The United States, Japan and other countries are sending planes to evacuate their citizens out of the central Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the global coronavirus outbreak that has now killed 106 people.Japan is sending a chartered jet to Wuhan Tuesday to evacuate about 200 of the 650 Japanese nationals in the city.  The United States is preparing to fly staff from its consulate in Wuhan, along with some American citizens, sometime this week.  France and other nations have also announced plans to evacuate their citizens out of Wuhan.  Chinese health authorities announced an additional 25 deaths on Tuesday, including the first fatality reported in the capital city of Beijing.  The total number of confirmed cases in China now stands at well over 4,500.  Authorities have imposed a virtual quarantine on Wuhan, banning people from traveling in and out of the city, while several other cities in Hubei province are facing heavy restrictions on movement.  Authorities in Wuhan are racing to complete two new field hospitals to treat the growing number of patients.  Cases have also been reported in Australia, Canada, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Macao, Malaysia, Nepal, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam. The World Health Organization says most of those are people who had a travel history in Wuhan, with several others having contact with someone who traveled there.There have been no reported deaths linked to the virus outside of China.Students line up to sanitize their hands to avoid the contact of coronavirus before their morning class at a hight school in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020.U.S. President Donald Trump has offered China any help needed to combat the deadly coronavirus.  In a Monday tweet, Trump said, “We are in very close communication with China concerning the virus,” adding, “We have offered China and President Xi (Jinping) any help that is necessary. Our experts are extraordinary!”Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited the city of Wuhan on Monday to meet with health officials and examine the response to the outbreak.  The head of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, arrived Monday in Beijing, where he is expected to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the outbreak. The agency said there is still a chance to get ahead of the virus if there is strong cooperation.Separately, in an effort to stop the virus from spreading, Mongolia closed its vast border with China, while Hong Kong and Malaysia announced they would ban entry to visitors from Wuhan.Global stock markets plunged Monday as investors feared the economic impact from the coronavirus.The virus hit China just as it was beginning celebrations to mark the Lunar New Year, resulting in the canceling or the scaling back of festivities for tens of millions of Chinese.Chinese officials took an extra step Sunday to extend the Lunar New Year holiday three extra days to cut down on group gatherings.Chinese Premier Li Keqiang wearing a mask talks with staff members as he visits the construction site where the new hospital is being built to treat patients of a new coronavirus, on the outskirts of Wuhan, China, January 27, 2020.The head of the respiratory disease office at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Nancy Messonnier, said Sunday there were five confirmed cases in the United States, and that all five people had direct contact with others in Wuhan.The patients are isolated in hospitals as doctors and health officials try to learn more about the virus. The CDC says it is investigating about 100 suspected cases in 26 states.Chinese National Health Commission Minister Ma Xiaowei said Sunday little is known about the virus. But doctors do know it has an incubation period that can range from one to 14 days. Ma said the virus is infectious during the incubation period, when no signs or symptoms of the disease are present.President Xi Jinping said China is facing a “grave situation” and experts and other resources would be concentrated at specific hospitals to treat severe cases.The virus is believed to have emerged late last year at a Wuhan seafood market illegally selling wildlife. Chinese authorities have imposed a temporary ban on the selling of wildlife.Tourist destinations are closed and school closings have been extended in an effort to stop the spread of the virus. Public transportation has been severely restricted. Many businesses have closed or asked employees to work from home.The WHO recommends several steps to help protect people against acute respiratory infections. They include avoiding close contact with those already infected, frequent hand-washing and avoiding unprotected contact with farm animals and wild animals.
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More than 60 Afghan students are among foreigners stranded in Wuhan, China. Their families in Afghanistan say these students are hurting psychologically since the city has been on lockdown. Food and supplies are running out, and they are losing hope of leaving the city. Today, the Afghan government asked China to keep the students in Wuhan and not send them back to Afghanistan. Their desperate families are asking the Afghan and Chinese governments to help these students. Sayed Hasib Mawdoodi in Kabul met with families, and students who returned from Wuhan 10 days ago.  
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Зростанню котирувань долара на українському міжбанківському валютному ринку сприяють як дії нерезидентів, так і можливі зміни в монетарній політиці Національного банку, вважають аналітики сайту «Мінфін».

