Month: June 2017

EU Leaders to Discuss Brexit at Summit

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European Union leaders open a two-day summit in Brussels Thursday to address everything from Britain’s planned exit from the regional economic bloc to the resurging economy.

British Prime Minister Theresa May’s remarks at the two-day meeting are expected to include reassurances about the futures of the three million citizens of other EU countries currently living in Britain.

Together with the future of more than 1 million British citizens living elsewhere in the EU, the issue is one of the major topics the two sides must agree on as part of negotiations that began earlier this week.

After May speaks Thursday night, the rest of the leaders will meet without her to discuss their side of the Brexit process that was triggered by a British referendum one year ago and is set to finish by the end of March 2019.

The EU summit will also tackle migration, renewing sanctions against Russia and efforts to combat online extremism.
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Spacesuit Technology Used for Earthly Pain Relief

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An estimated 8-12 million Americans have a medical condition called Peripheral Artery Disease or PAD. The condition is caused by plaque buildup in the arteries and can be extremely painful. But some space age technology could provide relief. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports, and Faith Lapidus narrates.
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Compelling Vietnam: Foreign Investors Unfazed by Trump’s Trade Deal Rebuff

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Every 45 seconds or so, a neatly wrapped VanHeusen dress shirt destined for a J.C. Penney store in the United States drops off a new production line at a factory north of Vietnam’s capital.

Next door, rice paddies the size of 40 football fields have been filled for the $320 million textile mill which Hong Kong based TAL Group plans to build so it won’t need to import cloth for the shirts.

As elsewhere in Vietnam, there has been no sign of an impact on investment plans since U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal which had been expected to benefit Vietnam more than any country.

In fact, foreign direct investment rose 6 percent year-on-year to $6.15 billion in the first five months of 2017.

Cheap labor is an obvious lure for foreign investors. TAL’s chief executive, Roger Lee, said Vietnam also scores highly on middle management, work ethic and government policy.

Though the removal of U.S. import tariffs under a TPP pact would have been a bonus, Lee said he had no second thoughts about investment plans after Trump pulled out of the deal soon after taking office.

“Vietnam is a very compelling proposition,” said Lee.

The wage for garment workers is $250 a month in Vietnam, compared to $700 in China, where TAL recently shut a factory for cost reasons.

The removal of tariffs of up to about 30 percent would have made clothing firms particular beneficiaries of the TPP deal, which had been forecast to add 28 percent to Vietnam’s exports and 11 percent to its gross domestic product over a decade.

Other clothing firms were also not discouraged by the scrapping of the deal. Lawsgroup’s chief executive, Bosco Law, told Reuters it was now seeking to expand from its three factories with 10,000 workers.

Vietnam’s trade surplus over the United States – the sixth biggest last year – has come under scrutiny as a result of Trump’s “America First” policy to bring manufacturing jobs back to America. But it hasn’t discouraged investment.

“We have started working for a couple of American manufacturing companies that contacted us after the TPP’s demise and that are willing to relocate part of their operations from China,” said Oscar Mussons, Senior Associate at Dezan Shira and Associates professional services firm.

Cheaper than China

Vietnam has been a big winner as Chinese manufacturing costs have risen and China itself is now one of the three biggest investors in Vietnam.

The TPP deal would have further improved access to U.S. and other markets for manufacturers based there, but also bound Vietnam to reforms meaning everything from opening up food import markets to strengthening labour rights.

Investment and Planning Minister Nguyen Chi Dung told Reuters that Vietnam planned to go ahead with its commitments under TPP anyway – both to strengthen the economy and because of other trade deals, such as one with the European Union. The 11 remaining TPP members are also still trying to keep it alive.

Dung said Vietnam had a target of $10 billion a year in foreign direct investment over the next five years — compared to nearly $16 billion in 2016 alone — as it sought a change in the type of investment it wants to draw.

“Before we focused on quantity, now we switch to quality,” Dung said. “Higher technology, higher added value, less use of energy, less use of raw materials, less cheap labor.”

That is where Vietnam has a greater challenge. It lags competitors for top skills. The proportion of secondary school leavers going on to further studies is a third higher in China and over three times higher in South Korea.

“Vietnam is still a very attractive country, but companies might not invest as much as expected because they find the employees lack the skills for that added value,” Mussons said. “Companies have been too focused on reducing costs and not enough on training.”
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Researchers to See How Much Carbon Dioxide Forests Can Take

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Researchers at a British University have embarked on a decade-long experiment that will pump a forest full of carbon dioxide to measure how it copes with rising levels of the gas, a key driver of climate change.

