As the year began, so it ended. Early in 2020, the pandemic blindsided governments, which dithered over both the scientific and moral imperatives while much of the populace indulged in selfish and conflicted behaviour that seemed to belong in “Glengarry Glen Ross” or “Lord of the Flies” rather than in a modern democracy. Those same problems now afflict the distribution ...

Count 2020 as a lucky year. This may sound odd given that the world grappled with a pandemic that has killed close to 1.8 million people and crippled many countries’ economies. The “luck” relates to the more than 90% efficacy of the two vaccines — Pfizer Inc-BioNTech SE’s shot and Moderna Inc’s candidate — that gained emergency approval after thorough ...

Bloomberg News recently reported that pandemic-induced economic deprivation, two fierce hurricanes and the hope that a new administration might ease security threaten to create a new wave of migrants at America’s southern border. “There are going to be caravans, and in the coming weeks it will increase,” said the head of a civil-society organisation in Guatemala. With the pandemic far ...

In 2019, Boris Johnson took power in Britain. In 2020, he took back control, leading his country out of the European Union. In the year to come, those voters who made it all possible will be expecting to see some of the benefits he promised. They will ultimately provide the thumbs up or down on Johnson’s big Brexit project and ...

Bloomberg Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen opened 2021 by reaffirming her willingness to talk with China, while vowing to stand up to mounting military pressure from Beijing. Tsai used a brief News Year’s Day address to criticise the near-daily patrols of Chinese military ships and aircraft that have stretched Taiwan’s more limited military resources. She warned that the actions had “threatened ...

Bloomberg Mali’s state prosecutor charged six people, including former Prime Minister Boubou Cisse, of planning a coup against the interim government. The alleged crimes include attempts to destabilise and disrupt the current regime, according to a statement by the state prosecutor. Cisse, who hasn’t been detained, denied the allegations in a statement on December 22. His lawyers will file charges ...

Bloomberg 2020 was a year the entire world changed, but one thing held steady in an elite corner of Wall Street: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. ended up on top. Goldman was the world’s top adviser on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) for the fourth consecutive year in 2020, and was the only bank with more than 30% of market share, according to ...

Bloomberg Switzerland’s central bank spent 11 billion francs ($12.5 billion) on interventions in the third quarter, adding to an already-high tally that got the country labelled a currency manipulator by the US. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) acquired foreign currencies worth more than 100 billion francs win the first nine months of the year — the biggest sum since 2012 ...

Bloomberg Poland’s central bank is analysing the impact of potential interest-rate cuts that could take place in the first quarter of 2021, Governor Adam Glapinski said. While the current, record-low reference rate of 0.1% is “appropriate and best suits the situation,” the central bank may reduce it further, the Governor said in an excerpt of an interview published on the ...

Bloomberg China’s regulators will impose caps on banks’ lending to the real estate sector for the first time, in their latest efforts to prevent systematic risks after a series of property curbs in recent years did little to damp buyer enthusiasm. Under the new mechanism, loans to developers will be capped at 40% for the nation’s largest state-owned lenders while ...