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One of the world’s biggest ships, wedged across Suez Canal, is disrupting a key trade route

InternationalMar 26. 2021

By The Washington Post · Jennifer Hassan, Antonia Noori Farzan

Headaches continued to mount Thursday as a gigantic cargo ship remained stuck in Egypt’s Suez Canal for a third day, blocking a crucial choke point in global shipping.

“It is not really possible to pull it loose,” said Peter Berdowski, the CEO of Dutch salvage company Boskalis, which is helping Egyptian officials to dislodge the boat. Completely freeing the cargo ship “might take weeks,” he added, since the vessel is marooned on the canal’s sandy banks “like an enormous beached whale.”

At least 150 ships loaded with consumer goods, crude oil and live animals are stuck in an increasingly costly traffic jam as eight tugboats work to free the massive vessel.

The Ever Given, which is operated by Taiwan-based Evergreen Marine, was bound for the Netherlands on Tuesday when a dust storm hit, leading to heavy winds and poor visibility in the 120-mile-long passage from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. Exactly what went wrong and led the boat to run aground remains unclear: While initial reports suggested that the dust storm had knocked out power aboard the ship, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, which manages the ship, said Wednesday there was no mechanical or engine failure.

Suez Canal Authority officials and Evergreen Marine have blamed winds that reportedly reached up to 30 mph. But that explanation has garnered some skepticism, given that the ship weighs as much as 220,000 tons when fully loaded and was built to withstand much stronger gusts.

Some experts suspect that the ship’s massive size – it’s more than a quarter-mile long, making it one of the largest container ships ever built – may have been a major additional contributing factor.

Such immense ships present problems because the piles of containers on the deck effectively act like a giant sail, Bill Kavanagh, a lecturer in nautical science at the National Maritime College of Ireland who has navigated the Suez as a captain, told RTE. “It can easily destabilize the vessel and blow a vessel off course, and when you’re taking about a vessel of so many thousand tons of weight, its momentum is quite considerable, and it’s very hard to stop any movement caused by wind.”

On Wednesday, experts estimated that it could take days to dislodge the ship. By Thursday, some were saying it could take weeks.

“In our view the situation now looks unlikely to be heading for a swift resolution,” London-based Braemar ACM Shipbroking said in a note to clients Thursday, according to The Wall Street Journal. Shipping giants such as Maersk warned customers that the backlog probably would increase and that there was no way to know when commerce might be back to normal.

Japanese firm Shoei Kisen Kaisha, the owner of the Ever Given, apologized for the backup on Thursday, saying the company was “working hard to resolve the situation,” but it added that circumstances were “extremely difficult.”

The Suez Canal Authority posted a video of the rescue operation on social media Thursday – complete with an action movie soundtrack. In the 90-second clip, officials are seen heading toward the stranded ship, their eyes transfixed on the horizon as an intense beat plays in the background.

At least eight ships carrying live animals are stuck in the traffic jam, according to Bloomberg News data. Others are moving commodities such as cement and crude oil, meaning extended delays could have a ripple effect on nearly every industry around the world. The ship’s owner could face millions of dollars in insurance claims from companies that did not meet delivery targets because of the holdup or had perishable goods spoil during the wait.

While unexpected delays are par for the course in the shipping industry, worldwide supply chains were already hobbled by the continued disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Fears that shipments of crude from the Middle East could be delayed for days or weeks led global oil prices to spike Wednesday. An estimated 1.9 million barrels of oil typically pass through the canal on a regular day.

While ships can take an alternative route around the southern tip of Africa, as they did in the days before the canal, doing so could take a week or longer and rack up an additional half-million dollars in costs.

On Thursday, the British government said it was on hand to help free the ship.

“We are ready to provide any assistance that we can but have not been asked yet,” a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.

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Jobless claims fall to lowest level of pandemic

InternationalMar 26. 2021

By The Washington Post · Hannah Denham

WASHINGTON – New jobless claims fell to the lowest levels of the pandemic era, federal data shows, with a better-than-expected 684,000 filed last week.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had expected to see a number near 735,000 after filings spiked to 781,000 the week before. The latest tally is less than the prepandemic weekly high of 695,000, set in October 1982.

Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst for Bankrate, said he welcomed the news, especially after months of downbeat economic trends.

“A positive surprise is welcome news,” Hamrick said in an email. “Given the combination of the dynamic nature of the quickly changing conditions involving the vaccinations, the economy itself and the challenges involved with new applications, as well as the states processing and reporting them into the Labor Department, there are a lot of moving parts.”

Last week’s 97,000 drop in initial unemployment claims is another sign that the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic is easing. An additional 241,745 filed claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, for gig and self-employed workers.

The total number of claims for all types of unemployment benefits was 18.95 million for the week ended March 6, according to Labor Department data.

Last week, the Federal Reserve released its most positive economic outlook in a year, projecting that the unemployment rate would fall from the current 6.2% to 4.5%, and that economic growth would see its fastest pace in four decades by the end of 2021.

“It’s just a lot of people who need to get back to work, and it’s not going to happen overnight,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in a March 17 news conference, explaining that the economy still has a ways to go to catch up to prepandemic levels. “The faster, the better.”

The surge in new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations has slowed in recent weeks, though health officials are monitoring states that have removed restrictions on businesses and mask-wearing. The United States has seen a 4% rise in new cases in the past week.

But Americans are still holding out hope that increasingly broadened access to coronavirus vaccines are the key to returning to work, more job availability, and an improved economy. Nearly 14% of the U.S. population, or about 43.8 million people, have completed vaccination.

Hamrick noted the $1.9 trillion stimulus package and the acceleration of vaccinations and supplies to power the economic trajectory.

“There is still a massive total number of individuals receiving some form of unemployment benefit, speaking to the challenges ahead in healing the economy,” he said. “On the employment front, one key issue will be labor force participation, which took a hit during the downturn. How many individuals will begin looking for work once again?”

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Biden promises to tackle the nation’s crises, but says some may wait

InternationalMar 26. 2021Joe Biden speaks during his first formal news conference as president on Thursday, March 25, 2021. MUST CREDIT: Washington Post photo by Demetrius Freeman

By The Washington Post · Sean Sullivan, Seung Min Kim

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden on Thursday set a hierarchy for the country’s numerous crises, pledging to administer 200 million coronavirus vaccine shots by the end of April, repair the country’s infrastructure and move aggressively to expand voting rights – while presenting guns and immigration as secondary priorities.

In his first presidential news conference, Biden outlined a sort of triage, signaling that his focus for now is chiefly on addressing the pandemic and embarking on a push to rebuild roads, bridges and technology. He said most middle and elementary schools are on pace to open in the next five weeks, that he “can’t picture” troops being in Afghanistan in a year, and that he expects to seek reelection in 2024.

Much of the hour-long session was taken up with a discussion of the border, heated at times, as Biden rejected the notion that more migrants are coming because they have heard he is a “nice guy,” though lawmakers and experts have cited his welcoming rhetoric as a contributing factor. He blamed the Trump administration’s policies, saying they left him at a disadvantage, and said he has not traveled to the border because he felt it would be a distraction.

Biden made specific commitments on several fronts, such as the vaccination pledge, but was more vague on other topics, notably when he would seek to take up gun and immigration laws, calling them “long-term problems” to be addressed one at a time. The surge of migrants and the eruption of two mass shootings days apart have inflamed the national conversation, but Biden signaled he would not let that alter his timetable.

The president has yet to respond to pressure to issue executive orders tightening firearms laws or to deliver on a campaign promise to send gun-control legislation to Capitol Hill.

“It’s a matter of timing,” said Biden. “As you’ve all observed, successful presidents – better than me – have been successful in a large part because they know how to time what they’re doing. Order it, decide on priorities, what needs to be done.”

