Trump, Chinese Vice Premier Extend Trade Talks

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U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He expressed optimism Friday that the two countries would reach a trade agreement and defuse a dispute between the world's two largest economies, as both sides agreed to continue their negotiations for two more days. "I would say that it's more likely that a deal will happen," Trump said to reporters at the White House. Speaking through an interpreter, Liu, China's top trade negotiator, said, "We believe that it is very likely that it will happen. And we hope that ultimately we will have a deal." Liu has been granted authority to negotiate directly with the U.S. by Chinese President Xi Jinping. "The fact that they're willing to stay for quite a bit longer period, doubling up the time, that means something,"…
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Kraft Heinz Announces $15.4 Billion Write-Down

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Analysts say a $15.4 billion write-down for food giant Kraft Heinz reflects changing consumer taste for fresh food products over processed ones. The company said Thursday the decrease in value of some of its major brands resulted in a net loss of $12.6 billion. Kraft Heinz also announced Thursday the Securities and Exchange Commission had subpoenaed it late last year because of its procurement procedures. At the end of the business day Thursday, the company saw its stock drop about 20 percent. “We expect to take a step backwards in 2019,” Chief Financial Officer David Knopf said in a post earnings conference call. He promised “consistent profit growth” for 2020. Kraft Heinz is the home of such iconic brands as Velveeta Cheese, Heinz ketchup brands, Oscar Mayer hotdogs and Cheez…
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LA Showcases Quake Alert System

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California is earthquake country, and residents of Los Angeles can now get some critical warning, when conditions are right, after a quake has started and seismic waves are heading their way. The system, called ShakeAlertLA, is the first of its kind in the United States. Earthquake alert systems like this save lives, said Jeff Gorell, deputy Los Angeles mayor for public safety, as he demonstrated the application on his smartphone.  “When an earthquake starts, the first waves that go out are called P-waves,” he said. They serve as a warning and “are not the damaging, destructive waves” that will follow.  The alert system, which relies on data from seismic sensors throughout the region, could offer up to 90 seconds of warning for quakes of magnitude 5 or larger. Even a…
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Analysts: Insurance Can’t Offset Risks of Climate Change

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From homeowners facing higher flood insurance premiums to investors putting money into coal-fired power plants, financial risks related to climate change are growing, analysts say.  But working out how a switch to lower-carbon train travel could affect an airline or what an insurance firm should do to weather more flood claims is neither clear nor simple, they say.  Help may be at hand, however, from guides published Friday to assess financial risks from the physical threats of climate change, as well as the risks and opportunities of a global transition away from fossil fuels.  "What is the exposure financial institutions have to natural catastrophes? I don't think that question traditionally has been asked," said Greg Lowe, global head of resilience and sustainability for Aon, a London-based insurance and risk firm.  Traditional ideas may fall short For disasters, "there's always been an…
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Nike Stumbles into Social Media Storm After Basketball Star’s Shoe Splits

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A Nike Inc sneaker worn by a college basketball superstar split in half less than a minute into a highly anticipated game between Duke University and North Carolina, prompting an outcry on social media as the company sought to figure out what caused the problem. Zion Williamson, a 6-foot-7-inch freshman forward for the Duke Blue Devils who is anticipated to be the top 2019 NBA Draft pick, suffered a mild sprain to his right knee because of the incident Wednesday night, according to his coach Mike Krzyzewski. The official Duke Basketball Twitter handle (@DukeMBB) tweeted Thursday evening that Zion was "progressing as expected, and his status is day-to-day." A closeup video replay showed Williamson slipping and crumpling to the ground, clutching his knee in pain. His left shoe is seen…
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Signs Point to China, US Deal to Avert Further Tariff Hike

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As China and the United States resume high-level talks in Washington Thursday, there are signs that the two may be closing in on a deal. Reuters news agency is reporting that top trade officials from both sides are trying to hammer out the details of six broad agreements aimed at resolving the most difficult issues from forced technology transfers, to state subsidies and cyber theft. Earlier this week, President Donald Trump said there is no “magical date” for reaching a trade deal, a comment some felt suggests that the March 1 deadline, which could trigger a steep hike in tariffs from both countries, could be postponed if progress is being made. Meanwhile, a senior Communist party adviser, speaking at a forum organized by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post,…
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Reuters Data Show Google’s New Cloud Boss Has Big Task to Catch Rivals

