WORLD NEWS FLASH by KS
UNITED STATES: Merger Monday
As Main Street continues its COVID-19 struggles, Wall Street is plowing ahead with its money moves.
Three big tech players took action on Sept. 14, leading to a “Merger Monday” of sorts. First, Oracle outbid Microsoft in its quest to add TikTok to its corporate profile. The popular social media company was ordered to sell its U.S. assets by the Trump Administration due to its ties to China and being dubbed a security risk to American interests. ByteDance, TikTok’s current owner, is referring to Oracle as a “trusted technology provider” and not necessarily calling the move a “sale” of the app. Shares of Oracle rose upon the news.
Next, computer graphics giant Nvidia announced a $40 billion deal to buy British chip designer Arm Holdings via Japanese parent company SoftBank. Its microprocessor tech will complement Nvidia’s core technologies, and prevent Arm from “Arming” competitors in the near future.
TikTok’s software and Nvidia’s hardware might end up on your Verizon networked phone. That company announced it was buying Tracfone from Mexico-based America Movil. This will be likely accomplished by a $6.25 billion half-cash, half-stock purchase. The move puts Verizon in the thick of the “discount phone market” and adds Tracfone’s 21 million users to its stronghold.
Finally, stepping outside of tech, biopharmaceutical company Gilead is looking to shell out $21 billion for Immunomedics, a cancer-drug company based out of Morris Plains, New Jersey. When news broke concerning the deal, shares in Immunomedics promptly jumped up over 100%.
AFRICA: More Ebola Worries
Ebola is spreading in a western province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), raising fears that the disease could reach neighboring Republic of Congo and even the capital, Kinshasa, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Sept. 11.
An outbreak in Equateur Province emerged in early June and has now spread into another of its 17 health zones, bringing the total number of affected zones to 12. So far, there have been 113 cases and 48 deaths.
“The most recently affected area, Bomongo, is the second affected health zone that borders the Republic of Congo, which heightens the chances of this outbreak to spread into another country,” said WHO Spokesperson, Fadéla Chaib, underlining the need for cross-border collaboration and coordination.
The risk of the disease spreading as far as Kinshasa is also a very real concern for the UN agency. One of the affected areas, Mbandaka, is connected to the capital by a busy river route used by thousands every week.
This is the second Ebola outbreak in Equateur Province and the 11th overall in the DRC, which recently defeated the disease in its volatile eastern region after a two-year battle.
This latest western outbreak first surfaced in the city of Mbandaka, home to more than one million people, and subsequently spread to 11 health zones, with active transmission currently occurring in eight.
The health zones all border each other and cover a large and remote area often only accessible by helicopter or boat.
Managing response logistics in Equateur is difficult as communities are very scattered. Many are in deeply forested areas and reaching them requires travelling long distances.
In some areas, community resistance is also a challenge, Ms. Chaib added.
“We learned over years of working on Ebola in DRC how important it is to engage and mobilize communities. WHO is working with UNICEF in engaging religious, youth and community leaders to raise awareness about Ebola,” she said.
The situation has been further complicated by a health worker strike that has affected key response activities for nearly four weeks.
Locally based Ebola responders have been protesting against low salaries as well as non-payment since the start of the outbreak.
Although some activities have resumed, many are still on hold, making it difficult to get an accurate picture of how the epidemic is evolving and which areas need the most attention.
ASIA: Peace on the Horizon?
The first ever direct talks between Afghan Government representatives and the Taliban which began on Saturday, present “a major opportunity” to finally realize the “long-held aspirations” of the people, for a peaceful future, the UN chief has said.
In a special video message released as the historic negotiations got underway in Doha, António Guterres thanked the Qatari hosts for facilitating, and said the “consistent calls for an end to violence” by Afghans themselves.
“Afghans themselves must determine the content and nature of the negotiations,” added the UN chief. “An inclusive peace process, in which women, youth and victims of conflict are meaningfully represented, offers the best hope of a sustainable solution.”
The country has seen four decades of conflict, with thousands killed, but up until now, there have never been face-to-face talks between the militant group which controlled the country before being toppled by a US-led coalition in 2001, and the democratically-elected Afghan Government.
The Sept. 12 first meeting comes in the wake of a security agreement inked between the United States and Taliban representatives in February, which paved the way. Continued near-record violence and satisfying the complex preconditions, including prisoner exchanges, had jeopardized the talks throughout recent weeks.
