The Koch Brothers’ political network is preparing to spend millions of dollars to ensure their vision for tax reform isn’t lost in the increasing chaos consuming President Donald Trump’s administration. The network’s leading organizations, Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Partners, on Thursday released a set of general preferences for major changes to the tax code. While explicitly stating their opposition to new border-adjustment or value-added taxes, there were few specifics in a document that was designed to inject a new sense of urgency into the stalled tax debate. “Now is the time. We’ve got to unite around these principles,” network spokesman James Davis said. “The White House hopefully will see this as a jolt to support them in driving this forward.” Beyond Thursday’s release, Davis said the network backed by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch is launching a multimillion-dollar campaign through the summer to ensure their conservative tax plan is not forgotten. The campaign will include digital ads and town hall meetings across the country, along with phone banks and direct mail. The Koch push reflects broader concerns from the nation’s business community that Trump’s promise to overhaul the tax code may fall victim to his mounting political challenges. The stock market on Wednesday suffered its largest single-day loss of the Trump presidency. That was before the Justice Department appointed a special counsel to investigate allegations that Trump’s campaign collaborated with Russia to sway the 2016 election. Late last month, Trump released a one-page proposal …
At Hong Kong Trade Fair, Funerals Go Green, High Tech
Death is inevitable, but it doesn’t have to be bad for the environment. Caskets made of paper and wicker coffins on display at a recent Hong Kong funeral industry trade highlighted a trend toward “green burials” in an industry booming as Asia’s population rapidly ages. Chinese businessman Alex Sun’s company, Shandong Ecoffin International, makes wicker and seagrass coffins, which first became popular in the West and are now catching on in Asia. Basket-weaving dates to the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) in northeast China’s Shandong province, where Sun’s factory uses fast-growing willow reeds to make caskets that are an eco-friendly alternative to wood. “Eco funerals are a global trend,” Sun said. “European customers already know about this product, while Asian customers are also interested in it and would love to learn more,” he said. Interest is especially high in the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam as well as mainland China, he said. Mood is light at funeral expo The mood was bright, not funereal, as coffin makers, morticians, funeral home operators and entrepreneurs converged on Hong Kong this week for the Asia Funeral and Cemetery Expo & Conference, a trade fair held every other year. Participants were pitching caskets for pets, Italian hearses, German cremators with high-tech filters and Japanese mobile embalming units. From China, Truthkobo Jewelry offered pendants made with ashes from deceased relatives or pets while Shenyang Roundfin was looking for international distributors for its autopsy tables, morgue fridges and body bags. Aging populations The death …
Kilometers-Long Barrier Part of Plan to Clean Up Ocean Plastic
We producing nearly 300 million tons of plastic every year, half of which is used once, then thrown away. In the United States, we discard more than 33 million tons of plastics, and only a little more than 14 percent is recycled or used as fuel. The rest ends up in landfills or strewn along roadways or washed into the ocean. Getting rid of it will be an enduring challenge, but one man has a plan to start cleaning up our mess. VOA’s Faith Lapidus reports. …
Le Sifflu Pipe Gives Non-Smokers Something to Hold On To
Despite the health warnings, smoking in many places is still the “thing to do.” For those who have quit but still want to hang out with their smoking friends, a French design group has the Sifflu. It lets people act like they are smoking while teaching them how to breathe, but without the worry of cancer and a shortened life span. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …
Few US Doctors Discuss Cancer Costs With Patients, Study Finds
Most doctors did not discuss the cost of cancer treatment with patients, spent less than two minutes on it when they did, and usually did so only after patients brought it up, a study that taped hundreds of visits at several large hospitals finds. Cancer patients are three times more likely to declare bankruptcy than people without cancer are, but many doctors are not having the conversations that might help prevent this and sometimes don’t know the cost themselves, the results suggest. “That would not occur in any other industry I can think of” where a service or product is sold, said the study leader, Dr. Rahma Warsame of the Mayo Clinic. Results were released Wednesday by the American Society of Clinical Oncology and will be discussed next month at its annual meeting in Chicago. The study has some limitations – it’s not nationwide, and it includes newly diagnosed patients, where cost is most likely to come up, as well as others further along in treatment who may have discussed this earlier. But the larger point is clear, Warsame said: The “financial toxicity” of treatments that can cost more than $100,000 a year is growing, and talks about that aren’t happening enough. “I’ve had people say ‘no’ to really life-extending therapies” because of worries about bankrupting their family, she said. For the study, researchers taped 529 conversations between doctors and patients with various types of cancer at three outpatient clinics – the kind of places …
