Archive Month: February 2017

У «Штабі блокади торгівлі з окупантами» заявили про трьох постраждалих під час нападу на блокувальників біля станції Кривий Торець. Вони покладають відповідальність за його організацію на поліцію та керівництво МВС. Відповідне повідомлення розміщено на сторінці штабу у Facebook.

За словами учасників блокади, їх атакували у двох точках – у Бахмуті та Кривому Торці на Донеччині, однак у першому випадку вдалося уникнути силового протистояння. Обидва інциденти вони називають провокаціями з метою змусити їх застосувати зброю і «отримати моральне право на силовий розгін редуту».

«Спочатку з’явилось телебачення, потім – групи «бабусь» із закликами припинити блокаду. Потім, під прикриттям «бабусь», була спроба силового захоплення підготованими групами «тітушок». До місць інцидентів заздалегідь були підігнані пожежні машини та карети швидкої допомоги. Поліція в інцидент не втручалась», – йдеться у повідомленні.

28 лютого у поліції Донеччини повідомили про затримання 37 осіб, які здійснили напад на учасників блокування залізниці.

Цього ж дня міністр внутрішніх справ Арсен Аваков закликав керівників Антитерористичного центру ухвалити рішення для зняття блокади.

27 лютого з боку ватажків угруповань «ДНР» та «ЛНР» надійшов ультиматум: якщо блокаду не знімуть до 1 березня, вони будуть вживати заходів у відповідь. Зокрема, йдеться про «націоналізацію» підприємств.

У СБУ вважають, тим часом, що «націоналізацію» сепаратисти оголосять у будь-якому випадку.

У січні активісти, серед яких депутати Верховної Ради та люди, що називають себе ветеранами АТО, розпочали блокаду деяких ділянок залізниці з вимогою припинити, за їхніми словами, торгівлю з окупованими районами Донбасу. У Києві після цього відбулося кілька акцій протесту зі схожими вимогами. Учасники блокади на Донеччині неодноразово заявляли про підготовку штурму їхніх позицій, які вони називають «редутами», силовики ці заяви спростовували.

15 лютого уряд ухвалив рішення про запровадження надзвичайних заходів в енергетиці на місяць, починаючи з 17 лютого.

 
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У Службі безпеки України оприлюднили аудіозапис, як вони стверджують, розмови між ватажком угруповання «ДНР» Олександром Захарченком та його підлеглим Дмитром Трапєзниковим. У записі чути, як співрозмовники вирішують оголосити блокаду у відповідь безвідносно до того, чи припинять блокування залізниці з українського боку.

В СБУ вважають, що блокаду залізниці на Донбасі угруповання «ДНР» хоче використати для «націоналізації» підприємств, які залишилися на їхніх територіях, йдеться у повідомленні на сайті відомства.

Напередодні 27 лютого на «офіційних» інформаційних ресурсах угруповань «ДНР» та «ЛНР» синхронно була оприлюднена спільна заява ватажків цих угруповань – Олександра Захарченка та Ігоря Плотницького: «Якщо до 00:00 середи (1 березня 2017 року) блокада не буде знята, то ми запровадимо зовнішнє управління на всіх підприємствах української юрисдикції, які працюють в «ДНР» і «ЛНР». Ми припинимо постачати вугілля до України».

28 лютого у поліції Донеччини повідомили про затримання 37 осіб, які здійснили напад на учасників блокування залізниці.

Цього ж дня міністр внутрішніх справ Арсен Аваков закликав керівників Антитерористичного центру ухвалити рішення для зняття блокади.

У січні активісти, серед яких депутати Верховної Ради та люди, що називають себе ветеранами АТО, розпочали блокаду деяких ділянок залізниці з вимогою припинити, за їхніми словами, торгівлю з окупованими районами Донбасу. У Києві після цього відбулося кілька акцій протесту зі схожими вимогами. Учасники блокади на Донеччині неодноразово заявляли про підготовку штурму їхніх позицій, які вони називають «редутами», силовики ці заяви спростовували.

15 лютого уряд ухвалив рішення про запровадження надзвичайних заходів в енергетиці на місяць, починаючи з 17 лютого.

 
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Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross was sworn in as U.S. commerce secretary on Tuesday after helping shape Republican President Donald Trump’s opposition to multilateral trade deals.

