Musk’s Las Vegas Tunnel Is Like a Tesla Amusement Park Ride

1 / 5

Musk’s Las Vegas Tunnel Is Like a Tesla Amusement Park Ride

Sarah McBride
·3 min read

(Bloomberg) -- Nate Calabrese almost skipped right over the ``driver wanted'' ad on job-search website Indeed.com because it offered so few details. Turned out the posting was for the Boring Co., the tunneling business owned by Elon Musk. That's how Calabrese, 27, ended up driving people underneath the Las Vegas convention center on Friday in one of the first public peeks at the so-called “Loop” Musk has constructed there.

The company's first big commercial project was set for unveiling at Las Vegas’s glitzy annual Consumer Electronics Show this January, but the Covid-19 pandemic got in the way. Now, it’s ready for its first big deployment at the World of Concrete event from June 8-10, city tourism officials said Friday.

The Loop ride itself is short, matching the tunnels—just about 0.4 miles long for each of the four sections, making a total of about 1.7 miles of tunnel. But they make up for their brevity in fun, with enough pulsing colored lights that the staff has nicknamed the slick track “Rainbow Road.”

Comprising of a fleet of modified Tesla sedans that loop—as their name implies—among three stops, the system can carry passengers at up to 40 miles per hour. The idea is to move people around shows that pre-Covid routinely attracted tens of thousands of people, in a sprawling space that comprises four different exhibit halls. The cost will be free to conference goers, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Riders who board at the South or West station stops will wait outside for their Teslas, and enter tunnels that slope down through entrances lined with painted grey rocks, amusement-park style. Riders who board at the Central station stop ride down 40 feet via an escalator to a large open hall with room for Teslas to pull in so passengers can hop in or out. Each car seats three people at the moment because of Covid restrictions, but they could hold as many as five.

Drivers all had to pass tests, including a driving exam, Calabrese said—and a surprising number of applicants can’t nail the portion that requires them to reverse safely out of a spot, he said. The group had to drill for a number of emergency scenarios, including bomb threats, active shooters, and tunnel collapse.

The Vegas Loop was approved in May 2019 and built at a cost of $52.5 million, paid for by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Association. Most of the funds came from hotel taxes. Boring has also said it would like to build a Loop to Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles from a nearby Metro stop. That potential project is still undergoing environmental review. Its only existing project is a test tunnel in Hawthorne, California, that was finished in 2018.

The Las Vegas Convention Center Loop could one day tap into a broader network envisioned to connect more parts of of the city, including the Strip, and potentially, as far as the airport. Those plans are in the permitting and land-use approval stage, according to a spokesman for Clark County, Nevada, where much of the route would go.

Calabrese likes the job a lot so far, and at $17 an hour plus benefits, said he's doing much better financially compared to his old life as a Vegas cab driver. He’ll still need to find new work eventually though. Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority Chief Executive Officer Steve Hill said Friday that once the cars get certified for driverless transportation, and passengers feel comfortable with the idea, they will drive on their own. “We will work toward autonomy,” he told reporters.

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

Recommended Stories

  • Aramco Selling $12.4 Billion Stake in Pipeline Rights Unit

    (Bloomberg) -- Investors led by EIG Global Energy Partners LLC agreed to acquire a roughly $12.4 billion stake in a Saudi Aramco oil-pipeline rights company.The group will acquire a 49% equity stake in Aramco Oil Pipelines Co., a newly formed entity with rights to 25 years of rate payments for oil shipped through the Saudi oil giant’s network of conduits, EIG said in a statement. The deal implies a total equity value of about $25 billion for Aramco Oil Pipelines.The deal is part of Saudi Arabia’s drive to open up to foreign investment and use the money to diversify its economy. Asset disposals also go some way to helping the energy giant maintain payouts to shareholders, as well as investments in oil fields and refinery projects. The company paid a $75 billion dividend last year, the highest of any listed company, almost all of which went to the state.Aramco has become the world’s third-largest company by market value, trailing only Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp., after an initial public offering in 2019 in which the oil giant raised $25.6 billion for less than 2% of its shares.“This landmark transaction defines the way forward for our portfolio optimization program,” Aramco Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser said in the statement. “Aramco’s strong capital structure will be further enhanced with this deal, which in turn will help maximize returns for our shareholders.”The deal was described as a lease-and-lease-back agreement. The state-controlled company will lease the usage rights in its pipelines to Aramco Oil Pipelines. The new entity will grant back to Aramco the exclusive right to operate and maintain the network for 25 years and collect rates from the parent company in return. Aramco will continue to retain ownership of the pipelines.“This transaction aligns perfectly with EIG’s philosophy of investing in high-quality assets with contracted cash flows in critical infrastructure,” Robert Blair Thomas, Chief Executive Officer of EIG, said in the statement. The Washington-based firm owns about $22 billion in energy-related assets globally.(Updates with deal details in sixth paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Hot Putnam Mutual Fund Likes Alphabet, Tesla, Disney

