U.S. President Donald Trump says he will not sign a trade deal with China unless it is a “very good deal.” Trump made the comments Friday as he left the White House to tour tornado damage in the southern U.S. state of Alabama. The United States and China have been battling over trade tariffs since last year. The White House is planning a summit between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Florida later this year. “If this isn’t a great deal, I won’t make a deal,” Trump said. Then he added: “We will do very well either way, with or without a deal.” The trade dispute between the United States and China has begun to affect China’s economic growth. China’s exports and imports fell significantly more than expected in the month of February, data published Friday by the country’s customs administration showed. China’s trade surplus with the U.S. narrowed to $14.7 billion for the month, from $27.3 billion in January. China’s February exports plummeted 20.7 percent from the same period a year prior, and imports dropped 5.2 percent from a year earlier, considerably more than expected. According to a Bloomberg News poll, the forecast was 5.0 percent and 0.6 percent respectively. China economist Chang Liu of Capital Economics in London told VOA that the drop in Chinese exports is due, at least in part, to the tariffs. Last year, he said, “firms were front-loading their shipments [shipped more goods in the first half of the year] to avoid further …
SpaceX Crew Capsule Ends Test Flight With Ocean Splashdown
SpaceX’s swanky new crew capsule made an old-fashioned splashdown in the Atlantic on Friday, ending a six-day test flight to the International Space Station. The Dragon capsule pulled away from the orbiting lab early Friday. Six hours later, the capsule carrying a test dummy parachuted into the ocean, a couple hundred miles off the Florida coast. SpaceX employees cheered and applauded at company headquarters near Los Angeles when the red and white parachutes popped open. NASA televised the descent live, the dramatic views coming from a plane. The crowd went wild when splashdown occurred on time and the capsule was seen floating upright. “I’m kind of shaky and I’m super excited,” said Benji Reed, SpaceX’s director of crew mission management. “It was an incredible journey to get to this moment.” It was the first time in 50 years that a capsule designed for astronauts returned from space by plopping into the Atlantic. Apollo 9 — which orbited Earth in preparation for the moon landings — splashed down near the Bahamas on March 13, 1969. Space station astronauts have been stuck riding Russian rockets since NASA’s shuttles retired eight years ago. NASA is counting on SpaceX and Boeing to start launching astronauts this year. SpaceX — which has been delivering station cargo for years — is shooting for summer. Friday morning’s splashdown was the final hurdle of SpaceX’s test flight. While improvements still need to be made, the company aims to fly NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on the …
South Korean Air Pollution Puts Focus on Government, China
Record high ultra-fine dust levels in South Korea this week are creating urgency for political leaders to take action towards ensuring more breathable air. Levels of particulates smaller than 2.5 micrometers (PM 2.5) in diameter hit new records on Monday and Tuesday, soaring in excess of what international health officials deem acceptable. The World Health Organization recommends keeping PM 2.5 pollutants below 25 micrograms per cubic meter. Seoul’s concentration of fine dust measured 111 micrograms Wednesday, with even higher levels in outlying regions. The capital region’s iconic mountain and skyscraper cityscape has been a dim and hazy silhouette for much of the week, and mobile phones across the country have been vibrating with warnings from the government that citizens should limit outdoor activities. Anti-pollution masks are a frequent sight on convenience store shelves and on commuter faces. The pollution levels have triggered local emergency measures around the country under which coal plants and other pollution emitting facilities can be restricted. Older diesel cars can also be banned from roads, and school and work hours can be curtailed at the discretion of local officials. A high concentration of automobiles is one factor cited in South Korea’s pollution problem, something the government is trying to mitigate with a major push toward hydrogen and fuel cell vehicle development. South Korea has also pivoted away from nuclear energy in the aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima disaster, reverting to coal for energy needs. However, experts say as much as 70 percent of the dust blows …
