Category: Business

Britain's government redoubled its efforts Thursday to win over the main opposition party in a last-gasp bid to avoid a chaotic exit from the European Union next week. The latest round of talks came after lawmakers tried to safeguard against a doomsday ending to the 46-year partnership by fast-tracking a bill Wednesday night seeking to delay Brexit. May is racing against the clock in a desperate search for votes that could push her ill-loved divorce deal with the other 27 EU leaders through parliament on the fourth attempt. May's spokesman said there would be "intensive discussions over the course of today", noting the "urgency" of the situation. Britain's latest deadline is April 12 and resistance to May's plan remains passionately strong. But increasingly weary EU leaders — tired of Britain's political…

The United States will not send high-level officials to attend China's second Belt and Road summit in Beijing this month, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday, citing concerns about financing practices for the project. China's top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, said on Saturday that almost 40 foreign leaders would take part in the summit due to be held in Beijing in late April. He rejected criticisms of the project as "prejudiced." The first summit for the project, which envisions rebuilding the old Silk Road to connect China with Asia, Europe and beyond with massive infrastructure spending, was held in 2017 and was attended by Matt Pottinger, the senior White House official for Asia. There are no such plans this year. "We will not send high-level officials from…

Trade tensions between China and the United States are putting a drag on economies in the region, with growth likely to continue to slow in the coming two years, the Asian Development Bank says in a report released Wednesday.   The Manila, Philippines-based regional lender's latest economic outlook forecasts that growth in developing Asia will slow slightly to 5.7 percent this year and 5.6 percent in 2020. In 2017 growth was at 6.2 percent.   "The main risk to the outlook is still the ongoing trade conflict, as heightened trade policy uncertainty can negatively affect investment and manufacturing activity," it said. "A sharper slowdown in the advanced economies or the PRC (People's Republic of China) is another risk."   The annual update comes as China and the U.S. prepare for…

Royal Dutch Shell on Tuesday became the first major oil and gas company to announce plans to leave a leading U.S. refining lobby due to disagreement on climate policies, citing its support for the goals of the Paris climate agreement. In its first review of its association with 19 key industry groups, Shell said it had found "material misalignment" over climate policy with the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) and would quit the body in 2020. The review is part of Shell's drive to increase transparency and show investors it is in line with the 2015 Paris climate agreement's goals to limit global warming by reducing carbon emissions to a net zero by the end of the century. It is the latest sign of how investor pressure on oil…

The World Trade Organization has cut its forecast for trade growth this year by more than a percentage point, to 2.6 percent, due to an economic slowdown and amid a trade conflict between the United States and China. The downgrade — from 3.7 percent forecast issued in September — reflects how quickly the prospects for global business are fading as, among other things, the U.S. and China struggle to agree on how to lift tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars-worth of trade.   "With trade tensions running high, no one should be surprised by this outlook," WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo said Tuesday.   Beyond the trade war, the WTO has cited weaker economic growth in North America, Europe and Asia — largely as the effect of fiscal stimulus by the Trump administration…

On April 4th, 2019, NATO members will mark the 70th anniversary of the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty — part of a successful effort to contain Soviet expansionism and to cajole the war-torn nations of Western Europe to forsake ancient enmities and to forge solidarity.  But for the transatlantic alliance to continue, Europe will have to make a greater contribution and share more of the burden, warn analysts. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO appeared uncertain about what part to play, but the return of Russian assertiveness under President Vladimir Putin has partly changed that — and the alliance’s supporters say NATO’s traditional role of collective security has never been more important. Nonetheless, the U.S.-European alliance has been shaken by President Donald Trump’s episodic questioning of the…

NATO foreign ministers are gathering in Washington, D.C. this week to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. President Donald Trump has been critical of the alliance, blasting other members for under-investing on defense and relying too heavily on the United States. Observers will be watching closely to see how the alliance is weathering internal storms on this anniversary. Trump, who hosts NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg for talks at the White House on Tuesday, made his views on NATO clear during the 2016 presidential campaign, shocking many on both sides of the Atlantic by calling the alliance "obsolete." He cited what he said was a missing focus on terrorism, while repeatedly claiming the United States was shouldering too much of the cost. Most U.S. foreign policy…

