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YOU: PRO - NEW GENERATION POWERS UP YOUR TECH

THE BIG LESSON FROM THE BEZOS HACK: ANYONE CAN BE A TARGET

APPLE HOLIDAY SEASON TOPS PROJECTIONS AS iPHONE BOUNCES BACK

62 GUY RITCHIE’S ‘THE GENTLEMEN’ IS STALE PINT OF ALE

SALE ENDING SOON? HOW ONLINE STORES TRICK YOU INTO BUYING 18 WORKERS CRITICIZE AMAZON ON CLIMATE DESPITE RISK TO JOBS 26 ALEXA, READ ME A STORY: AUDIO CONTENT FOR KIDS ON THE RISE 30 GM TO INVEST $2.2B IN DETROIT TO BUILD ELECTRIC VEHICLES 56 US CONSUMER CONFIDENCE SHOWS SOLID GAIN IN JANUARY 70 ASTRONAUT CRAVES SALSA AND SURF AFTER RECORD 11 MONTHS ALOFT 74 BILLIE EILISH, A VOICE OF THE YOUTH, TOPS THE GRAMMY AWARDS 104 KEEPING ‘FRIENDS’ FOR ITSELF AT HBO MAX DINGS AT&T PROFIT 112 AIRBNB LAUNCHES BAHAMAS SABBATICAL TO HELP AFTER DORIAN 118 LEAKED REPORT SHOWS UNITED NATIONS SUFFERED HACK 120 ESPN+ TO GET STREAMING DEAL AS PGA TOUR WRAPS UP TV TALKS 140 IN SNUB TO US, BRITAIN WILL ALLOW HUAWEI IN 5G NETWORKS 152 UK INTRODUCES NEW FAST-TRACK VISA TO ATTRACT SCIENTISTS 160 WYOMING GOVERNOR: CARBON CAPTURE TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP COAL 164 CHINA VIRUS OUTBREAK RAMS GLOBAL TOURISM, COSTING BILLIONS 170

iTUNES REVIEW 82 TOP 10 SONGS 130 TOP 10 ALBUMS 132 TOP 10 MUSIC VIDEOS 134 TOP 10 TV SHOWS 136 TOP 10 BOOKS 138

THE BIG LESSON FROM THE BEZOS HACK: ANYONE CAN BE A TARGET

You may not think you’re in the same league as Jeff Bezos when it comes to being a hacking target. Probably not, but you — and just about anyone else, potentially including senior U.S. government figures — could still be vulnerable to an attack similar to one the Amazon founder and Washington Post owner apparently experienced. Two U.N. experts this week called for the U.S. to investigate a likely hack of Bezos’ phone that could have involved Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. A commissioned forensic report found with “medium to high confidence” that Bezos’ iPhone X was compromised by a video MP4 file he received from the prince in May 2018. 9

Bezos later went public about the hack after the National Enquirer tabloid threatened to publish Bezos’ private photos if he didn’t call off a private investigation into the hacking of his phone. It’s not clear if those two events are related. The Saudis have denied any involvement in the purported hack. The events could potentially affect U.S.-Saudi relations. Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, said he is asking the National Security Agency to look into the security of White House officials who may have messaged the crown prince, particularly on personal devices. Jared Kushner, a White House aide and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, is known to have done so using WhatsApp. Wyden called reports of the Bezos hack “extraordinarily ominous” and said they may have “startling repercussions for national security.” But they could resonate at the personal level as well. As the cost of hacking falls while opportunities to dig into peoples’ online lives multiply, more and more people are likely to end up as targets, even if they’re not the richest individuals in the world. Ultimately, that boils down to a simple lesson: Be careful who you talk to — and what you’re using to chat with them. “People need to get out of the mindset that nobody would hack them,” said Katie Moussouris, founder and CEO of Luta Security. “You don’t have to be a specific target or a big fish to find yourself at the mercy of an opportunistic attacker.”

WhatsApp, owned by Facebook, is generally considered a secure way of trading private online messages due to the fact that it scrambles messages and calls with encryption so that only senders and recipients can understand them. What many people may not have realized is that it, like almost any messaging service, can act as a conduit for malware. That encryption, however, is no help if a trusted contact finds a way to use that connection to break into the phone’s operating system. In fact, an infected attachment can’t be detected by security software while it’s encrypted, and apps like WhatsApp don’t scan for malware even once files are decrypted. WhatsApp users can disable the automatic downloading of photos, videos and other media, which happens by default unless the user takes action. Other messaging apps are likely also vulnerable. “It just so happens that this one was a vulnerability in WhatsApp,” said JT Keating, of Texas-based security firm Zimperium. “It could have been in any one of any number of apps.” Prince Mohammed exchanged numbers with Bezos during a U.S. trip in spring 2018. On the same visit, the prince also met with other tech executives, including the CEOs of Google, Apple and Palantir, as well as sports and entertainment celebrities and academic leaders. Virgin Group founder Richard Branson gave the Saudi delegation a tour of the Mojave Air and Space Port in the desert north of Los Angeles.

Google and Apple didn’t respond to emailed requests for comment this week on whether their executives shared personal contacts after that trip. Palantir Technologies confirmed that its CEO Alex Karp met with the prince but said they never shared personal messages. Virgin Group said it was looking into it. UC Berkeley cybersecurity researcher Bill Marczak cautioned that there’s still no conclusive evidence that the Saudi video was malicious, adding that it might be premature to jump to broader conclusions about it. Many other security experts have also questioned the forensics report upon which U.N. officials are basing their conclusions. But Marczak said it is generally good advice to “always be on the lookout for suspicious links or messages that sound too good to be true.” Even caution about avoiding suspicious links might not be good enough to ward off spyware — especially for high-profile targets like dissidents, journalists and wealthy executives. Hackers-for-hire last year took advantage of a WhatsApp bug to remotely hijack dozens of phones and take control of their cameras and microphones without the user having to click anything to let them in. In such cases, said Marczak, “there doesn’t need to be any interaction on the part of the person being targeted.”

SALE ENDING SOON? HOW ONLINE STORES TRICK YOU INTO BUYING

Sale ending soon! Only two left! This is a hot item! If you’ve shopped online, you’ve probably seen those messages. What you may not realize: They’re designed to make you spend more. Online stores have adopted tricks used for years by infomercials and home shopping networks. The only difference now: online stores are trying to get you to click the buy button. After reviewing 200 of the top shopping sites, including Amazon, eBay and Macys.com, a study by the University of Michigan’s School 18

of Information found that all the sites had an average of 19 features that could encourage impulse buying, such as limited-time discounts and wording that made an item seem like it was almost out of stock. The best way to combat them? Being aware of the tactics retailers use. “The onus is on the consumer,” says Paco Underhill, author of “Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping.” Here’s what to watch out for:

ALMOST SOLD OUT Be suspicious of messages that say an item is almost sold out. They’re easy to fall for, since more people are shopping on their phones and have less time to shop, says Underhill, who is also the founder of retail consulting firm Envirosell. He says shoppers should take a break and check back a couple of hours later, especially if it’s an item you don’t really need. Chances are the item is not really selling out and you may decide you don’t want to buy it after all. Another thing to watch out for: messages saying an item is in high demand. It can make you feel like the item may sell out soon and entice you to buy. A study by Princeton University and the University of Chicago singled out online clothing seller Fashion Nova, which tells customers that items in their cart “are in high demand.” The problem? The message appears for any item that’s added to the cart. Fashion Nova’s cart also tells shoppers that their items are being “reserved” for 10 minutes. But nothing happens to the items after the 10 minutes are up. 20

Fashion Nova didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment.

FALLING PRICES On Amazon, it’s common for the online shopping giant to show a crossed off “list price” and a lower price it is selling the item for. Don’t rely on that, says Edgar Dworsky, a consumer advocate who runs ConsumerWorld.org. He recommends searching for the item on other sites to see if there’s an even lower price. Another tip: use price tracking site CamelCamelCamel.com, which can show you how the price has changed over time and let you know if it has been cheaper. And be wary of sites that say there’s a limitedtime discount but don’t give you a final date. That’s a sign it’s just a way to get you to shop.

CONFUSING EMAILS If you went to an online store, expect to get an email in your inbox soon. Online stores use artificial intelligence technology to send you emails if you browse or add something to the cart, even if you don’t end up purchasing anything. Read them carefully — they’re designed to get you back to shop. Dworsky has received emails where the subject line made a promise of offering $10 off or free shipping, for example, but then the small print says you have to buy much more to qualify.

FIGHTING BACK If you see a sale countdown clock that keeps restarting, savings that are too good to be true or other misleading activity, Dworsky says you should alert the authorities. Try your local consumer affairs office, state attorney general or the Federal Trade Commission, which takes consumer complaints on its site. Also try complaining to the online store. “Until someone stops them,” he says. “They’re going to keep doing stuff that crosses the line to being deceptive.”

WORKERS CRITICIZE AMAZON ON CLIMATE DESPITE RISK TO JOBS

Hundreds of employees are openly criticizing Amazonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s record on climate change despite what they say is a company policy that puts their jobs at risk for speaking out. More than 300 employees of the online retail giant signed their names and job titles to statements on blog post on Medium. The online protest was organized by a group called Amazon Employees For Climate Justice, an advocacy group founded by Amazon workers that earlier this month said the company had sent letters to its members threatening to fire them if they continued to speak to the press. 26

“It’s our moral responsibility to speak up, and the changes to the communications policy are censoring us from exercising that responsibility,” said Sarah Tracy, a software development engineer at Amazon, in a statement. Amazon said that its policy on external communications is not new and is in keeping with other large companies. It said the policy applies to all Amazon employees and is not directed at any specific group. “While all employees are welcome to engage constructively with any of the many teams inside Amazon that work on sustainability and other topics, we do enforce our external communications policy and will not allow employees to publicly disparage or misrepresent the company or the hard work of their colleagues who are developing solutions to these hard problems,” according to an Amazon spokesperson. Amazon, which relies on fossil fuels to power the planes, trucks and vans that ship packages all over the world, has an enormous carbon footprint. And its workers have been vocal in criticizing some of the company’s practices. Last year, more than 8,000 staffers signed an open letter to CEO and founder Jeff Bezos demanding that Amazon cut its carbon emissions, end its use of fossil fuels and stop its work with oil companies that use Amazon’s technology to locate fossil fuel deposits. Amazon said in a statement that it is passionate about climate change issues and has already pledged to become net zero carbon by 2040 and use 100% renewable energy by 2030.

