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Le jour où la justice internationale a ordonné à la Russie de suspendre son invasion de l'Ukraine | ► Le site de la rédaction russe de RFI diffuse la radio publique ukrainienne ( en langue ukrainienne) depuis la page d'accueil.
Les points essentiels:
► La quatrième session de pourparlers entre la Russie et l'Ukraine se poursuit mercredi après deux premières journées de discussions. Pour aboutir à un cessez-le-feu, Moscou a exigé un « statut neutre » pour l'Ukraine, sur le modèle de l'Autriche ou de la Suède. Une option rejetée par Kiev.
► Dans son intervention en vidéo devant le Congrès américain, Volodymyr Zelensky, a appelé le président américain Joe Biden à « être le leader du monde ». Joe Biden a ensuite annoncé une nouvelle aide militaire de 800 millions de dollars comprenant notamment des drones pour que l'Ukraine puisse faire face aux forces russes. Le président américain a ensuite qualifié Vladimir Poutine de « criminel de guerre ».
► Sur le terrain, les bombardements se poursuivent dans le pays. Ce mercredi au petit matin, plusieurs explosions ont été entendues à Kiev qui est sous couvre-feu. Un théâtre abritant des civils a été touché par des bombardements à Marioupol.
► La Cour internationale de justice ( CIJ), le plus haut tribunal de l'ONU, a ordonné à la Russie de suspendre son invasion de l'Ukraine.
► Les Premiers ministres polonais, tchèque et slovène ont rencontré à Kiev le président ukrainien Volodymyr Zelensky. La Pologne a demandé une « mission de paix » de l'Otan en Ukraine.
► Le Conseil de l'Europe a exclu officiellement la Russie en raison de sa guerre lancée contre l'Ukraine. La décision historique prise après Moscou ait annoncé sortir de l'organisation.
23h50: « Ce qui attend l’ Afrique ou l’ Amérique latine dans un an s’ annonce tragique », prédit un négociant en engrais basé à Genève. Les prix de l’ urée, de la potasse et du phosphate ont bondi de 30 voire 40% depuis le début de la guerre en Ukraine, alors qu’ ils avaient déjà fin 2021 atteints des sommets. Certains agriculteurs devront faire des choix si les tensions sur le marché continuent.
►Chronique des matières premières - Flambée du prix des engrais: inquiétude des grands pays agricoles
22h54: À eux deux, la Russie et l’ Ukraine réalisent plus d’ un tiers des exportations mondiales de céréales. Mais la crise en Ukraine fait peser des risques sur les prochaines récoltes ainsi que sur l'exportation des stocks encore disponibles. Sergueï Gouriev, professeur d'économie à Sciences Po Paris, au micro de Jan van der Made.
Je pense que la situation sur le marché des céréales va être catastrophique. Et les régions qui vont être les plus touchées sont l’ Afrique du Nord et l’ Égypte. L’ Ukraine et la Russie sont de gros exportateurs de céréales et la récolte ukrainienne fera défaut. En Russie, il va y avoir aussi de grosses difficultés. Non seulement parce que la Russie ne va pas pouvoir exporter ses céréales, mais aussi parce que l’ agriculture russe dépend d’ équipements et de pièces détachées importées, etc. Ce sera donc un choc difficile pour de nombreux pays en développement. Et je mentionne aussi qu’ en août 2010, la Russie a connu des incendies de forêts. Afin de stabiliser la situation sur les marchés céréaliers nationaux, M. Poutine a interdit les exportations de céréales russes à l’ étranger. Ce qui a entraîné une hausse des prix des céréales comme en Égypte. Et en Égypte en particulier, des manifestations contre la hausse des prix ont éclaté, et cela a finalement contribué aux Printemps Arabes. C’ est donc une autre dimension importante de cette crise.
Sergueï Gouriev ( Sciences Po): « Je pense que la situation sur le marché des céréales va être catastrophique »
22h31: Le Canada interdit les chaînes RT et RT France
Le Canada a interdit officiellement mercredi aux fournisseurs de services de distribuer les chaînes d'information russe RT ( ex-Russia Today) et RT France, estimant que leur programmationn'est pas dans « l'intérêt du public ». L'organisme public est notamment préoccupé par « la programmation provenant d'un pays étranger qui cherche à miner la souveraineté d'un autre, à rabaisser les Canadiens d'une certaine origine ethnique et à miner les institutions démocratiques au Canada ».
22h12: Les Occidentaux demandent une réunion d'urgence du Conseil de sécurité de l'ONU jeudi
Le Royaume-Uni, les Etats-Unis, l'Albanie, la France, la Norvège et l'Irlande ont demandé une réunion d'urgence du Conseil de sécurité de l'ONU jeudi après-midi sur l'Ukraine en raison de la dégradation de la situation humanitaire dans le pays, a-t-on appris mercredi de sources diplomatiques. « La Russie commet des crimes de guerre et vise les civils », a estimé la mission diplomatique britannique aux Nations Unies sur son compte Twitter. « La guerre illégale de la Russie en Ukraine est un danger pour nous tous » a-t-elle ajouté en appelant à une réunion en urgence.
22h03: « Pour nous, c’ est un membre de la famille, on ne pouvait pas l’ abandonner ». Parmi les quelque trois millions de personnes ayant déjà fui la guerre en Ukraine, de nombreux réfugiés ont décidé d'emmener avec eux leur animal de compagnie, ce qui a déclenché un élan de solidarité en Pologne.
►Des milliers de réfugiés ukrainiens refusent d'abandonner leurs animaux de compagnie
20h35: À Cracovie, des achats de gilets pare-balles pour envoyer en Ukraine
À Cracovie, deuxième ville de Pologne, vit déjà une importante communauté ukrainienne, qui se mobilise pour aider ses compatriotes. Il ne s'agit pas seulement d'envoyer des colis alimentaires ou des médicaments, mais aussi du matériel pour se défendre. Au café Nic tenu par de jeunes ukrainiens, l’ argent récolté par les gérants du café, sert à acheter du matériel militaire et à l’ envoyer sur le front. Reportage de notre envoyée spéciale à Cracovie, Murielle Paradon.
La plupart des associations de Cracovie ont voulu s’ occuper des réfugiés ukrainiens, d’ une manière ou d’ une autre. Nous, comme on a des collègues qui travaillent dans l’ armée et qui connaissent le matériel, on s’ est dit qu’ on pouvait s’ occuper de ça. Mais bien sûr, c'est plus difficile d’ acheter des gilets pare-balles que des couches pour bébé.
[ Reportage ] À Cracovie, des achats de gilets pare-balles pour envoyer en Ukraine
Murielle Paradon
20h25: « La capitale ukrainienne a été frappée et presque toutes les grandes villes du pays ont subi des raids sournois de l’ armée russe. C’ était comme Pearl Harbor! » Des voix chinoises vivant en Ukraine s’ élèvent depuis le début du conflit en Ukraine pour raconter une autre guerre que celle montré dans les médias officiels.
► Sur les réseaux sociaux, l’ autre guerre des Chinois d’ Ukraine
20h10: Les mots de Joe Biden sur Vladimir Poutine « inacceptables et impardonnables » pour le Kremlin
Le Kremlin a jugé « inacceptables et impardonnables » les mots du président américain Joe Biden qui a qualifié pour la première fois son homologue russe Vladimir Poutine de « criminel de guerre » pour son offensive en Ukraine. « Nous considérons comme inacceptable et impardonnable une telle rhétorique du chef de l'État, dont les bombes ont tué des centaines de milliers de personnes dans le monde entier », a déclaré le porte-parole de la présidence russe Dmitri Peskov, cité par les agences TASS et Ria Novosti.
19h35: Cinq morts dont trois enfants dans une frappe à Tchernihiv
Cinq corps dont ceux de trois enfants ont été retrouvé dans les décombres d'un immeuble d'habitation touché par une frappe à Tchernihiv, dans le nord de l'Ukraine, ont annoncé les secouristes. « En déblayant les décombres d'un logement collectif, les secouristes ont sorti cinq corps, dont ceux de trois enfants », ont indiqué les services de secours sur Telegram, tandis que les forces armées ukrainiennes ont publié des photos de l'immeuble à la façade éventrée.
19h21: Enquête en France pour crime de guerre après la mort du journaliste Pierre Zakrzewski en Ukraine
Une enquête a été ouverte en France sur un possible crime de guerre après la mort lundi 14 mars en Ukraine de Pierre Zakrzewski, un journaliste franco-irlandais, a indiqué mercredi le parquet antiterroriste ( Pnat), compétent en matière de crimes contre l'humanité. Le Pnat a indiqué que l'enquête, rendue possible par la nationalité française du journaliste, est ouverte pour « atteinte volontaire à la vie d'une personne protégée par le droit international » et « attaque délibérée contre une personne civile qui ne participe pas directement aux hostilités ».
19h10: Vladimir Poutine est « un criminel de guerre », selon le président américain Joe Biden
« C'est un criminel de guerre », a pour la première fois déclaré le président américain Joe Biden à une journaliste qui l'interrogeait alors qu'il quittait un événement consacré à la lutte contre les violences conjugales à la Maison Blanche.
President Biden: `` I think he is a war criminal. '' pic.twitter.com/R5547PUXKr
18h55: « Avoir la larme à l'œil devant sa télé, ça n ' a jamais fait avancer les choses. À un moment, il faut se bouger et, en l'occurrence, faire preuve d'humanité ». Au Japon, un des grands pays industrialisés les plus fermés aux demandeurs d'asile, l'opinion publique réclame que le pays prenne sa part dans l'accueil des déplacés ukrainiens.
► Guerre en Ukraine: les Japonais veulent accueillir des réfugiés ukrainiens
18h41: Le maire de Melitopol libéré par les forces russes, selon les autorités ukrainiennes
Les forces russes ont libéré le maire de Melitopol, ville du sud-est de l'Ukraine. « Le maire de Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, est sorti de sa captivité », a déclaré Andriy Yermak dans un message sur internet. Selon l'Ukraine, Ivan Fedorov avait été kidnappé vendredi 11 mars.
18h09: La CEDH suspend l'examen de toutes les requêtes concernant la Russie
La Cour européenne des droits de l'homme ( CEDH), bras judiciaire du Conseil de l'Europe, organisation dont Moscou vient d'être officiellement exclue, a annoncé mercredi qu'elle suspendait « l'examen de toutes les requêtes » contre la Russie. « La Cour a décidé de suspendre l'examen de toutes les requêtes contre la Fédération de Russie en attendant d'examiner les conséquences juridiques de cette Résolution sur le travail de la Cour », indique dans un communiqué la juridiction basée à Strasbourg.
17h50: Un théâtre abritant « des centaines » de civils touché par une frappe russe à Marioupol
L'armée russe a bombardé le centre de la ville et les tirs ont détruit toute une partie du grand théâtre de Marioupol, abritant « des centaines de civils », selon la mairie de la ville assiégée dans le sud-est de l'Ukraine. « L'avion a largué une bombe sur le bâtiment où s'abritaient des centaines de civils. Il est impossible d'établir le bilan dans l'immédiat, car les bombardements des quartiers d'habitation se poursuivent », a écrit la mairie sur Telegram en publiant une photo du théâtre, dont la partie centrale est détruite.
La façade du grand bâtiment blanc et ses colonnes sont encore debout, mais le reste du théâtre est à terre. Et la plus grande inquiétude plane sur le sort des civils qui y avaient trouvé refuge. Pour l'instant, la municipalité ne donne aucun bilan de l'attaque. L'entrée de l'abri anti-bombe est bloquée par des gravats, écrit ce soir le gouverneur de la région de Donetsk. Il affirme également que les frappes russes ont également touché une piscine de Marioupol dans laquelle des femmes et des enfants avaient trouvé refuge.
17h36: Roman Abromovitch risque de perdre sa nationalité portugaise
Roman Abromovitch a obtenu la nationalité portugaise grâce à la loi sur les juifs séfarades expulsés du Portugal il y a 500 ans et à laquelle leurs descendants peuvent prétendre depuis 2015. Mais de lourds soupçons pèsent sur la manière dont a été fait le processus. Une enquête est en cours et il pourrait perdre sa dernière entrée en territoire européen.
Grâce à cette nationalité, iln'échappe déjà pas aux sanctions. « Le Portugal applique immédiatement les sanctions qui ont été décidés. Cela veut dire que ces biens au Portugal seront gelés. », affirme le ministre des Affaires Étrangères portugais, Augusto Santos Silva, au micro de notre correspondante à Lisbonne, Marie-Line Darcy.
17h11: Joe Biden promet des drones et des systèmes anti-aériens à l'Ukraine
Le président américain Joe Biden a annoncé mercredi le déblocage de 800 millions de dollars supplémentaires pour fournir une aide militaire à l'Ukraine, dont des drones et des systèmes de défense anti-aériens équipés de missiles à longue portée pour lutter contre l'invasion russe. « À la demande » du président ukrainien Volodymyr Zelensky, qui s'est adressé dans la matinée au Congrès américain, « nous aidons l'Ukraine à se doter de systèmes de défense antiaérienne supplémentaires et de plus longue portée », a-t-il dit lors d'une courte allocution.
► États-Unis: Joe Biden autorise un envoi important de matériels militaires à l'Ukraine
16h50: L'avancée des troupes russes près de Kiev à 16h TU
►Retrouvez nos autres cartes sur l'avancée russe en Ukraine depuis le 24 février
16h25: L'OMS n ' a jamais vu autant d'attaques sur le système de santé qu'en Ukraine
L'Organisation mondiale de la santé a affirmé mercredin'avoir jamais vu autant d'attaques sur le système de santé qu'en ce moment en Ukraine, où les forces russes sont entrées le 24 février. « Le système de santé est devenu une cible [... ]. Cela commence à faire partie de la stratégie et des tactiques de la guerre. C'est totalement inacceptable, c'est contraire au droit humanitaire international », a déclaré le chef des urgences de l'OMS, Michael Ryan, lors d'une conférence de presse.
16h17: Frappes russes mortelles contre des civils fuyant Marioupol, selon l'armée ukrainienne
Un convoi de civils qui était en route de Marioupol vers Zaporojie a été l'objet de tirs aux lance-roquettes Grad vers 15H30 ( 13H30 TU), a indiqué l'armée sur Telegram en publiant une photo d'un enfant blessé et ensanglanté. « Selon un premier bilan, il y a des morts », a-t-elle ajouté.
16h06: Des civils retenus en otage dans un hôpital à Marioupol, selon le gouverneur de la région
Le gouverneur de la région de Donetsk accuse l'armée russe de retenir des médecins et des malades en otages dans le dernier hôpital encore en état de fonctionner. La coordinatrice de l'ONG Media Iniative for Human Rights Olga Reshetylova a reçu un appel de cet hôpital mardi y décrivant la situation.
Nous avons reçu un appel d'une personne se trouvant dans cet hôpital. Ce témoin nous a expliqué que le personnel soignant et les patients étaient retenus en otage par les troupes russes. Les soldatsn'autorisent personne à sortir et tirent sur ceux qui essaient de s'échapper. Ce témoin nous a également dit que d'autres civils, des habitants de Marioupol, avaient été conduits de force dans cet hôpital. Environ 200 personnes. Et les soldats russes tirent sur les positions ukrainiennes par les fenêtres de l'hôpital. Le bâtiment est presque complètement détruit. Les médecins et les patients sont au sous-sol. Il n ' y a pas suffisamment de matériel ni de médicaments, il n ' y a même plus de murs ni de fenêtres. Les gens sont assis ou allongés par terre, au sous-sol.
Olga Reshetylova ( Media initiative for Human rights): « Les soldatsn'autorisent personne à sortir » dans un hôpital à Marioupol
Anne Cantener
16h00: La Russie bloque le site de la BBC et promet de répliquer dans la « guerre de l'information »
Les autorités russes ont annoncé avoir bloqué le site de la BBC et promis d'autres répliques dans la « guerre de l'information », lancée selon Moscou par l'Occident depuis l'offensive militaire russe en Ukraine. Le régulateur russe « Roskomnadzor a bloqué en Russie le site de BBC News. Je pense que cen'est que le début des répliques à la guerre de l'information lancée par l'Occident contre la Russie », a déclaré la porte-parole de la diplomatie russe, Maria Zakharova, sur la messagerie Telegram.
« Nous allons poursuivre nos efforts pour rendre BBC News accessible en Russie et dans le reste du monde », a réagi le média britannique. Son service russe a publié une vidéo montrant comment accéder à son site internet en utilisant un VPN et dans l'application et sur les réseaux sociaux.
15h53: L'Otan déploie des troupes sur son flanc est, mais pas en Ukraine
L'Otan ne déploiera pas de troupes ou de moyens aériens en Ukraine et prépare un renforcement substantiel de sa présence militaire dans les pays alliés sur son flanc oriental, a annoncé son secrétaire général Jens Stoltenberg. « Iln'est pas question de déployer des troupes de l'Otan ni des avions en Ukraine », a-t-il affirmé. La Pologne avait demandé plus tôt d'envoyer dans ce pays une « mission de paix protégée par des forces armées ».
►Guerre en Ukraine: l'Otan refuse toute zone d'exclusion aérienne mais renforce son flanc oriental
15h42: La Cour internationale de justice ordonne à la Russie de suspendre son invasion en Ukraine
La Cour internationale de justice ( CIJ), plus haut tribunal de l'ONU, a ordonné à la Russie de suspendre immédiatement ses opérations militaires en Ukraine. « La Fédération de Russie doit suspendre immédiatement les opérations militaires qu'elle a commencées le 24 février 2022 sur le territoire ukrainien », a déclaré Joan Donoghue, juge présidente de la CIJ.
► La Cour internationale de Justice ordonne à la Russie de suspendre son invasion en Ukraine
15h31: Le pape François et le patriarche russe Kirill discutent ensemble de la guerre en Ukraine
Les chefs des Églises catholique et orthodoxe russe, le pape François et le patriarche Kirill, se sont entretenus du conflit en Ukraine et ont souhaité « une paix équitable », selon un communiqué du patriarcat de Moscou. « Les parties ont souligné l'importance cruciale du processus de négociations en cours, exprimant l'espoir d'arriver rapidement à une paix équitable », a indiqué le patriarcat. Le pape et le patriarche ont évoqué avec les questions « humanitaires » et les mesures nécessaires pour « surmonter les conséquences » du conflit.
« L'Église ne doit pas utiliser le langage de la politique, mais le langage de Jésus », a affirmé le pape, cité dans un communiqué du Vatican. Allié du président russe Vladimir Poutine, le patriarche Kirill avait justifié au contraire l'opération militaire lors d'un sermon le 27 février, y voyant un affrontement contre les « forces du mal » qui « combattent l'unité » historique entre la Russie et l'Ukraine.
15h17: le Conseil de l'Europe exclut officiellement la Russie
Le Conseil de l'Europe, garant de l'état de droit sur le continent, a exclu officiellement mercredi la Russie en raison de sa guerre lancée contre l'Ukraine, une décision historique prise au lendemain de l'annonce par Moscou que le pays claquait la porte de cette organisation. L'exclusion a été décidée mercredi matin au cours d'une « réunion extraordinaire » du Comité des ministres, l'organe exécutif de l'organisation, au lendemain d'un vote consultatif de l'Assemblée parlementaire du Conseil de l'Europe ( APCE). Celle-ci s'était prononcée pour l'exclusion de la Russie.
15h03: Dix personnes faisant la queue pour du pain tuées par des tirs russes
Dix personnes qui faisaient la queue pour acheter du pain ont été tuées par des tirs russes à Tcherniguiv, dans le nord de l'Ukraine, a annoncé le parquet général ukrainien. « Des militaires russes ont tiré sur des personnes qui faisaient la queue pour acheter du pain près d'une épicerie dans un quartier d'habitation de Tcherniguiv. Selon un premier bilan, 10 civils ont été tués », a annoncé dans un communiqué le parquet.
14h45: La ballerine star Olga Smirnova quitte le Bolchoï
Une des ballerines stars du Bolchoï, Olga Smirnova, a quitté la prestigieuse troupe pour rejoindre le Dutch National Ballet, à Amsterdam, devenant la première danseuse russe à franchir ce pas depuis le début de l'invasion de l'Ukraine. « Smirnova a été très claire dans sa récente dénonciation de l'invasion russe de l'Ukraine, ce qui rend intenable son travail dans son pays natal », a annoncé le Dutch National Ballet, dans un communiqué.
14h26: Le réseau électrique ukrainien est dorénavant « connecté » au réseau européen
« L'Ukraine est devenue membre de l'union énergétique européenne. Désormais, l'électricité ukrainienne circule dans l'Union européenne et vice-versa », s'est félicité le président ukrainien Volodomyr Zelensky dans un tweet. Le réseau électrique ukrainien est à présent « connecté » au réseau européen, a annoncé de son côté Barbara Pompili, la ministre française de la Transition écologique, dont le pays assure la présidence tournante de l'UE.
🇺🇦 has become a member of 🇪🇺 Energy Union. The unification of 🇺🇦 & 🇪🇺 energy systems has been completed. Now 🇺🇦 electricity flows in 🇪🇺 & vice versa. Grateful to 🇪🇺 members, personally to @ vonderleyen, @ KadriSimson & everyone, thanks to whom we now have a single energy system!
14h10: Vladimir Poutine assure que l'opéraiton militaire en Ukraine est un « succès »
Le président russe Vladimir Poutine a assuré mercredi que son opération militaire en Ukraine était un « succès », affirmant que Moscou ne laisserait pas ce pays devenir une « tête de pont » pour des « actions agressives » contre la Russie, a-t-il affirmé lors d'une réunion gouvernementale diffusée à la télévision.
Il a une nouvelle fois assuré ne pas avoir l'intention d ' « occuper » l'Ukraine.
Le président russe a estimé également l'avalanche de sanctions et condamnations occidentales frappant la Russie, son économie, ses sportifs et son monde de la culture était comparable aux persécutions antisémites. « L'Occident a fait tomber le masque de la décence et a commencé à agir de façon odieuse. Des parallèles s'imposent avec les pogroms antisémites », a-t-il déclaré.
► Guerre en Ukraine: Poutine dénonce la « blitzkrieg » économique des Occidentaux contre la Russie
13h55: Volodymyr Zelensky s'exprimera devant le Parlement israélien en visioconférence dimanche
Le président ukrainien Volodomyr Zelensky va s'adresser dimanche à 16h TU aux députés israéliens en visioconférence, a annoncé mercredi le président du Parlement. Le président du Parlement israélien Mickey Levy s'est dit « honoré » de ce discours à venir devant les parlementaires, qui intervient « alors que le peuple ukrainien est confronté à un moment si difficile », a-t-il affirmé dans un court communiqué.
L'État hébreu a adopté une position prudente après l'invasion russe de l'Ukraine le 24 février, faisant valoir des liens privilégiés avec les deux pays.
13h05: Volodymyr Zelensky ovationné par le Congrès américain
Volodymyr Zelensky a reçu une ovation debout de la part du Congrès des États-Unis avant son allocution par visioconférence. « Slava Ukraina » ( Gloire à l’ Ukraine en ukrainien), a lancé Nancy Pelosi, la présidente de la Chambre des représentants pour introduire son discours.
Volodymyr Zelensky a dressé un parallèle entre la guerre menée par Moscou en Ukraine et les attentats du 11 septembre 2001 aux États-Unis ainsi que l'attaque de l'aviation japonaise contre la base américaine de Pearl Harbor en 1941. « Dans votre grande Histoire, vous avez des pages qui vous permettent de comprendre les Ukrainiens », a-t-il lancé dans son allocution aux élus américains. « Souvenez-vous de Pearl Harbor, ce terrible matin du 7 décembre 1941, quand votre ciel était assombri par les avions qui vous attaquaient », « souvenez-vous du 11-Septembre, ce terrible jour de 2001 », a-t-il ajouté. « Cette terreur, l'Europe ne l ' a pas vécue depuis 80 ans », a-t-il martelé.
Le président ukrainien a renouvelé son appel à une zone d'exclusion aérienne au-dessus de l'Ukraine pour la protéger des attaques russes. Après avoir cité le célèbre « J'ai fait un rêve » de Martin Luther King, il a lancé: « J'ai une nécessité, la nécessité de protéger notre ciel. J'ai besoin de votre décision, de votre aide. »
Il a ensuite diffusé une vidéo de bombardements.
# Guerre en # Ukraine: `` Nous devons protéger le ciel ukrainien '', a insisté le président ukrainien Volodymyr # Zelensky, qui a pris la parole par visioconférence devant le Congrès des # EtatsUnis 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/zZSGy1bGWJ
Le président ukrainien Volodymyr Zelensky a terminé en interpellant son homologue américain Joe Biden, mercredi lors d'une allocution vidéo devant le Congrès des États-Unis. « En tant que leader de ma nation, je m'adresse au président Biden », a-t-il lancé
12h40: À Tchernobyl, des employés otages des Russes
Une centaine de techniciens sont coincés à la centrale de Tchernobyl saisie le 24 février par les troupes russes. Ils terminaient alors leur service de nuit etn'ont pas été autorisés à rentrer chez eux, rapporte l'AFP. Dans des conditions sanitaires dégradées, ils tentent d'assurer la maintenance du site, désormais inactif, qui a connu le 26 avril 1986 la pire catastrophe nucléaire de l'histoire. Ils sont entourés d'armes et de militaires russes, racontent leurs proches.
Le directeur de l'Agence internationale de l'énergie atomique ( AIEA) s'est ému de leur sort expliquant qu'ils vivaient dans « un stress énorme et sans le repos nécessaire », ce qui « met en péril » l'un des « piliers » de la sécurité nucléaire, à savoir que le « personnel puisse prendre des décisions sans pression indue ».
12h07: Le gendarme russe des télécoms bloque les sites d'au moins treize médias
Roskomnadzor, le gendarme russe des télécoms, a bloqué les sites d'au moins treize médias supplémentaires, a constaté l'AFP, au moment où Moscou renforce son contrôle sur les informations publiées en ligne sur le conflit en Ukraine. Les sites du média d'investigation Bellingcat, de médias locaux russes, ainsi que de médias russophones basés en Israël et en Ukraine étaient inaccessibles en Russie sans réseau privé virtuel ( VPN). Ces sites apparaissent par ailleurs désormais sur la liste officielle des ressources bloquées par Roskomnadzor.
11h49: Le point de la situation sur le terrain à la mi-journée
À Kiev, plusieurs fortes explosions ont retenti à l'aube mercredi dans l'ouest de la capitale, placée depuis mardi soir sous couvre-feu jusqu ' à jeudi matin. Aucun bilan ou précisionsn'étaient donnés dans l'immédiat par les autorités locales, la pressen'étant pas autorisée à circuler dans la ville en raison du couvre-feu. Les services d'urgence ukrainiens ont fait état de leur côté de frappes sur un bâtiment résidentiel du quartier de Shevchenkivskyj.
Mardi, plusieurs frappes russes avaient touché des immeubles résidentiels, causant la mort d'au moins quatre personnes, selon le maire de Kiev.
Plus au sud, à Zaporijia, des frappes russes ont touché une gare de Zaporojie, jusqu'alors épargnée par l'offensive russe et servant de refuge aux personnes qui fuient, via un couloir humanitaire, la cité assiégée de Marioupol.
Après une série d'échecs, les évacuations de Marioupol se sont accélérées mardi. Selon la présidence ukrainienne, quelque 20 000 personnes ont pu quitter la cité portuaire à bord de 4 000 voitures.
11h34: Le pianiste russe Boris Berezovsky provoque l'indignation en défendant l'invasion de l'Ukraine
L'appel du célèbre pianiste russe Boris Berezovsky à cesser le soutien à l'Ukraine et à lui couper l'électricité pour accélérer son siège suscite l'indignation dans le monde musical. « Je comprends qu'on ait pitié d'eux, qu'on fasse les choses délicatement, mais ne pourrait-on pas arrêter de s'en soucier, les assiéger et leur couper l'électricité? », a déclaré cette star mondiale du piano lors d'un talk-show sur la chaîne fédérale pro-Kremlin Pervy Kanal le 10 mars, précisant qu'il parlait de Kiev.
Ce à quoi un militaire participant au programme télévisé lui répond qu ' « on ne peut pas créer une catastrophe humanitaire de nos propres mains ».
Le pianiste et chef d'orchestre Lars Vogt, directeur musical de l'Orchestre de chambre de Paris, a réagi vivement sur Twitter: « Jen'arrive pas à croire ces propos de mon ex-ami Boris B. Mais je les entends de sa propre bouche. Notre amitié est officiellement terminée. » La pianiste vénézuélienne Gabriela Montera a évoqué « une énorme déception » sur Twitter, ajoutant que « la grandeur musicale et l'empathie ne vont pas toujours de pair ». « C’ est au-delà du cynisme », a réagi pour sa part la cheffe d’ orchestre finlando-ukrainienne Dalia Stasevska.
Boris Berezovsky, 53 ans, invité régulier dans les festivals et les salles de concert en France, comme le Festival international de piano de La Roque-d’ Anthéron ( sud de la France) ou le Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, à Paris, a aussi affirmé que « ce que disent les médias occidentaux, c’ est du mensonge pur ». Depuis le début de l’ invasion, des artistes considérés comme pro-Poutine, tels que le chef d’ orchestre Valery Gergiev ou la soprano Anna Netrebko, ont été déclarés persona non grata dans la majorité des salles occidentales.
10h59: L'idée d'un modèle autrichien ou suédois de neutralité au centre des négociations
Alors que les délégations russes et ukrainiennes ont repris les discussions, le Kremlin avait fait savoir qu'un « compromis » serait possible avec Kiev et qu'il passerait par un statut neutre de l'Ukraine sur le modèle suédois ou autrichien, un pays neutre mais doté de sa propre armée. « C'est en effet l'option qui est discutée actuellement et qui peut être considérée comme celle d'un compromis », a dit mercredi le porte-parole de la présidence russe, Dmitri Peskov.
Une option finalement rejetée par l'Ukraine, qui demande des « garanties de sécurité absolues » face à la Russie, a annoncé mercredi la présidence ukrainienne.
D’ autres sujets de négociations sont abordés selon un négociateur russe: la levée des sanctions, le statut de la Crimée et des territoires spératistes...
10h39: À l'Otan, l'idée d'une « mission de la paix » pour l'Ukraine accueillie froidement
De sérieuses réserves ont été émises mercredi à l'Otan sur l'envoi en Ukraine d'une « mission de paix protégée par des forces armées » réclamé par le vice-Premier ministre polonais, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, lors de sa visite à Kiev mardi avec les Premiers ministres polonais, tchèque et slovène.
« Je pense qu'il est très difficile d'envisager une mission de paix maintenant qu'une guerre est en cours, avec l'intensité que nous observons », a déclaré la ministre de la Défense des Pays-Bas Kajsa Ollongren à son arrivée pour une réunion avec ses homologues de l'Alliance. « Il est trop tôt pour en parler. Nous devons d'abord avoir un cessez-le-feu. Nous devons voir le retrait de la Russie et il doit y avoir une sorte d'accord entre l'Ukraine et la Russie », a-t-elle expliqué.
« Nous devons étudier toutes les possibilités pour aider l'Ukraine et c'est une des possibilités. Mais l'envoi d'une mission de maintien de la paix devrait être décidé par le Conseil de sécurité » de l'ONU, a pour sa part rappelé le ministre estonien Kalle Laanet.
Le vice-Premier polonais, chef du parti conservateur au pouvoir en Pologne, plaide pour l'envoi d'une mission de l'Otan « en mesure de se défendre et qui agira sur le territoire ukrainien, qui se trouvera sur le territoire de ce pays avec l'accord du président et du gouvernement ukrainiens ».
10h24: « Arrête-nous! », exhorte le pape François
Le pape François a lancé mercredi une vibrante prière pour la paix, demandant « pardon » pour la mort et la violence en Ukraine tout en évoquant Caïn et Abel. « Seigneur Jésus, né sous les bombes de Kiev », « mort dans les bras de la mère dans un bunker à Kharkiv », « envoyé au front à 20 ans, aie pitié de nous! », a lancé le souverain pontife, visiblement ému, en lisant la prière d'un évêque italien pour l'Ukraine à la fin de l'audience générale hebdomadaire au Vatican.
François a demandé pardon au nom des humains qui « continuent à boire le sang des morts déchirés par les armes » et dont les mains « créées pour protéger se sont transformées en instruments de mort ».
Le chef du 1,3 milliard de catholiques a également « supplié » Dieu d ' « arrêter la main de Caïn », demandant pardon « si nous continuons à tuer notre frère, si nous continuons comme Caïn à enlever les pierres de notre champ pour tuer Abel », en référence au personnage biblique, fils aîné d'Adam et Eve, ayant tué son cadet. Dimanche, le Saint-Père, qui a multiplié les appels à la paix sans pour autant dénoncer l'invasion russe, avait appelé à « arrêter le massacre » dans le pays.
10h00: Comment l'offensive russe a ressuscité l'Otan
Un sommet extraordinaire de l'Otan se tiendra le 24 mars à Bruxelles. Déclarée en état de mort cérébrale en 2019 par Emmanuel Macron, conspuée par Donald Trump qui reprochait le manque d'investissement financier des Européens, affaiblie après le départ précipité de Kaboul cet été, l'Alliance atlantique est de retour. Depuis l'invasion de l'Ukraine par la Russie le 24 février, l'Otan redevient la pierre angulaire de l'architecture de sécurité en Europe. Elle retrouve un sens et une mission: protéger ses frontières.
► À lire: L'offensive russe en Ukraine et la résurrection de l'Otan
9h40: La Biélorussie dit assurer l'alimentation de Tchernobyl
Mardi soir, l'Agence internationale de l'énergie atomique ( AIEA) a indiqué sur Twitter avoir été informée par l'Ukraine que « l'alimentation électrique externe » avait été « rétablie » dans la journée après que la ligne a été à nouveau endommagée « par les forces d'occupation ».
# Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant was re-connected to the national electricity grid yesterday, # Ukraine told the IAEA today. The diesel generators have now been switched off. https: //t.co/5ev1PslKZy pic.twitter.com/7WWJnXNHXT
« Actuellement, la fourniture d'électricité des infrastructures de la centrale est assurée par les systèmes d'alimentation biélorusses », ont expliqué ce mercredi les autorités de la région biélorusse de Gomel dans un communiqué publié sur Telegram et citant le ministère biélorusse de l'Énergie. Elles précisent que le niveau de radiation sur le site est « stable ».
L'alimentation électrique du site nucléaire tombé aux mains des Russes le 24 février avait été coupée une première fois la semaine dernière et rétablie dimanche. Mais lundi, l'opérateur ukrainien Ukrenergo avait accusé l'armée russe d'avoir à nouveau coupé l'alimentation électrique de la centrale en endommageant une ligne à haute tension alimentant le site.
9h15: Un « choc » sur l'offre pétrolière à craindre, selon l'AIE
L'Agence internationale de l'énergie ( AIE) a dit mercredi craindre un « choc » sur l'offre pétrolière mondiale, à la suite des sanctions contre la Russie après l'invasion de l'Ukraine, tout en abaissant ses prévisions de la demande pour 2022.
« La perspective de perturbations à grande échelle de la production russe menace de créer un choc mondial de l'offre pétrolière », écrit l'agence, qui conseille des pays développés sur leur politique énergétique dans un rapport mensuel.
La guerre en Ukraine a créé une forte volatilité sur les marchés du pétrole, dont les cours se sont approchés de leurs records ( le Brent a atteint 139,13 dollars le 7 mars) avant de refluer. La Russie est le plus gros exportateur mondial, avec 8 millions de barils par jour ( mb/j) de pétrole brut et de produits raffinés à destination du reste du monde.
Si les États-Unis et le Royaume-Uni ont décidé un embargo sur le pétrole russe à la suite de l'invasion de l'Ukraine, le secteur de l'énergie est exclu des sanctions européennes notamment. Toutefois, l'AIE note que de nombreuses entreprises se sont d'elles-mêmes détournées de la Russie. Elle estime que 3 mb/j de pétrole russe pourraient être indisponibles à partir d'avril, un volume qui pourrait augmenter si les sanctions deviennent plus sévères ou si les condamnations publiques de la Russie prennent de l'ampleur.
8h45: La France rappelle « l'obligation » pour les belligérants de « protéger les journalistes »
Depuis le début de l'invasion russe le 24 février, quatre journalistes qui couvraient le conflit ont été tués.
Les journalistes couvrant le conflit contribuent à une « information libre et plurielle » et au « débat public, partout dans le monde », a-t-il également souligné.
Le cadreur franco-irlandais de la chaîne américaine Fox News, Pierre Zakrzewski, et une Ukrainienne qui l'accompagnait, Oleksandra Kuvshynova, ont été tués lundi près de Kiev quand leur véhicule a été la cible de tirs.
Russian military killed young and bright producer Alexandra Kuvshynova today in Kyiv region. Artillery targeted the car she was in. Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski was also killed in the same car. Correspondent Benjamin Hall received wounds and is in hospital. pic.twitter.com/zvbJyAdKvW
L'Américain Brent Renaud a aussi été tué par balle dimanche dans la banlieue nord-ouest de Kiev.
Le journaliste ukrainien Evgueni Sakoun a été tué dans le bombardement de la tour de télévision à Kiev et son confrère Viktor Doudar a péri pendant des combats près de Mykolaïv, selon les autorités ukrainiennes.
8h32: À Odessa, les citoyens prennent les armes
La grande ville stratégique de la mer Noire, jusqu'ici relativement épargnée par les combats, se préparent à livrer bataille. Non loin de la frontière moldave, elle revêt une importance stratégique et symbolique pour Moscou.
🇺🇦 # UkraineRussiaWar Dans la ville portuaire d’ # Odessa, dans le Sud, les habitants se préparent à une éventuelle attaque de l’ armée russe. ►Des entrainements militaires destinés aux civils ont été mis en place. 🎧 Reportage @ BroadhurstClea # RFImatin 👇 pic.twitter.com/VdUhZ5yHI0
8h02: Kiev, capitale sous couvre-feu
James André, l'envoyé spécial de France 24, était à Kiev mardi quand le couvre-feu a été annoncé dans la capitale après une journée marquée par des frappes sur le centre de la ville.
Kiev vit « un moment dangereux et difficile », a déclaré mardi le maire de la ville, Vitali Klitschko, en décrétant un couvre-feu jusqu ' à jeudi 7h ( 5h TU). Mardi, au moins quatre personnes sont mortes dans des frappes.
Et ce mercredi matin, plusieurs explosions ont été entendues dans le centre de la capitale. Selon les services d'urgence locaux, un immeuble d'habitations a été touché.
7h32: Une gare de Zaporijia touchée par une frappe
La ville ukrainienne de Zaporijia a été visé par des frappes mercredi, notamment l'une de ses gares, selon les autorités locales. « Des sites civils de Zaporojie ont été bombardés pour la première fois », a indiqué sur Telegram le gouverneur régional Olexandre Staroukh. « Des roquettes sont tombées sur la zone de la gare Zaporojie-2. Selon les premières données, personne n ' a été tué », a-t-il dit, ajoutant qu'une autre roquette était tombée sur le jardin botanique.
Zaporijia est la destination du couloir humanitaire pour les centaines de milliers d'habitants de la ville portuaire de Marioupol, assiégée par les forces russes. La ville se situe également à proximité d'une centrale nucléaire bombardée le 4 mars et occupée depuis par les Russes.
7h05: Cracovie saturée de réfugiés ukrainiens
En moins de trois semaines de guerre, plus de trois millions de personnes ont fui l'Ukraine d'après l'Organisation internationale pour les migrations ( OIM). Dont 1,4 million d'enfants, selon l'Unicef. Principale destination: la Pologne voisine. Après une première halte à la frontière, beaucoup se dirigent vers Varsovie ou Cracovie, la deuxième ville du pays, où vit déjà une forte communauté ukrainienne, raconte notre envoyée spéciale Murielle Paradon.
Quelque 100 000 Ukrainiens sont arrivés depuis le début de la guerre, soit 10% de la population.
► À lire: Guerre en Ukraine: la ville polonaise de Cracovie débordée par les réfugiés
6h32: Plusieurs fortes explosions entendues à Kiev
Au moins trois fortes explosions ont été entendues à l'aube, vers 6h TU, mercredi dans l'ouest de Kiev. Plusieurs épaisses colonnes de fumées noires ont peu après été observées dans le ciel de la ville, rapporte l'AFP.
Aucun bilan ou précisionsn'étaient donnés dans l'immédiat par les autorités locales, alors que la pressen'était pas autorisée à circuler dans la ville en raison du couvre-feu. Mais selon les services d'urgence ukrainiens, un immeuble résidentiel du quartier de Shevchenkivskyj, dans le centre de Kiev, aurait été touché par un obus.
Mardi, le centre de Kiev a déjà essuyé plusieurs frappes qui ont touché des immeubles résidentiels et fait au moins quatre morts, selon les autorités locales. Au moins deux autres attaques ont fait plusieurs blessés. La ville a été placée sous couvre-feu jusqu ' à jeudi matin.
6h01: Le point sur le front diplomatique
À l’ issue d’ un voyage en train de plus douze heures, les Premiers ministres polonais, tchèques et slovènes sont arrivés mardi soir à Kiev pour affirmer selon leur propre déclaration le « soutien sans équivoque » de l’ Union européenne à l’ Ukraine. « Nous ne vous laisserons jamais seuls parce que nous savons que vous vous battez pour votre liberté et pour la nôtre », a déclaré à son arrivée le Premier ministre polonais Mateusz Morawiecki. Les trois dirigeants ont rencontré mardi soir le président Volodymyr Zelensky et le premier ministre ukrainien Denys Chmygal, qui les a accueillis en saluant « le courage des vrais amis de l’ Europe ».
En parallèle, et dans un contexte marqué par de plusieurs frappes sur le centre de Kiev, les négociations entre Russes et Ukrainiens se sont poursuivies par visioconférence. « Les positions lors des négociations semblent plus réalistes », a déclaré tôt mercredi matin Volodymyr Zelensky. Le président ukrainien a ouvert la voie à un compromis avec Moscou en déclarant qu’ il fallait, selon lui, admettre que son pays ne rejoindrait jamais l’ Otan.
Les signaux sont beaucoup moins encourageants en revanche à Moscou: selon un communiqué du Kremlin Vladimir Poutine a estimé au cours d’ un entretien téléphonique avec Charles Michel et le président du Conseil européen que l’ Ukraine « ne manifestait pas d’ engagements sérieux à trouver des solutions mutuellement acceptable. »
5h30: 20 000 personnes sorties de l'enfer de Marioupol: « Nousn'avons plus qu'un hôpital »
Plus de 4 000 voitures, soit quelque 20 000 personnes, ont pu quitter l'enfer de Marioupol mardi, selon la présidence ukrainienne. Les bus affrétés par les autorités, eux, sont toujours bloqués par les troupes russes à une centaine de kilomètres de cette grande ville portuaire. Marioupol vit toujours sous les bombes et sous blocus total, sans eau, sans chauffage, sans électricité, dans l'attente d'un convoi humanitaire quin'arrive pas. Le conseiller du maire de la ville, Petro Andrushenko, explique qu'il est bloqué par les Russes près de Berdiansk, à une centaine de kilomètres de la ville.
Une semaine après le bombardement d'un hôpital pédiatrique et d'une maternité, le 9 mars, Marioupol n ' a plus qu'un seul centre de santé qui fonctionne.
« La plupart des femmes et des enfants qui se trouvaient dans cet hôpital sont sains et saufs, rapporte Petro Andrushenko. Depuis ce bombardement, 24 bébés sont nés, 24 nouveaux habitants de Marioupol, donc c'est une bonne nouvelle. Ces enfants se trouvent dans un lieu sûr et nous espérons pouvoir les évacuer bientôt si les troupes russes nous en laissent l'opportunité. Nousn'avons plus qu'un hôpital. Nous ne pouvons pas réparer les autres, ils sont complètement détruits. Et bien sûr, nousn'avons pas suffisamment de personnel médical parce que notre hôpital est surchargé. C'est beaucoup plus que la situation habituelle, bien sûr, c'est une situation anormale pour notre personnel médical, mais ils essaient. Ce sont vraiment nos héros. »
5h05: Mykolaïv résiste toujours
Mykolaïv et sa région sont le théâtre de violents combats et bombardements russes, mais les habitants résistent et ont même repris l'aéroport au nord il y a quelques jours. La ville est stratégique, car elle constitue le dernier verrou avant la grande cité portuaire d'Odessa. Supermarchés et pharmacies ont de moins en moins de stocks, et selon la Croix-Rouge, qui distribue près de 20 tonnes de produits par jour aux familles en besoin, la ville pourrait faire face à des pénuries sous peu. Nos envoyés spéciaux Clea Broadhurst et Jad el-Khoury étaient sur place.
► À écouter [ Reportage international ] Mykolayiv, dernier rempart sur la côte sud du pays
3h05: « Avant cette guerre, nousn'avions jamais entendu de sirènes en Ukraine »
Olga Syutikova, dont la fille est réfugiée à Paris, a décidé de rester à Kiev pour aider ses compatriotes. Pour l'instant, selon elle, l'approvisionnementn'est pas un problème à Kiev, ce quin'est pas le cas dans les villes voisines.
« Avant cette guerre, nousn'avions jamais entendu de sirènes en Ukraine, nousn'avions jamais eu de couvre-feu. Mais maintenant nous devons rester à la maison presque tout le temps. Donc les restrictions et les menaces liées au coronavirus semblent être un jeu d'enfants comparés à ce que nous vivons maintenant. Le jour, je conduis ma voiture dans les rues vides de la capitale, sans habitants, avec le son glacial des sirènes. Et je vois des hommes armés de la défense territoriale à chaque coin de rue, pour la plupart des civils, qui tiennent une arme pour la première fois de leur vie. Je leur en suis reconnaissante. Jusqu ' à ce jour, je pense que Kiev n ' a pas de graves problèmes d'approvisionnement. Mais les villes satellites de Kiev comme Irpin, Gostomel, Bucha, Vorzel et d’ autres sont inaccessibles à cause de la présence des troupes tchétchènes et russes. Ces villes connaissent de sérieux problèmes. Et les gens sont complètement bloqués… »
1h45: Un Britannique explique pourquoi il a choisi d'accueillir un Ukrainien
Plus de 100 000 Britanniques se sont déjà portés volontaires pour héberger un ou des Ukrainiens. La plateforme n ' a été lancée que lundi. Pour participer, il faut une chambre ou un logement libre, et s'engager sur au moins six mois. Le gouvernement ne limite pas le nombre d'Ukrainiens qui pourront ainsi être « sponsorisés ». Notre correspondante à Londres, Emeline Vin, a rencontré Mark Girsham, prêt à ouvrir sa porte.
Comment est-ce qu'on se prépare à accueillir quelqu'un qui a fui la guerre? On lui offre un toit, de la sécurité, mais que va-t-il advenir de leurs besoins? Ils vont avoir besoin de voir des psychologues. Il faut qu'ils aient accès à ce genre de services.
Mark n ' a pas hésité à s'inscrire mais s'inquiète un peu tout de même
1h15: Joe Biden a signé ce mardi un plan massif d’ aide économique et sécuritaire à l’ Ukraine de 13,6 milliards de dollars.
« L’ agression de Poutine contre l’ Ukraine a unifié tous les Américains, elle a unifié nos deux partis au Congrès et tous ceux qui aiment la liberté. Nous agissons aujourd’ hui avec résolution et urgence. Avec cette nouvelle loi d’ aide sécuritaire, nous augmentons encore notre soutien au courageux peuple d’ Ukraine qui tente de défendre son pays. Aujourd’ hui nous montrons encore aux Américains qu’ il est possible de nous rassembler, nous, démocrates, républicains et indépendants, pour faire de grandes choses. Les démocraties peuvent tenir leurs promesses et surpasser les autocraties », s'est-il félicité.
Joe Biden va en outre annoncer mercredi une assistance sécuritaire supplémentaire à l'Ukraine de 800 millions de dollars pour aider le pays à faire face à l'invasion russe, a indiqué mardi soir un responsable de la Maison Blanche.
Le président se rendra au sommet extraordinaire de l'Otan prévu le 24 mars à Bruxelles pour réaffirmer « l'engagement à toute épreuve » des États-Unis auprès de leurs alliés de l'Alliance, en pleine attaque russe de l'Ukraine, a indiqué la porte-parole de la Maison Blanche Jen Psaki.
0h45: L'appel aux armes du maire de Kiev
Kiev vient de passer sa première nuit sous couvre-feu, tous les habitants ont reçu l'ordre de rester chez eux ou dans des abris sous-terrains jusqu ' à jeudi matin. Décision du maire, après des bombardements sur plusieurs immeubles de la capitale mardi matin. Près de trois semaines après le début de l'invasion, les troupes russes resserrent l'étau autour de Kiev et le maire prévient que la capitale vit un « moment dangereux et difficile ».
Une ville pour laquelle l'ancien champion de boxe mène aujourd'hui un combat d'une toute autre mesure. « La capitale, c'est le cœur de l'Ukraine. Elle sera défendue. Kiev est l'avant-poste et le symbole de la sécurité de l'Europe et de la liberté. Nous ne la céderons pas. Nous ne les laisserons pas nous mettre à genoux. D'un ton grave et solennel, Vitali Klitschko appelle tous ceux qui le peuvent à se battre pour leur ville. Je lance un appel à tous ceux qui ne l'ont pas encore fait. Aux hommes, aux habitants de Kiev... Revenez. Nous devons défendre notre ville et notre avenir. Ne vous contentez pas d'être désolés pour nous. »
Avec des armes, en construisant des fortifications ou en préparant à manger pour les plus vulnérables... Toute aide est bonne à prendre, répète le maire de Kiev. Face aux bombardements qui s'intensifient et quelques jours après une visite sur la ligne de front, Vitali Klitschko est prêt à un nouveau combat et il veut le faire savoir.
► À lire aussi: Ukraine: Vitali Klitschko, ancienne gloire de la boxe, de maire à défenseur de Kiev
0h30: Le Sénat condamne à l'unanimité Poutine comme criminel de guerre
Le Sénat américain a adopté à l'unanimité mardi une résolution condamnant le président russe Vladimir Poutine comme criminel de guerre, une rare démonstration d'unité au sein d'un Congrès profondément divisé. La résolution, présentée par le sénateur républicain Lindsey Graham et soutenue par les sénateurs des deux partis, encourage la Cour pénale internationale ( CPI) de La Haye et d'autres nations à cibler l'armée russe dans toute enquête sur les crimes de guerre commis lors de l'invasion de l'Ukraine par la Russie.
« Tous les membres de cette chambre se sont unis, les démocrates et les républicains, pour dire que Vladimir Poutine ne peut pas échapper à être tenu pour responsable pour les atrocités commises contre le peuple ukrainien », a déclaré le chef de la majorité démocrate au Sénat, Chuck Schumer.
0h05: La Pologne demande une « mission de paix » de l'Otan pour aider l'Ukraine | general |
Justice Department charges 5 people with helping Chinese government to spy on dissidents in US |
The Justice Department has charged five people with helping the Chinese Communist Party stalk, harass or spy on political dissidents in the US, including a congressional candidate and a Los Angeles sculpture artist, according to new court filings and a press release.
`` All the defendants allegedly perpetrated transnational repression schemes to target U.S. residents whose political views and actions are disfavored by the ( People's Republic of China) government, such as advocating for democracy in the PRC, '' a DOJ press release said.