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Google has a new cloud computing boss and big ambitions to someday produce more revenue from that business than from advertising. Now comes the hard part: winning over big-spending customers. Alphabet Inc's cloud computing division remains a distant third behind Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp in terms of global revenue, according to analysts' estimates. A few major companies manage their data on Google's servers. But Google has nowhere near the vast customer base of Amazon, according to a new Reuters analysis of company regulatory filings. Businesses generally are not required to disclose their cloud vendors. Reuters found 311 out of about 5,000 worldwide that did so in 2018. While not comprehensive, the data provide a window into Google's challenge. Thirty five of those companies named Google as a cloud provider.…
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Samsung’s Folding Phone Aims to Rejuvenate Smartphone Market

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Ten years after launching its Galaxy line of smartphones, Samsung Electronics unveiled a new form of the ubiquitous device — a phone that seamlessly turns into a tablet — to create some new excitement in the sluggish global smartphone market. At an event in San Francisco on Wednesday, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Fold, its long-awaited foldable smartphone. Only FlexPai, by Royale, a U.S.-based Chinese company, has anything like it on the market, but the FlexPai has garnered mixed reviews. Samsung ignored the FlexPai’s existence and unveiled the Galaxy Fold as if it were the first of its kind. “The size of our screens is still fundamentally limited by the size of our devices until now,” said Justin Denison, Samsung senior vice president of product marketing. “With the Galaxy Fold, we…
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Students Build City of the Future

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A future of rising oceans and stronger storms awaits the next generation as the climate warms. It will take talented engineers and city planners to tackle those challenges. The annual Future City competition aims to get middle school students excited about learning the skills they'll need. More than 40,000 students from 1,500 schools participated this year. VOA's Steve Baragona was at the finals in Washington. ...
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Resumption of High-level US-China Trade Talks Raises Hopes

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The Trump administration is set Thursday to resume high-level talks with Chinese officials, aiming to ease a trade standoff that’s unnerved global investors and clouded the outlook for the world economy. A Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He will meet in Washington with a U.S. team led by Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross as well as Larry Kudlow, a key White House economic adviser, and Peter Navarro, a trade adviser. The talks are expected to end Friday. The world’s two biggest economies are locked in a trade war that President Donald Trump started over his allegations that China deploys predatory tactics to try to overtake U.S. technological dominance. Beijing’s unfair tactics, trade analysts agree, include pressuring American companies…
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US Trade Representative to Testify on China Next Week

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 U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will testify next week at a U.S. House of Representatives hearing on U.S.-China trade issues, a spokesman for the House Ways and Means Committee said on Wednesday. Lighthizer has been the lead negotiator in ongoing trade negotiations with Beijing as the world's two largest economies seek to find agreement amid a bitter dispute that has seen both sides impose tariffs on imports. In a statement, the committee said the hearing was scheduled for Feb. 27, just days ahead of President Donald Trump's March 1 deadline that the Republican U.S. leader has said could slide. China and the United States began their latest round of talks this week.   ...
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Putin Announces Social Handouts in Bid to Stop Opinion Poll Slide

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A year ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin sailed to victory in what challengers dubbed a “filthy election.” Facing weak candidates — some likely encouraged to run by a Kremlin eager to give the poll a veneer of greater competitiveness — Putin basked in his re-election, promising a flag-waving rally of loyalists off Moscow’s Red Square that “success awaits us.” But with less than a month to go before marking the anniversary of his re-election, Putin faces rising public frustration with his rule and unprecedented dips in his approval ratings. In a recent opinion poll, nearly half of those surveyed said the country is heading in the wrong direction. Putin, who has held power since succeeding Boris Yeltsin in 1999, had always been guaranteed victory in an election timed to coincide with the…
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Microsoft Detects Hacking Targeting Europe Democracy Groups

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A hacking group has targeted European democratic institutions including think tanks and non-profit groups ahead of highly anticipated EU parliamentary elections in May, Microsoft said. The company said Tuesday that a group called Strontium targeted email accounts for more than 100 people in six European countries working for the German Council on Foreign Relations, the Aspen Institutes in Europe and the German Marshall Fund. Microsoft said in a blog post that it is continuing to investigate but is confident many of the attacks originated from Strontium, a group that others call Fancy Bear or APT28. U.S. authorities have tied the group to Russia's main intelligence agency, known as the GRU. Microsoft said the attacks occurred from September to December, and that it notified the organizations after discovering they were targeted.…
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OK for Direct US Flights Moves Vietnam Into Economic Fast Lane

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The U.S. decision last week to permit Vietnam to fly its commercial aircraft directly to American airports is seen as a continuation of improving relations and follows other signs of international recognition for Hanoi. Observers say the breakthrough shows that major countries including the United States take Vietnam ever more seriously after more than three decades of brisk economic development and foreign policy that includes balancing relations with its communist neighbor China without worrying the West. “It’s been a slow and progressive bringing back [of] Vietnam into the international community,” said Adam McCarty, chief economist with Mekong Economics in Hanoi. “It’s been this continual process from the Vietnamese side of being caught, as they have been historically for hundreds of years, between larger powers.” The Federal Aviation Administration’s award of…
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Amazon’s ‘Collaborative’ Robots Offer Peek into the Future

