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NHS rolls out AI tool which detects heart disease in 20 seconds | Credit: BHF/Barts Health NHS Trust.
The NHS has rolled out a new artificial intelligence ( AI) tool which can detect heart disease in just 20 seconds while patients are in an MRI scanner.
A British Heart Foundation ( BHF) funded study published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance concluded the machine analysis had superior precision to three clinicians. It would usually take a doctor 13 minutes or more to manually analyse images after an MRI scan has been performed.
The technology is being used on more than 140 patients a week at University College London ( UCL) Hospital, Barts Heart Centre at St Bartholomew’ s Hospital, and Royal Free Hospital. Later this year it will be introduced to a further 40 locations across the UK and globally.
Around 120,000 heart MRI scans are performed annually in the UK. Researchers say the AI will help with the backlog in vital heart care by saving around 3,000 clinician days a year, enabling healthcare professionals to see more waiting list patients. It can also give patients and doctors more confidence in results and assist decision-making about possible treatment and surgeries.
There has been increasing interest in the role of AI to support disease diagnosis. The NHS AI LAB recently announced it has created a blueprint for testing the robustness of AI models, after running a proof-of-concept validation process on five AI models / algorithms using data from the National COVID-19 Chest Imaging Database ( NCCID).
Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, BHF associate medical director, said: “ This is a huge advance for doctors and patients, which is revolutionising the way we can analyse a person’ s heart MRI images to determine if they have heart disease at greater speed.
“ The pandemic has resulted in a backlog of hundreds of thousands of people waiting for vital heart scans, treatment and care. Despite the delay in cardiac care, whilst people remain on waiting lists, they risk avoidable disability and death. That’ s why it’ s heartening to see innovations like this, which together could help fast-track heart diagnoses and ease workload so that in future we can give more NHS heart patients the best possible care much sooner. ”
Dr Rhodri Davies, BHF-funded researcher at UCL and Barts Heart Centre, said: “ Our new AI reads complex heart scans in record speed, analysing the structure and function of a patient’ s heart with more precision than ever before. The beauty of the technology is that it replaces the need for a doctor to spend countless hours analysing the scans by hand.
“ We are continually pushing the technology to ensure it’ s the best it can be, so that it can work for any patient with any heart disease. After this initial roll-out on the NHS, we’ ll collect the data, and further train and refine the AI so it can be accessible to more heart patients in the UK and across the world. ” | tech |
New Zealand to reopen borders sooner than planned after years of Covid isolation | New Zealand is bringing forward the opening of its international borders to some travelers after more than two years of Covid-19 isolation, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern saying an influx of tourists will boost the nation's economy.
The change means the end of some of the toughest border controls in the world during the Covid-19 pandemic, imposed as the government tried to keep the coronavirus out, comes months ahead of the previous schedule.
New Zealand's policies helped keep infections and deaths low. But with the omicron variant now rampant, criticism has grown as business, particularly tourism, and agricultural sectors see little value in staying shut off from the world.
Ardern told reporters on Wednesday that vaccinated travelers from Australia, New Zealand's biggest source of tourists, can enter without the need to quarantine from April 12 rather than July as previously planned.
Tourists from visa-waiver countries including the United States, Britain and Singapore will now able to visit from May 1.
`` Closing our border was one of the first actions we took to stop Covid-19, over two years ago, and its reopening will spur our economic recovery throughout the remainder of the year, '' she said.
Read CNBC's latest global coverage of the Covid pandemic:
The changes mean Australians will be able to travel to New Zealand in time for Easter school holidays next month.
All visitors must be vaccinated and provide negative Covid-19 tests, but would not have to quarantine on arrival. The border is not scheduled to fully reopen until October to all travelers, but Ardern said this could also yet be brought forward.
The news boosted airline and travel stocks in Australia and New Zealand, with Air New Zealand up 2.2%, Qantas Airways rising 2.5% and Auckland Airport gaining 1.1% in afternoon trading.
Foreigners were previously banned outright from entering, and until the last month citizens looking to return had to either make emergency requests to the government or secure a spot in state quarantine facilities.
`` While we know it will take some time to see tourism scale up again, today's announcement will be a welcome boost for our tourism operators who have done it harder than many, '' Ardern said.
Closed borders have had a significant impact on the economy, cutting off the supply of seasonal laborers from Pacific nations and reducing air shipping options, as well as halting international tourism.
Prior to border closures, tourism directly contributed around 5.5% of GDP, or around NZ $ 41 billion ( $ 28 billion). A further NZ $ 11 billion was indirectly generated by the sector.
A return to pre-Covid-19 tourism levels remains a long way off. Chinese tourists, which made up around 11% of visitors previously, can't visit before October at this stage and others are expected to be more wary of travelling.
Lynda Keene, chief executive at the Tourism Export Council of New Zealand, said Australians are more likely to visit than other nationalities, and tourist numbers are not expected to return to pre-Covid-19 levels until the year ending May 2026.
Labor shortages should also start to ease with the opening of the border longer term, but for most of the viticulture and horticulture sector it's too late for this season with the harvest nearly done.
`` It's good news, but there is a 'but ', '' said Chris Lewis, immigration spokesperson for Federated Farmers, who expects it will take until at least October before things really start to improve. | business |
Russia-Ukraine war: Refugees flee to Poland with economic political impact | In less than three weeks, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has sent 3 million people fleeing their homes to neighboring countries — with still millions more displaced domestically — in what has quickly become Europe's worst migrant crisis since World War II.
While the majority have been compassionately welcomed by host countries rejecting President Vladimir Putin's indiscriminate attack, the sudden influx of people is having a profound impact on the European landscape — with potentially significant consequences.
Nowhere is that impact more pronounced than in Poland.
Since the start of the war on Feb. 24, Poland has welcomed over 1.8 million refugees — almost twice the 1 million authorities had anticipated and increasing its population by 4.8%.
The east European country is a natural point of entry for Ukrainians owing to their 530-kilometer shared land border, as well as numerous historical, cultural and economic ties. Indeed, there is already a sizeable Ukrainian diaspora in Poland following an earlier spate of migration after Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea.
But as the number of refugees requiring humanitarian assistance spirals well beyond initial estimates, it is putting considerable strain on the government and the dozens of relief agencies that have mobilized to help them.
`` First, all of the people knew where they wanted to go. They had some friends they wanted to stay with [ in Poland ], '' said Dominika Chylewska, head of communications at Caritas Polska, a charity offering relief to migrants at Polish reception points including Przemysl, a city 12 kilometers from Ukraine's border.
Others still planned to travel further afield to Berlin, Prague and Tallinn, she said.
`` Now, we already see that there are more people coming without any final destination, '' said Chylewska.
That raises questions about the long-term fate of those migrants and what more the European Union will do to support host countries like Poland.
`` It puts the EU in a bind, '' said Adriano Bosoni, director of analysis at intelligence firm RANE, highlighting decisions the bloc will face around financial aid and permanent residency.
So far, the EU has assigned 500 million euros ( $ 547 million) for humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Yet estimates from the Economist Intelligence Unit suggest that the cost of supporting 5 million refugees could be 50 billion euros in 2022 alone.
Meantime, the bloc has activated a never-before used Temporary Protection Directive granting Ukrainian nationals the right to live and work in host countries for up to three years.
Longer term, however, it will have to decide if it will offer permanent asylum to migrants, and how it might redistribute them across the bloc to ease the burden on primary hosts like Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Moldova.
`` The [ Polish ] government will not be able to cope with the crisis without extensive assistance from the EU. This includes both financial assistance and resettlements of refugees, '' said Alessandro Cugnasca, country risk service manager at the EIU.
Even before the crisis, Poland, a country of almost 38 million, was undergoing a demographic shift.
In the years since joining the EU in 2004, the Eastern European nation has experienced high levels of emigration as skilled workers have headed west to other member states, seeking higher wages and increased opportunities.
Meanwhile, a falling fertility rate — driven, like many of its Western peers, by greater sex education, higher female workforce participation, and increased urbanization — has added to the country's overall population decline.
That could make Poland — already one of Europe's fastest growing economies before Covid — a grateful recipient of long-term, skilled workers, said Bosoni.
`` Importing millions of young Ukrainian workers who can join your workforce and contribute makes sense from an economic point of view, '' he said, citing the high education level of migrants, mostly women and children, from Ukraine.
But still, the political risks for Poland and its neighbors are notable.
Migration can be a political hot potato, with the 2015 Europe migrant crisis thought to have bolstered far-right movements that swelled across the continent in the years that followed. At that time, Poland was reluctant in accepting migrants, largely from Syria and North Africa — a fact that has not gone unnoticed in its response to Ukraine.
`` Polish citizens remain very supportive of Ukrainian refugees. But the crisis has the potential to cause political instability over the medium term, '' noted EIU's Cugnasca.
`` War refugees, unlike labor migrants, will require significant financial support from the state and this could lead to a political backlash down the road, '' he added, pointing to Poland's next parliamentary election due in 2023.
Of course, the longer term implications will depend largely on the outcome of the conflict, analysts agreed.
If, as many fear, Russia succeeds in its invasion and installs a pro-Kremlin government, the likelihood of migrants returning home is far lower.
But if, as Western allies hope, there is a resolution to the conflict that restores a sovereign Ukraine, the majority of migrants may choose to return home and embark on the lengthy task of rebuilding their war-torn country.
`` Most who left would like to be able to go back, '' said Bosoni. `` They are not economic migrants, they are people escaping war and death. '' | business |
Statement Dr Nicolas Peter, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Finance, Annual Conference 2022 | Good Morning, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Despite the challenging conditions, the BMW Group once again achieved its goals in all segments. Our positive business performance is reflected in our strong financial results for the past year. An EBIT margin of 10.3% for our automotive business puts us at the upper end of our adjusted target range, as expected. The Free Cashflow in the Automotive Segment amounted to 6.4 billion euros, as forecast. We also met all our non-financial targets, in particular the further reduction of our CO2 fleet emissions.
The rating agencies Moody's and S & P have also recognised the BMW Group's positive business development and revised their outlook upwards over the course of the year. We have now published our financial statements in our Integrated BMW Group Report for the second time. In addition to financial key figures, we have also expanded our reporting to include non-financial indicators fully in line with SASB standards. Information on the EU Taxonomy was also included for the first time.
Let's take a look at the business development in detail. After a difficult 2020, due to the pandemic, 2021 was no less demanding. Despite problems with semiconductor supplies, we came through the year relatively well and took advantage of opportunities to further improve price realisation worldwide. At this point I would like to thank the many colleagues in all areas of the company who continue to show extraordinary commitment. In particular, our thoughts are with the many employees of our suppliers in Ukraine.
After a strong first half-year, semiconductor supply issues intensified, as expected, in the second half of the year. Fixed costs, which increased as planned towards the end of the year, also had an impact.
Revenues for the full year climbed to around 111 billion euros - against the backdrop of positive pricing for new and pre-owned vehicles and the higher volume of sales. The significantly higher financial result primarily reflects the positive earnings contribution of our Chinese joint venture, BBA, which increased by more than 40%. Valuation effects, including interest rate hedging instruments, also had a positive impact.
Group earnings before tax increased significantly to around 16 billion euros. The previous year had been weak, due to the pandemic. At 14%, the Group EBT margin was well above our long-term minimum target of 10%. Strong pricing for new and pre-owned vehicles, in particular, was a key driver for earnings. We also delivered more vehicles to customers than in the previous year. And, finally, there were the positive one-time effects, we have already communicated. This included the partial reversal of the provision for the EU antitrust proceedings and the modernisation of the pension scheme for employees in Germany.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Our strategic approach remains focused on emission-free mobility. The new all-electric BMW iX and the sporty BMW i4 are once again demonstrating our technology leadership. Our order books are very well-filled. The BMW i7 will once again set new standards in all major areas of innovation - especially electrification, digitalisation - including for example rear-seat entertainment - and highly-automated driving. We will present the i7 to you in April. Our sixth-generation electric drivetrains developed in-house will bring further major steps in efficiency and range.
We invested a total of around 5 billion euros in this and other future projects in 2021, as well as in our global production network and new models. The capex ratio of 4.5% was below our target figure of 5%, as planned. With the full consolidation of BBA, where extensive plant expansions are currently underway, we expect a slightly higher ratio of around 5% for 2022. I will address the details of the impact of full consolidation later.
Research and development expenditure remains at a high level, with a priority on emission-free mobility. In addition to expenses for new models, a major focus in 2021 was on preparations for the Neue Klasse, which is scheduled to ramp up in the middle of the decade. R & D costs according to IFRS increased to 6.3 billion euros. The R & D ratio of 6.2%, according to the German Commercial Code, was in line with our expectations. In 2022, the ratio will be back within our long-term target range of 5 to 5.5%, also due to the full consolidation of BBA. Today, well over half of our total investments are in the future fields of e-mobility, digitalisation and highly automated driving.
Ladies and Gentlemen, This year, in recognition of this positive business development, our employees in Germany will also enjoy the highest-ever profit-sharing bonus for the financial year 2021. Last autumn, we also expanded the preferred stock programme for employees, which has been in place since 1989. This has enjoyed a very positive response.
We also want our shareholders to participate in the company's success. The Board of Management and the Supervisory Board will propose a dividend of 5.80 euros per share of common stock and 5.82 euros per share of preferred stock to the Annual General Meeting. This represents a pay-out ratio of 30.7%, which is within our long-term strategic target range of 30-40%.
Already today, the BMW Group has a healthy balance sheet and the potential to generate sustainably high free cash flow. The full consolidation of BBA in the BMW Group Financial Statements from February onwards will further increase this potential. The Board of Management and Supervisory Board will therefore propose to the Annual General Meeting, that the Board of Management be authorised to repurchase and retire reacquired shares. This would create the option of returning available capital to shareholders via share repurchases, in addition to the annual dividend.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Let's take a closer look now at business development in 2021 in the individual segments.
In the Automotive Segment, we delivered a total of more than 2.5 million vehicles to customers last year, including over 100,000 all-electric cars. The segment's operating earnings totalled almost 10 billion euros. At 10.3%, the EBIT margin is at the upper end of our adjusted target range, as forecast. The year-on-year comparison mainly reflected the positive effects of improved pricing and higher volumes. Our aftersales business also saw significant growth. The exceptionally strong residual value development was another factor that contributed to the increase. Ongoing efficiency measures from our Performance Programme also took effect in 2021. The partial reversal of the provision for the EU antitrust proceedings, as well as the valuation effect of modernising the pension scheme for employees in Germany, also had a positive effect.
Higher research and development spending, in particular for the further ramp-up of e-mobility due to very strong demand, as well as for digitalisation, dampened EBIT much more than the previous year, as we had projected. The net balance of raw material prices and currency effects resulted in a headwind in the mid-three-digit million-euro range, as forecast.
The positive operating result was also the main driver for strong cash development in the financial year 2021. Despite higher capital expenditure, free cash flow in the Automotive Segment totalled 6.4 billion euros and therefore met our expectations and our guidance. In contrast to the previous year, this did not include an inflow from BBA's dividend payments. For 2022, we expect a free cash flow of at least 12 billion euros, which includes an expected one-time cash-inflow of about 5 billion euros from the BBA full consolidation. This consists of a positive effect from recognising BBA's liquid assets in the balance sheet for the first time. This effect is partially offset by payment of the acquisition price of around 3.7 billion euros.
This strong free cash flow in the financial year 2021 is also reflected positively in the BMW Group's liquidity position.
In preparation for payment of the purchase price for increasing our shareholding in BBA, the company had increased its liquidity to 20.3 billion euros at the end of last year.
Let's turn now to the Financial Services Segment, which posted pre-tax earnings at a high level of 3.75 billion euros in 2021, mostly due to the favourable risk situation. The number of new contracts with retail customers climbed 6% year-on-year to almost two million. At the same time, the average financing volume per vehicle also increased. Residual values and credit risks improved significantly from the previous year, which had been impacted by the pandemic. The return on equity of 22.6% was at the high end of our adjusted target range of 20 to 23%. We review our risk provisioning on an ongoing basis, taking into account all relevant current developments: From today's perspective, we have continued to make appropriate provisions for our business risks.
The Motorcycles Segment also delivered a very strong performance in 2021, with five new models and three model updates. With total sales of more than 194,000 units worldwide, we reported strong growth in all regions, especially our strategic growth markets, the US and China. At 8.3%, the EBIT margin was within our target range of 8-10%. Pre-tax earnings more than doubled year-on-year to almost 230 million euros.
Let's move on to the Other Entities Segment and intersegment eliminations. As expected, the net balance for pre-tax earnings of 274 million euros was significantly lower than the previous year. Positive valuation effects from interest rate hedging instruments, driven by higher interest rates, were more than offset by higher intersegment eliminations caused by the increased leasing business volume.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Let's turn our attention now to the current year. As you know, we have increased our stake in our Chinese joint venture, BBA, to 75% and extended the joint venture contract to 2040, as planned.
With the completion of this transaction in February of this year, BBA will be fully consolidated in the BMW Group's Financial Statements. BBA's earnings contribution was previously reported in the financial result as part of the at-equity consolidation. With full consolidation, BBA will be fully reflected in all positions of the income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement.
This also includes revaluing the existing 50% stake to the current market value. This will result in an estimated positive one-off effect of between 7 to 8 billion euros in the financial result. Full consolidation will increase both revenues and the absolute EBIT result in the Automotive Segment. This will, however, be partially offset by an annual depreciation expense from the purchase price allocation over the coming years. A technical effect from the initial consolidation in connection with intra-Group deliveries will also dampen earnings in 2022. For this reason, we do not anticipate any significant impact on the EBIT margin in the Automotive Segment in the current year.
Ladies and Gentlemen, We are securing our future competitiveness by investing in future technologies today. At the same time, we always maintain a clear focus on our financial performance. We remain committed to our long-term target range of 8-10% for the EBIT margin in the Automotive Segment. Profitability and efficiency remain our focus, in all segments and across all brands.
Let's now turn to our Outlook for 2022 in detail. Our guidance for this year reflects the current status of our planning and includes the impact of the BBA full consolidation. The war in Ukraine is having a substantial effect on the country's automotive suppliers, with supply restrictions resulting in production interruptions at several BMW Group plants. This is already taken into account in our outlook, to the extent that the impact is currently predictable.
Regarding the ongoing semiconductor supply shortages, we do not expect the situation to ease before the second half of 2022. An initial impact of rising raw material and energy prices is included in the outlook for the current year.
Further significant price increases in connection with the war in Ukraine and the related sanctions are not part of the forecast. Possible longer-term effects of the conflict in Ukraine can not be estimated at the present time and are therefore also not reflected in our outlook.
We continue to monitor closely current developments regarding the coronavirus pandemic, particularly in China. Any further possible negative impact on our business is not currently included in our outlook.
Ladies and Gentlemen, The BMW Group has proven its financial strength and flexibility time and again. In extremely volatile times, we manage our business with prudence and clear focus. Our young, attractive product portfolio is well received by customers, particularly the MINI E *, the BMW iX and the BMW i4. Despite the current supply bottlenecks due to the current geopolitical situation, we are confident that the positive business development will continue in 2022.
For the Group's pre-tax profit, we expect a significant increase compared to the previous year. The main driver is the BBA full consolidation from 11 February. Due to the inclusion of the approximately 26,500 employees from China in the workforce for the first time, the BMW Group's headcount will increase significantly in 2022.
Thanks to high customer demand and new models, we had originally planned a slight growth in deliveries in the Automotive Segment. As a result of the negative effects of the war in Ukraine, in particular the production interruptions due to supply constraints at local suppliers, we now expect deliveries to remain at the level of the previous year.
Deliveries of electrified vehicles are forecast to increase significantly this year. The number of all-electric vehicles is expected to more than double. Based on the original planning, including BBA full consolidation, we had expected the EBIT margin in the Automotive Segment to be in the upper half of our strategic target range of 8 to 10%. As previously mentioned, the BBA full consolidation has no significant impact on the margin in 2022. As a result of the war in Ukraine however, we now expect a margin of between 7 and 9%.
In the Motorcycles segment, we expect a slight increase in deliveries. The EBIT margin is forecast to be in the target range of 8-10%.
In the Financial Services segment, we should see a return on equity within the range of 14 to 17% in 2022. The reporting year 2021 was characterised by an exceptionally positive risk situation.
Ladies and Gentlemen, The BMW Group is committed to consistently strong performance, even in volatile times - and we have been able to accomplish this yet again. Operationally, we are well positioned for the challenges ahead. Over the past two years, the coronavirus pandemic and semiconductor shortages have challenged our flexibility and commitment to deliver top performance more than ever before.
Despite the high volatility, we have continued to drive forward our transformation. We remain committed to the BMW way. Now, I 'll hand over to Oliver, who will talk about what this means for us in more detail. Thank you.
*: Consumption/Emissions data:
MINI Cooper SE: Power consumption in kWh/100 km combined: 16.8-14.8 NEDC, 18-15.5 WLTP.
.
( C) 2022 M2 COMMUNICATIONS, source M2 PressWIRE | business |
All eyes on the Fed | Meanwhile, today is the day the Fed will release its much-awaited monetary policy decision. There has been a lot of noise, a lot of assumptions and a lot of interpretations, already. And as usual, we will have to wait for the dust to settle to have a good vision of the consequences of the decision.
The Fed is expected to raise its key rates by a quarter point tonight to start fighting inflation. This is the overwhelming market forecast. A few weeks ago, some thought a more aggressive 50 basis point hike would be a better remedy, but they seem to have evaporated into thin air. Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine has shaken up the analysis, even if it has only amplified the problem of rising prices. So, to avoid causing market fear and too much of an economic shock, the central bank should stick to the baseline scenario.
Today is also the day that Moscow must make an interest payment on its debt. Russia plans to do so in rubles and not in dollars, which would constitute a sovereign default, Fitch warned. However, despite the headlines about the Russian state bankruptcy that will not fail to appear, March 16 is not a cut-off date because there is a tolerance of several weeks in this area to catch up. But it will still be an event with a strong symbolic impact.
Just a side note to mention an interesting statistic that I found in The Intelligencer, an offshoot of New York magazine. It published a long paper titled `` Modern capitalism is stranger than you think '' and subtitled `` It doesn't work as advertised anymore either ''. Read it here. The article states that the three biggest US asset managers - Blackrock, Vanguard and State Street - own 22% of the average S & P500 index company! This is up from 13.5% in 2008. It's an understatement to say that these have a huge amount of power. One could call these three entities passive asset managers, because their strategies are essentially index-based, via ETFs. As the author of the article writes, `` they own a significant portion of virtually everything '', so `` there is no precedent for this extraordinary form of power ''. These behemoths have no vested interest in the performance of the companies in which they are invested, since they are paid in fees and it is their clients who are exposed to asset returns. They still have an interest in the system working, otherwise they would have no clients, but this is mainly achieved through high asset prices... and therefore through a very accommodating approach to monetary policy…
Economic highlights of the day:
Today, the focus in the United States with the February retail sales ( which rose slightly in February), the NAHB housing index for March, January business inventories and the weekly oil inventories, and finally the FOMC decision.
The dollar/euro pair is trading at EUR 0.9062. The ounce of gold is worth USD 1908. Oil prices continues to decline, with North Sea Brent crude at USD 99.34 and U.S. light crude WTI at USD 96.36. US debt yields hold their recent peaks at 2.14% over 10 years, while German debt stabilizes at 0.36% over the same duration. Bitcoin is hovering around USD 40,995. The LME is resuming nickel trading today, which was halted last week after an episode of insane volatility.
On markets:
* Apple supplier Foxconn announced Wednesday that it has restarted some production at its Shenzhen plant in southern China after meeting government requirements by setting up a `` closed-loop '' system in which employees live and work in a bubble.
* Tesla suspended operations at its Shanghai plant, which produces an average of 2,018 vehicles a day, for two days amid a resurgent COVID-19 outbreak in China, an internal memo to employees and suppliers shows.
* The Competition and Markets Authority ( CMA) expressed concern Wednesday about the $ 8.6 billion takeover of Avast by U.S. cybersecurity firm NortonLifeLock, saying the move could harm competition. NortonLifeLock shares fall 7% in pre-market trading.
* Pfizer, Moderna - Japan will buy a total of 145 million doses of the two companies ' COVID-19 vaccines for a second booster shot, Kyodo news agency reported Wednesday, citing a government source.
* Seagen - Sanofi announced Wednesday an exclusive partnership with the U.S. company to develop antibody-drug conjugates ( ADCs) that can target up to three forms of cancer.
* Alibaba Group- Chinese online retail giant and internet and mobile services group Tencent Holdings is set to cut a total of tens of thousands of jobs this year as Chinese authorities tighten regulations in the sector, sources said.
Analyst recommendations: | business |
Natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic reveal the crucial role of First Nations media | First Nations media outlets provide a critical role in the day-to-day lives of Indigenous people. In times of crisis, the service they provide is even more important.
Yet they get little recognition or support for the work they do, and do not receive the funding they need.
The flooding in NSW and Queensland has once again shown what these outlets provide. This is why the government and the general public need to do more to support them.
There are more than 60 First Nations community-controlled organisations in over 235 towns, cities and remote communities across Australia, providing tailored, local news.
In some of these places, where internet connection is poor or non-existent, these outlets are the only reliable source of information.
Indigenous Broadcasting Services provide much more than radio – they are community assets that contribute to strengthening culture, community development and the local economy.
The Koori Mail is Australia’ s premier and only First Nations-controlled newspaper, started in 1991 by five Bundjalung groups and 100% self-funded. Issued fortnightly, it shares news and events from across the country told from the perspective of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities.
In the wake of the disaster, the newspaper became the central hub for flood relief in Lismore. This is despite the fact the Koori Mail building - located by the Wilson River levee bank - was itself flooded.
Volunteers coordinated activities from the footpath outside their ruined office. They arranged helicopter and boat supply drop-offs, cooked meals, clean-up crews and tradespeople, emergency housing, safety and emergency advice, medical attention, mental health support and more.
The Koori Mail’ s GoFundMe campaign has now raised over $ 640,000 to fund these efforts. The newspaper has just started fundraising for its own much-needed rebuild.
Even though Koori Mail has suffered a great loss here, our key responsibility is to make sure that our people are OK first, not just our staff, not just our board members, but our community. So we’ re really trying to take the lead and be a hub of information for our mob, especially online.
The Koori Mail’ s ability to step into the breach and coordinate this effort highlights the unique and invaluable role played by First Nations media organisations in times of crisis.
A report released in January, co-authored with First Nations Media Australia and the Judith Nielsen Institute, investigated the role of First Nations media outlets throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
It showed First Nations media organisations provide a reliable, trusted source of information, often in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, to combat misinformation and help address mental health and welfare issues, for audiences who often mistrust or feel excluded by mainstream media services.
Wilcannia River Radio in western NSW provided support for online learning and updated heath messages during the major COVID outbreak in August 2021. In the past, it also distributed fresh water to households when town water supplies dried up.
The report states how First Nations media organisations have played a critical role in keeping communities strong, resilient and connected. These organisations are often going above and beyond broadcasting and communicating through media channels by being physically on the street or communicating with people over the phone or at community events.
First Nations Media Australia notes that 53% of First Nations people can not access First Nations radio services, including in Adelaide, Canberra, regional Victoria and Tasmania.
This is a missed opportunity to provide these communities with relevant news and information, cultural and community connections, language revitalisation efforts, and job and skill development in media and journalism.
For the first time in decades, however, there are signs that governments are recognising the crucial role of First Nations media. Digital inclusion has been included as a specific target in the 2020 Closing the Gap Agreement, with governments committing to work with First Nations media to communicate with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander audiences.
However, significantly greater government investment is needed to provide the jobs, skills and technical upgrades needed to build the First Nations media sector’ s capacity and impact.
First Nations community-controlled media organisations provide much more than information. They provide emergency and community services — and are trusted to do so as place-based, culturally safe services and storytellers. | business |
JOYY: Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Unaudited Financial Results - Form 6-K | JOYY Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Unaudited Financial Results
March 16, 2022
Singapore, March 16, 2022 ( GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- JOYY Inc. ( NASDAQ: YY) ( `` JOYY '' or the `` Company '', formerly known as YY Inc.), a global video-based social media company, today announced its unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2021.
Fourth quarter 2021 Financial Highlights1
● Net revenues increased by 16.8% to US $ 663.7 million from US $ 568.2 million in the corresponding period of 2020.
● Net Income from continuing operations attributable to controlling interest of JOYY2 was US $ 73.2 million, compared to net loss of US $ 118.9 million in the corresponding period of 2020, primarily as a result of BIGO turning profits since the second quarter of 2021.
● Non-GAAP net income from continuing operations attributable to controlling interest and common shareholders of JOYY3 was US $ 98.3 million, compared to non-GAAP net loss of US $ 22.4 million in the corresponding period of 2020, primarily as a result of BIGO turning profits on a non-GAAP basis since the first quarter of 2021.
Full Year 2021 Highlights
● Net revenues increased by 36.5% to US $ 2,619.1 million from US $ 1,918.1 million in 2020.
● Net Ioss from continuing operations attributable to controlling interest of JOYY was US $ 115.9 million, compared to net loss of US $ 18.7 million in 2020.
● Non-GAAP net income from continuing operations attributable to controlling interest and common shareholders of JOYY was US $ 108.9 million, compared to non-GAAP net loss of US $ 164.0 million in 2020, primarily as a result of BIGO turning profits on a non-GAAP basis since the first quarter of 2021.
Fourth Quarter 2021 Operational Highlights
● Average mobile MAUs of Bigo Live increased by 11.9% to 32.2 million from 28.7 million in the corresponding period of 2020.
● Average mobile MAUs of Likee decreased by 44.2% to 67.0 million from 120.1 million in the corresponding period of 2020, primarily due to reduced spending on user acquisition via advertisement.
● Average mobile MAUs of Hago decreased by 42.8% to 9.5 million from 16.5 million in the corresponding period of 2020, primarily due to reduced spending on user acquisition via advertisement.
● Global average mobile MAUs4 decreased by 20.4% to 280.0 million from 351.7 million in the corresponding period of 2020, primarily due to the decrease in average mobile MAUs of Likee and Hago.
● Total number of paying users of BIGO ( including Bigo Live, Likee and imo) 5 increased by 2.5% to 1.51 million from 1.47 million in the corresponding period of 2020.
● Average revenue per paying user of BIGO ( including Bigo Live, Likee and imo) 6 increased to US $ 320.2 from US $ 285.9 in the corresponding period of 2020.
Mr. David Xueling Li, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of JOYY, commented, `` In 2021, our business has demonstrated strong resilience despite the macroeconomic uncertainties and challenges posed by the pandemic. As we continued to execute our globalization strategy and strengthen our diverse social entertainment ecosystem, we successfully enhanced our monetization capabilities across multiple product lines, achieving full-year revenue growth of 36.5%. The combination of increased monetization of multiple products, proactive adjustments in marketing strategies, and enhanced operating efficiency across the board, has led us to full-year non-GAAP profitability not just for BIGO but for the whole group. On the capital return front, during the year of 2021, we have bought back US $ 393.0 million of our shares, and have paid out a total of US $ 160.1 million in dividends. These efforts are to demonstrate our confidence in the Company's long-term growth prospects, and to reward our shareholders for their long-term support of the Company.
As we turn to 2022, we will continue to localize our diverse global social entertainment ecosystems, expand our market reach, and fortify our leadership position in core geographic regions. As an innovator and a pioneer, we remain committed to our vision of bridging communications among people from around the globe to deliver joy and youthful experience to our users. ''
Fourth Quarter 2021 Financial Results
NET REVENUES
Net revenues increased by 16.8% to US $ 663.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2021 from US $ 568.2 million in the corresponding period of 2020, primarily driven by the growth of live streaming revenues from BIGO.
Live streaming revenues increased by 15.0% to US $ 620.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2021 from US $ 539.7 million in the corresponding period of 2020, primarily attributable to the increased number of paying users and average revenue per paying user of BIGO.
Other revenues increased by 50.3% to US $ 42.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2021 from US $ 28.5 million in the corresponding period of 2020.
COST OF REVENUES AND GROSS PROFIT
Cost of revenues increased by 9.6% to US $ 440.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2021 from US $ 401.7 million in the corresponding period of 2020. Revenue-sharing fees and content costs increased to US $ 297.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2021 from US $ 254.2 million in the corresponding period of 2020 as a result of the increase in live streaming revenues of the Company. Bandwidth costs decreased to US $ 20.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2021 from US $ 27.0 million in the corresponding period of 2020, primarily due to the improvement in bandwidth usage efficiency by the Company, partially offset by the increased bandwidth usage as a result of continued MAUs expansion of Bigo Live.
Gross profit increased by 34.2% to US $ 223.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2021 from US $ 166.5 million in the corresponding period of 2020. Gross margin improved to 33.7% in the fourth quarter of 2021 from 29.3% in the corresponding period of 2020.
OPERATING INCOME
Operating expenses decreased by 33.1% to US $ 168.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2021 from US $ 251.6 million in the corresponding period of 2020. Among the operating expenses, sales and marketing expenses decreased to US $ 112.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2021 from US $ 146.4 million in the corresponding period of 2020, primarily due to the Company's reduced spending on user acquisition via advertisement for Likee and Hago.
Operating income was US $ 60.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to operating loss of US $ 83.8 million in the corresponding period of 2020. Operating income margin was 9.1% in the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to operating loss margin of 14.7% in the corresponding period of 2020, primarily as a result of BIGO turning profits since the second quarter of 2021.
Non-GAAP operating income7 was US $ 83.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to non-GAAP operating loss of US $ 33.2 million in the corresponding period of 2020. Non-GAAP operating income margin8 was 12.6% in the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to non-GAAP operating loss margin of 5.8% in the corresponding period of 2020.
NET INCOME
Net income from continuing operations attributable to controlling interest of JOYY was US $ 73.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to net loss of US $ 118.9 million in the corresponding period of 2020. Net income margin was 11.0% in the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to net loss margin of 20.9% in the corresponding period of 2020.
Non-GAAP net income from continuing operations attributable to controlling interest and common shareholders of JOYY was US $ 98.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to non-GAAP net loss of US $ 22.4 million in the corresponding period of 2020. Non-GAAP net income margin9 was 14.8% in the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to non-GAAP net loss margin of 3.9% in the corresponding period of 2020.
NET INCOME PER ADS
Diluted net income from continuing operations per ADS10 was US $ 0.85 in the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to diluted net loss of US $ 1.51 in the corresponding period of 2020.
Non-GAAP diluted net income from continuing operations per ADS11 was US $ 1.15 in the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to diluted net loss of US $ 0.28 in the corresponding period of 2020.
BALANCE SHEET AND CASH Flows
As of December 31, 2021, the Company had cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash and cash equivalents, short-term deposits, restricted short-term deposits and short-term investments of US $ 4,685.2 million. For the fourth quarter of 2021, net cash from operating activities was US $ 150.2 million.
SHARES OUTSTANDING
As of December 31, 2021, the Company had a total of 1,472.8 million common shares, or the equivalent of 73.6 million ADSs, outstanding.
Full Year 2021 Financial Results
Net revenues for the full year of 2021 increased by 36.5% to US $ 2,619.1 million from US $ 1,918.1 million in 2020, primarily driven by a 36.4% year-over-year increase in live streaming revenues.
Operating loss was US $ 106.7 million for the full year of 2021, compared to operating loss of US $ 406.8 million in 2020. Operating loss margin was 4.1% in 2021, compared to operating loss margin of 21.2% in 2020. Operating loss and operating loss margin were improved in 2021, primarily as a result of BIGO turning profits since the second quarter of 2021.
Non-GAAP operating income was US $ 72.1 million for the full year of 2021, compared to non-GAAP operating loss of US $ 207.6 million in 2020. Non-GAAP operating income margin was 2.8% in 2021, compared to non-GAAP operating loss margin of 10.8% in 2020.
Net loss from continuing operations attributable to controlling interest of JOYY for the full year of 2021 was US $ 115.9 million, compared to US $ 18.7 million in 2020. Net loss margin for the full year of 2021 was 4.4%, compared with 1.0% in 2020. Net loss and net loss margin were lower in 2020, primarily due to the gain from partial disposal of investments in Huya in 2020.
Non-GAAP net income from continuing operations attributable to controlling interest and common shareholders of JOYY for the full year of 2021 was US $ 108.9 million, compared to non-GAAP net loss of US $ 164.0 million in 2020. Non-GAAP net income margin for the full year of 2021 was 4.2%, compared to non-GAAP net loss margin of 8.6% in 2020.
Diluted net loss from continuing operations per ADS for the full year of 2021 was US $ 1.60, compared to US $ 0.35 in 2020. Non-GAAP diluted net income from continuing operations per ADS was US $ 1.32 in 2021, compared to non-GAAP diluted net loss of US $ 2.05 in the corresponding period of 2020.
Business Outlook
For the first quarter of 2022, the Company expects net revenues to be between US $ 601 million and US $ 616 million. This guidance excludes the revenue contribution from YY Live in the same period of last year. This forecast considers the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and reflects the Company's current and preliminary views on the market and operational conditions, which are subject to changes, particularly as to the potential impact of the COVID-19 on the global economy and users ' paying capabilities.
Quarterly Dividend
On August 11, 2020, the Company's board of directors approved a quarterly dividend policy for the next three years commencing in the fourth quarter of 2020. Aggregating such quarterly cash dividend under another adopted quarterly dividend policy with the quarterly cash dividend announced on November 16, 2020, the board of directors has accordingly declared a dividend of US $ 0.51 per ADS, or US $ 0.0255 per common share, for the fourth quarter of 2021, which is expected to be paid on April 29, 2022 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on April 14, 2022. The ex-dividend date will be April 13, 2022. Under the policy, the board of directors of the Company reserves the discretion relating to the determination to make dividend distributions and the amount of such distributions in any particular quarter, depending on the Company's operations and earnings, cash flow, financial condition and other relevant factors.
Recent Developments
Share Repurchase Program
In September 2021, the Company announced that its board of directors has authorized a new share repurchase plan under which the Company may repurchase up to US $ 200 million of its shares between September 2021 and September 2022. In November 2021, the Company announced that its board of directors has authorized an additional share repurchase plan under which the Company may repurchase up to US $ 1 billion of its shares between November 2021 and November 2022. As of December 31, 2021, the Company had repurchased approximately US $ 235.7 million of its shares.
Conference Call Information
The Company will hold a conference call at 9:00 PM U.S. Eastern Time on Tuesday, March 15, 2022 ( 9:00 AM Singapore/Hong Kong Time on Wednesday, March 16, 2022). Details for the conference call are as follows:
Event Title: JOYY Inc. Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Earnings Conference Call
Conference ID: # 1391887
All participants must use the link provided below to complete the online registration process in advance of the conference call. Upon registering, each participant will receive a set of participant dial-in numbers, the Direct Event passcode, and a unique registrant ID by email.
PRE-REGISTER LINK:
http: //apac.directeventreg.com/registration/event/1391887
A live and archived webcast of the conference call will also be available at the Company's investor relations website at https: //ir.joyy.com.
The replay will be accessible through March 23, 2022, by dialing the following numbers: | business |
Lennar revenue beats on soaring home prices; shares up | Shares of the No. 2 U.S. homebuilder were up 1.8% at $ 90.10 in after market trading.
Demand for housing soared during the COVID-19 pandemic as buyers capitalized on record-low mortgage rates and remote workers sought more living space.
Lennar's first-quarter revenue came in at $ 6.20 billion, ahead of analysts ' estimates of $ 6.08 billion. Orders, an indicator of future revenue, rose 1% to 15,747 homes in the reported quarter, while deliveries increased 2% to 12,538 units.
The company said it expects second-quarter new orders of between 17,800 and 18,200 homes, barely hours after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point.
`` Both gross margin and net margin remained strong, even as materials costs and wages have increased, and home prices have continued to rise while remaining affordable even as interest rates have ticked up, '' Lennar Chairman Stuart Miller said.
Net earnings attributable to the company fell to $ 503.6 million, or $ 1.69 per share, in the quarter ended Feb.28, from $ 1 billion, or $ 3.20 per share, a year earlier.
Lennar faced volatility in its LenX platform, that invests in companies that focus on homebuilding, affecting its bottom line performance for the reported quarter.
Excluding the impact from its LENx investments, the company reported a profit of $ 2.70 per share.
The pricing environment helped larger rival D.R. Horton post a 44.2% rise in quarterly profit last month.
Lennar's backlogs at the end of the first quarter rose to 27,335 from 22,077 a year ago.
( Reporting by Kannaki Deka and Shivansh Tiwary in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber) | business |
New Zealand returns to growth in Q4 as COVID restrictions ease | - New Zealand's gross domestic product ( GDP) returned to growth in the final quarter of 2021 as the economy emerged from COVID-19 lockdowns, and economists said the data supported expectations the central bank would raise interest rates further.
Production-based output grew by 3.0% in the quarter, Stats NZ said on Thursday. That was a touch below economists ' median expectations of a 3.2% rise and a sharp turnaround from a revised 3.6% fall in the September quarter, when lockdowns had curbed activity.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand ( RBNZ) last month forecast growth for the December quarter at 2.3%.
`` The Q4 GDP data reflect a robust, albeit very stimulated economy, '' ANZ economists said in a report.
While there were a number of uncertainites on the outlook, the main concern was rising inflation in New Zealand that would require the RBNZ to further tighten policy, they added.
Annual GDP rose 3.1%, a little below a Reuters poll forecast of a 3.3% rise.
The RBNZ has already raised interest rates three times since October.
`` Given that the rebound in activity in Q4 was above the RBNZ's expectations, today's data will keep the Bank on its hiking path, '' Ben Udy, economist at Capital Economics, said in a note.
OMICRON OUTBREAK
Economic growth improved as New Zealand's largest city, Auckland, moved out of a lengthy lockdown that had hit retail, manufacturing, construction and recreational activities in the prior quarter. Other parts of the country had also experienced shorter lockdowns in the third quarter.
Consumer and government spending were strong in the fourth quarter as was business investment, while trade was a drag as the country sucked in more imports, the data showed. There was also a big drag from inventories as companies ran down stocks to meet demand.
New Zealand's economy is being hit again this year as the country experiences its first significant nationwide outbreak of coronavirus infections as the Omicron variant spreads.
Although there are few restrictions in place, growing case numbers and hospitalisations have tempered people's desires to go out while sickness and isolation requirements are hurting some manufacturing sectors. ( Reporting by Lucy Craymer; Editing by Karishma Singh and Richard Pullin) | business |
BMW, Michelin hit by supply-chain turmoil, Publicis cedes control in Russia | The list of Western companies that have suspended operations or pulled out of Russia is growing by the day after the West imposed sanctions aimed at curbing Moscow's access to funding.
Germany's BMW joined other carmakers in detailing the impact of the unfolding crisis in Ukraine on its operations as it downgraded its profit margin forecast.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine and COVID-19 related disruptions in China have forced carmakers from Toyota to Tesla to shutter plants and raise prices, with many warning of further pain if circumstances do not stabilise.
BMW said that while it was still able to source some parts from western Ukraine and was engaging alternative suppliers to keep up production, further interruptions were to be expected in coming weeks.
France's Michelin, which was the first international tyre maker to start manufacturing in Russia in 2004, suspended production at its plant in Davydovo which employs about 750 people.
`` There is a lot of supply difficulties - which means we have disruption of financial flows, and there's a problem of currency instability, '' it said.
Michelin said its priority was supporting affected employees.
Zara owner Inditex, which has stopped trading in Russia, said on Wednesday its objective was to `` resume operations in Russia and Ukraine as soon as circumstances allow '', adding that it was still paying salaries to employees in the country.
PROTECTING STAFF
Multinationals from consumer goods companies to professional services suppliers have said they have to consider their staff in Russia and ramifications from any move to cut ties with the country.
Russia has taken the first steps towards allowing the nationalisation of foreign-owned factories that shut operations, a move that further complicates the transfer of ownership of assets for Western companies.
British American Tobacco told Reuters on Friday that exiting its business or stopping manufacturing could be regarded as criminal bankruptcy by Russia and lead to action against local management.
`` There's no way, consciously, we can expose our people to criminal sanctions, '' the Camel and Lucky Strike maker said.
BAT and rival Imperial Brands are looking to transfer their businesses in Russia to local third parties.
French ad group Publicis, which had been quiet about the impact of the conflict, said it was handing control of its operations to Sergey Koptev, founding chairman of Publicis in Russia, effective immediately.
Publicis is among the first Western companies to transfer legal ownership of a Russian subsidiary.
It said it was ceding ownership with the clear contractual condition of ensuring a future for its employees in the country.
`` We were determined to take the necessary time to come up with a solution that was truly people-first, because our 1,200 employees in Russia are our people too. We couldn't just abandon them, '' Chief Executive Officer Arthur Sadoun said.
Bigger rival WPP said earlier this month it would discontinue its operations in Russia. It said it would support its staff and work closely with clients and partners as it withdrew from the country.
( Writing by Paul Sandle; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
By Victoria Waldersee and Paul Sandle | business |
Japanese shares rise on oil price drop, gains in Chinese stocks | - Japanese shares ended higher for a third straight session on Wednesday, tracking overnight Wall Street gains, as a drop in oil prices lifted risk appetite, while a rise in Chinese stocks underpinned investor sentiment.
The Nikkei share average rose 1.7% to end at 25,762.01, while the broader Topix climbed 1.46% to 1,853.25.
Both the indexes accelerated gains as Chinese equities advanced after its Vice Premier Liu He indicated the nation plans to take measures to boost the economy and would also announce policies favourable to capital markets.
Chip-making equipment maker Tokyo Electron, up 3.24%, was the top boost to Nikkei, followed by SoftBank Group jumping 5.96%.
The three main Wall Street stock indexes rallied overnight, a day before an expected interest rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve, while oil prices dropped 7% on hopes of an end to the conflict in Ukraine.
The U.S. central bank is expected to raise rates for the first time in three years by at least 25 basis points amid surging prices. Traders will also be closely watching the Fed for details on how it plans to end its bond-buying program.
`` A drop in oil prices eased investor sentiment. And investors hoped that ( Federal Reserve Chair) Jerome Powell would indicate a clearer path for the rate increase to remove uncertainties, '' said Ikuo Mitsui, fund manager at Aizawa Securities.
`` But volatilities remain high and the markets are sensitive to any negative cues. ''
Airlines rose 3.82%, leading gains among Tokyo Stock Exchange's 33 industry subindexes, as Japan is set to announce the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions imposed on Tokyo and other prefectures.
( Reporting by Junko Fujita and Tokyo markets team; Editing by Rashmi Aich) | business |
Sewage samples signal possible increase in U.S. COVID cases in some places, even though overall cases are falling | A jump in coronavirus rates measured at wastewater sampling sites monitored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may be signaling a coming increase in COVID-19 cases in parts of the U.S., even though overall cases are still declining.
The CDC said rates have climbed at 38% of sites that it tracks in the period stretching from Feb. 27 to March 13, and 15% of those showed an increase of 1,000% or more.
The agency uses wastewater surveillance to capture the presence of COVID-19 shed by people with or without symptoms, allowing it to act as an early warning that the illness is spreading in a community.
A Bloomberg analysis of the data found that the number of sites with rising signals of cases is almost twice what it was during the period from Feb. 1 to Feb. 10, when the omicron surge was falling fast.
The news comes as U.S. COVID numbers continue to decline, with the nation now averaging 33,310 new cases a day, according to a New York Times tracker, down 47% from two weeks ago.
The average daily number of hospitalizations stands at 27,901, down 43% from two weeks ago. Deaths are averaging 1,170 a day, down 33% from two weeks ago, but still an undesirably high number.
U.S. states have moved to drop restrictions amid hopes the country is entering an endemic phase, meaning the virus is still present but no longer causing the kind of surges that can overwhelm health care systems.
But the World Health Organization and others have cautioned that the pandemic is not yet over, and won't end until all of the world has reached a certain vaccine rate. For now, major parts of Africa have low vaccine rates and cases are just arriving in the Pacific.
China, where the virus was first detected in late 2019, is struggling to contain a wave of cases that has shut down Shenzhen, a tech and finance hub adjacent to Hong Kong in the south, and Changchun, an auto center in the northeast, the Associated Press reported. Bus service to Shanghai, China's business capital and biggest city, has been suspended.
The number of new cases reported Tuesday on the Chinese mainland more than doubled to 3,507. Almost three-quarters were in Jilin province, where Changchun is located, with 2,601 cases.
Hong Kong, which reports separately, had 26,908 cases on Monday.
The WHO is also tracking a new hybrid variant that has been unofficially named deltacron, as it combines characteristics of delta and omicron.
But for now, little is known about whether it is either more transmissible or more lethal than earlier variants and further study will be needed, the WHO has said.
-- The UK is dropping all remaining COVID travel restrictions on Friday, even though cases have started to climb again, the Guardian reported. Passengers will no longer be required to fill out locator forms or get tested and quarantine hotels, which have not been used since December, will be fully stood down by month end. Heathrow announced that air passengers traveling through the airport will no longer be required to wear a mask from Wednesday. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic said they were also preparing to drop the requirement onboard, when flying to destinations that do not require face coverings on planes.
-- The N.B.A. fined the Brooklyn Nets $ 50,000 for allowing guard Kyrie Irving to enter the team's home locker room during Sunday's game against the Knicks, the New York Times reported Irving has not been vaccinated against COVID and was not allowed to be with the team.
-- AbbVie ( ABBV) is partnering with Scripps Research to develop new COVID-19 antivirals. `` Our SARS-CoV-2 research program has the potential to impact significantly the ongoing gaps in patient needs to move from pandemic to endemic COVID-19, '' Peter Schultz, president and CEO of Scripps Research, said in a news release. There are currently two authorized antivirals; Pfizer's ( PFE) Paxlovid and Merck's ( MRK) molnupiravir.
-- The CDC has changed travel warnings for nine vacation destinations in the Caribbean and Atlantic to Level 3 from Level 4, or very high to high, clearing them for Americans to visit again, the Washington Post reported. The list comprises Cuba, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Maarten, the British Virgin Islands, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic and the Turks and Caicos. The agency also lowered its cruise travel rating to Level 2, which means the risk is now deemed `` moderate. ''
The global tally of confirmed cases of COVID-19 topped 460.5 million on Tuesday, while the death toll rose above 6.04 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University.
The U.S. leads the world with 79.6 million cases and 965,478 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 million are boosted, equal to 44.3% of the vaccinated population.
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CORE LAB ANNOUNCES REVISED Q1 2022 GUIDANCE | AMSTERDAM, March 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Core Laboratories N.V. ( NYSE: `` CLB US '' and Euronext Amsterdam: `` CLB NA '') ( `` Core '', `` Core Lab '', or the `` Company '') is announcing revised guidance from continuing operations for the first quarter of 2022, as well as commencement of a joint-industry consortium project focused on carbon capture and sequestration ( `` CCS '').
There have been two significant events impacting Core's financial results since the Company provided its initial guidance for the first quarter of 2022 on 2 February 2022: ( 1) the outbreak of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 was much more significant than initially predicted; and ( 2) the geopolitical conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
With regards to the impact caused by the COVID-19 virus, disruptions reached an all-time high as the number of employees testing positive during the first quarter of 2022 has been five to six times higher than any previous period since the pandemic started. Approximately 15% of Core's employees were impacted by either testing positive with COVID-19 or becoming subject to quarantine restrictions. This higher-than-expected surge in COVID-19 cases caused disruption to the Company's operations and client-driven project delays, as well as government-imposed restrictions and lockdowns in multiple countries. Within Core Lab, these circumstances also resulted in significant employee overtime expense beyond levels initially projected for the first quarter of 2022. While both of Core's business segments were affected, Reservoir Description was disproportionally impacted given its large headcount and global footprint. Fortunately, the majority of employee COVID-19 cases were mild and the number of new cases and associated quarantine effects have begun to decline in most regions outside of Europe and Asia Pacific.
The on-going geopolitical conflict between Russia and Ukraine is also adversely impacting both service revenue and product sales during the first quarter, affecting both business segments. As part of Core's global laboratory network, the Company provides analytical services on crude oil, natural gas and derived products, including both reservoir condition analysis and ambient condition assay work. Reservoir Description has been more heavily impacted, as business disruptions arising from cyber-attacks against third party facilities began prior to direct military engagement. These cyber-attacks disrupted demand for crude-oil assay work, particularly in Europe. With continuing direct military conflict in the region, disruptions in crude-oil assay work in Europe, Russia and Ukraine have persisted, as traditional supply chains associated with the movement of crude oil are realigning to new logistical patterns. Given that current global demand for crude oil and natural gas has not meaningfully diminished, Core Lab expects the supply lines to realign, and the Company's associated laboratory services to resume in the near-term. However, Core Lab has suspended local Ukrainian operations to minimize risk to its employees. In addition, completion product sales delivered through Core's Production Enhancement segment into Ukraine have also been suspended.
Core's revised guidance for the first quarter of 2022 revenue ranges from $ 110,000,000 to $ 113,000,000. Despite the events described above, which adversely impacted the financial performance of the Company for the first quarter of 2022, the Company maintained its commitment to fully reinstate employee salaries on 1 January 2022, consequently increasing operating expenses from previous quarters. The Company is now projecting operating margins to be approximately 5% to 6%, and Earnings Per Share ( `` EPS '') to be between $ 0.05 to $ 0.08 for the first quarter of 2022. The Company's 2022 outlook remains positive and projects a multi-year international cycle to unfold.
Core Lab is pleased to announce the launch of a joint-industry Carbon Capture and Sequestration Consortium to analyze technical risks and challenges associated with subsurface carbon sequestration. As the number of carbon capture and sequestration projects expands, Core is leveraging its expertise in subsurface evaluation. The CCS Consortium, in collaboration with Dr. Birol Dindoruk of the University of Houston, has been formed to support global energy transition and decarbonization efforts. The Company hosted a project initiation meeting at its Houston, Texas Advanced Technology Center on 23 February 2022. The meeting was attended by technical representatives from an international panel of inaugural member companies, including: Chevron U.S.A. Inc., EOG Resources, Inc., JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corporation, Repsol Exploración S.A., Shell Exploration and Production Co., and Talos Low Carbon Solutions LLC.
The CCS Consortium combines Core's decades of unparalleled global success in providing multi-client, joint-industry studies, with industry-leading rock and fluids-based reservoir characterization and optimization technologies. Core Lab is well positioned to deliver practical solutions that enhance its clients ' ability to screen and evaluate prospective sites for subsurface CO2 sequestration, as well as improve Core's clients ' ability to develop and execute optimized operational strategies.
Leveraging Core Lab's considerable global expertise in reservoir characterization, the CCS Consortium will enhance the CCS industry's assessment of the technical risks and challenges associated with geological sequestration of CO2. The CCS Consortium will focus on topics and considerations relating to reservoir capacity, injectivity, and containment integrity, as well as rock-fluid and fluid-fluid compatibility, all of which will be evaluated through directed programs of measurement, study and research.
Core Lab will host its first quarter 2022 earnings call Thursday, 28 April 2022 at 7:30 a.m. CDT / 2:30 p.m. CEST to discuss financial and operational results. An earnings release will be issued after market close on 27 April 2022.
Core Laboratories N.V. is a leading provider of proprietary and patented reservoir description and production enhancement services and products used to optimize reservoir performance. The Company has over 70 offices in more than 50 countries and is located in every major oil-producing province in the world.
This release, as well as other statements we made, includes forward-looking statements regarding the future revenue, profitability, business strategies and developments of the Company made in reliance upon the safe harbor provisions of Federal securities law. The Company's outlook is subject to various important cautionary factors, including risks and uncertainties related to the oil and natural gas industry, business conditions, international markets, international political climates, public health crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and any related actions taken by businesses and governments, and other factors as more fully described in the Company's most recent Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K filed with or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. These important factors could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on current expectations of the Company's performance and are subject to a variety of factors, some of which are not under the control of the Company. Because the information herein is based solely on data currently available, and because it is subject to change as a result of changes in conditions over which the Company has no control or influence, such forward-looking statements should not be viewed as assurance regarding the Company's future performance. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward looking statement to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this press release, except as required by law.
Visit the Company's website at www.corelab.com. Connect with Core Lab on Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.
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Fed to Investors: Just the Beginning for Rate Hikes | In a mission to fight inflation, Wednesday's rate hike is likely the first of seven this year alone.
The Federal Reserve has a clear message for investors: Expect interest rates to head steadily higher in the months to come.
Against a backdrop of stubbornly high inflation and uncertainty in the global economy rippling out from Russia’ s attack on Ukraine, the Fed, as expected, announced Wednesday a 25-basis-point increase in the federal-funds rate from zero, where it had been pegged since the onset of the pandemic-driven recession.
From here, the Fed’ s projections have it raising interest rates by a 25 basis points seven more times in 2022 and continuing to raise rates into 2023.
While initially there was some debate about whether the Fed would do a double rate hike at its March meeting, Fed chair Jerome Powell stated that he favored a single rate hike in comments in early March. As such, a 25-basis-point hike was largely expected.
Interestingly, St. Louis Fed president James Bullard voted for a 50-basis-point hike. He was the lone dissenting voter, dissent being a rare occurrence at the Fed. While hiking 25 basis points instead of 50 basis points could be considered more dovish, the economic projections ( notably the `` dot plot '' of each member's expectations for interest rates) turned much more hawkish and are now relatively aligned with the market’ s view. Additionally, while short- to medium-term projections became more hawkish, longer-run expectations remained the same. In other words, this moves forward only already expected rate hikes, it does not set a new, higher baseline for longer-term rates.
There were some updates in language in the Fed’ s press release. It removed language related to the coronavirus pandemic and vaccinations, added a paragraph highlighting the uncertainty and economic risks from Russia’ s invasion of Ukraine, and gave its first nod to “ broader price pressures ” as a cause of inflation. The last item is especially significant in our view, as it explicitly lays out the Fed’ s rising concerns related to persistently high inflation levels. This is a far cry from its previous description of inflation as being “ transitory. ”
Related to this, the Fed also added language around expecting “ inflation to return to its 2% objective and the labor market to remain strong ” as it tightens monetary policy.
If it wasn't clear before, the Fed is on a mission to first and foremost fight inflation. The addition of explicit forward guidance is also significant, as the Fed views this as another tool to help it keep inflation expectations in check.
The Fed released its updated economic projections, with several noteworthy changes. The most notable update from our perspective was the drastic change in rate hike expectations. The median federal-funds rate expectation is now 1.9% for 2022, up from 0.9%, with 2023 and 2024 both moving up to 2.8% from 1.6% and 2.1%, respectively. This is a massive shift in just a couple of months. This implies a single rate hike at each meeting for the rest of 2022, and roughly one hike at every other meeting in 2023. Real gross domestic product growth estimates also dropped for 2022, while inflation estimates increased for 2022-24. Notably, the Fed expects inflation to remain above 2% through 2024.
CME futures suggest the bond market anticipates the most likely outcome is for rates to reach a range from 175 basis points to 225 basis points, or seven to eight rate hikes, by the end of 2022, in line with the Fed’ s new dot plot. As this plays out, the Fed will have to walk a delicate line of removing accommodative monetary support as economic growth begins to slow, although a willingness to fight inflation is a welcome change and the consumer is still in a great position with excess savings.
We’ ll also remind investors that “ accommodative policy ” should always be analyzed within the context of current inflation. Inflation well above current interest rates means policy remains extremely accommodative. As such, we view the risks of a recession this year while the Fed raises rates as relatively low. We see nothing stopping the Fed from a healthy series of rate hikes for now, as we think the economy can handle it.
With regards to balance-sheet reduction, new language was added, signaling that the Fed expects it will begin reducing the size of its balance sheet at an upcoming meeting. We had expected a foreshadowing of upcoming balance-sheet reduction efforts prior to the announcement of these reductions. With the stage now set, we would not be surprised to have an explicit announcement around reductions as soon as the next meeting in May.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the number of times the Fed is likely to raise interest rates in 2022. The correct number is seven, not eight.
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EUROPEAN MIDDAY BRIEFING - Shares Climb as China -3- | HONG KONG-China reported 3,054 domestic coronavirus cases on Wednesday, with numbers falling from a day earlier, as authorities worked swiftly to contain outbreaks by ordering lockdowns and severely restricting the movement of people in the most affected areas.
Close to half of the reported cases were found in northeastern Jilin province. Since Monday, its 24 million people haven't been allowed to leave the province as authorities race to halt the outbreak and prevent it from spreading.
SEOUL-North Korea test-fired an unknown projectile on Wednesday, though the launch was unsuccessful, South Korea's military said, a stumble that Pyongyang has largely avoided in recent years.
The attempted launch occurred at 9:30 a.m. local time from the Sunan area, on the outskirts of Pyongyang, according to the South Korean military. The projectile appeared to have exploded during an early boost phase just after taking flight, at an altitude of roughly 12 miles or less, a South Korean military official said. Japan's Defense Ministry said it was aware of the launch but unable to confirm the flight of any ballistic missile.
