Tag: closed

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Politics

Colonial stays largely closed, working to revive service

Colonial remains mostly closed, working to restore service

A police officer guards the gate to the junction and tank terminal of the Colonial Pipeline Co. Pelham in Pelham, Alabama, USA, on Monday, September 19, 2016.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Colonial Pipeline is working on restoring service and has some minor side lines between terminals and delivery points that are back in service, the company said on Sunday afternoon.

The company, which operates the country’s largest fuel pipeline, temporarily ceased operations on Friday due to a ransomware attack.

The four main lines remain offline. Colonial said a restart schedule was being developed, but no schedule was given for when full service would be restored.

“We are in the process of restoring service to other side panels and will only bring our entire system back online if we deem it safe and fully comply with all federal regulations,” Colonial said in a statement.

The federal government is working to avoid supply disruptions after the company ceases operations, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said Sunday morning.

“This is something that companies have to worry about now,” Raimondo said during an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation”. “Unfortunately, such attacks are becoming more common. They are here to stay.”

President Joe Biden has been notified of the ransomware attack, and the FBI said it is working closely with Colonial Pipeline and government partners to address the situation.

The Department of Energy is leading the federal response, according to Colonial. The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency coordinates with the company.

Colonial said it learned Friday it was “the victim of a cybersecurity attack” and has since shut down 5,500 miles of pipeline that carries nearly half of the east coast’s fuel supplies, raising concerns of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel shortages .

The pipeline is the largest refined product pipeline in the nation, according to Colonial.

“At the moment everything is fine,” said Raimondo. “We are working closely with company, state and local government employees to ensure they are back to normal operations as soon as possible and that supplies are not interrupted.”

Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo testifies before the Senate Funds Committee during a hearing in the Dirksen Senate office building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on April 20, 2021.

Chip Somodevilla | Pool | Reuters

The company connects refineries on the Gulf Coast to more than 50 million people in the southern and eastern United States, according to its website.

The final impact of the attack on fuel prices is unclear as there is no schedule for Colonial to resume operations, according to Bernadette Johnson, senior vice president of energy and renewable energies at Enverus. Johnson predicted a short-term spike in refined product prices in the face of a short-term outage.

“Refined product storage in both the USGC and the Northeast can mitigate the effects of a short-term event,” Johnson said on Saturday.

However, according to John Kilduff, a partner with Again Capital in New York, if the shutdown persists, fuel shortages in the country could develop rapidly. Kilduff predicted that gas prices will skyrocket on Sunday night with the opening of futures trading if the company does not resume business by then.

Johnson agreed: “If this outage continued for an extended period of time, there would be product shortages in the Northeast and a glut of products in the USGC that would affect prices across the country,” she said.

Jay Hatfield, founder and CEO of Infrastructure Capital Management in New York, said a temporary outage will likely cause national gas retail prices to rise above $ 3 a gallon for the first time since 2014.

Gas futures rose 0.6% to $ 2.1269 a gallon and diesel futures rose 1.1% to $ 2.0106 a gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Friday.

– CNBC’s Pippa Stevens contributed to this report

Categories
Business

The Paycheck Safety Program is out of cash and closed to most new functions.

The Paycheck Protection Program is out of money and closed to most new applications.

Four weeks before the planned end, the federal government’s signature assistance measures for small businesses – the Paycheck Protection Program – which had been devastated by the pandemic, ran out on Tuesday afternoon and no longer received most of the new applications.

Congress provided $ 292 billion to fund the program’s final round of loans. Almost all of the money has now been used up, the Small Business Administration running the program told lenders and their trading groups on Tuesday. (An earlier version of this item incorrectly stated that the actions it described took place on Wednesday.)

While many had predicted the program would run out of funds before the May 31 application deadline, the exact timing surprised many lenders.

“We understand that lenders are now receiving a message through the portal that loans cannot be granted,” the National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders wrote in a warning to its members on Tuesday evening. “The PPP General Fund is closed to new applications.”

Some of the money – around $ 8 billion – remains available for financial institutions, which generally focus on lending to businesses run by women, minorities, and other underserved communities. These lenders can process applications until the funds are used up, as indicated by the trading group’s warning.

