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Bloomberg A Chinese drugmaker has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to start clinical trials in the US for a breakthrough Alzheimer’s drug as it seeks global validation for the controversial therapy. Shanghai Green Valley Pharmaceutical Co got clearance on April 8 for the US part of a global trial that seeks to enroll more than 2,000 ...

Bloomberg Australia launched mobile-phone software to help trace people infected with the coronavirus as parts of the country start to loosen restrictions on movement. The COVIDSafe app records digital handshakes between smartphones via Bluetooth, and if someone catches the virus, health authorities can track who has been within 1.5 metres of the person for 15 minutes or more. Some 1.1 ...

Bloomberg A vaccine for the novel coronavirus is needed to help reverse a plunge in Thailand’s critical tourism sector, according to the agency that promotes the industry. Visitor numbers are set to tumble 60% to 16 million this year, almost halving foreign tourism income, but those numbers could go even lower as the world waits for an inoculation or if ...

Bloomberg Bill Heinecke thought he’d seen it all in a decades-long career running hotels: the Asian and global financial crises, Sars, and military coups in his adopted home, Thailand. But the current pandemic tops all that, he says. Minor International Pcl, the hospitality group the tycoon founded in Bangkok, has furloughed thousands of workers and temporarily closed a majority of ...

Bloomberg Argentina and the province of Buenos Aires will start setting up virtual meetings this week with institutional investors as they continue the process of restructuring more than $76 billion in debt, according to people familiar with the plan. The national government will call on about 20 institutions and funds — including BlackRock, Ashmore and Fintech’s David Martinez — to ...

Bloomberg For the first time in a decade, the world risks being cut off from Russian wheat at a time when some key buyers are rushing to import it. The top shipper last month limited sales through June to protect its own supply as the coronavirus crisis sparks food-security concerns around the world. Although the curbs were seen loose enough ...

Bloomberg Bayer AG raised the specter of “considerable liquidity challenges” as it engages in high-stakes negotiations over Roundup litigation in the US and grapples with the pandemic. The number of plaintiffs claiming that the weedkiller caused their cancers rose to 52,500 from 48,600 in February, Bayer said in its first-quarter. It’s still too early to know how Covid-19 will impact ...

Bloomberg Nearly one-third of US business economists expect operations at their companies will return to normal within five to eight weeks, though almost as many say it’s likely to be three to six months before coronavirus-mitigation efforts wind down in earnest. A survey by the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) showed respondents in the construction and manufacturing industries were ...

Bloomberg Market manipulation is still on the rise in the UK even after a decade of crackdowns on schemes to rig foreign-exchange rates and other key benchmarks. And the coronavirus pandemic could make things worse. Reports of suspected market manipulation made to the Financial Conduct Authority have increased by 23% since 2017, with a sharp jump in 2018 followed by ...

Bloomberg Germany’s spring showers haven’t materialised this year, and that’s drying out the country’s most important river, prompting concerns that key industrial goods might have trouble making it to their destination. Typically one of the wettest months, Europe’s biggest economy has received just 5% of its normal April rainfall so far, according to Germany’s federal weather service. It’s on course ...