Longest Bull Market Looks to Keep Going
Wall Street has rewarded its most patient investors handsomely over the past 10 years. Is there more to come? The S&P 500, the U.S. market’s benchmark index, has gained about 309 percent since bottoming out at 676.53 points in March 2009 during the Great Recession, according to FactSet. The index is now 5.4 percent below its recent peak of 2,930.75 set on Sept. 20. This bull market’s lifespan, the longest on record, speaks to financial markets’ resiliency in the face of a variety of shocks, including a brutal fourth quarter of 2018. Whether the bull keeps running hinges on whether companies can continue raking in profits, a key driver of the stock market, and whether the U.S. economy can avoid sliding into a recession. Bull markets tend to wither when fear of a recession kicks in. Profits are ‘oxygen’ “As long as corporate profits are growing, that’s usually the oxygen for further gains in the stock market,” said David Lefkowitz, senior Americas equity strategist at UBS Global Wealth Management. Profit growth for the companies in the S&P 500 averaged 25.6 percent in the first three quarters of last year. That slipped to 13.4 percent in the fourth quarter, but still topped expectations. But earnings are expected to decline slightly in the first quarter and grow in the mid-single digits for the full year, according to FactSet. And the U.S. economy has been showing signs of slowing and is expected to continue to do so this year. “The …
IMF Comments on ‘Complex’ Venezuela Situation
The International Monetary Fund on Thursday called Venezuela one of the most “complex situations” it had ever seen. IMF spokesman Gerry Rice described Venezuela and its economy as a combination of “food and nutrition crises, hyperinflation, a destabilized exchange rate, debilitating human capital and physical productive capacity, and a very complicated debt situation.” Rice said tackling this challenge would take “strong resolve” and “broad international support” from all 189 IMF members. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde told The Economist Radio, a podcast, that the fund would help “as soon as we are asked by the legitimate authorities of that country.” “We will open our wallet, we will put our brain to it, and we will make sure our heart is in the right place to help the poorest and most exposed people,” she added, calling the task it faced in Venezuela “monumental.” Rice said Thursday that the IMF had yet to determine whom to recognize as the leader of Venezuela — President Nicolas Maduro or opposition leader Juan Guaido, the self-declared interim president. …
SpaceX Capsule Set to Splash Down Friday After Space Station Stop
An unmanned capsule from Elon Musk’s SpaceX was due to return to Earth on Friday after a short-term stay on the International Space Station, capping the first orbital test mission in NASA’s long-delayed quest to resume human space flight from U.S. soil later this year. A SpaceX rocket had launched the 16-foot-tall capsule Saturday morning from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After a five-day mission on the orbital outpost, Crew Dragon was set to autonomously detach about 2:30 a.m. EST (0730 GMT) Friday and descend to Earth for an 8:45 a.m. splash-down off Florida’s Cape Canaveral coast. Officials at the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration will scrutinize the performance of the SpaceX capsule’s parachute deployment and its buoyancy after splash-down — two of the design and functionality concerns first reported by Reuters in February. Musk, also co-founder of electric car maker Tesla Inc, will be watching closely. “I say hypersonic re-entry is probably my biggest concern,” he told reporters after the launch, referring to the capsule reaching thousands of miles per hour as it goes through the Earth’s atmosphere. The first-of-its-kind mission, ahead of SpaceX’s crewed test flight slated for June, brought 400 pounds of test equipment to the space station, including a dummy named Ripley, outfitted with sensors around its head, neck, and spine to monitor how a flight would feel for a human. The space station’s three-member crew greeted the capsule Sunday morning, with U.S. astronaut Anne McClain and Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques entering Crew Dragon’s …
MSF: Community Mistrust Hampers Ebola Fight in Eastern Congo
