Windows search is getting a ginormous upgrade with a tool called PowerToys Run, which launched Tuesday. It’s a super-duper-early-stages, but promising, search box that could put the Start menu and Windows key-R shortcut to shame.
The new tool was announced at Build, Microsoft’s annual developer event. It was held virtually this year for the first time in its history because of the coronavirus pandemic. Other highlights included new Google Docs-like features for Office and some Edge browser updates.
The new search tool pops up in the middle of your screen with a big query box, just like Spotlight. It launches with the Alt-Space shortcut, and it’s insanely fast at finding files, programs and a few other items. It’s way faster than the current Windows search tool.
The release, which is in beta for now, starts with the number zero — an indication to expect some buggy stuff, if the not-so-friendly name of the tool didn’t already give that away. Another turnoff: You have to install it from GitHub, along with a separate .NET Core program, a framework upon which PowerToys and other open-source software runs.
But Microsoft(MSFT) promises to make PowerToys Run seriously impressive. It will be a catch-all launcher box that Microsoft said could eventually be a starting point for every kind of query. For example, it could eventually run search queries on the internet for casual users — on the browser of your choice (imagine that!) — and at the same timefully replace Windows key-R for power users, who will be able to use all the same commands they’ve become familiar with.
Today, Windows search is a confusing amalgam of the Start menu, Search, Cortana and Win-R. And your options are limited. For example, you can search the internet using Windows search, but exclusively on Bing, and only with the Microsoft Edge browser.
To improve the experience, Microsoft is combining its tools and opening up development to the masses with open-source code. The possibilities are limited by the imaginations of Windows’ power users, who are a pretty imaginative bunch.
The PowerToys tool has some other nifty features, including the ability to remap keyboard shortcuts. Try doing that on a Mac.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel | Odd Andersen/AFP via Getty Images
German chancellor says ‘multilateralism faced a major challenge even before the pandemic.’
BERLIN — Countries should not resort to renationalization and protectionism in response to a “deep global recession” caused by the coronavirus crisis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday.
“It was … clear that multilateralism faced a major challenge even before the pandemic, and this challenge has not become smaller,” said Merkel, two days after she put forward a Franco-German plan for a €500 billion EU recovery fund.
Merkel was speaking after a videoconference with the heads of the International Labour Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization at which they discussed the economic response to the crisis.
“The answer to the pandemic can certainly not be to renationalize all international supply chains now; then everyone would pay a very high price,” Merkel said.
Asked if she had spoken to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte or Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz since Monday’s announcement, Merkel said she had not. Kurz declared Tuesday that the countries — who advocate lower EU spending and tight fiscal discipline — will present their own counter proposal.
“We are now in the phase of waiting for the proposal from the Commission,” Merkel said.
The European Commission is set to lay out its draft recovery plan next Wednesday, May 27.
The U.K. government said there will be no “international border†between Northern Ireland and Great Britain | Paul Faith/AFP via Getty Images
After months of resisting the idea, the UK has accepted there will be customs checks on goods crossing the Irish Sea.
LONDON — The U.K. on Wednesday finally admitted there will be a post-Brexit trade border down the Irish Sea.
In its plan detailing how the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland will function once the U.K. leaves the EU customs union, the U.K. government said there will be no “international border†between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
That is a very different thing to a trade border — and showed the journey Britain has been on.
EU leaders had become increasingly frustrated at suggestions Britain was not taking seriously the scale of administration required to implement the Withdrawal Agreement Boris Johnson struck with Brussels last year. The deal will keep Northern Ireland in the customs union of both territories, in order to maintain an open border with the Republic of Ireland under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
It means Northern Ireland can reap the benefits of U.K. trade deals — a major argument for Brexit — but will have to comply with EU rules, placing a protective customs ring around the nation.
Former Prime Minister Theresa May allowed herself an “I told you so†moment.
For many months, Johnson appeared unwilling to accept the full implications of what he had signed up for. The prime minister told Conservative members in November: “There will not be tariffs or checks on goods coming from GB to NI that are not going on to Ireland — that’s the whole point.â€
He said that if any business is asked to fill in customs declaration paperwork, they should telephone him “and I will direct them to throw that form in the bin.â€
The U.K. got out of that one by insisting all the paperwork will be digital.
