| WHO and UNICEF to partner on pandemic response through COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund Posted: 03 Apr 2020 04:00 PM PDT |
| NOT REAL NEWS: False coronavirus claims and phony remedies Posted: 03 Apr 2020 02:41 PM PDT  None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. CLAIM: Eating alkaline foods will stave off the novel coronavirus, which has a pH level of 5.5 to 8.5. THE FACTS: A false post circulating on social media claims that COVID-19 has a pH level between 5.5 to 8.5, and in order to fend off the virus people must consume alkaline foods.
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| AP Sources: Shipping tycoon helps Venezuela in quest for gas Posted: 03 Apr 2020 01:50 PM PDT  With gas lines across Venezuela growing, a controversial shipping magnate has stepped in to prevent the country from running out of fuel amid the coronavirus pandemic, The Associated Press has learned. The fuel shortage, in the nation that sits atop the world largest crude reserves, is the latest threat to Nicolas Maduro's rule at a time he is under intense U.S. pressure to resign. Wilmer Ruperti's Maroil Trading Inc. billed state-owned oil monopoly PDVSA 12 million euros last month for the purchase of up to 250,000 barrels of 95-octane gasoline, according to a copy of the invoice obtained by AP.
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| 2 major events promoting gender equality delayed until 2021 Posted: 03 Apr 2020 01:33 PM PDT |
| Face coverings recommended, but Trump says he won't wear one Posted: 03 Apr 2020 01:32 PM PDT  President Donald Trump announced new federal guidelines Friday recommending that Americans wear face coverings when in public to help fight the spread of the new coronavirus. The president exempted himself from his administration's own guidelines, saying he could not envision himself covering his face while sitting in the Oval Office greeting world leaders. Trump and other administration officials sought to minimize any burden by stressing the recommendations did not amount to requirements and that a variety of homemade coverings were acceptable.
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| Which states have done the least to contain coronavirus? Posted: 03 Apr 2020 01:11 PM PDT  Some states are stubbornly defying expert advice to order residents to stay home – even as cases rise * Coronavirus – latest US updates * Coronavirus – latest global updates * See all our coronavirus coverageWhile most states in the US have ordered their citizens to stay home as they deal with the coronavirus outbreak, some are stubbornly defying expert advice – even as cases continue to rise.The urgent need for action was made clear on Thursday, when Dr Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert, issued a plea for states to force people not to leave their homes."I don't understand why it's not happening," said Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases."We really should be."Here are five states who have taken the least action: AlabamaThe deep south state of Alabama has resisted implementing a statewide stay-at-home order, despite it having, as of Friday, 1,270 confirmed coronavirus cases. The lack of action is particularly troubling as Alabama's population is especially vulnerable to infectious disease. The state had the third-most deaths from flu in 2018.As one of the poorest states in the US, Alabama would be ill-placed to deal with prolonged economic hardship due to the virus. The state's governor, Kay Ivey, has been evasive when asked about a stay-at-home order. "Each state has to weigh their own set of factors," she responded during a Q&A on Thursday.Ivey has defied Alabama's US senator, Doug Jones, who has urged officials to act. ArkansasArkansas is another southern state yet to order residents to stay at home, despite parts of the state experiencing soaring rates of infection – Cleburne county has 253.7 cases per 100,000 people, among the highest in the nation. Yet while many businesses including gyms and casinos have been ordered to close, some clothing stores remain open, US News reported. Asa Hutchinson, the governor, cited clothing stores on Thursday when he said people could lose their jobs if a wider order was put in place. MississippiMississippi, another deep south state, has chronically low income, and a poverty rate of 19.5%. Of the southern states, Mississippi has the second-highest rate of coronaviruses cases per capita, yet the state's governor, Tate Reeves, has been sluggish with his response.Reeves finally implemented a stay-at-home order on Wednesday 1 April, after weeks of confusion where the governor overruled cities and towns which had attempted their own orders, then defended his inaction by stating: "Mississippi's never going to be North Korea". The order came into effect on Friday.A Wallethub survey which considered each states' prevention and containment measures to gauge the aggressiveness of their response, ranked Mississippi dead last. OklahomaOklahoma has added more than 100 new cases of coronavirus on each of the past four days, but is yet to implement a stay-at-home order. Governor Kevin Stitt has instead ordered a "Safer-At-Home" measure, which asks Oklahomans over 65 or those with a compromised immune system to only leave their homes for essential needs, like food shopping or collecting prescriptions.Epidemiologists have said extending social distancing orders to only the vulnerable, and not the wider population, is not effective. "In my opinion, I cannot shut things down and bunker in place," Stitt said. MissouriMissouri saw a 600% rise in coronavirus cases over seven days at the end of March – the largest increase in the country, according to Johns Hopkins University. Despite that, Governor Mike Parson has said he will not introduce a stay-at-home order: "It's very difficult sometimes to just put a blanket order in place," Parson said on Thursday.Parson did not order schools to close as the seriousness of the coronavirus became apparent, instead leaving it to school districts to decide whether to close. All 555 did so.Some cities in Missouri, including St Louis and Kansas City, have issued their own stay-at-home orders, but leaders there have pleaded with Parson to introduce a statewide measure to prevent spread from rural communities. On Thursday, a column in the Kansas City Star summed up the governor's lackadaisical response. It was headlined: "Missouri's Mike Parson in contention for governor who's done the least to contain Covid-19."
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| Search underway for Kennedy Townsend's daughter, grandson Posted: 03 Apr 2020 12:23 PM PDT  Authorities were searching for the daughter and a grandson of former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend on Friday after a canoe they were paddling in the Chesapeake Bay didn't return to shore. Gov. Larry Hogan identified the missing relatives as Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean, 40, and McKean's 8-year-old son, Gideon Joseph Kennedy McKean. Kennedy Townsend, who served two terms as Maryland's lieutenant governor, is the eldest daughter of the late U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and niece of the late President John F. Kennedy.
