ІНСАЙДЕР УКРАЇНА

Born and raised in this Texas Gulf Coast beach town, James Wheeler Jr. finds himself sawing plywood and hanging sheet rock at a time when he would normally be leading deep-sea fishing excursions, trying to hook tuna or Spanish mackerel by the cooler-full.

Since Hurricane Harvey came through Port Aransas just before Labor Day — damaging or destroying 80 percent of homes and business and wiping out the lucrative summer season’s final weeks — the 38-year-old boat captain has become an amateur builder, working to repair the roof of a sea headquarters building where he and others dock their pleasure crafts.

“Port Aransas is built on the tourist dollar,” said Wheeler, ticking off attractions besides fishing: surfing, nature reserves, seafood restaurants and beaches where it’s always cocktail hour. “That dollar’s not coming right now.”

In many Texas seaside enclaves, the owners of bars and eateries, inns and T-shirt shops are facing a painful paradox: Tourists who are their economic lifeblood likely won’t return until the rebuild is in full swing, but picking up the pieces after Harvey may not truly begin without the profits tourists bring.

“That’s the risk,” said David Teel, president of the Texas Travel Industry Association. “The recovery will come. But it will never be fast enough for these folks.”

Insurance money and support from federal grants will help residents rebuild homes and businesses, and in some cases even cover businesses’ lost income and employees’ lost wages. But that will pale in comparison to what tourists would normally be spending, likely helping ensure that recovery moves more slowly.

Locals expect the normally busy Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s holidays to be slow. Even the possibility of getting back to business by spring break looks bleak.

Visitors to Texas’ Gulf Coast spent $18.7 billion last year, according to state estimates, and the region’s tourism industry employed 170,000-plus people. Visitors spent $221 million in 2016 just in Port Aransas, a onetime fishing village that’s now home to around 4,000 full-time residents.

In other years, October is when “Winter Texans” — part-time residents from colder locales — take up temporary residence, while shorter-term tourists come for the weekends. The influx of people is normally enough to keep the economy robust through the holidays and until spring.

Wheeler says he’d usually be organizing large fishing trips nearly every day, but now takes just one smaller excursion a week.

“It’s not that no one wants to come,” Wheeler said. “There’s just nowhere for them to stay yet.”

Drivers entering Port Aransas encounter bulldozers tearing into a roadside mountain of debris more than three-stories high.

Power company and internet provider vans are everywhere, as crews repair infrastructure.  Golf carts — a favored mode of local transportation — have to avoid shattered glass and mangled light poles. They’re more likely, these days, to be filled with Salvation Army personnel or construction crews than tourists hitting the beach.

“We are Port A Proud and on the Rebound,” proclaims the website of the chamber of commerce, whose office was damaged. It lists six local hotels planning to be open by Christmas.

Sweeping dust out of the gutted Destination Beach and Surf store, Olya Soya said some regular visitors have come as volunteers helping to rebuild, while others simply gawk at Harvey’s wrath.

“They want to see what it looks like now. It’s very different,” said Soya, 24, who instead of working in the air-conditioned store sweats through her days on a makeshift debris removal crew. Beside her is a towering plaster shark that survived the storm despite extensive damage to the store it guarded.

Harvey’s eye passed directly over nearby Rockport, where operators hope to have 500 hotel rooms available by November — down from 1,500 pre-Harvey.

“Yes, we’re open for business. But please be patient,” said Diane Probst, president of the local chamber of commerce, adding that visitors should expect frustratingly slow debris removal.

Back in Port Aransas, dozens of restaurants and businesses have reopened, at least part time. One shop, Gratitude, suffered only light damage, despite being crammed with fragile keepsakes and knickknacks such as wind chimes and oversized wine glasses proclaiming “Summer is for mimosas and mermaids.”

“You almost feel guilty opening because there are a lot of stores and places that can’t,” said owner Sally Marco, 60. “But it’s nice to have people smile when they come in.”

One bright spot is that area beaches didn’t suffer major ill-effects. On a recent, balmy Saturday, seagulls and pelicans outnumbered the few surfers, children splashing in the waves and couples strolling on the sand with dogs.

“As these communities begin to open back up — and little pieces will open — the good part about it is, they’ve got a beach,” said Teel, of the state tourist association. “And it’s a great beach.”
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Sudan’s currency strengthened to 18.5 pounds to the dollar from 20.2 on the black market on Sunday, the first day of business since the United States lifted trade sanctions, raising a glimmer of hope for recovery in the war-torn country.

