07/06/2018 | UPONSOFT

How Trade Fight Impacts National Economies, Ordinary People

By Uponbiz | 07/06/2018 | No Comments | Business

The political squabbling between China and the United States over trade and other issues affect the world’s two largest economies through a variety of mechanisms with unpredictable results.

For example, prices of stock in both nations have been hurt as some shareholders sold their shares and other investors were reluctant to buy shares of companies that might be hurt by rising tariffs. These actions cut demand for certain stocks, making prices fall. Shareholders are part-owners of companies who hope to profit when the company prospers and grows. Rising tariff costs make growth less likely, and that hurts investor confidence.

World Trade Organization spokesman Dan Pruzin told Reuters that worries about trade are already being felt.

“Companies are hesitating to invest, markets are getting jittery, and some prices are rising,” he said, adding that further escalation could hurt “jobs and growth,” sending “economic shock waves” around the world.

Confidence

Trade squabbles can hurt business confidence, because managers are less willing to take the risk of buying new machines, building new factories or hiring new workers. Less expansion means less demand for equipment, and a smaller workforce means fewer people have the money to rent apartments, buy food or finance a new car. Less demand for goods and services ripples through the economy and sparks less economic activity and less growth.

Agriculture

U.S. farmers are another group feeling the effects of this trade dispute, as Beijing raises tariffs on U.S. soybeans. Higher tariffs raise food costs for Chinese consumers, so demand falls for U.S. farm products, a key American export. Anticipating slackening demand for U.S. soybeans, market prices dropped even before the tariffs were imposed. That means U.S. farmers can no longer afford to buy as many tractors and hire as many workers. Fewer workers mean fewer people with the money to buy products, which slows economic growth in farm states.

Consumers

Meantime, new U.S. tariffs hit Chinese-made vehicles, aircraft, boats, engines, heavy equipment and many other industrial products. China’s Xinhua news agency said new U.S. tariffs are an effort to “bully” Beijing. The agency says the new tariffs violate international trade rules, and will hurt many companies and “ordinary consumers.”

Experts say Washington tried to avoid tariffs on China that would directly raise costs to U.S. consumers. Economists say increasing taxes on products that help create consumer goods will still raise costs to consumers, fuel inflation and hurt demand.

Currency

PNC Bank Senior Economist Bill Adams, an expert on China’s economy, says one step China could take, but has not, would be to let its currency value drop. A weaker currency would mean Chinese-made products are cheaper and more competitive on international markets. Adams says China has taken steps recently to prop up the value of its currency. While a weaker currency helps exports, it can fuel inflation by raising the costs of imported products like oil or other raw materials needed by Chinese companies.

In the meantime, uncertainty fueled by trade disputes puts upward pressure on the value of the U.S. dollar, because investors see the United States as a safe haven in times of economic strife. But a stronger, more expensive dollar means U.S. products are more expensive for foreign customers, which hurts American exports and economic growth.

All of this means it is hard to predict how this trade dispute will play out. Experts say it will depend in large measure on how many times the two sides raise tariffs in response to each other, how high the tariffs go, and how long the bickering lasts.

William Zarit, the chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, writes that this is the biggest trade dispute between China and the United States in 40 years.

The two sides must work something out, Zarit says, because a “strong bilateral trade and investment relationship is too important to both countries for it to be mired in verbal and trade remedy attacks and counterattacks.”

He says a new agreement would “significantly benefit both economies.”
…

Singer Brown Arrested on Florida Felony Battery Charge

By Uponent | 07/06/2018 | No Comments | Entertainment

Singer Chris Brown walked off stage after his concert in Florida and into the hands of waiting deputies, who arrested him on a felony battery charge involving a nightclub photographer last year.

Tampa police released more details about the battery warrant Friday after Brown posted $2,000 bond to be released from the Palm Beach County Jail.

The warrant accuses Brown of hitting Bennie Vines Jr., who was hired by a club in Tampa to take pictures during an event hosted by Brown in April 2017.

Vines told officers Brown punched him while he was snapping photos. Brown was gone by the time officers arrived that night. Vines refused medical treatment, but he told the officers that he wanted to prosecute over a minor lip cut.

Emails to Brown’s agents weren’t immediately returned.

The entertainer is in the middle of his “Heartbreak on a Full Moon” tour and was scheduled to perform in Tampa Friday night.

Brown has been in repeated legal trouble since pleading guilty of assaulting his then-girlfriend, singer Rihanna, in 2009. He completed his probation in that case in 2015.

In 2013, Brown was charged with misdemeanor assault after he was accused of striking a man outside a Washington, D.C., hotel. He was ordered into rehab but was dismissed for violating facility rules.

Brown spent 2½ months in custody, with U.S. marshals shuttling him between Los Angeles and the nation’s capital for hearings.

After he completed court-ordered anger-management classes, Brown was accused of throwing a brick at his mother’s car following a counseling session.

After Brown posted a picture to his 44 million Instagram followers in January showing his 3-year-old daughter, Royalty, cuddling with a pet monkey, California fish and wildlife agents seized the capuchin monkey named Fiji from his home in Los Angeles. Agents said then that Brown could face a misdemeanor charge carrying up to six months in jail for lacking a permit for the primate.
…

Trump’s Tariffs: What They Are, How They’ll Work

By Uponbiz | 07/06/2018 | No Comments | Business

So is this what a trade war looks like?

The Trump administration and China’s leadership have imposed tens of billions of dollars in tariffs on each other’s goods. President Donald Trump has proposed slapping duties on, all told, up to $550 billion if China keeps retaliating and doesn’t cave in to U.S. demands to scale back its aggressive industrial policies.