«Якщо зазвичай під аукціон Міністерства фінансів (відомство планує розмістити облігації внутрішньої державної позики на 9 мільярдів гривень – ред.) іноземці досить швидко «світили» свої обсяги продажів валюти, чим частково впливали на подальше просідання курсу долара на міжбанку, то сьогодні вони вичікували максимальних рівнів продажу і тільки тоді почали продавати валюту», – так описує перебіг торгів на міжбанку 27 січня сайт «Мінфін».

Також експерти припускають, що цього тижня на присвяченому монетарній політиці засіданні правління НБУ регулятор знову знизить облікову ставку. Від цієї ставки значною мірою залежать прибутковості по облігаціях, депозитах, вкладах та за депозитними сертифікатами.

«Тому іноземці з одного боку — роблять вигляд, що не так вже й готові на подальше зниження прибутковості за новими розміщеннями ОВДП, а з іншого — ця прибутковість (близько 10% річних без оподаткування) — залишається дуже привабливою для них на фоні фактично нульових або навіть негативних ставок на світових фінансових ринках. Тому йде велика «гра нервів» — хто кого: Мінфін зі зниженням прибутковості по облігаціях при нових розміщеннях або нерезиденти (в основному світові спекулянти) — з метою видавити максимальний рівень прибутковості за цими паперами», – вказують аналітики.

Торги на міжбанківському валютному ринку 27 січня завершилися на рівні 24 гривні 57–61 копійка за долар, вказує сайт Finance.ua.

Орієнтуючись на ці параметри, Національний банк України встановив на 28 січня офіційний курс 24 гривні 60 копійок за долар, це на 27 копійок більше за курс на 27 січня.

