In a speech unveiling his health-care “vision” for America, President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement: that cash cards will soon be sent to millions of seniors using the government health insurance program Medicare. 

“Under my plan, 33 million Medicare beneficiaries will soon receive a card in the mail containing $200 that they can use to help pay for prescription drugs,” Trump said in North Carolina on Thursday evening.

But it’s unclear how exactly the administration will pay for the cards. A White House official told CNBC in an email that the money for the cash cards would be paid for by “a Medicare 402 demo” and that the costs would be “offset from Most Favored Nation savings.”

The official did not immediately respond to a request for further details about the 402 demo or how it would supply the funds. Medicare waivers under Section 402 apply to experimental ways to cover costs and provide services. 

“These will be actual discount cards for prescription drug copays” and will be

As coronavirus cases began to surge in France, Spain and the U.K. this month, there were question marks over why Italy — the epicenter of Europe’s first outbreak in spring — and Germany, Europe’s largest economy, weren’t seeing similar increases.

But looking at the most recent data, it appears Italy and Germany won’t be able to avoid a second wave of the pandemic after all.

Italy’s health ministry reported 1,640 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, up 250 cases from the previous day. On Monday, 1,350 new cases had been reported from the previous day, showing how rapidly the number of infections are rising.

Populous regions like Campania (where Naples is located), Lazio (where Rome is located) and Tuscany (the region where Europe’s first outbreak emerged), have all seen sharp rises in recent days, health ministry data shows.

An increase in the number of tests being carried out could account for the rise, with ANSA news agency citing the health ministry as

The coronavirus crisis has magnified Singapore‘s food security concerns — an issue made worse by climate change — and the city-state is looking to ramp up its local food production.

Tech entrepreneurs say they want to help. To boost national self-sufficiency, more local start-ups are creating edible products from natural ingredients and cell culture technology.

Some examples include lab-grown milk from TurtleTree Labs, Shiok Meats’ cultured shrimp and Life3 Biotech’s plant-based proteins. Such ventures could benefit Singapore, as they can reduce the island-nation’s import bill as well as its carbon footprint.

Singapore, a tiny country that imports 90% of its food due to land scarcity, is vulnerable to food shortages and price volatility. The situation was exacerbated when Covid-19 first struck and people rushed to stockpile items.

But even before the pandemic, Singapore’s food supply was vulnerable to extreme weather patterns. Its neighbors face a similar predicament. 

“Asia is unable to feed itself, relying on imports flowing through long supply chains from the Americas, Europe and Africa,” audit firm PwC, Rabobank, and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek warned in a report released late last