The Free Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment (FACE) experiment at the University of Birmingham’s Institute of Forest Research (BIFoR) will expose a fenced-off section of mature woodland in Norbury Park in Staffordshire, West Midlands, to levels of CO2 that experts predict will be prevalent in 2050.

Scientists aim to measure the forest’s capacity to capture carbon released by fossil fuel burning, and answer questions about their capacity to absorb carbon pollution long-term.

“[Forests] happily take a bit more CO2 because that’s their main nutrient. But we don’t know how much more and whether they can do that indefinitely,” BIFoR co-director Michael Tausz told Reuters.

Carbon dioxide record

The apparatus for the experiment consists of a series of masts built into six 30-meter-wide sections of woodland, reaching up about 25 meters into the forest canopy.

Concentrated CO2 is fed through pipes to the top of the masts where it is pumped into the foliage.

Last year the U.N World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced that the global average of carbon dioxide, the main man-made greenhouse gas, reached 400 parts per million (ppm) in the atmosphere for the first time on record.

“The forest here sees nearly 40 percent more CO2 than it sees normally, because that’s what it will be globally in about 2050; a value of 550 parts per million, compared to 400 parts per million now,” Tausz said.

Deforestation

With deforestation shrinking the carbon storage capacity of the world’s forests, researchers hope that a greater understanding of their role in climate change mitigation could help policymakers make informed decisions.

“We could get a clear idea of whether they can keep helping us into the future by sucking up more CO2,” Tausz said.

The remainder of the Norbury Park woodland is open to the public and will not be affected by the experiment.
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Jackie Kennedy Watch, Painting Sell for Triple Estimated Price in New York

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A Cartier wristwatch given to Jackie Kennedy and a painting she made in 1963 as a thank-you gift to reciprocate sold for $379,500 on Wednesday, more than three times pre-sale estimates, Christie’s auction house said.

Christie’s said the price was reached after three minutes of “spirited bidding” in its New York saleroom, online and by phone. It did not identify the buyer.

The auction house had estimated the watch and the painting, sold as one lot, would fetch up to $120,000, calling them “two of the most important historic artifacts to surface in recent years from the golden era of the Kennedy Presidency.”

The Cartier tank watch, engraved on the back, was given to the then-U.S. first lady by her brother-in-law Prince Stanislaw “Stas” Radziwill, and she was photographed many times wearing it.

The picture was painted by Kennedy to mark a 50-mile (80-km) hike in Palm Beach in 1963 that Radziwill and other friends of the Kennedys undertook to promote fitness.

Most of Jacqueline Kennedy’s personal belongings were auctioned in 1996 following her death from cancer in 1994 at age 64. The 1996 auction at Sotheby’s in New York raised some $34 million, more than seven times pre-sale expectations.

The seller of the watch wished to remain anonymous but has pledged to donate a portion of the auction proceeds to the National Endowment for the Arts.
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New Girl Scout Badges Focus on Cybercrime, Not Cookie Sales

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Cookie sales may take a back seat to fighting identity theft and other computer crime now that Girl Scouts as young as 5 are to be offered the chance to earn their first-ever cyber security badges.

Armed with a needle and thread, U.S. Girl Scouts who master the required skills can attach to their uniform’s sash the first of 18 cyber security badges that will be rolled out in September 2018, Girl Scouts of the USA said in a press release.

The education program, which aims to reach as many as 1.8 million Girl Scouts in kindergarten through sixth grade, is being developed in a partnership between the Girl Scouts and Palo Alto Networks (PANW.N), a security company.

The goal is to prevent cyberattacks and restore trust in digital operations by training “tomorrow’s diverse and innovative team of problem solvers equipped to counter emerging cyber threats,” Mark McLaughlin, chief executive officer of Palo Alto Networks, said in the release.

The move to instill “a valuable 21st century skill set” in girls best known for cookie sales is also aimed at eliminating barriers to cyber security employment, such as gender and geography, said Sylvia Acevedo, the CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA.

Women remain vastly underrepresented in the cyber security industry, holding just 11 percent of jobs globally, according to a recent study by (ISC)2, an international nonprofit focused on cyber security.

“In our increasingly tech-driven world, future generations must possess the skills to navigate the complexities and inherent challenges of the cyber realm,” Acevedo said in the release.

