Першим об’єктом малої приватизації, доступним для аукціону, став державний пакет акцій акціонерного товариства «Укрпапірпром», повідомляє виконувач обов’язків голови Фонду державного мана Віталій Трубаров у Facebook. За його даними, стартова ціна об’єкта – 12,3 мільйона гривень. Напередодні Фонд закінчив формувати перелік об’єктів в базі «Prozorro.Продажі». Всього там 749 потенційних лотів. Віталій Трубаров обіцяє, що в найближчі дні буде оголошено про продаж десятків як великих, так і дрібних об’єктів. Підприємство «Укрпапірпром» розташоване у Києві, його офіційний вид діяльності – оптова торгівля та надання в оренду власного чи орендованого нерухомого майна. База малої приватизації почала заповнюватись 24 липня. У травні уряд ухвалив перелік із 23-х об’єктів великої приватизації на 2018-й рік. До об’єктів великої приватизації належать об’єкти державної або комунальної власності (єдині майнові комплекси державних підприємств та пакети акцій (часток) суб’єктів господарювання, у статутному капіталі яких більше 50 % акцій (часток) належать державі), вартість активів яких згідно з даними фінансової звітності за останній звітний рік перевищує 250 мільйонів гривень. Зокрема, в ухваленому переліку є кілька обленерго та ТЕЦ, «Азовмаш» та «Одеський припортовий». Верховна Рада 18 січня схвалила законопроект про приватизацію державного майна. Як вказувалося в пояснювальній записці, враховуючи те, що понад 90% державних активів введено в експлуатацію 50–150 років тому, затримка з приватизацією цих об’єктів призводить до їх подальшого руйнування, зниження інвестиційної привабливості. Раніше у Фонді державного майна повідомляли, що держава планує отримати від приватизації майже 22,5 мільярдів гривень. …
The Latest: Facebook Market Value Plunges $119 Billion
The Latest on the aftermath of Facebook’s release of user growth and expectations for the company ahead (all times local): 4:50 p.m. The 19 percent loss in Facebook’s stock chopped $119 billion off its market value. It was the company’s worst trading day since going public in 2012, and among the biggest one-day losses of market value in U.S. stock market history. The loss came a day after Facebook revealed that its user base and revenue grew more slowly than expected in the second quarter as it grappled with privacy issues. Those revelations stunned investors, who believed the company had weathered the recent scandal over users’ privacy and pushed the stock to an all-time high Wednesday of $217.50. 12:45 p.m. The erosion in the value of Facebook as it is perceived on Wall Street involves some staggering numbers. In midday trading Thursday, the company’s market value (the number of outstanding shares multiplied by the value of a single stock), fell by more than $122 billion. That means that in one day, just the decline in Facebook’s market value is roughly the entire market value of McDonald’s or Nike, give or take a few billion. And it far exceeds to total market value of major U.S. multinational corporations such as General Electric, Eli Lilly or Caterpillar. The company still has a total market value close to $511 billion, which exceeds the annual gross domestic product of countries like Poland, Belgium and Iran. Facebook was downgraded by a number of industry analysts …
US Economy Grows at 4.1 Percent Annual Rate in 2nd Quarter
The U.S. economy grew at its fastest pace in about four years in April, May, and June, the Commerce Department said Friday. The department said the world’s largest economy expanded at a 4.1 percent annual rate in the second quarter. President Donald Trump said his tax cuts and trade policies helped growth and would continue to help the economy expand. Analysts said Trump’s $1.5 trillion tax cut at the beginning of the year boosted economic growth by encouraging consumer spending and business investment. PNC Chief Economist Gus Faucher told VOA that besides tax cuts, strong growth in wages, jobs and business investment contributed to expansion. Regarding trade, Trump told reporters, “As the trade deals come in one by one, we’re going to go a lot higher than these numbers, and these are great numbers.” Temporary lift? Many analysts, however, said U.S. economic growth was boosted by temporary factors that will fade over the next few months. The trade dispute with China, for example, prompted buyers to rush purchases of U.S. soybeans before Chinese retaliatory tariffs raised costs for that key market for America’s largest agricultural export, according to Bankrate.com analyst Mark Hamrick. He also said worries about trade disputes had cut the prices farmers get for some crops as investors worried that trade problems could cut demand. Trump and some analysts said U.S. economic growth would probably settle down to about 3 percent for the year. Faucher said, “The second half of the year will be good — not quite as …
Skywatchers Looking Forward to Complete Lunar Eclipse