The decision to suspend 20-year sanctions and lift a trade embargo, unfreeze assets and remove financial restrictions came after a U.S. assessment that Sudan had made progress on counter terrorism cooperation and on long-raging internal conflicts such as in Darfur.

The announcement helped push Sudan’s pound currency to its strongest level on the black market since at least July, when it was sent reeling to around 21.5 pounds to the dollar after the United States postponed a final decision on the sanctions relief until October.

Sudan’s central bank has held the official exchange rate at 6.7 pounds to the dollar but currency is largely unavailable at that price.

As the pound has weakened over the past year in the import-dependent country, inflation has soared, hitting 34.61 percent in August year-on-year and compounding economic problems that began in 2011 when the south seceded, taking with it three-quarters of the country’s oil output.

“The lifting of sanctions is good news … but we want to see prices come down, because in the past the government has said that rising prices and reduced services were because of the economic blockade, but now there is no blockade,” said Nawal Ahmed, a 58-year-old government employee.

Prices have also been driven up by cuts in fuel and electricity subsidies the government imposed to save cash.

Currency traders said the stronger pound rate would be short-lived unless banks can start offering dollars again, which they saw as unlikely.

“If the banks don’t supply dollars we expect the price of the dollar to rise again … there’s a currency shortage in the market and we know that the government does not have enough hard currency,” one trader said.

Analysts and officials have said that Sudan must now carry out tough economic reforms such as floating its currency if it hopes to benefit from the sanctions relief and begin to attract badly needed new investment.

“Attracting foreign investment requires reforming the political and legal environment and fighting corruption and government bureaucracy,” said Mohammed al-Jack, professor of economics and political science at the University of Khartoum.

“Without clear financial policies, there will be no real and long-term improvement to the Sudanese pound exchange rate,” he said.
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Donald Trump boasts of making great deals, but a financial report filed with the British government shows he has lost millions of dollars for three years running on a couple of his more recent big investments: his Scottish golf resorts.

A report from Britain’s Companies House released late Friday shows losses last year at the two resorts more than doubled to 17.6 million pounds ($23 million). Revenue also fell sharply.

In the report, Trump’s company attributed the results partly to having shut down its Turnberry resort for half the year while building a new course there and fixing up an old one.

Setbacks in Scotland

His company has faced several setbacks since it ventured into Scotland a dozen years ago, and its troubles recently have mounted.

The company has angered some local residents near its second resort on the North Sea with what they say are its bullying tactics to make way for more development. The company also has lost a court fight to stop an offshore windmill farm near that resort, drew objections from environmental regulators over building plans there in August and appears at risk of losing a bid to host the coveted Scottish Open at its courses.

Amanda Miller, a spokeswoman for the Trump Organization, declined to comment about the results.

Trump handed over management of his company to his two adult sons before becoming U.S. president, but still retains his financial interest in it.

It’s not clear how big a role Trump’s setbacks in Scotland have played in the losses. In addition to the Turnberry shutdown, the company also noted in its report that it took an 8 million pound ($10 million) loss because of fluctuations in the value of the British pound last year.

The company reported that revenue at the two courses fell 21 percent to 9 million pounds ($11.7 million) in 2016 from 11.4 million pounds ($15 million) a year earlier.

​Golf business closely watched

Trump’s golf business is closely watched because he has made big investments buying and developing courses in recent years, a risky wager in a struggling industry. It is also a bit of departure for the company. Trump has mostly played it safe in other parts of his business, putting his name on buildings owned by others and taking a marketing and management fee instead of investing himself.

Much of the anger toward Trump in Scotland is centered around his resort outside Aberdeen overlooking the North Sea coast and its famed sand dunes stretching into the distance. Called the Trump International Golf Links, it is here that a local fisherman became a national hero of sorts for refusing a $690,000 offer from Trump for his land and where footage was shot for a documentary on Trump’s fights with the residents, called “Tripping Up Trump.”

Many locals praise the course for bringing more tourists to the area and helping the local economy, but Trump’s critics there are outspoken and now, with their target the U.S. president, playing to a worldwide audience.

