Saddled with a slumping property market, China is extending measures introduced in September that allow lower mortgage rates for first-home buyers if newly constructed house prices drop for three consecutive months.
A plunge in the Egyptian pound signaled a fresh bout of volatility for the currency, with analysts expecting further depreciation ahead.
Some of London’s biggest railway stations are shut on Thursday while airports such as Gatwick are also deprived of any train services, as workers strike again and union bosses warn of more industrial action to come.
UK opposition leader Keir Starmer vowed to end an era of “sticking-plaster politics,” pointing to ongoing industrial action and pressure on the National Health Service as evidence that Westminster’s “short-term mindset” is failing the UK.
California faces heavy rain and ferocious winds as a powerful storm system adds to recent downpours that have burst levees and triggered mudslides.
Germany, Sweden and Belgium are imposing new Covid testing requirements on passengers traveling from China after the bloc recommended the step to cope with a surge in cases.
The world’s pile of negative-yielding debt has vanished, as Japanese bonds finally joined global peers in offering zero or positive income.
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. will more than double its flights to mainland China to 61 return services a week from Jan. 14 following the easing of Covid travel restrictions.
Baby food in stores throughout the US contains heavy metals in amounts that can lower children’s IQs and cause developmental problems. The Food and Drug Administration has known about the problem for years, but even after a 2021 Congressional investigation that resulted in two damning reports, little has changed.
South Africa’s governing party is meeting to fine-tune its policies and adopt new ones, with electricity shortages, welfare grants, central bank independence, immigration rules and the management of state companies among the items on its agenda.
