U.S. tariffs on China are likely to remain in place for a while, even if a trade deal is reached, President Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday. “The deal is coming along nicely,” the president said about the trade talks with Beijing, noting U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin would be heading to China within days to continue discussions. “We’re taking in billions and billions of dollars right now in tariff money, and for a period of time that will stay,” Trump said. The president’s remarks indicated that Washington’s tariffs could stay in place until U.S. officials are convinced the Chinese are adhering to the terms of the agreement. “They’ve had a lot of problems living by certain deals,” the president noted on the White House South Lawn just before boarding the Marine One helicopter. China might accept a deal in which most of the U.S. tariffs are rolled back, according to Brookings Institution senior fellow David Dollar, but he said he expected President Xi Jinping would not accept any pact in which no tariffs were lifted. “It’s very hard for the Chinese president to agree to a deal that’s so clearly asymmetric. Chinese people are so active on the internet and social media, and President Xi will hear about it from the people if he makes a deal that looks bad for China,” Dollar told VOA. Tit-for-tat tariffs imposed last year ignited fears of a trade war between the United States and China, …
WHO: New Oral Treatment More Effective in Combating Multidrug-Resistant TB
Tuberculosis has plagued humans for thousands of years and continues to do so. In advance of this year’s World TB Day, March 24, the World Health Organization is issuing a call to action to eradicate the disease by 2030. As part of these efforts, the WHO is launching an oral drug regimen it says can more effectively treat people with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. TB remains the world’s deadliest infectious disease, killing nearly 4,500 people a day and infecting 10 million people a year. Despite the grim statistics, much progress has been made in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of the disease. The WHO says 54 million lives have been saved since 2000. But the WHO also warns the gains risk being lost with the emergence of multidrug-resistant TB or MDR-TB. The current treatment for MDR-TB involves a two-year treatment course of painful injections, which provoke many bad side effects. The WHO says it is hopeful the new oral treatment program it is launching will be more effective in controlling the spread of the particularly virulent form of tuberculosis. The director of the WHO’s Global TB Program, Tereza Kasaeva, told VOA the new oral drug treatment the WHO is recommending has far fewer adverse side effects. “Of course, it will be definitely much, much easier and there will not be a need for regular frequent visits of the physicians or health workers for making these injections. No doubt, as we see from …
BMW Warns Profits Will Fall Due to Costs, Trade Uncertainty
German automaker BMW said Wednesday that profits in 2019 would be “well below” last year’s and that it planned to cut 12 billion euros ($13.6 billion) in costs by the end of 2022 to offset spending on new technology. The company said profits would be eroded by higher raw materials prices, the costs of compliance with tougher emissions requirements and unfavorable shifts in currency exchange rates. The Munich-based automaker also faces increased uncertainty due to international trade conflicts that could lead to higher tariffs. The company forecast a profit margin of 6 to 8 percent for its automotive business, short of the long-term strategic target of 8 to 10 percent, which it said still “remains the ambition” for the company given “a stable business environment.” BMW said it had no plans for layoffs even as it outlined cost saving measures that include dropping half of its engine variants as it seeks to reduce product complexity. The BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brands are to get a single sales division. Chief Financial Officer Nicolas Peter said that given the headwinds to earnings, “we began to introduce countermeasures at an early stage and have taken a number of far-reaching decisions.” The company said the measures were needed “to offset the ongoing high level of upfront expenditure required to embrace the mobility of the future.” BMW shares were down 4.9 percent to 72.02 euros in Frankfurt. Automakers around the world have faced heavy up-front costs for new technologies expected to change how people get …
Mexico President Talks US Investment With Trump Son-in-Law
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says talks with White House senior adviser Jared Kushner have led to advances toward an agreement that would have the U.S. government guarantee some $10 billion in development investments for Mexico and Central America. Lopez Obrador said Wednesday that the investments would aim to reduce immigration from Mexico and Central America by providing more opportunities in those countries. Roughly half of the sum would go to Mexico while the remainder would be divided among Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Lopez Obrador and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law dined Tuesday in the Mexico City home of Bernardo Gomez, co-executive president of Grupo Televisa. The Mexican leader says they also discussed the pending ratification of the new trade agreement dubbed the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. …
