Tag: limited

Categories
Health

India’s new mortgage ensures might have restricted affect on the Covid-hit financial system

India's new loan guarantees may have limited impact on the Covid-hit economy

Indian People queue up at a COVID screening center at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital,(RML) after a case emerged in Delhi causing a panic situation in Delhi India, 04 March 2020.

Imtiyaz Khan | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

India has rolled out a slew of measures amounting to 6.3 trillion rupees ($84.9 billion) aimed at boosting the Covid-struck economy — but economists are skeptical that it will have a major impact on short-term growth.

The impact of those policies — that amount to about 2.8% of GDP — on the country’s fiscal deficit target is expected to be comparatively small.

Economists pointed out that the bulk of the support comes in the form of loan guarantees — instead of direct stimulus such as checks that are paid directly to households. Besides, some of the measures were previously announced and have already been factored into calculations.

For the current fiscal year that ends in March 2022, India’s fiscal deficit target is around 6.8% of GDP. A fiscal deficit is the gap between a government’s income and spending, and implies that the country is spending more than its revenue.

“While the headline impact of the announcements is sizeable, for much part these were credit guarantees, making the net impact on the fiscal math smaller,” said Radhika Rao, an economist with Singapore’s DBS Group, in a note on Tuesday.

She explained that some measures — such as subsidies, free food grain and support toward pediatric health — may have a likely impact on the fiscal deficit. But, there might be “some wiggle room” from a higher nominal GDP and a likely reprioritization in existing spending to minimize the risk of exceeding the fiscal deficit target.

What was announced?

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday announced several support measures, including the provision of loan guarantees of around $35 billion to help small businesses and sectors adversely affected by the pandemic.

Sitharaman said the government will provide additional credit of 1.1 trillion rupees ($14.8 billion) to businesses in sectors such as health care, tourism and others.

The government will also expand the emergency credit line guarantee scheme by another 1.5 trillion rupees ($20.2 billion), from an earlier limit of 3 trillion to 4.5 trillion rupees.

The scheme allows banks and non-bank lenders to give emergency loans to eligible borrowers to run their businesses and those loans are guaranteed by the government, which covers default risks for lenders.

When first introduced, the scheme was seen as a relief for India’s micro, small and medium businesses that are under pressure due to the pandemic-hit crisis.

India also announced a credit guarantee scheme for micro finance institutions that typically lend to the smallest borrowers in the country, such as small business owners. The government will spend another $12.6 billion to provide free food grain to millions of people until November.

Stimulating growth

The latest support measures were similar to how the government responded to India’s first wave of coronavirus outbreak last year, Rao told CNBC by email. Monday’s announcement was aimed at improving the flow of credit to the worst-affected sectors and vulnerable households, she said.

“The fiscal push is predominantly on the supply side rather than a direct boost to demand, containing the extent of immediate boost to growth,” she said. The ongoing reopening of the economy and improving vaccination progress will likely be “bigger catalysts of near-term recovery,” she added.

India’s economy grew 1.6% from a year ago from January to March this year.

Economists have warned that the GDP print for April to June — the first quarter for the current fiscal year — may not paint the full picture of the crisis in South Asia’s largest economy as a result of a devastating second wave of coronavirus outbreak.

Aditi Nayar, principal economist at credit ratings agency ICRA, the Indian affiliate of Moody’s, also pointed out that the success of loan guarantees will depend on how many new loans are disbursed by the lenders.

Fiscal deficit target

Economists pointed out that the loan guarantees will have limited upfront costs for the government.

Nomura’s Sonal Varma and Aurodeep Nandi said in a note that the fiscal stimulus announced during the second wave of outbreak, including Monday’s measures, amount to about 0.59% of GDP. Along with the government’s additional spending on free Covid-19 vaccines, the total fiscal impact for the current year is expected to be around 0.65% of GDP, they said.

Still, Nomura expects India to overshoot its fiscal deficit target of 6.8% on the back of additional expenditures and potentially lower disinvestment figures. The Japanese investment bank revised up its fiscal deficit estimate to 7.1% of GDP for the current year.