Small Business Administration officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to a lender who phoned SBA officials on Tuesday, lenders have some cash left to complete processing pending applications.

Since its inception last year, the Paycheck Protection Program has paid out $ 780 billion in inducible loans to fund 10.7 million applications, according to the latest government data. Congress renewed the program in the December bill, expanding the pool of eligible applicants and allowing the hardest-hit companies to return for a second loan.

Legislators extended the program’s deadline to May in March, but showed little enthusiasm for adding significantly more money to their coffers. With vaccination rates rising and pandemic restrictions easing, Congress’s focus on large-scale aid to small businesses has waned.

The government’s recent efforts have focused on the most severely damaged industries. Two new Small Business Administration scholarship programs – for companies in the live event and restaurant industries – have accepted applications in the past few weeks, although no scholarships have yet been awarded.

Categories
Health

Airline executives solid doubt with borders nonetheless closed

Airline executives cast doubt with borders still closed

An Airbus A330neo or A330-900 from Delta Air Lines with Neo engine option from the European aircraft manufacturer, as seen on the final approach at Amsterdam Schiphol AMS EHAM after a long-haul transatlantic flight.

Nicolas Economou | NurPhoto | Getty Images

Are you hoping to have a European vacation this summer? You may be out of luck.

In much of Europe, the borders for most US citizens have been closed for more than a year because of the coronavirus pandemic, and vice versa. Airline executives said Thursday they didn’t expect it to open in time for midsummer time.

Travel industry leaders have urged the Biden government on a plan to reopen the borders, including standards for health documentation such as evidence of a Covid-19 vaccine.

Ed Bastian, Delta Air Lines CEO, said on a quarterly call that the company is focused on lifting restrictions that have hampered travel between the US and the UK but other popular destinations may take longer.

The White House did not respond immediately.

The UK eased its lockdown restrictions this week, allowing pubs, hairdressers and retail stores to reopen. France and Italy reintroduced temporary bans last month to contain new Covid-19 infections, and vaccine distribution across Europe has been slow.

“When you think of other parts of Europe, there may be occasional markets opening this summer based on leisure traffic in the southern Mediterranean that people will be interested in,” Bastian said on the conference call. “But I don’t think continental Europe will open in any meaningful way until later in the year. We’re likely to miss out on much of the summer for most of continental Europe, unfortunately.”

Delta and competitors like American Airlines and United Airlines have stated that domestic travel has bounced back strongly from the depths of the pandemic, but international travel, which is still facing a web of entry restrictions and a delay in vaccinations, remains weak.

Delta announced Thursday that domestic passenger revenue in the first quarter was 66% lower than the same period in 2019 to $ 2.3 billion. However, transatlantic sales were 87% lower at $ 142 million, while trans-Pacific sales were down 89% at $ 62 million.

Naples, Italy versus Naples, Florida

American airlines have geared their once sprawling global networks towards domestic destinations, particularly those that offer outdoor attractions like beaches and mountains. The airlines have expanded tourist hotspots in Florida, Wyoming, and Montana. You’ve also seen a surge in demand for beach destinations in the Caribbean and Mexico.

American Airlines announced on Wednesday, for example, that it would bring its domestic flight schedule for the summer to almost the level of 2019.

Brian Znotins, vice president of network planning for American Airlines, told CNBC that even if the borders open in the coming season, demand for European summer vacation will be hard to generate.

“Usually a European vacation is planned months in advance,” he said. “If people want to go on a getaway this summer today, which many people are, they don’t feel very sure about booking a trip to Rome, so they’re going to make that hotel reservation in Jackson Hole or Honolulu or Cancun.

“You don’t expect demand to show up until the day after a country opens, especially from a leisure perspective,” he said.

Categories
World News

Japan shares edge larger as main markets in Asia-Pacific are closed

Japan stocks edge higher as major markets in Asia-Pacific are closed

SINGAPORE – Japanese stocks rose Monday afternoon as many major Asia Pacific markets are closed for public holidays.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was up 0.91% while the Topix index was up 0.66%.

