Time (February 9)
“Of all of the things that distinguish 21st century humanity from that of earlier eras, it’s our growing state of interconnectedness that has the greatest impact on disease spread. In 2019, there were some 40 million commercial flights worldwide, carrying about 4.7 billion passengers. For a virus, that’s the equivalent of 4.7 billion dandelion spores, each a potential carrier of its DNA, drifting to wherever the air-travel currents blow them.”
Tags: 21st century Humanity, Carrier, Commercial flights, Disease spread, DNA, Interconnectedness, Passengers, Virus
South China Morning Post (February 9)
“Coronavirus might be the world’s immediate challenge, but Antarctic heat record should worry us more.” Last week the temperature rose to 18.3 degrees Celsius in Antarctic. With “evidence of ice melting faster in the ‘doomsday glacier’, predictions of a 2-metre rise in sea levels seem more real.”
The Economist (February 8)
Production of masks, “sadly, is one of the few economic ventures that is still expanding in this thrice-struck city.” Hong Kong’s “GDP shrank last year for the first time in a decade, thanks to the trade war and anti-government protests. The coronavirus now poses a third threat. Some economists have slashed their growth forecasts for Hong Kong by more than for the mainland.”
Tags: Anti-government protests, Coronavirus, GDP, Growth forecasts, Hong Kong, Mainland, Masks, Threat, Trade war, Ventures
Financial Times (February 7)
“Risk assets started this year on a tear. Before the coronavirus outbreak unsettled investors, global equity prices had risen by more than 10 per cent in three months while credit spreads were near record lows.” Attributing this to “to the Fed’s actions is alluring,” but probably incorrect and “it could leave investors wrongfooted again when the central bank pares back its interventions later in this year.”
Bloomberg (February 7)
“The coronavirus outbreak hasn’t sapped China’s animal spirits. The private sector-heavy ChiNext Index soared to 3-year high this week.” Seems absurd, but the “epidemic is giving policymakers the opportunity to correct past mistakes without looking silly…. At long last, Beijing can toss away its misguided war on shadow banking and design a smarter one that gives the private sector some room to breathe.”
Tags: Animal spirits, China, ChiNext, Coronavirus, Correct, Epidemic, Outbreak, Policymakers, Private-sector, Shadow banking
Los Angeles Times (February 5)
“No one should be surprised that President Trump was acquitted by the U.S. Senate. That outcome was a virtual certainty from the start of the impeachment process. But that doesn’t make it any less disheartening and dangerous.” The President’s acquittal “is a stain on American history and a dangerous marker of what’s to come.”
Tags: Acquittal, Dangerous, Disheartening, Impeachment, Senate, Stain, Surprised, Trump, U.S.
South China Morning Post (February 5)
“Thousands of Hongkongers camped out overnight in the cold after a company said it would release 6,000 boxes of surgical masks for sale during citywide shortages caused by the coronavirus outbreak.” After the crowd surged to 10,000 people, the company decided “to sell its entire stock of 11,000 boxes, each containing 50 masks.”
Tags: Coronavirus, Hong Kong, Shortages, Surgical masks
Bloomberg (February 4)
“Fears that the coronavirus will ravage global supply chains rooted in China are spreading fast.” For some industries this could be a blessing. “A hiatus from production in the world’s largest car market may force” automakers “to take some needed rebalancing.” Overcapacity and production are running rife. “China’s factories have the capacity to make over 60 million vehicles a year. Only a third of that number are sold. Yet carmakers seem unable to, well, stop making cars.”
Tags: Automakers, Cars, China, Coronavirus, Fears, Overcapacity, Production, Ravage, Supply chains
Time (February 4)
“This week could prove crucial for understanding how much farther the outbreak is likely to spread and whether the dramatic efforts of Chinese authorities to contain the coronavirus have been effective.” Efforts include a massive quarantine that has “expanded to 16 surrounding cities with a combined population of more than 50 million, creating what is believed to be the largest quarantine in human history.”
Tags: China, Coronavirus, Crucial, Outbreak, Quarantine, Spread
New York Times (February 3)
In a move “that is unheard-of for an advanced economy…. Japan now plans to build as many as 22 new coal-burning power plants—one of the dirtiest sources of electricity—at 17 different sites in the next five years, just at a time when the world needs to slash carbon dioxide emissions to fight global warming.”
Tags: Advanced, CO2, Coal burning, Dirtiest, Economy, Electricity, Japan, Power plants, Unheard-of
