title: Microchip Technology

text: Microchip Technology offers a broad portfolio of analog products that address thermal management, power management, battery management, mixed-signal, linear, interface, safety and security needs. Products includes stand-alone analog and interface devices which support a variety of bus interfaces and analog features on microcontrollers, digital signal controllers, microprocessors and FPGAs. The power products include silicon diodes, MOSFETs, insulated-gate bipolar transistors, silicon carbide MOSFETs and Schottky diodes.


title: Microchip Technology

text: The dsPIC product family of digital signal controllers includes a digital signal processor engine with up to 100 MIPS of motor control that offers variable speeds, constant torque PI control and field oriented control. The dsPIC family also offers dual cores equipped with pulse-width modulation, analog-to-digital converters, programmable gate arrays and the capability for live firmware updates and provides permanent-magnet motors (see also Synchronous motor#Permanent-magnet motors), alternating current induction motor (see also induction motor) and brushless DC (see also Brushless DC electric motor) motor control in industrial, medical, automotive and consumer applications.


title: Microchip Technology

text: Microchip Technology offers computer-related products including embedded controllers based on enhanced serial peripheral interface (eSPI) bus technology, Input/Output (I/O) devices, keyboard controllers and root of trust, secure boot and authentication and system management devices. Common applications include traditional computing applications (e.g., laptop computers) and embedded computing, such as interactive kiosks, networking equipment, and automated teller machines.


title: Microchip Technology

text: Microchip Technology offers a wide-range of memory products that includes serial EEPROM, serial SRAM, serial flash, serial NvSRAM, serial EERAM, parallel EEPROM, parallel one-time programmable flash, parallel flash and CryptoMemory devices.


title: Microchip Technology

text: Microchip Technology offers a variety of programming tools and other tools to support the use of microcontrollers, digital signal controllers, and microprocessors. The MPLAB and Atmel Studio ecosystems include integrated development environments, compilers, configurators, programmers (e.g., MPLAB PICkit™), in-circuit emulators (e.g., MPLAB devices), and debuggers. A range of PIC devices support in-circuit programming (both for FLASH and OTP memory devices).


title: Microchip Technology

text: Microchip Technology offers crypto element devices that provide authentication, data integrity, and confidentiality in a variety of applications, such as disposables, accessories and nodes. The crypto element devices use ultra-secure, hardware-based cryptographic countermeasures including tamper detection.


title: Microchip Technology

text: Microchip Technology offers oscillators, clock generators, clock and data distribution products and real-time clock and calendar devices. The oscillator product line offer low jitter and low power online-configurable products with quartz-based or MEMS silicon-based resonator options. The clock generation product line offer online-configurable, single chip, multiple-frequency clock tree options. The clock and data distribution product line offers buffers, logic translators and multiplexers. The packet network synchronization product line includes ITU-T/IEEE® standards-compliant digital phase-locked loops for synchronous Ethernet as well as IEEE 1588 based applications. The real-time clock and calendar devices offer a battery back-up capability, digital timing, and on-board EEPROM and SRAM memory.


title: Microchip Technology

text: USB products include smart hub controllers, power delivery and charging, transceivers/switches, flash memory controllers and security products.


title: Microchip Technology

text: Microchip Technology Ethernet products include Ethernet PHYs controllers for media-independent interface (MMI) interfacing, switches, controllers and bridge devices.


title: Microchip Technology

text: Microchip Technology's offerings focus on lower-power operation designed for sensing or command and control products. Wireless products support Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, LoRa technology, IEEE 802.15.4 (e.g., ZigBee and MiWi wireless networking protocols) and proprietary 2.4 GHz and sub-GHz communication.


title: Microchip Technology

text: In April 2009, Microchip Technology announced the nanoWatt XLP microcontrollers, claiming the world's lowest sleep current. Microchip Technology had sold more than 6 billion microcontrollers as of 2009.


title: Microchip Technology

text: As of 2011, Microchip Technology ships over a billion processors every year. In September 2011, Microchip Technology shipped the 10 billionth PIC microcontroller.


title: Microchip Technology

text: KeeLoq technology enhances security in wireless and remote controlled systems through the use of infrared, radio frequency, microwave transmission and secure smart cards, and may be used to enable keyless vehicle entry, garage doors openers, home security systems, pre-paid phone cards, electronic tagging, passive transponders, point of sale readers, and other applications. The KeeLoq technology, patents and marketing rights were acquired by Microchip Technology on November 20, 1995 from Nanoteq of South Africa for $10 million in cash. Microchip Technology used the purchase to create the Secure Data Products Group.


title: Microchip Technology

text: The Puyallup wafer facility located in Puyallup, Washington (near Tacoma) was a 92-acre semiconductor manufacturing complex owned by Matsushita Electric Industrial Company. Matsushita Electric purchased the facility in 1993 and ceased production in December 1998. Microchip Technology announced the execution of an agreement to buy the complex on May 24, 2000. Microchip Technology expected to hire 100 employees before year end and 1,000 employees in total. The new facility was expected to double Microchip Technology's manufacturing capacity and support about $1.5 billion in annual sales. The $80 million acquisition was completed on July 26, 2000. Microchip Technology's plans were never realized due to the early 2000s recession. As a result, the company put the facility up for sale for $94 million. Microchip Technology announced the sale of the Puyallup facility, which had become known as Fab 3, on October 19, 2007 for $30 million from an unsolicited offer.


title: Microchip Technology

text: TelCom Semiconductor was a publicly traded company out of Mountain View, California that offered analog and mixed-signal products for a variety of applications, including power and thermal management. TelCom Semiconductor was spun out of Teledyne Industries in 1993 through a management buyout. Microchip Technology announced plans to purchase TelCom Semiconductor on October 27, 2000 in an all stock deal for $300 million. The acquisition was intended to accelerate Microchip Technology's stand-alone analog integrated circuit offerings and enable the company to attach additional analog products to microcontroller sales. TelCom Semiconductor employed about 300 employees and, in 1999, posted $57.3 million in revenue and $13.1 in net income.


title: Microchip Technology

text: Hampshire Company was a privately held company that sold large-format universal touch screen controller electronics and related software. Microchip Technology announced the acquisition of Hampshire Company on October 15, 2008. The terms of the deal are confidential. The acquisition was intended to extend Microchip Technology's expertise in universal touch screen controller technology and accelerate R&D efforts.


title: Microchip Technology

text: HI-TECH Software was an Australian-based company that provides ANSI C compilers and development tools. Founded in 1984, the company is best known for its HI-TECH C PRO compilers with whole-program compilation technology, or Omniscient Code Generation (OCG). HI-TECH Software was bought by Microchip on 20 February 2009, whereupon it refocused its development effort exclusively on supporting Microchip products.


title: Microchip Technology

text: ZeroG Wireless, founded by Thomas H. Lee, was a fabless semiconductor company from Sunnyvale, California that was privately held and developed low-power, embedded Wi-Fi chips. On February 17, 2009, a partnership between ZeroG Wireless and Microchip Technology was announced for the production of ZeroG development kits designed to provide Wi-Fi capabilities for Microchip Technology's PIC microcontrollers. Microchip Technology announced the acquisition of ZeroG Wireless on January 11, 2010 for an undisclosed amount. The deal was intended to enhance Microchip Technology's wireless offerings by providing a Wi-Fi product for their PIC microcontrollers.


title: Microchip Technology

text: Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. (SST) was a Sunnyvale, California, United States, technology company producing non-volatile memory devices and related products.


title: Microchip Technology

text: Starting in February 2010, private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management and public company Microchip Technology both made offers to acquire SST.


title: Microchip Technology

text: Microchip sold several SST flash memory assets to Greenliant Systems (founded by Yeh) in May of that year.


title: Microchip Technology

text: Ident Technology AG was a German company that developed capacitive sensing technology. The acquisition of Ident Technology was revealed in Microchip Technology's fourth fiscal quarter (ending March 31, 2012) and full fiscal year financial results. The amount paid for the acquisition was not disclosed.


title: Microchip Technology

text: Roving Networks was a Los Gatos, California, United States, privately held, fabless semiconductor company that provided embedded low-power Wi-Fi and Bluetooth products, including some that connected to smartphones using the iOS and Android operating systems. In a confidential deal, Microchip Technology announced the acquisition of Roving Networks on April 19, 2012


title: Microchip Technology

text: Standard Microsystems Corporation manufactured semiconductors including controllers for embedded networking, Ethernet controllers, and flash media cards. In August 2012, Microchip acquired Standard Microsystems Corporation (SMSC). Among SMSC's assets were those it had previously acquired from Symwave, a start-up that specialized in USB 3.0 chips, and two hi-fi wireless audio companies — Kleer Semiconductor and Wireless Audio IP BV.


title: Microchip Technology

text: Novocell Semiconductor, Inc. offered non-volatile-memory intellectual property. Microchip Technology, through its Silicon Storage Technology (SST) subsidiary, signed a definitive agreement on June 3, 2013 to acquire Novocell Semiconductor. The terms of the agreement are confidential. The acquisition expanded the product portfolio of SST from a focus on high-density memory to also include low-density one-time programmable and multi-time programmable memory.


title: Microchip Technology

text: EqcoLogic was a privately held, fabless semiconductor company based out of Belgium that was spun out from Vrije Universiteit Brussel and sold equalizer and coaxial transceiver products. Microchip Technology announced the acquisition of EqcoLogic on February 10, 2014. The terms of the acquisition are confidential and were not expected to have a material impact on Microchip Technology's quarterly financials. The acquisition was expected to enhance Microchip Technology's penetration in the automotive and industrial markets for embedded applications.


