Nigeria's wet markets thrive despite coronavirus pandemic - Reuters India
LAGOS (Reuters) - Just a few months after Epe Fish Market was under lockdown to stem the spread of the new coronavirus, vendors at the site in the southern Nigerian state of Lagos are back buying, selling and trading animals.
A vendor descales an endangered pangolin with a machete. Nearby, grasscutter rodents are skinned. Most of the sellers wear masks.
Experts say COVID-19, which has killed around 1,000 people in Nigeria, jumped from animals to humans, possibly at a wet market
Proportion of contacts reached by English COVID-19 tracing scheme falls - Reuters
LONDON (Reuters) - England’s test and trace scheme reached 71.3% of identified contacts of new COVID-19 cases in the latest week, Britain’s health ministry said on Thursday, a fall on the previous week.
In the week to August 12, 4,803 people were transferred to the test and trace system following a positive COVID-19 test, of whom 78.8% were reached and asked to provide contacts.
Of the 16,
Belarus launches criminal case against new opposition body - Reuters
MINSK (Reuters) - Belarus launched a criminal case on Thursday against a new opposition body, accusing it of an illegal attempt to seize power, a day after President Alexander Lukashenko threatened to sweep the streets of protesters who reject his re-election.
Belarus is facing its biggest political crisis since the breakup of the Soviet Union,
Canadian home prices rise in July but market still slow - Reuters Canada
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian home prices rose in July, led by the Quebec City and Ottawa-Gatineau markets, though it was the smallest July advance in 15 years, data showed on Thursday, confirming the slowing of the housing market in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index, which
'A pandemic in a pandemic': Coronavirus deepens racial gaps in America - Reuters
NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Jeannine Cook had only opened her Philadelphia bookstore for a few weeks when the coronavirus forced its closure, the latest in a string of obstacles for the Black business owner.
Landlords refused to rent to her, and, like many Black-owned businesses, her Harriett’s Bookshop was too new and small to be eligible for a U.S. government Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan to help small businesses weather the COVID-19 setbacks.
“The fact I’
India's monetary policy committee constrained by rising inflation - minutes - Reuters India
MUMBAI (Reuters) - Rising inflation has complicated the task of India’s monetary policy committee and could limit its ability to support growth, its August meeting minutes showed on Thursday, while it also called on the government for more fiscal action.
On Aug. 6, the MPC unanimously decided to hold interest rates steady while keeping
DUBLIN (Reuters) - Some European Union regulators objected to Ireland’s preliminary ruling in a landmark privacy investigation of Twitter, the lead regulator said on Thursday, triggering a process where a majority decision will be sought.
Twitter had looked set to become the first big technology company
Rise in U.S. weekly jobless claims clouds labor market recovery - Reuters
(Reuters) - The number of Americans filing a new claim for unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly back above the 1 million mark last week, a setback for a struggling U.S. job market crippled by the coronavirus pandemic.
Still, in a sign some rehiring is underway, the rolls of those continuing to receive jobless benefits is slowly declining, the Labor Department reported on Thursday, and other data indicated a recovery from the recession triggered by COVID-19 continues, though at a more fitful pace than earlier.
Initial
UPDATE 2-German bund yields drop to -0.50% as investors get nervous - Reuters
* German 10-year yield lowest since Aug. 11
* Rising coronavirus cases and U.S. jobs data rattle investors
* Euro zone periphery govt bond yields tmsnrt.rs/2ii2Bqr (Adds details, latest prices)
By Olga Cotaga
LONDON, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Benchmark German yields fell on Thursday as investors jumped into safe-haven German debt amid rising cases of the coronavirus and concerns about a slower U.S. economic recovery.
Investors tend to buy German debt when
Ansu Fati, Ferran, Eric Garcia lead Spain squad full of fresh faces - Reuters UK
MADRID (Reuters) - Barcelona’s teenage forward Ansu Fati and new Manchester City signing Ferran Torres were among six debutants in the Spain squad coach Luis Enrique unveiled on Thursday for next month’s UEFA Nations League matches against Germany and Ukraine.
Fati, 17, who is Barca’s youngest league goalscorer as well as the youngest player to ever to score in the Champions League, makes the leap into the senior team from the under-21 side after an outstanding breakthrough season with the Catalans.
Torres,