Coincheck, a major cryptocurrency trading exchange in Tokyo, has been hacked into and has lost about $534 million worth of virtual money, national broadcaster NHK reported on Friday. Coincheck posted on its website on Friday afternoon that it had suspended withdrawals of almost all cryptocurrencies. The exchange has already reported the incident to the police and to Japan’s Financial Services Agency, NHK said. In 2014, Tokyo-based Mt. Gox, which once handled 80 percent of the world’s bitcoin trades, filed for bankruptcy after losing some 850,000 bitcoins — then worth around half a billion U.S. dollars — and $28 million in cash from its bank accounts. …
Study: Kids Often Get Incorrect Blood Pressure Screening Results
One in four children and teens who get their blood pressure screened at routine checkups may appear to have hypertension, but that result often doesn’t hold up in repeat tests, a U.S. study suggests. Researchers examined data from electronic medical records for almost 755,795 children and adolescents treated at Kaiser Permanente facilities in Southern California, including 186,732 patients diagnosed with high blood pressure. About 18 percent of kids diagnosed with mild hypertension and 51 percent of youth with more severe high blood pressure got repeat tests at the same visit when their condition was initially detected. When the tests were repeated during the same visit, 52 percent of kids diagnosed with high blood pressure in the first assessment no longer had hypertension based on the average result from two screenings. This means a lot of kids got falsely diagnosed with high blood pressure, said lead study author Corinna Koebnick of Kaiser Permanente Southern California. “Repeating high blood pressure readings will avoid unnecessary follow-up visits but also to prevent the possibility that true hypertension is overlooked,” Koebnick said by email. Among kids initially diagnosed with high blood pressure, the diagnosis was confirmed at a follow-up checkup for 2.3 percent of patients with mild hypertension and 11.3 percent of youth with more severe cases, the study also found. One limitation of the study is that different clinicians or methods for measuring blood pressure might impact which patients were diagnosed with hypertension, the authors note. Because most clinicians didn’t follow recommendations to repeat …
Health Officials: More Birth Defects in US Areas With Zika
The mosquito-born Zika virus may be responsible for an increase in birth defects in U.S. states and territories even in women who had no lab evidence of Zika exposure during pregnancy, U.S. health officials said on Thursday. Areas in which the mosquito-borne virus has been circulating, including Puerto Rico, southern Florida and part of south Texas, saw a 21 percent rise in birth defects strongly linked with Zika in the last half of 2016 compared with the first half of that year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its weekly report on death and disease. Researchers said it was not clear if the increase was due to local transmission of Zika alone or if there were other contributing factors. The Zika outbreak was first detected in Brazil in 2015 and spread through the Americas. It has been linked to thousands of suspected cases of microcephaly, a rare birth defect marked by unusually small head size, eye abnormalities and nerve damage resulting in joint problems and deafness. For the report, the CDC examined existing birth defect reporting systems in 14 U.S. states and Puerto Rico to look for birth defects possibly associated with Zika. They divided these areas into three groups: places with local Zika transmission, places with higher levels of travel-associated Zika, and places with lower rates of travel-related Zika. Overall, they found three cases of birth defects potentially related to Zika per 1,000 live births out of 1 million births in 2016, about the same …
Mass Yellow Fever Vaccination Under Way in Brazil, Nigeria
Two of the largest mass vaccination campaigns against yellow fever ever seen in the world have begun in Nigeria and Brazil. Both campaigns, which are supported by the World Health Organization, aim to prevent the spread of the disease. Nigeria plans to vaccinate more than 25 million people throughout the coming year, making this the largest yellow fever campaign in the country’s history. In preparation, the World Health Organization has trained thousands of health care workers on how to administer the vaccine. The WHO says nearly 3,000 vaccination teams are being deployed across the states of Kogi, Kwara, Zamfara and Borno. In the case of Borno State, it says the campaign will focus on camps for internally displaced people and host communities. WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic says the goal of the campaign is to reduce yellow fever transmission by achieving 90 percent coverage in those states. “It is a part of an initiative to eliminate yellow fever epidemics,” he said. “As you know, we cannot … eradicate the yellow fever virus because it is being transmitted by mosquitoes. But, with the effective vaccine that exists for a number of years now, it can be prevented. So, mass vaccination is the best way to prevent outbreaks of yellow fever.” The WHO reports the mass immunization campaign launched in Brazil will deliver so-called fractional doses of yellow fever to nearly 24 million people in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Fractional dosing is a way of extending vaccine supplies so more people …
