News Headlines - 12 May 2020

▽Toyota expects FY 2020 operating profit to dive 79.5% on coronavirus - The Mainichi

Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday it expects group operating profit in fiscal 2020 to drop 79.5 percent to 500 billion yen ($4.65 billion), the lowest in nine years, as the global auto industry feels the strain from the coronavirus pandemic.
While withholding its net earnings forecast for the current business year ending March 2021, citing uncertainties in the global market caused by the spread of the virus, Toyota said its sales are expected to fall 19.8 percent to 24 trillion yen. It anticipates its global vehicle sales will fall 14.9 percent from the previous year to 8.9 million vehicles.

▽South Korea scrambles to contain outbreak from nightclub cluster linked to one man | Sky News

South Korean officials are scrambling to contain a new outbreak of coronavirus after a cluster of more than 100 cases was linked one man who visited several nightclubs in Seoul.
Bars and discos across South Korea's capital have now been closed, after the sudden outbreak raised fears of a second wave of COVID-19 in a city that has been seen as a model for how to contain the disease.
Mayor Park Won-soon announced on Tuesday that 101 people had tested positive for coronavirus since the latest outbreak was identified last week, with most of the first batch of those linked to one 29-year-old man.

▽China suspends imports from four Australian abattoirs as spat sours trade - The Straits Times

China has suspended imports from four of Australia’s largest meat processors, Australia’s trade minister said on Tuesday (May 12), as the trade of several key agricultural commodities suffers in the wake of souring ties.
The suspension comes after Australia last month called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus and just days after China proposed introducing an 80 per cent tariff on Australian barley shipments.

▽Saudi Arabia to triple value added tax from 5% to 15%

In what it says is a move to mitigate the financial impact of the coronavirus on the Saudi government, the valued added tax, or VAT, which taxes on all goods and services in Saudi Arabia, is to be tripled from 5% to 15%.
The extraordinary move comes at a time when the Saudi, and indeed the wider Gulf region economy, is reeling from lower oil prices, and a depressed property sector, and tough restrictions resulting in the shutdown of economies.

▽Elon Musk opens Tesla California facility, defying local orders on coronavirus spread - CNN

Tesla CEO Elon Musk escalated his standoff with county officials in California on Monday as he announced that the automaker would be "restarting production today against Alameda County rules."
The decision follows the executive's sharp Twitter outbursts in recent weeks objecting to state lockdown orders meant to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus. In a tweet on Monday, Musk said he would be at the factory, "on the line with everyone else."