Національний банк України з 13 грудня 2019 року встановив облікову ставку на рівні 13,5%, знизивши її одразу на 2%. Також регулятор збільшив обсяг щоденного викупу валюти на міжбанку до 50 мільйонів доларів з попереднього рівня 30 мільйонів доларів.
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The pilot of the helicopter that crashed and killed basketball superstar Kobe Bryant apparently climbed to avoid a cloud layer just before slamming into a hillside, federal investigators say.Jennifer Homendy of the National Transportation Safety Board said Monday the copter was about 700 meters off the ground before it plunged more than 300 meters into the hills north of Los Angeles.Air traffic say the pilot’s message that he had to climb to avoid the clouds was the last thing they heard from the copter.Homendy says the debris field is “extensive.””A piece of the tail is down the hill, the fuselage is on the other side of that hill and the main rotor is about 91 meters beyond that,” she said, adding that everything is looked at during the investigation — the pilot, the aircraft, and the environment.Federal rules do not require helicopters to carry black boxes.People gather at a memorial for Kobe Bryant near Staples Center Monday, Jan. 27, 2020, in Los Angeles.Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna were among nine killed in Sunday’s crash that stunned the sports world and left fans and his fellow athletes speechless.The pilot also died along with Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli. The helicopter was heading to a youth basketball tournament in which Gianna Bryant was scheduled to play.Kobe Bryant was 41 years-old and will be remembered as one of the greatest professional basketball players ever to step onto the court. He played 20 years in the NBA, nearly all of it with the Los Angeles Lakers — wining five NBA championships and the league’s Most Valuable Player award in 2008. He is the fourth all-time leading scorer. LeBron James passed him for number three on the list just one day before the crash.Some of Bryant’s accomplishments include becoming the NBA’s youngest all-star in 1998, when he was only 19 years old; an 81-point game in 2006 – the second-highest of all time; and Olympic Gold medals in 2008 and 2012.
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The European Union will “never, never, never” compromise on the integrity of its single market, its chief Brexit negotiator warned Britain on Monday, saying London must now face reality after underestimating the costs of leaving.Some British politicians have suggested Brussels might be flexible on its rules in order to protect trade flows in talks due to begin in the coming weeks after Britain’s formal exit from the bloc on Friday.But Michel Barnier, speaking in the British region of Northern Ireland widely seen as most at risk from Brexit, warned negative consequences were unavoidable.”There will be no compromise on the single market. Never, never, never,” Barnier told an audience at Queen’s University Belfast, describing the single market as the foundation of EU’s international influence.Michel Barnier, the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator, speaks to the media at Government Buildings in Dublin, Ireland, Jan. 27, 2020.”Leaving the single market, leaving the customs union will have consequences. And what I saw … in the last year, is that many of these consequences have been underestimated in the UK,” he said. “Now we have to face the reality.”Hard choicesBarnier said that while Brussels was willing to be flexible and pragmatic in trade talks, Britain’s choices have made frictionless trade with the EU impossible.If no trade agreement is reached, Britain still faces the risk of a cliff-edge Brexit in 2021 when an 11-month status quote transition ends, he added.”If we have no agreement, it will not be business as usual and the status quo, we have to face the risk of a cliff edge, in particular for trade,” Barnier said.The EU has repeatedly said the level of access UK products can continue to enjoy will be proportionate to the commitments London makes on EU rules, particularly in relation to state aid.”It is not clear to me whether, when the UK leaves the EU and the Single Market, it will also choose to leave Europe’s societal and regulatory model. That is the key question, and we are waiting for an answer,” Barnier said.Northern IrelandIrish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar earlier Tuesday said there would have to be some checks on goods going from Britain into Northern Ireland, despite British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s repeated insistence that these will not be needed.Johnson’s willingness to allow some EU regulations to apply in Northern Ireland to prevent the need for a border on the island was the crucial concession he offered last year to obtain a withdrawal deal with the bloc.Barnier was asked repeatedly by journalists in Belfast whether trade talks could avoid the need to have checks, but he would only say the text of the withdrawal agreement that governs it was binding and could not be revisited.”The Withdrawal Agreement must be applied with rigor and discipline by all sides. It cannot be re-opened under the guise of implementation,” Barnier said. Implementation will be crucial in building trust for the trade talks, he added.Varadkar earlier on Monday told Britain’s BBC that the European Union would have the upper hand in trade talks, having the “stronger team” due to its larger population and market. Johnson’s aim of getting a deal by the end of 2020 “will be difficult,” Varadkar added.
 
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«Приватбанк» відкрив прийом заявок на програму «Доступні кредити 5-7-9%» для малого бізнесу, повідомила пресслужба фінансової установи.

Щоб стати учасником програми, достатньо мати рахунок в «Приватбанку» і подати заявку на спеціальній сторінці сайту банку 5-7-9.pb.ua.

«У рамках програми українські підприємці можуть отримати кредит (або кілька кредитів) на розвиток бізнесу терміном до п’яти років в сумі до 1,5 мільйона гривень (по всій групі пов’язаних осіб за весь період дії програми). При цьому держава компенсує підприємцю частину відсотків по кредиту – ставки складають від 5 до 9% річних в залежності від кількості створених робочих місць з можливістю щоквартального зниження відсоткової ставки», – розповіли в «Приватбанку».

Прем’єр-міністр Олексій Гончарук анонсував, що програма доступних кредитів для бізнесу стартує 1 лютого 2020 року. Кредити планують видавати під такі ставки:

5% річних, якщо виручка до 25 млн грн і створюються мінімум 2 робочі місця;
7% річних для бізнесу з виручкою до 25 млн грн, який не створює нових робочих місць (але за кожного нового працівника ставка знизиться на 0,5%);
9% річних для бізнесу з виручкою до 50 млн грн.

