Supporters of the United Auto Workers say they’re not giving up their fight to unionize a Nissan auto assembly plant in Mississippi after a stinging defeat, even as UAW opponents say Friday’s loss proves workers don’t want the union. More than 62 percent of workers voting in a two-day election at Nissan Motor Co.’s Canton plant voted against the UAW, with 2,244 ballots against the union according to the National Labor Relations Board. Voting for union representation were 1,307 workers, or 38 percent. “They know we didn’t need it,” said Nissan worker Kim Barber, an outspoken union opponent who said she was celebrating Friday’s result. “We didn’t need outside interference coming into our plant.” UAW defiant Amid tears at a union office near the plant just north of Jackson, UAW supporters voiced defiance, with some calling for the election to be rerun after the minimum six-month wait. The union filed charges moments before the polls closed Friday night making new allegations that Nissan had broken federal labor law and intimidated workers into voting “no.” If the labor board agrees, it could order a new election at the plant. “It hurts,” said union supporter Phillip White. “We ran against a machine; we ran against a monster; we ran against all the lies.” The UAW has never fully organized an international automaker in the traditionally anti-union South, although it did persuade some maintenance workers to join at a Volkswagen AG plant in Tennessee. The UAW’s lack of influence among southern autoworkers has …
Hardy Antarctic Plants and Their Sunscreen Potential
The World Health Organization reports that there are 2 to 3 million cases of melanoma skin cancer reported every year. Sunscreen is a big part of preventing these cancers, but chemical laden sunscreens have their drawbacks. That’s why scientists are scouring the natural world to understand how plants protect themselves from damaging ultraviolet rays. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …
New Yorkers Turning Food Scraps into Energy
Around the world, large cities generate huge amounts of unusable food and other organic waste. While some is recycled into compost, most goes into landfills, and that is wasting a potential source of energy. A pilot project started about three years ago in New York City is adding food scraps to the existing wastewater treatment plant to be turned into biogas, and residents have embraced it with enthusiasm. VOA’s George Putic reports. …
Boosting Labor Participation Rate for Women Key to Healthy Economy
The U.S. job market exceeded expectations last month adding 209,000 new workers to the economy in July and lowering the national unemployment rate to 4.3 percent. But wages continue to underperform, as did the nation’s labor participation rate. Economists say that’s because millions of working-age Americans are choosing to remain on the sidelines, some going back to school, others staying at home to take care of their families. Why does that matter? Mil Arcega explains. …
UN Receives US’ Formal Withdrawal From Paris Climate Agreement
The United Nations confirms it has received notification from the United States about its intention to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, “unless it identifies suitable terms for re-engagement.” Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for Secretary General Antonio Guterres, said in a statement that the secretary general “welcomes any effort to re-engage in the Paris Agreement by the United States.” US to participate in talks The U.S. State Department said Friday that it will continue to participate in international climate change negotiations during the withdrawal process, which is expected to take at least three years. It said in a statement, the U.S. participation in the negotiations will “protect U.S. interests and ensure all future policy options remain open to the administration.” “The United States supports a balanced approach to climate policy that lowers emissions while promoting economic growth and ensuring energy security,” it said. The department said President Donald Trump is “open to re-engaging in the Paris Agreement if the United States can identify terms that are more favorable to it, its businesses, its workers, its people, and its taxpayers.” Trump decision Trump announced his decision to withdrawal from the climate accord in June, saying the deal was “very unfair at the highest level to the American people.” He argued the deal would have cost trillions of dollars as well as hurt American businesses and jobs in the energy and manufacturing sectors. Guterres said in June that the U.S. decision was “a major disappointment for global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas …
Domestic Investors Flock to Indian Stocks as Gold, Real Estate Lose Luster
