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 threat of further tariffs. So that dropped the exports in the second half of last year. … So, literally, that is a tariff effect.”

Recent economic data reveal the difficulties China faced in the fourth quarter of 2018 as its growth rate slowed to 6.4 percent.

In January, an import barometer of prices in the industrial sector neared contraction, while manufacturing activity in February marked the worst performance in three years.

China’s government announced major tax cuts, fee reductions and a looser monetary policy to combat the economic growth slowdown.
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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 risk of recession grows,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA, noting that the U.S. economy’s current expansion will become the longest in history by the end of July.

“However, we currently see no quarterly GDP declines through the fourth quarter of 2020, let alone back-to-back declines, which have been a rule of thumb for recessions,” he said.  

Meanwhile, the wild card for the market — and the economy — might be the long-running, costly trade conflict between Washington and Beijing. While reportedly on track for a resolution as early as this month, the spat continues to weigh on investors’ nerves and many companies’ plans. 

Concerns in late 2018

The bull market has looked very vulnerable at times during its decade-long run, most recently at the end of last year. That’s when a bevy of concerns, including rising interest rates, the trade spat, slowing global economic growth and some tepid profit forecasts, sent the S&P 500 into a skid that resulted in the index’s worst December since the Great Depression.

That slide culminated on Dec. 24, when the S&P 500 closed 19.8 percent below its all-time high. A drop of 20 percent or more would have ushered in a bear market. 

What we've seen and continue to see is doubts,'' said Ryan Detrick, senior market strategist at LPL.People have doubted it the whole way up.” 

And yet, the bull shrugged that off, too, and now the market is off to its best start to a year since 1991. 

It was a good-sized correction that freaked everybody out,'' Detrick said.Then the realization comes that the economy is on good footing.” 

The Federal Reserve put investors at ease in January when it signaled a prolonged pause in further interest rate hikes. That calmed fears that the central bank would keep raising rates at a pace that could derail the economy. 

One of the key questions in gauging the longevity of the bull market is the outlook for inflation and what action the Fed will take to try to manage it. 

For now, inflation remains below the 2 percent target used by the Fed to determine whether annual price increases are growing too rapidly. It was up 1.7 percent in the 12 months ended in December.

As long as inflation remains at that level, the Fed has less incentive to raise rates. 

Slower growth

The U.S. economy turned in a solid performance in 2018, boosted in part by tax cuts and higher government spending. But economic growth slowed to 2.6 percent in the last three months of the year from 3.4 percent in the third quarter.

Most economists envision a weaker performance for the coming months and probably years. Some expect gross domestic product to drop to a growth rate of 2 percent or less in the current January-March period. 

Investors have grown cautious about business conditions going forward as signs of weakness in the global economy have emerged. Uncertainty over trade has also helped cloud the outlook for company profits this year. 

Still, even modest company earnings growth should keep the bull market rolling. 

We think the bull market is still intact,'' Lefkowitz said.And at some point, we’re likely to see new all-time highs for the broad market gauges.” 
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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.
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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 to defend itself or clear its name.

“Section 889 is based on numerous false, unproven, and untested propositions. Contrary to the statutes’ premise, Huawei is not owned, controlled, or influenced by the Chinese government,” Song said.

That, however, is a central point of the debate over Huawei: how much a security threat the company is? And is it really independent from China’s authoritarian government?

That debate is heating up at a crucial time as countries across the globe are preparing to roll out next generation mobile communications networks or 5G, an area where Huawei is a global leader.

At the press conference, Huawei officials argued repeatedly that the ban would cut off Americans from its advanced technology. They also gave assurances again that the company would never install backdoors into their equipment and that it puts the security concerns of its customers first.

Some countries such as the United States, Australia and New Zealand believe the company is a security threat and have already banned Huawei from their roll out of next generation mobile communications networks.

Others, including Britain, Canada and Germany, are still weighing a decision. At the same time, Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhouis facing extradition to the United States from Canada over violations of U.S. sanctions on Iran.

With Huawei fighting a battle on multiple fronts, the lawsuit is as much about public relations as it is an effort to clear itself of accusations that it is a security threat.

Legal analysts said it is unlikely the case will even go to trial.

“As a PR matter, this is brilliant, the fact that we are just talking about this now, tells you this is a great PR move, as a legal matter, this is a reach, to put it charitably,” said David Law, a professor of political science and law at Washington University in St. Louis and law at the University of Hong Kong. “I just can’t see how a federal district judge in Texas is going to let this go to trial much less hand Huawei a win.”

The case could put more pressure on the U.S. government to disclose more evidence to support its claims about the security threat the company poses, according to some legal analysts. That could help Huawei in the process, said Calvin Yang, director of the Taiwan Bar Association’s intellectual property commission.

“I think this is a move that carries more political weight than any litigation significance,” Yang said, adding that the company’s case was more about challenging the legitimacy of U.S. accusations. “It’s using judicial procedure to force the federal government to provide more evidence to support its allegations of so-called backdoors in Huawei’s equipment.”

Some legal analysts have noted that Huawei’s case is similar to the legal battle Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky lost late last year. Kaspersky challenged a ban on the use of its software on U.S. government networks, but last November, a federal appeals court ruled in favor of the federal government.

Whether that will figure into the case is too early to tell, and that is if it goes to trial, legal analysts note.

When it comes to national security concerns, they add that courts are unlikely to probe too deeply into those questions.
…

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 food and basic goods,” said Diego Moya-Ocampos, a Venezuela analyst with the London-based consulting firm IHS Global Insight. 

That’s because the vast oil reserves that once made Venezuela Latin America’s wealthiest country provide the primary source of the hard currency it needs to import food and other goods. Today, its basic infrastructure — roads, power grid, water lines and oil refineries — is crumbling. Food and medicine, nearly all of it imported, are scarce and expensive as Venezuela endures the world’s highest inflation. 

Critics blame Venezuela’s collapse on the government’s two decades of self-proclaimed “socialist revolution,” which has been marred by corruption and mismanagement, first under the late Hugo Chavez and now under Maduro’s rule. 

The U.S. sanctions essentially cut PDVSA off from its Houston-based subsidiary Citgo, depriving it of $11 billion in hard currency from exports this year that U.S. officials say bankrolled Maduro’s “dictatorship.” U.S. officials have turned control of Citgo over to Guaido’s interim government, essentially expropriating the company, a strategy Venezuela’s socialist government employed for years by seizing private companies. 

Opposition leaders bent on ousting Maduro say they recognize the U.S. crackdown on the oil sector will be painful for their people, but add that the measures are necessary to keep Maduro’s government from further looting Venezuelan resources. 

Meanwhile, a defiant Maduro says the economic war led by the White House is a precursor to a military invasion to oust him from power and seize Venezuela’s vast oil wealth. Maduro tweeted a warning on Wednesday that nobody should be fooled by apparent gestures of assistance, alluding to tons of U.S. humanitarian aid he recently blocked from entering.

“The Venezuelan opposition and the U.S. government don’t want to help the country,” Maduro said. “Just the opposite. They crave our natural resources. They want to unleash ‘The Oil War’ to invade and dominate our homeland.”

Despite years of economic decline leading to Venezuela’s current crisis, residents enjoy some of the world’s cheapest gasoline — filling up a tank for less than a penny. But gas is already hard to get in Maracaibo and other cities along the Colombian border, where smugglers sneak Venezuela’s dirt-cheap fuel into the neighboring country, selling it at international prices for a quick profit. 

Ixchel Castro, a Mexico City-based analyst at the Wood Mackenzie energy research firm, said Venezuela’s domestic gasoline supply has been down by as much as 15 percent in recent years as the country’s refineries and infrastructure fail — a trend that is expected to accelerate.