    An eye for 11 key themes and an appetite for stocks that are marathon champs helps make Putnam Growth Opportunities Fund one of the best mutual funds.

  • Didi Chuxing Has Filed Confidentially for U.S. IPO

    (Bloomberg) -- Chinese ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing has filed confidentially with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering, according to people with knowledge of the matter.The company, which has tapped Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley as underwriters, is aiming to raise several billion dollars in the listing, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.It could be valued at as much as $70 billion to $100 billion, said the people.The size and timing of the listing could still change.Didi is also exploring a potential dual listing in Hong Kong at a later time, one of the people added.A Didi representative declined to comment. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley declined to comment.Didi, backed by SoftBank Group Corp., had accelerated its IPO plan as business rebounded post-pandemic. It is raising $1.5 billion through a revolving loan facility to shore up capital ahead of the listing, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.Didi’s share sale comes as Grab Holdings Inc., the Southeast Asian ride-hailing and delivery giant, has attracted backing from T. Rowe Price Group Inc. and Temasek Holdings Pte for its planned merger with a blank-check company, people with knowledge of the matter said.Singapore-based Grab aims to announce the SPAC merger as soon as next week, the people said. The deal could value Grab at more than $34 billion, the people said. The deal could become the biggest SPAC merger ever, according to data complied by Bloomberg, and would see the startup become one of the first Southeast Asian unicorns to go public through a blank-check company. Grab Said to Draw T. Rowe, Temasek Backing for Record SPAC DealReuters had reported that Didi could be filing in April.Didi, the Chinese version of Uber Technologies Inc., acquired its U.S. rival’s China business in 2016.(Adds to say Morgan Stanley decline to comment, details on Grab starting in 8th paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Musk statement on Tesla production raises questions

    Tesla CEO Elon Musk is once again drawing scrutiny for questionable comments he made to Wall Street analysts, this time involving the status of his company’s vehicle production. On a Jan. 27 conference call to discuss Tesla's fourth-quarter earnings, Musk stated that the company was producing new versions of its oldest models, the S sedan and X large SUV. In reality, Tesla produced none of either model during the quarter, according to delivery and production figures that the company released late last week.

  • Cabot Founder Picks His Best ETFs And Sees Artificial Intelligence Fueling Them

    Cabot Wealth Management founder picks his best ETFs and sees artificial intelligence and alternative energy just getting started.

  • The Economy Is On a Roll. Now Is the Time to Bet on These Hardware Stocks.

    There is growing evidence of companies boosting their outlays for PCs, servers, disk drives, and other tech hardware.

  • Taiwan Semiconductor Posts Record First-Quarter Sales Amid Production Constraints

    Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing on Friday posted better-than-expected March-quarter sales as its factories continue to run at full capacity. But TSM stock fell following the news.

  • Lordstown Shareholder Alert

    Securities Litigation Partner James (Josh) Wilson Encourages Investors Who Suffered Losses Exceeding $50,000 In Lordstown To Contact Him Directly To Discuss Their Options New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - April 9, 2021) - Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP, a leading national securities law firm, is investigating potential claims against Lordstown Motors Corp. ("Lordstown" or the "Company") (NASDAQ:RIDE) and reminds investors of the May 17, 2021 deadline to seek the role of lead plaintiff in a federal ...