US Stocks, Dollar and Bonds Falter Amid Political Worries
U.S. stocks, the dollar, and government bonds were down in Wednesday’s trading amid investor worries about controversial actions and comments from President Donald Trump. The major U.S. stock indexes fell 1.8 percent or more, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 372 points. The faltering markets follow Trump’s firing of the FBI chief, his reported sharing of secrets with top Russian officials, and allegations that the president may have tried to block an investigation into actions by a top aide who was fired. Following Trump’s election, the dollar rose and stocks climbed to a series of record highs as investors bet that Trump’s promises to cut taxes and regulations would boost economic growth and corporate profits. Investors may be having second thoughts, though, after legislative efforts to repeal and replace a health care law stalled, and the tax cut agenda is tangled in political bickering. Even Trump’s Republican allies say calls for congressional and other investigations of the administration’s actions are a distraction for lawmakers trying to move his agenda forward against determined opposition from Democrats. …
‘Sea Monster’ Carcass Identified
Scientists say they have identified the “sea monster” that washed ashore on an Indonesian beach. The badly decomposing carcass measures over 15 meters long and baffled scientists since it washed up on Seram Island last week. Marine biologists now believe the carcass is a dead baleen whale, largely because of a visible skeleton, which would rule out speculation that the creature was a giant squid. “Giant squid are invertebrates and there are clearly bones visible, so I am very comfortable saying it’s some type of rorqual whale,” said Regina Asmutis-Silvia, executive director of Whale and Dolphin Conservation in an interview with the Huffington Post. “Certain species of baleen whales (rorquals) have ‘ventral grooves’ which run from their chin to their belly button. It is stretchy tissue that expands when they feed.” Alexander Werth, a whale biologist at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia agrees with the assessment after seeing photos of the carcass on social media that showed the nearly amorphous carcass surrounded by blood in the water. He added that the carcass probably stinks “to high heaven.” “That’s yet another reason you don’t want to be close to these things, not because it’s a scary, spooky creature, but [because] it would just be releasing some pretty foul, noxious gases,” Werth told Live Science. Locals have asked the government for help in removing the whale. …
Group Behind Leak of Tools Used in Ransomware Attack Says Ready to Sell More Code
The hacker group behind the leak of cyber spying tools from the U.S. National Security Agency, which were used in last week’s “ransomware” cyberattack, says it has more code that it plans to start selling through a subscription service launching next month. The group known as Shadow Brokers posted a statement online Tuesday saying the new data dumps could include exploits for Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system, and for web browsers and cell phones, as well as “compromised network data from Russian, Chinese, Iranian or North Korean nukes and missile programs.” Shadow Brokers tried unsuccessfully last year to auction off cyber tools it said were stolen from the NSA. The WannaCry ransomware virus exploited a vulnerability in Microsoft’s older Windows XP operation system. The company had largely stopped offering support such as security updates for Windows XP, but did release a patch to protect users against the attack that demanded people pay to avoid losing their data. There is no definitive evidence yet of who used the NSA tools to build WannaCry. Cyber security experts say the technical evidence linking North Korea to the cyberattack is somewhat tenuous, but Pyongyang has the advanced cyber capabilities, and the motive to compensate for lost revenue due to economic sanctions, to be considered a likely suspect. Since Friday, the WannaCry virus has infected more than 300,000 computers in 150 countries, at least temporarily paralyzing factories, banks, government agencies, hospitals and transportation systems. On Monday analysts with the cyber security firms Symantec and Kaspersky …
Mexico Expects NAFTA Talks by Late August, Its Economy Minister Says
Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said Tuesday that he expected U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to tell Congress early next week of plans to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, a move that would produce talks by late August. Guajardo said he would have more information after meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in Vietnam on Thursday as part of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings. During the 2016 U.S. election campaign, Trump vowed to scrap the 1994 deal between the United States, Canada and Mexico if he could not adjust it to benefit U.S. interests. “Probably the notification will be sent to Congress by the U.S. executive at some time early next week,” Guajardo told Mexican reporters, a day after meetings in Washington with U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and other U.S. officials. In Washington, Ross declined to predict the timing of the notification, saying that there were more consultations with Congress needed first. Current format In a meeting Tuesday, U.S. senators said Ross and Lighthizer expressed their preference to keep the current trilateral format in the NAFTA talks. Guajardo also said that a dispute over sugar with the United States could be resolved within two weeks, before a June 5 deadline to break the impasse. The U.S. sugar industry pressed the U.S. Commerce Department late last year to withdraw from a 2014 agreement that sets prices and quotas for U.S. imports of Mexican sugar unless the deal could be renegotiated. The U.S. sugar lobby wants Mexico to export …
