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Hong Kong Stocks Slump, Catching Up to Coronavirus Fears | By Steven Russolillo
Hong Kong-listed stocks dropped sharply on their first trading day after the Lunar New Year break, as investors assessed the spreading Wuhan coronavirus and its impact on global growth.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index dropped 2.5% Wednesday morning, catching up to a slide in global markets that took place earlier in the week. Markets in mainland China remain closed for the Lunar New Year holiday; they are scheduled to reopen next week.
The declines come as the number of confirmed cases and fatalities from the pneumonia-causing coronavirus continue to rise, with the death total climbing to at least 132 and confirmed infections rising to around 6,000.
The Hong Kong government unveiled measures on Tuesday to limit travel to and from mainland China to try to contain the outbreak, though it stopped short of completely shutting the border. So far, there have been eight confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Hong Kong.
The main concern among global investors is that the virus could turn into a pandemic that cripples transportation, shopping, business meetings and weighs on economic growth. Luxury retailers, travel companies and casino stocks have been among the hardest hit shares in recent weeks.
On Wednesday, shares of Macau resort and casino operators Sands China Ltd. and Galaxy Entertainment Group dropped more than 5%, while Chinese property developers China Evergrande Group and Sunac China Holdings Ltd. were down more than 4%.
Meanwhile, stock indexes in South Korea, Australia and Japan rose Wednesday. The gains came after U.S. stocks rebounded on Tuesday, with the S & P 500 rising 1% after suffering its steepest loss since October on Monday. The yuan strengthened slightly in offshore trading to 6.9541 per U.S. dollar.
Seema Shah, chief strategist at Principal Global Investors, said part of the concern weighing on markets is the speed at which information travels today. The global spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, in 2003, by comparison, took place before the dawn of social media.
`` The echo chamber to amplify market anxiety has never been more powerful, `` she said.
Write to Steven Russolillo at steven.russolillo @ wsj.com
| business |
ZTE helps deploy telecommunications networks in Dabie Mountain Medical Center | Coping with the outbreak of new coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan.
ZTE Corporation ( 0763.HK/000063, SZ), a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the Mobile Internet, today announced that it has assisted China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom and China Tower deploy telecommunications networks, including 5G networks, in Dabie Mountain Medical Center in Huanggang, to cope with the outbreak of new coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan.
On January 25, ZTE's technical personnel performed on-site investigation and developed a solution. On January 26, ZTE retrieved devices from operator warehouses and local ZTE warehouse. Some devices were in short supply and sent from ZTE headquarters in Shenzhen. ZTE actively coordinated with the local government to apply for a pass for goods transfer from Wuhan. All the devices arrived at the operators ' offices in Huanggang before 24: 00 on January 26. The devices were commissioned on January 27 and put into use together with the hospital.
ZTE assisted operators in commissioning wireless macro-station equipment, wireless indoor coverage equipment, and IPTV networks, and achieved good cell phone signal coverage and TV signal transmission in the building, thereby fully meeting the requirements of medical staff for communication, video transmission, and radio and TV broadcasting.
The Huanggang Municipal Government of Hubei Province has decided to transform the unfinished Dabie Mountain Medical Center into a hospital and set up more than 1,000 beds to treat fever patients in a centralized manner. The hospital will be built within 48 hours and put into use on January 27.
Huanggang City is adjacent to Wuhan, but its medical conditions and resources are far inferior to that of Wuhan. The epidemic control situation in Huanggang is very serious. Moreover, the medical center is in a remote location. To ensure smooth information transmission, the telecommunication networks need to be built immediately.
ZTE will continue to pay close attention to the epidemic situation, respond to the temporary construction requirements of communications networks in various places in real time, and make every effort in the production, distribution, construction, and commissioning, to ensure smooth communication in responsible areas and help contain the new coronavirus pneumonia as soon as possible.
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 information technology 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 percent of its annual revenues to research and development and takes leadership roles in international standard-setting organizations.
( C) 2020 Electronic News Publishing, source ENP Newswire | business |
Southeast Asia stocks fall on fears of coronavirus impact, Singapore suffers most | The death toll from the virus in China rose to 106 from 81, a day earlier and cases of the virus were confirmed across 10 countries.
Risk sentiment was dampened by the virus ' rapid progress even as China ramped up preventive measures, imposed travel restrictions and stretched out the Lunar New Year holidays to contain the spread of the virus.
The massive jump in outbound Chinese tourists since 2002, the fact that the coronavirus is infectious during incubation and its unknown origins are the most worrisome factors, said Vishnu Varathan, senior economist at Mizuho Bank, in a note.
Singapore stocks pared early losses to close about 1.8% lower, with lender DBS Group Holdings shedding more than 1.3% and conglomerate Jardine Matheson Holdings JARD.SI down about 1.9%.
Flag-carrier Singapore Airlines dropped 2.9% to close at its lowest since April 2003.
Earlier in the session, shares of the travel and tourism hub fell to an over 8-month low after trade minister Chan Chun Sing said the government expects an impact on its economy.
Singapore, which is heavily reliant on Chinese nationals for tourism, recorded its lowest growth rate in a decade last year.
Malaysian shares closed 1.4% lower to register their sixth straight session of losses. Tourist-dependent Malaysia Airports Holdings slipped steeply, falling 6.7% to its lowest close since February 2017.
Top Glove Corp, the world's largest manufacturer of gloves, added nearly 8.3% to end at its highest in over a year, as the company continued to benefit from hopes of a rise in demand for rubber gloves due to the virus outbreak.
Hartalega Holdings, a nitrile glove maker, rose 3.7%, while hospital owner IHH Healthcare IHHH.KL climbed 1.7%.
Philippine shares closed over 1.5% lower, with financials weighing heavily on the index.
Thai markets edged down to clock their seventh consecutive session of losses. However, the fall was relatively small as the bourse had shed nearly 3% in the previous session, when most markets were shut for the Lunar New Year holiday.
By Arpit Nayak | business |
Experts say China virus outbreak will last months at least | Hi, what are you looking for?
By
Published
The deadly new coronavirus that has broken out in China, 2019-nCoV, will afflict a minimum of tens of thousands of people and will last at least several months, researchers estimate based on the first available data.
`` The best case scenario, you would have something... where we go through the spring into the summer, and then it dies down, '' David Fisman, a professor at the University of Toronto who wrote an analysis of the virus for the International Society for Infectious Diseases, told AFP.
`` It's not something that's going to end the next week or the next month, '' said Alessandro Vespignani, a professor at Northeastern University. He is part of a group of researchers that manages an online dashboard about the outbreak.
Epidemiologists have no crystal ball. They have only piecemeal information on the new virus, which appeared in December. They use mathematical models to estimate the actual number of cases, as of the current date, and compare them to past outbreaks -- but many of their hypotheses remain uncertain.
Until the past weekend, researchers thought that infected people were not contagious until they began exhibiting symptoms, such as fever, respiratory problems, and pneumonia. But Chinese authorities said Sunday they had established the opposite.
US health authorities said Monday they had not seen evidence that asymptomatic patients can infect other people. But if they can, this would definitely change the outbreak's dynamics.
The first estimates for the length of the incubation period -- about two weeks -- are recent.
- Patience -
In recent days, multiple experts have calculated an important parameter for any outbreak: the basic reproduction number, or `` R0. '' It represents the number of people contaminated by an infected person. Estimates range from 1.4 to 3.8, according to Fisman, figures that are considered moderate.
That is only an average: some patients may infect many people, while others infect only a few. `` On its own, it isn't a reason to panic, '' said Maimuna Majumder, a researcher at Harvard University and at Boston Children's Hospital.
She said the rate is 1.3 for seasonal flu ( which has millions of cases per year) and between two and five for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ( SARS), which resulted in 8,000 cases and 774 deaths, the majority in mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003. In comparison, the rate for measles ranges from 12 to 18.
Quarantines and isolation measures, systematic hand washing and masks could help drive down the average number of infected people. If the rate falls below one, the epidemic will die down.
But the effect of the control measures China has implemented won't be felt for another week or two, researchers say, based on the virus's cycle.
`` The more we learn about it, the more it looks like SARS, '' said Fisman. `` SARS was controllable; hopefully this will be too. But we won't know for a few weeks. ''
`` It's going to be many weeks, probably months, and nobody knows where this will go, '' he added.
The official number of cases is more than 4,000 in China, with more than 100 deaths, and some 50 confirmed infections outside the country.
But the actual number of Chinese cases, including those not yet detected, is likely to be more than 25,000, said Vespignani, according to the analysis of the group coordinated by Northeastern.
And researchers at the University of Hong Kong ( HKU) estimate the number of actual cases has currently passed 40,000.
`` It's easy to get to twice or three times as much, even just in the city of Wuhan, '' the virus's epicenter, said Vespignani. `` If we start to have other larger areas affected, then those numbers are going to be much, much bigger. ''
He said he doesn't want to estimate the number of possible deaths. The mortality rate, until now, has hovered around three percent, but rates tend to fluctuate: they increase at the beginning as the most vulnerable patients die, then drop, and then rise again as others die.
Again, only time will tell.
The deadly new coronavirus that has broken out in China, 2019-nCoV, will afflict a minimum of tens of thousands of people and will last at least several months, researchers estimate based on the first available data.
“ The best case scenario, you would have something… where we go through the spring into the summer, and then it dies down, ” David Fisman, a professor at the University of Toronto who wrote an analysis of the virus for the International Society for Infectious Diseases, told AFP.
“ It’ s not something that’ s going to end the next week or the next month, ” said Alessandro Vespignani, a professor at Northeastern University. He is part of a group of researchers that manages an online dashboard about the outbreak.
Epidemiologists have no crystal ball. They have only piecemeal information on the new virus, which appeared in December. They use mathematical models to estimate the actual number of cases, as of the current date, and compare them to past outbreaks — but many of their hypotheses remain uncertain.
Until the past weekend, researchers thought that infected people were not contagious until they began exhibiting symptoms, such as fever, respiratory problems, and pneumonia. But Chinese authorities said Sunday they had established the opposite.
US health authorities said Monday they had not seen evidence that asymptomatic patients can infect other people. But if they can, this would definitely change the outbreak’ s dynamics.
The first estimates for the length of the incubation period — about two weeks — are recent.
– Patience –
In recent days, multiple experts have calculated an important parameter for any outbreak: the basic reproduction number, or “ R0. ” It represents the number of people contaminated by an infected person. Estimates range from 1.4 to 3.8, according to Fisman, figures that are considered moderate.
That is only an average: some patients may infect many people, while others infect only a few. “ On its own, it isn’ t a reason to panic, ” said Maimuna Majumder, a researcher at Harvard University and at Boston Children’ s Hospital.
She said the rate is 1.3 for seasonal flu ( which has millions of cases per year) and between two and five for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ( SARS), which resulted in 8,000 cases and 774 deaths, the majority in mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003. In comparison, the rate for measles ranges from 12 to 18.
Quarantines and isolation measures, systematic hand washing and masks could help drive down the average number of infected people. If the rate falls below one, the epidemic will die down.
But the effect of the control measures China has implemented won’ t be felt for another week or two, researchers say, based on the virus’ s cycle.
“ The more we learn about it, the more it looks like SARS, ” said Fisman. “ SARS was controllable; hopefully this will be too. But we won’ t know for a few weeks. ”
“ It’ s going to be many weeks, probably months, and nobody knows where this will go, ” he added.
The official number of cases is more than 4,000 in China, with more than 100 deaths, and some 50 confirmed infections outside the country.
But the actual number of Chinese cases, including those not yet detected, is likely to be more than 25,000, said Vespignani, according to the analysis of the group coordinated by Northeastern.
And researchers at the University of Hong Kong ( HKU) estimate the number of actual cases has currently passed 40,000.
“ It’ s easy to get to twice or three times as much, even just in the city of Wuhan, ” the virus’ s epicenter, said Vespignani. “ If we start to have other larger areas affected, then those numbers are going to be much, much bigger. ”
He said he doesn’ t want to estimate the number of possible deaths. The mortality rate, until now, has hovered around three percent, but rates tend to fluctuate: they increase at the beginning as the most vulnerable patients die, then drop, and then rise again as others die.
Again, only time will tell.
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.
China has so far refused to condemn its ally Russia’ s war, but Chinese painter Huang Rui is convinced that Ukraine has already won.
But as Russian bombs fell on Ukrainian cities, a shadow has fallen on Merkel's 16 years in office.
Russian forces inched towards Kyiv Saturday and pounded civilian areas in other Ukrainian cities.
Saudi Arabia on Saturday executed 81 people convicted of crimes ranging from killings to terrorism.
COPYRIGHT © 1998 - 2022 DIGITAL JOURNAL INC. Digital Journal is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more about our external linking. | general |
Australia scientists claim first re-creation of coronavirus outside China | - A team of scientists in Australia said on Wednesday they have successfully developed a lab-grown version of coronavirus, the first to be recreated outside of China, in a breakthrough that could help combat the global spread of the illness.
The researchers at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne said they would share the sample, which was grown from an infected patient, with the World Health Organization and laboratories around the world.
A laboratory in China had successfully grown the virus but had released only the genome sequence, not the sample itself, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported.
`` Having the real virus means we now have the ability to actually validate and verify all test methods, and compare their sensitivities and specificities, '' the Doherty Institute's virus indentification laboratory head, Julian Druce, said in a statement.
`` The virus will be used as positive control material for the Australian network of public health laboratories, and also shipped to expert laboratories working closely with the World Health Organization ( WHO) in Europe. ''
The flu-like virus broke out in the central Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of last year and has killed 106 people and infected more than 2,800 people. It spreads in droplets from coughs and sneezes and has an incubation period of up to 14 days.
The Australia-grown virus sample would be used to generate an antibody test, which would allow detection of the virus in patients who had not shown symptoms, as well as contributing to the creation of a vaccine, the institute said.
The virus was grown from a patient who had arrived at the institute on Jan. 24, it added.
The Peter Doherty Institute is a joint venture of the University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital. ( Reporting by Byron Kaye; editing by Jane Wardell) | business |
Daily briefing: Biotech magnate funds free drugs for ultra-rare diseases | Hello
Nature
readers, would you like to get this Briefing in your inbox free every day?
Sign up here
Making pathogens more dangerous can help researchers prepare for pandemics.
Credit: Anna Schroll/Fotogloria/UIG via Getty
United States debates transparency of risky disease experiments
An expert panel met in the United States last week to
debate whether there should be more transparency around federally funded ‘ gain-of-function’ studies
— when viruses in the lab are deliberately made more dangerous to help scientists hone their preparations for a real outbreak. Some say that working with potential pandemic pathogens necessitates more public disclosure than other research. Others argue that opening up the secretive review process to the wider community means “ there’ s a 100 percent chance nothing will get approved ”. The discussion is the latest chapter in a long-standing debate about the value of potentially dangerous biological research in the United States.
Nature | 5 min read
Free drugs for ultra-rare diseases
Biotechnology magnate Stan Crooke has launched
a foundation that will supply free RNA therapies to people with diseases that affect fewer than ten individuals
. The foundation, n-Lorum, aims to seize control of the process before for-profit companies decide to start “ targeting these families for millions of dollars ”, said Crooke. The organization will have to tackle how to bring down the cost of manufacturing such drugs and testing them for safety.
Nature Biotechnology
| 7 min read
Creationist to lead Brazil’ s higher education
Electrical engineer Benedito Guimarães Aguiar Neto, the former rector of a private religious university, has been tapped to
lead the agency that oversees Brazil’ s graduate study programmes
. Aguiar Neto advocates for intelligent design and has said that it should be introduced into Brazil’ s basic education curricula as “ a counterpoint to the theory of evolution ”.
Science | 4 min read
Wuhan coronavirus outbreak
A worker produces protective suits at a factory in Nantong in China’ s eastern Jiangsu province.
Credit: AFP/Getty
Coronavirus infections surge past 4,500
The number of
confirmed cases of coronavirus in China has jumped by more than 60% in the past two days and at least 100 people have died
, report health authorities in China. Confirmed cases outside China have reached at least 37, but no deaths have been reported outside the country. Germany, Japan and Vietnam have become the first countries outside China to report human-to-human transmission.
Researchers are struggling to accurately model the outbreak and predict how it might unfold, because the case-report data being released by the Chinese authorities are incomplete. “ What we need to identify is when people got sick, not when the cases were reported, and all we’ ve seen so far is when the cases were reported, ” says epidemiologist Raina MacIntyre.
One number that epidemiologists want to know is how many people one person with the virus tends to infect — known as R
0
, or R-naught. An R
0
of higher than 1 means that countermeasures such as quarantine will be needed to contain the pathogen’ s spread.
On Thursday evening, after a meeting of an emergency committee responding to the outbreak, the World Health Organization ( WHO) published an estimated R
0
of 1.4 to 2.5. Other teams have since come up with slightly higher values — but all the estimates come with large uncertainties.
Another important unanswered question surrounding the virus’ s spread is whether — and how extensively — people without symptoms can infect others.
Plenty of disinformation about the virus is spreading, too. Inoculate yourself with this
list of falsehoods and unverified information
.
Nature | 8 min read, continuously updated
&
Buzzfeed News | 4 min read
Features & opinion
Asimov at 100: A life of wonder
For Isaac Asimov, “ nurturing ingenuity and insight through exploration, learning and communication was an ethical imperative and crucial for human progress ”, writes digital ethicist David Leslie. It was an ethos that
Asimov promoted through 20 million printed words
. Discover Asimov’ s career as a chemist, science popularizer and legend of science-fiction’ s Golden Age.
Nature | 9 min read
Founding a company versus graduate school
Mental-health researcher Adam Chekroud founded a company with fellow students during the third year of his PhD. He discovered that
good science, shared responsibilities and quick results make industry a fulfilling path
— although you might miss ‘ nerding out’ with colleagues about the more esoteric topics in your field.
Nature | 6 min read
Drilling through the bottom of the world
Join the first large-scale scientific survey on the Thwaites glacier — an Antarctic ice sheet that already accounts for 4% of world sea level rise each year, and holds enough water to raise the level by more than half a metre. Lush photos and infographics explain
how an enormous joint UK-US project aims to drill through the ice with hot water — and why Thwaites is so important
in the first place.
BBC | 11 min read
Image of the week
Quote of the day
“ What was common sense in a world that once existed has become myth in the totally different world that now exists, and suicidal myth at that. ”
The relentless pursuit of technological advancement and growth no longer serves humanity or the planet, said science fiction legend Isaac Asimov in 1971. (
Nature
) | science |
Why the 'devil ' coronavirus has hit European stocks hard | The plunge on Monday saw European luxury goods makers, airlines and miners among the stocks hit hardest as the outbreak led to ramped-up travel bans, business shutdowns and extended Lunar New Year holidays.
Hundreds of millions of people have been preparing to travel for the Chinese holidays, stoking concerns infection rates may accelerate during the period - which is also a peak retail season in China and overseas.
The virus - which Chinese President Xi Jinping has described as a `` devil '' - has had a bigger impact on European companies than their U.S. peers due to their high revenue exposure to China.
Some analysts have drawn comparisons with SARS, a deadly virus in 2002-2003, but the read across is limited as China's share of global gross domestic product has quadrupled since then to 16%.
Investors have singled out the biggest names in Europe's fashion industry, including France's LVMH, Italy's Moncler and Britain's Burberry, as proxies for the coronavirus outbreak. Chinese consumers have become the sector's main growth engine over the past decade.
In a research note published on Tuesday, UBS analysts said a 30% drop in Chinese demand, their worst-case scenario, was likely to hit the sector's earnings by as much as 7% in 2020.
( Graphic: Luxury companies exposure to China - https: //fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/buzzifr/15/5647/5647/Pasted% 20Image.jpg)
Meanwhile, early data showed civil air travel in China dropped 41.6% on the first day of Lunar New Year due to travel curbs. In Europe, shares of long-haul operators Air France and Lufthansa were among the worst hit.
In the hospitality sector, Intercontinental Hotels Group and Accor were also beaten down.
( Graphic: Airlines and hotels hit hard as Coronavirus spreads fast - https: //fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/buzzifr/15/5648/5648/Pasted% 20Image.jpg)
Topping it all, the non-consumer facing mining sector was the hardest hit in Europe, falling 7% on concerns that the coronavirus will cut China's gigantic appetite for commodities.
The graphic below shows how Europe's miners have among the biggest revenue exposures to China.
( Graphic: Mining exposure to China - https: //fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/13/1547/1522/Mining% 20exposure% 20to% 20China.png)
( Reporting by Julien Ponthus, Thyagaraju Adinarayan, Joice Alves and Danilo Masoni; Editing by Pravin Char) | business |
UK shares recover after sell-off on coronavirus fears | After suffering its worst day since early October 2019, the FTSE 100 added 0.9%. The FTSE 250 rebounded from its biggest one-day fall in more than a year to gain 0.6%.
An index of leisure and airline stocks <.FTNMX5750 > clawed back some losses from its worst day in more than three-and-a-half years to rise 1.4%. InterContinental Hotels gained 3.1%.
`` The fact Hong Kong has slashed border travel with China could be read as a step in the right direction in regards to containing the illness, '' Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said.
Midcap Irn-Bru maker A.G. Barr soared 15.4% on its best day since October 2005 after it forecast annual profit to be at the top end of the current market view.
Crest Nicholson rallied 7% to its highest since May 2018 and spurred on its peers after saying British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's victory in the general election would support the sector in the near term.
Shares in Unilever, AstraZeneca and Reckitt Benckiser all climbed 2% as sterling dipped on concerns about Britain's future relationship with the European Union, and ahead of a Bank of England meeting this week. [ GBP/ ]
BUYING THE DIPS
Financial markets have been battered in recent sessions as the death toll from the virus known as `` 2019-nCoV '' mounted, leaving China scrambling to impose a string of measures to contain its spread.
Britain's blue-chip index has lost nearly 1% this month, while the midcaps have shed over 2%.
Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson suggested the recent slide in stock markets made for a more attractive entry point into equities for some investors.
`` Buying the dips is alive and well - I would anticipate dips to be buying opportunities for many in the market, '' he said.
However, Wilson remained sceptical of the market's ability to sustain the gains due to limited visibility of the situation in China and its potential impact.
Among smaller stocks, tourism and insurance firm Saga advanced 7.6% after saying it was on track to meet its annual profit outlook, despite a one-off charge related to the collapse of Thomas Cook last year.
By Shashwat Awasthi | business |
Coronavirus infects Asia stocks with exposure to China | After the United States and Canada warned against travel to China, Australian stocks resumed trading sharply lower after a public holiday. The benchmark S & P/ASX 200 index fell 1.4% weighed by stocks exposed to the illness that has killed more than 100 people and infected more than 2,700.
Shares of airlines and travel agents were sharply lower amid freezes on travel into and out of the world's second largest economy, while companies with an indirect exposure to Chinese consumer spending abroad, such as casinos and luxury retailers, also tumbled.
`` We don't know how long it will go, '' said Peter Costello, chairman of Australia's $ 115 billion sovereign wealth fund, the Future Fund, in a media briefing to coincide with a regular portfolio update.
`` Obviously we hope that the measures that have been taken now will contain the virus but it's still far too early. It will have an obvious negative effect on the Australian economy and indeed beyond, '' added Costello, a former Australian treasurer.
With Chinese markets closed for the week-long new year holiday, other stock markets in Asia were feeling an outsized impact of investor concerns.
South Korean cosmetic makers highly dependent on Chinese tourists coming to Seoul stumbled, with Tonymoly and Able C & C losing more than 12% and 15% respectively on Tuesday.
Japanese travel company H.I.S., which owns an amusement park popular with Chinese tourists in Nagasaki, has tumbled more than 14% since early last week.
Shares of Australia's biggest airline Qantas Airways Ltd were down 5% on Tuesday, while travel agent Webjet Ltd fell 11%. South Korea's top two airlines, Korean Air Lines and Asiana Airlines, dropped 6% and 5%. Japan Airlines lost 7.9% and airline ANA Holdings was down 6.0%.
Australia's top two casino companies Crown Resorts Ltd and Star Entertainment Group ltd, which both get a sizeable portion of revenue from vacationing Chinese gamblers, each fell about 5%.
Traders meanwhile pointed to companies which might generate sales from efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus as investment prospects.
The Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association ( MARGMA) said on Tuesday China had requested more urgent shipments from the world's top producer, and its members were ramping up production. Top Glove Corp has seen its shares surge by a quarter in a week.
`` MARGMA believes that demand for gloves will inevitably shoot up and has urged its members to give priority to those affected areas and countries, '' association president Denis Low said in a statement.
Shares of South Korean mask producer Monalisa surged 29%, while South Korean pharmaceuticals Kukje Pharma and Woojung Bio added 29% and 21% respectively on Tuesday.
Japan's Kawamoto Corp, which supplies medical products including masks, saw its share prices triple, while Japanese protective clothing maker Azearth rose 53% in the past week.
( Reporting by Byron Kaye and Paulina Duran in Sydney; additional reporting by Hayoung Choi in Seoul and Hideyuki Sano in Tokyo; Editing by Lincoln Feast.) | business |
Macau Casino Shares Plunge as Coronavirus Deters Gamblers | By Yi Wei Wong
Shares of Hong Kong-listed Macau casino operators dived on Wednesday as the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus hits tourism to the Chinese gambling enclave.
In early morning trade, Sands China fell 5.7% and Galaxy Entertainment Group shed 5.3%. MGM China is down 5.4% and Melco International Development shed 4.6%. SJM Holding fell 3.8%.
The Chinese government has temporarily halted a scheme that was introduced in 2003 to boost tourism to both Hong Kong and Macau following the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, another coronavirus. The individual visit program accounts for around 47% of Macau's visitors.
In recent days, Macau has barred visitors from Hubei province, where the new coronavirus originated, and banned package tours from China to stem the spread of the virus.
JP Morgan said in a research note that without the package tours, the only option for mainland travellers is to make use of transit, business or family visas, which can be more difficult to obtain.
The investment bank said Macau casino stocks have corrected by 13% in the past week, and that daily visitor numbers to the gaming destination have more than halved since the second day of the Chinese New Year holiday period.
Write to Yi Wei Wong at yiwei.wong @ wsj.com
| business |
No hot meals, blankets, magazines as airlines step up fight on virus | Passengers on some flights to China will have to make do without hot meals, blankets and newspapers, as airlines step up measures to protect crew and travelers from a new virus that has killed more than 130 in the country.
Seeking to contain the spread of the coronavirus by reducing personal contact, Taiwan’ s China Airlines said it was encouraging passengers to bring their own drinks bottles and would limit re-usable items by replacing them with disposables.
The airline and its regional arm Mandarin Airlines stopped from Monday serving hot meals and have replaced tablecloths and napkins with paper towels on cross-strait and Hong Kong flights.
They have also stopped providing blankets, pillows, towels, magazines and newspapers, while drinks and disposable headphones are supplied only on request.
“ The seat back pocket will only contain the aircraft safety card and sick bag, ” said Tigerair Taiwan, also a member of China Airlines group, adding duty-free sales were also not available.
Hong Kong’ s Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd said on Wednesday amenities such as hot towels, blankets and magazines would not be offered on flights to and from mainland China from Thursday until further notice.
Thai Airways is spray-disinfecting the passenger cabin and cockpit on all flights returning from China and high-risk destinations.
“ Because we have in-flight entertainment which mean the LCD screens are being touched all the time, so we deep cleanse every flight before departure, ” an executive told a news conference on Tuesday.
Its video showing staff in hazmat suits spraying down a cabin drew praise on social media for the flag carrier’ s efforts, although some were alarmed by it.
“ Where are all the passengers on board? I think all the passengers are supposed to be kept and be monitored for one week, ” social media user John Honesty posted on Facebook.
“ I suggest to stop all flight from China for at list 30 to 60 days. That will not kill the economy. The life of the public is more important now than the so called economy. ”
Thailand, the top destination for China’ s holidaymakers, had 11 million Chinese visitors last year. But with 14 coronavirus cases, it is the second-worst hit country outside of China.
Other airlines including Singapore Airlines are allowing crew to wear masks on China flights, while American Airlines provides hand sanitizer wipes for flight attendants to use on all departures to China.
Some are taking even more drastic measures with flight cancellations.
British Airways and Indonesia’ s Lion Air said on Wednesday they would suspend all direct flights to China. India’ s IndiGo is also suspending flights to Chengdu and Hong Kong.
The announcements follow a decision by United Airlines Holdings Inc on Tuesday to suspend 24 U.S. flights to Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai due to a sharp drop in demand.
Writing by Aradhana Aravindan in Singapore; Additional reporting by Jamie Freed in Sydney; Editing by Miyoung Kim, Michael Perry and Mark Potter | business |
As coronavirus spreads, so too does online misinformation | The rise in false or misleading online posts about the virus, which has infected thousands of people primarily in mainland China, could once again test the ability of social media companies to handle viral misinformation on their platforms.
Maarten Schenk from Lead Stories, a fact-checking organization that works with Facebook, said his team has observed the sharing of conspiracy theories on multiple social platforms about the origins of the virus.
`` It always has to be something sinister, '' Schenk said of the conspiracy theorists ' misinformation, which includes false claims that the virus was the creation of a government.
Some people, Schenk said, are `` not trusting the narrative about the numbers of deaths and infections. '' He noted there are people citing `` secret military sources, '' who almost certainly do not exist, claiming that tens of thousands of people have died as a result of the virus, far in excess of current estimates from official sources.
A Facebook spokesperson told CNN Business it was working with its fact-checking partners to debunk false claims about the virus. Once Facebook ( FB) posts and links containing claims are fact-checked and found to be false, a Facebook spokesperson said, the platform `` dramatically '' cuts its distribution and people who see this content, try to share it, or already have, are alerted that it's false. ''
The company pointed to several fact-checks, including one from PolitiFact that reads, `` No, there is no vaccine for the Wuhan coronavirus, '' and another from AFP that states, `` The coronavirus plaguing China was not created by a US government agency. ''
A video purporting to show an explosion in Wuhan, the city in China at the center of the coronavirus, was posted on YouTube last week and has been viewed almost 90,000 times. The video's description suggests the explosion is in some way related to the coronavirus, but the video is actually from 2015, according to Lead Stories.
A Google ( GOOGL) spokesperson pointed CNN Business to policy changes in recent years for Google and its video platform YouTube, which are designed to surface information from authoritative sources at the top of search results. Like Facebook, the company doesn't wipe false claims from its platforms entirely.
On Twitter, users searching for `` coronavirus '' in the US and other countries, including Hong Kong, Brazil, and Australia, are first prompted to visit official channels of information about the virus. In the US, Twitter directs users to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, beneath a bold headline that reads: `` Know the facts. ''
A Twitter ( TWTR) spokesperson told CNN Business on Tuesday that the company has not seen a coordinated increase in disinformation related to the coronavirus. In a blog post Tuesday, the company said it had seen over 15 million tweets about the coronavirus in four weeks.
While American tech companies have mostly been in the spotlight on misinformation issues in the past, TikTok, an app owned by a Chinese company, is also drawing scrutiny in how it is handling misinformation about the coronavirus.
US liberal monitoring group Media Matters for America published research on Tuesday showing the spread of misinformation about the coronavirus on TikTok, a video platform that is becoming increasingly popular in the US and has come under scrutiny from US lawmakers because of its Chinese ownership.
`` Our Community Guidelines do not permit misinformation that could cause harm to our community or the larger public, '' a spokesperson for TikTok said in a statement provided to CNN Business on Wednesday. `` While we encourage our users to have respectful conversations about the subjects that matter to them, we remove deliberate attempts to misrepresent authoritative sources of news. ''
Correction: An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of Maarten Schenk. | business |
China virus toll passes 130 as U.S. weighs flight ban | The death toll from a new coronavirus in China rose sharply to 132 on Wednesday with nearly 1,500 new cases, heaping pressure on Beijing to control the disease as U.S. officials said the White House was weighing whether to suspend all flights to the country.
The White House is holding daily meetings on the outbreak and monitoring China-U.S. flights as a likely source of infections, sources briefed on the matter told Reuters, though it had decided against suspending air traffic on Tuesday.
Two U.S. officials said the administration had not taken any options off the table, however, including a temporary ban on flights, if public health data supported the move.
Fears of the spreading virus have already pushed airlines around the world to reduce flights to China and global companies to restrict employee travel to the country, while sectors from mining to luxury goods have been shaken by concerns for global growth in the event of a worst-case pandemic.
China’ s National Health Commission on Wednesday said the total number of deaths from the flu-like virus rose by 26 on Tuesday to 132, while the number of confirmed cases rose by 1,459 to a total of 5,974.
New cases were also reported around the world, including Germany where four people from the same company were infected after one of them contracted it from a colleague while visiting their workplace in China.
The German cases raise concerns about the human-to-human spread of the virus which can be transmitted in droplets from coughs and sneezes and has an incubation period of up to 14 days.
Known as “ 2019-nCoV ”, the newly identified coronavirus emerged late last year in Wuhan, a major transportation hub and capital of central Hubei province with a population of 11 million people.
China has since moved to lock down most of Hubei province, with a population around the same as Italy, to contain the epidemic. Most of the confirmed deaths and patients from the outbreak are in Hubei.
Health authorities believe the virus originated from an animal and have pointed to a seafood market in Wuhan where wildlife was traded illegally.
The virus has spread to more than a dozen countries and cases such as those in Germany show it is spreading through human contact and not only through travellers from China.
Experts say it is too early to know what its death rate will be, since there are likely to be many cases of milder disease going undetected.
“ The virus is a devil and we can not let the devil hide, ” state television quoted Chinese President Xi Jinping said during a meeting with World Health Organization ( WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in Beijing on Tuesday.
“ China will strengthen international cooperation and welcomes the WHO participation in virus prevention... China is confident of winning the battle against the virus. ”
China’ s assurances failed to calm investors, however, as and health authorities around the world continued to step up efforts to stop the virus from spreading on their shores.
The United States said it was expanding screening of arrivals from China from five to 20 airports and would consider imposing further travel curbs.
“ All options for dealing with infectious disease spread have to be on the table, including travel restrictions, ” said U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar.
From France to Japan, governments were organising evacuations, while Hong Kong - scene of anti-China unrest for months - planned to suspend rail and ferry links with the mainland. United Airlines ( UAL.O) said it was suspending some flights between the United States and China for a week from Feb. 1 due to a “ significant decline in demand. ”
The U.S. Embassy in Beijing said a chartered plane would pick up its consular staff on Wednesday. The European Commission said it would help fund two aircraft to fly EU citizens home, with 250 French nationals leaving on the first flight.
Reporting by Huizhong Wu, Cheng Leng and Judy Hua in Beijing; Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols at the United Nations, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Matthias Blamont in Paris, Manas Mishra and Mekhla Raina in Bengaluru and Caroline Humer in New York, David Shepardson in Washington and Tracy Rucinski in Chicago; writing by Se Young Lee; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Stephen Coates | business |
We Should Deescalate the War on the Coronavirus | Fear, finger-pointing, and militaristic action against the virus are predictable, but unproductive. We may be better off adjusting to a new normal of periodic outbreaks. | tech |
SARS vs Wuhan coronavirus: Here's how the outbreaks compare | To many, the latest outbreak feels eerily similar to 2003, when severe acute respiratory syndrome ( SARS) swept through the region, infecting more than 8,000 people and killing 774.
Like SARS, this latest outbreak is caused by a coronavirus, a family of viruses common to animals that range from the common cold, to more serious diseases, like Middle East respiratory syndrome ( MERS).
But while the Wuhan coronavirus and SARS are caused by a similar virus, they're not exactly the same. Here's how the two stack up.
Origin
Both the SARS and Wuhan outbreaks started in China -- and both are believed to have originated from wild animal markets.
Scientists believe that the coronavirus behind SARS came from a reservoir in bats that then spread to the civet cat, a wild animal considered a delicacy in parts of south China, then humans.
In the case of this latest outbreak, it's been traced to Wuhan's now-shuttered Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, where a number of wild animals were for sale, including raccoon dogs and snakes. Experts believe that the coronavirus was carried by animals -- possibly snakes -- and then spread to humans, likely again originating in bats.
After SARS, China banned the slaughter and consumption of civet cats. This time, China has gone a step further: on January 26, the government announced it was banning all sales of wild animals throughout the country.
Number of infections
More than 7,700 people worldwide have been infected globally since the first confirmed case of the Wuhan coronavirus in December.
By comparison, there were 8,098 confirmed cases of SARS between November 2002 to July 2003.
It has taken less than two months to get infect around 75% of the number infected by SARS over a nine month period.
In China, the number of confirmed cases of the Wuhan coronavirus has already exceeded the number infected by SARS in 2002 and 2003.
At least 7,711 cases have been reported in mainland China to date, compared to 5,327 confirmed SARS cases on August 16, 2003, the last time the Chinese health ministry reported such data.
Since 2003, Chinese domestic and international travel has increased dramatically, which may be helping to spread the disease faster. According to Chinese government figures, the number of outbound tourists increased from 16.6 million trips in 2003 to 149.7 million in 2018.
It's worth noting that this outbreak has happened at the worst time of the year for China -- Lunar New Year -- when millions of people travel home to see their family.
According to Wuhan's culture and tourism bureau, there were still 4,096 Wuhan tourists overseas as of January 27.
Number of deaths
During the 2003 SARS outbreak, 774 people died. The vast majority of the deaths occurred in mainland China, and in Hong Kong.
This time, 170 people have died of the virus -- and so far, they have all been in mainland China.
But the best thing to look at when comparing deaths is the case fatality rate -- the measure of what proportion of people infected end up dying.
Currently, the case fatality rate for Wuhan virus is around 2% -- significantly smaller than SARS ' 9.6% mortality rate. It's also smaller than Middle East respiratory syndrome ( MERS) -- another type of coronavirus -- which has a case fatality rate of 35%.
But this calculation is only as good as the numbers that are reported. Some experts are concerned that we may not have an accurate picture of the number infected in China, as there has been a shortage of test kits.
Identifying the virus
One of the biggest differences between SARS and this current outbreak is how fast it was reported and how soon scientists were able to identify it.
China informed the World Health Organization about the new virus on December 31, 2019, about three weeks after the first case was detected. The virus behind the outbreak was identified on January 7. This is as swift as any other developed country would have been able to identify it, said Ian Lipkin, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University who worked to contain SARS back in 2003.
Sequencing the genome has a huge impact -- it allows other countries to develop tests for the virus early on and study the virus
During SARS, China kept the disease under wraps. The disease was first publicly reported in February 2003, but by that time, five people had died and another 300 had fallen ill from the disease in China's Guangdong province.
It also wasn't until five months after the SARS outbreak first started that American and Canadian scientists announced they had sequenced the genome thought to be the cause of that virus. Back in 2003, health authorities were grappling with a lack of knowledge about what the virus was.
So this time around, China has done things differently. Not only did Beijing have the scientific prowess to be able to identify the genome, but it also informed other countries about it.
But there have still been questions over how transparent China has been. There are still some concerned that the scale of the problem may be far worse than the official figures let on. | business |
Hurricane Energy ‘ not aware of any operational reasons’ for 20% drop in share price - News for the Energy Sector | Hurricane Energy has insisted it is “ not aware of any subsurface, operational or commercial reasons ” for a steep decline in its share price in the last week.
The West of Shetland operator has its share price drop 20% in the last five days to 21.6pence.
Chief executive Robert Trice said they “ note the recent weakness in the company’ s share price ” but are “ not aware of any subsurface, operational or commercial reasons that would have caused such decline ”.
Mr Trice added that performance on the flagship Lancaster Early Production System ( EPS) is well above expectations.
The outbreak of the Coronavirus brought with it a drop in the price of Brent Crude over fears of travel restriction, bringing the benchmark down from $ 62.65 on Wednesday to $ 57.83 on Monday.
With that, a number of North Sea operators saw a drop in their share price, including BP, Shell, RockRose Energy, Premier Oil and Serica Energy.
Experts said it was “ too early to say ” how low the oil price would drop, although it is now making a slight rebound.
Hurricane has now started providing quarterly performance updates on the performance of Lancaster, a pioneering development in the fractured basement play in the West of Shetland.
The company intends to provide “ a comprehensive picture ” of its “ performance and potential ” on a capital markets day on March 25, with data on the first nine months of production since first oil.
Hurricane said the Lancaster EPS produced 15,400 barrels of oil per day in Q3 and 11,800 bpd in Q4 – both exceeding expectations.
The decline between the two periods was due to a number of expected “ facilities related issues ” in the fourth quarter.
Almost three million barrels of oil have now been sold from the site across seven cargoes, while another production well is being considered at Lancaster.
Mr Trice said: “ We note the recent weakness in the Company’ s share price and I can confirm that we are not aware of any subsurface, operational or commercial reasons that would have caused such decline.
“ The production performance of the Lancaster EPS wells is above our base case expectations and we remain on target to provide an update at the Capital Markets Day in March whilst continuing to make progress towards the next operational steps for our portfolio. ” | general |
Is Coronavirus an `` Opportunity '' for Emerging Markets ETFs? | China’ s coronavirus scare rattled global markets, making stocks extremely volatile since last week. Having similarities to SARS, coronavirus has spread to other parts of the world, impacting travel demand materially. Not just travel, energy and material stocks, most sectors were dealt a heavy blow by the outbreak.
The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus has topped the 2003 SARS outbreak inside of mainland China, per CNN. As of Jan 29, there are 5,974 confirmed cases in China, including 132 dead, according to China's National Health Commission ( NHC) ( read: Don't Panic About Virus, Buy 5 Beaten-Down Top-Ranked ETFs).