title: Microchip Technology

text: ISSC Technologies (ISSC) was a Taiwan based developer of Bluetooth system on chip products for wireless headset, speaker, connectivity and human interface device products. Microchip Technology announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire ISSC on May 22, 2014. The terms of the agreement stipulated that Microchip Technology would acquire all outstanding shares of ISSC for approximately $4.74 per share at a total equity value of about $328.5 million and a total enterprise value of about $34.2 million after accounting for ISSC's cash and investments. Microchip Technology announced the completion of its tend offer to acquire the outstanding shares of ISSC on July 14, 2014. The ISSC acquisition represents the first major overseas acquisition completed by Microchip Technology and was funded with the use of a portion of Microchip Technology's foreign cash.


title: Microchip Technology

text: Supertex was a mixed signal semiconductor manufacturer that focused on high voltage analog and mixed signal products for use in the following industries: medical, LED lighting, display, industrial and telecommunications. Microchip Technology announced the execution of a definitive agreement to acquire Supertex, Inc. on February 10, 2014 for $33 per share in cash. The total equity value was $394 million and the total enterprise value after excluding Supertex's cash and investments was approximately $148 million. The acquisition was expected to expand Microchip Technology's expertise in high voltage analog and mixed signal technologies and reach into the medical, industrial and lighting industries. Microchip Technology announced the completion of the acquisition on April 1, 2014 with 98.4% of the Supertex shares that voted approving the merger.


title: Microchip Technology

text: Micrel was a global manufacturer of integrated circuits focusing on the networking and consumer markets. Microchip Technology announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire Micrel for $14.00 a share on May 7, 2015. The price per share represented a 3% premium over Micrel's closing stock price on May 6, 2015 and a 30% premium at the close on August 7, 2014. The total equity value was about $839 million. The completion of the acquisition was announced on August 3, 2015 with 98.5% of Micrel shares that voted approving the merger.


title: Microchip Technology

text: Atmel was a designer and manufacturer of semiconductors focusing on selling microcontrollers. Microchip agreed to buy Atmel for $3.56 billion in January 2016. JPMorgan Chase advised Microchip while Qatalyst Partners advised Atmel.


title: Microchip Technology

text: Microsemi manufactured semiconductors and system products for markets including aerospace and defense, communications, data centers, and industrial markets. In May 2018, Microchip acquired Microsemi Corporation. The acquisition price represents a total equity value of about , and a total enterprise value of about , after accounting for Microsemi's cash and investments, net of debt, on its balance sheet at December 31, 2017.


title: Microchip Technology

text: In October 2020, Microchip Technology announced the acquisition of New Zealand-based Tekron International Limited. Founded in 2002, Tekron specialized in manufacturing GPS and precision timing devices. Microchip Technology intends to offer these products to "financial, data center, industrial, and communications clients." Financial and other terms were not publicly disclosed.


title: Politics of Japan

text: Politics of Japan are conducted in a framework of a dominant-party bicameral parliamentary constitutional monarchy, in which the Emperor is the head of state and the Prime Minister is the head of government and the head of the Cabinet, which directs the executive branch.


title: Politics of Japan

text: Legislative power is vested in the National Diet, which consists of the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors. The House of Representatives has eighteen standing committees ranging in size from 20 to 50 members and The House of Councillors has sixteen ranging from 10 to 45 members.


title: Politics of Japan

text: Judicial power is vested in the Supreme Court and lower courts, and sovereignty is vested in by the 1947 Constitution, which was written during the Occupation of Japan primarily by American officials and had replaced the previous Meiji Constitution. Japan is considered a constitutional monarchy with a system of civil law.


title: Politics of Japan

text: Politics in Japan in the post-war period has largely been dominated by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has been in power almost continuously since its foundation in 1955, a phenomenon known as the 1955 System. Of the 31 prime ministers since the end of the country's occupation, 24 have been members of the LDP.


title: Politics of Japan

text: The creation and ratification of this current document has been widely viewed by many geopolitical analysts and historians as one that was forced upon Japan by the United States after the end of World War II.


title: Politics of Japan

text: Although this "imposition" claim arose originally as a rallying cry among conservative politicians in favour of constitutional revision in the 1950s, and that it wasn't "inherently Japanese", it has also been supported by the research of several independent American and Japanese historians of the period.


title: Politics of Japan

text: A competing claim, which also emerged from the political maelstrom of the 1950s revision debate, holds that the ratification decision was actually the result of apparent "collaboration" between American occupation authorities, successive Japanese governments of the time, and private sector "actors".


title: Politics of Japan

text: The Constitution of Japan defines the Emperor to be "the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people". He performs ceremonial duties and holds no real power. Political power is held mainly by the Prime Minister and other elected members of the Diet. The Imperial Throne is succeeded by a member of the Imperial House as designated by the Imperial Household Law.


title: Politics of Japan

text: The chief of the executive branch, the Prime Minister, is appointed by the Emperor as directed by the Diet. They are a member of either house of the Diet and must be a civilian. The Cabinet members are nominated by the Prime Minister, and are also required to be civilian. With the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in power, it has been convention that the President of the party serves as the Prime Minister.


title: Politics of Japan

text: Japan's constitution states that the National Diet, its law-making institution, shall consist of two Houses, namely the House of Representatives (衆議院, しゅうぎいん, Shūgiin) and the House of Councillors (参議院, さんぎいん, Sangiin). The Diet shall be the highest organ of state power, and shall be the sole law-making organ of the State. It states that both Houses shall consist of elected members, representative of all the people and that the number of the members of each House shall be fixed by law. Both houses pass legislation in identical form for it to become law. Similarly to other parliamentary systems, most legislation that is considered in the Diet is proposed by the cabinet. The cabinet then relies on the expertise of the bureaucracy to draft actual bills.


title: Politics of Japan

text: The lower house, the House of Representatives, the most powerful of the two, holds power over the government, being able to force its resignation. The lower house also has ultimate control of the passage of the budget, the ratification of treaties, and the selection of the Prime Minister. Its power over its sister house is, if a bill is passed by the lower house (the House of Representatives) but is voted down by the upper house (the House of Councillors), the ability to override the decision of the House of Councillors. Members of the lower house, as a result of the Prime Minister's power to dissolve them, more frequently serve for less than four years in any given terms.


title: Politics of Japan

text: The upper house, the House of Councillors, is very weak and bills are sent to the House of Councillors only to be approved, not made. Members of the upper house are elected for six-year terms with half the members elected every three years.


title: Politics of Japan

text: It is possible for different parties to control the lower house and the upper house, a situation referred to as a "twisted Diet", something that has become more common since the JSP took control of the upper house in 1989.


title: Politics of Japan

text: Several political parties exist in Japan. However, the politics of Japan have primarily been dominated by the LDP since 1955, with the DPJ playing an important role as opposition several times. The LDP was the ruling party for decades since 1955, despite the existence of multiple parties. Most of the prime ministers were elected from inner factions of the LDP.


title: Politics of Japan

text: Despite an increasingly unpredictable domestic and international environment, policy making conforms to well established postwar patterns. The close collaboration of the ruling party, the elite bureaucracy and important interest groups often make it difficult to tell who exactly is responsible for specific policy decisions.


title: Politics of Japan

text: After a largely informal process within elite circles in which ideas were discussed and developed, steps might be taken to institute more formal policy development. This process often took place in deliberation councils ("shingikai"). There were about 200 "shingikai", each attached to a ministry; their members were both officials and prominent private individuals in business, education, and other fields. The "shingikai" played a large role in facilitating communication among those who ordinarily might not meet.


title: Politics of Japan

text: Given the tendency for real negotiations in Japan to be conducted privately (in the "nemawashi", or root binding, process of consensus building), the "shingikai" often represented a fairly advanced stage in policy formulation in which relatively minor differences could be thrashed out and the resulting decisions couched in language acceptable to all. These bodies were legally established but had no authority to oblige governments to adopt their recommendations. The most important deliberation council during the 1980s was the Provisional Commission for Administrative Reform, established in March 1981 by Prime Minister Suzuki Zenko. The commission had nine members, assisted in their deliberations by six advisers, twenty-one "expert members," and around fifty "councillors" representing a wide range of groups. Its head, Keidanren president Doko Toshio, insisted that the government agree to take its recommendations seriously and commit itself to reforming the administrative structure and the tax system.


title: Politics of Japan

text: In 1982, the commission had arrived at several recommendations that by the end of the decade had been actualized. These implementations included tax reform, a policy to limit government growth, the establishment in 1984 of the Management and Coordination Agency to replace the Administrative Management Agency in the Office of the Prime Minister, and privatization of the state-owned railroad and telephone systems. In April 1990, another deliberation council, the Election Systems Research Council, submitted proposals that included the establishment of single-seat constituencies in place of the multiple-seat system.


title: Politics of Japan

text: Another significant policy-making institution in the early 1990s was the Liberal Democratic Party's Policy Research Council. It consisted of a number of committees, composed of LDP Diet members, with the committees corresponding to the different executive agencies. Committee members worked closely with their official counterparts, advancing the requests of their constituents, in one of the most effective means through which interest groups could state their case to the bureaucracy through the channel of the ruling party.


title: Politics of Japan

text: Political parties had begun to revive almost immediately after the occupation began. Left-wing organizations, such as the Japan Socialist Party and the Japanese Communist Party, quickly reestablished themselves, as did various conservative parties. The old Rikken Seiyūkai and Rikken Minseitō came back as, the Liberal Party (Nihon Jiyūtō) and the Japan Progressive Party (Nihon Shimpotō) respectively. The first postwar elections were held in 1946 (women were given the franchise for the first time in 1946), and the Liberal Party's vice president, Yoshida Shigeru (1878–1967), became prime minister.