Some of the economic measures from Monday, worth 2.4 trillion rupees, are spread over the next two to four years, according to ICRA’s Nayar. “Some of these had already been announced at the time of the Budget, and therefore, a portion of their cost has already been factored in,” she said in a note.

Rao from DBS estimated that there is a risk that the deficit may exceed the target by 0.3% to 0.5% of GDP.

Categories
Health

Many Alzheimer’s Consultants Say Use of Aduhelm Ought to Be Sharply Restricted

Many Alzheimer’s Experts Say Use of Aduhelm Should Be Sharply Limited

Dr. Selloway, a research director on the site for studies of the drug, was not paid for this work but has received research and consulting fees from Biogen. He said doctors should only use the drug on patients whose status matches those in clinical trials.

“There is no evidence that it could be beneficial for any other stage of Alzheimer’s disease,” he said.

Mary Sano, director of the Alzheimer’s Research Center at Mount Sinai in New York City, said the criteria she and other panelists outlined were “very important”, saying that “it will be very restrictive and the ability to use this drug with.” Sharing a wide range of people with others will be significantly limited, at least at this point in time. “

For dementia clinicians, treating people with only mild symptoms would mean that “most of your staff is unlikely to be an option in your current practice,” said Dr. Sano.

In its decision, the FDA admitted that there was not the proof of benefit usually required by the authorities. As a result, it is making it available to Aduhelm under a program called accelerated approval, which spearheads the drug’s ability to lower amyloid levels in the brain. But reducing amyloid is not the same as slowing down symptoms of dementia. Many amyloid-lowering drugs failed to slow the decline in clinical trials, a story that makes some experts particularly suspicious of trusting Aduhelm based on the evidence presented so far.

Also, given the agency’s focus on amyloid in its approval decision and the fact that all participants in the clinical trial were required to have high levels of amyloid, experts were surprised that the FDA label does not mandate patient screening for the protein. Doctors at the Alzheimer’s Association forum all said that high levels of amyloid, typically measured by PET scans or spinal puncture, should be a prerequisite for treatment.

Several of the panelists said that relatively few doctors and clinics, at least initially, would be able to adequately diagnose, screen, and treat patients.

“This is not a simple drug,” said Dr. Paul Aisen, director of the Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute at the University of Southern California and co-author of an article calling on the FDA to approve the drug. “I think identifying the right people to treat and supervise treatment requires knowledge and experience, and there are very few clinicians who have that experience.”

Categories
Health

Why Apple and Google’s Virus Alert Apps Had Restricted Success

Why Apple and Google’s Virus Alert Apps Had Limited Success

Sarah Cavey, a Denver real estate agent, was delighted last fall when Colorado rolled out an app to warn people of potential coronavirus exposures.

Based on software from Apple and Google, the government smartphone app uses Bluetooth signals to recognize users who are in close contact. If a user later tests positive, that person can anonymously notify other app users that the person may have crossed over with on restaurants, trains, or elsewhere.

Ms. Cavey immediately downloaded the app. After testing positive for the virus in February, she couldn’t get the special verification code she needed from the state to warn others, she said, even after calling the Colorado Health Department three times.

“You promote this app to make people feel comfortable,” said Ms. Cavey, adding that she has since deleted the CO Exposure Notifications app in frustration. “But it doesn’t really matter.”

The Colorado Health Department said they have improved their process and are now automatically issuing verification codes to anyone in the state who test positive.

When Apple and Google announced last year that they were working together to create a smartphone-based system to contain the virus, their collaboration seemed like a game changer. Human contact tracers have struggled to keep up with the rise in virus levels, and the trillion-dollar competing companies, whose systems power 99 percent of the world’s smartphones, had the potential to quickly and automatically alert far more people.

Soon after, Austria, Switzerland, and other nations introduced virus apps based on Apple’s Google software, as did around two dozen American states, including Alabama and Virginia. According to an analysis by Sensor Tower, an app research company, the apps have been downloaded more than 90 million times to date.

However, some researchers say that companies’ product and policy decisions limited the usefulness of the system, raising questions about big tech’s ability to set global standards for public health tools.

Computer scientists have reported accuracy issues with Bluetooth technology, which is used to detect proximity between smartphones. Some users have complained about failed notifications. So far, there has hardly been any rigorous research into whether the apps’ potential to precisely alert people to virus loads outweighs potential disadvantages – for example, incorrectly warning not exposed people, over-testing or not recognizing users who are exposed to the virus.

