Category: Business

Palm oil plantations in Liberia are billed as bringing jobs and development but actually leave locals poorer, said a Liberian lawyer who won the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize on Monday. The U.S.-based Goldman Environmental Foundation gives the prize — often known as the Green Nobel — to six grassroots activists each year for efforts to protect the environment, often at their own risk. Alfred Brownell was awarded for his successful campaign to protect more than 500,000 acres of tropical forest from palm oil development in the West African country, after which he was forced to flee Liberia in fear for his life. He now lives in the United States but hopes to return to continue his work, as palm oil development continues to displace farmers without giving them an alternative…

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday symbolically launched work on a new airport for Mexico City to replace the nearly half-built $13 billion project he cancelled upon taking office.   Lopez Obrador promised the new Felipe Angeles airport northeast of the capital won't exceed its budget and will save the government money even with the cancellation of the partially built airport.   "It's going to resolve the problem of saturation at the current Mexico City airport, but also be an example of how you can carry out a rational, austere policy based on honesty that needs to establish itself as the way to live and the way to govern in our country," Lopez Obrador said.   The new airport — named for a general allied with revolutionary icon…

The International Monetary Fund is forecasting Iran's economy to shrink by 6% this year as it faces pressure from U.S. sanctions. In a report released Monday, the IMF said its estimates for Iran, which include the potential for inflation to top 40%, predate a U.S. decision to end waivers that have allowed some Iranian oil buyers to continue making their purchases despite new sanctions that went into effect last year. The Trump administration is due to formally end the waivers on Thursday for some of Iran's top crude purchasers, including China, India, Japan, Turkey and South Korea. The United States says it wants to deprive Iran of $50 billion in annual oil revenues to pressure it to end its nuclear and missile programs. The White House says it is working…

While many people have office jobs, working inside an office is not for everybody. And these days in the U.S. more people are turning to gig work — temporary jobs that allow them to work from home, hold multiple jobs and have flexible hours. More gig workers are now using smartphone apps to find jobs that set them free of office work. VOA's Mykhailo Komadovsky spent time with one gig worker in Washington. ...

U.S. President Donald Trump urged Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to have Japanese automakers produce more vehicles in the United States, according to a readout of their recent meeting provided Saturday by the U.S. ambassador to Japan. The two discussed recent public announcements by Japanese automakers, including Toyota Motor Corp.'s decision to invest more in U.S. plants. "We talked about the need to see more movement in that direction, but I think the president feels very positive that we will see such movement because all the economics support that," said Ambassador William Hagerty. Trump has prodded Japanese automakers to add more jobs in the United States as the White House threatens to impose tariffs of up to 25 percent on imported vehicles, on the ground of national security. Trump said Friday that it was possible that the United States and Japan…

Uber Technologies Inc., the world's largest ride-hailing company, plans an initial public offering that values the company lower than the startup's insiders had hoped, between $80.5 billion and $91.5 billion.  The valuation, outlined in a regulatory filing Friday, is less than the $120 billion that investment bankers told Uber last year it could fetch, and closer to the $76 billion valuation it attained in a private fundraising round in 2018.  This reflects the poor stock performance of its smaller rival Lyft Inc. following its IPO last month. Lyft shares ended trading Thursday down more than 20 percent from their IPO price, amid investor skepticism over its path to  profitability.  Lyft completed its IPO at a valuation of $24.3 billion, which corresponded to around 11 times its 2018 revenue. By comparison, the top end of Uber's valuation target is around eight times revenue…

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and Foxconn Technology Group officials are talking about making changes to the contract signed in 2017 that was based on constructing a larger display screen manufacturing facility than is now proposed.    But neither side is giving details. So how might the deal be changed? And what's at stake for each side?    Here are five areas to watch as talks continue, based on interviews with people familiar with the Foxconn deal and others like it:    Jobs: It makes sense that Foxconn would want to open up the deal because it appears unlikely to meet the original jobs targets, said Bob O'Brien, president of U.S.-based Display Supply Chain Consultants, which tracks the global flat-panel industry.    Foxconn already came up well short of its first-year target of…