title: Politics of Japan

text: For the 1947 elections, anti-Yoshida forces left the Liberal Party and joined forces with the Progressive Party to establish the new Democratic Party (Minshutō). This divisiveness in conservative ranks gave a plurality to the Japan Socialist Party, which was allowed to form a cabinet, which lasted less than a year. Thereafter, the socialist party steadily declined in its electoral successes. After a short period of Democratic Party administration, Yoshida returned in late 1948 and continued to serve as prime minister until 1954.


title: Politics of Japan

text: Even before Japan regained full sovereignty, the government had rehabilitated nearly 80,000 people who had been purged, many of whom returned to their former political and government positions. A debate over limitations on military spending and the sovereignty of the Emperor ensued, contributing to the great reduction in the Liberal Party's majority in the first post-occupation elections (October 1952). After several reorganizations of the armed forces, in 1954 the Japan Self-Defense Forces were established under a civilian director. Cold War realities and the hot war in nearby Korea also contributed significantly to the United States-influenced economic redevelopment, the suppression of communism, and the discouragement of organized labor in Japan during this period.


title: Politics of Japan

text: Continual fragmentation of parties and a succession of minority governments led conservative forces to merge the Liberal Party (Jiyūtō) with the Japan Democratic Party (Nihon Minshutō), an offshoot of the earlier Democratic Party, to form the Liberal Democratic Party (Jiyū-Minshutō; LDP) in November 1955, called 1955 System. This party continuously held power from 1955 through 1993, except for a short while when it was replaced by a new minority government. LDP leadership was drawn from the elite who had seen Japan through the defeat and occupation. It attracted former bureaucrats, local politicians, businessmen, journalists, other professionals, farmers, and university graduates.


title: Politics of Japan

text: In October 1955, socialist groups reunited under the Japan Socialist Party, which emerged as the second most powerful political force. It was followed closely in popularity by the Kōmeitō, founded in 1964 as the political arm of the Soka Gakkai (Value Creation Society), until 1991, a lay organization affiliated with the Nichiren Shoshu Buddhist sect. The Komeito emphasized the traditional Japanese beliefs and attracted urban laborers, former rural residents, and women. Like the Japan Socialist Party, it favored the gradual modification and dissolution of the Japan-United States Mutual Security Assistance Pact.


title: Politics of Japan

text: The LDP domination lasted until the Diet Lower House elections on 18 July 1993, in which LDP failed to win a majority. A coalition of new parties and existing opposition parties formed a governing majority and elected a new prime minister, Morihiro Hosokawa, in August 1993. His government's major legislative objective was political reform, consisting of a package of new political financing restrictions and major changes in the electoral system. The coalition succeeded in passing landmark political reform legislation in January 1994.


title: Politics of Japan

text: In April 1994, Prime Minister Hosokawa resigned. Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata formed the successor coalition government, Japan's first minority government in almost 40 years. Prime Minister Hata resigned less than two months later. Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama formed the next government in June 1994 with the coalition of Japan Socialist Party (JSP), the LDP, and the small New Party Sakigake. The advent of a coalition containing the JSP and LDP shocked many observers because of their previously fierce rivalry.


title: Politics of Japan

text: Prime Minister Murayama served from June 1994 to January 1996. He was succeeded by Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, who served from January 1996 to July 1998. Prime Minister Hashimoto headed a loose coalition of three parties until the July 1998 Upper House election, when the two smaller parties cut ties with the LDP. Hashimoto resigned due to a poor electoral performance by the LDP in the Upper House elections. He was succeeded as party president of the LDP and prime minister by Keizo Obuchi, who took office on 30 July 1998. The LDP formed a governing coalition with the Liberal Party in January 1999, and Keizo Obuchi remained prime minister. The LDP-Liberal coalition expanded to include the New Komeito Party in October 1999.


title: Politics of Japan

text: Prime Minister Obuchi suffered a stroke in April 2001 and was replaced by Yoshirō Mori. After the Liberal Party left the coalition in April 2000, Prime Minister Mori welcomed a Liberal Party splinter group, the New Conservative Party, into the ruling coalition. The three-party coalition made up of the LDP, New Komeito, and the New Conservative Party maintained its majority in the Diet following the June 2000 Lower House elections.


title: Politics of Japan

text: After a turbulent year in office in which he saw his approval ratings plummet to the single digits, Prime Minister Mori agreed to hold early elections for the LDP presidency in order to improve his party's chances in crucial July 2001 Upper House elections. On 24 April 2001, riding a wave of grassroots desire for change, maverick politician Junichiro Koizumi defeated former Prime Minister Hashimoto and other party stalwarts on a platform of economic and political reform.


title: Politics of Japan

text: Koizumi was elected as Japan's 56th Prime Minister on 26 April 2001. On 11 October 2003, Prime Minister Koizumi dissolved the lower house and he was re-elected as the president of the LDP. Likewise, that year, the LDP won the election, even though it suffered setbacks from the new opposition party, the liberal and social-democratic Democratic Party (DPJ). A similar event occurred during the 2004 Upper House elections as well.


title: Politics of Japan

text: In a strong move, on 8 August 2005, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called for a snap election to the lower house, as threatened, after LDP stalwarts and opposition DPJ parliamentarians defeated his proposal for a large-scale reform and privatization of Japan Post, which besides being Japan's state-owned postal monopoly is arguably the world's largest financial institution, with nearly 331 trillion yen of assets. The election was scheduled for 11 September 2005, with the LDP achieving a landslide victory under Junichiro Koizumi's leadership.


title: Politics of Japan

text: The ruling LDP started losing hold in 2006. No prime minister except Koizumi had good public support. On 26 September 2006, new LDP President Shinzō Abe was elected by a special session of the Diet to succeed Junichiro Koizumi as Prime Minister. He was Japan's youngest post-World War II prime minister and the first born after the war. On 12 September 2007, Abe surprised Japan by announcing his resignation from office. He was replaced by Yasuo Fukuda, a veteran of LDP.


title: Politics of Japan

text: In the meantime, on 4 November 2007, leader of the main opposition party, Ichirō Ozawa announced his resignation from the post of party president, after controversy over an offer to the DPJ to join the ruling coalition in a grand coalition, but has since, with some embarrassment, rescinded his resignation.


title: Politics of Japan

text: On 11 January 2008, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda forced a bill allowing ships to continue a refueling mission in the Indian Ocean in support of US-led operations in Afghanistan. To do so, PM Fukuda used the LDP's overwhelming majority in the Lower House to ignore a previous "no-vote" of the opposition-controlled Upper House. This was the first time in 50 years that the Lower House voted to ignore the opinion of the Upper House. Fukuda resigned suddenly on 1 September 2008, just a few weeks after reshuffling his cabinet. On 1 September 2008, Fukuda's resignation was designed so that the LDP did not suffer a "power vacuum". It thus caused a leadership election within the LDP, and the winner, Tarō Asō was chosen as the new party president and on 24 September 2008, he was appointed as 92nd Prime Minister after the House of Representatives voted in his favor in the extraordinary session of Diet.


title: Politics of Japan

text: Later, on 21 July 2009, Prime Minister Asō dissolved the House of Representatives and elections were held on 30 August.


title: Politics of Japan

text: The election results for the House of Representatives were announced on 30 and 31 August 2009. The opposition party DPJ led by Yukio Hatoyama, won a majority by gaining 308 seats (10 seats were won by its allies the Social Democratic Party and the People's New Party). On 16 September 2009, president of DPJ, Hatoyama was elected by the House of Representatives as the 93rd Prime Minister of Japan.


title: Politics of Japan

text: On 2 June 2010, Hatoyama resigned due to lack of fulfillments of his policies, both domestically and internationally and soon after, on 8 June, Akihito, Emperor of Japan ceremonially swore in the newly elected DPJ's president, Naoto Kan as prime minister. Kan suffered an early setback in the 2010 Japanese House of Councillors election. In a routine political change in Japan, DPJ's new president and former finance minister of Naoto Kan's cabinet, Yoshihiko Noda was cleared and elected by the Diet as 95th prime minister on 30 August 2011. He was officially appointed as prime minister in the attestation ceremony at Imperial Palace on 2 September 2011.


title: Politics of Japan

text: Noda dissolved the lower house on 16 November 2012 (as he failed to get support outside the Diet on various domestic issues i.e. tax, nuclear energy) and elections were held on 16 December. The results were in favor of the LDP, which won an absolute majority in the leadership of former Prime Minister Shinzō Abe. He was appointed as the 96th Prime Minister of Japan on 26 December 2012. With the changing political situation, earlier in November 2014, Prime Minister Abe called for a fresh mandate for the Lower House. In an opinion poll the government failed to win public trust due to bad economic achievements in the two consecutive quarters and on the tax reforms.


title: Politics of Japan

text: The election was held on 14 December 2014, and the results were in favor of the LDP and its ally New Komeito. Together they managed to secure a huge majority by winning 325 seats for the Lower House. The opposition, DPJ, could not manage to provide alternatives to the voters with its policies and programs. "Abenomics", the ambitious self-titled fiscal policy of the current prime minister, managed to attract more voters in this election, many Japanese voters supported the policies. Shinzō Abe was sworn as the 97th prime minister on 24 December 2014 and would go ahead with his agenda of economic revitalization and structural reforms in Japan.


title: Politics of Japan

text: Prime Minister Abe was elected again for a fourth term after the 2017 election. It was a snap election called by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Abe's ruling coalition won a clear majority with more than two-thirds of 465 seats in the lower house of Parliament (House of Representatives). The opposition was in deep political crisis.


title: Politics of Japan

text: In July 2019, Japan had national election. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Prime Minister Abe won a majority of seats in the upper house of Parliament (House of Councillors). However, Abe failed to achieve the two-thirds majority, and the ruling coalition could not amend the constitution.


title: Politics of Japan

text: On 28 August 2020 following reports of ill-health, Abe resigned citing health concerns, triggering a leadership election to replace him as Prime Minister. Abe was the longest-serving Prime Minister in Japan’s history.