Year-round Flu Vaccination May Prevent Hospitalization of Pregnant Women
Pregnant women who come down with the flu are at greater risk of illness requiring hospitalization. A new study found that in resource-poor countries, flu vaccination reduced the risk of illness to mother and baby. An estimated 40 percent of the world’s population lives in subtropical and tropical zones, where influenza sometimes circulates year-round. Yet influenza vaccine is rarely used. Mark Steinhoff is director of the Global Health Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in Ohio. He said the influenza virus, which is often mild in healthy people, can result in hospitalization of pregnant women. With a growing fetus pressed up against their lungs, Steinhoff says, women with the flu can have trouble breathing. He also said a pregnant woman is more susceptible to illness as the growing baby siphons off her natural defenses. But in a first-of-its-kind study, Steinhoff and colleagues found vaccinating women year-round in a developing country, Nepal near the Indian border, dramatically reduced the incidence of influenza in mothers and benefited their babies. The study was published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases. “It reduced disease in the mothers and in the infants by about 60 percent reduction in the second year. It’s really quite remarkable. But it also reduced the rate of low birth weight — that is, kids born less than 2.5 kilos. It reduced that by 16 percent,” said Steinhoff. Babies benefited from the shots because they received antibodies against the illness from their mothers while in the womb. The study The …
В Україну прибула місія МВФ
Місія Міжнародного валютного фонду прибула в Україну. Про це повідомив представник українського офісу МВФ. З його слів, місія працюватиме в Україні до 25 травня. Серед питань, які місія МВФ має обговорити, – пенсійна реформа, зміни в податковій і митній політиці, прогрес у відшкодуванні ПДВ і виконання бюджету. Востаннє місія МВФ працювала в Україні з 3 до 17 листопада 2016 року, а 3 квітня 2017 року Україні надали транш на 1 мільярд доларів 3 квітня 2017 року. Уже 6 квітня речник Міжнародного валютного фонду Джеррі Райс заявив, що ще цього року Україна може отримати від МВФ іще три транші позики на загальну суму близько 4,4 мільярда доларів, але наголосив, що це обумовлене виконанням реформ, передбачених програмою співпраці. Як сказав він на прес-конференції у Вашингтоні, головними цілями програми на наступні кілька місяців є, зокрема, всеосяжна пенсійна реформа, поступ у приватизації, створення ринку продажу сільськогосподарських земель, також важливим елементом цієї програми є рішуча боротьба з корупцією. Загалом, за даними Національного банку, до кінця року Україна очікує надходження 4,5 мільярдів доларів США від МВФ та 1,3 мільярдів від Єврокомісії. Водночас, до кінця 2019-го Україна повинна виплатити 12,8 мільярдів доларів зовнішнього боргу. У березні 2015 року між МВФ і Україною була затверджена чотирирічна програма розширеного фінансування на суму близько 17,5 мільярдів доларів США. Наразі, разом із нинішнім траншем, МВФ надав Україні за цією програмою близько 8 мільярдів 380 мільйонів доларів. Метою програми є відновлення економіки України, відновлення її незалежності від зовнішніх джерел, зміцнення державних фінансів, утримання фінансової стабільності і підтримка економічного зростання шляхом структурних і управлінських реформ …
Cholera Outbreak Compounds Hunger Crisis in Southern Somalia
A regional drought has displaced more than half a million people in Somalia and left the country at risk of famine. A cholera outbreak is further complicating relief efforts, in particular in the southern part of the country where some villages remain under al-Shabab control. Bay Regional Hospital, the biggest in the southwest federal state, is filled with patients suffering from stomach pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. Cholera has sickened more than 40,000 people in Somalia since December. More than half of the cases have been in this state. Most of the victims have been malnourished children. Five-year-old Fatuma was admitted to the cholera treatment ward last night. Her mother Bisharo Mohammed says she can not lose another child. She says her eldest daughter was suffering from diarrhea, and she died two months ago in Busley village on the outskirts of Baidoa. She says the girl was seven years old. Cholera treatment Cholera is treatable. The World Health Organization recommends “prompt administration of oral rehydration salts.” Mohamed says Fatuma is already feeling better with treatment. They hope to be released soon. But they will not be going home. Aid agencies say the areas worst hit by cholera and hunger are villages like Busley which are under al-Shabab control. Accessing them is a challenge. Fatuma and her family are among the tens of thousands of people who have walked to government-controlled areas like Baidoa to seek help and are now living in makeshift camps. World Health Organization cholera expert Dr. Abdinasir Abubakar …
