Bloomberg Hong Kong announced HK$24 billion ($3.1 billion) in virus relief stimulus and will lift some social distancing restrictions as the city’s economy suffers from a recession prompted by protests and Covid-19. The government will spend HK$4.5 billion to help affected industries, HK$13 billion on virus prevention measures and HK$6 billion on rent concessions, Chief Executive Carrie Lam and senior ...

Bloomberg Former Nissan Motor Co director Greg Kelly pleaded not guilty to charges of helping former Chairman Carlos Ghosn hide millions in compensation, vowing to prove his innocence in a trial that’s starting almost two years after their arrests in Japan and in the absence of the main suspect. “I deny the allegations,” said Kelly, when asked by the judges ...

Bloomberg Douyin, the Chinese-market version of ByteDance Ltd’s TikTok video-sharing app, surpassed 600 million daily active users in August, rising from 400 million at the start of the year. The service has produced 41.7 billion yuan ($6.1 billion) in revenue for more than 22 million creators over the past year and the company intends to spend $1.5 billion in a ...

Bloomberg Toyota Motor Corp won’t expand further in India due to the country’s high tax regime, a blow for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who’s trying to lure global companies to offset the deep economic malaise brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. The government keeps taxes on cars and motorbikes so high that companies find it hard to build scale, said ...

Bloomberg Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has told his officials to work carefully to manage relations with the US and China — and avoid the UK becoming trapped in a new “Cold War” between the two countries. The minister held an internal meeting of British diplomats and officials on September 2 during which he set out his vision for “global Britain” ...

Bloomberg India’s defense minister told parliament on Tuesday the current border tensions with neighbor China were serious and the result of Beijing’s violations of boundary agreements. Rajnath Singh told lawmakers the situation was tense “both in terms of troops involved and number of friction points” but India wanted to pursue dialog for a peaceful resolution of the conflict that has ...

Bloomberg Mali’s ruling junta will try to convince regional leaders to accept its road map for a return to civilian rule as an ultimatum for it to name an interim president expires. The junta last week unveiled a political charter that could see a military officer heading a transitional government for 18 months — a proposition opposed by members of ...

Bloomberg Alexey Navalny returned to social media on Tuesday for the first time since he was poisoned last month, as allies said he plans to return to Russia once he’s recovered. “No other option was ever considered,” Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said by text message. “We haven’t discussed concrete plans yet.” Navalny’s health has continued to improve after he collapsed ...

Bloomberg Ivory Coast’s Constitutional Council cleared President Alassane Ouattara to seek a controversial third term in next month’s election as it rejected the candidacy of two prominent opposition leaders. The incumbent and his main challenger, Henri Konan Bedie, are among four candidates out of 44 presidential hopefuls that the panel allowed to participate in the October 31 vote. It barred ...

Bloomberg The US State Department updated its travel advisory on Hong Kong based on China’s implementation of a national security law widely seen as eroding freedom in the once-autonomous city. “Since the imposition of national security legislation on July 1, the PRC unilaterally and arbitrarily exercises policy and security power in Hong Kong,” the State Department said on its website, ...