“From arming older girls with the tools to address this reality to helping younger girls protect their identities via internet safety, the launch of our national cyber security badge initiative represents our advocacy of cyber preparedness,” she said.
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Threats, NATO Demands Underpin Global Arms Demand

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Military conflicts and growing threats around the world continue to underpin demand for weapons, but industry and government leaders from the United States, Europe, Russia and the Middle East say they don’t see a huge near-term spike in arms orders.

Executives report being busier than ever at this year’s Paris Airshow, the oldest and biggest aerospace expo in the world, which featured aerial acrobatics by Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 fighter jet.

But they caution that foreign arms sales take years to complete, and NATO governments must get through lengthy budget and bureaucratic processes before they can raise military spending to meet a NATO target for members to spend 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on defense.

No big spurt seen

“We’re seeing some growth, but I like to be pragmatic. I’m not seeing a big tick up in defense spending across the board,” Leanne Caret, who heads Boeing’s defense business, told Reuters in an interview. Her division generates about 40 percent of its revenues overseas, a big change from just several years ago.

Boeing officials expect steady gains in weapons sales, but warn against expectations for any kind of “gold rush” despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s pledge to boost military spending, saying there may be more of a shift in what platforms and weapons programs are in demand.

Recent increases in tensions between Russia and the United States have raised concerns about another arms race, but top officials in both countries agree that there will not be a mad rush to bulk up on weapons.

Moscow’s top arms trade official, Dmitry Shugaev, told reporters at the show that Russian weapon makers remained competitive despite Western sanctions, but the cyclical nature of the business and budget constraints are dampening prospects for a big surge in global arms sales.

He also expressed skepticism that NATO members would rapidly increase their military budgets, despite pledging to move toward the 2 percent goal.

Trump position

Trump’s public declarations that NATO members are not pulling their weight may have had some impact. Lockheed Martin’s Aeronautics business leader, Orlando Carvalho, said national security budgets and military systems’ demand outside the United States are beginning to increase, “especially with the focus that the president has put on NATO.”

In 2016, total world military expenditure rose 0.4 percent to $1.69 trillion, according the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

The European Union’s economic and financial affairs commissioner, Pierre Moscovici, also cited that risk, warning that European countries needed to match political pledges to boost military spending with actual resource commitments.

“There is now a window of opportunity for investing more in European defense … but as with all windows, a window closes if you don’t go through it,” he said.

Gradual increases in Europe

Germany and other European countries are boosting military spending, concerned about terrorism and Russia’s increasingly assertive military stance after its annexation of Crimea and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, but the increases are likely to be more gradual than dramatic.

In the missile defense arena, Western concerns about rapid advances in technology by North Korea, China and Iran, as well as Russia’s increased military activities, are driving orders for a range of defensive systems, according to U.S. and European executives.

“The threat is absolutely increasing and it’s increasing rapidly,” said Tim Cahill, vice president of air and missile defense systems at Lockheed. “In every region around the world, the level of interest in integrated air and missile defense has been going up in the last few months.”

Wes Kremer, president of Raytheon’s Integrated Defense Systems, said he was meeting with officials from countries that had not shown any interest in missile defense systems just four or five years ago.

“Back then, they didn’t see a ballistic missile threat, or they didn’t see Russia as a threat, but now that has changed,” he said.
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Intel Becomes Olympics Sponsor, Will Bring Tech to the Games

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Intel said Wednesday it would become a major sponsor of the International Olympic Committee, making the computer chipmaker the latest technology company to put marketing dollars behind the global sporting event.

The new deal, which goes until 2024, comes a week after longtime Olympics sponsor McDonald’s Corp bowed out of its sponsorship deal three years early, citing a change in the company’s priorities as it tries to hold down costs.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but IOC sources have previously told Reuters that major sponsors pay about $100 million per four-year cycle, which includes one summer and one winter games. The IOC has been looking to increase the cost of those deals, sources previously said.

Intel joins about a dozen global Olympics sponsors such as Coca-Cola, Samsung and most recently, Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba, which signed on six months ago. The IOC has been trying to make the Olympics more technologically savvy and appeal to younger people through its internet-based TV network, the Olympic Channel.

IOC President Thomas Bach and Chief Executive Officer Brian Krzanich said Intel’s sponsorship will open up new experiences for athletes, fans and spectators in emerging areas such as virtual reality.

“We’ll allow people online to feel like they are there,” Krzanich said, speaking at a press conference in New York.

Intel said it would provide 5G wireless technology, virtual reality, artificial intelligence platforms, and drones that could be used in aerial filming or light shows.

