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ZTE helps China Telecom realise China's first 5G remote diagnosis of new coronavirus pneumonia | ZTE Corporation ( 0763.HK/000063, SZ), a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the mobile Internet, and Sichuan Branch of China Telecom today have realised China's first 5G remote diagnosis of the new coronavirus pneumonia backed up with the latest 5G technology.
5G, featuring high bandwidth and low latency, makes diagnosis and treatment more efficient and convenient. The 5G remote diagnosis involves West China Hospital and Chengdu Public Health Clinic Center of Sichuan University.
According to the onsite situation, ZTE has employed its CPE equipment to commission 5G services by means of outdoor 5G signals while constructing indoor coverage points. On 25 January, 5G indoor base stations were built and interconnected, and the conference room for remote diagnosis and treatment in West China Hospital was first connected to the remote diagnosis and treatment system.
On 26 January, ZTE completed the rapid construction, optimisation, speed test and commissioning of the 5G indoor distribution system at another core point of the remote diagnosis and treatment system. After the 5G network was commissioned, Sichuan Health and Health Commission, West China Hospital, and Chengdu Public Health Clinic Center conducted remote video consultation.
In accordance with the work arrangement of the Sichuan Health and Health Commission, the 5G remote consultation system will take West China Hospital of Sichuan University as the central node, and be the first batch to access 27 hospitals that have accepted and treated patients. In the next step, ZTE will build China’ s first new 5G remote diagnosis coronavirus infection system covering three levels: Sichuan province, city and county, to provide `` one network '' for remote diagnosis in front-line hospitals that help Wuhan. In the future, ZTE will carry out video consultation with the Wuhan front-end medical rescue team through the 5G network, so critical patients in Wuhan can also enjoy expert diagnosis and treatment services in the West China Hospital.
ZTE is a provider of advanced telecommunications systems, mobile devices and enterprise technology solutions to consumers, operators, companies and public sector customers. As a part of ZTE’ s strategy, the company is committed to providing customers with integrated end-to-end innovations to deliver excellence and value as the telecommunications and IT sectors converge. Listed in the stock exchanges of Hong Kong and Shenzhen ( H share stock code: 0763.HK / A share stock code: 000063.SZ), ZTE sells its products and services in more than 160 countries.
To date, ZTE has obtained 35 commercial 5G contracts in major markets, such as Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa ( MEA). ZTE commits 10% of its annual revenues to research and development and takes leadership roles in international standard-setting organisations. | general |
Materials Down, But Gold Up, On Coronavirus Worries -- Materials Roundup | Producers of metals and other raw materials fell after signs that the spread of a new virus in China was accelerating.
More than 80 people have died of the illness in China, many of them around the city of Wuhan where the outbreak began.
Agricultural futures fell sharply on concerns that the lockdown on Chinese cities would limit demand.
Arconic shares rallied after the company said it may cut jobs to compensate for the loss of as much as $ 400 million in sales related to the halted production of the 737 MAX. Arconic was spun off from Alcoa to focus on making specialty aluminum panels for aerospace and other applications.
Gold futures hit a six-year high as fears that the viral outbreak could turn into a pandemic drove investors into the traditional safe haven.
Newmont, the biggest gold producer in the world, is betting high dividends and its new mines will drive future stock growth, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Federal antitrust regulators are probing a potential deal between a major U.S. dairy cooperative and Dean Foods, the bankrupt milk-processing giant, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran @ dowjones.com
| business |
U.S. new home sales fall unexpectedly, low mortgage rates lend support | The U.S. Commerce Department report on Monday also showed downward revisions to sales for the prior three months, bucking a recent streak of fairly strong housing data. Strength in housing, following a slump in 2018 through the first half of 2019, could offset some of the drag on economic growth from weakness in business spending and manufacturing.
New home sales slipped 0.4% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 694,000 units, with sales in the South dropping to the lowest in more than a year. It was the third straight monthly decline in sales. November's sales pace was revised down to 697,000 units from the previously reported 719,000. September and October sales were also marked down.
`` Low mortgage rates, a robust labour market and stabilizing geopolitical tensions suggest that demand for housing will stick around, and buyers are hungry for more housing options, '' said Matthew Speakman, economist at online real estate firm Zillow.
Sales last month were concentrated in the $ 200,000- $ 749,000 ( £573900) price range. New homes priced below $ 200,000, the most sought after, accounted for only 10% of sales.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast new home sales, which account for about 11.1% of housing market sales, would increase 1.5% to a pace of 730,000 units in December.
The PHLX housing index fell, tracking a broadly weaker U.S. stock market as investors worried about the economic fallout of the fast-spreading coronavirus outbreak in China that has prompted the country to extend the Lunar New Year holidays and businesses to close some operations. The dollar was steady against a basket of currencies. U.S. Treasury prices rallied.
VOLATILE DATA
New home sales are drawn from permits and tend to be volatile on a month-to-month basis. Sales jumped 23.0% from a year ago. For all of 2019, new home sales increased 10.3% to 681,000 units, the highest since 2007.
Cheaper mortgage rates have supported the housing market since the Federal Reserve cut interest rates three times last year. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate has dropped to an average of 3.60% from its peak of 4.94% in November 2018, according to data from mortgage finance agency Freddie Mac.
Officials from the U.S. central bank are scheduled to meet on Tuesday and Wednesday. They are expected to reiterate the Fed's desire to keep rates unchanged at least through this year, which could limit further declines in mortgage rates. Still, economists are optimistic the housing market will remain solid.
`` Household formation trends are running ahead of new housing construction and this will buoy the housing market in 2020, '' said Conrad DeQuadros, senior economic advisor at Brean Capital in New York.
Reports this month showed sales of previously owned homes jumped to near a two-year high in December and housing starts raced to a 13-year peak. Though permits for future construction of single-family housing permits fell in December, that followed seven straight monthly gains.
Housing is expected to have contributed to GDP growth again in the fourth quarter. Residential investment rebounded in the third quarter after contracting for six straight quarters, the longest such stretch since the 2007-2009 recession.
The Atlanta Fed is forecasting GDP to rise at a 1.8% annualised rate in the fourth quarter. The economy grew at a 2.1% rate in the July-September period. The government will publish its snapshot of fourth-quarter GDP on Thursday.
`` We still think that real residential investment posted a decent gain in the fourth quarter, '' said Daniel Silver, an economist at JPMorgan in New York.
The housing sector, which accounts for about 3.1% of gross domestic product, remains constrained by a lack of homes, especially in the lower-priced segment of the market, because of land and labour shortages.
That is keeping prices elevated. The median new house price rose 0.5% to $ 331,400 in December from a year ago. New home sales in the South, which accounts for the bulk of transactions, dropped 15.4% in December to a rate of 347,000 units, the lowest since October 2018. Sales declined 11.8% in the Northeast, but rose 10.1% in the Midwest and surged 31.0% in the West.
There were 327,000 new homes on the market last month, up 1.6% from November. At December's sales pace it would take 5.7 months to clear the supply of houses on the market, up from 5.5 months in November.
About two-thirds of new homes sold in December were either under construction or yet to be built.
By Lucia Mutikani | business |
Virus Hits Hong Kong as Economy Is Still Catching Its Breath After Unrest -- Update | By Chuin-Wei Yap and Joyu Wang
Hong Kong banned visitors from the Chinese province at the center of a new virus epidemic as echoes of SARS send panic through the community, threatening more misery for an economy already in recession after months of protests battered tourism and retail sales.
Many people in the city donned masks as local authorities confirmed at least eight cases of infection by the deadly pathogen from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the outbreak's epicenter. Disneyland shuttered, Lunar New Year festivities were scrapped and schools will remain closed until Feb. 17.
As fear of the coronavirus spreading rises, consumer spending is set to be a casualty as people stay away from restaurants, malls and crowded places. A similar strain known as SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, engulfed Hong Kong from the mainland in 2003, killing nearly 300 people in the city and sending its economy into a three-month tailspin.
Hong Kong was among the worst hit by SARS, with sales in restaurants and retail outlets dropping by some 50% according to a University of Hong Kong report, before bouncing back quickly. As stock markets swooned and people pared travel plans recently, Hong Kong is bracing for a more severe replay of such economic turbulence.
This time, Hong Kong is already in recession. Seven months of street protests, slower Chinese economic growth -- a key engine of Hong Kong's economy -- and U.S.-China trade tensions combined to shrink gross domestic product by 2.9% in the third quarter, the territory's first year-over-year contraction since the global financial crisis in 2009.
The losses from tourist spending, as virus-hit China locked down many cities ahead of the Lunar New Year, are just the top of a fresh set of economic worries for Hong Kong. Professional unions have threatened strikes to protest the government's handling of the crisis, amid fear among the public of a looming crush of mainland visitors seeking medical resources.
Police on Sunday used tear gas to break up protesters who had blocked roads and built barricades outside a housing estate that the government wanted to turn into a quarantine camp for infected people. Officials later halted the plan.
Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, where attendance in recent months has already been battered by protests, said it would shut from Sunday until it could work out with health authorities when to reopen. The city's official Lunar New Year celebrations have been scrapped.
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., Hong Kong's flagship carrier, has suspended flights to and from Wuhan through the end of February and offered refunds on all mainland China routes as virus cases crop up around the country. `` We are monitoring the situation closely and will continue to coordinate with the health authorities, '' it said in a statement.
Tour operators including industry major Hong Thai Travel Services Ltd. canceled all group tours to mainland China for at least the rest of January. Hong Kong's Travel Industry Council said Friday that about 2,600 group tours to the mainland through mid-February had been canceled. Hong Kong's high-speed rail operator has indefinitely suspended trains to and from Wuhan.
Compounding these pressures, a federation of medical staff unions along with other professional trade unions have threatened strikes if the government doesn't escalate efforts to contain the disease, including turning back all visitors from mainland China. The government since Monday barred entry to visitors from Hubei, China's most virus-affected province.
Neighboring Macau also began a similar ban Monday, posting its sixth confirmed infection as its casino-focused economy too faces pressure from a drought of mainland holidaymakers.
Also Monday, the dean of the University of Hong Kong's medical school, Gabriel Leung, estimated some 44,000 people in Wuhan alone could be infected -- far higher than the official mainland tally -- and urged `` draconian measures '' to check the outbreak. He said cases, if unhindered, would likely double every six days. China health officials didn't immediately respond.
The Hong Kong government has also expanded visitor health declaration requirements, and are looking for more remote sites for quarantine camps. Of nearly 400 suspected cases of infection in Hong Kong, nearly half have been hospitalized.
Chinese health authorities have confirmed dozens of infections in Shenzhen, the megacity north of Hong Kong, and hundreds more suspected in nearby cities. The as-yet-unnamed coronavirus has killed at least 80 people on the mainland and infected almost 3,000 by official tallies. The outbreak has also reached the U.S. and Europe, and spread across Asia.
Hong Kong's economy is heavily dependent on individual and household spending, and has become more so since the SARS era. Private consumption last year accounted for 65% of the territory's economic output, up from 58% in 2002, official data show.
The high level of dependence on private consumption amplifies any hit to the tourism, hotel, and related industries. Tourism contributes about 5% of gross domestic product -- mostly from inbound visitors -- and employs more than 250,000 people. Officials deem the sector one of `` four pillars '' of Hong Kong's economy, alongside financial services, logistics, and professional services.
SARS arrived in Hong Kong in early 2003 as the city grappled with a housing market slump and the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis. The outbreak lasted some three months and Hong Kong rode a broad-based recovery in the second half of 2003, posting 3.1% growth that year.
The new coronavirus is flourishing amid grimmer economic conditions. Even before the outbreak, tourist arrivals in November had fallen 56% year-over-year, nearing the 60% declines in April and May 2003 during SARS. Arrivals last year fell 14% from 2018, driven by a decline that sharply accelerated after June, official data show.
Private spending fell 4.8% in the third quarter, the latest available data -- a sharp reversal from 3.3% growth in the April-to-June period, the government said.
Visitors from mainland China account for most of Hong Kong's tourists, reaching 84% of total arrivals at its peak in February 2015. The measure fell to 72% in November, its lowest since March 2017.
Hotel occupancy rates in November were 66%, compared with 95% a year earlier, official data show. Restaurants are struggling to attract diners, with some putting staff on leave.
`` As the SARS outbreak infected more than 8,000 people and killed over 700 people across Asia in 2002 and 2003, there is now greater awareness of how contagious diseases can have a crippling effect on businesses, '' said Patrick Zeng, Hong Kong and Greater China chief executive for the global insurer Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty.
Write to Chuin-Wei Yap at chuin-wei.yap @ wsj.com and Joyu Wang at joyu.wang @ wsj.com
| business |
China virus outbreak pressures already weakened economy | The consensus is that in the short term, economic output will be hit as Chinese authorities step up preventive measures, impose travel restrictions and extend the Lunar New Year holidays to limit the spread of the virus.
Millions who usually travel during this period have cancelled their plans, with the government ordering that full refunds be provided to air and rail passengers
Shanghai said on Monday that companies can not restart operations before Feb. 9, and businesses in the eastern Chinese manufacturing hub of Suzhou have been ordered to stay shut until at least Feb. 8.
The government has lengthened the week-long Lunar New Year holiday nationally by three days to Feb. 2.
Wuhan, a city of 11 million and the epicentre of the virus outbreak in central China, is already in virtual lockdown and severe limits on movement are in place in several other Chinese cities.
Many analysts are turning to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ( SARS), a coronavirus that originated in China and killed nearly 800 people globally in 2002 and 2003, to better understand the likely longer-term effects.
`` The economy rebounded quickly after SARS faded away, '' said Larry Hu of Macquarie Capital, in a note to clients. Transportation, restaurants and retail sales were hit, but Hu said on the whole SARS was `` just a blip which didn't change the big trend. ''
This time, however, analysts say China's increased reliance on consumption to drive the world's second-biggest economy compared to early 2000s, could undermine growth.
`` In China during 2019, consumption contributed about 3.5 percentage points to the overall real GDP growth rate of 6.1%. A back of the envelope calculation suggests that if spending on such services fell by 10%, overall GDP growth would fall by about 1.2 percentage points, '' said analysts from S & P Global Ratings in a note.
The early data make for sober reading.
The usual Lunar New Year rush of spending on travel, tourism and entertainment is taking a beating already. Overall passenger travel declined by nearly 29% from a year earlier on the first day of the Lunar New Year, a transportation ministry official said.
With many cinemas closed, China's theatres earned 1.81 million yuan ( £200,226.95) from movie tickets on the first day of Lunar New Year, down more than 99% from the same day the previous year, according to data from Chinese movie-ticketing company Maoyan.
Notably, external conditions in 2002-03 were favourable, whereas the coronavirus outbreak is `` adding to existing growth headwinds, '' said analysts from Nomura in a note. China's GDP growth slumped to near 30-year lows in 2019, pressured by sluggish domestic demand and trade frictions with the United States.
GLOBAL IMPACT
China also now contributes more to global economic growth than it did 17 years ago, meaning any big domestic impact stemming from the virus will ripple through worldwide.
World shares fell to their lowest in two weeks on Monday on virus concerns, with demand spiking for safe-haven assets such as Japanese yen and Treasury notes.
Regions reliant on tourism, especially Chinese tourists, like Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and the Philippines seem most at risk of spillover effects from the virus, said Louis Kuijs, Head of Asia Economics at Oxford Economics, in an email to Reuters.
The virus has already spread to more than 10 countries, including the United States, France, Australia, and Singapore, although all the 81 deaths have so far occurred in China.
Singapore, the Southeast Asian financial and tourism hub, earlier on Monday warned of an economic hit from the outbreak.
`` We certainly expect there to be an impact on our economy, business and consumer confidence this year especially as the situation is expected to persist for some time, '' Singapore's trade minister Chan Chun Sing said Monday.
( Reporting by Gabriel Crossley; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
By Gabriel D. Crossley | business |
Coronavirus fears wipe billions from European stocks | More than 97% of stocks in the STOXX 600 were trading in the red with many toppling from record highs, wiping out around 180 billion euros of market capitalisation from the European share index.
The biggest jolt was felt by luxury, airlines and hotel issues, which see big demand from Chinese consumers. Europe's major luxury players have lost more than $ 50 billion in market value since the outbreak last week.
Most major country indices in Europe fell more than 2%, while regional sectors lost at least 1% each.
Germany's DAX slumped almost 3%, while France's CAC posted its worst day in almost four months as LVMH, Christian Dior, Hermes and Gucci owner Kering fell more than 3.6%.
Other companies in the luxury space such as Burberry Group Plc, Moncler SpA, Swiss watchmakers Swatch and Richemont declined between 2.5% and 4.8%.
Comparing the new coronavirus with the SARS outbreak in 2002-03, Bernstein analysts highlighted that Chinese nationals accounted for just 2% of the global luxury goods market in 2003 versus a whopping 35% in 2019.
`` Equities are finally beginning to contemplate the possibility that the virus 2019-nCoV ( coronavirus) in China will have significant economic impact as the lockdown is now affecting 56 million people, '' said Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank.
Meanwhile, safe-haven investment options such as gold and government bonds rose as the death toll from the outbreak in China increased to 81 and the number of cases of infection jumped by about 30% in a day.
The Euro Stoxx 50 volatility index <.V2TX >, European investors ' `` fear gauge '', has jumped to its highest level since Dec. 3.
`` With a market looking to take some profit, what you 'll probably see until everything clears is a move from risk-on type of holdings to more value-focused holdings and going back to companies that pay decent dividends and are more domestically focused, '' said Stephan Lueck, senior vice president, European equity sales at Auerbach Grayson.
`` For the short-term, we should have a clearer picture in a week to two weeks. So give the market a few weeks to sell-off and if there aren't too many deaths we should see some stability within a month and some normalcy going forward. ''
With rising travel curbs, flight operators Air France, Lufthansa, cruise line operator Carnival Corp, hotel group Accor and IHG took a hit, with IHG clocking its worst day in more than three years. Europe's travel & leisure index ended at its lowest in to nearly seven weeks.
The basic resources index eyed its worst day in nearly six months hit by growth fears in China, the world's top metals consumer.
By Thyagaraju Adinarayan and Susan Mathew | business |
How contagion from the China coronavirus holds a lesson for colour-coded Hong Kong | On the third day of the Lunar New Year, it is traditionally inadvisable to head out of the house, brave traffic ( foot or otherwise), and mingle. It’ s the day of the “ red mouth ”, and belief has it that people are more likely to get into arguments, invite misfortune and ruin the rest of the year. | business |
Meridian Bioscience Lyo-Ready 1-Step RT-qPCR Mix is Used in the Development of Molecular Diagnostics for New Coronavirus Outbreak | CINCINNATI, Jan. 27, 2020 ( GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Meridian Bioscience, Inc. ( NASDAQ: VIVO) today announced a novel coronavirus, identified by Chinese authorities on January 7 and currently named 2019-nCoV, is a new strain that had not been previously identified in humans. The outbreak started on the Chinese city of Wuhan, 56 people have already died and more than 2,000 confirmed infected. This new virus has already spread to other parts of mainland China and several other countries and health authorities around the world are taking action to prevent a global epidemic.
The World Health Organization ( WHO) has provided interim guidance to laboratories and stakeholders involved in laboratory testing of patients who meet the definition of suspected case of pneumonia associated with 2019-nCoV. Sequence information from the 2019-nCoV has recently been made available and diagnostic companies and laboratories in China have turned to Meridian’ s Lyo-Ready 1-Step RT-qPCR Mix to develop fast and accurate screening assays. Meridian’ s manufacturing team is working diligently to meet the supply of critical reagents for the detection of Coronavirus and fast response to the outbreak.
Dr. Liang Zhang, General Manager for Meridian in China, commented, “ The advantage of the Meridian Lyo-Ready 1-Step RT-qPCR Mix is that the assay can be set up and freeze-dried, so that they are highly stable, just requiring the patient sample to be added and the assay run. This means that patients can be screened very quickly to help stop the spread of this virus. We are pleased to have a reagent that works so well and makes economic sense for Coronavirus diagnostics during these times of great urgency. ”
Dr. Steve Hawkins, Product Marketing Manager added. “ Over the last few days we have seen significant demand for our Lyo-Ready One-Step RT-qPCR Mix. This ready-to-use, lyophilization-friendly mix is designed to improve the accuracy of assays, increase operational efficiencies and reduce their overall costs, making screening fast and affordable, upholding our commit to bringing innovation and quality products to the IVD community, especially in times of need. ”
For complete information, please visit meridianlifescience.com/molecular-dx-reagents. | business |
Coronavirus: ACI World releases disease transmission airport advice | Airports Council International ( ACI) World has issued an advisory bulletin for airports after the outbreak of coronavirus in China and other parts of the world.
Visit our Covid-19 microsite for the latest coronavirus news, analysis and updates
Follow the latest updates of the outbreak on our timeline.
Airports Council International ( ACI) World has issued an advisory bulletin for airports after the outbreak of coronavirus in China and other parts of the world.
The new virus, which first appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December, has so far killed 81 people and infected around 3,000 others.
Related
The organisation stated that national regulators and health authorities will soon issue different measures that will affect the airport and aviation industry.
The guidelines, published in a report named ‘ Advisory Bulletin: Transmission of Communicable Diseases’, should be adapted to the local situation.
ACI World’ s report states that the airport operator and authorities should develop an airport plan, including aspects such as communication, screening, entry / exit controls and coordination with the health authority.
It also states that relevant information regarding the disease and symptoms should be shared with passengers using social media, radio and signage in the airport.
Screening measures adopted by airports should be complementary to the type of communicable disease in order to reduce its international spread.
However, the organisation stated that if the transmission of the disease has occurred during the incubation period, the impact of screening is expected to be significantly lowered.
This is expected to have happened with the coronavirus, but local requirements should be followed.
Airports have been asked to refer to the guidelines for airport preparedness by ACI World.
ACI World director general Angela Gittens said: “ The health and welfare of travellers, staff and the public, and to reduce the opportunities for dissemination of communicable diseases, are the priorities for the aviation industry following the recent novel coronavirus outbreak.
“ The guidance we have issued today reiterates a number of options and best practices that airports and national authorities can use to protect against communicable diseases that might pose a serious risk to public health. | general |
FTSE 100 slides on coronavirus fears | The FTSE 100 index, which had recovered on Friday after the World Health Organisation issued a measured assessment of the virus, stumbled 2.3%. The midcaps slid 2.1%, their steepest one-day decline in more than a year.
All but three stocks ended in negative territory on the main bourse.
News that China's death toll from the coronavirus discovered at the end of last year has risen to 81 dragged an index of leisure and airline stocks <.FTNMX5750 > down 2.6% to its worst day in more than three and a half years.
Roughly 6% has been wiped off the index since last week.
The sector is exposed to a slowdown in the travel market because of the outbreak, with some standout individual losers including British Airways owner IAG, which dropped 5.4%, and China-exposed luxury brand Burberry, down 4.6%.
Asia-focused financials HSBC, Prudential and Standard Chartered skidded 3.5% -5% as businesses shut shops and the Chinese government lengthened the week-long Lunar New Year holiday by three days to try to contain the outbreak.
Chinese state television reported that 2,835 cases of the virus had been recorded, with countries including the United States and Singapore having confirmed the spread of the virus.
`` This has the potential to really rattle markets. And with stock markets having been at or very near all-time highs before all this broke, this is a perfect selling opportunity, '' Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson wrote.
`` If politics is hard to grasp for most buysiders then virology is impossible – that is enough reason to see de-risking to happen; although I would still anticipate dips to be bought. ''
Sustained falls in travel-related bluechip stocks and sectors exposed to China, including miners and oil majors, over the last few trading sessions have left the main index with a 2% loss so far this year.
( Graphic: Travel and related stocks - https: //fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/buzzifr/15/5502/5502/Pasted% 20Image.jpg)
By Muvija M | business |
China Cancels Group Trips as Coronavirus Control Measures Expand | Get exclusive stories and unlimited access to Skift.com news
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Steven Schwankert, Skift
January 26th, 2020 at 9:15 PM EST
It’ s going to be a long, cold winter for China’ s travel industry and for businesses that rely on outbound Chinese tourists, as the novel coronavirus epidemic expands, and people stay put during China’ s biggest travel season.
Steven Schwankert
China has cancelled all domestic and outbound group tours until further notice as cases of novel coronavirus mount and non-essential travel activities grind to a halt during what is traditionally China’ s busiest travel season.
As of 7:30 p.m. China time Sunday night, more than 2,000 cases of the virulent respiratory infection had been reported around the country, with most still centered in the central China city of Wuhan, population 11 million. Fifty-six deaths have been confirmed by health officials, according to The Associated Press.
On Saturday night China time, the China Travel Service Association ( CTSA) announced the temporary suspension of all group tours and package trips, what it referred to as “ hotel and air ticket services, ” both within China and abroad. Trips already underway are allowed to continue to completion, as are any scheduled before Monday, January 27, CTSA said. CTSA’ s statement followed an order from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on January 24 to halt sales of group tours and travel packages.
Also on Saturday, Trip.com, China’ s largest travel services company, said in a statement it was expanding its “ cancellation guarantee ” policy to cover bookings at 30,000 global hotels to offer refunds for bookings between January 24 and midnight on February 8.
Domestic travelers who decide to go ahead with their trips and inbound tourists wanting to get in on Chinese New Year celebrations are guaranteed to be disappointed, as major attractions around China, including Hong Kong, are already shut. Those sites include the Forbidden City and sections of the Great Wall of China near Beijing, Shanghai Disneyland and Hong Kong Disneyland, and Hong Kong’ s Ocean Park, despite those cities being hundreds or more miles from Wuhan.
All flights, train service, ferries, and inter-city buses out of Wuhan were cancelled beginning Thursday morning. Flights and trains continue to run in other parts of the country and internationally, although traveler volume is down 40-50 percent on both, according to China Central Television Sunday evening.
The suspensions and closures come against the background of what is usually China’ s biggest travel period. Hundreds of millions of people travel during Chinese New Year to celebrate with family, a week-long national holiday. In recent years, many have begun using the time off to visit other parts of the country, or increasingly, to travel abroad.
The blow may be lessened by the fact that outbound travel in 2018 and 2019 was initiated increasingly before the holiday, which began this year on Friday, January 24, and grew 18.8 percent year on year in 2019, according to travel business analysis firm ForwardKeys.
It could be weeks before the impact on the travel industry will be known. Already China’ s government is hinting at an extension of the holiday period, with some school districts and universities pushing the beginning of new terms to mid-February, instead of resuming on or close to February 1, when the public holiday ends.
“ This is a very serious situation for Chinese travel agencies, who facilitate a significant amount of outbound travel during the Chinese New Year period and may have difficulties being able to refund consumers with such short notice, ” said Sienna Parulis-Cook, communications manager for UK-based Dragon Trail Interactive.
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Steven Schwankert, Skift
January 26th, 2020 at 9:15 PM EST
Tags: china, coronavirus
Photo credit: China's National Health Commission said it is bringing in medical teams ( pictured here) to help handle the outbreak and the Chinese military dispatched 450 medical staff, some with experience in past outbreaks, including SARS and Ebola. Uncredited / Associated Press
Subscribe to Skift Pro to get unlimited access to stories like these ( $ 25/month) | general |
In bid to curb virus, China firms tell staff to work from home even after holidays end | The government has lengthened the week-long Lunar New Year holiday by three days to Feb. 2 in a bid to contain the virus which has killed 81. The total number of confirmed cases on Monday jumped about 30% to more than 2,700.
But many big businesses are going one step further, telling employees to work from home until Friday, Feb. 7 and not return to their offices until Monday, Feb. 10.
Alibaba said the measure applied across all its divisions, including to workers in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau as well as in mainland China. It employs more than 100,000 people worldwide, most of whom are in China.
The Shanghai government also imposed a similar measure, announcing that all companies in the city would not be allowed to start work before Feb. 9, as did the nearby city of Suzhou, home to a big industrial park for pharmaceutical firms and tech companies.
The decision by the Shanghai government will affect companies such as Tesla Inc, General Motors and Volkswagen which either own factories or operate them in the city through ventures with local partners.
Tiktok owner Bytedance was among the most stringent, requiring employees who travelled during the holidays to quarantine themselves and work from home for 14 days. Staff who had not travelled could start working from the office from Feb.10, though that date could change, according to an internal note seen by Reuters. Bytedance declined to comment.
Wuhan, a city of 11 million and the epicentre of the outbreak, is already in virtual lockdown and severe limits on movement are in place in several other Chinese cities.
E-commerce firm Pinduoduo, UBS Group AG and property developer Country Garden have also advised employees returning from Wuhan or Hubei province to quarantine themselves at home.
Haidilao International Holding, operator of a popular hotpot restaurant chain, said it would shut stores across China from Sunday to Friday - one of the biggest temporary closures by a nationwide chain to date.
Other brands such as Starbucks Corp have closed shops in Hubei province. Walt Disney Co's Shanghai Disney Resort said last week it will close until further notice.
In Hong Kong, where the holiday break is shorter, the stock exchange cancelled a Wednesday ceremony for the first trading day of the Lunar New Year, citing the increasing risks of the coronavirus infection.
The decision comes after Hong Kong banned residents of Hubei from entering the territory from Monday.
As companies brace for the virus to hit business, China's financial regulators said they were encouraging banks to lower lending rates for sectors heavily affected by the outbreak.
The Chinese-ruled gambling hub of Macau said it would bar anyone who has been in Hubei province within 14 days of their arrival from entering the city's casinos.
( Reporting by Josh Horwitz in Shanghi and Yingzhi Yang in Beijing; Additional reporting by Alun John and Clare Jim in Hong Kong and Pei Li, Yilei Sun and Winni Zhou in Beijing; Writing by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
By Josh R. Horwitz and Yingzhi Yang | business |
African countries brace for China's Wuhan coronavirus — Quartz Africa | African officials are scrambling to prepare the Wuhan coronavirus potential spread among Africans living in China.
There are an estimated 4,600 students from African countries studying in Hubei province where the capital city of Wuhan has become the ground zero for the deadly virus’ spread, according to Development Reimagined, an international development consultancy in Beijing. But there are also other African nationals in Hubei province outside the academic community.
The onset of the coronavirus comes at a challenging time for China. The Lunar New Year, one of China’ s most important holidays, began on Jan. 25. With the start of the holiday brought increased travel by Chinese nationals within China and abroad, as well as students studying abroad in China. Cases of the virus have been detected in Thailand, Japan, the Republic of South Korea, USA, France and Australia, according to the World Health Organization ( WHO).
Some African students have traveled back to their country of origin during the holiday vacation. Two days ago, a 34- year old student arriving on a flight from Beijing to the Ivory Coast was hospitalized after displaying flu-like symptoms. She is currently still in the hospital for testing.
Other students have opted to stay in China during the holiday, in order to conserve time and financial resources. They are facing the fallout from the deadly virus along with the rest of China’ s worried populous.
The city of Wuhan has been on lockdown since last Thursday, without any notice of when movement in and out of the city will be allowed again.
Accounts by African students studying at universities in Wuhan report the authorities have been diligent in providing masks, hand sanitizers and information to aid students in protecting themselves from contracting the virus. The biggest worry for students right now seems to be a potential shortage of food.
“ In the beginning when they announced the shutdown, you could see that stores were running out of food. People were worried like…do we have enough? ”, Wilson, an African student studying in Wuhan told BlackLivity.
No cases of African nationals contracting the virus within China have been reported. But, that could change quickly. Though Africans students are receiving support from their universities, African nationals living and working in China independent of the university system remain vulnerable. The major issue is that the true burden of ensuring the safety of African nationals falls on the shoulders of African governments themselves, a task that is proving difficult.
At present, there is no African government with an embassy or consulate in Wuhan, leaving officials to rely on support from the consulates including France, Korea, US, UK on the ground in the city.
“ The ambassadors in China are also regularly sharing advice from WHO with citizens on WeChat groups, ” says Hannah Ryder CEO of Development Reimagined. “ It seems the embassies mostly feel there is not much more they can do beyond sharing information and keeping in touch, and at the same time making sure the authorities remember the large numbers of Africans there ”.
Compounding this issue is that a number of African embassies were closed for the Lunar New Year holiday prior to the outbreak.
Several African governments have issued statements for nationals abroad and at home to raise awareness about the coronavirus including Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia and South Africa. Most have appealed for calm even as they’ ve upped their health checks at national ports of entry. The African Union said in a statement it is “ very much concerned ” and coordinating with the various states, but still expects the “ main role ” to remain with each country.
In recent years many African countries have seen a large increase in travel to China of their citizens and from Chinese visitors. China now has more African students than the United States or the United Kingdom.
The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation announced on Monday that it will issue $ 5 million in funding to China and is partnering with public and private actors to help contain the spread of the virus as well as $ 5 million to assist the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
* Corrections:
A previous version of the story had previously said African students in Wuhan were from just 12 countries, the students in Hubei province are from more than 12 African countries.
* A statement previously attributed to the African Union has been amended to a correct statement.
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Is Southwest Airlines Ready To Take Off? |
The fact that shares were able to catch a bid all the way into Friday’ s close tells us just how much more there can be to a company’ s earnings release than a simple beat or miss on expectations.
The report might have been a miss, but it was a miss that was somewhat out of their control. Investors looking at the official press release would have noticed the very first bullet point informing us that EPS was off by $ 0.18 as a result of their employee profit sharing program which was significantly higher following their $ 125 million settlement with Boeing ( NYSE: BA) in light of the MAX 737 disasters. Southwest has been one of the hardest hit carriers by the grounding of the planes following two deadly crashes earlier last year. They had more MAX planes in their fleet than any other airline in the world at the time of the groundings and Gary Kelly, their CEO, estimated upwards of an $ 800 million drop in operating income as a result.
But for all that, the company was still able to keep revenue in the black and achieved a remarkable 47th consecutive year of profitability while expanding its coverage to new airports, most notably in Hawaii.
Kelly said `` our operational and financial performances in 2019 were truly remarkable. With the ongoing uncertainty regarding the timing of the MAX return to commercial service, we remained nimble and adjusted our 2019 plans, as necessary, without abandoning our long-term goals. Our financial strength and preparedness for unexpected challenges allowed for sustained high levels of profits, earnings per share, returns on capital, cash flows, and returns to shareholders; continued capital investments and growth in California and Hawaii; and job security for our resilient Employees. We continue to incur financial damages in 2020, and we will continue discussions with Boeing regarding further compensation. ”
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Having traded largely flat for 2019, last week’ s action shows that Wall Street obviously agrees with much of Kelly’ s optimism and belief in the company’ s self-sufficiency. Compared to the other heavyweights that Southwest competes with, for example American ( NYSE: AAL), United ( NYSE: UAL) and Delta ( NYSE: DAL), Southwest’ s stock is one of the most robust. Over the past seven years, their shares are up over 400% compared to 325% for Delta, 240% for United and 5%, yes five percent, for American. Over the past six months, Southwest shares are up 13% compared to -1% for Delta, -6% for United and -4% for American.
As they and other airlines have started reporting their latest earnings, the consensus among industry analysts is that consumer demand remains strong despite the Boeing 737 scandal. Even as it starts to look like the launch date for the new model is going to be well pushed back from the original dates, Southwest still looks best positioned of the major carriers to weather the storm.
In the meantime, the extra dollars that would have been used to purchase more 737s mean the company’ s free cash flow has greatly increased so there are more dollars available for investors via dividends and buybacks, two things Southwest have prided themselves on delivering.
Technically, shares have a solid rising trend line that’ s been in play since 2014 and which is starting to form a tightening pennant with a downtrend from the stock’ s all-time highs from the end of 2017. As the range narrows, this is suggesting that shares are approaching an upcoming inflection point and considering they’ ve shown themselves to be resilient during the tough times, any further settlements from and progress with Boeing should only serve to drive the case for a breakout to the upside.
10 Dividend Aristocrat Stocks to Buy Now
The stock market is having its worst week since the financial crisis. For some investors, a flight to safety has them getting out of the market. But other investors are taking a flight to quality. And when it comes to quality in equities, these are the moments when dividend stocks shine. Already JPMorgan Chase ( NYSE: JPM), Morgan Stanley ( NYSE: MS) and Goldman Sachs ( NYSE: GS) are projecting that the coronavirus may wipe out corporate earnings growth for 2020. If investors can’ t count on their equities to provide capital gains, they look to dividends to boost their total return. But like any investment, not all dividend stocks are alike. Some of the best dividend stocks are the dividend aristocrats. By definition, for a company to become a dividend aristocrat, they must have at least 25 consecutive years of dividend growth ( not just issued a dividend). These companies have a proven track record of weathering market turbulence and delivering solid performance. And, right now, there are only 64 of these companies. In this presentation, we’ ll give you 10 dividend aristocrat stocks you can invest in right now.
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Is AT & T a Buy as Earnings Approach? | AT & T ( NYSE: T) will announce earnings before the market opens on January 29. The consensus estimate is for the company to report earnings of 87 cents per share and revenue of $ 46.97 billion. The earnings would be a 1 cent per share increase from the same quarter last year. The revenue, however, would be down just over 2% from the prior year.
This would mark the second consecutive quarter that AT & T beat on earnings but fell short on revenue. One reason for the miss on revenue is the company’ s loss of traditional video subscribers. However, in the third quarter, AT & T saw a 3.7 million net increase in wireless subscribers. The company expects that this number will continue to grow. And since the company’ s wireless division generates the most significant portion of AT & T’ s revenue, this would be welcome news.
Where is AT & T stock today?
Shares of AT & T are up nearly 25% in the last 12 months, but have been largely flat thus far in 2020.
Like many telecom stocks, AT & T is commonly viewed as a defensive stock for investors and with good reason. The company is a dividend aristocrat that has increased its dividend for 35 consecutive years. The dividend has grown at an average rate of 2% per year. The stock currently has a dividend yield of over 5%.
5G or Not 5G? Where is the Growth Coming From?
Much of the noise about the telecom industry has been about the emerging 5G technology. AT & T, along with its competitors Verizon ( NYSE: VZ) and T-Mobile ( NASDAQ: TMUS), is one of the best pure plays in 5G. But like the other companies, AT & T is being slightly held back while the 5G infrastructure is built out throughout the nation.
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Even with that said, AT & T is continuing to expand its 5G network. In early January, the company’ s CFO John Joseph Stephens told attendees at a Citi Conference that AT & T had 5G-plus service running in 35 cities with an additional 20 cities up and running for 5G.
This is significant because AT & T is in a fierce war with T-Mobile to build a 5G network. In December, the company had launched its 5G service in 10 markets. And although the company’ s 5G network is a “ low band ” network it is faster than T-Mobile’ s network. And AT & T is expecting a boost from the launch of 5G phones. To that end, the Samsung ( OTCMKTS: SSNLF) Galaxy Note 10+ is currently available nationwide.
For investors, this leaves a question. Is AT & T’ s growth in 2019 factoring in what 5G is or what 5G will be?
AT & T Has Opportunities Beyond 5G
AT & T has another element to its business model that some say is a benefit, while others say it will drag the stock down. The company spent a significant amount of money to acquire content from Time-Warner. This new business unit which is called WarnerMedia and includes HBO is a way for AT & T to enter the streaming wars. This unit accounted for $ 33 billion in 2018.
But will this acquisition provide a boost for the stock? Some analysts are skeptical for two reasons. First, they are concerned that AT & T is late to the party. Second, there is concern about whether consumers will be drawn to the Time-Warner content when they have other streaming options to choose from, including Disney’ s ( NYSE: DIS) new service Disney+.
Another roadblock for the stock is DirecTV. In an era of cord cutting, AT & T saw a 16% decline in subscribers in 2019. Analysts are suggesting a further erosion of this audience in 2020, but at a slower rate. One anchor for this segment may be DirecTV’ s continued contract with the National Football League as the exclusive provider for NFL Sunday Ticket. There is some concern that AT & T will not choose to continue with the Sunday Ticket when the current contract ends. However, DirectTV still holds the contract through at least the upcoming 2020 season.
And DirecTV generates a significant profit margin from Sunday Ticket subscribers. In fact, many subscribers only choose DirecTV because of the Sunday Ticket package. Even if AT & T loses “ seasonal subscribers ” who only have DirecTV to get access to the Sunday Ticket, those customers are likely to come back when the 2020 season starts.
What’ s next for AT & T stock?