The charity Doctors Without Borders warns a climate of deepening mistrust and suspicion in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is hampering efforts to bring an Ebola epidemic under control. The outbreak, which started, last year, has killed more than 500 people in North Kivu and Ituri provinces. Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, has suspended its Ebola activities in Katwa and Butembo in North Kivu Province. This follows attacks on two of its treatment centers last week. In the last month alone, the agency says more than 30 attacks and security incidents have taken place in this volatile area. International MSF president Joanne Liu says the Ebola epidemic, the largest ever in DRC, is taking place amid growing political, social and economic grievances. She says many communities believe Ebola is being used as an excuse for political maneuvers. Liu says the decision to exclude two areas — Beni and Butembo — from voting in the December presidential elections has only added to the suspicion that Ebola is being used as a political tool. “The use of coercion adds fuel to this, using police to force people into complying with health measures is not only unethical, it is totally counterproductive,” she said. “The communities are not the enemy. Ebola is a common enemy.” Latest reports from the World Health Organization put the number of Ebola cases in eastern Congo at 907, including 569 deaths. Liu tells VOA the government is painting the Ebola epidemic as a security emergency. She …
НБУ назвав 4 причини зміцнення гривні
Національний банк України 7 березня відзначив, що «курс гривні під впливом ринкових факторів зміцнюється упродовж останніх тижнів», і назвав причини такої тенденції. За даними регулятора, це – сприятлива зовнішня цінова кон’юнктура для товарів українського експорту, зокрема аграрної і металургійної продукції, і стабільні надходження експортної виручки; – наближення строків сплати річних податків до державного бюджету, що стимулює бізнес активніше продавати іноземну валюту; – слабке зростання імпорту товарів і низькі обсяги репатріації дивідендів в інвалюті за кордон; – чистий продаж валюти населенням. «Від початку року станом на 7 березня офіційний курс гривні зміцнився на 4,4% до 26,48 гривень за долар США. Зокрема, лише з початку березня – на 1,4%», – констатує НБУ. «Національний банк… не спрямовує свої операції на підтримку певного рівня курсу. Щоб запобігти надмірним коливанням курсу в період суттєвих погойдувань у бік знецінення, викликаних ситуативними чинниками, Національний банк продає валюту, а за наявності надлишкової пропозиції, яка спричиняє коливання в бік зміцнення, – викуповує її в незначних обсягах для поповнення міжнародних резервів», – повідомляє регулятор. «Поточна сприятлива ситуація на валютному ринку дає можливість Національному банку поповнювати міжнародні резерви без впливу на напрямок руху курсу гривні. Від початку року станом на 7 березня чиста купівля валюти Національним банком становить близько 700 мільйонів доларів США, із них більше 200 мільйонів доларів США – за перший тиждень березня», – проінформував НБУ. За результатами торгів 7 березня Нацбанк зміцнив гривню ще на 9 копійок. Офіційний курс, встановлений на перший робочий день наступного тижня, 11 березня, становить 26 гривень 38,91 копійки за долар. …
China’s Huawei Sues US Government Over Ban
Chinese tech giant Huawei has sued the U.S. government, arguing that legislation Congress passed last year that restricts its business in the United States is “unconstitutional.” The case, which analysts see more as a public relations move, is but the latest in an intensifying effort by the telecommunications company to fight U.S.security concerns, which Huawei argues are unfair and unfounded. In its lawsuit, Huawei argues that Section 889 of the National Defense Authorization Act violates the constitutional principles of separation of powers and due process. By singling out the company and punishing it without a trial, the company also argues that the law violates the Constitution’s bill of attainder clause. Section 889 bans federal agencies and their contractors from purchasing equipment and services from Huawei as well as another Chinese telecom company ZTE. It was signed into law last year by President Donald Trump. “This ban is not only unlawful but also harms both Huawei and U.S. consumers,” Huawei’s rotating chairman, Guo Ping, told reporters at news conference in Shenzhen on Thursday. “This section strips Huawei of its due process, violating the separation of powers principles, breaks U.S. legal traditions, and goes against the very nature of the constitution.” Guo said that Huawei was left with no choice but to take legal action, noting that neither lawmakers nor the government had shown any proof to date to back up concerns the company is a security concern. Huawei’s chief legal officer, Song Liuping, added that the clause gives it no recourse …
