Fingerprints can unlock doors, phones and more, but are consumers ready to pay with them? Visa thinks so. More companies are exploring biometrics, the analysis of unique biological traits to verify identity, but how secure is the technology? Tina Trinh reports from New York …
A Sweet Way to Help Syrian Refugees in US
Namoura. Ma’amoul. Barazek. The names are unfamiliar to American consumers, but the tastes of honey, cinnamon and nuts are not. These Syrian pastries are for sale at the Syrian Sweets Exchange in Phoenix, Arizona, held at local farmers markets and a series of special sales like one recently at Changing Hands Bookstore. Bake sales are a fundraising fixture of American life, so it was no stretch for a group of volunteers who wanted to do something to help the 300 Syrian families in the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas. Syria is famous for its sweets, but program co-founder Tan Jakwani said volunteers learned about them firsthand. “When the volunteers would visit the Syrian refugees … to bring them donated furniture, they would bring out delicious sweets to greet the volunteers,” she said. Through the exchange, the bakers’ skills have been turned into revenue. All proceeds are given back to the 20 bakers, who are licensed by the state of Arizona to bake goods at home and sell them. The bakers “I sell my sweets every Saturday in the farmers market … and it sells very well,” said baker Noor al Mousa. “I have customers every Saturday coming for me for selling my sweets and thank me. And I thank them.” Al Mousa was an engineer in Syria. Now, her husband supports the family of seven — four children born in Syria and one in the U.S. — by driving cars at the Phoenix airport while she bakes. “We send a lot …
EU Calls for Industry Input on US Tariff Retaliation List
The European Commission called for industry views on Friday on a list of U.S. products it will subject to import tariffs if the United States taxes European steel and aluminum. The Commission plans to set duties of 25 percent on a range of U.S. products, from maize to motorbikes, whose annual imports to the European Union are worth some 2.8 billion euros ($3.45 billion). U.S. President Donald Trump signed an order last week that would subject incoming steel to a tariff of 25 percent and aluminum 10 percent, albeit with exemptions for Canada, Mexico and possibly other countries. The European Commission, which oversees trade policy for the 28-member European Union, is still unclear how it might secure an exemption. U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom are due to discuss the issue at a meeting next week. EU officials warn that without an exemption they will notify the World Trade Organization (WTO) of potential counter-measures by May 23, or within 60 days of U.S. tariffs coming into force. The ten-page list of products the EU may subject to tariffs ranges from different types of grains, food exports like fruit juices to clothing, household appliances and boats. It also includes many metals products for use in construction and industry. Some of the products would be subject to duties within months. Another group would only incur duties if the WTO later declared the U.S. tariffs illegal or after a period of three years. The two combined would be …
Trump’s Tariffs Head for a Legal Minefield
President Donald Trump’s announcement last week of a 25 percent tariff on U.S. imports of steel and 10 percent on aluminum caused a global outcry. The following sets out how Washington might try to justify the tariffs at the World Trade Organization, which is supposed to police agreed free trade rules, and how the WTO might address the issue. No word to the WTO The tariffs announced by Trump, which have not been officially notified to the World Trade Organization, put a tax on steel and aluminum coming into the United States from all over the world. Even though the United States has declined to declare the tariffs at the WTO, they can still come under its jurisdiction if countries affected raise complaints. Although Trump has said some countries such as Canada and Mexico will get exemptions, the tariffs threaten to leave the rest of the world facing oversupply of steel and aluminum. The Trump card: ‘National security’ Trump has justified the tariffs by invoking a “national security” clause under Section 232 of the 1962 U.S. Trade Expansion Act, the first time it has been used since the WTO was created in 1995. The WTO’s General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade does allow an exemption from its rules for national security reasons. However, national security has never been used as a defense in a WTO dispute, although it is expected to arise in a current row between Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Trade lawyers talk about national security as …
Snow Science: Crystal Clues to Climate Change, Watersheds