PDVSA provided 160,000 barrels a day for domestic use last year, but with the U.S. sanctions and ongoing infrastructure challenges, that supply can be expected to fall to 60,000 barrels a day, she said, meeting just 38 percent of the country’s needs.

Exacerbating the problem are shortages of diluent, a critical product needed to thin Venezuela’s tar-like heavy crude so it can be piped over 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the field to be turned into gasoline. Russia has stepped in, sending two tankers of the thinner, but these supplies will last just five to 10 days, said Russ Dallen, managing partner of Caracas Capital, a brokerage company.

“It’s nothing,” he said. “It’s a drop in the bucket of what they need.”

Gasoline won’t completely dry up in Venezuela, which still has access to waning domestic production, as well as fuel in storage and shipments from India and European countries that aren’t subject to sanctions. But the fuel quality will suffer and there will be shortages, Castro said.

These are already being felt in San Cristobal near the Colombian border, where 55-year-old mechanic Gerardo Marquez said he got in line one recent Monday afternoon. On Tuesday the gas truck didn’t show up as promised, and on Wednesday he was still there after spending two nights with his car. 

Relatives did bring him food, water and a pillow, and gave him a chance to get away for bathroom breaks, he said. But he barely napped. “We’re all on guard so they don’t rob us,” he said. 

In Maracaibo, once known as the Saudi Arabia of Venezuela as a center of the country’s oil boom, residents have endured shortages for at least three years. Trucks to deliver the fuel are too few and daily power failures compound the problem, leaving gas pumps idle. Just two of Maracaibo’s 150 gas stations have generators to provide gas during rampant blackouts.

Fed up with waiting in lines, the 62-year-old Marin said he plans to start hoarding gas at home, despite the danger the explosive fuel poses to his wife, children and grandchildren. He relies on his car for his part-time job ferrying paying customers to supplement his modest $6-a-month pension checks. 

“My grandchildren don’t know what it’s like to eat a piece of meat or bit of chicken,” he said.

In the capital, Caracas, residents brace for shortages like these to finally hit them. The metropolitan area of 7 million people has so far been immune to frustrating gas lines. 

But an attendant at a PDVSA station sees them coming, recounting how a customer filled up his car then returned a few minutes later with an empty tank. He’d siphoned his tank to get around a government ban on filling up gas cans to crack down on smugglers. 

“Most Venezuelans have no idea of the magnitude of what is coming,” said Caracas taxi driver Jhaims Bastidas, waiting to fill up. “I imagine it’ll go beyond gasoline shortages to food and medicine — even worse than we have it now.”
…

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 in politics, entertainment and business after facing allegations of sexually harassing or assaulting women and men.

Before the “60 Minutes” report, online food trade publication Eater New York reported that four women, who were not identified, said the chef had touched them inappropriately in a pattern of behavior that spanned at least two decades. Three worked for the chef.

Following those allegations, ABC Television Network fired Batali in December from “The Chew.” The Food Network also canceled plans to relaunch “Molto Mario.”

In a previous statement, Batali admitted to those allegations, stating that the claims “match up with ways I have acted.” He apologized and had stepped away from the restaurant company B&B Hospitality Group, which the Bastianich family owns.

Representatives of the Bastianich family did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
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Leaders of Mexico’s agricultural sector are urging “mirror measures” on U.S. farm imports in politically sensitive products such as yellow corn and poultry, in an effort they argue would counter decades of subsidized imports from the United States.

The three-month-old government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is currently working on an updated list of products imported from its northern neighbor on which to possibly apply a second round of tariffs in response to U.S. measures imposed on Mexican steel and aluminum by the Trump administration last year.

Last June, Mexico imposed tariffs of between 15 and 25 percent on steel products and other U.S. goods, in retaliation for the tariffs applied on the Mexican metals imports that Trump imposed citing national security concerns.

Mexico’s Deputy Minister for Foreign Trade Luz Maria de la Mora told Reuters last week that Mexico is reviewing the list of U.S. products to which former President Enrique Peña Nieto applied reprisals. She said a new list would be set by the end of April if the United States has not withdrawn tariffs on Mexican steel and aluminum before then.

“Yes, there is the lobby, and yes we agree that a mirror policy applies,” Bosco de la Vega, head of Mexico’s National Farm Council, told reporters on Tuesday when asked if Mexican farmers are pushing to include specific U.S. grains, chicken and beef products in the new list.

“The Mexican government knows that the U.S. agricultural sector is what hurts the United States’ government the most,” said de la Vega, pointedly noting that American farmers constitute “President Donald’s hard-core base.”

He said Mexican grains farmers have been “the big losers” during decades of liberalized agricultural trade with the United States.

Lopez Obrador, who took office in December, has pledged to make Mexico self-sufficient in key farm products in which U.S. imports have grown dramatically over the past couple decades, including yellow corn, used mostly by Mexico’s livestock sector.

De la Vega comments largely echo those of senior Lopez Obrador agricultural officials.

“Over the past 25 years, the government allowed corn, wheat, sorghum, soy, milk and other products to be imported below production costs,” said Victor Suarez, a deputy agricultural minister.

Suarez added the long-standing policy of previous Mexican governments to allow heavily subsidized U.S. farm products has not yielded lower prices for consumers and should be replaced by a more protectionist policy.
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It is Friday morning, and the southeastern fringe of Kibera slum comes alive as teams of women and youngsters converge on the edge of the Nairobi dam.

There, on its northern perimeter, some rake and pile garbage for collection while others plant saplings on cleared terrain.

Known as riparian land, the area they are planting is the strip adjacent to the dam that can absorb flooding. Under Kenyan law, this is public land and it may not be built on.

Their work might look like simple civic pride, but something more is going on: This is a message to developers who might want this unused land for themselves.

“Nairobi dam’s riparian land is not for grabbing,” said Yohana Gikaara, the founder of Kibera 7 Kids, a non-profit that works with young people in the slum.

Forty years ago, this shore was underwater and safe from land-grabbers, he said. At that time, the dam was a popular recreation site for residents of Kenya’s capital.

But years of siltation due to human encroachment and the dumping of waste saw the waters recede. Over that time the dam’s main water source — the Motoine River — was choked by garbage, leaving it just a thread of slimy effluent.

Today, of the original 88 acres the dam once occupied, only a chunk of water about half the size of a football pitch remains, said Gikaara.

Given that land near the dam is worth about 80 million Kenyan shillings ($800,000) an acre, the attractions for developers are clear.

Kibera residents like Gikaara fear the 30 acres of riparian land, and perhaps even the remainder of the dam itself, could disappear thanks to the booming property development industry.

“No one knows when [developers] strike,” he said. “You wake up one morning and find earth-movers in the neighborhood, and that is when you know you or your neighbor will soon be homeless.”

​Wrecking ball

Apartment blocks sprung up in 2014 on the dam’s southeastern flank and, in 2017, greenhouses began popping up too. That prompted non-profits in Kibera to raise the alarm.

Last year, the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) ordered the apartments to be demolished — because, said David Ong’are, the government body’s director in charge of compliance and enforcement, they had been built illegally on riparian land.

Any building near a water body must be between six and 30 meters from the high-water mark, depending on the type of water course, he said.

“The buildings that have breached this threshold at the Nairobi dam are going to be demolished,” Ong’are told Reuters in an interview, adding that some developers had filed court cases in an effort to halt that.

On’gare said more than 4,000 buildings built on riparian land in Nairobi had been earmarked for demolition to date.

One prominent site demolished last year was the South End Mall, which NEMA ordered flattened after ruling it had been built over a section of the Moitone River’s course, he said.