ALEXA, READ ME A STORY: AUDIO CONTENT FOR KIDS ON THE RISE

Melanie Musson in Belgrade, Montana, does a lot of driving with her four girls. Juggling a broad age range, 1 to 9, she’s forever searching for ways to keep them all entertained without relying entirely on video. While she still adores paper and tablet books for her kids, Musson said: “I think when they hear without seeing, they have to make up visuals in their heads. That’s so good. They have to be engaged and get more out of it.” There are plenty of quality audiobooks, podcasts and music for the young, she noted, but weeding through thousands of selections and jumping from platform to platform is a challenge since audio content has exploded over the last few years. 31

Dad blogger Balint Horvath in Zurich agreed after trying to make sense of kid options for his 14-month-old daughter. “I couldn’t find any resource that would organize podcasts according to different criteria. Information without proper searchability is like looking for a needle in a haystack,” said Horvath, who works as a productivity coach for research and development teams. Audiobooks and music for kids have been around awhile, but podcasts made for the 3-to-12 set are relatively new, driving more parents to choose one-stop platforms that include all formats. Demand is ``primarily driven by parents who are podcast listeners or audiobook fans,’” said Frannie Ucciferri, associate managing editor for the nonprofit Common Sense Media. With a huge bump in podcasts overall, the value of audio content for kids hasn’t been lost on companies large and small. Spotify recently launched a new ad-free app, Spotify Kids, as a free extension for premium family subscribers. Not yet available in the U.S., it’s packed with singalongs, soundtracks and stories for children as young as 3. A platform called Pinna is among the latest to launch adfree with a variety of content and ages in mind, at $7.99 a month or $79.99 a year. Others stick to podcasts alone, while Amazon’s FreeTime Unlimited allows parents to customize a child’s experience to provide the most relevant books, videos, apps and more without ads, starting at $2.99 a month.

Old-school broadcasters are also getting into the act. Boston’s WGBH, for instance, widely shares free of cost two of its top podcasts for young people: “Molly of Denali,” based on the TV series about a girl in Alaska, and “The Creeping Hour,” for ages 8 to 12. More are planned as part of the public affiliate’s “ongoing exploration of audio storytelling,” said WGBH spokeswoman Jeanne Hopkins. Bonnie Way of Vancouver, British Columbia, has five kids, ranging from 2 to 12, and like Musson, she pulls a lot of travel time with her brood. She reaches for audiobooks to keep them happy, even on short trips, and relies a lot on her local library for free selections. “Yes, it can be challenging to find books that everyone is happy listening to. My 4-year-old is probably exposed to things that her older sisters wouldn’t have heard at that age. We started with short stories like Robert Munsch and “Curious George,” and moved to longer stories like the “Chronicles of Narnia,”” she said. Some of her kids are prone to motion sickness, and listening rather than reading helps, Way said. She sees other benefits as well. “Audiobooks create a shared experience. We’re able to discuss the books after we’ve listened to them, which has been a lot of fun,” she said. Maggie McGuire is a former teacher who has been in children’s media for more than 20 years. She’s now CEO of Pinna, which is backed by the Graham Holdings Co., formed from what remained of The Washington Post Co. after the Post itself was sold to Jeff Bezos five years ago.

Pinna both curates and creates for kids ages 3 to 12. It offers more than 2,000 audiobooks, podcasts and songs while also producing original podcasts, all ad-free and in compliance with federal standards aimed at protecting children’s privacy and safety online, McGuire said. It’s available as an app and usable off the Pinna.fm website. Podcasts, McGuire said, are a “fresh new format that everyone’s very excited about.” The company worked with parents and teachers to understand what they were looking for in audio content. Among their priorities were a “one-stop solution” and a high level of curation to ensure quality and that all content was tucked into a safe platform exclusively for kids. “There’s a real desire now to figure out how the media diet in a kid’s day, in a kid’s week, can include things that aren’t wholly screen-based,” McGuire said. Last year, Pinna produced 25 podcasts of its own, and plans to grow that number this year. Its slate of originals accounts for half the listening among its consumers, McGuire said. The company plans to launch curated playlists this month. Not unlike other streamers, Pinna will mix new content with classic stories and other familiar standards. Included is Pinna’s Peabody-winning podcast, “The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel,” a serial mystery performed by middle graders for middle graders. Another popular original is “Grimm, Grimmer, Grimmest,” a series of fairy tales retold. It was written and produced by Adam Gidwitz, bestselling author of “A Tale Dark and Grimm.” 37

For younger kids, Pinna partnered with Random House Children’s Books to turn the publisher’s popular Ron Roy book series, “A to Z Mysteries,” into a podcast. Mo Willems and Rick Riordan are among top names in the company’s audiobook lineup on Pinna, along with music from Kidz Bop, They Might be Giants and Ralph’s World. The Amazon-owned Audible.com, a dominant force in audiobooks, is also reaping benefits from the increased interest in kid content. In 2019, the company said, Audible listeners downloaded 40 percent more such content than they had in 2018. The company offers more than 30,000 titles for kids among more than 475,000 overall. “Parents and families are excited about listening together before bedtime. They’re listening on road trips. They’re listening while they’re making dinner,” said Diana Dapito, a senior vice president of content at Audible. Audible worked with R.L. Stine on its original “Camp Red Moon,” with Pottermore Publishing on Wizarding World audiobooks and has produced more than 100 audiobooks of the “The Baby-Sitters Club” series, including some narrated by Elle Fanning. In September, Audible released an original of Jessica Khoury’s middlegrade “The Mystwick School of Musicraft” with music performed by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Youth Orchestras. It’s now in Audible’s Top 20 most-listened-to kid titles of all time. Parents’ nostalgia has played a role in kids’ listening, Dapito said, but so has the emergence of home speakers such as Alexa. “It’s easier than ever for kids to have access,” she said, “and for everybody to come together.”

As iPhone and iPad sales begin to fall, Apple is focusing its attention on professional users,

company could be on the verge of launching one of its most exciting features to date. Rather

introducing a bunch of new hardware to compete in an increasingly crowded - but

than beefing up its iMacs and MacBooks with high-end specs, Apple looks set to launch Pro

lucrative - market. With the launch of Pro Mode for macOS, the company could be

Mode, boosting performance in some apps to allow for improved speed and productivity.

onto a winnerâ&#x20AC;Ś

PRO MODE POWERS UP YOUR TECH As Apple looks to unlock new revenue streams and appease its professional user base, the

Apple recognizes that, when it comes to professional and high-end computers, Windows and the PC market outshines. And thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s without mentioning mobile devices, and how they are becoming increasingly viable alternatives

for the majority of everyday tasks like admin, processing, collaboration, and communication.

Apple’s reported new Pro Mode, professionals will be able to accelerate application

Rather than equip every member of staff with a high-end Mac, companies opt for cheap PCs and

performance for tasks that most matter to them, increasing the viability of Macs for pros.

Android smartphones to cut costs. But as smartphone sales outshine the desktop

The new feature was first reported by 9to5Mac’s Filipe Espósito, who found the

and laptop markets, Apple is turning to its popular Mac range to encourage consumers

overclocking technology referenced in the macOS Catalina 10.15.3 beta. The new Pro

to drop more cash. Whether it’s producing a movie, playing a game, or editing photography, there are so many use cases for a Mac, and with

Mode would reportedly allow users to turn on and off an overclocking feature as and when needed, with Apple telling users: “Apps

may run faster, but battery life may decrease and fan noise may increase,” in the beta code, suggesting a general release could be on its way. The code also suggests that the Pro Mode will remain on overnight if it’s not manually switched off, meaning editors could keep their machines on all hours of the day to render a video or finish off a project. The idea behind the feature is to optimize system performance to offer more power and performance from specific apps, something that users have been demanding for a long time as they turn to macOS and its popular video editing applications. Over the years, Mac users have created their own software overclock tools, though these have been known to make systems unstable or even cause permanent damage, as the heat generated by overclocked systems exceed the ability of the machine’s thermal systems. By developing a new feature in-house, Apple will help users overcome this issue.