In arrests that targeted a ring of three men, the DOJ charged Fan `` Frank '' Liu, 62, whom the DOJ said is the head of a `` purported media company; '' Matthew Ziburis, 49, a former correctional officer in Florida; and Qiang `` Jason '' Sun, a tech company employee based in China.
Ziburis and Liu, who both lived on Long Island, have been arrested and are set to appear in court.
The trio's spying conspiracy, the Justice Department said, targeted pro-democracy dissidents in New York City, Indiana and California, including an artist whose sculpture of the Chinese President as a coronavirus molecule they sought to destroy -- and which ultimately was burned down. Ziburis, in pursuit of the artist, posed as an art dealer, then installed tracking devices in the artist's workplace and car, prosecutors alleged.
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The group also worked to host what the Justice Department called `` mock media sessions '' to interview dissidents in ways that could harm their reputations.
In another criminal case made public on Wednesday, Shujun Wang, a 73-year-old activist in Queens, was working at the direction of the Chinese secret police, the Ministry of State Security.
Prosecutors say Wang sent information he learned about pro-democracy and human rights activists and Chinese dissidents back to China. A handler from the secret police instructed Wang at one point to meet with a person in contact with `` Tibetans, Uyghurs and Mongolians, '' ethnic groups that the Chinese government has oppressed.
One dissident about whom Wang sent information was ultimately arrested in Hong Kong and jailed for political crimes, the Justice Department said.
Wang is also accused of lying to federal authorities when he denied being in touch with Chinese secret police contacts in 2017. The Justice Department says he later admitted his actions to an undercover law enforcement officer and others. He too has been arrested, the department said.
In a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Matthew Olsen, the assistant attorney general for national security, said that while the three cases are charged separately, they `` expose attempts by the government of the People's Republic of China to suppress dissenting voices within the United States. ''
`` Authoritarian states around the world feel emboldened to reach beyond their borders to intimidate or exact reprisals against individuals who dare to speak out against oppression and corruption, '' Olsen said, adding, `` We will not tolerate such oppression here. ''
RELATED: Justice Department ends Trump-era China Initiative following bias concerns
Alan E. Kohler Jr., who is the assistant director of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division, said that the three cases are emblematic of the `` overall rise of authoritarianism '' around the world.
`` Whether it is disinformation from a Russian intelligence service, efforts to silence a US-based journalist by the intelligence arm of the government of Iran or harassment by the government of China's Ministry of State Security, '' Koehler said, `` the FBI will protect the freedom of everyone within our borders. ''
Koehler encouraged private investigators and local law enforcement agencies to report potential crimes to the FBI, saying that there are `` dozens '' of transnational repression cases pending in the Untitled States, but `` we believe we should have hundreds. ''
`` Unlike the Chinese, Russian or Iranian intelligence services, whose only loyalty is to the regime, the FBI is committed to upholding the Constitution and protecting all American people, '' Koehler said.
Charges against retired Chinese agent
Earlier Wednesday, charges against a retired Chinese intelligence agent, Qiming Lin, were unsealed in federal court in New York. That Chinese citizen is accused of conspiracy after he tried to enlist a private investigator's help to smear a 2022 congressional candidate in New York. Lin remains at large, the Justice Department said Wednesday.
Lin is accused of conspiring to harass and surveil a candidate for Congress, described as a former student leader in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 who then came to the US.
The candidate running for the House of Representatives is Xiong Yan, a person familiar with the matter told CNN. Yan is seeking the Democratic nomination for a
seat representing the eastern part
of New York's Long Island. According to his campaign website, he was a pastor in Queens and served in the US Army. He was a graduate student at Beijing University Law School and came to the United States in 1992, his website says.
CNN has reached out to Yan for comment.
Federal investigators are `` investigating a scheme to undermine the candidacy of a U.S.-based Chinese dissident for the U.S. Congress in the general election of 2022 in order to prevent that candidate from drawing additional public attention to himself and his political speech, '' according to the complaint, made public Wednesday.
`` I further assess that Lin was seeking to undermine the Victim's candidacy because of the Victim's past status as a student leader of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, '' an FBI agent wrote to the court in New York.
The case dates back to September 2021, when Lin reached out to a private investigator to gather information about the congressional candidate. The FBI said Wednesday that Lin is retired from China's Ministry of State Security and still lives in China.
`` Based on my experience and training, I assess that Lin continued to act on behalf of the MSS even if ostensibly retired, '' FBI agent Jason Schwartz wrote in the complaint.
The private investigator reported their interactions to the FBI, allowing law enforcement to listen to interactions between the two. On one phone call that law enforcement listened to, Lin said to the private investigator, `` Right now we don't want him to be elected, '' according to the complaint.
In another call, Lin told the private investigator, `` If you don't find anything after following him for a few weeks, can we manufacture something? ''
On Lin's calls with the private investigator, Lin floated the idea of creating a scandal about the congressional candidate, such as accusing him of stealing or having an extramarital affair. Lin also discussed planting a female campaign staffer to record having a relationship with the candidate, according to the complaint.
`` There are, uh, some-some, uh who speak negatively about China, '' Lin told the investigator, saying that if the investigator could get information, `` then this side will hold you in very high regards in the future. ''
Lin discussed paying the private investigator on a trip he planned to the US following the Winter Olympics in Beijing this year. He made clear that price was no issue, the FBI noted.
The criminal complaint also makes clear that the case is not just about one man trying to smear another -- and has broader implications for American politics.
This story and headline have been updated with additional developments Wednesday. | general |
Treasury Market Volatility Poses Another Test for Fed as It Starts Rate Hikes | The Federal Reserve already had a tough situation on its hands with surging inflation before Russia invaded Ukraine. Now it’ s about to set out on monetary policy normalization with Treasury-market volatility the highest it has been since the start of the pandemic.
The central bank is expected to raise short-term U.S. rates by a quarter percentage point when it releases its policy statement Wednesday at 2 p.m. Eastern time, and to provide more detail about plans to shrink its roughly $ 8 trillion balance sheet. Its rate increase is already reflected in markets where traders bet on future Fed policy, along with six more quarter-point rate increases expected later this year.
It isn’ t just the Fed fueling the volatility, however, with plans to tighten monetary policy. Russia’ s invasion of Ukraine prompted global investors to race into safe dollar markets, and started a blistering roundtrip for Treasury yields. The news pushed the benchmark 10-year yield as low as 1.73%.
That rally has quickly reversed itself. The 10-year yield has climbed 40 basis points in a little more than a week, and was trading at 2.14% on Tuesday afternoon.
The outlook for volatility in the Treasury market recently jumped as well, to its highest level since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, as measured by options pricing.
There are a couple of theories circulating to explain the recent selloff, and the most obvious is that investors have refocused on Fed tightening and inflation.
Because the Fed’ s policy is being driven by unexpectedly persistent inflation—a trend that isn’ t being helped by the isolation of Russia and Ukraine, two major players in world commodity markets—investors aren’ t certain that the Fed will back off its aggressive policy turn even if growth slows. That has rates markets pricing “ stagflation, ” when inflation is strong and growth is slowing, according to Goldman Sachs.
That helps explain why stocks and bonds are on track for steep losses this quarter, a relatively
unusual occurrence for investors
who have been watching markets since the financial crisis.
“ Usually that negative correlation between bond returns and stock returns exists because if earnings turn down it’ ll probably be because the economy is turning down, and if that happens the Fed is going to cut, ” said Tom Graff, co-head of fixed income with Brown Advisory. “ But because of inflation that’ s not the way it’ s going to play out. ”
Some Wall Street strategists have also been questioning the effect that unprecedented sanctions will have on the use of reserve currencies.
Credit Suisse
strategist Zoltan Pozsar argued that the U.S. sanctions on Russia would lead to “ a new world ( monetary) order centered on commodity-based currencies in the East that will likely weaken the Eurodollar system and also contribute to inflationary forces in the West. ”
Peter Tchir, strategist with Academy Securities, echoed those concerns in a March 14 note. “ Given what happened to Russia, is it reasonable to assume that some countries, likely those less aligned with our interests, are selling Treasuries? I have no evidence of that, but it seems like a reasonable question to ask, ” he wrote. “ I don’ t want to be alarmist, but my level of concern has been rising. ”
Regardless of what is driving the moves in Treasuries, bumpy trading in the market has prompted
Bank of America
strategists to “ sound the alarm ” on liquidity problems in the Treasury market in a March 8 note.
Both Bank of America and
Barclays
have argued that the U.S. government could take steps to promote liquidity in the Treasury market. The Fed could reinvest the principal from mortgage-backed securities into the market for Treasuries, they said. Barclays suggested that the Fed could
lift some regulatory constraints on banks
.
So investors will be watching the Fed’ s press conference today to see what, if anything, the central bank plans to do about Treasury-market liquidity. Chairman Jerome Powell will speak starting at 2:30 p.m.
Write to Alexandra Scaggs at
alexandra.scaggs @ barrons.com | business |
Warnings almost a third could quit pig sector as losses expected to reach €160m | Pig sector losses as a result of below-cost prices are expected to reach €160m by March 2023.
Pig sector losses as a result of below-cost prices are expected to reach €160m by March 2023, Teagasc analysts have said, warning that up to 30% of Irish pig farmers are at risk of closure.
Over the 18-month period from September 2021 to March 2023, the analysts estimate an average 600-sow pig unit will incur losses of €663,000.
The second quarter of 2022 is expected to be the most difficult for the industry, with losses of €47.2m expected. It compares with losses of €23m from September to December 2021 and €39.6m in the first quarter of this year.
The situation is expected to ease later in 2022, with losses of €34m expected in quarter three and €13m forecast for the final three months of the year. A further €3.5m is expected to be lost in early 2023.
The sector was already struggling largely as a result of African swine fever, Brexit and Covid-19 before the recent input cost price surges following Russia’ s invasion of Ukraine. However, this has now exacerbated the crisis.
Irish pig farmers have put forward proposals for a €100m emergency pig aid package they say is needed to save the sector.
The document drafted by the Irish Farmers Association, Meat Industry Ireland ( MII), and Irish Grain and Feed Association ( IGFA) was sent to Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue on Tuesday.
The document, which has been seen by the Irish Examiner, outlines a range of measures including the immediate establishment of a pig stability fund.
While we acknowledge this fund will require sizeable state support, the importance and economic value of the sector merits this intervention as, without it, the sector’ s long-term future and its contribution to the economy is in real jeopardy.
The Irish pig sector supports over 8,000 jobs and generates around €1.7bn of output across primary and value-added sectors.
IFA president Tim Cullinan said: “ The Irish pig sector is currently engulfed in possibly the worst crisis in its history.
“ Teagasc estimates that pig farmers are losing on average around €56,000/month and rising and that 5% of pig farmers have already been forced into a decision to exit the sector, with a further 20 to 30% at serious risk. ”
Mr Cullinan said the association welcomed the initial €7m direct financial support via the Pig Exceptional Payment Scheme to pig farmers, but much more help was needed.
“ This is not in any way adequate to address the industry losses that Teagasc estimate will reach around €160m. In order to address the current grave difficulties facing the sector, IFA in conjunction with Meat Industry Ireland ( MII) and the Irish Grain and Feed Association ( IGFA) have jointly developed a proposal to establish a pig stability fund, ” Mr Cullinan said.
“ This fund, partly funded by a statutory levy on all finished pigs sold or exported, will help somewhat alleviate the massive financial pressure being felt on pig farms. It will also work in the medium-term to address the volatility impacting the sector.
“ Detail on this proposal is attached for urgent consideration by you and your Department officials. ”
Speaking to this newspaper, Kildare pig farmer Roy Gallie, who also chairs the IFA Pigs Committee, said: “ It won’ t stop at 30% if losses keep going as they are. It is simply unsustainable.
“ We need an injection of money either from the EU or Government. It needs to happen as soon as it can.
“ People are making decisions by the day of whether they are going to stay in pigs or stop serving. ”
From his interactions with members, Mr Gallie estimated that as many as 10% of pig farmers had already stopped serving their herds.
“ If you stop serving, you now have nine months to get out of your piggery. That nine months will be costly because at the end of it you will still have a debt. Getting out only covers the feed. What we are getting for the pigs only covers the pig and you’ ve got all the other non-feed costs for the next nine months to cover as well. ”
Measures called for | general |
Why so many countries want to sit out the new Cold War | “ Democracies are rising to the moment, ” U.S. President Joe Biden said in his State of the Union address, as Russian President Vladimir Putin unleashed his vicious war on Ukraine.
Francis Fukuyama leads a band of commentators claiming that the “ spirit of 1989 ” is back and we are about to witness globally a “ new birth of freedom. ”
Such rhetoric, usually intoned by men who lived through the heady last days of the Cold War, is dangerous. It could yet again make Western countries misread the world and their own power to shape it.
Today’ s geopolitical realities are even messier than they were during the Cold War, blurring any neat moral opposition between democracy and autocracy. Turning to Venezuela and possibly even Iran to alleviate pressure on oil prices, the United States is already hollowing out its “ alliance of democracies. ” China, a reliable anti-Soviet partner in the 1970s, seems to have concluded that a close association with the West is neither desirable nor viable. It is presently amplifying Russian propaganda and censoring anti-Putin voices.
More importantly, a large group of nations look ready to sit out the new Cold War between a hastily reunited West and Russia.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro says that his nation “ will not take sides. ” South Africa was only the biggest among 17 African countries to abstain from a United Nations resolution condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Argentina, Turkey, Mexico and Indonesia belong to the great majority of nations that have declined to sanction Russia.
The most revealing of these fence-sitters is India, technically at least the world’ s largest democracy. Long-standing ties with Moscow — Russia meets about half of India’ s needs for military hardware — only partly explain India’ s refusal to stand with its U.S., Australian and Japanese partners in “ the Quad. ”
Like many governments around the world, which were already fighting politically treacherous inflation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’ s administration worries about the rising price of Russia’ s key exports — oil, wheat and fertilizers. And Modi surely appreciates Russia’ s consistent support for India’ s stripping of Kashmir’ s constitutionally guaranteed autonomy.
For all these reasons and more, India won’ t depart from its fundamental geopolitical strategy of nonalignment — playing off one power against another, while securing material and diplomatic commitments from both sides.
The cold warriors who insist on being “ with us or against us ” have never really appreciated the transactional and shifting relationships at the heart of nonalignment. Nor do they seek to understand how carefully and warily the world’ s most populous nations weigh their cooperation with a West-dominated international order.
Indonesians still remember the 1998 financial collapse in Southeast Asia, popularly blamed on Western investors. Chinese nationalists continue to invoke the 1999 bombing by NATO of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade. Memories in Asia and Africa of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the calamitous Western intervention in Libya remain raw.
For many Asians, Latin Americans and Africans, Putin does not seem an unprecedented violator of international law. His anti-Western rhetoric even falls on receptive ears — witness, for instance, his personal popularity in countries such as India and Indonesia.
In any case, distrust of aggressive regional powers such as Russia, China, Turkey and Iran is balanced by suspicions that the U.S. is a profoundly weakened and highly unstable superpower. These misgivings were amply confirmed during Donald Trump’ s presidency and are hardly dispelled by the continuing influence of Trump, and Trumpism, in U.S. politics.
The self-interested European and American response to the global pandemic helped build even more resentment against the West. This is bound to increase with such reckless acts as the cancellation by Lithuania of a shipment of COVID-19 vaccines to Bangladesh because of the latter’ s refusal to condemn Russia at the U.N.
Certainly, as the U.S freezes dollar reserves of the Russian central bank, and iconic consumer companies such as Apple Inc., American Express Co. and McDonald’ s Corp. abruptly disengage from Russia, nations around the world are reconsidering their own dependence on Western goods, technologies, finance and payment systems.
China, outraged by Trump’ s strangling of Huawei Technologies Co. and the threatened expulsion of Chinese companies from Wall Street, has long been pursuing autonomy in the all-important realms of finance and technology, and trying to find ways to challenge the global dominance of the dollar. Other national efforts towards economic resilience and diversification of supply chains, from COVID-19 vaccines to semiconductors, will also accelerate.
As the landscape of globalization fragments, the prospects for democracy will diminish faster, notwithstanding the rhetoric about the new birth of freedom. Autocracies around the world were already building high digital fortresses to keep out dissent. The withdrawal of services by Silicon Valley’ s media companies will only help them maintain their monopoly on disinformation.
No matter what happens in Ukraine, then, the following trends are only set to intensify: opportunistic nonalignment, de-democratization, de-dollarization of the international financial system and general de-Americanization of the globe.
The Cold War ended in 1989 with too many fantasies about the free world’ s moral prestige and geopolitical capacity. A second Cold War that begins with more such delusions is heading for a destructive stalemate, if not clear defeat.
Pankaj Mishra is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. His books include “ Age of Anger: A History of the Present, ” “ From the Ruins of Empire: The Intellectuals Who Remade Asia, ” and “ Temptations of the West: How to Be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet and Beyond. ” | tech |
Passenger traffic at Azerbaijan's international airports has increased by almost 200 pct | In February 2022, Azerbaijan's international airports served a total of 255,000 passengers. This is 2.8 times more than in the same period last year.
In general, since the beginning of the year, passenger traffic at all airports amounted to 546,000 people, of which 80% was accounted for the Heydar Aliyev International Airport. The base air carriers of the Baku air harbor - AZAL and Buta Airways - transported 167,000 and 52,000 people, which is 38% and 12% of the share of passenger traffic, respectively.
In February 2022, 24 foreign airlines operated flights to the Baku airport. Airlines operate flights from Azerbaijan to Turkey, Russia, United Arab Emirates, Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, Qatar, Israel, Germany, UK, Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Since March 2022, flights to Ukraine, Russia and Belarus have been temporarily suspended due to the events in Ukraine.
Heydar Aliyev International Airport ( IATA: GYD) is the largest airport in Azerbaijan and the region in terms of passenger and cargo traffic, take-off and landing operations, the area of the terminal complex and the capacity of the cargo complex.
Heydar Aliyev International Airport received the highest 5-Star COVID-19 Airport Safety Rating, by international air transport rating agency Skytrax.
This is a top recognition of the effectiveness of COVID-19 measures introduced at Heydar Aliyev International Airport to protect their customers and staff against the spread of coronavirus. | general |
Azerbaijan considers issue of compatriots on border with Russia's Dagestan | Azerbaijan's land borders are still closed, special quarantine regime restrictions have been relaxed, but the COVID-19 pandemic has not yet disappeared, Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov said during a discussion of the Cabinet of Ministers ' report on activities in 2021 at the plenary session of the Parliament, Trend reports.
He noted that Russia will reopen its airspace for Azerbaijan on March 21, 2022.
`` The issue concerning our compatriots on the border with Russia's Dagestan Republic is also the focus of the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan. However, there is no final decision on this issue yet, '' he added. | general |
Turkey confirms 24,614 daily COVID-19 cases | Turkey reported 24,614 new COVID-19 cases, according to its health ministry, Trend reports.
The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 115, while 30,553 more people recovered in the last 24 hours.
A total of 333,196 tests were conducted over the past day, it said. | general |
Azerbaijani young athlete talks about hard training sessions to show good result at Championship in Rhythmic Gymnastics | I 've trained hard to demonstrate a good result at the 27th Azerbaijan Championship in Rhythmic Gymnastics, a young Azerbaijani participant of the Championship Madina Demirova, representing the Ojag Sports club, told Trend.
`` It was not easy, but I tried to prepare the program well for performing perfectly at the Championship. On the first day, we compete in the All-Around, but of all the subjects I find the easiest the program with clubs. This is not my first competition: I took part in tournaments in Azerbaijan and abroad, namely: in Israel, Ukraine, Hungary, and won prizes. Of course, performing in your native country is a special feeling, '' the young athlete said.
According to Demirova, the support of the audience is a good motivation and very encouraging for her.
The 27th Azerbaijan Championship in Rhythmic Gymnastics is being held on March 16-17 at the National Gymnastics Arena in Baku. In total, 41 gymnasts from Baku Gymnastics School, Ojag Sports Club, Republican Complex Sports School representing Baku, as well as athletes from Khirdalan’ s Zirve Sports Club, Sumgayit, Ganja and Mingachevir will compete in the Championship.
Winners will be determined both in apparatus finals ( Ball, Hoop, Clubs, Ribbon) and in the All-Around.
After a two-year break, spectators will be able to watch the competitions in the National Gymnastics Arena due to mitigation measures under a special quarantine regime. They should have a valid COVID-19 vaccine certificate or an immune certificate, or otherwise a COVID-19 vaccine contraindication certificate excluding persons under the age of 18. | general |
Azerbaijan confirms 115 more COVID-19 cases, 159 recoveries | Azerbaijan has detected 115 new COVID-19 cases, 159 patients have recovered, and six patients have died, Trend reports citing the Operational Headquarters under Azerbaijani Cabinet of Ministers.
Up until now, 791,077 people have been infected with coronavirus in the country, 779,987 of them have recovered, and 9,633 people have died. Currently, 1,457 people are under treatment in special hospitals.
To reveal the COVID-19 cases, 5,337 tests have been carried out in Azerbaijan over the past day, and a total of 6,646,110 tests have been conducted so far.
Some 17,574 people were vaccinated against COVID-19 in Azerbaijan on March 16.
The first dose of the vaccine was injected into 868 citizen, the second one to 1,729 citizens, the third dose and the next doses to 14,072 citizens. Some 905 citizens was vaccinated with a booster dose after a positive test result for COVID-19.
Totally, up until now, 13,303,938 vaccine doses were administered, 5,316,267 citizens received the first dose of the vaccine, 4,807,323 people - the second dose, 2,959,219 people - the third dose and the next doses.
Some 221,129 citizens were vaccinated with a booster dose after a positive test result for COVID-19. | general |
Covid-19: World Health Organisation reveals 11 million new cases in a week | The number of new coronavirus deaths reported worldwide fell by 17% in the last week but Covid-19 infections rose, reversing a decline in cases that first began in January, according to the World Health Organisation.
In the UN health agency’ s weekly report on the pandemic issued late on Tuesday, the WHO said there were more than 11 million new Covid infections last week – about an 8% rise – and 43,000 new deaths.
The number of Covid deaths globally has been dropping for the past three weeks.
The biggest increases in cases were seen in the Western Pacific and Africa, where infections rose by 29% and 12% respectively.
Elsewhere, cases dropped by more than 20% in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the Americas. In Europe, cases inched up by about 2%. | general |
Japan to fully lift coronavirus restrictions as infections slow | Japan’ s Prime Minister has announced plans to fully lift coronavirus restrictions on March 21 as new infections driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant slow.
The Covid-19 restrictions currently in place in 18 prefectures, including the Tokyo area, will end on Monday as planned, Fumio Kishida said at a news conference on Wednesday, as his government seeks to cautiously expand consumer activity to help the badly damaged economy get back on track.
It will be the first time Japan has been free of virus restrictions since early January.
Daily caseloads have steadily declined in the country in recent weeks after surging to new highs exceeding 100,000 in early February. New cases have fallen by about half.
While Omicron causes mild symptoms in most people and the fatality rate remains low, the latest wave is the deadliest one so far in Japan because the total number of patients were many times higher than in earlier waves.
Nevertheless, deaths in Japan have totalled about 26,000 since the pandemic began two years ago, significantly lower than many other countries.
| general |
New Zealand to ‘ welcome the world back’ as tourism restarts | New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said her nation was “ ready to welcome the world back ” with most tourists allowed to return by May as the nation continues to ease its coronavirus restrictions.
The announcement bought forward the date that tourists from countries including the US, Canada, Britain and much of Europe can visit from the previously announced date of October.
International tourism used to account for about 20% of New Zealand’ s foreign income and more than 5% of GDP.
But when the pandemic began, New Zealand enacted some of the world’ s strictest border controls and tourism evaporated. The measures were initially credited with saving thousands of lives and allowed New Zealand to eliminate or contain several outbreaks.
But with the Omicron variant now spreading throughout the country, the border restrictions have become largely irrelevant.
Ms Ardern said the move would boost the economy.
“ Closing our border was one of the first actions we took to stop Cobid-19 over two years ago, and its reopening will spur our economic recovery throughout the remainder of the year, ” she said. | general |
C & C shares surge as Bulmers owner back in profit despite Covid impact | Bulmers cider owner C & C Group expects to post a return to profit in its upcoming annual results, although the final figure will be lower than expected given recent Covid restrictions.
Shares in Bulmers cider owner C & C surged by more than 10% on the drinks group flagging a return to full-year profitability and its ability to withstand inflationary cost pressures.
The group — which also owns Magners cider and the beer brands Five Lamps and Tennent’ s — is due to publish annual figures, for the 12 months to the end of February, in May.
In a trading update ahead of those results, C & C said it now expects to report annual operating profits of between €45m and €47m.
That outcome would show a significant recovery from the height of the Covid lockdown period.
Profits trimmed by lockdowns
In the 12 months to the end of February 2021, the group showed a loss of nearly €60m, compared to a near €120m profit for the 12 months immediately prior to the pandemic taking hold.
However, C & C’ s profit outlook for its latest year is weaker than previously forecast as the second half of the year was negatively affected by renewed Government restrictions on the hospitality industry in late 2021. | general |
More than 14,000 new Covid cases as hospitalisations continue to rise | The number of Covid patients in hospital is now at its highest level since February 2021.
More than 14,000 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed on Wednesday as hospitalisations continue to rise.
Wednesday saw 5,452 PCR-confirmed cases as well as 8,644 positive antigen tests being registered through the HSE portal.
The Department of Health has urged people to continue to follow public health advice with St Patrick's Day approaching `` in order to socialise safely and maintain our focus on protecting those most vulnerable ''.
The Department has echoed calls from the HSE in advising mask-wearing in crowded indoor settings and on public tranport.
`` Anyone who wishes to wear a mask should not be discouraged from doing so, '' said a statement.
`` Continue to practise good hand and respiratory hygiene by washing and sanitising hands regularly and coughing/sneezing into your elbow. Maintain a physical distance where possible. ''
The number of people in hospital with the virus is now at the highest level since February 2021. | general |
Return of Cork City parade 'that people know and love ' | Members of Amdie Latin American Dance Community who are taking part in the St Patrick's Day parade in Cork. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
Two years ago, just days out from St Patrick’ s Day, parades across the country were brought to a halt as the word “ pandemic ” entered our everyday vocabulary.
While the pandemic is not yet completely behind us, the St Patrick’ s Day parade “ that people know and love ” will return to the streets of Cork on Thursday in full technicolour. Crowds of up to 50,000 are predicted to gather for the biggest event in the city centre since 2020.
Kicking off at 1pm on Thursday from South Mall, and live-streamed online from 12.45pm, this year’ s parade celebrates the ordinary heroes that have brought us through extraordinary times.
“ Over the last two years, it’ s the ordinary heroes, the frontline workers, and the volunteers who have really shown us the best of what we are. ‘ Heroic’ is something that we’ ve come to understand as a much more humble or simple concept than the idea of the superhero, ” said Cork City Council arts officer Michelle Carew.
Grand marshals of this year’ s parade are charity Blood Bike South, which provides a free out-of-hours service for public hospitals. Its team of three bikes, one car, and 65 volunteers deliver medical supplies from 7pm to 7am Monday to Friday, and 24 hours a day over weekends.
Delivery of PPE
During the pandemic, the charity made nightly deliveries of Covid-19 test samples from Cork to Dublin before the national testing infrastructure was in place. It also organised nationwide logistics for delivery of PPE to frontline workers.
Chairman Martin O’ Driscoll said the charity was just a small part of the “ amazing ” collective action over the past two years.
“ People rowed in together as much as possible. People were amazing to each other, to neighbours, getting prescriptions for elderly people. There was so much going on at a small local level and we were just a small part of that, ” he said.
Usually, Blood Bike South volunteers spend St Patrick’ s day clearing the crowd before the parade begins. Mr O’ Driscoll said it would be nice to be seen walking at the front of the parade for a change, without helmets and high-vis jackets, and recognised for their work.
Tania Pantoja is the director and group choreographer of Cork-based dance group Amdie. Having made its colourful debut in the St Patrick’ s Day parade in 2019, Ms Pantoja said the group is back this year to showcase Latin American culture and community in the rebel county.
“ We are super excited. We have been practising for months now, not even knowing that we would have a parade but did anyway, and we have costumes from Mexico specially designed for the parade. We’ re really grateful to Ireland for making this such a really inclusive day. It gives us a voice and does make us feel that we are part of the community, ” she said. | general |
Katherine Ryan on losing her sense of smell, being accidentally healthy and why she doesn’ t ‘ do’ exercise | Katherine Ryan: suffered from parosmia after getting Covid
Katherine Ryan is one of many people who lost their sense of smell and taste after getting Covid – but as a new mum, she was happy to forego nasty nappy smells.
While the Cork-connected Canadian comedy star isn’ t complaining about this particular Covid silver lining however, she’ s not so pleased about still not being able to smell other, more pleasant scents.
“ Covid wasn’ t too bad, and I didn’ t notice at all that I’ d lost my sense of taste and smell – it really crept up on us, ” says Ryan, 38, who caught Covid last summer at the same time as her husband, Bobby.
“ I’ m not complaining too much though, because it’ s bad smells that I mostly can’ t smell, and with a nine-month-old baby at home, that’ s always a plus! ”
The couple didn’ t realise at first that their senses had been affected – until one dinner time, when Bobby noticed he couldn’ t smell the garlic they were preparing. Ryan then started trying to smell other pungent household items like candles and shampoo, and realised her smell was affected too.
It’ s a common issue – a recent poll of 2,000 people in Britain who’ ve had Covid, found 71% had lost their sense of smell ( parosmia) and taste.
“ It can be disheartening, because it catches you by surprise, ” says Ryan, who is mum to baby Fred with Bobby, and also has a daughter, Violet, 12, from a previous relationship.
“ There are really specific smells that I can’ t smell any more, certain candles etc. Smell is linked to a lot of memories, and I do love dinner time and the flavours aren’ t as strong. It all goes hand-in-hand. ”
Ryan – a regular on TV panel shows like 8 Out Of 10 Cats and Never Mind The Buzzcocks – thinks she now has around 80% of her smell back.
“ I think I’ m pretty close to getting all my sense of smell back – I describe it now as I can smell ‘ quietly’. It has really impacted my whole experience of flavours in the kitchen though, ” she adds. “ I still enjoy food and I’ m really lucky because I can taste, but it isn’ t as strong. Things have tasted slightly more bland since Covid. ” | general |
UN seeks £3.3 billion in appeal for war-ravaged Yemen | A United Nations appeal for Yemen is aiming to raise 4.27 billion US dollars ( £3.3 billion) to alleviate what it describes as the world’ s worst humanitarian crisis, with 161,000 people likely to experience famine there in 2022.
The virtual pledging conference on Wednesday is being co-hosted by Sweden and Switzerland.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will address donors on the dire needs of the Arab world’ s poorest country.
`` After more than seven years of war, Yemen is a chronic emergency. `` @ UNReliefChief tells Security Council that hunger, disease & other miseries are rising faster than aid agencies can roll them back. `` Yemen still urgently needs help. '' https: //t.co/INCOt54EaY
The conference comes as world attention is gripped by the war in Ukraine, which has overshadowed other humanitarian crises across the world since the Russian invasion on February 24 – raising concerns that Yemen’ s plight may be forgotten.
More than three million people have fled Ukraine, which has seen Europe’ s heaviest fighting since the Second World War.
Last year’ s conference raised only 1.7 billion dollars ( £1.3 billion) for Yemen, out of the 3.85 billion ( £2.95 billion) the UN had appealed for as the coronavirus pandemic and its devastating consequences hit economies around the globe.
Mr Guterres called the 2021 result “ disappointing ”.
Yemen’ s war started in 2014 when the Iran-backed rebel Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’ s north.
A Saudi-led, US-backed coalition intervened months later to dislodge the rebels and restore the internationally recognised government.
“ Funding for Yemen has never reached this point. ” WFP warns that desperate levels of hunger in # Yemen are set to become catastrophic under impact from # Ukraine crisis: https: //t.co/HanWfP2GdV
The conflict has in recent years become a regional proxy war that has killed more than 150,000 people, including some 14,500 civilians. | general |
HSE calls on people to go 'back to basics ' with Covid-prevention measures | Chief clinical officer Dr Colm Henry urged people to consider wearing masks again. File picture: Pexels
HSE chief Paul Reid has advised people to go “ back to basics ” with Covid-prevention and said over 70% of Covid-patients in hospital now are over 65 years of age.
The HSE is now advising people vulnerable to the virus to consider mask-wearing again even over the St Patrick’ s Day weekend.
There were 1,082 Covid-patients in hospitals today, the highest since mid-February last year, and 44 people in ICU including six new admissions in the previous 24-hours.
Outside of hospitals, there are Covid-outbreaks in 300 nursing homes with about seven affected people at each site and the positivity rate from the last round of serial testing was 5.11%.
However, Mr Reid said so far vaccines are offering protection against the most severe illness and death, saying 48% of Covid-patients were admitted to hospitals for other illnesses with Covid-19 only identified on testing.
“ All that being said, it is still 1,082 and it has a disproportionate impact on infection prevention controls, ” he said.
COVID-19 vaccine booster doses are available to everybody aged 12 and older. You can book an appointment online or attend a walk-in vaccine clinic. Learn more: # StaySafe | # ForUsAllhttps: //t.co/JMwbx7seEj pic.twitter.com/MC1DPI93JT
“ Those Covid-patient numbers are up 32% on the previous seven days and 72% on the previous 14 days. ”
Speaking at the same media briefing, chief clinical officer Dr Colm Henry urged people to consider wearing masks again.
“ Even though the masks are not mandatory anymore, it doesn’ t mean you don’ t have to use it. It can still afford protection if you use it on public transport or any settings with congestion, ” he said.
“ That message should particularly go to anybody who is particularly vulnerable, older people or those who have immunosuppression or underlying conditions. ”
There are two variants of Omicron circulating, but the BA.2 is now dominant at 90%, he said.
“ We know also that reinfection is possible for those who had Delta before, it doesn’ t necessarily protect against BA.2, it might protect you against severe disease, ” he said.
They should not consider themselves immune, he said. | general |
'Now is the moment for us to open our arms ': Taoiseach says Ireland is open for tourists after Covid | Taoiseach Micheál Martin poses for a photo with Irish Ambassador Daniel Mulhall, ( third left), members of Tourism Ireland and cast members of ‘ Riverdance’ during a reception event at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, during his visit to the US for St Patrick’ s Day. Picture: Oliver Contreras/PA
Ireland’ s tourism industry is once again ready to welcome visitors from across the world after Covid-19, the Taoiseach has said.
Micheál Martin was speaking at a reception hosted by all-Ireland body Tourism Ireland at the Kennedy Center in Washington before watching a special 25th anniversary performance of Riverdance.
It was the latest in his series of engagements in the US capital to mark St Patrick’ s Day. | general |
Transcript of Volodymyr Zelenskyy's speech to the US Congress — Quartz | Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the US Congress on March 16. Below is a translated transcript of his speech, primarily delivered in Ukrainian, and taken from the C-Span network.
Thank you very much, madam speaker, members of Congress, ladies and gentlemen.
Americans, friends. I am proud to greet you from Ukraine, from our capital city of Kyiv, the city under missile and airstrikes from Russians every day.
It does not give up. We have not even thought about it for a second. Just like many other cities and communities in our beautiful country which found themselves in the worst war since World War II. I have been honored to greet you on behalf of the Ukrainian people and freedom-loving people who for years have been resisting Russian aggression. Those who give their best sons and daughters to stop this full-scale Russian invasion.
Right now, the destiny of our country is being decided. The destiny of our people, whether Ukrainians will be free, whether they will be able to preserve their democracy. Russia has attacked not just us, not just our land, our cities. It went on a brutal offensive against our values. Basic human values. Against our freedom, our right to live freely, choosing our own future. Against our desire for happiness, against our national dreams.
Just like the same things you have, you Americans. Just like anyone else in the United States. I remember the national memorial Mount Rushmore. the faces of your prominent presidents, those who laid the foundation of the United States of America. Democracy, independence, freedom.
For every person who works diligently, who lives honestly, who respects the law, we in Ukraine want the same for our people. All that is a normal part of your own life.
Ladies and gentlemen, Americans, in your great history you would understand Ukrainians. Understand us now. We need you right now.
Remember Pearl Harbor. The morning of December 7, 1941, when your sky was black from the planes attacking you. Remember. Remember September 11. A terrible day in 2001 when people tried to turn your cities into battlefields. When innocent people were attacked attacked from the air. No one expected it. You couldn’ t stop it.
Our country experiences the same every day. Right now, this moment, every night for three weeks, in various Ukrainian cities, Russia has turned the Ukrainian sky into a source of death for thousands of people. Russian troops have fired 1000 missiles at Ukraine. They use drones to kill us with precision.
This is a terror Europe has not seen for 80 years and we are asking for an answer to this terror from the world. Is that a lot to ask? To create a no-fly zone over Ukraine to save people. Is this too much to ask? A no-fly zone. Russia would not be able to terrorize our cities.
If this is too much to ask, we offer an alternative. You know what kind of defense systems we need. You know how much depends on the ability to use aircraft to protect our people, our freedom. aircraft that can help Ukraine, help Europe. We know they exist and you have them. They are not in Ukrainian skies.
I have a dream. I have a need. I need to protect our skies. I need your help, which means the same you feel when you hear the words I have a dream. Ladies and gentlemen, friends. Ukraine is grateful to the United States for its overwhelming support. Everything your government and your people have done for us, for weapons and training, for leadership to pressure the aggressor economically.
I am grateful to president Biden for his sincere commitment to the defense of Ukraine and democracy all over the world. I am grateful to you for the resolution which recognizes all of those who commit crimes against Ukraine as war criminals. In the darkest times for our country I call on you to do more.
New sanctions are needed constantly every week until the Russian military machine stops. Restrictions are needed for everyone on whom this unjust regime is based: all politicians in the Russian Federation who remain in their offices and do not cut ties with those who are responsible for the aggression against Ukraine from the state duma members upwards.
All American companies must leave Russia from their market immediately because it is flooded with our blood. Ladies and gentlemen, members of Congress. If you have companies in your district who financed the Russian military machine, you should put pressure. I am asking to make sure the Russians do not receive a single penny they used to destroy people in Ukraine, the destruction of our country, the destruction of Europe. All American ports should be closed for Russian goods. Peace is more important than income, and we have to defend this principle in the whole world.
We have to defend the world. We already became part of the antiwar coalition, the big antiwar coalition that unites many countries, dozens of countries, those who reacted to president Putin’ s decision to invade our country. We need to move on and do more. We need to create more tools to respond quickly and stop the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24. It would be fair if it ended in 24 hours, that people would be punished, that evil would be punished.
Today the people do not have such tools. Institutions should protect us from war but they unfortunately do not work. We need new alliances and we offer them. We propose to create an association, united for peace, a union of responsible countries to stop conflict immediately, provide all the necessary assistance in 24 hours, weapons if necessary, sanctions if necessary, humanitarian support, finances, everything you need to keep the peace and quickly to save the world, to save life.
Such associations would provide assistance to those who are experiencing natural disasters, who fell victim to humanitarian crisis or epidemics. Remember how difficult it was for the world to do the simplest things just to get a vaccine against covid to save lives, to prevent new strains. The world spent months, years doing things like that much faster to make sure there are no victims.
Ladies and gentlemen, if such an alliance would exist today we would be able to save thousands of lives in our country, in many countries around the world, those who need peace, those who suffer inhumane destruction. I ask you to watch one video. a video of what the Russian troops did in our country, in our land. We have to destroy every single aggressor who seeks to subjugate other nations. Please watch the video.
VIDEO PLAYS
The rest is spoken in English:
In the end, to be the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace. Peace in your country does not depend only on you and your people. It depends on those next to you, on those who are strong. Strong does not mean weak. Strong is brave and ready to fight for his citizens as citizens of the world. For human rights. For freedom. The right to live decently and die when your time comes and not when decided by somebody else.
Today the Ukrainian people are defending not only Ukraine. We are fighting for Europe and the world and our lives in the name of the future. That is why today the American people are helping not just Ukraine, but Europe and the world to keep the planet alive. To keep justice in history.
I am almost 45 years old. Today my age stopped when the hearts of more than 100 children stopped beating. I see no sense in life if it can not stop the deaths. This is my mission as a leader of my people. and as a leader of my nation.
I’ m addressing president Biden. You are the leader of the nation, of your great nation. I wish you to be the leader of the world. Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace. Thank you. Glory to Ukraine. | tech |
Russian sanctions could boost lab-grown diamonds — Quartz | The US’ s ban on Russian diamonds is burnishing the appeal of lab-grown stones.
Russia contributes nearly a third of the global natural diamond supply, according to the US Treasury, with around 90% of Russian production coming from state-backed Alrosa, the world’ s largest diamond mining company.
Industry experts are expecting a two-digit jump in diamond prices in coming months—and a boost in sales of lab-grown stones.
Even before the US announced the ban, part of wide-ranging measures to punish Russia for its Ukraine invasion, consulting firm Kenneth Research was expecting the lab-grown diamond market to grow by an average 9% until 2028. Even traditional natural diamond giants like De Beers have begun selling them.
The ban comes at a time when supply is already tight. Retail sales of diamond jewelry jumped 29% last year versus 2020, and are up 11% over pre-pandemic levels, a report from consulting firm Bain & Co. report said.
“ For the jewelry industry, it has been a historical bonanza, ” said Monil Kothari, founder of the fine jewelry brand Haus of Brilliance. “ Everyone you talk to has made money because supply had been reduced. You had liquidity in the market and people just bored at home that had discretionary cash. ”
Higher labor costs in India, where the majority of jewelry manufacturing is done, has also fueled the rise in diamond prices.
Coinciding with this is pent-up demand in the wedding market as covid restrictions subside. There will be an estimated 2.5 million weddings in 2022, according to The Wedding Report, the most in the US since 1984. This means wedding attendees—both brides and guests—will be looking for jewelry for the occasion.
The full impact of the ban is unclear. Rough diamonds are usually sent to India or China for cutting and other processing, obscuring the country of origin. But if Burmese rubies, which were also banned by the US, are any indication, the Biden administration will move to seal out opportunities for diamonds to arrive via intermediaries.
Amish Shah, founder of ALTR Created Diamonds, which sells lab-grown stones, believes consumers will turn to synthetic options in greater numbers, whether for ethical or budget reasons. He estimates that if US officials are strict about scrutinizing Russian diamonds, prices could jump 15 to 25%, although the impact would not trickle down for several months.
Typically, shoppers can get a nearly 50% larger stone for the same price as a naturally mined diamond, without compromising on quality. At the same time, these lab-grown diamonds have a lower carbon footprint and are guaranteed to be conflict-free, something Shah expects will resonate strongly with global consumers who object to the war in Ukraine.
However, while lab-grown diamonds could fulfill some of the consumer demand, they would not be able to fully replace Russian supplies. The total production of lab grown diamonds is around 8 million carats, much smaller than the 32.4 million carats Alrosa alone supplied in 2021. | tech |
Russia expelled from Council of Europe over invasion of Ukraine | Firefighters extinguish an apartment house after a Russian rocket attack in Kharki. Picture: AP Photo/Pavel Dorogoy
The Council of Europe on Wednesday expelled Russia from the continent’ s foremost human rights body in an unprecedented move over its invasion and war in Ukraine.
The 47-nation organisation’ s committee of ministers said in a statement that “ the Russian Federation ceases to be a member of the Council of Europe as from today, after 26 years of membership. ”
The Russian Federation is excluded from the Council of Europehttps: //t.co/dVUE8W5Rnd
The decision comes on the heels of weeks of condemnation of Russia’ s actions in Ukraine.
Early in the week, the group’ s parliamentary assembly initiated the process of expulsion and unanimously backed that Russia would be kicked out.
Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, insisted on Wednesday that it would have left the body regardless.
In an interview with Russian broadcaster RBK, he accused Nato and EU countries of “ abusing their majority in the council, eventually transforming it into a tool for anti-Russian policy. ”
Ukraine is also a member of the Council of Europe.
Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, immediately welcomed the decision.
`` I welcome the decision to immediately exclude Russia from the Council of Europe just taken by the Council of Ministers, '' he wrote on Twitter.
`` No place for Russia in European bodies as it wages a barbaric war of aggression against Ukraine and commits multiple war crimes. ''
I welcome the decision to immediately exclude Russia from the Council of Europe just taken by the Council of Ministers. No place for Russia in European bodies as it wages a barbaric war of aggression against Ukraine and commits multiple war crimes.
It was unclear what the extent of support was for the expulsion since the Committee of Ministers arrived at a “ consensus ” behind closed doors, making it impossible to have a full breakdown of votes.
Ukraine rejects Russian neutrality proposal
Ukrainian officials have dismissed a Russian “ compromise ” proposal of Ukraine becoming a neutral state comparable to Sweden, as opposed to it joining Nato.
Earlier, Kremlin spokesperson Dimitry Peskov said the idea was being discussed by negotiators.
If Ukraine were to adopt a model similar to that of Sweden, it would likely be able to keep its army but would not be permitted to host foreign bases or troops.
However, Mikhailo Podolyak, chief of staff for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has now appeared to pour cold water on the move.
`` Ukraine is now in a direct state of war with Russia, '' he said in a statement.
`` Consequently, the model can only be 'Ukrainian ' and only on legally verified security guarantees.
Over the last two days, Ukrainian and Russian officials have sounded more optimistic when discussing the ongoing peace talks.
Russian foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that some parts of a potential deal were close to being finalised following discussions around Ukrainian neutrality.
“ Neutral status is now being seriously discussed along, of course, with security guarantees, ” Lavrov said.
On the Ukrainian side, President Zelenskyy said last night that Russia’ s demands had become “ more realistic ” of late.
“ Efforts are still needed, patience is needed. Any war ends with an agreement, ” he said.
Meanwhile, the prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia safely returned to Poland on Wednesday after a visit to Kyiv intended to show support for Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia’ s military onslaught.
The leaders met with Zelenskyy on Tuesday to convey a message of solidarity.
Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia are members of both the EU and NATO.
Bombardment of Kyiv continues
Russia’ s military forces blasted Ukraine’ s capital region and other major cities on Wednesday as they tried to crush a Ukrainian defence that has frustrated their progress nearly three weeks after invading.
Russia rained shells on areas around Kyiv and within the city, where a 12-storey apartment building erupted in flames after being hit by shrapnel.
Mr Zelenskyy said Russian forces have been unable to move deeper into Ukrainian territory but have continued their heavy shelling of cities. British and US intelligence assessments supported his view of the fighting.
A senior US defence official said the Russians are using long-range fire to hit civilian targets inside Kyiv with increasing frequency but that their ground forces are making little to no progress around the country.
He said Russian troops are still about nine miles ( 15km) from the centre of the capital.
Mr Zelenskyy was preparing to make a direct appeal for more help in a rare speech by a foreign leader to the US Congress on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, defence ministers from Nato member nations planned to meet in Brussels.
Developments on the diplomatic front and on the ground were taking place as the number of people fleeing Ukraine amid Europe’ s heaviest fighting since the Second World War passed three million.
The artillery shrapnel that hit the 12-storey apartment building in central Kyiv on Wednesday obliterated the top floor and ignited a fire that sent plumes of smoke over the area, according to a statement and images released by the Kyiv emergencies agency.
The neighbouring building was also damaged. The agency reported two victims, without saying whether they were injured or killed.
Russian forces have intensified fighting in the Kyiv suburbs, notably around the town of Bucha in the north-west and the highway leading west toward Zhytomyr, regional leader Oleksiy Kuleba said.
Twelve towns around Kyiv were reported to be without water and six without heat.
Across the capital region, “ kindergartens, museums, churches, residential blocks and engineering infrastructure are suffering from the endless firing, ” Mr Kuleba said.
He said Russian troops are trying to cut off transport links to the capital and to destroy logistical capabilities while planning a wide-ranging attack to seize the capital.
Russian forces succeeded in occupying the city of Ivankiv, 50 miles ( 80km) north of Kyiv, and control the surrounding region on the border with Belarus, Mr Kuleba added.
In addition to air strikes and shelling by ground forces, Russian naval ships fired overnight on a town south of Mariupol on the Azov Sea and another near Odesa on the Black Sea, according to local officials.
Ukraine also appeared to have successes, with satellite photos from Planet Labs PBC analysed by the Associated Press showing helicopters and vehicles on fire at the Russian-held Kherson International Airport and Air Base after a suspected Ukrainian strike on Tuesday.
Mr Zelensky’ s office said Ukrainian forces thwarted Russian efforts to enter Kharkiv, Ukraine’ s second-largest city, which was pounded by almost non-stop strikes over the last 24 hours. A powerful explosion thundered across the city overnight.
Hospital workers found themselves on two front lines, battling Covid-19 in intensive care units as war raged outside.
Air raid sirens go off multiple times daily, forcing fragile patients into the Kharkiv Regional Clinical Infectious Diseases Hospital’ s makeshift bomb shelter, the hospital’ s director, Dr Pavel Nartov, said.
Handling ICU patients on ventilators is difficult and dangerous given the dangers of exposing oxygen tanks to bombings and shrapnel, he added.
“ Bombing takes place from morning into night. Thank God a bomb has not yet hit our hospital. But it could hit at any time. ”
Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed Russian forces have destroyed 111 Ukrainian aircraft, 160 drones and more than 1,000 tanks or other military vehicles since the start of what Russia calls its “ special military operation ” in Ukraine. | general |
Property prices jump by almost 15% in 12 month period | Residential property prices grew by 14.8% in the 12 months up the January 2022, according to figures from the Central Statistics Office.
The rising cost of buying a home shows no sign of stopping with a further jump in the latest property price index.
Residential property prices grew by 14.8% in the 12 months up to January 2022, according to figures from the Central Statistics Office ( CSO).
The figure has almost doubled in the last seven years, with January 2016 showing a property price rise of just 7.7%.
Average property price rises outside of Dublin are higher than in the capital, reflecting that more people have moved away from urban areas during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In Dublin, residential property prices saw an increase of 13.3% in the year to January, while property prices outside Dublin were 16% higher.
The region outside of Dublin that saw the largest rise in house prices was the Border at 24.7%, while at the other end of the scale, the Mid-West saw a 13.8% rise. | general |
Irish Examiner view: St Patrick's Day looms, but Covid hasn’ t gone anywhere | Micheál Martin at the head of the annual St Patrick's Day parade in central London. Picture: | general |
SQZ Biotechnologies Reports Full Year 2021 Financial Results and Recent Portfolio Updates | WATERTOWN, Mass. -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- SQZ Biotechnologies ( NYSE: SQZ), focused on unlocking the full potential of cell therapies for multiple therapeutic areas, today reported full year 2021 financial results and recent portfolio updates.