Asian stocks, particularly trading in China, were hit the hardest. China fund Xtrackers Harvest CSI 300 China A-Shares ETF ASHR lost 8.3% in the past five trading days ( as Jan 28, 2020) and iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF EEM was off 3.6%. SPDR S & P 500 ETF Trust SPY lost just 1.3% in the past five days ( as of Jan 28, 2020).
Is This an Entry Point to Emerging Markets ( EM) ETFs?
According to a senior technical analyst at Oppenheimer, emerging markets ( EM) signal buying opportunity amid broad market declines. “ The turnaround is still in play ” and the brokerage house accordingly sees “ this as a tactical opportunity. ”
After all, the impact of coronavirus is likely to be short-term, no matter how big a shape it takes. Previously, SARS was estimated to have reduced GDP growth in East Asia by around ½ to 1 percentage point in 2003, per the Australian Government’ s Treasury department. The economic disruption was relatively short-lived, with the worst impact noted in the June quarter of 2003. So, the event now is correcting the rich valuation of some asset classes.
Great policy easing cycle in several emerging economies, the signing of the phase-one U.S.-China trade deal, a dovish Fed and a moderate strength in the U.S. dollar make the case for emerging market investing stronger.
Emerging markets have long been investors’ choices owing to their high growth potential and rapid pace of industrialization. Investors should note that emerging market and developing economies are projected to have grown 3.7% in 2019, and are expected to expand 4.4% in 2020 and 4.6% in 2021, per IMF’ s latest projection.
Along the bloc, Brazil’ s economy has received one of the best projections from IMF for 2019 ( expected growth is 1.2% from 1.3% in 2018). The IMF’ s projections for EM growth was way stronger than developed economies. Across advanced economies, growth is projected by IMF at 1.6% in 2020-21 ( read: Economic Slowdown in 2020? ETF Strategies to Help You).
Against this backdrop, we highlight a few emerging market ETFs that may show strength at the current level.
Emerging Markets Internet & Ecommerce ETF EMQQ
iShares Edge MSCI Min Vol Emerging Markets ETF EEMV
iShares MSCI Brazil ETF EWZ
iShares MSCI Russia ETFERUS
SPDR S & P Emerging Markets Small Cap ETF EWX
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Click to get this free report Xtrackers Harvest CSI 300 China A-Shares ETF ( ASHR): ETF Research Reports iShares MSCI Brazil ETF ( EWZ): ETF Research Reports iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF ( EEM): ETF Research Reports EMQQ The Emerging Markets Internet & Ecommerce ETF ( EMQQ): ETF Research Reports iShares MSCI Russia ETF ( ERUS): ETF Research Reports iShares Edge MSCI Min Vol Emerging Markets ETF ( EEMV): ETF Research Reports SPDR S & P 500 ETF ( SPY): ETF Research Reports SPDR S & P Emerging Markets Small Cap ETF ( EWX): 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 |
SE Asia Stocks-Most markets climb after Tuesday's selloff; virus fears linger | * Malaysia down for seventh consecutive session * Thailand up after seven straight session of falls * Philippines declines for third session in a row By Arpit Nayak Jan 29 ( Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock markets rose slightly on Wednesday after a steep selloff in the previous session, but worries over the rapid spread of the coronavirus in China and its potential economic impact continued to weigh on investor sentiment. The death toll from the virus outbreak rose sharply to 132 with nearly 1,500 new cases, and countries continued to impose travel curbs and pull out nationals from Wuhan as fears over the virus grew. Caution will remain in the market until China contains the outbreak, said KGI Securities analyst Joel Ng. `` Most investors are still assessing its impact on economic growth, '' he said, adding that Thailand, Cambodia and Hong Kong would be hit as the virus is likely to affect 50% of outgoing Chinese tourists. Asian equities advanced in early trade, tracking Wall Street's gains and after the World Health Organisation expressed confidence in China's ability to contain the spread of the virus. However, they lost momentum as Hong Kong played catch-up with the rest of Asia, dropping nearly 3% on opening after the Lunar New Year holiday. Singapore shares climbed after Tuesday's near 2% drop, helped by industrial and consumer stocks. Jardine Strategic Holdings rose nearly 1.4%, while beer manufacturer Thai Beverage tacked on 1.9%. Philippine shares were headed for a third straight session of losses, with financials and industrials being the major drags on the index. Conglomerates Ayala Corp and JG Summit Holdings lost 1% and 2.4%, respectively. Malaysian shares were on track for a seventh straight session of losses, as healthcare and utilities stocks ran out of steam after a robust performance in the previous session. Glove makers Hartalega Holdings and Top Glove Corp fell 2.9% and 3.7%, respectively, while hospital owner IHH Healthcare lost 1%. Electricity supplier Tenaga Nasional, the third-largest stock on the index, dipped over 1.7%. Indonesian shares added 0.7%, buoyed by a 1.8% gain in telecom giant Telekomunikasi Indonesia. Tobacco company Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna rose 1.4%, while petrochemical firm Chandra Asri Petrochemical added about 2%. Thai stocks rose after seven consecutive sessions of falls, helped by financial and real estate stocks, while firm oil prices also provided some support to heavyweight energy stocks. Meanwhile, data showed December factory output contracted for an eighth straight month but was better than a Reuters poll forecast. Vietnam remained closed on account of the Lunar New Year holiday. Trading will resume on Thursday. For Asian Companies click; SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS at 0346 GMT Change on the day Market Current Previous close Pct Move Singapore 3189.24 3181.25 0.25 Bangkok 1526.09 1513.26 0.85 Manila 7445.62 7468.7 -0.31 Jakarta 6123.703 6111.184 0.20 Kuala Lumpur 1550.47 1551.64 -0.08 Change so far in 2020 Market Current End 2019 Pct Move Singapore 3189.24 3222.83 -1.04 Bangkok 1526.09 1579.84 -3.40 Manila 7445.62 7,815.26 -4.73 Jakarta 6123.703 6,299.54 -2.79 Kuala Lumpur 1550.47 1588.76 -2.41 Ho Chi Minh 991.46 960.99 3.17 ( Reporting by Arpit Nayak; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu) | business |
Dow profit beats on Asia demand and cost cuts, sees recovery in 2020 | Dow Inc ( DOW.N) beat Wall Street’ s estimates for quarterly profit and revenue on Wednesday, helped by growth in volumes in Asia as well as lower costs, and the chemicals maker pointed to a recovery in demand this year as trade tensions ease.
Dow’ s shares rose as much as 6% to $ 49.79 after the company said it cut about $ 35 million in costs in the fourth quarter and expects to reduce another $ 140 million in expenses this year.
The company’ s steps to trim costs after its spin off from DowDupont has helped it offset a drop in demand for chemicals used in plastics, building materials and paints, amid a global slowdown.
But lower prices for polyethylene, the main ingredient used in making most plastics, due to a supply glut have been a cause for concern. The company’ s overall prices declined 12% in the quarter.
“ ( 2020 will see) not necessarily a snapback but improving demand as we go through the year just based on restocking to a normal demand pattern, ” Chief Financial Officer Howard Ungerleider said.
Volumes fell 2%, primarily due to planned maintenance in Europe that hit results at its hydrocarbon and energy unit, which sells by-products of oil refining.
However, Ungerleider said volumes grew at a double-digit rate in China as customers either maintained or bought additional inventory leading into the Chinese New Year.
Chief Executive Officer Jim Fitterling said the coronavirus outbreak was leading to a slight uptick in demand for materials used in household cleaners and surgical masks, adding that industrial materials maker Dupont was also seeing the same.
On Tuesday, 3M Co ( MMM.N) said it was increasing production of respiratory protection products to match global demand from the outbreak.
Dow, spun off in April after chemical conglomerate DowDuPont split into three, posted operating earnings of 78 cents per share, excluding items, that beat analysts’ lowered estimates of 74 cents, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
Net loss available to shareholders was $ 2.32 billion in the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with a profit of $ 891 million, primarily due to a $ 2.9 billion write-down on goodwill impairment and restructuring.
Net sales fell 14.6% to $ 10.2 billion, but beat estimates of $ 10.07 billion.
Dow forecast current-quarter revenue of $ 10 billion to $ 10.4 billion, below estimates of $ 10.76 billion.
DuPont, which makes chemicals used in the automotive and electronic industries, and Corteva CVTA.N, which makes pesticides and seeds, are set to post their quarterly reports on Thursday.
Reporting by Taru Jain and Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva | business |
China vows to beat 'devil ' virus as countries rush to evacuate citizens | President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday that China was sure of defeating a “ devil ” coronavirus that has killed 106 people, but international alarm was rising as the outbreak spread across the world.
The United States said it was expanding screening of arrivals from China from five to 20 airports and would consider imposing further travel curbs.
“ All options for dealing with infectious disease spread have to be on the table, including travel restrictions, ” said U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar.
From France to Japan, governments were organising evacuations, while Hong Kong - scene of anti-China unrest for months - planned to suspend rail and ferry links with the mainland.
Among countries pulling nationals out of Wuhan, the central Chinese city of 11 million where the outbreak started, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing said a chartered plane would pick up its consular staff on Wednesday. The European Commission said it would help fund two aircraft to fly EU citizens home, with 250 French nationals leaving on the first flight.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Xi met in Beijing to discuss how to protect Chinese and foreigners in areas affected by the virus and possible evacuation alternatives, a WHO spokesman said.
“ The virus is a devil and we can not let the devil hide, ” state television quoted Xi as saying.
“ China will strengthen international cooperation and welcomes the WHO participation in virus prevention... China is confident of winning the battle against the virus. ”
The UN agency said later that China had agreed that the WHO can send a team of international experts “ as soon as possible ” to increase understanding of the virus and guide the global response.
GRAPHIC: Tracking the outbreak here
PERSON-TO-PERSON SPREAD
Investors are fretting about the impact of the crisis on the world’ s second-biggest economy, though stock markets rebounded on Tuesday following a sharp sell-off the previous day.
United Airlines said it was suspending some flights between the United States and China for a week from Feb. 1 due to a “ significant decline in demand ”, while Facebook Inc and other global companies restricted employee travel to the country.
The flu-like virus has spread overseas, but none of the 106 deaths has been outside China and all but six were in Wuhan, where the virus emerged last month, probably from illegally traded wildlife.
However, cases in Germany, Vietnam, Taiwan and Japan where the virus has spread person-to-person - as opposed to a visitor from China arriving - have heightened concern.
“ The reported human-to-human transmission in Germany and Japan is unsurprising to see, ” said Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at Britain’ s University of Southampton.
“ We will continue to see further similar cases outside of China, but the indications are at this stage that onwards transmission will be limited, so there will likely not be too many cases for example across Europe, and on a much lesser scale than we are seeing in China. ”
Chinese-ruled Hong Kong said high-speed rail services to the mainland would be suspended from midnight on Thursday, while the number of flights would be halved. Chinese authorities later said they would stop issuing travel permits for mainland tourists to visit Hong Kong and neighbouring Macau.
Britain advised against all but essential travel to mainland China, excluding Hong Kong and Macau.
Thailand confirmed six more infections among visitors from China, taking its tally to 14, the highest outside China. France had a fourth confirmed case, an elderly Chinese tourist who was said to be in a serious condition.
Wuhan is under virtual quarantine, with a lockdown on transport and bans on gatherings. Tens of millions in Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital, live under some form of travel curb.
The number of confirmed cases in China surged to 4,515 as of Monday from 2,835 the previous day, the government said.
Communist Party-ruled China has been eager to show it is transparent over this outbreak, after initially covering up the extent of the 2002-03 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ( SARS) that killed about 800 people globally.
Known as “ 2019-nCoV ”, the newly identified coronavirus can cause pneumonia and, like other respiratory infections, it spreads between people in droplets from coughs and sneezes. It is too early to know what its death rate will be, since there are likely to be many cases of milder disease going undetected.
It has an incubation of between one and 14 days.
A WHO panel of 16 independent experts twice last week declined to declare an international emergency.
Confirmation of any sustained human-to-human spread of the virus outside of China, as well as any documented deaths, would bolster the case for reconsidering.
Tedros can reconvene the panel on very short notice as needed, the WHO said.
Reporting by Winni Zhou, Sun Yilei, Cheng Leng, David Stanway and Josh Horwitz in Shanghai; Cate Cadell, Gabriel Crossley, Tony Munroe, Muyu Xu and Yawen Chen in Beijing; Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols at the United Nations, Hideyuki Sano in Tokyo, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Kate Kelland in London, Ben Blanchard in Taipei, Waruna Karunatilake in Colombo, Matthias Blamont in Paris; Writing by Robert Birsel, Nick Macfie, Andrew Cawthorne and Alex Richardson; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Giles; Elgood | business |
Keurig Dr Pepper acquires sparkling water brand Limitless | Keurig Dr Pepper is the latest big name beverage giant to bet on sparkling water to fill the void created by slowing soda sales.
Its acquisition of Limitless expands its water portfolio, which includes Core Hydration, Bai and Evian, as well as some sparkling water brands. Both Canada Dry and Schweppes make flavored seltzer and sparkling water, but neither have caffeine. Bringing in a caffeinated version could be a savvy move given that studies have shown consumers are drinking more caffeinated beverages nationwide, but the brand will face heavy competition as it scales up.
Coca-Cola announced late last year it would release a new caffeinated sparkling water brand called Aha in March, the company's first major brand launch since 2006. And Pepsi's bubly, which launched in 2018 and doesn't have caffeine, has also boosted the soda giant's earnings.
Despite more big name brands jumping in the category, LaCroix has been the market leader in the seltzer water space for some time, but has struggled recently with lawsuits about its natural claims. There are other startups and smaller companies getting into the space too. Spindrift, a sparkling water company that uses natural fruit flavoring, saw sales jump a massive 800% from 2016 to 2018. Even the makers of Jelly Belly decided to launch the Joffer Beverage Company to create a line of its own candy-flavored sparkling water. And a CBD-infused sparkling water brand called Sweet Reason raised $ 2.5 million last year.
Although Keurig Dr Pepper is increasing its presence in a space with crowded shelves, acquiring a brand that already has a reputation in the market could be a smart move. Limitless was founded in 2016 and already sells in major retail outlets like Amazon and Walmart. The company also previously worked with beverage incubator L.A. Libations.
Coca-Cola and Pepsi decided to launch their own new sparkling water brands, but Keurig Dr Pepper likely saved money and time on R & D for a brand new drink line. Instead, with Keurig Dr Pepper's distribution and marketing capabilities, Limitless will now have the resources to more quickly scale into a bigger national brand.
Ever since Keurig Green Mountain bought Dr Pepper Snapple for $ 19 billion in 2018 to form Keurig Dr Pepper, the company has worked on smaller scale M & A. Later that year, Keurig Dr Pepper announced it would buy premium water brand Core Nutrition for $ 525 million. Then last year, Keurig Dr Pepper and others agreed to nationally distribute Runa Clean Energy, an organic drink made with the guayusa leaf sourced in Ecuador. But it hasn't just been picking up brands. Just before Keurig Dr Pepper announced it is buying Limitless, powdered and frozen beverage maker Jel Sert said it acquired hydration drink brand All Sport from Keurig Dr Pepper for an undisclosed amount.
Keurig Dr Pepper seems to be streamlining its portfolio by bringing in trendy drinks, like premium and sparkling water brands, to help protect it from changing consumer demands. So far, its moves seem to be working since Keurig's packaged beverage segment grew its sales 5.6%, hitting $ 1.3 billion in its most recent quarterly earnings. If consumers decide to make Limitless their go-to sparkling drink, then Keurig Dr Pepper could see those sales numbers continue to rise.
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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.
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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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 |
Fed holds rates steady in first meeting of 2020 as economy extends expansion | The Federal Reserve held rates steady in its first policy-setting meeting of 2020, changing little in its economic outlook as the U.S. economy continues to extend its longest expansion on record.
The Federal Open Market Committee announced Wednesday that it decided to keep rates in the current target range of 1.50% to 1.75%, continuing to describe the economy as “ rising at a moderate rate. ” The four new voting members ( from the Philadelphia, Cleveland, Minneapolis, and Dallas Feds) supported the unanimous decision.
But the Fed downgraded its assessment of household spending, originally describing consumption by the U.S. consumer as “ strong ” in December, but now characterizing activity as “ moderate. ”
The Fed changed little else in its policy statement. The Fed tweaked its description of inflation to say that policymakers see current policy supporting inflation “ returning ” to its 2% target, as opposed to “ near ” its 2% target as the December statement noted. The semantic change was discussed in the December meeting, per the Fed minutes, and clarifies that the Fed would not be comfortable with inflation drifting below target.
The Fed also made a technical change by saying it would raise the interest it pays on reserves and excess reserves from 1.55% to 1.60%.
To transmit its aspirational interest rates into the market, the Fed pays interest on the reserves that banks park at the central bank. Since its October meeting, the Fed paid 1.55% in interest on excess reserves, closer to the lower end of the central bank’ s current target range. Raising the interest it pays by five basis points should in theory move the effective interest rate closer to the middle of its range.
The Fed made a similar tweak in May, when it adjusted the interest on excess reserves down from 2.40% to 2.35%. At the time the Fed was targeting rates between 2.25% to 2.5%.
With the Fed making no move on rates, attention may shift to the Fed’ s balance sheet in Chairman Jerome Powell’ s press conference.
Over the last four months, the Fed has added almost $ 400 billion in assets to its holdings as it purchases about $ 60 billion of short-term Treasury bills a month. The Fed says that the balance sheet re-expansion is not the same as quantitative easing, which explicitly sought to ease market conditions by absorbing securities and longer-term government debt.
Powell could also face questions on how policymakers are thinking about geopolitical risks that have newly emerged, such as conflicts in the Middle East and the Coronavirus outbreak in China.
Last year, the Fed cut interest rates three times for a total of 75 basis points in the face of the U.S.-China trade war and geopolitical risks abroad. The Fed also pointed to tepid inflationary pressures as signs that the central bank needed to provide monetary easing.
But the Fed signaled in its December meeting that policymakers feel comfortable with leaving rates where they are now. The dot plots, which map out policymakers’ projections for where they could see interest rates going in the future, signaled that the Fed may not move on rates at all through 2020.
Fed policymakers have said they would like to see the impact of its 2019 rate cuts, since monetary policy adjustment can take time before they show effects on the economy. The Fed may also be hesitant to move on rates in an election year, when monetary policy could get wrapped up into politics.
President Donald Trump tweeted this week that he would like the Fed to lower rates further so that the U.S. government can refinance its debt.
Brian Cheung is a reporter covering the banking industry and the intersection of finance and policy for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter @ bcheungz.
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Fed Chair Powell: Coronavirus will affect Chinese economy 'in the short term ' | The head of the Federal Reserve said Wednesday that the coronavirus is likely to affect China’ s economy “ in the short term, ” but said it remains to be seen if the viral outbreak will impact the U.S. economy.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell told reporters that coronavirus is a “ significant ” event, and expects some impact on the Chinese economy as a result of travel restrictions and business closures put in place.
“ There is likely to be some disruption to activity in China, and possibly globally, based on the spread of the virus to date, ” Powell said.
As of Wednesday, more than 130 people in China and the region had died as a result of coronavirus. More than 6,000 cases have been confirmed, but only five cases have been identified in the United States.
Powell said he did not want to speculate on the macroeconomic effects of the virus on the world and the U.S., noting that the developments are still in their “ early stages. ” The Fed said it is only concerned about making monetary policy moves within the context of “ potential ramifications ” to the U.S. economy and the achievement of full employment and stable prices.
“ Of course, we are very carefully monitoring the situation, ” Powell said.
Powell acknowledged that the Chinese economy is an important part of the global economy.
“ When China’ s economy slows down we do feel that, ” Powell said.
But Powell said 85% of the U.S. economy is domestic, emphasizing that countries geographically closer to China are naturally more exposed to risks facing the Chinese economy.
Powell made the remarks in a press conference following the Fed’ s decision to hold rates steady in the target range of 1.50% to 1.75%.
Brian Cheung is a reporter covering the banking industry and the intersection of finance and policy for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter @ bcheungz.
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, SmartNews, LinkedIn, YouTube, and reddit. | business |
Coronavirus: British Airways suspends flights to Beijing and Shanghai in China | British Airways on Wednesday said that it had suspended all flights to and from mainland China amid increasing fears about the spread of coronavirus.
“ We apologise to customers for the inconvenience, but the safety of our customers and crew is always our priority, ” British Airways said.
The move comes after the Foreign Office warned late on Tuesday that Britons should avoid all but essential travel to the country. US authorities have also issued similar guidance.
There have now been more than 5,700 cases of the virus in China, while the death toll has climbed to 132.
British Airways operates daily flights to both Beijing and Shanghai from the UK. Flights to these cities have been suspended until March, a spokesperson said.
READ MORE: How coronavirus outbreak is hitting companies around the world
Shares in IAG ( IAG.L), the owner of British Airways, were up by more than 0.5% on Wednesday morning, having fallen sharply earlier in the week.
Separately, Hong Kong’ s Cathay Pacific said it would reduce flights to mainland China by half after Carrie Lam, the territory’ s chief executive, said airlines should curb operations in order to slow the spread of the virus.
Other airlines, such as US-owned United Airlines, said it would reduce flights to China following “ a significant decline in demand for travel. ”
Speaking on Wednesday, culture secretary Nicky Morgan said that the British Airways decision would give “ more impetus ” to plans by the UK government to offer assistance to Britons who need to get home.
“ The Foreign Office will be working with staff on the ground to identify UK nationals, ” Morgan said on BBC Breakfast.
“ We will get people home as soon as we can, as soon as we can make arrangements. ”
Morgan said that the UK health system was “ well prepared. ”
“ We are not aware of any confirmed cases of the virus here in the UK but we do have the expertise to look after people, to treat and to test should that become necessary. ” | business |
FDA Warns Purell to Stop Claiming It Can Prevent the Flu | Purell is great for taking out of your handbag at the end of dinner to demonstrate your commitment to personal hygiene and remove any remaining particles of sauce, but according to the Food and Drug Administration, it’ s no miracle substance.
Last week, the FDA sent Gojo Industries, the manufacturer of Purell, a letter saying that its unsubstantiated claims that its hand sanitizers can help protect against the flu, Ebola virus, the MRSA superbug, and norovirus are in violation of the agency’ s Cosmetic Act.
The FDA letter says that the agency “ is currently not aware of any adequate and well-controlled studies demonstrating that killing or decreasing the number of bacteria or viruses on the skin by a certain magnitude produce a corresponding clinical reduction in infection or disease caused by such bacteria or virus. ” The agency also took particular issue with statements on the company’ s websites that suggest its hand sanitizers are “ effective in reducing illness or disease-related student and teacher absenteeism. ”
A Gojo spokesperson said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch, “ It is important to emphasize that the FDA letter was not related to safety or quality of our products, or our manufacturing processes. Our products can and should continue to be used as part of a good hand hygiene practice, to reduce germs. ”
According to experts, alcohol-based hand sanitizer like Purell effectively kill viruses and bacteria on your hands at the time of use, but can’ t protect against what’ s on your hands an hour later. David Dowdy, an associate professor of infectious disease and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University’ s Bloomberg School of Public Health, told MoneyWatch, “ Just using an alcohol wipe from time to time is not going to protect you all day, nor is it reasonable to think people are going to use one every five to 10 minutes. ” So Purell is not “ a preventative measure for flu prevention, ” as the company has claimed, according to the FDA’ s warning letter.
The notice comes amid growing international concern over the coronavirus outbreak in China and its continued spread, in addition to arrival of flu season. For the latter at least, there’ s the flu shot, a genuine preventative measure.
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Perfect Day readies for broader product launch as it considers IPO | CEO Ryan Pandya spoke to Food Dive about finding the right partners as it scales up ice cream production and expands into other categories in 2020.
SCOTTSDALE, Arizona — Nearly six months after a limited-time offering of its own ice cream, animal-free dairy protein company Perfect Day is gearing up for a larger rollout in the coming months — the first in a series of product launches in 2020 expected to eventually go beyond just the frozen treat, Ryan Pandya, the company's CEO, said in an interview.
Perfect Day sold its owned branded pints of cow-free dairy ice cream on its website last summer for $ 60 for three pints. Despite the price tag, the company sold out of its 1,000 containers in just one day — a fact that surprised even the company. It hasn't been offered since until now.
In an interview on the sidelines of the International Dairy Foods Association's annual forum in Arizona this week, Pandya told Food Dive the company is aiming for a `` much, much broader '' rollout of ice cream this year.
`` There would be no ice cream brand that isn't aware of us pretty much at this point. We're working with the ones that give us the best chance to reach the broad demographics that want better ice cream. Every major multinational ( company) is talking to us. ''
Ryan Pandya
Co-founder and CEO, Perfect Day
This time, the company is working with `` a variety of companies ' brands '' that will incorporate the Perfect Day milk protein into products such as ice cream. They will be sold under their labels rather than Perfect Day's and will be offered through `` multiple channels, '' including retail and food service. Pandya said the ice creams won't carry the $ 20 price per container, but will command a `` premium '' similar to what consumers currently pay for plant-based options.
`` There would be no ice cream brand that isn't aware of us pretty much at this point. We're working with the ones that give us the best chance to reach the broad demographics that want better ice cream, '' Pandya said. `` Every major multinational ( company) is talking to us. ''
Monica Massey, an executive vice president and chief of staff at the Dairy Farmers of America, the largest U.S. dairy cooperative by membership, was among those who purchased the limited-edition Perfect Day ice cream last year.
`` We sat down in a dairy cooperative headquarters and ate it, and I said 'Oh, we're screwed ' because it tasted just like like ice cream, '' she told Pandya from the audience during a panel at the IDFA Dairy Forum. `` In the industry we get hung up on 'You can't call it dairy. '... ( Perfect Day's) not focused on the cow, you're focused on the consumer, and we are so hellbent on focusing on the cow, the milk. ''
Pandya said Perfect Day is prioritizing `` the right brands that have the right scale or are in the right geographics, ( and) have the right messaging. '' The company is careful, for now, not to work with partners that are too big in size until Perfect Day can realistically meet the protein volume the food manufacturer will need. Pandya said Perfect Day has been in discussions with potential partners about using its milk protein, including Unilever's Ben & Jerry's.
Along with ice cream, Perfect Day plans to enter new product categories in late 2020, where food and beverage manufacturers will again use his company's milk protein. He would not discuss what those products would be. Instead, he pointed to a photo released by Perfect Day last month that showed the future product portfolio opportunities, including ice cream, shredded and natural mozzarella cheese, cream cheese and spreadable cheddar cheese.
While Pandya didn't rule out Perfect Day-branded products again at some point, the focus for now will be on licensing out its protein — something akin to what Intel has done with its processor chips.
`` Getting to consumers is something that food companies, product companies are better at, '' he said. `` We're not built as a CPG company. We're an innovation protein company.... Whether we decide to play in the consumer space at some point, I don't think the door is closed for that, but it's not our core business. ''
Perfect Day closed a $ 140 million funding round in December — more than twice the amount the company has raised in its previous five years — to accelerate business growth, expand production capacity, deepen partner opportunities and add to its product portfolio. Pandya didn't offer specific details, but hinted that an initial public offering could be something he would seriously consider.
`` Who wouldn't prefer to stay private? '' he said. `` But I think we get so many inquiries from people all over the world that wish they could invest in us. It's certainly a compelling option to think about. ''
A stock offering would be the first among the companies that have spent the last several years researching how to use fermentation or other scientific methods to produce food and beverages. Motif FoodWorks, which is working to recreate dairy, egg and meat proteins, has said it is on deck to get products to market in 2021. Clara Foods, which is creating animal-free egg proteins, partnered with Ingredion to develop, market and distribute ingredients.
Speaking to a panel at the IDFA Dairy Forum, Pandya made a direct pitch to CPG companies, producers and others in the audience to partner with Perfect Day. The partnership not only benefits his company by increasing the marketplace for his protein, he told the crowd, but it helps producers and others by giving them an opportunity to partake in any potential growth of the category. It also could give them a way to draw back consumers who have fled dairy.
`` We want help and we don't want to have a situation where 12 years later it looks like we didn't even try to work together or that 20 years it looks like we're the next plant-based ( product) that was here to try to fight dairy, '' he said.
For now, Pandya said the company's primary focus is centered on ramping up its scale in the market place. Its partnership with Archer Daniels Midland to boost production could `` definitely... be one way to do that, '' he told Food Dive.
`` We have to make much larger tonnage ( of our milk protein) to be able to become relevant as a supply chain, '' he said. `` We have a lot of growth to do. ''
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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.
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 |
Google is temporarily shutting down all China offices due to coronavirus outbreak | Google is temporarily shutting down all of its China offices due to the coronavirus outbreak, the company confirmed to The Verge on Wednesday. The shutdown includes all offices in mainland China, as well as Google’ s offices in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Currently, the offices are closed for the extended Lunar New Year holiday, a measure the Chinese government took to help reduce the spread of the virus by encouraging residents to stay inside and avoid travel.
A Google spokesperson says the company now plans to keep its offices closed in accordance with the government guidance, and it’ s also placed temporary business travel restrictions on flying to mainland China and Hong Kong. The company is also advising employees currently in China, and employees who have immediate family members returning from the country, return home as soon as possible and to work from home for at least 14 days from their departure date.
The move marks the latest escalation in the tech industry’ s effort to mitigate risk related to the virus, which health officials say originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan and which has led to at least 132 deaths and more than 6,000 confirmed cases. Because of the tech industry’ s close ties with China, as the world’ s largest internet market and manufacturing hub, tech employees routinely travel to and from China and almost every major company in the industry maintains offices in the country.
Although Google does not operate many of its most popular web services in China due to historic tensions with the Chinese government, the company does maintain four official offices in the country. Google also maintains a strong presence in China with regards to its hardware efforts, as many Google product teams responsible for devices like Pixel phones and Google Home speakers work with Chinese suppliers and factories for manufacturing.
Related
Apple and Facebook both restricted employee travel this week, with Apple CEO Tim Cook announcing the restrictions live on an earnings call with investors yesterday after releasing its quarterly earnings report. Apple also said it has closed at least one retail store in China and is measuring its employees’ temperatures regularly, and aggressively cleaning retail and office spaces. Google has yet to release an official statement regarding the virus.
Numerous other companies across the electronics, entertainment, car manufacturing, and transportation industries have also begun restricting employee travel and halting operations, including film studios and even Disney theme parks. Both United Airlines and American Airlines have begun canceling upcoming flights from the US to China due to sharp declines in consumer demand. British Airways and Lufthansa have also suspended all flights to China. | tech |
Americans evacuated from China amid coronavirus outbreak to be monitored for days | The plan is to monitor passengers at the base for three days, checking them for fever and other symptoms at least twice daily, said Dr. Chris Braden, deputy director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Want to track the virus in real time?
If health officials determine they pose low or no risk of infecting others, they can go home but will need to be monitored by local officials for the 14-day incubation period, he said. The patients staying at March Air Reserve Base near Riverside, California, might also choose to remain there for the 14 days.
Should anyone demand to go home within the first 72 hours, an individual quarantine is an option, Braden said.
`` If anyone demands to leave right now, that is where all of the partners... would come together and talk about what needs to be done, '' said Dr. Nancy Knight, the CDC's director of the division of global health protection, noting that US marshals are on hand to ensure everyone's safety.
Some passengers told Braden they 'd stay voluntarily, he said.
`` They wanted to know their own status. They wanted to know the status of their children. They wanted to protect their family, They wanted to protect others, '' he said.
Touching down in California
The plane chartered by the US State Department left Wuhan and touched down late Tuesday night at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Alaska.
After refueling and passenger screenings, it left for the March Air Reserve Base. There, local officials began working with the CDC to thoroughly screen each passenger again following other screenings by American and Chinese health officials in Wuhan.
The CDC cleared all passengers, most of whom are American diplomatic corps or their families, to continue on to California, Alaska officials said.
Passengers were screened in an isolated area of the Anchorage airport's north terminal, which handles international flights, and had no impact on general travel, airport manager Jim Szczesniak said.
The CDC will work with airport officials to clean the terminal, and there are no international flights scheduled at the airport until May, he said.
Passengers applauded when they arrived in the US
Passenger Scott Allis told CNN they received a hot meal in Anchorage, while Darby Siebels said passengers had a chance to charge their phones before getting back on the plane after 1 a.m. ( 5 a.m. ET).
`` For many of us directly involved, this has been a moving and uplifting experience, '' said Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska's chief medical officer. `` The whole plane erupted in cheers when the crew said, 'Welcome home to the United States. ' ''
The fast-moving coronavirus has killed 132 people and infected nearly 6,000 others in China, most of them in the hardest-hit city of Wuhan. Ninety-one cases have been confirmed outside of mainland China, including five in the United States. The CDC has investigated 165 potential cases in 36 states. Of those, 68 tested negative, while 92 remain pending.
A battery of screenings
Officials were prepared to take 240 passengers, the plane's capacity, but the flight left with 201 people after some intended passengers failed to get to the airport or through screenings and other processes, Zink said. One passenger had a fever and was prohibited from boarding, health officials said.
Included among the passengers are children ranging in age from 1-month-old to their teens, officials said.
Precautions were taken to separate the crew on the plane's upper level from the passengers on the plane's lower level, she said. The crew did not disembark in China.
Priority was given to US citizens at risk
The passengers include US diplomats and their families. The State Department said other US citizens could board on a reimbursable basis if space was available.
While there are about 1,000 Americans living in Wuhan, priority was given to US citizens who are `` most at risk for contracting coronavirus '' if they stay in the city, the State Department said.
The department said it was unable to accommodate everyone due to space limitations, but it is working to identify alternative routes for US citizens to depart Wuhan by land.
The State Department issued a Level 4 advisory for Wuhan, meaning Americans should not travel to the city while the virus has an impact, Vice President Mike Pence said. It ordered personnel working at the US Consulate in Wuhan to depart for the United States.
Other countries including South Korea and Japan are sending charters to evacuate citizens from the epicenter of the outbreak. The European Commission said it was sending two aircraft to evacuate European Union citizens from Wuhan. | business |
EM ASIA FX-Malaysian ringgit, Indian rupee lead slight recovery; virus fears persist | * Ringgit, rupee gain about 0.2% each * Baht stays flat after GDP forecast cut * U.S. Fed meeting outcome awaited ( Adds text, updates prices) By Aby Jose Koilparambil Jan 29 ( Reuters) - Most Asian currencies firmed slightly on Wednesday, recovering from falls in the previous session, but worries over the likely economic impact from the coronavirus outbreak in China lingered. Nerves in the market were calmed to some extent after the World Health Organisation and Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed confidence in Beijing's ability to contain the spread of the new coronavirus. The outbreak, which started in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, has killed 132 people and infected nearly 6,000 so far in China. `` Global markets tend to rebound after such outbreaks, provided that the toll exerted on the global economy is not too damaging, '' Han Tan, market analyst at brokerage FXTM, said in a note. `` A meaningful recovery in the markets, however, could be months away. '' Investors now await the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting later in the day where the Fed is expected to reiterate its desire to keep rates unchanged at least through this year. `` This status quo fits into the big picture of the Fed playing it cool given that 'insurance cuts ' have been front-loaded and the economy is in a 'good place ', '' Vishnu Varathan of Mizuho Bank said in a note. The Malaysian ringgit and the Indian rupee gained about 0.2% each. The South Korean won firmed 0.2% after slipping to its weakest level in three weeks in the previous session. The won gained despite a Reuters poll showing exports are expected to fall at a faster pace in January, mainly due to fewer working days on account of the Lunar New Year holiday and amid concerns over the economic impact of the coronavirus. The Singapore dollar, the Philippine peso and the Indonesian rupiah were flat. In the offshore market, the yuan strengthened 0.14% at 6.9555 per dollar. China's onshore markets are closed for the Lunar New Year holiday and will resume trading on Feb. 3. Taiwan's financial markets remained closed for holidays. BAHT FLAT The Thai baht remained little changed after the finance ministry cut its 2020 economic growth forecast to 2.8% from a 3.3% projection three months ago, mainly due to weaker exports. The baht, the region's worst performer so far this year, has fallen more than the offshore yuan since Jan. 21, when markets first reacted to the coronavirus outbreak. Thai authorities have forecast an 18% drop in visitor arrivals for China this year due to the virus. CURRENCIES VS U.S. DOLLAR Currency Latest bid Previous day Pct Move Japan yen 109.140 109.13 -0.01 Sing dlr 1.358 1.3576 -0.04 Korean won 1175.600 1176.7 +0.09 Baht 30.880 30.88 +0.00 Peso 50.750 50.71 -0.08 Rupiah 13625.000 13630 +0.04 Rupee 71.203 71.33 +0.17 Ringgit 4.078 4.085 +0.17 Change so far in 2020 Currency Latest bid End 2019 Pct Move Japan yen 109.140 108.61 -0.49 Sing dlr 1.358 1.3444 -1.01 Taiwan dlr 30.006 30.106 +0.33 Korean won 1175.600 1156.40 -1.63 Baht 30.880 29.91 -3.14 Peso 50.750 50.65 -0.20 Rupiah 13625.000 13880 +1.87 Rupee 71.203 71.38 +0.25 Ringgit 4.078 4.0890 +0.27 Yuan 6.937 6.9632 +0.38 ( Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu) | business |
New visualization tool lets public track spread of Wuhan coronavirus | Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have released a dashboard that lets users track and visualize the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak on a daily basis. The data is overlaid on a map of the world showing reported cases of infection highlighted in red, and the locations of fatalities denoted by an ' x '.
The Wuhan coronavirus was first reported to the World Health Organization ( WHO) on December 31, 2019, when several citizens of Wuhan city, which is located in the Hubei Province of China, contracted pneumonia from a then-unknown source.
Gene sequencing analysis later revealed that the cause of the sickness was a new coronavirus, now designated 2019-nCoV, which is related to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome virus ( SARSCov) and the Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome virus ( MERS-CoV). On January 13, Thailand become the first country outside of China to report a case of 2019-nCoV, and on January 20, China’ s National Health Commission ( NHC) revealed that the virus can be transmitted from person to person.
Strenuous efforts have been made to contain the virus. All 11 million residents of the city of Wuhan have been placed in quarantine, and numerous other cities have now followed suit.
The spread of the coronavirus has been exacerbated by its conjunction with the Chinese New Year on January 24, during which large numbers of people travel to attend mass celebrations. Wuhan city is also a major air transportation hub. It is thought that transmission via infected air passengers is a major contributor to the spread of the sickness.
Whilst travellers from Wuhan and other infected regions are now being screened, the virus has already gone global. Confirmed cases of 2019-nCoV have been reported in multiple countries, including Japan, Malaysia, Cambodia and the US, to name a few.
The new dashboard was created by Johns Hopkins University’ s Center for Systems Science and Engineering, with the goal of informing the public about the spread of 2019-nCoV.
The data used to inform the tool is drawn from a wide range of sources. In the US, information is collected from organizations such as the WHO and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC). For other countries, data is collected from corresponding authorities and health departments.
This data is visualized on a map of the world. Regions where the Wuhan coronavirus has struck are indicated in red. Regions that have suffered a fatality or multiple fatalities are also marked with an ' x '.
At the time of writing there have been 6,172 reported cases of infection. Of those afflicted, 112 have recovered, but sadly 132 people have died. The WHO has released recommendations for the public designed to limit the chances of contracting the illness, and spreading it to others.
Source: Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering | science |
Supply chains plan for coronavirus disruption | Shippers looking to transport products out of mainland China will see a reduction in airfreight capacity as Cathay Pacific, a major passenger and cargo airline for the region, will cut its capacity `` 50% or more '' starting Jan. 30 until the end of March 2020, the airline announced Tuesday.
One Apple supplier, Foxconn Technology Group, told media Tuesday it is monitoring the situation and has `` measures in place to ensure that we can continue to meet all global manufacturing obligations. ''
Wuhan is also home to a number of drug manufacturers, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said those manufacturers have not reported an impact on supply as a result of the outbreak, according to Wired.
`` A prolonged outbreak in the area could prevent workers from going to work or even cause temporary factory closures, which would weigh on Chinese production, '' Wells Fargo analysts wrote in a research note Tuesday. `` China’ s more integral part in the global supply chain today means a decline in its output has the potential to disrupt U.S. production. ''
Wells Fargo analysts noted that industrial production slowed during the time of the 2003 SARS outbreak, though it coincided with the start of the U.S.-Iraq war, so it can be hard to know how much of the drop resulted from the disease outbreak.
The computer and electrical equipment industry and the machinery industry could take the biggest hits, according to Wells Fargo.
`` But, the U.S. economy has become less reliant on manufacturing, so even if the sector were to fall under pressure, it would be unlikely to cause a U.S. recession, '' the analysts concluded.
In a press conference Tuesday, top U.S. health officials said the outbreak was serious but Americans do not need to worry about their safety.
Topics covered: logistics, freight, operations, procurement, regulation, technology, risk/resilience and more.
FedEx debuts a new ocean shipping service, and the Port of Los Angeles makes an update to its dwell fee structure.
Biden's signature paves the way for $ 17 billion in port infrastructure and $ 25 billion for airports. Here's what trade associations are saying.
Topics covered: logistics, freight, operations, procurement, regulation, technology, risk/resilience and more.
Topics covered: logistics, freight, operations, procurement, regulation, technology, risk/resilience and more.
FedEx debuts a new ocean shipping service, and the Port of Los Angeles makes an update to its dwell fee structure.
Biden's signature paves the way for $ 17 billion in port infrastructure and $ 25 billion for airports. Here's what trade associations are saying.