Pollution solutions

In January, Gikaara worked with lobby groups to oppose plans by a parliamentary committee to fill in the rest of the dam — ostensibly as a way to deal with the issue of pollution.

But, said local resident James Makusa, that was simply a ruse cloaked in the name of rehabilitating the dam.

“The real motive is to prepare the ground for property development,” said Makusa, who makes a living by scooping sediment from the Motoine River and selling it to construction sites.

Makusa views his job of clearing the river of sediment as a form of environmental conservation — a better way to rehabilitate the dam, and preferable to filling it with soil.

Mary Najoli, who heads the Shikanisha Akili Women’s Group, suggested another use that would protect the land. Her group, whose name translates as “using your imagination,” makes beadwork from recycled waste collected in Kibera.

But like many others in informal settlements, they lack a permanent venue from where to sell their wares.

“We would like to be allocated [a small area of] the dam’s land as a place where we can display and sell our beadwork. In return, we will ensure that the environment is clean and watch out for illegal encroachment,” she said.

​That might happen, said local MP Nixon Korir, whose constituency includes the dam.

However, he said, the process of reclaiming the land must be finished first: that includes clearing waste and ensuring the planted trees can sustain themselves.

Korir said the reclamation process, which started last year, was designed to benefit Kibera’s residents.

“The rehabilitated riparian land will be turned into a tourism site that can bring revenue and create employment,” he said.

Brighter future?

Juliette Biao Koudenoukpo, the director of the Africa office at the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), said Kibera residents were best-suited to keep Nairobi dam clean and safe.

“The people do not have any other alternative but staying where they are and caring for the dam because there is need to restore life here in Kibera through restoration of this dam and its ecosystem,” she said.

She blamed Kibera’s waste problem on poor urban planning, which meant open spaces had become dumping grounds — including the dam’s shores.

Meantime, some view the issue of pollution as a silver lining — among them is Ian Araka of the Foundation of Hope youth group, which combines garbage collection in Kibera with art, drama, traditional dance and poetry.

His 60-strong group has partnered with ASTICOM K Ltd., a social enterprise that is building a recycling factory in Kibera. He said the aim is to supply solid waste collected from the slum to the factory on a contractual basis.

Some will be collected from the dam’s riparian land, and there are plans to recycle polluted water for use by small businesses in the slum, such as car washes and sanitation services, he said.

“This project is going to unite and equip us with a voice to not only be able to chase land-grabbers away, but also invite developers to do something constructive with us,” Araka said.
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Publication of a U.N. database of companies with business ties to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank has been delayed again, drawing the ire of activists who have campaigned for three years.

The issue is highly sensitive as companies appearing in such a database could be targeted for boycotts or divestment aimed at stepping up pressure on Israel over its West Bank settlements, which most countries and the United Nations view as illegal.

Goods produced there include fruit, vegetables and wine.

Israel has assailed the database, whose creation was agreed by the U.N. Human Rights Council in March 2016, as a “blacklist.”

Michelle Bachelet, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said Tuesday that despite progress made since launching the study, further work was needed due to the “novelty of the mandate and its legal, methodological and factual complexity.”

Her office aimed to finalize and issue the study “in coming months,” she said in a letter to the Human Rights Council.

Activists voiced outrage, noting that Bachelet’s predecessor, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, had already delayed its publication in 2017 before stepping down in August 2018.

“Israeli authorities’ brazen expansion of illegal settlements underscores why the UN database of businesses facilitating these settlements needs to be published,” Bruno Stagno Ugarte of Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

“Each delay further entrenches corporate involvement in the systematic rights abuses stemming from illegal settlements,” he said, calling for Bachelet to commit to a clear publication date.

Palestinian rights groups and trade unions, in a letter dated Feb. 28, had urged Bachelet to publish the database, saying that further delays would undermine her office and foster what they called an “existing culture of impunity for human rights abuses and internationally recognized crimes in the OPT (Occupied Palestinian Territory).”

World Jewish Congress

The World Jewish Congress said its CEO, Robert Singer, had met Bachelet last month and urged the cancellation of the database. The New York-headquartered group welcomed the delay to publication, saying in a statement the report should be put off for good as it would financially hurt thousands of employees, both Israeli and Palestinian, of targeted companies.

In November, home-renting company Airbnb said it would remove listings in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, a move that Israel called a “wretched capitulation” to boycotters and Palestinians hailed as a step toward peace.

Israel captured the West Bank in a 1967 war. Its settlements there are considered illegal by most world powers.

Palestinians deem the settlements, and the military presence needed to protect them, to be obstacles to their goal of establishing a state. Israel disputes this.
…

Tax cuts and increased defense spending are among the measures China will introduce this year to boost its flagging economy. 

Premier Li Keqiang announced the measures Tuesday on the opening day of China’s annual National People’s Congress in Beijing. 

Li told the legislators that policymakers are targeting economic growth of 6 to 6.5 percent this year, a slight cut from last year’s target of 6.5 percent. The world’s second-largest economy recorded official growth of 6.6 percent in 2018, the slowest pace in nearly three decades, due to slow demand at home and abroad and a bitter trade war with the United States.

The premier said the government will cut $298 billion in corporate taxes and social insurance contribution fees and lower the value-added tax for the manufacturing sector from 16 to 13 percent. Meanwhile, Beijing has approved a $177 billion military budget for this year, an increase of 7.5. percent, and is planning to spend more on 

The legislature is expected to pass a new law during this session that will discourage officials from pressuring foreign companies to transfer their technology to Beijing in exchange for market access. The practice has angered the United States and Europe for years and was cited by President Donald Trump as part of his reason to impose huge tariffs on Chinese imports in an attempt to force China into trade concessions.
…

Sharp differences have emerged between the United States and Britain over farming standards and practices in any post-Brexit trade deal.

The trans-Atlantic allies have already begun exploratory talks on a trade agreement after Britain’s EU exit, which is scheduled for March 29. Britain, however, is resisting U.S. demands to open its markets to agricultural products currently banned under EU law.

The most widely-cited example is Europe’s import ban on American “chlorinated chicken” — carcasses that have been washed using chlorine to remove harmful bacteria like E. coli and salmonella. Europe says an over-reliance on chlorine lowers overall production and hygiene standards in poultry farming, a claim the United States disputes.

The EU has also banned the import of beef from American cattle that have been treated with artificial growth hormones. The bloc says that one commonly used hormone may cause cancer and concludes there is not enough scientific data on the other hormones to approve their use for public consumption.

Washington has made it clear any trade deal with Britain after Brexit must see these measures dropped.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, former Republican Congressman Darrell Issa, said recently that the millions of Britons visiting the United States every year enjoy perfectly safe food.

“We’d like to have that arrangement being one in which in Britain you can choose to have American chicken, American beef, or other agricultural products just as you could when you come to the United States,” he told VOA. “It is a key lynchpin of an agreement. Financial, manufacturing and agriculture has to be free and fair.”

Issa added that President Trump is committed to sealing a trade deal with Britain after Brexit, and that it could “be the next NAFTA”, referring to the North American Free Trade Agreement between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Writing in Britain’s The Telegraph newspaper Saturday, America’s ambassador to Britain, Woody Johnson, attacked what he called “myths” over U.S. farming and alleged they are part of a protectionist agenda.

Britain has repeatedly pledged that it will not lower food standards after Brexit. Responding to Ambassador Johnson’s comments, Britain’s international trade minister, Liam Fox, said London would hold its ground.

“Will we accept things that we believe are against the interests of our consumers or our producers? No we won’t. It’s a negotiation,” Fox told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show Sunday.

