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As horrific evidence of massacres is uncovered in Ukraine, Russian propaganda gathers pace | Warning: this article contains distressing details.
The appalling crimes against humanity allegedly committed by Russian soldiers against Ukrainians are a sobering reminder that the most brutal behaviour can be cynically weaponised for political and strategic purposes.
Shortly after images of dead bodies littering the streets of Bucha on Kyiv’ s outskirts – some with their hands bound – went viral, the Russian propaganda machine kicked into overdrive with a predictable series of spurious “ false flag ” claims.
For example: the deaths couldn’ t have been caused by Russians because its forces had already left. Clearly, it was a British psychological operation. Or it was Ukrainian fascists linked to the infamous Azov Battalion. Or maybe both. In any event, the whole thing was staged.
In doing so, they recalled the maxim, often loosely attributed to Josef Goebbels, that accusing others of acts for which you are responsible can be one of the most effective uses of propaganda.
Official Russian channels have quickly repeated the lines pushed by state media, starting with President Vladimir Putin’ s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Russia’ s UN Ambassador, and numerous Russian embassies worldwide, including in Australia.
Russia even attempted to convene the UN Security Council to discuss atrocities – which its forces were clearly responsible for – that it alleged were committed by Ukraine.
A range of logical arguments reveal Russia’ s claims, echoed by the Kremlin’ s diminished online army of Putinversteher, to be ludicrous.
But even more compelling is the clear empirical evidence that the Kremlin’ s claims are a total sham: satellite images showing bodies in Bucha lying in the streets for days, well before Russian troops withdrew.
As Ukrainian forces regain territory previously occupied by Russian troops, more tales of atrocities are emerging. Human Rights Watch has detailed reports of summary executions in numerous villages, echoing the zachistki ( “ clean-up ” or, more accurately, “ cleansing ”) operations conducted against Chechens from 1999-2005.
Other reports suggest Russian forces used a children’ s hospital as a torture chamber. Mass graves in Ukraine are visible from space. Ukrainian sources claim the bodies of naked women, some partially burned, have been found dumped by roadsides. The bound corpses of the mayor of Motyzhyn and her family were uncovered, partly buried, outside their village.
Then there is the mounting evidence of systematic humiliation and rape. One incident, shared by Ukraine’ s ambassador to Estonia, involved a three-year-old girl. Others include tales of mothers repeatedly sexually assaulted in front of their own children. Yet another report from Der Spiegel claimed that Russian soldiers occupying the town of Trostyanets had defecated on the bodies of dead Ukrainians.
The tactics by which official narratives seek to explain acts like these are not new, and have been tools of propaganda and psychological warfare for centuries.
But one of the truisms of the digital age is that online ecosystems give contemporary propagandists new opportunities to shape perceptions through size, scope and veracity.
First, the amount of information available to consumers makes it impossible to process it all. That encourages individuals to self-select into information belief systems, constructing their own “ truths ”.
Second, the ability to reach new audiences allows malign ideas to be seeded in groups that typically would not seek out such information.
Third, as COVID conspiracies and the Deep State movement have shown, the internet is a great leveller in terms of authoritative and false information.
Russian disinformation is adept at using these enablers. Its messaging follows the golden rules of effective propaganda: it is simplistic, didactic, and gives its target audiences someone else to blame. This means its interpretation of atrocities has both international and domestic effects.
Internally, the claim Ukrainian fascists and the West were behind alleged war crimes to justify sanctions and provide Kyiv with aid reinforces the Kremlin narrative that the war is really an “ existential crisis ” for Russia, in which its very survival is at stake.
Internationally, it seeks to tap into the pathologies of Western publics that have grown cynical and mistrustful of their own governments, raising doubt and deepening the fragmentation of societies.
And even if Russia’ s own public doesn’ t believe the Kremlin line, the likely result is not anger and resistance, but apathy – a sense that all governments are lying to them.
This is deeply worrying, because it raises the spectre that the events in Ukraine will be disbelieved or ignored by one of the few constituencies that might be able to alter their course. Having been conditioned by Putin’ s deliberate promotion of a militaristic culture celebrating violence as honourable, many in Russia have met news of the conduct of their forces with a shrug at best, or vehement approval at worst.
That many of the acts attributed to Russian forces constitute war crimes is beyond doubt. They are in clear violation of the Geneva Conventions, particularly those dealing with isolated or local massacres, as well as the 1977 Additional Protocol on avoiding targeting civilians.
The barbarity in Ukraine also meets the criteria for other instruments in the human rights toolkit, such as the Responsibility to Protect.
It is even likely the acts committed in Ukraine fit into the broader category of genocide, which according to the 1948 UN Convention is defined as “ acts committed in whole or in part ” to destroy national, religious or ethnic groups.
They go beyond attempts to colonise a people, as Putin initially envisaged when depicting Ukrainian statehood as illegitimate. Instead, this has become a systemic campaign aimed at removing the very idea of Ukraine.
As Eugene Finkel has pointed out in the Washington Post, there is clear intent, as detailed in Russia’ s state-controlled media, that Ukraine’ s “ name likely can not be retained ”; that its elite needs to be “ liquidated ”; that a “ substantial part of the populace ” is also guilty of rampant nationalism; and that Ukraine requires “ re-education and ideological repressions lasting at least a generation ”.
But we are unlikely to see the perpetrators of these acts arraigned in the dock at an international war crimes tribunal.
For one thing, neither Russia nor Ukraine is party to the Rome Statute, the founding document of the International Criminal Court.
Other alternatives, such as a special tribunal, would be unlikely to see alleged war criminals delivered into custody unless captured by Ukrainian forces. And while branding Putin and other members of the Russian elite as war criminals is useful for signalling and rhetorical purposes, the only way they are likely to face justice is through the total upending of the Russian political system, and a commitment by any new government to hand them over.
With the first of these highly unlikely, and the second by no means guaranteed, there can be little optimism the perpetrators will face justice any time soon, if ever.
It also puts pressure on both Kyiv and Moscow to end the conflict militarily on their terms, so they can shape the future of what is revealed about its events.
Under those circumstances, the only option for those committed to human dignity is to give Ukraine every tool it requires to protect its people from the horrors that continue to be visited upon them. | business |
Shiba Inu Burning is the Major Factor Triggering Its Price! But for How Long? | Join Our Telegram Channel for More Insights. Join Now
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When Shiba Inu was introduced to the highly volatile cryptocurrency market, crypto investors recognized this cryptocurrency as the meme coin. Shiba Inu was underestimated by the community to recognize as a valid and functioning cryptocurrency for crypto wallets. But Shiba Inu showed its power with a dramatic rise in the cryptocurrency price in 2021 and earned the attention of crypto investors across the world. It is successfully overtaking some popular cryptocurrencies through its Shiba Inu burning strategy. Let’ s explore more about Shiba Inu burning and how long it can be used to survive in the highly volatile cryptocurrency market and drive profits into crypto wallets.
Shiba Inu entered the long list of cryptocurrencies in 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. It was not popular at the beginning but claimed its name and reputation through multiple strategies to be in crypto wallets efficiently. The rate of growth was fantastic, especially through the implementation of the Shiba Inu burning or Shibburn strategy by the existing crypto investors.
Shiba Inu burning has increased its price in 2021 as well as in 2022 with the calculation from three special addresses, tokens to the Genesis address, and two dead wallets. It has been reported that Shibburn strategy has successfully burnt more than 7.2 billion tokens in two months of 2021. The tokens are removed from circulation permanently for the increase in demand by reducing the supply in the market.
Crypto investors started gaining interest in this cryptocurrency price after it burnt almost half a quadrillion cryptocurrency out of the supply from the cryptocurrency market. After many ups and downs in the cryptocurrency price since August 2021, the rising bullishness in March 2022 has again gained the attention of investments in crypto wallets. The Shiba Inu burning has surpassed a significant milestone 4.4 billion tokens for gaining more bullishness from highly-interested crypto investors. This ongoing Shiba Inu burning strategy can increase the cryptocurrency price in the nearby future with a constant value in the top cryptocurrency list.
The current cryptocurrency price is US $ 0.00002624 with a market capitalization of US $ 14.41 billion. The driving force of this crypto investor community-led burning initiative is non-related and unofficial Shiba Inu tokens ETH SHIBA and 1CENT. They also organized a burn party to increase the cryptocurrency prices efficiently and effectively. It has been speculated that ShibaSwap 2.0 is set to support a new burning mechanism for this Shiba Inu burning strategy. This can skyrocket the cryptocurrency price to the next-level in the cryptocurrency market to keep the expectations of crypto investors for profit in crypto wallets. The official launch date of the ShibaSwap 2.0 is not announced yet. But the speculation is that the entry to the cryptocurrency market will be by the first half of 2022 with the Shiba Inu burning strategy. Thus, it can be said that crypto investors can expect an increase in the cryptocurrency price for a long period of time.
There is a piece of good news for crypto investors who invest in this cryptocurrency that the token burning strategy will continue in the nearby future. The creators of this cryptocurrency are focused on making the burn rate grow with the utilization rate of the platform. Crypto investors can get access to around 550 trillion coins in the cryptocurrency market.
Shiba Inu burning is also assisted by different catalysts such as gaming capabilities, increase in number of online exchanges, and many more. Since this is a highly volatile and risky venture with constant fluctuations in a cryptocurrency price, crypto investors must not think that this cryptocurrency will never experience a major drop in its price owing to this Shiba Inu burning strategy. | tech |
A toxic mix of recession risks hangs over the world economy | JUST A YEAR ago the world’ s economists were celebrating a rapid rebound from recession. Now they are worrying that the next downturn could be looming. In America the Federal Reserve is preparing to do battle with high inflation by raising interest rates sharply and shrinking its balance-sheet. In Europe expensive energy is sapping consumers of spending power and making factories costlier to run. And in China an outbreak of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus has led the authorities to impose the strictest lockdowns since the start of the pandemic.
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It is a gloomy combination for global growth, and the outlook is darkening. Several economies could even suffer recessions, though at different times depending on the obstacles they face.
The economy in the United States is overheating. The annual rate of consumer-price inflation is 7.9% and hourly wages are 5.6% higher than they were a year ago. America has nearly twice as many job openings as it does unemployed workers—the highest ratio in 70 years. For much of 2021 central bankers hoped that Americans who left the labour force after the pandemic struck would return, helping cool the labour market. In the past six months their prayers have been answered: more than half the missing workers of prime working age have returned. Yet wage growth has risen anyway, perhaps because workers are negotiating hard as rising prices erode living standards.
The Fed needs both wage and price growth to cool if it is to hit its 2% inflation target. It is expected to raise short-term interest rates, which started the year below 0.25%, to over 2.5% by December, and to continue to raise rates above 3% in 2023. This week the central bank trailed a plan to shrink its $ 8.5trn bond holdings, starting in May, at a much faster pace than during the last period of “ quantitative tightening ”.
Hitting the monetary brakes, though necessary, endangers growth. History suggests that the Fed finds it difficult to cool the jobs market without eventually tipping the economy into recession. It has pulled off a “ soft landing ” only three times since 1945. And it has never done so while battling high inflation. Bond investors are betting that in two years’ time the Fed will have to cut rates again as the economy weakens. Given the record, a recession in the next two years looks likely.
Europe has an inflation problem, too, but it is so far caused by expensive imported energy and food more than by overheating. Russia’ s invasion of Ukraine and Western sanctions threaten the continent’ s energy supply. Gas prices for next winter are five times higher than in America, and spending on household energy is almost twice as high as a share of GDP ( partly because Europe is poorer). As energy prices have surged, consumer confidence has slumped. Firms are struggling, too: French industrial production fell in February.
The euro area’ s economy will probably still grow in 2022 as a whole. But it looks fragile. Should Europe stop importing Russian gas—whether because it chooses to or the Kremlin decides to cut off the supply—the danger of a recession will rise.
The threat to global growth from China’ s Omicron outbreak is the most severe and immediate. China reported over 20,000 new cases of the virus on April 6th. Because the government is committed to eliminating covid-19, Shanghai’ s 26m residents, and those of other big cities with outbreaks, are under lockdown. If the past relationship between lockdowns and GDP holds, China’ s real-time output will be 7.1% lower than in a world with no restrictions, according to Goldman Sachs. Lockdowns will also disrupt global trade, which is still struggling with a hangover from earlier in the pandemic. Shanghai is the latest global port to see hundreds of ships back up offshore, waiting to load or unload.
Xi Jinping, China’ s president, has urged officials to cut the costs of its restrictions. But if it opens up too soon, mainland China will see a wave of infection and deaths like that which recently plagued Hong Kong. That would scare consumers and become a source of economic disruption in its own right. Until China vaccinates its elderly in sufficient numbers using the most effective jabs, lockdowns will be an enduring feature of its economy and a source of global volatility.
The blame for the world economy’ s many troubles lies squarely with policymakers. The Fed’ s job is supposed to be to take away the punchbowl just as the party gets going; it has instead presided over a blowout. Europe’ s governments let the continent become dependent on Russian natural gas. And China’ s difficulty in suppressing Omicron was predictable, and widely predicted. Economic trouble often strikes as a bolt from the blue. Today’ s recession scare was avoidable. ■
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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 |
What is palliative care? How is it different from hospice? | When most people hear the term palliative care, they look worried or confused. Introducing myself to patients and families as a palliative medicine physician, I commonly hear things like, “ Does this mean I am dying? ” or “ I am not ready for hospice. ”
I respond by acknowledging these common fears, but emphasizing that palliative care and hospice care are two very different things.
Hospice care is a Medicare-covered benefit for people whose doctors believe they are in the last six months of life, and who want to stop treatments targeting their disease – such as chemotherapy for cancer – to focus on comfort. In contrast, palliative care is appropriate for people at any stage of serious illness and is provided alongside treatments aimed at curing disease.
Palliative care specialists like me are experts in treating physical symptoms like pain and nausea. But just as important, we listen to patients’ stories and find out what is most important to them. We help make difficult treatment decisions and address the sadness and uncertainty that often accompany serious illness. We walk alongside patients and their families at a time that can be frightening and overwhelming, offering comfort, information, guidance and hope.
Palliative care recognizes that ethical and compassionate care for serious illness requires supporting the whole person in addition to fighting the disease.
The field of palliative care is still relatively new. In the early 1990s, research demonstrated substantial shortcomings in the quality of care for patients with serious illnesses. One 1995 study of nearly 5,000 people in the U.S. found that half of patients who died in the hospital experienced moderate to severe pain in their last days of life. More than half of the time, doctors did not know when their patients preferred to avoid CPR at the end of life.
These types of findings helped inspire the field of palliative care over the course of the 1990s and early 2000s. It began at a handful of hospitals as a specialty consult service working alongside primary teams – such as oncologists, cardiologists, surgeons and neurologists – to improve the experience of serious illness and ensure patients’ needs were met.
According to the State-by-State Report Card on Access to Palliative Care, which is compiled by researchers at the Center to Advance Palliative Care, only 7% of U.S. hospitals had a specialty palliative care service in 2001. Today, 72% of hospitals with 50 or more beds have a palliative care service, and palliative care specialists are increasingly available in other settings as well, including outpatient clinics, nursing homes and home-based programs. For example, it is now possible to see an oncologist for cancer treatment or a cardiologist for heart failure, followed by an appointment with a palliative care specialist who treats related symptoms such as fatigue and depression.
This growth is fueled in part by growing evidence of the benefits that palliative care provides for patients and families. Our research team at the University of Pittsburgh led a 2016 review of results from 43 randomized trials with nearly 13,000 patients – meaning that some patients received palliative treatment, and others did not. We found that palliative care was associated with significant improvements in patients’ quality of life and reductions in their physical symptoms one to three months afterward.
Importantly, palliative care was not associated with shortened survival, pushing back against a popular assumption that pursuing palliative care means “ giving up ” on fighting disease. In fact, one influential study found that patients with advanced lung cancer who receive specialty palliative care in addition to standard oncology care lived almost three months longer than patients who received standard oncology care only.
Palliative care is now recommended in many national guidelines as a critical component of high-quality care for serious illnesses. For example, in 2016 the American Society of Clinical Oncology recommended that all patients with advanced cancer receive dedicated palliative care services early after diagnosis, while also receiving treatment to target the disease. Increasingly, palliative care is viewed as an essential part of ethical and compassionate medical care.
One might suspect that an evidence-based service recommended by national guidelines would be available to everyone with serious illness. When it comes to palliative care, however, this is not the case.
Nationally, palliative care teams are vastly understaffed. Workforce shortages are projected to worsen in the future, as the U.S. population ages and therapeutic advances mean people can live longer with serious illness. Even now, with COVID-19 surges having caused as many as 154,000 new hospitalizations weekly and made other patients sicker because of pandemic-related delays in care, palliative teams are stretched to the limit.
Whether you or a loved one has access to palliative care may also depend on where you live and where you receive your medical care. According to the State-by-State Report Card, a hospital in New Hampshire is three times more likely to have a palliative care service than a hospital in Mississippi. Another recent analysis found that a not-for-profit hospital is two times more likely to have a palliative care service than a for-profit hospital.
A 2019 study found that palliative care consults were less frequent at hospitals that serve the largest proportions of Black and Hispanic patients. These structural inequities risk worsening known disparities in the care of serious illness.
Patients and families can request palliative care, but palliative care specialists usually are brought in once the primary clinical team recommends it. Yet many physicians do not, either because they mistakenly equate palliative care with hospice or do not recognize the value that palliative care can bring.
One approach to expanding palliative care access is to enhance palliative training and support for every clinician who cares for patients with serious illness – an approach sometimes called “ primary ” palliative care. Another approach is to leverage newer care-delivery models, such as telemedicine, to expand the reach of palliative care specialists.
These solutions would require changing medical reimbursement and training models to make palliative care fundamental – for everyone. | business |
US travel costs surge as vacation demand ramps up from pandemic lows | U.S. travel costs are soaring as demand reaches some of its highest points since the global pandemic began, a trend that shows little sign of stopping as summertime travel heats up.
Airline bookings in February hit their highest point since COVID-19 decimated flying in the U.S. in early 2020, while hotel occupancy is higher than it has been for most of the last two years. Combined with rising costs for labor and energy and short supplies, these factors are driving travel prices to jump by leaps and bounds, contributing to the fastest rise in broad consumer prices since the 1980s. Hotel prices, for example, rose at the fastest rate on record in February compared to a year ago, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics.
After hearing tales of dirt-cheap hotel room rates and plane tickets during the height of the pandemic, travelers expect to find bargains. Instead, they are finding vacations with jaw-dropping price tags attached, often twice what they were expecting to spend, said Robike Noll-Faries, owner of Seeitall 2 Travel, a travel agency in Paramus, N.J.
Those steep price hikes and a potentially historic surge in demand for leisure are not getting in the way of travelers ' plans for summer fun, Noll-Faries said.
`` People are looking at these prices and they're complaining, but it has been two years, they want to go on vacation and they're going, '' Noll-Faries said. `` It's time. ''
The number of U.S. air passenger trips for domestic and international flights in February was 19.9 million, according to data from the Airlines Reporting Corp., which tracks more than 200 airlines and more than 10,000 retail travel agencies. It was the most trips since the pandemic began, while still below the 24.9 million trips in February 2020, it was well above the 2.2 million at the industry's low in April 2020. Airline fares have reflected this increase in demand, with the average, domestic roundtrip ticket price rising to $ 464 in February, from $ 346 a year earlier.
Airlines still lag pre-pandemic capacity levels, with total March seating trailing 2019 levels by 8% for domestic flights and 24% for international flights, according to aviation industry analytics company OAG. Seating levels, however, are at or near their highest point since March 2020.
U.S. hotel occupancy hit 66.9% for the week ending March 19, according to industry data and analytics company STR. That is the highest level since August 2021 and above rates throughout 2020 and much of last year. The average daily room rate for a U.S. hotel room was $ 137.39 in February, up from $ 98.31 in February 2021, according to STR, which measures the metric by dividing total revenue by the number of rooms sold.
The rise in prices has yet to deter buying, said Vivek Pandya, a senior digital insights manager at Adobe who has done research on airline travel demand.
`` At the moment, the desire to travel is really strong and that's propelling continued bookings in the midst of higher prices, '' said Pandya.
Demand, and prices, will continue to rise as the summer travel season nears, as COVID-19 cases come down and attitudes around the health risks soften, Pandya said. But several factors, notably a rise in cases of COVID-19 variants, could upset that trajectory.
`` It is a pretty volatile environment so it's very difficult to predict, '' Pandya said.
Travel at Best Western Hotels and Resorts, which has nearly 2,000 locations in the U.S., is exceeding 2019 occupancy levels this year, especially on Fridays and Saturdays, said Larry Cuculic, president and CEO of Best Western Hotels and Resorts and its parent company, BWH Hotel Group.
`` We are optimistic that pent-up demand will result in strong spring and summer seasons with business travel beginning to return to a level of normalcy in the latter half of 2022, '' Cuculic said in an email.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine drove up costs for fuel, with the average price for a gallon of gasoline at $ 4.23 as of March 31, a rise of more than 60 cents in a month, according to AAA. The war may also dampen some U.S. travel to the euro area, potentially hiking demand for domestic high-end resorts, said Bram Gallagher, a senior economist with CBRE Hotels ' Americas Research.
A sharp jump in gas prices or hotel lodging costs are unlikely to upend spending on trips, particularly for more affluent travelers, said Chris Woronka, a leisure and lodging analyst with Deutsche Bank. This has allowed higher-end hotels and resorts to easily pass on increased costs to customers.
`` When everything is going up there can even be a degree of acceptance, '' Woronka said.
Still, like much of inflation's impact, higher prices are likely to hit more budget-conscious travelers harder. This could eat into demand for less expensive roadside motels this summer.
`` Everybody has a budget, '' Woronka said. `` If gas stays high or goes higher, with all these other costs increasing … at some point you're going to have a subset of customers say, 'Look, I just can't do this trip. ' ''
A shortage of semiconductors has curbed the production of new cars, which is driving up the costs of rental cars as businesses look to secure new and used vehicles.
Hotels, meanwhile, are facing multiple cost increases, but none more than labor costs, as a worker shortage has forced the industry to raise wages. In February, there were nearly 1.7 million job openings in the leisure and hospitality sector and hourly wages were at $ 19.68 in March, up from $ 16.31 pre-pandemic, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
This has compelled many hotels to keep staffing levels relatively low, leaving some rooms unsold due to a lack of workforce.
`` This is a labor problem, '' said Gallagher of CBRE. `` A lot of hotels are going to have to decide, 'How full do I actually want my hotel? Can I afford the costs of labor? ' That may stymie demand. ''
Hotels, so far, have `` seamlessly, '' passed on higher costs to consumers, said Smedes Rose, a director at Citi who focuses on lodging, gaming and leisure companies. It is unclear, though, how long hotel customers will accept paying more for a room at a hotel with fewer staff and amenities. For now, these hotels are looking at their budget plans and almost starting from scratch. Management positions that were eliminated in 2020 may never come back. Some services that were put on pause may never return.
`` It's probably pretty complex, but rarely do you have the opportunity to shut down and have zero revenue and zero costs and then just rebirth an industry, '' Rose said. | business |
FDA Fully Revokes Authorization of GSK and Vir's Sotrovimab for COVID-19 | On Tuesday, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration stated that GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology’ s COVID-19 treatment sotrovimab is no longer authorized to be used as a treatment for the disease. The FDA cited low efficacy against emerging Omicron sub-variant BA.2 as the reason behind the move.
GSK and Vir announced in May 2021 that sotrovimab received Emergency Use Authorization ( EUA) from the FDA for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in high-risk adults and pediatric patients. The EUA came after treatment with the therapeutic resulted in an 85% reduction in the risk of hospitalization or death in a Phase III clinical trial. At the time, in vitro data supported that sotrovimab was effective against all known variants of concern.
Sotrovimab was highly anticipated for the treatment of COVID-19, with the U.S. government penning a contract with the two companies for $ 1 billion for doses of the antibody therapy in November 2021. The U.S. government then bought an additional 600,000 doses in January 2022 to increase nationwide access to sotrovimab.
As the pandemic continued into early 2022, questions arose about sotrovimab’ s efficacy against Omicron subvariant BA.2, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now estimates accounts for 72.2% of all new cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. Concerns began rising in February, with researchers from Columbia University sharing data indicating that sotrovimab is not effective at neutralizing BA.2. Similar results were shared by researchers from Japan that reviewed multiple antiviral agents’ efficacy against BA.2.
The FDA took notice of such data, and in late February, the regulatory authorization limited the use of sotrovimab. The EUA was revised to clarify that the treatment was not authorized for use in geographic regions where the infection was likely to be caused by a variant not susceptible to the treatment, such as BA.2.
The limitation was then updated again in late March to reflect that sotrovimab was no longer authorized for use in several states and territories, with new states and territories being added just days later. Finally, on April 5, the FDA completely pulled the therapeutic’ s authorization to treat COVID-19 in any U.S. region as Omicron BA.2 continues to storm through.
GSK and Vir both maintain that the treatment is effective against BA.2 despite disagreement from the scientific community. In response to an earlier communication from the FDA stating limited use of sotrovimab, GSK and Vir planned to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission and provide a package of data that supports the use of a higher dose of the drug for the Omicron BA.2 sub-variant. Additionally, the companies plan to submit an application for full approval of the drug in the second half of 2022 and will begin late-stage clinical trials to assess if sotrovimab can prevent symptomatic COVID-19 infection in immunocompromised patients. | general |
Biden launches U.S. plan to help Americans struggling with long COVID | President Joe Biden on Tuesday tasked the U.S. health department with developing a national action plan to tackle the looming health crisis of long COVID, a complex, multi-symptom condition that leaves many of its sufferers unable to work, Trend reports citing Reuters.
Long COVID, which arises months after a COVID-19 infection, affects nearly 7% of all U.S. adults and 2.3% of the overall population and has cost an estimated $ 386 billion in lost wages, savings and medical bills, according to an analysis by the Solve Long Covid Initiative, a non-profit research and advocacy group.
More than 200 symptoms - many lasting for months - have been associated with the condition, including pain, fatigue, brain fog, breathing difficulty and exhaustion after minimal amounts of physical activity.
`` Long COVID is real, and there is still so much we don't know about it, '' Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, who will lead the government response, said on Tuesday.
`` Americans of every age and background are experiencing long COVID, '' he added at a press briefing. `` To be clear, we are going to use every tool we have to be there for these Americans. '' | general |
Kintor’ s Antiviral Demonstrates Broad Protection in Mild to Moderate COVID-19 | Suzhou, China-based Kintor Pharmaceutical announced topline results from its Phase III MRCT trial of proxalutamide in outpatients with mild to moderate COVID-19. The study evaluated the patients regardless of vaccination status or risk factors.
The data demonstrated that the drug, when given to the patients for more than seven days, offered a protection rate of 100%. It reduced hospitalization or death in COVID-19 patients, notably in the middle-aged and elderly with high-risk factors.
Proxalutamide is an ACE2 and TMPRSS2 inhibitor. ACE2 is the primary receptor on human cells that allows the SARS-CoV-2 virus to latch on and enter the cell. The virus uses TMPRSS2 for S protein priming, which is to say, it activates the virus’ s S protein. Inhibiting both of these protein receptors stalls the virus’ s ability to enter and infect cells. And by promoting the clearance of the virus it decreases inflammation by activating the Nrf2 pathway, which prevents overproduction of IL-6, proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines.
“ The topline data of this pivotal study demonstrates the clinical efficacy of proxalutamide in the mostly U.S. COVID-19 population with a significant reduction of hospitalization and death rate in patients, ” stated Dr. Tong Youzhi, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Kintor.
Youzhi went on to say, “ It is important to note that proxalutamide has showed COVID-19 viral load reduction against both Delta and Omicron variants, which is important as new variants continue to arise. The continued increase in COVID-19 cases serves as a reminder that the world urgently needs effective and safe oral drugs with different mechanisms of action. ”
The company plans to apply for emergency use authorization in the U.S., and the equivalent in China and other countries.
The clinical trial enrolled 733 participants with a positive COVID-19 test and symptoms onset regardless of vaccination status or other risk factors. Of them, 99% were recruited in the U.S. Participants received either 200mg of proxalutamide once-a-day plus standard of care ( SOC) or placebo plus SOC for 14 consecutive days.
The endpoints included percentage of patients who were not hospitalized for any reason for at least 24 hours, or who did not require supplemental oxygen for at least 24 hours in response to SpO2 ≤93 and who were alive by Day 28; the percentage of patients with all-cause hospitalization requiring supplemental oxygen or all-cause death by Day 28; and changes of SARS-CoV-2 viral load from baseline to Day 28.
The drug was well tolerated with manageable side effects in the patient populations. Kintor found treatment-related adverse events were comparable to the control group, with the majority of treatment-emergent adverse events ( TEAE) being mild. The most common side effect was dizziness. No serious adverse events were observed.
Of all patients in the trial who received at least one day of treatment, eight who received placebo were hospitalized, with one death, versus four patients hospitalized in the proxalutamide group with zero deaths. All hospitalizations were related to COVID-19. The drug decreased the risk of hospitalization or death by 50% compared to the control group.
In patients who received treatment with the drug for more than one day, seven patients in the placebo group were hospitalized including one death, compared to two patients who received proxalutamide, with, again, zero deaths. In this longer-treatment group, the drug reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by 71% compared to the control cohort.
And in patients who received treatment for more than seven days, six in the placebo cohort were hospitalized with one death compared to no hospitalization or death in the proxalutamide cohort. In this group, proxalutamide decreased the risk of hospitalization or death by 100% compared to the placebo cohort.
In terms of comorbidities and age, in patients 50 years or older who were obese, the drug reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by 100%. In patients 60 years or older with or without underlying medical conditions, proxalutamide also reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by 100%. And in patients 60 years or older who had at least one underlying medical condition, such as obesity, diabetes or hypertension, there were no hospitalizations or deaths in the group receiving the drug. | general |
COVID-19 Treatment Remdesivir Dominated Hospital Drug Spending in 2021 | Clinic and hospital drug spending increased due to higher usage and new drugs; price increases remained below inflation.
The COVID-19 treatment remdesivir dominated hospital drug spending in 2021, accounting for nearly 10% of all pharmaceutical expenses and outpacing the next three drugs combined, according to the ASHP ( American Society of Health-System Pharmacists) National Trends in Prescription Drug Expenditures and Projections for 2022.
“ Drug expenditures played a significant role in the rise in healthcare expenditures sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic, ” said Daniel J. Cobaugh, Pharm.D., FAACT, DABAT, vice president of publishing at ASHP and editor-in-chief of AJHP. “ Our annual report provides the critical context necessary for hospital and health-system leaders, policymakers, and others to understand the complex factors influencing drug expenditure patterns and prepare for future growth and spending. ”
Total drug spending in the U.S. grew 7.7% in 2021 to $ 576.9 billion. Hospitals accounted for $ 39.6 billion, with 8.4% growth over 2020, and clinics accounted $ 105 billion in spending, a 7.7% increase. Higher utilization and new drugs drove spending growth, even though drug prices decreased by up to 1.4%. That situation is likely to change in 2022 if manufacturers attempt to pass along their increased costs, the report said.
“ The drug spending whiplash that clinics and hospitals experienced in the first year of the pandemic did not end with 2021, ” said the report’ s lead author, Eric Tichy, Pharm.D., M.B.A., division chair, supply chain management at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. “ Uncertainty remains around how long the federal government will continue to pay for COVID treatments, and around inflation, which is moving through most economic sectors. ”
A moderating factor on drug spending was the increased use of biosimilars, the generic versions of biological medications. “ Biosimilars really took off this year, ” Tichy said. “ In oncology, we’ re using more biosimilars than we are the originator drugs. A couple of years ago there was a lot of consternation about the uptake of biosimilars being slow, but that has turned around. Their use is likely to continue growing, and it’ s saving the healthcare system a lot of money. ”
New drugs also played a role in spending growth. Aducanumab, approved in 2021 for Alzheimer’ s disease, was expected to be a big expense for clinics and hospitals due to its high cost and a potentially large population. But spending on the drug was less than $ 2 million, with the unexpectedly low usage attributed to concerns about data supporting its use, high cost, lack of clarity about reimbursement, and complex monitoring requirements.
In 2022, generics will likely have an impact on spending as several major branded drugs are expected to lose patent protection. This includes vasopressin, an antidiuretic in use for more than a century that was nonetheless given patent protection under the Unapproved Drugs Initiative, making it the fifth-highest drug expense in hospitals.
New drug approvals are also expected in oncology, the top spending category in the report. Tichy believes the Food and Drug Administration will approve five new immune-checkpoint inhibitors, which treat a variety of cancers and account for roughly a third of oncology drug expenditures.
“ After this year we expect there to be 12 immune-checkpoint inhibitors on the market, ” Tichy said. “ They all work similarly, but we haven’ t really seen price competition between them. With more immune-checkpoint inhibitors on the market, we’ re hopeful competition may drive down prices. ”
The report is published online ahead of print and will appear in print in the July 15 edition of AJHP.
Reference: ” National trends in prescription drug expenditures and projections for 2022 Get access Arrow ” by Eric M Tichy, PharmD, MBA, BCPS, FCCP, FAST, James M Hoffman, PharmD, MS, Katie J Suda, PharmD, MS, Matthew H Rim, PharmD, MS, Mina Tadrous, PharmD, MS, PhD, Sandra Cuellar, PharmD, BCOP, John S Clark, PharmD, MS, BCPS, FASHP, Jennifer Ward, MBA, Glen T Schumock, PharmD, MBA, PhD, FCCP, 6 April 2022, American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy. DOI: 10.1093/ajhp/zxac102
ASHP ( American Society of Health-System Pharmacists) is the collective voice of pharmacists who serve as patient care providers in hospitals, health systems, ambulatory clinics, and other healthcare settings spanning the full spectrum of medication use. The organization’ s more than 60,000 members include pharmacists, student pharmacists, and pharmacy technicians. For 80 years, ASHP has been at the forefront of efforts to improve medication use and enhance patient safety. | tech |
NASA Uses Reflected Moonlight To Improve Satellite Accuracy | NASA’ s ER-2 aircraft shown ready for fueling and flight preparations. Credit: Ken Ulrich
NASA’ s airborne Lunar Spectral Irradiance, or air-LUSI, flew aboard NASA’ s ER-2 aircraft from March 12 to 16 to accurately measure the amount of light reflected off the Moon. Reflected moonlight is a steady source of light that researchers are taking advantage of to improve the accuracy and consistency of measurements among Earth-observing satellites.
“ The Moon is extremely stable and not influenced by factors on Earth like climate to any large degree. It becomes a very good calibration reference, an independent benchmark, by which we can set our instruments and see what’ s happening with our planet, ” said air-LUSI’ s principal investigator, Kevin Turpie, a research professor at the University of Maryland, College Park.
The air-LUSI flights are part of NASA’ s comprehensive satellite calibration and validation efforts. The results will compliment ground-based sites such as Railroad Valley Playa in Nevada, and together will provide orbiting satellites with a robust calibration dataset.
NASA has more than 20 Earth-observing satellites that give researchers a global perspective on the interconnected Earth system. Many of them measure light waves reflected, scattered, absorbed, or emitted by Earth’ s surface, water and atmosphere. This light includes visible light, which humans see, as well as invisible ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths, and everything in between. Like musical instruments in an orchestra, the individual satellite instruments need to be “ in tune ” with each other in order for researchers to get the most out of their data. By using the Moon as a “ tuning fork, ” scientists can more easily compare data from different satellites to look at global changes over long periods of time.
This electromagnetic spectrum shows how energy travels in waves; Humans can only see visible light, but the entire spectrum is used by NASA instruments to observe Earth and more. Credit: NASA
That’ s where air-LUSI comes in. Developed in partnership with the National Institute of Standards and Technology ( NIST), U.S. Geological Survey and McMaster University, air-LUSI is a telescope that measures how much light is reflected off the lunar surface to assess the amount of energy Earth-observing satellites receive from moonlight. It was mounted aboard the ER-2 aircraft managed by and flying out of NASA’ s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, California. The ER-2 is a high-altitude aircraft that flew at 70,000 feet, above 95% of the atmosphere, which can scatter or absorb the reflected sunlight. This allowed air-LUSI to collect very accurate, NIST traceable measurements that are analogous to those a satellite would make from orbit. In order to improve the accuracy of lunar reflectance models, air-LUSI measurements are accurate with less than 1% uncertainty. During the March flights, air-LUSI measured the Moon for four nights just before a full Moon.
This airborne approach has the advantage of studying moonlight during different phases of the Moon while being able to bring the instrument back between flights for evaluation, maintenance, and, if necessary, repair.
Shown is the air-LUSI telescope positioned to measure a simulated Moon in a laboratory for testing and calibration before and after the flight campaign. Credit: Kevin Turpie
The air-LUSI spectrometer is hermetically sealed within an enclosure that keeps the instrument constantly at sea level temperature and pressure. Light collected by a telescope enters an integrating sphere which directs the light to the spectrometer, which is an instrument that measures variances of light waves. The air-LUSI first flew in similar flights in November 2019. Since then, the air-LUSI team has continued to improve the instrument’ s accuracy.
The team improved the internal monitor so they can better check instrument accuracy over a greater range of wavelengths, from the ultraviolet to the near infrared. They were also able to redesign the integrating sphere to remove small effects of changing temperature.
“ This will help the instrument make measurements with the more than 99% accuracy levels we’ re looking for, ” said Turpie.
Making these changes was challenging. Delays from the COVID-19 pandemic caused the chief engineer, who was working on the instrument updates and repairs, to develop a new remote work plan. Both he and the principal investigator received special permission to have parts delivered directly to their homes so they could work on the instrument and be prepared for the 2022 flights.
The data from 2019 and 2022 together has the potential to assist scientists in making Earth-observing satellite data in the ultraviolet to near-infrared range more consistent. In addition, the common Moon standard would make it easier to compare and fine-tune current and future satellite observations. NASA’ s upcoming Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem ( PACE) mission is planning on using the Moon as a common benchmark to make its observations more accurate and inter-consistent with other satellite measurements of Earth. Over the next decade, PACE and the future orbiting sensors of NASA’ s Earth System Observatory will help create a more cohesive picture of our planet.
“ Having a common calibration source outside of the Earth will help us reach this objective, ” said Turpie. “ Once air-LUSI measurements are used to improve the accuracy of the total amount of light coming from the Moon, we can take extensively more accurate measurements of Earth using current and future space-borne observatories. ” | tech |
Canaccord downgrades several REITs on rising rates impact | The information you requested is not available at this time, please check back again soon.
Canaccord Genuity Corp. analysts lowered their recommendations and price targets on several real estate investment trusts ( REITs) as they assess the impact of rising interest rates on their expected future returns.
The TSX Capped REIT Index posted a return of 0.9 per cent in the first calendar quarter this year, underperforming the broader Canadian market return of 3.8 per cent. It also lagged returns of other yield-oriented sectors.
“ We attribute the underperformance of REITs relative to the broad market to rising long-term interest rates, widening credit spreads and outsized returns for the Canadian energy and materials sectors, ” Mark Rothschild, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity, wrote in a note to clients on Tuesday.
He pointed out with long-term rates rising, the risk of capitalization rates -- or the estimated return based on property income that is expected to be generated -- will rise as well.
“ In general, REITs with a favourable long-term outlook for same-property [ net operating income ] and cash flow growth trade at higher multiples. However, with long-term interest rates rising, future cash flow growth is now being discounted at a higher rate compared to earlier this year, resulting in lower valuations for a number of ‘ higher-growth’ REITs, ” he said.
Rothschild reduced his 12-month price target for eight REITs in his coverage universe by an average of 5.5 per cent, including Brookfield Asset Management, Canadian Apartment Properties REIT, Dream Industrial REIT and Granite REIT. The new price targets reflect “ our belief that investors will, and should, consider the potential for cap rates to rise and the impact on property values, ” he said.
He also cut his stock recommendation from a buy to a hold on Allied Properties REIT, Crombie REIT, Dream Office REIT, Plaza Retail REIT, RioCan REIT and SmartCentres REIT.
However, there are a number of companies he sees outperforming over the next year such as InterRent and FirstCapital REIT.
Overall, he believes REITs focused on offices, retail and seniors housing will fare better than industrial and residential-focused REITs because investor sentiment will likely bounce back after being severely impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The federal government is planning to unveil a significant crackdown on foreign homebuyers as part of Thursday’ s federal budget, CTV National News Ottawa Bureau Chief Joyce Napier reported Wednesday afternoon.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland may effectively tell the Bank of Canada it’ s on its own in tackling inflation when she introduces a budget Thursday that’ s expected to be full of new spending initiatives.
The U.S. Fed signaled it will reduce its massive bond holdings at a maximum pace of US $ 95 billion a month, further tightening credit across the economy as the central bank raises interest rates to cool inflation
Bay Street could be about to learn its fate in Canada’ s halls of power. | general |
Yellen warns war in Ukraine to have 'enormous ' global economic impact | Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen cautioned Wednesday that Russia's attack on Ukraine could cause a major hit to the global economy.
`` Russia's actions, including the atrocities committed against innocent Ukrainians in Bucha, are reprehensible, represent an unacceptable affront to the rules-based global order, and will have enormous economic repercussions for the world, '' Yellen told a House of Representatives panel in a hearing on the world's financial system.
Along with that dour outlook, Yellen said global organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank are working together to provide aid to Ukraine and sanction Russia.
She added the White House believes Russia should be cut off from the global financial system in retribution for its `` brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. ''
`` It can not be business as usual for Russia in any of the financial institutions, '' Yellen said.
However, she noted that European nations are still reliant on natural gas from Russia, necessitating the need for licensing of Russia-based companies.
Earlier in the morning, the administration outlined a fresh round of sanctions against Russia, including penalties against President Vladimir Putin's children and prohibitions on new investment in Russia.
Along with the comments on the war, Yellen reiterated the White House's commitment to the battle against the Covid-19 pandemic, stressing vaccine availability and readiness to address outbreaks. | business |
China's holiday tourism revenue 39.2% of pre-pandemic level | BEIJING — As mainland China tackles its worst Covid-19 outbreak in two years, a measure of consumer spending has dropped to levels not seen since the initial shock of the pandemic.
Travel restrictions and lockdowns of districts or cities discouraged people from traveling over a holiday that officially ran from Sunday to Tuesday.
And tourism spending by those who did venture out only recovered just over a third, or 39.2%, of the level seen during the holiday in 2019, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
That's a far slower pace than during the Lunar New Year holiday earlier in the year, when tourism spending was 56.3% of what it was in 2019.
For more than three weeks, mainland China's count of Covid cases with symptoms has topped 1,000 a day and touched regions across the country. The number of asymptomatic cases is far higher.
Shanghai, the country's largest city, is one of the hardest hit in China's wave of the highly transmissible omicron variant. The metropolis was supposed to end a two-part lockdown Tuesday, but earlier this week gave no indication of when restrictions would lift.
In all, about 193 million people in the country are living in full or partial lockdowns, in regions that account for about 22% of China's GDP, Nomura's chief China economist Ting Lu estimated in a report Tuesday.
`` Markets could underestimate the economic damage, '' he said. `` China's [ zero-Covid strategy ] may save many lives, especially among the elderly, but it also incurs a substantial economic cost and causes collateral damage to people who are unable to obtain normal medical treatment for illnesses other than Covid. ''
`` Unlike in spring 2020, when there was a general belief that Covid-19 would end in the summer, we currently see no end in sight; this has increased uncertainty, which is quite negative for investment, '' Lu said.
The number of cases and deaths from Covid in mainland China remains below that of other major countries. Large factories in the country have been able to maintain production by keeping staff on site, with economists expecting services industries to remain the most affected.
Shanghai Disney Resort, which has been closed for more than two weeks, said Wednesday its theme parks and hotels remain closed until further notice.
Tourism revenue for the latest long weekend holiday dropped by 30.9% from the same period last year to 18.78 billion yuan ( $ 2.93 billion), the ministry said. Tourist trips fell by 26.2% from the same period last year to 75.4 million, or 68% of the level prior to the pandemic, according to the data.
People who were able to travel over the holiday mostly booked trips to scenic spots nearby or in the countryside, according to booking site Trip.com.
In a country where online shopping is prevalent, Covid also took a toll on package delivery.
The number of packages received and delivered during the holiday each fell by about 13% from a year ago, according to the State Post Bureau. It was not immediately clear whether logistics snags or consumer demand was the primary reason for the decline.
The Caixin services Purchasing Managers ' Index ( PMI), a measure of market conditions, showed Wednesday that business activity in the sector contracted in March by the sharpest pace in two years.
`` Businesses frequently mentioned that tighter virus containment measures had disrupted operations and weighed on client demand in March, '' Caixin said in a release. For a third straight month, the data showed services companies were reluctant to hire more staff.
Services businesses generally remained optimistic about growth over the next 12 months. But the release said the degree of optimism fell to its lowest since the second half of 2020 `` amid concerns over how long business operations would be impacted by the pandemic, and the war in Ukraine. ''
Credit Suisse picks Chinese 'little giant ' stocks, says the start-ups are a growing force
It's time to buy Nio shares after the Chinese electric vehicle maker's 44% drop, UBS says
JPMorgan says 3 stocks could be winners if U.S.-listed Chinese stocks avert delisting | business |
Biden Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo tests positive for Covid | Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo tested positive for Covid on Wednesday, making her the latest official to catch the virus after attending a swanky D.C. dinner packed with politicians and journalists.
Raimondo tested positive with an at-home antigen test after `` experiencing mild symptoms, '' the Commerce Department said in a statement. She is fully vaccinated and boosted, and her office has initiated contact tracing steps, the statement said. Raimondo will isolate for five days and work from home, Commerce said.
