March, 2020

• 25 March

  Are you panic-working amid outbreak?

  

  Just two days after the French government’s lockdown went into effect, the bakery in my village outside Paris started rationing baguettes. The limit of five per family per day is still a lot of bread, but it is disconcerting that anyone is trying to stockpile the most perishable of loafs. I can’t judge them, however. Although I haven’t been panic-buying, ...

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• 25 March

  Britain’s Ocado misses its greatest delivery

  This should have been Ocado Plc’s crisis. The online-only grocer should have been capitalising on shoppers avoiding crowded stores. Instead, last week it temporarily closed its website, potentially upsetting its customers. Still, investors clearly believe that it will emerge as one of the winners from the rush to buy toilet paper and tinned soup. Ocado’s shares were up for the ...

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• 25 March

  Put Fed in charge of the coronavirus bailout

  In a battle reminiscent of the initially unsuccessful efforts to pass legislation to address the Great Recession in 2008, Republicans and Democrats have thus far failed to advance a $2 trillion relief bill for the coronavirus recession. The only way forward may be to let the Federal Reserve resolve this dispute. The sticking point in negotiations is a provision giving ...

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• 25 March

  The ‘no limits’ solution to Europe’s virus hit

  

  Covid-19 is make or break for the euro. The only way the European Central Bank (ECB) can convince markets that it will do whatever it takes to save the single currency in the current crisis is to abandon the self-imposed political constraints on the assets it can buy under its Quantitative Easing (QE) programme. These encompass the so-called “issue limits,” ...

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• 25 March

  US’ CDC should stop prioritising VIPs for coronavirus tests

  

  When something is in short supply, getting it can depend on who you know. That’s true of the coronavirus test, with an added twist. A striking number of rich and famous people, from basketball star Kevin Durant to Senator Rand Paul, have tested positive for Covid-19 without showing symptoms of the disease, let alone being hospitalised. That’s led to charges ...

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• 25 March

  There’s no way 267 million people had zero cases

  

  In a matter of weeks, the world’s fourth-most populous nation went from reporting zero coronavirus cases to having the highest death toll in Southeast Asia. Now its currency is tumbling, growth forecasts are buckling, the capital is under a state of emergency, and an archipelago of 18,000 islands has effectively sealed its borders. With a global recession in the cards, ...

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• 24 March

  Global economy crashes on mass business shutdowns

  

  Bloomberg The global economy is taking a battering not seen in decades, the outcome of severe restrictions on businesses and households by governments desperately trying to contain a pandemic that’s killed almost 17,400 people worldwide. The first major numbers outlining the damage tell a story of companies seeing demand plunge at a record pace, activity shrinking and confidence dropping. Government ...

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• 24 March

  UAE’s TRA unblocks Skype for Business, Google Hangout

  Bloomberg The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) of UAE has lifted restrictions on some programs that allow voice calls over the Internet, including Microsoft Skype for Business and Google Hangout, to help people work from home and avoid spreading the coronavirus. The applications allowed on all networks in the country are: Microsoft Times, Zoom, and Blackboard. The applications, which will be compatible with ...

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• 24 March

  Sharjah Ruler cuts utility bills for three months

  

  SHARJAH / WAM HH Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, has directed a 10 percent reduction in the Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (Sewa) bills in the Emirate of Sharjah for three months. The move is in line with the precautionary measures taken by the government and aimed at facilitating the customers ...

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• 24 March

  Covid-19: Tokyo Olympics postponed until 2021

  

  Bloomberg The 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be delayed by a year in the first postponement since the modern games began in the 19th century, becoming the biggest global event to be disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he and International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach agreed to the unprecedented move in a telephone call on ...

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