TARGETING PROFESSIONAL USERS Though MacBooks and iMacs were once considered the professional’s choice, there was no doubt that Apple lost its way in the 2010s. In fact, the company issued a highly unusual and surprising press release from Tim Cook, admitting he had let its power users down in recent years with a slew of wrong moves and too much of a focus on its consumer market with MacBooks and iPhones, revealing that a new Mac Pro would launch soon. That was in 2017, and it took more than two years for the Cupertino firm to make good on its promise, but today the $5,999 Mac Pro is winning over 45

critics and offering professionals a genuine alternative to a Windows PC. Indeed, the negative response to the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, which many complained was not oriented towards pro users, was the final nail in the coffin for Apple insiders, prompting the firm to make changes to its strategy and “double down on professional users.” Since then, we’ve seen a whole host of features and products aimed towards professional users, such as the Mac Pro, the popular iMac Pro, the iPhone 11 Pro Max, a redesigned Mac Mini, the iPad Pro, and the powerful new 16-inch MacBook Pro with scissor-switch keyboard. Though Apple has more consumer buyers than professional ones, the company has made it clear in recent years that it cares about both, especially considering that iPhone sales are now falling at record speeds as competition heats up and users hold onto their devices for longer. Apple has proven that it can do both; build teams that work on products for consumers, and others who can create the very best software and hardware for professionals, such as Final Cut Pro X, which was criticized when it launched but now is a powerhouse that runs like the wind on MacBook Pros. That’s without mentioning the iPad Pro, the most advanced tablet on the market, growing its market share day by day. With the launch of iPadOS 13 in September 2019, Apple made the clearest indication yet that the iPad was its next major focus, creating products that work as a viable alternative to a desktop computer. In 2020, that vision could become a reality, as the company is set to launch an all-new 46

Image: Apple Inc.

Maxed out $52,000 Mac Pro Review + Keyboard Showcase!

Image: Apple Inc.

iPad-exclusive keyboard at a Special Event in March with a scissor-switch mechanism taken from the MacBook Pro and even backlit keys, according to a report from Digitimes. The all-new Mac Mini, refreshed in 2018, has also revolutionized companies around the world, with Apple “professionalizing” the desktop and offering a cost-effective workstation that can be implemented anywhere. As well as serving as an alternative to ugly PC towers, the Mac mini can be deployed as servers, saving organizations and individuals thousands.

IMPRESSIVE PERSONALIZATION Perhaps one of the biggest reasons why consumers flock to Apple products, aside from the aesthetics and software capabilities, is in personalization. Head to an Apple Store or the Apple retail website and you’ll see that you can customize any MacBook, iMac, Mac Pro, or Mac mini to within an inch of its life, switching out features and adding in tech that you need to power your business. But that personalization comes at a cost; the Mac Pro, for example, has a starting price of $5,999, but when choosing all of the available hardware upgrades will cause the price to climb to an eye-watering $52,199, though the results are impressive. That’s without mentioning the additional $400 for wheels, Magic Mouse 2 and Magic Trackpad 2 combo, $500 for a rack mount, and $4,999 for the Pro Display XDR, an additional $999 for the stand and another $999 if you want to take advantage of Apple’s new special nanotexture glass. In short, upgrading a Mac is still an expensive business, much more than the jump from a 64GB iPhone to 512GB one. 49

How to Upgrade/Install the Memory in a 2019 Mac Pro

In previous years, professional users have criticized the company for its lack of upgradability, with products like the previous generation Mac Pro and the iMac sold as-is, with processing internals soldered into the device. But thanks to shouts and screams from the loudest critics, Apple is changing its tune, allowing users to open up their new iMacs, Mac Pros, and Mac Minis to add their own RAM, hard drives, and more, creating more affordable and accessible machines. Apple is known for charging exorbitant prices for memory; the new Mac Pro, for example, can be upgraded to 96GB of RAM for $1,000, but RAM can be purchased for much less from third-party sellers and installed yourself with a steady hand and a YouTube tutorial.

Image: Apple Inc.

THE DESKTOP EXPERIENCE ON MOBILE Though Apple’s desktop hardware has never been better, the company has also made some significant gains on mobile. Apple’s iPhone 11 family of phones, including the 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max, released in September, offer singlecore CPU performance that is greater than any Android phone and most thin, light laptops, encouraging consumers to hold off buying a cheap work notebook and sticking to their phones instead. The budget-friendly iPhone 11, available for just $699 in the United States, is selling better than experts had predicted, and this year’s iPhone 12 range, which will include an all-new design and 5G capability, will build upon Apple’s success and offer professionals the most powerful and capable smartphones in history, increasing productivity and performance in the workplace. In the years ahead, we’re expected to see holographic displays, flexible frames, and more advanced artificial intelligence and virtual reality that will remove the friction of everyday tasks. We’re already seeing Apple invest in Siri through new AI and voice tech acquisitions, but by the mid-2020s, voice assistants will become an indispensable part of our lives, regardless of whether Apple’s ill-fated smart speaker HomePod is a success. What we do know for certain is that professionals are using their smartphones more in the workplace than ever before, changing organizational behavior and transforming the future. From Amazon delivery drivers using their devices to track parcels to PR professionals sending out social media posts on their phones, 52

Image: Apple Inc.

the smartphone and desktop relationship is more blended than ever, and as Apple invests more in Project Catalyst, its plan to bring iOS and iPadOS productivity apps to the Mac, we’ll see a streamlined, unified experience across the Apple ecosystem that makes us work smarter, not harder. The truth is, there’s never been a better time to be a macOS or iOS user. Apple has been plowing resources into creating the most advanced creative software, empowering pros to do more, backed up by cutting-edge hardware that offers the flexibility and performance they need to create world-changing products. Embrace what’s on offer and work your magic… Image: Apple Inc.

GM TO INVEST $2.2B IN DETROIT TO BUILD ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Image: Paul Sancya

General Motors is spending $2.2 billion to refurbish an underused Detroit factory so it can build a series of electric and self-driving vehicles, eventually employing 2,200 people. GM said in a statement that the factory will start building the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first electric pickup late in 2021, followed by a funky-looking self-driving shuttle for GMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cruise autonomous vehicle unit. The truck will be the first of several electric vehicles to be built at the plant, which straddles the border between Detroit and the enclave of Hamtramck. The company has plans to revive the Hummer nameplate for one of the vehicles. In November of 2018 GM announced plans to close the factory along with three others in the U.S. But the company promised to reopen Detroit-Hamtramck to build electric vehicles during last fallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s contentious contract negotiations with the United Auto Workers union.

At that time the plant employed about 1,500 hourly and salaried workers. Currently the plant is working on one shift with about 900 workers making the Cadillac CT6 and Chevrolet Impala sedans. The factory will be shut down at the end of February, when renovations are expected to begin. The general assembly area as well as the paint and body shops will get major upgrades including new machinery, conveyors and controls, GM said in a statement.

Image: Paul Sancya

GM will also invest $800 million in equipment for parts suppliers and other projects related to the new electric trucks. The factory will be GM’s first assembly plant to be fully dedicated to building electric vehicles. “Through this investment, GM is taking a big step forward in making our vision of an allelectric future a reality,” GM President Mark Reuss said in a statement. He was to announce the plans at the plant with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Image: Mike Mulholland

The announcement came days after Michigan’s economic-development arm, the Michigan Strategic Fund, agreed to revise tax breaks for GM in exchange for the company’s commitment to invest at least $3.5 billion more over 10 years in the state, including to build electric vehicles at Detroit-Hamtramck. The value of the automaker’s maximum state tax credit was cut by $325 million, to nearly $2.3 billion through 2029. GM still has to retain at least 34,750 jobs in Michigan — it has about 45,000 now — but got flexibility to count more jobs at its headquarters in Detroit and its research, development and engineering campus in the suburb of Warren. The plant now employs about 800 people. Production of the Chevrolet Impala will cease at the end of February, at which point renovations will begin to produce electric pickups and other vehicles. The plant will have 2,000 employees once it is at full capacity. GM CEO Mary Barra has promised an “all-electric future,” with the company restructuring to raise cash in part to develop 20 electric models that it plans to sell worldwide by 2023. GM already has announced plans by a joint venture with LG Chem to invest $2.3 billion to build a battery cell factory in Lordstown, Ohio. The factory will supply cells to vehicles made at the Detroit plant. GM expects the Lordstown factory to employ up to 1,000 people. Last year the company closed a giant small-car assembly plant there that employed 4,000 people just two years ago. Workers at the battery plant likely will make less money than the roughly $30 per hour paid to vehicle assembly plant workers. 61

APPLE HOLIDAY SEASON TOPS PROJECTIONS AS iPHONE BOUNCES BACK

Apple is still reaping huge profits from the iPhone while mining more moneymaking opportunities from the growing popularity of its smartwatch, digital services and wireless earbuds. That combination produced a banner season for a company whose fortunes appeared to be sliding just a year ago amid declining sales for the iPhone, its marquee product for the past decade. Apple’s fiscal first-quarter results, released Tuesday, provided the latest proof that the fears hanging over the consumer electronics icon might have been unfounded. Apple’s profit and revenue for the OctoberDecember period topped analysts’ projections, 63

providing another boost to a stock that has more than doubled in less than 13 months. The shares surged more than 2% to $325.33 in extended trading after the numbers came out. That’s up from $142 in January 2019 after Apple warned that consumers weren’t buying as many new iPhones as they once were, especially in China, the company’s biggest market outside the U.S. and Europe. If the stock gets a similar gain in the next trading sessions, it will mark a new all-time high for the stock and further cement Apple’s position as the most valuable company in the U.S., with a market value above $1.4 trillion. A deadly viral outbreak in China, which has curtailed travel and threatens the world economy, looms as a potential concern for Apple, but investors for now are focusing on what looks like an even more prosperous road ahead for a company that turned a $55 billion profit in its past fiscal year. Apple got off to a fast start for fiscal 2020, with a first-quarter profit of $22.2 billion, or $4.99 per share, on revenue of $91.8 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet had predicted earnings of $4.54 per share on revenue of $88.5 billion. As usual, the iPhone remained Apple’s marquee attraction. Boosted by the release of the iPhone 11 heading into the holiday season, the product generated sales of $56 billion, an 8% increase from the previous year’s disappointing showing. Besides rolling out high-end phones with more cameras and a starting price of $1,000, Apple sold a more basic model starting at $700 — a $50 drop from a comparable version released in 2018.

