May, 2020

• 4 May

  8 killed in attack on Venezuelan coast

  

  Bloomberg Eight people were killed and two were arrested after a group of “mercenaries” Venezuela’s vice president said were backed by the US and Colombia were caught trying to enter along its northern coast near the capital Caracas. Colombia’s government rejected any link to the incident, while Venezuela’s opposition said the alleged attack appeared to be staged. Speed boats came ...

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• 4 May

  New Zealand, Australia to discuss travel bubble

  

  Bloomberg New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she will join an Australian government cabinet meeting on Tuesday to discuss, among other issues, the eventual re-opening of borders between the two nations. Ardern accepted an invitation from Australian counterpart Scott Morrison to join his national cabinet meeting, which includes state premiers, via video link on Tuesday, she told a news ...

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• 4 May

  Conte faces new lockdown criticism as Italy reopens

  

  Bloomberg Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is facing a growing revolt by Italian business and political rivals against his strategy for ending a nationwide lockdown that’s being eased for the first time on Monday. Criticism of Conte’s recovery plans and anger among small businesses left out of the first phase of easing are percolating after almost two months of restrictions that ...

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• 4 May

  The gift of friendship

  

  My good friend Joel Havemann died the other day. No, he wasn’t a victim of the coronavirus. Since early 1990 at age 46, he had been battling Parkinson’s disease, a struggle that he was bound to lose. The more he succeeded in prolonging life, the weaker he would become at the end of life. As his strength dissipated, he would ...

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• 4 May

  Is virus straining federalism concept?

  

  Crises tend to widen fault lines that already exist. The Covid-19 pandemic has been no exception. Before the virus hit, the unbalanced nature of recent economic growth was already straining federal structures around the world, from the US to India to Europe. The current crisis threatens to open new disagreements and deepen old ones — and transform some political entities ...

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• 4 May

  There’s no escaping slump for ‘virus stars’

  You can have a good war and still be seriously wounded. South Korea has been relatively successful at controlling Covid-19 infections, and made good progress in reopening its economy. But it’s still suffering a serious downdraft, with consumers pulling back at home and demand collapsing in key trading partners. Some kind of recession for this trade-dependent economy looks assured; only ...

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• 4 May

  How to hold a fair US election in November

  There’s no question about it: Holding successful elections under current conditions is going to be difficult. The good news is that a group of experts put together by election-law maven Rick Hasen, the Ad Hoc Committee for 2020 Election Fairness and Legitimacy, has thought through many of the major issues and published solid recommendations for getting it right this November. ...

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• 4 May

  Trump, Lincoln opposite kinds of US presidents

  

  With his poll numbers looking wobbly, President Donald Trump wants the Lincoln Memorial as backdrop for a Made-for-Fox-News event on May 03 intended to portray him as the kind of leader he is not. It won’t work — not just because the juxtaposition of Trump with Abraham Lincoln is so spectacularly unflattering to the current president. When historians rank American ...

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• 4 May

  Covid-19: Ready for opening states now?

  

  As April turned to May, more than a dozen states opted to relax coronavirus shutdowns and at least partly reopen their economies. This is not a public health decision, but an economic and social one. Still, they can contribute to public health by providing data all 50 states can use. Nobody knows exactly what level of restrictions we need to ...

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• 4 May

  Shopping’s no fun if you can’t try on the clothes

  

  Lockdowns have devastated retailers and restaurants on both sides of the Atlantic. An easing of restrictions won’t be the magic wand that waves their worries away. Even when it’s possible for consumers to walk freely into their favourite shops, they may be nervous about doing so. That puts the onus on retailers to make their locations as reassuring as possible. ...

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