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Bloomberg PM Narendra Modi’s call to Indians to switch off lights on Sunday evening for nine minutes and instead use candles to “challenge the darkness” of the coronavirus outbreak would mean blackouts for some citizens as utilities take steps to safeguard their equipment. Modi asked people to switch off lights at 9 pm. That may result in a sudden drop ...

Bloomberg Police in Australia’s New South Wales state will start a criminal investigation into a cruise ship that allowed people on board to disembark in Sydney last month after some passengers had reported flu-like symptoms, Commissioner Mick Fuller said. Detectives will be involved in the probe into the circumstances surrounding the docking of the vessel, Fuller said. Ten of the ...

Bloomberg Malaysia’s economy could contract this year as the country struggles with a month-long coronavirus lockdown and a steep fall in commodity prices. Gross domestic product could shrink as much as 2% this year or grow as much as 0.5%, Malaysia’s central bank said in its annual Economic and Monetary Review. The global pandemic has hit the country’s tourism sector ...

Bloomberg Government officials in China, the world’s biggest consumer and producer of rice, called on citizens not to hoard the grain after a recent ban on new export sales by Vietnam sparked concerns over global supplies. The country holds sufficient rice and wheat stockpiles for one year of consumption, while imports of the cereals are only about 2% of domestic ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong could take six months to reverse the economic effects of the novel coronavirus pandemic, financial secretary Paul Chan said, adding that the government will offer “comprehensive” aid to protect businesses and jobs across all industries as the outbreak’s impact spreads through the economy. The retail and tourism sectors were initially among the hardest hit by the pandemic ...

Bloomberg The fallout from the coronavirus crisis is starting to upend wheat tenders in the world’s top importer. In a rare move, Egypt cancelled a tender within hours of announcing it, without giving a reason. The state buyer added a new clause requiring suppliers to replace any cargoes affected by virus-related restrictions with wheat from elsewhere, and bear the difference ...

Bloomberg Saudi Telecom Co has postponed talks to raise debt to fund the acquisition of Vodafone Group Plc’s stake in its Egyptian business because of the coronavirus outbreak, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Work on the acquisition is still continuing and the kingdom’s largest telecoms operator may resume negotiations with banks for a loan of more than ...

Bloomberg Germany is mulling an additional aid program for small- and medium-sized companies worth 300 billion euros ($324 billion) as the government seeks to limit the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The new loan guarantees would come on top of a barrage of measures to counter what Chancellor Angela Merkel has called the biggest challenge to the country since ...

Bloomberg The euro area economy is in a slump of unprecedented scale, and the contraction may deepen even further as lockdowns to contain the coronavirus are extended. IHS Markit said its monthly measure of services and manufacturing points to an annualised economic contraction of about 10%. With new business, confidence and employment all down, there is “worse inevitably to come ...

Bloomberg Italy will broaden defenses against hostile takeovers as the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic lowers valuations and leaves key industries vulnerable. The government is planning to strengthen the so-called Golden Power protections to protect “a heritage that must not be sold off,” Economic Development Minister Stefano Patuanelli said in a message on his Facebook page. “It will be extended ...