International News

Bloomberg Britain said it’s set to relax quarantine requirements for people arriving from countries including France, Greece and Spain. A full list of nations with which the establishment of so-called air bridges will exempt incoming travellers from two weeks of self-isolation will be published next week, the UK government said in a statement. The new regime is be introduced a ...

Bloomberg Blank-check company Graf Industrial Corp. is in talks to merge with Velodyne Lidar Inc., a deal that would take public the maker of sensors used in self-driving vehicles, according to reports. Graf Industrial is working with an adviser to help raise funding for the potential transaction, said the people, who asked to not be identified because the matter isn’t ...

Bloomberg When coronavirus outbreaks forced shutdowns at America’s giant meat plants, it quickly created a bottleneck: Farmers had nowhere to sell their animals, while consumers faced shortages and surging prices. New, smaller slaughterhouses could be the antidote to industry concentration, but it’s no quick fix. Opening a slaughterhouse has plenty of hurdles. The facilities — where animals are killed, butchered ...

Bloomberg The International Monetary Fund (IMF) downgraded its outlook for the coronavirus-ravaged world economy, projecting a significantly deeper recession and slower recovery than it anticipated just two months ago. The fund said it now expects global gross domestic product to shrink 4.9% this year, more than the 3% predicted in April. For 2021, the fund sees growth of 5.4%, down ...

Bloomberg Wirecard AG filed for insolvency proceedings after a massive accounting scandal brought the payments company to its knees. Wirecard management cited over-indebtedness as the reason behind decision to seek court protection in Munich. The company also said it’s considering whether the insolvency proceedings should also be applied to its subsidiaries. The company’s rapid fall from grace comes after it ...

Bloomberg Royal Mail Plc said it will cut around 2,000 management posts, or about 20% of the total, in a bid to streamline the business after the coronavirus outbreak accelerated a decline in letter volumes. Britain’s 500-year-old postal service plans to reduce costs by 500 million pounds ($620 million) over the next two years by paring labour expenses and reining ...

Bloomberg French President Emmanuel Macron is planning a new virus furlough program that could see the state covering a large share of lost incomes for as long as two years to protect jobs. Macron outlined new measure in a meeting with labour unions and business groups. Starting July 1, it aims for a compromise between blanket support and more targeted ...

Bloomberg European car sales are forecast to drop by a record 25% this year after coronavirus pandemic shuttered factories ad showrooms, leading to a collapse in demand. Sales in the European Union are expected to fall to 9.6 million vehicles, from 12.8 million last year, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association said in its first forecast since January, before Covid-19 hit ...

Bloomberg Bayer AG’s $12.1 billion settlement to resolve US lawsuits over its flagship weedkiller Roundup and other products offered fleeting relief to investors looking to move on from the legal woes that have hobbled the stock for almost two years. The shares rose as much as 3.6% in Frankfurt trading after the German company’s move to resolve a trio of ...

Bloomberg The US is weighing new tariffs on $3.1 billion of exports from France, Germany, Spain and the UK, adding to an arsenal of measures the Trump administration is using against the European Union that could spiral into a wider transatlantic trade fight later this summer. The US Trade Representative wants to impose new tariffs on European exports, while increasing ...