Month: January 2021

Categories
Health

Extra elements of China lock down as virus circumstances spike forward of WHO go to

More parts of China lock down as virus cases spike ahead of WHO visit

A resident is undergoing a Covid-19 coronavirus test as part of a mass test program in the basement of a residential area after new cases of the virus emerged on January 12, 2021 in Shijiazhuang, central China’s Hebei Province.

STR | AFP | Getty Images

BEIJING – Local authorities in areas near Beijing tighten restrictions on social activities as coronavirus cases rise.

The city of Langfang, which is about 1.5 hours south of downtown Beijing, urged its nearly 5 million residents on Tuesday to stay home for the next seven days. The city is located in Hebei, the same province as Shijiazhuang, a city of 11 million that closed late last week after a surge in coronavirus cases.

Shijiazhuang reported 39 new confirmed cases on Monday while Langfang disclosed one. This brings the total number of currently confirmed and asymptomatic cases in Hebei Province to more than 500 people.

Separately, two regions in the northernmost Chinese province of Heilongjiang announced lockdowns on Tuesday. The province reported one new confirmed case and 36 asymptomatic cases for Monday.

Beijing reported a confirmed case on Monday. Since mid-December, the city has reported a handful of cases in close succession, leading to tighter restrictions on some residential complexes and mass testing on the outskirts of the country’s capital.

It was not immediately clear to what extent the local economy would be affected as there was no official order to stop work. Heilongjiang accounted for just over 1% of China’s GDP in 2019, and Hebei about 3.6%. Neither of the two provinces is as economically important as the one in southeast China.

Representatives from European and American business associations in China said members were not significantly affected by the recent surge in virus cases. Economic activity generally slows in late January through February as hundreds of millions of workers return to their hometown for the New Year celebrations.

However, some provinces have started to announce bans on large-scale gatherings and events. The central government is encouraging people to remain in custody during the New Year holiday, which officially takes place in mid-February this year.

“The worsening coronavirus situation will affect economic activity and markets may need to soften expectations for strong pent-up consumer demand in the upcoming LNY holidays in mid-February,” Ting Lu, Nomura’s chief economist, said in a statement on Monday .

“With the virus situation worsening and the coldest winter in decades, the growth recovery has lost some of its momentum in recent weeks,” he said. “A full recovery in the services sector could be delayed, as weaker PMI indices for services suggest in December.”

Both official and private polls for the past month showed that the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for services remained in the expansion area but declined from November.

China’s economy contracted 6.8% in the first quarter of last year when authorities shut down more than half of the country to control the outbreak.

WHO team begins investigation

Covid-19 first appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019. Authorities locked the city until the end of January 2020, but the disease soon spread to the rest of the world in a global pandemic. The coronavirus has since infected more than 90 million people and killed over 1.9 million people worldwide.

A team from the World Health Organization will come to China on Thursday to study the origins of the virus with local scientists. WHO said the study would begin in Wuhan.

A separate WHO team is working with manufacturers of Covid-19 vaccines from the Chinese pharmaceutical companies Sinovac and Sinopharm “to assess compliance with international quality manufacturing practices before the WHO lists potential emergencies,” said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Beijing has resisted the idea that Covid-19 came from China. After the domestic spread of the virus stalled in March last year, authorities have blamed foreign sources for later spikes.

For the most recent outbreak, Hebei Province started reporting cases about 10 days ago. On Sunday, an epidemiologist from the provincial disease control center told reporters that the cases likely came from foreign sources that were in contact with the province prior to December 15.

Categories
Business

Chinese language electrical automotive start-up Xpeng will get $2 billion in credit score

Chinese electric car start-up Xpeng gets $2 billion in credit

He Xiaopeng, CEO of Xpeng, stands next to the company’s P7 electric sedan speaking to the media at the 2020 Beijing Auto Show.

Evelyn Cheng | CNBC

In July 2020, local branches of four of the “Big Five” banks granted Nio 10.4 billion yuan in loans for the startup’s China activities in Hefei near Shanghai. Participants in this deal included China Construction Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China, according to an announcement by Nio.

In China’s state-dominated system, banks prefer to lend to state-owned companies. This makes it difficult for private companies to obtain funding unless they can convince state banks of their ability to repay loans.

Xpeng’s credit line announcement comes after the company raised more than $ 4 billion last year from its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange in August and a follow-up offering in December.

Shares have risen more than 195% since going public.

Where is the money going?

The start-up did not reveal details of the loan terms on Tuesday. The agreement will help the Guangzhou-based company expand its manufacturing, sales, service and other activities, according to a press release.

Xpeng said it started building a second factory in November. The company opened 116 retail stores and 50 service centers as of September 30. Xpeng announced in September that it was investing in the development of flying vehicles.

Deliveries totaled 27,041 last year, with more than half coming from a new P7 sedan that began mass deliveries in late June. The company added that it shipped 100 units of its G3 SUV to customers in Norway in December.

Although total deliveries have more than doubled compared to the previous year, Xpeng’s numbers fell short of Nio’s more than 43,700 deliveries. Nio’s vehicles have hit the high end of the market while Xpeng’s price range has been lower.

