Month: April 2018

Thousands of megawatts of wind and solar energy contracts in the Mekong region of Southeast Asia have been signed, seriously challenging the financial viability of major hydropower projects on the river, an energy expert told a water conference last week. Buoyed by a recent Thai government decision to delay a power purchase deal with a major mainstream Mekong dam, clean-energy proponents and economists told the third Mekong River Commission summit that the regional energy market was on the cusp of a technological revolution. Brian Eyler, director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Stimson Center, a nonprofit in Washington dedicated to enhancing global peace and security, said 6,000 megawatts' worth of wind and solar contracts had been signed in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Laos in the last six months. He said…

The increasing trade tensions between the United States and China has rattled farmers in the American heartland, the place where many of the products on which China seeks to impose a tariff are produced.  As VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports, those farmers, once supportive of President Trump, are increasingly wary about his stance on global trade, and ultimately, how it will impact their bottom line. ...

The head of the International Monetary Fund is warning that the global trading system is in danger of being "torn apart."   In a speech prepared for delivery in Hong Kong Wednesday, Christine Lagarde urged nations to "steer clear of protectionism."  That may be a reference to Washington's recent moves to slap large tariffs on imported steel and other products.  China responded by raising tariffs on U.S.-made products, beginning a cycle that some experts warn could escalate further into a trade war. Lagarde says the benefits of trade far outweigh the costs and has credited unfettered global trade for drastically reducing the number of people around the world living in extreme poverty.  Lagarde and other experts say everyone loses in trade wars, particularly the 800 million people around the world…

Future Russian gas transit flows through Ukraine to Europe may be between 10 and 15 billion cubic metres per year, Alexei Miller, head of Russian gas giant Gazprom, said on Tuesday, which is a significant decline from current levels. Miller issued his comments after German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the planned new Nord Stream 2 pipeline between Russia and Germany could not go ahead without clarity on Ukraine’s role as a transit route for gas. “We have never raised an issue about abandoning the Ukrainian transit. However, the Russian resource base has been moving northward and there won’t be the same resources in the central gas transportation corridor as it was in the past,” Miller said in a statement. “That’s why a certain transit could still be in place,…

Tuesday, April 10, is Equal Pay Day in the United States. Advocates designated the day to mark how much longer women must work, on average, to earn as much as men averaged in the previous year.  Germany recognized Equal Pay Day on March 10. The Czech Republic will observe it on April 13. While assigning a date to the gender pay gap is a way to make a point, it makes for an easy gauge of whether the pay gap is getting worse or better from one year to the next. In 2017, the U.S. Equal Pay Day was April 4 — meaning the pay gap is slightly worse this year than last. There are a number of explanations for historic gender gaps in pay. One of the major ones…

China’s President Xi Jinping did not mention U.S. President Donald Trump by name or speak directly about rising trade frictions with Washington during a closely watched speech at the Boao Forum — China’s version of Davos for Asia. But the pledges Xi made to press forward with economic reforms had everything to do with the trade dispute and President Trump’s threats to levy heavy tariffs on Chinese goods. In his speech, Xi mentioned the phrase “opening up” 42 times. One of the key messages of his speech was that China was open for business. It was also an effort, one analyst said, to highlight a contrast between Beijing’s approach and Washington. "I want to clearly tell everyone, China’s door for opening will not close, but will only open wider," Xi…

Brazil's government has been told that development projects, including hydropower dams, in protected areas can no longer go ahead without the prior approval of lawmakers. Last week's ruling by the supreme court followed the use by the government in recent years of the controversial "provisional measure", a legal instrument that allowed the president to approve projects by reducing the size of protected areas. Campaigners said the decision should ensure the country's forests and reserves, including the Amazon rainforest, were better protected. "This decision puts an end to a spree of provisional measures in the name of environmental de-protection," said Mauricio Guetta, a lawyer at Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), an advocacy group. In recent years, the government has used the measure to open up protected areas for controversial projects, including building two…

Afghanistan is set to exploit its unique agricultural climate by refining and exporting another kind of flower, orange blossoms! An Afghan investor found a way to extract the citrusy, floral bouquet from the delicate flowers to create perfumes. As VOA's Zabihullah Ghazi reports in Jalalabad, not only is the perfume diversifying the country's agricultural output, it's also providing employment opportunities. Shaista Sadat Lami narrates. ...

U.S. President Donald Trump predicted Sunday there would be a resolution of the U.S.-China standoff on tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of goods the world's two biggest economies are threatening to impose on each other. The U.S. leader said, without offering any direct information, that "China will take down its Trade Barriers because it is the right thing to do." Trump said that "taxes will become Reciprocal & a deal will be made on Intellectual Property. Great future for both countries!" Regardless, Trump said that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping "will always be friends, no matter what happens with our dispute on trade." The threats Washington and Beijing have lobbed at each other in recent days have rattled world stock markets, with wide swings of hundreds of…

Taiwan says it regrets that the "one China" policy insisted on by Beijing prevents it from providing much needed development aid to most countries in Africa. Taiwan was in a relatively good diplomatic position in Africa several years ago. Taiwan’s Deputy Secretary-General for International Cooperation and Development, Pai-po Lee, says this made it possible for those countries that had diplomatic relations with Taiwan to benefit from his agency’s aid projects. “Previously, we have over nine countries with Taiwan. For instance, Senegal, the Gambia, Chad, Niger, Liberia, Central Africa — also Sao Tome Principe… Six years ago, they still have relations with Taiwan. But, then they shifted to China,” said Pai-po Lee. Lee says Taiwan had invested a lot in the African region. But, all that is now in the past.…

The U.N. secretary-general and the Singaporean foreign minister voiced concerns about global trade tensions and rising protectionism during back-to-back meetings in Beijing on Sunday. Following remarks from his Chinese counterpart, Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan vowed to "double-down'' on free trade and economic liberalization in tandem with China.   "This is a time in the world where the temptation to embark on unilateralism and protectionism is unfortunately rising," Balakrishnan said.   In a separate meeting, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called China "absolutely crucial" in the international system.   "You mentioned reform and opening up — it's so important in a moment when some others have a policy of closing up," Guterres told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.   "The solutions for these problems are not to put globalization to question, but…

Some 30 percent of Air France flights were cancelled Saturday as strikes over pay rises appear to be intensifying. And that's just part of France's travel troubles this month. Most French trains will screech to a halt as a strike over President Emmanuel Macron's economic reforms resumes Saturday night - a strike that is set to last through Monday. Screens at Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport showed red "cancelled" notes next to multiple flights Saturday, as families around France and Europe headed off on spring vacations. The one-day Air France walkout is affecting international and domestic travel, notably a quarter of flights at Paris' Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports. Air France is urging passengers to check the status of their flights before coming to the airport and offering to…