Category: World

US Presidential Elections 2020: Trump and Biden squabble over coronavirus response at town halls

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Thursday criticized what he called President Donald Trump’s ”panicked” response to the coronavirus pandemic, while Trump defended his handling of a crisis that has killed more than 216,000 Americans.

The rivals spoke in simultaneous town halls broadcast on separate television networks after a debate originally scheduled for Thursday was called off following Trump’s COVID-19 election.

The split-screen showdown offered a stark reminder of the many ways the campaign season has been changed by a pandemic that has prompted more than 18 million people to cast ballots more than two weeks before Election Day on Nov. 3.

Biden, speaking to voters in Philadelphia on ABC, blamed the Republican president for concealing the deadliness of the virus that has killed more than 216,000 people in the United States. ”He said he didn’t tell anybody because he was afraid Americans would panic,” Biden said. ”Americans don’t panic. He panicked.”

Trump defended both his response to the pandemic as well as his own personal conduct, including staging a Rose Garden event at the White House where few wore masks or practiced social distancing, which resulted in numerous attendees contracting the disease. ”Hey, I’m president – I have to see people, I can’t be in a basement,” Trump said on NBC in front of an outdoor audience of voters in Miami, implicitly criticizing Biden for spending months off the campaign trail as the pandemic raged.

He did not answer questions about the last time he tested negative before getting the virus, saying he did not recall precisely.

Trump, who aggressively interrupted Biden during a chaotic debate two weeks ago, showed little interest in altering his belligerent tone, sparring frequently with moderator Samantha Guthrie.

He said he ”heard different stories” about the efficacy of masks, even though his own administration’s public health experts have said wearing them is key to stopping the spread of the virus.

The president declined to denounce QAnon, the false conspiracy theory that Democrats are part of a global pedophile ring, first praising its adherents for opposing pedophilia before saying he knew nothing about the movement. Trump also dodged questions about a New York Times investigation of two decades of his tax returns, which he has refused to release publicly despite decades of precedent for presidential candidates.

He appeared to confirm the paper’s report that he has some USD 400 million in personally guaranteed loans, arguing that the amount was a ”peanut” compared with his worth. He also did not deny the Times’ report that he paid only USD 750 in federal income tax during his first year in the White House, although he said at one point the paper’s numbers were ”wrong.”

EARLY VOTING SURGE

The second presidential debate had originally been scheduled for Thursday, but Trump pulled out of the event after organizers decided to turn it into a virtual affair following his diagnosis two weeks ago. A final debate is still scheduled for Oct. 22 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Trump, who spent three days in a military hospital but has since returned to the campaign trail, is trying to alter the dynamics of the race. Reuters/Ipsos polls show Biden has a significant national lead, although his advantage in battleground states is less pronounced.

North Carolina, a highly competitive state, saw huge lines as it began more than two weeks of in-person early voting on Thursday, following record turnout in Georgia and Texas earlier in the week.

Some 18.3 million Americans have voted either in person or by mail so far, representing 12.9% of the total votes counted in the 2016 general election, according to the U.S. Elections Project at the University of Florida.

Voters are seeking to avoid in-person lines on Election Day to stay safe as coronavirus infections and hospitalizations continue to rise, but also to make sure their ballots will count. Many are concerned that Trump will challenge widely used mail-in ballots, after his repeated claims without evidence that they were fraudulent.

SUPREME COURT BATTLE

The Senate confirmation hearings for Amy Coney Barrett, Trump’s nominee for a vacant Supreme Court seat, prompted careful answers from both candidates. Republicans have pushed to seat Barrett before the election after refusing to do so for former Democratic President Barack Obama’s nominee in 2016, saying it was inappropriate in an election year.

Biden said he was not a ”fan” of court-packing, the idea promoted by some Democrats of adding justices to countermand what they view as a stolen seat. But he declined to rule it out after moderator George Stephanopoulos pressed him, saying: ”It depends on how this turns out.”