“ We have much to be proud of as 2021 was a year of significant milestones for SQZ—a major highlight was that our lead APC candidate demonstrated monotherapy clinical benefit in an advanced patient as well as favorable safety data and tolerability across all patients in the highest dose cohort, ” said Armon Sharei, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer at SQZ Biotechnologies. “ In addition, we received clearance of our enhanced APC IND, a multi-functional mRNA-engineered treatment, which is now our third cell therapy candidate to advance into the clinic. We continue to expand our technical and therapeutic capabilities across disease areas. In all, the continued evolution of our portfolio of Cell Squeeze® powered cell therapy candidates give us confidence that we are on the right track to potentially drive broad patient impact through a new generation of cell therapies. ”
2021 Full Year and Recent Portfolio Updates
SQZ® Antigen Presenting Cell ( “ APC ”) Platform in Oncology
SQZ® Enhanced Antigen Presenting Cell ( “ eAPC ”) Platform in Oncology
SQZ® Activating Antigen Carriers ( “ AAC ”) Platform in Oncology
SQZ® Tolerizing Antigen Carriers ( “ TAC ”) Platform in Immune Tolerance
2021 Full Year and Recent Corporate Highlights
2021 Full Year Financial Highlights
About SQZ Biotechnologies
SQZ Biotechnologies Company is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on unlocking the full potential of cell therapies for patients around the world and has active programs in Oncology, Autoimmune and Infectious Diseases, as well as additional exploratory initiatives to support future pipeline growth. The company’ s proprietary Cell Squeeze® technology offers the unique ability to deliver multiple biological materials into many cell types to engineer what we believe can be a broad range of potential therapeutics. With demonstrated production timelines under 24 hours and the opportunity to eliminate preconditioning and lengthy hospital stays, our approach could significantly broaden the therapeutic range and accessibility of cell therapies. The company’ s first therapeutic applications seek to generate target-specific immune responses, both in activation for the treatment of solid tumors and infectious diseases, and in immune tolerance for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. For more information, please visit www.sqzbiotech.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including without limitation statements relating to our financial condition and cash position, platform development, manufacturing capabilities, product candidates, preclinical and clinical activities, outcomes and progress, development plans and execution, clinical efficacy, regulatory submissions, therapeutic impact, anticipated data readouts, and market opportunities. These forward-looking statements are based on management’ s current expectations. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to several risk factors. Such factors include, among others, risks and uncertainties related to our limited operating history; our significant losses incurred since inception and expectation to incur significant additional losses for the foreseeable future; the development of our initial product candidates, upon which our business is highly dependent; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operations and clinical activities; our need for additional funding and our cash runway; the lengthy, expensive, and uncertain process of clinical drug development, including uncertain outcomes of clinical trials and potential delays in regulatory approval; our ability to maintain our relationships with our third party vendors; and protection of our proprietary technology, intellectual property portfolio and the confidentiality of our trade secrets. These and other important factors discussed under the caption “ Risk Factors ” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, and other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements represent management's estimates as of this date and SQZ undertakes no duty to update these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, the occurrence of current events, or otherwise, unless required by law.
SQZ BIOTECHNOLOGIES COMPANY
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations
( In thousands, except share and per share amounts)
( unaudited)
YEAR ENDED
DECEMBER 31,
2021
2020
Collaboration revenue
$
27,098
$
20,998
Operating expenses:
Research and development
70,148
51,545
General and administrative
25,719
20,511
Total operating expenses
95,867
72,056
Loss from operations
( 68,769
)
( 51,058
)
Other income, net
28
537
Net loss
( 68,741
)
( 50,521
)
Net loss per share attributable to common stockholders, basic and diluted
$
( 2.49
)
$
( 9.35
)
Weighted-average common shares outstanding, basic and diluted
27,578,844
5,401,895
SQZ BIOTECHNOLOGIES COMPANY
Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
( In thousands)
( unaudited)
YEAR ENDED
DECEMBER 31,
2021
2020
Assets
Cash and cash equivalents
$
143,513
$
170,357
Other current assets
7,122
6,474
Total current assets
150,635
176,831
Other assets
75,517
54,310
Total assets
$
226,152
$
231,141
Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity
Current liabilities
33,224
45,193
Long term liabilities
68,952
58,749
Total liabilities
102,176
103,942
Total stockholders’ equity
123,976
127,199
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity
$
226,152
$ | general |
Vacasa Releases Record Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Results | Exceeds fourth quarter 2021 and full year 2021 guidance
Raises full year 2022 Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA outlook
Expects to reach Adjusted EBITDA profitability in full year 2023
PORTLAND, Ore. -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- Vacasa ( Nasdaq: VCSA), North America’ s leading vacation rental management platform, today announced its financial results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2021, provided a business update, and posted a shareholder letter with management commentary and a review of the financial results on its investor relations website.
“ We made incredible progress in 2021, scaling our business and extending our position as North America’ s leading vacation rental management platform, ” said Matt Roberts, Chief Executive Officer of Vacasa. “ There is strong momentum across all aspects of our business and we remain focused on leveraging technology to streamline our operations and provide an exceptional experience to homeowners and guests. ”
Financial and Business Highlights
Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Financial Results and Key Business Metrics1
Fourth Quarter 2021 Financial Results as compared to Fourth Quarter 2020:
Fourth Quarter 2021 Key Business Metrics as compared to Fourth Quarter 2020:
Full Year 2021 Financial Results as compared to Full Year 2020:
Full Year 2021 Key Business Metrics as compared to Full Year 2020:
`` Our team executed extremely well last year delivering full year 2021 Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA ahead of the initial targets we provided in July 2021, '' said Jamie Cohen, Chief Financial Officer of Vacasa. `` Building on our success over the past year, we are raising our full year 2022 Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA outlook and expect to achieve positive Adjusted EBITDA next year. ''
Financial Guidance
As of today, Vacasa is providing the following guidance for the first quarter and full year 2022. The guidance includes the expected recognition of an estimated $ 13 million of Revenue in the first quarter associated with the expiration and estimated breakage of future stay credits which Vacasa began to issue in March 2020 during the onset of the pandemic. The Revenue benefit will also flow through to Adjusted EBITDA. Vacasa also expects to deliver positive Adjusted EBITDA for the full year 2023.
First Quarter 2022
Full Year 2022
( in millions)
Revenue
$ 245 - $ 255
$ 1,125 - $ 1,175
Adjusted EBITDA
$ ( 25) - $ ( 20)
$ ( 21) - $ ( 14)
1 For information about how Vacasa defines its Key Business Metrics, see below under the heading “ Key Business Metrics. ”
Fourth Quarter 2021 Financial Results Conference Call
Vacasa will host a conference call at 2:00 p.m. PT / 5:00 p.m. ET today to discuss the fourth quarter and full year 2021 financial results and provide a business update. A link to the live webcast will be made available on Vacasa’ s Investor Relations website at investors.vacasa.com. A replay of the webcast will be available for one year beginning approximately two hours after the close of the call.
About Vacasa
Vacasa is the leading vacation rental management platform in North America, transforming the vacation rental experience by integrating purpose-built technology with expert local and national teams. Homeowners enjoy earning significant incremental income on one of their most valuable assets, delivered by the company’ s unmatched technology that adjusts rates in real time to maximize revenue. Guests can relax comfortably in Vacasa’ s 35,000+ homes across more than 400 destinations in North America, Belize, and Costa Rica, knowing that 24/7 support is just a phone call away. In addition to enabling guests to search, discover, and book its properties on Vacasa.com and the Vacasa Guest App, Vacasa provides valuable, professionally managed inventory to top channel partners, including Airbnb, Booking.com, and Vrbo.
For more information, visit https: //www.vacasa.com/press.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements made in this press release are considered “ forward-looking statements ” within the meaning of the “ safe harbor ” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as “ anticipate, ” “ believe, ” “ expect, ” “ estimate, ” “ plan, ” “ outlook, ” and “ project ” and other similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. These forward-looking statements reflect Vacasa’ s current analysis of existing information and are subject to various risks and uncertainties. As a result, caution must be exercised in relying on forward-looking statements.
Due to known and unknown risks, actual results may differ materially from Vacasa’ s expectations and projections. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements: Vacasa’ s ability to achieve profitability; Vacasa’ s ability to manage and sustain its growth; the effects of the novel coronavirus ( COVID-19) pandemic, including as a result of new strains or variants of the virus, on Vacasa’ s business, the travel industry, travel trends, and the global economy generally; Vacasa’ s expectations regarding its financial performance, including its revenue, costs, and Adjusted EBITDA; Vacasa’ s ability to attract and retain homeowners and guests; Vacasa’ s ability to compete in its industry; Vacasa’ s expectations regarding the resilience of its model, including in areas such as domestic travel, short-distance travel, and travel outside of top cities; the effects of seasonal trends on its results of operations; Vacasa’ s ability to make required payments under its credit agreement and to comply with the various requirements of its indebtedness; its ability to effectively manage the Company’ s exposure to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; the anticipated increase in expenses associated with being a public company; anticipated trends, developments, and challenges in Vacasa’ s industry, business, and the highly competitive markets in which it operates; the sufficiency of its cash and cash equivalents to meet its liquidity needs; Vacasa’ s ability to anticipate market needs or develop new or enhanced offerings and services to meet those needs; its ability to expand into new markets and businesses, expand its range of homeowner services and pursue strategic acquisition and partnership opportunities; Vacasa’ s ability to manage expansion into international markets; Vacasa’ s ability to stay in compliance with laws and regulations, including tax laws, that currently apply or may become applicable to its business both in the United States and internationally and its expectations regarding various laws and restrictions that relate to its business; Vacasa’ s expectations regarding its tax liabilities and the adequacy of its reserves; Vacasa’ s ability to effectively manage its growth and expand its infrastructure and maintain its corporate culture; the Company’ s ability to identify, recruit, and retain skilled personnel, including key members of senior management; the effects of labor shortages and increases in wage and labor costs in its industry; the safety, affordability, and convenience of Vacasa’ s platform and its offerings; its ability to keep pace with technological and competitive developments; its ability to maintain and enhance brand awareness; Vacasa’ s ability to successfully defend litigation brought against it and its ability to secure adequate insurance coverage to protect the business and operations; and Vacasa’ s ability to maintain, protect, and enhance its intellectual property.
You should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties described in the “ Risk Factors ” section of the final prospectus filed by Vacasa with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ( the “ SEC ”) pursuant to Rule 424 ( b) ( 3) on December 30, 2021, as such factors may be updated from time to time in the Company’ s filings with the SEC, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 to be filed later this month. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements.
Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
This press release includes Adjusted EBITDA, which is a financial measure that is not defined by or presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States ( “ GAAP ”). Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net loss excluding: ( 1) depreciation and acquisition-related items consisting of amortization of intangible assets and impairments of goodwill and intangible assets, if applicable; ( 2) interest income and expense; ( 3) any other income or expense not earned or incurred during our normal course of business; ( 4) any income tax benefit or expense; ( 5) equity-based compensation costs; ( 6) one-time costs related to strategic business combinations; and ( 7) restructuring costs. We believe this measure is useful for analysts and investors as this measure allows a more meaningful comparison between our performance and that of our competitors. The above items are excluded from our Adjusted EBITDA measure because these items are non-cash in nature or the amount and timing of these items is unpredictable or one-time in nature, not driven by the performance of our core business operations and renders comparisons with prior periods and competitors less meaningful. Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of Revenue is calculated by dividing Adjusted EBITDA for a period by Revenue for the same period.
Adjusted EBITDA is not defined by or presented in accordance with GAAP, has significant limitations as an analytical tool, should be considered as supplemental in nature, and is not meant as a substitute for net loss or any other financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP. We believe Adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our results of operations, is frequently used by these parties in evaluating companies in our industry, and provides a useful measure for period-to-period comparisons of our business performance. Moreover, we present Adjusted EBITDA in this press release because it is a key measurement used by our management internally to make operating decisions, including those related to analyzing operating expenses, evaluating performance, and performing strategic planning and annual budgeting.
Although we use Adjusted EBITDA as described above, Adjusted EBITDA has significant limitations as an analytical tool, including that it:
Due to these limitations, Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered as a measure of discretionary cash available to us to invest in the growth of our business. In addition, other companies in our industry may calculate this measure differently than we do, thereby further limiting its usefulness as a comparative measure. We compensate for these limitations by relying primarily on our GAAP results and using Adjusted EBITDA only on a supplemental basis.
A reconciliation of the Company’ s Adjusted EBITDA guidance to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure can not be provided without unreasonable efforts and is not provided herein because of the inherent difficulty in forecasting and quantifying certain amounts that are necessary for such reconciliations, including adjustments that are made for depreciation and amortization of intangible assets, equity-based compensation expense, business combination costs, restructuring charges and other adjustments reflected in our reconciliation of historical Adjusted EBITDA, the amounts of which could be material.
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations
( in thousands, except per share data, unaudited)
Three Months Ended December 31,
Twelve Months Ended December 31,
2021
2020
2021
2020
Revenue
$
192,104
$
108,909
$
889,058
$
491,760
Costs and expenses:
Cost of revenue ( 1)
108,298
68,997
440,753
256,086
Operations and support ( 1)
54,148
28,999
186,984
116,192
Technology and development ( 1)
17,774
7,578
48,709
27,030
Sales and marketing ( 1)
73,247
17,236
187,904
79,971
General and administrative ( 1)
29,163
18,597
88,835
57,587
Depreciation
4,389
4,102
17,110
15,483
Amortization of intangible assets
13,385
4,298
44,163
18,817
Total costs and expenses
300,404
149,807
1,014,458
571,166
Loss from operations
( 108,300
)
( 40,898
)
( 125,400
)
( 79,406
)
Interest income
4
6
36
385
Interest expense
( 22,504
)
( 3,135
)
( 31,723
)
( 7,907
)
Other income ( expense), net
13,479
( 1,350
)
3,280
( 5,725
)
Loss before income tax
( 117,321
)
( 45,377
)
( 153,807
)
( 92,653
)
Income tax benefit ( expense)
( 860
)
79
( 784
)
315
Net loss
$
( 118,181
)
$
( 45,298
)
$
( 154,591
)
$
( 92,338
)
Loss attributable to remeasurement of redeemable convertible preferred units
—
( 157,424
)
( 426,101
)
( 202,433
)
Net loss including remeasurement of redeemable convertible preferred units
( 118,181
)
( 202,722
)
( 580,692
)
( 294,771
)
Less: Net loss including remeasurement of redeemable convertible preferred units prior to Reverse Recapitalization
( 92,926
)
( 202,722
)
( 555,437
)
( 294,771
)
Less: Net loss attributable to redeemable noncontrolling interests
( 12,558
)
—
( 12,558
)
—
Net loss attributable to Class A Common Stockholders
$
( 12,697
)
$
—
$
( 12,697
)
$
—
Net loss per share of Class A Common Stock ( 2):
Basic and diluted
$
( 0.06
)
N/A
$
( 0.06
)
N/A
Weighted-average shares of Class A Common Stock outstanding ( 2):
Basic and diluted
214,794
N/A
214,794
N/A
( 1) Includes equity-based compensation expense as follows:
Cost of revenue
$
113
$
—
$
113
$
—
Operations and support
2,488
28
2,574
252
Technology and development
2,543
234
3,032
641
Sales and marketing
7,223
274
8,270
372
General and administrative
9,338
941
12,989
2,084
Total equity-based compensation expense
$
21,705
$
1,477
$
26,978
$
3,349
( 2) Basic and diluted net loss per share of Class A Common Stock is applicable only for the period from December 6, 2021 through December 31, 2021, which is the period following the closing of our business combination with TPG Pace Solutions Corp.
Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
( in thousands, unaudited)
As of December 31,
2021
2020
Assets
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents
$
353,842
$
218,484
Restricted cash
165,294
72,528
Accounts receivable, net
48,989
10,161
Prepaid expenses and other current assets
19,325
10,191
Total current assets
587,450
311,364
Property and equipment, net
67,186
65,087
Intangible assets, net
216,499
77,426
Goodwill
754,506
121,487
Other long-term assets
11,269
11,888
Total assets
$
1,636,910
$
587,252
Liabilities, Temporary Equity, and Equity ( Deficit)
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable
$
34,786
$
15,648
Funds payable to owners
214,301
92,707
Hospitality and sales taxes payable
46,958
20,721
Deferred revenue
107,252
49,992
Future stay credits
30,995
35,140
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities
71,833
44,022
Total current liabilities
506,125
258,230
Long-term debt, net of current portion
512
111,689
Other long-term liabilities
112,123
22,204
Total liabilities
618,760
392,123
Redeemable convertible preferred units
—
771,979
Redeemable noncontrolling interests
1,770,096
—
Equity ( Deficit):
Vacasa Holdings LLC Class A and Class B Common Units
—
—
Class A Common Stock ( 1)
21
—
Class B Common Stock
21
—
Additional paid-in capital
—
—
Accumulated deficit
( 751,929
)
( 577,091
)
Accumulated other comprehensive income ( loss)
( 59
)
241
Total deficit:
( 751,946
)
( 576,850
)
Total liabilities, temporary equity, and equity ( deficit)
$
1,636,910
$
587,252
( 1) As of December 31, 2021, we had approximately 214.8 million shares of Class A Common Stock outstanding, which excludes up to approximately 236.4 million shares of Class A Common Stock issuable as of such date upon the redemption, exercise or exchange of certain securities as follows:
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
( in thousands, unaudited)
Twelve Months Ended December 31,
2021
2020
Cash from operating activities:
Net loss
$
( 154,591
)
$
( 92,338
)
Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash provided by ( used in) operating activities:
Bad debt expense
4,689
6,403
Depreciation
17,110
15,483
Amortization of intangible assets
44,163
18,817
Deferred income taxes
( 55
)
( 556
)
Other gains and losses
77
( 36
)
Fair value adjustment on derivative liabilities
( 2,889
)
6,636
Non-cash interest expense
27,496
5,145
Equity-based compensation expense
26,978
3,349
Change in operating assets and liabilities, net of assets acquired and liabilities assumed:
Accounts receivable
35,400
2,295
Prepaid expenses and other assets
( 6,178
)
13,384
Accounts payable
8,288
( 3,491
)
Funds payable to owners
40,199
( 17,250
)
Hospitality and sales taxes payable
11,076
3,952
Deferred revenue and future stay credits
3,576
24,980
Accrued expenses and other liabilities
7,926
10,800
Net cash provided by ( used in) operating activities
63,265
( 2,427
)
Cash from investing activities:
Purchases of property and equipment
( 5,853
)
( 1,619
)
Cash paid for internally developed software
( 5,387
)
( 7,856
)
Cash paid for business combinations, net of cash and restricted cash acquired
( 103,393
)
( 3,519
)
Other investing activities
—
323
Net cash used in investing activities
( 114,633
)
( 12,671
)
Cash from financing activities:
Proceeds from Reverse Recapitalization, net
302,638
—
Payments of Reverse Recapitalization costs
( 7,937
)
—
Cash paid for business combinations
( 13,647
)
( 9,461
)
Proceeds from issuance of long-term debt
—
115,931
Payments of long term debt
( 125
)
( 10,169
)
Proceeds from issuance of preferred units, net of issuance costs
—
500
Other financing activities
( 1,318
)
( 339
)
Net cash provided by financing activities
279,611
96,462
Effect of exchange rate fluctuations on cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash
( 119
)
159
Net increase in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash
228,124
81,523
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, beginning of period
291,012
209,489
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, end of period
$
519,136
$
291,012
Key Business Metrics
( in thousands, except GBV per Night Sold, unaudited)
Three Months Ended December 31,
Twelve Months Ended December 31,
2021
2020
2021
2020
Gross Booking Value ( `` GBV '') ( 1)
$
379,363
$
193,087
$
1,915,591
$
935,447
Nights Sold ( 2)
1,094
704
5,165
3,005
GBV per Night Sold ( 3)
$
347
$
274
$
371
$
311
( 1) Gross Booking Value represents the dollar value of bookings from our distribution partners as well as those booked directly on our platform related to Nights Sold during the period and cancellation fees for bookings cancelled during the period ( which may relate to bookings made during prior periods). GBV is inclusive of amounts charged to guests for rent, fees, and the estimated taxes a guest pays when we are responsible for collecting tax.
( 2) Nights Sold is defined as the total number of nights stayed by guests on our platform in a given period.
( 3) GBV per Night Sold represents the dollar value of each night stayed by guests on our platform in a given period. GBV per Night Sold reflects the pricing of rents, fees, and estimated taxes a guest pays.
Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Adjusted EBITDA Reconciliation
( in thousands, unaudited)
Three Months Ended December 31,
Twelve Months Ended December 31,
2021
2020
2021
2020
Net Loss
$
( 118,181
)
$
( 45,298
)
$
( 154,591
)
$
( 92,338
)
Add back:
Depreciation and amortization of intangible assets
17,774
8,400
61,273
34,300
Interest income
( 4
)
( 6
)
( 36
)
( 385
)
Interest expense
22,504
3,135
31,723
7,907
Other income ( expense), net
( 13,479
)
1,350
( 3,280
)
5,725
Income tax benefit ( expense)
860
( 79
)
784
( 315
)
Equity-based compensation
21,705
1,477
26,978
3,349
Business combination costs ( 1)
703
—
8,382
—
Restructuring costs ( 2)
1
1,843
250
6,805
Adjusted EBITDA
$
( 68,117
)
$
( 29,178
)
$
( 28,517
)
$
( 34,952
)
| general |
MLP S A: Capital Group – Consolidated Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2021 - 16.03.2022 | Letter from CEO to Shareholders
Dear Shareholders,
MLP Group had a very successful year. We delivered excellent results, both from an operational and financial point of view. I am pleased to present you with the annual report, in which we describe the work done, our business achievements and development plans. We are proud that the results for 2021 exceeded market expectations.
Financial highlights:
MLP Group - key developments in 2021
2021 was a very successful year across all markets in where we operate.
In 2021, MLP Group was developing projects for a total of over 310 thousand sqm, with a further 210 thousand sqm under construction or in the pipeline. Last year, nearly 310 thousand sqm of warehouse space was leased, which is about 50% more than in the previous year. Additionally, in the first months of 2022, we noticed strong tenant's activity across all our markets. At the end of December 2021, MLP Group had nearly 1 million sqm of warehouse space. The vacancy rate at existing properties remained very low, below 3%. The Covid-19 pandemic has not affected MLP Group's business.
In 2021, MLPG acquired several new plots, among others in Vienna, Schalke ( Gelsenkirchen), Zgorzelec, Wrocław, Idstein ( Frankfurt) and additional plots in Pruszków, Poznań and Łódź.
MLPG currently operates 20 logistics parks in Poland and abroad. In addition, in 2021 MLP Group concluded several reservation agreements for new plots for further logistics parks in Poland and Western Europe. Based on the current land banks and reserved plots, MLP Group secured development potential for another 1 million sqm, with the area of the secured land of approximately 150 ha.
Financial standing of MLP Group
Considering the current geopolitical situation and high volatility in the economy, we are very well prepared for the current challenges.
our exposure to the currency risk.
diverse tenant base and the average lease term of more than 8 years, provides significant operational stability.
the protection of the natural environment.
MLP Group has a very good financial standing, a safe capital structure enabling the implementation of long-term strategic goals, its own land bank located in attractive locations and highly qualified management staff.
MLP Group plans for 2022
This year, we assume a further, very dynamic increase in the scale of our business. The key in this respect is to have a land bank secured for the new investments and to minimise the operational risk
Our strategic goal is to constantly expand the warehouse portfolio. We will continue to develop rapidly, above all in Germany, where we are systematically increasing our portfolio of projects. We plan to enter new key locations, but also to expand our offer in the Ruhr area. We also plan to strengthen our position on the Austrian market. Additionally, we will soon be present in the Benelux countries and Hungary. The Polish market is still very important for us, and we will consistently increase our offer in key logistics regions. In 2022, capital expenditure ( CAPEX) will amount to approximately EUR 200 million, of which approximately 30% will be allocated to plots ' purchases. We plan to lease 250 thousand sqm of the new warehouse space.
We pursue our strategic goal by building big box buildings, primarily in response to the development of electronic commerce ( e-commerce). In this way, MLP Group also meets the current needs of tenants from the light industry sector where growing demand for area is driven by onshoring of production from Asia to Europe. We also prepare Urban / City Logistics facilities, i.e. small modules offering modern warehouse space along with a representative office with a high standard of finishing.
The Group's activities are particularly focused on environmental protection and achieving zero CO2 emissions by 2024. As part of the existing and emerging facilities, a project to build photovoltaic farms on the roofs of logistics parks is being implemented, which should allow us to generate between 12 to 14 GWh of green energy in 2024.
We want 80% of our projects to obtain BREEAM certificate at the Excellent or Very Good level, and DGNB Gold or Platinum certificate on the German and Austrian market.
Macroeconomic situation 2022
We do not know how the Russia's invasion of Ukraine will translate into the economic situation. Both the conflict and the sanctions will have a strong negative impact on the global economic recovery during the ongoing COVID-19 recession. The war in Ukraine poses a challenge to the world economy that is damaging to economic growth and cutting pressure on inflation, which is already at high levels. The most likely scenario is a decline in economic growth in Europe and an increase in inflation caused by further problems with the supply chain, an increase in energy prices will have a negative impact on
the economy of the European Union. On the other hand, expectations for significant rate hikes this year have fallen since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, which shall translate into a positive valuation of assets in the medium term.
We would like to thank all our shareholders for their unwavering support and trust. We will make every effort to effectively and consistently implement our strategy, achieve the best financial results and constantly increase the value of the MLP Group S.A.
Radosław T. Krochta
President & CEO of MLP Group
Attachments
Disclaimer
MLP Group SA published this content on 16 March 2022 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 16 March 2022 23:00:04 UTC. | business |
Alibaba and JD.com Head for Record Gains. What Sparked the Turnaround. | Shares in Alibaba and other Chinese companies have come under intense pressure recently.
Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images
Shares in some of China’ s largest companies notched eye-watering gains on Wednesday after news that the government would support the stock market, boost economic growth, and clear up a punishing regulatory environment.
Alibaba
( ticker: BABA) stock soared more than 20% in U.S. trading, with its Hong Kong-listed shares tearing 27% higher. E-commerce peer
JD.com
( JD) saw gains of 30% after the shares jumped more than 35% in Asian trading.
If Alibaba and JD.com clinch the day with these gains, it would mark—by far—the best day for both stocks on record. The rally was also seen more broadly, with the
Invesco Golden Dragon China ETF
( PGJ) up 25%, similarly on track to trounce its record for one-day gains.
Optimism has swept investors after China’ s top administrative authority said it would work to
stabilize Chinese stock markets
and boost economic growth in the first quarter with “ concrete actions, ” the state-run Xinhua News Agency
reported.
Authorities will rely on monetary policy as well as new loans to achieve its goals, said the report, which was also posted on the Chinese State Council website.
The news out of China also included positive developments on the regulatory front, a welcome sign for the country’ s embattled tech sector.
The Chinese government said it has maintained good communications with U.S. regulators and has been working on a cooperation plan. Alongside expressing support for overseas listings, the State Council also said authorities should “ steadily advance and complete the rectification work on large platform companies as soon as possible ” through transparent and predictable regulation.
The threat that Chinese stocks could be delisted in the U.S. over a lack of accounting transparency
has been a major headwind
for the country’ s overwhelmingly foreign-listed tech sector in recent months. Regulatory scrutiny more broadly has seen the market value of companies like Alibaba crumble over the past year—the stock dropped some 50% in 2021—as Beijing cracked down on the tech sector.
The selloff in Chinese stocks, and especially U.S.-listed Chinese stocks,
picked up pace in the last week
. The gains for Alibaba, JD.com, and others on Wednesday mostly undo recent declines; both stocks had lost around a quarter of their value in the past five days.
Investors have fretted over a trifecta of pressures, including U.S. regulatory concerns, new Covid-19 lockdowns in China, and the risk of sanctions if China aids Russia in its war on Ukraine.
“ Last year’ s regulatory clamp-down on internet firms and other sectors soured the appeal of the region to investors, ” said Russ Mould, an analyst at broker
AJ Bell
.
“ The speed at which Beijing has responded to this week’ s sell-off would suggest it doesn’ t want to let things drift out of control. ”
For companies like Alibaba, the gains notched Wednesday could be just the beginning.
As
Barron’ s
has previously reported
, at least two key factors are required for an Alibaba turnaround: A marked improvement of the regulatory environment and a turnaround in the fundamentals of the Chinese economy and consumer spending.
If there is a well-executed follow-through of the State Council’ s pledges, both of those factors could become a reality.
“ It is definitely good news, ” Bo Pei, an analyst at broker U.S. Tiger Securities, told
Barron’ s
. “ I do think this marks an inflection point of the regulatory concerns. ”
“ Fundamental-wise, while it won’ t see immediate impacts, the supportive policies should give investors confidence that an inflection point is also coming later this year, ” Pei said, referring to the initiatives to boost economic growth, which could benefit Alibaba through knock-on effects on consumer spending.
Other analysts were more cautious.
“ We don’ t know how the State Council [ will achieve ] this pledge, ” Danny Law, an analyst at Guotai Junan Securities, one of China’ s biggest investment banks, told
Barron’ s
.
“ In our view, market sentiment improvement always is a very short-term catalyst unless investors have seen any actual move/stimulation/changes in the market. ”
Write to Jack Denton at
jack.denton @ dowjones.com | business |
Tesla Plant Halted by Covid. The Stock Rises Because There Also Is Good News. | An aerial view of Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory.
Xiaolu Chu/Getty Images
Tesla
is
halting production
at its
Shanghai
plant for a couple of days. It isn’ t because of parts shortages. Tesla shares were rising anyway because investors have other things on their minds.
Reuters reported Wednesday that Tesla ( ticker: TSLA) will pause production in China for a couple of days amid a rise of Covid-variant infections. Reuters referred to an internal Tesla notice. The company didn’ t immediately respond to a request for comment about the report.
Production delays and Covid infections are both bad things, but Tesla stock was up 4.3% in midday trading Wednesday anyway. A broader stock market rally is overwhelming the Chinese news. The
S & P 500
and
Dow Jones Industrial Average
were up 1.7% and 1.2%, respectively.
Investors appear pleased that talks between Russia and Ukraine are making progress. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky indicated Russian demands are getting “
more realistic
. ” The two sides spoke Tuesday and were scheduled to speak again Wednesday.
There is other good news investors are focusing on, too. Chinese officials committed to supporting its economy. That has sent shares of
NIO
( NIO) and other Chinese EV makers up by double-digit percentages.
Oil is down again, a little, and has dropped more than 22% from its March 8 close of more than $ 123 a barrel. And interest rates are steady ahead of the Federal Reserve’ s announcement of its next move on monetary policy, scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. Investors are expecting a 0.25 percentage-point increase in short-term rates.
The focus on better news is a relief to Tesla investors. Coming into the week, Tesla stock had dropped almost 11% from March 10 to March 14 as investors worried that raw-material
inflation
would begin to crimp profits.
Higher raw material prices are an issue for the auto maker. A
basket of metals
that goes into EV batteries has jumped about 70% year to date.
Lower output could become an issue for Tesla if production delays persist. Wall Street expects Tesla to deliver about 320,000 vehicles in the first quarter, up from about
309,000
in the fourth quarter of 2021. The delivery numbers are due to be reported in the first couple of day of April.
Coming into Wednesday trading, Tesla stock had declined 24% year to date and was down about 36% from its 52-week high of more than $ 1,243 a share, reached in November.
Write to Al Root at
allen.root @ dowjones.com | business |
China Gives Stocks a Lifeline. Is It Enough? | China said it would roll out market-friendly policies to help boost the stock market.
Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images
With a handful of vague comments about rolling out market-friendly policies in the first quarter, China’ s policy makers look to have set a floor under beaten down Chinese stocks. But the comments aimed at stabilization also
belie the strain
on China’ s economy as it grapples with a property slump, rising Covid cases and lockdowns.
Top economic official Liu He
said China’ s government
would take steps to “ boost the economy in the first quarter, ” and talked about policies “ favorable to the market. ” He also indicated that Beijing should wrap up its regulatory drive related to China’ s internet platforms and make policies transparent and clear, according to a summary by press agency Xinhau of the meeting where He spoke.
Policy makers also signaled there was progress with the Securities and Exchange Commission on a plan to address a standoff as the SEC moves ahead with plans to delist companies that don’ t meet its auditing requirements. Beijing also said it supports all types of companies that list abroad—a comment that could placate investors spooked by the messy debut and then delisting by
DiDi Global
after it ran afoul of Chinese regulators.In one fell swoop, China’ s regulators tried to
wave away
the biggest concerns that have weighed down its market—its crackdown on internet companies and the property sector, worries about the fate of offshore listings and its economic slump—and tried to bring the stability policy makers have prioritized this year ahead of the 20th Party Congress to a market that has been under duress.
read more
Alibaba Jumps. Here’ s What Sparked the Turnaround.
“ The statement suggests a high degree of concern over the underlying state of the economy, a step up in fiscal, monetary and crucially property sector easing and increased efforts to limit equity market decline, which will include a slowdown in internet company regulation, ” says TS Lombard Chief China economist Rory Green via email.
Though light on specifics, the comments were enough to
send stocks on a tear
and were reminiscent of 2015, when Beijing ramped up stimulus and lent money to brokerages to buy stocks in a bid to stave off a deep decline amid concerns about its economy. The
iShares MSCI China
exchange-traded fund ( MCHI) soared 11% in morning trade while the
KraneShares CSI China Internet
ETF ( KWEB) soared 21%, retracing its losses of the last week. Even the
Invesco Golden Dragon China
ETF ( PGJ) logged a gain of 26%, also retracing its sharp losses of the last week as investors worried about
potential delistings of U.S.-listed companies.
The comments mark an “ important re-set ” in terms of demonstrating policy makers still care about the market after a turbulent year that left some investors wondering if China was still investible, says Michael Kelly, global head of Multi-Asset strategies for PineBridge Investments. But it also starts the clock ticking for Beijing to “ show us that they care ” with stimulus, Kelly adds.Internet stocks, especially, got some reprieve as policy makers signaled the tech crackdown could be nearing an end—a welcome sign for bargain hunters in at least the biggest and more profitable internet giants like
Alibaba Group Holding
( BABA) and
Tencent Holdings
( 700. Hong Kong) that had fallen to increasingly attractive levels. Indeed, Alibaba’ s shares rose 22%, though are still down 21% this year.
But while battered Internet stocks could see a hefty bounce, some longer-term investors favor other parts of the market. GQG Partners Chairman Rajiv Jain says he still
favors more cyclical companies,
including
China Merchants Bank
( 600036.China), which should benefit from loan growth, and even
PetroChina
( PTR) that stand to benefit from Beijing’ s efforts to stimulate the economy or the favorable outlook for oil prices, even if the war in Russia ends since sanctions are unlikely to be removed.Given the changing backdrop in terms of inflation and monetary policy, as well as structural issues still facing many of these large internet platform companies, Jain sees more cyclical companies taking leadership if the market moves higher.
For example, regulation has hampered Tencent’ s fintech business and new games still haven’ t been approved while other internet companies are facing pressure as employees push to unionize. Though Beijing may be dialing back its crackdowns, its push for common prosperity—and a more level playing field—still holds, potentially limiting the bounce in internet companies and the multiples these companies could fetch.
While China’ s comments about making progress with U.S. regulators on onshore listings may dial down the panic around U.S.-listed Chinese stocks, Jain notes that the move out of ADRs by larger investors is already a “ fate accompli. ” Plus, Chinese companies face a difficult backdrop for raising money in the U.S. and bipartisan support for a tougher stance against China. Chinese companies that haven’ t already sought listings in Hong Kong are likely to still do so.
For those keeping score at home, the unexpected intervention that sent Chinese stocks soaring on Wednesday bears some similarities to the unexpected draconian intervention last year that sent stocks tumbling as Beijing essentially turned for-profit
after-school tutoring companies into nonprofits.
The ability of the state to radically change the direction of the market, as well as the continued
geopolitical risks
that China could get hit by secondary sanctions by the West based on how Beijing plays its neutral stance in Russia’ s war on Ukraine could limit gains.
Still to be seen: Whether China’ s actions in terms of stimulus match up with today’ s words of comfort.
Write to Reshma Kapadia at
reshma.kapadia @ barrons.com | business |
Taoiseach: Rising Covid cases a concern but no plans to reintroduce restrictions | Micheál Martin said the advice so far is that Omicron is not having as severe an impact on people's health as previous variants. Picture: MAXWELLS | general |
Multinational breakfast specials reflect Aichi's growing international community | Nagoya – Cafe breakfast specials are becoming more internationalized in central Japan’ s Aichi Prefecture, which hosts the second-largest foreign population after Tokyo.
In the “ morning set ” culture found all over Japan, customers who order a coffee, for example, get a light breakfast along with it. But while they would usually expect toast or an egg, they might now get breakfast foods from Vietnam, for instance, or Turkey.
It can feel like a taste of the international at a time when it is hard to travel overseas because of the coronavirus pandemic — and even more so when the cafe serves food from a country with a tradition of eating breakfast outside the home, with expatriates gathering. Some even serve as locations for cultural exchange.
At Bitte, a German-style bakery-cafe located in a residential area in Nagoya’ s Tempaku Ward, Kazuyuki Suzuki, 52, offers breakfast sets that include rye bread and ham, scrambled eggs with toast and bacon or sausage, or a bread buffet.
A fan of German food, he opened the cafe in 2002 after quitting corporate life. The price of ¥500 for all sets has remained unchanged for 20 years.
Suzuki buys his ham and sausages from a local maker who uses German production methods. With German-made tables, chairs and other furnishings, Bitte attracts a wide range of customers, including elderly residents of the neighborhood as well as young people who come to take photos they can post on Instagram.
Thao Kozuki holds up the ‘ morning set’ at Dalat Marimura, a Vietnamese restaurant in Nagoya. | KYODO
Dalat Marimura is a Vietnamese restaurant located in Nagoya’ s Mizuho Ward. Run by Thao Kozuki, a 32-year-old Vietnamese woman married to a Japanese man, the shop’ s morning set includes banh mi, a submarine sandwich filled with handmade ingredients like liver pate.
Kozuki inherited a coffee shop from her grandmother-in-law and opened it as a restaurant in 2018. She has added Vietnamese meals, managing to retain both old customers and attract new ones.
“ As the COVID-19 pandemic has made overseas travel difficult, I hope people enjoy the feel of Vietnam here, ” Kozuki says.
Dalat Marimura has become a popular place to experience Vietnamese culture. A Vietnamese cooking class started at the behest of customers, and it is held twice a week and is currently fully booked.
Meanwhile, a Turkish restaurant called TR along a prefectural road in Tsushima offers a breakfast set from 6 a.m. on weekdays for the many Turks who work in demolition jobs and live in the neighborhood.
Although the service has been temporarily suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, when offered, the set includes all-you-can-drink cay, or Turkish tea, with a whole serving of vegetables, along with cheese, eggs, and bread.
The German-style ‘ morning set’ served by Bitte, a bakery-cafe in Nagoya. | KYODO
The large volume is “ normal ” for Turkish people, according to TR owner Yun Yunus, 33, “ because breakfast is important. ” Raised in Aichi, Yunus graduated from a university in Turkey before returning to Japan and opening the restaurant in 2019.
Yunus adds that, as part of Turkish culture, people eat breakfast together with their family members or friends on Sundays, and he welcomes customers to a buffet-style spread on such occasions.
With the support of some of his compatriots, Yunus now operates three restaurants in the prefecture. “ I want Japanese people to eat Turkish cuisine, which fuses Mediterranean and Arabic cultures, ” Yunus says.
“ Some countries have a lifestyle of having breakfast outside the home, which combines nicely with Aichi’ s breakfast culture, ” says Yuko Kawaguchi, 45, head of a nonprofit organization supporting foreign residents in Japan.
For such cafes, success lies in fitting in with the local needs and customer base, she says.
According to the Justice Ministry, as of the end of June 2021, Aichi had 269,685 foreign residents, compared with 541,807 in Tokyo. Brazilians formed the largest population of some 60,000, followed by 46,000 Chinese and 44,000 Vietnamese. | tech |
PM: Practical steps underway to fulfil Zangazur corridor project | He made the remarks during a discussion of the Cabinet of Ministers ' report on activities in 2021 at the parliament's plenary session on March 15.
In this context, he emphasized the significance of the memorandum of understanding signed by the governments of Azerbaijan and Iran on the establishment of new communication links between the Eastern Zangazur economic region and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic via Iran.
“ The establishment of new communication ties makes an important contribution to the development of the region, ” he said.
Asadov stated that the country is taking the necessary steps to maintain macroeconomic balance.
He noted that, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, prompt measures and the lifting of restrictions as a result of the vaccination allowed the country to re-establish economic activity.
The prime minister added that the country's strategic foreign exchange reserves now total over $ 53 billion.
Moreover, Ali Asadov said that the rise in global food prices also exerted pressure on Azerbaijan in 2021.
Noting that external inflationary factors have become more active in Azerbaijan, he added that food inflation will account for 60 percent of overall inflation in 2021.
“ The anti-inflationary policy is one of the important spheres of the Azerbaijani government's economic policy and is aimed at minimizing the impact of inflation on the population, ” he said.
The prime minister also stated that a reserve of basic foodstuffs has been formed in Azerbaijan by presidential order.
He emphasized that the pressures on neighboring countries ' banking and financial sectors have not affected Azerbaijan.
`` The financial system of Azerbaijan is steady. Our national currency rate is stable and we have enough foreign exchange reserves, '' he said. | general |
Covid resurgence in China: why oil prices are down from record highs | China's recent Covid wave and subsequent lockdowns have helped oil prices ease from record highs reached roughly a week ago, according to analysts.
`` We have the re-emergence of Covid in China, which is throwing another spanner into the works when we're trying to assess what the demand will be, '' said Richard Gorry, managing director of JBC Energy Asia.
He also said markets are still grappling with the disruption of oil supply caused by the Russia-Ukraine war.
Oil prices have been volatile in recent sessions, spiking to record levels not seen since 2008 just a week ago, reaching above $ 130 per barrel. But crude prices then fell drastically, dropping more than 27% below that recent high to less than $ 100 a barrel earlier this week.
`` The OPEC in their monthly reports have not changed their demand forecast, which suggests that it is business as normal, '' Gorry said. `` I would tend to believe that that will probably change in the months ahead, because if we look at China, for example, right now, we have 45 million people under lockdown, like it was in 2020. And we know from history that this does have an impact on oil demand. ''
In the last few days, China has clamped down as it grapples with its worst Covid spike since the pandemic began, ordering lockdowns and a pause in manufacturing in some cities. Manufacturing hub Shenzhen ordered businesses to suspend production, which affected companies like Apple supplier Foxconn.
China is the world's biggest oil importer and any reduction in demand would have an impact on energy prices.
While `` it's tempting to attribute the fall-back in oil to optimism towards an early cessation of hostilities in Ukraine, '' it's more likely a combination of reasons, according to Ray Attrill, head of foreign exchange strategy at National Australia Bank.
`` [ The fall in oil prices ] more likely reflects a combination of some speculative froth being blown off, alongside fears of weaker China demand as more Chinese cities are put into lockdown amid record high Covid case numbers — as tiny as these are relative to most other parts of the world, '' he wrote in a Wednesday note.
Recent outbreaks have infected more than 15,000 people and stem primarily from the highly transmissible omicron variant, China's National Health Commission said Tuesday, according to state media.
Furthermore, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov indicated Moscow would allow the Iran nuclear deal to go ahead, which would lead to the resumption of oil supply. Talks to revive the deal were previously stalled by demands made by Russia, one of the core participants of the deal, according to Reuters.
`` There are hopes a nuclear deal with Iran may soon be concluded, which may bring some stability to the Middle East and shore up oil supplies, '' said ANZ Research analysts Brian Martin and Daniel Hynes.
Bob McNally, president at Rapidan Energy Group, however was less optimistic.
`` The Shenzhen lockdowns and Lavrov saying that Russia could live with the Iran nuclear deal, and there's talk of a deal between Ukraine and Russia. So I understand why we took out all the risk, but I don't think it's over yet, '' he told CNBC's `` Street Signs Asia '' on Wednesday.
`` So I 'm afraid we probably have to go higher before we go much lower, '' he said, of oil prices.
— CNBC's Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report. | business |
National Coordinator: TEFCA will enable 'North Star ' architecture for public health | National Coordinator for Health IT Micky Tripathi speaking Tuesday at HIMSS22.
ORLANDO, Fla. – During a Tuesday evening Views from the Top session at HIMSS22, National Coordinator for Health IT Micky Tripathi shared the stage with Dr. Daniel Jernigan, deputy director for public health science and surveillance at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The topic was how the nationwide data exchange system can be shored-up and streamlined to enable more seamless and robust information-sharing with public health agencies – and ease the burden on healthcare providers.
The patchwork data reporting systems and strategies deployed in the U.S. as the novel coronavirus first spread two years ago were adequate in some respects. But clearly many of them – cobbled together on an ad hoc basis, often relying on phone and fax – left much room for improvement.
`` It was really clear during those first moments of the pandemic response how unprepared we were, '' said Jernigan. `` There were lots of reasons why we weren't. It was not something that just came up at that time, but it was something that had been developing for a number of years prior to that. For many years, we 've been developing these siloed systems that didn't speak with one another and could not scale. ''
There are other fundamental challenges, such as outdated skillsets, and a public health workforce that has not been invested in as it should be.
`` There are also older technologies, '' he said. `` We know that state health departments, almost all, many of them have on-premises systems. They have not been able to migrate to the cloud. And they have multiple different tools which CDC has provided that have not been necessary to maintain over time.
`` The other challenge is that there's a heavy burden for providers, '' he added.
`` We know that a doctor is basically required to submit some information for public health. They may be required by the state to do something separate. So there are multiple point-to-point submissions that these providers have to give. Doctors don't have time. That kind of a system is quite burdensome for the provider, and also the labs that are required to report as well. ''
`` Public health is just not a part of the healthcare ecosystem, '' said Jernigan. `` So as things were improving [ for providers 10 years ago ] with meaningful use, the public health partners, we're just not a part of that – and now we're having to work pretty hard to get back into that healthcare ecosystem. ''
It's a longstanding problem, he said. But the good news is `` there are a lot of great efforts that are coming up that are going to help us to address that problem. ''
A major enabler of those new efforts will be the recently-opened Trusted Exchange Framework of Common Agreement, said Tripathi, who used the talk to highlight TEFCA and other projects ONC is doing with respect to `` a whole bunch of different things in the area of standards and data quality '' with a firm focus on the public health domain.
`` We're pulling all of those levers in the direction of public health towards what we're calling 'North Star ' architecture, '' he said.
ONC has had a busy past decade, coordinating some herculean efforts nationwide to get providers up and running on electronic health records and generating critically useful data. But, as Jernigan mentioned, public health agencies – not to mention payers, and labs, and post-acute care providers – were largely left out of the meaningful use gold rush, and aren't as well connected to the provider side as they should be.
`` We 've invested now over 10 years and more than $ 40 billion in public dollars and a lot of sweat equity on the part of healthcare providers and technology developers, starting with HITECH Act in 2010 to provide incentives for the adoption of EHRs, which at that time was something like 10% of adoption, to the point where we are now, which is almost flipping that equation, 95% of hospitals, 90% of ambulatory providers EHRs, and that's in a relatively short period of time. '' he said.
`` We now have the opportunity to really start to think about what it is we want to do. Now we have the opportunity – now that we 've got virtually all of the hospitals and the majority of the outpatient providers on EHRs – to ask, how do we start thinking about a world where it really is a digital foundation from this point forward?
`` We haven't eliminated paper, we haven't eliminated faxes – but we know they're a shrinking, shrinking part of what we're doing every single day. So we 've now got the basis of the formation of this digital foundation. ''
The question now is how to `` bring healthcare and the public health system together more quickly, so it's not one-way static reports periodically, but a much more dynamic ecosystem where we can be responsive in the way that we need to be for public health generally, and to help prevent crises that we may have in the future. ''
ONC's goal is to create architecture, said Tripathi, `` based on open industry standards so you have the ability to have connections, have interoperability across different points in the ecosystem based on open standards.
`` You don't have to go very far to see what that looks like, '' he added. `` Think about everything you're doing on your mobile phones every single day. ''
The challenge is, `` How do we get to a place where you have that kind of open architecture, where you're not having to negotiate bespoke contracts, having engineers on both ends of a phone call or a Zoom call to set up a point-to-point interface? '' he said.
`` We 've got networks. We 've got HIEs. We 've got some point-to-point interconnections that allow for some of that capability. But as we start to get more and more ambitious, with more and more APIs, more and more capabilities, we start to build that in and have much more opportunities for high level, high traffic, high volume exchange, but also deeper point-to-point exchange.
There's already more progress than many realize, said Tripathi – who offered a comparison to help put the scope of existing health data exchange in perspective.
`` We 've got networks: Carequality, CommonWell, eHealth Exchange, or a number of state and regional HIEs that are up and running to provide these kinds of network services, with high volume and high reliability.
Tripathi mentioned Swift, the sprawling international financial and bank messaging service that has drawn attention in recent weeks after Russia was cut off from it due to sanctions because of its invasion of Ukraine.
`` Just by comparison, the Swift network does something like 41or 42 million transactions per day, '' said Tripathi. `` Carequality alone does something like 50 million transactions a day. ''
Ten to 15 million of those are actually payloads, he explained: `` C-CDA, continuity of care documents, the medical records, snapshots or exchange among providers. And then the rest of that is messaging traffic that builds up to that, the query for patients, all of that. So we 've got a lot of interoperability already, which is just something for us all to recognize and appreciate. ''
Still, `` for all of that traffic, public health barely participates, '' said Tripathi. `` And that's one of the challenges that we have. That's one of the siloing effects that we have on the interoperability of the healthcare delivery system, and you 've got public health that gets reporting, relatively static, one-way kind of messaging reporting. And then, even in the pandemic, the opportunity to tap into those networks that have 50 million transactions a day was very, very difficult. ''
That's one of the things ONC and other stakeholders want to achieve with TEFCA, he said.
`` We brought it live in January of this year – live, meaning networks can now participate – and what it directs is that ONC create a governance framework on top of the networks that exist today to allow more seamless exchange of information across those networks, according to a common set of rules, common set of technical specifications – basically common rules of the road. ''
TEFCA is important because it helps `` pull it forward to the next level in interoperability, '' said Tripathi. `` Because one of the challenges that we have with the networks today is that they focus on providers, for treatment purposes.
`` But we have other extensions that are incredibly important, '' he added. `` Like public health, as I described, like having payment and operations be a part of those, like having individual access be a part of those use cases. And that's what TEFCA is going to help do. ''
Since January, `` networks are now in the process of reviewing contracts, reviewing specifications, and we have every expectation that by the end of this calendar year, we 'll have a couple of networks signed up and onboarding, '' said Tripathi.
Together, alongside FHIR-based apps, the 21st Century Cures information blocking rules and other recent changes, all of those things and other pieces coming together, '' to help build the conditions for a larger and more connected exchange ecosystem, he said.
To nudge the public health piece along even further, ONC recently worked with CDC to and HL7 to launch the Helios FHIR Accelerator.
`` It brings together parties who are interested in a particular use case, in this case, public health, and to be able to bring together stakeholders – CDC, ONC, EHR vendors, providers, anyone else who's considered themselves a public health stakeholder help develop novel use cases using FHIR APIs, '' said Tripathi.
`` We're working with the CDC and other stakeholders on thinking about the policy considerations related to public health activity with TEFCA. That's very exciting. And that hopefully will be the opportunity for public health to truly participate in that kind of exchange on a day-to-day basis. ''
Twitter: @ MikeMiliardHITN Email the writer: mike.miliard @ himssmedia.comHealthcare IT News is a HIMSS publication.
An inside look at the innovation, education, technology, networking and key events at the HIMSS22 Global Conference & Exhibition in Orlando. | tech |
Where is Japan's Great Resignation? | From India to the U.S., the pandemic has spurred millions of people to leave their jobs in search of more fulfilling, flexible roles, in what has been dubbed the Great Resignation.