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FTSE Rises, BOE's Rate Decision Could Benefit Sterling in Short-Term | Sentiment around sterling looks quite downbeat but the Bank of England's meeting on Thursday may offer the currency some brief relief, HSBC says. A 25 basis-point rate rise is fully priced so that's unlikely to have a notable impact on sterling but the currency will rise in the short-term if the split of votes on the decision shows some policymakers backing a larger increase, HSBC forex analyst Dominic Bunning says in a note. `` Should we see further calls for 50bp hikes this week by some Monetary Policy Committee members, then we would expect GBP to bounce. '' The BOE raised its key rate by 25 basis points to 0.50% in February but four out of nine officials voted for a 50 basis-point rise.
Hammerson PLC said Wednesday that Silverburn, its flagship shopping center near Glasgow, has been sold for 140 million pounds ( $ 182.6 million) cash to entities affiliated with Henderson Park and Eurofund.
Shares in Avast PLC fell on Wednesday after the U.K. competition watchdog said that NortonLifeLock Inc.'s proposed acquisition of Avast raises competition concerns, and that it intends to refer the case for an in-depth investigation.
Fevertree Drinks PLC on Wednesday reported a rise in pretax profit, and said that it maintained its number-one position in the U.K. retail-mixer category.
Restore PLC said Wednesday that pretax profit for 2021 jumped, driven by strong sales momentum, and that it would make a dividend payout.
Restaurant Group PLC on Wednesday reported a narrowed pretax loss for the 2021 fiscal year, and said sales outperformed the market in the first two months of 2022.
IP Group PLC posted on Wednesday a rise in pretax profit for 2021 and said it entered 2022 in a very strong financial position, and that it has many opportunities ahead.
Computacenter PLC said Wednesday that pretax profit for 2021 rose on stronger demand and announced a 31% increase of its full-year dividend payout.
Alpha FX Group PLC on Wednesday reported that its profit nearly doubled in 2021, and said that it hasn't been materially affected by the war in Ukraine to date.
Centaur Media PLC reported Wednesday a swing to a pretax profit for 2021 and said it is well placed for further growth in 2022.
IG Group Holdings PLC said on Wednesday that net trading revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2022 rose 13%, and that revenue growth for the year for its tastytrade division might remain below guidance.
Bytes Technology Group PLC said Wednesday that it expects to report results for fiscal 2022 ahead of expectations.
Atlantic Lithium Ltd. said Wednesday that Chief Financial Officer Amanda Harsas has been appointed to the board as finance director effective immediately.
4imprint Group PLC reported on Wednesday a significant rise in pretax profit for 2021, as it benefited from a material increase in total orders and the number of new customers acquired.
Advanced Medical Solutions Group PLC on Wednesday reported that its profitability doubled in 2021, reflecting increased sales volumes, and said that it has agreed to acquire an Austrian surgical-devices company.
C & C Group PLC said Wednesday that it expects to return to operating profit in fiscal 2022 as it benefited from a robust performance driven by strong consumer demand.
CLS Holdings PLC said Wednesday that 2021 pretax profit fell due to lower gains from disposals, and that it was well positioned for 2022 onward.
Gym Group PLC said Wednesday that pretax loss for 2021 narrowed as the group is benefiting from the reopening of the economy.
Shares in Avast PLC fell on Wednesday after the U.K. competition watchdog said that NortonLifeLock Inc.'s proposed acquisition of Avast raises competition concerns, and that it intends to refer the case for an in-depth investigation.
LSL Property Services PLC reported Wednesday a record financial performance for 2021, which enables the company to continue investing in its outlook to deliver its ambitious growth strategy.
Shares in Pensana PLC rose on Wednesday after the company said it has reduced its capital expenditure and operating costs and that this will make its U.K. rare earth separation facility at Saltend and the Longonjo concentrator in Angola, more attractive to its financiers.
1143 GMT - The Bank of England is likely to raise its base rate by 25 basis points to 0.75% this Thursday, though some rate-setters will again vote for a larger increase, Ebury says. `` With inflation surging and risks to near-term growth mounting, we think that the BoE will aim to strike a delicate balance on Thursday, '' it says, adding that the Monetary Policy Committee `` will be keen for the market to not get too carried away with pricing in an aggressive pace of hikes. '' The yield on two-year gilts, which are more sensitive to changes in interest rates, trades four basis points above Tuesday's close, at 1.4%, marking a two-day high, according to Tradeweb.
1118 GMT - The Restaurant Group warned that the increases in electricity and gas prices will cost it an additional GBP6 million-GBP7 million in 2022, which is GBP1 million-GBP2 million higher than previous guidance, Peel Hunt says. The U.K.-based restaurant operator also noted very strong sales growth in the first weeks of the year, and therefore Peel Hunt believes that the incremental energy costs can be offset by higher sales. Overall, results for 2021 were slightly ahead of expectations, as The Restaurant Group has performed well since U.K. indoor trading resumed in May, the investment bank says. Shares rise 6.7%.
1056 GMT - Town Centre Securities 1H results show its bounce back from the coronavirus disruption is well underway, and shares look very cheap, Liberum says. The U.K. property investment company's net tangible asset value rose 7% over 1H, around 6% ahead of Liberum's forecast, while EPS rose to 5.0 pence from zero, compared with Liberum's 1.7 pence expectation. The shares are currently valued at a 54% discount to December's net tangible asset value, pricing in a 25% decline in property value, which looks too steep, according to the U.K. brokerage. Liberum retains its buy rating and raises it price target to 210 pence from 200 pence. Shares are up 1.1% at 141.0 pence.
1057 GMT - Shares in Fevertree Drinks rise 0.4% after the mixer-maker reported higher annual profit, but said its gross margin fell and cut its earnings forecast due to expected cost increases amid the Ukraine war. The warning took the fizz out of what was otherwise a fairly upbeat set of results, financial-services firm eToro says. `` The reality is that the pain is probably far from over for the tonic maker, '' eToro says. `` Inflation -- more specifically, commodity price inflation -- is proving persistent and there's little chance of that changing while Russia and Ukraine, two key commodity exporters, are at war. We 've also seen an alarming resurgence in Covid cases in many countries, which may harm sales in pubs and restaurants. ''
1052 GMT - Centamin's earnings per share for 2021 were 15% below consensus, largely due to a non-cash impairment charge of $ 35 million related to exploration assets in Burkina Faso, RBC Capital Markets says. Looking forward, the gold miner reaffirmed production and cost guidance for 2022. RBC says it sees potential for inflationary pressures and supply-chain disruptions to put pressure on costs. `` Despite inflationary pressures, we believe Centamin is well-suited to benefit from the current macroeconomic backdrop. Our analysis suggests that an increase of 20% in both gold prices and costs should expand Ebitda by 23%, '' the bank says. Shares are down 4.5%.
Contact: London NewsPlus, Dow Jones Newswires; Write to Sarka Halas at sarka.halas @ wsj.com
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To further protect the integrity of our editorial content, we keep a strict separation between our sales teams and authors to remove any pressure or influence on our analyses and research.
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EUROPEAN MIDDAY BRIEFING - Shares Climb as China Rebounds, Ukraine Talks Continue | 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.
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%.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Transparency is how we protect the integrity of our work and keep empowering investors to achieve their goals and dreams. And we have unwavering standards for how we keep that integrity intact, from our research and data to our policies on content and your personal data.
We’ d like to share more about how we work and what drives our day-to-day business.
We sell different types of products and services to both investment professionals and individual investors. These products and services are usually sold through license agreements or subscriptions. Our investment management business generates asset-based fees, which are calculated as a percentage of assets under management. We also sell both admissions and sponsorship packages for our investment conferences and advertising on our websites and newsletters.
How we use your information depends on the product and service that you use and your relationship with us. We may use it to:
To learn more about how we handle and protect your data, visit our privacy center.
Maintaining independence and editorial freedom is essential to our mission of empowering investor success. We provide a platform for our authors to report on investments fairly, accurately, and from the investor’ s point of view. We also respect individual opinions––they represent the unvarnished thinking of our people and exacting analysis of our research processes. Our authors can publish views that we may or may not agree with, but they show their work, distinguish facts from opinions, and make sure their analysis is clear and in no way misleading or deceptive.
To further protect the integrity of our editorial content, we keep a strict separation between our sales teams and authors to remove any pressure or influence on our analyses and research.
Read our editorial policy to learn more about our process. | business |
Roblon A/S: reports better-than-expected revenue and earnings for Q1 2021/22 | Interim report for Q1 2021/22
Company Announcement no. 8/2022
Roblon reports better-than-expected revenue and earnings for Q1 2021/22.
Interim report - Q1 2021/22 ( the period 1 November 2021 - 31 January 2022)
Roblon A/S
Nordhavnsvej 1
DK-9900 Frederikshavn
CVR no. 57 06 85 15
Highlights of the interim report of the Roblon Group:
As expected, in Q1 2021/22 Roblon was adversely impacted by challenges owing to the COVID-19 pandemic with respect to transport and logistics, supply of raw materials and market impacts. Despite these challenges, the Group's reported revenue and earnings for Q1 2021/22 exceeded the guidance. The improvement was mainly driven by growth in the US subsidiary.
As described in company announcement no. 1/2022, the Group acquired the Czech company Vamafil spol. s.r.o at 3 January 2022. A preliminary purchase price allocation has been made in the amount of approximately EURm 7.3 ( DKKm 54.6).
Frederikshavn, 16 March 2022
Roblon A/S
Jørgen Kjær Jacobsen
Lars Østergaard
Chairman of the Board
Managing Director and CEO
Enquiries regarding this announcement should be addressed to: Managing Director and CEO Lars Østergaard, tel. +45 9620 3300
In Q1 2021/22, Roblon increased its long-term credit facilities by DKKm 75 to support the acquisition of Vamafil and the Group's growth strategy. In February 2022, Roblon took out a DKKm 10 mortgage on the Com- pany's buildings in Gærum to further strengthen its long-term capital resources.
The analyses of the IFRIC agenda decision on the accounting treatment of customisation costs in a cloud computing arrangement, as mentioned in the 2020/21 annual report, have been completed. The conclusion
is that the Group's accounting policies will not be affected by IFRIC's agenda decision.
The 2021/22 full-year guidance is unchanged compared with latest guidance.
Guidance for full year 2021/22
The guidance is subject to uncertainty due to the adverse impact of COVID-19 in all the Group's markets, causing supply shortages of certain raw materials and components. The assessment is that the war in Ukraine could give rise to additional challenges.
Roblon has ceased all sales to Russia and Belarus as a result of the war in Ukraine. Historically, the Group has not had significant business activities in either Russia, Belarus or Ukraine.
After Q1 2021/22, Management maintains its full-year guidance for 2021/22 as follows:
Quarterly revenue ( DKKm)
100
80
60
40
20
0
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Quarterly EBIT ( DKKm)
40
30
20
10
0 -10
-20
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
2020/21
2021/22
1
Interim report for Q1 2021/22
Company Announcement no. 8/2022
Financial highlights
for the Roblon Group
Unit
Q1
Q1
FY
2021/221
2020/211
2020/211
Orders
Order intake
DKKm
114.8
91.7
301.7
Order book
DKKm
116.8
73.8
79.7
Income statement
Revenue
DKKm
78.3
42.3
249.9
Gross profit/loss
DKKm
36.5
19.7
116.7
Operating profit/loss before depreciation, amortisation and impairment and special
DKKm
1.4
-12.0
-12.6
items ( EBITDA)
Operating profit/loss before special items ( EBIT)
DKKm
-4.7
-16.6
-32.9
Special items
DKKm
-3.1
-
-
Net financial items
DKKm
2.5
0.7
-
Profit/loss before tax from continuing operations
DKKm
-5.3
-15.9
-29.3
Profit/loss for the period from continuing operations
DKKm
-4.8
-12.3
-29.3
Profit/loss for the period from discontinued operations
DKKm
0.2
-
-
Profit/loss for the period
DKKm
-4.6
-12.3
-20.8
Balance sheet
Cash and securities
DKKm
20.4
75.0
45.7
Assets
DKKm
326.1
269.4
279.8
Working capital
DKKm
112.4
65.2
100.2
Invested capital
DKKm
192.4
149.3
167.5
Equity
DKKm
214.3
225.2
217.3
Cash flows
Cash flow from operating activities
DKKm
-16.9
-4.6
-42.3
Cash flow from investing activities
DKKm
-7.8
10.6
21.8
Of which investment in marketable securities
DKKm
42.3
15.3
36.9
Of which investment in property plant and equipment
DKKm
-1.9
-3.6
-11.1
Cash flow from financing activities
DKKm
41.4
-1.1
16.9
Depreciation, amortisation and impairment, total
DKKm
-6.1
-4.6
-20.3
Cash flow for the period
DKKm
16,7
4.9
-3.6
Unit
Q1
Q1
FY
2021/221
2020/211
2020/211
Ratios
Book-to-bill ratio
%
146.6
216.8
120.7
Revenue growth
%
85.1
-42.6
-1.9
Gross margin
%
46.6
46.6
46.7
EBIT margin
%
-6.0
-39.2
-13.2
ROIC/return on average invested capital2
%
-10.7
-9.9
-20.1
Equity ratio
%
65.7
83.6
77.7
Return on equity2
%
-8.0
-5.1
-9.1
Employees
Average no. of full-time employees
No.
204
192
191
Gross profit per full-time employee
DKKm
0.2
0.1
0.6
Per share ratios
Earnings per DKK 20 share ( EPS) 2
DKK
-2.6
-6.9
-11.6
Price/earnings ratio ( PE)
DKK
-58.1
-26.1
-13.1
Cash flow from operations per DKK 20 share
DKK
-9.5
-2.6
-23.7
Book value of shares2
DKK
119.8
125.9
121.5
Market price per share
DKK
151.0
180.0
152.0
Price/book value
1.3
1.4
1.3
The ratios are defined in note 32 to the 2020/21 annual report, Financial ratio definitions and formulas.
2
Interim report for Q1 2021/22
Company Announcement no. 8/2022
Management's review
Roblon's management reporting is based on one segment comprising the following product groups:
Revenue from the acquired Czech business ( Vamafil) falls under Composite.
Matters of note
As expected, in Q1 2021/22 Roblon experienced adverse impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic in the form of supply shortages of raw materials, logistics challenges and market impacts. Despite this, the Group's reported revenue and earnings for Q1 2021/22 exceeded the guidance for the quarter. The main driver of the improvement was growth in the US subsidiary.
As described in company announcement no. 1/2022, the Group acquired the Czech company Vamafil spol. s.r.o at 3 January 2022 as part of Roblon's growth strategy within its core busi- ness, the fibre optic cable industry. A preliminary purchase price allocation has been made as presented in note 5.
Consolidated income statement
Order intake
The Group's order intake amounted to DKKm
114.8 in Q1 2021/22 ( DKKm 91.7). The DKKm 23.1 net increase covered a DKKm 5.1 improvement in the FOC product group and a DKKm 18.0 improvement in the Composite product group, of which DKKm 8.0 stemmed from the acquired
Vamafil business.
Revenue
For Q1 2021/22, Roblon realised revenue of DKKm 78.3 ( DKKm 42.3). The DKKm 36.0 net increase covered a DKKm 27.1 improvement in the FOC product group and a DKKm 8.9 improvement in the Composite product group, of which DKKm 2.8 related to Vamafil.
The revenue increase in FOC was largely driven by the expansion of production capacity in Rob- lon US and the favourable market conditions in the USA. Both Roblon's customers and Roblon's own production are affected by supply shortages of necessary raw materials and components. Management nevertheless expects continued revenue and earnings growth in the coming quarters relative to the year-earlier periods.
Management also expects to see revenue growth from a central product ( Rod) for cable manufacturers in FOC Europe in the upcoming quarters, in part due to an expected rise in sales based on the same production technology, which Roblon developed for the US market and rolled out in the Danish factory towards the end of 2020.
The USD/DKK exchange rate development had a favourable impact of DKKm 2.6 on reported revenue for Q1 2021/22.
Gross profit and gross margin
The Group's gross profit amounted to DKKm 36.5 ( DKKm 19.7) and the gross margin for Q1 2021/22 was 46.6% ( 46.6%), as expected.
Other external costs
Other external costs amounted to DKKm 9.4 ( DKKm 8.6) in Q1 2021/22. The increase was due to a higher level of activity, including travel activity, in addition to which Vamafil's costs are included as from 3 January 2022.
Staff costs
Staff costs increased to DKKm 27.2 ( DKKm
23.6) in Q1 2021/22. The increase was due to an increased level of activity in the subsidiary Roblon US, including production management recruitments, and the effects of the appreciation of the USD exchange rate. Another contributing factor was staff costs from Vamafil in the Czech Republic.
Operating profit/loss before depreciation, amortisation and impairment and special items ( EBITDA)
For Q1 2021/22, EBITDA amounted to DKKm 1.4 ( a loss of DKKm 12.0).
Depreciation, amortisation and impairment The Group's depreciation, amortisation and impairment was an expense of DKKm 6.1 ( an expense of DKKm 4.6). The increase over the previous year was due to increased investments in production equipment to enhance capacity and production, primarily in the USA. Another contributing factor was depreciation and amorti- sation in Vamafil.
Operating profit/loss before special items ( EBIT)
For Q1 2021/22, EBIT before special items was a loss of DKKm 4.7 ( a loss of DKKm 16.6).
Special items
Special items comprises DKKm 3,0 regarding transaction costs in connection with the acquisition of the Czech business Vamafil at 3 January 2022 and DKKm 0.1 regarding other costs in connection with the relocation of production facilities from Denmark to the Czech Republic.
Net financial items
The Group's net financial items for Q1 2021/22 amounted to DKKm 2.5 ( DKKm 0.7). The net amount covers a positive foreign exchange adjustment concerning a loan to the US subsidiary and a gain on the sale of the securities portfolio.
Profit/loss before tax from continuing operations
For Q1 2021/22, the Group posted a loss before tax from continuing operations of DKKm 5,3 ( a loss of DKKm 15.9).
Profit/loss from discontinued operations The profit of DKKm 0.2 ( DKKm 0) from discontinued operations comprises repayment on a loan issued to the buyer of a former Roblon division. The loan to this buyer was written off in the 2019/20 financial year.
Profit/loss after tax
Roblon realised a net loss for the period of DKKm 4,6 ( a net loss of DKKm 12.3). Tax is calculated at a rate of 22% of profit for the year before tax for the parent company, at 24% for the US subsidiary and at 19% for the Czech subsidiary.
The USD/DKK exchange rate lifted the Group's net profit for Q1 2021/22 by DKKm 0.1.
3
Interim report for Q1 2021/22
Company Announcement no. 8/2022
Consolidated balance sheet
The Group's total assets at 31 January 2022 amounted to DKKm 326,1 ( DKKm 269.4).
Total investments in intangible assets for Q1 2021/22 amounted to DKKm 0.9 ( DKKm 1.1), comprising a DKKm 0.8 investment in development projects and a DKKm 0.1 investment in the Group's ERP solution. Investments in property plant and equipment amounted to DKKm 2.7 ( DKKm 3.6) in Q1 2021/22, mainly comprising investment projects to strengthen production capacity in the FOC business. Property, plant and equipment sold amounted to DKKm 0.8 ( DKKm 0).
Inventories amounted to DKKm 86.3 ( DKKm 63.0) at 31 January 2022. The rising level of activity throughout the Group requires larger inventories of raw materials and components. The increase in inventories was furthermore attributable to additions from the acquired Czech business Vama- fil as well as to rising raw materials prices and freight rates. Another factor is that the challenges in obtaining a steady supply of raw materials and components lead to temporary accumulations of inventories.
The Group has launched a number of activities with a view to reducing working capital, comprising trade receivables, inventories and trade payables.
The Group's equity at 31 January 2022 amounted to DKKm 214,3 ( DKKm 225.2). The equity ratio at 31 January 2022 was 65.7% ( 83.6%).
Consolidated cash flows
The Group's net cash flow from operating activ-
ities in Q1 2021/22 was an outflow of DKKm 16.9 ( an outflow of DKKm 4.6).
Total cash flow from investing activities was a net outflow of DKKm 7,8 ( an inflow of DKKm 10.6), covering a outflow from net investments in intangible assets and property, plant and equipment of DKKm 2.8 ( an outflow of DKKm 4.7), an inflow from net sales of securities of DKKm 42.3 ( DKKm 15.3) and an outflow from the acquisition of the Czech subsidiary of DKKm 47,3.
Net cash flow from financing activities in Q1 2021/22 was an inflow of DKKm 41.4 ( an outflow of DKKm 1.1), mainly consisting of drawing on operating credits.
Capital resources
At 31 January 2022, net deposits of cash and securities amounted to DKKm 20.4 ( DKKm 75.0). As stated in company announcement no. 7/2021 of 9 December 2021, Roblon secured DKKm 75 in long-term credit facilities to support the acquisition of Vamafil and the Group's growth strategy in general. After this, the Group's total credit facilities amounted to DKKm 80 ( DKKm 10). Roblon had an undrawn credit facility at 31 January 2022 of DKKm 18.9 ( DKKm 10.0).
Total cash resources at 31 January 2022 amounted to DKKm 39.3 ( DKKm 85).
In February 2022, Roblon took out a DKKm 10 mortgage on the Company's buildings in Gærum to further strengthen its long-term capital re- sources.
Product development
In Q1 2021/22, the Group incurred product development costs of DKKm 1.9 ( DKKm 2.2).
Full-year guidance for 2021/22
The guidance is subject to uncertainty due to the adverse impact of COVID-19 in all the Group's markets, causing supply shortages of certain raw materials and components. The assessment is that the war in Ukraine could give rise to additional challenges.
Roblon has ceased all sales to Russia and Bela- rus as a result of the war in Ukraine. Historically, the Group has not had significant business activities in either Russia, Belarus or Ukraine.
After Q1 2021/22, Management maintains its full- year guidance for 2021/22 as follows:
Head office building put up for sale
In early 2020, the Group decided to put its head office in Frederikshavn up for sale. There are currently no potential buyers of the buildings, but the sales process continues. After the sale, the Group's Danish activities will all be located at Ro- blon's facilities in Gærum, which currently house production and various administrative functions. As well as generating positive synergies in the day-to-day operations, this initiative is also expected to have a positive impact on Roblon's results and equity going forward.
Forward-looking statements
Please note that short-term forecasts are subject to a high degree of uncertainty in light of all markets being affected by COVID-19. The war in Ukraine raises further uncertainty regarding the supply and transport of raw materials etc.
The above forward-looking statements, in particular revenue and earnings projections, are inherently uncertain and subject to risk. Many factors are beyond Roblon's control and, con- sequently, actual results may differ significantly from the projections expressed in this interim report. Such factors include, but are not limited to, changes in market and competitive situation, changes in demand and purchasing behaviour, foreign exchange and interest rate fluctuations and general economic, political and commercial conditions.
4
Interim report for Q1 2021/22
Company Announcement no. 8/2022
Financial calendar
21/6 2022: Interim report for Q2 2021/22
15/9 2022: Interim report for Q3 2021/22
20/12 2022: Preliminary statement 2021/22
26/1 2023: Annual General Meeting
Announcements - NASDAQ Copenhagen
During the period 21 December 2021 to 16 March 2022, the
Company sent the following announcements to NASDAQ
Copenhagen; these can be found on the Company's website,
www.roblon.com.
No. 8/2021:
21 December 2021
Preliminary statement 2020/21
No. 9/2021: 22 December 2021
Reporting on leading employees ' transactions
No. 10/2021:
27 December 2021
Reporting on leading employees ' transactions
No. 1/2022:
3 January 2022
Roblon completes acquisition of company
No. 2/2022:
4 January 2022
Notice convening AGM
No. 3/2022:
12 January 2022
Reporting of related party transactions in Roblon A/S shares
No. 4/2022:
13 January 2022
Reporting of related party transactions in Roblon A/S shares
No. 5/2022:
17 January 2022
Reporting of related party transactions in Roblon A/S shares
No. 6/2022:
18 January 2022
Reporting of related party transactions in Roblon A/S shares
No. 7/2022:
27 January 2022
Minutes of the annual general meeting in Roblon A/S
5
Attachments
Disclaimer
Roblon A/S 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 22:40:11 UTC. | business |
COVID patients in Kharkiv at the mercy of bombardment | to either move critically ill COVID patients to the safety of the bomb shelter in the hospital's basement or leave them connected to the oxygen supply in their rooms.
`` Employees and patients able to walk come down here. But, you know, most of our patients are on oxygen supply all the time. They can't be cut off oxygen... The ones in critical condition remain in their rooms. If we bring them down here they will simply die. ''
The regional emergency service said on Wednesday that at least 500 residents of the city have been killed since the start of Russia's invasion on February 24th.
A Kharkiv official said on Tuesday that more than 600 buildings have been destroyed, including schools, nurseries, and hospitals.
Nartov is relieved his hospital has been spared for now, but staff are preparing for the worst, having stocked up on medical supplies before the invasion began.
`` The situation is difficult and tense. As you can see, sick people, covered windows, bombardment going on from morning till night. Thanks god, our territory, our hospital has not yet been hit. ''
The staff are now learning how to use a gas mask, in case of a chemical attack.
Natalya Titarenko, who works at the hospital, said the building she lives in and the building of her sister had both recently been hit by Russian shells.
`` Suddenly we heard a sharp noise. My husband said 'they hit the house ', there was a cloud of dust in our apartment and our neighbors started screaming. I opened the door, it was not damaged, I opened it and I saw in the yard a smoke curtain, dust, glass smashed everywhere... ''
Russia says it does not target civilians, describing its actions as a `` special operation '' to demilitarize and `` de-Nazify '' Ukraine, a move the country and its allies call a baseless pretext for war. | business |
Explainer-Why isn't the U.S. accepting more Ukrainian refugees? | WHY HAS N'T THE U.S. TAKEN IN MORE UKRAINIAN REFUGEES?
U.S. President Joe Biden and his top officials have said the United States stands ready to accept refugees if needed, but the administration has repeatedly signaled that Europe should be the primary destination for Ukrainians.
`` We're going to welcome Ukrainian refugees with open arms if, in fact, they come all the way here, '' Biden said on March 11 during a meeting of fellow Democrats in Philadelphia.
Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki have made similar comments. Psaki said on March 10 that the administration believes the `` vast majority '' of refugees will want to remain in neighboring countries where many have family, friends and former employers.
The U.S. State Department has said that it will work with the United Nations to bring Ukrainian refugees to the United States in the event they lack protection in Europe, `` bearing in mind that resettlement to the United States is not a quick process. ''
Refugee resettlement can take years, though the Biden administration sped up the process for Afghans following the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan last August. Lessons from that experience could help expedite the resettlement of other refugees, three U.S. officials told Reuters.
WHO IS CALLING FOR MORE REFUGEE ADMISSIONS?
A group of more than three dozen Democratic lawmakers urged Biden in a March 11 letter to increase refugee admissions and allow Ukrainians with family members in the United States to enter faster through a temporary mechanism known as `` humanitarian parole. ''
Representative Raul Ruiz, a physician trained in emergency medicine and chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which wrote the letter, traveled to the Poland-Ukraine border earlier this month as part of a delegation of Democrats and Republicans.
`` The crisis could overwhelm the countries currently hosting many of the Ukrainian refugees, and the United States must lead in the effort to assist these countries in helping the vulnerable escape war, '' he wrote in the letter to Biden.
Representative Victoria Spartz, a Republican from Indiana and Ukrainian immigrant, was in the delegation and told Fox News that the humanitarian response can not be neighbor Poland's `` problem alone. ''
The urgency of the crisis was underscored by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's wife Olena Zelenska, who told ABC News she was calling on American women to support Ukrainian women and children seeking refuge.
A coalition of more than two dozen Jewish-American organizations also pressed Biden last week to increase admissions of Ukrainian refugees, saying that `` our community knows painfully too well what happens when America shuts its doors to refugees. ''
COULD THE U.S. ACCEPT MORE UKRAINIAN REFUGEES?
The United States admitted only 514 Ukrainian refugees in January and February during Russia's build-up to the war, according to U.S. State Department data.
Only seven Ukrainian refugees were resettled in the United States from March 1-16, according to internal State Department data seen by Reuters, as the war intensified and the number of Ukrainians fleeing skyrocketed.
Many Ukrainian refugee applicants cleared for travel to the United States were set to depart from inside Ukraine, according to one person familiar with the matter. Those cases were stalled by flight cancellations related to the conflict, leading to the near-shutdown of admissions in March, the person said.
Biden set the overall refugee ceiling for this year at 125,000 after his predecessor Donald Trump, a Republican, slashed admissions to a record-low 15,000, which gutted the program and led to processing delays already worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Biden has set aside 10,000 of the 125,000 refugee slots for people from Europe and Central Asia, which encompasses Ukraine, but that allotment can be expanded if needed, and is expediting certain cases.
WHAT HAPPENS TO UKRAINIANS WHO TRY TO ENTER THE UNITED STATES FROM MEXICO?
Thousands of Ukrainians and Russians have been traveling to the U.S.-Mexico border to seek asylum, a trend that could accelerate as the humanitarian crisis worsens, Reuters reported earlier this month.
During the first five months of this fiscal year, which began last October, U.S. authorities at the southwest border encountered about 1,300 Ukrainians, mostly at ports of entry, compared to about 680 for all of the last fiscal year.
Most Ukrainians have been allowed into the United States to pursue their immigration cases, unlike migrants from other countries who are often expelled to Mexico or other countries under a pandemic-era order known as Title 42.
Anecdotal reports have surfaced, however, of a handful of Ukrainians arriving at the southwest border in recent days and being refused entry.
IF THE U.S. IS N'T ACCEPTING MANY UKRAINIAN REFUGEES, WHAT IS IT DOING?
The U.S. government is devoting significant economic aid to assist the European countries receiving refugees.
Biden signed into law a spending bill on Tuesday that provides $ 13.6 billion to help Ukraine and European allies, including about $ 4 billion to aid people fleeing.
The U.S. government also announced earlier this month that it will grant Temporary Protected Status ( TPS) to an estimated 75,000 Ukrainians already in the United States.
The status will offer them deportation relief and work permits for 18 months and can be renewed at the end of that period, but will not apply to people who arrived after March 1.
( Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington; Additional reporting by Kristina Cooke in San Francisco; Editing by Mica Rosenberg and Grant McCool)
By Ted Hesson | business |
STEP Energy Services Ltd. Reports Fourth Quarter and Year End 2021 Results | CALGARY, Alberta, March 16, 2022 ( GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- STEP Energy Services Ltd. ( the “ Company ” or “ STEP ”) is pleased to announce its financial and operating results for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2021. The following press release should be read in conjunction with the management’ s discussion and analysis ( “ MD & A ”) and audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto as at and for the year ended December 31, 2021 ( the “ Financial Statements ”). Readers should also refer to the “ Forward-looking information & statements ” legal advisory and the section regarding “ Non-IFRS Measures and Ratios ” at the end of this press release. All financial amounts and measures are expressed in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated. Additional information about STEP is available on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com, including the Company’ s Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2021 dated March 16, 2022 ( the “ AIF ”).
CONSOLIDATED HIGHLIGHTS
FINANCIAL REVIEW
( 1) Adjusted EBITDA is a non-IFRS financial measure and Adjusted EBITDA% is a non-IFRS financial ratio. These metrics are not defined and have no standardized meaning under IFRS. See Non-IFRS Measures and Ratios. ( 2) An operating day is defined as any coiled tubing or fracturing work that is performed in a 24-hour period, exclusive of support equipment. ( 3) Active horsepower denotes units active on client work sites. An additional 15-20% of this amount is required to accommodate equipment maintenance cycles
( 1) Working capital, Total long-term financial liabilities and Net debt are non-IFRS financial measures. They are not defined and have no standardized meaning under IFRS. See Non-IFRS Measures and Ratios.
( 4) Only includes land‐based rigs.Source: PSAC, Baker Hughes, Bank of Canada
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS – 2021 ANNUAL
FOURTH QUARTER 2021 OVERVIEW
The fourth quarter of 2021 continued the recovery in oilfield services across North America. The land drilling rig count is often used as an indicator of service sector activity levels. Led by higher commodity prices, the land rig count increased in both Canada and the US, with counts hitting levels not seen since before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic ( the “ Pandemic ”). Canada averaged 159 rigs, up modestly from 150 in the third quarter and up significantly from the 88 rigs recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020. The US averaged 545 rigs, up significantly from the 484 in the third quarter and the 297 rigs in the fourth quarter of 2020.
The increase in rig counts drove completions activity higher in the fourth quarter, benefitting STEP’ s fracturing and coiled tubing service lines. Utilization was strong through most of the quarter outside of the typical holiday slowdowns around U.S. Thanksgiving and Christmas. STEP had 508 fracturing operating days and 955 coiled tubing operating days, a sequential and year over year increase for both service lines. The Canadian fracturing division was negatively impacted by extended delays on a client location due to challenging well conditions which resulted in some December work being pushed into the first quarter of 2022. The U.S. fracturing division had strong performance through the quarter, with high utilization across all three crews. Canada had some delays in late December due to weather, as did our northern based coiled tubing services in the U.S.
Total proppant pumped of 495,000 tonnes was in line with the third quarter of 2021 but significantly higher than the fourth quarter of 2020. The volume of proppant pumped per day was lower sequentially due to Canadian operations, where delays caused by challenging well conditions on a client location and a shift in job mix to include a higher proportion of smaller jobs with reduced efficiency. The increase in smaller completion jobs is the result of improving oil prices, which is incenting operators to revisit oil producing fields that previously had unfavourable economics.
STEP generated revenue of $ 158.7 million in fourth quarter 2021, which is STEP’ s highest fourth quarter revenue since Q4 2018. The fourth quarter is typically impacted by lower utilization resulting from client budget exhaustion, which can also drive down pricing as equipment availability increases. STEP’ s strong relationships with anchor clients resulted in steady activity through the quarter, including some work that was accelerated from 2022 into the fourth quarter of 2021 to take advantage of strong commodity prices and available fracturing capacity. STEP was successful in bringing pricing sequentially higher through the quarter, although cost inflation limited margin expansion.
The increased activity levels brought on by higher commodity prices delivered Adjusted EBITDA of $ 17.3 million in Q4 2021, modestly lower than the $ 18.0 million in Q3 2021 but significantly higher than the $ 2.4 million earned in Q4 2020. Inflationary pressures were felt acutely in the fourth quarter across all categories. The cost of labour continued to escalate in Q4 2021 relative to the comparative period as higher activity levels across the oilfield service sector tightened the supply of available field professionals. STEP is focused on creating an exceptional employee experience for our professionals, which meant sharing our strengthening margins through enhanced total rewards in the form of increased base and incentive pay, as well as reinstating various benefits and allowances. Management is very grateful for our professionals’ commitment to delivering an exceptional client experience, particularly with the added stresses of the Pandemic. STEP will continue to invest in these and other initiatives to remain an employer-of-choice.
The Company recorded a net loss of $ 6.2 million ( $ 0.08 basic loss per share) in the fourth quarter 2021, an improvement from the net loss of $ 17.0 million ( $ 0.25 basic loss per share) incurred in the same period last year but weaker than the net loss of $ 3.4 million ( $ 0.05 basic loss per share) in the third quarter of 2021. The Q4 2021 net loss includes $ 4.2 million in finance costs ( Q4 2020 - $ 3.3 million, Q3 2021 - $ 3.9 million) and $ 0.1 million in share-based compensation ( Q4 2020 - $ 1.6 million, Q3 2021 - $ 0.3 million). The net loss was smaller on a year over year basis due to stronger Company and industry activity levels, but larger sequentially due to higher depreciation and amortization expense. The Company managed its balance sheet cautiously, closing the quarter with a net debt position of $ 186.9 million ( December 31, 2020 - $ 208.7 million). Working capital was $ 3.9 million at December 31, 2021 ( December 31, 2020 - $ 42.9 million). The lower working capital balance was impacted by the inclusion of $ 28.0 million in current liabilities related to the scheduled debt repayments commencing in 2022 ( December 31, 2020 - $ nil), as well as the sequentially higher capital investment into our fleet to maintain our high standard of operational readiness. Total liquidity was $ 57.5 million at December 31, 2021 ( December 31, 2020 - $ 49.0 million). The Company remained in compliance with all financial and non-financial covenants under our Credit Facilities as at December 31, 2021.
INDUSTRY CONDITIONS AND OUTLOOK
INDUSTRY CONDITIONS
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has added a significant level of geopolitical risk to our outlook. STEP does not have operations that are directly affected by the conflict, but like many North American companies, we have many employees of Ukrainian descent. We feel for our employees and the citizens of Ukraine and will support our employees and the industry however we can.
The geopolitical tensions have added a risk premium to oil and gas prices, but even before this conflict erupted, prices were forecasted to stay elevated throughout 2022 and into 2023, supported by a recovery in the world’ s major economies. The strong price environment is expected to drive continued strong exploration and production ( “ E & P ”) company cash flows, which will support higher oilfield service activity levels.
Public commentary from larger E & P companies has been broadly consistent around the need for measured growth that shows capital discipline and returns capital to shareholders, something we expect will continue unless there is an explicit call to increase North American production following a move to ban Russian oil. We are seeing private and smaller public E & P companies taking advantage of the strong cash flows generated by the high commodity prices to increase their investment into drilling and completions activity. This investment was a significant factor in 2021, and we expect that it will continue in 2022.
There were already signs that the global crude oil market is tightening, with some forecasters calling for an undersupplied crude oil market in the second half of 2022 following a prolonged period of underinvestment. The U.S. Energy Information Administration ( “ EIA ”) reported in January that the inventory of drilled but uncompleted wells ( “ DUCs ”) in the U.S. has steadily dropped, declining from a peak of 8,853 in June 2020 to 4,616 in December 2021. DUCs are an indicator of E & P company sentiment around increased capital spending, and the steady drawdown of DUCs through the last several years was reflective of the increased capital discipline. E & P companies have kept their drilling costs low through that drawdown, but the DUCs are now reaching a critical point where reinvestment is required to keep their oil and gas production flat, and growth will require considerably more investment. Capital spending by E & P companies in Canada has been depressed for a longer period compared to the U.S., with spending largely kept in check by concerns over pipeline egress and market access since the crash in oil prices in 2015.
The underinvestment in North America is mirrored globally, contributing to the current environment where world crude oil inventories are under pressure after world consumption has outpaced world production since mid 2020. The EIA estimates that global oil inventories have fallen for six consecutive quarters, declining at an average rate of 2.1 million barrels per day ( “ bbl/d ”) in the second half of 2020 and by 1.4 million bbl/d in 2021. The scarcity of supply and the increase in demand as the world emerges from Pandemic induced lockdowns has created an environment that has contributed to the rise in price of the benchmark West Texas Intermediate ( “ WTI ”) and Brent oil prices from $ 38.31 and $ 40.27 respectively in June 2020 to $ 71.71 and $ 74.17 in December 2021 ( reported in U.S. dollars per barrel).
FULL YEAR OUTLOOK
Industry forecasts for 2022 are predicting a steady increase in activity across the oilfield service sector. Rig counts in 2022 are expected to track approximately 20% higher in Canada relative to 2021, and 25% or more in the U.S. relative to 2021. The increase in rig counts will drive demand for fracturing higher, pushing providers in Canada and the U.S. to the limits of their fleet capacity. The prolonged period of underinvestment by E & P companies required pressure pumping companies to cut costs and limited capital spending to the minimum required to keep their equipment operational. This limited investment will delay how quickly pressure pumping companies can return equipment to service, as much of the idled equipment will require significant investment. Energy research and business intelligence firm Rystad Energy estimates that approximately 4.2 million HP of the approximately 17.5 million total HP in the U.S. may not return to service given the cost of reactivation. The Canadian market has approximately 1.7 million HP and a similar proportion of that equipment is unlikely to be reactivated.
The tightness in equipment supply will be exacerbated by the difficulty in recruiting personnel to staff active equipment. The industry was forced to layoff thousands of qualified personnel, many of whom have found employment in competing industries and are unlikely to return given the volatility experienced in the oil and gas industry since 2015. STEP retained a highly trained core group of professionals through the downturn and has been able to distribute this experience through the company as we recruit lesser experienced professionals to join our company, but there is a limit to how many new recruits can be added safely and not compromise execution. STEP has already experienced higher third-party non-productive time in Q1 2022 on client well sites, underscoring the need for the industry to be measured in its recruitment so as not to compromise operational effectiveness.
As demand for fracturing services continues to recover, the market is moving to an undersupplied position in 2022, creating an environment where service providers will be able to capture pricing improvement beyond cost inflation. STEP has raised prices through Q4 2021 and into Q1 2022 for all clients, pushing to capture margin beyond inflation. STEP has remained disciplined and supportive of the need for higher pricing and is confident that as available capacity shrinks, all service providers will participate in raising prices and margins. STEP will continue to move pricing higher, targeting peak returns experienced in previous industry cycles.
FIRST AND SECOND QUARTER 2022 OUTLOOK
STEP is currently operating three large fracturing crews in the U.S. and four large fracturing crews in Canada. Through use of STEP’ s purpose built, electric powered integrated combination unit ( EPIC) that combines hydration, chemical storage, data van, and blender capabilities into one unit, one of the Canadian crews can be split into two smaller crews. These crews operate in the lower pressure regions in the WCSB that do not require as much pumping horsepower on location. STEP is also operating eight coil units in the U.S. and eight coil units in Canada.
The U.S. and Canadian operations have experienced strong levels of activity through the first quarter. Extreme cold in January resulted in some operational delays, but favourable conditions through February and into March have resulted in highly efficient operations. Inflation has continued to increase costs, but we have been successful in working with our clients to raise prices to offset this impact. It is clear from public commentary of our peers that supply has tightened and that pricing increases are occurring broadly across the sector, signalling that the oilfield service sector is positioned to deliver stronger margins going forward.
Our fracturing and coiled tubing crews are booked through the balance of the first quarter with strong utilization expected to continue into the second quarter. STEP’ s northern US and Canadian operations will be affected by the seasonal spring break up conditions, which restrict our ability to move equipment in order to protect roads from damage as the ground thaws. The strong activity forecast is expected to keep second quarter pricing in line with first quarter pricing in Canada, in contrast to the typical practice of pricing break up work lower. Our U.S. operations are expected to continue testing the market for higher pricing.
STEP anticipates releasing its inaugural Environmental, Social and Governance ( “ ESG ”) report in the second quarter. The themes of environmental protection, social engagement and governance accountability have deep roots in our Company, particularly as it relates to lowering emissions. STEP was an early adopter of dual fuel fracturing equipment that reduces the consumption of diesel and its associated emissions in favour of cleaner burning natural gas, and also operates 80,000 HP of Tier 4 equipment in the U.S. In total, 54% of STEP’ s equipment has a low emissions profile. STEP has designed purpose built integrated coiled tubing and fracturing equipment that includes electric driven technology to reduce emissions and equipment noise.
CAPITAL EXPENDITURES
Total capital expenditures in the year ended December 31, 2021 were $ 37.2 million, comprised of $ 33.7 million from the 2021 budget, with the balance carried forward from the 2020 capital budget. STEP will carry approximately $ 5.4 million forward into 2022, in addition to the 2022 capital program.
STEP’ s Board of Directors has approved a 2022 capital program of $ 47.6 million based on expected work activity, in addition to the carry forward amounts from 2021. The approved capital program is comprised of $ 40.2 million in maintenance capital and $ 7.4 million in optimization capital. The program is roughly split 60/40 between Canada and the U.S.
STEP will continue to evaluate and manage its manned equipment fleet and capital program based on market demand for STEP’ s services.
CANADIAN OPERATIONS REVIEW
STEP has a fleet of 16 coiled tubing units in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin ( “ WCSB ”). The Company’ s coiled tubing units are designed to service the deepest wells in the WCSB. STEP’ s fracturing business primarily focuses on the deeper, more technically challenging plays in Alberta and northeast British Columbia. STEP has 282,500 fracturing HP of which approximately 132,500 HP has dual-fuel capability. The Company deploys or idles coiled tubing units or fracturing HP as dictated by the market’ s ability to support targeted utilization and economic returns.
( 1) Adjusted EBITDA is a non-IFRS financial measure and Adjusted EBITDA% and Revenue per operating day are non-IFRS financial ratios. They are not defined and have no standardized meaning under IFRS. See Non-IFRS Measures and Ratios. ( 2) An operating day is defined as any coiled tubing or fracturing work that is performed in a 24-hour period, exclusive of support equipment. ( 3) Active horsepower denotes units active on client work sites. An additional 15-20% of this amount is required to accommodate equipment maintenance cycles
FULL YEAR 2021 COMPARED TO FULL YEAR 2020
For the year ended December 31, 2021, Canadian operations had revenue of $ 357.5 million compared to $ 208.5 million in 2020. The 71% increase was a result of increased utilization and pricing for both fracturing and coiled tubing services as a result of the improved macro-economic environment and oilfield activity levels, relative to the difficult conditions throughout much of 2020.
Operating expenses scaled with increased activity levels with product and hauling costs increasing with the increase in STEP supplied proppant work. Personnel related costs increased as a result of the additional professionals that were hired to operate the equipment that was activated through the year, along with increases to base and incentive pay and the reinstatement of various benefits and allowances that were eliminated during the Pandemic to reduce costs. Inflationary pressures became more acute towards the end of the year, with supply chain disruptions, commodity price appreciation, and increased industry activity resulting in costs escalating across all expense categories. The Company received $ 6.7 million in CEWS for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $ 10.7 million in 2020, which was recorded as a reduction to wage expenses.
Canadian operations generated Adjusted EBITDA of $ 68.1 million ( 19% of revenue) for fiscal 2021 compared to $ 44.6 million ( 21% of revenue) in 2020. The $ 23.5 million increase was primarily the result of increased revenue from improved activity and modestly higher pricing for both fracturing and coiled tubing services.
Fracturing
STEP operated four fracturing spreads with 200,000 HP throughout 2021, compared to three spreads and 150,000 HP operated throughout most of 2020. Canadian fracturing revenue of $ 277.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 increased by 92% from $ 144.6 million for the year ended 2020. The increase was attributed to a 39% increase in operating days as a result of increased drilling activity combined with a 38% increase in revenue per day as a result of increased proppant sales and pricing improvements. Utilization increased as the service line completed 977 operating days, compared to 704 operating days in 2020, with notable contributions coming during the second and fourth quarters which have historically had lower revenues.
Coiled Tubing
Canadian coiled tubing revenue of $ 80.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 increased 26% from $ 63.9 million for the year ended 2020. The service line operated seven units for 1,569 operating days in 2021 compared to five units and 1,373 operating days in 2020. The increase in utilization followed increases in drilling and completions activity but pricing gains were limited due to the persistently competitive pricing environment in the WCSB.
FOURTH QUARTER 2021 COMPARED TO THIRD QUARTER 2021
Revenue for the three months ended December 31, 2021 of $ 91.5 million increased 10% from $ 83.5 million from the quarter ended September 30, 2021 due to an overall increase in utilization. The fourth quarter is typically lower on a sequential basis for STEP, but strong commodity pricing in the fourth quarter of 2021 and E & P concern around available capacity and higher service company pricing in 2022 drove strong drilling and completions activity.
Fracturing experienced a 14% increase in operating days which was partly offset by an 8% reduction in revenue per day as the job mix shifted towards more annular fracturing, resulting in decreased proppant pumped. Annular fracturing is typically done on single wells, which has lower efficiency relative to multi well pads. December efficiency and revenue per day was also impacted by significant delays on a client location due to challenging well conditions, causing some work slated for Q4 2021 to be moved into Q1 2022. Coiled tubing had 448 operating days in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to 356 in the third quarter of 2021 while revenue per day remained consistent.
Canadian operations had Adjusted EBITDA of $ 13.6 million ( 15% of revenue) in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to $ 17.3 million ( 21% of revenue) in the third quarter of 2021. The reduction in operational efficiency was a factor in the lower Adjusted EBITDA, as were sequentially higher personnel and repair costs, as the Company prepared for anticipated high activity through the first quarter of 2022.
FOURTH QUARTER 2021 COMPARED TO FOURTH QUARTER 2020
Revenue for the three months ended December 31, 2021 was $ 91.5 million compared to $ 41.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2020. Revenue increased due to a substantial increase in utilization for both service lines from an industry wide increase in activity and increases in service company pricing as a result of the strong commodity price environment. Operating days across the four fracturing crews increased to 279 in fourth quarter of 2021 from 138 days across three crews during fourth quarter of 2020. Revenue per day increased by 20% primarily due an increase in pricing and proppant supplied by STEP. Coiled tubing operating days increased to 448 in fourth quarter of 2021 from 275 during fourth quarter of 2020 while revenue per day increased by 10%.
Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2021 was $ 13.6 million ( 15% of revenue) versus $ 5.5 million ( 14% of revenue) in the fourth quarter of 2020. Operating expenses were higher as a result of inflationary pressures. The increase in revenue outpaced the increased costs, resulting in higher year over year Adjusted EBITDA.
UNITED STATES OPERATIONS REVIEW
STEP’ s U.S. business commenced operations in 2015 with coiled tubing services. STEP has a fleet of 13 coiled tubing units in the Permian and Eagle Ford basins in Texas, the Bakken shale in North Dakota, and the Uinta-Piceance and Niobrara-DJ basins in Colorado. STEP entered the U.S. fracturing business in April 2018 and has 207,500 fracturing HP, of which approximately 50,000 HP has dual-fuel capabilities. Fracturing primarily operates in the Permian and Eagle Ford basins in Texas. Management continues to adjust capacity and regional deployment to optimize utilization, efficiency and returns.
( 1) Adjusted EBITDA is a non-IFRS financial measure and Adjusted EBITDA% and Revenue per operating day are non-IFRS financial ratios. They are not defined and have no standardized meaning under IFRS. See Non-IFRS Measures and Ratios. ( 2) An operating day is defined as any coiled tubing and fracturing work that is performed in a 24-hour period, exclusive of support equipment. ( 3) Active horsepower denotes units active on client work sites. An additional 15-20% of this amount is required to accommodate equipment maintenance cycles
FULL YEAR 2021 COMPARED TO FULL YEAR 2020
For the year ended December 31, 2021, U.S. operations had revenue of $ 178.8 million, an 11% increase compared to $ 160.5 million in 2020. The continuing recovery from the Pandemic was supported by a strong commodity price environment contributing to increased drilling activity driving increased utilization and pricing for both fracturing and coiled tubing services.
Operating expenses scaled with increased activity levels with product and hauling costs decreasing with the reduction in STEP supplied proppant work. Personnel related costs increased as a result of the additional professionals that were hired to operate the equipment that was activated through the year, along with increases to base and incentive pay and the reinstatement of various benefits and allowances that were eliminated during the Pandemic to reduce costs. Inflationary pressures became more acute towards the end of the year, with supply chain disruptions, commodity price appreciation, and increased industry activity resulting in costs escalating across all expense categories.
U.S. operations generated Adjusted EBITDA of $ 10.2 million ( 6% of revenue) for fiscal 2021 compared to a loss of $ 0.6 million ( negative 1% of revenue) in 2020. The improvement in revenue was combined with strong cost control and optimized field operations to return the segment to positive margins. Operations were able to achieve modest pricing improvements through a highly competitive period combined with constructive increases to utilization.
Fracturing
U.S. fracturing revenue of $ 109.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 decreased slightly from $ 111.0 million for the year ended 2020. The Company activated a third fracturing fleet midway through the third quarter, providing better scale and supporting an increase in utilization to 704 operating days in 2021 from 425 in the prior year. STEP was able to achieve modest pricing increases through the year to address the escalating cost profile, although revenue per day decreased as a shift in the client mix resulted in a reduction of STEP supplied proppant work.
Coiled Tubing
U.S. coiled tubing revenue of $ 69.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 increased 39% from $ 49.5 million for the year ended 2020. The service line experienced significant improvement in utilization as the increase in drilling and completions activity led to a higher demand for coiled tubing work. The service line had 1,738 operating days from seven units in 2021, compared 1,210 operating days from seven units in 2020. The service line pursued pricing improvements but had limited success due to an over-supply of equipment, which created a competitive pricing market.
FOURTH QUARTER 2021 COMPARED TO THIRD QUARTER 2021
Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2021 increased $ 17.6 million to $ 67.3 million from $ 49.7 million in the third quarter of 2021 due to increased utilization combined with modest increases in rates. Fracturing operations had 229 operating days with increased revenue per day of $ 196 thousand, up from 195 operating days at $ 151 thousand per day in the third quarter of 2021 as a full quarter of activity with three spreads increased utilization and change in client mix resulted in increased STEP supplied proppant work. Coiled tubing operations also experienced modest increases in utilization and rates recording 507 operating days at $ 44 thousand per day in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to 494 operating days at $ 41 thousand per day.
Adjusted EBITDA of $ 8.0 million ( 12% of revenue) for the fourth quarter of 2021 was a record for STEP’ s U.S. business and demonstrates the potential of this business. The increase from Adjusted EBITDA of $ 4.2 million ( 8% of revenue) in the third quarter of 2021 was driven by increased utilization and improved pricing. The cost profile remained largely consistent, as a percent of revenue, on a sequential basis resulting in improved margins in the fourth quarter.
FOURTH QUARTER 2021 COMPARED TO FOURTH QUARTER 2020
Revenue for the three months ended December 31, 2021 was $ 67.3 million compared to $ 30.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2020. The improved economics for E & P companies from higher commodity prices spurred an increase in drilling and completions activity allowing the Company to increase active equipment and improve prices. We operated one additional fracturing spread in the fourth quarter of 2021 recording 229 operating days compared to 123 operating days in the fourth quarter of 2020. Coiled tubing operations were also able to add two units achieving total utilization of 507 operating days in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to 292 in fourth quarter of 2020.
U.S. operations generated Adjusted EBITDA of $ 8.0 million for fourth quarter 2021 ( 12% of revenue) compared to a loss of $ 1.4 million ( negative 5% of revenue) in the fourth quarter of 2020. The improvements in margins were primarily due to increased revenue combined with a proportionately lower fixed cost structure despite the impacts of inflation on chemicals, proppant, spare parts, and wage increases.
CORPORATE REVIEW
The Company’ s corporate activities are separated from Canadian and U.S. operations. Corporate operating expenses include expenses related to asset reliability and optimization teams, general and administrative costs including costs associated with the executive team, the Board of Directors, public company costs, and other activities that benefit Canadian and U.S. operating segments collectively.
( 1) Adjusted EBITDA is a non-IFRS financial measure and Adjusted EBITDA% is a non-IFRS financial ratio. They are not defined and have no standardized meaning under IFRS. See Non-IFRS Measures and Ratios.
FULL YEAR 2021 COMPARED TO FULL YEAR 2020
Expenses from corporate activities were $ 20.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, an increase of 24% from $ 16.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. Payroll costs increased as the Company increased total rewards to retain and attract talented professionals while CEWS benefits reduced from $ 1.0 million in 2020 to $ 0.1 million in 2021. Share-based compensation increased as STEP’ s improved results and overall economic recovery resulted in a higher share price throughout the year. Severance of $ 0.5 million was incurred for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to $ 0.7 million in 2020. STEP recorded a recovery of $ 0.6 million to bad debt expense during 2021 ( 2020 – expense of $ 3.5 million) due to a reduction in credit risk as the global economic recovery from the impacts of the Pandemic continued. During 2021, STEP also recorded $ 1.6 million of incremental costs related to legal expenses and the settlement of a litigation matter.
FOURTH QUARTER 2021 COMPARED TO THIRD QUARTER 2021
Expenses from corporate activities increased 18% to $ 4.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2021 from $ 3.8 million in the third quarter of 2021. The third quarter of 2021 included a $ 0.6 million recovery to bad debt expense due to a reduction in credit risk as the global economic recovery from the impacts of the Pandemic continued.
FOURTH QUARTER 2021 COMPARED TO FOURTH QUARTER 2020
For the three months ended December 31, 2021 expenses from corporate activities were $ 4.5 million compared to $ 3.0 million for the same period in 2020. Payroll costs increased as the Company increased total rewards to retain and attract talented professionals in an increasingly competitive labour market. Other factors impacting payroll were an elimination of CEWS benefits in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to $ 0.3 million in the same period in 2020 and severance costs of $ 0.5 million in fourth quarter of 2021 compared to no amounts incurred in the fourth quarter of 2020. Share based compensation was significantly higher in the fourth quarter of 2020 as the share price increased 42% from September 30, 2020 to December 31, 2020 resulting in increased expenses as a result of marking the cash settled instruments to market.
NON-IFRS MEASURES AND RATIOS
This press release includes terms and performance measures commonly used in the oilfield services industry that are not defined under IFRS. The terms presented are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. These non-IFRS measures have no standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. The non-IFRS measure should be read in conjunction with the Company’ s audited and unaudited Financial Statements and the accompanying notes thereto.
“ Adjusted EBITDA ” is a financial measure not presented in accordance with IFRS and is equal to net ( loss) income before finance costs, depreciation and amortization, ( gain) loss on disposal of property and equipment, current and deferred income tax provisions and recoveries, share-based compensation, transaction costs, foreign exchange forward contract ( gain) loss, foreign exchange ( gain) loss, and impairment losses. “ Adjusted EBITDA% ” is a non-IFRS ratio and is calculated as Adjusted EBITDA divided by revenue. Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA% are presented because they are widely used by the investment community as they provide an indication of the results generated by the Company’ s normal course business activities prior to considering how the activities are financed and the results are taxed. The Company uses Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA% internally to evaluate operating and segment performance, because management believes they provide better comparability between periods. The following table presents a reconciliation of the non-IFRS financial measure of Adjusted EBITDA to the IFRS financial measure of net ( loss) income.
“ Revenue per operating day ” is a financial ratio not presented in accordance with IFRS and is used as a reference to represent market pricing for our services. It is calculated based on total revenue divided by total operating days. An operating day is defined as any coiled tubing and fracturing work that is performed in a 24-hour period, exclusive of support equipment. This calculation may fluctuate based on both pricing and sales mix. See the tables under “ Canadian Operations Review ” and “ United States Operations Review ” for the inputs used to calculate STEP’ s revenue per operating day metrics.
“ Working capital ”, “ Total long-term financial liabilities ” and “ Net debt ” are financial measures not presented in accordance with IFRS. “ Working capital ” is equal to total current assets less total current liabilities. “ Total long-term financial liabilities ” is comprised of loans and borrowings, long-term lease obligations and other liabilities. “ Net debt ” is equal to loans and borrowings before deferred financing charges less cash and cash equivalents. The data presented is intended to provide additional information about items on the statement of financial position and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures prepared in accordance with IFRS.
The following table represents the composition of the non-IFRS financial measure of Working capital ( including cash and cash equivalents).
The following table presents the composition of the non-IFRS financial measure of Net debt.
FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION & STATEMENTS
Certain statements contained in this press release constitute “ forward-looking statements ” or “ forward-looking information ” within t he meaning of applicable securities laws ( collectively, “ forward-looking statements ”). These statements relate to the expectations of management about future events, results of operations and the Company’ s future performance ( both operational and financial) and business prospects. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. The use of any of the words “ anticipate ”, “ plan ”, “ contemplate ”, “ continue ”, “ estimate ”, “ expect ”, “ intend ”, “ propose ”, “ might ”, “ may ”, “ will ”, “ shall ”, “ project ”, “ should ”, “ could ”, “ would ”, “ believe ”, “ predict ”, “ forecast ”, “ pursue ”, “ potential ”, “ objective ” and “ capable ” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. While the Company believes the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements included in this press release are reasonable, such statements are not guarantees of future performance or outcomes and may prove to be incorrect and should not be unduly relied upon.
In particular, but without limitation, this press release contains forward-looking statements pertaining to: 2022 industry conditions and outlook, including the price of crude oil, potential increased activity and the impact thereof on the Company’ s equipment reactivation plans, performance, revenue and cash flows; a strengthening commodity price outlook; the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its effect on commodity prices and the global economy; E & P company needs for measured growth, capital discipline, and capital return to shareholders; the effect of high commodity prices on smaller public E & P company activity; stronger pricing discipline in the Company’ s market sector; the Company’ s bookings for fracturing and coiled tubing crews; the ability of the Company to maintain or increase pricing; the release of the Company’ s ESG report; the effect of rising rig counts on service sector activity levels; the effect of prior industry investment levels on the ability to return equipment to service, and the quantity of equipment able to return to service; the Company’ s anticipated business strategies and expected success; the ability of the Company to recruit additional personnel; the effect of new personnel on non-productive time; the Pandemic and related public health measures and their impact on energy demand and the Company’ s financial position and business plans; adequacy of resources to funds operations, financial obligations and planned capital expenditures in 2022; the Company’ s 2022 capital budget and management’ s continued evaluation thereof; the monitoring of industry demand, client credit risk, including the Company’ s ability to monitor payment patterns; the Company’ s expected compliance with covenants under its Credit Facilities; and the Company’ s ability to meet all financial commitments including interest payments over the next twelve months.