Skywatchers around much of the world are looking forward to a complete lunar eclipse that will be the longest this century. The so-called “blood moon” Friday, when it turns a deep red, will be visible at different times in Australia, Africa, Asia, Europe and South America when the sun, Earth and moon line up perfectly, casting Earth’s shadow on the moon. The total eclipse will last 1 hour and 43 minutes, with the entire event lasting closer to four hours. In a special treat, Mars is in opposition on Friday — meaning the planet and the sun will be on exact opposite sides of the Earth and will shine its best. Mars is also at its closest approach to Earth this week since 2003, making it appear bigger and brighter. …
Lebanon Considering Legalization of Cannabis
A Lebanese lawmaker has introduced a draft bill in parliament that would legalize the use of cannabis for medical purposes. Speaking to the Associated Press, Antoine Habchi said he is proposing using the plant as alternative medicine to fight addiction and at the same time as a way to help Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley restore its economy and generate much needed income. Habchi said that under the bill, cultivation would be tightly controlled. However, it will likely take months of discussions before the draft bill would come to a vote. Lebanon is the third largest cannabis producer in the world, after Morocco and Afghanistan, according to the United Nations. Centered on the Bekaa Valley, known for narcotics production, Lebanon produces some of the finest quality cannabis, mostly processed into hashish. …
In Rural Malawi, Medical Tips Just a Phone Call Away
In Malawi, pregnant women and new mothers who live in remote villages are getting medical help thanks to a toll-free hotline and text messaging service known as “Chipatala cha pa Foni” or Heath Center by Phone. Run by the nonprofit VillageReach, the program connects expecting mothers in rural areas with health workers. More pregnant women are receiving prenatal care and birth planning thanks to the medical hotline, as Lameck Masina reports for VOA from Lilongwe. …
Новими заступниками міністра фінансів стали Джигир та Верланов
За поданням виконувачки обов’язків міністра фінансів Оксани Маркарової уряд затвердив двох її нових заступників – Юрія Джигиря та Сергія Верланова. Про це повідомляє прес-служба Мінфіну. Фахівець з державних фінансів Юрій Джигир займатиметься реформами фінансування охорони здоров’я, освіти, соціальних послуг та соціального захисту. Окрім України, він з 2001 року працював в галузі реформи державних фінансів та фінансування програм соціального сектору зокрема в Киргизстані, Таджикистані, Казахстані, Косово. В Україні Джигир був позаштатним радником ще попередника Маркарової Олександра Данилюка з 2015 року. Юрист та член Громадської ради доброчесності при Вищій кваліфікаційній комісії суддів Сергій Верланов буде займатися податковою та митною політикою, реформою Державної фіскальної служби та митниці, а також фінансовими розслідуваннями. Крім того, Мінфін звільнив Юрія Буцу з посади заступника міністра з питань євроінтеграції. Відтепер він обіймає посаду Урядового уповноваженого з питань управління державним боргом і буде займатися комерційними зовнішніми запозиченнями та макрофінансовою допомогою ЄС. Раніше Міністерство фінансів задовольнило заяву про відставку заступника міністра Сергія Марченка. …
Court: Starbucks, Others Must Pay Workers for Off-Clock Work
Starbucks and other employers in California must pay workers for minutes they routinely spend off the clock on tasks such as locking up or setting the store alarm, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The unanimous ruling was a big victory for hourly workers in California and could prompt additional lawsuits against employers in the state. The ruling came in a lawsuit by a Starbucks employee, Douglas Troester, who argued that he was entitled to be paid for the time he spent closing the store after he had clocked out. Troester said he activated the store alarm, locked the front door and walked co-workers to their cars — tasks that he said required him to work for four to 10 additional minutes a day. Starbucks said it was disappointed with the ruling. In a brief filed with the California Supreme Court, attorneys for Starbucks said Troester’s argument could lead to “innumerable lawsuits over a few seconds of time.” The U.S. Chamber of Commerce in a court filing also warned of the possibility of “significant liability” to businesses in the state. A U.S. District Court rejected Troester’s lawsuit on the grounds that the time he spent on those tasks was minimal. But the California Supreme Court said a few extra minutes of work each day could “add up.” Troester was seeking payment for 12 hours and 50 minutes of work over a 17-month period. At $8 an hour, that amounts to $102.67, the California Supreme Court said. “That is enough to …
Boxing Gym Challenges Parkinson’s Symptoms