Rajeev Sakhuja has kept a hectic schedule in recent months as he makes scores of presentations in Delhi and surrounding towns about why and how to invest in equities. The investment adviser has an attentive audience as traditional avenues of gold and real estate lose their luster and as stock markets trade at record highs. Tens of thousands of ordinary Indians are now investing more money into mutual funds. “That old-fashioned investment, people are not interested. So where should they switch, where to invest, what to do, nobody has any clue,” said an upbeat Sakhuja, whose firm, PTIC India, is doing brisk business. India’s stock markets have been among Asia’s top performers this year. The benchmark BSE Sensex has gained more than 16 percent since the start of the year, buoyed by optimism about the world’s fastest-growing economy. But unlike the past, when foreign investors were at the helm of a bull run, there has been a huge pickup in domestic investment. That’s good news, say economists. The government has long fretted that most of the country’s household savings go into unproductive assets such as gold and real estate and has been trying to nudge domestic investors toward channeling more of their savings into equities, a source of corporate finance. There is a huge market to be tapped. The total investment of Indian household savings into stocks is much smaller compared with those in many other countries. Gaurav Mehta, portfolio manager at Ambit Investment Advisors in Mumbai, said the rising …
New York Crushes Millions of Dollars’ Worth of Illegal Ivory
As many as 100 elephants are being killed every day for their tusks, according to the United Nations. The United States implemented a near-total ban on the commercial trade of African elephant ivory last year, and in New York this week, conservation groups gathered to destroy merchandise that came from the illegal ivory trade. Faith Lapidus narrates this report from VOA’s Kevin Enochs. …
WHO: Nearly 900,000 Children in Nigeria Receive Anti-malaria Drugs
The World Health Organization reports it has provided anti-malaria drugs to nearly 900,000 children in areas in northeast Nigeria formerly held by Boko Haram militants. The effort is part of a new strategy to tackle malaria, a major killer of children younger than 5 years old. The director of WHO’s Global Malaria Program, Pedro Alonso, tells VOA the agency has completed the first round of an emergency approach to stop the disease. Alonso estimates about 10,000 lives will be saved by providing anti-malaria drugs to the same 900,000 children every month until November, when the period of high transmission will be over. He says the drug clears the parasites that might already have invaded a child’s system and provides protection for three to four weeks. “By repeating this operation to the same children every month over the next four or five months, which is the high transmission area,” Alonso said, “we may potentially — unfortunately, it will not be perfect and therefore we will not be able to stop all deaths — but, we should be able to have a massive impact in terms of prevention of disease and death in that specific population group, which is the highest risk group and where mortality concentrates.” WHO estimates there are more than 8,000 cases of malaria every week, including seven deaths, among northeastern Nigeria’s population of 3.7 million people. There are an estimated 1.1 million children aged three months to five years in the region. …
Volkswagen Executive Pleads Guilty in ‘Dieselgate’ Scandal
The head of German automaker Volkswagen’s engineering and environment office pleaded guilty Friday in a U.S. court to charges connected to an emissions scandal involving the company. Volkswagen executive Oliver Schmidt pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud charges that could land him in prison for up to seven years. He will be forced to pay a fine of between $40,000 and $400,000 for his role in a scheme, dubbed Dieselgate, to mislead U.S. environmental regulators. In March, the company admitted to using software to fool regulators into believing Volkswagen cars complied with U.S. emissions standards. It was ordered to pay $4.3 billion in penalties and another $17.5 billion in civil settlements. The government said diesel cars that Volkswagen claimed were clean were, in fact, releasing 40 times more nitrogen oxide emissions than is allowed by law. Schmidt is the second Volkswagen employee to plead guilty to charges related to the scandal. Last year, company engineer James Liang admitted to helping design the devices used to beat emissions tests. The FBI now cites him as a cooperating witness. Most Volkswagen employees charged in the scheme are in Germany and can’t be prosecuted by U.S. authorities. The company still faces legal issues in countries across the globe and has put aside more than $24 billion to handle costs related to the scandal. …
US Sees Strong Job Growth, Drop in Unemployment in July
