TABUK, Saudi Arabia—This desert kingdom is pushing ahead with multibillion-dollar plans to build a spate of new cities despite the coronavirus pandemic and depressed oil prices, betting that projects closely associated with the crown prince will kick-start its economic recovery. The developments include a futuristic city-state called Neom in the country’s remote northwest Tabuk province, … Read more
BEIJING—As the rest of the world struggles to contain the coronavirus, China’s recovery is gaining momentum, positioning it to further close its gap with the U.S. economy. Across China, restaurants and gyms are busy again. Subway cars and airport departure lounges are packed. Children are preparing to return to classrooms with few of the restrictions … Read more
Karren Madere and Andrea Knebel are both victims of the Covid-19 recession. Ms. Madere was laid off in June from her job at a travel-management company, where she negotiated hotel-room rates for corporate clients. Ms. Knebel was sent home in April from her job as a business consultant at an auto-parts factory. Ms. Madere, 61 … Read more
FRANKFURT—European Central Bank officials signaled that they could roll out new monetary stimulus in the fall to shore up economic growth, as the region wrestles with rising unemployment and a possible wave of corporate bankruptcies. While ECB officials signaled relief that the 19-nation currency union had avoided an even deeper downturn, they warned of possible … Read more
TOKYO—After nine months of a shrinking economy, Japan has dug itself into a deep hole that it might not emerge from for at least two years. The world’s third-largest economy after the U.S. and China was smaller in real terms in the second quarter of 2020 than it was in the final quarter of 2012, … Read more
TOKYO—The Japanese economy shrank less than the U.S. and European economies did in the April-June quarter, but it fared worse than Asian counterparts. Japan’s gross domestic product fell 7.8% in the second quarter of 2020 compared with the previous quarter, the worst drop on record in the period since 1980, when comparable data began to … Read more
KYOTO, Japan—The bustle of tourists has disappeared from this ancient capital—only to be replaced by dissension over whether they should ever be welcomed back. Mimiko Takayasu, 80 years old, is proprietress of a century-old tea house where geisha entertain wealthy Japanese with traditional music and dance. Until the coronavirus pandemic, the streets of Gion, Kyoto’s … Read more
BEIRUT—In the wake of the massive explosion that devastated large parts of the Lebanese capital, a new danger is stalking the struggling country: hunger. The early August blast, which killed more than 150 people and displaced hundreds of thousands from their homes, destroyed the grain silos storing most of the country’s wheat supplies and badly … Read more