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Failure of leadership

Weekend Reading
Bloomberg

Covid-19 is a stress test many world leaders are failing. U.S. President Donald Trump is gambling with people's lives and livelihoods, China's President Xi Jinping feels cornered, and the World Health Organization is stuck in the middle. Beijing promises to share any effective coronavirus vaccine with the world, and wants to get on with the partial U.S. trade deal, a move Alabama desperately favors. But whatever happens in Asia, any recovery may be doomed before it begins.

What you'll want to read this weekend

Vaccine nationalism is growing. Trump barged his way to the front of the line for a drug being developed at Britain's University of Oxford. His much-favored unproven treatment, roundly dismissed by experts, also apparently kills. As for U.S. health care, private equity is ruining it. 

Americans are emerging from lockdown with a mix of trepidation and joy. Some retail workers are scared to ask customers to cover their faces. Even Trump masked up, though he tried to hide it from the cameras. His urging of states to reopen (and help his election chances) may actually cost him Republican votes, as well as thousands more U.S. lives.

WFH4EVER: Mark Zuckerberg says 50% of Facebook could be working remotely in 10 years. But home video conferencing needs to improve.

Believe it or not, it's vacation season. For anyone going on a trip, here's how to reduce risk and have fun while staying socially distant. Some beaches though may be worth avoiding.

Bloomberg Businessweek provides a post-lockdown rundown on what high-end dining will look like. Fancy a cheeseburger? The world's best restaurant has your back.

What you'll need to know next week

What you'll want to read in Bloomberg Features

Disease Ravages the $25 Billion Banana Industry

The banana can claim to be the modern world's original globalized product: much of the supply chain put in place in the 19th century is still used today. But now, the industry is under siege from disease, climate change and the rise of retailer power. Its workers, historically mistreated and brutalized, are demanding their due as well. How the banana industry adapts could be key to understanding the post-pandemic era .

A worker records the age and weight of banana bunches in Milagro, Ecuador, on May 13.

Photographer: Vicente Gaibor/Bloomberg

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