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| Trump admin tries to narrow stockpile's role for states Posted: 03 Apr 2020 12:14 PM PDT  The Trump administration on Friday abruptly changed its description of the Strategic National Stockpile and put forward a narrower vision of the role the federal government's repository of life-saving medicines and equipment should play in supplying states' needs. The change comes as the White House already is facing growing anger and worry from governors over federal assistance to fight the coronavirus outbreak.
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| Iraq suspends, fines Reuters news agency over virus report Posted: 03 Apr 2020 12:02 PM PDT |
| Coronavirus struck entire Wuhan family, took its patriarch Posted: 03 Apr 2020 11:52 AM PDT  For more than a month, Wu Di did not know his father was dead. Before a virus outbreak devastated Wuhan, 68-year-old Wu Chuanyong, who had worked as part of a mandatory rural labor program, had been enjoying a peaceful retirement in the central Chinese city. The family's Lunar New Year gatherings had always been filled with warmth, but this year was different.
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| At Madrid field hospital, staff seeks to provide human touch Posted: 03 Apr 2020 11:51 AM PDT  At a cavernous convention center that has become Spain's largest makeshift hospital, these touches of kindness and camaraderie are helping to make the days and nights more bearable for patients afflicted with COVID-19. "Despite the distance that we keep from each other, there is a sense of community," said Jonan Basterra as he waited for the oxygen in his blood to reach a level high enough so he can go home. "We are all in this together and we are all going to get out of here together," he told The Associated Press via video call shortly before he was delivered a potato omelet — one of Spain's national dishes — with a personalized note from the hospital's makeshift kitchen.
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| Mormons hold signature conference virtually due to pandemic Posted: 03 Apr 2020 11:43 AM PDT  For the first time in more than 70 years, top leaders from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will deliver speeches at the faith's signature conference this weekend without an in-person audience in the latest illustration of how the coronavirus pandemic is altering worship practices around the world. The twice-yearly conference normally brings some 100,000 people to the church conference center in Salt Lake City to attend five sessions over two days. Leaders from the Utah-based faith that counts 16 million members worldwide utilize the conference to provide spiritual guidance, underscore the religion's key beliefs and, sometimes, announce new initiatives or rules.
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| France Has Deadliest Virus Day as Infection Rate Slows in Spain Posted: 03 Apr 2020 11:41 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- France reported its deadliest day from the coronavirus amid tentative signs that the pandemic may be easing in Spain and Italy.The health ministry in Paris reported 588 hospital deaths, the most yet, bringing the figure to 5,091 since the beginning of the outbreak. In contrast, new infections slowed and fatalities declined in Spain for the first time in four days, as infections stabilized in Italy. Together, the three countries account for more than half the deaths worldwide in the pandemic.Austria could become one of the first in the region to loosen restrictions that have shut down much of public life. Chancellor Sebastian Kurz's government will review data and consider a plan in coming days to gradually restart the economy, the Austrian leader told parliament in Vienna on Friday."Let's not jump to conclusions because there are some positive signals," Kurz said. "I can promise you, if the numbers support it, we'll do what we can to return to normality step by step."Despite the pockets of improvement, governments have little leeway to unwind lockdowns that have devasted the region's economy. IHS Markit said its monthly measure of services and manufacturing in the euro area points to an annualized contraction of about 10%. With new business, confidence and employment all down, there is "worse inevitably to come in the near future," it said.Signs emerged that squabbling national leaders are coalescing around an aid package. Euro-area finance ministers are set to agree on a coronavirus aid package of 500 billion euros ($540 billion) next week, the group's leader, Portugal's Mario Centeno told Sueddeutsche Zeitung.Germany is planning to set up an extra 300 billion-euro aid program to help small- and medium-sized companies, and Switzerland doubled the amount of state credit guarantees for businesses to 40 billion francs ($41 billion).In another positive development, German Chancellor Angela Merkel left her precautionary quarantine. After ending 12 days in voluntary self-isolation in Berlin, Merkel will continue to observe social-distancing standards, government spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters.The chancellor, who this week prolonged a nationwide lockdown until April 19, addressed the public Friday from the chancellery for the first time since the quarantine, making a plea to stay home and avoid social contact through the Easter holiday.Even though a slight slowing of the spread of the disease offers "some hope," she said it was far too early to set a target date for easing restrictions.Europe's longest-serving leader took center stage in Germany's fight against the virus with a rare televised address to the nation on March 18, in which she called the pandemic the country's gravest challenge since World War II.Lockdown ReviewKurz, who wore a face mask before and after his speech, urged Austrians to persevere with measures to limit contact between people and asked them to refrain from celebrating the Easter holiday with large gatherings of families and friends. His government will review virus statistics with epidemiology experts on Sunday and present its plans on Monday.Growth in new infections in Austria has decreased to less than 5% per day. The number of daily fatalities has fallen for four straight days this week.Spain's Health Ministry on Friday reported 932 new deaths and 7,472 cases over the latest 24-hour period, both smaller gains than the previous day. The dip in the daily figures could lead to less pressure on overwhelmed hospitals. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government is looking to extend the current lockdown for another two weeks beyond April 11, Spanish media reported.Italy reported 4,585 new infections, while there were 766 fatalities compared with 760 in the previous 24-hour period, civil protection authorities said at their daily news conference in Rome.The pace of both new deaths and new infections has flattened out over past days, even as the containment measures shuttering all non-essential activities and banning most movement take a heavy toll on the economy. In total, the country had 119,827 cases and 14,681 deaths.In France, daily intensive-care admissions fell for a fourth day, adding to signs that lockdown measures across Europe may be helping to bring the outbreak under control. The total number of fatalities is 6,507, including 1,416 deaths from nursing homes -- data that was partially included for the first time on Thursday.Despite Merkel returning to work, Germany's fight against the outbreak suffered a setback. Fatalities and confirmed cases rose by more than the previous day on Friday, with total deaths climbing past 1,000. The mortality rate is probably underestimated because of insufficient testing, according to Lothar Wieler, president of the Robert Koch Institute.The country -- which has 84,794 infections, the third-most in Europe -- may still need additional intensive-care space, even after boosting capacity by more than 40% since the crisis began, the head of Germany's public health authority said."My personal appraisal is that it will not be enough," Wieler said at a press briefing. "I would be happy to be wrong."For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Putin suggests sizable oil production cut as prices fall Posted: 03 Apr 2020 11:28 AM PDT |
| McConnell, Pelosi signal more virus aid likely from Congress Posted: 03 Apr 2020 11:03 AM PDT  In a shift, the top leaders in Congress made it clear Friday there will be another coronavirus rescue package amid the stark need for federal resources to fight the pandemic and economic crisis. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, after days of publicly jousting over what's next, began to outline fresh priorities signaling a potential thaw to the sniping and opportunity for renewed bipartisan ground. "There will be a next measure," McConnell said in an interview with The Associated Press.