South Korea’s Kospi hovered over the flatline. LG Electronics’ shares rose approximately 0.6%. The company announced on Monday that it was closing its mobile division to focus resources on “growth areas” like electric vehicle components.

The broadest MSCI index for stocks in the Asia-Pacific region outside of Japan has hardly changed.

The markets in Australia, Mainland China and Hong Kong are closed on Mondays for public holidays.

US payrolls exceed expectations

In terms of economic development, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Friday that the number of non-agricultural workers rose by 916,000 in March – well above the 675,000 increase that Dow Jones polled economists had expected.

The unemployment rate also fell to 6%, in line with the expectations of economists polled by Dow Jones.

Currencies and oil

The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback versus a basket of its peers, came in at 92.942 – up above 93.3 from late last month.

The Japanese yen was trading at 110.57 per dollar, weaker than 110.5 against the greenback last week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $ 0.7619, above the $ 0.756 level seen last week.

Oil prices were lower in the afternoon of Asian trading hours, with the international benchmark Brent crude oil futures falling 0.99% to $ 64.22 a barrel. US crude oil futures were down 0.91% to $ 60.89 a barrel.

Categories
Health

Behind Closed Doorways, ‘the Problem and the Magnificence’ of Pandemic Hospice Work

Behind Closed Doors, ‘the Difficulty and the Beauty’ of Pandemic Hospice Work

Hanane Saoui is used to death. Sudden and slow deaths. Painful Deaths and Peaceful Deaths.

This year was different.

The coronavirus pandemic has dramatically changed Ms. Saoui’s work as a hospice nurse in New York. Security measures created physical distance between her and her patients and even separated some of her hospice colleagues from their clients’ homes last year. It deprived families and caretakers of opportunities to grieve together, and faced hospice workers familiar with death with astonishing levels of loss.

Despite the pressure, Ms. Saoui and other staff continued to give comfort and even moments of happiness to dying patients and their families.

“You sit down and listen,” she said. “You express your fear, you express your feelings, and you guide them and tell them what to expect.” After a patient died, she added, “I want to hug family members a lot, but now I can’t.”

Instead, Ms. Saoui said, “I pray and do the best I can.”

More than half a million Americans have died from the coronavirus, and many have died in pain, isolated from their families. Ms. Saoui contrasted these conditions with what she called a good death: “peaceful, pain-free, at home and surrounded by loved ones.”

While the nurses continued their personal home visits, some chaplain, social work, and therapy sessions went online as the families preferred. By August, most of this care was returning to face-to-face visits, but with strict precautions, including temporarily wearing full PPE and being six feet apart whenever possible.

Although the vast majority of Ms. Saoui’s patients did not have the coronavirus when they entered the hospice last year, challenging restrictions were placed on all patients and caregivers. Hospice home care can last for many months, and workers often develop close relationships with patients and their families.

However, the pandemic has left fewer occasions for families – and hospice workers – to grieve in person at funerals or memorial services. For over a year, the size of these gatherings has been strictly limited by many states in order to contain the spread of the virus.

When hospice patients die, their caretakers often work with their own grief and loss in weekly staff meetings and meetings with colleagues who share the same customer. These staff meetings are now online, but the loss of holding each other on and shedding tears has hit hospice workers deeply, said Melissa Baguzis, a social worker who specializes in pediatric cases. She has developed her own ways to deal with the loss of her young patients.

“I’ll take a moment, light a candle and read your favorite book or listen to your favorite song,” she said. “I have my own time for her. We are connected to their families, but when I am in their homes it is their grief and I will support them. In addition, I have to come to terms with my own loss. “

The hospice workers at MJHS Health System, a nonprofit based in New York and Nassau Counties, are as comfortable about death as many Americans are not. But the pandemic has placed an additional burden on her and her patients, said Ms. Baguzis. “We all share each other’s grief now more than ever,” she said.

Rev. Christopher Sigamoney, an episcopal priest who is a hospice chaplain, said he tried to be there for his patients “despite their frustration, anger, hopelessness, depression and fear”.

He often told the patients’ family members that it was “okay to be angry with God” because their loved ones were lost. But he said the death of a beloved cousin from the coronavirus changed his understanding of his work.

