Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic is long gone. According to an excellent joint research presentation (from VISIT FLORIDA and Skift) at the recent annual Florida Governor’s Conference, normal has returned. Not “new” normal, but normal. To me that means demand, economic cycles, booking patterns, et al. are returning to some sort of…

Listen to this article: While online baccarat may have surged in popularity during the pandemic, the land version of the game is just as popular as ever. Macau’s Gaming industry continued post-pandemic recovery in 2024 and mass market baccarat revenue reaching MOP 137.9 billion (USD 17.2 billion), which exceeds the…

An official at the Bank of Japan (BoJ) said on Wednesday that the “BoJ sees underlying inflation gradually heading toward 2%.” Additional comments Price rises post-pandemic have been driven mostly by cost-push factors, such as rising import costs from weak Yen. Expect cost-push inflation pressure to gradually dissipate ahead. Services…

BUENOS AIRES - Argentina said on Wednesday it will pull out of the World Health Organization, following in the footsteps of the United States and citing similar complaints over the UN body's management of the Covid-19 pandemic. WATCH: Discussion |Trump pulls US from World Health Organization President Javier Milei's spokesman announced…

Global concern over the spread of Bird flu (H5N1) is growing rapidly, with the World Health Organization (WHO) actively preparing for the ‘containment and mitigation of pandemic H5N1 influenza’, and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) publishing critical advice to help the animal and public health sectors mitigate the spread…

February 4, 2025 6:08 AM Return-to-office mandates are emerging as one of the most contentious of the post-pandemic work trends that U.S. employees have faced. Last year, Gartner data identified that 63% of HR leaders reported an increase in expectations for employees to return to the office. That was even…

Japanese video game giant Nintendo on Tuesday cut its annual net profit forecast after hardware and software sales for its Switch console fell in the first three quarters. The Switch, which is both a handheld and TV-compatible device, hit shelves in 2017 and became a must-have gadget among all age…

Tourism minister Rosanna Law on Tuesday said 4.74 million tourists visited Hong Kong last month, with 3.73 million of them coming from the mainland, setting new single-month records since the pandemic. At a Legco panel meeting on economic development, Law said the figures represent a 24 and 25 percent year-on-year…

The U.S. housing market underwent five years of changes that are complicating the homebuying process. Emerging from the pandemic, the chronic lack of inventory disrupted the principles of supply and demand, causing housing prices to soar. Because the Federal Reserve kept interest rates too low for too long during the…

Instead of hoped-for improvements from pandemic-era campus closures, math and English test scores of fourth- and eighth-graders largely held steady or declined nationwide — results that were about the same in Los Angeles and California. Not only are few students scoring as advanced or proficient, but fewer are achieving a…