  • ‘Generation I’ Has Entered the Stock Market—and They’re Shaking Things Up

    The research found the demographics and attitude of the new cohort mark a sea change. Charles Schwab calls the group Gen I, for Generation Investor.

  • Is Carnival Stock a Buy Right Now? This Is What You Need to Know

    Shares of Carnival (CCL) have soared by 35% year-to-date and it’s not hard to see why. A potent combination of the economy reopening, a vaccinated populace and pent-up demand for cruises, have fueled the optimistic rally. That said, Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Woronka warns that an over-exuberant outlook might come back to bite the bulls. That’s not to say Woronka has a bearish outlook. In fact, the analyst has made some readjustments to his CCL model to factor in the upbeat mood and “incorporate more bullish assumptions about the trajectory of the recovery.” The problem, says Woronka, is that any upside is already “priced in,” and going by his calculations, the analyst says it is difficult to see an “upside case.” “Putting it all together, if we assume that CCL's EBITDA in 2023 is $1.0 billion higher than it was in 2019 (revenues +5%, margins +150bps) and further assume that the stock can trade at 15x 2023E P/E and 8.8x 2023 EV/EBITDA, before any discounting, we still only arrive at a valuation of $28,” Woronka said. ”As we've noted in the past, the combination of rising multiples on rising expectations, which is what we are continuing to see reflected in the stock (perhaps to an intensifying degree), is likely to present challenges to the bull narrative as the resumption of cruising in key markets actually commences in coming months.” Woronka’s assessment follows Carnival’s Q1 business update. In January, the company guided for average monthly cash burn rate of roughly $600 million in the quarter, but Carnival said the figure came in lower - at $500 million. However, due to “higher restart expenses and timing on certain cap-ex/principal payments,” the cash burn rate is anticipated to once again hit $600 million in fiscal 2Q (May quarter). So, what does it all mean for investors? While Woronka raises his price target from $16 to $25, the figure still suggests downside of ~15% from current levels. Woronka’s rating stays a Hold. (To watch Woronka’s track record, click here) The analyst community is evenly split when considering the cruise operator’s trajectory; based on 4 Buys, Holds and Sells, each, the stock qualifies with a Hold consensus rating. Woronka’s price outlook is roughly in-line with his colleagues’; going by the $24.39 average price target, the shares are anticipated to be changing hands for a 16% discount a year from now. (See Carnival stock analysis on TipRanks) To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analyst. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.

  • Tesla Has Best China Sales Ever While Elon Musk Congratulates Rival

    Tesla notched its best month in China ever in March as sales of its Model 3 and Model Y shot up, despite a global chip shortage.

  • Facebook Turns Part of Headquarters Campus Into a Vaccine Site

    (Bloomberg) -- Facebook Inc. said Friday it will convert part of its Menlo Park, California, headquarters into a vaccination clinic for under-served communities.The Ravenswood Family Health Center, based the low-income East Palo Alto area, will administer the Covid-19 vaccines. The social media giant also plans to offer transportation for residents seeking shots to get to and from Facebook’s campus. Facebook employees will not be eligible for the vaccination program, according to a company spokesperson.“As more COVID-19 vaccines roll out across the country, we are finally seeing glimmers of hope, which can grow so long as we continue to make progress,” Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said in a post. “At Facebook, we’re focused on doing our part to help people get vaccinated, especially those in under-served communities.”In January, Amazon.com Inc. also announced it would open up its Seattle, Washington, campus to host pop-up clinics to administer vaccines.Read more: Facebook Is Letting Anti-Vaxxers Scare Women From Covid ShotsFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • U.S. Won’t Shut Dakota Access Pipe Amid New Environmental Review