Rock Steady Boxing NOVA gym opened in McLean, Virginia, outside Washington, D.C., last December. That was the good news for 75-year-old Neil Eisner, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s six years ago and finds boxing an effective way to fight back against the disease. Rock Steady Boxing (RSB) was designed especially for people with Parkinson’s, a neurodegenerative disorder that leads to tremors and balance problems. Each exercise in the program focuses on a specific skill — one is combining punches on a bag to work on strength, another is crawling across the floor. Eisner says the exercises help him perform everyday tasks like moving around and getting in and out of bed. Some strengthening exercises target vocal cords. “One of the things that’s interesting enough is [Parkinson’s patients] tend to have a [softer] voice. When you have that lower voice, and people can’t hear you, you don’t realize. So, he asks us to bring our voice clearly and more loudly,” Eisner said. Becoming an RSB trainer For personal trainer Alec Langstein, working with an older population is familiar. He understands their health issues and the need for them to stay active. “My aunt has a gym in Westchester, New York, and she does a Rock Steady Boxing program there,” he said. “She invited me up to her gym to check out the program. She thought it would be a perfect fit for what I do. I helped out with a few classes, and it was just, I thought, an amazing program.” The …
Facebook Shares Sink; Further Growth Drops Expected
Social media giant Facebook, which has weathered storms about privacy and data protection, is now looking at cooler growth following a years-long breakneck pace. Shares in Facebook plummeted 19 percent to close at $176.26 Thursday, wiping out $100 billion. It was believed to be the worst ever single-day evaporation of market value for any company. The plunge came one day after the firm missed revenue forecasts for the second quarter and warned that growth would be far weaker than previously estimated. Chief Financial Officer David Wehner warned Wednesday in an earnings call with analysts that revenue growth had already “decelerated” in the second quarter and would drop “by high single-digit percentages” in coming quarters. At one point during the call, Facebook shares were trading down as much as 24 percent, an unprecedented drop for a large firm. On the call, Jefferies & Co. analyst Brent Thill said that “many investors are having a hard time reconciling that deceleration. … It just seems like the magnitude is beyond anything we’ve seen.” Facebook said the slowdown would come in part from a new approach to privacy and security, but also appeared to acknowledge the limits of growth in advertising, which accounts for virtually all its revenue. Brian Sheehan, a Syracuse University professor of communication and advertising, said the weak forecast “made investors nervous about more basic long-term issues” with the huge social network, notably its diminished appeal to younger users. “With or without privacy issues, investors are scared that Facebook’s interactions, particularly with those under …
Taking a Jab at Parkinson’s
Rock Steady Boxing (RSB) is a fitness program designed for people with Parkinson’s, a neurodegenerative disorder that leads to tremors and balance problems. The Rock Steady Boxing nonprofit was founded in 2006. Since then, more than 500 boxing programs have been introduced in the U.S. and around the world. Faiza Elmasry visited an RSB gym in McLean, Virginia. Faith Lapidus narrates. …
Trump Says He Has Opened Europe Markets for US Farmers
U.S. President Donald Trump, a day after reaching a truce in the escalating trade dispute with Europe, characterized his talks with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker as a big economic victory and a historic agreement. But he provided few details. “We just opened up Europe for you farmers,” Trump said at a roundtable event in Iowa. “You have just gotten yourself one big market.” Iowa is among the Midwestern farming states hit by retaliatory tariffs on soybeans and other products, imposed by China in response to tariffs imposed on Chinese goods by the U.S. president. Later in the afternoon, Trump addressed steelmakers in Granite City, Illinois, saying, “We’re not going to give China or any other country a veto on United States national security.” Europe has “agreed to purchase, almost immediately, large amounts of American soybeans because China tried to hurt the American farmer,” Trump said. The president said his administration had taken the “toughest-ever actions in response to China’s very abusive trade practices,” accusing Beijing of massive theft of American intellectual property. Trump also said that as a result of his tariffs imposed on trading partners, “idle factories throughout our nation are roaring back to life.” Amid the vague commitments for European purchases of soybeans, and constructing terminals to store additional liquified natural gas from the United States, Trump and Juncker on Wednesday committed to holding off on additional tariffs while trans-Atlantic negotiations are held. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin describes it as “an agreement in principle,” while Trump …
WTO Chief: Global Economy Will Falter if Trade War Continues