President Joe Biden, who has managed to avoid Covid after multiple close aides tested positive, is not considered a close contact to Raimondo, a Commerce spokesperson told CNBC. The spokesperson declined to discuss where Raimondo may have contracted the virus.
Four days ago, Raimondo and hundreds of others attended the Gridiron Club and Foundation dinner, a traditional gathering for D.C. VIPs, at the four-star Renaissance Hotel in downtown Washington. Normally an annual event, the Gridiron dinner Saturday night was the first one to be held since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
The dinner features prominent politicians, including U.S. presidents, delivering sarcastic jokes usually aimed at other lawmakers and the press. Republican New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu made headlines for his speech, in which he reportedly called former President Donald Trump `` f -- -- -- crazy. ''
`` I don't think he's so crazy that you could put him in a mental institution. But I think if he were in one, he ain't getting out! '' Sununu reportedly said.
Biden reportedly did not go to the dinner, but sent in a video with some lighthearted remarks.
In the days after the dinner, multiple politicians who reportedly attended have announced positive Covid tests.
Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, said Tuesday that he tested positive and is feeling mild symptoms.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., revealed his own positive test Tuesday night, adding, `` I 'm feeling fine, and grateful to be vaccinated and boosted. ''
Politico reported Wednesday morning that multiple reporters who attended the event have since tested positive for the virus, as well. The Gridiron Club did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. | business |
Quantitative Biology authors/titles `` new '' | COVID-19 vaccines have proven to be effective against SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, the dynamics of vaccine-induced immunological memory development and neutralizing antibodies generation are not fully understood, limiting vaccine development and vaccination regimen determination. Herein, we constructed a mathematical model to characterize the vaccine-induced immune response based on fitting the viral infection and vaccination datasets. With the example of CoronaVac, we revealed the association between vaccine-induced immunological memory development and neutralizing antibody levels. The establishment of the intact immunological memory requires more than 6 months after the first and second doses, after that a booster shot can induce high levels neutralizing antibodies. By introducing the maximum viral load and recovery time after viral infection, we quantitatively studied the protective effect of vaccines against viral infection. Accordingly, we optimized the vaccination regimen, including dose and vaccination timing, and predicted the effect of the fourth dose. Last, by combining the viral transmission model, we showed the suppression of virus transmission by vaccination, which may be instructive for the development of public health policies.
In the last few years, de novo molecular design using machine learning has made great technical progress but its practical deployment has not been as successful. This is mostly owing to the cost and technical difficulty of synthesizing such computationally designed molecules. To overcome such barriers, various methods for synthetic route design using deep neural networks have been studied intensively in recent years. However, little progress has been made in designing molecules and their synthetic routes simultaneously. Here, we formulate the problem of simultaneously designing molecules with the desired set of properties and their synthetic routes within the framework of Bayesian inference. The design variables consist of a set of reactants in a reaction network and its network topology. The design space is extremely large because it consists of all combinations of purchasable reactants, often in the order of millions or more. In addition, the designed reaction networks can adopt any topology beyond simple multistep linear reaction routes. To solve this hard combinatorial problem, we present a powerful sequential Monte Carlo algorithm that recursively designs a synthetic reaction network by sequentially building up single-step reactions. In a case study of designing drug-like molecules based on commercially available compounds, compared with heuristic combinatorial search methods, the proposed method shows overwhelming performance in terms of computational efficiency and coverage and novelty with respect to existing compounds.
A large number of inorganic and organic compounds are able to bind DNA and form complexes, among which drug-related molecules are important. Chromatin accessibility changes not only directly affects drug-DNA interactions, but also promote or inhibit the expression of critical genes associated with drug resistance by affecting the DNA binding capacity of TFs and transcriptional regulators. However, Biological experimental techniques for measuring it are expensive and time consuming. In recent years, several kinds of computational methods have been proposed to identify accessible regions of the genome. Existing computational models mostly ignore the contextual information of bases in gene sequences. To address these issues, we proposed a new solution named SemanticCAP. It introduces a gene language model which models the context of gene sequences, thus being able to provide an effective representation of a certain site in gene sequences. Basically, we merge the features provided by the gene language model into our chromatin accessibility model. During the process, we designed some methods to make feature fusion smoother. Compared with other systems under public benchmarks, our model proved to have better performance.
Predictive coding is an influential model of cortical neural activity. It proposes that perceptual beliefs are furnished by sequentially minimising '' prediction errors '' - the differences between predicted and observed data. Implicit in this proposal is the idea that perception requires multiple cycles of neural activity. This is at odds with evidence that several aspects of visual perception - including complex forms of object recognition - arise from an initial `` feedforward sweep '' that occurs on fast timescales which preclude substantial recurrent activity. Here, we propose that the feedforward sweep can be understood as performing amortized inference and recurrent processing can be understood as performing iterative inference. We propose a hybrid predictive coding network that combines both iterative and amortized inference in a principled manner by describing both in terms of a dual optimization of a single objective function. We show that the resulting scheme can be implemented in a biologically plausible neural architecture that approximates Bayesian inference utilising local Hebbian update rules. We demonstrate that our hybrid predictive coding model combines the benefits of both amortized and iterative inference -- obtaining rapid and computationally cheap perceptual inference for familiar data while maintaining the context-sensitivity, precision, and sample efficiency of iterative inference schemes. Moreover, we show how our model is inherently sensitive to its uncertainty and adaptively balances iterative and amortized inference to obtain accurate beliefs using minimum computational expense. Hybrid predictive coding offers a new perspective on the functional relevance of the feedforward and recurrent activity observed during visual perception and offers novel insights into distinct aspects of visual phenomenology.
In this work, we propose a distributed adaptive observer for a class of networked systems inspired by biophysical conductance-based neural network models. Neural systems learn by adjusting intrinsic and synaptic weights in a distributed fashion, with neuronal membrane voltages carrying information from neighbouring neurons in the network. Using contraction analysis, we show that this learning principle can be used to design an adaptive observer based on a decentralized learning rule that greatly reduces the number of observer states required for consistent exponential convergence of parameter estimates. This novel design is relevant for biological, biomedical and neuromorphic applications.
The field of movement ecology has seen a rapid increase in high-resolution data in recent years, leading to the development of numerous statistical and numerical methods to analyse relocation trajectories. Data are often collected at the level of the individual and for long periods that may encompass a range of behaviours. Here, we use the power spectral density ( PSD) to characterise the random movement patterns of a black-winged kite ( Elanus caeruleus) and a white stork ( Ciconia ciconia). The tracks are first segmented and clustered into different behaviours ( movement modes), and for each mode we measure the PSD and the ageing properties of the process. For the foraging kite we find $ 1/f $ noise, previously reported in ecological systems mainly in the context of population dynamics, but not for movement data. We further suggest plausible models for each of the behavioural modes by comparing both the measured PSD exponents and the distribution of the single-trajectory PSD to known theoretical results and simulations.
We propose a new learning algorithm for propagating a learning signal and updating neural network parameters via a forward pass, as an alternative to backpropagation. In forward signal propagation learning ( sigprop), there is only the forward path for learning and inference, so there are no additional structural or computational constraints on learning, such as feedback connectivity, weight transport, or a backward pass, which exist under backpropagation. Sigprop enables global supervised learning with only a forward path. This is ideal for parallel training of layers or modules. In biology, this explains how neurons without feedback connections can still receive a global learning signal. In hardware, this provides an approach for global supervised learning without backward connectivity. Sigprop by design has better compatibility with models of learning in the brain and in hardware than backpropagation and alternative approaches to relaxing learning constraints. We also demonstrate that sigprop is more efficient in time and memory than they are. To further explain the behavior of sigprop, we provide evidence that sigprop provides useful learning signals in context to backpropagation. To further support relevance to biological and hardware learning, we use sigprop to train continuous time neural networks with Hebbian updates and train spiking neural networks without surrogate functions.
Cancer is one of the deadliest diseases worldwide. Accurate diagnosis and classification of cancer subtypes are indispensable for effective clinical treatment. Promising results on automatic cancer subtyping systems have been published recently with the emergence of various deep learning methods. However, such automatic systems often overfit the data due to the high dimensionality and scarcity. In this paper, we propose to investigate automatic subtyping from an unsupervised learning perspective by directly constructing the underlying data distribution itself, hence sufficient data can be generated to alleviate the issue of overfitting. Specifically, we bypass the strong Gaussianity assumption that typically exists but fails in the unsupervised learning subtyping literature due to small-sized samples by vector quantization. Our proposed method better captures the latent space features and models the cancer subtype manifestation on a molecular basis, as demonstrated by the extensive experimental results.
Proteins are fundamental biological entities mediating key roles in cellular function and disease. This paper introduces a multi-scale graph construction of a protein -- HoloProt -- connecting surface to structure and sequence. The surface captures coarser details of the protein, while sequence as primary component and structure -- comprising secondary and tertiary components -- capture finer details. Our graph encoder then learns a multi-scale representation by allowing each level to integrate the encoding from level ( s) below with the graph at that level. We test the learned representation on different tasks, ( i.) ligand binding affinity ( regression), and ( ii.) protein function prediction ( classification). On the regression task, contrary to previous methods, our model performs consistently and reliably across different dataset splits, outperforming all baselines on most splits. On the classification task, it achieves a performance close to the top-performing model while using 10x fewer parameters. To improve the memory efficiency of our construction, we segment the multiplex protein surface manifold into molecular superpixels and substitute the surface with these superpixels at little to no performance loss. | science |
Fatigue after COVID is way more than just feeling tired. 5 tips on what to do about it | People are often surprised by how fatigued they are during a COVID infection.
Fatigue is more than being worn out or sleepy. It’ s an excessive tiredness that persists despite resting or good sleep. It’ s likely a result of our body’ s strong immune response to the virus.
But in some people the fatigue drags on even when the infection is gone. This can be debilitating and frustrating. Simply resting more makes no difference.
Here’ s what we know about post-COVID fatigue, and what can help.
The term fatigue can mean different things to different people. Some people mean their muscles are easily weakened. Walking to the mailbox feels like they have run a marathon. Others describe a generalised exhaustion, whether they are moving or not. People can experience physical, mental or emotional fatigue, or any combination of these.
The difference between tiredness and fatigue is this: tiredness can get better with enough rest, while fatigue persists even if someone is sleeping and resting more than ever.
Because there is no agreed definition of post-COVID fatigue, it is impossible to give exact numbers of how many people experience it.
Estimates vary considerably worldwide. One review of 21 studies found 13-33% of people were fatigued 16-20 weeks after their symptoms started. This is a worryingly widespread problem.
There are many potential causes of fatigue. Even before the pandemic, fatigue was one of the most common reasons to see a GP.
Most serious causes can be ruled out when your GP asks about your symptoms and examines you. Sometimes your GP will investigate further, perhaps by ordering blood tests.
Symptoms that should raise particular concern include fevers, unexplained weight loss, unusual bleeding or bruising, pain ( anywhere) that wakes you from sleep, or drenching night sweats.
If your fatigue is getting worse rather than better, or you can not care for yourself properly, you really should seek medical care.
Early in the pandemic, we realised some patients had a cluster of debilitating symptoms that dragged on for months, which we now call long COVID.
Some 85% of long COVID patients experience fatigue, making it one of the most common long COVID symptoms.
However, people with long COVID have a range of other symptoms, such as “ brain fog ”, headaches and muscle aches. Patients with long COVID therefore experience more than fatigue, and sometimes don’ t have fatigue at all.
We knew about chronic fatigue syndrome, otherwise known as myalgic encephalomyelitis, well before COVID.
This often develops after a viral infection ( for instance after infection with Epstein-Barr virus). So, understandably, there has been concern around the coronavirus potentially triggering chronic fatigue syndrome.
There are striking similarities between chronic fatigue syndrome and long COVID. Both involve debilitating fatigue, brain fog and/or muscle aches.
But at this stage, researchers are still untangling any link between post-COVID fatigue, long COVID and chronic fatigue syndrome.
For now, we know many people will have post-COVID fatigue but thankfully do not go on to develop long COVID or chronic fatigue syndrome.
Expect you or a loved one may develop post-COVID fatigue, regardless of how unwell you or they were during the actual infection.
Vaccines help reduce the risk of post-COVID fatigue by lowering the chance of catching COVID in the first place. Vaccinated people who do catch COVID are less likely to report fatigue and are less likely to develop long COVID.
However, vaccination is not 100% protective and there are plenty of fully vaccinated people who go on to develop longer term fatigue.
The evidence for what helps you recover from post-COVID fatigue is in its infancy. However, a few things do help:
1. pace yourself: adjust the return to normal activities to your energy levels. Choose your priorities and focus on what you can do rather than what you can’ t
2. return to exercise gradually: a gradual return to exercise may help your recovery, but you may need some support about how to manage or avoid fatigue afterwards. Some therapists – occupational therapists, physiotherapists and exercise physiologists – specialise in this. So ask your GP for a recommendation
3. prioritise sleep: rather than feeling guilty about sleeping so much, remind yourself that while you sleep, your body conserves energy and heals. Disrupted sleep patterns are an unfortunate COVID symptom. Having a strict bedtime, while also resting when you feel tired during the day, is important
4. eat a range of nutritious foods: loss of smell, taste and appetite from COVID can make this tricky. However, try to view food as a way of fuelling your body with both energy and the micronutrients it needs to heal. Be careful not to spend a fortune on unproven “ remedies ” that often look good in small studies, but more robust research finds make little difference
5. monitor your fatigue: keep a diary to monitor your fatigue, and look for a gradual improvement. You will have good days and bad days, but overall there should be a slow trajectory towards recovery. If you are going backwards, get input from a health professional, such as your GP. | business |
Repurposing generic drugs can reduce time and cost to develop new treatments – but low profitability remains a barrier | Discovering new ways to use existing drugs can come about intentionally or by chance.
Sometimes physicians or patients notice an unanticipated beneficial effect from a drug. One example is sildenafil, a drug originally developed to treat severe chest pain from coronary artery disease. While sildenafil failed clinical trials, researchers noticed that one of its side effects was induced erections. This led to its successful rebranding as the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra.
Most of the time when drugs are repurposed for diseases or conditions they were not originally intended for, it’ s done deliberately. As scientists raced to develop treatments for COVID-19, drug repurposing came into the spotlight for reasons good and bad.
As a researcher focused on drug discovery and development, I have seen the potential of repurposing and the challenges it faces. While finding new uses for drugs that have already been tested for safety and approved by the FDA can substantially reduce the time and cost of development, financial and logistical barriers can make it difficult to get to market.
When repurposing is successful, a drug that is ineffective or harmful for one condition can be lifesaving for others.
One such drug is thalidomide, first approved as a morning sickness treatment. It gained notoriety in the late 1950s when it caused birth defects in an estimated 10,000 infants worldwide, resulting in changes in drug regulation and development that included increased developmental toxicity testing. Thalidomide was globally banned by the end of the 1960s.
In the 1990s, however, researchers discovered that thalidomide inhibits angiogenesis, or the growth of new blood vessels that deliver nutrients and oxygen to tumors. Its new use as a treatment for a blood cancer called multiple myeloma ultimately saw clinical and commercial success. This led to the development of improved versions of the drug that treat cancer with reduced side effects.
Scientists have continued to find other therapeutic uses for thalidomide.
When researchers discovered that thalidomide targets a molecule in the body that marks other proteins for destruction, they leveraged this function into an emerging technology called PROTACs. Many drugs work in the body by inhibiting a particular target that produces an unwanted effect, typically in a way that is reversible and temporary. PROTACs, on the other hand, are a type of drug that can destroy the target altogether. This potentially increases the effectiveness of the drug and reduces the chance of drug resistance.
An example is bavdegalutamide, a PROTAC that combines thalidomide with an inhibitor typically used to treat prostate cancer. This inhibitor works by blocking a target that supplies the tumor with hormones that help it grow. An ongoing phase 2 clinical trial on bavdegalutamide hinges on the idea that destroying the target would cut off hormone supply to tumors and stop their growth more effectively than conventional inhibitors.
Researchers are currently churning out PROTACS often by repurposing existing drugs. With ongoing promising results, 2021 saw the launch of a flurry of clinical trials testing PROTACs as a treatment for a number of different cancers.
Reearchers have used a myriad of drug repurposing approaches during the COVID-19 pandemic, ranging from educated guesses to large-scale drug screening and data mining from millions of electronic health records. Irrespective of how researchers decide which drugs to repurpose, all candidates must demonstrate strong clinical benefit in people before they can be authorized or approved for a new proposed use by the FDA.
My research team and I tested 1,425 FDA-approved drugs in human cells infected with COVID-19 and found 17 repurposing candidates for further examination. Several of the leads we identified have since entered preliminary clinical trials, including drugs originally intended to treat leprosy and prostate cancer, as well as a supplement derived from milk.
Researchers initiated hundreds of clinical studies early in the pandemic to test drug repurposing candidates for COVID-19. There have been a few notable successes including the generic antidepressant fluvoxamine, which reduced the risk of hospitalization by 32% in one clinical study. One meta-analysis on fluvoxamine and two other antiviral COVID-19 drugs, molnupiravir and Paxlovid, found that they all offered protective benefits against COVID-19 with comparable safety profiles.
Unlike these new COVID-19 antivirals, however, fluvoxamine has a 40-year track record of safely treating depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Despite this, fluvoxamine has not been authorized for emergency use by the FDA, and the National Institutes of Health states that there is insufficient evidence for its use against COVID-19.
Successful drug repurposing highlights the difficulty of predicting off-target effects of new treatments.
Eflornithine, for example, is a drug found to be ineffective against cancer – but it does turn out to inhibit facial hair growth in women and cure a parasitic infection called trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness. It’ s often not immediately obvious why one drug would effectively treat two seemingly different health issues like these.
There are approximately 2,500 FDA-approved drugs, and an average of 46 new drugs are approved each year. However, over 90% of drugs that enter clinical trials fail. This increases to 97% for cancer drugs. While many shots on goal are required to produce a viable drug, each failed drug is a candidate for repurposing. Researchers like me have been collecting these “ failed ” compounds for further testing, trawling through research papers, patents and clinical trial databases to find repurposing candidates. Some labs have used artificial intelligence to automate this process.
But it can be difficult to ascertain what drugs are available to repurpose. While one drug development database proposes that there are 47,000 previously tested compounds ready for repurposing, there is no central repository for this information.
Drug repurposing faces an intellectual property barrier. Repurposing is most accessible with generic drugs that don’ t have patents restricting their use for other conditions. But there is less opportunity for profit with generics than with new drugs.
Patents allow drug suppliers to have a monopoly over sales for a span of time. Repurposed drugs are typically granted “ use patents ” that protect the use of an existing drug for a new particular disease. But companies consider this type of protection less valuable than a “ composition of matter ” patent that restricts drug sales just to patent owners. An FDA analysis found a drug with two drug suppliers resulted in an average 39% price reduction, and six or more suppliers resulted in a 95% reduction. With less patent protection on a drug, more competitors can enter the market and manufacturers make less money.
Because of this perceived lack of commercial potential, drug repurposing is typically left to academic institutions that don’ t have the resources to get either new or retooled drugs through the costly approval process.
It’ s possible that if fluvoxamine were a new drug in development with patent protection within a Big Pharma company, it might have already gained FDA approval to treat COVID-19. But as it stands, fluvoxamine is a widely available generic that any doctor can prescribe “ off-label ” to treat conditions that have not been approved by the FDA, like COVID-19.
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This leads to a tragedy of the commons whereby no company will invest in the clinical trials needed to bring a repurposed drug to the marketplace because the resulting benefits would be immediately shared with all competitors.
Bringing a new drug to market is a lengthy and costly process with a high failure rate. When the pharmaceutical industry can’ t justify developing a new drug because of a low return on investment, drug repurposing can fill the gap. Federal support could make repurposing more appealing from a business standpoint, giving companies the incentive to enter the marketplace and boost this cost-effective way to address unmet medical needs. | business |
31 Disney Stars Now and Then: See Photos Of Favorite Actors and Actresses | The Disney Channel child star to adult superstar pipeline is undeniable. Countless Disney stars found their breakthrough roles on Disney Channel — from live action shows like Lizzie McGuire and Shake It Up to original movies like Cheetah Girls and High School Musical. Naturally, these stars have become a fundamental part of childhoods everywhere, but where are they now?
Disney Channel stars far and wide have gone on to become some of the most successful actors, musicians, and artists in the world. Some have even skyrocketed to superstardom with global recognition following them across social platforms — and, with the rise of TikTok, we couldn’ t help but wonder: Where are some of our favorite Disney actors from the early aughts and ‘ 10s now?
Superstardom suits Shake It Up and K.C. Undercover star Zendaya. After leaving Disney Channel in 2018, she went on to lead HBO’ s Euphoria, which has won her an Emmy Award for “ Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. ” While she hasn’ t released solo music since 2013, Zendaya has starred in The Greatest Showman and has made the big screen her second home with roles in blockbuster films like Marvel’ s new Spider-Man trilogy and Denis Villeneuve's 2021 adaptation of Dune. She’ s also become the face of high fashion with her Valentino campaign and work with Lancôme.
Best known for her role as Maya Hart on Girl Meets World, Sabrina Carpenter has traded the small screen for the big screen with roles in The Hate U Give, Tall Girl, Work It and the recently announced Netflix musical Alice in Wonderland. She’ s also an established musician, releasing hits like “ Sue Me ” and “ Fast Times. ''
Kickin’ It star Olivia Holt hung up her Mickey ears in 2015, but hasn’ t left acting behind. She’ s starred in several movies and TV shows since, including Marvel's Cloak & Dagger, and she currently portrays Kate Wallis in Freeform's Cruel Summer.
Nick Jonas, Kevin Jonas, and Joe Jonas have gone through a radical transformation in the ten-plus years since they appeared on Disney Channel. While they might have left their Camp Rock days behind them and convinced us all they’ d never make another album, the trio reunited and released their first album in a decade with Happiness Begins in 2019.
Miley Cyrus has the best of both worlds since graduating from her Disney Channel days. She’ s left her alter ego Hannah Montana behind ( mostly) and rediscovered herself through a variety of iconic, and sometimes notorious, eras in her music. While she doesn’ t do too much acting these days, she did appear in a Black Mirror episode based on a pop star being controlled by her label and having to suppress her true self ( sounds familiar, right?). She’ s also released four albums post-Hannah Montana with her most recent projects being 2020's glam-rock record Plastic Hearts and 2022's live greatest-hits album Attention: Miley Live.
The Suite Life of Zack & Cody stars Dylan and Cole Sprouse spent a few years out of the limelight post-Disney days. They graduated from New York University in 2015 and, soon after, Cole landed a lead role in The CW’ s teen drama Riverdale ( alongside fellow NYU graduate Camila Mendes). Meanwhile, Dylan started his own meadery in Brooklyn and has since made a return to the big screen with a role in After We Collided starring Josephine Langford, with a slew of film roles to come.
From High School Musical heartthrob Troy Bolton to international movie star, Zac Efron has come a long way from his Disney Channel days. In the years since HSM, he’ s gone on to star in a number of well-known films like 17 Again, Charlie St. Cloud, Neighbors, Baywatch and The Greatest Showman. He’ s also the host of his own Netflix show Down to Earth with Zac Efron that won him a Daytime Emmy Award in 2021 for Outstanding Host for a Daytime Program.
Girl Meets World and Wrinkle in Time star Rowan Blanchard left Disney in 2018, but the 20-year-old is only at the beginning of what is sure to be a long and successful career. A fashion icon and activist, Rowan has appeared in a few TV series and most recently portrayed Alexandra Cavill in TNT’ s Snowpiercer series. She’ ll next appear in queer teen rom-com Crush with Auli ' i Cravalho on Hulu.
Dove Cameron was destined for fame. She amassed millions of followers thanks to her portrayal of Mal in Disney’ s Descendent’ s trilogy and has since appeared in Apple TV+’ s original series Schmigadoon! and is set to portray Bubbles in The CW’ s live action remake of The Powerpuff Girls. Dove also released her first solo EP Bloodshot / Waste in 2019, and recently released the absolute bop, “ Boyfriend. ”
Jessie and Bunk’ d star Skai Jackson hasn’ t gone too far since her days on Disney Channel. She’ s lent her voice to a number of characters, including the upcoming Peter Pan live action remake and even appeared in Lil Nas X’ s Panini music video. She also competed on a recent season of Dancing With the Stars.
Multi-hyphenate superstar Selena Gomez has made a name for herself as a singer, actor, and entrepreneur ( shout out to Rare Beauty!) after leaving Wizards of Waverly Place in 2012. She’ s released five studio albums and is currently executive producing and starring in the Hulu mystery series Only Murders in the Building alongside Steve Martin and Martin Short.
While her tenure on Bunk’ d only ended in 2021, Peyton List is already making a name for herself across the industry. She currently plays Tory Nichols in Netflix’ s Cobra Kai and is set to appear in the upcoming comedy film Shriver, starring Kate Hudson.
Surprise! Sister Sister and Seventeen Again weren’ t DC Originals, but Tia and Tamera Mowry still found their way onto the Disney Channel alumni roster with their film Twitches. Since their DC days, Tia has led the CW series The Game, two of her own reality television shows, recently appeared on HBO's A Black Lady Sketch Show, and is currently starring in the Netflix sitcom Family Reunion; Tamera served as one of the original co-hosts on daytime talk show The Real ( alongside fellow Disney alum Adrienne Bailon) from 2013 to 2020, and most recently appeared on the reality show The Masked Singer as Seashell.
Austin & Ally star Ross Lynch has graduated from Disney stardom into Netflix’ s own fandom. He recently portrayed Harvey Kinkle in the streaming service’ s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and made music with his pop-punk band R5 until 2018. Now, Ross is one half of the alt-rock band The Driver Era along with his brother Rocky Lynch.
From Disney star to Netflix darling, Debby Ryan has made major moves since starring on Suite Life on Deck and Jessie. She appeared on a number of TV series over the past few years, including Netflix’ s controversial Insatiable as well as the streamer's vampire thriller Night Teeth. Debby appeared in the 2022 comedy Spin Me Round, starring Alison Brie and Aubrey Plaza.
Raven-Symoné, of That’ s So Raven and Cheetah Girls fame, was one of the biggest DC stars of the early aughts. Since then, she’ s had an impressive career across TV and film. She’ s even been a talk show host on The View! While she’ s currently reprised her role of Raven Baxter in Disney’ s Raven’ s Home. The show's fifth season premiered in March 2022. ( And, don’ t worry, Raven and her Cheetah Girls costar Kiely Williams have resolved some of that drama after nearly two decades.)
TikTok star and CW hero China Anne McClain has only seen the beginning of her career post-Disney. Since the wrap of the live action Descendants films, China has appeared on the TV series’ The Paynes and House of Payne and led the Black Lightning series until its end in 2021.
After success with Camp Rock and Sonny With a Chance, Demi Lovato seemingly put acting on the back burner as they focused primarily on their music career. Demi has several Top 100 hits under their belt with iconic songs like “ Heart Attack, ” “ Cool For the Summer, ” “ Dancing With the Devil, ” and more.
Hilary Duff may not have pursued her music career far beyond her Disney days, but her acting career has since flourished. She is currently producing and starring in the Hulu series How I Met Your Father, a spin-off of the critically acclaimed sitcom How I Met Your Mother. She has appeared in a number of shows and films over the years, including Younger, Gossip Girl, and more. ICYMI: unfortunately, the reboot of Disney’ s Lizzie McGuire is no longer set to be released.
Best known for her roles in Austin & Ally and Bunk’ d, Raini Rodriguez has mainly focused her career on voice acting. She’ s currently the voice of Sammy Gutierrez in Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous and also voices Gretel in the animated show A Tale Dark & Grimm and Gabi in the Paramount+ revival of Rugrats.
Descendant’ s star Booboo Stewart has been incredibly busy since the DC movies were officially wrapped. Out of the many roles he's held since Jafar's son Jay, he's notably appeared in Netflix’ s 2020 series Julie and the Phantoms and is currently starring in Amazon Prime Video's musical drama series Paradise City.
Thomas Doherty has traded in his pirate-villain alter ego for something a bit more dapper after finishing Disney’ s Descendant’ s films: an Upper East Side education with a side of juicy gossip. As one of the stars of HBO Max’ s Gossip Girl reboot, Doherty’ s future as a rising star is set. He’ s also appeared on popular shows like The CW’ s Legacies and Hulu’ s High Fidelity.
Now known as Adrienne Houghton, this former Cheetah Girl embraced a different side of Hollywood, testing her hand at daytime hosting The Real series. Adrienne has been co-hosting The Real since 2013, and became the first Latina daytime talk show host in the United States. She’ s also appeared in close to a dozen smaller roles across film, TV, and music videos, and released her first debut solo album in 2017. She’ s also appeared on The Masked Singer as Flamingo and reprised her role as Alana Rivera in Raven's Home.
What hasn’ t Brenda Song done since her Disney Channel days? In life post-Suite Life and an assortment of other Disney films and shows, Brenda has had recurring roles on popular shows like Scandal, New Girl, and Station 19 and many successful voice roles in television and video games. Currently, she plays Madison Maxwell in the Hulu comedy Dollface, and voiced a guest role in 2022's Disney+ reboot The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder.
HSM star Vanessa Hudgens hasn’ t strayed too far from her musical origins with a number of live televised musicals under her belt, including RENT and Grease. She’ s appeared in a number of films and TV series since the early aughts with her most recent projects being Netflix's Tick, Tick... Boom! and perhaps her most popular, Netflix’ s The Princess Switch Christmas films.
After Shake It Up, Bella Thorne embraced more adult roles. She’ s appeared in Scream Queens, Netflix’ s Babysitter horror films, and even starred alongside fellow Disney alum Booboo Stewart in the Amazon Prime Video series Paradise City. Bella also had a short-lived makeup line and found herself wrapped up in an OnlyFans controversy after sex workers spoke out against her use of the website.
After Wizards of Waverly Place ended, Jennifer Stone continued to take roles across film and television while balancing medical school. She’ s now a registered nurse and helped COVID-19 patients throughout the pandemic. She currently has one movie in production with no set premiere date.
From Disney princess to rising superstar, Sofia Carson is taking a page from Disney stars before her and leaning into films as she navigates post-DC life. Most recently, she’ s starred in Netflix’ s Feel the Beat and appeared alongside Riverdale’ s K.J. Apa in an all-too familiar thriller about a global pandemic titled Songbird, released in 2020. She also recently released a self-titled debut album in March 2022.
The honorary voice of Disney in the early aughts, Kyla Pratt is most well known for voicing Penny Proud in the animated series The Proud Family. While she’ s had a number of roles over the years, she recently announced she was reprising her role as Penny Proud in the 2022 Disney+ reboot of The Proud Family. Kyla has also appeared in HBO's Insecure and currently stars in the Fox sitcom Call Me Kat.
Austin & Ally star Laura Marano has taken a number of smaller roles in movies like Lady Bird, but had the opportunity to work alongside her sister Vanessa Marano on the 2019 film Saving Zoë. Laura most recently starred in the 2022 Netflix romance film The Royal Treatment.
Disney essentially launched Lindsay Lohan's career when she was cast as Hallie Parker and Annie James in the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap. Lohan went on to star in Disney's Life Size and Get a Clue, then cemented herself as queen of teen movies in the early aughts. ( Fun fact: Freaky Friday, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, and Herbie: Fully Loaded are all Disney-produced films.) Since, Lohan has appeared in smaller roles on TV and in movies. While she hasn’ t released any new music since 2007, the star did prove she’ s still into music when she opened Lohan Beach House in Mykonos and showed off her moves on her 2019 reality show Lohan Beach Club. She is currently working on an untitled project for Netflix set to release in 2022.
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The very real risks of excluding the disengaged from your dataset | We are excited to bring Transform 2022 back in-person July 19 and virtually July 20 - 28. Join AI and data leaders for insightful talks and exciting networking opportunities. Register today!
Analysts use machine learning tools to analyze the vast amounts of data now available. Big data is appealing, but even the best tools and techniques will give you noise if the underlying data aren’ t robust and inclusive. To reliably predict elections, correctly anticipate consumer demand or to accurately predict the trajectory of a pandemic, leaders need to ask themselves who is ( and isn’ t) included in their dataset.
For example, we are approaching the four-year anniversary of Britain’ s shocking vote to leave the European Union. People around the globe were stunned with this decision, largely because polls told us there would be no Brexit. Most young Britons supported remaining in the EU, but many of them didn’ t vote that day. The behavior of these quiet, disengaged young people made the crucial difference to the outcome. How come the conventional surveys missed this? What did pollsters ask these young people who did not plan to vote? Not very much because the reality is these pollsters did not connect with many of them. As a result, the Brexit polls overrepresented the views of voters and underrepresented the disengaged.
This is one notable example of the real risks of relying on data from the usual, more engaged voices rather than the broadest, most diverse set of voices, including those that don’ t typically fill out polls or are not active on social media. The same thing has happened in numerous referendums or elections since, including the surprise election of Donald Trump as U.S. president in 2016.
The risks of excluding the disengaged apply far beyond predicting referendums or elections, as they also impact a wide range of critical business, economic, and public policy issues. For instance, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we learned that if we didn’ t hear from all sources, hidden data can unexpectedly lead to new outbreaks.
Social media analysis is appealing because it provides a large, continuing dataset. But big data can heighten the risk of drawing a wrong conclusion when applied to a narrow group of voices. In fact, most people are not active on social media. Traditional tools of business intelligence such as focus groups and panel surveys may also amplify our biases when they exclude the diverse set of voices that we need for reliable business intelligence.
To reliably predict consumer demand, accurately predict the trajectory of a pandemic, or to avoid overreacting to a corporate crisis, leaders need to ask themselves who they are not hearing from and find solutions to include them in their data. The same principle applies to understanding economic trends. Young people and new immigrant groups tend not to participate in the surveys that underlie employment data. But we need more inclusive data that capture these groups or leaders might fail to ensure the appropriate dose of economic relief at the appropriate time to populations that haven’ t been included – such as young people, for example, who don’ t typically answer traditional surveys.
To address this problem, we’ re using a technology that randomly engages anyone using the Web. The method is analogous to random-digit dialing for the web-using population, with the aim of reaching far beyond typical survey respondents to a much broader set of the population in each country of the world.
What have we learned from these more disengaged voices? That Donald Trump would be elected in 2016 and that there was a real risk of Brexit in advance of the Brexit “ surprise ”. We’ ve heard from Americans who don’ t typically answer government surveys about their concerns around vaccination, and learned what would persuade them to get vaccinated. We’ re also using this approach to get more reliable, independent sentiment data in Russia amidst the current crisis in Ukraine – and have learned that fewer Russians support Putin’ s approach to the invasion than is commonly reported in typical opinion polls, and also that fewer people oppose him than might be suggested by anti-war protests.
As all of us evaluate data for decision-making, we can’ t get caught up in applying the latest machine learning tools to big data before we ask: Who is left out of our dataset? What can we learn from those people? If we don’ t solve that problem, we risk getting our predictions and decisions wrong.
Greg Wong is CEO and Danielle Goldfarb is head of global research at RIWI.
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The latest IPCC report argues that stabilising the climate will require fast action | THE WINDOW to prevent global temperatures from rising by more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial averages is rapidly closing. Decisions made this year could determine whether that target is met or whether the world overshoots it by the middle of this century and has to deal with severe climate extremes before attempting to turn the thermostat back down in the second half of the century.
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These are the warnings delivered by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC) in the third volume of its latest assessment report, published on April 4th. It follows earlier tomes, published in recent months, that first laid out the current state of knowledge on the physical science of climate change and then examined the impacts of warming on the human and natural worlds.
The third report offers a comprehensive menu of possibilities for how humans could stabilise the climate and avoid catastrophic global warming while fulfilling the commitments made in the 2015 Paris agreement. The aim of that pact was to keep average global warming to between 1.5°C and 2°C above pre-industrial levels.
The IPCC’ s menu includes options for power generation and energy efficiency, transport, buildings, urbanisation, agriculture and food security, forestry, consumer choices and much more besides. Its 278 authors have gone to great pains to offer a smorgasbord of opportunities to reduce emissions and stabilise the climate, and to point out that not all are eye-wateringly expensive.
There is just one catch. In order to meet the Paris goals, humanity must order just about everything on the menu, and fast.
“ We need to get on with this now or [ the goal of ] 1.5°C will slip beyond reach, ” declared the report’ s co-chair, Jim Skea of Imperial College London, when it was published. “ If there is no advance in the kind of pledges that countries are making before we get to COP27 in Egypt, ” he added, referring to the next UN climate summit, scheduled for November, “ we may well have to conclude that 1.5°C has indeed gone. ”
Climate scientists are typically reluctant to admit defeat when it comes to this target, in part because research collated in another IPCC report in 2018 showed that the consequences of 2°C of global warming were considerably worse than 1.5°C, particularly for the poorest parts of the world and low-lying regions that are vulnerable to rising seas and destructive storm surges. But the measures they show to be necessary in order to meet the target are so stringent that overshooting 1.5°C of warming now seems all but certain.
The physics of the global climate system, however, leaves little room for prevarication, and Dr Skea’ s stark warning comes directly as a result of the numbers in the latest report. The “ carbon budget ” represents the total amount of carbon dioxide that can still be pumped into the atmosphere before a certain amount of warming is likely. For example, the IPCC says that for a 50% chance of limiting warming to 1.5°C by 2100, no more than 500bn tonnes of CO2 can be emitted beyond 2020, equivalent to little more than a decade of emissions at current rates.
The report says that to avoid more than 2°C of warming, global emissions must peak before 2025 and then fall by 43% before 2030, compared with 2019 levels. Yet human societies emit more greenhouse gases with every passing decade, and the last one saw the largest rise in emissions in human history. While the report’ s socioeconomic simulations of the coming decades show that it is theoretically possible to cut emissions by the amounts needed, the political realities and inherent inertia of economies that are largely structured around fossil fuels make the transition challenging, particularly at the speed that is now required.
Achieving the 1.5°C Paris goal means that global use of coal must decline by 95% by 2050, relative to 2019. Oil use must drop by 60% and gas by 45% in that period. The decreases needed to limit warming to below 2°C are not much lower. Under all scenarios, there is no room for new unabated fossil-fuel projects ( such as power plants), and most existing ones will have to be wound down faster than they would have otherwise. “ Estimated emissions from the current [ fossil-fuel ] infrastructure over planned lifetimes are roughly what we can emit for a 2°C scenario, ” said Michael Grubb of University College London, one of the IPCC report’ s authors.
Keeping warming to less than 2°C would therefore mean shortening the lifespans of existing fossil-fuel power stations and refineries. These could be retrofitted with installations that capture warming gases before they escape into the atmosphere in order to store them underground or beneath the oceans. But, as the report’ s authors note, governments and business have promised to develop such an industry ( dubbed “ carbon capture and storage ”) for decades, but failed to do so.
Among the darker warnings, there are some shafts of light. The cost of solar energy dropped by 85% during the 2010s, and wind power by 55%. During the same period, the market for electric vehicles grew a hundredfold. The IPCC report notes that at least 24 countries have consistently cut emissions for at least a decade. Despite worrying trends in the Brazilian Amazon, there is more forest cover and less deforestation today than in 2010. In 2020 more than 20% of global emissions were covered by carbon taxes or trading schemes. And also in 2020, more than 50 countries, accounting for more than half of global emissions, had enacted climate laws intended to reduce emissions.
The energy intensity of the global economy ( a measure of the amount of energy expended to generate one unit of GDP) decreased by 2% per year between 2010 and 2019. At the same time, the amount of carbon dioxide emitted for each unit of energy produced ( known as “ carbon intensity ”) decreased—an indication that, globally, energy is becoming greener.
But these gains are nowhere near what models say will be needed to stabilise the climate before it is too late. Carbon intensity, for instance, declined by 0.3% per year in the 2010s, a fraction of the 3.5% per year that the models say is needed to give a good chance of limiting warming to 2°C. For a 1.5°C goal, the annual improvement would have to be 7.7%.
One common thread running through the Paris-compliant scenarios presented by the IPCC is the inclusion of options for removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. That is because all scenarios assume that there will be residual emissions from some economic sectors come mid-century, even under the most optimistic assumptions. Viable options for eliminating fossil fuels from aviation and heavy industry are currently lacking, and few envisage a sufficient change in this over the coming decades.
Options for removing these residual emissions broadly come in two types: the ecological ( reforestation, ecosystem restoration, schemes to increase the amount of carbon sequestered in agricultural soils) and the chemical ( using minerals or reagents that selectively bind to atmospheric CO2 and allow it to be stored underground, underwater or in solid form).
The former appears easy and cheap but is potentially unreliable. Forests burn and release greenhouse gases as they do; in a warmer, drier world, they will burn more. To be long-term stores of carbon, trees must be managed and protected, something that humans in general do not always do well. Ecological solutions can also compete for land with agriculture, particularly at the kinds of scales required by the climate models.
On the other hand, technological solutions for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere are in their infancy and extremely expensive. The two companies that have commercial operations offer to remove one tonne of carbon dioxide for between $ 300 and $ 1,000. For comparison, a single economy seat on a return flight from London to San Francisco is responsible for just under one tonne of emissions.
These carbon-removal technologies may see a rapid drop in costs. Proponents point to the recent successes of solar- and wind-energy projects—all three technologies involve small modular components, making them relatively easy to scale up, and fans of the “ direct air capture ” industry have used the similarities to suggest that their technology will also take off quickly. Still, it is worth noting that even solar energy, a modern-day darling of the green-energy world, took several decades to get where it is today.
To some, the calls to end the age of fossil fuels or face the consequences of letting the world burn may seem divorced from immediate reality, particularly as European countries desperately seek gas to replace Russian supplies and stave off fuel shortages and crippling prices during the next winter.
But there are some synergies between the two crises. In the long list of options for reducing emissions, improving energy efficiency in transport, buildings and industry is low-hanging fruit, as are behavioural changes such as switching from private vehicles to public transport. Encouraging consumers to decrease energy demand in this way would also increase energy security. And every fraction of a degree shaved off future warming reduces climate risks, even if the 1.5°C target is missed.
The covid-19 pandemic presented an opportunity to use the resulting economic turmoil to stimulate green growth. The response of governments was patchy at best. Today, as the West comes to grips with a deepening energy crisis, it faces a similar challenge, but with added urgency in light of the latest climate warnings from the IPCC’ s scientists. ■
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Europe’ s Russia Coal Ban Foreshadows Higher Global Energy Prices | Europe is taking a big gamble as it moves to ban Russian coal, potentially leaving itself vulnerable to shortages and rolling blackouts while the rest of the world contends with surging prices.
Russia is Europe’ s top supplier of thermal coal, used to fuel power stations. As the European Union joins the U.S. to take a harder stance against Vladimir Putin’ s war in Ukraine, the continent has plans to phase out Russian shipments. The problem is that there’ s no clear alternative for that huge chunk of trade, and the result appears destined to lead to a domino effect that creates a mad global scramble for coal.
Prices are already soaring in a market that has been tight for months. European coal jumped 14% to a three-week high on Tuesday after news of the proposed ban, with futures doubling since the start of the year. The benchmark for Asian coal hit an all-time high in March, while U.S. coal topped $ 100 a ton last week for the first time in 13 years.
“ The proposed sanction would be devastating to European coal imports, ” said Fabian Ronningen, an analyst at Norwegian consultant Rystad Energy. “ Some coal can be sourced from other markets, but in general, the global coal market is very tight as well. ”
It’ s not just that supplies are tight. There are also logistical complications when it comes to quickly pivoting to new suppliers. Russia’ s proximity to Europe has long been one its advantages in a market that depends on days-long shipments of heavy cargoes. Now, European buyers will have to look elsewhere, stretching supply from countries as far away as South Africa, Australia and Indonesia, where quality varies.
“ Russian coal is the closest, cheapest and in some markets like Germany the most suitable specification, in terms of heat content and sulfur ” to power Europe’ s stations, said Jake Horslen, an analyst at S & P Commodities Insights. An EU ban “ would pose a significant challenge for the buyers that would need to seek out alternatives, ” he said.
In the long-term, prospects aren’ t great for coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel. But right now, the market is booming as Europe deals with a crunch in natural gas supplies and fuel consumption surges in the pandemic recovery boom. Global carbon emissions from the power sector jumped to a record last year, partly driven by more coal burning, according to think tank Ember.
Ramping up coal production to meet demand has been challenging. The market has been hit by rail disruptions, COVID-19 outbreaks and even a temporary export ban from Indonesia, the world’ s largest exporter.
“ The disruption of Russian coal supply is just the latest in a wave of supply issues that have hounded the market since early last year, ” Bank of America Corp. analysts wrote in a note this month.
Any sanctions on Russian coal will pressure Europe’ s already strained supplies. Coal stored in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp harbors remains at the lowest for the season in at least six years, according to a weekly survey of stocks by Argus Media.
Europe buys two kinds of coal from Russia — thermal, the kind used by power plants, and metallurgical, used in steel making. The Russian share of the EU’ s imports of thermal coal is almost 70%, with Germany and Poland particularly reliant.
The continent has grown increasingly dependent on Russia as its own production declined. In 2020, Europe shipped in 57 million tons of thermal coal from Russia, the vast majority of imports, according to the International Energy Agency.
German energy firm EnBW Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG said last month that it had begun to diversify its coal procurement to reduce dependency on Russia, and that a full switch would only be possible in the medium-term. The company, which relied on Russia for more than 80% of its coal last year, also said procuring the fuel in countries including Australia and South Africa would be more costly.