The dispute over American beef and poultry is also influencing debate over the Irish border, a key stumbling block in Britain’s attempt to secure an EU exit deal.

Britain and Europe want to avoid border checks between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, an EU member state. Ireland’s prime minister, Leo Varadkar, recently expressed fears that the border could open a back door into the EU.

“If at some point in the future the United Kingdom were to allow chlorinated chicken or beef with hormones into their markets, we wouldn’t want that coming into our markets or the European Union as well,” Varadkar told reporters.

The United States says a trade deal would deliver huge benefits in sectors like financial services. Britain, meanwhile, is keen to bolster its post-Brexit credentials as a global trading power.

Far away from the skyscrapers of New York or London, it is farming that could prove the biggest barrier to any agreement.

 
…

London and Washington are beginning exploratory talks over a trade deal after Britain leaves the European Union – which both sides say could deliver huge economic benefits. But already sharp differences have emerged over what might be included, as Britain resists U.S. demands to open its markets to agricultural products currently banned under EU law. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.
…

The Trump administration is preparing to tighten the six-decade trade embargo on Cuba on Monday by allowing some lawsuits against foreign companies using properties confiscated by the Cuban government after its 1959 revolution, U.S. officials say.

Every president since Bill Clinton has suspended a section of the 1996 Helms-Burton act that would allow such lawsuits because they would snarl companies from U.S.-allied countries in years of complicated litigation that could prompt international trade claims against the United States.

Major investors in Cuba include British tobacco giant Imperial Brands, which runs a joint venture with the Cuban government making premium cigars; Spanish hoteliers Iberostar and Melia, who run dozens of hotels across the island; and French beverage-maker Pernod-Ricard, which makes Havana Club rum with a Cuban state distiller.

U.S. officials told The Associated Press that Trump would allow Title III of Helms-Burton to go into effect in a limited fashion that exempts many potential targets from litigation. The measure is being presented as retaliation for Cuba’s support of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who the U.S. is trying to oust in favor of opposition leader Juan Guaido.

Allowing a limited number of lawsuits could make investment in Cuba more burdensome for companies thinking of entering the market, who will now have to do additional research into their legal liability, but it is unlikely to be a major blow against the Cuban economy.

After nearly 60 years of trade embargo, the Cuban economy is in a period of consistently low growth of about 1 percent a year, with foreign investment at roughly $2 billion, far below what it needs to spur more prosperity. But tourism, remittances and subsidized oil from Venezuela have allowed the government to maintain basic services and a degree of stability that appears unshaken by the Trump administration’s recent moves against Cuba and its major remaining allies in Latin America — Venezuela and Nicaragua.
…

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones industrial average snapped a three-day run of losses on Friday as optimism about the prospects for a U.S.-China trade agreement countered downbeat U.S. and China manufacturing data. 

The Nasdaq, meanwhile, marked its longest streak of weekly gains since late 1999. 

Following President Donald Trump’s announcement last weekend of a delay in higher tariffs on Chinese imports, Bloomberg reported late Thursday that a summit between Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to sign a final trade deal could happen as soon as mid-March.

“The optimism over trade resolution is outweighing the weakening economic data,” said Ryan Detrick, senior market strategist at LPL Financial in Charlotte, N.C. 

A private survey showed China’s factory activity contracted for a third straight month in February, though at a slower pace, indicating a marginal improvement in domestic demand as a flurry of policy stimulus kicked in from late last year. 

ISM data also showed U.S. manufacturing activity for February dropped to its lowest since November 2016, and the University of Michigan survey showed consumer sentiment fell short of expectations in the month. 

Detrick said that while the data were weak, investors hoped a U.S.-China trade deal would improve global growth prospects. 

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 110.32 points, or 0.43 percent, to 26,026.32; the S&P 500 gained 19.2 points, or 0.69 percent, to 2,803.69; and the Nasdaq Composite added 62.82 points, or 0.83 percent, to 7,595.35. 

Good sign

Friday marked the first close above 2,800 for the S&P since Nov. 8. Nate Thooft, global head of asset allocation for Manulife Asset Management in Boston, said technical investors would see a close above that level “as a good omen.” 

The index closed 4.2 percent under its September record closing high. It has risen 11.8 percent so far this year, bolstered by trade hopes and the Federal Reserve’s cautious stance on interest rates. 

For the week, the S&P rose 0.4 percent while the Dow fell 0.02 percent and the Nasdaq rose 0.9 percent. 

Of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, eight were gainers on the day. The health care sector rose 1.4 percent, providing the biggest boost and supported by gains in companies including health insurer UnitedHealth Group which bounced back after falling for much of the week. 

The consumer discretionary sector rose 0.9 percent, with the biggest lift from Amazon.com. 

Foot Locker shares rose 5.9 percent after the retailer beat quarterly same-store sales estimates and helped drive a 1.9 percent gain in shares of Nike Inc., the second-biggest boost to the sector. 

Gap Inc. surged 16 percent, making it the biggest percentage gainer in the S&P, after it said it would separate its better-performing Old Navy brand and close about 230 Gap stores. 

The energy sector rose 1.8 percent despite a decline in oil prices. 

A U.S. Commerce Department report showed inflation pressures remaining tame, which along with slowing domestic and global economic growth gave more credence to the Federal Reserve’s “patient” stance toward raising interest rates further this year. 

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.79-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.86-to-1 ratio favored advancers. 

The S&P 500 posted 54 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 92 new highs and 29 new lows. 

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 7.95 billion shares, compared with the 7.27 billion average for the last 20 trading days. 
…

U.S. consumer spending tumbled 0.5 percent in December, the biggest decline in nine years, as the holiday shopping season ended in disappointment. Meanwhile, incomes rose sharply in December but edged down in January.

The fall in consumer spending followed sizable gains of 0.7 percent in October and 0.6 percent in November, the Commerce Department reported Friday. December’s result means that spending for the quarter decelerated significantly, a primary factor in the slowing of overall economy in the final three months of the year. Gross domestic product recorded a growth rate of 2.6 percent after a 3.4 percent gain in the third quarter.

Incomes jumped 1 percent in December, though slipped 0.1 percent in January. The government did not release spending data for January because of delays stemming from the government shutdown.

The big fall in spending reflected sizable declines in purchases of durable goods such as autos, as well as nondurable goods such as clothing during the all-important holiday shopping season. The result shows that consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of economic growth, was showing significant weakness heading into the current quarter.

Many economists believe that GDP growth will slow further during the current January-March period, with some expecting GDP to drop to a growth rate of 2 percent or lower.

Inflation, as measured by a gauge preferred by the Federal Reserve, was up 1.7 percent for the past 12 months ending in December. That’s the slowest 12-month pace since a similar 12-month gain for the period ending in October 2017 and is below the Fed’s 2 percent target for annual price increases.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told Congress this week that with a number of economic risks facing the country and with inflation so low, the central bank intends to be “patient” in deciding when to change interest rates again.

The move to a prolonged pause in further rate hikes, which the Fed had announced at its January meeting, has cheered financial markets which had been worried that the central bank, which hiked its benchmark rate four times last year, could move rates up too quickly, raising the risks of an economic downturn.

The spending and income report showed that the saving rate jumped to 7.6 percent of after-tax income in December, compared to 6.1 percent in November. That was the highest saving rate since January 2016.
…

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown signed the nation’s first statewide mandatory rent control measure on Thursday, giving a victory to housing advocates who say spiraling rent costs in the economically booming state have fueled widespread homelessness and housing insecurity.  

Brown, a Democrat, said the legislation will provide “some immediate relief to Oregonians struggling to keep up with rising rents and a tight rental market.” 