The U.S. economy had a net gain of 209,000 jobs in July, while the unemployment rate fell slightly to 4.3 percent. That matches the lowest jobless rate in 16 years. Friday’s Labor Department report says job gains were seen in restaurants, business services and health care. The average hourly wage rose nine cents an hour in July, to reach $26.36. That is up 65 cents over the past year, or growth at a 2.5 percent rate. Boosting Labor Participation Rate for Women Key to Healthy Economy The chief economist for the job search company “Indeed” says slow wage growth may reflect job gains in low-paying areas like food service. Jed Kolko also says the job gains are well above what is needed to keep up with growth in the workforce. While Friday’s newest government unemployment report shows strong job growth and rising wages, it also shows 7 million Americans out of work and another 5.3 million who want full-time work but can only find part-time employment. On Twitter Friday, President Donald Trump called the official government job numbers “Excellent” and wrote that cutting regulations helped job growth. During the campaign, when the official jobless rate was around 5 percent, candidate Trump called the job numbers “phony” and said they should not be believed. Back then, he insisted that the actual unemployment rate was far higher, perhaps as high as 42 percent. …
Amid Myanmar Swine Flu Outbreak, Atmosphere of Mistrust Prevails
Myanmar’s government has repeatedly appealed for calm in recent weeks as the death toll from an outbreak of swine flu, or H1N1 influenza, has risen to 14 since the first cases were reported last month. Officials have pointed to the fact that the strain of the virus, which was part of a global pandemic in 2009 that originated in pigs, is now considered a normal seasonal flu, and infections – if not deaths – have occurred in the country as recently as last year. But a lack of faith in the Myanmar government’s ability to handle a health crisis and a seemingly slow initial response have nevertheless created a disconnect, allowing an atmosphere of mistrust to prevail and pushing many to take matters into their own hands. Companies have given surgical face masks to employees, while some entrepreneurs are even selling them on the internet. Educating the public Activist Thet Swe Win was one of many volunteers to take part in an awareness effort over the weekend on the streets of Yangon that consisted informing members of the public to wash their hands and wear masks when outdoors. “The reason for doing this campaign is that our government is not announcing any accurate information about this and people are afraid,” he said. The government, however, disputes allegations of passivity and obfuscation. Dr. Than Htun Aung, the deputy director of the public health department with Myanmar’s Ministry of Health and Sports, said the government has made announcements and continued to share …
Toyota, Mazda to Build, Share New Plant in US
Japanese automakers Toyota Motor Corp. and Mazda Motor Corp. said Friday they plan to spend $1.6 billion to set up a joint-venture auto manufacturing plant in the U.S. — a move that will create up to 4,000 jobs. The plant will have an annual production capacity of about 300,000 vehicles and will produce Toyota Corollas for the North American market. Mazda will make cross-over models there that it plans to introduce to that market, both sides said. The companies will split the cost for the plant equally. Toyota said that it changed its plan to make Corollas at a plant in Mexico, now under construction, and instead will produce Tacoma pickups there. EV rumors The Japanese automakers were reportedly planning to work together to develop electric vehicles. EVs have become an increasingly competitive market segment because of concerns about global warming and the environment. Japanese rival Nissan Motor Co., which is allied with Renault SA of France and Mitsubishi Motors Corp., is the global leader in electric vehicles. Better batteries In the past, Toyota, which makes the Prius hybrid, Camry sedan and Lexus luxury models, was not overly bullish on electric vehicles, noting the limited cruise range of the technology. But recent breakthroughs in batteries allow for longer travel per charge. In 2015, Toyota and Mazda agreed to find new areas where they can work together, but they had not announced specifics. Toyota already provides hybrid technology to Mazda, which also makes compact cars for …
Scientists Design a Pollution-Hunting Robot
According to the Pacific Institute, more than 2 million tons of all kinds of waste are poured into the world’s waters every day. Scientists have gotten good at detecting it, but not so good at finding where it’s coming from. Swiss researchers are working on a solution to that problem: a swimming robot that can patrol waterways 24-7 and locate pollution at its source. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …
Middle School Student Tackles Cancer Cure
Today’s children are tomorrow’s leaders. Cultivating curiosity and recognizing its value in those kids might be what cures today’s incurable diseases in the future, or prevents them altogether. So what drives and inspires a 12-year-old to think about researching a cure for cancer when he’s picking a science fair project? Bronwyn Benito has the story. …