The forward-looking information and statements contained in this press release reflect several material factors and expectations and assumptions of the Company including, without limitation: the effect of recent military conflict in the Ukraine and related Canadian, U.S. and international sanctions involving Russia on the market for the Company’ s services; OPEC or OPEC+ related market uncertainty on the market for the Company’ s services; that the Company will continue to conduct its operations in a manner consistent with past operations; the Company will continue as a going concern; the general continuance of current or, where applicable, assumed industry conditions; pricing of the Company’ s services; the Company’ s ability to market successfully to current and new clients; predictable effect of seasonal weather on the Company’ s operations; the Company’ s ability to utilize its equipment; the Company’ s ability to collect on trade and other receivables; the Company’ s ability to obtain and retain qualified staff and equipment in a timely and cost effective manner; levels of deployable equipment; future capital expenditures to be made by the Company; future funding sources for the Company’ s capital program; the Company’ s future debt levels; the availability of unused credit capacity on the Company’ s credit lines; the impact of competition on the Company; the Company’ s ability to obtain financing on acceptable terms; the Company’ s continued compliance with financial covenants; the amount of available equipment in the marketplace; and client activity levels and spending. The Company believes the material factors, expectations and assumptions reflected in the forward-looking information and statements are reasonable but no assurance can be given that these factors, expectations and assumptions will prove correct.
Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements due to the risk factors set forth under the heading “ Risk Factors ” in the AIF and under the heading “ Risk Factors and Risk Management ” in the MD & A, both of which are available on SEDAR ( www.sedar.com) and are incorporated by reference herein.
Any financial outlook or future orientated financial information contained in this press release regarding prospective financial performance, financial position or cash flows is based on the assumptions about future events, including economic conditions and proposed courses of action based on management’ s assessment of the relevant information that is currently available. Projected operational information, including the Company’ s capital program, contains forward looking information and is based on a number of material assumptions and factors, as are set out above. These projections may also be considered to contain future oriented financial information or a financial outlook. The actual results of the Company’ s operations will likely vary from the amounts set forth in these projections and such variations may be material. Readers are cautioned that any such financial outlook and future oriented financial information contains herein should not be used for purposes other than those for which it is disclosed herein.
The forward-looking information and statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date of the document, and none of the Company or its subsidiaries assumes any obligation to publicly update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required pursuant to applicable laws. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. | business |
Shipping sails into a vortex of suspicion and uncertainty | Whatever peace talks between Russia and Ukraine achieve in coming days, tectonic shifts in how maritime must now operate have already taken place
Three weeks into the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the deckchairs of geopolitics and world trade continue to shift.
It is still possible that a ceasefire will be announced but even so the tectonic plates have shifted in a long-term way.
Moscow under Vladimir Putin will be viewed with utmost suspicion for as long as he is around and Europe will not sleep easy.
Suspicion and uncertainty will rule, around which the maritime industries will be forced to operate on an ad hoc basis.
Crude prices have plunged in recent days from a 14-year high of $ 140 to $ 100 per barrel but nothing is solid.
This means very high bunker prices continue for shipowners on top of greater uncertainty over where to load crude, oil products and other dry bulk cargoes.
A two-tier market has opened up around suezmaxes, for instance, with a premium for those willing to accept Russian cargoes.
Meanwhile, Paris-based shipbroker BRS reports a wider freight rate slump for this class of vessel due to overcapacity.
VLCC activity in the key Middle East market continues to be slow as high crude prices deter buyers — even after the International Energy Agency promised 60m barrels of strategic reserves.
The Ukraine crisis has been playing more positively for capesize bulkers as European markets switch coal supplies from Russia to Asia. The capesize 5TC index saw spot averages rise 64% last week.
So far Opec has refused all requests to increase its voluntarily imposed production targets and pump more oil.
There were signals from the United Arab Emirates — a country with acknowledged spare capacity — that it wanted to see a future change in quotas.
Washington’ s attempts to secure alternative supplies from the previously reviled Nicolas Maduro’ s regime in Venezuela have so far hit the rocks.
Republican hawk and Florida senator Marco Rubio accused US President Joe Biden of trying to replace “ the oil we buy from one murderous dictator [ Putin ] with oil from another murderous dictator [ Maduro ] ”.
Even if sanctions were lifted by the US on Venezuela, New York-based shipbroker Poten & Partners says it would take years to open up the lucrative long-haul trades to India and China.
The US would have sewn up a nuclear deal with another sanctioned enemy, Iran, last week had it not been for a last-minute demand that it should be able to export to Russia.
An agreement, which would unleash millions of new barrels of oil back into the world market, still looks likely.
In the meantime, energy shortages and potential economic trouble lies ahead.
As further Western sanctions were unveiled in recent days, including a European Union asset freeze on Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich, there were warnings that Moscow is about to default on foreign-currency debt for the first time since the Russian Revolution.
This is quite a turnaround for a country with massive commodity wealth. And the negative impact of sanctions on Russia and the physical destruction of Ukraine will spread, according to Cambridge economist Mohamed El-Erian.
A two-tier market has opened up around the suezmax market, for instance, with a premium for those willing to accept Russian cargoes
“ In addition to the tragic forced migration of millions of Ukrainians, there are consequences for the global economy and markets, both immediately and in the longer term, ” he told the Financial Times, warning that US inflation could top 10%.
Those fears come just as China warns of serious new Covid outbreaks that could lead to lockdowns, which has already rocked its local stock markets.
Among all this, major Western oil companies are trying to keep their heads down and avoid having anything to do with Russian oil.
But while some shipowners such as Viken Shipping in Norway have called on its charterers not to touch Russian crude, the big traders seem happy to cash in.
Vitol and Trafigura have both been reported by my colleague Lucy Hine to be putting forward tonnage to carry Urals oil to China.
Everything seems in flux. Who would expect a car company such as Volkswagen to say it may have to start switching production away from its home in Germany to the US to improve supply lines?
Or even more improbable as little as a month ago would anyone believe the EU would announce plans for military rearmament?
Shipping will have to run to keep up with this vortex of change. | general |
China says it will support Chinese IPOs abroad, calls for closure on tech crackdown | BEIJING — China signaled support for Chinese stocks on Wednesday, after days of worries about U.S. delisting risks sent the stocks plunging in New York and Hong Kong.
Chinese and U.S. regulators are progressing toward a cooperation plan on U.S.-listed Chinese stocks, state media said, citing a financial stability meeting Wednesday chaired by Vice Premier Liu He.
Liu also heads the central government's finance committee and is a member of the Chinese Communist Party's central committee politburo — the country's second-highest circle of power.
`` The Chinese government continues to support various kinds of businesses ' overseas listings, '' the state media report said in Chinese, translated by CNBC. The article said regulators should `` complete as soon as possible '' the crackdown on internet platform companies.
The report of Wednesday's meeting also said authorities would work towards stability in Hong Kong's financial market as well as the struggling real estate sector.
Xpeng and more: Morgan Stanley says these stocks will benefit from rising oil prices
Morgan Stanley upgrades Chinese TikTok rival and predicts over 60% in share price gains
Global investor Mark Mobius expects Chinese stocks to rebound, aided by Russia invading Ukraine
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index extended earlier gains, surging 9% Wednesday afternoon, rebounding from its lowest close in six years. Chinese tech giants Alibaba and Tencent soared more than 20%, while other major Chinese tech stocks jumped.
`` China's top leaders finally broke the silence to respond to the recent market selloff, '' Larry Hu, chief China economist at Macquarie, said in a report. `` The tone of the meeting is strong, suggesting that policymakers are deeply concerned about the recent market rout. ''
Worries about forced Chinese stock delistings from U.S. exchanges had added to investors ' concerns about economic growth following a resurgence of Covid-19 and the Ukraine war. On Monday, JPMorgan China Internet analysts Alex Yao and a team said they considered the sector `` uninvestable '' for the next six to 12 months, and downgraded 28 of the stocks they cover.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said last week that U.S.-listed securities for five Chinese companies are at risk of delisting.
It was the first time the regulator had named specific stocks for failing to adhere to the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act. Passed in 2020, the act would allow the SEC to delist Chinese companies from U.S. exchanges if American regulators can not review company audits for three consecutive years.
Beijing's concerns about information security have generally prevented Chinese companies from allowing such audits.
Early on Friday, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said in a statement that, along with the Ministry of Finance, it has made progress in communication with the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.
`` We believe that through joint effort both sides will, as soon as possible, be able to make arrangements for cooperation in line with the two countries ' legal and regulatory requirements, '' the Chinese securities regulator's statement said, according to a CNBC translation.
The PCAOB did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside office hours.
In the last two years, the Chinese government has cracked down on large technology companies over alleged monopolistic practices, and real estate developers ' high reliance on debt. Investors began to worry specifically about U.S.-listed Chinese stocks after Beijing clamped down on Didi just days after its New York listing in late June.
Economists said in February the worst of China's regulatory crackdown is over as Beijing shifts its focus to supporting economic growth.
In late January, the China Securities Regulatory Commission's director-general of the international affairs department, Shen Bing, told CNBC in an exclusive interview the commission hoped its forthcoming updated rules would help Chinese companies resume their overseas listings. | business |
AIR Education Finance Experts to Present at the Annual | Arlington, Va., March 16, 2022 ( GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- American Institutes for Research ( AIR) education finance experts will present on a variety of topics at the 77th annual Association for Education Finance and Policy ( AEFP) conference, March 17-19 at the Hilton Denver City Center in Denver, Co. A virtual convening is offered to all conference registrants April 11-12.
This year’ s conference theme is “ Assessing the Responses of Education Finance and Policy to the Dual Pandemic of COVID-19 and Racial Injustice, ” and is designed to facilitate collaborations and connections between researchers, policymakers and practitioners. The mission of AEFP is dedicated to the promotion of research and partnerships that can inform education policy and finance and improve education outcomes.
Attendees will present, discuss and evaluate the latest research on education finance from pre-K to postsecondary education. Several AIR sessions will include experts from AIR’ s Economic Evaluation of Policies and Programs ( EEPP) Methods Hub.
The EEPP Methods Hub promotes and conducts rigorous economic evaluations for projects led by AIR and its external partners. It also focuses on raising the standards of economic evaluation to provide policymakers and practitioners with the essential information they need to make informed investment decisions. Learn more about the EEPP Methods Hub.
Select AEFP presentations from AIR staff are highlighted below. A full list of presentations may be found on the conference website. All times are in MDT.
3.04 - Teacher CompensationPreservice Predictors of Teacher Candidates’ Employment and Earnings Inside and Outside of Public SchoolsAIR Presenters/Authors: Dan Goldhaber and Roddy Theobald
4.11 - Student Success in Higher EducationHow Federal Benefits, Grants, and Loans Affect Bachelor's Degree Seekers Declaring a STEM Major: A Closer Look at Nontraditional StudentsAIR Presenter/Author: Yuting Li and Pierina Hernandez Luperdi
5.01 - Differences in Teacher Impacts by Student SubgroupsTeaching Effectiveness and the Educational Experiences of Students of Color: Evidence from MassachusettsAIR Authors/Presenters: James Cowan, Ben Backes, Dan Goldhaber and Roddy Theobald
Poster Session 2Examining Heterogeneity in English Learner Program Effects with Meta-AnalysisAIR Presenters/Authors: Ryan Williams, Rachel Garrett, Joshua R. Polanin, Qi Zhang, Lisa Hsin, Crystal Aguilera, Emma Cohen, Dong Hoon Lee, Caitlyn Majeika and Agnesa Sejdijaj
7.08 - Targeting Resources to Students: Approaches and MeasurementAIR Organizer: Jesse Levin
10.07 - The Use ( fulness) and Application of Student Test DataWhat is the Impact of Test Accommodations on Student Outcomes? Evidence from NAEP Process DataAIR Presenters/Authors: Burhan Ogut, Darrick Yee, Juanita Hicks and Ruhan Circi
Virtual 2.01 - Providing Resources for Learning During the COVID-19 PandemicExperiences and Social-Emotional Well-being of Dual Language Learners and Their Families During the COVID-19 PandemicAIR Presenters/Authors: Deborah Holtzman, Karen Manship, Heather Quick and Alison Hauser
Established in 1946, the American Institutes for Research ( AIR) is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization that conducts behavioral and social science research and delivers technical assistance both domestically and internationally in the areas of education, health and the workforce. AIR's work is driven by its mission to generate and use rigorous evidence that contributes to a better, more equitable world. With headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, AIR has offices across the U.S. and abroad. For more information, visit www.air.org. | general |
Last COVID Santa Barbara County Hearing Ever? - The Santa Barbara Independent | Cases Are Down and Masks Are Coming Off, but County Health Remains Vigilant
As the COVID pandemic fades in Santa Barbara’ s rearview mirror, masks are coming off, cruise ships are arriving, and tour buses have begun prowling around the Old Mission. At Tuesday’ s Board of Supervisors meeting the atmosphere alternated between a sense of thankfulness that the end was near, and gratitude for the years of grinding work by the medical profession and the Public Health officials who gave what might be the last presentation on the county’ s COVID 19 disease statistics.
Things have indeed gotten better, said Public Health Director Van Do-Reynoso, recalling that March 15 is exactly two years ago to the day that Santa Barbara reported its first case. “ I remember because it’ s my niece’ s birthday. I had texted her my congratulations, and the next text I got said, ‘ Oh, Van, we have our first confirmed case. ' ”
Supervisor Bob Nelson recalled how his daughter was happily expecting an extended 2020 spring break. “ We were thinking this would last a few days ” Supervisor Gregg Hart had asked for his former mother-in-law’ s take on the pandemic. “ She’ s more than 90 years old and has been through a lot of things: the Depression, World War Two, recessions, world strife, ” said Hart. “ She said this was the hardest thing that ever happened ” because of the isolation she endured this time around.
Do-Reynoso ran down the numbers that the COVID peaks had climbed to after the various summer and winter holidays, the purple tier that gradually eased to orange, and the hospital critical care units with dwindling COVID patient numbers.
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Santa Barbara County finally reached what would have been the yellow tier — which required a case rate of seven. Today the case rate is 4.1 per 100,000 residents, a tumble of 69 percent in the past two weeks. Those colored tiers were dropped in June 2021 when the state reopened, but then the Delta surge hit and the state placed restrictions again.
The life-saving vaccinations became available in December 2020, reaching a county high on March 31, 2021, when 8,491 people lined up for shots in one day. Among eligible county residents, 72 percent are fully vaccinated, and 79.9 percent have had at least one shot. Nearly 85,000 people have been ill with the disease since March 2020.
The vaccines were unable to save all lives, however. Do-Reynoso also reported that two people had died yesterday, both age 70 or more, one with underlying health conditions and one in a congregate care facility. Altogether, COVID had claimed 665 lives, including one today of a 30- to 49-year-old individual in Santa Maria who had comorbidities.
Do-Reynoso’ s department wasn’ t relaxing its vigilance, she said, but looking back on the “ twists and turns ” of the past two years, she has every expectation that SARS-CoV-2 will change and evolve. Adaptation and surveillance would be Public Health’ s focus, she said, as well as adding testing sites in Carpinteria and maintaining the ones in Lompoc, Santa Barbara, and Santa Maria with the state support that continues through June 30.
Masks continue to be required on public transportation by federal law; in jails and prisons, health-care settings, and long-term care facilities by state law; and County Public Health strongly recommends keeping them on indoors and in schools and childcare facilities. Rates had dropped so low at Santa Barbara schools — four out of 1,300 students and two of 154 teachers positive the first week of March — that masks are now optional. The schools will continue to test 10 percent of their populations weekly, as vaccination rates among children are relatively low, less than 50 percent for ages 5-11, and less than 70 percent for ages 12-15.
And, as Supervisor Das Williams pointed out, “ We should celebrate this moment in society, but we shouldn’ t conclude things are over. ” In China, where this all began mid-winter 2019, millions of people in five cities are in a massive Omicron lockdown because of China’ s zero-COVID policy. The variant circulating is largely the original Omicron mutation, though the BA.2 Omicron offshoot is gaining ground. BA.2 is roughly a third again as contagious as Omicron, and in Santa Barbara County, four cases have been sequenced.
Supervisor Joan Hartmann brought the hearing to a close by thanking all county staff for keeping the county’ s ship of state afloat during the emergency. “ We sure have been through a lot together, ” she said. “ Now, it’ s time to take a deep breath, because we’ ve got more work ahead. ”
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Ukraine war, chip shortage expected to trim global production by more than 5 million vehicles | A closely watched auto-industry forecaster lopped more than 5 million cars off its projections for global production this year and next, largely due to fallout expected from Russia’ s invasion of Ukraine.
S & P Global Mobility, formerly known as IHS Markit, lowered its 2022 and 2023 estimates each by 2.6 million vehicles. The forecaster now expects auto companies to make 81.6 million cars worldwide this year and 88.5 million next year.
“ The downside risk is enormous, ” Mark Fulthorpe, S & P Global Mobility’ s executive director for global production forecasting, said in a statement Wednesday. In the firm’ s worst-case scenario, production would be as much as 4 million vehicles below its earlier projections for each year.
S & P Global Mobility cites the effect that Russia’ s war is having on the prices of energy and raw materials, expectation for the semiconductor shortage to worsen and disruptions to the flow of wire harnesses from Ukraine. Suppliers may have issues sourcing neon gas used for chip-making from Ukraine, as well as palladium from Russia. The platinum group metal is a base element of catalytic converters, which turn engine exhaust into less-toxic emissions.
China’ s outbreak of Covid-19 cases is also leading to plant closures in manufacturing hubs including Shenzhen and Changchun. Toyota Motor Corp., Volkswagen Group and Tesla Inc. are among the companies that have idled factories this week. | general |
Proximar’ s Japanese project enters final stage | For all the latest industry news, markets and jobs in aquaculture
The land-based salmon farm being built by Proximar Seafood near Japan’ s Mount Fuji has taken a major step towards completion, following the signing of a contract with Japanese engineering company Techno Ryowa.
Techno Ryowa will be providing equipment and installation related to heating, ventilation, and air conditioning.
Proximar says the agreement is the final fixed price contract for the project involving capex ( capital expenditure) and is in line with budgeted costs. More than 95% of the estimated capex for the project is now covered by fixed-price contracts.
The RAS ( recirculating aquaculture system) farm is being built at the foot of Mount Fuji to serve the Japanese domestic market.
Proximar CEO Joachim Nielsen said: “ We have now executed and signed all important contracts for the construction and installation of our state-of-the-art land-based facility in Japan and are on track to deliver on time and cost.
“ We are pleased to see our many years of preparations and patience are paying off well ”.
The company said that construction is moving ahead as planned in Oyama town, near Mount Fuji.
Production is planned to start towards the end of this summer when the first eggs will be brought into the hatchery.
Nielsen added: “ The high degree of fixed costs and low impact of the pandemic puts us in a unique position to follow our business plan and finish the project on time and within budget. With a high degree of fixed costs, our estimate of capex around NOK 193/kg ( £16.53/kg), including land, is maintained, and we are therefore well-positioned in terms of our business plan. ”
Proximar said that despite the impact of Covid control measures in Japan, construction progress has been unaffected.
Japan is currently opening its strict travel restrictions, enabling Proximar to finally bring in more on-site management.
Proximar said it is also now staffing operational positions, with people with experience in RAS farming Atlantic salmon.
The company pointed out, however, that the increase of material costs during the last year has not had any substantial impact on Proximar’ s construction costs following the high level of fixed price contracts. | general |
Global Sports & Fitness Clothing Market Set to Reach $ 221.3 | Dublin, March 16, 2022 ( GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The `` Sports & Fitness Clothing - Global Market Trajectory & Analytics '' report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. Global Sports & Fitness Clothing Market to Reach $ 221.3 Billion by 2026
Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Sports & Fitness Clothing estimated at US $ 172 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US $ 221.3 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 4.4% over the analysis period. Sports Apparel, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is projected to record 4.5% CAGR and reach US $ 193.9 Billion by the end of the analysis period. After a thorough analysis of the business implications of the pandemic and its induced economic crisis, growth in the Fitness Clothing segment is readjusted to a revised 3.6% CAGR for the next 7-year period.The U.S. Market is Estimated at $ 63 Billion in 2021, While China is Forecast to Reach $ 27 Billion by 2026
The Sports & Fitness Clothing market in the U.S. is estimated at US $ 63 Billion in the year 2021. China, the world ` s second largest economy, is forecast to reach a projected market size of US $ 27 Billion by the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 7.3% over the analysis period. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 3.2% and 3.3% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 3.9% CAGR.The ongoing health and wellness trend continues to be the primary driver of the global sports & fitness apparel market, prompting consumers to spend on these apparels, mainly sportswear and active wear products. Consumer focus on healthy regime and rising level of health-consciousness are making people to get selective regarding apparels for gym sessions, personal training and casual work. Increasing engagement in sports and adventurous activities like cycling and trekking is favoring the market expansion. In addition, aggressive efforts by fitness influencers to promote active wear and attract consumers have resulted in the athleisure cult, encouraging people to wear active wear on gyms as well as social gatherings and runways.The market growth is also propelled by rising adoption of functionality-specific apparels and footwear and technological advancements. The use of engineered fabrics in functional apparel offers protects from extreme cold or heat, chemicals and radiation. These fabrics can absorb sweat and keep users cooler in summer and warm in winters. Some of the latest functional apparel are made using anti-bacterial materials capable of preventing body odor.
On the other hand, athletic footwear offered by major brands maximizes user comfort and improves athletic performance while reducing the risk of injuries. Increasing incident of foot diseases and allergies is prompting companies to offer sports shoes & socks with specialized features. While various manufacturers are offering sports socks with extra padding to mitigate risk of foot allergies, others are increasingly incorporating sophisticated technologies in their hosiery products.
Moreover, increasing focus of various medical laboratories on R & D is expected to bolster the adoption of medical laboratory-wear apparels. These factors are slated to help the global functional apparel market in experiencing a consistent growth over the coming years.By Type, Top Wear Segment to Reach $ 100.5 Billion by 2026
Global market for Top Wear ( Type) segment is estimated at US $ 74.8 Billion in 2020, and is projected to reach US $ 100.5 Billion by 2026 reflecting a compounded annual growth rate of 5.1% over the analysis period. The United States constitutes the largest regional market for Top Wear segment, accounting for 34.7% of the global sales in 2020. China is poised to register the fastest compounded annual growth rate of 8.3% over the analysis period, to reach US $ 14.5 Billion by the close of the analysis period.Select Competitors ( Total 556 Featured):
For more information about this report visit https: //www.researchandmarkets.com/r/9civ5l | general |
Private equity’ s insurance innovation needs a risk check | The transition from LIBOR to RFR has brought challenges for structured products. There are still legacy IBOR products to consider and at the same time the pricing and risk systems need to be upgraâ¦
To ease the pain associated with meeting compliance targets, global institutions are exploring ways to become more efficient by integrating regulatory and business initiatives.
Wire payment fraud is a major growing risk for financial institutions in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. These cases of fraud donât just hurt finâ¦
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Edited by Bill Coen and D. R. Maurice
All innovations have their downsides. From the bicycle to social media, inventions that provide great benefits to their users can leave others behind. Private equity’ s new brainwave for the insurance industry – reinsure everything in Bermuda, boost allocations to structured credit and discount liabilities – is no different.
Private equity money is flowing into insurance, bringing with it new ideas and new risks. Last year saw a slew of deals, including the purchase of Global Atlantic by KKR, and the acquisition of Allstate’ s life unit by Blackstone, which also took a 9.9% stake in AIG’ s life and retirement business. A subsidiary of Ares Management acquired F & G Reinsurance at the end of 2020, renaming it Aspida Re.
These firms are following a path blazed by Apollo, which has turned Athene, the insurance platform it established in 2009, into a profit engine for its credit business. Apollo’ s big idea was to allocate a larger share of fixed income investments to higher-yielding asset-backed securities ( ABS), and away from corporate bonds, which account for the bulk of traditional insurers’ assets. Athene had 20% of its portfolio in ABS as of June 2021, with more than half of this in collateralised loan obligations ( CLOs). The average insurer allocates 7% to ABS, with 2.6% in CLOs.
Athene’ s assets are reinsured in Bermuda, where corporate bonds and CLOs with the same credit rating receive similar capital treatment. In the US, they receive the same capital treatment. But Bermuda also allows excess spread to be booked as up-front profit. This reduces an insurer’ s liabilities and required reserves and boosts available capital.
The capital benefits can be substantial. In recent years, CLOs have generated 175 basis points of additional spread compared with similarly rated corporate bonds. Athene holds $ 17 billion of CLOs, which could translate to nearly $ 1.5 billion of excess yield over five years. One veteran insurance risk manager describes this as “ manufacturing capital ”.
That’ s not all. Athene sources a large share of its private credit investments from Apollo and its affiliates, generating additional fees for its owner. CLOs are stuffed with levered loans originated by private equity sponsors, such as Apollo.
Apollo’ s strategy is, in many ways, brilliant. Rock-bottom rates hurt insurers and made them vulnerable to takeovers. Apollo gave the sector new life. But its emphasis on alternative assets and offshoring risk has also split the industry. There are two ways of viewing the new entrants, according to the chief risk officer at a large US insurer: the private equity firms are doing something that is in some way unsustainable, or they are providing a useful jolt of competition into a sector that had run out of new ideas. “ We should get on with it, ” he says.
Others are more wary of piling into CLOs. Regulators have been sounding the alarm about leveraged loans for years. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which sets capital standards for US insurers, is now taking a closer look. Last month, it released a list of 13 “ regulatory considerations ” related to private equity-owned insurers. These include “ material increases in privately structured securities ” and “ potential conflicts of interest and excessive and/or hidden fees ” in investment products – “ for example, a CLO which is managed or structured by a related party ”.
The regulator is also reviewing “ insurers’ use of offshore reinsurers ( including captives) and complex affiliated sidecar vehicles to maximize capital efficiency, reduce reserves, increase investment risk, and introduce complexities into the group structure ”.
Private equity-owned insurers now manage more than $ 500 billion of US life and retirement assets. There is little doubt they have brought innovation to a sector that was struggling to meet return goals in an era of low interest rates. But not every innovation is appropriate for financial institutions with long-term liabilities. Insurance regulators need to properly assess the private equity model, preferably before the next credit crisis hits.
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Ecuador: Investigate Police Abuse During Women’ s Day Marches | Help us continue to fight human rights abuses. Please give now to support our work
Allegations of Excessive Force Against Journalist, Demonstrators
( New York) – Ecuadorean police responded to peaceful demonstrations commemorating International Women’ s Day on March 8, 2022, with excessive force, including striking a journalist with a club and indiscriminate use of teargas and pepper spray, Human Rights Watch said today.
On March 8, hundreds of women took to the streets, calling on the authorities to protect and guarantee their rights. They aimed to raise awareness about gender-based violence in the country, which has resulted in 28 cases of femicide so far in 2022, according to the women’ s rights organization Aldea. Demonstrators also said that President Guillermo Lasso should approve a law passed by Congress in February that would guarantee access to abortion for rape victims.
“ President Lasso said on March 8 that his government is working to ensure the well-being of women and a more fair and equal society, ” said Tamara Taraciuk Broner, acting Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “ He should start by ensuring accountability for police abuses during the International Women’ s Day marches. ”
On March 15, Lasso partially vetoed the abortion law and sent it back to Congress, which has 30 days to consider his proposed amendments narrowing its scope. The presidential veto undermines the work done by the Constitutional Court and the Ombudsperson’ s Office, and the vote by a majority of the National Assembly, to allow Ecuadorean women and girls to reclaim their own lives after the trauma of sexual assault.
The National Assembly should uphold its commitment to protecting women and girls by maintaining the current text with no changes, Human Rights Watch said.
Human Rights Watch verified over a dozen social media posts and videos from Quito and Guayaquil that were published on Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube on March 8. Some of these show police using teargas and pepper spray against women protesters, or protesters reacting to their use. Others show police using pressurized liquid to disperse protesters. Some media outlets published similar reports, and reported police hitting protesters.
In Quito, Viviana Erazo, a journalist from the digital media outlet Wambra, was covering the protest when, she said, a police officer cornered and struck her with a club. She told Human Rights Watch she was then hit with pepper spray as she attempted to move away. Erazo recorded the whole incident, which was posted on the media outlet’ s Twitter account.
These allegations match a video posted on Instagram in which Erazo is standing on a street corner recording the march with her phone, when a police officer strikes her on the back with a club. Seconds later, she appears to react to pepper spray, the sound of which can be heard in the media posting.
In another case, a woman posted an allegation on Twitter that the police had hit her and her 23-year-old daughter and used pepper spray on them. She posted a photo of a bruise on the left side of her back and told a media outlet that she had been hit on the back while she was trying to protect her daughter from the police, who were throwing gas.
Another video from Quito shows police shooting pressurized liquid at protesters standing a few meters away from them. This matches the photo of a police officer carrying the pressurized tank. The pressure causes a stinging sensation.
In Guayaquil, Valeska Chiriboga, an activist who attended the rally, told Human Rights Watch that the police used gas against protesters. She said that more than 40 women who had participated had symptoms such as vomiting, itching, and burning eyes.
In both cities, the reason why the police restricted the marches was not immediately clear. Human Rights Watch verified news reports and videos posted on social media showing police officers with shields, horses, and motorcycles blocking streets in downtown Quito to stop protesters from reaching the main square in front of the presidential palace. The police told marchers that they could not enter the square, referring to it as a “ restricted area. ”
In Guayaquil, police told activists they were blocking the streets, and women’ s rights activists told Human Rights Watch and the media that the police kept them from moving forward, though the activists said local authorities had authorized the march. The women were later allowed to continue with their programmed events using modified routes and locations.
The national human rights secretary, Bernarda Ordóñez, said that she stood in solidarity with women, denounced the incidents, and called for investigations. No other officials criticized the police for excessive use of force.
Excessive and indiscriminate use of force by Ecuadorean security forces is not new. After protests erupted on October 3, 2019, Ecuador’ s police used indiscriminate force, including firing teargas directly at protesters and at close range, causing eye injuries, or in enclosed spaces, causing asphyxiation. On May 14, 2020, police in Guayaquil used excessive force, beating and injuring peaceful demonstrators protesting the government’ s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ecuador needs a law regulating the legal, proportional, adequate, and necessary use of force based on international human rights standards, Human Rights Watch said. Such a law should comply with criteria laid out in a Constitutional Court ruling adopted in May 6, 2021.
Under international human rights law, the authorities should only restrict peaceful assemblies when such restrictions are necessary and proportionate, and the least restrictive means to achieve a legitimate goal. Regardless of whether authorities deem protests unlawful, they should not use force to disperse them, but only as a last resort in response to a genuine threat.
The Impact of Abortion Prosecutions in Ecuador | general |
Rwanda: Wave of Free Speech Prosecutions | Help us continue to fight human rights abuses. Please give now to support our work
Free Journalists, Commentators, Opposition Members
( Nairobi) – Judicial authorities in Rwanda are prosecuting opposition members, journalists, and commentators on the basis of their speech and opinions, Human Rights Watch said today. Throughout 2020 and 2021, Human Rights Watch monitored trials in which judicial authorities pursued politically motivated prosecutions and perpetuated a culture of intolerance of dissent. Less than two years out from the 2024 presidential election campaign season, the Rwandan government should ensure an end to violations against civil society activists, journalists, and opposition figures. The government should also protect their right to freedom of expression – a precondition to creating a conducive environment for free and fair elections. “ Judicial authorities in Rwanda, lacking the independence to stand up and protect free speech in accordance with international law, have unjustly convicted and jailed people based on their protected speech and opinions, ” said Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “ All those jailed unjustly should be immediately and unconditionally released, and the abusive legal framework that allowed their prosecution should be reviewed and brought in line with international free speech standards. ” Since the publication of a March 2021 report on the arrests of, and threats against, several Rwandans for posts on YouTube, Human Rights Watch has monitored trials and reviewed trial documents and verdicts to examine the evidence and arguments of prosecutorial authorities, and the basis for judges’ rulings. Researchers also reviewed content published on various channels managed by journalists and commentators on trial and interviewed 11 opposition members and people who post on YouTube. The cases documented are not exhaustive – Human Rights Watch also received information about other similar cases. On March 3, 2022, Human Rights Watch wrote a letter to Justice Minister Emmanuel Ugirashebuja to share information about the cases it has documented and to request information on the Rwandan authorities’ steps to address violations of the right to freedom of expression. The government has not responded. Rwanda has very few opposition parties, and human rights organizations and independent media remain weak. Victoire Ingabire, who was the president of the unregistered opposition party FDU-Inkingi before founding Dalfa-Umurinzi in November 2019, was released from prison in 2018. Members of her party have repeatedly been harassed, threatened, and arrested, or have died or disappeared in suspicious circumstances. Since October 2021, at least eight members of her party have been arrested and charged with offenses, including spreading rumors and forming a criminal association, in relation to a book they acquired and an online training session they attended to learn strategies for peaceful dissent. Journalists using YouTube as a platform have also been targeted for prosecution for not registering with the Rwanda Media Commission ( RMC) or for publishing information that contradicts the government’ s version of certain events, such as the suspicious death in custody of Kizito Mihigo, a gospel singer and activist, or disappearances of government opponents. The cases of Dieudonné Niyonsenga – alias Cyuma Hassan – and Théoneste Nsengimana, which Human Rights Watch documented, could further erode journalists’ legal protections and narrow the space for media and online speech. Niyonsenga, a high-profile YouTuber, was found guilty on appeal of forgery, impersonation, hindering public works, and “ humiliation of national authorities and persons in charge of public service. ” The last charge, which was added during the first appeal, is no longer a criminal offense in Rwanda. The prosecution authority announced it was lodging a “ second appeal ” to correct the error. Its verdict is expected on March 18. On March 9, Human Rights Watch received reports and confirmed that Ishema TV was no longer available on YouTube. At time of writing, it is unclear whether the channel was removed voluntarily. Since 1994, speaking about crimes committed by the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front ( RPF) in the aftermath of the genocide, or sometimes even simply commemorating Hutu who were killed during the genocide, is perceived as crossing a red line, with the government presenting it as a threat to Rwandan unity, or the country’ s security as a whole. “ When you are pro-government, you don’ t have any problems. When you talk about bad things, you become persecuted, you are a genocide denier, ” one YouTuber told Human Rights Watch. Another said, “ They take one word, and they create a crime for you…. Here, the problem is talking the truth. If you do, they go after you. ” The Rwandan government may have legitimate grounds to seek to restrict the kind of dangerous, vitriolic speech that led to the deaths of over half a million people in 1994, but current laws and practices go far beyond this purpose – creating fear and effectively stifling opinions, debate, and criticism of the government. As Rwanda approaches the 30-year mark since the genocide, and the government aims to ramp up efforts to combat genocide ideology, there is a need to ensure that Rwandans can peacefully express legitimate grievances related to the genocide and post-genocide periods, Human Rights Watch said. Article 38 of the 2015 Constitution protects freedom of expression but limits that protection by permitting ill-defined restrictions based on “ public order, good morals, the protection of the youth and children, the right of every citizen to honor and dignity and protection of personal and family privacy. ” The government, with the support of the judiciary, has used this clawback clause to impose restrictions on freedom of expression in ways that are incompatible with Rwanda’ s regional and international obligations. As Rwanda prepares to host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, scheduled to take place in June, the international community should take a stand and press the authorities to stop harassing, immediately release, and drop all charges against opposition members, YouTube commentators and journalists facing abusive prosecutions that violate freedom of expression. The authorities should also open credible, independent, and transparent investigations into suspicious deaths and disappearances of critics, opposition members, civil society actors, and journalists, and prosecute those responsible. “ The evidence provided by the prosecuting authorities, and what judges have chosen to rely on to justify their conclusions, clearly demonstrates that these cases violate African and international human rights law, ” Mudge said. “ Prosecuting those who challenge the government of incitement to insurrection or of attempting to tarnish the country’ s image is an indication of how little dissent is tolerated in Rwanda. ” For details of the recent cases, please see below. Cases Against the Political Opposition In October 2021, at least eight members of Victoire Ingabire’ s opposition party, Dalfa-Umurinzi, were arrested in the largest crackdown against the party in recent years. Sylvain Sibomana, Alexis Rucubanganya, Hamad Hagenimana, Jean-Claude Ndayishimiye, Alphonse Mutabazi, Marcel Nahimana, and Emmanuel Masengesho were all detained in the days leading up to and following “ Ingabire day, ” scheduled for October 14. On that day, Ingabire was planning to speak about political repression in Rwanda, cases of suspicious deaths, killings, disappearances, and abusive prosecutions. Théoneste Nsengimana, a journalist who was planning to cover the event, was arrested on October 13 and is being tried with the group of seven. Criminal charges of “ spreading false information or harmful propaganda with intent to cause a hostile international opinion against Rwandan government ” and “ formation of or joining a criminal association ” were brought against Sibomana, Rucubanganya, Hagenimana, Ndayishimiye, Mutabazi, Nahimana, and Masengesho. On November 9, during a pretrial hearing, the Kicukiro court said it is also considering evidence to support other, undetermined charges against them. The prosecution contended that the defendants were also responsible for inciting insurrection. Claudine Uwimana, a party member who was arrested on December 14 in Rutsiro, is being tried separately. She is charged with spreading false information, publishing rumors, forming a criminal association, and inciting insurrection, and has been denied bail. The arrests send a clear message to those who may wish to mobilize, organize, or campaign on a political platform in the lead-up to the elections that efforts to peacefully change the power structures in place can be considered a criminal offense, Human Rights Watch said. In both cases, the prosecution based its accusations on the group’ s decision to acquire “ Blueprint for Revolution, ” a book written by Srdja Popovic, and to follow a training organized by the author’ s organization, Canvas – the Center for Applied Non-Violent Actions and Strategies. Both the book and the training focus on peaceful strategies to resist authoritarianism, such as nonviolent protest, noncooperation, boycott, and mobilization. The prosecution used as evidence the contents of the book and training, the use of Jitsi – an encrypted online communication platform – and the use of pseudonyms during the training. The prosecution also accused the group of planning activities such as mobilizing, among others, street vendors and others who are routinely rounded up and subjected to abuse, and a commemoration of political activists and critics who have died, disappeared, or been jailed, on “ Ingabire Day, ” based on the strategies proposed during the training. Social protest and mobilization offer people the opportunity to peacefully communicate legitimate complaints and grievances. Governments have a responsibility to create a safe and enabling environment for individuals and groups to exercise their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, of expression, and of association. Journalists Under Threat Dieudonné Niyonsenga Dieudonné Niyonsenga, also known as “ Cyuma Hassan, ” runs Ishema TV, a popular YouTube channel on which he has published his sensitive and critical reports. Ishema TV has millions of views, and Niyonsenga is one of the most popular YouTube contributors in Rwanda. In April 2020, police arrested Niyonsenga and his driver, Fidèle Komezusenge, as they were reporting on the impact of the Covid-19 guidelines on vulnerable populations in a poor neighborhood of Kigali. Niyonsenga and Komezusenge were accused of forgery, impersonating journalists, and hindering public works for being outside during lockdown without a valid RMC-issued press card. Both spent almost a year in detention, but then were acquitted on March 12, 2021. After his release, Niyonsenga gave several interviews on YouTube describing his treatment in detention. In one, he said:
At first, I think they accused me of seven offenses. It was a lot. They were forcing me to talk but I refused as long as I didn’ t have a lawyer.… They took me to several police stations, I only spent one night in each cell. Finally, my lawyer spoke with them…. [ In Nyarugenge prison, ] I was imprisoned in a one-meter-by-one-meter cell, filled with water and mosquitos. I was not allowed out to exercise.
After his acquittal and release, Niyonsenga continued to do critical and sensitive reporting, including investigating alleged abuses by the military. The prosecution successfully appealed the verdict and on November 11, 2021, Niyonsenga was arrested again at his home while Komezusenge was acquitted. The appeals court found Niyonsenga guilty of forgery, impersonation, hindering public works, and “ humiliation of national authorities and persons in charge of public service. ” The last charge, which was added during the appeal, is no longer a criminal offense in Rwanda. It was struck down from the 2018 Penal Code by the Supreme Court in 2019. The prosecution authority of Rwanda tweeted on November 16 that “ Prosecution has lodged a 2nd appeal in the case against Niyonsenga Dieudonné alias Cyuma Hassan. The grounds for appeal is to correct an error convicting Cyuma for the crime of humiliating public service officials, a crime that was repealed in 2019. ” That Niyonsenga was convicted of a crime that no longer exists in the Penal Code – the humiliation of national authorities – violates his right to a fair trial by a competent and impartial court. International law requires an effective remedy for anyone whose fair trial rights are violated. During the first appeal’ s hearings, the prosecution argued that Niyonsenga had practiced journalism and presented an Ishema TV card stating he was a journalist without being registered with the so-called self-regulatory RMC. The court found that although Rwanda’ s media law allows any individual to obtain and impart information online, the fact that Niyonsenga presented himself as a journalist, without accreditation from the RMC, was misleading the public and a crime. The prosecution argued that even though Niyonsenga, who studied journalism and worked for other registered media before establishing Ishema TV, applied to RMC for accreditation on April 4, 2021, and paid the 20,000 Rwandan Francs fee ( US $ 20), journalism was comparable to medical and legal practice in that it required “ necessary ” authorization and qualifications to practice. It contended that the fact that Niyonsenga practiced journalism before having registered was grounds to convict him. Requirements for journalists to register are rarely, if ever justifiable, and in a context of repression like Rwanda, they are used politically to curtail speech, Human Rights Watch said. Under international law, everyone has a right to obtain information and express oneself online. In its General Comment 34 on the right to freedom of expression, the UN reaffirmed that licensing requirements or other efforts to penalize media “ solely for being critical of the government or the political social system espoused by the government can never be considered to be a necessary restriction of freedom of expression. ” The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights’ 2019 Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa obligates governments to guarantee the right to establish various forms of independent media, including online media, and states that “ Any registration system for media shall be for administrative purposes only, and shall not impose excessive fees or other restrictions on the media. ” Théoneste Nsengimana Théoneste Nsengimana, who runs Umubavu TV, was first arrested in April 2020 and held in pretrial detention on accusations of fraud. On April 12, 2020, the Rwandan Investigation Bureau ( RIB) tweeted confirmation of Nsengimana’ s arrest for alleged fraud. RIB accused him of promising 20,000 Rwandan Francs ( $ 20) to people to say they were receiving assistance from abroad “ for the purpose of soliciting the story for his own benefit. ” A Kicukiro court ordered Nsengimana’ s release from pretrial detention in May 2020 due to the prosecution’ s lack of evidence against him, and the charges were eventually dropped. Since his release, Nsengimana’ s YouTube channel has hosted sensitive and critical discussions on current affairs, including with a YouTube commentator, Aimable Karasira, who is now also in prison. Nsengimana was arrested again on October 13, 2021, as part of a broader crackdown against Ingabire’ s opposition party Dalfa-Umurinzi after his channel announced its intention to cover the “ Ingabire Day ” event. The prosecution contends that Nsengimana used his YouTube channel to broadcast false information, including a video by activist Mireille Kagabo. The video was shared in the lead-up to “ Ingabire day, ” in which she called on people to commemorate “ heroes ” and “ political prisoners. ” She listed names and cases, including the suspicious death of Kizito Mihigo, the activist and gospel singer, in February 2020, the suspicious disappearance of Cassien Ntamuhanga, a journalist who was forcibly disappeared after being detained in Mozambique in May 2021, and the enforced disappearance and flawed trial of Paul Rusesabagina, a prominent government critic who was convicted of terrorism-related charges. Nsengimana has been charged with “ spreading false information or harmful propaganda with intent to cause a hostile international opinion against the Rwandan government. ” The case is most likely designed to send a message not to question the government’ s version of events in cases of suspicious deaths, enforced disappearances, and prosecutions of critics and dissidents, Human Rights Watch said. Dangers of Sensitive Commentary Government officials have threatened, intimidated, and brought abusive prosecutions against several commentators using YouTube as a platform to self-publish commentary or artistic content. Innocent Bahati, a popular poet who published his work focusing on social and human rights issues on YouTube, remains missing over a year after he disappeared in suspicious circumstances on February 7, 2021. Recently, and after public pressure on the government to disclose his whereabouts increased, the RIB spokesperson told the media that Bahati had crossed into Uganda and that he had been working with “ anti-Rwanda ” elements, without providing any supporting evidence. Aimable Karasira Aimable Karasira, a Tutsi and former information communication technology professor at the University of Rwanda, has spoken about losing family members both to Hutu extremists and to the RPF in 1994 on his YouTube channel called “ Ukuri Mbona ” ( “ the truth I see ” in Kinyarwanda). In July 2020, Edouard Bamporiki, culture and youth minister, attacked Karasira on social media and said he should not be allowed to teach. Karasira was dismissed from the University of Rwanda on August 14, 2020, for “ the expression of attitudes and opinions through controversial statements ” and “ spreading information intended for inciting people to dislike or dishonor your institution and public institutions in general. ” Karasira later said in a YouTube video that he was summoned to the RIB office on December 8, 2020, where he was told to stop talking about the genocide. On May 31, 2021, the RIB announced the arrest of Karasira for offenses under Rwanda’ s genocide ideology law. His trial is ongoing. During Karasira’ s July 27, 2021, pretrial hearing, the prosecution cited one of his interviews to support the charges of genocide denial and justification, and divisionism. The prosecution cited excerpts from an interview with Agnès Nkusi Uwimana, a journalist who runs a YouTube channel, on May 23, 2021. The prosecution contended that Karasira’ s statement that the downing of then-president Juvénal Habyarimana’ s plane in April 1994 “ became the trigger point for the genocide, ” constitutes genocide denial. His comments regarding the arrest of former prominent businessman under Habyarimana and one of the alleged masterminds of the Rwandan genocide, Félicien Kabuga, claiming that he was “ in court because he did not give money to the RPF like other businessmen, [ and ] saying that it’ s because of the machetes he provided [ during the genocide ] is not true because every household had a machete ” were presented as minimizing the genocide. In addition, the prosecution is arguing that his claim that the RPF had attacked Rwanda prior to the genocide is justification for the genocide and that saying “ Rwanda was not liberated ( by the RPF) … we [ the survivors ] became their sacrifice ” to justify their rule constitutes divisionism. On May 30, the day before his arrest, Karasira published another video on his YouTube channel in which he gave details of his family’ s history, contending that his mother may have been killed in 1994 by the RPF because she witnessed their crimes. After the genocide, he said, he was prevented from receiving the benefits afforded to genocide survivors because of his family’ s history. Rwandan laws on genocide ideology, which may have been intended to prevent and punish hate speech of the kind that led to the 1994 genocide, have restricted free speech and imposed strict limits on how people can talk about the genocide and other events of 1994. This case illustrates the extent to which these broad laws can be manipulated to silence those who wish to talk about the RPF’ s crimes in the aftermath of the genocide or challenge the official narrative around the genocide – even survivors themselves. Yvonne Idamange Yvonne Idamange, a Tutsi online commentator who has criticized the Covid-19 lockdown and the government-organized genocide commemorations, was arrested on February 15, 2021, after posting a video in which she falsely claimed that President Kagame was dead, and called for the army to serve the people or face the wrath of God, and for Rwandans to march with their Bibles toward the office of the president. In her first YouTube video, Idamange criticized the monetization of genocide memorials for tourism, in which “ the bodies of our relatives are being sold ” and questioned notions of collective guilt and the government’ s approach to commemorations. On September 30, 2021, the High Court Chamber for International Crimes, where Idamange’ s trial took place behind closed doors, convicted her of inciting insurrection, minimizing the genocide, desecrating a memorial site, spreading rumors, rebellion against authorities, and issuing a check that bounced. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined 2 million Rwandan Francs ( $ 1,930). The court convicted Idamange on the basis of statements she made in videos she published on YouTube before her arrest. The court found that her statements that “ Covid-19 has become a pretext, worsened for political gains … that state institutions are ghosts and don’ t do their work…. That the Rwandan state is a state of crooks, bandits, and thieves … that Rwanda is a country without a shepherd and that Rwandans are in mourning and should march to Urugwiro to ask for the body of Paul Kagame ” constitutes inciting insurrection and unrest. In addition, the court found that Idamange’ s statements that “ the Rwandan state threatens genocide survivors by killing people, exposing dead bodies, that it’ s a government that no longer exists … that the country has no president … the country is governed by a dead body ” constitutes publication of rumors. Her criticism of the monetization of memorial sites and accusations that genocide survivors are “ ignored ” were found to be desecration of a memorial site and genocide minimization. Many Rwandans have told Human Rights Watch they felt Idamange’ s statements went too far, including her false claims that President Paul Kagame was dead and her call for Rwandans to march towards the presidency. However, Idamange’ s treatment during her arrest, the severity of the criminal charges brought against her, the opaque nature of her trial, and the disproportionately harsh sentence handed out appear designed to intimidate anyone thinking of expressing critical, sensitive, or controversial views on the genocide. Rwandan authorities’ efforts to combat genuine genocide denial should not involve criminal penalties for mere speech and should not attempt or aim to stifle legitimate and necessary discussion and debate on historical events, Human Rights Watch said. The criminal law, or any laws that create vaguely defined offenses, should not be used to prevent people challenging official versions of events.
Threats to Independent Media and Civil Society in Tanzania | general |
Atlanta Spa Shooting Anniversary: More Police Funding Isn’ t the Answer to Anti-Asian Hate | We often forget that words matter, especially when they become weaponized by the most powerful people in the country in order to ostracize a particular group. Words can present just as imminent a danger as actions. After the initial peak of coverage of anti-Asian racism at the onset of the pandemic, the problem seemed to be just below the surface of the mainstream conversation for the rest of 2020 — until the violence escalated.
The first recorded instance of then-President Donald Trump referring to COVID-19 as the “ Chinese virus ” was on Twitter on March 16, 2020, kicking off a tenfold increase in the use of that hashtag in the week following his tweet. Almost every day in 2020, there seemed to be new reports of harassment or assault. Some physically violent attacks broke through in the rapidly changing news cycle, but many more common cases of verbal abuse did not.
That was until March 16, 2021 — coincidentally, exactly one year since Trump began using hate speech to describe a public health crisis. Eight people, including six Asian women, were murdered in a string of shootings at spas in the Atlanta area. A month later, in April, eight people, four of them Sikh, were shot and killed at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis. The next week, in a brutal attack in New York, Yao Pan Ma sustained what would turn out to be fatal injuries, his battered face plastered all over my social media and forever seared into my memory.
Soon after, # StopAsianHate became the unofficial slogan that people hastily slapped onto their Twitter profiles to indicate their bold opposition to anti-Asian racism. Earth-toned, millennial- and Gen Z-friendly infographics about AAPI representation flooded my Instagram feed. My non-Asian friends eagerly texted me their discoveries about Yuri Kochiyama and Malcolm X’ s friendship and the rich history of Asian American organizing. This, I naively thought, is progress.
But the attacks continued, with well over 10,000 self-reported “ hate incidents ” counted against AAPI people between March 2020 and September 2021, leaving the AAPI community in a perpetual state of grief and anxiety, and reducing us to a political pawn for anti-Black policies. President Joe Biden signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act into law on May 20, 2021, drawing criticism from nearly 90 AAPI and LGBTQ organizations for failing to address the root causes of violence and instead enabling a law enforcement apparatus that criminalizes Black and brown communities. Meanwhile, in New York City, as the mayoral primary heated up, two prominent candidates, ex-cop Eric Adams and tech-entrepreneur-turned-failed-presidential-candidate Andrew Yang, cited the increase in anti-Asian violence to justify their support for increased funding of the New York Police Department ( NYPD).
In January of this year, after Adams won the election and took office as mayor, he doubled down on his commitment to funding and increasing the presence of the NYPD across the city — the same NYPD that killed Eric Garner in 2014 and continues to arrest a disproportionate number of Black and brown people each year.
Days later, a man pushed Michelle Alyssa Go into an approaching subway train at Times Square — in the presence of police officers stationed on the platform. In February, a stranger followed Christina Yuna Lee into her Chinatown apartment and stabbed her to death. GuiYing Ma, who was beaten into a monthslong coma, passed away from her injuries. Soon after, seven Asian women were punched, shoved, or elbowed within two hours by the same man. As an Asian woman in New York City, I stand with my back against the wall in subway stations and look behind me constantly while walking alone.
Police funding across the country is at an all-time high, but no amount of money will fix the inherent problems of an institution sanctioned by the state to enforce unbalanced power structures. I think about how George Floyd was asphyxiated by a Minneapolis police officer, sparking nationwide protests in the summer of 2020, and how those protests reiterated the power of cross-racial solidarity against white supremacist violence. How they invited all of us — Black, white, Latinx, AAPI, Indigenous — to redefine public safety in this country as investments in our communities, social services, and infrastructures of care. More enforcement will not save us.
More enforcement did not protect Christian Hall, Angel Quinto, and all those who have been killed by the police. Still, sex workers, massage workers, and others in the informal economy face persecution by law enforcement for simply trying to survive. Still, Southeast Asian refugees are deported or live in constant fear of arrest and deportation at the hands of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Divya Victor writes in her poem “ Milestones: A Theory of Marking/ Being Marked ” that “ every migrant body should keep company with its living milestones, ” which I see as applicable to all Black, brown, AAPI, Indigenous, immigrant, disabled, and queer bodies — bodies that have been politicized and policed. Victor defines milestones as “ days on which I have not died… days on which I have been moved by strangers… knotted as we are to this route by hair & tooth, moving in a shared interior drawn taut across a map. ”
Three hundred and thirty-five milestones since the mass shooting that killed eight people in Indianapolis. Three hundred and sixty-five milestones since the same happened in Atlanta. Six hundred and sixty milestones since the murder of George Floyd. These anniversaries revolve around immense pain, but we continue to keep track because from our shared trauma comes shared resiliency and a shared commitment to build a more just future.
Solidarity is a radical act in a society where the forces of white supremacy are constantly trying to pit people of color against each other in an effort to divide and weaken us. Despite the politicians who shout at us to “ fund the police, ” we know the truth: The police have never and will never keep us safe. We have to fight back against racist narratives, systems, policies, and violence through political education, advocacy, and mutual aid. The only way to move toward true safety is together.
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How the Russian war in Ukraine will change global trade | In this article, Trade Data Monitor’ s Chief Economic Analyst John W. Miller talks about how the Russian war in Ukraine will change global trade.
In this article, Trade Data Monitor’ s Chief Economic Analyst John W. Miller talks about how the Russian war in Ukraine will change global trade.
The Russian war in Ukraine is leading to a long-term upheaval in global trade flows of everything from wood and oil to diamonds and COVID-19 vaccines, causing inflation and forcing buyers to find alternative suppliers.
The Russian export machine has been mainly geared toward the production of oil and gas, and key industrial commodities.
That’ s why the biggest impact of sanctions and other measures will be on global fuel prices, which are rising as Russia’ s oil and gas exports are withdrawn from global supplies.
At a time when the world needs ever more commodities to fuel the middle-class lives of billions of people, Russia had emerged as a top supplier, along with powerhouses like Saudi Arabia and the U.S.
In 2021, Russian petroleum exports increased 49% year-on-year to $ 211.5 billion.
The biggest buyers of Russian petroleum in 2021 were China, Netherlands, Germany, South Korea, the U.S., Poland, Turkey, Belarus, Italy, and Japan, according to Trade Data Monitor ( TDM), the world’ s premier source of trade statistics.
The pattern of consumption of Russia’ s fuel exports points to a larger trend. In 2021, China was already Russia’ s top trading partner. It shipped $ 68.1 billion worth of goods to China, up 38.5% from 2020. China now makes up 14% of Russia’ s exports, up from 6.7% in 2013.
Russia’ s top exports to China in 2021 were petroleum, iron ore and copper, wood, and machinery.
In the end, the biggest repercussion of the war in Ukraine and subsequent detachment from Western Europe and the U.S. might be in Russia’ s rapprochement with China.
Awesome use of # TradeDataMonitor China-Russia trade statistics by @ washingtonpost journalists @ lilkuo @ cdcshepherd. `` This shared mistrust of the United States and its allies has deepened economic links, making China by far Russia’ s largest single trading partner. '' pic.twitter.com/e1UkUB4ajd
The Russian economy is a unique engine, without globally significant consumer manufacturing, but powerful in its capacity to generate fuels, a handful of valuable natural resources, such as wood, gold, and fertilisers, and some industrial goods.
Russia’ s commodities and metals productions are core parts of industrial supply chains, especially those used in the making of automobiles.
Without this massive commodity sector, Russia would lose its place as the world’ s 11th largest economy.
In 2021, for example, Russia generated around 40% of the world’ s industrial palladium, a material used to make catalytic converters for cars and trucks, and semiconductors for computers.
In 2021, Russia exported $ 6.5 billion of palladium, up 1.4% over 2020, ahead of the U.S. ( $ 4.5 billion), South Africa ( $ 4.1 billion) and the UK ( $ 3.3 billion), according to TDM.
But there’ s more to the Russia export machine than simply industrial metals.
Russia, for example, was the world’ s number one exporter of fertilisers in 2021. It shipped out $ 12.5 billion worth of fertilisers, up 78.4% from 2020.
Its biggest buyer was Brazil, which bought $ 3.5 billion worth, followed by the U.S., China, Estonia, and Finland.
The country was also the world’ s fourth biggest wood exporter, after Canada, China, and Germany.
Russia exported $ 11.8 billion of wood in 2021, up 42.6% from 2020. Its top customer was China, which bought $ 3.6 billion worth, followed by Finland, Japan, Uzbekistan, and the U.S.
Russia has also been ramping up exports of high-tech goods. Its top high-tech exports to all its partners in 2021 were turbojets, COVID-19 vaccines, fuel cartridges for nuclear reactors, and radar equipment. Its top customer for high-tech goods was China.
Russia’ s third top export category is precious stones, including gold and diamonds. Its top three buyers in 2021: the UK, the US, and Belgium.
In 2021, Russia shipped $ 15.4 billion of gold to the UK, making up 3% of its total national exports. In 2021, Russia exported $ 4.5 billion of diamonds, up 39.9% from 2020. Its top customer: Belgium, which bought $ 1.8 billion worth.
The war is also upending global grain trade. In 2021, Ukraine was the world’ s fourth biggest cereals exporter, behind only the U.S., Argentina, and India.
Those exports were split almost 50-50 between corn ( $ 5.9B, up 21%) and wheat and meslin ( $ 5.1B, up 41%). With food prices already increasing 30% in 2021, and inflation biting sound the globe, there’ s good reason to worry.
But Ukraine’ s export profile is more complicated than its status as the former breadbasket of the Soviet Union.
It’ s also a key supplier of metals and iron ore, especially to China, meaning that conflict could force up iron ore and steel prices. In 2021, Ukraine was China’ s fifth biggest supplier of iron ore.
Overall, it was the world’ s fifth biggest exporter of iron ore by value, behind only Australia, Brazil, South Africa, and Canada.
A broad network of iron ore mines belong to what is still one of the top metal and mining production networks in the word. It includes roughly 50 iron ore deposits, and has the fifth total reserves in the world.
Overall, Ukraine’ s top exports in 2021 were iron and steel ( $ 13.9B, up 81%), followed by cereals ( $ 12.3B, up 31%), animal and vegetable fats ( $ 7.1B, up 23%), and iron ore ( $ 6.9B, up 63%), according to TDM.
John W. Miller, TDM’ s Chief Economic Analyst, is an award-winning journalist who reported from 45 countries covering trade and mining for the Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, and NPR, and co-director of the acclaimed PBS documentary film “ Moundsville ”.
John W. Miller, TDM’ s Chief Economic Analyst, is an award-winning journalist who reported from 45 countries covering trade and mining for the Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, and NPR, and co-director of the acclaimed PBS documentary film “ Moundsville ”. | general |
COVID-19 pushed 4.7m people in Southeast Asia into extreme poverty in 2021, but region can bounce back in 2022, says new ADB report | A new report has found that the COVID-19 pandemic pushed 4.7 million people in Southeast Asia into extreme poverty in 2021, following the loss of 9.3 million jobs since 2019.… read more →
A new report has found that the COVID-19 pandemic pushed 4.7 million people in Southeast Asia into extreme poverty in 2021, following the loss of 9.3 million jobs since 2019.… read more →
A new report has found that the COVID-19 pandemic pushed 4.7 million people in Southeast Asia into extreme poverty in 2021, following the loss of 9.3 million jobs since 2019.
In its Southeast Asia Rising from the Pandemic report, released today, the Asian Development Bank ( ADB) also found that the Omicron wave could cut the region’ s economic growth by as much as 0.8% in 2022.
Moreover, the region’ s economic output in 2022 is expected to remain more than 10% below the baseline no-COVID scenario.
Among the most affected are unskilled workers and those working in retail and the informal economy, and small businesses without a digital presence.
“ The pandemic has led to widespread unemployment, worsening inequality, and rising poverty levels, especially among women, younger workers, and the elderly in Southeast Asia, ” said ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa.
“ ADB will continue to work with policymakers as they seek to rebuild, improve national health systems, and streamline domestic regulations to strengthen business competitiveness.