Landlords are now limited to increases once per year that cannot exceed 7 percent plus the change in the consumer price index, which is used to calculate inflation. 

The law prohibits them from serving no-cause evictions after a tenant’s first year of occupancy, a provision designed to protect those who are living paycheck to paycheck and who affordable housing advocates say are often most vulnerable to sudden rent hikes and abrupt lease terminations. 

New York has a statewide rent control law, but cities can choose whether to participate. California restricts the ability of cities to impose rent control. Last November, voters defeated a ballot initiative that would have overturned that law. 

Emergency measure

The Oregon law takes effect immediately. Democrats who control the Legislature say the state’s housing crisis justified passing the bill as an emergency measure. 

In hearings for the bill passed, tenants testified that they have struggled to keep up with skyrocketing rents, with many said they’ve been forced from their homes. Kori Sparks, a resident of the fast-growing city of Bend, said she relies on disability and has “to deal with the stress of losing an accessible home on short notice.” 

She said rent control will protect vulnerable people from “a predatory system where profit comes before people and denies them of a basic human right.”  

Builders in Oregon have not been able to construct enough houses and apartments to meet the demands of the thousands of people moving to the state for jobs and, in some cases, for a lower cost of living. Many people move to the state from California. 

A state report estimated that a renter would need to work 77 hours a week at minimum wage to afford a two-bedroom apartment. One in three renters in Oregon pays more than 50 percent of his or her income for rent, far higher than the congressionally set definition of housing affordability, which suggests setting aside 30 percent toward rent.   

In the Portland metropolitan area, rent began to plateau in 2017 after four consecutive years of rent hikes averaging 5 percent or more. The average rental unit costs about $1,400 a month, according to data released by the city.  

Many are homeless

Oregon is also suffering from a lack of affordable housing and has one of the highest rates of homelessness in the country. 

Landlords and developers argued that rent control would make the housing crisis worse, saying investors will now be less willing to build or maintain properties.  

“History has shown that rent control exacerbates shortages, makes it harder for apartment owners to make upgrades and disproportionately benefits higher-income households,” said Doug Bibby, president of the National Multifamily Housing Council, a national association representing apartment building owners. 

The governor acknowledged that rent control alone isn’t enough, and that the state needs an “all hands on deck” solution. Brown has proposed a $400 million investment in affordable housing solutions in her two-year budget proposal. 

“It will take much more to ensure that every Oregonian, in communities large and small, has access to housing choices that allow them and their families to thrive,” she said. 
…

Tesla says it is now taking orders for the long-awaited $35,000 Model 3, will close stores and move to online orders.

Tesla says it is now taking orders for the long-awaited $35,000 Model 3, a car for the masses that is essential for the company to survive.

The company says to reach the lower price, it’s shifting all sales worldwide from stores to online only. Some high-traffic stores, however, will remain open.

The company will offer the standard base model, which can go 220 miles (350 kilometers) per charge. It also will offer a $37,000 version with a premium interior that accelerates faster and can go 240 miles (385 kilometers) per charge.

Tesla started taking orders for the Model 3 in March of 2016, but until now hasn’t been able to cut costs enough to sell them for $35,000 and make a profit.

The cheapest one that could be ordered until Thursday started at $42,900.

 
…

Gap Inc. said Thursday that it would separate its Old Navy brand into a publicly traded company in order to focus on its struggling namesake apparel business, sending its shares up 18 percent. 

Old Navy has had a better success than the Gap brand in recent years as a wide range of budget apparel has made it more appealing to a broader base of consumers. 

“It’s clear that Old Navy’s business model and customers have increasingly diverged from our specialty brands over time,” Gap’s Chairman Robert Fisher said. 

The company also said it planned to close 230 Gap specialty stores over the next two years. 

Gap’s overall same-store sales fell 1 percent in the fourth quarter ended Feb. 2, compared with analysts’ average estimate of a 0.3 percent rise, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. 

Gap, Athleta, Banana Republic and the remaining brands will be part of a yet-to-be-named company. The separation is expected to be completed by 2020, Gap said. 

The company’s shares were up 17.7 percent at $29.89 in extended trading.
…

Online crafts retailer Etsy Inc will go green by offsetting planet-warming carbon emissions from its shipping activities, the U.S. company said Wednesday, joining a host of companies making public moves to battle climate change.

Etsy will buy clean energy certificates supporting tree conservation in the United States, wind and solar power in India and clean automotive technology, it said.

The online marketplace for buying and selling handmade and vintage goods said its initiative is the first time a global e-commerce company has made such a move.

“Fast, free shipping ultimately comes at a cost to our planet,” wrote Josh Silverman, chief executive officer of the New York-based company in a blog on the company’s website.

The certificates are a way for companies to offset the amount of carbon dioxide they produce by paying for projects that support clean development.

The 13-year-old Etsy said its greenhouse gas emissions from shipping in 2018 totaled about 135,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, similar to those of 29,000 cars in a year.

About 55,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent are released each day from the delivery of all packages ordered from online retailers in the United States alone, it said.

Budweiser, Amazon.com

Last month, at the U.S. Super Bowl championship game, giant beer maker Budweiser helped purchase clean energy certificates to offset greenhouse gas emissions linked to fans’ travel and the host city of Atlanta.

More than 100 U.S. companies have committed to setting emission-reduction targets that seek to limit rising temperature to 2 degrees Celsius as part of a United Nations-backed initiative, said Sabrina Helm, who heads the Consumers, Environment & Sustainability Initiative, a research group at the University of Arizona.

Online retailers have largely been absent from those efforts, and Etsy’s move sends a “very important signal,” she said.

“A lot of online retailers are not particularly transparent in what they do in terms of sustainability,” she told Reuters.

Last week, online retail giant Amazon.com Inc said it planned to make its carbon footprint public for the first time this year.
…

The United States won a World Trade Organization ruling Thursday that China subsidized its wheat and rice producers too much in recent years.

The WTO in Geneva agreed with the U.S. position that Beijing paid its farmers excessive amounts for growing wheat, Indica rice and Japonica rice from 2012 to 2015, but said the dispute over a corn subsidy had already expired.

The ruling came in a U.S. complaint filed in 2016 during the final months of the last U.S. administration of former president Barack Obama.

The decision can be appealed, but current U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer praised the ruling.

“China’s excessive support limits opportunities for U.S. farmers to export their world-class products to China,” Lighthizer said in a statement. “We expect China to quickly come into compliance with its WTO obligations.”

The U.S. claimed that China paid its farmers nearly $100 billion more than WTO rules allow, creating an incentive to grow more wheat and rice, thus undercutting global prices for the grains.

The ruling could have ramifications for India, which has calculated its price supports in a similar way as China.

The WTO decision comes amid intense trade talks between Washington and Beijing, with President Donald Trump expressing optimism a deal can be reached.

During a news conference in Hanoi after the abrupt end of his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Trump said, “I think we have a very good chance. Their (economic growth) numbers are down, but I don’t want that.  I want (China) to do great. But we’ve been losing anywhere from $300 to $500 billion dollars a year with China for many, many years. And again, like other things, many presidents should have done this before me. And nobody did. So, we’re doing it.”

The most recent U.S. statistics show China last year had a $382 billion trade surplus in deals with the United States through November. Trump is trying to alter trade terms between the two countries to end what the United States, Japan and European countries contend are China’s unfair trade practices, including state intervention in markets, subsidies of some industries and theft of foreign technology.

But Lighthizer on Wednesday told a congressional panel in Washington, a new deal is not close to being completed.

