Bloomberg Hong Kong, already grappling with tightened policing to rein in widespread protests that followed last year’s proposed extradition bill, is now bracing for the prospect of stricter digital controls — ones that would curtail free speech, communications and the ability to organise and turn the city of 7 million into a surveillance state that more closely resembles China. In ...

Bloomberg Mexico plans to keep migrant workers from travelling to Canada amid a wave of coronavirus outbreaks on farms, threatening a labour squeeze in the northern nation’s fruit and vegetable industry as harvests start to ramp up. There will be a “temporary pause” on migrant workers travelling to Canada while protocols and sanitary situations are reviewed, Daniel Millan, a spokesman ...

Bloomberg Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet signed off on plans to raise another 62.5 billion euros ($70 billion) in debt to finance the country’s largest stimulus program in recent history. The proposal has yet to be approved by parliament and would increase net borrowing to 218 billion euros this year. In March the Bundestag, or lower house, had already authorised a ...

Bloomberg European car sales showed first signs of a tepid recovery in May as showrooms reopened after a two-month shutdown because of the coronavirus. New auto registrations across the region fell 57% year-over-year, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association said. While that’s the worst May since the group started tracking the data in 1990, it’s an improvement over the 78% plunge ...

Bloomberg UK inflation slowed to just a quarter of the Bank of England’s (BOE) target in May, boosting the case for policy makers to add to their stimulus plan at their meeting this week. Consumer prices increased just 0.5% from a year earlier, the weakest since 2016, amid falling prices of auto fuel and recreational goods. The core rate, which ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s plan to help Canada’s small businesses pay their rent is off to a slow start, with some landlords hesitant to sign up and others bogged down by red tape. The federal government said earlier this month landlords had applied for only C$90 million ($66 million) from a rent assistance fund on behalf of about 26,000 ...

Bloomberg A tunnel intended to connect Finland and Estonia faces a delay of up to seven years after Finnish policy makers picked a route opposed by the developer. The Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council’s assembly voted to route the project under the capital and not Espoo, the adjacent city. Finnish entrepreneur Peter Vesterbacka, formerly of Rovio Entertainment Oyj, plans to appeal the ...

Bloomberg Alternative assets such as infrastructure and real estate have been a popular way for Nordic pension funds to pump up returns. But the latest crisis just exposed how risky many corners of the asset class are, when liquidity suddenly dries up. As the chief investment officer of Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co., Mikko Mursula oversees about 46 billion euros ...

Bloomberg Stocks pushed higher in Europe along with US equity futures as investors looked past a worrying increase in coronavirus cases to government and monetary stimulus. The dollar slipped. In the wake of Tuesday’s global rally, gains in real-estate and banking shares brought fresh momentum to the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. S&P 500 futures swung from modest declines to gains, ...

Bloomberg India stocks rose, overcoming early volatility as investors weighed the consequences of a border conflict with China’s military while coronavirus infections continued to rise as the South Asian nation reopens. The S&P BSE Sensex index rose 0.2% to 33,678.43 as of 12:51 pm in Mumbai, after swinging between gains and losses. The NSE Nifty 50 Index was up 0.2%. ...