The document published this afternoon said U.K. authorities will have to apply EU customs rules to goods entering Northern Ireland, adding that it would entail “some new administrative process for traders, notably new electronic import declaration requirements, and safety and security information.â€
It insisted there would be no new customs infrastructure in Northern Ireland, before confirming that existing infrastructure for animal and food checks would be expanded to cope with the new workload. Livestock moves are already subject to checks, but food is not.
Former Prime Minister Theresa May, whose solution to the Irish border conundrum was to maintain EU customs rules and create a border down the Irish Sea, allowed herself an “I told you so†moment. During a Commons statement on the announcement, she asked Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove whether the U.K. will have to abide by EU regulations on some goods — possibly indefinitely.
Gove insisted the Northern Irish Assembly will have the chance to ditch the system in 2024, but admitted: “It is the case that there will be EU regulations … that will apply in Northern Ireland to 2024.â€
The European Commission appeared satisfied with the plan. A spokesman said the proposal “provides a stable and lasting solution to address the unique circumstances on the island of Ireland.†But officials in Brussels will study the document more closely to ensure it meets their demands on keeping the single market secure and respecting the Good Friday Agreement.
More to come
A lot of questions remain over the U.K. approach.
Britain said there will be no restrictions at all on trade moving from Northern Ireland to Great Britain. But the government will consult on how businesses will be deemed eligible for unfettered trade.
Goods heading to the EU through Northern Ireland or goods “at a clear and substantial risk of doing so†will have to pay tariffs before leaving Great Britain, where tariffs apply. But what constitutes a “substantial risk†is set to be clarified by the joint committee on the Withdrawal Agreement, which includes representatives from the U.K. government and the EU27.
The U.K. clearly took a step forward along its Brexit path with the publication of the plan.
Meanwhile, the exact processes for businesses — including the tariff compensation scheme for firms wrongly forced to pay duties — will also need to be laid out.
But the U.K. clearly took a step forward along its Brexit path with the publication of the plan, and it appears to have landed well in Brussels.
Even the Democratic Unionist Party, which threatened to bring down the government when May was in power rather than see a new border down the Irish Sea, accepted the fight had been lost.
Party leader and Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster welcomed elements of the proposal and called for assurance it would not in future “saddle individual Northern Ireland businesses with further costly administrative burdens.â€
Fiat-Chrysler’s call for state support from the Italian government in response to the coronavirus crisis has triggered howls of complaint from politicians pointing out that the carmaker isn’t an Italian tax resident.
Tax justice is becoming an increasingly prominent theme of crisis bailouts — with countries ranging from France to Poland arguing that there will be no cash for companies registered in foreign tax havens.
On May 16, Fiat applied for a state guarantee to cover a €6.3 billion loan. Politicians, including the No. 2 in Italy’s Democratic Party Andrea Orlando and left-wing MP Stefano Fassina, immediately cried foul that the company officially decamped from Italy six years ago, with Fiat becoming Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and moving its headquarters from Turin to Amsterdam.
“A company seeking huge funding from the Italian state should bring its headquarters back to Italy,†Orlando tweeted.
“How can the Italian Republic, in accordance with our constitution, dedicate a billion euros [to guarantee the loan] to some of the richest families in the world, residing in tax havens, when they forget millions of families pushed to the limit?†Fassina asked in Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper.
“If state aid is given to Fiat, Italian citizens have the right to know whether the company moved its tax domicile to the U.K. to obtain a tax advantage” — Tommaso Faccio, ICRICT
The government tried to cool down the debate by stressing that the money would stay in Italy.
“We are talking about … Italian factories, which produce in Italy and employ a great number of workers,” said Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, while Finance Minister Roberto Gualtieri stressed that the aid would only benefit the Italian subsidiary of the group, FCA Italy, which “has its headquarters and pays taxes in our country.”
A formal decision on aid has not been made by the Italian government, and the ministry of economic development declined to comment. Fiat also declined to comment beyond its statement, which stressed the money would be “dedicated exclusively to financing FCA’s activities in Italy” and should provide “support to some 10,000 small and medium enterprises in the automotive supply chain in Italy.”
