Month: March 2020
Written by Gabriel HerveyMarch 25, 2020
Commentary: Still reeling from Duterte’s war on drugs, Manila’s poor hit hardest by COVID-19
News Business Article
NEW YORK CITY: Flaviano Villanueva was in tears last Thursday. It was day five of the “enhanced community quarantine” in Metro Manila, where the priest runs a homeless centre. The sprawling Philippine capital of 13 million people had been sealed off, and police and army troopers were guarding municipal boundaries to prevent entry and exit.
Written by Gabriel HerveyMarch 25, 2020
Singapore stocks amid COVID-19 pandemic: Not realistic to expect stabilisation soon, say analysts
News Business Article
SINGAPORE: Singapore stocks, in tandem with the global sell-off, have been in free fall and given a rapidly-evolving COVID-19 pandemic, market analysts said it would be unrealistic to expect a stability in the market anytime soon. Year to date, the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) has slumped about 28 per cent, with much of the
Written by Gabriel HerveyMarch 25, 2020
Trump calls for quick end to US coronavirus lockdown
News Business Article
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday (Mar 24) he wants to loosen the coronavirus lockdown in the United States and restart the economy within three weeks, calling social distancing measures too disruptive. “A lot of people agree with me. Our country — it’s not built to shut down,” he said on Fox News. “You can
Written by Gabriel HerveyMarch 25, 2020
At your doorstep: More Malaysian food businesses offer delivery amid movement control order
News Business Article
KUALA LUMPUR: With Malaysians staying home under the movement control order (MCO), many food businesses have started to offer home delivery. This service does not only offer convenience to people cooped up indoors for two weeks, but is also an attempt to sustain their operations, they told CNA. Advertisement Advertisement The MCO, enforced from Mar
Written by Gabriel HerveyMarch 25, 2020
On the 10th day of lockdown, Madrid shaken by deaths
News Business Article
MADRID: At the foot of the skyscrapers in Madrid’s business district, the streets are empty as the city silently marks day 10 of lockdown to halt the spread of the coronavirus. The only signs of life are those coming and going at a nearby hospital where another five people died overnight, raising the body count
Written by Gabriel HerveyMarch 25, 2020
France coronavirus death toll jumps 240 to 1,100
News Business Article
PARIS: The coronavirus has killed another 240 people in France, the top French health official said on Tuesday (Mar 24), bringing the death toll in the country from the pandemic to 1,100. Jerome Salomon told reporters that 22,300 people had tested positive for the virus in France, with a total of 10,176 hospitalised of whom 2,516
Written by Gabriel HerveyMarch 25, 2020
Iran rejects ‘foreign’ help as coronavirus death toll nears 2,000
News Business Article
TEHRAN: A senior Iranian official on Tuesday (Mar 24) ruled out “foreign” help on the ground to deal with the coronavirus epidemic after an offer from a France-based medical charity, as the country’s death toll from the illness neared 2,000. “Due to Iran’s national mobilisation against the virus and the full use of the medical
Written by Gabriel HerveyMarch 25, 2020
India locked down for three weeks to contain COVID-19 outbreak: PM Modi
News Business Article
NEW DELHI: India’s 1.3 billion people will go under “total lockdown” from midnight on Tuesday (Mar 24) for three weeks to combat the spread COVID-19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said. “From 12 midnight today, the entire country will be in lockdown, total lockdown,” Modi said in a national television address to the world’s second most-populous
Written by Gabriel HerveyMarch 25, 2020
Trump warns coronavirus shutdown could ‘destroy a country’
News Business Article
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump insisted on Tuesday (Mar 24) that he wants the coronavirus lockdown relaxed in the United States by mid-April, warning that keeping the measures in place could “destroy” the country. “A lot of people agree with me. Our country – it’s not built to shut down,” he said on Fox News. “You
Written by Gabriel HerveyMarch 25, 2020
New York governor sounds alarm over ‘astronomical’ coronavirus numbers
News Business Article
NEW YORK: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo warned on Tuesday (Mar 24) of “troubling and astronomical numbers” in the rate of coronavirus infections in New York, saying they were doubling every three days. Cuomo said the virus could now peak in one of the country’s most populous states in as few as two weeks, with
Written by Gabriel HerveyMarch 25, 2020
Malaysia reports 16th COVID-19 death
News Business Article
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia recorded another COVID-19-related fatality on Tuesday (Mar 24), bringing the death toll in the country to 16. In a Facebook post, Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the 75-year-old Malaysian man with a history of chronic illness was the 1,334th COVID-19 confirmed case. Advertisement Advertisement Explore: Interactive map of all the confirmed cases reported around
Written by Gabriel HerveyMarch 24, 2020
PCF Sparkletots in Fengshan to close for 2 weeks; some staff members being tested for COVID-19
News Business Article
SINGAPORE: A PAP Community Foundation (PCF) Sparkletots centre will close for two weeks and its pupils and staff will be quarantined as it awaits the COVID-19 test results for a few of its employees. Earlier, one of its teachers had tested positive for COVID-19 and the centre had been closed for a day for thorough cleaning and disinfection. However,
Written by Gabriel HerveyMarch 24, 2020
When will I see you again? COVID-19 keeps couples apart
News Business Article
MADRID: Andrea Chabant Sanchez, a Madrid-based publicist, normally travels to Paris once a month to see his girlfriend. In January he booked his flights through to July. Now those precious reunions are on hold, as ever-tightening travel restrictions prevent him, and many other separated couples around the world, from seeing each other. Advertisement Advertisement READ: UK
Commentary: Saudi Arabia’s new, radical oil strategy aims to keep prices low
PRINCETON, New Jersey: Saudi Arabia’s recent decision to crank up oil production represents a dramatic shift in its thinking about energy markets and its own reliance on oil revenues. Gone are the days when Saudi oil reserves were prudently managed for future generations. By no longer maintaining a specific oil-price band or retaining spare production