Changes for Intel

Intel’s business has undergone big changes in recent years. In March, it agreed to buy autonomous vehicle technology firm Mobileye for $15 billion in a bid to expand its reach beyond its core microprocessor business, which has faced declines along with the personal computer market.

Intel may be seeking to expand its reach in Asia, which is preparing to host three consecutive Olympic Games. Pyeongchang in South Korea is staging the 2018 winter games, Tokyo the 2020 Summer Olympics and Beijing the 2022 Winter Olympics. The IOC is deciding between Paris and Los Angeles for the 2024 summer games.

The IOC is looking to sign pricier deals while brands are trying to figure out whether exclusive Olympics sponsorship rights offer the marketing impact they once did. Some companies find it is much cheaper to work directly with athletes or specific countries than the IOC.

More Olympic partners

Timo Lumme, managing director of IOC Television and Marketing Services, said in an interview that the IOC, with 13 top sponsors, has more partners than ever before, showing that brands see “tangible returns” from investing in the games.

As for the tensions in the Korean Peninsula, Lumme said the IOC is monitoring the situation daily to see if it could effect the 2018 games.

“We feel very sure and comfortable and that the Korean government will provide a safe environment for the world’s athletes to meet next February,” Lumme said.
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Teach ‘Fathers of Tomorrow’ to Keep Girls in School Today, Study Shows

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Girls’ school attendance in East Africa almost doubles when students of both sexes are taught about sex, relationships and money, a charity said on Monday, highlighting how the attitudes of boys influence the educational success of girls.

Asante Africa Foundation said girls’ attendance increased by 80 percent in Kenyan and Tanzanian schools where its project taught about 9,000 adolescent girls, 3,000 mothers and 500 boys about problems like teenage pregnancy and domestic violence.

“If we want to ensure that the next generation of women are given the chance to receive a quality education then we must train our boys to be champions for girls’ equality,” Erna Grasz, founder of the U.S.-based charity, said in a statement.

Boys start listening

Two-thirds of the countries with the greater gender gap between boys and girls in school are in sub-Saharan Africa, largely due to culture and poverty.

Poor girls in rural East Africa often drop out of school when their periods start, as their families regard this as a sign that they are old enough to be married off, or have sex to pay for basic needs.

After taking part in the program, boys started listening to girls more and helped them come up with income-generating ideas, like making jewelry and rearing chickens, the charity said.

Change in attitudes

“The boys of today are the husbands and fathers of tomorrow,” the report said, highlighting the need to change boys’ attitudes towards traditions like female genital mutilation to end such practices.

Mothers were brought in to talk about puberty and finances, while students had frank discussions with slightly older girls about taboos like backstreet abortions, Asante Africa said.

At current rates, the world is set to miss a target for all children to go to secondary school by 2030 by more than half a century, according to the U.N. educational body UNESCO.

 
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Study Suggests Moms Who Breast-feed Have Lower Risk of Heart Disease Later

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A new study suggests a link between breast-feeding and a lowered risk of heart disease in older women.

The research by Chinese investigators found that women who breast-fed may have lowered their risk of heart disease or stroke by an average of 10 percent when they became older.

Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking University and the University of Oxford analyzed data on 289,573 women whose  average age was 51.  

They found that those who breast-fed had a 9 percent lower risk of heart disease and an 8 percent decreased risk of stroke, compared with women who had never nursed. The benefit was even greater for women who breast-fed their babies for two years or more. Their heart disease risk was 18 percent lower and the risk of stroke 17 percent less.

Each additional month of breast-feeding was associated with a 4 percent and 3 percent lower risk of heart disease and stroke, respectively, researchers said.

The findings of the study, the first to look at the long-term health benefits of breast-feeding for women, were published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Hormone’s possible role

Cardiologist Nieca Goldberg, who was not involved in the study, said the cardiovascular benefits could have been related to the release of oxytocin during breast-feeding.

“Oxytocin is a hormone that helps the flexibility of our blood vessels,” she said. “And flexible blood vessels are resistant to the buildup of plaque or cholesterol in the walls of the arteries.”

Breast-feeding provides a number of benefits, such as conferring a mother’s immune protection to her infant and protecting a newborn from life-threatening infections in countries with poor water quality.  

There are short-term benefits for mothers, too. Studies indicate that breast-feeding appears to reset the woman’s metabolism after pregnancy, so she loses baby weight faster, while lowering her cholesterol, blood pressure and glucose levels.

Goldberg, medical director at the Joan H. Tisch Center for Women’s Health in New York, said it was possible that women in the study who breast-fed, and saw heart healthy benefits, might have also led healthier lifestyles compared with other women.