The public guarantee to cover the loan has also been questioned on other grounds. It would allegedly allow FCA’s parent company to save cash and pay a €5.5 billion dividend that is due to shareholders before the closing of the planned merger with France’s PSA Groupe, the owner of brands like Peugeot, Citroën and Opel.
Rescue loan
The aid will be granted under a so-called liquidity decree adopted during the coronavirus crisis, and only companies based in Italy are eligible. Conte and Gualtieri say that FCA Italy fulfills this condition.
But given FCA’s complex corporate structure, aid from Rome would ultimately support the whole group, which pays taxes in several European countries, including Luxembourg, the U.K. and the Netherlands.
FCA is now a multinational group controlled by a parent company registered in the Netherlands and it is subject to British tax rules, said Tommaso Faccio, the head of secretariat at the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT).
“If state aid is given to Fiat, Italian citizens have the right to know whether the company moved its tax domicile to the U.K. to obtain a tax advantage,” Faccio said, adding that the only way to get that information would be to publish country-by-country reporting that is not public.
According to former European Commission President Romano Prodi, the aid should be subject to Fiat’s commitment to invest in Italy. “If I spend money to build a house, I need to know where it will be built,†Prodi told Italian public broadcaster RAI.
But Gualtieri’s promise might be tough to keep given next year’s merger between FCA and France’s PSA to form the fourth-largest automaker of the world. “A European champion,” as French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire called it.
The deal is currently under the scrutiny of the European Commission, which will issue a decision by June 17.
But the creation of a new car company means the debate on FCA’s tax residence is “outdated” and the discussion should rather focus on the industrial plans of the new group, said Giuseppe Berta, a professor of economic history at Bocconi University and former director of the Fiat historical archive.
“How can you talk about production and jobs in Italian factories without taking into account the fact that these elements will be defined in the industrial strategy of the group that will be born in a few months?” Berta asked, while noting that strategic choices for the new entity will be determined by the new chief executive, Carlos Tavares, who currently leads the French group.
Next year’s merger between FCA and France’s PSA to form the fourth-largest automaker | Vladimir Simicek/AFP via Getty Images
According to Carlo Calenda, an Italian MEP from the Socialists and Democrats group, the merger is precisely why FCA is asking for aid.
FCA’s parent company has sufficient resources to help its Italian subsidiary restart production, but prefers to keep it in its coffers with a view to a €5.5 billion pre-merger dividend, Calenda said.
FCA declined to comment.
Gualtieri stressed that under new Italian rules, aid beneficiaries won’t be allowed to distribute dividends in 2020 but, in the case of FCA, the pre-merger dividend would come from the Dutch-registered group holding and might happen next year. The company hasn’t said anything about reducing or postponing the dividend.
But Berta said that the pandemic crisis might put into question both the structure of the merger and the size of the dividend.
For MP Fassina, however, the question is a moral one related to FCA Chairman John Elkann, the scion of Fiat’s founding Agnelli family.
“We only ask him, as we ask every company benefiting from precious and very scarce public resources, to pay taxes in the community which is up to its chin in debt to help them,†he said.
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The warning suggests deepening pessimism among economists about the scale and duration of the fallout from what the bank described as an “unprecedented crisis.”
The World Bank, which provides loans and grants to the governments of poorer countries, predicted a month ago that this year would mark a historic step back for inequality, with the pandemic “likely to cause the first increase in global poverty since 1998.”
It said in a blog post on April 20 that its “best estimate” was that 49 million people would be forced into extreme poverty, which the bank defines as having to live on less than $1.90 per day.
The worsening outlook is due to the outbreak shutting down economic activity and “erasing much of the recent progress made in poverty alleviation,” World Bank President David Malpass said in a statement.
A recent surge of cases in some countries is also forcing the bank to deploy what it considers to be its “largest and fastest crisis response” ever. It said its emergency relief efforts had already reached 100 developing countries, which are home to 70% of the world’s population.
The World Bank aims to help vulnerable communities by providing grants and loans to both individuals and businesses, as well as suspending debt payments for some of the world’s poorest countries. Overall, it has pledged at least $160 billion to combat the virus so far.
