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SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia has entered its first recession since 1991 after the economy shrank 7 percent in the second quarter, official figures showed Wednesday, as the country reels from the coronavirus pandemic. The Australian Bureau of Statistics said it was the fastest quarterly contraction on record and ends a three-decade run of economic growth that was undented even by the global financial crisis. The bureau’s head of national accounts, Michael Smedes, said the […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Expectations US interest rates will stay ultra low for as long as needed helped lift Asian equities on Friday, though Tokyo tumbled on reports Japan’s prime minister was set to resign for health reasons. In a much-anticipated speech, Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell said it would be in no rush to reel in inflation, even if it overshoots the central bank’s two percent target, instead opting for an average […]
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP ) — TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer said Wednesday he has quit the company as tensions soar between Washington and Beijing over the Chinese-owned video platform. Mayer’s resignation comes days after TikTok filed a lawsuit challenging a crackdown by the US government over claims the wildly popular social media app can be used to spy on Americans. TikTok has been at the center of a diplomatic storm between the US and […]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — Thailand’s economy suffered its worst contraction since the Asian financial crisis more than two decades ago, data showed Monday, as the coronavirus shattered the country’s crucial tourism industry. The kingdom has largely escaped the worst of the disease — registering 3,300 cases and 58 deaths despite being the first country outside China to register an infection in January. But pandemic-spurred lockdowns brought the economy to a staggering halt, shrinking 12.2 percent […]
by Hiroshi HIYAMA Agence France Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s economy shrank a record 7.8 percent in the April-June quarter, the worst contraction in the nation’s modern history, data showed Monday, as the coronavirus deepens the country’s economic woes. The contraction from the previous quarter was slightly worse than expectations but is still significantly less severe than declines seen in many other industrial economies. Still, it is the worst economic contraction for Japan […]
by Jean-Baptiste OUBRIER LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain’s economy shrank by a fifth in the second quarter, higher than any European neighbour, as the coronavirus pandemic slammed businesses and plunged the country into a record recession. “It is clear that the UK is in the largest recession on record,” the Office for National Statistics said after gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 20.4 percent in April-June. Britain’s recession — its first since 2009 amid […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia’s economy contracted in the second quarter for the first time in more than two decades as it was slammed by coronavirus restrictions, with warnings that the recovery could be among the weakest in Southeast Asia. Output in the region’s biggest economy slumped 5.3 percent on-year in April-June, the statistics agency said. That marked Indonesia’s first contraction since the first quarter of 1999 during the Asian financial crisis nd puts it […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — American Airlines became the latest US carrier to report a hefty second-quarter loss, but said it made progress in reducing cash burn, according to results released Thursday. The company suffered a $2.1 billion loss in the quarter ending June 30, compared with profits of $662 million in the year-ago period. Revenues plunged 86.4 percent to $1.6 billion behind a steep drop in customer traffic. “This was one of the […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific issued a profit warning on Friday, estimating it will suffer a historic loss of HK$9.9 billion (US$1.3 billion) in the first half of 2020 as it reels from the coronavirus pandemic. “The Group will record a net loss attributable to shareholders of approximately HK$9.9 billion, which compares to a net profit to shareholders of HK$1.3 billion for the same period in 2019,” the airline said […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Fears over a spike in infections around the world, the reimposition of containment measures and China-US tensions pushed Asian equities lower Tuesday, while oil prices were also hit by speculation top producers will begin tapering their output cuts. And news that Singapore’s economy, considered a regional barometer, contracted a mind-boggling 41 percent in the second quarter provided a stark reality-check for traders. After hitting lows in March, markets have been […]
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — Emirates airline has cut a tenth of its workforce during the novel coronavirus pandemic in layoffs that could rise to 15 percent, or 9,000 jobs, its president said, according to a report on Saturday. The Middle East’s largest carrier, which operates a fleet of 270 wide-bodied aircraft, halted operations in late March as part of global shutdowns to stem the spread of the virus. It resumed two weeks later […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — United Airlines warned Wednesday it could lay off as many as 36,000 workers on October 1 as the US carrier fights for survival amid the coronavirus crisis. The big US airline emphasized that it must cut costs due to a severe drop in demand for air travel, but although it will notify frontline employees of the potential job cuts, it does not expect everyone who receives the notice to […]
