News Headlines - 22 March 2020

▽Canadian Olympic Committee won't send athletes to Olympics this summer | TheHill

The Canadian Olympic Committee announced Sunday that it would not field athletes for the upcoming 2020 Olympic Games set to be held in Tokyo this summer, citing the ongoing coronavirus outbreak... The Australian Olympic Committee on Sunday told athletes to prepare for the Games to be held in early 2021, while Australia's prime minister reportedly said in a statement that Australian Olympians would not be allowed to travel to Tokyo to compete in the games until the outbreak has ended, according to 7News Australia.

▽Coronavirus is speeding up the collapse of local newsrooms - CNN

With local events canceled and restaurants and bars shuttering to crack down on the gathering of large crowds, local newsrooms have not only had to change their coverage. They have also lost out on crucial ad revenue and places to distribute their print products. These changes have an outsized effect on alt-weeklies which rely heavily on advertising from events and local businesses... In response, management laid off staffers, ceased print publishing or temporarily shut down... Meanwhile, local newspaper conglomerate Gannett's stock has been plummeting. When the newspaper conglomerate merged with GateHouse on November 19, the stock opened at $6.70 the next day. On Friday, it closed at $1.61.
Local newsrooms have been struggling for years to secure new revenue streams as Google and Facebook gobbled up much-needed ad dollars. The last thing they needed was a pandemic. The bitter irony of it is that the hit to revenue and jobs is coming at a time when readers urgently need these papers for reliable information about coronavirus in their own communities.

▽Trump Writes to North Korean Leader in Midst of Coronavirus Emergency - WSJ

President Trump sent a letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un praising his efforts to combat the coronavirus and offering U.S. help, according to a statement by Mr. Kim’s sister, published by North Korean state media early Sunday.
In Washington, the Trump administration confirmed that Mr. Trump sent a letter to Mr. Kim about the coronavirus, but declined to confirm that the U.S. president had offered North Korea assistance in fighting the outbreak.

▽Senators Accused Of Insider Trading, Dumping Stocks After Coronavirus Briefing

In a shocking revelation, it's been reported that a number of senators sold their stock holdings after being briefed about the coronavirus and the massive impact it will have upon the economy, jobs and the stock market. While telling the American public that there wasn’t much to worry about, they bailed out of their stock holdings to avoid large losses.

▽Europe Bonds Soar as Lagarde Pledges No Limits to ECB Action - Bloomberg

European government bonds from Italy to Greece surged after the European Central Bank launched a 750 billion euro ($810 billion) debt-buying program to keep borrowing costs in check as countries prepare to increase spending to counter the impact of the coronavirus... The Bank of England followed Thursday with its second emergency cut in borrowing costs this month, taking the benchmark rate to a record-low 0.1%. The BOE also announced a boost in its asset-purchase program target to 645 billion pounds ($752 billion), made up mainly of gilts.