And while the U.S. has stepped in to help wean Europe off Russian gas, it’ s unlikely to be able to do the same with coal. Miners have already sold most of their output under long-term contracts and aren’ t able to increase production because they have been closing mines for years. Those issues have been exacerbated by a worker shortage and logistics challenges that make it tough to get more tons from the mines to the ports.
“ There’ s a lot of call for U.S. exports, but it’ s hard to get it out of the country, ” said Andrew Blumenfeld, data analytics director for market research company McCloskey.
Even before sanctions, European energy companies were already struggling to get their hands on Russian coal. Many banks were refusing to finance commodities trading, forcing some of the continent’ s biggest utilities to buy coal in South Africa and Australia.
An increase in exports from countries like Indonesia “ could help offset the lost tonnage from Russia, ” the Bank of America analysts said, while warning that “ it won ‘ t make up for the quality difference. ”
“ With supply issues abounding, the market will have to balance through demand destruction, ” the analysts said.
That’ s easier said than done, especially given the larger problems for energy supplies in Europe that have reverberated across the world.
Tight markets for natural gas have created energy shortfalls at a time when wind and hydro have been unreliable in some regions. Europe and Asia have been hit the worst, with skyrocketing markets, blackouts in places like India, power shortages in China and the threat of outages in other countries. Energy prices have also soared in the U.S., though not to the same extremes.
Meanwhile, some analysts had cast a critical eye on some European countries’ reliance on Russia even before the current war in Ukraine. Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey, and Poland combined received almost a quarter of all Russia’ s coal exports in 2021, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data.
About 10% of Germany’ s electricity is generated by burning hard coal, and unlike neighboring France, the country has little nuclear power as a fallback option, with its last remaining plants going offline this year as part of a transition to more renewable energy. Still, Economy Minister Robert Habeck says Germany can rid itself of Russian coal before the end of the year.
The reliance on Russia for energy more broadly limits Europe’ s ability to place sanctions on other fuels, according to Thierry Bros, a former energy analyst who’ s now a professor at the Paris Institute of Political Studies.
“ Because of Germany and Hungary’ s too close relations with Russia, we are stuck in banning only coal, which is a good first step but far from enough, ” Bros said.
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Sarah Palin's House candidacy causes GOP rift and reopens old wounds | GOP hard-liners already plan to invite her to join their congressional caucus. And House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Wednesday he's a `` big fan '' of hers.
But some Republicans in Alaska are scoffing.
`` We 've got 50 names that Alaskans will have the opportunity to choose from, '' Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the state's senior senator, who has long had a frosty relationship with Palin, told CNN in Washington. `` A lot of really good qualified individuals that nobody else is talking about back here. Back home, they are. So this is your own kind of bubble. I 'm just telling you: You are not in Alaska's bubble, because Alaskans are talking about the others. ''
When was the last time Murkowski saw Palin in Alaska?
`` That is a really hard question, '' Murkowski said. `` Because it's been years. ''
Palin's decision to jump into the race to replace the late Don Young -- who represented the state for nearly 50 years -- adds a nationally prominent candidate to a nearly 50-person field. And it reopens old wounds with some Republican critics, who were eager to see the mercurial politician stay away for good after she abruptly resigned as Alaska's governor in 2009.
Some of her opponents are trying to capitalize on the rift she left behind.
`` Many of the people that I know were very surprised because we didn't realize that she was still a resident of the state, '' said Nick Begich III, a Republican rival for the seat and grandson of the late Rep. Nick Begich and nephew of former Democratic Sen. Mark Begich. `` Most people haven't seen her around. I 've been to hundreds of events over the last several years and have seen her maybe once. And that's been true of nearly everyone I 've talked to. ''
Palin still has a home in Wasilla, Alaska -- the small town where she was first elected to the city council 30 years ago before serving as mayor. She then defeated Murkowski's father, Frank, in the 2006 governor's race. After catapulting onto the national stage as GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain's 2008 running mate, she resigned from office three years into her four-year term.
In announcing her resignation, Palin compared herself to a point guard who would selflessly `` pass the ball for victory, '' and save the state taxpayer money by leaving office early, as a number of ethics complaints were filed against her.
`` Many just accept that lame-duck status, hit the road, draw the paycheck and milk it. I 'm not putting Alaska through that -- I promised efficiencies and effectiveness, '' she said at the time.
A Palin campaign adviser touted the former vice presidential candidate's long ties to the state.
`` Sarah Palin would be honored to serve the men and women of Alaska in Washington and continue the legacy of Don Young, '' the adviser said. `` She's a lifelong Alaskan since the age of three months old whose youngest son is still a middle schooler in Wasilla. ''
But Palin's Alaska Republican critics say that she hasn't been involved in the state's politics for years, as she spent some of her time living elsewhere and traveling the country promoting her conservative causes.
Since leaving office, Palin has bought and sold homes in Arizona. She released a New York Times bestselling memoir, `` Going Rogue, '' filmed the TLC reality TV series `` Sarah Palin's Alaska '' and the Sportsman Channel's `` Amazing America with Sarah Palin, '' launched and dropped the online Sarah Palin Channel, and gave political commentary on Fox before her contract was not renewed in 2015.
She also entertained questions about running for various offices, including against Murkowski in the senator's 2022 reelection bid, and taped a video calling out Murkowski as the senator weighed whether to back Amy Coney Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court in 2020. ( Murkowski ended up voting for Barrett.)
Lately, Palin has been bashing the effectiveness of the coronavirus vaccines, telling a conference sponsored by Turning Point USA in Phoenix, `` It 'll be over my dead body that I 'll have to get a shot. ''
`` I will not do that, '' said Palin, who tested positive for Covid-19 in 2021 and 2022. `` I won't do it, and they better not touch my kids either. ''
In an interview this week, Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan, a Republican who served as attorney general while Palin was governor, said he was not endorsing in the race at this point.
`` We got a lot of good candidates in the race, 50. She's one of them, '' Sullivan said. `` And what I 'm looking for right now is someone who can fit the seat of Don Young as a fighter. ''
Asked if Palin would be a good partner on Capitol Hill, Sullivan said: `` There's a lot who would be good partners, and she's one of them. ''
Murkowski had a different response to that question.
`` I 'm not kind of giving an analysis of her at this point, '' Murkowski said. `` I 'm talking about all these other campaigns. ''
Palin irked Murkowski in 2008 when she continually touted her effort to break up the `` old boys ' network, '' a reference to the senator's father, and even flirted with challenging the senator in 2010.
Murkowski warned her at the time not to challenge her.
`` I can guarantee it would be a very tough election, '' Murkowski said in 2008. Palin never ran against Murkowski.
Asked about that episode and her relationship with Palin, Murkowski said Wednesday, `` I 'm not going to talk about Sarah Palin. ''
A tricky path for victory
The 2022 election could also be dicey.
The top four candidates of the special primary election on June 11 will run in the special general election on August 16. The winner will serve in Congress until January.
On August 16, Alaskans will also vote in the regular primary election, and the top four candidates will face each other on November 8. The winner of that House race will earn a full, two-year term.
Alaska's elections are now ranked-choice voting, where voters can rank up to five candidates.
Now, Palin faces nearly 50 opponents in her bid for Congress, including Begich. Other Republican candidates include state Sen. Josh Revak, former head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney and former state Sen. John Coghill. Independent Al Gross, who ran and lost the 2020 Alaska US Senate race as the Democratic nominee, and Democratic Assemblyman Chris Constant are also running.
Young's imprints are all over the race for his successor; Revak and Sweeney were the statewide co-chairs of Young's 2022 campaign, and Begich co-chaired his 2020 campaign before announcing his 2022 bid against the congressman.
In interviews, Revak, an Army veteran, and Begich sought to distinguish themselves from Palin.
`` I 'm not going to Congress to be incendiary, '' Revak said. `` I 'm going there to represent Alaskans. ''
Begich added: `` I think a lot of Alaskans recognize that a lightning-rod style is going to do very little to nothing to actually advance the case for Alaska at a national level. ''
Conservative House Republicans embrace Palin
In the House, Palin's congressional bid was more warmly received by her potential GOP colleagues.
Members of the hardline House Freedom Caucus -- an invite-only group that has morphed into a Trump loyalty club over the years -- said Palin would likely find a welcome home in their conservative crew.
`` I 'm glad to hear it, '' freshman Rep. Matt Rosendale of Montana, a Freedom Caucus member, said of Palin's announcement. `` And I would expect that if she comes to Congress that she would be a member of the Freedom Caucus. ''
In an interview with Fox this week, Palin singled out the Freedom Caucus as a group she would be interested in joining and praised its rabble-rousing brand of politics.
`` I 've always been a big fan of the Freedom Caucus, '' Palin said. `` I 've always felt for them. Because they 've been criticized, and beat up, and misunderstood. But they 've got the right priorities. ''
But it's not just the far-right group: the highest-ranking House Republican also heaped praise on Palin.
`` I 'm a big fan of Sarah Palin, '' said McCarthy, a close Trump ally. `` I was impressed by her. I 've talked to her before. ''
Republicans think Trump's endorsement could certainly give Palin a leg up in the packed primary, but they also noted she is already a national figure in conservative politics with high name recognition.
`` We can't ignore that she's made a name for herself in her own right, '' Rosendale said.
Even though members of the Freedom Caucus were mostly thrilled by the prospect of Palin joining their ranks, some of them couldn't help but poke fun at the gaffes that often defined her political brand.
`` I know she could see Russia from her back porch, '' joked Tennessee Rep. Scott DesJarlais, when asked about Palin's politics, referring to Tina Fey's `` Saturday Night Live '' impression of Palin. `` But no, she is very conservative.... I look forward to working with her. ''
This story has been updated with a response from Sarah Palin's campaign. | business |
Boehringer Ingelheim Addresses Ukraine Crisis while Projecting 15 Launches by 2025 | Often media-elusive, Boehringer Ingelheim made a splash on Tuesday, announcing its intention to pump €25 billion ( $ 27 billion) into its R & D pipeline over the next five years. Boehringer is reinvesting the rewards from its Eli Lilly-partnered SGLT2 inhibitor Jardiance, which brought in €3.9 billion in 2021.
While striking a somber note due to the war in neighboring Ukraine, the German multinational lauded 2021 achievements of €20.6B ( a raise of 5.4% over 2020), a small raise in operating income and a 25% gain for Ofev ( nintedanib), its pulmonary fibrosis drug which in September 2019 also became the first U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved treatment for systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease ( SSc-ILD).
“ All our businesses contributed to the solid financial results in 2021, a strong achievement, especially when considering the overall pandemic and economic situation. As a result, we can continue making significant investments and have strengthened our overall financial basis – and thus our independence, ” said Michael Schmelmer, a member of the board of managing directors with responsibility for finance and group functions.
With recent approvals for Jardiance in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction and a February expansion to all heart failure patients at risk of death and hospitalization, the company is primed to increase upon the €4.1 billion in R & D investments it made in 2021. Boehringer and Lilly originally won approval for Jardiance in 2014 for Type 2 diabetes.
Boehringer is not resting on its laurels, however. Instead, it plans to launch up to 15 new drugs by 2025. These launches will come from the 100-pus clinical and preclinical projects in what the company calls its “ Human Pharma ” pipeline. Boehringer also makes medicines for both companion animals and livestock.
Boehringer stated “ a key focus in research is to gain a deeper understanding of the connections between different diseases, ” citing Jardiance as an example of the success of this strategy.
In the business review, Boehringer highlighted experimental drugs such as BI 1015550, which in February won Breakthrough Therapy Designation from the FDA for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. In May 2021, BI 425809, a Gly-T1 inhibitor, was granted the same for the treatment of cognitive impairment associated with Schizophrenia. The company told investors that a “ high-level data readout ” is anticipated for later this year.
On March 28, Boehringer presented new data from the pivotal Phase II Effisayil™ 1 trial of spesolimab at the 2022 American Academy of Dermatology ( AAD) Annual Meeting. A Biologics License Application for spesolimab, which demonstrated significant clearance of skin pustules in patients with generalized pustular psoriasis ( GPP) flares, has already been accepted by the FDA under priority review.
Boehringer has already gotten a jump on spending some of its proposed investment dollars. Also on Tuesday, the company announced it had signed a pact with Celeris Therapeutics to develop next-generation targeted protein degraders. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
The company acknowledged that it expected “ the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic ” and “ geopolitical tensions in Europe, ” along with a “ challenging industry environment ” to have an impact on its 2022 results. | general |
Full Video: Visit Greenland CEO at Skift Forum Europe 2022 | Get exclusive stories and unlimited access to Skift.com news
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April 6th, 2022 at 11:00 AM EDT
To describe Hjörtur Smárason's job as challenging would be a huge understatement. In this video you 'll hear how the CEO is tackling very visible global warming with a critical need to bring in more tourists — and why influencers and journalists are top of his list.
Matt Parsons
Skift Forum Europe was held in London, England on March 24, 2022. Find out about future Skift events through the link below.
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Editor’ s Note: Hjörtur Smárason announced on LinkedIn four days ago that Visit Greenland terminated his contract.
How many people would be willing to take three flights and a boat ride to visit a restaurant? We’ re about to find out, as Greenland embarks on a new chapter in tourism development.
However, Visit Greenland’ s CEO Hjörtur Smárason has warned the country has a difficult balancing act ahead, marrying sustainability with economic development, which is needed to ensure younger residents have opportunities ahead.
As well as building two new airports, and continuing to welcome smaller cruise ships, Greenland is also considering a new hotel. “ We don’ t want a Las Vegas style hotel with loads of rooms and affordable accommodation, ” Smárason told Skift Founder and CEO Rafat Ali at Skift Forum Europe. “ What we’ re looking at is we would love to see an international chain, but then it should be someone who’ s building the flagship hotel when it comes to sustainability. ”
Watch the video, or read the full transcript of it, below to hear the CEO talk passionately about preserving Greenland’ s future in the face of a changing world.
Rafat Ali: So we have a surprise speaker, the speaker from Wizz Air, she could not come and speak. I don’ t know if I should say this, I don’ t know if she has COVID or not, but she has something so she’ s not able to come. So what we decided, we’ re going to pull the person from the audience who has the hardest pronunciation of all to say “ Come on stage because we’ re going to butcher your name and you’ re going to hate us by the end of this. ” So pronounce your name again for all of us.
Hjörtur Smárason: Hjörtur.
Ali: Hjörtur, OK.
Smárason: Yes.
Ali: So Icelandic name, we just had on stage 20 minutes ago, two countries, 90 million tourists and 94 million tourists. And you are bigger than both of them put together. Correct?
Smárason: We are bigger than both of them put together plus the UK plus Germany.
Ali: In terms of size.
Smárason: Yes.
Ali: Not in terms of number tourists.
Smárason: Not quite.
Ali: So tell me, 100,000 tourists?
Smárason: Yes. 107 in a good year.
Ali: 107, good year. So the reason I wanted Greenland on stage to talk to you is you are, when people talk about climate change, you are living it. You’ re in the middle of it, you’ re seeing it, you are giving some examples. Give some examples of how you are seeing it in your daily lives, in front of your eyes.
Smárason: Yeah, it’ s quite extreme. Greenland, as probably most of you know, that’ s usually why people hear about Greenland is because of climate change. We’ re seeing the ice sheets melting, three times the average temperature rise is what we’ re seeing in Greenland, so people are really feeling it. We’ re talking about people there who live from nature, so any change in nature really affects their life, hunters and fishermen who can not hunt and fish the same way they used to. And if we take as an example, I mentioned to you earlier today, on the east coast, the sea ice where the sea freezes in the winter time is now 800 kilometers further north than it used to be just 20 to 30 years ago. And to put that into context, that’ s like if the sea ice was in London 30 years ago but now it’ s in Berlin. That’ s the distance we are talking about, the sea ice that has disappeared in the last 30 years. So of course it has a huge impact on life in the country.
Ali: Some would say that opens up, metaphorically and literally, the country for more tourism.
Smárason: It does.
Ali: Meaning the thawing of the ice, all the metaphors which are actually real things, not even just metaphors in Greenland, that’ s the reason why there’ s so much interest in Greenland for minerals and mining and stuff which I know you are holding at bay in many ways. Does that make your job easier in a long term?
It’ s an interesting challenge because of course it’ s hard to sell a country where you need to fly to on the basis of the story that it’ s the epicenter of climate change, which is the consequences of us flying too much and using too much. So how do we solve that? And I come from Iceland originally where we had a similar challenge with the Eyjafjallajokull eruption, just to add more difficult words here. But we managed to turn a negative event into a positive story and I think it’ s the same approach we do have in Greenland. So yes, it’ s a negative story, but it catches the attention of the media. And we try to get the focus away from just the ice and towards the people that live there. So who are the people who are living in Greenland and what are they experiencing and how are they adapting?
Smárason: And Greenlanders have, through thousands of years, been the experts in adapting to extreme climate. Using the dog sled to travel on the ice, using the kayak, that’ s a Greenlandic invention, to fish and today they are leading the way when it comes to adaptation to extreme climate changes. And so one of the options when your livelihood is maybe disappearing because of climate change, that’ s tourism. Can we build tourism instead? That creates jobs in the small settlements and some opportunities for the youngsters who maybe don’ t want to go, they want to stay there, but they can’ t live the same life as their fathers and mothers.
Ali: So if you talk to a lot of tourism heads, a lot of their time is spent talking to airlines to start airline routes.
Smárason: Yeah.
Ali: But you can’ t do that.
Smárason: Well, we do, but we try to be very selective on it because when we think about, I compare of course Greenland to Iceland a lot, and if we think about the development there a lot happened when we got all the new airlines in and you have Easyjet and Ryanair and Wizz Air flying from the UK to Iceland. And that makes sense, because you can rent a car and all of a sudden we have 200,000 new cars in Iceland for rentals. You can’ t do that in Greenland, there are no roads in Greenland. So you can’ t just rent a car, you land at the airport and if that’ s your plan you’ re never going to leave the airport.
No two towns in Greenland are connected by roads. You need to travel by plane, by helicopter, by boat or by dog sled. So it puts limitations on how you can travel and it adds onto the cost, so it means that we need to go for a specific segment that both has the means to pay for these modes of transportation and is also willing to face the challenges that come with traveling in this way. Because it is more challenging, but it’ s also very, very rewarding.
Ali: Mm-hmm ( affirmative) You said you’ re building two new airports because capacity isn’ t there?
Smárason: Yes, correct. So currently we have one international airport in a place called Kangerlussuaq, an airport built by the US army in world war II. Fantastic location for an airport, but the main destinations are Nuuk, the capital and a town called the Ilulissat where you have the giant icebergs, which is probably the tourists picture you see the most from Greenland.
Ali: Speaking of which, we forgot the best thing, right? We had to show the videos and the photos?
Smárason: Yeah, let’ s take a look at that if we can.
Speaker 4:
Ataata, my father, he taught me to hunt. To read the landscape, to understand the nature, to talk to the dogs, to adapt to the extreme climate. But things are changing. The animals are migrating, the glacier is melting, the ice is not secure anymore. Times are changing and yet again we need to start a journey into the unknown.
Ali: So just to give a sense of the desolateness of the place in general is, pardon me, but is the population decreasing or increasing?
Smárason: The population has been the same for years now. And to put it into context, we talked about how big Greenland is earlier, there are 56,000 people living in all of Greenland. If every New Yorker had the same space as Greenlanders do, there would be two people in New York.
Ali: I live in Queens, Astoria, which is a neighborhood and more people probably within a mile of where I lived than 56,000 people.
Smárason: Yeah.
Ali: I know you did a campaign during the pandemic, I remember you won a Skift award as well I think if I remember right, Skift IDEA award, on trying to get locals to travel.
Smárason: Yes, correct. A video called “ Flatten the curve. ” We have actually the author of the script there.
Ali: Of the script there. so explain, obviously with a very small country, small population, was there any domestic tourism before?
Smárason: Very little. Also because it costs the same in many cases to travel domestically as it costs to travel out of the country so people very often, that was the natural choice. But now people have been discovering that their own home country can be a fantastic destination and I think many countries can relate to that. And in our case, the population is 56,000 so it did have an impact for tourism industry because we have such low numbers beforehand.
Ali: Right. If anybody has any questions please use the app, I’ ll be happy to take a few questions. In terms of makeup of the current 107,000 tourists, we were talking a little earlier, obviously Danish tourists are probably the large majority of it?
Smárason: Yes, that’ s the biggest group, clearly. Then we have Germans, Brits and Americans. These are the biggest group that are coming.
Ali: Are you thinking about which countries would you like to attract more? I know you don’ t do traditional marketing, explain how you do marketing.
Smárason: We primarily focus on journalists, just because we have very, very low budgets. We’ re not even half the size of Fargo in the US when it comes to population, so we focus on journalists and we focus on getting the right stories out there and preferably stories that attract the right people and maybe scare others away because we don’ t want everyone. We don’ t have the capacity for it.
Ali: Yeah. The back anecdote is that we do a retreat every year and we were thinking of talking to you to come this year, we had not been going for the last two years. We were about 60, 60 plus people but you just don’ t have the capacity to bring 60 people in a group so we’ re not going.
Smárason: It’ s a challenge.
Ali: But hopefully at some point.
Smárason: Yeah.
Ali: So you don’ t have any marketing budgets, traditional marketing budgets, in the way that…
Smárason: It’ s very, very low. It’ s minimal. We use that in the Danish market, which is our main market, but otherwise we focus on influencers and journalists and getting the right stories out to the right people. And for us, it’ s very important when we think about how to develop tourism because as I said earlier, climate change is the big story and then you need to fly there. So it creates this contradiction, everyone is talking about fly shaming. So how does that impact?
Ali: And particularly in the Nordics…
Smárason: In the Nordics, yeah.
Ali: It’ s becoming a bigger and bigger thing.
Smárason: Yeah, it does. And that’ s our core market. But we have a few things that are going for us. First of all, we focus on sustainability, that’ s the core of everything we do. It’ s the core of pretty much most of the things that the government is doing at the moment.
Ali: That’ s the core of living there.
Smárason: It’ s the core of living, that’ s how you survive. So the current government was voted in to stop uranium mining in the country and focus on other possibilities, which is tourism. They’ ve signed the Paris agreement, they were the first Arctic nation to stop oil and gas exploration. So they’ re really taking big steps towards sustainability, but it’ s also important for us to think about what does sustainability mean in a Greenlandic context? If we ask a German person, how is a sustainable lifestyle? One of the things will be, I’ m a vegetarian. But that’ s maybe the wrong way to think about it because…
Ali: Because there’ s no vegetables that will grow in…
Smárason: You can’ t grow any vegetables in Greenland. So eating sustainably is eating whale meat, for one thing, it’ s usually not something you connect to it. Or reindeer, or Musk ox or the local fish and stuff like that. And secondly, we ask ourselves all the time, why are we doing this? Why do we want tourists? And of course we want tourist to create job opportunities for the youngsters, possibilities to maintain the settlements. You see the dog sled here in the picture, dog sledding is a very, very old tradition. It’ s been part of the life of the locals for, what, 6,000 years or something like that.
But we are seeing there were 35,000 dogs in 1990, now there are 15,000 left because the ice is disappearing. So more than half of the dogs have disappeared. And we see tourism as a way to maintain the knowledge that is behind the dog sledding culture. So sustainability is also about social sustainability, how do we get tourism to support the local economies and the local communities, be inclusive and create opportunities and sense of ownership?
Ali: So I guess there are a couple of cruises, are the cruises coming to Greenland?
Smárason: Yes, they love Greenland.
Ali: But does Greenland love them?
Smárason: There is a good relationship. And for me, this was relatively new and I’ ve come to understand that I may have had some prejudice against cruise. There are very different levels and different scales. We focus on, in our marketing, we try to attract expedition ships and expedition ship are smaller cruise ships, usually under 500 passengers. And they have passengers that leave much more with the local communities. We can better handle that number of people when they come ashore, so it makes a lot more sense. And like there, with everything else, we are trying to grow tourism in Greenland. We are trying to create new opportunities, get new cruises, get new hotels.
But in every case, it’ s sustainability that needs to be the key. So if we are getting a new hotel, we don’ t want a Las Vegas style hotel with loads of rooms and affordable accommodation. What we’ re looking at is we would love to see an international chain, but then it should be someone who’ s building the flagship hotel when it comes to sustainability. And as you see here this is our long term goal, becoming one of the leading sustainable destinations in the world. And you are comparing us to France and Spain earlier with 90 and 95 million tourists. For them to become sustainable, it’ s a huge challenge. For us who are starting from scratch, it’ s much easier because we have tabula rasa, it’ s a blank canvas, right? And if all the investment we get into tourism in the country is in the direction of sustainability, we actually have a competitive advantage and we have a very, very good chance of achieving this in just a matter of few years.
Ali: You’ ve also, we were talking a little backstage, focused a little bit on the… Since you come from Iceland, one of the challenges when Iceland was first rising after the volcano, or right around that time, was that they had to develop the FNB and food and restaurant because it just didn’ t have enough beyond their local cuisine. How are you thinking about that?
Smárason: We are encouraging people to look more at restaurants. Luckily, we have very good examples. Of course, Noma in Copenhagen is an inspiration in all of the Nordics, including Greenland, which was the best restaurant in the world, focusing on local ingredients. We’ ve seen what has happened in Iceland and has worked really well.
Ali: And the Faroe Islands is also…
Smárason: And the Faroe islands as well. So we are getting new restaurants and the Greenlandic raw materials are absolutely fantastic. It’ s the freshest, cleanest food you can get. And now we’ re getting Koks, the Michelin restaurant from Faroe Islands is moving to Greenland, which is absolutely fantastic. So we really look forward to see…
Ali: And you think that you will see the boost in tourism, or a certain type?
Smárason: I don’ t think we’ ll necessarily see a boost in tourism. We will certainly attract a new segment, but one of the things that we will see, which I’ m pretty certain about, is a ripple effect. Other restaurants will learn from it and inspire from it. And again, if we take Noma in Copenhagen as an example, before Noma was opened up in Copenhagen the culinary scene in Copenhagen was pretty much hot dogs and frikadella. Not really exciting, but all of a sudden people were flying in private jets to eat at Noma and it built up a reputation of being a gastronomical destination. So it put pressure on other restaurants to raise the bar and be inspired and offer better food. So I expect the same to happen in Greenland, that other restaurants will be inspired from it and they’ ll see that you can actually have a restaurant in a very remote location. You need to take, usually, three flights to get there plus a boat ride and you need to stay overnight to get to the restaurant. It’ s extremely remote, but a fantastic experience and totally unique.
Ali: Is it open yet?
Smárason: It opens June 12th, if I recall correctly. But you can start booking!
Ali: Question from Jason, what destinations do you look to for ideas, creativities that you can learn from?
Smárason: We luckily don’ t need to go far to search for inspiration. Both Iceland and the Faroe islands have been doing fantastic job, both in terms of product development but also in terms of their marketing and how they use PR.
Ali: [ crosstalk 00:18:16 ].
Smárason: Yeah, so that’ s excellent. And we have close collaboration with them, so we seek a lot of inspiration from them. Otherwise, it’ s…
Ali: What do you not want to learn from Iceland? Because Iceland has gone through challenges as well.
Smárason: Yes, absolutely. And I have in my slideshow a picture of a sign from a farmer in Iceland with a picture of a red circle and a red line over it and it’ s a tourist pooping. It was a problem because Iceland wasn’ t ready for the influx of tourists and they came too fast and it created this sense of mass tourism. And mass tourism is not the volume of tourist that comes, it’ s a management issue. How much capacity can you build? And because it came so suddenly in Iceland, Iceland wasn’ t ready. In Greenland we are opening up the new airports, the first season will be 2025 so we have three years to prepare. So we are looking at micro infrastructure, so pathways, parking spots, toilet facilities, service facilities, small harbors or landing spots for boats, et cetera. That helps us spread the tourists because the land is big enough, there’ s enough room for everyone. We just make to make sure that they can get away.
Ali: They can get there. Well, thank you. I think we’ re right out of time and thank you for doing this last second. We really appreciate it, thank you.
Smárason: Thank you.
Ali: Thank you. | general |
Mondelēz SnackFutures VP talks future of snacking: ' I think COVID shocked our systems in a lot of ways ' | This content item was originally published on www.foodnavigator-usa.com, a William Reed online publication.
`` I think COVID shocked our systems in a lot of ways, '' said Wolf, who noted how as consumers spent more time at home, they tended to seek out familiar comfort foods leading to a spike in sales in Mondelēz's core business of cookies and crackers.
But the tide is shifting towards discovery of new brands and products, she added.
`` At the same time... There’ s a huge push still in health and wellbeing, in immunity, and how we take care of ourselves not just as individuals but our communities. Going forward, consumers are going to want to explore more. We’ ve been cooped up for a couple years and there’ s a lot of variety and a lot more exploration we want to do. ``
To better tap into emerging snack trends, Mondelēz plunged into the startup space in 2018 with the launch of SnackFutures, its innovation arm that developed new brands in-house ( Dirt Kitchen Snacks, CaPao, Millie Gram, NoCoé, and Ruckus and Co) and invested in others ( Uplift Food, Torr, and Hu).
`` That whole process of creating these brands and building the ecosystem is a totally new group of vendors and partners that the big Mondelēz doesn’ t have. It’ s different routes to market and different styles of engagement with consumers, and different pathways from our core categories of cookies and crackers, '' Wolf told FoodNavigator-USA at the Natural Products Expo West Show in Anaheim, California, last month.
While its in-house brands have stayed small, distributed in very select markets, Wolf noted that as consumers spend less time out of the house, their pursuit of discovery in snacking will accelerate, especially for plant-based snacking options such as Dirt Kitchen Snacks.
`` One of the huge opportunities that we continue to see is plant-based. We know that 91% of consumers are looking to have more vegetables in their diet, '' said Wolf.
Dirt Kitchen Snacks, which air dries'rescued ' vegetables that aren't aesthetically pleasing enough for retail, is seeing strong consumer traction so far in 2022 and especially as sampling opens back up again, she claimed.
`` We couldn’ t sample like we wanted to and asking people to pay a premium for vegetable snacks that they can not taste, and feel good about that purchase, is hard. A lot of time, vegetables are kind of funky, unless they’ re dolled up in other ways and this was a way to make them snackably delicious. They’ ve never tasted something like this, '' said Wolf.
Last year, the global snacking company stretched itself even further to engage with very early-stage ( less than $ 500,000 in annual revenue) startups through its newest venture CoLab, a startup program for mission-driven brands designed to unleash their growth potential, said Wolf.
Now in its second year, reception has been strong for the 12-week program, which runs from April to June 2022 and connects early-stage founders with internal and external resources at Mondelēz to identify areas where they can grow each of their businesses.
`` We had a very thorough program last year – some of it was a little overwhelming, so we scaled back and dialed in in certain areas. This year we asked, 'What is your purpose and your mission? '. ``
Mission statements ranged from social and environmental ( e.g. Moonshot, Yolélé, Nunbelievable) to building a brand culture around inclusivity such as Popcorn for the People, which employs people with special needs.
`` This year’ s class we have ten companies that are incredibly diverse in their product form, their founder story, and their missions, '' said Wolf. `` We hope to continue to scale this and be in more markets. `` | general |
Bolsonaro vetoes Covid aid for Brazil culture sector | Hi, what are you looking for?
Brazilian Bolsonaro vetoed a bill that would have provided aid funds to artists and cultural programs hit hard by the coronavirus.
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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro vetoed a bill Wednesday that would have provided aid funds to artists and cultural programs hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, triggering an outcry from opposition lawmakers, who vowed to override him.
Named for a widely beloved comedian and actor who died of Covid-19 last year, the Paulo Gustavo Bill aimed to provide 3.86 billion reais ( $ 820 million) in federal funds to local and state governments to aid the cultural sector, still reeling from the impact of pandemic shut-downs.
It had passed Congress with broad support, by a vote of 74-0 in the Senate and 411-27 in the Chamber of Deputies.
Bolsonaro’ s veto, published in the official gazette, was for economic reasons, the administration said. It argued the bill would breach the government’ s spending cap without sourcing enough funds elsewhere to compensate.
Opposition lawmakers called that an excuse from the far-right president, long criticized for alleged attacks on culture and the arts.
Bolsonaro, who comes up for reelection in October, downgraded the culture ministry to a secretariat on taking office in 2019. His administration has faced repeated accusations of using its control over federal funding for the arts to try to censor projects it deems ideologically threatening.
“ It’ s not surprising that Bolsonaro vetoed the Paulo Gustavo Bill, given that this is an administration that hates culture, ” tweeted Senator Zenaide Maia of opposition party PROS.
“ But his veto also shows tremendous lack of vision, since investing in the cultural sector helps Brazil exit the current crisis. Culture is good in and of itself, but it also creates jobs and income. ”
Congressman Odair Cunha of the left-wing Workers’ Party tweeted that Bolsonaro is “ afraid of culture and freedom of expression, like every lover of dictatorship, ” vowing: “ We’ re going to override that veto. ”
Lawmakers would need an absolute majority in both houses of Congress to override.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
In the small town of Borodyanka, diggers sort through the rubble of houses destroyed by Russian bombardments, looking for the missing.
The Security Council failed to prevent the brutal invasion of Ukraine, President Zelensky said in a separate address to Japanese lawmakers.
Mexicans will vote Sunday in a divisive national referendum championed by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Long considered the “ most peaceful country in the world ”, Iceland’ s tranquillity has been shattered by a spate of shootings and stabbings.
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One protester dead, several injured in clashes with Peru police | Hi, what are you looking for?
A farm worker who took part in a road block protest in Peru died Wednesday following clashes with police.
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A farm worker who took part in a road block protest in Peru died Wednesday following clashes with police while several others were injured, a hospital said.
The violence came a day after President Pedro Castillo called off a curfew in Lima aimed at curbing nationwide protests against rising fuel prices.
“ Fifteen injured people have come in, we have one seriously injured. There is a civilian who came in dead as a result of the conflict, ” Carlos Navea, director of the hospital in Ica some 300 kilometers ( 180 miles) south of Lima, said on Facebook.
Navea said 12 police officers and three civilians were injured.
A farm workers leader told RPP radio the dead man was a 25-year-old from Huancavelica who worked for a company in Ica.
The clashes broke out on Wednesday morning after police tried to break up a blockade by dozens of farm workers on the Pan-Americana Highway, the country’ s most important artery for people and goods.
The fertile Ica region is a hub of the Peruvian agricultural sector.
Tensions had been building in Peru since Monday when truckers called for a strike and protests broke out in Lima, Ica and other parts of the country over rising food and fuel prices.
Castillo reacted late on Monday night by calling a curfew in Lima and the neighboring port city of Callao — together home to 10 million people — on Tuesday.
A widespread public backlash and pressure from the right-wing opposition dominated Congress prompted the leftist Castillo to lift the curfew late on Tuesday afternoon.
That brought celebrations from protesters outside parliament and around the capital but the crisis did not end.
Clashes broke out on Tuesday night in Lima following marches in several parts of the city with demonstrators chanting: “ Castillo out! ”
Buildings were attacked and shops vandalized.
The interior minister said 25 police officers were injured in the trouble.
It is the first time in the 52-year-old former rural school teacher’ s eight months in power that he has faced a social protest movement.
Like much of the rest of the world, Peru’ s economy is reeling from damage wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.
In an attempt to appease protesters, the government over the weekend eliminated a tax on fuel and decreed a 10 percent increase in the minimum wage from May 1.
But the General Confederation of Workers of Peru — the country’ s main trade union federation — has remained defiant and called for more protests on Thursday.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
In the small town of Borodyanka, diggers sort through the rubble of houses destroyed by Russian bombardments, looking for the missing.
The Security Council failed to prevent the brutal invasion of Ukraine, President Zelensky said in a separate address to Japanese lawmakers.
Long considered the “ most peaceful country in the world ”, Iceland’ s tranquillity has been shattered by a spate of shootings and stabbings.
The demonstration was largely peaceful, though one woman was arrested for displaying the letter `` Z '', a symbol of support for the Russian army.
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What I have learned | News and features about the latest developments relating to professional support from across optics. This includes updates from optical organisations such as the AOP and the GOC
The outbreak of COVID-19 brought rapid changes to the ophthalmology and optometry teams at the Royal Free Hospital in London. Safina Rashid, head for orthoptist and optometry services, and highly specialised optometrist, Sheena Patel, share what they learned | general |
Nasal spray shows promise in preventing COVID-19 | News and features about the latest developments relating to professional support from across optics. This includes updates from optical organisations such as the AOP and the GOC
US researchers have highlighted the potential of a nasal spray in preventing and treating COVID-19. Writing in Nature, scientists report that a study in mice confirmed the spray not only prevented the spread of the virus, but was also an effective treatment if administered within 12 hours after infection. Senior author, Dr Francis Jean, highlighted that the compound contained in the nasal spray, N-0385, has the potential to be used as a broad-spectrum mechanism against other viruses – such as influenza A, H1N1, and influenza C. '' Even not knowing what you 've been infected with during flu season, you could potentially be prescribed a nasal spray to treat coronaviruses and the flu, ” he said. It is envisioned that the nasal spray would be used in combination with other treatments that are already available. The spray attempts to block the entry of the virus while other drugs focus on reducing its replication. `` The big picture is, there are multiple steps in the life cycle of a virus. The first step is entering a cell to pass on genetic material, then it goes on to replicate. So you would use both drugs: N-0385 could block most of the virus ' entry, making less work for the replicator drug, '' Jean explained. Researchers are working with Ebvia, a private company, to secure funding for clinical trials.
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France votes as tight Le Pen-Macron duel looms | Hi, what are you looking for?
France votes Sunday in the first round of presidential elections at which Emmanuel Macron is bidding for a second term.
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France votes Sunday in the first round of presidential elections at which Emmanuel Macron is bidding for a second term in the face of a strengthening challenge from resurgent far-right leader Marine Le Pen.
In an election whose outcome is crucial for the future direction of France and also Europe, the first round will determine which two candidates go through to the run-off on April 24.
Polls project that the final two will be Macron and Le Pen, in a repeat of their duel from 2017 that saw the centrist become France’ s youngest-ever head of state.
With the traditional Socialist and right-wing parties that dominated French politics for last decades facing near electoral oblivion, far-left politician Jean-Luc Melenchon is projected to come third, though he believes he could still reach the second round.
But while Macron handily trounced Le Pen five years ago, the veteran anti-immigration campaigner has sought to rebrand herself with a softer image and has closed the gap with the president in recent opinion polls.
– ‘ Possible to defeat Macron’ –
Macron entered the campaign at the last minute, saying he had been focusing on ending Russia’ s invasion of Ukraine, while Le Pen has crossed the country seeking to strike a chord with the French on issues of daily concern.
The president addressed his first major campaign event only on Saturday, a rock concert-style rally where he entered like a prize fighter but warned that defeat to Le Pen was possible.
“ Look at what happened with Brexit, and so many other elections: what looked improbable actually happened, ” Macron said, alluding not least to Donald Trump’ s defeat of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US elections.
Macron received a poll boost in the immediate aftermath of President Vladimir Putin’ s decision to invade Ukraine, but in the last weeks Le Pen has been eating away at what once looked an unassailable lead.
A survey published Monday by Harris Interactive showed Macron’ s second-round lead at its narrowest yet, at 51.5 percent against Le Pen’ s 48.5 percent.
“ What people said was the automatic re-election of Emmanuel Macron turned out to be fake news, ” Le Pen said on Friday.
“ It is perfectly possible to defeat Emmanuel Macron and radically change the politics of this country, ” she added.
Other polls have credited Macron with a slightly wider margin but still too close for comfort. An Ifop-Fiducial poll, also published Monday, showed Macron at 53 percent against 47 percent for Le Pen.
Marine Le Pen has seen a “ strong dynamic at the end of the campaign… The second round promises to be much tighter than 2017 ” when Macron won with over 66 percent of the vote, said Jean-Daniel Levy, director at Harris Interactive.
– ‘ A clan not a rally’ –
The stakes are huge, with Macron vowing further reforms of France if he wins a new term, and set to retain his status as Europe’ s number one figure after the departure of former German chancellor Angela Merkel.
A Le Pen presidency would likely see a tougher stance from France on immigration and integration, and raise questions over whether Paris can retain its global diplomatic clout in a world shadowed by Russian aggression.
She has sought to detoxify her party from the heritage of its founder and her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, not least by renaming it the National Rally ( RN) instead of the National Front ( FN), but Macron and his allies insist it has not changed.
“ It’ s not a rally, it’ s a clan, ” Macron said in an interview with regional newspapers published on Monday.
While Social Democrat Olaf Scholz has succeeded Merkel, the right has been surging elsewhere in Europe with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Putin’ s closest ally within the EU, securing a new term in elections at the weekend.
Should he win, Macron would be the first French president since Jacques Chirac in 2002 to win a second term after the presidencies of right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist Francois Hollande ended in one-term disappointments.
– Struggling rivals –
Polls project Macron winning the first round with a score in the high twenties, followed by Le Pen and then Melenchon.
The far left-leader of the France Unbowed ( LFI) party, Melenchon is banking on a late surge fuelled by an unusual meeting late Tuesday where he appeared as a hologram simultaneously in 12 cities across the country from a live rally in the central city of Lille.
“ Macron against Le Pen — it’ s not going to happen, ” he insisted Tuesday, saying he could even sneak into the second round at the expense of Macron. “ Look at the ( poll) curves, ” he told Sud Radio.
Elsewhere on the left, the Greens and Communist candidates failed to make an impact while Socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, is projected to struggle to reach even two percent.
Valerie Pecresse, the candidate of the main rightwing party The Republicans, the political home of former presidents including Chirac and Sarkozy, also appears out of contention after a campaign that never found momentum.
Sarkozy, who retains influence on the right despite criminal convictions in graft scandals, has not even bothered to endorse Pecresse, a major setback for the Paris region chief.
Extreme-right pundit Eric Zemmour made a sensational entry into the campaign last year but has gradually lost ground, with analysts saying he has in fact aided Le Pen by making her appear more moderate.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
Under a shattered crescent hanger at Ukraine's Gostomel Airport the world's largest plane lies buckled and broken.
A federal appeals court upheld Biden’ s vaccine mandate for federal workers, while COVID-19 cases rise.
The fake logic is simple to the point of idiocy, but it’ ll work in information-starved Russia.
At least 52 people are killed, including five children, in a rocket attack on a train station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk.
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Good times: Luxury watchmakers face soaring demand | Hi, what are you looking for?
Times have been so good for luxury watchmakers that they are running behind demand, forcing some to delay the release of new collections.
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Times have been so good for luxury watchmakers that they are running behind demand, forcing some to delay the release of new collections and others to invest more in production capacity.
After the pandemic severely hit the global economy in 2020, the sector enjoyed a spectacular recovery last year and started 2022 with a bang, though Russia’ s war in Ukraine created new uncertainties.
After the pandemic severely hit the global economy in 2020, the sector enjoyed a spectacular recovery last year and started 2022 with a bang – Copyright AFP Natalia KOLESNIKOVA
Watches were the best performing business for French luxury group Hermes, with sales soaring by 73 percent last year.
“ We had an extraordinary year in the watches business, ” Hermes vice president Guillaume de Seynes told AFP at Watches and Wonders in Geneva this week, one of the industry’ s biggest annual showcases.
“ We can feel a very strong dynamic for watchmaking everywhere in the world, ” he said, adding that there was hot demand for a men’ s watch model last year.
“ We could have even sold more if we had been able to make more, ” de Seynes said, noting that watchmakers face a “ demand phenomenon that exceeds production capacity. ”
His priority for 2022 is to invest in production.
– Solid year –
The Oris brand also had “ a very strong year ”, said its chief executive, Rolf Studer.
The luxury watch sector is now bracing for the fallout from the war in Ukraine and sanctions on Russia, which has a sizeable rich client base. — © AFP
Oris watches range between 1,800 and 7,200 Swiss francs ( $ 1,928 and $ 7,710 or 1,767 euros and 7,064 euros).
The company had to delay the launch of a new collection in the higher price range because it did not produce enough watch movements — their internal mechanisms — in its workshops.
The watch was supposed to come out last summer but it is only launching now.
“ We planned too conservatively, ” Studer said.
“ So we decided to keep the movements for the watches that were already out instead of launching new models and not be able to supply existing models already on the market, ” he added.
Swiss watch exports rebounded last year, rising by 31.2 percent after a 21.8-percent contraction in 2020, when countries closed borders and went into strict Covid lockdowns.
Some luxury watchmakers have delayed new collections, others are investing in production in the face of demand. — © AFP
Exports have not only exceeded pre-pandemic levels, they beat their 2014 record, too.
They went up by almost 16 percent in the first two months of this year, according to industry data, though the recovery has been seen only in watches worth more than 3,000 Swiss francs.
– Wait list –
The sector is now bracing for the fallout from the war in Ukraine and sanctions on Russia, which has a sizeable rich client base.
But the industry can rely on long wait lists for higher-end timepieces.
“ Since we didn’ t have enough watches for other markets, we will sell those that won’ t be delivered to Russia elsewhere, ” Edouard Meylan, CEO of H. Moser & amp; Cie., told AFP.
All of his 2022 production is already pre-sold to retailers and partly pre-paid by final customers.
H. Moser only makes 2,000 watches per year at an average price of 45,000 Swiss francs. The watchmaker is even rejecting orders for timepieces that require a more than two-year wait.
“ There’ s uncertainty that can be created in other markets, particularly financial markets, ” Meylan said.
“ But we would have to have a big crash for an independent brand like ours to be affected, ” he added.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
This is where the delusions become suicidal.
Pablo Picasso’ s track-record with women certainly would not make him a feminist pin-up today.
The calls for war crimes investigations and trials over Moscow's conflict in Ukraine have intensified.