An evenly divided Senate has emerged as the biggest impediment to Biden’s agenda and on Thursday, he offered his strongest indication yet that he is open to doing away with the chamber’s 60-vote threshold on most legislation, known as the filibuster. But he stopped short of endorsing that, touting a more a modest reform but saying that if gridlock cannot be broken, “then we’ll have to go beyond what I’m talking about.”

Democrats are increasingly worried that despite having control of Congress and the White House, they will lose their chance to enact legislation on priorities they have long championed – climate change, immigrations, guns, voting rights and the minimum wage. The House is steadily stacking up a pile of bills at the Senate’s doorstep that Republicans are poised to block in the Senate.

The questions Biden faced on Day 65 of his presidency reflected the rapidly shifting slate of problems he is confronting. He faced no questions on the pandemic, an issue that has dominated the campaign and Biden’s early presidency, culminating in a $1.9 trillion relief bill he signed into law this month. He touted the $1,400 direct payments that have been distributed under that law.

Before taking questions, Biden announced that he was doubling his earlier goal of getting 100 million shots in people’s arms in his first 100 days – a goal he has already met. More than 133 million doses have been administered so far, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the country is on track to meet Biden’s revised goal.

“No other country in the world has even come close – not even close – to what we are doing. I believe we can do it,” Biden said. He called his goal “ambitious,” but vaccinations have accelerated to a point that his new target is well within reach.

Earlier Thursday, the White House announced a commitment of nearly $10 billion to address inequities in vaccine coverage based on race, income and geography, a discrepancy that has bedeviled health officials overseeing the immunization effort.

Biden said he was on pace to meet a goal he set of opening a majority of elementary and middle schools within his first 100 days. “We’re really close, and I believe in the 35 days left to go we’ll meet that goal as well,” he said.

As president-elect, Biden promised in December that “the majority of our schools can be open by the end of my first 100 days,” a target that he and his advisers have shifted several times since.

With the pandemic relief bill enacted, Biden said his “next major initiative” – to be unveiled next week – is to “rebuild both physical and technological infrastructure of this country, so that we can compete and create significant numbers of really good-paying jobs.”

White House officials have been preparing a roughly $3 trillion plan that is expected to be divided into two parts – one directly tackling infrastructure and a second focusing on other domestic priorities. That emerging package includes liberal goals such as free community college and universal prekindergarten.

Recent days have seen a collision of sorts between the tasks Biden has promised to tackle from the outset – the pandemic and the economy – and long-running problems that have erupted in unforeseen ways. Democrats and Republicans have struggled for decades to tackle gun violence and immigration reform, and Biden is clearly content to confront them in good time.

But the situation on the border has become more pressing, as Biden struggles to deal with two related challenges: a huge increase in migrants arriving at the border, many of whom are being turned away, and the need to house and care for thousands of unaccompanied children.

Biden framed the decision to accept children as a moral one, promising not to let young would-be migrants starve on the other side of the border. He repeatedly slammed former president Donald Trump’s hard-line policies, including separating families from their children.

While some current and former government officials have said Biden’s pledges to create a more humane system are fueling the rise in the number of people arriving at the border, the president pointed to other factors, including a desire by many people to arrive before hot summer weather as well as poor economic and social conditions in Central America.

“I guess I should be flattered people are coming because I’m the nice guy, that’s the reason why it’s happening,” Biden said sarcastically. He added, “Does anybody suggest that there was a 31 percent increase under Trump because he was a nice guy and he was doing good things at the border? That’s not the reason they’re coming.”

Biden said his administration was trying to expand its capacity to care for children. But officials have struggled to do so, leading to overcrowding and processing delays. There are more than 11,000 children under Department of Health and Human Services custody and nearly 5,000 more in U.S. Customs and Border Protection jails, according to government data released Wednesday. The number of children in the care of CBP is nearly twice the previous record.

Biden pledged to ramp up efforts to move children out of overcrowded CBP detention centers more quickly and improve the overall situation in short order. “They’ll get a whole hell of a lot better real quick or we’re going to hear some people leaving. OK?” he said.

