Business

Workers of industrial and readymade garment factories started returning to their workplaces in the capital on Monday amid growing concern over a massive coronavirus outbreak. People from the country’s south-western part have been gathering at ferry pontoons of Paturia and Aricha since Sunday. Barely any of them had any protective gears. They are getting on trucks, pick-up vans or rickshaw ...

US state of Georgia reopened some non-essential businesses on Friday and a number of other states are expected to follow suit despite great concerns over coronavirus. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has allowed some non-essential businesses, such as gyms, barbershops and hair salons, to reopen their doors from Friday. Restaurant dining rooms, theaters and some other businesses can reopen from Monday, ...

When economies eventually re-open, many businesses will stay shut as they struggle with the new environment. That is the fear from a global disaster recovery group that helps businesses recover from crises like coronavirus. Small business owners are more vulnerable and may have to become entrepreneurs again to survive, BBC reported.During coronavirus lockdowns, activities such as grocery shopping, movie watching, ...

UK retail sales fell a record 5.1% in March as many stores shut up shop in the face of the coronavirus lockdown. The figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the steepest sales fall since it started collecting the data in 1996, BBC reported.Food and online shopping rose, and alcohol sales jumped by 31%. But clothes sales tumbled ...

As China reopens restaurants and cafes, more plant-based “fake” meat products are popping up on menus. On Wednesday, Beyond Meat started selling its plant-based food in China through thousands of Starbucks cafes.Fast-food chain KFC said it will also start trialling fake chicken nuggets from next week, BBC reported. As China recovers from the coronavirus outbreak, more people are looking to ...

Negative oil prices on Monday were a “quirk”, says one market expert. The price of US oil – which slumped to minus $37 at one point – was produced by a trading deadline and is now back close to a positive figure.The UK oil price has been hit too, but the price of a barrel of Brent crude is now ...

Australia will force Google and Facebook to pay media outlets for their content, the government announced Monday, vowing to lead the world in making the tech giants share lucrative advertising revenues with traditional media. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said a mandatory code of conduct — to be fully unveiled by July and made law soon after — will require the US-based ...

Iran allowed some shuttered Tehran businesses to reopen Saturday despite the Middle East’s deadliest coronavirus outbreak, as many faced a bitter choice between risking infection and economic ruin. Top officials argue that Iran’s sanctions-hit economy cannot afford to remain on lockdown, and approved similar measures in other provinces last week, AFP reported. There was a “significant” uptick in highway use ...

Global equities surged Friday as reports of encouraging trials for a possible coronavirus drug injected optimism into investors, reports AFP. Asian indices posted healthy gains also as official data showed the fatal COVID-19 pandemic had not hit China’s economy as badly as some had feared. However, WTI oil prices tanked to 18.03 per barrel to strike a fresh 18-year low ...

  Friday 17 April 2020:   Over half of UK Muslims will struggle to pay bills during coronavirus crisis With half of Muslim households in the UK living in poverty and deprivation compared to 18% of the general UK population (1), Islamic Relief UK is partnering with the National Zakat Foundation (NZF) to give financial support to desperate families struggling through ...