Vice President Mike Pence administered the oath of office to Ross, 79, a day after the U.S. Senate voted to confirm the corporate turnaround expert’s nomination, with strong support from Democrats.

WATCH: Ross’ remarks at his swearing-in ceremony

Ross is set to become an influential voice in Trump’s economic team and was expected to start work on renegotiating trade relationships with China and Mexico.

While commerce secretaries rarely take the spotlight in Washington, Ross is expected to play an outsize role in pursuing Trump’s campaign pledge to slash U.S. trade deficits and bring manufacturing jobs back to America.

Some Democrats criticized Ross as another billionaire in a Trump Cabinet that says it is focused on the working class and for being a “vulture” investor who has eliminated some jobs. Reuters reported last month that Ross’s companies had shipped some 2,700 jobs overseas since 2004.
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«Київенерго» обіцяє до кінця 2017 року обладнати всі будинкові лічильники тепла модемами для дистанційної передачі показань. Про це йдеться у повідомленні на сайті компанії.

«Компанія реалізує інвестиційну програму встановлення понад 4 тисяч модемів, які щоденно передаватимуть інформацію про споживання будинком тепла в єдину базу даних. Зараз такими модемами вже обладнані майже 4 тисячі вузлів обліку тепла. Автоматизація процесу виключає ймовірність помилок через людський фактор і не потребує присутності персоналу в теплопункті для зняття показань», – повідомляють у «Київенерго».

Окрім того, зазначають у компанії, зараз вони розпочали розробку програмного забезпечення, яке дозволить мешканцям будинків, обладнаних згаданими модемами, автоматично отримувати показання теплолічильників на електронну пошту.

Як пояснюють у «Київенерго», це продиктовано тим, що наразі їм надійшли понад 4 тисячі заявок від киян, які б хотіли бути присутніми на знятті показань із лічильників і таким чином контролювати цей процес.

У січні у Києві споживачі після отримання платіжок на оплату житлово-комунальних послуг висловили обурення. Така ситуація виникла у листопаді, коли деякі кияни отримали платіжки за опалення за півмісяця (за жовтень) подачі тепла – у квартирах із однаковим метражем рахунки за опалення різнилися на суми від 55 до 2000 гривень.

У «Київенерго» тоді високі рахунки за опалення пояснили методикою, згідно з якою тариф розраховується з прив’язкою до середньомісячної температури і кількості днів опалювального періоду.

Згодом у КМДА заявили, що підстав для перерахунку всіх платіжок за опалення за жовтень немає, а перерахунок здійснюватиметься в 650 житлових будинках, де з різних причин не були вчасно зняті показники лічильників і мешканцям було помилково нараховано за нормативом.
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The U.S. Commerce Department reported Tuesday that the economy grew at a lackluster pace of 1.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016. While the figure was unchanged from the initial estimate last month, it represented a marked slowdown from the 3.5 percent growth reported in the third quarter.

Consumer spending was stronger than first thought, however, up .5 of a percentage point to 3 percent, even as state and local government spending declined slightly. Consumer spending is an important economic indicator because it’s the biggest driver of the U.S. economy.  

Overall GDP growth was just 1.6 percent for all of 2016, the weakest in five years. Since the recession ended in 2009, annual growth has averaged 2.1 percent.  

GDP, or gross domestic product, is the broadest measure of a country’s economic health and represents the total value of all goods and services produced over a period of time.

During the presidential election campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump promised to double economic growth to 4 percent through a program of tax cuts, infrastructure spending and reduction in regulations. Many economists say that may be overly optimistic, given the aging of the U.S. population and declining productivity.
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President Donald Trump said he believes the extra $54 billion he has proposed spending on the U.S. military will be offset by a stronger economy as well as cuts in other areas.

“I think the money is going to come from a revved up economy,” Trump said in a Fox News interview broadcast on Tuesday, hours before he was to address a joint session of Congress.

“I mean you look at the kind of numbers we’re doing, we were probably GDP of a little more than 1 percent and if I can get that up to 3 or maybe more, we have a whole different ball game. It’s a whole different ball game.”

 
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Прем’єр-міністр України Володимир Гройсман анонсував розгляд на засіданні уряду 1 березня порядку переміщення товарів між підконтрольною та непідконтрольною територією України на Донбасі.

