In Brief: Emirates to cut wages, ground passenger fleet

DUBAI • Emirates, one of the world's biggest international airlines, will ground its entire passenger fleet this week and cut staff wages by as much as half because of the coronavirus and its impact on travel demand.

The state-owned Dubai carrier had already announced the suspension of nearly 70 per cent of its network, asked staff to go on unpaid leave and frozen recruitment as the industry faces one of its biggest challenges.

The Dubai-based airline will stop passenger flights by Wednesday and did not say when they would resume, though cargo flights will continue.

REUTERS

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US may remove tariffs on supplies from China

LONDON • The Trump administration signalled a willingness to remove tariffs on medical supplies from China as the health authorities, backed by US businesses, expressed an urgent need for more masks, ventilators and other equipment to suppress the coronavirus pandemic.

The United States Trade Representative (USTR), in a statement last Friday, invited the public, businesses and government agencies to submit "comments on possible further modifications to remove duties from additional medical care products".

The USTR said the comment period will run until June 25 and will not replace the process to request exclusions from the tariffs.

BLOOMBERG

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Bolivia postpones presidential elections

LA PAZ • Bolivia's interim government announced last Saturday that it would postpone presidential elections originally slated for May 3 and institute a mandatory countrywide quarantine for 14 days as the coronavirus spread across the Andean nation.

The country's electoral authority said in a statement it would "suspend the elections calendar" for 14 days to match the quarantine, but did not set a new date for the vote. The tribunal said it would work with the country's political parties and organisations to determine when to hold the election.

REUTERS

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Lockdown in US may last till June: Mnuchin

WASHINGTON • The lockdown affecting large segments of the American public to curb the spread of the coronavirus is likely to last 10 to 12 weeks, or until early June, United States Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said yesterday.

Republican and Democratic leaders of the US Senate were headed back to the negotiating table yesterday as they scrambled to work out a US$1 trillion-plus (S$1.45 trillion) Bill aimed at limiting the pandemic's heavy toll on the economy. Mr Mnuchin told Fox News yesterday that he hopes Congress will vote on the Bill today.

Meanwhile, the US Food and Drug Administration has approved the first rapid coronavirus diagnostic test, with a detection time of about 45 minutes.

REUTERS