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"Anything else is surrender: this climate law is surrender, because nature doesn't bargain, and you cannot make deals with physics. We will not allow you to surrender on our future."
Any hope MEPs had of Swedish activist Greta Thunberg endorsing their first ever climate law evaporated as she attacked the EU's plan at the European Parliament in Brussels.
The plan would make the bloc carbon neutral by 2050 and would drastically reshape the European Union's economy.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, for whom the deal is a flagship policy, was more upbeat, saying: "This climate law will set in stone Europe's position as a climate leader on the global stage."
From one global threat to another... the COVID-19 outbreak continued to wreak havoc across the world's economy, in particular affecting airlines. Supply shortages have been reported by Indian drug manufacturers, while Japan is struggling to keep up with demand for medical masks.
In happier news, Lego has had a bump in sales, while Impossible Burgers are set to get cheaper across the U.S.
The German airline Lufthansa has grounded 150 aircraft due to the COVID-19 outbreak. "We are dynamically adjusting our plans to reflect extraordinary circumstances," a company spokesman told Reuters.
FlyBe is also feeling the effects of the virus – the British airline warned the country's government that it is **running out of cash **and may not survive to the end of the month, according to reports in the UK media.
Japan is struggling to address its ** medical mask shortage** . Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push for 600 million more masks is facing obstacles including increased global demand and the reluctance of medical producers to invest in the product.
Oil prices rose amid hopes that major producers have made progress towards sealing an agreement to implement deeper output cuts, aimed at offsetting the slump in demand caused by COVID-19.
Lego has defied the shrinking toy market. Boosted by sales of model fire stations and garbage trucks, along with a revamped website and new stores, the Danish company has outpaced rivals – with sales rising six percent last year to $5.7 billion, up from three percent growth in 2018.
The China Railway Construction Corp has signed an $825 million contractin Zambia to build infrastructure in the south of the country. The project, which is set to last eight years, will cover nearly 650 kilometers of railway line.
U.S. upmarket department chain Nordstrom forecast a 2020 profit largely below market expectations after the retailer missed estimates for fourth-quarter revenue, sending its shares down nearly eight percent in after-market trading.
Amid increasing demand for its flagship Impossible Burger , Impossible Foods announced an average 15 percent cut in vegan product prices to distributors in the U.S., requesting that they pass it on to restaurants as the plant-based food maker competes against beef products.
IT hardware company Hewlett Packard Enterprise cut its free cash flow forecast for the year, citing supply constraints due to the coronavirus outbreak, while it reported a lower-than-expected quarterly revenue.
Comcast's NBCUniversal said it had sold more than $1.25 billion in national advertising for the Tokyo Olympics , a new record for any broadcaster for the Games. The previous record, of $1.2 billion for the 2016 Rio Olympics, was also held by NBC.
COVID-19 continues to rock the U.S. global equity markets, which slid on Tuesday. While the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasuries fell below one percent for the first time after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates to shield the U.S. economy from the impact of the outbreak.
An Australian court has ordered Johnson Johnson to pay three women a total of $1.7 million plus legal costs as compensation for misleading patients and surgeons about the ** risks of its pelvic mesh implants** .
Contactless card payments can help mitigate against the spread of COVID-19, a World Health Organization spokesperson has said. Swapping used cash for bank cards can "reduce the risk of transmission," they added.
India's drug manufacturing industry is facing shortages of raw materials due to the COVID-19 outbreak. India imports about 70 percent of active pharmaceutical ingredients from China. But imports have been on hold since January. The fear of drug shortages and higher prices has forced the government to ban the export of some medicines.
02:36
Claus Vistesen, a macro-economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, spoke to CGTN Europe about the economic effects of COVID-19.
The eurozone was already slowed by Brexit uncertainty... and now the trade war. Meanwhile, parts of Italy are on lockdown because of Coronavirus. What are the eurozone's prospects for this year?
Look, I think that we now have to realize that the Coronavirus is going to be a significant short-term hit to the eurozone economy. So for examined, what we're seeing in Italy at the moment is that they're basically shutting down economic activity to contain the virus. And that'll be a hit to growth.
Which parts of the eurozone will be impacted most?
I think that it's still very difficult to tell, but at the moment, it seems to me that we are now moving towards a response that is looking a little bit like the Chinese response. So we're seeing a sort of rolling shutdown of economic activity and that is going to dent Q1 and Q2 growth in particular.
**How quickly might we see the eurozone rebound from all of this? **
In the second quarter and in the second half of the year, I'd say.
**And what further monetary measures might we expect? **
I think the ECB's going to cut the rate next week. I think they're going to add to the QE program and perhaps also add some liquidity operations for small- and medium-sized enterprises.
Consumers in the eurozone began the year in spending mode, estimates for January from the EU statistics office showed on Wednesday. Market watchers expect the next batch of figures to show a hit from the COVID-19 outbreak.
Source(s): Reuters