Topics covered: logistics, freight, operations, procurement, regulation, technology, risk/resilience and more. | general |
Fed Leaves Interest Rates Unchanged | WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve officials left interest rates unchanged at their first meeting of 2020 on Wednesday, upholding their patient stance after an active, and often tumultuous, 2019.
Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, walked a careful line in his post-meeting news conference, painting a picture of a solid economy that is fueled by strong job gains and a confident consumer willing to spend. But he noted that global risks remain, including the outbreak of a deadly new Coronavirus — and price gains remain surprisingly soft.
Fed officials, whose job is to maintain both full employment and stable inflation, think the current economic situation merits a wait-and-see approach before they adjust rates again. The federal funds rate is currently set in a 1.5 to 1.75 percent range, and the decision to keep it steady was unanimous.
That patient approach contrasts sharply with the Fed’ s experience in the second half of last year. The Fed cut borrowing costs three times from July to October as trade tensions and slowing global growth weighed on the economic outlook. That move itself marked a pivot from 2018, when the Fed was steadily raising rates to fend off higher inflation as unemployment sank steadily lower.
Mr. Powell has now signaled that the central bank does not plan move policy in either direction unless something fundamentally shifts. Central bankers do not expect to cut interest rates as long as the economy shapes up as expected, and do not intend to raise them unless inflation moves up and stays there.
That is unlikely to sit well with President Trump, who has been pushing the central bank to slash rates further. In a tweet on Tuesday, Mr. Trump said “ the Fed should get smart & lower the Rate, ” arguing that comparatively high rates in the United States are putting the country at a disadvantage.
The central bank does not answer to the White House, and officials regularly reiterate that they set a policy with an eye toward their twin goals, which are given to them by Congress.
But they are facing a complicated backdrop when it comes to achieving those targets.
Expectations of a global growth turnaround have been climbing, helped along by an initial trade deal between the United States and China that brings some certainty and forestalls additional tariffs between the world’ s largest economies. Mr. Trump also signed a revised North American Free Trade Agreement on Wednesday, bringing more than two years of fraught negotiations to a close.
But those positive signs could be dampened by the outbreak of the new coronavirus, which is forcing quarantines in China, shuttering multinational operations in the country and causing nervousness around the world.
Mr. Powell pointed to the new virus as a potential economic threat at his news conference, though he said it was too early to know what its macroeconomic effect would be.
“ It’ s a very serious issue, ” Mr. Powell said. “ There is likely to be some disruption to activity in China and perhaps globally, ” he said, adding that the Fed was “ very carefully monitoring the situation. ”
The chair also noted other persistent weak spots, including soft business investment and exports, which he attributed to “ sluggish growth abroad and trade developments. ” Manufacturing is also continuing to see a falloff, though Mr. Powell suggested that weakness might be bottoming out.
“ It hasn’ t gone away, ” Mr. Powell said of trade uncertainty. “ We need to be a little bit patient about the effect on the economy. ”
Mr. Powell struck an optimistic tone about the United States economy overall, pointing out that employers are still hiring and unemployment continues to hover near a half-century low.
But he sounded cautious about inflation, which continues to fall short of the Fed’ s 2 percent target. It has not hit that rate of change sustainably since the central bank formally adopted the goal in 2012.
The annual price increase, as measured by the Fed’ s favored index, came in at just 1.5 percent in November.
While sluggish price gains might sound positive, the Fed sees steady, gradual increases as better for the economy. Weak inflation leaves officials with less room to cut rates — which include price increases — in a downturn. And if consumers begin to expect slower increases, that outlook could become self-fulfilling, dragging inflation down further.
Fed policymakers themselves do not expect it to eclipse 2 percent this year, based on their most recent set of economic projections.
Mr. Powell said the Fed was “ not comfortable with inflation running persistently below our 2 percent symmetric objective. ”
“ In theory, inflation should be moving up, ” he added, given that the United States economy is in its 11th year of an expansion and unemployment is very low, at 3.5 percent.
If inflation expectations slipped and dragged actual increases lower, “ we would have less room to reduce interest rates to support the economy in a future downturn, to the detriment of American families and businesses, ” Mr. Powell said Wednesday.
Some analysts interpreted his wary tone as a sign that the Fed was still oriented more toward cutting rates than raising them.
In a purely technical tweak, the central bank did nudge up the interest rates it pays on excess reserves — bank deposits stashed at the Fed. The move was meant to keep the Fed funds rate trading within its target range.
It also affirmed that it will continue purchasing Treasury bills “ at least into ” the second quarter of 2020. It has been purchasing short-term Treasury securities at a pace of $ 60 billion per month since October in a bid to keep the financial system flush with cash and to prevent money market ruptures, like one that reared its head in the repurchase market — or repo market — in September.
Fed officials, in a note released Wednesday, said the ultimate goal was to “ maintain over time ample reserve balances at or above the level that prevailed in early September 2019. ”
The Fed said it would continue to conduct operations in the repo market “ through April 2020 to ensure that the supply of reserves remains ample ” even in stressful periods.
The Fed has repeatedly said its ongoing interventions are not the type of mass bond-buying programs the central bank used to prop up the economy during and after the Great Recession. While those programs, known as quantitative easing, were meant to bolster the economy, the new interventions have been structured differently and are simply meant to fix a market-plumbing problem.
Investors have turned a skeptical eye on that claim, and equity analysts regularly argue that the purchases are pushing up stock prices, as markets take a cue from the Fed to buy.
Mr. Powell declined to speculate on whether that was the case in his comments, saying that “ it’ s very hard to say what is affecting financial markets with any precision or confidence at a given time. ” | business |
Coronavirus fears sink Hong Kong stocks as they reopen after the Lunar New Year -- Asian market latest | The city's benchmark Hang Seng Index ( HSI) closed down 2.82% on its first day of trading after the Lunar New Year holiday celebrations. It was the biggest one-day percentage loss since early August, when China allowed for a surprise devaluation of its currency, stoking fears about the US-China trade war.
The virus originated in the central Chinese city of Wuhan and has now spread across Asia and the rest of the world. Chinese officials say 132 people have died in mainland China, and there have been more than 6,000 confirmed cases around the world — the overwhelming majority of which are also in mainland China.
Eight cases have been confirmed in Hong Kong, and officials have begun taking dramatic measures to stem the spread of the disease. The government on Tuesday announced that it would close off some parts of its border with mainland China while also decreasing inbound air travel from the mainland by half. It expects the new measures to reduce mainland Chinese visitors by 80%.
The move is also likely to have an impact on Hong Kong's economy, as visitors from mainland China account for more than 70% of Hong Kong's total tourists.
Hong Kong markets are likely to keep suffering, too, particularly as markets in mainland China are still closed for the Lunar New Year, wrote Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst for Asia Pacific at Oanda, in a research note. Hong Kong is also still trying to recover from other issues, including an economic recession fueled in part by months of protests.
All 50 components of the Hang Seng were in the red Wednesday. Macao casino stocks were some of the index's worst performers — an indication of how badly the disease could affect Hong Kong's neighbor. Casino operators derive a significant portion of their revenue from Chinese tourists, and Macao officials have said the number of those tourists has plunged 80% during the holiday.
On the broader Hong Kong market, the retail, travel and entertainment industries suffered the most.
Jewelery seller Chow Tai Fook and cosmetics chain operator Sa Sa International lost 8.1% and 9.1%, respectively.
Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong's flagship airline, has said it will reduce the capacity of flights to and from mainland China by half or more until the end of March. Cathay Pacific's ( CPCAY) stock dropped 3.2% in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
Mainland airlines China Eastern, Air China and China Southern fell between 2.8% and 3.7% in Hong Kong.
`` It is not necessarily the virus per se that is the problem for the world's economy, '' Halley said. Instead, he said the issue is the `` negative feedback loop on economic activity, and thus growth, it creates. ''
In the worst-case scenario, Halley warned the virus outbreak could drag out over the next few months and even force the US Federal Reserve to reconsider its own policies. The Fed held interest rates steady at its meeting in December, at the time describing the decision as `` appropriate '' to help prolong the United States ' economic expansion. It is expected to leave rates unchanged again at its meeting Wednesday.
In Hong Kong, healthcare-related stocks were the top performing sector, generally posting gains.
Elsewhere in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 ( N225) and South Korea's Kospi ( KOSPI) both rebounded a little from losses earlier this week. The indexes ended up 0.7% and 0.4%, respectively.
Markets in mainland China remain closed and will reopen next Monday.
On the oil market, Brent crude and US oil futures both rose 1% during Asian trading hours on Wednesday. Prices fell last week because of worries that the coronavirus outbreak could affect global oil demand. | business |
China virus turns Macau into gambling ghost town | - The Chinese territory of Macau has become a near-ghost town during what is typically the busiest time of year in the world's biggest casino hub, after authorities announced a raft of measures to keep visitors away and contain the new coronavirus.
The local government late on Tuesday said it would curb its individual visit scheme through which visitors gain entry from mainland China, days after it suspended inbound package tours. Since Friday, arrivals have dropped 69%, latest figures showed.
The steps come as deaths from the coronavirus reached 132 in China on Wednesday with 1,500 new cases. The flu-like virus emerged late last year in the eastern city of Wuhan and cases have since been reported worldwide including seven in Macau.
The virus has added to concerns in the former Portuguese colony over the impact of a slowing Chinese economy and anti-government protests in neighbouring Hong Kong.
However, the outbreak also coincides with the Lunar New Year holiday during which Macau seasonally enjoys record visitation, prompting analysts to forecast a decline in gaming revenue of at least 30% for as long as visiting restrictions are in place.
Casino operators ' share prices plunged on Wednesday, by as much as 6% for MGM China Holdings Ltd, 5.7% for Sands China Ltd, 4.8% for Wynn Macau Ltd and 4.7% for Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd.
The special administrative region is China's only location where casino gambling is legal, and over 90% visitors come from Greater China.
Transport links with mainland China have been curtailed, however, with dozens of flights and ferry services cancelled. The local government has also extended the Lunar New Year break to the end of the week, keeping banks and businesses closed.
On Tuesday, one of Macau's busiest tourist draws - the towering stone facade dubbed the Ruins of St Paul - was deserted, while renowned shopping and dining streets were empty as local residents also stayed at home.
Casinos were open though operators shuttered restaurants and cancelled all shows. Macau Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng said casinos could close if the virus continues to spread.
Also known as `` 2019-nCoV '', the virus was first reported in Wuhan, a major transportation hub and capital of central Hubei province with a population of 11 million people.
Macau's government has instructed all tourists from Hubei to leave the city. Around 270 remain, officials said.
( Reporting by Farah Master; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree, Christopher Cushing and Michael Perry) | business |
Should You Buy Amazon ETFs Ahead of Q4 Earnings? | Amazon AMZN is set to release fourth-quarter 2019 results on Jan 30, after market close. Being a market leader in e-commerce, it is worth taking a look at the company’ s fundamentals ahead of its results ( see: all the Consumer Discretionary ETFs here).Amazon has gained 5.1% over the past three months, underperforming the industry’ s average growth of 6.3%. This might reverse given that the online behemoth has chances of an earnings beat.Inside Our MethodologyAmazon has a Zacks Rank # 3 ( Hold) and an Earnings ESP of +10.23%. According to our surprise prediction methodology, the combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank # 1 ( Strong Buy), 2 ( Buy) or 3 increases the odds of an earnings beat. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’ re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.The stock saw no earnings estimate revision over the past 30 days for the fourth quarter. Amazon’ s earnings surprise history is impressive, with a positive earnings surprise of 7.69%, on average, for the last four quarters. Additionally, the company is expected to report revenue growth of 18.8%. The stock has a top Growth Score of A but falls under a bottom-ranked Zacks industry ( bottom 29%). However, the Zacks Consensus Estimate represents a substantial year-over-year decline of 34.1%.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for average target price is $ 2,205.33 with nearly 94% of the analysts giving a Strong Buy or a Buy rating ahead of the company’ s earnings.
Amazon.com, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Amazon.com, Inc. Quote
What’ s HotAmazon smashed records in the last holiday season with `` billions of items '' purchased in the period from Thanksgiving to Christmas. More than 5 million new customers started Prime free trials or paid memberships globally and the number of items that were delivered with one-day or same-day shipping quadrupled from the last holiday season. Third-party sellers saw double-digit growth from the year-ago level, selling more than 1 billion items ( read: ETFs to Tap on Amazon's Record Holiday Sales).ETFs to BuyGiven this, ETFs with the highest allocation to this online behemoth will be in focus ahead of its earnings announcement. These funds are likely to gain if Amazon delivers an earnings beat. We have highlighted eight ETFs that have AMZN as the top firm in their portfolio: ProShares Online Retail ETF ONLN: Amazon makes up for 24% in the fund’ s basket. Fidelity MSCI Consumer Discretionary Index ETF FDIS: It has a Zacks ETF Rank # 3 ( Hold) with a Medium risk outlook. Amazon makes up for 23.8% in the fund’ s basket ( read: Will Consumer Discretionary ETFs Suffer the Coronavirus Blow?).Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund XLY: The fund carries a Zacks ETF Rank # 2 ( Buy) with a Medium risk outlook. Amazon accounts for 23.6% share.Vanguard Consumer Discretionary ETF VCR: This ETF has a Zacks ETF Rank # 2 with a Medium risk outlook. Amazon has 22.8% allocation ( read: 5 ETFs From Top Industries That Won't Let You Down in 2020).VanEck Vectors Retail ETF RTH: The fund has a Zacks ETF Rank # 3 with a Medium risk outlook. Amazon makes up for 20.7% of the assets.iShares Evolved U.S. Discretionary Spending ETF IEDI: Amazon makes up for 10.8% in the fund’ s basket.iShares U.S. Consumer Services ETF IYC: It carries a Zacks ETF Rank # 3 with a Medium risk outlook. Here, AMZN takes 10.3% share.iShares Global Consumer Discretionary ETF RXI: AMZN accounts for 10.4% share in the basket.Want key ETF info delivered straight to your inbox? Zacks’ free Fund Newsletter will brief you on top news and analysis, as well as top-performing ETFs, each week. Get it free > >
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 Amazon.com, Inc. ( AMZN): Free Stock Analysis Report iShares U.S. Consumer Services ETF ( IYC): ETF Research Reports iShares Global Consumer Discretionary ETF ( RXI): ETF Research Reports Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF ( XLY): ETF Research Reports VanEck Vectors Retail ETF ( RTH): ETF Research Reports Fidelity MSCI Consumer Discretionary Index ETF ( FDIS): ETF Research Reports Vanguard Consumer Discretionary ETF ( VCR): ETF Research Reports iShares Evolved U.S. Discretionary Spending ETF ( IEDI): ETF Research Reports ProShares Online Retail ETF ( ONLN): 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 |
Possible satellite collision puts focus on space debris cleanup | Hi, what are you looking for?
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LeoLabs is a tracking service that uses radar to calculate the collision risk of satellites in low-Earth orbit. Founded in 2016, and based out of Menlo Park, California, the company has a worldwide network of phased-array radars that track objects in LEO in high definition.
On January 27, LeoLabs announced they had identified a potential conjunction, or close approach, between the Infrared Astronomical Satellite ( IRAS) and the Gravity Gradient Stabilization Experiment ( GGSE) 4 satellite in LEO.
2/ On Jan 29 at 23:39:35 UTC, these two objects will pass close by one another at a relative velocity of 14.7 km/s ( 900km directly above Pittsburgh, PA). Our latest metrics on the event show a predicted miss distance of between 15-30 meters. Hlb1KeQ50U
— LeoLabs, Inc. ( @ LeoLabs Space) January 27, 2020
All the scientific jargon means LeoLabs predicted that on January 29, there was a 1-in-100 chance the two satellites could collide with each other at 6:39 p.m. ET about 900 kilometers ( 560 miles) above the city of Pittsburgh.
However, in an update on January 28, LeoLabs changed its prediction on a collision downward, to about 1-in-1,000, estimating that the two spacecraft will pass between 13 and 87 meters of each other, according to Space News.
Two defunct satellites involved The Infrared Astronomical Satellites ( IRAS) space telescope was launched in 1983 as a joint project of NASA, Britain and the Netherlands, and its mission lasted only 10 months. It weighs about a ton and is the size of a truck with measurements of around four meters by three meters by two meters ( 12 feet by 11 feet by seven feet).
The other spacecraft is the experimental US satellite, GGSE-4, launched by the US Air Force in 1967. It is not that big, weighing only 85 kilograms ( 190 pounds), however, it does has an unusual shape. The satellite is 60 centimeters ( two feet) wide but 18 meters ( 60 feet) long, and it flies vertically.
LeoLabs had to take into account the uncertain orientation of the GGSE-4 satellite in doing their calculations and came up with a probability of impact at between one and five percent.
If they do hit, they could create around a thousand pieces of debris larger than 10 centimeters, and more than 12,000 fragments bigger than one centimeter, aerodynamicist Dan Oltrogge told AFP.
“ We will know because especially for low Earth orbit, there is much radar coverage, and we would see fragmentation happening, we would see objects separating off, ” he said — though it won’ t be visible to the naked eye.
The Kessler effect Since we began launching satellites into space during the 1950s, we have left behind an ever-growing amount of space debris. According to NASA, the agency is monitoring approximately 20,000 objects as big or bigger than a baseball and 50,000 objects as big as a marble. Additionally, there are an estimated 600,000 pieces of space junk ranging from 1 cm to 10 cm floating, and on average one satellite is destroyed each year.
These pieces of space junk are traveling at 17,500 miles per hour and can exert powerful kinetic energy capable of significant damage upon impact. Knowing this can happen, and looking at the bigger picture, NASA scientist Donald J. Kessler proposed a scenario in 1978 called the Kessler syndrome ( also called the Kessler effect, referring to a collisional cascading or ablation cascade).
Simply put, Kessler theorized that an increase in the number of objects in low-Earth orbit would lead to conditions where collisions between objects could cause a cascade where each collision generates space debris that increases the likelihood of further collisions.
Kessler surmised that one implication of this cascading effect is that the distribution of debris in orbit could render space activities and the use of satellites in specific orbital ranges unfeasible for many generations. And according to Popular Mechanics, with enough impacts, the amount of debris created would reach a critical mass, blanketing our planet in a fog of debris and making it nearly impossible to safely launch spacecraft from Earth.
Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, reminds us that “ People need to care about this because we depend on space for a lot of things nowadays, so even if you never go to space you’ re using space technology, with things like GPS, Internet, and satellite communications. So there’ s a lot of concern, ” according to CTV News Canada.
Karen Graham is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for environmental news. Karen's view of what is happening in our world is colored by her love of history and how the past influences events taking place today. Her belief in man's part in the care of the planet and our environment has led her to focus on the need for action in dealing with climate change. It was said by Geoffrey C. Ward, `` Journalism is merely history's first draft. '' Everyone who writes about what is happening today is indeed, writing a small part of our history.
The hunt for answers - like whether the Omicron variant will trigger new waves of infection.
Crime is raging across the country, from violent attacks to brazen shoplifting to mob “ smash and grab ” attacks.
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The Omicron variant that causes COVID-19 likely acquired at least one of its mutations by picking up genetic material from another virus.
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Six Key Takeaways from LVMH’ s 2019 Results | News & Analysis
It was another year of record growth for the luxury conglomerate, which placed big bets on the experience economy and fine jewellery. But there are challenges ahead.
News & Analysis
It was another year of record growth for the luxury conglomerate, which placed big bets on the experience economy and fine jewellery. But there are challenges ahead.
PARIS, France — LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA delivered more record growth in 2019, a year that saw it extend its already considerable reach in hospitality, jewellery and fashion. But even the world’ s largest seller of luxury goods isn’ t immune from the economic and political turmoil gripping key markets.Revenue for the group, which owns Louis Vuitton, Dior, Bulgari and numerous other luxury brands, reached €53.7 billion ( about $ 59 billion), up 10 percent year-over-year, excluding the effect of foreign-exchange fluctuations. Profit from recurring operations reached €11.5 billion ( about $ 12.7 billion), up 15 percent year-over-year. Sales in the fashion and leather goods category reached €22.2 billion ( about $ 24.5 billion), up 17 percent year-over-year.However, the fourth quarter was the company’ s weakest in 2019, with sales coming in at €15.27 billion ( $ 16.8 billion) and up 8 percent in organic growth, just short of analysts’ consensus forecast. In a research note, analysts with Piper Jaffray noted that sales in Hong Kong had plunged 40 percent in the quarter, as clashes between pro-democracy protestors and police shut down large swaths of the city ( Louis Vuitton plans to close one of its Hong Kong stores.) A consumption tax increase in Japan also dampened sales in the quarter.In a presentation with analysts, Chief Executive Bernard Arnault said 2020 is likely to bring further disruptions. He said predictions of a long-feared downturn in the global economy may be premature, but lean times will come eventually. “ We are not going to be able to escape a financial crisis at some point or another, ” he said. “ Asset prices continue to rise — that can’ t last … there is bound to be a readjustment. … It won’ t happen this year. ” Read on for more takeaways from LVMH’ s results:1. LVMH keeps the door open for deals. LVMH is still wrapping up its $ 16.2 billion deal to buy Tiffany & Co., the largest acquisition in the conglomerate’ s history. When an analyst asked about the possibility that LVMH could buy Prada, which may be looking for a buyer according to recent media reports, Arnault said: “ The Italian press lends me many ideas, which in a number of cases are wide of the mark. ” As for Pucci, John Galliano or other smaller brands in the company’ s portfolio, he said they weren’ t for sale. “ It’ s good to have small brands, ” Arnault said. “ Maybe one day we will come across a great designer who says, ‘ I’ ve got wonderful ideas for this small brand,’ and we tap into the archives. ” 2. Tiffany tasked with doubling in the next decade.The jewellery and watches division underperformed, growing only 3 percent on an organic basis to €4.4 billion. Tag Heuer was the main culprit, as reduced inventory levels and wholesale accounts cut sales in an already challenging market. The watches business is decreasing as a new generation of consumers looks to splurge on other types of accessories.LVMH is turning to Tiffany to boost its jewellery business. Arnault said he charged the company with the same growth levels seen at Bulgari since LVMH acquired it in 2011: doubling revenue and increasing operating profit by a factor of five. He gave a ten-year deadline to meet that target.Bernstein analyst Luca Solca said the goal is difficult but possible, aided by the fact that Tiffany’ s margins are already higher than Bulgari’ s.3. Hedi Slimane’ s Celine and Fenty are off to a slow start.While LVMH does not break out sales for individual brands in its report, it does describe growing labels using terms like “ solid, ” “ excellent ” and “ good. ” Celine earned none of those adjectives, despite the brand’ s transformational year and plenty of press attention. “ Celine may have some teething issues, ” said Solca.Hedi Slimane’ s first collection for the brand debuted on the Paris runways just about a year ago. LVMH Managing Director Antonio Belloni said Celine had seen improvements and highlighted the launch of its first perfume in November. “ They have done a massive investment in Celine that will probably take longer than expected to bear its fruit, '' said luxury analyst Mario Ortelli. `` The creative vision has probably been seen by the consumers as very similar to the precedent of Hedi and not yet distinctive of what Celine should stand for. `` Rihanna’ s Fenty Couture brand, the first fashion label launched by LVMH since Christian Lacroix in 1987, did not match the kind of growth seen right out of the gate by her makeup line in 2017, judging from how executives talked about it during the earnings presentation. “ It’ s off to a good start, ” said Arnault. “ Wait and see what comes next and what we do. She’ s got loads of ideas, I’ m sure we will do some very interesting things. ” 4. LVMH’ s e-commerce site 24S is not profitableThe conglomerate launched its own luxury e-commerce business under the umbrella of department store Le Bon Marché in 2017 and is the exclusive online third-party retailer for some of the portfolio’ s brands, such as Celine, Dior and Louis Vuitton. But the site has yet to become a significant shopping destination. “ We haven’ t found a way to make it profitable, ” said Arnault, adding that the company developed the web business modestly and may still find a way to make it work. But, “ it is almost insignificant for us. ” Ortelli said 24S has served as a `` laboratory to try solutions for attracting the consumer in the multi-brand environment '' and was likely never meant to `` move the needle of LVMH results. `` Arnault described himself as “ somewhat sceptical ” of the online sales business model because purchasing decisions are driven by so much by price comparisons. “ All of them are losing money, ” he said of the existing players. “ The bigger they are, the more money they lose. ” Arnault expressed admiration for Amazon’ s business, though he said he was concerned that its marketplace model enabled counterfeiters. He said LVMH would not participate if Amazon launches a luxury marketplace.5. Asia is not without its challenges.Asia is LVMH’ s largest and fastest-growing region, representing 30 percent of sales and growing 14 percent year-over-year in 2019. However, the ongoing protests in Hong Kong are taking a big bite, particularly with DFS, the retailer that sells liquor, cosmetics and other cosmetics to travellers.The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Louis Vuitton plans to close its Times Square Mall after the landlord refused to decrease rents. The label has seven other stores in the city and is still planning to open another one in the airport in 2021.Analysts had questions about the effects of the coronavirus outbreak, but LVMH executives said they were not concerned yet about longterm ramifications.Japan proved troublesome in 2019, especially in the fourth quarter of the year when sales decreased by 4 percent. The company blamed an increased consumption tax rate that came into effect on October 1.6. LVMH doubles down on `` experience. `` The conglomerate is making major moves into experiential luxury. In 2019, it acquired Belmond, the owner of Hotel Caruso on the Amalfi Coast and Orient Express trains from London to Venice, in a €2.6 billion deal. The hotel group has locations in 24 countries.The company is also reportedly planning to develop new Cheval Blanc hotel locations in London and Paris, with the former anchoring a two street-wide development in Mayfair that is expected to include a spa, restaurants and stores. “ That will extend our business to a more experiential area, ” said Arnault. “ There’ s a lot of synergies with our products. ” Disclosure: LVMH is part of a group of investors who, together, hold a minority interest in The Business of Fashion. All investors have signed shareholders’ documentation guaranteeing BoF’ s complete editorial independence.Related Articles: LVMH Buys Tiffany in $ 16 Billion DealLVMH Is Now the Second-Most Valuable Company in Europe: How Did That Happen? How Big Can LVMH Get?
Revenue for the group, which owns Louis Vuitton, Dior, Bulgari and numerous other luxury brands, reached €53.7 billion ( about $ 59 billion), up 10 percent year-over-year, excluding the effect of foreign-exchange fluctuations. Profit from recurring operations reached €11.5 billion ( about $ 12.7 billion), up 15 percent year-over-year. Sales in the fashion and leather goods category reached €22.2 billion ( about $ 24.5 billion), up 17 percent year-over-year.
However, the fourth quarter was the company’ s weakest in 2019, with sales coming in at €15.27 billion ( $ 16.8 billion) and up 8 percent in organic growth, just short of analysts’ consensus forecast. In a research note, analysts with Piper Jaffray noted that sales in Hong Kong had plunged 40 percent in the quarter, as clashes between pro-democracy protestors and police shut down large swaths of the city ( Louis Vuitton plans to close one of its Hong Kong stores.) A consumption tax increase in Japan also dampened sales in the quarter.
In a presentation with analysts, Chief Executive Bernard Arnault said 2020 is likely to bring further disruptions. He said predictions of a long-feared downturn in the global economy may be premature, but lean times will come eventually.
“ We are not going to be able to escape a financial crisis at some point or another, ” he said. “ Asset prices continue to rise — that can’ t last … there is bound to be a readjustment. … It won’ t happen this year. ”
Read on for more takeaways from LVMH’ s results:
1. LVMH keeps the door open for deals.
LVMH is still wrapping up its $ 16.2 billion deal to buy Tiffany & Co., the largest acquisition in the conglomerate’ s history. When an analyst asked about the possibility that LVMH could buy Prada, which may be looking for a buyer according to recent media reports, Arnault said: “ The Italian press lends me many ideas, which in a number of cases are wide of the mark. ”
As for Pucci, John Galliano or other smaller brands in the company’ s portfolio, he said they weren’ t for sale.
“ It’ s good to have small brands, ” Arnault said. “ Maybe one day we will come across a great designer who says, ‘ I’ ve got wonderful ideas for this small brand,’ and we tap into the archives. ”
2. Tiffany tasked with doubling in the next decade.
The jewellery and watches division underperformed, growing only 3 percent on an organic basis to €4.4 billion. Tag Heuer was the main culprit, as reduced inventory levels and wholesale accounts cut sales in an already challenging market. The watches business is decreasing as a new generation of consumers looks to splurge on other types of accessories.
LVMH is turning to Tiffany to boost its jewellery business. Arnault said he charged the company with the same growth levels seen at Bulgari since LVMH acquired it in 2011: doubling revenue and increasing operating profit by a factor of five. He gave a ten-year deadline to meet that target.
Bernstein analyst Luca Solca said the goal is difficult but possible, aided by the fact that Tiffany’ s margins are already higher than Bulgari’ s.
3. Hedi Slimane’ s Celine and Fenty are off to a slow start.
While LVMH does not break out sales for individual brands in its report, it does describe growing labels using terms like “ solid, ” “ excellent ” and “ good. ” Celine earned none of those adjectives, despite the brand’ s transformational year and plenty of press attention.
“ Celine may have some teething issues, ” said Solca.
Hedi Slimane’ s first collection for the brand debuted on the Paris runways just about a year ago. LVMH Managing Director Antonio Belloni said Celine had seen improvements and highlighted the launch of its first perfume in November.
“ They have done a massive investment in Celine that will probably take longer than expected to bear its fruit, '' said luxury analyst Mario Ortelli. `` The creative vision has probably been seen by the consumers as very similar to the precedent of Hedi and not yet distinctive of what Celine should stand for. ''
Rihanna’ s Fenty Couture brand, the first fashion label launched by LVMH since Christian Lacroix in 1987, did not match the kind of growth seen right out of the gate by her makeup line in 2017, judging from how executives talked about it during the earnings presentation.
“ It’ s off to a good start, ” said Arnault. “ Wait and see what comes next and what we do. She’ s got loads of ideas, I’ m sure we will do some very interesting things. ”
4. LVMH’ s e-commerce site 24S is not profitable
The conglomerate launched its own luxury e-commerce business under the umbrella of department store Le Bon Marché in 2017 and is the exclusive online third-party retailer for some of the portfolio’ s brands, such as Celine, Dior and Louis Vuitton. But the site has yet to become a significant shopping destination.
“ We haven’ t found a way to make it profitable, ” said Arnault, adding that the company developed the web business modestly and may still find a way to make it work. But, “ it is almost insignificant for us. ”
Ortelli said 24S has served as a `` laboratory to try solutions for attracting the consumer in the multi-brand environment '' and was likely never meant to `` move the needle of LVMH results. ''
Arnault described himself as “ somewhat sceptical ” of the online sales business model because purchasing decisions are driven by so much by price comparisons. “ All of them are losing money, ” he said of the existing players. “ The bigger they are, the more money they lose. ”
Arnault expressed admiration for Amazon’ s business, though he said he was concerned that its marketplace model enabled counterfeiters. He said LVMH would not participate if Amazon launches a luxury marketplace.
5. Asia is not without its challenges.
Asia is LVMH’ s largest and fastest-growing region, representing 30 percent of sales and growing 14 percent year-over-year in 2019. However, the ongoing protests in Hong Kong are taking a big bite, particularly with DFS, the retailer that sells liquor, cosmetics and other cosmetics to travellers.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Louis Vuitton plans to close its Times Square Mall after the landlord refused to decrease rents. The label has seven other stores in the city and is still planning to open another one in the airport in 2021.
Analysts had questions about the effects of the coronavirus outbreak, but LVMH executives said they were not concerned yet about longterm ramifications.
Japan proved troublesome in 2019, especially in the fourth quarter of the year when sales decreased by 4 percent. The company blamed an increased consumption tax rate that came into effect on October 1.
6. LVMH doubles down on `` experience. ''
The conglomerate is making major moves into experiential luxury. In 2019, it acquired Belmond, the owner of Hotel Caruso on the Amalfi Coast and Orient Express trains from London to Venice, in a €2.6 billion deal. The hotel group has locations in 24 countries.
The company is also reportedly planning to develop new Cheval Blanc hotel locations in London and Paris, with the former anchoring a two street-wide development in Mayfair that is expected to include a spa, restaurants and stores.
“ That will extend our business to a more experiential area, ” said Arnault. “ There’ s a lot of synergies with our products. ”
Disclosure: LVMH is part of a group of investors who, together, hold a minority interest in The Business of Fashion. All investors have signed shareholders’ documentation guaranteeing BoF’ s complete editorial independence.
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WuXi Biologics says coronavirus will not halt flow of critical drugs | From afar, it can sound like the whole of China has been overtaken by the outbreak of the novel and deadly coronavirus, but Chinese CDMO WuXi Biologics is reassuring the public it will continue to supply the critical drugs it produces to patients around the world.
its workforce and operations have been unaffected and that it is “ working vigilantly to execute our Business Continuity Plan to mitigate any potential risk ” and to ensure its products are unaffected by the outbreak.
WuXi, which counts some Big Pharma players among it clients, explained only 6% of its workforce has traveled to, or through, Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, and that none of its workers have been diagnosed with an infection. It says it is “ monitoring the health ” of employees.
“ We have sufficient number of staff to resume operations after the holiday break, ” the company says. ” We have a strong GMP quality system and a robust global supply chain. We do not expect to see any negative impact of this outbreak on our operations. ”
It did advise clients not to risk travel to China and to instead conduct meetings by phone or videoconference.
In a separate emailed release, the Chinese company also said it has assembled a team of more than 100 R & D folks to work on a variety of “ neutralizing antibodies ” from some of its biotech clients that may be used against the novel coronavirus ( 2019-nCoV). It expects to have the first batch ready for preclinical and human studies in two months and commercial supplies ready in record time. | tech |
Tesla temporarily closes Shanghai factory over coronavirus concerns | Tesla has shut down its Shanghai factory as part of a broader order by the Chinese government to stem the spread of the coronavirus in the region, a closure that will delay Model 3 production and ultimately put slight downward pressure on profits in the first quarter, the automaker’ s finance chief Zach Kirkhorn said during an earnings call Wednesday. Prior to the call, Tesla reported Wednesday $ 105 million in net income, or 56 cents a diluted share, compared with $ 140 million, or 78 cents a share, in the same year-ago period. Tesla earned $ 386 million, or $ 2.14 a share, in the fourth quarter when adjusted for one-time items. Tesla generated revenue of $ 7.38 billion in the fourth quarter, just 1% higher than the $ 7.2 billion generated in the same period in 2018. Model 3 production will be delayed by a week and a half, Kirkhorn said. Novel coronavirus, a new form of the family of viruses known as coronavirus, first cropped up in Wuhan in late December 2019. Since then, thousands of people have contracted the virus, causing the government to take measures such as shutting down transit and factories throughout the country, including Foxconn. Automakers Ford and Toyota have said they will idle some of their Chinese assembly plants for an extra week, the NYT reported. Apple CEO Tim Cook told investors that its Chinese suppliers are scheduled to remain closed until February 10. Meanwhile, Starbucks said Wednesday it would temporarily shutter more than 2,000 of its locations in China. “ We are in the early stages of understanding if, and to what extent, we may be temporarily impacted by the coronavirus, ” Kirkhorn said. “ At this point we’ re expecting a one, to one and a half week-delay in the ramp of the Shanghai build Model 3 due to a government required factory shutdown. This may slightly impact profitability for the quarter, but is limited as the profit contribution from Model 3 Shanghai remains in the early stages. ” Tesla is also closely monitoring if the coronavirus will cause interruptions in the supply chain for cars built in Fremont. “ So far we’ re not aware of anything material, but it’ s important to caveat, this is an unfolding story, ” Kirkhorn added. The first deliveries of Tesla Model 3 sedans produced at the Shanghai plant began in early January, one year after the U.S. automaker began construction on its first factory outside the United States. The deliveries to customers was a milestone for Tesla and a critical step for the company in its aim to carve out market share in the world’ s biggest auto market, as well as lessen the financial pain caused by tariffs. | business |
American Airlines suspends two routes to China as coronavirus spreads | The airline is canceling two routes between February 9 and March 27 because of `` significant decline in demand. '' The canceled flights include those between Los Angeles and Shanghai ( PVG) and Los Angeles and Bejing ( PEK).
American Airlines ( AAL) will continue to operate service to Hong Kong from its Dallas-Fort Worth and Los Angeles hubs.
Passengers on the affected flights will be notified by the airline for rebooking options.
United Airlines ( UAL) announced Tuesday is was suspending some flights between three Chinese cities and its US hubs. The airline said in a statement that the cancellations are because of a `` significant decline in demand. '' Some United flights between February 1 and February 8 have been canceled.
In total, United canceled 24 round trip routes. They are between Hong Kong to San Francisco and Newark; Beijing ( PEK) to Washington Dulles, Chicago O'Hare and Newark; and Shanghai ( PVG) to San Francisco, Newark and Chicago O'Hare.
Global airlines are also adjusting their schedules. British Airways, Air Canada ( ACDVF), Air Asia, Air India and Finland's Finnair have all suspended some flights between China and their respective countries.
Qatar Airways and Malaysia Airlines have not suspended flights, but passengers and crew traveling from China will be subjected to additional screening at airports.
Delta Air Lines ( DAL), Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, Air France-KLM ( AFLYY), and Austrian Airlines said they are monitoring developments but continue to fly to China.
As of Wednesday, there were 6,061 confirmed cases of the virus in mainland China, including 132 deaths, according to Chinese officials. The number of cases grew by around 1,500 from Tuesday, a more than 30% increase. The figures do not include Hong Kong and Macau, both of which have reported a small number of cases.
There have also been at least 91 cases of the virus reported outside mainland China.
-- CNN's James Griffiths contributed to this report. | business |
Coronavirus: Indian, Ecuadorian shrimp industries hold breath over potential China market collapse | The coronavirus and measures being taken to guard against a global pandemic threaten a key shrimp market. | general |
Clearwater reports no impact on critical China market from coronavirus yet | The company has been seeing exponential growth in China, helped by e-commerce operations -- so far, the impact of the fast-moving pandemic has been limited. | general |
Melbourne Researchers Grow First Coronavirus Sample | Researchers say they can now accurately investigate and diagnose the virus.
Researchers hailing from Melbourne's The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity were the first to grow the Wuhan coronavirus from a patient sample. It also marks the first time the virus has been grown in a cell culture outside of China.
Calling it a significant breakthrough, Dr. Julian Druce of The Royal Melbourn Hospital said researchers can accurately investigate and diagnose it globally now.
“ Chinese officials released the genome sequence of this novel coronavirus, which is helpful for diagnosis, however, having the real virus means we now have the ability to actually validate and verify all test methods, and compare their sensitivities and specificities - it will be a game changer for diagnosis, ” Dr. Druce said in a press release announcing the researchers work.
“ The virus will be used as positive control material for the Australian network of public health laboratories, and also shipped to expert laboratories working closely with the World Health Organization ( WHO) in Europe. '' The virus was grown from a sample that arrived at the hospital on 24, January.
The grown virus is expected to be used to develop an antibody test, which enables the detection of the virus in patients who haven't displayed any symptoms and weren't aware they had it. That, said the researchers, will enable them to create a more accurate picture of how widespread the virus really is and a true mortality rate. “ It will also assist in the assessment of effectiveness of trial vaccines, ” said Dr. Mike Catton, deputy director of the Doherty Institute.
As it stands the Wuhan coronavirus has now surpassed the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak in terms of reach with the number of deaths confirmed at 132. There are more than 6,000 cases of infected people around the world. In China alone, the death toll rose by 26 in one day. Currently, 17 countries outside of China have reported infected patients.
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By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. | tech |
Dow operating profit drops on lower prices, sees recovery in 2020 | Dow Inc reported a 27% fall in fourth-quarter operating profit on Wednesday as lower prices squeezed margins, but the chemicals maker pointed to a recovery in demand this year on the back of easing trade tensions.
An oversupplied market and uncertainties stemming from a prolonged U.S.-China trade war have hit prices for polyethylene, the main ingredient used in making most plastics
“ ( 2020 will see) not necessarily a snapback but improving demand as we go through the year just based on restocking to a normal demand pattern, ” Chief Financial Officer Howard Ungerleider told Reuters.
The Midland, Michigan-based company, which makes chemicals used in plastics, building materials and paints, reported a fall in sales across all its three businesses. Sales in packaging and specialty plastics unit, its biggest, tumbled 18%.
Overall volumes fell 2%, primarily due to weakness in its hydrocarbon and energy unit, which sells by-products of oil refining. The drop was largely due to a planned maintenance activity in Europe. Prices also declined 12% in the quarter.
However, Dow’ s results were boosted by double-digit growth in China. Leading into the Chinese New Year, Dow saw strong demand, with many customers either maintaining or buying additional inventory, Ungerleider said.
Commenting on the coronavirus outbreak, Ungerleider said it was “ too soon to tell ” the impact, but added it may be a positive for Dow’ s business as it supplies to the medical and health sectors.
Dow, which was spun off in April after chemical conglomerate DowDuPont split into three, said it reduced costs by $ 35 million in the quarter and would make further cuts this year.
Dow posted operating earnings of 78 cents per share, excluding certain items, from $ 1.07, a year earlier.
Net loss available to shareholders was $ 2.32 billion in the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with a profit of $ 891 million, primarily as the company took a $ 2.9 billion goodwill impairment charge.
Net sales fell 14.6% to $ 10.2 billion.
