International

• Wednesday, March 18th 2020 - 07:20 UTC

  Policy Action for a Healthy Global Economy

  

  By Kristina Georgieva (*) – While quarantining and social distancing is the right prescription to combat COVID-19’s public health impact, the exact opposite is needed when it comes to securing the global economy.

• Wednesday, March 18th 2020 - 07:12 UTC

  Brazilian meatpackers considering suspending operations because of China

  

  Brazilian meatpackers JBS and Minerva Foods are considering suspending operations at some slaughterhouses in Brazil due to supply chain issues from China, JBS and sources close to Minerva said this week.

• Tuesday, March 17th 2020 - 08:20 UTC

  Beijing furious with Vargas Llosa for saying combating the coronavirus outbreak would be different if China was a democracy

  

  China hit out on Monday at Peru's Nobel literature laureate Mario Vargas Llosa for allegedly expressing “irresponsible and prejudiced opinions” over the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

• Tuesday, March 17th 2020 - 08:02 UTC

  British supermarkets appeal to consumers to be more considerate after shelves were plundered: “we have adequate supplies”

  

  British supermarkets have called on consumers to be more considerate and reiterated they have adequate supplies, as the coronavirus saw shelves plundered and a surge in online orders. The country's leading grocery retailers, including Tesco, Sainsbury's and Waitrose, penned a joint letter to customers, which ran in newspapers on Sunday and Monday appealing for calm.

• Tuesday, March 17th 2020 - 07:53 UTC

  Boris asks UK industry to manufacture health equipment, and considers using hotels as hospitals if needed for the pandemic

  

  Britain has asked manufacturers including Ford, Honda and Rolls Royce to help make health equipment including ventilators to cope with the coronavirus outbreak and will look at using hotels as hospitals.

• Tuesday, March 17th 2020 - 07:34 UTC

  Nightmare: assessing the coronavirus damage for the cruise industry

  

  The novel coronavirus is becoming a financial and public-relations nightmare for the cruise industry, from failed quarantine attempts on ships to passenger lawsuits and a stream of cancellations.

• Monday, March 16th 2020 - 11:19 UTC

  G7 global rescue: Fed cuts rates to almost zero and launches US$ 700bn stimulus program

  

  The US has cut interest rates to almost zero and launched a US$ 700bn stimulus program in a bid to protect the economy from the effect of coronavirus. It is part of a coordinated action announced on Sunday in the UK, Japan, the Eurozone, Canada, and Switzerland.

• Monday, March 16th 2020 - 11:18 UTC

  France, Spain join Italy in imposing lockdowns for the next two weeks

  

  France and Spain joined Italy in imposing lockdowns on tens of millions of people, Australia ordered self-isolation of arriving foreigners and other countries extended entry bans as the world sought to contain the spreading coronavirus.

• Monday, March 16th 2020 - 11:16 UTC

  Spanish King Felipe VI takes further distance from his scandal-hit father and even cuts his annual grant

  

  Spain's King Felipe VI has renounced the inheritance of his scandal-hit father Juan Carlos. In a statement, the palace said that Juan Carlos, who abdicated in 2014, would also stop receiving an annual grant of €194,000 (US$ 217,100).

• Monday, March 16th 2020 - 10:40 UTC

  Tierra del Fuego rushes 400 tourists to Buenos Aires from an Antarctic cruise

  

  The Argentine Tierra del Fuego province government rushed some 400 passengers from a cruise vessel, by air, to Buenos Aires before the implementation of a coronavirus fourteen-day quarantine which becomes effective this Monday. The Norwegian flagged vessel Midnatsol arrived on Saturday to Ushuaia from Antarctica.