When Trump visited his North Sea resort in June last year, two local residents ran Mexican flags up a pole in protest against the then-candidate’s immigration policies. It was a snub that came just after the U.K. Supreme Court ruled unanimously against Trump’s efforts to stop the wind farm, a Scottish government decision to strip him of his title as business ambassador for Scotland and the revocation of an honorary degree from Aberdeen’s Robert Gordon University.

Both the Scottish government and the university cited Trump’s comments about Muslims during the campaign.

Fight against second course

This summer, Scotland’s Environmental Protection Agency and the Scottish Natural Heritage, a conservation group, sent letters to the Aberdeenshire Council urging it to reject Trump’s plans for the second course if he did not make certain changes. A vote by the local government, expected in August, was postponed.

Still, the two courses are widely praised for their beauty, and tourists on buses like to stop by the North Sea course for a round.

Whether any of this will hurt profits at Trump’s Scottish business in the long run is another matter.

In the financial report, Eric Trump, the president’s son and a director of British subsidiary that owns the two resorts, included a letter expressing confidence that the resorts will attract plenty of golfers. He said Turnberry has received “excellent reviews” from its guests, and that the reopening of the resort is ushering in an “exciting new era” for the company.
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The decline of the world’s industrialized honeybees has been well documented. A combination of pesticides and parasites have led to whole bee colonies dying off, a phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder. Now, it turns out the pesticides that are hurting the bees are also turning up in the world’s honey supply. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.
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Ira Gerhart finally found a place last year to fulfill his yearslong dream of opening a brewery: a 1923 Presbyterian church. It was cheap, charming and just blocks from downtown Youngstown.

But soon after Gerhart announced his plans, residents and a minister at a Baptist church just a block away complained about alcohol being served in the former house of worship.

“I get it, you know, just the idea of putting a bar in God’s house,” Gerhart said. “If we didn’t choose to do this, most likely, it’d fall down or get torn down. I told them we’re not going to be a rowdy college bar.”

With stained glass, brick walls and large sanctuaries ideal for holding vats and lots of drinkers, churches renovated into breweries attract beer lovers but can grate on the spiritual sensibilities of clergy and worshippers.

At least 10 new breweries have opened in old churches across the country since 2011, and at least four more are slated to open in the next year. The trend started after the 2007 recession as churches merged or closed because of dwindling membership. Sex abuse settlements by the Roman Catholic Church starting in the mid-2000s were not a factor because those payments were largely covered by insurers, according to Terrence Donilon, spokesman for the archdiocese of Boston.

Gerhart’s is scheduled to open this month after winning over skeptics like the Baptist minister and obtaining a liquor license.

“We don’t want (churches) to become a liquor store,” said Michael Schafer, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, which has imposed restrictions on turning closed churches into beer halls. “We don’t think that’s appropriate for a house of worship.”

At the Church Brew Works in Pittsburgh, an early church-turned-brewery that opened in 1996, patrons slide into booths crafted from pews. Towering steel and copper vats sit on the church’s former altar. Yellow flags line the sanctuary emblazoned with the brewery’s motto: “ON THE EIGHTH DAY. MAN CREATED BEER.”

Owner Sean Casey bought the former church because it was cheap and reminded him of beer halls he used to frequent in Munich. Aficionados cite its rustic decor as a major draw.

“It’s got that `wow’ factor,” said Jesse Anderson-Lehnan, 27. “But it still feels like a normal place, it doesn’t feel weird to come and sit at the bar and talk for a few hours.”

When St. John the Baptist Church was desanctified and sold to Casey, Roman Catholics in the diocese voiced their opposition, leading to the deed restrictions to stop other closed churches from becoming bars and clubs.

While the Diocese of Cincinnati also has imposed such restrictions, it’s unclear how much company it and Youngstown have. Limits also exist in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, Pennsylvania, while the Boston archdiocese says it solicits proposals from potential buyers and screens them to make sure they’re in line with Catholic values.

Churches are uniquely difficult to renovate, preservationists say. Large stained windows and cavernous sanctuaries are tough to partition into condominiums. Historic landmark protections can bar new owners from knocking down some churches, leading them to sit empty and decay.

But the same vaulted ceilings that keep housing developers away from churches also lend them an old-world air hard to replicate elsewhere, making former houses of worship particularly suitable as dignified beer halls.

