Abortion Issue Likely to Dominate Top Court Pick Hearings
10/07/2018
If recent history is any indication, the confirmation hearing of Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s latest Supreme Court pick, is likely to be dominated by questions about his views of Roe v. Wade.
The landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling, which held that the U.S. Constitution protects a woman’s right to a have an abortion, stands as one of the high court’s most controversial and divisive decisions of the past century.
While polls show a majority of Americans support legal abortion, Roe v. Wade continues to divide broad swaths of society, pitting advocates, who see the decision as giving women power over their lives, against foes, who view it as an affront to the sanctity of life.
But the fracas over abortion predates Roe v. Wade. According to Peter Charles Hoffer, a historian and author of Roe v. Wade: The Abortion Rights Controversy in American History, the debate goes back to the 1861-65 American Civil War.
With the war wiping out nearly 2 percent of the American population, many doctors and pundits at the time claimed “the white race was in danger of disappearing” and states began to criminalize abortion, according to Hoffer.
The anti-abortion laws survived into the 20th century. And though several states legalized the practice later in the century, aborting a fetus remained a crime in most states prior to Roe v. Wade. That led to a bustling underground industry in often dangerous “back alley” abortions.
Texas origins
The case that came to be known as Roe v. Wade was brought by Norma McCorvey, a k a Jane Roe, a 23-year-old expectant mother in Texas who could not afford to support a child and did not want to undergo an illegal procedure. She sued Henry Wade, then the Dallas district attorney known for prosecuting abortion doctors.
The U.S. Supreme Court sided with Roe, ruling that the right to privacy alluded to in the Constitution extended to a woman’s right to have an abortion and that states could not legally ban the procedure.
In his book, Hoffer calls Roe v. Wade “a watershed event in American women’s history.”
“This is an issue that sits right across the divide between liberal, modernist opinions and more conservative, traditional religious opinions,” Hoffer, a professor at the University of Georgia, said in an interview.
Supporters of abortion rights brand themselves as “pro-choice” advocates.To them, Roe v. Wade became a symbol of women’s rights, the power to take control of one’s reproductive life without government interference.
To opponents of abortion, Roe v. Wade is an affront to the sanctity of life, and abortion is the murder of an unborn child.
Yet the political divisions over abortion are not always so cut and dried. There many moderate Republicans who support abortion rights, and many socially conservative Democrats who oppose them.
But since the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan, who won on a wave of support from pro-life Christian evangelicals, abortion has become a decisive issue in American electoral politics, according to Hoffer.
In recent years, Democratic presidential candidates have almost always run on a pro-choice platform, while their Republican opponents have campaigned against abortion.
Trump’s views on abortion have shifted over the years. As a presidential candidate, he promised to appoint conservative, pro-life justices to the Supreme Court to undo Roe v. Wade. But he’s since said he has no litmus test on Roe v. Wade for picking high-court nominees other federal judges.
Some fear tilt
Nevertheless, with the nomination of Kavanaugh to replace the retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was a swing vote on many social issues, liberals fear the high court is likely to tilt further to the right, threatening to undermine landmark decisions such as Roe v. Wade.
“It’s absolutely at risk of being overturned, and certainly at risk of being hollowed out,” said Marge Baker, executive vice president of People for the American Way, a liberal-leaning advocacy organization.
But Trump allies are downplaying the risk that Roe v. Wade will be overturned.
Leonard Leo, vice president of the conservative Federalist Society who advises Trump on Supreme Court nominations, called the Democratic warnings that the court would overturn Roe v. Wade a “scare tactic.”
“We’ve seen this kind of hysteria for the last 36 years,” Leo told Fox News on July 2. “Every time, they say Roe v. Wade is going to be overturned. Now, what we have after 36 years is one justice on the court — Clarence Thomas — who’s explicitly said he’s going to overturn Roe.”
But abortion rights advocates say there are other things the justices can do to chip away at the decision without overturning it.
“There are lots of ways to hollow out Roe v. Wade,” Baker said. “Short of overturning it, there are ways to make it essentially impossible for women to have access to abortion.”
…
Abortion Issue Likely to Dominate Top Court Pick Hearings
10/07/2018
If recent history is any indication, the confirmation hearing of Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s latest Supreme Court pick, is likely to be dominated by questions about his views of Roe v. Wade.
The landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling, which held that the U.S. Constitution protects a woman’s right to a have an abortion, stands as one of the high court’s most controversial and divisive decisions of the past century.
While polls show a majority of Americans support legal abortion, Roe v. Wade continues to divide broad swaths of society, pitting advocates, who see the decision as giving women power over their lives, against foes, who view it as an affront to the sanctity of life.
But the fracas over abortion predates Roe v. Wade. According to Peter Charles Hoffer, a historian and author of Roe v. Wade: The Abortion Rights Controversy in American History, the debate goes back to the 1861-65 American Civil War.
With the war wiping out nearly 2 percent of the American population, many doctors and pundits at the time claimed “the white race was in danger of disappearing” and states began to criminalize abortion, according to Hoffer.
The anti-abortion laws survived into the 20th century. And though several states legalized the practice later in the century, aborting a fetus remained a crime in most states prior to Roe v. Wade. That led to a bustling underground industry in often dangerous “back alley” abortions.
Texas origins
The case that came to be known as Roe v. Wade was brought by Norma McCorvey, a k a Jane Roe, a 23-year-old expectant mother in Texas who could not afford to support a child and did not want to undergo an illegal procedure. She sued Henry Wade, then the Dallas district attorney known for prosecuting abortion doctors.
The U.S. Supreme Court sided with Roe, ruling that the right to privacy alluded to in the Constitution extended to a woman’s right to have an abortion and that states could not legally ban the procedure.
In his book, Hoffer calls Roe v. Wade “a watershed event in American women’s history.”
“This is an issue that sits right across the divide between liberal, modernist opinions and more conservative, traditional religious opinions,” Hoffer, a professor at the University of Georgia, said in an interview.
Supporters of abortion rights brand themselves as “pro-choice” advocates.To them, Roe v. Wade became a symbol of women’s rights, the power to take control of one’s reproductive life without government interference.
To opponents of abortion, Roe v. Wade is an affront to the sanctity of life, and abortion is the murder of an unborn child.
Yet the political divisions over abortion are not always so cut and dried. There many moderate Republicans who support abortion rights, and many socially conservative Democrats who oppose them.
But since the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan, who won on a wave of support from pro-life Christian evangelicals, abortion has become a decisive issue in American electoral politics, according to Hoffer.
In recent years, Democratic presidential candidates have almost always run on a pro-choice platform, while their Republican opponents have campaigned against abortion.
Trump’s views on abortion have shifted over the years. As a presidential candidate, he promised to appoint conservative, pro-life justices to the Supreme Court to undo Roe v. Wade. But he’s since said he has no litmus test on Roe v. Wade for picking high-court nominees other federal judges.
Some fear tilt
Nevertheless, with the nomination of Kavanaugh to replace the retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was a swing vote on many social issues, liberals fear the high court is likely to tilt further to the right, threatening to undermine landmark decisions such as Roe v. Wade.
“It’s absolutely at risk of being overturned, and certainly at risk of being hollowed out,” said Marge Baker, executive vice president of People for the American Way, a liberal-leaning advocacy organization.
But Trump allies are downplaying the risk that Roe v. Wade will be overturned.
Leonard Leo, vice president of the conservative Federalist Society who advises Trump on Supreme Court nominations, called the Democratic warnings that the court would overturn Roe v. Wade a “scare tactic.”
“We’ve seen this kind of hysteria for the last 36 years,” Leo told Fox News on July 2. “Every time, they say Roe v. Wade is going to be overturned. Now, what we have after 36 years is one justice on the court — Clarence Thomas — who’s explicitly said he’s going to overturn Roe.”
But abortion rights advocates say there are other things the justices can do to chip away at the decision without overturning it.
“There are lots of ways to hollow out Roe v. Wade,” Baker said. “Short of overturning it, there are ways to make it essentially impossible for women to have access to abortion.”