Analysts Skeptical of China’s Boast on Industrial Performance
The Chinese government recently claimed that 98 major state-run industries have turned in the best industrial and financial performance in 2017 compared to the past five years. These companies, which have assets totaling $9 trillion, produced a remarkable profit of $218 billion, an increase of 15.2 percent in profit in 2017, more than double the rate of national economic growth. Industry experts are closely examining the report card because China’s state sector represents nearly 60 percent of the country’s industrial economy. It controls areas like natural resources, steel, energy, heavy machinery, telecommunication, defense and infrastructure sectors, where the private sector has little or no role. The government’s claim has caused some surprise because state-owned-enterprises (SOEs) have been widely blamed for corruption and sloth, with many economists saying they are a drag on the national economy. The New York-based Center on Foreign Relations reported this month that profits of Chinese SOEs plunged 33 percent between 2011 and 2016, while that of the country’s private-sector enterprises rose 18 percent in the same period. However, the government and state-owned banks continued funding the state sector, which drew 80 percent of industrial financing, it said. Lagging behind private sector Analysts said the SOEs managed to come up with a better balance sheet in 2017, with tremendous assistance from the government. But there was no real improvement in their management capabilities and market competitiveness. “The improvement in profitability does not mean they are more efficient or more productive and they still aren’t as profitable as …
Trump: ‘America First’ Policy Doesn’t Mean ‘America Alone’
U.S. President Donald Trump told the world’s elite Friday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that America’s interests will always be his highest priority, but he predicted the U.S. would remain the fulcrum of the global economy. “I will always put America first,” he said. “Just like the leaders of other countries should put their countries first. But America first does not mean America alone,” Trump said in his keynote address. WATCH: Trump on America First policy Trump attempted to dampen concern among world leaders at Davos that his “America First” agenda would disrupt the global system that underpins the summit. “When the United States grows, so does the world,” Trump said. Trump warned world leaders, however, the U.S. would not agree to what he considers another unfair trade agreement, saying, “We support free trade, but it needs to be fair and it needs to be reciprocal because in the end, unfair trade undermines us all.” WATCH: Trump on unfair trade Prior to the speech, Trump tried to repair relations with Rwandan President Paul Kagame days after calling African nations “s***hole countries” as he rejected a bipartisan immigration proposal, drawing widespread condemnation from world leaders. Trump, who has denied using the term, touted the U.S.-Rwandan partnership as they met on the sidelines of the forum. Trump asked Kagame to send his “warmest regards” to other African leaders attending the summit. He also said he had “good discussions” with Kagame, who just began a one-year term as leader of …
Report Sees Profit in Restoring Degraded Land
Around the world, an area larger than all of South America has been deforested, eroded, drained or salinized. A new report says there’s money to be made restoring that land. VOA’s Steve Baragona has more. …
Гривня зміцнюється на міжбанківському валютному ринку
У перші години торгів на міжбанківському валютному ринку 26 січня відбувається посилення національної валюти щодо долара США, інформує сайт «Мінфін», який відстежує ситуацію на ринку. «Пропозиція валюти активно перевищує попит з самого початку торгової сесії по долару. Котирування падають. Великі покупці поки не поспішають активно скуповувати валюту, попри зростання залишків на кореспондентських рахунках банків до 71,5 мільярда гривень», – вказують фахівці. Станом на 11:00 за долар на міжбанку дають близько 28 гривень 55 копійок. Це на 20 копійок менше за офіційний курс гривні на 26 січня, встановлений Національним банком України за підсумками торгів у четвер. НБУ 26 січня підвищив облікову ставку з 14,5% до 16% річних. За повідомленням прес-служби НБУ, таке рішення правління банку ухвалило 25 січня. Облікова ставка є одним із інструментів, за допомогою якого Нацбанк встановлює для комерційних банків орієнтир щодо вартості залучених і розміщених коштів. Фактично вона визначає ціну грошей, це в тому числі впливає і на валютний ринок. У березні 2015 року НБУ облікова ставка була на рівні 30%, згодом Нацбанк почав поступово знижувати облікову ставку. …
