Joe Biden, top Democrats support pared down, US$1 trillion virus aid
Biden said the developing aid package “wouldn’t be the answer, but it would be the immediate help for a lot of things.” He wants a relief bill to pass Congress now, with more aid to come next year. Biden’s remarks followed an announcement by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Democrat leader Chuck Schumer of New York in support of an almost US$1 trillion approach as the “basis” for discussions. The announcement appeared aimed at budging Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who so far has been unwilling to abandon a US$550 billion Senate Republican plan that has failed twice this fall. The Democrats embraced a US$908 billion approach from moderate Senators Joe Manchin, and Susan Collins, among others. Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin struggled over a relief bill for weeks before the November election, discussing legislation of up to US$2 trillion.
Source:The Standard
December 03, 2020 06:11 UTC
Fed and Treasury urge Congress to approve more virus relief
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin urged Congress to approve coronavirus relief funds without further delay, though Democrats continued to attack a decision by Mnuchin to allow five Fed lending programs to expire during the pandemic. In his most direct comments so far, Powell told the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday that it’s “very important” for Congress to provide economic support. Without more assistance, Powell said, people will lose their homes and small businesses will fail. “We are hearing from all over that small businesses are really under pressure,” Powell told lawmakers. “There is no justifiable reason for taking these tools away,” Rep. Maxine Waters, chair of the House panel, told Mnuchin.
Source:The Standard
December 03, 2020 06:00 UTC
i-Cable news promises no more layoffs and pay cuts till 2022
i-Cable said it was unavoidable for the group to carry out an organizational restructure of the newsroom to achieve sustainable development. i-Cable news’s senior management has issued a statement saying they deeply regret the recent handling of the newsroom’s restructuring and the offensive language used by individuals. In the statement, it said they have been promised by i-Cable that matters of editorial will remain the same, there will be no layoffs and pay cuts in the coming two years. We also promised to communicate more with colleagues,” the statement added. The statement said the 40 colleagues who were dismissed were decided after careful consideration by the four senior management executives and the human resource department.
Source:The Standard
December 03, 2020 05:47 UTC
Heed President’s lead on Bangsamoro transition, peace group tells lawmakers
ILIGAN CITY –– The peace group Mindanao Peoples Caucus (MPC) has called on the country’s lawmakers to follow President Duterte’s lead on the question of extending by another three years the Bangsamoro transition. “This is a whiff of fresh air for Mindanao peace,” the MPC statement said. Two months ago, the group also did an independent midterm review of the Bangsamoro transition, looking into the gains as well as the gaps that needed troubleshooting. Under the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), the appointive Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) shall serve as the interim government of the BARMM. A key recommendation of the review team is for Congress to extend by another three years the Bangsamoro transition period.
Source:Philippine Daily Inquirer
December 03, 2020 04:57 UTC
China says coronavirus risk rising from imported frozen goods
China is carrying out sweeping inspections on food importers, supermarkets, e-commerce platforms and restaurants to prevent the spread of coronavirus through imported cold chain products, the country's market regulator said on Wednesday, Reuters reports. Imported cold-chain food products cannot be sold in China without a report showing they have undergone a nucleic acid test for the coronavirus, the market regulation administration said, reiterating an existing policy. Imported cold chain food products "without inspection and quarantine certificate, or nucleic acid test report, or disinfection certificate, or tractability information, must not be sold in the market," the statement said. Local authorities must intensify the crackdown on imported cold chain food products without clear origin, or relevant receipts and bills, it said. Producers and operators were to bring in imported cold chain food products through designated channels and store and sell them in designated areas, according to the statement.-Photo: China Daily
Source:The Standard
December 03, 2020 03:33 UTC
Sinas loses 20 kilos after ‘strict exercise, diet’
MANILA, Philippines — After four months of strict diet and exercise, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Police General Debold Sinas on Thursday said he lost 20 kilograms in body weight. “Strict diet and exercise po. (Strict diet and exercise. Sinas noted that he followed a strict diet and exercised while consulting with physicians for his check-ups. Last week, Sinas directed to continue the strict monitoring of body mass index (BMI) to ensure overweight police officers will get back in shape.
Source:Philippine Daily Inquirer
December 03, 2020 03:11 UTC
Ted Hui calls on Europe to protect protesters from Communist Party 'terror'
Danish Members of Parliament Uffe Elbæk, center, and Sikkandar Siddique have welcomed Ted Hui and pledge support for him and his allies. Former lawmaker Ted Hui Chi-fung, who is visiting Denmark urged European nations on Wednesday to allow protesters in Hong Kong "a safe haven from the terror" of China's Communist Party. "The situation in Hong Kong is getting worse by the day and it is important that the world knows that Hong Kong is no longer a free city," Ted Hui said in an email to The Associated Press. Britain has extended residency rights for up to 3 million Hong Kong residents eligible for British National Overseas passports, allowing them to live and work there for five years. Since the start of the protests in June 2019, Hong Kong police have made more than 10,000 arrests.