…
US Puts Visa Restrictions on Myanmar, Laos
10/07/2018
The U.S. is placing visa restrictions on Myanmar (also known as Burma) and Laos for failing to accept their nationals when the U.S. seeks to deport them.
“Burma and Laos have denied or unreasonably delayed accepting their nationals ordered removed from the United States,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a news release.
The State Department Tuesday ordered consular offices in the two countries to begin visa restrictions on certain categories of visas. They are as follows:
BURMA: Discontinuing “issuance of all B1 (work) and B2 (travel) nonimmigrant visas for current officials at the Director General level and above from the Burmese Ministries of Labor, Immigration, and Population (MOLIP) and Home Affairs (MOHA), and their immediate family members, with limited exceptions.”
LAOS: Discontinuing “issuance of all B1, B2, and B1/B2 nonimmigrant visas for current officials at the Director General level and above from the Lao Ministry of Public Security (MPS) as well as their immediate families; and all A3 and G5 (diplomatic and employees of international organizations) nonimmigrant visas to individuals employed by Lao government officials, with limited exceptions.
The DHS release adds that “without an appropriate response” the sanctions “may be expanded to a wider population.” And they will be continued until DHS determines that “cooperation on removals has improved to an acceptable level.”
Both Myanmar and Laos are on the U.S. recalcitrant country list. The list includes nine countries that refuse to accept citizens deported from the U.S.
Sanctions are a step beyond being placed on the recalcitrant list. DHS says without a travel document to confirm identity and nationality, it cannot complete the deportation process.
“Burma and Laos have not established repeatable processes for issuing travel documents to their nationals ordered removed from the United States,” DHS said. “For this reason, ICE has been required to release Burmese and Lao nationals into the United States, some with serious criminal convictions.
US Puts Visa Restrictions on Myanmar, Laos
10/07/2018
The U.S. is placing visa restrictions on Myanmar (also known as Burma) and Laos for failing to accept their nationals when the U.S. seeks to deport them.
“Burma and Laos have denied or unreasonably delayed accepting their nationals ordered removed from the United States,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a news release.
The State Department Tuesday ordered consular offices in the two countries to begin visa restrictions on certain categories of visas. They are as follows:
BURMA: Discontinuing “issuance of all B1 (work) and B2 (travel) nonimmigrant visas for current officials at the Director General level and above from the Burmese Ministries of Labor, Immigration, and Population (MOLIP) and Home Affairs (MOHA), and their immediate family members, with limited exceptions.”
LAOS: Discontinuing “issuance of all B1, B2, and B1/B2 nonimmigrant visas for current officials at the Director General level and above from the Lao Ministry of Public Security (MPS) as well as their immediate families; and all A3 and G5 (diplomatic and employees of international organizations) nonimmigrant visas to individuals employed by Lao government officials, with limited exceptions.
The DHS release adds that “without an appropriate response” the sanctions “may be expanded to a wider population.” And they will be continued until DHS determines that “cooperation on removals has improved to an acceptable level.”
Both Myanmar and Laos are on the U.S. recalcitrant country list. The list includes nine countries that refuse to accept citizens deported from the U.S.
Sanctions are a step beyond being placed on the recalcitrant list. DHS says without a travel document to confirm identity and nationality, it cannot complete the deportation process.
“Burma and Laos have not established repeatable processes for issuing travel documents to their nationals ordered removed from the United States,” DHS said. “For this reason, ICE has been required to release Burmese and Lao nationals into the United States, some with serious criminal convictions.
Історія з обвалом рейтингу ФІФА має колосальне значення – віце-президент ПАРЄ
10/07/2018
Віце-президент Парламентської асамблеї Ради Європи Володимир Ар’єв вважає, що «вся історія з обвалом рейтингу ФІФА насправді має колосальне значення поза межами флешмобу».
«Останніми роками Росія робила все можливе для розсварення і подрібнення патріотично налаштованих українців. Ми гриземося через внутрішні справи натхненно і самовіддано. Ніби назавжди. Я сам вже було відчув щось схоже на розпач, адже за таким вінегретом іде напад, розділених легше ламати. Але якщо чіпають важливе, все стає інакшим. Це свідчить про дорослішання», – вважає політик.
На його думку, «ті понад 150 тисяч, що згуртовано вбивали рейтинг продажної структури, будуть серйозною проблемою для РФ у разі чогось гіршого».
На офіційній сторінці Міжнародної федерації футболу (FIFA) у Facebook станом на 14:00 10 липня зникла можливість залишати відгук. Це сталося після того, як користувачі організували флешмоб #GlorytoUkraine, у рамках якого обвалили рейтинг FIFA до 1,1 бала з 5 можливих. Від 9 липня десятки тисячі юзерів написали на сторінці Міжнародної федерації футболу в соціальній мережі повідомлення на підтримку хорватських футболістів, яким загрожує покарання після публікації проукраїнського відеоролика.
Більшість повідомлень складалися лише з гасла «Слава Україні!» різними мовами, але були й ті, хто намагався аргументувати причини свого незадоволення діями керівного органу світового футболу.
ФІФА покарала колишнього хорватського футболіста, а на нинішньому чемпіонаті світу посадовця збірної Хорватії Оґнєна Вукоєвича, який виступив у відеоролику зі словами підтримки України, наклавши на нього штраф на 15 тисяч швейцарських франків (близько 400 тисяч гривень) за те, що той «після чвертьфінального матчу Росії і Хорватії повівся неспортивним чином, порушивши засади «фейр-плей».
8 липня, Міжнародна федерація футболу попередила футболіста збірної Хорватії Домаґоя Виду, який теж узяв участь у згаданому відеоролику.
Читайте також: Glory to Ukraine: користувачі Facebook «атакували» сторінку ФІФА
7 липня Хорватія перемогла Росію за післяматчевими пенальті і пройшла до півфіналу чемпіонату світу з футболу, що відбувається нині в Росії. Невдовзі після цього у мережі з’явився 9-секундний ролик, у якому був вигук «Слава Україні!» та йшлося про те, що «ця перемога – за «Динамо» і за Україну».
У минулому обидва гравці виступали за футбольний клуб «Динамо» (Київ). Оґнєн Вукоєвич і зараз працює в київському клубі на адміністративних посадах, суміщаючи цю діяльність з адміністративною посадою у хорватській збірній.
…
Історія з обвалом рейтингу ФІФА має колосальне значення – віце-президент ПАРЄ
10/07/2018
Віце-президент Парламентської асамблеї Ради Європи Володимир Ар’єв вважає, що «вся історія з обвалом рейтингу ФІФА насправді має колосальне значення поза межами флешмобу».
«Останніми роками Росія робила все можливе для розсварення і подрібнення патріотично налаштованих українців. Ми гриземося через внутрішні справи натхненно і самовіддано. Ніби назавжди. Я сам вже було відчув щось схоже на розпач, адже за таким вінегретом іде напад, розділених легше ламати. Але якщо чіпають важливе, все стає інакшим. Це свідчить про дорослішання», – вважає політик.
На його думку, «ті понад 150 тисяч, що згуртовано вбивали рейтинг продажної структури, будуть серйозною проблемою для РФ у разі чогось гіршого».
На офіційній сторінці Міжнародної федерації футболу (FIFA) у Facebook станом на 14:00 10 липня зникла можливість залишати відгук. Це сталося після того, як користувачі організували флешмоб #GlorytoUkraine, у рамках якого обвалили рейтинг FIFA до 1,1 бала з 5 можливих. Від 9 липня десятки тисячі юзерів написали на сторінці Міжнародної федерації футболу в соціальній мережі повідомлення на підтримку хорватських футболістів, яким загрожує покарання після публікації проукраїнського відеоролика.
Більшість повідомлень складалися лише з гасла «Слава Україні!» різними мовами, але були й ті, хто намагався аргументувати причини свого незадоволення діями керівного органу світового футболу.