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| Russia detains activists trying to help hospital amid virus Posted: 03 Apr 2020 09:57 AM PDT  An activist doctor who had criticized Russia's response to the coronavirus outbreak was forcibly detained as she and some of her colleagues tried to deliver protective gear to a hospital in need. Dr. Anastasia Vasilyeva of the Alliance of Doctors union was trying to bring more than 500 masks, sanitizers, hazmat suits, gloves and protective glasses to a hospital in the Novgorod region about 400 kilometers (about 250 miles) northwest of Moscow on Thursday when she and the others were stopped by police on a highway.
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| Italy and Russia spar over alleged coronavirus spies Posted: 03 Apr 2020 09:54 AM PDT  Italy was engaged in a war of words with Russia on Friday over allegations Moscow hid spies among doctors it had sent to the country's coronavirus epicentre near Milan. The unusual exchange between the traditionally friendly nations followed the publication of an Italian newspaper story about the purportedly nefarious nature of the Russian mission. It was a chance for Russian President Vladimir Putin to exert "soft power" at a moment of dire weakness for the West.
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| German virus data offers 'hope' but curbs must stay, says Merkel Posted: 03 Apr 2020 09:51 AM PDT  Latest figures which show the spread of the coronavirus is slowing in Germany are a cause for "hope", Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday, but warned that it was too early to relax restrictions on public life. Germany has shut schools, banned public gatherings of more than two and imposed requirements for people to keep a distance of at least 1.5 metres (five feet).
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| Trump, Macron weigh UN leaders' meeting on coronavirus -White House Posted: 03 Apr 2020 09:49 AM PDT |
| Russia to the rescue? US, Moscow spar over aid deliveries Posted: 03 Apr 2020 09:45 AM PDT  An odd new front in the U.S.-Russian rivalry has emerged as a Russian military cargo plane bearing a load of urgently needed medical supplies landed this week at New York's JFK airport. Russia cast it as a magnanimous aid contribution to a struggling country in need – its old Cold War rival. The State Department insisted that Wednesday's shipment was a mere commercial transaction: that the US had paid Russia for the supplies it needed and they were certainly not a gift.
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| Nativist Drive For Polish Ballot During Virus Crisis Is Stalling Posted: 03 Apr 2020 09:38 AM PDT |
| UN chief: Cease-fire appeal backed by parties in 11 nations Posted: 03 Apr 2020 09:23 AM PDT  U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday that warring parties in 11 countries have responded positively to his appeal for a global cease-fire to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, but turning words into peace is enormously difficult and fighting has escalated in major conflicts including Yemen, Libya and Afghanistan. Guterres told a briefing at U.N. headquarters in New York that his appeal 10 days ago was rooted in the recognition that "there should be only one fight in our world today: our shared battle against COVID-19."
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| Merkel Returns to Work Virus-Free After 12-Day Quarantine Posted: 03 Apr 2020 09:11 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel returned to her office on Friday, ending a 12-day, self-enforced quarantine after at least three tests showed that she was free of the coronavirus.The 65-year-old German leader -- who remains Germany's most popular politician after almost 15 years in power -- took to her apartment in Berlin on March 22 after being informed that a doctor who had administered a precautionary immunization two days earlier had later tested positive for the virus.Speaking to the public Friday from the chancellery in Berlin for the first time since the quarantine, Merkel made a plea to citizens to stay home and avoid social contact through the Easter holiday.Even though a slight slowing of the spread of the disease offers "some hope," she said it was far too early to set a target date for easing restrictions."I would be acting absolutely irresponsibly if I gave you a concrete day for lifting, or at least loosening measures, but then was unable to stand by this promise," Merkel said in a video podcast. "The number of infections won't allow it."Merkel said her government is working "day and night" to both protect citizens' health and plan how public life could begin moving again, "step by step."Merkel will continue to observe social distancing standards, government spokesman Steffen Seibert earlier told reporters in Berlin. The chancellor is conducting talks with global and German state leaders by video conference.She took center stage in Germany's fight against the virus with a rare televised address to the nation on March 18, in which she called the crisis the country's gravest since World War II. Her quarantine threw her ability to manage the response to the outbreak into question.The German leader's brush with the virus parallels that of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has been working from self-isolation at home since March 12 after his wife contracted the illness.Merkel isn't the only top European official directly impacted by the virus. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde isolated herself temporarily last month following exposure to an infected person. And U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been quarantined for over a week after testing positive.(Updates with Merkel comments starting in third paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Cuban docs fighting coronavirus around world, defying US Posted: 03 Apr 2020 07:00 AM PDT  For two years the Trump administration has been trying to stamp out one of Cuba's signature programs __ state-employed medical workers treating patients around the globe in a show of soft power that also earns billions in badly needed hard currency. Labeling the doctors and nurses as both exploited workers and agents of communist indoctrination, the U.S. has notched a series of victories as Brazil, Ecuador and Bolivia sent home thousands after leftist governments allied with Havana were replaced with ones friendlier to Washington. The coronavirus pandemic has brought a reversal of fortune for Cuban medical diplomacy, as doctors have flown off on new missions to battle COVID-19 in at least 14 countries including Italy and the tiny principality of Andorra on the Spanish-French border, burnishing the island's international image in the middle of a global crisis.