Greek Seamen Extend Strike; No Ferries for 4 Days
Greek seamen and journalists walked off the job Tuesday, a day before a nationwide general strike to protest new austerity measures the government is legislating for in return for more bailout funds. The seamen’s union announced Tuesday afternoon they would extend their strike, originally planned to last 48 hours, for a further two days, leaving ferries servicing Greece’s islands tied up in port until midnight Friday night. The Panhellenic Seamen’s Federation said it was asking “for the understanding and full support of both the traveling public and all Greek workers,” adding that the new measures would lead seamen “to poverty and destitution.” Journalists were holding a 24-hour strike Tuesday, pulling news broadcasts off the air from 6 a.m. (0300 GMT). News websites were not being updated, and no Wednesday newspapers would be printed. Public bus company employees were also holding work stoppages during the day. Wednesday’s general strike is expected to affect services across the country, from schools and hospitals to public transport. Air traffic controllers have declared participation with a four-hour work stoppage, leading to the rescheduling of 99 flights and the cancellation of a further nine by Greece’s Aegean and Olympic Air. Another airline, Sky Express, announced the rescheduling of 41 domestic flights between Athens and the Greek islands. Protest marches have been scheduled for central Athens in the morning. Workers are protesting a new deal with Greece’s international creditors that impose a raft of new tax hikes and spending cuts beyond the …
Uninhabited Island has ‘World’s Worst’ Plastic Pollution
The beaches on a remote, uninhabited island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean have the highest amount of plastic debris in the world. Researchers from the University of Tasmania say Henderson Island, which is more than 5,000 kilometer from any major population center, is strewn with roughly 37.7 million pieces of plastic waste. Put another way, the beaches on Henderson Island are covered with about 671 pieces of plastic litter per square meter, which researchers say is the highest density ever recorded. “What’s happened on Henderson Island shows there’s no escaping plastic pollution even in the most distant parts of our oceans,” said Jennifer Lavers of the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies and lead author of a paper about the pollution in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Henderson Island, which is part of the UK’s Pitcairn Islands territory, sits right in the middle of the Pacific Gyre current, which makes it a “focal point” for garbage from South America as well as from fishing boats. Researchers say their sampling of the debris at five sites on the island leads them to believe there is more than 17 tons of plastic on the island and around 3,570 new pieces of litter being deposited every day. Lavers noted, “It’s likely that our data actually underestimates the true amount of debris on Henderson Island as we were only able to sample pieces bigger than two millimeters down to a depth of 10 centimeters, and we were unable …
US Industrial Production Posts Biggest Gain Since 2014
American industry expanded production last month at the fastest pace in more than three years as manufacturers and mines recovered from a March downturn. The Federal Reserve said Tuesday that industrial production at U.S. factories, mines and utilities shot up 1 percent in April from March, biggest gain since February 2014 and the third straight monthly gain. The increase was more than twice what economists had expected. Factory production rose 1 percent after declining 0.4 percent in March. Mine production increased 1.2 percent after falling 0.4 percent in March. And utility output rose 0.7 percent after surging 8.2 percent in March. Factory production has risen three of four months this year. Manufacturing has recovered from a rough patch in late 2015 and early 2016 caused by cutbacks in the energy industry and a strong dollar, which makes U.S. goods costlier in foreign markets. The overall U.S. economy grew at a lackluster 0.7 percent annual pace from January through March. But economists expect growth to pick up the rest of the year as consumers ramp up spending. A healthy job market bolsters consumer confidence. Employers last month added 211,000 jobs and unemployment fell to 4.4 percent, lowest in a decade. …
US-China Trade Deal Brings Mixed Reaction