Other strategies

“For those women who don’t choose to breast-feed, there are other things they can do to prevent heart disease,” said Goldberg. “And that’s certainly by exercising, something as simple as taking a walk and eating a healthy diet, rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat proteins.”

Goldberg cautioned that the Chinese study was observational, relying on information provided by the mothers many years after they had given birth, so the findings do not prove a cause-and-effect relationship. She said what’s needed is a head-to-head comparison of women who breast-feed with a control group of those who don’t, to see whether there are long-term heart-healthy benefits.
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Giant Iceberg Like ‘Niggling Tooth’ Set to Crack off Antarctica

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One of the biggest icebergs on record is like a “niggling tooth” about to snap off Antarctica and will be an extra hazard for ships around the frozen continent as it breaks up, scientists said on Wednesday.

An area of the Larsen C ice shelf, about as big as the U.S. state of Delaware or the Indonesian island of Bali, is connected by just 13 km (8 miles) of ice after a crack has crept about 175 kms along the sheet, with a new jump last month.

“It’s keeping us all on tenterhooks,” Andrew Fleming, of the British Antarctic Survey, told Reuters of the lengthening and widening rift, adding “it feels like a niggling tooth” of a child as it comes loose.

Ice shelves are flat-topped areas of ice floating on the sea at the end of glaciers. The Larsen C ice is about 200 meters (656 ft) thick with about 20 meters jutting above the water.

Big icebergs break off Antarctica naturally, meaning scientists are not linking the rift to man-made climate change. The ice, however, is a part of the Antarctic peninsula that has warmed fast in recent decades.

“There is no other evidence of change on the ice shelf. This could simply be a single calving event which will then be followed by re-growth,” Adrian Luckman, a professor at the University of Swansea in Wales, told Reuters.

His team reckons the ice will break off within months, perhaps in days or years.

Risks for shipping

The ice, about 5,000 square kilometers (1,930 square miles), will add to existing risks for ships as it breaks apart and melts. The peninsula is outside major trade routes but the main destination for cruise ships visiting from South America.

In 2009, more than 150 passengers and crew were evacuated after the MV Explorer sank after striking an iceberg off the Antarctic peninsula.

Fleming said the Larsen C iceberg would add an extra pulse of ice and would be hazardous especially if smaller chunks reached usually ice-free areas in the South Atlantic, rather than staying close to Antarctica’s coast.

The Larsen B ice shelf nearby broke up in 2002 and some of the ice drifted into the South Atlantic towards the island of South Georgia, east of  Argentina.

In 2000, the biggest iceberg recorded broke off the Ross ice shelf and was about the size of Jamaica at 11,000 square kms. Bits have lingered for years.

The loss of ice shelves does not in itself affect sea levels because the ice is already floating. But their disappearance lets glaciers on land slip faster towards the ocean, thereby raising sea levels.

NASA estimates that the Larsen C ice shelf pins back ice on land that would add a centimeter (0.4 inch) to world sea levels, which have gained about 20 centimeters in the past century.
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Diageo to Buy Clooney’s Tequila Brand in $1B Deal

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Global liquor behemoth Diageo said Wednesday it will pay up to $1 billion to buy a tequila brand co-founded by movie star George Clooney.

 

Clooney founded the Casamigos brand four years ago with partners Rande Gerber and Mike Meldma.

 

Diageo said it will pay $700 million for Casamigos at first, and then pay another $300 million over 10 years if the brand reaches certain performance milestones.

 

London-based Diageo’s other brands include Johnnie Walker, Guinness and Captain Morgan.

 

Clooney and Gerber, an entrepreneur who is married to model Cindy Crawford, have appeared in ads for the brand. Diageo says the founders will continue to promote Casamigos and have a say in its future.

 

The deal is expected to close in the second half of this year.

 

 
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Lockheed Wins US Air Force Deal for Radar Threat Simulators

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Lockheed Martin Corp said on Wednesday it had won a $104 million U.S. Air Force contract to develop, produce and field a threat simulator to train combat aircrews to recognize and deal with rapidly evolving threats, such as surface-to-air missiles.

Tim Cahill, vice president of air and missile defense systems for Lockheed, said a number of other countries had already expressed interest in the  Advanced Radar Threat System Variant 2, and talks could begin soon on possible sales.

Cahill did not estimate the volume of possible future sales, but potential buyers included all countries that plan to operate the stealthy F-35 fighter jet in coming years.

“It’s a cool little program,” he said. “This is just the first tranche, but it has the potential to be a really big program for us.”