But so far at least, Japan’ s workforce is charting a very different course, with fewer people than ever moving jobs. This week, senior staff writer Alex Martin joins to discuss the changing face of work in Japan, and why so few people seem inclined to switch roles.
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Hello, and welcome to Deep Dive. From The Japan Times, I’ m Oscar Boyd.
From India to the U.S., the pandemic has spurred millions of people to leave their jobs in search of more fulfilling, flexible roles, in what has been dubbed the ‘ Great Resignation.’
But so far, at least, Japan’ s workforce is charting a very different course, with fewer people than ever moving jobs. This week, senior staff writer Alex Martin and I discuss the changing face of work in Japan, and why so few people seem inclined to switch roles.
Alex Martin, welcome back to Deep Dive. Thank you so much for joining me today.
In many countries, as the pandemic took hold, we started to see reports of people switching jobs en masse. And this has been called the ‘ Great Resignation’ or the ‘ Big Quit’ by a lot of Western media. What’ s been happening in the labor market overseas?
Well, according to reports, for example in the United States, back in November last year 3% of the workforce — that’ s 4.5 million people — quit their jobs, which is perhaps a record high. It seems to be a phenomenon that’ s not just limited to the United States, but also happening in Europe, Australia and also in India, in the tech sector, where I think we’ re seeing a lot of people reconsidering their job priorities and moving around.
What we’ re seeing is people who are either burned out, or finding different opportunities with better pay and better conditions. People in the healthcare sector — nurses, doctors — people who are on the frontlines of COVID, I think many of them are really tired, they’ re burned out. You can imagine the pressure they’ ve been going through. So I think there’ s a high turnover rate in that sector, and also the service sector. It’ s the same in Japan. When lockdowns kick in, restaurants and bars need to close or shorten their hours, which means that they’ re not hiring as many people as before. Some people, I think, are considering changing their occupation or type of work, because a similar situation could happen again.
Yeah, and then there’ s also the proliferation of remote work, which is huge. That’ s the backbone behind this big movement. Obviously, I don’ t think we’ ve seen people working from their homes or outside of the offices on this scale, ever. And that’ s really affecting a lot of things, not just the job market, but also how people consider their work life balance and family obligations. That’ s another big factor.
Let’ s move to Japan then. Japan has never had the kind of hard lockdown that we’ ve seen in, for example, some areas of the United States. But it has had its state of emergencies, it has had requests for people to stay at home and to work from home where possible. So at the beginning of the pandemic, when the first state of emergencies were introduced, how did working habits begin to change?
Well, as with many other work-related customs in Japan, things are a little bit slow here compared to perhaps the U.S. or other countries that have digitized quickly. In terms of remote work, the government was really pushing for it, for obvious reasons. However, it took a little while before corporations started to actually implement this type of work system. The big ones started off first, a lot of tech companies. The smaller firms — small and mid sized firms and manufacturers — they were a bit slower to catch up on this, because of a lack of software or hardware. And then a lot of the cases I’ ve heard are that the old bosses just don’ t like people working from home because they can’ t actually watch over them. They get anxious that you know, are they actually working? or are they taking a nap or doing something else? That ingrained culture where a company and its employees are considered family. And this goes back to the lifetime employment system and things like that. And once people start working from home, it’ s very hard to grasp what they’ re doing and what they’ re thinking. So some companies or corporate CEOs were not really happy about that. It took a while for a lot of companies to actually start implementing this system.
I remember in the early days of the pandemic, there were stories about people being forced to come into the office basically just because they needed to use the traditional hanko seal to sign off on documents and nothing could be done electronically. So it was really hampering the efforts to digitize things or get people working remotely properly.
Yeah, I remember doing a story last year about how remote work wasn’ t really working in Japan and one of the people I interviewed was a lady, I think in her 30s or 40s, who works for an internet web magazine. You would assume that a company like that would be very advanced in terms of remote work and teleworking. But it’ s the same thing that you mentioned, she was asked to come in at least a few days a week. And she recalled one meeting where they have a client and the client is on Zoom, or some kind of video chat. They’ re talking on the other side and then the rest of the people in her team are crowded into this room, staring into the video screen. Obviously, there’ s no social distancing among themselves. And they might as well go home and join the chat from their own homes, but they came into the office anyway and crowded together. But things like that, I think still persist to some level.
So that was the early days of the pandemic. And since then, it seems like a lot more companies have got on board with the idea of remote working, where it’ s possible at least. But when it comes to this idea of a ‘ Great Resignation,’ are we seeing similar trends in Japan to those overseas?
In terms of hard statistics, the answer is no. In fact, I think the rate of people hopping jobs or changing jobs has even decreased during the pandemic. However, there have been some statistics taken from government surveys indicating that the number of people who haven’ t yet but want to change jobs, is actually climbing at a fast pace. So for 2019, pre-pandemic levels, compared to last year — the survey shows there used to be 8 million people who were considering changing jobs. Now it’ s about 8.5 million. So that’ s half a million extra people over the past two years who are considering changing jobs. But they haven’ t yet.
Okay, so even though people are considering changing jobs, the labor market as it stands at the moment is still very static. I read in your recent article about this topic that only 4.3% of the working population changed their jobs in 2021, which was actually down 0.5%, from 2020. So we’ re seeing the complete opposite of a ‘ Great Resignation’ here. What are some of the reasons for that?
Well for example, in the U.S., what happened was the economy came back that pushed the whole movement. Whereas in Japan, we haven’ t really seen that kind of strong revival yet in terms of the economy. That’ s perhaps one reason. And then there are several other reasons as to why the job market is not as fluid here as it is in other countries. One reason is the deflationary economy. Ever since the asset price bubble burst in the early 1990s, Japan has been dealing with this deflationary mindset among consumers and also among corporations. It’ s very hard to raise prices here, customers are very frugal when it comes to shopping and buying things, which means that corporations take on the damage internally to offer cheaper products. At the same time, we have the remains of the lifetime employment mentality. The concept itself, it’ s not really functioning any more in the sense that people are ( no longer) guaranteed a stable position for the duration of their career. However, I think that mindset still persists and you can still see remnants of people wanting that kind of stability. And then there’ s also the growing number of temp workers or part time workers, they now account for about 40% of the entire workforce. And this is a direct result of Japan’ s stagnant economy. Companies could no longer afford to keep these really expensive, full time employees. So they started outsourcing jobs. So the cheaper part timers, the wages they’ re getting, it’ s pulling down the entire wage growth of Japan. And that’ s one reason why we haven’ t been seeing much wage growth at all over the past decade or two. And that means you can skip jobs, but you probably can’ t expect to get much of a raise, right? So, for example, in the Indian tech sector, I hear that people in demand can make twice as much if they change jobs, or three times as much. You can’ t really expect that in Japan, you can change jobs and perhaps look for a better wage, but it’ s not going to be as drastically different compared to some other countries.
I think so. As I mentioned, it is changing, especially in the tech sector. If you’ re working for a startup, or if you’ re a part of the startup community, changing jobs isn’ t as much of a thing as it was before, people do it frequently. But I think the general feeling is that, let’ s say I’ m a 30 something Japanese corporate employee and I’ ve hopped jobs eight times over the past 15 years. Let’ s say I tell that to someone my mother’ s age perhaps, someone in their 70s, they would be like, “ Eight times? What are you doing? There must be something wrong with you. ” So I think there’ s a generational gap in terms of how people perceive changing jobs. Also, there’ s the seniority based wage system. I think that’ s another really big reason that’ s making it difficult for people to change jobs that easily. Wages are based on when you join the company and how long you spend time in the company. This goes back to the concept of lifetime employment and dedication, which was fine when it was working. But the thing is when the job market becomes a little bit more fluid, and people start coming and going, that kind of system is not very flexible in terms of accepting other talent. And I think that’ s an ingrained corporate system that’ s been hampering this kind of labor market fluidity.
Turning to the service sector for a moment, I feel like when I’ ve walked around Tokyo recently, I’ ve seen a lot more restaurants with “ staff wanted’ signs in the window. It certainly feels like more have them now than they did pre-pandemic. And I know that there’ s been reporting on how the restaurant industry and places like convenience stores are facing labor shortages at the moment. Is that not having an effect on wages as restaurants are forced to compete for a limited pool of staff?
Yeah, in terms of the hourly minimum wage, it is growing. The government has been pushing for it. And also I think we’ re seeing signs of inflation for the past few months, and especially with the situation in Ukraine and Russia, and energy prices rising, that could also mean more inflation in the coming weeks and months. So when that happens, I think people are forced to start giving more money because it just doesn’ t match the amount you’ re earning and the amount you’ re purchasing as a customer. So we’ ll see how that plays out. But then there’ s also the sticky wage theory, where corporations are really hesitant to raise wages because once they do, they can’ t pull them back down.
So the data shows there’ s no real evidence of people in Japan switching jobs en masse, no real evidence of a ‘ Great Resignation.’ But what changes have we seen to the ways in which people work over the pandemic?
So job hopping isn’ t really a thing yet, right? I mean, it could be a thing in the coming years, but at this moment, it’ s not. However, what we’ re already seeing is, and the government’ s been pushing for this too, but there’ s a word called fukugyō, a side job. And they’ ve really been pushing for people to start getting side jobs, for various reasons. One, because I think the pension system is not as robust. If we reach that age, perhaps we’ re not going to be getting as much as our mothers or fathers because of Japan’ s demographic outlook. So I think the government is really pushing for workers to start getting side jobs and earning more and start saving more, just to prepare themselves. And remote work really facilitates that, because you can actually work from home and you can talk to clients via video chat. You don’ t have to actually go there and talk to them in person anymore, oftentimes. And it gives you more time to actually take on these side jobs. There are several sets of statistics when it comes to how many freelancers there are in Japan. There’ s the official stats from the government, and there’ s also unofficial private sector stats that indicate that over the past year or so, the number of people freelancing jumped by like 5 million. It’ s very hard to tell what the actual numbers indicate, or if they’ re correct or not, but it does show that a lot of people are taking on different responsibilities during the pandemic.
And what do you think the future of remote work will be in Japan? Because it does feel like a lot more companies are on board with the idea now that we’ re entering the third year of the pandemic. And I think the most extreme example of this that we’ ve seen in Japan is Yahoo, who said in January of this year that it would be allowing all 8,000 of its employees to work from anywhere in the country.
Yeah, Yahoo Japan was really quick. I would assume they probably had an internal system where they measured output and location and et cetera, and they figured out that people can actually work from anywhere they want to and we can actually produce the same amount of quality work. And it’ s an extremely strong recruitment tool. If you’ re an engineer, and you’ re looking to find a nice job in Japan from Fukuoka, let’ s say, or Sendai or somewhere else, and you see Yahoo Japan saying that you can work wherever in Japan you want to. Like, “ yeah! ” you know. So it’ s a very clever move, because it makes headlines, and it also really raises the appeal of the company. So I think stuff like that, a lot of other corporations are going to start copying pretty soon.
At least for the big tech companies, I think so. Once the competition kicks in for talent, I think we’ ll see more corporations introducing much more flexible working environments,
I mean, this is just me from reporting over the past two years or so, I think there’ s going to be a big divide. We’ re going to see the big tech companies really embracing this. And then the smaller chūshōkigyō ( small and medium sized companies), some might and some may not. Some experts are starting to see the end game of COVID. We don’ t know yet, but if that is the case, then if people can go back to the office, and if these corporations have resisted teleworking until now, then there’ s no reason for them to embrace it.
From the workers standpoint, I think a lot of surveys indicate that one of the priorities that most workers have when they’ re looking for jobs is to work remotely. So it’ s a huge tool that corporations can use to lure these workers. If that is the case, I think even these smaller companies or even big companies who resisted teleworking, I think they might be pressured into offering some kind of options to get talent.
I think one of the most interesting things that we’ ve seen emerge from the pandemic is that Tokyo, for the first time in over a quarter of a century, has actually lost population over the past year. Historically, Tokyo has been this black hole, sucking in people and talent from the countryside. Tokyo’ s population has consistently increased while rural cities have fallen into decline. Is this flight from the city a reflection of changing work habits?
Well, initially COVID and social distancing and the fact that Tokyo is just extremely crowded, turned some people off, and people who had the option to move moved. I think that was the initial trigger. And then, I think once remote working kicked in, people realized that they don’ t really have to be in Tokyo to work. So a lot of people moved to the suburbs, to the nearby prefectures, or even somewhere completely different. I’ ve talked to several people who’ ve actually done that, even in the story that we’ re talking about today. Yamazaki-san, who worked at Olympus Corp, moved from Tokyo to Ina in Nagano Prefecture. Now he subcontracts work from three different companies and makes around the same amount of money he did in Tokyo — and there’ s lots of mountains and nature out there. I think a lot of Tokyoites, including myself, we always daydream about getting out of the city and living somewhere else. But until now it’ s been really difficult because you need to physically be in the office. I’ m a reporter, so I need to go to the scene and I’ ll probably have to be in Tokyo anyway. But if that wasn’ t the case, and if I had the option to live somewhere else, I would think about it. I mean consider the disaster risks too. Tokyo is one of the most dangerous cities in the world. You can have a big earthquake tomorrow and see half a million people die. You never know what’ s going to happen, right? Typhoon season, so many rivers in the city, overflowing, flood risks. Considering that and all the geopolitical things going on at this moment, I would imagine a lot of people are considering getting out of the big city and, you know, moving to the countryside. I’ m not saying that’ s the best thing to do because living in the countryside has its own perks and difficulties, obviously tied to the population. However, I think in terms of a very simple mind game, I think that’ s the kind of thing that many people are thinking.
I don’ t know. The problem with Tokyo is that everything is here. It’ s the center of the economy, politics, and a lot of good universities. Top level hospitals, schools, too. So it just has everything. And I don’ t think that’ s really going to change. My personal take is that we probably won’ t be seeing a big exodus from Tokyo in terms of the working population. However, I would think that remote work and teleworking and this flexibility will allow a lot of workers to spend significantly more time outside of Tokyo. So maybe they would have a small apartment here, and then maybe a weekend house somewhere else. And there’ s so many deals now where you can rent out places outside of Tokyo for weeks or months, for a decent price. So that hybrid city-life/rural-life, I think that might become a trend.
And last time we had you on the podcast we were talking about Japan’ s epidemic of loneliness. Is there an increased risk of social isolation for some people as a result of working from home, not having those draws to the city or the office or the workplace, to maintain social connections?
I think that’ s definitely happening. You can see it in various surveys conducted by different think tanks in terms of feeling lonely or loneliness. It is a phenomenon that’ s become more prominent over the past two years. At the same time, I think corporations are going to start or are already doing what they call creating office spaces not for work, but for their employees to come and mingle and talk. I think a lot of corporations in the tech sector, perhaps, are trying to implement these new facilities to enhance communication. So they can work at home if they want to but if they want to meet up with people, they can actually come to a nice space with perhaps a cafe or something.
One of the things in your article that you wrote about is that you said, “ if there’ s a silver lining to all this, it could be how the big shift towards working remotely is redefining the relationship between job obligations and family. ” What did you mean by that?
What’ s been happening in the past was, if you’ re a professional, and let’ s say you’ re female and you had a kid, a lot of times, you would take maternity leave. And that would potentially mean that you’ re derailed from the corporate ladder. Whereas when it comes to remote working, let’ s say you need to take care of your kid, go pick them up at 5 p.m. every day so you can’ t work late hours, you could still take on tasks during your free time from home. People who work in human resources, I think they’ re thinking that this is a chance to get more people back into the workforce. People who were forced to be sidelined because of family obligations or even taking care of their aging mothers and fathers. So yeah, in terms of changing jobs, or finding jobs, the permeation of remote work would offer more incentives for people with relatives that need to be taken care of, to actually come back to work.
My final question to you. Japan has notoriously long working hours, and is also recognised as having the lowest productivity of any country in the G7. And pre-pandemic, it wasn’ t that infrequent that we saw stories of ‘ death by overwork’ make the headlines. In conversations about the ‘ Great Resignation’ overseas, you often hear that one of the more positive effects of people resigning en masse is that it puts more power into the hands of employees, because companies have to compete over them. And that allows workers to demand better working conditions from their employers. If Japan doesn’ t go through a similar process, do you think that there might be a missed opportunity for the country to reform some of the more negative elements of its work culture?
Yeah, I think a lot of corporations are realizing that just having their employees work long hours may not equal productivity. So they’ re trying to cut down on that. But the thing is it still persists. And there are a lot of so-called ‘ black kigyō,’ black corporations around, where they just overwork their employees to death. And unless the economy really revives and wages go up, and workers’ incentives to find better jobs really gets a boost, I think that kind of sad phenomenon is going to persist. So it really depends on how Japan performs, I think in terms of its economy, and what they’ re going to do with the huge population of temporary and part time workers. They need to get more skills to make more money in the labor market. But who’ s going to be offering these chances to get these necessary skills? And the government again, has been pushing for this kind of thing but so far, I don’ t think we’ ve been seeing many changes there.
That was Alex Martin, and I put a link to his article about whether Japan is on the brink of a Great Resignation in the show notes. You can also find a transcript of this episode on The Japan Times website.
Also in the news this week, the government says it is considering lifting the COVID-19 quasi-state of emergency for 18 prefectures, including Tokyo and Osaka, when those measures expire on March 21, as long as the new infection data meet the criteria for lifting the emergency.
Reflecting falling case counts, on Saturday, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that he plans to restart the Go To travel tourism campaign, telling reporters that the government “ will make preparations so that the campaign can be resumed promptly, when the appropriate time comes. ” More new from Japan on The Japan Times website.
This episode had editing help from Dave Cortez. When I asked Dave what his favorite podcast is to listen to, he told me it’ s ‘ This American Life.’ I asked him why and he looked at me with this long, piercing stare and simply said,
You know, it just has everything and I don’ t think that’ s really gon na change.
We’ ll be back next week. But until then, as always, podtsukaresama. | tech |
Powell vows Fed will conquer high inflation. Here's what he said | Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday said inflation is going stay high in 2022, but he vowed the central bank will do whatever it takes to bring price rises under control.
The
Fed raised interest rates for the first time in four years
as part of a broader strategy to combat the highest inflation in 40 years.
The rate of inflation
has surged to almost 8% in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Here’ s what Powell said about inflation after the Fed decision.
“ We will take the necessary steps to ensure that high inflation does not become entrenched. ”
“ We have to restore price stability. ”
Inflation is far, far above target. ”
“ We’ re fully committed to bring inflation back down. High inflation takes a toll on everybody. ”
“ We do anticipate inflation will move back down. It may take longer than we’ d like. ”
“ We have the tools that we need and we are going to use them. We have a plan over the course of this year to raise interest rates steadily and also to run off the balance sheet. ”
“ I guess I would say the expectation still is that inflation will come down in the second half of this year, but we still expect inflation to be high this year. ”
“ We expect inflation to remain high through the middle of the year, begin to come down, then begin to come down more sharply next year. ”
“ Before the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, I would have said that the expectation was that inflation would peak sometime in the first quarter. Maybe at the end of the first quarte of this year. ”
“ Now we are already seeing a little bit of short-term upward pressure on inflation due to higher oil prices [ and ] other commodity prices. ”
“ We’ ve had price stability for a long time and maybe come to have taken it for granted. Now we see the pain. I am old enough to remember what high inflation is like. ” | business |
China pledges to support stock market, economic growth | China said Wednesday that it would keep its stock markets stable and take measures to boost economic growth in the first quarter, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.
The government should roll out policies favorable to capital markets while being cautious in introducing contractionary measures, according to the Financial Stability and Development Committee under the State Council, during a meeting chaired by Vice Premier Liu He.
The Chinese government continues to support companies’ listing of shares overseas and has maintained “ good communications ” with U.S. regulators on Chinese companies’ listings in the U.S., according to the committee. The two sides have been working on a cooperation plan, according to Xinhua.
The committee also said China’ s monetary policy should “ actively respond ” to support the economy and new credit should help maintain “ appropriate growth. ”
The remarks came as the Chinese economy faces increasing headwinds from a wave of local Covid-19 outbreaks that have led to lockdowns of several economic strongholds, sending stock markets even lower after earlier worries over the Ukraine invasion.
The committee also pledged to keep Hong Kong’ s financial markets stable while enhancing regulatory communications and coordination with Hong Kong regulators, according to Xinhua.
Write to Singapore Editors at singaporeeditors @ dowjones.com | business |
One year after the Atlanta spa shootings, there's increased awareness of anti-Asian hate crimes — but not enough action | The Value Gap
is a MarketWatch Q & A series with business leaders, academics, authors, policymakers and activists on reducing racial and social inequalities.
One year ago, a gunman killed eight people at three Atlanta-area massage businesses, including six women of Asian descent: Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, Yong Ae Yue, Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, Delaina Ashley Yaun and Paul Andre Michels. Prosecutors
have argued
the shooter targeted some of the victims based on racial and gender bias.
The shootings deepened fear and anxiety in many Asian American and Pacific Islander ( AAPI) communities already on edge about anti-Asian rhetoric and violence
that have risen
during the pandemic’ s two years, and created greater public understanding of
the interlaced racism and misogyny
that AAPI women have faced throughout history.
But while the heightened focus on issues impacting Asian American women is heartening, “ just having more visibility and raising awareness is not enough to stop what’ s happening, ” says Sung Yeon Choimorrow, the executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Women’ s Forum ( NAPAWF), a progressive advocacy and community-organizing group.
As Choimorrow points out, harassment and violence against AAPI women has very much continued in recent months, as evidenced in part by NAPAWF’ s own research: Three in four AAPI women recently surveyed by the organization said they’ d experienced racism and/or discrimination in the past year, with many reporting these incidents were perpetrated by strangers and unfolded in public.
From March 2020 through December 2021, the coalition Stop AAPI Hate
documented
10,905 hate incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, with reports of verbal harassment making up 63% of the total and physical assault making up 16%. Six in 10 reports were by women.
Meanwhile, a man was arrested and charged with hate crimes earlier this month
after seven women
of Asian descent were attacked in Manhattan in the span of two hours. The recent killings of
Christina Yuna Lee
and
Michelle Go
in New York haven’ t been labeled hate crimes by authorities, but left many Asian American women
feeling angry and terrified
all the same.
“ There is some sadness and, frankly, anger, about the fact that a year after the Atlanta spa shooting, we haven’ t even had a year’ s distance from horrific murders, ” Choimorrow said.
Choimorrow spoke with MarketWatch for
The Value Gap
about the state of anti-AAPI violence one year after the Atlanta-area shootings, what Americans have and still haven’ t learned, and how to translate awareness into tangible action. The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity:
MarketWatch:
I wanted to start off by acknowledging that you lead an organization that focuses on Asian American and Pacific Islander women and girls; you’ re also a woman of Korean descent who
has written about her own experiences
of racism and misogyny. How has this past year been for you on a personal level? And is there anything you’ ve found helpful for coping?
Choimorrow:
It’ s been pretty intense. But at the same time, there’ s something about being heard that’ s different. … As you said, I’ ve been writing and talking about misogyny and racialized misogyny experienced by Asian American women on various topics for a very long time. And often, I feel like I’ m just yelling into the thin air or writing a piece that just disappears into the interweb somewhere.
It’ s really the first time people are paying attention and asking thoughtful questions and engaging. And so there’ s a sense of, maybe we’ re making some movement in this country around really, truly trying to understand the state of what it means to be Asian American women these days, and really actually caring about the issues that impact us.
I feel like when people talk about women’ s issues in general, I’ ve never heard of people proactively talking about Asian American women’ s experiences in particular in that context — whether it’ s on reproductive rights issues, maternal health issues, no one’ s actually ever added the two cents about how it uniquely impacts Asian Americans. … It brings me hope that we’ re in this place of having more public conversations. And yet the reasons why these conversations still happen are so tragic and horrific that I’ d be lying if [ I said ] it’ s not taking a toll on my mental health.
While I don’ t live in New York City, I visit often for work, and
I don’ t ride the subway
. I try [ not to be ] walking around in Manhattan after late hours, especially if I’ m alone. There are just things that I do now that I just never did before, that I know a lot of Asian American women are experiencing. So there is some sadness and, frankly, anger, about the fact that a year after the Atlanta spa shooting, we haven’ t even had a year’ s distance from horrific murders. We’ ve just been talking about Christina Yuna Lee and Michelle Go and
others in Albuquerque
. And so it’ s a mix of emotions in how I’ m feeling.
What I do to cope: For me, it’ s really about setting boundaries and knowing that at the end of the day, I’ m grateful for the opportunity to lead an organization like NAPAWF and engage with reporters like you, but at the end of the day, my work is part of a bigger movement. It’ s not just me. I know that I have collaborators and people who have gone ahead of me, who paved the way and who are going to come after me to continue to fight the fight. So I don’ t try and carry this outsize burden by myself. … And then it’ s taking the breaks that I need; making sure that I’ m taking care of myself, my health.
MarketWatch:
That is very good advice for anybody doing this kind of work. So as you mentioned, it has been a year since the Atlanta spa shootings. Does it feel to you like anything has changed?
Choimorrow:
I mean, I don’ t feel like too much has changed [ since ] even pre-Atlanta spa shooting, right? I think that often people use the Atlanta spa shooting as a marker of when violence against Asian American women really became a thing. But for me, I’ ve been telling this story — even last year, when I was getting calls from reporters right around the shooting — that racialized misogyny and racialized sexual violence against Asian American women is nothing new. It’ s just that we’ re paying attention because there was a mass shooting. And I don’ t think that there’ s been enough done.
We did
a survey
of 2,400 AANHPI [ Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander ] women in the United States, and 40% said that they feel less safe today than they did a year ago. So statistically, if anything has changed, it’ s probably changed for the worst, which is really unfortunate. Seventy-four percent of our respondents said that they had experienced some sort of discrimination or harassment in the last 12 months.
People are more aware of these issues that impact our community, yet the rates of incidence are going up. So to me, just having more visibility and raising awareness is not enough to stop what’ s happening.
“
‘ I think people have become much more courageous in stepping up and speaking out, and I hope that that sticks with us.’
”
MarketWatch:
To that end, on the awareness part — which, as you just said, is not enough to keep it from happening: The police in the spa shooting case
got heavily criticized
for saying these attacks weren’ t racially motivated, that they were driven by a sexual addiction potentially. Do you think that the American public as a whole has become more aware and educated about the complexity of this issue — how anti-Asian racism can intersect with misogyny and hypersexualization?
Choimorrow:
I think the short of it is no. I wish I could say yes. But a year later, I’ m still being asked to talk about my analysis on the arc of history and context of why Asian American women have been hypersexualized and objectified. And I’ m still met with fresh, “ Oh my goodness, I’ m learning something new, ” as I was met with last year.
You’ re talking about educating a population that’ s never heard of Afong Moy [ the first known Chinese immigrant woman in the U.S., brought over in 1834 by American merchants
who put her on display
] and the Page Act [ the 1875 immigration law
used to bar East Asian women from coming to the U.S.
based on the presumption that they were prostitutes ] all of a sudden hearing these names. And it’ s not going to stick, and I think it’ s going to take time and repetition.
MarketWatch:
It has been almost 40 years since
Vincent Chin’ s killing
, which
inspired a generation
of Asian Americans to get involved in activism. Do you see a similar political awakening happening right now, with the increased attention to this kind of violence?
Choimorrow:
I hope so. I definitely know that after the Atlanta spa shooting, particularly Asian American women, we felt like our stories were being heard and taken seriously. And I know that encouraged more people to speak up. I remember hearing from Asian American women all over the country saying, “ I heard you on the radio on my drive home from work, and what you shared, your story, resonates so much with me — and thank you for speaking up and helping people understand my story. ”
So I think [ Asian American women have ] sort of had this watershed moment where we want to speak up, and not tolerate and just adapt and do what we can to survive. I think people have become much more courageous in stepping up and speaking out, and I hope that that sticks with us.
“
‘ We need people to not only remember our stories and our struggles when it’ s an anniversary or horrific event or someone else’ s murder, but to understand that these issues show up in our lives on a daily basis.’
”
MarketWatch:
As I know you’ re aware, last year President Biden signed into law this
anti-hate crimes legislation around COVID
; he also
established
the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. What other kinds of policy change do you and other folks in the AAPI community want to see? And what do you think is still missing in the response to these kinds of hate incidents?
Choimorrow:
I think what’ s missing is long-term significant investment in making sure that AAPIs are included in all the decisions that are made, whether it’ s in infrastructure or social services that would support our community. There’ s been a lot of these one-off, like, “ We’ ll appoint someone, we’ ll create an initiative, we’ ll define hate crimes to include Asian Americans. ” But there hasn’ t been a real look at how to reassess the current systems and decision-making channels to actually include Asian Americans and our interests. That’ s really what I would like to see.
MarketWatch:
Yeah, to your point, AAPIs sort of get left out of things — I’ m going to guess that part of it is the model minority myth and the aggregated data that suggests there isn’ t much to do.
[ Editor’ s note: The
model minority myth
, based on the perception that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are all high-achieving immigrants, inaccurately flattens the experiences of distinct AAPI populations into a monolith and ignores that
income inequality in the U.S. is actually highest among Asians
. ]
Choimorrow:
Exactly. So the big things we’ re asking for are collecting large enough samples so you can disaggregate our data, and at the federal government [ level ] at least, we’ re asking for them to make all services accessible linguistically, and that government contracts require their contractors to include Asian languages to make it accessible to our communities.
MarketWatch:
What do you want regular people — people who don’ t work in government or have the power to effect policy change — to be doing and thinking about as we approach the one-year mark of this tragedy? What can people do to get involved in their community to take action on an individual basis?
Choimorrow:
One, if you see someone being harassed or bullied, say something. Do something. It’ s just heartbreaking to me — you see all these stories, and I’ ve personally experienced encounters where people just stood around and watched; nobody wanted to intervene. I think that’ s really sad.
And I think we need people to not only remember our stories and our struggles when it’ s an anniversary or horrific event or someone else’ s murder, but to understand that these issues show up in our lives on a daily basis — [ that ] even if it doesn’ t lead to murder, we are being affected by it. So how do we constantly be engaging in thoughtful ways to change the trajectory of this country and how it perceives Asian American women, so that we can live safer and more meaningful lives? | business |
CDC: BA.2, an omicron subvariant, now makes an estimated 23% of new cases in the U.S. | The omicron BA.2 subvariant now makes up an estimated 23.1% of all COVID-19 cases in the U.S., according to
data
published Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That means the number of people getting infected with this subvariant has increased from the week before, when the CDC said BA.2 made up an estimated 13.7% of new cases. The BA.2 subvariant has been designated a variant of concern by the World Health Organization and `` appears inherently more transmissible than BA.1, ''
the organization said in February
. BA.1, another subvariant of omicron, made up an estimated 66.1% of all cases in the U.S., while omicron is 10.8% of all cases, according to data gathered for the week ending March 12. | business |
The Market Rose on the Fed's Rate Hikes. What It Might Be Missing. | Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters Wednesday the central bank had the tools to bring inflation down. Photographer: Julia Nikhinson/Bloomberg
It may not rank with the “ whatever it takes ” vow of former European CentralBank President Mario Draghi, but Chairman Jerome Powell made clear Wednesday the Federal Reserve would make up for lost time by steadily raising interest rates and reducing its balance sheet to bring down inflation running at four-decade highs.
The bond market apparently believes the U.S. central bank can make good on that goal. Long-term Treasury yields actually fell following the Federal Open Market Committee’ s new projections calling for further quarter-point increases in its federal funds target range at each of its six remaining meetings this year. That was far more significant than the FOMC’ s actual quarter-point hike in its key policy rate announced following its two-day confab, to a 0.25% -0.50% range, which was expected after Powell had all but promised it previously in recent testimony to Congress.
The yield on the 30-year Treasury fell 3.8 basis points ( hundredths of a percentage point), to 2.442%. But the two-year note, the coupon maturity most sensitive to expectations for future Fed policy, jumped 6.6 basis points, to 1.934%, the highest since June 2019. The 10-year benchmark yield edged up three basis points, to 2.18%, which was almost equal to the five-year note at 2.176%, up 6.9 basis points on the session.
All these moves in the Treasury market add up to a marked flattening in the slope of the yield curve, a classic signal the market foresees a slowing of real growth along with an eventual diminution of inflation pressures.
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Jobless Claims Fall to 214,000
A Hawkish Stance on Inflation and a Wary Eye on the Russia-Ukraine War
The Fed Projects 11 Rates Hikes. Here’ s Why That’ s Unlikely.
Connecting the Dots Between Recession and Economic Stimulus
The stock market, for its part, greeted this rather hawkish outlook for Fed policy surprisingly bullishly. The major averages reversed earlier losses and rallied following the FOMC’ s 2 p.m. Eastern time announcement and through Powell’ s subsequent press conference. The major averages ended up as much as 3.77% for the
Nasdaq Composite
to 1.55% for the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
while the benchmark
S & P 500
rose 2.24%.
The rebound in the stock market suggests the Fed’ s monetary tightening will be able to bring about an easing of inflationary pressures without hurting growth in the economy or profits. Such an outcome would be much desired but is less probable.
The bond and stock markets have been going around in circles regarding their respective outlooks, observes Julian Brigden, president and co-founder of Macro Intelligence Partners. The debt market continues to underestimate the degree of tightening being projected in the FOMC’ s latest projections.
The so-called dot plot of committee estimates for the end of 2023 range from 2.4% to 3.1% and in 2024 from 2.4% to 3.4%, with medians of 2.8% at the end of both years. That would be above the committee’ s estimate of the longer-run equilibrium fed-funds rate of 2.4%; translation, tight rather than easy, money.
The stock market appears to be overly sanguine about this hawkish outlook, Brigden adds in a telephone interview. Powell pointed out in his press conference the Fed watches a variety of indicators to gauge financial conditions. As long as the equity market remains buoyant, Brigden says the Fed will continue to tighten.
In addition to the dot plots, which imply the Fed would boost the fed-funds rate by 25 basis points every meeting this year, Powell added at his presser that if inflation failed to subside as expected while the economy remained strong, the central bank could raise rates more. As if to underscore the Fed’ s hawkishness, Wednesday’ s vote to begin boosting rates included a dissent from St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, who preferred a half-point increase.
Neither was the Fed deterred from starting to raise rates by impacts from Russia’ s war on Ukraine, Brigden also pointed out. And in response to a question at his press conference, Powell admitted in hindsight, it would have been preferable for the normalization of policy to have begun earlier since factors such as supply-chain problems haven’ t eased as quickly as the Fed had expected.
Finally, Powell also was eager to point out the Fed was prepared to announce the start of the runoff of its securities holdings. The central bank had more than doubled the size of its balance sheet to nearly $ 8.9 trillion since the March 2020 beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, which had the effect of massively expanding liquidity in the financial system.
Powell said the FOMC could announce plans for its balance sheet to shrink as early as the next meeting May 3-4. He indicated the balance sheet runoff would be faster and start sooner than the previous episode in 2017-2018 when the central bank let securities mature after its
quantitative easing
in response to the financial crisis of 2008-2009. The reduction in securities holdings this time could be equivalent to one or two more fed-funds rate hikes.
Powell emphasized the Fed would be mindful of market conditions and would support financial stability as the central bank normalized policy. History shows when the Fed tightens policy, bear markets and recessions tend to follow.
Given the stock market’ s exuberant reaction to Wednesday’ s policy announcement, it apparently believes the worst has already been discounted in the modest retreat in the major averages from their recent highs. Or that this time is different.
Write to
Randall W. Forsyth at
randall.forsyth @ barrons.com | business |
European markets: Fed's decision ahead | LONDON — European stocks were trading higher on Wednesday as global markets await the latest monetary policy figures and economic forecasts from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was trading 2.2% higher Wednesday morning, with all sectors in positive territory.
Shares of BMW were up 1.9% on Germany's DAX index despite the German auto giant warning that it can't give accurate guidance amid the geopolitical uncertainty in Europe, and that production interruptions should continue to be expected in light of Russia's war on Ukraine. CEO Oliver Zipse told CNBC on Wednesday that the fallout from supply bottlenecks is improving, however.
Shares of clothing giant Inditex were trading 0.6% higher after the Spanish company reported a sharp rise in 2021 revenues and said that store and online sales between Feb. 1 and March 13 are tracking 33% higher year on year.
Shares of E.On, Germany's largest energy firm, were trading 0.5% higher after the company said it expects its core profit to fall this year because of the phasing out of nuclear power, and said the war in Ukraine could dent the value of its stake in the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, Reuters reported.
Global markets are broadly positive ahead of the conclusion of the Federal Reserve's two-day meeting on Wednesday, where the central bank is widely expected to raise rates by a quarter-point, the first hike since 2018.
Watchers are also expecting the central bank to offer a new quarterly forecast that could indicate five or six more hikes this year. The Fed is expected to announce an interest rate decision and economic projections at 2 p.m. ET on Wednesday, which will be followed by a briefing from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
U.S. stock index futures were flat in overnight trading ahead of the meeting's outcome while shares in Asia-Pacific were mostly higher in Wednesday trade, though markets in mainland China were mixed amid the Covid resurgence in the country.
S & P 500 chart forms the ominous-sounding ‘ death cross.’ What it really means for the market
The most popular Wall Street investor survey is out, and it paints quite a dire outlook
Fundstrat's Tom Lee admits he's been too bullish on stocks, but likes the risk-reward from here
Xpeng and more: Morgan Stanley says these stocks will benefit from rising oil prices
Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues to dominate global attention. The Russian state is due to pay $ 117 million in interest on two sovereign eurobonds on Wednesday, the first of four payment dates to creditors in March alone as the country faces the prospect of defaulting on its debt.
That comes after international sanctions on Russia's central bank have blocked off a substantial portion of the country's foreign exchange reserves following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
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— CNBC's Samantha Subin and Eustance Huang contributed to this market report. | business |
Here Are Advisor Firms ' Most Popular Perks | Smart advisory firms have always used workplace perks to help keep employees motivated, happy, and loyal. Now, in the midst of a Great Resignation that saw 4.3 million workers ditch their jobs in January alone, the case for perks is stronger than ever. For this week’ s Big Q, Barron’ s Advisor asked wealth management executives: What are the most popular perks you offer?
Jeannine Vanian, chief operating officer, Kayne Anderson Rudnick: I would say our most highly valued perk is a fully stocked kitchen. We have breakfast items, lunch items, all kinds of snacks, fresh foods, health bars, chips, soft drinks, etc. Our employees don’ t need to leave or spend any money to get something to eat or drink. We’ ve had this in place for many years since our inception. A number of times we’ ve had masseuses come on location and employees have been able to book 20-minute massage sessions. We also have an in-house gym, and we have converted one of our conference rooms to a ping pong room.
We do adoption support programs: If an employee chooses to go through a process of adopting a child, we support that effort up to $ 5,000 per child. And we recently added a “ celebrate diversity ” personal holiday, where employees can take an additional floating day off to celebrate what’ s most meaningful and important for them. Having employees be engaged and happy is the most valuable asset we have.
Brent Brodeski, CEO, Savant Capital Management: We celebrate a lot, all kinds of things. When people have their first kid, they get a Savant handmade rocking chair. When you get to five years, it’ s your “ Savantiversary, ” and you get a five-year rock with your name engraved on it. People relish these; they put them on their desks and shelves. There are all kinds of other things too, like food-truck Fridays. I mean, it’ s amazing: The most effective thing to get people back in the office after Covid has been food trucks!
At the beginning of the year, everybody gets something called “ smart bucks, ” a few hundred dollars’ worth of them. And when they see colleagues living our values or, you know, bringing in a big client or going out of their way to take care of a client or being a great mentor, you can give them two or three or five of them, whatever you want. There are no rules other than they’ re to recognize somebody doing a good job or accomplishing something. It’ s just about creating this culture of gratitude and appreciation and celebration. Nobody really says, “ Hey, thanks for the health insurance. ” Or, “ Thanks for my paid time off, ” or, “ Thanks for the gym membership. ” But they do say thanks for the food truck or for the rock. They really mean something to people.
Margaret Huang Casey, chief operations officer, Durbin Bennett Private Wealth Management: Every Friday is a half day. We have a morning shift, 8:00 to noon, and the other one is 10:00 to 3:00. That’ s primarily for us to cover markets. That has been super well received.
We actually have a fun committee. This committee is responsible for celebrating the firm’ s wins, making sure people know that it’ s so-and-so’ s birthday or so-and-so’ s special day, or whatever the case may be. They’ re in charge of putting together ad hoc things, whether it’ s just a one-off happy hour, whether it’ s a quarterly team building exercise. We might have, say, a staff meeting for an hour, and then have lunch catered in, and then everybody takes off and we go do an event together. We’ ve done a scavenger hunt where we break into teams and compete against each other. We’ ve done axe-throwing. Sometimes it’ s a charity event. But they’ re always looking for things for us to do together.
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We just hired a new gentleman, and recently we asked them what were some of the things that he expected and didn’ t expect. And he said, “ I really didn’ t expect you guys to always be doing these things together. ” He was like, “ This is fantastic. ” I believe happy people make happy clients.
Kurt Miscinski, president and CEO, Cerity Partners: Our motto has always been, “ Build a palace, not a prison. ” It starts with our ability to be flexible and mobile. We’ ve adopted a very flexible and mobile workplace environment where we identify two days a week for colleagues to come to the office and then give people the flexibility and mobility for the other days. We believe that leads to a better balance of work and personal life.
Second to that is flexible paid time off. Our PTO policy used to be one with X number of weeks per individual, often driven by a combination of your role and your tenure. We did away with that, and we now have manager-approved flexible PTO. We want colleagues to feel that when their life demands that they take days off, they’ re able to do so.
We cover basic financial planning for every one of our 40 colleagues. If someone needs comprehensive planning, there’ s an employer/colleague discount. And we provide discount programs where you can buy your transportation tickets less expensively, which is especially valuable now with gas prices being so high. It sounds like such a small thing, but psychologically, it’ s big.
Matt Gulbransen, president, Pine Grove Financial Group: The best employee benefit we can offer our team is flexibility of time. If someone needs to step away for a few hours to deal with a personal matter, I am happy to accommodate that because they dedicate countless hours serving our clients. There is no tracking of hours worked. Fulfill the obligations of your job and you have freedom to come and go as you please.
We offer a bonus program that all employees are eligible for after one year of employment. This is based off top-line revenue growth. The goal here is to incentivize everyone’ s efforts in driving growth regardless of their role—support staff, investment or advisors. Everyone plays a critical role, and this is our way of rewarding them. This program has no bearing on their base salary. Since we are a small company of only 10 team members, we need to find little things that make our value proposition to new employees different than large corporations.
Editor’ s Note: These responses have been edited for length and clarity. | business |
‘ When my mom dies, I want complete control of her estate’: I have not spoken to my mother in 20 years, but she owes me for the hell she put me through | Dear Quentin,
My mother is close to passing. We have not spoken in over 20 years because we don’ t get along. We both live in Florida. Since my brother and dad have both passed, I am the only direct remaining family member. My cousin is the only one my mother still talks to in our family.
Even though I don’ t speak to my mother, I previously told my cousin that if she needed me, I would be there for her. However, that changed when my brother passed away from cancer, and no one told me until the last few days of his life. Not one person put a phone up to his ear so I could speak to him. My mother poisoned his mind.
She relies on my cousin to do repairs on her home. When my mom dies, I want complete control of her estate. She owes me for the hell she put me through my entire life. I do not want it to go to my cousin, who is stepping in during her twilight hours. Am I entitled to her entire estate, as the last living direct family member?
Estranged Daughter
Dear Estranged,
If your mother dies without a will, her descendants will inherit her estate. As you are her only surviving child, her estate would go to you. Cousins and even stepchildren are not considered beneficiaries. But given the state of your relationship with your mother, it’ s possible — perhaps even likely — she will write a will disinheriting you.
She has no legal — or moral — obligation to leave you anything in her will. Given that your cousin has been there for her in the final years of her life, it’ s possible that she could remember your cousin in her will. Your mother could leave her estate to the dogs and cats home; that is her right, regardless of your history.
Under Florida law, a parent can not completely disinherit a minor child. Homestead laws in that state protect the family home for minor children and the deceased’ s spouse, thereby preventing them from becoming homeless. However, everything changes when that child turns 18. They’ re legally an adult, and they’ re on their own.
Legal experts advise that people who wish to disinherit a child mention that child in their will by name and specifically say they do not wish to leave them any assets. Otherwise, it could give the disinherited child the opportunity to argue that they were omitted and/or forgotten from the will in error.
“ There is a myth that says you should leave just $ 1 to an estranged child, ” according to the
Karp Law Firm
. “ That is bad advice! Beneficiaries have certain automatic legal rights in the estate administration process. ” A bequest of even $ 1 could give a disgruntled child the opportunity to create roadblocks and cause delays, the firm adds.
I’ m sorry your relationship with your mother has deteriorated to this point. It’ s difficult to maintain healthy relationships with other family members under such circumstances. In addition to what they could have done differently, I urge you to ask yourself what you could have done differently too.
That’ s not to say your mother should leave her estate to you. And that’ s not to say she should disinherit you either. I’ m merely outlining the possibilities so you are ready for them, and so you may more readily accept them. The most bitter inheritance of all would be to hang onto one that did not come your way.
Yo
u
can email The Moneyist with any financial and ethical questions related to coronavirus at qfottrell @ marketwatch.com, and follow Quentin Fottrell on
Twitter.
Check out
the Moneyist private Facebook
group, where we look for answers to life’ s thorniest money issues. Readers write in to me with all sorts of dilemmas. Post your questions, tell me what you want to know more about, or weigh in on the latest Moneyist columns.
The Moneyist regrets he can not reply to questions individually.
More from Quentin Fottrell
:
•
‘ I’ ve felt like an outsider my whole life’: My father died without a will, leaving behind my stepmother and her 4 children. Do I have any rights to his estate?
•
‘ He was infatuated with her’: My brother had a drinking problem and took his own life. He left $ 6 million to his former girlfriend who used to buy him alcohol
•
‘
She had a will, but it was null and void’: My friend and her sister are fighting over their mother’ s life-insurance policy and bank account. Who should win out? | business |
Millennials and Generation X: This is why you're having such a hard time saving for retirement | The 40-year old data scientist, and mother of two, in an apologetic tone, says “ I just can’ t think about it now. I know I should, but I just can’ t right now. ”
A lawyer, 53, and father of a college age son, voices a similar response — “ No! I just don’ t have the bandwidth. ”
Are these two people, one millennial and one a member of Generation X, responding to a telemarketing sales call with a ‘ great deal?’ No, they are simply responding to a question exploring how they are thinking about retirement and if they were actively saving and planning right now. While current events are capturing our imaginations in real time, their impact on the retirement future of an entire generation may not be known for decades.
Amazon-size forests have given their life to the pulp on which volumes have been written explaining why people don’ t adequately save and plan for retirement.
There is the literacy argument. People just don’ t understand or lack the financial literacy to save, to invest, and to fully comprehend such basics as the miracle and magic of compound interest.
Read:
How to get a $ 1 million financial education that costs next to nothing
Then there is the inability of people to envision their ‘ future self.’ Simply put, people would rather buy a flat-screen television for themselves today, than save and invest for a future self who is effectively a stranger living in some distant and uncertain retirement universe. Flat-screen TV today or give money to a stranger? For many of us the response is, ‘ what size screen?’
The rising cost of living precludes many from living comfortably, let alone saving. College debt, housing costs, child care expenses, and more make saving difficult to impossible for many. For others, even the notion of planning become unimaginable.
All of these play some role. However, in recent years and days, there is another reason why retirement is not getting its due from people approaching peak earning and savings years. A reason that economists and retirement observers often overlook.
Pure economics — attention economics that is.
People only have so much attention to allocate to issues, problems, and decisions they navigate everyday. Just as an automobile driver has only so much attention to allocate to the road, every distraction detracts from their capacity to operate the vehicle safely. A cellphone call, a cup of coffee, a radio blasting a favorite song, a little one practicing their pitching arm with a chicken nugget — each of these chip away at the driver’ s attention and behavior.
Read:
You saved a lot of money for retirement. Now what’ s the smartest way to spend it?
Only economists, and those that plan their coffee breaks on a spreadsheet, believe that the average human has unlimited time, attention, and access to perfect information to do the ‘ rational thing’ — save, plan, invest. Most of us are simply muddling through. Our agendas are full. Or, as our 53-year-old lawyer emphatically states, “ I just don’ t have the bandwidth. ”
In recent years events have been pushing issues on the personal agendas of millennials and Generation X — now in their prime high stress work and family years — at an unprecedented velocity.
Over the past two years of COVID-19 there has been one fastball after another. Constant uncertainty, illness, death, changing work patterns, Delta, Omicron and other Greek lettered warning shots have commanded our attention. We were all forced to give our attention to the well-being of our loved ones living near and far. However,
MIT AgeLab
research indicates it was those caught in the middle, older millennials and younger Gen X’ ers with children and aging parents, that were the most stressed — forcing many to allocate their attention from planning a future retirement to simply getting by today.
Read:
How robots and your smart fridge can keep you out of a nursing home
Just as masks began to fall, inflation began to rise. The cost of living is now beyond the level of complaining, now it is beginning to hurt. Attention is being allocated to decisions that are framed around the question of what purchase is a necessity versus what purchase is a nicety?
And, then there is the uncertainty of Ukraine. Many now ask, how will the tragedy and suffering of millions, thousands of miles away, affect my family? Well beyond economic considerations, the shadow of global conflict with a nuclear superpower is now real to millennials and younger Gen X’ ers. Generations that had only heard about such geopolitical fears in stories told by older siblings, baby boomers, the Silent Generations and great grandparents who lived through World War II.
Before there can be retirement goal setting, planning, and investment decisions, there must be attention. Attention is the rarest of all asset classes. It can not be manufactured, grown, or pumped out of the ground. Millennials and many in Generation X are in their peak work, family, caregiving, community, and personal relationship years. COVID-19, inflation, and now geopolitics, is depleting the little attention they have left to plan for retirement. | business |
Starbucks CEO stepping down with Howard Schultz returning on an interim basis and pay of $ 1 | Starbucks Corp. announced Wednesday that Chief Executive Kevin Johnson will retire after 13 years with the company, and Howard Schultz, the company’ s founder and former CEO, will take on the role again on an interim basis.
Schultz will also rejoin the company’ s board, and will help with the search for a new CEO. He will be compensated $ 1 for his work.
Johnson was chief executive for
five years
after serving as chief operating officer. He has been on the board since 2009. He “ signaled ” last year that he would consider retirement as the COVID-19 pandemic began heading towards an end, Johnson said in a statement.
Johnson will step down from his current role on April 4, and will remain on the board until September. Starbucks
SBUX,
+3.75%
anticipates it will choose a permanent successor in the fall.
Mellody Hobson, Starbucks board chair, and Johnson will give an update during the coffee company’ s annual shareholders event, taking place on Wednesday.
“ During Schultz’ s tenure, Starbucks stock price gained 21,000% from the time of its initial public offering in 1992 until he stepped down as executive chairman in 2018, ” the company said in the announcement.
Shares rose 5% in Wednesday premarket trading after the news.
See:
Here’ s how retailers are tackling the delivery challenges that come with skyrocketing e-commerce sales post-COVID
Also:
Here’ s how a greener Starbucks will reward you for reusing your cup
“ While the company has initiated a search for a permanent CEO and expects to announce this leadership by the fall, we would not be surprised if this transition period leads to a permanent role ( again) for Mr. Schultz, ” wrote BTIG in a note following the news.
