Only a few months into the Covid-19 pandemic, its disruption of our lives might still seem to be no more than a giant pause — global in scale and unprecedented, yes, but nonetheless temporary. But what if, as some experts reckon, this pause lasts years? What if there’s no return to normality even when it’s over? Maybe this pandemic isn’t ...

Bloomberg Gorden Wagener has spent a good amount of his coronavirus quarantine thinking about waffles. Daimler’s head of design, who created such iconic cars as the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren and Vision Mercedes concepts, wanted to bake bread during his pandemic free time, but soon found the bread maker he wanted was out of stock. So he ordered a waffle iron ...

Bloomberg Facebook Inc. is launching a new group video chat product meant to capitalise on a world now stuck indoors and offer an alternative to services that have exploded in popularity in recent months, like Zoom. Messenger Rooms, a feature that will be available on Facebook’s core social network and its Messenger app, will allow video chats among as many ...

Bloomberg Apple Inc. and Google said they are putting stronger privacy protections in their upcoming contact-tracing tool for Covid-19 and that an early version will launch for developers next week. The companies said the system’s tracking keys — a string of characters linked to a user’s device — will be generated in more random ways, and that Bluetooth data will ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM The Emirates Red Crescent (ERC) helped reunite 400 people from several countries with their families, upon the directives of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler’s Representative in Al Dhafra Region and Chairman of the ERC. The ERC paid for their travel expenses from the UAE to their countries and other related costs, despite ...

Bloomberg Oil refiners are hunting for vessels to store jet-fuel and gasoline that nobody is buying, sending freight rates sharply higher, an indication that the global refining system is fast approaching a breaking point. Until now refiners had mostly been storing unwanted product on site, but the latest indication from the tanker market suggests they are now being forced to ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Noura bint Mohammed Al Kaabi, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development and Chair of the UAE National Commission for Education, Science and Culture, participated in a remote meeting of ministers of culture organised by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco). The meeting touched upon repercussions of Covid-19, on culture, innovation sectors in all countries, ...

Bloomberg IndiGo, Asia’s biggest budget airline by market value, reversed a decision to slash employee salaries after the Indian government urged companies to avoid such practices, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. The airline, operated by InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., had proposed pay cuts of as much as 15% for most staff but will no longer go through ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Abu Dhabi Ports on Thursday announced major initiatives to address concerns of its customers across its industrial and economic zone subsidiaries in these uncertain times. The relief package includes several measures for existing customers, including a three-month rent deferment for Q2, a freeze on late payment penalties and an exemption from Tawtheeq fees. The measures are ...

Dubai / WAM The Ministry of Finance (MoF) announced the launch of the upgraded version of the Emirates Gate system for government financial statistics reports. First launched in 2012, the updated system is part of the recommendations of the Government Financial Policy Coordination Council, which is chaired by Younis Haji Al Khoori, Under-Secretary of MoF, Chairman of the Government Financial ...