Father Sigamoney and his family could not be with his cousin, a retired doctor from India, during the three days she was hospitalized on a ventilator at the end of her life. He and a handful of relatives said “a few prayers” at the funeral home, but virus restrictions prevented them from having a “proper burial” or sending the body home to India.

“I didn’t really understand when people would ask, ‘Why me and why my family?'” He said of the time before his cousin’s death. “Now I’ve asked the same questions. I said to God, ‘Now I’m angry with you and I hope you can forgive me. ‘”Father Sigamoney said he was slowly recovering through prayer and helping his patients.

Last month, Josniel Castillo was hooked up to a series of medical equipment and monitors, surrounded by his parents and a variety of stuffed animals, when Javier Urrutia, a music therapist, and Ms. Baguzis entered his cramped bedroom. Despite his deteriorating health from a rare genetic disease, it was a happy day. It was Josniel’s 11th birthday.

Mr. Urrutia started “Las Mañanitas”, a traditional Mexican birthday song. Josniel’s mother and father, Yasiri Caraballo and Portirio Castillo, took part. Frau Caraballo wiped away her tears. They were “tears of joy” because she did not expect her son to be 11 years old.

She asked for a different melody and played the tambourine when Mr. Urrutia joined “Que Bonita Es Esta Vida”. They sang the last chorus together, part of which can be translated into:

Oh this life is so beautiful

Though it hurts so much sometimes

And despite his worries

There is always someone who loves us, someone who takes care of us.

Afterward, Mr. Urrutia said that most of the people “do not know what is going on behind closed doors, both the difficulty and the beauty”.

This year there was “a lot of pain and suffering in countless houses, it cannot be denied,” he said. But in hospice work, he said, “You also see all the heroes out there doing the simple things in life and looking after each other. The husband takes care of his wife or the mother takes care of her son. “

“Dying is part of life,” he added. “Only living things die.”

Categories
Entertainment

Lincoln Middle Will Head Exterior Its Closed Theaters to Carry out

Lincoln Center Will Head Outside Its Closed Theaters to Perform

Lincoln Center is known for the size of its theaters and concert halls: the stately, majestic Metropolitan Opera House with 3,800 seats; David Geffen Hall, glowing as New York Philharmonic fans arrive for an evening performance; the David H. Koch Theater, home of the New York Ballet and specially designed for dance.

With these rooms closed to public performances for almost a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, Lincoln Center now looks beyond the walls of its travertine-clad buildings to another part of its 16-acre campus: the outdoor area.

Lincoln Center announced Thursday that it plans to create 10 outdoor performance and rehearsal rooms. This is the latest move in an effort to move small performances outside to bolster the performing arts in New York and get artists back to work after months of shutdown.

The comprehensive initiative, known as “Restart Stages”, kicks off on April 7 with a concert for healthcare workers. There are plans for a cabaret-style stage, a dedicated area for families with artistic activities for children, public rehearsal locations, an outdoor reading room set up in partnership with the New York Library for the Performing Arts, an outdoor area for a different type of Lincoln Center Ritual: Public Graduations held every spring and summer.

The program includes not only Lincoln Center organizations looking to host film screenings, concerts, and dance workshops, but also art institutions from across the city. Lincoln Center officials said it would work with groups like the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, the African Diaspora Institute of the Caribbean Cultural Center, Harlem Week and the Harlem Arts Alliance, the New York Korean Cultural Center, and the Weeksville Heritage Center alternately the outside areas.

Some of the performances will be broadcast live online, officials said, adding that more details will be released shortly.

Henry Timms, President of the Lincoln Center, said in an interview that he and other organization leaders had spent a lot of time thinking about how to use their “unique gift of the outside space” and how they could use it to “To create something” a driveway to an indoor performance. “

“This is a real opportunity to renew our work as an institution – to redefine our work,” said Timms. “The real opportunity now is for us to try, experiment,” he added, noting that he expected some of the ideas to become a permanent fixture in the years to come.

Thursday’s announcement comes as New York has started to give a taste of the artistic and cultural events that have long filled the city with great energy and creativity, not to mention economic activity.