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| UN warns Libya vulnerable as country suffers first virus death Posted: 03 Apr 2020 06:53 AM PDT  The United Nations warned Friday that health services in conflict-plagued Libya were already fragile as the North African country recorded its first death from the novel coronavirus. The UN-recognised, Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), which controls the west of the country, has officially recorded 10 cases of the virus in Libya. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees warned Friday that the health system in Libya, the scene of a year of fighting for control of Tripoli, was already on the verge of collapse.
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| Feeding the front lines, one duck confit at a time Posted: 03 Apr 2020 06:39 AM PDT  On a break from the front lines, nurse practitioner Gabe Westhemier tucked into a plate of duck confit, the work of one of the city's celebrity chefs. Meanwhile, at another San Francisco emergency room, nurse Liz Sanderson still savors a sea salt caramel bread pudding from another posh eatery. The best of foods is being sampled in the worst of times by the most besieged of heroes -- all thanks to a group of San Francisco friends who had the idea of helping both local restaurants that need customers, and health care workers who need nourishment during their long, stressful shifts.
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| Coronavirus: Tunisia deploys police robot on lockdown patrol Posted: 03 Apr 2020 06:22 AM PDT  It quizzes people outside suspected of flouting the North African nation's coronavirus restrictions.
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| What you need to know today about the virus outbreak Posted: 03 Apr 2020 06:05 AM PDT  The Trump administration urged Americans to wear face coverings in public and limited exports of medical supplies Friday as New York's governor took his own dramatic step to fight the coronavirus by vowing to seize unused ventilators from private hospitals and companies. After Trump announced the face coverings recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control, he said he's not going to wear one. Stocks fell again on Wall Street following the latest grim reading on the toll the coronavirus is taking on jobs as the economy grinds to a halt.
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| 3 Risks American Investors Are Facing in China Right Now Posted: 03 Apr 2020 06:00 AM PDT  With lifetime tenure and the absolute power of China's Communist Party, all trade and investments in China are subject to President Xi Jinping's whims.The post 3 Risks American Investors Are Facing in China Right Now appeared first on Worth.
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| Cuomo orders shift in ventilators to overwhelmed hospitals Posted: 03 Apr 2020 05:50 AM PDT  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he would order the redistribution of critically needed ventilators. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called for a national enlistment program for doctors and nurses. Cuomo said Friday he will sign an order to redistribute hundreds of ventilators to hospitals overwhelmed with coronavirus patients amid a surge in outbreak-related deaths and hospitalizations.
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| Prince Charles opens new London hospital for virus patients Posted: 03 Apr 2020 05:07 AM PDT  Prince Charles remotely opened a vast temporary hospital for COVID-19 patients at London's main exhibition center Friday, as the number of coronavirus-related deaths reported in the U.K. surpassed China's official total. While confirmed virus cases and deaths continued to rise steeply, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he remained in isolation with a fever eight days after testing positive for the new virus. Charles, who on Monday completed a week of self-isolating as he recovered from COVID-19, said via video link that he was "enormously touched" to be asked to open the new Nightingale Hospital, which was built in just nine days at the vast ExCel conference center in east London, with corridors stretching a full kilometer (just over half a mile).
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| Amid tensions with Iran, congressional Dems issue warning to Trump Posted: 03 Apr 2020 05:06 AM PDT  They urged Trump in a March 27 letter to consult Congress before ordering strikes on Iran or taking other actions that could lead to war.
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| The daily business briefing: April 3, 2020 Posted: 03 Apr 2020 04:26 AM PDT |
| Israel to help Christians share 'holy fire' amid outbreak Posted: 03 Apr 2020 03:50 AM PDT  Israel is working with foreign governments and Orthodox Christian leaders in the Holy Land to make sure that one of their most ancient and mysterious rituals — the Holy Fire ceremony — is not extinguished by the coronavirus outbreak, officials said Friday. Each year, thousands of worshippers flock to Jerusalem's Old City and pack into the Church of the Holy Sepulcher — built on the site where Christian tradition holds that Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected — for the pre-Easter ceremony. Top Eastern Orthodox clerics enter the Edicule, the small chamber marking the site of Jesus' tomb, and exit with candles said to be miraculously lit with "holy fire" as a message to the faithful.
