|  | | | | | | | | | What you need to know about the coronavirus today | | | | | | Australia, China tensions rise
Australia’s calls for an international inquiry into how the pandemic spread from China have been steadily adding to tensions between Canberra and Beijing that are now turning into thinly veiled threats over the future of their sizeable trading ties.
Cheng Jingye, Beijing’s ambassador to Australia, told a local newspaper that Chinese consumers could boycott Australian beef, wine, tourism and universities. Trade Minister Simon Birmingham retorted that Australia was a “crucial supplier” to China for imports like iron ore.
Burgers, coffee and the beach
New Zealanders queued on Tuesday for takeaway burgers, fries and coffee, after being freed from a month-long lockdown, while surfers lined up to hit Sydney’s Bondi Beach at dawn as it officially reopened. “It’s hard to explain how good this tastes,” Christopher Bishop, a New Zealand lawmaker, said on Twitter after posting a picture with a takeaway coffee cup.
Hard to hold Olympics without vaccine
Tokyo faces a tough task in hosting the Olympics next year without an effective vaccine, the head of the Japan Medical Association said.
“I am not saying that Japan should or shouldn’t host the Olympics, but that it would be difficult to do so,” the association’s president, Yoshitake Yokokura, said.
Laboratories in several countries are working on vaccines and drugs to fight the virus. The need for exhaustive clinical trials of their effectiveness and safety, however, means they could take months to become widely available.
Mostly mail: Ohio’s election
Ohio holds its primary election on Tuesday, a virtually all-mail contest, and a glimpse of what the U.S. presidential contest might look like in November if the virus threat persists.
Some voters, election officials and voting rights watchdogs are already alarmed, as Ohio’s system has been overwhelmed by the crush of requests for absentee ballots, which stands to deny voting rights for tens of thousands.
“There is a strong likelihood that the timing for mailing out ballots may not allow adequate time for voters to receive the ballot and return it by mail in time to meet the state’s postmark deadline,” the U.S. Postal Service said on April 20.
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We prefer tips from named sources, but if you’d rather remain anonymous, you can submit a confidential news tip. Here’s how. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Follow the money | | With the pandemic hobbling the meat-packing industry, Iowa farmer Al Van Beek had nowhere to ship his full-grown pigs to make room for the 7,500 piglets he expected from his breeding operation. The crisis forced a decision that still troubles him: He ordered his employees to give injections to the pregnant sows, one by one, that would cause them to abort their baby pigs. 9 min read | | | | PepsiCo beat first quarter revenue estimates, but ditched its full-year forecast, citing uncertainty around the globe due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The company also said it still expected to pay $5.5 billion in dividends and buy back shares worth $2 billion this fiscal year, signaling financial stability at a time when several blue-chip firms have suspended shareholder returns to shore up cash reserves. 2 min read | | | | Georgia, at the vanguard of states testing the safety of reopening the U.S. economy in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, permitted restaurant dining for the first time in a month while governors in regions with fewer cases also eased restrictions. 7 min read | | | | Ohio Governor Mike DeWine outlined “first steps” toward reopening the state’s economy on Monday, diverging from Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer who said she would not be held to “artificial timelines” while fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. 4 min read | | | | | | | | | | | | | Top Stories on Reuters TV | | | | | | | |