Starbucks to Test Recyclable Cups, Redesign Stores
Starbucks says it plans to test both recyclable and compostable cups over the next year. Customers in New York, San Francisco, Seattle, London and Vancouver, British Colombia, will help test the cups, which use fiber, paper and other materials in place of plastic liners. Seattle-based Starbucks was expected to announcement the test program Wednesday at its annual shareholders meeting. The company also said it plans to redesign its stores as it adapts to increasing mobile pick-up and delivery orders. Changes will vary by location. For example, in a neighborhood with three Starbucks cafes, one might be changed to an express format while another offers delivery. Starbucks’ U.S. mobile orders more than doubled between 2016 and 2018, to 12 percent of orders. But there have been complaints about congestion in stores. …
Disney придбала 21st Century Fox за 71 мільярд доларів
Компанія Walt Disney Company завершила процес купівлі кінокомпанії 21st Century Fox, за угодою заплативши за неї 71 мільярд доларів. За домовленістю, Disney отримає кіностудію 20th Century Fox, телевізійні мережі National Geographic, Sky і FX, 30% частку стрімінгового сервісу Hulu, а також авторські права на мультсеріал «Сімпсони», фільми «Люди-X», «Аватар» та інших кінофраншизи. В результаті угоди створять нову компанію New Fox, до якої ввійде мовленнєва компанія Fox Broadcasting, регіональні телестанції Fox TV, а також кабельні канали Fox Sports і Fox Newі. Про намір Walt Disney Company викупити 21st Century Fox стало відомо наприкінці 2017 року. …
Trump Linking Huawei, China Trade Roils Justice Department
President Donald Trump shocked some last month when he suggested that the criminal charges against Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies and its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, might be used as leverage in his administration’s ongoing trade talks with China. “We’re going to be discussing all of that during the course of the next couple of weeks,” Trump told reporters at the White House Feb. 22 in response to a question about Meng’s case. “We’ll be talking to the U.S. attorneys. We’ll be talking to the attorney general. We’ll be making that decision. Right now, it’s not something we’ve discussed.” The president’s apparent willingness to possibly barter away the prosecution of Huawei and one of its executives in exchange for a favorable trade deal with China alarmed legal experts who say it could lead to pushback at the Justice Department. “If the White House told the Department of Justice that it wanted Justice to dismiss altogether the case against Huawei and Ms. Meng, I’d expect there to be mighty objections and resistance to that,” said David Laufman, who served as a senior national security official at the Justice Department until last year and is now in private practice. Ron Cheng, a former federal prosecutor who was the Justice Department’s sole resident envoy in Beijing, said it would be highly unusual for the criminal case against Meng to be affected by the trade talks. “There are a number of concerns about the precedent something like that would establish,” said Cheng, now a partner at the O’Melveny & Myers law firm. The Justice …
Venezuelans Find Ways to Cope with Inflation and Hunger
Francibel Contreras brings her three malnourished children to a soup kitchen in the dangerous hillside Caracas slum of Petare where they scoop in spoonfuls of rice and scrambled eggs in what could be their only meal of the day. Part of the tragedy of daily life in socialist Venezuela can be glimpsed in this small volunteer soup kitchen in the heart of one of Latin America’s biggest slums, which helps dozens of children as well as unemployed mothers who can no longer feed them. Some Venezuelans manage to endure the nation’s economic meltdown by clinging to the shrinking number of well-paid jobs or by receiving some of the hundreds of millions of dollars sent home by friends and relatives abroad — a quantity that has swollen in recent years as millions of Venezuelans have fled. But a growing percentage of people across the country, especially in slums like Petare, are struggling to cope. Contreras’s husband, Jorge Flores, used to have a small stand at a local market selling things like bananas and yucca, eggs and lunchmeat — trying to scrape out a profit in a place where hyperinflation often made his wholesale costs double from day to day. Then he was robbed at gunpoint by a local gang. And his brother crashed the motorcycle he used to supply his stand. So Flores abandoned the market stall and looked for other work. He does some plumbing jobs and the family has turned its living room into a …
In End of 20th Century Fox, a New Era Dawns for Hollywood