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| Global Hotspots Go Quiet But Don't Go Away Posted: 03 Apr 2020 02:45 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Aside from the pandemic raging around us, the world feels pretty quiet.It's not just the lack of planes flying overhead, or people on the streets. Suddenly, the noise around Iran, the South China Sea, and Libya seems smaller, somehow. Even North Korea appears relatively well behaved, constraining itself to firing the kind of short-range missiles that won't provoke a response from U.S. President Donald Trump.The adage that "only the dead have seen the end of war" holds some truth. Because even as we collectively grapple with a virus that has infected more than a million people, the divides and egos and insecurities that have pulled us apart for centuries are still there.Some leaders may even take advantage of the relative distraction to cause mischief. To advance their cause in a fight, or to grab more power at home.How that all plays out is difficult to predict. But one thing is clear. The world will change because of the virus. Some hot spots may be worsened by it – Yemen and Syria among them, given the parlous state of their economies and health systems, and with many people already homeless.The global jostling between China and the U.S. will also evolve, and perhaps the virus will see Beijing come out even stronger. That could affect us long after Covid-19 itself has passed.Global HeadlinesThe day after | European officials are starting to talk about rebuilding their economy, but the acrimonious and inconclusive talks so far show how hard it will be to craft a plan that member states can agree upon. And as Viktoria Dendrinou reports, a trickier question altogether will be what to do about Italy, which had the most perilous public finances before the virus struck, but has also suffered the highest death toll and the longest disruption.Crisis bounce | Trump's daily coronavirus briefings are delivering the highest approval ratings of his presidency. But, as Mario Parker and Gregory Korte write, that bump could fade before the November election — especially as deaths mount and scrutiny of the government response intensifies.Click here for how the pandemic is reshaping the battle for control of the Senate. Increased testing suggests next virus "hot spots" could include Michigan, Connecticut, Indiana, Georgia and Illinois.Slippery prospect | With one tweet, Trump conjured up the possibility of a global oil alliance to rescue the industry from its worst price shock in history. Traders are frantically assessing whether Saudi Arabia, Russia and possibly even the U.S. — the world's three biggest producers — could strike a grand bargain to cut daily supplies. It's unclear whether such a deal is feasible — or even legal.Trump will meet today with titans of the oil industry who are battling among themselves over whether he should slap tariffs on Saudi crude to get the kingdom to reduce its output.Strict measures | Facing a second wave of coronavirus infections, Singapore will shutter its schools and most workplaces by Wednesday. The city-state — which has been widely praised for its handling of the pandemic — is experiencing a rise in locally transmitted cases following a surge of Singaporeans coming back carrying Covid-19.Shadow economy | How do governments manage an economy they never really controlled in the first place? That's the question being asked of leaders in the $35 trillion developing world as the coronavirus takes hold. From the slums of Manila to remote villages in Colombia, two billion people work in a barely regulated, informal economy. Now the effort to contain Covid-19 may hinge on places hamstrung by weak institutions, limited resources, and corruption.What to WatchThe Trump administration's $349 billion small-business rescue program starts today amid concerns about its ability to deliver enough aid to mom-and-pop firms hit hardest by the pandemic. Poland's ruling party vowed to push on with holding next month's election by mail and to "consolidate power" despite concerns that nationalists are using the coronavirus to undermine democracy. The Democratic National Committee postponed its presidential nominating convention from July to Aug. 17.Pop quiz, readers (no cheating!). Which country became the first in Africa to suspend a national election due to the pandemic? Send us your answers and tell us how we're doing or what we're missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net.And finally ... China's efforts to get the economy moving again after weathering the worst of the coronavirus outbreak is clashing with reality on the ground. Migrant workers looking to finally travel back to their jobs in major cities must cope with constantly changing quarantine policies that can leave them unable to access their own homes. And the move to end the lockdown in Wuhan next week could spur even more problems, as fears grow over a second wave of infections. For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| AP PHOTOS: Greek capital's streets deserted during lockdown Posted: 03 Apr 2020 02:31 AM PDT  Deserted squares, padlocked parks, empty avenues where lines of cars once idled bumper-to-bumper in traffic as motorbikes and scooters zoomed through the narrow gaps between. The Greek capital, Athens, like so many cities across the world, has seen its streets empty under a lockdown designed to stem the spread of the new coronavirus. On March 23, a full lockdown was implemented, allowing people to leave home only for specific reasons.
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| Mosques stay open in Pakistan even as virus death toll rises Posted: 03 Apr 2020 01:50 AM PDT  Mosques were allowed to remain open in Pakistan on Friday, when Muslims gather for weekly prayers, even as the coronavirus pandemic spread and much of the country had shut down. Prime Minister Imran Khan is relying on restricting the size of congregations attending mosques and advice to stay at home from religious groups like the country's Islamic Ideology Council. In eastern Punjab province, where 60% of Pakistan's 220 million people live, checkpoints have been set up in major cities stopping people from congregating.
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| The daily terrors: Improvising in a makeshift ICU in Spain Posted: 03 Apr 2020 01:30 AM PDT  The tension is palpable. An orchestra of medical monitors marks the tempo with an endless series of soft, distinct beeps. Never have so many people been inside the library of the Germans Trias i Pujol hospital in northeastern Spain.
