May, 2020

• 9 May

  Virgin-O2’s $39b deal isn’t all about people

  If you listen to the protagonists, Europe’s biggest telecoms deal in a decade is all about the customers. The details of the merger of Virgin Media, the British cable unit of Liberty Global Plc, and O2, Telefonica SA’s UK mobile carrier, tell a different story. According to the companies, the 31.4 billion-pound ($39 billion) deal is aimed at creating a ...

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• 9 May

  The ‘phony war’ on coronavirus pandemic

  Governments around the world say they’re engaged in a war against the coronavirus. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi invoked the legend of the Mahabharata, fought over 18 days, as he declared, with little warning, a devastating national lockdown. British PM Boris Johnson, who always seems to be mentally screening a film of Winston Churchill in World War II, said that ...

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• 9 May

  Covid-19 kills old people. So do most other diseases

  

  Covid-19 is hard on the elderly, with those 65 and older accounting for 80% of the US deaths from the disease for which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released demographic data. But this is true of most illnesses: In 2018, 78% of all US deaths from internal causes (that is, excluding accidents, murders, overdoses and the like) ...

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• 9 May

  Don’t let Uber, Lyft shortchange staff

  

  Too many US companies are building empires on the backs of low-wage workers. It’s a mistake to let it continue. California, for one, is fighting back. It sued Uber Technologies Inc and Lyft Inc in state court, contending that the ride-hailing companies violated a new state law by improperly designating drivers as independent contractors rather than employees to save on ...

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• 9 May

  First J Crew, now it’s Neiman Marcus. Who’s next?

  

  Over the more than 100 years that luxury retailer Neiman Marcus has been in business, it’s quite likely some customers who shopped there were living beyond their means. A similar state afflicted the department store, as it filed for bankrupty, overwhelmed by its billions of debt. With its filing, Neiman Marcus became the first major department store to succumb to ...

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• 9 May

  Belarus holds parade, defying Covid-19 fears of neighbours

  

  Bloomberg For the authoritarian president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, a deadly global pandemic is no reason to cancel the country’s military parade marking victory in World War II. Defying warnings about the risks of letting the coronavirus spread, Lukashenko has summoned troops to the capital, Minsk, for the parade that’s expected to attract thousands of spectators, even after neighbouring states ...

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• 9 May

  North Korea builds new ICBM missiles

  

  Bloomberg North Korea has constructed several new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), according to South Korean newspaper Dong-A Ilbo. US authorities have detected the assembly and completion of ICBMs at an automobile plant in South Pyongan province, where North Korea launched ballistic missiles in 2017, the newspaper reported, citing an unidentified US government official. They also observed the presence of “transporter ...

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• 9 May

  Trump in ‘no rush’ on new relief bill

  

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump declared he’s in no hurry for Congress to pass more stimulus measures to help the economy, hours after the Labor Department announced an unprecedented 20 million jobs were lost in April. “We’re in no rush,” Trump said while meeting with about two dozen House Republicans, who spent an hour taking turns complimenting and congratulating the president ...

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• 9 May

  Venezuelan legislators ask Guaido to fire aides

  

  Bloomberg Venezuelan lawmakers close to opposition leader Juan Guaido are calling on him to fire some of his aides following a botched raid on the country earlier this week. Lawmakers from the main opposition parties want him to dismiss Juan Jose Rendon, the commissioner for general strategy, and Sergio Vergara, the commissioner for crisis management, six people familiar with the ...

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• 9 May

  Chinese drugmaker in talks to test virus vaccine globally

  

  Bloomberg The drugmaker behind one of China’s most promising coronavirus vaccine candidates is in talks to conduct late-stage trials globally as the race for immunisation against Covid-19 intensifies. Beijing-based Sinovac Biotech Ltd is in discussion with regulators in other countries, and the World Health Organization (WHO), to launch phase III clinical trials in regions where the novel coronavirus is still ...

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