    (Bloomberg) -- The Dakota Access pipeline that’s been at the center of a years-long battle between oil companies and the Standing Rock Sioux tribe won’t be forced to shut down while federal regulators conduct a new environmental analysis.The Biden administration’s decision to allow the line to keep operating is a victory for pipeline owner Energy Transfer LP and drillers such as Continental Resources Inc. that use it transport crude from North Dakota’s Bakken oil field. The move will likely come as a relief to an oil industry beset by President Joe Biden’s aggressive climate campaign, which has included canceling the permit for the $9 billion Keystone XL oil pipeline and pausing leasing on federal lands.Justice Department lawyer Ben Schifman told the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that the federal government has authority to take enforcement action against Dakota Access --which could include a shutdown-- but won’t do so “at this time.”Opponents of the pipeline, including several tribes that pushed the court to issue its own shutdown order, viewed Friday’s hearing as test of Biden’s commitment to Indigenous rights and climate action. Their motion for a shutdown is pending before the judge, who could issue a decision in the coming weeks.Judge James E. Boasberg gave Dakota Access 10 days to file updated legal declarations addressing the impacts of a shutdown.At issue is whether the U.S.’s authorization of the 570,000 barrel-a-day crude pipeline overlooked key environmental concerns. An appellate court in January affirmed that the project’s approval by the Army Corp of Engineers was unlawful. The Army Corps won’t challenge that decision, Schifman said Friday, but Dakota Access will. Boasberg said he’d have to evaluate whether the company’s rehearing petition would affect his ability to rule on a shutdown.Meanwhile, the Army Corps is conducting a court-ordered environmental impact statement that’s expected to conclude in March 2022, and is consulting with the Sioux tribes that oppose the pipeline, as well as the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, an-oil producing tribe in North Dakota that supports the project.Energy Transfer, which is controlled by billionaire Kelcy Warren, jumped as much as 4.7% in New York while Phillips 66 Partners, which owns a minority stake in the project, surged as much as 10%. Continental climbed as much as 6.8%.An Army Corps official, Stacey Jensen, told pipeline opponents in a call Thursday that the agency wouldn’t seek to shut the line, said Dallas Goldtooth, an official with the Indigenous Environmental Network.Jensen, who serves as assistant for regulatory and tribal affairs in the Corps office of Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, said in an interview that the matter is in the hands of the Justice Department.“In a meeting with members of Biden’s staff earlier this year, we were told that this new administration wanted to ‘get this right,’” Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Mike Faith said in a statement Friday. “Unfortunately, this reported update from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers shows it has chosen to ignore our pleas and stick to the wrong path.The case is Standing Rock Sioux Tribe v. Army Corps of Engineers, D.D.C., No. 1:16-cv-01534.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • 3 Top Artificial Intelligence Stocks to Buy Right Now

    The developments surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) are likely to have a similar impact. In fact, companies like Coupa Software (NASDAQ: COUP), CrowdStrike Holdings (NASDAQ: CRWD), and Palantir Technologies (NYSE: PLTR) appear to be doing just that.