Capturing snowflakes isn’t as easy as sticking out your tongue. At least not when you’re trying to capture them for scientific study, which involves isolating the tiniest of crystals on a metal card printed with grid lines and quickly placing them under a microscope to be photographed. “They are very tiny and they are close to the melting point,” Marco Tedesco of Columbia University said as he set up his microscope beside a snowy field. “So as soon as they fall, they will melt.” Tedesco recently led a team of three researchers who trudged through the snowy hills of New York’s Catskill Mountains with cameras, brushes, shovels, a drone and a spectrometer to collect the most fine-grained details about freshly fallen snowflakes and how they evolve once they settle to the ground. That data could be used to provide clues to the changing climate and validate the satellite models used for weather predictions. It also could provide additional information on the snow that falls into New York’s City’s upstate watershed, flows into reservoirs and fills the faucets of some 9 million people. “We’re talking about sub-millimeter objects,” Tedesco said as he stood in shin-deep snow. “Once they get together, they have the power, really, to shape our planet.” This is the pilot stage of the “X-Snow” project, which organizers hope will involve dozens of volunteers collecting snowflake samples next winter. The specimens Tedesco spied under his microscope on a recent snowy day displayed more rounded edges and irregularities than the …
3-D Printed House Offers Quick, Cheap Solution for Poor Worldwide
Imagine building a stronger, cheaper home in as little as 12 hours. That goal now appears feasible with the help of a 3-D printer. A 3-D-printed home was unveiled in Austin, Texas, during the South by Southwest (SXSW) technology conference and music festival this week. “So I’m standing in front of the first permanent 3-D-printed home in America,” said Jason Ballard, co-founder of Austin-based ICON, a construction company that uses robotics, software and advanced materials to build houses. The two-bedroom prototype contains space that can be used as a living/dining area, as well as three rooms that can be converted into bedrooms, a study or a bathroom, depending on where the home is located and the resources available. The homes will be anywhere from 56 square meters to 74 square meters in size. At 35 square meters, the prototype home was successfully printed in a neighborhood near downtown Austin during a rainstorm, as strong winds kicked up dust in the area, according to Ballard. 3-D-printed homes for the poor The goal is to print homes in developing countries during extreme weather conditions and amid the unpredictability of having electricity and water. “We work with really the poorest families in the world that don’t have shelters,” said Brett Hagler, founder and chief executive officer with the nonprofit organization New Story. It aims to bring 3-D-printed homes first to Latin America and then expand to other developing countries. Hagler notes that using innovation and new technology will change how homes are manufactured …
3-D-Printed House Offers Quick, Cheap Solution for Poor Worldwide
Imagine building a stronger, cheaper home in as little as 12 hours. That is now possible with the help of a 3-D printer. A 3-D-printed home was unveiled in Austin, Texas, during the South by Southwest (SXSW) technology conference and music festival. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee explains how this new technology could change the lives of families throughout the developing world. …
FDA Plans to Slash Nicotine Levels in Cigarettes
Cigarette smoking kills nearly a half-million Americans every year and costs the U.S. economy $300 billion in health care and lost productivity, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To help smokers kick the deadly habit and stop kids from starting, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed rules Thursday to cut the nicotine in cigarettes to minimal or nonaddictive levels. “This milestone places us squarely on the road toward achieving one of the biggest public health victories in modern history and saving millions of lives in the process,” FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Thursday. He said the FDA has a “vision of a world where combustible cigarettes would no longer create or sustain addiction.” Legal authority The FDA has the legal authority to regulate nicotine levels in cigarettes, but has always been met by court challenges from tobacco companies. Nicotine naturally occurs in tobacco. It is not deadly but is a highly addictive drug that helps make cigarettes so pleasurable to smokers. It is the burning tobacco leaf and the numerous additives used in cigarettes that lead to lung cancer, emphysema, and other deadly diseases and cancers. Secondhand smoke from cigarettes is also harmful to children and potentially lethal to adults. Public comment Gottlieb says the FDA is giving the public time to comment on the proposed mandated cuts in nicotine. He says it will help regulators answer such questions as what an acceptable level of nicotine is, whether the cuts should be introduced gradually or …