“As the capabilities on the ground from potential threat nations get stronger and better and more capable … it’s very important that the pilots need to train against a system that is actually a high-fidelity simulation of what they would fly against in combat,” he said.

The contract calls for development and delivery of a production-ready system and options to produce up to 20 more. Cahill said the truck-mounted system would emit signals that simulated those of current and evolving advanced surface-to-air threats.
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Uber CEO Kalanick Resigns Under Investor Pressure

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Travis Kalanick, the combative and troubled CEO of ride-hailing giant Uber, resigned Tuesday under pressure from investors.

The company’s board confirmed the move early Tuesday, saying in a statement that Kalanick is taking time to heal from the death of his mother in a boating accident -while giving the company room to fully embrace this new chapter in Uber’s history.” He will remain on the Uber Technologies Inc. board.

In a statement, Kalanick said his resignation would help Uber go back to building -rather than be distracted with another fight.”

The resignation came after a series of costly missteps by Kalanick and the fast-growing company that he helped found eight years ago. Uber on Monday embarked on a 180-day program to change its image by allowing riders to give drivers tips through the Uber app, something the company had resisted under Kalanick.

The San Francisco-based company is trying to reverse damage done to its reputation by revelations of sexual harassment in its offices, allegations of trade secrets theft and an investigation into efforts to mislead government regulators.

Uber’s board said in a statement that Kalanick had -always put Uber first.”

While building the world’s biggest ride-hailing service, Uber developed a reputation for ruthless tactics that have occasionally outraged government regulators, drivers, riders and its employees.

The company’s hard-charging style has led to legal trouble. The U.S. Justice Department is investigating Uber’s past usage of phony software designed to thwart regulators.

Uber also is fighting allegations that it relies on a key piece of technology stolen from Google spin-off Waymo to build self-driving cars.
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Entrepreneur Turns Beirut Slum Into Vast Canvas

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He left behind his notorious Beirut neighborhood of Ouzai to pursue success, but having made his money in finance Ayad Nasser is back – and he’s brought artists with him. ‘Ouzville’ is a new and fast-growing paint-splashed creative space in the heart of a densely packed neighborhood with a tough reputation where huge murals overlook crumbling buildings. John Owens reports from Beirut.
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Red Cross App Helps Refugees in Italy Find Food Banks, Doctors, More

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The Red Cross launched a smartphone app Tuesday to help refugees and migrants arriving in Italy access information and services, including medical, psychological and legal support.

The digital platform called “Virtual Volunteer” was unveiled on World Refugee Day as new data showed the number of refugees globally reached a record 22.5 million in 2016.

“People moving are often caught in a fog of poor information,” said Jagan Chapagain, head of programs and operations at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). “They don’t always know what services are available to them.

“This is a tool that will help give them a clearer view so that they can make informed decisions,” he said in a statement.

Italy is on the front line in the European migrant crisis, which has seen hundreds of thousands of people arrive in the continent by land and sea after fleeing wars and poverty in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Nearly 70,000 have arrived in Italy so far this year, mostly migrants from West Africa and Bangladesh, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Goods, services, tips

Virtual Volunteer uses geolocation to show users on a map where to access shelters, food banks, canteens, showers, clothes distribution points, maternal health centers, free legal assistance, dentists and language schools.

Refugees and migrants can also find advice on how to protect themselves from traffickers and can access information to help them locate family members if they have become separated.

The app — developed by the IFRC and tech giant IBM — has already been rolled out in Greece and Sweden, where it has been used by 30,000 people. “Information saves lives. Ensuring that people can access unbiased, factual information has a big impact,” Italian Red Cross President Francesco Rocca said in a statement.

Virtual Volunteer, also accessible as a website, offers information in multiple languages depending on what is most needed in each country. Languages in Italy include French, Arabic and Tigrinya, reflecting the high number of Eritrean arrivals, while those in Greece include Arabic, Farsi and Dari.

The IFRC plans to roll out the service in other countries affected by migration, including the Philippines and countries in West Africa.
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Red Cross App Helps Refugees in Italy Find Food Banks, Doctors

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The Red Cross launched a smartphone app Tuesday to help refugees and migrants arriving in Italy access information and services, including medical, psychological and legal support.

The digital platform called “Virtual Volunteer” was unveiled on World Refugee Day as new data showed the number of refugees globally reached a record 22.5 million in 2016.

“People moving are often caught in a fog of poor information,” said Jagan Chapagain, head of programs and operations at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). “They don’t always know what services are available to them.