title: Politics of Japan

text: After winning the leadership of the governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Yoshihide Suga, close ally of his predecessor, was elected as the country's new prime minister by Japan's parliament in September 2020. Suga’s response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, as the architect of the GoTo tourism program criticised for helping the virus spread, along with high case numbers in April 2021 ahead of the Tokyo Olympics has since negatively affected perceptions of his administration. On 2 September 2021, Suga announced that he would not seek reelection as LDP President, effectively ending his term as Prime Minister. On 4 October 2021, Fumio Kishida took office as the country's new Prime Minister. Kishida was elected leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) previous week. He was officially confirmed as the country's 100th prime minister following a parliamentary vote. On 31 October 2021, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) held onto its single party majority in the general elections.


title: Politics of Japan

text: On 8 July 2022, Abe was shot and killed at a campaign rally in Nara for the 2022 Japanese House of Councillors election.


title: Neil Marshall

text: Neil Marshall (born 25 May 1970) is an English film and television director, editor, producer, and screenwriter. He directed the horror films "Dog Soldiers" (2002) and "The Descent" (2005), the science fiction action film "Doomsday" (2008), the historical war film "Centurion" (2010), the superhero action film "Hellboy" (2019), and the adventure horror film "The Reckoning" (2020).


title: Neil Marshall

text: Marshall has also directed numerous television series, including two episodes of the HBO fantasy drama series "Game of Thrones": "Blackwater" and "The Watchers on the Wall", the latter of which earned him a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series.


title: Neil Marshall

text: Marshall was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. He was inspired to become a film director when he saw "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981) at the age of eleven. He began making home movies using Super 8 mm film, and in 1989, he attended film school at Newcastle Polytechnic. In the next eight years, he worked as a freelance film editor.


title: Neil Marshall

text: In 1995, he was hired to co-write and edit for director Bharat Nalluri's first film, "Killing Time". Marshall continued to write and develop his own projects, directing his first film in 2002, "Dog Soldiers", a horror film that became a cult film in the United Kingdom and the United States. In 2005, he followed up with a second horror film, "The Descent". With his direction of "The Descent", he was identified as a member of the Splat Pack. Marshall won the British Independent Film Award for Best Director, and the film received the Saturn Award for Best Horror Film.


title: Neil Marshall

text: His next film, "Doomsday", is a 2008 science fiction action film he wrote and directed. The film takes place in the future in Scotland, which has been quarantined because of a deadly virus. When the virus is found in London, political leaders send a team led by Major Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra) to Scotland to find a possible cure. Sinclair's team runs into two types of survivors: marauders and medieval knights.


title: Neil Marshall

text: "Doomsday" was conceived by Marshall based on the idea of futuristic soldiers facing medieval knights. In producing the film, he drew inspiration from various movies, including "Mad Max", "Escape from New York" and "28 Days Later". Marshall had a budget three times the size of his previous two films. The director filmed the larger-scale "Doomsday" in Scotland and South Africa. The film was released on 14 March 2008 in the United States and Canada and in the United Kingdom on 9 May 2008. "Doomsday" did not perform well at the box office, and critics gave the film mixed reviews. "Rotten Tomatoes" reported that 49% of critics gave the film positive write-ups, based on a sample of 69, with an average score of 5.1/10. At "Metacritic", which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 51, based on 14 reviews.


title: Neil Marshall

text: Marshall went on to write and direct the 2010 historical war film "Centurion", starring Michael Fassbender and Dominic West. He also wrote and directed a segment, titled


title: Neil Marshall

text: "Bad Seed", of the anthology horror film "Tales of Halloween", which had its world premiere on 24 July 2015 at the Fantasia International Film Festival.


title: Neil Marshall

text: Marshall directed episodes of multiple television series, including "Black Sails", "Constantine", "Hannibal", "Westworld", "Timeless", and "Lost in Space", the lattermost two of which he also executive produced. He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for his work on the "Game of Thrones" episode "The Watchers on the Wall". In February 2015, Marshall and his agent Marc Helwig founded the television production company Applebox Entertainment and signed with this company, a two-year deal with Legendary TV.


title: Neil Marshall

text: In 2017, Marshall signed on to direct a reboot of "Hellboy", released in April 2019. Marshall has since disowned the film, criticizing the script and calling the job "the worst professional experience of my life." Marshall only accepted the film due to not making a feature film in nine years and also being initially intrigued by the horror pitch.


title: Neil Marshall

text: He then wrote and directed the horror film "The Reckoning", which was released in 2020. With actress Charlotte Kirk, he created a production company, Scarlett Productions.


title: Lysychansk

text: Lysychansk ( ; ) is a city in the Sievierodonetsk Raion of the Luhansk Oblast in Ukraine. Prior to 2020 municipal classification reforms, it was incorporated as a city of oblast significance. It is located on the high right bank of the Donets river, approximately 115 km from the oblast capital, Luhansk. It faces Sievierodonetsk across the river. Its population is approximately


title: Lysychansk

text: The administration of Lysychansk Municipality includes the cities of Novodruzhesk and Pryvillia. Together with the cities of Sievierodonetsk, Rubizhne, Kreminna and the nearest towns, the Lysychansk area constitutes a major urban and industrial hub of the Donbas area, with a population of about 353,000 (2009).


title: Lysychansk

text: During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the city was the site of major fighting during the Battle of Lysychansk, which ended with the capture of the city by Russian forces and the Luhansk People's Republic on 2 July.


title: Lysychansk

text: In 1721, coal was discovered in the Donets basin near Lisya Balka, a Cossack village established in 1710. In 1795, Lysychansk was the first coal-mining settlement of the Donets basin.


title: Lysychansk

text: Previously existing settlements in the area around Lysychansk were completely destroyed by the Muscovy punitive expedition against the Bulavin Rebellion. After suppressing the uprising, the area was resettled with Voronove (founded by Khokhlov's Cossacks), Syrotyne (Popov's and Sirotin's Cossacks), Borivske (partly settled by former residents of the burned the Borovskaya Sloboda), Metiolkine (Metelnikov's Cossacks) and Smolianynove (Smolkin's Cossacks).


title: Lysychansk

text: The present borders of Lysychansk were finalized by the mid-1960s. In 1962, the city of Sievierodonetsk separated from Lysychansk and became its own independent city. In 1963, the towns of Novodruzhesk and Pryvillia were included in the city limits of Lysychansk and became cities. In 1965, Lysychansk incorporated the cities of Verkhnie and Proletarsk.


title: Lysychansk

text: During the 2014 pro-Russian conflict in Ukraine the town was captured early April 2014 by pro-Russian separatists. On 22 July 2014 Ukrainian Ukrinform reported that the separatists "massively left Lysychansk" with "seized cars from the population and in parking lots;" Russian ITAR-TASS reported the same day that the separatists had "decided to leave the town in order to save the population and stop clashes." This was mainly because their defeat in the Siege of Sloviansk and the evacuation of Kramatorsk made holding the city untenable. The next day heavy fighting continued around the town while the Ukrainian National Guard and the Ukrainian army released a statement that stated "the military plan to free Lysychansk, Luhansk region, from terrorist groups in the near future." On 24 July 2014 the Ukrainian army claimed its troops had entered Lysychansk and its Col. Andriy Lysenko stated "We will take the town, and the road will be open to Horlivka, then Donetsk." On 25 July 2014, Ukrainian forces secured the city from the pro-Russian separatists.


title: Lysychansk

text: During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Lysychansk came under heavy shelling from the Russian military. Some of the most intense strikes occurred late in March 2022, which destroyed dozens of buildings and caused civilian casualties. On 9 May 2022, Russian troops attempted to cross over the Seversky Donets river with a temporary pontoon bridge near Bilohorivka. Ukrainian forces anticipated this approach, monitored the bridge construction, bombing the bridge and Russian vehicles who already crossed resulting in severe Russian losses. Russia made several such attempts, many of which were neutralized by Ukrainian forces.


title: Lysychansk

text: After the Russian capture of Sievierodenetsk, Lysychansk became the last major city in the Luhansk region under Ukrainian control. On 26 June, TASS reported that Russian forces entered the city from five directions. On 27 June, the CNN reported that civilians in Lysychansk have been urged to leave immediately, as Russian forces gain ground in the city.


title: Lysychansk

text: On 2 July 2022, reports of Ukrainian troops withdrawing from the city and Russian forces moving in were supported by multiple videos from Kadirov's 141st Special Motorized Regiment declaring victory in front of the City Council of Lysychansk.


title: Lysychansk

text: "After heavy fighting for Lysychansk, the defence forces of Ukraine were forced to withdraw from their occupied positions and lines," the army general staff said.


title: Lysychansk

text: Earlier Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said his forces had captured Lysychansk and taken full control of Luhansk region.


title: Lysychansk

text: Its general staff said that "in order to preserve the lives of Ukrainian defenders, a decision was made to withdraw". (BBC 4 July 2022)


title: Lysychansk

text: Lysychansk is located in the North-Western part of the Luhansk region, 115 km from Luhansk, on the high right bank of the Siverskyi Donets River. The area is surrounded by large hills, ravines and valleys. The city is situated on the northern spur of the Donets Ridge.


title: Lysychansk

text: Lysychansk lies in the continental climate of the steppe zone of Ukraine. Water resources stemming from here are one of the most important resources. Siverskyi Donets River is the main water artery of the Lysychansk and the whole region. The length of the Siverskyi Donets River within the city is 26.5 km. Verkhnia Bilenka River, a tributary of the Siverskyi Donets River, flows through the southern part of the city, the length of the river within the city is 7.7 km.


title: Lysychansk

text: Lysychansk has a humid continental climate ("Dfb") according to the Köppen climate classification system.