“It’s still an open question whether these apps help, or just distract, or even cause problems with real-world contact tracing,” Stephen Farrell and Doug Leith, computer science researchers at Trinity College Dublin, wrote an April report on Ireland’s virus alert- App.

In the United States, some public health officials and researchers said the apps had shown modest but important benefits. In Colorado, more than 28,000 people have used the technology to inform contacts of potential virus exposures. In California, where a virus tracking app called CA Notify was launched in December, around 65,000 people have used the system to alert other app users.

“Exposure notification technology has shown success,” said Dr. Christopher Longhurst, UC San Diego Health’s chief information officer, who manages the California app. “Whether it’s hundreds of lives saved or dozens or a handful, when we save lives it’s a big deal.”

In a joint statement, Apple and Google said, “We are proud to work with health officials to provide a resource that has enabled millions of people around the world and that has helped protect public health.”

Let us help you protect your digital life

The Apple and Google system, based in part on ideas developed by the Singapore government and scientists, includes privacy measures that provide health officials with an alternative to more invasive apps. Unlike virus tracking apps, which continuously track users’ whereabouts, Apple and Google software use Bluetooth signals that can estimate the distance between smartphones without knowing where users are. It also uses rotating ID codes – not real names – to log app users who have been in close contact for 15 minutes or more.

Some health officials predicted last year that the technology could inform users of virus exposure faster than human contact tracers. Others hoped the apps could warn commuters sitting next to an infected stranger on a bus, train, or plane – people at risk who contact tracers typically cannot identify themselves.

“Everyone who uses the app helps to keep the virus under control,” said Chancellor Angela Merkel in a video to advertise the country’s warning system called Corona-Warn-App last year.

However, the apps never received the extensive efficacy tests that were normally done before governments introduced public health interventions such as vaccines. And the software’s privacy features, which prevent government agencies from identifying app users, have made it difficult for researchers to determine if the notifications were hindering the transmission of viruses, said Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

“The apps played virtually no role in investigating any outbreaks that occurred here,” said Dr. Osterholm.

Some restrictions already occurred before the apps were released. For one, some researchers find that exposure notification software inherently excludes certain vulnerable populations, e.g. B. older people who cannot afford smartphones. Second, the apps could trigger false positives as the system is not set up to take damage control factors into account, e.g. B. whether users are vaccinated, wearing masks or sitting outside.

Proximity detection in virus alert apps can also be inconsistent. Last year, a study of Google’s system for Android phones carried out on a Dublin tram reported that the metal walls, floors and ceilings distorted Bluetooth signal strength enough that the likelihood of accurate proximity detection would be “similar” Trigger notifications by randomly selecting passengers.

Such glitches angered early adopters like Kimbley Craig, the Mayor of Salinas, California. Last December, when virus rates rose there, she downloaded the state exposure notification app on her Android phone and tested positive for Covid-19 shortly afterwards. After she entered the verification code, the system was unable to send a notification to her partner, with whom she lived and who had also downloaded the app.

“Unless it takes one person in the same household, I don’t know what to tell you,” said Mayor Craig.

In a statement, Steph Hannon, Google’s senior director of product management for exposure notifications, said there are “known challenges in using Bluetooth technology to approximate the exact distance between devices” and that the company is continually working to improve accuracy.

Company policies have also influenced usage trends. For example, in certain US states, iPhone users can turn on exposure notifications with one click by simply enabling a feature in their settings. However, Android users need to download a separate app. As a result, by May 10, about 9.6 million iPhone users in California had the notifications turned on, far exceeding the 900,000 app downloads on Android phones.

Google has set up its system in such a way that states work on a wide variety of devices and can be made available as quickly as possible.

Some public health experts admitted that the exposure warning system was an experiment where they and the tech giants learned and built improvements over time.

One problem they discovered early on: To prevent false positives, states review positive test results before a person can send exposure notifications. However, it can sometimes take days for local laboratories to send test results to health officials, limiting the ability of app users to quickly notify others.