Stressing the importance of women’s involvement, Mr. Guterres said all parties “must do their part to ensure that women participate in a variety of roles, and that the peace process reflects the experiences and expertise of Afghan women in all their diversity.”
Guterres said the two temporary ceasefires that took place earlier in the year, offered an encouraging sign, but with negotiations now underway, “I urge the redoubling of efforts to protect civilians and to deescalate the conflict, in order to save lives and to create a conducive environment for the talks.
“It is my hope that progress toward peace can lead to the return of millions of Afghans displaced internally and across borders, to their homes in a safe, dignified and orderly manner.”
The UN chief said it was crucial that all Afghan leaders together with the international community, “do everything possible to make peace a reality. Please be assured of the readiness of the United Nations to support the process of intra-Afghan peace negotiations, and the sustainable development of the country.”
EUROPE: Settlement Reached with Automaker
The U.S. Department of Justice, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and California Air Resources Board (CARB) announced Sept. 14 a proposed settlement with German automaker Daimler AG and its American subsidiary Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC (collectively, “Daimler”) resolving alleged violations of the Clean Air Act and California law associated with emissions cheating.
Under the proposed settlement, lodged with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Daimler will recall and repair the emissions systems in Mercedes-Benz diesel vehicles sold in the United States between 2009 and 2016 and pay $875,000,000 in civil penalties and roughly $70,300,000 in other penalties. The company will also extend the warranty period for certain parts in the repaired vehicles, perform projects to mitigate excess ozone-creating nitrogen oxides (NOx) emitted from the vehicles, and implement new internal audit procedures designed to prevent future emissions cheating.
The recall program and federal mitigation project are expected to cost the company about $436,000,000. The company will pay another $110,000,000 to fund mitigation projects in California. Taken together, the settlement is valued at about $1.5 billion.
Vehicle manufacturers are required by the Clean Air Act and federal regulations to apply for and receive a certificate of conformity from EPA before selling a new model year vehicle in the United States. As part of the application process, manufacturers must demonstrate through testing that a vehicle meets applicable emissions standards and disclose to EPA all auxiliary emission control devices (AECDs) and any defeat devices installed in the vehicle.
The settlement addresses allegations made in separate civil complaints filed by the United States and CARB in the District of Columbia that, from 2009 to 2016, Daimler manufactured, imported, and sold more than 250,000 diesel Sprinter vans and passenger cars with undisclosed AECDs and defeat devices programmed into the vehicles’ complex emissions control software. These devices cause the vehicles to produce compliant results during emissions testing. But when not running a test, the vehicles’ emissions controls perform differently, and less effectively, resulting in an increase in NOx emissions above compliant levels.
NOx emissions from vehicles play a key role in ground-level ozone production and negatively impact human health. Indeed, studies have indicated that breathing ozone may cause damage to lung tissue in children and adults, and it may worsen conditions like asthma, emphysema, and bronchitis. The pollutant has also been linked to cardiac disease.
EPA and CARB discovered the defeat devices through testing conducted in the wake of the Volkswagen scandal at EPA’s National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory in Michigan and at CARB’s test laboratory in El Monte, California.
The settlement requires Daimler to implement a recall and repair program to remove all defeat devices from the affected vehicles at no cost to consumers and bring the vehicles into compliance with applicable emissions standards under the Clean Air Act. The repair will consist of a software update and replacement of select hardware, which differs across models and model years.
Daimler must repair at least 85 percent of the affected passenger cars within two years and at least 85 percent of the affected vans within three years. The company must also offer an extended warranty covering all updated software and hardware, and it must test repaired vehicles each year for the next five years to ensure the vehicles continue to meet emissions standards over time. Daimler will face stiff penalties if any category of updated vehicles fails to meet applicable emissions standards or if it fails to meet the 85 percent recall rate for passenger cars or vans.
The settlement further requires Daimler to implement systemic corporate reforms to detect and try to eliminate violations in the future. This includes conducting significant testing on new diesel and gasoline motor vehicles using a portable emissions measurement system to assess compliance under real-world conditions, installing a robust whistleblower program, enhancing annual AECD and defeat device training for its employees, and performing internal audits subject to review and critique by an external compliance consultant.
Daimler must also replace 15 old locomotive engines with new, less-polluting engines to offset excess NOx emitted from its vehicles.
