Sep182018 by DmediaNo Comments

Africa’s Youth Population, Poverty Spur Gates Foundation’s Giving

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Africa has the globe's fastest-growing youth population as well as 10 of the poorest countries, a volatile combination that warrants making it "the world's most important priority for the foreseeable future." The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation lays out that argument in its second annual report on progress toward sustainable development goals set by the United Nations for 2030. This Goalkeepers Data Report, released Tuesday, urges targeting Africa with the same kind of investment intensity that lifted once-poor China and India into the ranks of middle-income nations. Sixty percent of Africans are younger than 24, numbers that Melinda Gates emphasized in a phone interview earlier this month with VOA's English to Africa Service. "If the world makes the right investments in health and nutrition and education," she said, it could…


Sep182018 by DmediaNo Comments

ADB Ramps Up Pacific Presence as Aid Donors Jostle for Influence

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The Asian Development Bank said on Tuesday it is expanding its presence in the Pacific islands, at a time of competition for influence there, opening seven new country offices and expecting its loans and grants in the region to top $4 billion by 2020. The pledge from the Japan-led bank comes amidst a vigorous new campaign by the United States and its allies to check China's rising sway in the region, where it has sought deeper diplomatic ties and emerged as the second-largest donor. The battle for influence in the sparsely populated Pacific matters because each of the tiny island states has a vote at international forums like the United Nations, and they also control vast swathes of resource-rich ocean. The ADB said it will open offices in the Cook…


Sep182018 by DmediaNo Comments

SpaceX’s First Private Passenger is Japanese Fashion Magnate Maezawa

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SpaceX, Elon Musk's space transportation company, on Monday named its first private passenger as Japanese businessman Yusaku Maezawa, the founder and chief executive of online fashion retailer Zozo. A former drummer in a punk band, billionaire Maezawa will take a trip around the moon planned for 2023 aboard its forthcoming Big Falcon Rocket spaceship, taking the race to commercialize space travel to new heights. The first person to travel to the moon since the United States' Apollo missions ended in 1972, Maezawa's identity was revealed at an event on Monday evening at the company's headquarters and rocket factory in the Los Angeles suburb of Hawthorne. Maezawa, who is most famous outside Japan for his record-breaking $110 million purchase of an untitled 1982 Jean-Michel Basquiat painting, said he would invite six…


Sep182018 by DmediaNo Comments

US General Eyes Laser Defense to Boost Air Tanker Security

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Lasers might soon be the newest line of defense for vulnerable aircraft that are key to keeping other military planes in battle. Air tankers are getting an upgrade next month with the introduction of the new Boeing KC-46 Pegasus, carrying up to about 96,000 kilograms of highly flammable aviation fuel. The long-awaited plane will be able to refuel other aircraft off its wings and to receive fuel from another tanker while its refueling a plane. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb has more. ...


Sep172018 by DmediaNo Comments

Macron Eyes Purchasing Power Boost to Ease Reform Fatigue

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With his popularity ratings in freefall, French President Emmanuel Macron is counting on a rebound in family purchasing power to keep voters from turning against his reforms. Macron's government has lined up several tax cuts taking effect in the coming months that should boost the closely tracked measure of disposable income in France. It could hardly come at a better time for Macron, with many voters saying the former investment banker has spent his first year in office cutting taxes for the wealthy and big companies. More purchasing power was the single biggest priority in voters' eyes, well ahead of cutting unemployment or the tax burden, according to a Kantar Sofres poll released on Sunday. Squeezed by tax hikes on petrol and tobacco as well as oil price-driven inflation, household…


Sep172018 by DmediaNo Comments

Trump Adviser Eyes Entitlement Cuts to Plug US Budget Gaps

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A top economic adviser to President Donald Trump said on Monday he expects U.S. budget deficits of about 4 to 5 percent of the country's economic output for the next one to two years, adding that there would likely be an effort in 2019 to cut spending on entitlement programs. "We have to be tougher on spending," White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said in remarks to the Economic Club of New York, adding that government spending was the reason for the wider budget deficits, not the Republican-led tax cuts activated this year. Kudlow did not specify where future cuts would be made. "We're going to run deficits of about 4 to 5 percent of GDP for the next year or two, OK. I'd rather they were lower but it's…


