International News

Bloomberg As the European Union (EU) seeks to disburse funds from its 750 billion-euro ($888 billion) recovery program as soon as next year, some of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic are struggling to work out how to best keep their finances in check once they take on billions ...

Bloomberg The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) effort to name a new leader hit a new roadblock on Wednesday after the Trump administration said it won’t back the appointment of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to be the WTO’s next director-general. The US could not support a consensus decision to appoint Okonjo-Iweala, Deputy US ...

Bloomberg Argentina is considering fiscal incentives to encourage companies to hire workers after unemployment spiked to the highest in at least 16 years amid pandemic. Labour Minister Claudio Moroni said he’s been working with the Production Ministry to lower some employer contributions. The incentives will probably be aimed at hard-hit ...

Bloomberg Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s government has approved a new relief package to help sectors hit hardest by the latest coronavirus restrictions amid growing protests in cities including Milan and Turin. Conte’s cabinet signed off on measures worth about 5 billion euros ($6 billion) to partially compensate businesses that ...

Bloomberg Consumer confidence unexpectedly pulled back in October as Americans became more concerned about prospects for employment, incomes and the economy. The Conference Board’s index decreased to 100.9 from a downwardly revised 101.3 reading in September, according to a report Tuesday. The reading fell below the median estimate of 102 ...

Bloomberg The UK’s recovery already looks well past its peak, putting the economy on a shaky footing as it enters a winter of stricter restrictions to control the coronavirus. The worrying outlook prompted JPMorgan Chase to almost halve its forecast for fourth-quarter growth, with the bank expecting regional lockdowns to ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong’s exports rebounded in September on the back of a recovering Chinese economy, Financial Secretary Paul Chan said his blog post on Sunday. The city’s third-quarter gross domestic product should show a significant improvement from the two preceding three-month periods, Chan said. Hong Kong’s GDP slumped by about ...

Bloomberg Singapore is seeking to reduce the amount of time it takes to regularly check migrant workers for coronavirus infection by piloting the use of antigen rapid tests. For a period of four weeks, a group of 1,000 migrant workers will undergo antigen rapid testing every seven days, the Ministry ...

Bloomberg The Malaysian Estate Owners Association says new virus-related restrictions on palm operations will cause potential losses of as much as 900 million ringgit ($217 million) a month to the oil palm sector in the state of Sabah. If the entire oil palm supply chain in Sabah is constrained by ...

Bloomberg Holding companies controlled by energy-to-mining tycoon Anil Agarwal face the highest debt repayments in several years just as credit rating firms step up warnings. Vedanta Ltd holding companies Vedanta Resources Ltd and Volcan Investments Cyprus Ltd must repay a combined $1.17 billion next year. That’s the most since 2017, ...