Bloomberg Pravin Gordhan, South Africa’s minister for public enterprises, is staking his own credibility and that of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government on the creation of a new airline out of the ashes of the bankrupt national carrier. Hit by the loss of the country’s last investment-grade rating on its sovereign debt and the Covid-19 pandemic, Ramaphosa has said hard choices ...

Bloomberg Italy’s shoppers may be digging out their wallets as retail businesses reopen on Monday, but many of the country’s 2.7 million merchants say there’s little to celebrate. “My creditors will be all over me as soon as I raise my portcullis,” said Giulio Anticoli, referring to the heavy medieval grates still used to protect some storefronts in Rome. “There’s ...

Bloomberg The administrators of Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd have shortlisted a small number of bidders for the airline after receiving more interest than they anticipated. Deloitte spent the weekend reviewing indicative offers for the carrier from interested investors and has narrowed the field to a small number of well-funded parties with strong aviation credentials, according to a statement on Monday. ...

Bloomberg Some 108 million people in China’s northeast region are being plunged back under lockdown conditions as a new and growing cluster of infections causes a backslide in the nation’s return to normal. In an abrupt reversal of the re-opening taking place across the nation, cities in Jilin province have cut off trains and buses, shut schools and quarantined tens ...

Bloomberg Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the army to send military staff and medical equipment to help the country’s largest gold miner, Polyus PJSC, fight the Covid-19 outbreak at its Siberian unit. Personnel and more than 2 tons of medical equipment, including respirators, masks, gloves and protective suits, were delivered by aircraft to the city of Krasnoyarsk, the defense ministry ...

Bloomberg There is a mystery that hangs over Giuseppe Conte, of how an unassuming professor few expected to last became a political survivor and, at the height of the Covid pandemic, had more power than any Italian leader since Benito Mussolini. It’s all the more intriguing when you consider he has no power base of his own and looked out ...

Bloomberg After initially being lauded for his decisive response to the coronavirus crisis, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has been forced onto the defensive over his administration’s handling of one of the world’s most severe lockdowns. Some of the most stinging criticism came from Glenda Gray, a member of a panel that’s advising the government on the pandemic, who said ...

Bloomberg Indonesian President Joko Widodo ruled out an immediate easing of social distancing rules and ordered officials to strictly enforce a ban on travel during the busy holiday season to prevent a spike in new coronavirus cases. With new infections soaring 80% so far in May, Jokowi, as the president is known, asked officials at a cabinet meeting to increase ...

Bloomberg The UK has pushed back the roll-out of its coronavirus-tracing mobile phone application, in a potential setback for its bid to ease the nation’s lockdown. While Health Secretary Matt Hancock said last week that the app would be ready in mid-May, it is now planned to be released nationally within “weeks,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman James Slack said. ...

Bloomberg German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz is planning a 57 billion-euro ($62 billion) aid package to help municipalities being hit by the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, a person familiar with the matter said. The plan, which Scholz announced on Saturday without giving the size of the measures, would help local governments cover outstanding debt and tax shortfalls caused ...