International News

Singapore may welcome tourists to revive virus-hit air hub

Bloomberg Singapore could consider opening its borders to tourists in an effort to attract more traffic into its once-bustling airport. The city-state could unilaterally allow passengers from certain countries or regions that have kept virus cases at similar or lower levels than Singapore, Ong Ye Kung, the newly appointed transport minister, said in a speech to his staff, without naming ...

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Germany’s Olaf proposes $12bn plan to ensure jobs

Bloomberg German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz proposed extending job-preserving subsidies during the coronavirus crisis to 24 months, saying the measure would cost the government an extra $12 billion. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government re-launched short-time compensation to shield workers and companies in Germany from massive job cuts during the pandemic. The benefit, normally limited to 12 months, initially covers as much ...

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UK tax break pushes July housing sales to highest in a decade

Bloomberg The UK housing market saw a surge in activity last month after a government tax break pushed sales to the highest in more than a decade, according to Rightmove. The property website said the number of agreed sales jumped in July, with the value hitting $48 billion. That’s the most since Rightmove began tracking the data over 10 years ...

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California is bracing for another round of outages

Bloomberg California is bracing for another round of targeted blackouts on Monday as a heat wave continues to smother the region and power supplies run low. While the state’s grid operator said no outages were planned for Sunday night —sparing the region a third consecutive night of blackouts —the respite may be fleeting. The California Independent System Operator has warned ...

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Panama Canal shipping rebounds in hopeful sign for global trade

Bloomberg The Panama Canal is seeing signs of a rebound in global trade as ship transits recover from the depressed levels caused by the pandemic. Total transits through the waterway rose to 933 in July, from 845 in June, which was the fewest since the canal opened an expanded set of locks four years ago to accommodate bigger ships. Initial ...

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Peru economy falls by 18.1% in June

Bloomberg Peru’s economy contracted less severely than expected in June after the government scaled back lockdown restrictions, even as the country became a global hotspot for coronavirus. Economic activity fell 18.1% from a year earlier, the country’s statistics agency said. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a drop of 25.9%. Industries such as mining, fishing ...

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UK economic scars could be deeper than BOE thinks

Bloomberg The UK economy will likely be smaller at the end of 2021 than it was before plunging into a record recession this year, according to a Bloomberg survey that casts fresh doubt over Bank of England projections. Calculations based on the median estimate of economists polled this month show gross domestic product (GDP) is set to be around 5% ...

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President Trump orders TikTok’s Chinese parent to sell its US assets

Bloomberg President Donald Trump has ordered the Chinese owner of the popular music video app TikTok to sell its US assets, citing national security concerns and delivering the latest salvo in his standoff with Beijing. Trump’s decision came after an investigation by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, which reviews acquisitions of American businesses by overseas investors for ...

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UK bailout talks with JLR, Tata Steel end

Bloomberg The UK government’s bailout talks with Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and Tata Steel Ltd. recently broke off, the Financial Times reported, citing people it didn’t identify. Talks between the UK’s Treasury and the companies, both owned by Mumbai-based Tata Group, came to a halt after the government concluded the Indian multinational was sufficiently financed and didn’t qualify for taxpayer ...

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UK suffers biggest job losses since 2009 amid coronavirus

Bloomberg Britain’s mounting labour market crisis was underscored by a 220,000 slump in employment during the height of the coronavirus lockdown, the worst decline since the global financial crisis. The fall in the second quarter coincided with a period that saw the most strict restrictions to contain the spread of the disease. The Office for National Statistics said early indicators ...

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