By Uday Sampath Kumar (Reuters) – Spending on Cyber Monday, the biggest U.S. online shopping day, may hit a record $11.6 billion, according to a report, as discounts on everything from pajamas to AirPods drive shoppers to buy even under the strain of i…
Italy’s Enel signs deal with SACE on deferred energy bill payments
ROME (Reuters) – Italian energy group Enel said on Monday it had struck a deal with state-owned credit agency SACE to facilitate deferred bill payments for its business clients. Delaying payments on surging gas and electricity bills is one way Italian …
Dollar rises broadly, yuan slumps as China’s COVID unrest rattles sentiment
By Rae Wee SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The dollar gained broadly on Monday as protests against COVID restrictions in China stoked uncertainty and dented sentiment, sending the yuan sliding and pushing nervous investors toward the safe-haven greenback. The CO…
Stocks, oil skid as China’s COVID protests roil sentiment
By Scott Murdoch SYDNEY (Reuters) – Stocks and oil weakened on Monday as rare protests in major Chinese cities against the country’s strict zero-COVID policy raised worries about management of the virus in the world’s second-largest economy. MSCI’s bro…
Militants attack hotel used by officials in Somalia’s capital
MOGADISHU (Reuters) -Suspected al Shabaab militants have attacked a hotel used by government officials in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, a police officer told Reuters on Sunday. The attackers stormed the Villa Rose hotel, which is close to the presidenti…
Canada launches new Indo-Pacific strategy, focus on ‘disruptive’ China
By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada launched its long-awaited Indo-Pacific strategy on Sunday, vowing more resources to deal with a “disruptive” China while working with the world’s second-biggest economy on climate change and trade issues. Th…
Prague Christmas market returns after COVID but with fewer lights
PRAGUE (Reuters) – Thousands of people poured into Prague’s medieval Old Town Square at the weekend for the lighting of a 25-metre (80-foot) Christmas tree and the reopening of the annual market after a two-year COVID-19 shutdown, but the energy crisis…
UK to fine tech companies that fail to remove self-harm material
By David Milliken LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s government intends to make it illegal to encourage others to harm themselves online and will fine social media companies that fail to remove such material, as part of a revamp of legislation governing onli…
UK public sector pay won’t keep up with inflation: transport minister
LONDON (Reuters) – British public-sector pay will not be able to keep up with soaring inflation, transport minister Mark Harper said on Sunday, as the country faces a wave of industrial disputes. Industrial action is becoming more widespread across Bri…
Blank sheets of paper become symbol of defiance in China protests
(Removes reference to peak of Hong Kong protests in paragraph 14) SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese protesters have turned to blank sheets of paper to express their anger over COVID-19 restrictions in a rare, widespread outpouring of public dissent t…