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| Trump Campaign Bets on Approval Rating Boost at Mercy of Virus Posted: 03 Apr 2020 01:00 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump's daily coronavirus briefings are delivering the highest approval ratings of his presidency, but that bump is at risk of fading before the November election — especially as deaths mount and scrutiny of the government response intensifies.Trump's average job approval rating hit an all-time high on Wednesday at 47.7%, according to RealClearPolitics. That's a 3.6-point jump from 10 days ago and surpasses the previous record set in his first week in office.But as the pandemic progresses along with the economic fallout that accompanies it, Trump is facing the greatest crisis of his presidency just seven months before the general election.The White House has positioned Trump as a "wartime" president fighting an invisible enemy he said was introduced by China. He was made visible daily at the podium in lieu of the rallies that have sustained him politically.In addition to canceling his rallies, Trump's campaign has had to reconsider practically every strategy it was pursuing, including switching to a digital and advertising focus and not opening, at least for now, planned campaign offices in key states.The briefings have emerged as a sober replacement for the rallies, putting Trump on the television screens of millions of households every day, with the presidential seal behind him.Early in the coronavirus outbreak, polling showed that Trump's decision to make Vice President Mike Pence the public face of the government's response was a mistake, because it gave the appearance that the president had delegated the weighty responsibility to a subordinate, one Republican strategist said.Voters perceived Trump as annoyed that he had to deal with the crisis, the adviser said. In response to open-ended questions from pollsters, they wondered how much the president really cared about the pandemic.Trump has long defied the political odds, succeeding where other politicians might have failed, so even weeks of grim news on the virus might not derail him, especially as his opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, is having trouble breaking into the news cycle as the nation worries about the pandemic.Trump's handling of the crisis reached its lowest level the week of March 9, after a week of no briefings and mounting deaths. The White House decided Trump needed to speak every day, and he's appeared at a briefing 18 out of 20 days since.Unimpressive BumpPollsters and political scientists have observed a "rally around the leader" effect for decades, with popular approval of a president going up in times of crisis. But Trump's isn't as impressive as some of his predecessors."Every president gets a bump in a crisis. The bump he's getting is not that big," said B. Dan Wood, a political science professor at Texas A&M University.Just as important as the size of the bump is the duration, because crisis-driven job approval numbers fade over time."The longer this goes on, the more his approval rating remains relatively high for him, the more likely that will help him on Election Day," said Neil Newhouse, a Republican pollster.But he said it's impossible to know how long the higher numbers will last: "The thing is we can't predict the future. It's totally unprecedented."President Jimmy Carter saw a 16-week spike in the early days of the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, and President George H.W. Bush's lasted 41 weeks during and after the 1991 Gulf War. Both went on to lose re-election over economic issues.Trump risks the same fate, with the American economy faltering as non-essential businesses close and unemployment spikes.For now, the polling numbers are driving Trump's response to the outbreak, with press briefings lasting as long as two hours nearly every day. White House officials see a direct link between the two."I attribute it to the fact that he gets out there every day and tells people here's what happened today," said Kellyanne Conway, a former Republican pollster who's now counselor to the president. "I've had this conversation directly with the president."The virus has also forced Trump to adapt his messaging. He's taken to referring to himself as a "wartime" president, calling Covid-19 an "invisible enemy."And though Trump still takes jabs at political enemies like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Biden, he's increasingly tried to highlight bipartisan efforts to combat the coronavirus — something his internal polling shows resonates with voters.Airing GrudgesAnd now, the briefings themselves have become a partisan flashpoint. Trump has used them at times to attack journalists, nurse grudges with governors and spread misinformation, leading some cable networks to break away from live coverage."The radical left-wing MOB is calling for the Lamestream media to STOP airing President Trump's daily press conferences which provide an update on the invisible enemy threatening our nation," a fund-raising email from the Trump campaign charged on Wednesday. "Their reasoning is that the president's approval ratings have skyrocketed to an all-time high and they are worried about the magnitude of his reach to the American people. It's madness."The rallies Trump enjoys were more than just a way to excite his core supporters. They were a reservoir of voter data, which campaign manager Brad Parscale typically outlined on Twitter: race, political party, location and voting history."The Trump campaign has a significant advantage because of our early and ongoing investment in data and technological infrastructure that began in 2015," said Ali Pardo, a campaign spokeswoman.Without that data, Trump and Republicans have to rely even more on social media like Facebook Inc., the Republican adviser said.On March 21, dubbed its National Day of Action, the campaign's supporters made 1.5 million calls from their homes, Pardo said. On those calls they directed people to the government's coronavirus website, she said.But physical outreach and courting of voter blocs has been hampered. Trump planned to aggressively court African-American voters in battleground states, with plans to open storefront offices in Miami, Orlando, and Philadelphia, among other cities. Those openings have been postponed, according to senior campaign officials.Instead, the campaign is scheduling conference calls with minority voters, particularly in states like Pennsylvania, Florida and Arizona.And it will take advantage of people being at home to see advertising on television and online.America First Action Super PAC, Trump's official super political action committee, said Wednesday that it planned to spend $10 million on advertisements in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, focused on Biden.One Republican strategist, David Winston, pointed out that whatever efforts are going on now, voters will make their decisions in seven months.It's not certain that the current approval ratings, amid the coronavirus pandemic, will translate into November votes, Winston said, adding that in times of crisis, Americans tend to coalesce behind national leaders. Judgments on the handling of the crisis -- and whether it warrants another term -- come later.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Israel arrests Palestinian official in east Jerusalem Posted: 03 Apr 2020 12:03 AM PDT |
| 'We love you NHS': UK health service gears up for virus peak Posted: 02 Apr 2020 11:47 PM PDT  Dr. Nishant Joshi is on the front line of the coronavirus pandemic — and he's angry. The emergency medicine specialist says he risks his life every time he walks into a British hospital because doctors and nurses haven't been equipped with the personal protection equipment they need to prevent them from being infected with COVID-19. "The government has to take square responsibility for this, because you should never be putting your health care workers in a situation where we are scared for our lives."
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| After ignoring warnings, Israeli ultra-Orthodox hit by virus Posted: 02 Apr 2020 11:43 PM PDT  Early this week, the streets of the central Israeli city of Bnei Brak were bustling with shoppers as ultra-Orthodox residents, obeying their religious leaders, ignored pleas to stay home in the face of the coronavirus threat. The military will soon be sending troops in to assist local authorities. The city has become a lightning rod for anger and frustration by some secular Israelis who allege insular Haredi communities — with disproportionately high numbers of confirmed cases — are undermining national efforts to contain the virus.