«Ми завтра ухвалимо рішення уряду щодо критичних позицій, які важливі для економіки України для забезпечення нашої енергетичної незалежності. І це правило, яке буде регламентувати переміщення саме критичної, невеликої кількості потрібних компонентів», – сказав він.

Окрім того, Гройсман звернувся до учасників блокування залізниці на Донбасі із пропозицією відвідати українські підприємства, які, за його словами, через дії активістів можуть зупинити роботу, і пояснити мотиви своїх дій працівникам, що можуть лишитися без роботи.

У січні активісти, серед яких депутати Верховної Ради та люди, що називають себе ветеранами АТО, розпочали блокаду деяких ділянок залізниці з вимогою припинити, за їхніми словами, торгівлю з окупованими районами Донбасу. У Києві після цього відбулося кілька акцій протесту зі схожими вимогами.

15 лютого уряд ухвалив рішення про запровадження надзвичайних заходів в енергетиці на місяць, починаючи від 17 лютого. У Кабміні стверджують, що це рішення ухвалили у зв’язку з блокадою залізниці на Донбасі і, як наслідок, обмеженням поставок вугілля антрацитової групи.

16 лютого президент Петро Порошенко ввів у дію рішення РНБО «Про невідкладні заходи з нейтралізації загроз енергетичній безпеці України та посилення захисту критичної інфраструктури». Згідно з документом, уряд має затвердити порядок переміщення товарів з і до окупованої території Донбасу, а також створити перелік товарів, заборонених для ‎переміщення.‎ Кабмін також має тимчасово припинити експорт вугілля з України й ухвалити нову ‎Енергетичну стратегію України.‎
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Аварійних мостів у Києві сьогодні немає, обмежено придатними для експлуатації залишаються 10 споруд, заявив генеральний директор «Київатодору» Олександр Густєлєв, повідомляє прес-служба КМДА.

«Щодо цих об’єктів є експертні висновки, згідно з якими проводяться необхідні роботи. Один із об’єктів – шляхопровід на проспекті Науки, де зараз триває реконструкція, розпочата в 2016 році», – зазначив він.

За словами Густелєва, вже розпочато перевірку близько 170 об’єктів столичної транспортної інфраструктури, доручення про що міський голова Києва Віталій Кличко дав після обвалу частини огорожі Шулявського шляхопроводу.

У Києві ввечері 27 лютого обвалилася частина бетонної огорожі на Шулявському шляхопроводі, що є важливим сполученням для транспорту. За повідомленнями, ніхто не постраждав, але уламки пошкодили припарковані під мостом машини.

У зв’язку з обвалом частини конструкцій Шулявського мосту в Києві столична влада просить водіїв скористатися наземним та підземним громадським транспортом.

Як повідомляють у засобах масової інформації, міст, збудований майже півстоліття тому, востаннє реконструювали близько 30 років тому, під ним за останні роки також сталися три пожежі у торговельних ятках. Для посилення підтримки споруди були встановлені додаткові опори.
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South Korean special prosecutors said they would indict Samsung’s de facto chief Tuesday on bribery, embezzlement and other charges linked to a political scandal that has toppled President Park Geun-hye.

The planned indictment of Samsung Electronics vice chairman Jay Y. Lee is a huge hit for the largest and most successful of the big businesses that dominate the South Korean economy. It also signals the still roiling state of South Korea’s political and economic circles after weeks of massive demonstrations that led to Park’s impeachment.

The announcements of the planned indictments came after a three-month investigation by the special prosecution team, which ended Tuesday after the country’s acting leader refused a request for an extension.

Prosecutors say the Samsung heir gave bribes worth $36 million to Park and her confidante to help win government support for a smooth leadership transfer from Lee’s ailing father to Lee.

Lee also allegedly hid assets overseas, concealed proceeds from criminal activities and committed perjury. The 48-year-old billionaire was arrested Feb. 17. Samsung has denied wrongdoing.

More indictments to come

Prosecutors also said they planned to indict four other Samsung executives on charges of offering bribes, embezzlement, hiding assets overseas and concealing proceeds from criminal activities.

The planned indictments mean that key figures at a powerful yet secretive Samsung office that wielded influence over dozens of Samsung affiliates face trial. Lee promised in December to disband the secretive office, called the Corporate Strategy Office, which allegedly orchestrated bribery schemes centered on Choi Soon-sil, Park’s confidante.