Until the past couple of years, tariffs had been losing favor as a tool of national trade policy. They were largely a relic of 19th and early 20th centuries that most experts viewed as mutually harmful to all nations involved. But Trump has restored tariffs to a prominent place in his self-described America First approach.

Trump enraged such U.S. allies as Canada, Mexico and the European Union this spring by slapping tariffs on their steel and aluminum shipments to the United States. The tariffs have been in place on most other countries since March.

The president has also asked the U.S. Commerce Department to look into imposing tariffs on imported cars, trucks and auto parts, arguing that they pose a threat to U.S. national security.

Here is a look at what tariffs are, how they work, how they’ve been used in the past and what to expect now:

Are we in a trade war?

Economists have no set definition of a trade war. But with the world’s two largest economies now slapping potentially punishing tariffs on each other, it looks as if a trade war has arrived. The value of goods that Trump has threatened to hit with tariffs exceeds the $506 billion in goods that China exported to the United States last year.

It’s not uncommon for countries, even close allies, to fight over trade in specific products. The United States and Canada, for example, have squabbled for decades over softwood lumber.

But the U.S. and China are fighting over much broader issues, like China’s requirements that American companies share advanced technology to access China’s market, and the overall U.S. trade deficit with China. So far, neither side has shown any sign of bending.

So what are tariffs?

Tariffs are a tax on imports. They’re typically charged as a percentage of the transaction price that a buyer pays a foreign seller. Say an American retailer buys 100 garden umbrellas from China for $5 apiece, or $500. The U.S. tariff rate for the umbrellas is 6.5 percent. The retailer would have to pay a $32.50 tariff on the shipment, raising the total price from $500 to $532.50.

In the United States, tariffs — also called duties or levies — are collected by Customs and Border Protection agents at 328 ports of entry across the country. Proceeds go to the Treasury. The tariff rates are published by the U.S. International Trade Commission in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, which lists U.S. tariffs on everything from dried plantains (1.4 percent) to parachutes (3 percent).

Sometimes, the U.S. will impose additional duties on foreign imports that it determines are being sold at unfairly low prices or are being supported by foreign government subsidies.

Do other countries have higher tariffs than the United States?

Most key U.S. trading partners do not have significantly higher average tariffs. According to an analysis by Greg Daco at Oxford Economics, U.S. tariffs on imported goods, adjusted for trade volumes, average 2.4 percent, above Japan’s 2 percent and just below the 3 percent for the European Union and 3.1 percent for Canada.

The comparable figures for Mexico and China are higher. Both have higher duties that top 4 percent.

Trump has complained about the 270 percent duty that Canada imposes on dairy products. But the United States has its own ultra-high tariffs — 168 percent on peanuts and 350 percent on tobacco.

What are tariffs supposed to accomplish?

Two things: Raise government revenue and protect domestic industries from foreign competition. Before the establishment of the federal income tax in 1913, tariffs were a big money-raiser for the U.S. government. From 1790 to 1860, for example, they produced 90 percent of federal revenue, according to Clashing Over Commerce: A History of US Trade Policy by Douglas Irwin, an economist at Dartmouth College. By contrast, last year tariffs accounted for only about 1 percent of federal revenue.

In the fiscal year that ended last September 30, the U.S. government collected $34.6 billion in customs duties and fees. The White House Office of Management and Budget expects tariffs to fetch $40.4 billion this year.

Tariffs also are meant to increase the price of imports or to punish foreign countries for committing unfair trade practices, like subsidizing their exporters and dumping their products at unfairly low prices. Tariffs discourage imports by making them more expensive. They also reduce competitive pressure on domestic competitors and can allow them to raise prices.

Tariffs fell out of favor as global trade expanded after World War II.

The formation of the World Trade Organization and the advent of trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement among the U.S., Mexico and Canada reduced or eliminated tariffs.

Why are tariffs making a comeback?

After years of trade agreements that bound the countries of the world more closely and erased restrictions on trade, a populist backlash has grown against globalization. This was evident in Trump’s 2016 election and the British vote that year to leave the European Union — both surprise setbacks for the free-trade establishment.

Critics note that big corporations in rich countries exploited looser rules to move factories to China and other low-wage countries, then shipped goods back to their wealthy home countries while paying low tariffs or none at all. Since China joined the WTO in 2001, the United States has shed 3.1 million factory jobs, though many economists attribute much of that loss not just to trade but to robots and other technologies that replace human workers.

Trump campaigned on a pledge to rewrite trade agreements and crack down on China, Mexico and other countries. He blames what he calls their abusive trade policies for America’s persistent trade deficits — $566 billion last year. Most economists, by contrast, say the deficit simply reflects the reality that the United States spends more than it saves. By imposing tariffs, he is beginning to turn his hard-line campaign rhetoric into action.

Are tariffs wise?

Most economists — Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro is a notable exception — say no. The tariffs drive up the cost of imports. And by reducing competitive pressure, they give U.S. producers leeway to raise their prices, too. That’s good for those producers, but bad for almost everyone else.

Rising costs especially hurt consumers and companies that rely on imported components. Some U.S. companies that buy steel are complaining that Trump’s tariffs put them at a competitive disadvantage. Their foreign rivals can buy steel more cheaply and offer their products at lower prices.

More broadly, economists say trade restrictions make the economy less efficient. Facing less competition from abroad, domestic companies lose the incentive to increase efficiency or to focus on what they do best.
…

Research Indicates Spiders Use Electric Fields to Take Flight

By Uponsci | 07/06/2018 | No Comments | Science

Since the 1800s, scientists have marveled at how spiders can take flight using their webbing. Charles Darwin remarked on the behavior when tiny spiders landed on the HMS Beagle, trailing lines of silk. He thought the arachnids might be using heat-generated updrafts to take to the sky, but new research shows a totally different cause may be at play.

