After losing his job with a foreign food company in March, Alexander Costa surveyed Brazil’s anemic labor market and decided to start selling cheap lunches by the beach in Rio de Janeiro to try and provide for his young family. “I could have stayed home, looking for work, sending out resumes, with few jobs and things very hard,” Costa said. “But I didn’t stand still. I decided to create something different … to reinvent myself.” Many other Brazilians have also had to reinvent themselves in recent years, as Latin America’s largest economy struggles to overcome a jobs crisis more than a year after officially exiting recession. Nearly 13 million people – or more than the entire population of Greece – are out of a job, with the unemployment rate hovering between 12 percent to 14 percent since 2016. As a result, unemployment is among voters’ top concerns ahead of next month’s election. The desperate search for work amid a string of political graft scandals and rising violence has soured the mood, polarizing debate and distracting from the country’s underlying fiscal challenges. But only by lowering the unemployment rate will Brazil achieve the rise in household spending it needs to maintain sustained growth, said Marcos Casarin, the head of Latin America macro research at Oxford Economics. “The only way to have a prolonged recovery in economic activity is if unemployment starts to fall in a substantial way,” he said. However, it could take several years to get the rate below 10 …
Into the Fold? What’s Next for Instagram as Founders Leave
When Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger sold Instagram to Facebook in 2012, the photo-sharing startup’s fiercely loyal fans worried about what would happen to their beloved app under the social media giant’s wings. None of their worst fears materialized. But now that its founders have announced they are leaving in a swirl of well wishes and vague explanations, some of the same worries are bubbling up again — and then some. Will Instagram disappear? Get cluttered with ads and status updates? Suck up personal data for advertising the way its parent does? Lose its cool? Worst of all: Will it just become another Facebook? “It”s probably a bigger challenge (for Facebook) than most people realize,” said Omar Akhtar, an analyst at the technology research firm Altimeter. “Instagram is the only platform that is growing. And a lot of people didn’t necessarily make the connection between Instagram and Facebook.” Instagram had just 31 million users when Facebook snapped it up for $1 billion; now it has a billion. It had no ads back then; it now features both display and video ads, although they’re still restrained compared to Facebook. But that could quickly change. Facebook’s growth has started to slow, and Wall Street has been pushing the company to find new ways to increase revenue. Instagram has been a primary focus of those efforts. Facebook has been elevating Instagram’s profile in its financial discussions. In July, it unveiled a new metric for analysts, touting that 2.5 billion people use at least …
Automakers Seek Flexibility at Hearing on Mileage Standards
Automakers sought flexibility while environmental groups blasted the Trump administration’s proposal to roll back fuel economy standards at a public hearing on the plan in the industry’s backyard. At the hearing Tuesday in Dearborn, Michigan, home to Ford Motor Co. and just miles from the General Motors and Fiat Chrysler home offices, industry officials repeated two themes: They’ll keep working to make cars and trucks more efficient, but they may not be able to meet existing standards because people are buying more trucks and SUVs. Environmental groups, though, urged the government to scrap its plan to roll back the standards and instead keep in place the ones that were reaffirmed in the waning days of the Obama administration. They said the technology to meet the standards at low costs is available, and they accused President Donald Trump’s Department of Transportation of twisting numbers to justify the rollback. Nearly 150 people were scheduled to testify at the hearing, the second on the preferred option of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Environmental Protection Agency to freeze the standards at 2020 levels. In 2016, for the first time since the latest standards started, the auto industry couldn’t meet them without using emissions credits earned in prior years, said Steve Bartoli, vice president of fuel economy compliance for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. The reason is because with relatively low gas prices, people are buying more trucks and SUVs rather than fuel-efficient cars, he said. Last year, cars made up only 36 percent of …
GSK Vaccine Success a Milestone in TB, But Room for Improvement
