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Bloomberg On April 2, Zimbabwean finance minister Mthuli Ncube wrote to the International Monetary Fund and other leading multilateral lenders pleading for help. More than half of the population needs food aid, the economy collapsed even before the impact of the global coronavirus pandemic and the country’s health service is in tatters, he said. To date, he’s had no response. ...

ABU DHABI / WAM In an effort to collaborate and keep trade flows open during the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, Abu Dhabi Ports has joined 19 of the world’s leading port authorities in signing a first-of-its-kind virtual declaration. Hosted via video conference, the Ports Authorities Roundtable (PAR) Declaration calls on member ports to work together by allowing merchant ships to berth ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The United Arab Emirates on Monday sent an aid plane containing five metric tons of medical supplies to Botswana to bolster the country’s efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19. The aid will assist approximately 5,000 medical professionals as they work to combat the virus. Commenting on the aid delivery, Mahash Saeed Al Hameli, UAE Ambassador ...

DUBAI / WAM Expo 2020 Dubai has announced that it is gearing up to help shape a post-pandemic world and create a better future for all after a two-thirds majority of Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) Member States voted in favour of postponing the next World Expo by one year. The event will now run from October 1, 2021 to ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM Abu Dhabi University (ADU) has developed and launched its new interactive chat platform ‘Saif’, a friendly deep learning chatbot powered by Artificial Intelligence, AI technology. ‘Saif’ is designed to enhance ADU’s website offerings and boost user’s experience in obtaining information. The newly launched chatbot was developed in-house by ADU’s expertise and is designed to self-learn and ...

Bloomberg Factory output across several Asian countries slumped to record lows in April, signaling a deeper contraction in the world’s manufacturing hub even as China begins restarting some operations. Purchasing managers indexes across Southeast Asia slumped further below 50, the dividing line between contraction and expansion, to post their weakest readings since the series began, according to data released by ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong’s downturn is now the worst on record, extending the first recession seen in a decade as the coronavirus outbreak further battered an economy already weakened by political unrest. The city’s economy contracted 8.9% in the first quarter from year-ago levels, according to advance government data. The decline surpasses the previous record of -8.3% in the third quarter ...

Bloomberg Telefonica SA and John Malone’s Liberty Global Plc have never been closer to finally creating the UK’s biggest telecom operator after flirting with various combinations over the years. Racing for a potential announcement as early as this week, talks hinge in part on striking equal control for the merger of O2 and Virgin Media, while structuring a deal that’ll ...

Bloomberg The UK risks failing to recruit the 50,000 customs agents the logistics industry says are needed before Britain’s final parting with the European Union, spelling potential chaos at the country’s busiest border. The coronavirus hampered efforts to train staff to handle the extra paperwork firms will need to complete after the UK exits the EU’s customs union at the ...

Bloomberg Small businesses that struggled to get loans from a government pandemic relief program still don’t know how much they may have to repay after the government missed a deadline to give specific guidance. The US Small Business Administration (SBA) was supposed to clarify by April 26 how loans it approved as part of the Trump administration’s multitrillion-dollar coronavirus stimulus ...