Former Siemens Executive Pleads Guilty in Argentine Bribery Case
A former midlevel employee of German industrial giant Siemens pleaded guilty Thursday of conspiring to pay tens of millions of dollars to Argentine officials to win a $1 billion contract to create national ID cards. Eberhard Reichart, 78, who worked for Siemens from 1964 to 2001, appeared in federal court in New York to plead guilty to one count of conspiring to violate the anti-bribery Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and to commit wire fraud. Reichart was arraigned last December in a three-count indictment filed in December 2011 charging him and seven other Siemens executives and agents with participating in the decadelong scheme, the Justice Department said Thursday. The men were accused of conspiring to pay more than $100 million in bribes to high-level Argentine officials to win the contract in 1998. As part of his guilty plea, Reichart admitted in court that he engaged in the bribery conspiracy and that he and his co-conspirators used shell companies to conceal the illicit payments to Argentine officials. The Argentine government terminated the contract in 2001, but the Siemens executives “sought to recover the profits they would have reaped” through an illicitly obtained contract, said Preet Bharara, former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, in 2011. “Far too often, companies pay bribes as part of their business plan, upsetting what should be a level playing field and harming companies that play by the rules,” acting Assistant Attorney General John Cronan said Thursday. In 2008, Siemens pleaded guilty of violating the …
Trump to Weigh New Tariffs Targeting China
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said Thursday that President Donald Trump would soon consider new punitive measures against China for its alleged “theft” of intellectual property. U.S. officials, according to news accounts, are considering imposing as much as $60 billion in annual tariffs against Chinese information technology, telecommunications and consumer exports to the U.S. in an effort to trim its chronic annual trade deficit with Beijing by $100 billion. Last year, the U.S. says it imported Chinese goods worth $375 billion more than it exported to China. “In the coming weeks, President Trump is going to have on his desk some recommendations,” Navarro told CNBC. “This will be one of the many steps the president is going to courageously take in order to address unfair trade practices. “I don’t think there’s a single person … on Wall Street that will oppose cracking down on China’s theft of our intellectual property or their forced transfer,” Navarro said. The new tariffs and other measures would be in addition to the 25 percent tariff on steel imports to the U.S. and 10 percent levy on aluminum that Trump announced last week, some of which affect China. At a political fundraiser Wednesday, Trump attacked several trading partners for the billions of dollars in trade surpluses they have built up against the U.S. He contended that China had become an economic power — the world’s second biggest economy — because of its trade surplus with the United States. China warned it would likely retaliate …
Курс долара зріс на тлі призначення нового голови НБУ
Торги на міжбанківському валютному ринку 15 березня відбулися на тлі переважання попиту на долар над пропозицією і завершилися на рівні 26 гривень 27 копійок за одиницю американської валюти. На цьому рівні встановив офіційний курс на 16 березня і Національний банк України. Ринок 15 березня реагував на звільнення Валерії Гонтаревої з посади та призначення Якова Смолія головою НБУ, а також на політичні події в Україні. Сайт «Мінфін», який відстежує перебіг торгів на міжбанку, називає головним драйвером зростання котирувань значну перевагу попиту на валюту над пропозицією. «Економічною причиною нового злету котирувань стало те, що великі експортери продовжують притримувати валютні продажі на фоні зростання попиту з боку імпортерів. Відкладений раніше попит на валюту (коли гривня активно зміцнювалася) зараз масово виходить на міжбанк і активно тисне на курс, а велика ліквідність у банківській системі дозволяє відверто грати «на підвищення» як безпосереднім продавцям валюти, так і спекулянтам», – вказують експерти. …
HSBC Has 59 Percent Gender Pay Gap, Biggest Among British Banks
