As many as 100 elephants are being killed every day for their tusks, according to the United Nations. The United States implemented a near-total ban on the commercial trade of African elephant ivory last year, and in New York this week, conservation groups gathered to destroy merchandise that came from the illegal ivory trade. Faith Lapidus narrates this report from VOA’s Kevin Enochs.
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Japanese automakers Toyota Motor Corp. and Mazda Motor Corp. said Friday they plan to spend $1.6 billion to set up a joint-venture auto manufacturing plant in the U.S. — a move that will create up to 4,000 jobs. 

The plant will have an annual production capacity of about 300,000 vehicles and will produce Toyota Corollas for the North American market. Mazda will make cross-over models there that it plans to introduce to that market, both sides said.

The companies will split the cost for the plant equally. 

Toyota said that it changed its plan to make Corollas at a plant in Mexico, now under construction, and instead will produce Tacoma pickups there. 

EV rumors

The Japanese automakers were reportedly planning to work together to develop electric vehicles. 

EVs have become an increasingly competitive market segment because of concerns about global warming and the environment.

Japanese rival Nissan Motor Co., which is allied with Renault SA of France and Mitsubishi Motors Corp., is the global leader in electric vehicles.

Better batteries

In the past, Toyota, which makes the Prius hybrid, Camry sedan and Lexus luxury models, was not overly bullish on electric vehicles, noting the limited cruise range of the technology. But recent breakthroughs in batteries allow for longer travel per charge.

In 2015, Toyota and Mazda agreed to find new areas where they can work together, but they had not announced specifics.

Toyota already provides hybrid technology to Mazda, which also makes compact cars for Toyota at its Mexico plant.

Mazda, based in Hiroshima, Japan, used to have a powerful partner in Dearborn-based Ford Motor Co., which bought 25 percent of Mazda in 1979, and raised it to 33.4 percent in 1996. But Ford began cutting ties in 2008, and has shed its stake in Mazda.
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One of the most deprived suburbs in Paris is expected to be a big winner now the French capital is in line to host the 2024 Olympics with thousands of homes and a new swimming center to be built in Seine-Saint-Denis for the games.

The poorest of France’s 101 mainland departments, Seine-Saint-Denis sprawls east and north from Paris, much of it a drab expanse of grey buildings, abandoned factories and poverty.

Paris learned on Monday that it was a near certainty to be the IOC’s chosen host for the 2024 games when its only remaining rival, Los Angeles, agreed to wait another four years. Budapest, Boston, Hamburg and Rome had all pulled out of the race.

“La Joie est Libre! (Joy Ahead!),” said the front-page headline of L’Equipe sports newspaper, welcoming the news with a play on words. A series of Islamist militant attacks frightened away many visitors from the French capital and city officials hope winning the bid will boost tourism.

Organizers of the games say their aim to lift Seine-Saint-Denis’s fortunes helped their case with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

“Bearing in mind the symbolic and real divides which there sometimes still are between Paris and its suburbs, this young, working class place, with young people of all colors and all origins allows us to say to the IOC that these games are a wonderful opportunity to show that Paris is bigger than Paris,” Stephane Troussel, president of Seine-Saint-Denis, told Reuters.

Tony Estanguet, co-chair of the Paris bid, said: “We looked at the success of the games in London and for sure, the fact that London succeeded in leaving a strong legacy, a physical legacy in the east of London, was very important for us.”

Not Convinced

Not all locals are sure of the benefits however. Some have half an eye on Stratford, a swath of east London that was redeveloped for the 2012 games, but where rising rents have pushed locals out of similarly created new housing there.

“When there is a lot of investment landlords will also take advantage by adding a bit, increasing the rents,” said Fode Abass Toure, a 45-year-old resident of Bobigny.

“And even the restaurants will try to increase prices of products because a lot of tourists will come,” he said.

Seine-Saint-Denis has a reputation as a Socialist bastion where the French Communist Party and hard-left have a strong presence. It was in the area where the deaths of two youths who were hiding from police in a power station set off 2005 riots.

Unemployment in and around its main towns of Saint-Denis and Bobigny is approaching double the national average at more than 18 percent. Three out of 10 of its 1.5-million-strong population are immigrants, or the children of immigrants, mostly from Africa, a similar proportion are classed as living in poverty.