title: Lysychansk

text: Summers are warm and sometimes humid with average high temperatures of 26–27 °C (78.8–80.6 °F) and lows of 14–15 °C (57.2–59 °F). Winters are relatively cold with average high temperatures of −1 °C (30.2 °F) and lows of −8 to −6 °C (17.6 to 21.2 °F). Spring and autumn are generally chilly to mild.


title: Lysychansk

text: The highest ever temperature recorded in the city was 41.0 °C (105.8 °F) in June 1984. The coldest temperature ever recorded in the city was −34.0 °C (−29.2 °F) in February 1954.


title: Lysychansk

text: Annual precipitation is 480 millimeters (18.9 in) with moderate rainfall throughout the year. Light snowfall mainly occurs from December through March, but snow cover does not usually remain for long.


title: Lysychansk

text: As of 2006, the ethnic populations were:<ref name="http://geograf.lnu.edu.ua/Strukt/Biblio/alphavit/Ukr/Ukr_D/Dnistrianskyi/book.pdf">Дністрянський М. Етнополітична географія України: проблеми теорії, методології, практики. — Львів: ЛНУ імені Івана Франка, 2006. — 490 с. </ref>


title: Lysychansk

text: Before 2010, Lysychansk was among the biggest industrial centres in Luhansk Oblast. Since 2010, many plants have closed, with massive lay-offs.


title: Lysychansk

text: The city and the surrounding area has five coal mines owned by Lysychanskvuhillia. Coal reserves amount to 179.7 million tons. Production capacity is 2.8 million tons of coal per year.


title: Lysychansk

text: Institutes of higher education in Lysychansk include the Donbas State Technical University and Luhansk State University of Internal Affairs.


title: Lysychansk

text: Trolleys and buses run to and from Lysychansk as well as within the city. Most of the buses running in and out of the city start running after 6 am. until 7–9 pm. for different routes.


title: Lysychansk

text: Direct regular bus service is available to other Ukrainian cities, including Donetsk, Kharkiv, Berdiansk, and Mariupol.


title: Lysychansk

text: Lysychansk has a central railway station and three other railway stations: Nasvitevych, Pereizna, Volcheiarska. Almost all transit distance trains stop at Stations Pereizna and Volcheiarska, allowing residents of Southern Lysychansk not to be dependent on the central railway station (not actual from 2014). As of 2021, the non-central stations are only used for short-destination interurban trains (diesel commuter trains).


title: Lysychansk

text: Since the Russo-Ukrainian War, there is no railway route available from Luhanska Oblast to Russian Federation. In most cases, Lysychansk Central Railway Station became the final destination for long-destination trains.


title: Lysychansk

text: The nearest airport is located 12 kilometers from the city center, located in Sievierodonetsk. Built in 1968 the airport is to serve residents and workers of the surrounding cities. The airport is administered by the Lysychansk District pipeline OAO Ukrtransnafta.


title: Lysychansk

text: In the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election, Viktor Yanukovych won 92.51% of the vote in Lysychansk. Runner-up Viktor Yushchenko received 5.08% of the vote.


title: Lysychansk

text: In the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election, Viktor Yanukovych won 90.95% of the vote in Lysychansk. Runner-up Yulia Tymoshenko received 5.91% of the vote.


title: Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

text: The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching economic consequences including the COVID-19 recession, the second largest global recession in recent history, decreased business in the services sector during the COVID-19 lockdowns, the 2020 stock market crash, which included the largest single-week stock market decline since the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the impact of COVID-19 on financial markets, the 2021–2022 global supply chain crisis, the 2021–2022 inflation surge, shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic including the 2020–present global chip shortage, panic buying, and price gouging. It led to governments providing an unprecedented amount of stimulus. The pandemic was also a factor in the 2021–2022 global energy crisis and 2022 food crises.


text: Possible instability generated by an outbreak and associated behavioural changes could result in temporary food shortages, price spikes, and disruption to markets. Such price rises would be felt most by vulnerable populations who depend on markets for their food as well as those already depending on humanitarian assistance to maintain their livelihoods and food access. As observed in the 2007–2008 world food price crisis, the additional inflationary effect of protectionist policies through import tariffs and export bans could cause a significant increase in the number of people facing severe food insecurity worldwide.


text: Many fashion, sport, and technology events have been canceled or have changed to be online. While the monetary impact on the travel and trade industry is yet to be estimated, it is likely to be in the billions and increasing.


text: Amidst the recovery and containment, the world economic system is characterized as experiencing significant, broad uncertainty. Economic forecasts and consensus among macroeconomics experts show significant disagreement on the overall extent, long-term effects and projected recovery. Risk assessments and contingency plans therefore must be taken with a grain of salt, given that there is a wide divergence of opinion. A large general increase in prices was also attributed to the pandemic. In part, the record-high energy prices were driven by a global surge in demand as the world quit the economic recession caused by COVID-19, particularly due to strong energy demand in Asia.


text: The COVID-19 crisis affected worldwide economic activity, resulting in a 7% drop in global commercial commerce in 2020. While GVCs have persisted, several demand and supply mismatches caused by the pandemic have resurfaced throughout the recovery period in 2021 and 2022 and have been spread internationally through trade.


text: During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses lost 25% of their revenue and 11% of their workforce, with contact-intensive sectors and SMEs being particularly heavily impacted. However, considerable policy assistance helped to avert large-scale bankruptcies, with just 4% of enterprises declaring for insolvency or permanently shutting at the time of the COVID wave.


text: The initial outbreak of the pandemic in China coincided with the Chunyun, a major travel season associated with the Chinese New Year holiday. A number of events involving large crowds were cancelled by national and regional governments, including annual New Year festivals, with private companies also independently closing their shops and tourist attractions such as Hong Kong Disneyland and Shanghai Disneyland. Many Lunar New Year events and tourist attractions were closed to prevent mass gatherings, including the Forbidden City in Beijing and traditional temple fairs. In 24 of China's 31 provinces, municipalities and regions, authorities extended the New Year's holiday to 10 February, instructing most workplaces not to re-open until that date. These regions represented 80% of the country's GDP and 90% of exports. Hong Kong raised its infectious disease response level to the highest and declared an emergency, closing schools until March and cancelling its New Year celebrations.


text: The demand for personal protection equipment has risen 100-fold, according to WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom. This demand has led to an increase in prices of up to twenty times the normal price and also induced delays on the supply of medical items for four to six months.


text: The COVID-19 recession is an economic recession happening across the world economy in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Global stock markets experienced their worst crash since 1987, and in the first three months of 2020 the G20 economies fell 3.4% year-on-year. Between April and June 2020, the International Labour Organization estimated that an equivalent of 400 million full-time jobs were lost across the world, and income earned by workers globally fell 10 percent in the first nine months of 2020, equivalent to a loss of over US$3.5 trillion.


text: When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Europe, much of Europe's investment had been high, but it had unexpectedly slowed. In 2019, overall investment in the European Union increased by about 3% over the previous year, surpassing growth in real GDP.


text: Investment, like other economic activity, fell drastically as a direct result of lockdown restrictions. This effect was particularly noticeable in the second quarter of 2020, when investment decreased 19% year on year, as most limitations were relaxed by the summer. In 2019, firms already had an unfavorable assessment of the economic situation. Overall expectations for sector-specific business prospects, as well as the availability of internal and external funding, deteriorated in the course of 2020.


text: In the European Investment Bank Investment report 2020–21, 81% of the respondents cited uncertainty as the most severe obstacle to investment. 20% of EU companies anticipate a permanent loss in employment, indicating that a sizable proportion of firms are pessimistic about their capacity to "bounce back" once the COVID-19 crisis has passed.


text: As a result of the pandemic, half of European companies anticipate an increase in the usage of digital technologies in the future. The proportion is considerably greater among companies that have previously used digital technology.


text: The European Union's public debt is expected to exceed 95% of GDP by the end of 2021, a 15 percentage point rise since the pandemic began in 2019.


text: From the first to the second quarter of 2020, the EU government debt grew by 8.4 percentage points to 88% of GDP. According to the European Commission, debt to GDP reached 94% by the end of 2020. In autumn 2020, a second wave of infection and lockdowns aggravated the problem.


text: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other organizations predicted that the European Union's GDP would contract by 6% to 8%, a drop unprecedented since the Great Depression.


text: The European Union's total real GDP fall was more than 11% compared to the first quarter of 2020, the biggest drop in a single quarter on record.


text: The reduction in GDP was caused by government attempts to restrict the virus's spread, and it varied greatly between Member States. It was weakest, on average, in Central and Eastern Europe, where real GDP decreased 9.7% in the second quarter compared to the first. It decreased by 11.5% in Western and Northern Europe, and by roughly 15% in Southern Europe. In comparison, real GDP in the United States fell by nearly 9% in the second quarter compared to the first quarter.


text: In the second quarter of 2020, disposable income per capita decreased dramatically, affecting consumer expenditure, particularly for lower-income families.


text: The impact of the COVID-19 varied greatly on the industry. Sectors that rely heavily on physical presence, including passenger transportation, the arts, entertainment, tourism, and hospitality, were impacted the worst, with declines of up to 30% in the second quarter of 2020 compared to the first quarter. Industries such as agriculture, banking, and real estate, declined by 3% or less during the same time span. During the global financial crisis, the distribution of economic effect across sectors was extremely varied, with EU manufacturing suffering the worst decrease – over 20% in the first quarter of 2009. The decrease in other sectors was relatively limited, at around or below 6%.


text: GDP per hour in the EU grew by 0.3 percent in the second quarter of 2020 compared to the same time in 2019, while GDP per employee decreased 11.5%. Access to capital is seen as a barrier by about 55% of businesses. Credit limitations are especially difficult for SMEs and new businesses to overcome. Credit constraints affect 24% of SMEs and 27% of young businesses.