There, even clergy members sometimes aren’t so opposed to quaffing a pint. Some are regulars at the Church Brew Works, Casey said, where they can order Pipe Organ pale ale or Pious Monk dark lager.

Cincinnati’s Taft’s Ale House kicked off its grand opening in the 167-year-old St. Paul’s Evangelical Protestant Church with a “blessing of the beers.” A television report at the time shows the Rev. John Kroeger, a Catholic priest, giving the blessing.

“God of all creation, you gift us with friends, and food and drink,” he said, eyes cast upward. “Bless these kegs, and every keg that will be brewed here. Bless all those freshened here, and all those gathered in the days, and months, and years to come!”
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Home to half the world’s Mountain gorilla and 50 percent of world bird species, conservation tourism marketing remains a challenge for Uganda.  In a first ever conservation Finance Giants Forum, Uganda also known as the Pearl of Africa, Friday, got an opportunity to market its beauty in a bid to lure more investors and tourists into the country.

Uganda held the first ever Conservation and Tourism Investment Forum Friday, gathering senior business figures from around the world.  

Emphasis was put on new marketing strategies, particularly the need for private sector investment to compliment traditional sources of conservation capital.

The government’s intention was to show investors that Uganda is open for responsible investment in the conservation sector and for conservation organizations to take note of the opportunity to co-manage protected areas with the government.  

Stephen Asiimwe is the Chief Executive Director Uganda Tourism Board.

“Because we’ve got forests, we’ve got Rift Valley, we’ve got the Mountains, we’ve got the national parks, we’ve got places near falls, we’ve got places near rivers, lakes,” said Asiimwe. “So basically, we are selling locations, which offer the customer at the end of the day a fantastic experience that gives them a sense of saying, I want to stay here.”

The investors made it clear what they needed from the government. Max Graham, founder of the elephant conservation group Space for Giants, one of the organizers of the conference, says Uganda has great conservation and tourism potential – but needs investment.

“It’s the opportunity for the first time really to have a very willing partner in government to create the right environment,” said Graham. “Political security, you know, security generally, great apes, and the opportunity to create a unique circuit and then finally a willing partner in government to help make the transaction simple. So, currently across most of Uganda’s protected areas, they are under-resourced. They don’t have the investment to maintain the roads. They don’t have the investment, and this is critical, to protect their wild life populations.”

Reassurance is what they got from President Yoweri Museveni.

“We have been able to establish a strong security system, a strong army which has been able to defeat terrorism,” he said. Then we had some strong anti-poaching measures, that’s how the elephant population came up. Then we have been able to work on some roads, like for instance Murchison Falls and now we have done one for Kibaale Forest Reserve. We are working on the roads to Karamoja, eventually to Kidepo, even towards Bwindi.”

In 2016 Uganda received one million three hundred tourists accounting for 1.3 billion dollars with hope of growing tourism figures to four million by 2020.

 
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Two back-to-back hurricanes in the continental U.S. displaced more workers than first thought resulting in a net loss of 33 thousand jobs in September. But the job losses seem to have had little effect on the national unemployment rate, which fell to 4.2 percent the lowest since 2001. Mil Arcega has more.
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Venezuelans already struggling to find food, medicine and other basic necessities have a new shortage to worry about: cash.

Troubling shortfalls of Venezuelan bolivars are forcing many in this distressed South American nation to form long lines outside banks several times a week to withdraw what little cash is available. Others are resorting to bartering goods and services to skirt cash transactions.

“As if we didn’t have enough problems already,” said Roberto Granadillo, 37, a watchmaker. “Now we can’t even find bills.”

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro blames the cash crunch on mafias moving bills overseas in an attempt to derail the nation’s economy, though he’s presented only scant evidence to back the claim.

What is certain is that the country’s triple-digit inflation continues to skyrocket, meaning Venezuelans must find larger quantities of the scarce bills to purchase even relatively inexpensive items like bread or a cup of coffee — or turn to electronic transfers from their bank accounts.

The Venezuelan government released new, higher denomination bills in values of 500, 5,000 and 20,000 bolivars earlier this year after the currency meltdown left the country’s then-largest note worth around 2 U.S. cents on the black market.

But now even the freshly minted bills, printed in rainbow hues and imported in part from the United States, are quickly dwindling in value. In January, one U.S. dollar was worth 4,578 bolivars on Venezuela’s pervasive black market; by October a U.S. dollar got you 29,170 bolivars, according to DolarToday, a website critical of the government that tracks the black market rate.