Sister companies DuPont, which makes chemicals used in the automotive and electronic industries, and Corteva, which makes pesticides and seeds, are set to post their quarterly reports on Thursday. ( Reporting by Taru Jain and Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’ Silva) | business |
The Scroll subscription service is an ingenious web technology hack | Welcome back to Processor, a newsletter about computers and also sometimes other things. You are probably expecting me to spend several paragraphs making fun of Google for creating yet another messaging product, as The Information reported yesterday. Not gon na do it: it’ s enterprise-focused and from what I can tell about Google’ s cloud business right now, a haphazard message app strategy is the least of their worries.
Instead, the thing that blew my mind yesterday was Scroll, a new $ 5 per month subscription service that gives you a bunch of websites without ads. I kept on experiencing successive waves of small revelations when I thought about it. I’ ll disclose now that Vox Media ( and therefore The Verge) are partners, but I had no idea this service existed until it was announced yesterday.
You’ re reading Processor, a newsletter about computers by Dieter Bohn. Dieter writes about consumer tech, software, and the most important news of the day from The Verge. This newsletter delivers three to four times a week, some of which include longer columns. You can subscribe to Processor and learn more about it here. Processor is also a YouTube series with the same goal: providing smart and surprising analysis with a bit of humor. Subscribe to all of The Verge’ s great videos here!
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First: although I don’ t have any specific reason to distrust Scroll, this still feels like a data privacy time bomb. Scroll won’ t sell my data, but what if the company that snaps up Scroll does someday? There’ s a prominent button for deleting your data, at least.
Scroll’ s privacy policy is refreshingly readable and candid about what it gathers and what it does and doesn’ t share — including being honest about sharing information with governments when required to by law. It also notes that your data could go along with a sale of the company itself. Basically I suggest you find the “ delete your information ” button and remember where it is.
Second: Scroll’ s entire method of stopping ads is an absolutely ingenious repurposing of third-party cookies. You log into Scroll, it sets a cookie, and then the websites you visit see that special cookie and don’ t serve you ads. It’ s not even ad-blocking, they just don’ t get served. It is actually quite elegant, but if you take a second to think through the chain of communications and deals that are required to make it that elegant, it seems like a hellacious hack.
Then again, as Nilay Patel said to me today, isn’ t most web technology a hellacious hack?
There are a few more details — Safari in particular is stricter than other browsers and so it requires an extension. Brave will also need some extra effort to work with Scroll. ( Scroll has a snarky footnote about them.)
Third: it’ s a much easier solution for websites to get paid than asking each of them to roll their own subscription. It tracks where you visit and automatically divvies payment up between those partner sites. I could ( and eventually will) quibble about the percentage Scroll is taking: $ 1.50 out of $ 5, or thirty percent.
As an independent startup, I’ m not going to begrudge Scroll its revenue, and it likely needs a bigger cut to stay in business than Apple or Google do on their App Stores. If the company hits scale, though, I’ d like to hope that it will find a way to reduce that cut.
Fourth: hang on let’ s think about that hellacious hack again! Although you have to constantly have Scroll email you a “ magic link ” and then ensure you open it in the right browser, it means that you are getting your paid-for ad-free experience in the app of your choosing.
Unlike Apple News ( disclosure: another Vox Media partner), you aren’ t forced into a not-especially-great app. You don’ t get a link that seems like it goes to a web page but actually just goes to Apple’ s app. You can also use it on any device you own, not just Apple’ s products. Also unlike Apple News, this subscription isn’ t really a subscription. For publications that put articles behind paywalls, Scroll won’ t get you in.
On the whole, though, I much prefer Scroll’ s system to Apple News. It works better with the existing web and the existing apps we all use to navigate it. A subscription system that turns off ads, pays publishers, and doesn’ t lock me into any particular app while also doing a pretty good job of keeping my login active? Seems good to me.
Still, I’ m not quite going to go quite so far as to endorse Scroll ( and not just because Vox Media is a partner). Deciding to sign up is between you, your level of trust in Scroll’ s privacy policies, your ad-blocking conscience, whether you care about the current list of partner publications, and the cost.
Fifth: Scroll puts a white bar at the bottom of every webpage it’ s active on, ostensibly so you have the benefit of getting share links and an audio reader mode. No thank you times a thousand, Scroll.
However, one benefit of using web browsers instead of Apple News is that web browsers are relatively open platforms and so you can use them to alter the web pages you visit ( at least on the desktop — on mobile things are still often locked down). So, for example, I have a little script that I cobbled together after a day of Googling that makes it easier for me to format the links in this newsletter by automatically changing the web page I store them on, Pinboard.in.
My favorite method is an extension called Tampermonkey. I wrote a little script for it that hides Scroll’ s annoying bar. Other than some preliminary settings, it’ s literally one line. It should work in Chromium-based browsers. Here it is, offered with zero support and absolutely no guarantees that it’ s any good at all.
Bonus sixth revelation: Tampermonkey offers a Google Drive-based sync, and since Microsoft’ s new Edge browser runs on Chromium, my script auto-synced from Chrome on a Mac to Edge on Windows and Just Worked. The Internet! Sometimes it’ ll surprise you.
└ Apple is limiting China travel and has closed one retail store due to coronavirus outbreak
└ iPhone maker Foxconn says coronavirus outbreak won’ t affect production
└ United Airlines suspends some China flights after coronavirus outbreak
└ Facebook, Razer, and LG are restricting employee travel to China amid coronavirus outbreak
If you’ re in need of a distraction from the news, several gaming publishers and developers have made their games cheap ( or in some cases free) to lighten the mood. We’ ve pulled together all of the timely discounts on games for your phone, PC, and gaming console right here. The list includes titles like Alto’ s Odyssey ( iOS, Android), Life is Strange ( PS4, Xbox One), The Sims 4 ( PC), and more.
Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. For more information, see our ethics policy. Prices displayed are based on the MSRP at time of posting.
└ To contain disease outbreaks, health officials rely on people’ s trust
You’ ve probably formed an opinion on how anti-vaxxers have affected public health ( the right opinion is that it has been for the worse). But similarly online misinformation can rush to fill the void of faster-moving health crises. Nicole Wetsman looks at the intersection of health, internet censorship, and trust:
If one crisis is handled poorly, there will likely be less trust during the next one. Not only that, but the spread of misinformation can have real-time impacts on what people believe. That erosion can weaken public health response.
└ How Amazon escapes liability for the riskiest products on its site
The outcome of some of these cases could determine the fate of Amazon’ s marketplace. Is it like an eBay or a Craigslist, with Amazon as a middleman, or is Amazon the retailer? People tend to think of Amazon as the latter but Amazon thinks of itself as the former. Great report here from Colin Lecher.
According to court records viewed by The Verge, Amazon has faced more than 60 federal lawsuits over product liability in the past decade. The suits are a grim catalog of disaster: some allege that hoverboards purchased through the company burned down properties. A vape pen purchased through the company exploded in a pocket, according to another suit, leaving a 17-year-old with severe burns.
└ BoJack Horseman’ s finale signals the end of a Netflix era
Julia Alexander has an excellent, focused history of Netflix as seen through the lens of its original programming decisions.
└ Everything we think we know about Samsung’ s next foldable phone
└ Everything we think we know about the Samsung Galaxy S20
└ Samsung’ s Galaxy Z Flip fully revealed in leaked images
The minimalist screen on the outside is an interesting choice. I will be very, very curious to see if this “ ultra-thin glass ” is actually more durable than plastic. We’ ve all sort of been assuming it will be, but it’ s no sure thing.
└ Moto G8 and G8 Power leak with hole-punch displays and midrange specs
If battery life and a big screen are your top needs in a smartphone, it’ s worth keeping an eye on these.
└ Filmic DoubleTake lets you record from two iPhone cameras at the same time
Apple hyped the heck out of this app, now it’ s finally here and Becca Farsace has run it through some paces:
With the Discreet mode, I was able to film from the Wide and Ultra-Wide, both at 1080p, at the same time. The H.264.mov exports are really clean and take very little time to transfer to the camera roll. Pair a clean export with the iPhone 11 Pro’ s excellent lens calibration, and you have a perfect punch in from a single phone.
└ UK defies US and refuses to ban Huawei from 5G networks
└ Google Translate will transcribe translations in real time on Android
One step closer to the Babel fish.
└ Neil Young says the MacBook Pro has ‘ Fisher-Price’ audio quality
You might think this headline is overstating how fiery this Vergecast interview is. But I promise you it is understating it.
└ Pokémon Home cloud storage service will launch in February for $ 3 a month
So if Nintendo creates a pokémon and then you catch that pokémon and then you put that pokémon back in a Nintendo server farm is that like throwing the pokémon back? Have you really caught anything? Are you just renting pokémon?
Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. For more information, see our ethics policy.
| tech |
Apple closes more stores in China as coronavirus spreads | The information you requested is not available at this time, please check back again soon.
Pedestrians stand outside an Apple Inc. store in Shanghai. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg, Bloomberg
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Apple Inc. closed more stores in China as the coronavirus continues to spread.
An update to the company’ s website on Wednesday showed two stores in Nanjing and Fuzhou, China, are temporarily shut. The locations are in shopping malls, which were closed as part of efforts to contain the virus.
Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said on Tuesday that an Apple store in Qingdao, China, was closed due to the virus. That location will re-open on Feb. 4, while the stores in Nanjing and Fuzhou will open again on Feb. 3, according to the company’ s retail website.
Apple is restricting employee travel to China to business-critical situations and it issued a revenue forecast that was wider than usual due to uncertainty surrounding the virus. The company said it would also increase the cleaning of its stores and take the temperature of retail workers. | general |
Twitter will tweak search results to fight coronavirus disinformation |
As conspiracy theories about the coronavirus spread on social media, Twitter is taking new steps to fight disinformation about the virus.
The company announced that it will prevent automated search results that are `` likely to direct individuals to non-credible content '' and, instead, use search to direct users to authoritative information from organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC).
``... We’ ve launched a new dedicated search prompt to ensure that when you come to the service for information about the # coronavirus, you’ re met with credible, authoritative information first, '' Twitter wrote in a statement. The company has formed partnerships with organizations in 14 countries, including the U.S., Australia, and Japan, and says it will expand to more locations `` as the need arises. ''
We want to help you access credible information, especially when it comes to public health.We’ ve adjusted our search prompt in key countries across the globe to feature authoritative health sources when you search for terms related to novel # coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/RrDypu08YZ
— Twitter Public Policy ( @ Policy) January 29, 2020
The approach is very similar to the work Twitter has done to combat vaccine-related disinformation on its platform. That effort, which also encourages users to `` know the facts, '' directs vaccine-related searches to vaccines.gov, a Department of Health and Human Services ( HHS) site, in an effort to discourage conspiracy theories and other incorrect information.
Though Twitter says it hasn't yet seen `` significant coordinated attempts to spread disinformation '' related to the coronavirus, there have been more than 15 million tweets related to the issue in the past four weeks alone, according to the company. Already, viral conspiracy theories and disinformation about the coronavirus have been spreading on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
So, while Twitter is unlikely to stamp out coronavirus disinformation entirely, the company says it hopes to contribute to efforts `` to contain the threat. '' | tech |
Apple restricts travel to China, closes one store due to coronavirus |
Apple talked about a lot of things during Tuesday's earnings call, but one of the most important topics covered wasn't tech-related. It was the coronavirus.
And although there were reports that the virus might directly affect Apple's ability to fulfill iPhone production orders, it was clear that Cook wanted to focus on one thing instead: The health and safety of employees working in Chinese retail locations.
While the Apple CEO didn't go into detail regarding possible production woes, he did confirm that Apple is donating to groups in areas affected by the outbreak in an attempt to contain it. The company is also working closely with its own team members to ensure that anyone in the affected area is okay.
As noted by MacRumors, Cook confirmed with CNBC that travel precautions have also been put in place. As of last week, all Apple employees have been restricted to `` business critical travel. '' Additionally, seeing as how Wuhan is where the outbreak started, Apple is also providing employees who live in the Wuhan area, and across China, with care kits.
What is inside those kits though, remains a mystery. Cook didn't specify.
Unfortunately, those care kits won't fix everything.
SEE ALSO: Coronavirus might put a wrench in Apple's iPhone production plans
Due to the virus outbreak, Apple set its guidance range for Q2 between $ 63 to $ 67 billion, which gives it a $ 4 billion cushion — pretty large for the company. But it makes sense given that it's impossible to foresee exactly how badly the virus will affect overall production and sales.
The company also made the decision to shut down one of its retail stores in China. Meanwhile, in other retail locations, Apple has cut down operating hours, checking on the health of its employees, and making sure its stores are kept clean.
Apple did also confirm that its retail traffic numbers are low across China. Not only are people staying inside in an attempt to shield themselves from this brutal virus, but the Lunar New Year played a part as well with suppliers getting a late start in reopening facilities.
Don't worry. Apple made sure to account for that in its second-quarter earnings as well. | tech |
Millions watch live as two emergency hospitals go up in virus-stricken Wuhan | Many are calling themselves volunteer construction “ supervisors ” as they exchange views over the internet on the emergency projects, which Wuhan city government promised would be finished by Monday, 3 February, China Daily reports. As of last night the confirmed death toll in China had reached 132, up from 26 on Friday, BBC News reports. The number of confirmed cases of the novel form of pneumonia stood at 4,537 as of last night, and 4,593 globally, the World Health Organisation said. The number of confirmed cases in China was 830 on Friday.Wuhan’ s government kickstarted construction of the first, 1,000-bed hospital, called Huoshenshan, on Friday, 24 January. The following day it launched a second hospital, called Leishenshan, to accommodate 1,300 beds. A third hospital for the virus, containing 1,000 beds, was created in just two days by converting an empty complex, the Dabie Mountain Medical Centre in the nearby city of Huanggang, into an emergency treatment centre.The first batch of coronavirus patients were checked into the facility at 10:30pm local time last night, state broadcaster CGTN reported. Image: ©GCR, illustration by Denis Carrier | tech |
Priests accused of sex abuse in religious order shut by Vatican | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Nine members of a religious order that was abruptly shuttered by the Vatican are under investigation for sex assault, the dioscese confirmed Wednesday, after allegations emerged linking the group to the abuse of two young brothers.
Prato Bishop Giovanni Nerbini, who reported allegations against priests and lay members of the now defunct Disciples of the Annunciation community to police, pledged the church's cooperation in the case.
The siblings were boys at the time of the suspected abuse, but came forward to denounce it as adults.
The Vatican dissolved the diocesan-approved association in December without mentioning abuse.
Nerbini's predecessor had reported the allegations to the Vatican, rather than the police, sparking an internal investigation into the community.
Catholic clergy are not obliged to report child sex abuse in Italy, to the frustration of victims and support groups who have long accused the Church of covering up alleged crimes and simply moving suspected predators to other dioceses.
The community's founder Giglio Gilioli, 73, was among those under investigation, according to the Nazione regional daily.
Nine members of a religious order that was abruptly shuttered by the Vatican are under investigation for sex assault, the dioscese confirmed Wednesday, after allegations emerged linking the group to the abuse of two young brothers.
Prato Bishop Giovanni Nerbini, who reported allegations against priests and lay members of the now defunct Disciples of the Annunciation community to police, pledged the church’ s cooperation in the case.
The siblings were boys at the time of the suspected abuse, but came forward to denounce it as adults.
The Vatican dissolved the diocesan-approved association in December without mentioning abuse.
Nerbini’ s predecessor had reported the allegations to the Vatican, rather than the police, sparking an internal investigation into the community.
Catholic clergy are not obliged to report child sex abuse in Italy, to the frustration of victims and support groups who have long accused the Church of covering up alleged crimes and simply moving suspected predators to other dioceses.
The community’ s founder Giglio Gilioli, 73, was among those under investigation, according to the Nazione regional daily.
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.
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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As Chinese Coronavirus Spreads, Biopharma and Governments Rush to Develop Vaccines | China’ s National Health Commission stated today that the coronavirus has infected 5,974 individuals, resulting in 132 deaths and 103 people being cured. This has passed the number of patients who were infected with SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, in 2003. As more and more cases are being diagnosed around the world, including in the U.S. and Canada, government officials and biopharma companies are fast-tracking vaccine development.
Last week, the U.S. National Institutes of Health ( NIH) began working on a vaccine. Although it might be sped up, it would take several months and potentially more than a year before a vaccine could become available.
A number of biopharma companies have indicated they plan to focus on developing a vaccine as soon as possible. One is Moderna, which has mRNA vaccine technology, and is working with NIH/NIAID/VRC on a potential vaccine.
Novartis is taking the threat seriously, but also believes a vaccine is at least a year off.
“ The reality is, it will take over a year in my expectation to really find a new vaccine for this so, we need to really use epidemiological controls to really get this situation in a better place, ” Vas Narasimhan, chief executive officer of Novartis, told CNBC.
So far, the virus, which was first identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has been diagnosed in Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, Malaysia, Japan, Australia, France, Canada and the U.S.
According to Reuters, a group of scientists in Australia successfully grew the coronavirus in the lab, the first recreated outside China. The researchers at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne agreed to share the sample, which was grown from a patient diagnosed with the infection. This will allow researchers to more quickly develop vaccines and potential treatments.
“ Having the real virus means we now have the ability to actually validate and verify all test methods, and compare their sensitivities and specificities, ” said Julian Druce, head of the Doherty Institute’ s virus identification laboratory. “ The virus will be used as positive control material for the Australian network of public health laboratories, and also shipped to expert laboratories working closely with the World Health Organization ( WHO) in Europe. ”
The virus will also be used to create an antibody assay that can detect the virus before symptoms appear.
Chinese officials have also shared the genetic sequence of the coronavirus on a public database.
The Trump administration reported U.S. health officials are fast-tracking vaccine development, with hopes of starting an early-stage clinical trial in the next three months. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the timeline was optimistic and emphasized that a Phase I trial does not mean “ you have a vaccine that’ s ready for deployment. ” He further said that a vaccine for the public could take a year or longer.
“ It will take three months to get it into the trial, three months to get safety, immunogenicity data, ” he said in a press conference. “ Then you move into Phase II. What we do from that point on will be determined by what has happened with the outbreak over those months. We are proceeding as if we will have to deploy a vaccine. In other words, we are working on the worst scenario that this becomes a bigger outbreak. ”
Hong Kong researchers say they have already developed a vaccine for the virus, but said it will “ take months ” to test it on animals and another year to run clinical trials on humans before it is ready.
Johnson & Johnson also indicated it believes it could develop a vaccine in a few months, but it would take up to a year to bring it to market.
There is precedent for this timeline. The first human trials for the Ebola vaccine launched in November 204 and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ( FDA) didn’ t approve a vaccine for it until December 2019. Granted, Ebola is a very different virus from the Chinese coronavirus.
Chinese health authorities are using Gilead Sciences’ Remdesivir, an antiviral, which was tested during the Ebola outbreak. Some are also using AbbVie’ s antiviral drug Kaletra on a “ compassionate basis, ” according to U.S. health officials.
Fauci said, “ When we were dealing with SARS, we developed monoclonal antibodies as potential therapeutics. Given the somewhat close homology between SARS and the new novel coronavirus, there could be some cross-reactivity there that could be utilized. ”
The coronavirus belongs to the same family of viruses that causes colds, but also more severe infections like SARS and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome ( MERS). At this time, not a lot is known about how dangerous the virus is or where it originated, although it is believed to jumped from wild animals sold at a market in Wuhan, to humans. It is now spreading person-to-person, even before symptoms appear.
Symptoms include fever, cough, shortness of breath and difficulties breathing. Its most severe cases can cause pneumonia. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC) indicates that symptoms may appear between two and 14 days after exposure.
The WHO’ s recommendations for reducing the risk of infection include washing hands with soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizers, covering nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing, avoiding close contact with people with cold or flu symptoms, thoroughly cook meat and eggs, and avoid unprotected contact with live wild or farm animals.
In terms of comparative risk, in the U.S. alone, at least 8,200 people have died from influenza this year, including 54 children—and there is already a seasonable vaccine available. And for this season, 2019-2020, the CDC indicates there have been at least 15 million flu illnesses resulting in 140,000 hospitalizations. The flu kills up to 650,000 people each year globally.
“ When we think about the relative danger of this new coronavirus and influenza, there’ s just no comparison, ” William Schaffner, professor of preventive medicine and health policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told Kaiser Health News. “ Coronavirus will be a blip on the horizon in comparison. The risk is trivial. ” | general |
British Airways and other carriers suspend flights to China as coronavirus spreads | British Airways, United Airlines, American Airlines, Air Asia, Cathay Pacific, Air India, IndiGo, Lufthansa and Finnair have announced plans to slash the number of flights they are operating to China or stop flying to the country entirely. Other airlines are offering customers refunds.
Airlines are taking action as the deadly coronavirus continues to spread. The virus has killed 132 people and infected over 6,000 people in China so far, with dozens more cases confirmed in places such as the United States, Japan, Germany and France.
British Airways, which is owned by International Airlines Group ( ICAGY), said Wednesday that it has suspended all direct flights between Britain and China with immediate effect after the UK Foreign Office warned against all but essential travel to China.
The carrier operates two daily direct flights from London to China — one to Beijing ( PKX) and one to Shanghai ( PVG). The airline said it had suspended the flights until January 31 while it assesses the situation, but they were unavailable to book online through February 29. Passengers can still book BA flights to mainland China via connections in cities such as Hong Kong.
The carrier's move comes a day after United Airlines ( UAL) temporarily reduced its schedule between the United States and three cities in China.
The US airline said in a statement Tuesday that `` significant decline in demand '' had forced it to suspend flights from February 1 through February 8 between its US hubs and Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
In total, 24 round trips are affected: Hong Kong to San Francisco and Newark; Beijing ( PEK) to Washington Dulles, Chicago O'Hare and Newark; and Shanghai ( PVG) to San Francisco, Newark and Chicago O'Hare.
On Wednesday, American Airlines became the second US carrier to suspend some of its flights to China due to a drop off in demand. The airline said it is canceling flights from Los Angeles to Shanghai ( PVG) and Beijing ( PEK) from February 9 through March 27. It will continue to fly to Hong Kong from its Dallas-Fort Worth and Los Angeles hubs.
American Airlines ( AAL), Delta Air Lines ( DAL) and United all extended change fee waivers through the end of February.
The Hong Kong government said in a statement that four local airlines, including flagship carrier Cathay Pacific ( CPCAY), would gradually reduce the number of flights between the city and 24 destinations in China from 480 flights per week to 240 per week. The reduction will be in effect `` until further notice. ''
Air Canada ( ACDVF), which has 33 weekly flights to China, has also canceled select flights due to a reduction in demand.
A spokeswoman for Germany's national carrier, Lufthansa, said it has canceled all flights to and from China until February 9, and suspended bookings until the end of February. These measures also apply to its subsidiaries, Swiss International Airlines and Austrian Airlines. Flights to and from Hong Kong continue to operate normally.
Air Asia ( AIABF), which has flights from Thailand and Malaysia to Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, said it has suspended all flights to the city until February 29.
Air India said on Twitter that its flight between Shanghai ( PVG) and Mumbai, which goes via Delhi, has been canceled from January 31 to February 14. IndiGo, its rival, has suspended flights from Delhi to Chengdu ( CTU) from February 1 until February 20 due to a high number of cancellations by customers. The airline is also suspending flights from Bengaluru to Hong Kong starting next month.
Finland's Finnair is canceling three weekly flights between Helsinki and Beijing ( PKX) between February 5 and March 29, and two weekly flights between Helsinki and Nanjing ( NKG) between February 8 and March 29, because of the suspension of group travel by Chinese authorities. It will continue to operate flights to Beijing ( PEK), Shanghai ( PVG), Hong Kong ( HKG) and Guangzhou ( CAN).
Qatar Airways and Malaysia Airlines have not suspended flights, but passengers and crew traveling from China will be subjected to additional screening at airports. Virgin Atlantic and Air France-KLM ( AFLYY) said they are monitoring developments but continue to fly to China.
— Jordan Valinsky, Stephanie Halasz, Hanna Ziady, Anna Stewart and Nadine Schmidt contributed to this report. | business |
Drug giant Novartis sees higher sales | Novartis expects higher sales and profitability this year, lifted by its broad range of drugs, and minimal disruption to its supply chain from the coronavirus outbreak in China.
Novartis expects higher sales and profitability this year, lifted by its broad range of drugs, and minimal disruption to its supply chain from the coronavirus outbreak in China.
The Swiss pharmaceutical giant said in October it plans to shed 320 jobs, more than half the workforce, at its Cork campus over the next three years.
The drugmaker’ s upbeat outlook and quarterly results outshone the results from Pfizer and set the bar for rival Roche which is expected to report higher 2019 sales and profit today on Thursday.
Novartis shares rose 1% after the company said it would raise its dividend 4% and as boss Vas Narasimhan downplayed the threat of coronavirus disruptions.
China is one of Novartis’ s fastest-growing markets and has research and development operations there but also obtains supplies of active pharmaceutical ingredients from Chinese suppliers.
After the coronavirus outbreak, Novartis asked Chinese staff to work from home until February 10 while suspending some business travel, but Mr Narasimhan said he expects the company to emerge unscathed thanks to sufficient supplies to ride out interruptions.
The head of generics unit Sandoz, Richard Saynor, said the company has evaluated its stocks of ingredients and concluded that it has an adequate buffer for now. | general |
Shares trade nervously as virus death toll mounts | European shares notched small gains but markets continue to understand the potential fallout of the coronavirus outbreak on global growth.
European shares notched small gains but markets continue to understand the potential fallout of the coronavirus outbreak on global growth.
Investors continued to be wary as the death toll from the Chinese outbreak exceeded that of the Sars virus of 17 years ago, and the World Health Organisation said its emergency committee would meet later today to consider issuing a global alarm.
Shares in British Airways-owner IAG were unchanged even as BA said it will halt flights to Beijing and Shanghai, joining other carriers in announcing the cutting or suspension of flights to China following the coronavirus outbreak. United Airlines, the biggest US carrier to China said it would cut flight service after a drop in demand.
Governments tightened international travel and border crossings with China as they ramped up efforts to stop the spread of the disease and airlines across the world suspended more flights to the country, as a number of countries moved to evacuate citizens from the outbreak’ s epicentre, Wuhan. | general |
How to stop Wuhan coronavirus outbreak from spreading throughout the world | Since the first case was identified in early December in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, more than 5,900 people have fallen sick and at least 132 people have died in mainland China. In addition, there are dozens of confirmed cases in 17 locations outside of mainland China, including at least five in the United States.
The number of total cases worldwide now exceeds 6,000.
The world has never had more advanced medical science, but it's also never been so interconnected. So, what can be done to stop it from becoming a global epidemic?
There's still plenty we don't know about the virus, known officially as 2019-nCov, but Chinese authorities believe that it is spreading human to human, and that people can be infected before symptoms show.
The World Health Organization ( WHO) has stopped short of calling it a global health emergency, but there's no disputing that it is spreading. Over the weekend, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned the outbreak is accelerating.
`` Life is of paramount importance. When an epidemic breaks out, a command is issued. It is our responsibility to prevent and control it, '' he said, according to Chinese state media.
First thing's first. How bad is it?
Although it's scary to think of a deadly virus spreading, it's important to remember that the vast majority of cases so far have not been fatal.
The mortality rate is changing as the numbers of people affected change. As of Tuesday, Wuhan coronavirus ' mortality rate was about 2.3%. By comparison, the WHO estimated that the severe acute respiratory syndrome ( SARS) outbreak of 2003 had an overall fatality ratio of 9.6%. Middle East respiratory syndrome ( MERS) -- another type of coronavirus -- has a mortality rate of 35%.
However, a large proportion of the coronavirus cases are considered `` severe '' and very few people have so far been released from hospital after recovering, according to official numbers.
So how are doctors treating it?
There are no specific treatments for coronaviruses, which range from the common cold to SARS. But just like the common cold, doctors can treat the symptoms, said Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of the WHO's emerging diseases and zoonoses unit.
David Heymann, the WHO's Assistant Director-General for Health Security and Environment, said doctors would be making sure patients can breathe properly and give them life support if required. Aside from that, the benefit of keeping people in hospital would be isolating them from the general population, so they can't infect others.
What else can doctors do?
The way to stop an outbreak is to work out who a patient has had contact with, and try to stop them from spreading the virus, Heymann said.
Doctors put all the contacts the patient has had recently under `` fever surveillance, '' he said. If those contacts develop a fever, then they are immediately tested for the virus -- and then their contacts need to be traced. Hospitals must follow good practice, so that doctors themselves are not helping the disease.
`` By tracing contacts, identifying new cases, isolating new cases, you can interrupt transmission eventually, '' he said, adding that was how the 2003 SARS outbreak was brought under control. `` Those are the things you can do -- clean up hospital practices, make sure that they're done well so that you don't transmit in hospitals, and at the same time, make sure that you're tracing contacts and identifying all cases. ''
What about travel bans?
Authorities in Hong Kong, which borders mainland China, have established travel bans, telling residents of Hubei and those who have visited the province in the past 14 days that they can't enter the city. They 've also said that all public, cultural and leisure facilities will be closed `` until further notice '' in a move to control the spread of Wuhan coronavirus. On Tuesday, Hong Kong announced it was closing many of its borders with mainland China.
In mainland China, isolation has been taken to another level.
Chinese authorities have shut down transport in and out of Wuhan and at least 10 other cities, effectively quarantining millions of people. Wuhan's mayor, Zhou Xianwang, told state broadcaster CCTV on Monday that even though history may not remember the move kindly, `` we think as long as it's good for the control of the epidemic and people's safety, we are willing to take any responsibilities for locking down the city. ''
Peter Daszak, president of non-profit EcoHealth Alliance, which researches emerging infectious diseases, hailed the move as `` bold, '' saying it was not without political risks but might be enough to help stop coronavirus spreading.
It's a move that's never been done before at such magnitude -- and it has prompted criticism from some experts.
There were smaller quarantines during the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, but those led to violent protests and a distrust of public health authorities, said Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University and director of the WHO's Center on Global Health Law, adding that the move could even hamper the outbreak response.
Others have cautioned that it may be unwise for logistical issues. Wuhan health authorities earlier said local hospitals are overwhelmed, and the city plans to build two more hospitals within days.
`` The health risks for people in the city depends on how they're closing it down, '' said Heymann, referring to food and medical supplies. Even so, the move would hopefully decrease the number of cases that made it to other countries, he added.
What about vaccines?
Last century, smallpox killed about 300 million people, according to the World Economic Forum. Thanks to vaccines, it became the first deadly disease to be completely wiped out.
So, it's no surprise that scientists would want to develop a vaccine for the Wuhan coronavirus. According to Daszak, there are already vaccine candidates -- and scientists around the world are working towards developing one.
But even if scientists do successfully develop a vaccine, it might not be ready in time to treat this outbreak.
According to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, it will take a few months until the first phase of clinical trials begin -- and then more than a year until a vaccine might be available.
Heymann, from the WHO, said it's highly unlikely that any vaccines that come up for study during this outbreak would be available anytime soon.
`` They 'll be available if this outbreak continues for any long period of time, but nobody knows what will happen to this outbreak, '' Heymann said.
Even then, a vaccine can't be used to treat people with the virus -- it can only be given to people who haven't already been exposed to it.
Should the WHO declare a global health emergency?
So far, the WHO has decided not to declare a public health emergency of international concern ( PHEIC) -- although Dr. Takeshi Kasai, the WHO's regional director for the Western Pacific, warned `` it may yet become one. ''
A PHEIC is defined as something that constitutes a public health risk to other states due to the speed of it spreading overseas, which requires a coordinated international response. If a PHEIC is declared, all WHO member states must abide by the WHO Emergency Committee's recommendations.
Last week, the WHO said that while the outbreak was serious in China, it had not yet hit a global level. But the WHO may also be concerned about creating unnecessary panic.
During the SARS outbreak that infected more than 8,000 people and killed 774 around the world between November 2002 and July 2003, the WHO warned visitors not to travel to Hong Kong. In May 2003, the WHO withdrew that advisory, but Hong Kong remained on a list of affected areas until June 23, 2003.
Some considered that move to be an overreaction, according to a paper published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine in August 2003.
`` In some circles, the WHO is perceived to have overreacted to the epidemic, causing unnecessary panic on the international scene and putting unjustified barriers in the way of persons from 'infected ' areas wishing to attend such events as business exhibitions or international sports activities, '' the paper said.
What can the public do? Are masks useful?
Masks are being used so widely in Hong Kong and mainland China that stocks are running low.
Wearing masks is now mandatory for those going out in public in Wuhan. The Chinese central government has asked manufacturers of medical face masks to resume production over the Lunar New Year period. According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, 30 factories have resumed production and are making 8 million masks each day.
But it's still unclear how the virus is spread, or whether masks would stop it, Heymann said.
`` There's no evidence that it's circulating in a way that could prevent it, '' he said. And even if the disease can spread through the air, masks might not be entirely effective. `` Masks are very tricky to wear, '' he added, explaining that if there is an air gap in the mask, it won't work.
What else can be done?
Experts say there is one simple thing you can do: wash your hands.
The WHO's Van Kerkhove said she recommends washing hands with soap and water and sneezing into your elbow, if you have to sneeze.
Informing people about what to look out for is also vital, according to Heymann. If a person who is asymptomatic shows up in an airport, they may not be picked up by authorities who are only screening for fever.
`` A border doesn't stop infections, people can cross borders while they're in the incubation period. So, screening will pick out some, but it certainly won't get others, '' Heymann said.
`` So, what's important at screening is to tell people, not only 'we're taking your temperature '. But giving them some kind of notification about where they go should they get a fever. '' | business |
Apple soars to new high as iPhone demand fuels record quarter | The information you requested is not available at this time, please check back again soon.
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Apple Inc. shares jumped to a record high Wednesday after reporting holiday-quarter revenue that beat Wall Street expectations on rebounding iPhone demand and surging sales of wearable devices.
The results are a remarkable comeback from a year ago, when the most valuable technology company missed its own targets. A sales forecast for the current quarter also exceeded analysts’ projections, while services revenue came in slightly below expectations.
The shares, which have more than doubled over the past year, gained as much as three per cent to US $ 327.25 at 9:37 a.m. in New York. That’ s the highest intraday valuation since the stock started trading in the 1980s, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“ The strength is coming from the iPhone and continued really strong growth in wearables and the App Store, ” said Shannon Cross of Cross Research. “ The iPhone was very strong. ”
The Cupertino, California-based company reported $ 91.8 billion in revenue for the fiscal first quarter, up nine per cent from a year earlier. Wall Street was looking for US $ 88.4 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Profit was US $ 4.99 a share, also beating analysts’ expectations.
For the fiscal second quarter, Apple said sales will be between US $ 63 billion and US $ 67 billion. Analysts estimated US $ 62.3 billion, on average.
After years of rapid growth, Apple’ s expansion has slowed as demand for smartphones waned and competition from Chinese rivals intensified. Under Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook, the company’ s strategy has evolved. It now aims to sell new handsets to customers every three to five years, and then offer as many services and accessories as possible in the intervening years.
On Tuesday, Cook said Apple saw “ strong demand ” for the latest iPhones and noted that a base of more than 1.5 billion devices has been “ a great driver of our growth across the board. ”
Cook addressed the coronavirus during a conference call with analysts, saying Apple is following developments in China. The company is working closely with employees and partners in the region, he added. Virtually all iPhones are made by Foxconn’ s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. in Zhengzhou, China, and by Pegatron Corp. at an assembly site near Shanghai.
Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said the revenue range projected for the fiscal second quarter was wider than usual due to uncertainty created by the spread of the virus.
Analysts have been particularly excited about wearable accessories, such as the Apple Watch and AirPods.
However, the iPhone still generates the majority of Apple’ s revenue. And this crucial business has improved from a dire performance in last year’ s holiday period. The iPhone 11 and 11 Pro models were well received in their debut in the fall and demand in China has been particularly strong, outselling 2018’ s releases in a market that has otherwise been shrinking.
Apple generated US $ 56 billion in revenue from the iPhone in the fiscal first quarter, up 8 per cent from a year earlier. That was a lot better than the 2018 holiday period, when sales of the handset dropped about 15 per cent. Apple cut the price of its entry-level flagship iPhone by US $ 50, luring buyers. There are also millions of older iPhones that are losing software support from the company, spurring new purchases.
Wearables, including AirPods, and other accessories generated $ 10 billion in revenue in the holiday quarter, up 37 per cent from a year ago.
The company reported Services revenue of US $ 12.7 billion, up 17 per cent from the same period last year. That missed analysts’ forecasts. This business still mostly relies on older offerings such as the App Store, iCloud storage and Apple Music. It’ s unclear how well Apple TV+, the Apple Card and the Apple Arcade gaming subscription are performing, but there have been signs of weak demand for Apple News+, the company’ s digital magazine subscription.
“ One note of caution in an otherwise strong report was that Services, which included Apple TV+, grew slightly below expectations, ” said EMarketer principal analyst Yoram Wurmser. “ This miss could be attributed to the competition from Disney+, which launched at roughly the same time. ” | general |
Alibaba's Jack Ma donates $ 14 million to develop coronavirus vaccine | The billionaire has earmarked 40 million yuan ( $ 5.8 million) for two Chinese government research organizations, according to a social media post from the Jack Ma Foundation.
The remainder of the funds will be used to support `` prevention and treatment '' measures, the foundation said.
The donation follows an announcement on Saturday by Alibaba that it is setting up a 1 billion yuan ( $ 144 million) fund to buy medical supplies for Wuhan and Hubei province, the epicenter of the virus outbreak.
The company is also offering free AI computing power to scientific research organizations to support the search for a vaccine or treatments.
Alibaba is one of a host of Chinese technology companies donating funds to coronavirus treatment efforts, according to state-owned newspaper China Daily.
Others include telecom equipment and smartphone maker Huawei, e-commerce company Tencent ( TCEHY), search engine Baidu ( BIDU), TikTok owner ByteDance and food delivery firm, Meituan-Dianping.
Scientists in the United States and China are among those working on a vaccine.
But it may be more than a year until a vaccine is available, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The virus has killed at least 132 people, with nearly 6,000 cases confirmed in mainland China. More than 80 cases have been confirmed elsewhere, including in the United States and Australia.
— Elizabeth Cohen contributed reporting. | business |
Comtech Telecommunications Corp. signed an agreement to acquire Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. IDB Development Corporation Limited and others for approximately $ 570 million. | Comtech Telecommunications Corp. ( NasdaqGS: CMTL) signed an agreement to acquire Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. from IDB Development Corporation Limited and others for approximately $ 570 million on January 29, 2020. Comtech Telecommunications has agreed to acquire Gilat in a cash and stock transaction for $ 10.25 per share. Pursuant to the merger agreement, each Gilat ordinary share will be converted into the right to receive consideration of ( i) $ 7.18 in cash, without interest, plus ( ii) 0.08425 of a share of Comtech common stock, with cash payable in lieu of fractional shares. Upon completion of the transaction, Gilat’ s shareholders will own approximately 16.1% of the combined company. Comtech expects to fund the cash portion of the acquisition and related transaction costs by redeploying a portion of the $ 100 million of pro forma combined cash and cash equivalents plus additional cash expected to be generated prior to closing, and by drawing on a new $ 800 million secured credit facility to be provided by Citibank, N.A., Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company, Santander Bank, N.A., BMO Harris Bank, N.A., Regions Bank, Israel Discount Bank of New York and Goldman Sachs Bank USA. After closing of the transaction Gilat Satellite Networks will became wholly owned subsidiary of Comtech and the shares of Comtech Common Stock will be traded on both the Nasdaq as well as the TASE. In case of termination, Gilat Satellite Networks will pay termination fee of $ 21.68 million, which is of approximately 3.75% of the transaction value. Fred Kornberg, Comtech’ s Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer will continue in his role as Chief Executive Officer of the combined company. Yona Ovadia, Gilat’ s Chief Executive Officer will be the leader of the combined firm and Adi Sfadia, Gilat’ s Chief Financial Officer. Sfadia will also be assuming the role of Gilat’ s Chief Integration Officer. Gilat will continue to maintain its corporate headquarters and research and development facility in Petah Tikva, Israel. No Comtech or Gilat facility locations are expected to be closed as a result of the transaction and each key business area is expected to continue to be led by its respective existing proven leadership teams after the transaction closes. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals, approval of shareholders of Gilat, antitrust approval, listing of new shares, Israeli statutory approvals, Form S-4 being declared effective and other conditions. The transaction is not subject to any financing condition. The transaction is unanimously approved by Board of Directors of Comtech and Gilat. Gilat’ s Board of Directors unanimously recommends the shareholders to vote in favor of the transaction. Gilat’ s Directors, executive officers and certain significant shareholders holding approximately 45% of Gilat’ s issued and outstanding shares in the aggregate have entered into voting agreements pursuant to which they have agreed, subject to certain terms and conditions, to vote in favor of the transaction. As of March 31, 2020, the statutory waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act has expired. The Registration Statement was declared effective on April 3, 2020. As of May 8, 2020, the shareholders of Gilat Satellite Networks have approved the transaction at their Extraordinary General Meeting. The transaction is still under the review of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation. In May 2020, Comtech received notification from the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation that it was extending the review period for its application pending a decision under the Foreign Investment Law to determine whether approval is required from the Chairman of the Russian Government Commission for Supervising Foreign Investments. The Gilat Board appointed a transaction committee of the Gilat Board, consisting of Dov Baharav, Chairman and Directors Dafna Sharir and Ishay Davidi. On July 11, 2020, Gilat has been notified that an amended complaint was filed by Comtech Telecommunications Corp. against Gilat in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware. The amended complaint seeks an additional declaratory judgment that Gilat has suffered a “ Material Adverse Effect ” as defined in the Merger Agreement, largely as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and, as a consequence, Comtech is not required to consummate the merger because certain closing conditions of the Merger Agreement can not be satisfied. Gilat strongly rejects all such allegations and intends to file a counter claim against Comtech seeking a declaration that Comtech can not terminate the Merger Agreement and, if the merger is not consummated, Comtech should pay Gilat monetary damages. The transaction closing is expected to occur in the second or third quarter of the 2020 calendar year. Excluding the impact of acquisition plan costs including transaction expenses and with conservative anticipated synergies of only $ 2 million derived from the elimination of Gilat’ s public company costs, the acquisition of Gilat is expected to be cash accretive to Comtech during the first twelve months post-closing. Goldman Sachs and Co. LLC acted as financial advisor, Robert Cantone, Michael Ellis, Ron Franklin, Ira Bogner, Richard Corn, Colin Kass, Daryn Grossman, Gail Port and John Ingrassia of Proskauer Rose LLP and Ashok J. Chandrasekhar and Ido G. Zemach of Goldfarb Seligman & Co. acted as legal advisors to Comtech. Alnitak & Co. Inc., Bradley Woods & Co. Ltd., Jefferies LLC and Quilty Analytics LLC acted as financial advisors and Sharon A. Amir, Tuvia J. Geffen and Idan Lidor of Naschitz Brandes Amir & Co. and Steven J. Glusband, Austin Keyes, Marc Kushner, Gary Sesser, Patricia Matzye, Ann Batchelor Pace and Guy Ben-Ami of Carter Ledyard & Milburn, LLP acted as legal advisors to Gilat. Jefferies LLC has provided a fairness opinion and suggested that the deal is fair to Gilat and received fee of $ 1.25 million. American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, LLC acted as transfer agent and registrar for Gilat Satellite. Duff & Phelps Corporation, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and Deloitte & Touche LLP acted as accounting and financial due diligence providers to Comtech. Quilty Analytics acted as industry, operational and business due diligence provider to Gilat. American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, LLC acted as transfer agent for the Comtech Telecommunications. Stephen M. Kotran of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP acted as a legal advisor to Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC. | business |
Stephen S Roach: Outlook does not tally with economy close to stall speed | When world output growth slips to the lower half of that range — as it did in 2019 — the risks of global recession need to be taken seriously, writes Stephen S Roach
When world output growth slips to the lower half of that range — as it did in 2019 — the risks of global recession need to be taken seriously, writes Stephen S Roach
With the benefit of full-year data, only now are we becoming aware of the danger the global economy narrowly avoided in 2019.