The Fox Studio backlot, first built in 1926 on a Culver City ranch in Los Angeles, was enormous. Before much of it was sold off in the 1960s, it was four times the size of its current, and still huge, 53 acres. Shirley Temple’s bungalow still sits on the lot, as does the piano where John Williams composed, among other things, the score to “Star Wars.” A waiter in the commissary might tell you where Marilyn Monroe once regularly sat. When the Walt Disney Co.’s $71.3 billion acquisition of Fox is completed at 12:02 a.m. Wednesday, the storied lot — the birthplace of CinemaScope, “The Sound of Music” and “Titanic” — will no longer house one of the six major studios. It will become the headquarters for Rupert Murdoch’s new Fox Corp., (he is keeping Fox News and Fox Broadcasting) and Fox’s film operations, now a Disney label, will stay on for now as renters under a seven-year lease agreement. The history of Hollywood is littered with changes of studio ownership; even Fox Film Corporation founder William Fox, amid the Depression, lost control of the studio that still bears his name. But the demise of 20th Century Fox as a standalone studio is an epochal event in Hollywood, one that casts long shadows over a movie industry grappling with new digital competitors from Silicon Valley and facing the possibility of further contraction. After more than eight decades of supremacy, the Big Six are down one. “It’s …
Boeing Reshuffles Top Engineers Amid 737 MAX Crisis
Boeing, facing its biggest crisis in years following deadly crashes of its flagship 737 MAX aircraft, has brought in a new vice president of engineering while dedicating another top executive to the aircraft investigations, a company email showed on Tuesday. The management reshuffle comes as Europe and Canada said they would seek their own guarantees over the safety of Boeing’s 737 MAX, further complicating plans to get the aircraft flying worldwide after they were grounded in the wake of crashes that killed more than 300 people. John Hamilton, formerly both vice president and chief engineer in Boeing’s Commercial Airplanes division, will focus solely on the role of chief engineer, the unit’s Chief Executive Officer Kevin McAllister told employees on Tuesday in an email seen by Reuters. “This will allow him to fully dedicate his attention to the ongoing accident investigations,” McAllister said, adding that the staffing changes were needed as “we prioritize and bring on additional resources for the ongoing accident investigations.” Lynne Hopper – who previously led Test & Evaluation in Boeing’s Engineering, Test & Technology group – has been named vice president of Engineering, McAllister said. A Boeing spokesman declined to comment but confirmed the authenticity of the email. The shakeup showed how the world’s largest plane maker was freeing up engineering resources as it faces scrutiny during crash investigations while also maintaining production of its money-spinning 737 single-aisle aircrafts. Previously, Hamilton served as the vice president of engineering for Boeing Commercial Airplanes from April 2016 through March …
NASA’s Plan to Scoop Up Dirt from Asteroid Hits Snag
NASA’s plan to scoop up dirt and gravel from an asteroid has hit a snag, but scientists say they can overcome it. The asteroid Bennu was thought to have wide, open areas suitable for the task. But a recently arrived spacecraft revealed the asteroid is covered with boulders and there don’t seem to be any big, flat spots that could be used to grab samples. In a paper released Tuesday by the journal Nature, scientists say they plan to take a closer look at a few smaller areas that might work. They said sampling from those spots poses “a substantial challenge.” “But I am confident this team is up to that substantial challenge,” the project’s lead scientist, Dante Lauretta, told reporters at a news conference Tuesday. The spacecraft, called Osiris-Rex, is scheduled to descend close to the surface in the summer of 2020. It will extend a robot arm to pick up the sample, which will be returned to Earth in 2023. The spacecraft began orbiting Bennu at the end of last year, after spending two years chasing down the space rock. When the mission was planned, scientists were aiming to take dirt and gravel from an area measuring at least 55 yards (50 meters) in diameter that was free of boulders or steep slopes, which would pose a hazard. “It is a more rugged surface than we predicted,” said Lauretta, of the University of Arizona in Tucson and one of the paper’s authors. But he said he believed a …
Trump to Meet with Caribbean Leaders on Friday at His Florida Resort
U.S. President Donald Trump will meet at his Florida resort on Friday with the leaders of the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Saint Lucia to discuss Chinese “predatory economic practices” and the Venezuela situation, the White House said in a statement on Tuesday. Trump and the Caribbean leaders will also discuss security cooperation and the potential opportunities for energy investment, the White House said. “The President looks forward to working with countries in the region to strengthen our security cooperation and counter China’s predatory economic practices,” the White House statement said. Washington has warned countries in the region about accepting Chinese investment. In October, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters in Mexico City that “when China comes calling it’s not always to the good of your citizens.” “When they show up with deals that seem to be too good to be true it’s often the case that they, in fact, are,” Pompeo said. On Venezuela, the United States has recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s interim president. Guaido invoked the constitution to assume the interim presidency in January, saying President Nicolas Maduro’s re-election was not legitimate. Most Western countries have backed Guaido as head of state. …