Kellogg is selling its iconic Keebler cookie brand and other sweet snacks businesses to Ferrero for $1.3 billion. The Battle Creek, Michigan-based Kellogg Co. says the brands in the deal generated sales of $900 million and profits of $75 million last year. Kellogg is also selling its Mother's and Famous Amos cookie brands, as well as its fruit-flavored snack, pie crust and ice cream cone businesses. Kellogg acquired Keebler Foods, which was founded in 1853, in 2001 for $3.86 billion. It expects to use sale proceeds to pay down debt. Ferrero, an Italian confectionary company best known for its Nutella hazelnut cream, said Monday it will also acquire six U.S. manufacturing plants from Kellogg in the deal. Kellogg is among many U.S. food companies that have sold off brands in…

South Dakota farmers this spring are expected to plant more corn than they did last year but less soybeans. The Agriculture Department projects South Dakota's corn crop at 6 million acres, up 13 percent from 2018. The soybean crop is forecast at 5.2 million acres, down 8 percent. Other crops with expected increases are oil sunflowers, barley and dry peas. Other crops with projected decreases are spring wheat, hay, oats and sorghum. ...

The boom times for the U.S. lobster industry are imperiled this year because of a shortage of a little fish that has been luring the crustaceans into traps for hundreds of years. Members of the lobster business fear a looming bait crisis could disrupt the industry during a time when lobsters are as plentiful, valuable and in demand as ever. America’s lobster catch has climbed this decade, especially in Maine, but the fishery is dependent on herring — a schooling fish other fishermen seek in the Atlantic Ocean. Federal regulators are imposing a steep cut in the herring fishery this year, and some areas of the East Coast are already restricted to fishing, months before the lobster season gets rolling. East Coast herring fishermen brought more than 200 million pounds…

The Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building, the Sydney Opera House, the Brandenburg Gate, the Acropolis and many more iconic landmarks went dark at 8:30 p.m. local time, Saturday night, for Earth Hour, an annual call for local action on climate change. Earth Hour is the brain child of the World Wildlife Fund. “By going dark for Earth Hour, we can show steadfast commitment to protecting our families, our communities and our planet from the dangerous effects of a warming world,” said Lou Leonard, WWF senior vice president, climate and energy. “The rising demand for energy, food and water means this problem is only going to worsen, unless we act now.” Individuals and companies around the world participated in the hour-long demonstration to show their support for the fight against…

Lyft Inc shares on Friday opened up 21.2 percent at $87.24 in its market debut on the Nasdaq after the company was valued at $24.3 billion in the first initial public offering (IPO) of a ride-hailing startup. On Thursday, Lyft said it priced 32.5 million shares, slightly more that it was offering originally, at $72, the top of its already elevated $70-$72 per share target range for the IPO. After a few minutes of trading, shares were up 18.6 percent at $85.42. Instead of celebrating the first day of trading at the Nasdaq in New York, Lyft opted to mark the occasion at a defunct auto dealership in downtown Los Angeles. A couple hundred people - Lyft staff, family and friends, stakeholders and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti - gathered…

Influential figures in Washington are calling for the establishment of a bilateral free-trade agreement with Taiwan, even as U.S. and Chinese officials move toward a resolution of their long-running trade dispute.    "We have a lot of issues with Beijing, and a lot of opportunities with Taiwan," said Edwin J. Feulner in an interview with VOA. Feulner is the founder and former president of the Heritage Foundation, an influential think tank in Washington known for its conservative views and ties with the Republican Party.    Feulner thinks trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing will most likely conclude within 60 days, at which point a full-force push for a bilateral trade agreement with Taiwan could begin. Those talks would be "more or less independent of what's going on with bilateral negotiations with…

Britons desperately wanting some clarity in the country’s interminable Brexit saga were disappointed Wednesday when lawmakers plunged the country’s proposed exit from the European Union, after half-a-century of membership, into further disarray, failing to find a majority for any way forward after a series of so-called indicative votes. The hope had been a majority might emerge from the eight different options they voted on, which included staying in the EU, leaving with no withdrawal agreement, remaining in the bloc’s customs union and/or single market or holding a second Brexit referendum. “Parliament Finally Has Its Say: No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.” Britain’s Guardian newspaper announced on its front-page Thursday. “In summary: the Commons has now overwhelmingly rejected every single type of Brexit, and no Brexit,” tweeted Michel Deacon,…