“Much still needs to be done before an agreement can be reached,” he said. “If we can complete this effort, and again I say if, and if we can reach a resolution on the issue of enforceability, we might have an agreement that enables us to turn the corner in our relationship with China.”

The United States and China, the world’s two biggest economies, have been negotiating for months on a new agreement, even as they have imposed hefty new tariffs on billions of dollars of each other’s exports.

Lighthizer said the countries’ negotiators, who have been meeting in Washington and Beijing, “are making real progress.”

Trump cited that progress on Sunday in postponing what would have been a sharp increase in U.S. duties on $200 billion in Chinese imports that would have taken effect Friday.

China has offered to increase its purchase of American farm products and energy as part of a new trade pact.

 
…

As Walmart moves to phase out its familiar blue-vested “greeters” at 1,000 stores nationwide, disabled workers who fill many of those jobs say they’re being ill-treated by a chain that styles itself as community-minded and inclusive. 

Walmart told greeters around the country last week that their positions would be eliminated on April 26 in favor of an expanded, more physically demanding “customer host” role. To qualify, they will need to be able to lift 25-pound (11-kilogram) packages, climb ladders and stand for long periods. 

That came as a heavy blow to greeters with cerebral palsy, spina bifida and other physical disabilities. For them, a job at Walmart has provided needed income, served as a source of pride and offered a connection to the community.  

Customer backlash

Now Walmart, America’s largest private employer, is facing a backlash as customers rally around some of the chain’s most highly visible employees. 

Walmart says it is striving to place greeters in other jobs at the company, but workers with disabilities are worried.  

Donny Fagnano, 56, who has worked at Walmart for more than 21 years, said he cried when a manager at the store in Lewisburg, Pa., called him into the office last week and told him his job was going away.  

“I like working,” he said. “It’s better than sitting at home.” 

Fagnano, who has spina bifida, said he was offered a severance package. He hopes to stay on at Walmart and clean bathrooms instead. 

Walmart greeters have been around for decades, allowing the retail giant to put a friendly face at the front of its stores. Then, in 2016, Walmart began replacing greeters with hosts, adding responsibilities that include helping with returns, checking receipts to deter shoplifters and keeping the front of the store clean. Walmart and other chains have been redefining roles at stores as they compete with Amazon.  

The effect of the greeter phase-out on disabled and elderly employees — who have traditionally gravitated toward the role as one they were well-suited to doing — largely escaped public notice until last week, when Walmart launched a second round of cuts. 

As word spread, first on social media and then in local and national news outlets, outraged customers began calling Walmart to complain. Tens of thousands of people signed petitions. Facebook groups sprang up with names like “Team Adam” and “Save Lesley.” A second-grade class in California wrote letters to Walmart’s CEO on behalf of Adam Catlin, a disabled greeter in Pennsylvania whose mother had written an impassioned Facebook post about his plight. Walmart said it has offered another job to Catlin. 

In Galena, Ill., hundreds of customers plan to attend an “appreciation parade” for Ashley Powell on her last day of work as a greeter. 

“I love it, and I think I’ve touched a lot of people,” said Powell, 34, who has an intellectual disability. 

‘What am I going to do?’

In Vancouver, Wash., John Combs, 42, who has cerebral palsy, was devastated and then angered by his impending job loss. It had taken his family five years to find him a job he could do, and he loved the work, coming up with nicknames for all his co-workers. 

“What am I going to do — just sit here on my butt all day in this house? That’s all I’m going to do?” Combs asked his sister and guardian, Rachel Wasser. “I do my job. I didn’t do anything wrong.” 

Wasser urged the retailer to “give these people a fair shake. … If you want to make your actions match your words, do it. Don’t be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” 

With the U.S. unemployment rate for disabled people more than twice that for workers without disabilities, Walmart has long been seen as a destination for people like Combs. Advocacy groups worry the company is backsliding.  

“It’s the messaging that concerns me,” said Gabrielle Sedor, chief operations officer at ANCOR, a trade group representing service providers. “Given that Walmart is such an international leader in the retail space, I’m concerned this decision might suggest to some people that the bottom line of the company is more important to the company than inclusive communities. We don’t think those two are mutually exclusive.” 

The greeter issue has already prompted at least three complaints to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, as well as a federal lawsuit in Utah alleging discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Under the federal law, employers must provide “reasonable” accommodations to workers with disabilities. 

Walmart did not disclose how many disabled greeters could lose their jobs. The company said that after it made the change at more than 1,000 stores in 2016, 80 percent to 85 percent of all affected greeters found other roles at Walmart. It did not reveal how many of them were disabled. 

This time, Walmart initially told greeters they would have 60 days to land other jobs at the company. Amid the uproar, the company has extended the deadline indefinitely for greeters with disabilities. 

“We recognize that our associates with physical disabilities face a unique situation,” Walmart spokesman Justin Rushing said in a statement. The extra time, he said, will give Walmart a chance to explore how to accommodate such employees. 

Offers made

Walmart said it has already made offers to some greeters, including those with physical disabilities, and expects to continue doing so in the coming weeks.  

But some workers say they have been tacitly discouraged from applying for other jobs. 

Mitchell Hartzell, 31, a full-time Walmart greeter in Hazel Green, Ala., said his manager told him “they pretty much didn’t have anything in that store for me to do” after his job winds down in April. He said he persisted, approaching several assistant managers to ask about openings, and found out about a vacant position at self-checkout. But it had already been promised to a greeter who doesn’t use a wheelchair, he said. 

“It seems like they don’t want us anymore,” said Hartzell, who has cerebral palsy. 

Jay Melton, 40, who has worked as a greeter in Marion, N.C., for nearly 17 years, loves church, Tar Heels basketball and Walmart. His sister-in-law, Jamie Melton, said the job is what gets him out of bed. 

“He doesn’t have a lot of things he does himself that bring him joy,” she said. Addressing Walmart, Melton added: “When you cut a huge population of people out, and you have written a policy that declares they are no longer capable of doing what they have been doing, that is discrimination.”  
…

Women around the world are granted only three-quarters of the legal rights enjoyed by men, often preventing them from getting jobs or opening businesses, the World Bank said in study published Wednesday. 

“If women have equal opportunities to reach their full potential, the world would not only be fairer, it would be more prosperous as well,” Kristalina Georgieva, the bank’s interim president, said in a statement. 

While reforms in many countries are a step in the right direction, “2.7 billion women are still legally barred from having the same choice of jobs as men,” the statement said. 

The study included an index measuring gender disparities that was derived from data collected over a decade from 187 countries and using eight indicators to evaluate the balance of rights afforded to men and women. 

The report showed progress over the past 10 years, with the index rising to 75 from 70, out of a possible 100, as 131 countries have agreed to enact 274 reforms, adopting laws or regulations allowing greater inclusion of women. 

Among the improvements, 35 countries have proposed laws against sexual harassment in the workplace, granting protections to an additional 2 billion women, while 22 nations have abolished restrictions that kept women out of certain industrial sectors. 

Six perfect scores

Six nations — Belgium, Denmark, France, Latvia, Luxembourg and Sweden — scored a 100, “meaning they give women and men equal legal rights in the measured areas,” the World Bank said. 

A decade ago, no economy had achieved a perfect score. 

On the other hand, too many women still face discriminatory laws or regulations at every stage of their professional lives: 56 nations made no improvement over the last decade. 

South Asia saw the greatest progress, although it still achieved a relatively low score of 58.36. It was followed by Southeast Asia and the Pacific, at 70.73 and 64.80, respectively.  

Latin America and the Caribbean recorded the second-highest scores among emerging and developing economies at 79.09. 