The Paris games – which have a relatively modest budget by recent standards at around 7 billion euros ($8.27 billion), will leave behind two permanent new developments, both of them in Seine-Saint-Denis.

They are the Olympic Village itself, which will be converted after the games to provide more than 3,500 homes, and a swimming center to stand alongside the Stade de France stadium, built for the 1998 football World Cup, now to be reborn as the Olympic Stadium where track and field athletes will compete.

“Same in Sport”

At a run-down local pool that will be transformed into a water polo venue, children splashed as they played during a visit by Reuters.

“Sport brings people together,” said sports activity leader Jose Defaria, aged 22.

“Even if we don’t come from the same social background, I think we’re the same in sport, we are brought closer together and we make links and it’s good for everyone. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.”

Paris 2024 – enthusiastically backed by the country’s tennis-playing new President Emmanuel Macron – plans to make the most of the city’s existing sports facilities and take full advantage of its landmarks.

Boxers will compete alongside tennis players at the clay court French Open tennis venue, Roland Garros, on the city’s western fringe, while the nearby clubs Paris Saint Germain and Stade Francais will host respective sports of soccer and rugby.

Distance races on foot and bicycle will start and finish at the Eiffel Tower, in whose shadow the ever-popular beach volleyball competition will play out.

Fencing and taekwondo will be held under the majestic steel and glass of the Grand Palais near the Champs Elysees, and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has bet her reputation on the Seine river being clean enough for open water swimming in time for the games.

Attacks Scared Tourists

Official confirmation due in September would mean one of the world’s most visited cities can mark the centenary of the 1924 Paris Olympics with a repeat showing. Amongst the stars of those games was U.S. swimming gold medalist Johnny Weismuller who later became known for his role in the Tarzan films.

Hoteliers are keen for a much-needed shot in the arm.

Although hotel occupancy rates are rising, up 7.2 percent at 76.9 percent in the first half of this year, they are short of the 80 percent rate hoteliers enjoyed in 2014 before Islamist militant attacks scared off tourists.

A successful Olympic legacy is far from assured for any city, with recent hosts enjoying contrasting fortunes.

The legacy of the Athens Games left derelict, run-down arenas and unused stadiums. Four years earlier, Sydney used the Games to develop an Olympic Park which is now a thriving commercial, residential and sporting suburb.

Four years after Athens, Beijing aimed to use the games to showcase itself as a progressive world power. London’s 2012 evoked a feelgood factor before domestic politics reversed that optimism. In 2016, while Rio’s games lacked a certain luster they underlined the South American nation’s ability to deliver in the face of economic and social adversity.
…

Researchers in England are hoping to help root out modern-day slavery in northern India by using detailed satellite imagery to locate brick kilns — sites that are notorious for using millions of slaves, including children.

A team of geospatial experts at the University of Nottingham use Google Maps and dozens of volunteers to identify potential sites of exploitation and report them to authorities.

“The key thing at the moment is to get those statistics right and to get the locations of the brick kilns sorted,” said Doreen Boyd, a co-researcher on the “Slavery from Space” project.

“There are certainly activists on the ground that will help us in terms of getting the statistics and the locations of these brick kilns to [government] officials.”

Anti-slavery activists said the project could be useful in identifying remote kilns or mines that would otherwise escape public or official scrutiny.

“But there are other, more pressing challenges like tackling problematic practices, including withheld wages, lack of transparent accounting … no enforcement of existing labor laws,” said Jakub Sobik, spokesman at Anti-Slavery, a London-based nongovernmental organization.

Millions of people in India are believed to be living in slavery. Despite a 1976 ban on bonded labor, the practice remains widespread at brick kilns, rice mills and brothels, among others.

The majority of victims belong to low-income families or marginalized castes like the Dalits or “untouchables.”

Nearly 70 percent of brick kiln workers in South Asia are estimated to be working in bonded and forced labor, according to a 2016 report by the International Labor Organization. About a fifth of those are underage.

The project relies on crowdsourcing, a process where volunteers sift through thousands of satellite images to identify possible locations of kilns. Each image is shown to multiple volunteers, who mark kilns independently.

