Prudential Financial To Sell Life Insurance Business In Korea For $1.9 Bln

Prudential Financial, Inc. (PRU) announced a definitive agreement with KB Financial Group Inc., a Korean financial services provider, to sell The Prudential Life Insurance Company of Korea, Ltd. for cash consideration of approximately 2.3 trillion Korean Won, or $1.9 billion.

Prudential Financial expects completion of the transaction to occur by the end of 2020 and plans to use proceeds of the transaction for general corporate purposes.

ASE Technology March, Q1 Net Revenues Rise

ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd. (ASX), a provider of semiconductor manufacturing services in assembly and test, reported that its net revenues for the month of March 2020 increased 28.1 percent to NT$37.88 billion from NT$29.57 billion last year.

In US dollar terms, monthly net revenues were $1.26 billion, up 31.1 percent from the prior year.

Net revenues for the first-quarter grew 12.3 percent year-over-year to US$3.24 billion.

ATM net revenues for the month of March grew 23.7 percent year-on-year to US$767 million, while first-quarter ATM net revenues rose 24.9 percent year-over-year to US$2.21 billion.

Taiwan reports 6th death from coronavirus, 382 cases

TAIPEI (Reuters) – A sixth person infected with the coronavirus has died in Taiwan, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said on Friday.

The island also recorded two new infections, bringing the total to 382 cases, he told a news conference.

IMF approves $147 million to help Gabon fight coronavirus: statement

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Executive Board has approved a disbursement of $147 million under its Rapid Financing Instrument to help Gabon confront the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fund said in a statement.

“In the short term, a temporary widening of the budget deficit is warranted to contain the virus outbreak and offset the social and economic impact of the pandemic,” IMF Deputy Managing Director Mitsuhiro Furusawa said.

U.S. Wholesale Inventories Slump More Than Expected In February

Reflecting decreases in inventories of both durable and non-durable goods, the Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing a bigger than expected decrease in U.S. wholesale inventories in the month of February.

The Commerce Department said wholesale inventories slid by 0.7 percent in February after falling by a revised 0.6 percent in January.

Economists had expected wholesale inventories to decrease by 0.5 percent compared to the 0.4 percent drop originally reported for the previous month.

The bigger than expected decline in wholesale inventories came as inventories of durable goods slumped by 0.8 percent and inventories of non-durable goods fell by 0.4 percent.

The report also said wholesale sales tumbled by 0.8 percent in February following a 1.3 percent jump in the previous month.

While sales of durable goods inched up by 0.1 percent, the uptick was more than offset by a 1.6 percent nosedive in sales of non-durable goods.

With inventories and sales both falling, the inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers in February was unchanged from the previous month at 1.31.

Hungary's "real test" yet to come, PM warns as coronavirus cases jump

BUDAPEST, April 10 (Reuters) – Hungary’s restrictive steps have managed to slow the spread of coronavirus but the “real test” is yet to come, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday as the government reported the single biggest daily increase in infections.

Orban said that at the peak of the crisis, Hungary would need about 8,000 ventilators and intensive-care hospital beds, of which around 2,000 would be available in “normal times”. (Reporting by Gergely Szakacs Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Coronavirus fallout: EU leaders back $1 trillion economic deal

As worst-hit EU countries’ coronavirus infection rate drops, European leaders approve plan to lift their economies.

European Union leaders have backed a $1 trillion rescue deal for their struggling economies, a move hailed as the most important economic plan in the bloc’s history.

But the EU’s richer countries failed to back the poorer nations’ request to use joint debt to finance the recovery, even as Germany and Spain say they think the coronavirus pandemic has peaked in their countries.

Al Jazeera’s Emma Hayward reports.

Indonesia reports 219 new coronavirus cases, total 3,512

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia reported 219 new coronavirus cases and 26 new deaths, a health ministry official Achmad Yurianto told reporters on Friday.

This brings the total number of cases and deaths to 3,512 and 306, respectively.

Kenya locust threat: Fears second wave will be worse for harvests

Moves to squash E Africa’s worst locust invasion go on amid fears resources could be diverted to fighting coronavirus.

A second wave of desert locusts is about to hit Kenya and the region but this time scientists are warning that it could be up to 20 times larger than the ones that occurred earlier this year.

East Africa is also battling the coronavirus pandemic at the same time, and there are fears that both crises could cause severe food shortages.

Al Jazeera’s Catherine Soi reports from Kitui in eastern Kenya.

Twitter Users Point Out Problem With Melania Trump’s Coronavirus Mask Messaging

Melania Trump’s renewed call for people to wear face coverings in public amid the coronavirus pandemic prompted many people on Twitter to note the same thing.

Namely, that the first lady’s plea will likely not be adhered to by her own husband, President Donald Trump, who last week said he just couldn’t see himself following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advice to cover mouths in a bid to stop the spread of the contagion.

FLOTUS on Thursday released this picture and request on social media:

And this video:

Tweeters suggested the first lady’s messaging would be stronger if it was echoed by the president:

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