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Hundreds of orange robots zoom and whiz back and forth like miniature bumper cars -- but instead of colliding, they're following a carefully plotted path to transport thousands of items ordered from online giant Amazon. A young woman fitted out in a red safety vest, with pouches full of sensors and radio transmitters on her belt and a tablet in hand, moves through their complicated choreography. This robot ballet takes place at the new Amazon order fulfillment center that opened on Staten Island in New York in September. In an 80,000-square-meter (855,000-square-foot) space filled with the whirring sounds of machinery, the Seattle-based e-commerce titan has deployed some of the most advanced instruments in the rapidly growing field of robots capable of collaborating with humans. The high-tech vest, worn at Amazon…
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App-Based Delivery Men Highlight India’s Growing Gig Economy

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Suraj Nachre works long hours and regularly misses meals but he treasures his job as a driver for a food delivery startup -- working in a booming industry that highlights India's expanding apps-based gig-economy. The 26-year-old is one of hundreds of thousands of young Indians who, armed with their smartphones and motorcycles, courier dinners to offices and homes ordered at the swipe of a finger. A surge in the popularity of food-ordering apps like Uber Eats and Swiggy provides a welcome source of income for many as India's unemployment rate sits at a reported 45-year high. But they also shine a spotlight on the prevalence of short-term contracts in the economy, raising questions about workers' rights and conditions and the long-term viability of the jobs. "(These delivery workers) are treated…
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Ford to Close Oldest Brazil Plant, Exit South America Truck Business

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Ford Motor Co. said on Tuesday it will close its oldest factory in Brazil and exit its heavy commercial truck business in South America, a move that could cost more than 2,700 jobs as part of a restructuring meant to end losses around the world. Ford previously said the global reorganization, to impact thousands of jobs and possible plant closures in Europe, would result in $11 billion in charges. Following that announcement, analysts and investors had expected a similar restructuring in South America. Ford Chief Executive Jim Hackett said last month that investors would not have to wait long for the South American reorganization plan. The factory slated for closure is in Sao Bernardo do Campo, an industrial suburb of Sao Paulo that has operated since 1967. It first produced…
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Is High Finance Growing a Social Conscience?

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Financiers who turnaround companies by injecting them with capital are increasingly considering the environmental and social impact of their investments, according to a survey published Tuesday by consulting firm PwC. The survey found a growing cohort of these financiers, called private equity firms, have embraced this ethical investment strategy, known as responsible investing or environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing. For a long time, responsible investing was a niche strategy within finance. But increasingly, investors are waking up to the fact that they can do good as well as achieving financial returns. PwC polled 162 finance companies from 35 countries, including 145 private equity companies, for its fourth Private Equity Responsible Investment Survey. It found 91 percent of respondents have adopted or are developing responsible investment policies, up from 80…
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US Automakers to Trump: Don’t Slap Tariffs on Imported Cars

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America's auto industry is bracing for a potential escalation in President Donald Trump's tariff war with the world, one that could weaken the global auto industry and economy, inflate car prices and trigger a backlash in Congress. Late Sunday, the Commerce Department sent the White House a report on the results of an investigation Trump had ordered of whether imported vehicles and parts pose a threat to U.S. national security. Commerce hasn't made its recommendations public, and the White House has so far declined to comment. If Commerce did find that auto imports imperil national security, Trump would have 90 days to decide whether to impose those import taxes. Trump has repeatedly invoked his duty as president to safeguard national security in justifying previous rounds of tariffs. An obscure provision…
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Future Styles: Could Virtual Clothes Reduce Damage of Fast Fashion?

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Striking a pose in the mirror, Swedish model and stylist Lisa Anckarman shows off a new jacket with a difference on Instagram – though it fits her perfectly in the photo, it's a virtual design that does not exist in real life. She is among a number of trendsetters embracing cutting-edge technology that offers the opportunity to sate appetites for fast fashion while dramatically slashing the emissions, pollution and labor abuses linked to the garment industry. "I really liked the idea and the aspect that it's good for the environment," Anckarman told the Thomson Reuters Foundation as she discussed her virtual styling. Actually I think it maybe looked too good because people didn't really get that it was digital." "People were asking me 'Where did you buy this?' and I…
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Twitter Tightens EU Political Ad Rules Ahead of Election