  • U.S. Vaccination Pace Resume, Michigan Sees Surge : Virus Update

    (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. recorded 4 million vaccine doses on Friday, returning the pace of inoculations almost to the level before a post holiday lull, according to the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker.Governor Gretchen Whitmer called for Michiganders to voluntarily suspend social activities for two weeks, and asked the federal government to prioritize additional vaccines to the state, to help slow the spread in the hottest Covid-19 spot in the U.S. Pfizer Inc. and its partner BioNTech SE said they would ask regulators in the U.S. and elsewhere to allow use of their Covid-19 vaccine in adolescents ages 12 to 15. A Johns Hopkins University’s professor said AstraZeneca Plc’s shots are still safe “overall” even as some countries limited its use, while the company that designed the vaccine is planning a U.S. IPO. Key Developments:Global Tracker: Cases pass 134.3 million; deaths 2.9 millionVaccine Tracker: More than 748 million shots given worldwideMichigan’s spread is putting pressure on the state even after speeding up vaccinationVaccine pace runs 2,400% faster in wealthiest countriesOntario businesses were dealt a huge blow as it entered a state of emergency this week CVS welcomes desperate vaccine hunters looking for second doseEurope finds some rare successes in its struggle to defeat CovidSubscribe to a daily update on the virus from Bloomberg’s Prognosis team here. Click CVID on the terminal for global data on cases and deaths.U.S. Vaccinations Climb (7:05 a.m. HK)The U.S. recorded 4 million vaccine doses on Friday, returning the pace of inoculations almost to the level before a post holiday lull, according to the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker.It was the third straight day of increases, with the seven-day average now at 3.03 million doses a day. So far, 179 million doses have been administered. At this pace, it’s estimated to take another 3 months to cover 75% of the population.Brazil Health Agency Meet Russia, India Ambassadors (6:54 a.m. HK)Antonio Barra Torres, the head of Brazilian health regulator met with Russian Ambassador to Brazil Alexey Labetskiy to clarify pending issues for the approval of the Sputnik V vaccine. Torres addressed the requests for import and emergency use of Sputnik V, stressing the agency awaits the fulfillment of legal requirements to move ahead with the analysis.In a separate videoconference with the Indian Ambassador to Brazil Suresh Reddy, Torres discussed ways for the regulatory agencies of both countries to collaborate and improve the exchange of information regarding the Covaxin vaccine.Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine Designer Plans U.S. IPO (6:37 a.m. HK)A company founded by University of Oxford scientists who designed the vaccine co-developed with AstraZeneca will begin selling American depositary shares in the U.S.Vaccitech Plc, founded by Oxford professors Adrian Hill and Sarah Gilbert, wants to raise as much as $100 million by selling shares to investors, according to the filing Friday. In addition to vaccines against infectious disease, the company is aiming to develop treatments for hepatitis B virus, human papillomavirus and prostate cancer.U. of Kentucky Offers Student Vaccinations (5:47 p.m. NY)The University of Kentucky is inviting more than 21,000 admitted students -- those who have been offered enrollment this fall -- and their families to register for a vaccination.The school is offering vaccines at its football stadium, Kroger Field. Nearly 14,000 students have been vaccinated already, and more than 3,000 are in the process.Duke on Friday joined a group of universities that will require students to get a vaccine in order to return to campus in the fall. Other schools include Rutgers, Brown, Cornell and Northeastern.J&J Symptoms No ‘Reason for Concern’ (5:37 p.m. NY)The U.S. Centers for Disease Control is working with health departments in four states to evaluate symptoms experienced after Johnson & Johnson vaccinations but has “not found any reason for concern,” a spokeswoman said in a statement.“Many people don’t have any side effects after Covid-19 vaccines, but some people will have pain or swelling at the injection site or fever, chills, or a headache,” spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund said. “These typically don’t last long and are signs that your body is building protection.”She said the states are Colorado, North Carolina, Georgia and Iowa. The symptoms include “dizziness, light headedness, feeling faint, rapid breathing, and sweating.” She said the CDC “is aware of other instances of these symptoms occurring with the other Covid-19 vaccines.”Ireland Expands Quarantine List (5:13 p.m. NY)People traveling to Ireland from a host of countries including the U.S. and France will have to quarantine for 14 days from next week, the Irish health ministry said. From April 15, travelers from those countries will be met on arrival in Ireland and brought to a hotel for two weeks at their own expense. The quarantine can be shortened if a person tests negative after 10 days.Ireland already requires passengers arriving from more than 50 countries to stay in these hotels, while travelers from other nations are required to have a negative test within three days of travel and self quarantine when they arrive. Overall 16 countries including Canada and Belgium were added to the list Friday, while three including Israel will be removed.Colorado Hit by ‘Fourth Wave’ (5 p.m. NY)Colorado Governor Jared Polis said the state has been hit by a “fourth wave” of the coronavirus, sending hospitalizations to 404, the highest since Feb. 19. Most Covid-19 hospital patients are in the 18-50 age group, a development of “great alarm,” Polis said at a Friday news conference in Denver. Colorado has adequate hospital capacity to handle the new wave, he said.NYC Subways Reach Pandemic Record (4:16 p.m. NY)Subway ridership in New York City on Thursday topped 2 million for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said in a statement. Bus ridership reached the highest level since September.Subway ridership fell rapidly in March 2020, from more than 5 million rides a day during the workweek to less than half a million within a few weeks.Sugar Rallies on Reopening Optimism (4:08 p.m. NY)Sugar, arabica coffee and cotton prices are rallying as Covid-19 vaccinations advance, spurring bets that people will return to cafes and stores. A Bloomberg index tracking prices for the three crops is up more than 5% this week, the most since Feb. 19.A Goldman Sachs Group report projected bigger demand ahead. Sugar prices, which are leading the rally, have also been supported by bottlenecks that slowed exports from India.Astra Should Be in ‘Toolkit’: JHU (3:10 p.m. NY)AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine has a “communication problem” rather than a “science” problem, Lauren Sauer, Johns Hopkins University’s associate professor of Emergency Medicine, said in a Bloomberg Radio interview. The vaccine could help in areas where there’s community spread, particularly among the elderly.