Bloomberg The Philippines has deployed extra vessels to patrol the South China Sea where Chinese ships had been spotted at a disputed reef as tensions deepen between the two nations. Four Philippine Navy ships were sent to back up Coast Guard and fishing vessels at Whitsun Reef, Reed Bank and the Spratly Islands, the South China Sea task force said ...

Bloomberg Venezuela is restricting Covid-19 shots to people with a state loyalty card, effectively excluding many government opponents from getting vaccinated. When the country began inoculating its elderly population, it said it was selecting recipients from a registry used by the Nicolas Maduro administration to keep tabs on voter loyalty and grant state subsidies. While all Venezuelans have a national ...

Bloomberg Bavaria Premier Markus Soeder presented himself as a force for change who can revive the fortunes of Germany’s conservatives as he stepped up his bid to follow Chancellor Angela Merkel at the top of the bloc’s election ticket. His rival for the candidacy in September’s national vote, Armin Laschet, responded by saying that Soeder changes his views a little ...

Bloomberg The US federal budget deficit more than doubled to a record in the first half of the fiscal year amid a fresh wave of stimulus payments to cushion Americans from the persistent coronavirus pandemic. The deficit last month was $659.6 billion, the third-largest on record and biggest since last June, swelling the total from October to March to $1.71 ...

Bloomberg The European Union (EU) is set to lay out its blueprint to raise nearly $1 trillion of debt over five years as it seeks to fund its recovery from coronavirus pandemic. The bloc is aiming to issue the first debt under its NextGenerationEU stimulus in June and will use a “state of the art” platform to begin selling bonds ...

Bloomberg Uber Technologies Inc. said gross bookings last month were the highest in a year as vaccination rates increase in the US, encouraging more people to get out of their homes. The company’s mobility unit, which handles ride-hailing services, passed $30 billion in annualised gross bookings run rate in March, Uber said in a securities filing. Average daily bookings rise ...

Bloomberg The French economy is slowing only slightly in April due to the tightening of Covid-19 restrictions, easing concerns that school closures would cause a deeper contraction. The Bank of France said activity will decline to 7% below pre-crisis levels in April after President Emmanuel Macron imposed stricter travel restrictions and ordered schools and nurseries to close. The hit to ...

Bloomberg Denmark will gradually reopen its borders to some countries next month when older Danes are expected to have gotten at least one Covid-19 vaccination shot, the government said. Denmark will be open to vaccinated citizens from European countries as of May 1, the government said. Residents who haven’t gotten a shot but come from European countries with low contamination ...

Bloomberg The UK economy rebounded in February as a mass vaccination program and the prospect of a loosening of coronavirus restrictions lifted consumer confidence. Gross domestic product rises 0.4% following a revised 2.2% decline in January, the Office for National Statistics said. All the main sectors of the economy saw output rise. The economy remains 7.8% smaller than it was ...

Bloomberg Stocks rise and US futures were steady as traders turned their attention to earnings reports from companies including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. European equities edged higher on mixed results, with LVMH climbing on better-than-forecast revenue, while Barclays Plc and Tesco Plc slipped. Most Asian stocks climbed, although shares dipped in Japan amid concerns about ...