Some of the world’s poorest people are already starting to feel the pain.
Migrant workers across the globe have been losing their jobs as the pandemic stops work in various industries. As a result, the World Bank estimates that global remittances, or money sent home to families, could drop by 20%, or about $100 billion, this year.
Tens of millions of people in Africa may become destitute as a result of the crisis, human rights chiefs warned Wednesday.
“We cannot afford to stand idly by and hope this most viral and deadly of diseases bypasses Africa, which is home to many of the world’s poorest countries who are simply not in position to handle such a pandemic,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet and Chairperson of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights Solomon Dersso said in a joint statement.
The World Banksaid last month that it expected people in sub-Saharan Africa would suffer the most. Currently, 39 of the World Bank’s 100 target countries are there, and at least 23 million residents of the region are projected to be heading for extremepoverty because of the coronavirus outbreak.
South Asia is also likely to suffer. In addition to Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, World Bank economists said last month that India, one of the world’s most populous countries, was estimated to see “the largest change in the number of poor,” with about 12 million affected.
“The places where the virus is taking its highest toll depends primarily on two factors,” analysts at the bank wrote in a blog post. “The impact of the virus on economic activity and … the number of people living close to the international poverty line.”
Even though the number of female CEOs is up, that’s still only 7.4% of the Fortune 500 ranked businesses compiled annually by the magazine.
Last year there were 33, which was up from 24 from 2018. And to really put things in perspective, 20 years ago there were only two female-led companies, according to Fortune.
Of the 37 female CEOs, some are leaders of companies that debuted on the Fortune 500 for the first time this year, according to Fortune: Barbara R. Smith, the CEO of materials business Commercial Metals and Nazzic S. Keene, CEO of government information technology company Science Applications International.
That study suggests that boards held the female CEOs and CFOs to a higher standard than the men before hiring them.
But even though women are making significant strides to break through, there’s still a lack of racial diversity. Nearly all are white.
Only three of this year’s Fortune 500 female CEOs are women of color, according to Fortune: Gap Inc.’s Syngal, Advanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su and Yum China CEO Joey Wat.
Bed Bath & Beyond’s Mary Winston was the first black woman to be a Fortune 500 CEO since Xerox’s Ursula Burns stepped down a few years ago and Winston was replaced with a permanent CEO, according to Fortune. No Latinas hold any CEO roles either.
And again, while there is a record high of women CEOs on the Fortune 500 list, it’s important to note that many of these female leaders are ranked at the bottom of the list in smaller companies. According to Fortune, only seven women run Fortune 100 companies. The CEO of General Motors, Mary Barra, runs the largest.
The Latin American country confirmed a record of 1,179 deaths and 17,408 new infections on Tuesday, its health ministry announced Tuesday, raising overall deaths since the start of the outbreak to 17,971, and 271,628 cases.
Sao Paulo state alone reported a record number of deaths on Tuesday, with 324 deaths in the past 24 hours.
When asked about Brazil’s skyrocketing numbers, US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he was mulling on a travel ban on Brazil.
“We are considering it,” Trump said, adding: “We hope that we’re not going to have a problem. The governor of Florida is doing very, very well testing — in particular Florida, because a big majority come in to Florida. Brazil has gone more or less herd, and they’re having problems.
“I worry about everything, I don’t want people coming in here and infecting our people,” Trump said, “I don’t want people over there sick either.”
Amid the spiraling health crisis, Brazil’s lower house of Congress approved a proposed law, which would make use the use of personal protection masks in public spaces mandatory.
The proposed law would require people to wear any form of face covering in areas that are accessible to the public, including parks, sidewalks, public transportation and even private buildings where there is a high level of foot traffic. Individuals not wearing masks would be fined up to $52.
The proposal needs approval by the Senate and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who rarely wears facial coverings. It is unclear when the Senate vote will happen.
Health system on the brink
Brazil’s alarming numbers come days after Sao Paulo’s mayor warned that its health system could be overwhelmed very soon if residents don’t follow social distancing guidelines. Officials in the major city of 12 million have declared a five-day holiday in a bid to get residents to stay home.
By Monday, Brazil achieved the grim record of having the third-highest number of coronavirus cases in the world, behind the United States and Russia.