In Alabama, for example, the government’s GuideSafe virus alert app has been downloaded around 250,000 times, according to Sensor Tower. However, state health authorities said they could confirm the positive test results from only 1,300 app users. That’s a much lower number than health officials expected, as more than 10 percent of Alabamians tested positive for the coronavirus.

“The app would be much more efficient if these processes were less manual and automated,” said Dr. Scott Harris, who oversees the Alabama Department of Health.

Colorado, which automatically issues verification codes to people who test positive, has reported higher usage rates. In California, UC San Diego Health has set up a dedicated hotline that app users can call if they haven’t received their verification codes.

Dr. Longhurst, the medical center’s chief information officer, said the California app proved useful as part of a larger statewide public health push that included wearing masks and virus testing.

“It’s not a panacea,” he said. But “it can be an effective part of a pandemic response.”

Categories
Health

Jury can hear restricted proof of CEO way of life

Jury can hear limited evidence of CEO lifestyle

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes leaves the Robert F. Peckham Federal Building with her defense team in downtown San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, May 4, 2021.

MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images | MediaNews Group | Getty Images

Jurors in the trial of Elizabeth Holmes will hear evidence about her extravagant lifestyle as Theranos CEO but with some limitations.

That’s the ruling issued by U.S. District Court Judge Edward Davila late Saturday as part of a 100 page response to motions in Holmes’ upcoming criminal trial.

The judge granted in part Holmes’ motion to exclude evidence referencing her extravagant lifestyle outside of her position as chief executive of the blood-testing start-up.

“The Government may introduce evidence that Holmes enjoyed a lifestyle as Theranos CEO that is comparable to those of other tech company CEOs. This includes salary, travel, celebrity, and other perks and benefits commensurate with the position,” Davila wrote in the filing.

However, “references to specific purchases or details reflecting branding of clothing, hotels, or other personal items is not relevant, and the prejudicial effect of that evidence outweighs any probative value,” the judge added.

The ruling is a partial victory for Holmes as prosecutors cannot introduce details about Holmes’ specific purchases and personal items outside of her position as CEO. Holmes lived in an expensive rental home, traveled by private jet, stayed at luxury hotels and employed Theranos-paid assistants to run her lavish shopping sprees.

“Each time Holmes made an extravagant purchase, it is reasonable to infer that she knew her fraudulent activity allowed her to pay for those items,” Davila wrote. “While the benefits of these purchases are not as directly tied to the fraud…it may still be probative of Holmes’ scienter.”

The ruling comes two weeks after Holmes battled it out with prosecutors in court over whether details of her wealth, lifestyle and perks she attained as CEO would be relevant to jurors in her trial.

At the height of Theranos, the start-up was valued at $9 billion and Holmes was touted as the world’s youngest self-made woman billionaire. The company collapsed in 2018 following a Wall Street Journal investigation that revealed failings in the blood-testing technology.

Davila ruled on more than 20 dueling motions on what jurors can hear in her trial, scheduled to begin on Aug. 30.

A motion by the government to admit business-related text messages between Holmes and her co-defendant Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani was denied by Davila.

Prosecutors say the messages show the two top executives knew how much trouble Theranos was in before it collapsed. In a November 2014 text to Holmes, Balwani describes one Theranos lab as a “f*cking disaster zone,” adding he would “work on fixing this.”

Holmes and Balwani have both pled not guilty to a dozen criminal wire fraud charges in connection with deceiving investors, patients and doctors.

Categories
Health

Compensation for victims of Covid vaccine accidents is restricted

Compensation for victims of Covid vaccine injuries is limited

Joanna Oakley got her annual flu shot in 2015 and immediately knew something was wrong.

“It felt like it hit the bone right away. And over the next few days I noticed that it was getting increasingly sore and it got where I couldn’t move my arm, I couldn’t turn my steering wheel in my car . ” She said.

As a nurse, Oakley is trained to give injections.

“It wasn’t until it happened to me that I started researching. I found that it actually happened more often than I would ever imagine,” she said.

Nurse Joanna Oakley and her son.

Source: Joanna Oakley

Oakley says she had three surgeries and that her arm never returned to normal. She suffered a so-called shoulder injury related to vaccine administration, or SIRVA.