A resident searches for the graves of relatives in a cemetery in the northern Ukrainian town of Chernigiv, which was bombarded for a month...
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Europe’ s Russia Coal Ban Foreshadows Higher Global Energy Prices | Europe is taking a big gamble as it moves to ban Russian coal, potentially leaving itself vulnerable to shortages and rolling blackouts while the rest of the world contends with surging prices.
Russia is Europe’ s top supplier of thermal coal, used to fuel power stations. As the European Union joins the U.S. to take a harder stance against Vladimir Putin’ s war in Ukraine, the continent has plans to phase out Russian shipments. The problem is that there’ s no clear alternative for that huge chunk of trade, and the result appears destined to lead to a domino effect that creates a mad global scramble for coal.
Prices are already soaring in a market that has been tight for months. European coal jumped 14% to a three-week high on Tuesday after news of the proposed ban, with futures doubling since the start of the year. The benchmark for Asian coal hit an all-time high in March, while U.S. coal topped $ 100 a ton last week for the first time in 13 years.
“ The proposed sanction would be devastating to European coal imports, ” said Fabian Ronningen, an analyst at Norwegian consultant Rystad Energy. “ Some coal can be sourced from other markets, but in general, the global coal market is very tight as well. ”
It’ s not just that supplies are tight. There are also logistical complications when it comes to quickly pivoting to new suppliers. Russia’ s proximity to Europe has long been one its advantages in a market that depends on days-long shipments of heavy cargoes. Now, European buyers will have to look elsewhere, stretching supply from countries as far away as South Africa, Australia and Indonesia, where quality varies.
“ Russian coal is the closest, cheapest and in some markets like Germany the most suitable specification, in terms of heat content and sulfur ” to power Europe’ s stations, said Jake Horslen, an analyst at S & P Commodities Insights. An EU ban “ would pose a significant challenge for the buyers that would need to seek out alternatives, ” he said.
In the long-term, prospects aren’ t great for coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel. But right now, the market is booming as Europe deals with a crunch in natural gas supplies and fuel consumption surges in the pandemic recovery boom. Global carbon emissions from the power sector jumped to a record last year, partly driven by more coal burning, according to think tank Ember.
Ramping up coal production to meet demand has been challenging. The market has been hit by rail disruptions, COVID-19 outbreaks and even a temporary export ban from Indonesia, the world’ s largest exporter.
“ The disruption of Russian coal supply is just the latest in a wave of supply issues that have hounded the market since early last year, ” Bank of America Corp. analysts wrote in a note this month.
Any sanctions on Russian coal will pressure Europe’ s already strained supplies. Coal stored in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp harbors remains at the lowest for the season in at least six years, according to a weekly survey of stocks by Argus Media.
Europe buys two kinds of coal from Russia — thermal, the kind used by power plants, and metallurgical, used in steel making. The Russian share of the EU’ s imports of thermal coal is almost 70%, with Germany and Poland particularly reliant.
The continent has grown increasingly dependent on Russia as its own production declined. In 2020, Europe shipped in 57 million tons of thermal coal from Russia, the vast majority of imports, according to the International Energy Agency.
German energy firm EnBW Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG said last month that it had begun to diversify its coal procurement to reduce dependency on Russia, and that a full switch would only be possible in the medium-term. The company, which relied on Russia for more than 80% of its coal last year, also said procuring the fuel in countries including Australia and South Africa would be more costly.
And while the U.S. has stepped in to help wean Europe off Russian gas, it’ s unlikely to be able to do the same with coal. Miners have already sold most of their output under long-term contracts and aren’ t able to increase production because they have been closing mines for years. Those issues have been exacerbated by a worker shortage and logistics challenges that make it tough to get more tons from the mines to the ports.
“ There’ s a lot of call for U.S. exports, but it’ s hard to get it out of the country, ” said Andrew Blumenfeld, data analytics director for market research company McCloskey.
Even before sanctions, European energy companies were already struggling to get their hands on Russian coal. Many banks were refusing to finance commodities trading, forcing some of the continent’ s biggest utilities to buy coal in South Africa and Australia.
An increase in exports from countries like Indonesia “ could help offset the lost tonnage from Russia, ” the Bank of America analysts said, while warning that “ it won ‘ t make up for the quality difference. ”
“ With supply issues abounding, the market will have to balance through demand destruction, ” the analysts said.
That’ s easier said than done, especially given the larger problems for energy supplies in Europe that have reverberated across the world.
Tight markets for natural gas have created energy shortfalls at a time when wind and hydro have been unreliable in some regions. Europe and Asia have been hit the worst, with skyrocketing markets, blackouts in places like India, power shortages in China and the threat of outages in other countries. Energy prices have also soared in the U.S., though not to the same extremes.
Meanwhile, some analysts had cast a critical eye on some European countries’ reliance on Russia even before the current war in Ukraine. Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey, and Poland combined received almost a quarter of all Russia’ s coal exports in 2021, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data.
About 10% of Germany’ s electricity is generated by burning hard coal, and unlike neighboring France, the country has little nuclear power as a fallback option, with its last remaining plants going offline this year as part of a transition to more renewable energy. Still, Economy Minister Robert Habeck says Germany can rid itself of Russian coal before the end of the year.
The reliance on Russia for energy more broadly limits Europe’ s ability to place sanctions on other fuels, according to Thierry Bros, a former energy analyst who’ s now a professor at the Paris Institute of Political Studies.
“ Because of Germany and Hungary’ s too close relations with Russia, we are stuck in banning only coal, which is a good first step but far from enough, ” Bros said. | general |
Ethane Consumption Said on Pace to Lead U.S. Petroleum Growth Through 2023 | Sign in to get the best natural gas news and data. Follow the topics you want and receive the daily emails.
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Ethane is expected to be the most widely consumed petroleum product in the United States in 2023, and it is already outpacing jet fuel and propane, according to the Energy Information Administration ( EIA).
Ethane demand has grown every year since 2010 in the United States, EIA said, including a 50,000 b/d year/year increase in 2021. EIA forecasts U.S. consumption to grow by another 340,000 b/d by 2023 to average around 2.1 million b/d.
“ Annual U.S. ethane consumption has increased in every year since 2010 because demand for ethane as a petrochemical feedstock has grown, ” EIA researchers led by Josh Eiermann said. They noted that ethane mainly serves as a petrochemical feedstock to produce ethylene, which is used to manufacture plastics and resins.
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Domestic ethane demand over the past two years has risen because of increased ethylene cracking capacity. In contrast, most other petroleum product consumption has decreased over that period as a result of less travel during the Covid-19 lockdowns.
Notably, U.S. ethane consumption grew in 2021 despite the impacts of Winter Storm Uri, which took more than one-third of U.S. ethylene cracking capacity offline. Because about 90% of U.S. ethane demand is concentrated along the Gulf Coast, Uri reduced ethane consumption by 655,000 b/d in February 2021. Despite the decline, the additional capacity from two new ethylene crackers during the second half of the year contributed to an overall increase in ethane consumption in 2021.
“ We expect U.S. ethane consumption to average 2.1 million b/d in both 2022 and 2023 because another ethylene cracker was recently completed in Monaca, PA, ” Eiermann said. This added an estimated 96,000 b/d of ethane feedstock capacity.
In the United States, cracking ethane has a higher profit margin than cracking naphtha to produce ethylene, a key component needed to produce many resins and plastics. Ethane’ s relatively low cost and high ethylene yield have spurred growth as an ethylene feedstock in the United States.
ExxonMobil and partner Saudi Basic Industries Corp. recently ramped up a world-class ethane cracker in South Texas. Considered the world’ s largest steam cracker, the project near Corpus Christi is able to produce up to 1.8 million metric tons/year.
Several projects also are on the drawing board. Most are projected to be sited in Louisiana and Texas. However, Dow Inc. late last year announced it would develop a net-zero carbon emissions ethane cracker for an industrial customer in Alberta.In addition, Thailand-based PTT Global Chemical pcl may build another world-scale Appalachian ethane cracker. In 2020, Range Resources Corp. agreed to be the anchor ethane supplier for the facility, but PTT has yet to make a final investment decision.
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Global Markets – Not U.S. E & Ps – Sending Pump Prices Higher, Say Top Energy Execs | Sign in to get the best natural gas news and data. Follow the topics you want and receive the daily emails.
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U.S. oil and natural gas producers don’ t set global commodity prices, nor are they attempting to gouge consumers, executives of the leading domestic explorers told Congress on Wednesday.
Top executives of BP America Inc., Chevron Corp., Devon Energy Corp., ExxonMobil, Pioneer Natural Resources Co. and Shell USA Inc. discussed the reasons for sustained high prices at the gasoline pump.
The exploration and production ( E & P) chiefs shared their insight into the myriad reasons for rising commodity prices during a hearing before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Also testifying was retired U.S. Army Lt. General H. R. McMaster, now a senior fellow at Stanford University’ s Hoover Institution.
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Democrats blamed the high pump prices on producers during the hearing, while their Republican colleagues laid the blame at the feet of the Biden administration.
Neither a lack of production nor Biden energy policies are the reason pump prices are high, the executives said. All of them attempted to explain how oil prices are set. It’ s a complex process, they noted.
In the United States, the end of pandemic closures, combined with the impact of the Ukraine invasion, have created turmoil in the energy markets, ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods testified.
“ As the world emerges from the impacts of the pandemic, we were already seeing a growing supply and demand imbalance in global oil and gas markets. The invasion of Ukraine increased the risk of insufficient supply – demonstrating how quickly global markets can be disrupted and impact the lives of every American.
“ The uncertainty of supply in a tight market with growing demand leads to significant price volatility, which is what we are seeing today, ” he said.
Russia “ provides roughly 10% of the oil needed to meet global demand, and about 30% of Europe’ s natural gas demand. ” The loss of those volumes “ would dwarf ” the impact of the 1973 Arab oil embargo “ and represent the largest supply disruption in the history of our industry, ” Woods said. “ The risk of this obviously puts upward pressure on oil and gas prices. ”
There is no quick fix, he noted. The answer in the near term, “ until there are more widely available and affordable alternatives, is straightforward. We need to increase the supply of oil and natural gas. And our industry has been doing just that. ”
E & Ps are in the “ depletion business, ” Woods noted. The industry makes “ significant investments just to keep production flat. On average, without investment, industry production declines roughly 7% per year. This requires a consistent commitment to investing across the commodity price cycle. ”
From the Permian Basin alone, ExxonMobil this year expects to deliver more than 550,000 boe/d, up 25% from 2021, when output also was 25% higher year/year.
“ Continued investment in new production to offset depletion and meet growing demand is the only way to achieve balanced markets and more affordable prices, bringing real relief at the pump, ” Woods said.
“ Government plays a critical role in this, ” he said. In addition, policies that reflect the importance of energy, create certainty and improve predictability, encourage industry investment, and ensure affordable and reliable supplies of energy.
“ Consistent, efficient and effective permitting processes, whether for leases, drilling or infrastructure such as pipelines, or export applications, will help spur further investment in U.S. oil and gas production. ”
BP America Chair David Lawler, like his colleagues, noted that the price of globally traded oil, gasoline and refined products are driven by international markets. Retail fuel prices are set competitively, not by the E & P. And most retail fuel stations are independently owned and operated.
Chevron CEO Mike Wirth repeated President Biden’ s recent comments that “ if we want lower gas prices, we need to have more oil supply right now. ” The San Ramon, CA-based major is working to do that, he told the House members.
“ Chevron has committed to increase its capital expenditure this year by 50%, with approximately half of that increase going to increasing oil and gas production and the other half going to renewable fuels and lower-carbon energy, ” Wirth said.
“ I want to be absolutely clear, ” he said. “ We do not control the market price of crude oil or natural gas, nor of refined products like gasoline and diesel fuel, and we have no tolerance for price gouging. ”
Oil and gas prices are impacted by “ factors that involve far more than one company or even one country, ” Wirth said. “ Gasoline prices are fundamentally a function of supply and demand. ”
Wirth attributed the higher pump prices to a variety of things, including increased demand as Covid-19 restrictions were lifted and the uncertainty about future supply related in part to Russian energy bans.
Devon CEO Richard Muncrief said the Oklahoma City-based independent “ began implementing our 2022 plan when events began unfolding in Ukraine. We are now seeing prices level off, but uncertainty creates volatility, and we are not out of the woods yet. ”
Like other E & P executives who testified, Muncrief said it is taking longer today to secure applications for permits to drill, or APDs. In addition, ” the process to complete a well and bring it to full production may mean that a significant number of weeks transpire before a well reaches its potential.
“ Now, with the significant delays in obtaining the materials needed to operate due to global supply chain constraints and a shortage of workers, the time has substantially increased and is now closer to six months, ” Muncrief said.
Pioneer Natural CEO Scott Sheffield, who has been called out by legislators on Tuesday and President Biden last week for vowing to not expand Permian oil production even if prices approached $ 200/bbl, defended his comments.
“ I understand the desire to find a quick fix for the recent spike in gasoline prices, but neither Pioneer nor any other U.S. producer can increase production overnight by turning on a tap. Pioneer and other U.S. shale operators sell their commodities when produced.
“ We do not have spare production capacity or a private strategic reserve with which to quickly increase oil deliveries in response to market disruptions. Such a response is only possible in countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, whose national oil companies can quickly add production to the world market from surplus supply capacity that exists today. ”
To plan, permit, drill and safely complete wells, along with building infrastructure, “ takes 18 to 24 months for our company. It used to take less time in the past – in some instances only six to 12 months – but this timing is especially negatively impacted today.
Sheffield cited “ increasing cost inflation, the loss of thousands of experienced oilfield workers over the past several years, the decommissioning of rigs and fracture fleets when oil prices were low in 2020, and significant shortages across our supply chain. ”
Shell USA President Gretchen Watkins in her testimony said price gouging is illegal, and Shell plc and its affiliates would not engage in those types of activities.
“ Numerous governmental and nongovernmental examinations, including by the Federal Trade Commission and the Energy Information Administration, have concluded that crude oil prices are the primary factor in determining gasoline prices, ” Watkins said.
“ Shell is therefore focused on providing the United States and the world with a stable, reliable, and accessible supply of the oil and gas needed to meet society’ s energy needs, which is the most direct and significant contribution we can make to stabilize energy prices in the near term. ”
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Why lowering the voting age in Canada is such a good idea | Three initiatives aimed at lowering the voting age in Canadian federal elections are reigniting conversations about youth enfranchisement.
A group of young people is suing the federal government, claiming that disenfranchisement of those under 18 is unconstitutional.
NDP MP Taylor Bachrach has introduced a private members bill to lower the voting age to 16. The first reading in the House of Commons was completed late last year.
A similar act ( Bill S-201) to amend Canada’ s minimum voting age from 18 to 16 is currently at second reading in the Senate. Sen. Marilou McPhedran introduced a similar bill in 2021 and it passed second reading. But the fall 2021 election put an end to that process.
This is the 11th attempt to lower Canada’ s voting age since it was changed from 21 to 18 in 1970.
Some municipal and provincial jurisdictions in Canada have considered lowering their voting age. So have other countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
Thirteen countries, ranging from Brazil to Nicaragua, Ecuador, Austria, Estonia and Malta, already have voting ages under 18. The Council of Europe has urged its member countries to follow suit.
In Canada, the federal NDP and Green Party publicly support a younger voting age. The federal Conservative, NDP and Liberal parties already allow members as young as 14 to vote in leadership contests.
Proponents of the bills in Parliament and the Senate, and the applicants to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, hope to build on this momentum.
Many of the key issues of today — like climate change, environmental degradation, the COVID-19 pandemic and social and racial justice — have serious consequences for young people, now and in the future.
Many leading Canadian and international environmental advocates are under the age of 18. Autumn Peltier, for example, was named Chief Water Commissioner for the Aniishnabek Nation at the age of 14 and addressed the United Nations General Assembly at age 13 and 15.
Children and young people have disproportionately experienced the education, health and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many young people under the age of 18 are actively involved in social justice movements, including Black Lives Matter and Every Child Matters.
Under the UN’ s Convention on the Rights of the Child — which is almost universally ratified — children have the right to participate in decisions that affect them.
Lowering the voting age is one way to provide a formal process for decision-making and accountability by elected representatives. In fact, the right to vote is a human right, protected by domestic and international law.
Lowering the age to a time when young people are enrolled in high school civics classes could increase formal political participation and strengthen democracy.
Despite the political consciousness and engagement of children and young people, there is still widespread apathy and declining participation among young adult voters.
Research across jurisdictions that have introduced under-18 voting indicates that the impact is “ often positive in terms of political engagement and civic attitudes. ”
The current voting age does not align with the minimum age of many other activities that require maturity and judgment, such as driving, consensual sex and paid work.
Most tellingly, the age of criminal responsibility in Canada is 12 under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
These contradictions highlight adult-centric norms and everyday age discrimination manifested in arbitrary, chronological age cut-offs.
Ageist assumptions against those under 18 mirror historically sexist and racist arguments to disenfranchise women and Indigenous people.
One such argument is that those under the age of 18 lack the cognitive, emotional and moral maturity to vote. However, psychological research suggests that young people have adult-level cognitive capacity by age 16.
Others argue that parents will influence their children’ s voting behaviour. But some studies indicate that peers, rather than adults, have greater influence over political behaviour and socialization. Results from Student Vote Canada, while not representative, show different voting outcomes for the 2021 election among students versus the official results.
Some might argue that people under the age of 18 lack sufficient knowledge about policies and democracy to make informed decisions.
However, many Canadian adults also lack basic civic literacy. Adult voters are not necessarily more informed about policy issues than young people when making political choices.
Voting rights in Canada have changed over time to become more inclusive. Challenging age discrimination in Canada’ s election system could be the next step in expanding and strengthening our democracy. | business |
Women, ages 50 and up, are unhappy with economy. That may impact midterm elections | Women ages 50 and over are one of the largest, most reliable groups of voters.
And going into this election season, they're not happy with the economy, according to new research from AARP in partnership with pollsters Celinda Lake, Christine Matthews, Kristen Soltis Anderson and Margie Omero.
Their recent poll found 52% of women in this age cohort say the economy is not working well for them, up from 37% in 2019.
The top issues on these women's minds: kitchen table budgets and the day-to-day impact of rising prices, according to the research.
More from Personal Finance: Medicare is now covering the cost of at-home Covid testsAs Social Security retirement age moves to 67, some say it may go higherThese states have the highest and lowest tax burdens
About 46% of women 50 and over surveyed said the rising cost of living is the most important issue facing the U.S. now.
Moreover, 59% said rising prices are the most important aspect of the economy for them personally.
The poll was conducted online and over the phone between Feb. 18 and March 3. It included 1,836 voters ages 50 and up who are likely to vote in 2022.
Women in that age cohort have not yet decided which candidates to support, the poll found. But their vote will very likely influence which parties win a majority in Congress and in statehouses.
Just 17% of female voters ages 50 and over have made up their minds on how they plan to vote in November.
Meanwhile, 65% say they will not decide until weeks or days before Election Day.
The reason why many of these female voters are undecided is because they are unhappy with their current leaders, said Celinda Lake, founder and president of Lake Research Partners, during a webcast on the research's findings.
`` This dissatisfaction is leading this cohort, which usually makes up its mind early, to be undecided about how they're going to vote, '' Lake said.
Democrat, Republican and independent voters all gave politicians failing grades on most issues.
`` Across the board, when it came to prices rising faster than income, you saw women of all parties saying politicians were doing a bad job, '' Lake said. `` When you have elected leaders doing a bad job on the No. 1 issue that people are obsessed with … then you have a very, very volatile situation. ''
The votes they cast could have a significant influence on the election results. Women age 50 and over represent 27% of registered voters. In the 2018 and 2020 elections, they cast 30% of all ballots.
Notably, women ages 50 and over are about evenly divided by party, with 44% supporting Republicans and 45% Democrats. In contrast, men in that age group lean Republican, with 51%, versus 38% Democrat.
The economy will likely still be top of mind for these female voters vote in November.
Currently, 72% of women ages 50 and up are worried about having enough income to keep up with rising costs.
Many of these women are not optimistic that the situation will improve in the next 12 months, with 47% indicating they expect their financial circumstances to stay the same and 39% believing it will get worse. Just 13% said they think it will improve.
For women ages 50 through 64, retirement is a big concern. The poll found 51% of women are worried about whether Social Security will be there for them, while 30% are concerned about having enough savings. | business |
BC’ s Cedar LNG Seeks Four-Year Extension to Build Export Terminal | Sign in to get the best natural gas news and data. Follow the topics you want and receive the daily emails.
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Risks of delays in British Columbia ( BC) have prompted the most advanced native Canadian liquefied natural gas ( LNG) project, Cedar LNG, to request a four-year export license extension.
The Cedar LNG partnership of Haisla First Nation and Pembina Pipeline Corp. has asked the Canada Energy Regulator ( CER) to reset the license deadline to May 2030 for starting shipments from the planned terminal on the northern BC coast at Kitimat.
“ The anticipated in-service date remains subject to a number of risks and potential delays, ” Cedar developers said in the application. The project sponsors cited a long list of potential pitfalls.
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“ These include uncertainty within federal and provincial regulatory processes, global supply chain constraints, constantly evolving restrictions and impacts associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, ongoing commercial negotiations, and third-party impacts such as interruptions in gas or power supplies, ” they said. “ The requested extension of the license’ s early expiry date is necessary to maintain the confidence of financial institutions, tolling customers and off-takers. ”
The project sponsors reported that difficulties of building a BC LNG industry from scratch already set back the estimated date for completing their terminal until 2027. This is a year after the May 2026 project drop-dead date set by their current export license. The project also has not been sanctioned. A final investment decision is expected next year.
The setback resulted from Cedar LNG’ s reliance on the Coastal GasLink pipeline for its supply. The pipeline is now under construction to move gas from the Montney Shale for the Shell plc-led LNG Canada terminal, which is also on Haisla territory at Kitimat.
Access to gas, according to Cedar sponsors, was dependent upon sanctioning LNG Canada, but it was sanctioned in 2018.
As the CER export license review began, LNG topped national business and government agendas, an industry leader said during an investment symposium held by Scotiabank and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers ( CAPP). “ Therein lies the great opportunity for Canada, ” said CAPP Vice Chair Jeff Tonken, who is president of Montney producer Birchcliff Energy Ltd.
A global roster of 189 coal-fired power stations under construction creates an immense environmental fuel substitution market for exporters, said Tonken. Switching to LNG would cut the plants’ greenhouse gas emissions in half, he pointed out.
The United States set a clean energy example for Canada, said Tonken. He cited U.S. overseas LNG sales growth into a range of 13 Bcf/d from near zero since 2015. Meanwhile, the first Canadian terminal and supply pipeline, LNG Canada and Coastal GasLink, still are only under construction.
After following the U.S. example by creating Cedar LNG, Haisla enlisted Pembina as a 50% ownership and expert operating partner. The deal included a C $ 90 million ( US $ 72 million) commitment by the Calgary firm to cover planning and regulatory costs. Black & Veatch and Samsung Heavy Industries were hired to do front-end engineering and design.
Cedar LNG’ s export license allows overseas sales volumes of up to 830 MMcf/d. The planned C $ 3 billion ( US $ 2.4 billion) first phase of the project calls for tanker shipments of 400 MMcf/d from a floating terminal.
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French election: markets skittish as far-right candidate Le Pen closes gap | French markets have been jolted as new polling shows far-right candidate Marine Le Pen closing the gap to incumbent President Emmanuel Macron ahead of the country's presidential election.
The latest Ipsos Sopra Steria Cevipof poll for Le Monde newspaper on Wednesday gave Macron a projected vote share of 26.5% to Le Pen's 21.5% in the first round of ballots on April 10, compared to 28% for Macron and 17.5% for Le Pen in the last poll conducted March 21-24.
French bonds slid sharply on Tuesday as a fresh poll emerged, sending the benchmark 10-year yield to its highest since 2015, while the CAC 40 stock index underperformed the rest of Europe to fall by almost 1.3% and continued to retreat on Wednesday.
Although Macron is still favored to win a run-off on April 24, Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally party, is now in her strongest polling position yet on a platform focused around restricting immigration and boosting law enforcement funding. The National Rally has also proposed new pledges aimed at working people concerned about the cost of living, such as a wealth tax.
The candidacy of Éric Zemmour, seen as even further to the right than Le Pen, has aided her efforts to appear a more moderate option than previously perceived and become palatable to portions of the center-right disillusioned with Macron's tenure.
Antonio Barroso, deputy director of research at Teneo, said in a note on Wednesday that voters had begun to coalesce around the candidates with the highest chance of making the run-off, with Le Pen gaining voters from Zemmour.
Barroso said the risk of a Le Pen victory has increased, but Teneo still foresees a 75% probability of Macron retaining the presidency.
Some of the skittishness in markets at the prospect of a Le Pen presidency has been attributed to concerns around the political and economic unity of Europe's response to Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.
Le Pen has in the past shown sympathies for Russia and President Vladimir Putin, and has been openly skeptical about the European Union.
`` Against our expectations, Le Pen has been able to avoid criticism on her past links with Russia, focusing instead her messaging on the rising cost of living with popular but unrealistic measures such as eliminating income tax for under-30s, '' Barroso said.
`` The fact that there have not been proper debates between the candidates might be helping her ability to become the most credible candidate on the purchasing power issue, while the rally 'round the flag dividends have faded for Macron in the last few days. ''
After losing the run-off resoundingly in 2017, Le Pen is no longer campaigning on an exit from the EU or the euro, but her ascent to the presidency would likely throw a wrench in the works for the bloc.
Kallum Pickering, senior economist at Berenberg, said in a note Wednesday that while Le Pen would not be able to roll back European integration, further progress would likely stall.
`` With her agenda of protectionism, reform rollbacks, subsidies and harsh measures against immigration, she would likely trigger many conflicts with the EU. The European Commission may then take France to the European Court of Justice for violating EU rules in many cases, '' Pickering said.
`` Her spending proposals could violate EU fiscal rules once these are re-instated in 2024 after a likely new suspension in 2023 due to Putin's war. ''
Soon after taking office in 2017, Macron implemented sweeping economic reforms, cutting taxes on investors and the wealthy and relaxing hiring and firing rules. Data suggests the French economy has bounced back more strongly than most of its peers, having entered the Covid-19 pandemic during a period of outperformance.
Berenberg has long held the view that Macron's reforms would position France as the EU's `` growth engine '' over the next decade, but Pickering said this would be at risk with Le Pen at the helm.
`` Although a short-term fiscal boost may sustain near-term momentum, subsidies, protectionism and reform rollbacks would hurt France's growth potential, '' he added. | business |
How Juan Perez shaped UPS ' technology strategy | The company's tech strategy encircles its logistics network, from tapping automation to using data to make faster, more informed decisions.
Juan Perez has left UPS with a legacy that includes a stint as a delivery driver in 1990 and a rise to the title of CIO in 2016. He then expanded his role to encompass engineering, and wielded a $ 6 billion budget.
On Monday, Perez started his new job as CIO of Salesforce. His still-unnamed successor will only take over half the job.
`` We're not going to have the CIO and the engineering officer role combined anymore, '' Perez told CIO Dive. `` I was able to do that because I had experience in both areas — and there was a need at that particular time in the company to bring those two functions together. ''
But his successor will face formidable challenges. UPS is `` so dependent on technology, that IT has taken a central role, '' Perez said.
UPS has more than 550,000 employees — more than 5,000 of which are dedication to technology — and global operations that include an airline, a supply chain solutions business and a small package business. Every day, UPS delivers almost 25 million packages and documents.
Technology weaves throughout what Perez calls a `` smart logistics network. ''
A data-driven strategy encircles the network: data are available to users or systems to make better and faster decisions, tapping into automation as needed.
`` Packages are constantly flowing no matter what actually is thrown into this network, '' Perez said.
Perez's experience at UPS spans the entire operation, starting with a eight-month stint as a driver in Beverly Hills, California, as part of a management training program.
When he was knocking on doors with packages, the delivery process used analogue tracking and recorded packages by hand on paper. During his tenure, Perez piloted the first version of a `` delivery information acquisition device '' ( DIAD), a basic computer, clipboard-size.
This year, UPS will refactor the entire application and the backend support systems into a more nimble handheld: DIAD 6.
Perez thinks of the newest evolution as `` a driver assistant, '' augmenting the smarter vehicles and handheld devices.
`` But here's the virtuous cycle that UPS has always been in … the innovations that we have in hand today will lead to more innovations in the future, '' he said.
UPS's investment in technology is one of the main threats to its fiercest competitor — FedEx — according to Dean Maciuba, managing partner USA at Crossroads Parcel Consulting.
`` UPS always had significantly more resources to throw at customer technology solutions, '' Maciuba said. After lagging FedEx's early investment strategy in express shipping, UPS poured money into R & D.
Though UPS is still investing heavily in technology, deployment is sometimes delayed by complications in IT development and regulations.
Grand plans for drones and electric aircraft, for example, are barely off the drawing board. But Perez still sees them as the future of last-mile delivery.
UPS plans to purchase Vertical Takeoff and Landing aircraft from BETA Technologies, with the first 10 aircraft to begin arriving in 2024. The 250-mile range aircraft have a 1,400-pound cargo capacity, suited for the small- to mid-size markets. UPS has the option to purchase up to 150 of the aircraft.
Core to Perez's leadership: IT-business intimacy.
IT is `` a participant in the business team's objectives, and of course, it's also a participant in the business team's results, '' Perez said.
He paved the way for standards and a process where the architecture team at UPS sees all the technologies deployed across the organization. Through that discipline, and improving technology processes, UPS has reduced business-impacting incidents 73% since Perez’ s tool over, he said. UPS considers an incident business-impacting if any technology-related issues or change causes a package to not be delivered on time.
Alongside investments in R & D, UPS continues to invest in its network, announcing last week an expanded partnership with Google Cloud. In 2019, UPS touted its collaboration with Google Cloud Platform on routing software for saving the company up to $ 400 million a year, reducing fuel consumption by 10 million gallons a year.
It still has a robust on-premise technology investment, with four mainframes and 76.3 petabytes of storage. More than 90% of its data center servers are virtualized, according to UPS.
One of the cornerstones of his tenure is Perez's work on ORION, the On-road Integrated Optimization and Navigation system for UPS, which helps dynamically optimize driver routes to improve last-mile delivery.
UPS is now working toward automating driver dispatch so the technology can create the entire dispatch, optimizing routes while providing driver feedback, Perez said.
With more cloud capacity, UPS will invest in new data analytics and AI/Ml tools to help improve supply chain operations.
The company is also investing in the modernizations of its back office solutions, including its ERP and payroll systems.
While Perez always assigns a certain amount of the budget for technology modernization, he also sets aside room for technical debt reduction, a balance he strictly maintains.
It's all about balance, Perez said. `` At the end of the day, the CIO needs to be very effective working again with the business in defining priorities for the organization as to where the budget is going to go. ''
With a boost from the pandemic-delivery demand, CIOs are reporting to the CEO and have a direct line to the board, establishing technology as a mission critical operation.
There's been significant improvement during the pandemic to align business technology with the C-suite, according to Craig Stephenson, senior client partner, managing director, North America with Korn Ferry's CIO/CTO practice.
The top cadre of technology leaders are agile thinkers who can handle a lot of complexity, Stephenson said. Companies are evolving and tackling talent with expertise in data analytics and cloud. Successful leaders need a high level of comfort with ambiguity.
Centralizing IT with the business goals is key to Perez's leadership strategy and his legacy. Serving as a CIO for more than six years, the once-delivery-driver has cemented his role, closely aligning with UPS's top leader, CEO Carol Tomé.
In fact, Perez avows CIOs must report to the CEO: `` It's important the CIO has that seat at the table and that support from the CEO to be able to do his or her job. ''
Topics covered: logistics, freight, operations, procurement, regulation, technology, risk/resilience and more.
The retailer's acquisition of a middle- and final-mile carrier as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold has allowed it to take more control over its delivery process.
Adopters face marketing, data and governance challenges before they can reap the technology's full benefits.
Topics covered: logistics, freight, operations, procurement, regulation, technology, risk/resilience and more.
Topics covered: logistics, freight, operations, procurement, regulation, technology, risk/resilience and more.
The retailer's acquisition of a middle- and final-mile carrier as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold has allowed it to take more control over its delivery process.
Adopters face marketing, data and governance challenges before they can reap the technology's full benefits.
Topics covered: logistics, freight, operations, procurement, regulation, technology, risk/resilience and more. | general |
New Genomics Technology Could Power Gene Therapy in Oncology | A team of scientists from Mount Sinai was able to uncover specific tumor microenvironment ( TME) regulators using a novel functional genomics technology known as Perturb-map. The novel relationships discovered could have significant implications for cancer research.
Their research was recently published by Cell. “ Our focus for this project was related to immunology as well as gene therapy, ” Dr. Brian D. Brown, lead author and director of the Ichan Genomics Institute at Mount Sinai, told BioSpace. “ Cancer immunology and cancer immunotherapy allow us to treat patients. Some patients have extremely effective responses to these therapies, but there are also many patients who don’ t respond to them. ”
Brown originally came into biomedical research with an interest in gene therapy. “ I’ ve always been interested in science fiction. I was excited about the idea of going into gene therapy, and it prompted me to get my Ph.D. The idea of not just treating disease, but curing it at a genetic level, was very exciting, ” he said. “ Right now, there’ s a huge resurgence of interest in the gene therapy field. COVID vaccines are a result of that progress. ”
Brown and his team have used CRISPR technology in their lab for years. “ CRISPR can be powerful in gene therapy. One way it’ s commonly used is to knock out genes. A number of years ago, scientists came up with ways to use CRISPR libraries, which include thousands of CRISPRs, to knock out specific genes and figure out what happens when each gene is knocked out. This tells us about the gene’ s function, ” he said. “ What makes it so powerful is that you can knock out hundreds of thousands of genes simultaneously. ”
He explained that while the CRISPR screens are extremely effective for cell-intrinsic research, they don’ t give much information about a gene’ s function outside of the cell. “ There is an entire class of genes that function only outside the cell. CRISPR screens can’ t assay for these types of gene functions. The way the screens are read out causes a loss of spatial resolution and a loss of information about what was around the cell. ”
The researchers looked into the mechanism of tumors that do not traditionally respond well to treatment. “ Tumors have a certain spatial arrangement of immune cells. Some of these cells are outside, while others are inside the tumor, ” Brown said.
The structured arrangement of growing cancer cells, including the arrangement of B cells and T cells, has a large effect on patient outcome. “ No matter what you do, T cells can’ t kill cancer cells if they can’ t get into the tumor. Patients with this kind of arrangement respond badly to treatment. ”
In 2018, the lab invented a technology called Pro-Codes, or Protein Barcodes. “ The technology is a way to barcode CRISPR libraries without having to read them with that next-generation sequencing. The beautiful thing is that this allows us to barcode cells with different CRISPRs and different gene knockouts. You get single-cell resolution, ” Brown explained.
The Pro-Code system is the basis for their spatial functional genomics technology called Perturb-map. The team applied the Perturb-map platform to knock out genes in parallel in a mouse model of lung cancer.
The scientists removed lung cancer cells from the mice, then analyzed stained tissue. They were able to identify the exact Protein Barcodes within the cells based on color staining alone. “ The tumors were everywhere, but when we stained them, we could see each lesion lighting up with a different Pro-Code. We could see how homogeneous each lesion was for a particular barcode. ”
The staining also allowed the scientists to differentiate between single-cell and multicell cloning. “ We wouldn’ t have known before that each tumor was started by one single cell, but we could see it here based on coloring. With our stained map, we could trace the cancer clones. ”
In the past, the genes could be studied individually, but this technology allows researchers to study the effect of potentially thousands of genes on cancer at the same time. “ The important thing is that we built a library of Pro-Code CRISPR vectors to target these genes, ” Brown said. “ These genes were indicated in tumor immunology already, but we haven't been able to assay in this manner before. Each cell has an individual knockout, but this allowed us to study them in parallel. We could look at speed and understand how two knockouts would interact with each other. This is important in cancer immunology. ”
This image on the left shows a close-up of lesions in lung tissue before staining, and the image on the right shows the lesions after staining. “ In the left picture, the lung tissue appears to have only one large tumor or a couple. But once we stained it, we could ask interesting new questions that we haven’ t been able to ask before in functional genomic approaches. Before, we couldn’ t even guess the exact number of tumors, and we couldn’ t separate lesions. This image shows us the exact number, ” Brown explained.
The researchers compared lung lobes from a number of mice to ascertain patterns. “ You can determine the number of distinct lesions, their size and how they grow. You can determine if there are more or less immune cells infiltrating. This opens doors to much that we couldn’ t do before. It’ s quite powerful, especially for the cancer immunology field. ”
The imaging allowed the researchers to determine that tumors grew much better, more frequently and bigger with specific genes. In comparison to control tumors, they collected data on morphology of the tumors by assessing large numbers of gene effects all at once. “ This couldn’ t be done with the other CRISPR approach or any other functional genomics approach, ” Brown said.
The scientists were also able to look at immune cell infiltration. “ We were able to map where each knockout was, and we could stain different immune cells. For example, we learned that a Socs1 knockout had more T cells than others. We learned that Tgfbr2 tumors grow the biggest. ”
Being able to view the tumors side by side using the Pro-Code technology allowed the researchers to determine how localized a gene knockout’ s effect could be on the TME. Brown explained, “ These important findings can represent a pocket of resistance to immunotherapy. When we treat tumors with a drug, we see certain cells kill others, but these cells can’ t get into the Tgfbr2 tumor. The T cells are being excluded from the cold tumor. Socs1 is considered a hot tumor. Hot tumors are more sensitive to chemotherapy. When we use screens with spatial recognition, we can see how a knockout influences response to a drug, and how knocking out a gene affects the local distal environment and location of a tumor. ”
Brown believes the biological findings and technology can have many applications in target discovery. “ We need drugs that can remodel the tumor microenvironment. This is a huge need. There are one or two really great drugs that can turn on T cells, but that’ s not useful if the cancer is using an alternative mechanism. We’ re trying to find out what these mechanisms are. ”
He explained that the technology could be used in TMEs where the T cells are unable to get in. “ It could be used to find out what genes are driving the immunosuppressive environment. Then we could allow the T cells in and allow them to kill the cancer cells. Beyond that, we want to find the genes that are mediating drug resistance. We can use these types of screens to treat animals with a drug, then see what tumors grow better or worse in relation to a knocked-out gene. ”
The technology may be able to determine which patients are good candidates for immunotherapy. According to Johns Hopkins, only 15 to 20% of patients respond well to immunotherapy.
“ There are a huge number of patients being treated who, for reasons that we don’ t understand, are not responding to immunotherapy, ” Brown noted. “ We’ d like to not have to give those patients those drugs for many reasons. They’ re expensive and time-consuming. We’ d like to put them on a therapy that will work better. Identifying the next class of drugs is important. With better predictors, doctors can more easily determine who should be put on immunotherapy, and who should not. ”
Brown reminds that before eventual therapeutic approaches can be established, understanding the novel biology of these processes should be prioritized. “ The new frontier right now in experimental biology and biosciences, especially in cancer, is spatial. We’ ve introduced spatial functional genomics here. Everyone is so excited because this helps us to learn how different cells are influencing each other in a complex tissue environment. This is very different than in a petri dish and different than a single cell model. Even with the most advanced technology before, we were losing information. ” | general |
Macron: an abrasive reformer in turbulent times | Hi, what are you looking for?
By
Published
A short time after becoming France’ s youngest ever president in 2017, Emmanuel Macron made a boast about his temperament that made clear he was expecting trouble while in office.
“ I’ m not made to lead in calm weather, ” he told author Emmanuel Carrere during a tour of the hurricane-hit French Caribbean island of Saint Martin in 2017. “ My predecessor was, but I’ m made for storms. ”
The comment, made as he observed devastated homes, proved prophetic.
Over his five years, some storms were expected, some were of his own making, while others barrelled over the horizon unannounced.
After Macron’ s first year in office, marked by major tax and labour market reforms, he faced some of the most violent anti-government demonstrations since the 1960s when protesters in florescent yellow safety jackets began a nationwide revolt against his policies.
From the beginning of 2020, he battled a once-in-a-century global pandemic as Covid-19 spread from China, rendering almost all other government business irrelevant and putting paid to his last reform plans.
“ We are at a time in the history of humanity when we have rarely seen such an accumulation of short-term crises, ” he told a think-tank in late 2020.
For the last month and a half, having weathered Donald Trump’ s norm-shredding American presidency, he has been on the diplomatic frontlines trying to end Russian President Vladimir Putin’ s invasion of Ukraine.
– ‘ President of the rich’? –
Throughout all these crises, the man dubbed “ The Chameleon President ” by Le Monde newspaper, has often confounded the French.
His pro-enterprise reforms, tough talk on crime, and belief in well-funded public services and state regulation — “ neither of the left, nor the right, ” he says — has sometimes made it hard to pin down the essence of “ Macronism ”.
As a personality, still aged only 44, he is seen by fans as energetic and bold, but criticised for being abrasive and sometimes authoritarian.
His long work days and late-night demands on ministers have left many around him exhausted.
“ I think I arrived in power with a sort of vitality, which I hope I still have, with a desire to shake things up, ” he told TF1 television in an interview in December.
That desire, he now concedes, has sometimes been the source of his errors, particularly off-the-cuff comments made to members of the public that have forged his reputation for arrogance and insensitivity.
He once told an unemployed gardener that he could “ cross the road and get you a job ” and accused opponents of his labour market reforms of being “ slackers ”.
“ I think that with some of my comments I hurt people, ” the former investment banker at Rothschild and Co continued during his interview with TF1. “ And I think you can get things done without hurting people. ”
Nicolas Domenach, co-author of a recent book titled “ Macron: Why so much hatred? ”, said these remarks, coupled with Macron’ s decision to make tax cuts for the wealthy one of his first priorities, were the fuel for the “ Yellow Vest ” protests in 2018.
“ Not only did we have a ‘ president of the rich’, but a president of contempt and arrogance. Everyone we spoke to mentioned it, ” said the veteran journalist and commentator. “ It cut through. It was like he was branded with it, with hot iron. ”
– Reforms –
Despite stirring such strong feelings in opponents, Macron has always retained a loyal core of support, mainly from urban professionals.
They admire his pro-business policies and desire to modernise France’ s vast social security system, as well as what is widely seen as an uncommon intellect and grasp of policy detail.
Partly thanks to his reforms and vast government spending during the Covid-19 pandemic, unemployment is at its lowest level in 14 years.
“ People are also proud when they see him overseas. He represents France well, ” explained Domenach.
Macron believes in a “ diplomacy of audacity ” and he has thrown himself into the search for solutions to crises ranging from Iran’ s disputed nuclear programme, to Libya’ s civil war, and latterly the Russian-Ukraine conflict.
His repeated mediation efforts have rarely borne fruit — including his most recent attempts to convince Putin not to invade — but the Ukraine crisis has proved a boon for his dream of a stronger, more united European Union.
– Private life –
Macron’ s unusual personal life remains a source of fascination in France, though his marriage is no longer a subject of open speculation, as it was before the 2017 election which forced him to make a public denial that he was gay.
He is married to his former drama teacher Brigitte, whom he met while a pupil at a private school in their hometown of Amiens in northeast France.
More than 24 years his senior and a mother of three children, Brigitte divorced her husband and began a relationship with Macron while he was in his late teens.
Known to have reluctantly embraced her husband’ s political ambitions, she once said she wanted to avoid being like “ a vase of flowers ” in the background at official functions but has kept a relatively low profile as first lady.
“ I’ ve learned not to speak openly to anyone, anywhere and anyhow which is a colossal effort for me because I’ m very talkative, ” she told the Figaro newspaper recently.
If Macron fails with his bid for a second term — or succeeds and serves a second term until 2027, when he will be only aged 49 — his mother has an idea of what his future might hold.
“ I’ m convinced he’ ll launch himself as a writer, that he’ ll take another path. He’ s not the sort of person to do the international conference circuit, ” Francoise Nogues told the writer Gael Tchakaloff for her book about the Macron couple.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
A cargo airplane broke up during an emergency landing in Costa Rica on Thursday.
Britain is sending Ukraine more Starstreak anti-aircraft missiles and 800 anti-tank missiles after an attack on a train station.
The Thursday confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the US Supreme Court marks an undeniable success for Joe Biden.
Scientists have created a data set of synthetic eye movements that can train the machine learning classifier for a new program.
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Unhappy spouses celebrate as England adopts 'no-fault divorce ' | Hi, what are you looking for?
No more faked evidence, unhappy spouses in England and Wales can end their marriages without blaming each other.
By
Published
No more faked evidence or years-long waits — from Wednesday, unhappy spouses in England and Wales can end their marriages without blaming each other, in the biggest reform of divorce law for half a century.
The onset of “ no-fault ” divorces means one spouse no longer needs to prove the other guilty of adultery, “ unreasonable behaviour ” or desertion.
If such grounds did not exist, the couple had to live apart for two years before a divorce could be granted — or five years if one partner objected to the proceedings.
The change brings England and Wales into line with Scotland, which has its own legal system, and with other countries including the United States, Australia and Germany.
While experts expect a rush of divorces by couples who were waiting for the legal reform, they predict it could also ironically increase rates of marriage, by promising an easier way out if the relationship sours.
The case of Tini Owens galvanised a campaign for the change after she lost a Supreme Court fight in 2018, having failed to persuade the judges that her 40-year marriage should end.
Her husband had contested her claims of unreasonable behaviour, and the judges ruled that being trapped in an unhappy marriage was not in itself grounds for divorce.
“ No-one should have to remain in a loveless marriage or endure a long, drawn-out and expensive court battle to end it, ” Owens said.
