Britain's constitution offers no clear answer to the question now on many Britons' minds: what happens if Prime Minister Boris Johnson, undergoing tests in hospital after persistent symptoms of coronavirus, cannot continue to lead.
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E. * Sterling shaken after PM Johnson admitted to hospital. * Japan on brink of state of emergency. * Oil currencies rattled by failure to end price war. By Stanley White.
U.K. consumer confidence plummeted in the last two weeks of March in the biggest drop ever recorded as the nation entered a state of lockdown in an attempt to slow the rapid spread of the coronavirus. An index of consumer confidence gathered by market research firm GfK fell by 25 points to minus 34. It was the index's lowest reading since February 2009 and the biggest single drop in the index's history, which stretches back as far as 1974.. Consumer sentiment nosedived as Britons...
Members of the state Senate and Assembly trickled out of the Capitol last week after overnight votes to enact a new state budget. Whether they will return this year isn't clear. Legislators had already laid out a truncated schedule for the rest of 2020. They set a June 2 adjournment date to allow for campaigning ahead of primary elections on June 23. And they have little role in managing the state's response to the coronavirus pandemic that would require their presence in Albany.
Britain's constitution offers no clear answer to the question now on many Britons' minds: what happens if Prime Minister Boris Johnson, undergoing tests in hospital after persistent symptoms of coronavirus, cannot continue to lead.
Texas had one of the best economic records of any U.S. state after the 2008 financial crisis. In this crisis, it faces the prospect of a deep and prolonged downturn. The Lone Star State is exposed to many of the pandemic and shutdown's economic ill consequences, with three cities-- Austin, Houston and Dallas-- home to an abundance of service-sector jobs, especially at risk.
Economic data out this week is likely to reflect mounting damage from the coronavirus and efforts to contain it. Service providers such as restaurants and hotels have been hardest hit by lockdowns designed to limit the coronavirus's spread. But factories are also suffering, even when they are able to keep their assembly lines moving.
Britain will be forced to impose more restrictions on outdoor exercise if people flout lockdown rules designed to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the health minister said on Sunday. Daily exercise, such as walking, running or cycling, is allowed as long as people maintain social distancing.
Britain should not start to lift restrictions on social contact until it is clear that coronavirus transmission is in retreat, otherwise a second wave could occur, England's Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jenny Harries said on Sunday.
A top official at the U.S. Federal Reserve said on Sunday the $2.3 trillion economic relief bill approved by Congress was appropriately sized and that a further relief effort may not be needed if support efforts are well executed.
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