“This is just another tool in our toolkit and part of it is about the potential risk of these rare events,” Sauer said. “But we do know that it is overall safe and quite effective especially in our older population.”France Reaches Vaccine Record (2:23 p.m. NY)France administered a record 510,267 vaccine doses on Friday, bringing the total number of shots given since the inoculation campaign began to 14.1 million.The country is speeding up vaccinations after a sluggish start as it battles a resurgence of the virus. The government reported 41,243 new cases and 301 deaths in the past 24 hours.Germany Counts 42 Clot Cases After Astra Shot (2:17 p.m. NY)Germany’s Paul Ehrlich Institute said it has now counted 42 cases of a rare type of brain blood clot in people who were vaccinated with AstraZeneca’s shot.All but seven of the cases were in women aged 20 to 63, the drug safety oversight body said. Doctors also found low blood platelet counts in 23 of the cases. The figures, released late Friday, are up-to-date through April 2. Eight people died.Illinois Cases Jump (1:50 p.m. NY)Illinois, like many of its Midwestern neighbors, is seeing cases jump even as its daily vaccinations accelerate to stop the pandemic. Confirmed and probable cases on Friday rose to 4,004, the highest since late January, as the number of daily vaccinations reported rose to a record 164,462, according to the state department of public health.Vaccine eligibility will expand to all residents 16 and over statewide on April 12. More than 80 of Illinois’s 102 counties had already begun opening up to younger adults before the statewide eligibility expanded.Germany Reported to Weigh Curfews (1:39 p.m. NY)Germany’s first draft of an agreement between federal and state officials for unified nationwide lockdown rules to curb Covid-19 infections includes a nightly curfew and business closures, Business Insider reported.A 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew would be triggered when local seven-day incidence rates rise above 100 infections per 100,000 people, according to the report.Pfizer Seeks Approval for Young Teens (1:15 p.m. NY)Pfizer and its partner BioNTech SE said they would ask regulators in the U.S. and elsewhere to allow use of their Covid-19 vaccine in adolescents ages 12 to 15.The companies said in a statement that they had requested that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration expand the vaccine’s emergency-use authorization and that they plan to request similar rulings from other regulators worldwide in coming days.If the requests are granted, it could pave the way for many more schoolchildren to be vaccinated before the next school year.J&J Shots to Resume in N. Carolina (12:58 p.m. NY)A healthcare provider in North Carolina will resume giving Johnson & Johnson vaccines on Saturday after as many as 10 people experienced fainting or dizziness on Thursday after receiving shots. None of the apparent side effects were serious, said Alan Wolf, a spokesman for UNC Health, though the provider suspended J&J vaccines Thursday and Friday.UNC Health conferred with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as state health officials, who determined there were no safety issues with the J&J shots, he said. Wake County, which includes the capital of Raleigh, also suspended J&J shots after mild reactions Thursday.Italy Relaxes Restrictions (11:31 a.m. NY)Italy eased lockdown restrictions, lifting some curbs that have been weighing on the economy in the region surrounding Milan and across the country as the latest virus resurgence slows.Health Minister Roberto Speranza will sign a decree later on Friday to shift six regions classified as high-risk “red” areas to medium-risk “orange” status, his office said in a statement.Michigan Seeks Aid Amid Surge (10:35 a.m. NY)Governor Gretchen Whitmer called for Michiganders to voluntarily suspend social activities for two weeks, and asked the federal government to prioritize additional vaccines to the state, to help slow the spread in the hottest Covid-19 spot in the nation.The U.S. needs a program that allocates additional vaccines to states that are experiencing surges, Whitmer said Friday at a press briefing. In the meantime, she urged high schools to shift to remote learning, diners to avoid indoor seating and youth sports to suspend games and practices.“There is a light at the end of the tunnel, but the data shows that we are still in the tunnel,” Whitmer said during a press briefing. “We’re going to have some tough weeks ahead so I’m asking everyone to please take this seriously. The numbers show young people are not impervious to this virus as we see more cases with teens.”EU Seeks Up to 1.8 Billion Doses (9.20 a.m. NY)The European Commission plans to publish tenders for up to 1.8 billion additional vaccine doses in the coming days, according to a commission official.These include booster shots and doses for children and will mainly concern vaccinations in 2022 and 2023, the official said.WHO Warns on Covid Trajectory (8:24 a.m. NY)The pandemic is on the wrong trajectory after six weeks in a row of increases in cases and deaths, according to Maria van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization’s technical lead officer on Covid-19.“Vaccines will not end the pandemic,” she said at a media briefing, saying physical distancing, wearing masks, avoiding crowds and working from home are tools that need to go hand-in-hand with vaccine rollouts.Separately, the WHO is expediting the review of more vaccines, including Sinopharm, Sinovac and Sputnik V. The Chinese shots are in the final stages of evaluation, and an expert group will convene on April 26 for an assessment, according to Rogerio Pinto de Sa Gaspar, WHO’s director for regulation and pre-qualification.EU Reviews J&J Shot After Clots (7:14 a.m. NY)Four serious cases of unusual clots accompanied by low blood platelets, one of which was fatal, have emerged after vaccination with Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine, the European Medicines Agency said Friday.The EU is relying on the one-shot vaccine to boost its immunization drive amid restrictions in some countries on use of the AstraZeneca shot, which is delivered in two doses. J&J said in a statement that no clear causal relationship had been established between its vaccine and clotting events.Germany Doubles Vaccine Pace (5:13 p.m. HK)The country administered about 720,000 doses on Thursday, a fourth straight daily record, thanks to a surge in vaccinations being performed in doctors’ offices, Health Minister Jens Spahn said Friday at a news conference.That pace should continue for most of April as a network of 35,000 general practitioners offices get 1 million doses more in each of the next two weeks, and more after that.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • South Korea unveils prototype of homegrown KF-X fighter jet

