Second waves of coronavirus outbreaks may not mean reimposing blanket restrictions on activity in Asia. The region’s economies, which have seen more than half a century of growth grind to a halt, won’t be able to handle it. That means the future will be speckled with pocket-size lockdowns. Leaders are wary of repeating the huge contractions in commerce that came ...

For a long time, US-based internet giants entertained the idea of finally accessing the world’s biggest market and tapping into a base of more than 1.3 billion potential consumers. Now, just as the door to China appears firmly shut, the next giant market is opening up. Alphabet Inc CEO Sundar Pichai is ready to realise India’s potential with the one ...

Bloomberg Swatch Group AG cut 2,400 jobs, a record cull, and trimmed its store network as the Swiss watchmaker became unprofitable for the first time. The maker of Omega and Longines timepieces said on Tuesday it accelerated plans to shut stores permanently in Hong Kong as well as shops that sell its colorful namesake brand and Calvin Klein timepieces. Sales ...

Bloomberg London Heathrow airport, normally the busiest in Europe, will close one of its two runways for repairs at the height of the summer season, a reflection of passenger traffic that remains near rock bottom because of coronavirus lockdowns. The landing strip will be shut down over coming weeks to allow preliminary works to take place, before reopening during the ...

Bloomberg Southwest Airlines Co needs passenger numbers to triple by year-end if it’s going to avoid the carrier’s first ever involuntary job cuts, its chief executive officer said, even as rising coronavirus infections prompt some states to restrict travel. Southwest employees have until Wednesday to apply for voluntary separation or extended time off to help reduce spending on labour, the ...

Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc told employees at a New York warehouse, where workers have sued and gone on strike over safety concerns, that they won’t be punished for insufficient productivity or extra time washing their hands. In a message Amazon sent recently to employees and posted in bathrooms at the Staten Island facility, the e-commerce giant said workers wouldn’t be disciplined ...

Bloomberg South African Airways creditors and unions approved a rescue plan that includes at least $1.6 billion in state funding and thousands of job losses. Voters representing about 86% of those eligible supported the package, first proposed by administrators for the bankrupt carrier a month ago. The motion overcame the 75% threshold after most labor groups agreed to sweetened severance ...

Bloomberg US aviation regulators downgraded the safety ranking of Pakistan’s civilian airline system in the latest action following revelations that hundreds of commercial pilots received faked licenses. The Federal Aviation Administration’s action adds another hurdle to Pakistan International Airlines Corp’s ability to operate into the US, effectively blocking any carrier from that country from adding flights. The US Transportation Department ...

Bloomberg China’s projection of its military might into Asian waters and North Korea’s modernisation of its ballistic-missile arsenal pose risks to Japanese and regional security, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said. In its annual white paper released on Tuesday, the ministry accused China of “relentlessly’ pushing its way towards uninhabited East China Sea islands claimed by the two countries, saying ...

Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel showed a united front with Italy’s Giuseppe Conte days ahead of a crucial European Union summit, warning that EU leaders need to deliver a “massive” response to the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. The German leader’s common line with the Italian prime minister was a sales pitch in favor of a proposed 750 billion-euro ...