ФІФА покарала колишнього хорватського футболіста, а на нинішньому чемпіонаті світу посадовця збірної Хорватії Оґнєна Вукоєвича, який виступив у відеоролику зі словами підтримки України, наклавши на нього штраф на 15 тисяч швейцарських франків (близько 400 тисяч гривень) за те, що той «після чвертьфінального матчу Росії і Хорватії повівся неспортивним чином, порушивши засади «фейр-плей».
8 липня, Міжнародна федерація футболу попередила футболіста збірної Хорватії Домаґоя Виду, який теж узяв участь у згаданому відеоролику.
Читайте також: Glory to Ukraine: користувачі Facebook «атакували» сторінку ФІФА
7 липня Хорватія перемогла Росію за післяматчевими пенальті і пройшла до півфіналу чемпіонату світу з футболу, що відбувається нині в Росії. Невдовзі після цього у мережі з’явився 9-секундний ролик, у якому був вигук «Слава Україні!» та йшлося про те, що «ця перемога – за «Динамо» і за Україну».
У минулому обидва гравці виступали за футбольний клуб «Динамо» (Київ). Оґнєн Вукоєвич і зараз працює в київському клубі на адміністративних посадах, суміщаючи цю діяльність з адміністративною посадою у хорватській збірній.
…
Адміністрація президента повідомила про дводенний візит Порошенка до Бельгії
10/07/2018
Президент України Петро Порошенко 11–12 липня 2018 року здійснить візит до Королівства Бельгія, де візьме участь у заходах саміту НАТО на запрошення генерального секретаря альянсу Єнса Столтенберґа, повідомив увечері 10 липня офіційний сайт глави української держави.
«У рамках саміту глава держави візьме участь у засіданні Північноатлантичної ради на рівні глав держав та урядів за участю України та Грузії, а також у засіданні глав держав та урядів країн – контрибуторів місії НАТО в Афганістані «Рішуча підтримка». Програмою візиту також передбачена низка двосторонніх зустрічей президента України з лідерами іноземних країн, які братимуть участь у саміті альянсу», – вказано в повідомленні.
На цю ж тему: Україна і саміт НАТО: визначатимуть, хто є хто і кому куди
Президент Порошенко також візьме участь у публічному заході – спеціальній сесії «НАТО залучає: діалог у рамках брюссельського саміту», який буде проведений німецьким Фондом Маршалла у штаб-квартирі альянсу.
…
Адміністрація президента повідомила про дводенний візит Порошенка до Бельгії
10/07/2018
Президент України Петро Порошенко 11–12 липня 2018 року здійснить візит до Королівства Бельгія, де візьме участь у заходах саміту НАТО на запрошення генерального секретаря альянсу Єнса Столтенберґа, повідомив увечері 10 липня офіційний сайт глави української держави.
«У рамках саміту глава держави візьме участь у засіданні Північноатлантичної ради на рівні глав держав та урядів за участю України та Грузії, а також у засіданні глав держав та урядів країн – контрибуторів місії НАТО в Афганістані «Рішуча підтримка». Програмою візиту також передбачена низка двосторонніх зустрічей президента України з лідерами іноземних країн, які братимуть участь у саміті альянсу», – вказано в повідомленні.
На цю ж тему: Україна і саміт НАТО: визначатимуть, хто є хто і кому куди
Президент Порошенко також візьме участь у публічному заході – спеціальній сесії «НАТО залучає: діалог у рамках брюссельського саміту», який буде проведений німецьким Фондом Маршалла у штаб-квартирі альянсу.
…
Суд не зміг розглянути продовження арешту Савченко
10/07/2018
Шевченківський районний суд Києва не зміг розглянути клопотання про продовження арешту народного депутата Надії Савченко.
Спочатку прокурор оголосив клопотання про відвід слідчого судді Олени Мєлєшак, а коли прийшла інша суддя, Оксана Хардин, щоб розглянути це питання, про її відвід подав клопотання захист. Врешті, клопотання адвокатів Савченко відхилили, що дозволило задовольнити клопотання прокурора.
Загалом цей процес тривав близько шести годин. Наразі невідомо, хто і коли розглядатиме питання про запобіжний захід Надії Савченко.
У березні суд вирішив взяти Савченко під варту без можливості внесення застави до 20 травня. Згодом суд залишив Савченко під арештом до 13 липня.
22 березня Верховна Рада України дала згоду на притягнення до кримінальної відповідальності, затримання й арешт Савченко.
Читайте також: Свідчення Савченко на поліграфі: після повідомлення СБУ адвокат вимагає повторної експертизи
Надії Савченко інкримінують злочини, передбачені статтями: «дії, спрямовані на насильницьку зміну чи повалення конституційного ладу або на захоплення державної влади», «готування до злочину», «вчинення злочину групою осіб, групою осіб за попередньою змовою, організованою групою або злочинною організацією», «посягання на життя державного чи громадського діяча», «терористичний акт», «створення терористичної групи чи терористичної організації», «незаконне поводження зі зброєю, бойовими припасами або вибуховими речовинами».
За даними Генпрокуратури, Савченко була спільницею Володимира Рубана,затриманого 8 березня на КПВВ «Майорське» при спробі переміщення великої кількості зброї з території Донецької області, яка підконтрольна російським окупаційним адміністраціям. Савченко раніше заявляла, що планувала не теракт, а лише «політичну провокацію».
Рубана підозрюють у незаконному поводженні зі зброєю і підготовці терактів, зокрема збройних замахів на державних діячів та політичних лідерів, серед яких президент України Петро Порошенко, міністр внутрішніх справ Арсен Аваков, екс-прем’єр-міністр Арсеній Яценюк й секретар РНБО Олександр Турчинов. Сам Рубан звинувачення відкидає.
Суд не зміг розглянути продовження арешту Савченко
10/07/2018
Шевченківський районний суд Києва не зміг розглянути клопотання про продовження арешту народного депутата Надії Савченко.
Спочатку прокурор оголосив клопотання про відвід слідчого судді Олени Мєлєшак, а коли прийшла інша суддя, Оксана Хардин, щоб розглянути це питання, про її відвід подав клопотання захист. Врешті, клопотання адвокатів Савченко відхилили, що дозволило задовольнити клопотання прокурора.
Загалом цей процес тривав близько шести годин. Наразі невідомо, хто і коли розглядатиме питання про запобіжний захід Надії Савченко.
У березні суд вирішив взяти Савченко під варту без можливості внесення застави до 20 травня. Згодом суд залишив Савченко під арештом до 13 липня.
22 березня Верховна Рада України дала згоду на притягнення до кримінальної відповідальності, затримання й арешт Савченко.
Читайте також: Свідчення Савченко на поліграфі: після повідомлення СБУ адвокат вимагає повторної експертизи
Надії Савченко інкримінують злочини, передбачені статтями: «дії, спрямовані на насильницьку зміну чи повалення конституційного ладу або на захоплення державної влади», «готування до злочину», «вчинення злочину групою осіб, групою осіб за попередньою змовою, організованою групою або злочинною організацією», «посягання на життя державного чи громадського діяча», «терористичний акт», «створення терористичної групи чи терористичної організації», «незаконне поводження зі зброєю, бойовими припасами або вибуховими речовинами».
За даними Генпрокуратури, Савченко була спільницею Володимира Рубана,затриманого 8 березня на КПВВ «Майорське» при спробі переміщення великої кількості зброї з території Донецької області, яка підконтрольна російським окупаційним адміністраціям. Савченко раніше заявляла, що планувала не теракт, а лише «політичну провокацію».
Рубана підозрюють у незаконному поводженні зі зброєю і підготовці терактів, зокрема збройних замахів на державних діячів та політичних лідерів, серед яких президент України Петро Порошенко, міністр внутрішніх справ Арсен Аваков, екс-прем’єр-міністр Арсеній Яценюк й секретар РНБО Олександр Турчинов. Сам Рубан звинувачення відкидає.
Tesla Goes Big in China With Shanghai Plant
10/07/2018
Tesla Inc Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk on Tuesday landed a deal with Chinese authorities to build a new auto plant in Shanghai, its first factory outside the United States, that would double the size of the electric car maker’s global manufacturing.
