International News

Bloomberg The European Union (EU) will unveil new rules for companies selling six major commodities in a bid to cut global deforestation. The European Commission, the 27-nation bloc’s executive arm, wants the draft regulation to cover soy, beef, palm oil, wood, cocoa and coffee, as well as some derived products such as chocolate, leather and furniture. The plan will require ...

Bloomberg US consumer sentiment unexpectedly collapsed in early November as Americans grew increasingly concerned about rising prices and the inflationary impact on their finances. The University of Michigan’s preliminary sentiment index decreased to 66.8 from 71.7 in October, data released showed. The November figure trailed all projections in a Bloomberg survey of economists which called for an increase to 72.5. ...

Bloomberg The British Chambers of Commerce said 80% of UK businesses are feeling the effects of higher prices as well as shortages of goods and workers, a finding that adds to concerns about inflation. The lobby group said its survey of 1,000 companies showed 80% saw an increase in their prices in the past year and almost half said those ...

Bloomberg Apple Inc agreed to pay $29.9 million to employees at its stores who were forced to submit to security bag checks — off the clock — when they left work after or during their shifts. Lawyers for the workers asked a federal judge to approve settlement, which was reached after a protracted eight-year legal battle. Apple Store employees filed ...

Bloomberg Brazil’s largest independent hedge funds have grown wary of local assets after the nation moved to ease its fiscal rules, fuelling fears of a sharp increase in interest rates and a potential recession ahead. Firms including Itau Unibanco now predict Brazil’s economy will contract next year after policy makers raise the benchmark rate to over 11%, the highest since ...

Bloomberg Blackstone Infrastructure Partners bought out the controlling shareholders of Carrix Inc., one of the world’s largest marine-terminal operators. The families had been weighing a sale of their holding in the Seattle-based firm, Bloomberg reported in June. The stake was expected to fetch $2.5 billion. “The Smith/Hemingway family sold its shares to Blackstone Infrastructure Partners,” Bob Watters, a Carrix spokesman, ...

Bloomberg Inflation is soaring across the euro area, but it’s also diverging by the most in years in a further complication for the European Central Bank’s ongoing Covid-19 pandemic stimulus. How quickly consumer prices are rising depends on where you are inside the 19-member currency bloc. In Estonia, where energy costs are surging, the 2021 rate is forecast to be ...

Bloomberg Britain must work with other countries to prevent friction on medicine rules post-Brexit to avoid being sidelined by the global drug industry, according to a report from the UK’s biggest pharmaceutical lobby group. The country must collaborate with ‘science allies’ such as the US, Canada and Australia in developing its post-Brexit medicines regulation or risk being left behind, the ...

Bloomberg The Biden administration looks to launch a global infrastructure financing program, intended to counter China’s Belt and Road initiative, with between five and 10 flagship projects announced as soon as January, a senior US official said. The “Build Back Better World” program will look to counter Chinese influence by offering funding for projects with higher labour standards, a focus ...

Bloomberg Countries looking to perk up their economies when interest rates are already at rock bottom might learn something from Germany. Last year’s surprise value-added tax cut by the government in Berlin unleashed about 34 billion euros ($39.4 billion) of household spending while only resulting in about 7 billion euros of lost budget revenue, a working paper published by the ...