Bloomberg Zoom Video Communications Inc., the San Jose, California-based company, has been lambasted for its security flaws, but the backlash hasn’t slowed growth. The company reported a 50% surge in use of the online meeting application in the past three weeks. On April 21, more than 300 million people used Zoom’s flagship videoconferencing app, up from about 200 million on ...

Bloomberg Whatever the state of Kim Jong-un’s health, he has already put North Korea in its strongest position to resist US pressure in decades. Eight years after Kim filled the power vacuum left by the death of his reclusive father, Kim Jong Il, North Korea is more secure and less isolated. The 36-year-old supreme leader has achieved two key marks ...

Bloomberg Scotland broke with the UK government to set out what needs to happen before the nationwide lockdown imposed to limit the spread of the coronavirus can be lifted. It is time for a “grown up” conversation with the country, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told reporters in Edinburgh on Thursday, days after UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock ruled out ...

Bloomberg India has opened a new all-weather access in a disputed part of its border with China to enable faster movement of troops and artillery, another potential irritant in relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. The new bridge, which can take 40 tons of weight, was built in Arunachal Pradesh in India’s remote northeast, a region that’s claimed by China ...

Bloomberg The Covid-19 pandemic has the potential to reverse years of progress in reducing maternal and child mortality worldwide by impairing access to medical care in poorer countries, a health financing group warned. If Covid-19 were to cause similar disruptions as the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, almost 1.2 million children and 57,000 mothers could die over just the ...

Bloomberg The US House gaveled amid extraordinary health precautions to begin debate leading up to expected final passage of a $484 billion interim coronavirus rescue plan to bolster the American economy. With a roll-call vote anticipated by mid-afternoon, members were expected to take turns in the chamber to debate the bill, the first time they have convened as a group ...

No one was asking, but it turns out a global pandemic isn’t enough for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to take a break from fretting about purportedly “borrowing money from future generations.” Never mind that the three-month-old coronavirus crisis has led to more than $2.3 trillion in congressional appropriations, to say nothing of the $484 billion relief package that passed ...

Will fashionistas embrace ostentatious outfits and logo-heavy handbags with as much gusto as the coronavirus crisis unfolds? This is a question that all luxury groups must grapple with. But it’s an especially pertinent one for Gucci, the superstar brand owned by luxury behemoth Kering SA. Gucci has had nothing short of a miraculous turnaround under creative director Alessandro Michele, who ...

The European Central Bank’s (ECB) meeting on April 30 might be its most important as it tries to manage the devastating economic impact of the Covid-19 virus. While its reaction so far has worked, it will need much greater firepower in the future. It will also have to be much more flexible in how it applies its rules on asset ...

As the economic carnage from the coronavirus pandemic continues, a long-forbidden word is starting to creep onto people’s lips: “depression.” In the 19th and early 20th centuries, there was no commonly accepted word for a slowdown in the economy. “Panic” was the term typically used for financial crises, while long slumps were commonly called depressions. Presidents such as James Monroe ...