The team is currently focused on an area of 2,600 square kilometers in the desert state of Rajasthan — teeming with brick-making sites — and plans to scale up the project in the coming years.

Researchers are now in talks with satellite companies to get access to more detailed images, rather than having to rely on publicly available Google Maps.

The project is one of several anti-slavery initiatives run by the university, which include research on slave labor-free supply chains and human trafficking.
…

Under a best-case scenario, a newly negotiated North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would not be implemented before the end of next year or the start of 2019, Mexico’s economy minister said Thursday.

Among other issues, NAFTA talks would focus on how to provide more certainty in dispute resolutions, Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said in a radio interview.

“According to the possible calendars of approval, the best of the scenarios that we could have … would be the start of implementation almost at the end of 2018 or the start of 2019,” Guajardo said.

Mexico has set out the goals of prioritizing free access for goods and services, greater labor market integration and a strengthening of energy security.

Last week, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said during a visit to Mexico that he hoped farm business with Mexico would not suffer due to President Donald Trump’s drive to get a better deal for manufacturers.

Speaking in Japan on Thursday, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said the best way to calm Trump’s worries about commerce with Mexico were through more trade, not less.

Videgaray said negotiators would need to be careful not to tweak trade rules on sourcing components too much or they could risk driving up the costs of goods like electronics.

“The important thing that we are not going to do is hurt the region’s competitivity, and much less the region’s consumers,” Videgaray said, according to a transcript.
…

Women in the United States are starting bushiness at one and a half times the rate of their male peers. Effective entrepreneurship could help cut the economic gap between women and men, which the World Economic Forum says could otherwise take decades to close around the globe.  As VOA’s Jim Randle reports, experts say more than one-third of U.S. businesses are headed by women and they expect that percentage to grow.
…

U.S. President Donald Trump may soon attempt to increase pressure on China to change its trade practices and do more to stop North Korea’s weapons programs.  

Reports in the financial press say President Trump may sign an order as soon as Friday to start an investigation of Chinese demands that foreign companies share technology secrets in exchange for access to the massive Chinese market.  That investigation could, eventually, lead to higher tariffs on Chinese-made products headed for the U.S. market, which is the world’s largest. Trade experts warn the action might violate U.S. commitments under the World Trade Organization.  

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross recently wrote that China’s trade practices, including forced technology transfer, are unfair, hurt U.S. exports, and contribute to a $347 billion deficit in the trade in goods between the United States and China.

As a presidential candidate, Trump harshly criticized China approach to commerce.  He has also said has said China, which is North Korea’s neighbor and major trading partner, could do far more to stop Pyongyang’s efforts to improve nuclear weapons and missiles.  U.S. experts warn that North Korean missile and bomb tests show that nation is a growing threat to the United States.

Trump’s tough stance on trade issues helped him win votes from working class voters who believe they have lost jobs due to unfair foreign competition.  His approach was a break with the traditional Republican pro-trade and pro-business stance.  Earlier this week, Trump’s Democratic party opponents accused Trump of talking tough about trade issues but failing to take effective action.

 
…

Компанія білоруського бізнесмена Віктора Прокопені VP Capital відкликала з Національного банку України заявку на придбання української «дочки» «Сбербанку».

«Ми ухвалили рішення відкликати з НБУ заявку на купівлю українського ПАТ «Сбербанк» для того, щоб сконцентруватися на інших планованих інвестиціях і проектах, над якими ми працюємо», – йдеться в заяві, опублікованій 3 серпня на сайті компанії.

У компанії додали, що відкликали заявку з власної ініціативи, заявивши, що придбання підрозділу міжнародного банку є неймовірно складним процесом, який вимагає великої кількості тимчасових ресурсів.

«Ми, як і раніше, вважаємо, що сьогодні покупка бізнесу «Сбербанку України» – це відмінна інвестиційна можливість, але ми вирішили сфокусуватися на інших проектах», – йдеться в заяві.

У Національному банку України повідомляли, що громадянин Білорусі і Кіпру Віктор Прокопеня 30 червня подав пакет документів для погодження опосередкованого (через білоруський ВАТ «Паритетбанк») придбання 100% акцій української «дочки» «Сбербанку».