According to the International Monetary Fund’ s latest estimates, world GDP grew by just 2.9% last year — the weakest performance since the outright contraction in the depths of the global financial crisis in 2009 and far short of the 3.8% pace of post-crisis recovery over the 2010-18 period.
On the surface, 2.9% global growth doesn’ t appear too shabby. But 40 years of perspective says otherwise. Since 1980, trend world GDP growth has averaged 3.5%. For any economy, including the world as a whole, the key to assessing growth implications can be found in deviations from the trend — a proxy for the so-called output gap.
Last year’ s shortfall from trend ( 0.6 percentage points) brought growth uncomfortably close to the widely accepted global recession threshold of approximately 2.5%.Unlike individual economies, which normally contract in an outright recession, that is rarely the case for the world as a whole.
We know from the IMF’ s extensive coverage of the world economy, which consists of a broad cross-section of some 194 countries, that in a global recession about half of the world’ s economies are typically contracting, while the other half are still expanding — albeit at a subdued pace.
The global recession of a decade ago was a notable exception: by early 2009, fully three-quarters of the world’ s economies were actually shrinking. That tipped the scales to a rare outright contraction in world GDP, the first such downturn in the overall global economy since the 1930s.
For global business-cycle analysts, the 2.5-3.5% growth band is considered the danger zone. When world output growth slips to the lower half of that range — as it did in 2019 — the risks of global recession need to be taken seriously. As is typically the case for official, or institutional, forecasts, the IMF is projecting a modest acceleration of annual world GDP growth in 2020 and 2021, to 3.3% and 3.4%, respectively.
But as the physicist Niels Bohr once said: “ Prediction is very difficult, especially if it is about the future. ” Just ask the IMF, which has revised down six consecutive iterations of its global forecast. Obviously, there is no guarantee that its latest optimistic projection will be realised.
Downside risks are especially worrisome, because a 2.9% growth outcome for the world economy underscores the lack of a comfortable cushion in the event of a shock. As I noted recently, predicting shocks is a fool’ s game. Yet the draconian measures that China is now taking to contain the lethal Wuhan coronavirus only serve to remind us that shocks are far more frequent than we care to think.
A few weeks ago, it was the possibility of a hot war between the United States and Iran. And before that, there was the increasingly contentious US-China trade war. The point is that below-trend global growth, especially when it moves into the lower half of the 2.5-3.5% range, is nearing its stall speed. | general |
China's national women's soccer team quarantined in Brisbane hotel amid coronavirus fears | The team is in Australia to play in an Olympic qualifying tournament, which had originally been due to be staged in Wuhan in China.
But as the Wuhan coronavirus spread across Asia and the rest of the world, the tournament was moved to Nanjing in China and then Sydney. At least 132 people are dead and more than 6,000 cases have been confirmed in mainland China.
The Chinese women's team had flown to Brisbane in Queensland, Australia ahead of playing in the Sydney tournament, but is now being held at their hotel.
`` We are working closely with the hotel and the 32 individuals concerned -- who are all well and not showing symptoms -- and we have Queensland Heath staff present at the hotel, '' said Dr. Jeannette Young, Chief Health Officer at Queensland Health.
`` The hotel is in the process of alerting other guests and staff and making suitable arrangements. We want to reassure the public, no one else in this hotel, including staff, is at risk.
`` If any of the individuals begin to show symptoms, they will be transferred to a hospital, and any necessary contact tracing will take place. ''
Queensland Health acted amid fears for the spread of the deadly coronavirus in Australia. There are 91 confirmed cases outside of China, including at least five in the US.
Australia has seven confirmed cases after a 44-year-old Chinese national in Queensland was found to have the illness.
READ: Life inside ground zero of Wuhan coronavirus outbreak
READ: Wuhan coronavirus death toll rises to 17 with 509 infected says China, sparking fears of wider spread
The Chinese women's team had been due to play Thailand on February 3, but will no longer be able to following their quarantine order.
A number of sporting events in China have already been postponed, cancelled or under threat.
The Chinese team's quarantining of the marks the latest disruption in the sporting world caused by the coronavirus:
The China Football Association Super Cup game between China FA Cup winners Shanghai Shenhua and Chinese Super League champions Guangzhou Evergrande due to take place on February 15 has been postponed until further notice.
The start of the new Chinese Basketball Association League -- scheduled for February 1 -- has been postponed.
The Asian Athletics Association canceled the Asian Indoor Track and Field Championship to ensure `` the safety of our athletes. '' The championships had originally been scheduled to be held in Hangzhou from February 12 to 13.
The 14th Chinese National Winter Games ' official opening ceremony was scheduled for February 16, though events like women's ice hockey and biathlon were due to take place on February 1. However, the Games have now been postponed.
The Hong Kong Marathon is an umbrella event for three races -- 10 kilometers, half and full marathon. Some 74,000 people had signed up to compete in the February 8 and 9 races but they have now been canceled.The 2020 League of Legends Spring tournament -- scheduled to begin on February 5 -- and the 2020 Legends Development League have both been postponed.Other Olympic sport qualifiers affected include the Asian and Oceanic boxing event, which was moved from Wuhan to Jordan, and women's basketball, which has had its qualifying competition switched from Fuhan to Serbia.The first Winter X-Games to be held in China have been postponed. The event was scheduled to take place from February 21-23 in Chongli.The International Ski Federation has confirmed that the downhill and super-G men's alpine skiing World Cup races, which were due to take place on February 15 and 16 have been canceled. | business |
How Fashion Can Navigate 2020’ s Political Minefield | Intelligence
For fashion brands with a global customer base, it's getting harder to stay neutral in the face of flashpoints like the Hong Kong protests and the US presidential election. Here's what to do.
Intelligence
For fashion brands with a global customer base, it's getting harder to stay neutral in the face of flashpoints like the Hong Kong protests and the US presidential election. Here's what to do.
LONDON, United Kingdom — In 2019, fashion got woke. In 2020, it needs to get political.The industry is still reeling from a year of missteps, as brands struggled to tap into the zeitgeist with inclusive slogans and values-based marketing. But successfully navigating the global culture wars is shaping up to be even trickier in 2020, as fashion finds itself caught in the middle of an increasingly fraught political environment.Brands are staring down a divisive election year in the US, ongoing protests in Hong Kong and mounting tensions in the Middle East. A deadly coronavirus outbreak has set governments on high alert, while apocalyptic scenes of wildfires in Australia have hammered home the catastrophic potential impact of climate change.There are opportunities amid the chaos; a special-edition hoodie that Balenciaga quickly rolled out to raise money for Australia has sold out online, even as some critics panned the company for pushing new products tied to a disaster linked to climate change.But when the cause isn’ t as universal as the environment, brands get wrapped up in global events at their own peril. Not that they always have a choice — the days when the fashion industry was avowedly apolitical are long gone. Consumers now demand that brands take a stand, and are quick to criticise when their favourite labels miss the mark.In other words, fashion can’ t just lay low and hope consumers keep spending, even as the world burns. “ We’ ve seen these easy wins that allow brands to show they’ ve latched onto a value, ” said Ben Barry, chair of fashion and associate professor of equity, diversity and inclusion at Ryerson University in Toronto. The challenge for brands is that `` as consumers become much more savvy and sceptical and educated, they look for a deeper commitment to these values. ” Risks and RewardsIn the last year alone, a host of brands and influencers found themselves on the wrong side of vocal consumer politics.High-end fitness brands SoulCycle and Equinox faced boycotts after it emerged over the summer that owner Stephen Ross was hosting a fundraiser for Donald Trump. Association with the US President proved similarly toxic for LVMH. Japanese retailer Uniqlo cut its outlook for the year earlier in January, after taking a hit on protests in Hong Kong and a South Korean consumer boycott worsened by a controversially subtitled TV ad. And just before Christmas, a host of celebrities and influencers were lambasted online for acting as partners and brand ambassadors for a festival organised by Saudi Arabia's entertainment authority.Successfully navigating the global culture wars is shaping up to be even trickier in 2020.The online vitriol created by these politically-charged moments rarely affect sales for long, if at all. They can put a brand on notice, however, that their image is out of step with their customers’ values. On the flip-side, there is an upside to engaging with consumers’ political beliefs. “ The brands that will succeed now are brands that make a stand, ” said Gachoucha Kretz, affiliate professor of marketing at HEC Paris, an international business school. “ You’ ll probably lose a lot of customers, but the ones you keep are more loyal and willing to help you develop and pay premium prices. ” The call can be easy, at least in retrospect. Colin Kaepernick, the NFL quarterback-turned-Nike-endorser was a controversy magnet for his protests of racial injustice, but only one side of that debate counted among the shoe brand’ s core customers.But it’ s rare for a brand’ s sales to fall so neatly along political lines.Take Saudi Arabia: the country’ s policies are undoubtedly at odds with values held by most western consumers, particularly the young, woke audience most fashion brands are targeting. Yet, its apparel market is worth $ 15 billion, on par with Australia, according to market research provider Euromonitor International.Perhaps the biggest flashpoint of all is China. The country’ s apparel market is the biggest in the world, with an estimated value of over $ 330 billion, according to Euromonitor. But it presents an increasingly challenging political landscape for brands and retailers.The trade war between the US and China, the world’ s two biggest economies, creates risks for brands too closely associated with either country. Meanwhile, the Chinese government’ s treatment of ethnic minorities and political dissidents in Hong Kong put brands in a bind. Speaking out could trigger boycotts in the fast-growing market, while silence can lead to calls of hypocrisy in the west.Most brands try to play both sides. But as the politics of fashion become more complex and convoluted — and President Donald Trump potentially makes anti-China sentiment a key part of his re-election campaign — the industry should be prepared for financial trade-offs.Perhaps the biggest flashpoint of all is China. “ I would only imagine that it’ s going to get tougher, ” said Acorn Digital’ s Vice President of Growth Elijah Whaley. “ Nobody stateside likes China right now. Who knows what Trump will come up with as he starts to campaign. ” Be RealThe best way to avoid the above traps is to start building trust with customers well before a geopolitical crisis presses the issue.Outdoors brand Patagonia has long championed the environment, so its campaigns around climate issues ( and rejection of events like Black Friday) resonate with its customers.One way to navigate fashion’ s increasingly tricky political waters is to stick to broad values that resonate with individual brands’ global customer base and can be marketed at a local level. Equally, they can be adapted so as not to impose values on a culture that doesn’ t share them.Acorn Digital’ s Whaley flagged beauty brand Shiseido as a company tackling the issues in a smart way. Shiseido focuses on subjects like women’ s issues that translate across borders without becoming controversial. The brand has a long history of promoting diversity and inclusivity, having introduced a maternity leave and child care program in 1990 ( well before relevant laws were enforced in its native Japan). The beauty giant has released ads featuring same-sex couples and gender-fluid subjects, many of which have gone viral and received local advertising awards. “ You don’ t have to speak to anything related to someone’ s nation or something sensitive like that, ” Whaley said. “ There’ s a lot of safety in [ other ] areas, you just have to make sure that it speaks to people everywhere. ” Be HumbleFor brands getting political, it’ s increasingly important to understand where their lane is, and to stay in it. That may mean creating a hierarchy of values, allowing brands to focus on the areas that are most relevant to them, and where they can have the most impact.The brands that will succeed now are brands that make a stand. “ The business reality is that you can’ t address all the projects at the same time, ” said HEC Paris’ Kretz. “ The way brands can avoid attacks is to focus with actions on what’ s really urgent, and have a communication crisis safety net for the less urgent matters. ” Crucially, as brands tackle global consumers and contend with tricky political dynamics they have to get smarter about local cultural nuances. Ahead of the holidays, Acorn Digital’ s Whaley was approached by a client hoping to tap into the Chinese market over Christmas. The client wanted to use the phrase Happy Holidays to avoid causing any offence, but the concept has no context or meaning in China. “ They’ re doing reverse cultural political correctness that doesn’ t make sense over here, ” Whaley said. Ultimately, hiring a local team or advisor and building a synergies between offices can stop a marketing message from becoming lost in translation and avoid the risk of cultural colonialism.Ultimately though, if brands really want to be credible when it comes to advocating on values, they have to be willing to take the risk to put principle over profit. “ The challenge for brands is when the foundation of your business is to maximise value to shareholders, holding true to those values requires a real restructuring, ” “ said Ryerson’ s Barry. “ Even if the end result is long-term, lasting business viability, that short-term risk goes against the main measure that brands are judged upon. ” Related Articles: When the Culture Wars Came to FashionFashion’ s Long Road to InclusivityWhat Fashion Can Learn from a Decade of Disasters
The industry is still reeling from a year of missteps, as brands struggled to tap into the zeitgeist with inclusive slogans and values-based marketing. But successfully navigating the global culture wars is shaping up to be even trickier in 2020, as fashion finds itself caught in the middle of an increasingly fraught political environment.
Brands are staring down a divisive election year in the US, ongoing protests in Hong Kong and mounting tensions in the Middle East. A deadly coronavirus outbreak has set governments on high alert, while apocalyptic scenes of wildfires in Australia have hammered home the catastrophic potential impact of climate change.
There are opportunities amid the chaos; a special-edition hoodie that Balenciaga quickly rolled out to raise money for Australia has sold out online, even as some critics panned the company for pushing new products tied to a disaster linked to climate change.
But when the cause isn’ t as universal as the environment, brands get wrapped up in global events at their own peril. Not that they always have a choice — the days when the fashion industry was avowedly apolitical are long gone. Consumers now demand that brands take a stand, and are quick to criticise when their favourite labels miss the mark.
In other words, fashion can’ t just lay low and hope consumers keep spending, even as the world burns.
“ We’ ve seen these easy wins that allow brands to show they’ ve latched onto a value, ” said Ben Barry, chair of fashion and associate professor of equity, diversity and inclusion at Ryerson University in Toronto. The challenge for brands is that `` as consumers become much more savvy and sceptical and educated, they look for a deeper commitment to these values. ”
Risks and Rewards
In the last year alone, a host of brands and influencers found themselves on the wrong side of vocal consumer politics.
High-end fitness brands SoulCycle and Equinox faced boycotts after it emerged over the summer that owner Stephen Ross was hosting a fundraiser for Donald Trump. Association with the US President proved similarly toxic for LVMH. Japanese retailer Uniqlo cut its outlook for the year earlier in January, after taking a hit on protests in Hong Kong and a South Korean consumer boycott worsened by a controversially subtitled TV ad. And just before Christmas, a host of celebrities and influencers were lambasted online for acting as partners and brand ambassadors for a festival organised by Saudi Arabia's entertainment authority.
Successfully navigating the global culture wars is shaping up to be even trickier in 2020.
The online vitriol created by these politically-charged moments rarely affect sales for long, if at all. They can put a brand on notice, however, that their image is out of step with their customers’ values. On the flip-side, there is an upside to engaging with consumers’ political beliefs.
“ The brands that will succeed now are brands that make a stand, ” said Gachoucha Kretz, affiliate professor of marketing at HEC Paris, an international business school. “ You’ ll probably lose a lot of customers, but the ones you keep are more loyal and willing to help you develop and pay premium prices. ”
The call can be easy, at least in retrospect. Colin Kaepernick, the NFL quarterback-turned-Nike-endorser was a controversy magnet for his protests of racial injustice, but only one side of that debate counted among the shoe brand’ s core customers.
But it’ s rare for a brand’ s sales to fall so neatly along political lines.
Take Saudi Arabia: the country’ s policies are undoubtedly at odds with values held by most western consumers, particularly the young, woke audience most fashion brands are targeting. Yet, its apparel market is worth $ 15 billion, on par with Australia, according to market research provider Euromonitor International.
Perhaps the biggest flashpoint of all is China. The country’ s apparel market is the biggest in the world, with an estimated value of over $ 330 billion, according to Euromonitor. But it presents an increasingly challenging political landscape for brands and retailers.
The trade war between the US and China, the world’ s two biggest economies, creates risks for brands too closely associated with either country. Meanwhile, the Chinese government’ s treatment of ethnic minorities and political dissidents in Hong Kong put brands in a bind. Speaking out could trigger boycotts in the fast-growing market, while silence can lead to calls of hypocrisy in the west.
Most brands try to play both sides. But as the politics of fashion become more complex and convoluted — and President Donald Trump potentially makes anti-China sentiment a key part of his re-election campaign — the industry should be prepared for financial trade-offs.
Perhaps the biggest flashpoint of all is China.
“ I would only imagine that it’ s going to get tougher, ” said Acorn Digital’ s Vice President of Growth Elijah Whaley. “ Nobody stateside likes China right now. Who knows what Trump will come up with as he starts to campaign. ”
Be Real
The best way to avoid the above traps is to start building trust with customers well before a geopolitical crisis presses the issue.
Outdoors brand Patagonia has long championed the environment, so its campaigns around climate issues ( and rejection of events like Black Friday) resonate with its customers.
One way to navigate fashion’ s increasingly tricky political waters is to stick to broad values that resonate with individual brands’ global customer base and can be marketed at a local level. Equally, they can be adapted so as not to impose values on a culture that doesn’ t share them.
Acorn Digital’ s Whaley flagged beauty brand Shiseido as a company tackling the issues in a smart way. Shiseido focuses on subjects like women’ s issues that translate across borders without becoming controversial. The brand has a long history of promoting diversity and inclusivity, having introduced a maternity leave and child care program in 1990 ( well before relevant laws were enforced in its native Japan). The beauty giant has released ads featuring same-sex couples and gender-fluid subjects, many of which have gone viral and received local advertising awards.
“ You don’ t have to speak to anything related to someone’ s nation or something sensitive like that, ” Whaley said. “ There’ s a lot of safety in [ other ] areas, you just have to make sure that it speaks to people everywhere. ”
Be Humble
For brands getting political, it’ s increasingly important to understand where their lane is, and to stay in it. That may mean creating a hierarchy of values, allowing brands to focus on the areas that are most relevant to them, and where they can have the most impact.
The brands that will succeed now are brands that make a stand.
“ The business reality is that you can’ t address all the projects at the same time, ” said HEC Paris’ Kretz. “ The way brands can avoid attacks is to focus with actions on what’ s really urgent, and have a communication crisis safety net for the less urgent matters. ”
Crucially, as brands tackle global consumers and contend with tricky political dynamics they have to get smarter about local cultural nuances. Ahead of the holidays, Acorn Digital’ s Whaley was approached by a client hoping to tap into the Chinese market over Christmas. The client wanted to use the phrase Happy Holidays to avoid causing any offence, but the concept has no context or meaning in China.
“ They’ re doing reverse cultural political correctness that doesn’ t make sense over here, ” Whaley said. Ultimately, hiring a local team or advisor and building a synergies between offices can stop a marketing message from becoming lost in translation and avoid the risk of cultural colonialism.
Ultimately though, if brands really want to be credible when it comes to advocating on values, they have to be willing to take the risk to put principle over profit.
“ The challenge for brands is when the foundation of your business is to maximise value to shareholders, holding true to those values requires a real restructuring, ” “ said Ryerson’ s Barry. “ Even if the end result is long-term, lasting business viability, that short-term risk goes against the main measure that brands are judged upon. ”
Related Articles:
When the Culture Wars Came to Fashion
Fashion’ s Long Road to Inclusivity
What Fashion Can Learn from a Decade of Disasters
Unpacking Tiffany’ s Contentious New Ad Campaign | business |
Madonna honors fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier in moving post | Hi, what are you looking for?
By
Published
On January 22, 2020, Gaultier retired from the runway after his 50th-anniversary haute couture show that was held during Paris Fashion Week.
In a post on her Instagram page, Madonna posted monochromatic photos of her and Gaultier. She shared that whatever he does next, she is sure that it will be “ genius. ”
“ I am so grateful to have collaborated with you on so many incredible fashion adventures through the years, ” the pop queen exclaimed. She also underscored his uniqueness stating that there is nobody else like him, and there will “ never be ” another Gaultier.
“ Your heart, your talent, your humor. You are one of a kind. I wish you all the best, ” Madonna said, prior to dubbing him as “ genius, ” “ unique ” and the “ greatest of all time. ”
Gaultier designed Madonna’ s cone bra and worked with her and countless other celebrities many times.
This past November, Gaultier was honored with the “ Humanitarian Award ” from the We Are Family Foundation ( WAFF) at their Gala in New York.
To learn more about iconic fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier, check out his official website.
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.
The push for Canadians to get their vaccine booster shots is ramping up as the COVID-19 Omicron variant spreads across the country.
As the Omicron variant gains momentum in Europe and the U.S., the variant is now considered the “ biggest threat to global public health. ”
Has Iran become a threat to U.S. interests on par with Russia?
An FDA laboratory worker injects an influenza virus into an egg, where it will grow before being harvested—one of the many complex steps involved...
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Coronavirus children’ s crisis appeal | There is no time to lose. Without immediate funding and key lifesaving interventions to deliver essentials, strengthen health systems and maintain routine services for vulnerable children, an additional 6,000 children under five could die a day – more than 4 children every minute – due to the direct impact of COVID-19.
We need you to help us Respond, Recover and Reimagine a world we can build back better for every child. Join us.
Soap, gloves, masks and access to clean water are a lifeline to children and their families. You can give them a fighting chance with access to the basics. Your donation helps UNICEF deliver life-saving medicine, nutritious food and vaccines.
COVID-19 isn’ t just tackling under-resourced fragile health systems, it’ s attacking the way children access education, the way their families earn an income to cover their needs, and how safe they feel in their homes, communities and countries. This is a child right’ s crisis. Right now, UNICEF staff is on the ground doing everything in our power to ensure that children don't feel the impact of this crisis for decades to come.
For more than 70 years, UNICEF has responded to some of the biggest crises our world has faced. We’ ve been on the front lines of every pandemic, epidemic, famine and conflict since World War II. We have the experience, tools and partners to not only help communities recover, but also to help them build back better. History shows we can do it. Are you with us?
A donation, no matter how small, can make an impact on a child whose health, safety, education and rights are at risk. With your support, UNICEF will do whatever it takes to ensure children and their families get the urgent support they need. | general |
Beyond Meat likely to be liable for $ 628K in ongoing litigation | UPDATE: Feb. 5, 2020: A securities class action lawsuit for Beyond Meat investors who lost money because of this case was filed in a California federal court, according to a release. This complaint states Beyond Meat made false or misleading statements about the termination of its agreement with Don Lee Farms and by having `` doctored and omitted material information '' on a food safety report.
This latest set of rulings in the sprawling case in California Superior Court are putting a damper on what has been a good start to Beyond Meat's year, which already has seen product improvements, expanded partnerships and supplier agreements. But they're also leading some who watch the market to be cautious. The accusations in Don Lee's lawsuit are not insignificant, and could shake up the plant-based meat company's C-suite and manufacturing operations.
The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles County in May 2017, after Beyond Meat ended its relationship with Don Lee Farms, which was also in the plant-based meat business. The two companies entered into a contract in 2014, which included a non-disclosure agreement in which Beyond Meat promised to protect Don Lee's trade secrets. The lawsuit accuses Beyond Meat of stealing these trade secrets after the two companies ended their agreement. It also says Beyond Meat provided unusable and unsafe raw materials to Don Lee Farms, did not compensate Don Lee for products it manufactured and did not ensure Don Lee had operational equipment and personnel to make its products.
As the case docket became longer, more charges and claims have been added. According to internal documents shown to Bloomberg, Don Lee reported finding plastics, cardboard and a metal nozzle among the ingredients supplied by Beyond Meat. One time, a Beyond Meat truck had come to a Don Lee facility with a white powder contaminating the ingredients.
A food safety audit ordered by Beyond Meat showed `` more than adequate '' conditions, Bloomberg reported, but in a countersuit from Beyond Meat, the company says that Don Lee left a temperature stick, glove, wood fragments and parchment paper in its burgers. And, Bloomberg reported, Beyond Meat said salmonella was found in an unfinished batch of food, so the company deemed the plant unsuitable. However, Don Lee's lawyers claim Beyond gave the company an altered copy of a food safety audit, which led to the fraud charges.
With so many issues at hand, it's hard to know what the courts will decide as the case continues. A trial date is now set for May this year. However, the rulings in favor of Don Lee don't look promising for Beyond Meat, which still relies on co-packers for its Beyond Burgers, sausages and grounds. Last summer, CEO Ethan Brown said on an earnings call that the company has five facilities for making and processing its products, including co-packers. A legal filing associated with the Don Lee and Beyond Meat case states co-packers include Georgia-based FPL Foods and Texas-based ProPortion Foods.
Unlike the current co-packers, Don Lee is in business for itself in the plant-based meat space. It's produced vegan products for more than 15 years and last year launched its Better than Beef Burger, which is currently sold at Costco and H-E-B stores. And because of Don Lee's own business history and current product line, it has keen motivation to keep the legal fight against Beyond Meat going.
A judgment of more than $ 600,000 isn't likely to do much lasting financial harm to a company that had $ 92 million in net revenues in its most recent quarter, especially because Beyond Meat is posting a profit — a milestone reported for the first time in its most recent earnings.
However, fraud and food safety-related charges, if they stick, could damage the company and the plant-based meat sector. A majority of consumers said eating plant-based foods made them feel healthier, according to a 2018 study from DuPont Nutrition and Health. However, if this case paints a major manufacturer of plant-based meat as careless about food safety, some consumers may turn the other way. And while three out of 10 consumers will buy recalled meat as soon as it returns to shelves, according to a study by Category Partners, the type of careful and thoughtful consumers who choose plant-based meat might not be so forgiving.
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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 |
LVMH, Kering, & Swarovski Pledge Billions to Combat Coronavirus | As the coronavirus continues to spread around the world, luxury fashion groups LVMH ( Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Dior); Kering ( Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga); and Swarovski have pledged an estimated combined total of $ 2.8 billion dollars in financial aid, WWD reports.
” Our thoughts are with the many impacted by the novel coronavirus outbreak, and therefore we have decided to donate the funds as an immediate contribution to assist, '' Kering’ s CEO François-Henri Pinault told WWD. Many of the donations were said to be made directly to the Chinese Red Cross Foundation.
The deadly virus, believed to have killed over 130 people and infected over 6,000 globally, originated in the city of Wuhan and began to spread significantly during the Lunar New Year.
The decision by luxury fashion groups to pledge aid dollars is not one of pure altruism, but also reflects business as the virus has rattled the global stock market. In 2019, China overtook the United States as the largest market for luxury fashion, with Chinese customers now accounting for over a third of the value of luxury goods purchases, according to a report in the Financial Times.
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Wuhan coronavirus: China cases overtake SARS, as virus spreads worldwide |
The number of confirmed cases of
the Wuhan coronavirus
has overtaken the 2003 SARS outbreak inside of mainland China, as multiple countries evacuated their citizens from the city at the heart of the outbreak.
As of Wednesday, there were 6,061 confirmed cases of the virus in mainland China, including 132 deaths, according to Chinese officials. The number of cases grew by around 1,500 from Tuesday, a more than 30% increase. The figures do not include Hong Kong and Macau, both of which have reported a small number of cases.
There have also been at least 91 cases of the virus reported outside mainland China.
During the 2003 SARS outbreak
, there were 5,327 confirmed cases of the disease in mainland China, with 349 deaths. Experts have previously estimated the Wuhan virus figures could still be vastly under-reported, making the novel coronavirus far more contagious, but also less deadly, than SARS.
Wuhan's Communist Party chief Ma Guoqiang said Tuesday that testing had been streamlined in recent days, leading to a spike in diagnoses. `` This does not mean the speed of the disease spreading has increased drastically, '' he added.
Read More
Authorities in China also reported a suspected case of the Wuhan virus in Tibet, previously the only region
to have avoided the virus
. If confirmed, the spread to Tibet despite the implementation of strict checks on travelers and closing of tourist sites will renew concerns about how easily the virus is transmitted, particularly when people are asymptomatic.
The semi-autonomous city of Hong Kong, which has reported eight cases of the virus, announced Tuesday it was closing many of its border crossings with mainland China, slashing the number of tourist visas it issues to mainland Chinese visitors, and halving the number of inbound flights from the mainland.
Hong Kong has also instructed government employees to work from home for the rest of the week, and requested private companies do the same. The streets and public transport were noticeably quiet on Wednesday morning, the first day back from the Lunar New Year holiday.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday vowed to do everything to tackle the `` demon '' epidemic.
Speaking during a meeting with World Health Organization ( WHO) director general Tedros Adhanom in Beijing, Xi said the Chinese people `` are engaging in a serious battle against the outbreak of the new coronavirus. ''
`` People's lives and health are always the first priority for the Chinese government, and the prevention and control of the epidemic is the most important task at present, so I have been directing and deploying the works myself, '' Xi added. `` I believe as long as we can strengthen our confidence, stand together, scientifically prevent and control the epidemic and adopt precise measures, we will definitely defeat this epidemic. ''
First evacuees leave Wuhan
Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei province at the center of the virus outbreak, is on effective lockdown and countries have begun repatriating their citizens trapped there.
A flight carrying 206 Japanese nationals arrived in Tokyo Wednesday morning. The passengers are all quarantined on board and those with any pneumonia-like symptoms will be taken to a special medical center for treatment. Passengers without symptoms will be taken to separate hospitals for further screening.
Around 450 more Japanese citizens have not yet departed. Japanese citizens who live close to the Huanan Seafood Market -- pinpointed by Chinese authorities as the likely source of the virus -- and highly populated areas in Wuhan were given priority on the first flight.
A plane carrying approximately 210 US citizens -- mostly diplomats and their families -- has also left Wuhan, according to a State Department spokesperson, bound for Riverside, California via Alaska. More Americans remain in the city, hoping to be evacuated at a later date.
The plane had originally been destined for California's Ontario International Airport, but officials said late Tuesday that it would instead land at a military base near Riverside. No reason was immediately given for the change in itinerary.
As of early Wednesday morning, the plane had landed in Anchorage, Alaska, where it will refuel before heading on to the US west coast. The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services said passengers will undergo health screenings there to ensure they are not experiencing coronavirus symptoms before traveling onward.
After landing in the US, passengers will be placed in isolation for between three days and two weeks, a California official told CNN earlier. Doctors have previously recommended a two-week quarantine for people exposed to the virus.
South Korea and New Zealand are chartering flights to bring their citizens home. More controversially, Australia said it will charter a flight to fetch citizens, but they will be transported to quarantine on Christmas Island, site of a former offshore detention camp for migrants.
Virus spreads worldwide
The first cases of the coronavirus were detected in Wuhan in mid-December. Since then, the number of confirmed cases has increased exponentially, and infections have been reported worldwide.
Hospitals in Wuhan are already massively overstretched, and hundreds of emergency medical personnel have been dispatched to the city to help. Two new hospitals dedicated to treating the virus are also being built on the city's outskirts, due to be operational by next week.
Authorities in the city said that as of January 27 there were still more than 4,000 Wuhan residents overseas. The Wuhan culture and tourism bureau said that all tour groups were canceled after the lockdown was announced, but groups that left prior to that date were still slowly returning to the city.
More than a dozen countries have confirmed cases of the Wuhan virus, as authorities struggle to stop its spread.
Across Asia, many countries have put in extra screening at airports and warned citizens to avoid travel to China. To China's north, neighboring Mongolia has imposed stringent border checks on travelers coming into the country. Indonesia and the Philippines have both introduced extra restrictions on Chinese tourists, while Japan has upgraded its response, allowing authorities to `` force the suspicious cases for hospitalization and testing. ''
Around a hundred cases have been reported worldwide, with the most, 14, detected in Thailand, a popular destination for Chinese travelers. Countries with colder climates are more at risk for future spread, as coronaviruses thrive in cold environments and do not transmit as well in sunny, hot locales.
While most cases reported outside of China have a direct link to Wuhan, there are indications the virus is beginning to spread within other countries. Three new cases were reported in Germany on Tuesday, including what is believed to be the first human-to-human transmission in Europe.
Multiple countries have advised citizens not to visit China due to the ongoing outbreak. On Tuesday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC) issued a level 3 alert advising against all `` nonessential travel '' -- its highest alert on a scale of 1 to 3. However, the White House
denied reports
suggesting it was planning to suspend all flights between the US and China.
Photos:
The novel coronavirus outbreak
Medical staff wearing protective suits ride down an escalator at Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport on Wednesday, March 18.
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Hasidic Jewish men take part in a
`` social distancing '' minyan
in New York on Tuesday, March 17.
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A patient in a biocontainment unit is carried on a stretcher in Rome on March 17.
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A pedestrian walks a dog through a quiet street in New York on March 17.
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People gather to collect free face masks in New Delhi on March 17.
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Dermot Hickey, left, and Phillip Vega ask a pedestrian in New York to take their picture on a thinly trafficked Fifth Avenue on March 17. Many streets across the world are much more bare as people distance themselves from others. In the United States, the White House has advised people
not to gather in groups of more than 10.
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Students at the Attarkiah Islamic School wear face masks during a ceremony in Thailand's southern province of Narathiwat on March 17.
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People wait outside a Woolworths store in Sunbury, Australia on March 17. Australian supermarket chains announced special shopping hours for the elderly and people with disabilities so that they can shop in less crowded aisles.
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A member of Spain's Military Emergencies Unit carries out a general disinfection at the Malaga airport on Monday, March 16.
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Displaced families near Atme, Syria, attend a workshop aimed at spreading awareness about the coronavirus.
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French President Emmanuel Macron is seen on a screen in Paris as he announces new coronavirus containment measures on March 16.
France has been put on lockdown,
and all nonessential outings are outlawed and can draw a fine of up to €135 ( $ 148). Macron also promised to support French businesses by guaranteeing €300 billion worth of loans and suspending rent and utility bills owed by small companies.
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A police officer checks the temperatures of bus passengers at a checkpoint in Manila, Philippines, on March 16.
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Flowers are stored prior to their destruction at a flower auction in Aalsmeer, Netherlands, on March 16. Lower demand due to the coronavirus outbreak is threatening the Dutch horticultural sector, forcing the destruction of products.
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Two nuns greet neighbors from their balcony in Turin, Italy, on Sunday, March 15.
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Pope Francis, inside the Church of San Marcello in Rome's city center,
prays at a famous crucifix
that believers claim helped to save Romans from the plague in 1522.
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Passengers wait for their flights at Marrakesh Airport in Morocco on March 15.
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US Vice President Mike Pence takes a question during a White House briefing about the coronavirus on March 15.
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A Sea World employee sprays disinfectant in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Saturday, March 14.
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People wait in line to go through customs at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on March 14. Travelers returning from Europe say they were
being made to wait for hours
at US airports, often in close quarters, as personnel screened them for the coronavirus.
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Hundreds of people lined up to enter a Costco in Novato, California, on March 14. Many people have been stocking up on food, toilet paper and other items. As a response to
panic buying,
retailers in the United States and Canada have started limiting the number of toilet paper that customers can buy in one trip.
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A member of the White House physician's office takes a media member's temperature in the White House briefing room on March 14. It was ahead of a news conference with President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
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Reporters in Arlington, Virginia, sit approximately 4 feet apart during a briefing by Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie on Friday, March 13.
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People walk past a closed Broadway theater on March 13 after New York canceled all gatherings over 500 people.
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Body temperatures are scanned as people enter the Buddhist temple Wat Pho in Bangkok, Thailand, on March 13.
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A Costco customer stands by two shopping carts in Richmond, California, on March 13.
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A teacher works in an empty classroom at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain.
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A woman looks at an empty bread aisle in Antwerp, Belgium, on March 13.
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Employees of the Greek Parliament wear plastic gloves ahead of the swearing-in ceremony for Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou.
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A motorcyclist drives through disinfectant sprayed in Jammu, India, on March 13.
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Workers prepare to construct an additional building on a hospital on the outskirts of Moscow.
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Paul Boyer, head equipment manager of the NHL's Detroit Red Wings, wheels out equipment bags in Washington on Thursday, March 12. The NHL is among the sports leagues that have suspended their seasons.
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Students leave Glacier Peak High School in Snohomish, Washington, on March 12. Beginning the following day, schools in the Snohomish school district planned to be closed through April 24.
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An Uber Eats delivery biker stands at a deserted Piazza di Spagna in Rome.
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People at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea, watch a live broadcast of US President Donald Trump on March 12. Trump announced that, in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, he would
sharply restrict travel
from more than two dozen European countries.
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Workers in protective suits disinfect Istanbul's Dolmabahce Palace on March 11.
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A person wearing a face mask walks outside of a shopping mall in Beijing on March 11.
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Police officers restrain the relative of an inmate outside the Sant'Anna jail in Modena, Italy, on March 9.
Riots broke out
in several Italian jails after visits were suspended to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
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Medical staff in Wuhan, China, celebrate after all coronavirus patients were discharged from a temporary hospital on March 9.
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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on March 9.
Stocks plummeted
as coronavirus worries and an oil price race to the bottom weighed on global financial markets.
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Rescuers search for victims at the site of a
collapsed hotel
in Quanzhou, China, on March 8. The hotel was being used as a coronavirus quarantine center.
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The Grand Princess cruise ship, carrying at least 21 people who tested positive for coronavirus, is seen off the coast of San Francisco on March 8.
The ship was being held at sea.
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Sumo wrestlers attend a tournament in Osaka, Japan, that was being held behind closed doors because of the coronavirus outbreak.
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A couple rides a bicycle at a park in Seoul, South Korea, on March 7.
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A volunteer from Blue Sky Rescue uses fumigation equipment to disinfect a residential compound in Beijing on March 5.
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Airmen from the California National Guard drop coronavirus testing kits down to the
Grand Princess cruise ship
off the coast of California on March 5.
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Municipal workers are seen at the Kaaba, inside Mecca's Grand Mosque. Saudi Arabia emptied Islam's holiest site for sterilization over coronavirus fears, an unprecedented move after the kingdom suspended the year-round Umrah pilgrimage.
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Passengers react as a worker wearing a protective suit disinfects the departure area of a railway station in Hefei, China, on March 4.
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Teachers at the Nagoya International School in Japan conduct an online class for students staying at home as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus.
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Soldiers spray disinfectant throughout a shopping street in Seoul.
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A Muslim worshipper attends a mass prayer against coronavirus in Dakar, Senegal, on March 4. It was after cases were confirmed in the country.
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People wear face masks in New York's Times Square on March 3. New York reported its first case of coronavirus two days earlier.
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A security guard stands on the Shibuya Sky observation deck in Tokyo on March 3.
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US President Donald Trump, flanked by Vice President Mike Pence, left, and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, speaks during a meeting with pharmaceutical executives and the White House coronavirus task force on March 2. Throughout
the meeting,
Trump was hyperfocused on pressing industry leaders in the room for a timeline for a coronavirus vaccine and treatment. But experts at the table -- from the administration and the pharmaceutical industry -- repeatedly emphasized that a vaccine can't be rushed to market before it's been declared safe for the public.
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Medical staff stand outside a hospital in Daegu, South Korea, on March 1.
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Healthcare workers transfer a patient at the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington, on March 1. The long-term care facility is linked to confirmed coronavirus cases.
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits a London laboratory of the Public Health England National Infection Service.