The Director General of the World Trade Organization, Roberto Azevedo warns the global economy will run out of steam and millions of jobs will be lost if political leaders do not reach a negotiated settlement to end the trade war. WTO reports there has been a significant rise in protectionist measures since mid-October, with countries imposing an average of 11 restrictive trade measures every month. WTO chief, Roberto Azevedo says the major negative impacts resulting from trade restrictions should set off a few alarm bells. “It threatens the recovery of the global economy. It threatens growth. It threatens jobs,” said Azevedo. “Our concern about anything is that this dynamic of an eye-for-an-eye or tit-for-tat or whatever you call it, it may be perceived as the new normal if countries begin to take this as a normal way of behaving.” He says this would be very harmful for the global economy down the road. Azevedo says the trade war is not a technical issue. It is a political situation, which he says will have to be resolved by political means. “So, leaders have to talk to themselves. At some point in time, they have to begin to listen to each other,” said Azevedo. “It is not only also about responding. It is not only about making threats to each other. At some point in time, the question is going to be—okay, so we have all these problems, how do we fix them?” That process appears to have begun. During a …
Facebook Shares Dive on Weak Outlook, Weighing on Nasdaq
Facebook shares dived nearly 20 percent early Thursday after it signaled it expects weaker growth, pushing the Nasdaq decisively lower. About 25 minutes into trading, the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index was at 7,840.20, down 1.2 percent, falling from Wednesday’s record close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6 percent to 25,572.77, while the broad-based S&P 500 dipped 0.3 percent to 2,838.03. The Facebook results shifted the market’s attention from Wednesday’s pledge by President Donald Trump and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker on trade that had boosted markets. Investors fled Facebook after the social network reportedly sharply higher profit and revenue, but signaled it expects slower user growth, partly due to the effect of data privacy scandals. Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg also cautioned that profitability would be hit by additional spending to secure the network. Other technology companies retreated, including Google parent Alphabet, Netflix and Amazon, which is scheduled to report results after the market closes Thursday. Facebook was not the only company to fall after results. Ford sank 4.1 percent and Mattel shed 4.4 percent, while American Airlines climbed 3.7 percent. In other developments, computer chip company Qualcomm advanced 4.5 percent as it dropped a $43 billion bid to acquire Dutch rival NXP on Thursday after failing to win approval from antitrust authorities in China. US shares of NXP fell 5.6 percent. …
Einstein Was Right: Astronomers Confirm Key Theory
A consortium of astronomers said Thursday they had for the first time confirmed a prediction of Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity by observing the gravitational effects of a supermassive black hole on a star zipping by it. The German-born theoretical physicist had posited that large gravitational forces could stretch light, much like the compression and stretching of sound waves we perceive with the change of pitch of a passing train. Researchers from the GRAVITY consortium led by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics realized that they had a “perfect laboratory” to test Einstein’s theory with the Sagittarius A* black hole in the center of the Milky Way. Black holes are so dense that their gravitational pull can trap even light, and the supermassive Sagittarius A* has mass four million times that of our sun, making it the biggest in our galaxy. Astronomers followed the S2 star as it passed close to the black hole on May 19 at a speed in excess of 25 million kilometers (15.5 million miles) per hour. They then calculated its velocity and position using a number of instruments and compared it with predictions made by Einstein that the light would be stretched by the gravity in an effect called gravitational redshift. Newtonian physics doesn’t allow for a redshift. “The results are perfectly in line with the theory of general relativity” and are “a major breakthrough towards better understanding the effects of intense gravitational fields,” said the research team, whose findings are published in …
Study Suggests Your Dog Recognizes, Reacts to Your Feelings