Analysts are giving AT & T stock a consensus rating of hold. Their 12-month price target would suggest that analysts perceive that there are better values for investors. The Warner Media story has yet to be written, but I don’ t see it as having a significant impact on the stock. Verizon is the only competitor that can match AT & T’ s ability to maximize the potential of 5G in the near term. So AT & T’ s core business should continue to grow. And for investors driven by fundamentals, they can look at AT & T’ s PE ratio which at 17.16 is very favorable to Verizon.
6 Stocks That Will Benefit From a Dovish Federal Reserve
The quaint correction that was labeled the “ tech wreck ” of 2018 seems like a distant memory to investors. What also seems like a distant memory is any thought of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates. At the end of 2018, the Federal Reserve had raised its benchmark federal funds rate. With the trade dispute with China dragging on, there was increasing pressure on the Fed to lower interest rates. When interest rates are lower, stocks will generally rise as investors have no other option for growth. In July 2019, the doves got their wish. But in a move that now seems to be a “ what did they know move ”, the Fed dropped rates again in October. The market soared to record highs in January and early February. Since mid-February however, the market has fallen dramatically, and the Fed juiced the market one more time by cutting rates down to levels not seen since the financial crisis. None of us know for sure when the U.S. economy will be opened up. And while stocks are still a good investment, not every stock is a smart investment at this time. But some stocks perform well when interest rates are falling and that’ s why we’ ve prepared this presentation. These six stocks stand to benefit from both low-interest rates and the unique economic conditions being brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Can an anti-HIV combination or other existing drugs outwit the new coronavirus? | A patient arrives at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital in China on 25 January. Scientists in Wuhan have already set up a study to test existing antiviral drugs against a new virus, according to a paper in The Lancet.
By Jon CohenJan. 27, 2020, 5:30 PM
When a frightening new virus emerges in humans, scientists spend many months, if not years, developing and testing a vaccine. Finding new treatments, too, takes a long time, but there is another option: Try existing drugs to see whether they have activity against the new virus.
In the case of the novel coronavirus ( 2019-nCoV), researchers are already trying antivirals widely used to treat HIV, in hopes they might be able to fight the coronavirus as well. Other, still experimental antivirals—including one that was unsuccessfully tested against Ebola last year—may also hold promise.
The Jin Yintan Hospital in Wuhan, China, where the first 41 known patients were treated, has already launched a randomized, controlled trial of the anti-HIV drug combination of lopinavir and ritonavir, according to a 24 January report by a group of Chinese scientists in The Lancet. The combination targets protease, an enzyme used by both HIV and coronaviruses to cut up proteins when they make new copies of themselves. ( A spokesperson for the biopharmaceutical company Abbvie tells ScienceInsider it has donated $ 2 million worth of the combo, which it markets under the brand name Aluvia, to the Chinese government.)
There is some evidence that the treatment might work, the authors of The Lancet paper write: A study published in 2004 showed that the combination showed “ substantial clinical benefit ” when given to patients who had severe acute respiratory syndrome ( SARS), which is caused by a coronavirus similar to 2019-nCoV.
But that study did not randomize patients to receive the treatment or a placebo, the gold standard for controlled trials. Rather, it compared patients given the two protease inhibitors plus ribavirin, a drug that interferes with viral replication, with SARS patients who earlier received ribavirin alone. The researchers saw an “ apparent improved outcome ” in the former group, which they said argued for setting up a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. But no SARS cases have been reported since 2004, and the trial never took place.
Protease inhibitors are also being tested against a third coronavirus. Saudi Arabia now has a carefully designed study underway in which patients with Middle East respiratory syndrome ( MERS) receive either the lopinavir/ritonavir combination plus interferon beta-1b, which boosts immune responses by unclear mechanisms, or a placebo. MERS is more distant on the family tree of coronaviruses from 2019-nCoV than SARS, however. And in a mouse study led by Ralph Baric of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and published online in Nature Communications on 10 January, this drug cocktail had decidedly lackluster results.
Baric explains that proteins in the human body bind 99% of these protease inhibitors, leaving little of them to fight viruses. “ They’ re effective against HIV because it’ s so damn sensitive to the drug, ” Baric says. Coronaviruses, by comparison, are insensitive. “ You can not achieve a free level of drug in a human that will allow it to work. ''
Remdesivir has had activity against every coronavirus we’ ve tested, and I’ d be surprised if it didn’ t have activity against this one.
Baric’ s study also tested interferon beta-1b with an experimental drug made by Gilead, remdesivir, that interferes with the viral polymerase enzyme. MERS-infected mice given this combination fared far better, with reduced viral replication and improved lung function. It might work against 2019-nCoV as well. “ Remdesivir has had activity against every coronavirus we’ ve tested, and I’ d be surprised if it didn’ t have activity against this one, ” says co-author Mark Denison, a virologist at Vanderbilt University who has studied coronaviruses since 1984. ( Remdesivir was also tested against Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo last year, but it didn’ t do nearly as well as two other treatments.)
But the researchers caution that the mouse model only approximates MERS in humans. And regardless of which drugs are used, they have a better chance of working if given soon after infection, Denison says. “ The challenge with SARS, MERS, this novel coronavirus, and other viruses that cause severe pneumonia is the window of opportunity, ” he says. Remdesivir is good at knocking down virus levels in the body, Denison says, “ but you have to get to patients early if you want to have significant impact on disease. ” Many people with respiratory infections only seek care when they develop severe symptoms, however, several days after they get sick.
Yuen Kwok-Yung, a microbiologist at the University of Hong Kong who co-authored a comprehensive analysis of potential coronavirus treatments in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery in 2016, agrees that remdesivir is the most promising drug for 2019-nCoV and MERS. “ However this drug is not available in Hong Kong and China, ” Yuen says. He says scientists in Hong Kong—which as of 27 January had eight confirmed cases of 2019-nCoV—will also likely test lopinavir/ritonavir in combination with interferon beta-1b in randomized, controlled studies, assuming they see more patients.
Development of entirely new treatments has started as well. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has developed monoclonal antibodies to treat MERS that are now being tested in early human studies. A company spokesperson told ScienceInsider that researchers there have begun to identify similar antibodies that might work against 2019-nCoV. With Ebola, it took Regeneron only 6 months to develop candidate treatments and test them in animal models, the spokesperson noted. ( A cocktail of these antibodies later came out on top in the clinical trial that also tested remdesivir, reducing mortality from Ebola by 94% when given soon after the onset of illness.)
The ideal treatment for 2019-nCoV may well be a drug like remdesivir plus monoclonal antibodies, Denison says. “ The idea of using those in combination would have profoundly good prospects. ” | science |
Scientists are moving at record speed to create new coronavirus vaccines—but they may come too late | Staff sell face masks at a pharmacy in Wuhan, China, the epicenter of a novel coronavirus outbreak, on 22 January.
By Jon CohenJan. 27, 2020, 6:30 AM
In the stock pandemic movie, scientists are frantically working on concoctions to stop the spread of a newly emerging virus—and by the end, voila, they succeed and save the world. In the real world, vaccines played limited, if any, roles in slowing the Zika epidemic that walloped Latin America in 2016, the devastating 2014–16 West African Ebola epidemic, and the pandemic flu that began to circulate in 2009. The shots just weren’ t ready in time.
This time, with infections of a novel coronavirus exploding in China—case numbers soared to more than 2700 the past 24 hours—and racing around the world, scientists contend they are better prepared than ever to produce a vaccine at Hollywood speed. Of course, the 2019-novel coronavirus ( 2019-nCoV), as it is now dubbed, has a solid lead in the race, and by the time a vaccine proves its worth in a clinical trial and manufacturers scale up production, it once again may be too late to make a significant dent in the course of the epidemic. But scientists hope they can make a difference.
One sign of the breakneck pace was the announcement on 23 January by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations ( CEPI) that it will give three companies a total of $ 12.5 million to develop 2019-CoV vaccines. A nonprofit formed in 2016 solely to fund and shepherd the development of new vaccines against emerging infectious diseases, CEPI is trying to have vaccines developed and tested faster than any previous effort, anywhere, ever. “ This is what CEPI was created to do, ” says CEO Richard Hatchett.
Each of the three efforts that CEPI supports began within hours after Chinese researchers first posted a sequence of 2019-CoV in a public database. That happened on Friday evening, 10 January, in Bethesda, Maryland, home of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases ( NIAID). Barney Graham, deputy director of NIAID’ s Vaccine Research Center, began to analyze the sequence with his team on Saturday morning. The following Monday, Graham discussed his findings with researchers at Moderna, a vaccinemaker. On Tuesday, they signed a deal to collaborate.
Moderna makes vaccines by converting viral sequences into messenger RNA ( mRNA). When injected into the body, the mRNA causes the body to produce a viral protein that can trigger the desired immune response. Moderna already has nine vaccines in clinical trials that use the mRNA “ platform, ” says Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’ s CEO. “ It was a really, really hard scientific challenge to make the first one, but once you get the first one working, the next one becomes really easy: You get the sequence, and this is just another one, ” Bancel says. “ It’ s the same manufacturing process by the same group in the same room. ”
One of the nine vaccines, also codeveloped with NIAID, targets Middle East respiratory syndrome ( MERS), a disease caused by a different but similar coronavirus that occasionally infects people in the Middle East. Tested only in animals so far, the MERS vaccine relies on a protein on the viral surface called the spike. In theory, all the team needs to do is swap in the genetic sequence for 2019-nCoV’ s spike to make the new product. “ We have a lot of information about how to make [ the spike ], ” Graham says. The MERS spike protein produces stronger immune responses when it’ s in a “ stabilized ” conformation, and so his team has tweaked the mRNA accordingly. It hopes to apply the same trick to 2019-nCoV.
Nobody knows what’ s going to happen. We’ re all hoping we’ ll never need this vaccine.
Inovio, another company working on a 2019-nCoV vaccine with help from CEPI, began its project that same Saturday morning. Inovio produces vaccines made of DNA. It also has a MERS vaccine—which is further along than Moderna’ s, already having entered human trials—that also relies on the spike protein. “ Our team worked around the clock and was able to design a spike-focused vaccine by that Sunday night, ” says CEO J. Joseph Kim.
Both Moderna and Inovio say they could have enough vaccine produced 1 month from now to begin animal testing. Kim says he’ s looking forward to the race. “ We’ re starting at the exact same time and this is a great opportunity for us to go mano a mano with Moderna, ” Kim says. “ I like our chances. ”
CEPI’ s third grant is going to researchers at the University of Queensland. They are developing a vaccine consisting of viral proteins produced in cell cultures, an older technology. Molecular virologist Keith Chappell, one of the project’ s leaders, says the “ aspirational goal ” is to have a candidate vaccine ready for human tests 16 weeks from now. “ This is incredibly ambitious and we can provide no guarantee that we can meet this target, ” Chappell says. “ Our team is working as hard and fast as we possibly can. It is reassuring to us that we are not the only team tasked with a response. ”
Once candidate vaccines are available, researchers will test them in animals to see whether they are safe and produce an immune response. If so, companies will have to receive regulatory approvals to launch phase I human trials, which test safety and immune responses in small numbers of volunteers who are not at risk of the disease. In the case of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, approval typically takes 1 month. NIAID already has a vaccine trial network in place that plans to stage the phase I study of the Moderna vaccine; NIAID Director Anthony Fauci expects the trial could start within 3 months.
In parallel to the human trials, researchers will want to test the vaccine’ s ability to protect animals intentionally exposed to the virus. That will require engineering a mouse model or finding another animal species—likely monkeys—that scientists can reliably infect with 2019-nCoV. “ We’ re building the airplane as we’ re flying, ” Kim says.
In the best-case scenario, Graham says, the Moderna vaccine will perform well in phase I studies and be ready for larger, real-world efficacy tests in humans by summer. But previous efforts to race forward new vaccines during epidemics have hit unanticipated speed bumps. “ I’ m a little more circumspect about the timeline, ” Hatchett says.
Even when experimental vaccines work in clinical trials, mass producing them quickly is inevitably a huge challenge. If Moderna devoted all of its vaccine manufacturing capabilities to one product, it could make 100 million doses in a year, Bancel says. Inovio can only produce 100,000 doses a year now, but is “ actively speaking with a larger manufacturer, ” Kim says, which could increase their output to “ multimillion ” doses. The Queensland team says it could make 200,000 doses in 6 months.
None of that even comes close to what might be needed to protect the world’ s population in the worst-case scenario. But if the new coronavirus is seasonal in nature, as many respiratory viruses are, time might be on the vaccinemakers’ side. Influenza, for instance, in most of the world typically transmits in winter and disappears in summer. “ If [ 2019-nCoV ] behaves anything like flu, there will be seasonal transmission and then it will go down and there will be a recrudescence in the fall, ” Hatchett says. “ So it could be even 1 year down the road before we see a large wave of disease. And it could be that a vaccine then plays a role in a timely fashion. ” Widespread infection in populations—which may be happening in Wuhan, China, now—can also lead to lasting immunity in many people, reducing the need for a vaccine.
Bancel says the preparation of the vaccine is ultimately a precautionary measure. “ Nobody knows what’ s going to happen, ” he says. “ We’ re all hoping we’ ll never need this vaccine. ” | science |
Experts Warn of Possible Sustained Global Spread of New Coronavirus | Some infectious disease experts are warning that it may no longer be feasible to contain the new coronavirus circulating in China. Failure to stop it there could see the virus spread in a sustained way around the world and even perhaps join the ranks of respiratory viruses that regularly infect people.
“ The more we learn about it, the greater the possibility is that transmission will not be able to be controlled with public health measures, ” said Dr. Allison McGeer, a Toronto-based infectious disease specialist who contracted SARS in 2003 and who helped Saudi Arabia control several hospital-based outbreaks of MERS.
If that’ s the case, she said, “ we’ re living with a new human virus, and we’ re going to find out if it will spread around the globe. ” McGeer cautioned that because the true severity of the outbreak isn’ t yet known, it’ s impossible to predict what the impact of that spread would be, though she noted it would likely pose significant challenges to health care facilities.
The pessimistic assessment comes from both researchers studying the dynamics of the outbreak—the rate at which cases are rising in and emerging from China—and infectious diseases experts who are parsing the first published studies describing cases to see if public health tools such as isolation and quarantine could as effective in this outbreak as they were in the 2003 SARS epidemic.
And the warnings come as the United States reported over the weekend finding three more cases, the country’ s third, fourth, and fifth. Two were diagnosed in California. One is a traveler from Wuhan, where the outbreak is believed to have started, who was diagnosed in Orange County. The other is someone who visited Wuhan who was diagnosed in Los Angeles County. The fifth case was diagnosed in Arizona and is a student at Arizona State University; the person had also traveled to Wuhan.
Confirmed infections within China climbed to nearly 2,750 and the death toll rose to 80.
China’ s health minister, Ma Xiaowei, warned Sunday that the virus seems to be becoming more transmissible and the country—which has taken unprecedentedly draconian steps to control the virus—was entering a “ crucial stage. ”
China’ s actions—which include shutting off flights and trains from some affected cities and effectively putting tens of millions of people into quarantine—may not be enough to stop the virus, experts said.
“ Despite the enormous and admirable efforts in China and around the world, we need to plan for the possibility containment of this epidemic isn’ t possible, ” said Neil Ferguson, an infectious diseases epidemiology at Imperial College London who has issued a series of modeling studies on the outbreak.
There may be as many as 100,000 cases already in China, Ferguson told The Guardian newspaper on Sunday, adding the model suggests the number could be between 30,000 and 200,000 cases. “ Almost certainly many tens of thousands of people are infected, ” he told the British newspaper.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced Sunday it is donating $ 10 million to the response to the virus. Half the money will be given to Chinese groups to help them in containment efforts. The other half will be given to the African Center for Disease Control to fund its efforts to help African countries prepare to have to cope with the new infection.
Also on Sunday, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted that he is traveling to Beijing to meet with Chinese authorities to offer support and to learn more about the outbreak.
The WHO so far has not declared the outbreak a global health emergency, though Tedros, as he is know, has said the spread of the new virus is a crisis for China and a risk to countries beyond it. The WHO declined to label the outbreak a global health emergency of international concern on the advice of a panel of experts who met Wednesday and Thursday, though those experts were split on whether a PHEIC should be declared.
This outbreak is caused by a virus—currently known as 2019-nCoV—that belongs to the same family as the viruses that caused the SARS outbreak and which cause sporadic flare-ups of cases of MERS on the Arabian Peninsula.
The SARS virus caused an explosive outbreak in late 2002 and early 2003, infecting more than 8,000 people around the globe and killing nearly 800 before it was contained. MERS has never caused a sustain global outbreak, though a number of large hospital-based outbreaks—including one in South Korea sparked by a businessman who contracted the virus in the Middle East—have been recorded.
One of the luckiest breaks the world got with the SARS outbreak was the fact that the virus did not transmit before people developed symptoms.
With some diseases, like influenza and measles, people who are infected but who are not yet feeling sick—people who are still going to work or school, taking public transit, shopping in malls, or going to movies—can pass the viruses to others.
Tools like quarantine and isolation—which were key to controlling SARS—are unlikely stop spread of a virus that can transmit during the period from infection to symptoms, experts say.
Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the agency knows transmission of the virus within the United States may be on the horizon.
“ We’ re leaning far forward. And we have been every step of the way with an aggressive stance to everything we can do in the U.S., ” she told STAT. “ And yet those of us who have been around long enough know that everything we do might not be enough to stop this from spreading in the U.S. ”
To date, at least 14 countries and territories outside of mainland China have reported nearly 60 cases. There have been no reports yet of unchecked spreading from those imported cases to others.
“ In hours where I’ m feeling optimistic I think about the fact that none of the other countries, including the U.S., have seen significant sustained chains of transmission, ” Messonnier said. “ But that doesn’ t mean that it’ s not coming. ”
It also appears that the incubation time—the time from infection to the development of symptoms—may be a bit shorter than that of SARS, McGeer said, citing a paper published Friday that described transmission within a family in Hong Kong. With SARS, most people developed symptoms about four or five days after infection, she said.
A short incubation period gives health authorities less time to track down and quarantine people who have been exposed to the virus and who are en route to becoming infectious.
Scientists who have been studying the genetic sequences of viruses from China and a few other of the countries that have recorded cases have calculated what is known as the reproductive rate of this outbreak—the number of people, on average, that each case will infect.
An outbreak with a reproductive number of below 1 will peter out. But a number of groups have calculated a reproductive rate for this current outbreak—known by the term R-naught or R0—in the range of 2 to 3 or beyond.
Trevor Bedford, a computational biologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, suggested the estimates are sobering and point to continued spread.
“ If it’ s not contained shortly, I think we are looking at a pandemic, ” Bedford said, though he cautioned that it’ s impossible to know at this point how severe that type of event would be.
Dr. Tom Inglesby, director of the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, urged countries to start planning to deal with global spread of the new virus. Such plans need to include far more aggressive efforts to develop a vaccine than have already been announced, he suggested.
“ I’ m not making a prediction that it’ s going to happen, ” Inglesby said, though he noted the mathematical modeling, the statements from Chinese authorities, and the sharply rising infection numbers make a case for this possible outcome. “ I think just based on those pieces of limited information, it’ s important for us to begin some planning around the possibility that this won’ t be contained. ”
Republished with permission from STAT. This article originally appeared on January 26 2020 | science |
Fosun International: - 240K Medical Protective Suits, 200K Masks Secured, Guangchang Thanks All Global Partners | During my two days in Davos, I have always been concerned about the domestic epidemic situation, and our global partners are also worried about the development of China's outbreak of Corona virus.
Having just returned from Davos this morning, I felt more strongly that the epidemic came with an extreme speed. Therefore, we immediately launched Fosun's global medical material procurement plan.
In about just 10 hours, through the coordination and joint efforts of multiple teams in many regions around the world, Fosun first purchased more than 240,000 sets of medical protective suits from France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal, Japan, India and other places while we also secured more than 200,000 medical masks. These materials will support the epidemic prevention and patient treatments as quickly as possible - an urgent task for my home country. After the first batch, more medical supplies are still being purchased and dispatched.
I would like to thank all our global partners and fellow classmates around the world, and they are the key for us being able to do it so quickly. Although Fosun's overseas staff are from different countries and speak different languages, this time When China is facing a major epidemic, all of our overseas colleagues coordinated local medical supplies immediately, bought as much as they could, and leveraged global resources to help prevent and control the epidemic. I am particularly proud of our global employees, who reminds me with great appreciation of what President Xi said before - This is an era of ' A community of A Shared Future for Mankind. ' Fosun's global classmates have united global resources for this community with our strength and wisdom are working together for the fate of all mankind.
Tomorrow is the Chinese New Year. We sincerely hope with the joy of the New Year; all the pain will pass quickly. We wish we all get better: healthier, happier, and wealthier.
Contact:
Ms. Betty Li
Email: IR @ fosun.com
( C) 2020 Electronic News Publishing, source ENP Newswire | business |
Capgemini passes first hurdle in Altran bid despite Elliott resistance | French consulting and IT services provider Capgemini ( CAPP.PA) succeeded in securing more than half of the capital of smaller rival Altran Technologies, the French market regulator AMF said on Monday, marking a win against U.S. activist fund Elliott.
The AMF said Capgemini holds 53.6% of Altran’ s share capital and at least 53.4% of the voting rights. The group - which faced a tussle with Altran shareholder Elliott over its offer price - had aimed to get the backing from just over half of Altran’ s investors to pursue its bid.
Capgemini was advised by Lazard, while Altran worked with Perella Weinberg Partners and Citigroup.
Earlier in January Capgemini had slightly raised the price of its friendly bid for Altran to 14.5 euros a share from 14 euros, valuing the company at 3.7 billion euros ( $ 4.1 billion).
That move failed to convince Elliott, which has built up a stake of over 15% in Altran, to tender its shares to the group’ s offer, which closed on Jan. 22.
The AMF said Capgemini’ s offer would be reopened to other investors, though it did not give a fresh timeframe.
Capgemini is hoping the deal will add to its services in industries from telecoms to aerospace and help it slash costs.
Altran shares climbed 2% on Monday to 14.75 euros hitting a 4-month peak, a rare bright spot in a European stockmarket spooked by coronavirus fears.
Additional reporting by Pamela Barbaglia; Editing by David Holmes and David Evans | business |
Malaysia Airports: Incoming International Passengers And Flight Crew Screened For Coronavirus At Airports | SEPANG- Malaysia Airports is working closely with the Ministry of Health ( MOH) to screen international passengers at its gateway airports across the country in light of the Coronavirus outbreak originating from Wuhan, China. Extra measures are being taken by the airport operator, the relevant agencies and the airlines to ensure that the risk of exposure is minimised for the safety of everyone, especially the passengers and staff working at the terminal. We would like to reassure everyone that we are taking this outbreak seriously and we will not compromise the well-being of our stakeholders.
One of the measures taken by the MOH and supported by Malaysia Airports is the carrying out of thermal screening for arriving passengers and flight crews from China. We have allocated special medical bays for quarantine purposes at the arrival gates to cater to any passengers who are exhibiting symptoms of the virus. Apart from that, we have reassigned the arrival gates for the incoming flights from China to be nearer to the medical bay to expedite the quarantine procedure and minimise the risk of exposure to a wider crowd.
Our airline partners are making the necessary announcements to their passengers on board and distributing a Health Alert Card ( HAC) issued by the MOH for passengers to declare their current state of health. Those who are having a fever or cough or facing difficulties in breathing will be immediately brought to the nearest hospital upon arrival. The HAC are also distributed at the immigration counters. The Airport has provided masks and hand sanitisers for staff to use and placed strategically across the terminal.
Malaysia Airports would like to remind the traveling public to be safe and responsible by wearing a mask at all times and to use hand sanitizer to maintain maximum hygiene during this outbreak.
( C) 2020 Electronic News Publishing, source ENP Newswire | business |
Your Blueprint for Trading EBAY Earnings Reactions |
Macro Context and Influences
The S & P 500 ETF ( NYSEARCA: SPY) is our macro market indicator. The SPY has turned bearish on the daily as the stochastic finally fell under the 80-band. Continued contagion from the Corona virus is hampering market bounces triggering risk-off exposure ahead of the two-day FOMC rate decision on Weds, Jan. 29, 2020. reaction to FOMC rate decision, statement and press conference can have an impact on EBAY price action in the last hour.
Technical Analysis
Utilizing the rifle charts, the monthly stochastic has crossed down with the 5-period moving average ( MA) resistance at 36.29 and 15-period MA at 36.15, which is technically a make or break formation. The same formation holds true on the weekly chart with overlapping 5 and 15-period MAs at 35.50, which is around the 35.43 fib. The daily chart also has a make or break hovering around the same fib range. EBAY collapsed on its prior Q3 2019 earnings results and has been relatively contained in a boxed range between 36.60 and 34.50. The monthly market structure low ( MSL) buy triggers above 36.55 and stop triggers under 34.40. Additionally, there are fibs just above the boxed range at 34.88 and below at 34.19, which also is a powerful 1.618 fib.
document.write ( ' < a style= '' text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal; color: # 696969; '' target= '' blank '' rel= '' nofollow '' href= '' https: //www.ame ' + 'ricanconsumernews.net/scripts/click.aspx? NativeDisplayAdID=588 & ImpressionID=0 & UserID=0 & Placement=PlaceOnArticlePage '' > '); Wall Street legend who picked Apple in 2003 — and Bitcoin in 2016 — shares his # 1 pick for 2020s.
Sympathy Stocks:
EBAY is an online auction and marketplace platform offering new and pre-owned items for sale. Sympathy peer stocks that could react to EBAY earnings reports include the world’ s largest online retailer Amazon.com ( NASDAQ: AMZN). Companies that offer personal, pre-owned and collectible items will likely be impacted the most including: Etsy, Inc. ( NASDAQ: ETSY), The RealReal, Inc. ( NASDAQ: REAL) and Farfetch Limited ( NASDAQ: FTCH). Since EBAY Is the first to report of these stocks, it can set a trading template for the sympathy stocks moving forward. For example, if EBAY beats estimates and raises guidance, but sells-off, then the same template materializes heading into sympathy stock earnings reports.
Insights: The much-publicized problems with FedEx ( NYSE: FDX) delivery issues highlighted by Amazon may have impacted EBAY retail sales in December as panicked consumers headed to brick and mortar shops to avoid risking late deliveries in the week before Christmas. While online sales continue to have an upward trajectory, the implementation of nationwide sales taxes comes as a sticker shock to many buyers. While consumers are acclimating to the inevitability of paying sales tax on retail items on Amazon ( NASDAQ: AMZN), there is a growing buyer’ s strike when it comes to paying sales tax on collectibles and pre-owned items. Buyers migrating to alternative services like YouTube and Instagram to conduct online auctions bypassing eBay fees and sales taxes saving up 16-to-20 percent. This under-the-radar trend could surface in the Q4 results and forward guidance.
Trading Game Plan
All eyes will be on the boxed price range between 36.60 and 34.50 and the fib levels just beyond at 36.88 and 34.19. This is the price envelope heading into the earnings release post-market and the next market open. Nimble reversion traders may opt to trade the gapper upside reversion short-sells at 36.88, 37.50, 38.32 and 39.30. The 39.30 is especially notable since it was the pre-earnings price peak for Q3 2019 release resulting in a dumper. Downside gapper reversion longs can be traded at 34.19, 33.38 and 32.59 fibs. Use the 5 and 1-minute rifle charts for reversion scalping. Make sure to be familiarized with the earnings gapper patterns and their three-parts. The average scalp can range between 0.15 to 0.35 in the opening 20-minutes but will shrink as the day wears on. These reversions are most effective on the first tests in the first 30-minutes of the morning trading session. Be careful about slow grinds that may materialize after the first hour and shift focus to the 15 and 60-minute charts to watch the forest from the trees especially in the last hour.
15 Technology Stocks that Analysts Love
There are more than 1,100 technology companies traded on public markets in the United States. Given the sheer number of hardware makers, social networks, software companies, service providers and other tech stocks, it can be hard to identify which tech companies are going to outperform the market. Fortunately, Wall Street's brightest minds have already done this for us. Every year, analyst issue approximately 15,000 distinct recommendations for technology companies. Analysts don't always get their `` buy '' ratings right, but it's worth taking a hard look when several analysts from different brokerages and research firm are giving `` strong buy '' and `` buy '' ratings to the same tech stock. This slide show lists the 15 technology companies that have the highest average analyst recommendations from Wall Street's equities research analysts over the last 12 months.
View the `` 15 Technology Stocks that Analysts Love ''.
Complete the form below to receive the latest headlines and analysts ' recommendations for your stocks with our free daily email newsletter: | business |
GeoVax and BravoVax ( Wuhan, China) to Collaborate on Development of Coronavirus Vaccine | ATLANTA, GA, and WUHAN, CHINA, Jan. 27, 2020 ( GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- GeoVax Labs, Inc. ( OTC: GOVXD), a biotechnology company developing human immunotherapies and vaccines against infectious diseases and cancer, together with BravoVax, a vaccine developer in Wuhan, China, today announced the signing of a Letter of Intent to jointly develop a vaccine against the new coronavirus ( known as 2019-nCoV).
Under the collaboration, GeoVax will use its MVA-VLP vaccine platform and expertise to design and construct the vaccine candidate using genetic sequences from the ongoing coronavirus outbreak originating in Wuhan, China. BravoVax will provide further development, including testing and manufacturing support, as well as direct interactions with Chinese public health and regulatory authorities.
David Dodd, GeoVax President & CEO, commented, “ Serious infectious disease epidemics such as the current coronavirus outbreak require rapid and effective response in order to minimize the detrimental impact on populations at risk. We are extremely pleased to begin working with BravoVax on this important and critical project, focused on minimizing the threat and impact of 2019-nCoV. The GeoVax technology and expertise has previously demonstrated success in addressing various infectious disease threats, based upon our novel MVA-VLP platform and expertise. With BravoVax located at the epicenter of this outbreak and their respective expertise, we feel confident towards advancing our vaccine candidate into clinical development in a timely manner, providing a critical tool in addressing the new coronavirus threat. We look forward to further collaborations and support from US and other international public health entities joining in addressing the 2019-nCoV threat. ”
Wu Ke, BravoVax Founder & CEO, said: “ As an established human vaccine developer, BravoVax is committed to utilizing its resources and network of connections within the Chinese virology, epidemiology, and regulatory communities to address this new threat to public health. Our physical location in Wuhan, essentially ‘ Ground Zero’ for the novel coronavirus outbreak, gives us even greater incentive to be a part of an effective solution. We are excited by the opportunity to partner with GeoVax in leveraging their proven MVA-VLP vaccine platform to address this crisis. We look to collaborate closely with them in moving their vaccine candidate through pre-clinical and clinical testing in the most expeditious way possible in our aim to bring a safe and effective vaccine to those at risk for acquiring this infection. ”
GeoVax’ s Modified Vaccinia Ankara ( MVA) platform technology is built on a 5th generation MVA vector system that is improved for high expression and stable transgenes during manufacture. Similar to its parent MVA, it has the advantage of being a live replication-competent vector in avian cells for manufacturing, yet replication-deficient in mammalian cells for vaccination, thus inherently safe. Importantly, MVA vaccines elicit protective T cell as well as antibody responses in animals and humans. The GeoVax MVA platform can be combined with the potent immunogenicity of Virus Like Particles ( VLPs) ( insertion of multiple antigens from each pathogen of interest conferring broad protection) or be used to express proteins in their native conformations, enabling construction of vaccine candidates that induce full protection after a single dose. Single dose protection is a favourable characteristic of preventive vaccines for emerging infectious disease outbreak response, given the speed of spread of pathogens and the impracticality of multi-dose regimens in the under-resourced settings where outbreaks often occurs. MVA-VLP vaccine candidates against various virus families ( e.g. Ebola, Marburg, Lassa and Zika) induced strong antibody and T cell responses and demonstrated broad protections after single dose vaccinations against lethal challenges. | business |
Column: Funds took a break from selling oil – until coronavirus concerns escalated | Hedge funds and other portfolio managers made few changes to their petroleum positions in the seven days ending on Jan. 21, taking a break from heavy selling the previous week.
The most recent data is for positions at the close of business on Tuesday and was reported before the sharp drop in prices later in the week driven by intensifying concerns about the coronavirus outbreak in China.
The sharp drop in prices since then suggests hedge funds sold oil derivatives heavily later in the week as more cases of coronavirus were reported.
Funds increased their position in the six most important petroleum futures and options contracts by the equivalent of 11 million barrels after reducing it by 99 million the week before.
Funds were small buyers of NYMEX and ICE WTI ( +7 million barrels), Brent ( +3 million) and U.S. gasoline ( +5 million) while selling U.S. diesel ( -1 million) and European gasoil ( -3 million).
But changes across the petroleum complex were insignificant in the context of an overall bullish position amounting to 882 million barrels ( tmsnrt.rs/30WE91z).
Bullish portfolio managers had purchased more than 530 million barrels of crude and refined products between the middle of October and the first week of January.
Buyers anticipated an acceleration in oil consumption growth this year driven by a cyclical upturn in the global economy especially in China and India.
Hedge funds still hold almost 6 bullish long positions for every 1 bearish short position, down from a ratio of almost 7:1 in early January though still up from less than 3:1 in October.
But the spreading coronavirus outbreak and strict quarantine measures introduced to contain it, as well as voluntary changes in consumer and business behaviour to reduce transmission risk, have raised doubts about the timing and strength of any cyclical recovery.
If the virus can not be contained quickly, the consumption outlook could be weaker than expected in the first half of 2020, which would result in oil prices remaining lower for longer to induce an offsetting reduction in U.S. shale production and an extension of production cuts by the OPEC+ group of major oil exporters.
Related columns:
- Priced for perfection, oil slides on fears coronavirus will hit demand ( Reuters, Jan. 24)
- Hedge funds sell oil ad doubts about economy resurface ( Reuters, Jan. 20)
- Oil at the crossroads as hedge funds build large bullish position ( Reuters, Jan. 8)
Editing by David Evans | business |
Wuhan building 1,000-bed hospital in 10 days to treat coronavirus | . The virus has spread across the region, with cases reported in Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Nepal, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Japan and South Korea.
Cases have also been reported in the United States and France. At present there have been no deaths outside China.
The quarantine hospital is being built using prefabricated elements and is expected to open on 3 February, 10 days after construction began.
Its design is reportedly based on the Xiaotangshan Hospital that was built within a week in Beijing during the SARS outbreak in 2003.
`` This authoritarian country relies on this top down mobilisation approach. They can overcome bureaucratic nature and financial constraints and are able to mobilise all of the resources. ''
Wuhan will follow Beijing's SARS treatment model to build a special hospital planned to accommodate 1,000 beds. It will be put into use by Feb. 3
. This hospital is expected to open in 15 days.
The city of Wuhan, which is in the central province of Hubei, is at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak. To restrict the spread of the virus the Chinese government has
– enacting full or partial travel restrictions across the province.
Photograph is of Wuhan by Andrew Horne. | business |
Ryanair and Dalata Hotel shares caught up in global virus sell-off | Ryanair and Dalata Hotel Group were among the Irish shares caught up in a global shares sell-off as fears increased that the spread of the coronavirus would dampen world growth and tourism.
Ryanair and Dalata Hotel Group were among the Irish shares caught up in a global shares sell-off as fears increased that the spread of the coronavirus would dampen world growth and tourism.
European and Japanese stock markets fell sharply, with the Nikkei, Eurostoxx, and Ftse-100 indices shedding up to 2.25%.
In Ireland, Dalata shares slid by 5% and Ryanair and ferries-firm ICG fell by around 3%.
And the price of oil resumed its fall from last week, as Bent crude dropped by $ 1.66 to almost $ 59 a barrel, while investors sought out havens, helping push the Swiss franc and the price of gold higher.
In the US, the S & P 500 Index declined the most in almost four months, with energy and technology companies leading losses and the Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly erased its 2020 advance.
China’ s financial markets will remain closed until next Monday after authorities extended the Lunar New Year break by three days as they grapple with the worsening virus crisis.
Assets that track the country’ s largest stocks took a nosedive, with the iShares MSCI China ETF dropping at least 3.4%.
News that China’ s death toll from the coronavirus discovered at the end of last year has risen to 81 dragged down an index in London of of leisure and airline stocks, ending 2.6% lower for its worst day in more than three and a half years. | general |
New Boeing 777X Completes Successful First Flight | Originally published on boeing.mediaroom.com.
The new Boeing ( NYSE: BA) 777X jetliner took to the skies today, entering the next phase of its rigorous test program. Based on the popular 777 and with proven technologies from the 787 Dreamliner, the 777X took off in front of thousands at Paine Field in Everett, Washington, at 10:09 a.m. local time for a three hour, 51 minute flight over Washington state before landing at Seattle’ s Boeing Field.
“ The 777X flew beautifully, and today’ s testing was very productive, ” said Capt. Van Chaney, 777/777X chief pilot for Boeing Test & Evaluation. “ Thank you to all the teams who made today possible. I can’ t wait to go fly your airplane again. ”
Capt. Chaney and Boeing Chief Pilot Craig Bomben worked through a detailed test plan to exercise the airplane’ s systems and structures while the test team in Seattle monitored the data in real time.
“ Our Boeing team has taken the most successful twin-aisle jet of all time and made it even more efficient, more capable and more comfortable for all, ” said Stan Deal, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “ Today’ s safe first flight of the 777X is a tribute to the years of hard work and dedication from our teammates, our suppliers and our community partners in Washington state and across the globe. ”
The first of four dedicated 777-9 flight test airplanes, WH001 will now undergo checks before resuming testing in the coming days. The test fleet, which began ground testing in Everett last year, will endure a comprehensive series of tests and conditions on the ground and in the air over the coming months to demonstrate the safety and reliability of the design.
The newest member of Boeing’ s market-leading widebody family, the 777X will deliver 10 percent lower fuel use and emissions and 10 percent lower operating costs than the competition through advanced aerodynamics, the latest generation carbon-fiber composite wing and the most advanced commercial engine ever built, GE Aviation’ s GE9X.
The new 777X also combines the best of the passenger-preferred 777 and 787 Dreamliner cabins with new innovations to deliver the flight experience of the future. Passengers will enjoy a wide, spacious cabin, large overhead bins that close easily for convenient access to their belongings, larger windows for a view from every seat, better cabin altitude and humidity, less noise and a smoother ride.
Boeing expects to deliver the first 777X in 2021. The program has won 340 orders and commitments from leading carriers around the world, including ANA, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines. Since its launch in 2013, the 777X family has outsold the competition nearly 2 to 1.
The 777X includes the 777-8 and the 777-9, the newest members of Boeing’ s market-leading widebody family.
Wingspan: Extended: 235 ft, 5 in. ( 71.8 m) On ground: 212 ft, 8 in ( 64.8 m)
Length: 777-8: 229 ft ( 69.8 m) 777-9: 251 ft, 9 in ( 76.7 m)
For more information, please visit www.boeing.com/777X.
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Tour of Hainan postponed because of Coronavirus | The 2020 Tour of Hainan has been postponed over concerns about the spread of Coronavirus.
Organisers of the stage race, held on the Chinese island province just off the nation’ s south coast, informed teams that the race will be delayed to a later date because of the spread of the new virus.
Authorities in China have quarantined 18 major cities in an attempt to contain the new form of the illness, after it is believed to have emerged from a seafood market in the city of Wuhan in December.
A statement from Israel Start-Up Nation said: “ Just notified by the organisers of the Chinese Tour of Hainan that the race ( due to start Feb 23) will be postponed due to the coronavirus epidemic.
“ Totally understandable. The world is a global village, for good and for bad. ”
The news was confirmed by Continental team Tarteletto-Isorex, who said on Facebook: “ Because of the influence of [ coronavirus ], the organising committee have to postpone the Tour of Hainan 2020, the specific time to be announced.
“ Thank you for your support and understanding. ”
The 2.Pro race was due to be held over eight stages from February 23 to March 1.
Last held in October 2018, the race was won overall by Androni-Giocattoli-Sidermec’ s Fausto Masnada. Previous winners include Alexey Lutsenko in 2016 and Sacha Modolo in 2015.
Coronaviruses are a family of illnesses that range from a cold to more severe diseases but the new version, which has infected an estimated 2,700 people with 80 deaths recorded so far, causes pneumonia-like symptoms.
> > > Spectator causes huge crash on stage one of Vuelta a San Juan 2020
Cases have been found in the US, France, Australia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, Macau, Japan and the Philippines, but there have been no confirmed diagnoses in the UK.