“This is a tool that will help give them a clearer view so that they can make informed decisions,” he said in a statement.

Italy is on the front line in the European migrant crisis, which has seen hundreds of thousands of people arrive in the continent by land and sea after fleeing wars and poverty in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Nearly 70,000 have arrived in Italy so far this year, mostly migrants from West Africa and Bangladesh, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Goods, services, tips

Virtual Volunteer uses geolocation to show users on a map where to access shelters, food banks, canteens, showers, clothes distribution points, maternal health centers, free legal assistance, dentists and language schools.

Refugees and migrants can also find advice on how to protect themselves from traffickers and can access information to help them locate family members if they have become separated.

The app — developed by the IFRC and tech giant IBM — has already been rolled out in Greece and Sweden, where it has been used by 30,000 people. “Information saves lives. Ensuring that people can access unbiased, factual information has a big impact,” Italian Red Cross President Francesco Rocca said in a statement.

Virtual Volunteer, also accessible as a website, offers information in multiple languages depending on what is most needed in each country. Languages in Italy include French, Arabic and Tigrinya, reflecting the high number of Eritrean arrivals, while those in Greece include Arabic, Farsi and Dari.

The IFRC plans to roll out the service in other countries affected by migration, including the Philippines and countries in West Africa.
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US Expands Sanctions Against Russia, Ukraine Separatists

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The United States Treasury Department announced additional sanctions Tuesday against Russia, pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, and individuals and companies associated with them.

The move comes on the heels of a White House meeting Tuesday between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

The increased sanctions is in response to continued Russian support for pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine. Prior to his meeting with Trump, Poroshenko stressed the importance of taking such action before the U.S. president’s meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

The sanctions will target 38 individuals and business entities linked to the continuing conflict in eastern Ukraine. The penalties will remain in place until Russia meets the terms of 2014 and 2015 peace accords reached in Minsk, Belarus.

“These designations will maintain pressure on Russia to work toward a diplomatic process that guarantees Ukrainian sovereignty,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said in a statement. “There should be no sanctions relief until Russia meets its obligations under the Minsk agreement.”

Among those sanctioned are two high-level Russian officials, Deputy Economy Minister Sergey Nazarov and Russian MP Alexander Babakov.

Nazarov, who oversees Russia’s humanitarian aid programs in separatist-controlled areas of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions, has been designated for materially assisting and sponsoring the separatist campaigns and advocating international investment in Crimea.

Babakov, Putin’s special liaison for expatriates, voted in favor of annexing Crimea in 2014 on the grounds that Moscow is obligated to represent ethnic Russians living abroad.

Russia’s largest arms producer, Kalashnikov Concern, has been designated along with a number of small Russian-owned banks for operating in Crimea, along with Oboronlogistyka, a Russian Defense Ministry subsidiary in charge of procurement and provisioning for the annexed Black Sea peninsula.

KPSK, one of Russia’s top corporate property underwriters, has been designated for insuring the Kerch Bridge project, which, if completed, would link Crimea and mainland Russia.

The action follows moves by lawmakers last week to pass a bill to limit the White House’s authority to lift sanctions against Russia without congressional approval. The bill passed with 98 votes in the Senate and now moves on to the House of Representatives.

The Trump administration had pushed back against the Senate bill.

“I would urge Congress to ensure any legislation allows the president to have the flexibility to adjust sanctions,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told lawmakers last week.

Ukrainian President Poroshenko said he received strong assurances of U.S. support for his country from Trump during Tuesday’s meeting.

Trump is expected to meet with Putin at the upcoming Group of 20 (G-20) summit slated for July 7-8 in Hamburg, Germany, under the theme “Shaping an Interconnected World.”

Oksana Bedratenko and Oleksiy Kuzmenko of VOA’s Ukrainian Service contributed to this article.
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MSCI to Add Chinese Mainland Shares to Emerging Markets

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Chinese stocks will be included for the first time in a leading U.S. index of emerging market shares.

The New York-based index giant MSCI said Tuesday that it would add 222 Chinese A shares beginning next year.

“International investors have embraced the positive changes in the accessibility of the China A shares market over the last few years, and now all conditions are set for MSCI to proceed with the first step of the inclusion,” Remy Briand, MSCI managing director and chairman of the MSCI Index Policy Committee, said in a release.

MSCI’s decision to give the Chinese shares the green light represents a victory for the Chinese government, which has long sought MSCI inclusion because it could help establish Shanghai and Shenzhen as global financial centers.

