From September 13th cash machines in England and Wales will start dispensing the Bank of England’s new £5 note, and Britain’s first polymer currency. The quantity of physical banknotes in circulation has risen significantly during the past decade, increasing from 1.9 billion to 3.4 billion between 2004 and 2016. Source: Economist
Nine public-sector unions representing 5.7 million public service agents have called for strike action and demonstrations to protest reforms and voice salary and staffing concerns in the face of a government that has pledged to cut 120,000 public-sector positions by the time President Emmanuel Macron’s term ends in 2022. Source France24
PetroChina supplied 14 percent more natural gas to its customers last month, parent CNPC said, in response to growing demand. Over the first four months of the year, PetroChina increased gas production at key domestic fields by 2 percent on the year to 30.5 billion cubic meters, but imports grew much more substantially, by 29 percent. Source: Oil Price
The U.S. and China have agreed on the broad outline of a deal that would save imperiled Chinese telecom giant ZTE Corp., according to people with knowledge of the matter in both countries, as the two sides move closer to resolving their trade dispute. Source: The Wall Street Journal