“As a mother and wife and as a nurse, I was more concerned about what this injury would do to me, as far as I know, could I get it repaired? Would I be normal again?” She said.

Oakley is not alone. SIRVA is the most common vaccination violation for which people seek government compensation.

Twenty-one people have filed claims for adverse reactions to Covid-19 shots in the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program. This emerges from a response to the Department of Health and Human Services Freedom of Information Act to Professor Peter Meyers of the George Washington Law School.

To date, there have been seven reports of shoulder injuries from Covid-19 bullets as per the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, which is maintained by the Centers for Disease Control of Prevention and does not review the reports. However, none of the 21 Covid-19 vaccine claims submitted to the compensation program are related to shoulder injuries, according to FOIA records.

Joanna Oakley suffered a serious shoulder injury from a flu vaccine.

Source: Joanna Oakley

“I have represented many clients whose lives have been changed by an unfortunate side effect of vaccination. It happens. It is rare, but it does. And often they are on the verge of the end of their life,” said attorney Altom Maglio.

The Countermeasure Compensation Program provides “compensation for those injured or dying of a vaccination, drug, device, or other so-called countermeasure necessary to prevent, treat, or combat a pandemic, epidemic, or security threat,” it says on the program website.

On March 10, 2020, then Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, made a statement under the Public Preparedness and Emergency Preparedness Act approving this program for Covid-related claims.

HHS has a far more generous program known as the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. Currently, injuries are treated by 16 commonly used vaccines such as the flu, whooping cough and polio, but the Covid vaccine is not because it is not yet approved for use in children.

The countermeasure compensation program rarely pays off and rejects more than 90% of submitted claims according to HHS and FOIA records. In this case, claims averaging $ 200,000, according to HHS – about 60% less than the average National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program payment. Since the program was launched in 2009, only 29 applications for the H1N1 and smallpox vaccines have been paid in August. One of these has been classified as shoulder pain by HHS.

Maglio calls the CICP a “black hole”.

“Really, it’s a compensation program in name only and not in reality,” he said.

The VICP offers victims the opportunity to sue in court with judges and lawyers and to have the right to appeal. Among the other, he said, there is no right of appeal.

Unlike the VICP, the CICP does not cover legal fees or pain and suffering.

The VICP has paid approximately $ 4.5 billion in total compensation as of March 1 since filing claims in 1998. According to HHS, this dwarfs the approximately $ 6 million in paid services of the CICP over the life of the program.

In July last year, HHS proposed a new regulation aimed at reversing existing consumer protection for shoulder injuries caused by vaccination shots. These were caused by “negligence of the vaccine administrator” rather than the vaccines themselves. That would have forced people with shoulder injuries to sue whoever gave the vaccine, Maglio said.

It was supposed to go into effect in February, but the new administration under President Joe Biden has halted all of the rules proposed in the final days of the Trump administration.

The Biden government last week announced plans to withdraw the final settlement.

“HHS is also proposing to repeal the final rule amid fears it could negatively impact vaccine administrators, which goes against the federal government’s efforts to increase vaccinations in the US to address coronavirus disease 2019 to respond to (COVID-19) pandemic, “HHS wrote in its notice to withdraw the proposed rules.

A spokesman for Health Resources and Service Administration, the agency within HHS that oversees vaccination injury compensation programs, declined to be interviewed. Instead, the CNBC agency referred to its public notices.

“I believe instead of weakening this program and removing injuries from it, it needs to be strengthened,” said Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas. “It hasn’t really been revised since 1988 when it came into effect.”

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) speaks on lower drug prices, particularly those related to coronavirus, during a press conference on Capitol Hill March 5, 2020 in Washington, DC.

Samuel Corum | Getty Images

Doggett’s office estimates that 5,000 to 6,000 people across the country are likely to have an adverse reaction to the Covid vaccine, based on statistics from the H1N1 vaccine.

“It will build confidence to know that in the extremely unlikely event that there is a probability of 1 in a million that you will face adverse consequences that there is a fund to protect you so that you do not have to deal with huge medical bills and others Losses are charged. ” ” he said.

Oakley said she believed in vaccines but wanted a program in case things go wrong.

