FSI Briefs No 2, April 2020. Guidance issued by financial sector authorities in response to the Covid-19 crisis seems to suggest that international efforts to come up with operational resilience standards should take into account at least the following elements: Critical/essential employees: identifying the critical functions and employees that support important business services, as well as ensuring employees' safety and that they can safely resume their duties (remotely, if necessary); IT infrastructure: ensuring that IT infrastructure can support a sharp increase in usage over an extended period and taking steps to safeguard information security; Third-party service providers: ensuring that external service providers and/or critical suppliers are taking adequate measures and are sufficiently prepared for a scenario in which there will be heavy reliance on their services; Cyber resilience: remaining vigilant in order to identify and protect vulnerable systems, and detect, respond and recover from cyber attacks..

BIS Bulletin No 7, April 2020. Past epidemics had long-lasting effects on economies through illness and the loss of lives, while Covid-19 is marked by widespread containment measures and relatively lower fatalities among young people. The short-term costs of Covid-19 will probably dwarf those of past epidemics, due to the unprecedented and synchronised global sudden stop in economic activity induced by containment measures. The current estimated impact on global GDP growth for 2020 is around -4%, with substantial downside risks if containment policies are prolonged. Output losses are larger for major economies.

FSI Briefs No 3, April 2020. In response to the 2007-09 Great Financial Crisis (GFC), accounting standard setters introduced a new methodology to value loans based on expected credit losses (ECL). The previous approach, based on incurred losses, was viewed as procyclical and inconsistent with prudential objectives. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, several prudential authorities and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), introduced a series of measures to clarify how banks should consider various public and private debt relief programmes in their ECL estimates and in their calculation of regulatory capital. These measures are intended to incentivise banks to continue supporting the real economy, while reducing pressure on banks' ECL provisions, earnings and regulatory capital. Supervisory initiatives that provide capital relief should be augmented by severe constraints on the payment of dividends, bonuses and share buybacks. These joint actions will simultaneously expand banks' lending capacity and enhance their ability to absorb losses. Prudential authorities face difficult trade-offs as they confront the most severe economic crisis in modern times. Encouraging the use of flexibility in applicable accounting standards, while preserving market trust and transparency in the reported financial statements of banks, will be key in fostering both economic and financial stability.

BIS Bulletin No 8, April 2020. Information on local labour markets and Google searches can be used to construct a measure of the vulnerability of employment in different regions of the United States to the Covid-19 shock. Regional exposure to Covid-19 varies significantly, ranging from a low of 2% to a high of 98% of total local employment. We test for the usefulness of the Covid-19 exposure measure by showing that areas with higher exposure report more Google search queries related to the pandemic and unemployment benefits.

FSI Briefs No 4, April 2020. Currently, insurers are more likely to experience losses from financial market volatility than from higher insurance claims arising from Covid-19. Few insurance supervisors have seen a need to strengthen or adjust prudential requirements to insulate insurers from current financial market uncertainties. So far, authorities have responded mainly by taking measures to provide operational relief to insurers from regulatory and supervisory requirements so that they can continue providing insurance services. These measures will also help insurers to enhance risk monitoring of their Covid-19 financial exposures. Some authorities have set out expectations for insurers to conserve capital through prudent exercise of dividend and variable remuneration policies. The aim is to enhance their resilience against huge uncertainties from potential Covid-19 fallout. Other capital-related measures should relieve supervisory pressures and reduce the tendency of insurers to manage their investments in a procyclical manner. These measures include: extending the supervisory intervention ladder, triggering the countercyclical lever and recalibrating capital requirements. The far-reaching impact of Covid-19 calls for sustained vigilance by both supervisors and insurers. In the post-pandemic phase, the extraordinary measures currently warranted will need to be unwound through a carefully crafted exit strategy that preserves sound risk management practices and protects policyholders' interests.

BIS Bulletin No 9, April 2020. By allowing banks to run down some of their buffers, policymakers are sending a strong signal about their resolve to lessen the economic fallout from the pandemic. Such prudential measures complement the main policy levers: monetary and fiscal instruments. To avoid a reduction in credit to the real economy, authorities need to ensure that banks have the capacity and willingness to make use of the flexibility afforded by the buffer release. Payout restrictions on banks and risk-sharing between banks and the public sector will be key. For banks to continue playing a positive role in the supply of funding during the recovery, they should maintain usable buffers for a long period, as losses from a severe recession will take time to materialise.

Recent literature has highlighted that international trade is mostly priced in a few key vehicle currencies, and is increasingly dominated by intermediate goods and global value chains (GVCs). Taking these features into account, this paper reexamines the business cycle dynamics of international trade and its relationship with monetary policy and exchange rates.

The Covid-19 shock is placing enormous strains on corporates cash buffers. Corporate financial statements from 2019 suggest that 50% of firms do not have sufficient cash to cover total debt servicing costs over the coming year. Credit lines could provide firms with additional liquidity. On average undrawn credit stood around 120% of debt servicing costs at end 2019. However, access is uneven and banks may be reluctant to renew or extend them in the current environment. Sticky operating expenses result in many firms running operating losses, placing an additional burden on cash buffers. Estimates indicate that following a 10% drop in revenues, operating expenses only fall by 6% on average. Simulations suggest that if revenues fall by 25% in 2020, then closing the entire funding gap with debt would raise firm leverage by around 10 percentage points.

