June, 2020

• 9 June

  Vietnam mulls international flights resumption

  Bloomberg Vietnam is considering the resumption of some international flights to and from destinations that have had no novel coronavirus cases in the past 30 days, according to a statement on the government’s website. Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc directed the National Steering Committee for Coronavirus Prevention and Control to report on international destinations considered to be safe, according ...

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• 9 June

  US, Russia to meet on curbing nuclear stockpiles on June 22

  

  Bloomberg The US and Russia will send senior officials to Vienna on June 22 for a new round of arms-control talks, a State Department official said, as the Trump administration tries to enlist Moscow’s help bringing China into broader negotiations to limit all three countries’ nuclear weapons stockpiles. The official didn’t rule out that the US may be willing to ...

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• 9 June

  North Korea cuts off all communications with South Korea

  

  Bloomberg North Korea said it was shutting a liaison office it shares with South Korea from Tuesday and severing communication over a leaders’ hot line, putting pressure on Seoul to break with Washington’s effort to isolate the country. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the state was taking the move because South Korean authorities had “connived” to ...

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• 9 June

  US blasts Japan’s NHK for ‘offensive’ video

  

  Bloomberg The acting US ambassador to Japan denounced an animated video from public broadcaster NHK aimed at explaining the Black Lives Matter protests, adding to widespread criticism that it perpetuated racist stereotypes. “The caricatures used are offensive and insensitive,” Joe Young, the Charge d’Affaires ad interim, said on Twitter on Tuesday of the animation. It didn’t mention the death of ...

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• 9 June

  Greece, Italy agree on maritime border pact

  

  Bloomberg Greece and Italy signed an agreement on Tuesday that marks the maritime boundary in the Ionian Sea between the exclusive economic zones of the two European Union members. The deal is “an important development” and shows Greece’s constant goal is to delimit maritime zones with all its neighbours, with valid agreements that adhere to international law — unlike Turkey’s ...

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• 9 June

  Virus spreaders who never show symptoms ‘very rare’: WHO

  

  Bloomberg Transmission of the novel coronavirus by people who don’t develop symptoms is “very rare,” the World Health Organization (WHO) said, playing down concerns that these so-called silent spreaders might serve as a major conduit for the disease. “It still appears to be rare that an asymptomatic person actually transmits onward to a secondary individual,” Maria Van Kerkhove, head of ...

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• 9 June

  French economy’s virus slump to exceed 10%

  

  Bloomberg French economic output will take two years to recover from the virus-related slump that that will inflict even longer lasting damage on the labour market, the country’s central bank said. The Bank of France report shows that even with robust growth in the next two years, unemployment will continue rising to reach a record high close to 12% in ...

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• 9 June

  UK’s latest debt sale may be another blockbuster

  

  Bloomberg Demand for government bonds is showing no signs of letup, with Ireland securing record investor demand despite a host of countries, including the UK, selling debt. Ireland racked up more than 50 billion euros for its sale of 10-year debt, trumping the 33 billion euros secured in April. The UK meanwhile is selling 30-year bonds via banks against a ...

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• 9 June

  German exports witness record plunge in April

  

  Bloomberg German exports plunged at a record pace in April when economies around the world shut down to contain the coronavirus. Sales abroad were down 31.1% from a year earlier, an unprecedented slump in the series that reaches back to 1950. Imports fell the most since the financial crisis a decade ago. German manufacturers were already suffering from weak demand ...

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• 9 June

  Greece sees biggest drop in financial wellbeing

  

  Bloomberg The fallout from Covid-19 is hurting the financial wellbeing of Greek and Romanian consumers the most in Europe, while those in Scandinavia are least affected. Swedish debt collector Intrum AB surveyed European consumers on their financial security and nearly half of the respondents said their wellbeing has declined today compared with six months ago. “The survey clearly shows that ...

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