In the past two weeks, both companies have announced plans for new sedans. Nio’s is expected to arrive in the first quarter of next year. Xpeng claims its sedan will be delivered later this year.

Categories
Politics

Kevin McCarthy tells GOP lawmakers Trump bears some accountability

Kevin McCarthy tells GOP lawmakers Trump bears some responsibility

Kevin McCarthy, Minority Chair of the House of Representatives, R-Calif., Right, and Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, hold a press conference at the Visitor Capitol after meeting the House Republican Conference on Wednesday, September 23, 2020 Center through.

Tom Williams | CQ Appeal, Inc. | Getty Images

His reported comments come as Democrats, who have a majority in the House of Representatives, are indicting Trump of inciting insurgency. Vice President Mike Pence has so far refused to invoke the 25th amendment to the constitution and remove Trump from office.

Democrats say Trump and some of his allies are responsible for the invasion that came after asking supporters at a White House rally to “fight” him to seek confirmation of Joe Biden’s election as president Block Congress.

McCarthy is still against the charges against Trump and said in a letter to colleagues in the GOP House on Monday that this would “have the opposite effect of bringing our country together”.

However, the letter received from NBC News listed four possible measures to counter the insurgency, none of which are named Trump.

The four options McCarthy cited would supposedly ensure that what happened “is rightly denounced and prevented in the future”.

These include: “A censure decision according to house rules”, “A non-partisan commission to investigate the circumstances of the attack”, “Reform of the 1887 Census Act” and “Legislation to promote voter confidence in future federal elections”. “”

The last point reflects the fact that many GOP voters and members of the Republican House believe that Trump was betrayed by widespread electoral fraud because of an election victory.

However, no court has determined that there was such fraud, despite numerous lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign and its deputies since election day.

Before William Barr resigned as US attorney general after the election, William Barr had said there was no evidence of the type of fraud Trump alleged that voided Biden’s victory.

Categories
Business

Twitter Removes Over 70,000 QAnon Accounts

Twitter Removes Over 70,000 QAnon Accounts

SAN FRANCISCO – Twitter announced Monday that it had removed more than 70,000 accounts promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory in the past few days as the company stepped up its crackdown on content that could lead to violence after President Trump had been banned from his service last week.

Twitter, which ran the suspensions over the weekend, said it helped curb posts that “have the potential to cause offline damage”. It added that many of the users that were removed had operated multiple QAnon accounts, which increased the total number of accounts that were removed.

“These accounts dealt with the large-scale sharing of malicious QAnon-associated content and were primarily dedicated to spreading this conspiracy theory throughout the service,” the company said in a blog post.

Social media companies have rushed to distance themselves from the violent mob attack in the Capitol building last week that Mr Trump fueled through social media posts and public comments. After the rampage, Twitter and Facebook suspended Mr. Trump’s accounts before eventually banning him from their duties and turning off the president’s megaphones.

Other social media platforms like Snapchat and Reddit have also made efforts to curb Mr. Trump and toxic speech that could inspire people to be violent in recent days. Facebook and Twitter have since expanded their promotions. On Monday, Facebook announced it was removing content related to “Stop the Steal,” a rally for Trump supporters who believe the false claim that the election was stolen from Mr. Trump.

Twitter said it will also step up its crackdown on misleading and false information about the presidential election. Users who persistently violate the Citizens’ Integrity Policy, which prohibits users from distributing content that hinders voter participation or misleads about the outcome of an election, would be permanently suspended, Twitter said.

The actions of Facebook and Twitter have received praise from liberals and others, but have also raised questions about corporate power over online discourse.

The QAnon conspiracy theory has long been in effect for Mr. Trump. His believers position Mr Trump as a hero who seeks to root out a global elite of pedophiles who worship Satan. One woman, Ashli ​​Babbitt, who broke through the Capitol last week and was shot dead, was a QAnon believer.

While the conspiracy theory has been established online for years, it has only been the past few months that social media companies have relocated to remove related content. In August last year, Facebook began setting guidelines banning QAnon groups inciting violence, before expanding the move in October by stating that it would remove any groups, pages, or Instagram accounts that were openly identified with QAnon.

In July, Twitter banned 7,000 QAnon accounts and blocked topics related to conspiracy theory from appearing in trending topics. But the theories have kept popping up on Twitter and other social media platforms, leading to online harassment and physical violence.

The elimination of tens of thousands of QAnon accounts, coupled with the routine removal of bots and spammers, resulted in noticeable fluctuations in the number of followers for some Twitter users.

This led some users – like former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and a Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz – to speculate that Twitter is covertly cutting them off from their followers because of their political beliefs.

After Twitter banned Mr. Trump from the platform, some of his supporters called for a protest in front of the company’s headquarters in San Francisco on Monday. City workers set up barricades and the police guarded to prevent disturbances. But their preparations were ultimately not necessary: ​​the protest only attracted one participant.

Categories
Health

The Historical past Behind ‘Mob’ Mentality

The History Behind 'Mob' Mentality

At the same time, impulsive violence is usually less likely to occur in crowds with some social structure and internal organization. The civil rights movement protests were tactical and organized as early as the 1950s. In the 1960s and 1970s, for example, many sit-ins were against nuclear power and the Vietnam War. Windows were broken, there were clashes with the police, but spontaneous chaos was not the rule.