Biden became most visibly animated when he condemned efforts by Republican legislatures nationwide to pass voting-restriction measures. His voice boomed across the East Room of the White House as he denounced the efforts as “sick.”

“The Republican voters I know find this despicable, Republican voters, folks out in the – outside this White House. I’m not talking about the elected officials, I’m talking about voters,” Biden said. “And so I am convinced that we’ll be able to stop this because it is the most pernicious thing.”

He added: “This makes Jim Crow look like Jim Eagle.”

Biden vowed to push the Senate to pass voting-rights legislation, but that could be an all-but-impossible task because of heavy Republican resistance.

Democrats used a budget maneuver known as reconciliation to pass Biden’s pandemic relief bill with a simple majority – and may seek to pass an infrastructure bill the same way – but other legislation will require 60 votes under Senate rules.

Biden said he believes the filibuster is a relic of the Jim Crow era and that he is willing to go beyond his current call to make it tougher for senators to stage filibusters “if there’s complete lockdown and chaos as a consequence” of the status quo.

He paused for several moments when pressed why he the filibuster should not be immediately abolished. “Successful electoral politics is the art of possible,” Biden said. “Let’s figure out how we can get this done and move in the direction of significantly changing the abuse of even the filibuster rule first.”

The filibuster also stands in the way of Biden passing his comprehensive immigration bill, and it represents huge hurdles to placing new restrictions on guns.

“The other problems we’re talking about, from immigration to guns and the other things you mentioned are long-term problems. They’ve been around a long time. And what we’re going to be able to do, God willing, is now begin one at a time to focus on those as well,” Biden said.

Asked whether he has made a decision about sending Congress a manufacturer liability bill like he promised during the campaign to do on Day 1 of his presidency or issue executive orders such as regulating so-called “ghost guns,” which his aides have considered, Biden replied, “All of the above.” But he quickly added, “It’s a matter of timing,” and made clear his next big priority is infrastructure.

Biden also addressed his own political future, though he gave less-than-definitive answers to questions about whether he would run for a second term in 2024, saying first that it was his “expectation” to do so, but later adding that he rarely plans big decision years in advance.

“I’m a great respecter of fate,” Biden said. “I’ve never been able to plan four-and-a-half to three-and-a half years ahead for certain.”

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Viewing spots provide ways to enjoy Japan’s sakura

InternationalMar 26. 2021Traffic cones separate walking paths in Ueno Park in Taito Ward, Tokyo, on Saturday. MUST CREDIT: Japan News-Yomimuri photo.

By Syndication Washington Post, Japan News

TOKYO – The second cherry blossom season in the coronavirus era has arrived. Last year, many popular venues for viewing the colorful petals simply barred visitors. However, greater efforts are being made in 2021 to accommodate them.

Popular spots are getting creative about finding ways for people to enjoy viewing sakura, from establishing walking routes to drone broadcasts, in a bid to avoid another surge of infections while allowing all to enjoy the splendor of one of Japan’s quintessential trees.

“I was able to enjoy the cherry blossoms without worrying about the distance between me and other people,” a visitor to Ueno Park in Taito Ward, Tokyo, said delightedly on Saturday as he walked past rows of cherry trees along a path.

Ueno Park last year temporarily closed the main walking thoroughfare that is lined with cherry trees.

This year, the park banned entry in certain areas and prohibited parties. However, the main passage is open, although it is divided in the center by traffic cones as a means for people to stroll in opposite directions while admiring the blossoms. The number of security guards has been increased, and patrols are being conducted to make sure rules are followed.

Inokashira Park, which straddles the cities of Musashino and Mitaka in Tokyo, has security guards patrolling the grounds to prevent nighttime sakura viewing.

“Since the coronavirus outbreak is lingering, we’ve taken measures this year to avoid infections in order to open the park for people to relax there,” a Tokyo metropolitan government official said. “However, we’re concerned that there could be a surge of cases, so we’d like to prevent crowding.”

Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden is one of the most famous places for viewing sakura in Tokyo, as it has about 1,000 cherry trees on its grounds.