Analysts led by Peter Saleh are upbeat about the path ahead for Starbucks.
“ We believe that prior momentum is returning as coronavirus disruption fades
and customer mobility returns, setting up a strong sales and earnings recovery outlook over the coming quarters, ” the note said.
BTIG rates Starbucks stock buy with a $ 130 price target.
Starbucks was also upgraded to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan. Analysts maintained their $ 101 price target.
Traffic in the U.S. is still down 11% from pre-COVID levels, but JPMorgan says the recovery is under way. And average ticket is driving comparable sales results.
“ Taking price to an increasingly broad and frequent customer base always poses a risk, but the brand should still maintain its ‘ affordable luxury’ status, ” analysts said.
China comparable sales have been negative, with slower-than-anticipated improvement from the pandemic.
“ Getting timing right of China’ s domestic policy is beyond our purview, but as the worlds # 2 economy, we believe time will at least sort out COVID-era restrictions as it has nearly everywhere else in the world, ” JPMorgan said.
Also:
Dozens of major shareholders push Starbucks on its handling of union activity as company faces labor board complaint
In addition to the CEO transition, Starbucks also announced that starting wages will go up to a range of $ 15 to $ 23 by summer 2022; a store expansion goal to reach 55,000 company-operated and licensed stores in 100 markets by 2030; and the launch of new in-store equipment like Mastrena II espresso machines, the Starbucks Cold Brewer, Clover Vertica, a proprietary single-cup brewer, and MerryChef ovens.
“ Cold beverages accounted for nearly 70% of Starbucks total beverage sales last fiscal year – up 20 percentage points over the past three years, ” Starbucks said.
Starbucks is also committing to a $ 20 billion share buyback program over the next three years.
“ With this commitment, Starbucks is expecting to return more than $ 45 billion over seven years to shareholders for a total of ~40% of market cap as of March 4, 2022, while simultaneously delivering on its long-term commitment for double-digit non-GAAP earnings per share growth at scale, ” the company said.
Starbucks shares have slumped 21.6% over the past year while the S & P 500 index
SPX,
+0.23%
has gained 8.7%. | business |
Is your business ready for the Metaverse? | Accenture welcomes us to the `` Metaverse Continuum ''. A spectrum of digitally enhanced worlds, realities, and business models poised to revolutionize life and enterprise in the next decade in their Technology Vision 2022 report.
Vala Afshar is the Chief Digital Evangelist for Salesforce. Afshar is the author of The Pursuit of Social Business Excellence.
The Accenture Technology Vision 2022 report states that businesses are racing toward a future very different from the one they were designed to operate in. Is your business ready for the Metaverse? Accenture believes that the Metaverse is actionable today, and leaders must be ready. `` Welcome to the `` Metaverse Continuum '' -- a spectrum of digitally enhanced worlds, realities, and business models poised to revolutionize life and enterprise in the next decade, '' Accenture.
According to the report, 98% of executives believe continuous technological advances are becoming more reliable than economic, political, or social trends in informing their organization's long-term strategy. While 14% of executives report, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt their organization's business plans and operations, another 86% report that their organization has adapted to the disruption of the pandemic and has found a new normal.
The Technology Vision 2022 report explores how today's technology innovations are becoming the building blocks of our collective future. The trends investigate the entire continuum, from the virtual to the physical, across humans and machines alike, identifying where ambitious enterprises can find rich opportunity by uprooting themselves from today and planting themselves firmly in the future.
Excited to share # TechVision 2022: Meet Me in the Metaverse. We present a very different view - the Metaverse Continuum – that cuts through the # metaverse hype, demystifies the mythology, and outlines a clear path forward – starting today. https: //t.co/TzlrcwHg5I
The internet is being reimagined, and enterprises need to be ready for what comes next. With so much attention being paid to the future of the internet, it is critical leaders have a firm understanding of the new concepts emerging and their implications. While many technologies and efforts are encompassed by what Accenture defines as the `` Metaverse Continuum, '' thought leaders in this space often have different definitions ( some complementary, some contradictory) for the various ideas, and the fuzziness of the different terms at play can make discussions tricky.
Accenture sees the Metaverse as `` an evolution of the internet that enables a user to move beyond browsing to inhabiting and/ or participating in a persistent shared experience that spans the spectrum of our real world to the fully virtual and in between. '' While Web3 is an evolving term, Accenture used it to refer to the emerging initiatives that are leveraging technologies like blockchain and tokenization to build a more distributed data layer into the internet. Accenture notes that 71% of global executives state that the Metaverse will positively impact their organizations, with 42% believing it will be a breakthrough or transformational.
There is a converging of our digital future. `` It's useful to think about these evolutions as taking place on two fronts: the metaverse as a re-platforming of digital experiences and Web3 as reinventing how data moves through that system, '' Tech Vision 2022. 95% of global executives believe that future digital platforms need to offer unified experiences, enabling interoperability of customers ' data across different platforms and spaces. The maximal value of both Metaverse and Web3 will depend on the ways in which the two converge with one another.
We're building the next version of the physical world. The report notes that 92% of global executives agree that leading organizations will push the boundaries of the virtual world to make it more real, increasing the need for persistence and seamless navigation between the digital and physical worlds. And 74% of global executives report the number of IoT/edge devices deployed in their organizations significantly or exponentially increased over the past three years.
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are going to be useful for far more than just gaming. We explore the ways the technology will be used for training, marketing, product design, and much more.
There are three layers of the programmable world. The Connected, Experiential, and Material layers of the programmable world will enable new ways to augment, customize, automate, alter, and otherwise `` program '' our physical environments -- and they will introduce an entirely new competitive landscape. Digital technology is about to make its mark on the physical world, changing what we can do and how we live within it, and the companies that bring this technology to their employees ' and customers ' environments will quite literally be the ones to shape the next generation of life in this world. Therefore innovation in the physical world should be high on enterprises ' agendas. For example, consumers globally are crossing a tipping point in AR technology -- 56% would find personal value in using AR today or in the future. The global digital twin market, valued at $ 3.21 billion in 2020, is expected to reach $ 184.5 billion by 2030. The second layer brings programmability to your business and customers ' lives, starting with enabling the confluence of these technologies and technology layers.
The report suggests full stack programmability. Beyond the fundamentals of cross-device interactions, privacy, and security, becoming a leader in the programmable world will require wide-ranging exploration, experimentation, and development across the Connected, Experiential, and Material layers. Companies need to start working toward `` full stack '' programmability today.
`` The arrival of the programmable world will be the most disruptive turning point for people and businesses in decades. We're about to live in environments that can physically transform on command, that can be customized and controlled to an unprecedented degree, and that can change faster and more often than we have ever seen before, '' Technology Vision 2022 Report.
According to the report, we are entering a world with synthetic realness, where AI-generated data convincingly reflects the physical world. In this world of synthetic data, images, and chatbots, as well as augmented and virtual realities, we are forced to face the questions of what's real, what's not, and perhaps more importantly, when do we care? The report notes 96% of global executives agree that their organizations are committed to authenticating the origin of their data and genuine use of AI. And 65% of global consumers lack confidence in recognizing or identifying deepfake videos or synthetic content. According to the FBI, email-based scams alone cost businesses, more than $ 2 billion over a five-year period -- and the growing believability of these scams may very well cost them more. 73% of global consumers think that the number of times they interact with artificial intelligence ( AI) or AI-generated content will increase over the next three years.
What is a Metaverse? • digital currency• marketplace / e-commerce• NFTs• gaming• digital assets• natural language processing• digital humans • online shopping• workplace• social media• social entertainment events• infrastructure https: //t.co/A7kyzfiVL5 pic.twitter.com/SyJ2EdLdH7
According to the Tech Vision 2022 report, 69% of global executives report quantum computing will have a breakthrough or transformational impact on their organizations in the future. `` The evolution of this new generation of machines follows a pattern we 've seen before: Rapid growth drives demand for new tools which then transform industries by solving their fundamental problems, '' Tech Visions 2022.
The AI and ML deployments are well underway, but for CXOs the biggest issue will be managing these initiatives, and figuring out where the data science team fits in and what algorithms to buy versus build.
Why does high computing and performance matter? `` The Importance of High-Performance More and more data is being created and collected every day, and post-digital businesses want to leverage the insights that come from it -- thus driving demands for greater computing capabilities. IDC found that in 2020, 64.2ZB of data was created, captured, or replicated, and that number is expected to grow to 180ZB by 2025.171 But of all the data created in 2020, only 10.6% was useful for analysis or for AI/ML models, and only about 44% of that was actually used -- meaning currently, businesses are underutilizing their data and losing value. Today, 67% of global consumers expect companies to use technologies to solve society's large, complex problems because it will benefit them and their communities. The report suggests that the problem-solving capabilities enabled by this new wave of computing may lead to the biggest technological disruptions of our time. The report further emphasizes that the computers that will create and fuel the next generation of industry are already being built, and enterprises need to be part of this wave or risk being swept away by it. Are you ready for systemic change in your industry? What foundations will you need to rethink as these grand challenges are solved? How will you leverage partnerships in your next-generation innovation strategy? Do you have the skills to lead the search for new computing solutions? These are the key questions that must be addressed in order to prepare for the high-performance era.
The Accenture Technology Vision 2022 report is an incredibly comprehensive look at the Metaverse and the driving underpinning technology trends. The report highlights several companies across multiple industries that are leveraging the Metaverse Continuum to create a new business model and innovation opportunities.
To learn more, you can visit here.
Welcome to the 'Metaverse Continuum. ' Here's how to compete in it
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'Best Care for My Patient ' will give clinicians data-driven treatment insights, says Epic | ORLANDO, Fla. – The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the importance of ready access to data. In a sea of unknowns about the virus, analytics on a population-wide level helped provide insights for public health officials, providers and patients.
Now, said Dr. Jackie Gerhart, a physician at Epic who works in clinical informatics, the electronic health vendor is seeking to help clinicians use that data to shape patient care on an individualized level.
Gerhart sat down with Healthcare IT News at HIMSS22 to discuss Epic's wide-ranging patient database, Epic Research findings and how its forthcoming Best Care for My Patient tool can show clinicians others ' most effective practices around the country.
Q. How do you help to shape Epic's offerings as a physician?
A. Our role is to, number one, help with research and development in the software; number two, work on any new futures project, so things like data or any kind of analytics that could be used at the point of care or for future research.
And then we also work with any of our current healthcare customers to try to make sure that their experience is really good. So, for example, you may have read in different headlines that clinicians don't like their EHR, or you know, `` Oh, my God, I have to do it at night. ''
Part of our job is to try to decrease that in many different ways from within the software, but also by engaging with the government and by making sure that internally, people's billing processes are as efficient as possible so that we aren't stuck writing more in our notes than we actually have to. So that's kind of the main role of a physician at Epic.
Q. We 've been hearing a lot about Epic's Cosmos database, which draws on de-identified patient records from its customers. How can public health officials and clinicians use it to gain population-wide insights?
A. Cosmos, right now, contains records from 140 million patients and 2.2 billion clinician visits. The goal is, unlike a lot of other healthcare databases, you have to contribute data into it in order to be able to use the data from it – meaning all the different customers that are part of the community can choose to be part of Cosmos. If they do, we take de-identified data from their patients down to what's called a limited data set. And then that limited data set is then used, along with all of the other organizations that are participating.
We use that data for research, so anybody that's at an organization that contributes to Cosmos can do a query of the data.
There are three differentiators for Cosmos as a database. Number one, you can search it really fast. The second piece – which the CDC tells us when we work with them – is with regard to how representative it is of the U.S. population. The goal is to try to get as clear and as close to a representation of the U.S. population as we can. We 've been doing a lot of work with the CDC through COVID, and particularly working on larger data sets that the CDC may either not have access to right away, or they might not have a representative sample.
For example, in the last month, one of their MMWRs had to do with breakthrough infections for COVID. They have data from New York Public Health, and they have data from California Public Health. But again, those are two specific populations that don't necessarily represent the entire United States. So we 've been partnering together to look through Cosmos. Our research team and our data scientists will design a study along with the CDC, we 'll run the data, and then we 'll hopefully work together to put it out into a record. That's the third differentiator: the size of the database.
Q. What does the review process of these findings look like?
A. There are three kinds. The first is internal, and it's a two-team process. So on one team, there's a clinician, a data scientist and usually some kind of public health or research background person. And then there's the same thing on the other team. They both independently design a way to answer a broad question. They meet, they look at each other's methods, they work together to figure out which makes the most sense – then they go back apart and recode everything in the specific method. And then they come together and look at validations for their results. Again, this is more of an accuracy kind of check.
After that two-team process is done, if it's done internally, then we post it on our EpicResearch.org website. It doesn't necessarily draw any specific causal relationships. The goal is to say, `` We investigated this. Here are the preliminary findings, now, everyone else in the community go and study this even more and do some more rigorous statistical analysis. ''
Option two is: We do collaboration. That's a little bit like what I talked about with the CDC. We 've also done it with Kaiser Family Foundation and a few other different organizations like academic centers. In those cases, it can go one of two ways. It can either be similar, where we do an internal review process, or we submit it to a journal, and then the journal does [ its ] own peer-review process.
We 've also had members of the media who want to be validating a certain story. That is sort of the third category, which is not peer-reviewed, it's literally just answering a single question and sending them the data, and then having them and their internal analytics folks do it.
Q. So these are all population-wide insights. But can you talk to me a bit about Best Care for My Patient, and how that draws on the Epic database?
A. There's two places that we see this data set going: One is research, which is what I just talked to you about. And then there's Best Care, which is focusing on the one patient that is in front of me in my office as a clinician.
Let's say that you are a 30-year-old female who is coming in with hypertension, and you also have allergies, and you are on medication for your cholesterol. In this case, I want to find out how to treat your blood pressure. The idea is to try to do personalized and individualized medicine based on observational data from the rest of the community.
So there's 140 million patients in the database. I then put your criteria in – let's say it brings it down to 100,000 patients, and then I decide that I want to also include your hyperlipidemia. So now we're at like maybe 40,000 patients. In all of those 40,000 patients, when their clinician has been faced with that exact question of how to treat hypertension, what did those clinicians use? And what were their outcomes? Best Care for My Patient will display that.
Q. As a clinician, do you see clinicians having time to do this, given the intense pressure many already face to see as many patients as possible?
A. How I would address that is: It's one more tool in my tool belt to use if I want it. I might know a patient for five years, 10 years, 15 years, and have an idea of what I want to do to treat them. But there might be a different patient who I am less familiar with, or has other conditions that I just haven't read the literature on – like, what do you do for this condition if they have these three others?
And so it just gives me a little bit more information. It's meant to be very simple and easy to play with, such that you can use it at the point of care. If you want to dive deeper, then you can explore the data further. But for the normal average everyday clinician, the goal is to have minimal intervention and just present you with the data and then you choose how to use it.
Q. So this implementation is not live yet, correct? When will this go live?
A. We're aiming for about a year to a year and a half.
An inside look at the innovation, education, technology, networking and key events at the HIMSS22 Global Conference & Exhibition in Orlando.
Kat Jercich is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.Twitter: @ kjercichEmail: kjercich @ himss.orgHealthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication. | tech |
Before the war, Ukraine was working to become the IT hub of Europe | Ukraine recently digitized many of its government services and turned its focus toward attracting global tech leaders. That work will continue after the war, a Ukrainian official said.
Before Russian military forces invaded Ukraine, the Eastern European country was implementing a digital transformation of its government services, said Diana Rakus, head of the Expert Group on Attracting Investments to IT within Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation. Rakus spoke with Smart Cities Dive at the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas.
Despite the turmoil and bloodshed the country is facing as the war continues, Rakus said the ministry still holds the same vision: establishing Ukraine as the IT hub of Europe, making access to government services easier for all Ukrainians and attracting tech talent from around the world. Rakus said Ukrainians won't give up.
The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.
DIANA RAKUS: Our ministry, we're pretty young. We're only two years old, and our main goal was and is and will remain the same: to digitize our economy and to make Ukraine the IT hub of, at least, Europe, and if we can, the whole world. Our Ukrainian IT specialists are well-known around the whole world, so we have this space to succeed in this sphere.
In our ministry, we have several spheres of work and several goals. The first one is to digitize 100% of governmental services online. As for now, we have our main project, called Diia, which means 'action' in English.
Under this brand, we launched several projects. First of all, [ these are ] online services. We have a special website where there are almost 80 e-services for all citizens, starting from registration of their business [ and ] ending with the registration of their child's birth.
We also have a Diia application. In our application, we also have all our digital documents: I have my ID card there, I have my driver's license there, and [ a ] vaccination certificate.
We also got broadband in our country, and we are raising e-literacy among Ukrainian citizens.
And, of course, the sphere of our work is the development of [ the ] IT industry in Ukraine. For example, last month, we launched a special program for IT companies. It's called Diia City — it's like a special legal framework for IT companies in Ukraine and provides opportunities for them to develop, because we propose to them very comfortable business conditions, low tax rates and opportunities for investment attractions.
These are our main scopes of work for our ministry.
Ukraine is a very large territory. A lot of work on digitizing cities is decentralized. And the mayors of different cities do a really great job in this sphere.
For example, Kyiv also has its own application where you can pay for the parking, know every single thing about traffic in the city, or find something interesting for you and your family, for example, where you can spend your free time...
Citizens throughout the country shouldn't feel any discomfort when communicating with [ the ] state both at the local and/or national levels.
We have a very great talent pool of IT specialists in our country... The second thing [ is ] that our government does understand the opportunities that technologies give in the modern world, so [ a ] focus was made on them.
Our minister [ Ukraine Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov ] is only 31 years old, and he came from business. I personally also came from business, and a lot of the team are young, motivated people who understand that technology can change the world, and this is our tool to succeed and to become the leaders in this sphere.
We understood that we felt that could be our key to the world, and that's why we decided to... make Ukraine successful in this sphere.
Yeah, of course. There are a lot of results we can be proud of. We have already succeeded in these spheres, and even now that the war is happening.
We use all... [ of this technology and innovation ] to fight and to win in this war. We 've even created a separate IT army, and they work days and nights just to protect all of the things we have done.
We try to get used to it and to find opportunities in this situation. For example, when COVID happened, it was also like a jump for us. Of course, people were locked at home, and they had to find other ways to communicate with the government. That's why they started using their smartphones.
That situation helped us to convince people that technologies can be used for the same thing now.
People see that using all these innovative things can be even more useful and can have more results than traditional weapons, therefore using technologies for cyber defense and raising informational awareness is of great importance.
We don't give up. We really had ambitious plans to be the IT hub for Europe, and we 'll do our best to succeed in this sphere.
As for now, our first goal is to win this war. And then we 'll continue to do all these things that we're good at.
Last month, we had a Diia summit. It was a conference where we presented our results and plans for the next year. And my colleague said that our IT specialists are very well-known around the world. Of course, they know how to use all these technologies.
Our goal is [ not for international companies to ] hire these specialists, but international specialists will come to [ work for ] Ukrainian companies because if they are Ukrainian, they are successful ones...
Don't give up, and believe in what you do.
Central technology roles are changing in retail as executives tackle operation improvements, the supply chain and consumer experience.
Despite a plethora of tools and best practices, many organizations still fail to properly track, budget and account for technology.
Central technology roles are changing in retail as executives tackle operation improvements, the supply chain and consumer experience.
Despite a plethora of tools and best practices, many organizations still fail to properly track, budget and account for technology. | tech |
Volkswagen keeps Changchun factory shut on Thursday, Shanghai to reopen | ( Recasts with latest information from Volkswagen that the Changchun factory will stay shut on Thursday)
BERLIN, March 16 ( Reuters) - Volkswagen Group China said on Wednesday it would as a precautionary measure pause production for another day in Changchun due to COVID cases, but would resume production in Shanghai on Thursday after a 48 hour suspension.
`` Due to the current volatile COVID situation in China we are temporarily planning on a daily basis, '' the company said in a statement, saying it was its latest update.
`` What we have lost so far in production can be recovered, i.e. via additional shifts, once the situation eases. ''
The German carmaker's chief executive Stephan Woellensteinin had earlier on Wednesday told a video press conference that the Changchun factory, which Volkswagen runs via a joint venture with Chinese automaker FAW Group, would restart on Thursday.
Volkswagen Group China said on Monday that it had suspended production in China's Changchun city from Monday to Wednesday due to outbreaks of COVID. ( Reporting by Jan Schwartz and Brenda Goh, Writing by Miranda Murray in Berlin,, editing by Emma Thomasson and Louise Heavens) | business |
Losartan is not effective in reducing COVID-19 lung injuries, researchers find -- ScienceDaily | This drug was investigated based on early reports suggesting benefit in preclinical models of the 2003 SARS virus, a close family member to the current SARS-CoV-2 virus. This study was conducted across 12 U.S. academic research institutions.
The U of M Medical School and School of Public Health research team sought to determine if a common blood pressure medication might decrease lung injury in patients admitted to the hospital with COVID-19. Their results found that losartan treatment did not reduce lung injury in patients admitted with COVID-19, and had no effect on mortality.
The researchers also found that critically-ill patients treated with losartan needed additional, temporary blood pressure support -- though this did not lead to worse outcomes overall.
`` Even though this particular drug was not effective for the treatment of COVID-19, repurposing inexpensive and relatively safe medications remains an important approach to contain healthcare costs, '' said Michael Puskarich, MD, an associate professor in emergency medicine at the U of M Medical School and co-author of this study.
`` Finding effective treatments for COVID-19 that can be widely used across both the developed and developing world remains an important ongoing area of investigation, '' Puskarich said, who is also an emergency physician at Hennepin Healthcare.
This study was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The researchers note that more studies of protein and cellular signaling from ALPS-COVID trial participants are ongoing.
`` We hope that future study findings of these proteins may show insights into why the body responds the way it does to COVID-19, '' said Christopher Tignanelli, MD, MS, FACS, FAMIA, an assistant professor in surgery at the U of M Medical School and co-author on this study. `` Critically, this will help us understand why some people develop severe disease following COVID-19 infection and others are asymptomatic. '' | science |
Google I/O 2022 developer conference slated for May 11-12 | This year's conference will offer all content virtually and will be free for everyone.
Stephanie Condon is a senior staff writer for Red Ventures based in Portland, Oregon, covering business technology for ZDNet.
Google I/O, the tech giant's annual developer conference, is taking place this year on May 11-12. All content this year will be available virtually and free for everyone.
After canceling the major event in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Google made the conference virtual in 2021. This year, there will be a limited in-person audience at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, primarily comprised of Googlers and some partners.
Content this year will be provided on demand and in different languages, with some translated content such as captioned videos available shortly after the event.
The event gives developers a chance to network, talk to Google experts and get a first look at Google's latest developer products. Last year, Google gave a preview of Android 12, and it announced updates to Maps, Search, and Workspace, among other things.
This year's event is likely to include more information about Android 13, which was released in preview last month.
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Starbucks CEO Johnson retires as pandemic wanes, union drive heats up | - Starbucks Chief Executive Officer Kevin Johnson will retire on April 4, the company said on Wednesday, and the coffee chain's founder Howard Schultz will serve as interim CEO.
Johnson had signaled to the board of directors a year ago that he might retire when the COVID-19 pandemic waned, he said in a company statement.
After the pandemic shuttered Starbucks cafes around the globe, the company, under Johnson's watch, said it would start building some smaller stores with less room for seating and more emphasis on to-go and drive-thru orders.
Customers also placed more orders through the Starbucks mobile app, but that has led to long lines and overworked employees in some areas.
That barista burnout, as well as accusations by some workers that they were not getting enough protection from the deadly virus when at work, contributed to a surge of union organizing in U.S. locations.
On Tuesday, a federal labor board accused Starbucks of unlawfully retaliating against two employees in a Phoenix, Arizona cafe for trying to unionize their store.
Johnson has been at Starbucks for 13 years, the last five as CEO.
In a letter to employees on Wednesday, Johnson said that he has `` fond memories of making beverages together, laughing together, and sharing stories with one another. ''
The company said it would provide more information during its annual shareholder meeting later on Wednesday.
The board expects to have selected a new leader by the fall, with help from executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates, which it enlisted in 2021. ( Reporting by Hilary Russ; editing by Jason Neely and Nick Zieminski) | business |
France boosts economic support to ease Ukraine crisis fallout | `` We have to prepare for a long crisis, '' Prime Minister Jean Castex told a news conference as he presented the new `` resilience plan ''.
`` We must prepare without delay measures to limit the impact on our companies, our jobs and our purchasing power '', he told journalists.
With a presidential election looming next month, the government already last year capped gas and power price increases and offered financial handouts to low-income households to cope with higher energy prices and inflation.
As the Ukraine crisis puts additional pressure on prices, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said that the additional measures would bring the total bill to 25-26 billion euros ( $ 27.5- $ 28.6 billion).
Among the new measures, Castex said the government would cover more than half of the cost of companies ' increase in their gas and power bills to help absorb losses they would have otherwise suffered.
Meanwhile, firms struggling with high energy prices or the loss of export markets would be able to get tax and payroll charges postponed.
Castex said that the government would also prolong and expand state-guaranteed loans set up during the COVID-19 crisis as well as reactivate a subsidised furlough scheme for firms suffering from a drop in client demand.
With fuel prices at a record high, a 15 cent per litre fuel discount announced this weekend would be broadened to include natural gas used in vehicles while TotalEnergies had indicated it would add an additional discount at its petrol stations, Castex said.
The new package also included measures targetting the fishing, road transport and construction sectors.
( $ 1 = 0.9088 euro)
( Reporting by Dominique Vidalon and Leigh Thomas; Editing by GV De Clercq) | business |
Volkswagen: Presentation - Full Year 2021 CFO Roadshow | Full Year 2021 CFO Roadshow
Dr. Arno Antlitz
March 16 / 17 / 21, 2022
Disclaimer
The following presentations as well as remarks/comments and explanations in this context contain forward-looking statements on the business development of the Volkswagen Group. These statements are based on assumptions relating to the development of the economic, political and legal environment in individual countries, economic regions and markets, and in particular for the automotive industry, which we have made on the basis of the information available to us and which we consider to be realistic at the time of going to press. The estimates given entail a degree of risk, and actual developments may differ from those forecast.
At the time of preparing these presentations, it is not yet possible to conclusively assess the specific effects of the latest developments in the Russia-Ukraine conflict on the Volkswagen Group's business, nor is it possible to predict with sufficient certainty to what extent further escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict will impact on the global economy and growth in the industry in fiscal year 2022.
Any changes in significant parameters relating to our key sales markets, or any significant shifts in exchange rates or commodities relevant to the Volkswagen Group or the supply with parts ( especially semiconductors), or deviations in the actual effects of the Covid-19 pandemic from the scenario presented will have a corresponding effect on the development of our business. In addition, there may be departures from our expected business development if the assessments of the factors influencing sustainable value enhancement and of risks and opportunities presented develop in a way other than we are currently expecting, or if additional risks and opportunities or other factors emerge that affect the development of our business.
We do not update forward-looking statements retrospectively. Such statements are valid on the date of publication and can be superseded.
This information does not constitute an offer to exchange or sell or an offer to exchange or buy any securities.
Key Highlights 2021
S I G N I F I C A N T P R O G R E S S
in profitability and robustness of our business model shown despite significant semiconductor supply bottlenecks
R E S T R U C T U R I N G A T M A N
initiated and the full takeover of Navistar will support TRATON's profitable Global champion strategy
S I G N I F I C A N T S T E P S
− Re-tooling of our plants to produce electric vehicles fully under way
in transformation achieved
− Acceleration of BEV margin parity in Western Europe progressing
− Strengthened value drivers with investments along the battery value chain
N E W A U T O
Despite lower Sales, solid Figures due to our robust Business
January to December 2019 vs. 2020 vs. 2021
V E H I C L E S
S A L E S
S A L E S
R E V E N U E
[ m vehicles ]
[ € bn ]
− 2. 4 m
− 1%
11.0
252.6
222.9
250.2
9.2
8.6
2 0 1 9
2 0 2 0
2 0 2 1
2 0 1 9
2 0 2 0
2 0 2 1
O P E R A T I N G P R O F I T 1
A N D M A R G I N
[ € bn ] Margin [% ]
7.6% 4.8% 8.0%
+ 0. 7 b n
19.320.0
10.6
2 0 1 9
2 0 2 0
2 0 2 1
1 before special items
Strong Automotive Net Cash Flow safeguards the Funding of the Transformation
January to December 2019 vs. 2020 vs. 2021
[ € bn ]
R E P O R T E D N E T
N E T L I Q U I D I T Y 1
C A S H F L O W 1
[ € bn ]
[ € bn ]
+ 2. 0 b n
+ 5. 4 b n
15.5
− 2. 2 b n
26.8
26.7
13.5
10.0
10.8
21.3
8.6
6.4
2 0 1 9
2 0 2 0
2 0 2 1
2 0 1 9
2 0 2 0
2 0 2 1
2 0 1 9
2 0 2 0
2 0 2 1
This is an excerpt of the original content. To continue reading it, access the original document here.
Attachments
Disclaimer
Volkswagen AG published this content on 16 March 2022 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 16 March 2022 10:17:21 UTC. | business |
China Eastern Airlines seeks U.S. approval to shift New York-Shanghai flights | The carrier said because of `` evolving coronavirus pandemic control measures in the Shanghai region, China Eastern has been instructed '' by Chinese aviation officials `` to divert Shanghai-bound passenger flights arriving from the U.S. to certain alternate airports in China. ''
China Eastern asked approval starting March 31 to move existing twice-weekly Shanghai westbound passenger flights from New York to China's Fuzhou Changle International Airport through the end of April.
China's aviation regulator said on Tuesday it will divert 106 international flights scheduled to arrive in Shanghai to other domestic cities from March 21 to May 1 due to COVID-19.
The impacted flights include those operated by Air China, China Eastern, Shanghai Airlines, Juneyao Air and Spring Airlines, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said.
Shanghai, which reported five new local symptomatic transmissions and nearly 200 domestically transmitted asymptomatic carriers on Tuesday, said on Wednesday it has identified some key areas and would finish testing all people in those areas twice between Wednesday and Thursday.
Tesla Inc is suspending production at its Shanghai factory on Wednesday and Thursday, according to a notice sent internally and to suppliers, while the notice did not give a reason for the stoppage. Volkswagen Group China said it would resume production in Shanghai on Thursday after a 48-hour suspension.
( Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Bernard Orr)
By David Shepardson | business |
Molecular imaging uncovers effects of COVID-19 on the brain -- ScienceDaily | Neurological symptoms are present in roughly two-thirds of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Symptoms include fatigue, loss of smell, attention problems and memory loss. Patients who have more severe COVID-19 cases, are older, or have pre-existing conditions are more likely to experience these neurological issues.
Molecular imaging with PET or SPECT has been used to determine how COVID-19 affects the brain; however, these scans often show conflicting results. To make sense of the data, researchers conducted a comprehensive, systematic and critical review of molecular imaging studies in neuropsychiatric COVID-19 cases.
Their report was structured according to neurological symptoms and how they developed over time. The five symptoms included in the report were encephalitis, Parkinsonism and other neurodegenerative diseases, focal symptoms/lesions, encephalopathy, and post-COVID-19 syndrome. This helped the researchers to understand potential underlying ( and most likely diverse) causes of the symptoms and to unravel discrepancies in the PET and SPECT literature.
`` The presented studies are of high importance for patients struggling with neurological or cognitive aftermaths of COVID-19, '' said Philipp T. Meyer, MD, PhD, head of the Department of Nuclear Medicine of the Medical Center-University of Freiburg, in Freiburg, Germany. `` To the best of our knowledge there are no convincing studies clearly demonstrating relevant and irreversible brain damage, except for disease complications like brain infarcts and bleedings. Thus, from our perspective, in the vast majority of cases there is no reason to assume that reported impairments will be permanent and not responsive to treatment. ''
What are the implications of this research for the future of molecular imaging of COVID-19 neurological symptoms? First, there is a clear need for further well-designed studies. `` These need to be prospective, recruit larger patient cohorts, follow accepted syndrome or stage definitions, and use proper methodology, '' noted Jonas A. Hosp, MD, attending physician of the Department of Neurology and Clinical Neuroscience of the Medical Center-University of Freiburg, in Freiburg, Germany. `` Carefully designed studies of COVID-19 populations will be of great interest moving forward. ''
Second, there are several potential clinical applications of molecular imaging in COVID-19 patients with cognitive or neurological impairment. `` It may be the case that COVID-19 unmasked or hastened a pre-existing neurodegenerative disease like Parkinson's or Alzheimer's, '' said Meyer. `` Molecular imaging could be used to identify these patients. ''
This study was made available online in February 2022.
The authors of `` Molecular imaging findings on acute and long-term effects of COVID-19 on the brain: A systematic review '' include Philipp T. Meyer and Ganna Blazhenets, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Medical Center-University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; Sabine Hellwig, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Center-University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; and Jonas A. Hosp, Department of Neurology and Clinical Neuroscience, Medical Center-University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany. | science |
Antelope, a Gulf region cultural icon, gets another chance at survival -- ScienceDaily | The Arabian oryx, a kind of antelope, became extinct in the wild in 1972 due to hunting and poaching. However, it continued to exist in captivity through breeding programs at the Phoenix Zoo and by private collectors in Saudi Arabia ( indeed, it was the first animal to be rescued from extinction in the wild). It was historically -- and remains -- a cultural and national icon in the Gulf region.
A decade later, the species was'rewilded ' and today, wild populations totalling 1,200 animals exist in around the world, mainly on the Arabian Peninsula. There are 6,000-7,000 animals in captivity, 600 of which are in the Al-Wusta Wildlife Reserve, in Oman.
According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the Arabian oryx continues to face a high risk of extinction in the wild. Yet, until now, no breeding strategies that account for the genetic diversity have been devised.
Associate Professor Jaime Gongora, his former PhD student Qais Al Rawahi, and his colleagues decided to address this by analysing the population's DNA and proposing breeding strategies based on the results. Their study on this has been published in Royal Society Open Science.
`` There is more to the preservation of the Arabian oryx than conservation, '' Associate Professor Gongora said. `` Historically and now, it has strong cultural significance in the Arabian Peninsula due to its unique physical features and strength, enabling it to live in harsh desert environments. It has even become a national icon in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. That's why we are working so hard to ensure it survives -- for the oryx itself and to keep this cultural connection alive. ''
`` This work in such an iconic species could serve as a benchmark for the long-term sustainability of other conservation programs. This includes those taking place at the Al-Wusta Wildlife Reserve involving the Sand Gazelle, the Mountain Gazelle and the Nubian Ibex. ''
The Arabian oryx
Arabian oryx are unique animals distinguished by the length of their horns, which can grow up to one metre. They can travel 75km a day, searching for food, and are known for their'sixth sense ': they can sense the location of incoming rain and move towards it to drink, as well as consume plants that thrive in moister conditions, like acacias. With a lifespan of between 15 and 20 years, they are a key food source for other species on the Arabian Peninsula including striped hyenas, Arabian wolves, and lynxes.
Diversifying the herds
The researchers gathered and tested genetic samples from 138 Arabian oryxes at the Al-Wusta Wildlife Reserve, as well as 36 historical samples from the Phoenix Zoo -- the offspring of a herd established there in the 1970s. They studied the maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA and biparentally inherited single nucleotide polymorphisms -- genetic variations used to identify species.
To their relief, the Arabian oryx's gene pool was moderately diverse, meaning that herds can respond to changing environments and maintain good health. In fact, at 58 percent of the total diversity, the current-day sample was more genetically diverse than the historical ones. `` This means that conservation strategies based on random mating could be reasonably successful, '' said the lead author of the study, Associate Professor Gongora.
Yet there was room for improvement: they discovered three ancestral groups, but their genetics were not evenly distributed across the current-day herds in the wildlife reserve. Based on this, they suggest a targeted breeding strategy whereby females can breed with males from the other genetic lineages. `` To ensure the survival of the species, it's not just about population size -- it's about genetic diversity, '' Associate Professor Gongora said.
Biobanking a cultural icon
Together with his colleagues, Associate Professor Gongora is working with the Al-Wusta Wildlife Reserve to implement this strategy -- to kick off once COVID-19 travel restrictions lift.
The researchers also recommend that the Arabian oryx genetic samples be stored in a biobank for future genetic analyses. In addition, biobanking of eggs and sperm samples could also be considered as a long-term insurance policy against extinction. | science |
Cue Health's Pioneering Smart Home Lab and PCR-quality COVID-19 Test Now Available in Canada | Cue's molecular COVID-19 self-test provides lab-quality results in 20 minutes
SAN DIEGO, March 16, 2022 /CNW/ -- Cue Health ( `` Cue '') ( Nasdaq: HLTH), the healthcare technology company behind the most accurate at-home COVID-19 test * in the U.S., today announced that its molecular COVID-19 test is now available to individual consumers in Canada. The Cue Health Monitoring System ( Reader) and Cue's molecular COVID-19 test for home, can be accessed through Cue's eCommerce site and in-app shop. Canadian consumers can also sign up for the Cue+ Foundation membership, which provides users with unlimited access to Cue's supervised COVID-19 test by virtual proctor in English and French for travel, work, or school; ten ( 10) COVID-19 tests are included in each membership, as well as ongoing discounts on Cue products.
Cue has received Interim Order authorization from Health Canada to sell and distribute its COVID-19 test for both professional use at the point-of-care and consumer self-testing. Cue's test uses molecular nucleic acid amplification technology ( NAAT), providing lab-quality results directly to connected mobile devices in 20 minutes. The test can detect all known COVID-19 variants and can be used on adults and children ( ages 2 and over), with or without symptoms. The supervised test meets current COVID-19 testing entry requirements for international travel in many countries around the world, including Canada and the U.S., and the results are also often accepted by employers, schools, and sports and entertainment venues.
`` Following the successful launch of our smart home lab platform in the U.S., we are pleased to now offer Canadian consumers access to our molecular COVID-19 self-test that combines accuracy, speed, and reliability, '' said Ayub Khattak, co-founder and CEO of Cue Health. `` Canadians will now have a more convenient molecular testing solution that gives them accurate results when they want peace of mind or to protect their loved ones, when traveling, returning to work, or visiting entertainment and sports venues. ''
Last year, Cue announced a partnership with Air Canada to provide U.S.-based passengers with access to Cue's molecular COVID-19 test for their travel needs. Cue also provides tests to other world-class organizations like Johns Hopkins Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Google, the National Basketball Association ( NBA), and Major League Baseball ( MLB), among many others. Looking ahead, Cue is working on new diagnostic tests - including for other respiratory illnesses, sexual diseases, women's and men's health, cardiometabolic health, and more - all of which will be compatible with the connected Cue Reader.
* Based on clinical study results submitted to FDA for other EUA molecular home tests. | business |
Scientists devise new technique to increase chip yield from semiconductor wafer -- ScienceDaily | Semiconductor chips commonly found in smart phones and computers are difficult and complex to make, requiring highly advanced machines and special environments to manufacture.
Their fabrication is typically done on silicon wafers and then diced into the small chips that are used in devices. However, the process is imperfect and not all chips from the same wafer work or operate as desired. These defective chips are discarded, lowering semiconductor yield while increasing production cost.
The ability to produce uniform wafers at the desired thickness is the most important factor in ensuring that every chip fabricated on the same wafer performs correctly.
Nanotransfer-based printing -- a process that uses a polymer mould to print metal onto a substrate through pressure, or'stamping ' -- has gained traction in recent years as a promising technology for its simplicity, relative cost-effectiveness, and high throughput.
However, the technique uses a chemical adhesive layer, which causes negative effects, such as surface defects and performance degradation when printed at scale, as well as human health hazards. For these reasons, mass adoption of the technology and consequent chip application in devices has been limited.
In their study, which was published in the peer-reviewed journal ACS Nano, the research team from NTU and KIMM reported that their chemical-free printing technique, when combined with metal-assisted chemical etching -- a method used to enhance the contrast on surfaces to make nanostructures visible -- resulted in semiconductor wafers with nanowires ( nanostructures in cylindrical form) that were highly uniform and scalable. The semiconductor also demonstrated better performance when compared with current chips in the market. Moreover, the fabrication method is also fast and leads to high chip yield.
The study is an example of ground-breaking research that supports the NTU 2025 strategic plan, which seeks to address humanity's grand challenges and accelerate the translation of research discoveries into innovations that mitigate impact on the environment and on the human health.
New chemical-free printing technique leads to high chip yield
The newly developed nanotransfer printing technique developed by NTU and KIMM is accomplished by transferring Gold ( Au) nanostructure layers onto a Silicon ( Si) substrate at low temperature ( 160°C) to form a highly uniform wafer with nanowires that can be controlled to the desired thickness during fabrication.
The printing technique, which is chemical-free, works by triggering direct chemisorption of the thin metal films under heat -- a chemical reaction that creates a strong bond between a substrate surface and the substance that is adsorbed.
This industrial compatible technique allows a wafer to be fabricated quickly and uniformly at scale ( from nanometres to inches). At the same time, the fabricated wafer is almost defect-free, meaning that little to no chip are discarded due to poor performance.
In lab tests, the joint research team was able to achieve more than 99 per cent yield transfer of a 20-nanometre thick Au film onto a six-inch Si wafer. This printable wafer size was limited to the laboratory setup, and the NTU-KIMM team believes their technique can easily be scaled up for use on a twelve-inch wafer -- the mainstream wafer size in the current production lines of semiconductor chipmakers like Samsung, Intel and GlobalFoundries.
When the method was adopted to fabricate a six-inch wafer, results showed the printed layer remained intact with minimal bending during etching -- a process that commonly cause layers to separate -- demonstrating the outstanding uniformity and stability of the technique developed by NTU and KIMM.
Furthermore, when 100 light sensors, known as photodetectors, were fabricated into the six-inch wafer, excellent uniformity of performance was achieved, underlining its excellent potential for the technique to be used in commercial mass production.
Technique opens door to lower cost semiconductor chip
Co-lead researcher, NTU Assistant Professor Kim Munho from the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering said the uniformity, scalability and stability of the team's technique overcomes the main bottleneck present in existing nanotransfer printing methods.
The achievement by the NTU and KIMM research team in developing a method to manufacture semiconductor chips more cost-effectively could lead to significant advances in electronics and light-based devices added Asst Prof Kim.
`` The technique devised by the research team from NTU and KIMM has proven to be effective in creating wafer with excellent uniformity, which translates into fewer defective semiconductor chips. The reality of global chip supply is its vulnerability to many external factors, including shortage of materials and unexpected events like the supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our newly developed method thus has potential to relieve the tension on the global chip supply in future by increasing chip yield. Moreover, chip makers may also enjoy greater cost-efficiency with higher yields, '' said Asst Prof Kim.
Highlighting the significance of the work, co-lead author Dr. Jeong Jun-Ho, Principal Researcher from the Nano-Convergence Manufacturing Systems Research Division at KIMM, said, `` The technique developed by the NTU-KIMM team is a new concept of low-cost mass production technology for highly uniform and scalable semiconductor nanostructures, which can be applied to the mass production of nanophotonics, high performance nano-solar cells, next-generation secondary batteries and others. ''
Dr. Jeong, who is also the Director of Research Planning and Coordination Division at KIMM, added that the collaboration between NTU and KIMM is an example of a successful international partnership which has led to the joint application of patents.
The research team has filed for patents in Korea and Singapore for the technique they developed.
The team spent three years to design, fabricate and test the new technique, which was carried out at NTU's Nanyang NanoFabrication Centre ( N2FC).
As next steps, the research team is aiming to scale up their technique with an industrial partner for commercialisation within the next few years. | science |
China Moves to Stabilize Its Stock Markets and Boost Economic Growth | Hong Kong's stock market is buoyed by the news out of China's state council.
Isaac Lawrence/AFP via Getty Images
China’ s top administrative authority said it would work to stabilize Chinese stock markets and boost economic growth, state-run Xinhua News Agency
reported.
The financial stability and development committee of China’ s State Council concluded Wednesday that it would take “ concrete actions ” to boost the economy in the first quarter, according to the report, which was also posted on the government’ s website. Authorities will rely on monetary policy as well as new loans to achieve its goals.
read this
Alibaba Jumps. Here’ s What Sparked the Turnaround.
“ Stable operation of the capital market ” was another key priority of the meeting highlighted by Xinhua, with new market-friendly policies set to be introduced in coordination with financial regulators.
The news sparked
a big stock market rally
, with the
Shanghai Composite
climbing 3.5% and Hong Kong’ s
Hang Seng Index
surging 9.1%, the index’ s biggest one-day gain since 2008. Shares in some of China’ s largest companies soared, with tech giants
Alibaba
( ticker: BABA) and
JD.com
( JD) notching gains of 27% and 36% in Hong Kong, respectively.
A plan of intervention from the Chinese government comes after a brutal selloff in stocks that
has accelerated in the last week
. The gains for Alibaba, JD.com, and others mostly undo recent declines; both stocks had previously lost more than a quarter of their value in the past five days, and remain down around 20% so far this year.
Despite the Hang Seng Index’ s historic jump on Wednesday, the key index of Chinese stocks is still deep in correction territory, down almost 14% this year and some 40% below its all-time high close in 2018.
“ The speed at which Beijing has responded to this week’ s sell-off would suggest it doesn’ t want to let things drift out of control, ” said Russ Mould, an analyst at broker AJ Bell. “ Its key goal is common prosperity and stock markets matter because a lot of Chinese retail investors have money in equities, so their wealth is at stake if shares are plummeting in value. ”
Recent downward pressure on U.S.-listed Chinese stocks in particular has been linked to a painful trifecta of factors. These are ongoing U.S. regulatory concerns over listing rules, new Covid-19 lockdowns in China, and the existential risk of future sanctions if China aids Russia in its war on Ukraine.
“ Beijing has vowed to introduce policies that benefit markets although the big unknown is still whether the country will side with Russia, ” Mould noted.
The news out of China included multiple positive developments on the regulatory front, with the State Council also outlining support for overseas listings.
The threat that Chinese stocks could be delisted in the U.S. over a lack of accounting transparency
has been a major headwind
for the country’ s overwhelmingly foreign-listed technology sector in recent months. The Chinese government has apparently maintained good communications with U.S. regulators and have been working on a cooperation plan.
Tech companies got more positive signs from the State Council, which said authorities should “ steadily advance and complete the rectification work on large platform companies as soon as possible ” through transparent and predictable regulation.
Write to Jack Denton at
jack.denton @ dowjones.com | business |
WTO chief welcomes COVID shot patent plan, drugmakers balk | The World Trade Organization ( WTO) praised a provisional deal to waive patent rights for COVID-19 vaccines after more than a year of deadlock, though drugmakers said the move risked undermining the industry's ability to respond to future health crises.
The United States, the European Union, India and South Africa agreed on Tuesday on key elements for a waiver.
It now needs the backing of the 164 members of the WTO, which takes decisions based on consensus, so rejection by just one country could still block an accord.
`` This is a major step forward, '' WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said after Wednesday's agreement was announced. `` But we are not there yet. We have more work to do to ensure that we have the support of the entire WTO membership. ''
If approved, the agreement would mean countries could permit domestic manufacturers to produce vaccines without patent-holder consent for three or five years. But only developing countries accounting for less than 10% of global exports of COVID-19 shots in 2021 could do this.
That would appear to exclude China but clear India, which banned vaccine exports for much of 2021.
Global drugmakers in the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations ( IFPMA) said the move could undermine their ability to respond to future crises.
`` Biopharmaceutical companies reaffirm their position that weakening patents now when it is widely acknowledged that there are no longer supply constraints of COVID-19 vaccines, sends the wrong signal, '' IFPMA director general Thomas Cueni said.
The People's Vaccine Alliance, a coalition of over 90 campaign groups, said the proposal ignored other intellectual property barriers such as trade secrets and failed to include treatments that could save millions of lives.
`` In a crisis, half measures are not acceptable, '' it said.
The provisional agreement says WTO members should decide within six months on an extension to cover diagnostics and therapeutics.
Pfizer declined to comment on the initiative and its German vaccine partner BioNTech had no immediate comment. The two have pledged to provide 2 billion doses of their COVID vaccine to low and middle income countries in 2021 and 2022.
AstraZeneca, the maker of another major COVID vaccine, also declined to comment.
COVAX, global programme to provide vaccines to poorer nations, has been struggling this year to place more than 300 million doses, as supply and donations have ramped up.
Poorer nations have face challenges ranging from limits on cold-chain shortage to vaccine hesitancy and inadequate funds to support distribution. ( Reporting by Ludwig Burger and Philip Blenkinsop Editing by Edmund Blair and Mark Potter) | business |
Can ethical advisory boards save startups from Big Tech’ s mistakes? | Imagine if you could get advice from anyone in the world. Who would you speak to?
That’ s the premise of Stockholm-based audio app Anyone. Five minutes on the phone with, well, anyone, to chat about everything from careers to parenting, for as low as $ 2.
There’ s a risk that the counsel offered to users could be rubbish, or at worst, dangerous — even if it’ s well-intentioned. But Anyone founders David Orlic and Alfred Malmros didn’ t want the platform to go the way of the Facebooks, Clubhouses and Twitters of the world, where hate speech, extremism and disinformation have been rife.
“ I’ ve seen firsthand in my career how a group of fantastic people can design things that can have unexpected outcomes, ” says Malmros, who has ten years of experience in tech, including six years at Google.
So despite it being early days for the company — it was founded in 2020 and has just twelve employees — the team decided to create an external ethics board to solve just these issues.
These kinds of boards — which help companies anticipate and mitigate any potential negative impact of their products — have traditionally only existed at some big corporates, biotechs or medical companies. They are not a legal requirement. But more startups are experimenting with them as they seek to avoid the mistakes of the previous generation of tech companies.
Entrepreneurs are taking a hard look at how their products could affect the humans and the planet around them, and it’ s no wonder. Consumers and employees are putting increased pressure on businesses to be more environmentally and socially conscious.
And in the last decade, tech employees and entrepreneurs have witnessed the perils that come with excluding ethics from product decisions. Think the Cambridge Analytica scandal, where the personal data of 50m Facebook users was harvested and given to Donald Trump’ s election campaign.
“ Think about the Spotify conversation with Joe Rogan, where Spotify is like ‘ we’ re not responsible for the content on the platform’. That has been a defence for two decades in Silicon Valley, and we never want to have that kind of conversation, ” says Malmros.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said in a public letter that it has a “ critical role to play in supporting creator expression ” and protecting users simultaneously. But that the platform should not serve as a “ content censor ”.
Ek also said that Spotify is working to add a content advisory to podcast episodes that discuss Covid-19, which can direct listeners to a dedicated Covid-19 hub.
“ The times are gone when it was ok for a platform to get it wrong, ” adds Malmros. “ Where we are in tech right now is kind of equivalent to big pharma or big tobacco or big oil. If we don’ t build ( our product) right, I don’ t think we will exist in five years time. ”
Ethical advisory boards have been implemented by Big Techs over the years with mixed results. In 2019, Google announced an external advisory council to help the company develop new technologies, including artificial intelligence, responsibly. Less than a week later, the council was disbanded over outcries from employees about some of the people selected to be board members.
To find out more about how ethics boards operate, I sat in on one of Anyone’ s monthly board meetings.