The deal was announced as Tesla raised prices on U.S.-made vehicles it sells in China to offset the cost of new tariffs imposed by the Chinese government in retaliation for U.S. President Donald Trump’s move to slap heavier duties on Chinese goods.
Musk was in Shanghai Tuesday, and the Shanghai government in a statement said it welcomed Tesla’s move to invest not only in a new factory in the city, a center of the Chinese auto industry, but in research and development, as well. China has long pushed to capture more of the talent and capital invested by global automakers in advanced electric vehicle technology.
Tesla plans to producing the first cars about two years after construction begins on its Shanghai factory, ramping up to as many as 500,000 vehicles a year about two to three years after that, the company said.
That would make Tesla’s Shanghai plant large by auto industry standards, where most factories are tooled to build 200,000 to 300,000 vehicles a year, and roughly equivalent to the planned annual production at Tesla’s plant in Fremont, California.
Tesla shares rose 1.5 percent in early U.S. trading, even as some analysts questioned where the money-losing company will get the capital required to build and staff such a large plant.
Musk has said Tesla will be cash-flow positive this year.
Analysts have predicted the company will raise capital to fund a list of new projects, including launching an electric semi truck, a pickup truck, a compact SUV and new battery and vehicle production facilities that Musk has proposed for China and Europe.
“I am sure that Tesla needs fresh money at the latest next year,” said Frank Schwope, an analyst with NORD/LB.
In its statement, the Shanghai government suggested it could help with some of the capital costs. “The Shanghai municipal government will fully support the construction of the Tesla factory,” the statement said.
Tuesday’s announcement will not impact U.S. manufacturing operations, which continue to grow, Tesla said.
Musk was talking about building a Chinese factory long before the Trump administration proposed punitive tariffs on Chinese goods. China until recently levied 25-percent tariffs on imported cars, and for decades automakers have been moving to build more vehicles in the markets where they will be sold to neutralize the risk of currency shifts and trade policy
reversals.
China is the largest market for electric vehicles, and most forecasters predict that electric vehicle sales in the country will accelerate rapidly as government regulation drives toward a goal of 100 percent electric vehicles by 2030.
China is the world’s largest auto market overall, with more than 28 million vehicles sold last year, and annual sales are forecast to top 35 million by 2025. That level would be more than double the current U.S. market, where new light vehicle sales run at about 17 million vehicles a year.
Still, the Chinese authorities’ decision to grant Tesla permission to move forward lands as President Trump is fighting to stop U.S. manufacturers from responding to his trade policy by shifting production overseas, as U.S. motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson said it would do last month.
Tesla did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The signing was held at Shanghai’s Fairmont Peace Hotel but media attendance was limited, a Shanghai government official who declined to give his name told Reuters. Tesla’s Chief Executive Elon Musk attended the signing, according to a Reuters witness.
Bloomberg reported on Monday that Musk will visit Beijing on Wednesday and Thursday.
Tesla has been in protracted negotiations to open its own factory in China to help bolster its position in the country’s fast-growing market for electric cars and to avoid high import tariffs.
Tesla hiked prices in China over the weekend to a level more than 70 percent higher than in the United States amid mounting trade frictions between Washington and Beijing that have seen several U.S. imports, including cars, become subjected to retaliatory tariffs of 25 percent.
Musk had previously criticized China’s tough auto rules for foreign businesses, which would have required it to cede a 50-percent share in the factory. The company was keen to maintain control of its plant and protect its technology.
It registered a new electric car firm in Shanghai in May after China announced that it planned to scrap rules on capping foreign ownership of new-energy vehicle (NEV) ventures by 2022.
…
Tesla Goes Big in China With Shanghai Plant
10/07/2018
Tesla Inc Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk on Tuesday landed a deal with Chinese authorities to build a new auto plant in Shanghai, its first factory outside the United States, that would double the size of the electric car maker’s global manufacturing.
The deal was announced as Tesla raised prices on U.S.-made vehicles it sells in China to offset the cost of new tariffs imposed by the Chinese government in retaliation for U.S. President Donald Trump’s move to slap heavier duties on Chinese goods.
Musk was in Shanghai Tuesday, and the Shanghai government in a statement said it welcomed Tesla’s move to invest not only in a new factory in the city, a center of the Chinese auto industry, but in research and development, as well. China has long pushed to capture more of the talent and capital invested by global automakers in advanced electric vehicle technology.
Tesla plans to producing the first cars about two years after construction begins on its Shanghai factory, ramping up to as many as 500,000 vehicles a year about two to three years after that, the company said.
That would make Tesla’s Shanghai plant large by auto industry standards, where most factories are tooled to build 200,000 to 300,000 vehicles a year, and roughly equivalent to the planned annual production at Tesla’s plant in Fremont, California.
Tesla shares rose 1.5 percent in early U.S. trading, even as some analysts questioned where the money-losing company will get the capital required to build and staff such a large plant.
Musk has said Tesla will be cash-flow positive this year.
Analysts have predicted the company will raise capital to fund a list of new projects, including launching an electric semi truck, a pickup truck, a compact SUV and new battery and vehicle production facilities that Musk has proposed for China and Europe.
“I am sure that Tesla needs fresh money at the latest next year,” said Frank Schwope, an analyst with NORD/LB.
In its statement, the Shanghai government suggested it could help with some of the capital costs. “The Shanghai municipal government will fully support the construction of the Tesla factory,” the statement said.
Tuesday’s announcement will not impact U.S. manufacturing operations, which continue to grow, Tesla said.
Musk was talking about building a Chinese factory long before the Trump administration proposed punitive tariffs on Chinese goods. China until recently levied 25-percent tariffs on imported cars, and for decades automakers have been moving to build more vehicles in the markets where they will be sold to neutralize the risk of currency shifts and trade policy
reversals.
China is the largest market for electric vehicles, and most forecasters predict that electric vehicle sales in the country will accelerate rapidly as government regulation drives toward a goal of 100 percent electric vehicles by 2030.
China is the world’s largest auto market overall, with more than 28 million vehicles sold last year, and annual sales are forecast to top 35 million by 2025. That level would be more than double the current U.S. market, where new light vehicle sales run at about 17 million vehicles a year.
Still, the Chinese authorities’ decision to grant Tesla permission to move forward lands as President Trump is fighting to stop U.S. manufacturers from responding to his trade policy by shifting production overseas, as U.S. motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson said it would do last month.
Tesla did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The signing was held at Shanghai’s Fairmont Peace Hotel but media attendance was limited, a Shanghai government official who declined to give his name told Reuters. Tesla’s Chief Executive Elon Musk attended the signing, according to a Reuters witness.
Bloomberg reported on Monday that Musk will visit Beijing on Wednesday and Thursday.
Tesla has been in protracted negotiations to open its own factory in China to help bolster its position in the country’s fast-growing market for electric cars and to avoid high import tariffs.
Tesla hiked prices in China over the weekend to a level more than 70 percent higher than in the United States amid mounting trade frictions between Washington and Beijing that have seen several U.S. imports, including cars, become subjected to retaliatory tariffs of 25 percent.
Musk had previously criticized China’s tough auto rules for foreign businesses, which would have required it to cede a 50-percent share in the factory. The company was keen to maintain control of its plant and protect its technology.
It registered a new electric car firm in Shanghai in May after China announced that it planned to scrap rules on capping foreign ownership of new-energy vehicle (NEV) ventures by 2022.
…
Cuba Unfreezing Growth of Private Tourism Businesses
10/07/2018
The Cuban government will allow new restaurants, bed-and-breakfasts and transportation businesses by the end of the year, reopening the most vibrant sectors of the private economy after freezing growth for more than a year.
The government is unveiling a set of new regulations Tuesday meant to control the growth of tourism-related private businesses and collect more tax revenue from them. Private restaurants and bed-and-breakfasts boomed after U.S.-Cuba normalization in 2014 prompted rapid growth in tourism to Cuba.
Tax evasion and purchase of stolen state materials also boomed in the mostly cash-based private hospitality sector. Among other measures, the new regulations announced Tuesday require private businesses to move all their revenue through state-run bank accounts. Cuba froze new licenses for restaurants, bed-and-breakfasts and other key business in August 2017.