Paris Olympics Aims to Regenerate Poor, Northeastern Suburbs
One of the most deprived suburbs in Paris is expected to be a big winner now the French capital is in line to host the 2024 Olympics with thousands of homes and a new swimming center to be built in Seine-Saint-Denis for the games. The poorest of France’s 101 mainland departments, Seine-Saint-Denis sprawls east and north from Paris, much of it a drab expanse of grey buildings, abandoned factories and poverty. Paris learned on Monday that it was a near certainty to be the IOC’s chosen host for the 2024 games when its only remaining rival, Los Angeles, agreed to wait another four years. Budapest, Boston, Hamburg and Rome had all pulled out of the race. “La Joie est Libre! (Joy Ahead!),” said the front-page headline of L’Equipe sports newspaper, welcoming the news with a play on words. A series of Islamist militant attacks frightened away many visitors from the French capital and city officials hope winning the bid will boost tourism. Organizers of the games say their aim to lift Seine-Saint-Denis’s fortunes helped their case with the International Olympic Committee (IOC). “Bearing in mind the symbolic and real divides which there sometimes still are between Paris and its suburbs, this young, working class place, with young people of all colors and all origins allows us to say to the IOC that these games are a wonderful opportunity to show that Paris is bigger than Paris,” Stephane Troussel, president of Seine-Saint-Denis, told Reuters. Tony Estanguet, co-chair of the Paris bid, …
Satellite Images Could Identify Slave Labor in India
Researchers in England are hoping to help root out modern-day slavery in northern India by using detailed satellite imagery to locate brick kilns — sites that are notorious for using millions of slaves, including children. A team of geospatial experts at the University of Nottingham use Google Maps and dozens of volunteers to identify potential sites of exploitation and report them to authorities. “The key thing at the moment is to get those statistics right and to get the locations of the brick kilns sorted,” said Doreen Boyd, a co-researcher on the “Slavery from Space” project. “There are certainly activists on the ground that will help us in terms of getting the statistics and the locations of these brick kilns to [government] officials.” Anti-slavery activists said the project could be useful in identifying remote kilns or mines that would otherwise escape public or official scrutiny. “But there are other, more pressing challenges like tackling problematic practices, including withheld wages, lack of transparent accounting … no enforcement of existing labor laws,” said Jakub Sobik, spokesman at Anti-Slavery, a London-based nongovernmental organization. Millions of people in India are believed to be living in slavery. Despite a 1976 ban on bonded labor, the practice remains widespread at brick kilns, rice mills and brothels, among others. The majority of victims belong to low-income families or marginalized castes like the Dalits or “untouchables.” Nearly 70 percent of brick kiln workers in South Asia are estimated to be working in bonded and forced labor, according to …
French Oysters Go on Sale in Vending Machines
In a change from chocolates and fizzy drinks, the French are starting to offer fresh oysters from vending machines in the hope of selling more of the delicacy outside business hours. One pioneer is Tony Berthelot, an oyster farmer whose automatic dispenser of live oysters on the Ile de Re island off France’s western coast offers a range of quantities, types and sizes 24 hours a day, seven days a week. French oyster farmers are following in the footsteps of other producers of fresh food who once manned stalls along roadsides for long hours but now uses machines. “We can come at midnight if we want, if we have a craving for oysters. It’s excellent; they’re really fresh,” Christel Petinon, a 45-year-old client vacationing on the island, told Reuters. The Ile de Re’s refrigerated dispenser, one of the first and with glass panels so customers can see what they are buying, is broadly similar to those that offer snacks and drinks at railway stations and office buildings worldwide. Customers use their bank card for access, opening the door of their choice from a range of carton sizes and oyster types. Berthelot, 30 years an oyster breeder, sees it as an extra source of revenue rather than an alternative to normal points of sale like food markets, fishmongers and supermarkets. “We felt as though we were losing lots of sales when we are closed,” he said. “There was a cost involved when buying this machine, of course, but we’re paying it …
Nigeria Peace Talks Yield Legalized Small Refineries