Sep172018 by DmediaNo Comments

Report: Machines to Handle Over Half Workplace Tasks by 2025

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More than half of all workplace tasks will be carried out by machines by 2025, organizers of the Davos economic forum said in a report released Monday that highlights the speed with which the labor market will change in coming years. The World Economic Forum estimates that machines will be responsible for 52 percent of the division of labor as share of hours within seven years, up from just 29 percent today. By 2022, the report says, roughly 75 million jobs worldwide will be lost, but that could be more than offset by the creation of 133 million new jobs. A major challenge, however, will be training and re-training employees for that new world of work. “By 2025, the majority of workplace tasks in existence today will be performed by…


Sep172018 by DmediaNo Comments

Saudi Sovereign Fund Invests $1 Billion in US Electric Car Firm

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Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund invested $1 billion Monday in an American electric car manufacturer just weeks after Tesla CEO Elon Musk earlier claimed the kingdom would help his own firm go private. Tesla stock dropped Monday on reaction to the news, the same day that the Saudi fund announced it had taken its first loan, an $11 billion borrowing from global banks as it tries to expand its investments. The Saudi Public Investment Fund said it would invest the $1 billion in Newark, California-based Lucid Motors. The investment "will provide the necessary funding to commercially launch Lucid's first electric vehicle, the Lucid Air, in 2020," the sovereign wealth fund said in a statement. "The company plans to use the funding to complete engineering development and testing of the Lucid…


Sep142018 by DmediaNo Comments

Report: UN Poverty Targets Remain Off Course

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Aid money urgently needs to be redirected to the poorest countries in order to reach the United Nations' goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030, according to a report. The London-based Overseas Development Institute (ODI) says middle-income countries receive more aid than the 30 poorest nations. It also warns that at least 400 million people will still be living on less than $1.90 a day, despite government pledges to eliminate all extreme poverty. In northern Ethiopia, teams of workers dig irrigation channels through orchards and grain fields. Such projects have turned arid plains into fertile farmland, which has quadrupled agricultural production. The report from the ODI credits Ethiopia's "Productive Safety Net Program," launched in 2005, with lifting 1.4 million people out of extreme poverty. It also enabled Ethiopia to avoid…


Sep142018 by DmediaNo Comments

Bloomberg: Trump Wants Tariffs on About $200 Billion in Chinese Goods

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U.S. President Donald Trump has instructed aides to proceed with tariffs on about $200 billion more in Chinese products, despite Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's attempts to restart talks with China about resolving the trade war, Bloomberg reported on Friday. Reuters could not immediately verify the report, which had an immediate effect on financial markets. It led U.S. stocks to trade lower, fueled drops in the Chinese yuan in offshore trading and gains in the dollar index, and sent the S&P 500 index negative. The step comes exactly one week since Trump raised the possibility of duties on the $200 billion of imports and also threatened tariffs on $267 billion worth of goods. Trump has already levied duties on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods. The United States only imported $505…


Sep132018 by DmediaNo Comments

Turkey’s Central Bank Defies Erdogan, Hikes Rates

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The Turkish central bank caught international markets by surprise Thursday as it aggressively hiked interest rates in an effort to strengthen consumer confidence, stem inflation and rein in the currency crisis.  Interest rates were increased to 24 percent from 17.75 percent, which is more than double the median of investor predictions of a 3 percent hike. The Turkish lira surged above 5 percent in response, although the gains subsequently were pared back. International investors broadly welcomed the move. "TCMB [Turkish Republic Central Bank] did show resolve in hiking the one-week repo rate substantially and going back to orthodoxy," chief economist Inan Demir of Nomura International said. The central bank had drawn sharp criticism for failing to substantially raise interest rates to rein in double-digit inflation and an ailing currency. The…


Sep132018 by DmediaNo Comments

Zuckerberg Says Facebook ‘Better Prepared’ for Election Meddling

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Facebook is better prepared to defend against efforts to manipulate the platform to influence elections and has recently thwarted foreign influence campaigns targeting several countries, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday. Zuckerberg, posting on his Facebook page, outlined a series of steps the leading social network has taken to protect against misinformation and manipulation campaigns aimed at disrupting elections. "We've identified and removed fake accounts ahead of elections in France, Germany, Alabama, Mexico and Brazil," Zuckerberg said. "We've found and taken down foreign influence campaigns from Russia and Iran attempting to interfere in the US, UK, Middle East, and elsewhere — as well as groups in Mexico and Brazil that have been active in their own country." Zuckerberg repeated his admission that Facebook was ill-prepared for the vast influence efforts…


