LONDON: Deserted streets, empty restaurants, shuttered stores: London’s financial districts remain largely abandoned by workers still worried about the pandemic and reluctant to return to office life.

The City, a square mile in the heart of the British capital traditionally home to the finance industry, was eerily quiet over the past week, with just a smattering of tourists strolling the streets around St. Paul’s Cathedral.

In Canary Wharf in East London’s Docklands, known for"...

NEW YORK: Seven months after the United States and China signed a preliminary agreement to temper their trade war, Beijing’s purchases of US agricultural goods have yet to reach the deal’s target.

As President Donald Trump readies for a tough reelection battle in November, US media reported the two sides are set to meet beginning August 15 to discuss the deal, which calls for China to sharply increase buying American goods and services this year and next.

But according to data compiled"...

The British Centres for Business (BCB) has been appointed as the official representative for British lamb in the Middle East, working on behalf of the UK’s Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB). The appointment comes in response to rising demand for British lamb internationally and particularly in the Middle East. This appointment will help promote British lamb in the region through the BCB’s reach and relationship with buyers across the key markets.

Imports of British lamb into the Middle East saw a dramatic 319% increase between 2018 and"...

• The DGM Consortium, which comprises Thales, has successfully delivered the next generation of e-passports to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of Thailand.
• Launched on the 8th of July and commemorated on the 5th of August through an official inauguration ceremony, the latest e-passport includes enhanced security features such as embedded biometric data and an embossed signature.
• 15 million technologically-advanced and high-security e-passports will be delivered to Thai citizens over the next seven years.

Even though the COVID-19 health crisis has been severely disrupting the global travel industry,"...

Brazil’s inflation in July rose for that month the most in four years, an official data showed, driven by fuel and housing costs, although the annual measure remained significantly below the central bank’s year-end target.

The IPCA index rose 0.36% in July, government statistics agency IBGE said, almost exactly in line with the 0.35% that economists in a Reuters poll had expected.

Prices rose 2.31% in the 12 months through July, exactly matching the median forecast of 2.31% in the Reuters poll.

“The rise to 2.3% is unlikely to worry the central bank and, with the economy still very weak,"...