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Pelosi endorses Joe Biden for president

Bloomberg US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential bid on Monday, citing the fellow Democrat’s role in helping to manage the federal response to the 2008 financial crisis and in passing Obamacare. In a video published on Biden’s YouTube page, Pelosi said that the presumptive Democratic nominee “has been a voice of reason and resilience, ...

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North Korea’s silence keeps world in dark

Bloomberg Kim Jong-un has not been seen in public for more than two weeks. If he’s hale and hearty, to dispel the frenzied speculation to the opposite, it should be a simple matter of having him pop up somewhere to have his photo taken. Officials in South Korea say they think Kim is fine. The regime’s ally China is trying ...

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Assange’s extradition trial delayed by virus

Bloomberg Julian Assange’s extradition trial, set to begin next month, has been delayed amid the coronavirus pandemic. The three-week trial was due to begin on May 18 in London, but was postponed until July or even November, because of the extension of the UK lockdown. Assange faces extradition to America on charges that he conspired to disclose documents passed to ...

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Johnson returns to work urging UK to maintain lockdown

Bloomberg Prime Minister Boris Johnson returned to work and moved to stamp his authority on a government under pressure over its handling of the UK coronavirus outbreak, warning that to lift a nationwide lockdown now would risk both a health crisis and an “economic disaster.” Speaking exactly one month after he went into isolation with a case of Covid-19 that ...

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‘Lockdown can’t be cover for human rights abuses’

Bloomberg Emergency measures invoked used to enforce lockdowns during the coronavirus pandemic can’t be used to abuse detainees, the United Nations’ top human rights official warned. Locking up curfew breakers who were simply looking for food in already overcrowded prisons is just one example, Michelle Bachelet, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said on Monday. Reports of police enforcing lockdowns ...

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Covid-19: Chinese secrecy elicits conspiracy theories

There’s a booming market in conspiracy theories about the origins of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China. But the Chinese government has no one to blame but itself for this explosive debate. They have put the truth on lockdown. China has an obligation here: For its own sake and the world’s, it should promptly begin a serious, credible investigation into ...

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Skipping mortgage loans isn’t for all

Almost 6% of mortgage loans are in forbearance, meaning about 3 million homeowners have delayed payments, according to data released this week by the mortgage bankers’ trade group. That’s a 60% jump from the prior week, and industry observers estimate that the number of loans in forbearance could eventually climb to as high as 15%. So who’s postponing their mortgage ...

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A major roadblock is liability from Covid-19

If America is going to restart its economy, at whatever pace, it needs to think about a major roadblock: liability from Covid-19. If a university or workplace reopens, and some employees or students get sick, should they have the right to sue? In the absence of clarity on this question, many risk-averse institutions will simply wait, as their lawyers will ...

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It’s politics as usual in Italy’s state-led firms

The anti-politics Five Star Movement may be part of Italy’s ruling coalition. But recent nominations to the boards of Italy’s state-backed companies look as pro-politics as ever. Oil major Eni SpA, utility Enel SpA and defense group Leonardo SpA are among those that get a boardroom review every three years. The quixotic hope is that appointments are made via a ...

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Will Republicans use the Covid-19 to suppress vote?

The April 7 election in Wisconsin was a moral, legal, administrative and public-health fiasco. It is also a model that Republicans intend to duplicate in November. After Republican legislators and Republican judges forced Wisconsin to proceed with in-person voting over the objections of the Democratic governor, many voters had to choose between protecting their right to vote and protecting their ...

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