Basket Village USA
Amazon heads into its annual Prime Day sale event on Tuesday in a very different way to how it entered the pandemic. The company has long used the two-day event to attract people to its Prime membership. This year, that could help Amazon boost profitability amid slowing overall online sales. It’s quite a reversal from the early days of the pandemic when the e-commerce giant’s profits soared as home shoppers turned to online shopping to avoid contracting the coronavirus. Now Amazon says it has too many workers and too much warehouse space. Some analysts say excess capacity is likely to be a short-term problem for the company.
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London’s Heathrow Airport caps daily passenger numbers
LONDON (AP) — London’s Heathrow Airport is capping daily passenger numbers for the summer and telling airlines to stop selling tickets as it steps up efforts to quell the travel chaos caused by the growing demand for travel and staff shortages. Britain’s busiest airport said on Tuesday it was setting a limit of 100,000 passengers it could handle each day until 9/11. The restriction will likely lead to more canceled flights even after airlines have already cut thousands of flights from their summer schedules. The explosion in demand for summer travel after two years of COVID-19 travel restrictions has overwhelmed European airlines and airports that had laid off tens of thousands of staff amid the pandemic.
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Russia fines Apple for violating data storage law
A Moscow court has fined Apple 2 million rubles (about $34,000) for refusing to store Russian users’ personal data on servers in Russia. Zoom Video Communications and Ookla, which operates the Internet tool Speedtest, were both fined 1 million rubles under the same law. The Russian government has been trying for years to establish greater control over the internet and social media. It’s an effort that has intensified in recent months as it attempts to limit the flow of information about the war in Ukraine.
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Croatia clears final hurdle to adopting euro next year
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has removed the final obstacles to Croatia adopting the euro next year. This will allow the currency bloc’s first expansion in nearly a decade as the exchange rate has fallen to its weakest level against the dollar in 20 years. EU finance ministers on Tuesday approved three laws that will pave the way for Croatia to become the 20th member of the euro zone on January 1. The last EU country to join the European Single Currency Area was Lithuania in 2015. Adopting the euro offers benefits from closer financial ties with other members of the currency bloc and monetary authority of the European Central Bank.
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Chinese bank customers to get deposits back after protests
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Financial regulators in central China’s Henan and Anhui provinces have promised to return some bank customers some of their deposits after staging protests against the freezing of their accounts. In statements released late Monday, officials said customers with deposits of 50,000 yuan (about $7,400) or less would be refunded. They said others with larger bank balances would get their money back at a later, unspecified date. The banking protests have drawn attention as angry depositors who tried to travel to Zhengzhou, Henan to try and get their money back from struggling rural banks were stopped from traveling by a health app on their cellphone.
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‘Don’t get sick’: Sri Lankan doctors warn of drug shortages
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Doctors in Sri Lanka are urging their patients not to get sick or have accidents as the country’s economic crisis leaves its trusted healthcare system without medicine and other vital supplies. Sri Lanka ran out of money to pay for basic imports like fuel and food, and medicines were also in short supply. Such problems threaten to undo the enormous progress made in public health over the past decades. Some doctors have taken to social media to try to get donations or supplies, or the funds to buy them. They are also urging Sri Lankans living abroad to help. So far, there is no sign of an end to the crisis that has plunged the country into political collapse.
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Heatwave forecast for Spain and Portugal fuels concern over wildfires
MADRID (AP) — Meteorologists say Spain is set to experience its second heat wave in less than a month and it will last at least until the weekend. Meteorologists said a superheated air mass and warm African winds are pushing temperatures across the Iberian Peninsula past their usual highs. Portugal could experience the highest temperatures; its central Alentejo region is expected to reach 46 degrees Celsius (115 F) on Wednesday and Thursday. Spain’s National Meteorological Agency said southern cities such as Cordoba and Seville could reach 42 degrees Celsius (107.6 F). With temperatures already high in both countries, the outlook has amplified concerns about wildfires.
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There are now 8: Number of UK leaders dwindles as nominations close
LONDON (AP) — Nominations in the race to replace British Prime Minister Boris Johnson have closed, with eight Conservative lawmakers gaining enough support from their colleagues to contest the first round of voting. The candidates needed the backing of at least 20 Conservative lawmakers to stay in the running for second-round votes from Wednesday. Candidates who have reached the threshold include former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Commerce Secretary Penny Mordaunt and backbench lawmaker Tom Tugendhat. Former Health Secretary Sajid Javid failed to make the cut. Tory lawmakers will narrow the race to two candidates through a series of knockout votes, before the final pair are put to a vote by party members. Johnson resigned as party leader last week after months of scandals.
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Italian Draghi warns 5-Stars against political ultimatums
ROME (AP) — Prime Minister Mario Draghi says his government is still able to get things done despite tensions with the 5 Star Movement. But he warned it cannot work if coalition members issue ultimatums. Draghi briefed reporters on Tuesday after meeting with unions on the government’s latest efforts to mitigate the effects of soaring inflation and high energy costs on workers, families and industries. The meeting came after 5-star lawmakers abstained from voting on a government measure in the Lower House of Deputies on Monday, signaling a lack of support. The measure is presented to the Senate on Thursday.
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US, Japan pledge joint efforts on Ukraine, trade and food crisis
TOKYO (AP) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Japan’s finance minister have agreed to cooperate to address the challenges of the war in Ukraine and promote free trade, sustainable energy and food security. Yellen was visiting Tokyo on Tuesday for talks ahead of a meeting of Group of 20 financial leaders on the Indonesian island of Bali. She stressed the importance of effective sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. She sought to gain support to jointly seek a cap on Russian oil prices that would limit the revenue available to the Russian military. A joint statement released after the talks said both sides welcomed efforts to maintain the price cap “where appropriate”.
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The S&P 500 fell 35.63 points, or 0.9%, to 3,818.80. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 192.51 points, or 0.6%, to 30,981.33. The Nasdaq fell 107.87 points, or 0.9%, to 11,264.73. The Russell 2000 Small Business Index fell 3.83 points, or 0.2%, to 1,728.18.
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