May, 2020

• 13 May

  Trump shows frayed nerves with virus toll climbing

  

  Bloomberg As the coronavirus inflicts ever more death and economic carnage across the US, President Donald Trump is resorting to his preferred and battle-tested tactic to fight the biggest threat to his re-election: diversion. The shift was clear on Mother’s Day, when he flooded Twitter with 126 posts, including promoting a tweet that called his own Justice Department “corrupt.” A ...

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• 13 May

  Joe Biden’s running mate hunt sees Harris, Abrams diverge on approach

  

  Bloomberg The hunt for Joe Biden’s running mate is intensifying as some candidates make their interest in the job clear. Stacey Abrams and Kamala Harris have both taken steps to ensure their names are included in any public lists, but while Abrams has been actively campaigning, Harris has taken a subtler approach. Biden, campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon and strategist ...

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• 13 May

  Locust swarms raise risk of food crisis: FAO

  

  Bloomberg The United Nations agency leading the fight against a desert-locust upsurge in East Africa will lodge a new appeal for funding next week, warning the plague could still cause a food crisis. The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) plans to ask its partners for about $110 million on May 20, according to the agency’s Nairobi-based Resilience Team Leader Cyril ...

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• 13 May

  HK streak of no local transmission ends with mystery case

  

  Bloomberg Hong Kong’s 23-day streak without a case of local coronavirus transmission has come to an end, reflecting the challenge of eradicating a virus that can spread undetected through carriers with no symptoms. The case of a 66-year-old woman with no recent travel history becoming infected, confirmed by the government in a briefing on Wednesday, dashes hope that the city ...

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• 13 May

  UK economy plunges into recession

  

  Bloomberg The UK economy shrank almost 6% in March as the nation went into lockdown, plunging into what may be its deepest recession in more than three centuries. The sharp decline is only a small part of the damage of the restrictions to control the coronavirus, which were in place for all of April and look set to endure in ...

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• 13 May

  US transit agencies seek $32 billion of federal aid

  

  Bloomberg Public transportation systems around the US are asking the federal government for an additional $32 billion, double the amount lawmakers are proposing in the latest relief bill, to help mass-transit providers cover lost revenue during the coronavirus pandemic. The funding request from New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority and mass-transit systems in New Jersey, San Francisco and Atlanta comes as ...

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• 13 May

  SpaceX seeks $656,000 from California amid Musk’s battle

  

  Bloomberg Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is seeking almost $656,000 in new funding from California in the midst of the billionaire’s battle over whether Tesla Inc. should be reopening its plant in the state. SpaceX’s request for funds to train existing workers and hire new ones will go before the state’s Employment Training Panel on May 15, one week ...

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• 13 May

  Brazilian port workers are starting to fall ill

  Bloomberg Brazilian port workers are starting to fall ill as the coronavirus pandemic reaches one of Latin America’s busiest shipping hubs. At least three privately-run terminals that handle soybeans, corn, sugar and coffee at Brazil’s Santos port have registered two cases each of Covid-19 in the past two weeks, according to people with direct knowledge who asked not to be ...

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• 13 May

  Covid-19 outbreaks rip through European slaughterhouses

  

  Bloomberg More than 1,000 workers at European slaughterhouses have contracted Covid-19, highlighting the growing challenges the global meat industry faces from the pandemic. In Ireland, 556 workers in 10 meat-processing facilities tested positive as of last week, the nation’s health department said. The Robert Koch Institute, which publishes daily Covid-19 reports in Germany, said there have been outbreaks at plants ...

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• 13 May

  US futures rise, Europe stocks drop; dollar dips

  

  Bloomberg Caution hung over markets on Wednesday, with European stocks falling following a late drop on Wall Street, and US equity futures edging higher alongside Asian benchmarks. Treasuries climbed, while oil futures slipped. Declines in travel and auto shares pulled the Stoxx Europe 600 Index lower, as corporate earnings continued to underscore the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The ...

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