Nigeria will legalize illegal mini refineries in the Niger Delta oil hub by the end of the year and supply them with crude at a reasonable price, the presidency said Thursday, fulfilling a demand from community leaders. On Monday, Niger Delta leaders threatened to pull out of peace talks with the government unless their demands were met by Nov. 1. “The Federal Government has started the process of replacing illegal refineries in the region with modular ones,” the presidency said in a statement as Acting President Yemi Osinbajo met Niger Delta community leaders in Abuja. Each of the Niger Delta states would receive two modular refineries to start up in the fourth quarter, the statement said. Swampland poverty The government has been in talks with community leaders since last year to end militant attacks on oil production facilities, which cut the OPEC member’s output by 700,000 barrels a day for several months last year. But a military crackdown on thousands of illegal refineries in the southern swamps, which process crude oil stolen from oil majors and state oil firm NNPC, has raised tensions. The refineries process stolen crude in makeshift pipes and metal tanks hidden in oil-soaked clearings deep in the southern swampland’s thick bush land. Working on other demands The Niger Delta leaders had presented President Muhammadu Buhari a list of 16 demands last November to drag the southern swampland out of poverty. The militants then halted attacks to give the talks a chance. The presidency said it was …
Researchers Explore Science of Gender Identity
While President Donald Trump has thrust transgender people back into the conflict between conservative and liberal values in the United States, geneticists are quietly working on a major research effort to unlock the secrets of gender identity. A consortium of five research institutions in Europe and the United States, including Vanderbilt University Medical Center, George Washington University and Boston Children’s Hospital, is looking to the genome, a person’s complete set of DNA, for clues about whether transgender people are born that way. Two decades of brain research have provided hints of a biological origin to being transgender, but no irrefutable conclusions. Now scientists in the consortium have embarked on what they call the largest study of its kind, searching for a genetic component to explain why people assigned one gender at birth so persistently identify as the other, often from very early childhood. Researchers have extracted DNA from the blood samples of 10,000 people, 3,000 of them transgender and the rest cisgender (people whose gender identity matches the sex that they were assigned at birth). The project is awaiting grant funding to begin the next phase: testing about 3 million markers, or variations, across the genome for all of the samples. Knowing what variations transgender people have in common, and comparing those patterns to those of cisgender people in the study, may help investigators understand what role the genome plays in everyone’s gender identity. “If the trait is strongly genetic, then people who identify as trans will share more of …
Google Street View Cars Map Methane Leaks
Finding underground gas leaks is now as easy as finding a McDonalds, thanks to a combination of Google Street View cars, mobile methane detectors, some major computing power and a lot of ingenuity. When a city’s underground gas lines leak, they waste fuel and release invisible plumes of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. To find and measure leaks, Colorado State University biologist Joe von Fischer decided to create “methane maps,” to make it easier for utilities to identify the biggest leaks, and repair them. “That’s where you get the greatest bang for the buck,” he pointed out, “the greatest pollution reductions per repair.” Knowing that Google Maps start with Google Street View cars recording everything they drive by, along with their GPS locations, von Fischer’s team thought they would just add methane detectors to a Street View car. It turned out, it was not that simple. “Squirrelly objects” The world’s best methane detectors are accurate in an area the size of a teacup, but methane leaks can be wider than a street. Also, no one had ever measured the size of a methane leak from a moving car. “If you’ve ever seen a plume of smoke, it’s sort of a lumpy, irregular object,” von Fischer said. “Methane plumes as they come out of the ground are the same, they’re lumpy squirrelly objects.” The team had to develop a way to capture data about those plumes, one that would be accurate in the real world. They set up a test …
Mexico Sees End 2018 as Best Case for Implementing New NAFTA