Image: Steven Senne

Apple’s division that includes its app store, product warranties, music streaming and a new Netflix-like video service delivered revenue of $12.7 billion, up 17% from the previous year. Apple is hoping its service division will produce revenue of at least $50 billion this year, doubling its output in just four years. The services division is feeding into all iPhones, iPads, Macs and other Apple products already being used, which the company said now totals 1.5 billion devices, up by 100 million from the previous year. “”We see this as a powerful testament to the satisfaction, engagement and loyalty of our customers — and a great driver of our growth across the board,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement. The Apple TV Plus video streaming service, which Apple launched amid great fanfare in October, is supposed to help that cause, but it may not be a huge contributor this year. That’s because Apple is initially selling it for just $5 per month to help drum up interest. That’s less than half the price of Netflix’s most popular plan. What’s more, Apple is giving away a free year of Apple TV Plus to anyone who buys a new iPhone or several other devices, a promotion that means tens of millions of people aren’t paying anything for the service yet. Apple hasn’t released subscription numbers for the video service. Meanwhile, the Apple Watch, which the company began selling nearly five years ago, continued to gain new converts, and the latest version of its wireless earbuds, AirPods, emerged as a hot commodity during the holiday season.

Apple introduced the AirPods after removing the headphone jack from the iPhone in 2016, but the product picked up more momentum in October with a next-generation set designed to fit better in people’s ears. That version, called AirPods Pro, proved so popular that Apple had trouble keeping it in stock. The AirPods Pro also cost more at $250, compared with $160 to $200 for the previous models. All those factors helped Apple’s “wearables, home and accessories” category garner sales totaling $10 billion in the past quarter, a 37% increase from the previous year. That makes this category Apple’s fastest growing division.

Image: Andy Wong

US CONSUMER CONFIDENCE SHOWS SOLID GAIN IN JANUARY

U.S. consumer confidence showed a strong gain in January, bolstered by continued strength in the job market. The Conference Board said that its consumer confidence index rose to a reading of 131.6 this month, up from 128.2 in December. Lynn Franco, senior director of economic indicators at the Conference Board, said that the increase, which followed a more moderate advance in December, reflected a more positive assessment of the current job market and increased optimism about future job prospects. 70

Image: Steven Senne

’“Optimism about the labor market should continue to support confidence in the shortterm and, as a result, consumers will continue driving growth and prevent the economy slowing slowing in early 2020,” Franco said. The Conference Board’s present situation index and its expectation index both showed gains in January. Consumer confidence surveys are closely followed for clues about whether households are in a buying mood. Consumer spending accounts for 70% of economic activity. The economy slowed in 2019 and is expected to slow further in 2020 but solid consumer spending is expected to keep the country out of a recession. 73

ASTRONAUT CRAVES SALSA AND SURF AFTER RECORD 11 MONTHS ALOFT

After nearly 11 months in orbit, the astronaut holding the record for the longest spaceflight by a woman can’t wait to dig into some salsa and chips, and swim and surf in the Gulf of Mexico. NASA astronaut Christina Koch told this week — her 319th consecutive day in space — that taking part in the first all-female spacewalk was the highlight of her mission. She’s been living on the International Space Station since March and returns to Earth on Feb. 6, landing in Kazakhstan with two colleagues aboard a Russian capsule. Koch said she and fellow NASA astronaut Jessica Meir appreciated that the Oct. 18 spacewalk “could serve as an inspiration for future space explorers.” 75

“We both drew a lot of inspiration from seeing people that were reflections of ourselves as we were growing up and developing our dreams to become astronauts,” Koch said from the space station. “So to recognize that maybe we could pay that forward and serve the same for those that are up and coming was just such a highlight.” Koch’s astronaut class of 2013 was split equally between women and men, but NASA’s astronaut corps as a whole is male dominated. Right now, four men and two women are living at the space station. “Diversity is important, and I think it is something worth fighting for,” said Koch, an electrical engineer who also has a physics degree. Koch’s 328-day mission will be the secondlongest by an American, trailing Scott Kelly’s flight by 12 days. She’s already set a record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman. She took time out for a pair of news interviews Tuesday, the 34th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger accident that claimed all seven lives on board. She said she loves her work — she conducted six spacewalks and tended to science experiments — but she also misses her friends and family. “If they could visit here, I would continue staying for a very long time,” said Koch, a first-time space flier. “For their sake, I think that it’s probably time to head home.” Her biggest surprise is how easily and quickly she adapted both mentally and physically to weightlessness. “I don’t even really realize that I’m floating any more,” she said. 76

Why do chips and salsa top her most-missed food list? Crunchy food like chips are banned on the space station because the crumbs could float away and clog equipment. “I haven’t had chips in about 10 1/2 months,” she explained, “but I have had a fresh apple” thanks to regular cargo deliveries. Another thing she misses: the ability to put things down and not have them float away. She’s gotten used to using Velcro and tape to make things stay put, “so I hope that when I go back to Earth, I don’t accidentally drop things, especially when I’m handing them to people.” Kelly, whose mission spanned 2015 and 2016, has given her advance notice of what to expect. “It’s a great reminder to keep mentoring,” Koch said. When her record is broken, “I hope to mentor that person just as I’ve been mentored.” Koch said it was crucial staying connected to loved ones through phone calls and video conferences. She watched as her nieces and nephews opened their Christmas presents. But it’s also special celebrating holidays in space, she noted, which “kind of takes any sting off of missing your family.” Koch grew up in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and now lives near the Gulf of Mexico in Galveston, Texas, with her husband, Bob. She said she can’t wait for their next wedding anniversary, Christmas at home and his birthday. Her 41st birthday was Wednesday. How did she plan to celebrate? Playing Scrabble with her U.S., Italian and Russian crew mates, as challenging as that might be in weightlessness. She packed a travel version of the game and has been too busy to enjoy it. 80

by James Mangold Genre: Action & Adventure Released: 2019 Price: $19.99 FORD v FERRARI | Official Trailer [HD] 20th Century FOX

Movies & 82

TV Shows

79 Ratings

Ford v Ferrari The visionary automotive designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and British-born professional racecar driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale) build a revolutionary new racecar, the Ford GT40, to take the challenge to Ferrari’s team at France’s 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans race.

FIVE FACTS: 1. This is an adaptation of a real-life story, with Shelby and Miles far from the only reallife characters depicted in the film. 2. For example, Alex Gurney plays his father, racing driver Dan Gurney, in the film. 3. Also featured are villainous portrayals of Leo Beebe and Henry Ford II, both real-life and high-profile Ford executives – leading the Ford company to distance itself from the film before its release. 4. Despite being marketed as Ford v Ferrari in North America, the movie is titled Le Mans ‘66 in most other countries. 5. At one point in its development, the film was titled Go Like Hell, with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt considered for the lead roles.

Rotten Tomatoes

% 83

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Ford v Ferrariâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Stars Christian Bale & Matt Damon on Shooting Intense Racing Scenes

Last Christmas Kate (Emilia Clarke), stuck in a dead-end job at a Christmas store in London, seems to keep stumbling from one bad decision to another. However, hope is at hand when she spots a mysterious man, Tom (Henry Golding), outside her workplace and starts a relationship with him.

FIVE FACTS: 1. The film takes its title from the namesake song released in December 1984 by British pop duo Wham!, consisting of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. 2. The film also features various other George Michael songs, including “This is How (We Want You to Get High)”, which the singer worked on in 2016, before his death that year. 3. The script is co-written by Emma Thompson, who initially started working on it in 2010.

by Paul Feig Genre: Romance Released: 2019 Price: $19.99

49 Ratings

4. Ridgeley makes an on-screen cameo in a crowd scene. 5. This is the second romantic film, after 2016’s Me Before You, in which Clarke has starred.

Rotten Tomatoes

Last Christmas - Official Trailer

Henry Golding Spills Details About His Last Christmas Rom-Com with Emilia Clarke

Pet Shop Boys (feat. Years & Years) - Dreamland (Official lyric video)

Music

Hotspot Pet Shop Boys The legendary British synth-pop duo completes their trilogy of albums produced by the Los Angeles-based producer Stuart Price. The “banging and lasers” of 2013’s Electric and 2016’s Super are slightly powered down for Hotspot, the boys’ love letter to the German capital, Berlin.

FIVE FACTS: Genre: Pop Released: Jan 24, 2020 10 Songs Price: $10.99

1. The Pet Shop Boys, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, first met in a chance encounter at a London electronics store in 1981.

57 Ratings

2. The new album’s title is partly derived from Berlin’s history as the “hotspot” of the Cold War. 3. Hotspot was primarily recorded at Berlin’s Hansa studio, located only about 150 meters from where the Berlin Wall once stood. 4. The lead single, “Dreamland”, is a collaboration with another British synth-pop act, Years & Years. 5. All three albums of the Stuart Price trilogy have been widely acclaimed by critics, with Hotspot achieving a 78% score on the review aggregator site Metacritic.

Pet Shop Boys - Burning the heather (radio edit) (Official lyric video)

Aurora Breaking Benjamin Following the mid-2010s renaissance of the Pennsylvania-formed hard-rock band Breaking Benjamin, lead vocalist Benjamin Burnley and his cohorts are now reflecting on the past. Aurora brings together acoustic renditions of several of the band’s most esteemed songs.

FIVE FACTS: 1. The band’s unusual name comes from an incident where, after Burnley broke a borrowed microphone, its owner sarcastically thanked him. 2. Breaking Benjamin is actually the second band of that name fronted by Burnley, although the first was short-lived, ending when Burnley moved to California. 3. The current band is said to have formed in 1999, although it has gone through several lineup changes since then, with Burnley now the only original member. 4. Dark Before Dawn, released in the summer of 2015, was the band’s first fulllength studio album to reach the summit of the Billboard 200 chart. 5. The only brand-new track on Aurora is “Far Away”, featuring Scooter Ward of Cold.