Study Shows Coral Reefs Get Sick from Plastic Waste
Billions of bits of plastic waste are entangled in corals and sickening reefs from Thailand to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, scientists said Thursday. The trash is another pressure on corals, already suffering from overfishing, rising temperatures caused by climate change and other pollution. In the Asia-Pacific region, a total of 11.1 billion plastic items — including shopping bags, fishing nets, even diapers and tea bags — are ensnared on reefs, the scientists wrote in the journal Science. They projected the numbers would rise by 40 percent by 2025 as marine pollution gets steadily worse. The plastic increases the likelihood of disease about 20 times, to 89 percent for corals in contact with plastics from 4 percent in comparable areas with none. Trash may damage the tiny coral animals that build reefs, making them more vulnerable to illness. And bits of plastic may act as rafts for harmful microbes in the oceans. Scientists were shocked to find plastic even in remote reefs. “You could be diving and you think someone’s tapping your shoulder but it’s just a bottle knocking against you, or a plastic trash bag stuck on your tank,” lead author Joleah Lamb of Cornell University told Reuters. “It’s really sad,” she said. “Corals are animals like us and have really thin tissues that can be cut and wounded, especially if they are cut by an item covered in all sorts of micro-organisms,” she said. The scientists, from the United States, Australia, Thailand, Myanmar, Canada and Indonesia, surveyed 159 reefs from …
Україна чекає на інвесторів – Порошенко в Давосі
Президент України Петро Порошенко заявив, що Україна багато зробила для покращення інвестиційного клімату і чекає на нових інвесторів. «Будь ласка, більше не витрачайте час і не чекайте червня-липня-серпня чи осені. Це правильний час і місце сьогодні бути в «Українському домі» в Давосі. Ми чекаємо на вас, на інвесторів», – сказав Порошенко 25 січня під час виступу на інвестиційній панелі Української асоціації венчурного та приватного капіталу в Давосі, де проходить 48-ма зустріч Всесвітнього економічного форуму. Він також висловив сподівання, що Україна зможе посісти місце серед перших 50-ти країн рейтингу Doing Business. За даними Адміністрації президента, понад 80 компаній світових лідерів звернулися з пропозицією про зустріч з президентом України. «Це дуже гарна характеристика того, наскільки популярна Україна зараз серед інвесторів і наскільки вони вірять у наш успіх», – прокоментував Порошенко. Станом на кінець 2017 року, за версією Світового банку Doing Business, Україна поліпшила свої позиції в рейтингу легкості ведення бізнесу на чотири позиції і піднялася на 76-е місце із загалом 190. За цими даними, Україна продемонструвала зростання, зокрема, за такими пунктами: «отримання дозволів на будівництво», «захист міноритарних інвесторів» і «сплата податків». …
Hands of ‘Doomsday Clock’ Closest to Midnight Since 1953
A group of scientists have moved the hands of the closely watched “Doomsday Clock” to two minutes to midnight, reflecting strong concern about recent geo-political events. “We have made a clear statement the world is getting more dangerous,” theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss of Arizona State University told reporters Wednesday at the National Press Club. The annual symbolic warning on the risk of global annihilation goes back to 1947 at the dawn of the atomic age, “It is as close as it has ever been to midnight in the 71-year history of the clock,” explained Krauss, just after the announcement that the hands moved forward 30 seconds. At times of relatively lesser concern about Armageddon, the clock’s hands have been as far as 17 minutes from midnight. Rebecca Bronson, the president of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, which sets the clock’s time, said “the nuclear situation took center stage in our discussions” for the decision to place the hands at their closest point to midnight since 1953, when both the United States and Soviet Union were testing nuclear bombs in the atmosphere. “We could see a return to a nuclear arms race,” amid renewed rising tensions between Washington and Moscow, as well as North Korea’s quest to be capable of launching a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile that could hit the mainland United States, warned Sharon Squassoni, a research professor at George Washington University. Also of concern to the Bulletin’s scientists, who include 15 Nobel laureates, is the undermining of the Intermediate-Range …
At Davos Forum, Trump Threatens to Cut Aid to Palestinians
