The promotion of Saudi Arabia’s top economic reformer to crown prince has cheered business leaders who believe it will open up new opportunities. But they worry about officials’ ability to implement reforms and about geopolitical tensions in the region. The Saudi stock market jumped 7 percent in the two days after Mohammed bin Salman, previously deputy crown prince, was appointed last week to be first in line for the throne. Part of the market’s rise was due to a decision by index compiler MSCI to consider upgrading Riyadh to emerging market status. But much of the euphoria was political; shares in companies closely linked to Prince Mohammed’s reforms were the top performers. National Commercial Bank, the biggest lender, which is expected to play a big role handling financial transactions related to the reforms, surged 15 percent. Miner Ma’aden soared 20 percent; Prince Mohammed has labelled mining a key sector in his drive to cut Saudi Arabia’s reliance on oil exports. Emaar the Economic City, builder of an industrial zone which the prince hopes to develop as an export industry base, gained 16 percent. Solid political move Business leaders said the promotion of Prince Mohammed, 31, removed political uncertainty by confirming a smooth shift of power from an older generation of Saudi leaders to a young generation represented by the prince. “The political transition was very smooth — we expect the reforms to continue,” Muhammad Alagil, chairman of Jarir Marketing, a top retailing chain, told Reuters. He said Jarir, which has …
Climate Change Could Bring Malaria Risk to Ethiopia’s Highlands
Ethiopia’s highlands traditionally have a built-in protection for the people who live there. The elevation and the cool temperatures have meant that malaria, the deadly mosquito-borne illness, cannot be transmitted. But climate change may be putting an end to that safeguard. A new study led by a researcher at the University of Maine found that since 1981, the elevation needed to protect people from malaria has risen by 100 meters. For the first time, people living in Ethiopia’s highlands could be vulnerable to the disease. “What’s happening is the conditions, at least in terms of temperature, that are suitable for malaria are slowly creeping up at higher elevations,” said Bradfield Lyon at Maine’s Climate Change Institute and School of Earth and Climate Sciences. “The same thing would be true in other highland locations throughout the tropics.” “It’s sort of eroding this natural buffer,” he said. The two most common types of parasites that cause malaria in the region require consistent temperatures above 18 degrees Celsius and 15 degrees Celsius respectively. Lyon’s study found that temperatures in the Horn of Africa are rising by an average of 0.2 degrees Celsius per decade due to climate change. He said this may not sound like a major change, but that over the course of the years studied (1981 to 2014), more than 6 million people who once lived areas protected from malaria may have lost that protection. Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, at 2,300 meters above sea level, still …
Голова правління «Приватбанку» Шлапак подав у відставку
Голова правління «Приватбанку» Олександр Шлапак подав заяву про відставку. Як повідомляє прес-служба фінансової установи, Шлапак «виконав у повній мірі поставлені завдання щодо стабілізації ситуації в банку і найближчим часом планує завершити антикризову каденцію на своїй посаді». При цьому в Наглядовій раді банку повідомляють, що Шлапак продовжує керувати банком, водночас відповідна його заява вже подана Наглядовій раді банку і може бути розглянута наприкінці липня. У грудні минулого року уряд ухвалив рішення про націоналізацію «Приватбанку», екс-міністра фінансів Олександра Шлапака призначили головою правління фінансової установи. …
Measles Can be Deadly, But is Preventable
More than 75 people, mostly young children, have gotten measles in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Nearly all were unvaccinated. Measles is one of the most highly contagious diseases that exists. All it takes is a sneeze or a cough to spread the virus in tiny droplets through the air. One person can infect up to 18 others. Each one of those people infects another dozen or so people, and it spreads from there. Ninety percent of those exposed will get the virus, unless they have been vaccinated or have already had measles. The measles virus can linger on doorknobs, tables, any surface for up to two hours. Touch it and you’re exposed. ‘Not a trivial disease’ Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, says, “Measles is not a trivial disease. If you have a measles outbreak, a proportion of people are going to have serious complications.” The complications can be as serious as permanent brain damage. It can leave a child blind or deaf. Measles also kills. Dr. Peter Hotez is a professor at Baylor College of Medicine. He’s also the director of Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development. Hotez told VOA, “In the pre-vaccine era, we had about 500 kids die of measles every year in the U.S. and 50,000 hospitalizations.” And that’s not all. Dr. Flavia Bustreo at the World Health Organization says measles can have lingering consequences. “Measles can lead to pneumonia, and …