На міжбанку триває обвал долара
На українському міжбанківському валютному ринку триває стрімке посилення національної валюти. Національний банк України викуповує частину надлишкової пропозиції долара, але це лише призупиняє процес. За інформацією профільного сайту «Мінфін», який відстежує перебіг торгів, регулятор купляв американську валюту за 26 гривень 38-40 копійок. Станом на 14:00 «торги почали знижувати активність». «Відбуваються угоди по лотах до 200 – 250 тисяч доларів за хиткої рівноваги попиту і пропозиції», – ідеться в повідомленні. Довідкове значення курсу, яке НБУ щобуднього дня оголошує о 12:00, 7 березня становить 26 гривень 39 копійок. Національний банк України за результатами торгів 6 березня встановив на 7 березня офіційний курс 26 гривень 48 копійок за долар. Це на 28 копійок менше, ніж попереднього дня. Зараз гривня щодо долара перебуває на рівні липня 2018 року. Свого пікового значення 28 гривень 39 копійок впродовж останнього року долар сягнув 30 листопада 2018 року. Національний банк пояснює тренд на зміцнення гривні, зокрема, стабільними надходженнями експортної виручки. Нині регулятор майже щодня викуповує певні обсяги валюти, щоб не допустити надмірних коливань на ринку. …
НБУ посилив гривню до долара на 28 копійок
Національний банк України встановив на 7 березня курс 26 гривень 48 копійок за долар. Це на 28 копійок менше, ніж попереднього дня. Зараз гривня щодо долара перебуває на рівні липня 2018 року. Свого пікового значення 28 гривень 39 копійок впродовж останнього року долар сягнув 30 листопада 2018 року. Національний банк пояснює тренд на зміцнення гривні, зокрема, стабільними надходженнями експортної виручки. Нині регулятор майже щодня викуповує певні обсяги валюти, щоб не допустити надмірних коливань на ринку. …
NASA Schedules Its First All-Female Spacewalk
The U.S. space agency NASA has confirmed that it has scheduled a spacewalk by two female astronauts for the first time. A NASA spokeswoman told CNN Wednesday, “As currently scheduled, the March 29 spacewalk will be the first with only women.” The spacewalk, staffed by astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch will be the second spacewalk of three during Expedition 59, which launches March 14. Koch is a member of Expedition 59, while McClain is currently part of the three-person crew of the International Space Station. In addition to the two women in space, another woman, Canadian Space Agency flight controller Kristen Facciol, is expected to be on the console at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, providing support on the seven-hour spacewalk. Male astronauts Nick Hague and David Saint-Jacques will participate in the first and third spacewalks. It is unclear yet what is to be accomplished on the spacewalk. NASA says spacewalks are conducted for repairs, testing equipment and conducting experiments. …
Gas Scarcity Could Turn Venezuela’s Crisis to Catastrophe
Marin Mendez leaned a shoulder into his rusty Chevy Malibu rolling it forward each time the line of cars inched closer to the pump. Waiting hours to fill up, he says, is the high cost he pays for gasoline that’s nearly free in socialist Venezuela. “You line up to get your pension, line up to buy food, line up to pump your gas,” an exasperated Mendez said after 40 minutes of waiting in the sweltering heat in Maracaibo — ironically the center of the country’s oil industry — and expecting to be there hours or days more. “I’ve had enough!” Lines stretching a mile (1.6 kilometers) or more to fuel up have plagued this western region of Venezuela for years — despite the country’s status as holder of the world’s largest oil reserves. Now, shortages threaten to spread countrywide as supplies of petrol become even scarcer amid a raging struggle over political control of Venezuela. The Trump administration hit Venezuela’s state-run oil firm PDVSA with sanctions in late January in a sweeping strategy aimed at forcing President Nicolas Maduro from power in favor of opposition leader Juan Guaido. Doomsday predictions immediately followed — mostly fueled by Maduro’s opponents and U.S. officials — that Venezuela’s domestic gasoline supplies would last no more than a week or so. That hasn’t happened yet, but more misery is feared as expected shortages have economic implications far beyond longer gas lines, turning Venezuela’s crisis to a catastrophe. “Crucially, it will lead to more shortages of …