У квітні Нацбанк повідомляв про отримання документів на погодження продажу «Сбербанку» від громадянина Великої Британії й Росії Саїда Гуцерієва, який має намір придбати 77,5% акцій фінустанови.

Національний банк України за рішенням Ради національної безпеки і оборони застосував від 23 березня санкції стосовно дочірніх компаній російських державних банків, які працюють в Україні, зокрема і щодо «Сбербанку».

Після цього рішення стало відомо, що найбільший у Росії комерційний банк «Сбербанк», підконтрольний державі, розглядає варіанти якнайшвидшого виходу з українського ринку. 27 березня російський «Сбербанк» повідомив про продаж своїх філій в Україні.

З січня цього року представники «Національного корпусу» вимагали припинення діяльності російських підприємств в Україні, зокрема і «Сбербанку».
…

Національний банк України вирішив залишити облікову ставку на рівні 12,5% річних.

Як повідомляє прес-служба Нацбанку, проведення стриманої монетарної політики зумовлено необхідністю нівелювати ризики для досягнення цілей з інфляції.

У НБУ зауважують, що у червні показник інфляції у річному вимірі досяг піку цього року, після чого очікується його поступове зниження.

НБУ з 26 травня знизив облікову ставку до 12,5% річних.

У березні 2015 року НБУ облікова ставка була на рівні 30%, згодом Нацбанк почав поступово знижувати облікову ставку.

Облікова ставка є одним із інструментів, за допомогою якого Нацбанк встановлює для комерційних банків орієнтир щодо вартості залучених і розміщених коштів. Фактично вона визначає ціну грошей.
…

У Національній акціонерній компанії «Нафтогаз України» не вірять запевненням російського монополіста «Газпрому» щодо продовження транзиту газу в разі відкликання зі Стокгольмсього арбітражу позовів української компанії. Про це заявив головний комерційний директор НАК «Нафтогаз України» Юрій Вітренко.

«Цим заявам віри немає. Минулий раз нас теж запевняли, що запуск «Північного потоку -1» не призведе до зменшення транзиту через Україну. Обдурили. Ба більше, ще недавно російська сторона публічно заявляла, що за жодних обставин транзиту через Україну після закінчення поточного контракту не буде», – вказує Вітренко в Facebook.

Він стверджує, що Росія змінила публічну позицію щодо транзиту лише після того, як «ми («Нафтогаз» – ред.) у Стокгольмському арбітражі зажадали задоволення нашого контрактного права про перегляд транзитного тарифу відповідно до європейських умов тарифоутворення». «А ці умови дозволяють нам вимагати набагато вищої плати за транзит для покриття зростання наших витрат через необхідність прискорено амортизувати нашу газотранспортну систему», – вказує головний комерційний директор НАК «Нафтогаз України».

2 серпня заступник директора департаменту інформації та друку МЗС Росії Анастасія Федорова заявила, що Москва не відмовляється від транзиту свого газу в Європу через територію України, однак хоче, щоб Київ виконав кілька умов.

«Збереження транзиту газу через Україну було б можливим тільки в разі надання Києвом конкурентоспроможних тарифів на транзит і нівелювання відомих транзитних ризиків, включаючи зняття всіх претензій і скасування позовів щодо «Газпрому», – вказала представниця російської дипломатії.

«Нафтогаз України» і російський «Газпром» ведуть переговори з метою визначити конкретні суми, які сторони мають виплатити одна одній за рішенням арбітражу.

За повідомленням «Нафтогазу», Стокгольмський арбітраж задовольнив вимогу української компанії щодо перегляду ціни в контракті на постачання газу з «Газпромом» з урахуванням ринкових умов, а також скасував вимоги російського монополіста за умовою «бери або плати» і повністю скасував заборону на реекспорт Україною газу. За принципом «бери або плати», прописаним у контракті 2009 року, Україна мала щороку купувати 52 мільярди кубометрів газу або навіть не купуючи, оплачувати його вартість.

У «Газпромі» ж заявили, що принцип «бери або плати» не скасований, але не пояснили цю позицію.