“I would only be concerned if someone took this program away, if someone had a problem, an adverse effect from a vaccine, they really would have no recourse,” she said.

Categories
Entertainment

New York to Permit Restricted Stay Performances to Resume in April

New York to Allow Limited Live Performances to Resume in April

Plays, concerts and other performances can resume from next month in New York – albeit with greatly reduced capacity limits – said Governor Andrew M. Cuomo on Wednesday.

Mr Cuomo said at a news conference in Albany that arts, entertainment and event venues can reopen April 2 at 33 percent capacity, with a limit of 100 people indoors or 200 people outdoors and a requirement that all Participants wearing masks and masks must be socially distant. These limits would be increased – to 150 people indoors or 500 people outdoors – if all participants test negative before entering.

A handful of venues immediately said they were hosting live performances that, with few exceptions, have not taken place in New York since Broadway closed on March 12.

Producers Scott Rudin and Jane Rosenthal said they expected some of the earliest performances to take place with pop-up programs in Broadway theaters, as well as with programs in non-profit venues with flexible spaces, including the Apollo Theater, Park Avenue Armory, St. Ann’s Warehouse, the Shed, Harlem Stage, La MaMa and the National Black Theater.

“We can finally realize this community of audience and performers that we have longed for a year,” said Alex Poots, the Shed’s artistic director and managing director, who plans to start early on with indoor performances for audiences with limited capacity start April.

Broadway League president Charlotte St. Martin said the new rules will have no impact on commercial productions of Broadway plays and musicals that are expected to open after Labor Day.

“The financial model just doesn’t work for a traditional Broadway show,” she said. “How do we know? Because shows that bring that kind of presence close. “

Mr Cuomo announced his plan to ease restrictions as New York, along with New Jersey, added new coronavirus cases with the highest rates in the country last week: both reported 38 new cases per 100,000 people. (The nation as a whole has an average of 20 per 100,000 people.) And New York City is currently adding cases that have a per capita rate about three times that of Los Angeles County.

The union’s Actors’ Equity responded by asking Mr Cuomo to “prioritize vaccination of members of the arts sector”.

Many nonprofits welcomed the new rules as a sign of hope and as a first step towards recovery. “We have suffered immense losses and there is still a long way to go,” said Oskar Eustis, the artistic director of the public theater Corner of the worst crisis American theater has ever seen. “

Lincoln Center and Glimmerglass Festival have already announced plans to perform outdoors this year, and the new rules clarify how many people can attend.

“We welcome the new guidelines and want to serve as many people as possible on our campus,” said Isabel Sinistore, a Lincoln Center spokeswoman who plans to open 10 outdoor performance and rehearsal rooms on April 7th.

For many New York music venues, 33 percent capacity may still not be enough to economically reopen, cover the costs of running the venues and paying the performers.

“It doesn’t make financial sense to open the Blue Note with only 66 seats for shows,” said Steven Bensusan, president of the Blue Note Entertainment Group, whose flagship jazz club is in Greenwich Village.

Smaller music venues, which are among the eligible recipients of $ 15 billion in federal aid, have been eagerly awaiting permission to reopen. But even with vaccinations increasing and the recent rule change in New York, it may be months before the touring industry resumes, and even then the venues say they will need help.

The Blue Note, along with a few other jazz spots that serve food, had reopened for dinner performances last fall so they could put on some shows without breaking government regulations that are anything but “random” music had forbidden. (Some venues and musicians had filed lawsuits against these rules.) Then the city closed indoor dining again and some clubs didn’t reopen when it was allowed to resume last month.

Michael Swier, the owner of the Bowery Ballroom and Mercury Lounge, two of New York’s most iconic rock clubs, said the state’s ruling that venues require social distancing and the wearing of masks may result in actual capacity in many Clearing is much less.

“Given that social distancing is still part of the metric, we’re going back to about 20 percent capacity, which is unsustainable,” Swier said.

Several promoters and promoters said they are aiming to reopen with 100 percent capacity, which many hope can happen this summer.

However, some small nonprofits immediately showed interest. At Tank, a midtown Manhattan arts venue with a 98-seat theater, Meghan Finn, their art director, said within hours of the governor’s announcement she heard of comedians eager to resume the indoor performance.