Iceland's budget carrier WOW Air said it had ceased operations and cancelled all flights on Thursday, potentially stranding thousands of passengers. The collapse of the troubled airline, which transports more than a third of those traveling to Iceland, comes after buyout talks with rival Icelandair collapsed earlier this week. "All WOW Air flights have been cancelled. Passengers are advised to check available flights with other airlines," the carrier said in a statement. "Some airlines may offer flights at a reduced rate, so-called rescue fares, in light of the circumstances. Information on those airlines will be published, when it becomes available." WOW Air, founded in 2011, exploited Iceland's location in the middle of the North Atlantic to offer a low-cost service between Europe and North America as well as tapping into…

Nearly one in three people living in West and Central Africa fear losing their homes and land in the next five years, according to a survey of 33 countries, making it the region where people feel most insecure about their property. More than two in five respondents from Burkina Faso and Liberia worry their home could be taken away from them, revealed Prindex, a global property rights index which gauges citizens' views. In West Africa, "a history of governments and investors seizing land for large projects has made people more insecure," said Malcolm Childress, executive director of the Global Land Alliance, a Washington-based think tank that compiles the index. Insecurity can lead to people struggling to plan for their futures, holding back entire economies, Childress said. "In countries like Rwanda,…

Than Ei lived in the Thilawa area near Yangon for years, growing vegetables in her backyard and sending her two children to school with money from her husband's construction job. Then came the government order to move. Than Ei's family was among 68 households relocated in 2013 to make way for the Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ), the first such industrial area in Myanmar, about 23km (15 miles) southeast of Yangon. Authorities said each family would get a home a few miles away, or a plot of land and money to build a house, as well as jobs in the new factories, with good wages. But six years on, Than Ei and others who moved say their incomes are lower than before, and they have only limited access to services.…

U.S. labor officials on Tuesday pressed lawmakers to strengthen enforcement of the provisions of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) intended to protect workers, the latest sign that the trade deal could face hurdles to passage in the Democrat-led House of Representatives. Renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was one of President Donald Trump's campaign promises and part of his broader push for better terms of trade for the United States. He has said that bad deals have cost millions of jobs. Representatives from some of the largest and most influential unions in the United States told lawmakers on Tuesday that the reworked pact does not go far enough to ensure improvement of wages and working conditions, especially for Mexican workers. "All the NAFTA renegotiation efforts in the…

The White House and business groups are stepping up efforts to win congressional approval for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade accord. But prospects are uncertain given that Republicans are at odds with some aspects of the plan and Democrats are in no hurry to secure a political victory for the president. President Donald Trump will meet with GOP lawmakers Tuesday to try to kick-start the process for rounding up votes on Capitol Hill. Supporters in Congress and business groups say they have a narrow window to push it through, given that lawmakers tend to avoid tough trade votes during election season. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., the chairman of the House subcommittee that has jurisdiction over trade, said the pact needs adjustments to be "worthy of support.'' Some Republican lawmakers also have concerns.…

Hong Kong's former home affairs secretary Patrick Ho Chi Ping was jailed for three years Monday for a scheme to bribe African officials to boost a top Chinese energy company that was part of Beijing's global Belt and Road initiative. Ho, 69, who worked for the controversial energy conglomerate CEFC China Energy, was sentenced by a New York judge after being convicted in December on seven charges of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and money laundering for bribes. He was accused of paying off top officials in Uganda and Chad to support the Shanghai conglomerate's projects in their countries. Some of the deals were arranged in the halls of the United Nations, leading to the U.S. arrest in November 2017 of Ho and a co-conspirator, former Senegalese top diplomat…

Airbus signed a deal worth tens of billions of dollars on Monday to sell 300 aircraft to China as part of a trade package coinciding with a visit to Europe by Chinese President Xi Jinping and matching a China record held by rival Boeing. The deal between Airbus and China's state buying agency, China Aviation Supplies Holding Company, which regularly coordinates headline-grabbing deals during diplomatic visits, will include 290 A320-family jets and 10 A350 wide-body jets. French officials said the deal was worth some 30 billion euros at catalogue prices. Planemakers usually grant significant discounts. The larger-than-expected order, which matches an order for 300 Boeing planes when U.S. Donald Trump visited Beijing in 2017, follows a year-long vacuum of purchases in which China failed to place significant orders amid global…