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Tomoyuki Sugano, a professional baseball player on the Yomiuri Giants, throws a pitch in an empty Tokyo Dome during a preseason game on February 29. Fans have been barred from preseason games to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
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Commuters wearing masks make their way to work during morning rush hour at the Shinagawa train station in Tokyo on February 28.
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Medical staff transport a coronavirus patient within the Red Cross hospital in Wuhan on February 28.
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Inter Milan plays Ludogorets in an empty soccer stadium in Milan, Italy, on February 27. The match
was ordered to be played behind closed doors
as Italian authorities continue to grapple with the coronavirus outbreak.
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A bank clerk disinfects banknotes in China's Sichuan province on February 26.
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A child wearing a protective face mask rides on a scooter in an empty area in Beijing.
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A Catholic devotee wears a face mask as he is sprinkled with ash during Ash Wednesday services in Paranaque, Philippines, on February 26.
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People disinfect Qom's Masumeh shrine in Tehran, Iran, on February 25.
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A worker in Daegu stacks plastic buckets containing medical waste from coronavirus patients on February 24.
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Paramedics carry a stretcher off an ambulance in Hong Kong on February 23.
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People attend a professional soccer match in Kobe, Japan, on February 23. To help stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, the soccer club Vissel Kobe
told fans not to sing, chant or wave flags
in the season opener against Yokohama FC.
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A team of volunteers disinfects a pedestrian bridge in Bangkok, Thailand.
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A man rides his bike in Beijing on February 23.
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Hospital personnel in Codogno, Italy, carry new beds inside the hospital on February 21. The hospital is hosting some people who have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus.
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Doctors look at a CT scan of a lung at a hospital in Xiaogan, China, on February 20.
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A sales clerk wears a mask as she waits for customers at a hat shop in Beijing on February 18.
Small companies that help drive China's economy
are worried about how much damage
the coronavirus outbreak will cause to business.
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Buses carrying American passengers arrive at the Haneda Airport in Tokyo on February 17. The passengers
were leaving the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship
to be repatriated to the United States.
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A medical worker rests at the isolation ward of the Red Cross hospital in Wuhan on February 16.
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Authorities watch as the Westerdam cruise ship approaches a port in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, on February 13. Despite having no confirmed cases of coronavirus on board, the Westerdam was refused port by four other Asian countries before being allowed to dock in Cambodia.
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A worker has his temperature checked on a shuttered commercial street in Beijing on February 12.
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Beds are made in the Wuhan Sports Center, which has been converted into a temporary hospital.
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A child rides a scooter past a police officer wearing protective gear outside the Hong Mei House in Hong Kong on February 11. More than 100 people evacuated the housing block after four residents in two different apartments tested positive for the coronavirus.
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Relatives of quarantined passengers wave at the Diamond Princess cruise ship as it leaves a port in Yokohama, Japan, to dump wastewater and generate potable water. Dozens of people on the ship
were infected with coronavirus.
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The Deneway branch of the County Oak Medical Centre is closed amid coronavirus fears in Brighton, England, on February 11. Several locations in and around Brighton were quarantined after
a man linked to several coronavirus cases in the United Kingdom
came into contact with health-care workers and members of the public.
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A police officer, left, wears protective gear as he guards a cordon at the Hong Mei House in Hong Kong on February 11.
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A worker wears a protective suit as he waits to screen people entering an office building in Beijing on February 10. China's workforce is
slowly coming back to work
after the coronavirus outbreak forced many parts of the country to extend the Lunar New Year holiday by more than a week.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping has his temperature checked during an appearance in Beijing on February 10.
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Photojournalists wearing face masks take photos of a bus carrying passengers after they disembarked from the World Dream cruise ship in Hong Kong on February 9.
More than 5,300 people were quarantined on two cruise ships
off Hong Kong and Japan.
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People participating in a Lunar New Year Parade in New York City hold signs reading, `` Wuhan stay strong! '' on February 9.
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A shopper walks past empty shelves at a grocery store in Hong Kong on February 9. China's Ministry of Commerce
encouraged supermarkets and grocery stores
to resume operations as the country's voluntary or mandatory quarantines began to take an economic toll.
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A worker wearing a protective suit uses a machine to disinfect a business establishment in Shanghai, China, on February 9.
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Workers in protective gear walk near the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Yokohama on February 7.
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People in Hong Kong attend a vigil February 7 for
whistleblower doctor Li Wenliang.
Li, 34, died in Wuhan after contracting the virus while treating a patient.
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A woman grieves while paying tribute to Li at Li's hospital in Wuhan on February 7.
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The Anthem of the Seas cruise ship is seen docked at the Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Bayonne, New Jersey, on February 7. Passengers were to be screened for coronavirus as a precaution, an official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told CNN.
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A light installation is displayed by striking members of the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance and other activists at the Hospital Authority building in Hong Kong on February 7.
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Passengers are seen on the deck of the Diamond Princess cruise ship, docked at the Yokohama Port on February 7.
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Flight attendants wearing face masks make their way through Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok on February 7.
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Workers check sterile medical gloves at a latex-product manufacturer in Nanjing, China, on February 6.
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A woman wears a protective mask as she shops in a Beijing market on February 6.
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This aerial photo shows the Leishenshan Hospital that is being built in Wuhan to handle coronavirus patients.
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A passenger shows a note from the World Dream cruise ship docked at the Kai Tak cruise terminal in Hong Kong on February 5.
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A mask is seen on a statue in Beijing on February 5.
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An ambulance stops at a traffic light in front of the Grand Lisboa Hotel in Macao. The virus turned China's gambling mecca
into a ghost town.
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A dog in Beijing wears a makeshift mask constructed from a paper cup.
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Striking hospital workers in Hong Kong demand the closure of the border with mainland China on February 4.
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The Diamond Princess cruise ship sits anchored in quarantine off the port of Yokohama on February 4. It arrived a day earlier with passengers feeling ill.
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A medical worker wearing protective gear waits to take the temperature of people entering Princess Margaret Hospital in Hong Kong on February 4.
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Medical workers in protective suits help transfer patients to a newly completed field hospital in Wuhan.
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People wearing protective overalls talk outside a Wuhan hotel housing people in isolation on February 3.
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A man stands in front of TV screens broadcasting a speech by Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam on February 3. Lam said the city would shut almost all border-control points to the mainland.
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A colleague sprays disinfectant on a doctor in Wuhan on February 3.
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Commuters in Tokyo walk past an electric board displaying dismal stock prices on February 3, the first business day after the Chinese New Year. Asia's markets recorded their
worst day in years
as investors finally got a chance to react to the worsening coronavirus outbreak.
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Medical workers move a coronavirus patient into an isolation ward at the Second People's Hospital in Fuyang, China, on February 1.
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Children wear plastic bottles as makeshift masks while waiting to check in to a flight at the Beijing Capital Airport on January 30.
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Passengers in Hong Kong wear protective masks as they wait to board a train at Lo Wu Station, near the mainland border, on January 30.
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A volunteer wearing protective clothing disinfects a street in Qingdao, China, on January 29.
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Nanning residents line up to buy face masks from a medical appliance store on January 29.
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Lyu Jun, left, a member of a medical team leaving for Wuhan, says goodbye to a loved one in Urumqi, China, on January 28.
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A charter flight from Wuhan arrives at an airport in Anchorage, Alaska, on January 28. The US government chartered the plane to bring home US citizens and diplomats from the American consulate in Wuhan.
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South Korean President Moon Jae-in wears a mask to inspect the National Medical Center in Seoul on January 28.
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Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, center, attends a news conference in Hong Kong on January 28. Lam said China will stop individual travelers to Hong Kong while closing some border checkpoints and restricting flights and train services from the mainland.
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Workers at an airport in Novosibirsk, Russia, check the temperatures of passengers who arrived from Beijing on January 28.
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Alex Azar, the US Secretary of Health and Human Services, speaks during a news conference about the American public-health response.
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Two residents walk in an empty park in Wuhan on January 27. The city remained on lockdown for a fourth day.
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A person wears a protective mask, goggles and coat as he stands in a nearly empty street in Beijing on January 26.
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Medical staff members bring a patient to the Wuhan Red Cross hospital on January 25.
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People wear protective masks as they walk under Lunar New Year decorations in Beijing on January 25.
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Construction workers in Wuhan begin to work on a special hospital to deal with the outbreak on January 24.
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Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, speaks to reporters on January 24 about
a patient in Chicago
who had been diagnosed with the coronavirus. The patient was the second in the United States to be diagnosed with the illness.
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A couple kisses goodbye as they travel for the Lunar New Year holiday in Beijing on January 24.
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Workers manufacture protective face masks at a factory in China's Hubei Province on January 23.
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Shoppers wear masks in a Wuhan market on January 23.
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Passengers are checked by a thermography device at an airport in Osaka, Japan, on January 23.
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People wear masks while shopping for vegetables in Wuhan on January 23.
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A militia member checks the body temperature of a driver in Wuhan on January 23.
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Passengers wear masks as they arrive at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, Philippines, on January 23.
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A customer holds boxes of particulate respirators at a pharmacy in Hong Kong on January 23.
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Passengers wear masks at the high-speed train station in Hong Kong on January 23.
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A woman rides an electric bicycle in Wuhan on January 22.
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People in Guangzhou, China, wear protective masks on January 22.
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People go through a checkpoint in Guangzhou on January 22.
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Medical staff of Wuhan's Union Hospital attend a gathering on January 22.
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Health officials hold a news conference in Beijing on January 22.
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Cases will continue to spread
With much of China seeing the type of cold weather ideal for the coronavirus, and uncertainty remaining on just how contagious it is, experts expect the number of cases to continue to rise for several weeks.
Speaking to state media Tuesday
, Zhong Nanshan, one of China's leading respiratory experts and a hero of the 2003 fight against SARS, said he expected the peak to come in up to 10 days.
`` It is very difficult to definitely estimate when the outbreak reaches its peak. But I think in one week or about 10 days, it will reach the climax and then there will be no large-scale increases, '' Zhong said.
However, other experts have warned that while the outbreak in Hubei may peak in the coming weeks, other Chinese megacities may see self-sustaining epidemics that continue to spread the pathogen around the country and worldwide.
`` We modeled epidemic curves out to August 2020 for all the major city clusters: Chongqing, Shanghai-Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Beijing. Chongqing is predicted to have the largest epidemic due to large population and most intense traffic volume coupled to Wuhan, '' Gabriel Leung, a leading Hong Kong researcher and public health expert, said earlier this week.
He said outbreaks in China's largest cities could peak in April or May and gradually slow in June and July.
A laboratory in Australia became the first outside of China to grow the Wuhan coronavirus from a patient sample, it announced Wednesday. Doing so will `` provide expert international laboratories with crucial information to help combat the virus, '' the scientists said.
During a news conference on Wednesday, Mike Catton, director of the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory said `` we are proud to have grown the virus in such a short space of time '' and added they will `` share this with international colleagues '' to help with the developments of vaccines and medicines.
Catton added that this successful growth will `` help us understand the epidemiology of the outbreak. ''
UPDATE: This article has been updated to reflect the status of a suspected case of the Wuhan coronavirus in Tibet.
CNN's David Culver, Yong Xiong, Natalie Thomas and Steven Jiang in Beijing; and Helen Regan, Pauline Lockwood, Carly Walsh, Eric Cheung, Yuli Yang, Chermaine Lee, Alexandra Lin, Isaac Yee, Angus Watson and Sophie Jeong in Hong Kong contributed reporting. | general |
Fury as Polanski's new film tops French 'Oscar ' nominations | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Roman Polanski's new film `` An Officer and a Spy '' topped the list of nominations on Wednesday for the `` French Oscars '', sparking fury from feminists.
The controversial director has been wanted in the US for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl since 1978 and is persona non grata in Hollywood.
His period drama about the Dreyfus affair, which rocked France at the turn of the 20th century, is in line for 12 Cesars, the French equivalent of the Oscars.
The head of the French film academy Alain Terzian said it `` should not take moral positions '' about giving awards.
But their choice was swifty condemned by feminists and some film critics.
`` If rape was an art, give all the Cesars to Polanski, '' tweeted the French women's group, Osez le feminisme ( Dare to Be Feminist).
`` By celebrating a fugitive rapist and child sex criminal, we silence the victims, '' added the group, which said it would demonstrate outside the awards ceremony on February 28.
British film critic Caspar Salmon was equally scathing.
`` The Cesar awards are literally inviting an actor who was a victim of sexual assault by a director when she was a child ( Adele Haenel), and a director who sexually abused a child ( Roman Polanski), to be in the same room together for a big celebration of film. ''
- Cinemas picketed -
Haenel, who was nominated for best actress for her performance in `` Portrait of a Lady on Fire '', touched a nerve last year by telling how she was sexually harassed from the age of 12 on her first film.
French director Christophe Ruggia was charged with sexual assault on a minor earlier this month.
Polanski, 86, won both best director and the critics ' prize at the Venice film festival in August for `` An Officer and a Spy '', which has been a big hit at the French box office despite a wave of protests.
Some screenings had to be cancelled after feminist protesters invaded or blockaded cinemas.
The publicity campaign for the film was also halted after French photographer Valentine Monnier claimed that she had also been raped by the director in 1975.
Monnier, an 18-year-old model and actress at the time, said Polanski tried to give her a pill as he beat her `` into submission '' at his Swiss chalet.
Polanski `` absolutely denied '' assaulting Monnier, pouring scorn on her story.
`` Obviously I have no memory of it because it is false, '' he told Paris Match magazine.
- Uproar -
The director -- who sparked uproar at Venice by comparing his `` hounding '' to the anti-Semitic persecution Dreyfus suffered -- blamed the disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein for his woes.
He said Weinstein had tried to brand him a `` child rapist '' to stop him winning an Oscar in 2003 for `` The Pianist ''.
Terzian strongly defended the French academy's right to honour Polanski's new film.
`` Unless I am wrong, 1.5 million French people have gone to see his film. Go ask them, '' he shot back when asked if they academy should be celebrating Polanski
Oscar-winner Jean Dujardin, the star of Polanski's new film, is hot favourite to lift best actor in a race that also includes Vincent Cassel and Reda Kateb for the autism drama `` The Specials '' and Daniel Auteuil for `` La Belle Epoque ''.
`` Les Miserables '', a tough drama set in the poor and restive poor suburbs of Paris -- which is also in the running for a best foreign language Oscar -- picked up 11 Cesar nominations, just behind Polanski's film.
Ladj Ly's film is also battling against Polanski and `` By the Grace of God '', Francois Ozon's film about clerical child sex abuse, in the best film and best director categories.
`` La Belle Epoque '' also got 11 nominations, one ahead of Celine Sciamma's `` Portrait of a Lady on Fire ''.
The Polanski controversy quickly went to the top of trending topics on French social media, with many comparing the tolerance the director enjoys from the film industry to that granted until recently to the disgraced veteran writer Gabriel Matzneff, who had written for decades about his sexual adventures with adolescents.
Matzneff, who is being investigated by French police, said Wednesday that he regretted his sex tourism trips to Asia, claiming that at the time `` no one ever said it was a crime ''.
Roman Polanski’ s new film “ An Officer and a Spy ” topped the list of nominations on Wednesday for the “ French Oscars ”, sparking fury from feminists.
The controversial director has been wanted in the US for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl since 1978 and is persona non grata in Hollywood.
His period drama about the Dreyfus affair, which rocked France at the turn of the 20th century, is in line for 12 Cesars, the French equivalent of the Oscars.
The head of the French film academy Alain Terzian said it “ should not take moral positions ” about giving awards.
But their choice was swifty condemned by feminists and some film critics.
“ If rape was an art, give all the Cesars to Polanski, ” tweeted the French women’ s group, Osez le feminisme ( Dare to Be Feminist).
“ By celebrating a fugitive rapist and child sex criminal, we silence the victims, ” added the group, which said it would demonstrate outside the awards ceremony on February 28.
British film critic Caspar Salmon was equally scathing.
“ The Cesar awards are literally inviting an actor who was a victim of sexual assault by a director when she was a child ( Adele Haenel), and a director who sexually abused a child ( Roman Polanski), to be in the same room together for a big celebration of film. ”
– Cinemas picketed –
Haenel, who was nominated for best actress for her performance in “ Portrait of a Lady on Fire ”, touched a nerve last year by telling how she was sexually harassed from the age of 12 on her first film.
French director Christophe Ruggia was charged with sexual assault on a minor earlier this month.
Polanski, 86, won both best director and the critics’ prize at the Venice film festival in August for “ An Officer and a Spy ”, which has been a big hit at the French box office despite a wave of protests.
Some screenings had to be cancelled after feminist protesters invaded or blockaded cinemas.
The publicity campaign for the film was also halted after French photographer Valentine Monnier claimed that she had also been raped by the director in 1975.
Monnier, an 18-year-old model and actress at the time, said Polanski tried to give her a pill as he beat her “ into submission ” at his Swiss chalet.
Polanski “ absolutely denied ” assaulting Monnier, pouring scorn on her story.
“ Obviously I have no memory of it because it is false, ” he told Paris Match magazine.
– Uproar –
The director — who sparked uproar at Venice by comparing his “ hounding ” to the anti-Semitic persecution Dreyfus suffered — blamed the disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein for his woes.
He said Weinstein had tried to brand him a “ child rapist ” to stop him winning an Oscar in 2003 for “ The Pianist ”.
Terzian strongly defended the French academy’ s right to honour Polanski’ s new film.
“ Unless I am wrong, 1.5 million French people have gone to see his film. Go ask them, ” he shot back when asked if they academy should be celebrating Polanski
Oscar-winner Jean Dujardin, the star of Polanski’ s new film, is hot favourite to lift best actor in a race that also includes Vincent Cassel and Reda Kateb for the autism drama “ The Specials ” and Daniel Auteuil for “ La Belle Epoque ”.
“ Les Miserables ”, a tough drama set in the poor and restive poor suburbs of Paris — which is also in the running for a best foreign language Oscar — picked up 11 Cesar nominations, just behind Polanski’ s film.
Ladj Ly’ s film is also battling against Polanski and “ By the Grace of God ”, Francois Ozon’ s film about clerical child sex abuse, in the best film and best director categories.
“ La Belle Epoque ” also got 11 nominations, one ahead of Celine Sciamma’ s “ Portrait of a Lady on Fire ”.
The Polanski controversy quickly went to the top of trending topics on French social media, with many comparing the tolerance the director enjoys from the film industry to that granted until recently to the disgraced veteran writer Gabriel Matzneff, who had written for decades about his sexual adventures with adolescents.
Matzneff, who is being investigated by French police, said Wednesday that he regretted his sex tourism trips to Asia, claiming that at the time “ no one ever said it was a crime ”.
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Libyan blockade puts pressure on regional sweet crude market | The addition of nuclear and natural gas to the EU’ s sustainable finance taxonomy provoked a furious...
The freight rate for hauling Russian ESPO crude from the Far Eastern port of Kozmino to North China...
London — As the Libyan National Army's blockade of the country's oil ports enters a second week, the urgency with which European oil traders are seeking alternatives to fill the 1 million b/d hole is growing.
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Crude exports from the North African producer were expected to average 1.10 million b/d in January, according to shipping data seen by S & P Global Platts, or 92% of its total oil production.
The lost Libyan barrels are equivalent to more than a fifth of the total refinery throughput for the Mediterranean region where the crude yields large volumes of middle distillates and gasoline. In Europe, Repsol, OMV, Unipec, Saras and Eni among the regular buyers of Libya's key light, sweet crudes, which include Sharara, Es Sider, Sarir/Mesla and Amna.
With Europe's oil market price structure backwardated throughout January, Libya's customers are keen to source replacement crudes quickly, empowering sellers of light, sweet grades to demand steep premiums for their oil.
`` Everyone is playing a waiting game, but someone has to give in at some point, '' said one trader, referring to the wide gap between bids and offers for obvious replacement grades such as Azeri Light and Algeria's Saharan Blend.
The other major light sweet crude stream loading in the Mediterranean is Algeria's Saharan Blend. But one trader said that all of the February cargoes were booked more than a week ago, before the Libyan force majeure was declared on January 18. Sonatrach, the state-owned oil and gas company recently set the official selling price for the grade at its highest level in eight years - Dated Brent plus $ 2.46/b. Another trader on Friday say that late February cargoes were being offered just above that level.
Some traders say distillate-rich Azeri Light crude has been offered at price levels above Dated Brent plus $ 6/b. The grade was assessed on Thursday at Dated Brent plus $ 5.70/b, equalling the level reached in mid-November when distillate cracks were strong. This is the highest premium in Platts records dating back to 2001, and it's $ 4/b above the level at the end of 2019.
`` It's beginning to look like a similar situation to the way it was before Libyan production came back online a few of years ago [ after the 2011 civil war ], '' said another regional oil trader, adding that two major Italian refiners would be taking five cargoes of Azeri Light each.
Another possible source of replacement light, sweet crude is Nigeria. But trading there is typically further forward than it is for Mediterranean grades and traders say that there has not been a rush of buying interest.
`` Nigeria is quiet, I think people are gauging what's happening in Libya first, '' a third trader said, adding that the lighter grades such as Agbami and Akpo would see comparatively more support than other Nigerian grades due to their similarity to Libyan crude.
The Nigerian market has started to trade March-loading barrels, however, some more prompt February-loading cargoes were still available that could fill demand. These included February cargoes of Bonny Light, Bonga, Forcados, Qua Iboe and Akpo, according to a fourth trader.
Another oil-producing region that could serve as a natural replacement for Libya's missing barrels is the North Sea, particularly Norway's light, sweet grades such as Ekofisk, Troll, or Gullfaks.
Ekofisk was last heard trading at around a $ 3.3/b premium to Dated Brent while Gullfaks was heard last offered at premiums to Dated Brent of $ 4/b.
However, oil traders said this week that oil market sentiment is being overshadowed by concerns over the demand impact from the outbreak of the coronavirus in China.
As the virus continues to spread, S & P Global Platts Analytics expects a 200,000 b/d drop in global oil demand for the next two to three months as a result of the virus, about 15% of the expected oil demand growth in 2020.
With around a fifth of Libya's 1.1 million b/d of crude exports typically sent to Asia, light, sweet North Sea crudes could struggle to find support if Asian demand shrinks.
`` I think it's particularly bearish for the North Sea given that China is a big outlet for Forties, '' a trader said referring to the UK's key Forties crude grade.
In Italy, where Eni and Saras are regular buyers of Libyan oil, the Amna and Es Sider grades made up about half of the 142,000 b/d of Libyan crude imports into the country last year, according to Italian oil association Unione Petorlifera.
These grades are close in quality to potential substitutes Azeri Light, Nigeria's Qua Iboe, Norway's Ekofisk, and Angola's Saxi Batuque. Libya's ultra-light and sweet Bu Attifel and Al Shahara blends make up a further third of Italian imports from the country. They can be substituted by Algeria's Saharan blend or Khazakstan's SPS blend, Congo's N'Kossa blend, Egypt's Western Desert, or WTI from the US, Unione Petrolifera believes.
Libya's medium sour crudes Al Jorf and Bouri could be replaced by the Russian Urals, Mars from the US, Gabon's Mandji crude, or Arabian Light from Saudi Arabia, the trade body said this week.
Including higher transport costs, however, substituting Libyan imports with the alternatives would likely cost the local refining industry some $ 1.3/b extra over Libyan grades, Unione Petrolifera said.
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Boeing: Nia Jetter Uses More Than Math to Underpin AI and Data Science | Originally published on boeing.com by Will Wilson, Boeing writer
Artificial intelligence is increasingly integrated into our daily lives at home and at work. How is AI going to change how we live? And how can we shape our AI world?
A. One of the things we’ re looking at within Boeing is where and how AI should be implemented into our product life cycle. I drive enterprise collaboration and develop the strategy for the company in these technology areas, including strategic assessments to determine, for example, where partnering with others in industry or leveraging existing solutions makes sense as opposed to developing new capabilities within Boeing.
My work focuses on the AI applications for Boeing processes and products, but it’ s bigger than that. From dynamic, analytics-driven air traffic management for piloted and unpiloted vehicles to smart factories of the future, AI will change our world.
Part of my job is to help ensure the safe and successful development and implementation of AI with that bigger picture in mind. Even as we deliver products and services for our customers with current and emerging technologies, it is also important that we stay at the forefront of this technological innovation so that we can help the world adopt and adapt. This is where the world is going, and we have an incredible opportunity here to help positively shape the future.
Q. You mean acculturating new technology in daily life?
A. There’ s a people-focused aspect of my work as well. A big part of our technology planning also focuses on how people will use and understand AI-enabled products.
People have genuine concerns about what a future more fully enabled by AI would look like. Addressing those concerns is as much a part of our technical strategy as the technology itself. It is critical that we as a society develop human-AI interface in a way that achieves trust. It is crucial that people are comfortable with the evolution of our culture and technology as AI is integrated more and more in daily activities.
That’ s especially true when it comes to educating people so that they understand where the human-AI overlap requires their assistance. For example, with some of the autonomous car capabilities already on the road, we’ re seeing how people learn this new way of engaging as a driver.
Q. What do you see as the big picture effects of increasingly AI-enabled technology for how people live and work?
A. Many tasks that are time-consuming, monotonous, physically challenging or dangerous for people could instead be performed by machines. That’ s the first thing I think about.
I also see how there will be some parallels to what happened during the Industrial Revolution. The insertion of AI will lead to a significant change in our culture and our work, including some of the roles that people play. Change is the one constant that you can rely on!
I think that this change will be good in general — when we have machines doing more of the dirty and dangerous work — but there will also be challenges. Some jobs that people perform will be replaced. But new jobs — particularly ones that require coding skills — will be created.
Many companies, including Boeing, are figuring out ways to help employees develop those new skills so that they can grow in their careers and make the transition as the development of AI changes how we all work.
A. Where I work in El Segundo, California, there is a wall with the names and photos of all of the Boeing Technical Fellows who work on-site. When I started working here, there were no African American women on that wall. I saw that often. There aren’ t a lot of people who look like me working in AI and technology. I want to change that.
In El Segundo, I did change that. My picture went up on the wall in 2013 when I made Associate Technical Fellow — the first of hopefully many African American women who will appear on that wall. I will never forget the moment I first saw my face on the wall and how it stood out to me.
In 2017, I became one of the first two African American women engineers at The Boeing Company to reach the level of Boeing Technical Fellow. [ A third African American woman, a medical doctor, is also a Technical Fellow at Boeing, was already a Technical Fellow at Boeing; for more about the Technical Fellowship, see below. ]
Exposure to diversity matters. I understand that more than ever since my picture went up on that wall. I’ ve had more than one person say to me, “ I didn’ t know we have African American women who are Technical Fellows. ” Now people see me and reach out to me for mentoring, career or technical growth discussions, and even just to say, “ You go, girl! ”
Math offers proof that diversity makes a difference. Mathematics shows us that diversity can help to enable quick convergence onto an optimal solution. In a genetic algorithm, you introduce mutation into the reproduction algorithm because it is how you can make sure that you do not get stuck on a local minimum or maximum. Adding the right amount of diversity to the data will pull you off of a suboptimal solution and onto an optimal one.
Q. What do you enjoy most about your work?
A. I get to be the change I want to see in the world.
I participate in groups focused on advancing our society through science and technology in addition to actively supporting groups focused on increasing diversity in technology and STEM fields, especially concrete actions to increase the inclusion of women, African Americans, other people of color and underrepresented groups.
The other day I was in a town hall and people were asking me about biases in data. We had a conversation about how algorithms don’ t have biases, but the people who write the algorithms might. We need to acknowledge this and identify biases when we see them, and listen to each other in order to expand our worldview.
We are at an exciting point in time with a life-changing technology, and we’ re shaping the future. Every day I’ m at the heart of something that matters.
The Boeing Technical Fellowship, founded in 1989, allows select engineers and scientists to continue their professional growth on a technical career path, as an alternative to a management career track.
Fellowship members are called on across the company to help anticipate, avoid, identify and mitigate technical risks, and to help develop and guide future leaders. Employees seeking to earn selection into the Fellowship must demonstrate their achievements in five areas: knowledge, innovation, leadership, mentorship and vision.
The Fellowship has five levels, with increasing degrees of influence: Associate Technical Fellow, Technical Fellow, Senior Technical Fellow, Principal Senior Technical Fellow and Distinguished Senior Technical Fellow. The top three levels combined include only about 0.1% of Boeing’ s entire technical population.
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Royal Caribbean Feels Earnings Pinch After Canceling 3 China Cruises | Get exclusive stories and unlimited access to Skift.com news
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Reuters
January 29th, 2020 at 1:15 PM EST
Royal Caribbean's earnings hit is just the beginning as the impact of the coronavirus roils the travel industry.
Dennis Schaal
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd said on Wednesday its 2020 earnings would be hurt after it canceled three trips of its China-based cruise liner following discussions with health authorities over the coronavirus outbreak.
The U.S. cruise operator said cancellations would trim its earnings by about 10 cents per share, and it would take an additional 10-cent hit if travel restrictions in China continued until the end of February.
The fast-spreading outbreak has killed more than 130 people and infected almost 6,000 in China.
Several countries including Japan and U.S. are trying to evacuate their citizens from the quarantined city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak.
Airports around the world are screening passengers from China, while foreign companies are curbing travel to the country and airlines are cutting flights.
“ There are still too many variables and uncertainties regarding this outbreak to calculate the overall impact on the business, ” the company said.
Royal Caribbean added that if the travel restrictions continued for an extended period of time, it could materially impact the company’ s overall financial performance. ( Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
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Reuters
January 29th, 2020 at 1:15 PM EST
Tags: china, coronavirus, earnings, royal caribbean | general |
British Airways Axes All Flights to China Over Coronavirus | Get exclusive stories and unlimited access to Skift.com news
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Sarah Young, Reuters
January 29th, 2020 at 5:40 AM EST
British Airways ' total ban on flights to China is a serious blow to travel confidence in the country, as most airlines are for now halting flights in and out of Wuhan, identified as ground zero of the coronavirus. But as concerns of a global epidemic mount, more airlines are likely follow suit.
Xinyi Liang-Pholsena
British Airways has suspended all direct flights to and from mainland China after Britain warned against all but essential travel to the country due to the coronavirus outbreak.
BA.com, the airline’ s website, shows no direct flights to China are available in January and February.
“ We apologize to customers for the inconvenience, but the safety of our customers and crew is always our priority, ” BA said in an emailed statement on Wednesday. “ Customers due to travel to or from China in the coming days can find more information on BA.com. ”
Britain on Tuesday advised against “ all but essential ” travel to mainland China due to the coronavirus outbreak.
( Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by Kate Holton)
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Sarah Young, Reuters
January 29th, 2020 at 5:40 AM EST
Tags: british airways, china, coronavirus | general |
Corporate Travel to China Down as Companies Stop Business Trips | Get exclusive stories and unlimited access to Skift.com news
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Joanna Partridge, The Guardian
January 29th, 2020 at 6:30 AM EST
Huge corporations are putting a stop to staff travel to China and Hong Kong as coronavirus fears continue. This is particularly sad for the Hong Kong industry, which has barely recovered from the political protests.
Raini Hamdi
Businesses are stopping staff travel to China and urging workers inside the country to stay out of the office as concerns grow about the continued spread of the coronavirus from the central city of Wuhan to the rest of China and beyond.
HSBC, which has the biggest presence of foreign banks in China, has banned all staff travel to Hong Kong for two weeks and to mainland China until further notice. Asia-focused lender Standard Chartered is also restricting travel to China and Hong Kong and has asked staff either returning from China or who have family members who have visited the country to work from home for 14 days after their return.
Chinese video games giant Tencent and online retail giant Alibaba have asked their staff to stay at home until February 10, while Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs has told staff who have visited mainland China to work from home for the next fortnight.
French automotive group PSA, which makes the Peugeot and Citroen car brands, said it is assisting with repatriation of all non-Chinese staff and their families from its sites in the Wuhan area.
The action from companies worried about the impact of the virus comes as travel is being restricted within the region and between China and the world. The high-speed rail link between Hong Kong and mainland China will be suspended from 30 January.
The virus has spooked stock markets over the past week amid the growing threat to the global economy. Airlines, hotel groups and luxury goods firms have been among the worst hit. IAG, the owner of British Airways, is down 12 percent. Intercontinental Hotels Group has lost 10 percent.
The price of copper – regarded as a bellwether of the health of the global economy – fell for the 10th consecutive day. The oil price is also under pressure, with Brent Crude changing hands at less than $ 59 a barrel at one point. China’ s demand for oil has been growing at 5.5 percent a year.
The Japanese economy minister, Yasutoshi Nishimura, warned on Tuesday that factory production and company profits could take a hit from the virus. China is Japan’ s second-biggest export market and 40 percent of tourist spending in the country comes from Chinese visitors.
Nishimura said if the virus was not contained “ we’ re concerned it could hurt Japanese exports, output and corporate profits. ”
Some economists are forecasting a possible slowdown in the world’ s second-largest economy. Freya Beamish, chief Asia economist at Pantheon Economics, said China’ s real GDP could fall in the first three months of this year, depending on how long it takes to contain the outbreak.
Beamish said lost factory production could be made up, but missed holiday spending would simply be lost.
Official Chinese data two weeks ago showed the slowest economic growth in 29 years.
This article was written by Joanna Partridge from The Guardian and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal @ newscred.com.
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Joanna Partridge, The Guardian
January 29th, 2020 at 6:30 AM EST
Tags: china, coronavirus, corporate travel, hong kong | general |
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Op-Ed: VEXIT? — If counties don't like Virginia politics, secede to WV | Hi, what are you looking for?
By
Published
What in the world is behind this nascent movement? Apparently, secession has been backed by dozens of elected officials in West Virginia in recent weeks, including the governor. And it is all about gun rights.
And it is also because Democrats have gained control of the Old Dominion’ s General Assembly for the first time in nearly a generation. So, Falwell, whose university is in Lynchburg, Va., and Justice, a Republican in a state where the GOP dominates the legislature, says the invitation sends a “ valid ” message, according to the Associated Press.
“ If you’ re not truly happy where you are, we stand with open arms to take you from Virginia or anywhere where you may be, ” said Justice, who’ s running for reelection, according to WDBJ7. “ We stand strongly behind the Second Amendment and we stand strongly for the unborn. ”
Falwell then added: “ While there will likely be a robust debate about how cities and counties could leave their home state of Virginia, one thing is absolutely certain. Many counties are taking a long, hard look at escaping the barbaric, totalitarian and corrupt Democratic regime in Richmond that is trampling on individual rights in the state. ”
The preacher then cited a number of issues he has with the “ totalitarian and corrupt Democratic regime in Richmond. ” Among them, he doesn’ t agree with Virginia’ s stance on abortion, gun rights, environmental regulations and a budget proposal that would eliminate tuition assistance for students in online programs at private colleges, including Liberty University.
A spokesman for Virginia Governor Ralph Northam offered a response to the “ VEXIT ” proposal: “ Sounds like it’ s an election year in West Virginia. ” And, “ As always, Jerry Falwell’ s words speak for themselves. ”
Falwell’ s announcement comes two weeks after he publicly warned lawmakers that Democratic-backed gun legislation could face a fierce backlash from law enforcement officials if the proposals become law, and one week after close to 30,000 gun advocates flooded Richmond in a peaceful protest against gun legislation.
Of course, reporters asked Falwell how a county would go about seceding from the Commonwealth. Falwell suggested that secession would have to be approved by both states, and perhaps the U.S. Congress. He added that localities could have a non-binding resolution on the ballot in November – adding that this will put “ pressure on politicians in Richmond to do the right thing. ”
Quite frankly, I would suggest a simpler way to handle the issue. The Reverend Falwell and anyone else who doesn’ t like the idea of Democrats having the majority in the General Assembly can just pack up and move to a state more in line with their political persuasions.
However, Falwell and Justice did put on a great show on Tuesday. The duo drew laughs from both sides of the aisle in Richmond. “ What are they doing, a comedy routine? ” said Republican Sen. Emmett Hanger.
Karen Graham is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for environmental news. Karen's view of what is happening in our world is colored by her love of history and how the past influences events taking place today. Her belief in man's part in the care of the planet and our environment has led her to focus on the need for action in dealing with climate change. It was said by Geoffrey C. Ward, `` Journalism is merely history's first draft. '' Everyone who writes about what is happening today is indeed, writing a small part of our history.
The Steppe mammoth was the first stage in the evolution of the steppe and tundra elephants and the ancestor of the woolly mammoth and...
Satellites have become invaluable as an added technology in man’ s quest to understand and expand the scope of global climate observation.
Dr. Anthony Fauci warned of a bleak winter ahead as the Covid-19 Omicron variant spurs a new wave of infections globally.
The EU's drug regulator will decide Monday whether to approve a Covid jab by Novavax, which uses a more conventional technology.
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Nestlé launches second product in recyclable paper packaging as part of its 2025 plastic waste pledge | Or wait...
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29-Jan-2020 - Last updated on 29-Jan-2020 at 10:57 GMT
Related tags: Paper, Packaging, Nestlé, Sustainability 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 ( `` Paper, Packaging, Nestlé, Sustainability ''); dataLayer.push ( dataLayerNews); });
The product, Nesquik All Natural powder comes in a recyclable paper pouch in five ingredients, which it will add to the existing Nesquik range.
Nestlé announced a series of actions towards meeting its April 2018 commitment to make 100% of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025, last year, with a focus on avoiding plastic-waste.
Nesquik All Natural has less sugar than the classic product, using raw cane sugar instead of white sugar, and with cocoa responsibly sourced from West Africa under the Nestlé Cocoa Plan.
Vittoria Simms, senior brand manager, Nesquik, said the paper packaging for the chocolate drink, which took nine months to develop, is an important step forward as Nestlé works towards a more sustainable future and to fulfil its pledge to make all of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025.
It is the second recyclable product from Nestlé in the UK after it launched Yes! bars in paper packaging in July last year.
“ We’ re proud to be able to launch Nesquik All Natural as a new addition to the range, providing parents with an all-natural option with a simplified ingredients list, with less sugar and in a recyclable paper packaging, ” she said.
“ This is part of our commitment at Nestlé to offer more natural, sustainable and nutritious choices while maintaining the great taste that people know and love. ”
The pouches, which are made from coated paper, have been tested to make sure they protect the Nesquik powder during transport and storage, and they are made from sustainable sources, certified by the Forest Stewardship Council ( FSC).
Nesquik All Natural is available in Tesco UK exclusively then will launch in Sainsbury’ s in May and Asda in June.
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: Processing & Packaging, Nestlé, Sustainability, Packaging & Packing Materials, Containers
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China’ s Ele.me to deliver food from 100 restaurants to frontline medical staff in Wuhan amid coronavirus outbreak | Chinese food delivery service giant Ele.me has gathered 100 restaurants to prepare food for frontline medical staff in Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, after previously suspending food deliveries to hospitals in the city to prevent the spread of the epidemic. | business |
Kazakh Air Astana plane fails to land in Baku | The plane of Kazakhstan's Air Astana airline company has returned to Kazakhstan instead of landing in Baku city, a representative of Air Astana told Trend.
According to the official, the reason for the plane's return to Kazakhstan was icing and it is not linked to coronavirus outbreak.
`` The plane implementing flight on Nur-Sultan - Baku route turned around while in the air due to the technical reason ( failure in the anti-icing system), '' the official said.
The landing of the plane was carried out as usual.
Established in 2001, Air Astana company is one of the largest airline companies in Kazakhstan. Currently, Air Astana operates a fleet of 34 aircrafts and over 60 domestic and international routes. | general |
New coronavirus may have started in bats. But how did it hop to humans? | By Rachael Rettner 29 January 2020
A new study provides more clues to the virus ' origins.
As a new coronavirus spreads in China and around the world, scientists are scrambling to find out exactly where it came from. Now, a new study provides more clues to the virus ' origins, and points to bats as the most likely hosts.
In the study, published today ( Jan. 29) in the journal The Lancet, the researchers analyzed 10 genome sequences of the novel coronavirus, dubbed 2019-nCoV, obtained from nine patients in China who were sick with the virus.
They found that all 10 of the genome sequences were extremely similar — they shared more than 99.98% of the same genetic sequence, the authors said. This suggests the virus made its `` jump '' to humans very recently, because if that jump had happened long ago, the virus sequences would have differed more, given the fast rate at which viruses tend to mutate and evolve.
`` It is striking that the sequences of 2019-nCoV described here from different patients were almost identical, '' study co-lead author Weifeng Shi, a professor at the Key Laboratory of Etiology and Epidemiology of Emerging Infectious Diseases in Universities of Shandong Province, affiliated with Shandong First Medical University, said in a statement. `` This finding suggests that 2019-nCoV originated from one source within a very short period and was detected relatively rapidly. ''
Related: 10 deadly diseases that hopped across species
Despite emerging in humans only recently, the virus has already infected about 6,000 people and caused 132 deaths in China, while spreading to 15 other countries, according to the World Health Organization. Most of the initial cases occurred in people who worked at or visited the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, China, where a variety of wild animals were sold.
To learn more about the virus ' origins, the researchers compared the 2019-nCoV genetic sequence with those in a library of viral sequences, and found that the most closely related viruses were two coronaviruses that originated in bats; both of those coronaviruses shared 88% of their genetic sequence with that of 2019-nCoV. ( When compared with two other coronaviruses known to infect people — SARS and MERS — 2019-nCoV shared about 79% of its genetic sequence with SARS and 50% with MERS.)
Based on these results, the authors said the 2019-nCoV likely originated in bats. However, no bats were sold at the Huanan seafood market, which suggests that another yet-to-be-identified animal acted as a steppingstone of sorts to transmit the virus to humans.