This particular session took place over Zoom for an hour. It included the four members of the ethics board, as well as Malmros and Orlic, Vjera Orbanic, Anyone’ s head of community, and cofounder Sam Drucker. Other members of Anyone’ s product and tech team are also welcome to join the monthly meetings if there are topics discussed relevant to their area of work.
To approach these questions, the board uses a method called a weighted decision matrix, which allows members to anatomise an issue and come to a resolution in an unbiased and objective manner.
Anyone’ s external board was put together by Ethical Intelligence, an ethics-as-a-service organisation working with SMEs and, in the last six months, a dozen startups.
One member is an expert in data bias and diversity. Another is a philosopher and an expert in cyberbullying and digital communities, who maps out the potential outcomes of Anyone’ s product decisions.
Another is a neuro-linguistic programming expert, who looks into the human side of building the platform in terms of what kinds of topics should be discussed, and which kind of people should be using it. And completing the board is Olivia Gambelin, the chief strategist, who is also the founder and CEO of Ethical Intelligence.
Working with an advisory board has helped the company “ look ahead ” and assess the impact of every small move they make, says Orbanic. But it hasn’ t come cheap; money spent on an ethics committee out of the company’ s budget is money not spent on scaling the business and returning money to investors. So far, Anyone has raised €3.6m from Antler, Cavalry Ventures, Supernode Global and a handful of business angels.
“ The way we saw it, we had to incorporate ethics into product design and development decision making from the start in order to earn trust from our users and build resilience to the inevitable challenges and ethical dilemmas that come with scaling technology, ” says Orbanic.
In 2021, Anyone received a grant from Innovate UK to build an MVP of Anyone. As part of the grant, Anyone partnered with Ethical Intelligence to develop a 60-page white paper on ethical principles, risks and strategies for how to scale its technology sustainably.
Other startups are taking a different approach to ethics. Netguru, a digital innovation consultancy based in Warsaw, Poland, has an internal “ ethics taskforce ” composed of 12 volunteers from inside the organisation.
The board was initially started as a grassroots initiative. A group of employees came together to “ create a compass of who we want to work with and what we want our software to be used for, ” says Karolina Długosz, sustainability lead at Netguru.
The company had a history of refusing clients that wanted to use Netguru’ s software for what the team considered to be unethical causes — such as a hunting app or companies involved in meat farming, tobacco or non-renewable energy sources. The team decided to make this client vetting a formalised process.
The 12 board members come from different departments across the company, from delivery to consulting to design, to provide a broad range of perspectives.
All employees were welcomed to apply, but the elected board members were required to have a “ package of knowledge ”, says Długosz. That included a deep awareness of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, a penchant for desk research ( since the job requires a lot of “ digging and reading ”) and above all, a passion for creating positive social and environmental impact.
Unlike Anyone, Netguru decided to make an internal board as they “ just wanted to start something, ” but Długosz believes there may come a time when they will enlist the help of external experts, who can help the team manage “ the most serious concerns ” and plug any knowledge gaps they might have.
Anyone says that it could only have imagined setting up an ethics board externally, as this is the only way to have full objectivity on product development.
“ Ethics are kind of like therapy, you can’ t give it to yourself. ”
“ Ethics are kind of like therapy, you can’ t give it to yourself, ” says Malmros. “ It’ s common when you’ re building a product to get so close to it, that you can’ t see the problems of what you’ re building. ”
Marco Meyer, director of Principia, an organisation working with large multinational firms to help them meet their ethical commitments, agrees: “ Without challenge from someone outside the team, there’ s a risk of simply finding reasons to justify the decision you wanted to make all along. Having an external perspective can make all the difference in making sound ethical decisions. ”
Andrew Maynard, a Philadelphia-based scientist and expert in the ethical development and use of new technologies, says that the many ethics advisory boards started by big techs have failed because “ these high-powered ethicists ” were dealing with “ esoteric ideas about what is right or wrong ” and were ultimately unable to agree on the best course of action.
“ Ethics can provide an important framework, but they don’ t help you make practical decisions, ” says Maynard. The best way to think about ethics is to think about the moral and ethical risks your product can pose.
“ What are the business risks associated with what we’ re doing and how we’ re thinking and how we’ re implementing things? That gives you a framework, which is then actionable. ”
There’ s a risk that startups could face the same challenges as big tech — especially if they don’ t have the know-how or capital to recruit the right experts.
However, Principia’ s Meyer says that external ethics boards don’ t necessarily have to be expensive. It’ s often possible to find people with deep expertise, such as academics who have been researching a specific topic for decades, that don’ t have “ crazy hourly rates ” and that are “ very willing to contribute ” if they find a company “ serious about ethics ”.
While Principia has typically worked with large multinational firms, it is increasingly working with smaller organisations that want to be “ on the forefront of ethics, ” says Sabrina Bushe, principal of Principia.
Bushe and Meyer think that ethical conduct within businesses is only going to become more of a priority for startups — especially when it comes to hiring talent.
Recent research tells the same story. In a 2021 Deloitte survey of 22,928 respondents, 44% of millennials and 49% of Gen Zers said they had made choices over the type of work they are prepared to do and the organisations they are willing to work for based on their personal ethical principles.
“ Employees will increasingly only want to work for companies that are recognised as making good ethical decisions, so that can become a competitive advantage for startups, ” says Bushe.
Miriam Partington is Sifted’ s Germany correspondent. She also covers future of work, coauthors Sifted’ s Startup Life newsletter and tweets from @ mparts | tech |
Japanese municipalities step up preparations for teen booster shots | Municipalities around Japan have begun preparing to inoculate millions of children age 12 to 17 after the health ministry signaled that the age restriction for COVID-19 booster shots would likely be lowered below 18 years old starting next month.
Vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have been authorized as a third dose for people age 18 and over, but the government plans to authorize only the former shot for the younger recipients, and only after at least six months pass after receiving the initial two doses. The health ministry has advised municipalities to set aside enough doses for those under 18, but given the popularity of Pfizer shots among adults, some cities fear a potential supply crunch. As a result, some of these cities have given up on expanding reservation slots for the Pfizer booster for people age 18 and above.
“ There is a lot of confusion in the field right now about what to do about additional vaccinations for children, ” Shinji Hirai, governor of Tottori Prefecture and president of the National Governors’ Association, said to health minister Shigeyuki Goto during an online meeting on Monday.
Health minister Shigeyuki Goto speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday. | KYODO
The government this month secured an additional 8 million doses of the vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. and its partner BioNTech SE, with the youths to be added to the booster program to be covered by these and the original supply of shots. A total of 116.2 million Pfizer and Moderna Inc. doses are to be distributed by the end of April, which the government says will be more than enough to cover all eligible residents — a figure estimated to stand at around 100 million.
About 6.8 million — or 75.3% — of people age 12 to 19 have received the initial two doses so far, according to Cabinet Secretariat data. The government expanded the initial COVID-19 vaccination doses to 12- to 15-year-olds last June, and the booster timing for children between 12 and 17 now being considered by the health ministry would be the same as for people age 18 and above.
The government has asked the municipalities to go ahead and make all the necessary arrangements for the boosters. That way, if the shot is indeed authorized next month, then young adolescents could get the shot promptly and smoothly even without a vaccination ticket.
Despite Japan’ s slow start to the booster shot campaign, which began in December, Cabinet Secretariat data shows that 31.9% of residents have received a booster so far, topping the ratio in the U.S. — about 29%, according to Our World in Data. | tech |
Tesla idles Shanghai plant for two days amid virus curbs | Tesla Inc. is suspending production at its Shanghai factory for two days as China tightens restrictions to contain the latest Covid outbreak, according to people familiar with the matter.
Production at the plant will be halted on Wednesday and Thursday, the people said, asking not to be identified because they’ re not authorized to speak publicly. Covid restrictions in the city have prevented many workers from commuting to the factory, one of the people said.
Tesla didn’ t immediately respond to requests for comment. Reuters reported the production suspension earlier Wednesday.
Elon Musk’ s EV maker is the latest multinational to be caught up in China’ s widening lockdowns and Covid restrictions. Although Shanghai has ruled out imposing a broad lockdown for now, workers in its main financial and business district have been urged to work from home as officials try to rein in a swelling outbreak.
Authorities recently locked down Langfang, a city near Beijing’ s new airport, as well as the southern tech hub of Shenzhen and the northeastern province of Jilin. That’ s fueled concern the country’ s financial gateway could be next.
Tesla’ s Shanghai factory is crucial for Tesla, considering China is the company’ s second-largest market and the plant produces cars for export to Europe and other parts of Asia.
Data from the China Passenger Car Association earlier this month showed Tesla delivered 56,515 cars from the factory in February alone -- 23,200 for the domestic market and 33,315 for export.
The two-day production halt will apply to Tesla’ s general assembly lines and all employees are being tested for the virus, the people said. | general |
WHO delays review of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine on Ukraine conflict | The World Health Organization ( WHO) has delayed its ongoing assessment of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine for emergency use because of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, an official from the health agency said on Wednesday.
The Sputnik V shot, widely used in Russia and approved in more than 60 countries, is also being reviewed by the European Medicines Agency ( EMA).
`` We were supposed to go do inspections in Russia on March 7, and these inspections were postponed for a later date, '' Mariângela Simão, WHO assistant-director general for Access to Medicines and Health Products, said during a press briefing.
`` New dates will be set as soon as possible. ''
She also said the agency was facing other operational issues, including difficulties in booking flights and using credit cards, which have been discussed with the Russian applicant.
( Reporting by Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath) | business |
Shanghai says no COVID lockdown for now and tells bankers to work at home | Shanghai ruled out imposing a broad lockdown for now, while urging workers in its main financial and business district to work from home as officials try to rein in a swelling COVID-19 outbreak in one of China’ s biggest and most important cities.
Gu Honghui, deputy secretary general of the Shanghai government, told reporters Tuesday that “ there’ s no need to lock down the city ” at the moment, with authorities keen to minimize the impact of virus mitigation efforts on businesses and people’ s lives.
Instead, the authority overseeing the Pudong district, home to China’ s main stock exchange and the local headquarters of a bevy of financial firms, called for more flexible work arrangements in a statement on its official WeChat account.
Battling its largest nationwide outbreak in two years, China locked down Langfang, a city near Beijing’ s new airport Tuesday, following similar moves earlier this week in the southern tech hub of Shenzhen and the northeastern province of Jilin. That’ s fueled concern the country’ s financial gateway could be next, with virus cases in Shanghai on the rise and some buildings locked down.
China is stepping up its tactics to quell the virus, continuing to deploy the “ COVID zero ” playbook that has left it isolated from the rest of the world in a bid to bring cases back to near zero. While it has been able to avoid more stringent measures like lockdowns in bigger cities in the past, the more contagious omicron variant is challenging that approach like never before. More than 100 international flights will be diverted away from Shanghai from March 21, to ease pressure on quarantine hotels and isolation facilities. China isolates all virus cases, regardless of their severity, as a way of halting spread.
Shanghai reported 202 new COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, as cases in the financial hub continue to climb to record high. China reported 3,054 new infections on Wednesday, down from more than 5,000 cases a day earlier, as the outbreak in Jilin — which has been recording the most cases each day of all the flareups — appears to peak.
Home to some 25 million people, Shanghai has shut most schools and public parks and blocked bus travel from other provinces. The city has also imposed movement restrictions at college campuses, requiring people to provide two negative nucleic acid test results within the past 48 hours to enter as well as mandating permission to leave the campuses, according to a report in the Beijing Daily.
China has imposed more lockdowns over the past week than at any point in the pandemic, with Shenzhen, Langfang City near Beijing, Changchun in the northeast and then its surrounding province, Jilin, all put under movement restrictions. Dongguan, a key manufacturing hub in the southern province of Guangdong, is also subject to some curbs, with factories in areas with virus cases told to close.
Health care workers carry bags of test kits near a neighborhood placed under lockdown due to COVID-19 in Shanghai, China, on Wednesday. | BLOOMBERG
While local authorities in Dongguan and Shenzhen say plants outside the highest risk districts can continue operating if they keep staff in a bubble with regular testing, some big companies have halted operations. IPhone maker Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., known as Foxconn, suspended production at its Shenzhen sites on Monday as authorities undertake multiple rounds of mass testing. In Jilin, where the capital Changchun is a key auto-making hub, Toyota Motor Corp. and Volkswagen AG have paused operations.
Banks including Nomura Holdings Inc., and Morgan Stanley say China’ s resource-intensive approach to containing COVID-19 — a strategy that has delivered one of the lowest death tolls globally, but is becoming increasingly difficult to deploy — damp the country’ s growth outlook. There are also concerns they could be a drag on the world economy, which is facing a raft of challenges this year.
China isn’ t expected to ease up meaningfully on COVID zero before 2023, given the need for stability in a politically important year for Chinese President Xi Jinping, people familiar with China’ s thinking have told Bloomberg News.
Still, there are signs the country is girding for an uptick in cases, with rules around hospitalization and quarantining changed late Tuesday.
Those infected but asymptomatic or only displaying mild symptoms will go to specialized isolation facilities, a move aimed at freeing up hospital space for severe cases. One of the main reasons China is reluctant to ease border curbs and live with the virus like other countries is the state of its hospital system, which is hobbled by lopsided distribution of resources. Also, patients who have been discharged after an infection now only have to isolate at home for seven days, down from 14 days previously.
Health officials on Tuesday urged the country’ s elderly to get vaccinated amid concern they are particularly vulnerable as omicron spreads. About two thirds of the elderly patients who got severe COVID-19 in China are unvaccinated, Jiao Yahui, an official with the National Health Commission said at a briefing in Beijing on Tuesday.
Shanghai ruled out imposing a broad lockdown for now, while urging workers in its main financial and business district to work from home as officials try to rein in a swelling COVID-19 outbreak in one of China’ s biggest and most important cities. | BLOOMBERG
The push comes as Hong Kong contends with its most lethal wave of COVID-19 yet, with elderly people, particularly those who are unvaccinated, dying at unprecedented rates. Many had shunned vaccination on concern they could face complications, particularly if they had other conditions.
More than 80% of people age over 60 on the mainland have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, health officials said Tuesday in Beijing. Still, they said there will be an effort to get more people in their 80s vaccinated.
The country also approved the use of at-home rapid antigen tests kits at the end of last week, and has authorized Pfizer Inc.’ s coronavirus pill, seen as evidence Beijing is at least thinking about preparing for more cases. | tech |
Nordic skier-turned-musher wins 50th running of Alaska's Iditarod race | Anchorage, Alaska – Brent Sass, a 42-year-old former college Nordic skier, glided into Nome early on Tuesday morning to win Alaska’ s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in the 50th year that the grueling, 1,000-mile ( 1,610-km) test of endurance has been run.
A cheering crowd greeted Sass and his 11-dog team as they reached the finish line on Nome’ s Front Street at 5:38 a.m. His elapsed time of eight days, 14 hours, 38 minutes and 43 seconds was one of the fastest times in the Iditarod’ s half-century history.
It was the first Iditarod victory for Sass, who moved to Alaska 24 years ago and has been living in Eureka, a tiny settlement outside Fairbanks.
“ It’ s awesome. It’ s a dream come true, ” Sass said, choking back tears. “ Every one of these dogs I’ ve raised since puppies, and we’ ve been working towards this goal the whole time, and we’ re here. It’ s crazy. ”
Until now, his third-place finish in last year’ s COVID-19-altered race was his best Iditarod result. Even so, as three-time winner of the Yukon Quest International, a separate 1,000-mile sled dog race, Sass was considered a top contender from the start of this year’ s Iditarod.
His victory seemed assured for days. He held a steady lead from the race’ s halfway point at Cripple, an abandoned mining settlement that he reached last Wednesday. In the final stretch, he was consistently more than two hours ahead of his nearest rival, five-time champion Dallas Seavey. Seavey managed to make up some time in the last miles to Nome and finished a little more than an hour after Sass.
For his victory in the world’ s most famous sled-dog race, Sass will take a share of the Iditarod’ s total $ 500,000 prize purse. The exact amount of his prize is yet to be determined, but winners in the past 10 years have usually taken home at least $ 50,000, according to Iditarod records.
Sass grew up in Minnesota and moved to Alaska in 1998 to attend the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he joined the cross-country ski team.
His time on the local Nordic trails exposed him to dog mushing, and he learned the sport from Susan Butcher, the legendary four-time Iditarod champion, and her husband, David Monson.
This year’ s event marked a return to normalcy, for the most part. A year after Iditarod contestants raced on a shortened out-and-back 860-mile ( 1,384-km) course that deviated from the usual route through Native villages, the mushers were back on the traditional trail.
Forty-nine teams ran a ceremonial 11-mile ( 18-km) run through Anchorage, Alaska’ s largest city, on March 5, with timed competition starting the next day from Willow Lake, roughly 75 miles ( 120 km) north of Anchorage.
This year’ s race featured a few COVID-related alterations. All participants had to be vaccinated and submit to regular testing, with checkpoints relocated slightly to minimize risks of disease spreading into remote villages, where medical services are limited.
One last-minute change forced by the pandemic was a high-profile substitution. Leading contender Nic Petit, a French-born musher, tested positive for COVID-19 days before the start. Four-time champion Jeff King, who had planned to sit out this year’ s race, stepped in to drive Petit’ s dog team.
The Iditarod has changed drastically since founder Joe Redington mortgaged his house to stage the first race in 1973. That year, the winner reached Nome in 20 days, and the event was likened to a 1,000-mile camping trip.
Now top Iditarod mushers are professionals with corporate sponsors, though some companies have been pressured in recent years to drop their support by animal rights groups that condemn the marathon as cruel to the dogs.
The teams also travel with much greater speed through the Alaska wilderness. The Iditarod speed record is eight days, three hours and 40:13 minutes, set by Mitch Seavey in 2013. | tech |
Kishida concerned LDP too relaxed ahead of Upper House election | With less than 100 days to go before launching campaigns for the House of Councilors election this summer, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida feels uneasy about an excessively optimistic mood spreading among members of his Liberal Democratic Party.
In his speech at an LDP convention held at a Tokyo hotel on Sunday, Kishida said, “ Let’ s get united to win the Upper House election, without letting our guard down. ”
The LDP chief apparently warned party members against becoming too optimistic about the LDP-led ruling coalition’ s victory in the election for the upper chamber of the Diet, for which the official campaign period is expected to start on June 22 for voting on July 10.
A senior government official noted the ruling camp is “ unlikely to suffer a major defeat, ” while a senior LDP member stressed, “ We will definitely win. ”
Their confidence in a victory reflects tardy progress in talks on electoral cooperation among opposition parties.
Although opposition parties achieved positive results to a certain extent in the past two Upper House elections by unifying candidates in single-seat districts, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Japanese Communist Party, which are expected to be at the heart of the opposition alliance in the upcoming election, have yet to reach an agreement.
Now that the Democratic Party for the People has clarified the stance of siding with the LDP, the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo, the umbrella organization for the country’ s labor unions, may find it difficult to maintain its unity as an organization pitting itself against the ruling camp during the campaign period because its member unions support either the CDP or the DPP.
The party had to fight gubernatorial elections in four prefectures from last year in which multiple conservative candidates ran.
In Sunday’ s governor race in Ishikawa Prefecture, Hiroshi Hase, former education minister with the LDP headquarters’ effective backing, defeated other candidates including a former lawmaker of the ruling party and former mayor of Kanazawa, Ishikawa’ s capital. Hase won only marginally as support by the LDP’ s prefectural chapter was split over him and the two other LDP-linked candidates.
Preceding gubernatorial elections in Gifu, Hyogo and Nagasaki were split contests as well.
Some have voiced concerns that the election battles among candidates from the LDP, especially in Ishikawa, Gifu and Nagasaki, will leave resentment within the party’ s regional chapters and may affect the results in the three single-seat constituencies in the Upper House election. Ishikawa will also hold a by-election next month for the same chamber.
An LDP faction leader expressed anxiety over the party’ s unity in the upcoming elections, saying, “ We have a bumpy road ahead. ”
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, also president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, speaks during the party’ s annual convention in Tokyo on Sunday. | AFP-JIJI
The ruling coalition’ s Upper House election victory is not fully warranted for now, as it remains to be seen whether a deal between the LDP and its junior coalition partner, Komeito, to mutually support candidates will work successfully, critics said.
In January, Komeito informed its regional chapters that it would forgo mutual recommendations of candidates due to the LDP’ s failure to respond to its request for electoral cooperation by the end of last year.
However, Komeito abruptly struck the deal on Friday, in view of the LDP and the DPP quickly coming closer to each other.
Under the pact, the LDP will back Komeito candidates in five multiseat constituencies while Komeito will decide to give support to LDP candidates one by one through consultations with its local organs.
But the junior ruling coalition party, now frustrated with its significance to the LDP waning, has yet to sweep away doubts that the LDP will provide full cooperation in the Hyogo prefectural constituency so a Komeito candidate can survive an expected fierce battle there.
After being thanked by a senior LDP official for Komeito’ s support in the Ishikawa governor race, a senior official at Soka Gakkai, the Buddhist lay organization backing Komeito, asked that the LDP return the favor for the Hyogo constituency.
In addition to election-related obstacles, Kishida is troubled by spiraling prices for raw materials and the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. Food prices are also going up.
To protect people’ s daily lives, the ruling camp is calling for fresh economic measures.
Although the Kishida administration has increased subsidies to check pump price spikes, “ if gasoline prices keep rising, in particular, it may affect the results in single-seat constituencies, ” an observer said.
Predicting that gasoline prices will rise even further, an LDP source warned, “ The atmosphere will change drastically if a seventh infection wave hits ( the country) during the Upper House election. ” | tech |
Yokozuna Terunofuji gets badly needed win to stay close to leaders | Osaka – Yokozuna Terunofuji, who has looked far from his best in the 15-day event at Edion Arena Osaka, got an easy win to stay one back of the two leaders on Wednesday, the fourth day of the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament.
Sumo’ s sole grand champion, Terunofuji ( 3-1) staved off defeat by the slimmest of margins the day before, but easily handled giant Mongolian No. 2 maegashira Ichinojo ( 2-2) from the get-go, forcing him back on the charge and out of the ring.
The yokozuna was dealing with pain in both of his surgically repaired knees in January, when his two-tournament win streak ended. He then tested positive for the coronavirus in February. Terunofuji improved to 13-2 in his career against Ichinojo.
New ozeki Mitakeumi and former ozeki Takayasu share the lead at 4-0 after six wrestlers started Wednesday with unbeaten records.
The leading group, however, was quickly whittled down as No. 16 Nishikigi ( 3-1) fell to No. 17 Kagayaki ( 3-1) in the day’ s first makuuchi-division bout. No. 14 Yutakayama ( 3-1) soon followed, losing to No. 16, Kotokuzan, who improved to 2-2 in his first tourney in sumo’ s top flight.
Mitakeumi got his second gift win in two days. Takanosho ( 1-3) took control from the start, but misjudged the speed of the ozeki’ s tactical retreat. The komusubi lunged too far forward, lost his balance and was easily slapped down as Mitakeumi skipped perilously atop the straw bales.
On Tuesday, Mitakeumi failed to grab a belt hold at the charge and was on the back foot when his opponent stumbled forward to defeat.
New sekiwake Wakatakakage ( 3-1) was slapped down by No. 4 Kiribayama ( 3-1).
No. 7 maegashira Takayasu, nearly a year since his last 10-win tourney, improved to 4-0 with a workmanlike victory over baby-faced 24-year-old Kotonowaka ( 3-1). The young No. 6 kept the veteran at bay at the start, but the No. 7 eventually wrangled an overarm hold and used it to throw Kotonowaka down to his first loss.
Ozeki Shodai continued to look lost as he fell to 0-4, just four losses away from demotion to sekiwake in an awkward loss to No. 1 Ura ( 1-3).
The top maegashira, a narrow loser to Terunofuji on Tuesday, struck the ozeki low on the charge. When Shodai extended his left arm to regain his balance, Ura grabbed it, spun the stunned ozeki and shoved him out from behind.
Ozeki Takakeisho overpowered No. 1 Daieisho ( 2-2) to even his own record at 2-2. A day after one of his trademark power shoves missed its target and his momentum carried him out against komusubi Hoshoryu, Takakeisho kept his balance, and his opponent squarely in front of him.
Abi, the other sekiwake debutant, beat No. 3 Meisei ( 1-3) to stay one back of the leaders at 3-1.
Hoshoryu ( 2-2), the nephew of former Mongolian yokozuna Asashoryu, followed up Tuesday’ s slick win over Takakeisho with a well-timed counterattack that allowed him to shove veteran Mongolian No. 2 Tamawashi ( 1-3) out from behind. | tech |
Stocks making the biggest moves midday: AeroVironment, Alibaba, Boeing and more | In this article
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
Alibaba, JD.com, Pinduoduo — Shares of Chinese companies listed publicly in the U.S. surged as Beijing signaled support for the stocks. The Chinese government said it supports the listing of businesses overseas and that its crackdown on technology companies should end soon, according to Chinese state media. Alibaba jumped 36.7%, JD.com added 39.4% and Pinduoduo rallied 56%.
AeroVironment — The defense stock jumped 9.8% after NBC News reported that the White House was considering supplying drones made by AeroVironment to the Ukrainian government to help fend off Russian forces.
Lockheed Martin — Shares of the defense contractor dropped 6.1% after Bloomberg News reported that the Pentagon would cut its request for F-35 fighter jets in the new fiscal budget proposal.
Boeing — Boeing shares rallied 5.1% after Baird added the aerospace company to its bullish fresh picks list. While the company's stock is down year-to-date, investors should buy the dip as deliveries of the 737-Max are expected to resume in China even amid the recent surge in Covid-19 cases, analysts wrote.
Micron Technology — The semiconductor stock surged 9%. Bernstein analysts upgraded Micron to outperform, saying the firm will see huge gains after supply issues are resolved later this year.
Spotify — The streaming company's stock price jumped more than 6% in midday trading. Spotify signed a stadium and shirt sponsorship deal on Tuesday with Spanish soccer team FC Barcelona. The team members will wear the Spotify logo on their uniform shirts for the next four years.
Starbucks — Shares of Starbucks climbed 7.9% after the coffee giant announced CEO Kevin Johnson's retirement following five years on the job and said that Howard Schultz will return as interim CEO. JPMorgan analysts also upgraded Starbucks to overweight and said its shares could rally 22% despite recent China restrictions.
Nvidia — The chipmaker's stock price surged 6.6%. Analysts at Wells Fargo added Nvidia to their `` signature picks '' list, saying the stock's recent tumble has created an attractive risk/reward profile. Wells Fargo also expects upbeat announcements at Nvidia's upcoming investor day.
Nike — The sportswear company's stock price spiked 4.9%. Bernstein said Tuesday that supply chain issues have created a buying opportunity in Nike, which analysts expect will maintain its top position in China.
NortonLifeLock — Shares for NortonLifeLock tumbled 13.3% after Britain signaled that the cybersecurity company's $ 8.6 billion deal to acquire competitor Avast may get an `` in-depth '' probe by antitrust regulators.
— CNBC's Hannah Miao, Jesse Pound and Samantha Subin contributed reporting. | business |
Inventing Anna interiors are `` richer '' versions of their New York counterparts | series Inventing Anna traverses.
in Soho all appear as exaggerated versions on the 11-episode series which was released on February 11 2022.
`` Our thinking all the way through this was the different varieties of wealth and the different types of socio-economic classes that Anna travels through, '' Dunn told Dezeen.
`` We're trying to sort of hit all of these different types of wealth and the disparities as best we could. ''
, an article for the New York Magazine that went viral after exposing the antics of the now-convicted fake heiress Anna Delvey, who's real name is Anna Sorokin.
, Inventing Anna follows the lead up to Sorokin's trial, while simultaneously going back in time to illustrate her actions.
in Brooklyn, New York, a feat which Dunn describes as `` a balancing act ''.
`` We started at the very beginning of 2019 and we had some big beautiful stages at Steiner Studios but we realised that we didn't have enough space for all of the things that we needed to build, '' Dunn explained.
`` We were very much trying to illustrate that there's old money and then there's art money and then there's real money, which is the tech billionaires. ''
The home of one of the wealthiest characters in the series belongs to Nora, a woman who Dunn refers to as `` a real art person who's loaded with dough ''. It is one of the most featured sets in the series.
Using research gathered from people who reside in New York apartments, Dunn built a duplex designed to look like a large townhouse in New York.
According to the designer, Nora's status is best symbolised in the furnishings and decor that adorn the set.
`` Nora's house had maybe five or six different wallpapers, including the ones up in the up in the guest bedroom, where Anna is living, '' he added.
To further establish Nora's status in the upper echelons of society, the designer worked with an art specialist to source paintings by artists such as Michel Basquiat and Yves Klein for the interior decoration.
`` We had a wonderful person working with us for arts clearance and so we were able to get all these artists that would have been untouchable that we had to build, '' said Dunn.
`` Obviously, it's not the real thing but they would send us a high-resolution file and then we would repeat over it so you could see the brushstrokes, '' he continued.
`` Having that sense of legitimacy meant that people understood that this well-curated piece of character-dressing is meant to tell you who this woman is. ''
By contrast, Dunn wanted the journalist's home to seem `` a little dumpy '' to help viewers recognise her lower social status. Her home appears cluttered and ordinary – serving to cement her position in New York society.
`` We built Vivian's house on stage – it's not a very big apartment and we were trying to make it as realistic as possible for two people who are expecting a baby, '' he said.
Creating sets from scratch gave Dunn the freedom to embellish the sets and to elaborate further than what would have been possible if they filmed everything in its original place.
's chintzy work at the Crosby Street Hotel for inspiration.
`` The 11 Howard, which was the hotel where Anna stayed has a minimalist style that we thought would look pretty threadbare on screen so we went for something that would read as much more rich on stage, '' he remembered.
`` We were going for with something that was more tactile and sort of a more layered look to it.
Another technique Dunn implemented was to mix high-end furnishings and homeware items with cheaper replicas that still gave the illusion of wealth.
Placing something from a high street brand next to a luxury designer can make the scene feel and look expensive on television while in comparison to reality, said the designer.
that will look incredibly deluxe while actually not being practical at all, '' he explained.
Due to legal reasons, the series had to create a fictional version of the New York Magazine, but Dunn wanted the made up magazine's office to look similar to the real magazine's headquarters.
Again, he took the opportunity to create an exaggerated `` expanded and blown up '' version of the real workplace, this time adding a bright red wall to the backdrop.
`` We got to tour our location manager got us in there to walk around and see how the journalists lived, '' said Dunn. `` And so we researched it closely and then we really tried carefully create those offices as closely as possible. ''
`` We're trying to do something a little more, a little extra – there is a big red wall that says New York Magazine that you see when you come in and we took that and we sort of expanded it and blew it up, '' he continued.
The main challenge for Dunn came as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Halfway through filming the series, restrictions meant that the team had to change locations and delay some filming, meaning that many scenes had to be shot in two places.
`` We began shooting at the prison here in the city called Rikers Island jail and when the pandemic came, we still had 50 per cent of our scenes to shoot, '' he recalled.
`` I don't think anybody at home has any idea but the waiting room and the room where Anna and Jessica meet were in completely different spots, '' he mused.
which featured a prominent house. | business |
The old way is not the best way to make Japan productive again | TOKYO – When I was teaching at the University of Tokyo in the 1970s, my daily commute lasted 3½ hours.
But, one day, it threatened to last twice as long: with labor strikes having shut down public transportation, my only option was a much longer route using private trains and subways. Rather than spend nearly seven hours traveling to and from campus for a faculty meeting, I decided to work from home that day. To my surprise, the decision was met with censure from the dean of the faculty and disapproval from my colleagues.
Perhaps I should have anticipated that response. Japan’ s work culture is not only notoriously rigid but also highly social. At the kaisha ( company), people gather and work together — usually for their entire careers. The question that arose five decades later is whether the COVID-19 pandemic was the disruption Japan needed to break unproductive habits and inject new dynamism into working life.
The pandemic has undoubtedly transformed work elsewhere, with remote work and Zoom meetings becoming the new normal. But in a place like the United States, the prevailing working style was already more oriented toward productivity than rigid rules. In fact, part of the reason I assumed that skipping that seven-hour commute would be acceptable was that I had attended an American graduate school.
Years later, when I taught at Yale, a colleague — say, an administrative assistant — could go on vacation without causing any disruption. They would simply make clear preparations and communicate any relevant information before their departure. With today’ s technologies, we do not even need to be on the same continent as our colleagues to work productively with them. And, while some U.S. organizations, such as Goldman Sachs and Netflix, are committed to getting workers back to the office as soon as possible, many others are going fully remote ( Slack, Deloitte) or introducing more flexible hybrid employment structures ( Google, JP Morgan).
If Japanese companies after the pandemic overwhelmingly opt to resume the traditional work routine — with its long hours, strict schedules, exhausting commutes on packed trains and minimal vacations — both people and the economy will suffer. After all, in Japan, we have a word for “ death by overwork ”: karōshi. This is not the kind of work culture that nurtures the innovative thinking needed to drive progress in the modern economy.
Centuries-old traditions are not easy to change, however, and structural reform tends to progress very slowly in Japan. Fortunately, women leaders, particularly at the municipal level, have been offering reason for hope that Japan can make progress toward building a work culture fit for the 21st century.
Consider Yuriko Koike, the governor of Tokyo, who previously served in several high-level government posts, including defense minister and national security adviser. Having studied at the American University in Cairo and worked as an interpreter and journalist, Koike has been exposed to different working cultures. So, when she was serving in Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’ s Cabinet, Koike urged her colleagues to depart from tradition by embracing “ business casual ” attire.
Harumi Takahashi, a former governor of Hokkaido, also spearheaded important progress. She recognized that, with its long summer days, Hokkaido could benefit from daylight savings time. But the Japanese have been broadly reluctant to adopt that system, so Takahashi offered an alternative, changing the time only for the Hokkaido Government Office.
That women have led the way in implementing such productivity-enhancing reforms might partly reflect the fact that, as female politicians, they are already used to breaking convention. Moreover, they are probably more cognizant of the added challenges facing working women in Japan. In a country where women bear far more responsibility for child care and elder care than men do, greater flexibility can be the difference between employment and dropping out of the labor market entirely. With Japan’ s labor force shrinking rapidly, every increment of support for women’ s participation has far-reaching economic implications.
For the sake of both economic productivity and individual well-being, Japan must continue to update its approach to work, including by embracing more flexible post-pandemic working schemes, accelerating digitalization and implementing the Hokkaido government’ s flex-time system more broadly, beginning in Tokyo.
Such changes might appear small, but they would help to place Japan on a path toward a more productive and dynamic future.
Koichi Hamada, professor emeritus at Yale University, was a special adviser to former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. © Project Syndicate, 2022 | tech |
Foreign arrivals in Japan 99% lower than pre-pandemic level in February | The estimated number of foreigners arriving in Japan in February was 99.4% lower than the same month in the pre-pandemic year of 2019 at 16,700 people, government data showed Wednesday.
Compared with a year earlier when Tokyo and some prefectures were under a COVID-19 state of emergency, the figure was up 127.1%.
In February, the largest number of arrivals came from Vietnam with 2,600 people, followed by China with 2,400, India with 1,700 and the Philippines with 1,000, according to the data released by the Japan National Tourism Organization.
The government’ s border controls limited the number of new entrants at 3,500 a day since November until the cap was raised to 5,000 on March 1 and to 7,000 on March 14 to allow in more business travelers, technical trainees and international students.
The number of Japanese nationals going overseas in February rose 89.1% from a year before to 46,900 but was still 96.9% lower compared with February 2019, according to the data. | tech |
Japan to lift COVID quasi-emergency measures in all prefectures on Monday | Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Wednesday that the government plans to fully lift the COVID-19 quasi-emergency measures currently covering 18 of the country's 47 prefectures when they expire on Monday.
`` Daily new cases nationwide have become about half the number of their peak, and the hospital bed occupancy rate ( for COVID-19 patients) and the number of those recovering at home are continuing to decline, although there may be some differences among regions, '' Kishida said during a news conference. `` The exit of the sixth wave is clearly in sight. ''
The government's coronavirus task force will formally approve the decision on Thursday.
But Kishida is still taking a cautious stance, saying the death rate and the percentage of patients developing severe symptoms are higher for COVID-19 compared to the flu. Oral treatment drugs are still limited for the general population while there is still the possibility of the virus to mutate, he said.
`` Given all this, the coming days will be a transition period toward normal times — a period to still be on high alert but restoring normalcy as much as possible, '' Kishida said.
The government also plans to expand subsidies for local travel on April 1, in a prelude to the possible resumption of its Go To Travel campaign aimed at supporting the pandemic-hit domestic tourism sector.
The subsidies currently cover trips within each prefecture, but they will also apply to travel across prefectural borders that remain within a regional block, Kishida said.
The move comes after the 18 prefectures decided not to seek a quasi-emergency extension. Of them, Osaka Prefecture was the last to make the decision.
The Kishida government eased the criteria for lifting the emergency last week, citing an increase in the number of vaccinated people, the low risk of severe illness posed by the omicron variant and the need to fully resume economic activities to boost the economy.
The new criteria will allow the government to lift the emergency if the burden on health care services seems poised to decrease even if numbers of new infections remain at high levels.
Tokyo confirmed 10,221 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, after five consecutive days of tallies below 10,000.
`` We have met the state-set requirements for ending quasi-emergency measures in all indicators, '' Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said in a request to the central government Tuesday. `` We're not in a situation to extend the measures. ''
Osaka Prefecture also decided not to ask the government to extend the measures for the prefecture, as the number of new cases has been declining even as the occupancy rate for hospital beds for coronavirus patients remains high.
Quasi-emergency measures have been in place in as many as 36 prefectures at one point since early January, when they were first imposed following the start of the domestic spread of the omicron coronavirus variant.
The government aims to decide when to resume its Go To Travel campaign after checking how expanding the subsidy program affects the country's infection situation.
With many business operators in the tourism industry pinning hopes on the Go To Travel campaign, the Kishida administration is apparently trying to resume it at an early point in order to win support for the ruling coalition in this summer's House of Councilors election.
The Go To Travel campaign was launched in July 2020 but suspended in December the same year due to a resurgence of the coronavirus.
In April 2021, the government started offering financial aid to support the prefectural subsidies for local trips in areas with low levels of infections.
While expanding the local trip subsidies, the central government plans to bolster infection prevention measures, such as requiring tourists to present COVID-19 vaccination records and use COVID-19 testing kits. | tech |
Healthcare Private Equity Market 2021: The Year in Review | 관심 있는 내용을 북마크하여 Red 폴더에 저장할 수 있습니다. Red 폴더 에서 저장된 내용을 읽거나 공유해보세요.
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The industry roared back after a pandemic-induced lull in 2020.
글 Nirad Jain, Kara Murphy, Franz-Robert Klingan, Dmitry Podpolny, and Vikram Kapur
This article is part of Bain's 2022 Global Healthcare Private Equity and M & A Report
In the second year of Covid-19, healthcare private equity activity showed remarkable resilience to the widespread disruption, posting a record year for both deal volume and disclosed value. This stemmed partly from a pandemic-induced backlog of parked deals, as well as the revival of megadeals headlined by the $ 34 billion Medline deal and the $ 17 billion acquisition of Athenahealth.
The number of deals rose 36% to 515, up from 380 the prior year. Total disclosed value more than doubled to $ 151 billion from $ 66 billion ( see Figure 1). The average disclosed deal value soared 134%, mainly because of 5 buyouts greater than $ 5 billion, compared with just 1 the year earlier.
Moreover, returns for the healthcare sector have remained strong, and valuations reached record highs ( see “ Healthcare Private Equity Deal Returns: Look to Revenues and Multiples ”).
As in 2020, the healthcare provider and biopharma sectors ( excluding life sciences) were the most active in 2021. Specialty providers garnered particular attention, having benefited from a rebound in patient volumes for elective procedures.
From a regional perspective, the number of deals over $ 1 billion almost doubled in Europe during 2021. The Asia-Pacific region, meanwhile, maintained a strong pace after a torrid 2020, with both deal volume and disclosed value increasing.
Healthcare’ s pace was similar to global private equity more broadly, which also recovered in 2021. Transactions across all industries increased to 2,277 in 2021, up from 1,586 the prior year, while disclosed deal value more than doubled to $ 1.011 trillion from $ 469 billion in 2020 ( see Figure 2). As a result, the healthcare sector’ s deal volume as a share of total industry deal volume dipped slightly to 23% in 2021 from 24% the prior year. But healthcare’ s share of disclosed value nudged higher to 15% of all value from 14%, as many large healthcare deals closed ( see “ Now Playing: The Return of the Megadeal ”).
In North America, uncertainty over patient volumes and profit margins reduced investors’ appetite for risk for several quarters in 2020, particularly for larger assets. But in 2021, the average deal size more than doubled to $ 1.5 billion.
By 2021, investors once again rallied to find pockets of value and gain confidence in assets focused on the detection and treatment of Covid-19 variants, as well as companies in sectors such as pharma services that can ameliorate the downstream consequences of the pandemic ( see “ Covid-19 Fallout: Investing to Handle Pandemics Present and Future ”).
Increased confidence in the market translated into a greater willingness to pull the trigger on large healthcare deals after a lull in 2020, when the top 10 deals accounted for just 43% of total disclosed value, and only one transaction exceeded $ 5 billion ( see Figure 3). In 2021, as investors were flush with capital, the average transaction size worldwide rose to $ 695 million, driven up by deals over $ 1 billion, well north of the previous year’ s average $ 296 million.
As the Covid-19 overhang receded and healthcare looked increasingly attractive, competition for high-quality assets grew fierce. New sources of capital trained their sights on the industry. These included infrastructure funds, as well as more and larger growth-equity and so-called crossover funds ( see “ Growth Equity Blossoms in Emerging Tech-Related Healthcare Firms ”). Competition looks set to intensify following the record number of healthcare-focused funds initiated in 2021, 358, and total capital raised, roughly $ 93 billion ( see Figure 4).
The year also brought a record number of initial public offerings and special-purpose acquisition companies, or blank-check companies, which effectively accelerated the IPOs of several healthcare assets. Corporate acquirers were similarly acquisitive, with volumes rising to 3,205 from 2,766 in 2020, while disclosed value climbed 44% to $ 438 billion from $ 305 billion in the prior year.
Finally, several structural trends continued to benefit healthcare companies. An aging population, the rising incidence of chronic illness, rising income levels and healthcare access in emerging markets, and digital innovations in treatment and operational processes combined to boost underlying demand for an array of healthcare goods and services.
Pausing in 2020 was a natural reaction by healthcare investors to a once-in-a-generation crisis. Returning to the field in 2021 also made sense, given the resilience of the industry and the pace of innovation in nearly every sector. Amid the turmoil of the continuing pandemic, investors kept their cool and confirmed their confidence in the industry’ s long-term vigor.
Healthcare companies are responding to changes wrought by the coronavirus and gearing up to anticipate future outbreaks.
Healthcare’ s resilience attracts both more capital and creative new forms of capital.
Margin expansion, currently a minor factor in returns, is bound to become more important.
More private equity sponsors team up to win bids and spread risk.
Incremental capital helps cutting-edge firms scale up operations.
베인은 주저 없이 변화를 마주할 줄 아는 용감한 리더들과 함께합니다. 그리고, 이들의 담대한 용기는 고객사의 성공으로 이어집니다.
급변하는 비즈니스 환경에서 살아남기 위한 선도자의 시각. 월간 Bain Insights에서 글로벌 비즈니스의 핵심 이슈를 확인하십시오.
* 개인정보 정책을 읽었으며 그 내용에 동의합니다.
© 1996-2022 Bain & Company, Inc.
문의하기 | business |
Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson is retiring, Howard Schultz returns as interim chief | In this article
Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson is retiring after five years on the job.
Howard Schultz will return as interim CEO, once again taking the helm of the coffee chain he elevated to a global brand while the company searches for a long term successor. This will be his third tenure as Starbucks ' chief executive.
Shares of the company rose 7% in morning trading on the news. Starbucks announced the leadership transition ahead of its annual shareholder meeting later Wednesday.
`` A year ago, I signaled to the Board that as the global pandemic neared an end, I would be considering retirement from Starbucks. I feel this is a natural bookend to my 13 years with the company, '' Johnson said in a statement.
Johnson, 61, joined the board in 2009 while working as CEO of Juniper Networks, and became a member of the leadership team in 2015 as president and COO. In 2017, he was named president and CEO, succeeding Schultz. Wednesday's annual shareholder meeting marks his 14th with the company, he wrote in his final letter to employees.
In addition to steering the company through the Covid pandemic, Johnson used his expertise as a former tech executive throughout his tenure to push Starbucks into the digital age, revamping its loyalty program and updating its store footprint to reflect the different ways consumers want to buy their coffee. He also accelerated the chain's expansion in China, now its second-largest market.
In his time as head of the company, shares of Starbucks rose more than 50%, including Wednesday's gains. The stock underperformed compared with the S & P 500, which rose 83% in the same time.
The chair of Starbucks ' board, Mellody Hobson, told CNBC's `` Squawk Box '' on Wednesday that the company intends to select a permanent successor by the fall.
`` We're not going to hire over Zoom, I can tell you that, '' Hobson, co-CEO of Ariel Investments, said.
She added the company already has a number of strong candidates in contention for the top job.
Schultz, 68, said in a statement he previously had no plans to return to the company. He served as CEO from 1986 to 2000, and again from 2008 to 2017. He also weighed a potential run for president ahead of the 2020 elections.
`` When you love something, you have a deep sense of responsibility to help when called. Although I did not plan to return to Starbucks, I know the company must transform once again to meet a new and exciting future where all of our stakeholders mutually flourish, '' Schultz said in a statement. `` With the backdrop of COVID recovery and global unrest, its critical we set the table for a courageous reimagining and reinvention of the future Starbucks experience for our partners and customers. ''
Schultz's salary as interim chief executive will be $ 1, the company said. Hobson said Starbucks wants to lean on `` all of Howard's expertise and all of his brilliance '' throughout the transition, but denied he would stay on longer as the company's next full-time chief executive.
`` We have a great slate of candidates. People want this job, and we're fully confident we 'll have a new leader in the fall, '' she said. `` He's not going to stay for three years.... We get him until the fall, full stop. Trust me. ''
Some were caught by surprise that the board knew Johnson planned to retire a year before publicly discussing a transition or a successor.
`` Howard Schultz knows Starbucks. He knows the company's strategy and goals. And Schultz is in a position to help in ways other interim CEOs could not. But, for a company the size and stature of Starbucks not to have a solid succession plan is surprising, '' said Timothy Hubbard, an assistant management professor at University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business.
Former Chief Operating Officer Roz Brewer, once thought to be the heir apparent, departed the company in early 2021 to become chief executive of Walgreens Boots Alliance.
Starbucks ' CEO shift comes against a backdrop of growing efforts among the company's baristas to unionize. To date, roughly 140 Starbucks stores in 26 states have petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to unionize, according to organizers Starbucks Workers United. Six locations so far have voted in favor of a union.
In a move that may have signaled his return to the company, Schultz appeared at Buffalo, New York-area cafes ahead of union elections, along with other top Starbucks executives, to attempt to dissuade baristas from voting in favor of unionizing.
This week, the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint over accusations Starbucks retaliated against two employees in Phoenix who were seeking to unionize their store location. On Tuesday, a group of 75 investors in Starbucks sent a letter to Hobson and Johnson urging the company to adopt a policy of neutrality for all current and future attempts by its workers to organize.
Hobson said Wednesday that Starbucks `` made some mistakes '' when asked about the union push.
`` When you think about, again, why we're leaning on Howard in this moment, it's that connection with our people where we think he's singularly capable of engaging with our people in a way that will make a difference, '' she said.
Johnson's retirement announcement marks the fourth notable CEO transition from a publicly traded restaurant company in recent months.
Domino's Pizza CEO Ritch Allison will retire at the end of April, and Darden Restaurants ' Gene Lee will do the same the following month. Wingstop announced Monday that CEO Charlie Morrison stepped down to become chief executive of Salad and Go, a much smaller drive-thru salad chain.
Correction: The chair of Starbucks ' board, Mellody Hobson, spoke Wednesday. An earlier version misstated the day. | business |
Welcome Letter: Sizing Up the Great Adaptation | 관심 있는 내용을 북마크하여 Red 폴더에 저장할 수 있습니다. Red 폴더 에서 저장된 내용을 읽거나 공유해보세요.
Red 폴더에 항목이 추가되었습니다
Red 폴더에서 항목이 삭제되었습니다
Healthcare’ s resilience attracts both more capital and creative new forms of capital.
글 Nirad Jain, Kara Murphy, Franz-Robert Klingan, Dmitry Podpolny, and Vikram Kapur
This article is part of Bain's 2022 Global Healthcare Private Equity and M & A Report
It was a wild year for healthcare investors, with the central drama being—no surprise to anyone—the continued assault of Covid-19. The pandemic has shaken virtually every industry, none more than healthcare. Yet $ 151 billion of private equity capital surged into healthcare globally in 2021, more than double the prior year, and the number of deals soared 36% to 515.
Did the industry post these records despite Covid-19 or because of it? It’ s a bit of both.
During 2020, the coronavirus injected a huge level of uncertainty and disruption into healthcare markets. Plenty of buyouts still closed, though, and many wondered if the torrid pace could continue. It certainly did in 2021. Now Covid-19 is starting to shift from pandemic to endemic, meaning the system will eventually reach a stable state. Vaccines and antivirals could progressively dampen the anxiety and economic disruption caused by new variants. But no one knows what the stable rates of infection will be, and endemic Covid-19 could still take a significant toll on health and mobility.
Regardless of where the endemic settles, consider how Covid-19 has already changed industry trends in ways that open broad opportunities for investors.
Covid-19 greatly accelerated the adoption of virtual interactions between patients and healthcare staff. Companies rushed to digitalize many other manual processes as well, from drug clinical trials to medical records to revenue cycle management. Fallout from the disease exposed the creakiness of older IT systems, causing many providers and payers to realize they needed top-notch vendors to help upgrade their systems. And the widespread shutdowns exposed vulnerabilities in the medical supply chain, so that the previously below-the-radar distribution of medical products suddenly drew outsize attention. Case in point: the $ 34 billion deal for Medline, a company that turned out to be vital for delivering medical products in certain countries.
Still, the pandemic is just part of a complex story woven from multiple threads. It’ s worth remembering that healthcare deal internal rates of return have outperformed the broader private equity market by a median 6 percentage points over the past decade. High returns, along with the industry’ s recession resilience and demographic tailwinds, such as aging populations and the rise of chronic diseases in many countries, are enticing new sources of capital and intensifying competition for deals. Sovereign wealth funds, infrastructure funds, hedge funds, and nonhealthcare buyout funds all are scouting private deals in healthcare.
How these investors deploy their capital also is taking shape in new forms. We’ ve seen the rise of consortiums, including some that include partnerships with corporate buyers, the burgeoning of life sciences fund vehicles, and more growth-equity deals. Investors are seeking creative ways to secure returns in a more competitive landscape.
In our report last year, we anticipated a strong 2021 for healthcare private equity as a backlog of large deals cleared. We identified three big areas for capital to be deployed, which each played out in spades.
In our 11th annual report, you’ ll find detailed analysis of other major trends sweeping through healthcare investing, including these:
Looking ahead, the transition to endemic Covid-19 will no doubt create new pockets of opportunity for private equity investors. Other avenues to value should also thrive, including new integrated care models, digital tools that use data and artificial intelligence to streamline operations, technology to build resiliency into supply chains, and cutting-edge drug therapies.
