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Bloomberg US President Donald Trump threatened to withdraw altogether from the World Health Organisation (WHO), a move that would leave Chinese leader Xi Jinping as the most prominent voice leading the global fight against the coronavirus 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 ...

Bloomberg Carnival Corp. was cut to junk by Moody’s Investors Service amid a prolonged suspension of the cruise company’s operations because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Moody’s assigned the company a Ba1 rating, the highest junk grade, and lowered its rating on Carnival’s senior unsecured notes by one notch to the same level. It said in a statement Monday that Carnival’s ...

Bloomberg Coronavirus-fractured supply chains are providing a wake-up call to British business and leaders with just seven months to go before Brexit triggers the biggest shakeup of trading relationships in a generation. Eighty-two percent of small- and medium-sized manufacturers say the pandemic has affected their supply chains. That’s according to a survey of more than 600 English firms by the ...

Bloomberg Leaders need to do more to secure a quick and sustainable recovery for the global economy, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF). In a survey of almost 350 risk professionals, the Geneva-based group said that two-thirds identified a drawn-out downturn as the greatest risk now facing the world over the coming year and a half. The pandemic has ...

Bloomberg While uncertainty abounds in economic forecasting, US unemployment will likely stay “severely” elevated well into next year, according to a report by two economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. The jobless rate has already climbed to historic levels in just two months following the onset of the coronavirus-induced economic lockdown. A return to low unemployment will ...

Bloomberg European car sales virtually stopped in April, dropping the most on record after the coronavirus halted production and closed dealerships from Spain to Germany. Passenger vehicle registrations in the European Union, the European Free Trade Association and the UK fell 78% year-over-year. Companies sold just 292,182 cars — the lowest number since data-gathering began in 1990, and a further ...

Bloomberg Thyssenkrupp AG will shrink and focus on higher-margin businesses as the coronavirus pandemic speeds the break up of one of Germany’s last mega-conglomerates. The company said it’s considering the sale of units that make steel and submarines as it fights for survival. Once a byword for German engineering prowess, Thyssenkrupp will be gradually split apart as Chief Executive Officer ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The UAE on Monday welcomed the signing of a power-sharing agreement in Afghanistan between President Ashraf Ghani and Dr Abdullah Abdullah while expressing hope that the deal represents a step towards enhancing stability, peace, and security throughout Afghanistan. In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation renewed its call for an immediate ceasefire ...

Bloomberg Oil rose to the highest in two months as demand in China returned to near pre-virus level and output curbs continued in the US and elsewhere. Futures in New York climbed as much as 9.8%. Chinese oil use is at 13 million barrels a day, just shy of the levels of a year earlier, traders and executives said. The ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM Khalifa University of Science and Technology has established a Covid-19 Research and Development (R&D) Task Force as part of its strategic approach to help tackle Covid-19 pandemic. Under Covid-19 R&D programme, university launched 14 research projects; five projects focused on epidemiology, six projects focused on diagnostics and medical devices, and three projects focused on digital tools ...