The new U.S.-China trade deal, which includes 10 initial agreements on agricultural trade, financial services, investment and energy, is drawing mixed reviews. The agreement is being panned by some as a poor deal for the United States that does not address fundamental issues concerning the Chinese market. But others say the agreement represents incremental progress. Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, argued the deal has failed to address issues facing advanced industries that are critical to the U.S. economic future. In a statement, he said the plan, which opens up Chinese markets for mostly commodity-based and finance industries, has in return given, “China free rein to use its massive foreign reserves to buy up American companies in advanced industries.” Atkinson urged the Trump administration’s simple focus on the trade deficit be shifted to two-way trade and demand real changes in Chinese policies related to America’s advanced, knowledge and technology-based industries. Deal means nothing Derek Scissors, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, argued that the deal, by itself, means almost nothing since the increase in market access that China now promises has been promised before. “Even if they are fully implemented, [the increase in market access] can be easily undone,” Scissors wrote in an emailed reply to VOA, adding that he doesn’t foresee the U.S. trade deficit with China being reduced this year. Scissors urged the United States to prioritize its negotiations with China on reduction of subsidies to Chinese state-owned enterprise, …
High-tech Gloves Give Doctors Better Data on Muscle Stiffness
One of the effects of progressive muscle diseases like cerebral palsy is muscle stiffness. There are drugs and therapies that are supposed to help but gauging their effectiveness is challenging. Now there’s a high-tech way that may help provide relief for patients. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …
Computers in Africa, Asia Seen as Vulnerable Following Global Virus Attack
Cybersecurity experts warn that hundreds of thousands of computer users across the globe remain vulnerable following a large-scale virus attack in recent days. The so-called ‘ransomware’ virus struck governments and companies around the world, as Henry Ridgwell reports from London. …
China Putting Stamp on Globalization With Belt and Road
Chinese President Xi Jinping says countries participating in the two-day Belt and Road Forum have agreed to an action plan with a list of 270 goals Speaking at the end of the forum, China’s leader said the 30 heads of state who attended the summit in Beijing and nearby Yanqi Lake signed a communiqué to promote an open global economy, rebalance globalization, and deepen trade liberalization. Xi’s Belt and Road development initiative focuses on connectivity and cooperation among countries primarily China and the rest of Eurasia. It includes the land-based “Silk Road Economic Belt” and the oceangoing “Maritime Silk Road”. The strategy underlines China’s push to take a bigger role in global affairs. Xi stressed China would not base cooperation on ideology or use the Belt and Road to pursue a political agenda, allaying concerns of critics who have highlighted the massive project’s possible geopolitical impact. “We have every reason to have full confidence in the prospects for the Belt and Road initiative,” Xi said. “At the same time, the Belt and Road initiative is an expansive project and the road ahead is very long and cooperation is key.” Expansive Belt and Road Although many of the more than 100 countries and organizations participating in the summit welcome China’s efforts to boost trade and to play a bigger role in global affairs, participation in the forum was mixed. Some countries sent representatives, but have yet to officially back the project. The forum included representatives from the United States and North Korea. …
Study: Most Effective Measures Identified for Containing Ebola
A small outbreak of Ebola virus in Democratic Republic of the Congo is causing alarm among public health officials. A new study outlining containment strategies may help prevent an epidemic similar to the one that engulfed a number of western African countries two years ago. In the timely report, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an international team of researchers culled 37 studies for the most effective containment strategies. Pennsylvania State University biology professor Katriona Shea, co-author of the study, said, “The best strategy that we found out of the five that we looked at were funeral containment and public information campaigns [for the] sort of care in the community.” Ebola virus is spread through coming into contact with the bodily fluids of infected individuals. Shea said investigators found the No. 1 way to prevent transmission was for loved ones to avoid washing bodies of the deceased prior to burial. Shea said that information is best conveyed through public health campaigns that also stress the importance of handwashing, personal hygiene and self-quarantine in high-transmission areas. Don’t wait to get treatment People suspected of being infected with Ebola, the report found, should also not hesitate to go to the hospital or clinic for evaluation and treatment. But researchers concluded building more hospitals in response to an epidemic to be the least effective way to prevent spread of Ebola within communities. Shea said investigators undertook the study in response to the Ebola epidemic of …
Anheuser-Busch Boosts Spending to Adapt to Fragmented Market
