TOKYO — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is planning to overhaul rules that require signatures using traditional seals — cited as a major obstacle in increasing teleworking and receiving financial aid — as the government races to meet its target of reducing human contact by 80% to fight the coronavirus. Abe […]
Day: April 25, 2020
India reopens some stores after a month in lockdown
NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) — India allowed shops in residential areas to reopen from Saturday, more than a month after the country went into lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus, federal and state officials said. The federal home ministry said late on Friday that retailers could resume operations with the staff […]
Oil price sideshow could yet take centre stage
The oil price is currently a sideshow, a curiosity in this developing economic drama, it could soon move centre-stage The price of Brent crude has dropped almost 70pc since the start of the year, to just above $20 a barrel. The path of West Texas Intermediate, sold in the US, has been […]
Renewable energy loses steam as Asian subsidies wane
TOKYO — Global capacity for renewable energy ended 17 years of growth in 2019, as Asian governments scaled back expensive subsidies designed to make their power grids greener. The trend could continue in 2020 as the coronavirus outbreak forces factory shutdowns for producers of the necessary equipment, delaying future green power […]
Abe to change rules requiring ‘hanko’ seals to fight coronavirus
TOKYO — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is planning to overhaul rules that require signatures using traditional seals — cited as a major obstacle in increasing teleworking and receiving financial aid — as the government races to meet its target of reducing human contact by 80% to fight the coronavirus. Abe […]
Retailers face fresh threat posed by mountain of unsold stock
Industry analysts predict that it will take about three years for the sector to match last year’s level of sales and up to 18 months to unclog the supply chain. On top of that, this year alone, clothing and footwear spend is forecast to decline by £11bn in 2020, which […]
Small business loan scheme is a ruse to get Tory MPs on board
Whilst superficially attractive, the scheme is a chimera as banks still have a duty to ensure the loans can be repaid So much for not being persuaded. After digging his heels in over the idea of providing 100pc loan guarantees for business, the Chancellor is now reportedly putting together a […]
Contact tracing could halt the spread of virus, but Britons unlikely to accept surveillance
The problem, hardware engineers warn, is the integrity of the data on which the system would be based. Smartphones have four sources of data to help determine their location, and all have accuracy problems. The civilian version of GPS only gives a four-metre resolution and is easily interfered with by […]
Top Thai medical gloves maker files IPO as pandemic spurs demand
BANGKOK — Sri Trang Gloves Thailand, the country’s biggest producer of medical gloves, has filed for an initial public offering on the Stock Exchange of Thailand to raise funds to increase production capacity, with the company seeing substantially increased demand for its products as a result of the new coronavirus […]
Infection undercount sparks fear, but raises hope of herd immunity
TOKYO — The global population may be closer than expected to the critical level of herd immunity needed to reopen business and public activities safely, a recent coronavirus study suggests, but problems with testing make this hard to determine. A survey in New York indicates that the number of people […]