“ This change in the law guards against that happening and I welcome it, ” she added.
The reform does not herald US-style “ quickie divorces ” — there is a minimum wait of 20 weeks between a spouse first initiating proceedings and then applying for a legal order.
They must then wait another six weeks before the divorce can be granted.
But it does overhaul the current system, in place for decades, under which some spouses would resort to private detectives to find evidence of fault, or the couple would agree simply to concoct the evidence.
Vicky admitted that she and her first husband “ had to make up scenarios and situations that we felt were going to be accepted ” by the court after they had agreed to an amicable divorce.
Her second marriage was to a “ very manipulative ” and “ violent ” man who refused to engage with divorce proceedings, forcing her to wait for five years of separation.
“ And I could have been out of that relationship a lot quicker and a lot sooner than I was, ” Vicky, giving only her first name, told BBC radio.
Some lawyers welcomed the end of an adversarial divorce culture, while stressing that legal advice remained essential for resolving financial and child custody issues.
A survey commissioned by the law firm Slater and Gordon pointed to an unintended consequence — 32 percent of cohabiting respondents said they were more likely to get married now that the divorce process was simpler.
With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.
Under a shattered crescent hanger at Ukraine's Gostomel Airport the world's largest plane lies buckled and broken.
A federal appeals court upheld Biden’ s vaccine mandate for federal workers, while COVID-19 cases rise.
The fake logic is simple to the point of idiocy, but it’ ll work in information-starved Russia.
At least 52 people are killed, including five children, in a rocket attack on a train station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk.
COPYRIGHT © 1998 - 2022 DIGITAL JOURNAL INC. Digital Journal is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more about our external linking. | general |
Surging inflation compelling small businesses to raise prices | Companies of all sizes face increasing signs that high inflation is becoming entrenched, forcing a review of fundamental business planning including pricing, wages and capital allocation.
`` Broad-based price increases have become normal across the economy, '' according to Neil Bradley, the chamber’ s chief policy officer and head of strategic advocacy. `` Supply chain disruptions, energy prices and a persistent shortage of labor are all coming together at a time of sustained demand to force prices up. ''
The rising cost of inputs has prompted companies to pass on higher prices to consumers. The producer price index for final demand, a measure of what suppliers charge, soared 10% in February from the prior year as the pandemic continued to crimp supply chains in industries from housing to technology.
Meanwhile, the consumer price index ( CPI) rose last month at a 7.9% annual rate, the fastest pace in four decades, according to the Labor Department.
`` Larger companies can often delay price increases even when their input costs increase through efficiencies and reductions in margin, '' Bradley said, adding that such forbearance is usually more difficult for smaller companies.
`` What we are seeing right now is that the inflationary pressures are so great and so broad-based that companies are being forced to raise prices regardless of their size, '' Bradley said in an email response to Supply Chain Dive sister publication CFO Dive.
Inflation will probably slow in coming months as pandemic-induced disruptions in supply chains clear up, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said at a March 16 press conference after a meeting of central bank policymakers.
Fed officials forecast that their preferred inflation measure — the core personal consumption expenditures ( PCE) price index — will decline to 4.1% by December from a 38-year high of 5.2% in January.
The Fed, citing price pressures, raised the federal funds rate on March 16 for the first time since 2018. It has set an inflation target of 2%.
The survey of small businesses underscores the magnitude of the inflation challenge, Bradley said. `` The survey results confirm that inflation is broad-based, impacting every economic sector and is likely to persist much longer than originally anticipated. ''
Despite rising prices, small businesses said they are more confident about their outlook than at any time since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, according to the survey. The survey of 750 small business owners and operators was conducted from Jan. 14 until Jan. 26.
In a separate survey from American Express and Kabbage, around 90% of businesses said they hadn't had to slow or halt operations due to the omicron variant.
`` It is encouraging to see the steady rise in business confidence on Main Street, even as the latest survey was taken at the height of the omicron wave, '' Sullivan said.
Topics covered: logistics, freight, operations, procurement, regulation, technology, risk/resilience and more.
The retailer's acquisition of a middle- and final-mile carrier as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold has allowed it to take more control over its delivery process.
Adopters face marketing, data and governance challenges before they can reap the technology's full benefits.
Topics covered: logistics, freight, operations, procurement, regulation, technology, risk/resilience and more.
Topics covered: logistics, freight, operations, procurement, regulation, technology, risk/resilience and more.
The retailer's acquisition of a middle- and final-mile carrier as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold has allowed it to take more control over its delivery process.
Adopters face marketing, data and governance challenges before they can reap the technology's full benefits.
Topics covered: logistics, freight, operations, procurement, regulation, technology, risk/resilience and more. | general |
BA.2 subvariant of omicron accounted for almost 94% of global cases in latest week, the latest sign of how dominant it has become | The omicron variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 accounted for 99.8% of global new cases in the latest week, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, and the BA.2 subvariant accounted for 93.6% of those, in the latest data point to show just how dominant it has become.
In its
weekly epidemiological update,
the agency said BA.2 has become dominant in all six of its regions and in 68 countries for which sequencing data are available.
The recombinant XD, which combines elements of the delta variant and omicron variant, is being tracked as a variant under monitoring for now, said the update. Its spread appears to have remained limited and evidence does not suggest it is more transmissible than other variants, said the update.
The XE recombinant, which combines the BA.1 and BA.2 subvariants, is being tracked as part of omicron. For now, XE, which was first detected in the UK on Jan. 19 and showed up in 600 sequences reported as of March 29, is still showing a 10% transmission advantage over BA.2; “ however, this finding requires further confirmation, ” said the WHO, reiterating its message from last week.
The WHO again urged governments not to drop their guard in implementing continuous and representative community sampling and sequencing strategies, and to share the data with the agency in a timely manner.
Many countries have dropped some or all of their COVID restrictions, and the U.S. is no longer offering free tests for the uninsured, which has reduced the number of tests being performed and has resulted in lower numbers of cases detected.
See:
Fauci: Herd immunity to SARS-CoV-2 may be ‘ unattainable
’
The U.S. is averaging 28,693 cases a day,
according to a New York Times tracker,
down 1% from two weeks ago but higher than Tuesday’ s count. Cases are rising in states in the Northeast and South again as BA.2 spreads. The country is averaging 15,383 hospitalizations a day, down 27% from two weeks ago. The daily death toll has fallen below 700 to 602.
An FDA panel is to meet Wednesday to discuss the best strategy for dealing with COVID for the rest of the year and review the evidence that new variants are resisting the current vaccines,
the New York Times reported.
The panel will decide whether reconfigured vaccines will better protect against emerging and future variants and consider how to secure supply in the event of a surge in cases later in the year. The meeting is being broadcast live on YouTube.
The FDA said late Tuesday that GlaxoSmithKline’ s
GSK,
+2.58%
GSK,
+1.23%
IV drug for COVID-19 should no longer be used because it is likely ineffective against omicron,
the Associated Press reported.
The decision was expected, because the FDA had repeatedly restricted the drug’ s use in the Northeast and other regions as the BA.2 version of omicron became dominant.
The FDA has already pulled antibody treatments from Eli Lilly & Co.
LLY,
+4.56%
and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.
REGN,
+2.44%
for the same reason, leaving just one antibody that is still authorized for use, another Eli Lilly drug that appears to work against BA.2. However, doctors can prescribe the antivirals developed by Pfizer Inc.
PFE,
+3.18%
and Merck & Co.
MRK,
+1.49%
.
See also
:
The U.S. plans to further invest in care and research for long COVID
Other COVID-19 news you should know about:
• Nigeria has lifted a nationwide midnight curfew and limitations on gatherings along with other restrictions imposed more than two years ago to curb the spread of coronavirus,
AFP reported.
The country has recorded 3,142 deaths from 255,468 cases since the start of the pandemic though the figures for Africa’ s most populous nation are considered to be underestimated due to a lack of testing.
• A study conducted in Israel found that a second booster shot of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and German partner BioNTech SE
BNTX,
-7.84%
provided additional short-term protection against omicron infection and severe disease in older adults, but that the effectiveness waned after just four weeks,
the New York Times reported.
The study involved more than 1.2 million older adults aged 60 and older, who were eligible for a fourth shot between Jan. 10 and March 2.
Barricades, panic buying and empty streets are some scenes from Shanghai as China’ s most populous city imposed a new lockdown. Offices and factories – including Tesla’ s – were affected by China’ s measures against its worst virus outbreak in two years. Photo: Aly Song/Reuters
• The UK, already struggling with record high COVID cases, may be facing a steep rise in hospitalizations and deaths in the coming weeks as the virus infects more people aged more than 55 years,
the Guardian reported.
The paper cited Imperial College London’ s latest React-1 study which found that while infections appeared to be slowing down or plateauing in most younger age groups in England, they were rising in over-55s, with no clear sign of when they will peak.
• The
Kaiser Family Foundation
has found that most adults in the U.S. have not returned to a pre-pandemic “ Normal, ” and are divided on the issue of face masks on public transport. Six in ten adults ( 59%) in the foundation’ s latest survey say they have not fully returned to their normal pre-pandemic activities, including 42% who say they have returned to doing only some of these activities and 17% who say they are doing very few of them. But most unvaccinated adults, or 57%, most Republicans, at 55%, and nearly half of all White adults, or 47%, said they never changed activity levels.
See:
CDC, stinging from criticism of its handling of the pandemic, announces review and revamp
Here’ s what the numbers say
The global tally of confirmed cases of COVID-19 topped 494.1 million on Monday, while the death toll rose above 6.16 million,
according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University
.
The U.S. leads the world with 80.2 million cases and more than 983,196 fatalities.
The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’ s tracker
shows that 217.9 million people living in the U.S. are fully vaccinated, equal to 65.6% of the population. But just 98.2 million are boosted, equal to 45% of the vaccinated population. | business |
Asia’ s outbreaks show that Omicron is deadly in unvaccinated people | D URING THE first two years of the covid-19 pandemic, rich Asian countries had lower case rates than almost anywhere else. But like a dam holding back a flood, the longer a region’ s defences hold up, the worse the resulting disaster once they fail.
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The Omicron variant has swept remarkably fast through places with little past exposure to covid. As a share of population, South Korea has logged more cases in 2022 than America has during the entire pandemic. Hong Kong’ s surge has been even more abrupt. Until this February, it barely had any positive tests. Its cumulative caseload per person now matches Finland’ s.
In Europe Omicron has caused greater increases in cases than in hospitalisations or deaths. Two factors have combined to yield such mild disease: strong immunity levels and Omicron’ s low severity when compared with Delta. Until recently, it was unclear which mattered more. But the Asian data show that immunity is crucial, and that Omicron is still deadly for unvaccinated people who have not yet had covid.
Hong Kong and South Korea provide a natural experiment. Both were mostly covid-free before 2022, and had little infection-induced immunity. But South Korea has had a strong vaccine roll-out, whereas Hong Kong has had one of the rich world’ s worst. Its messaging was decidedly mixed, giving equal weight to arguments for and against vaccination, and telling people with chronic diseases to consult doctors before getting jabs. Its nurses worried about personal liability for mishaps.
Hong Kong also made heavy use of Sinovac, a Chinese vaccine that is less effective than Western shots. According to Ming Pao, a newspaper, of Hong Kongers who died in the recent wave, 71% were unvaccinated and another 25% had received Sinovac. Just 4% got Western vaccines.
Unfortunately, Hong Kong’ s elderly were unusually hesitant. In South Korea take-up of booster shots, which are needed to protect against Omicron, is greatest among the old. In Hong Kong, in contrast, those most likely to get boosted are middle-aged. Just 37% of its septuagenarians and 14% of those 80 or older, the most vulnerable groups, are boosted—similar to the shares among people aged 20-39 and teenagers, respectively. When Omicron first struck, these rates were even lower.
This discrepancy has had a big impact. During the Omicron wave, Hong Kong’ s official covid mortality rate has been five times higher than South Korea’ s. These figures can be biased by differences in testing rates and judgments on causes of death. But fair comparisons can be made with excess mortality—the gap between the number of deaths from all causes and the number expected under normal conditions.
Although recent total-mortality numbers have not been published, our best estimate suggests that since February 1st 2.4 times as many people have died because of the pandemic in Hong Kong as in South Korea. At the peak of Hong Kong’ s surge in early March, its daily excess-death rate was between those registered in London ( 1.8 per 100,000 people) and New York ( 5.1) when covid first struck—a period with no vaccines, little testing and an incorrect understanding of how the virus spreads. ■
For a look behind the scenes of our data journalism, sign up to Off the Charts, our weekly newsletter.Sources: Our World in Data; Public Health England; CDC; Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency; Hong Kong Department of Health; The Economist
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 |
COVID-19 Vaccine-Associated Breakthrough Bleeding Reported in Non-Menstruating People | Study draws attention to potential physical and mental side effects of vaccination in people with diverse gender identities.
Many people who do not usually menstruate reported experiencing breakthrough bleeding or other period symptoms after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, according to new findings from an online survey by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis.
The study is the first to examine vaccine-associated breakthrough bleeding in people who take testosterone or other hormones that suppress menstruation. The research focuses on individuals with a range of gender identities such as transgender, nonbinary, or gender-fluid. Previous studies of COVID-19 vaccine-related menstrual symptoms have largely focused on cisgender ( cis) women, those whose gender identity matches the female gender they were assigned at birth.
“ It’ s important to examine the impacts of COVID-19 vaccination on menstruation and breakthrough bleeding in people who are not cis women because they are too often left out of the discussion, ” said Katharine Lee, PhD, a postdoctoral research scholar in the division of public health sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, first author of the study. “ I hope that this study adds to the increasing evidence that maybe we should include periods as part of vaccine research more broadly. Our findings also underscore the importance of including gender-diverse people when we study parts of biology that are closely linked with sex-based reproductive physiology like periods. ”
Lee presented the study findings at the American Association for Anatomy annual meeting during the Experimental Biology ( EB) 2022 meeting, which was held in Philadelphia on April 2-5, 2022.
Researchers have previously reported that some people with regular or predictable menstrual cycles experience changes in the timing or symptoms of their periods after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, although these changes are usually temporary and there is no evidence that fertility is affected. For the new study, Lee and colleagues analyzed a subset of responses to an online survey on menstrual experiences after vaccination for insights specific to people who do not usually menstruate.
Out of over 160,000 survey respondents, the researchers identified 552 people who said they used testosterone or other gender-affirming hormones and did not usually menstruate. Most of these respondents ( 84%) selected more than one gender category, with 460 identifying as transgender, 373 specifying man or man identified, 241 identifying as non-binary and 124 indicating they were genderqueer/gender non-conforming.
One-third of these respondents reported breakthrough bleeding after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, 9% reported chest or breast soreness and 46% reported having other symptoms they would usually associate with a period, such as cramping and bloating. Some respondents used the survey’ s open-ended text boxes to report significant negative mental health impacts in response to their period symptoms, including anxiety, depression, gender dysphoria, panic attacks, and suicidal ideation.
Clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccines have not generally examined impacts on menstrual experiences. As a result, these potential effects are not mentioned in the safety information that is provided to vaccine recipients.
“ I hope that discussing these findings openly allows people to know that this could be a side effect so they can prepare appropriately, ” said Lee. “ This is especially important given the fact that some people described mental health outcomes like anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation as responses to unexpected breakthrough bleeding after vaccination. ”
Lee added that a better understanding of potential menstrual side effects can help to address the needs of medically underserved populations, including gender-diverse individuals, as well as help reduce vaccine hesitancy. The research team shared results from a different subset of the same survey in a preprint on medRxiv.
Lee will present this research from 11:15 a.m.–12:15 p.m. Monday, April 4, in Exhibit/Poster Hall A-B, Pennsylvania Convention Center ( Poster Board Number C118) ( abstract). This work will be featured in a virtual press conference from 11–11:45 a.m. EDT on Friday, April 1 ( RSVP by Thursday, March 31). Contact the media team for more information or to obtain a free press pass to attend the meeting. | tech |
IR’ s Real-Time Payments Product to Power Organizations’ Financial and Business Efficiencies | IR a leading global provider of performance management and analytics for unified communication and collaboration, IT infrastructure, and payment ecosystems, announced the launch of their new product – Real-Time Payments, as an extension to the existing IR Transact suite. This will enable businesses to modernize their payment processes and increase financial transparency.
The growth in non-cash transactions has been phenomenal driving more reliance on digital and real-time payments since 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically accelerated this trend triggering real-time payment schemes across the globe. A surge of 41% increase in real-time payments was observed during the pandemic. Globally, governments are providing an impetus to increase digital transactions.
IR’ s Real-Time Payments product simplifies the complexity of managing real-time payments for businesses. It enables detailed tracking of payment flows and monitors abnormal patterns instantly. The solution can utilize analytics to identify and respond to data patterns proactively – be it early detection of system slowdowns or improving service levels.
“ Speed, choice and efficiency are key benefits driving a major change in the global real-time payment ecosystem. At IR, we fully understand that monitoring and analyzing the resulting data volumes can be a hurdle to overcome in this digital transformation journey. Our Real-Time Payments product ensures that any outages or slowdowns are identified and resolved quickly to meet Service Level Agreements ( SLAs), ” said David Guiver, Head of Transact Products, IR. “ The product ensures better management of finances minimizing fines to the extent possible and uncovers emerging trends informing better business decisions. ”
Real-time payment schemes are being introduced across countries. The Compound Annual Growth Rate ( CAGR) for real-time payments is projected to be 23.6 percent from 2020 to 2025. IR’ s Real-Time Payments product benefits customers to ride this growth wave by ensuring the health of payment systems in a timely manner. | tech |
LinkedIn: Amazon top U.S. company to work for to achieve career growth | LinkedIn on Wednesday named Amazon the top U.S. company to work for if you're seeking career growth. It's the second year Amazon has topped the list.
LinkedIn's 2022 Top Companies list tracks seven pillars focused on career progression: ability to advance, skills growth, company stability, external opportunity, company affinity, gender diversity and spread of educational backgrounds. The company said the rankings are based on data from its 810 million members and the investments companies make in employees.
But CNBC partner JUST Capital, a platform dedicated to measuring and improving corporate performance, found the e-commerce giant ranks much lower with workers.
JUST ranks Amazon 11th of 53 in retail, and 569th overall among the companies it tracks in the Russell 1000. JUST Capital's rankings are determined by a poll of Americans on what workers ' issues they believe U.S. companies should prioritize most. For workers, these include paying a living wage, worker health and safety, benefits and work-life balance, diversity, equity and inclusion, and workforce investment and training.
Amazon exceeds the industry average in JUST's rankings in all categories but one: worker health and safety, which measures the company's well-being protections for workers beyond what is required by law.
JUST also ranks Amazon below the industry average on health and safety based on the number of controversies and fewer pertinent policies at the company.
This category is notably absent from the appraisal that goes into LinkedIn's list.
Amazon, the country's second-largest private employer, has faced broad scrutiny from lawmakers, activists and some of its own employees over its labor record.
Warehouse and delivery workers have routinely spoken out against the company, arguing its `` customer obsession '' and focus on speedy delivery have created an unsafe working environment. They 've claimed the breakneck pace doesn't allow for adequate breaks and bathroom time, and employees have also urged the company to raise wages and offer more paid vacation time.
Activism among employees has picked up since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic — with staged protests and calls for workplace safety. Employees have also accused Amazon of retaliating against both white-collar and blue-collar workers who 've publicly criticized the company.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy acknowledged during the GeekWire Summit in October that the company could do more to treat employees better. `` I think if you have a large group of people like we do — we have 1.2 million employees — it's almost like a small country, '' he said. `` There are lots of things you could do better. ''
Amazon workers on New York's Staten Island voted to join a union, in perhaps the strongest signal of activism at the company. The outcome represents a major upset for the e-commerce giant, which has staunchly opposed unions since its founding over two decades ago.
The union election has placed a renewed focus on how Amazon treats its employees. Earlier this month, the House Oversight Committee launched an investigation into Amazon's labor practices, demanding it turn over information related to a deadly warehouse collapse in Illinois last year.
Amid growing labor unrest, Amazon last year pledged to work on improving employee welfare. The company added `` Strive to be Earth's Best Employer '' to its list of leadership principles, which serve as the foundation of its corporate culture.
The company has also added more robust benefits, such as covering the cost of college tuition, including books and fees, for its approximately 750,000 hourly employees nationwide. It's pledged $ 1.2 billion to help upgrade the skills of more than 300,000 of its employees by 2025.
Last fall, Amazon raised its average starting pay for U.S. warehouse workers to $ 18 an hour, after setting a $ 15 an hour minimum wage in 2018.
WATCH: Amazon Labor Union wins -- president breaks down future decisions | business |
The Unlonely Planet 2022: How Ashoka Fellows Accelerate an Everyone a Changemaker World | Ashoka presents its global study of systems-changing social entrepreneurs. This study presents the 11 strategies Ashoka Fellows use to build a world of changemakers.
Every three years, Ashoka conducts a study to understand how its Fellows are driving lasting social change. In 2021, we quantified how Ashoka Fellows shift mindsets, change policies, and activate others as changemakers.
A total of 817 Ashoka Fellows participated in the global survey and 32 Fellows participated in in-depth interviews. The methodology, analysis, and data collection have been co-led by a team from Tyresia, the Business School of Polytechnic of Milan and the Ashoka Impact and Evidence Team.
Here are some of the key findings of the 2021 survey of Ashoka Fellows, representing one of the largest studies of systems-changing social entrepreneurs globally.
Strategy 1: Create opportunities for many individuals to contribute. In addition to creating employment ( 95% of Ashoka Fellows) and volunteer opportunities ( 87%), many Fellows recognize that it is time for a fundamental shift especially in the role of young people. 89% of Fellows are putting young people in charge of leading change within their organizations.
Strategy 2: Encourage individuals to believe in their own capacity. By encouraging problem-solving on even a small scale, Ashoka Fellows expand others’ sense of agency. Giving a person the opportunity to take action and make a difference–no matter how small–sets in motion a long-term commitment to changemaking.
Strategy 3: Redefine “ weaknesses ” as strengths. Interview data showed that Ashoka Fellows take stock of people’ s skills and invite them to put these to good use. Further, they look at what broader society may perceive as weakness and find strength, leveraging diverse experiences or skills to drive positive change.
Strategy 4: Support changemaker identity development. Ashoka Fellows identity as changemakers sustains their commitment to systems-change work. This identity benefits their communities and professional endeavors as well as their personal development and quality of life. Wanting this for those around them, Ashoka Fellows help others to develop changemaker identities.
Strategy 5: Build multiplier partnerships. Ashoka Fellows build partnerships to generate solutions, impact, and changemakers. They work with others toward a shared vision. They often relinquish control and ownership of their ideas to see them spread as far as possible: 82% of Ashoka Fellows have had their innovations replicated by others ( through strategic partnerships, open sourcing or licensing, among other methods). 61% replicated within their country, and 42% at an international level.
Strategy 6: Create space for the community’ s voice. Ashoka Fellows see community members not as beneficiaries, but as experts and decision-makers. As such, they create space for community members to develop solutions and voice their plans for action. They present ideas and ask for input from a range of stakeholders or invite others to partner in implementing solutions.
Strategy 7: Engage individuals everywhere. Interview data show that Fellows strategically target community members who are beyond the inner circle of allies. By targeting “ unlikely allies, ” Fellows can often engage those who may not normally encounter a specific social issue, but who can meaningfully contribute to positive social change.
Strategy 8: Shift policies and market systems. Many institutions either by design or inadvertently prevent large portions of society from reaching their full potential. Ashoka Fellows shift systems and restructure institutions to operate in service of the collective good and provide many more people the freedom and support to contribute. They do this by changing policies of large companies or industries ( 51%), encouraging them to include previously excluded communities ( 52%), or creating value for a product or service where it didn’ t exist before ( 51%). At the legislative level, 63% of Ashoka Fellows changed or influenced government policy, while 66% have advised policymakers as experts.
Strategy 9: Influence societal mindsets or cultural norms. By influencing societal mindsets and cultural norms, they help others see and act in accordance with social changes that benefit all. Fellows do this by encouraging people to think differently ( 88%), through campaigns ( 43%), or through programs ( 21%).
Strategy 10: Foster supportive environments that enable changemaking. Fellows invest their energy in the creation of communities where individuals feel psychologically and physically safe, cared for and supported. They do this within the walls of the organizations, but also wherever they convene the broader community in public spaces from classrooms to community squares. In doing so, individuals feel comfortable to share their ideas, work with others, and build something new.
Strategy 11: Build ecosystems that sustain changemaking. Interview data show that Fellows bring together funders, businesses, governments, civil society organizations, media companies, and universities to reduce barriers that blunt agency and prevent individuals from engaging in changemaking. By banding together, they can exponentially increase their potential to address issues that perpetuate systemic inequality.
On February 23, the Ashoka Impact Team, our partners from Politecnico di Milano and Ashoka Fellow Vishal Talreja, Founder of Dream a Dream, presented the highlights of The Unlonely Planet 2022.
Re-watch the presentation here to learn about the 11 strategies that Ashoka Fellows use to create an Everyone a Changemaker World, and Vishal's personal experience.
This 2022 edition of the Social Innovations Journal titled: `` Global Trends in Social Entrepreneurship: Developments in a COVID-19 World '' presents the results and insights based on The Unlonely Planet report. Insights include implications relevant to business sector, tech, young people, women, DEI as well as social entrepreneurs and those who support them. We encourage you to read and share the articles entering the link below.
We are social entrepreneurs, youth and change leaders who are bringing a powerful framework to our communities, businesses, and schools that is needed for living and working together in a radically different world. Donate to Ashoka today and become a part of the Everyone a Changemaker movement! | general |
Pension Schemes 'Could Plough £100B ' Into UK Infrastructure | The pensions sector could potentially invest more than £100 billion ( $ 131 billion) into British infrastructure by 2030, a retirement consultancy said on Wednesday, as the government looks at ways to free up cash for economic recovery after the coronavirus pandemic.Hymans Robertson said that investment in infrastructure could result in 20% better retirement benefits for defined contribution savers.The government has said it is considering whether to make changes to a cap on charges for retirement savers as it seeks to encourage pension plans to invest in more illiquid assets such as infrastructure.Prime Minister Boris Johnson believes that a `` big... | general |
Many US Fed officials support future half-point increase: minutes | Hi, what are you looking for?
At their March policy meeting, several US Federal Reserve officials supported raising interest rates by half a percentage point.
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At their March policy meeting, several US Federal Reserve officials supported raising interest rates by half a percentage point in the future to combat inflation, minutes released Wednesday said.
“ Many participants noted that one or more 50 basis point increases in the target range could be appropriate at future meetings, particularly if inflation pressures remained elevated or intensified, ” according to minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee’ s ( FOMC) March 15-16 gathering.
Fed officials at that meeting decided to raise interest rates by a quarter percentage point, their first increase since slashing the rate to zero when Covid-19 broke out two years ago.
The central bank is under pressure to curb inflation, which has climbed to levels not seen since the 1980s in the United States, without tightening conditions so much they damage the economy’ s recovery.
A half percentage point rate increase would represent a more forceful response to the inflation wave, and the minutes said many participants at last month’ s meeting “ would have preferred a 50 basis point increase in the target range for the federal funds rate. ”
“ A number of these participants indicated, however, that, in light of greater near-term uncertainty associated with Russia’ s invasion of Ukraine, they judged that a 25 basis point increase would be appropriate at this meeting, ” the minutes said.
Officials also believed “ that the committee’ s previous communications had already contributed to a tightening of financial conditions, as evident in the notable increase in longer-term interest rates over recent months, ” according to the minutes.
Meeting participants wanted to “ expeditiously ” move towards neutral monetary policy — a term indicating a balance between restriction and accommodation for the economy — but “ depending on economic and financial developments, a move to a tighter policy stance could be warranted. ”
Fed Chair Jerome Powell and other central bank leaders have signaled they will soon take further action to tighten policy by beginning the process of reducing the Fed’ s stockpile of trillions of dollars in bonds and other securities, many of which were accumulated during the pandemic to support the economy.
The minutes said officials believe it is appropriate to begin the process of balance sheet runoff “ at a coming meeting, possibly as soon as ” the upcoming May 3-4 meeting.
Officials were leaning towards reducing their holdings by $ 60 billion per month for US Treasury securities and $ 35 billion for mortgage-backed securities, and phasing in the reductions over three months, the minutes said.
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Cork Airport security staff to be redeployed to help with queues in Dublin | Passengers flying from Dublin Airport in recent weeks have been greeted with long delays going through security. Picture: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie
Some Cork Airport security staff are to be temporarily reassigned to Dublin Airport to help deal with lengthy queues which have been causing problems for passengers.
Passengers flying from Dublin Airport in recent weeks have had to endure long delays going through security, with delays of up to four hours reported by some airport users on social media.
The Dublin Airport Authority has now announced a number of measures it will be taking in a bid to ease any future delays, especially as the busy Easter travel period approaches.
Dublin Airport previously said it is still trying to rebound from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and blamed the delays at security on a shortage of fully-trained staff.
In a letter to the joint Oireachtas committee on transport and communications, the DAA said recruitment for more security staff is already under way.
It said that the temporary reassigning of Cork staff will not compromise passenger services at Cork Airport.
The recruitment of 100 new security staff is among the measures being taken by the DAA, with 250 candidates have been invited for interview next week.
The Dublin Airport operator has also contracted third-party security trainers to expand the training capacity for new security checking recruits.
Dalton Philips, DAA's chief executive, said in the letter that the challenges faced by Dublin Airport `` are endemic across major airports in the EU and the UK at this time ''.
Covid-related staff absences are also having an impact at the airport.
The committee said that it welcomed the update from the DAA, but still had `` serious questions in relation to the recruitment process ''.
We question whether the specific employment contract terms on offer are proving to be a major constraint on the recruitment of security checking staff, where we see only a possible of 20 hours per week on offer, together with the rate of pay on offer, and are requesting the DAA to revisit the employment terms here, '' said a statement.
`` Furthermore, the committee is advocating that before garda vetting is requested, an employment contract offer must first be made, rather than after the vetting process has been concluded, as is the current position. ''
The committee said that delays must be avoided `` as we enter the busy season for flights ''. | general |
Donohoe: Ireland will post budget deficit in 2022 despite recovery | Finance Minster Paschal Donohoe and Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath at a press conference on the publication of first-quarter exchequer returns at the Department of Finance on Wednesday. Picture: Gareth Chaney/ Collins
Ireland will post another budget deficit this year despite a €4.3bn improvement in the State’ s finances in the first three months, compared to the same period in 2021.
Confirming the likelihood of a deficit, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said the improved exchequer balance was driven by strong growth in tax revenue, with tax receipts of €17.2bn in the first quarter, up €4.2bn, or 31%.
Despite the improvement, he ruled out the chances of Ireland delivering a balanced budget.
The bounce is distorted by the impact of stringent level 5 restrictions that were in place in the first quarter of last year, he said.
Total gross voted expenditure to end-March amounted to €18.9bn, €0.6bn, or 3%, below the same period in 2021.
This is driven by a decline in expenditure in the Department of Social Protection due to the impact of Covid restrictions in early 2021 and the resulting increased expenditure on supports for people and businesses, officials said.
On a 12-month rolling basis — a better indicator of the trend — the exchequer recorded a deficit of €3bn.
The quicker-than-expected bounce back in consumer spending and employment has given a lift to Government tax receipts, according to the latest exchequer returns. | general |
ECA evolution needed to meet rising demand | Export credit agencies ( ECAs) have stepped up over the past two years despite an indelible heightened risk perception with so many bad news events since the turn of the decade. But that impetus isn’ t symptomatic of ballooning ECA volumes and risk appetite ( not last year at least) – rather more of an evolution of product: modernising the OECD Consensus, upping untied lending and flexibility, and baking sustainability into ECA banks ' objectives, to name a few.
There was a notable uptick in short-term buyer/supplier credits, namely driven by the global pandemic – where ECAs responded swiftly to the crisis by providing working capital to domestic exporters while also granting waivers and concessions to importers.
The economic bulldozer of the pandemic has now been turbocharged with Russia’ s invasion of Ukraine, spawning unprecedented tectonic movements across the economic and geopolitical landscape of the world. And with EPC and commodity costs rising globally, energy security concerns in Europe and parts of Asia lending added momentum to both short term LNG and traditional renewables development and longer term energy transition, demand for ECA support is expected to increase.
Much of that rising demand will come from the project finance market in the coming years. This point is only amplified given the energy security concerns and changes to many national energy policies sparked by the crisis in Ukraine. And according to TXF’ s annual Export Finance Data Report for 2021 there is room for growth. The volume of debt incorporating ECA support – commercial debt plus cover and/or direct loans – was $ 104.9 billion in 2021, around $ 10 billion down on 2020. Of that total volume, ECA-backed debt ( direct loans and covered tranches) totalled $ 78.2 billion ( down from $ 88.5 billion in 2020) or 74.7%.
The figures indicate that the lag in final investment decisions caused by the pandemic is still affecting ECA-backed deal flow. Logic dictates the demand curve for ECA debt will go up as the global economy recovers, but how that demand curve will play out given the global economic impact of the Ukraine war is difficult to predict.
Germany’ s ECA, Euler Hermes and Italy’ s SACE have the most significant exposure to the Russia CIS region. Disbursement of some major facilities signed last year for Russian projects is being frozen - and removing Russia CIS mega-projects from last year’ s total leaves a miniscule volume of around $ 2 billion for oil and gas deals globally, according to TXF Data.
It is important to note, China is the offtaker for most of the large-scale LNG projects in Russia – Amur GCC and GPP, Yamal – backed by ECAs. Some comfort for ECAs and lenders can be found on those projects then, although the same can not be said for schemes where Europe is the offtaker of Russian gas.
All ECAs have now slammed the door on Russia though, with Russia’ s EXIAR and active ECA banks VTB, Sberbank and Alfa Bank sanctioned too.
While traditional renewables development is top of the financing agenda, support for carbon-intensive assets – such as LNG-to-power projects, with a particular impetus for such projects in Europe given the political move to source gas from outside Russia – will be paramount to dovetailing the energy transition from coal/fossil fuel-based economies, specifically in emerging markets.
Indonesian electricity utility PLN is expected to close two ECA-covered financings this year to back two gas-fired power projects, for example – the Kupang and Minahasa schemes. PLN is also about to launch the bidding process for 250MW of renewable IPP capacity, with ECA support expected to feature on a few of those deals ( comprising mostly solar and mini-hydro schemes).
If the pandemic shone a spotlight on the need for a stronger focus on energy transition from governments, lenders, investors and ECAs, the situation in Ukraine will undoubtedly accelerate new technological advancements ( faster than any COP conference could) within the energy mix.
Industrial-scale green hydrogen projects are yet to be proven commercially bankable – but ECA support will be crucial to getting such schemes across the financial line. The same goes for so-called gigafactories – such as the Northvolt deal in Sweden, which featured heavy ECA support – and battery storage units, both standalone and integrated ( plus renewables) schemes.
With development banks stretching to combat COVID-19 and the climate crisis, ECA debt will be readily tapped by project sponsors and governments looking to fill any funding gap for social infrastructure and power schemes in emerging markets. ECA collaboration – blended financings and reinsurance policies ( with the private market and other ECAs) – has long been touted as the key to taking a more holistic approach to big-ticket project finance deals.
And with large-scale projects becoming increasingly complex, procuring equipment and pools of liquidity from around the world, this trend will pander to greater ECA-backed deal flow as agencies staple their support to EPC bids. ECAs are also playing a growing role in the financing of small, strategic-commodity mining projects – even coming in alongside royalty providers in deals where they might not be treated equally in a foreclosure or default situation.
JBIC was the most active ECA in 2021. But expect a rise of European ECA deal volume in the renewable energy space going forward, with developers and exporters in the region having significant engineering and financial clout in the sector, alongside mushrooming demand for such green technologies.
An aircraft deliveries uptick has been mirrored by new business volume at aviation banks, which have rekindled appetite for lessors and top-tier airlines, and/or deals with ECA guarantees or commercial non-payment insurance. Consequently, the ECA-backed aviation sector ended 2021 at around $ 3.5 billion – more than $ 1 billion up on the year before and the highest volume of the past four years. There will be a rise in demand for commercial aircraft as the pandemic recovery continues apace, so expect increased ECA support to the sector going forward.
With the major cruise lines still reporting large annual losses it comes as no surprise that ECA-backed cruise ship volume was its lowest in four years in 2021 – down from just over $ 10 billion in 2018 to less than $ 2 billion. But the glimmer of recovery is in place – 75 new cruise ships are on order between now and 2027, with an average cost of $ 661.5 million each.
The ECA-backed telecoms sector had a strong 2020 at just under $ 4 billion in volume. That volume went down roughly $ 1 billion in 2021 due to a significant drop in non-satellite deals. Conversely, satellite sector volume jumped on the back of four major deals to account for roughly 50% of total 2021 telecoms volume. Verizon closed two ECA-backed loans to finance the procurement of telecoms equipment last month, marking its sixth and seventh ECA-backed financing since its debut deal in 2016.
The proliferation of green energy projects, given that de-carbonising societies with net-zero emission by 2050 is the new mission statement of the world, has already been mentioned. And while the ECA product has evolved to meet growing demand, large-scale projects are becoming increasingly complex, with multi-sourced financings often struggling to marry all the different stakeholders objectives, there is still a long way to go.
Emerging market buyers have also struggled during the pandemic to drum up the 15% down payment financing traditionally required for ECA-backed deals given the private insurance market’ s stifled response to residual risk. But the challenge has prompted innovations around financial structures – like achieving 100% cover from two ECAs on the Western railway project in Ghana, as opposed to the Teutonic solution of 100% from one ECA.
ECA collaboration, upping untied lending, increased flexibility and more extensive product offerings are all notable progression of the ECA offering in the COVID epoch. However, longer tenors, speedier due diligence procedures and further updates to the OECD Consensus – like more prescriptive sector agreements – are still high on the export finance list of things to do.
If you are a TXF subscriber and want to download the full 29-page TXF Data Export Finance Report 2021 please click here. If you are interested in becoming a subscriber please contact us today by emailing [ email protected ] Exclusive subscriber-only content published last week;
Crunching the ECA numbersWith EPC and commodity costs rising globally, energy security concerns in Europe and parts of Asia lending added impetus to both short-term LNG and traditional renewables development and longer term energy transition, demand for ECA support looks set to rise. But can that demand be met?... Read on here
ECOFIN: Evolving EU export credit facilitiesEU ministers are attempting to update the export finance product offering, with new instruments to better support EU exporters, reforms to the OECD Arrangement and baking sustainability into export finance. A feasibility study - interviewing key stakeholders including corporates, ECAs, DFIs, and banks - is being conducted by four consultants and is due by year-end... Read on here
Corporate Perspective: Wartsila’ s Back on financing sustainability in the face of headwindsAndreas Back, senior manager, financial services at Wartsila reflects on the challenges of financing sustainable power and marine in the headwinds of the pandemic, the Ukraine crisis and inflationary pressures along supply chains... Read on here
ADB deadline due for Chinese healthcare PPP advisory roleThe Yichang municipal government of China has appointed ADB to tender out to advisory consultants for an elderly healthcare demonstration PPP in... Read on here
Scatec in talks with DFIs for Tunisian solar PVsNorwegian power developer Scatec is in talks with development banks to finance the construction of... Read on here
Open Fiber signs €7.2bn project financing for Italian broadband expansionItalian broadband provider Open Fiber has reached an agreement on a €7.175 billion refinancing and additional financing to support its... Read on here
Milione refinances and adds capexAirport operator holding company Milione has refinanced existing debt and raised funding to meet its... Read on here
Angola raises ECA-backed roads project debtAngola’ s Ministry of Finance ( MoF) has raised two Euler Hermes-backed export credit facilities to... Read on here
Mubadala's Tamar acquisition loan closedMubadala Petroleum has reached financial close on the debt backing its $ 1.025 billion acquisition of... Read on here
More details on Sydney Aviation Alliance acquisitionConcurrent with its acquisition of Sydney Airport ( at an enterprise value of A $ 32 billion) in early March, Sydney Aviation Alliance – a consortium comprising IFM, Global Infrastructure Partners, Qsuper, AustralianSuper and UniSuper – reached financial close on... Read on here
Greek ECA reformation gets parliamentary approvalOn 31 March the Greek Parliament voted to agree the full reformation of the Export Credit Insurance Organisation ( ECIO), which is the Greek National ECA. This is more than... Read on here
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Top 10 NFT Cryptocurrencies to Buy Below US $ 10 in 2022 | Join Our Telegram Channel for More Insights. Join Now
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The global NFT market world is flourishing in the digital era among the communities of crypto investors and artists. It is leveraging blockchain technology for them to drive revenue in crypto wallets through blockchain-certified copies of pictures, videos, real-world art, and many more. NFT cryptocurrencies are gaining higher importance quickly in this highly volatile cryptocurrency market. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically increased the value of NFT cryptocurrencies among crypto investors and the gaming industry. An NFT below US $ 10 is attracting aspiring as well as professional crypto investors for making a smart investment decision. Let’ s explore some of the top ten NFT cryptocurrencies ensuring profit in crypto wallets in the nearby future.
NFTS HAVE SOARED WHILE CRYPTOS SUFFERED DRASTICALLY. WHY IS THAT?
Decentraland is one of the top NFT cryptocurrencies focused on building an ecosystem of blockchain games where crypto investors can trade NFTs while participating in-network governance and consensus. It offers a platform for NFT games and an NFT marketplace in this NFT market world for driving profit in crypto wallets.
The Sandbox is known as one of the best NFTs below US $ 10 to generate profit in crypto wallets. It is a community-driven platform for creators and crypto investors to monetize voxel assets and gaming experiences on blockchain technology. It offers several products such as Land, Game maker, and Game maker fund in the NFT market world.
Theta Network is one of the top NFT cryptocurrencies providing the next-generation video and entertainment blockchain for crypto investors. It is known for offering decentralized peer-to-peer video delivery, open-source network, and protocol, as well as DApps to help crypto investors to earn rewards such as Theta Fuel.
Tezos is focused on being the NFT below US $ 10 with a blockchain designed to evolve with the utmost safety and code correctness for digital assets. It leverages programming languages such as OCaml and Michelson for verification and to continue collaborative innovation.
Enjin Coin is one of the top NFT cryptocurrencies and also gaining popularity as the NFT is below US $ 10 to integrate with games and apps to drive profit in crypto wallets. This NFT platform provides life to digital assets through a simple interface and crypto investors can send them via QR codes efficiently and effectively.
WAX or Worldwide Asset eXchange is a well-known NFT below US $ 10 with the most eco-friendly blockchain for the NFT market world like video games and collectibles. There are more than 23 million daily transactions completed by crypto investors to shop, collect, and create value in crypto wallets.
Chiliz is a popular and leading blockchain FinTech provider for sports and entertainment in the NFT market world. It is known as one of the top NFT cryptocurrencies built on the Chiliz blockchain infrastructure for its exclusive on-platform currency. Crypto investors can get access to blockchain-based tools for driving profit in crypto wallets with different sports and entertainment entities.
Gala is a trending NFT cryptocurrency making blockchain games for crypto investors to play efficiently in the NFT market world. It leverages simple game mechanics to earn and win a magical sword on the Gala game platform.
ECOMI is one of the popular NFTs below US $ 10 for crypto investors to drive profit in crypto wallets. It is a technology-based company focused on the emerging digital collectibles space with the protection of digital assets. This NFT cryptocurrency receives digital collectibles as a new asset class from the NFT market world for new revenue streams.
My Neighbour Alice is one of the top NFT cryptocurrencies to invest in crypto wallets in 2022. It is known as a multiplayer builder game with the integration of blockchain and millions of players. Crypto investors can buy their own virtual islands to collect exciting products and have new friends virtually.
Disclaimer: The information posted in the article is for educational purposes only. By using this, you agree that the information does not constitute any investment or financial advice. Do conduct your own research and reach out to financial advisors before making any investment decisions. | tech |
Insurers Keep Win In $ 490M COVID Coverage Dispute In NJ | A group of hospitality and recreational companies on Wednesday lost their bid for up to $ 490 million in excess coverage for pandemic losses when a New Jersey state judge reaffirmed his dismissal of the companies ' suit for failing to allege covered physical loss or damage.Superior Court Judge Steven J. Polansky said the companies ' arguments for reconsideration of his decision essentially tracked the arguments they put forward in opposing their insurers ' initial dismissal bid. The companies, which include the Valleybrook Country Club in Blackwood, New Jersey, join a host of other businesses that lost their pandemic coverage suits for failing to... | general |
Fishing Rods Market in North America is projected to be | April 06, 2022 17:04 ET | Source: FACT.MR FACT.MR
United States, Rockville, MD, April 06, 2022 ( GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The fishing rods market is poised to expand at a value CAGR of 4.5%, and is expected to create an absolute dollar opportunity of US $ 1.5 Bn during the forecast duration of 2020-2030. The outbreak of COVID-19 will have a short-term impact on the fishing rods market. However, rising participation in fishing activities and increasing fishing boat sales will drive the growth the fishing rods market over the coming years. Offshore wind farms provide an opportunity for the fishing industry. The U.S. Department of Energy has allocated approximately US $ 200 Mn for research, development, and demonstrations of offshore wind projects. As such, demand for fishing rods will increase in future.
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Rising participation in fishing competitions and support for recreational fishing initiatives from governments of various countries are expected to drive the expansion of the fishing rods market size over the coming years. Development of offshore wind projects in deep water, which poses low intervention with fishing activities and recreational boating, have been enabling higher fishing performance for anglers. Rise in offshore wind farm projects will continue to benefit the sales of fishing rods.
