Bloomberg The European Union (EU) is pressing for a global deal to eliminate tariffs on pharmaceuticals and medical supplies in an effort to guard against the kind of supply-chain shock triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, outlined options for encouraging worldwide commerce in health-care goods in a policy paper due to be discussed by ...

Bloomberg Bolstering wages and working conditions of low-paid workers in Britain should be a priority when the government starts to withdraw the economic support put in place during the coronavirus crisis, according to the Resolution Foundation. Those employees need a post-pandemic settlement giving them better pay and more control, the think tank said in a report published on Wednesday. Low-wage ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will unveil his a plan to rebuild a battered economy on the day Italians end almost three months of lockdown and can travel freely again. The premier will outline his government’s recovery strategy in a speech, Italian media reported, and repeat an appeal to put aside the country’s political divisions. Conte, who heads an unruly ...

Bloomberg German unemployment rose to the highest level since late 2015, underscoring the struggle that even countries with well-established safety nets face in shielding workers from the pandemic-induced crisis. The number of people out of work rose by 238,000 in May, following an even bigger jump the previous month, according to the Federal Labour Agency in Nuremberg. Economists at the ...

Bloomberg Google surreptitiously amasses billions of bits of information — every day — about internet users even if they opt out of sharing their information, three consumers alleged in a proposed class action lawsuit. “Google tracks and collects consumer browsing history and other web activity data no matter what safeguards consumers undertake to protect their data privacy,” according to the ...

Bloomberg The global rally in stocks held its momentum on Wednesday as investors showed more optimism of quick economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Treasuries dipped with gold, and a dollar gauge hit its lowest level since early March. Gains in insurance and auto shares pulled the Stoxx Europe 600 Index higher. Contracts on the S&P 500 Index rose along ...

Bloomberg The rally in Indian stocks showed no signs of abating on Wednesday as investors continued to bet that easing of the nationwide lockdown will reboot economic growth. The rupee gained for a fourth day, while sovereign bonds were steady. The S&P BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty 50 Index climbed 1.1% each as of 10:57 a.m. to the highest ...

DUBAI / WAM Dubai-based Emerging Markets Property Group (EMPG) and OLX Group, owners of home grown technology firms Bayut and Dubizzle, have announced the merger of their Mena and South Asia operations to form an AED3.6 billion ($1 billion) Dubai-based unicorn company. The merger is the latest in a series of entrepreneurial successes that reinforce Dubai’s reputation as a global ...

Bloomberg Oil rose past $36 a barrel as investors eyed a potential extension of record production curbs by Opec+ while physical markets showed renewed signs of tightness. Futures in New York rose around 2.7%. Russia and several producers in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies are said to favour an extension of one month to existing cuts, ...

GENEVA / WAM The International Air Transport Association (IATA) urged governments to quickly implement the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) global guidelines for restoring air connectivity. Today, the ICAO Council approved ‘Takeoff: Guidance for Air Travel through the Covid-19 Public Health Crisis,’ an authoritative and comprehensive framework of risk-based temporary measures for air transport operations during Covid-19 crisis, the IATA ...