“ We encourage Southeast Asian governments to invest in smart, green infrastructure, and adopt technological innovations to reinvigorate economic growth. ”
Two years after the pandemic began, the report found that growth prospects are brighter for economies with widespread technology adoption, resilient merchandise exports, or rich natural resources.
The report also notes that an economic recovery may already be underway, with most countries seeing visits to retail and recreational areas rising by 161% in the two-year period ending 16 February 2022.
Still, the region faces global headwinds, including emerging COVID-19 variants, the tightening of global interest rates, supply chain disruptions, inflation, and higher commodity prices.
With 59% of the region’ s population fully vaccinated as of 21 February 2022, the report calls on Southeast Asian governments to allocate more resources to help health systems deliver care, improve disease surveillance, and respond to future pandemics.
The ADB believes that health investments can boost economic growth by increasing labour participation and productivity.
For example, the report calculates that Southeast Asia’ s economic growth could rise 1.5% if health spending in the region reaches about 5% of gross domestic product ( GDP), compared with 3% in 2021.
The report recommends that countries pursue structural reforms to boost competitiveness and productivity.
Such reforms could include simplifying business procedures, reducing trade barriers, and encouraging small enterprises to adopt new technologies.
This could also include skills training to help workers address widespread disruptions to the labour market and the relocation of jobs across sectors.
ADB added that governments should maintain fiscal prudence to reduce public deficits and debts, and modernise tax administration to enhance efficiency and broaden the tax base.
The report was presented at the Southeast Asia Development Symposium ( SEADS), ADB’ s annual flagship knowledge event in Southeast Asia.
The symposium gathers leaders from government, industry, academia, and other sectors to explore solutions to critical development issues such as climate change and technology development.
This year’ s event, ‘ Sustainable Solutions for Southeast Asia’ s Recovery’, will focus on how the region can spur recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic by addressing supply chain bottlenecks, reviving tourism, and advancing digital transformation.
This year’ s two-day virtual event is expected to draw about 5,000 participants.
Patrick Tibke is the Assistant Editor & Copywriter at Trade Finance Global. He has previously worked as a researcher and reporter for Nielsen, S & P Global, SportBusiness Group, Jakarta Globe, and more. He holds a BA in South East Asian Studies from SOAS at the University of London, and an MA in Journalism from the University of Sheffield.
Patrick Tibke is the Assistant Editor & Copywriter at Trade Finance Global.
He has previously worked as a researcher and reporter for Nielsen, S & P Global, SportBusiness Group, Jakarta Globe, and more.
He holds a BA in South East Asian Studies from SOAS at the University of London, and an MA in Journalism from the University of Sheffield. | general |
Volatile HSCEI spells vega misery for autocall issuers | The transition from LIBOR to RFR has brought challenges for structured products. There are still legacy IBOR products to consider and at the same time the pricing and risk systems need to be upgraâ¦
To ease the pain associated with meeting compliance targets, global institutions are exploring ways to become more efficient by integrating regulatory and business initiatives.
Wire payment fraud is a major growing risk for financial institutions in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. These cases of fraud donât just hurt finâ¦
Asia Risk is proud to present Asia Risk Live, a face-to-face event in Hong Kong and Singapore. An opportunity to reconnect in person to learn and exchange new ideas.
View our latest in market leading training courses, both public and in-house.
The Energy Risk Awards recognise the leading firms in energy risk management. Corporates, financial players, technology and data firms, consultancies, brokers and exchanges are all welcome to submit â¦
The Asia Risk Awards recognize best practices in risk management and derivatives use by banks and financial institutions around the region.
Take a look at the wide variety of events and training on offer.
This eBook is based on the 2021 industry research by Acuiti, as well as the FIS Readiness Report. Youâll find plenty of support for a move to AI-powered cloud computing, a modular approach that ensurâ¦
Maximising value from better risk management and deal efficiency This Risk.net survey and white paper, commissioned by SS & C Intralinks, assesses the outlook for the CMBS market in the US and Europe, â¦
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Edited by Bill Coen and D. R. Maurice
Structured products desks are bracing for another round of losses after a key China index pushed into territory where hedging costs can skyrocket.
Between February 11 and March 15, the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index ( HSCEI) – a common underlying in autocallable notes – shed 30% of its value, falling from 8,784 points to 6,124 points. A triple whammy of Chinese tech regulation, rising Covid-19 infections and Russia’ s invasion of Ukraine sent the index plummeting through its so-called peak
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US rate caps under strain amid volatility surge | The transition from LIBOR to RFR has brought challenges for structured products. There are still legacy IBOR products to consider and at the same time the pricing and risk systems need to be upgraâ¦
To ease the pain associated with meeting compliance targets, global institutions are exploring ways to become more efficient by integrating regulatory and business initiatives.
Wire payment fraud is a major growing risk for financial institutions in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. These cases of fraud donât just hurt finâ¦
Asia Risk is proud to present Asia Risk Live, a face-to-face event in Hong Kong and Singapore. An opportunity to reconnect in person to learn and exchange new ideas.
View our latest in market leading training courses, both public and in-house.
The Energy Risk Awards recognise the leading firms in energy risk management. Corporates, financial players, technology and data firms, consultancies, brokers and exchanges are all welcome to submit â¦
The Asia Risk Awards recognize best practices in risk management and derivatives use by banks and financial institutions around the region.
Take a look at the wide variety of events and training on offer.
This eBook is based on the 2021 industry research by Acuiti, as well as the FIS Readiness Report. Youâll find plenty of support for a move to AI-powered cloud computing, a modular approach that ensurâ¦
Maximising value from better risk management and deal efficiency This Risk.net survey and white paper, commissioned by SS & C Intralinks, assesses the outlook for the CMBS market in the US and Europe, â¦
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Edited by Bill Coen and D. R. Maurice
Rates traders have been struggling to buy US dollar rate cap options, with liquidity drying up amid levels of volatility not seen since the Lehman Brothers collapse, driven by recent uncertainty around Federal Reserve actions and the war in Ukraine.
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Size does matter: a study on the required window size for optimal-quality market risk models - Journal of Risk Model Validation | The transition from LIBOR to RFR has brought challenges for structured products. There are still legacy IBOR products to consider and at the same time the pricing and risk systems need to be upgraâ¦
To ease the pain associated with meeting compliance targets, global institutions are exploring ways to become more efficient by integrating regulatory and business initiatives.
Wire payment fraud is a major growing risk for financial institutions in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. These cases of fraud donât just hurt finâ¦
Asia Risk is proud to present Asia Risk Live, a face-to-face event in Hong Kong and Singapore. An opportunity to reconnect in person to learn and exchange new ideas.
View our latest in market leading training courses, both public and in-house.
The Energy Risk Awards recognise the leading firms in energy risk management. Corporates, financial players, technology and data firms, consultancies, brokers and exchanges are all welcome to submit â¦
The Asia Risk Awards recognize best practices in risk management and derivatives use by banks and financial institutions around the region.
Take a look at the wide variety of events and training on offer.
This eBook is based on the 2021 industry research by Acuiti, as well as the FIS Readiness Report. Youâll find plenty of support for a move to AI-powered cloud computing, a modular approach that ensurâ¦
Maximising value from better risk management and deal efficiency This Risk.net survey and white paper, commissioned by SS & C Intralinks, assesses the outlook for the CMBS market in the US and Europe, â¦
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Edited by Bill Coen and D. R. Maurice
When it comes to market risk models, should we use the full data set that we possess or rather find a sufficient subsample? We conduct a study of different fixed moving-window lengths: moving-window sizes varying from 300 to 2000 are considered for each of the 250 combinations of data and a value-at-risk evaluation method. Three value-at-risk models ( historical simulation, a generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity ( GARCH) model and a conditional autoregressive value-at-risk ( CAViaR) model) are used for three different indexes ( the Warsaw Stock Exchange 20, the Standard & Poor’ s 500 and the Financial Times Stock Exchange 100) for the period 2015–19. We also address subjectivity in choosing the window size by testing change point detection algorithms ( binary segmentation and pruned exact linear time) to find the best matching cutoff point. Results indicate that a training sample size greater than 900–1000 observations does not increase the quality of the model, while lengths lower than this cutoff provide unsatisfactory results and decrease the model’ s predictive power. Change point detection methods provide more accurate models: applying the algorithms to each model’ s recalculation on average provides results better by one exceedance. Our recommendation is to use GARCH or CAViaR models with recalculated window sizes.
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Santa Barbara Downtown Business Districts Continue into 2022 with No Major Changes - The Santa Barbara Independent | City Council Unanimously Confirmed the Annual Report and Assessments Heading into Next Fiscal Year
Santa Barbara’ s Downtown and Old Town Business Improvement Districts — a program that brings a quarter of a million dollars annually toward marketing and promotional events for downtown businesses — will move forward through 2022 with no major changes to the boundaries or rates charged to each business. The City Council unanimously approved the assessments after hearing a report from the previous year, and a yearly report from the executive director of the Downtown Organization of Santa Barbara, Robin Elander.
“ Of course these past two years have been challenging to bring regular crowds downtown due to the pandemic, ” Elander said. “ But in some ways, we’ ve been even more valuable to local businesses and organizations to help them creatively pivot and still connect with audiences. ”
The $ 250,000 in fees from the businesses in the two districts — the Downtown district between Micheltorena and Ortega, and Old Town district from Ortega to Gutierrez — account for nearly a third of Downtown Santa Barbara’ s projected $ 721,000 budget. Forty businesses submitted letters of protest about the annual fees, which vary depending on the business but generally range between $ 50 and $ 600. Brandon Beaudette, senior assistant to the city administrator, said that the 40 letters in response represent “ just 2.7 percent ” of businesses in the districts.
Elander’ s annual report on Downtown Santa Barbara’ s programs included a breakdown of the businesses’ top issues according to a 2021 survey and a review of the city’ s ability to keep downtown vibrant despite COVID-19. According to the 2021 survey, COVID-19 instability was number four on the list of issues affecting downtown businesses. Number one was homelessness.
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“ Because this is the number-one issue businesses say needs to be addressed, we make it a priority, ” Elander said.
Part of this work is the “ State Street Regional Action Plan on Homelessness, ” a collaborative effort between the city, the Santa Barbara Alliance for Community Transformation ( SBACT), DignityMoves, and City Net, among other organizations pushing to provide resources for homeless people in the downtown area.
There were also 41 new businesses opened in 2021, Elander said, including new local favorites like Secret Bao, Yona Redz, and Crush Bar & Tap.
More than anything, Elander is looking forward to the future. Downtown Santa Barbara is bringing back some in-person events that have taken a hiatus during the pandemic, including the annual awards breakfast at El Paseo Restaurant, to be held on Wednesday, April 27.
For more information on the Downtown Organization of Santa Barbara, and for a full list of promotions and events, check the Downtown Santa Barbara website.
Support the Santa Barbara Independent through a long-term or a single contribution. | general |
US unit of Barclays close to a VAR breach in Q4 | The transition from LIBOR to RFR has brought challenges for structured products. There are still legacy IBOR products to consider and at the same time the pricing and risk systems need to be upgraâ¦
To ease the pain associated with meeting compliance targets, global institutions are exploring ways to become more efficient by integrating regulatory and business initiatives.
Wire payment fraud is a major growing risk for financial institutions in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. These cases of fraud donât just hurt finâ¦
Asia Risk is proud to present Asia Risk Live, a face-to-face event in Hong Kong and Singapore. An opportunity to reconnect in person to learn and exchange new ideas.
View our latest in market leading training courses, both public and in-house.
The Energy Risk Awards recognise the leading firms in energy risk management. Corporates, financial players, technology and data firms, consultancies, brokers and exchanges are all welcome to submit â¦
The Asia Risk Awards recognize best practices in risk management and derivatives use by banks and financial institutions around the region.
Take a look at the wide variety of events and training on offer.
This eBook is based on the 2021 industry research by Acuiti, as well as the FIS Readiness Report. Youâll find plenty of support for a move to AI-powered cloud computing, a modular approach that ensurâ¦
Maximising value from better risk management and deal efficiency This Risk.net survey and white paper, commissioned by SS & C Intralinks, assesses the outlook for the CMBS market in the US and Europe, â¦
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Edited by Bill Coen and D. R. Maurice
Trading losses at the US unit of Barclays came close to exceeding its value-at-risk estimate in the last quarter of 2021, after the highest losses-to-VAR ratio reached 96.02%.
Banks operating in the US must disclose their three largest trading losses each quarter as a percentage of VAR. if these exceed 100% of VAR, the bank incurs a breach.
The second- and third-largest trading losses at Barclays US reached 81.48% and 73.78%, respectively. This compared with losses-to-VAR ratios of 75
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Stop Changing the Subject From Anti-Asian Racism | On this day last year, Daoyou Feng, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, Soon Chung Park, Xiaojie Tan, and Yong Ae Yue were murdered by a terrorist who police said was “ having a bad day. ” Since then, Asian Americans have known many more bad days. Bad days on which a 67-year-old Filipina woman was punched more than 100 times and spit on. Bad days on which seven women were assaulted by the same man in a span of two hours. Bad days on which our elders were slashed or bludgeoned with rocks and hammers, like GuiYing Ma and Noel Quintana. Bad days on which a man my father’ s age had his head stomped on while he was collecting cans, like Yao Pan Ma. Bad days on which women — who very well could have been me — were pushed in front of a train, like Michelle Go, or followed home and stabbed to death, like Christina Yuna Lee.
How much more can we take? In the year since the Atlanta spa shootings, many versions of this story have been written. They start with surnames that still register as foreign to most readers skimming over them and end with an appeal to the community to please, please stand up and keep fighting. But with what? Yet another memorial fund?
Right now, many Americans of Asian descent feel like we’ ve been pushed to our emotional limits, even if the generational trauma coded into our DNA gives us an extraordinary capacity to endure suffering. People who fail to grasp that “ there is no hierarchy of oppression ” invalidate our experiences by calling them lesser, or even nonexistent, and head to the comments section to dismiss essays like this as the rantings of an “ angry minority. ” As comedian Youngmi Mayer writes, “ One of the most jarring experiences is when something bad happens to Asians and I go to an all-white space, and someone asks me how I feel and I say ‘ sad’ and they say, ‘ Oh no! Why?’ ”
These responses teach us to police our own emotions — or even “ blame themselves or believe some of the negative messages from discrimination, ” says Kevin Nadal, a distinguished professor at the City University of New York and a Filipino American. But silence does not benefit us. In fact, it’ s partially how we came to earn the damning reputation of a model minority, tracing back to when Chinese immigrants worked on the transcontinental railroad in the 1800s for less pay and under more dangerous conditions than their Irish counterparts — and were still called “ the dregs of Asia ” for it. It took a historic eight-day strike during which food, supplies, and transportation were choked off to thousands of Chinese laborers for their employers to realize that the Chinese weren’ t docile and wouldn’ t be taken for granted. But today, the persistence of our image as obedient hard workers — and the fact that we have it “ pretty good ” in this country because of that categorization — means we’ re still hesitant to publicly express our anger, frustration, and helplessness, even in the face of this prolonged explosion in anti-Asian hate crimes. As if “ good behavior ” will ever change our status as permanent guests here, even if many of us know no other place to “ go back ” to.
These attacks and the feeble reactions to them make me think about how my parents had to prove, over and over, that they deserved a place in the United States. How they had to go through a humiliating green-card application process in which they had to post their own jobs in the classifieds and watch as competing résumés flooded in. How they had to endure years of Midwest-nice microaggressions before holding their hands up in an unimpressive courtroom to take an oath that now reads like a pretty rotten deal. How their grade-school-age children watched proudly, even though the realization that we’ d never be considered fully American had already begun to dawn on us from our peers’ snickers and back-of-the-bus slant-eye gestures.
Our upbringing tells us to “ eat bitter ” — to not be a burden — but it’ s time to unlearn this and demand that our grief be heard. Our community will keep saying the names of our dead while gathering the scattered flowers and taping up the torn posters honoring their memories. We will keep voting out and occupying the offices of politicians who spew racist rhetoric. We will keep publicly challenging media that propagates the same harmful stereotypes while erasing Asian Americans ( ABC World News Tonight, for example, recently misidentified community activist Grace Lee as Michelle Go, suggesting that even after death we are seen as interchangeable). We will keep compassionately educating those around us — including, sadly, other people of color — who accept and act on the lie that we’ re to blame for COVID without realizing that this self-sabotage upholds white supremacy. We will hold space for ourselves, go to therapy, and fight our instincts to isolate.
But I’ ve given up on asking the mostly well-meaning, yet oblivious, white folks around me to center the experiences of Asian women. When I do, it’ s usually met with an empty “ I’ m sorry you’ re going through this. ” So I will center myself. I will no longer change the subject so that no one feels awkward — I’ ll speak this full, unsugarcoated truth. If we can’ t elicit real understanding from those who put how-to-help links in their bios and call it allyship, we might as well go for discomfort.
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U.S., EU, India and South Africa near deal on COVID vaccines intellectual property waiver | WASHINGTON/GENEVA – The United States, European Union, India and South Africa have reached a tentative agreement on key elements of a long-sought limited intellectual property ( IP) waiver for COVID-19 vaccines, sources familiar with the deal said Tuesday.
The tentative agreement among the four members of the World Trade Organization ( WTO) still needs formal approvals from the parties before it can be considered official, the sources said.
It would apply only to patents for COVID-19 vaccines, which would be much more limited in scope than a broad proposed WTO IP waiver backed by the United States, they said.
The tentative agreement closely mirrors the EU’ s compulsory licensing approach and does not include COVID-19 treatments or tests, and also contained limitations that would likely exclude China from any waiver, one of the sources said.
The text of the agreement was being circulated in Brussels, Washington, Johannesburg and New Delhi, with decisions on the length of the waivers still to be resolved, the source added.
Spokespersons for the WTO and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Politico, which first reported the tentative agreement, said the IP waiver would be available only to countries that exported less than 10% of global vaccine doses in 2021.
The tentative deal comes after months of negotiations over how to accelerate COVID-19 vaccine production in developing countries, where vaccination rates have lagged far behind those of wealthy countries.
In talks brokered by WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the United States, EU, India and South Africa broke away from negotiations with a broader group of countries late last year amid stiff opposition from nations with big pharmaceuticals sectors, including Switzerland and the U.K.
“ Over the last couple of months, the Commission has been actively engaged in informal discussions with representatives of South Africa, India and the U.S. on the intellectual property element of the WTO response to the COVID-19 pandemic, ” a European Commission spokesperson said. “ Consultations are ongoing among these four WTO members. Consultations are also ongoing among EU Member States. ” | tech |
China stocks leap after State Council pledges support for economy, capital markets | Vice Premier Liu He said Beijing would roll out support for the Chinese economy as well as be cautious with measures for capital markets.
The Xinhua news agency also cited Liu as saying, at a meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Committee under the State Council, that regulators would coordinate better with their counterparts in Hong Kong.
The comments came a day after China stocks slumped to 21-month lows and mainland firms listed in Hong Kong plumbed 2008 lows.
Chinese stocks have been pummelled this year by rising domestic COVID-19 cases, fears about a blowback on China from its dealings with the sanctions-hit Russia, and continued regulatory crackdowns, including the risk of more mainland firms being delisted by U.S. exchanges.
Liu's assurances helped the Hang Seng index claw back all the ground lost on Tuesday and more. The HSI surged more than 9% to above the 20,000-point mark.
The Hang Seng Tech Index logged its biggest daily gain of 22%, recovering a good deal of the ground it had ceded since March 10 as regulatory fears piled up.
`` It's quite positive, at least for the moment, as Liu addressed some key concerns in the market, especially regarding the regulatory crackdown, '' said Ting Lu, chief China economist at Nomura. `` Liu also demands the PBOC to take action, so I believe the PBOC will do some easing in the next couple of months. ''
The blue-chip CSI300 index gained the most since July 2020, rising 4.3%, while the Shanghai Composite Index added 3.5% and the Hong Kong-listed China Enterprises Index gained 12.5%.
The CSI300 had lost 19% in the year to date through Tuesday's close.
Among Hong Kong index heavyweights, Meituan jumped 32.1%, while Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group soared 23% and 27%, respectively, logging their biggest daily gains. Other stocks caught in China's regulatory crosshairs, such as education, also rallied, with New Oriental Education & Technology Group rising 37%.
Liu's comments also helped to ease worries that encouraging economic data for January and February were leading to complacency among policymakers in Beijing.
The central bank surprised markets on Tuesday by not cutting one of its key lending rates, despite growing risks to the economic outlook, including mounting COVID-19 disruptions, increasing global risks from the Ukraine conflict and a weak property market.
Liu also said China encourages long-term institutional investors to increase stock holdings.
`` It is quite reasonable for the Chinese government to properly step in, maintain the basic stability of the stock market and avoid further decline, '' Zhang Ming, Deputy Director of Institute of Finance & Banking at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in a note on Tuesday.
Zhang said this round of declines came against a very complex background, hit by `` external geopolitical shocks, China-U.S. game and malicious short-selling by international investors. ''
JPMorgan Chase & Co downgraded 28 Chinese stocks listed in the United States and Hong Kong on Monday, citing `` China's geopolitical risks '' as `` more and more countries and corporates impose sanctions on Russia. ''
`` China's tech stocks are underpinned by value, while Liu's speech ignited the rebound, '' said Xie Chen, fund manager at Shanghai Jianwen Investment Management Co.
However, Nomura's Lu said markets might continue to be worried that China is getting isolated due to the Russia-Ukraine war.
`` A meeting can not solve all issues, given the economy is not in good shape, '' Yin Peixin, investment vice director at RBH ( Shanghai) Asset Management Co said.
The jump in China shares lifted broader Asian markets, which also benefited from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's comments on Wednesday that peace talks were sounding more realistic but more time was needed.
China's yuan also reacted to Liu's comments and the sharp rebounds in the stock market. The yuan extended early gains and hit a high of 6.3460 per dollar at one point in the afternoon session, up nearly 0.4%.
Mainland China reported 1,952 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on March 15, the national health authority said on Wednesday, dropping from a two-year high caseload of 3,602 a day earlier.
A recent surge in infections had raised concerns about the rising economic costs of its tough measures to contain the disease.
Later on Wednesday, Xinhau news agency reported China was putting a planned property tax trial this year on ice, citing the finance ministry.
The real estate sector, a key economic growth driver, has slumped as Beijing's campaign to reduce high debt levels triggered a liquidity crisis at some major property developers, resulting in bond defaults and projects being shelved or left unfinished.
( Reporting by Jason Xue, Samuel Shen and Andrew Galbraith, additional reporting by Winni Zhou; Editing by Kim Coghill, Vidya Ranganathan and Subhranshu Sahu) | business |
Vietnam to diversify sources of industry materials over China COVID curbs | - Vietnam plans to diversify the sources of materials needed to supply the country's manufacturing sector due to tighter COVID-19 curbs in China, industry and trade minister Nguyen Hong Dien said during a parliament meeting on Wednesday.
The Southeast Asian country's industrial production is heavily reliant on Chinese materials and equipment and its giant neighbour is Vietnam's largest trading partner.
Multiple Chinese provinces and cities have tightened restrictions in line with Beijing's zero-tolerance goal of suppressing COVID-19 as quickly as possible, including the southern Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen.
`` This is a challenge for the global economy, not only for Vietnam, '' Dien said.
The ministry will also work with Chinese authorities on possible measures to maintain a `` green lane '' for goods to move between the two countries, Dien said, adding that local firms would be encouraged to boost their production of materials.
`` Chinese materials and equipment are important for Vietnam's manufacturing sector, especially for garment and footwear production, '' Dien said.
Vietnam, with a population of 98 million, has over the last decade become a key production hub for a number of global giants such as Samsung Electronics, Nike and Intel.
Vietnam's imports from China rose 30% last year to $ 110 billion, with the main imports including machinery, electronics, fabrics, steel and plastics. ( Reporting by Khanh Vu Editing by Ed Davies) | business |
Adagene Announces FDA Clearance to Proceed with Phase 1b/2 Trial of Anti-CTLA-4 ADG126 SAFEbody® in Combination Therapy With Anti-PD-1 Antibody Pembrolizumab | – ADG126-P001 trial being initiated at multiple sites in U.S. and Asia Pacific –
– First SAFEbody candidate to advance into combination clinical trial, building on strong single-agent clinical profile –
SAN DIEGO and SUZHOU, China, March 16, 2022 ( GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Adagene Inc. ( “ Adagene ”) ( Nasdaq: ADAG), a company transforming the discovery and development of novel antibody-based therapies, today announced FDA clearance to proceed with a Phase 1b/2 clinical trial of its anti-CTLA-4 monoclonal antibody ( mAb), ADG126, in combination with the anti-PD-1 antibody pembrolizumab. The global trial ( ADG126-P001 / KEYNOTE-C98) will evaluate patients with advanced/metastatic solid tumors at multiple sites in the U.S. and Asia Pacific ( APAC).
ADG126 SAFEbody is designed for conditional activation in the tumor microenvironment ( TME), as well as to enhance the efficacy profile by potent Treg depletion and to maintain its physiological function by soft ligand blocking in order to expand the therapeutic index and further address safety concerns with existing CTLA-4 therapies.
“ The FDA clearance of this trial represents a major step forward in our wholly-owned CTLA-4 program. It builds on a strong safety profile for ADG126 SAFEbody and its parental antibody ADG116, respectively, as a single agent and the ability to achieve doses that may unlock the full potential of CTLA-4 as a proven target for strong ADCC-mediated Treg depletion in the TME. Our goal is to establish the CTLA-4 pathway as the cornerstone of cancer treatment in both single-agent and combination regimens, ” said Peter Luo, Ph.D., Co-founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Adagene. “ We are excited to initiate our clinical trial evaluating combination therapy with ADG126, which leverages SAFEbody precision masking technology to address toxicity limitations. This multi-regional trial of ADG126 with pembrolizumab also reflects our commitment to bringing highly differentiated therapies to cancer patients globally. ”
SAFEbody technology is designed to address safety and tolerability challenges associated with many antibody therapeutics by using precision masking technology to shield the binding domain of the biologic therapy. Through activation in the TME, this allows for tumor-specific targeting of antibodies, while minimizing on-target off-tumor toxicity in healthy tissues.
The ADG126-P001 trial is expected to dose the first patients soon. The trial is designed to evaluate safety and tolerability, and to determine the recommended Phase 2 dose for ADG126 in combination with pembrolizumab. The trial will begin with dose-escalation ( ADG126 at 6 mg/kg) followed by dose expansion at the recommended dose for early efficacy evaluation. A combination cohort of ADG126 with the anti-PD-1 therapy, toripalimab is also being initiated in Australia.
About AdageneAdagene Inc. ( Nasdaq: ADAG) is a platform-driven, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to transforming the discovery and development of novel antibody-based cancer immunotherapies.
Adagene combines computational biology and artificial intelligence to design novel antibodies that address unmet patient needs. Powered by its proprietary Dynamic Precision Library ( DPL) platform, composed of NEObody™, SAFEbody®, and POWERbody™ technologies, Adagene’ s highly differentiated pipeline features novel immunotherapy programs. Adagene has forged strategic collaborations with reputable global partners that leverage its technology in multiple approaches at the vanguard of science.
For more information, please visit: https: //investor.adagene.com. Follow Adagene on WeChat, LinkedIn and Twitter.
SAFEbody® is a registered trademark in the United States, China, Australia, Japan, Singapore, and the European Union.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding potential impact of combination trial of ADG126 and Anti-PD-1 antibody pembrolizumab, the potential implications of clinical data for patients, and Adagene’ s advancement of, and anticipated clinical activities, clinical development, regulatory milestones, and commercialization of its product candidates. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including but not limited to Adagene’ s ability to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of its drug candidates; the clinical results for its drug candidates, which may not support further development or regulatory approval; the content and timing of decisions made by the relevant regulatory authorities regarding regulatory approval of Adagene’ s drug candidates; Adagene’ s ability to achieve commercial success for its drug candidates, if approved; Adagene’ s ability to obtain and maintain protection of intellectual property for its technology and drugs; Adagene’ s reliance on third parties to conduct drug development, manufacturing and other services; Adagene’ s limited operating history and Adagene’ s ability to obtain additional funding for operations and to complete the development and commercialization of its drug candidates; Adagene’ s ability to enter into additional collaboration agreements beyond its existing strategic partnerships or collaborations, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Adagene’ s clinical development, commercial and other operations, as well as those risks more fully discussed in the “ Risk Factors ” section in Adagene’ s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to Adagene, and Adagene undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.
Investor & Media Contact:
Ami Knoefler
Adagene
650-739-9952
ir @ adagene.com
2022 GlobeNewswire, Inc., source Press Releases | business |
Ukraine conflict: The Africa trade balance | The impact of conflict in Ukraine on the world economy is not difficult to summarise: bad. In the case of Africa, it is much more complicated because of the continent’ s diversity: good and poor agriculture, energy wealth and energy poverty.
The impact on trade is similar but hard to quantify accurately. Statistics are always out of date but COVID-19 has meant that long term trends have been obscured by recent and country specific changes. But some things can be asserted. This is a crisis of primary trade ( agri, metals and hydrocarbons) and its ancillaries ( feedstock to fertiliser) and not primarily of manufactured goods. Nor does it necessarily mean an additional shortage of ( or an additional risk to the availability of) trade finance from the traders and bankers who facilitated this open market dollar-based commodity financing.
The complexities for Africa are both in terms of a geopolitical challenge as African nations weigh their historic relationships with superpowers, and of risk, in particular for those countries dependent on imports of soft commodities. Meanwhile, there is a delicate balance to be struck of potential opportunity for energy producing countries of energy security and of sustainability.
Some of the biggest immediate effect on Africa trade is on soft commodities. How will different African countries be affected by sanctions on fertiliser, wheat and other food crops – and the cessation of Ukrainian soft commodity exports? While parts of the world have relied on Russia’ s oil and gas, the world also relies on its cereal exports.
But some lessons can be drawn. Some of those go back to 2014, to Russia’ s annexations and early sanctions, to sovereign debt risks, and some hope which can be drawn for improvements in capital expenditure in the continent’ s energy sector.
The full extent of this hadn’ t been featured until recently. After the last crisis in 2014, with the oil and gas embargoes at the time, Russia began to focus more on cereals. Rebecca Harding, CEO of Coriolis Technologies told TXF in a Trade Risk Briefing on 8 March, “ What's interesting about this is that around 2015 Russia actually overtook the US as a major exporter of cereals, particularly wheat and meslin [ a crop of wheat and rye sown and harvested together ]. ”
Indeed, USDA figures reported by Indexmundi show the Russian Federation as the second largest exporter of wheat by volume in 2021 ( behind the EU), and Ukraine in fourth, one place above the US.
Food security is an increasing challenge. Many African countries will have time to adjust to higher fertiliser, wheat, and fuel prices. But others will feel an immediate shock because of a dependency on Black Sea wheat and corn. “ We remain particularly concerned about Egypt and Sudan, ” cautions Robert Besseling, CEO of Pangea Risk, an Africa-Middle East risk consultancy. “ Both countries will undoubtedly witness bread price riots in coming weeks or months that could pose threats to political stability. We are already warning our clients about these risks and we are reminding them that Egypt and Sudan’ s previous long time dictators were ousted at times of high bread prices. ”
Egypt is one of the biggest importers of Ukrainian and Russian wheat, relying on imports from those countries for around 80% of its needs, from which it produces subsidised bread. In late February, Egypt made some attempts at import controls via mandating the use of LCs rather than cash against delivery for specified imports, but the central bank excluded essential such as grain from the new import rules. On 9 March, Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly announced the country had ‘ strategic reserves’ to the end of the year and would be avoiding ‘ specific sources’ of wheat. `` Russia and Ukraine were our main source of wheat but we have already started to diversify our sources…for imports in future deals, '' Madbouly told a press conference.
Besseling adds that African agricultural producers are also dependent on urea and phosphate-based fertilisers, which are at risk of supply disruption. Ukraine and Russia produce and supply fertilisers and the raw materials to make them. For instance, Yara, the Norwegian group which is the largest producer and supplier of fertilisers in Europe, manufactures in Ukraine. Russia produces just under 10% of world nitrogen and phosphate fertilisers and, along with Belarus, is a major supplier of potash.
“ African sovereigns usually absorb the higher costs of fuel and wheat at times of high inflation. The ability of many African sovereigns to do so will be more constrained this time as most markets are still recovering from the pandemic shock. Countries that were considering phasing out subsidies, such as Zambia, Tunisia, and Nigeria, are already putting such plans on ice for this year. The IMF and other creditors are becoming concerned about the impact of such fiscal pressures on debt sustainability, ” says Besseling. “ I see at least two more African default scenarios this year, after Zambia in 2020 and Mali this year. ”
Does Besseling believe that there will be more opportunity for African energy producers? After all, last year on paper Nigeria’ s oil collateral was worth less than sovereign loans on its energy production. “ There is certainly a short term, and perhaps longer term, opportunity for African oil producers such as Nigeria with crude prices exceeding $ 120 per barrel, which is double the government’ s budget benchmark price, ” he says. “ European importing countries are holding urgent talks with Nigeria to secure natural gas supplies through LNG or even by pipeline, through the planned Trans Sahara Gas pipeline. Nigeria’ s oil production has slumped to below two million bpd, which could easily be increased to three million bpd if US and European investment is confirmed. This scenario is a drastic about-turn in fortunes for Nigeria’ s fossil fuels sector, which has suffered from long term divestment. ”
The $ 13 billion Trans Sahara Natural Gas Pipeline, through which Niger will commercially benefit from its natural gas reserves, is being developed through a partnership between Nigeria’ s national oil company the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and Algeria’ s Sonatrach, with a 10% holding from Niger’ s government.
This is one example of a general trend in capital expenditure highlighted by the African Energy Chamber’ s first quarter report, the State of African Energy. It forecasts capital expenditure in oil and gas will reach $ 30 billion in 2022 after a decline from $ 60 billion in 2014 to just $ 22.5 billion in 2020. The contraction followed COVID-19 pandemic spending trends and energy transition-related divestment in Africa and the oil price falls of the early 2010s. The report expects upstream spending to rise and if deferred/postponed projects are reinstated, for spending to top $ 49 billion by 2024.
Nonetheless, for exporters and importers, there is the China dimension to consider. What will be the effect of higher energy and metals demand and prices on commodity reserve-backed loans from different countries in Africa? “ Most African commodity exports will increase in value this year, from softs to crude and metals. This will have little impact on Chinese commodity-backed loans where prices were contractually pre-set, ” Besseling points out. “ So Angolan, Zambian, and DRC debt to China is unlikely to be impacted by higher commodity prices. But for contracts that incorporate fluctuating commodity pricing, there will be some breathing space for African sovereigns. ”
Harding says that in terms of Russia’ s energy exports to the African Continental Free Trade Area, the impact of sanctions and/or supply falls is unlikely to be large. “ If we look at where Africa as a whole is getting its imports from, Russia actually isn't the biggest one. In fact it's relatively small. Saudi Arabia, obviously, for the whole of the African continent, is the largest, and a lot comes in from the Netherlands and is shipped down, ” she says. “ Russia had been increasing its mineral fuel trade and was beginning to have more influence between 2016 and 2018, and forecast was actually for this to continue to increase [ before the invasion of Ukraine ]. ”
For instance, when Coriolis Technologies undertook some analysis on Malta several years ago, Russia's trade with the island was significant. A lot of that oil and gas was going into Africa. “ There’ s a lot of trade that goes through places like Cyprus, Turkey and Malta, hidden trade that comes into Africa as well. There were distortions in 2020 because of the pandemic and trade in value terms was distorted, but Russia had been trying to gain influence which may not easily be seen in mineral fuels as such. ”
Is South Africa ( in particular) facing a bind with its relationships with Russia on the energy front? It, along with China, notably was one of the 35 countries abstaining ( and a further 12 not voting) at the UN General Assembly resolution demanding an end to the Russian offensive in Ukraine. A total of 141 countries voted in favour of the resolution, which reaffirms Ukrainian sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. More than half of the countries abstaining or not voting were from Africa. How does Besseling see that energy conundrum playing out for South Africa above all?
“ South Africa’ s proposed purchase of six Russian nuclear reactors is dead in the water, although relations remain warm based on political and ideological ties. The government is steering towards the west to attract foreign investment, while factions of the ruling party remain committed to loyalties to Russia, ” says Besseling. “ For South Africa’ s president, who faces an internal party re-election contest later this year, the situation is politically perilous. Western governments may not quickly forget South Africa’ s abstention at the UN General Assembly vote in February. ”
The China angle is an interesting, and challenging one. China’ s Belt and Road Initiative ( BRI) is in a process of adjustment, particularly as outlined in the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Senegal last November. Will there be any more developments on BRI or any moves from China to fill any further finance gaps left by Russia?
“ China is not withdrawing from Africa, despite some pundits’ recent comments following FOCAC in Dakar, ” Besseling says. “ But China is certainly adjusting its relationship with Africa from one based purely on infrastructure-for-debt, to a mutually enhancing trade relationship. This means that there will be less BRI investment in coming years and more of a focus on value-based industries and trade finance initiatives. That said, China will remain the largest investor in African infrastructure for years to come. ”
As Russia is pushed out of some African markets, there may be opportunities for Chinese military security cooperation, mining, or nuclear projects, Besseling says. “ But Russia’ s commercial role in Africa is arguably negligible compared to China, Europe, and the US. ”
Will other lenders be more sanguine about Africa energy risk or are there other issues at play such as ESG concerns? Energy security may well be a bigger driver than energy sustainability – at least in the short term – but many European lenders are adamant that both must continue to go hand in hand.
African energy markets offer lots of reasons to be optimistic, Besseling argues. “ There are still nascent exciting oil and gas assets, such as Namibia’ s recently discovered massive fields, as well as the assets in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Senegal. Political risk will be the main obstacle for lenders – have countries over-leveraged? Are there reputational or contract risks? Or will a change in government raise contract review risks? These are prominent threats to African energy assets that lenders deal with on a regular basis ''
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How the Current State of the Pandemic Should Impact Your Content Strategy | In recent weeks, we 've seen states around the US loosen Covid restrictions, the CDC redefine expectations for masking indoors, and hospitalizations drastically fall from their mid-January peak. A cautious optimism fills the air as workers start to return to the office and our daily lives begin to see some normalcy for the first time in two years. It seems ( we all hope) that the pandemic will soon be behind us, but it will still be quite some time before the dust settles and even longer before Covid is a distant memory.
For now, though, we have clearly entered a new phase of the pandemic -- one where we are toeing the line between uncertainty and confidence in the future. And as we stand at the precipice of a manageable endemic, brands of all sizes are finding themselves in stasis; unsure of how to best engage audiences during this unique time of transition.
Questions abound for brand strategists and marketers. Should we acknowledge the current moment, or hope that it passes quickly? Should we alter our content strategy to cater to the new normal or hope that we will return to pre-pandemic behaviors before year end? Should we tamper our optimism and plan for the worst instead? If questions like these are rolling around in your head, you're not alone! And though it's impossible to accurately predict the many ways in which this past two years will inform our next decade of experiences, luckily the context clues of the current moment can help us navigate the remainder of 2022. So if you're eager to evolve your marketing campaigns to align with the changing times, here are three ways the current state of the pandemic should impact your content strategy.
Despite `` zoom fatigue, '' most brands are not ready to go back to in-person events anytime soon. The whiplash of constantly changing 2021 Covid protocols is weighing heavily on key decision makers as they plan the remainder of 2022. While Covid might be waning now, brands are apprehensive about potential new variants and aren't as eager to take chances with their budgets as they were last year. Because of this, 80 percent of marketers are investing the same, if not more, into virtual events into 2022 when compared to 2021.
If the shift to virtual events resulted in your brand putting conferences on the back burner throughout the pandemic, now's the time to adjust that strategy. At the onset of the pandemic, event planners were forced to evolve to remain relevant in an isolated world. Popular conferences invested heavily to create highly curated virtual environments and now they need to get a return on that investment. Because of this, most conferences in 2022 are offering hybrid events that allow for both a physical and virtual experience for attendees and afford brands with the best of both worlds.
This shift toward hybrid conferences is likely to become the new normal because it greatly increases audience potential for these events. But while hybrid events currently have more people tuning in virtually than physically, it's likely this trend will shift over the years towards a stronger preference for real life interaction. This means that now is the time to participate in hybrid conferences and take advantage of the increased attendance rates that virtual events deliver. As we move further and further away from the uncertainty of Covid, it's likely the benefits of virtual events will begin to dissipate as well.
Since the onset of the pandemic, the CDC has reported a drastic increase in anxiety levels among US adults, especially those aged 18-29. This universal unease has given way to a growing skepticism in many commercial brands and that uncertainty is only growing as we enter this new phase of the pandemic. Add to this inflation, market volatility, political and social unease, or one of the many other issues conflating our economic outlook right now and consumer confidence is the lowest it has been in 10 years! Customers are spending more cautiously than ever and need extra assurances before they make a purchase.
If your content strategy isn't heavily focused on publishing case studies and encouraging organic testimonials, it's time to re-prioritize. Today, a whopping 93 percent of customers read online reviews before choosing to spend with a local business and conversion rates increase by an average of 380 percent when reviews are shown alongside a high priced product online.
But simply having great reviews isn't enough. Brands that treat their online reviews as an ongoing conversation see more success than those not participating in the review process. This is because 89 percent of consumers read brand responses to online reviews and almost the same amount find reviews older than three months to be entirely irrelevant. When reviews are current and conversational, brand trust grows. But when brands ignore negative reviews, they can expect to see customer churn grow an average of 15 percent.
Because gaining organic reviews takes time, many marketers are responding to this demand by prioritizing case studies. Hubspot recently reported that 64 percent of marketers found case studies to be effective in 2021 ( with 15 percent noting that case studies drive their largest ROI) and that 37 percent of marketers are planning a case study marketing strategy for the first time in 2022.
It's no secret that I believe video is the most powerful content marketing tool around, and the current state of the pandemic is only validating that assertion. According to Google, YouTube now reaches more 18-to-49-year-olds in one week than every single cable television network combined! This is likely why most marketers have considered video to be their highest performing content format since the start of the pandemic.
Only 11 percent of marketers surveyed do not plan to invest heavily in video in 2022, which means ignoring this important medium will likely see brands falling behind the pack. But those focused on video are being pulled in competing directions in today's current climate. While the majority of marketers plan to keep their focus on short-form video for use on social, a small percentage ( 9 percent) are hedging their bets that 2022 will be the year of AR and VR so they plan to experiment with 360° video for the first time. While it's true that the pandemic has helped catapult VR to popularity, it's possible things will plateau in this arena for a short time as we all return to pre-pandemic norms. Because of this, invest in AR and VR more cautiously in 2022 and focus that budget on more tried-and-true methods.
The impact of pandemic living -- two years in which the word `` unprecedented '' became the most popular term in our lexicon -- will resonate for years to come. We can not be certain how slow or fast our return to normal will be, nor will we rest easy anytime soon. Brands that have survived the past two years did so through great agility and perseverance, shifting with the tides while making game time decisions. While it would be nice to finally relax, pause, and reflect, it is quite likely that this reactionary mode is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. Because of this, marketers that embrace the current moment and evolve with its shifting expectations will see far more success than those hoping to just wait it out a few months more. | business |
Covid-19: Europe thought it was done with Covid-19. But the virus isn't done with Europe | This is the weekly edition of CNN's coronavirus newsletter. Look out for your roundup every Wednesday. If you haven't subscribed yet, sign up here.
Covid-19 cases are rising in Britain just two weeks after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson lifted most mitigation measures. Infections were 48% higher last week compared with the one before and hospitalizations were up 17% over the same period, CNN's Brenda Goodman and Deidre McPhillips report.
The country's daily case rate -- about 55,000 a day -- is still less than a third of what it was during the Omicron peak, but cases are rising as fast as they were falling just two weeks earlier, when self-isolation rules for infected people ended in the UK.
Daily cases are also rising in more than half of the countries in the European Union. They have jumped 48% in the Netherlands. On Tuesday, Germany reported a record high seven-day incidence in Covid-19 cases, of 1,585.4 Covid-19 infections per 100,000 people, days before the government is due to consider easing some restrictions.
The situation has caught the eye of American public health experts, who worry that Europe's rise in infections may be a preview of what's to come in the US. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN that his British counterparts have pegged the rise in cases to a combination of three factors: The more transmissible BA.2 variant; the opening of society and people mingling more indoors without masks; and waning immunity from vaccination or prior infection.
`` Without a doubt, opening up society and having people mingle indoors is clearly something that is a contributor, as well as overall waning immunity, which means we 've really got to stay heads-up and keep our eye on the pattern here, '' Fauci said. `` So that's the reason why we're watching this very carefully. ''
Although the UK may provide a glimpse of the future, there are key differences that will affect how BA.2 plays out in the US, Keri Althoff, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told CNN.
In the UK, 86% of eligible people are fully vaccinated, and 67% are boosted, compared with 69% of those eligible vaccinated and 50% boosted in the US. `` What we see happening in the UK is going to be perhaps a better story than what we should be expecting here, '' Althoff said.
Even though the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC) did away with masking recommendations for most parts of the country two weeks ago, it is vital to stay vigilant. `` We have to stay diligent in terms of monitoring of it and testing and be prepared to possibly reverse a lot of the relaxing of these restrictions, '' said Deborah Fuller, a microbiologist at the University of Washington.
`` We can't let our guard down, because the message that people get when they say 'we're lifting restrictions ' is the pandemic is over. And it's not. ''
YOU ASKED. WE ANSWERED.
Q: What factors should people consider if they need to return to work in person?
A: It depends on the individual and the circumstances involved, CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen said.
`` People should consider three factors. What are your medical circumstances and that of others in your household? What's the level of Covid-19 in your community? And finally what safety precautions are already being taken in your place of work? '' Wen added. `` Some offices require proof of vaccination, require regular testing, distancing, and ventilation. And remember that masks are always available, even if they are not required, '' she said.
Send your questions here. Are you a health care worker fighting Covid-19? Message us on WhatsApp about the challenges you're facing: +1 347-322-0415.
READS OF THE WEEK
White House warns Congress about potential disruptions to Covid response
The White House is amping up its warning that aspects of the federal Covid-19 response will be curtailed after lawmakers failed to pass additional funding, with administration officials speaking in dire terms in a call with reporters and sending a letter to congressional leaders Tuesday, Betsy Klein reports.
The latest warnings mark an escalation in pressure from the Biden administration ahead of key funding deadlines. Additional funding for federal Covid-19 efforts was initially included in a recent massive omnibus spending package, but was stripped out following a spat over how the spending would be offset.
As daily cases rise in Europe, a senior Biden administration official warned that Congress ' failure to pass a supplemental Covid-19 funding bill could leave the US unprepared for another potential surge. `` Our scientific and medical experts have been clear that in the next couple of months, we could see Covid cases increase here in the US just as we're seeing cases rising abroad right now, '' the senior official said, adding, `` We are less well prepared without additional funding than we would be otherwise. ''
In China, 37 million people are in lockdown as the country suffers its worst outbreak since Wuhan
China is battling its worst Covid-19 outbreak since the early days of the pandemic. This outbreak has spread far faster than previous waves of less infectious variants, with daily cases skyrocketing from a few dozen in February to more than 5,100 on Tuesday -- the highest figure since the early 2020 outbreak in Wuhan.
While the number may sound low compared to other countries, it is alarmingly high for a nation that has adhered to a strict zero-Covid policy throughout the pandemic. Five cities -- collectively home to more than 37 million residents -- are now under varying levels of lockdown in China, Jessie Yeung reports.
Authorities and state media say it is still unclear how the first few outbreaks began. But several factors -- including cases imported from overseas and the prevalence of the Omicron variant -- exacerbated the severity of the outbreak nationwide.
She had a near-death experience because of Covid. But it wasn't a glimpse of an afterlife that changed her
In the two years since it began, the pandemic has spawned a new category of near-death experiences -- recounted by people who say they lived through them and returned to see the miraculous in the ordinary rhythms of daily life, John Blake reports.
They were spiritually transformed not by a glimpse of the afterlife but by what they saw in this life, when they were struggling to stay alive after being stricken by Covid.
Those type of stories don't tend to get book or movie deals. Yet people like Paige Deiner, 41, have these incredible stories of survival that can help us all.
Start with the power of gratitude. It's a cliché for some, but not for many Covid survivors. `` I think often of how much we take for granted, '' Deiner wrote in a Facebook post not long after she was released from the hospital in December, `` from the ability to walk or swallow to breathe. ''
TOP TIP
Mask mandates may be lifting in many parts of the US, but many people are holding on to them in case guidance changes. Here is what you need to know to store masks safely and tell if they are expired:
Masks need to be stored in a dry area, said Christopher Sulmonte, project administrator for the Johns Hopkins Biocontainment Unit at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. `` I personally use a paper bag without sealing it, because the big thing is you want it to recirculate with air, '' he said. Store your face coverings using a plastic container with holes in it. For cloth masks, make sure to wash them like you would any other piece of clothing you own. If you're taking a break from wearing a mask, be sure to check the expiration date, this can often be found on the outside of the boxes.
TODAY 'S PODCAST
When astronaut Christina Koch embarked on her record-breaking 11-month spaceflight, she didn't know she would return to Earth at the start of a global pandemic. CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta speaks to Koch about her remarkable journey. Listen here. | business |
Vaccine inequity is economically self-defeating: WHO Foundation CEO | The CEO of the WHO Foundation has told CNBC that the global economy will lose `` trillions of dollars '' if more Covid-19 vaccines aren't delivered worldwide.
Anil Soni, who became the Foundation's first CEO in January 2021, said `` the governments of Europe and the West have a clear obligation to donate excess doses and to put money on the table to buy the vaccines, the volumes necessary to deliver to 70% of the world's population this year. ''
The World Health Organization has set a target for 70% of the global population to be vaccinated by mid-2022.
Speaking in late February for this week's episode of CNBC's `` Equity and Opportunity '' on vaccine equity, Soni said it is a `` moral imperative '' to vaccinate the world against Covid.
`` We live in a world in which we see the effects of deep, structural generations-long inequity. This is an opportunity to do something very different and show that history can be corrected. That we can achieve the moral victory of an equitable response where everyone in the world, all of us have equal value, receives the same access to this life-saving technology, '' Soni said.
`` But epidemiologically and economically, vaccine inequity is self-defeating, the numbers just make that clear. We're going to lose trillions of dollars in the global economy if we don't achieve high vaccine coverage, because what you 'll have in global supply chains is materials not able to come from the countries in which you have continued lockdowns, continued high rates of transmission of Covid-19. ''
Soni said that even with vaccines, the spread of the most recent variant, omicron, had been `` breathtaking, '' and if large populations of the world remain unvaccinated, future variants could develop which may be resistant to vaccinations.
The WHO Foundation was established in 2020 to support the World Health Organization's work in addressing the biggest global health challenges.
Soni told CNBC that he was proud of the `` tremendous progress '' achieved through vaccines in the first two years of the Covid crisis. But he said the pandemic won't be over until the 70% global target is met, and there hasn't been enough progress on that front.
Last week, the U.N. reported that while more than 10.5 billion vaccine doses had been administered globally, only about 13% of those in low-income countries had been vaccinated, compared with nearly 70% in high-income ones.
`` We have the ability to do it, we can make it happen, but we 've got to act very differently in the next few months to achieve that target. We have to mobilize more resources, money to buy the vaccines, we have to share doses, and critically, we have to ensure effective delivery in countries around the world to go from the billion doses that have been delivered in low-income countries to hitting that 70% target, '' Soni said.
In 2021, the WHO Foundation launched the `` Go Give One '' fundraising campaign.
The campaign encourages everyone to contribute $ 5, with 95% of the money going toward buying a single vaccine through the international initiative COVAX — co-led by the WHO, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and vaccine alliance Gavi, alongside delivery partner UNICEF.
Soni said the campaign had raised $ 15 million so far, buying 3 million vaccines.
He also said the sharing of manufacturing knowledge to produce vaccines is `` critically important '' in achieving vaccine equity.
`` Manufacturers in low- and middle-income countries, in the Americas, in Asia, in Africa, have the ability to make these products and they are ready to make them, '' he said.
`` A number of organizations, including the World Health Organization, is facilitating the technology and the information transfer, but we need those companies in the West, in Europe, in the United States to cooperate and to see this as a win, to see this as an opportunity for them to invest in the type of capacity in these countries, in the manufacturing industry, that they simply can't meet themselves. ''
When asked what he would say to those who are against receiving a vaccine, Soni said he was keen to engage in such conversations, ask about their concerns and provide more data and information on vaccine safety.
`` Many of the vaccines have received conditional approval, not full approval, that doesn't mean they're not effective. It means that there's a regulatory process that requires a certain amount of data about the stability of a product on a shelf, to provide the full approval, '' he said.
With a number of countries scrapping all Covid restrictions recently, Soni warned that it's necessary to protect that freedom through vaccinations.
`` We are in a moment in which we are feeling liberation and freedom. That's wonderful. But we have to protect that and the way we protect that is by ensuring everyone is vaccinated, '' he said. | business |
Apple supplier Foxconn resumes production in Shenzhen | In this article
Foxconn, a major assembler of Apple's iPhones, announced Wednesday that it has partially resumed production in Shenzhen, a Chinese manufacturing hub.
The company said earlier this week that it had paused operations in Shenzhen after an uptick in Covid-19 cases led the city to shut down.
Foxconn said it is only able to resume production on campuses that include both employee housing and production facilities.
The Taiwanese firm added that a `` closed loop '' process has been implemented on these campuses that adheres to policies issued by the Shenzhen Government.
`` In applying this closed-loop management process within the Shenzhen campus and in implementing the required health measures for the employees who live on campus, some operations have been able to restart and some production is being carried out at those campuses, '' a Foxconn spokesperson told CNBC Wednesday.
They added: `` The company will continue to work closely with the relevant authorities in monitoring these operations very closely. ''
Foxconn's main facilities in Shenzhen are in Longhua Town and Guanlan but the company did not specify exactly where production will resume or on what kind of products.
The shutdown earlier this week came just days after Apple announced its latest slate of new products, including a budget iPhone that's expected to outperform in Asia.
Foxconn produces some iPhones, iPads and Macs in Shenzhen. However, almost 50% of iPhones are produced at a factory in Henan province, according to a Bank of America research note Monday. Apple can start to ramp up production in Henan province to recoup some of those losses.
`` Apple/Foxconn have the ability to relocate production to other areas in the short term provided that there is not a significantly higher duration of lockdown, '' the firm's analysts wrote.
`` An increased period of shutdowns can cause ripple effects at other components that can create a shortfall in production. ''
Apple did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.
—CNBC's Jessica Bursztynsky contributed to this report. | business |
How much can — and will — China help Russia as its economy crumbles? | Sanctions, asset freezes and withdrawals of international companies are hammering the Russian economy in response to President Vladimir Putin's military assault on Ukraine, leaving Moscow with only one ally powerful enough to rely on as a source of potential support: China.
`` I think that our partnership with China will still allow us to maintain the cooperation that we have achieved, and not only maintain, but also increase it in an environment where Western markets are closing, '' Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Sunday.
U.S. national security advisor Jake Sullivan, in response, said it had warned Beijing that there `` will absolutely be consequences for large-scale sanctions evasion efforts or support to Russia to backfill them. '' On Monday, U.S. and Chinese diplomats discussed the issue over seven hours of talks.
Siluanov had made reference to U.S.-led asset freezes on nearly half of Russia's central bank reserves – $ 300 billion of the $ 640 billion in gold and foreign currency that it had amassed since a previous wave of Western sanctions that followed its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea in 2014.
The remaining reserves are in gold and Chinese yuan, effectively making China Moscow's main potential source of foreign exchange to back up the spiraling ruble amid devastating capital outflows.
In some of Beijing's most explicit comments on the sanctions yet, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Monday during a call with a European counterpart that `` China is not a party to the crisis, nor does it want the sanctions to affect China. '' He added that `` China has the right to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests. ''
Spokespersons for China's Dubai consulate, its Abu Dhabi embassy and its South African embassy were not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.
How much could China help ease Russia's economic pain? Quite a lot, theoretically.
If China decided to open up a full swap line with Russia, accepting rubles as payment for anything it needed to buy — including crucial imports like technology parts and semiconductors that Moscow has been cut off from in the latest rounds of sanctions — China could essentially plug most of the holes fired into Russia's economy by the West.
But whether that's entirely in Beijing's interest to do so, and how much it could backfire, is another matter.
`` In terms of to what extent China could help Russia, they could help them a ton, '' Maximilian Hess, a Central Asia fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, told CNBC. `` But they would be risking major secondary sanctions on themselves, major renewed trade and sanctions war with the U.S. and the West as well. ''
Given the uncertain state of Chinese markets over the last few weeks, amid mounting inflation and a major new Covid-19 outbreak in the country, `` it might not be the best time to do that, '' Hess said.
Still, Beijing does have a long-held alliance with Russia and can benefit from its position.
Before the invasion, Beijing and Moscow announced a `` no limits '' strategic partnership they said was intended to counter U.S. influence. China's position has been to ultimately blame the U.S. and NATO's eastward expansion for the conflict, and on March 7 its foreign minister, Wang, called Russia his country's `` most important strategic partner. ''
`` No matter how perilous the international landscape, we will maintain our strategic focus and promote the development of a comprehensive China-Russia partnership in the new era, '' Wang said from Beijing.
And while China's government has expressed `` concern '' over the conflict in Ukraine, it has refused to call it an invasion or condemn Russia, largely pushing Moscow's narrative of the war on its state news outlets.
`` China and Putin have a clear interest in working together more closely, '' Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank, wrote in an early March research note.
`` China is happy to cause problems for the West and would not mind turning Russia gradually into its pliant junior partner. '' It could also take advantage of its position to buy Russian oil, gas and other commodities at discounted prices, similar to what it's been doing with Iran.
To what extent China's leadership steps in to support Moscow will play a key role in the future of Russia's economy. China is Russia's top export market after the European Union; trade between China and Russia reached a record high of $ 146.9 billion in 2021, up 35.9% year on year, according to China's customs agency. Russian exports to China were worth $ 79.3 billion in 2021, with oil and gas accounting for 56% of that. China's imports from Russia exceeded exports by more than $ 10 billion last year.
`` Russia can use China over time as a bigger alternative market for its raw material exports and a conduit to help circumvent Western sanctions, '' Schmieding said.
`` But for both countries with their very different perceptions of history, it could be an uneasy and fragile alliance that may not outlast Putin. ''
The powerful alliance of the G-7 economies, composed of the U.S. and its European and Asian partners, can slap harsh secondary sanctions on any entity that supports Moscow. But the problem here is that China's economy is the second largest in the world and is a key part of global supply chains. It impacts global markets far more than Russia does. Any move to sanction China would mean much greater global effects, and likely economic pain for the West, too.
Beijing likely seeks a `` third way somewhere between the binary choice of supporting Russia or refusing to do so, '' analysts at New York-based research firm Rhodium Group wrote in a note in early March. That middle path involves `` quietly maintaining existing channels of economic engagement with Russia … while minimizing the exposure of China's financial institutions to Western sanctions. ''
Read more of CNBC's politics coverage:
Indeed, in early March, the chairman of China's banking regulator, Guo Shuqing, said China opposed `` unilateral '' sanctions and would continue normal trade relations with the affected parties.
But maintaining that kind of economic engagement with Russia will be `` hard to conceal under the current sanctions architecture, '' Rhodium's analysts wrote.
Could Beijing keep letting Russia access and trade with its yuan reserves, which total around $ 90 billion, or about 14% of Russia's FX reserves? Yes. But what if Beijing allowed Russia's central bank to sell yuan-denominated assets for dollars or euros? That would likely expose it to sanctions.
China can still trade with Russian firms in rubles and yuan through the Russian banks that haven't yet been sanctioned. But despite many years of working to increase bilateral trade in their own currencies, the vast majority of that trade – including 88% of Russian exports – is still invoiced in dollars or euros.
Not only that, but China could be essentially catching a falling knife by taking on the credit and sanctions risks of Russia's rapidly deteriorating economy.
`` China could alleviate the vast majority of the pain, '' Hess said. `` But if they offered those swap lines and everything, effectively they 'd be taking all the liabilities and risks of the Russian economy onto their own balance sheet at a time when the Russian economy is at its weakest in decades. ''
`` So that's maybe not the wisest move economically, '' Hess said. `` But politics are different decisions. ''
| business |
What we know about the economic impact of China's Covid spike | BEIJING — China's latest Covid-19 outbreak could hit first-quarter gross domestic product by at least half of a percentage point, Citi analysts predicted in a report Tuesday.
In the last few days, mainland China has seen its worst Covid outbreak since the initial height of the pandemic in early 2020 — when the economy contracted. The latest surge in cases, which stems from the highly transmissible omicron variant, has forced some manufacturing hubs across the country to suspend or limit production.
The most affected regions account for 16.7% of national GDP, according to Citi estimates.