Shortly after the prosecutors’ announcement, Samsung announced a series of measures to improve its transparency, including disbanding the secretive office and resignations from top executives who prosecutors said they would indict. Lee wasn’t included in the resignations, implying he will keep his position and board membership at Samsung Electronics during court proceedings.

The office consists of close Lee family aides who worked to help ensure the father to son leadership transition. Some say that the contentious merger of Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries in 2015 was also overseen by the office, not by the board of directors at the two Samsung companies. The merger, a crucial step for Lee to strengthen his grip on Samsung Electronics, was a key benefit that Samsung sought from the government by offering millions of dollars to Choi’s various entities, according to the prosecutors.

The merger, despite opposition from some shareholders who argued that it unfairly benefited the Lee family, was approved by shareholders thanks to the support of a state-controlled national pension fund, a key Samsung investor.

The special prosecution team said they also plan to pursue additional charges of bribery and concealing proceedings from criminal activities against Choi, who allegedly exploited her presidential ties to extort money and favors from companies and manipulate state affairs from the shadows.

The special prosecution team finished its inquiry without questioning Park, after she backed off from a Feb. 9 interview. The country’s acting leader, Hwang Kyo-ahn, refused to extend the investigation past Tuesday’s deadline.

Father was also indicted

Lee was once the face of the new Samsung, but now follows in the footsteps of his father, Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee. The senior Lee was indicted in 2008 on charges of tax evasion and a breach of trust. He was later convicted and then pardoned by a former president.  

Corruption has dogged many other business leaders in South Korea’s family-controlled conglomerates, which are known as chaebol.

When the elder Lee was indicted, Samsung vowed a series of measures to improve transparency. It is expected to announce more measures following the younger Lee’s indictment.

Since Lee’s father fell ill in May 2014, the younger Lee has stepped up his leadership role. Samsung appeared to be trying to change its top-down, hierarchical, authoritarian corporate culture under Lee.

Fluent in foreign languages, educated overseas and linked to Silicon Valley luminaries, Lee was seen as the new face of Samsung. Samsung promised to remove obstacles to creativity and innovation in recent years by introducing a nimble, startup-like attitude. It has increased returns to shareholders and acquired several companies outside South Korea.
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Sales of Cuba’s legendary cigars rose 5 percent last year to $445 million, defying stagnation in the global luxury goods market, manufacturer Habanos S.A. said on Monday at the opening of the Caribbean island’s annual cigar festival.

Habanos, which makes brands including Cohiba, Monte Cristo and Romeo y Julieta, said it expects moderate sales growth this year as it continues to tap the Middle East, Asia and other new markets.

“We are quite happy we were able to grow during a year that was in truth quite challenging,” Vice President of Development Javier Terrés told Reuters after holding a news conference hazy with smoke as journalists puffed on complimentary cigars.

Cuba’s monopoly cigar company was kicking off the festival that attracts wealthy tobacco aficionados and retailers from around the world for five days of extravagant parties and tours of plantations and factories.

Habanos dominates the global market for hand-rolled, premium cigars except in the United States due to Washington’s half-century trade embargo against Cuba. The United States is the world’s biggest cigar market.

American enthusiasts have had slightly better access to Cuban cigars since former President Barack Obama two years ago unveiled a Cuba policy aiming to normalize relations.

Last October, the Obama administration removed limits on the amount of cigars American travelers could bring home.

Terrés said this made little difference to overall sales but it would help brand recognition in the United States.

Wholesale shipments there would require the U.S. Congress to lift the embargo, a move that looks uncertain under President Donald Trump, who has threatened to reverse the detente.

Still, better U.S.-Cuban relations have helped stoke a boom in tourism, which in turn has lifted cigar sales in Cuba, according to Habanos. The number of visitors to the island rose 13 percent last year.

“Our sales in Cuba are directly related to tourism, and in effect, sales in Cuba have grown,” Terrés said.

Habanos said its traditional European markets had remained stable last year, while there was growth in emerging markets like the Middle East and Pacific Asia.

Meanwhile, female smokers remain a largely untapped market for Habanos, Terrés said. The company is working on it but has learned that producing smaller, milder versions of its classic cigars is not the answer.

“Actually, women want to smoke big cigars and enjoy them like a man,” he said, adding it was important to draw in women with specific promotional events.
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Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross easily won confirmation as U.S. commerce secretary on Monday, clearing President Donald Trump’s top trade official to start work on renegotiating trade relationships with China and Mexico.

