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ABU DHABI / WAM Image Nation Abu Dhabi launched an inspirational video created to pay tribute to the UAE’s leadership, dedicated workers and everyday heroes for their contributions to the community. The short film titled, ‘Tribute to Everyday Heroes’, celebrates the resilience and unity that the nation is demonstrating through these challenging times, from heroic front-line workers providing healthcare and ...

SHARJAH / WAM Sharjah Museums Authority (SMA) announced the launch of virtual tours and online exhibits of some of its contemporary and modern art masterpieces housed at Sharjah Art Museum. The move, which is part of the authority’s concerted efforts, is to ensure the authority continues to engage with the community during this difficult time. Starting Thursday, people can immerse ...

Bloomberg An app launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to track and contain the spread of the coronavirus is the fastest ever to reach 50 million users, while being dogged by privacy concerns. Aarogya Setu — Hindi for Healthcare Bridge — alerts users if they come in contact with an infected person and informs them about health services they ...

Bloomberg Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) is sticking with plans for aggressive capital investments in 2020, a sign from the technology bellwether of resilient demand despite a pandemic-induced downturn. TSMC, a barometer for the tech industry thanks to its heft in the global supply chain, on Thursday lowered its revenue outlook for the year by a few percentage points to ...

Bloomberg The coronavirus outbreak is set to wipe out more than $10 billion from Indonesia’s tourism revenue this year as leisure travel comes to a near complete halt, the government said. The country is preparing stimulus packages for the industry and a safety net for workers to blunt the impact, President Joko Widodo said at a cabinet meeting. He predicted ...

Bloomberg Australia’s Airwallex Cayman Ltd raised $160 million from new investors including Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd and the venture-capital arm of Salesforce.com to accelerate its expansion in global payments. The fresh round from ANZ’s venture unit and Salesforce Ventures gives Airwallex a valuation of $1.8 billion, co-founder Lucy Liu said. Other participants included existing backers DST Global, ...

Bloomberg Just one kilogram of freshly caught squid a day was almost enough to live on for Thai fishermen like Wisut Boonnak. Now the catch has halved in price and he’s spending more time on village duties. “It’s the biggest price drop that I can remember,” said Wisut, who’s been fishing for the past 40 years off the southern Thai ...

Bloomberg Even before the pandemic struck, outdoor air pollution was linked to the deaths of as many as nine million people each year. Now two new studies show that Covid-19 patients are more likely to die if they live in regions with high levels of air pollution. Air pollution affects human health in insidious ways. The burning of fossil fuels ...

Bloomberg The International Monetary Fund (IMF) wants policy makers to avoid repeating the Depression-era mistake of ratcheting back budget deficits. Instead, it’s urging them to ramp up fiscal stimulus when the coronavirus contagion starts to abate. “Once the recovery has happened and we are past the pandemic phase, for advanced economies it would be essential to undertake a broad-based stimulus,” ...

Bloomberg Finland’s lockdown will cause gross domestic product (GDP) to shrink between 1.5% and 2.0% for each month that it is in place, the Finance Ministry said Thursday. The longer the restriction measures last, the slower the recovery will be, Mikko Spolander, director general of the Economics Department, told reporters in Helsinki. “The danger is that the longer the economy ...