NEW YORK -- Oil prices declined on Friday as investors grew concerned over a resurgence in coronavirus infections, which would potentially subdue crude demand.

The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for September delivery lost 73 cents to settle at 41.22 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for October delivery slipped 69 cents to close at 44.40 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

The moves came as rising coronavirus cases continued to weigh on the oil market. (US-Oil Price-Drop)

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PRAGUE -- Czech Republic has seen an 82.9-percent decrease year-on-year in the number of tourists in collective accommodation establishments in the second quarter (Q2) of 2020, according to data published by the Czech Statistical Office (CSU) on Friday.

The number of guests in Q2 totaled 988,000 -- an 82.9 percent plummet from the same period last year. Domestic guests were only 30.4 percent of the total in the same period of last year whereas foreigners were a mere 4.3 percent. (CZ-Economy-Statistics)

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WASHINGTON -- The White House had rejected Democrats' offer for a roughly 2-trillion-U.S.-dollar COVID-19 relief package, U.S. media reported Friday.

As part of a closed-door meeting with White House officials Thursday, Democrats offered to cut their 3.4-trillion-dollar relief proposal by 1 trillion dollars if Republicans would agree to increase their roughly 1-trillion-dollar package by the same amount, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday at a joint press conference with Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, The Hill reported.

"'We'll take down a trillion, if you add a trillion in.' They said absolutely not," Pelosi told reporters, adding she would make the offer once again as part of negotiations with White House officials on Friday. (US-COVID-19-Relief Package)

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LISBON -- The National Statistics Institute of Portugal (INE) said on Friday that the country's exports fell 17.1 percent in the first half of 2020 from the same period last year.

Imports dropped by 19.7 percent in the first half of this year compared with the same period of 2019, said INE.

According to INE, the data obtained from Portuguese companies showed a reversal of the growth trend recorded in both flows compared with the second half of 2019. (Portugal-Economy-Export-Import) Enditem

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