Pet owners are always happy to share a memory about the time their dog responded to their distress by coming to them or trying to get their attention. But those seemed to just be stories, until new research in the journal Learning & Behavior found that dogs really do feel empathy toward their owners. According to Ripon College psychology professor Julia Meyers-Manor, the research was inspired by her earlier work on empathy in rats. “One of the challenges we face when we’re trying to study empathy is that the idea behind empathy is you are recognizing the emotional states of another individual and responding to it,” she told VOA. The problem is you can’t tell why a rat would help another rodent. For example, it might help to free a trapped friend because the other rat is stressed, or the first rat might be just lonely or bored. “I can’t make rats have an emotional state” for an experiment, said Meyers-Manor, “but I can ask humans to adopt an emotional state.” Human actors To help researchers find out if dogs recognize and react to others’ feelings, they asked humans to mimic behaviors that reflect different feelings. Her lead study author, Emily Sanford of Johns Hopkins University, added, “People tend to think that dogs really care about their emotions, but we were interested in seeing if there was any scientific evidence to back that up.” The researchers tested dogs’ prosocial reaction, or their willingness to help another, in a simple door-opening task. The owner sat …
Україна може відмовитися від імпорту газу – Гройсман
Прем’єр-міністр Володимир Гройсман на засіданні уряду 26 липня заявив, що Україна може відмовитися від імпорту газу. Про це він сказав, оголошуючи про готовність влади виставити на електронні аукціони 44 земельні ділянки із запасами 150 мільярдів кубометрів газу. «Наше завдання чітке – відкрити всі геодані про надра, надати можливість на основі прозорих аукціонів приходити українському та світовому бізнесу і добувати український газ, щоб ми взагалі відмовилися від імпорту», – сказав голова уряду. Поставки імпортованого газу в Україну у 2017 році здійснювались виключно з європейського газового ринку. У порівнянні з 2016 роком імпорт газу збільшився більш як на чверть – до 14,1 мільярда кубометрів з 11,1 мільярда кубометрів, вказала у щорічному звіті Національна акціонерна компанія «Нафтогаз України». Напряму з Росії Україна не імпортує газ уже майже тисячу днів – від листопада 2015 року. …
The Healing Properties of Pineapples
Brazilian researchers are developing an innovative process using pineapples to speed the healing process for skin wounds. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more. …
США та ЄС досягли попередньої угоди про уникнення торговельної війни
Президент США Дональд Трамп та президент Єврокомісії Жан-Клод Юнкер узгодили план, спрямований на зменшення торговельної напруженості між Європейським союзом та Сполученими Штатами. Зустріч американського та європейського лідерів у Білому домі 25 липня тривала понад дві години. Результат цих переговорів міністр економіки Німеччини Петер Альтмаєр у мережі Twitter назвав «проривом, що допоможе уникнути торговельної війни та зберегти мільйони робочих місць». Згідно з угодою, Сполучені Штати не запроваджуватимуть додаткових податків для європейських автовиробників, і обидві сторони працюватимуть, щоб вирішити питання щодо американських тарифів на імпортовані сталь та алюміній. ЄС зобов’язався купувати американські соєві боби та природний газ. Трамп заявив журналістам, що обидві сторони погодились «розпочати новий етап» у відносинах і «працювати разом для досягнення нульових тарифів, відсутності нетарифних бар’єрів та нульових субсидій на промислові товари». …
Kentucky Drug Overdose Deaths up 11.5 Percent in 2017
Since 2011, a year when Kentucky was flooded with 371 million doses of opioid painkillers, state officials have cracked down on pain clinics, sued pharmaceutical companies and limited how many pills doctors can prescribe. The result is nearly 100 million fewer opioid prescriptions in 2017 — and an 11.5 percent increase in drug overdose deaths. That’s the sobering findings of a new report from the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy in a state on the front lines of the nation’s opioid epidemic. The report says 1,565 people died from drug overdoses in 2017, a 40 percent increase in the past five years. Deaths attributed to prescription painkillers and heroin are declining. But other drugs have taken their place. Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, accounted for more than half of all the deaths. And methamphetamine has made a comeback, accounting for 360 deaths. That’s a 57 percent increase in just one year. “We are in a crisis state,” Republican Gov. Matt Bevin said. “While we are putting money at it and while we are drawing attention to it, until we start to truly address this and look at underlying causes of these things and what is leading to this it is not going to be addressed.” 42,000 deaths in US in 2016 Nationally, opioids accounted for more than 42,000 deaths in 2016. States with the highest rates of drug overdose deaths that year were West Virginia, Ohio, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Kentucky, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. …
US Toymaker Mattel to Lay Off 2,200 Worldwide