Genre: Rock Released: Jan 24, 2020 10 Songs Price: $9.99

144 Ratings

Breaking Benjamin - Far Away ft. Scooter Ward

Breaking Benjamin - So Cold (Aurora Version/Official Lyric Video)

GUY RITCHIE’S ‘THE GENTLEMEN’ IS STALE PINT OF ALE

Guy Ritchie’s honor-among-thieves meta-caper “The Gentlemen,” with Matthew McConaughey, has all the tailored tweed suits and smoky atmosphere of a handsome scotch commercial. “The Gentlemen” might not be an ad, but Ritchie’s film is most assuredly selling something. It’s selling a vision in which “real men” handle their business with a touch of class. There are those who get it (handsome, heterosexual white men) and those who don’t (overambitious minorities, predatory gay men). In “The Gentlemen,” any criminal aspirant lacking the proper panache is set straight, until the underworld empire of crime boss Mickey Pearson (McConaughey) has been sufficiently protected. “If you wish to be the king of the jungle, it’s not enough to act like the king. You must be the king,” McConaughey’s gangster intones in the 99

film’s opening. It’s a musing that would fit right into one of McConaughey’s Lincoln adverts but it reflects the overarching, chest-thumping ethos of “The Gentlemen,” a well-heeled, starpacked crime thriller that preaches a retrograde masculinity with the mumbo jumbo to go with it. For Ritchie, “The Gentlemen” is a return to the scene of the crime. The British director first burst on the scene two decades ago with showily stylistic Cockney crime movies (“Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,”“Snatch”) before transitioning into larger and glossier studio projects. He made a pair of “Sherlock Holmes” pictures that glumly swapped the detective’s brains for brawn, and last year’s live-action “Aladdin.” “The Gentlemen” brings Ritchie back into his element, for better and worse, along with an allstar cast including Charlie Hunnam, Hugh Grant, Colin Farrell, Jeremy Strong and Henry Golding. From the start, there’s plenty of winking. Mickey walks into a pub where a bartender draws a pint of the director’s own microbrew, Gritchie’s English Lore. The scene ends with mysterious bloodshed. After the credits, it shifts to a tale being told by a blackmailing tabloid journalist named Fletcher (Grant) to Mickey’s consiglieri, Raymond (Hunnam). He relates his shakedown in elaborate fashion, framing the story he’s asking $20 million not to tell as a movie script titled “Bush.” (He thinks it should be in 35mm and be like Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Conversation” but less boring.) Raymond mostly listens patiently — he grills Fletcher a steak and abides his occasional leering — while Fletcher describes how 100

The Gentlemen | Official Trailer [HD]

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Mickey attempted to sell his marijuana farm empire for $400 million but suddenly ran into countless headaches. His would-be buyer is a wealthy Jewish man played by Jeremy Strong of “Succession,” and the biggest tell that he’s somehow behind the trouble is his character’s fey manner, which in the world of “The Gentlemen” signals his duplicity. There is also an up-and-coming Chinese gangster Dry Eye (Golding), and you can guess that he turns out to be the bad sort of criminal unworthy of Mickey’s stature.

The Gentlemen | Official Trailer 2 [HD]

It’s not that Ritchie’s film doesn’t have some zip. The many-layered narrative, once it comes alive after lengthy exposition, is smartly plotted. And several of the actors are good, especially Farrell as a protective boxing trainer whose kids inadvertently get involved. And Hunnam’s presence, alone, keeps the movie grounded. But the movie time and time again exalts the gallantry of its gentlemen heroes at the expense of those unlike them. It gives this glass of Gritchie’s English Lore a bitter taste. “The Gentlemen,” an STXfilms release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for violence, language throughout, sexual references and drug content. Running time: 115 minutes. Two stars out of four.

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Image: Chris Pizzello

BILLIE EILISH, A VOICE OF THE YOUTH, TOPS THE GRAMMY AWARDS

Singer Billie Eilish, who gave voice to young people struggling with depression on a do-ityourself album she made at home with her older brother, is atop the music world. The 18-year-old made history at the Grammy Awards last weekend. Not only did she become the youngest person to win one of Grammy’s top awards — record, song and album of the year, and best new artist — Eilish is the first artist to sweep all four since Christopher Cross in 1981. Her triumph came on a night made somber by the death of former Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant. It also ended a tumultuous week for the Recording Academy that included its ousted CEO accusing the Grammys nominations process of being rigged, and Diddy calling out the organization for not giving enough respect to R&B and hip-hop. 104

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An estimated 18.7 million people watched the show, which ran late and packed three of its top awards into the final 15 minutes. That’s down from the 19.9 million who watched in 2019 and the 19.8 million viewers in 2018, the Nielsen company said. Eilish’s “When We all Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” also won best pop vocal album. Her brother Finneas O’Connell also won awards for engineering and producing the album. “The music I listened to when I was growing up, maybe 7, 8, 9 or 10, 13, that was the most important music to me forever,” Finneas said backstage after the ceremony. “Anytime a person that age comes up to either one of us and says (it is their favorite), I know how much that means to them. That’s why it means so much to me. I hope they’re celebrating. This is all because of them.” He said that they never thought that an album that addresses depression, suicidal thoughts and climate change would be up for a Grammy. d that they made the album in a bedroom of the Los Angeles-area home where they grew up in. “It’s like anything is possible,” she said. In accepting her awards, Eilish noted that she had grown up listening to many of the artists at the ceremony in Los Angeles’ Staples Center. She also said she thought Ariana Grande deserved album of the year, an onstage moment that recalled Adele saying the same thing about Beyoncé the same year Adele triumphed. The success of a young, white girl came on a night the Recording Academy seemingly went out of its way to highlight diversity. Lizzo offered a powerhouse opening performance, 106

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and there were tributes to Prince and the late rapper Nipsey Hussle. Tyler, the Creator offered an incendiary version of “Earfquake” with Boyz II Men. Lil Nas X sang his omnipresent “Old Town Road.” H.E.R. sang, as did host Alicia Keys and Gary Clark Jr. with the Roots. Tyler, the Creator said later that the rap album Grammy was a backhanded compliment. While he’s grateful to be acknowledged, “it also sucks whenever we, I mean guys that look like me, do anything that’s genre bending, they always put it in an urban rapper category,” he said. “I don’t like that urban word. It’s just a politically correct way to say the N-word to me.” Earlier in the show, Keys sat at a piano to sing a rewrite of Lewis Capaldi’s song, “Someone You Loved” that name-checked many of the nominated artists but also included a few pointed lines about respect. “I’m gonna be honest with y’all,” she said. “It’s been a helluva week.” Keys also had the delicate task of addressing the shock of Bryant’s death in a helicopter crash, while onstage at the same arena where the former Laker won championships. She sang “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday” with Boyz II Men. References to Bryant abounded — a Lakers jersey held up by Run-DMC during their performance of “Walk This Way” with Aerosmith, and adorning a couch on a set where Lil Nas X began “Old Town Road.”

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“We’re all feeling crazy sadness right now,” said Keys, who received praise online for how she handled it. “Alicia, you’ve been lighting this awards show up,” rapper Common said onstage. “Thank you.” Besides her big opening, Lizzo took home three Grammys, including best pop solo performance for “Truth Hurts” and two R&B awards. She also seemed noticeably affected by Bryant’s death. “We need to continue to reach out,” she told her fellow artists. “This is the beginning of making music that moves people again.” Clark’s pointed “This Land” also won for best rock song and rock performance, and he won a third for contemporary blues album. Among the show’s more touching moments was Tyler, the Creator bringing his tearful mother onstage with him to accept his Grammy. Singer Demi Lovato made a comeback appearance after her reported overdose, singing a song she said was written in the troubled days before that event. Camila Cabello sang “First Man,” a song dedicated to her father, and received a bear hug from a sobbing dad when it was done. DJ Khaled helped lead the emotional tribute to Hussle, the Los Angeles rapper who was gunned down in March, not long after attending his first Grammy ceremony as a nominee. On Sunday, Hussle won two posthumous Grammys. Tyler, the Creator, Lizzo and, of course, Eilish were among the acts who won their first-ever Grammys. Other first-time winners included Tanya Tucker, J. Cole, Lil Nas X, Billy Ray Cyrus, Michelle Obama, Sara Bareilles, Rosalía and 21 Savage. Gospel legend Kirk Franklin received his 14th and 15th career Grammys. 110

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KEEPING ‘FRIENDS’ FOR ITSELF AT HBO MAX DINGS AT&T PROFIT

As entertainment companies roll out new streaming services, they’re stocking them with the goodies from their own content archives, hoping that the loss of income today will mean more money rolling in from subscribers in the future. In its fourth quarter, AT&T said that bet cost it $1.2 billion in revenue. AT&T isn’t alone in doing this. Comcast’s NBCUniversal took back “The Office ” from Netflix for Peacock; Disney grabbed its movies for Disney Plus. Disney has said it lost about $150 million in licensing revenue in its 2019 fiscal year from terminating deals with Netflix and other services. 112

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AT&T’s WarnerMedia is launching HBO Max in May and decided to keep “Friends” and “Big Bang Theory” for itself to bolster the service as its traditional TV customers melt away. The company said during its earnings call that WarnerMedia lost $1.2 billion in revenue and $500 million in a key profit measure because it kept “Friends,” “Big Bang Theory” and “other popular shows” for itself instead of licensing them to other streaming companies. WarnerMedia’s revenue fell 3.3% to $8.92 billion in the fourth quarter, and the profit measure dropped 7% to $2.6 billion. “Obviously, this has an upfront cost for us, but we see this as an investment that makes HBO Max even stronger and will pay off over the long term,” said AT&T CFO John Stephens on the earnings call. The company has said it expects to spend $19.5 billion through 2025 for HBO Max in the U.S., and it hopes the service is profitable starting in 2025. HBO Max is important to AT&T as an increasing number of people cut the cable cord. AT&T, one of the country’s largest video providers, has been hemorrhaging video customers. In the fourth quarter, AT&T lost 945,000 DirecTV and cable customers. Its older streaming service, AT&T TV Now, which streams traditional channels online in a bundle, lost 219,000 customers. For the year, AT&T lost 4.1 million video customers, ending at 20.3 million. It says it hopes 2019 was the peak for video subscriber losses. AT&T’s wireless business, its largest division, was more stable. It added 229,000 postpaid 115

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phone customers, the more lucrative part type of customer, but lost 20,000 prepaid phone customers. Overall, the Dallas-based companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s profit fell 51% to $2.39 billion, or 33 cents. Adjusted for one-time costs, quarterly earnings came to 89 cents per share and topped Wall Street estimates of 88 cents per share. Revenue fell 2.4% to $46.82 billion, short of the Street forecast of $46.9 billion. Shares fell 3.4% to $37.28, the stock has risen 26% in the last 12 months.