`` Economic loss may be real this time, '' the analysts said. `` Jointly considering the spillover effect to other regions, we think the lockdown and tightened quarantine measures this round could potentially deduct ~0.5-0.8 ppt of GDP growth in Q1, assuming no policy responses. ''
Mainland China reported 1,860 confirmed Covid cases for Tuesday, down from more than 3,500 new cases a day earlier. The country has not reported new deaths, and the number of new cases is still far lower than in other parts of the world, such as Europe.
Beijing's zero-Covid policy measures have prompted analysts to issue reports about growing risks of drags on the world's second-largest economy, even if few are able to put a number on it yet.
`` We believe the omicron wave presents both risks and opportunities for China, '' Bank of America Securities ' China equity strategy team said in a report Tuesday.
If the pandemic is managed well, the analysts said, the outbreaks could help China prepare to reopen its borders. But if not, they said the omicron wave `` could cause significant downside to China's GDP growth and disruption to the global supply chains in the near term, and potentially accelerate the decoupling and supply chain relocation in the medium term. ''
So far, the analysts ' research and checks with local factories reveal limited impact on the production of chips, autos, apparel and beer, among other industries. The Android smartphone supply chain could be among the harder-hit, the report said. But, like other industries, production could be shifted to other locations.
For autos, the analysts said that `` according to channel checks, a couple of Shanghai-based names saw bigger disruption, while BYD's Shenzhen plant is operating normally as of 14th March. ''
BYD did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.
The lockdown and production suspension measures announced by Shenzhen and Dongguan — two manufacturing hubs in the export-heavy province of Guangdong — will last only about a week.
Economic data for January and February reported on Tuesday came in well above expectations, and the National Bureau of Statistics spokesperson said the impact of the virus would mostly be at a local level.
`` March may be a different picture depending on how long the restrictions in Shenzhen and Jilin last for, '' said Francoise Huang, senior economist at Euler Hermes, a subsidiary of Allianz. `` If it just lasts for one or two weeks, it might become a blip in the data. ''
The latest Covid wave has hit the northern Chinese province of Jilin the hardest, with the region accounting for the majority of daily new cases. The province banned travel to other parts of China on Monday, and is building emergency hospitals.
Although Jilin's capital of Changchun is an auto manufacturing center, contribution to China's GDP is 0.65%, less than Dongguan's 0.95% and Shenzhen's 2.73% share, according to Citi.
China has upheld a zero-Covid policy of travel restrictions and swift lockdowns of neighborhoods or office towers to control outbreaks. At least in Beijing, individuals with a travel history linked to confirmed cases may need to quarantine at home for a week or more.
But the implementation of the policy has been targeted.
For example, a Shanghai government official said Tuesday there is no need to lock down the city to control the outbreak. And while Shenzhen has ordered overall production halts and remote work, its ports largely remain open.
`` We have been notified that all ports and terminals in Shenzhen ( Yantian and Chiwan) are currently working as normal, '' shipping giant Maersk said in a statement. `` This includes vessel operations, yard handling and gate-in-and-out. ''
`` However, local warehouses have been closed and trucking services have been impacted due to the lockdown. In other Chinese ports, there hasn't been any operational impact, but landside transportation efficiency has been reduced, '' the company said.
The Yantian port said in an online statement Monday it was operating normally.
The Shenzhen government announced Tuesday the closure of the Liantang Port at the land border with Hong Kong. Shenzhen has reported several confirmed Covid cases from freight drivers across that border, but no announcements of other port closures.
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If recent lockdowns persist, the `` economic pain '' could last past the first quarter into the early part of the second, a Moody's Analytics report said Tuesday.
`` China may be early enough in the wave that the various lockdowns will reduce COVID-19 cases to zero by the end of March, unlike the situation in Hong Kong, where the current surge in cases has been ongoing since February with no equivalent lockdown, '' the report said. `` However, this is shaping up to be the biggest test for China's zero-COVID stance. ''
China began rolling out a nationwide vaccination campaign in late 2020 — with doses largely from Sinopharm and Sinovac. As of Monday, about 1.24 billion people had been fully vaccinated, including 211.62 million people over the age of 60, according to the National Health Commission.
The commission said that 65% of older adults diagnosed with severe Covid were not vaccinated.
The share of the BA.2 omicron subvariant among Covid cases has increased significantly in the last two months, China's National Health Commission said Tuesday.
The new variant is more transmissible than previous strains, but it's unclear whether it's more deadly.
— CNBC's Holly Ellyatt and Michael Bloom contributed to this report. | business |
What’ s behind the cloud talent crisis — and how to fix it | Did you miss a session at the Data Summit? Watch On-Demand Here.
Presented by Cloudreach
The tech talent crisis is reaching critical mass. The shortage of expertise has hit the cloud industry especially hard – to the extent where it’ s throttling growth and modernization. Organizations that five years ago were just starting to think about a lift and shift to the cloud are now in a place where they’ re looking at cutting edge things like application modernization at scale.
“ Every single organization, whether it’ s an enterprise or a startup, is moving toward the cloud, and that’ s only going to accelerate, ” explains Poonam Flammarion, head of the Talent Academy at Cloudreach. “ And for companies that may have been slightly behind the curve, COVID has accelerated their need to get there. ”
Cloud is no longer niche, nor is it a one-and-done initiative. It’ s become, to a large extent, commoditized, as well as a way of working. Large scale enterprises are looking to build this capability into their tech teams, not just consultancies like Cloudreach.
The problem is that there aren’ t enough experienced, trained engineers necessary to meet that need. And even folks who have been in the thick of cloud technology from the start are finding themselves rushing to stay abreast of the evolution of cloud technology, ensuring that they’ re up on the newest skills and the latest changes.
Compounding the issue, it’ s an employee’ s market, where job seekers are spoiled for choice by an endless number of opportunities. Companies are finding themselves in fierce competition, fishing during a drought in a pool that keeps shrinking.
“ It’ s going to require so many more experienced, trained engineers than we currently have, ” said Cloudbusing host Jez Ward during the Cloud Trends 2022 thought leadership podcast series at ReInvent. “ We’ re taking it exceptionally seriously, and we probably have it as our number one risk that we’ re managing. As we talk to some of our partner organizations, they see this in the same way. ”
Cloudbusting podcast hosts Jez Ward and Dave Chapman were joined by Tara Tapper, chief people officer at Cloudreach and Holly Norman, Cloudreach’ s head of AWS marketing to talk about what’ s behind the tech crisis, and how companies can meet this challenge.
While the IT industry in general is suffering from a lack of skilled tech talent, the cloud industry has some very particular challenges, with niche skills that are particularly difficult to fill, such as cloud architects, data engineers, and solution architects. What’ s the underlying issue? It’ s systemic, and companies are now living with the consequences of not addressing those systemic problems earlier.
“ The general answer is lack of investment, a lack of foresight. Everybody’ s been very reactive, ” Ward said. “ We’ ve been thinking about the work rather than the supply chain when it comes to people. There’ s been an assumption that you can go to the market and you can hire. What we’ re not doing is going back to basics. We’ re not going downstream. We’ re not thinking about curriculums in schools. ”
Flammarion agrees, saying it comes down to a failure to invest in the next generation of talent.
“ One of the biggest problems with the tech sector, and it’ s been a problem for a long time, is always focusing on the experience, the senior talent, and not making space for new talent, which actually makes the problem worse, ” she says.
In particular, women, POC and Black students have traditionally been subtly discouraged from pursuing their interest in STEM subjects by a barrage of microaggressions, and the evidence of that is the astounding lack of diversity across the tech sector.
“ You look at the stats in your own organization or the stats across the industry and it’ s quite shocking — the tech sector doesn’ t reflect the makeup of the population, ” Flammarion said. “ That makes the whole crisis worse, because there’ s a talent pool that we don’ t tap into. ”
Unrealistic, ineffective hiring practices are another huge obstacle, Flammarion points out, with companies looking for unicorns. Job advertisements look more like wish lists, and very rarely, if ever, can a potential employee tick all of the boxes.
“ We often put up these barriers that stop people from applying, because they don’ t feel they fit the criteria, ” she says. “ We need to be more open and inclusive in the way we advertise our positions and how we hire. Removing those barriers can help a lot in terms of attracting talent, retaining talent, opening doors for new groups that wouldn’ t normally come into a certain level.
The talent crisis is a solvable one, but the solution requires companies to go all-in on their people. It requires planning, downstream investment, upskilling and reskilling, and a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion in order to enrich and broaden the talent pool – as well as rethinking company culture.
Investing in current talent. It’ s not just about creating new talent, but also developing existing talent, as well as lateral moves within the organization, Flammarion says. Ongoing professional development is essential, as is a multifaceted approach to ensure that demand is met here and now, as well as the demand that’ s continuing to grow going forward.
Investing in diversity. The business case for diversity has been made over and over, and is grounded in research and evidence, Tapper said. The need for balanced teams in business isn’ t about tokenism or representation, it’ s about balanced teams across the board getting better outcomes.
“ They’ re happier, more engaged teams, ” she said. “ They deliver better customers, better financial performance. In our tech sector there’ s increasing evidence around innovation as well. ”
Breaking down the experience barrier. When hiring, companies should be looking for competencies and potential, not a clone of the person you just lost. Removing those barriers can help a lot in terms of attracting talent, retaining talent, and opening doors for potentially successful applicants that wouldn’ t normally have a chance to shine.
“ Hiring for motivation and mindset is key. You can train most things, but you can’ t train what’ s inside someone, how they think and how they approach life, ” Tapper said “ Those are innate, generally. Those are personality-driven things. Get the right people and you can teach them the skills. ”
Investing in company culture. Company culture is essential for both attracting new employees, but also stemming attrition. Companies need to set the conditions for everyone in the organization to thrive and not just survive.
For attracting talent, it’ s about creating a pull factor. Your employees and potential hires have so many choices — what is your differentiator? How do you help contribute to a more rounded experience for people, where they feel like their contributions are meaningful, and that they get the reward and recognition that they deserve?
Investing downstream. Because companies are looking for very high-end, niche, incredibly skilled individuals, investment needs to begin downstream, starting with education. To that end, Cloudreach collaborated with AWS to launch their Talent Academy.
“ The academy is about tapping into underrepresented communities, nurturing and developing new talent in the cloud industry, ” Norman said. “ They’ re coming from very diverse backgrounds, not the traditional pool of university grads. ”
The first cohort of 20 trainees launched in November in London, and the companies recently announced the launch of the North America Talent Academy in Atlanta, a region full of untapped talent in technology.
The program consists of 10 weeks of intensive classroom learning, and then a two-year program, in which trainees are going into customer projects, shadowing AWS and Cloudreach teams, engineers, and architects.
It’ s similar in structure to a traditional graduate program, with both classroom and hands-on learning, but they stripped the traditional barriers to entry. Applicants are tested for aptitude and attitude; they don’ t even need to come from a STEM background.
The response has been phenomenal so far, Flammarion says. So many of the candidates are people who who felt like they hadn’ t been given a chance before, coming from a broad array of backgrounds, skills, talent, and ambition.
“ Clearly there is that demand and hunger and passion to want to get into tech, ” she says. “ We’ ve seen some amazing applicants. They’ re so deserving of the opportunity. The talent is there. It’ s definitely there. ”
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Andrew Cuomo considers run against Kathy Hochul for New York governor | Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is considering a run against his replacement and fellow Democrat, Gov. Kathy Hochul, as part of an attempt at a comeback after resigning in disgrace amid multiple accusations of sexual harassment by former aides, according to people familiar with the matter.
Cuomo, who reluctantly left office last year after denying the harassment allegations, has been fielding calls from supporters about a possible run against his former lieutenant governor. His aides have been conducting their own internal voter polling on a potential matchup, these people explained. Those who declined to be named did so in order to speak freely about private matters.
After a recent public poll from Emerson College and The Hill showed Cuomo was a few points behind Hochul, the former governor received calls from allies encouraging him to run against Hochul, a person close to Cuomo said. That survey, which was published last week, showed Cuomo just four points behind Hochul with likely New York Democratic primary voters. It's been one of the rare polls showing Cuomo that close to Hochul with primary voters. Hochul is up for reelection in 2022 and is in a primary fight with Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y. as well as New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
A campaign against Hochul could set up a major primary battle if the former governor were to get the thousands of voter petition signatures needed to get on the ballot by the April deadline. The primary is scheduled for June. Cuomo was in the middle of his third term before his resignation. He was publicly hinting at running for a fourth term before the harassment allegations surfaced. Hochul has said she wants to institute a two-term limit for New York's governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and comptroller.
The Emerson survey also showed 59% of all New York voters polled trust the findings of state Attorney General Letitia James, which detailed the accusations against Cuomo and found he `` violated federal and state law. '' Cuomo has continued to deny the allegations and has accused James ' investigation of being politically motivated.
Although supporters are encouraging him to run, there have been many leaders within his party who have said publicly and in conversations with CNBC that they are hoping he doesn't run, after multiple scandals followed him out of office. The New York Times reported on Tuesday that an audit shows Cuomo's administration failed to publicly account for the deaths of almost 4,100 nursing home residents during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
`` I think it would be a bad mistake, '' Jay Jacobs, the chair of the New York Democratic Party, told CNBC in an email on Tuesday. He added he doesn't believe Cuomo is going to run for anything in the 2022 election cycle.
Hochul was one of the Democrats who ripped Cuomo in the buildup to his resignation, calling his alleged behavior `` repulsive. '' She has since distanced herself from Cuomo and his administration. President Joe Biden and the entire New York congressional delegation called for Cuomo to resign.
Still, the person close to Cuomo, when discussing whether he's ruled out running against Hochul, pointed to Cuomo's recent speech at a church in Brooklyn, where he said, `` I am blessed, I have many options in life and I am open to all, but on the question if I am at peace, No I am not. '' Cuomo also used the speech to point out that multiple district attorneys did not bring criminal charges against him.
He plans to speak again in the Bronx on Thursday in front of a group of Hispanic ministers. The speeches coincide with a multimillion-dollar ad campaign through Cuomo's still-active political operation. Cuomo's committee started the new year with over $ 16 million on hand. Hochul's campaign has over $ 20 million as of its last public filing.
Richard Azzopardi, Cuomo's chief spokesperson, told CNBC in an email Wednesday that the former governor has not signaled to allies or his inner circle whether he will make a run for Hochul's seat. But his statement did not address a possible future campaign against the sitting governor or what sources describe as ongoing internal polling on a future matchup.
`` As the Governor has said since the beginning this was the weaponization of politics to do what couldn't get done at the ballot box, and it's important to him and his family that the record get set straight and efforts to rewrite history don't succeed, '' Azzopardi told CNBC. `` As he has said all along, he has thoughts and opinions about the direction of this state and the Democratic Party as a whole and he won't hesitate to make them known. ''
Beyond the discussion with others about possibly making a run and his recent public appearances, Cuomo's active political war chest has spent well over $ 2 million on a TV ad campaign, according to online ad tracker Medium Buying. Those ads appear to be an attempt at revitalizing Cuomo's image since his resignation.
Cuomo's latest ad, titled `` The Record, '' goes through his accomplishments as governor, including major infrastructure initiatives, improved gun laws and the increase of the minimum wage to $ 15.
However, some Democratic Party officials have publicly pushed back on that Cuomo-led effort.
Dan Pfeiffer, a former advisor to then President Barack Obama, tweeted in response to the Cuomo ad campaign: `` Go away. ''
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that the increase in the minimum wage to $ 15 is one of the accomplishments former Gov. Andrew Cuomo lists in his latest ad. A previous version mischaracterized the increase. | business |
Pricing barrier options with deep backward stochastic differential equation methods - Journal of Computational Finance | The transition from LIBOR to RFR has brought challenges for structured products. There are still legacy IBOR products to consider and at the same time the pricing and risk systems need to be upgraâ¦
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Edited by Bill Coen and D. R. Maurice
This paper presents a novel and direct approach to solving boundary- and final-value problems, corresponding to barrier options, using forward pathwise deep learning and forward–backward stochastic differential equations ( FBSDEs). Barrier instruments are instruments that expire or transform into another instrument if a barrier condition is satisfied before maturity; otherwise they perform like the instrument without the barrier condition. In a partial differential equation, this corresponds to adding boundary conditions to the final-value problem. The deep backward stochastic differential equation ( deep BSDE) methods developed so far have not addressed barrier/boundary conditions directly. We extend the pathwise deep BSDE methods to the barrier condition case by adding nodes to the computational graph, in order to explicitly monitor the barrier conditions for each realization of the dynamics, as well as adding nodes that preserve the time, state variables and trading strategy value at the barrier breach, or at maturity otherwise. Given these additional nodes in the computational graph, the forward loss function quantifies the replication of the barrier or final payoff according to a chosen risk measure such as the squared sum of differences. The proposed method can handle any barrier condition in the FBSDE setup and any Dirichlet boundary conditions in the partial differential equation setup, in both low and high dimensions.
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To use this feature you will need an individual account. If you have one already please sign in. | general |
Google Maps COVID-19 Highlights Explosion in Idaho | A search on Google Maps for COVID-19 cases highlights the northern “ panhandle ” area of Idaho, which stands out from the rest of the nation.
175 cases in Benewah County ( population 9,285) is incredibly high. Why?
The 120 cases in Kootenai County ( population 171,362) are a huge clue. Everything around Kootenai is showing spread, completely counter to the downward move everywhere else.
It looks fairly clear to me that the city of Coeur d’ Alene failed in their basic duty to protect health, becoming an intentional infection center.
Rates were at nearly half the population infected in early 2022.
Kootenai County’ s positivity rate dropped to 4.3% based on 1,220 PCR tests for the week ending March 5. It reached a high of 40% just six weeks ago.
Google is pulling data from the NYT, and there’ s evidence cases may be even higher than what was being reported by Idaho officials.
The Coeur d’ Alene Wastewater plant conducted a test of the city’ s sewage, and the results suggested as many as 490 people could be infected with COVID-19. [ … ] Officially, the Panhandle Health District reports that only 87 people have COVID-19 in Kootenai County.
* * * This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from flyingpenguin authored by Davi Ottenheimer. Read the original post at: https: //www.flyingpenguin.com/? p=38706 | general |
North American Morning Briefing: Stock Futures Gain, Buoyed by China, as Fed Looms | MARKET WRAPS
Watch For:
Federal Reserve Interest-Rate Decision, Economic Projections; Retail Sales for February; EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report; Canada Consumer-Price Index for February
Opening Call:
Stock futures moved higher Wednesday as markets readied for a long-awaited announcement from the Federal Reserve, which is widely expected to raise interest rates for the first time since 2018.
Overseas, the pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 2.1% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index surged 9.1%. Chinese stocks were boosted amid reports from state-run media that the government would keep the stock market stable and work to boost economic growth, reversing a selloff that had accelerated in the last week.
While the Russian war on Ukraine and inflationary pressures from volatile oil prices remain in focus, investor attention lies squarely on the Fed. The central bank is widely expected to make its pivot away from Covid-19 pandemic-era monetary policy with a rate hike of 25 basis points.
`` In essence today's Fed rate decision is probably the easiest one it will have to make this year, '' said Michael Hewson, an analyst at broker CMC Markets. `` With headline inflation at 7.9%, and likely to go higher it's pretty much certain that we will see an interest rate rise later today of 0.25%. ''
While a rate hike is all but certain, the extent to which the Fed strikes a hawkish tone on future policy, including more aggressive quantitative tightening in the year ahead, has the potential to shake investors.
`` There are some on the FOMC who are probably in the camp that want to see a 50 basis-point rate rise, however considering the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the resultant volatility in global commodity prices we could well see a bit of caution, '' Hewson noted.
`` The Fed's bigger problem is how it manages its messaging for future rate rises against a backdrop of surging input prices which are likely to slow the U.S. economy over the course of the rest of the year. ''
On the Ukraine front, there was some optimism buoying stocks in Europe that a diplomatic solution to the conflict could be in sight. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said talks with Russia had started to `` sound more realistic, '' yet remained difficult, according to multiple reports.
Read Barron.com: Stick With Tesla Stock Even if Wall Street Is More Bullish on Other EV Names
Market Insight:
Institutional and retail investors bought stocks in seven out of the 11 sectors, led by consumer discretionary and staples as oil prices came down from their peaks, said BofA Securities.
This comes as investors were buyers during the S & P 500's decline last week, while hedge funds were sellers. Investors also resumed buying energy stocks, though they have still been cumulative net sellers of them year-to-date and just small net buyers since early February when Russia-Ukraine headlines began, BofA said.
Economic Insight:
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%.
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:
Treasury yields continued to rise, maintaining their highest levels since roughly mid-2019.
Investors will be focused on how Jerome Powell later talks about the Russia-Ukraine war, which has sent commodity prices soaring and is affecting the outlook for both economic growth and inflation.
Read: Russia Dollar-Bond Debt Payment Deadline Looms
Commodities:
Oil prices were higher after a massive drop Tuesday, with futures for U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude up 2% to near $ 98.50 a barrel. Prices bottomed out below $ 94 on Tuesday after beginning the week trading above $ 106.
Gold futures were lower again with the recent sharp rise in Treasury yields dimming the appeal of bullion.
TODAY 'S TOP HEADLINES
Foxconn Reopens Chinese Factories Halted by Covid-19 Lockdown
Foxconn Technology Group, Apple Inc.'s biggest iPhone assembler, said it restarted some production at its factories in Shenzhen after a Covid-19 outbreak and a city lockdown this week led the company and other manufacturers to suspend operations there.
Foxconn said Wednesday that it has been able to resume production by following local rules that allow businesses to operate if they set up a bubblelike environment and keep workers inside. Under such pandemic-control rules, staff have to work, travel and live on the factory campus and can't leave the site, according to the Shenzhen government.
Pfizer Asks FDA to Authorize Second Covid-19 Booster Dose
Pfizer Inc. and partner BioNTech SE have asked U.S. health regulators to authorize a second booster dose of their Covid-19 vaccine for people 65 years and older.
The companies said Tuesday that they had filed the application. The Food and Drug Administration is expected to make a decision in time for the Biden administration to begin a potential fall vaccine campaign.
Big Lots Shares Rise as Investor Pushes for Sale
Big Lots Inc. shares gained roughly 15% after Mill Road Capital Management LLC disclosed a 5.1% stake in the discount retailer and said it was pushing it to pursue a sale.
The investment company said that it believes a sale could maximize value for shareholders at an assumed purchase price between $ 55 and $ 70 a share. This would represent a premium in the range of 72% to 119% from Monday's closing price of $ 31.99.
Latam Airlines Authorized to Pay $ 734 Million to Creditors for New Capital
A bankruptcy judge approved Latam Airlines Group SA's request to pay $ 734 million to major creditors in return for their pledge to guarantee a $ 5.44 billion capital raise, finding the cash fee to be reasonable compensation for their investment risk.
Judge James Garrity of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York rejected challenges to the package of compensation offered by the Chilean airline to secure the financial backing needed for an exit from chapter 11 protection.
China Markets Rebound on Supportive Government Comments
Technology stocks led a blistering rebound in Chinese markets, with some shares in Hong Kong jumping more than 20%, as investors seized on supportive comments from top Chinese economic policy makers.
Chinese officials said they would `` coordinate pandemic prevention and control and economic development, keep the economy operating within a reasonable range and keep the capital market running smoothly, '' according to a report on Wednesday by Xinhua, China's state news agency.
Derby's Take: Forecasters Expect Big Upward Shift in Fed's 2022 Inflation Outlook
Having been blindsided by surging inflation pressures, one of the most closely watched parts of the Federal Reserve meeting set to conclude Wednesday is what central bank forecasts will say about the inflation outlook.
The Federal Open Market Committee meeting will almost certainly result in an increase in what is now a near zero target rate range, with a move up by a quarter percentage point. The Fed may also tip its hand on how it will start shrinking its $ 9 trillion dollar balance sheet later this year.
U.S. Retail Sales Grew in February, Economists Estimate
Americans kept up retail spending in February but at a slower pace than the prior month, economists estimate, as they assessed the implications of high inflation and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
( MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires
03-16-22 0600ET | business |
Covid US: This key indicator may determine how bad a BA.2 wave could be | As America casts a wary eye on rising cases caused by the BA.2 subvariant in Europe, the immune status of adults over the age of 65 will be a key indicator of how future variants will affect the US because the risk of severe outcomes rises dramatically with age.
`` It's really looking at that older age group and how much prior immunity they have, either from previous infection or vaccination, that I think has been the best indicator so far of how severe a given number of cases is going to end up being in terms of hospitalizations and deaths, '' said Stephen Kissler, who specializes in infectious disease modeling at Harvard's TH Chan School of Public Health.
An analysis by the UK Health Security Agency shows that the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron is growing about 80% faster than BA.1, the virus that caused the last wave of infections in the US over the winter. Cases and hospitalizations are rising in the UK and several other European countries where BA.2 has become the dominant strain.
Even though head-to-head comparisons with BA.1 indicate that BA.2 is not more likely to lead to hospitalization, this variant has the potential to overwhelm health care resources in the US once again if it finds enough vulnerable people to infect.
Forgoing boosters
The most vulnerable group is adults over the age of 65, especially those who have little immunity against the virus. This is why Pfizer and BioNTech asked the US Food and Drug Administration this week to green-light fourth vaccine doses for older adults.
`` It's that group that's most problematic when it comes to the severe critical and fatal disease. It doesn't mean that younger folks don't wind up in the hospital at times; it's just not at the same rate, '' said Jeffrey Shaman, who specializes in modeling the spread of infectious diseases at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.
Shaman points to Hong Kong, which is in the throes of a severe wave caused by BA.2. It has the highest Covid-19 death rate in the world.
`` And they have not seen the full brunt of that because it lags a little bit, but it's because they have an elderly population that wasn't very well-vaccinated, '' he said.
US officials don't expect BA.2 to hit here as hard as it has in Hong Kong. That's because the city has pursued a zero-tolerance Covid strategy. That policy kept cases and deaths low up till now, making it a model for Covid control.
But Omicron and BA.2 have overwhelmed those defenses and started to infect a population with little prior exposure to the virus.
Hong Kong also relied on a slightly different mix of vaccines than the US and Europe, including the Chinese-made Sinovac shots and Pfizer's Comirnaty.
Health officials are looking to the UK for clues to how BA.2 may behave in the US. But the they're not analogous in all ways; mostly notably, the UK is more highly vaccinated.
Overall, in the UK, 82% of adults have had a third dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, something that is crucial to preventing infections and hospitalizations from Omicron because of how highly `` immune erosive '' these variants are, Shaman says. In the US, that number is just 36%.
Among Americans over the age of 65 who are eligible to get a booster, CDC data shows that 1 in 3 have not opted to get a third dose -- leaving about 15 million older Americans without that critical extra protection.
Protection wanes over time
Recent studies show that vaccine timing matters, too. Data collected by the UK's Health Security Agency shows that vaccine effectiveness against Omicron fell to 10% for infections, 35% of hospitalizations and 70% for deaths six months or more after the second dose.
Boosters restored much of that protection, but their benefits have faded, too. Four to six months after a third dose, boosters were about 40% to 50% effective at preventing Omicron infections and 75% to 85% at preventing hospitalizations, for all adults.
In the UK, about two-thirds of seniors have had a second, third or fourth dose of a Covid-19 vaccine within the past five months, but only about half of US seniors are within five months of their second or third vaccine dose.
Comparing antibody protection from a past Covid-19 infection or vaccination, the UK comes out ahead again. By the end of February, 98% of adults in the UK had tested positive for antibodies to Covid-19, according to the Office of National Statistics. In the US, the CDC estimates that 43% of Americans have antibodies from a past infection to fight off Covid-19. Seniors are the least likely to have this protection, however, with just 23% of adults over age 65 testing positive for antibodies from a previous infection.
`` I do still think it's a potential cause for concern that we may still see a higher case fatality rate and higher hospitalizations for Covid in the US than the UK because of the differences in underlying immunity, '' Kissler told CNN.
So while a BA.2 wave in the US may not be as severe as it is for Hong Kong, it might not be the same experience as the UK is having, either.
`` What we see happening in the UK is going to be perhaps a better story than we should be expecting here, '' said Keri Althoff, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
With perhaps a few critical weeks to prepare, Kissler and Shaman say vaccinations and boosters for seniors are an important place to start.
`` Every additional layer of protection that we get helps, and so I would highly recommend, especially somebody who's elderly who has yet gotten vaccinated to do so, because it really can go a long way towards giving you the durable and robust immunity that you want, '' Kissler said. `` This is definitely the time. ''
| business |
COVID-19 tracker: Tokyo cases rise above 10,000 on Wednesday | The daily number of new coronavirus cases in Tokyo rose above the 10,000 threshold Wednesday, coming to 10,221 — down by 602 from a week before.
In the Japanese capital, 21 new fatal cases were confirmed, while the number of very ill COVID-19 patients under the metropolitan government’ s criteria fell by seven from Tuesday to 54.
According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the seven-day average of new cases came to 8,390.3, down from 9,712.1 a week earlier.
Elsewhere, Aichi Prefecture reported 3,761 cases and 14 deaths, Chiba Prefecture confirmed 3,260 cases and nine deaths, and Hokkaido logged 1,933 cases and five deaths.
On Tuesday, new positive cases across Japan totaled 50,781, down by some 3,000. New COVID-19 fatalities totaled 188.
The number of coronavirus patients with severe symptoms fell by five from Monday to 1,170.
The government plans to fully lift its COVID-19 quasi-emergency measures when they expire on Monday, sources familiar with the matter said Wednesday. The measures are currently in place in 18 of the country’ s 47 prefectures, including Tokyo. | tech |
Russia says it has written guarantees on Iran nuclear deal | DUBAI/WASHINGTON – Russia said on Tuesday it has written guarantees it can carry out its work as a party to the Iran nuclear deal, suggesting Moscow could allow a revival of the tattered 2015 pact to go forward.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’ s comments appeared to signal Moscow may have backed off its previous view that Western sanctions imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine were an impediment to salvaging the nuclear deal.
Lavrov on March 5 unexpectedly demanded sweeping guarantees that Russian trade with Iran would not be affected by the Ukraine-related sanctions — a demand Western powers have said was unacceptable and Washington has insisted it will not accept.
Under the deal, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action ( JCPOA), Iran agreed to limit its nuclear program to make it harder to develop a nuclear bomb — an ambition it denies — in return for relief from global economic sanctions.
“ We have received written guarantees — they are included in the very text of the agreement on reviving the JCPOA, and in these texts there is a reliable defense of all the projects provided for by the JCPOA and those activities — including the linking up of our companies and specialists, ” Lavrov said.
Speaking at a news conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian in Moscow, Lavrov also denied that Russia was an obstacle to reviving the 2015 agreement.
“ I have heard how the Americans have every day tried to accuse us of delaying the agreement — that is a lie. The agreement is not finally approved in several capitals, and the Russian capital — Moscow — is not one of them. ”
Oil prices fell more than 6%, pulled down by Lavrov’ s comments that Moscow was in favor of the nuclear deal resuming as soon as possible, and by doubts about Chinese demand following surging COVID-19 cases in China.
However, Western officials said they were not sure if Russia was satisfied by guarantees it could carry out nuclear projects under the 2015 deal or if it wanted the “ right to free and full trade, economic and investment cooperation and military-technical cooperation ” with Iran that Lavrov sought on March 5.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters a revival of the nuclear deal would not be “ an escape hatch ” for Russia to avoid sanctions imposed because of the Ukraine war.
“ We of course would not sanction Russian participation in nuclear projects that are part of resuming full implementation of the JCPOA. We can’ t and we won’ t, and we have not provided assurances beyond that to Russia, ” Price added.
Another U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, responded cautiously to Lavrov’ s comments, saying they might mean Moscow had come around to the U.S. view that Russia’ s invasion of Ukraine should not torpedo the Iran nuclear deal.
“ Perhaps it is now clear to Moscow that, as we have said publicly, the new Russia-related sanctions are unrelated to the JCPOA and should not have any impact on its implementation, ” said this senior U.S. State Department official.
Eleven months of fitful talks to revive the deal — which then-U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018, prompting Tehran to start violating its nuclear limits about a year later — paused in Vienna last week after Russia demanded assurances.
Iran said the United States lacked the “ political will ” to resolve several outstanding issues in the nuclear negotiations in Vienna. The Islamic Republic has insisted Washington remove human rights and terrorism-related sanctions, including those imposed in 2019 on its elite Revolutionary Guards.
Amirabdollahian said the pause in the Vienna talks could help resolve several of the outstanding issues and suggested that Russia was no impediment.
“ If we can reach an understanding with the United States on the few issues that are our red line and get to a final agreement, Russia will stand with us until the end of talks to reach a good, stable and strong nuclear deal, ” he said. | tech |
Japan ends practice of asking companies to identify COVID-19 close contacts | In a bid to keep social functions running smoothly by preventing large numbers of people from missing work, the central government has decided it will no longer ask companies to identify employees who have had close contacts with coronavirus patients.
The government also decided Wednesday to stop urging companies to restrict close contacts from commuting to their workplaces.
The health ministry has already sent notifications on the matter to local municipalities across the country.
Previously, when companies detected coronavirus cases at a workplace, they would identify close contacts on behalf of public health centers and require such individuals to quarantine for seven days in principle.
Workers who had close contact with an infected individual are now allowed to go out only for essential reasons, including to work. They are still expected to refrain from taking actions that increase the risk of infecting others in case they are carriers of the virus.
At medical institutions and elderly care facilities, meanwhile, coronavirus close contacts will continue to be identified by public health centers.
On Thursday, a panel of pandemic experts approved the government's plan to lift its COVID-19 quasi-emergency measures as scheduled on Monday in the 18 prefectures still under that status.
When the measures are lifted, there will be no prefecture in the quasi-emergency stage for the first time since Okinawa and two other prefectures saw the measure implemented Jan. 9.
Going forward, the government will also revise its basic COVID-19 response policy to allow large-scale events in areas under a quasi-emergency to be held at full capacity if proper infection prevention measures are taken.
`` We recommend checking vaccination records and test results '' at restaurants, event venues and places linked to tourism, Hitoshi Kikawada, state minister at the Cabinet Office, said at the day's meeting of the advisory panel. | tech |
'COVID factor ' wreaks havoc on stormy Spring Basho | In a matchup of veterans on Day 2 of the ongoing Spring Grand Sumo Tournament, Myogiryu sent Chiyotairyu crashing out of the ring and onto the ground.
On his way to the floor, the Kokonoe stable man hit the edge of the raised dohyō with such force that it knocked a large chunk out of the clay structure, and unintentionally provided a perfect allegory for the current state of Japan’ s national sport.
“ Seemingly stable, but with areas of surprising fragility ” — this summation can be applied to the action across the first three days in Osaka as well as to the last few months of sumo as a whole.
The main culprit of that instability — or at least a significant common denominator — is COVID-19.
Two years on from the coronavirus forcing the Japan Sumo Association to hold the Spring meet behind closed doors, the pandemic continues to have a notable — if less visible — effect.
It’ s not clear to what extent wrestlers are still dealing with the aftereffects of a spate of infections that emerged in early February, but it’ s obvious that quite a few of the more prominent rikishi aren’ t yet back to 100%.
One of the reasons behind such opacity is the fact that sumo doesn’ t have any form of injury report.
Rikishi, unlike athletes in other sports, aren’ t obligated to reveal the extent of their various ailments to the press.
Hoshoryu ( left) and Takakeisho fall out of the ring during their Day 3 bout in Osaka on Tuesday. | KYODO
Of course, many injuries are obvious or require medical certification, especially when they lead to withdrawals. But sumo’ s macho culture — and a desire not to reveal points of weakness to future opponents — means that a large percentage of the sport’ s injuries are never revealed publicly.
An additional challenge from COVID-19 is the extremely random and diverse pathophysiology of the disease. In other words, there is no current way to forecast just how severely an infection will affect any individual or how long the lingering effects will be.
For Shodai and other wrestlers like him who have contracted COVID-19, it can be hard ( both for the wrestler himself as well as commentators) to know whether his subsequent poor performance is due to a coronavirus-enforced reduction in training time, a simple lack of form or the result of so-called long COVID.
Making it harder to get to the truth are the continued restrictions on media access, with limited interview opportunities and a dearth of chances to speak with wrestlers in person.
The JSA’ s caution and serious manner with which it has dealt with the pandemic from the beginning are both commendable. Yet the fact that increasingly packed arenas — with improperly masked fans visible ringside on TV screens — have become the norm undercuts both the effectiveness of and rationale behind constraints imposed on those covering the sport.
In a time when physical attendance at tournaments or practice sessions isn’ t an option for a large swath of sumo’ s fan base, and the amount of misinformation online continues to grow, it’ s more important than ever to ensure as much access as possible to trustworthy media sources.
Booster campaigns taking effect have raised hopes that coverage of the sport should be back to something resembling normal by summer.
What the status quo inside the ring will be like by then is anyone’ s guess.
As predicted in this column, the COVID-19 outbreak of a month ago and its disruption of training schedules has resulted in the Osaka tournament regaining its famous ( yet long-inaccurate) stormy reputation.
Although still in the March tournament’ s opening act, there has already been chaos at the top of the banzuke rankings.
The three highest-ranked wrestlers in the sport have a combined record of 3-6 and discussion around the likelihood of two of them ( Shodai and Takakeisho) failing to achieve a winning record and losing their ozeki rank has already begun.
Given the performances to date of the men in question, it’ s a possibility that can’ t be ruled out.
If that scenario does come to pass, then Terunofuji will be designated yokozuna-ozeki for May, as there must always be two ozeki-ranked rikishi on the banzuke at all times.
Takanosho ( right) pushes out Shodai during their Day 2 bout in Osaka on Monday. | KYODO
In the unlikely event that Takakeisho and Shodai both fall to losing records, and Terunofuji decides to retire, another wrestler ( probably Abi) would find himself the recipient of a very fortunate and sudden promotion to sumo’ s second-highest rank.
The man most recently elevated to that position, Mitakeumi, has looked the sharpest of all the top-rankers thus far and is making a strong play to put his inconsistent image to bed for good.
While a second straight Emperor’ s Cup for the Nagano native would be a major surprise, a title win in Osaka for an ozeki would just be a continuation of the top rank’ s domination of the spring meet.
The ultimate counterpart to that chunk being knocked out of the ring would be an out-of-the-blue championship for a low-ranked journeyman.
Yutakayama and Nishikigi are leading the pack for that honor after the first three days. Neither man has made an appearance in the three sanyaku ranks below yokozuna to date and a title win for either would rival that of Tokushoryu for the most surprising in recent times.
The COVID-induced shakeup currently rattling through sumo isn’ t expected to last beyond the summer.
By then, coverage of the sport and attendance should be back to what they were in pre-pandemic times.
Inside the ring, though, is a different matter, and when sumo leaves Osaka it could well take that location’ s famed storminess with it. | tech |
Rate hikes are here: What does that mean for you? | After dropping interest rates to zero in March 2020 to revive the economy, the Federal Reserve has just shifted gears to go into inflation-fighting mode.
Fed officials said Wednesday they are raising interest rates, beginning their first cycle of rate hikes since the one that began in late 2015.
The fact that the Fed is finally moving away from zero shows confidence in the health of the jobs market. But the speed with which interest rates could go up underscores concerns about the soaring cost of living.
High inflation -- consumer prices rose in February at the fastest pace in 40 years -- means the Fed will raise interest rates multiple times in the coming months, central bank officials confirmed on Wednesday.
Americans will experience this policy shift through higher borrowing costs: No longer will it be insanely cheap to take out mortgages or car loans. And cash sitting in bank accounts will finally earn something, albeit not much.
`` Money will no longer be free, '' said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM US.
When the pandemic erupted, the Fed made it almost free to borrow in a bid to encourage spending by households and businesses. To further boost the Covid-ravaged economy, the US central bank also printed trillions of dollars through a program known as quantitative easing. And when credit markets froze in March 2020, the Fed rolled out emergency credit facilities to avoid a financial meltdown.
The Fed's rescue worked. There was no Covid financial crisis. Vaccines and massive spending from Congress paved the way for a rapid recovery. But now the Fed must take on another challenge: rising inflation. Here's how higher rates will impact consumers.
Borrowing costs are going up
Today, unemployment is very low but inflation is very high. The US economy no longer needs all that help from the Fed.
Every time the Fed raises rates, it becomes more expensive to borrow. That means higher interest costs for mortgages, home equity lines of credit, credit cards, student debt and car loans. Business loans will also get pricier, for businesses large and small.
The most tangible way this is playing out is in mortgages, where expectations of rate hikes have already driven up rates.
The rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 3.85% in the week ending March 10. While that's still cheap historically, it's up sharply from under 3% in November.
Higher mortgage rates will make it harder to afford home prices that have skyrocketed during Covid. But weaker demand could cool off prices. The median price for an existing home sold in January soared by 15.4% year-over-year to $ 350,300.
But it 'll still be relatively cheap to borrow
None of this means it will suddenly become expensive to finance purchases.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank will likely raise interest rates six more times this year, for a median federal funds rate of 1.9% by the end of the year.
While that's up from 0.125% today, it's still low historically.
For context, the Fed raised rates to as high as 2.37% during the peak of the last rate hiking cycle in late 2018. Before the Great Recession of 2007-2009, Fed rates got as high as 5.25%.
And in the 1980s, the Paul Volcker-led Fed jacked interest rates up to unprecedented levels to fight runaway inflation. By the peak in July 1981, the effective fed funds rate topped 22%. ( Borrowing costs now won't be anywhere near those levels and there is little expectation that they will go up that sharply.)
Still, the impact to borrowing costs in coming months will depend chiefly on the speed of the Fed's rate hikes. There remains much debate about that, although Chairman Jerome Powell said in January he believes there is `` quite a bit of room '' to raise rates without threatening the jobs market.
Good news for savers
Rock-bottom rates have penalized savers.
Money stashed in savings, certificates of deposit ( CD) and money market accounts has earned almost nothing during Covid ( and for much of the past 14 years, for that matter). Measured against inflation, savers have lost money.
The good news, however, is that these interest rates will rise as the Fed gets away from zero. Savers will start to earn interest again.
But this takes time to play out. In many cases, especially with traditional accounts at big banks, the impact won't happen be felt overnight.
And even after several rate hikes, savings rates will still be very low -- below inflation and expected returns in the stock market.
Markets will have to adjust
Free money from the Fed has been amazing for the stock market.
Zero percent interest rates depress government bond rates, essentially forcing investors to bet on risky assets like stocks. ( Wall Street even has an expression for this: TINA, which stands for `` there is no alternative. '')
Higher rates could be a challenge for the stock market, too, which has become accustomed to -- if not addicted to -- easy money. Markets have already experienced significant volatility amid concerns about the Fed's plan to fight inflation. Last week, the Nasdaq tumbled into a bear market, signaling a 20% decline from previous highs.
But much will depend on how fast the Fed does raise interest rates -- and how the underlying economy and corporate profits perform after they do.
At a minimum, rate hikes mean the stock market will face more competition going forward from boring government bonds.
Cooler inflation?
The goal of the Fed's interest rate hikes is to get inflation under control, while keeping the jobs market recovery intact.
Consumer prices spiked by 7.9% in February from the year before, the fastest pace since January 1982. Inflation is nowhere near the Fed's goal of 2% and has gotten worse in recent months.
Economists warn inflation could get even worse in March because commodity prices have spiked since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Everything from food and energy to metals have become more expensive, although oil prices have pulled back from their recent highs.
And in recent days, China has suffered its worst Covid-19 outbreak in two years, prompting authorities to lock down key parts of the country. The lockdowns will add further pressure to scrambled supply chains at the heart of inflation.
The high cost of living is causing financial headaches for millions of Americans and contributing significantly to the decade low in consumer sentiment, not to mention President Joe Biden's low approval ratings.
Yet it will take time for the Fed's interest rate hikes to start chipping away at inflation. And even then, inflation will still be subject to developments in the war in Ukraine, the supply chain mess and, of course, Covid. | business |
Even Mild COVID Can Increase the Risk of Heart Problems | Scientists have long been aware that respiratory infections—such as influenza or certain types of coronaviruses—can trigger heart disease. This happens because they cause inflammation, which plays a major role in cardiovascular problems.
Even before the first case of COVID-19 had been confirmed in the U.S., interventional cardiologist Mohammad Madjid began looking into the potential effects of coronaviruses on the cardiovascular system. Madjid, an associate clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, expected to see a similar increase in heart complications associated with COVID. “ I knew that was going to happen because I’ d seen this during influenza epidemics, ” he says. As far back as 2004, during the avian flu outbreaks in Asia, he urged public health organizations to consider cardiovascular issues in pandemic preparation plans.
Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, it is becoming clear that the cardiovascular impact of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID, is not restricted to people who have had severe COVID. Even those with mild disease appear to be at a higher risk of heart problems one year after infection, according to one of the largest studies to evaluate the long-term cardiovascular outcomes of COVID. The study was published in February in Nature Medicine.
The findings surprised the researchers. “ I went into this assuming there was going to be some risk but primarily in people who had very severe disease and needed to be hospitalized in the acute phase of the infection, ” says co-author Ziyad Al-Aly, chief of research and development at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs ( VA) St. Louis Health Care System and a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis.
Al-Aly and his colleagues crunched the numbers on heart and other cardiovascular issues during the first year after infection among 153,760 COVID patients from the national health care databases of the VA. The researchers compared these patients with two control groups: a contemporary cohort who never became infected and a historical group from before the pandemic.
Overall, the risk of any heart complication over the course of one year was 63 percent higher in people who had gotten COVID compared with those in the contemporary control group. At the end of a year, there were 45 additional cardiovascular events—such as stroke or heart failure—per 1,000 people among those who tested positive for COVID. The comparison with historical data yielded similar results: the risk of cardiovascular problems in the group that had COVID was 58 percent higher than what was seen in the prepandemic control group.
When the researchers looked at people with mild COVID specifically, they found that this group had a 39 percent higher risk of developing heart problems, compared with the contemporary control group, or 28 additional cardiovascular problems per 1,000 people in 12 months.
That is a much lower burden than that seen in COVID patients who were hospitalized or admitted to intensive care. Still, the increased risk is not trivial. Compared with those who were not infected, patients with mild disease had more than three times the risk of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, and twice the risk of pulmonary embolism, a blood clot that ends up in a lung artery and blocks blood flow.
“ It is not only surprising but also profoundly consequential that the risk is evident even in those [ who had mild infections ], ” Al-Aly says. Such cases comprise the vast majority of COVID infections—within the study’ s population, 85 percent of those diagnosed with the disease were not hospitalized. “ That’ s what makes this likely a serious public health problem, ” he says.
A much smaller retrospective study, described in a preprint paper that has not yet published or peer-reviewed, also found that COVID patients, including asymptomatic ones, had an increased risk of cardiovascular problems six months after infection. The estimated risk of heart complications after COVID matched that seen in Al-Aly’ s study, says cardiologist and biostatistician Larisa Tereshchenko, a researcher at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute and lead author of the smaller study. “ Despite differences in population and definition of outcomes, [ Al-Aly’ s team ] came to a very similar estimate of absolute risk, which I found quite exciting because it supports the results of each study, ” Tereshchenko says.
Interestingly, when another group of researchers searched for cardiovascular abnormalities in patients with mild COVID, they did not find differences in the amount or type of abnormalities in those who had had COVID versus those who had not. Thomas Treibel, an associate professor of cardiology at University College London, and his colleagues at COVIDsortium, a group of immunologists, infectious disease doctors and scientists studying the pandemic in the U.K., recruited 149 otherwise healthy health care workers. “ We matched people who never had COVID with people who had COVID and put them all into an MRI [ magnetic resonance imaging ] scanner to look at cardiovascular damage, ” he says. “ Across the board, we saw no difference in the cardiac function [ or ] any evidence of myocarditis or heart damage. And I think that was very reassuring, ” Treibel says.
How can scientists reconcile those findings? Tereshchenko believes that looking at patients’ clinical outcomes is more important than cardiac imaging in this context. “ When a patient is hospitalized with heart failure, acute infarction, acute arrhythmia, cardiac arrest..., that is always more important than intermediate biomarkers ” such as imaging, she says.
While it is very likely that inflammation plays a role in the cardiovascular events seen in people with COVID, it is still a mystery why some individuals continue to be at increased risk long after SARS-CoV-2 has left their bodies.
One hypothesis is that the virus simply does not leave. “ There are people who proposed the idea that the body might not fully clear the virus and will remain in its ‘ preference sites,’ provoking low-grade inflammation, ” Al-Aly says. Another hypothesis, he notes, is that the immune response to the virus might go awry, damaging the heart.
An important question is whether SARS-CoV-2 directly infects the heart muscle, Madjid says. Scientists have shown it is possible to infect heart cells grown in a lab dish with the virus. This finding could explain some post-COVID cardiovascular problems. “ The interesting distinction between influenza and COVID is that, in COVID, we get less involvement of the heart arteries but more involvement of the heart muscle, ” he says.
SARS-CoV-2 also makes the blood clot more. “ We see evidence of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. And I think that’ s important because those people who have these micro clots or big clots might go on to have serious problems for a long, long time, ” Al-Aly says.
There is also a growing body of evidence suggesting that COVID affects the vascular endothelium, the inner lining of blood vessels, according to cardiologist Bernard Gersh, a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. “ This leads to what is called microvascular dysfunction of the small vessels, which may not dilate or constrict the way they should, ” Gersh says. That could explain why long-lasting post-COVID symptoms are not restricted to the heart.
“ Suffice it to say, there are many studies ongoing trying to understand the mechanisms of long COVID, ” Gersh says. But researchers have yet to pin down the most likely mechanisms causing post-COVID heart disease.
When it comes to “ long COVID ” —a constellation of symptoms, including fatigue, shortness of breath, brain fog and anxiety, that persist for several months—it is still difficult to establish an association with cardiovascular health.
“ What we don’ t know—and I’ m speaking as a cardiologist—is how many of those patients with long COVID actually have cardiac involvement, ” Gersh says. “ Just because they have palpitations doesn’ t mean there’ s structural damage to the heart. ”
It is definitely plausible that the typical presentation of long COVID, which can include fatigue and shortness of breath, may be intertwined with cardiovascular problems. For example, someone with heart failure may have reduced blood flow to the brain, which may cause brain fog. But at this point, it is difficult to disentangle that relationship, Al-Aly notes.
The problems seen in Al-Aly’ s and Tereshchenko’ s studies—including stroke, heart failure and acute coronary disease—are not happening only in people with recognizable long COVID. A person might have a mild case of COVID, appear to recover completely and still be at a higher risk for cardiovascular problems months down the road.
“ Unfortunately, the risk estimate is high, ” says Tereshchenko, adding that these studies suggest the heart risks from COVID may be on par with those from smoking.
Al-Aly agrees. “ People think of cholesterol, blood pressure and diabetes as risk factors for heart problems. We need to add COVID-19 to that list, ” he says. | science |
Gun Violence Is an Epidemic; Health Systems Must Step Up | The rate of gun violence continues to rise across America. There was nearly a 30 percent increase in homicides between 2019 and 2020, making it the largest one-year increase in six decades. The number of gun deaths in 2021 climbed even higher and is approaching the previous peaks in gun death rates in the early 1970s and early 1990s. Although the severe disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic has clearly played a role, we may not fully understand for years what has caused this increase.
In the meantime, health systems must play a larger role in preventing gun violence. We understand that this pandemic has pushed our health care system to its limit, and prioritizing anything but immediate needs will be difficult, but gun violence is one of America’ s deadliest and longest running epidemics. It is nothing less than an immediate need.
Last summer, Northwell Health, where the authors are, respectively, CEO ( Dowling) and pediatric trauma surgeon ( Sathya), asked several dozen medical centers to work together to ask Congress to better fund gun violence screening programs. Eighteen systems joined us, but they make up only 3 percent of the nation’ s medical centers. We can do better.
We are calling on health care systems across the country to build on proven hospital-based violence intervention ( HVIP) models to create coordinated, systemwide programs that give doctors, nurses, physician assistants and social workers the tools they need to talk with the people they treat about preventing gun injuries.
To that end, Northwell Health established a Center for Gun Violence Prevention ( CGVP) in 2019. The center coordinates our efforts to make gun violence a top health care priority across our system by conducting research on HVIP strategies, developing a public health strategy to combat this epidemic, leading a peer-to-peer Learning Collaborative to share best practices, and advocating for evidence-based GVP reforms on a local, state and national level.
Our work is cut out for us, but we have a framework with proven results.
The first HVIP, Caught in the Crossfire, was launched in 1993 in Oakland, Calif., to offer wraparound mentoring, legal, employment and mental health supports to young people who are in the hospital recovering from a gun injury. Researchers from the University of San Francisco Medical Center evaluated the program and found that participants were 70 percent less likely to be arrested for any offense and 60 percent less likely to be involved in any criminal activity, compared to a control group who did not receive the program’ s services. Participants in another gun violence intervention program at the University of Maryland Medical Center were far less likely to be shot again; only 5 percent of those in the program were reinjured, compared to 36 percent who were not in the program.
Over 90 percent of adults who live in homes with guns say they have never discussed firearm safety with a clinician; in an effort to lower that figure, Northwell is conducting a first-of-its-kind National Institutes of Health–funded study. We are currently piloting a universal screening protocol where we ask our patients questions about their exposure to firearms to better understand their risk of being on one end of gun violence or the other.
For the pilot, providers in our health system talk to patients who comes into three of our hospitals about how to avoid gun injuries—the same way we talk to them about sugar intake, exercise, or motor vehicle safety. Previously, there was no standardized procedure for when and how clinicians should have these conversations. We now talk to patients who have access to firearms about safe storage, provide them with gun locks and connect those at risk of gun violence with appropriate intervention services—like peer mentors, mental health support, job training programs, and more.
In urban settings, up to 41 percent of people treated for violent injury return to the emergency room with a gunshot wound. Hospital-based violence intervention can only succeed when it’ s closely linked with organizations working to do violence interruption and street outreach. That close coordination requires time, money and relationship-building, not just between doctors and nurses, law enforcement and violence interrupters, but also between senior leaders at hospitals, police departments and community-based organizations.
The Biden administration seems to appreciate the scope of this other epidemic. The American Rescue Plan Act, a COVID relief plan, includes $ 350 billion for states and local governments. Many of them are using some of that funding to support violence intervention programs. And if the federal government enacts legislation along the lines of President Biden’ s Build Back Better framework, an additional $ 5 billion would be dedicated solely to hospital- and community-based violence intervention programs, which would be the largest investment in gun violence prevention in American history.
Finally, while making changes within our hospitals and our industry is important, the best way to help reduce gun violence in the long run is to push policy makers to act. When alerted to the health detriments of tobacco, and the need for better motor vehicle safety laws, our government has responded. While our lawmakers legislate climate change and reproductive justice, both of which affect the people who walk through our doors, they must also be frank and realistic about the toll of gun violence and their power to mitigate it.
Health care institutions can only do so much to protect the people we serve. But we account for 17 percent of GDP and 22 million jobs. This is why the 600 or so health systems in the U.S. and the executives that run them must combine our voices and industry resources to advocate for common sense gun reforms at every level of government. | science |
War in Ukraine and Climate Change Could Combine to Create a Food Crisis News and Research | Russia’ s war in Ukraine is squeezing food supplies in countries that depend on those two nations for critical grains and cooking oils.
The halt in agricultural shipments out of the Black Sea has sent the price of wheat and fertilizer soaring and prompted growing concerns of a global food crisis.
In Turkey, people are scrambling to buy cooking oil in anticipation of further price hikes. Thailand faces surging costs for fertilizer and feed stock. Egypt, the top importer of Russian wheat, has banned exports of homegrown grain, and Indonesia has restricted exports of palm oil, a potential substitute for other vegetable oils. * Aid groups worry that rising prices will exacerbate hunger in already vulnerable countries.
The Russian war is affecting two of the world’ s agricultural powerhouses and comes as the global food system is already dealing with supply chain constraints due to the Covid-19 pandemic and climate-charged weather events.
Climate change could make the situation worse if agricultural production in the world’ s other breadbaskets is disrupted this year by extreme weather events, said Jonas Jägermeyr, a climate scientist and crop modeler at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Sciences.
“ Climate change is increasing weather and yield variability and if severe weather events such as droughts, heatwaves, or floods will hit this season there will be compound effects, destabilizing the food system further, ” Jägermeyr wrote in an email. “ China already indicated that their wheat outlooks are very poor and other world regions don’ t look great either. ”
Russia, the world’ s leading wheat supplier, recently banned grain shipments abroad and sanctions are likely to affect future exports. Ukraine is a top supplier of sunflower oil and a major wheat producer in its own right. It has suspended port activity. Together, the two countries produce about 12 percent of the food calories consumed globally.
Egypt, Turkey, Indonesia and Bangladesh are the top importers of wheat from Russia and Ukraine. Almost 50 nations, including some of the world’ s poorest countries, depend on those two sources for more than 30 percent of their wheat needs, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.
To respond to the immediate crisis, many of those countries are looking for supplies from other countries. The main concern will be next year’ s harvest. If the war disrupts planting in April and May, “ then we will be facing a serious situation, ” Maximo Torero, chief economist for the Food and Agriculture Organization told the BBC News on Monday.
Torero estimates that the war could drive up wheat prices by another 8.5 percent, forcing people to eat less food at a time when hunger and malnutrition are rising due to impacts from the pandemic.
The war is playing out as climate change alters the contours of global agriculture. Rising temperatures are already affecting crop yields and quality, and acting as a drag on agricultural productivity, an intergovernmental panel of climate scientists wrote in an assessment released last month. While most of the world has observed negative effects, ranging from lost livelihoods to increased food insecurity, the impacts have been felt unequally.
Parts of North America and Europe, for example, have witnessed productivity gains as global temperatures rise. But rising temperatures have led to extreme heat and downpours in West Africa, causing yields to drop for crops like sorghum and millet, and pronounced drought in Australia, where it has cut into wheat production.
“ Climate change and weather extremes that are intensified by more extreme weather are disrupting food supply in a lot of vulnerable countries, ” said Kyle Wilkinson, a communications officer at the U.N. World Food Program ( WFP). “ It creates need where there wasn’ t any. ”
The war is likely to make the situation worse. A report from the WFP estimates that 13.5 million tons of wheat and 16 million tons of maize are currently frozen in Russia and Ukraine. Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Syria are particularly vulnerable to delayed deliveries.
“ The supply chain disruptions should be a wake-up call for people, ” said Christopher Barrett, a professor of agriculture and development economics at Cornell University.
Russia is also the world’ s top oil and fertilizer exporter. Both are instrumental to the global food system. A study published in Nature and co-authored by Barrett found that around three-fourths of the food costs to people worldwide are in the transport, processing, manufacturing and distribution of food, with fuel playing a significant role. Oil prices skyrocketed in the wake of the invasion but have declined in recent days.
“ So the oil price shock matters because it gets picked up in the costs that manufacturers face, in the trucking to move food around, ” Barrett said.
Rising fuel costs are also problematic for fertilizer. Natural gas is a raw input in synthetic fertilizers used in many parts of the world. The war has created uncertainty in global fertilizer markets, with some companies pulling back purchases of Russian-based fertilizers. Forecasts by the Food and Agriculture Organization show that parts of Africa could see a 30 percent decline in food supplies because of shrinking access to fertilizers, said Torero, the FAO economist.
Experts are just beginning to grapple with the long-term consequences of the war. Wheat is unique among other crops because it could potentially benefit from a warming planet. A series of studies have concluded that higher temperatures at northern latitudes could result in an increase in wheat production, unlike other major staples like rice or corn.
One of the bigger questions coming out of the war is whether other countries will boost production of wheat to compensate for shortages from Russia and Ukraine.
If that occurs on existing croplands in countries like the United States, with corn or soy growers switching to wheat, the climate impacts are likely limited, said Kim Kroll, who recently retired as the associate director of Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, a program funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But the climate costs rise as new land is converted to cropland.
“ In some cases, it could be very negative, ” Kroll said. “ If Ukraine can’ t go in and plant wheat, basically where is that market for wheat going to come on? Is that going to shift agricultural production or is that going to increase the footprint of agriculture? ”
Craig Hanson, vice president of food, forest, water and oceans at the World Resources Institute, said one risk is that higher prices could lead to more clear-cutting for food production — and that could lead to increased emissions by unlocking carbon stored in the soil.
Higher energy prices could also lead to increased production of biofuels, which also have an impact on land use, he added.
“ Land is finite, so you can only grow so much on it, ” Hanson said.
Egypt underscores the potential risks. Officials there have said they’ re planning to increase local wheat production to ensure food security. But the climate in Egypt today is not particularly well suited to wheat cultivation, said Barrett, the Cornell professor.
Wheat originated in the Middle East and remains a drylands crop, he said. But as the world has warmed, it’ s gotten harder to produce wheat in the region of its provenance. That has meant a shift to higher latitudes, such as Canada, North Dakota — and Ukraine and Russia.