“At that time, there is now Kent State, urban riots and civil rights marches,” said Calvin Morrill, professor of law and sociology at the University of California at Berkeley. “And the idea of ​​the group mind does not give social scientists any space to explain the different levels of organization behind all these protests and what they mean. Since then, nonviolent or nonviolent protests have incorporated tactics, strategy – and training – precisely to ensure that the crowd doesn’t lose focus. “

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. personally trained many groups of Freedom Riders, explaining how best to respond to police provocation and what to say (and not to) when arrested. These lessons continued. Many protesters at the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant site in New Hampshire in 1977 and at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in California in the late 1970s and early 80s had learned to go limp to avoid being hit by police officers and to wear boots instead of sneakers. (Sneakers slip off when pulled.)

Such training is of course not reserved for non-violence groups, and includes specific roles for people with special skills and some kind of middle management layer. The provocation-oriented protest groups, whether left or right, often include so-called violence experts – young men who are ready to move to get things going.

“Absolutely they are trained, trained to go to the line and mix them up and then fall back,” said Dr. Morrill. “There is a long, long tradition of this tactic.”

Depending on the protest and the mission, organized protests may also include marshals or leaders who help bring people around and so-called affinity groups – squads who take on some leadership responsibility as the protest progresses. In its demonstration in Tampa, Florida last summer, Black Lives Matter reportedly had nearly 100 marshals in fluorescent vests patrolling the crowd, as well as medics all communicating on walkie-talkies and trained in de-escalation tactics.

“They speak of groups of four to ten people, protesters, often friends, who come from another city to care for injured or freaked out people,” said Alex Vitale, professor of sociology at Brooklyn College Affinity Groups. “And these groups will coordinate with each other, and if the crowd is attacked or dispersed, they can decide, ‘What should we do next?'”

Categories
Business

Nio and Tesla vie for dominance in China’s electrical automobiles market

Nio and Tesla vie for dominance in China's electric vehicles market

SINGAPORE – As domestic automakers in China attempt to position themselves against Tesla in the growing Chinese electric vehicle space, Nio is well positioned to capture a sizable slice of the market, an analyst told CNBC.

The Chinese electric car start-up released its first sedan, the et7, on Saturday with self-driving technology features that are said to outperform those of Tesla. An et7 with a 70-kilowatt-per-hour battery starts at 448,000 yuan ($ 69,000) before the subsidy.

“This is the symbol for Nio in the sedan category,” said Bill Russo, founder and CEO of Automobility Limited, on CNBC’s Street Signs Asia on Monday. He said the company has already established itself as a premium brand in the SUV category, where it sells faster than its peer group in China.

“Now they are moving into the sedan segment or the premium car segment,” Russo said, adding that the et7 will compete with Tesla’s imported Model S.

“Obviously the pricing that was announced on Nio Day is actually pretty competitive with the Model S,” he said, adding, “It’s a statement of claim, it’s a statement of where they hope their brand is and under position the Chinese company. ” They realize they are the premium (electric vehicle) company. “

Last year, Reuters reported that Tesla cut its Model S price in China by 3%.

Catch up with Tesla

China is already the world’s largest car market. In its quest to become a leader in electric vehicle technology, Beijing has supported the industry with subsidies, relaxed restrictions and the expansion of charging infrastructure.

Domestic electric vehicle manufacturers including Nio, Li Auto and Xpeng said deliveries rose sharply over the past year. Government data showed that January-November sales of all-electric vehicles rose 4.4% year over year, while total passenger car sales fell 7.6% over the same period. Even so, their delivery numbers lagged behind those of Tesla.

“Obviously everyone is trying to position themselves against Tesla. Tesla is certainly the market leader. It has a market capitalization that is so far ahead of everyone else,” said Russo. Tesla’s market value as of Monday is around $ 768.93 billion, while Nio has a market capitalization of around $ 98.63 billion.

Employees conduct checks on an inspection line during a media tour of Nio Inc.’s manufacturing facility in Hefei, Anhui Province, China on Friday, December 4, 2020.

Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Nio “is trying to establish itself as the Chinese Tesla, which means that as a premium EV brand in China you have to compare yourself to access to the Chinese market, which will grow significantly over the next five years,” said Russo.

“These companies will grow with the market and I think Nio is well positioned to capture a lot of it,” he said, adding that the company still does not control the entire supply chain, relying on third party components like autonomous driving chipsets .

For its part, Tesla has stepped up its efforts in China, including further promotions on New Years Day. The company has a factory in the country that can produce 250,000 vehicles and has announced a new China-made vehicle, Model Y, priced at 339,900 yuan.

– CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report.

Categories
World News

U.S. Rush to Declare Houthis Terrorists Threatens to Halt Help to Yemen

U.S. Rush to Declare Houthis Terrorists Threatens to Halt Aid to Yemen

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration’s rush to declare Houthi rebels a terrorist organization in Yemen leaves humanitarian workers and commercial importers vulnerable to criminal penalties, officials said Monday, risking future deliveries of food, medical supplies and other aid for the impoverished land.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who announced the expulsion of the terrorism late Sunday, said officials planned to “take action” to ensure aid continues.