Erica Morley and Daniel Robert from the University of Bristol in England were interested in exploring a second explanation for the spiders’ ability. They thought spiders might sense and use electrostatic fields in the air.

“There have been several studies looking at how air movement and wind can get spiders airborne, but the electrostatic hypothesis was never tested,” Morley told VOA.

Some observers suggested electrostatic fields might be the reason the multiple draglines some spiders use to float don’t get tangled with each other. Biologist Kimberley Sheldon from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, who was not involved in the new research, pointed out that “though these spiders will have five or six draglines, those strands of silk do not get entangled. So we’ve known for a while that electrostatics probably [are] at least interacting with the spider, with the silk lines themselves, to keep them from getting tangled.”

Morley and Robert created a box with a grounded metal plate on the bottom and a plate on the top that they could pass an electrical current through. The scientists placed spiders in the box and turned on the voltage, watching as the creatures reacted to the electric field.

Reaction to current

When the electric field was on, the spiders lifted their abdomens into the air and started tiptoeing by raising up on the very ends of their legs. Morley told VOA that spiders only tiptoe right before they release silk draglines to fly away, in a process called ballooning.

And when the spiders did balloon and rise into the air, turning off the electric current caused them to drop.

Sheldon compared it to taking a balloon and rubbing it against your clothing. “If you hold the balloon [near your head], your hair stands on end. That’s kind of what’s happening with the spider silk.”

Clearly the spiders were able to sense the local electrostatic field and respond appropriately by releasing silk, but Morley and Robert wanted to know how.

“As a sensory biologist, I was keen to understand what sensory system they might use to detect electric fields,” said Morley. “We know that they have very sensitive hairs that are displaced by air movements or even sound. So I thought that it’s possible that they might be using these same hairs to detect electric fields.”

This was exactly what she observed. The small hairs along the spiders’ legs react not only to physical experiences like a breeze but also to the electric field. In nature, it makes sense for spiders to sense both the electrostatic field around them as well as wind conditions. Spiders probably use both when taking off and navigating the skies.

Mathematician Longhua Zhao from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland has made computer models of how spiders balloon. She told VOA, “I think that both the electrical field and the fluid mechanics [of air flow] are important. They definitely play very important roles. However, we don’t know at this point which is the dominant factor.”

Lead researcher Morley pointed out that spiders aren’t the only invertebrates to balloon. “Caterpillars and spider mites, which are arachnids but not spiders, balloon as well.” Morley hopes to see others follow up her research to see if these other animals respond in a way similar to the spiders.

The study is published in Current Biology.
…

Scientists Step Closer to Saving Northern White Rhino

By Uponsci | 07/06/2018 | No Comments | Science

An international team of scientists have announced a breakthrough aimed at saving the northern white rhino from extinction. The first-ever hybrid rhino embryo has been successfully created at a lab for biotechnology research in Italy.

Conservationists now plan to use the technology by replicating the procedure with genes from a northern white rhino.

The breakthrough was announced Wednesday by the Dvur Kralove Zoo and the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research.

The development thrilled wildlife conservationists all over the world, especially in Kenya’s Olpajeta conservancy, which provided a sanctuary for 10 years for the last male northern white rhino.

“Clearly it’s good news, it’s a step in the process to eventually being able to create a purebred northern white rhino calf through IVF [in vitro fertilization],” said Olpajeta CEO Richard Vigne.

“Once we can create an embryo, that doesn’t mean we are yet able to put the embryo into a surrogate mother to create purebred northern white rhinos on the ground, but it’s a step in the right direction.”

WATCH: Scientists Work to Create Northern White Rhino Embryos

Rhino horn black market

In recent years, rhino numbers have dropped dramatically, mainly due to poachers killing the animals to satisfy the black market for rhino horn.

Adapting a reproduction technique used in horses, scientists used a southern white rhino egg and northern white rhino sperm to develop an embryo that they say has a strong chance of surviving to term.

For fertilization, preserved semen from deceased northern white rhino males was used.

Last male died in March

The world’s last male northern white rhino, named Sudan, died in March of this year at age 45. Only two females still survive. Both also live in Olpajeta — Sudan’s daughter, Najin, and granddaughter, Fatu.

The scientists’ next step is to harvest eggs from Fatu and Najin. Once they have the eggs, they can begin the process of creating northern white rhino embryos for implantation. Female southern white rhinos will act as surrogate mothers.

Vigne predicts it will be another year before any implantations take place. After that, Vigne hopes Najin and Fatu will soon have company at Olpajeta.

“Keeping them in good health, plus we will eventually provide surrogate southern white rhino females into which northern white rhino embryos can be implanted to produce calves on the ground,” Vigne said. “So we will provide the opportunity for the creation of a northern white rhino herd in Africa in due course.”

Semen available from four males

Available semen comes from only four males, including Sudan. To create a self-sustaining population of northern white rhinos with the necessary genetic diversity, scientists will combine stem cell research with other assisted reproduction techniques.

There have been previous attempts by conservation scientists to save the rhino species. In May, a southern white rhino in the U.S. named Victoria became pregnant through artificial insemination. Scientists are now waiting to see if the rhino will carry her baby to term.
…

Cameroon Football Fans Cheer for French Player with Ties to Africa

By Uponent | 07/06/2018 | No Comments | Entertainment

As the World Cup nears its climax, one of the players being cheered on in Africa is French striker Kylian Mbappe. Mbappe’s mother is from Algeria and his father is from Cameroon. While Cameroon failed to qualify for this year’s World Cup, many Cameroonians feel they are represented by Mbappe.