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AIRBNB LAUNCHES BAHAMAS SABBATICAL TO HELP AFTER DORIAN Airbnb is giving a few people a chance to spend a two-month sabbatical in the Bahamas in an attempt to boost the Caribbean island damaged last year by Hurricane Dorian. At least 67 people were killed and more than $3.4 billion in damage was caused when Hurricane Dorian swept through the country’s hundreds of islands in October 2019. Aribnb has offered other sabbaticals over the past year to promote the environment. For their latest offer, five people have a chance to visit the three islands within the Bahamas that were not affected by the storm: Andros, Eleuthera and Exumas. There, those selected will work on projects for two months including coral reef restoration, pineapple farming, boating building and more, working with the Bahamas National Trust. The nonprofit manages the country’s parks and works to preserve its natural habitat. The trust’s executive director, Eric Carey, says the country is “open for business” and the sabbatical is a way to “share our diverse country and the Bahamian way of life with the world.” 119

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LEAKED REPORT SHOWS UNITED NATIONS SUFFERED HACK

The United Nations has been hacked. An internal confidential document from the United Nations, leaked to The New Humanitarian and seen by The Associated Press, says that dozens of servers were “compromised” at its offices in Geneva and Vienna. Those include the U.N. human rights office, which has often been a lightning rod of criticism from autocratic governments for its calling-out of rights abuses. One U.N. official told the AP that the hack, which was first detected over the summer, appeared “sophisticated” and that the extent of the damage remained unclear, especially in terms of 121

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personal, secret or compromising information that may have been stolen. The official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity to speak freely about the episode, said systems have since been reinforced. The level of sophistication was so high that it was possible a state-backed actor might have been behind it, the official said. There were conflicting accounts about the significance of the incursion. “We were hacked,” U.N. human rights office spokesman Rupert Colville. “We face daily attempts to get into our computer systems. This time, they managed, but it did not get very far. Nothing confidential was compromised.” The breach, at least at the human rights office, appears to have been limited to the so-called active directory - including a staff list and details like e-mail addresses - but not access to passwords. No domain administration’s account was compromised, officials said. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in an e-mail that the attack “resulted in a compromise of core infrastructure components” at the U.N. offices in Geneva and Vienna, and was “determined to be serious.” In an e-mail response, he wrote that the servers in Geneva that were targeted were part of a “development environment and contained non-sensitive, test data from two development servers used for web application development.” “There is no indication that data was exfiltrated from Vienna,” he wrote. The U.N.‘s Vienna office is home notably to the U.N.’s Office on Drugs and Crime. 123

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Dujarric said the world body does not have enough information to determine who might have been behind the incursion, but added “the methods and tools used in the attack indicate a high level of resource, capability and determination. “The damage related to this specific attack has been contained, and additional mitigation measures implemented,” Dujarric wrote. “Nevertheless the threat of future attacks continues, and the United Nations Secretariat detects and responds to multiple attacks of various level of sophistication on a daily basis.” The internal document from the U.N. Office of Information and Technology said 42 servers were “compromised” and another 25 were deemed “suspicious,” nearly all at the sprawling United Nations offices in Geneva and Vienna. Three of the “compromised” servers belonged to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, which is located across town from the main U.N. office in Geneva, and two were used by the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe. Jake Williams, CEO of data firm Rendition Infosec and a former U.S. government hacker, said of the U.N. report: “The intrusion definitely looks like espionage.” He noted that accounts from three different domains were compromised. “This, coupled with the relatively small number of infected machines, is highly suggestive of espionage,” he said after viewing the report. “The attackers have a goal in mind and are deploying malware to machines that they believe serve some purpose for them,” he added.

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The report indicated that 22 accounts were compromised, including domain admins — the log-in level used by administrators. It also showed logs that would have betrayed the activities of the hackers inside the U.N. networks were “cleared.” Williams said the report showed the hackers eliminated evidence of what they may have taken through the bulk erasure of network logs. But by doing so, they left their tracks. The most skilled hackers - including U.S., Russian and Chinese agents —can cover their tracks by editing those logs instead of wiping them clean. Technicians at the United Nations office in Geneva, the world body’s European hub, on at least two occasions worked through weekends in recent months to isolate the local U.N. data center from the Internet, re-write passwords and ensure the systems were clean. The hack comes amid rising concerns about computer or mobile phone vulnerabilities, both for large organizations like governments and the U.N. as well as for individuals and businesses. Last week, U.N. human rights experts asked the U.S. government to investigate a suspected Saudi hack that may have siphoned data from the personal smartphone of Jeff Bezos, the

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Amazon founder and owner of The Washington Post, in 2018. The New York Times’s bureau chief in Beirut, Ben Hubbard, said technology researchers suspected an attempted intrusion into his phone around the same time. The United Nations, and its human rights office, is particularly sensitive, and could be a tempting target. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, and her predecessors have called out, denounced and criticized alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and less severe rights violations and abuses in places as diverse as Syria and Saudi Arabia. Dozens of independent human rights experts who work with the U.N. human rights office have greater leeway - and fewer political and financial ties to the governments that fund the United Nations and make up its membership - to denounce alleged rights abuses. The U.N. document highlights a vulnerability in the software program Microsoft Sharepoint, which could have been used for the hack. Matt Suiche, a French entrepreneur based in Dubai who founded cybersecurity firm Comae Technologies, said that based on the report from September: “It is impossible to know if it was a targeted attack or just some random internet scan for vulnerable SharePoints.” But the U.N. official, speaking to the press, said that since then, the intrusion appeared sophisticated. “It’s as if someone were walking in the sand, and swept up their tracks with a broom afterward,” the official said. “There’s not even a trace of a clean-up.” 128

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ANYONE Demi Lovato

NOBODY BUT YOU (FEAT. GWEN STEFANI) BLake SheLton

BAD GUY BiLLie eiLiSh

FIRST MAN CamiLa CaBeLLo

WHEN THE PARTYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S OVER BiLLie eiLiSh

WHAT A MAN GOTTA DO JonaS BrotherS

EVERYTHING I WANTED BiLLie eiLiSh

DANCE MONKEY toneS anD i

GOOD AS HELL Lizzo

OLD TOWN ROAD (FEAT. BILLY RAY CYRUS) [REMIX] LiL naS X

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WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? BiLLie eiLiSh

MUSIC TO BE MURDERED BY eminem

THE ALBUM, PT. I ChaSe riCe

6 - EP roB BaiLey & the huStLe StanDarD

DONT SMILE AT ME BiLLie eiLiSh

MANIAC haLSey

HOLLYWOOD’S BLEEDING PoSt maLone

AURORA Breaking BenJamin

2020 GRAMMY® NOMINEES variouS artiStS

TIMELESS SuPer Junior

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NOBODY BUT YOU (DUET WITH GWEN STEFANI) BLake SheLton

BAD GUY BiLLie eiLiSh

OLD TOWN ROAD (FEAT. BILLY RAY CYRUS) LiL naS X

HOLD ME (REMIX) Brian mCknight & koBe Bryant

WHAT A MAN GOTTA DO JonaS BrotherS

‘BLACK SWAN’ ART FILM PERFORMED BY MN DANCE COMPANY BtS

EVERYTHING I WANTED BiLLie eiLiSh

YOU SHOULD BE SAD haLSey

UNDERDOG aLiCia keyS

DON’T START NOW Dua LiPa

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2404 the BaCheLor, SeaSon 24

LET THEM EAT PENIS CAKE! BeLow DeCk, SeaSon 7

TEXAS PROUD 9-1-1: Lone Star, SeaSon 1

HELP ME THROUGH THE NIGHT grey’S anatomy, SeaSon 16

FUGITIVE OF THE JUDOON DoCtor who, SeaSon 12

THE JOB INTERVIEW SChitt’S Creek, SeaSon 6 (unCenSoreD)

I DO AND I DON’T KNOW 90 Day FianCé, SeaSon 7

SEX AND DEATH the gooD DoCtor, SeaSon 3

DOPESICK FBi: moSt wanteD, SeaSon 1

BLACK BOX maniFeSt, SeaSon 2

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THE MAMBA MENTALITY koBe Bryant

INSATIABLE heLen harDt

A MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT DaviD BaLDaCCi

WHEN YOU SEE ME LiSa garDner

INTO THE FIRE gregg hurwitz

VENDETTA ROAD ChriStine Feehan

THE BOY IN THE PHOTO niCoLe troPe

CONVERSATIONS WITH FRIENDS SaLLy rooney

A VERY STABLE GENIUS PhiLiP ruCker & CaroL Leonnig

NO, WE CANâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T BE FRIENDS SoPhie ranaLD