text: In Western and Northern Europe, as well as Central and Eastern Europe, the unemployment rate climbed by roughly 0.5 percentage point. The rise was greater in Southern Europe (1.5 percentage points). The United States increased by 4 percentage points during the same period, reaching a high of 10 percentage points in April in 2021.


text: Nations, cities and other collectives with governance mechanisms worldwide have announced the development and implementation of programmes for guided economic recovery. Some economic recovery programmes include Next Generation EU and Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme.


text: A study published in August 2020 concluded that the direct effect of the response to the pandemic on global warming will likely be negligible and that a well-designed economic recovery could avoid future warming of 0.3 °C by 2050. The study indicates that systemic change for decarbonization of humanity's economic structures is required for a substantial impact on global warming, which also has economic aspects. Beyond targeted financing of green projects or sectors, contemporary decision-making mechanisms also allow for excluding projects with substantial environmental, social, or climate risks from financial relief. Over 260 civil society organizations called on Chinese actors to ensure that COVID-19 related Belt and Road Initiative funding excludes such projects. In November 2020 the IMF said that governments and central banks had promised $19.5 trillion of support since the coronavirus began.


text: The United Nations Environment Programme analyzed $14.6 trillion of global spending in 2020, and found that only 2.5% was directed towards tackling climate change, advising governments to "make use of recovery spending to steer away from the worst impacts of climate change and inequality". A 2022 analysis of G20 country spending found that about 6% of their pandemic recovery spending has been allocated to areas that will also cut greenhouse-gas emissions, including electrifying vehicles, making buildings more energy efficient and installing renewables.


text: COVID-19 increased mortality around the world, with the UN estimating that there were 15 million deaths due to COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021. This estimate was broadly in line with other estimates of 14.9 million from World Health Organization and 17.6 million from The Economist.


text: While COVID-19 increased mortality in general, different countries experienced dramatically different impacts on birth rate. Birth rates in the US declined, whereas Germany's reached an all-time monthly high. Some in China had initially thought that their COVID-19 lockdowns would boost birth rate, but that prediction was proven wrong.


text: US population growth fell to a record low of 0.1%. In Australia, overall population growth slowed dramatically due to decreased migration, however, births did not appear to be impacted dramatically.


text: Economic turmoil associated with the coronavirus pandemic has wide-ranging and severe impacts upon financial markets, including stock, bond and commodity (including crude oil and gold) markets. Major events included the Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war that resulted in a collapse of crude oil prices and a stock market crash in March 2020. The United Nations Development Programme expects a US$220 billion reduction in revenue in developing countries, and expects COVID-19's economic impact to last for months or even years. Some expect natural gas prices to fall.


text: During the early phase of COVID in April and May, there was a significant correlation between the extent of the outbreak and volatility in financial and stock markets. The broader effects of this volatility impacted credit markets, and save for government interventions and central banks pursuing quantitative easing, would have led to more significant economic downturns.


text: New vehicle sales in the United States have declined by 40%. The American Big Three have all shut down their US factories. The German automotive industry came into the crisis after having already suffered from the Dieselgate-scandal, as well as competition from electric cars. Boeing and Airbus suspended production at some factories. A survey conducted by the British Plastics Federation (BPF) explored how COVID-19 is impacting manufacturing businesses in the United Kingdom (UK). Over 80% of respondents anticipated a decline in turnover over the next 2 quarters, with 98% admitting concern about the negative impact of the pandemic on business operations. In July 2021, car production in the United Kingdom hit lowest level since 1956.


text: The epidemic had a sudden and substantial impact on the arts and cultural heritage (GLAM) sectors worldwide. The global health crisis and the uncertainty resulting from it profoundly affected organisations' operations as well as individuals – both employed and independent – across the sector. By March 2020, across the world most cultural institutions had been indefinitely closed (or at least with their services radically curtailed) exhibitions, events and performances cancelled or postponed. Many individuals temporarily or permanently lost contracts or employment with varying degrees of warning and financial assistance available. Equally, financial stimulus from governments and charities for artists, have provided greatly differing levels of support, depending on the sector and the country. In countries such as Australia, where the arts contributed to about 6.4% of GDP, effects on individuals and the economy have been significant.


text: The pandemic has impacted the film industry. Across the world and to varying degrees, cinemas have been closed, festivals have been cancelled or postponed, and film releases have been moved to future dates. As cinemas closed, the global box office dropped by billions of dollars, while streaming became more popular and the stock of Netflix rose; the stock of film exhibitors dropped dramatically. Almost all blockbusters to be released after the March opening weekend were postponed or cancelled around the world, with film productions also halted. Massive losses in the industry have been predicted.


text: Most major sporting events were cancelled or postponed, including the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which were postponed on 24 March 2020 until 2021.


text: The COVID-19 pandemic has shut down or delayed production of television programs in several countries. However, a joint report from Apptopia and Braze showed a 30.7% increase in streaming sessions worldwide on platforms such as Disney+, Netflix, and Hulu during the month of March.


text: The pandemic also affected the video game sector to a smaller degree. As the outbreak appeared in China first, supply chains affected the manufacturing and production of some video game consoles, delaying their releases and making current supplies scarcer. As the outbreak and pandemic spread, several keystone trade events, including E3 2020, were cancelled over concerns of further spread. The economic impact on the video game sector is not expected to be as large as in film or other entertainment sectors as much of the work in video game production can be decentralised and performed remotely, and products distributed digitally to consumers regardless of various national and regional lockdowns on businesses and services.


text: The pandemic is predicted to have a dire effect on local newspapers in the United States, where many were already severely struggling beforehand.


text: In light of the public health situation in which includes afflicted regions where retail sectors deemed non-essential have been ordered closed for the interim, Diamond Comic Distributors announced on 24 March 2020 a full suspension of distributing published material and related merchandise as 1 April 2020 until further notice. As Diamond has a near-monopoly on printed comic book distribution, this is described as an "extinction-level event" that threatens to drive the entire specialized comic book retail sector out of business with that one move. As a result, publishers like IDW Publishing and Dark Horse Comics have suspended publication of their periodicals while DC Comics is exploring distribution alternatives including an increased focus on online retail of digital material.


text: Total US book sales went down by 8.4% in March 2020 compared to March 2019 after the stay-at-home orders were implemented, with bookstore sales dropping by an estimated 33%. By June 2020, demand began to recover with the exception of educational material and bookstore sales, with most sales going to Amazon and big-box stores, who were open since they were considered essential businesses. Books that were initially supposed to be published in spring and early summer were delayed till fall, with the expectation that the pandemic would be over by then. Two of the major printing companies, Quad and LSC Communications, faced financial issues into the latter half of the year as the latter declared bankruptcy during a rise in demand. Increased sales were attributed to major book releases and increased demand for children's books and books about race and racism. This created supply chain bottleneck at the printing process for most publishers. According to NPD BookScan, print sales went up almost 8% in 2020.


text: The pandemic has impacted the retail sector. Shopping centres around the world responded by reducing hours or closing down temporarily. As of 18 March 2020, the footfall to shopping centres fell by up to 30%, with significant impact in every continent. Additionally, product demand exceeded supply for many consumables, resulting in empty retail shelves. In Australia, the pandemic has provided a new opportunity for daigou shoppers to re-sell into the China market. "The virus crisis, while frightening, has a silver lining".


text: Some retailers have employed contactless home delivery or curbside pickup for items purchased through e-commerce sites. By April, retailers had started implementing "retail to go" models where consumers could pick up their orders. An estimated 40% of shoppers were shopping online and choosing to pick up in-store, a behavior that had suddenly doubled as compared to the previous year.


text: Small-scale farmers have been embracing digital technologies as a way to directly sell produce, and community-supported agriculture and direct-sell delivery systems are on the rise.


text: In mid-April, Amazon confirmed that workers at over half of its 110 U.S. warehouses had been diagnosed with coronavirus.


text: On 16 June, the United States Department of Commerce announced that retail sales for the month of May had seen an increase of 17.7% from April as states began to reopen and lift restrictions. According to CNBC, This marks the biggest one month jump in the history of retailing in the United States. Numbers for June reflected a 7.5 percent rise in sales.


text: By April, department store retailers JCPenney, Nordstrom, Macy's and Kohl's had lost $12.3 billion combined in market caps. Neiman Marcus and JCPenney defaulted on bond payments in April, preparing internally for bankruptcy court and bankruptcy protection. J.Crew and Neiman Marcus filed for bankruptcy during the first week of May; they were reportedly the first two major retailers to do so during the pandemic. JCPenney filed for bankruptcy on 15 May.


text: In May, Pier 1 announced it would close as soon as possible. It had sought court protection in February and had hoped that someone would buy the business, but the subsequent recession made this seem unlikely.


text: In early 2021, Family Video announced all their remaining stores would be liquidated and closed down.


text: The pandemic boosted e-commerce sales. With more people staying at home, both by choice as well as through government lockdowns, there was a decline in brick-and-mortar shopping. On the other hand, e-commerce surged 34% during 2020, and in 2021 surpassed levels not expected until 2025, projected to reach $843 billion in the US in 2021.


text: Despite persistent cross-country differences, the covid-19 crisis has enhanced dynamism within the e-commerce landscape across countries and has dilated the scope of e-commerce, as well as through new firms, client segments (e.g. elderly) and product (e.g. groceries).


text: The pandemic has created a shift in the manner shoppers behave and perform their activities, directly moving the e-commerce industry so the prosperity of e-commerce during pandemic lockdown has increased significantly.


text: The impact of the epidemic on transportation and production has affected e-commerce. Customers will consider whether goods can be shipped on time and delivered on time, and these factors will affect their choices. Under the current epidemic conditions, some online sellers, taking advantage of the characteristics of e-commerce, are defrauding consumers. The problems and flaws exposed by these e-merchants in the epidemic situation further push e-merchants towards a more mature and regulated path.