Under a best-case scenario, a newly negotiated North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would not be implemented before the end of next year or the start of 2019, Mexico’s economy minister said Thursday. Among other issues, NAFTA talks would focus on how to provide more certainty in dispute resolutions, Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said in a radio interview. “According to the possible calendars of approval, the best of the scenarios that we could have … would be the start of implementation almost at the end of 2018 or the start of 2019,” Guajardo said. Mexico has set out the goals of prioritizing free access for goods and services, greater labor market integration and a strengthening of energy security. Last week, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said during a visit to Mexico that he hoped farm business with Mexico would not suffer due to President Donald Trump’s drive to get a better deal for manufacturers. Speaking in Japan on Thursday, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said the best way to calm Trump’s worries about commerce with Mexico were through more trade, not less. Videgaray said negotiators would need to be careful not to tweak trade rules on sourcing components too much or they could risk driving up the costs of goods like electronics. “The important thing that we are not going to do is hurt the region’s competitivity, and much less the region’s consumers,” Videgaray said, according to a transcript. …
More Women Starting Businesses in US
Women in the United States are starting bushiness at one and a half times the rate of their male peers. Effective entrepreneurship could help cut the economic gap between women and men, which the World Economic Forum says could otherwise take decades to close around the globe. As VOA’s Jim Randle reports, experts say more than one-third of U.S. businesses are headed by women and they expect that percentage to grow. …
Trump May Boost Pressure on China Over Trade, North Korea
U.S. President Donald Trump may soon attempt to increase pressure on China to change its trade practices and do more to stop North Korea’s weapons programs. Reports in the financial press say President Trump may sign an order as soon as Friday to start an investigation of Chinese demands that foreign companies share technology secrets in exchange for access to the massive Chinese market. That investigation could, eventually, lead to higher tariffs on Chinese-made products headed for the U.S. market, which is the world’s largest. Trade experts warn the action might violate U.S. commitments under the World Trade Organization. U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross recently wrote that China’s trade practices, including forced technology transfer, are unfair, hurt U.S. exports, and contribute to a $347 billion deficit in the trade in goods between the United States and China. As a presidential candidate, Trump harshly criticized China approach to commerce. He has also said has said China, which is North Korea’s neighbor and major trading partner, could do far more to stop Pyongyang’s efforts to improve nuclear weapons and missiles. U.S. experts warn that North Korean missile and bomb tests show that nation is a growing threat to the United States. Trump’s tough stance on trade issues helped him win votes from working class voters who believe they have lost jobs due to unfair foreign competition. His approach was a break with the traditional Republican pro-trade and pro-business stance. Earlier this week, Trump’s Democratic party opponents accused Trump of talking …
Білоруська компанія відкликає з НБУ заявку на купівлю української «дочки» «Сбербанку»
Компанія білоруського бізнесмена Віктора Прокопені VP Capital відкликала з Національного банку України заявку на придбання української «дочки» «Сбербанку». «Ми ухвалили рішення відкликати з НБУ заявку на купівлю українського ПАТ «Сбербанк» для того, щоб сконцентруватися на інших планованих інвестиціях і проектах, над якими ми працюємо», – йдеться в заяві, опублікованій 3 серпня на сайті компанії. У компанії додали, що відкликали заявку з власної ініціативи, заявивши, що придбання підрозділу міжнародного банку є неймовірно складним процесом, який вимагає великої кількості тимчасових ресурсів. «Ми, як і раніше, вважаємо, що сьогодні покупка бізнесу «Сбербанку України» – це відмінна інвестиційна можливість, але ми вирішили сфокусуватися на інших проектах», – йдеться в заяві. У Національному банку України повідомляли, що громадянин Білорусі і Кіпру Віктор Прокопеня 30 червня подав пакет документів для погодження опосередкованого (через білоруський ВАТ «Паритетбанк») придбання 100% акцій української «дочки» «Сбербанку». У квітні Нацбанк повідомляв про отримання документів на погодження продажу «Сбербанку» від громадянина Великої Британії й Росії Саїда Гуцерієва, який має намір придбати 77,5% акцій фінустанови. Національний банк України за рішенням Ради національної безпеки і оборони застосував від 23 березня санкції стосовно дочірніх компаній російських державних банків, які працюють в Україні, зокрема і щодо «Сбербанку». Після цього рішення стало відомо, що найбільший у Росії комерційний банк «Сбербанк», підконтрольний державі, розглядає варіанти якнайшвидшого виходу з українського ринку. 27 березня російський «Сбербанк» повідомив про продаж своїх філій в Україні. З січня цього року представники «Національного корпусу» вимагали припинення діяльності російських підприємств в Україні, зокрема і «Сбербанку». …