The chairman of India's private Jet Airways has quit amid mounting financial woes which have forced it to suspend 14 international routes and ground more than 80 planes. A statement by the airline says its board on Monday accepted the resignations of Chairman Naresh Goyal, his wife and a nominee of Gulf carrier Etihad Airways from the board. It said Goyal will also cease to be chairman. Goyal has been trying to obtain new funding from Etihad Airways, which holds a 24 percent stake in the airline, which was founded 27 years ago. The statement said the airline will receive 15 billion rupees ($217 million) in immediate funding under a recovery plan formulated by its creditors.     ...

U.S. sportswear maker Nike was hit with a 12.5 million euro ($14.14 million) fine on Monday for blocking cross-border sales of soccer merchandise of some of Europe's best-known clubs, the latest EU sanction against such restrictions. The European Commission said Nike's illegal practices occurred between 2004 to 2017 and related to licensed merchandise for FC Barcelona, Manchester United, Juventus, Inter Milan, AS Roma and the French Football Federation. The European Union case focused on Nike's role as a licensor for making and distributing licensed merchandise featuring a soccer club's brands and not its own trademarks. The sanction came after a two-year investigation triggered by a sector inquiry into e-commerce in the 28-country bloc. The EU wants to boost online trade and economic growth. European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said Nike's…

The United States is an economic powerhouse. As the largest economy in the world, the U.S. produced $20.5 trillion worth of goods and services — known as its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) — in 2018. That's impressive when you consider that the total GDP for the entire world was about $80 trillion in 2017. In fact, every U.S. state has a GDP that makes it as powerful, economically, as a foreign nation. California is the state with the highest GDP in the country. Its $2.97 trillion economy is on par with Britain, which has a GDP of $2.81 trillion. The UK needed 14.5 million workers — 75 percent more than California used — to produce the same economic output. On its own, California is the fifth-largest economy in the world.…

The U.S. federal government posted a $234 billion budget deficit in February, according to data released Friday by the Treasury Department. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a $227 billion deficit for the month. The Treasury said federal spending in February was $401 billion, up 8 percent from the same month in 2018, while receipts were $167 billion, up 7 percent compared to February 2018. The deficit for the fiscal year to date was $544 billion, compared with $391 billion in the comparable period the year earlier. When adjusted for calendar effects, the deficit was $547 billion for the fiscal year to date versus $439 billion in the comparable prior period. ...

Less than a week after a series of critical tweets from the president over an Ohio plant closure, General Motors is announcing plans to add 400 jobs and build a new electric vehicle at a factory north of Detroit. The company says it will spend $300 million at its plant in Orion Township, Michigan, to manufacture a Chevrolet vehicle based on the battery-powered Bolt. GM wouldn't say when the new workers will start or when the new vehicle will go on sale, nor would it say if the workers will be new hires or come from a pool of laid-off workers from the planned closings of four U.S. factories by January. The company also announced plans Friday to spend about another $1.4 billion at U.S. factories with 300 more jobs…

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad arrived Thursday in Pakistan on an official three-day visit, where his high-powered delegation is expected to finalize investment deals worth nearly $900 million, officials said.    The Malaysian leader will also be the chief guest at the Pakistan Day military parade Saturday, the Foreign Ministry announced.    Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's adviser on commerce told reporters that business leaders accompanying Mahathir would sign three memorandums of understanding on Friday covering up to $900 million worth of investments in information technology and telecom sectors.   The adviser, Razak Dawood, said the deals with Malaysia would also provide Pakistan a new opening toward membership in the Association of South East Asian Nations. He said Malaysian businessmen had also indicated they would like to invest in other sectors, including energy…

The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, pointing to still strong labor market conditions, though the pace of job growth has slowed after last year's robust gains. Other data on Thursday showed a measure of factory activity in the mid-Atlantic region rebounding sharply this month after falling into negative territory in February for the first time in more than 2-1/2 years. But manufacturers' perceptions about the outlook were the least favorable in three years and their expectations for capital spending were also less upbeat. These findings support the view that the manufacturing sector is slowing in line with softening economic growth. The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday and its policymakers abandoned projections for further rate increases this year, noting…