However, this did not reassure a number of lawmakers, diplomats and aid groups who accused the government of enforcing the policy before President Trump leaves office next week, saying that clear legal protections linked to the terrorist denomination should have been enacted to do so to prevent another obstacle to supporting one of the poorest countries in the world.

The term terrorism “makes it harder to provide lifesaving aid in a country already affected by the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” said New York Democrat Gregory W. Meeks, chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

“People will suffer and die, and these deaths are completely preventable,” said Mr Meeks.

The term terrorism, which Mr Pompeo announced late Sunday and will take effect on January 19, is imposing new economic and travel sanctions on Houthi rebels, who overthrew the Yemeni government six years ago and have been waging war against Saudi Arabia since 2015 to lead.

It largely aims to impede Iran, the main beneficiary of the Houthis, by discouraging weapons, supplies and other support that Tehran has sent to the rebel movement as part of a proxy war in the Middle East.

Mr Pompeo said the action aims to “advance efforts towards a peaceful, sovereign and united Yemen that is both free from Iranian interference and at peace with its neighbors”.

He also noted concerns that the naming would limit aid to desperate Yemenis, but said if the Houthis “did not act like a terrorist organization, we would not name them”.

This did little to reassure the helpers and other commercial importers who were demanding clarification of seemingly conflicting liability standards.

“It is hard to imagine that in the final days of the Trump administration, lightning will hit them and suddenly they will figure out how these labels cannot stop them from tormenting civilians in Yemen,” said Scott Paul, Humanitarian Policy for Oxfam America. “We can’t count on that to happen.”

Congressional assistants expressed similar concerns after being briefed on Monday by State Department officials and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The Houthis, who call themselves Ansar Allah or the Partisans of God, are de facto the government in an area where the majority of the Yemeni population live, including the capital Sana and the country’s largest port.

Saudi Arabia and a number of Arab allies who have pushed for the expulsion of terrorism have failed to restore the internationally recognized government as the war in Yemen has settled in a swamp and that of the United Nations as the worst humanitarian Crisis of the world called crisis has triggered.

Millions of Yemenis rely on state institutions controlled by the Houthis for basic goods. Ships bringing groceries have to pay port dues in a Houthi-controlled port, and Western charities support teachers and healthcare workers who work for Houthi-controlled administrations, whether they support the group or not.

Mr Pompeo pointed to an attack on December 30th on the civilian airport in the Yemeni city of Aden, in which 27 people were killed, as evidence of the Houthis’ terror capabilities. Nobody took responsibility for this attack, and both Al Qaeda and the Islamic State are active in the region.

Many analysts believe the Houthis pose no direct threat to the United States and have been skeptical that the sanctions will put pressure on the Houthis to negotiate an end to the war. The United States has supported Saudi efforts in the war that killed thousands of civilians in Yemen.

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a high-ranking member of the Houthi movement, scoffed on Monday at the label “killing and spreading hunger”.

A spokesman for the new administration of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. did not rule out reversing the designation after Mr. Trump stepped down on January 20.

Even diplomats who say the Houthis are not a terrorist organization and refuse to be named recognize that “they are certainly a hideous group,” said Gerald M. Feierstein, ambassador to Yemen during the Obama administration.

“So how can you remove the FTO designation without pointing out that you sympathize with them or blame them for the disaster in Yemen?” said Herr Feierstein, now at the Middle East Institute in Washington. “It will not be easy.”

Lara Jakes reported from Washington and Ben Hubbard from Beirut, Lebanon. Edward Wong contributed to the coverage.

Categories
Health

Chugai soars after UK says drug reduces hospital time for Covid sufferers

Chugai soars after UK says drug reduces hospital time for Covid patients

The Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. company logo will be displayed on Monday, August 18, 2014 at the headquarters of Chugai Pharma Manufacturing Co. in Tokyo, Japan.

Kiyoshi Ota | Bloomberg via Getty Images

SINGAPORE – Shares in Japanese drug maker Chugai Pharmaceutical rose sharply in trading Tuesday after the UK government found the drug tocilizumab was effective in reducing the risk of death and hospital stay for Covid patients.

In trading on Tuesday morning, Chugai’s shares rose 16.26%. The stock has since trimmed some of those gains, but is still trading 7% higher. Tuesday was the first trading day of the week for Chugai shares as Japanese markets were closed on Monday for a holiday.

In a press release on Thursday, the UK said the results of a government-funded clinical trial showed that tocilizumab was among two drugs that “reduced the relative risk of death by 24% when given to patients within 24 hours of entering the intensive care unit was administered “.

The press release also states that patients who received the drugs typically used to treat rheumatoid arthritis “left the intensive care unit an average of 7 to 10 days earlier”.

UK Health and Welfare Secretary Matt Hancock said the results were “another milestone in finding a way out of this pandemic”.

The government also said it will start promoting tocilizumab use in patients admitted to the intensive care unit. NHS will also be working with manufacturer Roche to ensure treatment remains available to UK patients.

Tocilizumab, marketed as Actemra or RoActemra, is part of a joint development between Roche and Chugai. Roche is also the majority shareholder in Chugai.

Last week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson put England on hold to contain a variant of Covid-19 that is more contagious than previous strains.

