Global News

[ad_1] Hong Kong CNN  —  China will fully reopen borders with its special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao next week, in what is expected to be a major boost for the economies of the two cities. From Monday, travelers entering mainland China from Hong Kong or Macao will no longer need to provide proof of negative Covid tests, as long as they have not traveled abroad in the previous week, the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office said in a Friday statement . Daily quotas on the number of travelers will also be scrapped. The resumption of normal travel is expected to provide much support to the battered economies of the two cities. Hong Kong is a major international financial center, and, before the pandemic, Macao was the world’s casino capital. Hong Kong’s economy contracted last year, according to preliminary government data , shrinking by 3.5% com...

[ad_1] Washington, DC CNN  —  Even as rents are cooling in some parts of the country, it has never cost more to rent a Manhattan apartment as it did in March. Typically, rental activity builds from the spring to a peak in late summer, but median rent last month was the highest on record, according to a report from Douglas Elliman, a brokerage, and Miller Samuel, an appraisal and consultant firm. The median cost of renting an apartment in Manhattan was $4,175 in March. That’s up 12.8% from a year ago and up 2% from February, and marks the highest since last July, when rent was $4,150. A one bedroom apartment had a median rent of $4,150, up 9.6% from last year, while a two bedroom apartment had a median rent of $5,680, up 18.3% from a year ago. A studio apartment rents for a median price of $3,190, up 16% from last year. While the median rent for all sizes of apartme...