Bloomberg The Economic Transformation Committee of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) suggested that pension funds take over some of the assets of the indebted state power company. The proposal to transfer parts of Eskom Holdings SOC into non-state hands was made in a discussion document, which considered responses to the coronavirus-induced economic slump. The ANC’s labour union allies ...

So many excitable Americans are hurling accusations of fascism, there might be more definitions of “fascism” than there are actual fascists. Fascism, one of the 20th century’s fighting faiths, has only faint echoes in 21st-century America’s political regression. Europe’s revolutionary tradition exalted liberty, equality and fraternity until revolutionary fascism sacrificed the first to the second and third. Fascism fancied itself ...

The course of the Covid-19 pandemic in rural Mower County, Minnesota, is hand-written across six easel-sized sheets of paper affixed to the wall of the local Emergency Operations Center. Six cases and no deaths were recorded on March 22, the first entry. Pam Kellogg, Mower County’s community health division manager, points to the fourth sheet, covering much of May. “It ...

Second waves of coronavirus outbreaks may not mean reimposing blanket restrictions on activity in Asia. The region’s economies, which have seen more than half a century of growth grind to a halt, won’t be able to handle it. That means the future will be speckled with pocket-size lockdowns. Leaders are wary of repeating the huge contractions in commerce that came ...

For a long time, US-based internet giants entertained the idea of finally accessing the world’s biggest market and tapping into a base of more than 1.3 billion potential consumers. Now, just as the door to China appears firmly shut, the next giant market is opening up. Alphabet Inc CEO Sundar Pichai is ready to realise India’s potential with the one ...

Bloomberg Swatch Group AG cut 2,400 jobs, a record cull, and trimmed its store network as the Swiss watchmaker became unprofitable for the first time. The maker of Omega and Longines timepieces said on Tuesday it accelerated plans to shut stores permanently in Hong Kong as well as shops that sell its colorful namesake brand and Calvin Klein timepieces. Sales ...

Bloomberg London Heathrow airport, normally the busiest in Europe, will close one of its two runways for repairs at the height of the summer season, a reflection of passenger traffic that remains near rock bottom because of coronavirus lockdowns. The landing strip will be shut down over coming weeks to allow preliminary works to take place, before reopening during the ...

Bloomberg Southwest Airlines Co needs passenger numbers to triple by year-end if it’s going to avoid the carrier’s first ever involuntary job cuts, its chief executive officer said, even as rising coronavirus infections prompt some states to restrict travel. Southwest employees have until Wednesday to apply for voluntary separation or extended time off to help reduce spending on labour, the ...

Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc told employees at a New York warehouse, where workers have sued and gone on strike over safety concerns, that they won’t be punished for insufficient productivity or extra time washing their hands. In a message Amazon sent recently to employees and posted in bathrooms at the Staten Island facility, the e-commerce giant said workers wouldn’t be disciplined ...

Bloomberg South African Airways creditors and unions approved a rescue plan that includes at least $1.6 billion in state funding and thousands of job losses. Voters representing about 86% of those eligible supported the package, first proposed by administrators for the bankrupt carrier a month ago. The motion overcame the 75% threshold after most labor groups agreed to sweetened severance ...