MSCI has in the past cited obstacles such as China’s restrictions on market access and on moving capital in and out of the country. Prior to Tuesday’s decision, it had excluded Chinese shares for three years in a row.

“Inclusion in the MSCI index family is a strong signal of greater market openness, and it will undoubtedly help the A share market to attract broader attention and participation of international investors,” said Yannan Chenye, head of China equities research and portfolio manager at Harvest Global investments in Hong Kong.

While China celebrated, Argentinian investors reeled as the index compiler defied predictions that the country would be upgraded to emerging-market status, keeping it in its frontier group for at least another year.

MSCI also said it would consult on adding Saudi Arabia to the benchmark, and that Nigeria would remain a frontier market, awaiting further review on a possible downgrade to “standalone” status.
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Digital Economy Seen Presenting New Opportunity for US-ASEAN Engagement

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Countries that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will be a wellspring of opportunity for the United States because of growth in the region’s digital economy and its young population, researchers say.

Those combined forces will “create a much more dynamic [economy] … over the coming decades,” said Satu Limaye, head of the Washington office of the East-West Center, which has conducted research on major trends in Southeast Asia. “You have a young population, very adept at technology, adaptive to innovation, so … they are going to be moving up the supply chain in terms of their comfort with technology-based innovation.”

ASEAN is the world’s fastest-growing internet market, with nearly 4 million Southeast Asians coming online every month, according to data from ASEAN Matters for America/America Matters for ASEAN, which was released in May.

The report projected that by 2020, up to 480 million Southeast Asians would be online, compared with 260 million in 2016, driven largely by the adoption of smartphones. This young and tech-savvy population, with a growing middle-class base, is projected to help the digital economy grow by 500 percent to around $200 billion by 2025.

The report marking ASEAN’s 50th anniversary was published in collaboration with the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council (USABC) and the Singapore-based ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, formerly known as the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

Global players

Alexander Feldman, chairman and chief executive of USABC, said ASEAN’s digital dynamism means Southeast Asia-based companies will become global players, and the United States should play a key role in ensuring that this digital growth will help narrow economic inequality.

“Technology is a great leveler and it is something that ASEAN has been focusing on,” Feldman told VOA Khmer. “How do we ensure the prosperity is shared throughout the economy and that you have equal growth in ASEAN? I think the digital economy is a key, and American companies are the key to the digital economy.”

Feldman, who attended the World Economic Forum on ASEAN, a three-day event in Phnom Penh that focused on youth and digital technology, said the host country, Cambodia, sees big potential in its nascent technology sector in addition to its traditional agriculture sector, where growth appears more promising because of technology.

In both sectors, Feldman sees room for U.S. companies working in logistics, a key component of e-commerce, which is just getting started in Cambodia and its neighbors.

ASEAN ambassadors who attended the launch of the report in Washington in May agreed that the digital economy presents new opportunities for boosting their economies, while strengthening their relationships with the U.S. They agreed that U.S. digital engagement in helping less-developed ASEAN countries like Cambodia will help kick-start their digital economies.

Accent on technology

Chum Bunrong, Cambodia’s ambassador to the U.S., said his government has now made technology a priority for development. He said the U.S. has been particularly helpful in investment and tech-related education through exchange programs.

Singapore’s ambassador to the U.S., Ashok Kumar Mirpuri, said many young Southeast Asians look to the U.S. as they hope to launch their startups in California’s Silicon Valley. Singapore is home to the regional offices of Facebook and Google and has taken advantage of the U.S. tech sector. For example, two years ago, Singapore expanded its famed “Block71” tech ecosystem to Silicon Valley.

Increased connectivity among ASEAN economies and emerging country-based technologies like fintech (financial technology) will only increase the region’s two-way digital trade with the U.S., according to Mirpuri.

The biggest challenges ASEAN nations now face are protecting data and digital transactions to increase consumer confidence in cybersecurity, said Feldman, who is working with U.S. companies to help build a common data security framework for ASEAN’s diverse economies.

“We hope that there will be harmonization of regulations, especially around data in the ASEAN Economic Community,” he said, “and we hope that that harmonization will allow for free flow of data.”

U.S. exit from pact

Feldman added that the recent withdrawal of the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would affect “digital trade” with ASEAN.

“We fully understand that in America, some will benefit more than others and some that will not benefit at all” from the TPP, he said. “I think it’s silly for America to solely focus on industries of the past. We definitely need to focus on the industries we are strong on currently and in the future. And technology and the digital economy are certainly areas where America is strong.”

This report originated on VOA Khmer.
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