Bloomberg Polish President Andrzej Duda has rarely been busier than since he suspended his election campaign and called on rivals to follow suit amid the coronavirus outbreak. The incumbent has criss-crossed the country and made television appearances at a border checkpoint, a hospital, a food bank and even oil group PKN Orlen SA’s new production line of hand sanitiser. His ...
Read More »Trump sends letter to Kim offering help fighting virus
Bloomberg US President Donald Trump sent a letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un offering help fighting the coronavirus outbreak. The letter also included a plan for advancing ties between the countries, according to a statement from Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, that was published by Korean Central News Agency. North Korea has said it has avoided the virus pandemic ...
Read More »Covid-19: US’s comparision to China will be decisive
The Pentagon created the Office of Net Assessment in 1973 to forecast America’s strengths and weaknesses relative to its main adversaries after a nuclear war. What would a similar “net assessment†tell us about how America and the world will look after the coronavirus pandemic? At the heart of such a post-pandemic assessment is the question of where America will ...
Read More »How to limit hoarding amid outbreak
“What happened to the soap?†That’s what many Americans may be thinking as they wander forlornly through the aisles of local grocery stores (always careful, of course, to maintain a 6-foot distance from other customers). Fresh food may be abundant, but the necessities of a disease quarantine — hand soap, sanitiser, toilet paper and so on — are increasingly hard ...
Read More »Coronavirus predictions bedeviled by the details
Until last week, the UK government under Boris Johnson had been oddly relaxed in its response to the coronavirus pandemic. Unlike many other nations that had closed schools and restaurants and banned gatherings of even five people in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19, the UK had allowed life to continue much as normal, only testing patients entering ...
Read More »Banks get stressed like never before, globally
Banks are thankfully in much better shape to face the coronavirus pandemic than they were before the financial crisis. But as the economic challenge they face grows, regulatory measures to help them that looked overly forgiving just a few weeks ago may prove to be just the start. In 2008-2009, the financial sector’s woes dragged down the real economy. Now ...
Read More »Covid-19: Small business alone needs $1tn now
Restaurants and shops are closed across the US to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The Federal government has started to address the resulting economic pain with an emergency declaration by President Donald Trump releasing $50 billion for public-health measures and congressional passage of a multi-billion dollar relief bill providing some paid sick leave and extended unemployment benefits, ...
Read More »Coronavirus killed the progressive left
Covid-19 and the Democratic presidential primaries, the two biggest stories of the year so far, reflect a common theme: the death of the progressive left. Looking back, historians may well see late 2019 and very early 2020 as a kind of high-water mark for American progressivism. It wasn’t so long ago that Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren were commanding most ...
Read More »Mobile location data may help save virus spread
Almost everyone these days carries a device that tracks their movements and shares that information with an array of companies. They may use it to offer everything from food deliveries and car rides to virtual monster hunts. It’s ironic, then, that we’re so reluctant to use the same capabilities to fight a pandemic that could kill millions. Thanks to the ...
Read More »Hedge funds ask clients for fresh cash to buy the dip
Bloomberg First they lost money. Now hedge funds want clients to risk even more cash on the bets that caused the pain. LMR Partners, Citadel, Baupost Group and Capital Four Management are trying to persuade clients to inject money into their funds after taking a hit in the coronavirus-fuelled market turmoil. Capula Investment Management has had talks with some investors ...
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