WHO Panel Calls for Registry of All Human Gene-Editing Research
It would be irresponsible for any scientist to conduct human gene-editing studies in people, and a central registry of research plans should be set up to ensure transparency, World Health Organization experts said Tuesday. After its first two-day meeting in Geneva, the WHO panel of gene-editing experts — which was established in December after a Chinese scientist said he had edited the genes of twin babies — said it had agreed on a framework for setting future standards. It said a central registry of all human genome-editing research was needed “in order to create an open and transparent database of ongoing work,” and asked the WHO to start setting up such a registry immediately. “The committee will develop essential tools and guidance for all those working on this new technology to ensure maximum benefit and minimal risk to human health,” Soumya Swamanathan, the WHO’s chief scientist, said in a statement. A Chinese scientist last year claimed to have edited the genes of twin baby girls. News of the births prompted global condemnation, in part because it raised the ethical specter of so-called “designer babies” — in which embryos can be genetically modified to produce children with desirable traits. Top scientists and ethicists from seven countries called last week for a global moratorium on gene editing of human eggs, sperm or embryos that would result in such genetically-altered babies — saying this “could have permanent and possibly harmful effects on the species.” The WHO panel’s statement said any human gene-editing work …
Chinese Supplements Supplier Sentenced for Fraud
A Chinese national has been sentenced to 18 months in a U.S. prison in connection with a scheme to sell mislabeled dietary supplements to U.S. companies. Xu Jia Bao, an executive with Shanghai Waseta International Trade Co., was also sentenced to one year of probation for selling synthetic stimulant ingredients to a purported U.S. manufacturer of dietary supplements. The U.S. company was, in fact, an undercover informant for the U.S. government. The prosecutors said Xu admitted that he and other executives at Waseta knew major American retailers would not carry supplements known to contain certain stimulants, such as DMHA. The stimulant, commonly known by its trade name octodrine, has been promoted for such uses as weight loss and enhanced athletic performance. But researchers have warned about such possible side effects as high blood pressure, shortness of breath and heart attack. Xu also admitted that he and Waseta were responsible for a falsely labeled shipment of DMHA that was sent to Texas. “Consumers are entitled to trust that dietary supplement products accurately identify their ingredients,” said Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt for the Department of Justice’s Civil Division. “We will vigorously pursue and prosecute those who attempt to circumvent.” Xu was arrested in September 2017 while attending a dietary supplement trade show in Las Vegas. …
Гривня продовжує знецінюватися стосовно долара і євро – НБУ
Гривня продовжує знецінюватися стосовно долара і євро, свідчать дані на сайті Національного банку України. На 20 березня вартість одного долара встановлена на рівні 27 гривень 16 копійок (на три копійки більше порівняно з попереднім днем). Офіційна вартість євро дорівнюватиме 30 гривням і 84 копійкам (плюс п’ять копійок). Таким чином, офіційний курс гривні продовжує падати впродовж сімох днів. …
НБУ розповів про кількість вилучених фальшивих банкнот у 2018 році
Кількість підроблених банкнот гривні у 2018 році становила 0,00025% від загальної кількості готівки, що перебувала в грошовому обігу, повідомив Національний банк України. У 2017 році їхня кількість була на рівні 0,00036%. 99% вилучених з обігу підроблених банкнот гривні припадали на банкноти чотирьох номіналів: 500 гривень (46% від загальної кількості вилучених підробок та 80% від їх загальної суми), 100 гривень (27% та 9%), 50 гривень (15% та 3%) та 200 гривень (11% та 8%). Інші вилучені з обігу підроблені банкноти номіналами від 1 до 20 гривень становили лише 1%. Серед вилучених з обігу у 2018 році підроблених банкнот іноземної валюти переважали: долари США (78% від загальної кількості всіх вилучених підроблених банкнот іноземної валюти), євро (17%), російські рублі (4%) та швейцарські франки та англійські фунти стерлінгів (1%). Найчастіше підробляли іноземні банкноти таких номіналів: 100 доларів США (97% від загальної кількості вилучених підроблених доларів США); 50 та 200 євро (45% та 36% від кількості вилучених підроблених євро); 5 000 російських рублів (78% від кількості вилучених підроблених російських рублів). …
High-Stakes Boeing Inquiry Hinges on Ethiopia Black Box Secrets