Continuing to produce wheat in places like Egypt will likely require irrigation — which could increase the use of fossil fuels for powering water pumps and raise demand for fertilizer. That means the price of wheat could be higher than it once was, Barrett added.
“ We are facing some scenarios that are pitting short-term against long-term, ” said Olivia Lazard, a visiting researcher at Carnegie Europe who studies eco-transitions and climate security.
That could lead to some destructive outcomes if competing countries start collecting and hording arable land, Lazard said.
Or the world could benefit if the current crisis helps boost support for efforts to decouple food systems from their fossil fuel dependence, said Barrett.
That could lead to more localized production, vertical farming fed by solar power and more plant-based substitutes to reduce the need for feed crops.
“ We need to be developing more diversified systems much more decoupled from the traditional land and water resources we’ ve relied on so heavily and at such a high climate and environmental cost, ” said Barrett.
Reprinted from E & E News with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2022. E & E News provides essential news for energy and environment professionals.
* Editor’ s Note ( 3/17/22): Our partners at Climatewire have edited this sentence after posting to correct the description of Indonesia's restrictions on palm oil exports. The country has limited palm oil exports but has not halted them completely. | science |
Network technology for real-time remote control of smart factories | Mar 16, 2022
Network technology for real-time remote control of smart factories
( Nanowerk News) A Korean research team has developed a technology which can remotely control a smart factory ( Model factory) located hundreds of kilometers away using 5G and wired networks in real-time. It is expected to be quite helpful for building a 5G-based smart factory and strengthening the competitiveness of the manufacturing industry.
The ETRI has succeeded in demonstrating remote industrial IoT service based on ultra-low latency and high-reliability 5G wired/wireless network by connecting a laboratory in the Daejeon ETRI headquarters building 11 and the smart factory in the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology in Hayang-eup, Gyeongsan-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do.
Researchers from ETRI are giving on a demonstration that remotely control a smart factory by operating panel at ETRI headquater, Daejeon. ( Image: ETRI)
A smart factory refers to an intelligent factory that automates tasks using robots instead of humans or controls various processes without human operation at the site. It is necessary to ensure short communication delays and no data loss as if the command is given on the spot to avoid damage due to process errors when giving a remote command.
Although there have been cases of using 5G to demonstrate a smart factory, they used foreign equipment or technology while their application was limited to controlling manufacturing facilities in real-time only in the factory.
ETRI has demonstrated that it is possible to control facilities in a factory through a remote control center hundreds of kilometers away as if it is controlled on the spot while connecting the facilities in the factory with the internally developed 5G wireless mobile communication technology and wired network technology.
The demonstrated services include: Remote real-time production management system; Remote real-time production robot control; Real-time production facilities control and management using a remote touch panel; Real-time monitoring of process status using remote VR equipment; Remote process monitoring through wireless sensors, etc.
The research team has installed the latest 5G standard-based Industrial IoT at the Gyeongsan Smart Factory and Daejeon ETRI Control Center to verify the technology. The world's first time-deterministic packet transport network technology developed by ETRI was used to interconnect the two sites 280km away with bounded latency and high reliability via KOREN ( Hyper-connected intelligent RD network) optical networks. The technology is based on DetNet ( Deterministic Networking) architecture and TSN ( Time-Sensitive Networking) mechanisms. Within the ETRI site, the ultra-low latency optical access network technology was used, which was also developed by ETRI.
Through this, ETRI proved that real-time remote smart manufacturing service is possible for the first time in Korea by successful two-way communication within 3 milliseconds in the Gyeongsan Smart Factory and within 10 milliseconds between 5G industrial terminals in Daejeon and Gyeongsan.
Compared to the previous cases of demonstration, which proved two-way communication within 10ms in a factory, this technology is expected to signal the beginning of a full-scale remote smart manufacturing service. Especially, it is expected to enhance the technologies of Korean telecommunication and manufacturing-related small and medium-sized enterprises ( SMEs) significantly as the technology can improve the efficiency of the manufacturing industry ecosystem while meeting the needs of social non-face-to-face activities that have been more intense due to the COVID-19 virus.
Bang Seung-chan, head of ETRI's Communication and Media Research Center, said, `` This technology is expected to be used as an innovative tool for vitalizing 5G smart factories throughout the manufacturing industry. In particular, we will do our best to localize and revitalize relevant technologies ASAP by cooperating with small and medium-sized enterprises. ''
ETRI announced that it had developed industrial IoT systems according to the 5G standards since 2017, such as terminals, base stations, core equipment, and mobile edge computing ( MEC) platforms, in collaboration with KT, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, OpenObject, QCell Networks, CleverLogic, and Soongsil University. ETRI also announced that this achievement was possible by verifying the applicability of the above service.
Through this, ETRI has demonstrated the control services, such as environmental monitoring for each process, the detection of abnormal situations, and figuring out the production volume, by connecting NarrowBand-IoT terminals and wireless sensors attached to various parts of production facilities for the first time in Korea.
In 2020, ETRI demonstrated that the wireless control services of real-time process and production facility in the factory would be possible by connecting 5G terminals to mobile production robots, portable control panels, VR equipment, and Programmable Logic Controller ( PLC) of each process, which was challenging with an wired connection.
In the future, the research team plans to demonstrate that remote monitoring and control service will be possible by connecting University of Oulu in Finland and Gyeongsan Smart Factory beyond internal connections in 2022 through follow-up research.
Moreover, ETRI also promotes the commercialization of 5G industrial terminal chipsets, modules, base stations, etc., through technology transfer and cooperation with Korean SMEs to vitalize the 5G smart manufacturing ecosystem.
Source: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute ( ETRI)
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Inhalable aerogel triggers immunity to COVID-19 in mice, may block transmission | Mar 16, 2022
Inhalable aerogel triggers immunity to COVID-19 in mice, may block transmission
( Nanowerk News) An inhalable ‘ aerogel’ loaded with DNA that encodes for the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein successfully induces an immune response against COVID-19 in the lungs of mice, according to new research conducted at Penn State. The team said its aerogel could be used to create an inhalable vaccine that blocks SARS-CoV-2 transmission by preventing the virus from establishing an infection in the lungs.
“ There are many potential advantages of an inhalable formulation compared to an injectable vaccine, ” said Atip Lawanprasert, graduate student in biomedical engineering and a lead author of the study, which published recently in the journal Biomacromolecules ( Inhalable SARS-CoV-2 Mimetic Particles Induce Pleiotropic Antigen Presentation). “ One is avoidance of needles. Inhalable vaccines might be able to help increase the rate of vaccination because so many people are afraid of injections. No matter how high the efficacy of a vaccine, if people don’ t get it, then it’ s not useful. ”
Scott Medina, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, Penn State, added that inhalable vaccines may be more shelf stable than traditional vaccines.
“ Importantly, ” Medina said, “ inhalable vaccines may induce an antibody response locally in the lungs where it can potentially neutralize and clear the virus before it fully infects the host and causes symptoms. ”
By contrast, Girish Kirimanjeswara, associate professor of veterinary and biomedical sciences, explained that the injectable COVID-19 vaccines induce a systemic immune response, which is effective at fighting infections with SARS-CoV-2, but not as potent as an inhalable vaccine would be in stopping the infection at the location of the virus’ s entry into the body.
“ The current vaccines are not very good at preventing transmission because they allow the virus to replicate in the body, even for a short period, and then transmit to other individuals, ” said Kirimanjeswara. “ An inhalable vaccine would elicit local immunity at the primary site of infection, where SARS-CoV-2 could be rapidly neutralized and eliminated without the inflammatory response characteristic of systemic vaccination. ”
Previously, the team had developed and patented a gel-like material, called an ‘ aerogel,’ as a vehicle for delivering antimicrobials to the lungs to treat bacterial respiratory infections, particularly tuberculosis.
“ When the pandemic started, we decided to develop an inhalable formulation for COVID-19 by combining our aerogel with a nucleic acid-encoded antigen — specifically, DNA that encodes the SARS-CoV-2 proteins, ” said Medina.
The researchers developed their COVID-19 formulation, which they call CoMiP ( coronavirus mimetic particle), to target alveolar macrophages — immune cells in the respiratory tract that ingest foreign particles.
“ Alveolar macrophages represent attractive targets for inhalable vaccines because they are abundant within the lungs, and previous evidence has suggested that they may be important in early COVID-19 pathogenesis, ” said Medina.
Specifically, he explained, alveolar macrophages may be one of the first cells to become infected by SARS-CoV-2 when the virus is inhaled.
“ Alveolar macrophages are one of our key defenders against viral infection because they serve to present antigens to the rest of the immune system, ” said Medina.
The scientists designed their CoMiPs to be rapidly ingested by alveolar macrophages, after which the macrophages would interpret the viral antigen and begin to express the viral proteins encoded in the DNA.
“ You are essentially tricking the macrophage into interpreting this DNA and expressing this foreign spike protein, ” said Medina. “ Once it expresses the foreign protein, it shows it to the rest of the immune system so the immune system can learn to recognize the protein in the event of a SARS-CoV-2 infection. ”
In the laboratory, when the scientists incubated their CoMiPs with cells designed to mimic naive alveolar immune cells, they found that the macrophages readily internalized the CoMiPs. Next, they optimized the formulation of the CoMiPs to identify the maximum safe dose in cells in vitro. They found that > 80% of cells remained viable at a dose of ≤0.01 mg/mL.
To test the efficacy of the CoMiP vaccine, the team immunized mice via an intranasal installation of the vaccine, followed by a booster dose two weeks later. Next, they collected serum samples from the animals on days 14 and 28 post vaccination and booster, respectively. They analyzed these samples for systemic immune responses and found no statistically significant change in systemic antibody levels between CoMiP-treated animals and control animals at either sampling time point.
To explore nose, throat and lung immune responses, the researchers collected samples from immunized mice 30 days after vaccination to assess differences in the total and spike-protein specific lung mucosal IgA antibodies. They found a significant increase in the total IgA for mice vaccinated with CoMiPs, but IgA specifically targeting the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein was lower than expected for the vaccinated animals.
“ On the benchtop, outside of the animal, we saw pretty good expression of the proteins, ” said Medina. “ And then when the CoMiPs were delivered into the animal, we saw an increase in antibodies in the lung that may provide some protection, but it was not to the extent that we would like. It’ s encouraging data, but there is more optimization to be done. ”
The team plans to continue to research the use of CoMiPs to protect against COVID-19
In addition, Kirimanjeswara noted, “ Transmission blocking, inhalable vaccines can also be translated to multiple other viruses, such as flu, so our CoMiP has the potential to be widely applicable. ”
Source: Penn State
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Pfizer asks U.S. regulator to clear another booster for older adults | Pfizer Inc. said it has asked U.S. regulators for clearance of an additional COVID-19 booster shot for seniors, in a bid to protect vulnerable adults as immunity provided by the first three doses wanes.
The New York-based drugmaker and its German partner BioNTech SE said Tuesday that they have sought an emergency-use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for a second booster of their vaccine, Comirnaty, for people 65 and older who have already received a booster of any of the authorized COVID-19 vaccines.
Pfizer and BioNTech said they submitted data to the FDA from Israel, which began offering a fourth shot to older people and health care workers last year as the omicron variant was circulating. The real-world data showed a fourth shot given at least four months after the third reduced the rate of infection and severe illness compared with those who were given just one booster shot, according to an analysis of Israeli Ministry of Health records for over 1.1 million adults 60 and older with no known history of coronavirus infection.
The vaccine partners also submitted data from a study of health care workers in Israel, which found that staffers who’ d received a fourth dose of the vaccine had greater levels of COVID-19 fighting antibodies, including against omicron, than those who had received three doses.
On March 13, Pfizer Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said in an interview with CBS that a fourth dose of the vaccine was needed “ right now, ” as protection from the first three shots had waned.
In the U.S., people 12 and older can receive a single booster dose of the Comirnaty vaccine if they’ ve already completed the two dose Pfizer-BioNTech regimen. Among those who initially got a shot developed by Moderna Inc. or Johnson & Johnson, only those 18 and older can get a Comirnaty booster.
People who received a third dose generally fared better against the delta and omicron variants than people who received only two doses, according to studies the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC) released earlier this year.
While COVID-19 cases have dropped sharply from their winter peak, there are signs that another increase in infections could be in the cards in the coming weeks. More than a third of CDC wastewater sample sites in the U.S. showed rising virus trends earlier this month.
Pfizer is also studying an omicron-specific vaccine and a hybrid shot that would target omicron along with earlier variants. The company is expected to report data on these efforts in April.
The CDC recommends some immunocompromized people get a three-dose primary series of mRNA shots and a fourth shot as a booster. | tech |
Covid. War. Inflation. Recession fears. The stock market can't keep up | The combination of these major macroeconomic and geopolitical issues will make it difficult for stocks to climb out of their hole and finish 2022 in positive territory, some experts say.
`` There are way too many headwinds to expect good returns for stocks this year, '' said David Spika, president and chief investment officer of GuideStone Capital Management.
Despite big Wall Street rallies the past two days, the stock market has tumbled overall in 2022. The Dow is down nearly 7% this year, the S & P 500 has fallen about 10% and the Nasdaq is off more than 15%.
Three concerns in particular are weighing on stocks. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has pushed oil prices up.
Before that, investors were already fretting about inflation and the likelihood that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates multiple times this year to fight it. Meanwhile, Covid-19 hasn't gone away, with the recent spike in cases in China raising alarm bells.
`` I don't see any way we get positive returns for stocks, '' Spika said, adding that it would be a victory if stocks `` only '' fall in the single digits this year.
Uncertainty continues to weigh on investor sentiment
Spika said it's unreasonable to expect that the Russia-Ukraine crisis will end anytime soon. And even if it did, Spika argues that stock valuations are too high given that interest rates are about to rise.
`` Double-digit percentage drops are possible. The past few years were strong and that was fueled by easy monetary policy, '' he said. `` That tailwind is about to turn into a massive headwind. ''
Stephanie Lang, chief investment officer with Homrich Berg, agreed that `` the age of easy money is over. ''
While the Fed's higher interest rates are high on investors minds, it's only one part of the problem for the stock market.
`` The list of strains on stocks is pretty long. We have the war, the reminder that the pandemic is endemic and significant, long-lasting disruptions to supply chains, '' said Vincent Reinhart, chief economist at Dreyfus and Mellon. `` Investors are understandably hunkering down. ''
Reinhart added that the Fed will probably raise rates several times this year to try to put a damper on inflation. But there are concerns that the central bank waited too long to raise rates and now may face a stagflation problem, the combination of slow growth and high prices.
`` It's going to be tough for the Fed to get it right, '' Reinhart said. `` Any reasonable person would say that recession risks are more elevated today than six months ago. ''
Lang thinks the central bank `` missed the mark on inflation '' and will have to make more aggressive moves going forward.
The Fed is in a tough spot, but some hope it won't raise rates too sharply
Other experts aren't so sure that major moves are ahead. They say that the Fed recognizes there is a risk of going overboard with rate hikes, and that gradual, small increases may not slow down the economy too drastically. That could mean that the worst may soon be over for stocks.
`` If the Fed overshoots on rate hikes that would be a longer term problem for the economy, '' said Louise Goudy Willmering, a partner with Crewe Advisors. `` But if the Fed isn't too aggressive, we still can have growth. The economy doesn't have to fall off the side of a cliff. ''
Willmering also said that it's way too early to give up on hopes of a market rebound later this year. It's only March, after all.
Of course, it may be tough for stocks to stage to a huge rally like the one following `` the fear induced drop of 2020, '' she said. But she added that if worries about Ukraine and supply chain issues finally subside, earnings growth could return to more normal levels, which would boost stocks.
Even if the broader market does continue to struggle, there may be some pockets of strength.
Lang said investors should be looking at quality, safe haven stocks that pay dividends, such as consumer goods companies and healthcare firms. And Spika said energy stocks and smaller companies with more exposure to the US economy than international markets should also do well in a rising rate environment.
Still, even with stocks rebounding as they have the past few days, there may be more volatility ahead — which could create better opportunities for investors.
`` When do you start buying? '' Spika said. `` Once we get clarity about what's going on in Ukraine. '' | business |
UK Fintech News Roundup: The Latest Stories 16/03 | London Stock Exchange Group ( LSEG) has teamed up with fintech Floww as part of its strategy to modernise the capital markets and further build its presence in the private markets.
LSEG will collaborate with Floww, a platform that connects investors with private companies, to help launch its private primary capital raising facility, while exploring liquidity and secondary market options.
Floww will also create additional complementary services, including the connection of Floww’ s platform with LSEG Issuer Services.
Murray Roos, group head of capital markets at LSEG, said: “ Through Floww, investors can view their private portfolios in real time and identify new opportunities. Our ambition is to be the first global exchange group that is genuinely indifferent as to whether a company is public or private, and Floww is another step in this journey. ”
LSEG has also made a strategic investment in Floww, while Julia Hoggett, CEO of London Stock Exchange, joins Floww’ s board as a non-executive director.
Global fintech WorldFirst has teamed up with RITMO, the growth platform for online sellers, to launch a £100million growth package for fast-growing UK businesses.
Small and medium-sized e-commerce businesses can apply for non-dilutive loans up to £3million. The package is available to companies selling via online marketplaces, such as Amazon and eBay.
The loans are expected to help UK online sellers improve their operations and scale their businesses.
Jeff Parker, CEO at WorldFirst, said: “ The UK has the most advanced e-commerce market in Europe, but the growth prospects of these businesses are hampered by complex international banking and payment arrangements and difficulty when sourcing the working capital they need to fund their expansion.
“ The launch of our growth package addresses a crucial market need and supports our customers’ global growth ambitions by enabling quick and efficient access to working capital. By working with partners that complement our existing offering, we are delivering our mission to provide a one-stop solution for digital payments and financial services to small and medium-sized business trading internationally. ”
Verto, the London-based B2B payments startup, has bumped up the number of supported currencies that customers can convert between and make payments in.
As well as expanding its currencies offering from 39 to 51, the company now helps businesses send and receive money money in over 200 countries.
Verto is enjoying a time of ‘ tremendous growth and expansion’ following its $ 10million Series A funding in September 2021. Last year, it onboarded more than 7,000 new businesses and has processed nearly $ 1.5billion transactions, with the total volume growing by 303 per cent.
Ola Oyetayo, CEO and co-founder of Verto, says: “ With the expansion of the number of currencies our platform offers, businesses, regardless of size, type and jurisdiction, can rely on Verto’ s secure payments platform to send cross-border payments instantly worldwide. ”
Four in five finance leaders in the UK and US confess that their accounts payable ( AP) function is not fit to enable continued growth.
According to research commissioned by fintech unicorn Tipalti, outdated AP processes, such as invoicing, PO matching and handling payments, is slowing down potential business growth.
Surveyed leaders said 43 per cent of end-to-end AP function is currently manual or paper based. They also said that 53 per cent of finance time in a typical week is spent on manual AP processes – rather than on tasks that aid strategic initiatives. Over three quarters ( 78 per cent) say that too much manual work is overwhelming staff, with 73 per cent admitting staff productivity and morale is a concern.
Chen Amit, co-founder and CEO at Tipalti, says: “ Too many hours are spent doing manual tasks that could be automated. Understanding the benefits of automation is key – teams have more time to spend focusing on strategic initiatives that help scale the business, in addition to finding new opportunities for growth. ”
Reward, the customer engagement platform, has delivered £1billion in rewards to bank customers through customer engagement programmes.
In 2018, the firm, which uses predictive analytics to drive insight and product cross-sell for banks and retailers, set a £1billion target to reach the target within five years. It has now set a new target of delivering £2billion in rewards by 2025.
Gavin Dein, founder and CEO at Reward, said: “ We’ ve always believed that Reward could unlock the power of customer data and create a more personalised, relevant and rewarding world. Today, we hit our five-year goal of giving back £1billion to consumers across three continents nearly 12 months ahead of plan. ”
Together, a UK mortgage and secured loan provider, has plumped for Thought Machine, the core banking technology company, to modernise its core systems. Firstly, it will migrate its existing accounts and products onto Thought Machine’ s cloud native platform, Vault.
The migrations means Together can manage its workflows, products and services from one clear architecture in order to improve operational resilience, efficiency and product innovation.
Other banks and fintechs that have also selected Thought Machine to power their service include JPMorgan Chase, Atom bank, Curve, Monese and TransferGo. Meanwhile, Together is currently rolling out targeted products and features for users, including homebuyers, property professionals and small businesses.
LiveMore, the lender specialising in mortgages for over-50s, is bringing its interest-only products to the Scottish market. The expansion gives Scottish customers aged from 50 to over 90 access to retirement interest only, plus term interest only products.
The expansion follows a recent report from Citizens Advice Scotland that the number of people seeking advice on mortgage arrears has increased by 38 per cent. The network also predicted this will grow in 2022 now that Covid-19 support mechanisms like furlough and mortgage payment holidays have come to an end.
Alison Pallett, managing director of sales at LiveMore, says: “ The very reason LiveMore exists is to bring more choice to later-life borrowers, so we’ re absolutely thrilled to be expanding that remit to benefit consumers in Scotland.
“ It’ s a great injustice that perfectly capable people with stable finances are being pushed out of the market for the simple reason that they happen to be over the age of 50 and aren’ t aligned to rigid and arbitrary criteria. ”
Claire works across print and online as Editor for The Fintech Times.
The Fintech Times is the world’ s first and only newspaper dedicated to fintech.
Published Bimonthly, the Fintech Times explores the explosive world of financial technology, blending first hand insight, opinion and expertise with observational journalism to provide a balanced and comprehensive perspective of this rapidly evolving industry.
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Telephone: +44 ( 0) 20 7193 5883 | business |
Xi Jinping: Russia's war and surging Covid in China are disrupting the Chinese leader's big year | After years of careful preparation, the Chinese leader is expected to step into an almost unprecedented third term at the helm of the country and its Communist Party this fall.
But instead of a smooth ride, dual crises are threatening to upend the status-quo, with China's largest outbreak of Covid-19 in two years emerging at home while overseas, Russia embarks on a brutal, widely denounced invasion of Ukraine.
The war comes just weeks after Beijing declared a limitless partnership with Moscow, putting China's diplomats on the back foot and pushing China to make an existential choice about its future international role.
While Xi's path to a third term may not be imperiled by these twin crises, both will need to be navigated carefully as the 68-year-old leader steers the country toward its twice-a-decade leadership reshuffle at the 20th Party Congress this fall.
`` From Beijing's perspective there is no higher priority than stability ahead of the Party Congress -- as we all know it's by no means an election, but this is the closest you might come to seeing a 'campaign season ' in China, '' said Natasha Kassam, director of the Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Program at the Australia-based think tank the Lowy Institute.
`` We know that most opposition to Xi has been eliminated... but there is still the expectation of delivering on particular needs for the majority of people, '' she said.
That may be especially true for a leader who has spent years consolidating power and oversaw the removal of constitutional term limits on the presidency -- paving the way for him to stay on top in the closed-door, elite political process that decides who will lead China for the next five-year term.
In doing so, Xi has placed himself at the center of the party and state in a way not seen since Communist China's founding father Mao Zedong decades ago -- a position from which the country's successes can rest on his shoulders, but so too can its failures.
Complicated friendship
As Russian tanks, soldiers and fighter planes advanced into Ukraine from multiple sides last month, China appeared to some observers to have either been playing along -- or played.
Days before the invasion, Beijing continued to publicly dismiss US intelligence that a Russian assault of its neighbor was imminent, despite Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier that month signing a 5,000-word joint joint statement that included an expression of their shared disapproval of NATO expansion -- an issue that's been key to Putin's rationale for his assault on Ukraine.
The importance of that meeting -- the 38th between the two leaders since 2013 -- was only underscored by the fact it was Xi's first in-person summit with another head of state in nearly two years, as China has maintained stringent control over its border during the Covid-19 pandemic.
While views diverge on how much Xi may have known about Putin's true plans, as Russia's unprovoked invasion wears on, China's position of both saying it respects international norms, while not condemning Russia, is growing increasingly untenable.
`` Now this ( situation) is impossible for China -- China will either have to be in support of global institutions or it will be against them. That's it, '' said Victor Shih, a professor at University of California San Diego's School of Global Policy and Strategy. `` ( For China, it's turned) into a diplomatic and potentially economic headache. ''
That risk for China, and by extension Xi, is two-fold: on the one hand, if it violates a raft of stringent sanctions imposed by the West in order to lend support to Russia, Chinese enterprises involved could be hit by secondary sanctions -- potentially signing their economic death on the global market.
But more pressing is the risk Beijing's stance could sink relations between China and its major trading partners in the West. Even before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, these ties were seeing significant strain. Washington and Beijing have been at loggerheads for several years over issues like trade, Taiwan, and China's human rights record, and there were signs Europe was moving in a similar direction.
Last year, a highly anticipated investment deal between the European Union and Beijing stalled as tensions flared over China's alleged human rights abuses against Muslim minority groups in its western region of Xinijang.
And when it comes to Ukraine, pressure is already very much on China to choose a side, with US officials saying this week that Moscow has asked Beijing for military aid -- a claim both China and Russia deny.
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Monday the United States is `` watching very closely the extent to which the ( People's Republic of China) provides any form of support, whether that's material support, whether that's economic support, whether that's financial support to Russia. ''
On Tuesday, Qin Gang, China's ambassador to the US, pushed back on `` assertions that China knew about, acquiesced to or tacitly supported this war '' in an op-ed in the Washington Post, saying instead `` had China known about the imminent crisis, we would have tried our best to prevent it '' and that Beijing was committed to working for peace.
All this may be making some people in Xi's China uncomfortable.
`` There are certainly differences of opinion ( among) Communist Party members and the business community, who are concerned with China being tied to a pariah state and concerned about falling foul of very dramatic sanctions, '' Kassam said.
`` China's trade relationship with the world's democracies is many magnitudes larger than it is with Russia, '' she said. Trade between the European Union and China topped $ 800 billion last year and US-China trade was over $ 750 billion, according to China's official data, while its trade with Russia was just under $ 150 billion.
An example of these differing opinions was on show in a commentary published last week by Shanghai-based scholar Hu Wei, vice-chairman of the Public Policy Research Center of the Counselor's Office of the State Council, who warned China's path of not condemning Putin could lead to isolation.
`` If China does not take proactive measures to respond, it will encounter further containment from the US and the West, '' Hu wrote in a piece published in Chinese and an English translation in the US-China Perception Monitor, a publication of the US-based nonprofit The Carter Center -- which said the Monitor's website was blocked in China not long after the piece was published.
`` China should avoid playing both sides in the same boat, give up being neutral, and choose the mainstream position in the world, '' Hu said.
But while such concerns may be bubbling under the surface, experts remain skeptical they represent a strong or even dominant view in the Communist Party, given Xi's own personal embrace of Putin in recent years.
And to move away from Putin would be to risk questioning Xi. `` In the short term, ( Beijing) can not change its 'no limits ' partnership with Russia because it will imply that Xi was wrong to get China into the difficult position in the first place, '' said Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the Washington-based Stimson Center think tank.
`` Xi is aiming for the third term, and this would be a main stain on his record. ''
Covid crisis
But looming concerns about whether China's economy could be impacted by global turmoil sparked by Russia's war, or any penalties from a further break with Western partners, are coupled with another challenge to stability -- both economic and political -- on China's home front.
There, new Covid-19 cases have been reported in the thousands for several days in the largest outbreak in roughly two years. It's a sharp jolt for a country that has assiduously maintained a `` zero-Covid '' posture at great cost -- shutting its borders to most foreigners since March 2020, rolling out a complex digital tracking system for each individual, and enacting mass testing and snap lockdowns even when a handful of cases were found.
China's leaders have freely equated that policy, and its relative success at controlling Covid-19, to what they claim is the superiority of the Chinese system over that of Western democracies, where the virus spread rampantly. Such rhetoric has not only played out on Chinese state media -- where the horrors of Covid-19 overseas are voraciously covered -- it's also been part of Xi's own case to the world about why China is an exemplary global leader and force for good.
For more than a year, analysts have suggested China would not relax its stringent zero-Covid policy, even as the rest of the world opens up, until after 2022's Party Congress was over and Xi cemented his third term -- as a widespread outbreak would challenge that carefully cultivated image.
`` The last thing that the Chinese leaders want is to have a nationwide, major Covid-19 outbreak that overwhelms the hospitals... and could contribute to social and political instability, '' said Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations.
`` A government failure to effectively respond to such a crisis could translate into a legitimacy crisis ( ahead of the Party Congress), '' he said.
But now that risk is playing out in real time as authorities around the country race to lock down cities and stamp out cases -- with no guarantee these measures will be effective against the newer and highly infectious Omicron variant.
As of Tuesday, five Chinese cities with more than 37 million residents were under various forms of lockdown, and concerns have been growing over the economic fallout from China's stringent control measures.
At least one major company, Apple supplier Foxconn, suspended operations in Shenzhen, before moving into a `` closed loop '' system where employees who live on campus can work, as the tech hub went under a soft lockdown after recording 66 Covid-19 cases on Saturday.
A research note from analysts at financial services group Nomura on Friday said the costs of China's zero-Covid strategy `` will rise significantly as its benefits decline, '' making it `` much harder for Beijing to achieve its `` around 5.5% '' GDP growth target for 2022 '' -- a figure that was already the country's lowest official growth target in three decades.
But China's leaders, and Xi, may be worrying about more than the macro-economic outlook ahead of the Party Congress, according to Lowy Institute's Kassam. If sustained, widespread lockdowns could strike at the welfare and livelihoods of the more economically vulnerable in the country -- groups whose economic security has been part of Xi's well publicized signature focus through his first two terms as President.
That could see the government more willing to roll out tools to prop up the economy this year than in the past if Covid-19 is not brought under control swiftly, Kassam said.
`` Because this one will impact 'everyman ' first... and if we come back to this idea that we are in 'campaign season ' -- so to speak -- that becomes really important. ''
While headwinds from these events may have an impact on `` everyman, '' in China there is one man who is carefully surveying the landscape and pulling the strings.
As these dual crises evolve during a highly sensitive year, experts will be watching closely to see to what extent Xi moves to recalibrate China's positions both overseas and at home to ensure there are no threats posed to his historic transition into a third term.
Because, as China's latest government work report -- often seen as the Chinese equivalent of the State of the Union address in the US -- repeatedly made clear: Xi Jinping is the `` core '' of the Communist Party leadership. And it is of the highest priority to `` maintain overall social stability to welcome the victory of the 20th Party Congress. '' | business |
US drug overdose deaths reach another record high as deaths from fentanyl surge | An estimated 105,752 people died of drug overdoses in the 12-month period ending October 2021, according to provisional data published Wednesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics.
About two-thirds of those deaths involved synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, a stronger and faster-acting drug than natural opiates.
Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids have had a rapid and dramatic rise; overdose deaths involving these drugs have nearly doubled over the past two years, from about 35,000 deaths in the 12-month period ending October 2019 to more than 69,000 in October 2021.
`` Fentanyl, even at very, very small quantities, is lethal for most people, '' said Katherine Keyes, an associate professor at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health whose research focuses on psychiatric and substance use epidemiology. `` It's just an incredibly potent opioid. ''
CDC data first indicated that overdose deaths from any drug surpassed 100,000 annually in data through April 2021. This is the seventh month in a row that estimates for the latest 12-month period have stayed above this level.
Overdose deaths were up in all but four states compared with a year earlier, the provisional CDC data shows. New Hampshire, Hawaii, Delaware and Wyoming each saw year-over-year declines.
But it's easy for the 54 fewer lives lost in these four states to be overshadowed by the much larger loss nationwide. The latest data shows that about 15,000 more people died of drug overdoses in the US than in the previous year, a 16% increase.
Along with synthetic opioids, the new federal data shows that overdose deaths from methamphetamine and other psychostimulants increased significantly, up nearly 40% from the year before. They accounted for about 30% of all overdose deaths in the latest 12-month period.
These stimulants are often seen in overdoses in which multiple drugs are involved, Keyes said -- sometimes intentionally but other times when adulterated with fentanyl, for example.
Addressing these harrowing trends involves `` big, systems-level issues, '' said Caleb Banta-Green, principal research scientist at the University of Washington's Addictions, Drug & Alcohol Institute.
`` Reconceptualizing opioid-use disorder as an urgent health emergency is necessary, '' he wrote in an email to CNN. As the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic linger, `` mentally and financially depressed people are at increased risk for harms associated with opioids, so addressing wellness, poverty and housing are essential to health overall, including opioid-use disorder. '' | business |
ENDEAVOR GROUP HOLDINGS, INC. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations ( form 10-K) | We operate our business in three segments: ( i) Owned Sports Properties; ( ii) Events, Experiences & Rights; and ( iii) Representation.
Owned Sports Properties
At the end of 2021, we acquired six Professional Development League clubs affiliated with the Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals, whose results are included in Owned Sports Properties.
Additionally, we own and operate IMG Academy, a leading academic and sports training institution located in Florida, as well as NCSA, which provides recruiting and admissions services to high school student athletes and college athletic departments and admissions officers.
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Table of Contents
Our Representation segment provides services to more than 7,000 talent and corporate clients and includes our content division, Endeavor Content. Our Representation business deploys a subset of our integrated capabilities on behalf of our clients.
Components of Our Operating Results
Revenue
Direct Operating Costs
Selling, General and Administrative
Provision for Income Taxes
Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic
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Table of Contents
Reorganization
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Selling, general and administrative expenses 2,283,558 1,442,316
3,371
23,158
Revenue increased $ 1,599.0 million, or 46.0%, to $ 5,077.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the year ended December 31, 2020 as the Company rebounds from the impact of COVID-19.
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•
•
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Table of Contents
•
Selling, general and administrative expenses
Insurance recoveries
Depreciation and amortization
Impairment charges
Interest expense, net increased $ 13.6 million to $ 284.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, principally due to lower short-term rates, partially offset by higher indebtedness incurred through additional borrowings.
Tax receivable agreements liability adjustment
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January 2022, and recorded a $ 9.1 million expense due to a change in estimates related to the tax receivable agreements liability recorded in the second quarter of 2021.
The expense for the year ended December 31, 2019 primarily included a $ 27.4 million impairment of equity investments and related note receivable and a $ 39.3 million loss related to the change in the fair value of embedded foreign currency derivatives.
( Benefit from) provision for income taxes
Equity losses of affiliates, net of tax
Net ( loss) income attributable to non-controlling interests
SEGMENT RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
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Table of Contents
The following tables display Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA for each of our segments for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019:
Adjusted EBITDA: Owned Sports Properties $ 537,627 $ 457,589 $ 417,203 Events, Experiences & Rights 215,578 59,224 146,888 Representation
The following table sets forth our Owned Sports Properties segment results for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019:
Year ended December 31, 2021 compared to year ended December 31, 2020
Year ended December 31, 2020 compared to year ended December 31, 2019
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The following table sets forth our Events, Experiences & Rights segment results for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019:
Year ended December 31, 2021 compared to year ended December 31, 2020
Revenue for the year ended December 31, 2021 increased $ 437.8 million, or 27.5%, to $ 2,031.3 million, compared to the year ended December 31, 2020.
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Year ended December 31, 2020 compared to year ended December 31, 2019
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COVID-19; such decrease was primarily offset by selling, general and administrative expenses from On Location of $ 56.9 million. Corporate allocations remained relatively unchanged in 2020 from 2019.
The following table sets forth our Representation segment results for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019:
Year ended December 31, 2021 compared to year ended December 31, 2020
Year ended December 31, 2020 compared to year ended December 31, 2019
The following table sets forth our results for Corporate for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019
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NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin are used as the primary bases to evaluate our consolidated operating performance.
they do not reflect every cash expenditure, future requirements for capital expenditures, or contractual commitments;
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Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect the significant interest expense or the cash requirements necessary to service interest or principal payments on our debt;
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they are not adjusted for all non-cash income or expense items that are reflected in our statements of cash flows.
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5,000
( Benefit from) provision for income taxes ( 22,277) 8,507
101,188
Merger, acquisition and earn-out costs ( 2) 60,904 22,178
49,869
29,681
Restructuring, severance and impairment ( 4) 8,490 271,868
42,441
3,734
11,759
366,797
5,000
209,243
101,188
Merger, acquisition and earn-out costs ( 2) 60,904 22,178
49,869
29,681
Restructuring, severance and impairment ( 4) 8,490 271,868
42,441
3,734
11,759
366,797
Equity-based compensation represents primarily non-cash compensation expense associated with our equity-based compensation plans.
Includes ( i) certain costs of professional advisors related to mergers, acquisitions, dispositions or joint ventures and ( ii) fair value adjustments for contingent consideration liabilities related to acquired businesses and compensation expense for deferred consideration associated with selling shareholders that are required to remain our employees.
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Includes costs related to certain litigation or regulatory matters in each of our segments and Corporate.
( 4)
Includes certain costs related to our restructuring activities and non-cash impairment charges.
( 5)
Includes the net change in fair value for certain equity investments with and without readily determinable fair values, based on observable price changes.
( 6)
Relates to equity method losses, including impairment charges, from our investment in Learfield IMG College following the merger of our IMG College business with Learfield in December 2018.
( 7)
( 8)
( 9)
( 10)
Reflects the tax effect of the adjustments noted above.
( 11)
Such items for the year ended December 31, 2021 relate to the release of a $ 68.6 million valuation allowance on deferred tax assets due to the expected realization of certain tax benefits in connection with the sale of the restricted Endeavor Content business, which closed in January
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2022, a $ 7.4 million expense for deferred tax liabilities associated with indefinite lived intangibles recorded as a result of the IPO and a $ 10.2 million tax expense related to a change in tax rate in the United Kingdom.
( 12)
LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES
Historical liquidity and capital resources
Sources and uses of cash
Cash flows from operations have historically funded our day-to-day operations, revenue-generating activities, and routine capital expenditures, as well as serviced our long-term debt. Our other principal use of cash has been the acquisition of businesses, which have been funded primarily through equity contributions from our pre-IPO institutional investors and the issuance of long-term debt.
Credit Facilities
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The Credit Facilities contain certain restrictive covenants around indebtedness, liens, fundamental changes, guarantees, investments, asset sales, and transactions with affiliates.
UFC Credit Facilities
The UFC Credit Facilities contain certain restrictive covenants around indebtedness, liens, fundamental changes, guarantees, investments, asset sales and transactions with affiliates.
Restrictions on dividends
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Both the Endeavor Content Facility and the OL Credit Facility contain restrictions that are substantially similar to those in the Credit Facilities and the UFC Credit Facilities.
Cash Flows Overview
Years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019
31,
2019
Net income, adjusted for non-cash items $ 1,137,747 $ 313,929
December 31, 2021 compared to December 31, 2020
December 31, 2020 compared to December 31, 2019
Future sources and uses of liquidity
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Tax distributions by Endeavor Operating Company
Contractual Obligations, Commitments and Contingencies
The following table represents our contractual obligations as of December 31, 2021, aggregated by type.
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( 3) Our operating leases are primarily for office facilities, equipment and vehicles. Certain of these leases contain provisions for rent escalations or lease concessions.
( 4) We routinely enter into purchase or guarantee arrangements for media, event or other representation rights as well as for advancements for content production or overhead costs with various organizations.
Critical Accounting Estimates
Revenue Recognition
We have revenue recognition policies for our various operating segments that are appropriate to the circumstances of each business.
Arrangements with Multiple Performance Obligations
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Timing of Recognition
Commission-based Representation and Licensing Revenue
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Content Development-based Revenue
Content Distribution and Sales-based Revenue
Event-based Revenue
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Pay-per-view Revenue
Content Costs
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circumstances specific to that unit. If we had established different reporting units or utilized different valuation methodologies or assumptions, the impairment test results could differ.
Intangible Assets
We grant equity awards to certain executives, employees and service providers, which may be in the form of various equity-based awards such as restricted stock, restricted stock units and stock options.
We estimate the fair value of stock options using an option-pricing model, which requires us to make certain estimates and assumptions, such as:
•
Expected term-The expected term represents the period that our awards are expected to be outstanding, giving considerations to vesting schedules and expiration dates ( if applicable). We use the simplified method for estimating the expected term of the stock options.
•
•
Risk-Free Interest Rate-We base the risk-free interest rate on the U.S. Treasury yield curve in effect at the time the awards are granted.
•
Expected Dividends-We do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future and therefore use an expected dividend yield of zero.
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Tax Receivable Agreements Liability
We typically consolidate entities in which we own more than 50% of the voting common stock and control operations, as well as variable interest entities ( `` VIE '') for which we are deemed the primary beneficiary.
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Non-Controlling Interest
Recent Accounting Standards
© Edgar Online, source Glimpses | business |
Unity report: Number of games made with Unity grew 93% in 2021 | GamesBeat Summit 2022 returns with its largest event for leaders in gaming on April 26-28th. Reserve your spot here!
In another sign that gaming is poised for accelerated growth, Unity Technologies said that the number of games made with the Unity Game Engine grew 93% in 2021.
In its Unity Gaming Report 2022, the company said the it drew information from more than 230,000 developers who make and operate over 750,000 games based on Unity.
Ingrid Lestiyo, general manager of Unity Operate Solutions, said in an interview with GamesBeat that the report highlights how gaming has brought people together and provided a human connection in a time of distance and isolation.
Unity’ s data also shows that far from a “ pandemic spike ” the changes in the games industry appear to be long-lived and sustainable, though some metrics indicated that the level of play has subsided to pre-pandemic levels.
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Still, for 2021, Unity found that the number of people playing games is at far higher levels than they were pre-COVID and the industry has continued to step up to feed the demand, Lestiyo said.
“ In the face of high player demand and even greater player expectations during these unique times, we have seen creators step up and deliver incredibly inspiring, creative, and innovative ways for people to engage and connect through gaming, ” said Lestiyo. “ This passion and resilience from our developer community fuels our commitment to make it as simple and as easy as possible for them to bring their vision to life. It remains our mission to equip developers of all sizes with everything they need to build, scale, and manage their games successfully. ”
Unity agrees with industry reports that gaming is on track to reach over $ 300 billion by 2027. In 2021, the number of games made with Unity increased by 93%, and the number of new creators increased by 31%. Furthermore, players are spending more on games than ever before. The pandemic spike raised gaming revenue by 30% for games operated with Unity, and that bump is expected to stay, Lestiyo said.
“ The games industry is still going strong, ” Lestiyo said. “ The daily active users have come down from the peak of the pandemic, but they are still at a higher level than before, and indicating that some of these people that started playing games during the pandemic are still doing so. However, you know, usage has gone back to pre-pandemic levels, where we see a drop off during the weekdays and during the weekends. ”
“ Whether from growth in established studios or from hobbyists making the leap to game development as a full-time gig, I am amazed at their sheer creativity as they bring their visions to life. We’ re proud to be providingtools that help creators everywhere make great games, ” said Marc Whitten, general manager of Unity Create, in a statement.
Unity said the production slump of the pandemic’ s early phase is now far behind us. Mirroring other industry reports highlighting continued growth in the gaming sector, in 2021, the number of Unity creators increased 31% compared to 2020. Additionally, 93% more games were made on the Unity platform in 2021 than in 2020.
The demand for games remains high — the total number of daily active users ( DAU) playing games rose from before the pandemic, reached a peak, then settled at far higher levels than before COVID began. PC/Console DAU has increased by 62% since the start of 2019, and mobile DAU has increased by 74%.
The “ pandemic spike ” raised gaming revenue — and it’ s here to stay. Gaming revenue grew by almost 30% for creators in 2021. Unlike sectors of the economy where pandemic bubbles have popped, the changes in gaming appear to be sustainable, bolstered by revenue growth in ad revenues and in-app purchase in the United States and Europe.
As game development becomes more ambitious, creators are increasingly turning to third-party solutions to stay competitive — Studios of all sizes are increasingly using a different mix of out-of-the-box solutions so they can free up resources to do what they do best: design great player experiences.
Among enterprise creators, over 91% use player engagement and segmentation services, 88% use in-app purchase services, and 76% use analytic, authentication, and privacy services. Smaller studios use similar solutions but also invest heavily in ad monetization and user acquisition support.
Unity will be highlighting the trends outlined in this report alongside an array of in-person and online sessionsat the 2022 Game Developers Conference from March 21 to March 25 in San Francisco.
One of the trends Lestiyo pointed out is that triple-A games are now spreading beyond PC and console platforms to mobile as well, and we’ re seeing an explosion in live services games.
“ More than 50% of all Americans are playing multiplayer games, ” Lestiyo said. “ And this is pretty exciting and a little glimpse into the future, ” Lestiyo said. “ We call it the metaverse because this was how people socialized virtually and multiplayer games are the kernels of what a metaverse could look like in the future. ”
As for 2022, a lot more games are coming, Lestiyo said, and ad-based games are growing a lot as well. Hypercasual games are up 137% in terms of numbers of games.
GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is `` where passion meets business. '' What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Learn More | tech |
Junshi Biosciences Announces First Patient Dosed in China | SHANGHAI, China, March 16, 2022 ( GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co., Ltd ( “ Junshi Biosciences ”, HKEX: 1877; SSE: 688180), a leading innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel therapies, announced today that the first patient was dosed in its Phase III trial of VV116 for the treatment of moderate to severe COVID-19. The study is an international multicenter, randomized, double-blind, controlled Phase III study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of VV116 against standard therapy in subjects with moderate to severe COVID-19. The primary endpoint is the percentage of patients who progress to critical/severe COVID-19 patients or all-cause mortality within 29 days. VV116 is an oral nucleoside analog anti-SARS-CoV-2 investigational drug jointly developed by Junshi Biosciences and Vigonvita Life Sciences Co., Ltd. ( “ Vigonvita ”).
In addition, Junshi Biosciences has also initiated an international multi-center, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, phase II/III clinical study ( NCT05242042) with Vigonvita, which aims to evaluate the efficacy, safety and pharmacokinetics of VV116 in the early treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 patients. The primary endpoint is the percentage of patients who progress to critical/severe COVID-19 patients or all-cause mortality within 29 days. First patient of the study has been enrolled and dosed in China, and the study is being conducted in multiple centers around the world.
Junshi Biosciences and Vigonvita have completed three Phase I studies evaluating the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of VV116 in healthy Chinese subjects, with preliminary results showing good clinical safety. In addition, a randomized, open-label, controlled Phase II clinical trial of VV116 was completed in subjects with moderate to severe COVID-19 in Uzbekistan in 2021, which enrolled a total of about 450 subjects. Subjects were divided into two VV116 groups ( 200mg and 300mg doses of VV116 orally, twice daily for 5 days) and one control group of standard therapy, with each group of about 150 subjects. The results of the study indicate that the two different doses of VV116 showed favorable safety and efficacy in the treatment of both moderate and severe COVID-19 patients, in comparison with standard therapy. Based on the positive results, VV116 has been approved for the treatment of moderate to severe COVID-19 patients in Uzbekistan in late 2021.
VV116 is a new oral nucleoside analog anti-SARS-CoV-2 drug that inhibits the replication of SARS-CoV-2. Preclinical studies have shown that VV116 exhibited significant anti-SARS-CoV-2 effects in vivo and in vitro, had antiviral activity against both the original strain of SARS- CoV-2 and the major known variants ( Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron), and exhibited high oral bioavailability and good chemical stability.
VV116 is jointly developed by three institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences ( Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Wuhan Institute of Virology, and Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry), Central Asian Center of Drug Discovery and Development of Chinese Academy of Sciences/China-Uzbekistan Medicine Technical Park ( the Belt and Road Joint Laboratory of the Ministry of Science and Technology), Vigonvita, and Junshi Biosciences. In September 2021, Junshi Biosciences entered into a collaboration with Vigonvita to jointly undertake the clinical development and commercialization of VV116 in the cooperation territory ( worldwide except five Central Asian countries ( Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan), Russia, North Africa ( Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Sudan), and the Middle East ( 19 countries including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Israel, etc.)).
VV116 has been approved for treatment of moderate to severe COVID-19 patients in Uzbekistan.
About Junshi BiosciencesFounded in December 2012, Junshi Biosciences ( HKEX: 1877; SSE: 688180) is an innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative therapeutics. The company has established a diversified R & D pipeline comprising over 45 drug candidates, with five therapeutic focus areas covering cancer, autoimmune, metabolic, neurological, and infectious diseases. Junshi Biosciences was the first Chinese pharmaceutical company that obtained marketing approval for anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody in China. Its first-in-human anti-BTLA antibody for solid tumors was the first in the world to be approved for clinical trials by the FDA and NMPA and its anti-PCSK9 monoclonal antibody was the first in China to be approved for clinical trials by the NMPA. In early 2020, Junshi Biosciences joined forces with the Institute of Microbiology of Chinese Academy of Science and Eli Lilly to co-develop JS016 ( etesevimab), China’ s first neutralizing fully human monoclonal antibody against SARS-CoV-2. JS016 administered with bamlanivimab has been granted Emergency Use Authorizations ( EUA) in more than 15 countries and regions worldwide. The JS016 program is a part of our continuous innovation for disease control and prevention of the global pandemic. Junshi Biosciences has over 2,500 employees in the United States ( San Francisco and Maryland) and China ( Shanghai, Suzhou, Beijing and Guangzhou). For more information, please visit: http: //junshipharma.com.
Junshi Biosciences Contact InformationIR Team: Junshi Biosciencesinfo @ junshipharma.com+ 86 021-2250 0300
Solebury TroutBob Aibai @ gobyglobal.com+ 1 646-389-6658
PR Team: Junshi BiosciencesZhi Lizhi li @ junshipharma.com+ 86 021-6105 8800 | general |
Is this the beginning of the end of China’ s techlash? | THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY has exhibited a high tolerance for the excruciating pain felt by investors in China’ s biggest technology companies. The firms’ sins ranged from throttling smaller competitors and mistreating workers to hooking young minds on video games. After forcing Didi Global to delist from New York, last week regulators in effect scotched the ride-hailing giant’ s relisting plans in Hong Kong. On March 14th the Wall Street Journal, a newspaper, reported that they are preparing to slap a record fine on Tencent, an internet Goliath, for alleged anti-money-laundering violations. The next day the Cyberspace Administration of China ( CAC), the main internet watchdog, accused Douban, a social-media platform with 200m users, of creating “ severe online chaos ”, marking it as a target for stricter censorship. This, combined with uncertainty over Russia’ s invasion of Ukraine and a rash of covid-19 outbreaks, shaved a third from the indices of Chinese tech stocks in the first two weeks of March, while America’ s tech-heavy NASDAQ index remained flat ( see chart).
Yet the pain of the spiralling tech sell-off, which at its deepest wiped out more than $ 2trn in overall market value, may be becoming to much to bear even for desensitised party bosses. On March 16th Xinhua, a state news agency, published a report from a meeting of the central government chaired by Liu He, China’ s top economic adviser. The agency declared that the “ rectification ” of large Chinese technology companies would soon come to a close. New regulations should be transparent, Mr Liu was supposed to have urged, and policymakers must be cautious when implementing rules that might hurt the market, according to Xinhua. Moreover, state media reassured readers, the Chinese leadership would stabilise stockmarkets. It may even support overseas listings of Chinese companies, which it has discouraged or, as in Didi’ s case, opposed.
Mr Liu’ s statements are the strongest signal so far that the tech crackdown initiated by President Xi Jinping in late 2020 is coming to an end, says Larry Hu of Macquarie, an investment bank. Markets certainly seem to think so. Hong Kong’ s Hang Seng Tech Index soared by 22% on March 16th, a record. The Golden Dragon index, which tracks American-listed Chinese technology firms, jumped by a quarter when trading began. Having lost tens of billions of dollars of market value in recent days, put-upon tech titans such as Tencent and Alibaba, China’ s biggest e-emporium, added a lot of them back in just a few hours of trading.
The government’ s increased sensitivity to market sentiment comes as a relief to many investors, who have watched with unease as leaders in Beijing have become increasingly indifferent to how China and its markets are viewed by the outside world. The latest policy whipsaw nevertheless raises nagging questions about conflicting interests within the party and about the lack of co-ordination between regulators. It is unclear, for example, if Mr Liu’ s conciliatory message was intended to signal displeasure with the cac’ s recent heavy-handedness, or instead to praise the agency for having done a good job.
Regardless of the government’ s true motive, its pronouncements may stop the colossal value destruction of the past 18 months or so. Whether they will be enough to reverse it is another matter. Chinese tech stocks remain depressed. Tencent’ s market capitalisation swelled by $ 85bn on the day of Xinhua’ s report. But that brought it back to where it was five days earlier, which is still down by more than half from its peak of nearly $ 1trn in February 2021. Alibaba’ s stockmarket value of $ 250bn is one-third of what it was a year ago. If the Communist Party’ s objective was to take Chinese tech down a peg and neutralise a perceived rival power centre, it has succeeded in spades.
Published since September 1843 to take part in “ a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress. ”
Copyright © The Economist Newspaper Limited 2022. All rights reserved. | business |
Russia’ s war is creating corporate winners and losers | MOST MULTINATIONAL companies can live without Russian customers. Living without Russian commodities would be much harder. On March 15th the European Commission announced new economic constraints on Russia, including a ban on exports of European luxury items and cars—the definition of an essential good is, after all, in the eye of the oligarch. But the announcement also included a ban on steel products from Russia. More such restrictions on Russian exports may come.
Companies are struggling to contain the fallout of Russia’ s brutal war in Ukraine. The first response of those with business in Russia was to rush for the exit. About 400 have announced their withdrawal from Russia, according to a tally by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld of Yale, cowed by legal and reputational risks. Executives now face a different, bigger challenge. This concerns not their business within Russia but supply chains that extend beyond it, and other knock-on effects. As the war continues, it is creating corporate winners and losers, as well as enormous volatility.
There are two factors that make the shock to supply chains particularly difficult for firms to manage. The first is the breadth of commodities produced by Ukraine and Russia. The two countries together supply 26% of the world’ s export of wheat, 16% of corn, 30% of barley and about 80% of sunflower oil and sunflower-seed meal. Ukraine provides about half the world’ s neon, used to etch microchips. Russia is the world’ s third-largest oil producer, second-largest producer of gas and top exporter of nickel, used in car batteries, and palladium, used in car-exhaust systems, not to mention a large exporter of aluminium and iron. Even without formal sanctions on most of Russia’ s commodities, Western traders are increasingly trying to avoid them, wary of legal risks.
The second complicating factor is the market’ s extraordinary swings. The price of Brent crude surged to $ 128 a barrel on March 8th, then dipped below $ 100 a week later as China announced new covid-19 restrictions and investors anticipated the interest-rate increase by America’ s Federal Reserve on March 16th. The London Metals Exchange halted trading of nickel on March 8th after its price shot past a record $ 100,000 a tonne. When trading resumed on March 16th, a technical issue prompted the exchange to suspend trading once more.
The overall American stockmarket is back roughly to where it was before the invasion. But a few industries benefit from the turmoil, from armsmakers to cable news and the lawyers who help firms comply with sanctions. The biggest winners are commodities firms, especially outside Russia ( see chart).
A stockmarket index of American frackers, which benefit from high oil prices and European demand for liquefied natural gas, climbed by a fifth between February 23rd to March 10th. It remains 9% above its pre-invasion level, despite the decline in oil prices. Mining firms are, as a group, likewise performing well, buoyed by higher metals prices, as are steelmakers beyond Russia. The share prices of US Steel and Tata Steel, with headquarters in Pittsburgh and Mumbai, respectively, have climbed by 38% and 11% since the eve of the invasion. Bunge and ADM, two big listed traders that specialise in rerouting flows of grain, have outperformed the market, too.
The war does not affect all commodities firms equally. Rio Tinto, a big miner, announced on March 10th that it would abandon a joint venture with Rusal, a giant Russian aluminium producer. Rocketing electricity costs resulting from the soaring price of natural gas, 40% of which Europe gets from Russia, have forced some Spanish steelmakers to cut output.
Pricey inputs are a more universal problem for sectors further up the value chain. Just as they were preparing to lift off as pandemic travel restrictions are relaxed, airlines got slapped with rocketing fuel costs. Yara International, a Norwegian fertiliser-maker, said on March 9th that the cost of natural gas had prompted it to cut production at two European factories.
Carmakers, which have not yet recovered from the pandemic’ s disruptions to supply chains, face fresh problems. Volkswagen and BMW, two German giants, have cut production in Europe as they seek out new manufacturers of the harnesses that bundle miles of electrical wires in their cars to replace out-of-action Ukrainian suppliers. Morgan Stanley, a bank, reckons that the 67% jump in nickel prices before trading stopped represents an increase of about $ 1,000 to the input costs of the average American electric vehicle.
Gabriel Adler of Citigroup, another bank, notes that carmakers have so far been successful in passing their costs on to consumers. Indeed, Tesla, America’ s electric-car superstar, this month raised prices; Elon Musk, its boss, complained in a tweet about “ significant recent inflation pressure in raw materials & logistics ”. Such pricing power is enviable. But it has its limits. At some point people will not be willing to absorb the increases.
In some cases, consumers are beginning to balk. American food firms have been raising prices for months to offset higher costs of energy, transport and ingredients. However, they have been unable to raise them quickly enough to protect margins. The need to negotiate prices with grocers limits their ability to demand higher ones whenever they desire. And grocers, in turn, are under pressure from shoppers. Robert Moskow of Credit Suisse, one more bank, notes that consumers have in the past year been willing to stomach pricier food. But the war’ s impact on commodities prices comes at a moment when their patience is wearing thin, especially in America, where inflation has hit a 40-year high.
“ Every food company must be getting a little nervous that they are pushing the consumer too far, ” says Mr Moskow. As the costs of inputs continue to climb, it looks increasingly likely that companies will be forced to choose between compressing profits and depressing demand.
Published since September 1843 to take part in “ a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress. ”
Copyright © The Economist Newspaper Limited 2022. All rights reserved. | business |
A possible new Covid-19 vaccine could be accessible for more of the world | While many people in wealthier countries have been vaccinated against Covid-19, there is still a need for vaccination in much of the world. A new vaccine developed at MIT and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center may aid in those efforts, offering an inexpensive, easy-to-store, and effective alternative to RNA vaccines.
In a new paper, the researchers report that the vaccine, which comprises fragments of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein arrayed on a virus-like particle, elicited a strong immune response and protected animals against viral challenge.
The vaccine was designed so that it can be produced by yeast, using fermentation facilities that already exist around the world. The Serum Institute of India, the world’ s largest manufacturer of vaccines, is now producing large quantities of the vaccine and plans to run a clinical trial in Africa.
“ There's still a very large population that does not have access to Covid vaccines. Protein-based subunit vaccines are a low-cost, well-established technology that can provide a consistent supply and is accepted in many parts of the world, ” says J. Christopher Love, the Raymond A. and Helen E. St. Laurent Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT and a member of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard.
Love and Dan Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center ( BIDMC) and a professor at Harvard Medical School, are the senior authors of the paper, which appears today in Science Advances. The paper’ s lead authors are MIT graduate students Neil Dalvie and Sergio Rodriguez-Aponte, and Lisa Tostanoski, a postdoc at BIDMC.
Optimizing manufacturability
Love’ s lab, working closely with Barouch’ s lab at BIDMC, began working on a Covid-19 vaccine in early 2020. Their goal was to produce a vaccine that would be not only effective but also easy to manufacture. To that end, they focused on protein subunit vaccines, a type of vaccine that consists of small pieces of viral proteins. Several existing vaccines, including one for hepatitis B, have been made using this approach.
“ In places in the world where cost remains a challenge, subunit vaccines can address that. They could also address some of the hesitancy around vaccines based on newer technologies, ” Love says.
Another advantage of protein subunit vaccines is that they can often be stored under refrigeration and do not require the ultracold storage temperatures that RNA vaccines do.
For their subunit vaccine, the researchers decided to use a small piece of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, the receptor-binding domain ( RBD). Early in the pandemic, studies in animals suggested that this protein fragment alone would not produce a strong immune response, so to make it more immunogenic, the team decided to display many copies of the protein on a virus-like particle. They chose the hepatitis B surface antigen as their scaffold, and showed that when coated with SARS-CoV-2 RBD fragments this particle generated a much stronger response than the RBD protein on its own.
The researchers also wanted to ensure that their vaccine could be manufactured easily and efficiently. Many protein subunit vaccines are manufactured using mammalian cells, which can be more difficult to work with. The MIT team designed the RBD protein so that it could be produced by the yeast Pichia pastoris, which is relatively easy to grow in an industrial bioreactor.
Each of the two vaccine components — the RBD protein fragment and the hepatitis B particle — can be produced separately in yeast. To each component, the researchers added a specialized peptide tag that binds with a tag found on the other component, allowing RBD fragments to be attached to the virus particles after each is produced.
Pichia pastoris is already used to produce vaccines in bioreactors around the world. Once the researchers had their engineered yeast cells ready, they sent them to the Serum Institute, which ramped up production rapidly.
“ One of the key things that separates our vaccine from other vaccines is that the facilities to manufacture vaccines in these yeast organisms already exist in parts of the world where the vaccines are still most needed today, ” Dalvie says.
