The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday cut this year’s economic growth forecast for emerging Asia, as a spike in coronavirus cases from new variants and slow vaccinations cloud the region’s recovery prospects.

Global economic growth prospects are holding strong for this year and next, despite a significant majority of economists in Reuters polls warning new variants of the coronavirus pose the biggest risk to that outlook. 

London’s Heathrow Airport urged Britain to open up travel to vaccinated passengers after its recovery fell behind hubs elsewhere in Europe, pushing its cumulative pandemic losses to $4 billion. 

German business morale fell unexpectedly in July on continuing supply chain worries and amid rising coronavirus infections, a survey showed on Monday, the first decline since January. 

Emerging markets have so far been on the fringes of a fundraising boom using so-called SPACs or special-purpose acquisition companies, which could potentially unlock a vital new source of cash for entrepreneurs in developing regions.

South African Airways (SAA) subsidiary Mango Airlines will enter into a local form of bankruptcy protection known as business rescue, SAA’s interim chief executive Thomas Kgokolo told eNCA television on Monday.

Insurance brokers Aon Plc and Willis Towers Watson Plc said on Monday they had agreed to terminate their $30 billion merger agreement and end their litigation with the US Department of Justice. 

Indonesia’s decision to relax some Covid-19 curbs this week, despite reporting record-high deaths in recent days, is being driven by social and economic concerns rather than epidemiological advice, public health experts said on Monday.

Britain is exploring ways to remove China’s state-owned nuclear energy company China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) from all future power projects in the UK, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the plans.

Abu Dhabi will slash the cost of establishing new businesses by  “more than 90 percent” from Tuesday to increase the  “competitiveness regionally and internationally” of the emirate, already a magnet for commerce.

Financial markets kicked off the week with fresh volatility on Monday, as Asian stocks tumbled, bitcoin soared and the dollar retreated.

China’s sweeping new rules in private tutoring has left private education firms facing a significant business impact as Beijing steps up regulatory oversight of a $120 billion industry that investors had bet billions of dollars on in recent years. 

China said on Monday the European Union’s plan to impose the world’s first carbon border tax will expand climate issues into trade in violation of international principles and hurt prospects for economic growth.

AstraZeneca Plc is  “scouring” its global supply chain to try and boost Covid-19 vaccine supplies to Thailand and Southeast Asia, its representative for the country said on Saturday, amidst speculations of local production shortfalls.

Chinese tech giant Tencent must relinquish its exclusive music label rights, the market regulator said Saturday, after finding that the firm had violated antitrust laws.

Crypto broker CoinBurp has no authorisation for a planned launch of its $BURP token and initial exchange offering on Monday, July 26, Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said on Sunday in the latest crack down on crypto trading. 

The British government will be exposed to financial risks from its 372-billion-pound pandemic spending for decades, according to lawmakers’ reports on Sunday that also said more than 2 billion pounds had been spent on unusable protective equipment.

The global insurance industry is poised to recover more quickly and forcefully from the pandemic than it did after the 2008 financial crisis, despite such obstacles as low interest rates and inflation risk, insurer Swiss Re AG’s chief Americas economist said on Friday.

The US Trade Representative’s office on Friday said it had determined that no tariff action against Vietnam was warranted after its central bank agreed with the US Treasury not to manipulate its currency for an export advantage. 

A new worldwide wave of Covid-19. Natural disasters in China and Germany. A cyber-attack targeting key South African ports.