U.S. President Donald Trump has questioned whether peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians will ever resume. Trump made the remarks in a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he accused the Palestinians of disrespecting the United States after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas refused to meet with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence during his recent visit to the region. Trump threatened Thursday to cut aid to the Palestinians. “That money is on the table and that money is not going to them unless they sit down and negotiate peace,” he told reporters. “Because I can tell you that Israel does want to make peace, and they’re going to have to want to make peace too, or we’re going to have nothing to do with it any longer.” WATCH: Trump on Palestinians According to State Department figures, the U.S. provided slightly more than $290 million in foreign assistance for the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2016. Separately, Washington contributed an additional $355 million to the U.N. agency that supports Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA. But this year, the U.S. has significantly cut its assistance to UNRWA, announcing a $60 million contribution. Only a portion of U.S. funds go directly to the Palestinian Authority, with much of the assistance routed to nongovernmental groups and humanitarian partners working there. By contrast, in 2016, Washington provided Israel with $3.1 billion in military aid. Under a 10-year bilateral military aid package signed under President Barack …
US, Mexican Unions to File NAFTA Complaint Over Labor Bill
U.S. and Mexican unions will formally complain to the U.S. Labor Department on Thursday that Mexico continues to violate NAFTA’s weak labor standards, a move that they hope will persuade U.S. negotiators to push for stronger rules. The AFL-CIO told Reuters that it and Mexico’s UNT were filing the complaint with the U.S. office that oversees the labor accord attached to the North American Free Trade Agreement as U.S., Canadian, and Mexican negotiators met in Montreal to try to modernize the 1994 trade pact. The complaint, seen by Reuters, argues that Mexico’s proposed labor law amendments to implement constitutional reforms will violate the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation. It seeks efforts from the United States to prevent the measures from being implemented and to demand changes to bring Mexico into compliance. “Simply by promoting this bill, which aims to undermine the constitutional reforms, the government of Mexico brazenly violates the central obligations of the NAALC – namely to ‘provide high labor standards’ and to ‘strive to improve those standards,’” the AFL-CIO and Mexico’s UNT National Workers Union said in the complaint. Talks to overhaul the trade deal have been dogged by U.S. threats to withdraw from the pact, but the foreign ministers of Mexico and Canada on Thursday struck an upbeat note on future negotiations. A key complaint is that NAFTA has failed to lift chronically low Mexican wages that have steadily drawn U.S. and Canadian factories and jobs to Mexico. The trade pact has also allowed lower health …
Puerto Rico Warns of 11 Percent GDP Drop in new Fiscal Plan
Puerto Rico’s governor submitted a revised fiscal plan overnight Thursday that estimates the U.S. Caribbean territory’s economy will shrink by 11 percent and its population drop by nearly 8 percent next year. The proposal doesn’t set aside any money to pay creditors in the next five years as the island struggles to restructure a portion of its $73 billion public debt. The original plan had set aside $800 million a year for creditors, a fraction of the roughly $35 billion due in interest and payments over the next decade. The five-year plan also assumes Puerto Rico will receive at least $35 billion in emergency federal funds for post-hurricane recovery and another $22 billion from private insurance companies. Some analysts view that assumption as risky given that the U.S. Treasury Department and U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency recently told Puerto Rico officials that they are temporarily withholding billions of dollars approved by Congress last year for post-hurricane recovery because they felt the island currently had sufficient funds. A spokesman for Gerardo Portela, director of the island’s Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority, said he was not immediately available for comment. The plan does not call for layoffs or new taxes. Instead, Gov. Ricardo Rossello once again called for labor and tax reforms and the privatization of the island’s power company to help generate revenue and promote economic development amid an 11-year recession. He noted that nearly half of the island’s 3.3 million inhabitants lived in poverty prior to the hurricane and …
«Укрзалізниця» планує підвищити тарифи на пасажирські перевезення – в.о. голови компанії