The investigation into the final minutes of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 turned on Tuesday to the secrets in the cockpit voice recorder as Boeing and a shaken global aviation industry hung on the outcome. The voices of Captain Yared Getachew and First Officer Ahmednur Mohammed could reveal what led to the March 10 crash of the Boeing 737 MAX that has worrying parallels with another disaster involving the same model off Indonesia in October. The twin disasters killed 346 people. Black box data was downloaded in France but only Ethiopian experts leading the probe have heard the dialogue between Getachew, 29, and Mohammed, 25. The data was back in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, sources familiar with the probe told Reuters. Experts believe a new automated system in Boeing’s flagship MAX fleet — intended to stop stalling by dipping the nose — may have played a role in both crashes, with pilots unable to override it as their jets plunged downwards. Both came down just minutes after take-off after erratic flight patterns and loss of control reported by the pilots. However, every accident is a unique chain of human and technical factors, experts say. The prestige of Ethiopian Airlines, one of Africa’s most successful companies, and Boeing, the world’s biggest planemaker and a massive U.S. exporter, is at stake. Awkward questions for industry Lawmakers and safety experts are questioning how thoroughly regulators vetted the MAX model and how well pilots were trained on new features. For now, regulators have grounded the existing fleet …
Warner Bros.’ Chief Tsujihara Steps Down Following Scandal
Warner Bros. chief Kevin Tsujihara, one of the highest ranking Hollywood executives to be felled by sexual misconduct allegations, stepped down from the studio Monday following claims that he promised roles to an actress with whom he was having an affair. WarnerMedia chief executive John Stankey announced Tsujihara’s exit as chairman and chief executive of Warner Bros., saying his departure was in the studio’s “best interest.” “Kevin has contributed greatly to the studio’s success over the past 25 years and for that we thank him,” said Stankey. “Kevin acknowledges that his mistakes are inconsistent with the company’s leadership expectations and could impact the company’s ability to execute going forward.” Earlier this month, WarnerMedia launched an investigation after a March 6 Hollywood Reporter story detailed text messages between Tsujihara and British actress Charlotte Kirk going back to 2013. The messages suggested a quid pro quo sexual relationship between the aspiring actress and the studio head in which he made promises that he’d introduce her to influential executives and she’d be considered for roles in movies and television. In a memo to Warner Bros. staff on Monday, Tsujihara said he was departing “after lengthy introspection, and discussions with John Stankey over the past week.” “It has become clear that my continued leadership could be a distraction and an obstacle to the company’s continued success,” said Tsujihara. “The hard work of everyone within our organization is truly admirable, and I won’t let media attention on my past detract from …
AP Source: Justice Dept. Probing Development of Boeing Jets
U.S. prosecutors are looking into the development of Boeing’s 737 Max jets, a person briefed on the matter revealed Monday, the same day French aviation investigators concluded there were “clear similarities” in the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Max 8 last week and a Lion Air jet in October. The Justice Department probe will examine the way Boeing was regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the inquiry is not public. A federal grand jury in Washington sent a subpoena to someone involved in the plane’s development seeking emails, messages and other communications, the person told The Associated Press. The Transportation Department’s inspector general is also looking into the FAA’s approval of the Boeing 737 Max, a U.S. official told AP. The official wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The Wall Street Journal reported on the probe Sunday said the inspector general was looking into the plane’s anti-stall system. It quotes unidentified people familiar with both cases. The anti-stall system may have been involved in the Oct. 29 crash of a Lion Air jet off of Indonesia that killed 189 people. It’s also under scrutiny in the March 10 crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jet that killed 157. The Transportation Department’s FAA regulates Chicago-based Boeing and is responsible for certifying that planes can fly safely. The grand jury issued its subpoena on March 11, one day after the …
На міжбанку припинилося падіння гривні щодо долара США
На українському міжбанківському валютному ринку припинилося падіння гривні. Національний банк України встановив станом на 12:00 19 березня довідкове значення 27 гривень 15 копійок за долар, це на дві копійки більше, ніж офіційний курс, встановлений на сьогодні. Упродовж кількох попередніх сесій зміцнення долара відбувалося швидшими темпами – по кількадесят копійок за день. «Сьогодні пік бюджетних платежів у клієнтів та аукціон Міністерства фінансів з розміщення чергових гривневих і валютних ОВДП. Це призводить до нестачі гривні на ринку і змушує компанії продавати валюту, що, в свою чергу, створює підвищений обсяг пропозиції валюти на торгах і працює на зміцнення нацвалюти», – відзначають фахівці з сайту «Мінфін», які відстежують перебіг торгів. Експерти припускали, що цього тижня зростання долара може уповільнитися або й припинитися, адже для здійснення обов’язкових бюджетних платежів українські економічні агенти продаватимуть валюту. …