Yet Bolsonaro continues to dismiss the threat of the virus, saying quarantines and lockdowns could have a worse impact on Brazil’s economy.
He has repeatedly dismissed Covid-19 as a “little flu” and urged businesses to reopen, even as many governors scramble to implement social isolation measures and slow the spread.
The country lost its second health minister in a month last week. Nelson Teich stepped down after clashing with Bolsonaro over the country’s coronavirus strategy. In April, Bolsonaro fired his predecessor, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, after a prolonged standoff.
Teich clashed with Bolsonaro over the use of malaria drugs to treat the virus and social isolation measures.
Despite the political crisis, the populist leader continues to tout chloroquine as a potential wonder drug against the new coronavirus — like his US counterpart Trump — even though it is an unproven treatment for Covid-19.
Bolsonaro tweeted on Wednesday that there will be new guidelines to expand the use of chloroquine.
“Today we will have a new protocol on chloroquine” issued by the Ministry of Health, Bolsonaro wrote, calling it “a hope, according to the many who have used it.”
Brazil’s medical authority approved the use of hydroxychloroquine — which has been described as the less toxic derivative of chloroquine — in April in serious cases of coronavirus if the doctor and patient agree. Bolsonaro has since pushed for approval to use the drug in less serious cases.
HuffPost reporters around the world are tracking the pandemic and the measures being taken to flatten the curve of transmission.
Read the latest updates on the coronavirus pandemic below. (To see the latest updates, you may need to refresh the page. All times are Eastern. For earlier updates on the pandemic, go here.)
Connecticut began to modestly ease some coronavirus restrictions on Wednesday, becoming the final state — out of the 42 that had issued stay-at-home orders — to start reopening in some form during the pandemic.
The Nutmeg state will now allow people to eat in outdoor sections of restaurants and visit retail shops. Offices, outdoor museums and zoos are also allowed to reopen.
Connecticut is taking “baby steps,†Gov. Ned Lamont (D) told CNN. “We have followed the metrics, hospitalization is down, fatalities are down. We have a lot of [personal protective equipment] right now. We have the gowns and masks. And finally, we have the contact tracing in place.â€
Some governors who never issued statewide stay-at-home orders, like Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R), loosened restrictions earlier this month on salons, tattoo parlors and other businesses.
The daily COVID-19 death toll in Brazil hit 1,179 on Tuesday, setting a new record for fatalities recorded in a single day by any country.
The figure is more than 250 more than the 919 deaths recorded by Italy in late March when it was the epicenter of the global coronavirus outbreak.
More than 18,000 people have now died in Brazil, according to official data, while 271,628 cases have been recorded, placing the country third behind the U.S. and Russia in total number of infections.
However, HuffPost Brazil reported that the true death toll is likely to be even higher due to the slow processing of laboratory tests.
On Tuesday, President Jair Bolsonaro doubled down on chloroquine as a possible remedy as Donald Trump said he is considering a travel ban from Brazil.
HuffPost’s Jesselyn Cook reviewed Instagram accounts of more than a dozen seemingly radicalized influencers who have been using their platforms to push coronavirus misinformation. They try to discredit Dr. Anthony Fauci, claim that face masks are harmful, and push 5G conspiracy theories. With their large, dedicated followings, these women are in a unique position to open people’s minds to false and dangerous information.
European officials are contemplating something that for months has seemed nearly unimaginable: the return of international travel.
As the coronavirus pandemic spread around the globe, countries rushed to seal their borders and place restrictions on non-essential travel. With millions of people largely confined to their homes — allowed to do little more than buy groceries, go to the pharmacy and briefly exercise outdoors — the idea of flying to a far-away country to go on vacation has seemed like a fantasy.
Tourism is a crucial economic driver for many European countries, however, making up 10% of the European Union’s overall GDP. And with the number of new coronavirus cases falling across the continent at the same time as unemployment rises, there is a widespread desire to restart vacation-related travel in time for the summer holiday season.
The European moves represent a contrast with the United States, which shut its borders to travelers from China and Europe in March. Even as President Donald Trump pushes for states to begin reopening their economies, international travel remains largely off limits. On Tuesday, Trump said that he is considering imposing a ban on travel from Brazil as well.
