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Bloomberg Go Airlines India Ltd. has asked as many as 90% of its 5,500 employees to go on indefinite leave without pay, as a government ban on flights amid a coronavirus lockdown dries up cash flow for the budget airline, people with knowledge of the matter said. The airline, the second biggest customer for Airbus SE in one of the …

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia is set to sell about 600,000 barrels a day of crude to the US in April, the highest volume in a year, according to a Saudi industry official familiar with allocations to American refiners. The shipments, agreed with refiners as Saudi Arabia ramped up production to a record 12.3 million barrels a day this month, come at …

RIYADH / WAM The Houthi militia fired a ballistic missile against civilian targets in Yemen’s Ma’rib, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported. “The Houthi militia’s escalation of hostilities using ballistic missiles to deliberately target civilians and civilian objects underscores the militia’s denial of all efforts and initiatives of ceasefire and deescalation, the last of which was the initiative by the Joint …

Bloomberg The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is hoping more private commercial holders of African bonds will join a global push for debt relief as the continent faces a $44 billion shortfall in its fight against the effects of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. The IMF estimates that Africa needs $114 billion in 2020 to spend on health and social services that …

Bloomberg India put curbs on investments in its companies from neighboring nations including China, seeking to cut the risk of opportunistic takeovers as the coronavirus outbreak drives down valuations. A foreign investor from any country that shares a land border with India will now only be able to invest with government approval. At present, such restrictions apply only to FDI …

Dubai / Emirates Business The value of announced mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions with any Middle East and North Africa (Mena) involvement reached $14.8 billion during the first three months of 2020 according to report released by Refinitiv on Thursday. According to the report, the investment banking fees in Mena reached an estimated $188.8 million during the first quarter of …

Bloomberg Oil was anchored near $20 a barrel as concerns over virus-led demand destruction outweighed an agreement by the world’s biggest producers to curb supply. US producer ConocoPhillips said it will cut output by 225,000 barrels a day in response to lower prices in Canada and the US Inventories from America to Europe and Singapore have all ballooned this week, …

Bloomberg The European Central Bank (ECB) will do its bit to help the region’s economy cope with its worst crisis in decades, but more international cooperation is needed to overcome the pandemic, according to President Christine Lagarde. “The Governing Council is committed to doing everything necessary within its mandate to help the euro area through this crisis,” Lagarde told the …

Dubai / Emirates Business To help more Filipinos in the UAE get home, Emirates plans to operate three more flights from Dubai to Manila next week, on 20, 22 and 24 April. Flights can be booked on emirates.com or via travel agents. This follows the successful operation of two flights to Manila this week which have already brought many Filipino …

Bloomberg Even before the pandemic struck, outdoor air pollution was linked to the deaths of as many as nine million people each year. Now two new studies show that Covid-19 patients are more likely to die if they live in regions with high levels of air pollution. Air pollution affects human health in insidious ways. The burning of fossil fuels …