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Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s top aide, refused to resign over driving from London to northern England while exhibiting signs of covid-19. “I did what I thought was the right thing to do,” he said on Monday. Library picture: Dominic Cummings (centre) is seen outside 10 Downing Street, 13 December 2019. Photo credit: Cubankite / Shutterstock.com 

Cummings does not apologise for lockdown trip

Dominic Cummings, chief advisor to the British prime minister Boris Johnson, outlined why he did not think he broke covid-19 lockdown rules when he drove roughly 260 miles (415km) from London to his parents’ property. “I don’t regret what I did,” he said at a press conference, which aimed to stem a growing controversy. “I behaved reasonably and legally.” Sources: BBC, The Economist, Euronews, Financial Times, The Guardian, Reuters and The Telegraph. Video stream of press conference: The Guardian and The Telegraph.

Austrian president sorry for breaching restrictions

Alexander Van der Bellen, Austria’s president, apologised for breaking his country’s covid-19 curfew by staying at a Vienna restaurant past 11pm. “I’m sincerely sorry. It was a mistake,” he said. He, his wife and two friends “lost track of the time while chatting.” Sources: AFP, BBC, CNN, The Guardian and Sky News.

Dutch PM could not visit mum before she died

The office of the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, said he was unable to visit his dying mother in her final days because Rutte complied with the ban on visiting care homes. Mieke Rutte-Dilling died on 13 May and the PM announced her passing on 25 May. Sources: AFP, DutchNews.nl and Independent.ie.

Hydroxychloroquine trial suspended

The World Health Organization has paused clinical testing of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug, as a possible treatment for covid-19 due to initial findings that taking the medication could lead to heart problems and a higher risk of death. Sources: Associated Press, CNBC, Deutsche Welle, The Guardian and RTE.

VW loses Dieselgate case

Germany’s top court ruled against Volkswagen in lawsuit brought by a minivan owner over the Dieselgate emissions-cheating scandal. VW was ordered to pay €28,000 and the judgement sets a precedent in roughly 60,000 other German cases. Sources: BBC, Euronews, Deutsche Welle, Financial Times and The Guardian.

Berlin’s Lufthansa bailout blueprint

Lufthansa management and the German government agreed on a €9bn rescue package for the airline. The state will take a 20% stake in the firm, which it plans to sell by 2023. The plan needs to be approved by the European Commission and Lufthansa shareholders. Sources: BBC, Deutsche Welle, Financial Times, Politico and Reuters.

EU to probe Air Canada-Transat deal

European Commission competition authorities started an antitrust review of Air Canada’s proposed takeover of the tour operator Transat. Sources: Bloomberg, CBC, FlightGlobal, Reuters and Seeking Alpha.

Virgin Orbit launch fails

The first test launch by Virgin Orbit, Sir Richard Branson’s satellite launching company, failed due to an “anomaly”. Sources: BBC, CNN, Financial Times, Sky News and Space.com.

Demand for office space to continue, says top banker

Citigroup’s investment banking boss told the Financial Times in an interview that home working was fine for now, but at some point social capital will ‘depreciate’, making remote working less effective.

Agenda

Tuesday 26 May 5pm-5:30pm: ING & TEDxLuxembourgCity’s online “Coffee with Adriana Marais”, a theoretical physicist and potential astronaut. Tuesday 26 May, 5:30pm: EY, the Chamber of Commerce and several other organisations host a logistics sector “matchathon”. Tuesday 26 May, 8pm: British Ladies Club’s virtual bingo night; register via [email protected]. Tuesday 26 May, 8:05pm: Ara City Radio’s pub quiz on Facebook. Wednesday 27 May, 1pm-2pm: The Language Partnership’s “Reporting on performance and progress” business English webinar. Wednesday 27 May, 5:30pm-6:30pm: 10 speakers have 6 minutes to give their take on the state of impact investing during this Paperjam Club streamed conference (in French and English). Wednesday 27 May, 5:30pm-6:30pm: Luxembourg School of Contemporary Etiquette’s “business etiquette review” workshop. Wednesday 27 May, 6pm-7pm: The women’s networking group Hub Dot hosts its next “piazza” via Zoom. Thursday 28 May, 11am-12noon: Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce’s “Doing business with the Moscow region” online workshop with Vadim Khromov, deputy governor of the Moscow region. Thursday 28 May, 3pm-4pm: Chinalux’s covid-19 crisis and logistics webinar. Thursday 28 May, 5pm: Luxembourg Private Equity and Venture Capital Association’s “10 years, 10 minutes” interview with Jakob Lindquist of Cordet Capital. Thursday 28 May, 6:30pm-7:10pm: Luxembourg-Poland Chamber of Commerce’s online orientation meeting for the next Entrepreneurial Women Project.

Not Musk’s number anymore

A woman who works at a Sephora beauty store in San Jose, California, has Elon Musk’s old mobile number and she’s been getting lots and lots of calls and texts intended for the SpaceX and Tesla founder, per NPR.

Today’s breakfast briefing was written by Aaron Grunwald