New Mothers Suffer Nerves, Guilt as Maternity Leave Ends
Many new mothers worldwide express anxiety and guilt about leaving their babies to return to work, and some worry their nations’ maternity policies reflect societies that value productivity over raising children. In a series of interviews for Reuters ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, mothers from the United States to Uruguay to South Africa to Singapore told of their concerns about stopping work to give birth and look after their newborns. An Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report in 2016 found that among OECD countries, mothers are on average entitled to 18 weeks of paid maternity leave around childbirth. But the range is vast. While some countries — such as Britain and Russia — offer many months or even several years of maternity leave, the United States is the only country to offer no statutory entitlement to paid leave on a national basis. Blanca Eschbach, a new mother in San Antonio, Texas, returned to work this week after taking 10 weeks off to have her baby. “I think as a society we value productivity above family life,” she said. “You almost feel rushed to get back to work.” Eschbach said she’d like longer to be at home with her child — ideally 16 weeks — but her family can’t afford it. Tatiana Barcellos, 37, a civil servant for the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Brazil, also told Reuters she was “anxious and worried” about going back to work, and concerned that “my absence causes stress to my …
В Україні вирішили скасувати «книгу відгуків і пропозицій» – Нефьодов
Кабінет міністрів України ухвалив рішення про відмову від «книги відгуків і пропозицій» на підприємствах роздрібної торгівлі та у закладах ресторанного господарства, повідомив на сторінці у Facebook перший заступник міністра економічного розвитку і торгівлі Максим Нефьодов. «Пішла в минуле книга відгуків і пропозицій, яку підприємці в ХХІ сторіччі все ще були зобов’язані купувати, вести журнал обліку цих книг і платити штрафи за неправильно прошиті сторінки», – повідомив Нефьодов. За його словами, це зменшить на 125 мільйонів гривень щорічно витрати всіх суб’єктів у сфері торговельної діяльності. Очікується, що «книгу відгуків і пропозицій» замінять call-центри і засоби електронного зв’язку. Досі, за законодавством, всі підприємства роздрібної торгівлі та заклади ресторанного господарства, незалежно від форм власності, зобов’язувалися вести «книгу відгуків і пропозицій», в яку споживачі могли записувати скарги, пропозиції, відгуки та зауваження щодо якості обслуговування. Така книжка розміщувалася на видному місці в «куточку споживача». …
US Chef Mario Batali Cuts Ties with Restaurants After Abuse Accusation
Celebrity chef Mario Batali on Wednesday said he had cut ties with his U.S. restaurants after being accused of sexual harassment by multiple women. Batali has sold his shares in the 16-restaurant operation, including Babbo and Del Posto in New York, to former partners Tanya Bastianich Manuali and her brother, Joe Bastianich, he said. “I have reached an agreement with Joe and no longer have any stake in the restaurants we built together. I wish him the best of luck in the future,” Batali said in a statement from his representative, Risa Heller. He is also selling his stake in the Eataly market and restaurant complex, according to a report in The New York Times, citing Eataly spokesman Chris Giglio. Representatives for Eataly did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The New York Police Department last year opened a criminal investigation into an accusation that Batali drugged and sexually assaulted an employee in 2005, following a CBS “60 Minutes” report on the allegations that aired in May 2018. Batali at the time denied the report, and the NYPD closed its investigation in January without charges, according to local news media. Batali’s charisma and culinary flair turned him into a restaurant executive, television star, author and one of the world’s most recognizable chefs. He premiered on Food Network in 1997 on the show “Molto Mario” and in 2011 helped launch “The Chew” on ABC. He is among dozens of high-profile men who have been fired or resigned from their jobs …
US Officials Issue Sanctions Warnings to Europe Over Russian Gas