    The prototype of the twin-engine jet, named the KF-21 Boramae, was showcased during a rollout ceremony at the headquarters of KAI in Sacheon, South Korea.

  • Hedge Fund Maplelane Is Clawing Way Back From GameStop Losses

    (Bloomberg) -- Maplelane Capital, the hedge fund that lost 45% in January in part by shorting GameStop Corp., is starting to recover.The fund rose 6.5% in February and 2.1% in March, according to people familiar with the matter, and ended the first quarter with a loss of 39.5%. The fund benefited from its long and short wagers on technology and consumer-focused companies, one of the people said.In January, Maplelane’s short on GameStop and American Airlines Group Inc. backfired as Reddit-fueled retail investors drove up the price of the companies. The fund has since closed out those positions.Maplelane has made money in 14 of the past 15 months, one of the people said.The $3 billion New York-based firm, run by Leon Shaulov and Rob Crespi, declined to comment.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Fire marshal: Man naked below waist accused of home arson

    A man wearing nothing below the waist set fire before dawn Friday to a mobile home occupied by a woman and three children, including a baby, and was arrested without incident before noon, authorities said. The woman, baby and two school-age children escaped unharmed but the home and the woman's car were total losses, said Ashley Rodrigue, spokeswoman for the Louisiana State Fire Marshal's Office. The woman told investigators that James N. Rozas, 33, was clad only in a hooded sweatshirt and had a gun when he entered the home in Mamou, telling the older children they had to get out because he had set fire to the home and the car parked outside, Rodrigue said.

  • Meghan Markle could travel safely to Prince Philip's funeral, despite her pregnancy and the pandemic

    Flying during pregnancy is generally safe, but you need to take precautions. Whether or not you're vaccinated matters.

  • Sidney Powell quotes Buzz Lightyear in response to sanctions request for her election conspiracy-theory lawsuit

    The lawyer advanced a baseless conspiracy theory saying Venezuela was involved in manipulating election results against President Donald Trump.