“I don’t want people coming over here and infecting our people. I don’t want people over there sick either,†he said. “Brazil is having some trouble, no question about it.â€
The lifting of restrictions on foreign tourists would coincide with the easing of domestic travel restrictions. The mandatory 14-day quarantine upon arrival into the country, which the Spanish government imposed earlier this month, would also be lifted.
“Nobody goes to a country to be in confinement,†Ãbalos said.
Greece, which has had one of the lowest rates of coronavirus infections and deaths in Europe, reopened the Acropolis, museums and other major tourist attractions on Monday.
Italy, which has begun allowing people to start patronizing shops, bars and restaurants, has also announced that tourists from other European nations will be free to enter the country without quarantine starting on June 3.Â
“We’re facing a calculated risk in the knowledge that the contagion curve may rise again,†Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Saturday.
“We have to accept it, otherwise we will never be able to start up again.â€
JAIME REINA via Getty Images
People share a toast at a terrace bar in Palma de Mallorca on May 11, as Spain moved towards easing its strict lockdown in certain regions.
The proposals suggest that European nations begin by relaxing travel restrictions between countries or areas where coronavirus infections are at a sufficiently low level, health care systems are able to accommodate both local residents and tourists, and robust testing and contact tracing systems are in place.Â
Contact tracing apps should be able to work across international borders, the Commission stated, so that travelers can be warned when they may have been exposed to the coronavirus.
Furthermore, airlines and airports would insist passengers wear masks, and check-in, drop-off and luggage pickup would be reorganized to avoid crowds.
Vouchers for canceled flights or holidays should be valid for at least a year, the Commission recommended, with protection against bankruptcies, so people would accept them instead of demanding refunds from cash-strapped airlines and travel firms.
The Commission recommended that European countries begin by relaxing travel restrictions within the EU first, and said that Europe’s external borders could be reopened in a second phase, after at least mid-June.
“Handled correctly, safely and in a coordinated manner, the months to come could offer Europeans the chance to get some well-needed rest, relaxation and fresh air, and to catch up with friends and family, in their own Member States or across borders,†the Commission stated.
Already, some countries have entered into direct agreements with other nations to create “travel corridors†or “travel bubbles.â€
Three Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — relaxed travel restrictions between their countries this month.
Italy has pushed back strongly against the European Commission’s suggestion of travel agreements between specific countries, however.
“We don’t accept bilateral agreements inside the European Union that will create privileged tourist paths,†Conte said last week, arguing that such travel corridors would represent the “destruction†of the EU’s single market.
Alessandra Benedetti – Corbis via Getty Images
A visitor wearing a mask at the newly reopened Capitoline Museums on May 19 in Rome.Â
In the United Kingdom, where the government’s official death toll from coronavirus stands at more than 35,000, the highest in Europe, Health Secretary Matt Hancock last week threw cold water on the idea that U.K. residents would be able to travel abroad this summer.
“It is unlikely that big, lavish international holidays are going to be possible for this summer,†he said. “I just think that’s a reality of life.â€Â
In his address to the nation earlier this month, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the U.K. would soon impose a 14-day quarantine on travelers coming into the country.
Last week, however, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary criticized the quarantine plan as “idiotic†and effectively unenforceable in an interview with the BBC.Â
“It’s unimplementable and unenforceable anyway, so I think people will largely ignore it,†O’Leary said. “You don’t have enough police in the U.K. to implement a two-week lockdown.â€
He predicted that the quarantine measures would “disappear pretty quickly.â€
He said that Ryanair hopes to operate 40% of flights — around 1,000 a day — from the beginning of July. Face masks and temperature checks will be required for both passengers and staff.
“People have been locked up since the middle of March. People are really gagging to get out and I think get abroad for the sunshine,†O’Leary told Reuters.
“Once the industry begins to recover towards September-October, I think we will be back to essentially open skies,†he said.
Heathrow Airport, which — before the coronavirus grounded planes — was the busiest in Europe, said that it had been working with the U.K. government on proposals to create “travel bubbles†between countries or cities that are very low-risk for coronavirus transmission.
Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images
A woman walks at Heathrow Airport in London on May 1. The U.K.’s health secretary has suggested that international holiday travel is off the table this summer, but airlines are pushing to get travel going again.
Even if tourists start to book holiday travel in the coming weeks and months, however, some European business owners worry that the economic damage has already been done.
Everyone wore masks, the desire to start over was present, but a feeling of anxiety and resignation also hung in the air. “Will we be poorer?†business owners wondered. “Aren’t we already?â€
“We work with tourists and the first bookings are for Easter next year,†one shop owner told HuffPost Italy this week. “The promised aid hasn’t arrived and we can’t pay the rent.â€Â
“It will take at least a year from now to return to where we were before,†an employee of a clothing store predicted this week.
“Before COVID, we worked with 80% tourism,†said a store manager. “Now there is a question mark. We’ll see how it goes.â€
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SoftBank(SFTBF) has been hit hard by the huge drop in the share prices of public companies in its portfolio such as Uber(UBER) and Slack(WORK), as well as the massive haircut in valuations of private unicorn startups like WeWork, DoorDash and Indian hotel company Oyo.
Meanwhile, Berkshire Hathaway(BRKB) has had notable misfires of its own, such as scandal-ridden bank Wells Fargo(WFC) and struggling food giant Kraft Heinz(KHC).
Berkshire also disclosed last Friday that it dumped nearly all its stake in investment bank Goldman Sachs(GS), which has been hit hard this year in the broader market turmoil.
Buffett also made a huge bet on the airline sector in recent years — only to disclose at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting that the company sold off its entire stake in Delta(DAL), Southwest(LUV), American(AAL) and United(UAL) as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
To their credit, both CEOs have been candid and contrite about some of their investing mishaps.
Buffett said at the shareholder meeting earlier this month that it was a mistake to invest in airlines and that it could take years for the sector to recover from the coronavirus-induced travel slowdown.
For his part, Son said during an earnings conference call this week that SoftBank’s investment in WeWork was a failure. He even went as far to say that he was “foolish” and “made the wrong decision.”
Son added that there could be more pain ahead for SoftBank investments in its flagship Vision Fund, predicting that 15 out of its 88 current holdings could go bankrupt. While he didn’t name specific firms, he did say most of SottBank’s more troubled investments are relatively small.
Buffett and Son lagging the market over the past few years
The investing misfortunes of Buffett and Son are one reason why the shares of their own companies have languished lately.
Berkshire Hathaway’s stock is down 23% so far in 2020. The company’s first quarter results included a $50 billion loss, the biggest in the company’s history. And the stock’s gain of about 20% over the past five years is nearly half the return of the S&P 500 over the same time frame.
SoftBank has fared better this year, with a loss of just 2%. But it has also lagged the S&P 500 — as well as the Nasdaq — over the past five years.
Of course, both men have had some notable investing successes recently. SoftBank has a more than 25% stake in Chinese e-commerce and cloud giant Alibaba(BABA) while Berkshire has a nearly 6% position in Apple(AAPL), making the iPhone manufacturer Berkshire’s largest holding.
Neither Alibaba nor Apple is an undiscovered gem. Those companies are among the most valuable in the world and are top positions in many passive global index exchange-traded funds and actively managed mutual funds and hedge funds.
SoftBank certainly deserves credit for first investing $20 million in Alibaba in 2000. That stake is now worth more than $140 billion.
Buffett, who typically shuns tech stocks, didn’t invest in Apple until 2016, but he’s made a killing on it. His initial $1 billion investment is now worth about $78 billion, which includes not just market returns but Berkshire’s steady additions to its stake over the past four years.
Still, there are now some signs of a possible fissure between SoftBank and Alibaba founder Jack Ma. SoftBank said Monday that Ma will be leaving its board after a nearly 13-year stint as a SoftBank director.
It just goes to show that Son and Buffett — both being multi-billionaires — can make the same market mistakes as the rest of us. And their occasional stock picking failures are probably all the more reason why most investors should just stick to ETFs.
After all, Buffett himself has repeatedly said that after he passes away, his plan is to have a trustee invest 90% of his wife’s inheritance in a low-cost S&P 500 index fund — not Berkshire Hathaway or any other individual stock.
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