“We will not miss the ability to use our space,” said Ms. Finn.

The Joyce Theater in Manhattan had expected to get the audience back to the live dance in September, but Linda Shelton, its executive director, said she and her team would have “hard work” to do in the coming days as they judge whether they are staging a short-term performance makes financial sense and can be carried out safely.

“We have a couple of things that we could come up with pretty quickly,” she said.

Leon Botstein, president of Bard College, home of the fishing center for the performing arts in Annandale-on-Hudson, which hosts a prestigious summer music festival, said the move was a “welcome first step”.

“One hundred is a good number to start with,” said Mr Botstein. “This is April’s number. Let’s hope the number will be bigger in June. “

A variety of nonprofit theaters said they found the news encouraging.

Signature Theater artistic director Paige Evans said she had already hired playwright Lynn Nottage and director Miranda Haymon to create a multimedia performance installation in the theater’s spacious lobby this summer, and the new rules should enable the audience to participate.

Rebecca Robertson, the founding president and executive producer of Park Avenue Armory, said she, too, is eager to make people feel welcome again. “It will be exciting to have a live audience that is responsive to the work,” she said.

Other organizations said the loose rules would allow them to envision new programs. El Museo del Barrio said it would try to develop outdoor works for parks, on streets or in borrowed spaces.

“Finally,” said Leonard Jacobs, interim executive director of the Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning in southeast Queens, “we have good government guidance to take those first steps back to normal life.”

Ben Sisario and Matt Stevens contributed to the coverage.

Categories
World News

Robinhood CEO says it restricted shopping for in GameStop to ‘shield the agency and shield our prospects’

Robinhood CEO says it limited buying in GameStop to 'protect the firm and protect our customers'

Robinhood Co-Founder and Co-CEO Vlad Tenev speaks on stage during the TechCrunch Disrupt New York event on May 10, 2016.

Noam Galai | Getty Images for TechCrunch

Vlad Tenev, CEO of Robinhood, said Robinhood’s attempt to stop trading certain speculative names is in the best interests of the company and its millions of users.

“In order to protect the company and our customers, we had to limit the purchase of these stocks,” Tenev told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin on Thursday evening.

“Robinhood is a brokerage firm, we have a lot of financial requirements. We have SEC net capital requirements and clearinghouse deposits. So this is money that we have to deposit with different clearing houses. Some of these requirements fluctuate significantly in the market and they can be in because of the volatility Given the current environment where there is a lot of volatility and a lot of concentrated activity in these names that have gone viral on social media, “Tenev said.

Tenev denied the firm had any liquidity issues, saying Robinhood had drawn on lines of credit as a proactive measure.

“We want to be able to enable our customers to be as unrestricted as possible in accordance with requirements and regulations,” said Tenev. “So we pulled these lines of credit so that we could maximize the funds we have to deposit with the clearing houses within a reasonable range.”

In the midst of a wild week of speculative retailing, Robinhood restricted trading in thirteen stocks, including GameStop and AMC Entertainment, on Thursday. The pioneer of free stock trading only allowed clients to sell positions in certain securities, no open messages, increased margin requirements and even said it would automatically close some positions if the client ran the risk of not having the required collateral.

“We haven’t seen this level of concentrated interest rate market on a small number of names before,” Tenev said. “We believe you should be able to buy and sell the stocks you want.”

Robinhood then said after Thursday’s closing bell that it would allow limited purchases of restricted stocks on Friday.

The broker’s original decision met with outrage from his group of loyal private investors. However, Robinhood stated the move was taken to meet the SEC’s capital requirements for broker-dealers.

“We saw unprecedented interest because the funding was culturally relevant in ways never seen before,” Tenev said. “Of course, Robinhood is about everyday investors. From the beginning we advocated open access investors. It hurts us to have to impose these restrictions and we will do everything we can to get these stocks trading as soon as possible enable.” As we can. “

Tenev said Robin’s decision was not made under the direction of a market maker or hedge fund.

GameStop stock closed 44% on Thursday after Robinhood restricted trading and rose more than 60% after the close of business after the decision to ease restrictions.

Subscribe to CNBC PRO for exclusive insights and analysis as well as live business day programs from around the world.