An experimental GlaxoSmithKline vaccine could prevent tuberculosis developing in half of those who receive it, making it potentially the first new shot against the global killer in a century, researchers said on Tuesday. Given the failure of other candidates in recent years, it marks a milestone in the fight against TB, although the 54 percent efficacy rate achieved in adults in a mid-stage clinical trial is low compared to immunizations for other diseases. The current vaccine called Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) was developed in 1921 and is given routinely to babies in countries with high rates of TB to prevent severe disease. However, BCG protection wears off in just a few years and it does nothing to protect against the most common form of TB that invades the lungs of adults and adolescents, and can be transmitted through coughing and sneezing. A more effective vaccine is viewed by experts as key to controlling TB and fighting the growing scourge of drug-resistant infection. With TB a major focus for global health, the United Nations is holding its first ever high-level meeting on the disease in New York on Wednesday. GSK’s vaccine is designed to stop latent TB from becoming active and causing sickness. An estimated 1.7 billion people – one quarter of the global population – have latent TB infection, putting them at risk of a disease that killed 1.6 million people last year. Results of an ongoing Phase IIb trial of the vaccine – known as M72/AS01 and developed by GSK …
Global $500M Data Drive Aims to Boost Harvests, End Hunger
A $500 million data drive aims to improve the harvests of hundreds of millions of farmers worldwide as rising hunger levels threaten a global goal to end hunger by 2030, organizations involved in the initiative said Tuesday. Developing countries and donors launched the “50 X 2030” scheme on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, seeking funding to gather farming data through surveys in 50 nations across Africa, Asia and Latin America over the next 12 years. Basic statistics, such as what farmers are planting, their yields and access to finance, are often lacking, incomplete or unreliable, making it difficult for governments and donors to know where or how to invest their cash, the United Nations said. “Each year, governments, businesses and the private sector invest hundreds of billions of dollars in agriculture and design policies without this critical information,” said Emily Hogue, a U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization senior adviser. “This could cause losses in agricultural productivity and income and could also lead to continuing hunger and poverty.” The push for better data was announced weeks after new U.N. figures showed world hunger has risen for three years running, with 821 million people — one in nine — going hungry in 2017. Eliminating hunger is one of the 17 U.N. sustainable development goals ( agreed upon by world leaders in 2015. The initiative aims to increase the coverage and frequency of agricultural surveys so that governments have the information needed to plan and implement the right policies, experts said. In …
Number of Babies Born With Syphilis in US Doubles in Four Years
The number of babies born infected with syphilis in the United States has more than doubled since 2013, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a report released Tuesday, the CDC said the number of cases of congenital syphilis, in which the disease is passed from the mother to the baby, increased 153 percent — from 362 in 2013 to 918 in 2017. “When a baby gets syphilis, it means the system has failed that mother repeatedly, both before and during her pregnancy,” said David Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors. “If STD prevention programs had anywhere near the support they need, no new mom would ever have to cope with this devastating diagnosis,” he said. Syphilis is easily treatable with antibiotics. But when untreated in the mother, it increases the risk of miscarriage and newborn death. Children born with the disease can suffer severe health consequences, including deformed bones, blindness or deafness. About 70 percent of the cases of congenital syphilis in the U.S. over the span studied were found in California, Florida, Louisiana, New Mexico and Texas. Harvey said women should be tested before becoming pregnant, soon after becoming pregnant, and throughout the pregnancy. One-third of the mothers who gave birth to babies with congenital syphilis had been tested. But the tests were performed too late in their pregnancies to prevent the infection of the fetuses, or the women became infected after being tested. “That we have any cases of …
Trade Minister: Updated Peru-China Trade Deal May Be Ready by 2020