…
Cuba Unfreezing Growth of Private Tourism Businesses
10/07/2018
The Cuban government will allow new restaurants, bed-and-breakfasts and transportation businesses by the end of the year, reopening the most vibrant sectors of the private economy after freezing growth for more than a year.
The government is unveiling a set of new regulations Tuesday meant to control the growth of tourism-related private businesses and collect more tax revenue from them. Private restaurants and bed-and-breakfasts boomed after U.S.-Cuba normalization in 2014 prompted rapid growth in tourism to Cuba.
Tax evasion and purchase of stolen state materials also boomed in the mostly cash-based private hospitality sector. Among other measures, the new regulations announced Tuesday require private businesses to move all their revenue through state-run bank accounts. Cuba froze new licenses for restaurants, bed-and-breakfasts and other key business in August 2017.
…
BMW to Make Electric MINIs in China
10/07/2018
BMW Group and the biggest Chinese SUV brand, Great Wall Motor, announced a partnership Tuesday to produce electric MINI vehicles in China as global automakers ramp up development under pressure from Beijing.
The companies said they signed an agreement Monday during an event in Berlin attended by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
BMW and Great Wall said their venture, Spotlight Automotive Ltd., also will make electrics for the Chinese partner’s brand. Great Wall put total investment in the venture at 5.1 billion yuan ($770 million) and said it is aiming for annual production of 160,000 vehicles.
Automakers are pouring billions of dollars into creating electric models for China, the biggest market for the technology.
Beijing is using access to its market as leverage to induce global automakers to help Chinese brands develop battery and other technology.
Auto brands in China are required to make electric vehicles at least 10 percent of their sales starting next year or buy credits from competitors that exceed their quotas. Later, they face pressure to raise those sales in order to satisfy fuel efficiency requirements that increase annually.
Sales of pure-electric passenger vehicles in China rose 82 percent last year to 468,000, according to an industry group, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. That was more than double the U.S. level of just under 200,000.
Other automakers including General Motors Co., Volkswagen AG and Nissan Motor Co. have announced similar plans with Chinese partners to produce dozens of electric models.
Great Wall, headquartered in Baoding, southwest of Beijing, sells more than 1 million SUVs a year.
“With our joint approach, we can quickly scale up production and increase efficiency,” said Klaus Frolich, a BMW board member, in a statement.
MINI’s first battery electric model is due to be produced at its main British factory in Oxford in 2019, according to BMW.
China is BMW’s biggest market. The Munich-based automaker said about 560,000 BMW brand vehicles were delivered to Chinese customers in 2017, more than its next two markets – the United States and Germany – combined.
China was MINI’s fourth-largest market in 2017, with 35,000 vehicles delivered, the company said.
The electrics venture with BMW is an important boost for Great Wall, which industry analysts warned would struggle to satisfy Beijing’s sales quotas due to its fuel-guzzling vehicle lineup and had yet to announce any significant electric plans.
…
BMW to Make Electric MINIs in China
10/07/2018
BMW Group and the biggest Chinese SUV brand, Great Wall Motor, announced a partnership Tuesday to produce electric MINI vehicles in China as global automakers ramp up development under pressure from Beijing.
The companies said they signed an agreement Monday during an event in Berlin attended by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
BMW and Great Wall said their venture, Spotlight Automotive Ltd., also will make electrics for the Chinese partner’s brand. Great Wall put total investment in the venture at 5.1 billion yuan ($770 million) and said it is aiming for annual production of 160,000 vehicles.
Automakers are pouring billions of dollars into creating electric models for China, the biggest market for the technology.
Beijing is using access to its market as leverage to induce global automakers to help Chinese brands develop battery and other technology.
Auto brands in China are required to make electric vehicles at least 10 percent of their sales starting next year or buy credits from competitors that exceed their quotas. Later, they face pressure to raise those sales in order to satisfy fuel efficiency requirements that increase annually.
Sales of pure-electric passenger vehicles in China rose 82 percent last year to 468,000, according to an industry group, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. That was more than double the U.S. level of just under 200,000.
Other automakers including General Motors Co., Volkswagen AG and Nissan Motor Co. have announced similar plans with Chinese partners to produce dozens of electric models.
Great Wall, headquartered in Baoding, southwest of Beijing, sells more than 1 million SUVs a year.
“With our joint approach, we can quickly scale up production and increase efficiency,” said Klaus Frolich, a BMW board member, in a statement.
MINI’s first battery electric model is due to be produced at its main British factory in Oxford in 2019, according to BMW.
China is BMW’s biggest market. The Munich-based automaker said about 560,000 BMW brand vehicles were delivered to Chinese customers in 2017, more than its next two markets – the United States and Germany – combined.
China was MINI’s fourth-largest market in 2017, with 35,000 vehicles delivered, the company said.
The electrics venture with BMW is an important boost for Great Wall, which industry analysts warned would struggle to satisfy Beijing’s sales quotas due to its fuel-guzzling vehicle lineup and had yet to announce any significant electric plans.
…
Trump Nominates Conservative-Leaning Kavanaugh to Supreme Court
10/07/2018
In what is likely to be one of the most consequential decisions of his presidency, Donald Trump has selected Brett Kavanaugh as his nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy.
“There is no one in America more qualified for this position, or more deserving,” the president said of Kavanaugh during Monday night’s prime-time television announcement from the White House East Room. He called Kavanaugh a “brilliant jurist” who has “devoted his life to public service.”
Prior to his time as a judge he oversaw an investigation into the death of a deputy counsel for President Bill Clinton. It was ruled a suicide, but conspiracy theorists were not so certain. Kavanaugh also did preliminary work that led to Clinton’s impeachment for an affair with a White House intern. And he worked on the vote recount in the state of Florida that made George W. Bush president. After that he became a staff secretary for Bush, often traveling with the president.
Known as a devout Catholic, Kavanaugh’s position on one of America’s most politically charged issues – abortion – has raised concern on both sides. Those who promote a woman’s right to choose an abortion were upset with a Kavanaugh ruling against an immigrant teenager in federal custody who sought an immediate abortion. But some conservatives expressed dismay that Kavanaugh did not declare that the teen had no constitutional right to an elective abortion.
Earlier, Trump had announced he had narrowed his choice to several contenders, building anticipation for the announcement, which generated criticism.
The executive editor of the Lawfare blog, Susan Hennessey, who is also a Brookings fellow in national security in governance studies, called it “completely bizarre that the president has imposed an artificial, TV ratings-driven deadline on such a consequential choice.”
Others, however, perceived time was of the essence.
With Republicans hoping to confirm a justice before the court resumes its session in October, as well as prior to the upcoming midterm congressional election in November, “Trump did not move too fast in naming a nominee,” says Trevor Burrus, a research fellow at the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies.
What is almost certain — and those across the political spectrum agree — is that Kavanaugh’s selection will spark a major confirmation battle in the U.S. Senate, where Republicans hold a narrow 51-49 majority and opposition Democrats say they will fight to prevent the high court from swinging further to the right.
A handful of Senate Democrats running for re-election in states that Trump won handily in 2016 could face a difficult vote on the court nominee, potentially providing Republicans with an additional buffer if they decide to support the president.
Kennedy was often a member of five-to-four majority decisions on the high court. Those included a number of high-profile cases, including same-sex marriage and upholding a woman’s right to an abortion.
Kennedy’s departure “leaves the court in a calcified state of a hardened left and right with nobody in that middle position,” says Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University constitutional law professor.
“Most of the time Kennedy swung to the conservative side, especially on questions of the limits of congressional power, the First Amendment, and the Second Amendment,” Burrus, who also is managing editor of the Cato Supreme Court Review, tells VOA.
“He swung to the other side on the question of gay rights and abortion, and those are the particular issues that concern those on the left.”
The Supreme Court, sitting atop one of the three branches of American government, ”has grown in importance over the past few decades,” Burrus said. “This is partially due to the cases it has been asked to decide, such as the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, and it is partially due to the divided nature of American politics.”