The garden was closed during sakura season last year, but reopened Tuesday because Tokyo’s state of emergency ended.

However, restrictions apply. Until April 25, entrance is only allowed by advance reservation. Groups of four or fewer people or a family living together are allowed to spread out picnic sheets and eat and drink while viewing the cherry blossoms.

Meanwhile, various entities will broadcast cherry blossoms online.

Drone Entertainment, a Chiba-based company that produces videos using drones, plans on March 27 to use drones to livestream cherry blossoms on YouTube. The company is also broadcasting in 4K cherry blossoms shot last year in about 50 locations across the country.

“We’ll be able to show the beauty of Japanese cherry blossoms to people around the world,” a spokesperson for the company said.

“One of the service’s features is that viewers can see the blossoms from the perspective of birds and flying insects above the trees as well as between them. I hope people will enjoy the program from the safety of their homes together with their families.”

The Chiyoda City Tourism Association in Tokyo has canceled its annual Chiyoda Cherry Blossom Festival. Instead, the association is livestreaming cherry blossoms along Chidorigafuchi Green Way on its website for everyone to enjoy from the comfort and safety of their homes.

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Hong Kong tells consulates not to accept BNO passports, Reuters says

InternationalMar 26. 2021A copy of the British National (Overseas) passport sits in Hong Kong on Jan. 30, 2021. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Paul Yeung.

By Syndication Washington Post, Bloomberg · Kari Lindberg

Hong Kong has told about a dozen foreign consulates to stop recognizing the British National (Overseas) passport as a travel document, Reuters reported.

The news agency on Thursday cited a letter it saw that demanded the Hong Kong passport should be used instead. A senior Western diplomat said most countries would ignore the order, according to Reuters.

Hong Kong’s government didn’t immediately respond to a Bloomberg request for comment.

Hong Kong and China both said in late January they would stop recognizing the passports, which Hongkongers normally use to enter countries such as the U.K., Japan or the U.S., as a travel document. The moves increased tensions with the U.K., but had little practical significance for the people of Hong Kong because they usually enter and exit the city with local identity cards.

The U.K. insisted last year that China should recognize BNO passports as valid. “They are legitimate international travel documents and that’s how you would expect them to be treated,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman, James Slack, said.

The U.K. created the passports before handing Hong Kong back to China in 1997. They allowed holders to visit Britain visa-free for up to six months, but didn’t automatically confer the right to live or work there.

U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told the House of Commons last July — after China imposed a sweeping national security law on the former British colony — that a new “bespoke immigration route” will allow holders of BNO status to come to the U.K. without the current six-month limit.

BNO passport holders will be allowed to stay and work in the U.K. for five years, after which they can apply for settled status. A year later they can seek citizenship.

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EU leaders face further AstraZeneca vaccine shortages

InternationalMar 26. 2021European Union flags fly outside the Berlaymont building in Brussels, on Dec. 18, 2020. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Olivier Matthys.

By Syndication Washington Post, Bloomberg · Nikos Chrysoloras, Alberto Nardelli

When European Union leaders meet on Thursday afternoon to begin a two-day video conference, they’ll underscore the severity of the continent’s health situation and the need for member states to continue lockdowns that have roiled the economies of nations trying to curb the spread of Covid.

They’ll also discuss a controversial new proposal that will allow the EU to block the export of vaccines from pharmaceutical companies that haven’t met their commitments to the bloc. The new rules, unveiled Wednesday, would also block shipments to countries that don’t send full doses or ingredients back to the EU or that have better health situations or vaccination rates.

The leaders are under pressure to contain the pandemic, which has forced a new slate of restrictive measures throughout Europe. So far, the EU has administered 13 doses per 100 people, less than a third of what the U.K. has managed, according to Bloomberg’s Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker. The U.S. has administered 40 doses.

The issue of the Italian shots will still hang over the conversation of EU leaders. AstraZeneca has said that 16 million doses found in a police raid at the Italian site run by Catalent were meant to be shipped to Europe and another 13 million were allocated for Covax, the program to supply developing countries.