`` It seems likely that another animal host is acting as an intermediate host between bats and humans, '' said study co-lead author Guizhen Wu, of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Overall, the outbreak of 2019-nCoV `` again highlights the hidden virus reservoir in wild animals and their potential to occasionally spill over into human populations, '' the authors wrote.
A previous study suggested snakes, which were sold at the Huanan seafood market, as a possible source of 2019-nCoV. However, some experts have criticized the study, saying it's unclear if coronaviruses can infect snakes.
Originally published on Live Science. | general |
Apple supplier Foxconn says plans in place to meet production obligations after virus outbreak | Apple supplier Foxconn Technology Group said it could continue to meet all manufacturing obligations in the wake of a coronavirus outbreak in China even as the iPhone maker flagged uncertainty created by the disease. | business |
Mediterranean sweet crude market pressure grows as Libyan blockade enters second week | The addition of nuclear and natural gas to the EU’ s sustainable finance taxonomy provoked a furious...
The freight rate for hauling Russian ESPO crude from the Far Eastern port of Kozmino to North China...
London — As the Libyan National Army's blockade of the country's oil ports enters a second week, the urgency with which European oil traders are seeking alternatives to fill the 1 million b/d hole is growing.
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Shipping data for February shows Repsol, OMV, Unipec, Saras and ENI among the regular charterers of vessels from Libya, and the lost barrels are equivalent to more than a fifth of the total refinery throughput for the Mediterranean.
With stock levels low – Europe's crude market has been backwardated throughout January – Libya's customers now have to find replacement barrels quickly, empowering sellers of light, sweet grades to demand steep premiums for their oil, especially prompt barrels loading in the Mediterranean.
`` Everyone is playing a waiting game, but someone has to give in at some point, '' said one trader, referring to the wide gap between bids and offers for obvious replacement grades such as Azeri Light and Saharan Blend.
The other major light sweet crude stream loading in the Mediterranean is Algeria's Saharan Blend, but another trader said that all of the February cargoes were booked more than a week ago, before the Libyan force majeure was declared on January 18. Sonatrach, the state-owned oil and gas company recently set the official selling price for the grade at its highest level in eight years – Dated Brent plus $ 2.46/b.
Meanwhile, some traders say distillate-rich Azeri Light has been discussed at levels above Dated Brent plus $ 6/b, above the multi-year high of Dated Brent plus $ 5.70/b recorded in mid-November.
In the Mediterranean sweet market, `` it's beginning to look like a similar situation to the way it was before Libyan production came back online a few of years ago, '' said another trader, adding that two major Italian refiners would be taking five cargoes of Azeri Light each.
Another possible source of replacement light, sweet crude is Nigeria, but trading there is typically further forward than it is for Mediterranean grades and traders say that there has not been a rush of buying interest.
`` Nigeria is quiet, I think people are gauging what's happening in Libya first. The more production lags in Libya, the more positive it will be for Nigerian oil, '' a third trader said, adding that the lighter grades such as Agbami and Akpo would see comparatively more support than other Nigerian grades due to their similarity to Libyan crude.
The Nigerian market has started to trade March-loading barrels, however, some more prompt February-loading cargoes were still available that could fill demand. These included February cargoes of Bonny Light, Bonga, Forcados, Qua Iboe and Akpo, according to a fourth trader.
Despite the speculative support, little impact has been seen on March trading, and all of the March-loading cargoes of Agbami remain available, the second trader said. `` There's no shortage of oil in the Mediterranean it seems, even with Libya out, '' the source said.
Another oil producing region that could serve as a natural replacement for Libya's missing barrels is the North Sea, with its light, sweet Norwegian grades.
However, North Sea traders said this week that sentiment was mostly being driven by the wider bearishness stemming from the outbreak of the coronavirus.
Since the force majeure was declared in Libya, crude futures prices have weakened as concerns grow about the risk to global economic growth from the coronavirus outbreak. Since announcing the outbreak in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, Beijing has imposed quarantine restrictions on the city and extended the country's Lunar New Year public holiday.
S & P Global Platts Analytics expects a 200,000 b/d drop in oil demand for the next two to three months, reflecting roughly 15% of the expected oil demand growth in 2020.
Around a fifth of Libya's 1.1 million b/d of crude exports are typically sent to Asia.
`` I think it's particularly bearish for the North Sea given that China is a big outlet for Forties, '' a trader said.
North Sea's Forties could thus struggle to find support if Asian demand shrinks.
The grade has a higher sulfur content than most of the North Sea's production.
As a result, the spread between Forties and North Sea's sweet grades could widen if European refiners look north for sweet alternatives to Libyan crude, and if China's appetite for Forties dwindles.
The premium for North Sea's Ekofisk to Forties broke $ 2.50/b earlier in January for the first time in more than eight years.
The impact of Libya's canceled shipments has been most apparent on the freight market in the Mediterranean, where Suezmax and Aframax dirty tanker market segments have fallen.
S & P Global Platts last assessed the cross-Mediterranean 135,000 mt and 80,000 mt rates at $ 6.23/mt and $ 7.59/mt, respectively, down 29% and 26% from the start of the production outage and subsequent tanker loadings stoppage.
`` The market is dead quiet and with Libya up in the air it is not looking good, '' an Aframax tanker broker said Tuesday.
All tankers on subjects/fixed for February loadings have now been canceled, according to market participants. On Tuesday, the Filikon was reported to be on subjects for a Kribi-to-Rotterdam voyage after being released from Libya by Unipec, the third ship released due to the force majeure declaration in effect, according to a shipping source.
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Social-media bots skew online chatter
Social scientists who mine social-media sites such as Twitter and Instagram for information on human health and behaviour are struggling to deal with online bots designed to imitate people.
Bots can contaminate online data that scientists gather about a community’ s reaction to an event, a disaster or issues such as smoking or vaccines
. “ You might be artificially giving the bots a voice by treating them as if they are really part of the discussion, when they are actually just amplifying something that may not be voiced by the community, ” says health-disparities researcher Amelia Jamison. Bot detectors can help weed out fake accounts, but bots are also becoming more complex and harder to detect.
Nature | 3 min read
Top researchers urge Australia to take action
Eighty-one of
Australia’ s top scientists have called on their government to take the lead on fighting climate change
in light of the recent disastrous bush fires. “ Australia’ s current visibility as ground zero for both climate impacts and climate policy uncertainty presents a unique opportunity for us to emerge as a leader on this challenge, ” wrote the Australian Research Council laureates in an open letter sent to the leaders of the country’ s four main political parties.
The Sydney Morning Herald | 4 min read
Reference:
ARC laureates open letter
Leading chemist charged with fraud
Charles Lieber, the chair of the chemistry and chemical biology department at Harvard University, has been charged with lying to the US Department of Defense ( DOD) about his participation in China’ s Thousand Talents programme. The DOD alleges that Lieber
hid his lucrative involvement with the programme and with
a
leading Chinese university
. According to the DOD, Lieber’ s lab has received more than US $ 15 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health and the DOD since 2008, and as part of that he was obliged to reveal any non-US funding or collaborations.
Chemical & Engineering News | 4 min read
Wuhan coronavirus outbreak
Coronaviruses take their name from their crown-like shape.
Credit: Getty
First lab to grow virus outside China
• Researchers in Australia are the first outside China to announce that they’ ve grown the new coronavirus in cell culture. They are also
the first to offer to share the virus with research labs around the world
recommended by the World Health Organization. Scientists in China have not yet shared samples with international researchers — they have shared only the virus’ s genetic sequence. Samples will enable scientists to create a molecular diagnostic test for the virus. Such a test will be especially useful to identify people who are infected, and can infect others, but have no symptoms themselves — which seems to have occurred in some cases.
• One of the breakout buzzwords of the coronavirus outbreak is
R
0
( say it “ R-naught ”) — a number that indicates how many people one person with the virus tends to infect. For example, if
R
0
is 3, then on average every case will lead to three others. But although the metric is simple to conceptualize,
it’ s hard to calculate and tricky to interpret
.
Nature | 8 min read, continuously updated
&
The Atlantic | 7 min read
Notable quotable
“ We cut the trees; we kill the animals or cage them and send them to markets. We disrupt ecosystems, and we shake viruses loose from their natural hosts. When that happens, they need a new host. Often, we are it. ”
Human activity has made outbreaks of pathogens such as the new coronavirus more likely, argues science journalist David Quammen. (
The New York Times
)
Features & opinion
Brexit: it’ s happening
At 11 p.m. on 31 January, the United Kingdom will leave the European Union. A
future research relationship must be built on continued collaboration — and compromise
, argues a
Nature
editorial.
Now that it’ s actually happening, negotiators have less than a year to agree on how the country will participate in EU research programmes.
Nature
answers
the Brexit questions British scientists are asking
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Nature | 6 min read
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Nature | 6 min read
Five ‘ power skills’ for becoming a team leader
An early-career scientist and an experienced leadership expert join forces to outline
five ‘ power skills’ — the crucial abilities that enable a leader
to connect with people, communicate effectively, adapt to the unexpected and be open-minded. “ Being talented in your field is important, but your impact can be much greater if you also know how to lead and motivate the next generation, ” say Sarah Groover and Ruth Gotian.
Nature | 5 min read
5G: Technology of the year 2020
5G — the fifth generation of wireless communications technology — is
Nature Electronics
’
2020 technology of the year
. Explore the
underlying technology
, its
potential applications
, and its wider
political context
— and
what 6G could look like
.
Nature Electronics | 6-article collection
Correspondence: your letters to Nature
Grant lottery: we’ re not so sure
“ I want my career to be built on achievement, as recognized and promoted through conventional grant awards — not undermined by a lottery system, ” writes early-career researcher Howard Vindin. Plus,
for a researcher just starting out, a positive grant review is crucial for advancement
, he argues.
Biologist Andrew Beattie calls the funding-lottery idea “ a classic bureaucratic response to a process that bureaucracy finds too hard to handle ”. He
urges academia to resist such bureaucratic short cuts
.
Don’ t rely on genetically modified crops alone
Five plant researchers applaud genetic approaches to sustainably improve crop yields, but highlight the real-world challenges that could stand in the way.
They recommend parallel approaches — such as innovative plant breeding
— to deliver a new green revolution.
UK chief scientific adviser welcomes new visas
Patrick Vallance, the UK government’ s chief scientific adviser,
welcomes the announcement of a new fast-track immigration scheme for researchers
. The scheme, which will go live on 20 February, applies to all eligible overseas researchers who receive peer-reviewed grants from recognized funding bodies, and has no cap on numbers.
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Quote of the day
“ When I realized that I could no longer trust the data that I had reported in some of my papers, I did what I think is the only correct course of action. I retracted them. ”
Behavioral ecologist Kate Laskowski reveals the emotional and professional process of discovering problems in published papers. (
Laskowski Lab blog
) | science |
Starbucks ' Earnings Highlights Dimmed Over Coronavirus | The wide-moat firm closed hundreds of stores in China, and we encourage investors to keep this name on their radars for coronavirus-related pullbacks.
Ongoing benefits from its customer experience, beverage innovation, and digital initiatives -- which helped drive global comps of 5% and 80 basis points of adjusted operating margin growth to 18.2% -- should have been the highlight of Starbucks ' ( SBUX) first-quarter update. However, these took a backseat to management's assessment of the China coronavirus outbreak, which took on added importance since Starbucks was the first publicly traded restaurant to comment on the situation.
Noting `` dynamic circumstances, '' Starbucks did not offer an estimate of the coronavirus impact but noted that `` more than half '' of its stores in China are closed ( implying almost 2,200 stores) and that the situation would `` materially affect '' results for the second quarter and full year. Management noted that it would have raised its full-year operating margin and EPS outlook -- previously calling for modest operating margin expansion and $ 3.00- $ 3.05 in adjusted EPS -- based on the strong first-quarter results but left its guidance unchanged until it can more reasonably estimate the impact. Assuming the affected stores stay closed for the next 1-2 weeks ( in addition to the week they 've already been closed), we believe the China comps will likely experience a second-quarter low-double-digit decline and potentially a mid-single-digit decline in the third quarter. This would translate to a mid-single-digit decline in international segment comps for the second quarter and low-single-digit decline for fiscal 2020 while dragging full-year consolidated EPS down by $ 0.20- $ 0.30.
While we plan to reduce our 2020 outlook, the brand intangible asset and cost advantage sources underpinning our wide moat rating remain intact. We're maintaining our $ 92 fair value estimate, as we expect near-term pressure to be offset by outsize revenue and operating profit growth in fiscal 2021. Shares strike us as fairly valued, but we would encourage investors to keep this name on their radars for coronavirus-related pullbacks.
R.J. Hottovy does not own shares in any of the securities mentioned above. Find out about Morningstar’ s editorial policies. | business |
Infodemiological Study Using Google Trends on Coronavirus Epidemic in Wuhan, China | The recent emergence of a new coronavirus ( COVID-19) has gained a high cover in public media and worldwide news. The virus has caused a viral pneumonia in tens of thousands of people in Wuhan, a central city of China. This short paper gives a brief introduction on how the demand for information on this new epidemic is reported through Google Trends. The reported period is 31 December 2020 to 20 March 2020. The authors draw conclusions on current infodemiological data on COVID-19 using three main search keywords: coronavirus, SARS and MERS. Two approaches are set. First is the worldwide perspective, second - the Chinese one, which reveals that in China this disease in the first days was more often referred to SARS then to general coronaviruses, whereas worldwide, since the beginning, it is more often referred to coronaviruses. | science |
WRAPUP 4-China virus toll passes 130; Japan evacuates citizens | * Death toll from outbreak rises to 132
* China confirms 1,459 new cases reported on Tuesday
* U.S. considers suspending China-U.S. air traffic - sources
* Countriues seek to evacuate citizens from Wuhan
* Australian laboratory develops coronavirus
By Huizhong Wu and Judy Hua
BEIJING, Jan 29 ( Reuters) - The death toll from a new coronavirus in China rose sharply to 132 on Wednesday with nearly 1,500 new cases, as Japan said it flew citizens out of Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus.
Several countries are trying to evacuate their citizens from Wuhan. A U.S. charter plane departed Wuhan on Wednesday, said a U.S. official, but it was unclesar who was onboard.
U.S. officials said the White House was weighing whether to suspend flights to the country in a drastic measure to control the spread of the disease.
“ All options for dealing with infectious disease spread have to be on the table, including travel restrictions, ” said U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar.
The White House is holding daily meetings on the outbreak and monitoring China-U.S. flights as a likely source of infections, sources briefed on the matter said, though it had decided against suspending air traffic for the time being.
A senior Trump administration official said airlines had not been asked to suspend flights, after CNBC reported that the White House had told airline executives it was considering such as move.
Fears of the spreading virus have already pushed airlines around the world to reduce flights to China and global companies to restrict employee travel to the country, while sectors from mining to luxury goods have been shaken by concerns for global growth in the event of a worst-case pandemic.
China’ s National Health Commission said the total number of deaths from the flu-like virus rose by 26 on Tuesday to 132, almost all in Hubei province which is under virtual lockdown, while the number of confirmed cases rose by 1,459 to a total of 5,974.
The case number in China now exceeds the 5,327 who were infected in the country with the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ( SARS) coronavirus which killed about 800 people around the world in 2002-2003.
While some experts believe the new strain is not as deadly as SARS, it has created alarm because it is spreading quickly and there are still important unknowns surrounding it, such as its lethality and whether it is infectious before symptoms show.
A chartered plane carrying 206 Japanese nationals evacuated from Wuhan arrived at Tokyo’ s Haneda airport on Wednesday, with additional flights planned.
A U.S. government official who declined to be identified told Reuters a U.S. charter plane had departed from Wuhan earlier on Wednesday, without elaborating on the number of passengers on board.
The U.S. Embassy in Beijing earlier said a chartered plane would pick up its consular staff and some private U.S. citizens on Wednesday.
Australia said it would help some citizens leave Hubei and quarantine them on Christmas Island, a remote speck in the Indian Ocean best known for housing asylum seekers.
New cases were reported around the world including Germany, where four people from the same company were infected in one of the first cases of person-to-person transmission outside China.
The German cases raise concerns about the human-to-human spread of the virus, which can be transmitted in droplets from coughs and sneezes and has an incubation period of up to 14 days.
Wuhan is racing to build two dedicated hospitals to treat coronavirus patients, with the first 1,000-bed facility to be completed on Feb 3. The capacity of the second will be expanded from 1,300 to 1,600 beds, the official People’ s Daily reported on Wednesday.
Known as “ 2019-nCoV ”, the newly identified coronavirus emerged late last year in Wuhan, a major transportation hub and capital of central Hubei province with a population of 11 million people.
While China has since moved to lock down most of Hubei, with a population around the same as Italy, the virus has still spread to more than a dozen countries from France to the United States.
The epidemic broke out on the eve of China’ s Lunar New Year holiday, a time when millions of Chinese travel abroad and at home. Many of those flights have now been cancelled, and airports around the world are screening passengers from China for signs of infection.
In a major step towards controlling the global spread of the disease, scientists in Australia said they had developed a lab-grown version of the coronavirus, the first to be recreated outside of China.
The researchers at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne said they would share the sample, grown from an infected patient, with the World Health Organization and laboratories around the world.
“ Having the real virus means we now have the ability to actually validate and verify all test methods, and compare their sensitivities and specificities, ” the Doherty Institute’ s virus identification laboratory head, Julian Druce, said.
Asian stock markets erased earlier gains with Hong Kong shares tumbling to a seven-week low on Wednesday as the surge in new cases fuelled fears about the economic impact of the virus.
Policy sources have told Reuters that Beijing plans to set an economic growth target of around 6% this year from last year’ s 6-6.5%. A Reuters poll of economists conducted earlier this month showed China’ s economic growth is expected to slow to 5.9% this year, the weakest clip since 1990. ( Reporting by Lusha Zhang, Gabriel Crossley, Tony Munroe, Huizhong Wu, Cheng Leng and Judy Hua in Beijing; Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols at the United Nations, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Matthias Blamont in Paris, Manas Mishra and Mekhla Raina in Bengaluru and Caroline Humer in New York, David Shepardson in Washington and Tracy Rucinski in Chicago; Writing by Stephen Coates; Editing by Michael Perry) | business |
Bats, the source of so many viruses, could be the origin of Wuhan coronavirus, say experts | `` When you look at the genetic sequence of the virus, and you match it up with every known coronavirus, the closest relatives are from bats, '' said Dr. Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance, an environmental health non-profit.
Professor Guizhen Wu of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said in a study released by the Lancet medical journal on Wednesday that the data they had so far was consistent with the virus being initially hosted by bats.
The bat has long been seen as a biological super villain.
The winged mammal has been the reservoir for several different deadly viruses like Marburg, Nipah and Hendra, which have caused disease in humans and outbreaks in Uganda, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Australia. Bats are thought to be the natural host of the Ebola virus, rabies, SARS and MERS, with the latter two both coronaviruses similar to the one that's now emerged in Wuhan.
Often, there's an intermediary involved as was the case with SARS in 2003 — the civet cat — and MERS, which emerged later in the 2000s and was carried by camels.
Scientists call these viruses zoonotic because they are transmitted from animals to humans.
In the case of Nipah virus, which can cause a range of symptoms including fatal encephalitis ( inflammation of the brain), infections were traced back to juice made from the sap of a date palm tree that had been contaminated by bat urine or saliva. Bats had been roosting in the trees where locals set up spigots to collect the tasty sap.
The fact this new coronavirus has been linked to bats `` comes as no surprise to virologists working on bat-borne viruses, '' said Dr Stathis Giotis, a virologist at the Department of Infectious Disease at Imperial College in London. `` Bats are recognized as important reservoirs for emerging and re-emerging viruses with zoonotic potential. ''
Giotis said that it was possible that the Chinese horseshoe bat, a common bat species in China, was responsible.
Why are bats so adept at harboring and spreading viruses?
Bats are a diverse group, with more than 1,300 species, are second only to rodents in mammal diversity. They are geographically diverse, living on every continent except Antarctica. Compared with terrestrial animals, they have a longer lifespan and many roost densely with millions of others in caves, meaning they potentially come into contact with more viruses and they circulate easily between them.
While bats are known to carry several high-profile viruses, they don't seem to suffer from them — with the exception of rabies.
One theory posits that flight, which is shared by all bats but no other mammals, has allowed bats to evolve mechanisms that protect them from viruses. Flying elevates the bat's metabolism and body temperature — similar to a fever in humans and other mammals — and scientists say this, on an evolutionary scale, could boost a bat's immune system and make it more tolerant of viruses.
`` The current hypothesis among scientists is that the bat immune system has been adapted over centuries of evolution due to their flying ability, '' said Giotis.
Scientists have found some promising leads in the animal's genetic make-up to back up this hypothesis.
`` Key antiviral immunity components are conserved in bats, but some genes that activate inflammation or specialized-antiviral defense mechanisms are either missing or have altered function, '' said Giotis, explaining why they don't have a typical immune response to viruses.
Of course, bats aren't the only animals that carry disease that spills over into humans. The plague was carried by rodents and HIV spilled over from chimpanzees.
Scientists in a 2017 paper did find that bats harbored more dangerous viruses than other species. A team of scientists including Daszak looked at 188 known zoonotic viruses and found that bats hosted a `` significantly higher '' proportion of these than other mammals.
However, some scientists say that bats have been more extensively sampled for viruses in the wake of the 2003 SARS outbreak and that other animals may have a similar diversity of viruses if scientists looked more robustly.
But deforestation and urbanization, especially in densely populated places like China, are putting humans into closer contact with bats and other animals, which allows the spillover of viruses, Giotis said.
Did the Wuhan virus spill over from bats?
Scientists in China have actively been studying bats carefully given that they 've long been thought to have the potential to be the starting point of the next pandemic.
In a paper published last year, scientists from the Wuhan Institute of Virology made an eerily prescient observation: `` It is generally believed that bat-borne CoVs ( coronaviruses) will re-emerge to cause the next disease outbreak, '' they said. `` In this regard, China is a likely hotspot. The challenge is to predict when and where, so that we can try our best to prevent such outbreaks. ''
Daszak said that scientists have found about 50 SARS-related coronaviruses in bats all across China and the SARS coronavirus had been found in people in the southwestern province of Yunnan who lived near caves where the virus had been found in bats — although they showed no symptoms of respiratory illness during sampling.
`` These viruses are a really high risk for pandemic emergence. They're in bats, they're across Southeast Asia, people are exposed to them regularly, and they're actually getting infected, '' Daszak said.
It's too early to say for sure whether the Wuhan coronavirus originated in bats and whether an intermediary played a role. The outbreak was initially traced to a seafood market that sold live animals in Wuhan and scientists are working hard to trace the source both in the lab and in the field.
Wu at the Chinese Center for Disease Control said the data was pointing toward the virus going from bats to another, unknown wild animal, and then to humans. She said no bats were sold or found at the seafood market and the outbreak was first reported in late December when most bat species in Wuhan are hibernating.
`` There are initial, although contested, reports that the virus has already been detected in both bats and snakes and the strains in both bats and snakes are similar to each other and to the strains from human cases, '' Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, told the Science Media Centre in London.
`` All the work around this new outbreak is new and ongoing which can explain why there are differing thoughts on what the source may be. '' | business |
Impeachment, Wuhan, Jessica Simpson: Your Wednesday Evening Briefing | ( Want to get this briefing by email? Here’ s the sign-up.)
Good evening. Here’ s the latest.
1. The impeachment trial of President Trump moved into cross-examination.
After a week of silently hearing the case, senators submitted written questions to the legal teams representing the president and the House. Both sides used the opportunity to poke holes in their opponents’ case.
Today’ s session is expected to last into the night and resume again on Thursday. Follow along here.
One of Mr. Trump’ s lawyers, Alan Dershowitz, argued that any action taken by the president to help his own re-election would be, by definition, in the public interest. That’ s an extraordinarily expansive view of executive power.
But this could all be over in a matter of days. Senator Mitch McConnell, above, and other Republicans signaled that they were growing more confident they would be able to block new witnesses and documents — and that they could call a vote for acquittal as soon as Friday.
2. A flight carrying 201 Americans from Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, landed in Southern California this morning. Here’ s the latest.
The passengers, being greeted above by health care workers, are to remain in place for three days of evaluations, then — if cleared — return home for two weeks of monitoring.
As anxiety grows, American stores are selling out of masks. Health care workers risk infection if they can not get the protective gear.
3. We’ re still breaking down the repercussions of President Trump’ s Middle East peace plan.
Palestinian leaders, completely left out of negotiations, flatly rejected the long-awaited plan, which heavily favors Israel, a day after Mr. Trump presented it alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.
The deal has left Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, above center, with few good options, while his life’ s work — a viable state side-by-side with Israel — slips away.
4. Stocks ended mixed on Wall Street after news of a signed trade deal and a Federal Reserve meeting. But concerns remain over the global impact of the coronavirus.
President Trump signed a revised NAFTA into law, fulfilling a campaign promise to rewrite the North American trade rules. The deal, now called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, includes stronger protections for workers and the digital economy, expanded markets for American farmers and new rules to encourage car making.
The Fed, for its part, left rates unchanged and offered few changes to its assessment of the economy’ s health, suggesting it intends to remain patient.
5. Elizabeth Warren is shifting her strategy and tackling the question of electability head-on, days before the Iowa caucuses.
Her campaign has supplemented its policy-driven messaging with explicit talk about Ms. Warren’ s identity as a female politician and her path to beating President Trump. Above, a stop in Davenport, Iowa, on Sunday.
And while other presidential candidates argue about one another’ s health plans, Michael Bloomberg is mounting a more frontal attack on Mr. Trump’ s record on health care. He has released a torrent of ads to do so.
6. For the first time, scientists in Antarctica have recorded a glacier melting dangerously from the bottom.
Researchers on the Thwaites Glacier, about the size of Florida, found unusually warm water beneath the massive glacier, which is already melting and contributing to sea level rise.
Thwaites, along with the Pine Island Glacier and a number of smaller glaciers, acts as a brake on part of the much larger West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Together, the two bigger glaciers are holding back ice that, if melted, would raise the world’ s oceans by more than a meter, or about four feet, over centuries, an amount that would put many coastal cities underwater.
7. Funeral plans for Kobe Bryant have not been publicly announced, but Los Angeles is preparing to accommodate thousands of mourners from across the country.
The Staples Center, where Bryant played for most of his 20-year career with the Lakers, can hold about 20,000 people. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, among the largest venues in Southern California, can hold more than 77,000 people and has been floated as an alternative. Here’ s the latest.
“ Laying him to rest will be something which we are here, ready to help support the family however, wherever and whenever, ” Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles has said.
The Lakers will play on Friday for the first time since Bryant’ s death Sunday.
8. A very different look at the sun.
This is one of the most detailed images of the sun’ s surface ever taken, by a new telescope in Hawaii.
It may look like popcorn from 93 million miles away, but each “ kernel ” is about the size of Texas. And each is the signature of almost incomprehensibly violent motion, in the form of thermonuclear reactions and boiling gas pocked with magnetic storms.
The images came in an initial test of the National Science Foundation’ s telescope, which is atop Haleakala, an ancient cratered volcano. It’ s named for Daniel K. Inouye, the senator from Hawaii credited with helping build his state into an astronomical powerhouse.
9. Jessica Simpson is ready to talk.
Ahead of her new memoir, “ Open Book, ” we sat down with the early-aughts pop star to talk about addiction, sexual abuse as a child, dating John Mayer, divorce — and everything else.
“ Even though I have been so open about things that I’ ve gone through in my life, I’ ve never been open about them in an emotional way, ” she said.
Our Styles writer says that Ms. Simpson delivers on the promise that stars are just like us, “ only richer and prettier and with great, but maybe not greater, expectations. ”
10. And finally, cracking a decades-old C.I.A. mystery.
The Kryptos sculpture has been in a courtyard at the agency’ s headquarters in Langley, Va., for almost 30 years. Three of its four passages have been decoded ( the first was solved by a team from the National Security Agency). Now its creator is offering one final clue: “ NORTHEAST. ”
The puzzle, cut into a sheet of copper, has been a source of delight and consternation to thousands of people. Having a chance to solve a problem, one mathematician said, “ gives people great pleasure. ”
Good luck, and hope you have a breakthrough tonight.
Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern.
And don’ t miss Your Morning Briefing. Sign up here to get it by email in the Australian, Asian, European, African or American morning.
Want to catch up on past briefings? You can browse them here.
What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing @ nytimes.com. | business |
Israeli President to address German MPs 75 years after Auschwitz | Hi, what are you looking for?
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Israel's president will deliver a speech in Berlin on Wednesday to mark 75 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp as fears re-emerge about the safety of Jews in Germany.
Reuven Rivlin will be joined by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in addressing lawmakers at the Bundestag from 1000 GMT.
Both men in recent days have already attended high-profile anniversary events in Jerusalem and at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland, where survivors and dignitaries from around the world raised alarm about resurgent anti-Semitism in Europe.
Rivlin will be only the second Israeli leader to address German MPs at Berlin's annual event to remember the Holocaust, following Shimon Peres in 2010.
This time, the audience will include MPs from the far-right AfD party, whose leaders have openly railed against Germany's remembrance culture and its ongoing atonement for the atrocities committed under Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime.
- 'Very negative influence ' -
A decade ago, Peres used his Berlin speech to issue an emotional plea for the world to bring the remaining perpetrators of Nazi crimes to justice.
But faced with a dwindling number of people who lived through World War II, attention is now shifting to making sure that the horrors of the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were systematically murdered, are not forgotten.
On the eve of the Bundestag event, Rivlin and Steinmeier visited a centuries-old Jewish school in the German capital to talk to secondary school students about learning from the past.
`` We have the fourth, fifth and sixth generation after the Holocaust and World War II, '' Rivlin said.
`` Now we have to find a way to let you, and to let your children know what happened, and prevent it from happening again. ''
Steinmeier urged young people to complement their history lessons with real-life `` experiences '' by travelling to Israel and visiting concentration camps like Auschwitz, where 1.1 million people were killed.
The German president, who serves as a kind of a moral arbiter for the nation, also voiced concern about the `` very negative influence '' of social media.
He said his speech at Israel's memorial event last Thursday, in which he warned of the re-emergence of racist and anti-Semitic `` spirits of evil '', attracted an `` unbelievable '' amount of negative reactions on Facebook.
- 'Mass exit ' of Jews? -
Alarm about anti-Jewish hatred has catapulted to the top of Germany's political agenda after a suspected neo-Nazi gunman tried to storm a synagogue filled with worshippers in the city of Halle in October.
After failing to break down the door, he shot dead a female passer-by and a man at a kebab shop instead.
According to government figures, Germany recorded 1,799 anti-Semitic offences in 2018, up nearly 20 percent on the year before. Of those, 69 were classed as violent attacks.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas warned this week that nearly one in two Jews has considered leaving the country.
He said the fight against anti-Semitism would be a priority when Germany takes over the rotating European Union presidency in July.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has already taken steps in recent months to tighten legislation on anti-Semitic crimes and punish online hate speech.
Germans `` bear the responsibility of making everyone feel safe at home in Germany and in Europe '', Merkel said recently.
As a close diplomatic ally, Germany treads carefully when commenting on Israeli politics.
But Berlin joined a lukewarm European response Tuesday to the Middle East peace plan unveiled by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
`` Only a negotiated two-state solution, acceptable to both sides, can lead to a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians, '' Maas said.
Israel’ s president will deliver a speech in Berlin on Wednesday to mark 75 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp as fears re-emerge about the safety of Jews in Germany.
Reuven Rivlin will be joined by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in addressing lawmakers at the Bundestag from 1000 GMT.
Both men in recent days have already attended high-profile anniversary events in Jerusalem and at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland, where survivors and dignitaries from around the world raised alarm about resurgent anti-Semitism in Europe.
Rivlin will be only the second Israeli leader to address German MPs at Berlin’ s annual event to remember the Holocaust, following Shimon Peres in 2010.
This time, the audience will include MPs from the far-right AfD party, whose leaders have openly railed against Germany’ s remembrance culture and its ongoing atonement for the atrocities committed under Adolf Hitler’ s Nazi regime.
– ‘ Very negative influence’ –
A decade ago, Peres used his Berlin speech to issue an emotional plea for the world to bring the remaining perpetrators of Nazi crimes to justice.
But faced with a dwindling number of people who lived through World War II, attention is now shifting to making sure that the horrors of the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were systematically murdered, are not forgotten.
On the eve of the Bundestag event, Rivlin and Steinmeier visited a centuries-old Jewish school in the German capital to talk to secondary school students about learning from the past.
“ We have the fourth, fifth and sixth generation after the Holocaust and World War II, ” Rivlin said.
“ Now we have to find a way to let you, and to let your children know what happened, and prevent it from happening again. ”
Steinmeier urged young people to complement their history lessons with real-life “ experiences ” by travelling to Israel and visiting concentration camps like Auschwitz, where 1.1 million people were killed.
The German president, who serves as a kind of a moral arbiter for the nation, also voiced concern about the “ very negative influence ” of social media.
He said his speech at Israel’ s memorial event last Thursday, in which he warned of the re-emergence of racist and anti-Semitic “ spirits of evil ”, attracted an “ unbelievable ” amount of negative reactions on Facebook.
– ‘ Mass exit’ of Jews? –
Alarm about anti-Jewish hatred has catapulted to the top of Germany’ s political agenda after a suspected neo-Nazi gunman tried to storm a synagogue filled with worshippers in the city of Halle in October.
After failing to break down the door, he shot dead a female passer-by and a man at a kebab shop instead.
According to government figures, Germany recorded 1,799 anti-Semitic offences in 2018, up nearly 20 percent on the year before. Of those, 69 were classed as violent attacks.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas warned this week that nearly one in two Jews has considered leaving the country.
He said the fight against anti-Semitism would be a priority when Germany takes over the rotating European Union presidency in July.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’ s government has already taken steps in recent months to tighten legislation on anti-Semitic crimes and punish online hate speech.
Germans “ bear the responsibility of making everyone feel safe at home in Germany and in Europe ”, Merkel said recently.
As a close diplomatic ally, Germany treads carefully when commenting on Israeli politics.
But Berlin joined a lukewarm European response Tuesday to the Middle East peace plan unveiled by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“ Only a negotiated two-state solution, acceptable to both sides, can lead to a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians, ” Maas said.
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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The Federal Trade Commission ( FTC) is warning about fraudulent testing kits being sold online to desperate customers.
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El renacimiento de los pueblos de montaña | Desde hace años los pueblos de montaña se despueblan. Un fenómeno que se observa en Suiza y el resto de Europa. Las escuelas tienen que cerrar por falta de alumnos, y los inmuebles de viviendas se convierten en residencias secundarias.
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Este contenido fue publicado el 30 ene. 2020 30 ene. 2020 En los Prealpes suizos hay muchas cabañas de pastores, establos y chozas que han dejado de ser necesarios para la agricultura. Muchos de estos...
Pero esto podría cambiar. Gracias a la digitalización, cada vez más gente se anima a volver al campo, donde la calidad de vida es más alta y el coste de vida, más bajo. Y la pandemia de coronavirus ha demostrado que muchos trabajos de oficina se pueden hacer desde casa.
`` Desde hace 30 años, los investigadores predicen la introducción generalizada del teletrabajo, entre otras cosas, porque ofrece soluciones a algunos de los problemas relacionados con la movilidad '', declaraba Vincent Kaufmann, profesor de Sociología Urbana y Análisis de la Movilidad en la Escuela Politécnica Federal de Lausana ( EPFL), en una entrevista con swissinfo.ch sobre la pandemia. `` Ahora tanto los empleados, como las empresas y los servicios públicos se están dando cuenta de que puede funcionar. ''
Las encuestas muestran que la popularidad del teletrabajo ha aumentado enormemente. Antes de la pandemia, entrevistamos a algunas personas que dejaron atrás la vida en la ciudad y optaron por vivir en el campo.
“ Lejos del ajetreo de la ciudad, donde quedas para almorzar y de repente te dan las dos y media, aquí te puedes concentrar mejor en el trabajo ”, agrega Reto Caduff, realizador de documentales, que vive en un caserío ubicado en una alta meseta sobre el lago Walen.
“ Al principio solo obteníamos la mitad de lo que ganábamos en Basilea y, a pesar de eso, después de deducir los gastos, nos quedaba prácticamente lo mismo ”, señala en un reportaje de swissinfo.ch Martin Hoch, un periodista que ahora vive en Laax, en el cantón de los Grisones.
Gracias a Internet, Hoch y Caduff pueden ejercer su actividad profesional desde la montaña.
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Este contenido fue publicado el 09 oct. 2019 09 oct. 2019 Dos terceras partes de la superficie de Suiza son montañas. La mayoría de las zonas montañosas tienen que luchar contra la despoblación debido a la...
Estos nuevos residentes son un soplo de aire fresco para los pueblos remotos. Y es que muchos de ellos están altamente cualificados, se ganan bien la vida y quieren integrarse en las pequeñas comunidades de los pueblos.
Los pueblos remotos buscan formas para atraer a gente como Martin Hoch y Reto Caduff.
Los municipios ofrecen tasas de imposición atractivas, abonos subvencionados para la energía y el transporte, subsidios para los seguros y descuentos en las tiendas locales. El año pasado, el municipio de Gambarogno, en el Tesino, fue noticia cuando puso a la venta casas rústicas de piedra por un valor simbólico de 1 franco, con el objetivo de dar vida al núcleo de Monti Sciaga.
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Este contenido fue publicado el 22 ago. 2019 22 ago. 2019 Vender nueve edificios de piedra en los valles del Tesino por el simbólico precio de un franco cada uno. Esta es la idea del municipio de...
La localidad valesana de Albinen ha prometido compensar con 25 000 francos por adulto y 10 000 por niño a los nuevos residentes. Lógicamente, con algunas condiciones: cada familia tendrá que invertir como mínimo 200 000 francos en el lugar y vivir en él al menos diez años.
Otros pueblos intentan atraer a empresas. Gracias a los bajos precios de la electricidad, Gondo, también en el Valais, ha conseguido traer al centro de cálculo de una empresa informática y ha puesto a su disposición las cámaras frigoríficas en la antigua instalación de protección civil del pueblo.
¿Quiere saber más sobre la vida en los Alpes? Entonces le recomendamos leer y abonarse a Life in the Alps, la newsletter en inglés de nuestro compañero Dale Bechtel consagrada a redescubrir la vida en la montaña.
De nuestros archivos: Galería de fotos Vida alpina
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Este artículo ha sido importado automáticamente del antiguo sito web al nuevo. Si observa algún problema de visualización, le pedimos disculpas y le rogamos que nos lo indique a esta dirección: community-feedback @ swissinfo.ch | general |
Chinese New Year box office hit by coronavirus outbreak | The country's biggest holiday, the Lunar New Year, is typically a boon for cinemas and studios as many residents catch a movie during their week off.
In 2019, the holiday period brought in more than 5 billion yuan ( about $ 721 million) at the box office, accounting for almost 8% of China's annual ticket sales, according to state news agency Xinhua.
This year will be different. Thousands of cinemas have been closed around the country due to the outbreak of the deadly Wuhan coronavirus, forcing theater chains to issue refunds and fans to stay home.
To help mitigate the spread of the virus, the government has extended the holiday from Thursday to Sunday, leaving countless businesses, including theater operators, in limbo.
Nearly 60 million people are under partial or full lockdowns across several Chinese cities.
The outbreak is upending a cinema industry that produces over $ 9 billion a year in sales, second only to the United States, and forcing some film studios to take drastic action to avoid financial catastrophe.
Changing plans
Chinese ticket sales for the week had been expected to reach as much as $ 1 billion, according to Max Lei, the CEO of film and television production company Amor Films. The Lunar New Year holiday is usually the biggest week of the entire year for China's box office, he added.
Now, `` the box office will definitely lose a lot, '' he told CNN Business, estimating that this season's intake would drop by at least 25% compared to the amount forecast.
Several blockbuster movies that were set to release during the holiday season in China were pulled last week.
Producers and distributors canceled or postponed all seven Chinese films that were due to hit cinemas over the weekend, citing the lack of ventilation in movie theaters and the highly contagious nature of the coronavirus.
Major cinema chains such Jinyi, CGV and Bona have closed in response to the outbreak, and many online ticketing platforms are promising to refund customers.
Wanda Cinema, China's largest film distributor with over 500 cinemas across the country, also said it would refund tickets for those who chose not to go the movies.
While many films will still come out later this year, they won't receive the same momentum and excitement that typically helps drive ticket sales during the Lunar New Year, said Lei.
`` There will be no more explosive force, '' he added.
With no end to the outbreak in sight, the pain could continue and even drag in US companies.
Disney ( DIS), which is preparing for the release of its live-action remake of `` Mulan '' this spring, could also see an impact, analysts at JPMorgan wrote in a note this week.
The film is set to open in March in the United States. While Disney hasn't announced a Chinese release date yet, the movie was expected to arrive in China around the same time.
Moving online
One major studio, Huanxi Media, chose to forgo a theatrical debut for its new film altogether.
It elected to show its newest title, `` Lost in Russia, '' for free online last week. The movie was made available Friday on Huanxi's streaming service, as well as on platforms owned by ByteDance, which became the studio's partner last week.
Under the agreement, ByteDance will pay Huanxi about 630 million yuan ( $ 91 million) to stream Huanxi's content on its apps and also eventually work with its team to create a `` cinema channel, '' according to a stock exchange filing.