text: Social media plays a huge role, Facebook and own e-commerce web sites of e-commerce firms are the foremost growing sales channels since the start of the covid-19 crisis.


text: The pandemic has impacted the restaurant business. In the beginning of March 2020, some major cities in the US announced that bars and restaurants would be closed to sit-down dinners and limited to takeout orders and delivery. Later in the month, many states put in place restrictions that required restaurants to be takeout or delivery only. Some employees were fired, and more employees lacked sick leave in the sector compared to similar sectors. With only carry-out and delivery services, most servers and bartenders were laid off, prompting these employees creating "virtual tip jars" across 23 U.S. cities. In the United States, an initiative known as the "Great American Takeout" called on people under quarantine to support local restaurants each Tuesday by ordering takeout for curbside pickup or using food delivery services. It began in late March 2020.


text: The pandemic impacted productivity of science, space and technology projects. Space agencies including NASA and the European Space Agency halted production of the Space Launch System, James Webb Space Telescope, and put space science probes into hibernation or low power mode and shifted to remote work. Various IT companies had launched several programs to sustain in this pandemic and in this new normal life. The pandemic may have improved scientific communication or established new forms of it. For instance a lot of data is being released on preprint servers and is getting dissected on social Internet platforms and sometimes in the media before entering formal peer review. Scientists are reviewing, editing, analyzing and publishing manuscripts and data at record speeds and in large numbers. This intense communication may have allowed an unusual level of collaboration and efficiency among scientists.


text: The pandemic has caused the cancellation or postponement of major events around the world. Some public venues and institutions have closed.


text: Staffing issues caused transportation bottlenecks in trucking and at ports in developed countries. Supply problems and sudden demand for socially-distanced recreation and alternatives to public transport caused a shortage of bicycles in the United States.


text: The cruise ship industry has also been heavily affected by a downturn, with the share prices of the major cruise lines down 70–80%.


text: The pandemic has had a significant impact on the aviation industry due to the resulting travel restrictions as well as a slump in demand among travellers. Significant reductions in passenger numbers have resulted in planes flying empty between airports and the cancellation of flights.


text: United States passenger airlines can expect about $50 billion in subsidies from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.


text: Cruise lines had to cancel sailings after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bookings and cancellations grew as extensive media coverage of ill passengers on quarantined ships hurt the industry's image.


text: Shares of cruise lines fell sharply in value on 27 March 2020 when the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act excluded companies that are not "organized" under United States law. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) tweeted: "The giant cruise companies incorporate overseas to dodge US taxes, flag vessels overseas to avoid US taxes and laws, and pollute without offset. Why should we bail them out?" Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) tweeted that cruise lines should register and pay taxes in the United States if they expect a financial bailout. U.S-based employees and small, American-owned companies are eligible for financial assistance.


text: Several rail operators had to receive state aid and/or reduced their scheduled services. Deutsche Bahn received billions of € in federal aid to cover record losses.


text: According to the American Gaming Association, the industry will be hit by losses up to $43.5 billion in economic activity in the following months. Some projection was that the sports gambling industry may lose $140 million alone in the fourth weekend of March (21–22 March 2020) on lost NCAA basketball tournament bets.


text: Gambling companies are eager to shift customers from retail into online casino and poker games to fight the loss of revenue due to the cancellation of sports fixtures and the shutdown of betting shops. Gambling groups increased the advertising of online casino games and play on social media.


text: Some software betting providers have specially designed campaigns promoting online betting solutions to attract betting companies.


text: Long term consequences to the betting and gambling industry might be: Death of small retail operators and providers, increase in M&A, more focus on online, innovation in online meaning that even the existing products like the sportsbook will pay closer attention to obscure sports like soap soccer or quidditch and more prominent spot for virtual games online.


text: In Macau, the world's top gambling destination by revenue, all casinos were closed for 15 days in February 2020 and suffered a year-on-year revenue drop of 88%, the worst ever recorded in the territory.


text: The International Labour Organization stated on 7 April that it predicted a 6.7% loss of job hours globally in the second quarter of 2020, equivalent to 195 million full-time jobs. They also estimated that 30 million jobs were lost in the first quarter alone, compared to 25 million during the Great Recession. The effects of covid-19 on unemployment lasted much longer than was initially expecting. Almost 18 months after the start of the pandemic, the state of New York was still down almost a quarter of the jobs that were available in the hospitality industry pre-pandemic. This was the largest percent in any state in the United States, but other states still faced a similar issue.


text: In January and February 2020, during the height of the epidemic in Wuhan, about 5 million people in China lost their jobs. Many of China's nearly 300 million rural migrant workers have been stranded at home in inland provinces or trapped in Hubei province.


text: In March 2020, more than 10 million Americans lost their jobs and applied for government aid. Total nonfarm jobs fell from a high of 152.5 million in February 2020 to 130.2 million in April. , the US had about 143 million nonfarm jobs.


text: The survey from the Angus Reid Institute found that 44% of Canadian households have experienced some type of job loss.


text: Nearly 900,000 workers lost their jobs in Spain since it went into lockdown in mid-March 2020. During the second half of March, 4 million French workers applied for temporary unemployment benefits and 1 million British workers applied for a universal credit scheme.


text: Almost half a million companies in Germany have sent their workers on a government-subsidized short-time working schemes known as Kurzarbeit. The German short-time work compensation scheme has been copied by France and Britain.


text: The pandemic's economic impacts are likely to increase sexual exploitation and child marriage, leaving women and girls in fragile economies and refugee contexts particularly vulnerable.


text: The potential combined impact of COVID-19 on unemployment, households’ purchasing power, food prices, and food availability in local markets could severely jeopardize access to food in the most vulnerable countries.


text: Around the world, women generally earn less and save less, are the majority of single-parent households and disproportionately hold more insecure jobs in the informal economy or service sector with less access to social protections. This leaves them less able to absorb the economic shocks than men. For many families, school closures and social distancing measures have increased the unpaid care and domestic load of women at home, making them less able to take on or balance paid work. The situation is worse in developing economies, where a larger share of people are employed in the informal economy in which there are far fewer social protections for health insurance, paid sick leave and more. Although globally informal employment is a greater source of employment for men (63 per cent) than for women (58 per cent), in low and lower-middle income countries a higher proportion of women are in informal employment than men. Unlike previous crisis', the COVID-19 pandemic affected more women dominated industries rather than male dominated industries: women were in the forefront in the fight against COVID-19 as most healthcare workers are women.


text: In Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, around 92 per cent of employed women are in informal employment compared to 86 per cent of men. It is likely that the pandemic could result in a prolonged dip in women's incomes and labour force participation. The ILO estimates global unemployment to rise between 5.3 million ("low" scenario) and 24.7 million ("high" scenario) from a base level of 188 million in 2019 as a result of COVID-19's impact on global GDP growth. By comparison, global unemployment went up by 22 million during the Great Recession. Women informal workers, migrants, youth and the world's poorest, among other vulnerable groups, are more susceptible to lay-offs and job cuts. For example, UN Women survey results from Asia and the Pacific are showing that women are losing their livelihoods faster than men and have fewer alternatives to generate income. And, in the U.S., men's unemployment went up from 3.55 million in February to 11 million in April in 2020 while women's unemployment – which was lower than men's before the crisis – went up from 2.7 million to 11.5 million over the same period, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The picture is even bleaker for young women and men aged 16–19, whose unemployment rate jumped from 11.5 per cent in February to 32.2 per cent in April.


text: In Japan, women have been disproportionately hit by the Covid pandemic because sectors like retail and hospitality employ many women and have been heavily affected by the pandemic recession. According to the health ministry, the suicide rate among Japanese women rose 14.5% in 2020, while it fell by 1% among men.


text: Since most of the workforce who preserved their jobs had the option of switching to an online modality, and the online workforce is considerably higher paid on averarge, the pandemic exacerbated income inequality by hitting harder on low-paid workers.


text: A weekly update on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the world economy, and on major individual economies such as the US, China, Japan, other Asian economies, Europe, Australia and New Zealand has been produced by Saul Eslake, one of Australia's best-known economists, since late April 2020.


text: The global GDP total had shrunk by nearly $22 trillion as of January 2021, during the course of the pandemic. According to Chief IMF Economist Gita Gopinath, the long-term consequences have not fully played out but could be expected to be in the trillions from 2020 to 2025.


text: Post-COVID economic recovery prospects are high, and most countries are expected to see higher than usual economic growth. This is different from conventional economic recessions, according to the IMF. The China, India, ASEAN nations and other emerging Asian economies are expected to continue growing most significantly throughout the 2020s, and is expected to dominate global economic growth following the pandemic.


text: The economy of China was anticipated to generate billions in economic output. Morgan Stanley expected the economy of China to grow by between 5.6% (worst-case scenario) to 5.9% for 2020. For reference, China generated US$143 billion in February 2019, the month of Chinese New Year. The Chinese Ministry of Transport reported that trips on trains dropped 73% to 190 million trips from the previous year. Factories, retailers, and restaurant chains closed.


text: All 70,000 theatre screens in the country were shuttered, wiping out the entire box office. This is drastically in stark difference from the week of Chinese New Year in 2019 that generated $836 million.


text: Though cautioning that the economic impact would be short-term, PRC National Development and Reform Commission party secretary Cong Liang views small and medium businesses encountering more difficulties in their operations. Human Resources and Social Security Assistant Minister You Jun specified that agricultural workers and college graduates would have difficulties.


text: Tourism in China has been hit hard by travel restrictions and fears of contagion, including a ban on both domestic and international tour groups. Many airlines have either cancelled or greatly reduced flights to China and several travel advisories now warn against travel to China. Many countries, including France, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, have evacuated their nationals from the Wuhan and Hubei provinces.


