Russia was accused by the U.K., U.S. and Canada of hacking universities and pharmaceutical companies in a bid to steal coronavirus vaccine research, a sophisticated bit of alleged attempted thievery by its state security affiliated “Cozy Bear” crew. The U.K. also said Moscow tried to interfere in last year’s general election by disseminating documents relating to trade talks with the U.S. Meanwhile, Twitter is digging into the worst security breach in its 14-year history, one that hacked former President Barack Obama and presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Twitter said it found “a coordinated social engineering attack by people who successfully targeted some of our employees with access to internal systems and tools.” The company’s explanation has ignited speculation over the identity of the perpetrators, especially given the upcoming presidential election, and what happened with the last one. —David E. Rovella Bloomberg is mapping the pandemic globally and across America. For the latest news, sign up for our Covid-19 podcast and daily newsletter. Here are today’s top storiesSix massive U.S. banks just cut $35 billion from their profits, and the consensus is there will be more bad news to come. But there’s a bigger problem. Data that normally hints at pending loan losses isn’t obeying the financial world’s laws of physics. Government programs are temporarily propping up consumers and businesses. The percentage of loans falling into delinquency actually dropped as 20 million Americans lost their jobs. People who arranged to defer payments on credit cards and mortgages dutifully sent checks anyway. So while most agree things are going to get worse, no one has any idea how bad it will get, or when the hammer will fall. From the beginning, U.S. states have led the fight (and in some cases made deadly mistakes) against the coronavirus in America as the federal government retreated. Now, with questions about whether the Trump administration is politicizing science, virus data and even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention itself, people are increasingly turning to state data. And as it happens, the rosy picture the CDC has been painting about your kids and their infection rates may not be accurate. As countries across Asia Pacific struggle with resurgences of the coronavirus, one measure is steering government responses: the share of cases with no clear indication of how infection occurred. The virus is spreading in ways no one understands. In the U.S., New York (not the U.S. government) has launched a national advertising campaign to get all Americans to wear masks. And deaths in Texas and Florida continue to climb after weeks of soaring infections that followed those states’ quick reopenings. Here is the latest on the pandemic. Pressure is growing on AstraZeneca to deliver positive results from early tests evaluating the vaccine it’s developing with University of Oxford researchers. Data is expected on Monday. When American eating habits shift, the global food supply chain must adapt. Thanks to the pandemic, those habits have shifted in five huge, unprecedented ways, and Big Agriculture is in trouble. White workers in U.S. retail and food-service industries are more likely to get regular hours than other employees. Everyone else is more likely to be “on-call,” waiting for the boss to text whether they are working at all. Maskless young people in Manhattan have been drinking and partying up a storm, willing to risk a repeat of April and May when refrigerated trailers all across New York City were filled with loved ones lost to the coronavirus. More than 23,000 New Yorkers died, but with summer weather and sidewalk drink service, some people have chosen to forget. Well, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo didn’t forget. What you’ll need to know tomorrow What you’ll want to read in Bloomberg PursuitsRyan Neil talks about trees as if they are a source of ancient metaphysical power. He doesn’t grow them; he “engages” with them. He talks about “utilizing” them. He’s not a destination man. This is all about the journey. Forget about meditation apps—calm is a bonsai tree. Neil produces how-to videos on the art of trimming and shaping them. Remember Bob Ross? Yep, kind of like that. Like Bloomberg’s Evening Briefing? Subscribe to Bloomberg All Access and get much, much more. You’ll receive our unmatched global news coverage and two in-depth daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. See what everyone is talking about. Get the day’s top trending stories on social media, delivered to your inbox from QuickTake by Bloomberg. Download the Bloomberg app: It’s available for iOS and Android. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. Learn more. |