Bloomberg British Airways (BA) became the first major carrier to cut services to Italy following the spread of the coronavirus there, saying it will eliminate 22 round-trip flights to Milan through March 11. BA said that it took the decision following a reduction in demand for travel to the city in the Lombardy region, where the Italian outbreak is concentrated. …

Bloomberg Papa John’s International Inc fell after the pizza chain reported earnings that suggest little growth for its North American locations this year, along with concerns about the coronavirus that’s quickly becoming a threat to the global economy. While North American same-store sales rose 3.5% last quarter and exceeded analysts’ predictions, the chain isn’t planning on increasing its net store …

Bloomberg Nestle SA, the world’s largest food and beverage company, told employees to avoid travelling for business reasons until the middle of March to keep from contracting or spreading the coronavirus. The Swiss maker of KitKat and Nespresso capsules “shares global concerns over the spread and impact on public health of coronavirus,” it said. Nestle, which employs 291,000 people worldwide, …

ABU DHABI / WAM The National, the English-language news outlet based in Abu Dhabi, has been selected by the Google News Initiative as one of the first winners of Google’s GNI Middle East Innovation Challenge. The GNI Middle East Innovation Challenge is a programme that will fund a set of projects across the region that inject new ideas into the …

Bloomberg Europe kicked into high alert as countries from Italy and Spain to France reported rising numbers of cases of coronavirus, struggling to limit its spread. Vast swathes of the Lombardy and Veneto regions of Italy, stretching from Milan to Venice, remained in a virtual lockdown. Spain kept about 700 guests confined to a Canary Islands hotel as they undergo …

Bloomberg Oil extended declines to the lowest in a year on fears the fast-spreading coronavirus will take a major toll on the global economy. Futures in New York fell 1.4% after plummeting more than 7% over the previous three sessions. Top US health officials warned of a domestic outbreak of the infection, triggering another sell-off on Wall Street and in …

Abu Dhabi / WAM Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori, UAE Minister of Economy, discussed ways to further develop economic cooperation frameworks with Mexico during a number of bilateral meetings held with Mexican ministers and other government officials, in connection with UAE delegation’s participation in the “Mexico-UAE Business and Trade Forum” hosted by Mexico. During Al Mansoori’s meeting with Miguel Torruco …

Bloomberg India’s federal government will encourage inefficient state power utilities to seek privatisation and other institutional reforms to turn around money-losing operations and ensure reliable supplies to consumers, according to the top bureaucrat in the federal power ministry. States with electricity utilities that lose more than 15% of revenue due to archaic networks, power theft and sloppy billing and collections …

Bloomberg Iberdrola SA expects sharp growth in profit this year, driven by rising power output after earlier investments in renewable energy and transmission assets ramped up. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation rose 8.1% to a record $11 billion in 2019 from a year earlier, roughly meeting the average estimate of 10.01 billion euros by 19 analysts surveyed by …

Bloomberg Stocks dropped globally and US index futures fluctuated on Wednesday as investors fretted fresh evidence of the widening coronavirus outbreak. Gold advanced and Treasuries were steady. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell for a fifth straight session, suffering its longest losing streak since July, as companies including Diageo Plc and Danone SA warned the virus outbreak will hit their …