Coronavirus infection rates continue to rise in many parts of the world even as countries start introducing vaccinations. As a result, some governments have reintroduced social distancing restrictions.

To date, the disease has infected at least 90.8 million people and killed more than 1.9 million people worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Categories
Entertainment

Sunil Kothari, Eminent Scholar of Indian Dance, Dies at 87

Sunil Kothari, Eminent Scholar of Indian Dance, Dies at 87

Few critics or historians have been as central to the performing arts as Sunil Kothari has been to the world of traditional Indian dance. As a critic, scholar and teacher of youthful energy, he explored India’s rich dance spectrum in at least a dozen books. Choreographers and dancers across the country met him both as an authority and as a friend.

He died on December 27 at the age of 87 at the Fortis Escorts Heart Institute in Delhi. Three weeks earlier He had announced on social media that he had Covid-19 but had recovered. Shortly after his release, he suffered cardiac arrest and was taken to the hospital.

Mr. Kothari, who lectured frequently in the United States, studied the traditions and techniques of dance forms from north India south and east to west and interviewed hundreds of gurus, many of whom in a country that remains largely ethnocentric, declined his efforts to because he didn’t speak their national language.

“He worked hard,” wrote Maya Kulkarni Chadda, his longtime friend and Indian scholar, in an email, “with no money, no real support and no encouragement.”

Even so, he made progress and lived in extreme simplicity while working as a dance critic for The Times of India for over three decades. As he told The Hindu newspaper in 2016, he discovered India through his research. He also helped India discover itself. In his books, each examining one Indian dance genre – Bharatanatyam, Chhau, Kathak, Kuchipudi, Odissi and Sattriya – he opened up a different facet of Indian society and history.

Studying the languages, rhythms, and traditions of each genre was no easy task. Bharatanatyam, for example, existed in the southeastern state of Tamil Nadu in two forms: the traditional one, passed down by the temple dancers and developed by the dancer Balasaraswati; and the relatively new academic system developed by dancer Rukmini Devi Arundale in Chennai.

Although the two styles were often at odds, Mr. Kothari admired and drew both in books and conversed with both Balasaraswati and Devi. He also followed developments that opened the older genre to new sociological and feminist thinking, as well as yoga.

Sunil Manilal Kothari was born on December 20, 1933 in the Kheda district of Gujarat on the west coast of India as the youngest of ten children of Dahiben and Manilal Kothari into a middle-class family.

In the 1940s the family moved to Mumbai, where Mr. Kothari began studying the Kathak at the age of 10, one of India’s eight classical dance genres that combines Muslim and Hindu elements, statuary poses, quick turns and sudden stops to create brilliant musical resonance .

As in most other classical Indian genres, the movements in Kathak are performed barefoot, with straps of tiny bells attached to the ankles and eloquent use of the face, eyes, hands and torso.

Sunil was 13 years old when India became an independent nation in August 1947. When the country rediscovered itself in a post-colonial era, Mr. Kothari observed its cultural developments in dance. A polymath full of literature, film, and other genres, he loved dance both for its own sake and because of its deep connections to the religion, philosophy, scripture, and music of India.

However, his professional training was initially in accounting. He taught at Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai for several years in order to make lasting friends while maintaining his fascination with the dance forms of India.

After Mr. Kothari’s death, the writer Salil Tripathi, a long-time friend from the period who later moved to New York, wrote in homage: “He taught bookkeeping because he knew how to do it; He celebrated dance because he wanted to. “

When Mr. Kothari gave up accounting for dance writing, the decision went against his father’s will. He graduated with a Masters degree in 1964 and began publishing serious dance research four years later.

His subsequent research led him not only to travel through India with a British Council Fellowship and other cities, but also to London to broaden his horizons. By 1970 he became a dance critic for the Times of India and held that position until the beginning of the 21st century.

In 1977, Mr. Kothari obtained his doctorate. at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, with a focus on the dance drama traditions of South India and the ancient dance manual Natyashastra. He was awarded a Doctor of Letters by Rabindra Bharti University for his research on dance sculpture in the medieval temples of North Gujarat.

His scholarship was rewarded with a number of academic offices and a 2005 Fulbright scholarship. He was a member of UNESCO’s International Dance Council.

In the West, Mr. Kothari had encounters with dance figures such as Rudolf Nureyev, the choreographers Pina Bausch and Maurice Béjart, and the British theater director Peter Brook. As a frequent lecturer in the United States, he made his last trip to New York City in May 2019 when he spoke at the New York Public Library about mid-20th century dance greats Ram Gopal and Mrinalini Sarabhai. He carried his expertise easily and often spoke with an innocent-sounding delight.

Information about his survivors was not immediately available.

By the time of his death, Mr. Kothari had completed an autobiography that has yet to be published.

Categories
Business

An Pressing Reckoning for the Trump Model After US Capitol Assault

An Urgent Reckoning for the Trump Brand After US Capitol Attack

Innerhalb von vier Tagen hat das Familienunternehmen von Präsident Trump seinen Online-Shop verloren, die Begeisterung von Mr. Trumps Werbetweets über seine Luxusresorts und die prahlerischen Rechte als Gastgeber eines der renommiertesten Golfturniere der Welt.