HSBC will reveal a gender pay gap of 59 percent at its main U.K. banking operation, the biggest yet disclosed by a British bank, according to a copy of the lender’s report on the subject seen by Reuters on Thursday ahead of its publication. The bank will also disclose a mean gender bonus gap of 86 percent at HSBC Bank Plc, which is the biggest of the lender’s seven entities in Britain and employs 23,507 people. A spokeswoman for the bank confirmed the contents of the report. The gender pay gap is the biggest yet reported by a British financial firm, according to government data, with some firms yet to provide figures ahead of an April deadline set by Prime Minister Theresa May last year. Almost 50 years since the passage of Britain’s equal pay act, the continued gulf in earnings between men and women has attracted significant public attention over the past year or so. In common with other banks, HSBC said its pay gap was largely accounted for by the bank having fewer women in senior roles. The gender pay gap measures the difference between the average salary of men and women, calculated on an hourly basis. HSBC said women held only 23 percent of senior leadership positions in its workforce in Britain, despite accounting for more than half of total staff. The bank said it was taking a number of steps to reduce the pay gap, including committing to an aspirational target of women holding 30 percent …
Germany Says Trade War Could Damage Global Recovery
Germany said on Thursday that any escalation of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on metal imports into a full-blown trade war could cause tangible damage to the global recovery, although the tariffs themselves should have only a limited effect. Trump last week ordered the imposition of duties on incoming steel and aluminum and threatened to levy a tax on European cars if the European Union did not remove “horrific” tariffs and trade barriers on a range of goods. “The German economic upswing is continuing at the beginning of 2018. The global economic environment is still favorable,” the Economy Ministry said in its monthly report. But it said U.S. trade policies were creating a sense of uncertainty. The tariffs on steel and aluminum will affect trade flows in some regions, but their overall implications for the global economy are likely to be manageable, it said. “But a possible escalation into a trade war and rising uncertainty among market participants could cause tangible damage,” it added. European Council President Donald Tusk on Wednesday urged the United States to revive trade talks rather than escalate a dispute over tariffs on metals and cars. And Swiss National Bank Chairman Thomas Jordan said on Thursday that U.S. protectionism could be a threat to the export-dependent Swiss economy and trigger safe-haven flows that would drive up the value of the Swiss currency. ‘At a crossroads’ Germany’s new economy minister, Peter Altmaier, said Trump was challenging the multilateral trade system as defined by the rules of the …
Surge in Airline Hiring Boosts Interest in Aspiring Pilots
Major U.S. airlines are hiring pilots at a rate not seen since before 9/11, and that is encouraging more young people to consider a career in the cockpit. Hiring is likely to remain brisk for years. Smaller airlines in the U.S. are struggling with a shortage that will continue as they lose pilots to the bigger carriers, which in turn will need to replace thousands of retiring pilots over the next few years. Aircraft maker Boeing predicts that the U.S. will need 117,000 new pilots by 2036. Just a decade ago thousands of pilots were furloughed and some abandoned the profession. The shortage has been felt most keenly at regional carriers where many pilots start their airline careers. Last summer, Alaska Airlines subsidiary Horizon Air canceled more than 300 flights over two months for lack of pilots. Republic Airways filed for bankruptcy protection in 2016, citing a pilot shortage that forced it to ground flights. Many regional carriers fly smaller planes for American Eagle, Delta Connection and United Express. Signing bonuses and higher pay have helped them hire more than 17,000 pilots in the past four years, but that only replaced those who moved up to the major carriers, according to the Regional Airline Association. Demand at the major airlines is expected to grow as thousands of pilots at American, Delta, United and Southwest hit the U.S. mandatory pilot-retirement age of 65 in the next several years. American Airlines CEO Doug Parker believes the …
Trump’s Tariffs May End Up Benefiting China, Analysts Say
President Donald Trump’s decision to slap punishing tariffs on Chinese goods may prove to be a blessing in disguise for China, even as it prepares to retaliate, analysts said. Trump’s trade offensive also has huge implications for the European Union and other countries, and that is making it impossible for the Western world to jointly counter Beijing’s protectionism in areas where they see eye to eye. Until recently, Western countries and Japan, were working on measures to fight back what they consider China’s dumping of low-cost goods and theft of intellectual property rights, but now they have had to suddenly change their priorities as they focus on responding to Washington’s actions. “One of the biggest problems with recent Trump’s actions is that it seems to alienate many countries who have nearly identical interests in