An update of Peru’s trade agreement with China could be completed as soon as 2020, and certainly by the time President Martin Vizcarra leaves office, Peruvian Trade Minister Roger Valencia said Tuesday. Peru and its top trade partner China vowed to update their 2010 bilateral free trade deal shortly after Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election in November 2016. Trump’s complaints that other countries were taking advantage of the United States on trade, as well as his pledges to pursue an “America First” economic agenda, sparked fears of an upsurge in global protectionism. Vizcarra’s term ends in July 2021, and the new China accord should be signed by then, Valencia told Reuters in New York as he accompanied Peru’s delegation to the U.N. General Assembly. “For (20)20, (20)21, we should have an improved agreement, the necessary modifications,” he said. Peru has said the existing deal with China was negotiated to exclude 11 sectors — including textiles, clothing and shoes. That took into account Peruvian fears that its local industries could not compete with China if tariffs were lowered. Peru has also been holding discussions over trade with Britain, whose government wants to boost its trading relations with the rest of the world after it leaves the European Union. Known as Brexit, that is scheduled to take place in 2019. Valencia said that Peru and Britain had agreed to ratify their current trading arrangements irrespective of what occurs in the Brexit process. Once Britain had left the EU, the two …
Sudan Reports Outbreak of Mosquito-borne Disease
More than 11,000 people in Sudan’s eastern state of Kassala have been infected over the past month by Chikungunya, a debilitating mosquito-borne viral disease, but no deaths have been reported, a Sudanese official said Tuesday. Chikungunya is spread by two mosquito species and can cause severe symptoms, which develop three to seven days after a person is bitten by an infected mosquito. They include high fever, headache, muscle pain, back pain and rash. In rare cases, it is fatal. There are no dedicated treatments or vaccines for Chikungunya. “So far official statistics say that about 11,000 people were infected, and there haven’t been any documented cases of death because of the Chikungunya fever,” said Magzoub Abou Moussa, a spokesman for the Kassala state administration. Heavy rains The outbreak began in recent weeks when heavy rains pummeled the area, which led to the flooding of a major river in Kassala. Abou Moussa said his state had received health and technical aid from Sudan’s health ministry, but expressed concern over the spread of the virus and called for further help. Eyewitnesses said they had seen planes on Monday sweeping over the state, spraying mosquito pesticides. Sudanese opposition parties have accused the government of failing to deal with the situation in Kassala and called for international organizations’ help. “We hold the government fully responsible for the spread of the epidemic,” said a statement from the National Umma Party, the largest opposition party. “We call on civil society organizations and the World Health Organization to help …
Antibiotics for Appendicitis? Surgery Often Not Needed
When emergency tests showed the telltale right-sided pain in Heather VanDusen’s abdomen was appendicitis, she figured she’d be quickly wheeled into surgery. But doctors offered her the option of antibiotics instead. A new study from Finland shows her choice is a reasonable alternative for most patients with appendicitis. Five years after treatment with antibiotics, almost two-thirds of patients hadn’t had another attack. It’s a substantial change in thinking about how to treat an inflamed appendix. For decades, appendicitis has been considered a medical emergency requiring immediate surgery to remove the appendix because of fears it could burst, which can be life-threatening. But advances in imaging tests, mainly CT scans, have made it easier to determine if an appendix might burst, or if patients could be safely treated without surgery. The results suggest that nearly two-thirds of appendicitis patients don’t face that risk and may be good candidates for antibiotics instead. “It’s a feasible, viable and a safe option,” said Dr. Paulina Salminen, the study’s lead author and a surgeon at Turku University Hospital in Finland. Her study in adults is the longest follow-up to date of patients treated with drugs instead of surgery for appendicitis, and the results confirm one-year findings reported three years ago. ‘A new era’ Research has also shown antibiotics may work for some children with appendicitis. The Finnish results were published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. A journal editorial said “it’s a new era of appendicitis treatment.” Appendix removal is the most …
Loss of Bird Species Hampers Forecasting for Zimbabwe’s Farmers
