Bloomberg New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern launched her campaign for a second term by reminding voters of her leadership credentials and pledging to steer the country through the economic crisis unleashed by Covid-19. The September 19 election is “more important than ever” because of the pandemic, Ardern told Labour Party faithful in Auckland on Saturday. “It’s about the future. ...

Bloomberg For almost six months, Vietnamese officials every day announced a fairly astonishing statistic for a nation of 96 million: no Covid-19 deaths. But that changed on July 31, with 10 deaths being reported since. After no reports of community transmission cases since April 16, an outbreak in the coastal city of Danang turned deadly in late July. The virus ...

Bloomberg As India passes the grim milestone of two million virus cases and new hotspots emerge in villages, experts are worried infections will now rise exponentially in the world’s second-most populous country, overwhelming its under-prepared hinterland. In the remote Valad village in the southern state of Kerala, 236 people have been found positive in the last two weeks. In Katapali ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump’s order banning US companies from doing business with Chinese messaging app WeChat could damage iPhone sales in one of Apple Inc.’s most important markets. The order would block all transactions involving WeChat, which would prohibit Apple from distributing WeChat to mobile devices through its App Store. WeChat is central to digital life in China. It’s the ...

Bloomberg The Italian government has approved its latest bundle of coronavirus related norms aimed at supporting businesses and workers damaged by the coronavirus pandemic. The measures known as “August decree” include tax breaks for small and medium-sized businesses and companies that hire in Southern Italy, an extension of one-off payments for tourism and entertainment industry workers, money for the healthcare ...

Bloomberg Boris Johnson’s government warned British tourists they face more disruption to their plans for holidays in Europe amid reports that France may be next on the UK list of countries hit by coronavirus travel restrictions. Belgium, Andorra and The Bahamas were added to the quarantine list — meaning all passengers arriving from these areas will need to self-isolate at ...

Bloomberg Norway’s government is now advising its citizens to avoid all unnecessary travel abroad, regardless of coronavirus (Covid-19) infection levels in their intended destination. The announcement from the country’s health minister, Bent Hoie, comes amid what was described in Oslo as “an alarming” surge in coronavirus. Some 290 cases of Covid-19 have been documented in the Nordic country over the ...

Bloomberg Canada’s economy recorded a third straight month of strong employment gains that have recouped more than half of losses from Covid-19. Employment rose by 418,500 in July, bringing to 1.7 million the number of jobs reclaimed over the past three months. Canada lost 3 million jobs in March and April at the height of the pandemic. The employment rebound ...

Bloomberg Industrial robots are now being used to assemble everything from airplanes to smartphones, using human-like arms to mechanically repeat the same processes over and over, thousands of times a day with nanometric precision. But according to a new report entitled “Rogue Automation,” some robots have flaws that could make them vulnerable to advanced hackers, who could steal data or ...

Bloomberg Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) lost a UK court bid to get the trademark rights for the shape of its iconic Defender SUV, freeing billionaire Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos Group to go ahead with the Grenadier off-road vehicle. A London court dismissed an appeal by JLR, owned by India’s Tata Motors Ltd. The UK Intellectual Property Office had found the shapes ...