The U.S. Trade Representative said on Thursday it has added Pinduoduo.com, China's third-largest e-commerce platform, to its "notorious markets" list for a proliferation of counterfeit products, as the agency also called out China as a priority to watch for intellectual property rights concerns. In its annual review of trading partners' protection of intellectual properties rights and so-called "notorious markets," the U.S. Trade Representative said 36 countries warranted additional bilateral engagement over these issues. The agency kept China on the list and lifted Saudi Arabia up as a priority. The release of the report comes as the United States and China are embroiled in negotiations to end a tit-for-tat tariff battle that has roiled supply chains and cost both countries billions. The two countries are due to resume talks in Beijing…

Brent oil rose above $75 per barrel on Thursday for the first time this year as quality concerns forced the suspension of some Russian crude exports to Europe while the United States prepared to tighten sanctions on Iran. Brent crude futures were at $75.24 by 1156 GMT, up 67 cents. They earlier hit a session high of $75.60, their strongest since Oct. 31. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $66.14 per barrel, up 25 cents. Poland and Germany have suspended imports of Russian crude via the Druzhba pipeline, citing poor quality. Trading sources said the Czech Republic had also halted purchases. The pipeline can ship up to 1 million barrels per day, or 1 percent of global crude demand, with around 700,000 bpd of flows suspended, according to trading…

South Korea’s economy unexpectedly shrank in the first quarter, marking its worst performance since the global financial crisis, as government spending failed to keep up the previous quarter’s strong pace and as companies slashed investment.  The shock contraction reinforced financial market views that the central bank is likely to make a U-turn on policy, shifting to an easing stance and possibly cutting interest rates to counter declining business confidence and growing external risks. A worse-than-expected downturn in the memory chips sector hit first quarter capital investment, while slumping exports amid the Sino-U.S. trade dispute erased gains from private consumption, the Bank of Korea said Thursday. Gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter declined a seasonally adjusted 0.3 percent from the previous quarter, the worst contraction since a 3.3 percent…

Facebook Inc on Wednesday blew away Wall Street profit estimates in the first quarter as it kept a lid on the costs of making its social networks safer, and set aside $3 billion to cover a settlement with U.S. regulators, calming investors who had worried about the outcome of a months-long federal probe. Shares of the world's biggest online social network jumped more than 10% after hours. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has been investigating revelations that Facebook inappropriately shared information belonging to 87 million of its users with the now-defunct British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. The probe has focused on whether the sharing of data and other disputes violated a 2011 agreement with the FTC to safeguard user privacy. Facebook set aside $3 billion to cover anticipated costs…

Stephen Moore, the economic commentator that U.S. President Donald Trump has said he will nominate to the Federal Reserve Board, is drawing new fire from top Democrats for his comments denigrating, among other targets, women and the Midwest. But Republicans, whose 53 to 47 majority in the U.S. Senate gives them the final say on whether Moore's pending nomination is confirmed, have not weighed in since news surfaced this week documenting Moore's long history of sexist remarks, some of which he says were made jokingly. As a Fed governor, Moore would have a say on setting interest rates for the world's biggest economy. Some economists and Democratic lawmakers have questioned his competence, citing his support for tying policy decisions to commodity prices and his fluctuating views on rates. This week…

Boeing reported lower first-quarter profits Wednesday as the global grounding of its 737 MAX plane following two crashes hit results. The US aerospace giant reported $2.1 billion in profits, down 13.2 percent from same period a year ago. Revenues dipped 2.0 percent to $22.9 billion, due to a tumble in commercial plane revenues following the suspension of 737 MAX deliveries. Boeing also withdrew its full-year profit forecast, citing uncertainty surrounding the 737 MAX. The aerospace giant has been under scrutiny since the March 10 crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jet, which came on the heels of an October Lion Air crash. Together the crashes claimed 346 lives. Boeing said it is "making steady progress" on a fix to the jet's anti-stall system that is thought to be a factor in…

China is getting ready to welcome representatives from 150 nations, including senior leaders of 40 countries, to discuss its international infrastructure program at the second Belt and Road Forum, beginning Thursday and running through Saturday in Beijing. Analysts say it is not merely a conference on infrastructure building, but an attempt by China to display its popularity and power as a political rallying force. This is significant in view of severe criticism by the United States, which has described the Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, as China’s “vanity project.” “It is a political show of strength. BRI has assumed the characteristics of a global public good,” said Sourabh Gupta, senior fellow at the Institute for China-America Studies in Washington. “In a sense, conceptually, it is about China slipping itself…