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Twitter said Tuesday it is tightening up rules for European Union political ads ahead of bloc-wide elections this spring, following similar moves by fellow tech giants Facebook and Google. The social media company said it is extending restrictions already in place for federal elections in the United States. Under the new rules, which will also apply in Australia and India, political advertisers will need to be certified. It's also taking steps to increase transparency. Ads, in the form of "promoted tweets," from the past seven days will be stored in a publicly accessible database showing how much was spent, how many times it was seen and the demographics of the people who saw it. Facebook and Google have put in similar systems ahead of the EU vote in May, as…
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Artists Create Contemporary Take on Ancient Art Form

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Levitating objects and plastic boxes may not seem to have anything to do with landscape painting, but they are the contemporary take on an ancient Chinese art style called "shan shui hua" or mountain water painting. Dating back more than 1,000 years, this style of landscape painting, which uses brush and ink, has evolved over time. The art form is evolving once again in an exhibit called "Lightscapes: Re-envisioning the Shanshuihua" at the Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles. The goal of Nick Dong and Chi-Tsung Wu, the two artists in the exhibit, is to connect the new, digital generation to this traditional type of art and to capture its essence in a new way through modern technology.  The exhibit forces the viewer to slow down and experience a different…
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Cheap and Green: Pyongyang Upgrades Its Mass Transit System

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Pyongyang is upgrading its overcrowded mass transit system with brand new subway cars, trams and buses in a campaign meant to show leader Kim Jong Un is raising the country's standard of living.   The long-overdue improvements, while still modest, are a welcome change for the North Korean capital's roughly 3 million residents, who have few options to get to work or school each day.  First came new, high-tech subway cars and electric trolleybuses — each announced by the media with photos of Kim personally conducting the final inspection tours. Now, officials say three new electric trams are running daily routes across Pyongyang.  Transport officials say the capacity of the new trams is about 300, sitting and standing. Passengers must buy tickets in shops beforehand and put them in a ticket…
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Brazil’s Bolsonaro Fires Senior Minister, Investor Sentiment Sours

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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Monday fired one of his most senior aides and cabinet members, Gustavo Bebianno, amid a scandal involving campaign financing for some of his party's congressional candidates. Bebianno was secretary general of the president's office. His departure punctuated Bolsonaro's first cabinet crisis since he took office on Jan. 1 and has cast a shadow over the young government's plans. Brazilian markets fell on Monday as investors feared that the brewing scandal could hurt Bolsonaro's ability to pass a pension overhaul seen as key to fiscal and economic recovery. In a short video clip released late on Monday, Bolsonaro said he took the decision to dismiss Bebianno due to "differences of opinion on important issues," although he did not elaborate. Bebianno, who helped coordinate government affairs and…
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Tycoons Tell Mexico’s President That Unions ‘Extorting’ Businesses

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A group representing some of Mexico's biggest companies told left-wing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday that politicians should resist "extortion" by labor unions after strikes and blockades in recent weeks. Alejandro Ramirez, president of the Mexican Business Council, said strikes at factories in the northern state of Tamaulipas and blockades of railways by a teachers union had caused more than a billion dollars in losses and could cause businesses to close. Critics of Obrador Members of the group, including Mexico's second-richest man, German Larrea, who controls mining and transport conglomerate Grupo Mexico, were critics of Lopez Obrador before his July 1 election, warning voters should be wary of populism. "In labor matters, we look favorably on Mexicans starting a new era of union freedom that will allow the…
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Amazon Aims to Cut Its Carbon Footprint

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Amazon, which ships millions of packages a year to shopper's doorsteps, says it wants to be greener. The online retail giant announced plans Monday to make half of all its shipments carbon-neutral by 2030. To reach that goal, the online retail giant says it will use more renewable energy like solar power; have more packages delivered in electric vans; and push suppliers to remake their packaging. McDonald's, Coca-Cola and other big companies that generate lots of waste have announced similar initiatives, hoping to appeal to customers concerned about the environment. Amazon is calling its program "Shipment Zero," and plans to publicly publish its carbon footprint for the first time later this year. Seattle-based Amazon said it spent the past two years mapping its carbon footprint and figuring out ways to…
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Facebook Voids Accounts Targeting Moldovan Election

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Facebook said on Thursday it had disrupted an attempt to influence voters in Moldova, increasing concerns that EU elections in May could be prey to malign activity. Employees of the Moldovan government were linked to some of the activity, the California-based social media company said. Authorities in Chisnau, capital of the tiny former Soviet republic, denied knowledge. Facebook said it dismantled scores of pages and accounts designed to look like independent opinion pages and to impersonate a local fact-checking organization ahead of Moldova's elections later this month. "So they created this feedback loop," Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook's head of cybersecurity policy, told reporters in Brussels. "We did assess that there were links between some of that activity and individuals associated with the Moldovan government." The government said it welcomed any initiative…
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