(Reuters) – U.S. first lady Jill Biden tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing mild symptoms, the White House said on Tuesday, adding that President Joe Biden has continued to test negative after recently recovering from the virus.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
* Eikon users, click on COVID-19: MacroVitals for a case tracker and summary of news. cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?navid=1592404098
ASIA-PACIFIC
* China reported 3,036 new coronavirus cases for Aug. 16, of which 637 were symptomatic and 2,399 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Wednesday.
* Shanghai reported four new domestically transmitted asymptomatic coronavirus cases for Aug. 16, up from three cases a day earlier, while no local symptomatic cases were reported, versus none the day before, the city government said on Wednesday.
EUROPE
* Greenhouse gas emissions across the European Union rose in the first quarter from a year earlier, but remained just below pre-pandemic levels, the bloc’s statistics office said on Tuesday.
* Britain recorded its biggest rise in foreign workers since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the year to June, driven overwhelmingly by workers from outside the EU, official figures showed on Tuesday.
AMERICAS
* Royal Bank of Canada is updating its hybrid work arrangement that could see more employees coming to the office, Chief Executive Officer Dave McKay said in an internal memo seen by Reuters on Tuesday.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Asian shares tracked solid Wall Street performance on Wednesday as strong overnight earnings for U.S. retail giants pointed to further scope for the Federal Reserve to tackle inflation with rate hikes. [MKTS/GLOB]
* German investor sentiment fell slightly in August on concerns the rising cost of living will hit private consumption, and suggesting Europe’s largest economy is tipping into recession.
* Japanese manufacturers’ business confidence improved in August after last month’s stall, while service-sector firms’ mood rose for a second month to the highest point in nearly three years, the Reuters Tankan poll showed. [nL4N2ZO1G3]
(Compiled by Valentine Baldassari and Subhranshu Sahu: Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