The National Book Festival Presents series was created to provide a book festival experience to lovers of the event on a year-round basis. Because these programs can no longer be held at the Library, we are offering a virtual multipart series, with authors who have written books about widespread diseases and the worldwide response to them.

Our ongoing celebration of the Library of Congress National Book Festival continues with Poets Laureate Tracy K. Smith and Robert Hass discussing the making of poetry, the position of Poet Laureate and their new books, "American Journal: Fifty Poems for Our Time" (edited by Smith) and "A Little Book on Form: An Exploration into the Formal Imagination of Poetry" (Hass), on the Poetry & Prose stage at the 2018 Festival.

Our ongoing celebration of the Library of Congress National Book Festival continues with presidential scholar Annette Gordon-Reed discussing "The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family" on the Special Programs stage at the 2015 Festival.

Our ongoing celebration of the Library of Congress National Book Festival continues with crime writer Patricia Cornwell discussing "Red Mist,” her 19th Kay Scarpetta novel, on the Fiction & Mystery stage at the 2012 Festival.

Our ongoing celebration of the Library of Congress National Book Festival continues with young adult and fantasy author Leigh Bardugo discussing "Crooked Kingdom" on the Genre Fiction stage at the 2018 Festival. This post includes prompts for writing and thinking that young readers, families and teachers can use to explore the author and the author’s work—recommended for ages 13+.

Our ongoing celebration of the Library of Congress National Book Festival continues with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discussing "Democracy: Stories from the Long Road to Freedom" on the Main Stage at the 2017 Festival.

Our ongoing celebration of the Library of Congress National Book Festival continues with two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Colson Whitehead discussing "Zone One" on the Poetry & Prose stage at the 2012 Festival.

Our ongoing celebration of the Library of Congress National Book Festival continues with historian Michael Beschloss discussing “Presidents of War” on the Main Stage at the 2019 Festival.

Our ongoing celebration of the Library of Congress National Book Festival continues with crime and mystery writer Karin Slaughter discussing "Broken," part of her Will Trent series, on the Fiction & Mystery stage at the 2010 Festival.

Our ongoing celebration of the Library of Congress National Book Festival continues with actor and author Neil Patrick Harris discussing "The Magic Misfits: The Minor Third." The event, part of the new year-long National Book Festival Presents series, took place in the Library’s Coolidge Auditorium. This post includes prompts for writing and thinking that young readers, families and teachers can use to explore the author and the author’s work—recommended for ages 8+.

Open for visitors, these houses model upcycling at its finest

A prototype deployed in San Francisco Bay imagines the underside of a floating building as an upside-down artificial reef

Architects and planners from the Netherlands are advising coastal cities worldwide on how to live with water

From gas stations to public libraries, these celebrity architect-designed buildings are worth a road trip

Application deadline: 17 May 2020 | Banking Settlements Centre | Location: Basel, Switzerland

Press release about the Basel Committee publishing consultation paper on revisions to the credit valuation adjustment risk framework, 28 November 2019.

BIS Press Release - Easing trade tensions lift sentiment: BIS Quarterly Review, 8 December 2019

Press release: CPMI report sets out considerations for developers of wholesale digital tokens, 12 December 2019

Press release: Basel Committee invites comments on the design of a prudential treatment for crypto-assets, 12 December 2019.

No global real estate market despite higher price synchronisation and growing role of international investors, central banks find (Press release, 18 February 2020)

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) today announced two key appointments to the BIS Innovation Hub, a new initiative designed to support central bank collaboration on new financial technology. (Press release, 19 February 2020)

Basel Committee Press release "Basel Committee meets to review vulnerabilities and emerging risks, advance supervisory initiatives and promote Basel III implementationl", 27 February 2020.

BIS Press Release - Shaping the future of payments: BIS Quarterly Review, 1 March 2020

BIS statement, 16 March 2020.

Press release "Basel Committee coordinates policy and supervisory response to Covid-19", 20 March 2020

Press release "Governors and Heads of Supervision announce deferral of Basel III implementation to increase operational capacity of banks and supervisors to respond to Covid-19", 27 March 2020

BCBS Press release "Basel Committee sets out additional measures to alleviate the impact of Covid-19", 3 April 2020

BCBS Press release "Basel Committee and IOSCO announce deferral of final implementation phases of the margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives", 3 April 2020

CPMI Press release "Jurisdictions move towards full implementation of standards for financial market infrastructures", 8 April 2020.

Press release "Saudi G20 Presidency and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub invite global innovators to solve RegTech and SupTech challenges", 27 April 2020

BCBS Press release "Basel Committee issues progress report on banks' implementation of the 'Principles for effective risk data aggregation and reporting'", 29 April 2020

It works like a very fine "molecular knob" able to modulate the electrical activity of the neurons of our cerebral cortex, crucial to the functioning of our brain.

Rutgers' RUCDR Infinite Biologics received an amended emergency use authorization from the FDA late Thursday for the first SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus test that will allow people to collect their own saliva at home and send to a lab for results.

Tissue engineering has a unique set of tools and technologies for developing preventive strategies, diagnostics, and treatments that can play an important role during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

When we find something particularly beautiful or impressive, we literally get big eyes: Our pupils dilate. The pupil controls how much light enters the eye and falls on the retina.