Нині в Стокгольмському арбітражі перебуває також слухання щодо транзиту російського газу територією України.
…

The Dow Jones Industrial Average set a sixth-straight record Wednesday, closing above 22,000 for the first time, but experts point out that whatever goes up must always come down.

The Dow closed up a fraction at 22,016.

Healthy earnings reports from computer technology giant Apple, the world’s largest publicly traded company, and airplane manufacturer Boeing were major contributors to the Dow hitting another major milestone.

The Dow Jones is an index of 30 major companies from a variety retail, manufacturing and service industries. It has been used as a gauge of the health of the U.S. stock market for more than 100 years.

The Dow is up 11 percent so far this year and all of Wall Street has been in what is known as a “bull market” for several years.

It has been buoyed, in part, by better-than-expected corporate earnings and expectations brought on by the pro-business Trump White House.

But some analysts say they cannot see a lot of room for the Dow to go much higher.

They say that while they expect more positive earnings reports, Congress’ inaction on President Trump’s proposed tax cuts could take some wind out of investor optimism.

Plus, they point out that the Dow Jones Industrial Average is an index of just 30 companies, which they say is sometimes a narrow gauge of overall investor confidence.

Some other world markets have outperformed the New York Stock Exchange so far this year, such as the Dow Jones China 88 Index, the eurozone’s Euro Stoxx Index and the Sao Paulo Bovespa Index in Brazil.
…

India, one of the world’s largest markets for pharmaceuticals, is drawing up its first set of marketing rules for drugmakers, restricting gifts and trips offered to doctors and pharmacists to 1,000 rupees ($15), according to a draft proposal seen by Reuters.

Such rules are common overseas, but are not set in stone in India, where campaigners have long demanded a crackdown on unethical selling practices that include gifts ranging from electrical appliances to foreign trips to woo physicians and pharmacists into prescribing and stocking specific medicines.

The country has voluntary marketing guidelines for drugmakers, but critics say they are ineffective.

“In India, corruption and bribery of doctors is widespread,” said Samiran Nundy, a leading gastrointestinal surgeon. “I’ve seen a range of ways in which this works, from presents to doctors to paying for them to attend conferences.”

“It’s great that marketing rules are coming into place,” he added. “I hope that these will be enforced.”

Besides limiting marketing spending, the draft proposal — drawn up by the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) and under review of India’s law ministry — also forbids drugmakers from making false claims on the curative abilities and efficacy of drugs.

An official at the DoP declined to comment on the draft’s specifics, but confirmed to Reuters that the order was under review, though the implementation date for the rules is not set.

The draft says a failure to abide by the rules would result in a marketing ban on a drugmaker for up to a year or more, depending on the degree of the violation. It would also lead to confiscation of all packs of the company’s highest-selling drug brands, which would then be given away to government hospitals.

Companies would also be able to turn a marketing suspension order into a fine, according to the proposal, by paying penalties of between 500,000 rupees ($7,800) and 100 million rupees ($1.56 million), depending on the order’s severity.

Trial samples

The rules limit the number of free samples a company can offer a doctor to full treatment courses for three patients.

But they don’t specify that only new medicine samples can be given away for free, noted Amitava Guha, national co-covener of the health care-focused civil society group Jan Swasthya Abhiyan.

“If this is applicable to all medicines of a company, there will be no change in the present situation,” he said, calling it a major loophole that the companies could exploit.

He also said the marketing ban penalty was vague as it did not specify if it would bar the company from marketing all, or specific, products. The penalty would be “meaningless” for a single product, as drug company salesmen market in private meetings so there is no material evidence, Guha said.

The Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA), a lobby group of India’s largest drugmakers, said it supports mandatory rules for curbing undesirable marketing practices, but they should be transparent, easy to implement and unambiguous.

This “should not be reduced to yet another ‘Inspector Raj,'” IPA Secretary General D.G. Shah said, adding that rules should also address the need for doctors’ continuing medical education.

“Someone has to take responsibility of keeping doctors up to date with the latest advances in the field of medicines.”

The draft rules allow drugmakers to sponsor trips for doctors, pharmacists and relatives to attend seminars, medical conferences or scientific meetings, so long as the companies maintain a record of the minutes, expenses and agenda.