Assuming healthcare returns continue to outpace those in other industries, new capital will continue to migrate to the space and will likely drive multiples even higher. How will private equity sponsors create value in this environment?
Everyone chasing similar themes raises the bar for careful asset selection and ingenious angles to get deals done. Diligence, in turn, will have to push on several fronts. Investors should estimate the Covid-19 effect on each target company and ensure that the value creation plan can flex quickly as circumstances change. They should continue to concentrate on revenue growth as a key ingredient of value, while weighing the open question of whether operating margin improvements will play a larger role in the next vintage of investments. Preparation combined with resilience will allow the best healthcare investors to thrive in volatile times.
More private equity sponsors team up to win bids and spread risk.
The industry roared back after a pandemic-induced lull in 2020.
Healthcare companies are responding to changes wrought by the coronavirus and gearing up to anticipate future outbreaks.
Record-high valuations are forcing acquirers to get creative.
Incremental capital helps cutting-edge firms scale up operations.
베인은 주저 없이 변화를 마주할 줄 아는 용감한 리더들과 함께합니다. 그리고, 이들의 담대한 용기는 고객사의 성공으로 이어집니다.
급변하는 비즈니스 환경에서 살아남기 위한 선도자의 시각. 월간 Bain Insights에서 글로벌 비즈니스의 핵심 이슈를 확인하십시오.
* 개인정보 정책을 읽었으며 그 내용에 동의합니다.
© 1996-2022 Bain & Company, Inc.
문의하기 | business |
EUROPEAN MIDDAY BRIEFING - Shares Climb as China Rebounds, Ukraine Talks Continue | MARKET WRAPS
Stocks:
European stocks added around 2% Wednesday, buoyed by a tech-led rebound in Chinese markets and as Ukraine said there was room for compromise in talks with Russia.
The tech, materials and energy sectors led gains, with miners Glencore and Anglo American climbing, while China-exposed stocks rallied after Beijing said it would roll out policies to bolster its capital markets and revive the economy. Travel and leisure stocks also gained.
`` The bounceback in Chinese equities shows you how sensitive the markets are, '' said Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank, noting wide swings in markets in recent weeks as investors watch headlines on a number of events.
`` We are in a maximum uncertainty environment. Everything can change on a dime in 24 hours with the current situation, '' he added.
An expected interest-rate increase from the Federal Reserve later Wednesday will be in focus for the rest of the trading day in Europe.
Jerome Powell has said he would propose a quarter-percentage-point rate increase-what would be the first rise since 2018-at the central bank's meeting Wednesday as officials look to cool demand and control inflation.
The central bank is navigating an unusually complicated environment of a tight labor market, supply disruptions, spiraling inflation, Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Covid-19 lockdowns in China-the latter two of which are likely to compound inflationary and supply-chain issues.
Economic Insight:
The risk of recession in the eurozone in the first half of this year is high, said AMP Capital.
The war in Ukraine is expected to drive inflation to over 6% by mid-year amid surging commodity prices, and higher costs for electricity and gas, which will impact consumer spending. The ECB appears too optimistic on the economic growth outlook and expectations for interest rate increase later in 2022 could be pushed out to early next year, AMP said.
-- -
As a consequence of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Citi's economists have revised upward near-term inflation projections across almost every single economy covered, often by substantial amounts. Similarly, growth projections have been revised down almost everywhere.
`` Two years after the start of the pandemic, yet another seismic exogenous shock derails the course of the global economy, '' said economists at Citi. It has reduced the 2022 global growth forecast by 0.6 percentage point to 3.3% and the 2023 forecast by 0.1 percentage point to 3.1%. Citi has raised the 2022 global inflation forecast significantly, by 1.3 percentage point, to 6.1%, and the 2023 inflation forecast by 0.4 percentage points, to 3.4%.
U.S. Markets:
Stock futures gained and bond yields rose ahead of the Fed,
Investors will also look out for retail-sales data for February, which are expected to show the second consecutive month of increased spending as households adapt to the crosscurrents of a strong labor market, falling coronavirus cases and inflation running at the highest annual rate in 40 years.
Forex:
The dollar was weaker as more positive Russia-Ukraine developments overshadowed the prospect of the Fed starting to raise interest rates. Ukraine said it saw room for compromise in talks with Russia, reducing safe-haven flows into the dollar.
`` The news from Ukraine will certainly be the major driver of the dollar in the coming weeks, '' Swissquote Bank analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya said in a note.
A diplomatic solution would trigger a rapid downside correction in the dollar even if the Fed lifts rates, while the lack thereof could boost the currency, she added.
Westpac said renewed questions about China's recovery momentum following new Covid-19 lockdowns and a hawkish Fed should keep the USD Index bid this week. It said the USD Index's weakness isn't expected to extend beyond mid-97s, while levels above 100.00 look more likely than not in coming weeks.
Ebury has backpedaled its expectations for Fed interest rate rises in light of the war in Ukraine, considering `` anything more than a 25 basis point move as unlikely. '' Prior to the invasion, Ebury had penciled in a 50 bp rate rise.
Similarly to the European Central Bank, Ebury expects the Fed's inflation forecasts are likely to be the most closely scrutinized by investors.
A sharper-than-expected upward revision would probably mean the dollar rallies, Ebury said. Any indication that quantitative tightening could be on the way at some point in the second quarter might trigger a bout of dollar strength, it added.
-- -
The euro is likely to be less volatile as risks including the Russia-Ukraine war, inflation and central bank decisions have been priced in and trading has calmed, said Commerzbank.
`` As long as no new information on any of the subjects that currently concern the markets emerges, requiring a complete revaluation, EUR/USD is likely to remain at the current mid-1.09 levels which seem to correspond to the new market balance and will see smaller fluctuations depending on the data and news flow, '' said Commerzbank currency analyst Antje Praefcke.
Bonds:
Eurozone government bonds sold off early Wednesday, with the focus on the Fed rate decision and a 25 basis point interest rate rise expected, said analysts.
`` Lift-off seems all but assured, '' said Commerzbank's rates strategists, adding that those betting for a 50 bp rise Wednesday should be disappointed.
Treasury markets are discounting 170 bps of interest rate rises by the Fed until year-end, the strategists added.
The sharp climb in bond yields reflects investors ' growing bets that Russia's invasion of Ukraine won't slow the momentum toward higher interest rates.
Read: Russia Dollar-Bond Debt Payment Deadline Looms
Commodities:
Oil prices rose more than 2% as risk assets rallied and traders snapped up crude at cheaper levels.
However, investors continued to weigh whether lockdowns in some Chinese cities will sap demand for energy even as Russia's invasion of Ukraine has bolstered concerns of supply disruptions.
Read: Oil Market Faces Biggest Supply Crisis in Decades Unless OPEC Boosts Output, IEA Says
Gold futures were lower again with the recent sharp rise in Treasury yields dimming the appeal of bullion.
Nickel prices dropped 5%, the new daily limit set by the London Metal Exchange, and electronic trading was then halted soon after opening with the exchange saying it was investigating a `` potential issue with the limit-down band. ''
In a statement Wednesday, the LME said, `` Following re-open, the market moved to its limit-down pricing band. We have now halted the electronic market to investigate a potential issue with the limit-down band, and will update the market in due course. ''
A little more than 200 lots were traded before the market was halted, according to Bloomberg. Most of the trades took place at the limit price of $ 45,590 a ton. The LME said a `` small number '' of nickel trades executed below the lower daily price limit will be cancelled.
DOW JONES NEWSPLUS
EMEA HEADLINES
BMW Expects Higher Earnings in 2022, Flags Impact From Ukraine-Russia War
BMW AG on Wednesday said effects from the war in Ukraine are restricting its production and have an impact on the current-year outlook, though earnings are expected to rise significantly thanks to the consolidation of its Chinese joint venture.
The German luxury-car maker said it expects car deliveries this year to be on the same level as 2021 because the situation in Eastern Europe is affecting production.
E.ON 2021 Adjusted Earnings Rose; Issues 2022 Guidance
E.ON SE on Wednesday said its adjusted earnings rose in the full-year 2021 and issued guidance for 2022, though the impact of the war in Ukraine can't be fully estimated at this time.
The German energy company said it recorded adjusted net income of around 2.5 billion euros ( $ 2.7 billion), up 53% on year. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were about EUR7.9 billion, mainly driven by the customer segment.
Inditex 4Q Sales Dragged by Covid-19; Performance Recovered at Start of New FY
Industria de Diseno Textil SA booked slower sales growth in the fiscal year's final quarter amid a Covid-19 outbreak, though it said earnings surged and performance has recovered strongly at the beginning of the new fiscal year.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 58% to 7.18 billion euros ( $ 7.87 billion) in the year to end-January, the Spanish fashion retailer, better known as Inditex, said Wednesday.
Volkswagen Considers Making Electric Truck in U.S.
BERLIN-Volkswagen AG is close to deciding whether to build an electric pickup truck in the U.S. that would target a growing and highly profitable segment of the American auto market, according to people familiar with the company's plans.
Scott Keogh, head of the car maker's U.S. business, pitched the idea to management in Wolfsburg, Germany, last year and has won backing from Volkswagen Chief Executive Herbert Diess and other top executives, the people said. A final decision could be made by the middle of the year.
Russia's War on Ukraine Transforms Europe, but Hard Decisions Lie Ahead
The shock of Russia's invasion of Ukraine has shaken Europe's democracies out of their complacency about geopolitical dangers. And the speed with which the European Union joined the U.S. in sanctioning Russia and arming Ukraine surprised the world.
Turning the initial European reaction into long-term strategies for the continent's military and economic security is the hard part. EU leaders last week agreed on the goals of revamping military defenses and decoupling energy supplies from Russia to contain Moscow's expansionism. How fast to move, and how to pay for it, are the subjects of debates now taking shape.
Russia Bombards Kyiv as European Leaders Arrive in Ukraine's Capital
( MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires
03-16-22 0636ET | business |
Imperial Oil: 2021 annual financial statements | 2021 annual financial statements and management discussion and analysis
Annual financial statements and management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and operating results
For the year ended December 31, 2021
The following annual financial statements and management's discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with the company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021. Reference to Item 1A. `` Risk factors '' and specific page numbers in this document indicate the section and page numbers found in the company's annual report on Form 10-K. The company's annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to these reports are available online at www.sedar.com, www.sec.govand the company's website www.imperialoil.ca.
Unless the context otherwise indicates, reference to the `` company '' or `` Imperial '' includes Imperial Oil Limited and its subsidiaries, and reference to ExxonMobil includes Exxon Mobil Corporation and its affiliates, as appropriate.
All dollar amounts set forth in this report are in Canadian dollars, except where otherwise indicated. Note that numbers may not add due to rounding.
Forward-looking statements
Statements of future events or conditions in this report, including projections, targets, expectations, estimates, and business plans are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as believe, anticipate, intend, propose, plan, goal, seek, project, predict, target, estimate, expect, strategy, outlook, schedule, future, continue, likely, may, should, will and similar references to future periods. Forward-looking statements in this report include, but are not limited to, references to being well positioned to participate in future investments and reduce commodity price risk; the company's long-term business outlook including demand, supply and energy mix and pathways related to greenhouse gas emissions; Imperial's Scope 1 and 2 net zero goal by 2050 and the company's greenhouse gas emissions intensity goals for 2023 and 2030 for its oil sands operations; the impact of participation in the Oil Sands Pathways to Net Zero alliance; market uncertainty and the extent of ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on economic activity and supply and demand; the impact of measures implemented by the company in response to COVID-19; inflation and uncertainty in global economic recovery, and the company's ability to mitigate related cost impacts; segment growth, competitive strategies and benefits from an integrated business model; the ability of the company's current investment strategy of value and select volume growth to deliver robust returns and support long term growth; continued evaluation of opportunities such rail shipments and pace of the Aspen project; the impact of Downstream strategies and competitive position; potential impacts from environmental risks, carbon policy, climate related regulations and biofuels mandates; the benefits to the Chemical business from integration with the Sarnia refinery and relationship with ExxonMobil; capital structure and financial strength as a competitive advantage, for risk mitigation and meeting funding requirements; expected full year capital expenditures of about $ 1.4 billion for 2022; earnings sensitivities; risks associated with use of derivative instruments; and the impact of any pending litigation, accounting standards and unrecognized tax benefits.
Forward-looking statements are based on the company's current expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions at the time the statements are made. Actual future financial and operating results, including expectations and assumptions concerning future energy demand, supply and mix; commodity prices, foreign exchange rates and general market conditions; production rates, growth and mix across various assets; project plans, timing, costs, technical evaluations and capacities, and the company's ability to effectively execute on these plans and operate its assets; production life, resource recoveries and reservoir performance; plans to mitigate climate risk and the resilience of company strategy to a range of pathways for society's energy transition; the adoption and impact of new facilities or technologies on capital efficiency, production and reductions to greenhouse gas emissions intensity, including but not limited to next generation technologies using solvents to replace energy intensive steam at Cold Lake, boiler flue gas technology at Kearl, Strathcona's renewable diesel complex and support for and advancement of carbon capture and storage, and any changes in the scope, terms, or costs of such projects; the amount and timing of emissions reductions; that any required support from policymakers and other stakeholders for various new technologies such as carbon capture and storage will be provided; applicable laws and government policies, including taxation, restrictions in response to COVID-19 and with respect to climate change and greenhouse gas emissions reductions; receipt of regulatory approvals; performance of third-party service providers; refinery utilization and product sales; cash generation, financing sources and capital structure, such as dividends and shareholder returns, including the timing and amounts of share repurchases; capital and environmental expenditures; evolution of COVID-19 and its impacts on Imperial's ability to operate its assets; and the company's ability to effectively execute on its business continuity plans and pandemic response activities could differ materially depending on a number of factors.
These factors include global, regional or local changes in supply and demand for oil, natural gas, petroleum and petrochemical products, feedstocks and other market or economic conditions and resulting demand, price, differential and margin impacts; transportation for accessing markets; political or regulatory events, including changes in law or government policy, applicable royalty rates, tax laws, and actions in response to COVID-19; environmental risks inherent in oil and gas activities; environmental regulation, including climate change and greenhouse gas regulation and changes to such regulation; failure or delay of supportive policy and market development for emerging lower emission energy technologies; the receipt, in a timely manner, of regulatory and third-party approvals; third-party opposition to company and service provider operations, projects and infrastructure; availability and allocation of capital; availability and performance of third-party service providers, including in light of restrictions related to COVID-19; unanticipated technical or operational difficulties; management effectiveness and disaster response preparedness, including business continuity plans in response to COVID-19; commercial negotiations; project management and schedules and timely completion of projects; unexpected technological developments; the results of research programs and new technologies, including with respect to greenhouse gas emissions, and the ability to bring new technologies to commercial scale on a cost-competitive basis; reservoir analysis and performance; the ability to develop or acquire additional reserves; operational hazards and risks; cybersecurity incidents; currency exchange rates; the pace of regional and global economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and the occurrence and severity of future outbreaks and variants; general economic conditions, including the occurrence and duration of economic recessions; and other factors discussed in Item 1A `` Risk factors '' and Item 7 `` Management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations '' in this annual report on Form 10-K.
Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, some that are similar to other oil and gas companies and some that are unique to Imperial Oil Limited. Imperial Oil Limited's actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by its forward-looking statements and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on them. Imperial Oil Limited undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained herein, except as required by applicable law.
Energy demand models are forward-looking by nature and aim to replicate system dynamics of the global energy system, requiring simplifications. The reference to any scenario in this report, including any potential net-zero scenarios, does not imply Imperial views any particular scenario as likely to occur. In addition, energy demand scenarios require assumptions on a variety of parameters. As such, the outcome of any given scenario using an energy demand model comes with a high degree of uncertainty. For example, the IEA describes its NZE scenario as extremely challenging, requiring unprecedented innovation, unprecedented international cooperation and sustained support and participation from consumers. Third-party scenarios discussed in this report reflect the modeling assumptions and outputs of their respective authors, not Imperial, and their use by Imperial is not an endorsement by the company of their underlying assumptions, likelihood or probability. Investment decisions are made on the basis of Imperial's separate planning process, but may be secondarily tested for robustness or resiliency against different assumptions, including against various scenarios. Any use of the modeling of a third-party organization within this report does not constitute or imply an endorsement by Imperial of any or all of the positions or activities of such organization.
The term `` project '' as used in this report can refer to a variety of different activities and does not necessarily have the same meaning as in any government payment transparency reports.
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Management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations...................
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Liquidity and capital resources..............................................................................................
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Capital and exploration expenditures....................................................................................
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Market risks...........................................................................................................................
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Critical accounting estimates.................................................................................................
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Management's report on internal control over financial reporting...................................................
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Report of independent registered public accounting firm................................................................
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Consolidated statement of comprehensive income ( U.S. GAAP)...................................................
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Consolidated balance sheet ( U.S. GAAP)......................................................................................
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Consolidated statement of shareholders ' equity ( U.S. GAAP)........................................................
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Consolidated statement of cash flows ( U.S. GAAP).......................................................................
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Notes to consolidated financial statements....................................................................................
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Share-based incentive compensation programs................................................................
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Litigation and other contingencies.....................................................................................
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Common shares..............................................................................................................
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Financing and additional notes and loans payable information........................................
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Leases............................................................................................................................
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Long-term debt................................................................................................................
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Accounting for suspended exploratory well costs............................................................
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Supplemental information on oil and gas exploration and production activities ( unaudited)...........
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Disclaimer
Imperial Oil Ltd. published this content on 15 March 2022 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 16 March 2022 18:57:05 UTC. | business |
Thinking of going to Southeast Asia? Here is what to expect. | Their flights were more expensive and took longer, their favorite restaurant was shuttered, and they had to take coronavirus tests on the first and fifth days of their trip. But the biggest hassle for Brian Lamberty and Paola Laird, retirees from London, in their long-awaited return to Phuket Island in Thailand was the paperwork.
Before their February trip, Laird spent nearly three hours uploading all the documents — vaccination records, hotel reservations, and proof of health insurance among them — needed for the Thailand Pass, an entry requirement instituted for international travelers during the pandemic. “ For many people who are not computer literate, it’ s going to be a problem, ” Laird said.
After a long and painful hiatus, and despite rising cases of coronavirus in some Southeast Asian countries and lingering U.S. government warnings against travel to most of them, international tourism is now gradually returning to Southeast Asia. Lamberty and Laird are among the early waves of visitors since the pandemic restrictions turned the region’ s tourism playgrounds into ghost towns in early 2020. More countries in recent weeks announced that they are ready to admit fully vaccinated foreign tourists, or soon will be, though still within limits.
The rollout of vaccines in Southeast Asia and rollback of coronavirus restrictions around the world are prompting the reopening. Now, the war in Ukraine is complicating the travel picture everywhere, as the general unease could make people think twice about booking a big trip — or potentially opt for Southeast Asia, 4,500 miles from Ukraine, instead of Europe.
In November, Thailand and Cambodia were among the first countries in Southeast Asia to fully reopen to tourists. After an omicron surge, Thailand in December suspended most tourist arrivals, but on Feb. 1 resumed its nationwide “ Test & Go ” program, which requires hotel isolation and a PCR test the first day and a rapid test the fifth day. Days later, Bali fully reopened to foreigners, though with a quarantine of three to seven days ( then dropped the quarantine requirement this month). The Philippines followed Feb. 10, with no quarantine but with social distancing in some locations. Vietnam announced that it would open its borders Tuesday to international tourists, with a one-day hotel isolation. And Malaysia recently announced it was reopening April 1 without a quarantine.
Visitors gather at a night market on Phu Quoc Island in Vietnam, on Feb. 26. Vietnam announced that it would open its borders on March 15 to international tourists, with a one-day hotel isolation. | LINH PHAM / THE NEW YORK TIMES
As the once tourist-dependent region reopens its borders, travelers should expect more paperwork, higher airfares, cheaper hotels ( for the short term) and fewer crowds — especially since China, the biggest single source of tourists in the region, has no plans to reopen its borders anytime soon.
Travel operators are grappling with a shortage of labor, lingering uncertainty over the virus and now the war in Ukraine, and impatience — they worry that those deeply missed tourists will go elsewhere in the region unless their own country is the first to fully reopen.
“ I think for the next 12 months it’ s going to be pretty complicated to travel in Asia, ” said Adam Platt-Hepworth, whose Grasshopper Adventures cycling tour company worked with 30,000 travelers in 2019 and fewer than 50 in 2020. “ The biggest challenge overall is just going to be restarting after so long, not just with our people but with hotels and restaurants and anyone in travel. It’ s been a long time. People are rusty. ”
Before the pandemic, Southeast Asia was one of the fastest-growing regions in the world for international tourism, with a record 139 million visitors in 2019, a jump of about 8% compared with 2018, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization. The emerald waters of Halong Bay in Vietnam were crowded with hundreds of cruise boats, rooftop bars in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, teemed with partyers, and walking on streets on Thai islands like Phuket meant enduring shoulder-to-shoulder crowds. Tourist attractions across the region were congested with package tours from China, the world’ s biggest source of outbound tourism for the past decade. According to the UNWTO, about 150 million Chinese travelers spent $ 277 billion in 2018 alone.
Countries like Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Cambodia were among favorite destinations of Chinese tourists. But as the coronavirus outbreak in China morphed into a global pandemic in early 2020, locations in the region that depended on foreign visitors were deserted. Last year, foreign arrivals to Southeast Asia plummeted to 3.3 million, around 2% of the record number in 2019.
This year, with the incremental revival of international tourism, visitors will encounter a raft of constraints as well as rewards, according to tourists and travel companies in the region.
Visitors pose for photos on Phuket Island in Thailand, on Feb. 27. To visit Phuket Island, international tourists need to submit a “ Thailand Pass, ” which requires uploading vaccination records, hotel reservations and proof of health insurance. | ADAM DEAN / THE NEW YORK TIMES
Lamberty and Laird vacationed in Phuket 16 times before the pandemic. They were usually out and about on the island — fabled for its tropical beaches, fiery cuisine, hedonistic nightlife — and enjoyed visiting temples and taking Thai cooking classes. This time, they took it easy, visiting friends and relaxing at their go-to beachfront hotel, Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket, on the Andaman Sea. They were sad to see that boutiques had closed in a nearby shopping center, now a COVID-19 testing site.
“ You have a memory of what’ s happened before and what was here, but everybody has to compromise, ” Laird said. “ Be brave about travel and go for it; the prize is just being here. ”
Travelers going after that prize should be prepared to endure virus tests and even quarantines, and purchase health and travel insurance before their arrival. Other suggestions: Be ready to download government travel apps, upload vaccination and travel documents, and acknowledge that a positive virus test result could send you into a quarantine or cause a missed flight. Don’ t be surprised if service at hotels, restaurants and tour companies is spotty or if they are short staffed — or if the government rules change suddenly while you are on holiday.
Higher flight costs are another unwanted change. Airfares from the United States to Southeast Asia last month were about 30% higher than before the pandemic, because fewer planes were flying to the region, averaging $ 1,150 round trip, according to an analysis for The New York Times by Hopper, a flight and hotel booking company.
“ Generally, as airlines add capacity to these countries, airfares should drop, ” said Adit Damodaran, an economist at Hopper.
Ad and Patricia Ketelaars, semiretired Dutch entrepreneurs who moved to Singapore seven years ago, last month decided to take their first adventure trip in the region in two years. They wanted to cycle in Thailand on a self-guided tour, but it was “ too complicated, ” Ad Ketelaars said.
Visitors at Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia, on Feb. 26. As Asia reopens its borders, travelers should expect more paperwork, higher airfares and cheaper hotels — at least for the short-term. | THOMAS CRISTOFOLETTI / THE NEW YORK TIMES
They opted for Cambodia and booked a guided tour with Grasshopper Adventures, setting out on Feb. 28 from Phnom Penh and ending eight days later in Siem Reap.
They were most looking forward to returning to the lush countryside, said Ad Ketelaars just before the trip and in between taking a coronavirus test in Singapore and researching the best hospitals in Cambodia.
“ The anxiety of these types of things is, what if you test positive? ” he said. “ You want to make sure you wind up in a place that can deal with it. ” | tech |
Flipkart names ex-Apollo Health exec as CEO of digital health business | Indian e-commerce company Flipkart has appointed Prashant Jhaveri as CEO of its newly established online health business Flipkart Health+.
Jhaveri previously served as the chief business officer of Apollo Health and Lifestyle, the retail healthcare unit of Apollo Hospitals, where he led its growth, partnerships, and collaborations with other consumer-facing businesses. He had also held the CBO post at insurance technology firm Medi Assist and headed the digital health company MediBuddy as CEO.
In a media release, the newly appointed executive said there is an `` immense opportunity '' to take healthcare to India's remotest areas by bringing the `` right '' technology solutions and consumer value propositions.
`` With Flipkart Health+, I look forward to working with a talented team as we work towards solving accessibility and affordability of quality healthcare products and services for millions of customers in India, '' he said.
The Indian health system remains strained by shortages in healthcare professionals with a doctor and nurses ratio of six and 10 per 10,000 patients, well below the World Health Organization's threshold.
As COVID-19 restricted people's mobility, health tech developers in the country have stepped up to bring health service access to rural and remote areas via mobile apps. Aiming to address issues on access and affordability of quality healthcare in the country, Flipkart set up its digital health business in November following its acquisition of a majority stake at online pharmacy startup SastaSundar. The e-pharmacy platform works with over 490 pharmacies to deliver healthcare products nationwide. It also uses AI and data analytics in providing counselling services.
Recently, Amrita University launched a smartphone-connected wearable device that can be deployed to help patients in rural areas manage their own health. Drones are also being used across the country to deliver medicines in far-flung areas.
The Indian government has also introduced initiatives like the Ayushman Bharat Digital Health Mission, which aims to digitally connect the various stakeholders in the health system.
Commenting on Jhaveri's appointment, Flipkart Health+ SVP Ajay Veer Yadav said: `` As Flipkart Health+ begins its journey, we are pleased to welcome Prashant onboard. His vast experience in the healthcare sector will be a great asset in the journey to build Flipkart Health+ as India’ s premier tech-enabled healthcare platform for a billion-plus Indians, across the country ''. | tech |
Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Nvidia, Boeing, Micron and others | In this article
Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:
DiDi Global ( DIDI), Alibaba ( BABA), JD.com ( JD), Pinduoduo ( PDD) – China-based stocks listed in the U.S. are staging strong rallies in premarket trading, helped by state media reports that the Chinese government will take steps to support the markets and the economy, and that the U.S. and China are progressing toward an agreement on regulatory requirements for those companies. Didi surged 36.7% in the premarket, with Alibaba up 19.2%, JD.com rallying 21% and Pinduoduo soaring 32.5%.
Nvidia ( NVDA) – The graphics chipmaker's stock added 2.3% in the premarket after Wells Fargo added it to its `` signature picks '' list. The firm anticipates upbeat announcements from Nvidia at its upcoming investor day, and also said the recent market downdraft has helped create a favorable risk/reward profile.
Boeing ( BA) – Boeing gained 2% in premarket trading after Baird declared the stock a `` bullish fresh pick '' following a recent sell-off and noted that 737 MAX deliveries to China are close to resuming.
Pfizer ( PFE), BioNTech ( BNTX) - Pfizer and partner BioNTech have asked the FDA to approve a second booster dose of their Covid-19 vaccine. A decision could come in time for an autumn vaccination campaign. BioNTech jumped 4.4% in premarket trading, while Pfizer rose 0.6%.
Micron Technology ( MU) – Micron rallied 4.7% in the premarket following a Bernstein double upgrade to `` outperform '' from `` underperform ''. Bernstein said the Ukraine conflict won't result in any significant memory chip supply or demand destruction, while also noting the recent sell-off in Micron and other semiconductor stocks.
Spotify ( SPOT) – The streaming services company signed a stadium and shirt sponsorship deal with Spanish soccer team FC Barcelona, with the Spotify brand on uniform shirts for the next four seasons. Spotify rose 2.6% in premarket action.
NortonLifeLock ( NLOK) – NortonLifeLock's $ 8.6 billion deal to buy British cybersecurity rival Avast may get an in-depth probe by UK regulators, who say the deal raises competitive concerns. NortonLifeLock said it does not intend to submit any potential remedies for those concerns. Its stock slid 5.5% in the premarket.
Lands ' End ( LE) – The apparel retailer missed estimates by 10 cents with quarterly earnings of 21 cents per share, while revenue also fell short of Street forecasts. Lands ' End also gave a weaker-than-expected forecast as it faces increasing costs and continued supply chain challenges. Lands ' End tumbled 9.5% in premarket trading.
Shoe Carnival ( SCVL) – Shoe Carnival shares slid 3.3% in the premarket despite an upbeat quarterly report which saw it beat estimates on both the top and bottom lines. The shoe retailer issued a full-year revenue and profit forecast range that was largely – but not completely – above current Street forecasts. Shoe Carnival also announced a 29% dividend increase. | business |
Forza Petroleum: 2021 Annual Management's Discussion & Analysis | MANAGEMENT 'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION & RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
FOR THE YEARS ENDED
DECEMBER 31, 2021 AND 2020
MANAGEMENT 'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL
CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following Management's Discussion and Analysis ( `` MD & A '') should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements of Forza Petroleum Limited ( `` FPL '' or, the `` Company '') and its subsidiaries for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 ( the `` Financial Statements ''), which have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ( `` IFRS '') as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board ( `` IASB '').
The date of this MD & A is March 16, 2022.
Unless otherwise noted, all amounts are in thousands of U.S. dollars.
Selected terms and abbreviations used in this MD & A are listed and described in the `` Glossary and Abbreviations '' section.
Readers should refer to the `` Forward-Looking Information '' advisory on page 17. Additional information relating to FPL, including FPL's Annual Information Form dated March 23, 2021, is on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The Company will file an Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2021 on or before March 31, 2022.
Table of Contents
Company Overview
1
Commitments and Contractual Obligations
14
Operational Highlights
1
Summary of Quarterly Results
14
Financial Highlights and Outlook
2
Selected Annual Information
15
Financial and Other Instruments and Off-
Business Environment
4
Balance Sheet Arrangements
15
Operations Review
5
Transactions with Related Parties
15
New Accounting Pronouncements,
Capital Additions
6
Policies, and Critical Estimates
16
Financial Results
8
Financial Controls
16
Liquidity and Capital Resources
12
Forward-Looking Information
17
Economic Sensitivities
13
Glossary and Abbreviations
19
Outstanding Share Data
13
Company Overview
The Company is a public company incorporated in Canada under the Canada Business Corporations Act and is the holding company for the Forza Petroleum group of companies ( together, the `` Group '' or `` Forza Petroleum ''). The Group has a 65% Working Interest in and operates the Hawler License Area in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq ( `` KRI ''), which has yielded the discovery of four oil fields, three of which are currently producing.
Operational Highlights
2021
2022
1
Q4 2021 MD & A
MANAGEMENT 'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL
CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Financial Highlights and Outlook
Liquidity outlook
The Group expects cash on hand as of December 31, 2021 and cash receipts from net revenues from sales, exclusively made to the KRG at the tie-in to the Kurdistan Oil Export Pipeline, will allow it to fund its forecasted capital expenditures and operating and administrative costs through the end of March 2023. The Group has the ability to tailor its capital program to have the liquidity needed to settle the non-current purchase consideration following the end of the forbearance period on March 31, 2023.
Financial performance
The following table contains financial performance highlights for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020.
Three months ended
Year ended
December 31,
December 31,
December 31,
December 31,
( $ thousands unless otherwise stated)
2021
2020
2021
2020
Revenue
57,666
23,881
187,796
81,956
Cash generated from operating activities
21,386
8,601
51,188
22,102
Cash generated from operating activities per basic
and diluted share ( $ /share)
0.04
0.01
0.09
0.04
( Loss) / Profit for the period
( 22,818)
114,562
10,270
( 108,743)
( Loss) / Earnings per basic and diluted share
( $ /share)
( 0.04)
0.20
0.02
( 0.19)
Average sales price ( $ /bbl)
63.37
27.44
54.52
28.23
Field operating costs ( $ /bbl) ( 1)
7.96
5.83
6.78
6.93
Operating expense ( $ /bbl)
12.25
8.97
10.42
9.87
Capital additions ( 2)
20,457
10,934
45,792
18,053
Notes:
Revenue and cash receipts
Revenue of $ 57.7 million was recorded for the three months ended December 31, 2021. Included in revenue is $ 48.3 million ( $ 63.37/bbl) realized on the sale of 762,300 bbl ( WI) of crude oil and $ 9.4 million related to the recovery of costs carried on behalf of partners. Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2021 increased by $ 33.8 million compared to the same period in 2020. The increase is attributable to a 131% increase in realized sales price and a 5% increase in sales volumes.
Revenue of $ 187.8 million was recorded for the year ended December 31, 2021. Included in revenue is $ 157.3 million ( $ 54.52/bbl) realized on the sale of 2,885,300 bbl ( WI) of crude oil and $ 30.5 million related to the recovery of costs carried on behalf of partners. Revenue for the year ended December 31, 2021 increased by $ 105.8 million compared to the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase is attributable to a 93% increase in realized sales price and a 15% increase in sales volumes.
All sales during the year ended December 31, 2021 were made via the Kurdistan Oil Export Pipeline. The Group has received full payment for all oil sales made up to the end of November 2021.
2
Q4 2021 MD & A
MANAGEMENT 'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL
CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Operating expense
Operating expense during the fourth quarter of 2021 amounted to $ 9.3 million ( $ 12.25/bbl) versus $ 6.5 million ( $ 8.97/bbl) during the fourth quarter of 2020.
Field operating costs during the fourth quarter of 2021 amounted to $ 6.1 million ( $ 7.96/bbl) in comparison to $ 4.2 million ( $ 5.83/bbl) during the fourth quarter of 2020. Field operating costs per barrel increased for the three months ended December 31, 2021 compared to the three months ended December 31, 2020 as a result of a 43% increase in costs due primarily to operational workovers and an increase in security costs, partially offset by a 5% increase in sales volumes. Field operating costs represent Forza Petroleum's Working Interest share of gross operating costs and exclude partner share of operating costs which are being carried by Forza Petroleum.
Operating expense of $ 30.1 million ( $ 10.42/bbl) were recorded for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to $ 24.8 million ( $ 9.87/bbl) for the year ended December 31, 2020.
Field operating costs during the year ended December 31, 2021 amounted to $ 19.5 million ( $ 6.78/bbl) versus $ 17.4 million ( $ 6.93/bbl) during the year ended December 31, 2020. Field operating costs per barrel decreased for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the year ended December 31, 2020 as a 12% increase in costs was more than offset by a 15% increase in sales volumes.
Cash generated from operating activities
Cash generated from operating activities for the fourth quarter of 2021 was $ 21.4 million compared to $ 8.6 million during the same period in 2020. Cash generated from operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2021 was $ 51.2 million compared to $ 22.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increases versus both comparable periods mainly relate to higher crude oil sales revenue received during the period, partially offset by an increase in cash payments relating to operating expenses.
Profit / Loss
Loss for the three months ended December 31, 2021 was $ 22.8 million compared to a profit of $ 114.6 million during the fourth quarter of 2020. The variance in profit/loss for three months ended December 31, 2021 versus the same period in 2020 is primarily attributable to i) a $ 32.4 million impairment expense recorded during the three months ended December 31, 2021 compared to a $ 121 million impairment reversal recorded during the same period in 2020, both relating to the Hawler License Area; ii) a $ 2.8 million increase in operating expenses in the current period mainly due to costs on operational workovers, increased security costs and increased production; and iii) an increase of $ 3.2 million in depletion recorded in the current period due to a reduction in proved plus probable oil reserve estimates greater than production, partially offset by a lower depletable base. These negative factors have been partially offset by i) a $ 20.0 million increase in net revenue primarily resulting from increased realized sales price and recovery of carried costs; and ii) a $ 0.9 million non-cash gain during the current period resulting from the decrease in the fair value of the purchase consideration obligation due on the Hawler License Area compared to a $ 6.9 million charge for the three months ending December 31, 2020.
Profit for the year ended December 31, 2021 was $ 10.3 million compared to a loss of $ 108.7 million in 2020. The variance in profit/loss for the year ended December 31, 2021 versus in the year ended December 31, 2020 is primarily attributable to i) a $ 63.6 million increase in net revenue resulting from increased realized sales price and recovery of carried costs, and higher sales volumes; ii) a $ 32.4 million impairment expense recorded during the twelve months ended December 31, 2021 compared to a $ 117.3 million net impairment expense recorded during the twelve months ended December 31, 2020, both relating to the Hawler License Area; iii) a $ 15.7 million gain recorded during the twelve months ended December 31, 2021 relating to the deconsolidation of OP Congo SA; iv) a $ 3.5 million complete reversal of the expected credit loss during the twelve months ended December 31, 2021 compared to a $ 0.2 million increase to the expected credit loss during the year ended December 31, 2020; v) a $ 8.0 million reduction in financing costs mainly related to the settlement of a loan facility in July 2020; and vi) a $ 3.8 million decrease in general and administration expense compared to the year ended December 31, 2020 mainly due to the corporate restructuring which was implemented in Q2 2020, resulting in reduced personnel costs. These positive factors have been partially offset by i) a $ 26.9 million gain recorded on the settlement of a loan facility during the twelve months ended December 31, 2020; ii) a $ 11.3 million non-cash charge in the current period resulting from the increase in the fair value of the purchase consideration obligation due on the Hawler License Area; iii) an increase of $ 15.3 million in depletion recorded in the current period due to a reduction in proved plus probable oil reserve estimates greater than production, partially offset by a lower depletable base; and iv) a $ 5.3 million increase in operating expenses in the current period mainly due to costs on operational workovers in 2021, increased security costs, increased production in 2021 and the temporary shut-in of the Banan field during the second quarter of 2020.
Capital additions
During the fourth quarter of 2021, the Group recorded capital additions of $ 20.5 million, consisting of $ 17.0 million invested in drilling activities in the Banan, Demir Dagh and Zey Gawra fields, $ 1.1 million invested in facilities, and $ 2.4 million incurred for directly attributable support costs.
3
Q4 2021 MD & A
MANAGEMENT 'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL
CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Group recorded capital additions of $ 45.8 million, consisting of $ 39.9 million invested in drilling activities in the Banan, Demir Dagh and Zey Gawra fields, $ 2.9 million invested in facilities, and $ 2.9 million incurred for directly attributable support costs. A non-cash credit of $ 13.6 million was recorded relating to changes in the estimates used to calculate the decommissioning obligation.
Financial position
The following table contains highlights of the Group's financial position as at the dates indicated below.
( $ thousands)
December 31, 2021
December 31, 2020
Total cash and cash equivalents
24,672
13,158
Working Capital
45,416
( 1,846)
Total assets
587,725
605,412
ZOG Credit Facility
-
5,000
Total long-term liabilities
96,095
97,877
The cash and cash equivalents balance of $ 24.7 million as at December 31, 2021 increased from $ 13.2 million at December 31, 2020. This increase is due to $ 51.2 million in cash generated from operating activities partially offset by $ 34.7 million in cash used in investing activities and $ 5.0 million in cash used in financing activities.
Working capital improved from negative $ 1.8 million at December 31, 2020 to positive $ 45.4 million at December 31, 2021 mainly due to ( i) a $ 21.4 million decrease in the trade and other payables balance; ( ii) a $ 8.5 million increase in the trade and other receivables balance; ( iii) a $ 11.5 million increase in the cash and cash equivalents balance; ( iv) a $ 0.5 million increase in the other current assets balance; and ( v) the settlement of the $ 5.0 million balance related to the ZOG Credit Facility.
The total assets balance decreased to $ 587.7 million at December 31, 2021 from $ 605.4 million at December 31, 2020. This change is primarily due to i) an impairment expense of $ 32.4 million recorded during the year ended December 31, 2021 relating to the Hawler License Area; ii) a depletion expense of $ 38.2 million; and iii) a $ 13.6 million non-cash credit relating to the estimates used to calculate the decommissioning obligation. These negative factors were partially offset by i) $ 45.8 million of capital additions; ii) an $ 8.5 million increase in trade and other receivables; iii) an $ 11.5 million increase in cash and cash equivalents; iv) a $ 0.5 million increase in other current assets; and v) a $ 0.4 million increase in inventories.
The $ 1.8 million decrease in total long-term liabilities from December 31, 2020 is due to a $ 13.6 million decrease to the decommissioning obligation mainly due to changes in estimates used to calculate the liability, partially offset by a $ 11.3 million increase in the fair value of the purchase consideration balance.
The undiscounted balance of principal and accrued interest owed under the purchase consideration obligation to the vendor of the Hawler License Area as at December 31, 2021 was $ 76.2 million ( December 31, 2020 - $ 76.4 million).
Business Environment
Following various destabilizing geopolitical events impacting the KRI over several years, relative political stability over the last three years has supported conditions where the Group has been able to advance its activities in the KRI. However, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and oil price volatility compounds uncertainty associated with unresolved political disputes, and their eventual impact on the Group's operations may be significant and remains unclear. And, there remains an ongoing risk that any degradation of the regional security situation could have a material adverse effect on the operating and financial performance of the Group. Political and other risk factors which are disclosed in FPL's Annual Information Form could have an adverse effect on Forza Petroleum's performance.
The Group's future revenues and cash flows from operating activities are dependent on the Group's ability to produce, deliver, and receive payment for sales of crude oil. Production rates are subject to fluctuation over time and are difficult to predict.
On February 15, 2022, the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court ( the `` Court '') ruled as unconstitutional the KRG Law No. 28 of 2007, which regulates the oil and gas sector in the KRI. The Court's judgment also provides that the Iraqi Ministry of Oil may pursue the annulment of PSCs that have been entered into by the KRG. In a statement released on February 16, 2022, the KRG challenges the Court's judgment and stresses that `` it will take all constitutional, legal, and judicial measures to protect and preserve all contracts made in the oil and gas sector ''. Normal operations are being maintained at the Hawler License Area and, on March 10, 2021, the Group received payment for its Hawler oil sales made to the KRG in November 2021.
Uncertainty related to global, social, political, and economic conditions and the resulting changes in global oil supply chains and infrastructure investment contribute to volatility in the price of crude oil. During 2020 the global response to the spread of COVID-19 decreased global economic activity and, correspondingly, the demand for and price of crude oil. There has been a sharp recovery in both global economic activity and especially in the oil price in 2021. However, as demonstrated in recent weeks by the global response to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, price volatility may now be a permanent feature of the oil
4
Q4 2021 MD & A
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Forza Petroleum Ltd. published this content on 17 March 2022 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 17 March 2022 01:20:05 UTC. | business |
Wall Street closes higher after Fed hikes rates, signals more to come | By Sinéad Carew, Devik Jain and Bansari Mayur Kamdar
( Reuters) - The S & P 500 closed up more than 2% while the Nasdaq rallied almost 4% on Wednesday as investors shrugged off initial jitters following the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate increase and its signal that more hikes would be needed to fight inflation, ending the pandemic-era's easy monetary policy.
The central bank announced a quarter-percentage-point increase in its benchmark overnight rate as was widely expected but the projection that its rate would hit between 1.75% and 2% by year's end was more hawkish than some investors said they had expected.
While the Fed flagged the massive uncertainty the economy faces from the war between Russia and Ukraine and the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, it said `` ongoing increases '' in the target federal funds rate `` will be appropriate '' to curb the highest inflation the country has witnessed in 40 years.
While the major indexes pared earlier gains sharply and the S & P and the Dow both dipped into the red briefly after the Fed statement, the indexes steadied as Fed chair Jerome Powell spoke at a press conference.
Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at The Leuthold Group in Minneapolis said investors may be relieved the Fed is taking action against surging inflation.
`` Hearing the Fed finally'say and act ' to tackle inflation is somewhat calming for the investment community, and for Main Street struggling with higher inflation, '' he said.
But other market analysts were concerned the aggressive rate hike projected could cause the economy to skid.
`` This looks like a Fed that is intending on causing recession in order to stamp out the inflation problem and that is as short sighted as calling inflation transitory a year ago, '' Scott Ladner, chief investment officer, Horizon Investments, Charlotte, North Carolina.
Joseph LaVorgna, Americas chief economist at Natixis in New York was also skeptical.
`` They're going to try to be aggressive here in raising rates. I wish Jay Powell and company all the best of luck because they're not going to get anywhere near as they think, unless they're willing to throw a lot of people out of jobs, because that's what's going to happen. Because we're going to have a recession. This is a recession forecast, '' he said.
`` I just don't see the Fed being able to engineer this kind of tightening for what right now is inflationary demand destruction. ''
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 518.76 points, or 1.55%, to 34,063.1, the S & P 500 gained 95.41 points, or 2.24%, to 4,357.86 and the Nasdaq Composite added 487.93 points, or 3.77%, to 13,436.55.
Of the S & P 500's 11 major industry sectors, the biggest gainers were sectors that had fallen sharply in a recent sell off with consumer discretionary and technology both finishing up more than 3% while communications services and financials added almost 3%.
Only two of the sectors ended the day in the red with energy falling 0.4% and utilities losing 0.2%.
Historical data suggests tighter monetary policy has often been accompanied by solid gains in stocks. The S & P 500 has returned an average 7.7% in the first year the Fed raises rates, according to a Deutsche Bank study of 13 hiking cycles since 1955.
Ahead of the Fed statement stocks had been rallying as talk of compromise from both Moscow and Kyiv on a status for Ukraine outside of NATO lifted hope on Wednesday for a potential breakthrough after three weeks of war.
The global mood had also been lifted earlier by China's promise to roll out more stimulus for the economy and keep markets stable.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 3.78-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 3.79-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S & P 500 posted 15 new 52-week highs and 1 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 29 new highs and 93 new lows.
On U.S. exchanges 15.82 billion shares changed hands compared with the 14.04 billion 20-day moving average.
( Reporting by Sinéad Carew, Lewis Krauskopf, Herb Lash and Stephen Culp in New York, Devik Jain and Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Aurora Ellis) | business |
Tesla halts work at Shanghai factory for two days amid China COVID curbs - notice | - Electric vehicle giant Tesla is suspending production at its Shanghai factory for two days, according to a notice sent internally and to suppliers, as China tightens COVID restrictions to curb the country's latest outbreak.
The Shanghai factory runs around the clock, and suppliers and Tesla staff were told on Wednesday in the notice, reviewed by Reuters, that production would be suspended for Wednesday and Thursday.
It did not give a reason for the stoppage at the plant, also known as the Gigafactory 3, which makes the Tesla Model 3 sedan and the Model Y crossover sport utility vehicle.
Many cities across China, including Shanghai, have been rolling out strict movement controls to stem the country's largest COVID-19 outbreak in two years. The measures have also caused factory shutdowns in parts of the country, putting pressure on supply chains.
Tesla did not have immediate comment.
Its Shanghai factory produces cars for the China market and is also a crucial export hub to Germany and Japan. It delivered 56,515 vehicles in February, including 33,315 for export, according to the China Passenger Car Association.
That amounts to an average of around 2,018 vehicles a day.
It was not immediately clear whether the suspension of work would apply to other plant operations over the two days.
Two people briefed on the notice said they understood it applied to Tesla's general assembly lines. They declined to be identified because the information was not public.
The notice did not specify whether the measures would correspond to a loss of production, or whether Tesla could make up for any lost output.
Authorities in Shanghai have asked many residents not to leave their homes or work places for 48 hours to as long as 14 days as they conduct COVID tests or carry out contact tracing.
In a separate notice issued on Wednesday that was also seen by Reuters, Tesla asked suppliers to estimate how many workers were needed to achieve full production and to provide details of workers affected by COVID restrictions.
It also asked suppliers to prepare workers to live, sleep and eat at the factories in an arrangement similar to China's '' closed-loop management '' process. Apple supplier Foxconn was allowed to resume some operations at its Shenzhen campus on Wednesday after it set up such an arrangement.
Tesla was alerted by one supplier last weekend that its production had been affected by COVID measures, said a person familiar with the matter. That supplier told Tesla that its stockpiles could only last for two days, the person said.
Any protracted China lockdowns will further rattle Asian supply chains, OCBC economist Wellian Wiranto said in a research note, noting the southern manufacturing hub of Shenzhen alone produces 11% of China's exports. ( Reporting by Zhang Yan and Brenda Goh; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell and Kim Coghill) | business |
SEMTECH CORP Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations ( form 10-K) | Overview
Impact of COVID-19
experienced during such closures has resulted in reduced production of our products, delays for delivery of our products to our customers, and reduced ability to receive supplies, which have had and may continue to have, individually and in the aggregate, an adverse effect on our results.
Factors Affecting Our Performance
Revenue
We determine revenue recognition through the following five steps:
•Identification of the contract, or contracts, with a customer
•Identification of the performance obligations in the contract
•Determination of the transaction price
•Allocation of the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract
•Recognition of revenue when, or as, performance obligations are satisfied
We account for a contract when it has approval and commitment from both parties, the rights of the parties are identified, payment terms are identified, the contract has commercial substance and collectability of consideration is probable.
Gross Profit
Operating Costs
Our operating costs and expenses generally consist of selling, general and administrative, product development and engineering costs, costs associated with acquisitions, restructuring charges, and other operating related charges.
Results of Operations
Net Sales
Fiscal Year 2022 Compared with Fiscal Year 2021
The following table summarizes our net sales by major end market:
The following table summarizes our net sales by reportable segment:
Fiscal Year 2021 Compared with Fiscal Year 2020
The following table summarizes our net sales by reportable segment:
Gross Profit
Fiscal Year 2022 Compared with Fiscal Year 2021
Gross Margin Gross Profit Gross Margin High-Performance Analog Group
Unallocated costs, including share-based compensation ( 4,118)
Fiscal Year 2021 Compared with Fiscal Year 2020
Gross Margin Gross Profit Gross Margin High-Performance Analog Group
Unallocated costs, including share-based compensation ( 1,750)
Operating Costs and Expenses
Selling, General & Administrative Expenses
Product Development and Engineering Expenses
Intangible Amortization
Changes in the Fair Value of Contingent Earn-out Obligations
The change in the fair value of contingent earn-out obligations in fiscal year 2022 compared to fiscal year 2021 reflects the difference between the final earn-out targets achieved for Cycleo SAS and the final earn-out payments made.
Interest Expense
Investment Impairments and Credit Loss Reserves
Provision for Income Taxes
For further information on the effective tax rate and Tax Act's impact, see Note 11 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Credit Facility
No amortization is required with respect to the revolving loans and we may voluntarily prepay borrowings at any time and from time to time, without premium or penalty, other than customary `` breakage costs '' and fees for LIBOR-based loans.
Expected Uses of Liquidity
Capital Expenditures and Research and Development
Purchases under our Stock Repurchase Program
Operating Leases
Purchase Commitments
Compensation and Defined Benefit Plans
We maintain defined benefit pension plans for the employees of our Swiss subsidiaries and French subsidiary. Expected future payments under these plans totaled $ 23.3 million as of January 30, 2022.
Working Capital
Cash Flows
In summary, our cash flows for each period were as follows:
Years
2021
118,930
( 42,909)
( 100,454)
Net increase ( decrease) in cash and cash equivalents $ 10,710 $ ( 24,433)
Net cash provided by operating activities is driven by net income, adjusted for non-cash items and fluctuations in operating assets and liabilities.
