Friday Morning Briefing: Coronavirus hits politicians, sports and showbiz stars as it spreads across globe

Coronavirus

What you need to know about the coronavirus epidemic today:
“Test and you shall find” is the mantra of epidemiologists tackling the new coronavirus: the only question then becomes how public health authorities cope with all the confirmed cases that emerge. U.S. Democrats are nonetheless insisting that Americans must be fully encouraged to go for tests if the economic aid package going through Congress is to get their backing.

President Donald Trump tweeted earlier that coronavirus testing in the United States will soon happen on a large scale, but did not provide any details on how that would be accomplished.

Financial markets now appear to be finding some solace in hopes for more economic stimulus after plumbing the depths of despair earlier this week. The benchmark of European stocks gained a modest 2.6% on Friday after the 12% crash on Thursday that erased over $1 trillion from the value of European firms and plunged global equities into a bear market.

See Reuters interactive graphic of the spread and follow the latest updates.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s wife, Australia’s minister for home affairs and a Chelsea soccer player are among new cases of the coronavirus that has infected almost 135,000 people and killed more than 4,900 worldwide. Governments and central banks readied more emergency measures to tackle the economic impact of the coronavirus. U.S. lawmakers and the White House neared agreement on a coronavirus economic aid package, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying she hoped to announce a deal on Friday.

The World Health Organization is considering changing the way it classifies and describes international epidemics, amid a protracted public debate over whether to call the outbreak of the new coronavirus a pandemic. Officials at the Geneva-based WHO – who this week described it as a pandemic for the first time - are reviewing how the health agency communicates its risk assessment of disease outbreaks in the future.

Even as Japan has stressed that the Olympics will proceed as planned, government and central bank officials are more seriously weighing the risk of cancelation when making projections for this year’s economic outlook, sources said. South Korea reported more recoveries from the coronavirus than new infections on Friday for the first time since its outbreak emerged in January, as a downward trend in daily cases raised hopes that Asia’s biggest epidemic outside China may be slowing.

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After all the rancor of the Democratic presidential race, front-runner Joe Biden has a chance in Sunday’s debate to extend an olive branch to rival Bernie Sanders and his fervent liberal supporters in a bid for party unity before the general election fight.

Former U.S. Army soldier and WikiLeaks source Chelsea Manning was released from prison on Thursday on a judge’s order after being held since May for refusing to testify in an ongoing investigation of WikiLeaks. District Court Judge Anthony Trenga ordered Manning released because the grand jury hearing the case had concluded.

The United States waged a series of precision air strikes against an Iran-backed militia in Iraq that it blamed for a major rocket attack a day earlier that killed two American troops and a 26-year-old British soldier. The Pentagon said the strikes targeted five weapons stores used by Kataib Hezbollah militants, including facilities housing arms used in past attacks on U.S.-led coalition troops.

Greece’s first female president, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, was sworn in for a five-year term at a ceremony scaled down due to the coronavirus outbreak. Sakellaropoulou, an ex-president of the Council of State, Greece’s top administrative court, will succeed Prokopis Pavlopoulos.

Business

Clamor grows for Trump to cut China tariffs in coronavirus response

As President Donald Trump scrambles for new ways to cushion the economic blow from the fast spreading coronavirus, industry groups, lawmakers and even some government officials are reviving a previous request: cut tariffs on Chinese and other imported goods.

6 min read

Fed's economic forecasts to give window into extent of coronavirus fears

Federal Reserve policymakers have already begun responding to the coronavirus with an emergency interest rate cut and a reopening of their crisis tool kit, all without a clear idea of what damage is being done outside of plummeting financial markets.

4 min read

Outspoken Tesla chief Elon Musk faces $1 billion trial, test of temperament

Elon Musk is expected to defend a $2.2 billion deal in court next week criticized by shareholders as benefiting Musk at the expense of Tesla Inc, and the outcome may depend as much on the chief executive’s temperament as on the facts of the case.

5 min read

Pentagon seeks to reconsider parts of $10 billion cloud contract awarded to Microsoft

The U.S. Department of Defense is seeking court permission to reconsider certain aspects of its decision to award a $10 billion cloud computing contract to Microsoft, court filings showed. A U.S. judge last month granted Amazon’s request to temporarily halt the DoD and Microsoft from moving forward with the deal, which Amazon had said reflected undue influence by President Trump.

2 min read

Top Stories on Reuters TV

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