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This week Secretary of State Mike Pompeo heads to London as British officials weigh whether or not to allow Chinese telecom giant Huawei to take part in the country’s buildout of its 5G network.The British government is expected to make the decision Tuesday.  FILE – Signage is seen at the Huawei offices in Reading, Britain, May 2, 2019.A senior U.S. official said the two nations are having “very close” and “very vigorous conversations.” Another official said Britain has not told the U.S. about the final decision.  The U.S. says Huawei could provide China a “back door” for spying, a claim that Huawei rejects.  In a Friday phone call with Johnson, U.S. President Donald Trump told the British Prime Minister that giving Huawei the go-ahead would cause a major rift in transatlantic relations and jeopardize intelligence-sharing between Washington and London.U.S. officials have also voiced frustration with decisions by some European nations to grant Huawei some access in the roll-out of their 5G network.“They announced a toolkit that many of us consider to be inadequate,” a senior U.S. official said, referring to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s “no-spy” pact from Huawei as she decided to allow the Chinese telecom company to take part in Germany’s 5G roll-out.Under the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, the U.S. Defense Secretary should brief Congressional defense committees by March 15 on the implementation of a plan for fifth generation information and communications technologies, including steps to work with U.S. allies and partners to protect critical networks and supply chains. 
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Efforts by Venezuelan parliamentary leader Juan Guaido to garner European support to unseat president Nicolas Maduro revealed divisions among EU governments as the United States ramped up pressures on Venezuela last week.It was Guaido’s first European visit since he proclaimed himself Venezuela’s acting president a year ago with support from the United States and most Latin American countries, which have backed repeated uprisings that failed to gain support from Venezuela’s military.Nicolas Maduro’s leftist government has managed to remain in power with security assistance from Cuba, Russia and Iran, according to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who met with Guaido at an Anti-Terrorist Summit in Colombia from where he flew to Europe.While most EU member states have recognized Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president and denounced Maduro’s human rights violations, they have refrained from implementing the type of wider sanctions imposed by President Donald Trump who has left open the use of military force.A U.S. airborne unit has conducted joint exercises with Colombian forces along a border region with Venezuela over recent days, according to the Pentagon. Venezuela’s government claims to have intercepted a U.S. warship near its coast.Since leaving Venezuela, Guaido’s offices in Caracas have been raided and several of his top aides arrested by Venezuelan police officials, who accuse him of violating restrictions they imposed on his travel.The leader of Venezuela’s political opposition Juan Guaido addresses the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 23, 2020.Guaido urged tougher measures against Maduro in personal meetings with European leaders and in an address to the annual world community conference in Davos, Switzerland.German Chancellor Angela Merkel and prime ministers from the Netherlands, Austria and Greece talked briefly with Guaido on the sidelines of the Davos conference, where his staff set up a workshop to promote Venezuela’s reconstruction.”We are confronted with an international criminal conglomerate and we can’t fight it alone,” he told the conference. “We need tools from the international community to bring pressure on the regime from various centers,” he said.Guaido specifically asked officials and bankers gathered in Davos to block Venezuela’s international trade in gold extracted from mines which, he said, Maduro has turned over to key army generals to secure their loyalty.Guaido’s tour got off to a promising start with a surprise welcome from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who received him under the glow of cameras at 10 Downing Street. French President Emmanuel Macron met him more privately at the Elysee Palace.But momentum was lost in Spain, where Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez failed to meet Guaido citing scheduling problems. He instead sent a newly appointed foreign minister to see him away from government premises.The awkwardness was exacerbated by revelations that a chief Spanish minister had secretly met Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, when she stopped at Madrid’s airport on her way to Turkey some days earlier.Conservative opposition leaders accused the government of violating existing EU sanctions that include entry restrictions of Maduro’s top officials. The U.S. State Department also issued a strong protest.Spain is especially important to Venezuela because of its deep economic, political and cultural ties to its former colony. Venezuela’s political leverage has grown recently with the inclusion of members of the far-left party Podemos in Sanchez’s cabinet.Sanchez has advocated a “dialogue” to resolve Venezuela’s crisis and his ex-foreign minister Josep Borrell, who is now EU chief of external affairs, has worked to promote negotiations with Maduro.An  EU communique following a meeting between Guaido and Borrell in Brussels said the two “have signaled the urgent necessity to find a common focus as much between the Venezuelan actors as with the international community which could lead to a significant political process.”  Guaido said in Madrid that EU-backed mediation efforts had been “degraded by the dictatorship” in Bogota, which was using them to “gain time.” 