As the summer planting season approaches in eastern Zimbabwe, small-scale farmers struggle with familiar questions: When will the rains come, and when should I sow my crops? This year something else is keeping them awake: In late August the government issued a warning about a potential El Niño weather pattern, associated with changes in weather patterns worldwide. Should El Niño arrive, Zimbabwe might see normal or higher-than-average rains, said Washington Zhakata, director of the country’s Climate Change Department. More likely, though, there would not be enough rain. “Looking at the past observations … once an El Niño sets in, depending on the strength and nature of the El Niño, the chances of bad rains or below-normal rainfall in Zimbabwe are between 50 and 65 percent,” he said. In trying to figure out what to plant and when this year, farmers are also missing an old ally: Birds, whose movements traditionally have helped predict coming weather. Delayed rainfall In Zimbabwe’s Eastern Highlands the farming season typically starts in late October or early November. But in recent years the weather has become less predictable, and that is a growing problem for farmers. “At times the rainy season is now starting well into December. The weather is now changing,” said Leonard Madanhire, a farmer in Zimunya, a village close to the Mozambique border. Once, he said, farmers watched changes in the environment around them – particularly activity by birds – to work out whether or not they could expect a good season. “We …
European Union Sets Up Payment System with Iran to Maintain Trade
The five remaining parties to the Iran nuclear deal have agreed to establish a special payment system to allow companies to continue doing business with the regime, bypassing new sanctions imposed by the United States. Envoys from Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and Iran issued a statement late Monday from the United Nations announcing the creation of a “Special Purpose Vehicle” that will be established in the European Union. The parties said the new mechanism was created to facilitate payments related to Iranian exports, including oil. Federica Mogherini, EU’s foreign policy chief, told reporters after the deal was announced that the SPV gives EU member states “a legal entity to facilitate legitimate financial transactions with Iran…and allow European companies to continue to trade with Iran in accordance to European Union law and could be open to other partners in the world.” Mogherini said the financial agreement is also aimed at preserving the agreement reached in 2015 with Iran to scale back its nuclear program in exchange for relief from strict economic sanctions. The deal was reached under then-President Barack Obama, but Obama’s successor, Donald Trump, pulled out of the accord in May of this year, saying it didn’t address Tehran’s ballistic missile program or its influence in the Middle East. …
Instagram Co-founders Resign from Social Media Company
The co-founders of Instagram are resigning their positions with the social media company. Chief Executive Kevin Systrom said in a statement late Monday that he and Mike Krieger plan to leave the company in the next few weeks. Krieger is chief technical officer. They founded the photo-sharing app in 2010 and sold it to Facebook in 2012 for about $1 billion. There was no immediate word on why they chose to leave the company but Systrom says they plan to take time off to explore their creativity again. Representatives for Instagram and Facebook didn’t immediately respond to after-hours messages from The Associated Press. Instagram has seen explosive growth since its founding, with an estimated 1 billion monthly users and 2 million advertisers. …
Follow the Money, Says New Global Anti-Slavery Effort
The principality of Liechtenstein kicked off a campaign on Monday to enlist the global financial sector to fight modern slavery, flexing its role as a center of world wealth management to tap the clout of banks, hedge funds and investors. The financially focused effort aims to fight money laundering by traffickers, promote ethical investment and offer opportunities to people vulnerable to slavery, organizers said at the annual meeting of world leaders at the United Nations. Globally, modern slavery is believed to generate illicit profits of $150 billion a year, according to the International Labor Organization, which estimates more than 40 million people are enslaved around the world. “Following the money can not only lead us to the perpetrators but also deny them the resources they need to commit such crimes in the first place,” said Aurelia Frick, Liechtenstein’s foreign affairs minister, at launch of the financial sector commission at U.N. headquarters in New York. Traffickers illegally launder illicit gains, take advantage of informal banking systems and benefit when investors unknowingly back companies that profit from slavery in their supply chains, organizers said. Meanwhile, a lack of access to credit can make people vulnerable to forced labor and trafficking, they said. Plans call for commission members – institutional investors, global pension funds, investment banks, financial regulators and others – to design an anti-slavery strategy by mid-2019 for the financial sector. “This commission will make a major contribution to undermining the primary goal of the human traffickers and those who would enslave …