U.S. officials have warned at an energy conference in Brussels that the Trump administration will take punitive action against European companies that are building the Kremlin-favored Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline, which will deliver energy from Russia to Germany while bypassing Ukraine. Nord Stream 2 (NS2) will largely replace an older pipeline running through Ukraine and Poland that has the backing of the German government. But it is prompting the alarm of Central European governments, increasingly infuriated with Berlin’s dismissal of their concerns. They object to Nord Stream 2 — which will run 1,200 kilometers from Vyborg, Russia, to Lubmin, Germany, and snake under the Baltic Sea — not only because they’ll lose lucrative transit fees from the older pipeline, but because they fear the Kremlin wants to develop NS2 largely for political reasons, not commercial ones. Speaking at the energy conference in the Belgian capital, Nicole Gibson, deputy director of the U.S. State Department’s office for Europe, warned that if European companies resume laying pipe later this year they “risk significant sanctions.” Declining to go into any details about the threatened sanctions, Gibson said Washington doesn’t accept that Nord Stream 2 is a done deal. “Some people say it is a fait accompli that Nord Stream 2 will be done. We don’t see it that way… We call on European leaders to make sure Nord Stream 2 is not implemented,” she said. Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko has warned that NS2 would allow the Kremlin to switch off gas …
ILO: Female Job-Seekers Get Penalized for Being Mothers
When it comes to getting a job, women lag far behind men. The International Labor Organization (ILO) reports the work and pay gender gap remains wide, and only strong policies and laws that are implemented will change this situation for the better. The ILO has reached the conclusion in a new report – A Quantum Leap for Gender Equality: For a Better Future of Work for All – it is releasing in advance of International Women’s Day on March 8. The ILO finds the needle on this has hardly moved over the past 27 years. It says 26 percent fewer women than men are likely to be employed. It says this also extends to women in top jobs. ILO data show globally that just one-quarter of managers or leaders are women. It says women who make it to the top tend to be one year younger and better educated than their male counterparts. Despite these qualifications, authors of the study say women do not draw the same salary for the same top job done by men. Globally, the study finds the gender wage gap remains at an average of 20 percent. Shauna Olney, chief of the ILO Gender, Equality and Diversity branch, says mothers of young children up to age 6 have the lowest chance of being employed. “The motherhood employment penalty has increased over the past 10 years by 38 percent. So, again, something is not going right. This is going in the wrong direction. There is …
iPhone Sales Falling, And Apple’s App Fees Might Be Next
As iPhone sales slip, Apple has been positioning its booming digital-services business as its new profit engine. But there could be a snag in that plan. A brewing backlash against the rich commissions Apple earns from all purchases and subscriptions made via iPhone apps could undercut the app store, which generates about a third of the company’s services revenue. Late last year, Netflix rebelled against Apple’s fees, which can range from 15 percent to 30 percent. Analysts fear other companies may follow. And attorneys representing consumers in a pending Supreme Court case charge that Apple is an unfair monopolist in the market for iPhone apps. An adverse decision in that case could open a legal door that might eventually force Apple to cut its generous commissions. Apple shares have plunged 25 percent from their peak in early October thanks to concern over iPhone sales. Investors are now hanging onto Apple services as a “life preserver in the choppy seas” just as it’s about to float away, Macquarie Securities analyst Benjamin Schachter concluded after the Netflix move. These app-store fees mostly hit app developers themselves, although some pass along the costs to users of their iPhone apps. Spotify, for instance, used to tack $3 onto the cost of its $10-a-month paid service — but only for users who signed up via its iPhone or iPad app. Apple has doubled down on digital services as consumers cling to older iPhone models, hurting sales. Apple’s iPhone revenue this year is expected to drop …
A Cure For HIV Is Possible
An HIV-positive man in Britain has become the second known adult worldwide to be cleared of the AIDS virus. At a conference in Seattle, the U.N. agency leading the global effort to end AIDS said it was greatly encouraged by the news. VOA’s Carol Pearson reports. …