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| Brussels Edition: Orban’s Move Posted: 02 Apr 2020 10:16 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Welcome to the Brussels Edition, Bloomberg's daily briefing on what matters most in the heart of the European Union. What to do about Hungary? The EU is still figuring that one out, but there are a few signs that criticism of the country's alleged descent into authoritarianism could be having an impact. After a rebuke by a group of member states, Prime Minister Viktor Orban is now scrambling to respond to the backlash, amid a pandemic bound to hit the country's economy. For many in Berlin and Brussels, though, the whole matter is an unwelcome distraction at a time when the viral outbreak is ravaging Europe. And even those who feel they've had enough, know that there's little they can really do other than applying public pressure. The question is whether it will be enough. What's HappeningWhat's Next? | As the coronavirus rages across the continent, EU officials are starting to draw up plans for the day after. With the death toll still spiraling upwards and no end in sight to the restrictions that have brought the bloc's economy shuddering to a halt, various proposals are being floated ahead of a finance ministers meeting on Tuesday. At the top of the agenda will be having to make a decision about helping Italy.Homecoming Hopes | EU foreign ministers today will hold their second video conference in as many weeks as they seek to repatriate more than 200,000 European citizens still stranded abroad as result of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as weigh assistance for the world's weakest nations.Johnson's NHS | The cult of Britain's National Health Service has been key to so many political fortunes over the decades, but no other leader has weaponized it more than Boris Johnson after years of austerity measures implemented by his Conservative Party. While peers across Europe come under strain fighting the pandemic, few have more to gain or lose from the ability of the health system to cope than the British prime minister.Back to Work? | As global infections cross 1 million, companies and governments are trying to strike a balance between confinement and productivity. But, as Bloomberg's Tara Patel writes, workers remain wary as countries impose strict lockdowns to prevent the spread of Covid-19, while at the same time urging some to return to work to avert a total collapse of the economy.In Case You Missed ItWhere's Brexit? | Prime Minister Johnson says he won't delay the U.K.'s final parting with the EU by extending the transition period beyond the end of the year. But empty meeting rooms suggest delay is all but inevitable. Business lobbyists say government officials have canceled most Brexit meetings as civil servants deal with the coronavirus pandemic.Diesel Claims | Volkswagen AG could face compensation claims over the diesel emissions scandal wherever car owners live, according to an adviser at the bloc's top court. In an opinion that could pave the way for VW lawsuits across the EU, Advocate General Manuel Campos Sanchez-Bordona of the EU Court of Justice said customers claiming their vehicles lost value shouldn't have to sue the German carmaker in its own backyard.Wanting More | Some of Europe's biggest companies like Iberdrola SA and Volkswagen are urging the European Central Bank to speed up short-term debt purchases to shore up industry liquidity and funding of their daily operations. The ECB last week said it would extend its corporate bond purchases to include non-financial firms' commercial paper, helping to ensure companies don't lose access to a vital source of short-term cash for things like payrolls and inventory.Refugee Ruling | The EU won backing for its refugee policy after the bloc's top court said Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic failed to comply with a decision requiring them to resettle refugees in line with national quotas. The European Commission took the three nations to court in 2017 for failing to comply with directives two years earlier requiring EU nations to help relocate migrants who had fled to countries such as Italy and Greece during the biggest influx of asylum seekers to Europe since World War II.Horror Hospitals | Romania is the one EU member state where hospitals might be as dangerous as the the virus itself. Take a tour of a healthcare system where cancer sufferers with internal bleeding can be accidentally set on fire by an electric scalpel during an operation (true story).Chart of the DayDenmark just conducted its biggest currency interventions in over a decade to support the krone, after a wave of market panic caused by the spread of Covid-19 put pressure on the country's exchange-rate regime. In March, the central bank in Copenhagen bought 64.7 billion kroner, equivalent to $9.4 billion, it said yesterday. The interventions culminated in an interest rate hike on March 19, as Denmark fought to defend the krone's peg to the euroToday's AgendaAll times CET.11 a.m. Informal video conference of EU foreign affairs ministers 2:15 p.m. European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis participates in a Facebook live event Eurostat to release retail trade reading for February For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Coronavirus survivor: 'In my blood, there may be answers' Posted: 02 Apr 2020 10:05 PM PDT  Tiffany Pinckney remembers the fear when COVID-19 stole her breath. "It is definitely overwhelming to know that in my blood, there may be answers," Pinckney told The Associated Press. Doctors around the world are dusting off a century-old treatment for infections: Infusions of blood plasma teeming with immune molecules that helped survivors beat the new coronavirus.
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| California homeless advocate: 'We're moving way too slowly' Posted: 02 Apr 2020 10:04 PM PDT  Since the beginning of an international pandemic, experts have known one population is particularly vulnerable to contracting and spreading the coronavirus: the homeless. California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other elected officials have vowed repeatedly to get them indoors. On Friday, Newsom announced that money from the federal government will help pay for 15,000 hotel rooms during the pandemic.
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| In time of crisis, Trump-Pelosi relationship remains broken Posted: 02 Apr 2020 09:37 PM PDT  President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last talked Oct. 16, when Pelosi pointed her finger at the seated president during a heated exchange in a White House meeting that was captured in a widely shared photograph. Pelosi stormed out, and the two leaders' frayed relationship was soon severed by the House's impeachment of Trump months later. Now, there are worries the broken relationship could hinder the federal government's ability to respond to the growing coronavirus crisis, the extent of the damage reflected in Thursday's report that a record 6.6 million people filed for unemployment, adding to more than 3 million from two weeks earlier.