Analysts project Venezuela’s inflation could surpass 1,000 percent this year and many Venezuelans worry recently announced sanctions by the Trump administration prohibiting U.S. banks from issuing new credit to the Venezuelan government or its state oil company will deepen the economic crisis. In September, Venezuelan authorities enacted stricter banking and business regulations in an attempt to stem the tide of bolivar bills. Officials are also considering printing bills in even higher values.

The cash shortage is already being felt in the daily lives of Venezuelans like Granadillo, who said his weekly income has slipped more than 50 percent as customers use the bills they are able to obtain to purchase food instead of comparative luxuries like a watch repair.

Instead of cash, he has recently begun accepting a new form a payment: A kilo (2.2 pounds) of ham, chicken or beef in exchange for a newly ticking watch.

“You have to find a way to eat,” Granadillo said.

At the start of 2017, a 20,000 bolivar bill — the equivalent of about $6 and the largest denomination of Venezuelan currency — could easily purchase five basic food products: rice, coffee, corn flour, sugar and pasta. Now Jose Guerra, president of the opposition-controlled National Assembly’s Finance Commission, estimates that a 20,000-bolivar note only has the purchasing power to obtain just one of those and half a standard-sized portion of another. He said the bolivar’s value has crashed 75 percent between January and August, and that banks are limiting the amount of cash they let customers withdraw because the Central Bank is not providing enough bills.

“You need a lot more bills,” Guerra said. “And they aren’t there.”

The escalating cash crunch comes on the heels of four months of political upheaval that left at least 120 people dead in near-daily protests decrying Maduro’s rule. In early August, a new, all-powerful constitutional assembly was installed following a vote boycotted by the opposition. One of the new assembly’s first acts was to declare itself superior to all other branches of government, making the nation’s already weakened legislature an essentially powerless institution.

Jose Gil, director of Venezuelan polling firm Datanalisis, said the cash shortfall carries a “very high price” for Maduro’s government but the opposition has not been able to capitalize on the discontent.

Venezuela’s Central Bank injected 849 million bills in varying denominations into the nation’s economy up until August, three times the amount released over the same time period in 2016 — yet still not enough to keep up with inflation. It’s not uncommon to see Venezuelans paying for goods with large wads of cash, and authorities have opened investigations into citizens caught hoarding substantial amounts, even if they add up to relatively small dollar values.

In one high-profile probe, prosecutors last month seized 200 million bolivars — the equivalent of about $8,000 at the black market rate — from activist Lilian Tintori, the wife of Leopoldo Lopez, the country’s most prominent political prisoner. The cash was found in steel-clad wooden boxes in the back of her car. Tintori claimed the investigation was part of a pattern of persecution against her family and that the cash was needed to pay for emergencies including the hospitalization of her 100-year-old grandmother.

Venezuelan Banking Superintendent Antonio Morales recently told Union Radio that bolivar notes leaving banking institutions are not being returned, as typically happens when cash shifts from customers to commercial businesses and back to banks. He said investigators have uncovered evidence that contraband networks are moving paper cash out of Venezuela and into Colombia. Officials recently detained 121 people allegedly involved in currency crimes, though no details on the charges were released.

Morales also blamed some local businesses for hoarding cash.

Meanwhile, Venezuelans like Maria Castillo, who works in the kitchen at a public hospital, are struggling to purchase food to sustain their families with the little cash they are able to obtain. The 70-year-old recently waited in an hour-long line at her bank to take out the maximum allowed: 10,000 bolivars — the equivalent of $3.

A day later, she was back in line at the bank.

“I could only buy a package of rice,” Castillo said. “Now I’m waiting in line again for the same amount.”
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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce warned on Friday that the Trump administration was making “highly dangerous demands” in the North American Free Trade Agreement modernization talks that could erode U.S. business support and torpedo the negotiations.

John Murphy, the chamber’s senior vice president for international policy, said the largest U.S. business lobby was urging the administration to drop some of its more controversial NAFTA proposals, including raising rules of origin thresholds.

“We’re increasingly concerned about the state of play in negotiations,” Murphy told reporters.

​Fourth round of talks

U.S., Canadian and Mexican negotiators are preparing for a fourth round of talks to update the 23-year-old trade pact next week in a Washington suburb, Oct. 11-15.