The Tour of Hainan is the second race this year to be impacted by global events, after the Tour of Oman was cancelled following the death of Oman’ s ruler, Sultan Qaboos.
Last week, a spokesperson for ASO confirmed that the race would not be held this year as the nation went into official mourning for 40 days. | general |
TFG Trade Briefing, 27th January 2020 | The chancellor, Sajid Javid, has insisted that the UK will go ahead with plans for a tax on giant tech companies this spring despite intensifying pressure from the US to drop the idea.US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin responded by threatening tariffs on exports of UK cars. France is preparing to drop its own plan for a 3% levy on the total annual revenues of the largest technology firms providing services to French consumers. France’ s plan – called the GAFA tax because it was seen to target the US companies Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon – prompted the threat of retaliation from Washington, which vowed to put taxes on French imports including wine. Read more →
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen today said she wanted to strike a trade agreement with the United States “ in a few weeks, ” according to German press agency DPA.
“ We want to have an agreement together in a few weeks’ time that concludes these issues, ” she said.
She gave no indication of the scope of such a deal, but said on Tuesday that she had “ exchanged ” views with Trump “ on trade, technology and energy. ” Read more →
It is too early to quantify the potential impact of the coronavirus on China. Much will depend on the attack and case fatality rates of the virus.
Any economic hit will be felt most by industries exposed to household spending, especially activities that take place outside the home. Risk aversion and tighter financial conditions could amplify the impact, including on investment. While reported cases are concentrated in Wuhan, the city’ s status as a key transport, logistics, and auto production hub complicates matters. Read more →
ICC, the Singapore Government, and major firms from key industries have signed a historic cooperation agreement to facilitate and accelerate the adoption of digital technologies in trade and commerce. The global industry leaders participating in the agreement are APRIL, DBS Bank, Marubeni Corporation, Mastercard, Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsui & Co., Ltd., Mizuho Bank, Ltd., MUFG Bank, Noble, NTT DATA, PSA International, Sompo Japan Nipponkoa, Standard Chartered Bank, Sumitomo Corporation, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Tokio Marine, and Trafigura.
This public-private partnership between global organisations will be a significant leap forward to shift international trade from a paper-based system to digitally-enabled trade. It will create enormous potential value based on time and operational cost savings combined with the greatly reduced incidence of fraud and human error. Read more →
Santander and IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, have signed a $ 300 million unfunded risk-sharing facility to support the increase of access to climate finance and the growth of small and medium enterprises ( SMEs) in Chile. The facility will contribute to the sustainable economic growth of the Chilean economy by helping develop a climate financing market and create employment.
Commuters in Hungary will enjoy new, faster, safer and more eco-friendly buses on regional and city lines across Hungary as a result of a €47m loan the European Investment Bank ( EIB) signed today with Volán Buszpark Kft, the country’ s biggest bus fleet management company. This is the first tranche of a €140m loan approved by the EIB to modernize nearly half of Volán’ s bus fleet, together with commercial banks finance. The loan is provided under the Investment Plan’ s European Fund for Strategic Investments ( EFSI) as it addresses the EFSI objective of smart and sustainable urban mobility in the European Union. Read more →
The Creative Africa Exchange Weekend ( CAX WKND), Africa’ s first continental event dedicated to promoting exchange within the creative and cultural industry, kicked off in Kigali today with Prof. Benedict Oramah, President of the African Export-Import Bank ( Afreximbank) announcing a $ 500-million envelope to support the production and trade of African cultural and creative products over the next two years. Read more →
Persiana is Marketing Executive at Trade Finance Global.
Persiana did a joint degree in Economics and Finance at Queen Mary University London and Bocconi University of Milan.
Her interests include macroeconomic policy, sustainable development and green finance, central banking, treasury and payment systems. | general |
Mothers of jihadist, Belgium attack victim write book together | Hi, what are you looking for?
By
Published
Bloodlines bind them to people on opposite sides of a violent divide. One is the mother of a jailed jihadist, the other the mother of a victim wounded in a bloody 2016 attack in Brussels.
But these two Belgian women shared tears, and compassion, and finally an idea to write a book together to tell the world what unites them beyond the differences.
Fatima Ezzarhouni, a 48-year-old born in Morocco and raised since the age of four in the city of Antwerp where she works as a care assistant, said she `` just clicked '' with Sophie Pirson, a 61-year-old employee in a contemporary arts museum who lives in Brussels.
`` We connected immediately, '' confirmed Pirson.
They met in 2018 in a therapy group started by clinical sociologists that brought together mothers of jihadists and of the victims of a wave of attacks that rocked Europe two years earlier.
The deadliest in Belgium occurred in the capital on March 22, 2016, when double attacks claimed by the Islamic State group killed 32 people and wounded 340 others.
Pirson's younger daughter Leonor, then aged 30, was travelling in a Brussels metro train that day when a suicide bomber in her carriage set off his bomb. More than a dozen people were killed. Leonor, mutilated and made deaf, ended up being treated for a long time in hospital.
- Living a 'nightmare ' -
Sitting by her daughter's bed in intensive care, Pirson said her thoughts turned `` to the mothers of the bombers '' that day.
`` I said to myself, it must be horrible for them to to have their son killed and nobody being able to understand the pain those mothers were going through, '' she told AFP.
Ezzarhouni's son Abdellah Nouamane wasn't involved in those Belgian attacks. But he was an IS jihadist. Recruited online aged 18 while in Antwerp, he left without word for Syria in 2013 to join the so-called `` caliphate ''.
Ezzarhouni said that since then she has lived `` a nightmare '' over the fate of her eldest child.
In 2018, a telephone caller said Nouamane had been killed in Syria. But a year later a Belgian TV crew tracked him down to a Kurdish-run prison where he was held with other IS fighters.
Nouamane told them he `` regretted '' his decision to become a jihadist and wanted to return to Belgium, where he has been convicted in absentia on terrorism charges. He remains locked up in northeast Syria with little chance of repatriation.
Ezzarhouni said the bits of information she gets about her son are rare and sometimes contradictory -- especially about `` the two children he had with a Dutch woman. I have no idea where they are. ''
Today, she also spends part of her time speaking in schools about her experience as the mother of a radicalised Islamist.
- Friendship from tragedy -
After meeting at the therapy session, the two women discovered, beyond their anguish, shared values that have forged a new bond.
They have built their common esteem for being welcoming and open, and of their status as grandmothers into a friendship -- a relationship that could serve as a platform to pass on something positive from the tragedies they have lived.
`` If we have been able to come together to write this book, with our differences, with what has happened to each of us, I hope that it will make people think about what we can do together today to fight barbarism, '' Pirson said.
`` For me, it's to pass on a message, '' added Ezzarhouni, who said she gave more of herself than she ever had before to write the book, confiding to her friend painful secrets she had long kept hidden.
Their book is a collection of joint interviews between the two women. They hope to have it published in March, in time for the fourth anniversary of the Brussels attacks.
Bloodlines bind them to people on opposite sides of a violent divide. One is the mother of a jailed jihadist, the other the mother of a victim wounded in a bloody 2016 attack in Brussels.
But these two Belgian women shared tears, and compassion, and finally an idea to write a book together to tell the world what unites them beyond the differences.
Fatima Ezzarhouni, a 48-year-old born in Morocco and raised since the age of four in the city of Antwerp where she works as a care assistant, said she “ just clicked ” with Sophie Pirson, a 61-year-old employee in a contemporary arts museum who lives in Brussels.
“ We connected immediately, ” confirmed Pirson.
They met in 2018 in a therapy group started by clinical sociologists that brought together mothers of jihadists and of the victims of a wave of attacks that rocked Europe two years earlier.
The deadliest in Belgium occurred in the capital on March 22, 2016, when double attacks claimed by the Islamic State group killed 32 people and wounded 340 others.
Pirson’ s younger daughter Leonor, then aged 30, was travelling in a Brussels metro train that day when a suicide bomber in her carriage set off his bomb. More than a dozen people were killed. Leonor, mutilated and made deaf, ended up being treated for a long time in hospital.
– Living a ‘ nightmare’ –
Sitting by her daughter’ s bed in intensive care, Pirson said her thoughts turned “ to the mothers of the bombers ” that day.
“ I said to myself, it must be horrible for them to to have their son killed and nobody being able to understand the pain those mothers were going through, ” she told AFP.
Ezzarhouni’ s son Abdellah Nouamane wasn’ t involved in those Belgian attacks. But he was an IS jihadist. Recruited online aged 18 while in Antwerp, he left without word for Syria in 2013 to join the so-called “ caliphate ”.
Ezzarhouni said that since then she has lived “ a nightmare ” over the fate of her eldest child.
In 2018, a telephone caller said Nouamane had been killed in Syria. But a year later a Belgian TV crew tracked him down to a Kurdish-run prison where he was held with other IS fighters.
Nouamane told them he “ regretted ” his decision to become a jihadist and wanted to return to Belgium, where he has been convicted in absentia on terrorism charges. He remains locked up in northeast Syria with little chance of repatriation.
Ezzarhouni said the bits of information she gets about her son are rare and sometimes contradictory — especially about “ the two children he had with a Dutch woman. I have no idea where they are. ”
Today, she also spends part of her time speaking in schools about her experience as the mother of a radicalised Islamist.
– Friendship from tragedy –
After meeting at the therapy session, the two women discovered, beyond their anguish, shared values that have forged a new bond.
They have built their common esteem for being welcoming and open, and of their status as grandmothers into a friendship — a relationship that could serve as a platform to pass on something positive from the tragedies they have lived.
“ If we have been able to come together to write this book, with our differences, with what has happened to each of us, I hope that it will make people think about what we can do together today to fight barbarism, ” Pirson said.
“ For me, it’ s to pass on a message, ” added Ezzarhouni, who said she gave more of herself than she ever had before to write the book, confiding to her friend painful secrets she had long kept hidden.
Their book is a collection of joint interviews between the two women. They hope to have it published in March, in time for the fourth anniversary of the Brussels attacks.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
The Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, during the telematic press conference called after the meeting of the Council of Ministers on March 17,...
An Irishman who refused to wear a Covid mask during a flight from Dublin to New York faces up to 20 years in prison.
Geneva, the neutral turf that was once host to so much Cold War bargaining, is again welcoming Russian and US officials.
Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo are postponing the glittering parades that are the highlight of carnival festivities due to a surge in the...
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RPT-INSIGHT-Confusion and lost time: how testing woes slowed China's coronavirus response | ( Repeats story published earlier on Tuesday)
By Yawen Chen and Cate Cadell
BEIJING, Jan 28 ( Reuters) - Yang Zhongyi was still waiting on Monday for a coronavirus test in the Chinese city of Wuhan two weeks after she started to show signs of a fever, even though doctors privately told her family that she almost certainly has been infected, her son Zhang Changchun told Reuters.
Yang, 53, is just one of many Wuhan inhabitants finding it difficult to get tested or receive treatment for the new form of coronavirus, which authorities say has infected 2,800 people and killed at least 80 in China, a situation that may be contributing to the spread of the disease.
Yang has been unable to gain full-time admission to a hospital, her son said. She has been put on drips in unquarantined areas at four separate hospitals in the city to treat her deteriorating lungs, he said, while he is doing what he can to get her tested or admitted full-time.
“ My brother and I have been queuing at the hospital every day. We go at 6 and 7 in the morning, and queue for the whole day, but we don’ t get any new answers, ” Zhang told Reuters. “ Every time the responses are the same: ‘ There’ s no bed, wait for the government to give a notice, and follow the news to see what’ s going on.’ The doctors are all very frustrated too. ”
Officially known as 2019-nCoV, the new form of coronavirus was first identified as the cause of death of a 61-year-old man in Wuhan on Jan. 10, when China shared gene information on the virus with other countries. Some, such as Japan and Thailand, started testing travellers from China for the virus within three days.
However, testing kits for the disease were not distributed to some of Wuhan’ s hospitals until about Jan. 20, an official at the Hubei Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention ( Hubei CDC) told Reuters. Before then, samples had to be sent to a laboratory in Beijing for testing, a process that took three to five days to get results, according to Wuhan health authorities.
During that gap, hospitals in the city reduced the number of people under medical observation from 739 to just 82, according to data compiled by Reuters from Wuhan health authorities, and no new cases were reported inside China.
Despite the lack of reliable data and testing capacity in Wuhan, Chinese authorities assured citizens in the days after the virus had been identified that it was not widely transmissible. In previous weeks, it had censored negative online commentary about the situation, and arrested eight people it accused of being “ rumour spreaders. ”
“ The doctor didn’ t wear a mask, we didn’ t know how to protect ourselves... no one told us anything, ” a 45-year-old woman surnamed Chen told Reuters. Her aunt was confirmed to have the virus on Jan. 20, five days after she was hospitalised. “ I posted my aunt’ s photos on ( Chinese social media site) Weibo and the police called the hospital authorities. They told me to take it down. ”
National, regional and city health officials did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters on how the virus outbreak has been handled. National officials did say at a media briefing last week that there were some “ loopholes ” in initial treatment methods.
Wuhan’ s mayor, Zhou Xianwang, told Chinese state television on Monday he recognised that “ all parties were not satisfied with the disclosure of our information. ” But he pointed to strictures placed upon him by provincial and national leaders.
“ In local governance, after I receive information, I can only release it when I’ m authorized, ” he said. Zhou told a media briefing on Sunday that a further 1,000 people could be diagnosed with the virus in Wuhan, based on the number of patients yet to be tested.
China last week locked down the affected region in Hubei province in the biggest quarantine operation on record and is building two new hospitals to treat virus patients. President Xi Jinping has created a special committee to tackle the outbreak.
The country has been praised internationally for quickly sequencing the virus gene. However, its slow scale-up of testing has been questioned.
Once a virus has been identified, “ You need to make sure you have all the reagent ( a substance used in chemical analysis) samples and you’ ve got it all pushed out to where you want to do testing, ” said Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, who focuses on emerging infectious disease and pandemic preparedness.
Although information from the region is scarce, Adalja suggested China has had problems with this stage of tackling the outbreak. “ We’ re already hearing that there are shortages of medical professionals there, that there are shortages of test kits and medicines, ” he said.
John Edmunds, a professor at the centre for mathematical modelling of infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said China has not communicated enough detailed data after the initial outbreak.
“ We have a very incomplete picture of what’ s going on, ” he told Reuters. “ Whether it’ s incompetence, secrecy, or deliberate, I don’ t know, but it would be very useful if we could have some basic epidemiological data. ”
The shortage of testing supplies and China’ s initial reticence have drawn criticism that the country is still learning lessons from the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ( SARS) in 2002 that killed almost 800 people.
“ The improvements have been on the hard science side - figuring out the virus’ s genome, building new hospitals at a moment’ s notice - more than on the soft science side of managing information and dealing with people, ” said Mary Gallagher, a political science professor who leads the University of Michigan’ s Center for Chinese Studies.
City managers had little incentive to escalate problems to political superiors. The week in which no new virus cases were reported in Hubei coincided with preparations for the Lunar New Year and sessions of the province’ s National People’ s Congress and the Chinese People’ s Political Consultative Conference.
Seven of the largest hospitals in Wuhan are now equipped with testing kits for the virus, which in theory deliver results within a day, the Hubei CDC official said.
But four people told Reuters they were refused tests because the process involved a complex reporting system including hospital, district and city health authorities and disease control officials.
To qualify for the test, patients need to meet certain criteria, such as having symptoms of fever and pneumonia, and a surge in patients means it is “ impossible to conduct the test right away, ” an official at the Wuhan Centre for Disease Control and Prevention told Reuters.
Three hospital and local government workers, who have been briefed on how doctors are handling tests and confirming cases, told Reuters that official numbers of infections and deaths do not reflect the actual toll.
Wuhan health authorities have a limit on tests, chiefly because of the shortage of testing kits, and are screening lists of patients before deciding who gets a test, which takes several hours, one hospital worker told Reuters.
“ Some severely ill patients were left out from the final list for testing because they know they wouldn’ t be able to be treated, ” the worker told Reuters. “ The actual deaths were higher. ”
Reuters could not independently confirm the hospital worker’ s account. Hubei and Wuhan health authorities did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Zhang, whose mother is still waiting for a test, said doctors at three Wuhan hospitals told her family privately that they are almost certain she has contracted the coronavirus.
However, he said two of those hospitals told him they are not equipped with testing kits, and the other told him it has no available bed to accommodate his mother for the test.
None of those hospitals replied to Reuters requests for comment.
Sixty-nine year-old Xu Enen, who has had fever and a lung infection since Jan. 8, was rejected by six hospitals in Wuhan for testing as they said they had ran out of beds, his daughter told Reuters. Xu’ s symptoms have worsened lately, and he is starting to have breathing difficulties.
He was finally admitted on Jan. 22 to queue for the test at Hankou hospital in Wuhan after his daughter publicized his case on Weibo.
Researchers at Lancaster University estimate that only 5.1% of infections in Wuhan have been identified. By Jan. 21, they estimated a total of 11,341 people had been infected in Wuhan since the start of the year. More than 30,000 people in Wuhan are under observation, according to the city’ s health authorities.
“ All we want is to confirm the case is the virus or not, ” said a 33-year-old Wuhan woman surnamed Liu, whose father has been on a respirator in hospital since Jan. 14 and was still untested on Monday. “ At least if it’ s confirmed we have a direction. If there’ s no direction, there’ s no hope. ”
Reporting by Yawen Chen and Cate Cadell in Beijing Additional reporting by Kate Kelland in London Editing by Bill Rigby | business |
Auschwitz survivors to issue warning 75 years after liberation | Hi, what are you looking for?
By
Published
Seventy-five years after the liberation of Auschwitz, a dwindling number of elderly Holocaust survivors will gather at the former German Nazi death camp on Monday to honour its over 1.1 million mostly Jewish victims amid fresh concerns over anti-semitism.
More than 200 survivors are to come from across the globe to the camp the Nazis built in Oswiecim in then-occupied Poland, to share their testimony as a stark warning amid a recent surge of anti-semitic attacks on both sides of the Atlantic, some of them deadly.
`` We want the next generation to know what we went through and that it should never happen again, '' Auschwitz survivor David Marks, 93, told reporters at the former death camp on Sunday, his voice breaking, heavy with emotion.
Thirty-five members of his immediate and extended family of Romanian Jews were killed in Auschwitz, the largest of Nazi Germany's camps that has come to symbolise the six million European Jews killed in the Holocaust.
From mid-1942 the Nazis systematically deported Jews from all over Europe to six camps -- Auschwitz-Birkenau, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor and Treblinka.
Organisers insist that Monday's memorial ceremony must focus above all on what survivors have to say rather than the bitter political feuds that have tainted the run-up to the anniversary.
`` This is about survivors, it's not about politics, '' Ronald Lauder, head of the World Jewish Congress, told AFP on Sunday as he met a group in the former Auschwitz camp, now a memorial and state museum run by Poland.
`` We see anti-semitism rising now and we don't want their ( survivors) past to be their children's future, or their grandchildren's future, '' he added.
Royals, presidents and prime ministers from nearly 60 countries will attend the ceremony, but no top world leaders.
Israel hosted US Vice President Mike Pence, French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin among others at a high-profile Holocaust forum marking the anniversary in Jerusalem last Thursday.
It was seen as rivalling the event in Poland, which has tricky relations with Israel.
Earlier, Putin sparked outrage in the West after falsely accusing Poland of colluding with German Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler and contributing to the outbreak of World War II.
Poland's President Andrzej Duda, who called out Putin, snubbed the Jerusalem forum after he was denied the opportunity to speak there while the Russian president was given the floor. Duda will make an address on Monday in Auschwitz.
- Allies knew in 1942 -
While the world only learned the full extent of its horrors after the Soviet Red Army entered the camp on January 27, 1945, the Allies had detailed information about Nazi Germany's genocide against Jews much earlier.
In December 1942, Poland's then London-based government in exile forwarded a document, titled `` The Mass Extermination of Jews in German Occupied Poland '', to the Allies.
The document included detailed accounts of the unfolding Holocaust as witnessed by members of the Polish resistance, but drew disbelief and only muted reactions from the international community.
To inform the Allies, Polish resistance fighters Jan Karski and Witold Pilecki famously risked their lives in separate operations to infiltrate and then escape from Nazi death camps and ghettos in occupied Poland, including Auschwitz.
- 'Reports not believed ' -
Regarded as exaggeration and Polish war propaganda, `` a lot of these reports were simply not believed '', renowned Oxford historian Professor Norman Davies told AFP.
Despite `` strong demands '' by the Polish and Jewish resistance for the Allies to bomb the railways leading to Auschwitz and other death camps, `` the military's attitude was 'we 've got to concentrate on military targets, not on civilian things ' '', said Davies, an authority on Polish history.
`` One of the targets that the ( British) military did bomb was a synthetic fuel factory near Auschwitz '' in 1943-44, he added.
Although Allied warplanes flew over the death camp itself, no orders were given to bomb it.
`` It was one of the biggest crimes committed by those that were indifferent, because they ( the Allies) knew what was happening here, they could have done something about it and they deliberately didn't, '' Auschwitz survivor David Lenga, 93, told AFP.
Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest of all Nazi Germany's death and concentration camps and the one where most people were killed, primarily European Jews, but also Roma, Soviet prisoners of war and Poles.
Operated by the Nazis from 1940 until 1945, Auschwitz was part of a vast and brutal network of camps across Europe set up for Hitler's `` Final Solution '' of genocide against the estimated 10 million Jews in Europe at the time.
Seventy-five years after the liberation of Auschwitz, a dwindling number of elderly Holocaust survivors will gather at the former German Nazi death camp on Monday to honour its over 1.1 million mostly Jewish victims amid fresh concerns over anti-semitism.
More than 200 survivors are to come from across the globe to the camp the Nazis built in Oswiecim in then-occupied Poland, to share their testimony as a stark warning amid a recent surge of anti-semitic attacks on both sides of the Atlantic, some of them deadly.
“ We want the next generation to know what we went through and that it should never happen again, ” Auschwitz survivor David Marks, 93, told reporters at the former death camp on Sunday, his voice breaking, heavy with emotion.
Thirty-five members of his immediate and extended family of Romanian Jews were killed in Auschwitz, the largest of Nazi Germany’ s camps that has come to symbolise the six million European Jews killed in the Holocaust.
From mid-1942 the Nazis systematically deported Jews from all over Europe to six camps — Auschwitz-Birkenau, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor and Treblinka.
Organisers insist that Monday’ s memorial ceremony must focus above all on what survivors have to say rather than the bitter political feuds that have tainted the run-up to the anniversary.
“ This is about survivors, it’ s not about politics, ” Ronald Lauder, head of the World Jewish Congress, told AFP on Sunday as he met a group in the former Auschwitz camp, now a memorial and state museum run by Poland.
“ We see anti-semitism rising now and we don’ t want their ( survivors) past to be their children’ s future, or their grandchildren’ s future, ” he added.
Royals, presidents and prime ministers from nearly 60 countries will attend the ceremony, but no top world leaders.
Israel hosted US Vice President Mike Pence, French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin among others at a high-profile Holocaust forum marking the anniversary in Jerusalem last Thursday.
It was seen as rivalling the event in Poland, which has tricky relations with Israel.
Earlier, Putin sparked outrage in the West after falsely accusing Poland of colluding with German Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler and contributing to the outbreak of World War II.
Poland’ s President Andrzej Duda, who called out Putin, snubbed the Jerusalem forum after he was denied the opportunity to speak there while the Russian president was given the floor. Duda will make an address on Monday in Auschwitz.
– Allies knew in 1942 –
While the world only learned the full extent of its horrors after the Soviet Red Army entered the camp on January 27, 1945, the Allies had detailed information about Nazi Germany’ s genocide against Jews much earlier.
In December 1942, Poland’ s then London-based government in exile forwarded a document, titled “ The Mass Extermination of Jews in German Occupied Poland ”, to the Allies.
The document included detailed accounts of the unfolding Holocaust as witnessed by members of the Polish resistance, but drew disbelief and only muted reactions from the international community.
To inform the Allies, Polish resistance fighters Jan Karski and Witold Pilecki famously risked their lives in separate operations to infiltrate and then escape from Nazi death camps and ghettos in occupied Poland, including Auschwitz.
– ‘ Reports not believed’ –
Regarded as exaggeration and Polish war propaganda, “ a lot of these reports were simply not believed ”, renowned Oxford historian Professor Norman Davies told AFP.
Despite “ strong demands ” by the Polish and Jewish resistance for the Allies to bomb the railways leading to Auschwitz and other death camps, “ the military’ s attitude was ‘ we’ ve got to concentrate on military targets, not on civilian things ' ”, said Davies, an authority on Polish history.
“ One of the targets that the ( British) military did bomb was a synthetic fuel factory near Auschwitz ” in 1943-44, he added.
Although Allied warplanes flew over the death camp itself, no orders were given to bomb it.
“ It was one of the biggest crimes committed by those that were indifferent, because they ( the Allies) knew what was happening here, they could have done something about it and they deliberately didn’ t, ” Auschwitz survivor David Lenga, 93, told AFP.
Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest of all Nazi Germany’ s death and concentration camps and the one where most people were killed, primarily European Jews, but also Roma, Soviet prisoners of war and Poles.
Operated by the Nazis from 1940 until 1945, Auschwitz was part of a vast and brutal network of camps across Europe set up for Hitler’ s “ Final Solution ” of genocide against the estimated 10 million Jews in Europe at the time.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
Citigroup is prepared to fire employees at the end of the month who refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19 by Jan. 14 deadline.
The benefit of nostalgia? Positive memories activate the reward pathway in the brain, which is essentially a release of chemicals that make us feel...
Cyber Ninjas, the cybersecurity firm that led a controversial GOP audit of the 2020 election results in Arizona's county, has shut down.
It’ s not often you see an idea as useful as this with so many applications – Separating microplastics using sound waves.
COPYRIGHT © 1998 - 2021 DIGITAL JOURNAL INC. Digital Journal is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more about our external linking. | general |
Coronavirus forces cancellation of one of China’ s biggest men’ s bike races | Like this site? Help us to make it better.
The UCI has announced the cancellation of one of China’ s leading men’ s bike races, the Tour of Hainan, due to the outbreak of the coronavirus that has so far claimed more than 80 lives.
The category 2.HC race, founded in 2006, was due to form part of the new second-tier competition, the UCI ProSeries this year.
World cycling’ s governing body hopes that the race, which had been due to take place from 23 February – 1 March, can be rescheduled for later in the year, subject to a suitable space on the calendar.
In a statement, the UCI said that it “ is in regular contact with the Chinese authorities, which are keeping it informed of the evolution of the health situation and its impact on the organisation of cycling events in the country.
“ It will take decisions necessary to ensure the safety of all stakeholders, ” the UCI added.
The race joins a number of other international sporting events that have been either cancelled or relocated as a result of the virus.
Today, the venue of an Olympic women's basketball qualifying tournament due to take place next month in Guangdong province was changed to the Serbian capital, Belgrade.
The same province had been due to host an Asian group tournament next week for the Fed Cup women’ s tennis tournament, but the venue was moved yesterday to Kazakhstan.
A qualifying tournament for women’ s football at the Tokyo Olympics was also moved from China yesterday and will now take place in Sydney, Australia.
Previously, that event had been switched from Wuhan, where the outbreak is centred, to Nanjing.
Meanwhile, the Asian indoor athletics championships, also due to take place in February, have been cancelled outright.
The next major cycling event due to take place in China is the Women’ s WorldTour race, the Tour of Chongming Island, which takes place from 7-9 May.
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Simon has been news editor at road.cc since 2009, reporting on 10 editions and counting of pro cycling’ s biggest races such as the Tour de France, stories on issues including infrastructure and campaigning, and interviewing some of the biggest names in cycling. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, his background has proved invaluable in reporting on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, and the bike industry. He splits his time between London and Cambridge, and loves taking his miniature schnauzer Elodie on adventures in the basket of her Elephant Bike.
Quality bollards if they can take the weight of a leapfrogging child. I think we should be encouraging the joy inherent in such an activity.
``... explain why we were riding two abreast. '' You don't need a reason why.
Just seen thes, crazy price compared to even coloured ends, but......
And then resign for being incompetent, useless fools?
It is probably not possible to walk into Halfords and buy a set of lights that meet british standards.... | general |
Yum China: closes Wuhan stores due to virus, Yum Brands declares dividend | Yum China confirmed that it has temporarily closed some of its KFC and Pizza Hut stores in Wuhan, China due to the well-publicized coronavirus outbreak there, according to Reuters. The company told Reuters it would continue to monitor the situation for further '' actions and preventive health measures, '' as needed.
Meanwhile in the U.S., Yum! Brands, Inc. declared a quarterly cash dividend of 47 cents per share of common stock to shareholders of record at the close of business Feb. 14. The distribution is set for March 6, the company said in a news release.
Worldwide, the release said Yum! Brands opens more than eight new restaurants per day on average, and in 2019, Yum Brands was named to the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index for the second year. It includes KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and will soon include The Habit Burger Grill when the acquisition of that 300-store brand closes in the second quarter of this year.
Copyright © 2020 Networld Media. All rights reserved., source Industry News | business |
Op-ed: We need to prepare for US outbreak of Wuhan coronavirus | Dr. Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Pfizer board member and the former commissioner of the FDA.
Even though there's a lot that we don't know about the novel coronavirus that's burning its ways through China, there are some critical assumptions we should make about its continued spread.
First, the epidemic in China is likely much broader than official statistics currently suggest. A lot of mild cases probably remain unrecognized. Even a lot of severe cases are unreported since diagnostic tests were only recently deployed to the front lines of China's healthcare system.
Second, global spread appears inevitable. So too are the emergence of outbreaks in the U.S., even if a widespread American epidemic can still be averted. When pockets of the outbreak arrive on our shores, we shouldn't have undue panic. But we need to be ready.
The most important public health measures to contain new outbreaks are the early identification and isolation of cases to prevent further spread. Key to applying these measures and limiting spread will be easy access to reliable and rapid diagnostic tests to enable widespread screening. These tools will allow us to identify new cases early and isolate sick individuals.
Right now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a test that works by detecting parts of the virus ' genome in the blood. CDC is working with the Food and Drug Administration to make this type of test more widely available to public health labs throughout the U.S. The agencies are working to advance the test under an authorization for emergency use. This is a regulatory designation that accelerates the normal FDA clearance process during public health emergencies.
The CDC test is fast. It can diagnose a sample in a few hours once a blood specimen reaches a designated lab. The test is likely to be given primarily to state and local public health laboratories. But to adopt more widespread surveillance and diagnosis, we may need a diagnostic that's more readily accessible to providers on the front line of response. This includes tests that can be used right in the doctor's office, clinics, and hospitals – or even at ports of entry.
Since the CDC's test requires samples to be sent to a reference lab, screening is largely a clinically driven decision. So, who gets screened is based on an individual's symptoms and their travel history. Only more severe cases that are most likely to have coronavirus are being tested. This approach will work well when the numbers of infected people are low. But if we have wider outbreaks in American cities, then containing further spread will require wider screening.
We need to adapt technologies that can allow testing right at the point of care. These kinds of rapid diagnostics exist for diseases like influenza. In the case of flu, a nasal swab is used to make a rapid diagnosis in the doctor's office, where the strip test offers physicians a readable output.
These same technologies can be tailored to coronavirus. One approach is based on the use of antibodies that adhere to parts of the virus that contribute to its symptoms called antigens. If virus is present, the antibodies bind to these viral antigens and produce a chemical reaction that signals the presence of an infection.Once a coronavirus is identified in a sick patient, doctors could then rely on more sophisticated tests done in public health and reference labs to confirm whether it's the Wuhan strain.
Another approach, using platforms like GeneXpert, can rapidly amplify and detect specific parts of viral RNA. These tests are based on a self-contained machine that's widely used to test for things like hepatitis C. It was also used to screen for Ebola virus. Bringing more of these capabilities to the point of care can improve surveillance and diagnosis.
Accurate diagnostics are key to enabling successful public health measures. They allow us to identify and isolate patients and allocate scarce medical resources for isolation and treatment.
FDA would need to specifically authorize the adoption of such tests at the point of care, rather than only allow their use in sophisticated labs. In the setting of a wider outbreak public health workers won't be able to broaden testing without diagnostics that can be deployed in the field.
Given past experience, we know that the public health labs performing the more sophisticated DNA tests that CDC is aiming to deploy will quickly become overwhelmed in the setting of multiple outbreaks here in the U.S. In that case, to prevent wider spread, what may be most needed are simple, reliable tests that let us screen more widely for the spread of this novel virus. | business |
Equity Monday: A global selloff, MURAL snags $ 23M and two unicorns that can’ t raise | Good morning friends, and welcome back to TechCrunch’ s Equity Monday, a short-form audio hit to kickstart your week. Regular Equity episodes still drop Friday morning, so if you’ ve listened to the show over the years, don’ t worry — we’ re not changing it in the slightest. ( Here’ s last week’ s episode, which took a look at The Athletic’ s latest round, in case you missed it.) This Monday was a bit of a bad news run. The weekend was stuffed with news, not much of it good. Continued concerns relating to the spread of the coronavirus led to equity selloffs in Asia and Europe. In the United States, markets look set to follow suit. The concerns come as startups had already come under pressure from investors to show a quick path to profitability. Now, their public comps are taking fire as well. Topping it off, today kicks off a huge, two-week earnings run from tech companies worth trillions of dollars. It’ s not a great moment for it. ( As we note on the show, the economic side of the outbreak is a small portion of the story; it feels a bit crass to cover the moment from a dollars-perspective, but that’ s our particular lens.) We also ran through three funding rounds, including Mural’ s $ 23 million Series A, Otter.ai’ s $ 10 million Series B and Sawee’ s $ 2.3 million round focused on last-mile logistics. ( As a product, I can’ t recommend Otter highly enough.) Wrapping, a Wall Street Journal story was stuck in my head all weekend. According to the Journal’ s Eliot Brown, Lime and DoorDash have each been out in the markets trying to raise money lately. Neither has managed to pull it off. If stocks keep selling, what happens next for the infamous unicorns? That’ s what we have for you today. More on Friday morning. Equity drops every Friday at 6:00 am PT, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.
Equity drops every Friday at 6:00 am PT, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.
Equity drops every Friday at 6:00 am PT, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.
Equity drops every Friday at 6:00 am PT, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.
Equity drops every Friday at 6:00 am PT, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.
Equity drops every Friday at 6:00 am PT, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.
Equity drops every Friday at 6:00 am PT, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. | business |
AbbVie's HIV Drug Aluvia Seen as Potential Treatment for Coronavirus | More than 80 people have died from the coronavirus in China. The Chinese government is turning to a drug developed by AbbVie for HIV patients as a potential treatment for the outbreak that has reached the shores of the United States.
AbbVie said it was donating more than one million dollars’ worth of Aluvia, a combination of lopinavir and ritonavir as an ad-hoc treatment for pneumonia that is associated with the outbreak. The Chinese government suggested last week that taking two lopinavir/ritonavir pills and inhaling a dose of nebulized alpha-interferon twice a day could benefit these patients, Reuters reported. There are more than 2,000 known cases of the coronavirus in China. The illness has caused parts of China to grind to a halt as health officials seek to contain the spread of the virus.
The decision to use AbbVie’ s medicine came after a noted respiratory expert at Peking University First Hospital in Beijing said he was given the HIV drugs to fight the virus after he contracted it following a visit to Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province in central China where the virus is thought to have originated. Wan Guangfa came down with the virus after interacting with coronavirus patients. He told China News Week that the HIV treatments worked for him.
The coronavirus family includes the common cold as well as viruses that cause more serious illnesses, such as SARS that spread from China to more than a dozen countries in 2002-03 and killed about 800 people. Also, the virus is similar to Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome ( MERS), which developed from camels. The virus infects the lungs, and symptoms start with a fever and cough. It can progress to shortness of breath and breathing difficulties leading to pneumonia.
Aluvia is thought to be a potential treatment for the coronavirus due to its ability to block a protease that the virus needs to replicate within the human body. AbbVie’ s drug has previously been tested in patients with SARS and MERS, which are similar viruses, Endpoints reported. | general |
Essential Science: Biosignatures detect early symptoms of TB | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Detecting tuberculosis is not straightforward and detection involves a combination of skin and sputum tests, supported by chest X-rays. For accurate detection, symptoms need to manifest. The new research considered the question ‘ what if it was possible to detect TB early, before symptoms appear?’
The new diagnostic technique is a blood-based method, and it has sparked interest in the medical world due to the ability to assess infections earlier and therefore to allow treatment to begin. The earlier that antimicrobials are given, the greater the possibility of a patient surviving an infection.
To develop the method, the research team from University College London examined samples for blood mRNA signatures ( which theoretically hold presymptomatic diagnostic clues about TB). The focus was on the diagnosis of active or incipient tuberculosis. The biosignatures were compared with controls who were healthy or had latent tuberculosis infection.
This analysis reduced the number of potential mRNA candidates to a panel of 17 genes. The researchers then undertook to develop a blood test, to scan for gene expression.
Following the identification, the scientists assessed the performance of eligible biosignatures in whole blood transcriptomic datasets and compared the results with culture-based tests for the presence of the tuberculosis causing bacterium.
This showed that eight of the candidate biosignatures ( measurement of expression of a single gene) could predict the diagnosis of TB far in advance of any conventional test methodology.
READ MORE: Solving the tuberculosis crisis using technology
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis is an infectious airborne disease resulting from the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Infection mainly hits the lungs, although other parts of the body can become infected. While most infections do not lead to any symptoms ( ‘ latent tuberculosis’), medical data suggests that 10 percent of infections lead to the development of ‘ active disease’, which can carry a high fatality rate. As with other pathogens, antimicrobial resistance is developing, which presents challenges for combatting infections.
ALSO READ: Antioxidant in green tea could help fight TB
Research significance
Quoted by Laboratory Roots, lead researcher Dr. Rishi Gupta said: “ The emergence of gene expression signature tests, which can aid diagnosis and early treatment, provides real hope for the management of infectious diseases. In this study we identify multiple signatures to identify the onset of tuberculosis, which is extremely encouraging, potentially providing multiple targets for early detection. ”
The new research presents the first step towards developing a new diagnostic blood test for the early detection of TB.
Research paper
The new research has been published in the journal The Lancet Respiratory Medicine and the research paper is titled “ Concise whole blood transcriptional signatures for incipient tuberculosis: a systematic review and patient-level pooled meta-analysis. ”
Linked research
In related news, scientists have established that the bacterium that causes bovine tuberculosis ( Mycobacterium bovis) can survive and multiply in a type of amoeba which lives in soil ( called Dictyostelium discoideum). The findings have been reported in the ISME Journal ( “ Mycobacterium bovis uses the ESX-1 Type VII secretion system to escape predation by the soil-dwelling amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum ”).
The research is significant given the spread of bovine tuberculosis around the world and infections relating to cattle, plus the associated entry into the food chain. The research offers clues to how the bacterium survives variations in environmental conditions, by undergoing an adaptive response inside the amoeba in-between infecting cattle. Furthermore, the study may lead to new preventative measures being developed.
Essential Science
This article is part of Digital Journal’ s regular Essential Science columns. Each week Tim Sandle explores a topical and important scientific issue.
Last week we looked at a new machine learning system, developed ] to characterize 800 million-year-old amino acid patterns that had, up until now, puzzled scientists. These protein patterns are of great importance and they are responsible for facilitating protein interactions.
The week before the subject was exoplanets. This followed news that NASA had reported the detection of an Earth-like planet that has all the indications of being habitable. This forms part of the space agency’ s attempt to seek out new planets of interest in the cosmos.
Dr. Tim Sandle is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for science news. Tim specializes in science, technology, environmental, and health journalism. He is additionally a practising microbiologist; and an author. He is also interested in history, politics and current affairs.
The Parkland Refinery in Burnaby recently announced that it was pausing its refining process due to a shortage in crude oil. Source - https: //www.flickr.com/photos/keepitsurreal/....
The WHO urged countries to remain calm and take `` rational '' measures against the fast-spreading Omicron coronavirus variant,
With hopes of eradicating AIDS we look at the fight against the deadly condition since its emergence 40 years ago.
Microorganisms ' ability to use energy efficiently in various environmental conditions has consequences for the global climate and carbon cycle.