Operating cash flows for fiscal year 2022 compared to fiscal year 2021 were favorably impacted by a 24.5% increase in net sales and unfavorably impacted by a $ 12.0 million incremental increase in inventory spend, a $ 30.4 million increase in product development and engineering expenses due to higher staffing-related costs, increases in operating supplies and contracted
research, and fluctuations in the timing of development activities, and a $ 5.4 million increase in SG & A expenses due to higher staffing-related costs.
Investing Activities
In fiscal years 2022 and 2021 we paid $ 8.2 million and $ 10.9 million, respectively, for strategic investments, including investments in companies that are enabling the LoRa and LoRaWAN®-based ecosystem.
Critical Accounting Estimates
New accounting standards are discussed in Note 2 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.
© Edgar Online, source Glimpses | business |
Starbucks Schultz to return as CEO Johnson retires amid union battle | - Starbucks Corp's longtime former Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz will return to lead the company for the third time, taking over as interim CEO and driving strategy for dealing with a growing union drive at U.S. cafes.
Current chief executive Kevin Johnson will retire, and Starbucks will look for a new leader, the company said on Wednesday. Shares of the coffee chain were up 4.8%.
Schultz is practically synonymous with the company he took over in 1987. He expanded it into a coffee behemoth that made venti cappuccinos a global phenomenon.
`` Schultz is a revered leader and uniquely well-qualified to steward '' the company, said Credit Suisse analyst Lauren Silberman. Schultz will receive $ 1 of compensation.
The board expects to have selected a new leader by the fall, with help from executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates, which it enlisted in 2021. Schultz did not make an appearance during Wednesday's annual shareholder meeting.
Separately, shareholders voted down a proposal for the company to produce annual reports on the prevention of harassment and discrimination in the workplace.
Johnson signaled to the board of directors a year ago that he might retire when the COVID-19 pandemic waned, he said in a company statement.
Johnson, 61, has been at Starbucks for 13 years, the last five as CEO.
Johnson steered the company through the worst of the pandemic, when cafes around the world had to shutter temporarily. While sales initially nosedived, they roared back as customers shifted to to-go and drive-thru and placed orders on Starbucks ' mobile app.
The company also shifted its approach to building new cafes and is now adding more smaller stores with less room for seating and more emphasis on to-go orders in urban areas, while adding more drive-thru space in suburban locations.
Under Johnson's watch, Starbucks also lifted wages for employees several times - before most other global restaurant chains. Hourly starting pay will range from $ 15 and $ 23 by this summer.
UNION PUSH
The success of the mobile app, however, led to long lines and overworked employees in some areas. That barista burnout, as well as accusations by some workers that they were not getting enough protection from the virus at work, contributed to a surge of union organizing in U.S. locations.
On Tuesday, a federal labor board accused Starbucks of unlawfully retaliating against two employees in a Phoenix, Arizona, cafe for trying to unionize their store.
The same day, a group of investors with $ 3.4 trillion under management urged the company to stop sending anti-union communications to its employees and to adopt a neutral policy towards unions.
The group, led by Trillium Asset Management and SOC Investment Group, said Starbucks risked damaging its positive reputation as a pro-employee brand by fighting the union.
Schultz has long said Starbucks did not need unions because it works so closely with employees, whom it calls `` partners. ''
He has already had a run-in with Workers United, the union now representing employees at six stores. Employees at more than 140 stores in 27 states have asked for union elections in the last 7 months.
In November, Schultz spoke to employees who had been ordered to a large meeting with managers in Buffalo, where the first of Starbucks ' 9,000 U.S. company locations were deciding whether to join the union.
In the meeting, Schultz likened Starbucks ' pro-employee stance to Holocaust prisoners in concentration camps sharing blankets, according to media reports. The remarks led to backlash on social media.
`` Schultz came to Buffalo to union-bust, '' wrote union organizer and barista Jaz Brisack on Twitter after the news on Wednesday. `` His takeover is another move in Starbucks' ideological war on unions. ''
Johnson took the helm after Schultz resigned in 2017.
In a letter to employees on Wednesday, Johnson said that he has `` fond memories of making beverages together, laughing together, and sharing stories with one another. ''
Starbucks will `` attract high-quality CEO candidates given its culture, global brand recognition and strong growth outlook, '' said BMO Capital Markets analyst Andrew Strelzik.
Because Johnson had previously worked in technology - at Microsoft and Juniper Networks - the board's search is likely to be broad. However, `` we prefer to see an incoming CEO with strong consumer industry experience, '' Strelzik said.
The CEOs of Domino's Pizza Inc and Wingstop Inc also resigned in the last two weeks.
Former Starbucks chief operating officer Troy Alstead, who left in 2016, `` was beloved by the investment community '' and '' ought to be on the short list '' for the CEO role, Cowen analyst Andrew Charles said.
Several internal candidates could be considered, but '' unionization publicity could be a factor pushing the company to look externally, '' Charles said.
( Reporting by Hilary Russ; additional reporting by Uday Sampath Kumar in Bengaluru; editing by Jason Neely and Nick Zieminski) | business |
Asian stocks rally strongly as Fed hike, Ukraine talks boost sentiment | Treasury yields eased a little after spiking to nearly three-year highs overnight - with shorter-end yields rising more to flatten the curve - after the Fed raised the policy rate for the first time since 2018. The Fed increased rates by an as-expected quarter point and telegraphed equivalent hikes at every meeting for the remainder of this year to aggressively stamp out inflation.
The safe-haven dollar, though, remained on the back foot and oil also stabilized well south of recent multi-year highs amid signs of material progress in talks between Russia and Ukraine to end a three-week-old invasion that Moscow says is a `` special military operation '' to demilitarize its neighbor.
Meawhile, investor concerns about a sharp slowdown for China, which is battling a spreading COVID-19 outbreak with ultra-restrictive measures, were assuaged on Wednesday after Vice Premier Liu He signalled more stimulus to support markets.
Japan's Nikkei soared 3.0% and touched a two-week high in Thursday's session, while South Korea's Kospi jumped 1.6% and Australia's benchmark added 1.4%.
Chinese blue chips gained 2.1%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng surged 5.2%.
An MSCI index of regional shares rallied 2.5%.
U.S. stock futures pointed to a 0.3% decline at the restart, but following a 2.2% surge for the S & P 500 overnight.
Stocks stayed strong despite the Fed's more hawkish tilt because Chair Jerome Powell `` emphasised that the economy was strong enough to withstand hikes, saying he wasn't concerned by the possibility of a recession, '' National Australia Bank economist Taylor Nugent wrote in a client note.
`` Glimmers of progress '' in ongoing Russia-Ukraine peace talks had already lifted market sentiment, along with comments from Chinese officials that the response to the current COVID surge will be coordinated with efforts to support economic growth and capital markets, Nugent said.
Australian and Japanese government bond yields rose on Thursday, tracking a jump in U.S. Treasury yields overnight.
The two-year Treasury yield hit 2.002% after the Fed decision before easing to 1.9235% in Tokyo trading, while the 10-year yield jumped to 2.2460% and then eased to 2.1545% on Thursday. Both levels were the highest since May 2019.
The safe-haven greenback was out of favor though amid the improvement in market sentiment, and while the outcome of the Fed meeting was on the hawkish side, analysts saw it as within the bounds of market expectations.
The dollar index, which tracks the currency against six major peers, remained weak, slipping an additional 0.12% to 98.360 after declining 0.47% on Wednesday.
Crude oil ticked higher on Thursday after the International Energy Agency ( IEA) said a decline in oil demand due to higher prices would not offset a shut-in of Russian oil supplies, but not enough to offset the declines of the previous day.
Brent crude futures were up about 66 cents, or 0.67%, to $ 98.68 a barrel, compared with a recent peak of $ 129.30. U.S. West Texas Intermediate ( WTI) crude was up 84 cents, or 0.86%, to $ 95.86 a barrel, versus a top earlier this month of $ 124.58.
( Editing by Jane Wardell)
By Kevin Buckland | business |
WTO chief welcomes COVID shot patent plan, drugmakers balk | The United States, the European Union, India and South Africa agreed on Tuesday on key elements for a waiver.
It now needs the backing of the 164 members of the WTO, which takes decisions based on consensus, so rejection by just one country could still block an accord.
`` This is a major step forward, '' WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said after Wednesday's agreement was announced. `` But we are not there yet. We have more work to do to ensure that we have the support of the entire WTO membership. ''
If approved, the agreement would mean countries could permit domestic manufacturers to produce vaccines without patent-holder consent for three or five years. But only developing countries accounting for less than 10% of global exports of COVID-19 shots in 2021 could do this.
That would appear to exclude China but clear India, which banned vaccine exports for much of 2021.
Global drugmakers in the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations ( IFPMA) said the move could undermine their ability to respond to future crises.
`` Biopharmaceutical companies reaffirm their position that weakening patents now when it is widely acknowledged that there are no longer supply constraints of COVID-19 vaccines, sends the wrong signal, '' IFPMA director general Thomas Cueni said.
The People's Vaccine Alliance, a coalition of over 90 campaign groups, said the proposal ignored other intellectual property barriers such as trade secrets and failed to include treatments that could save millions of lives.
`` In a crisis, half measures are not acceptable, '' it said.
The provisional agreement says WTO members should decide within six months on an extension to cover diagnostics and therapeutics.
Pfizer declined to comment on the initiative and its German vaccine partner BioNTech had no immediate comment. The two have pledged to provide 2 billion doses of their COVID vaccine to low and middle income countries in 2021 and 2022.
AstraZeneca, the maker of another major COVID vaccine, also declined to comment.
COVAX, global programme to provide vaccines to poorer nations, has been struggling this year to place more than 300 million doses, as supply and donations have ramped up.
Poorer nations have face challenges ranging from limits on cold-chain shortage to vaccine hesitancy and inadequate funds to support distribution.
( Reporting by Ludwig Burger and Philip BlenkinsopEditing by Edmund Blair and Mark Potter)
By Ludwig Burger and Philip Blenkinsop | business |
Covid-19 Fallout: Investing to Handle Pandemics Present and Future | Bookmark content that interests you and it will be saved here for you to read or share later.
Content added to Red Folder
Healthcare companies are responding to changes wrought by the coronavirus and gearing up to anticipate future outbreaks.
By Justin Doshi, Christian Langel, Nirad Jain, Kara Murphy, Franz-Robert Klingan, Dmitry Podpolny, and Vikram Kapur
Report
This article is part of Bain's 2022 Global Healthcare Private Equity and M & A Report
In a seemingly endless second year, the Covid-19 virus and its variants continued to roil healthcare systems globally. As governments, nonprofits, and for-profit companies marshaled their resources, the pandemic created new opportunities for investors in two broad categories: companies directly involved in detecting, containing, and treating the virus, and companies in other healthcare subsectors transformed by the pandemic.
The first category mainly consists of companies in medtech, biopharma, and life sciences tools. Medtech companies that excel in supply chain resilience for essential medical supplies and equipment were the subject of major deals. Notably, Medline, which has leveraged its end-to-end control of the value chain to reliably deliver personal protective equipment to health systems, received investment from Blackstone, Carlyle, Hellman & Friedman, GIC, and ADIA in a deal valued at $ 34 billion.
Pharma services companies that have accelerated Covid-19 therapeutic development also attracted large private investments. For example, EQT and Goldman Sachs acquired Parexel, a contract research organization, for $ 8.5 billion.
Companies enabling widespread Covid-19 testing enjoyed a surge in investor interest. For instance, EQT purchased a majority stake in Cerba HealthCare, a French medical laboratory service company, from Partners Group for $ 5.3 billion. And Unilabs, a leading European diagnostic services provider, was acquired by A.P. Moller Holding from Apax Partners.
Several growth-equity investments also flowed to companies developing Covid-19 therapeutics. For example, Abogen in China raised $ 700 million to advance its mRNA vaccine in a funding round led by Temasek. Revelation Therapeutics, a biotech company developing antivirals for respiratory infections, went public through a merger with Petra Acquisition. Because a prolonged endemic scenario would reinforce demand for many Covid-19-related assets, investment opportunities in this area look set to proliferate.
Besides those companies directly involved in combating the pandemic, private equity investments also flowed to companies in other healthcare subsectors that experienced pandemic-catalyzed changes. The knock-on effects of Covid-19-induced restrictions and behavioral changes have shifted customer preferences, upset supply chains, and prompted new regulation or deregulation. In this regard, four areas dominated investment during 2021: alternative sites of care, mental health, staffing shortages at providers, and pandemic preparedness.
Covid-19 spurred regulatory changes, such as waivers for hospital-at-home care, and whetted an appetite among both consumers and providers for technology-enabled services, which accelerated adoption of alternative-sites-of-care models. That momentum, in turn, favored services and technologies to care for patients at home instead of a hospital. Wellspring acquired Caring Brands International, a franchiser of home health services in the US, UK, Ireland, and Australia. Amedisys also purchased Contessa Health, a home-based acute and postacute care provider. And US health systems Mayo Clinic and Kaiser Permanente invested $ 100 million in home-hospital service provider Medically Home. Although regulatory uncertainty about home-hospital and telehealth reimbursement persists in some markets, the shift toward alternative sites of care will likely continue.
The pandemic has increased demand for behavioral health treatments and has strengthened employer commitment to supporting employee mental health. In the US and Europe, investors bought several brick-and-mortar mental health companies. Onex Partners completed its majority acquisition of Newport Healthcare, a US provider of behavioral health clinics focused on teens and young adults, for $ 1.3 billion. In Europe, Apax Partners acquired Mentaal Beter, a Dutch network of mental care clinics. Fueled by employer support for employees, growth-equity investment in US digital mental health companies surged. In October, for example, BetterUp raised $ 300 million through a Series E funding led by Wellington Management, following a $ 125 million Series D round in February. With the reduced stigma for mental health services, combined with greater employer and payer commitments, the addressable mental health market seems bound to expand over the next few years.
Healthcare workers are leaving their jobs at higher rates as Covid-19 takes a toll on their mental and physical health, and other career opportunities look more attractive. This places increasing pressure on provider organizations, with many facing higher labor costs and unable to meet patient demand.
Companies that help fill vacancies thus attracted new attention from investors in 2021. For example, Centerbridge and CDPQ jointly purchased Medical Solutions, a staffing firm focused on travel nursing, for $ 2.3 billion. Growth-equity firms also targeted this market with ConnectRN, which provides flexible shift offerings and career development resources for nurses, raising $ 76 million from investors led by Suvretta Capital Management and Avidity Partners.
In the short run, staffing agencies will play a big role in closing personnel gaps exacerbated by Covid-19. A return to more normal staffing and turnover levels seems inevitable, so companies that manage to keep their employees engaged and loyal will get there faster. Over the longer term, it’ s not clear which companies will succeed. Will big staffing firms such as Medical Solutions dominate, or will innovators such as Nomad Health, Trusted Health, and Wheel move ahead?
Covid-19 exposed the economic and social consequences of inadequate pandemic preparedness. As a result, even with the pandemic far from over, governments and private companies are already investing to prepare for future outbreaks. Many companies developing vaccine platforms ( especially mRNA) and antimicrobials ( antibiotics and antivirals) have seen a surge in government spending as well as venture funding. Big name mRNA firms, such as BioNTech and Moderna, multinational pharmaceuticals firms working on antiviral products, and associated pharma services companies will likely attract the most interest, but emerging firms with differentiated therapies, along with the “ pick and shovel ” companies serving various sectors, also stand to gain.
* * *
A year ago, anticipation of the vaccine gave rise to hope for eradicating Covid-19. Today, the future will more likely feature endemic coronaviruses, with widespread vaccination and effective antivirals progressively dampening the effects of each new variant. Select investments in technologies that further those goals will be rewarded in economic and social terms, as will investments that deliver high-quality care to all populations, including low-income and rural groups, to rebuild a new normal for healthcare.
The industry roared back after a pandemic-induced lull in 2020.
Healthcare’ s resilience attracts both more capital and creative new forms of capital.
Margin expansion, currently a minor factor in returns, is bound to become more important.
More private equity sponsors team up to win bids and spread risk.
Incremental capital helps cutting-edge firms scale up operations.
Private equity outdid itself as investors raced to capture technology-fueled growth
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© 1996-2022 Bain & Company, Inc. | business |
China’ s goal with Putin is to resist U.S. without economic pain | China’ s support for Russia in the war in Ukraine is showing its limits as the domestic costs for President Xi Jinping start to outweigh the benefits of confronting the U.S.
Whether a trade war or a real one like in Ukraine, China has shown that it will try to prevent its geopolitical struggles with the U.S. from hurting the domestic economy. A rapidly worsening COVID-19 situation and the need to maintain stability in a pivotal year for Xi make it less likely the Chinese leader would allow Vladimir Putin’ s invasion of Ukraine to blow back at home.
Signs of domestic pressure were evident Tuesday, as U.S. warnings against Chinese financial and military support for Russia deepened investor concerns that the world’ s two largest economies might decouple. An index of Hong Kong-listed Chinese shares sank 6.6% to the lowest level since 2008, while the Shanghai Composite Index fell the most in two years. A so-called fear gauge — similar to the VIX in the U.S. — has now surged 78% in the past two days.
Against that backdrop, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Spanish counterpart Jose Manuel Albares that Beijing wanted to avoid further damage from the sanctions roiling the global markets. “ China is not a party directly involved in the crisis, and it doesn’ t want to be affected by sanctions even more, ” Wang said Monday, according to a Foreign Ministry readout of their call.
The comment is consistent with China’ s appeals to deescalate the crisis, even as Beijing attempts to blame the U.S. for instigating the war and its diplomats push Russian conspiracy theories about bio labs in Ukraine. Beijing’ s actions appear calibrated to minimize the chances that it gets pulled into a global confrontation or dragged further down economically as it seeks a way past the pandemic.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the Kremlin in Moscow in June, 2019. | REUTERS
“ China will try to maintain its strategic partnership with the Russian Federation while also trying to offset reputational and economic costs, ” said Joseph Torigian, an assistant professor at American University who has a forthcoming book on the power struggles in the Soviet Union and China after Josef Stalin and Mao Zedong. “ China has also not sacrificed its own economic interests to help Russia overcome Western sanctions. ”
The war in Ukraine has multiplied Xi’ s challenges in a year in which Chinese policy makers have pledged to put political stability first. The Communist Party chief needs to reaffirm his reputation as China’ s strongest leader since Mao ahead of a twice-a-decade reshuffle in the second half of this year, at which he’ s expected to extend his tenure to a precedent-breaking 15 years.
That gives Xi a strong incentive to comply with U.S.-led sanctions, even after years of acrimony with Washington and declaring a “ no limits ” partnership last month with Moscow. China adopted a similar strategy throughout a trade war with former U.S. President Donald Trump, amping up the rhetoric while avoiding any retaliation that could’ ve hurt Chinese companies and industries.
A six-hour meeting between senior U.S. and Chinese officials on Monday prompted speculation about a looming call between Xi and President Joe Biden. The White House said the talks in Rome between U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi were “ substantial ” while Beijing said they were “ constructive. ”
“ The big issue now is what decisions and actions China takes, ” Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said in an interview to be broadcast at the upcoming Bloomberg Live Asean Business Summit, adding that Beijing has “ enormous influence ” on Russia. “ If you get a deepening of the bifurcation of the global economy, of supply chains, of technology, this will be a very, very different world. ”
On Tuesday, China’ s envoy in Washington issued one of Beijing’ s clearest denials yet that it had any advanced warning of Russia’ s war. China has made “ huge efforts ” to push for peace talks, and threats from U.S. officials that China would suffer consequences if it attempts to help Russia evade sanctions were “ unacceptable, ” Ambassador Qin Gang wrote in the Washington Post.
“ Assertions that China knew about, acquiesced to or tacitly supported this war are purely disinformation, ” he wrote. “ Had China known about the imminent crisis, we would have tried our best to prevent it. ”
China has already paid some costs for not publicly condemning Russia’ s attack on a sovereign nation. The war has prompted comparisons between Putin’ s effort to reclaim what he sees as lost lands and China’ s own territorial claims to places like Taiwan. Analysts attributed at least some of the recent market declines in China to concerns that Beijing would ultimately fall into Moscow’ s camp.
“ China is very carefully hedging its bets, ” said Alexander Gabuev, a senior fellow and the chair of the Russia in the Asia-Pacific Program at the Carnegie Moscow Center. “ There’ s this support for kind of Russian legitimate concerns about European security architecture and criticism toward NATO, but that’ s also a way to say that American-led alliances are bad. ”
Any losses China has suffered so far pale in comparison to the pain of being drawn under the unprecedented sanctions regime that has crashed Russia’ s currency, prompted an exodus of foreign companies and cut Moscow off from key technology imports. That led some prominent Chinese analysts like Hu Wei, a vice-chairman for the State Council-affiliated Public Policy Research Center, to advocate for a clear break from Russia “ as soon as possible ” so China can “ save itself from isolation. ”
China’ s President Xi Jinping, left, and Russia’ s President Vladimir Putin during the BRICS emerging economies meeting in Brasilia, Brazil in Nov., 2019. | REUTERS
An essay laying out Hu’ s advice was quickly struck from China’ s highly censored internet, where commentary backing Russia and criticizing the U.S. dwarfs support for Ukraine and news about civilian casualties. Still, the piece showed that some in China were concerned about where the country is heading after four decades of economic growth driven by closer ties with places like Europe, Japan and the U.S.
“ More international scrutiny has been directed to Taiwan, which is likely to see greater Western support, to the detriment of PRC ambitions there, ” said Elizabeth Wishnick, senior research scientist at Virginia-based research institute CNA, referring to the People’ s Republic of China.
“ Xi has a lot to lose since he is personally invested in the relationship with Putin, ” she added. “ And the apparent failure of his Russia policy to bring strategic dividends — and to bring strategic losses instead — would harm his effort to extend his term in office. ” | tech |
Global COVID case tally climbs in latest week, breaking streak of declines that began in January | The World Health Organization said Wednesday that the number of new COVID-19 cases reported globally rose in the week through March 13, breaking the streak of declining numbers seen since the end of January.
New global cases rose 8% to just over 11 million in the week, and just over 43,000 people died, the agency said
in its latest weekly epidemiological update.
By region, cases rose 29% in the WHO’ s Western Pacific Region, rose 12% in the African Region and were up 2% in the European Region, which includes parts of the former Soviet Union that are closer to Asia.
Cases fell 24% in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, were down 21% in South-East Asia and were down 20% in the Americas.
“ These trends should be interpreted with caution as several countries are progressively changing their testing strategies, resulting in lower overall numbers of tests performed and consequently numbers of cases detected, ” the WHO said.
Separately, the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
said the omicron subvariant BA.2 now accounts for about 23.1% of all COVID cases in the U.S., up from 13.7% a week ago.
The BA.2 subvariant has been designated a variant of concern by the World Health Organization and “ appears inherently more transmissible than BA.1, ”
the organization said in February
. BA.1, another subvariant of omicron, made up an estimated 66.1% of all cases in the U.S., while the originally identified omicron is 10.8% of all cases, according to data gathered for the week ending March 12.
The WHO did not mention a new variant that has been unofficially named deltacron because it combines elements of the delta and omicron variants. The agency has said it’ s closely monitoring that variant but that there’ s not enough data yet to know if it’ s more transmissible or more risky.
See now:
Fully vaccinated will need fourth dose later this year, and new variant dubbed ‘ deltacron’ detected in Europe
The U.S. COVID numbers continue to decline, and the nation is now averaging 32,094 new cases a day,
according to a New York Times tracker,
down 46% from two weeks ago. The average daily number of hospitalizations stands at 26,436, down 44% from two weeks ago. Deaths are averaging 1,226 a day, down 36% from two weeks ago, but still an undesirably high number.
What is an endemic and how will we know when Covid-19 becomes one? WSJ’ s Daniela Hernandez breaks down how public-health experts assess when a virus like Covid-19 enters an endemic stage. Photo: Michael Nagle/Zuma Press
The administration of President Joe Biden
made a firm push
for Congress to provide additional funding to fight COVID-19 on Tuesday after $ 15.6 billion was dropped from the omnibus bill funding government operations and aid to Ukraine among other elements, arguing that it needs to make sure there are enough doses on hand to provide fourth jabs for all Americans if such boosters are needed — or to provide variant-specific vaccines if those are needed.
Without additional funding, the government does not have the ability to maintain the country’ s domestic testing capacity beyond June,
another official said.
Officials also warned that providers soon would no longer be able to submit claims for testing, treating and vaccinating uninsured people, and the government would face a reduced ability to rapidly identify and assess new strains of COVID.
Special report:
Two years of COVID-19: How the pandemic changed the way we shop, work, invest and get medical care
Other COVID-19 news you should know about:
• Doug Emhoff, husband of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, tested positive for COVID on Tuesday, according to a statement from Harris’ office. Emhoff’ s is the first known case of COVID-19 among the first or second families since Biden and Harris took office in January 2021. Emhoff took to Twitter to urge others to get vaccinated and boosted.
The Transportation Security Administration has investigated more than 3,800 incidents of possible violations of the federal face-mask mandate among travelers in the U.S. from February 2021 to March 2022, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office. The investigations have resulted in more than 2,700 warning notices and more than 900 civil penalties. The TSA is responsible for enforcing the mandate in airports and other public transportation systems and has fined people more than $ 644,000 in total, according to the
report.
Pfizer
PFE,
+0.50%
is expected to request authorization this week for an additional COVID-19 booster dose for seniors, according to a person familiar with the matter,
the Associated Press reported.
It would add a fourth dose to the regimen, which currently consists of a primary series of two shots, followed months later by a booster dose, in an effort to provide maximum protection to the over-65 population that has been hit hardest by the pandemic.
New Zealand will allow international tourists in stages from mid-April, accelerating its previous cautious plan for reopening that threatened to choke a crucial part of the economy for a third year,
Dow Jones Newswires reported.
The decisions announced Wednesday are a boost for thousands of small businesses and corporations such as Auckland International Airport Ltd.
AIA,
-1.10%
,
Air New Zealand Ltd.
AIR,
+2.17%
and casino operator Skycity Entertainment Ltd.
SKC,
+3.19%
that have laid off staff and suffered financial losses during the pandemic.
Here’ s what the numbers say
The global tally of confirmed cases of COVID-19 topped 461.9 million on Tuesday, while the death toll rose above 6.05 million,
according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University
.
The U.S. leads the world with 79.6 million cases and 966,495 fatalities.
The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’ s tracker
shows that 216.7 million people living in the U.S. are fully vaccinated, equal to 65.3% of the population. But just 96.1 million are boosted, equal to 44.4% of the vaccinated population. | business |
Federal Reserve approves first interest rate hike in more than three years, sees six more ahead | The Federal Reserve on Wednesday approved its first interest rate increase in more than three years, an incremental salvo to address spiraling inflation without torpedoing economic growth.
After keeping its benchmark interest rate anchored near zero since the beginning of the Covid pandemic, the policymaking Federal Open Market Committee said it will raise rates by a quarter percentage point, or 25 basis points.
That will bring the rate now into a range of 0.25% -0.5%. The move will correspond with a hike in the prime rate and immediately send financing costs higher for many forms of consumer borrowing and credit. Fed officials indicated the rate increases will come with slower economic growth this year.
Along with the rate hikes, the committee also penciled in increases at each of the six remaining meetings this year, pointing to a consensus funds rate of 1.9% by year's end. That is a full percentage point higher than indicated in December. The committee sees three more hikes in 2023 then none the following year.
The rate rise was approved with only one dissent. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard wanted a 50 basis point increase.
The committee last raised rates in December 2018, then had to backtrack the following July and begin cutting.
In its post-meeting statement, the FOMC said it also `` anticipates that ongoing increases in the target range will be appropriate. '' Addressing the Fed's nearly $ 9 trillion balance sheet, made up mainly of Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities it has purchased over the years, the statement said, `` In addition, the Committee expects to begin reducing its holdings of Treasury securities and agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities at a coming meeting. ''
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell at his post-meeting news conference hinted that the balance sheet reduction could start in May, and said the process could be the equivalent of another rate hike this year.
The indication of about 175 basis points in rate increases this year was a close call: The `` dot plot '' of individual members ' projections showed eight members expecting more than the seven hikes, while 10 thought that seven total in 2022 would be sufficient.
`` We are attentive to the risks of further upward pressure on inflation and inflation expectations, '' Powell said at the news conference. `` The committee is determined to take the measures necessary to restore price stability. The U.S. economy is very strong and well-positioned to handle tighter monetary policy. ''
Officials also adjusted their economic outlook on multiple fronts, seeing much higher inflation than they expected in December and considerably slower GDP growth.
The Fed is about to hike rates. Here's what history shows should happen to the stock market next
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Committee members bumped up their inflation estimates, expecting the personal consumption expenditures price index excluding food and energy to reflect 4.1% growth this year, compared with the 2.7% projection in December 2021. Core PCE is expected to be 2.7% and 2.3%, respectively, in the next two years before settling to 2% over the longer term.
`` Inflation remains elevated, reflecting supply and demand imbalances related to the pandemic, higher energy prices, and broader price pressures, '' the statement said.
On GDP, December's 4% was sliced to 2.8%, as the committee particularly noted the potential implications of the Ukraine war. Subsequent years were unchanged. The committee still expects the unemployment rate to end this year at 3.5%.
`` The invasion of Ukraine by Russia is causing tremendous human and economic hardship, '' the statement said. `` The implications for the U.S. economy are highly uncertain, but in the near term the invasion and related events are likely to create additional upward pressure on inflation and weigh on economic activity. ''
Stocks initially reacted negative to the announcement but then bounced back. Bond yields momentarily moved higher, with the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rising to 2.22% before receding.
`` Ultimately, they 've come through with a clear message, that the Fed has a path forward to continue to tighten in response to this overwhelming concern around inflation, '' said Jim Baird, chief investment officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors. `` The question is, will it be enough and are they even recognizing that they 've... perhaps fallen behind the curve? ''
The central bank had slashed its federal funds rate in the early days of the pandemic to combat a shutdown that crippled the U.S. economy and financial markets while sending 22 million Americans to the unemployment line.
But myriad factors have combined to force the Fed's hand on inflation, a condition that policymakers last year dismissed as `` transitory '' before capitulating. Officials over the past two months have strongly indicated that interest rate hikes are coming, with the main question left for investors being how many increases and how quickly they would come.
The current trend of price increases, at their fastest 12-month pace in 40 years, has been fed by demand that has far outstripped supply chains that remain clogged if less so than their pandemic-era peaks. Unprecedented levels of fiscal and monetary stimulus — more than $ 10 trillion worth – have coincided with the inflation surge. And the Ukraine war has coincided with a major spike in oil prices, though that has abated in recent days.
Heading into this week's FOMC meeting, markets had been pricing in the equivalent of about seven 0.25% hikes this year, according to CME Group data. However, traders were split about 50-50 over whether the Fed might hike 50 basis points in May, as some officials have indicated could happen if inflation pressures persist.
Prices are up 7.9% year over year, according to the consumer price index, which measures a wide-ranging basket of goods and services. Energy has been the biggest burden, as gasoline prices have risen 38% in the 12-month period.
However, price pressures have broadened out from simply gas and groceries.
For instance, clothing prices, after plummeting in the early days of the pandemic, have risen 6.6% over the past year. Motor vehicle repair costs are up 6.3% and airline fares have jumped 12.7%. Rent of shelter costs, which make up nearly one-third of the CPI, have been moving up sharply in recent months and are up 4.8% year over year.
All of those cost increases have left the Fed's 2% inflation target in the dust.
The Fed in September 2020 approved a new approach to inflation, in which it would let it run hotter in the interest of a full and, most notably, inclusive employment goal that spans across race, gender and wealth. However, the change in approach was followed almost immediately by more pernicious inflation than the U.S. economy had seen since the days of the Arab oil embargo and inflation that peaked in the early 1980s at nearly 15%.
In those days, the Paul Volcker-led Fed had to jack up interest rates to a point where they tipped the economy into recession, something central bankers now want to avoid. Back then, the funds rate eclipsed 19%.
Baird said the Fed will need to live up to its promise to be `` nimble '' if it is to continue to assuage market fears about runaway inflation.
`` Will the path that they 've laid out be enough to bring inflation back down to more comfortable levels in some reasonable time frame? The possibility certainly exists that they could get more aggressive, '' he said. | business |
Fed hikes interest rates, signals aggressive fight to curb inflation | ( Adds analyst comment, further Powell remarks; updates markets)
* Fed lifts policy rate by quarter of a percentage point
* U.S. central bank sees more rate hikes in 2022, 2023
* Powell says Fed needs to limit inflation hit for families
WASHINGTON, March 16 ( Reuters) - The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised interest rates for the first time since 2018 and laid out an aggressive plan to push borrowing costs to restrictive levels next year in a pivot from battling the coronavirus pandemic to countering the economic risks posed by excessive inflation and the war in Ukraine.
The U.S. central bank's Federal Open Market Committee kicked off the move to tighten monetary policy with a quarter-percentage-point increase in the target federal funds rate, lifting that key benchmark from the current near-zero level in a step that will ripple through a variety of other rates charged to consumers and businesses.
But more notably, new Fed projections showed policymakers ready to shift their inflation fight into high gear, with one policymaker, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, dissenting in favor of an even more aggressive approach.
Most policymakers now see the federal funds rate rising to a range between 1.75% and 2% by the end of 2022, the equivalent of a quarter-percentage-point rate increase at each of the Fed's six remaining policy meetings this year. They project it will climb to 2.8% next year - above the 2.4% level that officials now feel would work to slow the economy.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell, speaking after the end of the latest two-day policy meeting, said the economy is strong enough to weather the rate hikes and maintain its current strong hiring and wage growth, and that the Fed needed to now focus on limiting the impact of price increases on American families.
Even with Wednesday's actions, inflation is expected to remain above the Fed's 2% target through 2024, and Powell said officials would not shy from raising rates more aggressively if they don't see improvement.
`` The way we're thinking about this is that every meeting is a live meeting '' for a rate hike, Powell said in a news conference, emphasizing that the Fed could add the equivalent of more rate increases by also paring its massive bond holdings. `` We're going to be looking at evolving conditions, and if we do conclude that it would be appropriate to move more quickly to remove accommodation, then we 'll do so. ''
Rate increases work to slow inflation by curbing demand for big-ticket items like houses, automobiles or home improvement projects that become more expensive to finance, which can also slow economic growth and potentially increase unemployment.
The economy may already be slowing for other reasons. Fed policymakers marked down their gross domestic product growth estimate for 2022 to 2.8%, from the 4% projected in December, as they began to analyze the new risks facing the global economy.
`` That is just an early assessment of the effects of spillovers from the war in Eastern Europe, which will hit our economy through a number of channels, '' Powell said. `` You are looking at higher oil prices, higher commodity prices. That will weigh on GDP to some extent. ''
Over time, Fed policy itself would begin curbing economic activity, Powell said.
`` The Fed is playing catch-up and clearly recognizes the need to get back in front of the inflation situation, '' said Seema Shah, chief strategist with Principal Global Investors.
`` It won't be easy - rarely has the Fed safely landed the U.S. economy from such inflation heights without triggering an economic crash. Furthermore, the conflict... has the potential to disrupt the Fed's path. But for now, the Fed's priority has to be price stability. ''
The Fed's preferred measure of inflation is currently increasing at a 6% annual rate.
STUBBORN INFLATION
The policy statement, which dropped a longstanding reference to the coronavirus as the most direct economic risk facing the country, marked the end of the Fed's full-on battle against the pandemic. After two years focused largely on ensuring families and firms had access to credit, the Fed now pledges `` ongoing increases '' in borrowing costs to curb the highest inflation rates in 40 years.
The interest rate path shown in new quarterly projections by policymakers is tougher than expected, reflecting Fed concern about inflation that has moved faster and threatened to become more persistent than expected, and put at risk the central bank's hope for an easy shift out of the emergency policies used to fight the fallout from the pandemic.
Major U.S. stock indexes briefly pared gains after the release of the statement and projections before recovering to close sharply higher, with the S & P 500 index up 2.2% on the day.
Two-year Treasury note yields rose to 2.002% while benchmark 10-year Treasury yields reached 2.246%, both the highest levels since May 2019, before falling back to 1.948% and 2.188%, respectively.
The dollar traded lower against a basket of currencies.
Even with the tougher rate increases now projected, the Fed expects inflation to remain at 4.3% this year, dropping to 2.7% in 2023 and to 2.3% in 2024. The unemployment rate is seen dropping to 3.5% this year and remaining at that level next year, but is projected to rise slightly to 3.6% in 2024.
The new statement said the Fed expects to begin reducing its nearly $ 9 trillion balance sheet `` at a coming meeting. '' Powell told reporters that policymakers had made `` excellent progress on that front and could finalize details at their next policy meeting in May.
The central bank's holdings of Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities ballooned after the start of the pandemic in 2020 when it began making massive monthly asset purchases to bolster the economy.
( Reporting by Howard Schneider Editing by Paul Simao) | business |
Digital transformation trends in K-12 education sectors | Covid-19 pandemic has tremendously increased the reliance on technology among students and educators alike.
This digital transformation and rise in educational technology have given way to new classroom trends, teaching methods, and student learning.
Over the past few years, Chromebooks have taken over the traditional books and iPads as the most reliable medium of learning for K-12 students.
According to a report, out of 8.9 million devices sold to K-12 schools, 4.4 million were Chromebooks. This has also increased the need for ITAM tools to properly track these devices to improve their lifecycle and mitigate security risks.
Now schools can easily discover and track every hardware device on their network to ensure that all devices are working properly and every Chromebook has authorized applications installed on it to provide a seamless learning experience for students.
Adaptation of smart technologies makes the education experience more efficient and inclusive for students. One of the most common IoT applications in K-12 is the use of automated attendance recording.
Just like barcode scanning for IT devices, schools can use the same feature for students and teachers’ attendance by using their biometrics or ID card. Furthermore, some schools enhance their security via lock door sensors and fire alerts etc.
If the school’ s ITAM agent has deployed an IoT sensor application to your students’ Chromebook, then they can easily navigate through the topics of interest online to further their learning process.
Personalized learning approach has been one of the most significant components of digitalized education system.
By using smart software applications, educators can quickly identify the strengths, weaknesses, interests, skills, and unique needs for every student.
With new tools and technology innovations, you can help students learn at their own pace instead of setting the same standards and timelines for all students.
Some of the most common personalized learning methods include gamification, videos, and flashcards. Your ITAM tool helps you keep track of all these software applications installed on machines and sends you alerts whenever upgradation is required.
Although virtual reality was primarily a source of entertainment, its applications have found way into K-12 education as well. Augmented reality gives students a virtually real environment so the students can experience what they are learning in class.
This helps them transition seamlessly on to the real-world applications of what they have studied. Providing students with a virtual experience makes them comfortable and confident and they are better prepared for real-life work environments.
K-12 school districts usually collect a lot of data about their students based on their grades, classes, skillsets, learning capabilities, and more. | tech |
Opinion: Biden needs a course correction or the Democrats face disaster | President Joe Biden needs a course correction, or the Democrats face disaster in the midterm elections. That’ s tough with a
cabinet and White House staff formed to appease woke progressives
.
America’ s hard left—like the hard right—is fundamentally protectionist and isolationist. In his
State of the Union
, Biden lauded Buy America—unions and other progressives view
free trade as the devil’ s work
. The military is for parade grounds and pork barrel, not the defense of liberty, and the president has
forsworn any direct U.S. military involvement in Ukraine
.
Chinese threat
For now, Biden enjoys a happy coincidence that his policy of relying on sanctions
coincides the broader public sentiment
, but what happens when the Zelensky government falls and is driven into the countryside to form a resistance? Russian treatment and conditions of Ukrainians in the cities will not be pretty, and continuing bloodshed and violence may well turn voters sour.
The precedent Biden has set for Taiwan,
whose strategic importance as a semiconductor manufacturer is manifest
, is downright menacing.
Biden has eschewed a no-fly zone over Ukraine, because
it risks direct conflict with the Russian military
. And Russian President Vladimir Putin is a paranoid, cornered leader who has
brandished the nuclear option
.
Concentration camps and genocide in Xinjiang
illustrate
Chinese President Xi Jinping is as capable of actions as evil as Putin. He could misread that similarly threatening to “ push the button ” would keep the Americans at bay if he chooses to take Taiwan by force.
The a
dministration lacks a coherent strategy
as Beijing threatens Taiwan with
escalated military operations
and builds
hypersonic
,
antisatellite
and
cyber
weapons. The latter could take out the Golden Gate Bridge, disable the navigation of the U.S. fleet during a conflict, and
wreak havoc on the American power grid
.
Putin has threatened with similar weapons and after defeats of American strategies in Afghanistan and Ukraine, Xi can similarly try to bully Biden.
Once Americans recognize China can capture Taiwan and controlling its semiconductor fabs could shut down the U.S. electronics and automobile industries, voter affection for Biden’ s neglect of America’ s defenses won’ t help Democrats either.
Unlivable cities
Domestically
Biden bet on COVID vaccines to enable a great reopening
but was derailed by the delta and omicron variants. Now he has declared it’ s time for Americans to return to their offices.
No doubt that will help the Democratic big-city mayors
collect more sales taxes from weary commuters
, but
white-collar workers want to avoid the crime, tough drives and poor public transit those venues offer
.
Biden would do better to champion a national initiative to accelerate the development and deployment of technologies to make telecommuting as seamless as possible.
Crime rages
in cities that are captive to social justice governors, mayors and
prosecutors
, but Biden won’ t challenge the
hard-left theology that it’ s all systemic racism
. He says he is against defunding the police but does nothing to challenge the
New York bail law
that
releases suspects in violent crimes onto the streets
and progressive prosecutors elsewhere who won’ t pursue criminals.
The crime issue will grip mightily in the fall campaign.
Biden boasts that the American Recovery Act and the Investment and Infrastructure Act will create growth and jobs. Although runaway inflation and
falling real wages for ordinary workers
have been instigated by pandemic supply-chain problems, those were greatly amplified by
Biden’ s overspending and printing-press monetary policy
.
Now he wants
to appoint new governors to the Federal Reserve
who would further shift monetary policy toward stoking inflation, and curtail domestic energy production and promote social justice through the allocation of bank credit.
Meanwhile, investment bankers and private equity and high-tech executives get unconscionably richer, while the ordinary working folks Democrats’ progressive policies are supposed to help—blacks, Hispanics and working-class folks of any color—fall behind.
Religion without rice
In February recall elections, three progressive members of the San Francisco school board managed barely
25%
of the vote in a jurisdiction Biden carried with
85%
against Trump. They pandered to unions and focused on renaming schools and destroying artwork to uphold critical race theory when parents were rightly concerned about the destructive consequences of extended school closures on their children’ s education and emotional development.
Unrepentant, Biden continues to practice the
diversity-obsessed theology of the left
, but voters—including B
lacks
and
Hispanics
—are growing weary of religion without rice. They will humiliate Biden and his Democrats’ false piety in the midterm elections.
Peter Morici is an economist and emeritus business professor at the University of Maryland, and a national columnist.
More views from Peter Morici
The Fed needs to target a floor for the 10-year Treasury, in addition to radically raising the fed funds rate
Biden’ s problems began with the uninspired people he surrounded himself with
Here’ s what the Republicans should run on in the November midterm elections | business |
Carbapenem-Based Antibiotics Market Size Worth $ 5.34Bn, | New York, March 16, 2022 ( GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Insight Partners published latest research study on “ Carbapenem-Based Antibiotics Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis By Type ( Meropenem, Doripenem, Imipenem, Tebipenem, and Others), Indication ( Bacterial Meningitis, Acute Pelvic Infections, Respiratory Tract Infections, Intra-Abdominal Infections, Urinary Tract Infections, and Others), and Distribution Channel ( Retail Pharmacies, Online Pharmacies, and Hospital Pharmacies) ”, the global carbapenem-based antibiotics market growth is driven by the rising prevalence of gram-negative bacterial infections, the increasing production of generics drugs, the significant growth in hospital-acquired bacterial infections and the rise in incidence of antimicrobial resistances increased the demand for broad spectrum antibiotics. However, the tedious and expensive process for the development of antibiotics hampers the growth of the market.
Get Exclusive Sample Pages of Carbapenem-Based Antibiotics Market Size - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis with Strategic Insights at https: //www.theinsightpartners.com/sample/TIPRE00027228/
Carbapenem-Based Antibiotics Market: Competitive Landscape and Key DevelopmentsCompanies operating in the carbapenem-based antibiotics market implement various organic developments that led to dynamic improvements in the market. Various organic growth strategies, such as product launch, product approval, and product development, enhance the market growth. Similarly, several companies are implementing inorganic numerous strategies, such as partnerships, collaborations, merger & acquisition.
Inquiry Before Buying: https: //www.theinsightpartners.com/inquiry/TIPRE00027228/
In January 2022, Spero Therapeutics received Priority Review designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ( FDA) and confirmed the acceptance for substantive review of the New Drug Application ( NDA) seeking approval for tebipenem HBr oral tablets for treatment in adult patients with complicated urinary tract infections ( cUTI), including acute pyelonephritis, caused by susceptible microorganisms.
In October 2021, Spero Therapeutics announced the submission of New Drug Application to the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA) for tebipenem HBr ( tebipenem pivoxil hydrobromide) for the treatment of complicated urinary tract infections ( cUTI), including pyelonephritis, caused by susceptible microorganisms. The company further announced to work along with FDA during the NDA review process for tebipenem HBr’ s anticipated launch in the second half of 2022.
In February 2022, Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd entered in partnership with its parent company Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd to launch phase 1 study in the US on a new drug candidate ( `` KSP-1007 '') for carbapenem-resistant bacterial infections. The launch was a result of a joint research project between Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma and the Kitasato Institute in Japan.
Speak to Research Analyst: https: //www.theinsightpartners.com/speak-to-analyst/TIPRE00027228
In January 2021, Aurobindo Pharma Ltd announced that the central government has listed three companies along with Hyderabad based Aurobindo Pharma that qualified for financial support under the production linked incentive ( PLI) scheme for the promotion of domestic manufacturing of critical key starting materials ( KSMs), drug intermediates, and active pharmaceutical ingredients ( APIs). Aurobindo Pharma Ltd made an investment of USD 407.394 million to set up production facilities for three eligible products.
Global Carbapenem-Based Antibiotics Market: Key Insights – Future TrendTechnological developments in the pharmaceutical industry led to drastic evolution and better treatment. The pharmaceutical industry has incorporated intelligent technologies such as deep learning, artificial intelligence ( AI), and machine learning to develop new antibiotics. Researchers are working to establish tools and platforms for identifying new antibiotics. It is expected that the novel technologies in new antibiotic discoveries are supposed to change the overall antibiotics market. However, developing antibiotics for gram-negative bacteria is challenging, as various drugs are still developing.
The major challenge during the antibiotic development is limited permeability of molecule across bacterial envelope. This has allowed researchers to develop a new platform called computational antibiotic screening ( CLASP), which helps identify potential drug molecules through porins. CLASP has the advantage of coarse grain ( CG) resolution, advanced sampling techniques, and a parallel computing environment that maximizes its performance. Thus, it is expected that CLASP will be enabled or accelerate the new antibiotic drug for gram-negative bacterial infections, thus further leading to significant market growth.
Buy Premium Copy of Carbapenem-Based Antibiotics Market Size, Share, Revenue, Strategic Insights and Forecasts 2021-2028 Research Report at https: //www.theinsightpartners.com/buy/TIPRE00027228/
Carbapenem-Based Antibiotics Market: Segmental OverviewBased on type, the carbapenem-based antibiotics market is segmented into meropenem, doripenem, imipenem, tebipenem, and others. The others segment held the largest market share in 2021 and is expected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The others segment consists of drugs such as Ertapenem, Vabomere, and Sulopenem ( pending FDA approval) that falls under the carbapenem family. The drugs are used to treat various bacterial infections caused by gram negative bacteria. Many infections, such as includes cUTIs, bronchopulmonary infection, complicated intra-abdominal infections, Acute pelvic infections, lower respiratory tract infections, gynecologic infections, and pseudomonas infections, can be treated with carbapenem-based antibiotics treatment. The segment is expected to contribute significantly to the growth of the carbapenem-based antibiotics market due to constant developments in the pharmaceutical industry, increasing incidence of bacterial infections, and growing regulatory approvals for drugs.
About Us: The Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We specialize in industries such as Semiconductor and Electronics, Aerospace and Defense, Automotive and Transportation, Biotechnology, Healthcare IT, Manufacturing and Construction, Medical Device, Technology, Media and Telecommunications, Chemicals and Materials.
Contact Person: Sameer JoshiE-mail: sales @ theinsightpartners.com Phone: +1-646-491-9876Press Release: https: //www.theinsightpartners.com/pr/carbapenem-based-antibiotics-market | general |
Bank of England set to raise rates again as uncertainty swirls | All but five of 49 economists recently polled by Reuters thought the BoE will raise Bank Rate for a third meeting running, back to its pre-pandemic level of 0.75%, with the rest expecting it to stay on hold at 0.5%.
The BoE last month predicted inflation will peak at around 7.25% in April - almost four times the British central bank's 2% target - but that forecast has been overtaken by seismic shifts in European energy markets following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Investors will be watching for any new thinking from rate-setters on how they - like central bankers elsewhere - plan to deal with the competing forces of price pressures and slowing economic growth which could even turn into a recession.
The U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday and laid out an aggressive plan to push borrowing costs to restrictive levels by next year, as concerns about high inflation and the war in Ukraine overtook the risks of the coronavirus pandemic.
The European Central Bank, which is behind the BoE and the Fed in reversing its pandemic stimulus, agreed last week to stop pumping money into markets this summer, clearing the way for possible rate increases in 2022.
`` The war in Ukraine means that UK inflation is going to stay higher for longer, '' said ING economists James Smith and Chris Turner. `` Markets have concluded that this means the BoE will double-down on its tightening plans. ''
The Reuters poll of economists, published on Tuesday, suggested inflation in the second quarter will average almost 8%, which would be the highest rate since the early 1990s.
All nine Monetary Policy Committee members were expected by most economists to vote for a rate hike, but there could again be a split vote over the extent of tightening needed.
Last month a slim majority of five, including Governor Andrew Bailey, voted to raise rates by 25 basis points, rather than a bigger 50 basis point hike. Faster action risked ramping up market expectations for future rates hikes that were already sufficient to push inflation well below target in future years, they said.
Those bets in the market have steepened over the last month and now point to a Bank Rate of 2% by the end of next year.
Paul Hollingsworth, chief European economist at BNP Paribas, said he thought growth concerns would come to the fore later this year, `` suggesting that market pricing of six hikes by the year-end looks way off the mark. ''
The four MPC members who voted to raise rates by 50 basis points last month worried that high inflation risked becoming engrained in expectations for prices and wages among businesses and consumers.
Data over the past month brought mixed news on that front.
The public's inflation expectations have strengthened to new multi-year highs, according to surveys as the labour market remained hot.
But a BoE report last week pointed to weak forecasts of pay growth among households, which sat awkwardly with Governor Bailey's appeal last month for people to show restraint when asking for a pay rise.
With investors also eyeing a budget update next Wednesday from finance minister Rishi Sunak, the British Chambers of Commerce said economic policymakers should beware of an increased risk of recession.
`` Raising interest rates and taxes at this time would weaken the UK's growth prospects further, by undermining confidence and diminishing households ' and firms ' finances, '' said Suren Thiru, head of economics at the BCC.
( Reporting by Andy Bruce, Editing by William Maclean)
By Andy Bruce | business |
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