Standard Chartered Plc is straining every sinew to get ahead of the changes the pandemic might make to people’s work-life balance. Perhaps it’s trying to take things a little too far. The emerging markets bank says it will “push the boundaries” for half of its 85,000 staff, who work in nine of the 55 countries where it operates. From early ...

Surely hydrogen is the future of energy. Why else would the European Union, as part of its Green Deal, plan to shovel $550 billion into infrastructure to electrolyse and use the stuff? Why else would China, Japan and South Korea be placing their own huge bets on the gas? The enthusiasm about hydrogen has a simple reason: Whether it’s used ...

Bloomberg India’s economy left cratered by the pandemic is drawing energy from one of its invisible and often-neglected engines: farmers. Business leaders, policy makers and politicians alike are pinning hopes on the rural sector as bountiful rains have set the stage for another year of record crops. Higher disposable incomes with farmers are expected to boost demand from automobile to ...

Bloomberg China’s move to halt Ant Group Co’s massive stock debut could reduce the fintech giant’s value by as much as $140 billion, according to analysts’ revised estimates. New regulations that could force Ant to raise more capital to back lending and seek national licenses to operate across the country may reduce the firm’s valuation by about half, according to ...

Bloomberg Chinese exports expanded faster than expected in October, providing support for the recovering economy and driving increasing demand for imports, which rose for a second straight month. Exports increased 11.4% in dollar terms in October from a year earlier, while imports gained 4.7%, the customs administration said. That left a trade surplus of $58.4 billion for the month. Economists ...

Bloomberg The Philippines aims to have at least 50 million coronavirus vaccine shots next year to inoculate about a fourth of the population, bulk of which will likely arrive by the end of 2021 or early 2022. A vaccine could be available to the Southeast Asian nation between May through July, said Carlito Galvez, vaccine czar and chief implementer of ...

Bloomberg Car sales continued to recover in China last month as the coronavirus pandemic eased in the country and electric vehicles won more users. Retail sales of cars, SUVs and multiple-purpose vehicles increased 8% from a year earlier to 2.02 million units in October, the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) said on Monday. Wholesales of new energy vehicles, which includes ...

Bloomberg Ethiopia’s prime minister said he expects conflict in the north of the country to end quickly, dismissing concerns that the fighting may escalate into a full-blown civil war. Federal soldiers continued to clash on Monday with fighters loyal to the Tigray region’s ruling party, six days after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered forces to respond to an alleged attack ...

Bloomberg President-elect Joe Biden announced a new coronavirus task force as his transition team seeks to fulfill a campaign promise to develop a dramatically different approach than President Donald Trump’s to contain the pandemic. The 13-member task force is composed largely of doctors and public health experts, who will work with Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and the transition team ...

Bloomberg Myanmar’s ruling party led by Aung San Suu Kyi said it had won enough parliamentary seats to retain power in the country’s second election since the end of military rule almost a decade ago. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) is on course to win about 390 seats to the national assembly, according to Myo Nyunt, a member ...