Der Mob-Angriff von Mr. Trumps Anhängern auf den Kongress in der vergangenen Woche hat eine Abrechnung der Trump-Organisation durch Unternehmen und Institutionen in einem Ausmaß ausgelöst, das weit über seinen früheren Polarisierungsaktionen liegt.

Und die Marke Trump, die auf vergoldetem Luxus und einer sehr wohlhabenden Kundschaft basiert, erholt sich möglicherweise nicht vollständig von den Folgen seiner Anhänger, die das US-Kapitol gewaltsam stürmen und zerstören, sagen Analysten aus dem Gastgewerbe und einige Leute, die dem Geschäft nahe stehen. Andere mit den Trumps verbundene Unternehmen, darunter die Deutsche Bank, der größte Kreditgeber des Präsidenten, und die Signature Bank, suchen ebenfalls nach Distanz zu ihm und seinem Unternehmen.

Die Gegenreaktion ist Teil eines umfassenderen Meidens von Mr. Trump und seinen Verbündeten, die sich nach dem tödlichen Angriff auf das Kapitol entfalten. Die Schulen beraubten den Präsidenten der Ehrentitel, einige prominente Republikaner drohten, die Partei zu verlassen, und die New York State Bar Association gab bekannt, dass sie mit der Untersuchung von Herrn Trumps persönlichem Anwalt Rudolph W. Giuliani begonnen hatte, was dazu führen könnte, dass er aus der Gruppe entfernt wurde.

Als die Hausdemokraten am Montag ein Amtsenthebungsverfahren einführten, schworen mehr als ein Dutzend große Unternehmen, bestimmte politische Spenden zurückzuhalten. Coca-Cola sagte, es werde die Spenden seines politischen Aktionskomitees pausieren und sagte in einer Erklärung, dass “diese Ereignisse lange in Erinnerung bleiben und in unsere zukünftigen Beitragsentscheidungen einfließen werden”. Marriott, die riesige Hotelkette, sagte, sie würde die Spenden ihres politischen Aktionskomitees “an diejenigen pausieren, die gegen die Bestätigung der Wahl gestimmt haben”, ein Hinweis auf die Kongressrepublikaner, die sich Trumps falschen Behauptungen des Wahlbetrugs angeschlossen haben. Morgan Stanley und AT & T sagten, dass auch sie Beiträge an diese Gesetzgeber aussetzen würden.

Die Trump-Organisation hatte bereits erhebliche finanzielle Herausforderungen zu bewältigen. Viele seiner Golf- und Resortimmobilien hatten Geld verloren, und die Pandemie hatte sie gezwungen, einige Restaurants und Bars zu schließen und die Hotelbelegung drastisch zu reduzieren, einschließlich des Hotels, nur wenige Blocks vom Weißen Haus entfernt. Und da in den nächsten Jahren mehr als 300 Millionen US-Dollar Schulden fällig werden, die der Präsident persönlich garantiert hat, war es für das Unternehmen dringend erforderlich, neue Geschäfte abzuschließen.

Während eine solche Reihe von Herausforderungen für nahezu jede Hotelmarke zum Scheitern verurteilt wäre, sagten Führungskräfte der Trump-Organisation, sie wollten von Mr. Trumps globalem Ruhm mit Markenabkommen in Übersee profitieren.

“Es gab noch nie eine politische Persönlichkeit mit mehr Unterstützung oder Energie als mein Vater”, sagte Eric Trump, der Sohn des Präsidenten, der das Familienunternehmen leitet, in einer Erklärung am Montag.

Die Familie erwägt bereits, ein Medien-Outfit zu gründen, das sich an die Millionen von Unterstützern von Mr. Trump richtet. Diese Bemühungen haben letzte Woche an Dringlichkeit gewonnen, als Twitter und Facebook den Präsidenten von ihren Plattformen ausgeschlossen haben.

“Es wird nicht an unglaublichen Möglichkeiten für Immobilien und darüber hinaus mangeln”, sagte Eric Trump.

Bevor er Präsident wurde, war Herr Trump durch viele Geschäftsbereiche gefahren, darunter Casinos, eine Fluggesellschaft und Reality-Fernsehen. Einige Unternehmungen waren äußerst erfolgreich, während andere kolossale Misserfolge waren. Aber sie zeigten seine Fähigkeit, seine Waren zu tarnen und Chancen zu nutzen, selbst wenn sein Name irreparabel getrübt schien.

Diesmal sind die Herausforderungen steiler. Der Fallout begann am Donnerstag, als der E-Commerce-Anbieter Shopify erklärte, er habe mit dem Präsidenten verbundene Online-Shops beendet.

Der größte Schlag kam am Sonntag, als die PGA of America bekannt gab, dass sie Mr. Trumps New Jersey Golfclub eines großen Turniers berauben würde.

Laut einer Person in der Nähe des Weißen Hauses soll Herr Trump von der PGA-Entscheidung „enttäuscht“ worden sein, da er jahrelang persönlich daran gearbeitet hatte, die Turnierleiter dazu zu bewegen, Veranstaltungen auf seinen Kursen abzuhalten.