confronting Beijing and their strongly protectionist trade regime,” said Christopher Balding, a professor of economics at Peking University’s HSBC Business School. “However, they may not be as inclined to back Trump if he is imposing tariffs on them.” New scenario In December, trade ministers from the European Union, Japan and the United States issued a statement pledging to enhance “trilateral cooperation” in the World Trade Organization and other organizations to fight against China’s state-backed market disorienting trade practices. Jacob Kirkegaard, a fellow at the Peterson Institute of International Economics told VOA the new situation is “clearly beneficial to China.” And the likelihood the West could work together to confront China on …
Рада призначила Смолія керівником Нацбанку
Верховна Рада призначила Якова Смолія головою Національного банку України. За це проголосували 247 народних депутатів при мінімально необхідних 226. «Я підтверджую курс реформ. Наша мета – незмінна. Перше – збереження цінової фінансової стабільності. Друге – сприяння економічному зростанню, інтеграція української фінансової системи до європейській», – сказав Смолій під час виступу в парламенті. Після цього голосування голова Верховної Ради Андрій Парубій закрив ранкове засідання. Раніше сьогодні Верховна Рада звільнила Валерію Гонтареву з посади голови Національного банку. Президент України Петро Порошенко 18 січня вніс до Верховної Ради проекти постанов про звільнення Валерії Гонтаревої з посади глави Національного банку України та призначення на цю посаду Якова Смолія. Гонтарева у квітні 2017 року повідомила, що подала президентові України заяву про відставку за власним бажанням, з травня 2017 року виконувачем обов’язків голови НБУ став перший заступник Гонтаревої Яків Смолій. Чутки про відставку Гонтарева з’явилися ще в лютому 2016 року. Проте тоді у Національному банку України зазначили, що ця інформація не відповідає дійсності. Гонтарева очолювала НБУ з 2014 року. Під її керівництвом відбулося значне зменшення кількості банків у фінансовій системі України, бо регулятор збільшив вимоги до статутного капіталу й інших показників діяльності фінансових установ. …
Independent Chefs Exchange Referrals, Constructive Criticism and Support
Cooking is Chris Spear’s passion. He’s been professionally cooking since he was 16. Over the years, he worked for big restaurants and reached a point where he had almost 100 employees reporting to him. That’s when he missed flexibility and wanted to be more creative. So, he quit working for restaurants and founded his own catering company, Perfect Little Bites in Frederick, Maryland. “Not that having your business is easy, but I want to have the flexibility to say, ‘It’s Valentine’s Day, and it’s more important to me to stay home with my wife,’ or to be home cooking for someone. I really wanted something that I felt was mine,” Spear explained. Spending long hours in the kitchen doesn’t tire Spear, but he had often been concerned that becoming an independent chef would make him feel lonely. That inspired him to found Chefs Without Restaurants, an online resource for chefs. “I’ve been thinking about the Chefs Without Restaurants for about five years now, even before I took Perfect Little Bites full time, because I kept thinking about, ‘Well, when I do this full time, who are going to be my colleagues? Who are going to be the people who I can bounce ideas off? Who am I going to be able to [get to] do things like cater an event that’s maybe outside my range of 30 people? Like, do I have a resource where I can pull in one or two other people?’ ” he said. ” … And what …
Washington State Directive Aims to Help Endangered Orcas
With the number of endangered Puget Sound orcas at a 30-year low, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Wednesday signed an executive order directing state agencies to take immediate and longer-term steps to protect the struggling whales. The fish-eating mammals, also known as killer whales, that spend time in Puget Sound have struggled for years because of lack of food, pollution, noise and disturbances from vessel traffic. There are now just 76, down from 98 in 1995. Inslee said the orcas are in trouble and called on everyone in the state to do their part. His directive aims to make more salmon available to the whales, give them more space and quieter waters, make sure they have clean water to swim in and protect them from potential oil spills. “The destiny of salmon and orca and we humans are intertwined,” the governor said at a news conference at the Daybreak Star Cultural Center in Seattle. “As the orca go, so go we.” An orca task force forming now will meet for the first time next month and will come up with a final report with recommendations by November. “This is a wake-up call,” said Suquamish Tribal Chairman Leonard Forsman, adding: “It’s going to take some pain. We’re going to have to make some sacrifices.” Many people have been sounding the alarm about the plight of the closely tracked southern resident killer whales for years. The federal government listed the orcas as endangered in 2005, and more recently identified them as among …