Regional Outlook of Fishing Rods MarketNorth America is expected to dominate the fishing rods market share, followed by Europe, in 2020, and is foreseen to maintain its dominance in terms of value as well as volume over the forecast period. Increasing demand for technologically-advanced fishing rods in North America and Europe is anticipated to boost the fishing rods market in these regions. In the U.S., recreational fishing is considered as the second-most popular outdoor activity in the country after jogging. Such activities are foreseen to contribute to the growth of the fishing rods market in the region.
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COVID-19 Impact on Fishing Rods MarketThe effects of COVID-19 has been profound in recent times, which is thereby having significant implications on various sectors. Fish and fish products that are highly dependent on international trade suffered quite early from the pandemic due to trade restrictions and closures of global markets.
North America is one of the prominent regions in the fishing rods market, and will see maximum fall in demand, as it is the most affected region by the outbreak. However, amid the downturn of offline sales of fishing rods, growing use of virtual technologies will enhance online shopping among consumers, and is expected to gradually increase sales in the post-COVID-19 period.
Fishing Rods Market: Competitive LandscapeThe fishing rods market is highly fragmented in nature with the presence of a large number of local players. Some of the prominent players in the market are Pure Fishing Inc., Shimano Inc., Wright & McGill Co., Okuma Fishing Tackle Co. Ltd., Daiwa Corporation, Eposeidon Outdoor Adventure Ltd., Clam Corporation, TIEMCO Ltd., St. Croix Rods, and Piscifun, among others.
The fishing rods market continues to grow at a steady pace, registering low-to-moderate growth in developed markets, with a slightly better expansion in developing markets. Low-entry barriers led to an influx of startups in the fishing rods landscape, which further added to the already intense competition. While stronger distribution remains the mainstay of leading players in the fishing rods market, emerging players are focusing on maintaining long-term relationships with existing suppliers.
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Key Segments of Fishing Rods MarketFact.MR’ s study on the fishing rods market offers information divided into five key segments-rod type, rod weight, flex type, sales channel, and region. This report offers comprehensive data and information about important market dynamics and growth parameters associated with these categories.
Explore Fact.MR’ s Coverage on the Sports Industry Domain-
Hunting Blinds Market Dynamics - Introduction of programs, such as reduced license fee and free seminars on the basics of hunting to encourage kids and beginners is increasing the demand for hunting blinds. Hunting blinds allow easy movement and camouflage the hunter in the woods providing them with maximum efficiency, which has created growth opportunities for hunting blinds market.
Market Segmentation for Bowling Lane Panels - The bowling lane panels is segmented on the basis of material that is required to manufacture the lane panels, the location of the bowling lane and region. On the basis of the materials used, bowling lane panels market is divided into wooden bowling lane panels and synthetic bowling lane panels.
Hunting Boots Market: Regional outlook - Geographically, hunting boots market has been categorized into seven critical regions, including North America, Latin America, Europe, CIS & Russia, Japan, Asia Pacific excluding Japan and the Middle East and Africa. The hunting boots market is expected to register growth during the forecast period as recreational hunting and forest trail activities market is growing across the world.
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Offshore Wind Turbine Installation Vessel Market Size by | Pune, April 06, 2022 ( GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global Offshore Wind Turbine Installation Vessel Market report is expert study that can deliver you with an elaborate analysis of the Offshore Wind Turbine Installation Vessel. The report covers information about top players, projected size of the market, data and figures to update about where opportunities are in the market, competitor analysis and vendor information. Also, it offers a complete analysis of the key market dynamics, with growth drivers, challenges, restraints, opportunities and trends. Furthermore, receive exact details and statistics associated to Offshore Wind Turbine Installation Vessel market and its key factors such as revenue, growth, compound annual growth, year-over-year developments, consumption, and production.
The global Offshore Wind Turbine Installation Vessel market size is estimated to be worth USD 2344.8 million in 2022 and is forecast to a readjusted size of USD 5595.8 million by 2028 with a CAGR of 15.6% during the review period.
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Self-propelled jack-up vessel is a vessel specifically designed for the installation of offshore wind turbines. Similar to a jack-up rig it is self-elevating. To enable quick relocation in the wind farm it is self-propelled. It also has a slender ship shaped hull to achieve a quick turnaround time with the vessel carrying several foundations or wind turbines each time. Azimuth thrusters are used to position the vessel during jack-up operations.
Besides self-propelled jack-up vessel, heavy lift vessel and other jack-up vessel which is used in wind turbine installation is also discussed as offshore wind turbine installation vessels. And in this report, we focus on the service market which is the most important part of the global offshore wind turbine installation vessel market.
A2SEA, MPI-Offshore, Seajacks, Fred. Olsen Windcarrier and Geosea are the top 5 of Offshore Wind Turbine Installation Vessel, with about 56% market shares.
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Offshore Wind Turbine Installation Vessel market report delivers study of the key trends in each sub-segment of the worldwide Offshore Wind Turbine Installation Vessel report, with estimates for development at the global, regional and country level and categorized the market based on product type, applications, regions.
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Massage Oil Market 2022-2028 | Pune, April 06, 2022 ( GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global Massage Oil Market report is expert study that can deliver you with an elaborate analysis of the Massage Oil. The report covers information about top players, projected size of the market, data and figures to update about where opportunities are in the market, competitor analysis and vendor information. Also, it offers a complete analysis of the key market dynamics, with growth drivers, challenges, restraints, opportunities and trends. Furthermore, receive exact details and statistics associated to Massage Oil market and its key factors such as revenue, growth, compound annual growth, year-over-year developments, consumption, and production.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global Massage Oil market size is estimated to be worth USD 1912.2 million in 2022 and is forecast to a readjusted size of USD 2638.2 million by 2028 with a CAGR of 5.5% during the review period.
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Massage Oil market report delivers study of the key trends in each sub-segment of the worldwide Massage Oil report, with estimates for development at the global, regional and country level and categorized the market based on product type, applications, regions.
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Absolute Reports is an upscale platform to help key personnel in the business world in strategizing and taking visionary decisions based on facts and figures derived from in depth market research. We are one of the top report resellers in the market, dedicated towards bringing you an ingenious concoction of data parameters. | general |
Shanghai vows to improve food deliveries as discontent grows over COVID curbs | China's financial hub has fallen largely silent after the city imposed harsh movement restrictions to stem the spread of COVID, with only healthcare workers, volunteers, delivery personnel or people with special permission allowed on the streets.
Authorities say that has whittled the number of couriers, who must keep the city's 26 million residents supplied, to just 11,000. Among still operating, but overloaded services, include Meituan as well as Alibaba's Freshippo online grocery platform and its Ele.me service.
Shanghai has sufficient reserves of staples such as rice and meat, but issues have cropped up in distribution and last-mile deliveries because of epidemic control measures, Shanghai's vice mayor Chen Tong said at a news conference on Thursday.
He said the city would try to reopen some wholesale markets and food stores and allow more delivery personnel out of locked-down areas. Officials will also crack down on price gouging, he added.
`` In response to the various problems reported by the public, we have been holding meetings overnight to try and figure out solutions, '' he said.
Many residents are beginning to worry about food and drinking water, as well as obtaining products such as infant formula.
Some have complained on social media waking up at dawn for a chance at booking a grocery delivery, but finding them sold out within seconds. Others have turned to community WeChat groups to try to bulk-buy fruit and vegetables.
Shanghai, which has been conducting multiple rounds of testing, reported close to 20,000 new locally transmitted cases for Wednesday, 98% of which it said where asymptomatic.
However, there are signs that transmission is still happening in spite of the lockdowns. Of its 19,660 asymptomatic infections, 633 involved people who were not under quarantine or who faced control measures, the data showed.
Shanghai denied rumours on Wednesday that it planned to suspend all delivery services amid concerns that the virus was being spread through such workers. It requires them to take PCR and antigen tests every day, and they can only deliver goods if they test negative.
China's most-populous city has yet to give an indication of when lockdown measures will lift, fuelling uncertainty and prompting European businesses and economists to warn about the mounting toll they are having on its economy and attractiveness as an international financial hub.
Although Shanghai's case numbers remain small by global standards, the city has emerged as a test bed for China's `` dynamic clearance '' anti-COVID strategy, which seeks to test, trace and centrally quarantine all positive cases and their close contacts.
On Thursday, Shanghai city officials said they would continue to conduct more testing among its residents who will be asked to take PCR or self-administered antigen tests.
Shanghai has converted dozens of buildings into quarantine facilities that can house tens of thousands of positive cases. Late on Wednesday, the China News Service said the neighbouring provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang will also provide 60,000 more rooms which patients from Shanghai can quarantine.
( Reporting by Brenda Goh and the Shanghai newsroom. Editing by Gerry Doyle) | business |
Trump insiders Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino held in contempt of Congress over refusal to appear before Jan. 6 committee | Dan Scavino, then a White House social-media director, and Jared Kushner, a senior White House adviser and Donald Trump’ s son-in law, look on in October 2020 as Trump speaks at an airport in Goodyear, Ariz.
brendan smialowski/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
WASHINGTON ( AP) — Former Trump advisers Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino were held in contempt of Congress on Wednesday for their monthlong refusal to comply with subpoenas rendered by the House committee’ s investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The two men became the latest members of former President Donald Trump’ s inner circle to face legal jeopardy as the select committee continues its more than nine-month-long probe into the worst attack on the Capitol in more than 200 years.
The near-party-line 220-203 vote will send the criminal referrals for Navarro and Scavino to the Justice Department for possible prosecution.
The contempt action followed hours of raw debate on the House floor as Republicans stood by Trump and charged that Democrats were trying to politicize the attack on the Capitol by his supporters.
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy accused the Jan. 6 committee of “ criminalizing dissent, ” defended Scavino as a “ good man ” and lobbed harsh criticism at members of the committee, some by name. “ Let’ s be honest, this is a political show trial, ” McCarthy said.
“
‘ This vote will reveal to us who is willing to show tolerance for the intolerable.’
”
— Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland, speaking on the House floor ahead of the vote
Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, among the nine members of the Jan. 6 panel, noted that the committee has two Republicans, including Liz Cheney of Wyoming. He added that the purpose of the floor vote was to make clear that “ open contempt and mockery for this process, and for the rule of law ” will not be allowed by the chamber.
“ I mean, it is just amazing that they think they can get away with this, ” the three-term lawmaker told reporters about Scavino and Navarro as the debate raged on Wednesday.
Cheney and Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who is also on the select committee, were the only Republicans who voted in favor of the contempt charges.
Also read:
House Jan. 6 committee votes to hold Dan Scavino, Peter Navarro in contempt
While pursuing contempt charges may not yield any new information for the Jan. 6 committee — any prosecutions could drag for months or years — the vote Wednesday was the latest attempt to show that witnesses will suffer consequences if they don’ t cooperate or at least appear for questioning. It’ s all part of an effort to claw back legislative authority that eroded during the Trump era when congressional subpoenas were often flouted and ignored.
“ This vote will reveal to us who is willing to show tolerance for the intolerable, ” Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland said on the floor, directing his comments to Republicans across the aisle.
Raskin and other Democrats made their case that Scavino and Navarro are among just a handful of individuals who have rebuffed the committee’ s requests and subpoenas for information. The panel has interviewed more than 800 witnesses so far.
Scavino, who first made Trump’ s acquaintance as a golf caddy and later became general manager of one of the former president’ s golf clubs, has “ refused to testify before Congress about what he knows about the most dangerous and sweeping assault on the United States Congress since the War of 1812, ” Raskin said.
The committee says Scavino helped promote Trump’ s false claims of a stolen election and was with him the day of the attack on the Capitol. As a result, he may have “ materials relevant to his videotaping and tweeting ” messages that day.
A lawyer for Scavino did not return multiple messages from the Associated Press seeking comment.
Navarro, 72, a former White House trade adviser said to have entered the Trump orbit when Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner ran an Amazon search for an economist with hawkish views toward China, was subpoenaed in early February over his promotion of false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election that the committee believes contributed to the attack.
Navarro cited executive privilege when declining to testify, saying the committee “ should negotiate this matter with President Trump. ” He added, “ If he waived the privilege, I will be happy to comply. ”
Key Words ( July 2020):
Trump trade adviser Navarro blasts Beijing for ‘ spawning’ the coronavirus and then ‘ seeding and spreading’ the disease
From the archives ( July 2020):
USA Today says Peter Navarro’ s op-ed criticizing Fauci was ‘ misleading’ and did not meet ‘ fact-checking standards’
But the Biden administration has already waived executive privilege for Navarro, Scavino and former national-security adviser Michael Flynn, saying it was not justified or in the national interest for them to withhold their testimony.
Executive privilege was developed to protect a president’ s ability to obtain candid counsel from his advisers without fear of immediate public disclosure, but it has limits. Courts have traditionally left questions of whether to invoke executive privilege up to the current White House occupant. The Supreme Court earlier this year rejected a bid by Trump to withhold documents from the committee.
The vote Wednesday will be the third time the panel has sent contempt charges to the House floor. The first two referrals, sent late last year, were for
former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows
and former
Trump campaign manager and top White House strategist Steve Bannon
.
The contempt referral against Bannon
resulted in an indictment
, with a trial set to start in July. The Justice Department has been slower to decide whether to prosecute Meadows, much to the frustration of the committee.
“ It’ s the committee’ s hope that they will present it to a grand jury, ” Rep. Bennie Thompson, the committee’ s chairman, told reporters Tuesday. “ Obviously, the Meadows case is still outstanding. We don’ t really know where that is, other than we’ ve done our work. ”
He added, “ The firewall goes up from our standpoint, and DOJ uses its systems to take it from there. ”
Lawmakers are interviewing dozens of individuals a week as they inch closer to public hearings in late spring. In the last week alone, the committee interviewed Trump daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Kushner. Both were key White House advisers who had substantial access to the former president.
Thompson suggested more witnesses could still be held in contempt in the weeks ahead even as the committee looks to wrap up the investigative portion of their work in the next two months.
A conviction for contempt of Congress carries a fine of up to $ 100,000 and up to a year in prison.
MarketWatch contributed. | business |
States put unemployment insurance on chopping block | State legislatures are proposing bills to pare back unemployment insurance programs as the pandemic-era labor market rebounds, continuing a trend seen in the wake of the Great Recession.
Lawmakers in at least nine states have considered legislation this year to amend benefits.
Most seek to decrease the duration of jobless aid. Some would cut the weekly benefit amount or make recipients ' work-search requirements more stringent, according to labor advocates.
A measure in Kentucky became law in March, after the Republican-led legislature overrode the veto of Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat.
More from Personal Finance: Many workers are unhappy with their payThese are the top tax breaks for college expensesWhite House expected to extend student loan payment pause through August
The law cuts the maximum duration of benefits by more than half, to 12 weeks during periods of low unemployment, tying Florida and North Carolina for the shortest duration in the U.S. ( Kentucky currently offers up to 26 weeks, the standard adopted by most states.)
Legislation pending in Missouri would slash the maximum duration to eight weeks ( from the current 20 weeks) when joblessness is low.
Other bills are pending in Iowa, Louisiana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Wisconsin, while recent proposals in Mississippi and West Virginia didn't move forward, according to the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group.
Cuts will put financial stress on unemployed individuals who can't find work quickly, forcing some into low-paid jobs outside their career fields, and present questions of racial equity since Black and Latinx individuals are often unemployed at higher rates, according to labor advocates.
The moves are also short-sighted given the serious flaws in state programs exposed by the pandemic, critics said.
`` As long as we don't have a strong set of federal standards, states can keep chopping it away, '' according to Amy Traub, a senior researcher and policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project. `` And if a bill doesn't pass this [ legislative ] session, it 'll be reintroduced next session. ''
State lawmakers who support the legislation say the policy changes will get recipients back to work more quickly at a time when there are more unemployed individuals than job openings nationally.
The argument is similar to one from 2021, when roughly half the states ( predominantly Republican-led) opted out of federal unemployment programs several weeks ahead of their Labor Day expiration. Evidence at the time suggested those moves didn't fuel a big uptick in job applications.
Others think states are making sensible tweaks that respond to the current job market and help replenish the trust funds used to pay benefits. Those trust funds are financed by employers via payroll taxes.
`` All these things have a cost, '' said Matt Weidinger, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a right-leaning think tank. `` How can we minimize these costs going forward in a way that connects benefit payout to the nature of the labor market? ''
Until 2011, all states offered up to 26 weeks of unemployment insurance, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Ten states — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina and South Carolina — decreased them over the next decade, the Congressional Research Service said. Some temporarily restored them during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Some also reduced the amount of weekly benefits individuals could get and made it harder for some workers to collect. This helped fill their empty coffers and avoid raising taxes on employers.
`` This is a trend that began after the Great Recession, '' Weidinger said. `` It's probably not surprising more states are taking this step now. ''
Kentucky's House Bill 4, like other recent state legislation, ties the duration of benefits to the state unemployment rate.
Individuals qualify for up to 12 weeks of benefits when the state unemployment rate is 4.5% or less at the time a worker applies for aid. That duration gradually rises with the jobless rate, up to a maximum 24 weeks when Kentucky's unemployment rate is over 10%.
( Kentucky's unemployment rate jumped to over 10% in April and May 2020, when it was 16.5% and 12.6%, respectively. It's been below 4.5% since January 2022.)
All states have requirements as to what constitutes `` suitable '' work. A job offer for suitable work generally precludes someone from continuing to claim benefits.
Kentucky's law, like other recent proposals, amends its rules to say that a job offer is suitable under the following conditions: when an individual has claimed benefits for at least six weeks; the prospective job is within 30 miles of their residence ( or can be done remotely); the worker is able and qualified to do the job, even if they don't have related experience or training; and the pay is at least 120% of their weekly unemployment benefit amount.
The governor described the policies as `` callous '' when he vetoed the legislation.
`` It would require people to take any job, not get back on a path to a career, in as few as six weeks, '' Beshear said.
`` It 'll show the world, sadly, that we as a state care less about those who have fallen on hard times than other states, '' he said of the legislation. `` And that makes us less competitive. ''
Damon Thayer, the state's Republican Senate majority floor leader, said in March that there were more than 100,000 vacant jobs across all sectors in the state.
`` Help wanted signs are up everywhere, '' he said. `` If you are an able-bodied, healthy Kentuckian, there is no excuse for you to not have a job. '' | business |
'Why are gas prices still high, even after crude-oil prices came down? ' — energy CEOs grilled at House hearing | Executives from major oil companies defended themselves on Wednesday at a long U.S. House hearing on high gasoline prices, as Democratic lawmakers asked pointed questions.
Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette of Colorado, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee’ s subcommittee on oversight and investigations, focused on how crude oil prices have dropped from a recent peak but gasoline prices haven’ t retreated.
“ Why are gas prices still high, even after crude-oil prices came down? ” she asked the execs. “ Why is there such a disconnect? ”
“ It is a very complex set of factors that impact the price of gasoline, ” said BP
BP,
-0.37%
America’ s president, David Lawler, in response.
“ So for example, the price of oil that’ s entering a refinery could have been purchased at a higher price, and therefore that price then flows through all the way to the station. It’ s not necessarily an instantaneous market. ”
Other execs testifying at the subcommittee’ s hearing, which ran for about six hours, were Chevron
CVX,
+0.89%
CEO Michael Wirth, ExxonMobil
XOM,
+1.11%
CEO Darren Woods, Devon Energy
DVN,
-0.22%
CEO Richard Muncrief and Pioneer Natural Resources
PXD,
-1.02%
CEO Scott Sheffield, as well Shell
SHEL,
+0.50%
USA’ s president, Gretchen Watkins.
“ No single company sets the price of oil or gasoline, ” ExxonMobil’ s Woods said in his opening statement at the hearing, which was titled “
Gouged at the Gas Station: Big Oil and America’ s Pain at the Pump
. ”
“ The market establishes the price based on available supply and the demand for that supply. Continued investments in new production is the only way to achieve balanced markets and more affordable prices that bring real relief at the pump. Government has a critical role to play here. Policies need to provide certainty and improved predictability. ”
Woods also said ExxonMobil expects its total oil production this year will be the highest in 15 years.
Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey warned the executives against “ garbage ” answers and appealed to their patriotism.
“ I don’ t want to hear that, ‘ You know, we only do the wholesale prices. This is all done at the retail level.’ It’ s a lot of garbage, ” said Pallone, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, during his opening statement.
“ The bottom line is you set the wholesale price, and that’ s the biggest part of the retail price. So don’ t tell us that you can’ t do anything about it. You can do something about it, and we expect you to do that. Maybe it’ s a matter of patriotism. ”
During his question-and-answer period, Pallone asked the industry leaders to commit to both increasing production and reducing stock buybacks and dividend payments, but largely wasn’ t able to get such a commitment on the buybacks and dividends.
U.S. drivers last month paid record-high prices for gasoline, as crude oil
CL00,
+1.69%
BRN00,
+1.90%
spiked to its highest level in nearly 14 years following Russia’ s invasion of Ukraine.
Market experts say while there may be some cases where consumers have been overcharged at the pump for the fuel
RB00,
+1.69%
,
the main factor that drove retail gasoline prices to a record high in March was Russia’ s invasion of Ukraine, coming during a tight global oil market. Oil demand has recovered quickly from COVID-19 lockdowns, outpacing supply growth.
See:
Why U.S. motorists suspect price gouging at the pump — and how much service stations actually profit from a gallon of gas
Also read:
What can Biden and Congress do to fight inflation? ‘ Simply not much of anything’
“ For Democrats, high energy
XLE,
+0.59%
costs are a key political vulnerability in an election year; a plurality of voters blame the party in power for high gas prices, and with limited options to directly affect prices, the Democratic strategy is focused on shifting blame onto oil companies and investors, ” said analysts at Eurasia Group in a recent note.
When Americans were asked in a recent
Quinnipiac University poll
what they think is most responsible for the rise in gasoline prices, 41% cited Biden’ s economic policies, 24% blamed the war in Ukraine and sanctions against Russia, 24% pinned it on oil companies charging more, and 5% cited a rise in demand as the COVID pandemic eases.
Biden last week ordered the
largest-ever release from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve
, as his administration made an effort to address high gasoline prices and pin them in large part on Russian President Vladimir Putin’ s decision to invade Ukraine.
Republicans, who are
hoping to take back control of the House and Senate
in November’ s midterm elections, continued to focus during the hearing on blaming the recent elevated prices for gas and other necessities on Democratic policies that aren’ t friendly to fossil fuels — as well as on Democratic spending measures, such as last year’ s
$ 1.9 trillion COVID relief package
.
“ President Biden and the majority Democrats should accept responsibility, ” said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state, the committee’ s top Republican. “ This is not the Putin price hike, or the result of companies suddenly deciding to make money in 2022. This is the Biden price hike. ”
Oil futures
CL.1,
+1.69%
settled at their lowest in three weeks on Wednesday, with the U.S. benchmark ending below the $ 100-a-barrel mark, following news that the International Energy Agency plans to release 120 million barrels from crude reserves and as data revealed an unexpected climb in American crude supplies.
U.S. stocks
SPX,
-0.97%
DJIA,
-0.42%
closed with losses as investors digested minutes of a Federal Reserve’ s meeting that detailed aggressive plans to shrink the central bank’ s balance sheet. | business |
NYC Gambling Ring Boss Wants 'Mercy ' At Sentencing | The leader of an illegal New York gambling ring asked a federal judge for leniency at his upcoming sentencing, saying he's being held in `` deplorable '' conditions at Brooklyn's oft-maligned Metropolitan Detention Center and faces deportation because he's not a citizen of any country.In a filing Tuesday ahead of his April 19 sentencing, Kosovo native Abduraman `` Diamond '' Iseni says he 'll go straight from the MDC – where he spent `` nearly the entire '' COVID-19 pandemic – to detention pending his immigration case. `` Defendant Abduraman Iseni comes before this Court asking for mercy, '' the filing says. `` He will be immediately transferred to a detention... | general |
Yellen says Russia should be expelled from G20, U.S. may boycott some meetings | U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Wednesday that Russia should be expelled from the Group of 20 major economies forum, and the United States will boycott '' a number of G20 meetings '' if Russian officials show up.
Her comments at a U.S. House Financial Services Committee hearing raised questions about the G20's future role in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Since 2008, the club has served as a key international forum for issues from COVID-19 relief to cross-border debt and also includes China, India, Saudi Arabia and other countries that have been reluctant to condemn Russia's actions.
Yellen told lawmakers Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the killings of civilians in Bucha `` are reprehensible, represent an unacceptable affront to the rules-based global order, and will have enormous economic repercussions in Ukraine and beyond. ''
The United States and its key allies have placed greater emphasis in recent months on the G7 grouping of industrial democracies, whose interests are more aligned, using G7 meetings to coordinate their response to Russia's war in Ukraine.
Yellen said the Biden administration wants to push Russia out of active participation in major international institutions, but acknowledged it was unlikely that Russia could be expelled from the International Monetary Fund given its rules.
`` President Biden's made it clear, and I certainly agree with him, that it can not be business as usual for Russia in any of the financial institutions, '' Yellen said. `` He's asked that Russia be removed from the G20, and I 've made clear to my colleagues in Indonesia that we will not be participating in a number of meetings if the Russians are there, '' Yellen said.
Indonesia holds the presidency this year and will host a finance meeting in July and a leaders summit in November.
A Treasury spokesperson later said that Yellen was referring to an April 20 G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington and associated deputies meetings.
The April finance meeting will be held both in-person and virtually and Russia's participation is unclear at present.
Russia has said that President Vladimir Putin intends to attend the G20 summit in Bali this year and has received China's backing to stay in the group.
Indonesia could not expel or `` disinvite '' any G20 members, including Russia, a government official familiar with the matter said, adding whether a country attended was up to that nation.
ENERGY FLEXIBILITY
Yellen's testimony came as the Biden administration announced a new round of sanctions to punish Russia, including banning Americans from investing in Russia and locking Sberbank, Russia's largest lender and holder of a third of its bank deposits, out of the U.S. financial system, along with other institutions.
But transactions allowing European allies to purchase Russian oil and natural gas were exempted through special Treasury licenses.
Yellen said that flexibility on Russian energy transactions was needed because many European countries `` remain heavily dependent on Russian natural gas, as well as oil, and they are committed to making the transition away from that dependence as rapidly as possible. ''
But she acknowledged that this would take time.
A complete ban on oil exports from Russia, the world's third-largest producer after the United States and Saudi Arabia, would likely prompt `` skyrocketing '' prices that would hurt both the United States and Europe, Yellen said.
She added that she hoped that currently high prices would entice oil companies in the United States and elsewhere to ramp up production in the next six months, which, along with the Biden's release of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, may allow for tougher restrictions on Russian oil.
CHINA WARNING
Yellen also issued a warning to China that Treasury was prepared to turn its sanctions tools against Beijing in the event of Chinese aggression against Taiwan, which China claims as a wayward province.
Asked if the United States would take such steps if Taiwan was threatened, she said: `` Absolutely. I believe we 've shown that we can. In the case of Russia, we threatened significant consequences. We 've imposed significant consequences. And I think that you should not doubt our ability and resolve to do the same in other situations. '' ( Reporting by David Lawder and Dan Burns Additional reporting by Gayatri Suroyo in Jakarta Editing by Andrea Ricci, Ed Davies) | business |
No poop for you: Manure supplies run short as fertilizer prices soar | Now, facing a global shortage of commercial fertilizers made worse by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, more U.S. growers are knocking on his door. Sandquist says they're clamoring to get their hands on something Old MacDonald would swear by: old-fashioned animal manure.
`` I wish we had more to sell, '' said Sandquist, founder of Natural Fertilizer Services Inc, a nutrient management firm based in the U.S. state of Iowa. `` But there's not enough to meet the demand. ''
Some livestock and dairy farmers, including those who previously paid to have their animals ' waste removed, have found a fertile side business selling it to grain growers. Equipment firms that make manure spreading equipment known as `` honeywagons '' are also benefiting.
Not only are more U.S. farmers hunting manure supplies for this spring planting season, some cattle feeders that sell waste are sold out through the end of the year, according to industry consultant Allen Kampschnieder.
`` Manure is absolutely a hot commodity, '' said Kampschnieder, who works for Nebraska-based Nutrient Advisors. `` We 've got waiting lists. ''
Sky-high prices for industrial fertilizer are projected to reduce American farmers ' corn and wheat plantings this spring, according to U.S. government data. That further threatens global food supplies as domestic wheat inventories are the lowest in 14 years, and the Russia-Ukraine war is disrupting grain shipments from those key suppliers.
While manure can replace some of the nutrient shortfall, it's no panacea, agriculture specialists say. There's not enough supply to swap out all the commercial fertilizer used in the United States. Transporting it is expensive. And prices for animal waste, too, are rising on strong demand.
It's also highly regulated by state and federal authorities, in part due to concerns about impacts on water systems.
Manure can cause serious problems if it contaminates nearby streams, lakes and groundwater, said Chris Jones, a research engineer and water quality expert at the University of Iowa.
Livestock farmers say it's a heavy lift to meet all the government rules and track how manure is applied.
RACE FOR WASTE
Regardless of the drawbacks, demand is booming.
In Wisconsin, three dairy farmers told Reuters they turned down requests to buy their manure sent via text and Twitter messages.
North Carolina-based Phinite, which makes manure-drying systems, says it's fielding solicitations from growers as far away as Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa and Indiana.
Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork producer, has noticed the shift at the U.S. hog farms that supply its slaughterhouses.
`` We're definitely seeing farmers move toward manure with the increase in fertilizer prices, '' said Jim Monroe, a spokesperson for the company, which is owned by Hong Kong-listed WH Group Ltd.
Industrial fertilizers such as nitrogen require a lot of energy to produce. Prices started to surge last year amid rising demand and lower supply as record natural gas and coal prices triggered output cuts by fertilizer manufacturers. Extreme weather and COVID-19 outbreaks also roiled global supply chains.
War in Ukraine has made the situation worse by reducing fertilizer exports from Russia and its ally Belarus due to Western sanctions and shipping snags. That threatens to shrink harvests around the world at a time of record food inflation. Combined, Russia and Belarus accounted for more than 40% of global exports of potash last year, one of three critical nutrients used to boost crop yields, according to Dutch lender Rabobank.
As of March, commercial fertilizer prices reached a record high, with nitrogen fertilizer jumping four-fold since 2020 and phosphate and potash up three-fold, said London-based consultancy CRU Group.
One person left bereft is Dale Cramer, who grows corn, soybeans and wheat on about 6,000 acres in Cambridge, Nebraska. Searching for alternatives, he has sniffed around feedlots for manure since last August with no luck.
`` A lot of people have put their names in for the same thing, '' Cramer said.
HONEYWAGON SCRAMBLE
With demand for manure surging, prices have followed, delivering an unexpected windfall to livestock producers and cattle feedlots.
Prices for good-quality solid manure in Nebraska alone have reached $ 11 to $ 14 per ton, up from a typical price of $ 5 to $ 8 per ton, consultant Kampschnieder said. A dry winter helped drive up prices by leaving manure with less water in it, making it more concentrated, and thus more valuable, he said.
Iowa farmer Pat Reisinger is relieved he has dung from the pigs and dairy cows he raises to fertilize the corn, soybeans and hay he grows to feed those animals. He sold a little manure to one neighbor and is getting phone calls from others in need.
`` If I sold any more, I 'd have to turn around and buy commercial fertilizer, which makes no sense, '' Reisinger said.
The boom has also has lifted machinery companies that make spreading equipment for solid manure as well as so-called honeywagons: wheeled tanks hitched to trucks and tractors for transporting and applying liquefied waste.
In Canada, Husky Farm Equipment Ltd is sold out of honeywagons. The company built its first contraption back in 1960 as a way to make collecting and spreading manure more efficient, according to President Walter Grose. Today Grose sells directly to farmers and machinery dealerships, and he can't keep up.
`` We have people looking for equipment right away and we're sold out for six months, '' said Grose who sells honeywagons in several sizes. Bigger tanks come with a $ 70,000 average price tag.
CNH Industrial, the American-Italian farm and construction equipment giant, said it has seen strong demand for its New Holland brand box spreaders - essentially, a steel box that attaches to a tractor to haul and spread solid manure.
Kansas equipment dealership KanEquip Inc is sold out of New Holland spreaders, even though prices have jumped 10% from the normal list price of $ 30,000, said regional manager Bryndon Meinhardt. He said the dealership has ordered 10 more to meet demand.
NO POOP FOR YOU
Even in states where large livestock herds generate massive quantities of manure, there's not enough to replace commercial fertilizer completely. Iowa, the top U.S. producer of pork and corn, already applies all of its manure on land covering about 25% of its corn acres each year, said Dan Andersen, an associate professor at Iowa State University who specializes in manure management.
On average, Iowa uses about 14 billion gallons of manure annually, said Andersen, known as @ DrManure on Twitter. He expects Iowa growers may suck out an extra billion gallons this year from storage in tanks on farms to substitute pricey commercial fertilizer.
Part of the current supply problem is rooted in the evolution of the U.S. farm economy. As America's livestock sector has consolidated, there are geographical hubs where animals are raised for eggs, milk or meat, and where the most manure is produced. As a result, some places have too little, while others have too much and have wrestled with ways to dispose of it.
Last October, Pennsylvania dairyman Brett Reinford thought he might be tight on manure storage space over the winter. So he made an offer to local farmers: You come and haul it away, you can have it for free. He got no takers.
Fast forward six months and Reinford is now sitting on liquid gold. `` We're keeping it all and I wish we had more, '' he said.
Manure could become even more precious later this year, as U.S. livestock herds and poultry flocks shrink.
The number of hogs in the United States has dropped to its lowest level in about five years, as producers grapple with swine diseases and rising costs for feed and other inputs. Bird flu, meanwhile, has wiped out more than 22 million chickens and turkeys on commercial U.S. farms since February.
But even hard-hit poultry farmers could have something to use: Their dead birds can be composted and applied as fertilizer, according to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.
( Reporting By P.J. Huffstutter and Tom Polansek in Chicago, and Bianca Flowers in Chicago and New York. Additional reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington, D.C.; Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Marla Dickerson)
By P.J. Huffstutter, Tom Polansek and Bianca Flowers | business |
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Absolute Reports is an upscale platform to help key personnel in the business world in strategizing and taking visionary decisions based on facts and figures derived from in depth market research. We are one of the top report resellers in the market, dedicated towards bringing you an ingenious concoction of data parameters. | general |
Fed officials to take cleaver to balance sheet; 'many ' back big rate hikes | Federal Reserve officials in March '' generally agreed '' to cut up to $ 95 billion a month from the central bank's asset holdings as another tool in the fight against surging inflation, even as the war in Ukraine tempered the first U.S. interest rate increase.
Minutes of the Fed's March 15-16 meeting showed deepening concern among policymakers that inflation had broadened through the economy, which convinced them to not only raise the target policy rate by a quarter of a percentage point from its near-zero level but also to `` expeditiously '' push it to a '' neutral posture, '' estimated to be around 2.4%.
`` Many '' Fed officials said they were prepared to raise rates in half-percentage-point increments in coming policy meetings to try to bring prices under control, even though the rising risks tied to the Ukraine war held them to the standard hike in March, according to the minutes, which were released on Wednesday.
But they also moved forward with plans to pull out of key financial markets that have been benefiting from massive Fed support since March of 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic prompted the central bank to buy trillions of dollars in Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities ( MBS).
After months of debate, policymakers rallied around a plan to as soon as next month reduce the Fed's holdings of Treasury bonds by up to $ 60 billion per month and its MBS holdings by up to $ 35 billion per month, with the amounts phased in over three months or slightly longer, the minutes said.
The pace of the planned balance-sheet rundown, which should have the effect of increasing long-term interest rates, is nearly double that of the Fed's `` quantitative tightening '' from 2017 to 2019, and could also include outright sales of MBS down the road, said the minutes.
`` All participants agreed that elevated inflation and tight labor market conditions warranted commencement of balance sheet runoff. ''
SWOLLEN BALANCE SHEET
The details of the balance sheet program included in the minutes are in line with analysts ' expectations, and pave the way for it to be set in motion after the Fed's May 3-4 policy meeting.
The Fed unveiled its bond-buying program in the spring of 2020, swelling its holdings of Treasuries and MBS from $ 3.8 trillion to $ 8.5 trillion.
Yields on U.S. Treasury securities ticked higher after the release of the minutes, with the 10-year note yield climbing to 2.6%, while the dollar rose to its highest level since late May against a basket of currencies. Major U.S. stock indexes closed the session sharply lower.
`` I don't think there's anything material that would garner a change in sentiment, as opposed to yesterday where there was a real change and I think it really spooked investors, '' said Alan Lancz, president of Alan B. Lancz and Associates in Toledo, Ohio, referring to comments made by Fed Governor Lael Brainard on Tuesday.
Brainard told a Minneapolis Fed conference that she expected a combination of interest rate increases and a rapid balance sheet runoff to bring U.S. monetary policy to a `` more neutral position '' later this year, with further tightening to follow as needed.
( Reporting by Howard Schneider Editing by Paul Simao) | business |
Tiger Woods sets stage for another storybook Masters comeback | Augusta, Georgia – Tiger Woods ended the suspense on Tuesday, saying he will play the Masters just 14 months after a car crash that nearly resulted in doctors amputating his right leg and setting the stage for what could go down as one of sport’ s greatest comebacks.
In a career already packed with remarkable comebacks, this week at Augusta National could be the scene of something extraordinary, with Woods saying he will not only play the Masters but that he can win a sixth Green Jacket.
Woods had teased on Sunday that playing in the year’ s first major would be a “ game-time ” decision and after a morning on the practice range, he walked into the media center and delivered the news golf fans had been waiting to hear.
“ As of right now, I feel like I am going to play, ” Woods said during his pre-tournament news conference. “ I don’ t show up to an event unless I think I can win it.
“ I love competing, and I feel like if I can still compete at the highest level, I’ m going to and if I feel like I can still win, I’ m going to play. ”
Woods has not competed on the PGA Tour since the November 2020 Masters and cast serious doubt on his professional golfing future after suffering serious leg injuries in a February 2021 car crash.
The 46-year-old played a practice round on Monday and after nine holes was noticeably limping as he made his way up to the ninth green.
By all accounts Woods’ game is in good shape, with the bigger question being how well his damaged leg will hold up over a potential four rounds on the undulating Augusta National layout, which is one of the more demanding tracks on the PGA Tour.
“ You know, 72 holes is a long road, and it’ s going to be a tough challenge and a challenge that I’ m up for, ” assured Woods. “ There is ( pain) each and every day.
“ I can hit it just fine. I don’ t have any qualms about what I can do physically from a golf standpoint.
“ It’ s now walking is the hard part. This is normally not an easy walk to begin with. Now given the conditions that my leg is in, it gets even more difficult. ”
Woods is no stranger to playing through pain, something he famously proved at the 2008 U.S. Open where he prevailed in a thrilling playoff at Torrey Pines while competing on what was essentially a broken leg.
He capped one of the most miraculous comebacks in professional sport when, at the age of 43, he won the Masters in 2019 after enduring years of surgery and personal problems that convinced many the best golfer of his generation was done.
The 15-time major winner’ s career again looked over following his horrific crash to the point where even he finds it hard to believe he is back at Augusta National not just for the Champions Dinner but playing.
“ It’ s been one of those things where I’ ve had to endure pain before, ” said Woods. “ This is different obviously. This is a lot more traumatic, what has transpired to my leg.
“ At that time ( weeks after the accident) I was still in a hospital bed.
“ I never left that hospital bed even to see my living room for three months. So that was a tough road.
“ To say that I was going to be here playing and talking to you guys again, it would have been very unlikely. ”
While the initial suspense has ended, the drama is just beginning at Augusta National as everyone waits to see just how prepared Woods is to compete.
Woods is set to tee off at 10:34 a.m. on Thursday in a threesome with South African Louis Oosthuizen and Chile’ s Joaquin Niemann.
After two years of COVID-19 restrictions that limited the number of spectators allowed onto the grounds, the fans have returned in massive numbers and so has the unmistakable Augusta National buzz, amplified by the presence of Woods.
“ I think that the fact that I was able to get myself here to this point is a success, ” said Woods. “ Now that I am playing, now that everything is focused on how do I get myself into the position where I’ m on that back nine on Sunday with a chance? “ Just like I did a few years ago. ” | tech |
Haynes And Boone Adds New Insurance Partner To DC Office | Haynes and Boone LLP has added another insurance litigator as a partner in its Washington, D.C., office, the firm announced Wednesday.Cristen Rose joins Haynes and Boone after more than nine years at Paley Rothman, where she was a principal in the Bethesda, Maryland-based boutique firm's insurance recovery and regulatory law and litigation practices.Rose's insurance litigation experience includes complex construction, agricultural-related liability, heavy metals, climate change and coronavirus claims, according to a news release. She has also represented major manufacturers and Fortune 100 companies in cases involving product liability, false advertising and unfair trade practice claims.At Haynes and Boone,... | general |
China’ s U.N. envoy calls violence in Ukraine's Bucha ‘ deeply disturbing’ | China’ s envoy to the United Nations expressed dismay at the killing of unarmed civilians in Bucha, while calling on all sides to refrain judgment until a probe establishes who is responsible.
“ Attacks against civilians are unacceptable and should not occur, ” Ambassador Zhang Jun said Tuesday at a U.N. Security Council briefing on Ukraine. “ The reports and images of civilian deaths in Bucha are deeply disturbing. ”
Zhang stopped short of condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin for the violence, saying that “ circumstances and specific causes of the incident should be verified and established ” and “ all sides should exercise restraint and avoid unfounded accusations. ”
U.S. President Joe Biden has said Putin could face a war crimes trial related to the civilian deaths in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, and other Ukrainian towns vacated by Russian soldiers. Russia has denied its forces killed civilians, saying pictures of bodies strewn on the streets were a fabrication by Ukraine.
China has come under increased pressure from Washington and Brussels to take a stance on the conflict, as its diplomats and state media play down civilian casualties and cast Putin as a victim of the U.S.-backed expansion of NATO. European leaders told Chinese President Xi Jinping in a tense Friday video summit that “ equidistance is not enough ” on Ukraine, according to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The European Union’ s top diplomat on Tuesday described that call as a “ deaf dialog, ” saying China wanted to avoid talking about the war. “ The European side made clear that this compartmentalization is not feasible, not acceptable, ” Josep Borrell, who accompanied European leaders in the exchange, told the European Parliament.
Chinese state media outlets including the overseas edition of Communist Party mouthpiece the People’ s Daily, China Central Television’ s military affairs channel and China Daily posted Zhang’ s comments to China’ s Twitter-like Weibo. They attracted little attention compared to items on the COVID-19 outbreak in Shanghai and unverified footage of Ukrainian marines surrendering in Mariupol, which was briefly the second top trending item.
Before Zhang’ s remarks at the U.N., state media had mostly amplified Russia’ s denial that Putin’ s army was involved in the killings. On Monday, CCTV published Russian defense ministry claims that all photos and videos of Bucha were “ directed by the Ukrainian government for Western media. ”
That theory, dismissed as a falsehood by numerous governments, was widely circulated on Chinese social media, while posts showing how newspapers around the world were condemning Russia’ s massacre on their front pages were censored.
The Communist Party backed Global Times tabloid referred to the mass killings as the “ Bucha incident ” in a Wednesday editorial, which called the U.S. the “ initiator ” of the Ukraine crisis and blamed it for exacerbating tensions by sanctioning Russia.
Still, some netizens were outraged by Russian’ s atrocities, comparing them to the Nanjing massacre, which China says led to the killing of 300,000 civilians by an invading Japanese army for several weeks from late 1937 to early 1938. Some Japanese nationalists have said the number of deaths cited by China are greatly exaggerated and deny that atrocities took place. Japan’ s Foreign Ministry said “ the killing of noncombatants, looting and other acts occurred. However, there are numerous theories as to the actual number of victims. ”
“ As Chinese people who have the memories of the Nanjing massacre, those who can still defend massacre of civilians have utterly lost their conscience, ” said one Weibo user in a post shared nearly 900 times. | tech |
Robotics Startup Galen Snags Moderna Legend Robert Langer | Galen Robotics, a Baltimore-based biotech company, recently added Moderna co-founder Robert Langer to its board of directors. Galen, which has already proved to be a powerhouse of a startup, will further benefit from Langer’ s extensive experience in biotech startups and hands-on laboratory work.
Langer is a legend in the biotech world, although he’ s not the typical venture capitalist the life sciences industry usually sees. An academic, Langer earned his Sc.D. in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT) in 1974 and has been a professor there for decades. In addition to teaching, Langer runs MIT’ s biomedical research lab, one of the largest in the world, with a budget topping $ 10 million annually.
In addition to his academic career, Langer has been prolific in the industry. He founded Flagship VentureLabs, a venture capital firm that focused on incubating small biotech companies. As early as 2009, Flagship and Langer were investing in companies such as Selecta Biosciences, a privately held Massachusetts-based biopharma company that develops immunomodulatory nanoparticles.
VentureLab’ s first major success was Moderna, where Langer was a co-founder. In 2012, Langer and Flagship supported fledgling Moderna in its first round of investing, totaling around $ 40 million. Moderna’ s main goal was to focus on mRNA therapies, which Langer, who was also on the board of directors, was passionate about. This laid the groundwork for Moderna’ s mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.
Since Moderna, Langer has continued to invest in promising startups. At the Swedish American Life Sciences Summit, Langer was on a panel that awarded EpiEndo Pharmaceuticals the Rising Star Award. Langer’ s support through Flagship spans a broad range of topics, from Immunai, an immune system mapping biotech company, to Sigilon Therapeutics’ non-viral, cell-based therapies for chronic diseases.
