In The News

Peggy Hollinger April 25, 2020
Pandemic has reversed optimistic forecasts from only a few months ago, hitting the global aerospace industry led by Boeing and Airbus with cancelled orders and halted production. Government lockdown policies have grounded over 60 percent of the world’s commercial aircraft. Reduced flights force airlines to cut costs and scramble for government aid to survive the hardship. Some 25 million jobs in...
George Magnus April 24, 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic is roiling governments around the globe, even China, despite a propaganda push that maintains China contained the virus with success. After centralizing control, China’s President Xi Jinping can expect to bear responsibility for pandemic-related challenges, including high debt levels, unemployment, an aging population and families hesitant to have more than one child,...
Rick Noack and Loveday Morris April 24, 2020
Several countries plan to ease coronavirus restrictions, implying the cautious optimism that life may return to normality. Germany, which took effective measures early, is slowly reopening businesses even though some scientists argue that the country should keep the restriction policy until tracking cases becomes easier, a strategy allowing for a greater degree of freedom in the long term....
Kishore Mahbubani April 23, 2020
Kishore Mahbubani, founding dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, has long observed that the era of Western domination is ending. The Covid-19 pandemic hurries the demise and marks the start of an Asian century. “The crisis highlights the contrast between the competent responses of East Asian governments (notably China, South Korea and Singapore) and the incompetent responses of...
Darren McCaffrey April 22, 2020
Sweden rejected economic lockdowns and border closures as overly cautious in managing the Covid-19 pandemic. The country did ban large gatherings, closed some schools, and told its older population to self-isolate, reports Darren McCaffrey for Euronews. Restaurants, primary schools and most businesses remain open. The disease has not overwhelmed hospitals, and Swedish people support the approach...
Hilary Guite April 22, 2020
Researchers concede Covid-19 as a new virus presents many unknowns. Hence, community leaders and individuals should practice caution. Hilary Guite reports on studies that monitored subjects day by day. About 80 percent of patients report mild or no symptoms, yet the disease is infectious during the presymptomatic phase, and she writes, “SARS-CoV-2 can bind 10 times more tightly to insert its RNA...
Catherine Ngai, Olivia Raimonde and Alex Longley April 20, 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic stopped the global economy, and the price of future contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude oil, in May plunged into unprecedented negative territory. Brent and other pricing benchmarks also fell. Energy companies and distributors have no place to store oil, and there is no interest in crude contracts that require delivery, regardless of low price. “Underscoring just how...