In einer Erklärung, die auf eine mögliche rechtliche Anfechtung hinwies, nannte die Trump-Organisation die Entscheidung „einen Verstoß gegen einen verbindlichen Vertrag“ und fügte hinzu, dass „sie kein Recht haben, den Vertrag zu kündigen“.

Die für Mai 2022 geplante PGA-Meisterschaft war die ultimative Golf-Welt-Trophäe für die Marke Trump, die in den letzten zwei Jahrzehnten eine internationale Sammlung von Golfplätzen und Resorts zusammengestellt hat, die nun zusammen rund ein Drittel des Umsatzes des Unternehmens ausmachen zum neuesten Finanzbericht.

Das Turnier selbst ist keine große Gewinnquelle, aber die Ausrichtung einer international anerkannten Veranstaltung ist für das Marketing enorm wertvoll. Es hätte auch Herrn Trump und seiner Marke, zu der 16 Golfclubs auf der ganzen Welt gehören, eine größere Legitimität verliehen.

“Es ist klar geworden, dass die Durchführung der PGA-Meisterschaft in Trump Bedminster der Marke PGA of America schaden würde”, sagte Jim Richerson, Präsident der PGA of America, in einer Video-Erklärung.

Der mit der Stornierung verbundene Verlust ist schwer zu berechnen, könnte jedoch sehr groß sein und in Bezug auf verpasste zukünftige Einnahmen jahrelang anhalten, sagte Jay Karen, Geschäftsführer der National Golf Course Owners Association.

“Sie haben Millionen begeisterter Golfer, die eine sprichwörtliche Bucket-Liste haben”, sagte er, die mit großen Turnieren wie der PGA-Meisterschaft verbunden ist. “Wenn ein Major zu dir kommen würde und er dir weggezogen würde, würde das sicherlich stechen.”

In einer E-Mail an die Mitglieder am Montag sagte der Golfclub: „Wir haben eine wundervolle Partnerschaft mit der PGA of America geschlossen und teilen Ihre Enttäuschung über ihre Entscheidung.“

Der Schaden wird voraussichtlich anhalten, wenn verschiedene Unternehmen und Branchen ihre Beziehung zu Herrn Trump und seinem Familienunternehmen neu bewerten.

Mr. Trumps Hotels, wie das Trump National Doral in der Nähe von Miami, hatten bereits viele der wichtigsten Unternehmenskonferenzen verloren, nachdem er während seiner ersten Präsidentschaftskampagne und unter anderem nach einer tödlichen Kundgebung von Weißen abfällige Bemerkungen über Muslime und Mexikaner gemacht hatte Supremacisten in Charlottesville, Virginia, im Jahr 2017, die darauf hinweisen, dass “beide Seiten schuld sind”.

Die Auswirkungen der Angriffe in der vergangenen Woche werden jedoch steiler und länger anhalten, sagten Analysten und mit dem Unternehmen vertraute Personen. Einige Mitglieder der Golfclubs des Präsidenten überdenken, ob sie ihre Mitgliedschaft wegen möglicher Proteste und Vandalismus behalten sollen, sagte einer der Befragten.

David J. Sangree, ein Berater der Hotelbranche aus Ohio, sagte, dass die Rolle von Herrn Trump beim Angriff auf das Kapitol die Bemühungen des Unternehmens, wohlhabende Kunden anzusprechen, die keine Trump-Anhänger waren, weiter untergraben würde.

“Das ist ein großer Nachteil”, sagte Sangree. “Es steht außer Frage, dass sie mehr Events verlieren werden, weil viele Gruppen sagen: ‘Wir wollen nicht mit dieser Marke in Verbindung gebracht werden.'”

Das wurde am Montagabend noch deutlicher, als der Trainer der New England Patriots, Bill Belichick, sagte, er würde die Presidential Medal of Freedom wegen der “tragischen Ereignisse der letzten Woche” ablehnen. Der Präsident hatte geplant, Herrn Belichick am Donnerstag die Auszeichnung zu geben.

Selbst Pläne zur Einführung einer Trump-Medienplattform werden auf Hindernisse stoßen. Wenn Herr Trump ein neues konservatives Nachrichtennetzwerk aufbauen oder einem bestehenden Netzwerk wie OAN oder Newsmax beitreten möchte, ist es kaum garantiert, dass Unternehmenswerbetreibende ihn unterstützen.

“Es gibt nur so viel, was My Pillow subventionieren kann”, sagte Jon Klein, der frühere Präsident von CNN US, und bezog sich auf Mike Lindell, den Geschäftsführer von My Pillow, der ein ausgesprochener Unterstützer des Präsidenten ist. “Es ist plötzlich viel entmutigender als vor einer Woche für OAN und Newsmax.”

Stattdessen könnte Herr Trump mehr Erfolg bei der Erstellung eines Newsletters – eingebettet in einen Link zu einem Streaming-Kanal – für Millionen bezahlter Abonnenten haben, sagte Herr Klein, Vorsitzender von TAPP Media, einem Abonnement-Streaming-Dienst. “Er hat die Leidenschaften seines Stammes entzündet und bei Abonnementdiensten dreht sich alles um Tribalismus.”