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday failed to meet a final congressional deadline for turning over President Donald Trump's tax returns to lawmakers, setting the stage for a possible court battle between Congress and the administration. The outcome, which was widely expected, could prompt House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal to subpoena Trump's tax records as the opening salvo to a legal fight that may ultimately have to be settled by the U.S. Supreme Court. Neal set a final 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT) deadline for the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury to provide six years of Trump's individual and business tax records. But the deadline passed without the panel receiving the documents. After the deadline lapsed, Mnuchin released a letter to Neal in which he pledged…

Greece's budget performance in 2018 was better than expected following some revenue-boosting measures by the government. According to the country's statistical agency, Greece recorded a primary budget surplus, which excludes the cost of servicing the country's vast public debt, of 4.4 percent of its annual output. That's ahead of government projections of 4.1 percent.   The agency also said Tuesday that the country's debt mountain rose to 181 percent of GDP in 2018, from 176 percent in 2017.   Greece's debt dynamics have been shaken by a debt crisis that led to a deep recession and forced Athens in 2010 to seek a massive international bailout. In exchange for the loans, successive governments implemented strict austerity measures.   Though Greece ended its bailout era last summer, it still has to…

Every month, when his respiratory medicine runs out, Dionysis Assimakopoulos heads to the most unlikely pharmacy in Athens. Amid derelict stadiums dating from the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, the volunteer-staffed social pharmacy of Hellinikon has handed out free medicine to hundreds of poverty-stricken patients, keeping some of them out of death's reach. "My wife and I have been unemployed for over two years. We need about 150 euros for medicine every month," says Assimakopoulos, a former baker. Established at the height of the crisis in 2011, the pharmacy runs on donated medicine and disposables. Some 40,000 people have brought medicine, many from abroad, says on-duty pharmacist Dimitis Palakas. Another patient waiting in line is Achilleas Papadopoulos, a retired tenor. His pension of 700 euros is not enough to cover the…

Amazon and Walmart on Thursday kicked off a two-year government pilot program allowing low-income shoppers on government food assistance in New York to shop and pay for their groceries online for the first time.    ShopRite will join the two retailers on the program early next week, said the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.    The USDA has long required customers using electronic benefits transfer, or EBT, to pay for their purchases at the actual time and place of sale. So the move marks the first time SNAP customers can pay for their groceries online. ShopRite and Amazon are providing the service to the New York City area, and Walmart is providing the service online in upstate New York locations. The agency said the…

The National Enquirer is being sold to the former head of the airport newsstand company Hudson News following a rocky year in which the tabloid was accused of burying stories that could have hurt Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.    Tabloid owner American Media said Thursday that it plans to sell the supermarket weekly to James Cohen. Financial terms were not immediately disclosed for the deal, which included two other American Media tabloids, the Globe and National Examiner.      American Media said last week that it wanted to get out of the tabloid business to focus on its other operations, which includes its teen brand and broadcast platforms. Non-prosecution agreement Federal prosecutors in Manhattan agreed last year not to prosecute American Media in exchange for the company's cooperation in a…

The new North American free trade pact would modestly boost the U.S. economy, especially auto parts production, but may curb vehicle assembly and limit consumer choice in cars, a hotly anticipated analysis from the  U.S. International Trade Commission showed on Thursday.  The ITC report is a crucial step in the push for Congress to consider ratification of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which was signed by President Donald Trump and the leaders of the other two countries last year to replace the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement.  The report estimates that annual U.S. real gross domestic product would increase by 0.35 percent, or $68.5 billion, on an annual basis compared with a NAFTA baseline, and would add 176,000 U.S. jobs, while raising U.S. exports.  The ITC's estimates are for year six of the trade deal, once it is fully implemented.  The trade…

The U.S. trade deficit fell to an eight-month low in February as imports from China plunged, temporarily providing a boost to President Donald Trump's "America First" agenda and economic growth in the first quarter. The surprise second straight monthly narrowing in the trade gap reported by the Commerce Department on Wednesday was also driven by soaring aircraft exports, which are likely to reverse after Boeing halted deliveries of its troubled 737 MAX aircraft. MAX planes have been grounded indefinitely following two deadly crashes. Economists warned the trade deficit would remain elevated regardless of whether the United States and China struck a trade deal that was to the White House's liking because of Americans' insatiable appetite for cheaper imports. Talks between Washington and China to resolve the bitter trade war have…