Trump would not say whether he would like to see abortion rights invalidated, an outcome that many legal scholars believe is more likely with the conservative Barrett on the court.

”I think that she’s going to make a great decision,” he said. ”I did not tell her what decision to make.”

USD 1.5 BILLION

In a sign of Democratic determination to defeat Trump, a massive amount of money has poured into the party’s coffers in recent months. Democratic fundraising organization ActBlue said on Thursday it collected USD 1.5 billion online from July to September, the most it had ever raised in one quarter. By comparison, major Republican fundraising platform WinRed said on Monday that it collected USD 623.5 million in the same period.

Biden’s campaign collected USD 383 million in September, setting a new record for a US campaign for the second consecutive month. The Trump campaign has not released its monthly figures.

Both candidates have been visiting battleground states this week, with Trump holding rallies in Florida, Pennsylvania and Iowa and Biden traveling to Ohio and Florida.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Vaccine cooperation, recovery could boost global income $9 trillion by 2025: IMF chief

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Strong international cooperation on COVID-19 vaccines could speed up the world economic recovery and add USD 9 trillion (6.9 trillion pounds) to global income by 2025, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Thursday.

Speaking at a news conference after a meeting of the IMF’s steering committee, Georgieva also called on the United States and China to keep up strong economic stimulus that could help boost a global recovery. She emphasized the need for vaccines to be distributed evenly across the world in both developing countries and wealthy nations, to boost confidence in travel, investment, trade and other activities.

”If we may make fast progress everywhere, we could speed up the recovery. And we can add almost USD 9 trillion to global income by 2025, and that in turn could help narrow the income gap between richer and poorer nations,” Georgieva said. ”We need strong international cooperation and this is most urgent today for vaccine development and distribution,” she said.

Equitable and affordable access to COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccines globally will be key to avoiding long-lasting scars on the world economy, the IMF’s International Monetary and Financial Committee said in its statement. Georgieva also said she had ”no doubt” that the US Congress and the White House would ultimately agree on another spending package but was uncertain about the timing. Some USD 3 trillion in US stimulus spending earlier this year ”has been an important positive impulse and we would like to see how it would be continued again,” she said.

MORE PARTICIPANTS

The committee said private creditors’ and official bilateral creditors’ participation in debt relief for poor countries is essential, with Georgieva adding that ”further private sector participation is still needed, and it remains an outstanding issue.”

The G20 on Wednesday approved a six-month extension to mid-2021 of the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) that freezes official bilateral debt payments and said they would consider a further six-month extension in April. But private creditors and lenders outside the Paris Club are not fully participating.

”We are disappointed by the absence of progress of private creditors’ participation in the DSSI, and strongly encourage them to participate on comparable terms when requested by eligible countries,” the steering committee said while encouraging ”the full participation of official bilateral creditors.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

World to reach climate goals by using tenth of pandemic stimulus spend: Study

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The world could get on track to avert catastrophic climate change by investing a tenth of a planned USD 12 trillion in pandemic recovery packages in reducing dependence on fossil fuels, according to a study published on Thursday. With the stimulus representing about 15 percent of global gross domestic product, or three times the commitment after the 2008 financial crisis, scientists say the money could prove pivotal in meeting the temperature goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement.

”It makes absolute sense not just to keep your economy alive with palliative care, but to restructure your economy so it’s future-ready,” Joeri Rogelj, a climate scientist at Imperial College London, and a co-author of the paper told Reuters. The most ambitious goal in the Paris accord aims to cap the rise in global temperatures at 1.5 degrees Celsius, which scientists say could avert far more intense disasters, from wildfires and hurricanes to storm surges and floods.

The world could start to bring that target within reach if governments used 10 percent of the planned stimulus to back climate-friendly projects such as renewable energy or energy efficiency every year for the next five years, according to the paper, published in the journal Science.