Last weekend, musician Jon Batiste led a band through the Javits Center in the first of a series of “NY PopsUp” concerts announced by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, which will be held in a public-private partnership between state officials and the producers Scott Rudin and Jane Rosenthal. (Lincoln Center officials noted that their plans were developed in coordination with the concert series.) Mayor Bill de Blasio has called for an Open Culture program for the city that will allow outdoor performances on designated city streets in the spring.

It will be some time before the indoor live performances return. Three of the Lincoln Center’s largest affiliates – the Met Opera, the City Ballet, and the Philharmonic – hope to resume this fall. The Philharmonic plans to repeat last year’s NY Phil Bandwagon concerts, a program that picked up musicians around town in the spring.

But the pandemic is far from over. On Monday, the United States exceeded 500,000 known coronavirus-related deaths. In New York alone, the number has risen to over 46,000 with more than 1.6 million cases. A report released Wednesday by the State Comptroller said that arts, entertainment and recreation employment in New York City fell 66 percent year over year in December 2020 – the largest decline of any sector in the city’s U.S. economy .

Aware of the city’s bigger struggles, Lincoln Center said it would partner with the New York Blood Center and the Food Bank for New York City offer services such as blood drives and food distribution in addition to the arts program; The campus will also serve as a polling station for the upcoming mayor’s area code.

And in a refrain common to any organization, Lincoln Center officials emphasized that they had drawn up their plans with the involvement of public health experts.

Mr Timms said that the pandemic had helped “put a much more targeted focus on our citizen work in addition to our cultural work”.

And he said that Lincoln Center would be nimble and adapt when the rules changed to let in more visitors.

“We are ready to expand as soon as the governor and the city say we can,” said Timms. “We’re ready when it’s 20, we’re ready when it’s 50, we’re ready when it’s 400.”

Categories
World News

China markets stay closed for Lunar New 12 months vacation

China markets remain closed for Lunar New Year holiday

SINGAPORE – Asia Pacific stocks rose on Tuesday as markets in mainland China remain closed for the New Year holidays.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index, which has returned to trading after the holidays in recent days, rose 1.30%.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was up 1.44% while the Topix index was up 0.64%. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.39%.

Australian stocks also rose, with the S&P / ASX 200 gaining 0.36%.

MSCI’s broadest index for stocks in the Asia-Pacific region outside of Japan rose 0.5%.

RBA meeting minutes on monetary policy

Minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s February monetary policy meeting, published on Tuesday, showed that members concluded that “very significant monetary support would be needed for some time as it would take several years to achieve the objectives Bank for inflation and unemployment are reached “.

“In light of this, it would be premature to consider withdrawing monetary incentives,” added the RBA in the minutes.

The markets in the US were closed on Monday for bank holidays.

Currencies and oil

The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback versus a basket of its peers, hit 90.259 after falling above 90.6 late last week.

The Japanese yen traded at 105.48 per dollar after weakening against the greenback from below 105.2 yesterday. The Australian dollar changed hands at $ 0.7794, still higher than below $ 0.772 last week.

Oil prices were higher on the morning of trading hours in Asia and the international benchmark’s Brent crude oil futures rose 0.32% to $ 63.50 a barrel. US crude oil futures rose 1.21% to $ 60.19 a barrel.

Categories
World News

Japan’s preliminary GDP knowledge forward; China, Hong Kong closed

Japan's preliminary GDP data ahead; China, Hong Kong closed

SINGAPORE – Stocks in Japan should rise on Monday as several markets in North Asia closed for the New Year holidays.

Futures indicated a higher open for Japanese stocks. The Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 29,725 while its Osaka counterpart was at 29,590. This is compared to the Nikkei 225’s last closing price at 29,520.07.

Japan’s preliminary pressure on fourth quarter gross domestic product is expected around 7:50 a.m. HK / SIN.

Australian stocks rose in morning trade, with the S & P / ASX 200 up around 0.8%.

The markets in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the USA are closed on Mondays for public holidays.

Currencies

The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, stood at 90.422 after weakening against the 91.2 handle earlier this month.