The U.S. Senate voted 72-27 to confirm the 79-year-old corporate turnaround expert’s nomination, with strong support from Democrats.

Ross is set to become an influential voice in Trump’s economic team after helping shape the president’s opposition to multilateral free trade deals such as the now-scrapped Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Ross drew votes from 19 Democrats and one independent, partly because of an endorsement from the United Steelworkers union for his efforts in restructuring bankrupt steel companies in the early 2000s, which saved numerous plants and thousands of jobs.

Ross was criticized by some Democrats as another billionaire in a Trump Cabinet that says it is focused on the working class, and for being a “vulture” investor who has eliminated some jobs.

Reuters reported last month that Ross’s companies had shipped some 2,700 jobs overseas since 2004.

The investor will oversee a sprawling agency with nearly 44,000 employees responsible for combating the dumping of imports below cost into U.S. markets, collecting census and critical economic data, weather forecasting, fisheries management, promoting the United States to foreign investors and regulating the export of sensitive technologies.

While commerce secretaries rarely take the spotlight in Washington, Ross is expected to play an outsize role in pursuing Trump’s campaign pledge to slash U.S. trade deficits and bring manufacturing jobs back to America.

Trump has designated Ross to lead the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada, a job that in past administrations would have been left to the U.S. Trade Representative’s office.

Ross will join other major players on the economic team, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Gary Cohn, director of the White House National Economic Council.

Some experts said Ross could serve as a counterweight to advisers such as Peter Navarro, the University of California-Irvine economics professor who heads Trump’s newly created White House National Trade Council. Navarro has advocated a controversial 45 percent across-the-board tariff on imports from China that Trump threatened during his campaign.

“I expect that Ross will quickly become the administration’s chief trade spokesman, and that Navarro’s influence will be felt indirectly, rather than through public statements or testimony,” said Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow and trade expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

At his confirmation hearing, Ross downplayed chances of a trade war with China, while calling it the “most protectionist” large economy. He vowed to level the playing field for U.S. companies competing with Chinese imports and those trying to do business in China’s highly restricted economy.

Ross, estimated by Forbes to be worth $2.9 billion, built his fortune in the late 1990s and early 2000s by investing in distressed companies in steel, coal, textiles and auto parts, restructuring them and often benefiting from tariff protections put in place by the Commerce Department.
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European Union chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker will propose to national leaders next month a handful of options for shoring up unity once Britain launches a withdrawal that some fear could trigger a further unraveling of the bloc.

The European Commission president wants some states to be able to deepen cooperation further and faster without the whole bloc having to follow suit, but this idea has raised concerns, especially among poorer eastern countries, that their richer neighbors may use Brexit to cut EU subsidies to them.

Juncker has said he will argue for what is commonly called a “multi-speed Europe” in a White Paper policy document.

Juncker will chair a special meeting of his commissioners on Tuesday but a spokesman said on Monday it was not yet clear when exactly the paper would be published.

Officials will not detail what the proposals are likely to be, though say they would probably not mean major institutional changes or treaty amendments for which most governments, beset by challenges from eurosceptic nationalists, have no appetite.

Some options are not mutually exclusive and could be combined, all with the aim of persuading voters disillusioned by years of economic malaise that the EU is worth preserving.

By setting out four or five practical “pathways to unity” or “alternative avenues for cooperation at 27”, EU officials say Juncker aims to give the 27 leaders of the post-Brexit Union some broad choices to start considering at a summit in Rome on March 25, where they will mark 60 years of the bloc’s founding.

As the 27 also try to hold to a common line in the two-year negotiating period with Britain which they expect London to launch before the Rome summit, the main aim of the Juncker proposals is to overcome internal divisions, EU officials said.

He wants to see responses by the autumn – by which time the Netherlands, France and Germany will have held elections marked by challenges from anti-EU movements that have been inspired by last year’s votes for Brexit and U.S. President Donald Trump.

Friction

“This is no longer a time when we can imagine everyone doing the same thing together,” Juncker said last week, echoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, who called on Feb. 3 for an EU of “varying speeds.”

Their remarks, however, have perplexed other states whose envoys note that existing rules already allow for “enhanced cooperation” in various fields, such as the 19-nation eurozone.