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ESPN+ TO GET STREAMING DEAL AS PGA TOUR WRAPS UP TV TALKS

The PGA Tour is closing in on its next television rights deal, likely to be announced after the West Coast swing now that the digital side is coming together. Two people aware of the negotiations say ESPN has emerged as the winner of the streaming sweepstakes, which currently belongs to NBC Sports. They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal is not finalized. Live streaming would be available on ESPN+. It would not be the first time ESPN+ has shown the PGA Tour. It had a portion of PGA Tour Live in 2018 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; it was run by BAMTech, of which Disney 141

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had acquired a controlling stake the previous summer. PGA Tour Live moved to NBC Sports Gold for 2019 and this year. ESPN previously won the rights to weekday coverage of the PGA Championship starting this year at Harding Park and plans to offer supplemental feeds on ESPN+. Sports Business Journal previously reported that CBS and NBC (and Golf Channel) have agreed to terms that would keep them as the networks through 2030, with a rights fee increase of 60%. SBJ reported that CBS and NBC would alternate coverage of the three FedEx Cup playoff events. The PGA Tour announced two other partnerships last week. It is sharing with Pluto TV video-on-demand from PGA Tour Live, broadcast partners and featured hole coverage from 23 events. The tour also announced an agreement with Facebook to distribute daily highlights on Facebook Watch. That began from Torrey Pines. The tour plans to publish daily recaps and player highlights from more than 30 events.

THE RACE FOR NO. 1 Rory McIlroy had a shot at getting back to No. 1 in the world. Now itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Jon Rahmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s opportunity to get there for the first time. And much of it depends on the incumbent, Brooks Koepka. McIlroy needed to win at Torrey Pines to replace Koepka atop the ranking. Instead, he tied for third. McIlroy is taking a long view and figures if he keeps playing at this level, it will happen eventually.

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According to a world ranking guru who goes by “Nosferatu” on Twitter, Rahm can reach No. 1 if he wins the Phoenix Open this week and Koepka finishes outside the top four at the Saudi International. Koepka, who spent three months recovering from a knee injury, returned at Abu Dhabi and tied for 34th. This is the second time Rahm has had a mathematical chance to reach No. 1. Two years ago, he needed to win the Farmers Insurance Open and was two shots out of the lead going to the 18th hole Saturday. He made double bogey and closed with a 77. Rahm, who already has nine victories worldwide that count toward the ranking in his three-plus years as a pro, has two wins and three runner-up finishes in his last seven starts around the world.

DAY’S DELIGHT Jason Day had a good week at Torrey Pines, and his result was only part of the reason. In his first tournament in 10 weeks because of a tender back, Day tied for 16th in the Farmers Insurance Open. Even better was the company he kept. His mother, Dening, had come from Australia to Ohio for tests on her lung cancer, and Day said the scans came back “awesome.” She was diagnosed in early 2017 and was initially told she had 12 months to live. Being in the U.S. allowed his mother to join the family in San Diego for a rare occasion. His mother attended the Masters in April. The last regular PGA Tour event she attended? 144

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“It was the 2008 Honda Classic,” Day said with a big grin. “She doesn’t come out much. It’s good for her to be over here. She hasn’t seen the kids for a while, and the results on her cancer are nice.” Day described his mother as an introvert who likes to stay in her own space at golf tournaments. She doesn’t need to work, but he would like to see her return because “it keeps her mind going, keeps her busy and focused on something.” “Sitting at home bored is not great,” he said. “At some point, we’re going to get her over here.”

BIG NUMBERS Rory McIlroy doesn’t think majors are overrated as much as he thinks career victories don’t get as much credit. That’s why when asked whether he was more impressed with the Tiger Woods’ 15 majors or his 82 victories on the PGA Tour, he didn’t hesitate. “So much the wins,” he said. “It’s relentless. A really good season these days is three or four wins a year, and he was doubling that year on year on year on year. It’s relentless.” McIlroy has 26 victories worldwide, including his four majors. Which did he consider more impressive? This required a little more thought. “That’s a hard one because I’m very proud of the 26 wins, he said. “Yeah, it’s always hard to not look at the majors and have some nostaglia about them and feel a different way about them. But again, from the outside looking in, I see what Tiger has done with ... 83 at some point and he 146

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might feel differently. He might say the 15 is more impressive.”

GWAA AWARDS Patrick Cantlay first won an award named after Ben Hogan for being the best college player in 2012. He receives another one because he’s still playing golf, and doing it well. Cantlay, who missed the better part of three years because of a back injury, was voted the winner of the Ben Hogan Award by the Golf Writers Association of America as a player who overcame a serious injury to remain active. “It’s an honor to be associated with Mr. Hogan and join a long list of honorees who have greatly contributed to the game,” Cantlay said. “While the injury process was certainly difficult, I’ve learned a lot about myself and what I am capable of in the process.” The GWAA also voted for LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan to receive the William D. Richardson award for outstanding contributions to golf. His leadership and voice has invigorated the LPGA Tour, which in his decade in charge has nearly doubled the tournaments and sent prize money and TV coverage to record levels. “I’m proud of all that we are doing to leave the game even better for the next generation of golfers,” Whan said. The ASAP Sports/Jim Murray Award goes to Adam Scott for his working relationship with the press. They will join other GWAA award winners at the annual dinner April 8 in Augusta, Georgia.

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DIVOTS Jordan Spieth fell out of the top 50 in the world for the first time since his playoff loss as a 20-year-old at the Wyndham Championship in August 2013. ... A notice posted in the locker room at Torrey Pines said caddies and their players can sign up for “Caddie Cam” during the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-am, which would be similar to the camera NFL referees wear on their hats. The idea is to present a different angle. There would be no volume, and caddies and players in the entire group must agree to it. ... Charl Schwartzel, sidelined for much of last year with a wrist injury, is playing the Phoenix Open for his first PGA Tour start since the RBC Heritage last April. The former Masters champion missed the cut in his two European Tour starts this year. ... Viewpoint Brewing Co. named a beer after Russell Knox last week in San Diego. It was called “Hard Knox Life,” described as a “Scottish wee heavy ale.” Knox was born and raised in Scotland. His father grew up in San Diego.

STAT OF THE WEEK For the first time in his PGA Tour career, Tiger Woods finished in the top 10 without having the low score in his group in any of the four rounds.

FINAL WORD “I’ve been to the biomechanics, and I’ve done the 3D stuff, and it’s all good and it helps. But I think at this stage of my career, I know what works for me. If I’m hitting it good and I’m hitting it on the center of the face and I’m feeling comfortable, I know that everything’s OK.” — Rory McIlroy. 150

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IN SNUB TO US, BRITAIN WILL ALLOW HUAWEI IN 5G NETWORKS

Britain decided to let Chinese tech giant Huawei have a limited role supplying new high-speed network equipment to wireless carriers, ignoring the U.S. government’s warnings that it would sever intelligence sharing if the company was not banned. Britain’s decision is the first by a major U.S. ally in Europe, and follows intense lobbying from the Trump administration as the U.S. vies with China for technological dominance. It sets up a diplomatic clash with the Americans, who claim that British sovereignty is at risk because the company could give the Chinese government access to data, an allegation Huawei denies. “We would never take decisions that threaten our national security or the security of our Five Eyes partners,” Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said, referring to a security arrangement in which Britain, the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, share intelligence. 153

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“We know more about Huawei and the risks that it poses than any other country in the world.” The decision was awkward for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who risks the fury of one of Britain’s closest allies at just the moment it needs the Trump’s administration to quickly strike a trade deal after Brexit. Britain officially leaves the European Union at the end of the week, and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is meeting with Johnson and Raab to reaffirm the tran-Atlantic relationship. A senior Trump administration official said the U.S. is disappointed by the decision, adding that the U.S. government would work with the U.K. on a “way forward” that leads to the exclusion of “untrusted vendor components” from 5G networks. The official was not authorized to comment on the sensitive diplomacy between longstanding allies and spoke on condition of anonymity. In its decision, the British government said it was excluding “high risk” companies from supplying the sensitive “core” parts of the new fifth-generation, or 5G, networks. The core is the brain that keeps track, among other things, of smartphones connecting to networks and helps manage data traffic. But Britain will allow high risk suppliers to provide up to 35% of a carrier’s less risky radio network, based on factors including the amount of data traffic and the number of base stations. The announcement did not mention any companies by name but said “high risk vendors are those who pose greater security and resilience risks to U.K. telecoms networks” - a clear reference to Huawei. Image: Matt Rourke

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Huawei said it was reassured by the “evidencebased decision,” portraying it as a victory. Executives said 35% of a market would be a good result for most companies. “We need to have strong competition to make sure the consumer can enjoy the best possible technologies,” Vice President Victor Zhang said on a conference call with reporters. By giving Huawei limited access, Johnson’s government is attempting to thread a path between the U.S. and China, analysts said. “In truth the U.K. had little room to manoeuvre,” said Emily Taylor, CEO of Oxford Information Labs, a cyber intelligence company. The decision “seeks to carve an acceptable middle ground that will keep various contending forces happy,” she said, noting that British wireless carries have already been using Huawei gear for 15 years. The 5G technology is expected to drive the next wave of innovation, transmitting massive amounts of data from more objects and locations. It would, for example, help make possible self-driving cars or remote surgery. Huawei is the top global supplier of mobile networks, and it’s considered a cost-effective and high-quality alternative to its main rivals, Finland’s Nokia and Sweden’s Ericsson. The United States says that China’s communist leaders could, under a 2017 national intelligence law, compel Huawei to carry out cyberespionage. The U.S. has threatened repeatedly to cut off intelligence sharing with allies that use Huawei. “Here’s the sad truth: our special relationship is less special now that the U.K. has embraced 156

