Bloomberg President Vladimir Putin told business leaders at his flagship economic forum this month that Russia is coping better than many other countries with Covid-19. Events increasingly are contradicting him. Moscow reported a record-high 9,056 new Covid-19 cases, days after Mayor Sergei Sobyanin ordered mandatory vaccination for at least 2 million employees as surging infections threaten to overwhelm the capital’s ...

Bloomberg A group of centrist Democrats have asked House leaders to slow down consideration of a half-dozen antitrust proposals virulently opposed by the big tech companies the bills target. Eight members of the New Democrat Coalition wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her top deputy, as well as House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, asking the Judiciary Committee to ...

Bloomberg The editor and publisher of the Apple Daily newspaper were arraigned on charges under the city’s sweeping national security law. Editor-in-Chief Ryan Law, and Cheung Kim-hung, the newspaper’s publisher and chief executive officer of parent company Next Digital Ltd, were denied bail and their case was adjourned to August 13, according to a ruling by Chief Magistrate Victor So. ...

Bloomberg The White House reiterated President Joe Biden’s opposition to indexing the gasoline tax to inflation to help pay for an infrastructure plan, raising new questions about the viability of a bipartisan compromise emerging in the Senate. “After the extraordinarily hard times that ordinary Americans endured in 2020 — job losses, shrinking incomes, squeezed budgets — he is simply not ...

Bloomberg Germany is lobbying the European Commission to set stricter climate protection targets for the region’s car and aviation industries, according to Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. In a position paper sent to the European Union (EU) executive, the government urged “ambitious fleet limits” for emissions from new cars in Europe by 2030, the newspaper reported. CO2 limits for automakers are a “decisive ...

Bloomberg Canadians are piling on debt to purchase property at the fastest pace in more than a decade amid a pandemic-driven housing boom. Household mortgage debt grew by 1% in April to C$1.69 trillion ($1.4 trillion), Statistics Canada reported. That’s the fastest pace since 2010. In absolute terms, residential mortgage credit was up C$17 billion during the month, the largest ...

Bloomberg As many as 7% of French firms could be in financial trouble when the government rolls back the blanket support it has provided during the pandemic, according to research by Bank of France economists. The estimate is based on an analysis of over 200,000 balance sheets received as part of the central bank’s annual ratings exercise. It identified firms ...

Bloomberg California is bracing for another afternoon of blistering weather and potential blackouts as officials urge people to conserve power and forecasters warn of a brutal summer ahead. Grid officials said they don’t expect rolling outages, either. Still, they’re urging consumers to curb power use, especially in the early evening when solar production fades and temperatures are expected to be ...

Bloomberg PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) is investing $12 billion across its global business in an overhaul targeting better audits, digitisation of services and greener operations. The professional-services provider will hire 100,000 employees and develop the skills of existing staff over the next five years as it seeks to respond to the post-pandemic operating environment, it said in an emailed statement. “We will ...

Bloomberg General Motors Co is raising the stakes in the electric-vehicle race, boosting its investment in future technology for a second time in eight months with plans to spend $35 billion on more than 30 plug-in vehicles by 2025 and a total of four battery plants. The automaker said the stepped-up investment reflects stronger-than-expected financial results for the year. Higher ...