Christine Lagarde’s peace at risk as European Central Bank split over virus plan September 28, 2020 European Central Bank (ECB) policymakers are increasingly divided over how to steer the economy through a second wave of Covid-19, threatening President Christine Lagarde’s hard-won peace, Reuters conversations with eight ECB insiders show. Lagarde has managed to end the public infighting that left the ECB in disarray in the final months of Mario Draghi’s tenure [...]
UK to pledge £340m increase in funding for World Health Organisation September 26, 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson will pledge on Saturday a 30 per cent increase in funding for the World Health Organization while urging reforms to the global health body and calling for a revival of cross-border cooperation to end “ugly rifts”. Delivering a recorded speech to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Johnson will say the [...]
NHS Covid-19 app unable to accept a third of test results September 26, 2020 England’s Covid-19 smartphone app launched to curb the spread of the virus does not accept test results processed in the country’s state-run laboratories, hospitals or as part of an official survey, it said on Saturday. The App’s official account said on Twitter it could not link to test results taken in Public Health England (PHE) [...]
UK watchdog tells banks to improve remote working safeguards September 24, 2020 Banks and investment firms need more “creative solutions” to avoid misconduct as staff are set to work from home for longer due to the pandemic, Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said today. Britain told people to work from home if possible from Thursday as new cases of Covid-19 grow again, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson [...]
Poll: Britain’s economy won’t recover for at least two years August 20, 2020 Britain’s economy will not fully recover from its current historic downturn for at least two years, a Reuters poll of economists found, but there is only a slim chance the Bank of England will use negative interest rates to boost the upswing. Britain has suffered the highest death toll from the novel coronavirus in Europe, [...]
Democrats nominate Joe Biden for president, vowing to end Trump ‘chaos’ August 19, 2020 Democrats formally nominated Joe Biden for president last night, vowing his election would repair a pandemic-battered America and put an end to the chaos that has defined Republican President Donald Trump’s administration. The second night of the party’s four-night national convention, under the theme “Leadership Matters,” featured elder statesmen like former presidents Bill Clinton and [...]
Belarus: There will be no new election, says Lukashenko August 17, 2020 Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko today said there would be no new presidential election despite calls from the opposition and nationwide anti-government protests, the Belta news agency reported. “You should never expect me to do something under pressure,” he was quoted as saying. “They (new elections) won’t happen.” Lukashenko’s reported comments came as he faces the [...]
UK urges at-risk groups to sign up for coronavirus vaccine trials August 17, 2020 The UK today urged elderly people and volunteers from black and Asian minority groups to sign up to a coronavirus vaccine trial registry to boost efforts to find a working vaccine against the disease that offers protection against higher risk groups. No Covid-19 vaccine candidate has yet been proven effective against the disease, but around [...]
Japan’s economy shrinks at record pace as coronavirus wipes out ‘Abenomics’ gains August 17, 2020 Japan was hit by its biggest economic contraction on record in the second quarter as the coronavirus pandemic crushed consumption and exports, keeping policymakers under pressure for bolder action to prevent a deeper recession. The third straight quarter of declines knocked the size of real gross domestic product (GDP) to decade-low levels, wiping out the [...]
Bank of England paper says banker bonus cap can reduce excessive risk-taking August 14, 2020 The European Union’s cap on banker bonuses introduced after the financial crisis a decade ago can help to curb excessive risk-taking, a Bank of England study showed today. Britain had unsuccessfully opposed the cap, but bankers in London have been nurturing hopes that it could be discarded now that the country has left the EU [...]