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Rwanda: Abusive Detention of Street Children | Help us continue to fight human rights abuses. Please give now to support our work
UN Child Rights’ Committee Should Call for Closing Gikondo Center
( Geneva) – Rwandan authorities are seeking to formalize their abusive arrests and detention of some of the country’ s most vulnerable children under the pretense of rehabilitating them, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The Geneva-based United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, which starts its review of Rwanda on January 27, 2020, should call for the immediate closure of Gikondo Transit Center, where children are arbitrarily detained and abused.
“ Rwandan authorities claim they are rehabilitating street children, ” said Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “ But instead, they are locking them up in inhuman and degrading conditions, without due process, and exposing them to beatings and abuse. ”
Rwanda’ s Abusive Detention of Children
Download the full report in English
The 44-page report, “ ‘ As Long as We Live on the Streets, They Will Beat Us’: Rwanda’ s Abusive Detention of Children, ” documents the arbitrary detention of street children for periods of up to six months at Gikondo Transit Center, in Kigali, the capital. It follows three Human Rights Watch reports in 2006, 2015, and 2016 on transit centers, including Gikondo, where ill-treatment and beatings are common. Since 2017, a new legal framework and policies under the government’ s strategy to “ eradicate delinquency ” have sought to legitimize and regulate detention in so-called transit centers. But in reality, this new legislation provides cover for the continuing arbitrary detention of, and violations against, detainees, including children.
Human Rights Watch interviewed 30 formerly detained children ages 11 to 17 between January and October 2019, and reviewed public statements, official documents, publications in state media outlets, Twitter feeds of government officials, and other official sources, as well as the available information produced by the National Commission for Children, the National Commission for Human Rights, and the National Rehabilitation Service.
Under legislation introduced since 2017, people exhibiting “ deviant behaviors … such as prostitution, drug use, begging, vagrancy, [ or ] informal street vending, ” can be held in transit centers for up to two months, without any other further legal justification or oversight.
Human Rights Watch found that violations begin as soon as the police or members of the District Administration Security Support Organ ( DASSO), a local security force, round up the children off the streets. Some children reported being beaten during or soon after their arrest. Some said that they were given an official statement with the accusation against them, but most said they never received such a document, and none had access to a lawyer, guardian, or family member during their admission.
“ If you’ re a young girl, they call you a whore, ” said a 16-year-old girl who was detained at Gikondo for a month in early 2019. “ They stick whatever label on you, don’ t say anything about the law, and when they’ re done calling you a prostitute, a thief, or a vagrant, they throw you in prison. ”
Twenty-eight out of thirty children said they were beaten at Gikondo. “ An official at the center … hit me with a big stick on my back and my buttocks when I arrived at the center, ” said a 15-year-old boy detained in Gikondo for two months in 2019. “ He asked for money, and I didn’ t have any. He said, ‘ You don’ t bring anything even though you live here and benefit from this country!’ ”
Children at Gikondo are detained in overcrowded rooms, sometimes with adults, in conditions well below standards required by Rwandan and international law. Children said they had to share mattresses and blankets, which were often infected with lice, sometimes with up to four other children. Some said they were allowed to wash only once or twice a week or had irregular access to toilets. Access to medical treatment is sporadic, and there is no rehabilitation support.
Rwanda, which ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991, said in its July 2018 report to the Children’ s Rights Committee: “ Children in street situations are not treated as offenders as they are always placed in a transit centre where they are held for a short period before longer term remedial or corrective measures are taken. ” However, in practice, there is no judicial process to determine the legality of any of the detentions, the length of time spent at the center, or how children are released or transferred.
Children’ s release from Gikondo is also arbitrary. Some children said they were transferred to Gitagata Rehabilitation Center, but most were simply released. They were told they would be rearrested if they returned to the streets, yet given no financial or logistical support to return to their families. Seventeen of the children interviewed said they returned to living on the streets.
The treatment of children in Gikondo violates the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
In July 2019, the National Commission for Human Rights, a government-appointed body, visited the center and raised questions regarding the repeated detentions of children living on the street. The commission reported that the director of the center, Potien Sindayiheba Gakwaya, said the underlying issue would not be solved by the transit centers.
The government of Rwanda should shut down Gikondo and end the arbitrary detention practices that lead to people being held in transit centers. It should stop using transit and so-called rehabilitation centers to rid the capital of street children, and replace this abusive system with assistance and support to those who need it, Human Rights Watch said.
Rwandan authorities should release all those detained in Gikondo immediately and set an effective, independent investigation into the Rwanda National Police and other authorities responsible for violations against detainees, including children. The investigation should be capable of ensuring that abusive officials are brought to justice.
“ The UN child’ s rights committee has an opportunity to do what few in Rwanda can do by asking the government tough questions about its human rights record and systematic treaty violations, ” Mudge said. “ It should stand by children facing abuse, who deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. ”
The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on People Living in Poverty in Lagos, Nigeria | general |
On the Baroque Art Trail with IBM Watson | Art is a social and relational process. It involves interaction between the artist and the audience. It provides a dialogue, an exchange of impressions, feelings, knowledge and thoughts. This relationship can be complete, attractive, authentic and satisfactory, especially when the viewer fully understands as much as possible of the context and value of the artwork.
We want to know what’ s so special about the series of Campbell soup cans in Andy Warhol’ s paintings. We wonder at whom the Mona Lisa is smiling so mysteriously. We’ re curious why Beethoven’ s Fifth Symphony is one of the most recognizable musical motifs in the world.
Providing this kind of context is what’ s behind a new AI project from IBM. Opening this week in Wroclaw, Poland, is the CoArt project that pairs mobile computing and AI with art history. Visitors to the exhibit, “ Willmann. Opus Magnum, ” at the Contemporary Art Museum are able to pull up a mobile app when viewing a piece of the exhibit, ask questions about the piece and receive immediate answers. The museum, which is a branch of the National Museum, used IBM’ s Watson Assistant for the solution. Watson Assistant leverages natural language processing that understands human language and is able to provide quick, accurate responses.
To make that happen, the museum fed troves of art history data into the platform, including information about the artist, the story and the context in which the work was created, famous interpretations, and more.
The perspective of artificial intelligence becomes fascinating when viewed in the context of modern art – a genre which is often difficult to explain and therefore detached from popular culture. Who among us has not asked questions about works of modern art, like: What is it? What does it mean? How was this work created? Would I be able to do that too? Why is it a work of art at all? There may be as many good answers to these questions as there are viewers asking them, each with individual cultural and cognitive capital.
These add to the preexisting barriers to participation in art, which include things like lack of time, money, distance from cultural institutions, education, material situation, lack of companionship, etc. Research indicates [ 1 ] that the catalogue of barriers is large and that their effective abolition must be related to their correlated clusters and not to individual actions.
Sometimes people don’ t go to an exhibition, a show or a concert, because they are ashamed of their lack of knowledge, they’ re afraid it’ s not for them or think that they just won’ t fit in. Professionalized cultural institutions usually have a significant amount of data about the audience – their habits, participation practices, preferences, needs, preferred communication styles.
There is so much of this data that one of the biggest challenges of audience engagement is to process it sensibly, to extract the key and the relevant conclusions from that knowledge. In this context, AI can be a very useful tool to understand the real needs and conditions for the audience participation. In addition, AI can play a critical role in the processing of large amounts of data enabling, for example, program profiling, marketing activities, ticketing, customization of reception, and even the individual requirements of viewers.
In 2018, 56% of Poles over 15 years of age declared that they participated in a cultural event at least once a year [ 2 ], however sports events were included in the survey. On the other hand, during the 12 months 79% of the respondents have not been to the theatre, 75% to a museum or gallery and 65% at a concert.
Whether we consider this data optimistic or pessimistic, one thing is certain – together we have many opportunities for fascinating cooperation. We are ready. And we invite you.
The Willmann. Opus Magnum runs through April 26, 2020.
[ 1 ] http: //www.kulturalna.warszawa.pl/tmp/relacja i roznice.pdf
[ 2 ] http: //www.tnsglobal.pl/archiwumraportow/files/2019/06/K.027 Kultura O003-19.pdf
The recent promising news about Covid-19 vaccines is in sharp contrast to the absence of a vaccine for HIV, despite decades of research. Unlike Covid-19 with a single viral isolate that shows minimal diversity, HIV circulates in a wide range of strains that so far have proven impervious to a single vaccine. Fortunately, more people [ … ]
IBM has never avoided taking on big challenges. At IBM, we are privileged to drive impact at scale. We take on challenges that transform our clients, impact people’ s lives and innovate for future generations as we strive to effect systematic societal change. Over the course of our 109-year history, the evidence has become clear that [ … ]
Humans have been plying the seas throughout history. But it wasn’ t until the late 19th century that we began to truly study the ocean itself. An expedition in 1872 to 1876, by the Challenger, a converted Royal Navy gunship, traveled nearly 70,000 nautical miles and catalogued over 4,000 previously unknown species, building the foundations for modern [ … ] | tech |
5 Million People Already Left Coronavirus-Infected Wuhan before Imposed Travel Restrictions | More coronavirus cases are expected to emerge on a daily basis.
As the coronavirus epidemic keeps growing, with five cases now confirmed in the U.S., Zhou Xianwang, the Mayor of Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, said that five million people left the city prior to its lockdown.
Mayor Zhou stated that he believed at least 1,000 of the suspected 3,000 diagnosed cases will become the highly-contagious coronavirus.
China's National Health Commission director, Ma Xiaowei, stated that the virus has an incubation period of approximately 14 days, meaning people can infect others before knowing they even have the virus.
As of Sunday, the coronavirus is responsible for 80 confirmed deaths in China, a jump up from 56 the day before. There are 2,744 infections currently being observed in China.
Around the world, the numbers keep escalating as well. The U.S. confirmed a total of five cases on Sunday, and infections are also affecting people in Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, France, Japan, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Macao, and Nepal.
What we know about the new coronavirus spreading in China and beyond https: //t.co/wCCGUhFujn
In an attempt to enable infected people to `` come forward '', China has said that they won't ask any patients to pay their related medical bills.
There is a current travel ban in and out of Wuhan. All public transport in the 11-million people-strong city has come to a halt, and flights and trains out of the city have also been banned.
Good morning! Here's today's front page and the headlines you're waking up to: pic.twitter.com/HpfeQf6qyp
Sixteen cities around Wuhan have been placed under a travel ban, grounding roughly a total of 50 million citizens.
International airlines have also started blocking flights in and out of Wuhan, and some airports and countries are imposing quarantine methods.
China, among other countries, is celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, a national holiday which started on Friday, during which many citizens travel to visit their families. The public holiday has likely added to the rapid and increasing spread of the virus.
Entrusted by Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang on Monday arrived in Wuhan, central China's Hubei, to inspect and direct the efforts for the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus outbreak https: //t.co/c95YeKjt8a pic.twitter.com/M8Dr8L6IAn
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By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. | tech |
Fifth Case of Coronavirus Infection in the U.S. Confirmed | China warns that people can spread the virus, even before they're aware that they're ill.
The U.S. has stated that a fifth case of the coronavirus has been confirmed in the country. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC) said on Sunday that the infected person was based in Arizona.
A top Chinese health official also said that the fast-spreading virus can be passed on from person to person, even before the infected person knows they're ill.
RELATED: FIRST PERSON WITH WUHAN CORONAVIRUS IN U.S. BEING TREATED BY A ROBOT
This brings the number of coronavirus-infected people in the U.S. up to five.
There is a case of a man in his thirties in Washington state, a woman in Chicago in her sixties, a man in his fifties in Orange County, California, one in Los Angeles County, and the last person detected lives in Arizona.
All five patients had recently traveled to Wuhan in China, the epicenter of the outbreak.
State and federal officials are ensuring to follow up on anyone who has had close contact with the infected patients. The aim is to minimize the outbreak in the U.S. as much as possible.
CDC confirms 3 new cases of novel # coronavirus ( # 2019nCoV) infection in the U.S., 1 in AZ & 2 in CA, bringing total to 5. All US cases travelled from Wuhan, China. More cases may be identified. However, risk to US general public is still considered low. https: //t.co/4LCdPwHizU pic.twitter.com/4RVMxJ1Wh0
Chinese Health Minister, Ma Xiaowei, disclosed that people can spread the virus before they have the symptoms.
This is worrying news, as it takes roughly two weeks before the symptoms of the coronavirus start to show. The number of people in touch with infected people could be extremely high.
The U.S. is doing everything they can in order to nip the issue in the bud. Senator Chuck Schumer has urged the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to declare an emergency so that $ 85 million can be used for the CDC.
The country is working hard to try and keep infections at a minimum and has already created a vaccine against the coronavirus. People are being urged to go for their regular flu vaccines, which is another way of preventing the spread of the virus.
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By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. | tech |
2020 Tour of Hainan Cancelled | Get access to more than 30 brands, premium video, exclusive content, events, mapping, and more.
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Lausanne, January 27, 2020 ( AFP) – The International Cycling Union ( UCI) announced Monday that the 2020 Tour of Hainan, which was to take place in southern China from February 23 to March 1, has been canceled because of the health situation in the country affected by an outbreak of coronaviruses.
Created in 2006, the Tour of Hainan is a UCI Pro Series race, the second level of international cycling. The UCI said that, “ at the request of the Chinese Cycling Federation, the race could be rescheduled in 2020, based on the race calendar. ” The Tour of Hainan had been won last year by the Italian Fausto Masnada ( CCC).
The next UCI organized event in China is the Tour of Chongming Island ( photo above), held close to Shanghai from May 7-9. The UCI said the event is still planned to be raced. The UCI is in regular contact with Chinese authorities, “ to keep informed of developments, health and its impact on the organization of cycling competitions in the country. ”
“ The UCI will take the necessary measures so that the safety of all parts is guaranteed, ” said the UCI in a statement. This new coronavirus appeared in the city of Wuhan, causing concern because of its similarity to the SARS ( Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) which killed nearly 650 people in mainland China and Hong Kong 2002-2003.
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Born in Auschwitz, survivor says stories of atrocity must be told | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Her mother was so malnourished that the Nazi camp guards did not even know she was pregnant.
`` She didn't show very much at three months, she didn't show very much at nine months, either -- I was so little, I was just one pound at birth, '' says Angela Orosz Richt, a survivor of Auschwitz, who was born in Nazi Germany's most infamous death camp.
She was born on December 21, 1944, just weeks before the camp was liberated -- and six months after the Nazis deported her mother from Hungary to the camp in occupied Poland, where they killed over 1.1 million people, mostly Jews from across Europe.
The 75-year-old -- now a great grandmother living in Montreal, Canada -- is one of over 200 survivors who returned to Auschwitz on Monday for a ceremony marking 75 years since the camp's liberation.
The surge in anti-semitic hate speech and violence on both sides of the Atlantic in recent years has triggered old fears that she thought she had laid to rest once and for all.
But it has also made her more determined than ever to share her incredible story as both a lesson and warning.
- 'Kept me hidden ' -
Her mother arrived at Auschwitz on May 25, 1944, and was sent to a barracks where the camp's doctor Josef Mengele, known as the `` Angel of Death '', held twins that he used for experiments.
Despite being severely malnourished, she came to full term -- managing to conceal her pregnancy and then her newborn baby.
`` She used whatever papers she could find to put on top of me, she kept me hidden, '' Orosz Richt told AFP, walking past the barbed-wire fence and red-brick barracks inside the camp where her life began.
`` Her biggest fear was when she had to go outside, to stand for the appell ( camp roll call), that the rats will eat me and she won't find me when she comes back.
`` It was God's miracle that she managed to breastfeed me -- - she only drank water but milk came out. ''
- 'Speak up ' -
Recent deadly anti-semitic attacks and the rise of white supremacist groups in the US and far-right parties in Europe have convinced Orosz Richt that it is more important than ever to share her story.
In France -- home to Europe's biggest Jewish community -- there was a 74 percent rise in the number of anti-Jewish offences reported to police in 2018 compared with the previous year.
`` I 'm very scared for my grandchildren, I 'm a great grandmother and that's why I decided, I 'm going to speak up and tell my mother's story; maybe they will learn from it, '' she said.
`` Education is the most important thing we have to fight that ( anti-semitism).
`` We have to tell the stories. Even if it is one child who goes home and says: 'Hey, the Holocaust did happen. I spoke to a survivor, she was there, she went through this. If one, just one kid goes home and says this, we have won. ''
Her mother was so malnourished that the Nazi camp guards did not even know she was pregnant.
“ She didn’ t show very much at three months, she didn’ t show very much at nine months, either — I was so little, I was just one pound at birth, ” says Angela Orosz Richt, a survivor of Auschwitz, who was born in Nazi Germany’ s most infamous death camp.
She was born on December 21, 1944, just weeks before the camp was liberated — and six months after the Nazis deported her mother from Hungary to the camp in occupied Poland, where they killed over 1.1 million people, mostly Jews from across Europe.
The 75-year-old — now a great grandmother living in Montreal, Canada — is one of over 200 survivors who returned to Auschwitz on Monday for a ceremony marking 75 years since the camp’ s liberation.
The surge in anti-semitic hate speech and violence on both sides of the Atlantic in recent years has triggered old fears that she thought she had laid to rest once and for all.
But it has also made her more determined than ever to share her incredible story as both a lesson and warning.
– ‘ Kept me hidden’ –
Her mother arrived at Auschwitz on May 25, 1944, and was sent to a barracks where the camp’ s doctor Josef Mengele, known as the “ Angel of Death ”, held twins that he used for experiments.
Despite being severely malnourished, she came to full term — managing to conceal her pregnancy and then her newborn baby.
“ She used whatever papers she could find to put on top of me, she kept me hidden, ” Orosz Richt told AFP, walking past the barbed-wire fence and red-brick barracks inside the camp where her life began.
“ Her biggest fear was when she had to go outside, to stand for the appell ( camp roll call), that the rats will eat me and she won’ t find me when she comes back.
“ It was God’ s miracle that she managed to breastfeed me — she only drank water but milk came out. ”
– ‘ Speak up’ –
Recent deadly anti-semitic attacks and the rise of white supremacist groups in the US and far-right parties in Europe have convinced Orosz Richt that it is more important than ever to share her story.
In France — home to Europe’ s biggest Jewish community — there was a 74 percent rise in the number of anti-Jewish offences reported to police in 2018 compared with the previous year.
“ I’ m very scared for my grandchildren, I’ m a great grandmother and that’ s why I decided, I’ m going to speak up and tell my mother’ s story; maybe they will learn from it, ” she said.
“ Education is the most important thing we have to fight that ( anti-semitism).
“ We have to tell the stories. Even if it is one child who goes home and says: ‘ Hey, the Holocaust did happen. I spoke to a survivor, she was there, she went through this. If one, just one kid goes home and says this, we have won. ”
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
The benefit of nostalgia? Positive memories activate the reward pathway in the brain, which is essentially a release of chemicals that make us feel...
Citigroup is prepared to fire employees at the end of the month who refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19 by Jan. 14 deadline.
It’ s not often you see an idea as useful as this with so many applications – Separating microplastics using sound waves.
The Federal Trade Commission ( FTC) is warning about fraudulent testing kits being sold online to desperate customers.
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Op-Ed: Songwriters Hall of Fame snubs songwriting duo of The Monkees | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Published
This year, Boyce and Hart scored a long-overdue nomination for the Songwriters Hall of Fame’ s Class of 2020.
Boyce and Hart wrote The Monkees’ popular television theme song “ Hey, Hey We’ re the Monkees, ” as well as the Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “ Last Train to Clarksville ” and “ ( I’ m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone, ” which became a big hit for Paul Revere and the Raiders.
The Songwriters Hall of Fame recognizes the work of composers and lyricists that create music all over the globe. A songwriter with a noteworthy musical catalog of songs qualifies for induction 20 years after the first significant commercial release of their song. Boyce and Hart more than met those qualifications, and then some. They are the epitome of the definition of “ songwriting legends. ”
Boyce and Hart’ s first major hit single came in 1964 when Jay and the Americans reached No. 3 on the Billboard charts with “ Come a Little Bit Closer. ” They signed with the record label A & M Records, where they would record such several classic songs of their own. They enjoyed three Top 40 hits as recording artists, which include “ Out & About, ” “ I Wonder What She’ s Doing Tonight ” and “ Alice Long ( You’ re Still My Favorite Girlfriend). ” Boyce and Hart also went out on the road and toured with The Monkees.
Hopefully, this glaring omission will be rectified at a future Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony. Tommy Boyce died on November 23, 1994.
A posthumous induction into the coveted Songwriters Hall of Fame would be a fitting homage to his memory and his musical legacy, and the legacy of the iconic songwriting duo Boyce and Hart.
To learn more about Boyce and Hart, check out their official website and their Facebook page.
Markos Papadatos is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for Music News. Papadatos is a Greek-American journalist and educator that has authored over 16,000 original articles over the past 15 years. He has interviewed some of the biggest names in music, entertainment, lifestyle, magic, and sports. He is a five-time consecutive `` Best of Long Island '' winner, and in the past two years, he was honored as the `` Best Long Island Personality '' in Arts & Entertainment, an honor that has gone to Billy Joel six times.
Omicron's rise has heralded another pandemic-tinged Christmas for billions, with Santa's arrival overshadowed by Covid restrictions.
At a time when hospitals and patients are strained due to increasing COVID numbers, threat actors will continue to attack.
Millions of Americans are traveling before Christmas even as national Omicron Covid-19 infections surpass Delta's peak.
Hong Kong university students paid solemn tribute to two campus statues marking Beijing's 1989 suppression of Tiananmen Square protesters.
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China 2020 polyethylene demand 4.1m tonnes lower on single-use plastics ban and coronavirus | Understand market developments and complex data and what they mean to you.
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“ ICIS price forecasts have helped us allocate resources smartly and efficiently, to anticipate price changes, and to buy PP at favourable prices. The reports have saved our internal team a lot of time and effort when analysing pricing trends. ”
CHINA was supposed to be the one polyethylene ( PE) market we could all depend on during a period of unprecedented oversupply. This is no longer the case.
As I discussed last week, 2019 could well have been another stellar year for the country’ s demand growth with consumption of PE at some 33.9m tonnes – 800,000 tonnes more than we expected, based on my preliminary estimates. This would mark the second year in a row that we had underestimated growth.
But Asian ethylene and PE margins were still in deep negative territory towards the end of last year, reflecting the extent of the oversupply.
Firstly, there is the coronavirus outbreak which has already claimed 56 lives. There will be a significant effect on economic growth.
Last year, China’ s official GDP growth was the lowest in 29 years. That’ s if you unwisely believe the official number. Growth was likely lower than the officially reported 6.1%. The economic slowdown is the result of debt and demographic factors that are far greater in scale and importance than the peripheral and over-hyped trade war.
China might be able to get its debt problems under control over the next few years, but it simply can not return to the scale of old-style huge economic stimulus that created the debt problem in the first place – otherwise, of course, it would be back to Square One on debt. So, there will be no return to the levels of economic stimulus that we saw in 2009-2017.
China’ s ageing population is likely to be a problem that China will find impossible to fix. The only solution is to therefore become a country of much higher value manufacturing and services in order to compensate for a shrinking working-age population and rising labour costs. I think China has a great chance of doing this, provided it can win its technology and geopolitical battles with the US.
If it loses its battles with the US, there is no scenario under which the global economy can be healthy. It is simple as that. If you don’ t believe me ask the IMF. If China loses, there is also no scenario under which the global economic and ergo the petrochemicals industry in general can be healthy.
This is evident from the data on the dominant role that China has to come to play in global consumption across all the petrochemicals products – with petrochemicals, because they are such important raw materials for many manufacturing chains, providing a good proxy for overall economic growth. In PE, as recently as 2000, China accounted for just 12% of global demand. Last year, this had risen to 31%. In 2009, China overtook North America in PE to become the world’ s biggest consumer by volume.
China’ s pretty much existential struggle with its demographic problem links to the third big issue – its announcement last week – as I have been predicting would happen since April 2019 – of major bans and restrictions on the consumption of single-use plastics.
Why there is a link is that China can ill afford the continued negative effect on its economy of environmental degradation caused by plastic and other pollution during a period when it is also having to contend with demographic challenges.
Plastic and other industrial pollution, along with climate changes, explain why China is rapidly running short of potable water.
The United Nations estimates that eight of China’ s northern provinces are in the category of “ absolute water scarcity ” where availability of drinking water has fallen below 500 cubic metres per person per year. A further 11 of the country’ s provinces, home to many more hundreds of millions of people, are experiencing water availability of less than a 1000 cubic metres per annum, which the UN defines as water scarcity.
The contamination of China’ s rivers by completely unnecessary plastic pollution is quite literally off the charts. And there is an international dimension to this, and thus an opportunity for China to win international Kudos by dealing with its plastic rubbish crisis:
By dealing with its plastics rubbish challenge, China can also help compensate for its ageing population by creating a high value, state-of-the-art recycling industry. I believe that China will pour hundreds of millions, if not billions, of government money into this industry – and has a good chance of ending up as an exporter of sophisticated recycling technologies and services.
Thanks to some excellent work from my colleagues in China, it is now possible to be a little more precise – following my initial attempt at number crunching last week – over the impact of the single-use plastics regulations on PE demand in 2020.
My colleagues ( click here for a free version of the article) looked at each of the regulations and conclude that, based on their estimate of 2019 demand, the new rules amount to 3.11m tonnes of last year’ s consumption – or 9.4% of demand.
But, as I said, demand was probably higher than our base case last year. This would mean the restrictions likely amounted to 3.9m tonnes of 2019 demand. Role this on a percentage basis forward into 2020, add in my guesstimates of the impact of the coronavirus outbreak and debt and demographics on growth – and this year’ s demand falls to around 32m tonnes. This is some 4.1m tonnes lower than my “ business as usual ” base case.
What happens after 2020 is at this stage devilishly hard to quantify. But what’ s clear is that all the existing estimates out there will need to be revised downwards, with major implications for the global PE business.
The good news will arrive when we stop obsessing about these types of numbers. Right now, we simply have to constantly re-crunch the data because of the way the business operates. We are hooked on growth for growth’ s sake – this is the basis of our entire investment model. We gauge new demand by volume and build quantities of new virgin capacity on this basis, regardless of the environmental and societal impact.
But this approach will very soon no longer be possible. Investments will have to be based on their positive environmental impact. The industry will have no choice, because, as China has demonstrated, that’ s the way the legislation is moving.
Those who in the future focus on the value rather than the volume of investments will be the ones who make the money.
ICIS is part of the LexisNexis® Risk Solutions Group portfolio of brands. | general |
J & J launches vaccine efforts as coronavirus spreads | Since the new coronavirus was detected in early January, at least half a dozen drugmakers have begun vaccine development efforts.
While companies like Moderna expressed hope a candidate could be identified quickly, past experience with viral outbreaks like SARS suggest readying a vaccine for testing could take months, if not years.
J & J expects the process will more closely resemble its response to the Zika virus, which took one year between initiation and beginning human trials, than to Ebola, which took six months.
In the case of Ebola, J & J and other drugmakers worked with the virus itself and drew on decades of experience with the highly infectious disease. For the Wuhan coronavirus, researchers are using the virus ' genetic sequence, which was shared by Chinese authorities soon after identification.
`` We are going to take a parallel approach with at least five different constructs, with different partners, collaborators over the world in order to see which part of the virus we can use to make an effective vaccine, '' J & J's Stoffels said on CNBC.
Should one be identified, J & J could within one year produce hundreds of millions of vaccine doses using its 1,000-liter manufacturing platform, according to the executive — capacity that's already been put to the test with the pharma's investigational Ebola vaccine.
That kind of global production capability could make J & J a valuable contributor to vaccine development efforts, as smaller drugmakers also launching research programs — like Moderna, Novavax and Inovio — would be hard-pressed to produce at scale.
While J & J has experience in vaccines, Merck & Co, Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer are considered the four leading vaccine manufacturers.
GSK confirmed to BioPharma Dive that it has no active coronavirus programs, although it said it's monitoring the situation closely. Sanofi, which is partnered with the Coalition for Innovations in Preparation for Epidemics, also said it's following developments.
Merck has taken an initial step to form a team of scientists to `` assess internal assets for potential antiviral activity toward the Wuhan coronavirus and related viruses, '' a spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
Pfizer did not return a request for comment.
Much is still unknown about the Wuhan coronavirus, which has killed more than 80 people and sickened nearly 3,000. While between 75% and 80% of its genome overlaps with that of SARS ', the means of human-to-human transmission of the Wuhan virus, as well as its lethality, aren't entirely clear.
Chinese authorities are currently experimenting with using HIV drugs made by AbbVie as possible treatments for the virus, according to Bloomberg, and J & J said it is also screening its library of antivirals for potential activity.
Topics covered: Pharma, biotech, FDA, gene therapy, clinical trials, drug pricing and much more.
Through high-stakes litigation, aggressive patenting practices and a bit of luck, Amgen will likely stretch Enbrel's monopoly until 2029, more than 30 years after it was approved.
Sales of Aduhelm during the third quarter totaled only $ 300,000, falling well below expectations amid controversy over its approval and physician reluctance to prescribe it.
Topics covered: Pharma, biotech, FDA, gene therapy, clinical trials, drug pricing and much more.
Topics covered: Pharma, biotech, FDA, gene therapy, clinical trials, drug pricing and much more.
Through high-stakes litigation, aggressive patenting practices and a bit of luck, Amgen will likely stretch Enbrel's monopoly until 2029, more than 30 years after it was approved.
Sales of Aduhelm during the third quarter totaled only $ 300,000, falling well below expectations amid controversy over its approval and physician reluctance to prescribe it.
Topics covered: Pharma, biotech, FDA, gene therapy, clinical trials, drug pricing and much more. | tech |
Travel and Tourism Companies Likely to Be Hardest Hit by Coronavirus Outbreak | To gauge the effect of the quickly spreading coronavirus on the companies we cover, we look back at SARS.
A coronavirus that originated in China is spreading quickly, with more than 900 cases reported worldwide and at least 26 deaths as of Jan. 24. Though most are in mainland China, cases have been confirmed in Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, South Korea, Singapore, Japan, and the United States, disrupting travel and forcing officials to quarantine cities -- more than 30 million people in China are under travel restrictions.
Among the companies we cover, those in the travel and tourism industries are the most likely to be affected by the outbreak: airlines and airports, casinos, resorts, online travel agencies. Wynn Macau’ s chief executive didn’ t rule out closing casinos if the outbreak worsens, for example.
Chelsey Tam does not own shares in any of the securities mentioned above. Find out about Morningstar’ s editorial policies. | business |
The Coronavirus Outbreak: What You Need to Know | At least 80,000 people worldwide have contracted COVID-19, a previously unidentified strain of coronavirus first detected in late December, likely at a since-closed seafood market in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Officials in China implemented travel restrictions in an attempt to stymie the spread of the disease, but confirmed cases of the illness have still been reported in at least 45 countries and territories outside mainland China to date, according to CNN. COVID-19, short for “ coronavirus disease 2019, ” is the disease caused by the “ SARS-CoV-2, ” according to the Center for Disease Control ( CDC)’ s summary of the situation.
The International Health Regulations Emergency Committee of the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a “ public health emergency of international concern ” on January 30, and on January 31, the U.S. followed with a declaration of a public health emergency from the Health and Human Services Department.
The 2019-nCoV infection is deadly. According to the CDC’ s summary of symptoms, “ reported illnesses have ranged from infected people with little to no symptoms to people being severely ill and dying. Symptoms can include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. ”
The coronavirus cases originated in the Hubei province of central China, which has remained the most heavily concentrated area affected by the virus, according to NBC News.
At least 2,747 Chinese citizens have died as a result of the disease, according to the latest from Al Jazeera.
In late January, Chinese officials quarantined Wuhan, the city of origins and home to millions. The quarantine measures spread to Beijing by mid-February, according to the New York Times. Many international airlines, including American Airlines, Delta, and United, suspended or reduced flights to China, and hundreds of American citizens have been evacuated from the area near Wuhan by plane.
“ Our greatest concern is the potential for this virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems which are ill-prepared to deal with it, '' WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters when the disease was declared a public emergency. “ This declaration is not a vote of non-confidence in China... on the contrary, WHO continues to have confidence in China’ s capacity to control the outbreak. ”
Chinese health officials had already reported the disease is spreading more easily than before, according to the Washington Post. Chinese health minister Ma Xiaowei said the virus is infectious even in its incubation period, which means carriers can transmit the disease to others even before they experience initiation symptoms, which makes the disease harder to contain.
Instances of COVID-19 are now apparent in at least 45 countries and territories worldwide, according to CNN. The latest major outbreaks are occurring in Italy, where there have been at least 400 instances of infection reported as well as in Iran and South Korea. Deaths worldwide are currently tallied at 2,800.
There have been at least 71 confirmed cases in the U.S. so far, with several reportedly spread via unknown origins. The first coronavirus-related death in the U.S. was reported on Saturday, February 29 in Washington state.
According to CNN, the first case of unknown origins was confirmed in California on February 26, which means it could have been the first case of what’ s known as “ community spread. ”
“ This case isn’ t connected to travel to China or from somebody that’ s known to China or other affected area, ” said Dr. Dean Blumberg, an infectious disease specialist at UC Davis Health, in an interview with KCRA 3, a local CNN affiliate.
“ And so that suggests the virus is out there in the community and that means pretty much everybody is at risk, ” Blumberg said. “ We don’ t know who might be carrying it. We don’ t know who we could get it from. Just like any other cold or flu, we could get it from anybody. ”
In total, at least 445 people in the United States have been tested for the disease, according to the CDC. Aside from the latest case of infection in California, 42 of the other infected patients in the U.S. contracted the disease on the Diamond Princess Cruise Ship, and the rest were exposed through travel-related means or from person-to-person spread.
On February 26, Donald Trump announced Vice President Mike Pence would lead a task force intended to slow the spread of the disease, according to Politico. Trump touted Pence’ s record of handling public health crises while governor of Indiana, during which time the state experienced a surge in the spread of HIV because Pence would not lift a ban on sterile needle exchange following a drug-use-related outbreak of the infection.
According to the CDC, symptoms may appear between two and 14 days after exposure. A vaccine is in the works, but treatment could still be a year away at best.
The strain currently infecting humans around the globe, referred to as the “ 2019 novel coronavirus, ” is only one strain of a large system of viruses known collectively as coronavirus, according to the WHO, as reported by CNBC. This system of viruses is linked to everything from the common cold to the 2002–2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome ( SARS).
Paul Stoffels, Johnson & Johnson’ s chief scientific officer, said the pharmaceutical company began working on a coronavirus vaccine two weeks ago, according to CNBC, but it could take up to a year for the vaccine to be available, even in a best-case scenario.
“ We have to be prepared that this is going to become a global crisis, ” he said.
Editor's note: This story is developing and has been updated.
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Wine faces rising threat from hard seltzers and cannabis | Or wait...
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By Rachel Arthur contact
27-Jan-2020 - Last updated on 28-Jan-2020 at 13:38 GMT
Related tags: Wine, hard seltzer, Cannabis function sanitize gpt value2 ( gptValue) { var vOut= '' ''; var aTags = gptValue.split ( ', '); var reg = new RegExp ( '\\W+ ', `` g ''); for ( var i=0; i < aTags.length; i++) { vOut += aTags [ i ].trim ().replace ( reg, '- ').substring ( 0,40); if ( i! = ( aTags.length-1)) vOut += ', '; } vOut = vOut.toLowerCase (); return vOut; } $ ( document).ready ( function () { dataLayerNews = { }; dataLayerNews.related tags = sanitize gpt value2 ( `` Wine, hard seltzer, Cannabis ''); dataLayer.push ( dataLayerNews); });
In a survey among US wine drinkers, Wine Intelligence found that 39% had reduced their wine consumption over the last 12 months. While the majority of this group said they were simply cutting back on alcohol, a third said they were drinking less wine because they were switching to other alcoholic beverages.
And among those switching to other alcoholic beverage categories – estimated at 9 million regular wine consumers or 12% of the regular US wine drinking population - the most popular alternatives were hard seltzers and beer. Cannabis, meanwhile, remains an unquantified threat as it continues to emerge.
Competition from other beverages is nothing new to the wine category: it’ s had to compete with a number of trendy drinks over the last decade such as craft beer, hard cider or craft spirits.
But the rise of hard seltzers is notable because of its speedy assent to stardom and consequently its sudden impact on wine. Hard seltzers have the advantage of tapping into several key trends at once: being relatively low in alcohol ( 4-7% ABV); low in calories ( typically less than 100 calories); and packaged in light, eye-catching cans.
And consumers aged 35 are the most likely of regular wine drinkers to try hard seltzers: according to the report, 49% of hard seltzer drinkers who also drink wine monthly are under this benchmark, while 73% are 45 or younger.
Those entering the hard seltzer category are also among the more involved wine drinkers, who would normally be the ones spending at premium levels when buying wine. However, this could also indicate a positive point of difference for wine, in that hard seltzer drinkers still attach a certain prestige to wine and consider it for certain drinking occasions.
Hard seltzers are still, however, a small category compared to wine: at $ 3.4bn retail value compared to $ 70bn for wine. But while wine volumes headed into decline into 2019, hard seltzers continue to rise.
Hard seltzer's volume share of the US alcohol market jumped threefold from 0.8% in 2018 to 2.5% in 2019, to 82.5m 9-litre cases, worth approximately $ 3.4bn at retail value, according to IWSR figures.
Although the US wine market has grown consistently for the past 30 years - and doubled in size since the turn of the century - it's suffered its first fall in 25 years with US wine volumes for 2019 showing a year-on-year decline of 0.9%.
So what can wine brands do to tempt consumers back to the category? Understanding seltzer’ s success and drawing lessons from it will be key, says Wine Intelligence COO Richard Halstead.
“ What’ s notable about the recent surge in hard seltzer sales is that a few far-sighted brand owners, chief among them White Claw, have positioned themselves precisely and very successfully to meet today’ s consumer needs, ” he said.
“ Therefore, to compete more effectively with hard seltzer - and the next fashionable beverage that comes along - the wine industry must understand better those consumer needs and how hard seltzer made itself a must-buy in 2019.
“ Hard seltzer is meeting a consumer need for a light, refreshing, pleasant tasting and lower-in-alcohol product - beer without the bitterness, or wine with less alcohol. The most successful hard seltzer brand, White Claw, promotes itself as low carb ( 2g per 19.2 oz / 545 ml can), low in calories ( 100 cal per can) and gluten free.
“ Interestingly, a standard glass of wine ( 5 oz / 150ml) can also claim very similar attributes: for a relatively dry wine at 13% ABV, 3g of carbs, 120 calories, and no gluten either. Unlike wine, the typical hard seltzer can offers simplicity and reliability in terms of flavour: while wine may offer a tasting description but this may be a bit vague.
“ And there is a lot more visual branding in hard seltzer – bright colours, clear logos, and so on – which allow consumers clear sight of a brand proposition, and the opportunity to make a quick and reassuring decision. ”
But another threat to wine comes from a completely different direction: cannabis. Some 7% of consumers said they are drinking less wine as they’ ve switched to cannabis products: but 29% of consumers aged 21-34 said they considered cannabis products to be a good alternative to wine.
Cannabis-infused drinks often market themselves as the perfect alternative to wine: hoping to tap into the same relaxation occasion without the calorie count of wine.
So how can wine brands tackle the cannabis threat?
“ This is a more difficult question to answer than hard seltzers, because we have yet to see a strong mainstream cannabis-based beverage on the market, ” said Halstead.
“ However, the same logic of need identification and positioning applies here. What consumer needs might the cannabis drink meet, and at which occasion? Is it the wind-down-at-home-after-work moment, where all you want is something pleasant and reliable to help decompress out of work mode; or is it the social discovery moment, where you go out with a view of trying something new and exciting, perhaps in combination with a new venue or food style?
“ The requirements for each occasion are very different, and successful cannabis drinks producers will have thought carefully about that moment, and what might be required. ” | general |
Nitro-infusion taps all beverages | Or wait...
