2020年经济学人 一周要闻 谷歌延长远程办公时间 美国失业救济金下调 波音二季度亏损24亿美元（在线收听）

The world this week

世界国际要闻

Business

经济

The bosses of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google faced sharp questions (remotely) from a committee in America’s Congress about their companies’ market dominance and whether they should be broken up. It was the first time that Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive, had appeared before lawmakers. He insisted that his platform accounts for only a small portion of overall retail sales, and that it has supported a spurt in growth at small and medium-sized businesses.

亚马逊、苹果、Facebook和谷歌的老板们面临着来自美国国会委员会的尖锐问题——关于他们公司的市场主导地位以及他们是否应该被拆分。这是亚马逊首席执行官杰夫·贝佐斯(Jeff Bezos)第一次在立法者面前露面。他坚称，他的平台只占零售总额的一小部分，而且支撑了中小企业的井喷式增长。

Google extended the period during which it expects employees to be working remotely because of covid-19. It will allow most staff to work from home until at least July next year.

由于新冠疫情的原因，谷歌延长了员工远程办公的期限。该公司将允许大多数员工居家邦，至少到明年7月份。

After terse negotiations within the party, the Republicans in Congress presented their plan for a new stimulus package, amounting to $1trn in spending. The bill extends a federal top-up to weekly unemployment benefits that has been in place since March, but slashes its generosity from $600 to $200; from September, the scheme would aim to replace 70% of workers’ lost wages. It also provides for another round of stimulus cheques to all households. The Democrats have alternative proposals.

经过党内的简短谈判，国会的共和党人提出了一项新的经济刺激计划，总额达1万亿美元。该法案延长了自3月份开始实行的每周联邦失业补助的上限，但将其金额从600美元下调至200美元；从9月开始，该计划的目标是弥补70%的工人的失业补贴。该法案还为所有家庭提供了另一轮刺激资金。民主党对此提出不同方案。

The German economy contracted by 10.1% in the second quarter compared with the first, or by 11.7% from the same three months last year. On both measures, it was the biggest decline in quarterly records that stretch back to 1970.

与第一季度相比，德国经济第二季度收缩了10.1%，较去年同期缩水了11.7%。从这两个指标来看，这是自1970年以来季度降幅最大的一次。

Russia’s central bank reduced its benchmark interest rate for the fourth time since January, lowering it by another quarter of a percentage point, to 4.25%. Elvira Nabiullina, the central bank’s governor, said that more cuts could come before the end of the year.

俄罗斯央行自1月份以来第四次下调基准利率，再次下调0.25个百分点至4.25%。该国央行行长埃尔维拉·纳比乌林娜(Elvira Nabiullina)表示，今年年底前可能会进一步降息。

Saddled with huge write-downs of assets, around half of which originated in its British retail bank, Santander reported a quarterly loss of 11.1bn euros ($12.2bn), the first in the Spanish lender’s 163-year history. It is the biggest loss in the banking industry since UniCredit’s 13.6bn euros-worth of red ink in the last quarter of 2016.

西班牙桑坦德银行(Santander)背负巨额资产减记，其中约一半的减值来自其英国的零售银行，该行公布季度亏损111亿欧元(约合122亿美元)。这是这家西班牙银行163年历史上的首次亏损。这是自意大利联合信贷银行在2016年第四季度亏损136亿欧元以来银行业最大的一次亏损。

Boeing reported a $2.4bn quarterly loss and made further cuts to production. It also confirmed that it will stop building the 747, which entered service in 1970, bringing cheaper long-haul flights to millions.

波音公布季度亏损24亿美元，并进一步削减了产量。该公司还确认将停产747，该飞机于1970年投入使用，让数百万人享受到更加划算的长途飞行。