Measles is Deadly, But Preventable
More than 75 people, mostly young children, have gotten measles in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Nearly all were unvaccinated. The same is true in every other country worldwide. That’s why pediatricians and public health doctors want every child to get vaccinated against this virus. VOA’s Carol Pearson takes a look at measles to find out why. …
Testing The Limits of a Carbon Sink
We know that forests are carbon sinks. That means they absorb a lot of planet-warming carbon dioxide. But researchers are trying to find out just how good they are at storing carbon, and if there is a limit to how much they can absorb. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …
Air Bag Maker Takata Files For Bankruptcy in Japan, US
Embattled Japanese auto parts manufacturer Takata said Monday it has filed for bankruptcy protection. Takata also announced that rival Key Safety Systems is purchasing Takata for $1.5 billion. Takata has been overwhelmed with the costs of lawsuits and recalls related to defective airbags linked to the deaths of 16 people and scores of injuries worldwide. The defective airbags led to a global recall of tens of millions of automobiles. The chemicals that power the airbags were found to deteriorate spontaneously with prolonged exposure to high humidity, causing the airbags to deploy far more forcefully than normal and sending metal and plastic shrapnel into drivers and passengers. Takata has already agreed to pay a billion-dollar fine to settle with U.S. safety regulators. Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has said that Takata engaged in a pattern of “delay, misdirection and refusal to acknowledge the truth.” Jason Luo, president and CEO of Key Safety Systems, said, “Although Takata has been impacted by the global airbag recall, the underlying strength of its skilled employee base, geographic reach, and exceptional steering wheels, seat belts and other safety products have not diminished.” The Tokyo Stock Exchange suspended trading of Takata shares Monday and said it would delist Takata stock Tuesday. …
Debt, Protectionism Could Drag Down Improving Global Economy
The global economy has picked up and prospects for the next few months are the best in a long time. But the recovery is maturing and faces risks from populist rejection of free trade and from high debt that could burden consumers and companies as interest rates rise. Those were key takeaways from a review of the global economy released Sunday by the Bank for International Settlements, an international organization for central banks based in Basel, Switzerland. The report said that “the global economy’s performance has improved considerably and that its near-term prospects appear the best in a long time.” Global growth should reach 3.5 percent this year, according to a summary of forecasts, not quite what it was before the Great Recession but in line with long-term averages. Meanwhile, financial markets for stocks and bonds have been unusually buoyant and steady. On top of that, forecasts by governments and international organizations as well as by private analysts point to “further gradual improvement” in coming months. Key risks include a possible weakening of consumer spending across different economies. So far, the recovery has been largely fueled by people being willing and able to spend more. But that trend could fall victim to higher levels of debt as interest rates rise in some countries and as the amount people need to spend to service their debts takes a bigger chunk of income. Countries that were slammed by collapsing real estate markets during the Great Recession …
Koch Chief Calls Senate Health Bill Insufficiently Conservative
Chief lieutenants in the Koch brothers’ political network lashed out at the Senate Republican health care bill on Saturday, becoming a powerful outside critic as GOP leaders try to rally support for their plan among rank-and-file Republicans. “This Senate bill needs to get better,” said Tim Phillips, who leads Americans for Prosperity, the Koch network’s political arm. “It has to get better.” Phillips called the Senate’s plans for Medicaid “a slight nip and tuck” over President Barack Obama’s health care law, a modest change he described as “immoral.” The comments came on the first day of a three-day private donor retreat at a luxury resort in the Rocky Mountains. Invitations were extended only to donors who promise to give at least $100,000 each year to the various groups backed by the Koch brothers’ Freedom Partners — a network of education, policy and political entities that aim to promote small government. No outside group has been move aggressive over the yearslong push to repeal Obama’s health care law than that of the Kochs, who vowed on Saturday to spend another 10 years fighting to change the health care system if necessary. The Koch network has often displayed a willingness to take on Republicans — including President Donald Trump — when their policies aren’t deemed conservative enough. Big-budget push Network spokesman James Davis said the organization would continue to push for changes to the Senate health care bill over the coming week. “At the end of the day, this bill is not …