Marshall Islands Marches Toward Zero Greenhouse Emissions by 2050
The Marshall Islands, an atoll-nation vulnerable to sea level rise from climate change, announced steps Monday toward an ambitious plan to cut its greenhouse emissions to zero by 2050. The Pacific country became the first small island nation to present such a strategy to the United Nations amid increasing interest from governments worldwide toward eliminating planet-warming emissions in a bid to curb man-made climate change. “If we can do it so can you,” Hilda Heine, Marshall Islands president, said at an event on the sidelines of the annual U.N. summit that featured a handful of heads of small island nations. The announcement came as more than 150 heads of state and government gathered on Monday for the annual United Nations General Assembly. Heine upped the pressure on world leaders to go beyond current pledges to reduce their heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions as agreed in the 2015 Paris climate agreement. “I challenge you all to develop your own vision to fully decarbonize by 2050,” she told an audience of climate policymakers and advocates brought together by U.S. nonprofit The Climate Group. Worldwide, nine other countries have so far unveiled long-term plans to completely eradicate carbon emissions at home, from Britain to France and the United States under the administration of former U.S. president Barack Obama. Since then, the United States has become the only country to announce its intention to withdraw from the Paris pact, following a decision by President Donald Trump last year. The Paris accord aims to limit the …
Scientists Voice Opposition to Changes in US Endangered Species Act
Thousands of scientists joined on Monday to accuse the Trump administration of trying to erode the Endangered Species Act in favor of commercial interests with a plan to revamp regulations that have formed a bedrock of U.S. wildlife protection for over 40 years. The extraordinary critique of the administration’s proposal, which was unveiled in July, came in an open letter addressed to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross from three associations representing 9,000 professional biologists. A separate letter similarly condemning revisions proposed to endangered species policies was signed by 273 leading university scientists from around the country. Both came as the 60-day public comment period drew to a close for what would be the most sweeping overhaul in decades of the rules implementing the landmark environmental law. The 1973 Endangered Species Act (ESA) currently protects more than 1,600 species of U.S. animals and plants listed as either endangered — on the brink of extinction — or threatened — deemed likely to become extinct in the foreseeable future. The ESA is credited with a number of high-profile success stories, including the comeback of the American bald eagle, the California condor and the grizzly bear. But the act has long been controversial for requiring the government to designate “critical habitat” deemed essential to a listed species’ survival and limiting commercial activities there, such as construction, mining, energy development or logging. Developers and other critics argue that such restrictions pose an unfair and overly burdensome intrusion on property rights and …
Trump and Moon Sign Revised Trade Agreement
U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in signed a revised free trade agreement between the two countries Monday afternoon in New York, following their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). “I’m very excited about our new trade agreement,” Trump said during a joint press conference with Moon. “This is a brand new agreement. This is not an old one rewritten. … I’m very excited about that for the United States, and I really believe it’s good for both countries.” Trump called the signing “a historic milestone in trade” and “something that most people thought was not going to be happening.” Speaking through an interpreter, Moon called the revision of the free trade agreement “significant, in the sense that it expands the ROK-U.S. alliance to the economic realm, as well.” “With the swift conclusion of the negotiations for the revision, uncertainty surrounding our FTA (Free Trade Agreement) have been eliminated,” he said, adding that “as a result, companies from both countries will now be able to do business under more stable conditions.” The new deal contains amendments to the 2012 U.S.-South Korea free trade deal known as KORUS, which Washington and Seoul agreed to revise in March. Trump had previously blamed KORUS, signed during the Obama administration, for increasing U.S. trade deficits with South Korea. The amendments include provisions to ease customs barriers for U.S. agricultural goods and pharmaceutical exports. It will increase the number of cars the U.S. can export to …
Iran’s Currency Hits Another Record Low, With Six Weeks to US Sanctions