«Укрзалізниця» планує підвищити тарифи на пасажирські перевезення у 2018 році, заявив виконувач обов’язків голови правління компанії компанії Євген Кравцов в інтерв’ю телеканалу «112.ua». «З пасажирськими перевезеннями ситуація досить складна в плані тарифів. Тариф на пасажирські перевезення не піднімався вже кілька років. Ми бачимо необхідність підвищення тарифу в нинішньому році. У фінансовий план на 2018 рік ми заклали цифри дворазового підвищення на 10% кожна. Два рази по 10%, щоб це було плавно і не так помітно для людей», – сказав Кравцов. Він зазначив, що «пасажирське господарство для УЗ збиткове». «Питання розміру збитків дещо інше, тут по-різному можна обраховувати. Вантажне ж прибуткове, і тут є, безумовно, питання перехресного субсидування. Пасажирське господарство у нас субсидується за рахунок вантажного – факт є факт. Крім того, у нас субсидування всієї УЗ в цілому за рахунок з’їдання коштів протягом багатьох років амортизацією. Тобто навіть ті гроші, які компанія заробляла, вона не реінвестувала, а «проїдала». Зараз починаємо інвестувати», – заявив Кравцов. В.о. голови «Укрзалізниці» додав, що необхідність підвищення тарифів обумовлена також тим, що, «наприклад, у соціальному сегменті (плацкартних перевезень) квитки часто дешевші, ніж на автобусне сполучення на аналогічних напрямках». Тариф на пасажирські перевезення в Україні не змінювався з 2014 року. Тоді компанія планово підвищила тарифи на проїзд у пасажирських поїздах внутрішнього сполучення на 10% у всіх категоріях вагонів, окрім СВ і потягів категорії «Інтерсіті+». …
У 2018–2020 роках Україна має сплатити понад 16 мільярдів доларів зовнішнього боргу – НБУ
У 2018–2020 роках Національний банк України та Кабінет міністрів мають сплатити понад 16 мільярдів доларів США за зовнішніми боргами, повідомили в НБУ. «Тому, на думку Національного банку, для збереження макрофінансової стабільності України критично важливим є продовження співпраці з МВФ у рамках на лише поточної, а й нової програми», – наголосили в НБУ. Національний банк у 2018 році очікує надходження близько 2 мільярдів доларів США від Міжнародного валютного фонду, а також сподівається на отримання урядом кредитів від Європейського союзу та Світового банку. «Це дасть змогу збільшити міжнародні резерви до 20,5 мільярдів доларів США (або 3,7 місяця імпорту майбутнього періоду) на кінець 2018 року. Однак у 2019 та 2020 роках через пікові виплати за зовнішнім державним боргом очікується формування дефіциту зведеного платіжного балансу й скорочення міжнародних резервів», – заявили в НБУ. У березні 2015 року між МВФ і Україною була затверджена чотирирічна програма розширеного фінансування на суму близько 17,5 мільярдів доларів США. Наразі МВФ надав Україні за цією програмою близько 8 мільярдів 380 мільйонів доларів. У Міністерстві фінансів України раніше заявляли, що очікують надходження нового траншу кредиту МВФ на початку 2018 року. …
China Pledges to Further Open Up Economy at Davos
A top economic adviser and trusted aid of Chinese leader Xi Jinping has promised that reforms are coming to China this year and adds that some could even “exceed expectations.” Speaking at a forum on the Chinese Economy at the World Economic Forum, Liu He said China would take steps to open up the banking, finance and insurance sector as well as the manufacturing and service sector and other measures. “Many of our foreign friends have asked, you’ve made so many promises, but when will they be carried out? I can responsibly say that we will carry out these promises one after the other, the sooner, the better,” Liu said. China has long promised to open up its markets to the world, but the slow pace of reform in some sectors and a playing field that is tilted heavily in the favor of state owned enterprises and forces players to hand over technology in exchange for market access has increasingly been the focus of criticism from foreign firms in recent years. It was unclear from his remarks how some of that might change, but analysts note that what Liu has to say is important. Late last year, he was elevated to a seat on the 25-member politburo of the Communist Party of China. He is also widely expected to become China’s next vice premier in March with a portfolio that focuses on the economy. He said that as China marks 40 years of opening its markets up to the world, …
Інфляція у 2018 році складе понад 8% – НБУ
У 2018 році інфляція складе понад вісім відсотків, заявили в Національному банку України. «Протягом 2018-2020 років інфляція поступово знижуватиметься. Це насамперед буде результатом жорсткої монетарної політики на прогнозному горизонті. Однак Національний банк прогнознує, що у 2018 році інфляція залишатиметься високою: 8,9% загальна і 8,2% базова», – йдеться в повідомленні прес-служби НБУ. У Національному банку зазначають, що інфляція буде зумовлена низкою факторів, серед яких перенесення зростання цін сирих продуктів на ціни продуктів з високим ступенем обробки; зростання споживчого попиту, що зумовлюватиметься збільшенням доходів населення на тлі як підвищення соціальних стандартів урядом, так і подальшого зростання заробітної плати в приватному секторі через високий попит на робочу силу; затримка у продовженні співпраці з МВФ та стрімке зростання світових цін на нафту. Як очікують у НБУ, у 2020 році інфляція уповільниться до п’яти відсотків. За даними Держстату, у 2017 році споживча інфляція становила 13,7%, і, таким чином, перевищила прогноз Національного банку. У регуляторі, зі свого боку, заявили, що інфляція у 2017 році була обумовлена незалежними від НБУ факторами. …
НБУ підвищує облікову ставку до 16%