“A multi-speed Europe is a fact. No one has a problem with it,” said one senior EU diplomat. “So why are they talking like this now? They are irritated with the east … It is divisive.”

Noting that a key obstacle to deeper integration of, for example, the eurozone was disagreement between Berlin and Paris on how to do it, the diplomat said talk of a two-speed approach sounded like an attempt to penalize the post-communist east.

Hungary and Poland in particular have irritated the EU by challenging its rules on democracy and resisting calls to take in asylum-seekers, while Germany has taken in over a million.

Hollande accused easterners of treating the Union “like a cash box”. With Brexit leaving a hole in the EU budget, some diplomats see a push by Paris and Berlin to cut their subsidies.

German officials say Merkel does not see one specific set of countries going for deeper cooperation but imagines varying groups moving ahead in different fields. For example, defense integration is a priority for Germany.

“Some see this as a risk to unity,” one senior official said of Juncker’s multi-speed idea. “Others see a risk if we don’t do it and we fail to aspire.”
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U.S. President Donald Trump has revived China’s fears by once again calling it a currency manipulator, weeks after many felt the issue had been shelved. Trump reemphasized his stand last week, hours after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin indicated China would not be singled out for adverse treatment on the currency issue.

“Well they, I think, they’re grand champions at manipulation of currency. So I haven’t held back,” Trump told Reuters, adding, “We’ll see what happens.”

The U.S. Treasury Department is expected to make a call on the issue on April 15. But Mnuchin may have to disclose the administration’s plans at the G20 finance ministers’ meeting March 17-18 in Bonn.

Many economists believe the Chinese Yuan is not being deliberately devalued as in the past. The International Monetary Fund said last year the Chinese currency’s value was broadly in line with its economic fundamentals.

“There is no evidence of currency manipulation in recent times, beyond the occasional buying and selling of foreign exchange to stabilize volatilities, which all countries, rich and poor, do,” said Kaushik Basu, Professor at Cornell University and a former Chief Economist of the World Bank. “I hope the U.S. would not declare China a currency manipulator, which would not be right and would also unleash destabilizing forces in foreign exchange markets the world over.”

In normal practice, the U.S. Treasury would apply three criteria to determine if China deserves the label of a currency manipulator when it meets on April 15.

“If the Treasury Department adheres to its three criteria, it won’t [declare China as a manipulator], since China currently only meets one of the three criteria. It could decide, though, to ignore those criteria,” said Scott Kennedy, director of the project on Chinese business and political economy at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. “The ultimate decision will turn on broader U.S. policy toward China, which is still being decided.”

This is bad timing for China where foreign direct investments (FDI) reversed, falling 9.2 percent in January. The slide came after FDI grew 3.9 percent in November and 4.1 percent in December. Figures for February, which will be available after 8-10 days, would explain more clearly if the slide is a trend or just a monthly variation.

“The drop in FDI seen in China recently may well be in response to Trump’s threats to build barriers. But there are other factors too. There has been a bunched up profit repatriation from China by China’s foreign investors in recent times, which contributed to the decline in net FDI,” said Basu.

Minister’s removal

Beijing suddenly replaced Minister for Commerce Gao Hucheng on Friday soon after the slippage in FDI numbers and Trump reiterating his threat of declaring China a currency manipulator.

Before his removal, Gao told a press conference, “We never use one month’s figure to summarize a long-term trend, and an early Spring Festival last month was another factor to affect the country’s monthly FDI volume,” said Gao, adding, “The FDI in any country will come and go with the development of the economy and changing industrial structure.”

China’s FDI fell 13 percent year on year in 2016.

“I don’t think such short-term volatility in FDI data can meaningfully be attributed to any Trump effect. It is most likely merely noise in the data caused by a lot of random business decisions,” said Jacob Kirkegaard, economist with the Peterson Institute of International Affairs.

Analysts are divided on whether President Xi Jinping decided to replace Gao as part of Beijing’s preparations to deal with economic challenges expected to come from the Trump administration, or merely because he was close to the retirement age stipulated by the Communist Party.

“It suggests the commerce minister has reached retirement age and Xi is starting to consider the composition of the Cabinet for his second term,” said Kennedy. “Zhong Shan [the new commerce minister] may or may not stay on.”

Investors pulling out

The American Chamber of Commerce in China said 25 percent of U.S. companies in China have moved their operations to other countries or are planning to do so.