Sep132018 by DmediaNo Comments

In Cuba, Street Vendors Sing to Sell, From Salsa to Reggaeton

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Cuba’s street vendors are bringing back the pregon, the art of singing humorous, rhyming ditties with double entendres about the goods they are selling, with some modernizing the tradition by setting their tunes to reggaeton. The pregon is a centuries-old tradition that has inspired famous songs like “El Manisero” (the peanut vendor), composed in the late 1920s by Cuban musician Moises Simons on son music, the backbone of salsa. It faded out in Cuba after Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution did away with most free enterprise. With the tentative liberalization of the centralized economy over the last few decades, however, it has made a comeback. Cubans can now get a permit to make and sell their own goods on the street, from coconut ice cream to juices. Vendors often opting for…


Sep132018 by DmediaNo Comments

Survey: US Tariffs Hurting American Businesses in China

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Even before U.S.-China trade tensions began escalating dramatically, foreign businesses who operate in China were warning about the impact tariffs could have. And now, according to a newly released joint survey from the American Chamber of Commerce in China and AmCham Shanghai, many are already feeling the pinch. More than 60 percent say the initial $50 billion in tariffs rolled out by the United States and China are having a negative impact on business, increasing the demand of manufacturing and slowing demand for products. That number is expected to rise to nearly 75 percent if a second round of tariffs, an additional $200 billion in tariffs from Washington and another $60 billion from Beijing, goes ahead. The administration of President Donald Trump has threatened it could go ahead with $200…


Sep122018 by DmediaNo Comments

Anti-Corruption Watchdog: Most Countries Ignore Anti-Foreign Bribery Laws  

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A new report by Transparency International suggests foreign bribery is alive and well.  The report, by the Berlin-based, anti-corruption watchdog, suggests little has changed in recent years in the way governments enforce their anti-bribery laws. Today, only seven major exporting countries actively crack down on companies that offer bribes to foreign officials in exchange for favorable business deals. The United States is one of the seven countries, which together account for 27 percent of world exports, Transparency International said. The others are Germany, Israel, Italy, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.  2016 a record year Between 2014 and 2017, the United States launched at least 32 investigations, opened 13 cases and concluded 98 cases involving foreign bribery, according to the report. Enforcement activity surged in 2016, resulting in a record…


Sep122018 by DmediaNo Comments

Argentine Austerity Protests Mount Over Macri-Backed IMF Measures

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Labor unions and social groups blocked streets in downtown Buenos Aires on Wednesday, with more marches planned over the days ahead over   austerity measures proposed by the government and backed by the International Monetary Fund. Protesters are angry about the belt-tightening policies, which are cutting services to low-income Argentines already walloped by inflation of 31 percent and climbing. But Argentine leader Mauricio Macri says he needs to carry out such measures to regain investors' confidence by reducing the country's fiscal deficit. The outlook for Latin America's third biggest economy is grim, according to orthodox and left-leaning economists alike. Planned cuts to public utility subsidies, forcing Argentines to pay more for transportation and electricity, are expected to keep upward pressure on consumer prices for the rest of 2018. "The day to…


Sep122018 by DmediaNo Comments

Updated Apple System Takes on Smartphone Addiction

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Apple's polished iPhone line-up comes with tools to help users dial back their smartphone obsessions, amid growing concerns over "addiction" and harmful effects on children. An iOS 12 mobile operating system that will power new iPhones unveiled on Wednesday, and be pushed out as an update to prior models, has new features to reduce how much they distract people from the real world. Apple senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi said of iOS 12 at a developers conference earlier this year the new system offers "detailed information and tools" to help users and parents keep tabs on device use. A new "Screen Time" tool generates activity reports showing how often people pick up their iPhones or iPads, how long they spend in apps or at websites, and numbers…


Sep122018 by DmediaNo Comments

Apple Unveils Larger iPhones, Health-Oriented Watches

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Apple Inc unveiled larger iPhones and watches based on the design of current models on Wednesday, confirming Wall Street expectations that the company is making only minor changes to its lineup. The world's most valuable tech company wants users to upgrade to newer, more expensive devices as a way to boost revenue as global demand for smartphones levels off. The strategy has helped Apple become the first publicly-traded U.S. company to hit a market value of more than $1 trillion earlier this year. Its shares were down 1.2 percent on Nasdaq. Apple uses the 'S' suffix when it upgrades components but leaves the exterior design of a phone the same. Last year's iPhone X — pronounced "ten" — represented a major redesign. The new phones are the XS, with a…


Sep122018 by DmediaNo Comments

US Median Household Income Reaches Record High

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The median U.S. household income reached $61,372 last year — its highest level ever, the U.S. Census reported Wednesday. The new median figure, meaning that half of U.S. families earned more money and half less, was a reflection of the robust U.S. economy, the world's largest, that expanded 4.1 percent in the April-to-June period even as the unemployment rate held steady in August at 3.9 percent. The 2017 household income was 1.8 percent higher than the $60,309 figure in 2016. Middle-class income in the U.S. has been expanding in recent years as the country continues its recovery from the steep recession of a decade ago — a time when millions of people lost their jobs, and many lost their homes through foreclosure when they no longer had enough money to…