Unlike presidents or members of Congress, however, Supreme Court justices in the United States do not have terms – they usually serve until they resign or die, giving presidents who select them a judicial legacy sometimes lasting decades beyond their terms in office.
Kennedy, who is 81, had been nominated for the court by President Ronald Reagan in 1987.
Trump, just days after becoming president in January of last year in a similar televised event, selected the reliably conservative Neil Gorsuch to succeed Antonin Scalia, who had died at the age of 79 in February 2016.
The names of Kavanaugh and Gorsuch were on a list of judicial candidates deemed suitable by the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation.
Critics accused Trump of outsourcing his selection to the conservative groups.
“I’ve never seen a president of the United States, in effect, make himself a puppet of outside groups and choose from a group of right-wing fringe ideologues that are prepared on this list,” Senator Richard Blumenthal, a judiciary committee member, said Sunday on an ABC News program.
Burrus says that while “Trump’s method of choosing a justice is not exactly traditional, but it is not that objectionable given the circumstances. As an outsider candidate, people wanted to know who he might put on the Supreme Court, particularly since there was an open seat on the court for the next president to fill, which is rare.
“By publishing a short list, and sticking to traditional conservative justices, he allayed many fears about who he might appoint to the Court. With his second appointment he’s sticking to that general process,” Burrus added.
Jim Malone contributed to this report.
…
As Trump Confounds, Mattis Seen as Quiet Champion Among NATO Allies
10/07/2018
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will only play a supporting role to President Donald Trump at this week’s NATO summit — an event that by definition is focused on heads of state from the trans-Atlantic alliance.
But Mattis’ small part belies his high standing among NATO allies, which has only risen as they become increasingly bewildered by Trump’s policies on trade and Iran and anxious about his outreach to Russian President Vladimir Putin, European diplomats, officials and experts say.
In recent months, it has become clear that Mattis has a limited ability to influence Trump, who is increasingly confident in his own foreign policy instincts as he settles into his presidency.
But Mattis, by staying above the political fray and avoiding contradicting Trump, has been quietly helping bolster the NATO military alliance over the past 18 months in ways that are too granular to grab much attention in Washington.
“In the Trump administration, he is seen as the most articulate adult in the room,” said one senior European official, who has attended meetings in Europe with Mattis.
The July 11-12 summit is set to enshrine reforms that include creating two new military commands aimed at deterring Russia, one of which the U.S. military has agreed to host.
Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general and former NATO commander, also helped clinch agreement on a plan known as 30-30-30-30. It would require NATO to have 30 land battalions, 30 air fighter squadrons and 30 ships ready to deploy within 30 days of being put on alert.
“There is a real questioning in Europe about the commitment by the President of the United States to the post-war European order” including NATO, said Ivo Daalder, a U.S. ambassador to NATO under President Barack Obama. “But on the sub-structure, which is the day-to-day business of the alliance … Mattis has led an effort to double down.”
In another example, Mattis has helped oversee a 91 percent increase in Pentagon funding requests for the U.S. military’s European Deterrence Initiative, which was created to help reassure nervous European allies after Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula.
European allies are increasing their spending on defense, partly because of Trump’s public scolding. Mattis has reinforced that message publicly and privately, to the relief of many European security officials, who long thought their nations’ spending was insufficient.
“The summit should therefore be a moment (for Trump) to take a victory lap,” wrote Derek Collet, a former Pentagon official under Obama’s administration, who is now at the German Marshall Fund. “Instead, for the Europeans, the measure of success at the meeting has been reduced to getting through two days relatively unscathed by a presidential rant or tweetstorm.”
Russia concessions?
Regardless of what happens in Brussels, NATO states will still be anxious about the Trump-Putin summit in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16. NATO allies are wondering if Trump might make security concessions to Moscow to improve ties.
“There are great concerns in the alliance about what agreements Trump and Putin could reach,” Peter Beyer, transatlantic coordinator for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition, told a German newspaper chain.
Mattis, who has made clear his concerns about Moscow, has sought to keep political tensions between the United States and Europe from bleeding into U.S. defense relationships.
At the last NATO defense ministers meeting in June in Brussels, Mattis, speaking at a closed-door NATO dinner, steered clear of the steel tariffs that Trump had just imposed on NATO allies on national security grounds, one NATO official said.
Instead, Mattis’ remarks stuck strictly to military issues like the NATO training mission in Iraq, the official said.
Dismayed European allies have also been struggling to salvage the Iran nuclear deal and preserve their Iranian trade after Trump pulled the United States from the landmark accord and ordered sanctions reimposed on Tehran.
Mattis had once backed staying with the deal, although he softened his public stance on the issue in the weeks before Trump withdrew.
European officials say there is frustration that even though they have good relations with Mattis this has not meant they have been able to effectively communicate their concerns to Trump.
“We tried to develop a relationship with our direct counterparts in Washington to try to reach the president and that didn’t work,” one official said.
European officials and diplomats said Mattis has a personal charm that works well, even with Europeans skeptical of the United States.
But for Europeans, there is growing concern that Trump might pay less and less attention to his defense secretary.
In an administration that has seen a high degree of turnover, former NATO official Alexander Vershbow said some of his European contacts ask him from time to time about the possibility that Mattis might leave the job.
“That’s the nightmare scenario for the Europeans, that Mattis could depart,” said Vershbow, who was deputy secretary general of NATO until late 2016.
How China’s Chickens are Going to Lay a Billion Eggs a Day
10/07/2018
Behind a row of sealed red incubator doors in a new facility in northern China, about 400,000 chicks are hatched every day, part of the rapidly modernizing supply chain in China’s $37 billion egg industry, the world’s biggest.
As China overhauls production of everything from pork to milk and vegetables, farmers raising hens for eggs are also shifting from backyards to factory farms, where modern standardized processes are expected to raise quality and safety.
That’s an important step in a country where melamine-tainted eggs and eggs with high antibiotic residues have featured in a series of food safety scandals in recent years. It is also spurring demand for higher priced branded eggs over those sold loose in fresh produce markets.
“These days if you’re a small farmer, your eggs won’t get into the supermarkets,” said Yuan Song, analyst with China-America Commodity Data Analytics.
Tough new regulations on treating manure and reducing the environmental impact from farms have also pushed many small farmers out.
Most egg producers now have between 20,000 and 50,000 hens, said Yuan, a significant change even from two years ago. The remainder with less than 10,000 birds are likely to be shut down soon as local governments favor larger producers that can be more easily scrutinized.
High-tech hatchery
Those rapid changes are driving investments like the 150 million yuan ($22.60 million) hatchery in Handan, about 400km (250 miles) southwest of Beijing.
The highly automated plant, owned by a joint venture between China’s Huayu Agricultural Science and Technology Co. Ltd. and EW Group’s genetics business Hy-Line International, is the world’s biggest hatchery of layer chicks, or birds raised to produce eggs rather than meat.
By producing 200,000 females a day, or around 60 million layers a year (one day a week is for cleaning), it can meet demand from larger farms who want to buy day-old-chicks in one batch, said Jonathan Cade, president of Hy-Line International, based in West Des Moines, Iowa.
“That’s the best way to start off with good biosecurity,” he said. When the birds on one farm are the same age, they are less likely to spread disease.
Imported, latest-generation equipment helps speed up the throughput of the hatchery. An automatic grading machine, which can handle 60,000 eggs an hour, sorts eggs into two acceptable sizes before they enter incubators — uniform eggs produce similar sized chicks that will have the same feeding ability.
Once hatched, female chicks go to automated beak-clipping machines that process around 3,500 an hour.
Only 20 staff will be needed in the new plant, compared with around 100 in Huayu’s older hatchery, said Huayu chairman Wang Lianzeng.
Fierce competition, disease
Efficiency is important in an industry which is not expected to see much volume growth. The Chinese already eat more eggs per capita than almost everyone else, about 280 a year or almost one billion a day across the country, so consumption is unlikely to rise much.
Breeders like Huayu are trying to grow by taking market share from others. In addition to the new Handan hatchery, it is building another in Chongqing, which will bring annual production to 180 million chicks.