Mattel, home of Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels, is cutting 2,200 jobs in order to save money after the closing of U.S. toy retail giant Toys R Us. The toymaker said the cuts amount to 22 percent of its nonmanufacturing employees worldwide. Mattel has about 28,000 employees. It also plans to sell factories in Mexico as part of a $650 million cost-saving plan. Mattel’s stock fell nearly 9 percent to $14.85 in after-hours trading Wednesday, after dropping 1 percent during the regular trading day. Mattel reported a loss of $240.9 million in the second quarter, bigger than the $56.1 million loss in the same period a year ago. Revenues fell nearly 14 percent to $840.7 million, below the $863.1 million analysts had predicted. Ynon Kreiz, who was named CEO in April, said Wednesday that he expects the negative impact of Toys R Us closing to subside by next year. The toymaker has lagged behind its competitors in digital media, analysts say, and is trying to catch up with other brands that have spawned apps, movies and TV shows. Kreiz said the company is working closely with other retailers and looking for more ways to sell its toys online. …
UN: HIV Infects 1 Teen Girl Every 3 Minutes
One girl between the ages of 15 and 19 is infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, every three minutes of every day, a United Nations report found. The report, released Wednesday at the International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam, said teenage girls are bearing the brunt of the AIDS epidemic, largely due to gender inequality. Henrietta Fore, head of the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF), called it a “crisis of health.” “In most countries, women and girls lack access to information, to services, or even just power to say no to unsafe sex,” she said. “HIV thrives among the most vulnerable and marginalized, leaving teenage girls at the center of the crisis.” The report said while there was significant progress in the battle against AIDS in other age groups, it is notably lacking among adolescents. While AIDS-related deaths among all other age groups have been falling since 2010, those among children aged 15 to 19 have seen no reduction. In 2017, 1.2 million 15- to 19-year-olds were living with HIV, three in five of them were girls, according to UNICEF. Actress and activist Charlize Theron addressed the issue in her speech at the conference. The AIDS epidemic is “not just about sex or sexuality,” she said. It is also about “the second-class status of women and girls worldwide.” The solution, according to Angelique Kidjo, a UNICEF goodwill ambassador who contributed to the report, is education and economic empowerment. “We need to make girls and women secure enough economically that they …
Belgium Approved Euthanasia of 3 Minors, Report Finds
Belgian doctors have euthanized three minors in the past two years, according to a report from the nation’s chief euthanasia regulatory body released earlier this month. The report, produced by Belgium’s Federal Commission for Euthanasia Control and Evaluation, said these three minors were the first to be euthanized since the country’s parliament voted to lift age restrictions on euthanasia in the country, the first such law in the world. Euthanasia for adults has been legal in Belgium since 2002. “There is no age for suffering,” said Professor Wim Distelmans, chairman of the euthanasia committee. “Fortunately, euthanasia among young people remains very exceptional. Even if it were only one, the law would have been very useful. ” The minors were 9, 11 and 17 years old, according to the report. Their conditions ranged from muscular dystrophy to brain tumors to cystic fibrosis. The conditions of all three were determined to be terminal, and euthanasia was approved unanimously by the committee. The report, part of a series released by the committee every two years, examined all euthanasia cases within Belgium from January 2016 to December 2017. The report said 4,337 euthanizations were administered in Belgium during that time. The majority of euthanizations — 2,781 — were for cancer patients. The second leading cause was “poly-pathologies,” ranging from dementia and heart disease to incontinence and hearing loss, with 710 euthanizations listing “poly-pathology” as its primary reason. Euthanasia cases rising Since euthanasia was first legalized in Belgium in 2002, the number of deaths from …
Mexico, Canada Stress Common Front in NAFTA Talks
Mexican and Canadian officials are stressing that talks on the North American Free Trade Agreement will remain a three-way negotiation, despite suggestions by U.S. President Donald Trump that he might pursue separate trade deals with both countries. Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray says “Canada and Mexico not only share geography, history and friendship, but also principles and common goals, and we are a team and act as a team.” Visiting Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland also stressed that NAFTA is a three-country agreement. She said that Canada also opposes a “sunset” clause proposed by Trump that would allow countries to opt out of the pact every five years. Freeland also met Wednesday with Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who will take office on December 1. …