“France are performing very well and if you see them qualifying, it is because of Kylian Mbappe,” said Marcel Leinyuy, owner of Terminus bar in Makepe, a neighborhood in Cameroon’s economic capital, Douala. The bar was re-baptized “Mbappe” after the player scored two goals in France’s 4-3 victory over Argentina in the World Cup.

“I wish our football federation could have called him to play for us in the national team. When you look at our own national team, you see there is something missing of which Mbappe has,” Leinyuy said.

Mbappe, whose Cameroonian father is his agent, is one of 15 players on the French squad who were either born in Africa or can trace their roots back to the continent, parts of which France ruled at one time as a colonial power.

Mbappe became a professional player in Monaco at the age of 16, just three years ago.

He has never lived nor played in Cameroon, but his performances attracted the attention of the Cameroon Football Federation, and he was contacted to play for the national team, nicknamed the Indomitable Lions. But French coach Didier Deschamps already had keen eyes for him.

Soccer analyst and former Cameroon premier league player Gabriel Tsila says it is a great loss that Cameroon failed to get Mbappe to play for his father’s homeland.

Tsila says the team needed Mbappe to bring Cameroon’s football (soccer) back to glory, but their local football federation neglected him. He says it is a shame that Cameroon abandoned Mbappe to France at a time when central African states’ football has taken a downward turn due to a lack of talented players.

Cameroon’s national team is the African champion. However, the squad was eliminated from the race to the 2018 World Cup after a one-all tie last year with Nigeria.

Local football fans say if they had players like Mbappe, they would have performed better.

Nonetheless, thousands of Cameroonian World Cup fans will cheer on Mbappe, who they see as a fellow countryman playing for a nation with deep ties to Cameroon.
…

US Adds Solid 213,000 Jobs; Unemployment Up to 4%

By Uponbiz | 07/06/2018 | No Comments | Business

U.S. employers kept up a brisk hiring pace in June by adding 213,000 jobs, a sign of confidence in the economy despite the start of a potentially punishing trade war with China.

The job growth wasn’t enough to keep the unemployment rate from rising from 3.8 percent to 4 percent, the government said Friday. But the jobless rate rose for an encouraging reason: More people felt it was a good time to begin looking for a job, though not all of them immediately found one.

The growing optimism that people can find work suggested that the 9-year old U.S. economic expansion — the second-longest on record — has the momentum to keep chugging along. Yet its path ahead is uncertain. Just hours before the monthly jobs report was released, the Trump administration imposed taxes on $34 billion in Chinese imports, and Beijing hit back with tariffs on the same amount of U.S. goods.

“The tariffs jumble things about what we should expect to see in the next few months,” said Cathy Barrera, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, the online jobs marketplace.

Some companies are likely to respond to the tariffs by putting their hiring plans on hold until the trade picture becomes clearer.

Major U.S. stock indexes were mostly higher in early trading Friday after the jobs report was issued, keeping the market on track for a weekly gain after two weeks of losses.

The June jobs data showed an economy that may be on the cusp of producing stronger pay growth, something that could be disrupted if additional tariffs are imposed. Trump has suggested that more than $500 billion worth of Chinese imports could be taxed in his drive to force Beijing to reform its trade policies, which he insists have unfairly victimized the United States.

Average hourly pay rose just 2.7 percent in June from 12 months earlier. That relatively modest increases means that, after adjusting for inflation, overall wages remain nearly flat. But the average was skewed downward in June because the influx of jobseekers was due mainly to those with only a high school education or less, who are generally paid lower wages,

The ranks of unemployed people seeking jobs jumped by 499,000 in June, which caused the unemployment rate to rise from its previous 18 year-low. With 93 straight months of job growth — a historical record — many employers have said they’re feeling pressure to raise wages. But significant pay gains have yet to emerge in the economic data.

Manufacturers added 36,000 jobs last month; the education and health sector added 54,000. But retailers shed 21,600 jobs, with the losses concentrated at general merchandise stores.

In its report Friday, the government revised up its estimate of job growth in May and April by a combined 37,000. Over the past three months, the economy has produced a robust average monthly job gain of 211,000.

The broader U.S. economy appears sturdy. Economists are forecasting that economic growth accelerated to an annual pace of roughly 4 percent during the April-June quarter, about double the previous quarter’s pace.

Signs of strength have helped bolster hiring despite the difficulty many employers say they’re having in finding enough qualified workers to fill jobs.

Manufacturers and services firms have said in recent surveys that their business is improving despite anxiety about the tariff showdown between the United States and China. Housing starts have climbed 11 percent so far this year. Retail sales jumped a strong 0.8 percent in May in a sign that consumers feel secure enough to spend.

Though economic growth appears to be solid, the gains have been spread unevenly. President Donald Trump’s tax cuts have provided a dose of stimulus this year, but the benefits have been tilted significantly toward wealthy individuals and corporations. Savings from the tax cuts enabled companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index to buy back a record number of shares in the first three months of 2018.

Yet the tax cuts have done little to generate substantial pay growth. Most economists say they still think the low unemployment rate will eventually force more employers to offer higher pay in order to fill jobs.

The economy also faces a substantial threat from the Trump administration’s trade war with China and from other, ongoing trade disputes with U.S. allies, including Canada and Europe. Any escalation in the conflict with China could disrupt hiring as companies grapple with higher import prices and diminished demand for their exports. On Thursday, Trump floated the prospect of imposing tariffs on more than $500 billion in Chinese imports.

The Trump administration has also applied tariffs on steel and aluminum from allies like Canada and Mexico and has threatened to abandon the North American Free Trade Agreement with those two countries. Trump has also spoken about slapping tariffs on imported cars, trucks and auto parts, which General Motors has warned could hurt the U.S. auto industry and drive up car prices.