Public and private investors would also need to slash investment in fossil fuel-heavy sectors from a projected USD 1.1 trillion per year over the next five years under existing climate plans, to closer to USD 800 billion, to begin pivoting the global economy towards net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
While the European Union, Germany, France, South Korea and various others have pledged to support a low-carbon shift, governments have so far mostly used rescue packages to prop up business as usual, according to separate research by Energy Policy Tracker, a nonprofit research project.

Also Read: Apple commits to be 100% carbon neutral by 2030

Among G20 countries, the tracker has identified USD 393 billion worth of government commitments to transport, buildings, power and extractive industries. Of this total, USD 209 billion directly supported the production and consumption of fossil fuels, and USD 145 billion went to renewable energy.

”Public commitments since the pandemic are so far critically insufficient to meet Paris targets,” Ivetta Gerasimchuk, sustainable energy lead at the International Institute for Sustainable Development, who works on the tracker, told Reuters.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Ant Group IPO: All you need to know about the biggest listing ever

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The most extensive stock market offering expected to raise about $35 billion is set to open for subscriptions soon. The initial public offer (IPO), set to be launched on the Hong Kong and Shanghai Stock Exchanges, could be the biggest ever.

Barclays, ICBC International and Bank of China International are book-runners for the IPO. In Hong Kong, CICC, Citi Group, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley are sponsoring the sale. Similarly, in Shanghai CICC and China Securities will sponsor the sale.

Why is it the biggest IPO of all time?

Ant Group, an affiliate of Chinese billionaire Jack Ma’s Alibaba, is one of the world’s most valuable fintech company and is aiming for a valuation of around $250 billion. It hopes to raise $35 billion in the dual listing — more than Saudi Aramco’s $29.4 billion in 2019, which is the current biggest.

The listing would be split equally between the exchanges of Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Moreover, the IPO would snub New York amidst rising tensions between China and the US. The US is already considering adding Ant Group to the trade blacklist.

A guide to Ant Group?

Ant Group was known as Ant Financial up until earlier this year. It was originally established in 2014 as a payment unit of Alibaba Group Holding, Alipay.

Alibaba holds 50.5 percent control through general partners Hangzhou Junhan and Hangzhou Junao.

Its mobile wallet, Alipay, is extremely popular with more than a billion users and 55 percent share of China’s digital payments market.

Alibaba Group Holding, raised $21.8 billion in stock sale on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014 in what was a record-breaking IPO, at the time.

Its digital payments platform has ventured into consumer loans, investment, and insurance products.

Over 90 percent of Alipay’s users access the app for more than just payments.

What do the numbers say?

The startup garnered some $3.2 billion in profits and $10.5 billion in revenue in the first half of 2020, which was majorly impacted due to coronavirus pandemic.

The previous year, it had enabled $290 billion in credit to individuals and small businesses, making the transactions worth $16 trillion, 20 percent higher than 2018.

Since 2015, the company has raised $20 billion in three equity funding rounds. After its last funding round in 2018 of $14 billion, the company was valued at $150 billion.

Its investors include China Investment Corp, Temasek Holdings, Silver Lake, BlackRock, General Atlantic, and Warburg Pincus.

Why are investors looking forward to the IPO

Chinese investors are investing in the newly-launched mutual fund, targeting the upcoming IPO. A total of five funds are targeting to raise some $8.8 billion in the two-week subscription period.

How is the world reacting to the IPO

Due to the ongoing tussle between the Trump administration and China, hardliners are trying to send a message to China by deterring US investors from participating in the IPO.

It becomes all the more critical as China is an important foreign policy platform, and Trump is trailing far behind Democratic candidate Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 US election.

However, China’s securities regulator is probing a conflict of interest in the stock listing due to which the IPO could be delayed.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Wall Street falls on stalling economic rebound, stimulus impasse

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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US stocks opened lower on Thursday as an unexpected rise in weekly jobless claims exacerbated fears of a stalling economic recovery, a day after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin dashed hopes for more fiscal aid before the election.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 190.60 points, or 0.67 percent, at the open to 28,323.40.