UN: Cholera Outbreak in Yemen Could Infect 300,000
A cholera outbreak in war-ravaged Yemen could infect more than 300,000 people by the end of August, up from nearly 180,000 cases today, the United Nations said Friday. VOA’s Mariama Diallo reports on the dire situation resulting from the 27-month-long conflict, which pits Houthi rebels against government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition. …
«Укртрансгаз» зняв обмеження на транспортування газу для ТЕЦ «Київенерго» – «Нафтогаз»
Оператор газотранспортної мережі України «Укртрансгаз» зняв обмеження на транспортування газу для ТЕЦ-6 у Києві, які були запроваджені раніше через систематичну несплату за послуги транспортування газу та накопичення боргів, але вимагає виплатити заборгованість до 30 червня, повідомив «Нафтогаз України», що є 100-відсотковим власником «Укртрансгазу». Як мовиться в повідомленні, наразі філія управління магістральних газопроводів «Київтрансгаз» здійснила всі необхідні підготовчі роботи для відновлення транспортування природного газу для потреб ТЕЦ-6 у повному обсязі і очікує підтвердження від ПАТ «Київгаз» та споживача про готовність приймати природний газ. «Нафтогаз» розуміє, що кияни стали заручниками нездатності «Київенерго» погашати свої боргові зобов’язання. Як соціально відповідальна компанія, «Нафтогаз» підтримав зняття обмежень на транспортування газу до ТЕЦ «Київенерго», незважаючи на суттєві ризики неповернення заборгованості», – мовиться в повідомленні. Якщо ж зобов’язання «Київенерго» щодо виплати заборгованості перед «Укртрансгазом» у сумі 41 мільйон гривень до 30 червня не будуть виконані, газопостачання до ТЕЦ «Київенерго» може бути знову обмежене, попередили в «Нафтогазі». «Зважаючи на негативні соціальні наслідки обмеження подачі газу на зазначену ТЕЦ та прагнучи не допустити розбалансу в енергосистемі Києва та області, «Укртрансгаз» погодився поновити газопостачання, хоча із 61 мільйона гривень боргу за транспортування газу для виробництва електроенергії на даний момент до «Укртрансгазу» надійшло лише 20 мільйонів гривень. Загальна заборгованість ПАТ «Київенерго» перед «Укртрансгазом» за послуги транспортування становить близько 330 мільйонів гривень. Це майже половина заборгованості всіх виробників теплової енергії України перед «Укртрансгазом», – мовиться в повідомленні. Компанія нагадала, що 23 червня Київська міська держадміністрація надіслала до «Укртрансгазу» листа, яким гарантувала контроль за виконанням «Київенерго» у строк до 30 червня своїх зобов’язань …
US Southwest to See Little Respite From Hot Temperatures
A deadly heat wave that has claimed at least six lives in parts of the American Southwest continues. While temperatures cooled off Friday in Los Angeles, residents are bracing for a long, hot summer. Planes were grounded for a time in Phoenix earlier this week, as temperatures in parts of the U.S. Southwest soared to 45 degrees Celsius and higher, from Tucson, Arizona, to Palm Springs, California. Cooling stations, community centers People have tried their best to stay cool, using community cooling stations in parks and community centers throughout the region. An air-conditioned senior center in the Los Angeles suburb of Canoga Park offered companionship and relief from the heat. Four women relaxed over a game of dominoes, while in another part of the center, a dozen women kept active in a tap-dancing class. They are fine indoors, center director Karin Haseltine said, but she warned too much activity outside on hot days could be hazardous for both seniors and young children. Haseltine said many seniors also worry about the cost of air-conditioning. “They can’t turn it on because the bill is so expensive,” she said. Inside the center, where it is cool, seniors were staying active, taking tap dancing classes and doing yoga. Deaths blamed on heat Scattered fires have burned throughout the West, and several deaths in Nevada, Arizona and California have been blamed on intense heat. Animals are in danger, too. Zoo workers have been hosing down the elephants at the Phoenix Zoo. Authorities also warn parents …
High Temperatures Continue in US Southwest
A deadly heat wave continues in parts of the American Southwest. In Los Angeles, temperatures cooled off Friday, but residents are bracing for a long, hot summer.VOA’s Mike O’Sullivan reports. …