Mandatory code

In a letter last year, Tapan Sen, a member of India’s upper house of parliament, urged the government to act on drafting a mandatory code on the marketing of pharmaceuticals, citing irregular practices by several companies.

Indian media reported that the letter said the country’s largest drugmaker, Sun Pharma, Abbott India and privately-held Macleods Pharmaceuticals were among drugmakers found to have sent doctors on “pleasure trips.”

Abbott said at the time that it had a strict policy against providing gifts and other incentives to doctors, while Macleods refuted the allegations.

Sun told Reuters it organizes “continuous medical education” programs to educate doctors, not promote its products, and these are compliant with the voluntary marketing guidelines set by the government in 2015.

The current draft says companies will be allowed to organize screening camps or awareness campaigns at public health centers, but it bars advertising by stealth and mandates that doctors involved in such events be paid commensurate to their average daily income.

To ensure implementation of the rules, an Ethics Compliance Officer of the rank of joint secretary to the Indian government would be appointed.

Pharmaceutical marketing practices have long been a subject of controversy globally. In India, where health insurance is scarce and many rely on pharmacists for medical advice, critics say sketchy practices have led to over-prescription of strong cocktail drugs, causing drug-resistance.

GlaxoSmithKline was battered by a bribery scandal in China that landed it with a record $490 million fine in 2014.

It went on to slash the number of sales reps and overhaul its business globally, stopping sales-based incentives for drug reps and reducing paid junkets for doctors.
…

As the U.S. stock market hit a new all-time high Wednesday, key U.S. lawmakers staked out core positions for a looming battle that could impact economic performance for decades: reforming America’s complicated and much-maligned tax system.

“Comprehensive tax reform represents the single most important action we can take now to grow the economy and to help middle-class families finally get ahead,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, adding that Washington has a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to act.

“For families, we want to make their taxes simpler, fairer and lower. For small businesses, we want to provide the conditions they need to form, invest and grow,” McConnell said.

An object of near-universal ridicule, the federal tax code is thousands of pages long and forces many Americans to hire accountants or attorneys to comply with its vast array of provisions.

President Donald Trump made tax reform a major campaign promise last year, including lowering America’s corporate tax rate, the highest among the world’s major economies. Failure to deliver on what has been a core Republican pledge to voters for multiple election cycles would be a bitter pill for a party still licking its wounds over its inability — so far — to abolish former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law.

While Senate Democrats unified in opposition to repealing Obamacare, many say they are eager to work with Republicans on tax reform so long as certain conditions are met.

“First, don’t cut taxes for the top 1 percent [richest Americans],” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat. “Second, don’t increase the [federal] debt and deficit. And third, negotiate in a fair and open process.”

Opposition to reconciliation

Democrats are objecting to any Republican attempt to pass tax reform though reconciliation, a Senate procedure that sets aside the three-fifths majority commonly required to advance a bill. Under reconciliation, Republicans could approve tax reform using their narrow Senate majority, bypassing Democrats entirely.

Schumer warned that reconciliation would torpedo “bipartisan tax reform before a discussion between our two parties has even begun.”

“Is he [McConnell] closing the door on bipartisanship because he so dearly wants to cut taxes on the top 1 percent?” the minority leader asked. “The wealthy are doing great right now, God bless them.”

For his part, McConnell promised ample opportunities for Democrats to help shape a final tax reform bill.

“Our expectation is for this legislation to move through the committees this fall under regular order, followed by consideration on both the House and Senate floor,” the majority leader said. “There’s a great deal of bipartisan consensus about what ails our tax code, and my hope is our friends on the other side of the aisle [Democrats] will join us in a serious way to address it.”

Revenue-neutral

McConnell has said that tax reform should be revenue-neutral, meaning that any tax cuts would have to be offset by revenue increases in other areas of the federal code. It is widely assumed that Republicans will propose reducing a variety of tax rates paid by wage earners and businesses, while eliminating some tax deductions many Americans use to lower their tax bills.

For decades, some Republicans have argued that tax cuts pay for themselves by stimulating the economy, leading to higher output and more tax revenue. Democrats contend the theory was proven false under the administrations of former presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, which saw deficits rise after major tax cuts were enacted.
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