Uber says ‘no sacred cows’ as it faces crisis
Uber executives have warned they may scale back parts of the taxi hailing app firm’s business, as they try to steer the firm through the coronavirus pandemic. The comments follow Uber’s announcement on Wednesday that it would cut about 14% of its staff. That move...
White House considers measures to boost economy without Congress
WASHINGTON — The White House is considering another delay in the deadline to file federal taxes, along with additional measures aimed at providing economic relief for Americans that can be adopted without legislation from Congress, two people familiar with the discussions said. Tax Day has...
CDC recommendations could slow Trump’s push to reopen economy
Devastating unemployment data expected Friday will show why Trump is on firm ground in arguing that the economy cannot stay closed much longer given the more than 30 million livelihoods being destroyed in shutdowns ordered to slow the spread of the virus. But in his...
Denmark to open stores and shopping malls
Denmark will begin to open retail stores and shopping centers as coronavirus restrictions are gradually lifted, the prime minister said today. Professional sport will be allowed to resume without spectators starting Monday. “Phase two” of the government’s plan will see the reopening of restaurants, cafes,...
Japan approves experimental drug for treating coronavirus patients
Japan has approved the use of the experimental anti-viral drug remdesivir, for the treatment of coronavirus patients with severe symptoms. Researchers in the US released some good news last week about a possible treatment for coronavirus — evidence that the experimental drug may help patients...
UK will likely drop stay-at-home message this weekend, official says
The UK’s lockdown measures are still being debated and nothing is finalized, but the country’s stay-at-home message is likely to be eased this weekend, an official familiar with the deliberations told CNN. The official said changes would likely include allowing Britons to expand their social...
Pakistan will begin to lift lockdown measures starting on Saturday
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced that his government will be begin to lift the nationwide coronavirus lockdown starting on Saturday. “We have decided to lift the lockdown from Saturday in phases,” Khan said, addressing the nation. “We are doing this because the people...
China’s exports were surprisingly strong in April, but uncertainty lies ahead
China’s exports ticked up 3.5% in April compared to a year earlier in US dollar terms, according to customs data released by Beijing on Thursday. That was much stronger than expected: Analysts polled by Refinitiv expected a 15.7% decline. The increase also reversed March’s 6.6%...
Bank of England warns of deepest recession on record
The Bank of England has warned that the coronavirus pandemic will push the UK economy towards its deepest recession on record. It said the economy was on course to shrink 14% this year, based on the lockdown being relaxed in June. Scenarios drawn up by...
‘What are we doing this for?’: Doctors are fed up with conspiracies ravaging ERs
At the end of another long shift treating coronavirus patients, Dr. Hadi Halazun opened his Facebook page to find a man insisting to him that “no one’s dying” and that the coronavirus is “fake news” drummed up by the news media. Hadi tried to engage...
Job losses ‘jaw dropping’ in USA
The economic damage is almost inconceivable already and it will be laid bare in two sets of what are likely to be awful jobs numbers on Thursday and Friday. First up is weekly jobs data on initial unemployment claims — the measure that has recorded...
Trump economy faces long-term disaster
The staggering economic pain — perhaps the worst since the 1930s — of the American economy in the time of coronavirus will be graphically underscored in two new rounds of unemployment data that are due on Thursday and Friday. The figures will show Americans who...
Qatar Airways warns of job losses
Qatar Airways has warned it is planning to cut jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic. “The unparalleled impact on our industry has caused significant challenges for all airlines and we must act decisively to protect the future of our business. As a result, Qatar Airways...
Europe faces recession of “historic proportions”
The European Union is forecast to contract by a record 7.5% this year, according to a new forecast from the European Commission, as the coronavirus batters economies around the world. In its spring economic forecast, the commission predicts the contraction of “historic proportion” and says...
Parts of New York state could reopen in a week, governor says
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he’s preparing for the reopening of his state as early as mid-May. “We have about another week before we could open some regions of the state,” Cuomo said Wednesday on “Cuomo Prime Time,” hosted by his brother, CNN’s Chris...
Number of unemployed in Spain rises by more than 280,000 in April
The number of unemployed people in Spain increased by more than 280,000 in the month of April, as restrictive social distancing measures continued to have an impact on the country’s economy. Unemployment claims rose by 282,891 — up about 8% from March — to a...