Researchers Investigate Zika Virus as a Treatment for Brain Cancer
The Zika virus made headlines last year because it caused microcephaly in many babies whose mothers were pregnant while they had the virus. Microcephaly keeps the brain from developing normally in children but is relatively harmless to adults. That got cancer researchers thinking about the possibility the virus could be used to attack cancer cells in the brain. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …
Ford’s China Move Casts New Cloud on Mexican Automaking
A second U-turn this year by Ford Motor Co. in Mexico has raised the specter of Chinese competition for local carmaking, adding to pressure on the industry after repeated threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to saddle it with punitive tariffs. Ford announced on Tuesday it would move some production of its Focus small car to China instead of Mexico, a step that follows the U.S. automaker’s January cancellation of a planned $1.8 billion plant in the central state of San Luis Potosi. The scrapping of the Ford plant was a bitter blow, coming after U.S. President Donald Trump had blamed the country for hollowing out U.S manufacturing on the campaign trail, and threatened to impose hefty tariffs on cars made in Mexico. Since then, rhetoric from the Trump administration has become more conciliatory, and Mexico and the United States have expressed confidence that the renegotiation of the NAFTA trade deal, expected to begin in August, could benefit both nations. But the loss of the Focus business is an unwelcome reminder of competition Mexico faces from Asia at a time China’s auto exports and the quality of its cars are rising. “For a long time, the quality of vehicles coming out of China was not to global standards. There was a gap in quality that [favored] Mexico – but that is closing,” said Philippe Houchois, an analyst covering the auto industry at investment bank Jefferies. “That is probably a threat to Mexico.” In the past decade, global automakers have invested …
One of China’s Richest Women Hopes to Keep Driving Culture of Philanthropy
After starting work in a hotel kitchen, Zhai Meiqin began selling furniture and built a billion-dollar conglomerate, but she took great pride in being recognized this week for driving a new phenomenon in China: philanthropy. Zhai, one of China’s richest women and president of the privately owned HeungKong Group Ltd., said she never forgot her humble upbringing in Guangzhou in southern China, where her father was an architect and her mother worked in a store. This made her determined to help others, and she started donating to charity shortly after setting up the business with her husband in 1990. As their business grew, taking in real estate, financial investment and health care, Zhai broke new ground in 2005 by establishing China’s first nonprofit charitable foundation. Since then, the HeungKong Charitable Foundation has helped an estimated 2 million people, by funding 1,500 libraries, providing loans for women to start businesses, and funding orphans, single mothers, handicapped children and the elderly. “I realized there were a lot of poor people in China and this drove me to earn more money so I could help them,” said Zhai, 53, who was one of nine philanthropists named Thursday as winners of the 2017 Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy. Zhai and her husband, Liu Zhiqiang, whose HeungKong Group with 20,000 staffers has made them worth about $1.4 billion, according to Forbes magazine, are known for being leaders of the culture of philanthropy in China. Their foundation was listed as number 001 by the Ministry of Civil …
Women on the Frontlines of Cambodia Land Fight
Cambodian activists fighting plans to transform Phnom Penh’s largest lake into a luxury development made a tactical decision when they took to the streets: put women on the frontline to show a “gentle” face and prevent violence. But it was wishful thinking. The women of Boeung Kak Lake, once home to a thriving community, have been kicked, manhandled, threatened and jailed, one of many land battles globally where women are bearing the brunt of the crackdown on protesters. “We are mostly women because we are more gentle so we face less violence. This is our strategy,” said Im Srey Touch, a 42-year-old activist from Boeung Kak Lake. “If we let men participate in our protests, we let them stand behind us or outside, and we stand in the front to reduce the likelihood of violence.” Evictions began in 2007 In fact, as the number of people killed in land conflicts around the world soars, more than half of the dead have been women, rights watchdogs say. In Phnom Penh the conflict began in 2007 when nearly 4,000 families were stripped of their housing rights after the Cambodian government leased the Boeung Kak Lake area in the nation’s capital to make way for an upmarket mini city. Since then, the lake has been filled with sand and most of the 4,000 families evicted, with little to no compensation, amid complaints about the social and environmental impact. Over the years, more than a dozen activists protesting the evictions have been arrested, most …