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By Beth Newhart contact
27-Jan-2020 - Last updated on 27-Jan-2020 at 10:58 GMT
Related tags: Nitrogen, Cold brew coffee, Cold brew, Coffee, Tea, Wine, kombucha function sanitize gpt value2 ( gptValue) { var vOut= '' ''; var aTags = gptValue.split ( ', '); var reg = new RegExp ( '\\W+ ', `` g ''); for ( var i=0; i < aTags.length; i++) { vOut += aTags [ i ].trim ().replace ( reg, '- ').substring ( 0,40); if ( i! = ( aTags.length-1)) vOut += ', '; } vOut = vOut.toLowerCase (); return vOut; } $ ( document).ready ( function () { dataLayerNews = { }; dataLayerNews.related tags = sanitize gpt value2 ( `` Nitrogen, Cold brew coffee, Cold brew, Coffee, Tea, Wine, kombucha ''); dataLayer.push ( dataLayerNews); });
The company believes it has improved the nitrogen-infusion process to allow it to be effective applied to various beverages: with nitro offering another dimension to the flavor, mouthfeel and visual appeal.
And as nitro-infusion gives a creamy, velvety mouthfeel, there's potential for the technology to replace milk or cream and thus create lower calorie beverages.
By infusing beverages with nitrogen, tiny bubbles are formed which gives a creamy, velvety texture.
In the cold brew category, kegs are traditionally filled three-quarters full. Nitro gas is pumped into the keg, then shaken manually. The end result is the frothy nitro drink now commonly served in cafes nationwide. But Shelby Van Slooten of EBS told BeverageDaily that there are better infusion paths forward.
Nitrogen as a gas is not water soluble, and does not want to bind with coffee, Van Slooten said. So after a while, the product starts to separate within the keg and must be re-shaken. When the nitrogen floats to the top, it leaves customers with inconsistent beverages from day to day and location to location.
The EBS Nitro Infuser uses multi-vortex infusion chambers that can make the infusion level up to 25% nitrogen. It incorporates in the kegerator, between the keg and tap. It performs the process on demand when drawing from the tap.
The beverage creators can customize how much nitrogen is going in, which makes it flexible to a range of beverages. Van Slooten said that coffee, tea and wine are all very different and require different infusion levels.
EBS said, “ It wasn’ t long ago that tap lines in bars were known for their neglect. The tap lines weren’ t always cleaned and it wasn’ t the freshest way to get your beer.
“ But, over the last few years, tap lines have gained a very different reputation -- one of freshly brewed craft beer; each glass poured individually for each customer. ”
EBS founded in 2017 and now works with thousands of cafes, bars, restaurants and offices that use its Nitro Infuser. It plans to launch three new adjacent products this year.
The appeal behind nitro-infused drinks lies in the texture. Van Slooten said the small nitrogen bubbles create a perception of creaminess. This can make it taste like milk was added to the cold brew when it wasn’ t, making it a lower calorie option.
Nitrogen can also bring forward different tasting notes. A bitter hibiscus-based tea can be smoothed out with the creaminess of running it through the infuser. And because nitrogen increases aromatics and improves flavor, it adds new levels to wine drinks.
Van Slooten emphasized that nitro-infusion is primarily a customer experience attraction. The novelty of the texture and visual of the tap pour are making it a powerful trend. And with the EBS Infuser, it’ s possible to infuse much more than cold brew.
Tea is a major category for infusion, but experimentation has led EBS to keg dark stout beer, kombucha, wine and cocktails. Van Slooten said the nitrogen binds well with milk and milk alternatives, which is why nitro-infused cold brew lattes are so popular.
Millennials are driving the cold beverage trend, and they typically want a fun drinking experience even with non-alcoholic drinks.
“ I do think within the next year you’ ll start seeing a lot more of the other beverages enter the spectrum, ” Van Slooten said.
This year, EBS will launch a cold brew and nitro cold brew roadshow, coming to six US cities. It will feature comprehensive education seminars and beverage innovation labs. It will kick off this month in Los Angeles.
Copyright - Unless otherwise stated all contents of this web site are © 2021 - William Reed Business Media Ltd - All Rights Reserved - Full details for the use of materials on this site can be found in the Terms & Conditions
Related topics: Ingredients, Dairy Drinks, Tea and Coffee, Markets, R & D, Beer, Wine, Spirits, Cider, Juice Drinks, Fizzing-Up Carbonates, Premium Indulgence, Emerging Markets, Beverage Entrepreneurs, Craft, Processing Equipment & Systems, Automation, Control
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Coronavirus contacts for foreign nationals in China | The following is a list of government telephone numbers, email addresses, and websites for foreign nationals living in the Chinese city of Wuhan, Hubei province, and elsewhere in the country seeking information on the coronavirus outbreak. | business |
Numi Organic Tea rebrands, moves more into health and function | Or wait...
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27-Jan-2020 - Last updated on 27-Jan-2020 at 09:18 GMT
Related tags: Tea, tea drinks, Sleep, Fancy Food Show, Specialty food association, Turmeric function sanitize gpt value2 ( gptValue) { var vOut= '' ''; var aTags = gptValue.split ( ', '); var reg = new RegExp ( '\\W+ ', `` g ''); for ( var i=0; i < aTags.length; i++) { vOut += aTags [ i ].trim ().replace ( reg, '- ').substring ( 0,40); if ( i! = ( aTags.length-1)) vOut += ', '; } vOut = vOut.toLowerCase (); return vOut; } $ ( document).ready ( function () { dataLayerNews = { }; dataLayerNews.related tags = sanitize gpt value2 ( `` Tea, tea drinks, Sleep, Fancy Food Show, Specialty food association, Turmeric ''); dataLayer.push ( dataLayerNews); });
Numi, which was founded in 1999 in California, is shifting from its position as a purely tea company to a wellness-focused beverage company. It is starting its better-for-you drink collection with Sweet Slumber, a new tea with valerian root, hops, passionflower, chamomile and lavender.
The drink seeks to relieve stress and inspire rest and relaxation: Reem Hassani, co-founder of Numi, told BeverageDaily the valerian root provides a ‘ gentle relaxation’ without the grogginess of other sleep aids.
In Numi’ s 20-year history, the majority of their products have been based in tea. Recently it launched 2oz daily wellness shots featuring ingredients like pomegranate, turmeric, matcha, reishi mushroom and apple cider vinegar.
The Sweet Slumber moves the brand even further into wellness. Hassani said Numi will next focus on stress and relaxation specific teas, looking at adaptogens and herbs that are heart-opening.
The brand's refresh includes highlighting its ingredients, redesigning the logo, imagery and graphics. Numi said it's an opportunity to solidify its brand personality and unique characteristics to stand out on the shelf, while still maintaining its core values.
Also previewing at Fancy Food was a line of four drinking chocolates. Dark chocolate crumbles are packaged in pouches, designed to be melted down and mixed with either milk or water. Hassani likened them to a rich, thick cup of hot cocoa.
The cocoa is sourced from a fair trade partner in Peru that Numi has a longstanding relationship with. Dash of Salt, Touch of Chile, Shroom Power and Kick of Mocha will launch in foodservice bags in February, and roll out to retail July.
“ Our whole idea is to get into adjacent categories and expand, ” Hassani said, and the team thinks that drinking chocolates could become a big category in coffee shops and cafes. They are also low in sugar and paleo-friendly.
Connected to Numi’ s latest launches is its strong commitment to sustainability. The company developed a new plant-based tea wrapper, made from renewable sugarcane and 100% FSC certified paper. This guarantees no eco-toxicity when it breaks down, and it also requires less carbon to produce than traditional plastic.
“ Our new packaging is more eco-friendly than ever with the launch of our new, plant-based tea wrappers. We still use 90% post-consumer waste paper cartons, soy-based inks, and biodegradable Manila hemp tea bags, as we’ ve done for the past 20 years, ” Hassani said.
The renewable resources used to make the new wrappers reduces Numi’ s reliance on fossil fuels. Hassani said Numi has a climate action plan, and believes all companies should be transitioning to sustainable and eco-friendly packaging.
“ I think it should be the focus of everyone, because the technology is starting to come out. The problem is it’ s really expensive. So the more companies that do something like that, the cheaper and more accessible it will be, ” Hassani said.
Copyright - Unless otherwise stated all contents of this web site are © 2021 - William Reed Business Media Ltd - All Rights Reserved - Full details for the use of materials on this site can be found in the Terms & Conditions
Related topics: Ingredients, Dairy Drinks, Tea and Coffee, Retail & Shopper Insights, Processing & Packaging, Markets, Health and Wellness, Natural and Organic, Emerging Markets, Future Flavors, Sustainability, Smart Packaging, Functional Beverages, Beverage Entrepreneurs, Craft, Packaging & Packing Materials, Containers
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Gaming, Travel Stocks Fall Amid Coronavirus Outbreak | Stocks of gaming, airlines, lodging and online-travel-agency companies declined in premarket trading Monday as global stocks fall on fears surrounding the coronavirus outbreak.
Shares of casinos with operations in Macau such as Wynn Resorts Ltd. ( WYNN), Las Vegas Sands Corp. ( LVS) and MGM Resorts International ( MGM) fell 6%, 5.7% and 3.4%, respectively.
`` We expect the news flow to continue to evolve, given the Chinese government cancellation of tours globally and the most extreme possibility of the Macau government shutting down all casinos, '' Jefferies gaming, leisure and lodging analyst David Katz said in a note to clients. `` At present the impact on estimates and the stocks near term, remain speculative. ''
Shares of airlines, some of which have allowed customers to cancel or change flights with no fee, also fell. United Airlines Holdings Inc. ( UAL), American Airlines Group Inc. ( AAL) and Delta Air Lines Inc. ( DAL) were off 3.5%, 3.4% and 3.1%, respectively. American depositary shares of China Eastern Airlines Corp. ( CEA) and China Southern Airlines Co. Ltd. ( ZNH) were down 7.1% and 5.3%, respectively.
ADRs of Chinese online-travel agency Trip.com Group Ltd. ( TCOM) were off 9.4%. Shares of Expedia Group Inc. ( EXPE), TripAdvisor Inc. ( TRIP) and Booking Holdings Inc. ( BKNG) fell 4.1%, 3.8% and 2.6%, respectively.
Shares of Marriott International Inc. ( MAR), Hyatt Hotels Corp. ( H) and Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. ( HLT) declined 2.2%, 2.1% and 2.1%, respectively. Shares of cruise lines Carnival Corp. ( CCL), Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. ( RCL) and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. ( NCLH) respectively fell 3.2%, 4.2% and 3.1%.
Mr. Katz said the travel restrictions in and around Wuhan and cancellations of Lunar New Year events would weigh on companies ' first-quarter results. `` But how large and will it linger onward remain the questions, '' he said, adding that a `` Buy on weakness '' call would be premature.
The pneumonialike virus has infected more than 2,700 people and killed at least 80, the vast majority in Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital.
Write to Dave Sebastian at dave.sebastian @ wsj.com | business |
Forex Markets: Coronavirus outbreak in focus | The U.S. dollar index, the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc rose on Monday morning, while the offshore yuan tumbled to a 2020 low as growing fears about the spread of a coronavirus from China pushed investors into safer assets.
Health authorities around the world are working to prevent a pandemic. The virus has killed 81 people in China, and nearly 2,800 people have been infected globally. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will `` inspect and direct '' efforts to control an outbreak in the central city of Wuhan and promised reinforcements, as people accused provincial authorities of being too slow to respond.
While safe-haven assets have strengthened, currency moves were limited. The yen was the main beneficiary, up 0.3% to 108.94, although it remained well below the peak hit on Jan. 8.
The dollar index was up 0.09%, last at 97.94.
`` The dollar usually does strengthen as a result of anything that seems like it has the potential for physical chaos, '' Juan Perez, senior foreign exchange trader and strategist, Tempus, Inc.
The possibility of a rapid turnaround in the event the virus is contained explains the relatively muted move in the dollar, Perez said.
`` We do think the dollar this week, if nothing improves, will continue on this strong run. But of course, anything at any moment can change if the headlines do turn, or if perhaps this is somehow curable then expect markets to turn around and the dollar to lose that safe-haven risk-off momentum. ''
The offshore yuan shed as much as 0.9% to 6.99 per dollar, its weakest since Dec. 30.
The yuan has gone into a tailspin since it rallied to a 5-1/2-month high earlier in January. The dollar has gained more than 2% versus the Chinese currency since last Monday.
The Australian dollar, which is exposed to the Chinese economy, dropped 0.88% to $ 0.677, its lowest since Dec. 2.
Traders said low liquidity could exacerbate market moves. Financial markets in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia are closed for holidays.
The euro fell to a two-month low against the yen of 119.90 yen and was last 0.3% lower on the day to 120.08.
The euro erased its earlier gains against the dollar after the Ifo institute said that German business morale deteriorated unexpectedly in January. The euro was last 0.02% weaker at $ 1.102. | business |
Romania honours Roma Holocaust survivors | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Romanian President Klaus Iohannis paid tribute Monday to Roma victims of the Holocaust, awarding honours to three survivors in a ceremony that marked 75 years since Auschwitz was liberated.
The two men and one woman honoured were among an estimated 25,000 Roma deported to Transnistria in 1942 on the orders of Romanian dictator and Nazi ally Ion Antonescu.
Transnistria is a narrow breakaway state in what is now Moldova.
For years, Romania placed all responsibility for Holocaust crimes on Nazi Germany, but Iohannis said that `` Romania has understood the scale of the horror, has taken responsibility for this dark page of history and is taking steps to preserve the memory of the Holocaust. ''
`` In Transnistria we knew only death and misery, '' said Constantin Braila, who was 11 when he was deported along with his family, six of whom died.
According to a report produced by a panel of historians chaired by Romanian-born Auschwitz survivor and Nobel Peace laureate Elie Wiesel, around 11,000 Roma died in work camps in Transnistria.
Those who weren't murdered by soldiers fell victim to hunger, sickness or cold.
`` Every one of the survivors represents a voice of humanity against racism and xenophobia, '' said Iohannis.
`` The terrible suffering inflicted on the Roma is not sufficiently well known, '' he added before vowing to `` destroy the seeds of hatred and intolerance. ''
Romania only began to officially commemorate Roma victims of the Holocaust in 2009.
`` This official recognition is important because it will help raise awareness about the fate of the Roma, '' historian Petre Matei told AFP.
For years, Matei has pressured Romanian authorities to award Roma survivors adequate compensation.
`` Many survivors still have not received the damages they are entitled to, '' he said.
Iohannis also awarded honours to Romania's Federation of Jewish Communities and to two Holocaust research institutes.
Only around 7,000 Jews remain in the country, compared with a population of 850,000 before the First World War.
Historians estimate that between 280,000 and 380,000 Romanian and Ukrainian Jews were murdered in from 1940 to 1944 in territories controlled by the Antonescu regime.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis paid tribute Monday to Roma victims of the Holocaust, awarding honours to three survivors in a ceremony that marked 75 years since Auschwitz was liberated.
The two men and one woman honoured were among an estimated 25,000 Roma deported to Transnistria in 1942 on the orders of Romanian dictator and Nazi ally Ion Antonescu.
Transnistria is a narrow breakaway state in what is now Moldova.
For years, Romania placed all responsibility for Holocaust crimes on Nazi Germany, but Iohannis said that “ Romania has understood the scale of the horror, has taken responsibility for this dark page of history and is taking steps to preserve the memory of the Holocaust. ”
“ In Transnistria we knew only death and misery, ” said Constantin Braila, who was 11 when he was deported along with his family, six of whom died.
According to a report produced by a panel of historians chaired by Romanian-born Auschwitz survivor and Nobel Peace laureate Elie Wiesel, around 11,000 Roma died in work camps in Transnistria.
Those who weren’ t murdered by soldiers fell victim to hunger, sickness or cold.
“ Every one of the survivors represents a voice of humanity against racism and xenophobia, ” said Iohannis.
“ The terrible suffering inflicted on the Roma is not sufficiently well known, ” he added before vowing to “ destroy the seeds of hatred and intolerance. ”
Romania only began to officially commemorate Roma victims of the Holocaust in 2009.
“ This official recognition is important because it will help raise awareness about the fate of the Roma, ” historian Petre Matei told AFP.
For years, Matei has pressured Romanian authorities to award Roma survivors adequate compensation.
“ Many survivors still have not received the damages they are entitled to, ” he said.
Iohannis also awarded honours to Romania’ s Federation of Jewish Communities and to two Holocaust research institutes.
Only around 7,000 Jews remain in the country, compared with a population of 850,000 before the First World War.
Historians estimate that between 280,000 and 380,000 Romanian and Ukrainian Jews were murdered in from 1940 to 1944 in territories controlled by the Antonescu regime.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
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Beijing reports capital's first death from coronavirus | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Beijing authorities on Monday reported the Chinese capital's first death from a new deadly virus that has rapidly spread across the country, killing more than 80 people and causing global alarm.
The victim was a 50-year-old man who had visited the central city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, on January 8 and developed a fever after returning to Beijing seven days later, the city's health commission said.
He went to a hospital on January 21 and died on Monday of respiratory failure, the commission said.
A total of 80 of more than 2,700 cases have been recorded in the Chinese capital of 20 million people.
The authorities have enacted sweeping travel restrictions across the country in a desperate bid to stop the virus from spreading further.
Transport bans have been enacted in Wuhan and other cities in central Hubei province, effectively corralling some 56 million people.
Beijing has halted long-distance bus service to and from the city.
Beijing authorities on Monday reported the Chinese capital’ s first death from a new deadly virus that has rapidly spread across the country, killing more than 80 people and causing global alarm.
The victim was a 50-year-old man who had visited the central city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, on January 8 and developed a fever after returning to Beijing seven days later, the city’ s health commission said.
He went to a hospital on January 21 and died on Monday of respiratory failure, the commission said.
A total of 80 of more than 2,700 cases have been recorded in the Chinese capital of 20 million people.
The authorities have enacted sweeping travel restrictions across the country in a desperate bid to stop the virus from spreading further.
Transport bans have been enacted in Wuhan and other cities in central Hubei province, effectively corralling some 56 million people.
Beijing has halted long-distance bus service to and from the city.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
Donald John Trump served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. — Photo: © Timothy A. Clary, AFPDonald Trump contributed to...
The United States marked the 80th anniversary of the Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Tuesday, Dec. 7.
The United States has announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics to protest China's human rights record.
The United Arab Emirates is slashing its official working week to four-and-a-half days and moving its weekend to Saturday and Sunday.
COPYRIGHT © 1998 - 2021 DIGITAL JOURNAL INC. Digital Journal is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more about our external linking. | general |
Stocks Moving Premarket: Delta Air Lines, Wynn Resorts, AMD | Losses are deepening for travel and gambling stocks as U.S. investors evaluate weekend news regarding China’ s coronavirus outbreak. Technology shares have been hit hard as well.
Chinese officials have confirmed more than 2,700 cases of the virus, with 80 dead. What’ s more, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed the fifth coronavirus case in the U.S.
The news has investors in “ risk off ” mode in common Wall Street parlance. They are selling stocks and buying haven investments.
Read Next: The Dow Could Hit 30,000 Five Years Ahead of Schedule. It Won’ t Stop There.
Many Asian market are closed for Lunar New Year, but Japan’ s Nikkei 225 Index fell 2%. London’ s FTSE 100 Index fell 2.2% and the Stoxx Europe 600 lost 2.1%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S & P 500 were off about 1.5% in morning trading, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.9%. Oil prices are dropping as well as investors assess how factors such as restrictions on travel in China—and the broader economic impact of the disease—will affect energy demand. Futures on West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. market benchmark, was down 1.6% to $ 53.33, coming back from a deeper loss earlier.
Travel-related stocks are getting hit hardest. Shares in casino operator Wynn Resorts ( WYNN) was down about 6.7%, coming back from a deeper loss earlier. Las Vegas Sands ( LVS) stock was off 6.4%, also off its worse level for the day. United Airlines Holdings ( UAL) and Delta Air Lines shares are both down 4.8%. Royal Caribbean Cruises ( RCL) shares dropped 6.3.
Some technology shares with a significant manufacturing presence in Asia are falling as well. Western Digital ( WDC) stock, for instance, is down 4.%. Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD) shares fell about 2.1%.
Stock in Lakeland Industries ( LAKE), on the other hand is soaring, with a gain of about 13.5%. Lakeland makes personal protective equipment for health-care professionals.
Gold shares are rising, too. Investors often consider gold a haven in times of trouble. Stock in gold miner Newmont ( NEM) was up 0.4%.
Prices of Treasury debt, another haven investment, gained ground, sending the yield on the 10-year Treasury note down to 1.61%.
Some other stocks are moving on news other than the coronavirus.
American Express ( AXP) shares, for instance, are down 3.7% after Stephens analyst Vincent Caintic downgraded shares from the equivalent of Buy to Hold.
More than 140 S & P 500 companies will report earnings this week including: Apple ( ticker: AAPL), Microsoft ( MSFT), Amazon.com ( AMZN) and Facebook ( FB). | business |
Nestlé partners with Canadian plant-based protein companies | All three players in this joint development agreement are likely to benefit. Burcon, which has been in business for more than 20 years, has hundreds of patents for processing plant-based proteins sourced from plants including pea, canola, soy, hemp and sunflower seed. Merit, formed last year as a joint venture between Burcon and three food industry executives, will produce Burcon's pea and canola protein ingredients.
As an indicator of confidence in the new joint venture, Merit recently received a significant co-investment from Protein Industries Canada, an industry-led, not-for-profit organization whose mission is to position the country as a global source of high-quality plant protein and plant-based products. The two Canadian protein companies are also likely to gain from Nestlé's longtime expertise in research and development, product launches and large-scale distribution.
As for Nestlé, it will use the results of this partnership as part of its growing portfolio of plant-based protein products — including burger patties, sausages, chicken filets and various prepared dishes. The company also makes pea- and oat-based dairy alternatives; creamers made with almond, coconut or oats; and plant-based coffee mixes, plus a range of non-dairy ice creams.
With all these plant-based products filling out Nestlé's portfolio, it makes sense that the company would want to form a partnership with companies main goal is to work with these ingredients.
`` We have the ambition and the perseverance to be a major player in this area, '' Nestlé's CEO Mark Schneider said during a July 2019 investor call. `` Initial results and growth rates are very encouraging, and we see all the elements of a significant long-term trend in the market. ''
The company is increasingly innovating with plant-based products such as the Awesome Burger and Awesome Grounds from its Sweet Earth brand purchased in 2017. Awesome Grounds, a ground beef-like product made with textured pea protein, is now included in DiGiorno Rising Crust Meatless Supreme and Stouffer’ s Meatless Lasagna items.
Working with Merit and Burcon to develop the best plant-based ingredients that are also more environmentally friendly could be a smart move since consumers increasingly want sustainable products and many CPG companies have been criticized for not doing enough.
To make room for this plant-based growth, the company has been divesting other segments. In 2018, Nestlé sold its U.S. chocolate business, including the Butterfinger and Baby Ruth brands, to Ferrero in a $ 2.8 billion deal. This past December, Nestlé announced it would sell its U.S. ice cream business — with the Edy's, Haagen-Dazs, Outshine and Drumstick brands — to its 2016 joint venture with PAI Partners called Froneri in a deal valued at $ 4 billion. Such moves free up capital to invest in other ventures, no doubt including plant-based ones.
The future looks bright for plant-based foods and beverages, so Nestlé, Burcon and Merit could see a host of benefits by collaborating to produce the needed protein ingredients and quickly moving to market with the results. According to investment firm UBS, the growth of plant-based protein and meat alternatives is projected to increase from $ 4.6 billion in 2018 to $ 85 billion in 2030.
As consumers turn to other beverages, Gavin Hattersley has moved aggressively into energy drinks, diet soda and tequila to revive his company's portfolio — all while combating challenges like COVID-19 and a security breach.
With its products in public school cafeterias and a teen-focused website that connects animal agriculture to global warming, the company aims to feed and educate the next generation.
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As consumers turn to other beverages, Gavin Hattersley has moved aggressively into energy drinks, diet soda and tequila to revive his company's portfolio — all while combating challenges like COVID-19 and a security breach. | general |
Food manufacturers can put GMO labels on their products in 2020. Will they? | Large manufacturers need to disclose detectable bioengineered ingredients by 2022, and attorneys and analysts think many will wait until the last minute.
This story is part of a series of pieces looking at trends in the industry. Read more with our looks at 6 trends that will shape the food and beverage industry in 2020 and Big Beer's faster pace of innovation.
In grocery store freezer cases, Impossible Foods ' ground plant-based meat stands out.
The packaging looks similar to its competitors in the space: heavy duty plastic formed around a square of the plant-based ground beef. A label proclaiming `` burger made from plants '' in all capital letters on the front, as well as a rundown of some nutritional benefits: 19 grams of protein per serving, no animal hormones or antibiotics, 0 milligrams of cholesterol.
The unique part is on the back of the package. In the lower right-hand corner, above symbols proclaiming the product is halal and kosher, is the new USDA-approved `` Bioengineered '' product label.
The Impossible Burger, which can `` bleed '' using heme made from genetically modified soy leghemoglobin, is among the first food products to use the soon-to-be federally mandated GMO label. According to AgNews, the symbol has been on product packages since at least October.
Jan. 1 began the official implementation period for the labeling law, which was signed by President Barack Obama in 2016. Large food companies can now start using the symbol to show consumers information about ingredients that meet the government's definition of bioengineered, more commonly known among consumers as GMOs. They can also use simple text, a smartphone-scannable code, a telephone number or text message to provide the disclosure.
According to the law, large manufacturers — those with more than $ 2.5 million in annual receipts — are required to have one of the approved forms of disclosure on their packages by Jan. 1, 2022. Attorneys and analysts told Food Dive they think most of the other products in the grocery store won't be featuring the disclosure until then.
`` I don't think a lot is going to happen quickly, '' Jesse Zuehlke, general manager of Prime Label Consultants, told Food Dive. `` I think my sense is people are feeling their way through this, and I think the supply chain is sort of trying to adjust. ''
Though it's been more than a year since USDA released its final regulations on the labeling law, there are still many issues that food manufacturers are trying to understand. Attorney Martin Hahn, a partner at Hogan Lovells who works with food manufacturers on several issues, has long said obtaining clarity on the labeling law — and what does and does not fall under the government's definition of what needs a GMO label — is paramount.
While Hahn told Food Dive many of his clients started working on the process of adding GMO information to their labels soon after the regulations were published, questions about what actually meets the definition of GMO material and how the disclosure can appear on labels stopped them from charging forward. And as new definitions published for the sake of clarity appear to bring onerous processes and more confusion into the mix, Hahn said it gives manufacturers and suppliers more cause to pull back on adding the disclosure.
`` We're running into somewhat of a brick wall here because implementation requires that you develop the documentation from your ingredient suppliers, and the ingredient suppliers need to provide documentation that an ingredient's been refined and does not contain detectable levels of DNA, '' Hahn said. `` And until we can get that document from the ingredient supplier, we're not going to be, as a finished food manufacturer, in a position to be in compliance. ''
On its face, the law is quite simple. Food products with detectable biologically engineered DNA need to be labeled. Items deliberately containing GMOs, like the Impossible Burger, have to tell consumers they were made through bioengineering. And products that inadvertently contain 5% or more of biologically engineered material need to have a disclosure. The law exempts meat, poultry, dairy and egg products from animals given genetically modified feed, as well as products having one of those items as a primary ingredient, like broth.
Food manufacturers that make products that contain GMOs, but don't meet these standards — ingredients that are made from GMO crops that are so highly refined there is no detectable biologically engineered DNA, or inadvertently containing less than 5% GMO material — are permitted to voluntarily disclose their GMO material, but are not required.
USDA representatives, who spoke to Food Dive on background, said the department may receive complaints about improper disclosure between now and the 2022 mandatory deadline, but will not enforce the labeling law until then. And even then, enforcement is likely to only come from complaints. The disclosure law is run out of the department's Agricultural Marketing Service, which is not an enforcement agency, and USDA will not be in stores examining labels.
`` I don't think a lot is going to happen quickly. I think my sense is people are feeling their way through this, and I think the supply chain is sort of trying to adjust. ''
Jesse Zuehlke
General manager, Prime Label Consultants
However, there's much more to how the law is interpreted. Many manufacturers are working to determine if their ingredients meet the definition of biologically engineered, and it's not entirely clear what the testing procedure is. After all, according to USDA data, GMOs are widespread in common food crops — 94% of all soy grown in the U.S., 83% of domestic corn and, according to statistics reported by Harvest Public Media, 95% of U.S. sugar beets. Many food products contain the refined products of these crops, so it's vital for manufacturers to know whether there's anything that needs to be disclosed.
`` They are guilty until proven innocent under this rule, if you will, '' Zuelhke said. ``... I need to have data on hand that proves that they're non-BE. And it's unclear what the rules of the road are.... I think that may help shake things loose when some of that gets resolved. ''
While USDA representatives told Food Dive they are providing more information as quickly as they can, there are still gray areas. And some information intended to provide additional clarification actually has had the opposite effect, attorneys and analysts said.
A draft instruction that lays out how to validate a refining process — basically the way to ensure that a certain refined ingredient does not need to be constantly tested to prove the absence of detectable GMOs — has confused many, Hahn said. The draft was first published Dec. 17. Hahn said the regulation introduces food safety terminology to this process — a completely different realm of food manufacturing, since GMOs have nothing to do with whether food is safe — and requires ingredient suppliers to specifically designate the steps in the process that actually make the DNA non-detectable and monitor them.
`` It would appear based on the draft instruction that there's an expectation that the industry would be expected to do all this continual testing, which seems to be unnecessarily burdensome and really costly, '' he said.
Earlier this month, USDA reopened the comment period on that instruction, based on the year-end holidays and extension requests. People will have until Feb. 7 to offer input, according to the announcement in the Federal Register.
Attorneys and consultants working with labeling had nothing negative to tell Food Dive about USDA's management of figuring out the law so far.
`` I think they are being incredibly responsive, and I think we're going to continue to get a lot of information from AMS that's going to help with the rollout in the interim, '' Robert Hibbert, a partner at law firm Morgan Lewis, who advises clients on food-related regulations, told Food Dive. `` There's certainly some questions about some of the detail of that regulation. A lot of that's been cleared up. ''
The GMO labeling movement was born out of consumers who wanted more information about what is in their food. The implications of actually having a label on a product, however, might not be good for consumer perception.
Across the board, studies on GMOs in food have shown consumers don't understand what they are and are wary to try products containing them. In 2018, pro-GMO organization GMO Answers found 7 out of 10 adults don't really know what GMOs are, and less than a third are comfortable having GMOs in their food. The same year, a study by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and published in the Annual Review of Nutrition found even 20 years after wide cultivation of GMO food began, many consumers are still `` grossed out '' by them.
Kathy Musa-Veloso, director of health claims in the food and nutrition group of quality assurance testing company Intertek, presented some other study findings last summer at the Institute of Food Technologists conference. Consumers said they felt GMO crops — some of which are altered to be more pest-resistant — were harmful to the environment. In another study, the vast majority of people who avoid GMO crops said they were concerned about human health, although most health professionals say GMOs are just as healthy as their non-biologically engineered counterparts.
As far as a label goes, a consumer study of a product with a mocked up GMO label showed nearly a third of consumers noticed it, Musa-Veloso shared. And of those consumers who took notice, about half were influenced not to buy the product.
`` We can sit here and talk about bioengineering, but most consumers don't necessarily even resonate with the term 'bioengineering. ' So how consumers will react is going to become one of the bigger question marks. ''
Robert Hibbert
Partner, Morgan Lewis
Adding to the potential confusion for consumers is how these ingredients will be represented on the label. While `` GMO '' has been the popular terminology for decades, the federal law requires these kind of ingredients to be called `` bioengineered '' or `` derived from bioengineering. '' This terminology is completely accurate, but Hibbert pointed out it's another degree of uncertainty for consumers.
`` We can sit here and talk about bioengineering, but most consumers don't necessarily even resonate with the term 'bioengineering, ' `` he said. `` So how consumers will react is going to become one of the bigger question marks. ''
From where he sits, Hibbert said he sees manufacturers are keeping product reformulation on the table as a potential option to avoid the GMO label. However, he said, many are still trying to figure out whether they need to disclose anything.
Soon after the GMO labeling law was passed, several companies did high-profile reformulations to replace ingredients that may lead to disclosure. Del Monte reformulated fruit, vegetable and tomato products with non-GMO ingredients, as did Hormel's Applegate brand. Grocery store Earth Fare removed genetically modified ingredients from its private-label products. In the last two years, more brands may have worked toward reformulation, but quietly.
It's still up in the air whether manufacturers will take steps to educate consumers on what `` bioengineered '' ( or `` GMO, '' for that matter) actually means. Zuelhke said this has almost always been a question, especially considering some GMOs were created as a more high-tech alternative to cross-breeding to do things like increase yields or become more pest and disease resistant.
Hibbert said that companies could have an opportunity to explain what GMOs mean and are through the disclosure itself. After all, the disclosure law allows companies to offer a smartphone-scannable panel that provides a product's GMO information. It isn't inconceivable that manufacturers could use the same website that provides that information to explain the reasons behind using GMO-derived ingredients. The law also allows the disclosure to come through a telephone number or text message, both of which could also provide more in-depth information about GMOs.
However, Hibbert said, it's likely that some food and drink categories have consumers who are less concerned with whether a product contains GMOs. In the more natural or health-oriented food space, he said, people are much more likely to be paying attention. In other areas, like private label, which entails many different kinds of product lines, manufacturers are likely to opt for digital disclosure.
Consumer acceptance of the label and the backstory of the products it is on has always been a big question for industry, Hibbert said. And it's a question that it will be difficult to answer until the labels start to appear in larger quantities on grocery store shelves.
`` Will consumers understand this? '' Hibbert asked. `` If they simply understand this as being genetically engineered, [ they could think ] 'Maybe I 'm OK with that. ' And if not, then yes, we 'll look at a reformulation, but [ companies are ] still sort of in fact-finding mode on their own products and on the consumer front first before they can reach a decision on whether to reformulate. ''
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With its products in public school cafeterias and a teen-focused website that connects animal agriculture to global warming, the company aims to feed and educate the next generation.
As consumers turn to other beverages, Gavin Hattersley has moved aggressively into energy drinks, diet soda and tequila to revive his company's portfolio — all while combating challenges like COVID-19 and a security breach.
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With its products in public school cafeterias and a teen-focused website that connects animal agriculture to global warming, the company aims to feed and educate the next generation. | general |
Casino Stocks Are Dropping as Gamblers Steer Clear of Macau | Casino operators in Macau are taking a beating as fear of the coronavirus has caused a surge in trip cancellations to the casino hub.
Just last week, Wall Street appeared to be shaking off worries about the coronavirus outbreak as analysts and others noted that China’ s response had been relatively swift, at least in comparison to how Beijing handled the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in 2003. SARS infected just over 8,000 people, killing nearly 800, according to World Health Organization figures cited by the Centers for Disease Control.
But that cautious optimism was just as swiftly reversed over the weekend as the virus spread. Nearly 3,000 people have been infected and 80 people have been killed. Cases have been identified in the U.S., Australia, and Europe.
The rapid spread of the virus, coupled with travel restrictions China put in place, caused travel and gaming stocks that do business in Macau to plunge. “ What a difference two days makes, ” Instinet analyst Harry Curtis wrote in a note Monday.
Last week, Curtis and his team noted “ guarded optimism ” from casino operators that Macau bookings would remain strong, but as of Sunday evening, they were less positive. The Gonghbei border checkpoint, between mainland China and Macau, was nearly empty at a time when it should have been flooded with travelers celebrating the Year of the Rat, they noted. Cancellations also swelled, with Bloomberg noting there was an 80% drop in visitors from mainland China on Sunday.
Some analysts downplayed the potential for the coronavirus to affect the casinos’ financial performance over the long term, pointing to how quickly gambling revenue in Macau rebounded following the SARS outbreak. SJM Holdings was the only major casino operator in Macau at the time, and its gaming revenue shot up 68% year over year in 2003 despite a 30% drop that April, Chelsey Tam, an analyst at Morningstar wrote Monday.
“ Melco Resorts ( MLCO), MGM China, and Wynn Macau are undervalued and could be opportunities for investors, ” she wrote, noting that because the gambling industry is more mature now, the rebound may not be as steep.
There are no signs yet of when a bounce back might come. New instances of coronavirus are still being discovered and the disease’ s global reach is growing. And even if Macau is able to attract customers from other areas while travel bans remain in effect, they are less likely to be the high-rollers the area needs, Curtis wrote.
“ Double-digit declines in gross gaming revenue are easily possible, but to what extent we won’ t know for several days, ” Curtis wrote.
Wynn Resorts ( ticker: WYNN) was down 7.7%, as analysts at Bank of America Global Research downgraded the stock to Neutral, citing worries over the coronavirus. Melco Resorts & Entertainment ( MLCO) and Las Vegas Sands ( LVS) were down 4.7% and 7%, respectively.
The drop in casino stocks comes after a particularly challenging year for the companies. Worry that slowing economic growth, both globally and in China, would reduce gambling activity weighed on the Macau casino operators. Gambling revenue plunged 13.7% year on year in December as Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the former Portuguese colony at the end of the month. His three-day stay, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Macau’ s handover to China, meant increased visa restrictions.
The analyst community had recently turned more bullish on the region, pointing to eased tensions between the U.S. and China and the signing of a phase-one trade deal. Wynn is finishing a renovation of its Macau property and Sands China, majority owned by Las Vegas Sands, is in the midst of converting its Sands Cotai Central location into The Londoner. Both efforts were expected to draw more interest to Macau. | business |
American Express Stock Is Falling Because of Global Travel Fears | American Express stock, lifted by Friday’ s news of stronger-than-expected earnings, is falling back in response to concern about a slowdown in global travel and an analyst downgrade.
The shares ( ticker: AXP) were down 3.5% in Monday trading. The stock has risen a bit more than 30% in the last 12 months, while the S & P 500 has gained about 23% in the same time.
U.S. equity markets were under pressure as investors worried that the effects of the coronavirus on global health and the economy may be greater than expected earlier. The disease has been diagnosed in patients in the U.S., France and Australia, and it has infected thousands and killed about 80 people in China, where it originated.
Several Chinese cities have been locked down by the government and travel-related stocks have taken a particularly hard hit. Airlines, cruise companies, and casino operators that depend on Chinese gamblers visiting Macau have tumbled.
American Express’ s large corporate charge-card business means that its shares are falling too. Investors appear to be worried about the impact of a potential slip in global travel generally, and corporate travel spending more specifically.
Stephens analyst Vincent Caintic downgraded the sock to Equal Weight from Overweight in a note to clients on Monday, saying the shares’ valuation was behind the move.
He praised the company’ s executives for “ achieving a stellar level of value creation ” and wrote that “ we think investors who continue to hold AXP shares will enjoy consistent, 12% -15% [ year-over-year returns paralleling [ earnings-per-share ] growth in that range. ” American Express stock currently trades at about 15 times its projected per-share earnings for the next 12 months, compared with a five-year average of just over 13 times. | business |
China’ s Coronavirus May Hit These European Airlines Harder Than Others | European airline stocks suffered a blow Monday as developments in China’ s deadly coronavirus outbreak sent investors running for the exits.
A global selloff in risk assets came amid a rise in the death toll and number of infected cases due to the respiratory illness. For airlines, one needed to only look back on the deadly SARS outbreak of 2003 that wreaked havoc on the industry.
As for coronavirus, though, not all of the European carriers may suffer equally, a team of UBS analysts led by Jarrod Castle wrote in a note.
Air France KLM ( ticker: AF) and Deutsche Lufthansa ( LHA) fell hard on the Stoxx Europe 600, down 6% and 4%, respectively by the afternoon. Of all European airlines UBS covered, those two companies have the highest exposure to China ( based on a percentage of 2019 capacity) —around 7% in both cases, Castle wrote.
Air France KLM has the biggest exposure to the Asia region at 21% of capacity. International Airlines Group ( IAG), which operates British Airways, Iberia, and other air carriers, has the lowest of the European airlines that service Asia at 8%, said Castle.
“ This is likely part of the reason why IAG’ s share price has been relatively unaffected by China related events, but Air France-KLM and Lufthansa have seen greater share price falls year-to-date, ” the analyst said.
Low-cost carriers such as Ryanair ( RYAAY) and easyJet ( EZJ) have no direct exposure to Asia, UBS said. Still, these companies are falling along with the rest of the sector on Monday.
Castle is sticking to Buy ratings for Lufthansa, IAG and Ryanair, due in part to “ attractive valuations. ” Sell-rated easyJet remains one of the best of breeds low-cost operators, but valuation is stretched, he said.