U.N. Climate Projects in Congo Leave Locals Worse Off, Report Says
A large-scale United Nations program to halt deforestation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, home to the world’s second-largest rainforest, is harming local communities and failing to protect forests, land rights researchers said on Wednesday. The U.S.-based group Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) called on the World Bank to withhold funding from 20 current or pending projects in the province of Mai-Ndombe, which has been a test case for a U.N.-backed conservation scheme known as REDD+. In an area rife with land conflict, an RRI report said the forest protection projects in this western province threatened the rights and incomes of rural women and indigenous groups, including about 73,000 pygmies. “REDD+ was created to both halt deforestation and benefit local communities — yet the current projects in Mai-Ndombe fail to address both objectives,” said Marine Gauthier, the report’s author. A spokesman for the U.N.’s REDD+ program did not respond to requests for comment. One of the focal cases involves U.S. company Wildlife Works Carbon (WWC), which denied the accusations. The company obtained a large land concession in order to protect a forest from loggers, and uses a share of the money earned from selling carbon credits to benefit people living there, said president Mike Korchinsky. “Millions of dollars of benefits have gone to the communities,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. He said WWC had built schools, invested in medical clinics, and provided years of agricultural support. But Gauthier said local communities, which signed agreements with the company, were not …
Report: China Winning War on Smog, Will Step Up Efforts
Eastern China’s Jiangsu province will step up its war on pollution and focus on “high-quality development” following a spike in smog early this year, the China Daily reported, citing the provincial governor. The province of Jiangsu is a major part of the Yangtze river delta manufacturing hub. Concentrations of breathable smog particles known as PM2.5 soared 20 percent in the region in January. Jiangsu’s major heavy industrial center, Xuzhou, was also ranked China’s smoggiest city in December 2017, after a winter campaign to cut emissions in northern China led to a significant drop in PM2.5 concentrations in traditional smog zones. Governor Wu Zhenglong promised “stricter strategies with higher standards” to control emissions, China Daily said. Despite the January spike, average PM2.5 concentrations in the province still fell from 73 micrograms to 49 micrograms last year, the report added. Late last month, an environment ministry official urged regions in the Yangtze delta and elsewhere to take responsibility for their air quality problems. The Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC), said in a report this week that China was winning its war on pollution after cutting average PM2.5 concentrations by 32 percent in just four years. “The available evidence from our monitoring data indicate that pollution has decreased nearly across the board,” said Michael Greenstone, director of EPIC. “We estimate that just 4 percent of the 900 million residents covered by the monitor network saw pollution rise in their prefecture between 2013 and 2017,” he added. …
10 Wolves Killed in Northern Idaho to Boost Elk Numbers
Federal officials have killed 10 wolves in northern Idaho at the request of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game to boost elk numbers, and state officials say more might be killed this winter. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services said Wednesday that workers used a helicopter in the Clearwater National Forest in late February and early March to kill the wolves. “At the request of Idaho, we did remove wolves in that region,” said agency spokeswoman Tanya Espinosa. Idaho officials say the area’s elk population in what’s called the Lolo zone has plummeted in the last 25 years from about 16,000 to about 2,000, and that wolves are to blame along with black bears, mountain lions and a habitat transition to more forests. Fish and Game has liberal harvest rules for bears and mountain lions, but wolves are more challenging to hunt. So in six of the last seven years, Fish and Game has sought to kill wolves to boost elk. Elk are a prominent big game species in Idaho and hunters have decried a scarcity of elk in the region. Elk are also a source of revenue through hunting license sales for Fish and Game. “We’ve made an obligation to try to manage this elk herd at levels at maybe not peak levels, but at least bring it back to levels that we’ve seen in the past that were adequate for hunting,” said Jim Hayden, a biologist with Fish and Game. Officials say Fish and Game license …