Automakers added 12,000 jobs in June, but the tariffs could weigh on that industry’s job growth in the coming months.
…

WTO Urges Nations to Ease Trade Tensions

By Uponbiz | 07/06/2018 | No Comments | Business

The World Trade Organization is urging nations to resolve trade tensions, warning that restrictive trade measures would have a harmful impact on the global economy.

The group refuses to weigh in on what appears to be the start of a trade war between the United States and China, the world’s two biggest economies. China has reacted to Washington’s decision to slap 25 percent tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods by reciprocating in kind.

While the Geneva-based WTO will not comment on specific actions, the organization’s director-general, Roberto Azevedo, has sent out a series of tweets warning nations against giving in to protectionist impulses.

Azevedo says a new WTO monitoring report on trade measures enacted by the G-20 countries indicates a disturbing increase in trade restrictions by major economies. In his tweet, the WTO chief says recent developments show that more restrictive measures are on the way.

His spokesman, Dan Pruzin, says Azevedo fears the deterioration in trade relations may be worse than previously anticipated and is likely to have very serious consequences.

“The fallout from these measures is already being felt,” Pruzin said. “Companies are hesitating to invest, markets are getting jittery, some prices are rising. With further escalation, the effects would only grow in magnitude, hitting jobs and growth in the countries involved and sending economic shock waves around the world.”

President Donald Trump has threatened that the United States might quit the WTO if it is not treated fairly.

“I will just say that no U.S. official in Geneva has given any indication in any of the meetings here in Geneva that the United States intends to withdraw from the WTO,” Pruzin told VOA.

WTO chief Azevedo is urging all parties to sit down and discuss ways of tackling the issues at the root of the growing trade tensions.
…

India’s ‘Worst Water Crisis in History’ Leaves Millions Thirsty

By Uponsci | 07/06/2018 | No Comments | Science

Weak infrastructure and a national shortage have made water costly all over India, but Sushila Devi paid a higher price than most. It took the deaths of her husband and son to force authorities to supply it to the slum she calls home.

“They died because of the water problem, nothing else,” said Devi, 40, as she recalled how a brawl over a water tanker carrying clean drinking water in March killed her two relatives and finally prompted the government to drill a tubewell.

“Now things are better. But earlier … the water used to be rusty, we could not even wash our hands or feet with that kind of water,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in Delhi.

India is “suffering from the worst water crisis in its history”, threatening hundreds of millions of lives and jeopardising economic growth, a government think-tank report said in June.

From the northern Himalayas to the sandy, palm-fringed beaches in the south, 600 million people – nearly half India’s population – face acute water shortage, with close to 200,000 dying each year from polluted water.

Residents like Devi queue daily with pipes, jerry cans and buckets in hand for water from tankers – a common lifeline for those without a safe, reliable municipal supply – often involving elbowing, pushing and punching.

On the rare occasions water does flow from taps, it is often dirty, leading to disease, infection, disability and even death, experts say.

“The water was like poison,” said Devi, who still relies on the tanker for drinking water, outside her one-room shanty in the chronically water-stressed Wazirpur area of the capital Delhi.

“It is better now, but still it is not completely drinkable. It is alright for bathing and washing the dishes.”

Water pollution is a major challenge, the report said, with nearly 70 percent of India’s water contaminated, impacting three in four Indians and contributing to 20 percent of the country’s disease burden.

Yet only one-third of its wastewater is currently treated, meaning raw sewage flows into rivers, lakes and ponds – and eventually gets into the groundwater.

“Our surface water is contaminated, our groundwater is contaminated. See, everywhere water is being contaminated because we are not managing our solid waste properly,” said the report’s author Avinash Mishra.

Loss of livelihood

Meanwhile, unchecked extraction by farmers and wealthy residents has caused groundwater levels to plunge to record lows, says the report.

It predicts that 21 major cities, including New Delhi and India’s IT hub of Bengaluru, will run out of groundwater by 2020, affecting 100 million people.

The head of WaterAid India VK Madhavan said the country’s groundwater was now heavily contaminated.

“We are grappling with issues, with areas that have arsenic contamination, fluoride contamination, with salinity, with nitrates,” he said, listing chemicals that have been linked to cancer.

Arsenic and fluoride occur naturally in the groundwater, but become more concentrated as the water becomes scarcer, while nitrates come from fertilisers, pesticides and other industrial waste that has seeped into the supply.

The level of chemicals in the water was so high, he said, that bacterial contamination – the source of water-borne diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera and typhoid – “is in the second order of problems”.

“Poor quality of water – that is loss of livelihood. You fall ill because you don’t have access to safe drinking water, because your water is contaminated.”

“The burden of not having access to safe drinking water, that burden is greatest on the poor and the price is paid by them.”

Frothy lakes and rivers

Crippling water problems could shave 6 percent off India’s gross domestic product, according to the report by the government think-tank, Niti Aayog.

“This 6 percent of GDP is very much dependent on water. Our industry, our food security, everything will be at stake,” said Mishra.

“It is a finite resource. It is not infinite. One day it can (become) extinct,” he said, warning that by 2030 India’s water supply will be half of the demand.

To tackle this crisis, which is predicted to get worse, the government has urged states – responsible for supplying clean water to residents – to prioritise treating waste water to bridge the supply and demand gap and to save lives.

Currently, only 70 percent of India’s states treat less than half of their wastewater.

Every year, Bengaluru and New Delhi make global headlines as their heavily polluted water bodies emit clouds of white toxic froth due to a mix of industrial effluents and domestic garbage dumped into them.