Conversely, the Middle East and North Africa posted the lowest score for gender equality at 47.37. The World Bank nevertheless pointed to encouraging changes, such as the introduction of laws against domestic violence, in particular in Algeria and Lebanon.
…

The Federal Reserve will stop shrinking its $4 trillion balance sheet later this year, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said on Wednesday, ending a process that investors say works at cross-purposes with the Fed’s current pause on interest rate hikes. 

“We’ve worked out, I think, the framework of a plan that we hope to be able to announce soon that will light the way all the way to the end of balance sheet normalization,” Powell told members of the House Financial Services Committee in what were his most detailed remarks to date on the subject. 

“We’re going to be in a position … to stop runoff later this year,” he said, adding that doing so would leave the balance sheet at about 16 percent or 17 percent of GDP, up from about 6 percent before the financial crisis about a decade ago. 

The U.S. gross domestic product is currently about $20 trillion, suggesting the Fed’s balance sheet would be between $3.2 trillion and $3.4 trillion. 

The Fed has been trimming its balance sheet — bulked up by trillions of dollars of bond-buying during the post-crisis years to help keep interest rates low and bolster the economy — by as much as $50 billion a month since October 2017. As recently as a few months ago it had expected to keep shrinking its portfolio for another couple of years. 

New tack

But in a series of meetings that began in November, the Fed has been devising a new approach. With rising demand for currency around the world, and from U.S. banks for reserves held at the central bank, Fed policymakers now believe a big balance sheet is necessary just to ensure it has proper control over the short-term interest rates it sets to manage the economy. 

In addition, Fed policymakers now say balance sheet policy should take financial and economic conditions into account. 

Questions about the plan remain, including whether the Fed will adjust the maturities of its Treasury portfolio, and how it will go about shedding the mortgage-backed securities (MBS) it accumulated during its asset-buying days. 

Powell said the Fed still has a bunch of decisions ahead of it. 

“The one on MBS sales is really closer to the back of the line — really, we have to decide about the maturity composition, things like that, and we’ll be working through that in a very careful way,” Powell said.  “Markets are sensitive to this.” 

Powell’s remarks on the balance sheet came toward the end of more than two hours of testimony before the Democrat-led House panel that includes several new members, including New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. 

But the Green New Deal advocate and Bronx populist asked no questions during the debate, and much of what Powell said on Wednesday repeated comments made Tuesday to the Republican-controlled Senate Banking Committee, including that the economy is on solid ground and the Fed would be patient on raising rates. 

Inflation goal unchanged

Powell was asked, as he was in the Senate, about the Fed’s plan to rethink its policy framework this year. He assured lawmakers that the Fed is merely trying to refine its approach so it can meet its current 2 percent inflation goal. 

“We are not looking at a higher inflation target, full stop,” he said. 

Powell also repeated his warnings against a failure by Congress to raise the debt ceiling, saying there would be “bad consequences” should the United States default on its debt payments. 

Powell by law appears two times a year before Congress to brief members of the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee on monetary policy and the state of the economy. 
…

Boeing on Wednesday unveiled an unmanned, fighter-like jet developed in Australia and designed to fly alongside crewed aircraft in combat for a fraction of the cost.

The U.S. manufacturer hopes to sell the multi-role aircraft, which is 38 feet long (11.6 meters) and has a 2,000 nautical mile (3,704-kilometer) range, to customers around the world, modifying it as requested.

It is Australia’s first domestically developed combat aircraft in decades and Boeing’s biggest investment in unmanned systems outside the United States, although the company declined to specify the dollar amount.

Defense contractors are investing increasingly in autonomous technology as militaries around the world look for a cheaper and safer way to maximize their resources.

Boeing rivals like Lockheed Martin and Kratos Defense and Security Solutions are also investing in such aircraft.

Four to six of the new aircraft, called the Boeing Airpower Teaming System, can fly alongside a F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, said Shane Arnott, director of Boeing research and prototype arm Phantom Works International.

“To bring that extra component and the advantage of unmanned capability, you can accept a higher level of risk,” he said.

The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies in the United States said last year that the U.S. Air Force should explore pairing crewed and uncrewed aircraft to expand its fleet and complement a limited number of “exquisite, expensive, but highly potent fifth-generation aircraft” like the F-35.

“Human performance factors are a major driver behind current aerial combat practices,” the policy paper said. “Humans can only pull a certain number of Gs, fly for a certain number of hours, or process a certain amount of information at a given time.”

In addition to performing like a fighter jet, other roles for the Boeing system early warning, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance alongside aircraft like the P-8 Poseidon and E-7 Wedgetail, said Kristin Robertson, vice president and general manager of Boeing Autonomous Systems.

​”It is operationally very flexible, modular, multi-mission,” she said. “It is a very disruptive price point. Fighter-like capability at a fraction of the cost.”

Robertson declined to comment on the cost, saying that it would depend on the configuration chosen by individual customers.

The jet is powered by a derivative of a commercially available engine, uses standard runways for take-off and landing, and can be modified for carrier operations at sea, Robertson said. She declined to specify whether it could reach supersonic speeds, common for modern fighter aircraft.

Its first flight is expected in 2020, with Boeing and the Australian government producing a concept demonstrator to pave the way for full production.

Australia, a staunch U.S. ally, is home to Boeing’s largest footprint outside the United States and has vast airspace with relatively low traffic for flight testing. 

The Boeing Airpower Teaming System will be manufactured in

Australia, but production lines could be set up in other countries depending on sales, Arnott said.

The United States, which has the world’s biggest military budget, would be among the natural customers for the product.

The U.S. Air Force 2030 project foresees the Lockheed Martin F-35A Joint Strike Fighter working together with stealthy combat drones, called the “Loyal Wingman” concept, said Derrick Maple, principal analyst for unmanned systems at IHS Markit.

“The U.S. has more specific plans for the wingman concept, but Western Europe will likely develop their requirements in parallel, to abate the capabilities of China and the Russian Federation and other potential threats,” he said.

Robertson declined to name potential customers and would not comment on potential stealth properties, but said the aircraft had the potential to sell globally.

“We didn’t design this as a point solution but a very flexible solution that we could outfit with payloads, sensors, different mission sets to complement whatever their fleet is,” she said. “Don’t think of it as a specific product that is tailored to do only one mission.”
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Brazil’s Senate confirmed Roberto Campos Neto as central bank governor on Tuesday, after he stressed that controlling inflation and reining in public spending were critical to supporting economic growth.

Much work must still be done to secure Brazil’s economic recovery, Campos Neto told the Senate’s economic committee at his confirmation hearing.

He indicated there would be little change, if any, to monetary policy, echoing the central bank’s current stance that decisions are based on “caution, serenity and perseverance.”

The Senate approved Campos Neto by a vote of 55 in favor to six opposed, following unanimous confirmation by the economic committee.

He will officially assume the role with the signature of President Jair Bolsonaro, likely later this week.

Campos Neto is a former senior executive at Banco Santander Brasil SA. A University of California-trained economist, he has spent his career in banking and market trading and is acutely aware of the impact central bank policy decisions and communications have on markets, analysts say.

In his testimony Tuesday, Campos Neto said the country must keep opening up capital markets to foreign and domestic investors, while avoiding inflationary stimulus or state intervention.

His rhetoric largely mirrored that of several advisers to President Jair Bolsonaro, most of whom are pushing for an overhaul of the nation’s costly public pension system and a broad series of privatizations.

Campos Neto predicted Brazil’s economy would perform better this year than last, thanks in part to reforms the government is promoting.

Brazilian interest rates have been held at a record low 6.50 percent but economic growth has slowed in recent months, weakening what was already a sluggish recovery from the 2015-16 recession.