U.S. companies large and small were worried about a proposal by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to add a five-year termination clause to NAFTA, Murphy said. 

He said there was also concern about Lighthizer’s proposal to reduce Canadian and Mexican companies’ access to U.S. public procurement contracts, and to include a U.S.-specific content requirement for autos and auto parts.

“We see these proposals as highly dangerous, and even one of them could be significant enough to move the business and agriculture community to oppose an agreement that included them,” Murphy said.

He also voiced similar concerns about U.S. proposals for revamping dispute settlement mechanisms and trade protections for seasonal U.S. produce.

Some U.S. lawmakers and congressional staff are also growing increasingly concerned that the talks can reach a successful conclusion. 

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, a pro-trade Republican, has invited Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to speak to the tax- and trade-focused panel Wednesday as negotiators return to the table, a committee spokeswoman said.

​Auto content

Inside U.S. Trade, a trade publication, stirred concerns among auto industry groups by quoting unnamed sources as saying that the Trump administration was also moving forward with a bid to increase North American content requirements for autos to 85 percent from the current 62.5 percent, with a new 50 percent U.S. content requirement.

U.S. Trade Representative spokeswoman Emily Davis declined to comment on the report, but said President Donald Trump had been clear about the need to shake up the agreement governing one of the world’s biggest trade blocs.

“NAFTA has been a disaster for many Americans, and achieving his objectives requires substantial change,” she said. “These changes of course will be opposed by entrenched Washington lobbyists and trade associations.”

Officials from auto industry trade groups said they had not seen a rules of origin proposal with such stringent targets.

“Forcing unrealistic rules of origin on businesses would leave the U.S. unable to compete by increasing the cost of manufacturing and raising prices for consumers,” said Cindy Sebrell, a spokeswoman for the Motor Equipment Manufacturers Association, which represents auto parts manufacturers.

Karen Antebi, the trade counselor at Mexico’s embassy in Washington, told a forum on Friday that while there were rumors of a 50 U.S. percent content demand for autos, formal texts had not been proposed on rules of origin.

“Mexico has been firm and consistent that country specific rules of origin within the NAFTA would be unacceptable,” she said.
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Robert L. McKay, who designed the first Taco Bell restaurant and with founder Glenn Bell turned it from a quirky food stand into a fast-food empire, has died. He was 86.

His son, Rob McKay, said McKay died last week of cancer.

Bell opened his first Taco Bell in Downey, California, in 1962, selling hard-shell tacos and other Mexican-inspired fast food.

McKay was an architect and designed the Spanish-style arched and tiled building that became the chain’s signature look.

McKay eventually became president of Taco Bell, which had 900 restaurants when it was sold to PepsiCo in 1978.

He went on to finance other businesses that invested in technology, consumer products, real estate and banking.
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French carmaker Renault said Friday that half of its models will be electric or hybrid by 2022 and it’s investing heavily in “robo-vehicles” with increasing degrees of autonomy.

A strategic plan released Friday aims to boost Renault annual revenues to 70 billion euros ($82.2 billion) by 2022 from 51 billion euros last year, in part through an effort to double sales outside its traditional markets in Europe — especially Russia and China.

The plans reflect the vision laid out last month by the Renault Nissan Mitsubishi alliance, the world’s No. 1 carmaker by sales. Many of Renault’s new aims depend on saving money through sharing platforms and development with Nissan and Mitsubishi.

CEO Carlos Ghosn said Renault is aiming to sell more than 5 million vehicles annually by 2022 from 3.2 million last year. The plan relies in part on boosting low-cost car production in emerging markets, notably with the Dacia Logan and Kwid mini-SUV.

As regulators crack down on emissions from combustion engines and as drivers seek cars that can do more by themselves, Ghosn wants to position Renault as a major player in mass-market electric and driverless cars.

“We are confident we can turn upcoming … challenges into significant business opportunities for Renault,” he said.

The company pledged to offer eight purely electric vehicle models and 12 hybrid models by 2022, compared with its 19 diesel or gasoline models sold worldwide, Ghosn said.

The world’s major carmakers are rethinking their strategies to profit from pivotal changes in the industry: autonomous cars, connected cars that share data, car-sharing where you don’t own a vehicle but order one by app, and low-emissions vehicles demanded by the European Union to fight climate change and by China, where many cities are fighting rampant pollution.

