It’s been an uncomfortably swift rise to the top of the coronavirus tables for President Vladimir Putin. From only a handful of Covid-19 cases in early March, Russia now has more than 290,000 of them and a rate of new infections that puts it second only to the US — a country with more than twice as many people. Few ...

Bloomberg From luxury boutiques to mom and pop stores, Hong Kong’s retailers are hurting. Unless landlords can offer more relief, one in four could disappear by December if sales don’t improve, putting an end to the city’s reputation as a shopping hotspot. That’s the gloomy prediction of Hong Kong Retail Management Association Chairman Annie Yau Tse, who says the rent ...

Bloomberg Qantas Airways Ltd said putting extra space between passengers on planes could lead to a big increase in airfares and discourage people from flying. “Social distancing on an aircraft isn’t practical,” Qantas Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce said in a briefing with reporters on Tuesday. If implemented, it could mean there would only be 22 people on a 128-seat ...

Bloomberg Argentina’s discount airline Flybondi is planning to redouble its bet on domestic service once the toughest travel ban in the Americas is lifted. The company will focus on local flights as long as demand for international travel remains tenuous because of the coronavirus pandemic, said Chief Commercial Officer Mauricio Sana in an interview. Flights to Brazil, the hardest-hit country ...

Bloomberg JC Penney Co, the department-store chain that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, said it will close about 29% of its stores. The retailer will reduce its store count to about 604, down from the 846 it currently has across the US, according to a company filing. In fiscal 2019, those locations brought in $9.2 billion in net ...

Bloomberg Pier 1 Imports Inc said it would seek bankruptcy court approval to wind down its retail operations after the coronavirus pandemic made it difficult for the US retailer to find a buyer. The company said in a statement on Tuesday it intends to sell its inventory and remaining assets, including its intellectual property and e-commerce business, through the court-supervised ...

Bloomberg US President Donald Trump threatened to withdraw altogether from the World Health Organization (WHO), a move that would leave Chinese leader Xi Jinping as the most prominent voice leading the global fight against the pandemic. In a four-page letter detailing his grievances with the WHO, Trump called on the group to “demonstrate independence from China,” renewing a complaint that ...

Bloomberg The US Supreme Court ruled in favour of the victims of the 1998 terror bombings of US embassies in Africa that killed more than 200 people and injured thousands more. The ruling leaves Sudan exposed to a $10.2 billion judgment delivered by a federal court in 2012, which was partially overturned on appeal. The 2014 appellate ruling determined that ...

Bloomberg The biggest cyclonic storm over the Bay of Bengal in about two decades has slightly weakened before hitting the coasts of India and Bangladesh on Wednesday, with authorities making preparations to evacuate more than 5 million people to safer places. Cyclone Amphan, equivalent of a category 4 hurricane at present, was expected to have a sustained wind speed of ...

Bloomberg The number of acutely food insecure people in East Africa and the Horn of Africa is likely to increase to between 34 million and 43 million from May through July due to the socio-economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the World Food Programme. “The most vulnerable and at risk are poor, urban communities living hand-to-mouth in informal ...