Anheuser-Busch is upgrading its U.S. breweries and plans to build two new distribution centers as it adapts to an increasingly fragmented beer market. The maker of Budweiser, Corona, Stella Artois says the upgrades and new distribution centers in Los Angeles and Columbus, Ohio, will allow it to store a greater variety of products and get them to customers faster. The measures are part of the $500 million that the company said Monday it will invest in its U.S. operations this year, marking an increase compared with recent years. It’s a portion of the $3.7 billion in global capital expenditures that the Belgian company had already budgeted for 2017. Anheuser-Busch has struggled to boost sales volumes as craft beers grow increasingly popular in an already crowded marketplace. In 2016, total volume at Anheuser-Busch declined 2 percent, including a 1.6 percent volume decline in North America. The same thing is happening with non-alcoholic drinks. PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi has said the industry is becoming more “niche,” and that PepsiCo needs to learn how to thrive amid that growing complexity. The investment announced Monday by Anheuser-Busch includes upgrades to breweries in Fort Collins, Colorado, and St. Louis, Missouri. The company did not say how many new jobs it expects this year’s U.S. investments to create. It has added around 2,500 jobs since 2013, the company said. Anheuser-Busch employs more than 17,000 people in the U.S. In 2015, Anheuser-Busch had said it expects to invest $1.5 billion from that year to 2018. The Monday …
Dubai Plans $1.7 Billion Tourist Project on New Artificial Islands
Dubai plans to develop a 6.3 billion dirham ($1.7 billion) tourist resort on two man-made islands it will build on either side of the Burj Al Arab, its luxury sail-shaped hotel. It is the latest development planned by the emirate as it aims to attract 20 million visitors a year by 2020 when Dubai will host the World Expo 2020 exhibition. Spanning 4 million square feet, Marsa Al Arab will be made up of two islands, one dedicated to entertainment and family tourism and the other featuring luxury villas and a private marina, state news agency WAM reported Monday. Dubai is already one of the world’s most visited cities, although its hotels, shopping malls and state-owned airline, Emirates, have been buffeted by a strong U.S. dollar which has made the emirate pricier for many overseas visitors. The United Arab Emirates pegs its dirham to the dollar. Around 4.6 million tourists visited Dubai during the first quarter, up by 11 percent compared to the same period of last year, according to Dubai Tourism data. Marsa Al Arab will feature 140 villas, a marine and water park, and a theatre with capacity for 1,700 people to host Cirque du Soleil, local media reported. Work on the project will break ground in June and be completed by late 2020, WAM said. The agency did not mention how the project would be funded. Dubai is working on several big projects due for completion in the next few years and being funded by debt. It …
Голова КНР закликав уряди світу «відмовитися від протекціонізму»
Голова КНР Сі Цзіньпін звернувся до урядів із закликом домагатися «більшої відкритості і співпраці» і «відмовитися від протекціонізму» задля глобального економічного зростання. Про це китайський лідер заявив 15 травня в Пекіні на форумі «Один пояс, один шлях», учасниками якого є представники 29 країн Азії, Європи та Африки. «У світі зростання, взаємозалежності і викликів жодна країна не може давати раду цим викликам або вирішувати світові проблеми самотужки», – сказав Сі, який сидів поруч з президентом Росії Володимиром Путіним. Сі Цзіньпін пообіцяв виділити додатково 124 мільярди доларів на реалізацію торговельної ініціативи Китаю, який прагне сполучити країну з Африкою, Азією і Європою через мережу портів, залізниць, автошляхів і промислових парків. Пекін нині декларує себе захисником вільної торгівлі в час, коли президент США Дональд Трамп поставив під сумнів вигоду від торговельних угод із іншими країнами. Росія дотепер обережно реагувала на ініціативу Пекіна, оскільки, як вважають аналітики, реалізація задумів керівництва КНР може посилити вплив Китаю в Центральній Азії за рахунок Москви. Але 15 травня Путін висловив підтримку цьому плану і додав, що Росія має намір бути активно залучена. …
Gingerly, Deals Start Taking Shape Between Rivals China and Vietnam
Historic rivals China and Vietnam are working on substantive agreements that could cover trade, investment and maritime resource sharing despite a bitter sovereignty dispute that had snarled relations less than a year ago. The Communist neighbors are inching toward new trade and investment ties that analysts say would help shore up overall relations. Some believe the two might later approach stickier topics such as joint use of disputed waters or humane treatment of each other’s fishermen. The two countries still contest sovereignty over tracts of the vast, resource-rich South China Sea east of Vietnam and southwest of Hong Kong. Prospects of some kind of agreement came into focus during Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang’s visit to China, which ends Monday. He suggested the two sides work on complementing each other’s trade and investment advantages with a view toward improving overall relations, state media from Hanoi said. “President Quang is in China, and China promised a lot,” said Yun Sun, senior associate with the East Asia Program under Washington-based think tank the Stimson Center. “From an economic point of view, it is certainly practical and beneficial for Vietnam to have some sort of deal, but then again I think this still relatively early to tell.” In a meeting with Quang Thursday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for more cross-border economic cooperation zones and joint infrastructure building, according to China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported. China pledged to “mitigate” its trade deficit with Vietnam and increase direct investment, Sun said. “Talking probably …