A modular process
Once the researchers had their vaccine candidate ready, they tested it in a small trial in nonhuman primates. For those studies, they combined the vaccine with adjuvants that are already used in other vaccines: either aluminum hydroxide ( alum) or a combination of alum and another adjuvant called CpG.
In those studies, the researchers showed that the vaccine generated antibody levels similar to those produced by some of the approved Covid-19 vaccines, including the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. They also found that when the animals were exposed to SARS-CoV-2, viral loads in vaccinated animals were much lower than those seen in unvaccinated animals.
For that vaccine, the researchers used an RBD fragment that was based on the sequence of the original SARS-CoV-2 strain that emerged in late 2019. That vaccine has been tested in a phase 1 clinical trial in Australia. Since then, the researchers have incorporated two mutations ( similar to ones identified in the natural Delta and Lambda variants) that the team previously found to improve production and immunogenicity compared to the ancestral sequence, for the planned phase 1/2 clinical trials.
The approach of attaching an immunogen RBD to a virus-like particle offers a “ plug and display ” -like system that could be used to create similar vaccines, the researchers say.
“ We could make mutations that were seen in some of the new variants, add them to the RBD but keep the whole framework the same, and make new vaccine candidates, ” Rodriguez-Aponte says. “ That shows the modularity of the process and how efficiently you can edit and make new candidates. ”
If the clinical trials show that the vaccine provides a safe and effective alternative to existing RNA vaccines, the researchers hope that it could not only prove useful for vaccinating people in countries that currently have limited access to vaccines, but also enable the creation of boosters that would offer protection against a wider variety of SARS-CoV-2 strains or other coronaviruses.
“ In principle, this modularity does allow for consideration of adapting to new variants or providing a more pan-coronavirus protective booster, ” Love says.
Researchers from the Serum Institute and SpyBiotech also contributed to the paper. The research was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Koch Institute Support ( core) Grant from the National Cancer Institute. | business |
Novel 'Trojan horse ' drug delivery system uses protein-based microdroplets -- ScienceDaily | This discovery promises to be faster, safer, more effective, and better suited for gene therapy, cancer treatment, and vaccine delivery, including mRNA-based vaccines such as those currently used for Covid-19 vaccinations by Pfizer and Moderna.
These microdroplets, made up of small proteins named peptides, can encase large biomacromolecules that carry drugs inside them. In doing so, they allow these biological molecules to enter cells, something the molecules can not do by themselves.
Biomacromolecules are large biological molecules such as nucleic acids ( DNA, mRNA), proteins and carbohydrates. They are of great research interest as drug carriers, as they can carry a large amount of drugs, are nontoxic, able to target specific sites, and do not trigger the body's immune response. This makes them preferable and advantageous over synthetic carriers currently used in the market.
However, their large size and inability to pass through the cell membrane have held them back from widespread clinical use.
Now, the NTU research team, led by Professor Ali Miserez from the School of Materials Science & Engineering and the School of Biological Sciences, showed in lab experiments that their method of first encasing drug-carrying biomacromolecules in protein-based microdroplets lets them reliably and effectively enter cells, overcoming the main challenge of cell entry.
`` Biomacromolecules are promising therapeutic prospects for the treatment of various diseases as they have high potency, specificity, and are very safe, '' said Prof Miserez. `` Despite this broad potential, biomacromolecules suffer from a major drawback: they are impermeable to the cell membrane and thus can not penetrate the cell by themselves. They need help, which is where our platform comes into place. ''
The findings were published in the scientific journal Nature Chemistry in February. The study was funded by a Ministry of Education Tier 3 grant.
The research team has filed two patents based on their published study and are working to commercialise their drug delivery platform method through NTUitive, the University's innovation and enterprise company.
The development of the team's novel drug delivery system is aligned with NTU's commitment to innovation in its recently announced 2025 strategic plan, which aims to translate research into products and outcomes that enhance the quality of life.
New delivery system bypasses cell membrane
The researchers synthesised a peptide derived from squid beak to form the microdroplet due to its biological origin, high efficiency in storing molecules, and low toxicity. They were then able to entrap biomacromolecules inside it through a process called liquid-liquid phase separation ( LLPS).
This LLPS process, similar to how oil and water can mix together yet easily separate into two distinct liquids, forms what is known as a coacervate.
This coacervate is able to merge into the cell membrane, although the exact reason why is currently unknown. `` Presumably, the liquid-like properties of coacervates achieved via the liquid-liquid phase separation process is critical in their ability to cross the cell membrane, although the precise entry mechanism is still unclear and currently under investigation, '' said the paper's first author, NTU PhD student Yue Sun.
Crucially, this discovery allows biomacromolecules to avoid endocytosis -- the process where cells allow foreign substances to enter by surrounding it with a protective membrane.
Traditional drug delivery methods can not cross into the cell membrane without first being caught by the cell and wrapped within a 'bubble ' of cell membrane, or endosome. Therefore, these types of drug packages must also be encoded with further instructions to 'escape ' the endosome in order for them to efficiently release the drugs within the cell.
The team's coacervates are able to smoothly cross the cell membrane without triggering endocytosis. Once inside the cell, the carrier droplets disintegrate and release the biomacromolecules to do their job of treating various illnesses, including cancer and metabolic diseases.
`` You can think about these droplets as molecular 'Trojan Horses ': they trick the cells into letting them enter, and once inside, they deliver the biomacromolecular'soldiers ' that target the disease, '' said Prof Miserez.
Bypassing endocytosis is crucial as it reduces drug efficacy. Since the peptide microdroplets developed by the NTU team can bypass this process to enter the cell unhindered, their drug cargo can operate at full strength, said Prof Miserez.
A delivery system for a variety of drugs
In lab experiments, the team was able to successfully deliver fluorescent proteins, which are commonly used to demonstrate the efficiency of drug carriers, as well as the protein drug saporin through this method. By themselves, these proteins can not enter the cell.
The protein-based cargo was not only able to successfully enter and be released into the cells, but also maintained its bioactivity and efficacy. The team discovered that the cell entry process had a 99 per cent success rate compared to the 50-70 per cent of current commercially-available synthetic carriers.
The research team demonstrated that a wide range of biomacromolecules can be loaded into their microdroplets, from small peptides to enzymes to mRNAs. This makes it viable as a universal drug delivery system. All current delivery systems have to be created separately for different types of drugs.
`` Using our peptide droplets as a drug delivery system does away with the need to fabricate drug carriers that have to escape the endosome in order to deliver their cargo, '' said Prof Miserez. `` Furthermore, the drawback of such drug carriers is that they also have to be tailored to the particular drug that is being used or delivered. Such fabrication methods can be complex, time-consuming, and often contain organic solvents that reduce the bioactivity and efficiency of the drug cargo. ''
`` However, our peptide droplets can work as a universal delivery system without the need for individual adjustment. One delivery system for a whole range of proteins of various sizes, from big to small, and that can carry both positively- and negatively-charged proteins, is very appealing, '' added Prof Miserez.
This discovery can lead to better targeted drug delivery systems that are cheaper, safer, and more effective.
The potential future of drug delivery
The researchers were also able to deliver mRNA molecules into cells with this method. This opens the potential of using mRNA in gene therapy, a possible treatment for serious diseases such as cancer, genetic disorders, or infectious diseases.
`` The versatility of drug delivery and subsequent release allows these coacervates to deliver a single or a combination of macromolecular drugs, making this delivery platform very promising for the treatment of variety of illnesses such as cancer, and metabolic and infectious diseases, '' said Prof Miserez.
Commenting independently on the study, Dr Mahmood Ahmed, Chief Scientific Officer at artificial intelligence drug development firm Biotech Talo Labs, said: `` The exciting findings reported by the NTU scientists provide a path to addressing some key gaps in delivering a range of therapeutic modalities to the site of action. The data reported here demonstrates the potential of these biocompatible coacervates to traverse cell membranes and deliver diverse sets of large molecule entities, with the ability to tune and control the release of payload. Continued development of this discovery will further strengthen the translational utility of these unique coacervates and establish a transformational delivery technology platform. ''
The team has filed two patents related to the study. The first patent is the team's method of preparing the peptides into microdroplets for them to function as drug carriers. The other patent is for the method allowing the microdroplets to enter cells and then disintegrate once inside the cells such as to release the packaged drugs.
While real-world applications remain at least five years away, the scientists say their research has garnered initial interest from pharmaceutical and drug development companies. The team is looking to further their research by beginning animal studies this year. | science |
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index soars nearly 5% as Asian stocks jump, with Japan's Nikkei up 3% | SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific rose in Thursday morning trade following overnight gains on Wall Street, while the U.S. Federal Reserve announced its first rate hike in more than three years.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index led gains among the region's major markets, surging nearly 5% in early trade and erasing heavy losses from earlier in the week. The benchmark index saw its best day since October 2008 on Wednesday as it rocketed 9%.
The Hang Seng Tech index soared 8.45%, with Tencent up 5%, Alibaba jumping about 10% and JD surging around 16%.
Mainland Chinese stocks also rose, with the Shanghai composite up 1.23% while the Shenzhen component gained 1.95%.
China markets saw big gains on Wednesday after a Chinese state media report signaled support for Chinese stocks. U.S.-listed Chinese stocks also soared on Wednesday following the report, which said regulators from both countries are working toward a cooperation plan on U.S.-listed Chinese stocks.
Other Asia-Pacific markets also jumped. The Nikkei 225 in Japan surged 3.22% while the Topix index climbed 2.19%.
South Korea's Kospi gained 1.7%. Over in Australia, the S & P/ASX 200 advanced 1.43%.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 2.68% higher.
Oil prices were higher in the morning of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up 1.12% to $ 99.12 per barrel. U.S. crude futures climbed 1.25% to $ 96.23 per barrel.
The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday approved a 0.25 percentage point rate hike, the first increase since Dec. 2018.
Officials at the U.S. central bank also signaled an aggressive path ahead, with rate rises coming at the six remaining meetings this year.
Elsewhere, investors will continue to monitor developments surrounding the Covid situation in China as well as the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
JPMorgan says these are the stocks to buy on the pullback, including some set to gain 50% or more
Jeffrey Gundlach says he would buy bitcoin over gold in the short term
S & P 500 chart forms the ominous-sounding ‘ death cross.’ What it really means for the market
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 518.76 points, or 1.55%, to 34,063.10 while the S & P 500 advanced 2.24% to 4,357.86. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite surged 3.77% to 13,436.55.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 98.339 after a recent fall from around the 99 level.
The Japanese yen traded at 118.80 per dollar, weaker than levels below 118 seen against the greenback earlier this week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $ 0.731, holding on to gains after yesterday's jump from below $ 0.72.
— CNBC's Jeff Cox contributed to this report. | business |
History shows stocks can weather rate hike cycle | That offers a glimmer of good news to investors, who widely expect the central bank to announce the first interest rate increase in more than three years on Wednesday and are pricing some 180 basis points of tightening by the end of the year.
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.
An analysis of 12 rate hike cycles overall by Truist Advisory Services found the S & P 500's posted a total return at an average annualized rate of 9.4% during the length of such cycles, showing positive returns in 11 of those periods.
`` Equities have generally risen during periods where the Fed funds rate is rising because this is normally paired with a healthy economy and rising profits, '' Keith Lerner, Truist's co-chief investment officer, wrote in a report.
Many investors worry that this year may be more complicated than most, however, as markets are faced with soaring inflation which stands to be worsened by surging commodity prices in the wake of Russia's war with Ukraine.
The uncertainty has presented a dilemma for the central bank, with some investors worried policymakers could push the economy into a recession if it raises rates too far as it seeks to tamp down inflation.
To be sure, rate increases have tended to weigh on stocks in the near-term. An analysis by Evercore ISI of four hiking cycles found that the S & P 500 fell an average of 4% in the first month following the start of the cycle.
But the benchmark index was higher six months into the cycle by an average of 3%, and 5% higher on average after 12 months, according to Evercore.
`` The Fed doesn't want a recession and it generally takes a whole lot of hiking before the economy is put into position to potentially feel a recession, '' said Julian Emanuel, senior managing director at Evercore ISI.
Emanuel said Evercore's `` base case '' is that the market is `` really in the midst of making a near-term bottom that is more likely to deliver the kind of six- and 12-month returns that a typical Fed rate hike cycle has engendered previously. ''
However, with the Fed starting to tighten monetary policy after offering massive support to help the economy endure the coronavirus pandemic, some investors are prepared for potential rockiness.
The S & P 500 has slid more than 10% to start 2022, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq confirmed it was in a bear market, dropping over 20% from its November all-time high. Tech and growth stocks have underperformed, as the rise in bond yields pressures the value of future cash flows that those stocks valuations ' rely on.
Morgan Stanley equity strategist Michael Wilson said that if the Fed `` is successful in orchestrating a soft landing '' for the economy as it raises rates this year, it could lead to much higher bond yields, that `` would simply weigh on equity valuations. ''
`` The bottom line is the Fed is going to start removing the punch bowl this week, '' Wilson said in a note this week.
`` The question for equity investors is how far can they get on rate hikes given the already slowing growth and additional shock from the war? ''
( Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf; editing by Richard Pullin)
By Lewis Krauskopf | business |
Rise of Moral Investing as War in Ukraine Rages On | Fifty-four per cent of investors have become more conscious of how their money is being invested in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war, according to a new poll by the UK direct to consumer investment platform interactive investor.
Four in 10 of the sample of 2,058 interactive investor website visitors between 9 and 10 March 2022 said they were considering investments that align with their moral values as a result of Russia’ s invasion of Ukraine.
However, almost a third said their moral stance had remained unchanged. Thirteen per cent responded with ‘ don’ t know’.
The biggest risk to global stock markets
The 42 per cent majority of respondents believe that the potential escalation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine represents the biggest threat to global stock markets over the next five years.
This was ahead of the 23 per cent who cited inflation, and the 20 per cent who cited geopolitical tensions involving China, Brazil and the Middle East.
Meanwhile, just seven per cent cited climate change as their biggest concern, a mere five months on from COP26, the UN climate conference held in Glasgow last year.
Only two per cent see the arrival of new waves and/or variants of Covid-19 as a risk to global markets over the same time period.
“ The Russian invasion has had a terrible impact on millions of Ukrainians, and the economic consequences are already being felt around the world. The conflict has made investors think hard about where their money is invested, ” comments interactive investor’ s head of equity strategy Lee Wild when reflecting on the data.
“ More than half of those who responded to our poll are now more conscious about the destination of their cash, and almost 39 per cent are considering investing more in line with their moral values. There are signs that this is not a temporary trend, but a more permanent shift in attitudes.
“ The war in Ukraine is acknowledged not solely as a short-term threat to stock markets, but the biggest threat over the next five years by 42 per cent of respondents. How this change in behaviour manifests itself will only become clear over time, but Europe’ s shift away from dependence on Russian gas, oil, and coal will be a running theme long after the bullets stop firing.
“ With billions of euros earmarked for ‘ massive investment’ in solar, wind, and hydrogen, it is logical to assume more money will find a home in the renewables sector. You could even argue that every fund, now, is in some way, a ‘ responsible’ or ethical fund,’ even if they would not have classified themselves as such.
“ Perhaps funds that have never considered the traditional Environmental Social Governance, or ‘ ESG’, credentials are now having to face a new reality where, as agents of investors’ capital, they will have to consider more than just the direct financial impact, and risk, alone. We are all having to take responsibility for how our financial decisions impact the world around us. ”
More investors are tweaking their portfolio
More investors appear to be tweaking their portfolio in response to the Russia-Ukraine war.
Fifty-five per cent said they are making changes. Of these, 25 per cent are upping their stock market exposure; 13 per cent are doing the opposite, while 17 per cent are re-allocating money to more defensive sectors.
In comparison, interactive investor’ s inflation poll published last month ‘ keep calm and do nothing’, reports that’ 80 per cent of investors were following the ‘ keep calm and do nothing’ mantra’ in response to rising inflation.
Myron Jobson, senior personal finance analyst for interactive investor comments: “ As McDonald’ s, Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and a number of western companies have halted business in Russia in opposition of the invasion of Ukraine, investors too have pondered where and how their money is being invested.
“ For some investors, the ‘ keep calm and do nothing’ mantra is simply out of the question as the thought of unwittingly helping to fund the Russian war machine through the investments they hold is abhorrent to them.
“ The fact that almost four in 10 respondents of our survey are actively considering investments that align to their moral values shows that many are no longer comfortable with the ‘ ignorance is bliss’ approach to investing.
“ The Russia-Ukraine war has usurped inflation and geopolitical tensions more broadly as the biggest threat to global markets over the next five years, with concerns over the impact of climate change and Covid taking a backseat – something few would have predicted a couple of months ago.
In past polls, the ‘ E’ for environment in ‘ ESG’ has been where ethical investors have wanted to focus. But while a sizable seven per cent of our respondents think climate change is the biggest threat to finances on a five-year view, responsible investing from a geopolitical perspective has taken centre stage.
“ It goes to show the extent of the dynamism in current affairs, and the knock-on effect on investments. This is why diversification is the name of the game when it comes to investments, reducing potential risks, and increasing potential returns by spreading your investments across different assets. ”
Favoured regions among investors
Fifty-eight per cent are funnelling spare cash into UK-centric investments, ahead of US and European offerings; 14 and seven per cent respectively.
Meanwhile, five per cent favour Asia and emerging market investment opportunities, but there is a minuscule one per cent appetite for the frontier market.
Ten per cent said they are investing in other regions.
Tyler is a Fintech Junior Journalist with specific interests in Online Banking and emerging AI technologies. He began his career writing with a plethora of national and international publications.
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Novel 'Trojan horse ' drug delivery system using protein-based microdroplets | Mar 16, 2022
Novel 'Trojan horse ' drug delivery system using protein-based microdroplets
( Nanowerk News) Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore ( NTU Singapore) have developed a novel method of delivering drugs into human cells using large biological molecules, by first encasing them in a protein-based microdroplet.
This discovery promises to be faster, safer, more effective, and better suited for gene therapy, cancer treatment, and vaccine delivery, including mRNA-based vaccines such as those currently used for Covid-19 vaccinations by Pfizer and Moderna.
These microdroplets, made up of small proteins named peptides, can encase large biomacromolecules that carry drugs inside them. In doing so, they allow these biological molecules to enter cells, something the molecules can not do by themselves.
Biomacromolecules are large biological molecules such as nucleic acids ( DNA, mRNA), proteins and carbohydrates. They are of great research interest as drug carriers, as they can carry a large amount of drugs, are nontoxic, able to target specific sites, and do not trigger the body's immune response. This makes them preferable and advantageous over synthetic carriers currently used in the market.
However, their large size and inability to pass through the cell membrane have held them back from widespread clinical use.
Now, the NTU research team, led by Professor Ali Miserez from the School of Materials Science Engineering and the School of Biological Sciences, showed in lab experiments that their method of first encasing drug-carrying biomacromolecules in protein-based microdroplets lets them reliably and effectively enter cells, overcoming the main challenge of cell entry.
Professor Ali Miserez ( left), from the School of Materials Science Engineering and the School of Biological Sciences, and NTU PhD student Yue Sun from the School of Materials Science and Engineering. ( Image: NTU)
“ Biomacromolecules are promising therapeutic prospects for the treatment of various diseases as they have high potency, specificity, and are very safe, ” said Prof Miserez. “ Despite this broad potential, biomacromolecules suffer from a major drawback: they are impermeable to the cell membrane and thus can not penetrate the cell by themselves. They need help, which is where our platform comes into place. ”
The findings were published in the scientific journal Nature Chemistry ( Phase-Separating Peptides for Direct Cytosolic Delivery and Redox-Activated Release of Macromolecular Therapeutics).
The research team has filed two patents based on their published study and are working to commercialise their drug delivery platform method through NTUitive, the University’ s innovation and enterprise company.
The development of the team’ s novel drug delivery system is aligned with NTU’ s commitment to innovation in its recently announced 2025 strategic plan, which aims to translate research into products and outcomes that enhance the quality of life.
New delivery system bypasses cell membrane
The researchers synthesised a peptide derived from squid beak to form the microdroplet due to its biological origin, high efficiency in storing molecules, and low toxicity. They were then able to entrap biomacromolecules inside it through a process called liquid-liquid phase separation ( LLPS).
This LLPS process, similar to how oil and water can mix together yet easily separate into two distinct liquids, forms what is known as a coacervate.
This coacervate is able to merge into the cell membrane, although the exact reason why is currently unknown. “ Presumably, the liquid-like properties of coacervates achieved via the liquid-liquid phase separation process is critical in their ability to cross the cell membrane, although the precise entry mechanism is still unclear and currently under investigation, ” said the paper’ s first author, NTU PhD student Yue Sun.
Crucially, this discovery allows biomacromolecules to avoid endocytosis – the process where cells allow foreign substances to enter by surrounding it with a protective membrane.
Traditional drug delivery methods can not cross into the cell membrane without first being caught by the cell and wrapped within a ‘ bubble’ of cell membrane, or endosome. Therefore, these types of drug packages must also be encoded with further instructions to ‘ escape’ the endosome in order for them to efficiently release the drugs within the cell.
The team’ s coacervates are able to smoothly cross the cell membrane without triggering endocytosis. Once inside the cell, the carrier droplets disintegrate and release the biomacromolecules to do their job of treating various illnesses, including cancer and metabolic diseases.
“ You can think about these droplets as molecular ‘ Trojan Horses’: they trick the cells into letting them enter, and once inside, they deliver the biomacromolecular ‘ soldiers’ that target the disease, ” said Prof Miserez.
Bypassing endocytosis is crucial as it reduces drug efficacy. Since the peptide microdroplets developed by the NTU team can bypass this process to enter the cell unhindered, their drug cargo can operate at full strength, said Prof Miserez.
A delivery system for a variety of drugs
In lab experiments, the team was able to successfully deliver fluorescent proteins, which are commonly used to demonstrate the efficiency of drug carriers, as well as the protein drug saporin through this method. By themselves, these proteins can not enter the cell.
The protein-based cargo was not only able to successfully enter and be released into the cells, but also maintained its bioactivity and efficacy. The team discovered that the cell entry process had a 99 per cent success rate compared to the 50-70 per cent of current commercially-available synthetic carriers.
The research team demonstrated that a wide range of biomacromolecules can be loaded into their microdroplets, from small peptides to enzymes to mRNAs. This makes it viable as a universal drug delivery system. All current delivery systems have to be created separately for different types of drugs.
“ Using our peptide droplets as a drug delivery system does away with the need to fabricate drug carriers that have to escape the endosome in order to deliver their cargo, ” said Prof Miserez. “ Furthermore, the drawback of such drug carriers is that they also have to be tailored to the particular drug that is being used or delivered. Such fabrication methods can be complex, time-consuming, and often contain organic solvents that reduce the bioactivity and efficiency of the drug cargo. ”
“ However, our peptide droplets can work as a universal delivery system without the need for individual adjustment. One delivery system for a whole range of proteins of various sizes, from big to small, and that can carry both positively- and negatively-charged proteins, is very appealing, ” added Prof Miserez.
This discovery can lead to better targeted drug delivery systems that are cheaper, safer, and more effective.
The potential future of drug delivery
The researchers were also able to deliver mRNA molecules into cells with this method. This opens the potential of using mRNA in gene therapy, a possible treatment for serious diseases such as cancer, genetic disorders, or infectious diseases.
“ The versatility of drug delivery and subsequent release allows these coacervates to deliver a single or a combination of macromolecular drugs, making this delivery platform very promising for the treatment of variety of illnesses such as cancer, and metabolic and infectious diseases, ” said Prof Miserez.
Commenting independently on the study, Dr Mahmood Ahmed, Chief Scientific Officer at artificial intelligence drug development firm Biotech Talo Labs, said: “ The exciting findings reported by the NTU scientists provide a path to addressing some key gaps in delivering a range of therapeutic modalities to the site of action. The data reported here demonstrates the potential of these biocompatible coacervates to traverse cell membranes and deliver diverse sets of large molecule entities, with the ability to tune and control the release of payload. Continued development of this discovery will further strengthen the translational utility of these unique coacervates and establish a transformational delivery technology platform. ”
The team has filed two patents related to the study. The first patent is the team’ s method of preparing the peptides into microdroplets for them to function as drug carriers. The other patent is for the method allowing the microdroplets to enter cells and then disintegrate once inside the cells such as to release the packaged drugs.
While real-world applications remain at least five years away, the scientists say their research has garnered initial interest from pharmaceutical and drug development companies. The team is looking to further their research by beginning animal studies this year.
Source: Nanyang Technological University
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Top U.S. port sets import record, eyes China COVID risk | `` In the weeks ahead, we expect to see an increase in vessels headed our way as retailers to get a big push to replenish shelves, '' Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka said on a media call.
`` We're also watching very closely the events in China with yet another wave of COVID-19 spreading through major cities and businesses, '' Seroka said.
The Port of Los Angeles and the adjacent Port of Long Beach handle more imports from China than any other U.S. ocean gateways. They set a new record for imports in February, handling a combined 814,408 20-foot equivalent units ( TEU) - 3.5% more than the year earlier.
Forty-four ships are already sailing cargo to the Southern California port complex, versus the 30 that are typically seen at this time of the year, Seroka said.
Meanwhile, China has put millions of people under lockdown in a bid to stop the spread of a highly contagious Omicron variant. That action is already impacting factories that make everything from electric scooters to Apple iPhones.
China has imposed some of the toughest measures in the key manufacturing hubs of Shenzhen, Dongguan and Changchun, as well as the financial center of Shanghai - home to the world's busiest container port.
Many small, high-value electronics from Shenzen enter the United States by plane. Inexpensive or bulky items move by ship, including Mattel toys, furniture and other home goods sold by QVC owner Qurate Retail Group, and dishwashers from Samsung Electronics, said Eric Oak, a supply chain analyst at S & P Global Market Intelligence's trade data firm Panjiva. Mattel, Qurate and Samsung did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
While major air and sea ports in Shenzhen and Shanghai continue to operate, locals are reporting that trucks are delayed by road and testing restrictions and that some Shenzen warehouses are no longer accepting deliveries.
The supply chain depends on all of the links working together, said Phil Levy, chief economist for freight forwarder Flexport. `` If you don't have truckers and you don't have warehouses, ( you can move) things already in process, but you 'll have a problem with new stuff, '' Levy said.
( Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles)
By Lisa Baertlein | business |
Now Playing: The Return of the Healthcare Megadeal | Bookmark content that interests you and it will be saved here for you to read or share later.
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More private equity sponsors team up to win bids and spread risk.
By Jon Barfield, 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
A huge stockpile of dry powder, or private equity capital, waiting to be deployed— $ 3.3 trillion as of June 2021—has helped boost the number and value of healthcare buyouts. Abundant capital and expanding deal multiples converged in 2021 to cause a rebound in large deals.
The record 30 deals larger than $ 1 billion caused disclosed value to more than triple to $ 122 billion from $ 38 billion the prior year ( see Figure 1). Of note was the increase in deals north of $ 15 billion, including the investments in Medline and Athenahealth, valued at $ 34 billion and $ 17 billion, respectively. Both megadeals went to consortium bidders that were able to partner and pool capital to defray risk and also submit a competitive bid.
With healthcare returns expected to remain strong, the continued growth in valuations will likely lead to a steady stream of large deals. The consortium, or club, deal thus will remain an important presence, particularly for transactions above $ 5 billion, because the structure allows private equity sponsors to afford increasingly large assets. Consortium bidding appeals not only to the largest investors looking to buy assets valued at over $ 10 billion, but also to small and midsize funds bidding on assets with lower price tags. For example, Nordic Capital, Insight Venture Management, and 22C Capital teamed up to buy Inovalon for $ 7.3 billion, and CBC Group, Mubadala Investment, GS Holdings, and IMM Investment acquired Hugel for $ 1.5 billion.
There’ s another wrinkle: Public markets haven’ t accorded healthcare companies the same high valuations as they have for some other industries, such as technology, so private companies that once would have gone public increasingly are exploring private capital options. Private equity funds have also warmed to public-to-private transactions, further expanding the universe of potential targets.
Very large deals obviously require strong conviction, deep expertise in scoping, and diligence that captures the puts and takes about how a target’ s potential might evolve. In light of the strong deal demand and multiple levels, the ability to orchestrate and execute complex diligence will continue to be a differentiating capability for healthcare sponsors.
Healthcare’ s resilience attracts both more capital and creative new forms of capital.
Record-high valuations are forcing acquirers to get creative.
The industry roared back after a pandemic-induced lull in 2020.
The pandemic led to rapid reinvention of healthcare delivery in the Asia-Pacific region.
Healthcare companies are responding to changes wrought by the coronavirus and gearing up to anticipate future outbreaks.
Private equity outdid itself as investors raced to capture technology-fueled growth
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Secrétariat | Le Secrétariat appuie les efforts de collecte de fonds, la mise en œuvre des plans de travail, les essais pilotes des produits et outils ainsi que la gestion des connaissances. Le Secrétariat est également responsable de la convocation générale, y compris de la réunion annuelle Protection des enfants dans l'action humanitaire.
Hani Mansourian est le coordinateur de l'Alliance pour la Protection des enfants dans l'action humanitaire, de la part de l'UNICEF. Depuis 2000, Hani travaille avec des enfants et des populations réfugiées dans des contextes humanitaires et de développement. Il a travaillé avec des ONG locales et internationales ainsi que plusieurs agences des Nations Unies. Hani a participé à plusieurs réponses humanitaires dans la protection de l'enfance dans plus d'une douzaine de situations d'urgence.
Camilla Jones est la coordinatrice de l'Alliance pour la protection de l'enfance dans l'action humanitaire, au nom de World Vision. Depuis 2006, Camilla travaille dans les secteurs de l'humanitaire et du développement sur les questions de protection internationale de l'enfance. Plus récemment, Camilla a travaillé avec Family for Every Child, un réseau mondial d'organisations nationales axées sur la protection de l'enfance, où elle a géré les programmes de l'organisation concernant les enfants en mouvement, a supervisé les événements en ligne, ainsi que plusieurs recherches - notamment sur la violence sexuelle à l'encontre des garçons, l'importance de la famille, les interactions entre la protection sociale et la protection de l'enfance, et entre l'éducation et la protection de l'enfance. Camilla a travaillé en Afrique, en Asie et au Moyen-Orient, et a soutenu des programmes en Amérique. Elle a également travaillé sur des programmes de prévention et réponse pour les enfants réfugiés au Kenya avec Save the Children et en Jordanie avec l'UNICEF, et a mené plusieurs consultations, principalement sur la gestion des cas.
Kyra Loat est actuellement le point focal de la gestion des connaissances pour l'Alliance. Kyra a récemment obtenu un diplôme en Sciences politiques à l'Université de Colombie britannique, avec une spécialisation en égalité de genre, développement durable et droit international humanitaire. Ses principaux centres d'intérêt dans le domaine de la protection de l'enfance sont la violence basée sur le genre, la situation des enfants associés aux forces armées ou aux groupes armés et l'éducation dans les situations d'urgence. Kyra continue à diriger le développement du nouveau site internet de l'Alliance pour répondre à nos besoins en matière de gestion des connaissances, partager les connaissances et événements, et s'assurer que les connaissances techniques soient traduites de manière à pouvoir être analysées et exploitables.
Chizuru Iwata est la gestionnaire de projet pour l'Alliance pour la protection de l'enfance dans l'action humanitaire. Elle soutient l'Alliance dans le cadre de la planification, l'établissement de rapports, le suivi et l'évaluation, la gestion et la collecte de fonds. Chizuru a 10 ans d'expérience dans la gestion et la coordination de projets, notamment en appui au programme de l'UNICEF en faveur des adolescents dans des contextes humanitaires et de développement au Moyen-Orient, en Asie et en Afrique.
Aneesah Saeed est actuellement en stage à l'Alliance. Elle est étudiante en dernière année au City College de New York, où elle suit des études internationales en politique publique et en psychologie. Elle a également un diplôme en User Experience/User Interface Design Boot Camp de l'Université de Columbia. Aneesah a aidé le groupe de travail sur les Standards minimums pour la protection de l'enfance et travaille actuellement avec le point focal responsable de la gestion des connaissances sur la refonte du site internet de l'Alliance. Son objectif est de mettre à profit son expérience et ses compétences pour aider l'Alliance à offrir une expérience plus pertinente et utile pour les utilisateurs et en améliorer l'accessibilité.
Elspeth Chapman est la spécialiste des partenariats stratégiques et du plaidoyer pour l'Alliance pour la protection de l'enfant dans l'action humanitaire. Elspeth soutiendra l'Alliance dans la mise en œuvre de son plan stratégique 2021-2025, notamment en ce qui concerne les partenariats stratégiques, l'engagement des bailleurs de fonds et le plaidoyer. Elle a plus de 10 ans d'expérience dans l'humanitaire, à la fois dans la protection de l'enfance et dans des rôles de direction au sein d'ONGI et d'agences des Nations unies. Elspeth a travaillé avec des populations affectées par les conflits dans de multiples contextes, notamment en Afghanistan, en Jordanie et au Liban lors de la réponse à la crise syrienne, en Palestine, en Libye et au Sud-Soudan.
Achieng Kokonya est une spécialiste de la protection de l'enfance qui a plus de 10 ans d'expérience dans ce domaine, principalement dans les situations d'urgence. Elle a travaillé en Afrique orientale et australe ainsi qu'en Asie.
Actuellement, elle apporte son soutien au Secrétariat de l'Alliance en ce qui concerne l'affiliation, l'organisation de la réunion annuelle 2020, les activités liées à la pandémie de COVID-19 et la révision des plans de travail stratégiques 2018-2020.
Contribuez au site Web de l'Alliance en partageant votre contenu ( ressources, actualités, événements, postes vacants, etc.) ici | general |
JPMorgan Chase: Commits $ 30 Million to Help Close Wealth Gaps for Black and Latina Women | March 16, 2022 ( New York, NY) - JPMorgan Chase has announced six winners to receive $ 5 million each in philanthropic capital as part of an annual competition to source innovative and sustainable ideas to advance equity in communities across the U.S. This year, the firm sourced proposals for projects designed for and by Black and Latina women to address racial and gender wealth gaps. JPMorgan Chase has awarded six winning cities-Washington, DC., Baltimore, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Miami, and Los Angeles- $ 5 million each over a period of three years, for a total of $ 30 million in philanthropic commitments.
When COVID-19 disrupted America's economy, it exacerbated deep economic disparities faced by Black and Latina women.1 Over two million women left the labor force during the COVID crisis, and the unemployment rate for Black and Latina women remains persistently higher than the unemployment rates for White and Asian men and women.2 According to the JPMorgan Chase Institute, Black and Latina women were particularly vulnerable to the financial effects of the pandemic and saw differential impacts such as childcare responsibilities created by closed or virtual schools and day cares. For example, Black and Latina female-led households experienced the fastest depletion of their stimulus balance gains.
`` To help address the challenges faced by many Black and Latina women across the U.S., we are investing in collaborations, drawing on the strengths of public and private sectors, to develop and test innovative and sustainable solutions. We know taking on these monumental issues will require a diversity of perspectives, areas of expertise, and skills, '' said Demetrios Marantis, Global Head of Corporate Responsibility, JPMorgan Chase & Co. `` Nearly two years into the pandemic in the U.S., we have continued to lose ground on the longstanding economic disparities that have disproportionately impacted Black, Hispanic and Latino people. ''
These proposals will help drive solutions to primarily support Black and Latina women who have been disproportionately impacted by the effects of COVID-19. Winning collaborations demonstrated significant experience improving outcomes for Black and Latina women, and offered timely and promising approaches to financial health and coaching, entrepreneurship, housing stability and career support. Winning proposals were selected both on the strength of their ideas and their potential to reach scale through policy and practice change. JPMorgan Chase will also work with national partners to support evaluation and facilitate a learning community among the six winners to enhance the long-term sustainability of their solutions, meet the changing needs of each community, and share learnings.
Today's announcement is part of JPMorgan Chase's $ 30 billion racial equity commitment to drive economic inclusion and builds on the firm's initiatives to invest in solutions to drive equitable growth and community-based strategies across the country.
Five of the six collaborations are led by Black and Latina women.
Advancing Early Education in Washington, D.C:
In the Washington region, the majority of early childcare educators are Black and Latina women and only one-fifth of all early childhood educators in the Washington region have a bachelor's degree. Educators with bachelor's degrees have more access to promotions, and the overall average hourly wage for educators with a degree is higher than wages for educators without a degree.3 With JPMorgan Chase's $ 5 million three-year commitment, Martha's Table, LIFT-DC, Venture Philanthropy Partners+ Raise DC, American University, Trinity Washington University, and the Urban Institute are launching the Advancing Early Education Collaborative-a partnership to increase access to education, skills, and training opportunities, as well as wealth building and capacity building for early childhood educators and the centers that employ them. The Advancing Early Education Collaborative will:
Prioritizing Black and Latina Women's Economic Rise in Baltimore, MD:
66% of Black, Latino and Hispanic households in Baltimore meet the standard for liquid-asset poverty. The largest percentage of those experiencing poverty are women between 25 and 54, with 50% of this population also being cost-burdened renters.4 With JPMorgan Chase's $ 5 million three-year commitment, Latino Economic Development Center of Washington, D.C., University of Maryland Baltimore's Community Engagement Center, University of Maryland School of Social Work, Black Women Build Baltimore, Baltimore D.C. Building Trades, Byte Back and Baltimore Community Lending will create a continuum of wealth building for Black and Latina women developers in West Baltimore. To do so, this collaborative will:
Project Vanguard: An Activator Lab for Black and Latina Women-Owned Businesses in the Twin Cities Area
Limited investment vehicles have hindered economic growth for Black and Latina women and their businesses in regions like Minneapolis-St. Paul. The Center for Economic Inclusion ( Center) and partners, including Activate Network, Certified Access, Fearless Commerce, and NEOO Partners Inc, will launch Project Vanguard, a multi-sector accelerator committed to maximizing wealth-building and job creation with Black and Latina women business owners in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region. It is led by Black business owners experienced in business development, growth, and scale. The collaborative will work directly with Black and Latina women business owners, corporations, and government agencies to:
NOLA C.A.R.E.S.: Creating Access, Resources and Equity for Success
Child care center owners in New Orleans -- who are mostly Black and Latina women -- lack access to capital to improve and expand their facilities, leaving thousands of children unserved. The pandemic has heightened this lack of investment, as more than one-third of Louisiana child care business owners expect to close due to insufficient public subsidies5 that fail to cover the cost of care, high facility costs and lack of operating capital. With support from JPMorgan Chase, 12 New Orleans organizations, led by Beloved Community, will work together to:
Closing the Gap: Women, Entrepreneurship, and the Racial Wealth Divide in Miami
The pandemic disproportionately impacted women of color and their participation in the work force.6 Moreover, women and people of color experience wage theft and exploitative working conditions at higher rates and are more likely to work low-wage jobs.7 According to a study recently completed by Miami Workers Center, 84% of Black domestic workers in South Florida lost their jobs due to the pandemic.8 With support from JPMorgan Chase, Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida ( NHSSF), Miami Workers Center, and Catalyst Miami will equip Black and Latina women in South Florida's care economy with the tools to launch and develop worker cooperatives. The care economy includes professions in childcare, home health, cleaning and related fields. Through this commitment, the organizations will:
Open Air Economy Collaborative - An Initiative for Black and Latina Street Vendors in LA County
According to a report produced by the UCLA School of Law Community Economic Development Clinic and Public Counsel in August 2021, of an estimated 10,000 sidewalk food vendors working in the City of Los Angeles, only 165 had received permits.9 Thousands more vendors sell merchandise and other goods in the open air economy. Vendors face a variety of challenges throughout the process of seeking a permit, hindering the majority from formalizing their businesses and accessing critical business development opportunities and services. For example, instruction materials are not translated into commonly spoken languages, commissary space is severely limited, and equipment barriers and unreasonable regulations prevent the construction of affordable vending carts.
To achieve the goals of the three-year commitment, the Open Air Economy Collaborative will:
Today's announcement builds on JPMorgan Chase's commitment to expanding opportunities for women around the world by supporting organizations like the Institute for Women's Policy Research, Jeremiah Program, Capital Enterprise and SmartStart. This year's investment in the six collaborations across the U.S. draws from lessons learned from previous competitions. Key factors that result in lasting change include:
About JPMorgan Chase's $ 500 million commitment to drive growth
In 2018, JPMorgan Chase created a $ 500 million five-year initiative that combines the firm's lending capital, philanthropic capital and expertise to support innovative solutions to challenges that have limited equitable and inclusive economic growth. The program includes large scale commitments where deeper investments are needed to drive inclusive growth, as well as a challenge to source innovative cross-sector solutions for U.S. cities. What started as the AdvancingCities Challenge launched in September 2018 has since attracted more than 600 proposals over three cycles; in 2021, we received more than 200 applications from nearly 80 communities across 34 states.
Statements of Support
Tiffany Williams, Co-Interim President & CEO and Chief Program Officer, Martha's Table: `` At Martha's Table, we believe that every Washingtonian deserves the opportunity to stay and thrive in their communities as they grow and change. This bold investment by the JPMorgan Chase Foundation will equip aspiring early educators in Washington, D.C. with the support they need to further their own educations and earn credentials to advance in their careers. At the same time, this grant will allow the Advancing Early Education Collaborative to pursue systems change that will ensure that wages in the early learning sector match the expertise of the professionals who serve in our youngest children's classrooms. ''
Emi Reyes, Chief Executive Officer of Latino Economic Development Center: `` For LEDC, our mission has always been to advance financial wealth in the Latino and underserved communities. LEDC also understands how Black and Latina women can impact our communities and serve as pillars if given the appropriate resources and tools. However, Black and Latina women are often left behind with heavy housing financial burdens or a lack of information and training. The pandemic has also disproportionately affected Black and Latina women and their financial equity. Thanks to JP Morgan Chase's three-year commitment, LEDC can continue to expand its mission in West Baltimore, decrease the wealth gap for Black and Latina women, and generate small business opportunities for all of these women and their ideas. ''
Tawanna Black, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Center for Economic Inclusion: `` JPMorgan Chase's commitment to investing in organizations led by Black women, to close racial wealth gaps, and accelerate inclusive economic growth is commendable. The bank has invested in our work to help drive shared accountability for equitable supplier diversity for three years, and this investment will help us accelerate transformation and systems change. ''
Rhonda Broussard, Founder and CEO of Beloved Community: `` This investment from JPMorgan Chase is going to be catalytic for economic mobility of Black and Latinx women in our region. We're honored to partner with such committed and innovative leaders to provide comprehensive support that includes workforce development, entrepreneur capacity-building, community engaged research, and ultimately access to more quality child care options for all New Orleans families. ''
Kimberly T. Henderson, President and CEO of Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida: `` To nurture an inclusive economy, NHSSF and our partners Catalyst Miami and Miami Workers Center bring a multidisciplinary and holistic approach to connecting low-wealth employee owners to capital. Funding for that is crucial to empowering Black and Latina women that largely make-up and propel Miami's Care Economy. NHSSF is honored to be a part of this innovative and much needed approach to supporting small, women-led businesses. ''
Rudy Espinoza, Executive Director of Inclusive Action for the City: `` We're emerging from a global pandemic that has disproportionately impacted Black and Latina street vendors and micro-entrepreneurs. For far too long, these entrepreneurs and community leaders have worked on the margins of our economy simply due to the nature of how they earn their livelihood in the 'open air economy. '' | business |
Global inflation may matter more than China’ s latest supply chain disruptions – Asian Chemical Connections | Understand market developments and complex data and what they mean to you.
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“ ICIS price forecasts have helped us allocate resources smartly and efficiently, to anticipate price changes, and to buy PP at favourable prices. The reports have saved our internal team a lot of time and effort when analysing pricing trends. ”
IF THE REPORTED new problems at Yantian container port –- the third largest in the world –- had happened before 24 February, the only concern would have been further disruptions to the global container business.
Back then, I would have only worried this would have caused yet another delay to in the fall in of east-west freight rates to much more manageable levels.
Under the Old Normal, high freight rates had created a divided polyolefins world – very strong pricing and margins in Europe and the US versus comparatively very weak pricing and margins in Asia.
High container freight rates had limited the ability of Middle East and Asian producers to relieve oversupply in the dominant China market through exporting to the West. The oversupply was the result of a China demand slowdown caused by Common Prosperity and big capacity increases in China and South Korea.
Not if we are already amid a collapse in demand for Chinese exports more significant than any reductions in container-freight shipments, the result of high inflation.
Or maybe China will, as it has done in the past, subsidise its exporters to keep the China price cheap enough to sustain its export trade. There are reports of this already happening.
We must, however, also assess the effect of the latest coronavirus lockdowns on the Chinese economy. Even just a one week shutdown across the major manufacturing regions could reduce this year’ s GDP growth by 0.8 percentage points.
And we need to also consider the China relationships with Russia and the West and how this might efffect Chinese trade with the West.
Why 24 February represents a turning point is that it of course marks the day that Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. It was from that date onwards that demand destruction became a concern for the polyethylene ( PE) and polypropylene ( PP).
Major demand destruction could already be with us because of surging energy and food costs. Cuts in non-discretionary spending in every region could be happening as people struggle with higher food and fuel costs.
In the developing world ex-China especially ( we can no longer categorise China as a typical developing economy), lost demand is likely to be big. As income levels are low, bigger proportions of incomes go on food and fuel than in the rich world.
Disruptions in exports of wheat and corn from Ukraine and Russia, which have led to soaring prices, have placed millions of people in danger of severe hunger, warns the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
“ At least 50 countries depend on Russia and Ukraine for 30% or more of their wheat supply, and many developing countries in northern Africa, Asia and the near east are among the most reliant, ” wrote the Guardian in this article.
“ Poor countries are bearing the brunt of the price increases. Many of the poorest countries were already struggling financially, with some facing debt crises, amid the pandemic, ” the newspaper added.
But even in the developed world, it seems likely that discretionary spending will decline because of higher food and fuel costs – especially among lower-paid workers. Or they may be a lag effect before big declines in discretionary spending. In such an event, supply chain problems in China will in the short-term be a big deal.
As the Australian Financial Review wrote, it is not just port disruptions that are an issue for global supply chains: “ Apple supplier Foxconn said on Monday it was halting operations at sites that make iPhones in Shenzhen, a city which is the equivalent of China’ s Silicon Valley in the south just across the border from Hong Kong. ”
Such is the pace of events that only two weeks ago, I was applying the old thinking to an unprecedented set of events. Non-durable end-use demand for polyolefins didn’ t suffer in previous economic downturns because people quite obviously must eat and so I expected history to repeat itself. A lot of PE and PP is used to wrap food.
I am no longer sure this logic holds because we face the highest rates of inflation since the 1970s. It is hard to discern any useful patterns from what happened to PE and PP demand during the 1970s period of stagflation because polymers were much less woven into our everyday lives.
Because inflation is so high, we might see people cutting back to just essential groceries e.g. “ I can not afford that packet of chocolate biscuits even though it’ s on special offer. ”
Anyway, focusing just on PP today, the chart below makes grim reading.
Northeast Asian ( NEA) variable cost PP margins fell into negative territory last December on new Asian capacities and Common Prosperity and have remained negative.
Over the last two weeks, margins have reached record lows on rising energy costs. For the week ending 11 March, NEA margins were at minus $ 255/tonne.
At the beginning of March, southeast Asian margins turned negative for the first time since we began our margin assessments in January 2014. For the week ending 11 March, they were minus $ 24/tonne.
But, as you can see, European and US margins remain very positive. But for how much longer? Steep declines in margins have occurred over the last two weeks.
Some 18% of global PP demand goes into white goods and 12% into autos. Demand into autos was already struggling before the invasion because of the semiconductor and shipping shortages. Now demand could get even worse because of people pulling back from discretionary spending.
Around 40% of global PP demand goes into rigid and flexible packaging used to package food, other non-durable goods and durable goods.
Such is the scale of inflation that, as I said, even grocery spending may now be adversely affected across all regions.
Could China lose control of economic events? This was the question I posed in Monday’ s post and needs to be considered again.
The old “ China put ” option of “ the “ worse things get, the better they will soon become ” may no longer apply as no amount of China economic stimulus may help to turn around an economy affected by another wave of nationwide coronavirus lockdowns.
This hasn’ t happened yet, as the new outbreaks show. As of Monday ( 14 March), there were only 2,125 cases reported across 58 cities in 19 of 31 mainland provinces.
But just one-week of lockdowns in major manufacturing regions could reduce China’ s GDP growth by as much a 0.8 percentage points, ANZ said in the same AFR article I linked to above.
The world was very different in H2 2020 when China recovered from its last major pandemic outbreak. Inflation was a lot lower, giving Western governments plenty of leeway to launch big economic stimulus.
Cash-rich bored lockdowners were able to spend big sums on China-made game consoles, computers, washing machines and office furniture for homes.
Governments may have less room for new stimulus this time around because of high inflation.
BUT there are already reports of China relaxing lending standards for manufacturers in order to subsidise exports. The famous cheap China price may be cheap enough to allow China to maintain its export volumes.
We must, though, also consider the incredibly sensitive China’ s relationships with Russia and the West.
“ China’ s trade with Russia reached $ 147bn last year, according to Chinese figures, compared with $ 828bn and $ 756bn, respectively, with the EU and US, ” wrote the Financial Times in this article.
If China ends up in deep disputes with the EU and the US, sanctions might follow.
As for the here and now, the chart below is remarkable. I have never seen such a long list of operating rate cuts in China. This is from an excellent ICIS news article by my colleague, Lucy Shuai.
Lucy reports that imports are also weak. We won’ t get the January-February import data until around 20 March.
China’ s PP capacity is due to rise by 13% this year to 39m tonnes/year with operating rates forecast to average 81%, down from last year’ s 86%. But start-ups may now be delayed with operating rates lower than we have forecast.
Our base case assumes 2022 global demand will grow by 3% to 85m tonnes from 83m tonnes in 2021, including a 6% increase in China’ s consumption. As I discussed on Monday, however, there seems a good chance that China will see negative growth in 2022.
On Monday – and in the chart immediately above –- I assume minus 2% growth for China. This is the same percentage decline that occurred in 2008 during the Global Financial Crisis.
The rest of my downside for global PP demand in 2022 involves exactly mirroring much more recent history. I used the same percentage declines that occurred in other regions in 2020 over 2019, at the height of the pandemic, to model what could happen this year.
North America, Europe, the Former Soviet Union, Africa, Northeast ex-China and Asia and Pacific would see negative growth in 2022.
My downside results in a 2% fall in global PP demand to 81m tonnes.
In the end, this may all come down to whether there can be a diplomatic solution to Ukraine – and, hopefully, very quickly. If that were to happen, we would return to the Old Normal world of the post-pandemic recovery.
And just to stress again, the above scenario for global PP demand is purely my guesswork. For real scenario work, contact me at john.richardson @ icis.com.
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Reshoring in the Real World | Reshoring in the Real World | designnews.com
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There is an urgent need to re-establish manufacturing in America, said Rosemary Coates of the Reshoring Institute, and the federal government has a role to play.
There were a few moments during President Biden’ s State of the Union address when both sides of the aisle stood up and cheered. Granted, there weren't many, but the bar is set quite low in our polarized times, and it seemed like there were more outward expressions of unity than we have seen in the recent past. A call for reshoring manufacturing was one of those rally-round-the-flag moments.
Rosemary Coates, founder and Executive Director of the Reshoring Institute, said she was delighted to hear Biden address global supply chain issues and the urgent need to re-establish manufacturing in America. “ I think it’ s time that the US develop an industrial policy around manufacturing. We have always resisted this notion, letting the markets freely determine supply and demand for products, '' Coates told
. “ But the Covid pandemic exposed our significant vulnerabilities in products like pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, and now I believe that the federal government needs to support some of these industries with policy. An industrial policy would allow for federal investment, low-cost loans, tax relief, and other incentives to ensure a supply of products for the health and well-being of all Americans, ” said Coates.
Rosemary Coates will be speaking at the forthcoming Plastec West and Medical Design & Manufacturing event in Anaheim, CA. Her session, “
, ” is scheduled for April 12 at 8:30 a.m. The trade show and conference runs from April 12 to 14 at the Anaheim Convention Center. Go to the
for more information and to register to attend.
During his address, Biden cited the decision of semiconductor giant Intel to build a $ 20 billion mega site outside of Columbus, OH. “ Up to eight state-of-the-art factories in one place. 10,000 new good-paying jobs, ” said Biden, adding that it could be just the beginning. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger reportedly would increase that investment to $ 100 billion — one of the biggest manufacturing investments in US history — if Congress passes the Innovation Act.
Congress needs to reconcile the $ 250 billion US Innovation and Competition Act of 2021 passed by the Senate with the America Competes Act of 2022 that was passed in the House to send a single bill to President Biden’ s desk. During the State of the Union address, he called on lawmakers to do just that. But it’ s Congress we’ re talking about, not the nimblest of bodies.
Still, reshoring and nearshoring continue apace, with or without government incentives. Although it’ s impossible to verify the number of jobs that have been reshored, it’ s clear that a movement to bring back manufacturing is gaining steam. “ At the Reshoring Institute, we are engaging with a steady stream of clients that are looking for new factory locations in the United States with the intention of building new factories here, '' said Coates. “ There is also a boom in factory construction along the US-Mexico border, where manufacturers can take advantage of lower-cost labor in Mexico and import products duty-free under the USMCA trade agreement. ”
It’ s important to note that not all manufacturing is leaving low-wage countries and setting up shop here or in Mexico, nor should it. There is no economic advantage to reshoring the production of T-shirts, plastic bags, and other commodity items to US- or Mexico-based facilities. The fate of some US manufacturers of face masks tells a cautionary tale.
, ” recounts how a number of companies emerged in the early days of the pandemic to manufacture face masks. As you may recall, there was an alarming shortage of personal protective equipment, which was almost entirely being made in China. DemeTech in Miami invested several million dollars on resources for mask production; by the fall of 2020, it was able to produce five million masks a day, writes Joe Nocera in the
. It hired hundreds of employees. Business was booming, until it wasn’ t. “ As soon as the waves crested and Chinese companies, determined to regain their market share, began exporting masks below cost, the customers disappeared. Today... DemeTech has laid off nearly all the employees it hired to make masks, and it has shut most of its mask manufacturing center, ” writes Nocera. The same thing happened to other small businesses that saw an opportunity but had no plan B when demand disappeared.
In the State of the Union address, Biden vowed that everything from the deck of an aircraft carrier to the steel on highway guardrails would be made in America. “ The plight of these small mask companies, however, suggests that reviving American manufacturing — even when the underlying rationale is national security — won’ t be easy, ” writes Nocera.
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Nursing-Support Robots Tested in Japan | Nursing-Support Robots Tested in Japan | designnews.com
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The TransBots VR simulator ( left) controls multiple different robots simultaneously ( right) during a pilot test to support nursing operations.
TransBots can direct multiple robots to assist nursing and healthcare professionals by moving autonomously within hospitals and by guiding patients.
Tokyo-based Toppan is piloting use of its TransBots digital twin solution for supporting nursing services. TransBots is a digital twin solution employing virtual reality ( VR) and computer vision ( CV) technologies for remote, central management and control of multiple types of service robots, Toppan explained in a
The pilot was part of a project by Kanagawa Prefecture to test robots in supporting roles to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Testing was conducted on January 25, 2022, at Shonan Kamakura General Hospital in Kamakura, Kanagawa. The team set out to identify any technical challenges in terms of safety and operability to be addressed so that nursing support robots could one day be used in medical facilities to reduce human workload. TransBots was put to work in directing multiple robots to move autonomously within hospitals and to handle reception and patient guidance for wards and testing rooms. Findings of the test will be shared at the “ Hospital × Robot × COVID-19 Prevention with Kanagawa ” booth ( East Hall 7) at the
( iREX2022), to be held by the Japan Robot Association March 9-12 at the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition center.
“ Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, Japan was looking at ways to reduce the workload for nursing and care services, including the use of robots, ” stated Tomoichiro Shibue, deputy head of Toppan’ s Business Innovation Center, in a the release. “ TransBots can facilitate the use and control of robots for diverse services in healthcare settings and the results of this pilot test will enable us to refine the solution towards practical implementation. ”
Operators using the TransBots management dashboard set courses in a VR space for robots to follow while their real-life counterparts estimate their current locations and move autonomously to avoid obstacles along their way. Being able to set courses in a VR space means that robots can also be controlled remotely from distant locations,
Support services that could be provided by the robots were devised based on feedback from nurses and other healthcare professionals as well as through on-site observation, Toppan reported. Risks that could be caused by robots in hospitals were analyzed and technical issues identified. Verification of service design was overseen by Satoru Tokuhisa, Associate Professor of Kyushu University’ s School of Interdisciplinary Science and Innovation.
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Hang Seng: Chinese stocks have best day in years as Beijing promises to boost economy | Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index ( HSI) ended up 9.1%, the biggest one-day gain since October 2008. China's Shanghai Composite ( SHCOMP) also rallied 3.5%, the strongest gain for that index since July 2020.
Chinese stocks had suffered a huge sell-off in recent days, as investors worried about the country's Covid lockdowns, regulatory actions against Chinese firms in China and the United States, and the potential for a backlash from Washington over Beijing's close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Nasdaq Golden China Dragon Index, a popular index tracking Chinese firms listed in the United States, plunged 12% on Monday, the most since 2002, according to Refinitiv Eikon. The index was down 25% in the past four trading sessions, after US regulators named five Chinese companies that could be removed from Wall Street for failing to meet audit requirements.
The Hang Seng Index had also tumbled 12% in the past three trading sessions to the lowest close in six years.
Following this battering, in a rare direct move to soothe investors ' nerves, Beijing on Wednesday vowed to maintain financial stability and bolster economic growth.
`` We must implement the decisions and arrangements of central leadership, and substantially boost the economy in the first quarter, '' a key government committee said in a statement cited by state-owned news agency Xinhua.
Government departments should `` actively roll out policies that benefit the markets, '' according to the statement from China's financial stability committee chaired by Vice Premier Liu He, President Xi Jinping's top economic advisor.
The statement also said Chinese and US regulators have achieved `` positive progress '' on the issue of US-listed Chinese stocks, and Beijing will continue to support Chinese IPOs abroad.
It said regulators should `` complete '' the crackdown on China's major internet platform companies `` as soon as possible. ''
Authorities would also work towards tackling China's real estate crisis, which last year saw the default of giant developer Evergrande.
`` China's top leaders finally broke the silence to respond to the recent market selloff, '' wrote Larry Hu, chief economist for Greater China at Macquarie Group, on Wednesday. `` The tone of the meeting is strong, suggesting that policymakers are deeply concerned about the recent market rout, '' he said.
China also eased some Covid-related policies on isolation and testing on Tuesday, which helped to lift market sentiment.
Before the changes, positive cases needed to quarantine for 14 days even after two negative PCR tests. The new guidelines now allow for seven days of isolation at home after patients are discharged.
A drop in oil prices also helped markets globally on Wednesday. China is the world's biggest importer of energy.
Oil prices fell overnight below $ 100 a barrel, fueling a stock rally on Wall Street that extended into Asia on Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei and Korea's Kospi rose 1.6% and 1.4% respectively.
— CNN's Beijing bureau contributed to this report. | business |
Premarket stocks: 4 things Russia could do as default looms | A version of this story first appeared in CNN Business ' Before the Bell newsletter. Not a subscriber? You can sign up right here. You can listen to an audio version of the newsletter by clicking the same link.
What's happening: Russia could start the clock Wednesday on its first international debt default since the Bolshevik revolution. Investors have warned that this outcome — unthinkable just a few months ago — could rattle the financial system in unexpected ways.
`` This is clearly an important story to watch, '' Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid recently told clients.
Moscow needs to hand over $ 117 million in interest payments on dollar-denominated government bonds on Wednesday. Although Russia has issued bonds that can be repaid in multiple currencies since 2018, these payments must be made in US dollars.
This wouldn't have been a problem before the war. But unprecedented sanctions from the West have cut off Russia's access to half of its foreign reserves, or about $ 315 billion, according to Anton Siluanov, the country's finance minister.
Siluanov said over the weekend that Russia will repay creditors from `` countries that are unfriendly '' in rubles. Credit agency Fitch Ratings said Tuesday that if Moscow goes this route, it would trigger a sovereign default.
There are a few ways the situation could play out from here, Timothy Ash, a senior sovereign strategist at BlueBay Asset Management, told me.
Russia meets its obligations in full and in dollars.Russia could pay up, but may favor locals over foreigners. That would still constitute a default. `` You can't pay some creditors but not others, '' Ash said.Russia could pay in rubles. That would also trigger a default, as Fitch has emphasized.Russia could do nothing, at least for now. It then enters a 30-day grace period before a default would be declared. Ash says it's possible Putin's government goes this route to `` make people fret. ''
Why does it matter? If the Russian government defaults, it will trigger a scramble to determine which investors loaned Moscow money, and whether their potential losses could have damaging knock-on effects.
