World Coronavirus Dispatch: Facebook, Twitter delete 'harmful' Trump post

Stocks fall, gold nears high on US stimulus talks, BlackRock staff to WFH for rest of year, UK unemployment could rise to 7.5% and other pandemic-related news across the globe

Facebook and Twitter have penalised Donald Trump and his campaign for posts in which the president claimed children were "almost immune" to coronavirus. Facebook deleted the post - a clip from an interview Mr Trump gave to Fox News - saying it contained "harmful Covid misinformation". Twitter followed by saying it had frozen a Trump campaign account until a tweet of the same clip was removed. US public health advice makes clear children have no immunity to Covid-19. Read more here

Let’s look at the global statistics:

Total Confirmed Cases: 18,814,178

Change Over Yesterday: 269,358

Total Deaths: 707,754

Total Recovered: 11,361,953

Nations hit with most cases: US (4,823,891), Brazil (2,859,073), India (1,964,536), Russia (864,948) and South Africa (529,877)

Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center

Stocks fall and gold nears high as traders eye US stimulus talks: China’s CSI 300 of Shanghai- and Shenzhen-listed stocks dropped 0.9 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.5 per cent. Futures markets tipped Wall Street’s S&P 500 to rise 0.1 per cent, while London’s FTSE 100 was expected to dip 0.6 per cent. This comes as the US Senate negotiates to extend jobless benefits that expired last month. Read more here

BlackRock allows all staff to work remotely for rest of year: The New York-based firm will permit 16,000 employees to choose working remotely, at the office or a combination of the two. The notice, sent to employees on August 3, said that because of tax and compliance implications, they must tell the company what they decide. Read more here

France records two-month high in cases: France has recorded its highest number of daily coronavirus infections in more than two months. Figures released on Wednesday showed 1,695 new cases within 24 hours. With more than 30,000 deaths, France has the third-highest death toll in Europe, behind the UK and Italy. Read more here

UK unemployment could rise to 7.5 per cent by year-end: Policy makers expect unemployment to rise materially to about 7.5 per cent by the year-end. Most officials agree that the labour market holds the key to the recovery. Economists are warning more than 3 million could be out of work before the end of 2020. Read more here

Rescue workers missing in South Korea floods after boats capsize: Seven rescue workers were missing in South Korea after their boats overturned in floodwaters on Thursday, as heavy rain across the Korean peninsula threatened to bring new floods and landslides. Parts of South Korea have seen 44 consecutive days of rain. Read more here

 

Specials

How a DNA test machine mutated to find Covid in 90 minutes 

A small DNA-testing company that just months ago was trying to get its footing in consumer genetics is now part of an effort to make UK hospitals safer during the pandemic. The company, DnaNudge, won a $211 million order for 5,000 machines and a supply of cartridges to test patients for the new coronavirus in hundreds of the National Health Service hospitals. For founder Christofer Toumazou, it’s the culmination of months of efforts to retool a toaster-size machine he originally developed to analyze key bits of people’s DNA. Now his lab-in-a-box will be used to see whether patients arriving at hospitals for surgery, cancer treatment and other procedures harbor Covid-19. Read more here

The class of Covid-19: can US college students really go back?

A survey by The Chronicle of Higher Education and the College Crisis Initiative suggests that almost two-thirds of US colleges expect to bring at least some students back to campus. Some, such as Notre Dame, are starting the semester next week, to try to cram in as much teaching as possible before Thanksgiving. And others — among them Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Chicago and Harvard — are adopting hybrid models that rely partly on digital teaching. Read more here

Value of world’s largest coal mine slashed by $1.4bn

US-listed Peabody Energy has written $1.4 billion off the value of the world’s largest coal mine, an acknowledgment of electricity generators’ permanent shift towards natural gas and wind. The open-pit North Antelope Rochelle mine in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin accounts for 12 per cent of US production, and shuttle trains laden with coal serve power plants across the country.  But cheap gas prices coupled with falling costs for renewable power and state-level mandates for clean energy have accelerated the decline of coal-fired electricity. Read more here