In Bengaluru – once known as the “city of lakes” and now doomed to go dry – the Bellandur Lake bursts into flames often, sending plumes of black smoke into sky.

The Yamuna river that flows through New Delhi can be seen covered under a thick, detergent-like foam on some days.

On other days, faeces, chemicals and ashes from human cremations float on top, forcing passers-by to cover their mouths and noses against the stench.

That does not stop 10-year-old Gauri, who lives in a nearby slum, from jumping in every day.

With no access to water, it is the only way to cool herself down during India’s scorching summers, when temperatures soar to 45 Celsius (113 Fahrenheit).

“There usually is not enough water for us to take a shower, so we come here,” said Gauri, who only gave her first name, as she and her brother splashed around in the filthy river.

“It makes us itchy and sick, but only for some time. We are happy to have this, everyone can use it.”

…

Likely Impact of US-China Trade War: Prices Up, Growth Down

By Uponbiz | 07/06/2018 | No Comments | Business

The world’s two biggest economies have fired the opening shots in a trade war that could have wide-ranging consequences for consumers, workers, companies, investors and political leaders.

The United States slapped a 25 percent tax on $34 billion worth of Chinese imports starting Friday, and China is retaliating with taxes on an equal amount of U.S. products, including soybeans, pork and electric cars.

The United States accuses China of using predatory tactics in a push to supplant U.S. technological dominance. The tactics include forcing American companies to hand over technology in exchange for access to the Chinese market, as well as outright cyber-theft. Trump’s tariffs are meant to pressure Beijing to reform its trade policies.

Though the first exchange of tariffs is unlikely to inflict much economic harm on either nation, the damage could soon escalate. President Donald Trump, who has boasted that winning a trade war will be easy, said Thursday that he’s prepared to impose tariffs on up to $550 billion in Chinese imports — a figure that exceeds the $506 billion in goods that China actually shipped to the United States last year.

Escalating tariffs would likely raise prices for consumers, inflate costs for companies that rely on imported parts, rattle financial markets, cause some layoffs and slow business investment as executives wait to see whether the Trump administration can reach a truce with Beijing. The damage would threaten to undo many of the economic benefits of last year’s tax cuts.

A full-fledged trade war, economists at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and elsewhere warn, risks tipping the U.S. economy into recession.

And those caught in the initial line of fire — U.S. farmers facing tariffs on their exports to China, for instance — are already hunkered down and fearing the worst. The price of U.S. soybeans has plunged 17 percent over the past month on fears that Chinese tariffs will cut off American farmers from a market that buys about 60 percent of their soybean exports.

“For soybean producers like me this is a direct financial hit,” Brent Bible, a soy and corn producer in Romney, Indiana, said in a statement from the advocacy group Farmers for Free Trade. “This is money out of my pocket. These tariffs could mean the difference between a profit and a loss for an entire year’s worth of work out in the field, and that’s only in the near term.”

Even before the first shots were fired, the prospect of a trade war was worrying investors. The Dow Jones industrial average has shed nearly 1,000 points since June 11.

The Chinese currency, the yuan, has dropped 3.5 percent against the U.S. dollar over the past month, giving Chinese companies a price edge over their U.S. competition. The drop might reflect a deliberate devaluation by the Chinese government to signal Beijing’s “displeasure over the state of trade negotiations,” according to a report Thursday from the Institute of International Finance, a banking trade group.

The Trump administration sought to limit the impact of the tariffs on U.S. households by targeting Chinese industrial goods, not consumer products, for the first round of tariffs. But that step drives up costs for U.S. companies that rely on Chinese-made machinery or components and may force them to pass them along to their business customers, and eventually to consumers.

If you like Chick-fil-A sandwiches, for instance, you may feel the impact of the tariffs. Charlie Souhrada, a vice president of the North American Food Equipment Manufacturers, says the duties could raise the cost of a pressure cooker made by one of its members, Henny Penny. Chick-fil-A uses the cooker for its sandwiches. The administration has placed “these import taxes squarely on the shoulders of manufacturers and by extension consumers,” Souhrada said.

The Federal Reserve is already picking up signs that the threat of a trade war is causing businesses to rethink investment plans. In the minutes from its June 12-13 meeting, the Fed’s policymaking committee noted: “Contacts in some districts indicated that plans for capital spending had been scaled back or postponed as a result of uncertainty over trade policy,”

And if Trump extends the tariffs to $550 billion in Chinese imports, there’s no way consumers could avoid being caught in the crossfire: The taxes would have to hit consumer products like televisions and cellphones.

Consider what happened to the price of washing machines that were subjected to a separate series of Trump tariffs in January. Over the past year, their price has surged more than 8 percent, compared with a slight drop in overall appliance prices.

Even the first round of tariffs means that “American consumers are one step closer to feeling the full effects of a trade war,” said Matthew Shay, president of the National Retail Federation.

“These tariffs will do nothing to protect U.S. jobs, but they will undermine the benefits of tax reform and drive up prices for a wide range of products as diverse as tool sets, batteries, remote controls, flash drives and thermostats,” Shay said. “And students could pay more for the mini-refrigerator they need in their dorm room as they head back to college this fall… a strategy based on unilateral tariffs is the wrong approach, and it has to stop.”
…

Ugandan Doctors Struggle to Provide Adequate Health Care

By Uponsci | 07/06/2018 | No Comments | Science

Uganda’s government has called the country’s doctors unprofessional, selfish, unpatriotic and enemies of the people, after they called for a sit-down strike in 2017 demanding better pay and improved working conditions. Halima Athumani spent a night at an Ugandan hospital and shows us the challenges doctors face.
…

For Nizhny Novgorod: ‘World Cup Has Been Biggest Party in Town for Decades’