Iran’s currency has hit another record low against the dollar, six weeks before the United States is due to reimpose sanctions on Iranian oil exports that are Tehran’s main revenue source. The Bonbast.com website, which tracks Iran’s unofficial exchange rates, showed a new low of 16,000 tomans, or 160,000 rials, to the dollar Monday. The rial has weakened to a series of record lows against the U.S. currency in recent weeks. Bonbast.com displayed the rial at a record low of 128,000 to the dollar on Sept. 3. Iran’s official exchange rate, set by its central bank, has stood at 42,000 to the dollar since April. The Trump administration has vowed to reinstate sanctions on Iranian oil exports on Nov. 4, in a bid to pressure Tehran to give up what the U.S. says is its nuclear weapons ambitions. Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons. Washington reimposed a first set of economic sanctions on Iran last month as part of the pressure campaign. The moves reverse the previous U.S. administration’s suspension of those sanctions under terms of a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers. Speaking to VOA Persian last Friday in an interview broadcast Monday, U.S. economist Steve Hanke of Johns Hopkins University said Iranians should expect more of the same with their currency. “The Iranian people already have anticipated the problems that will befall them after the sanctions go back on, and they react much more rapidly, of course, than anyone,” Hanke said. “That is why the rial …
400-year-old Shipwreck ‘Discovery of Decade’ for Portugal
Archaeologists searching Portugal’s coast have found a 400-year-old shipwreck believed to have sunk near Lisbon after returning from India laden with spices, specialists said on Monday. “From a heritage perspective, this is the discovery of the decade,” project director Jorge Freire said. “In Portugal, this is the most important find of all time.” In and around the shipwreck, 40 feet (12 meters) below the surface, divers found spices, nine bronze cannons engraved with the Portuguese coat of arms, Chinese ceramics and cowry shells, a type of currency used to trade slaves during the colonial era. Found on Sept. 3 off the coast of Cascais, a resort town on the outskirts of Lisbon, the shipwreck and its objects were “very well-preserved,” said Freire. Freire and his team believe the ship was wrecked between 1575 and 1625, when Portugal’s spice trade with India was at its peak. In 1994, Portuguese ship Our Lady of the Martyrs was discovered near Fort of Sao Juliao da Barra, a military defense complex near Cascais. “For a long time, specialists have considered the mouth of the Tagus river a hotspot for shipwrecks,” said Minister of Culture Luis Mendes. “This discovery came to prove it.” The wreck was found as part of a 10-year-old archaeological project backed by the municipal council of Cascais, the navy, the Portuguese government and Nova University of Lisbon. …
New Treatment Allows Paralyzed Patients to Stand, Walk
U.S. researchers are reporting progress in helping those paralyzed by spinal cord injuries to stand, and even to take steps. Two teams of medical researchers working separately say an electrical implant that stimulates the spinal cord allowed three paralyzed patients to stand and move forward while they held on to a walker or were supported from the back. One patient was able to walk the length of a football field. “Recovery can happen if you have the right circumstances,” University of Louisville professor Susan Harkema said, adding that the spinal cord can “relearn to do things.” Experts say that a damaged spinal cord leaves the brain unable to send messages to the nerves that activate the muscles. The researchers believe those nerves are still alive, but are asleep. Stimulating them with electricity, along with intense rehabilitation, can wake up those sleeping nerves and enable them to receive commands again. Other earlier treatments using electricity allowed patients to stand and move their toes, but not walk. But the researchers say this is not a cure for paralysis, and caution that it may not work on every patient. They say more study is needed. Reports on the new therapy appear in the New England Journal of Medicine and the journal Nature Medicine. …
Malaria Mosquitoes Wiped Out in Lab Trials of Gene Drive Technique