Sep122018 by DmediaNo Comments

S. Korea Jobless Rate Hits Highest Since Global Financial Crisis

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South Korea's unemployment rate hit an eight-year high in August as mandatory minimum wages rose, adding to economic policy frustrations and political challenges for President Moon Jae-in whose approval rating is now at its lowest since inauguration. The unemployment rate rose to 4.2 percent in August from 3.8 percent in July in seasonally adjusted terms as the number of unemployed rose by 134,000 people from a year earlier. This was the labor market's worst performance since January 2010, when the economy was still reeling from the global financial crisis, when 10,000 jobs were lost. Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said on Wednesday the government will need to adjust its wage policies, signaling some future soft-pedaling in the drive to raise minimum wages. "(The government) will discuss slowing the speed of minimum…


Sep122018 by DmediaNo Comments

Internet Group Backs ‘National’ Data Privacy Approach

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A group representing major internet companies including Facebook, Amazon.com and Alphabet said on Tuesday it backed modernizing U.S. data privacy rules but wants a national approach that would preempt California's new regulations that take effect in 2020. The Internet Association, a group representing more than 40 major internet and technology firms including Netflix, Microsoft and Twitter, said "internet companies support an economy-wide, national approach to regulation that protects the privacy of all Americans." The group said it backed principles that would ensure consumers should have "meaningful controls over how personal information they provide" is used and should be able to know who it is being shared with. Consumers should also be able to seek deletion of data or request corrections or take personal information to another company that provides similar…


Sep122018 by DmediaNo Comments

Water Shortages to Cut Iraq’s Irrigated Wheat Area by Half

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In Iraq, a major Middle East grain buyer, will cut the irrigated area it plants with wheat by half in the 2018-2019 growing season as water shortages grip the country, a government official told Reuters. Drought and dwindling river flows have already forced Iraq to ban farmers from planting rice and other water-intensive summer crops. Water scarcity was one of the issues galvanizing street protests in the country this year. An investigation by Reuters in July revealed how Nineveh, Iraq's former breadbasket, was becoming a dust bowl after drought and years of war. This latest move is likely to significantly raise wheat imports. Deputy Agriculture Minister Mahdi al-Qaisi said irrigated land grown with winter grains, namely wheat and barley, would be halved. "The shortage of water resources, climate change and…


Sep122018 by DmediaNo Comments

In Posh Bangkok Neighborhood, Residents Trade Energy with Blockchain

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Residents in a Bangkok neighborhood are trying out a renewable energy trading platform that allows them to buy and sell electricity between themselves, signaling the growing popularity of such systems as solar panels get cheaper. The pilot project in the center of Thailand's capital is among the world's largest peer-to-peer renewable energy trading platforms using blockchain, according to the firms involved. The system has a total generating capacity of 635 KW that can be traded via Bangkok city's electricity grid between a mall, a school, a dental hospital and an apartment complex. Commercial operations will begin next month, said David Martin, managing director of Power Ledger, an Australian firm that develops technology for the energy industry and is a partner in the project. "By enabling trade in renewable energy, the…


Sep112018 by DmediaNo Comments

Indonesia Battles Currency Woes

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Policymakers in Indonesia are grappling to deal with a weakened currency, the rupiah, which was valued at just 14,930 per U.S. dollar last week — its lowest point since the 1998 Asian financial crisis. But unlike 20 years ago, when economic turmoil led to major political upheaval in Indonesia, most observers say that Southeast Asia’s largest economy is now far better positioned to endure a poorly performing currency. The United States Federal Reserve’s planned interest rate hikes have impacted emerging markets worldwide as investors sell assets in countries such as Indonesia in favor of American ones. The Argentine peso and Turkish lira both crashed in late August, crises that sent major shockwaves across developing economies. President Donald Trump’s trade war with Beijing has also seen a devaluation of the Chinese…


Sep112018 by DmediaNo Comments

13-Year-Old Kurdish-American Boy Becomes Entrepreneur

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United States is a land of opportunity. We have all heard this saying, but what does it mean and how does it happen? A Kurdish-American family in the state of Virginia is seeing how their 13-year-old son has made the most of a unique opportunity. VOA’s Yahya Barzinji recently visited this family and filed this report narrated by Bezhan Hamdard. ...