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Bloomberg Indian energy tycoon Mukesh Ambani is no longer Asia’s richest man, relinquishing the title to Jack Ma after oil prices collapsed along with global stocks. The rout, exacerbated by mounting fears that the spread of the novel coronavirus will thrust the world into a recession, erased $5.8 billion from Ambani’s net worth and pushed him to No. 2 on ...

Bloomberg The Philippines, with a population of more than 100 million, had only 2,000 novel coronavirus test kits available earlier this week as the number of infections jumped. Its government once had 4,500 kits in stock, but the number dwindled to 2,000 as the number of people who wanted to be diagnosed surged, Health Assistant Secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said. ...

Bloomberg Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the coronavirus epicentre of Wuhan for the first time since the disease emerged, a trip intended to project confidence that his government has managed to stem its spread domestically. Xi arrived on Tuesday morning in the capital of Hubei province, the official Xinhua News Agency said. He visited Huoshenshan Hospital, one of the two ...

Bloomberg China’s economy is beginning to revive, as the government signals progress in battling the coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 3,100 people and sickened tens of thousands at home. Government controls and the fear of going outside have curtailed consumer spending, and many factories are still not working at full capacity due to clogged logistics systems, a lack ...

Bloomberg Two months after Japan confirmed its first case of the new coronavirus, PM Shinzo Abe is finally setting up a legal framework to let him declare a nationwide state of emergency if the outbreak worsens. Like many of Abe’s responses to the crisis — from restricting visitors from virus-hit areas to bolstering the local mask supply — the introduction ...

Bloomberg Aon Plc agreed to buy Willis Towers Watson Plc in an almost $30 billion, all-stock transaction announced a year after previous takeover talks fell apart. Under the terms of the agreement, Willis Towers Watson shareholders will receive 1.08 Aon shares for each of their shares, with existing Aon investors owning about 63% of the company once the deal is ...

Bloomberg UK bond issuance is set to surge to the highest level in nine years with Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government expected to unveil a significant increase in budget spending. Sales of gilts will rise to 166 billion pounds ($218 billion) in the 2020-2021 financial year, according to the median forecast of 13 bond dealers surveyed by Bloomberg. The nation’s ...

Bloomberg Facebook Inc. named two new directors, appointing Tracey Travis, chief financial officer of Estée Lauder Cos., and longtime McKinsey & Co. executive Nancy Killefer at a time when board’s role at the social media company is under intense scrutiny. The addition of the two women, announced in a statement, makes Facebook’s board 40% female. Fewer than 10% of companies ...

Bloomberg An exhausted-looking Elon Musk said he’s unsure his rocket company SpaceX will accomplish its foundational mission — getting to Mars — before he dies. “If we don’t improve our pace of progress, I’m definitely going to be dead before we go to Mars,” Musk said at the Satellite 2020 conference in Washington. “If it’s taken us 18 years just ...

Bloomberg The euro-area economy may be headed for its first recession in seven years as the coronavirus outbreak takes an increasing toll on businesses and consumer confidence. With Italy sweeping a lock-down across the country and infections nearly doubling in Spain, economists at Morgan Stanley and Berenberg expect euro-zone gross domestic product to shrink in the first half of the ...