One of Langer’ s biggest achievements is establishing a feasible way for therapies to release multiple medications at different release rates. For example, Juniper Pharmaceuticals developed a novel intravaginal ring with Langer’ s research. The ring is made of different layers of polymers that dissolve at different rates, allowing drug delivery systems to release certain molecular weights and various dosing capacities.
Langer also has experience in biotech robotics specifically. Last year, he invested in and was named head of the scientific advisory board of Opentrons, a lab platform that integrates lab robotics and operations.
Langer will be a valuable addition to Galen Robotics, but Galen has already proved its independent success. The company started a research project at Johns Hopkins University and quickly moved to Silicon Valley for better funding and support. However, in 2019, the Baltimore area convinced Galen to come home with more than $ 9 million in incentives.
Galen’ s star product is a robotic arm for surgeries. When a robotic arm is used during surgeries, physicians have better dexterity and less fatigue, lending increased accuracy and longevity during surgery. Developed as a possible competitor to the DaVinci surgical robot, Galen’ s robotic arm takes less training and can be used more easily in the neurological and ENT spaces than DaVinci.
The robotic arm product was featured in the 2019 Canaccord Genuity Medical Technology & Diagnostics Forum, and investors were so impressed that Galen was later highlighted as one of only nine companies in an investor industry update after the forum. Galen also raised $ 15 million in a Series A round of VC funding.
Now with Langer’ s expertise, Galen's future is even brighter. The company says it plans to file for 510 ( k) regulatory approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and open a second round of venture capital funding later this year. | general |
Fishtail Raises $ 4.5 Million Seed Round Funding for Data-Driven Trade Finance Technology | Fishtail announced it has raised $ 4.5 million in seed funding, led by Thursday Ventures, with participation from leading data, fintech, and supply chain investors Rackhouse Ventures, Amara Ventures, and project44 CEO Jett McCandless and Chief Growth Officer, Jason Duboe.
“ Trade finance has been an underinvested asset class for far too long, ” says Fishtail CEO, Marc Held. “ Fishtail’ s novel trade technology unlocks top-line growth opportunities for both suppliers and freight forwarders. ”
Complexity behind global supply chains has made it incredibly challenging for financial institutions to fund purchase orders and invoices, internationally, for SMBs on a meaningful scale.
Unsurprisingly, this is a major driver behind the 1.7 trillion USD per year trade finance gap, which is being increasingly widened by the COVID-19 pandemic and the supply chain disruptions caused by it.
Today, Fishtail’ s data-driven, scalable solution allows for freight forwarders to provide financing to their customers within minutes – either by arranging extended payment terms through the financing of freight, or by financing the goods themselves that these logistics companies are transporting.
“ All across the world in both developed and developing countries, SMBs are heavily underserved and neglected by large financial institutions, ” adds Ryan McKillen – Uber employee # 3, recovering CPA, and Partner at Thursday Ventures – “ Fishtail is primed to provide flexible capital to the businesses that need it most. ”
Incorporating cutting-edge machine learning research, Fishtail’ s trade finance automation platform turns global supply chain complexities from weakness into strength, extracting meaningful risk signals from the noise in messy supply chain and financial data.
“ It’ s shocking how little data is used by banks to finance businesses — we saw this first hand when we’ re building out credit models to fund consumers and small businesses in emerging markets at Tala — which makes it clear as to why SMBs can’ t get the trade finance they need to grow, ” says founding investor, Kevin Novak ( Uber’ s first Head of Data Science, former Chief Data Officer for alternative underwriting lender Tala Financial, and founder of Rackhouse Ventures).
“ In the short amount of time we’ ve been operating, we’ ve already accomplished some amazing things, financing goods and freight around the world for the traditionally ‘ un-financeable’, which is fitting, given that trade is truly global and scale-agnostic, ” Held says. “ We’ ve gathered the industry’ s strongest cross-functional experts in data science, supply chain, and trade finance to seamlessly automate access to capital for ‘ the 99%’. I couldn’ t be more excited for what comes next. ” | tech |
Report on housing costs examines role for municipalities in easing affordability | The information you requested is not available at this time, please check back again soon.
In most of the U.S., housing markets are exuberant. In some of the country’ s priciest neighborhoods, they’ re relatively subdued.
Several Chinese lenders have been told they can file legal cases against China Evergrande Group in local courts, in an apparent easing of a restriction that required all such lawsuits to be handled in a single court, according to people familiar with the matter.
China’ s soaring Covid infections are provoking little panic in the stock market, with investors betting that the authorities will unleash stimulus to prop up growth.
Chinese property stocks may be poised for a pullback after surging 28% in three weeks as pandemic lockdowns put a brake on economic growth. China Vanke Co. meanwhile announced a share buyback.
The billionaire Benetton family’ s motorway and airport company Atlantia SpA is poised to become the target of a bidding war in what could be this year’ s biggest deal.
Municipalities across Canada face housing development constraints in their communities that could be eased through more co-operation between all levels of government, says a report by a local governance think tank.
The report from the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance at the University of Toronto examined what researchers say would be the ideal role for local governments to approve and develop more social, rental and affordable housing that is increasingly needed.
The report, which is part of a two-year project looking at the role of municipalities in climate change, economic development, law enforcement and housing, suggested a series of municipal housing reforms and called for more collaboration with the federal and provincial governments.
It says municipal governments across Canada play active roles in housing policy, especially in the prevention of homelessness, through land-use planning but they face financial constraints.
`` They rely heavily on property taxes, and are prohibited from levying income or other more progressive taxes, '' says the report. `` Partly for this reason, most provinces play a large role in major capital projects, such as social housing. ''
Social housing units in B.C. are owned and operated by a Crown corporation and similar agencies exist in Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and Manitoba, says the report. In Quebec, Alberta and Ontario, social housing costs are shared by municipal governments and housing agencies owned by municipalities, which receive varying levels of provincial and federal funding.
The report says in Ontario an average of 77 per cent of social housing costs are funded by municipal governments, compared with 14 per cent by the province and nine per cent by the federal government.
Prof. Carolyn Whitzman, a University of Ottawa housing and social policy expert, said policy changes ranging from requiring municipal governments to approve more multi-housing developments to introducing provincial policies that make more government land available and increasing federal housing funding could ease affordability.
`` Housing is a complex system and there's no way it's going to be fixed without municipalities, provinces and the feds working together, '' she said in an interview. `` The municipalities have absolutely a huge role in terms of enabling affordable housing. ''
Whitzman, who was one of the report's contributors, called for increased federal and provincial funding to municipalities in order to approve and build more affordable housing.
`` Municipalities can play a critical role in ensuring the right supply is built and contribute to the affordability of new developments through direct contributions, speeding up the approvals process, and creating greater certainty for approvals, '' she said in the report.
Whitzman said she is watching this week's federal budget for the possibility of more funding for affordable housing initiatives.
Nick Falvo, a Calgary-based housing consultant and homelessness advocate, said municipalities have many levers they can use to address homelessness in their communities, but some communities are more active than others.
In the report, he said municipalities can and should engage in homelessness planning.
`` I think some city councillors and mayors are nervous about creating the impression it's the job of their municipality to solve the problem of local homelessness almost single-handedly, '' he said in an emailed statement.
`` But that's the wrong way to see it, '' said Falvo. `` They should instead view it as a complex public policy challenge that they can help with. ''
Laurey-Anne Roodenburg, president of the Union of British Columbia Municipalities, said it was still considering the report but `` we fully support the fundamental premise that all levels of government, local, provincial and federal can do better in terms of the overall approach to housing policy. ''
B.C. Attorney General David Eby, who has previously said municipal governments in the province are not approving enough housing developments to meet supply needs, said local governments must be part of the housing solution.
`` We want to work with municipalities to ensure that new housing is built to meet record-setting population growth and make up the shortfall that has long existed, '' Eby said in a statement. | general |
Over Half of 3D Radar Demand to be created by Hardware, | April 06, 2022 10:45 ET | Source: FACT.MR FACT.MR
United States, Rockville, MD, April 06, 2022 ( GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The 3D Radar market revenues were estimated at US $ 14.7 Bn in 2021 and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 12.7% from 2022-2032, according to a recently published Fact.MR report. By the end of 2032, the market is expected to reach US $ 55 Bn.
Hardware held a market share of nearly 51.6% and this trend is likely to be continued with a projected CAGR of 12.6% for this segment, for the next ten years. UHF-Radar sales market growth for hardware is fueled by both new sales as well as a part of maintenance and repair.
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As per the 3D Radar industry research by Fact.MR - a market research and competitive intelligence provider, historically, from 2016 to 2021, market value of the 3D Radar industry increased at around 13.0% CAGR, wherein, countries such as the U.S., China, U.K. and India held significant share in the global market.
The constant conflicts that are arising across the world is propelling the demand for the need of advanced technologies which is consequently driving the need for technological upgradations so as to shield the territories more effectively. Owing to this, 3D Radar Software Demand is projected to grow at a CAGR of 12.7% over the coming 10 years.
The rising trend of autonomous vehicles and radar will propel the demand for 3D radar technology. The short-range and lightweight 3D radar market is witnessing wide adoption in automobile applications. Increased air traffic may sometimes lead to collisions, with respect to drastic weather conditions.
These radars are mainly used as a critical sensor system in Autonomous Driving Assistance Systems ( ADAS) for vehicles’ safety. Companies are increasingly investing in these radars impelled by rising demand from automobile sectors. For instance, in April 2020, Cognitive Pilot, an autonomous driving technology joint venture between Cognitive Technologies Group and PJSC Sberbank, developed a miniature radar sensor for autonomous vehicles that weighs 40 grams.
To learn more about 3d Radar Market, you can get in touch with our Analyst at https: //www.factmr.com/connectus/sample? flag=AE & rep id=7196
● 3D Radar market is expected to reach a valuation of US $ 55 Bn by 2032 ● In 2021, North America contributed with prominent revenue and is projected to continue being the market hotspot● 3D hardware demand accounted for over 51% of the market revenue in 2021● E/F- Band shows the highest potential for growth, and it is expected to grow at a CAGR of about 13% during 2022- 2032.● U.S., the key market is expected to hold the prominent market share and grow at a CAGR of 11.4% during 2022 - 2032.
Several regional and global players operating in this market. These companies compete based on the innovation of their products, their quality, their brand reputation, and their market presence to sell their products through various industries. A variety of strategies are being employed by companies to remain competitive.
• In February 2022, Honeywell announced that a drone which has been piloted by its IntuVue RDR-84K radar has successful in a critical round of dodgeball.
• In January 2022, Leonardo won US $ 296 Mn contract for Eurofighter radar from Germany's Hensoldt.
• In October 2020, BAE Systems has announced that specialists from the Team Tempest - comprising Leonardo UK and other members - are working on a new radar innovation that will provide 10,000 times more data than current technologies.
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Fact.MR, in its new offering, presents an unbiased analysis of the 3D Radar market, presenting historical market data ( 2016-2021) and forecast statistics for the period of 2022-2032.
The study reveals essential insights based on Component ( Hardware, Software, Services), by Frequency Band ( HF-UND VHF-RADAR, C-Band ( UHF-Radar), D-Band ( L-Band Radar), E/F-Band ( S-Band Radar), Other Frequency Bands), by Industry ( Automotive and Public Infrastructure, Energy and Utilities, Government, Other Industries) across five regions ( North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa).
Check out more studies related to Technology Industry, conducted by Fact.MR:
Growth Outlook for the Body Area Network Market According to Different Segments - The growing trend among citizens for upgrading the lifestyle by adopting smart devices and digital technologies has created a huge market for every type of wireless body area network for health monitoring devices.
Prominent Growth Drivers Influencing BIM Extraction Software Industry - Demand for on-premise software will continue to remain high, building up on its historical value CAGR of 8.6% from 2016 to 2021. Likewise, BIM extraction software for houses & apartments are likely to experience major uptake.
COVID-19 Impact on In-circuit Test Market - The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant influence on the demand for in-circuit test economy on a variety of levels, as well as on end-use sectors. The COVID-19 pandemic dilemma is also expected to have an impact on the sales of in-circuit test market, which is expected to have a considerable drop in 2020.
Sales Analysis of Industrial PC 2022 to 2032 - The Industrial Internet of Things ( IIoT) is being aggressively used by manufacturing organizations across a variety of sectors to maximize their resources and prices. This enables them to automate production operations and create a large amount of manufacturing data utilising demand for industrial PCs for data collecting.
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Contact: Mahendra SinghUS Sales Office:11140 Rockville PikeSuite 400Rockville, MD 20852Email: sales @ factmr.com Tel: +1 ( 628) 251-1583 | general |
Most States Are Failing on Building Codes, FEMA Says | A new federal analysis gives all but a handful of states the lowest possible rating on the quality of their building codes, showing a widespread failure to protect people against windstorms and flooding through up-to-date building standards.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency categorized each state based on the stringency of its building codes—and put 39 states in the lowest category.
FEMA also rated each state on a 100-point scale. Nineteen states received a score of 0, including some of the nation’ s most disaster-prone states such as Louisiana, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
“ It’ s really a dirty little secret that many communities that are highly prone to disasters don’ t put the codes in place to prepare and protect the communities, ” said Leslie Chapman-Henderson, president of the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes.
Ten states received a top rating including California, Florida, New Jersey and New York, each with a score of 99.
FEMA’ s ratings mark a new federal effort to analyze and highlight a key element of climate protection that has been overlooked.
Building codes regulate new construction and major renovations, setting minimum standards for homes and commercial structures to withstand events such as hurricanes, floods and earthquakes.
“ They’ re the single most important factor and predictive factor in whether or not a home can withstand a disaster, ” Chapman-Henderson said. She called FEMA’ s ratings “ the gold standard. ”
FEMA and groups such as the insurance industry and climate advocates have been urging states and localities to adopt the newest building codes for better protection against climate impacts. A FEMA study in 2020 found that thousands of localities had archaic building codes that exposed people to “ a dangerous, costly and unnecessarily high level of risk. ”
“ On the federal side, we’ re seeing an increased attention to encouraging or incentivizing communities to update to the latest edition of the code, ” said Ryan Colker, a vice president of the International Code Council, which publishes building codes used widely by states and localities.
The large number of low scores in FEMA’ s latest ratings shows the pressure that state officials face to refrain from updating their building codes amid concern that stringent new standards could increase building costs.
“ You certainly have constituencies that would like to see codes remain the same, ” Colker said. “ Citizens don’ t really understand the role of codes. There isn’ t a large public constituency that would advocate for updates. ”
FEMA called its rating “ a tool ” that officials can use “ to encourage adopting the latest ” building codes.
FEMA published similar scoresheets a year ago, when 28 states received the lowest rating from the agency. Many states saw their scores drop this year because they failed to adopt the latest version of the council’ s building codes, which are updated every three years.
“ There are benefits from continual updates to the code, including capturing latest research and technology, ” Colker said. “ We’ re seeing an increase in the number and severity of hazard events. ”
The council publishes two major “ model ” building codes that it updates through a consensus process involving thousands of officials in the private and public sectors. One code covers commercial buildings, and the other covers residences.
States and localities are free to adopt the model codes fully or to make modifications.
FEMA’ s ratings differ from an analysis last year by the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety, a nonprofit research group funded by the insurance industry that studies disaster safety. The institute rated 18 states on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and gave Louisiana and North Carolina “ good ” ratings while New York received a “ poor ” score.
The differing results reflect the inconsistency in how observers evaluate state building codes.
FEMA ratings and scores are based on the percentage of communities in each state that are following the latest building codes. The ratings do not account for community population, which means they do not necessarily reflect the percentage of a state’ s residents facing hazard exposure from outdated building codes.
Building code policies vary from state to state. Some states adopt a building code that applies automatically to every community. Some states adopt a building code but let municipalities decide whether to follow the code. And some states take no action, leaving building codes entirely to municipalities.
Florida received a near-perfect score of 99.1 percent because the state adopted the latest building codes, which every county and municipality must follow. ( FEMA deducted nine-tenths of a percentage point because some flood-prone communities are not part of the agency’ s flood insurance program.)
FEMA gave Texas a score of 10 percent because the state follows outdated codes published in 2012 and gives municipalities “ broad discretion to modify ” the codes. Texas didn’ t receive a score of 0 because major cities such San Antonio have modified the state codes to be highly stringent.
The insurance institute’ s ratings are based on building codes as well as code enforcement and training of building inspectors.
Colker of the code council said some states did not adopt the latest codes because the Covid-19 pandemic interfered with meetings.
Reprinted from E & E News with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2022. E & E News provides essential news for energy and environment professionals. | science |
‘ I feel incredibly guilty’: My sister is unemployed and my brother makes $ 40,000. Should I offer to match their 529 plan contributions for their kids? | Dear Quentin,
My wife and I currently make $ 250,000 a year, which will climb north of $ 500,000 in the next few years. I have a currently unemployed sister and a brother who makes $ 40,000 annually with three kids. We are all in our early to mid-30s.
When thinking 10 to 30 years down the road, I am concerned with their lack of retirement savings and inability to save for my niece’ s and nephew’ s college fees. I’ m particularly concerned with how our family gatherings will feel. Will the relative extravagance create jealousy or animosity? Will they feel better about our huge gap in income if I make an effort to help them?
“
‘ Recently, my wife and I were talking about buying a $ 100,000 family SUV, while my brother was trying to buy a $ 5,000 car that needs mechanical work. I feel incredibly guilty.’
”
Recently, my wife and I were talking about buying a $ 100,000 family SUV, while my brother was trying to buy a $ 5,000 car that needs mechanical work. I feel incredibly guilty that we will be well off, while our immediate family is struggling to make ends meet. However, I did work
very
hard to get where I am today as a physician.
The question I have for you: Is it a good idea to contribute to my sister’ s and brother’ s retirement and 529 accounts in an attempt to not only financially support them, but also encourage them to save money? My current plan is to “ match ” their contributions to a certain amount — sort of like an employer match — be it a retirement plan or 529 college savings plan.
Are my feelings illogical? Should I get over my guilt, or is this a sensible plan? I need an outside perspective.
Fortunate and Concerned Brother
Dear Fortunate and Concerned Brother,
Don’ t give them money because you feel guilty — do it because you can do it, and because you want to help them.
I think both are true in your case, but if you embark on a journey to help your siblings plan for their future, it’ s best to maintain emotionally healthy boundaries. Guilt does not lend itself to such a bargain. It may alter the dynamics of your relationship: There will be a power imbalance, and you should prepare yourself for that and be sensitive to the impact of your generosity.
You need to set goals for yourself, and hopefully your siblings can set their own investing goals. But you also need to set limits on how much you wish to give in any given year, and even over your lifetime. Your circumstances may change, and you want to encourage your brother and sister to be as self-sufficient as possible rather than depending on you as a fallback for any or all financial decisions they make.
The only way to ensure a 529 plan is used for the purpose it is intended is to set up the accounts yourself for your nieces and nephews. These accounts come in two forms: “ prepaid college tuition plans ” and “ college savings plans. ” You can read more about them
here
. Alternatively, custodial
accounts, opened under the Uniform Transfer to Minors Act ( UTMA) or the Uniform Gifts to Minors Act ( UGMA), are common vehicles for this purpose.
There are also tax considerations to keep in mind: In 2022, the annual gift-tax exemption has risen to $ 16,000 per donor/recipient, an increase from $ 15,000 in 2021. Annual gifts are not deductible on your income taxes, nor are they regarded as income for the recipients. The lifetime gift-tax exemption rose to $ 12.06 million in 2022 from $ 11.7 million last year. Gifts made directly to a healthcare provider for a friend or relative and directly to an educational institution are exempt from gift tax.
In the meantime, you can help your brother buy a car. Rather than pay for the entire car up front, you could help him with the cost to buy a reliable set of wheels that will get him to and from work. It will give him agency over his own finances and prevent you from slipping into a parental ( or Father Christmas) figure, where the expectation of help eclipses the motivation behind it — which is to help ensure that your siblings have peace of mind, and their families have a better future.
Yo
u
can email The Moneyist with any financial and ethical questions related to coronavirus at qfottrell @ marketwatch.com, and follow Quentin Fottrell on
Twitter.
Check out
the Moneyist private Facebook
group, where we look for answers to life’ s thorniest money issues. Readers write in to me with all sorts of dilemmas. Post your questions, tell me what you want to know more about, or weigh in on the latest Moneyist columns.
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:
•
‘ We’ ve been left out in the cold’: My mother named my sister beneficiary of her estate, but wrote a letter wishing to divide it among her 3 children. What now?
•
‘ We’ re concerned this woman may persuade him to leave his house to her’: My father, 85, moved in with a female friend. How do we stop her taking his money?
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‘ She had a will, but it was null and void’: My friend and her sister are fighting over their mother’ s life-insurance policy and bank account. Who should win out? | business |
AG Merrick Garland Tests Positive For COVID-19 | Attorney General Merrick Garland has tested positive for COVID-19, the latest in a string of public officials to contract the coronavirus after attending a Washington, D.C., event Saturday, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release Wednesday.The news came just hours after the attorney general announced at a press conference that the Justice Department will sanction another Russian oligarch, Konstantin Malofeev, and will seek to seize assets of more Russian-linked billionaires associated with President Vladimir Putin and his government. Garland spoke unmasked at the event alongside U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and FBI Director Christopher Wray.Before testing... | general |
Shanghai Calls on Party Members to ‘ Draw Swords’ in Covid Fight | The information you requested is not available at this time, please check back again soon.
( Bloomberg) -- China’ s ruling Communist Party issued a rare call imploring rank-and-file members to help contain the coronavirus in Shanghai, a sign of the strain the locked down financial hub of 25 million people is under as its worst outbreak to date spreads.
“ We must dare to draw our swords and fight against all kinds of behaviors that interfere with and undermine the overall situation of the fight against the epidemic, ” the top party branch in Shanghai wrote to members late Wednesday, the same day the number of new cases in the city rose to more than 19,900.
“ Wherever there is a need, there must be a Communist Party member, ” it added in the open letter posted on an official government social media account.
People across Shanghai have been struggling with food shortages and a lack of medical care in the 10 days since a lockdown started in the eastern half of the city that was later expanded to include the more populous western half. The outbreak has virtually paralyzed one of China’ s most populous and recognizable cities, with businesses shuttered and factories of companies like Tesla Inc. suspended because of the curbs.
There are rising signs of frustration among residents of the city that is home to top banks, insurers and the biggest stock exchange in the world’ s No. 2 economy. Videos of a rare protest in a locked-down housing compound were said to have been deleted from a social media platform by tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd., according to Bloomberg News reporting.
The letter from the Communist Party committee in Shanghai Wednesday hinted at those tensions, urging party members to “ take the initiative to speak out against all kinds of noises, especially rumors, to clarify right and wrong, and to unite a strong force to overcome the difficulties together. ”
It also appealed to members’ sense of history and patriotism, pointing out that Shanghai was the birthplace of China’ s Communist Party.
“ Today, we communists in Shanghai must carry forward the founding spirit of the party, and let the party flag stand high on the front line of the fight against the epidemic, ” it said. | general |
U.S. health experts discuss COVID boosters for the fall and beyond | WASHINGTON ( AP) — While many Americans are trying to move on with their lives after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. health officials are debating the best way to use vaccines to stay ahead of the coronavirus.
A panel of U.S. vaccine experts was meeting Wednesday to discuss key questions for future COVID-19 booster campaigns. The Food and Drug Administration’ s vaccine advisers won’ t make any binding decisions during the virtual meeting, but their advice could shape the government’ s approach for years to come.
FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks told reporters last week that it wouldn’ t be surprising if the agency authorized another booster dose in the fall to protect most Americans against the latest coronavirus mutations. He opened Wednesday’ s meeting by cautioning that waning vaccine protection, new variants and colder weather later this year could raise the risk of more surges.
“ All that taken together makes us conclude that a general discussion of booster vaccination against COVID-19 is warranted at this time so that we can potentially intervene, ” Marks said.
Some of the key questions for the panel:
HOW SHOULD THE U.S. DECIDE WHEN TO LAUNCH FUTURE ROUNDS OF BOOSTER SHOTS? WHO SHOULD GET THEM?
Last week, the FDA authorized an extra Pfizer or Moderna shot for anyone 50 or older and for some younger people with severely weakened immune systems. It’ s an effort to get ahead of another possible surge.
Only about half of Americans eligible for a third shot have gotten one. And some independent experts disagree about the need for even that additional protection in healthy individuals, due to limited evidence of the benefit or how long it might last.
The last U.S. wave was driven by the omicron variant. During that surge, two doses were nearly 80% effective against needing a ventilator or death — and a booster pushed that protection to 94%, federal scientists have reported. COVID-19 cases have dropped to low levels in the U.S., but health officials are warily watching an omicron sibling that now accounts for most cases.
WHAT’ S THE PROCESS FOR UPDATING VACCINES TO ADDRESS NEW VARIANTS?
All the COVID-19 vaccines now used in the U.S. are based on the original coronavirus version that emerged in late 2019. Updating the vaccines will be a complex task, requiring coordination between the FDA, manufacturers and global health authorities.
The process for updating annual flu vaccines offers one possible model for dealing with mutations. The FDA panel is expected to discuss the strengths and weakness of adopting such an approach.
Twice a year, World Health Organization experts recommend updates to flu vaccines to target emerging strains. The FDA then brings those recommendations to its own vaccine panel, which votes on whether they make sense for the U.S., setting the stage for manufacturers to tweak their shots and begin mass production.
But COVID-19 hasn’ t yet fallen into a predictable pattern like the flu. And vaccine manufacturers will likely need more time to conduct additional studies of their COVID-19 vaccines, which don’ t have the same decades-long record of safety and effectiveness as flu shots. | business |
Europe’ s Russia coal ban foreshadows higher global energy prices | Europe is taking a big gamble as it moves to ban Russian coal, potentially leaving itself vulnerable to shortages and rolling blackouts while the rest of the world contends with surging prices.
Russia is Europe’ s top supplier of thermal coal, used to fuel power stations. As the European Union joins the U.S. to take a harder stance against Russian President Vladimir Putin’ s war in Ukraine, the continent has plans to phase out Russian shipments. The problem is that there’ s no clear alternative for that huge chunk of trade, and the result appears destined to lead to a domino effect that creates a mad global scramble for coal.
Prices are already soaring in a market that has been tight for months. European coal jumped 14% to a three-week high on Tuesday after news of the proposed ban, with futures doubling since the start of the year. The benchmark for Asian coal hit an all-time high in March, while U.S. coal topped $ 100 a ton last week for the first time in 13 years.
`` The proposed sanction would be devastating to European coal imports, ” said Fabian Ronningen, an analyst at Norwegian consultant Rystad Energy. `` Some coal can be sourced from other markets, but in general, the global coal market is very tight as well. ”
It’ s not just that supplies are tight. There are also logistical complications when it comes to quickly pivoting to new suppliers. Russia’ s proximity to Europe has long been one of its advantages in a market that depends on dayslong shipments of heavy cargoes. Now, European buyers will have to look elsewhere, stretching supply from countries as far away as South Africa, Australia and Indonesia, where quality varies.
`` Russian coal is the closest, cheapest and in some markets like Germany the most suitable specification, in terms of heat content and sulphur ” to power Europe’ s stations, said Jake Horslen, an analyst at S & P Commodities Insights. An EU ban `` would pose a significant challenge for the buyers that would need to seek out alternatives, ” he said.
In the long term, prospects aren’ t great for coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel. But right now, the market is booming as Europe deals with a crunch in natural gas supplies and fuel consumption surges in the pandemic recovery boom. Global carbon emissions from the power sector jumped to a record last year, partly driven by more coal burning, according to think tank Ember.
Ramping up coal production to meet demand has been challenging. The market has been hit by rail disruptions, COVID-19 outbreaks and even a temporary export ban from Indonesia, the world’ s largest exporter.
`` The disruption of Russian coal supply is just the latest in a wave of supply issues that have hounded the market since early last year, ” Bank of America Corp. analysts wrote in a note this month.
Any sanctions on Russian coal will pressure Europe’ s already strained supplies. Coal stored in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp harbors remain at the lowest for the season in at least six years, according to weekly survey of stocks by Argus Media.
Europe buys two kinds of coal from Russia — thermal, the kind used by power plants, and metallurgical, used in steel-making. The Russian share of the EU’ s imports of thermal coal is almost 70%, with Germany and Poland particularly reliant.
The continent has grown increasingly dependent on Russia as its own production declined. In 2020, Europe shipped in 57 million tons of thermal coal from Russia, the vast majority of imports, according to the International Energy Agency.
Hard coal reserves at German energy supplier Steag’ s coal-fired power plant in Duisburg, Germany, on Tuesday. A new sanctions package prepared by the European Union against Russia is set to include oil and coal. | AFP-JIJI
German energy firm EnBW Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG said last month that it had begun to diversify its coal procurement to reduce dependency on Russia, and that a full switch would only be possible in the medium-term. The company, which relied on Russia for more than 80% of its coal last year, also said procuring the fuel in countries including Australia and South Africa would be more costly.
And while the U.S. has stepped in to help wean Europe off Russian gas, it’ s unlikely to be able to do the same with coal. Miners have already sold most of their output under long-term contracts and aren’ t able to increase production because they have been closing mines for years. Those issues have been exacerbated by a worker shortage and logistics challenges that make it tough to get more tons from the mines to the ports.
`` There’ s a lot of call for U.S. exports, but it’ s hard to get it out of the country, ” said Andrew Blumenfeld, data analytics director for market research company McCloskey.
Even before sanctions, European energy companies were already struggling to get their hands on Russian coal. Many banks were refusing to finance commodities trading, forcing some of the continent’ s biggest utilities to buy coal in South Africa and Australia.
An increase in exports from countries like Indonesia `` could help offset the lost tonnage from Russia, ” the Bank of America analysts said, while warning that `` it won ‘ t make up for the quality difference.
`` With supply issues abounding, the market will have to balance through demand destruction, ” the analysts said.
That’ s easier said than done, especially given the larger problems for energy supplies in Europe that have reverberated across the world.
Tight markets for natural gas have created energy shortfalls at a time when wind and hydro have been unreliable in some regions. Europe and Asia have been hit the worst, with skyrocketing markets, blackouts in places like India, power shortages in China and the threat of outages in other countries. Energy prices have also soared in the U.S., though not to the same extremes.
Meanwhile, some analysts had cast a critical eye on some European countries’ reliance on Russia even before the current war in Ukraine. Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey and Poland combined received almost a quarter of all Russia’ s coal exports in 2021, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data.
About 10% of Germany’ s electricity is generated by burning hard coal and, unlike neighboring France, the country has little nuclear power as a fallback option, with its last remaining plants going offline this year as part of a transition to more renewable energy. Still, Economy Minister Robert Habeck says Germany can rid itself of Russian coal before the end of the year.
The reliance on Russia for energy more broadly limits Europe’ s ability to place sanctions on other fuels, according to Thierry Bros, a former energy analyst who’ s now a professor at the Paris Institute of Political Studies.
`` Because of Germany and Hungary’ s too close relations with Russia, we are stuck in banning only coal, which is a good first step but far from enough, ” Bros said. | tech |
Disney’ s latest Florida attraction: Affordable housing | Living near the House of Mouse can cost you an arm and a leg. And now Disney
DIS,
-2.25%
is taking a page out of Silicon Valley’ s book to address the problem.
Walt Disney World is setting aside roughly 80 acres on its property for a new affordable-housing development. The resort expects that the development will include more than 1,300 housing units, and it will be constructed by a third-party developer.
The housing will be made available to “ qualifying applicants ” in the Central Florida region, Disney
said in the press release
, including Walt Disney World employees, also known as cast members.
“ The lack of affordable housing is affecting many people across our country, including right here in Central Florida, ” Jeff Vahle, president of Walt Disney World Resort, said in the announcement.
Disney’ s affordable-housing plans follow similar efforts made by its primary rival, Universal Parks & Resorts. Comcast-owned
CMCSA,
-0.29%
Universal has teamed up with a local developer to build 1,000 rent-controlled apartments in Orlando, and
released details
of the plan at the end of March.
Read more:
Apple, Facebook, Google and Amazon are putting billions of dollars toward affordable housing — but that money may be too little, too late
Rent prices have risen 26% in Orlando since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020,
according to a March report
from real-estate website Apartment List. That puts Orlando among the top 10 cities nationwide for rent growth, behind places like Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Miami.
Over the past six months alone, rents have increased 6% in Orlando — the third-fastest rate of growth in the country over that time span.
The high cost of housing in Central Florida has represented a major headache for Disney’ s theme-park workforce, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. Many Walt Disney World employees were laid off or furloughed as the theme parks remained closed for months. Disney subsequently struggled to rehire many of those workers and began to offer incentives such as hiring bonuses to attract applicants. In October, Disney raised the minimum wage for its Florida workers to an hourly rate of $ 15.
“ We’ re proud of the bar we set to raise the minimum wage to $ 15 an hour by 2021, which is among the highest in the country for entry-level employees in the service industry, ” a Disney spokeswoman told the Orlando Sentinel in 2019, when the company announced its $ 15 an hour wage. Employee benefits include health insurance, an on-site health clinic, and discounted groceries sold at an on-site store, the Sentinel reported.
But even before COVID struck, many theme-park workers
struggled to afford housing
near their jobs when earning that rate. Some Disney employees have experienced homelessness, and some are forced to reside in nearby motels or sleep in their cars due to the lack of affordable housing in the area. The Coalition for Homeless of Central Florida
has estimated
that the region is in need of some 25,000 homes.
In that sense, Disney and Universal are following the lead of other industries that have grappled with the adverse impact of rising housing costs. In recent years, multiple companies in Silicon Valley, such as Apple
AAPL,
-1.85%
,
Google parent Alphabet
GOOGL,
-2.88%
and Facebook parent Meta
FB,
-3.68%
,
have created funds or set aside land to promote affordable housing in the California region. | business |
The Future of Gene Editing Takes a Toolbox that Extends Beyond Cas9 | Carver Biosciences is developing next-generation gene editing technology using Cas13. By editing RNA, this method makes it possible to target and then edit or destroy RNA from the viruses that cause COVID-19, influenza and other infectious diseases, and to prevent them from replicating.
This represents one more tool in the gene-editing toolbox. “ There is no magic bullet for gene editing, ” Walter Strapps, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of Carver Biosciences, told BioSpace. Instead, the maturation of gene editing, like so many things, will depend upon the development of multiple editing technologies, each of which will have an optimal use.
Cas13 is one of many Cas proteins in the bacteriological immune systems. “ That bacterial immune system evolved to protect various bacteria from specific pathogens by destroying them in different ways. For example, Cas9 destroys DNA, ” Strapps explained. With CRISPR technology, it revolutionized gene editing by providing an extremely powerful way to cut DNA and thus prevent a particular gene product from being made. It doesn’ t, however, affect RNA.
Cas13, which Carver uses, does that. Specifically, Carver is developing RNA-directed RNase. “ This method uses a piece of RNA to guide it to the mRNA it wants to destroy – influenza or coronaviruses, for example, ” Strapps said. Because Cas13 can be modified to be virus-specific, non-targeted RNA remains intact.
Carver is developing Cas13 to become a new therapeutic for people who have failed other COVID-19 therapies or as part of a combination therapy. “ This technology is incredibly robust. You can put in a mix of RNAs that correspond to multiple viruses, ” he pointed out.
Strapps envisions delivering the therapeutic through an inhaler. By this method, the RNase would go to the lungs and destroy the virus.
“ This is in the very early stages, ” he cautioned, but it appears possible to insert a variety of RNases to target multiple different viruses. Cas13 also can be used when the goal is to replace a defective gene with a working version. ( That process is called prime editing.)
This is Strapps’ first experience as a company CEO. “ I never intended to be a CEO, ” he said. “ I’ m a scientist. I did my Ph.D. in genetics and development at Columbia University on flies ( drosophila) – which is very cool science, ” he added. He entered the industry immediately, working at a series of biotech companies that includes Merck, Intellia Therapeutics and Gemini Therapeutics.
“ It was my intention to top out as chief scientific officer at a company, but when I left my most recent position as CSO at Gemini Therapeutics, this opportunity came up. I couldn’ t say ‘ no.’ The science is very interesting and has the potential to develop something that can treat patients. It’ s exciting to build something starting from zero. ”
Strapps joined the company in February, working alongside co-founder Cameron Myhrvold, Ph.D., assistant professor of molecular biology at Princeton University. Myhrvold was among the Forbes 30 under 30 in 2019 and was designated a STAT Wunderkind in 2020. Strapps and Myhrvold are now building out the scientific and executive teams. The company’ s second employee came onboard shortly after this interview.
Strapps is forming the company around a platform technology that can be fine-tuned to target multiple different viruses. As he said, “ Once you’ ve built the individual pieces of the platform, it becomes very straightforward to change one component ( for precise targeting). That’ s what Intellia Therapeutics did in developing its CRISPR/Cas9 platform, and it now has a rolling pipeline of indications it can target. ”
There is an unfulfilled need, and great potential, around targeting RNA, he explained. “ Antibiotics work robustly against bacteria, and you can find some that target multiple bacteria. This is exceedingly difficult to do with antivirals, however. There are no pan-viral medicines out there. They almost always have to be designed in a very specific fashion for the mechanisms of that particular virus. Even then, the anti-viral tends to target the proteins rather than the genetic material of the virus. ”
Carver’ s contribution to gene editing will be to add one more tool to the toolbox rather than a universal panacea. “ I’ ve been in the industry for more than 20 years and the siRNA space for more than a decade. I distinctly remember that virtually every time a new technology was introduced – whether CRISPR/Cas9 or monoclonal antibodies – it was going to be the magic bullet. That’ s never the case, ” he said. | general |
As Japan's politicians call for big spending amid price hikes, some question the timing | Aiming to curb the impact of higher commodity prices, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’ s administration will soon prepare a fresh economic package.
While Kishida will reportedly unveil new economic and coronavirus measures on Thursday, calls to increase government spending are growing among lawmakers, given that the Upper House election is just months away.
Last week, Kishida told his Cabinet ministers to use a ¥5.5 trillion ( $ 44.36 billion) reserve fund from the fiscal 2022 budget to draft a relief package, but some in the ruling and opposition parties have said that an extra budget is needed to finance larger-scale measures.
“ People are actually starting to feel that prices are rising, ” said Natsuo Yamaguchi on Saturday, the head of Komeito, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’ s junior coalition partner.
As commodity prices have climbed further because of the war between Russia and Ukraine, people are growing more anxious about how their lives will be affected, he said.
“ The government has said that it will first use the reserve fund from this fiscal year’ s budget, but it won’ t be enough, ” Yamaguchi said, adding that a new extra budget needs to be enacted during the current parliamentary session, which is scheduled to end June 15.
Komeito chief Natsuo Yamaguchi ( left) meets with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in the LDP headquarters in Tokyo on March 25. | KYODO
Yamaguchi also said that ¥5 trillion of the ¥5.5 trillion reserve fund was originally set aside for the pandemic response, and it would be inappropriate to use it for countermeasures against the price hikes.
The Komeito leader said Tuesday that he talked to Kishida by phone and asked him to draft an extra budget.
“ The prime minister didn’ t rule out the option of an extra budget, but said he will first try to handle it with the reserve fund, ” Yamaguchi said during a news conference.
Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Democratic Party for the People — an opposition party that has been working with the ruling bloc to formulate countermeasures to surging oil prices — said Tuesday that a supplementary budget is necessary to finance large stimulus.
While the LDP is cautious about hastily drafting an extra budget, former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who is still an LDP lawmaker, said during a TV appearance Sunday that the government should prepare a supplementary budget rather than just using the reserve fund.
As prices climb because of the war between Russia and Ukraine, people are growing more anxious about how their lives will be affected. | AFP-JIJI
During a meeting with ministers Tuesday, Kishida again stressed that the government will first tap the reserve fund in order to implement measures swiftly.
Local media have reported that the scale of spending will likely reach between ¥1 trillion and ¥2 trillion, with the package continuing to subsidize oil wholesalers to lower retail gasoline prices and offering financial support to struggling firms and households.
Compiling policy options for an extra budget bill could take weeks, and yet the bill must also clear parliament. As a result, time may run out for the government to implement an extra budget by the end of the current session.
Local media have also reported that Kishida may unveil his new major economic policies before the Upper House election in July and then actually finance them with an extra budget after the vote.
Whether the measures will be on a smaller-scale using the reserve fund or on a larger-scale using an extra budget, some economists have pointed out that the move appears to be politically motivated.
With an Upper House election approaching in July, some economists have pointed out that spending proposals appear to be politically motivated. | BLOOMBERG
“ Concerns about sudden price hikes among consumers are growing just before this summer’ s Upper House election. It seems that relieving their concerns has become a political matter, ” said Shinichiro Kobayashi, senior economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting Co.
Economists say that soaring commodity prices are indeed a negative factor for the Japanese economy, but the outlook is not necessarily weak.
The Mitsubishi Research Institute ( MRI), a Tokyo-based think tank, estimates that Japan’ s economy will grow by 2.6% this fiscal year, which runs through March 2023. Since Japan’ s long-term growth potential is below 1%, that figure is rather solid, even though it is driven by the recovery from the damage caused by the pandemic.
Given that the economy is on track for recovery, “ I doubt if an economic package is really necessary right now, ” said Akihiro Morishige, a senior MRI economist.
He added that the Kishida administration already introduced a massive stimulus, with a record ¥55.7 trillion in spending financed by an extra budget last December and this fiscal year’ s budget, which cleared parliament just a few weeks ago.
Price tags are seen on a snacks stall in Tokyo’ s Sunamachi area on March 9. | AFP-JIJI
According to Mitsubishi UFJ’ s Kobayashi, over the past several years “ it has become a regular habit to carry out new economic packages with extra budgets whenever something happens, ” but the government is not supposed to rely on supplementary budgets that way.
Moreover, despite higher-than-usual oil prices for the time being, the cost has calmed slightly compared with its peak in the week after Russia’ s invasion began in late February.
By early March, the benchmarks Brent and West Texas Intermediate topped over $ 120 ( about ¥14,900) a barrel, but the prices had dropped to around $ 100 as of Tuesday.
If the government is really planning to roll out relief measures, says Morishige, then they should be designed to help people in need, as well as regions and industries that will be hit hard by the high commodity prices.
For example, higher gasoline prices disproportionately affect areas that are rural or away from Japan’ s biggest cities, since more people must rely on cars than in busy urban areas such as Tokyo. Therefore, subsidies should be designed to mitigate the impact on those areas.
Higher gasoline prices could also be a chance to facilitate the shift to electric vehicles in line with the country’ s decarbonization efforts, but if the government keeps financing subsidies to curb gasoline prices, it could run counter to that, Morishige added.
“ Economic measures should not be just intended to counter the immediate rise of prices, they should also be something that will help strengthen the Japanese economy in the medium to long term, ” said Morishige. | tech |
Compromise COVID bill may be in holding pattern for weeks amid partisan Senate stalemate | WASHINGTON ( AP) — A compromise $ 10 billion measure buttressing the government’ s COVID-19 defenses stalled in the Senate Wednesday and seemed all but certainly sidetracked for weeks, victim of a campaign-season fight over the incendiary issue of immigration.
There was abundant finger pointing but no signs the two parties were near resolving their stalemate over a bipartisan pandemic bill that President Joe Biden and top Democrats wanted Congress to approve this week. With Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., prioritizing...
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Biden signs into law Postal Service bill saving 6-days-a-week mail delivery across U.S. | WASHINGTON ( AP) — A sweeping overhaul of the U.S. Postal Service meant to shore up the popular but beleaguered agency’ s financial future and cement six-days-a-week mail delivery was signed into law Wednesday by President Joe Biden.
The
legislation cleared Congress last month after fully a dozen years of discussion
that took on a new sense of urgency amid widespread complaints about mail service delays. Officials had repeatedly warned that without congressional action, the Postal Service would run out of cash by 2024.
“
Mail carriers deliver 4 million prescriptions a day, along with letters, consumer goods and even live animals, observes President Joe Biden. ‘ The Postal Service is central to our economy and essential to rural America.’
”
“ The Postal Service is central to our economy and essential to rural America, ” Biden said. He added that mailmen and women deliver 4 million prescriptions per day, along with letters, consumer goods and even live animals, “ often to parts of the country that private carriers can’ t or won’ t or aren’ t required to reach. ”
The final legislation achieved rare, bipartisan support by scrapping some of the more controversial proposals and settling on core ways to save the service.
Delivering the mail is among the most popular things the government does, with 91% of Americans having a favorable opinion of the Postal Service, according to a Pew Research Center poll released in 2020.
The bill signing came the same day the Postal Service announced it plans to raise rates effective July 10. Under the proposal submitted to the Postal Regulatory Commission, the cost of a first-class Forever stamp would increase by 2 cents to 60 cents.
The Postal Service said the increase, which is less than the annual rate of inflation, will help the agency implement Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’ s 10-year plan to stabilize agency finances.
Lawmakers from both parties attended the signing ceremony, and the mood was jovial.
Kansas Republican Sen. Jerry Moran previously had said the service was in a “ death spiral ” that was particularly hard on rural Americans.
The Postal Service Reform Act lifts budget requirements that have contributed to the agency’ s red ink, and spells out that mail must be delivered six days a week, except for federal holidays, natural disasters and some other situations.
Postage sales and other services were supposed to sustain the Postal Service, but it has suffered 14 straight years of losses. Growing worker compensation and benefit costs, plus steady declines in mail volume, have exacerbated losses, even as the service delivers to 1 million additional locations every year.
