The whole world is facing an invisible foe, making it extremely difficult for everyone to combat it. For this reason, a lot of countries are now facing a shrinking economy. Businesses, regardless if they are big or small, were forced to stop their operation due to the pandemic-brought lockdowns.
For the first time since 2015, official data said that Japan dived into its first recession. The country, which has the world’s third-largest economy, had its economy shrinking by 0.9 percent as it battles with the fallout caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The drop seen in the gross domestic product followed a decline amounting to 1.9 percent during the fourth quarter of 2019. This happened because of a tax hike as well as because the country was hit hard by a typhoon. All of these happened even before the pandemic shut down a majority of the country’s economy.
SoftBank Group, a struggling conglomerate that is based in Japan have also reported losses in the record. This is also because the COVID-19 pandemic compounded woes that have resulted from its investment in WeWork, a troubled office-sharing startup.
The telecom and investment giant has already noted warnings in April. According to it, the continually deteriorating market environment is near hitting its bottom line.
One of South Korea’s Leading Football Clubs Under Fire for Sex Doll Issue
On the other hand, one of the leading football clubs in South Korea was facing a backlash over an issue about sex doll. FC Seoul was accused of using sex dolls to fill empty seats during a weekend game. Since there are still social distancing implementations, fans cannot watch the team’s game live in the stadium. This caused the stadium to be empty, with no one but the players and their teams in it. To fill up the empty audience seats, FC Seoul bought mannequins and placed it there.
However, online and television viewers noticed that the mannequins are holding placards promoting pornography sites. Some of the dolls were even wearing the football team’s shirts. In addition, some dolls that are deployed for the team’s Sunday match against Gwangju FC, are wearing T-shirts with SoloS logo– a seller of sex toys.
FC Seoul apologized for the issue. However, they insisted that the mannequins do not have any connection to sex toys.
On the other hand, the seller of the sex dolls admitted that the mannequins were indeed sex dolls. According to the company that provided the football team with the dolls, they were used for a shot before they were delivered to the football team. However, they were not able to remove some of the dolls’ costumes. This is the reason why the viewers of the game have seen some dolls promoting pornography websites.
Taiwan: Exclusion From the WHO Will Not Be Raised in the Annual Policy Meeting of the Global Health Body
According to Taiwan, the country will not raise its exclusion from the World Health Organization at the policy meeting of the global health body. This is because allies will be focusing on the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Notably, the said country had remarkable success in winning against the fatal pandemic. It only had seven deaths as well as some 400 infections.
However, the said country was frozen out of the WHO by Beijing. This is because the latter said that the self-ruled democratic island that has 23 million population is its own territory. Beijing also vowed that it will take Taiwan by force if necessary.
New Zealand Won Its Battle Against the Coronavirus
Hundreds of thousands of children from New Zealand returned to school after two months of homeschooling as a part of a coronavirus lockdown.
Excited students greeted their classmates for the first time after eight weeks. On the other hand, teachers reinforced messages regarding social distancing as well as proper hand hygiene to fight the virus.
Meanwhile, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden’s success in combatting the fatal virus has gotten an extraordinary popularity surge. This has put the young leader on course for a landslide win in the upcoming national election in September.
The Prime Minister’s center-left Labour Party saw a 14 point increase at 56.5 percent. On the other hand, a Newshub Reid Researcher poll, which was published last May, found out that her rating as the preferred New Zealand prime minister surged 20.8 points to 59.5 percent.
Thailand’s Economy Dropped for the First Time After Six Years
Moreover, the coronavirus pandemic caused Thailand’s economy to shrink for the first time in six years. The pandemic shuttered borders and devastated the country which greatly relies on tourism to improve its economy.
In fact, approximately 40 million tourists were expected to arrive this year in Thailand. Most of them were attracted by the country’s sandy beaches, street food culture, as well as infamous nightlife.
Wallabies Forward and Two Teammates were Suspended As Their Team Resumed Training
Izack Rodda– Wallabies forward, as well as two Queensland Reds teammates were suspended while the rest of their team resumed training. This is because the three refused to take a pay cut that was negotiated during the COVID-19 shutdown.
Rodda, Harry Hockings, and Isaac Lucas– the 21-cap Australia Test second-row rejected a deal that requires the country’s professional rugby union players to take a 60 percent cut in pay over six months in order to help the game avoid insolvency.
Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has no doubt adversely affected the world’s economy. Even the countries with a high economic stand have started to cripple as the virus continuously force businesses to stop its operation.
In addition, traders have also looked past a warning that came from the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve said that a full recovery would likely not happen until next year. However, traders warned that the world would need a vaccine for coronavirus in order to get things back to normal.
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