Asian markets rebounded Friday on hopes that upcoming trade talks between the U.S. and China will calm a trade dispute that has rattled global markets. After a global sell-off triggered by Apple’s warning of lower revenues, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 2.2 percent to 25, 626.03 and the Shanghai Composite Index jumped 2.1 percent to 2, 514.87. The Nikkei 225 Index, however, fell 2.3 percent to close at 19,561.40. European shares also recouped earlier losses, with Germany’s DAX Performance Index and France’s CAC 40 Index closing nearly 1 percent higher. Stock markets across the globe dropped Thursday after tech giant Apple said sales of its devices had fallen sharply in China last month, perhaps signaling a broader slowing in the world economy. Apple has blamed U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade dispute with China for its shrinking outlook, but the U.S. leader tweeted his defense Thursday, claiming, “The United States Treasury has taken in MANY billions of dollars from the Tariffs we are charging China and other countries that have not treated us fairly. In the meantime we are doing well in various Trade Negotiations currently going on. At some point this had to be done!” Friday China’s government said a U.S. trade delegation will visit Beijing next week for two days of talks on carrying out an agreement reached by Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to postpone new tariff hikes. On December 1 the two leaders agreed to complete talks about technology, intellectual property and cyber theft issues …
China Says US Envoys Due in Beijing for Talks on Trade Fight
American envoys are due in Beijing for talks Monday in a tariff battle over Chinese technology ambitions that threatens to hobble global economic growth. The two days of meetings are aimed at carrying out the Dec. 1 truce by Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping that postponed additional tariff hikes, the Ministry of Commerce announced Friday. It said the American delegation will be led by a deputy U.S. trade representative, Jeffrey D. Gerrish, but gave no other details of the agenda or participants. The American Embassy in Beijing didn’t immediately respond to a request for confirmation and additional details. The talks are going ahead despite tension over the arrest of a Chinese tech executive in Canada on U.S. charges related to possible violations of trade sanctions on Iran. The two governments express interest in a settlement but give no indication their stances have shifted. They hope to have “positive and constructive discussions,” said a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Lu Kang. The clash reflects American anxiety about China’s emergence as a competitor in telecoms, solar power and other technologies and complaints by Washington, Europe and other trading partners that Beijing’s tactics violate its market-opening obligations. Trump wants Beijing to roll back initiatives including “Made in China 2025,” which calls for state-led creation of champions in robotics, artificial intelligence and other fields. American officials worry those might erode U.S. industrial leadership. China’s leaders have offered to narrow its politically sensitive trade surplus with the United States by purchasing more soybeans, natural gas …
Chinese Rover Making Tracks on Dark Side of the Moon
The Chinese Jade Rabbit 2 rover is making tracks on the soft, snowlike surface of the far side of the moon. The rover drove off its lander’s ramp and onto the lunar surface late Thursday, about 12 hours after the Chang’e-4 spacecraft made the first-ever landing on the moon’s far side. China’s space agency posted a photo online, showing tracks the rover left as it departed from the spacecraft. “It’s a small step for the rover, but one giant leap for the Chinese nation,’’ Wu Weiren, the chief designer of the Lunar Exploration Project, said on state broadcaster CCTV, adapting American astronaut Neil Alden Armstrong’s famous message “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind,” when he stepped onto the lunar surface July 20, 1969. “This giant leap is a decisive move for our exploration of space and the conquering of the universe,” Wu Weiren said. First to the far side The Jade Rabbit 2 rover has six individually powered wheels, so it can continue to operate even if one wheel fails. It can climb a 20-degree hill or an obstacle up to 20 centimeters (8 inches) tall. Its maximum speed is 200 meters per hour. The United States, the former Soviet Union and more recently China have sent spacecraft to the near side of the moon, but the latest Chinese landing is the first on the far side. The probe will conduct astronomical studies and surveys of the surface’s mineral composition and radiation tests of …
Interesting Advances: Plastics That Become Fuel, and Cars That Clean the Air
Ending our dependence on carbon in all of its forms — especially plastics and petroleum products — is a fairly constant endeavor of engineers and entrepreneurs. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports on two recent interesting advances in the sciences of recycling plastics and also moving beyond gas powered cars. …