far ...

Bloomberg Indonesia may soon quarantine almost 30 million people in its capital and surrounding areas to curb the spread of the coronavirus that’s killed more than 100 people in the world’s fourth-most populous nation. Police and transport officials conducted drills on limiting the movement of people from the Greater Jakarta area at the weekend, the Jakarta Post reported. The governor ...

Bloomberg The UK government is loosening its bankruptcy rules to allow struggling businesses to continue trading if they can’t pay their debts because of the impact of the coronavirus. In another sign of how the pandemic is forcing governments to upend policy, Business Secretary Alok Sharma said the changes would allow British companies being reorganised to access supplies and raw ...