Scientists have succeeded in wiping out a population of caged mosquitoes in laboratory experiments using a type of genetic engineering known as a gene drive, which spread a modification blocking female reproduction. The researchers, whose work was published Monday in the journal Nature Biotechnology, managed to eliminate the population in less than 11 generations, suggesting the technique could be used to control the spread of malaria, a parasitic disease carried by Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes. “It will still be at least five to 10 years before we consider testing any mosquitoes with gene drive in the wild, but now we have some encouraging proof that we’re on the right path,” said Andrea Crisanti, a professor at Imperial College London who co-led the work. The results mark the first time this technology has been able to completely suppress a population. The hope is that in future, mosquitoes carrying a gene drive could be released, spreading female infertility within local malaria-carrying mosquito populations and causing them to collapse. Gene drive technologies alter DNA and drive self-sustaining genetic changes through multiple generations by overriding normal biological processes. The technique used in this study was designed to target the specific mosquito species Anopheles gambiae that is responsible for malaria transmission in sub-Saharan Africa. The World Health Organization has warned that global progress against malaria is stalling and could be reversed if momentum in the fight to wipe it out was lost. The disease infected around 216 million people worldwide in 2016 and killed 445,000 of …
Why the ‘Gig’ Economy May Not be the Workforce of the Future
The “gig” economy might not be the new frontier for America’s workforce after all. From Uber to TaskRabbit to YourMechanic, so-called gig work has been widely seen as ideal for people who want the flexibility and independence that traditional jobs don’t offer. Yet the evidence is growing that over time, they don’t deliver the financial returns many expect. And they don’t appear to be reshaping the workforce. Over the past two years, for example, pay for gig workers has dropped, and they are earning a growing share of their income elsewhere, a new study finds. Most Americans who earn income through online platforms do so for only a few months each year, according to the study by the JPMorgan Chase Institute being released Monday. One reason is that some people who experimented with gig work have likely landed traditional jobs as the economy has improved. Drivers for Uber, Lyft and other transportation services, for example, now collectively earn only about half as much each month as they did five years ago. The new data echo other evidence that such online platforms, despite deploying cutting-edge real-time technology, now look less like the future of work. A government report in July concluded that the proportion of independent workers has actually declined slightly in the past decade. “People aren’t relying on platforms for their primary source of income,” said Fiona Grieg, director of consumer research for the institute and co-author of the study. The data is derived from a sample of 39 million …
Ціна нафти сягає чотирирічних максимумів
Зранку 24 вересня ціна нафти марки Brent на світовому ринку сягнула багаторічних максимумів, котирування перед 12:00 становили 80 доларів 90 центів. Це найвища ціна з листопада 2014 року. Аналітики пояснюють це тим, що покупці скорочують купівлю іранської нафти, побоюючись санкцій США. Країни-експортери наразі не можуть повноцінно замінити близько мільйона балерів на день, на які змушений буде скоротити свої поставки Тегеран, а також близько 300 тисяч барелів на день, які через внутрішні проблеми на ринок не зможе поставити Венесула. Зростання цін позитивно впливає на бюджети країн, які не скорочують свій видобуток або й нарощують його, як, приміром, Росія. Згідно з останніми даними, Росія видобуває у вересні по 11 мільйоінв 330 тисяч барелів на день порівняно з 11 мільйонами 160 тисячами в серпні. Аналітики Citi вважають, що російські нафтовики можуть збільшити видобуток ще на 200 тисяч барелів на день у найближчі місяці. …
«Газпром» опустився з першого місця на 17-е в рейтингу енергетичних компаній
Російська компанія «Газпром» втратила 16 позицій в рейтингу енергетичних підприємств за версією американської корпорації S&P Global. У 2016 році «Газпром» посів третє місце, а 2017-го очолив рейтинг найбільш прибуткових енергетичних компаній «Platts Top 250 Global Energy Company». В 2018-му найбільша енергетична компанія Росії, 50% власності якої під контролем уряду, опустилася одразу на 17-е місце в рейтингу. Її активи оцінили в понад 294 мільярди доларів, річний дохід – в 11,5 мільярдів. Читайте також: «Апеляційний суд у Швеції скасував рішення на користь «Газпрому» – комерційний директор «Нафтогазу» Перше місце посіла американська корпорація з видобутку газу та нафти Exxon Mobil. Її доходи в S&P Global оцінили в більш ніж 348,6 мільярда доларів, дохід – майже в 20 мільярдів доларів. Рейтинг 250 енергетичних компаній S&P Global з’явився у 2002 році. Його укладають з огляду на вартість активів компаній, їхнього річного доходу, прибутковості і окупності інвестицій. …
European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter Heads Closer to Sun than Ever Before
Researchers at the European Space Agency are preparing for a historic trip. They say their Solar Orbiter, a modified spacecraft built to withstand the heat, will travel closer to the sun than ever before, which may help scientists study the buildup of solar storms. Arash Arabasadi reports. …