Layer inventory last year was around 1.2 billion, according to the China Animal Agriculture Association.
Huayu is also looking into breeding layers and building hatcheries in South-East Asia and Africa, said Wang, the chairman.
Key to industrial-scale facilities will be managing the risks of disease. Prices and demand for eggs and poultry plunged last year, after hundreds of people died from contracting bird flu, even though the disease left flocks largely unscathed.
Although that has created new opportunities for large players to expand after others were forced to exit, the impact of a disease outbreak on intensive operations is significantly higher.
Huayu itself has recently suffered from outbreaks, with high rates of poultry disease Mycoplasma synoviae (MS) in China’s breeding flocks last year, said Wang. The disease can reduce egg production in layers.
Wang said biosecurity is the major advantage in the new hatchery, which uses advanced ventilation and environmental controls to keep new chicks healthy.
“When you enter the hatchery, you wouldn’t know you’re in a hatchery,” he said, referring to the smell typical in older facilities.
Disinfection is used at every step along the chain and workers follow strict procedures on hygiene, he added.
A safe environment with very high standards of biosecurity is important in raising chicks, said Wang.
With such pressures on production, improving animal welfare is unsurprisingly not a priority, said Jeff Zhou, China representative for Compassion in World Farming (CIWF), a nonprofit.
China has no animal welfare regulations, although some companies have begun voluntarily to phase out the painful beak-trimming practice, including Huayu rival Ningxia Xiaoming Farming and Animal Husbandry Co. Ltd.
Xiaoming is also supplying male chicks from its hatcheries to local farmers to rear for meat in free-range environments, according to CIWF. Huayu sells its male chicks as food for snakes, which are farmed in China for traditional medicine.
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How China’s Chickens are Going to Lay a Billion Eggs a Day
10/07/2018
Behind a row of sealed red incubator doors in a new facility in northern China, about 400,000 chicks are hatched every day, part of the rapidly modernizing supply chain in China’s $37 billion egg industry, the world’s biggest.
As China overhauls production of everything from pork to milk and vegetables, farmers raising hens for eggs are also shifting from backyards to factory farms, where modern standardized processes are expected to raise quality and safety.
That’s an important step in a country where melamine-tainted eggs and eggs with high antibiotic residues have featured in a series of food safety scandals in recent years. It is also spurring demand for higher priced branded eggs over those sold loose in fresh produce markets.
“These days if you’re a small farmer, your eggs won’t get into the supermarkets,” said Yuan Song, analyst with China-America Commodity Data Analytics.
Tough new regulations on treating manure and reducing the environmental impact from farms have also pushed many small farmers out.
Most egg producers now have between 20,000 and 50,000 hens, said Yuan, a significant change even from two years ago. The remainder with less than 10,000 birds are likely to be shut down soon as local governments favor larger producers that can be more easily scrutinized.
High-tech hatchery
Those rapid changes are driving investments like the 150 million yuan ($22.60 million) hatchery in Handan, about 400km (250 miles) southwest of Beijing.
The highly automated plant, owned by a joint venture between China’s Huayu Agricultural Science and Technology Co. Ltd. and EW Group’s genetics business Hy-Line International, is the world’s biggest hatchery of layer chicks, or birds raised to produce eggs rather than meat.
By producing 200,000 females a day, or around 60 million layers a year (one day a week is for cleaning), it can meet demand from larger farms who want to buy day-old-chicks in one batch, said Jonathan Cade, president of Hy-Line International, based in West Des Moines, Iowa.
“That’s the best way to start off with good biosecurity,” he said. When the birds on one farm are the same age, they are less likely to spread disease.
Imported, latest-generation equipment helps speed up the throughput of the hatchery. An automatic grading machine, which can handle 60,000 eggs an hour, sorts eggs into two acceptable sizes before they enter incubators — uniform eggs produce similar sized chicks that will have the same feeding ability.
Once hatched, female chicks go to automated beak-clipping machines that process around 3,500 an hour.
Only 20 staff will be needed in the new plant, compared with around 100 in Huayu’s older hatchery, said Huayu chairman Wang Lianzeng.
Fierce competition, disease
Efficiency is important in an industry which is not expected to see much volume growth. The Chinese already eat more eggs per capita than almost everyone else, about 280 a year or almost one billion a day across the country, so consumption is unlikely to rise much.
Breeders like Huayu are trying to grow by taking market share from others. In addition to the new Handan hatchery, it is building another in Chongqing, which will bring annual production to 180 million chicks.
Layer inventory last year was around 1.2 billion, according to the China Animal Agriculture Association.
Huayu is also looking into breeding layers and building hatcheries in South-East Asia and Africa, said Wang, the chairman.
Key to industrial-scale facilities will be managing the risks of disease. Prices and demand for eggs and poultry plunged last year, after hundreds of people died from contracting bird flu, even though the disease left flocks largely unscathed.
Although that has created new opportunities for large players to expand after others were forced to exit, the impact of a disease outbreak on intensive operations is significantly higher.
Huayu itself has recently suffered from outbreaks, with high rates of poultry disease Mycoplasma synoviae (MS) in China’s breeding flocks last year, said Wang. The disease can reduce egg production in layers.
Wang said biosecurity is the major advantage in the new hatchery, which uses advanced ventilation and environmental controls to keep new chicks healthy.
“When you enter the hatchery, you wouldn’t know you’re in a hatchery,” he said, referring to the smell typical in older facilities.
Disinfection is used at every step along the chain and workers follow strict procedures on hygiene, he added.
A safe environment with very high standards of biosecurity is important in raising chicks, said Wang.
With such pressures on production, improving animal welfare is unsurprisingly not a priority, said Jeff Zhou, China representative for Compassion in World Farming (CIWF), a nonprofit.
China has no animal welfare regulations, although some companies have begun voluntarily to phase out the painful beak-trimming practice, including Huayu rival Ningxia Xiaoming Farming and Animal Husbandry Co. Ltd.
Xiaoming is also supplying male chicks from its hatcheries to local farmers to rear for meat in free-range environments, according to CIWF. Huayu sells its male chicks as food for snakes, which are farmed in China for traditional medicine.
…
Russia’s ACRA Rating Agency Says More Sanctions Are Key Risk
10/07/2018
The possibility of more Western sanctions against Moscow is the key risk for the Russian economy, as much as 21 percent of which has already felt the impact of existing sanctions, Russia’s Analytical Credit Ratings Agency said in a report Tuesday.
Western sanctions are expected to weigh on Russia’s oil-dependent economy in the longer run, having dented incomes of Russian households, the Kremlin-backed ACRA said.
The West first imposed economic and financial sanctions against Moscow in 2014 for its annexation of Crimea and its role in the Ukrainian conflict.
Russia has responded with counter-sanctions, banning imports of a wide range of food from countries that had targeted Moscow.
Later, sanctions against Russia were expanded, putting extra pressure on Russia’s economy and the ruble.
“The risk of widening of anti-Russian sanctions remains one of the key risks that the Russian economy could face this year,” ACRA said.
New sanctions listed by ACRA might target more companies, Russian state debt or even disconnect Russia from the international SWIFT payment system.
For now, Russia’s international reserves, which stood at nearly $456 billion as of late June, “fully cover external debt, which is vulnerable to wider sanctions,” ACRA said.
“Sanctions should not be named the key factor that limits economic growth in Russia in the mid-term … The impact of sanctions on growth rate could turn out to be more pronounced in the long term for both companies and the economy in general,” ACRA said.
Western sanctions have hit Russian companies that account for 95 percent of the country’s oil and gas industry revenues.
Restrictions imposed on Russian oil and gas companies in 2014 will affect their oil output in 2020s, ACRA said.
Sanctions have also hit Russia’s major state-owned banks, which account for 54 percent of banking assets. But the sanctions’ impact on the financial health of companies and banks has been less pronounced than that of the country’s economic policies, ACRA said.
Moscow’s response to the sanctions, which limited imports, has inflated prices for a number of goods.
“Counter-sanctions have resulted in price growth and a decline in households’ incomes by 2-3 percentage points in 2014-2018,” ACRA said.
