Victoria State Records 74 New Coronavirus Cases

Commerzbank Fined 650,000 Euros for Deals With Defunct Cypriot Bank

Cyprus’s securities regulator on Friday imposed a 650,000-euro ($730,800) fine on Germany’s Commerzbank for its role in transactions carried out by a local bank that collapsed during the country’s 2013 financial crisis. The country’s CySEC commission said Commerzbank had been sanctioned over investment operations conducted by the now-defunct Laiki鈥攁lso known as Cyprus Popular Bank鈥攊n 2011, following Laiki’s merger with Greece’s Marfin-Egnatia Bank. Commerzbank declined to comment on the case, which followed an eight-year probe by Cypriot authorities. The investigation, which was launched following calls by left-wing AKEL lawmaker Irene Charalambides, looked into whether the Cypriot deals may have broken laws prohibiting a company from buying its own stock. CySEC said Laiki invested in two structured products issued by Commerzbank in 2008. Marfin-Egnatia, which was at that time a Laiki subsidiary,…

Victoria has recorded 74 new coronavirus cases, including 16 connected to controlled outbreaks, after recording 108 new infections on July 4.

Of of the new cases on Sunday, one is a returned traveller in hotel quarantine, four were from routine testing, 53 are still under investigation and 16 have been linked to outbreaks.

The Saturday spike resulted in Premier Daniel Andrews announcing a lockdown of nine inner-Melbourne public housing blocks and more areas being added to the COVID-19 “hot zone”.

A total of 27 cases have now been detected in the North Melbourne and Flemington towers.

The drastic measures were taken to quell a cluster of up to 30 cases in public housing towers, by shutting down nine buildings affecting 3000 people.

Police are guarding every entrance of the housing estates and residents are not allowed to leave their homes for any reason.

The premier announced additional resources for residents of the buildings, including a hardship payment and additional health services including more testers.

The 3000 will have their rent waived for the next fortnight and will receive hardship payments, Andrews told reporters on Sunday.

He said those employed would receive a $1500 hardship payment, while those not in the workforce will receive $750.

The government said it would arrange the delivery of food and medical supplies to all homes.

The premier said the hard lockdown was about safety for residents and the wider state.

“This is about protection for you and your loved ones.

“And then, by extension, it’s about protecting the entire state and we don’t make those decisions lightly,” he said.

Postcodes 3031 and 3051 have joined the 10 other community transmission “hot zones” under stay-at-home orders.

Andi Yu, Carly Waters in Melbourne

 

Focus News: Victoria State Records 74 New Coronavirus Cases

Lucky Brand Files for Bankruptcy as Latest Retail Casualty of Coronavirus

Apparel company Lucky Brand Dungarees is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, it said on July 3, becoming the latest retailer to fall victim to the coronavirus pandemic. The firm said it had entered into a “stalking horse asset purchase agreement” with SPARC Group LLC, which owns brands such as Aeropostale and Nautica, for the sale of “substantially all” its operating assets. Such a pact sets a starting bid or minimally accepted offer as a threshold for other potential buyers if they want to bid. Lucky Brand estimated both assets and liabilities in the range of $100 million to $500 million, its filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of Delaware showed. A view of a temporarily closed JCPenney store at The Shops at Tanforan Mall in San Bruno, Calif., on May…