Looking ahead. In 2019, the Stoxx Europe Total Airlines index returned just 4%, hurt by rising competition and fuel prices and the grounding of Boeing’ s 737 Max jet. The index is down 0.4% so far this year.
In a note written earlier in January, UBS said the airline sector has prospects for upbeat global growth and capacity discipline on its side. But they warned of higher fuel costs, a negative trade war impact, and potential demand shocks.
The coronavirus qualifies as a shock for sure, and investors may have to wait and see where the bottom might lie for airline stocks. | business |
European Stocks Tumble as Investors are Rattled by Spreading Coronavirus | European stocks tumbled on Monday, led by airlines, mining stocks and luxury-goods companies as the death toll from China’ s coronavirus, along with the number of those infected, ramped up dramatically.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 1.7% to 416.48, headed for its worst one-day fall since August last year. The index closed Friday with a near 0.9% gain, though Wall Street fell at the close amid rising coronavirus fears.
The French CAC 40 index fell 1.9%, the German DAX 30 1.9% and the FTSE 100 2.1%.
Economic data FROM Germany showed the January Ifo Business Climate index came in at 95.9, missing the consensus estimate for 97, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
U.S. stock futures fell sharply, with losses of more than 1% indicated for major indexes.
At the heart of market concerns on Monday was the rapidly spreading virus from China, which causes respiratory illness and is not yet under control.
China extended this week’ s Lunar New Year holiday, one of several measures aimed at halting the spread of the coronavirus, as the death count rose to at least 80, and the number of those infected neared 3,000. Several countries have reported confirmed infections, including the U.S., France and Japan.
A worrying detail emerged after the mayor of Wuhan, a city believed to be at the epicenter of the outbreak, said five million people left before the travel ban was imposed.
Travel and luxury-goods companies were again out in front with big declines. Deutsche Lufthansa, EasyJe t, Air France-KLM and International Consolidated Airlines Group were all down over 4%.
Among luxury-goods companies, Burberry Group and LVMH Moët Hennessy — Louis Vuitton both tumbled around 4%, Kering dropped 3% and Cie. Financière Richemont slid 2%.
Mining stocks, extremely sensitive to the Chinese economy as the country is a big purchaser of natural resources, were another losing sector. Shares of Evraz slid over 5%, and Antofagasta, BHP and Glencore fell 4% each.
Shares in major oil companies dropped as crude prices slid on concerns about how the virus might impact China’ s economy and weaken its demand for that commodity as well. Shares of Total slid 1.6% and BP lost 2%. | business |
Brent Oil Entered a Bear Market. Why the Coronavirus Is to Blame | Oil entered a bear market on Monday as investors bet that the coronavirus will continue to slow travel and sap demand.
Brent crude futures fell 2.3%, to $ 69.15 a barrel. Brent is now down more than 20% since hitting a high of $ 74.57 last April. Brent had already fallen 6.5% last week, largely because of the virus. Other news last week was bullish for oil, including the shutdown of a Libyan pipeline that decreased supply and a report on U.S. inventories that indicated lower-than-expected supply growth.
West Texas Intermediate fell 2.1%, to $ 53.07 a barrel. West Texas is down 19.98% since hitting a high of $ 66.30 in April -- on the cusp of a bear market, too. The drop in oil prices has been more pronounced than the actual economic impact of the virus, and the impact on most stock markets.
Analysts don’ t expect the pressure to relent in the coming days or weeks. The virus has already infected more than 2,700 people and killed 81. While all of the deaths have been recorded in China, infections have now spread to other parts of the world, including the U.S. But those numbers could be understating the real impact.
Raymond James analyst Pavel Molchanov has previously estimated that there may be 10 times as many infections as authorities have reported, and wrote on Monday that “ even that may be low. ”
One difference between SARS, the disease that most resembles the current outbreak, and the coronavirus, is that the latter can be transmitted by people who are not showing symptoms, according to Molchanov. “ This means that even if a traveler clears a government screening, that person could still infect others before showing symptoms, ” he wrote.
Travel in China has already slowed down and “ the restrictions in China are likely to stay in place for weeks, perhaps longer, ” he wrote. Among the big questions now is whether the virus gets transmitted from person to person in the U.S., he noted.
Before the outbreak, Molchanov had estimated that oil demand would rise 1% in 2020, already a subdued result. Using the impact from SARS as a baseline, Molchanov projected that oil demand could rise just 0.5% this year if its impact lasts less than three months. If it lasts up to six months, it could cause demand to be flat, “ something that has not happened since the global financial crisis. ”
Another analyst took a different approach, noting that past outbreaks may not be a useful guide.
“ Estimating the impact on what a SARS-like event would have on oil price is an exercise in futility, in our view, given that epidemics are, by definition, extensively feared, ” RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Tran wrote.
RBC has been tracking real-time flight data and social media sentiment, attempting to find benchmarks to quantify the impact of the virus. The oil price drop seems overdone based on fundamentals, Tran notes. The Libyan pipeline outage last week took 1.2 million barrels a day off the market.
“ If Chinese aviation consumption grinded to a halt and fell to zero, the net effect of the two events should still be a market deficit, ” Tran wrote. “ Instead, the fear factor of an acute shock to demand would skew sentiment and prices downward. ”
Tran also noted that air travel has not fallen in neighboring countries in Asia yet, a good sign for fuel demand. Still, the fear factor makes the future difficult to predict.
“ Fear is being amplified, and perhaps rightfully so, ” he wrote. And while we believe that the oil price decline has been overextended, from a supply and demand standpoint, calling the bottom of a market with any degree of conviction during periods of epidemics is exceedingly difficult. ” | business |
Small cloud configuration mistakes can open up big security risks | Cloud misconfigurations are becoming another risk for corporations. At RSA 2020, Steve Grobman, senior vice president and chief technology officer at McAfee, explained how easy it is to take advantage of cloud misconfigurations, an expensive security problem for corporations. He compared cyber security to infectious disease control: an imperfect science.
`` We know that the answer to the flu is the flu shot, '' he said. `` If it were that easy, we would simply inoculate everyone and call it a day. ''
SEE: Cybersecurity: Let's get tactical ( ZDNet/TechRepublic special feature) | Download the free PDF version ( TechRepublic)
Grobman said he picked the theme of his keynote speech in November, well before the coronavirus became an international problem. His timely scenario was a group of researchers sequencing the genome of a virus to illustrate how sharing data through the cloud can lead to a security vulnerability.
Grobman described a hypothetical case of researchers who wanted to share data that was only accessible through a virtual private cloud, not through the Internet.
The researchers used a reverse proxy server to pull data that is not directly exposed, a solution that is fast but not safe, Grobman said.
`` These are epidemiologists, not security experts, '' he said.
A reverse proxy server retrieves resources on behalf of a client from one or more servers. These resources are then returned to the client, appearing as if they came from the proxy server itself.
This reverse proxy server set up for sharing research data can access both data that the researchers wanted to share and data they didn't.
Grobman then walked through the process a hacker would take to find this vulnerability.
The first step is to see if there is access to anything by default. The next step is to check connectivity to the reverse proxy server.
As he spoke, the code needed to check for these vulnerabilities scrolled up on the screen behind him.
`` Next we find out that we can access the URL where the instance metadata is stored, '' he said.
Instance metadata is information about a cloud instance that is used to configure or manage the instance, including, host name, events, and security groups.
The final step is to check for access privileges. In this case, a hacker had full Simple Storage Service ( S3) access.
`` This is the holy grail that the attacker is looking for, '' Grubman said.
With access to this information, attackers can change the contents of data buckets as well as access to them and control over them. In this made-for-RSA story, the data files included important information that the researchers wanted to keep private.
`` We have now stolen the top secret data with that simple of an attack, and this is just one of 43 cloud-specific techniques on Mitre's ATT & CK matrix, '' he said.
SEE: How to prevent the top 11 threats in cloud computing ( free PDF) ( TechRepublic)
In addition to making sure cloud configurations are secure, security teams have to address tomorrow's security risks today, Grobman said.
Advances in quantum computing will be a double-edged sword with the downside being the threat to existing encryption systems.
`` Nation-states will use quantum computing to break our public key encryption systems, '' he said. `` Our adversaries are getting the data today and counting on quantum to unlock in tomorrow. ''
Grubman said that companies need to think about how long data will need to be protected.
`` Even in 2020, there are documents in the National Archives in relation to the Kennedy assignation that still have redacted information due to national security concerns of today, '' he said.
Grubman wants NIST to move faster to find solutions for the post-quantum ecosystem.
`` We need quantum-resistant algorithms as soon as possible, '' he said. `` I am confident we can do these things as long as we don't remain blind to the threats that target the platform. ''
This is your go-to resource for XaaS, AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, cloud engineering jobs, and cloud security news and tips. Delivered Mondays
| tech |
Gold Climbs Towards $ 1,600 On Coronavirus Fears and Could Soar Higher, Analyst Says | Gold has climbed towards $ 1,600 an ounce as investors rush to safe haven assets amid fears that the coronavirus is spreading.
Spot gold climbed 1% to near-three week highs on Monday as investor concerns over the mysterious virus intensified, before slipping back to trade 0.4% up at $ 1,571 per ounce. U.S. gold futures rose 0.8% to $ 1,583.
Global stocks plummeted at the start of the week as the death toll and number of confirmed coronavirus continued to escalate over the weekend.
The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus has risen above 2,800, while the death toll has hit 81, China’ s National Health Commission and state media said late on Sunday.
The mayor of Wuhan said five million people had left the city - which is at the center of the outbreak - before travel restrictions were imposed, and predicted a further 1,000 cases.
Investors rushed to safe haven assets on Monday, as they did on Friday when the spreading virus initially caused panic to hit markets. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield slipped to 1.61% - its lowest level in more than three months as demand for Treasurys rose, while the Yen - another safe haven - also climbed 0.3%.
Gold hit 7-year highs of $ 1,611 per ounce at the beginning of the month as tensions escalated between the U.S. and Iran, before dropping back during a mid-month stock market rally.
Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak & Co. said if the commodity could break that high it could climb further.
“ Even before Friday’ s ‘ flight to safety’ move, gold was already acting quite well. During its most recent decline it did not break below its key $ 1,550 support level in any significant way, despite the continued rally in the stock market during mid-January, ” Maley said.
“ Now it’ s bouncing again, if it takes out its early January highs, it’ s going to be very bullish for the yellow metal. ” | business |
3 Biotech Stocks Soar on Hopes for Coronavirus Vaccine | Shares of a handful of small and mid-sized biotechs that are working on vaccines for the Wuhan coronavirus soared on Monday, as worries over the spread of the illness weigh on the broader markets.
Yet despite enthusiasm from investors, analysts caution that it’ s unlikely the vaccines under development could make it to market in time to see revenue from the current outbreak.
“ Companies stating their interest in development vaccines for coronavirus are likely too late, as we saw similar commentary around SARS and other similar situations, ” wrote Jefferies health care trading desk analyst Jared Holz in a note Monday morning.
Read Next: The Dow Could Hit 30,000 Five Years Ahead of Schedule. It Won’ t Stop There.
Such notes of caution haven’ t dampened investor interest. Shares of the mid-sized clinical-stage biotech firm Moderna ( ticker: MRNA) closed 7.7% higher on Monday, and shares of the small biotechs Novavax ( NVAX) and Inovio Pharmaceuticals ( INO) jumped 9% and 25.5%, respectively.
The jumps for the small firms came as markets fell, and even as the broader health-care sector stumbled. The S & P 500 closed 1.6% lower, and the S & P 500 Health Care Sector index fell 0.8%.
The news reports bumping the three biotech stocks relate to early-stage programs using novel scientific modalities to move quickly on possible vaccines for the disease, which has killed at least 80 people worldwide. Yet the drugs would still likely take months or years until they could be made widely available. And though some of the companies involved have extensive drug pipelines, not one of them has previously received Food and Drug Administration approval for any of its products.
Every weekday evening we highlight the consequential market news of the day and explain what's likely to matter tomorrow.
As Barron’ s wrote last week, Moderna is working to develop a vaccine for the new coronavirus based on the messenger RNA technology in which the firm specializes. The company said last Thursday that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, will run a Phase 1 trial of an experimental coronavirus vaccine that Moderna is developing. Last Tuesday, in an interview with S & P Global Market Intelligence, the director of the NIAID said they hoped to begin a Phase 1 trial “ in about three months. ”
Novavax saw its share price collapse last February when its experimental vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus failed in a Phase 3 trial. The small biotech said last week it was working on a vaccine for the novel coronavirus. The stock soared 71% on January 21, but then fell on January 22, after the company said it planned to sell up to $ 100 million of its own shares. But Novavax stock surged again on Monday, even though the company’ s CEO told Yahoo Finance on Friday that a coronavirus vaccine wouldn’ t be available anytime soon.
On Monday, Inovio extended its gains from last week, after an international agency funded by a handful of governments and large private foundations, called the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, said it had given the company a grant to develop a vaccine for the novel coronavirus. ( The agency is also involved in funding the Moderna effort.) The $ 9 million grant will support pre-clinical development and a Phase 1 trial of the vaccine. Inovio said in its statement that it had tested its Zika vaccine in humans seven months into development of the drug.
While the small biotechs are working on new vaccines for the coronavirus, scientists in China in the meantime are trying to use HIV drugs to treat the disease. According to a Reuters report on Sunday, an HIV drug developed by AbbVie ( ABBV) is being tested to treat the coronavirus’ s symptoms. | business |
Apple Q1'20 earnings on Tuesday: What to watch | Apple is set to report fiscal first-quarter results on Tuesday after the closing bell, and it's a critical report for the company. Apple's fiscal first quarter covers the holiday shopping season and is the company's biggest quarter in terms of revenue.
This will be the first full quarter with iPhone 11 sales, so analysts and investors will watch closely to see how well the newest models, launched in September, are doing in the market. Apple's iPhone remains its biggest product and a subject of considerable investor interest. But attention will also be focused on AirPods, if Apple's services are showing up in the accounting, and demand in China.
Apple shares are up over 3% in 2020 so far, and up over 100% since it reported first quarter earnings in 2019. Apple's rise in recent weeks has led to a slew of analysts revising their price targets higher as the share price climbs.
Analysts are expecting earnings per share of $ 4.55, up from $ 4.18 per share from a year ago, according to Refinitiv. Revenue is expected to be $ 88.5 billion, up year-over-year from $ 84.3 billion.
But Apple shares tend to move on forward guidance during earnings reports. Analysts project $ 62 billion in sales in the quarter ending in March, according to a survey by Refinitiv. A shortfall in that area could send shares lower.
Beyond the numbers, here are some more subtle things investors will be watching out for.
Just over a year ago, Apple CEO Tim Cook was addressing investors about weakness in China that led to an unusual revenue forecast warning.
Since then, Apple shares have been on a tear. Plus, Apple dodged tariffs on the iPhone in December after the U.S. and China struck a `` phase-one '' trade deal.
But there are still concerns over Apple's exposure to China, which accounted for 16.7% of its revenue in the last four quarters, and where it manufactures the majority of its products. Stocks dropped on Monday over fears that the deadly coronavirus could hurt sales in China after some regional governments restricted travel.
`` Apple is potentially losing out on sales during an important holiday period. While there are only closures in certain cities/regions, traffic footfall in the retail stores is likely to be lower, '' J.P. Morgan analyst Samik Chatterjee wrote in a Monday note.
While Apple's earnings won't be effected by the coronavirus outbreak, which was first reported on Dec. 31, any commentary that CEO Tim Cook provides on the situation in China will be closely watched.
Goldman Sachs analyst Rod Hall believes any commentary Apple gives about its Apple TV+ streaming service will be one of the most interesting points on Tuesday.
`` We continue to believe that Apple TV+ accounting will continue to boost Services revenue this year as iPhone and other product revenue is effectively reclassified into Services, '' Hall wrote in a note on Monday.
Apple TV+ is a streaming service stocked with Apple-backed TV shows, documentaries, and movies. Its list price is $ 4.99 per month, but Apple is bundling a free year with most of its gadgets.
In September, Hall wrote that the way that Apple accounts for Apple TV+ might result in lower gross margins and profits. Apple responded to the Goldman note at the time, saying that it does `` not expect the introduction of Apple TV+... to have a material impact on our financial results. ''
`` As Apple starts to amortize original content creation ( capex) costs through the P & L, the impact to Services profitability will be closely watched, '' Cowen analyst Krish Sankar wrote last week.
For the past two quarters, Apple executives have called attention to its wearables business, which includes Beats headphones, Apple Watch and AirPods.
Apple doesn't split it out separately -- it's lumped into `` Wearables, Home and Accessories, '' which includes products like iPod touch, HomePods, and third-party accessories sold by Apple. Nonetheless, analysts will be watching it closely.
`` Potential upside to F1Q is most likely to come from Wearables, in our view, '' wrote Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty.
For much of the December, Apple's high-end AirPods Pro were hard to find, suggesting big demand or limited supply.
In December, Citi analyst Jim Suva estimated that Apple could surpass $ 10 billion of quarterly wearables sales in the quarter.
`` We believe consensus is underappreciating the Apple Watch and Apple AirPods demand strength, '' Suva wrote.
However, Hall, the Goldman analyst, believes that investors are already expecting a big quarter from the segment.
`` We expect wearables, including both Airpods and Watch, to be positive headline generators, but we believe consensus is already baking in strong numbers in Other Products, '' Hall wrote.
Follow @ CNBCtech on Twitter for the latest tech industry news. | business |
5 things to know before the stock market opens January 27, 2020 | The Dow Jones Industrial Average is set to sink more than 400 points at Wall Street's open on Monday. U.S. stock futures were under severe pressure, following stock markets around the world lower, as China's coronavirus outbreak widens. On Friday, stocks had their worst day of 2020, which had gotten off to a roaring start after last year's near 29% gain for the S & P 500, the best annual performance for the index since 2013. Heading into Monday's trading, the Dow was on a four-session losing streak. Perceived safer investments such as bonds and gold were higher. Bond prices move inversely to yields, which were lower.
Chinese health officials are reporting more than 2,800 confirmed cases of the fast-spreading coronavirus in China and 81 deaths. It was first identified in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province last month. Johnson & Johnson's chief scientific officer, Dr. Paul Stoffels, told CNBC on Monday that he believes the drugmaker can create a vaccine in the coming months but it may not get to market for a year. Several companies, including Walt Disney with its Shanghai Disney, are suspending operations until further notice during the normally festive weeklong Lunar New Year holiday to prevent the outbreak from spreading. Starbucks and McDonald's closed stores in Hubei province.
Last week, billionaire investor Paul Tudor Jones warned that the `` curveball '' to derail the bull market in stocks could be the outbreak of the coronavirus. The hedge fund manager invoked `` early 1999 '' as a touchstone for today's market environment, noting in particular the copious financial liquidity and low inflation energizing risk assets. However, as CNBC's Michael Santoli points out the Nasdaq 100, the heart of the market's leadership both now and then, currently fetches 28 times trailing earnings, compared with about 40 times two decades ago.
Democrats are stepping up their calls for former national security advisor John Bolton to testify at President Donald Trump's impeachment trial. This comes after an explosive report alleged that in Bolton's unpublished book he said Trump personally tied aid for Ukraine to an investigation of the Bidens. Trump in a tweet just after midnight denied saying that.
In a rare Saturday session in the Senate, Trump's legal team started to lay out its defense of the president at his impeachment trial. The president's defense continues Monday.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren is fighting to regain momentum in the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination race, with the Iowa caucuses set for next Monday. Warren, who received the coveted Des Moines Register endorsement, was in fourth place in Iowa, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average. Sen. Bernie Sanders leads in Iowa, followed by former Vice President Joe Biden and ex-Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Sanders also leads in New Hampshire, which holds its primary Feb. 11. Strong showings in Iowa and New Hampshire, which don't really have a huge number of delegates, can bring in money and media attention that can lead to later success.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report. | business |
Europe markets: China coronavirus fears intensify | European stocks closed sharply lower on Monday as fears over the economic fallout from the Chinese coronavirus outbreak intensify.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 ended the session 2.3% lower, with the China-exposed basic resources sector plunging 4.3% to lead losses as all sectors and major bourses traded firmly in negative territory.
Chinese officials have now confirmed more than 2,800 cases of the new strain of coronavirus, which originated in the city of Wuhan, with the death toll rising to 81 and 461 people in critical condition. The virus has now been detected in a host of other countries in Asia and beyond, including the U.S., France, Australia and Canada.
Traditional safe-haven assets such as gold and the Japanese yen surged as investors sought shelter from the potential economic impact, with the specter of the SARS crisis of 2003 hanging over markets.
Stocks on Wall Street took a sharp downward turn on Monday, with the Nasdaq tumbling by almost 2%.
Back in Europe, further downward momentum for equities came as German business sentiment was shown to have deteriorated in January, according to the latest Ifo Institute survey, falling from 96.3 in December to 95.9 and missing the Reuters consensus forecast of 97.0.
The Ifo Institute also projected that Europe's largest economy will likely grow by 0.2% in the first three months of 2020 as demand in the ailing industrial sector slowly returns.
Italy's right-wing Lega party has failed in its bid to oust the center-left Democratic Party ( PD) from its northern stronghold of Emilia-Romagna, falling short in a closely-watched regional election on Sunday.
In corporate news, Reuters reported on Monday, citing sources, that the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority ( FINMA) is looking into the role of the Credit Suisse board in the lender's recent spying scandal.
Travel stocks took a significant hit from coronavirus fears in early trade, with Air France KLM shares falling 5.6%, while British Airways parent International Consolidated Airlines Group slid 5.4% and London-listed Easyjet shed 5%.
Shares of CNH Industrial fell 7% to end Monday's session at the bottom of the European benchmark.
There were few success stories in the Stoxx 600, with Wienerberger's shares rising by a modest 1.5% to top the index.
NMC Health's London-listed shares climbed almost 1% after The Capital Group Companies increased its stake in the Abu Dhabi-based hospital chain. | business |
Coronavirus kills 106, infects 4,515 people, Chinese health authorities say | Chinese health authorities said Tuesday that the coronavirus outbreak has killed 106 people and infected 4,515.
The officials also said 60 people had been discharged.
The majority of the reported cases are in mainland China, where local authorities have quarantined several major cities and canceled Lunar New Year's events in Beijing and elsewhere.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday expanded its Level 3 travel advisory for China, asking Americans to `` avoid all nonessential travel to China. '' The advisory was previously just for Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the disease's outbreak and where the majority of cases have been reported.
The U.S. Department of State on Monday raised its travel advisory for China from Level 2 to Level 3 asking Americans to `` reconsider travel to China due to the novel coronavirus. '' They added that some areas have `` added risk. ''
President Donald Trump addressed the matter in a tweet Monday, saying the U.S. is `` in very close communication with China concerning the virus. ''
Multiple cases of the virus have been confirmed in Hong Kong, Macao, Taipei, Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Australia, France and the United States.
On Monday, local authorities in Germany confirmed the country's first case. Nepal has confirmed one case. Cambodia confirmed its first case on Monday, according to Reuters, citing Health Minister Mam Bunheng. Sri Lanka also confirmed its first case on Monday, Reuters reports.
Several companies, including Walt Disney with its Shanghai Disney, are suspending operations until further notice during the normally festive weeklong Lunar New Year holiday to prevent the outbreak from spreading. Starbucks and McDonald's also closed stores in Hubei province.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Sunday a fifth U.S. case of the coronavirus — a patient in Maricopa County, Arizona, who recently traveled to Wuhan, China.
U.S. health officials warned that the flu or other respiratory illnesses could complicate identifying more cases. They recommend that people call a health-care provider before seeking treatment so the appropriate measures can be put in place. The CDC is trying to speed up testing and to get the tests in the hands of state health officials. It currently takes the CDC about four to six hours to make a diagnosis once a sample makes it to its lab.
CDC officials said Monday that the number of `` patients under investigation '' in the U.S. has almost doubled since Thursday to a total of 110 across 26 states. The disease is not spreading through human-to-human contact in the U.S. and the risk to the public right now is still considered low, Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters on a conference call Monday.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that usually infect animals but can sometimes evolve and spread to humans. Symptoms in humans include fever, coughing and shortness of breath, which can progress to pneumonia. Physicians have compared it to the 2003 outbreak of SARS, which had a short incubation period of two to seven days. U.S. officials said Friday that symptoms from the new virus, temporarily named 2019-nCoV, may take up to 14 days to appear.
The WHO's director-general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, is traveling to Beijing to meet with government and health officials. According to the organization, more data needs to be collected before the virus, which can spread through human-to-human contact, is declared a global health emergency. WHO declined at two emergency meetings last week to say it was a worldwide emergency.
China stepped up efforts to increase medical supplies to Wuhan that includes transferring 14,000 protective suits and 110,000 pairs of gloves from the central medical reserves, according to the State Council. Emergency supplies of 3 million masks, 100,000 protective suits and 2,180 pairs of goggles were also made available.
More than 1,600 medical staff are said to be sent to the Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, to assist in containing the virus. The central government previously said it allocated 1 billion yuan, or $ 145 million, to support the province — Wuhan is building a 1,000-bed hospital to treat the infected and plans to have the facility operational by the end of the week.
The incubation period is between two and 14 days, Messonnier said. There's been some debate over how contagious the disease is, and she said it may take a while before researchers can figure that out.
`` This outbreak is really unrolling in front of our eyes, '' she said. The so-called R naught, a mathematical equation that shows how many people will get an illness from each infected person, is somewhere around 1.5 to 3, she said. Measles, which is one of the most contagious infections in the world, has an R naught of around 12 to 18, by comparison, she said.
China's National Health Commission Minister Ma Xiaowei said on Sunday the incubation period could range from one to 14 days and that researchers in China now believe the virus is infectious during that time. Messonnier said the CDC hasn't seen any evidence that shows it's contagious before symptoms appear.
— CNBC's Saheli Roy Choudhury and Reuters contributed to this report. | business |
Coronavirus: la Chine redouble d’ efforts pour contenir l’ épidémie | Les autorités de la ville de Pékin ont fait état lundi d'un premier décès dans la capitale chinoise. La victime est un homme de 50 ans qui s'était rendu le 8 janvier dans la ville de Wuhan, le foyer de l'épidémie, et était tombé malade, avec de la fièvre, après être revenu à Pékin sept jours plus tard, a annoncé le comité à la Santé de la capitale. L'homme a succombé lundi 27 janvier à une défaillance respiratoire.
Le bilan continue d’ augmenter et pour remonter le moral des troupes et rassurer la population, le Premier ministre chinois Li Keqiang, est en tournée d’ inspection à Wuhan ce lundi, rapportent nos correspondant à Pékin, Zhifan Liu et Stéphane Lagarde. Li Keqiang est en première ligne, distribuant des « Jia you », des encouragements au personnel des hôpitaux, aux patients et aux habitants de Wuhan. Un Premier ministre qui cette fois porte la combinaison et le masque contrairement à sa précédente tournée des blouses blanches, la semaine dernière dans un hôpital sur les plateaux tibétains du Qinghai, critiquée car loin de l’ épicentre de l’ épidémie.
Débloquer des moyens humains et financiers
Li a été nommé hier à la tête d’ une task force visant à remporter la bataille contre ce virus, pour reprendre les mots du président Xi Jinping prononcés hier.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang went to Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, on Monday to inspect and guide the efforts to prevent and control the novel coronavirus epidemic.He also visited patients and medical staff. pic.twitter.com/ym1xZSgmOK
Le numéro deux du gouvernement chinois était accompagné selon les médias d’ Etat par un groupe de haut niveau chargé de lutter contre la propagation du virus. Alors que les réseaux sociaux dénoncent le manque de fournitures et de personnels pour soigner les malades, Li Keqiang a annoncé des renforts et des protections supplémentaires pour les soignants.
Ces derniers jours, la télévision centrale de Chine a montré l’ arrivée de médecins de l’ armée du peuple et la mobilisation notamment de 37 hôpitaux du Liaoning dans le Nord, qui ont envoyé à Wuhan leurs personnels. Le ministre des Finances a quant à lui annoncé dimanche que plus de 11, 21 milliards de yuans ( 1, 48 milliards d’ euros) avaient déjà été débloqués pour tenter de contenir l’ épidémie.
Contrôler la communication
Li Keqiang est venu aussi reprendre la main sur la communication. La conférence de presse dimanche de Wang Wiaodong, le gouverneur du Hubei, a suscité une grande colère de la part des habitants. Celui-ci s’ est emmêlé dans le nombre de masques fournis à la ville, passant de 10,8 milliards à 1,8 million dans une mégalopole qui comprend 11 millions d’ habitants, et alors que certains des fonctionnaires qui l’ accompagnaient portaient leur masque à l’ envers.
People’ s anger towards Wuhan and Hubei officials is through the roof. These three, wearing their masks in the wrong way or not wearing one at all, claimed shortage of medical resources has been alleviated in Wuhan. So many hospitals are seeking help. Are they blind? pic.twitter.com/qE7gVcPleR
Zhou Xianwang, le maire de Wuhan a reconnu ce lundi que son administration n’ avait pas été à la hauteur du défi, se disant prêt à démissionner comme Ma Guoqiang, le chef du parti communiste local. Dimanche soir, lors d’ une conférence de presse, il avait annoncé que plus de 3 000 cas de personnes infectées pourraient être recensés au total dans la région, alors que le virus a fait 76 morts dans la seule province du Hubei.
Enfin le Premier ministre chinois est venu à Wuhan pour tenter de rassurer la population ce qui est loin d’ être gagné. La peur panique du virus et la décision de fermer la mégalopole ont entraîné une ruée sur les supermarchés. Sur une vidéo qui a beaucoup circulé, on voit le numéro deux chinois prononcer un discours dans un supermarché alors qu’ au premier plan une femme continue de remplir frénétiquement son caddie de légumes de peur de ne plus en trouver.
While Chinese Premier Li Keqiang delivering his speech in a Wuhan super market, this auntie in front can’ t stop getting her groceries done. “ Nothing can stop me from buying veggies ” # coronarvirus video from internet pic.twitter.com/A7CePMfis0
Dans le même temps, la période des vacances, qui devait initialement se terminer le 30 janvier a été prolongée indéfiniment, pour limiter les mouvements de plusieurs centaines de millions de Chinois, rentrés dans leur famille pour célébrer le Nouvel An lunaire.
►À lire aussi: Coronavirus en Chine: les conséquences économiques devraient se faire sentir
Pas de masques dans les pharmacies
Dans le sud du pays, la province du Guangdong, la plus peuplée, a imposé le port du masque respiratoire à ses quelque 110 millions d'habitants. Mais les pharmacies sont en rupture de stock. | general |
Bath & Body Works could see soap sales surge as coronavirus spreads | Bath & Body Works owner L Brands could be poised to benefit from an increase in sales of its soaps and hand sanitizers as consumers try to protect themselves from the spread of the deadly coronavirus, an analyst said Monday.
The retailer `` could experience ( and meet) a meaningful demand surge as consumers race to take preventive measures to protect themselves and their loved ones, '' Evercore ISI analyst Omar Saad said in a note to clients.
Evercore on Monday added L Brands to its `` Tactical Outperform '' list, with a price target of $ 18 per share, given the view that the retailer's `` scaled anti-bacterial soap and hand sanitizer business is poised to benefit significantly from the growing coronavirus alarm. ''
It called out that following the spread of the H1N1 swine flu, which first appeared in the U.S. in April 2009, L Brands said during its fiscal 2009 first-quarter earnings call: `` The anti-bacterial business posted gains over last year aided by sales of our PocketBac hand sanitizer. Hand sanitizer sales improved with the outbreak of the H1N1 flu, and our product is differentiated by our broad assortment of fragrances. ''
Soaps and sanitizers represent about 20% of L Brands ' overall sales, Evercore has estimated. A `` surge in demand '' for these items could add 2 to 4 percentage points to L Brands ' overall same-store sales growth, Saad said.
Shares of L Brands were down more than 2.5% Monday afternoon, hovering around $ 20.14. The company has a market cap of about $ 5.6 billion. L Brands ' stock has fallen a little more than 26% over the past 12 months.
A representative from L Brands wasn't immediately available to respond to CNBC's request for comment.
Other consumer stocks, meanwhile, are getting hammered due to their exposure to China's consumer market, as more people are falling ill to the coronavirus, and millions are restricted from traveling.
Estee Lauder and Nike both generate 17% of their revenues from mainland China each year, Credit Suisse has estimated based on the two companies ' filings. The bank said that if the coronavirus continues, both companies could see a drop of 3% to 5% in earnings per share next quarter.
Other apparel retailers with high China exposure include Tapestry, PVH Corp and VF Corp.
The coronavirus ' impact on these retailers could be worse than the 2002-2003 outbreak of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, Credit Suisse analyst Michael Binetti said. | business |
Coronavirus Is Slamming Stocks. The Fed and Beijing Can Help. | Stocks tumbled globally on Monday as a deadly coronavirus outbreak spread beyond China, with infected patients turning up elsewhere around the world.
Although the outbreak could hurt the global economy, strategists see a possible buying opportunity ahead as they look to the People’ s Bank of China and the Federal Reserve to offer some relief.
The S & P 500 fell 1.5%, to 3244. While many Asian markets were closed for the Lunar New Year holiday, the iShares MSCI China ETF ( MCHI) fell 4.5%, to $ 60.49.
The pneumonia-like virus that began in the Chinese city of Wuhan has infected more than 2,700 people and killed at least 80, according to Chinese authorities. Public health officials have cautioned it is growing more contagious, and cases have also been detected in the U.S., Australia, Europe, and elsewhere in Asia even as Beijing quarantines millions of people.
For now, investors are looking to the playbook of past outbreaks, including the deadly SARS outbreak in 2002-2004. In a note to clients on Monday, strategist Ed Yardeni of Yardeni Research, raised the question of whether the outbreak is the latest panic attack—one of 65 he counts during this bull market—that provides yet another buying opportunity for stocks. Yardeni said he expects the same outcome as with SARS and the Middle East respiratory syndrome first identified in 2012, suggesting that he sits in the buying opportunity camp.
Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer of the Independent Advisor Alliance, echoed a similar sentiment. In a note to clients, Zaccarelli noted that the S & P 500 fell 12% during the SARS outbreak, from mid-November 2002 until mid-March 2003, and finished that year 19% higher than where it started.
“ Over the medium term this will likely prove to be a buying opportunity—just not at the very beginning of the outbreak, ” Zaccarelli wrote.
The view is less sanguine when it comes to the side effects on the global economy—in part because China’ s economy is much more reliant on consumers than it was in 2002. Beijing has quarantined 50 million people during the biggest holiday season—akin to the outbreak striking around the Christmas holidays. Officials also extended the Lunar New Year holiday to Feb. 2 to try to contain the virus.
The fallout for leisure, travel and retailers could be brutal. Chinese moviegoers spent $ 6 billions over the Lunar New Year last year—the busiest time of the year for that market—and that is likely to collapse this year, said Charles Gave of Gavekal Research.
For an economy that is increasingly reliant on the consumer, it is hard to think the outbreak will have no impact on China’ s economy, which was just beginning to see some improvement as last year’ s stimulus measures took hold and trade tensions with the U.S. thawed. Indeed, Capital Economics wrote that, even if the outbreak is brought under control quicker than SARS, it saw at least at a similar hit to the economy. The research firm estimates SARS lowered China’ s growth by 3 percentage points in the worst-affected quarter, though the economy soon bounced back.
The impact goes beyond just denting consumption. Gavekal’ s Gave noted that Wuhan is an important logistics center for the auto and auto parts production world. Autos were just beginning to show signs of stabilization after a major slowdown but the quarantines in Wuhan could make autos a drag again this year, Gave said. But the slowdown could push Beijing to become more aggressive in its stimulus efforts.
It could have a similar impact on the Federal Reserve. Although it is still too early to gauge the effect the virus will have on the global economy, DataTrek Research co-founder Nicholas Colas wrote in a note to clients that capital markets are beginning to discount the possibility that the Fed may also try to inoculate the U.S. economy and “ use their interest rate hammer to offset growing economic uncertainty caused by the outbreak. ”
Another shot in the arm from the Fed could actually help the broader market, feeding the calls to look out for a buying opportunity in stocks ahead. | business |
Stock Market Drops as Coronavirus Concerns Spreads | 6:08 a.m. The continued spread of the coronavirus is rocking stock markets globally, potentially setting the Dow Jones Industrial Average and other U.S. indexes up for big losses on Monday.
Dow futures have declined 467 points, or 1.6%, while S & P 500 futures have fallen 1.6%. Nasdaq Composite futures have dropped 2%. In Asia, China’ s Shanghai Composite has slumped 2.8%, while Japan’ s Nikkei 225 is off 2%
The coronavirus outbreak in China, which now reports more than 2,700 infections and at least 80 deaths, continues to spread, even as China continues to take steps to limit it. Hong Kong has banned the entrance of people who have traveled to Hubei province, where the illness originated.
Even more worrisome than the market drop, the 10-year Treasury yield has broken firmly lower, and now sits at 1.634%. The lower the 10-year yield drops, the harder it gets to believe that a reacceleration in U.S. economic growth is just around the corner. “ The quarantining of cities and lost lives alone are scary prospects, but considering China’ s place in the global supply chain, there should be business repercussions, ” JonesTrading’ s Michael O’ Rourke wrote in a Sunday note.
The question now is how big the market repercussions will be. | business |
Here's why the stock market may be overreacting to the coronavirus threat | The continued spread of the coronavirus appears to be hitting global markets like a similar outbreak in 2003, but the history of recent health scares and market internals may mean the pullback won't last long and investors are currently overreacting.
Stocks opened lower on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down more than 500 points, or 1.8% at one point, after confirmed cases of the coronavirus globally rose over the weekend. Markets also slumped in early 2003 amid an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, but many major indexes finished the year strong.
`` If the outbreak follows the course of past ones this century, the global economy faces just a temporary stumble, '' Michael Gregory of BMO Capital Markets said in a note to clients on Monday.
The Wuhan coronavirus is still much smaller than the SARS outbreak of 2003, according to official numbers from governments around the world, but that could change as the outbreak continues. The coronavirus is expected to have more cases in China than SARS eventually, but the overall mortality rate appears to be lower for the new virus, said Chris Meekins, healthcare policy analyst at Raymond James.
`` People are under-appreciating how bad this is going to be in China, and over-appreciating how bad it is going to be in the U.S., '' Meekins said.
Chinese officials said that more than 2,800 people in the country have been diagnosed with the virus, and that 81 have died. China also said the virus is contagious during its incubation period, which would make it harder to prevent the disease from spreading. By comparison, SARS could not be spread by people who weren't yet showing symptoms, Meekins said.
The current outbreak comes at a time when the market has been on a steady climb for the last several months, powered mainly by large tech stocks. The elevated prices of stocks may have made some investors more willing to sell on bad news such as this.
`` Market internals were already suggesting skepticism on a big growth reacceleration prior to the outbreak of the Coronavirus, '' Morgan Stanley said in a note to clients.
Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities, said the market is overreacting to the virus.
`` The market was looking for some news that would dampen the recent enthusiasm. This news of the virus creates a perfect storm and it might make investors ignore the Fed's accommodative stance, the macro news and the good earnings that so far have been coming out, '' Cardillo said.
The SARS outbreak contributed to a slump in global markets in early 2003, but stocks recovered once the outbreak was contained. The S & P 500 dropped roughly 10% from the start of the year until mid-March, but finished up more than 26% for the whole year.
To be sure, the market conditions in 2003 were different than in 2019, with stocks still at a lower level following the tech bubble and not coming off a decade-long bull market. The SARS outbreak was also accompanied by another major international factor for the markets in 2003, as the U.S. invaded Iraq in March.
The longer term effect on markets from the virus could be determined by how much it weakens economic growth in China. The response by China has been much stronger during this outbreak than for SARS, but the impact will still be significant for the country, Meekins said.
`` The shutdown of these cities, the 50-million-plus people basically sequestered, is not a one or two day event. It will be a weeks-long event, if not a month, '' Meekins said. `` Which means all the economic impact from those areas is going to be dramatically lower, if not basically cease. ''
Oil prices fell to their lowest level since October on Monday, reflecting concerns about global growth following the coronavirus outbreak. Global oil demand also took a hit from during SARS, but that only lasted for a quarter and not the entire year, according a note to clients from Raymond James.