Western investors are less exposed to Russia than they used to be. Sanctions following the annexation of Crimea in 2014 already encouraged them to reduce their exposure. International banks are owed about $ 121 billion by Russian entities, according to the Bank for International Settlements.
JPMorgan estimates that Russia had about $ 40 billion of foreign currency debt at the end of last year, with about half of that held by foreign investors.
`` A default is a disaster for Russia, '' Ash said, noting that the international community has little interest in lending a hand, and the country is likely to lose access to foreign financing for some time. `` I don't think it's a disaster for global markets, '' he added.
Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, also said over the weekend that a financial crisis was unlikely to develop `` for now. ''
But the saga will take some time to play out, especially as more payments come due. A much larger $ 2 billion payment scheduled for early April could create even bigger headaches for Moscow.
Stocks rise ahead of expected Fed rate hike
Global stocks jumped on Wednesday as policymakers ' attempts to manage the pandemic and soaring inflation soothed nervous investors.
Two events are helping ease fears. Beijing swooped in to calm plunging Asian markets, saying it would ease its regulatory crackdown on private businesses and support markets and the economy.
In response, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index soared more than 9%, its biggest one-day gain since 2008. China's Shanghai Composite leaped 3.5%.
Chinese stocks had suffered huge sell-offs in recent days, as investors worried about the country's new Covid lockdowns, tough actions from US and Chinese regulators and the potential for backlash over Beijing's close ties with Moscow.
Wall Street is also gearing up for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates for the first time since the pandemic arrived. Chair Jerome Powell indicated earlier this month that he supported a normal-sized rate hike, ending speculation that the central bank could opt for a more aggressive approach as it tries to tame inflation.
Investors are hopeful that such a move will help curb rising prices without weighing too much on economic growth.
Watch this space: The market reaction will likely come down to Powell's press conference. Expect questions about when the Fed expects to start reducing the bonds it holds on its balance sheet. That's the other big lever it can pull to get inflation under control.
`` Market pricing of future action will be influenced by the Fed's new forecasts and the tone Chair Powell takes, '' James Knightley, chief international economist at ING, said in a research note.
AMC just bought a stake in a ( literal) gold mine
AMC ( AMC) has been taking steps to move beyond its core business of playing movies in theaters. The company has been dabbling in cryptocurrency and plans to sell its own popcorn brand at stores. But its latest announcement is a real plot twist.
On Tuesday, AMC said that it plans to invest about $ 28 million to buy a 22% stake in Hycroft Mining, a struggling Nevada company that operates a gold and silver mine, my CNN Business colleague Paul R. La Monica reports.
`` AMC is playing on offense again with a bold diversification move, '' CEO Adam Aron tweeted.
He explained the move as a tie-up between two like-minded businesses, even if they appear to have little in common on paper.
The Hycroft investment `` is the result of our having identified a company in an unrelated industry that appears to be just like AMC of a year ago, '' Aron said. `` It, too, has rock-solid assets, but for a variety of reasons, it has been facing a severe and immediate liquidity issue. ''
Remember: AMC went into crisis mode when it had to shut its theaters during the pandemic. But it was handed a lifeline by enthusiastic investors, who rushed to buy meme stocks after coordinating on social media.
Investors applauded the surprising decision. Shares of AMC jumped almost 7% on Tuesday. Hycroft Mining, a penny stock, leaped 9%.
Up next
US retail sales for February arrive at 8:30 a.m. ET. The Federal Reserve publishes its latest policy decision at 2 p.m. ET.
Coming tomorrow: US housing starts and industrial production data. | business |
Atlanta spa shootings: Tragedy brought national attention to violence against Asian Americans | He's found some comfort living at the Norcross, Georgia, home his mother Yong Ae Yue worked hard to own and in the memories of the many nights they played poker together, but Peterson says he can't let others forget that his family and the Asian American community see the March 16, 2021 killings as hate crimes.
The gunman may have not said any racial slurs out loud during the shooting spree, but his actions `` are the proxy of his misogyny, of his racism, '' Peterson, 39, said. Ignoring this racial aspect and the longstanding objectification of Asian women has only intensified the trauma of losing his mother and fuels his fight for justice, he added.
The anti-Asian American sentiment that had soared since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic escalated to the mass shooting and forced a debate about racism toward Asians in the US.
A year later, not much has changed in America, according to advocates, survivors of the violence and their family members. The alleged gunman in the Atlanta attacks has not been tried in a state or federal court for a hate crime, anti-Asian racism is still continuously being reported, and challenges of proving bias against the Asian American community persist.
`` We see swastikas or Nazi symbols and salutes. In the Asian American community there's not something that unifying that everybody understands as something that's geared towards, intimidating or trying to hurt the AAPI community, '' said Byung `` BJay '' Pak, a former US attorney in Atlanta who represents Peterson.
First test of the hate crimes law in Georgia
Yue, 63, and the other seven victims, Daoyou Feng, 44; Paul Michels, 54; Xiaojie `` Emily '' Tan, 49; Delaina Yaun, 33; Suncha Kim, 69; Soon Chung Park, 74; and Hyun Jung Grant, 51, were killed at three spas across the Atlanta area.
Robert Aaron Long, the then-21 year-old- suspect in the shootings, told authorities he was distraught due to what he described as an addiction to sex. His claim sparked a debate over the motive behind the attack as well as numerous calls in support of a hate crime designation — a trend that continues today.
`` We have to tell and reckon with the whole truth of why they're not here with us today: systemic racism, White supremacy, gender-based violence, the enduring impact of war, both here and in Asia, '' Phi Nguyen, the executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Atlanta, said about the victims during a Saturday memorial event in Brookhaven, an Atlanta suburb.
Since the shootings, Long has pleaded guilty to four of the killings in Cherokee County and was sentenced to life in prison. But he still faces an additional 19 charges in nearby Fulton County, where prosecutors have said they will be pursuing the death penalty for hate crimes targeting the sex and race of the victims. The Fulton County District Attorney's Office did not respond to multiple requests for comment but a pretrial hearing is set for April 19 in Long's case.
The case is expected to be the first test of the hate crimes law passed by the Georgia Legislature after the deadly shooting of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery. The law allows prosecutors to classify existing charges as a hate crime before trial. A jury would first have to determine guilt, and then consider whether it's a hate crime.
Pak, who also represents the family of Suncha Kim, said Long's case won't change Long's potential life in prison or death penalty sentence but it would be symbolically important.
`` My wish for our clients is that they have their day in court and they get an answer for a situation that's just incomprehensible to try to bring some logic to it and to see justice done, '' Pak said.
So far, federal authorities have not filed hate crimes against Long. A Justice Department spokesperson told CNN the federal investigation of the Atlanta spa shootings remains open as officials continue monitoring the state cases.
Rep. Judy Chu, a California Democrat and chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus who previously was concerned that Long would not be charged with a hate crime, told CNN she was encouraged by the response of state and federal officials. Fulton County prosecutors are treating the case as a hate crime and the Justice Department `` committed to examining the evidence to see if it meets the criteria for a federal hate crime, '' Chu said.
`` There is no question to me that these murders were deliberate acts of hate, '' Chu said in a statement.
' I miss the small things '
As Peterson and his family await a trial, he tries not to feel the loss of his mother at every corner of their home, especially in the kitchen, where he proudly keeps the ceramic bowls and pots that his mother used to teach him how to cook his favorite dish, Kimchi-jigae, a type of traditional stew.
`` I miss the small things. I miss her needing me to change the light bulb, update her computer, go to the store to pick up cat litter, or carry a 24-case of water, '' Peterson said. `` You know, those are the things that I wish she could ask me today. ''
Yue was a traditional Korean woman, a mother who taught her biracial sons to fully embrace their Asian heritage and do good work, he says. She understood the outrage and pain after the killings of Black men and women by police, Peterson says, just as she was frightened by the rise in anti-Asian attacks at the beginning of the pandemic.
`` She loved America, she loves Georgia but it was not lost on her, as most ( Asian) women in America feel today, the threat of violence. It's a constant thing that is a hovering over their lives in their daily activities, '' he said.
If he could talk to her today, Peterson said his mother would be proud that he's willing to speak up for her and the other victims.
More Asian Americans are under attack
In the year since the Atlanta spa shootings, violent assaults and harassment have left Asian Americans across the country afraid and physically hurt.
One of them is Hoa Nguyen, a 68-year-old grandmother in Brooklyn who was punched in the face by a stranger on January 19 while she was on her way to the market.
`` I turned my head to the right and he punched me two more time behind my ear on the left side. Then he went back to walk the way he had come, '' Nguyen said.
While Nguyen, who is Vietnamese, did not suffer major injuries, she no longer feels safe walking on the streets as much as she did before, or even taking the bus or the train to visit her daughter in Brooklyn's Dumbo neighborhood.
`` We 've never had to look over my shoulders walking around the city and now, every time I walk outside, I 'm looking over my shoulder, '' said Nguyen's son, 42-year-old Khanh Nguyen.
The suspect, Mercel Jackson, 51, was arrested and has been charged with assault, harassment and hate crime charges, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office. He told police he `` doesn't like how Chinese people look, '' he thinks `` Chinese people look like measles, '' and `` doesn't like Chinese people looking at him, '' according to court documents.
The attack led neighbors and several nonprofit organizations around New York to offer the Nguyen family their emotional and legal support, Khanh Nguyen said. Unfortunately, it sparked another type of anti-Asian hate toward the family.
`` No one goes up to the streets and yells things at us but despite the sadness of these stories, you still have people going online and spewing hate towards us, '' he said.
Just in New York, there were 131 incidents confirmed to have an anti-Asian bias motivation last year, according to data from the NYPD. That's a significant increase from 27 incidents reported in 2020 and one in 2019.
The full scope of the violence across the nation is unclear. Statistics from advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate collected after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic suggest there have been more than 10,000 anti-Asian hate incidents in the US but the organization's data is crowdsourced, self-reported and not independently verified.
But even when those incidents are reported, reaching a hate crime conviction is challenging, said Jennifer Wu, an attorney representing the Nguyens and the family of GuiYing Ma, a 61-year-old woman who was attacked in Queens by a man with a rock and who died last month.
In New York, which has a hate crime penalty-enhancement law like in Georgia, the statute requires the bias to be the `` whole or substantial factor '' motivating an attack.
That's a high standard, Wu says, because it `` requires you to get into the mind of the perpetrator '' and there could be more than one contributing factor, Wu says.
`` The way the law has treated hate crimes is to force people to choose one reason why the hate crime is committed, '' Wu said. The law is not structured in a way that acknowledges the reality that the reason we love and hate people is for a multitude of reasons and not a single exclusive reason. ''
For Peterson, who lost his mother in the Atlanta spa shootings, there was not just one reason why the victims were targeted. His mother was not just at the wrong place, at the wrong time, he said. Peterson believes the suspect had in mind their racial identity, their gender, their workplace, and what that represented to him.
`` She wasn't just Asian, and she wasn't just a woman. These two are inextricably linked. She is both of these things simultaneously, and you can't separate one from the other, '' Peterson said. | business |
Jussie Smollett has been released from jail pending an appeal of his conviction | The former `` Empire '' actor was sentenced last week to 30 months of felony probation -- including 150 days in jail -- and ordered to pay restitution of more than $ 120,000 and a $ 25,000 fine for making false reports to police that he was the victim of a hate crime in January 2019.
`` There is no room for politics in our court system, '' defense attorney Nenye Uche said in a news conference shortly after the actor's release. `` Regardless of what you think about this case... the real question is, should Black men be walked into jail for a Class 4 felony? ''
`` That's a disgrace, '' the attorney added. Uche, as well as other attorneys from the team who spoke Wednesday, criticized the judge who sentenced Smollett last week. Cook County Judge James Linn spoke to the actor for more than half an hour, criticizing his actions.
`` The judge spent a great deal of time chastising, berating my client, '' Uche said. `` I 've never seen that before. ''
Over the past six days in jail, Smollett did not eat anything besides ice water, Uche said.
The appeals court order, entered on Wednesday, says Smollett `` shall be released from custody... upon posting of a personal recognizance bond ( I Bond) in the amount of $ 150,000. '' A personal recognizance bond in Illinois means that a person is released on the condition that they will attend all required future court proceedings, usually without having to pay any money.
Smollett's defense filed the emergency motion last week, arguing he would be `` irreparably harmed '' if he serves a sentence for convictions that may be reversed, adding that he will likely serve his jail time before the completion of his appeal.
The attorneys added that exposure to Covid-19 is a serious risk because Smollett is immunocompromised.
The court granted the attorneys ' motion, reasoning that it would be `` unable to dispose of the instant appeal before the defendant would have served his entire sentence of incarceration. ''
In their response filed Wednesday, prosecutors vehemently disagreed with the defense's reasoning, arguing that there is `` no emergency that warrants the extraordinary relief '' of delaying Smollett's sentence while his appeal is pending.
`` Mr. Smollett asserts that he is entitled a stay because he will most likely serve his short, 150-day jail sentence before his appeal on the merits is decided, '' part of the response read. `` According to this logic, every defendant sentenced to a term of imprisonment less than a few years would automatically receive a stay pending appeal. ''
Smollett had an outburst in court last week
Smollett was found guilty in December on five counts of felony disorderly conduct for making false reports about what he said was an anti-gay and anti-Black hate crime.
The actor, who is Black and gay, told Chicago police that two unknown men attacked him on one January 2019 night, yelled racist and homophobic slurs at him, poured bleach on him and wrapped a noose around his neck. But investigators said they determined the actor orchestrated the attack and paid two brothers he knew from the Fox drama series to stage the act for publicity.
Smollett maintained his innocence under oath during his trial.
But during last week's sentencing, Judge James Linn told Smollett, `` You're not a victim of a racial hate crime, you're not a victim of a homophobic hate crime. You're just a charlatan pretending to be a victim of a hate crime. ''
The judge spoke for more than half an hour during the proceeding, telling the actor that while many people vouched for Smollett and his character and asked the judge for a lenient sentence, Smollett's premeditation in the act he orchestrated was an `` aggravating factor '' in the case.
`` You do have quite a record of real community service, '' the judge said Thursday. `` I 'm mindful of pleas of mercy, particularly from people that are in the arena. '' But, ultimately, the judge said, this act showed Smollett's `` dark side. ''
Following the announcement of his sentence, Smollett addressed the judge, saying `` I did not do this, '' before turning to the court and exclaiming he was not suicidal, and that `` if anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself. And you must all know that. ''
The judge ordered Smollett to be held in protective custody `` by Mr. Smollett's request and this court's recommendation, '' CNN previously reported.
On Friday, the actor was being housed `` in his own cell, which is monitored by security cameras in the cell and by an officer wearing a body worn camera who is stationed at the entrance of the cell to ensure that Mr. Smollett is under direct observation at all times, '' the Cook County Sheriff's Office said, stressing that the actor was not being held in solitary confinement.
Attorney calls charges unconstitutional
Smollett was initially indicted in March 2019 on 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct after police determined his reports were false.
In a stunning reversal days later, prosecutors announced they were dropping all charges. In a Chicago Sun-Times op-ed published last week, Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx defended her office's decision, saying Smollett had already forfeited a $ 10,000 bond, had not been accused of a violent crime before and had paid a `` reputational price '' for what he did. The incident effectively ended Smollett's acting career.
Dan K. Webb, the special prosecutor later assigned to the case, announced he would further prosecute Smollett. In February 2020, a Cook County grand jury returned a six-count indictment against the actor for making false reports -- five counts of which Smollett was eventually convicted of and sentenced for.
A disorderly conduct charge for a false crime report is a Class 4 felony and punishable by up to three years in prison and a $ 25,000 fine.
Webb said last week he was `` extraordinarily pleased '' with the sentence Judge Linn handed down and that the judge's comments showed `` he clearly has understood... that this was a course of conduct that deserved severe punishment. ''
But during Wednesday night's news conference, Uche, one of Smollett's attorney's, called the proceedings in the case unconstitutional, as Smollett had already been charged before, had paid $ 10,000 and done community service.
`` When this case was initially re-indicted, when this case was prosecuted, when this case was sentenced, at each of those steps I wondered to myself whether Chicago has ceded from the Union. Because in this country, you can not punish a person twice, '' the attorney said. `` While everyone was focused on the sensationalism surrounding this case, people were not focused on the constitutionality of the prosecution. '' | business |
Justice Department charges 5 people with helping Chinese government to spy on dissidents in US | `` 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.
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. | business |
Lapsus $: The New Name in Ransomware Gangs | Lapsus $: The New Name in Ransomware Gangs brooke.crothers Tue, 03/15/2022 – 17:20
According to The Record, the largest media conglomerate in Portugal, Impresa, was a target of the Lapsus $ ransomware over the New Year holiday break. Impresa owns the country’ s largest TV channel and newspaper, SIC and Expresso. It was the Expresso Twitter account that the hackers used to bait the organization to demonstrate their control over the company’ s IT infrastructure.
The group tweeted that “ Lapsus $ is the new president of Portugal ” – a melodramatic attempt to demonstrate the gang’ s hold over the infrastructure of Portugal’ s media organization.
Other targets include Brazil’ s Ministry of Health ( MoH) and Brazilian telecommunications operator Claro. The Brazilian MoH lost 50 TB of data in the attack. The gang also claimed to have deleted the data that held the information needed to issue Covid vaccination certificates.
However, the most advanced attacks were the ones targeting Nvidia and Samsung. In the case of Nvidia, the gang stole and leaked the credentials of more than 71,000 Nvidia employees, source code of Nvidia’ s DLSS ( Deep Learning Super Sampling) AI rendering technology and information about six supposed unannounced GPUs.
Officially Nvidia acknowledged that they became aware of a cyber security incident, which impacted IT resources. Lapsus $ demanded that Nvidia remove its lite hash rate ( LHR) feature. The LHR was created to limit Ethereum mining capabilities in the NVidia RTX 30 series graphics cards, after the cryptomining community depleted the stock in early 2021. The group is also asking Nvidia to open source its GPU drivers for macOS, Windows, and Linux devices.
A few days later, Lapsus $ announced on its Telegram channel that it had breached Samsung and offered evidence including biometric authentication information and source code from both Samsung and one of its suppliers, Qualcomm.
Since they appear to be succeeding, Lapsus $ announced that they are looking to recruit insiders employed at telecommunications, software and gaming companies, among other technology businesses. The ransomware group specified that “ they are not looking for data ” but rather to buy remote VPN access to the corporate network. “ Based on our investigation, the group is successful in their activities, and such tactics may generate a new trend in Dark Web for access brokers, especially, in post-pandemic times and increase of geopolitical tensions globally, ” noted Christian Lees, CTO of Resecurity, Inc in an article for Security Affairs.
Lapsus $ is targeting source code and associated code signing certificates. Having possession and control over such source codes could create a massive supply chain reaction, which can lead to numerous organizations and machines being infected and harmed.
Attackers can use the compromised code signing certificates to sign malware, so it will appear to be legitimate and trustworthy and escape security solutions to be loaded and executed. In fact, according to Check Point, criminals have already exploited these stolen code signing certificates.
As part of the Nvidia leak, two code signing certificates have been compromised. Although they have expired, Windows still allows them to be used for driver signing purposes.
Code signing certificates assign a digital signature on executable software and firmware to allow them and mark them as trusted. Using these stolen certificates, attackers are practically disguising files and executables as legitimate, bypassing security controls and allowing malware to be uploaded to Windows.
“ Stolen code signing certificates can be used to bypass security policies that require signed code to execute on a system. They can also be used by malicious actors to mimic a legitimate company, ” said Pratik Savla, Senior Security Engineer at Venafi.
“ For years, we’ ve been preaching to our customers that code signing keys are like master keys to a kingdom that has locks that can never be changed, ” said Eddie Glenn, Sr Product Marketing Manager at Venafi.
Venafi CodeSign Protect secures your code signing private keys, automates approval workflows, and maintains an irrefutable record of all code signing activities. You can protect your company’ s software with a secure code signing process that is fast and easy for your developers to use.
The new hot name in ransomware attacks is Lapsus $. If you haven’ t heard of them before, you’ ve probably heard of some of the companies they attacked, including Nvidia, Samsung, and Impresa, a media conglomerate. What is interesting about Lapsus $ is that the attackers have not just stolen credentials or business-related content, but they went straight for the source code of the companies’ proprietary firmware. These tactics highlight the importance of having in place robust code signing security procedures.
But first things first. Let’ s take a historic look at Lapsus $ ransomware group’ s infamous attacks…
* * * This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Rss blog authored by brooke.crothers. Read the original post at: https: //www.venafi.com/blog/lapsus-new-name-ransomware-gangs | general |
Justice Thomas Steps in Social Media Immunity Thicket | Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, 47 U. S. C. §230 ( c) ( 1), is generally considered to provide that entities that merely act as conduits for communication ( like social media companies) are not considered “ publishers ” of third-party content, and therefore have no direct liability for what other people say on their site. That section states, “ No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider. ”
The statutory provision arose out of one of the Wolf of Wall Street cases. Online interactive service Prodigy operated a bulletin board service where people could post information about various topics—including financial topics under the Money Talk platform.
Investment firm Stratton Oakmont ( the Wolf of Wall Street company) was upset with something someone published on Prodigy, and rather than suing the poster, sued Prodigy as the publisher of the content—much like The New York Times publishes letters to the editor. A previous case, Cubby v. Compuserve, held that the online provider was not a publisher of the content, despite their ability to control, reject or modify the content, but in Stratton Oakmont, the New York state court found, for defamation purposes, that Prodigy could be considered the publisher of what the poster to the Money Talk platform posted.
In response to this holding, Congress passed Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. As a practical matter, Section 230 has been held to provide virtually unlimited immunity to social media sites, online portals and other providers for some pretty nasty stuff. This can include postings that are threatening, harassing, unlawful ( including revenge porn, doxxing and other attacks). While responsible social media sites frequently take down such objectionable materials, the act of taking down stuff ( also protected by Section 230) inevitably raises questions of motive and alleged censorship by big tech. Congress has been consistently looking at how to reform Section 230 to promote ‘ responsible’ control—but, of course, because the postings are often expressive First Amendment content, that raises the question of, for example, is it responsible to take down COVID-19 misinformation or Ukraine misinformation, or is that equivalent to those sites, portals and providers putting their thumb on the scales? Pretty sticky stuff.
On March 7, 2022, in a case involving horrible conduct by a Facebook user, the U.S. Supreme Court once again was asked to address the immunity of social media, and once again declined to do so. In Jane Doe v. Facebook, Dkt. No. 21–459, the court declined to hear an appeal of a case in which a male sexual predator used Facebook to lure a 15-year-old girl to a meeting where she was raped, beaten and trafficked for sex. The girl and her family sued Facebook for violation of Texas’ sex trafficking law, alleging that the social media company was liable for the acts of the user.
While the Supreme Court declined to hear the case ( effectively immunizing Facebook from liability), Justice Clarence Thomas dissented—essentially arguing that the statute does not actually mean what it says. Thomas lamented the fact that the Texas Supreme Court afforded Facebook immunity “ even though Facebook allegedly knows its system facilitates human traffickers in identifying and cultivating victims, ” but has nonetheless “ failed to take any reasonable steps to mitigate the use of Facebook by human traffickers ” because doing so would cost the company users—and the advertising revenue those users generate. ” At least that was what was alleged.
To Thomas, this is not what the CDA Section 230 means. Thomas noted that “ arguments in favor of broad immunity under §230 rest largely on ‘ policy and purpose,’ not on the statute’ s plain text ” and that the Supreme Court should step in and determine whether the 230 immunity should be broadly or narrowly construed. As Justice Thomas noted, “ [ a ] ssuming Congress does not step in to clarify §230’ s scope, we should do so in an appropriate case. ” A broad interpretation of Section 230—which refuses to treat an ISP as a publisher in all cases and for all purposes—is the interpretation almost universally adopted by the federal courts. However, it is possible that a court could adopt a more narrow interpretation—that 230 immunity only applies to cases in which the potential liability arises from the act of publication—that is, for example, in a defamation case. Other acts of online social media which do not amount to publication liability are not immunized.
So, for example, if a Plaintiff alleges a “ failure to screen ” liability, or “ failure to remove ” or improper editing or taking down, or breach of contract ( terms of service) or other possibly non-publishing liabilities, a court could rule that Section 230 affords no immunity. Even in cases of publication, a court could conceivably narrow the immunity to only those acts in which publication is inferred. The acts of editing, filtering, commenting on or removing—which are editorial functions—could give rise to liability, as could allegations that the social media entity is working in conjunction with ( and as an agent of) the actual publisher. To date, this approach has not been taken by the majority of courts, which have almost universally shielded Internet companies from content liability for content posted by third parties. It is clear that Justice Thomas wants to reverse that.
In a previous case in which the Supreme Court also denied a petition for certiorari, Thomas argued at length to restore liability to social media companies. If companies like Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, Twitter and others were civilly ( and possibly criminally) liable for what people posted, they would behave more “ responsibly. ” And on the contrary, they would also have to respond to those who think that they are repressing free speech and would also have to keep controversial ( and inaccurate) postings up—turning them into some kind of truth police. Sauce for the goose.
These 230 cases will continue to trickle through the court system and, ultimately, either Congress or the Supreme Court will have to, once and for all, determine how much immunity is too much and to what extent social media sites will have to self-police to avoid liability. We know which way Justice Thomas will vote. The question is whether he can find four like-minded compatriots.
Mark Rasch is a lawyer and computer security and privacy expert in Bethesda, Maryland. where he helps develop strategy and messaging for the Information Security team. Rasch’ s career spans more than 35 years of corporate and government cybersecurity, computer privacy, regulatory compliance, computer forensics and incident response. He is trained as a lawyer and was the Chief Security Evangelist for Verizon Enterprise Solutions ( VES). He is recognized author of numerous security- and privacy-related articles. Prior to joining Verizon, he taught courses in cybersecurity, law, policy and technology at various colleges and Universities including the University of Maryland, George Mason University, Georgetown University, and the American University School of law and was active with the American Bar Association’ s Privacy and Cybersecurity Committees and the Computers, Freedom and Privacy Conference. Rasch had worked as cyberlaw editor for SecurityCurrent.com, as Chief Privacy Officer for SAIC, and as Director or Managing Director at various information security consulting companies, including CSC, FTI Consulting, Solutionary, Predictive Systems, and Global Integrity Corp. Earlier in his career, Rasch was with the U.S. Department of Justice where he led the department’ s efforts to investigate and prosecute cyber and high-technology crime, starting the computer crime unit within the Criminal Division’ s Fraud Section, efforts which eventually led to the creation of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the Criminal Division. He was responsible for various high-profile computer crime prosecutions, including Kevin Mitnick, Kevin Poulsen and Robert Tappan Morris. Prior to joining Verizon, Mark was a frequent commentator in the media on issues related to information security, appearing on BBC, CBC, Fox News, CNN, NBC News, ABC News, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and many other outlets.
mark has 135 posts and counting.See all posts by mark | general |
Squashing malaria could save as many lives as covid-19 has taken | W HEN IT COMES to covid-19 vaccines, poor countries in Africa have been stuck at the back of the queue. However, the continent’ s long wait for another immunological miracle appears to be drawing to a close. Later this year, the world’ s first malaria vaccine is scheduled for a roll-out. Although the current version leaves much to be desired—it requires four doses, is hard to manufacture at scale and reduces severe infections by a mere 30% —better alternatives may be on the way. A jab developed by scientists at Oxford has shown 77% effectiveness. If clinical trials go well, they aim to apply for pre-qualification from the World Health Organisation in September. Production at a rate of up to 200m doses per year could follow swiftly.
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Malaria has proved to be a stubborn adversary. In mosquito-rich environments, it is 5-20 times more contagious than the Omicron variant of SARS- Co V-2. The disease was once endemic across most of the world, sweeping through the Americas in the 1600s and reaching as far north as Russia’ s Arctic coast and as far east as Japan.
Past efforts to defeat malaria using vaccines have failed, largely because the life cycle of the parasite that causes it has 12 stages. Each presents a different target. Instead, rich countries in cool regions have eradicated the disease by attacking the mosquitoes that spread it, both by spraying insecticides and by destroying breeding grounds. Poorer, tropical countries have fared worse. In 2020 malaria killed 627,000 people, of whom 96% lived in Africa.
New vaccines are just one element of a three-pronged strategy to vanquish malaria. Some tried-and-true tools, like installing insecticide-impregnated bed nets and distributing therapeutic drugs, can still reach more people. Another scientific advance could prove even more valuable than vaccines: genetically modified mosquitoes that can not reproduce sustainably, which could cause the insects that spread the disease to die out. Such “ gene drives ” could damage ecosystems, and a regulatory process needs to be set up before they can be approved. But big donors like the Gates Foundation support them. Modellers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine reckon that, with enough resources, by 2030 these tactics could jointly cut deaths caused by malaria by 75%.
Partly because Africa’ s population is growing so fast, when projected into the future such gains would have a remarkable impact. By 2034 the annual number of deaths averted would exceed the current yearly toll from breast cancer. In total, 20m lives would be saved during the next three decades—the same number as The Economist’ s estimate of the global increase in deaths during the covid-19 pandemic. And measured in years of life, this effect would dwarf covid’ s. Whereas covid mainly kills the elderly, around 80% of those felled by malaria are aged five or younger.
The economic benefits are nearly as impressive. On average, adults who catch malaria lose three days of work. Cutting the number of cases by 75% would yield 14bn extra workdays over two decades, the equivalent of the current annual labour supply of Nigeria. Productivity might also improve, since non-fatal cases of malaria in children can stunt growth and hinder cognitive development, in part by inducing comas. A hidden factor holding back economic growth in Africa may be the lasting impact of the disease on survivors—call it “ long malaria ”. ■
Published since September 1843 to take part in “ a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress. ”
Copyright © The Economist Newspaper Limited 2022. All rights reserved. | business |
The Problem with Medical Plastics, and How to Fix It | The Problem with Medical Plastics, and How to Fix It | designnews.com
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The ubiquity of plastics in medical applications has tremendously benefited healthcare, but it also bears an environmental cost.
Medical plastics offer a range of benefits to medical professionals, their patients, and society. Those benefits, however, come at a high environmental price. This has led people to question whether the use of medical plastics is sustainable and, if not, what can be done about it.
Medical plastics have been around for so long that it can be hard to imagine what life was like without them. In simple terms, it involved more manual work for medical staff and far less hygiene. It was also not necessarily more environmentally friendly.
For example, effectively sterilizing medical equipment typically required hot water and/or chemicals. Getting water hot requires fuel, and in the old days that would ( almost) certainly have meant fossil fuel. Chemicals bring their own environmental problems.
It also must be noted that manufacturing the medical products of yesteryear came at an environmental cost. While it is hard to make direct comparisons, manufacturing practices historically were often horrendous for the environment.
Since the arrival of COVID-19, one of the most visible uses of medical plastics has been in personal protective equipment ( PPE) and other disposables. This is no longer restricted to medical environments. Protective visors and screens are now standard in various public buildings. Disposable masks and gloves are in wider use.
Even with the prospect of COVID-19 becoming endemic across the globe, PPE and disposables still will account for a high percentage of medical plastics. The reason for this is that plastic has a unique combination of sterility, robustness, lightness, and affordability.
Its surface is hostile to bacteria and can be made even more so using special coatings. At the same time, it can generally be handled without any special precautions ( unlike glass). Also, it is usually priced very economically, unlike fiberglass and ceramics. Those same qualities also make plastic an attractive option for medical packaging and even for prosthetics.
In fact, the combination of plastics and new manufacturing techniques are opening all sorts of exciting options in the field of prosthetics. For example, additive manufacturing ( aka 3D printing) could make it possible to create highly customized prosthetics quickly and easily.
The use of medical plastics creates two major environmental problems — waste and carbon emissions. In principle, waste should not be an issue. The fact that it is demonstrates a clear failure on the part of key stakeholders. The issue of carbon emissions, however, is inherent in the use of plastics in their current form.
The vast majority of plastics are made from petroleum. This means that their production inevitably has a high carbon footprint. It also means that they can only be produced for as long as petroleum deposits last. It is not clear how long this will be. It
clear, however, that alternatives need to be found as soon as possible.
The issues with medical plastics can be resolved, but it will take stakeholder commitment and resources. Here are the four key steps that must be taken to ensure that the use of medical plastics is put on a sustainable footing.
First, medical facilities should make a clear distinction between genuine medical plastics and general plastics used in a medical environment. The term medical plastics should only be used to refer to plastics used for medical purposes. Any plastics used for other applications, such as housekeeping and catering, should be identified as such.
General plastics are clear targets for reduction, if not elimination. For example, disposable plastic cutlery can be replaced by reusable cutlery or more sustainable alternatives such as bamboo. The use of genuine medical plastics should be kept to a minimum until more sustainable alternatives can be found.
Whenever medical plastics can feasibly be sterilized and reused, medical facilities should do so. Whenever they can not, they should be recycled, if possible.
Only if neither option is possible, should they be disposed of by other means. Whatever other method is used, there should be end-to-end transparency of the disposal process, so it is clear no plastic ends up in the water supply.
It is important to note that, at present, committing to recycling medical plastics may require direct financial subsidy. For example, medical facilities will either need to sort their plastic waste themselves or have it sorted for them. Either way, this will require resources. Over the long term, however, this initial investment should be outweighed by the environmental benefits.
There needs to be cradle-to-grave transparency in the medical plastics supply chain. This is the only way to be sure that medical plastics are produced in the most sustainable way currently possible. Likewise, it is the only way to ensure that medical plastic waste is being disposed of with the absolute minimum of environmental impact.
Nobody knows exactly how long the world’ s current supply of petroleum will last. In reality, this will probably depend on how long the world takes to reduce its usage for other purposes, especially transport.
Realistically, however, the fact that petroleum is clearly a finite resource is reason enough to look for alternatives. The high carbon footprint of petroleum-based products should lend extra urgency to the search.
As it currently stands, there are already plant-based alternatives to regular medical plastics. These are, however, still very niche. The main reason for this is that they are all still more expensive than petroleum-based plastics. In some cases, the difference can be significant, especially when petroleum prices are low.
This means that the development of sustainable medical plastics may need to be supported by direct or indirect subsidies, such as tax benefits. Again, the initial cost of this ultimately should be offset by the environmental benefits.
, which specializes in the manufacturing of vacuum-formed plastic components for the packaging, automotive, and aerospace industries.
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The Oral History of March 2020: The Month Global Travel Shut Down | Get exclusive stories and unlimited access to Skift.com news
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Skift Staff, Skift
March 16th, 2022 at 10:00 AM EDT
March 2020 will go down in history as the month that travel screeched to a halt when a global pandemic was declared. This oral history is a collection of voices from across the travel industry of those sharing their personal stories of pain, shock — and of resilience.
Tom Lowry
Every March from here on, humanity will pause to remember what that month in 2020 started. And stopped. For those of us in travel, by many accounts the world’ s largest industry in its most expansive manifestations, the fear of the virus traveling around the world meant the carriers of that virus — us humans traveling — had to stop. All at once. And all at once we did, in a global slamming of the brakes heard around the world and imprinted in our collective industry brains forever.
As I wrote in my essay published back then, March 14, 2020 was “ the day we will always remember from here on out as The Day the World Stopped Traveling. ” In that essay I also wrote about Skift’ s role through the historic times that we were going through and documenting: ” We are covering the most consequential moment of our lifetime, and we aim to be the most consequential company deciphering this for the global travel industry and for the world to understand what is happening in travel right now, why, and what the path ahead is. ”
Part of our role of deciphering history is also recording the history directly from the people who lived through it, beyond the daily stories, analysis and research our teams conduct. We did that previously through two seminal oral histories, one on online travel and another on boutique hotels, a look back spanning decades. What the travel industry – and indeed the world – lived through the last two years certainly felt like decades to so many of us, so many lessons learned and unlearned, so many yet to come.
In that spirit, we are presenting below the Oral History of March 2020, as lived by the travel industry. Straight from more than two dozen executives and employees from all sectors of the travel industry, the personal stories you will read are of collective pain, trauma — and of resilience.
We hope this becomes part of the permanent record of the times we went through, to pause and mourn those who didn’ t make it, and to celebrate with humility those of us who did. The recounting of history is often difficult to confront so we extend our heartfelt thanks to the participants here for sharing your stories and for helping us all move forward to better days.
— Rafat Ali, Skift Founder and CEO
Skift interviewed more than two dozen travel professionals, from the C-suite to property managers and flight attendants from around the world. See a complete list of interview subjects here. These recollections have been edited for brevity.
“ I do remember that we had a trip at the beginning of February to San Francisco, and what was weird is that the city was not as busy. And actually the hotel we were staying in, didn’ t have any Japanese tourists, which usually is very popular with Japanese. So there ( it) was actually very tangible. At a point in time where in Europe, we couldn’ t really see anything. We were like, OK, this is actually real.
“ And then it really started ( in March). The whole world basically collapsed, from one day to the other. And I have to say, for probably two weeks we were a bit paralyzed, because everything was changing at the same time, and you don’ t really know where to look. Because everything is all of a sudden red and negative. And the winning thought was then, I think in the second week of March where we just said, OK it will be zero. It’ s not there yet, but this will go to zero and it will stay at zero for quite a while. And we then move everybody into a remote setup. ”
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China confirmed 573 new coronavirus cases; bringing the total number to 79,824. Deaths increased by 35 to a total of 2,870
“ By March, we knew it was global and we knew it was going to be significant.
“ I remember sitting down with our board and saying, there is absolutely not a playbook in the world written for this for our industry because we’ ve always designed to pressure test these businesses as if we have another 9-11 or if we have another financial crisis: RevPAR is going to drop like this and it’ s going to recover over like this. Nobody says RevPAR is going to fall 50 or 70 percent. No one is going to say the international borders are closed. No one’ s going to have a plan for how to think about safety, security, health, and hygiene in your hotels in a way you’ ve never thought about it before and then procure these things at scale. ”
“ What I said to our board was I think we have to look at this as a lens of time. Two years from now — I said two years back then. I didn’ t say it far enough. I should have said three years — what are people going to say about IHG? We’ ve got five sets of stakeholders: We’ ve got customers, colleagues, owners, shareholders, and governments. We have to have each one of those constituents, each one of those stakeholders look at us and go, they actually did the right thing. ”
-Keith Barr, CEO of IHG
“ It was surreal because one day I was this global travel manager, coming into the office, working on large projects. The next day it was like the world stopped still. I remember coming into the office to collect my new laptop, having never had a laptop from the company before, empty my locker and feeling really lost. It was a bit of a shock. As I walked through the city, it was silence and emptiness. It did feel like the world had ended. Where do we go from here, if no one’ s traveling. Do I even have a job? But mentally, I thought this is only going to be a couple of weeks and we’ ll be back to normal. ”
United Airlines President Scott Kirby, now CEO, speaking at an investor conference put on by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, offers a rare stark prediction compared to his fellow airline execs about the length and severity of the impact from coronavirus.
“ When this all kicked off in Asia, at the time we thought OK, they tend to have more dramatic situations in that region, like typhoons. I was getting involved and supporting my team in the region, and then we didn’ t dismiss it, but we thought it’ s regional, it’ s not going to go further.
“ But as soon as it hit Europe, and Italy, it became serious. We went into business continuity mode. Travel is always an area that’ s being impacted in some shape or form, so we’ re well prepared, and we have processes in place to do that. It automatically kicks in, actually.
“ Once it hit Europe, it was about displacement. How do we repatriate people, that was the priority at the time. We had 700 people displaced from working locations, which were out in Asia. That was complex because overnight, countries were closing borders. We had to transport people through different methods to get them home.
British discount airline Flybe declares bankruptcy, the first of what will be a long list of airlines doing the same.
“ It was like time was standing still and there was no path forward. Everyone wanted answers from me on what to do, what was next. My brides wanted to know if their weddings were going to happen, my kids wanted to know when they’ d go back to school. I just kept saying give it a few weeks and it will all be over. I’ m still saying that.
“ I had to break hearts daily telling people their trips were canceled, their weddings were off, islands were closed, and airlines weren’ t flying. My business ( that) I spent 25 years building was crumbling at my feet and I was powerless to stop it. March 2020 was a nightmare that I feel like I am just cautiously waking up from. ”
-Sarah Kline, President of Time of Travel travel agency
“ We were bought by the owner of Aimbridge in October of 2019. So literally, we had just been acquired, and we were in the process of merging when you start to hear tidbits of, you know, Covid. Fast forward to the beginning of March 2020, and we’ re knee deep in integration.
“ It was the two largest third party management companies in the world merging. So I was head down, and all of a sudden you start hearing this and I’ m thinking it’ s like SARS. Candidly, I was naive and thinking it was overblown. Then, all of a sudden, you realize this is real.
“ We went from modeling slight downturns and what that does to our newly formed business to running these scenarios in which our revenue is cut in half, cut 75 percent and how we respond and what we do. It was an eye-opening moment and incredibly stressful, as you can imagine. It kind of built as travel restrictions and lockdowns were happening. ”
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Twenty-one people tested positive for coronavirus aboard Carnival’ s Grand Princess cruise ship near San Francisco, the start of a glaring exhibit of the impact of the virus on travel and the failures of the cruise lines and governments to get people off the ships.
” I asked the team that we need to cut down our schedules. I told them the overall level of capacity we think we should hit and to maintain as much connectivity as they can. The team would be in here on a weekend, rewriting the schedule, I would come in on the weekend.
“ I’ m not a scheduler I don’ t have the ability to get into the schedules. If I stood over their shoulder and tried to direct what they’ re doing, it would just slow them down. I had to trust the team, that they would make the right decisions. If I tried to backseat drive, it would just make things slower, and ultimately American Airlines would suffer for that. It’ s like a hospital administrator standing over the field medic in the middle of battle, trying to tell them you know best what scalpel they should use or what bandage, instead of letting the field medic do their job, because they’ re going to save this person in a moment. You can get involved in that later. ”
“ I feel like overnight, in the middle of March, there was a complete 180 where all of the flights on my schedule got removed and flights were completely empty. And then it just went from ‘ this is something we should be alarmed about’ to ‘ oh my gosh, this is really serious, this will probably change life completely.’ Especially in March, which is usually when spring break starts, you definitely see more traffic around March and April so to see it completely empty was a big change. ”
Skift Editor-in-Chief Tom Lowry appears on MSBNBC to give an update on the state of the travel industry. He calls it bedlam.
“ Every hour felt like a day and every day felt like a week and every week felt like a month because so much happened. And, you were seeing the news and just changing so fast … I think the hardest thing at the end of that week was going between this, surely it’ ll be okay in 10 weeks time. It would be crazy to cancel. Now everything’ s looking good. You know, like the show is on, it’ s good, it’ s normal. And if we cancel now for 10 weeks, isn’ t that odd too. There’ s no way this is gon na happen.
“ I think one of the hardest things is uncertainty and indecision, actually.
“ On that Friday ( March 6) we spoke to some of the senior members of the team and said,’ Look, you need to understand that this might actually be what’ s happening and we’ ll talk again on Monday, but I wan na give you the weekend to process this.’
“ Then we said, well, why don’ t we talk to the industry? So Monday and Tuesday, Ray ( IMEX Chairman Ray Bloom), and I had every half an hour when we were speaking to somebody in the industry to try to get a feel for what was out there. And it was perfectly clear to us that by mid-Monday that a cancellation was really the only responsible thing to. We suddenly started to understand this isn’ t just about us and our business or the meetings industry. This is a major health issue and we wouldn’ t want to put people in harm’ s way. So that flipped as well, very quickly. ”
The World Health Organization ( WHO) declares the novel coronavirus ( COVID-19) outbreak a global pandemic. Skift closes its offices at the end of this day and everyone is ordered to work from home.
“ I was here in Washington D.C., literally in my office, preparing for my next trip and making plans for a productive convention year. I think the night before, watching the Dallas Mavericks and the Mark Cuban response to things being shut down.
“ So as were so many people, between watching the news and seeing what was happening internationally and thinking, “ oh this won’ t happen in Washington or this won’ t happen in the U.S., unfortunately it took lives but won’ t be disruptive.
“ When you really think about what happened, it happened quickly, all of the month of March. We went from the World Health Organization giving insight as to what was going to happen next to the first person in Washington D.C. that tested positive for Covid. The first death in Washington D.C. is someone who knew because I served on his board, and he had cancer sadly and he passed away. I was thinking, OK in three months we’ ll be able to rebound and we’ ll get beyond this and we’ ll be able to get back on track. ”
-Carina Bauer, CEO, IMEX Group
“ We had two fortunes that many of our competitors didn’ t have. We’ ve seen a few of these before, with avian flu, and secondly Asia went first, and we had people on the ground there saying this is getting bad. It was around the end of January when we started to look at it, but by March we knew it was real. I remember the date we got our teams together and said: ‘ Look, we have to survive.’ Survival meant the most difficult thing was eliminating people, and we lost some good people. That was emotionally the toughest thing I’ ve ever had to do, as a leader, and all of our leaders would say the same.
IMEX Frankfurt 2020 announces it is canceling its large event planned for May.
“ In early March I went to New York City. I woke up Thursday ( March 12) morning, and it was clear we had reached a situation where there were global panic now around what was going on with Covid.
“ I’ m in my hotel room, a place called the Refinery in midtown New York City, and my wife went out to lunch with our friends and I’ m now on a series of calls as the chair of the Event Industry Council and trying to gather together the council members and talk about how the industry should be reacting to this and I’ m talking to them from the side of my eye I’ m watching the Big East basketball tournament and everything’ s going on as normal in Madison Square Garden, but the rest of the world seemed to be starting to burn down. There’ s clearly panic ensuing and the U.S. was talking about shutting their borders.
“ On a personal note, amidst all of this, my daughter is at school in Rome and now she’ s texting and emailing saying, I don’ t know if I can get home. What should I be doing?
“ So I’ m now in these sort of various modes and a personal mode worried about my my daughter in Europe and how can I get her home and what do I need to do, my business hat of what do I need to be thinking about for MPI, our business, our community and then my volunteer leadership role and a really broad role for our industry with the Event Industry Council, what do we need to be doing as an overall council and how do we get together to support each other industry. So those three variant points were all kind of coming together.
The Trump administration issues a travel ban on non-Americans who visited 26 European countries within 14 days of coming to the United States. People traveling from the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland are exempt.
“ I was enjoying a dreamy tour of northern Ethiopia, my birthplace. It was my first time back in 19 years and I had spent months planning that trip. About 10 days in, after coming back from breathtaking hiking in the Simien Mountains, I started realizing that more countries would shut their borders and that I could get stuck there. So I cut my trip short and booked an earlier flight back to my home in the Dominican Republic, connecting in JFK.
“ I remember that moment like it was yesterday: standing steps away from boarding my flight home and my phone buzzing just as I was about to hand over my boarding pass to the flight attendant. It was my husband Luis saying, ‘ You’ re not going to believe this but the border ( of the Dominican Republic) is closing tomorrow at 6 a.m.’ My heart sank — I was a day late. I felt so powerless and confused at the same time. The worst was not knowing how long it would be before I could return. ”
“ So I got on that 15-hour Ethiopian Airlines flight — no access to Wi-Fi, no one to talk to, no ability to reroute before my next flight. I wasn’ t even thinking yet about the fact that my livelihood would take a hit as a consumer travel journalist. Miraculously, it wasn’ t as bad on the work front, but on the personal front I didn’ t get back to the Dominican Republic or see Luis for three months. I spent that time with my parents stateside, which in hindsight was also a blessing. ”
Italians start to sing from their balconies in an act of solidarity with their fellow citizens stricken by coronavirus. The daily routine will go global.
“ I was actually preparing to travel from New York to Ghana and Senegal for work. The news was picking up just in terms of flights being canceled and the like, but it was still something happening in the background in my mind. Because literally up to the day before I was going to leave, I was still intending to leave. I was just going to travel safely. I was fully prepared to sanitize, and then my flight was canceled. I was supposed to leave on a Wednesday, all the flights were canceled on Tuesday.
“ There was probably some partial denial that wasn’ t as serious as it was going to be. And even after that cancellation, I think that there was a belief that this was a temporary pause as far as it pertains to travel whether it was personally or professionally, and it took months to realize that ‘ oh this is going to take a while.’ ”
“ I think what struck me personally the most wasn’ t even anything work related. It was just the panic — the runs for toilet paper, the hoarding that took place and so for me, there was this sense of desperation that was around us all and I wasn’ t ready for that. That startled me personally the most. Oh my God, all these people are so desperate and so scared. People at the store fighting over hand sanitizer. I felt like it was the beginning of a movie that I’ d seen, like the end of the world movies. That gave me anxiety, that everyone was in this heightened panic state.
CDC issues a “ no sail order ” to all cruise ships. The order calls for all cruise ships in waters that the U.S. has jurisdiction over to cease activity.
“ I was based in Singapore, so I went back to Singapore and that is when we all heard about, the major restrictions, the cancellations, the government is stopping, the schools closing and everything. And back then personally, my two kids studying in Melbourne. Um, I remember like it was yesterday when I got that call about the closing of the country. Now Melbourne is seven hours away, so you’ re in that situation that you’ re thinking about your kids. I think, what do we do? Is that gon na be temporary? Or that’ s gon na be something more complicated? So I decided to ask them to come back to Singapore, and literally 24 hours after they landed in Singapore, Australia closed ( 20 March 2020) and airlines and everything stopped. I remember I called my son, ‘ where are you?’ ‘ I’ m playing tennis.’ ‘ Where?’ ‘ An hour from, from Melbourne, with a friend.’ ‘ Okay. Park everything. I got a plane for you in four hours.’
“ Europe and America in general were slower to react, but Asia Pacific was really, really fast and everything was happening in a matter of hours or days. And so you realized that it was something we never experienced before that was impacting the profession, because of course there were cancellations of events and projects with association and corporations and governments stopping this and that. ”
The United States border with Canada is “ temporarily ” closed to “ non-essential traffic. ” The Mexico border was closed two days later.
“ At the point when things went off a cliff, I had been in the job eight months. I was still in the process of fully relocating from Dallas to the UK.
“ I remember sitting in the boardroom with our CFO [ chief financial officer ] and some other leaders in our UK headquarters. Those of us at the table who weren’ t permanent UK residents were advised we needed to leave immediately because they were about to shut the border. And so that was kind of my realization moment of, wow, this is different from any crisis in the past. We need to get out of town.
“ March 2020 required us to be decisive and act quickly. There were things we had to do to make sure we could weather the storm associated with the crisis, because at that point it became very obvious it was not going to have a short-term impact. ”
-Naledi Khabo, CEO of the Africa Tourism Association
“ It was the most incredible transformation I’ ve ever seen, from this vibrant place with people everywhere to suddenly somewhere that’ s largely dark apart from auxiliary lighting to guide what people we did have through.
“ All the furniture at La Boucherie, our fine dining steakhouse, was covered with sheets. It looked like a haunted house. Spire 73, which is a [ 73rd floor ] rooftop lounge — the tallest open-air bar in the the Western Hemisphere — was dark. So, I would walk the property just to make sure there were no water leaks or anything happening. Crows were the only life up there. We have these crows in L.A., and they had taken over the lounge. So, I would have to turn on the music. I had to disturb them because they were nesting. It was reminiscent of The Birds.
“ The hotel was essentially closed. No one could come into the hotel unless you were a guest or an employee. It was very eerie. It was difficult to digest that, just a short time ago, this was a place where people were having cocktails, people were proposing, and people were having fun “ We isolated floors. We condensed everyone to probably four floors. The property has a lot of floors [ the hotel occupies the 31st to the 73rd floors of the tower ]. So, we consolidated everything to conserve energy and also to reduce what we call travel time for our housekeepers. We provided really limited service at that time because there were so many shifting Covid mandates and protocols, and they were changing what seemed like by the day, perhaps even by the hour … Just watching the sunset and going to a park, those are the things that we probably took for granted. Now? Not so much anymore. ”
California becomes the first state to issue a stay-at-home order, mandating all residents to stay at home except to go to an essential job or shop for essential needs.
“ It just felt like the rug was kind of pulled just under your feet, like wait a minute, what’ s going on, did this industry actually exist? It was a very shocking moment when all the borders shut and then all the assignments just either got canceled or postponed. And for me in that moment, I realized that we’ d been moving too fast as an industry, we’ d been moving so fast that it actually forced us to just stop to see if our foundations were still stable.
“ I think you know, we weren’ t all prepared for it. You know, it really shook because most of us have built careers on travel and being physically in a different location. And so being forced to stop and then reassess, OK, how long is this shutdown going to take, we don’ t even understand this virus. You know, people are dying left and right, what’ s going on? So it was just a very uncertain period. ”
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“ At the beginning of March, there still was just so little known. I distinctly remember a picture that I took leaving the office on March 23. I still was coming to the office, and they were kind enough to let me in because I just had so much going on. And that day, I was the only car in the Marriott parking lot. I just remember recognizing how surreal and how long lasting this was going to potentially be instead of those bets of, ‘ This will be a month or so or two months, and by year end, we’ ll be back to minus 10 percent RevPAR.’
“ By the end of March, we were working on a model that assumed that 2020 would reflect something like a 60 percent decline in RevPAR. It took probably a couple weeks for it to settle in.
“ I’ m very blessed with an optimistic nature, and I’ ve worked for Marriott a long time, and I have seen us go through dramatic downturns before. I can honestly tell you I never, ever for a moment really thought that we wouldn’ t get through it — never, not for one second. I did recognize that we were going to pay some painful, painful prices: everything from human prices in the loss of jobs and the pain on our associates and on our industry. But I know our model really well, and it’ s an extraordinarily resilient model with a lot of flexibility: our ability to flex on investments, our ability to flex on expenses, our ability to kind of manage our cash as best we could and reduce our cash outflows. I really had total faith that we would get through it but just didn’ t know how big of a price we would pay.
“ On the personal front, we had our own stories. My three children were all working in New York City, and they all came to work from our home in Bethesda. One of my children brought his two roommates because they lived on the West Coast and couldn’ t fly home. So, we had seven of us working inside my home all in different parts of the house, working remotely for the months of March and April. While I think we all were experiencing some pretty stressful times, I can say that dinner table was a gift. ”
Leaders of the U.S. travel and aviation industry called on the Trump administration to set a May 1 deadline to commit to a plan for reopening the country to inbound international visitation.
“ The bottom dropped out, and the first order of business was basically if this keeps happening, we’ re going to need money. Our balance sheet just wasn’ t … It wasn’ t that we were not fundable, obviously. It was just that we weren’ t set up for this giant reversal in the funds flow. So for … Now I can’ t remember. It must have been several weeks. Eric ( Hart), my CFO, and I, and a team of people, we were all in on like, OK, we got to figure out how we’ re going to raise a bunch of money. Talked to a lot of investors, had banks involved etc. Had to figure out what our go-forward plan was, what we thought normalized future business looked like etc., and talked to a bunch of investors.
“ Fortunately, there were a lot of smart investors who make good bets. We ended up with two great partners in Apollo and Silver Lake on the preferred ( shares), and then JP Morgan did a very good job for us, along with other banks, in raising a bunch more capital. I spent, I think, the better part of three weeks. I was on the phone all the time. I remember I was living in Wyoming. I would go for walks just to get some fresh air, and I’ d be on the phone with bankers. I was on the phone constantly. Our people killed themselves, finance people, lawyers, everybody, and we did it. And then we could breathe again. ”
Listen to Peter Kern
Japan’ s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and International Olympic Committee ( IOC) president Thomas Bach agree to postpone the Olympics until 2021.
“ I had just taken over as CEO and I remember standing in my kitchen when the realization hit me that all my hopes for the company, and all the projects we were planning, I had to let go of them all. I stood there. The tears just came flooding. But then, there was a moment of clarity. I could see the outlines of a plan to rebuild. ”
“ The hardest part was making genuinely good people redundant – people with mortgages and dreams of their own who’ d been with us for a long time. It was really, really tough. ”
Hilton says it has had to furlough “ tens of thousands ” of its corporate staff. CEO Chris Nasetta says that in Hilton’ s 100-year history “ we’ ve never experienced anything like the current situation. ”
“ Although March 2020 is seen as the onset of the crisis, we had a growing feeling of unease since mid-January. And suddenly, what seemed like a blip in one corner of the world snowballed.
“ While my team and I were trying to evaluate the potential impact of this crisis and watched daily as the number of passengers and bookings worldwide fell dramatically – culminating in us reaching the inconceivable “ negative bookings ” threshold [ because of refunds for cancellations ] – we were also extremely concerned about our teams, our entire staff worldwide, nearly 20,000 people in 190 countries, and the intense personal challenges they were facing.
“ At all costs, we wanted to alleviate as best we could this sudden loss of freedom, the isolation, and the distress. After 30 years of continuous growth, we were in a deep crisis. While this was happening, our customers and partners were reeling. ”
The United Nations World Tourism Organization says tourist arrivals worldwide could fall by 20 to 30 percent in 2020, costing businesses as much as $ 450 billion.
“ As the month wore on, I saw it like chess. You’ ve got to watch the board, watch the game, you’ ve got to see the moves, and then prepare to make yours in order to ensure your strike. So that’ s exactly what I did — taking on more ancestral work in terms of agriculture and sustainability and fishing. The time being down from tourism allowed me just that — I got to rear chickens and put in a program for the poultry, we have bees and we’ re now harvesting honey, we’ re planting fruit trees. ”
The CARES Act is approved in Washington, providing $ 2 trillion in aid to U.S. businesses, including travel companies.
“ I was working in cruising at the time, and it was the end of the summer season in Australia. The last few cruises were about to depart, and the sudden realization that this weird virus that was getting a bit of airtime on the news was actually going to be material. I remember my head of sales coming to my office one morning and saying ‘ Have you seen what’ s happening in Italy?’
“ Until then, I had dismissed it and I just thought it’ s just another bird flu or something like that that will come and go and be geographically restricted. And as soon as I went online and looked at the news and said ‘ Wow! It hit Italy. This is going to be big. We need to strap ourselves in for this.’
“ I think it was just inconceivable at the time that we would tie up the entire fleet of SilverSea and indeed every cruise line in the world. We were still trying to operate a few cruises here and there. But it became very evident that it was just too problematic. Crossing borders and the ( many) nationalities of our guests and our crew was just too complicated. ”
Airports and hotels have seen some of the biggest drops in foot traffic as a result of coronavirus fears, according to analytics platform Placer.ai.
“ My second daughter was born on February the 19th. And on March 24, we faced the first total lockdown in France. So from that moment, we switched into what I call ‘ Survivor.’ Long story short, no one asked me to stop my maternity leave, and I strongly intended to have it, to take it, and to fully enjoy it. But you know, when you are facing as a leader such an immense shock, you can’ t reasonably tell your people, ‘ I’ m sorry, I’ ve got the law with me. And I’ m allowed to be off and let you face this incredible and uncertain crisis.’ So long story short, at night, we had a baby crying and the milk. And during the day, we had homeschooling for my first daughter who was learning to read, and we had to scan homework and return it to the school, and at the same time be connected with [ the company ] on crisis mode. And it was just hell.
“ Once you live that, I think you change forever, and you fall or you survive — and we ( at Accor) chose to survive in a good way and hopefully can get better. So after the shock, you’ ve got two options: you die, because it’ s too hard, or you get resilient and you learn. You react quickly. You adapt yourself. And somehow, if you look at the glass on the positive, you really reveal yourself. I clearly don’ t want to work in this mode for the rest of my life because I feel like already I am 89 years old. But these years are also super valuable, and I’ m always sharing with my team that we need to learn from these two years and they should ensure they don’ t get amnesia. Because we do have a lot to learn from this unprecedented crisis. ”
Listen to Maud Bailly
-Maud Bailly, CEO of Southern Europe at Accor ( formerly global chief digital and commercial officer)
“ For me personally, I was definitely scared but I also knew my staff was scared too. However, I had to be brave and carry out my responsibilities, care for my team as well as my guests.
As the team leader, I must be the power, courage, and love for everyone at our hotel, and treat them like my family in this most difficult time. In addition to the management work, I also took on other guest-facing roles due to being short staffed – I had to stand by my team. From room service, housekeeping, kitchen, to sanitation, I could feel the stress, fear, exhaustion, and pain that everyone was experiencing. And this further strengthened my determination and purpose to provide ‘ true hospitality for good.’
“ From January 23 to April 8, it was an unforgettable 76 days for all of us staying in Wuhan. We lived every day counting and witnessing how the pandemic went from thousands of cases a day until cases subsided. When we sent off the medical team and those guests staying on business, we all burst into tears. We still kept the thank you letters, the protective suits with signatures of the medical staff on it, and the praise pennant they sent to us. That was a precious record of this extraordinary and unforgettable experience for all of us. All the challenges and difficulties were just water under the bridge. What stays unchanged is our dream and confidence for a brighter future ahead. ”
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Skift editors and reporters Lebawit Lily Girma, Rashaad Jorden, Sean O’ Neill, Matt Parsons, Dennis Schaal, Cameron Sperance, and Madhu Unnikrishnan contributed to this project.
Edited by Tom Lowry. | general |
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