See ( November 2020):
Post office’ s losses widen to $ 9 billion this year as election boost fails to offset drop in mail demand
Also ( November 2020):
U.S. Postal Service officials ordered to appear in court after failing to comply with federal judge’ s ballot-sweep order
The new law ends a requirement that the Postal Service finance workers’ healthcare benefits ahead of time for the next 75 years — an obligation that private companies and federal agencies do not face. Biden said that rule had “ stretched the Postal Service’ s finances almost to the breaking point. ”
Now, future retirees will enroll in Medicare, while other health plans and the Postal Service cover only current retirees’ actual healthcare costs that aren’ t paid for by the federal health-insurance program for older people.
“ In recent years we saw how unfair policies forced this treasured institution to cut costs and delayed the delivery of medication, financial documents and other critical mail, ” Michigan Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, who helped write the legislation, said in a statement. “ These long overdue reforms will undo these burdensome financial requirements. ”
To measure the agency’ s progress in improving its service, the law requires it to set up an online dashboard that would be searchable by ZIP code to show how long it takes to deliver letters and packages.
Dropped from the package as it neared actual legislation were efforts to cut back mail delivery. Also set aside — for now — were other proposals that have been floated over the years to change operations, including to privatize some services.
Criticism of the Postal Service peaked in 2020, amid the COVID-19 crisis and ahead of the presidential election, as cutbacks delayed service at a time when millions of Americans were relying on mail-in ballots during the pandemic.
Then-President Donald Trump acknowledged he was trying to financially pinch the service to limit its processing ability for an expected surge of mail-in ballots
, which he worried aloud could cost him re-election in November. He eventually lost.
Key Words ( August 2020):
Trump blasts Democratic demands for postal-service money, saying mail-in voting would be ‘ fraudulent’
Plus:
Biden calls Trump opposition to by-mail voting ‘ un-American’
Dominated by Trump appointees, the agency’ s board of governors had tapped DeJoy, a major GOP donor, as postmaster general. He proposed a 10-year plan to stabilize the service’ s finances with steps like additional mail slowdowns, cuts in some offices’ hours and perhaps higher rates.
Key Words ( February 2021):
‘ Get used to me’ — Louis DeJoy says he will stay at the USPS for a ‘ long time’
From the archives ( August 2020):
Mail disruption under Trump-aligned postmaster called unconstitutional
Also ( June 2021):
Justice Department is investigating Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’ s political fundraising at the logistics company he previously led
Biden said Wednesday that more needs to be done to reform the Postal Service, including investing in an electrified vehicle fleet that could save money while helping combat climate change. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform is examining a Postal Service contract to replace its huge fleet of mail-delivery trucks with a mix of gas and electric vehicles, which the Environmental Protection Agency and Democratic lawmakers argue has too few electric vehicles.
“ Today we enshrine into law our recognition that the Postal Service is fundamental to our economy, to our democracy, to our health and the very sense of who we are as a nation, ” Biden said. | business |
Now politically charged school-board races in Wisconsin dissected for broader significance | MADISON, Wis. ( AP) — Republican-backed candidates in local school-board races came out as big winners in the Milwaukee suburbs that are critical for the Wisconsin GOP in statewide elections, but they had mixed results in other parts of the battleground state.
The school-board elections Tuesday in Wisconsin were among the earliest nationwide this year and are the latest sign of how politicized typically nonpartisan races for local offices are becoming across the country.
Don’ t miss:
Why this summer’ s blitz on school-board public meetings recalls the early days of the tea-party movement
Plus:
Merrick Garland calls for federal response to surging threats of violence against school boards and educators
Former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, a Republican candidate for governor, took the unusual step of endorsing 48 school board candidates. Of those, 34 won including eight incumbents, based on preliminary results. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, a former teacher, school administrator and state superintendent, did not endorse in any race.
“ The pattern was traditional GOP areas, the endorsed candidates did well, ” said Michael Ford, an associate professor of public administration at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh who studies school board races. “ Places where it’ s more ideologically balanced it didn’ t seem to matter all that much. ”
“
Ballotpedia found that there were 53 school-board elections in Wisconsin in which candidates took a stance on how race is taught, how schools or districts responded to the pandemic, or school-related sex and gender issues.
”
Ben Wikler, chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, was buoyed by the results, saying Republicans should have performed better in a year that is supposed to favor them. They needed to perform better in swing parts of the state, he said.
“ What we saw last night is a sharply divided state that’ s likely to come down to the wire in the fall, ” Wikler said.
Conservative candidates picked up school-board seats in Waukesha, Wausau and Kenosha, but lost races in Beloit and the western Wisconsin cities of La Crosse and Eau Claire.
The results reinforce the idea that the goal of Republicans getting behind school-board candidates in a way they haven’ t in the past was to reinforce their base ahead of the midterm elections, Ford said. It also shows that key voters in Milwaukee’ s suburbs, who were uncomfortable voting for Donald Trump, swung back and voted for conservatives in the school board races, he said.
That could be a good sign for Republicans heading into the fall, when Evers and Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson are up for re-election in November. Johnson last year talked about the importance of local elections heading into the midterm and encouraged constituents to “ take back our school boards, our county boards, our city councils. ”
Republicans also saw wins beyond school-board races. The Republican-backed candidate for a state appeals court seat in southeastern Wisconsin, Maria Lazar, defeated a sitting judge who was appointed by Evers. And Republican state Rep. Samantha Kerkman won the race for Kenosha County executive, replacing a Democrat. Republicans also touted wins in other Democratic parts of the state, including winning two of three seats on the Green Bay city council and flipping majority control of seven county boards.
Kleefisch has made education one of her top issues and said Wednesday the wins “ show that Wisconsinites are fed up and want to take back control of their communities, schools and courts. ”
From the archives ( February 2022):
Republican governor Youngkin appears in a hurry to push swing state Virginia to the right
The GOP-backed school board candidates largely focused their campaigns on the response to COVID-19 in schools, like mask mandates and vaccination requirements, and on exerting more control over what can be taught, particularly as it relates to race, sex and gender issues.
Ballotpedia, which tracks election data, found that there were 53 school-board elections in Wisconsin in which candidates took a stance on how race is taught, how schools or districts responded to the pandemic, or school-related sex and gender issues.
Here’ s a look at some noteworthy races:
• Three Waukesha School Board candidates endorsed by the Republican Party and Kleefisch won, defeating a slate of candidates backed by the statewide teachers union. That was part of a near county-wide sweep by conservative backed candidates for school board.
• Scarlett Johnson, one of the organizers of an unsuccessful school board recall election last fall in the suburban Milwaukee district of Mequon-Thiensville, lost her bid for the board along with another conservative candidate.
• Eau Claire school board candidate Marquell Johnson, who was backed by Democrats, won. Johnson, who is Black, made public an email he received during the campaign calling for a “ Thank You White People Day. ”
• Eau Claire school board president Tim Nordin, who urged his community not to “ cede to fear, ” won. He received a death threat after three conservative candidates for school board seats criticized a teacher training program that they claimed could exclude parents from conversations about their children’ s gender identity or sexual orientation.
• In the small town of Holmen, a social media post in February showed a flyer asking voters to contact two conservative candidates for school board to “ Keep Holmen Schools White and Christian. ” Both of the named candidates who were also endorsed by Kleefisch — Josh Neumann and Chad Updyke — lost. They decried the postcard, which has not been connected to them. They ran as critics of the school district’ s COVID-19 restrictions and against the teaching of a “ divisive curriculum. ”
More school-board news:
An ‘ opposing’ view on the Holocaust? Texas school system presents new perspective on diversity of opinion.
The Pulitzer Prize–winning Holocaust graphic novel ‘ Maus’ has been banned by a Tennessee school district
Merrick Garland fends off Republican criticism of Justice Department memo on threats against school boards | business |
Cybersecurity is Central to Digital Transformation | Digital transformation advances all business areas, fundamentally optimizing business processes and delivering value to customers. Successful digital transformation demands speed and agility over a sustained period, necessitating that cybersecurity keeps pace and becomes equally robust and responsive to changes in business and technology.
Spending on digital transformation is expected to reach $ 1.8 trillion in 2022 as businesses realize the importance of digitizing their operations. Business entities and their digital transformation specialists must prioritize cybersecurity, especially as businesses accelerate their digital projects to become crucial elements of operations. How, then, can digital transformation stakeholders make cybersecurity a more centralized aspect of digital transformation, and how does low-code development aid with such a comprehensive transition?
One security incident can completely destroy a company’ s entire digital transformation strategy, incurring significant damage to its financial framework and reputation. The average cost of a data breach topped the $ 4.24 million mark in 2021—the highest average cost in nearly two decades.
Heightened importance has been placed on safeguarding digital technology throughout companies, putting pressure on digital transformation officers to ensure that the continuity of business operations remains intact whenever a disruption occurs. As a result, digital transformation strategists must identify and capitalize on key trends, basing their solutions on cybersecurity best practices.
Companies have learned a lot about themselves and their capabilities throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, as they utilize digital technologies to recover from the technology disruptions and added cybersecurity risk it has caused. Many companies have struggled to ensure the stability of their business processes as their IT infrastructures were typically negatively impacted by the pandemic’ s disruptions. This has necessitated more robust ways to secure critical digital assets.
Digital transformation officers must improve their management of detailed digital asset inventory, highlighting the crucial resources that need protection, such as network repositories, data centers and business information. Companies should also account for the assets that were not counted during the digitization of their business processes.
For digital transformation security, establishing the ownership and valuation of digital assets, limiting access, and more comprehensive monitoring are solid solutions to ensuring all assets are preserved and maintained consistently.
If and when a crisis strikes, companies must be prepared to protect themselves while maintaining business operations. Proper preparation requires strong collaboration among digital transformation officers ( DTOs) and chief information security officers ( CISOs) to sanction software for digital projects, ensure adequate defenses against hacking and ransomware attacks, consistently update business continuity and plans, and improve approaches to incident response.
DTOs should have strong knowledge of the latest cybersecurity trends, including the increased advent of biometric technology to introduce passwordless solutions, increased security budgets due to updated cybersecurity regulations, and expected increases in ransomware attacks and phishing scams.
With a refined approach to cybersecurity management, companies will better align their security strategies to their enterprise goals, striking the balance between enabling business innovation and mitigating risk to ensure a smooth path to the desired level of digital transformation. Securing digital transformation also requires clear, risk-based decision making, understanding all the potential risks posed by digital transformation while weighing whether the benefits accumulated by the business outweighs the costs of managing those risks. Risk-based decision-making based on a fact-driven approach will determine the best outcome of any digital transformation strategy while driving productivity and usability. Cybersecurity must proceed at the same speed as other innovations driving digital transformation to ensure that progress isn’ t compromised. Any cybersecurity measures built will instill confidence and drive user adoption, making digital transformation easier to implement across the organization.
Another thing for companies to consider is that, as a digital transformation project can involve a complex and layered process requiring significant investments, companies may face a struggle to integrate qualified personnel specializing in cybersecurity. The shortage of cybersecurity professionals is profound, with the number of professionals topping the three million mark. Thankfully, software specialists and expert organizations ensure companies succeed in implementing digital transformation strategies with cybersecurity as a central component. Specialist companies can provide the software and skilled practitioners that can implement cybersecurity measures and monitor that aspect so companies can focus on other pertinent aspects of the transformation.
Aside from hiring security personnel or a security specialist firm to help with cybersecurity, companies can also turn to secure software that does some of the security work for them. Low-code software is now recognized as the next big innovation for digital transformation especially given all the pandemic-induced business disruptions. Many industries now use low-code or no-code solutions to speed system development and improve their scalability. The low-code/no-code route enables software developers, specialists and non-specialists to build enterprise-grade, task-based applications quickly automate business tasks and create applications that work on mobile devices, networks and in the cloud. By training non-technical employees to use low-code/no-code software to automate business tasks, businesses can ensure their digital transformation strategies are executed effortlessly, at all levels.
Considering that applications are to account for 65% of development activity within the next two years, their role in executing cybersecurity strategies will likely increase. Low-code includes built-in security features like:
Companies must ensure that each new low-code/no-code application introduces no security threats to the company’ s infrastructure, considering the data used and the connection points to the application. Secure coding practices are crucial to digital transformation, with the code consistently and scrutinized. Internet-facing applications require increased oversight. A trusted security-conscious low-code/no-code software vendor is paramount.
IT organizations are also introducing edge security solutions to protect users and systems beyond traditional enterprise security measures, including software-defined wide-area network services. With zero-trust network architectures ( ZTNA), companies require additional, continuous verification of all users and processes for system touchpoints, creating additional security layers into digital transformation.
The zero-trust approach, while creating more data location awareness, can’ t protect what it can’ t see, namely hidden or undocumented systems and applications. Companies must upgrade and refine their legacy systems to adopt a true zero-trust approach across the environment.
Consistent investment in data loss prevention services has also become commonplace while other network security aspects are being prioritized, secure web gateways, cloud security, and endpoint detection.
Heightened global competition and an increasing focus on hacking and ransomware will continue to grip industries and force them to become more automated in a digital world that, especially in the pandemic era, shows very little sign of slowing down. For automation to be at its most efficient and to be widely adopted within a company, cybersecurity of digital transformation strategy.
Jeff Kalwerisky was formerly the Senior Information Security Architect ( CISO designate) at TIBCO Software, Inc. As CISO at Alpha Software, Jeff oversees strategic data management and protection policies for the organization.
jeff-kalwerisky has 1 posts and counting.See all posts by jeff-kalwerisky | general |
This Car Market Is Wild. Why Nothing Is as It Seems. | Vehicles sit on the lot at the Joe Myers Toyota dealership in Houston.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Car sales improved in the first quarter, except
they didn’ t
. New car availability improved, but not really. Transaction
prices
eased slightly, but no one is paying sticker prices. Needless to say, the automobile market these days is wild.
For investors, the current backdrop means there is a lot to digest between now and the time auto makers and parts suppliers report first-quarter earnings in coming weeks.
New car sales are typically reported as SAAR, which is short for seasonally adjusted annual rate. The
new car SAAR
averaged about 14.1 million units in the first quarter of the year. That was up from less than 13 million reported in the fourth quarter of last year. The fourth quarter was the weakest quarter reported in 2021, down about 4% from the 13.3 million rate for the third quarter of 2021.
The SAAR numbers fluctuated, but nothing actually changed. There were about 3.3 million new light vehicles sold in each of the past three quarters.
It boils down to seasonal adjustments. The fourth quarter is usually the strongest selling quarter of the year, the first quarter is the weakest. So with the seasonal adjustments, the numbers look how they look. But with constrained production due to the semiconductor shortage and car buyers flush with cash following the pandemic, the typical seasonal adjustments, for now, are meaningless.
MORE AUTO MUST-READS
The Car Boom Is Becoming a Car Bust. Why That’ s Bad for Carvana.
VW Finds the Silver Lining in the Chip Shortage: Premium Brands
Rivian’ s Production of Electric Trucks More Than Doubles
Avis Shows the Production Squeeze Is Becoming a Problem
The lack of production has led to very low new-vehicle inventories. Production was a little better in the first quarter which led to better inventories. But not all of that inventory reached dealer lots. A lot of it ended the quarter in transit, according to Benchmark analyst
Mike Ward
.
Without the inventory on site, investors can’ t really read much into how transaction prices are trending or how prices are impacting demand. The average transaction price for a new car in March actually dipped slightly from record levels set at the end of 2021, according to Deutsche Bank analyst
Emmanuel Rosner
.
Still, demand still looks incredibly hot. Ward said more than half of the vehicles arriving at dealers are sold within 10 days. And Morgan Stanley analyst
Adam Jonas
recently spoke with a new car dealer in New York, learning, or confirming, what new car buyers already know: No one can get a new car for the manufacturer suggested retail price, or MSRP. Jonas also learned that wait times for more popular cars are incredibly long. ( For instance, the wait time now for a new
Tesla
( TSLA) Model Y can be up to 10 months).
What all this means for automotive stocks is anyone’ s guess. It seems to mean volatility. Auto maker and parts stocks have been roughly twice as volatile as they were before the pandemic.
The peak-to-trough intra-quarter move of
General Motors
( GM) and
Ford Motor
( F) stocks in the first quarter of 2022 was equal to roughly 50% of each stock’ s starting price at the beginning of the year. Back in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, that volatility measure was closer to 25%.
Investors haven’ t liked the recent volatility. Ford and GM stocks have fallen about 29% and 24% year to date, respectively. That’ s worse than the 5% comparable drops of both the
S & P 500
and
Dow Jones Industrial Average
.
The silver lining of the first quarter stock drops could be that guidance might not be as volatile as the shares. Management teams should still be upbeat, talking about higher production and easing parts shortages.
Investors will have to wait to see how the quarterly results turn out. For now, they should just know not to trust seasonally adjusted numbers.
Write to Al Root at
allen.root @ dowjones.com | business |
Fed raises possibility of future mortgage-backed securities sales in FOMC minutes | The Federal Reserve eventually could resort to selling off mortgage-backed securities on its balance sheet, according to the minutes of the central bank's last strategy session in March. During the March meeting, Fed officials reviewed the results of the central bank's previous efforts at shrinking its balance sheet between 2017 and 2019. Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the Federal Reserve purchased billions of dollars ' worth of mortgage-backed securities as part of its broader efforts toward economic stimulus. The Fed has since stopped making those purchases and signaled plans to shrink its balance sheet of mortgage bonds, either through the securities maturing or prepayments. With mortgage rates increasing, the volume of refinances has shrunk considerably. In that context, some Fed officials suggested it `` will be appropriate '' to consider MBS sales in the future to rid the bank's balance sheet of the securities. Any decision to that effect `` would be announced well in advance, '' the minutes noted. | business |
Grocery Chain Pays $ 175K In Calif.'s COVID Price Gouge Suit | A California-based grocery chain has agreed to pay $ 175,000 in penalties to end the state's allegations it illegally marked up the price of eggs in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a state court settlement announced Tuesday.Smart & Final Stores LLC jacked up the price of four types of premium eggs between March 2020 and June 2020, despite a state of emergency order that triggered statewide price-gouging protections, Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a release Tuesday.Under the settlement filed in San Mateo County Court earlier this week, Smart & Final admits no wrongdoing. `` It is unacceptable... | general |
IMF cuts Japan's growth forecast on hit from Ukraine war fallout | * Japan could mull contingency plan for economic shock - IMF
* BOJ must maintain easy policy despite rising inflation - IMF
* BOJ voiced concern over IMF proposal to target shorter yield
TOKYO, April 7 ( Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund ( IMF) cut Japan's economic growth forecast on Thursday and urged policymakers to consider preparing a contingency plan in case the Ukraine crisis derails a fragile recovery.
While rising commodity costs could push up inflation, the Bank of Japan ( BOJ) must maintain ultra-easy policy for a prolonged period to sustainably hit its 2% inflation target, the IMF said in a staff report after its Article 4 policy consultation with Japan.
`` Escalation of the Ukraine conflict poses significant downside risks to the Japanese economy, '' the IMF said, pointing to the potential hit to trade and noting that rising commodity prices could stifle domestic demand.
`` In view of elevated uncertainty including from the pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine, the authorities could consider preparing a contingency plan that is readily implementable '' in case its economy faces a severe shock, it said.
The IMF said it now expects Japan's economy to grow 2.4% this year, lower than a projection for 3.3% expansion made in January, due to an expected contraction in the first quarter and the spillover effects of the Ukraine war.
Domestic demand will likely slow from surging commodity prices, while geo-political tensions and a sharper-than-expected slowdown in China's growth were risks to exports, it said.
On prices, the IMF said Japan will likely see inflation momentum pick up on higher commodity prices, and an expected rebound in consumption as coronavirus infection cases fall.
`` A prolonged period of monetary policy accommodation will be required, '' however, as headline consumer inflation is expected to stay at 1.0% this year, it said.
The IMF repeated its recommendation for the BOJ to make its policy more sustainable, such as by steepening the yield curve by targeting a shorter maturity than the current 10-year yield.
The BOJ said it saw no need to adjust its current framework and `` expressed concern '' over the IMF's recommendation to shorten the yield curve target, according to the staff report.
Under a policy dubbed yield curve control ( YCC), the BOJ guides short-term interest rates at -0.1% and the 10-year government bond yield around 0%. The 10-year yield cap has been criticized by some analysts for flattening the yield curve and crushing the margin of financial institutions.
The IMF released the final version of its Article 4 staff report, signed off by its executive board, after issuing a preliminary finding in January. ( Reporting by Leika Kihara; editing by Richard Pullin) | business |
China Fuels Expectations of Policy Rate Cut as Soon as Next Week | The information you requested is not available at this time, please check back again soon.
The People's Bank of China ( PBOC) in Beijing, China, on Monday, Dec. 13, 2021. Economists predict China will start adding fiscal stimulus in early 2022 after the country’ s top officials said their key goals for the coming year include counteracting growth pressures and stabilizing the economy. Photographer: Andrea Verdelli/Bloomberg, Bloomberg
( Bloomberg) -- China has promised once again to step up monetary support, raising expectations that an interest rate cut or other easing measures could happen as early as next week.
The State Council, China’ s Cabinet, on Wednesday pledged to use monetary policy tools at an “ appropriate time ” to boost the economy, citing worsening risks that have “ intensified ” and in some cases “ exceeded expectations. ”
The world’ s second-largest economy is battling its worst Covid outbreak ever, with ballooning infections in Shanghai forcing the financial and trade hub into an extended lockdown. The war in Ukraine has clouded the global economic outlook, threatening Beijing’ s gross domestic product growth target of about 5.5%. And the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates several more times this year to combat inflation, an aggressive tightening campaign that stands in contrast to China.
Wednesday’ s State Council statement didn’ t explicitly mention any specific forthcoming action, such as a policy interest rate cut. But recent economic data has been poor and the government has made repeated vows to stabilize the economy in recent weeks. Four of the five economists surveyed by Bloomberg so far expect the People’ s Bank of China to lower the rate on its one-year policy loans by 5-10 basis points on April 15.
The State Council’ s statement “ implies more monetary easing in April, ” said Larry Hu, an economist at Macquarie Capital Ltd. A rate cut “ is more about boosting confidence than boosting credit demand, ” he added. “ We expect the cut mainly because the weak economy warrants another cut as soon as possible. ”
Hu expects a reduction in the one-year loan rate -- the medium-term lending facility rate -- of 10 basis points in April.
While Fed hikes are fueling concerns of foreign investment outflows and a weaker Chinese currency, that shouldn’ t prevent the PBOC from easing, said Liu Peiqian, China economist at NatWest Group Plc.
“ China’ s monetary policy should focus more on domestic challenges, which faces more headwinds from Covid-related lockdowns, ” she said. “ Therefore I think there is still room for further rate cuts. ”
The PBOC could use other tools to spur liquidity and economic growth, including lowering the reserve requirement ratio, or the amount of cash banks must hold in reserve. However, the previous two RRR reductions were signaled by the State Council days before the PBOC moved, and since it didn’ t flag this tool in its statement Wednesday, there are doubts about an imminent adjustment.
Analysts at China International Capital Corp Ltd. said a near-term RRR cut seems unlikely as liquidity is sufficient, though the possibility of interest rate cuts can not be ruled out, and would depend on how the pandemic and economy develops.
Even if the PBOC lowers the RRR in coming months, the room for significant adjustment might be limited. Economists have pointed out that the ratio is already at low levels and is becoming less effective in addressing structural issues.
“ With an increasingly large number of cities under lockdown and amid the downward spiral in the property sector, the impact of incoming monetary easing might be quite limited, ” wrote analysts at Nomura Holdings Inc. led by Ting Lu in a research note Thursday. They still think a a RRR cut of 50 basis points is likely in “ coming weeks. ”
The Nomura economists expect just one rate cut of 10 basis points to the one-year MLF this year. They also forecast similar, one-time cuts to the one-year and five-year loan prime rates, which are seen as the de facto benchmark lending rates in the economy.
NatWest’ s Liu said policy makers may also accelerate other measures, such as corporate tax cuts and the issuance of local government bonds.
“ Credit demand is weak but the restraints do not only come from monetary policy, ” Liu said. “ Rate cuts or RRR cuts may help boost lending, but in order to see more sustainable pickup in credit demand, we also expect more fiscal easing, as well as substantial changes to property sector policies or Covid-management policies. ”
Here are nine things you need to know about Budget 2022.
The federal government is taking sharper aim at real estate investors and property flippers in a bid to help halt the country’ s long-standing – and worsening – housing affordability problem.
The Liberal government is scaling back its strategy to single out Canada's most profitable banks and insurers with targeted tax measures, resulting in about $ 4 billion less in revenue than originally planned. | general |
Oil Heads for Second Weekly Loss on SPR Sales, Virus and Fed | The information you requested is not available at this time, please check back again soon.
An idled oil pumping unit in Cabimas, on the East coast of Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela. Photographer: Ana Maria Otero Borjas/Bloomberg, Photographer: Ana Maria Otero Borjas/Bloomberg
( Bloomberg) -- Oil headed for a back-to-back weekly retreat on plans for massive stockpile releases, a demand-sapping virus outbreak in top importer China and a hawkish turn from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
West Texas Intermediate traded below $ 97 a barrel, with prices about 3% lower this week. The recent drop means the U.S. benchmark has now lost the bulk of the gains seen since Russia’ s invasion of Ukraine began in late February.
Alarmed by the surge in energy costs spurred by Moscow’ s assault, Washington and allies have announced plans to sell almost a quarter-of-a-billion barrels from strategic petroleum reserves. With the move supported by France, the U.K. and others, that’ s prompted a collapse in once-elevated time spreads.
Crude prices -- which remain almost 30% higher year-to-date -- have also been hurt this month as China ordered a series of lockdowns in key urban centers including Shanghai to quell a coronavirus outbreak. At the same time, plans by the Fed for an aggressive tightening of U.S. monetary policy to combat inflation have blunted demand for risk assets and boosted the dollar.
While many western companies are shunning Russian oil following the invasion, there are plenty of willing takers in Asia, especially in China and India. Cargoes of Russian Sokol crude from the Far East have sold out for next month.
Here are nine things you need to know about Budget 2022.
The federal government is taking sharper aim at real estate investors and property flippers in a bid to help halt the country’ s long-standing – and worsening – housing affordability problem.
The Liberal government is scaling back its strategy to single out Canada's most profitable banks and insurers with targeted tax measures, resulting in about $ 4 billion less in revenue than originally planned. | general |
Businesses getting 'very little help from Ottawa ': CFIB CEO on federal budget | Newfoundland and Labrador forecast a $ 351-million deficit in its budget tabled on Thursday, projecting a significant drop in oil royalties for the 2022-23 fiscal year at a time when oil prices are skyrocketing.
The national office-vacancy rate rose to a record 16.3 per cent in the first quarter, according to a report by commercial real estate brokerage CBRE.
Ontario residents aged 60 and older will be eligible for a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose starting Thursday.
The feds are planning a bill that would force tech companies to pay local news publishers for content, the latest move to help struggling media companies that have seen online ad revenue drain away to Silicon Valley.
Canada's biggest private sector union says it has turned money over to police that its former president allegedly accepted as part of a kickback scheme.
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Renault Chiefs to Meet Nissan in Japan as Woes Cloud Alliance | The information you requested is not available at this time, please check back again soon.
( Bloomberg) -- Renault SA’ s top executives are planning their first in-person meetings since the pandemic with their counterparts at Nissan Motor Co. in Japan next month as the French carmaker’ s weak financial position and possible breakup threaten to further strain their alliance.
Among topics for discussion will be emerging plans for a possible separate listing of Renault’ s electric-vehicle unit and potential new partner for the legacy operations, according to people familiar with the matter. Discussions on Renault’ s costly retreat from Russia will also feature prominently, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private.
There are no signs of any imminent structural change in the three-way alliance that includes Mitsubishi Motors Corp.
The executive meetings next month would be the first trip to Japan for Luca de Meo since he became chief executive officer and his first in-person meeting with Nissan Chief Operating Officer Ashwani Gupta. Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard, who is also vice-chairman of Nissan, has also been prevented from traveling to Japan due to Covid-19 restrictions.
The possibility of a transformational change at Renault is taking shape against a backdrop of mounting hurdles to its turnaround plan, including a forced pullout from Russia due to the war in Ukraine and ongoing shortages of semiconductors and supply-chain bottlenecks. While the carmaker raised the possibility of a breakup in February, de Meo last week provided more details to analysts.
Renault has given Nissan scant details about its breakup plan and executives at the Japanese carmaker are concerned about their partner’ s response to the Russia situation, people said. The French automaker warned last month that it will book a 2.2 billion euros ( $ 2.4 billion) non-cash charge. Its shares have slumped more than 30% since the outbreak of war.
Representatives of Renault and Nissan declined to comment.
The potential structural overhaul at Renault would be another wrinkle in the alliance since the three-member partnership was nearly destroyed by the 2018 arrest of its former leader, Carlos Ghosn, in Japan. The three-member alliance is working to cooperate more effectively as automakers globally grapple with the expensive shift to electrified, autonomous vehicles. The manufacturers are looking to use common batteries and other key components to bring cost-savings.
The alliance has “ substantial synergy potential although the companies had material challenges to realize this in the past, ” rating firm Moody’ s Corp. said in an April 6 report reaffirming Renault’ s negative outlook. It pointed to the carmaker’ s low returns, slow progress on turning around and suspension of the Russia operations.
At last week’ s meeting with analysts, de Meo raised the possibility of splitting Renault into a new mobility company made up of EV and car-sharing assets, and a legacy entity, Stifel analysts including Pierre Quemener wrote in a note. “ The CEO added that the latter could be combined with the ones of a potential partner, ” the note said. “ An IPO of New Mobility assets could be contemplated for 2023. ”
It’ s unclear whether the move would change the shareholding imbalance within the alliance that has long stoked tension. Renault holds a 43% stake in the bigger Japanese company with voting rights, while Nissan owns 15% of Renault and has no voting rights.
Selling all or part of the stake in Nissan would generate as much as 7.2 billion euros for Renault, which is about the same as its current market value. Nissan halted dividend payouts in 2019, depriving Renault of a key source of cash.
In January, the alliance outlined a plan to deepen operational ties and invest in electrification.
Renault last month halted its Moscow plant and said it’ s considering the future of its longstanding AvtoVaz venture while revising downward its financial outlook for this year. | general |
How Ineos Grenadiers kickstarted their season: 'You can see our expansive, intelligent racing | Ineos Grenadiers are not naïve enough to expect to be beating Primož Roglič and Tadej Pogačar in stage races, and thus they have adapted to reality and changed the way that they approach races.
The British team, for a decade the masters in topping general classifications, have only topped the GC of one race this season, the recent Coppi e Bartali in Italy that was won by Eddie Dunbar.
At this week's Tour of the Basque Country they are in contention for the ultimate honour with stage four victor Dani Martínez and Adam Yates, but ultimately few anticipate that they can deny Jumbo-Visma's Roglič from defending his title.
It's why, therefore, they are focusing on winning stages, and trying to disrupt the GC with strength in numbers, as seen on stage four when Martínez tried a few digs and Geraint Thomas was part of the day's breakaway.
`` We're not leading the race, so it's not our responsibility to control the race, so we're trying to find the balance of balancing GC aspirations with winning stages as well. I think we did that really well today, '' said Steve Cummings who is in his second year as a DS with the team.
`` We are trying to give the riders opportunities. The challenge is also to balance those opportunities with responsibilities.
`` We have to consider many, many things before we make a tactic. A bike race is so dynamic, and things can change a lot. The guys know how to race, so we give them a vision of the race, outline what their roles could be, spend time talking to them, and trying to understand what they think is possible, alongside the other things such as power and TSS [ Training Stress Score ] that we look at as well. '' Cummings, a two-time Tour de France stage winner who retired as a pro at the end of 2019, compared the current incarnation of the team to the one that he faced as a rival.
`` It's very, very different, '' he said. `` The team have said themselves that they don't want to be robotic. They want to be intelligent but have an expansive racing style, and that's what we're trying to do. I think you can see that recently in the Flanders races, in Catalonia, and here. It's working well. ''
In March's Paris-Nice, Martínez finished third, 2-37 behind winner Roglič, while at Tirreno-Adriatico Richie Porte was the team's highest finisher in fourth, almost three minutes adrift of winner Pogačar.
In the absence of Egan Bernal who is recovering remarkably quickly from his horror training accident, Ineos have had to rely more on Yates, Martínez and Richard Carapaz for results.
`` Any team that has that happen to them can not replace a rider like Egan, '' Cummings said. `` But the other guys are stepping up. You seen Dani win today; Adam has been consistent at the UAE Tour, in Paris-Nice, here; Carapaz won a stage in Catalonia [ and finished second overall - ed ], so we're working as hard as we possibly can to close the gaps on these two Slovenians.
`` I don't look too much to the other teams: we concentrate on ourselves and we're in a good moment. We have a lot of young riders coming through and the older riders are still performing well. We are racing really attractively and everyone's really performing. ''
> > > Wout van Aert shouldn't race Paris-Roubaix after positive Covid-19 test, doctors claim
Martínez's win on stage four of the Basque Country was his first racing since joining the team ( excluding his Colombian time trial title in January), and Cummings has backed him to do well at this summer's Tour de France where it is expected he will be co-leader alongside Yates.
`` That's his trajectory, '' Cummings said. `` He was fifth last year at the Giro helping Egan, and he's stepped up again this year. He's an amazing guy to work with - we're lucky to have him in the team. '' | general |
Gordon Reid's Top Picks: April 7, 2022 | The information you requested is not available at this time, please check back again soon.
The whole world is on edge and in a state of disbelief as the horrific accounts and images come out of Ukraine. Inflation continues to be a headline item as it becomes evident that the residual effects of supply chain disruptions and decades of under investment in our workforce are going to be more than tailings. COVID just will not go away and continues to disrupt life, the economy, and markets. And to top off the list of worries the market is digesting, central bankers are becoming more hawkish and signaling that interest rates are going higher, faster.
The resulting market action in the first quarter was volatile with a capital V. From beginning to end, the S & P 500 index was down 4.9 per cent. But from the beginning of January to the start of March, the index fell 13 per cent, before recovering 11 per cent into the close of the quarter.
There have only been 11 times since the Second World War that witnessed an intra quarterly decline and advance of the equity market of greater than 10 per cent. The Bespoke Investment Group provided some interesting analysis of likely future market action by analyzing the historical record. Notably, one quarter later, the S & P 500 index was higher 10 out of 11 times and a year later, it was higher all 11 times.
An impending recession because of an inversion of the yield curve is the talk of the day, but don’ t get too locked into that theory. Recessions are always predated by inverted yield curves, but not all inversions have led to recessions.
Also, consider the lag. Markets are positive an average of 19 months after an inversion first appears. The other critical consideration is the unprecedented nature of our times. Monetary and fiscal policy have been incredibly accommodative, the pandemic related lock-up has led to an absolute flood of demand and the behaviour of the workforce has created dislocations like we have never seen.
All these factors lead us to continue our cautious approach. We will utilize a barbell strategy, emphasize quality and reasonable valuations.
Gordon Reid, president and CEO of Goodreid Investment Counsel, discusses his top picks: General Motors, Goodyear Tire, and Lowes.
GM has shrunk its cost base to allow B/E @ 10MM N/A vehicles sales – normal run rate 17MM, but sales remain depressed, solely on the back of supply issues. Demand is strong and they will spend $ 27 billion on electric vehicles by 2025 resulting in 40 per cent of offerings being electric. The future is bright, and GM is trading very inexpensively, but for now the stock is in the doghouse. Be patient.
After completing its acquisition of Cooper Tire, this global tire manufacturer is set up for the resumption of OEM demand, a strong replacement cycle and increased profitability from supplying electric vehicle production. At its current share price, GT is a compelling value. Look for $ 2.50 per share in earnings in 2022, and $ 3 plus in 2023.
Worries over a stalled expansion and possible recession because of aggressive Fed tightening have led the home improvement space lower. However, analysis shows that bull markets continue an average of 19 months after the first tightening. At 15 times the current year’ s earnings we like the risk/reward of this issue.
Here are nine things you need to know about Budget 2022.
The federal government is taking sharper aim at real estate investors and property flippers in a bid to help halt the country’ s long-standing – and worsening – housing affordability problem.
The Liberal government is scaling back its strategy to single out Canada's most profitable banks and insurers with targeted tax measures, resulting in about $ 4 billion less in revenue than originally planned.
Talk of an upcoming recession is raising angst after a closely watched indicator flashed a warning sign, but experts say it could be a needed spark for investors to take a more active look at their portfolios.
The Toronto Blue Jays are preparing for their first home opener game at the Rogers Centre in front of a full stadium of fans since 2019. Mark Shapiro, president and CEO of the Toronto Blue Jays, says they’ re looking to reimagine their home stadium after receiving approval for significant upgrades over the next two years. He says fan experience needs to be compelling and it can’ t just rely on the team’ s position in the league. He also says they’ re looking at new revenue opportunities with teams now allowed to feature advertising on jerseys for the first time, adding it’ s important to grow revenue, so they can grow the team.
TD Bank plans to give most employees the option to return to the office this month and is aiming for workers to officially transition to their new working models by June.
A new study finds there’ s a growing acceptance of cryptocurrency-related investments among Canadian institutional investors, but firms are showing restraint in how much they’ re allocating towards those assets. | general |
Canada to bolster short-term debt sales as Bank of Canada action looms | The information you requested is not available at this time, please check back again soon.
Canada plans to increase sales of short-term debt this fiscal year, even as government finances improve and overall debt issuance declines for the second year in a row.
The federal government plans to increase the stock of treasury bills by 14 per cent to $ 213 billion ( US $ 169 billion), according the documents released as part of Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’ s budget on Thursday.
Sales of two-year debt are expected to rise 10 per cent from last year’ s levels, while the government plans to reduce issuance of 10-year and 30-year bonds.
The government is increasing its reliance on shorter-term debt even as the government yield curve has been flattening. Bond traders are focused on the Bank of Canada’ s future plan for reducing its holdings of government debt. The central bank accumulated hundreds billions on its balance sheet as part of emergency programs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government’ s decision to borrow short lowers the risk of the market being flooded with longer-dated securities, said Angelo Manolatos, a rates strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence.
“ The issuance shift towards the front end of the curve means less interest-rate risk the market needs to absorb as the Bank of Canada exits its reinvestment phase, ” said Manolatos. “ If issuance was skewed toward the long end of the market, there would be more interest-rate risk for investors to buy -- risking an increase in bond yields. ”
Overall, gross debt issuance from the Canadian government will decline about 4 per cent, to $ 425 billion, in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.
The budget is based on assumptions that three-month bills will yield an average of 0.8 per cent this year and 1.7 per cent in 2023, compared to 0.86 per cent currently.
The budget’ s economic assumptions see inflation, which is running at 5.7 per cent, moderating to 2.4 per cent next year as rates rise. The government sees oil prices easing to US $ 74 a barrel next year.
After raising $ 5 billion with its inaugural issue of green bonds last month, Canada plans to raise another $ 5 billion this fiscal year from selling that type of debt. | general |
Lucy Caldwell and Louise Kennedy on first drafts, vulnerability and the creativity that comes from trauma | We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article.
Two of Northern Ireland’ s brightest literary luminaries, Lucy Caldwell and Louise Kennedy, have both located their new books in their home city of Belfast. In her first novel for a decade, These Days, Caldwell – who won the 2021 BBC National Short Story Award – traces the lives of the 19- and 21-year-old Bell sisters as they come to terms with their romantic desires during the Belfast Blitz; while Kennedy’ s debut, Trespasses, is set during the Troubles of the 1970s, exploring the limits of love and risk amid political tensions. To mark their mutual publication, the writers sit down to discuss vulnerability in writing, literary world-building and the choices we make when faced with uncertainty.
Lucy Caldwell: “ I hardly have words for how viscerally your book affected me. The longing, it was so raw. I really wanted to ask the impossible question: how did you do it? Because I know that even if I had some kind of keystroke software that would unwrite each revision and get back to those first impulses, still that wouldn’ t answer how you get such feeling into a story. ”
Louise Kennedy: “ I don’ t know, I think I’ m possibly stuck in the Seventies. My family left the north in 1979 and it was a difficult adjustment for me. I was a kind of reluctant Southerner. I didn't want to leave in the first place, but I guess my parents thought it was probably the best thing to do. All of that for me is really emotional. ”
LC: “ I always think that you write what it means to be in a body so well. You have the experiential quality, the way something feels or the way it tastes or the descriptions of Michael’ s jawline… ”
LK: “ A lot of that comes from me not having a notion of what I’ m doing. I just need to make sure that people know where the character is and what they can see, hear and smell so it’ s real. There was a sort of disbelief for me like, ‘ Who’ d you think you are writing a novel?’ Because it just seemed like such a massive undertaking. ”
LC: “ There’ s an interview with the author Kevin Barry where he says: ‘ The moments of your shame are the moments when the piece of writing comes alive.’ I prize books that have a sense of soulfulness and I think that’ s linked to that question of how much of yourself you’ re able to put into your work. It was something I loved about your short stories, and it seems to me that you’ ve managed to do it even more with Trespasses. ”
LK: “ You know, there are certain points that have to be excruciating. With fiction, you’ re leaving yourself so outrageously vulnerable, because no matter what scaffolding you’ ve got in there to construct the story, it’ s bloody obvious that this is how you see the world, that this is what you carry. ”
LC: “ My first three novels were actually not written in the voice that I have in my head, and I didn’ t know why. But then, what happened was a combination of things – including my son being very ill after he was born, and we were given slim chances of him making it through. I came out of that with a fearlessness, the feeling that I didn’ t care what anyone thought. I felt an acute sense of there not being any time, and I started to think of stories differently. ”
LK: “ Well, you know Lucy, I may have been writing with a similar state of mind to you. In early 2019, I found out I had malignant melanoma and had to have surgery. While I was recovering, I started to write, thinking, ‘ You might not have a very long life, so who gives a shit if it’ s crap or not? Just give it a lash.’ Most days, I managed to write 1,000 words, and it meant that by June, I probably had about 67,000 words of absolute nonsense. It was a complete mess, but I did have something to work with. I think sometimes not to take time for granted is a good thing. ”
LC: “ I remember you saying that writing the novel felt like you were a child, sitting in the back seat of a car that didn’ t have a driver, trying to drive it. But as a reader you’ d never know – I completely bought all of your characters’ journeys. ”
LK: “ I at no point felt that I was in charge of this novel. But in a lot of ways, my family was my protagonist, Cushla’ s. There wasn’ t that imminent danger where we lived, but the news was on all the time and there were bomb scares. You heard things. Maybe someone at school doesn’ t come in one day, and you find out it’ s because somebody close to them has been hurt or killed. And I had been spending quite a bit of time at the Ulster Museum, where the art of the Troubles exhibition had been on. It made me think about how creativity can be used to say things that can’ t be said directly. ”
LC: “ I love hearing about your first draft. I wrote the first draft of These Days in 11 weeks and, for me, it was almost like I was writing the story in parallel with what was happening in the world outside. I’ d been researching the Blitz when coronavirus closed in, over that spring of 2020, and I remember the horror of this thing coming nearer, and there was no escape from it. In Belfast they had the worst tenement slum housing anywhere, the ground was too boggy to dig many air-raid shelters. They were completely underprepared, and they started to realise that they were going to get bombed. It is all just within living memory still, so I started to speak to people and collect their stories; people in their eighties, one woman who was 103. When the Blitz happened in Belfast, there were four raids between April to May, and it dovetailed so precisely with our own lockdown. It felt like a portal had opened between our world and theirs. ”
LC: “ Yes, we were all at home. ”
LK: “ I don’ t know how you did that. I was putting manners on the short stories for publishing and I was working through drafts of this, but I don’ t think I could have produced anything new. ”
LC: “ I love that, ‘ putting manners’ on them. I think I went to the very edge of my sanity. There were things that started to happen, like at one point in the Belfast Blitz when the raids had been awful and all the communications were down, the red phone rings. And Sir Wilfrid Spender, the head of the Civil Service, picks it up, and it’ s Churchill. And he thinks that Churchill is calling to offer assistance, but Churchill is saying: ‘ Tell me what you’ re doing to protect the statue of Sir Edward Carson at Stormont.’ And Wilfrid Spender said incredulously, ‘ Sir, we’ re in a National Emergency.’ And Winston says it was of the utmost importance that the statue be protected. But the weekend that I was writing about that, the Edward Colston statue was toppled in Bristol. ”
LK: “ No way. You know, there was something I wanted to ask you – something I found difficult in Trespasses is that Cushla is spending quite a bit of her time moving around the city, and I could remember the route around Belfast from when I was a child because my Granny lived there. But then, when I tried to drive around Belfast recently to try to follow that route, a lot it is pedestrianised now, some of the roads aren’ t even there. It was really difficult to then try and plot where they might have gone. ”
LC: “ That’ s been something that I’ ve been really interested in. For this novel, it was hard to get an Ordinance Survey map because you couldn’ t have them during the war. The closest I could get was 1938. I would plot every single route that my characters did. At this time, we were in lockdown, we couldn’ t move. And so, I would occasionally phone my dad and I would say, ‘ Dad, if you’ re doing this walk up Circular Road, if you turn to the left and look up, what are the trees? And what exactly can you see?’ It felt so important to get that right. ”
LK: “ I do love the idea of the city being crossed kind of by different women at different times. Although I was in Belfast in the Seventies, I verified my memories to make sure they were accurate – I was trying to capture a sense of the time’ s uncertainty and also the dreariness, how incredibly ordinary it all was. ”
LC: “ Even in the most tumultuous of times, normal life goes on, but your choices become important. Life changes if you think you might die that evening. This is the only time that you get to turn six or have your first kiss or have a baby – you have to live your life. Maybe in desperation, there’ s a freedom. ”
‘ These Days’ by Lucy Caldwell is out now. ‘ Trespasses’ by Louise Kennedy is published on 14 April. | general |
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