Rising Temperatures, Acidification Threaten Mediterranean Sea Species
Water temperatures in the northwestern Mediterranean are increasing much faster than global averages, threatening the survival of several species, French researchers said. Weekly water temperature readings by researchers at the Villefranche-sur-Mer oceanography laboratory have shown that Mediterranean surface water temperatures have increased by 0.7 degree between 2007 and 2015. The researchers, who believe their findings apply to an area that includes Spain, France and Italy, also said in a note summarizing their study that the water’s acidity has increased by nearly 7 percent. “The acidification and warming up of the water are due to carbon dioxide emissions from human activities,” French CNRS researcher Jean-Pierre Gattuso told Reuters. He added that about a quarter of mankind’s carbon dioxide emissions are absorbed by the oceans, making the water more acidic. Gattuso said that plankton tend to migrate north in order to maintain an optimum temperature, but that is not possible in the Mediterranean, which is connected to the Atlantic Ocean only via the narrow Strait of Gibraltar. “It’s a dead-end here, so species could disappear,” Gattuso said, noting a particular threat to the posidonia oceanica seagrass, known locally as Mediterranean tapeweed, which produces oxygen and forms an important fish habitat. He said that at the same time, more grouper and barracuda had been seen in the Mediterranean, as it becomes more like a subtropical sea. Gattuso said the acidification would become a problem in a few decades for marine organisms that have a skeleton or a calcium shell, such as oysters, mollusks, …
Agriculture Group: Drought Has Cost Italian Farmers 1 Billion Euros
Soaring temperatures and a lack of rainfall across Italy have cost farmers 1 billion euros ($1.12 billion) so far this year, the national agricultural association said on Friday. The government declared a state of emergency in the gastronomic heartland around the northern cities of Parma and Piacenza, a usually lush valley that produces tomatoes, cheese, and high-quality ham. Wine grapes growing near Venice will be harvested early, mozzarella makers near Naples have been thrown into crisis, and Sardinian shepherds have taken tractors onto main roads to call for help to save their livelihoods, the Coldiretti group said. The group’s chairman, Roberto Moncalvo, said the climate was becoming “tropical.” “If we want to maintain high quality in agriculture we need to organize ourselves to collect water during rainy periods, doing structural work that cannot be put off any longer,” Moncalvo said. ($1 = 0.8935 euros) …
UN: Cholera Cases in Yemen Could Top 300,000 by End of August
The U.N. Children’s Fund warns cholera cases and deaths in war-torn Yemen continue to mount and could reach 300,000 by the end of August. UNICEF puts the current number of suspected cases at nearly 200,000, including more than 1,200 deaths — with a quarter of those being children. UNICEF says containing the cholera outbreak in Yemen is extremely difficult. It says the health system is near total collapse, water and sanitation systems are in disrepair and the people who are meant to care for patients, collect the garbage and maintain vital systems have not been paid for six months. The UNICEF representative in Yemen, Meritxell Relano, says despite the obstacles, aid agencies are making progress in reducing cholera cases and deaths in some parts of the country. Package of intervention Speaking from Sana’a, she says UNICEF and partners are meeting with some success in preventing the spread of the disease in places where they have provided families and communities with a package of intervention. She tells VOA the package includes household water purification. “A team of people, they go house by house and they check the water sources that the family is using,” Relano said. “They chlorinate the water tanks if they have a water tank … and then they are informed about the ways to avoid cholera by providing good hygiene to the family — hand washing with soap, how to handle the food and how to handle a family that is sick with cholera or with diarrhea.” Easily …
China Probe of Big Companies Could Redefine Their Role Overseas