Visiting the WHO’s COVID-19 logistics centre, the largest humanitarian hub the world
The coronavirus pandemic has caused an unprecedented demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) has seen stocks dwindle worldwide. These shortages are dangerous for workers in the medical sector treating infected patients. The World Health Organization (WHO) has played a central role in battling the virus....
Turkey’s malls and hair salons allowed to reopen next week
Turkey will begin lifting its coronavirus lockdown measures “step by step,” Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today. Starting next Monday, barbers, hairdressers and shopping malls will be allowed to open with new regulations. Travel restrictions for seven of 31 provinces will be lifted. The...
Coronavirus downturn: France and Italy in recession as Spain sees record GDP decline
France and Italy entered a recession in the first three months of this year while Spain’s GDP plunged sharply, new data on COVID-19’s impact on European economies indicates. The preliminary growth figures for Europe come just a day after US authorities revealed the country’s GDP...
EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager cautions against plans to cancel flight refund scheme
The EU Commission’s Executive Vice-President has expressed caution over plans by a majority of member states to wave mandatory refunds for cancelled flights to help European airlines hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Euronews broke the news on Wednesday that transport ministers from a majority of...
Italy eases coronavirus restrictions after two month lockdown
Italy has eased its movement restrictions after a two-month lockdown in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. Around 4.4 million people will return to work on Monday, after being confined to their homes since early March. Italy was the first European country to have a...
Coronavirus: Barclays gets 200 loan applications in one minute
Businesses can apply for loans up to £50,000 from Monday under a new Treasury scheme – and are already in big demand. Barclays’ UK boss Matt Hammerstein said the bank got 200 applications for so-called bounce back loans in the first minute after they launched...
Nigeria begins unlocking Africa’s biggest economy
Nigeria will from Monday begin relaxing coronavirus lockdown measures in the capital, Abuja, and the biggest city, Lagos, in an attempt to limit the damage to Africa’s largest economy. The government says the reopening is the first phase of a six-week process of easing the...
Elon Musk tweet wipes $14bn off Tesla’s value
Tesla boss Elon Musk wiped $14bn (£11bn) off the carmaker’s value after tweeting its share price was too high. It also knocked $3bn off Mr Musk’s own stake in Tesla as investors promptly bailed out of the company. “Tesla stock price too high imo,” he...
10,000 jobs could be at risk as Lufthansa looks to reduce fleet size
Lufthansa plans to reduce its fleet by around 100 aircraft, leaving the German airline with 10,000 excess staff, its chief executive told shareholders on Friday. Carsten Spohr said that preliminary figures for the first quarter showed a loss of 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) and...
Drug dealers pose as food delivery drivers during coronavirus lockdown – Interpol
Drugs dealers are disguising themselves as food delivery drivers to continue dealing drugs, Interpol warns. Police in the UK, Ireland, Malaysia and Spain have reported instances of drug couriers posing as food delivery workers, while carrying illicit drugs such as cocaine, marijuana, ketamine and ecstasy,...
Heathrow airport expansion to be delayed by at least 2 years because of coronavirus
Heathrow’s expansion plans – which include a third runway – will be delayed by at least two years because of the effect coronavirus is having on the aviation sector, the airport says. In a market update released on Friday, the airport also acknowledged that continuing...
Ryanair is cutting up to 3,000 jobs and says it’ll take at least 2 years to recover from the pandemic
Budget airline Ryanair has announced plans to cut up to 3,000 jobs as it tries to trim costs to deal with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. In a market update released on Friday, the company said it expects to operate less than 1% of...
Apple boosted by streaming services despite lockdown
Apple saw growth for the first three months of the year, as falling device sales in China were offset by demand for its streaming services due to the coronavirus lockdown. Sales climbed to $58.3bn (£46.2bn), up from $58bn in the same period in 2019 and...
Elon Musk criticizes coronavirus stay-at-home orders as “fascist” and “an outrage”
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is railing against stay-at-home orders meant to slow the coronavirus pandemic, calling them “fascist” and likening them to “forcibly imprisoning people in their homes” during a Tesla earnings call on Wednesday. “I would call it, ‘forcibly imprisoning people in...