Bloomberg General Electric (GE) Co predicted slow gains in operations this year and next after the coronavirus pandemic battered results in the second quarter. The jet-engine division has tracked “early signs of improvement” in flight departures on the path to a lengthy recovery, GE said in a presentation as it reported results. The company burned through $2.1 billion in industrial ...

Bloomberg US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo condemned Hong Kong’s decision to delay its Legislative Council elections by a year and urged the city’s government to reconsider. “There is no valid reason for such a lengthy delay,” Pompeo said in a statement. “This regrettable action confirms that Beijing has no intention of upholding the commitments it made to the Hong ...

Bloomberg Bavarian Premier Markus Soeder appeared to rule out running to succeed Angela Merkel as German chancellor, saying he wants to focus on leading the southern German state despite a surge in his popularity on the national stage. Soeder’s standing among voters has been burnished by his impressive performance during the coronavirus crisis, and the 53-year-old from Nuremberg is the ...

Bloomberg Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s dependence on the military to govern is grating on the military itself. Interviews with a dozen active-duty and retired high-ranking officers show members of the Armed Forces, who initially viewed joining their comrade in office as a chance to shape policy after years on the sidelines, now worry his erratic behaviour and a spiraling public ...

Bloomberg Amnesty International criticised the Zimbabwean authorities’ arrest of several human-rights activists who took part in protests against state corruption. “The thwarting of the protest illustrates the Zimbabwean authorities’ total intolerance of criticism,” Muleya Mwananyanda, the human rights organisation’s deputy director for southern Africa, said in an emailed statement. He described the arrests as a “witch hunt.” Several shops and ...

Bloomberg Russia plans to start mass vaccinations against Covid-19 in October, with health workers and teachers first in line to get the inoculation against the disease, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said. A drug developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute and the Russian Direct Investment Fund has completed clinical trials and the authorities are preparing to register it with regulators, Murashko was ...

Bloomberg South African President Cyril Ramaphosa urged citizens to remain careful and adapt to measures necessary to limit the spread of the coronavirus pandemic as confirmed infections in the country breached 500,000. “We must maintain our vigilance until we have no more coronavirus cases in our country,” Ramaphosa said. “If we do not do so, there is the risk of ...

Bloomberg Argentina’s creditors have approached several international organisations to seek endorsement for a proposal to change the rules that govern some of the country’s overseas securities, according to people familiar with the matter. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the US Treasury, the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) and the Institute of International Finance (IIF) are among the organisations that have ...

Bloomberg Siemens Healthineers agreed to buy Varian Medical Systems in cash in a transaction that values the medical equipment maker at about $16.4 billion, more than 20% above its current market value. The German company offered $177.5 a share for the Palo Alto, California-based business, which will be financed through both debt and equity, Siemens Healthineers said in a statement ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Boris Johnson is considering sealing off Greater London and ordering at-risk members of the population to stay at home under a potential scenario designed to avert a second national lockdown, according to news reports on Saturday. Possible measures include locking down the capital if infection rates spike and tightening quarantine rules on those flying into the UK, ...