‘School Strike for Climate’ Teen Movement Swells
For months, school students in various countries have been protesting against the climate policies of their respective governments. In Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Britain and more, they attend weekly rallies to call out politicians who, in the student’s minds, are doing too little to combat climate change. What’s controversial about it: The rallies take place while the kids should be in school. The numbers are steadily increasing. Every week, tens of thousands of teenagers and young adults skip class, mostly on Fridays their so-called “Fridays for Future.” The protests are expected to hit even more countries on March 15, making it the biggest international school strike yet. The Guardian published an open letter by the “global coordination group” of the strikes, announcing protests on every continent. While there have been some participants in the United States, on March 15, American students are expected to join in the movement in a big way. Small steps for a big movement What has become a global phenomenon started with one teenage girl in Sweden, now-famous activist Greta Thunberg. Originally, she skipped her Friday classes to protest in front of the Swedish parliament because of upcoming elections, but she decided to keep going until significant progress on the issue is made. Documenting the strikes on her Twitter page, Thunberg gained international recognition and was invited to speak at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Katowice, Poland, in December 2018. The world watched as a 15-year-old girl accused world leaders of not being “mature enough …
Долар різко впав на міжбанку
Курс долара на українському міжбанківському валютному ринку різко впав на торгах 6 березня. Національний банк України, який продовжує викуповувати надлишок пропозиції валюти, на сесії в середу лише призупинив падіння. «НБУ викупив 50 мільйонів доларів за 26,50 гривні за єдиним курсом, чим збив тренд зниження курсу долара», – інформує сайт «Мінфін», який відстежує перебіг торгів. Довідковий курс НБУ на 12:00 склав 26 гривень 48,84 копійки за долар. Офіційний курс долара, встановлений на 6 лютого, становить 26 гривень 76 копійок за долар. Національний банк пояснює тренд на зміцнення гривні, зокрема, стабільними надходженнями експортної виручки. Нині регулятор майже щодня викуповує певні обсяги валюти, щоб не допустити надмірних коливань на ринку. …
Body Language: The Russian Science Keeping N. Korea’s Dead Leaders Looking Fresh
Perhaps none of the communist legacies shared by Vietnam and North Korea highlighted during Kim Jong Un’s “goodwill visit” to Hanoi is stranger than the embalmed leaders on display in their capital cities, and the secretive team of Russian technicians that keeps the aging bodies looking ageless. Kim laid a wreath outside Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum in the Vietnamese capital on Saturday, after the conclusion of his shortened summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. Inside the dark interior of the mausoleum, the embalmed corpse of Vietnam’s founding father lies displayed in a glass coffin for a steady stream of tourists who silently shuffle by. In Pyongyang, Kim Jong Un’s grandfather and father are on similar display in the loftily named Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, a monument to the cult of personality that surrounds North Korea’s ruling family. All three leaders were originally preserved by a team of specialists from the so-called “Lenin Lab” in Moscow, which first embalmed and displayed Vladimir Lenin’s body in 1924. The Soviet Union may have collapsed, and socialism in both Vietnam and North Korea has taken on forms barely recognizable to the ideology’s first thinkers, but that same lab still performs annual maintenance on Ho, and according to at least one researcher, still helps North Korea keep the Kims looking fresh. “The original embalming and the regular re-embalmings have always been conducted by the scientists of the Moscow lab,” said Alexei Yurchak, a professor of anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, who is …
A Growing Movement — Teens Skip School to Strike for Climate
An environmental movement is growing in Europe and looking to come to the U.S.: Kids and teenagers skipping class to protest and raise awareness of climate change issues. While their cause is mostly praised, their method is controversial. Should students go on school strikes for political issues? VOA’s Markus Meyer-Gehlen explains. …