By Uponent | 07/06/2018 | No Comments | Entertainment

By the time the World Cup is over, 64 matches will have taken place in 12 venues in 11 cities. For many people in Nizhny Novgorod, one of the soccer venues, the monthlong event has been the biggest party in town for decades. VOA’s Mariama Diallo reports.
…

Scientists Working to Create Northern White Rhino Embryos

By Uponsci | 07/06/2018 | No Comments | Science

When Sudan, the last male northern white rhino, died in March, hopes for a revival of the sub-species were crushed. But as Sadie Witkowski explains, the magnificent creatures might not go the way of the dodo.
…

Maryland Town’s Bathtub Races Attract Tourists for a Good Cause

By Uponent | 07/06/2018 | No Comments | Entertainment

Every year, hundreds of tourists arrive at the small town of Berlin, Maryland, to watch an unusual event — bathtub races! Despite all the fun, the races have a serious goal: to raise money to help critically ill children. Evgeny Baranov has a report, narrated by Anna Rice.
…

Trump Tariffs Against China Take Effect

By Uponbiz | 07/06/2018 | No Comments | Business

U.S. tariffs against Chinese imports took effect early Friday and President Donald Trump made clear Thursday that he is prepared to sharply escalate a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.

The administration started imposing tariffs at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time Friday on $34 billion worth of Chinese imports, a first step in what could become an accelerating series of tariffs. China has promised a swift retaliatory strike on an equal amount of U.S. goods.

China responds

Shortly after the tariffs took effect, China said it is “forced to make a necessary counterattack” to a U.S. tariff hike on billions of dollars of Chinese goods but gave no immediate details of possible retaliation.

The Commerce Ministry on Friday criticized Washington for “trade bullying” following the tariff hike that took effect at noon Beijing time in a spiraling dispute over technology policy that companies worry could chill global economic growth.

A ministry statement said, “the Chinese side promised not to fire the first shot, but to defend the core interests of the country and people, it is forced to make a necessary counterattack.”

Beijing earlier released a list of American goods targeted for possible tariff hikes including soybeans, electric cars and whiskey.

Hostilities could grow

Trump discussed the trade war Thursday with journalists who flew with him to Montana for a campaign rally. The president said U.S. tariffs on an additional $16 billion in Chinese goods are set to take effect in two weeks.

After that, the hostilities could intensify: Trump said the U.S. is ready to target an additional $200 billion in Chinese imports — and then $300 billion more — if Beijing refuses to yield to U.S. demands and continues to retaliate.

That would bring the total of targeted Chinese goods to potentially $550 billion, which is more than the $506 billion in goods that China actually shipped to the United States last year.

The Trump administration has argued that China has deployed predatory tactics in a push to overtake U.S. technological dominance. These tactics include cyber-theft as well as requiring American companies to hand over technology in exchange for access to China’s market.
…

National Zoo Plans to Beef up Security

By Uponent | 07/06/2018 | No Comments | Entertainment

The National Zoo in Washington is adding fencing and security, not for the animals but for the human visitors.

The zoo has submitted a plan to add perimeter fencing around the popular public venue to close all the gaps and reduce pedestrian entrances from 13 to three.

Eventually, the institution would like to build security checkpoints at entrances.

Up to 25,000 visitors each day visit the zoo during its busiest times.

Smithsonian officials say the zoo is the only public venue of the institution that does not have security screening in place.

“What we are doing is catching up to what everybody else has been doing,” Pamela Baker-Masson, the zoo’s associate director of Communications, Exhibits and Planning, told WAMU, a public radio station in Washington. “Our whole institution realized we had to do a better job about visitor security,” she said.
…

California Senators Reach Agreement on Net Neutrality Bill

By Uponsil | 07/06/2018 | No Comments | Silicon Valley

Key California lawmakers said Thursday they’ve reached an agreement on legislation to enshrine net neutrality provisions in state law after the Federal Communications Commission dumped rules requiring an equal playing field on the internet.

California’s bill is one of the nation’s most aggressive efforts to continue net neutrality, and the deal comes after a bitter fight among Democrats over how far the state should go.

Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener, who repudiated his own legislation when major pieces were removed two weeks ago, said those provisions have been restored under his agreement with Democratic Assemblyman Miguel Santiago.

“We need to ensure the internet is an open field where everyone has access, the companies that are providing internet access are not picking winners and losers,” Wiener told reporters at a Capitol news conference.

Santiago came under fire from net neutrality advocates around the country when the Assembly committee he leads stripped key provisions from the legislation — a decision that drew rebukes from members of Congress, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Santiago became the subject of online memes and a flood of calls to his office accusing the Los Angeles lawmaker of selling out to internet providers, citing his contributions from AT&T.

Santiago portrayed net neutrality as crucial to the future of the progressive movement and called on other liberal states to follow suit.

“There’s a lot of blue states in the country,” Santiago said. “We expect them to stand up and join us in this fight and pass measures that are equally as strong.”

Internet companies say it’s not practical for them to comply with state-by-state internet regulations and warn that Wiener’s bill would discourage the rollout of new technology in California.

“For decades, California has benefited from American innovation and investment, but SB 822 is a flawed and consumer unfriendly approach,” CTIA, a wireless industry lobbying group, said in a statement.

The FCC last year repealed Obama-era regulations that prevented internet companies from speeding up or slowing down the delivery of certain content. Net neutrality advocates worry that, without net neutrality rules, internet providers would be free to block political content, slow down websites from their competitors or drive consumers to their own content.

The debate in California is being closely watched by net neutrality advocates around the country, who are looking to the state to pass sweeping net neutrality provisions that could drive momentum in other states.