The S&P 500 opened lower by 34.95 points, or 1.00 percent, at 3,453.72, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 208.85 points, or 1.77 percent, to 11,559.88 at the opening bell.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Global market sell-off led by fresh COVID concerns

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Global markets cracked on Thursday as a rise in COVID cases led to a second wave of lockdowns and restrictions across Europe, and there were concerns about the stalemate over the fiscal stimulus in the US.

“In the US cases are rising in 46 states, governments and local authorities are putting in a lot more restrictions,” Gavin Friend, senior market strategist at National Australia Bank said in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

“Most of the north of the UK is already in lockdown and London will enter a new higher stage of restrictions from midnight Friday. The read through the markets is just a matter of time before we get crimps on movements and therefore crimps on economic activity,” he said.

“We need to focus on two things -one how does this virus situation develop, what sort of hit it is going to take on economies so we may have to wait and then we need to look at the poll in the US because we are getting very closed to the November 3 election.”

To know more, watch the video.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

London Eye: Eating out could be helping the virus out

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The signature intervention to save Britain’s economy from the virus was Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme. That move did help the economy, particularly the hospitality business. But signs have been surfacing that it could have done more to help spread the coronavirus.

Britain is now reeling under a second wave of the virus that has picked up sharply since September when the impact of Sunak’s August scheme began to be felt. And this is only the beginning of the second wave that is set to hit Britain hard through difficult winter months.

In the face of growing criticism, Sunak has said he has “no regrets” over the scheme under which the government gave an up to ten-pound discount to diners Mondays to Wednesdays through August. More than 100 million meals were served in Britain under the scheme that has cost the taxpayer close to two-thirds of a billion dollars.

It may have cost lives too, emerging data shows. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has admitted that the scheme may have helped spread the coronavirus and that the government was now working to undo some of the damage it may have caused. “Insofar as that scheme may have helped to spread the virus then obviously we need to counteract that with the discipline and the measures that we’re proposing,” the PM said in an interview to BBC.

Rishi Sunak says his scheme has helped two million jobs. But pubs and restaurants have now emerged as a major multiplier for spreading the virus. A large number of outbreaks have now been identified to have arisen from pubs and restaurants. The scheme brought long queues and packed restaurants all through August.

The official Public Health England led a survey of lifestyle factors that looked at what people diagnosed with coronavirus were doing in the days before they tested positive. Shopping topped the list followed closely by eating out. Just about every suggestion, though, is being challenged by counter-suggestions and varying interpretations of limited data.

Data in one report from Public Health England shows that in July the hospitality sector contributed just 5 percent to the spread, compared to 42 percent in care homes, 20 percent in schools and universities, and 17 percent at workplaces. Two weeks after the end of the eat out scheme, the number of cases stemming from restaurants had tripled. The real spread is feared to be greater because restaurants may have not been listed as a prime cause in overlapping factors.

It’s without a doubt though, that restaurants quite naturally pack a large number of people into limited space for hours together to set up an environment more than averagely conducive to the spread of the virus. And no one is surprised that the first measure introduced now to mark out an area of high restriction is a tightening of rules around pubs and restaurants.

Sacred pubs

But there is still no closure of either, not even in the most intensely affected areas. In Britain the pub is sacred. In the face of recommendations from the government’s own scientists last month to shut down pubs and restaurants for a period, the government did no more than order them to close at 10 pm daily rather than the usual 11 pm. What followed surprised no one: people simply went to the pub a little earlier and downed their beers faster. This then brought a further spillover—a few drinks down, people simply spilled out to party on the streets outside, watered by more liquor from stores around.