Kennedy said this is a result of worsening investment conditions in China and the application of tighter capital controls.

“I think as Chinese growth slows and financial risks increase, combined with a more discriminatory treatment of foreign investors in China, many foreign investors will rightly ask if their investments in China continue to be justified by the ‘Ooh, it’s a billion people so we gotta be there’ factor,” said Kirkegaard. “… If foreign businesses don’t make much money in China they will stop coming.”
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Doctors in Kenya’s public health facilities have refused to work since December. They are demanding the government implement an agreement it signed in 2013 to raise salaries and improve working conditions. However, the strike is taking a deadly toll on the nation’s poor.

Jared Ochieng lost his son Lamarck to complications from leukemia.

“If it were not for the strike, I would have not lost my son,” Ochieng said.

Lamarck was diagnosed with leukemia a year ago. When he started experiencing complications in early February, the family took him to the nearest hospital, Kenyatta National Hospital, one of approximately 2,500 public health institutions affected by the nationwide strike.

“When I got there, the doctor who was concerned with the disease that my son was suffering from was nowhere to be found because of the strike,” Ochieng said. “I lost my son when he was in Kenyatta, when they were making arrangements to take the boy to Texas [Cancer Facility].”

The center is a private facility in Nairobi, but the high cost makes it an option of last resort for many Kenyans. Some cancer patients have had to suspend treatment until public doctors return to work.

The Kenya Cancer Association says it is getting reports of three deaths a week — a 50 percent increase compared to this time last year, says program director Moses Osani.

“The doctors’ strike has significantly affected the cancer patients in that most of them have had interrupted treatment,” Osani said. “For example, if someone had to go for a cycle of eight weeks and at the sixth week, doctors went on strike, then their treatment was interrupted, which means they probably had to seek treatment elsewhere.”

The strike has also affected emergency medical services.

Judy Nabwani says her son was hit by a speeding vehicle. Twelve hours later, she traced him to a country referral hospital where only basic first aid had been administered.

“He could not move or talk,” Nabwani said. “He was just lying there.”

She said that a nurse told her the doctors were on strike and that the best thing to do was to refer him to a private hospital. He died before he could be moved. Nabwani said her son would not have died if he had been attended to on time.

His cause of death was internal bleeding due to brain injury.

The striking doctors have refused to resume work, even after union leaders were arrested. The government has said it does not have the funds to implement the collective bargaining agreement it signed in 2013.

Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union spokesperson Dr. Davis Ombui told VOA the union is pushing for much-needed improvements to the health system.

“So far, we actually empathize with the situation,” Ombui said. “We know many Kenyans are losing their lives. Even us as doctors, we have relatives, we have friends, we have family and it has affected us all. But the narrative we are sticking to is that we cannot go back and supervise deaths as it were.”

In addition to raising salaries, the 2013 deal called for the government to hire nearly 5,000 doctors over a four-year period and equip hospitals with the necessary machines and drugs.

Hopes are high that negotiations underway will end the strike, but for families of the deceased, it is too late.
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In an effort to save on labor costs and increase efficiency, fast-food chain Wendy’s will install self-ordering kiosks in about 1,000 of its locations in the United States.

According to David Trimm, a spokesman for the Ohio-based company, franchises that want the kiosks will, on average, install three of them, the Columbus Dispatch newspaper reported.

“They are looking to improve their automation and their labor costs, and this is a good way to do it,” said Darren Tristano, vice president with Technomic, a food-service research and consulting firm in an interview with the Columbus Dispatch. “They are also trying to enhance the customer experience. Younger customers prefer to use a kiosk.”

The company says it will see a return on the investment in kiosks within two years.

The company said the kiosks could help ease crowding during peak demand. For those who prefer ordering from a human, there will still be staff available to take orders, according to the Associated Press.

The kiosks have already been tested at Wendy’s stores in central Ohio.

Wendy’s is not the first retailer to explore self-ordering kiosks, as convenience store Wawa rolled them out in 2012.

The longevity of the kiosks, however, is unclear. Tristano says they may find themselves out of a job as ordering and payment move to smartphones.

The prospect of machines putting humans out of work is a controversial topic. The French presidential candidate from the Socialist Party has suggested a tax on machines that put humans out of work.

That idea has found support from Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft.
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