Huanxi said Wednesday that it decided to pull the movie from theaters due to `` the rapid development of the coronavirus in China. ''
This means that people `` can stay home... reducing the chance of infection, and enjoy the film during Chinese New Year at this difficult time, '' a spokesperson for the company told CNN Business.
`` Lost in Russia '' — a highly anticipated comedy that is part of a popular franchise in China — had been projected to bring in at least 2.4 billion yuan ( $ 346 million) in ticket sales, according to a stock exchange filing made by Huanxi.
The company's move was bitterly protested by its distribution partners, who threatened in an open letter last week to boycott future business with Huanxi, accusing the studio of harming their businesses and acting `` selfishly. ''
One cinema operator, Quan Guo, said it had endured `` tremendous financial loss '' from the decision. The company described how it had spent time promoting the movie, `` only for the benefits to be reaped by online users. ''
Huanxi Media CEO Steven Xiang said that his team had been forced to act quickly — essentially `` in 48 hours '' — due to how fast the virus was spreading.
`` It was a rushed decision, '' albeit one that the company stands by, he told CNN Business.
The studio did not share how much it now expects to make from the movie, saying that it was `` still early to determine the final financial numbers. ''
Xiang said that in addition to the fee paid by ByteDance, Huanxi plans to make money on its digital release through ads that are shown on ByteDance's video platforms. He added that the film had racked up some 600 million views over the first three days, which was `` encouraging. ''
Huanxi may not be the last company to shift away from theaters as the outbreak worsens. If business doesn't return to normal within the next two months, more movies could be `` launched on the internet, '' said Lei.
— Serenitie Wang and Sherisse Pham contributed to this report. | business |
Unique new antiviral treatment made using sugar -- ScienceDaily | This new development from a collaborative team of international scientists shows promise for the treatment of herpes simplex ( cold sore virus), respiratory syncytial virus, hepatitis C, HIV, and Zika virus to name a few. The team have demonstrated success treating a range of viruses in the lab -- including respiratory infections to genital herpes.
The research is a result of a collaboration between scientists from The University of Manchester, the University of Geneva ( UNIGE) and the EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland. Although at a very early stage of development, the broad spectrum activity of this new approach could also be effective against newly prevalent viral diseases such as the recent coronavirus outbreak.
So called 'virucidal ' substances, such as bleach, are typically capable of destroying viruses on contact but are extremely toxic to humans and so can not be taken or applied to the human body without causing severe harm. Developing virucides from sugar has allowed for the advent of a new type of antiviral drug, which destroys viruses yet is non-toxic to humans.
Current antiviral drugs work by inhibiting virus growth, but they are not always reliable as viruses can mutate and become resistant to these treatments.
Using modified sugar molecules the team showed that the outer shell of a virus can be disrupted, thereby destroying the infectious particles on contact, as oppose to simply restricting its growth. This new approach has also been shown to defend against drug resistance.
Publishing their work in the journal Science Advances the team showed that they successfully engineered new modified molecules using natural glucose derivatives, known as cyclodextrins. The molecules attract viruses before breaking them down on contact, destroying the virus and fighting the infection.
Dr Samuel Jones, from The University of Manchester and a member of the Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials, jointly led the pioneering research with Dr Valeria Cagno from the University of Geneva. `` We have successfully engineered a new molecule, which is a modified sugar that shows broad-spectrum antiviral properties. The antiviral mechanism is virucidal meaning that viruses struggle to develop resistance. As this is a new type of antiviral and one of the first to ever show broad-spectrum efficacy, it has potential to be a game changer in treating viral infections. '' said Sam.
Professor Caroline Tapparel from the University of Geneva and Prof Francesco Stellacci from EPFL were both also senior authors of the study. Prof Tapparel declared: `` We developed a powerful molecule able to work against very different viruses, therefore, we think this could be game changing also for emerging infections. ''
The molecule is patented and a spin-out company is being set up to continue pushing this new antiviral towards real-world use. With further testing the treatment could find a use in creams, ointments and nasal sprays or other similar treatments for viral infections. This exciting new material can work to break down multiple viruses making for cost-effective new treatments even for resistant viruses. | science |
Shares of 2 Japanese Companies Are Spiking as Coronavirus Spreads | The coronavirus has put a damper on the performance of stocks around the world as the respiratory virus has spread across borders. Airlines, energy companies, and multinationals with heavy China exposure have experienced particularly sharp drops. Starbucks ( SBUX) has had to shut more than half of its stores in China -- the company’ s most important growth area -- amid the outbreak.
There is no vaccine yet. Several biotech companies, including Moderna ( MRNA), are working on one. Those stocks have risen on hope that they will find a remedy, though analysts doubt that they can produce a product to stop the current outbreak. Until a vaccine is produced, doctors in China are using other antiviral medicines and traditional Chinese medicines to treat the virus.
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Among the items that are in high demand are face masks. Hospitals and pharmacies have been running out of masks during the outbreak. The stock of Kawamoto ( 3604. Japan), a Japanese medical supply company that makes masks, appears to be reacting to the surge in demand. The stock has jumped 479% this year, experiencing a particularly large spike around Jan. 17 when the outbreak began receiving more attention. Kawamoto, which is traded in Tokyo, remains a small company, worth about 15 billion yen, or about $ 140 million.
Shares of Azearth ( 3161. Japan), another Japanese company that makes protective clothing used in hospitals, have also roughly doubled since mid-January.
There has also been a run on face masks in the U.S., where the virus has also begun to spread. Both Honeywell ( HON) and 3M ( MMM) are ramping up production of masks because of the demand.
“ We’ re seeing increased demand for our respiratory protection products, and we’ re ramping up our production world-wide, in China, around the world to meet that demand, ” 3M CEO Michael Roman said on the company’ s fourth-quarter earnings call on Tuesday.
For a company like 3M, however, the disease will also hurt its results, because Chinese businesses are shutting down at a time of year when they are usually selling lots of 3M products. Both 3M and Honeywell stocks have fallen since the virus began to spread. Although both sell face masks, they have wide-ranging business operations, and the coronavirus poses dangers to industrial companies. | business |
Luxury Fashion and Beauty Brands Are Pledging Millions in Fight Against Coronavirus in China | A number of high-end fashion and beauty brands are pledging millions of dollars to support the fight against the deadly novel coronavirus, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province.
The Kering Group, parent company of brands including Gucci, Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, and Ulysse Nardin, announced on Tuesday that it would donate CNY7.5 million ( US $ 1.08 million) to the Red Cross Foundation in Hubei. The aid will be used to care for medical staff and patients at hospitals as well as for public health education, the company said in its Chinese-langauge site.
“ Our thoughts are with the many impacted by the novel coronavirus outbreak, and therefore we have decided to donate the funds as an immediate contribution to assist, ” the group’ s CEO François-Henri Pinault told WWD.
On Monday, Paris-based fashion conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy, which owns Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Celine, and Christian Dior, pledged CNY16 million ( US $ 2.3 million) to the Chinese Red Cross Foundation, the company announced also in Chinese.
Other brands that have pledged aid to combat the outbreak of the virus, also known as 2019-nCov, include French personal care company L'Oréal with CNY5 million; U.S. cosmetics company Estée Lauder with CNY2 million; and Austrian producer of glass Swarovski with CNY3 million.
As of Jan. 29, there were 6,065 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, 5,997 of which were reported in China, mostly in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak. The U.S. has five confirmed cases, according to the World Health Organization ( WHO).
Coronaviruses are transmitted between animals and people. Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, and breathing difficulties. Severe infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure, and even death.
The Chinese government said the death toll reached 132 by Tuesday.
The U.S. has evacuated 201 Americans from Wuhan. The flight landed in California after a stopover in Alaska on Wednesday. Meanwhile, it is considering canceling all flights in and out of China, with most airlines already reducing the number of flights.
British Airways was among those that said on Wednesday that it has suspended all direct flights between Britain and China with immediate effect. | business |
European Stocks Nudge Higher as Investors Look Beyond The Coronavirus | European stocks nudged higher on Wednesday as investors attempted to look beyond the spreading coronavirus.
The Stoxx Europe 600 climbed 0.4% in early trading, having slipped to seven-weeks lows on Tuesday as the China virus death toll continued to rise.
The German DAX was trading flat, while the French CAC rose 0.3% and the FTSE 100 gained 0.1%.
The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus has risen to 5,974—more than the SARS epidemic—China’ s national health commission said on Wednesday, while the death toll rose to 132.
Asian markets were mostly higher overnight, recovered from losses earlier in the week, but Hong Kong’ s Hang Seng Index plunged 2.4% on its first day back from the Lunar New Year holiday.
European markets followed the majority of their Asian counterparts in recovering losses on Wednesday.
A series of economic data also helped boost sentiment in Europe. German consumer confidence unexpectedly rose in January, according to research group GfK. French consumer sentiment also enjoyed a surprise boost despite the national strikes, the country’ s official statistics agency reported.
European Central Bank member Olli Rehn added to the positivity and said eurozone growth could beat expectations if global risks subside.
LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton shares climbed 0.4% as the luxury goods giant said its fourth-quarter revenue rose strongly and earnings finished the year on a high. | business |
Want to Prevent Another Coronavirus Epidemic? - Scientific American Blog Network | Once again we stand unprepared as the third epidemic of a new and deadly coronavirus races around the world. This need not have been the case.
We should have learned from the SARS epidemic of 2003, which claimed nearly 800 lives, that coronaviruses can turn deadly. Until then, most health officials and scientists regarded coronaviruses simply as one of many causes of the common cold; some 30 percent of common colds start from coronaviruses. Then came the MERS epidemic in the Middle East in 2012, a coronavirus that killed 858 people. The irrefutable lesson from SARS and MERS: coronaviruses can spread quickly and be deadly.
Why, then, is there no way to prevent or treat the disease in 2020? Science had the tools in the immediate aftermath of the previous two epidemics to develop the drugs to control future outbreaks. But health officials, scientists and governments, especially but not only in the United States and China, dropped the ball.
There is no doubt that coronaviruses are wily opponents. Like all viruses of this type, the coronavirus mixes and matches components to create novel versions of itself. Bats are the natural hosts of the virus. There are more than 1,100 species of bats, each infected with one or more coronavirus variants. Think of the virus as a genetic safecracker, constantly evolving new combinations to extend its range and find new host species. Humans are on that menu. Each infection, deadly or not, is different from the last, which makes an effective vaccine or cure for the whole family of coronaviruses highly unlikely.
Though we may not be able to develop a cure for those already ill, we can develop drugs that will prevent the disease from spreading. If we had done so after SARS and MERS, governments could have stockpiled the drugs years in advance of this latest outbreak and within one-day delivery to all locations where the virus has been detected or suspected. All patients, hospital workers and any other persons suspected of contact would have been treated to stop the epidemic in its tracks.
I led the effort to develop an effective drug to prevent and treat anthrax following the 2001 attack and was a pioneer for the concept of using drugs to prevent transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother to child and between adults. Assessing the genome of this new virus, I see what we describe as a “ target-rich ” environment; that is, a virus that has many vulnerabilities to antiviral drugs, similar to those that have been exploited successfully for the treatment of HIV, hepatitis B and herpes viruses. The drugs, or combinations of drugs, that control those diseases bind and block the enzymes the viruses need to grow.
These enzymes are very similar to one another in all coronaviruses. This is a critical point. This common molecular pattern of all coronaviruses makes the challenge of identifying drugs to control coronaviruses less daunting. Scientists design drugs to inhibit the growth of specific virus enzymes. Once the genetic code of a virus has been sequenced, the targets for effective drugs appear.
We now have witnessed three deadly coronavirus outbreaks in humans within 17 years. Once this new epidemic has faded into memory, will it be five or 10 years until the next one? We can and must develop, test and stockpile combinations of drugs that can protect against what is certain to be another coronavirus outbreak.
In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. government established the legal authority and executive process to do this. Known as BioShield, the program authorized funding to develop and stockpile effective means to prevent and treat “ new and emerging biological threats. ” BioShield works. At Human Genome Sciences we developed the drug Abthrax to prevent and cure anthrax infections after the 2001 attacks. That drug is now stockpiled by the government. BioShield created the market for our work, committing many millions of dollars in purchase orders.
The coronavirus is not now and has never been on BioShield’ s approved list of “ new and emerging biological threats. ” It should have been added after SARS, then again after MERS. It should be added now. We have been forewarned.
The departments of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, and Defense should convene a working group immediately to add coronaviruses to the BioShield agenda. The Centers for Disease Control and National Institutes of Health then can initiate contractual discussions with the biopharmaceutical industry. Biopharmaceutical companies have the expertise to create the drugs we need quickly to prevent a fourth outbreak.
Collectively, scientists at these agencies and companies then can, and will, soon identify the drugs and produce the stockpiles that we need, that the world needs, to prevent a fourth deadly outbreak from a coronavirus, any coronavirus. | science |
Face Mask Hoarders May Raise Risk of Coronavirus Outbreak in the U.S. | Even though there are only five cases of Wuhan coronavirus in the United States, the mask hoarding has begun.
Some pharmacies report being entirely sold out of masks. Some popular sellers on Amazon say deliveries will be delayed for weeks.
Although masks actually do little to protect healthy people, the prospect of shortages created by panic buying worries some public health experts.
Masks are thought to slow the spread of disease when they are worn by sick people in crowded places like emergency rooms, offices, subways and buses. By containing coughs and sneezes, masks stop virus-laden droplets from being spewed into the air and onto nearby surfaces.
But hoarding by those who are well means that hospitals, clinics and doctors’ offices could run short. Doctors and nurses treating patients for respiratory infections should wear masks and replace them often — as soon as they become soggy, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
The C.D.C. is now reaching out to manufacturers to head off the possibility of shortages, especially in hospitals, an agency official said.
“ We see panic ordering and buying that doesn’ t reflect the actual need, ” said Dr. Anita Patel, the senior adviser for pandemic medical care in the agency’ s influenza coordination unit. “ We’ re talking to manufacturers. They understand the situation, and I’ m confident that they are being responsible. The health care industry is their biggest customer. ”
On Tuesday, Alex M. Azar II, the secretary of health and human services, said it was “ unnecessary ” for Americans to buy masks now.
“ In the U.S., the risk to any individual American is extremely low, ” he said.
Some experts want the government to step in and educate the public about the dangers of hoarding.
“ I worked through the 2009 H1N1 flu epidemic at Yale Hospital, and we ran out of N-95 masks — and being in a high-risk situation without enough masks is not a good feeling, ” said Dr. Peter Rabinowitz, co-director of the University of Washington MetaCenter for Pandemic Preparedness and Global Health Security in Seattle.
“ There’ s no rational reason why everyone needs to run out and get masks, ” he added. “ Public health officials should be talking about this. ”
transcript
From The New York Times, I’ m Michael Barbaro. This is “ The Daily. ”
Today: China says it has made lifesaving reforms since the last time it was the source of a public health crisis 17 years ago. So why is the deadly coronavirus spreading so rapidly across the country? My colleague, Javier Hernández, reports from the center of the outbreak.
It’ s Thursday, January 30.
Javier, how did you first hear about this outbreak?
Well, we started hearing reports in early January that there was this mysterious virus that was affecting Wuhan, which is a city in central China.
Staff at Wuhan Hospital are working around the clock to identify a mystery virus.
People were falling ill to this kind of pneumonia-like virus, which scientists were calling a coronavirus.
Experts believe this is a new kind of coronavirus, which typically causes symptoms of the common cold, but in some rare cases, can lead to pneumonia.
It’ s a very frightening virus that spreads from animals to humans. It was believed to be behind some very serious respiratory illnesses, so it sounded pretty scary. But the official narrative was that this strain couldn’ t pass from human to human. It would only go from animals to humans.
The potentially deadly coronavirus is thought to have spread from animals into humans at a live produce market in Wuhan.
And at that point, they were saying that it was all originating at a single meat market in central China. This meat market sold wild animals, things like bamboo rats, badgers, wolves even. And the assumption was that people had come into contact with these animals and picked up this virus.
And it sounds like because it was one meat market, and because this virus could only pass from animals to humans, that this is a pretty small problem.
At this point, the reports were that only about 130 people had been infected and that, of those, only about four had died.
Chinese officials say the outbreak is under control.
And so the prognosis was that the outbreak was controllable, that it was treatable and that things would be O.K.
And Javier, what are you thinking when you hear the Chinese government talking this way, saying that everything is going to be O.K.?
We were a bit skeptical. We knew that the Chinese government had a history of downplaying outbreaks like this. And as we saw more and more reports in the international media of this virus spreading, we began to question whether the officials were being totally upfront about what was happening.
And what do you mean when you say a history of downplaying situations like this?
Well before this virus, there was the outbreak of SARS 17 years ago. And it turned into this global health crisis that infected more than 8,000 people. It killed more than 800 people. And a big part of the reason that it spread so violently was because the Chinese government didn’ t tell the world. And there was this period of months and months when it was spreading very rapidly in China, and the world just didn’ t know about it. And for a lot of Chinese today, that experience with SARS makes them very skeptical of anything that the government says when it comes to public health.
And I imagine a reporter like you would be similarly skeptical.
Right. We really wanted to make sure that we got this one right.
We wanted to double check that this was, in fact, a small scale outbreak as the government was portraying it. And we wanted to talk to people who were getting sick with this virus to get a sense of what it was like for them — how severe it was, whether they were getting the care they needed.
And so what do you do?
So I live in Beijing. So I rushed to our bureau here and grabbed masks, enough to last me a couple days, and then headed to the airport and boarded a flight to Wuhan. And I just remember everyone on board, almost everyone, was wearing a mask. I was just struck by that. You never see people wear masks on this scale. And so it felt like there was this sense of anxiety already in the air even before we landed.
Once I got there, I rushed off to meet an ambulance doctor who had been posting on social media about this outbreak. And we had contacted him because he was challenging the official narrative about what was happening. He was saying he didn’ t believe the official numbers. He thought that this could be another SARS-like outbreak.
And what was happening to his posts once they went online?
They lasted for a while, and then they would be taken down, just disappeared. It was clear that the government was cleaning and trying to scrub the internet of any critical questions about official data. And so we wanted to talk to him about what he was seeing on the ground.
And what did he tell you?
He told me that he felt like people weren’ t taking enough precautions, that the government wasn’ t being urgent enough. And he worked in a hospital and had a lot of interaction with doctors and other medical workers. So he felt like his job could be at stake if he were to come forward publicly.
So the numbers the Chinese government is providing are relatively small. This ambulance doctor you’ re meeting with is saying the problem is bigger. So what do you do to try to reconcile those two pieces of information?
We wanted to find the people whose relatives had fallen ill to this virus. And so we were looking online for people who were reporting symptoms of fever, cough, basically anything that was associated with this kind of virus. And we stumbled on a guy from Shanghai. He was a 40-year-old architect, and he told me that his stepmother had died just a couple of days earlier from a mysterious pneumonia-like illness. And so I found him, sent him a message, and we agreed to meet at a cafe. [ CHATTER ]
And what is the story of what happened to his stepmom?
He tells me that she was a very healthy, normal 65-year-old woman who, a couple of weeks earlier, had started to feel like she was having a flu. So she had some coughing. She had kind of a sore throat, but it didn’ t seem like anything that bad. But it suddenly began to worsen. She was having a fever. She needed a respirator to breathe. And all very suddenly she was sent to a contagious disease ward, and the family was told that she would likely die.
And what did she or her stepson understand about what was behind her illness?
They didn’ t really understand much. For days and days, according to Mr. Wei, the family had tried to get her tested for this coronavirus, this mysterious virus that was spreading across Wuhan. And the doctors and other medical workers refused.
He pulled out his phone and showed me her death certificate, and all it said was that she died of severe pneumonia.
But why wouldn’ t they test her, and what does it tell you that they wouldn’ t test her?
It became clear to me in that moment that there seemed to be something going on here. Were these hospitals just not prepared? Did they not have enough testing kits? Were they running out of tests? Had they tested so many people that they didn’ t have any tests left? Were they just not counting people anymore because they weren’ t even diagnosing them? And if she wasn’ t diagnosed with this illness, then maybe she wasn’ t even included in the official count. And one other thing really stuck with me from my interview with Mr. Wei. And that was that the hospital, according to him, told them that his mother’ s body had to be burned immediately, had to be cremated immediately. [ CHATTER ]
And what does that tell you? What does that mean to you that they’ re burning these bodies?
It began to put in my head the sense that the hospital workers were beginning to think that this illness was contagious. And the fact that they wanted that body burned immediately began to suggest that perhaps they thought it posed a threat to other people.
Her death got us thinking about whether there were other people like her. And when you went online and search social media, you could quickly find others who were reporting similar experiences — people saying that they went to hospitals, they brought their sick relatives and were simply turned away. We began to kind of add things up, and it seemed like the numbers weren’ t right.
So at this point, it sounds like your skepticism is growing, and it’ s sounding pretty warranted. So what do you do next?
So I head back to my hotel and start to try to make sense of all of this. And as I’ m sitting there in my room, I begin to see these reports emerging on social media —
For the first time since the mysterious pneumonia-like illness broke out in China, the country’ s health authorities admitted the disease could be contagious.
— that one of China’ s top health experts has acknowledged that this virus is now spreading from person to person, which had never been the case before.
[ SPEAKING CHINESE ]
We considered risks of this before, but now evidence has confirmed that it is contagious among humans.
And he’ s an 83-year-old guy that they dug out of retirement essentially. He was a renowned expert during the SARS crisis. And suddenly, he’ s all over social media, telling people that this crisis is much worse than had been previously known.
So this doctor is very much validating what you have been hearing.
Yes. He’ s saying that there was even a case where one patient was able to infect 14 medical workers.
Wow.
And I begin to see the panic kind of spread across social media.
Say I have coronavirus. Could I give it to you right now?
It’ s possible, if you’ re coughing and sneezing. If you have a fever, it can be transmitted.
But the spread of Corona virus is accelerating.
This is the moment when the world begins to wake up.
Meanwhile, new cases are being confirmed outside of China as well.
Thailand has reported the first case of the Wuhan coronavirus found outside of China.
— because now they’ re talking Thailand, Singapore, possibly Scotland. The U.K. is bracing for it to go in there. We have airports here in the United States very concerned about it —
That are doing surveillance.
— here in New York, Chicago and L.A. Every day it seems growing exponentially.
It is. It’ s growing.
The numbers after that point just keep spiraling and spiraling.
The number of people who have died —
The death toll climbing once again overnight.
The death toll from a deadly viral outbreak of the new coronavirus —
26 deaths so far from the —
— has now passed 40.
[ SPEAKING CHINESE ]
It’ s not just Chinese people who are worried. Everyone is worried. They’ re all afraid of dying.
You just hear people wondering whether the virus is ever going to be contained.
We’ ll be right back.
And Javier, what are you thinking and feeling at this moment? Because you’ re in this city. You’ re interacting with people who are taking care of those who are sickened and infected by this illness.
Yeah.
Are you anxious?
Well I’ m beginning to feel like this is much worse than I thought. And I think a sense of paranoia can easily settle in sometimes in these situations. I had masks. I was washing my hands all the time. But I couldn’ t help but think about every button in the elevator that I touched, every surface and every cough or sniffle that I saw around me. The virus could be anywhere, so I had to be careful.
I mean, understandably.
So I finished up my reporting, and I grabbed a flight back to Beijing.
Just one day before China’ s massive Lunar New Year holiday, as hundreds of millions crisscross the country to celebrate with families, an unprecedented act.
And then the very next day, I hear —
Today, the entire city of Wuhan, population 11 million, is on lockdown.
The Chinese government has placed this entire city under lockdown.
Wow.
Trains, flights, buses, and ferries have been canceled. Even public transport within Wuhan has ground to a halt.
So the city you have just left has basically told everybody else who remains that they’ re not going anywhere.
Right. This city is being closed off in a way that China has never done before — or even any other major modern city, really, hasn’ t done it in recent times.
Across China tonight, an expanding lockdown to contain an epidemic.
And it was quickly becoming clear to the government that this wasn’ t just a local problem.
Travel bans in over a dozen cities affecting 35 million people.
They quickly expanded it to not just Wuhan, but to other cities, so that there were tens of millions of people who were essentially forced to stay at home and not allowed to go out. They’ ve just put in place the biggest lockdown that we’ ve ever seen and what experts are saying is the biggest experiment in public health that they’ ve ever seen.
Despite their efforts, authorities say the virus has not been stopped.
Much depends on whether the measures set in place by the Chinese government will prove effective.
It’ s hard to imagine most any other country being able to mount that kind of a response. I mean, I’ m just trying to fathom an American city somehow being locked down.
So this is what it looks like when China’ s authoritarian system is in full force. There’ s no choice for people to leave. Many people are stuck there. They are going to hospitals that are overcrowded, but they can’ t get the health care they need. Doctors are complaining about a lack of medical supplies and critical items like masks and goggles. And you get the sense that people are kind of stuck with what they have, and that’ s the bargain they’ ve made by living in this system. They have no choice but to follow the government’ s orders. They can’ t push back. They can’ t swim against the current here. Everyone’ s essentially forced to comply with this mass lockdown.
You know, from everything we’ ve learned about China and its authoritarian government, it seems like it controls every aspect of its citizens’ lives and it surveils every aspect of citizens’ lives. And you’ ve just walked us through how they were able to essentially suddenly drop a wall around Wuhan. So knowing all that, shouldn’ t China’ s government have been able to identify and control this outbreak before it got out of hand?
You would think that, because the government is so well known for being able to pull off these massive displays of citizen mobilization — it’ s been known to be able to pull off these technological feats. But at the same time, there’ s a flip side of this coin, which is that China’ s authoritarian culture, in many ways, set the stage for this crisis.
What do you mean?
Well for decades, China has built this system, this ruthless system in which if you are an official in the Communist Party, you are expected to be almost perfect. If anything goes bad, you are the one who is going to take responsibility. You are the one who is going to fall. And this has created an incentive system where local officials fear saying anything about bad news. They worry that if they are found to have done something wrong, that they will lose their power. So in a situation like this, the incentive is to cover up. It’ s to conceal. It’ s to delay. It’ s to try to get a handle on these problems on your own, hoping that perhaps nobody will ever hear about it.
So by the time something like, say, a medical crisis gets really big, it may be too late for the local officials who have been trying to contain it themselves and keep it from Beijing.
Exactly. These kinds of dynamics played a huge role in the scale of the SARS outbreak. It was clear in this case that local officials knew exactly what was going on. They knew that people were dying of this illness. But for months and months, they didn’ t want to report it up the chain. Instead, they tried to cover it up. They tried to see if they could perhaps deal with it secretly, and maybe nobody would ever find out about it. They hoped that Beijing would know about it. But eventually it broke.
So did China learn from that experience with SARS, that dynamic that led to that breakdown, that cover-up?
China said it would make a lot of changes to its system after the SARS crisis. It said that it would expand its disease reporting system so that these kinds of reports from the local provinces would come to the central government in a more timely fashion. They promised to be more transparent in the release of data and other things. But what they didn’ t change was this authoritarian culture, where people fear bringing bad news. And so that has actually gotten worse under President Xi.
Why?
He has made himself out to be the most powerful leader since Mao. He is somebody who’ s always speaking about this great ascendant moment for China in which China is going to be this superpower. And anything that goes against Xi’ s vision of this harmonious, resurgent China is going to be seen as a problem. And the people who are creating that problem will pay the consequences. And when I was there in Wuhan, I could sense the fear just rippling across all parts of the society. There were people like the ambulance doctor, who was afraid of challenging the official statistics. There were hospitals that seemed to be paralyzed, that didn’ t want to test patients for fear of knowing the results. They didn’ t want to be seen as speaking out or telling the truth or bringing this unsavory story into public view.
So that had trickled down all the way to the frontline health care workers, who are supposed to be treating this and sounding the alarm.
Right. They’ re fearful of being seen as responsible for this crisis. They don’ t want to stand out. And when you think about where this virus might be headed next — to other provinces, to other cities — you have to wonder if these same dynamics would be playing out again. If people will stay silent, if they will not report official cases, because they fear for their jobs and they fear for their livelihoods.
So it seems like whatever reforms the Chinese government made after the failures of SARS, that in the end, none of them really matter, because it hasn’ t changed the problem that’ s at the root of this.
At the root of all this is a sense of fear that is both the Communist Party’ s strength, but it’ s also a huge weakness. They can mobilize entire cities to be on lockdown. They can convince people to stay indoors. They can scrub social media of information that counters their narrative. That’ s all very effective when you’ re trying to get the public behind your policies. But at the end of the day, the fear is also a huge vulnerability. It creates this system where people are unwilling to speak out, unwilling to bring problems that are really important and that affect people’ s lives.
Right. I mean, for the Chinese leadership, that works until it doesn’ t, right? Until you very much need for people to stop being afraid and to speak out about something like a public health crisis.
Exactly.
And so when you look at the culture, you wonder whether China can actually contain these viruses, whether we will continue to live in a world where the internal politics of the party are going to put lives around the world in danger.
Javier, thank you.
Thanks, Michael.
On Wednesday, the total number of people infected by the coronavirus in mainland China surpassed those infected with the SARS virus during that epidemic. As of Wednesday evening, the virus had infected more than 6,000 people in mainland China. Later today, the World Health Organization will convene its emergency committee to determine whether the outbreak amounts to a public health emergency of international concern, its most severe classification.
We’ ll be right back.
Here’ s what else you need to know today. The Times reports that the White House has sent former national security adviser, John Bolton, a letter, warning him not to publish a book in which he recounts speaking to President Trump about the quid pro quo with Ukraine at the heart of the impeachment trial. In the letter, the White House claims that the book contains significant amounts of classified information that could harm U.S. national security. The letter was sent before The Times published a story describing the book’ s contents, a story that has further fueled calls for Bolton to testify in the Senate trial. Senators are expected to vote on whether to call witnesses like Bolton later today.
That’ s it for “ The Daily. ” I’ m Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.
During the West African Ebola outbreak in 2014, when a few cases turned up in the United States, some hospitals were unable to get waterproof Tyvek suits “ because there was a run on them, ” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a scholar at the Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.
Panicked people engage in irrational impulse buying, he said: “ People like to buy duct tape during emergencies — it’ s psychologically soothing. ”
But artificial shortages can harm those who really need the goods.
“ I think public health authorities like the H.H.S. or the C.D.C. or the Surgeon General should be talking about the repercussions of a run on masks, ” Dr. Adalja said.
Kristen Nordlund, a C.D.C. spokeswoman, said she would ask Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases to address that issue in her next public briefing.
Masks are part of the medical equipment stored in the National Strategic Stockpile, which is distributed in government-controlled warehouses around the country. But experts said they did not know how many were in storage or how long the supply was projected to last in an epidemic.
On Tuesday, major pharmacy chains said they were seeing spot shortages but were not yet restricting sales. The CVS chain had stores running out of masks and was resupplying them “ as quickly as possible, ” said Stephanie Cunha, a company spokeswoman.
Walgreens and Duane Reade pharmacies saw greater demand for face masks and hand sanitizer in many stores, said Alexandra Brown, a spokeswoman for the Walgreens Boots Alliance, which owns both chains.
The company is moving supplies “ to meet the needs of our customers, ” she added.
Masks are not very protective when worn by healthy people, experts say. People often pull them aside for a variety of reasons.
Updated May 20, 2020
Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.
Over 38 million people have filed for unemployment since March. One in five who were working in February reported losing a job or being furloughed in March or the beginning of April, data from a Federal Reserve survey released on May 14 showed, and that pain was highly concentrated among low earners. Fully 39 percent of former workers living in a household earning $ 40,000 or less lost work, compared with 13 percent in those making more than $ 100,000, a Fed official said.
If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. ( Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)
There is an uptick in people reporting symptoms of chilblains, which are painful red or purple lesions that typically appear in the winter on fingers or toes. The lesions are emerging as yet another symptom of infection with the new coronavirus. Chilblains are caused by inflammation in small blood vessels in reaction to cold or damp conditions, but they are usually common in the coldest winter months. Federal health officials do not include toe lesions in the list of coronavirus symptoms, but some dermatologists are pushing for a change, saying so-called Covid toe should be sufficient grounds for testing.
Yes, but make sure you keep six feet of distance between you and people who don’ t live in your home. Even if you just hang out in a park, rather than go for a jog or a walk, getting some fresh air, and hopefully sunshine, is a good idea.
Taking one’ s temperature to look for signs of fever is not as easy as it sounds, as “ normal ” temperature numbers can vary, but generally, keep an eye out for a temperature of 100.5 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. If you don’ t have a thermometer ( they can be pricey these days), there are other ways to figure out if you have a fever, or are at risk of Covid-19 complications.
The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people don’ t need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks don’ t replace hand washing and social distancing.
If you’ ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.
If you’ re sick and you think you’ ve been exposed to the new coronavirus, the C.D.C. recommends that you call your healthcare provider and explain your symptoms and fears. They will decide if you need to be tested. Keep in mind that there’ s a chance — because of a lack of testing kits or because you’ re asymptomatic, for instance — you won’ t be able to get tested.
Charity Navigator, which evaluates charities using a numbers-based system, has a running list of nonprofits working in communities affected by the outbreak. You can give blood through the American Red Cross, and World Central Kitchen has stepped in to distribute meals in major cities.
Vapor from breath can leave masks soggy, for example. Users may want to talk on their cellphones, or put their fingers under their masks to scratch their noses. Frequent handwashing is considered more protective.
Yet there is strong evidence that masks protect health workers.
Trials in Canadian hospitals during the 2003 SARS epidemic and during flu season showed that nurses who wore a mask were less likely to get flu.
Nurses who wore N-95 masks — which are thicker, fit tighter to the face and are designed to filter out 95 percent of all particles — were particularly protective for those who did dangerous procedures like intubating SARS patients.
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There is less data proving that masks keep patients from spreading germs. But this common sense notion has led many hospitals to adopt rules saying that any emergency room patient with flu symptoms is immediately handed a mask and asked to put it on.
Dr. Mark Loeb, an infectious disease specialist at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, who led the SARS and flu trials, said one relatively small study of hospitalized flu patients in Beijing found that mask-wearers were less likely to infect their family members. But the effect was so small that it was considered statistically insignificant.
Another obstacle to mask-wearing is psychological.
People who are sick and should be wearing a mask are often reluctant to do so, because it makes them stand out in the crowd. Unless these patients are ordered to wear one — as they might be in a hospital emergency room — people are reluctant to do so.
“ When masks aren’ t common in a culture, it does raise eyebrows, ” Dr. Adalja said.
The exceptions are in some Asian communities, where it is common for people to wear masks to protect themselves against germs and pollution, or because it is considered impolite to not wear a mask if one is coughing or sneezing.
Experts, including Dr. Patel of the C.D.C., said they knew of no studies of the psychology of mask usage or how reluctance could be overcome. | business |
2 Stocks to Buy in a Terrible Month for Oil | It has been a brutal January for oil and gas stocks, as dynamics in the energy markets and the coronavirus have combined to push oil into a bear market and natural gas to multiyear lows.
Stocks in the industry have not been spared. Exxon Mobil ( ticker: XOM) just went on a nine-day losing streak that erased $ 20 billion in market value, and others have been hit even harder. That has opened some opportunities for choosy stock pickers, Goldman Sachs analyst Brian Singer wrote in a Wednesday note.
After crude prices rose on Tuesday, the selloff resumed on Wednesday. Brent crude futures fell 2.4%, to $ 58.60. West Texas Intermediate fell 0.7%, to $ 53.11. Both are down more than 10% for the year, and more than 20% since hitting highs in April. They are poised to suffer their worst January drop since 1991.
But Singer sees the drop as a buying opportunity for some well-positioned stocks. “ Post the pullback, stocks now appear to be pricing in about $ 52 per barrel of WTI oil on a sustained basis on our estimates ( based on an 11% average cost of capital), ” he wrote.
Although demand worries could continue beyond this month, Singer said that “ we continue to believe a return to trend demand would lead to more equity-favorable oil supply-demand balance in 2021 that warrants OPEC production increases. ”
With that in mind, Singer found two stocks he thinks have fallen too far and now offer good value. He likes Texas producers Parsley Energy ( PE) “ based on favorable execution and free cash flow despite lower resource life ” and Concho Resources ( CXO), “ where we expect an improvement in execution in 2020. ” Both stocks have fallen 9.3% this year. Of the two, Parsley is cheaper, with a forward price to earnings ratio of 10.5, versus 18.7 times for Concho.
Both have been recommended by other analysts who have been bullish about stocks that have improving free cash flow.
Singer’ s top picks are still EOG Resources ( EOG) and Pioneer Resources ( PXD), two producers with strong stakes in the Permian Basin that are on Goldman’ s conviction list of its top recommendations. | business |
Apple’ s Earnings Were a Blowout. Here’ s What Analysts Are Saying. | Apple stock is going to suffer a correction, at some point. Eventually, we will see an end to this wild rally to daily new highs, a move that has doubled the price and added $ 700 billion to the company’ s valuation in just over a year.
But not now. Today, the party continues.
While investors can pick a few nits in Apple’ s earnings report for its fiscal first quarter, ended Dec. 31, the broader story was a stunner. Revenue and profits, disclosed late Tuesday, crushed both the company’ s ( ticker: AAPL) own guidance and Wall Street estimates for the quarter.
The company’ s forecast for its March quarter results, even with warnings about the potential impact of the coronavirus crisis in China, was well above most investors’ expectations. The biggest ingredients were a return to growth both for the iPhone business and in China, more strength in wearables, and continued, if slightly disappointing, growth in services.
The bottom line? It was a classic blowout.
Sure, there were a few issues. Services growth missed expectations by a couple of percentage points, but Apple also said it now has 480 million subscribers to its services overall, up 120 million from a year ago. Apple now expects 600 million total subscribers by the end of the calendar year, up from a previous forecast of 500 million.
Another disappointment, but hardly a surprise, was that Apple didn’ t disclose subscriber data for Apple Arcade or Apple TV+. CEO Tim Cook said Apple is having trouble meeting demand for AirPods Pro, and isn’ t sure when the situation will improve.
And he cautioned that there was no clarity on how the coronavirus would affect suppliers and contract manufacturers in China, or how the issue would affect demand from consumers there. He said the company’ s wider-than-usual range of forecasts for revenue in the March quarter— $ 63 billion to $ 67 billion—reflects the uncertain impact of the virus.
On a call with analysts and investors, Cook largely dodged questions about 5G, noting that Apple never talks about unannounced products. But the reception for 5G iPhones later this year is likely to be a primary swing factor for the stock. Expectations, already reflected in the price, are sky high.
Several analysts are now wondering if the stronger-than-expected reception for iPhone 11 could be stealing potential upgrades from the 5G cycle. And then there is the valuation issue: Apple shares have gotten much pricier during the stock’ s recent run, pushing its price/earnings ratio to near historic highs.
On Wall Street, analysts were stunned by the magnitude of the beat, but bears dug in their heels on valuation. Here’ s a sampling of what people who track the stock are saying:
Citigroup’ s Jim Suva repeated his Buy rating, and lifted his target for the share price to $ 375, from $ 300, while the stock was up 2.5%, to $ 325.74 on Wednesday. He says the next catalysts for the stock will be the launch of a new iPhone SE this spring, and the March quarter earnings. Suva thinks Apple will likely boost its capital deployment program next quarter, with another $ 75 billion buyback plan and a 10% dividend increase.
D.A. Davidson’ s Tom Forte repeated his Buy rating, increasing his target to $ 385, from $ 375. “ As we have stated previously, we believe the current set up is well suited for Apple, with our expectation of a potential multi-year cycle of positive smartphone unit growth due to the rollout of the next-generation wireless network, 5G, ” he wrote. “ Near term, however, we will continue to monitor the potential impact of the coronavirus on Apple’ s performance, including its sales to Chinese consumers and on its supply chain, which is still dependent on China. ”
Monness Crespi Hardt’ s Brian White maintained his Buy rating, lifting his target to $ 370, from $ 300. “ Looking forward, we anticipate healthy demand for Services and Wearables to continue. Also, we expect Apple to benefit from the launch of its first 5G iPhones in September; however, we would not characterize this upcoming cycle as anything ‘ super’, as market observers have erroneously called for in past years. Our more balanced view of this cycle reflects the maturity of the smartphone market and our expectation that consumers will take a measured approach to upgrading to 5G as the full potential of these faster networks becomes more fully available. ”
Canaccord Genuity’ s T. Michael Walkley kept his Buy rating and $ 355 target. “ Apple’ s ecosystem approach, including an installed base that exceeds 1.5 billion devices globally, is generating record services revenue, and we expect the higher-margin services revenue growth to continue outpacing total company growth, ” he wrote.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives remains ultrabullish, with a Buy rating and $ 400 price target. He still thinks the company is on the way to a $ 2 trillion valuation by the end of 2021. “ We … view last night as one of Cook’ s crowning achievements which put the finishing touches on a comeback story for the records books, ” Ives wrote.
Instinet’ s Jeffrey Kvaal maintained a Neutral rating, while inching up his target to $ 295, from $ 280. He says stronger than expected iPhone 11 demand could be stealing away potential demand for the coming 5G phones. “ We believe optimism for a 5G supercycle has aided Apple’ s recent multiple expansion, ” he wrote. “ We are as yet unconvinced by the rationale for a supercycle. ”
Barclays analyst Tim Long likewise maintained an Equal Weight rating, lifting his target to $ 304, from $ 236, but said he remains concerned about valuation and skeptical about 5G iPhone demand in the fall.
Atlantic Equities analyst James Cordwell, among the more bearish Apple followers, kept his Underweight rating and $ 275 target. He contends the stock’ s 20% premium to the S & P 500 is too high. | business |
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