“While his market knowledge could make him adopt a more forceful stance at some point, the need to build credibility, particularly at the beginning of his tenure, would favor prudence,” said a U.S.-based source with first-hand experience of Brazilian markets.

Campos Neto refused to discuss whether Brazil should sell any of its $375 billion reserves, saying it was something that would require more analysis.

International FX reserves serve as an insurance policy in times of crisis, he said.

“The price of that insurance is much lower now,” he said, noting the narrowing of the spread between U.S. and Brazilian interest rates to less than 400 basis points from over 1,200 bps a couple of years ago.
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The Federal Reserve is in “no rush to make a judgment” about further changes to interest rates, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell told U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday as he spelled out the central bank’s approach to an economy that is likely slowing.

In two hours of testimony to the Senate Banking Committee, Powell elaborated on the “conflicting signals” the Fed has tried to decipher in recent weeks, including disappointing data on retail sales and other aspects of the economy that contrast with steady hiring, wage growth, and ongoing low unemployment.

“The baseline outlook is a good one,” Powell said, but slower growth overseas is a drag on the U.S. economy that “we may feel more of” in the coming months.

“We have the makings of a good outlook and our (rate-setting) committee is really monitoring the crosscurrents, the risks, and for now we are going to be patient with our policy and allow things to take time to clarify.”

If anything, Powell’s comments solidified a Fed policy shift last month in which it indicated it would pause a three-year cycle of rate hikes, which had been projected to run well into 2020, until the inflation or growth dynamics change.

The flow of new workers into the labor force, for example, has surprised the central bank and means “there is more room to grow,” Powell said.

Powell, who has led the Fed for just over a year, faced virtually no pushback from Republicans on the Senate panel, as former Fed chief Janet Yellen had in the past, that the central bank was courting inflation or financial risks by leaving rates too low.

After raising rates four times in 2018, and anticipating further hikes in 2019, the Fed in January switched to a “patient” stance as concerns about the global economy took root, and markets voiced doubts about the U.S. economic recovery.

The Fed’s benchmark overnight lending rate currently is within a range of 2.25 percent to 2.50 percent.

There was also little said by lawmakers about the Fed’s evolving plan to maintain a balance sheet of perhaps $3.5 trillion, which would be lower than the current $4 trillion but still massive by historical standards. Republican lawmakers generally have pushed the central bank to reduce a financial footprint inflated by crisis-era programs many in the party considered risky.

Financial markets were largely unmoved by Powell’s testimony, which was the first of his two hearings this week in Congress. He is due to appear before the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee on Wednesday.

U.S. Treasury yields were lower in afternoon trading while major U.S. stock indexes were slightly higher. The dollar was weaker against a basket of currencies.

Political Shift

Powell told lawmakers that the Fed expected the U.S. economy to grow solidly but at a slower pace this year than the estimated 3 percent growth for 2018, an outlook that was built into the central bank’s policy statement in January.

The “patient” approach to rate hikes has been a staple of Fed commentary since early last month.

“As long as we have steady growth with no inflation, that should keep the Fed at bay,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Cresset Wealth Advisors in Chicago.

But Tuesday’s hearing did offer a preview of issues the central bank may confront as the 2020 presidential campaign takes shape, and Democrats use their recently-won control of the House to press new economic and political ideas.

Amid a growing debate over whether the U.S. government may have far more room to expand its debt than conventional economics might recommend, or whether the Fed’s own balance sheet might help finance a “Green New Deal” of economic and environmental programs, Powell made clear he was among the traditionalists.

“The idea that deficits don’t matter for countries that can borrow in their own currency I think is just wrong. I think that U.S. debt is fairly high as a level of (gross domestic product) and, much more importantly than that, it’s growing faster than GDP,” Powell said. “To the extent that people are talking about the Fed – our role is not to provide support for particular policies” on environmental, social or other related issues.

Indeed, asked about the upcoming need to boost the U.S. debt ceiling, he said he considered the prospect of a U.S. government default on its obligations “a bright line, and I hope we never do pass it.”

Powell’s appearances on Capitol Hill this week, part of his semi-annual testimony to Congress, are his first since Democrats won control of the House in the November elections. They also follow the kickoff of a number of 2020 presidential campaigns.

Along with questions that ranged from the sources of rural poverty to the impact of climate change on banks, Senate committee members pressed points likely to figure into the Democratic primary battle.

“The Fed works for big rich banks that want to get bigger and richer,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat running for president. She questioned whether Powell would be adequately aggressive in reviewing a proposed megamerger between U.S. regional lender BB&T and rival SunTrust Banks.

Powell pledged an “open and transparent” review of the deal.

When asked whether there had been any “direct or indirect” communication from the White House about interest rates, Powell deferred, saying he would not comment on private conversations with other officials.

President Donald Trump has castigated the Fed for raising rates, arguing that the monetary tightening was undercutting his administration’s efforts to boost economic growth.

On Tuesday, Powell repeated his oft-heard pledge that the Fed will make policy decisions “in a way that is not political.”
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Kenya’s ride-hailing company ‘Little Cab’ is expanding to Tanzania and Ghana. The company will start offering rides in Tanzania’s commercial capital Dar es Salaam next week and plans to launch in Accra by May. VOA’s Mariama Diallo reports.
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Afghanistan has started shipping goods to India for the first time through a newly developed Iranian seaport in a bid to improve exports and reduce reliance on routes through its uneasy neighbor, Pakistan.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani traveled Sunday to the western border city of Zaranj to see off the inaugural convoy of 23 trucks loaded with 570 tons of cargo to the Chabahar port in neighboring Iran. The consignment is destined for the Indian port city of Mumbai. 

For decades, landlocked Afghanistan has mostly relied on Pakistani land and seaports for international trade. But mutual tensions have in recent years significantly reduced Afghan trade and transit activities through Pakistan. 

Addressing the nationally televised ceremony, Ghani credited a “healthy cooperation between India, Iran and Afghanistan” for achieving the milestone. He said the new export route will help improve economic growth in his war-shattered country, saying “Afghanistan is not landlocked anymore.”

New Delhi has financed and developed Iran’s Chabahar Port to enable Kabul get direct and easy sea trade access.

India took operational control of a portion of the Iranian port late last year for 18 months and plans to send cargo ships from its ports of Mumbai, Kandla and Mundra every two weeks, according Indian media reports. 

The United States last year waived certain anti-Iran sanctions to allow development of Chabahar to support efforts aimed at stabilizing Afghanistan. The waiver has enable India, Iran and Afghanistan to continue their work to establish a new transit and transport corridor linking the three countries to help improve Afghan economy and allow the war-ravaged country to import food and medicines.

India successfully shipped 1.1 million tons of wheat to Afghanistan through Chabahar Port in 2017. That year, New Delhi also launched an air corridor with Kabul for bilateral trade. 

Indian ambassador to Afghanistan, Vinay Kumar, while addressing Sunday’s ceremony in Zaranj said the air corridor has since helped increased Afghan exports to his country by 40 percent. 

China also opened an air corridor with Afghanistan in November and has since imported thousands of tons of Afghan pine nuts, bringing much-need foreign exchange to Kabul. Afghanistan is the largest producer of pine nuts in the world, with an annual output of about 23,000 tons. The increase in exports to China has led to an unusual rise in in prices of pine nuts in Afghanistan, say local traders and consumers.

Pakistan allows Afghanistan to use its seaports for international trade under a bilateral trade and transit agreement. It also allows use of overland routes for Afghan exports to India. However, Islamabad wants improvement in ties with New Delhi before it will allow Indian exports via the same routes back to Afghanistan. 
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