Wiener said the key provisions removed from his bill were restored. One would require data to be treated equally at the point where it enters an internet company’s network, not just within the company’s own infrastructure.

The other bans a practice known as “zero rating,” in which internet or cellphone providers exempt certain data from a monthly cap. Critics of the practice say zero rating encourages low monthly data caps and cuts off vast swaths of the internet for people who can’t afford higher data allotments.

He declined to release the new bill language until lawmakers return in August from a summer break.

Under the agreement, Wiener’s bill will be linked to separate legislation by Democratic Sen. Kevin de Leon to prohibit state contracting with companies that don’t abide by net neutrality provisions.
…

World Cup Soccer Jerseys Score as Fashion Statements

By Uponent | 07/06/2018 | No Comments | Entertainment

As the 2018 FIFA World Cup continues its drama-filled march to the final game on July 15, one thing is sure: Sports merchandisers are already big winners. Untold millions of fans and fashionistas have been snapping up national team jerseys to show their support.

Adidas AG’s chief executive has predicted the German company will outscore its 2014 sales for World Cup team jerseys, when it sold 8 million units, Bloomberg reports. Suggested retail prices start at $90 for adult sizes, but lower prices can be found online as teams get knocked out of competition in Russia.

Helping to propel sales are fans such as Alex Wong, a 29-year-old tech worker. A regular customer of the New York-based soccer retailer Upper 90, he’s at its Manhattan store on Thursday afternoon after recently buying a $90 Russian team jersey there.

“I’m here at the store to have it customized,” Wong tells VOA. For another $20, he’s having forward Artem Dzyuba’s surname added to the shirt. “He scored the equalizing goal at the game on Sunday,” adds Wong, who was in Moscow to witness the 1-1 tie with Spain.

Wong, who’s “supporting Russia as the host team,” owns over 50 soccer shirts.

Soccer enthusiasts like him have plenty of options. Each of the 32 World Cup teams has a unique jersey, designed to be instantly recognizable for its colors and patterns, as well as for its wearer’s comfort and ease.

“So it’s a pretty magical world,” says soccer fan bon vivant and fashion commentator Simon Doonan, sifting through some of Upper 90’s World Cup jersey selections days earlier.

In his new book, “Soccer Style: The Magic and Madness,” Doonan says that “the worlds of fashion and soccer would have made very strange bedfellows, but times have [definitely] changed.”

In the past, fans might wear a team shirt even if it wasn’t “particularly attractive,” Doonan says. “Now guys wear their shirt, but they want it to look cool … and go out to some bar or night spot and feel like Mr. Fabulous.”

This year’s runaway hit is Nigeria’s jersey, mainly lime green with a black-and-white wing motif on the sleeves.

“The Nigerian shirts are sold out around the world,” snapped up within hours of their June 1 release, Doonan says, noting that 3 million had been pre-ordered from Nike.

“It became the cool thing that people had to have to wear with their street-style outfits. It was very flamboyant. Really fun. Daring. A lot of pattern, a lot of color. And it tweaked something in the global consciousness.

“I think there is global interest in all things African: African culture, African music, African style,” the author added. “… These strong patterns and the bravado and boldness of it — that’s Africa.”

Doonan also praises Colombia’s jersey.

“It has these daring kind of glam-rock David Bowie lightning bolts raging that are emerging from the armpits. And it’s great. Nothing intimidates an opponent quite like saying, ‘I have magical powers in my armpits.’ This shirt is so successful on so many levels from a design point of view, and the recognition factor is off the charts.”

He calls Brazil’s jersey “a real classic.” Above its crest are five stars: one for each time the country has brought home the World Cup, most recently in 2002.

The design “doesn’t tend to vary hugely year to year, because they’ve got so much heritage to play with,” Doonan says, citing the legendary Pelé as well as current forward Neymar and injured right back Dani Alves. Brazil “didn’t win last time, so the pressure is on.”

Every team has separate jerseys for “home,” the primary look, and “away,” for playing in a rival’s stadium or, as in the World Cup, avoiding confusion with an opponent’s jersey. Belgium’s “away” jersey features an argyle pattern, while Croatia’s has an elegantly muted checkerboard.

Upper 90 carries jerseys for most of the 32 teams that made it to the playoffs in Russia. “The city matches the diversity of the type of jerseys and apparel that we carry,” says Upper 90 founder and co-owner Douglas Gatanis.

Its top-selling jerseys are for Mexico and Colombia.

But Upper 90’s Manhattan store manager, Robbie Baum, says he loves “the whole France collection. … The away shirt is probably my favorite — that white with the blue-and-red heathering in it. [Its] training top is really nice: that classic French mariner, white with blue stripes. Really, really clean. Beautiful shirt.”

French jerseys are much harder to spot on the streets of Dakar, Senegal, says Abdourahmane Dia, a staff reporter with VOA’s French to Africa Service.

“It looks like a lot of people don’t want to be seen as supporting the French because they are the former colonizers,” he says. “People identify more with the African teams.”

When the national team was doing well in the early stages of competition, its red, green and gold colors were everywhere. But since Colombia knocked Senegal out of the competition with a 1-0 win last week, European team shirts have emerged.

“There are a lot of Real Madrids, as well, sometimes because they have a lot of fans here,” Dia says. “Barcelona, Liverpool. Liverpool, mainly because of Sadio Mané, the star striker for that club and also leader of the Senegalese national team.

Soccer can be a rough sport, but for author Doonan, that’s part of its mystery.

“You get these people together and they want to kill each other and win,” he says. “But paradoxically, it is a unifying huge numbers of people to come together to watch the World Cup. So these things are going on at the same time. It’s a sweet thing, because that’s just life.”
…

Day: July 6, 2018