News Headlines - 23 January 2020

▽Wuhan, Center of Coronavirus Outbreak, Is Being Cut Off by Chinese Authorities - The New York Times

Chinese authorities on Thursday morning closed off Wuhan - a city of more than 11 million people and the epicenter of a pneumonia-like virus that has spread halfway around the world - by canceling planes and trains leaving the city, and suspending buses, subways and ferries within it.
The announcement, shared on Chinese state media just hours before it was to take effect, was a significant escalation from just the day before, when the authorities had urged people not to travel to or from the central Chinese city but had stopped short of shutting down transportation.

▽Ghosn Predicted Nissan Will Go Bankrupt by 2022, Lawyer Says - Bloomberg

Nissan Motor Co. will go bankrupt within two to three years, Carlos Ghosn told a defense attorney during more than 10 hours of interviews before the auto executive skipped bail and left Japan.
The former chairman and chief executive officer of Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA made the prediction last year in a series of conversations about his arrest and prosecution, said Nobuo Gohara, a former prosecutor who also is a vocal critic of Japan’s justice system... Gohara said he met with and interviewed Ghosn five times during a two-month period, just before the former auto executive fled, for a book he planned to publish before the start of Ghosn’s trial, which no longer is likely to happen. Gohara last met with Ghosn two days before his December escape to Beirut.

▽Toshiba finds doubtful transactions in unit, to revise past statements - CNA

Toshiba Corp said on Saturday it "could not confirm existence" of transactions worth some 20 billion yen (US$181.59 million) at one of its subsidiaries in the first half of this fiscal year, prompting it to revise past financial statements.
The irregularities, which occurred over multiple years, were uncovered at Toshiba IT-Services Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary, as a result of an internal probe launched at the end of November, Toshiba said in a statement.

▽Lebanon's new government may have little reserves left to stabilize economy - Reuters

Lebanon’s new government faces huge upcoming debt repayments and a currency peg at breaking point, but it may already have run out of the hard cash firepower it needs to tackle these problems.
The heavily indebted country faces hefty bond repayments coming up in March and April, when $1.34 billion and $842 million of interest and principal respectively come due.
Analysts expect the central bank to be able to foot the bill, for now, though some in Beirut believe a rescheduling or restructuring is preferable.

▽Doomsday Clock Ticks To 100 Seconds Before Midnight : NPR

Two years after moving the metaphorical minute hand of its Doomsday Clock to within two minutes of midnight - a figurative two-minute warning for all humanity - the science and security board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists revealed Thursday that it has moved that minute hand another 20 seconds closer to the midnight hour... Never since the clock's 1947 Cold War debut has it come so close to the putative doomsday annihilation represented by the 12 a.m. hour.