A long-hidden trove of unpublished works by Franz Kafka could soon be revealed following a decade-long battle over his literary estate that has drawn comparisons to some of his surreal tales. A district court in Zurich upheld Israeli verdicts in the case last week, ruling that several safe deposit boxes in the Swiss city could be opened and their contents shipped to Israel’s National Library. At stake are untouched papers that could shed new light on one of literature’s darkest figures, a German-speaking Bohemian Jew from Prague whose cultural legacy has been hotly contested between Israel and Germany. What’s in the vaults? Though the exact content of the vaults remains unknown, experts have speculated the cache could include endings to some of Kafka’s major works, many of which were unfinished…

China’s economic growth held steady in the latest quarter despite a tariff war with Washington, in a reassuring sign that Beijing’s efforts to reverse a slowdown might be gaining traction. The world’s second-largest economy expanded by 6.4% over a year earlier in the three months ending in March, the government reported Wednesday. That matched the previous quarter for the weakest growth since 2009. “This confirms that China’s economic growth is bottoming out and this momentum is likely to continue,” said Tai Hui of JP Morgan Asset Management in a report. Government intervention Communist leaders stepped up government spending last year and told banks to lend more after economic activity weakened, raising the risk of politically dangerous job losses. Beijing’s decision to ease credit controls aimed at reining in rising debt…

Argentine presidential hopeful Sergio Massa would renegotiate the country's unpopular financing deal with the International Monetary Fund if he wins office later this year, the former congressman told reporters on Tuesday. The $56 billion IMF standby financing agreement includes fiscal cuts that have enraged wide segments of the public, denting the popularity of President Mauricio Macri. "We need to find a longer-term mechanism to ensure that Argentina meets its debt obligations, " the 46-year-old Massa said in a briefing with international correspondents. Macri was forced to negotiate the IMF deal last year amid a sell-off in the peso that raised questions about Argentina's ability to pay dollar-denominated bond obligations. Many Argentines blame the IMF for policies that set the stage for the country's 2002 sovereign debt default and economic meltdown.…

The White House is considering other possible candidates for the board of the Federal Reserve although President Donald Trump still backs his two potential nominees, Herman Cain and Stephen Moore, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Tuesday. Kudlow, speaking to reporters at the White House, added that Trump's picks are still going through the nominating process for the seats on the U.S. central bank's board of governors. "We are talking to a number of candidates. We always do," he said when asked if the White House was vetting alternates for Cain and Moore, whose controversial potential nominations have raised concerns among economists as well as some of Trump's fellow Republicans. The U.S. Senate must confirm any nominees, and Republicans control the chamber with 53 seats. But four of…

The Lebanese government has yet to disclose its budget for 2019, but protesters are already in the streets fearing the "difficult and painful" reforms it is expected to announce as it tries to get spending in control and rein in public debt. Retired army officers blocked several highways with burning tires Tuesday, a preemptive warning to the government against any cuts to their pensions that might be part of its effort to reduce one of the world's heaviest public debt burdens. Though small, the protests offered a glimpse of the political minefield facing the government. The budget is seen as a critical test of its will to enact long-stalled reforms that economists say are more pressing than ever for an economy that has suffered years of low growth. State finances…

The African Development Bank (AfDB) promised Tuesday to invest $4.4 billion (3.89 billion euros) in infrastructure in over the next seven years. The sum will help to finance 30 projects, ranging from electricity networks and transport to information technology and communication and improve cross-border trade, it said in a statement. Spending will be focused on Cameroon, Chad, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and the Central African Republic. Growth in central Africa doubled in 2018, with GDP expanding by 2.2% against 1.1% a year earlier, according to AfDB figures. The rate is still far behind the average for sub-Saharan Africa, which was 3.5 percent.   ...

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Monday he will create a "Robin Hood" institute to return to the people the ill-gotten wealth seized from corrupt politicians and gangsters. His administration is drawing up a bill to create an independent "Robin Hood" institute "against the corrupt" that would put confiscated goods such as real estate, jewelry and cars into the public's hands, the president told reporters. "Let's quickly return everything to the people that's been stolen," he said at his regular morning news conference. For example, the institute could assign seized homes to municipalities for schools, hospitals or elderly care centers, he said. Assets seized by the government tend to have been ransacked or require expensive upkeep, he noted. He did not estimate the value of the assets, or…