Source:The Standard
December 03, 2020 02:15 UTC
Lawmakers pass bill paving way to eject Chinese companies from American stock exchanges
The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act requires Chinese companies to allow U.S. inspectors to review their financial audits and they would also have to disclose whether they are controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. This follows U.S. sanctions announced against the company in August that bar if from making any transaction with American companies and citizens. Alibaba, the largest U.S.-listed Chinese company, was steady in after-hours trading, following a 1 percent drop on Wednesday. “It’s not an intractable problem,” Fang said, adding that it’s important to ensure that Chinese companies have access to international capital markets. All U.S. companies and most foreign companies already work with the PCAOB in this way, but Chinese ones do not.
Source:The Standard
December 03, 2020 01:52 UTC
US bans cotton, apparel from Xinjiang produced by Chinese paramilitary body
The 41.1 square kilometer Economic Development Area of Tiemenguan, one under the second division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, was set up in December 2012. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency said the “Withhold Release Order” would ban cotton and cotton products from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, one of China’s largest producers. The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, known as Bingtuan, is a quasi-military, governmental organization in Xinjiang. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel at all U.S. ports of entry will detain shipments containing cotton and cotton products originating from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. The order "applies to all cotton and cotton products produced by the XPCC and its subordinate and affiliated entities as well as any products that are made in whole or in part with or derived from that cotton, such as apparel, garments, and textiles.''
Source:The Standard
December 03, 2020 01:41 UTC
Canada prosecutor seeks to strike out irrelevant evidence filed by Meng Wanzhou defense
Meng Wanzhou is facing charges of bank fraud for allegedly misleading HSBC about Huawei Technologies business dealings in Iran, causing the bank to break US sanctions. She was arrested in December 2018 on a warrant from the United States. In a submission dated November 3, prosecutors asserted that Gottlieb's evidence should be struck from the record arguing that it is "inadmissible expert opinion evidence" that is "irrelevant" and "unnecessary" to Meng's case. Prosecutors have accused Meng's lawyers of trying to litigate the case against her in the United States in the Canadian court, which Meng's lawyers have denied. The extradition case is scheduled to wrap up in April 2021, although the potential for appeals on either side means the case could drag on for years.
Source:The Standard
December 03, 2020 01:41 UTC
Trump floats idea of 2024 White House run
WASHINGTON – Still irate and bitter one month after his election defeat to Joe Biden, Donald Trump is openly musing about a second run at the US presidency in 2024. In Georgia, another lawyer tied to the Trump campaign, Sidney Powell, spoke to a rally of supporters claiming their votes were not counted. – Someone’s going to get shot’ –The campaign to delay and litigate the election results, though, was turning in discomfiting directions. “Someone’s going to get hurt. Someone’s going to get shot.
Source:Philippine Daily Inquirer
December 03, 2020 00:45 UTC
Ex-French president Giscard d'Estaing dies of Covid at 94 – The Manila Times
PARIS: Former French president Valery Giscard d’Estaing, who led his country into a new modern era and onto a firmly pro-European path, died late Wednesday of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), his family said. Giscard, who had been in hospital several times in the last months for heart problems, died “surrounded by his family” at the family home in the Loire region. “For Valery Giscard d’Estaing, Europe was to be a French ambition and France a modern nation. With his death, France “has lost a statesman who chose to open up to the world,” added Sarkozy’s Socialist successor Francois Hollande. Born to a well-to-do French family, Giscard was firmly part of the elite.
Source:Manila Times
December 03, 2020 00:11 UTC
Joe Biden urged to take a hard line on China trade, because 'it gets results'
Joe Biden has told The New York Times, that he is 'not going to make any immediate moves, and the same applies to the tariffs' on China. “I hope the incoming Biden administration can look at Trump’s trade war objectively, because in many ways, really, it worked,” the “Mad Money” host said. Cramer, however, said he was uncertain about Biden’s ability to do that after President Donald Trump drew the U.S. into a trade war with China beginning in summer 2018. “The lesson of Trump’s trade policy is that taking a hard line gets results. Reining in China is a tall task that only the U.S. can afford, given that China is the European Union’s largest trade partner, Cramer said.
Source:The Standard
December 03, 2020 00:11 UTC
Pfizer shares rise by 3.5pc
US stocks have been ramping higher in recent weeks as drugmakers make steady progress in developing coronavirus vaccines. The rollout of a vaccine in the U.S. could begin this month, if regulators give their approval. Pfizer shares won 3.5 percent after the drugmaker and BioNTech said they won permission for emergency use of their coronavirus vaccine in Britain. The vaccine is the world’s first coronavirus shot that’s backed by rigorous science and a major step toward eventually ending the pandemic. Its shares won 1.4 percent.-AP
Source:The Standard
December 02, 2020 22:07 UTC
Senior dialysis patient 'spread virus during sandwich break'
Above: Yuen Kwok-yung shows how a dialysis patient could have spread the virus. SING TAO Previous NextA dialysis patient could have spread Covid-19 to a female patient, who was undergoing the same kidney treatment in the next bed, during the minutes he took off his mask to eat a sandwich, says top microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung. The Centre for Health Protection's Chuang Shuk-kwan said a second dialysis patient from the private Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital, aged 86, tested preliminary positive on Tuesday. A Sanatorium hospital spokesman said more than 50 dialysis patients and 25 staff have tested negative and the hospital will provide free weekly tests for returning dialysis patients. In addition, the Hong Kong Brands and Products Expo will be postponed until the local situation stabilizes, organizer Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong said.
Source:The Standard
December 02, 2020 19:12 UTC