International News

Bloomberg Women in India spend about five hours a day on unpaid domestic work, or thrice as much time as men, according to a new survey by the government. Only about 18% of women participated in employment and related activities in a day, against 57% of men, according to the findings of the first Time-Use survey by the Ministry of ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong retailers’ struggles eased slightly in August even as social-distancing measures were extended to combat the latest wave of coronavirus infections in the city. Retail sales by value fell 13.1% from a year earlier to HK$25.6 billion ($3.3 billion), according to a government statement. That’s better than the median forecast for a 17.5% decline in the period, according ...

Bloomberg An official gauge of activity in China’s manufacturing gained in September on stronger production and orders, suggesting the recovery momentum remained solid, while activity in the services sector also strengthened. The manufacturing purchasing managers’ index in September rose to 51.5 from 51 a month earlier, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, beating the 51.3 estimate ...

Bloomberg Condé Nast Inc, publisher of magazines like Vogue, The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, will open a global technology and product centre in Bangalore to amplify the digital capabilities of its brands and boost online revenues. The Condé Nast Technology Lab will open later this week starting with a few dozen engineers, with plans to expand headcount for product, ...

Bloomberg The UK could be facing a long-term increase in the size of the state as well as a substantial tax increase as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The influential research group said on Tuesday it is “highly plausible” that government spending is around 45% of gross domestic product by the middle ...

Bloomberg Swedish confidence indicators rise for a fifth consecutive month in September, to levels not seen since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The overall economic tendency survey rise to 94.5, from a revised 87.6 in August, the National Institute of Economic Research said on Tuesday. That is the highest level since February, before the pandemic sent sentiment plunging to ...

Bloomberg UK mortgage approvals hit a 13-year high in August as the housing market extended its tax-cut fuelled mini boom. Lenders signed 84,700 home-loan agreements, the most since October 2007, the Bank of England said on Tuesday. Demand for unsecured credit slowed from July. The surge in approvals reflects homebuyers seeking to tie up deals after Chancellor Rishi Sunak waived ...

Bloomberg Economic confidence in the euro area continued to improve in September, albeit at a slower pace as resurgent virus infections cast uncertainty over the outlook. A European Commission sentiment index rises for a fifth month to 91.1, exceeding economists’ median estimate. Yet confidence remains more than 30% below its pre-crisis level and evidence is building that the steep rebound ...

Bloomberg Argentina’s economic recovery lost steam in July after the government re-imposed stricter quarantine measures in a failed bid to contain the pandemic. Economic activity rise 1.1% in July from a month earlier, after two months of stronger gains as the economy rebounded from a historic drop in April. Activity falls 13.2% from a year earlier, worse than economists’ expectation ...

Bloomberg Germany may join other European nations in limiting the number of people at private and public gatherings in areas with high coronavirus infection rates, as officials across the continent labor to reverse a recent uptick in cases. Chancellor Angela Merkel will recommend restricting private meetings to 25 people and public gatherings to 50 people when she holds talks with ...