China is probing the loan practices of a group of big private sector conglomerates who have been on a high-profile global spending spree over the past few years. And although the review targets only a few of the country’s most politically-connected companies, some analysts see an attempt to increase government control over the role played by the private sector in foreign markets. “I think this is an attempt to change the direction (of) the role these Chinese companies play in the Chinese economy,” says Paul Gillis, a professor at Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management. “To align them more closely with the policies of the government and to reduce the risks that actions of these private companies could end up having a shock effect on the economy as a whole.” Chinese authorities say they launched the probe because of worries that highly leveraged overseas deals pose risks to China’s financial system. Officials have already expressed worries over mounting debt among Chinese lenders, some of which may remain hidden by China’s opaque lending networks. Notable companies targeted According to media reports, the list of companies under review is a relative who’s who of Chinese enterprises. Among those reportedly targeted are Dalian Wanda, which owns the AMC Theaters chain in the United States and has been actively courting deals in Hollywood. High-flying insurance company Anbang, which owns New York’s Waldorf Astoria and Essex House hotels. Also on the list is Hainan Airlines, which bought a 25 percent stake in Hilton Hotels last …
Кабмін схвалив докапіталізацію «Приватбанку» на понад 38 мільярдів гривень
Кабінет міністрів схвалив рішення про докапіталізацію «Приватбанку» ще на 38,5 мільярда гривень. «Уряд ухвалив важливе рішення про докапіталізацію «Приватбанку» на суму 38,5 мільярда гривень», – сказав міністр фінансів України Олександр Данилюк. У лютому уряд схвалив докапіталізацію «Приватбанку» на 9,8 мільядрів гривень шляхом випуску облігацій внутрішньої державної позики в обмін на акції банку. 18 грудня минулого року уряд ухвалив рішення про націоналізацію «Приватбанку». Згідно з умовами націоналізації, єврооблігації «Приватбанку» підлягали процедурі bail-in (конвертації боргу кредиторів у капітал). Національний банк України розглядає їх як зобов’язання, пов’язані з колишніми власниками банку. Міжнародне рейтингове агентство Standard&Poor’s (S&P) 11 січня знизило рейтинг «Приватбанку» з рівня «R» (під наглядом регулюючого органу) до «SD» (вибірковий дефолт). …
Urban Gardeners Feed Body and Soul in LA
Ron Finley has been called a “guerrilla gardener” and the “gangsta gardener,” an edgier description of a man who once defied local authorities to bring nature to the inner city. Finley’s efforts to plant edible gardens on public property have earned him court citations, but they also brought a victory two years ago when Los Angeles city officials approved community gardens on public parkways, the narrow strips of land between the street and sidewalk. WATCH THE VIDEO: Many mornings, Finley can be seen tending the dense vegetation in the sliver of a garden outside his house. “This is a food forest,” he said, pointing to lemon trees, sunflower plants and tomato vines. “There’s fruit trees, there’s also weeds that are edible in here. And I want to educate people to the fact that there’s food all around you.” From figs and Swiss chard to edible nasturtiums, Finley grows fruits and vegetables that are rare in the inner city, where he says residents have better access to fast food and liquor stores than to healthful produce. He spends much of his time doing public speaking and urging people to start community gardens. But many in Los Angeles were already on board with the concept before he became involved. A few miles from Finley’s garden in South Los Angeles, Tamiko Nakamoto walks through plots of edible plants tended by 22 gardeners. This community garden is not far from the epicenter of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, and Nakamoto said the community …
China Takes Delivery of First Shipments of American Beef in 14 Years
China let through the first shipments of beef from the United States in 14 years on Friday, after the two nations agreed to resume the trade in May, state media reported. The imports were brought in by Cofco Meat Holdings Ltd from U.S. meat processor Tyson Foods Inc., China National Radio (CNR) reported on Friday, citing Beijing Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau. China officially allowed U.S. beef imports from Tuesday this week after the two sides settled the conditions for exports last week. Under the new rule, boneless and bone-in beef from cattle under 30 months of age will be eligible for imports. Beef destined for China must also be from cattle that can be traced to its birth farm, according to the rule. Chinese importers are racing to bring in American beef to meet increasing demand for premium meat in the $2.6 billion beef import market. Cofco’s imports, the first to have landed in China, will be sold on Cofco’s e-commerce platform Womai.com, according to CNR. Arrivals of U.S. beef could erode sales of Australian beef in China’s lucrative premium meat market, as U.S. beef is expected to be cheaper because of low grain prices in the nation. …