Investing in electric vehicles has hurt profitability in the past, but Ghosn says that should change as they grow in scale. He said electric cars “are turning into a significant contributor to our performance while other automakers are just starting the journey.”

Ghosn said Renault would retrain 13,000 people over the next five years to adapt to changing markets.

Renault is aiming to produce 2 million cars per year outside Europe compared with 750,000 cars in 2016, with a heavy push in Russia as its economy picks up.

Asked about challenges to Renault’s activity in Iran amid the possibility that the U.S. could reintroduce sanctions, Ghosn said: “Obviously if it becomes impossible to deal with Iran we will put a plan together for the suspension of our business there, but that’s not at all to say that we will leave Iran.”

Renault was active in Iran before the West imposed sanctions over its nuclear program and was among the first major companies to relaunch its Iranian business when the sanctions were lifted after the 2015 accord to curb Iran’s nuclear activities.

Ghosn insisted that Iran’s market has major potential. “If we can’t work there immediately, then we will work there in 1 year, 2 years, 3 years because I don’t think that this is a situation that can last forever.”
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The U.S. economy lost 33,000 jobs in September, reflecting the impact of hurricanes hitting the states of Florida and Texas, as well as other areas.

Friday’s report from the Labor Department also said the unemployment rate fell slightly to 4.2 percent, the lowest jobless figure since 2001.

Economists said many of those lost jobs were in Florida’s restaurants and bars, where storm damage, blackouts and closed airports hurt business. It is the first time in seven years the U.S. economy has had a net loss of jobs. Until September, the economy had been adding an average of more than 170,000 jobs each month this year.

The head of Randstad Sourceright, a firm that tracks global workforce trends, says the need to rebuild parts of Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico already is creating jobs in construction and other trades. Rebecca Henderson says she expects to see demand for more temporary jobs in the coming months.

While there was a net loss of jobs in the overall economy, the construction industry added 8,000 jobs in September, according to the Associated General Contractors. Construction firms continued to complain about a tight labor market and shortage of workers with key skills.  

American Enterprise Institute scholar Aparna Mathur says the impact of the hurricanes will probably pass in a few months, and notes improvements in the jobless rate, number of involuntary part-time employees, wages and other areas. IHS Markit economist Ben Herzon says the U.S. economy was benefiting from “solid momentum” before the hurricanes. 

At the same time, government data show 6.8 million Americans are out of work, which is a decline of more than 300,000 people over the past year. Another 5.1 million want full-time work, but can find only part-time employment.
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Microsoft said Thursday that it would team up with communities in six states to invest in technology and related jobs in rural and smaller metropolitan areas.

Company President Brad Smith launched the TechSpark program Thursday in Fargo, a metropolitan area of more than 200,000 people that includes a Microsoft campus with about 1,500 employees. Smith said the six communities are different by design and not all have a Microsoft presence.

Smith says TechSpark is a multiyear, multimillion-dollar investment to help teach computer science to students, expand rural broadband, and help create and fill jobs, among other things. The other programs will be in Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

“This is really a blueprint for private-public partnerships,” said North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, himself a former Microsoft executive.

Microsoft announced in July that it hoped to extend broadband services to rural America. The company said then that it would partner with rural telecommunications providers in 12 states with a goal of getting 2 million rural Americans high-speed internet over the next five years.

Microsoft planned to use “white space” technology, tapping buffer zones separating individual television channels in airwaves that could be cheaper than existing methods such as laying fiber-optic cable. The company had originally envisioned using it in the developing world, but shifted focus to the U.S. this summer.

Being ‘more present’

“We are a very diverse country,” Smith said. “It’s important for us to learn more about how digital technology is changing in all different parts of the country. So we are working to be more present in more places.”

Smith said there are 23.4 million Americans living in rural communities who don’t have broadband coverage and the TechSpark program is going to focus on bringing coverage to these six regions.

“The good news in North Dakota … is that it is in one of the strongest positions nationally in terms of the reach of broadband coverage,” he said. “But it still doesn’t reach everyone everywhere.”

Microsoft officials say there are nearly 500,000 unfilled computing jobs in the U.S. and that number is expected to triple by the end of next year. North Dakota currently has more than 13,000 job openings, many in computer software and engineering.

