The hacker group behind the leak of cyber spying tools from the U.S. National Security Agency, which were used in last week’s “ransomware” cyberattack, says it has more code that it plans to start selling through a subscription service launching next month.

The group known as Shadow Brokers posted a statement online Tuesday saying the new data dumps could include exploits for Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system, and for web browsers and cell phones, as well as “compromised network data from Russian, Chinese, Iranian or North Korean nukes and missile programs.”

Shadow Brokers tried unsuccessfully last year to auction off cyber tools it said were stolen from the NSA.

The WannaCry ransomware virus exploited a vulnerability in Microsoft’s older Windows XP operation system. The company had largely stopped offering support such as security updates for Windows XP, but did release a patch to protect users against the attack that demanded people pay to avoid losing their data.

There is no definitive evidence yet of who used the NSA tools to build WannaCry.

Cybersecurity experts say the technical evidence linking North Korea to the cyberattack is somewhat tenuous, but Pyongyang has the advanced cyber capabilities, and the motive to compensate for lost revenue due to economic sanctions, to be considered a likely suspect.

Since Friday, the WannaCry virus has infected more than 300,000 computers in 150 countries, at least temporarily paralyzing factories, banks, government agencies, hospitals and transportation systems.

On Monday, analysts with the cybersecurity firms Symantec and Kaspersky Lab said some code in an earlier version of the WannaCry software had also appeared in programs used by the Lazarus Group, which has been identified by some industry experts as a North Korea-run hacking operation.

“Right now we’ve uncovered a couple of what we would call weak indicators or weak links between WannaCry and this group that’s been previously known as Lazarus. Lazarus was behind the attacks on Sony and the Bangladesh banks for example. But these indicators are not enough to definitively say it’s Lazarus at all,” said Symantec Researcher Eric Chien.

Bureau 121

Symantec has linked the Lazarus group to a number of cyberattacks on banks in Asia dating back years, including the digital theft of $81 million from Bangladesh’s central bank last year. 

The U.S. government blamed North Korea for the hack on Sony Pictures Entertainment that leaked damaging personal information after Pyongyang threatened “merciless countermeasures” if the studio released a dark comedy movie that portrayed the assassination of Kim Jong Un. And South Korea had accused the North of attempting to breach the cybersecurity of its banks, broadcasters and power plants on numerous occasions.

Pyongyang is believed to have thousands of highly trained computer experts working for a cyberwarfare unit called Bureau 121, which is part of the General Bureau of Reconnaissance, an elite spy agency run by the military. There have been reports the Lazarus group is affiliated with Bureau 121. Some alleged North Korean-related cyberattacks have also been traced back to a hotel in Shenyang, China near the Korean border.

“Mostly they hack directly, but they hack other countries first and transfer [the data] so various other countries are found when we trace back, but a specific IP address located in Pyongyang can be found in the end,” said Choi Sang-myung, a senior director of the cybersecurity firm Hauri Inc. in Seoul.

Ransom

It is not clear if the purpose of the WannaCry malware is to extort payments or to cause widespread damage.

The WannaCry hackers have demanded ransoms from users, starting at $300 to end the cyberattack, or they threatened to destroy all data on infected computers. So far the perpetrators have raised less than $70,000 according to Tom Bossert, a homeland security adviser for U.S. President Donald Trump.

The countries most affected by WannaCry to date are Russia, Taiwan, Ukraine and India, according to Czech security firm Avast.

Suffering under increased economic sanctions for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, it would not be surprising for North Korea to attempt to make up for lost revenue through illicit cyber theft and extortion. But the WannaCry ransomware is more advanced than anything North Korean hackers have used in the past.

“Previous ransomwares required people to click an attachment in an email or access a specific website to get infected, but this time [computers] can be infected without getting an email or access to a website, just by connecting an Internet cable,” said Choi.

FireEye Inc., another large cybersecurity firm, said it was also investigating but cautious about drawing a link to North Korea.

In addition to past alleged cyberattacks, North Korea had also been accused of counterfeiting $100 bills which were known as “superdollars” or “supernotes” because the fakes were nearly flawless.

Youmi Kim contributed to this report.
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Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said Tuesday that he expected U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to tell Congress early next week of plans to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, a move that would produce talks by late August.

Guajardo said he would have more information after meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in Vietnam on Thursday as part of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings.

During the 2016 U.S. election campaign, Trump vowed to scrap the 1994 deal between the United States, Canada and Mexico if he could not adjust it to benefit U.S. interests.

“Probably the notification will be sent to Congress by the U.S. executive at some time early next week,” Guajardo told Mexican reporters, a day after meetings in Washington with U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and other U.S. officials.

In Washington, Ross declined to predict the timing of the notification, saying that there were more consultations with Congress needed first.

Current format

In a meeting Tuesday, U.S. senators said Ross and Lighthizer expressed their preference to keep the current trilateral format in the NAFTA talks.

Guajardo also said that a dispute over sugar with the United States could be resolved within two weeks, before a June 5 deadline to break the impasse.