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| Virus Lockdowns Confront Billions Working in the Shadow Economy Posted: 02 Apr 2020 09:00 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- How do governments control activity in an economy they never really controlled in the first place? That's an urgent question being asked for those who run the $35 trillion developing world as the coronavirus takes hold.From the slums of Manila to remote villages in Colombia, some 2 billion people ply their trades in a barely-regulated and untaxed informal economy. The effort to contain the spread of a disease that's so far infected around a million people may soon hinge on places hamstrung by weak institutions, constrained resources, and corruption."How can I make a living if everything stops?" asked Caetano Sousa do Nascimento, 50, who makes about $11 on a good day selling home-made coconut candies on the outskirts of Brasilia, eking out a living in the informal economy like some 40 million other Brazilians. "People need to go back to their lives. Shutting down everything is not the solution."Emerging nations, home to more than 90% of the world's informal employment, are increasingly shutting the lights on a vital hive of activity that's disproportionately vulnerable to the disease, least prepared to survive a long cutoff and, crucially, for the most part out of reach of government support programs. An International Monetary Fund working paper estimated the average size of the shadow economy for 158 countries during 1991-2015 at 31.9% of official output. If this ratio held up in 2019, it would mean informal sectors accounted for nearly $30 trillion.Emerging ThreatAcross the developing world, the plight of informal workers is made worse by a combination of crowded slums, large families living together in small dwellings, and an absence of testing.New hotspots for the coronavirus are appearing in places like Guayaquil, a tropical city in Ecuador that was taken over by the army last week. The intensifying economic emergency that portends prompted the Group of 20 nations this week to switch to the need to assist developing nations. During a virtual meeting Tuesday, G-20 finance ministers and central bankers said they'd look to address debt vulnerabilities in emerging economies, allowing them to focus their efforts on coping with the threat.Lacking a financial safety net and with little access to health care, the quandary facing India's informal workforce of 450 million people is one of the starkest examples of how social inequality threatens to undermine global efforts to contain the virus.Most of these men and women work for, on average, as little as $2 a day. They don't have the option to work from home, take time off or avoid public transportation to practice social distancing.Yet India's informal sector -- from roadside food vendors and migrant workers on construction sites to landless laborers working in agriculture or running small shops in the countryside -- contributes half of its almost $3 trillion gross domestic product. It employs more than 90% of the total workforce, according to a government estimate.With train and bus services largely suspended, migrant workers have begun walking hundreds of kilometers to get back to their villages, while police and vigilantes at roadblocks have been beating people who venture out in violation of the curfew.Small traders in Nigeria were bracing this week for a lockdown on its two biggest cities, Lagos and Abuja. Africa's most populous nation surpassed India as the country with the largest number of people living in extreme poverty in 2018, and the size of its informal sector is estimated at as high as 65% of the economy.Usman Saleh, a trader at Abuja's Wuse market, had just taken delivery of two truckloads of fresh strawberries worth $5,100 when he heard the government would close all businesses. The fruit will probably go to waste, he said, and losing the money could end up ruining his business."What am I going to do now?" he asked. "I can't store this much in my freezer, I simply don't have the capacity."Seeking ReliefOrganizations representing millions of informal workers have begun to advocate for a share of the massive stimulus packages being rolled out.A collection of 10 organizations in South Africa, representing nearly 5 million workers, have called on the government to establish a "living cash grant" that would allow informal workers to be able to self-isolate without suffering economic hardship. The groups also called for the mass provisioning of masks and gloves, as well as soap and hand sanitizer in public places with lots of informal work.Much of the Indonesian government's early initiatives to deal with the pandemic have been targeted to relieve the stress on the informal sector. It provides for 56% of people with jobs -- about 70 million -- with little or no safety net, leaving them severely exposed in an economic crisis.Hard to TargetBut unlike more advanced economies that are better able to target and compensate workers for lost wages, developing countries will struggle to throw informal workers a lifeline, according to Priyanka Kishore, head of India and Southeast Asia at Oxford Economics in Singapore."If it's a large informal sector, I'm very concerned about a prolonged lockdown," Kishore said."Clearly, the challenge is targeted measures -- because you need to target the most vulnerable now," she said. "The larger the share of that part in your economy, the more social pain you'll see in terms of malnutrition -- or deaths."Nowhere is the challenge greater than in Africa, where the informal economy accounts for more than 85% of employment, according to an International Labor Organization report. The president of Benin, which depends almost entirely on smuggling goods to and from neighboring Nigeria, said this weekend that it can't even afford a lockdown.Getting PushbackBenin is an exception. Most governments are moving to tighten the screws -- even though locking down parts of the economy usually hidden from view may trigger defiance and backfire.South Africa, the country with the highest inequality in the world, last week deployed the army to enforce a national 21-day lockdown. Aid for the informal sector has been slow to come, with the government rolling out a stimulus package that largely ignored the hundreds of thousands of people who earn their incomes as hair dressers, street hawkers or food sellers."Many African governments have taken a copy-and-paste model from Spain and Italy and applied it here, but if you carry on with a lockdown for more than 21 days the impact will be too severe and people will end up ignoring it," said GG Alcock, a South African who's written several books about the informal sector."The relief measures that are being considered are ignoring a whole part of our economy," he said.Violence, TensionsHundreds of Moroccans protested the enforcement of emergency measures, marching and belting out religious chants a day after a lockdown was implemented in Fes, Tetouan and Tangier.The North African kingdom, where 60% of the workforce has no health insurance, is enforcing tight restrictions on movements in public areas that emptied out the traditionally bustling souks and streets. Anger erupted even after authorities promised small stipends to informal breadwinners in a country where the shadow economy is estimated at over a third of GDP."The lockdown creates a tough situation for the whole North Africa region because occupying the street is the main feature of a heavy informal economy," said Rachid Aourraz, an economist at Rabat-based MIPA think tank.Hard to AffordAcross the world in Colombia, the government is trying to enforce a lockdown until mid-April, but it's meeting resistance from workers who live hand-to-mouth.The nation's vast informal labor force has been swollen in recent years by nearly 2 million migrants fleeing Venezuela's economic collapse. Most are undocumented, and the mass shutting of restaurants, hair salons and other businesses leaves many of them penniless and facing eviction.In some parts of rural Colombia the state barely exists, and the rules are set by private armies financed by cocaine."In countries with large informal economies, a complete lockdown may just force you into closer proximity with someone who could infect you," said Kishore of Oxford Economics. "And if cases are not coming under control despite these lockdowns, then the lockdown will continue, compounding the economic and social pain."For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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