Reports: Toys ‘R’ Us to Shut or Sell All US Stores
Toys ‘R’ US plans to sell or close all of its US stores, potentially hitting 33,000 jobs, U.S. media reported Wednesday. The debt-plagued retailer, which filed for bankruptcy protection in September, told employees that the retailer planned to file liquidation papers ahead of a Thursday court hearing, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post reported. “We’re putting a for sale sign on everything,” CEO David Brandon said on a conference call with staff, according to the Journal. Company officials did not immediately reply for a request for comment. Started in 1948 amid the postwar US economic boom, Toys ‘R’ US has 881 stores in U.S. territories and nearly 65,000 employees globally, according to the company’s most recent press release last month. The New Jersey-based company was saddled with debt following a leveraged buyout in 2005 by a consortium that included the KKR Group and Bain Capital. Much like other retailers, Toys ‘R’ Us has also been bruised by competition from Amazon and other online retailers. A weak holiday shopping season weighed on the company’s efforts to reorganize, analysts said. Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, blamed the company’s woes on poor leadership. “As the competitive dynamics of the toy market intensified, management failed to respond and evolve. As such, the brand lost relevance, customers and ultimately sales,” Saunders said in a note Wednesday. “The main tragedy of liquidation will be the extensive loss of jobs. In our view, those on the shop-floor have been badly let down by …
‘Panama Papers’ Law Firm to Shut Down After Tax Scandal
Mossack Fonseca, the Panamanian law firm at the center of the “Panama Papers” scandal, said Wednesday that it was shutting down because of the damage to its business and reputation inflicted by role in the global tax evasion debacle. The Panama Papers, which consist of millions of documents stolen from Mossack Fonseca and leaked to the media in April 2016, provoked a global scandal after showing how the rich and powerful used offshore corporations to evade taxes. “The reputational deterioration, the media campaign, the financial circus and the unusual actions by certain Panamanian authorities have occasioned an irreversible damage that necessitates the obligatory ceasing of public operations at the end of the current month,” the firm said in a statement. Mossack Fonseca said a skeleton staff would remain in order to comply with requests from authorities and other public and private groups. Nonetheless, the law firm said it would continue “fighting for justice,” adding it would also continue to cooperate with authorities. Last month, Panamanian prosecutors raided the offices of Mossack Fonseca, seeking possible links to Brazilian engineering company Odebrecht. The Brazilian construction firm has admitted bribing officials in Panama and other countries to obtain contracts in the region between 2010 and 2014. Ramon Fonseca, a partner at Mossack Fonseca, denied last month that his firm had a connection to Odebrecht, while accusing Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela of directly receiving money from Odebrecht, Latin America’s largest engineering company. Varela has denied taking any money from Odebrecht. …
White House: US Pressing China to Cut Trade Surplus by $100B
The Trump administration is pressing China to cut its trade surplus with the United States by $100 billion, a White House spokeswoman said Wednesday, clarifying a tweet last week from President Donald Trump. Last Wednesday, Trump tweeted that China had been asked to develop a plan to reduce its trade imbalance with the United States by $1 billion, but the spokeswoman said Trump had meant to say $100 billion. The United States had a record $375 billion trade deficit with China in 2017, which made up two-thirds of a global $566 billion U.S. trade gap last year, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. China reported its 2017 U.S. trade surplus as $276 billion, also about two-thirds of its reported global surplus of $422.5 billion. The White House spokeswoman declined to provide details about how the administration would like China to accomplish the surplus-cutting goal — whether increased purchases of U.S. products such as soybeans or aircraft would suffice, or whether it wants China to make major changes to its industrial policies, cut subsidies to state-owned enterprises, or further reduce steel and aluminum capacity. The request comes as the Trump administration is said to be preparing tariffs on imports of up to $60 billion worth of Chinese information technology, telecoms and consumer products as part of a U.S. investigation into China’s intellectual property practices. It is also unclear if the requested $100 billion reduction would address U.S. complaints about China’s investment policies that effectively require U.S. firms to transfer technology to …