The Japanese yen was trading at 104.98 per dollar, weaker than below 104.8 against the greenback last week. The Australian dollar was trading at $ 0.7766 after rising below $ 0.772 last week.

Here’s a look at what’s on tap:

  • Japan: Preliminary gross domestic product data for the fourth quarter at 7:50 a.m. HK / SIN
Categories
Business

Federal Assist for Closed Cultural Venues Will Be a Race for Money

Federal Aid for Closed Cultural Venues Will Be a Race for Cash

An adviser to Senator John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas and a sponsor of the proposal, said Mr. Cornyn had told the Small Business Administration of his concerns that the last-minute expansion of Congress would overwhelm the program with applicants and not enough money for it the venues that he and others wanted to benefit from.

A spokeswoman for the agency declined to comment on how long the money is expected to last. She said officials would “build the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program from the ground floor and put in place front-end protections to ensure these important grants are given to those who the law is supposed to support.”

Once the program opens, applicants will fight for money.

Most recipients are eligible to raise 45 percent of their 2019 sales, up to $ 10 million. In the first 14 days, grants are only granted to people with a 90 percent or more loss in sales between April and December – for example, Ms. Tallent’s orange peel. After that, applicants with a loss of 70 percent or more have a priority window of 14 days. These two groups alone could run out of funding for the program before other applicants – those with losses of at least 25 percent – can take their turn.

As a result, most business owners face a tough decision: should they apply for a closed venue grant or apply for Paycheck Protection Program relief instead? This program reopened last month, so hard-hit companies can apply for a second unsuccessful loan.

Venues that received loan through the paycheck program last year can apply for the grant, but those applying for loan this year cannot. The Small Business Administration said in its advice to applicants that they must “make an informed business decision about which program will benefit them most and apply accordingly”.

Take Billy Bobs Texas, a Fort Worth honky tonk who received a $ 1.1 million loan from the Paycheck Protection Program in April. It closed in March and reopened in August, but its once lucrative corporate sales business has cratered. The famous bull arena is empty. Even so, smaller concerts are held here, where dinners are served and converted to accommodate a capacity of 2,500 people, versus the 6,000 that used to be.

“I feel like we’re changing our business model every week,” said Marty Travis, the general manager. He estimates sales in the final eight months of 2020 were down at least 50 percent year over year – enough to qualify for the venue grant, but not enough to put the club in either of the top two priority groups to divide. By the time you are allowed to apply, your money may be gone.

Categories
Business

Toys R Us’ final two shops within the U.S. are closed for good

Toys R Us' last two stores in the U.S. are closed for good

The New Toys “R” Us Store opens at Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey.

Source: Tru Kids Brand

Toys R Us closed the only two stores that were left.

The legendary toy retailer made the decision based on the troubles caused by the Covid pandemic and plans to shift resources to opening new locations where there will be better customer traffic, a CNBC spokesperson told CNBC in a statement emailed With.

“Consumer demand in the toy category and for Toys R Us continues to be strong and we will continue to invest in the channels in which the customer wants to experience our brand,” the person said.

Toy sales in the US rose 16% last year to $ 25.1 billion, market researcher The NPD Group reported on Monday as families turned to toys to keep children busy during the health crisis. However, a greater proportion of these sales take place online.

Tru Kids, a company that acquired the intellectual property of Toys R Us during its liquidation in 2018, opened two smaller stores in late 2019: one at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield’s Garden State Plaza mall in Paramus, New Jersey, and a second in Simon Property Group’s Galleria in Houston. The Houston location closed on January 15th while Paramus closed on Tuesday.

Representatives from URW and Simon did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.

Tru Kids still runs the Toys R Us website, which ultimately sends customers to Amazon to complete a purchase after marketing toys.

Many consumers have stayed away from brick and mortar stores during the pandemic and have instead bought more online. Retailers in shopping malls have suffered extraordinarily. It will likely take some time for shoppers to get used to returning to the malls, and a retail research firm predicts that up to 10,000 store closings could be announced by retailers in the US this year, which would set a new record.

Bloomberg first reported on the closure of Toys R Us on Friday.