Ethiopia and Indonesia Crash Parallels Heap Pressure on Boeing
Investigators into the Boeing 737 MAX crash in Ethiopia have found striking similarities in a vital flight angle with an airplane that came down off Indonesia, a source said, piling pressure on the world’s biggest planemaker. The Ethiopian Airlines disaster eight days ago killed 157 people, led to the grounding of Boeing’s marquee MAX fleet globally and sparked a high-stakes inquiry for the aviation industry. Analysis of the cockpit recorder showed its “angle of attack” data was “very, very similar” to that of the Lion Air jet that went down off Jakarta in October, killing 189 people, a person familiar with the investigation said. The angle of attack is a fundamental parameter of flight, measuring the degrees between the air flow and the wing. If it is too high, it can throw the plane into an aerodynamic stall. “If that’s the case, that does raise the possibility that there is a similar occurrence between the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines accidents,” said Clint Balog, a Montana-based professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Even then, it was too early to draw firm conclusions, he added. A flight deck computer’s response to an apparently faulty angle-of-attack sensor is at the heart of the ongoing probe into the Lion Air crash. Ethiopia’s Transport Ministry, France’s BEA air accident authority and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have all pointed to similarities between the two disasters, but safety officials stress the investigation is at an early stage. “Everything will be investigated,” Ethiopian Transport Ministry spokesman …
Paris Catches Asian Tigers in Most Expensive City Race
Paris and Hong Kong for the first time joined Singapore as the world’s most expensive cities to live in, a study revealed on Tuesday, with utilities and transport driving up the cost of living. Zurich, Geneva and Japan’s Osaka trailed closely, with emerging market cities like Istanbul and Moscow plummeting down the ranking due to high inflation and currency depreciation, said the Economist Intelligence Unit’s bi-annual survey of 133 cities. It was the first time in more than 30 years that three cities shared the top spot, a sign that pricey global cities are growing more alike, said the report’s author, Roxana Slavcheva. “Converging costs in traditionally more expensive cities … is a testament to globalization and the similarity of tastes and shopping patterns,” she said in a statement. “Even in locations where shopping for groceries may be relatively cheaper, utilities or transportation prices drive up overall cost of living,” she said. Rising costs in cities are often driven by a vibrant job market attracting skilled workers with high wages, said Anthony Breach, an analyst with the British think tank Center for Cities — which was not involved in the study. Urban planners need to plan ahead and build more housing to keep prices affordable and overall costs down, Breach told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. For the EIU survey researchers compared the cost of more than 150 items such as cars, food, rent, transport and clothing in 133 cities. A woman’s haircut was about $15 in Bangalore, India, compared to …
Brazilian Court Suspends Operations at 2 More Vale Dams
A Brazilian court has ordered Vale SA, the world’s largest iron ore miner, to suspend operations at two more dams, demanding that it prove the structures are stable. The court decision dated Friday is the latest in a series of orders forcing Vale to halt operations at various dams that contain the muddy detritus of mining operations after one such barrier collapsed in January, killing some 300 people. Vale has faced growing pressure to prove that its remaining dams are safe. The fatal disaster in the town of Brumadinho was the second of its kind in four years. The company’s iron ore production is expected to be 82.8 million tons, or 21 percent, lower than was planned for the year due to the restrictions on its Brazil operations, including the planned decommissioning of all its upstream dams, according to data compiled by Reuters. Karel Luketic, analyst for steel, iron ore and pulp at XP Investimentos, said on Monday he does not expect the impact on Vale’s earnings to be as large because iron ore prices are rising, which could compensate for lower volumes. The miner said in a statement that the latest suspension, impacting its Minervino and Cordao Nova Vista dams, will not have a significant impact on its operations. It said that mining waste was already being shipped to “other structures,” which it did not identify. Vale said on Friday it had received a court order to suspend activities at Ouro Preto dam. Vale shares closed slightly lower in …
Гривня падає шість днів поспіль – НБУ
Гривня втратила 12 копійок стосовно долара, свідчать дані на сайті Національного банку України. На 19 березня офіційний курс встановлений на рівні 27 гривень 13 копійок за долар. Таким чином, гривня падає шість банківських днів поспіль – з 12 березня. Крім того, гривня впала на 25 копійок стосовно євро – до 30 гривень 79 копійок. …