—CNBC's Fred Imbert and Michael Bloom contributed to this story. | business |
The coronavirus panic is turning the UK into a hostile environment for east Asians | The atmosphere on my morning commute is tense. As panic over the coronavirus deepens and dominates the headlines, as an east Asian I can’ t help but feel more and more uncomfortable. On the bus to work last week, as I sat down, the man next to me immediately scrambled to gather his stuff and stood up to avoid sitting next to me.
Perhaps it did not occur to these people that I, as a UK citizen, was no more likely than them to be carrying the virus
On the train over the weekend, a group sat opposite me chattering about their weekend plans. One of them seriously advised the rest, “ I wouldn’ t go to Chinatown if I were you, they have that disease. ”
As I made my way towards Chinatown in London, an elderly woman and her friend on the escalators at Leicester Square underground station were casually talking about how dangerous the area now was, and she complained she was obliged to go there for a meeting. “ At least I’ m old, I have nothing left to lose, ” she laughed.
In another loud conversation, I overheard a woman talking about how terrified she was that her friend, who had spent some time working with Chinese students, might have infected her with the virus.
In light of current events, we east Asians in the UK are on high alert, paying close attention to how people interact with us. It is not their concern about health that is problematic, but the stereotyping of all east Asians as a coronavirus risk. At times such as this, even a simple bus trip can feel like a hostile environment.
A friend at a university library experienced something similar: as soon as they sat down at a desk, the person in front of them packed up their things to leave. We’ re noticing odd things like this that we never saw happen before.
Perhaps it did not occur to some of these people, so happy to talk loudly in front of me, that I was also concerned about the virus – or that I, as a British citizen, was no more likely than them to be carrying the virus. They grouped all east Asian people together, without factoring in that perhaps we were British or, if not, we were from unaffected areas of China, or even came from other countries in the Chinese diaspora. We were all the same to them.
The virus that originated in Wuhan has spread to at least eight other countries including Thailand, Japan, Australia and the US, and it’ s “ highly likely ” it will reach the UK, according to Public Health England.
As it spreads, the virus has revealed more and more stereotyped judgments about Chinese people. I have also heard accounts from east Asians, even if they are not Chinese, who have recently been profiled while travelling at airports or on trains due to the ignorant perception that all east Asians are Chinese.
George Osborne, editor of the Evening Standard, proudly tweeted his newspaper’ s cartoon of a rat with a face mask to supposedly commemorate the lunar new year. Piers Morgan mocked the Chinese language on Good Morning Britain with a tired “ ching chang chong ” joke. East Asians have been accused of instigating the virus by having “ revolting ” eating habits. Most Asians know these stereotypes all too well.
These insulting depictions don’ t reflect the reality of being Chinese at all, and encourage the misguided perception of more than one billion people being a monolithic and singular group in which everyone speaks, acts and looks the same. In fact, there is a huge diversity.
Language and culture vary massively within the region. Speakers of Hokkien would not be able to converse with people who speak Hakka. And despite Mandarin being the lingua franca, there are more than 200 dialects spoken across China. In fact in Wuhan itself, a beautiful and diverse city with more than 3,500 years of history, many of its population of 11.8 million speak a Wuhan dialect.
Elsewhere, natives of Aksu look completely different to the majority Han Chinese. And the food, too: dim sum from the south of China is vastly different from the tangy, spicy flavours of Sichuan.
This week, my ethnicity has made me feel like I was part of a threatening and diseased mass. To see me as someone who carries the virus just because of my race is, well, just racist.
As the lunar new year celebrations take place across the world, let’ s take a moment to think about the way in which east Asians are perceived and how important it is to see us in all our diversity, as individual human beings, and to challenge stereotypes. The coronavirus is a human tragedy, so let’ s not allow fear to breed hatred, intolerance and racism.
• Sam Phan is an MA student at the University of Manchester | general |
Driver fined €200 after Danish youth rider killed in collision during time trial | The driver of a car that hit and killed Danish youth rider while he was racing in a time trial has been fined 1500 kroner, around €200.
Andreas Byskov Sarbo was competing in the Tour de Himmelfart when the car found its way on to the route and collided with the 18-year-old.
The court heard that the 28-year-old female driver was driving home around 9.30am on Friday May 31, 2019 when she came up to a traffic light and the left turn was prohibited because of the bike race, reports TV2.
Two stewards stood at the intersection to stop any cars entering the course but despite the warnings, the driver still turned left and drove for a mile down the road where several signs warned there would be oncoming traffic. After this, she collided head-on with Sarbo.
> > > Tour of Hainan postponed because of Coronavirus
The woman told the court she hadn't seen any of the signs telling her not to drive on to the course: `` I didn't see any signs and I didn't see the guards. I did not know that I had done anything wrong. ''
A blood test confirmed there was no alcohol or drugs in her system and she was acquitted of breaching significant road safety concerns, instead being fined the €200 for failing to comply with traffic directions. The court also decided not to comply with the prosecution's charge of negligent manslaughter, which would have resulted in a two-month prison sentence.
After the collision the race was cancelled, with the news breaking during the middle of stage 20 of the Giro d’ Italia.
Brian Holm, the Danish Deceuninck – Quick-Step sports director, subsequently left his commentary duties mid-stage. He later explained on Twitter: `` After the tragic news of Andreas Byskov Sarbo it was impossible to speak on bicycle races. Warmest thoughts to Andreas ' family and friends. ''
Remco Evenepoel ( Deceuninck – Quick-Step) also paid tribute, saying “ RIP Andreas ” on Twitter.
Many suggested Sarbo had a bright future ahead of him, having won a stage of the Course de la Paix ( Peace Race) the previous month as well as finishing fourth in that year’ s junior E3 BinckBank Classic. | general |
Vaccine, diagnostics stocks rise again on spreading coronavirus | Shares of a handful of vaccine makers, diagnostics companies and manufacturers of medical supplies, like masks, rallied again in premarket trading on Monday over growing public concern about the new coronavirus. This includes Co-Diagnostics Inc.
CODX,
+10.20%
,
up 42%; NanoViricides Inc.
NNVC,
-4.06%
,
up 29%; Allied Healthcare Products Inc.
AHPI,
+3.81%
,
up 22%; Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc.
INO,
-5.92%
,
up 24%; and Novavax Inc.
NVAX,
-10.97%
,
up 13%. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Sunday that there are now five confirmed cases in the U.S., all of whom had traveled to Wuhan, the city in China where the virus was first identified. Chinese health officials have said that more than 2,700 people have been sickened and at least 80 people died,
according to The Wall Street Journal
. Market concerns have sent global stocks and U.S. futures
tumbling on Monday
. The S & P 500
SPX,
+1.38%
and the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+0.98%
are both 1% over the last week. | business |
U.S. Deals Major Blow To Iranian Investors | Washington & rsquo; s move to ban Iranians from U.S. trade and investment visas has generated plenty of headlines, but the move is largely meaningless and should not be considered an intensification of the confrontation. On Thursday, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services USCIS announced that E-1 and E-2 trade and investment visas would no longer be issued to Iranian nationals as a result of the termination in October 2018 of a treaty of amity with Iran. & nbsp; The E-1 and E-2 classifications are non-immigrant visas that grant holders entry into the United States to engage in international trade or invest a & ldquo; substantial amount of capital & rdquo; into a U.S. business. & nbsp; & nbsp; & ldquo; Due to the termination of the treaty, USCIS will send Notices of Intent to Deny to affected applicants who filed applications after the Department of State & rsquo; s Oct. 3, 2018, announcement. Iranians currently holding and properly maintaining E-1 or E-2 status may remain in the U.S. until their current status expires, & rdquo; USCIS said. However, they will not be able to extend that status. & nbsp; While the announcement may sound like another big policy move on Washington & rsquo; s part, against Iran, the reality is that it will have minimal impact, if any. & nbsp; In 2018, only one Iranian was issued an E-2, compared to 20 in 2017. Iranians were already effectively barred from these visas, removing any relevance from announcements of a ban on E-1 and E-2 visas. & nbsp; & nbsp; & ldquo; Due to the severe restrictions on the transfer of funds from Iran as a result of sanctions, it has been very difficult for Iranians to obtain non-immigrant investor visas in the E-2 or in the permanent residence category of EB-5, & rdquo; East Lansing, Michigan-based business immigration attorney Amy Maldonado told SafeHaven.com & ldquo; All of these categories require proof of lawful source of funds, & rdquo; Maldonado said. & nbsp; Related Oil Extends Plunge On Coronavirus Fears With only 21 Iranian nationals having been issued E-2 visas in the past two years, and with the amount of & ldquo; substantial & rdquo; capital being undefined, but in some cases limited to $ 100,000, the foreign investment loss to American businesses is minimal at best. & nbsp; Even prior to sanctions, Iranian nationals were not clamoring for E-2 visas. In 2016, no E-1 visas were issued to Iranians, and only 15 E-2 visas were issued, according to government data. In 2015, 25 E-2 visas were issued to Iranians. & nbsp; Washington made a second announcement this week when it slapped more sanctions on targets connected to an alleged Iranian oil smuggling network. & nbsp; The U.S. Treasury Department slapped sanctions on four companies & ldquo; accused of purchasing Iranian oil and petrochemical products in violation of U.S. sanctions & rdquo;. Two of the companies are based in Hong Kong, the third in Shanghai and the fourth in Dubai. The Treasury Department says the four aided the Iranian state-owned oil company in the export of & ldquo; millions of dollars worth of petroleum products & rdquo;. & nbsp; & ldquo; Iran & rsquo; s petrochemical and petroleum sectors are primary sources of funding for the Iranian regime & rsquo; s global terrorist activities and enable its persistent use of violence against its own people, & rdquo; Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. & nbsp; Neither move, however, represents an escalation of the confrontation between the United States and Iran in the aftermath of the U.S. assassination of a key Iranian general on Iraqi soil following Iranian-sponsored Hezbollah attacks on U.S. targets in Iraq. The markets have already decided there will be no major escalation, and the situation has now reverted to small jabs, such as visa announcements and additional, targeted sanctions. By Fred Dunkley for Safehaven.com & nbsp; | business |
Oil Extends Plunge On Coronavirus Fears | Oil prices extended losses early on Monday, slumping to nearly four-month lows amid fears that the Chinese coronavirus outbreak will slow China & rsquo; s economic growth and oil demand. & nbsp; At 0825 a.m. EDT on Monday, WTI Crude was down 3.19 percent at $ 52.46 and Brent Crude traded down 3.11 percent at $ 58.03, as investors and speculators were dumping riskier assets such as oil and rushed to safe-haven assets such as gold, Treasury bills, and the Japanese yen. Oil extended its losses from last week, while the death toll from the coronavirus continues to rise. Brent Crude prices are nearing their lowest since early October 2019 and are now below the $ 60 a barrel psychological threshold for the first time in 2020. Brent Crude prices have dropped by some 9 percent since the virus was first detected last week, ING strategists said on Monday, noting that & ldquo; Macro concerns over energy demand due to curtailed movement of people and trade have been weighing on an oil market that is otherwise tight due to ongoing supply concerns in Libya and OPEC output cuts. & rdquo; Amid the panic mode in the market, OPEC & rsquo; s largest producer and de facto leader Saudi Arabia issued a statement on Monday, trying to calm the oil market. & ldquo; The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other OPEC producers have the capability and flexibility needed to respond to any developments, by taking the necessary actions to support oil market stability, if the situation so requires, & rdquo; Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency. Related Increased New Well Productivity Helped US Shale Growth In 2019 The current market meltdown, including oil and other commodities, & ldquo; is primarily driven by psychological factors and extremely negative expectations adopted by some market participants despite its very limited impact on global oil demand, & rdquo; the minister added. In a separate statement, the energy minister of the United Arab Emirates UAE, Suhail al-Mazrouei, said that the market should not overreact to the gloomy demand outlook due to the virus outbreak in China. & ldquo; It is important that we do not exaggerate projections related to future decreases in oil demand due to events in China, and the market does not over-react based on psychological factors, driven by some traders in the market, & rdquo; al-Mazrouei said, as carried by Reuters. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com | business |
Coronavirus Sends Panic Through Oil Markets | Oil continued to slide on Monday, with Brent dropping well below $ 60 per barrel, as panic around the coronavirus continues to mushroom. The number of casualties in China continues to climb, as do cases of the virus elsewhere in the world. The Chinese government has tried to quarantine Wuhan and other cities, affecting tens of millions of people. Multinational businesses in China are also implementing lockdown procedures. Brent has cratered by around $ 7 per barrel in a week, a steep drop that is & ldquo; 100% down to the coronavirus, & rdquo; Edward Marshall, a commodities trader at Global Risk Management, told the Wall Street Journal. & ldquo; I think we & rsquo; re close to peak hysteria, so yes the move is justified. We & rsquo; re in full panic mode. & rdquo; The Economist Intelligence Unit said that the coronavirus could reduce China & rsquo; s GDP growth rate this year by 0.5 to 1 percentage point. China & rsquo; s GDP was already expected to slow to a three-decade low below 6 percent this year. S & amp; P Global Ratings said that the effect of the virus could balloon to a 1.2 percentage point reduction in GDP. & ldquo; A supply glut of fuel in China would filter through to the rest of the world through exports and on that basis the market is reacting in this defensive manner, & rdquo; Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank A/S, said in a statement. & ldquo; The Saudis can try to stem the sell-off but while its being driven by the need to mitigate losses that will be difficult to control. & rdquo; Saudi Arabia & rsquo; s energy minister tried to tamp down the panic, noting that there is & ldquo; very little impact & rdquo; on global oil demand. He added that there was also & ldquo; extreme pessimism & rdquo; during the SARS outbreak in the early 2000s but that ultimately the impact on oil consumption was not significant. In an official statement, the energy ministry said that the Saudi government is & ldquo; closely monitoring the developments in the global oil market & rdquo; related to the outbreak. Other analysts agreed with the notion that the effect would be temporary. Raymond James pointed out in a report out on Monday that the impact to Chinese oil demand in 2002-2003 lasted for only about one quarter. Related Can Europe & rsquo; s Largest Economy Survive Without Coal However, the investment bank suggested that the demand impact could still be rather substantial. & ldquo; Hypothetically applying the same 1.9% impact for one quarter would equate to global demand growth of 0.5% on a full-year basis, all else being equal, & rdquo; Raymond James wrote, referring to demand growth forecasts for 2020. & ldquo; If the situation were to last two quarters, global demand growth could approach zero, something that has not happened since the global financial crisis. & rdquo; The bank reiterated that it is just a & ldquo; guesstimate, & rdquo; not an official forecast. OPEC upped the rhetoric just a bit compared to last week. & ldquo; They are prepared to do anything if there is a need, & rdquo; one senior Opec source told reporters on Monday, according to the FT. & ldquo; They are watching the market closely. & rdquo; One of the rumors is the possibility of the extending the latest production cuts & ndash; which expire at the end of March & ndash; until the end of the year. Another option is to actually cut deeper from current levels. But the predicament facing OPEC is rather surprising given the supply outage in Libya. The North African OPEC member has lost around 800,000 bpd earlier this month because of the blockade of ports and infrastructure by the Libyan National Army LNA. The OPEC rumor mill swirls about deeper cuts, but Libya itself just provided such a cut and the oil market barely noticed. As compared with the previous production level, the oil market is thus short of nearly 900,000 barrels per day, which equates almost to the implied oversupply in the first quarter, & rdquo; Commerzbank wrote in a note. But & ldquo; in the current environment, oil market-specific news is falling on deaf ears. A few weeks ago, such news would have pushed prices up noticeably. & rdquo; By Nick Cunningham, Oilprice.com | business |
OPEC Considers Deeper Oil Cuts Amid Virus Market Meltdown | As leading OPEC producers downplayed fears of crippled demand growth in an attempt to calm the oil market on Monday, the cartel is said to be considering extending the ongoing production cuts or even deepening them to stave off excessive price slides due to the coronavirus outbreak in China, an OPEC source told S & amp; P Global Platts. According to S & amp; P Global Platts & rsquo; source in OPEC, the ministers of the OPEC coalition are in discussion to closely watch the market and get ready & ldquo; to do anything if there is a need for it. & rdquo; & nbsp; OPEC members were already said to be discussing a potential extension of the oil production cuts through the end of 2020, because of the still bearish outlook on oil demand growth, an OPEC source told Russian news agency TASS on Friday. A day earlier, Saudi Arabia & rsquo; s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman had said that all options are on the table for the next OPEC meeting in March, including further cuts in oil production. But the spread of the coronavirus and the rising death toll from it spooked market participants in the past few days and dragged oil prices below $ 60 a barrel Brent Crude, below OPEC & rsquo; s supposedly comfortable level of prices and way below the $ 80 a barrel price which OPEC & rsquo; s leader and largest producer, Saudi Arabia, needs to balance its budget this year. The Saudis tried to jawbone the market higher early on Monday, and the United Arab Emirates UAE chimed in to downplay what it called a & ldquo; market over-reaction & rdquo; over fears that the virus will erode oil demand in China & mdash; the world & rsquo; s largest oil importer and main oil demand growth driver. & ldquo; The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other OPEC producers have the capability and flexibility needed to respond to any developments, by taking the necessary actions to support oil market stability, if the situation so requires, & rdquo; Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency. In a separate statement, the UAE & rsquo; s energy minister Suhail al-Mazrouei said, as carried by Reuters & ldquo; It is important that we do not exaggerate projections related to future decreases in oil demand due to events in China, and the market does not over-react based on psychological factors, driven by some traders in the market. & rdquo; & nbsp; By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com | business |
ZTE 5G gear lets China’ s experts remotely diagnose Wuhan coronavirus | Join gaming leaders, alongside GamesBeat and Facebook Gaming, for their 2nd Annual GamesBeat & Facebook Gaming Summit | GamesBeat: Into the Metaverse 2 this upcoming January 25-27, 2022. Learn more about the event.
As a dangerous coronavirus continues to spread outwards from the eastern city of Wuhan, China, experts from other parts of the country are now being called in — literally, using 5G cellular technology — to support growing diagnostic and treatment efforts. Chinese telecom equipment provider ZTE announced today that it has launched a remote 5G diagnosis and treatment system between West China Hospital and the Chengdu Public Health Clinic Center of Sichuan University, resulting in the first 5G remote diagnosis of coronavirus pneumonia. The company will expand the service to Wuhan as the public health crisis continues.
China is one of the earliest mass adopters of 5G cellular technology, which enables dramatically faster communications than prior 4G networks, including low latency, high-resolution video links. For this project, ZTE says that it used a combination of outdoor 5G hardware and indoor 5G base stations to transform a West China Hospital conference room into a remote diagnosis and treatment center.
Experts from West China Hospital, who are already providing video consultations for the Chengdu Public Health Clinic Center, will form a “ central node ” for Sichuan’ s health system, expanding assistance to 27 hospitals with coronavirus patients. After offering service to people in Sichuan province, city, and county, the experts will expand diagnostic and treatment services to patients in Wuhan, which is 1,155 kilometers ( 718 miles) away.
Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, 5G’ s potential for remote medical services was largely theoretical, as carriers and practitioners spoke of the future prospect of performing remote surgeries or offering diagnoses to patients in far-flung areas. The use of 5G communications to enhance practitioner safety in circumstances such as this, where a virus’ transmission characteristics and other vectors remain unclear, is fairly new but represents a highly practical test of the high-bandwidth wireless technology.
China’ s adoption of 5G has outpaced many other countries thanks to a combination of government subsidies and top-down coordination, as well as significant availability of locally produced 5G networking hardware. While domestic companies such as ZTE and Huawei have been restricted or prevented from supplying 5G gear in some countries — a ban that nearly led to ZTE’ s collapse in 2018 — their hardware has since enabled Chinese carriers to launch 5G services in somewhere between 30 and 50 cities — no easy feat given the country’ s size and population. The country expects to have 5G in every prefecture-level city by the end of this year. | tech |
As Virus Spreads, Anger Floods Chinese Social Media | SHANGHAI — Recently, someone following the coronavirus crisis through China’ s official news media would see lots of footage, often set to stirring music, praising the heroism and sacrifice of health workers marching off to stricken places.
But someone following the crisis through social media would see something else entirely: vitriolic comments and mocking memes about government officials, harrowing descriptions of untreated family members and images of hospital corridors loaded with patients, some of whom appear to be dead.
137 medical personnel head for Hubei from north China's Shanxi pic.twitter.com/nxSe01dyEO
The contrast is almost never so stark in China. The government usually keeps a tight grip on what is said, seen and heard about it. But the sheer amount of criticism — and the often clever ways in which critics dodge censors, such as by referring to Xi Jinping, China’ s top leader, as “ Trump ” or by comparing the outbreak to the Chernobyl catastrophe — have made it difficult for Beijing to control the message.
In recent days, critics have pounced when officials in the city of Wuhan, the center of the outbreak, wore their protective masks incorrectly. They have heaped scorn upon stumbling pronouncements. When Wuhan’ s mayor spoke to official media on Monday, one commenter responded, “ If the virus is fair, then please don’ t spare this useless person. ”
The condemnations stand as a rare direct challenge to the Communist Party, which brooks no dissent in the way it runs China. In some cases, Chinese leaders appear to be acknowledging people’ s fear, anger and other all-too-human reactions to the crisis, showing how the party can move dramatically, if sometimes belatedly, to mollify the public.
Such criticism can go only so far, however. Some of China’ s more commercially minded media outlets have covered the disease and the response thoroughly if not critically. But articles and comments about the virus continue to be deleted, and the government and internet platforms have issued fresh warnings against spreading what they call “ rumors. ”
“ Chinese social media are full of anger, not because there was no censorship on this topic, but despite strong censorship, ” said Xiao Qiang, a research scientist at the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley, and the founder of China Digital Times, a website that monitors Chinese internet controls. “ It is still possible that the censorship will suddenly increase again, as part of an effort to control the narrative. ”
When China’ s leaders battled the SARS virus in the early 2000s, social media was only just beginning to blossom in the country. The government covered up the disease’ s spread, and it was left to journalists and other critics to shame the authorities into acknowledging the scale of the problem. | business |
China coronavirus: mayor of Wuhan admits mistakes | The mayor of Wuhan, the Chinese city at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak, has acknowledged criticism over his handling of the crisis, admitting that information was not released quickly enough.
Zhou Xianwang wore a mask for protection as he told the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV: “ We haven’ t disclosed information in a timely manner and also did not use effective information to improve our work. ”
He said he would resign if it helped with public opinion but pointed out the local government was obliged to seek permission before fully disclosing information about the virus, and that their response had since become “ tougher than others ”.
A virtual lockdown has been imposed on Wuhan since Thursday, when trains and flights were cancelled, public transport suspended and, later, most private cars banned from the roads.
There is anger among residentsthat the public were not informed earlier about the potential risks posed by the outbreak, which is thought to have begun in December, or told about what precautions to take.
Zhou’ s comments followed news that the death toll from the virus has risen to 81, including the first case in the country’ s capital Beijing. More than 2,700 have been infected, of whom more than 400 are in a critical condition. The southern province of Hainan reported its first fatality on Monday.
Also on Monday, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization, held a special meeting with officials in Beijing to discuss how to contain the outbreak. The organisation has stopped short of declaring a public health emergency of international concern, but did say it was an emergency for China.
In an effort to reduce the chances of infection during what is the country’ s busiest travel season, officials announced the end of this week’ s lunar new year holiday would be postponed until at least 2 February across China, and to 9 February in Shanghai. Authorities have also widened sweeping restrictions on travel across the country.
On Monday, Chongqing municipality, which has a population of 30 million, said it had banned long-distance bus services. The municipality borders Hubei province, where the vast majority of deaths have been recorded. It follows similar announcements over the weekend by Beijing, Shanghai and the eastern province of Shandong.
The suspension of long-distance bus services, the cheapest way to travel, is likely to slow down the return of millions of migrant workers who have visited their families over the lunar new year.
By postponing the end of the holiday to Sunday from Friday, officials hoped to reduce the number of mass gatherings and block the spread of the epidemic, a cabinet statement said.
Many of China’ s big retail chains have also said they will temporarily close their stores, while some online businesses and banks have advised employees returning from Hubei province to work from home.
Wuhan, home to 11 million people, remains under strict lockdown. The city was visited by the Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, the country’ s second most powerful man, on Monday morning, when he was photographed at medical facilities in the city. He told staff at Wuhan hospital: “ I am here to cheer you up ”.
His visit follows concern that hospitals in the city were severely overstretched, running out of beds, testing kits and basic equipment. In response to the crisis, officials were building two designated hospitals to deal with an expected increase in cases.
Zhou told CCTV an outbreak on such a large scale was impossible to prepare for, even in wealthy cities. On Sunday, he predicted a further 1,000 new cases would emerge, and stated that 5 million residents had left Wuhan before it went into lockdown. This includes people who travelled for the lunar new year festival, as well as those who fled to escape the virus and impending shutdown.
Experts have questioned whether the quarantine measures are helpful. The restrictions were announced hours before they were introduced, potentially encouraging cases to scatter across the country. Some fear severity of restrictions also risks creating anger towards health officials at a time when the public’ s cooperation is desperately needed.
There are also doubts about the effectiveness of airport screening, following suggestions it is possible to be infected but not have any symptoms.
Covid-19 is caused by a member of the coronavirus family that has never been encountered before. Like other coronaviruses, it has come from animals. The World Health Organization ( WHO) has declared it a pandemic.
According to the WHO, the most common symptoms of Covid-19 are fever, tiredness and a dry cough. Some patients may also have a runny nose, sore throat, nasal congestion and aches and pains or diarrhoea. Some people report losing their sense of taste and/or smell. About 80% of people who get Covid-19 experience a mild case – about as serious as a regular cold – and recover without needing any special treatment.
About one in six people, the WHO says, become seriously ill. The elderly and people with underlying medical problems like high blood pressure, heart problems or diabetes, or chronic respiratory conditions, are at a greater risk of serious illness from Covid-19.
In the UK, the National health Service ( NHS) has identified the specific symptoms to look for as experiencing either:
As this is viral pneumonia, antibiotics are of no use. The antiviral drugs we have against flu will not work, and there is currently no vaccine. Recovery depends on the strength of the immune system.
Medical advice varies around the world - with many countries imposing travel bans and lockdowns to try and prevent the spread of the virus. In many place people are being told to stay at home rather than visit a doctor of hospital in person. Check with your local authorities.
In the UK, NHS advice is that anyone with symptoms should stay at home for at least 7 days. If you live with other people, they should stay at home for at least 14 days, to avoid spreading the infection outside the home.
The disease has already spread to more than 10 countries abroad, with fresh cases continuing to emerge. Both Australia and US recently confirmed their fifth cases. In total, across China and elsewhere, more than 2,700 cases have been recorded.
Officials in Australia said they did not believe there had been any human-to-human transmission of the virus in the country, where children are due to return to school this week from the summer break. Children have been in close contact with a confirmed case of the virus, should not attend school for 14 days, officials said.
The US state department warned on Monday against visiting China and said Americans should not travel to the Hubei province. Singapore urged citizens to avoid non-essential travel to China, and said students and staff who had recently travelled to the country should stay at home for two weeks. Hong Kong has banned residents of Hubei from entering the territory.
Additional reporting by Wu Pei Lin in Taiwan | general |
Monday briefing: Helicopter crash kills NBA star Kobe Bryant | Hello, Warren Murray here to open the week that will close Britain’ s EU chapter.
The world of professional sport is in mourning after Kobe Bryant, the US basketball legend, died in a helicopter crash at the age of 41. Bryant’ s 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, is also believed to have died – she was among the eight others on board, and no survivors were reported. The helicopter crashed at 10am on Sunday near Calabasas, 30 miles from downtown Los Angeles, in foggy weather. Bryant lived in the area most of his life and often used helicopters because of LA’ s heavy road traffic.
Bryant played his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, having gone straight from school to the NBA instead of college. In that time they won five championships and he was named an All-Star 18 times. Bryant’ s reputation was tarnished in 2003 when he was arrested over rape allegations that he later settled out of court. Fans have been holding vigils to pay tribute. One of Bryant’ s fellow Lakers greats, Magic Johnson, said: “ It’ s hard to accept. Kobe was a leader of our game, a mentor to both male and female players. ”
Virus death toll jumps – China’ s premier has visited Wuhan as the country substantially raised its coronavirus death toll to 80, up from 56 on Sunday. Its National Health Commission has said there are more than 2,700 infections recorded and 6,000 suspected – it has included Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan in these numbers. The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was flying to Beijing to discuss the outbreak with authorities. As China shuts down transport networks to try to limit the spread of the virus, some countries are preparing to help their citizens leave. You can find out the latest at our live blog.
Peril of hard-shoulder driving – Britain’ s use of “ smart motorways ” where cars can be driven on the hard shoulder is being urgently reviewed after findings that it resulted in 20 times more near-misses on the M25 alone. The death toll on such motorways has reached 38 in the last five years, including many that motoring organisations believe were avoidable after breakdowns happened in amongst fast-moving traffic. A BBC Panorama investigation to be broadcast tonight found that in five years a section of the M25 went from 72 near-misses to 1,485. The former government minister Sir Mike Penning agreed to smart motorways’ expansion but now he and other MPs will publish a report accusing Highways England of “ a shocking degree of carelessness ” in implementing them. Penning said: “ There are people that are being killed and seriously injured on these roads, and it should never have happened. ”
Grenfell inquiry resumes – Companies that wrapped Grenfell Tower in combustible cladding will face public scrutiny when the inquiry restarts this week. About 200,000 unseen documents, from private emails to phone transcripts and commercial agreements, will be released during 18 months of hearings examining decisions taken in the months and years before the fire, its immediate aftermath and the role of the UK government. This second phase will open with statements from lawyers for the architects, Studio E, the builders, Rydon and Harley Facades, Celotex, which made the combustible insulation, and Arconic. They will be followed by the tower’ s owner and manager at the time of the fire, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation.
Still too few Bame police – Police chiefs have admitted they have been too slow to boost diversity in the ranks, almost 21 years since a landmark report on race and policing triggered promises of radical change. A study has found black police officer numbers have barely increased since the middle of the previous decade, rising by 86 officers across the 44 forces of England and Wales between 2007 and 2018. Just 7% of officers are from ethnic minorities compared with 14% of the population. The report by the Police Foundation thinktank holds out hope the government’ s promise of thousands of new officers will help: “ The planned 20,000 uplift in police officer numbers over the next three years offers policing in England and Wales a once-in-a-generation opportunity to dramatically improve the diversity of its police officer workforce. ”
Music’ s night of nights – Billie Eilish has swept the “ big four ” of best new artist, album, record and song of the year at the 2020 Grammys.
Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus scored best pop duo for Old Town Road. Lizzo won best pop solo performance for Truth Hurts. Here is our list of winners.
Ivor Perl and Susan Pollack were 12 and 13 when they were transported to Auschwitz. On the 75th anniversary of the concentration camp’ s liberation, they tell their stories. Separately on the Guardian today, Kate Connolly reports on the more than 200 survivors gathering at the former Nazi extermination camp for a sombre commemoration.
Sorry your browser does not support audio - but you can download here and listen https: //audio.guim.co.uk/2020/01/24-66050-20200127 TIF Auschwitz.mp3
When the clock strikes midnight in Brussels on Friday, Britain’ s 47 years in the EU will be over. But what actually changes on Friday? Life will carry on as normal for individuals with one key change – UK citizens, from 11pm, will no longer be EU citizens. British passport holders will continue to be able to travel and work in the EU because the country remains in the single market for the transition period up to 31 December and the freedom of movement of goods, people, services and capital over borders applies until then.
The main change is legal and institutional. Friday is the point of no return to the EU. The UK will continue to follow EU rules but have no say in making them, and British ministers right up to Boris Johnson will cease to take part in the EU law-making process. The UK’ s 73 MEPs will be sent home with one of the parliament’ s union jacks dispatched to the EU-funded House of History. The UK had “ the best possible world ”, concluded one veteran French diplomat. Now that world will disappear.
Jürgen Klopp did not seek to make excuses after his side were held in the FA Cup by League One Shrewsbury, though he did indicate that the date of the replay will be a problem for Liverpool, as senior players have been given time off for a winter break. Ole Gunnar Solskjær sarcastically thanked the Tranmere goalkeeper, Scott Davies, for firing up his Manchester United players ahead of their emphatic 6-0 FA Cup fourth-round victory at Prenton Park.
Chris Woakes’ s improvement has gone under the radar but recent performances suggest his struggles overseas are behind him, after England set South Africa 466 to win the fourth Test over the final two days at the Wanderers. Doubts are growing over whether the World Indoor Athletics championships will be staged in Nanjing in March after China’ s leader, Xi Jinping, warned of the “ accelerating spread ” of the coronavirus in the country. And the Women’ s Six Nations begins with one big question lingering over it: can anyone lay a glove on England?
Stocks have tumbled with investors anxious about the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak in China. The Nikkei average suffered a steep 1.8% loss while US S & P 500 mini futures fell 1.3% in early Asian trade. MSCI’ s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was off 0.2%, although trade in the region had already slowed for the Lunar New Year and other holidays, with financial markets in China, Hong Kong and Australia closed on Monday. The pound is worth $ 1.306 and €1.184 this morning while the FTSE is trending down by 1.25% ahead of the open.
A number of papers pay tribute to Kobe Bryant on their front pages – “ Sport legend Kobe killed in copter crash ” says the Mirror. The Metro’ s lead is “ Trapped in virus city ”, about Britons who are trying to get out of Wuhan in China. In a similar vein in the i: “ Stranded Brits beg to be rescued from virus crisis city ”. “ Experts fear 100,000 may have new virus worldwide, ” says the Guardian.
The Telegraph has a last-minute intervention by the Trump administration arguing that “ Huawei is threat to UK sovereignty ” – here is how the Guardian is covering it. The FT’ s version – “ UK set to give Huawei the go-ahead for 5G network ” – also mentions pressure from the White House.
The Express has “ Dementia patients let down by failing care ”, about the one in five homes that are said to be “ leaving sufferers at risk ”. “ Britain open to world’ s best talent, says Johnson ” – that’ s the Times on a new visa scheme the government is keen to talk up given what is about to happen. The Mail lauds “ 20,000 spring clean heroes ” who have joined its anti-litter drive. The Sun paraphrases the Duchess of Sussex’ s estranged father this morning: “ See you in court Meg ”.
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For more news: www.theguardian.com | general |
Re-Engineering China’ s Economy by Andrew Sheng & Xiao Geng | The recent “ phase one ” trade deal between the United States and China does not resolve core outstanding bilateral issues, and the two countries’ strategic rivalry will likely intensify in the medium to long term. But the accord gives China’ s leaders a new opportunity to develop better and more open domestic markets.
HONG KONG – On January 15, US President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He signed a “ phase one ” agreement aimed at containing the two countries’ long-running bilateral trade war. But no sooner had the deal been concluded than China was confronted with an emergency in the form of the deadly coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan.
These recent developments indicate that China is still struggling with what the father of the country’ s nuclear program, Qian Xuesen, called in an influential 1993 paper an “ open complex giant system ” issue. Qian, a leading student of systems engineering, argued that because human brains have one trillion interacting neural cells, individual humans are themselves open complex giant systems that are open to complex material, energy, and informational exchanges with other humans. Likewise, a social system is a macroscopic open giant system that interacts with other social systems, and thus is too complex for any computer to model.
Indeed, any systems engineering aimed at civilizational development would have to address even more complex material, political, and spiritual aspects of transformation and interaction that are not reducible to quantitative terms. The only solution, therefore, is a process of qualitative analysis followed by rigorous and reiterative testing against empirical facts until different paths or policy options are found – or, as Deng Xiaoping famously said, “ crossing the river by feeling the stones. ”
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Writing for PS since 2011 121 Commentaries
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Andrew Sheng, a distinguished fellow of the Asia Global Institute at the University of Hong Kong and a member of the UNEP Advisory Council on Sustainable Finance, is a former chairman of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission.
Writing for PS since 2012 111 Commentaries
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Xiao Geng, Chairman of the Hong Kong Institution for International Finance, is a professor and Director of the Institute of Policy and Practice at the Shenzhen Finance Institute at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen.
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Rather than trying to pretend that one side is a saint and the other a sinner, everyone involved in the latest NATO-Russia conflict should recognize that they have a mutual interest in long-term security. That implies a diplomatic settlement in which Ukraine secures its sovereignty through neutrality.
Although it is anyone's guess what will happen next with inflation, the data show that there is no reason to react rashly with large across-the-board interest-rate hikes. The economy is working through an unprecedented transition that could ultimately be a boon for workers; but only if policymakers let the process play out.
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Boarding schools with Chinese pupils urged to be alert for xenophobia | Boarding schools in the UK which educate thousands of children from China have been urged to be alert to “ signs of xenophobia ” as global concerns about the coronavirus grow.
The Boarding Schools’ Association, which represents 550 independent and state boarding schools, urged its members to support pupils from affected areas who may be worried about friends and families.
It is caused by a member of the coronavirus family that has never been encountered before. Like other coronaviruses, it has come from animals. The World Health Organization ( WHO) has declared it a pandemic.
According to the WHO, the most common symptoms of Covid-19 are fever, tiredness and a dry cough. Some patients may also have a runny nose, sore throat, nasal congestion and aches and pains or diarrhoea. Some people report losing their sense of taste and/or smell. About 80% of people who get Covid-19 experience a mild case – about as serious as a regular cold – and recover without needing any special treatment.
About one in six people, the WHO says, become seriously ill. The elderly and people with underlying medical problems like high blood pressure, heart problems or diabetes, or chronic respiratory conditions, are at a greater risk of serious illness from Covid-19.
In the UK, the National health Service ( NHS) has identified the specific symptoms to look for as experiencing either:
As this is viral pneumonia, antibiotics are of no use. The antiviral drugs we have against flu will not work, and there is currently no vaccine. Recovery depends on the strength of the immune system.
Medical advice varies around the world - with many countries imposing travel bans and lockdowns to try and prevent the spread of the virus. In many place people are being told to stay at home rather than visit a doctor of hospital in person. Check with your local authorities.
In the UK, NHS advice is that anyone with symptoms should stay at home for at least 7 days. If you live with other people, they should stay at home for at least 14 days, to avoid spreading the infection outside the home.
China’ s national health commission confirmed human-to-human transmission in January. As of 6 April, more than 1.25m people have been infected in more than 180 countries, according to the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
There have been over 69,500 deaths globally. Just over 3,200 of those deaths have occurred in mainland China. Italy has been worst affected, with over 15,800 fatalities, and there have been over 12,600 deaths in Spain. The US now has more confirmed cases than any other country - more than 335,000. Many of those who have died had underlying health conditions, which the coronavirus complicated.
More than 264,000 people are recorded as having recovered from the coronavirus.
And in new guidance published on its website, it warns: “ Stay alert for any signs of xenophobia by students towards one another, or by any external audiences, either in school or on social media sites.
“ Such behaviour should not be tolerated and action should be taken against anyone acting in this way. ”
Media coverage of the coronavirus outbreak in the UK has noted the 120,000 Chinese students currently enrolled in UK universities, but the number of Chinese pupils at private schools in the UK has also grown in recent years.
According to the latest statistics published by the Independent Schools Council ( ISC), an umbrella body that includes famous public schools such as Eton and Harrow as well as hundreds of smaller prep schools, there are almost 10,000 pupils from mainland China now studying at ISC schools.
Asked about xenophobia, the BSA said there had been no reports of incidents. “ We have not heard of anything happening in our schools, and we don’ t envisage it happening in our schools, we are trying to make sure we are covering every eventuality. ”
The latest BSA guidance also advises member schools to warn families against travelling back to China and Hong Kong in the February half-term, suggesting schools could be kept open to accommodate pupils instead.
The World Health Organization is recommending that people take simple precautions to reduce exposure to and transmission of the coronavirus, for which there is no specific cure or vaccine.
The UN agency advises people to:
Many countries are now enforcing or recommending curfews or lockdowns. Check with your local authorities for up-to-date information about the situation in your area.
In the UK, NHS advice is that anyone with symptoms should stay at home for at least 7 days.
If you live with other people, they should stay at home for at least 14 days, to avoid spreading the infection outside the home.
It urges schools to draw up plans in case children need to be kept in quarantine following travel to affected areas. “ This should not be seen as an over-reaction or ‘ scare-mongering’, ” the guidance states, “ but is based on experience gained from the progress of previous such diseases. ”
During the Sars outbreak of 2003, many schools were forced to quarantine pupils as they had already travelled home for Easter before the spread of the virus was identified.