“The private sector doesn’t post a job unless they think they can make more money with the job filled than unfilled,” Burgum said. “So when we’re filling those jobs, we’re actually helping those companies become more profitable, which should help create more jobs. There’s no chicken-or-the-egg thing here.”

Microsoft on Thursday also selected Appleton, Wisconsin, as one of the six sites. The other communities will be announced later.

Smith said the success of the program would be measured first by how it provided digital skills to students and then by the job creation, economic growth and “making a difference in the lives of real people.”
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Oil and natural gas operators began evacuating staff and halting production at U.S. Gulf of Mexico platforms Thursday ahead of Tropical Storm Nate, the second storm in as many months to rattle the Gulf Coast energy corridor.

Nate, which has killed at least 10 people in Costa Rica and Nicaragua and caused intense rainfall, is forecast to scrape past Honduras and Mexico, enter the Gulf and strengthen into a hurricane before making landfall during the weekend in Louisiana, near several major refineries.

That path takes it through an area populated by offshore oil and natural gas platforms, which pump more than 1.6 million barrels of crude per day (bpd), about 17 percent of U.S. output, according to government data.

Oil, gas production curtailed

As of Thursday, about 14.6 percent of U.S. Gulf oil production, or 254,607 bpd, was offline, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) said. About 6.4 percent of natural gas output in the area also was shut.

Forecasts for Nate have shifted in the past 24 hours. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) had forecast Wednesday that the storm would make landfall in the Florida panhandle.

BP Plc and Chevron Corp were shutting production at all Gulf platforms, while Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Anadarko Petroleum Corp suspended some production and some drilling activity in the Gulf.

Exxon Mobil Corp, Statoil and other producers have withdrawn personnel from their platforms.

Marathon Oil Corp and ConocoPhillips said they were monitoring Nate’s path but have taken no action yet.

Hangover from Harvey

Nate, the 14th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, comes less than two months after Hurricane Harvey tore through the Gulf, denting more than a quarter of oil production there, according to government data.

Several Texas ports have been unable to allow large tankers to return after Harvey as they wait for dredging of channels.

Some large tankers have been rerouted to Louisiana ports, some of which are now in Nate’s projected path.

The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP), an offshore gathering hub for production platforms and crude imports from tankers, has not suspended operations and vessel activity around it continues as normal, officials said.

All Louisiana ports were open Thursday as authorities and the U.S. Coast Guard monitor the storm, according to the Port Association of Louisiana.

Refiners preparing

Refiners in Louisiana also have been scrambling ahead of Nate.

Shell was cutting back production Thursday at its 225,800-bpd Norco refinery, and Phillips 66 was considering temporarily shutting the 247,000-bpd Alliance refinery or placing it on standby, according to sources.

At least three other refineries were preparing to continue operation through Nate, sources familiar with plant operations said Thursday. PBF Energy Inc’s Chalmette, Louisiana, refinery planned to remain in operation, sources said.

PBF declined to discuss operations at the Chalmette refinery. A Shell spokesman was not available to comment.

Chevron said its Pascagoula, Mississippi, refinery was monitoring the storm’s progress. Exxon said the same about its refinery and chemical plant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Marathon Petroleum Corp declined to discuss operations at the company’s Garyville, Louisiana, refinery.
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Transgender people are no longer protected by federal civil rights laws banning workplace discrimination, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Thursday.

In a memo to federal prosecutors, Sessions wrote that it is a matter of “law, not policy,” that the 1964 Civil Rights Act does not extend to gender identity. The act outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

The Obama administration ruled that the word “sex” applies to gender identity under civil rights laws.

But Sessions wrote Thursday that the word “sex” applies only to “biologically male or female” persons. He said U.S. attorneys should stay neutral in federal civil rights cases involving workplace discrimination.

But Sessions said this did not open the door to discrimination.

“The Justice Department must and will continue to affirm the dignity of all people, including transgender individuals,” he said.

Civil rights activists called Sessions’ decision another example of Trump administration indifference toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.

“Today marks another low point for the Department of Justice, which has been cruelly consistent in its hostility towards the LGBT community and in particular its inability to treat transgender people with basic dignity and respect,” James Esseks of the American Civil Liberties Union said.

The Trump White House has also proposed banning transgenders from serving in the U.S. military and overturned Obama administration guidance allowing students to use public school restrooms that correspond with their gender identity.
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