That may not entirely convince EU officials who have grown increasingly suspicious of AstraZeneca, which has repeatedly failed to meet its commitments on vaccine deliveries.

The drugmaker’s latest promise is for 30 million shots to be delivered to the EU this quarter, less than a third of its original commitment and it might even miss that target. As of Wednesday, the company had delivered just 18 million doses with a week to go before the deadline. AstraZeneca said that 10 million shots from the Italian storage facility should be delivered to EU countries by the end of the month.

Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Germans to be more optimistic and pull together to beat the coronavirus when she addressed the Bundestag on Thursday morning.

“You can’t achieve anything if you only ever see the negative,” Merkel told lawmakers in Berlin, a day after making a rare public apology over a botched plan for a hard Easter lockdown. She said that she can see “light at the end of the tunnel” even as aggressive mutations spread.

“We will defeat this virus, I am absolutely sure we’ll manage it,” she said. “So it’s about joining forces and looking forward positively, even if the situation remains difficult. That’s what I would ask for from every person in this country.”

Some member states have for weeks been trading nasty threats and accusations over the redistribution of vaccines. At the center of the row, which has spilled from private meetings into the public domain, is a decision taken by Austria and five other central and eastern European governments to turn down more expensive jabs to bet on the cheaper AstraZeneca shots. As part of the EU distribution agreements, the vaccines those countries didn’t want were purchased by other member states. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has wrongly accused the bloc of running a “bazaar” for vaccine doses and some governments of securing secret deals.

The Austrian government had proposed that 10 million surplus doses of Pfizer-BioNtech be redistributed among the unhappy six, with several more well off and better inoculated members, including Germany and Malta, not receiving any. Others bristled at the Austrian proposal — and Kurz’s attitude. Germany has proposed redistributing some 3 million of those 10 million doses among countries, such as Bulgaria and Latvia, whose vaccination campaign is indeed behind but not to Austria. The balance would be shared among all 27 members.

Diplomats and officials say that it is not just about political point scoring — Austria has vaccinated a greater proportion of its population than the EU average and many countries, including Germany and France, while others like Bulgaria and Latvia genuinely need help.

While there’s still no solution, officials are trying to keep the spat from flaring up during the summit. The default option would be for all 10 million doses to be distributed pro-rata based on current arrangements, diplomats said, noting that either way, Kurz won’t be getting any extra shots.

When the meeting begins, the leaders will debate the pandemic before moving on to other topics, such as Russia, Turkey and how to boost the international role of the euro. The premiers will declare that lockdowns and curbs on travel must continue, amid a flare up in coronavirus infections across the bloc, according to the latest draft of their joint communique seen by Bloomberg.

At the same time, they’ll vow to begin preparations for a coordinated lifting of restrictions when the epidemiological situations allows it, the statement says. Crucially for tourism-dependent economies, leaders will give a nod for work to go ahead on digital passes, which will ease travel for those inoculated, recovered from the virus or who can show a recent negative test. The aim is to have the system up and running by June, just in time for this summer’s tourist season.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel threw cold water on hopes for a quick deal on EU vaccination passports, telling lawmakers in Berlin on Thursday that it will take time to sort out the details.

At the virtual summit, “we will talk about the next steps for the development of a so-called green certificate which should be ready by summer,” she said. “This is no easy task with 27 member states and will take a few more weeks.”

While the technical issues could be worked out quickly, she said the bloc will have to “look very closely” at the rights that a vaccination passport would allow.

The main part of the discussion may revolve around new rules introduced on Wednesday by the European Commission that pave the way for tougher curbs on vaccine exports. While aghast with AstraZeneca’s delivery delays, some countries are still reluctant to agree on measures that could potentially disrupt global supply chains. Meanwhile, a group of nations that had based their vaccine strategy on AstraZeneca’s shots will seek a so-called corrective mechanism to make up for the shortfall by getting extra doses from an accelerated batch of vaccines from Pfizer. The discussion could turn bitter.