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the surveillance state commies at Huawei,” said U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse, a Republican on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. “During the Cold War, Margaret Thatcher never contracted with the KGB to save a few pennies.” With 5G, U.S. officials also worry that because the “core” will run extensively on software, it could be nearly impossible to spot an accidental vulnerability or a malicious “backdoor” among millions of lines of computer code. Huawei denies the allegations, saying there’s never been any evidence it is responsible for a breach. For Britain, the 5G infrastructure program is considered critical as it leaves the EU and aims to position its economy to benefit from technological innovation. The government said it is taking some steps that will allow it “to mitigate the potential risk posed by the supply chain and to combat the range of threats, whether cyber criminals, or state sponsored attacks.”The plans include encouraging smaller suppliers such as South Korea’s Samsung and Japan’s NEC to enter the British market. The government will draft legislation to make the security requirements mandatory. In the meantime, cybersecurity officials will advise wireless carriers, some of whom have already installed Huawei 5G-capable gear that exceeds the 35% cap, on how to comply. Mobile phone companies said they were analyzing the decision. Vodafone, which uses Huawei for parts of its radio network but not in its core, said that using multiple suppliers “is the best way to safeguard the delivery of services to all mobile customers.” 158

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UK INTRODUCES NEW FAST-TRACK VISA TO ATTRACT SCIENTISTS

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson introduced a new fast-track visa to attract more of the world’s best scientists to the U.K. in hopes of creating a global science “superpower.” Johnson paired the announcement of the Global Talent route program with a pledge of 300 million pounds ($392 million) for research into advanced mathematics. The money will help fund researchers and doctoral students whose work in math underpins myriad developments such as safer air travel, smart phone technology and artificial intelligence. 161

The new visa route will have no cap on the number of people able to come to the U.K. under the program. It starts next month. “The UK has a proud history of scientific discovery, but to lead the field and face the challenges of the future we need to continue to invest in talent and cutting edge research,” Johnson said in a statement. “That is why as we leave the EU, I want to send a message that the U.K. is open to the most talented minds in the world, and stand ready to support them to turn their ideas into reality.” Britain is facing its biggest immigration shakeup in decades after it leaves the EU Friday. After Brexit, EU citizens will lose the automatic right to live and work in the U.K., and Britons to settle in the bloc’s 27 remaining nations. That has sparked fears Britain may face shortages in key job areas.

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WYOMING GOVERNOR: CARBON CAPTURE TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP COAL

Climate change is a man-made problem, but the solution doesn’t have to come at the expense of fossil fuels, said Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon. Gordon, who spoke at the Wyoming Press Association’s banquet in Casper, said developing carbon capture technology could be the solution. “This is a climate crisis we really need to address,” said the first-term Republican governor. “But we can only address it if we are serious about what the solutions are.” Wyoming is setting the stage for being part of the solution, Gordon said. The School of Energy Resources at the University of Wyoming has been researching carbon capture technologies that could reduce 165

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pollution from burning coal to make electricity in an effort to sustain the demand for Wyoming coal. Wyoming has passed legislation to govern carbon sequestration and have received grants to study the feasibility of carbon capture and sequestration and different ways of burning coal, Gordon said. “I’ve been very disappointed in the fact we have this expectation that fossil fuels are inherently bad — that there’s no way of bringing them back and that our only solution for climate change is to shift everything to renewables,” said Gordon, a former chairman of the Wyoming chapter of the Sierra Club. Wyoming is the nation’s top coal-producing state and is one of 13 states with no voluntary or mandatory renewable energy requirements for electric utilities. Just 0.34% of Wyoming’s energy is produced from renewable resources, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Gordon said he does not support “portfolio standards” that force utilities to obtain a certain percentage of their electricity from solar, wind or other renewable power sources, but he said he does favor a “net negative standard” that would require a percentage of all new electricity generation to be “carbon negative.” Such technologies, which would sequester carbon dioxide absorbed by vegetation, are still being developed. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has identified them as a potential tool to help stem future warming. Gordon suggested areas of the state that have lost fossil fuel energy jobs could help develop innovative technologies that could remove heattrapping gasses from the atmosphere. 167

Gordon declined to comment when asked about President Donald Trump’s stance that climate change is not caused by human activity. “I’m just saying that Wyoming has an opportunity to solve this issue,” the governor said. “And it’s critical. It’s critical for us. It’s critical for our world.”

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CHINA VIRUS OUTBREAK RAMS GLOBAL TOURISM, COSTING BILLIONS

Business around the world that have grown increasingly reliant on big-spending tourists from China are taking a heavy hit, with tens of millions of Chinese residents restricted from leaving their country as the coronavirus spreads. Hotels, airlines, casinos and cruise operators were among the industries suffering the most immediate repercussions, especially with the outbreak occurring during the Lunar New Year, one of the biggest travel season in Asia. What happens in China means a lot more to the world economy than it did when the SARS outbreak struck nearly two decades ago. In 2003, China accounted for 4.3% of world economic output. Last year, it accounted for 16.3%, according to the International Monetary Fund. Tourism from China was already down before the virus hit due in part to the Hong Kong protests and the trade dispute between Beijing and Washington. Image: Kamil Zihnioglu

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But about 134 million Chinese traveled abroad in 2019, up 4.5% from a year earlier, according to official figures. Before the outbreak, the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute predicted some 7 million Chinese would travel abroad for the Lunar New Year this year, up from 6.3 million in 2019. Hong Hong, Thailand, Japan and Vietnam were top destinations, but Chinese tourists are big spenders in cities like London, Milan, Paris and New York. Economist and tourism industry officials said the biggest threat so far is to Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s closest neighbors, with the U.S. and Europe likely to face major repercussions only if the coronavirus outbreak proves long-lived. In Thailand, a favorite destination for Lunar New Year travel, officials estimate potential lost revenue at 50 billion baht ($1.6 billion). Many drugstores in Bangkok ran out of surgical masks and the number of Chinese tourists appeared to be much smaller than usual for the Lunar New Year. The government announced it was handing out masks, and that the airport rail link would be disinfected. Spillover is also probable in Vietnam, Singapore and the Philippines, said Tommy Wu and Priyanka Kishore, of Oxford Economics. Hong Kong is especially vulnerable because its economy and its appeal to tourists have already been weakened by months of sometimesviolent political protest. By November, inbound tourism to Hong Kong was already down 56% from a year earlier.

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Visitors from mainland China to the autonomous Chinese gambling capital of Macau was down 80% from a year earlier, a threat to a regional government that depends on gaming revenue. Gaming and lodging operators in Macau reported higher-than expected cancellations over the weekend as the death toll from coronavirus rose and the Chinese government extended travel restrictions, according to Instinet analyst Harry Curtis. “Cancellations soared across all of the properties we contacted,” Curtis said in a note. “Pessimism rose on how long it could take for business to recover.” Shares of Wynn Resorts, Las Vegas Sands and MGM Resorts International — which all have operations in Macau — have declined 18.3%, 14.6% and 12.1% since Jan. 17, respectively. But analysts said it was too soon to tell how deeply their finances would be affected. Adding to the uncertainty was the possibility that Macau’s government could shut down all casinos. Jefferies, an equities research firm, predicted the virus outbreak would have affect first quarter results for the companies “but how large and will it linger onward remain the questions.” Wynn Resorts said it had scaled back Lunar New Year events in Macau, begun screening the temperature of all guests and taken other steps to comply with the directives of the Macau government. MGM and Las Vegas Sands also said they were following government guidelines. The companies declined to provide any cancellation figures in Macau.

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At least 80 people have died and 2,744 people have fallen ill since the coronavirus was first found in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. China extended the week-long Lunar New Year holiday by an extra three days to Feb. 2 to help prevent the epidemic from spreading. Travel agencies in China were told to cancel group tourism, and governments around the region were restricting travel from Wuhan, closely monitoring other travelers and helping arrange evacuations of some foreigners stuck in Wuhan. The outbreak comes just as hopes were rising that Chinese tourism to the U.S. would start to recover following two years of decline due to the prolonged trade dispute between the two countries. In 2018, travel from China to the U.S. fell for the first time in 15 years, according to the National Travel and Tourism Office, which collects data from U.S. Customs forms. The office has forecast a further decline of 5% in 2019 but had predicted a return to growth in 2020 and beyond. China remains the fifth-largest source of foreign tourism to the U.S., behind Canada, Mexico, the U.K. and Japan. Nearly 3 million Chinese traveled to the U.S. in 2018, spending more than $36 billion. Tourism industry officials said it was too soon to say whether the outbreak would significantly effect expectations for a recovery, saying much depends on how long the outbreak lasts and if the Chinese government extends travel restrictions to major cities such as Shanghai. 176

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“Anything that goes on for a sustained period of time would obviously have a significant impact,” said Chris Heywood, spokesman for NYC & Company, the official tourism organization of New York City. “For us, China is a critically important market.” Heywood said China was the second-largest source of foreign visitors to New York, following the U.K. Broadway Inbound, which sells group discount tickets for Broadway and other shows, has received a handful of cancellation requests for China-based customers unable to travel due to the outbreak, said Bob Hofmann, vice president of Broadway Inbound. He said ticket sales are normally final but customers affected by coronavirus would get a full refund. Chinese tourism to other countries has continued to grow in recent years. In Britain, Chinese visitors were second only to tourists from the Middle East spending per visit - about $2,200 on average in 2018. The number of Chinese visiting Britain has quadrupled since 2010.

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