The distinction between restaurants and pubs is not very clear because pubs also serve food, and restaurants also serve alcoholic drinks. The government directive in the most affected areas such as Liverpool is that pubs “can only remain open where they operate as if they were a restaurant.” The critical requirement is that pubs must serve “substantial” food with their drinks. What is substantial for one may of course not be substantial for another. The government’s view is that it “expects people to act reasonably”.

All of Britain has seen much flexibility in interpreting what in fact constitutes “reasonable” behaviour. Much of the spread has arisen from behaviour people considered perfectly reasonable.

—London Eye is a weekly column by CNBC-TV18’s Sanjay Suri, which gives a peek at business-as-unusual from London and around.

Read his columns here

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Shares in K-pop group BTS’ management label Big Hit drop after debut

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Shares in Big Hit Entertainment defied the pre-listing hype to dip on their first day of trade on Thursday, giving the management label of South Korean superstar K-pop group BTS a market valuation of 8.7 trillion won (5.8 billion pounds).

Big Hit, which relies heavily on the boy band for revenue, doubled its initial public offering price to debut at 270,000 won per share, for a 9.6 trillion won valuation. Shares surged by as much as 30 percent in early trade before dropping back.

Analysts said the closing share price of 258,000 won, still around 90 percent above the IPO price, should be viewed as a more reasonable price based on fundamentals, rather than a sign of listing failure.

“The closing price is already around analysts’ average target price for 2022, based on estimations of profit increases,” said eBest Investment & Securities analyst Jina An.

Volatility in early trade – Big Hit topped the daily turnover list with 1.94 trillion won worth of stock changing hands – was to be expected for such a large, high-profile listing, she added.

Analysts say Big Hit has proved itself online savvy, using YouTube, social media, and online concerts for revenue generation since in-person performances were cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

But concerns continue about Big Hit’s reliance on its star-artists, which makes revenue especially vulnerable to any disruptions in output from key talent. BTS, which has a huge global following, accounted for 87.7 percent of the label’s revenue in the first half of 2020, according to a regulatory filing.

“The industry is booming, but it’s also very cyclical and undergoes a lot of fluctuations,” said Kim Hyun-yong, an analyst at Hyundai Motor Securities, citing potential obstacles such as the country’s mandatory military service.

That service is looming for BTS, with the eldest member of the band currently required to sign up by the end of next year and the remaining six members over the following five years.

Some lawmakers and fans have called for the band to receive an exemption from or postponement of the roughly two-year commitment, arguing they are doing plenty for their country without wearing a soldier’s uniform.

Earlier this week, BTS faced a barrage of criticism in China after the band’s lead member made remarks about the 1950-53 Korean War. BTS-related social media posts of big-name brands, including Samsung, FILA, and Hyundai, subsequently disappeared from Chinese e-commerce platforms.

Thursday’s float made the band members instant multimillionaires, with each granted shares worth 17.6 billion won ($15.39 million) at the closing price, but BTS’ official Twitter account did not reference the listing, focusing instead on the group’s win at the coinciding U.S. Billboard Music Awards for Top Social Artist.

New Artists

Analysts said BTS’ successful online concerts and Big Hit’s unprecedented level of control over its revenue streams via its Weverse fandom platform that distributes BTS content and sells merchandise, differentiate the label.

“Although offline concerts are impossible for the time being, Big Hit’s results in the first half of this year show that the content and merchandise made profits; it was hardly affected on-year,” said KTB Investment & Securities analyst Nam Hyo-ji.

Big Hit founder and co-CEO Bang Si-hyuk said the company would continue “to research, challenge, discover innovative business models, and apply them to continue to grow in the global market.”

The listing added to heightened IPO activity in South Korea, with volumes rising 51 percent to $2.9 billion so far this year, compared with the same period last year, according to Refinitiv data.

The pipeline looks solid after government stimulus to boost the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic flooded markets with cash, analysts said. Online game developer Krafton, and chat app operator Kakao’s mobile banking unit KakaoBank have both begun preliminary processes for listing.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow