Month: March 2020
Written by Gabriel HerveyMarch 5, 2020
Commentary: COVID-19 forces Japan to rethink its view of toilet paper
News Business Article
Commentary Commentary Japan has responded to the COVID-19 news by stripping shops bare of toilet paper. This episode reveals interesting insights into the country, says the Financial Times’ Leo Lewis. People wearing masks queue to buy masks at a drugstore in Tokyo, Japan on Feb 28, 2020. (Photo: REUTERS/Issei Kato) 05 Mar 2020 06:10AM(Updated: 05 Mar
Written by Gabriel HerveyMarch 5, 2020
Commentary: Muhyiddin Yassin, the all-seasoned politician, who rose to Malaysia’s pinnacle of power
News Business Article
SINGAPORE: Many Malaysians were caught by surprise when Muhyiddin Yassin, a leader who had hitherto taken a backseat to more charismatic and vocal leaders such as long-time Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and anointed successor Anwar Ibrahim, rose to assume the country’s top role last weekend. But tracing his political path, there were early signs of
Written by Gabriel HerveyMarch 5, 2020
Saudi suspends ‘umrah’ pilgrimage over COVID-19 fears
News Business Article
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Wednesday (Mar 4) suspended the year-round “umrah” pilgrimage over fears of the new coronavirus spreading to Islam’s holiest cities, an unprecedented move that raises fresh uncertainty over the annual haj. The kingdom halted the pilgrimage for its own citizens and residents, on top of restrictions announced last week on foreign pilgrims
Written by Gabriel HerveyMarch 5, 2020
Italy deploys emergency field hospitals to fight COVID-19
News Business Article
CREMONA, Italy: A blue tent packed with masked medics in nylon overalls and rubber gloves greets patients outside an Italian hospital at the European epicentre of the new coronavirus epidemic. Welcome to the “sorting” room: an urgently deployed army-style field hospital where people running a fever or showing other flu-like symptoms are tested for signs
Written by Gabriel HerveyMarch 5, 2020
Cancellation or postponement of Olympics over coronavirus ‘not mentioned’ at IOC meet: Bach
News Business Article
LAUSANNE: International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach insisted that the nightmare scenario of either cancelling or postponing the Tokyo Olympics was not discussed at a key meeting on Wednesday (Mar 4) despite the global spread of the deadly coronavirus. “Neither the word cancellation nor postponement was mentioned today during the Executive Board meeting,” Bach told
Written by Gabriel HerveyMarch 5, 2020
New COVID-19 cases in LA, New York as lawmakers reach funding deal
News Business Article
LOS ANGELES: The United States’ two biggest cities reported 10 more coronavirus cases on Wednesday (Mar 4), as lawmakers in Congress reached a deal to provide more than US$8 billion to fight the outbreak. Los Angeles County officials declared an emergency as six new cases were reported in the West Coast metropolis, while New York reported
Written by Gabriel HerveyMarch 5, 2020
India’s COVID-19 cases rise to 29, hit major payments firm Paytm
News Business Article
NEW DELHI: The total number of known coronavirus cases in India rose sharply to 29 on Wednesday (Mar 4), including 16 Italian tourists who had tested positive for the disease as well as an employee of a digital payments company who had travelled to Italy. On Monday, the world’s second-most populous country had only six
Written by Gabriel HerveyMarch 5, 2020
Trump meets with US airline officials amid COVID-19 outbreak
News Business Article
WASHINGTON: Representatives from some of the nation’s top airlines met with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (Mar 4), saying they have stepped up their cleaning and other procedures amid concerns about COVID-19. Representatives from Southwest Airlines Co, United Airlines, American Airlines and JetBlue, among others, attended the meeting at the White House with Trump, Vice
Written by Gabriel HerveyMarch 5, 2020
Senegal confirms second COVID-19 case
News Business Article
DAKAR: Senegal’s health ministry said a second person who flew to the West African country from France last week tested positive for coronavirus on Tuesday, taking the total number of cases in sub-Saharan Africa to three. The latest patient, an 80-year-old man from the Sarcelles suburb of Paris, arrived in Senegal on Feb 29 and presented
Written by Gabriel HerveyMarch 5, 2020
Saudi Arabia extends suspension of pilgrimages for Saudi citizens and residents
News Business Article
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia, which has already suspended pilgrimages to the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina for foreigners due to coronavirus concerns, extended the ban on Wednesday (Mar 4) to Saudi citizens and residents, state news agency SPA reported. Saudi Arabia reported its first case of the new coronavirus on Monday from an individual
Written by Gabriel HerveyMarch 5, 2020
IMF chief calls for all-out offensive to counteract COVID-19
News Business Article
WASHINGTON: IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva on Wednesday (Mar 4) called for an all-out, “no regrets” response to the new coronavirus epidemic which poses a “serious threat” to the global economy. “At a time of uncertainty … it is better to do more than to do not enough,” she said, warning that the impact of the
Written by Gabriel HerveyMarch 5, 2020
London police release photos of men linked to Singaporean student attack after COVID-19 comments
News Business Article
SINGAPORE: London’s Metropolitan Police on Wednesday (Mar 4) released images of four men in connection to an incident where a Singaporean student was assaulted after he reacted to passers-by making comments about his race and COVID-19. “Police investigating a racially aggravated assault have released images of four men they wish to speak to in connection with the
Written by Gabriel HerveyMarch 5, 2020
Passenger on Turkish Airlines flight tests positive for COVID-19, plane grounded at Changi Airport
News Business Article
SINGAPORE: A passenger arriving in Singapore from Turkey on a Turkish Airlines flight tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday (Mar 4). The Ministry of Health had confirmed late on Wednesday night that one of the passengers on TK54, which had arrived in Singapore from Turkey on Mar 3, tested positive for COVID-19. Advertisement Advertisement A statement from
Commentary: COVID-19 just one of a few ‘white swans’ that could trigger next global economic crisis
NEW YORK: In my 2010 book, Crisis Economics, I defined financial crises not as the “black swan” events that Nassim Nicholas Taleb described in his eponymous bestseller, but as “white swans”. According to Taleb, black swans are events that emerge unpredictably, like a tornado, from a fat-tailed statistical distribution. Advertisement Advertisement But I argued that