Національний банк України від 26 січня підвищує облікову ставку з 13,5% до 16% річних. За повідомленням прес-служби НБУ, таке рішення правління банку ухвалило 25 січня. Облікова ставка є одним із інструментів, за допомогою якого Нацбанк встановлює для комерційних банків орієнтир щодо вартості залучених і розміщених коштів. Фактично вона визначає ціну грошей. «Більш жорстка монетарна політика сприятиме поступовому зниженню споживчої інфляції та її поверненню в цільовий діапазон у середині 2019 року», – заявляють у Нацбанку. За даними НБУ, в 2017 році споживча інфляція зросла до 13,7% і, таким чином, перевищила ціль Національного банку, встановлену Основними засадами грошово-кредитної політики на 2017 рік і середньострокову перспективу. «Прискорення інфляції порівняно з 2016 роком (12,4%) відбулося насамперед через дію чинників, на які інструменти грошово-кредитної політики мають обмежений вплив. Зокрема, на показниках інфляції суттєво позначилося скорочення пропозиції окремих видів продовольчих товарів через несприятливі погодні умови в першій половині року, нестабільну ситуацію у тваринництві, зростання світових цін та зовнішнього попиту на вітчизняні продукти харчування (насамперед, м’ясні та молочні)», – йдеться в повідомленні. Востаннє НБУ підвищував облікову ставку з 12,5 до 13,5% у жовтні 2017 року. У березні 2015 року НБУ облікова ставка була на рівні 30%, згодом Нацбанк почав поступово знижувати облікову ставку. …
Saving Lives by Taking the Guesswork Out of Snake Bites
An estimated 5 million people around the world are bitten by venomous snakes each year, and more than 100,000 victims die. In many cases the key to survival is anti-venom, but getting the right treatment can depend on knowing what kind of snake did the biting. Some new medical tech developed in Denmark is taking the guesswork out of the snake bite business. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …
US Treasury Secretary’s ‘Weak Dollar’ Remarks Prompt Concern in Europe
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s signal at the World Economic Forum that he preferred a “weaker dollar” has drawn a sharp response from European countries concerned that the U.S. is adopting a more hostile approach toward its trading partners. “Obviously, a weaker dollar is good for us. It’s good because it has to do with trade and opportunities,” Mnuchin said Wednesday at the forum in Davos, Switzerland. Mnuchin tried to clarify his remarks Thursday, but European Central Bank President Mario Draghi criticized the “use of language,” saying it could rattle currency markets. Draghi reiterated a statement issued by the International Monetary Fund in October, saying countries had agreed to “refrain from competitive devaluations and will not target our exchange rates for competitive purposes.” As Draghi spoke, the euro spiked above $1.25, its highest level in more than three years, but then it declined somewhat a while later. ‘Not a shift’ in view The dollar fell to nearly three-year lows Wednesday after Mnuchin’s remarks, which he attempted to clarify later by saying he was not advocating a U.S. policy in favor of a strong dollar. “We are not concerned with where the dollar is in the short term,” Mnuchin told reporters. “It is not a shift in my position on the dollar at all. In the longer term, we fundamentally believe in the strength of the dollar.” The dollar had already weakened since Tuesday, when U.S. President Donald Trump implemented new protectionist measures against China and South Korea. His remarks were broadly perceived as a signal …
Safest Spot to Survive Doomsday? Middle of Nowhere, USA
Doomsday is around the corner some believe, so why not live out the end times in comfort? A company in South Dakota offers bunkers with room for the whole family. Builders promise that the shelter will withstand any catastrophe and nuclear winter. VOA’s Lesya Bakalets has more. …
Scientists Reconstruct Face of 9,000-year-old Greek Teen
Scientists have reconstructed the face of a 9,000-year-old Greek teenager, shining a new light on life in a period known as the dawn of civilization. Faith Lapidus reports. …
Chinese Company Convicted of Stealing Trade Secrets From US Firm
A federal jury in Wisconsin on Wednesday convicted a Chinese wind turbine company of stealing trade secrets, which nearly destroyed a U.S. manufacturer. China’s Sinovel Wind Group does business in the United States. “The theft of ideas and ingenuity is not a business dispute. It’s a crime and will be prosecuted as such,” U.S. Attorney Scott Blader said. According to the government’s case against Sinovel, the company had an $800 million contract for products and services from Wisconsin-based American Superconductor (AMSC). It said Sinovel conspired in 2011 with two company managers and a former AMSC employee to use computers in Austria to steal wind turbine technology and trade secrets from AMSC and install them on Sinovel turbines. Sinovel never paid AMSC the $800 million. Federal prosecutors said Sinovel’s crime cost AMSC dearly; investors dumped more than $1 billion in AMSC stock and about 700 workers lost their jobs, more than half of the company’s global workforce. Sinovel will be sentenced in June. …