Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s former prime minister, has tested positive for coronavirus and is currently in isolation at his home in Arcore, his staff said in a statement. Mr Berlusconi, 83, a media mogul who served as prime minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 2011, will continue to work from his residence, a statement said.
US state governors have been urged to speed up authorisations for new vaccine distribution centres, as the government pushes ahead with plans to get a vaccine ready before the presidential election. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, asked governors to waive requirements that might slow down the facilities.
A Somalian man living next to an overcrowded refugee camp on Lesbos has tested positive for coronavirus in the first confirmed case recorded at the facility, the Greek public health organisation said on Wednesday. The 40-year-old was granted official refugee status by asylum authorities in Athens, but returned to Lesbos and pitched a tent in an olive grove.
More than 1,000 jobs at London’s Heathrow airport are at risk after the airport entered into a formal consultation process with trade unions over lay-offs. The airport said it was acting after an “unprecedented drop” in demand for flights. Preliminary figures for August showed passenger numbers were down 82 per cent on last year.
US department store group Macy’s reported losses and big declines in quarterly sales on Wednesday, but the results were not as bad as feared. Macy’s, one of a handful of remaining department stores, produced a net loss of $431m in the three months to August 1 as net sales dropped 36 per cent year-on-year to $3.56bn.
United Airlines plans to involuntarily furlough 16,000 employees on October 1. The number is sharply down from the 36,000 warning notices the Chicago company sent to employees in July. Workers have embraced voluntary departure, both permanent and temporary. Flight attendants represent 42 per cent of the total number of workers who will be furloughed.
Fashion group Guess shares, which have fallen 46 per cent so far in 2020, jumped 23 per cent in pre-market trade after the company said cost cuts and tight control of inventory had helped minimise losses. The Los Angeles-based company had a net loss in the quarter of $20.7m as revenues dropped 42 per cent year-on-year to $399m.
The High Court in London has backed Virgin Atlantic’s private sector rescue package, leaving the airline on the brink of a full recapitalisation after its finances were ripped apart by the coronavirus pandemic. The beleaguered airline has spent the summer trying to win approval for the £1.2bn scheme which was agreed in July.