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Russia’s ACRA Rating Agency Says More Sanctions Are Key Risk
10/07/2018
The possibility of more Western sanctions against Moscow is the key risk for the Russian economy, as much as 21 percent of which has already felt the impact of existing sanctions, Russia’s Analytical Credit Ratings Agency said in a report Tuesday.
Western sanctions are expected to weigh on Russia’s oil-dependent economy in the longer run, having dented incomes of Russian households, the Kremlin-backed ACRA said.
The West first imposed economic and financial sanctions against Moscow in 2014 for its annexation of Crimea and its role in the Ukrainian conflict.
Russia has responded with counter-sanctions, banning imports of a wide range of food from countries that had targeted Moscow.
Later, sanctions against Russia were expanded, putting extra pressure on Russia’s economy and the ruble.
“The risk of widening of anti-Russian sanctions remains one of the key risks that the Russian economy could face this year,” ACRA said.
New sanctions listed by ACRA might target more companies, Russian state debt or even disconnect Russia from the international SWIFT payment system.
For now, Russia’s international reserves, which stood at nearly $456 billion as of late June, “fully cover external debt, which is vulnerable to wider sanctions,” ACRA said.
“Sanctions should not be named the key factor that limits economic growth in Russia in the mid-term … The impact of sanctions on growth rate could turn out to be more pronounced in the long term for both companies and the economy in general,” ACRA said.
Western sanctions have hit Russian companies that account for 95 percent of the country’s oil and gas industry revenues.
Restrictions imposed on Russian oil and gas companies in 2014 will affect their oil output in 2020s, ACRA said.
Sanctions have also hit Russia’s major state-owned banks, which account for 54 percent of banking assets. But the sanctions’ impact on the financial health of companies and banks has been less pronounced than that of the country’s economic policies, ACRA said.
Moscow’s response to the sanctions, which limited imports, has inflated prices for a number of goods.
“Counter-sanctions have resulted in price growth and a decline in households’ incomes by 2-3 percentage points in 2014-2018,” ACRA said.
…
UN Predicts Growth in World Fish Production
10/07/2018
World fish production is expected to grow over the next 10 years despite a slowdown in both farmed and wild caught fish, the U.N.’s food agency said.
In a new report on global fisheries, the Food and Agricultural Agency predicts world fish production will grow to 201 million metric tons by 2030 — an 18 percent rise over current levels.
This is despite the amount of wild caught fish leveling off and the number of farmed fish slowing down after decades of rapid growth.
“The fisheries sector is crucial in meeting FAO’s goal of a world without hunger and malnutrition, and its contribution to economic growth and the fight against poverty is growing,” FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva said.
But the report said future growth depends on sustainable and stronger fishing management, and successfully fighting such problems as pollution, global warming and illegal fishing.
The report said nearly 60 million people are employed in the world’s fishing industry, with China being the biggest producer and exporter of fish.
The European Union, United States and Japan are the world’s top three consumers of fish and users of fish products.
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GOP Senator Warns Against Trusting Putin ‘Mafia’
09/07/2018
A U.S. senator who just returned from a congressional trip to Russia warned against trusting President Vladimir Putin, saying that dealing with the Russian government is like “dealing with the mafia.”
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., recently went with other GOP senators to see first-hand the Russian economy and meet with government officials. But the meetings, ahead of President Donald Trump’s planned summit with Putin on July 16, turned “cantankerous” at times, he said. He described Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as a “bully.”
“There is no political philosophy in Russia. It’s sort of like saying, what’s the political philosophy of the mafia,” Kennedy told reporters Monday on Capitol Hill.
“Their philosophy is money and power. That’s the philosophy of Putin. He rules with an iron hand. He’s a dictator,” Kennedy said. He noted there’s “no free press” in Russia and said there’s a vast gap in wealth between the elites and ordinary Russians. He said the Russian people “deserve better.”
The senator said he had no problem with Trump meeting privately with Putin, but said he doesn’t expect a diplomatic breakthrough.
“You can’t trust Putin,” Kennedy said. “I think the best we can do is try to contain him.”
The senators were in Russia as part of a congressional visit headed by Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Alabama, chairman of the Appropriations Committee. The trip came ahead of a summit between Trump and Putin in Helsinki.
The senators met with legislative leaders of Russia’s legislative body, but Kennedy said the most difficult session was with Lavrov. The meeting, Kennedy said, got off to a rocky start when the senator addressed him as ambassador rather than the expected title.
“We didn’t call each other an ‘ignorant slut’ or anything, but we exchanged words,” the senator said.
Kennedy said the senators confronted the Russians about election interference in 2016. Kennedy said the senators warned the Russians if they interfere in the November election, Congress “will hit you with sanctions even harder than what we have right now.”
He said the Russian response was to deny that they interfered in the election. “Deny, deny, deny,” he said.
“I thought it was important for us to look them in the eye and say, ‘Hey, we know what you’re doing,’” Kennedy said.
Kennedy’s takeaway from the meeting was that “what Russia wants is what Mr. Putin wants. And what Mr. Putin wants is status.”
“It’s really like dealing with the mafia.”
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Джемілєв і Гройсман привітали Ердогана на інавгурації президента Туреччини
09/07/2018
Уповноважений президента України у справах кримськотатарського народу Мустафа Джемілєв і прем’єр-міністр України Володимир Гройсман взяли участь в урочистих заходах з нагоди інавгурації президента Туреччини Реджепа Тайїпа Ердогана. Про це глава українського уряду написав у Facebook пізно ввечері 9 липня.
«Туреччина – важливий економічний і політичний партнер. У нас багато спільних планів у взаємній торгівлі, енергетиці. Ми також вдячні за позицію щодо захисту кримських татар у Криму. Разом зі мною сьогодні Мустафа Джемілєв », – написав Гройсман.
Раніше заступник голови Меджлісу кримськотатарського народу Ахтем Чийгоз заявив, що Ердоган підтвердив готовність боротися за звільнення українських політв’язнів, які голодують у Росії та анексованому Криму.
На думку адвоката засудженого в Росії режисера Олега Сенцова Дмитра Дінзе, президент Росії Володимир Путін дослухається до президента Туреччини Ердогана в питанні звільнення Олега Сенцова.
Засуджений в Росії український режисер Олег Сенцов 14 травня оголосив безстрокове голодування з вимогою звільнити всіх українських політв’язнів, які перебувають в російських в’язницях. 31 травня він заявив, що його «не цікавить обмін», адже він – «людина, яка йде до кінця».
Стан здоров’я українського активіста Володимира Балуха, який голодує на окупованому півострові, погіршився. Про це 25 червня проекту Радіо Свобода Крим.Реалії повідомила адвокат Ольга Дінзе після відвідування свого підзахисного в СІЗО Сімферополя.
14 червня Європейський парламент закликав Росію негайно звільнити всіх українських політичних в’язнів, які були незаконно затримані, заарештовані та ув’язнені.
Активісти в Україні і по всьому світу продовжують вимагати від Росії і президента Володимира Путіна звільнити незаконно утримуваних українців. Акції відбуваються в різних країнах і на різних континентах під гаслами #FreeOlegSentsov і #SaveOlegSentsov.
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Український консул відвідав Романа Сущенка в московській тюрмі
09/07/2018
Український консул у Росії Геннадій Брескаленко 9 липня відвідав у СІЗО «Лефортово» ув’язненого українського журналіста Романа Сущенка. Про це, як повідомляє «Укрінформ», розповіла дочка Сущенка Юлія.
«Він (Сущенко – ред.) почувається нормально, якщо можна так сказати, враховуючи всі умови, в яких він перебуває ось уже майже два роки… Передає всім вітання. Подав документи на дозвіл на дзвінки рідним, але коли їх нададуть – невідомо», – розповіла Юлія.
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Суд у Москві 4 червня засудив українського журналіста Романа Сущенка до 12 років позбавлення волі за звинуваченням у шпигунстві. Сущенко своєї провини не визнає, правозахисники називають справу проти нього політично мотивованою.
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