The BSA said some schools had already cancelled visits from prospective parents, recruitment agents and pupils from China as a precautionary measure. “ While cancellation may be unnecessary, it is obviously prudent to minimise any unnecessary risk. ”
Boarding schools are also being urged to make sure that appropriate guardian arrangements are in place in case restricted travel arrangements leave pupils and parents separated. | general |
Sydney schools ask students returning from China to stay away amid coronavirus fears | Several Sydney private schools have banned students who have recently visited China from returning to school without medical certificates, as concerns grow about the spread of coronavirus.
Pymble Ladies College in Sydney’ s north has told parents in a text message they should not send their daughters to school for at least 14 days after returning to Australia from an affected area of China, or after contact with someone who had visited an affected area.
Other private schools, including Scots College, Ravenswood School for Girls, Kambala School and Newington College, have told parents that students who have visited affected regions in China must provide medical clearance from a doctor, the ABC reported.
In Victoria, Wesley College has told parents it “ strongly recommend [ s ] ” keeping students away from school until they have been in Australia and symptom-free for two weeks. If students return to the boarding school without meeting this requirement, they will be “ isolated and appropriate health advice sought ”.
Other Victorian schools that have contacted parents include Firbank Grammar, Scotch College, Haileybury, Caulfield Grammar, Waverley Christian College, Methodist Ladies College and Balwyn High School, the Age reported.
The New South Wales’ chief medical officer, Kerry Chant, said on Monday that children returning from Hubei province with symptoms should seek immediate medical advice, and that anyone who had been in contact with a confirmed case should not attend school for 14 days.
The Commonwealth’ s chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, said there was still no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission outside Hubei province.
“ We don’ t think there’ s any reason to cancel public gatherings. There’ s no evidence of human-to-human transmission in Australia. Were there evidence, that’ s a very different matter, ” he said.
A spokesperson for the NSW education department said it was not advising that students should be kept at home unless they had a confirmed case of the virus or had been in close contact with someone who had.
“ Children and staff who have recently returned from overseas and are well, and are not close contacts of a confirmed case, are able attend school as normal, ” the department said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the Victorian department of education and training said it is advising schools regarding “ precautionary measures ” they can take to avoid the spread of the virus.
Most NSW and Victorian public school students are due to return to classes from Wednesday.
On Monday a 21-year-old woman in NSW was confirmed to have the virus, taking the number of cases in Australia to five. She was identified as a student at the University of NSW, and was being treated in Sydney’ s Westmead hospital.
The university said in a message to staff and students that the infected student had stayed on her own in campus accommodation “ with no close contact before she was admitted to hospital ”.
“ NSW Health has advised that the student adhered to their advice and precautions since arriving from Wuhan on 22 January, ” the university said. “ NSW Health has stated the student was not infectious on the plane. ”
The woman arrived in Sydney on Thursday on the last flight to Australia from Wuhan before Beijing banned all out-bound travel.
“ Pleasingly that patient was met at the airport and acted on the advice provided to her, ” Chant told reporters in Sydney.
“ So for that patient, there are actually no close contacts [ with others ], there are just a couple of low-level contacts that we are tracing. ”
At least 80 people are confirmed to have died from the virus in China, and 2,744 people have contracted the illness, which has its origins in the city of Wuhan.
Chinese authorities last week imposed a mass ban on travel outside the city in a bid to stop the spread of the virus. It has since expanded the ban to 10 cities.
A petition on change.org calling for NSW school students to be kept home for two weeks after returning from China has received more than 12,000 signatures in 24 hours.
Concern has also been raised about university students arriving from affected areas.
The University of NSW has advised students in an email that “ some members of our community who have travelled through the affected areas have reported feeling unwell ” and “ have been taken to hospital for monitoring ”.
The University of Sydney, which has about 17,000 Chinese nationals among its student body, said it was “ contacting all students from Wuhan, both current and commencing, asking them to provide us with an update on their circumstances and offering support ”.
“ Students still in China are asked to follow the advice of the Chinese Government and to avoid travel if they are ill, ” a spokesperson said. The university said it would offer students different enrolment options if the travel ban prevented them starting the first semester of 2020.
The president of the National Union of Students, Molly Willmott, said it was important that anyone who had been in affected areas should follow advice from the department of health, but it was important not to “ scapegoat ” Chinese students.
“ Universities need to be taking the lead and offering better triage and psychological services to students affected by the virus, ” she said.
Wing Kuang, an international student at the University of Melbourne, said she and many of her friends were worried about their families, and others stuck in China were worried about their studies and getting back to Australia.NSW Health has advised people that the primary symptom of coronavirus is fever, but people should also look out for “ cough, sore throat and shortness of breath ”.
Exactly how long it takes for the virus to incubate is unknown, but it is thought to take from two to 14 days.
There are currently no vaccines that protect against coronavirus. | general |
Rail and sail: how to book the perfect holiday – without any flying | January is always a struggle – cold, dark, full of broken resolutions and battered bank balances – but the beginning of 2020 has been particularly grim. From the crisis in Iran, bushfires in Australia, coronavirus and Brexit around the corner, the year could hardly have got off to a worse start. There is hope – of course – and there are holidays, too: this is peak booking time for the travel sector.
Despite uncertainties around the impact of Brexit, 54% of Britons plan to travel to Europe in 2020, according to a survey by the peer-to-peer currency platform WeSwap. And the good news for anyone who has resolved to give up flying is that we are entering a new golden age of rail travel, with expanding networks, a revival of sleeper trains and Interrailing, along with a growing number of travel companies replacing flights with train travel. Add in improved ferry services, a boom in remote hideaways, and alternatives to traditional destinations, and the outlook for anyone wanting to escape the headlines looks positively sunny. Here’ s our guide to planning your own exit – albeit for just a week or two.
Whether you already have a destination in mind, or are looking for ideas, your first port of call should be the Man in Seat 61 – an independent website covering every stage of booking trains in the UK, Europe and beyond. It includes everything you need to know about routes, fares, buying tickets, timetables and rail passes. The site was founded by Mark Smith in 2001, when cheap flights were booming and the typical seat61 user was, in his words, “ afraid of flying, medically restricted from flying or particularly liked train travel ”. Undeterred, Smith continued to share his tips – free – and this modest former station manager has become a guru among regular rail travellers.
Seat61 doesn’ t allow you to book tickets. For that you need to go to raileurope.co.uk or trainline.com – both connect to the British, French, German, Austrian, Italian and Spanish railways ticketing systems. Beyond those countries, go to the national rail operator site for the country where you want to start your journey. Fancy a dip in Budapest’ s thermal spas after wandering Prague’ s new art spaces? Go to the Czech rail operator České Dráhy’ s website, cd.cz, to book the six-to-seven-hour journey for €20 ( £17) for an advance purchase. To look up train times in Europe, Smith recommends the German railways website bahn.com; and, to take with you, a printed copy of European Rail Time.
Not always. Door-to-door, it is quicker or as quick by train from London to Paris, Lille, Brussels, Amsterdam or Rotterdam ( all direct routes on Eurostar). The Netherlands’ second largest city is tipped in Guardian Travel’ s 2020 hotlist for its architecture and progressive urban living ( it’ s home to the world’ s first floating farm, and many hotels, restaurants and attractions support the city’ s goal to be a waste-free society) – plus it’ s less crowded than Amsterdam. Beyond that, yes, travelling by train takes longer – but that’ s part of the appeal. This year, more of us will embrace rail travel, not just for environmental reasons, but because it’ s fun. Not convinced? Pick up a copy of the latest edition of Europe By Rail, an anthology of 52 routes, from the north of Norway to southern Sicily.
Instead of flying direct to Spain, the slow route might include overnight stays in Cahors ( Gallo-Roman ruins and excellent red wine) and Foix ( “ one of those unsung but perfect-looking French towns ”) before crossing the Pyrenees and passing through the Catalan countryside to Barcelona. From there, the rest of Spain awaits. At Easter, Renfe, the Spanish rail company, is introducing a new range of low-cost, high-speed trains, aimed at getting Spanish travellers off the roads, but opening up opportunities for tourists, too. Among the routes will be Barcelona to Madrid for €10.
After being threatened with extinction, Europe’ s night-train network is undergoing a renaissance. The driving force behind this is the Austrian state railway, ÖBB, which is expanding its Nightjet network across Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Italy into Belgium and the Netherlands. This month saw the return of a Brussels-Vienna sleeper. Departing the Belgium capital at 6pm, you will be rocked to sleep and arrive in the Austrian capital the next day at 8.30am – perfect timing for a coffee in the opulent setting of Cafe Goldegg, a five minute walk from the station. At the end of the year, ÖBB will add a route going from Amsterdam to Vienna.
There was a time when it looked as if the glory days of Interrail were over. Happily, this is another tale of rail revival. In the past 15 years, sales of Interrail passes have almost tripled, with Scandinavia – birthplace of the flight-shame movement – showing the highest growth rate. Young people still account for more sales than any other group, but families and older travellers are catching up.
Unlike flights, the price of Interrail passes is fixed and children under the age of 11 go free, making it a better-value option than flying for families travelling in the peak summer months. Add in reductions for travellers under 27 and over 60, free luggage, regular deals and discounts on city attractions and Interrail looks increasingly like a modern miracle.
As we leave the EU, plan your own ode to Europe – along the French and Italian rivieras, perhaps, before heading north into Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland, before returing via Berlin and Brussels. For itinerary ideas, go to theguardian.com/travel/interrailing. And remember, for some trains you have to pay an additional booking fee.
If poring over endless rail timetables is not your idea of fun, fear not – a growing number of tour operators are incorporating rail travel into their packages. For 2020, Sunvil has introduced Greece by rail for the first time – offering train journeys to the islands of Corfu, Paxos or Lefkas, and Parga and Sivota on the mainland, via the French Alps, Milan and Bari, from where the ferry departs. Just Sardinia and Just Corsica are also making it easier to reach islands without flying, building train and ferry crossings into their trips. Inn Travel, the walking and cycling specialist, has made all of its European mainland holidays, plus the Balearics and Sicily, available by rail, and trebled the size of its in-house rail team to cope with demand.
Ferries could hardly be called green, but emissions for each passenger are considerably less than short-haul flights and the sector is endeavouring to reduce them. This year, Brittany Ferries is launching the Honfleur, its first liquified-natural-gas-powered ship, to run on the Portsmouth to Caen route, followed by the Salamanca in 2022 and the Santoña in 2023 on the Portsmouth-Bilbao service. South of Caen, connect to the Véloscénic cycle route that runs between Paris and Mont Saint-Michel, cutting across Normandy, stages of which are easy enough to do with kids.
The French are masters of camping, with thousands of excellent sites offering waterparks ( Brittany’ s Domaine des Ormes), sandy beaches ( Domaine de la Bergerie between Cannes and Saint Tropez), alpine views ( Campsite de Martinière in the Chartreuse regional park, where the owner has a sideline in amazing land art) and more. Start your search on lefrenchtime.co.uk, which lists 78 sites from seaside to mountain, river to town, or coolcamping.com’ s French glampsites.
Stena Line is also investing in new technology and ships. Its rail-and-sail service to Amsterdam is an alternative to Eurostar – and a good option for families. Go to little-clogs-holidays.co.uk for holiday park suggestions. The Dutch invented Center Parcs, but holiday parks are often cheaper there than in the UK.
This month, the Association of British Travel Agents ( Abta) issued a statement reassuring travellers that holidays won’ t be affected by Brexit in 2020. Valid passports can still be used as normal, the cost of making calls, using the internet and sending texts will remain the same, and coaches and trains from the UK to the continent will be unaffected.
The peaks and lakes of central Norway should help clear your head of all thoughts of the B-word. Walks Worldwide’ s nine-day self-guided tour follows routes through the Jotunheimen mountains, staying in a mix of hotels, cabins and a lodge ( £1,499 each). You are also unlikely to be bothered by the news on the biking tour of rural Albania offered by Much Better Adventures ( seven nights, £774 each).
Too adventurous? Switch off in comfort at the isolated Instants d’ Absolu Ecolodge, a former farmhouse in the Auvergne, France, with a spa, delicious farm-to-table food and limited wifi and phone signal ( Neussargues station is 10km away; from £122 a night through i-escape.com). Or keep it simple – with a book by the ( small) pool, wine in hand and views of the Umbrian hills at Wild Umbria, a holiday home for four ( book through sawdays.co.uk).
Cycling specialist BSpoke Tours has a new coastal tour along the wild coast of northern Spain’ s Asturias region ( from £1,095pp, excluding travel; take Brittany Ferries from Portsmouth to Santander). For sporty families, Adventure Creators puts together multi-activity trips in the French Pyrenees with rock climbing, high ropes and river rafting – ensuring kids will be so exhausted they may even forget about screens.
If the disastrous start to the new decade has left you feeling too weary to contemplate venturing beyond our shores, set your sights on an escape closer to home. The number of secluded cottages, cabins, bothies and boltholes in the UK is on the rise. The National Trust’ s collection of remote cottages includes the diminutive Bird How, tucked away in Eskdale valley in the Lake District, which doesn’ t even have a TV. Canopy and Stars specialises in places to stay in nature, such as The Woodcock, an eco-cabin on a Norfolk farm with no electricity or wifi. Or browse the idyllic Welsh cottages on underthethatch.co.uk. In the Carmarthenshire hills, you will find Tŷ Barddu, a modernist cottage with cedar hot tub, but no neighbours or wifi, and the rustic Bryn Eglur, a place, the website says, “ to step back in time ” – perfect for pretending the past few years never happened.
For guaranteed isolation, Much Better Adventures’ s Castaway weekend is a chance to set sail up the Kyles of Bute in Argyll for two nights’ wild camping on a remote island – and the added bonus of learning survival skills ( could come in handy).
Looking for a holiday with a difference? Browse Guardian Holidays to see a range of fantastic trips
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Mortgage rates drop to 5-month low as coronavirus fears fuel bonds | As fears over the coronavirus roil global financial markets, investors are rushing to the relative safety of bonds. As a result, mortgage rates are falling. The 30-year fixed mortgage loosely follows the yield on the 10-year Treasury.
The average rate on the 30-year fixed hit a recent high in December of 3.84%, but slid steadily last week and is now falling more steeply, according to Mortgage News Daily.
`` 3.625% is widely available, and that was already getting to be the case last Friday, '' said Matthew Graham, chief operating officer at Mortgage News Daily. `` Today brings 3.5% into the mix for more than just a few of the most aggressive lenders. ''
That is the best rate since early September, and Graham said he believes the market is `` only one to two solid days away from 3.375%. '' That is, if market forces and global news continue to keep investors in bonds.
Falling rates couldn't come at a better time for the housing market, as strong demand is fueling both sales and construction of new, single-family homes. Builder sentiment hit a 20-year high in December, and while sales of newly built homes slipped slightly, they were still a strong 23% higher than December 2018.
Affordability is crucial for the homebuilders, as prices for existing homes are now heating up again. Builders need to put up more entry-level homes if they are going to attract more buyers. Sales of homes priced below $ 300 fell most sharply in December, not for lack of demand, but likely for lack of supply.
`` Considering half of home shoppers say they can't afford a house priced above $ 300,000, more builders must start reducing prices to increase sales, '' said Robert Frick, corporate economist with Navy Federal Credit Union. `` With housing starts surging we should see plenty more new homes on the market this year, but if they're not more affordable, sales will be stunted, and many more newly-formed families will be shut out of home ownership. ''
The drop in mortgage rates should not only help buyers afford today's higher price, but lower rates also help more borrowers qualify for loans. | business |
The disease always gets a head start: how to handle an epidemic | A patient presents at an emergency department somewhere in the world. They are feverish and vomiting. Doctors suspect it is influenza, but they are wrong.
When the outbreak of a virulent new disease such as the coronavirus is identified, the starting gun is fired on a vast, multimillion-dollar international effort to try to contain it.
But nothing can start before a health professional determines that, against the odds, they are confronting something exceptional. “ You need to work through that process, establish that this is an out-of-the-ordinary disease and say, let’ s do lab tests on it, ” says Jonathan Quick, an adjunct professor of global health and author of The End of Epidemics.
Sometimes the signs are clear: health workers becoming infected, or patients growing sicker or dying faster than expected.
Other cases rely on a hunch. In 2003, the Italian specialist Carlo Urbani was asked to examine a patient in a Vietnamese hospital with symptoms of influenza. Urbani saw a different pattern. He commissioned tests, reinforced infection controls around the patient and alerted the World Health Organization.
A global alert for a virus named severe acute respiratory syndrome ( Sars) was declared 12 days later. Urbani died from it the following month.
Advances in medical science by the late 1960s led some experts to declare that humanity had conquered infectious diseases. It was wishful thinking. Two decades into the 21st century, viruses are breaking out more frequently than in the past, data shows.
One factor is that humans are spreading into territories we have never lived in before, bringing us into contact with animal populations carrying diseases our bodies never learned to fight.
The 2014 Ebola outbreak was formally identified more than two and a half months after it was first detected. The 2015–16 epidemic of Zika, the mosquito-borne virus that led to 3,000 severe birth defects, took 37 days. The disease always gets a head start, and not just for biological reasons. An epidemic may be a medical phenomenon, but it is social and political too.
In the crucible of an outbreak, sharing information is one of the most important factors in saving lives. But instincts often lead the other way. When Sars emerged in China in November 2002, it raged for several months before Beijing alerted the WHO.
“ China actively hid Sars from the international community and the WHO was really disempowered, ” says Alexandra Phelan, an adjunct professor at the Georgetown law school.
The same urgent need for transparency applies to scientists studying the disease, some of whom have been incentivised in the past to withhold important findings in a crisis for fear they may not be able to publish them in medical journals later.
The impulse for secrecy even extended to Liberian villages afflicted with Ebola, where out of fear and mistrust some families would hide sick or deceased relatives from medical teams.
“ Information sharing is what it’ s all about, ” says Rebecca Katz, the director of the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University. “ If you don’ t know something is happening, you can’ t stop it. ”
Once an outbreak is identified, the focus can shift to stopping its spread, which in theory is straightforward. “ Your rate of growth needs to be less than one, ” says Joshua Ginsberg, the president of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. “ If every person who gets the disease gives it to slightly less than one person, then the disease will go away. ”
That requires determining who is already sick, and who may become so. Hospitals become vigilant for symptoms of the disease in new patients, while teams are sent out into communities to enlist them to report anyone showing the telltale signs – and in some cases, to prevent those people from making the journey to a clinic themselves.
“ If a disease is highly contagious, if people are coming to the hospital it probably means they’ ve contaminated a lot of people on the way, ” says Michel Yao, a physician who advises the Democratic Republic of the Congo’ s health ministry on its Ebola response.
Infected people take part in a process known as contact tracing: listing everyone they have interacted with in the past days or weeks, and for how long. Those lists can be vast – a 2011 study found every measles case generated sometimes hundreds of contacts that needed to be investigated. But when Ebola hit Africa’ s most populous country, Nigeria, contact tracing and surveillance networks that were already in place to combat polio helped to stop the outbreak in its tracks.
Medical teams managed to reach every Nigerian case and seven deaths were reported in the country of 181 million people. “ Because they had that system in place, they were able to jump in immediately and figure out, where did this patient go, who did he talk to? And isolate those people, ” says Ashley Arabasadi, a policy adviser at the US-based Management Sciences for Health institute.
Quarantining cities, as China has done to Wuhan in response to the coronavirus outbreak, can often make the epidemic worse, according to some experts.
“ It causes mistrust in the government and panic and concern, ” Phelan says. “ People can’ t access healthcare because public transport is shut down. Or they may do the opposite and overwhelm medical facilities. And how do you get in food and drugs for other non-coronavirus issues? It is a very heavy-handed move that has no evidence base behind it. ”
Blunting the spread of an epidemic is difficult enough in wealthy states with strong governments and developed health systems, but when Ebola broke out in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea in January 2014, the three countries were quickly overwhelmed.
“ It was actually possible that one or more [ of their governments ] could have collapsed, ” says Beth Cameron, a health security specialist who served on the task force established by Barack Obama to fight the disease.
Ned Price, another Obama administration official who worked on the Ebola response, recalled a meeting in the White House situation room that August, when those assembled, including Obama himself, were shown the worst possible outcome.
“ It showed 1.5 million active cases by the end of January 2015, ” Price says. “ There was shock. I forget if there were audible gasps, but people were definitely gasping on the inside. ”
When Ebola cases appeared in the US, Spain and Britain, it was clear the world was only as strong as its weakest health system. About 2,800 US troops were deployed to west Africa alongside soldiers and health workers from the region and around the world, to treat the sick, test for others who might have the disease and prevent it from spreading.
By the end of the year, Price says, the daily reports the White House was receiving started to show the number of new transmissions falling. “ There was a moment in late 2014 where it became apparent the intervention was working, ” he says.
More than 11,000 people died in the three worst-affected countries, but the disease continues to roil the DRC, where more than 2,200 have died so far.
One of the keys to beating an epidemic has little to do with a country’ s wealth or infrastructure. The most effective vaccines and public-health programmes are useless if a population does not trust those trying to fight the disease.
Sources of misinformation have proliferated. “ Ebola literally set Twitter records in terms of the number of posts about it, ” says Quick. “ And when we looked at what was on there, a lot of it was false stuff, and people were more likely to believe downright fictions on social media than they were official sources. ”
Stigma is another deadly accelerant for any outbreak. “ The worst thing for an epidemic is for it to start in what are considered the ‘ social evils’, ” says Quick, who worked extensively on the Aids epidemic, which has killed an estimated 32 million people since the virus was identified in the 1980s.
He recalls the resistance among conservatives in the US to public-health measures such a needle exchanges, and within the gay community, the reluctance to share lists of people they had had sexual contact with for the purposes of tracing the disease’ s spread.
“ They were so distrustful, with good reason, that they wouldn’ t participate, ” Quick says. “ The number-one thing is not to politicise the disease. ”
Leaders in the fight against the 2014 Ebola outbreak turned to anthropologists to explain that burial practices, including ritually washing the dead, were helpingto spread the virus. They recommended small changes that reduced hostility between health workers and communities.
“ The first wave of human remains were dealt with through cremation, which is not how people in those areas bury their dead, ” says Arabasadi. “ It was also discovered that if the treatment facilities had windows, or a fence where your family could visit you and give you food, that impacted where people would go. ”
Advances in machine learning are honing the science of predicting future outbreaks. “ Our goal is to have the real-time ability to look at human traits, ecological traits and those of animals that are reservoirs for these diseases, and be able to say: we think there is going to be an Ebola outbreak, in the eastern Congo, in the next six-to-eight months, ” says Ginsberg. “ That’ s the dream. ”
But technology will not eradicate diseases. The best that can be done is to strengthen local health systems to contain them as close to the source as possible, Arabasadi says. “ It is very hard to get people to fund preparedness because the measure of success is a non-event, and that’ s hard to get excited about, ” she says. “ But investments in health systems will have a huge rate of return, including on things that aren’ t outbreak-related, like better maternal care and less infant mortality. ” | general |
Plague Inc. creator reminds us games have limits on what they can teach us | Join gaming leaders, alongside GamesBeat and Facebook Gaming, for their 2nd Annual GamesBeat & Facebook Gaming Summit | GamesBeat: Into the Metaverse 2 this upcoming January 25-27, 2022. Learn more about the event.
Plague Inc. creator Ndemic Creations announced on Friday that players should remember that their game isn’ t a scientific model for how to deal with the coronavirus that broke out in Wuhan, China.
For me, this is a reminder that there are things you can learn from video games, but there are limits to this as well.
The idea behind this 2012 simulation game is to show what a worldwide pandemic would be like, but the company became concerned about the influx it saw last week as it became the top-selling app in China. The coronavirus has killed more than 80 people so far.
The developer recommended that people who are inundating the company’ s website and spiking interest in the game should check out official sources like the World Health Organization. The Centers for Disease Control answered a Q & A about Plague Inc. in 2013. The site for the game is functioning again.
The 2nd Annual GamesBeat and Facebook Gaming Summit and GamesBeat: Into the Metaverse 2
January 25 – 27, 2022
“ Plague Inc. has been out for eight years now, and whenever there is an outbreak of disease, we see an increase in players, as people seek to find out more about how diseases spread and to understand the complexities of viral outbreaks, ” the studio said in a post.
But the company said that while the game is realistic, it isn’ t a scientific model of how the current coronavirus would unfold.
In other news, the coronavirus in China has forced the closure of League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive esports events in the region.
The League of Legends Pro League ( LPL) has postponed the second week events of its 2020 season until it can ensure the safety and health of players and fans. And the WESG esports event for CS: GO was also put on hold.
Games can teach us things, especially high-level concepts. The Climate Trail by William Volk is like the educational game The Oregon Trail, but its focus is on the disasters that could happen if the Earth’ s climate warmed by 5 degrees Celsius. I played through the game recently, and it teaches a realistic view of whether people could survive a migration to colder climates like Canada. But for more information, it refers to a World Bank document.
There are definite general benefits of playing video games. The engagement you get from games is also a reason that gamification has also taken off in the corporate world, whether it’ s for training or education about harassment policies. Historical games like the Total War series are great at teaching history, but they may also veer away from history in the name of fun.
Games that are designed from the beginning to teach have a better chance of being more educational, but they also run the risk of boring players. Hopelab showed it could teach kids about cancer with its game Re-Mission ( 2006) and Re-Mission 2 ( 2013), but it appeals to the concentrated audience of people dealing with cancer.
I recall that I learned more about how taxes work from SimCity, when I played the city-building game decades ago. I could raise taxes so much, but at some point, my citizens started leaving the city to go to neighboring cities that had lower taxes.
In a statement, the studio said:
The Coronavirus outbreak in China is deeply concerning and we’ ve received a lot of questions from players and the media.
Plague Inc. has been out for eight years now and whenever there is an outbreak of disease we see an increase in players, as people seek to find out more about how diseases spread and to understand the complexities of viral outbreaks.
We specifically designed the game to be realistic and informative, while not sensationalising serious real-world issues. This has been recognised by the CDC and other leading medical organisations around the world.
However, please remember that Plague Inc. is a game, not a scientific model and that the current coronavirus outbreak is a very real situation which is impacting a huge number of people. We would always recommend that players get their information directly from local and global health authorities.
You can find out more about the CDC and Plague Inc. here.
You can find out more information about Coronavirus here. | tech |
Salmon prices drop in coronavirus slump – Fish Farmer Magazine | For all the latest industry news, markets and jobs in aquaculture
SALMON prices fell back sharply in Norway at the weekend with the coronavirus outbreak in China largely to blame.
China is a major and expanding market for Norwegian frozen salmon but with the city of Wuhan, population 11 million, where the virus first hit, in virtual lockdown and travel severely restricted in many other cities and regions, demand for seafood has slumped.
With no sign of a let up in the disease, there are already more than 8,000 confirmed or suspected cases and at least 80 deaths in China.
It is only three weeks ago that salmon prices in both Norway and Scotland soared to record levels on the back of strong global demand and a wave of optimism within the industry.
At one point, fresh large salmon was selling at well over NOK 80 a kilo. At the weekend, five to six kilo salmon had dropped to below NOK 70, a figure not seen since early November.
Analysts say the situation in China has quickly had a dampening effect on demand and, consequently, on prices.
But they believe some of the decline may also be down to a simple counter reaction to the recent high levels, normally not experienced after the immediate peak Christmas demand period.
The reversal also had a dampening effect on the Oslo Stock Exchange seafood index this morning. | general |
Alberta Tightens Quake Monitoring, Response Protocols for Oil, Gas Operators | Sign in to get the best natural gas news and data. Follow the topics you want and receive the daily emails.
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Shale Daily | E & P | NGI All News Access | Regulatory
Confirmation that horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing ( fracking) caused three central Alberta earthquakes since 2014 has resulted in tightened safety controls on industry operations.
In December the Alberta Energy Regulator ( AER) adopted a policing regime known as the “ mandatory traffic light protocol ” for fracking in the Red Deer region between Calgary and Edmonton.
The rules specify industry “ must implement seismic monitoring and response procedures to manage the hazard of induced seismicity before, during, and after any hydraulic fracturing activity, ” said the AER.
The regulatory signal light stays green if the ground stays calm. Magnitude one to three tremors turn the light yellow, must be reported and trigger hazard mitigation. Stronger shaking turns the light red, halting wells until the AER is satisfied with safety measures.
The new central Alberta safety policing also prohibits fracking in the prime shale and tight gas target, the Duvernay formation, within 5 kilometers ( 3 miles) of the flood control Dickson Dam north of Calgary.
Adoption of the fracking safety regime in central Alberta followed completion of a regional field incident review by the AER’ s earth-sciences arm, the Alberta Geological Survey ( AGS). The fracking traffic-light policing regime was originally devised in response to earthquakes north of Edmonton.
The AGS review identified fracking as the culprit behind Red Deer region earthquakes of magnitude 2.59 in 2014, 3.13 in 2018 and 4.18 in 2019. Area residents felt the 2018 tremor and complained of damage, but no injuries, after the 2019 shaking.
The AGS continues to work on refining methods of identifying underground conditions that make fracking sites high earthquake risks. Industry is contributing information from tremor detection required by AER regulations.
The scientific detective work is a geological version of finding needles in haystacks. An earth sciences review has found that earthquakes could be blamed on fracking at only 39, or 0.3%, of 12,289 wells where the shale gas technique has been used in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin.
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Natural gas futures faltered again Tuesday despite a huge day/day decline in production. The losses reflected changes in the latest weather outlook, which had been colder over the weekend but then warmed in the last couple of runs. The January Nymex gas futures contract fell 4.7 cents to $ 3.747/MMBtu. Spot gas prices, meanwhile, came crashing…
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China repurposes AbbVie HIV drug as Big Pharma rallies to combat deadly coronavirus | To battle the coronavirus emergency, Chinese government and medical experts are taking some unconventional measures, including publicly backing off-label use of a Big Pharma drug.
AbbVie’ s fixed-dose HIV drug Kaletra—also known as Aluvia, is now recommended as a treatment for pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus known as 2019-nCoV, China’ s National Health Commission says in its updated clinical guidance.
In response, the Illinois pharma is donating CNY 10 million ( about $ 1.5 million) worth of the drug to help contain the virus, its China branch
The story of CMIC’ s rise from being a startup in a one-room apartment to a multinational leader is defined by an ability and readiness to foresee the changing needs of biopharma companies and adapt accordingly. With pipelines primed to continue evolving in the coming years, that adaptable approach is now more important than ever.
Kaletra’ s two antiretroviral components, lopinavir and ritonavir, are protease inhibitors designed to block HIV viral replication. One hypothesis holds that the drugs could do the same with 2019-nCoV, which is believed to have originated from the Chinese city of Wuhan. Although not approved to treat any coronavirus anywhere, it has shown efficacy in at least one case in the current outbreak in China.
Wang Guangfa, the leader of Peking University First Hospital’ s pulmonary and critical care medicine department, contracted the virus as a member of a national expert team dispatched to Wuhan. Kaletra killed his disease, Wang told state-run China News Service in a
It’ s worth noting that this isn’ t the first time Kaletra has worked against a coronavirus. In a historical control
study, which describes the clinical features of the first 41 patients infected with 2019-nCoV. | tech |
US briefing: remembering Kobe Bryant, Grammys and John Bolton's book | Good morning, I’ m Tim Walker with today’ s essential stories.
Basketball players and fans, figures from sports, entertainment and politics are in mourning following the death in a helicopter crash of Kobe Bryant, the 41-year-old NBA legend described by Magic Johnson as the “ greatest Laker of all time ”. Eight others died in the accident on Sunday, including Bryant’ s 13-year-old daughter Gianna, herself a promising basketball talent. Bryant, writes Gabriel Baumgaertner, was “ a titanic figure who inspired a generation ”.
Complicated legacy. Bryant’ s remarkable legacy was complicated by his 2003 arrest over accusations he had raped a teenager at a hotel in Colorado. The criminal case was later dropped; Bryant settled a civil suit with his accuser out of court.
Eighteen-year-old Billie Eilish was the biggest winner at Sunday night’ s Grammys, taking home five awards including best new artist, album of the year and song of the year for Bad Guy. But the ceremony, held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles – Bryant’ s sporting home – was a more somber affair than usual, marked by tributes to the late Lakers star and to the rapper Nipsey Hussle, who was shot dead in LA last April. Here’ s the full list of winners.
Academy row. This year’ s Grammys were already mired in controversy over the recent suspension of Recording Academy’ s president, Deborah Dugan, following misconduct allegations, which she countered with her own legal complaint.
Donald Trump’ s former national security adviser John Bolton reportedly claims in a new book that the president told him directly of his plan to delay military aid to the Ukraine until its government announced an investigation into his political rival, Joe Biden. A draft of the explosive book manuscript was obtained by the New York Times, and its revelations likely explain why the White House is so intent on preventing Bolton from testifying at the impeachment trial. Trump denies the claim.
‘ Get rid of her!’ The reports of Bolton’ s book came hours after a video was released to the media, apparently showing Trump demanding the dismissal of the then-US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, at a dinner in April 2018.
Impeachment trial. One of the lead prosecutors at Trump’ s Senate trial has “ the country’ s fate is hanging ” on its outcome, as the president’ s defence team prepare to make their main arguments on Monday.
The World Health Organization is meeting officials in Beijing on Monday to discuss its response to the coronavirus outbreak, after the death toll from the disease rose to 80. More than 400 people are in a critical condition in China after being struck down by the virus, which experts warned may already have infected more than 100,000 people worldwide. Two cases were confirmed in California and Arizona on Sunday, bringing the total in the US to five.
Simple precautions. The WHO has offered some basic advice on how to protect yourself from the coronavirus, for which there is no specific cure or vaccine.
More than 200 Auschwitz survivors are gathering at the former Nazi death camp in Poland on Monday, perhaps for the last time, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of its liberation.
Despite Pete Buttigieg’ s efforts to distance himself from McKinsey, the consulting firm where he worked early in his career, 40 McKinsey employees – including top executives – are among the South Bend mayor’ s presidential campaign donors.
Rockets struck the US embassy in Baghdad on Sunday, wounding at least one person in the first direct hit following months of similar attacks on American targets in Iraq, which Washington has blamed on Iran-backed military factions.
Kim Jong-un’ s aunt, Kim Kyong-hui, has appeared in public in North Korea for the first time in more than six years – finally quashing persistent rumours that she had been purged or executed by her nephew’ s regime.
David Schwimmer: ‘ I don’ t want to do anything for the money’
As he prepares to launch a new sitcom, David Schwimmer tells David Smith he has come to terms with the idea that he’ ll always be best known as Ross from Friends. “ The older I get and the more my perspective shifts, ” he says, “ the more you realise just how good you had it. ”
Why US maternity policy stretches women to the limit
The US is one of the only developed countries in the world that offers new mothers not a single day of national paid maternity leave. Miranda Bryant talks to the women who “ risked their lives ” by returning to work just two weeks after their children were born.
Should architects work for repressive regimes?
Despots have always used grand building projects to glorify their ideologies. As the progressive architect Bjarke Ingels pursues projects in Saudi Arabia and Bolsonaro’ s Brazil, Oliver Wainwright asks him whether he ought to be taking such controversial commissions.
Bolivian Christians claim credit for ousting Morales
Bolivia’ s fast-growing religious right has claimed the removal of the socialist leader Evo Morales was a result of divine intervention. But others are concerned that Bolivia’ s status as a secular state is under threat, as Tom Phillips reports from El Alto.
The son of German Jews, Jason Stanley grew up in the shadow of Auschwitz. But as the world marks the 75th anniversary of its liberation, his parents’ experience shows that the horrors of the Holocaust did not begin and end in the death camp.
My parents’ scars come from an early fear of having to hide, of having the wrong papers. They remember how they were described in the press and by the leaders – as criminals, as fundamental threats, as non-humans. They remember the rough treatment from official bureaucracies. They remember the family separations.
John McEnroe has described Margaret Court as the “ crazy aunt ” of tennis over her controversial views on homosexuality and race. In a video posted to Twitter, McEnroe begged Serena Williams to win two more grand slams and break Court’ s all-time record of 24, as the Australian marks 50 years since her calendar grand slam.
Liverpool, the apparently invincible Premier League leaders, were humbled on Sunday evening after drawing 2-2 in the FA Cup fourth round against a little-fancied League One side, Shrewsbury Town.
The US morning briefing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you’ re not already signed up, subscribe now. | general |
Virus Scare Weighs on Oil ETFs: Go Short for the Near Term | China’ s SARS-like coronavirus outbreak threatened the commodity market apart from the stock market. Among many commodities, oil was impacted massively. Brent suffered its steepest weekly drop in more than a year on concerns of the virus spreading through Asia.
Authorities in China reported about 140 new cases of coronavirus last week, according to Reuters. By Jan 26, the death toll was 80 among 2744 cases. What’ s more, there were 17 cases confirmed in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. Rest of Asia, Europe, North America and Australia have confirmed cases of 26, 3, 6 and 4, respectively ( read: Sector ETFs & Stocks to Gain/Lose on Coronavirus Outbreak).
China’ s Wuhan area was the epicenter of the disease, which is now spreading fast to other parts of the country, forcing China to enact coronavirus lockdown to more cities, limiting movement to an unprecedented 56 million people.
How is Oil Impacted?
China is the world's second-largest oil consumer. Needless to say, the virus outbreak has lowered travel demand and shaken the oil market. Traveling is affected on the global level too as in evident from the drop in jet and diesel fuel demand.
Investors should note that the SARS outbreak in 2003 was estimated to have hurt 30% of travel and tourism employment in affected areas like China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan Province and Vietnam, per UN. Australia, Fiji, Indonesia, Kiribati, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines and Thailand were estimated to have lost about 15% of the travel employment. The impact on the rest of the world was an average 5%. This explains the impact of such outbreaks on travel demand.
JPM Commodities Research now expects “ a price shock of up to $ 5 ( a barrel) if the crisis develops into a SARS-style epidemic. ” The bank retrained its forecast for Brent to average $ 67 in the first quarter and $ 64.50 throughout 2020.
Moreover, Middle-East tensions at the start of the year have probably made oil prices slightly elevated. Hedge funds positioning has been more bullish in recent times, per a Reuters market analyst. As a result, the eruption of Coronavirus has hurt the space all the more.
Investors should note that WTI crude ETF United States Oil Fund LP USO lost about 2% on Jan 24 and was off 6.6% last week. Brent crude ETF United States Brent Oil Fund LP BNO shed more than 19% on Jan 24 and retreated 5.9% in the past week.
Inside the Performance of Bull & Bear Oil ETFs
Against this backdrop, we highlight the price performance of the Oil ETFs last week.
Invesco DB Oil Fund DBO ( down 7.4%), iPath Series B S & P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return Index ETN OIL ( down 7.4%), ETRACS S & P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return Index ETN OILX ( down 7.3%), iPath Pure Beta Crude Oil ETN OLEM ( down 6.8%) and United States 12 Month Oil Fund USL ( down 6.5%) were among the prominent losers of the past week ( read: What Do Q4 Earnings Say About Oil Service ETFs?).
Meanwhile, VelocityShares 3x Inverse Crude Oil ETN DWT ( up 24.8%), ProShares Daily 3x Inverse Crude ETN WTID ( up 24.5%), ProShares UltraPro 3x Short Crude Oil ETF OILD ( up 24.4%), ProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Crude Oil SCO ( up 15.8%) and DB Crude Oil Double Short ETN DTO ( up 12.9%) were among the notable gainers.
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Click to get this free report United States Brent Oil ETF ( BNO): ETF Research Reports Invesco DB Oil ETF ( DBO): ETF Research Reports DB Crude Oil Double Short ETN ( DTO): ETF Research Reports ProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Crude Oil ( SCO): ETF Research Reports United States 12 Month Oil ETF ( USL): ETF Research Reports iPath Series B S & P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return Index ETN ( OIL): ETF Research Reports United States Oil ETF ( USO): ETF Research Reports UBS ETRACS S & P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return Index ETN ( OILX): ETF Research Reports ProShares UltraPro 3x Short Crude Oil ETF ( OILD): ETF Research Reports Velocityshares 3X Inverse Crude Oil Etn ( DWT): ETF Research Reports UBS ETRACS - ProShares Daily 3x Inverse Crude ETN ( WTID): ETF Research Reports iPath Pure Beta Crude Oil ETN ( OLEM): ETF Research Reports To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report | business |
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