text: The majority of schools and universities have extended their annual holidays to mid-February. Overseas students enrolled at Chinese universities have been returning home over fears of being infected—the first cases to be reported by Nepal and Kerala, a southern state of India, were both of students who had returned home. Nearly 200 million students have been affected by the in-school closures, with the second semester after the Chunyun resuming on 17 February through online classes for students to follow from their homes instead. The Ministry of Education has introduced a 7,000-server supported "national Internet cloud classroom" to cater to the 50 million elementary and middle school student populations.


text: The Finance Ministry of China announced it would fully subsidise personal medical costs incurred by patients.


text: CNN reported that some people from Wuhan "have become outcasts in their own country, shunned by hotels, neighbors and – in some areas – placed under controversial quarantine measures."


text: The sale of new cars in China has been affected due to the outbreak. There was a 92% reduction on the volume of cars sold during the first two weeks of February 2020.


text: On 24 February, China's Standing Committee declared an immediate and "comprehensive" ban on its US$74 billion wildlife trade industry, citing the "prominent problem of excessive consumption of wild animals, and the huge hidden dangers to public health and safety" that has been revealed by the outbreak. This permanently extends the temporary ban already in place since the end of January.


text: According to Carbon Brief, the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in China's greenhouse gas emissions being reduced by 25%. In March 2020, satellite images from space provided by NASA revealed that pollution has dropped significantly, which has been attributed in part to the slowdown of economic activity as a result of the outbreak.


text: As the epidemic accelerated, the mainland market saw a shortage of face masks due to the increased need from the public. It was reported that Shanghai customers had to queue for nearly an hour to buy a pack of face masks which was sold out in another half an hour. Some stores hoarded supplies, driving up prices, so the market regulator cracked down on such acts. The shortage will not be relieved until late February, when most workers return from the New Year vacation, according to Lei Limin, an expert in the industry.


text: On 22 January 2020, Taobao, China's largest e-commerce platform owned by Alibaba Group, said that all face masks on Taobao and Tmall would not be allowed to increase in price. Special subsidies would be provided to the retailers. Also, Alibaba Health's "urgent drug delivery" service would not be closed during the Spring Festival. JD, another leading Chinese e-commerce platform, said, "We are actively working to ensure supply and price stability from sources, storage and distribution, platform control and so on" and "while fully ensuring price stability for JD's own commodities, JD.com has also exercised strict control over the commodities on JD's platform. Third-party vendors selling face masks are prohibited from raising prices. Once it is confirmed that the prices of third-party vendors have increased abnormally, JD will immediately remove the offending commodities from shelves and deal with the offending vendors accordingly." Other major e-commerce platforms including Sunning.com and Pinduoduo also promised to keep the prices of health products stable.


text: China's economic growth is expected to slow by up to 1.1% in the first half of 2020 as economic activity is negatively affected by the new coronavirus pandemic, according to a Morgan Stanley study cited by Reuters. But on 1 February 2020, the People's Bank of China said that the impact of the epidemic on China's economy was temporary and that the fundamentals of China's long-term positive and high-quality growth remained unchanged. In late January, economists predicted a V-shaped recovery. By March, it was much more uncertain.


text: Due to the outbreak, the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange announced that with the approval of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the closing time for the Spring Festival will be extended to 2 February and trading will resume on 3 February. Before that, on 23 January, the last trading day of a shares before the Spring Festival, all three major stock indexes opened lower, creating a drop of about 3%, and the Shanghai Composite Index fell below 3000. On 2 February, the first trading day after the holiday, the three major indexes even set a record low opening of about 8%. By the end of the day, the decline narrowed slightly to about 7%, the Shenzhen index fell below 10,000 points, a total of 3,177 stocks in the two markets fell.


text: The People's Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange have announced that the inter-bank Renminbi foreign exchange market, the foreign currency-to-market and the foreign currency market will extend their holiday closed until 2 February 2020. When the market opened on 3 February, the Renminbi was now depreciating against major foreign currencies. The central parity rate of the Renminbi against the US dollar opened at 6.9249, a drop of 373 basis points from the previous trading day. It fell below the 7.00 than an hour after the opening, and closed at 7.0257.


text: On 22 May, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang announced that, for the first time in history, the central government wouldn't set an economic growth target for 2020, with the economy having contracted by 6.8% compared to 2019 and China facing an "unpredictable" time. However, the government also stated an intention to create 9 million new urban jobs until the end of 2020.


text: In October 2020, it was announced that China's third-quarter GDP has grown with 4.9%, hereby missing analysts expectations (which was set at 5,2%). However, it does show that China's economy has indeed been steadily recovering from the coronavirus shock that caused decades-low growth. To fuel economic growth, the country set aside hundreds of billions of dollars for major infrastructure projects and used population tracking policies and enforced the stringent lockdown to contain the virus. It is the only major economy that is expected to grow in 2020, according to the International Monetary Fund.


text: By December 2020, China's economic recovery was accelerating amid increasing demand for manufactured goods. The UK-based Centre for Economics and Business Research projected that China's "skilful management of the pandemic" would cause the Chinese economy to surpass the United States and become the world's largest economy by nominal GDP in 2028, five years sooner than previously expected.


text: Hong Kong has seen high-profile protests that saw tourist arrivals from mainland China plummet over an eight-month period. The viral epidemic put additional pressure on the travel sector to withstand a prolonged period of downturn. A drop in arrivals from third countries more resilient during the previous months has also been cited as a concern. The city is already in recession and Moody has lowered the city's credit rating.


text: There has also been a renewed increase in protest activity as hostile sentiment against mainland Chinese strengthened over fears of viral transmission from mainland China, with many calling for the border ports to be closed and for all mainland Chinese travellers to be refused entry. Incidents have included a number of petrol bombs being thrown at police stations, a homemade bomb exploding in a toilet, and foreign objects being thrown onto transit rail tracks between Hong Kong and the mainland Chinese border. Political issues raised have included concerns that mainland Chinese may prefer to travel to Hong Kong to seek free medical help (which has since been addressed by the Hong Kong government).


text: Since the outbreak of the virus, a significant number of products have been sold out across the city, including face masks and disinfectant products (such as alcohol and bleach). An ongoing period of panic buying has also caused many stores to be cleared of non-medical products such as bottled water, vegetables and rice. The Government of Hong Kong had its imports of face masks cancelled as global face mask stockpiles decline.


text: In view of the coronavirus pandemic, the Education Bureau closed all kindergartens, primary schools, secondary schools, and special schools until 17 February. This has been extended for multiple times due to the development of the epidemic, until the Bureau announced that all schools would be indefinitely suspended until further notice on 31 March. The disruption has raised concerns over the situation of students who are due to take examinations at the end of the year, especially in light of the protest-related disruption that happened in 2019.


text: On 5 February, flag carrier Cathay Pacific requested its 27,000 employees to voluntarily take three weeks of unpaid leave by the end of June. The airline had previously reduced flights to mainland China by 90% and to overall flights by 30%.


text: All casinos reopened on 20 February 2020, but visitor numbers remained low due to the pandemic, with hotels at less than 12% occupancy at the end of February.


text: Former Prime Minister Shinzō Abe has said that "the new coronavirus is having a major impact on tourism, the economy and our society as a whole". Face masks have sold out across the nation and stocks of face masks are depleted within a day of new arrivals. There has been pressure placed on the healthcare system as demands for medical checkups increase. Chinese people have reported increasing discrimination. The health minister has pointed out that the situation has not reached a point where mass gatherings must be called off 1 February 2020.


text: Aviation, retail and tourism sectors have reported decreased sales and some manufactures have complained about disruption to Chinese factories, logistics and supply chains. Prime Minister Abe has considered using emergency funds to mitigate the outbreak's impact on tourism, of which Chinese nationals account for 40%. S&P Global noted that the worst hit shares were from companies spanning travel, cosmetics and retail sectors which are most exposed to Chinese tourism. Nintendo announced that they would delay shipment of the Nintendo Switch, which is manufactured in China, to Japan.


text: The outbreak itself has been a concern for the 2020 Summer Olympics which is scheduled to take place in Tokyo starting at the end of July. The national government has thus been taking extra precautions to help minimise the outbreak's impact. The Tokyo organising committee and the International Olympic Committee have been monitoring the outbreak's impact in Japan.


text: On 27 February 2020, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe requested that all Japanese elementary, junior high, and high schools close until late March, the end of the school year, to help contain the virus. Schools will only reopen for the next term after spring break in early April and the nationwide closures will affect 13 million students.


text: On 5 February 2020, Hyundai Motor Company was forced to suspend production in South Korea due to shortage in supply of parts.


text: South Korea has been reporting increasing human-to-human community transmission of COVID-19 since 19 February 2020, traced to a church of Shincheonji, located near the city of Daegu. Apart from the city of Daegu and the church community involved, most of South Korea is operating close to normality, although nine planned festivals have been closed and tax-free retailers are closing. South Korean military manpower agency made an announcement that conscription from the Daegu will temporarily be suspended. The "Daegu Office of Education" decided to postpone the start of every school in the region by one week.


text: Numerous educational institutes have temporarily shut down, including dozens of kindergartens in Daegu and several elementary schools in Seoul. As of 18 February, most universities in South Korea had announced plans to postpone the start of the spring semester. This included 155 universities planning to delay the semester start by 2 weeks to 16 and 22 March universities planning to delay the semester start by 1 week to 9 March. Also, on 23 February 2020, all kindergartens, elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools were announced to delay the semester start from 2 to 9 March.


text: The economy of South Korea is forecast to grow 1.9%, which is down from 2.1%. The government has provided 136.7 billion won for local governments as support. The government has also organised the procurement of masks and other hygiene equipment.