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The world this week
世界國際要聞
Business
經濟
Britain’s economy plunged into recession in the second quarter, as GDP contracted by a record 20.4% compared with the previous three months. In the first half of 2020 the British economy was hit twice as hard as America’s and fared worse than Germany, Italy and France. There was a sliver of positive news—growth picked up again in June. That will be of little comfort to those facing the end of furlough. Figures also showed a huge drop in the number of people in employment, and redundancies are at a seven-year high. The government’s job-retention scheme will soon start to wind down, though millions still depend on it.
英國經濟在第二季度陷入衰退，國內生產總值與前三個月相比下降了創紀錄的20.4%。2020年上半年，英國經濟遭受的打擊是美國的兩倍，比德國、意大利和法國的情況更糟。好消息是——6月份經濟增長再次回升。對于那些即將結束休假的人來說，并不會得到什么寬慰。數據還顯示，就業人數大幅下降，裁員人數達到7年來的最高水平。政府的工作保留計劃將很快結束，盡管仍有數百萬人依賴這一計劃。
Come dine with me
跟我一起用餐吧
The hospitality industry in Britain has been missing all those absent workers. A government scheme to help the industry by subsidising meals in restaurants, pubs and cafés during August was used by 10.5m diners in its first week. Each customer gets up to 10 pounds ($13) deducted from his meal on Mondays to Wednesdays; the restaurant claims the money back from the Treasury.
英國酒店餐飲業的員工在流失。為了幫助餐飲業，政府推出了一項8月份在餐館、酒吧和咖啡館就餐的補貼計劃，該計劃在第一周就吸引了1050萬的顧客用餐。周一至周三用餐，每人將優惠10英鎊（13美元），餐飲店將向政府財政部提出補貼申請。
America’s unemployment rate fell again in July, to 10.2%. Employers created 1.8m jobs, fewer than the 4.8m that were added to the payrolls in June, when lockdowns eased.
美國的失業率在7月份再次下降到10.2%。雇主們創造了180萬個工作崗位，少于6月份封鎖措施放松時新增的480萬個就業崗位。
With Democrats and Republicans at loggerheads over a new stimulus package, Donald Trump issued an executive order that, among other things, would reinstate the additional unemployment benefits that ceased in July (though at $400 a week rather than $600) and defer the collection of payroll taxes. The order’s intent may be to concentrate minds; the extra benefits depend on contributions from cash-strapped states.
由于民主黨人和共和黨人就一項新的刺激方案上爭執不下，特朗普發布了一項行政命令，其中包括恢復7月份停止的額外失業福利（每周400美元，而不是600美元），并推遲征收工資稅。該命令的目的可能是集中思路；額外失業福利取決于資金短缺的州的貢獻程度。
Mr Trump also issued orders banning ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, from America within 45 days and a similar decree curtailing American firms from doing business with WeChat. As with many of Mr Trump’s dictums, the legality of the president’s latest orders is questionable, though they undoubtedly create uncertainty for the companies involved. The share price of WeChat’s parent company, Tencent, was hammered following his pronouncement.
特朗普還下令，限TikTok的中國公司所有者字節跳動(ByteDance)45天后離開美國市場，并頒布了類似的法令，限制美國公司與微信開展業務。與特朗普的許多裁決一樣，總統最新命令的合法性令人生疑，盡管該令無疑會給相關公司帶來了不確定性。在他發表聲明后，微信母公司騰訊的股價大幅下挫。
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