Nachdem Twitter am Freitag den Account des Präsidenten endgültig gesperrt hatte, schlug er vor, eine eigene Social-Media-Plattform aufzubauen, dies würde jedoch wahrscheinlich gewaltige logistische und rechtliche Herausforderungen mit sich bringen. Und was auch immer er schaffen will, erfordert möglicherweise erhebliche Ressourcen und möglicherweise Kredite, die aus den gängigen Quellen knapp sein könnten.

Die Deutsche Bank, die seit zwei Jahrzehnten der Hauptkreditgeber von Herrn Trump ist, hat nach Angaben einer mit dem Denken der Bank vertrauten Person beschlossen, künftig keine Geschäfte mit Herrn Trump oder seinem Unternehmen zu tätigen. Herr Trump schuldet der Deutschen Bank derzeit mehr als 300 Millionen US-Dollar, die in den nächsten Jahren fällig werden.

Die Bank ist zu dem Schluss gekommen, dass sie, ohne die Schulden zu erlassen, keine Möglichkeit hat, sich aus der Trump-Beziehung zu lösen, bevor die Kredite fällig werden.

Ein weiterer langjähriger Finanzpartner der Trumps, die Signature Bank, schneidet ebenfalls die Beziehungen ab. Die Bank, die Herrn Trump bei der Finanzierung seines Golfplatzes in Florida half und auf der Ivanka Trump, die Tochter des Präsidenten, einst Vorstandsmitglied war, gab eine Erklärung heraus, in der sie Herrn Trump aufforderte, als Präsident zurückzutreten, „im besten Interesse unserer Nation und der USA Amerikaner.”

Susan Turkell, eine Sprecherin der Bank, sagte, Signature habe entschieden, dass sie “in Zukunft keine Geschäfte mit Mitgliedern des Kongresses machen wird, die dafür gestimmt haben, das Wahlkollegium zu missachten”. Frau Turkell sagte, dass die Bank nach den Unruhen begann, die beiden persönlichen Konten von Herrn Trump zu schließen, die ungefähr 5,3 Millionen Dollar hatten.

Am Ende seiner Präsidentschaft kehrt Herr Trump zu einem ganz anderen Geschäft zurück als dem, das er bei seinem Amtsantritt geführt hat.

Mehrere Hotelimmobilien, die seinen Namen trugen, wurden aus dem Portfolio gestrichen, darunter solche in New York, Panama und Toronto. Die Pläne für zwei neue, budgetfreundliche Hotellinien, die einst Priorität hatten, wurden auf unbestimmte Zeit zurückgestellt. Und ein Produktbranding-Windfall, der Mr. Trump dazu veranlasste, eine Reihe von Artikeln von Steaks bis zu Matratzen zu unterstützen, ist geschrumpft.

Das Unternehmen sieht sich außerdem einer strafrechtlichen Untersuchung durch die Staatsanwaltschaft von Manhattan gegenüber, in der geprüft wird, ob der Präsident und sein Unternehmen in den letzten Jahren Finanz- oder Steuerverbrechen begangen haben.

Das Verlassen des Weißen Hauses bedeutet jedoch, dass Herr Trump keinen ethischen Beschränkungen wie Verboten internationaler Geschäfte mehr ausgesetzt sein wird, was möglicherweise neue Geschäftsmöglichkeiten eröffnet. Das Unternehmen könnte nach neuen Deals suchen, an Orten, an denen Führungskräfte des Unternehmens glauben, dass Herr Trump weiterhin beliebt ist, wie in Brasilien, Argentinien, Israel, Saudi-Arabien und Indien. Herr Trump könnte auch in den Sprecherkreis gehen und für jeden Auftritt hohe Zahlungen sammeln, sagte ein Geschäftsführer des Unternehmens.

Und einige Kunden bleiben wahrscheinlich den bestehenden Trump-Immobilien treu – insbesondere in roten oder lila Staaten wie Florida und North Carolina – unabhängig davon, was der Präsident tut oder sagt oder wie oft er angeklagt wird.

Mickael Damelincourt, der Geschäftsführer des Trump Hotels in Washington, erklärte am Sonntag auf Twitter, dass „Amerikas Wohnzimmer für Sie bereit ist“, da das Hotelsteakhouse und die Lobbybar am Freitag wiedereröffnet werden sollen.

In Miami, im Trump National Doral, war die Bar am Freitag zur Happy Hour besetzt, ebenso wie das Clubhaus nur für Mitglieder. Kunden hörten, wie sie sowohl über Golfspiele als auch über Geschäftsabschlüsse sprachen, fast keiner von ihnen trug eine Maske.

Marion McCarthy und ihr Mann Donald tranken dort Getränke – wo sie seit Jahrzehnten Mitglieder sind. Dutzende anderer Gäste kamen zur US Am Tour ins Resort, an der mehr als 100 Spieler teilnahmen. Dies ergab eine Scorecard mit der Aufschrift „Doral Amateur ist AUSVERKAUFT !!!!“.

“Was wir sehen, ist eine Überreaktion”, sagte McCarthy. “Sobald er nicht mehr im Amt ist, wird er wahrscheinlich hierher kommen und ein bisschen mehr Golf spielen können.”

Maggie Haberman, David Enrich und William K. Rashbaum haben zur Berichterstattung beigetragen.