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A divided Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to put in place a policy connecting the use of public benefits with whether immigrants could become permanent residents.
The new policy can be used to deny green cards to immigrants over their use of public benefits including Medicaid, food stamps and housing vouchers, as well as other factors.
The justices’ order came by a 5-4 vote and reversed a ruling from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York that had kept in a place a nationwide hold on the policy following lawsuits that have been filed against it.
The court’s four liberal justices, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, would have prevented the policy from taking effect.
Federal appeals courts in San Francisco and Richmond, Virginia, had previously overturned trial court rulings against the policy. An injunction in Illinois remains in effect, but applies only to that state.
The lawsuits will continue, but immigrants applying for permanent residency must now show they wouldn’t be public charges, or burdens to the country.
The new policy significantly expands what factors would be considered to make that determination, and if it is decided that immigrants could potentially become public charges at any point in the future, that legal residency could be denied.
Roughly 544,000 people apply for green cards annually. According to the government, 382,000 are in categories that would make them subject to the new review.
Immigrants make up a small portion of those getting public benefits, since many are ineligible to get them because of their immigration status. 
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Gambia’s police have arrested 137 people amid protests calling for the president to step down after three years in power, the government said Monday, a startling turn for a country whose leader has vowed reforms and justice for the repression of the past.Security forces used tear gas Sunday to break up the thousands of demonstrators, worrying many Gambians who lived under the oppressive rule of former President Yahya Jammeh for more than 22 years. Jammeh flew into exile in 2017 after an election loss to Adama Barrow.At least 18 paramilitary members and seven civilians were injured in Sunday’s confrontation, the government said.FILE – People cheer as President Adama Barrow arrives in Serrekunda, Gambia, Jan. 26, 2017.Barrow’s election win in 2016 was celebrated as a new beginning for the tiny West African nation. When he came to power he said he would look into calling for new elections after three years. Last year, however, some members of the coalition that backed him supported his remaining in office for the five years allowed in the constitution.Some Gambians have formed a movement called Operation 3-Years Jotna, which means Three Years is Enough.On Sunday, Gambia’s government banned the group, calling it a “subversive, violent and illegal movement,” according to a statement from spokesman Ebrima G. Sankareh.The government said the movement never registered and is determined to illegally unseat the constitutionally elected president.Barrow’s government also suspended two radio stations pending investigations into accusations they peddled “incendiary messages and allowed their media to be used as a platforms for inciting violence” by encouraging Gambians to join the movement.The Committee to Protect Journalists said it is investigating reports of journalists being arrested and assaulted, along with the radio shutdowns.
“It is no longer the era of dictator (hash)YahyaJammeh. Authorities must protect press freedom & the public’s right to know,” the group said on Twitter.
A regional director with Amnesty International, Marta Colomer, said the crackdown on protesters had “alarming echoes of Gambia’s brutal past.”
“There have been some significant improvements in the country’s human rights record since President Adama Barrow came to power, but the use of excessive force by security forces to disperse protesters risks fueling tensions and steering Gambia back to dark days of repression,” she said.
The clampdown comes amid reports that former dictator Jammeh wants to return to Gambia.
On Saturday, hundreds of victims of his rule demonstrated in the capital, Banjul, demanding justice for human rights abuses committed under his regime. Other marches earlier this month by Jammeh supporters called for his return to be allowed.
Gambia’s Justice Minister Aboubacarr Tambadou has made it clear that Jammeh will face an accountability process if he steps into the country.   
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