The U.S. sugar industry pressed the U.S. Commerce Department late last year to withdraw from a 2014 agreement that sets prices and quotas for U.S. imports of Mexican sugar unless the deal could be renegotiated. The U.S. sugar lobby wants Mexico to export less refined sugar and has become emboldened since Trump took office.

A U.S. Commerce Department spokesman said Ross and Guajardo discussed possible solutions and that they were continuing to work toward a negotiated settlement.

Any deal, however, would need agreement from the U.S. sugar producers who brought an anti-dumping case against Mexican competitors.

On Monday, Mexico’s sugar chamber said no deal had been reached in talks on Monday to resolve the dispute.
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Місія Міжнародного валютного фонду прибула в Україну. Про це повідомив представник українського офісу МВФ.

З його слів, місія працюватиме в Україні до 25 травня.

Серед питань, які місія МВФ має обговорити, – пенсійна реформа, зміни в податковій і митній політиці, прогрес у відшкодуванні ПДВ і виконання бюджету.

Востаннє місія МВФ працювала в Україні з 3 до 17 листопада 2016 року,  а 3 квітня 2017 року Україні надали транш на 1 мільярд доларів 3 квітня 2017 року.

Уже 6 квітня речник Міжнародного валютного фонду Джеррі Райс заявив, що ще цього року Україна може отримати від МВФ іще три транші позики на загальну суму близько 4,4 мільярда доларів, але наголосив, що це обумовлене виконанням реформ, передбачених програмою співпраці.

Як сказав він на прес-конференції у Вашингтоні, головними цілями програми на наступні кілька місяців є, зокрема, всеосяжна пенсійна реформа, поступ у приватизації, створення ринку продажу сільськогосподарських земель, також важливим елементом цієї програми є рішуча боротьба з корупцією.

Загалом, за даними Національного банку, до кінця року Україна очікує надходження 4,5 мільярдів доларів США від МВФ та 1,3 мільярдів від Єврокомісії. Водночас, до кінця 2019-го Україна повинна виплатити 12,8 мільярдів доларів зовнішнього боргу.

У березні 2015 року між МВФ і Україною була затверджена чотирирічна програма розширеного фінансування на суму близько 17,5 мільярдів доларів США. Наразі, разом із нинішнім траншем, МВФ надав Україні за цією програмою близько 8 мільярдів 380 мільйонів доларів. Метою програми є відновлення економіки України, відновлення її незалежності від зовнішніх джерел, зміцнення державних фінансів, утримання фінансової стабільності і підтримка економічного зростання шляхом структурних і управлінських реформ за одночасного захисту найменш вразливих верств.
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Greek seamen and journalists walked off the job Tuesday, a day before a nationwide general strike to protest new austerity measures the government is legislating for in return for more bailout funds.

The seamen’s union announced Tuesday afternoon they would extend their strike, originally planned to last 48 hours, for a further two days, leaving ferries servicing Greece’s islands tied up in port until midnight Friday night.

The Panhellenic Seamen’s Federation said it was asking “for the understanding and full support of both the traveling public and all Greek workers,” adding that the new measures would lead seamen “to poverty and destitution.”

Journalists were holding a 24-hour strike Tuesday, pulling news broadcasts off the air from 6 a.m. (0300 GMT). News websites were not being updated, and no Wednesday newspapers would be printed. Public bus company employees were also holding work stoppages during the day.

Wednesday’s general strike is expected to affect services across the country, from schools and hospitals to public transport. Air traffic controllers have declared participation with a four-hour work stoppage, leading to the rescheduling of 99 flights and the cancellation of a further nine by Greece’s Aegean and Olympic Air. Another airline, Sky Express, announced the rescheduling of 41 domestic flights between Athens and the Greek islands.

Protest marches have been scheduled for central Athens in the morning.

Workers are protesting a new deal with Greece’s international creditors that impose a raft of new tax hikes and spending cuts beyond the end of the country’s third bailout in 2018. The measures, which are to be voted on in parliament at midnight Thursday, will include additional pension cuts in 2019 and higher income tax in 2020.

Without the agreement with its creditors, Greece faced the prospect of running out of cash to service its debts this summer, which could have seen it have another brush with bankruptcy.

Greece is currently in its third international bailout, which is due to end in mid-2018. It has been dependent on rescue loans from its creditors — mainly other European countries that use the euro, and the International Monetary Fund — since its first bailout in 2010.

In return for the funds, successive governments have had to impose repeated waves of reforms, which have included tax hikes and salary and pension cuts. While the country’s finances have improved under the bailouts and the strict supervision they imposed, the belt-tightening has led to spiraling poverty and unemployment rates.

Although the jobless rate has been falling from a high of above 27 percent, it still hovers at around 23 percent.
…

American industry expanded production last month at the fastest pace in more than three years as manufacturers and mines recovered from a March downturn.

The Federal Reserve said Tuesday that industrial production at U.S. factories, mines and utilities shot up 1 percent in April from March, biggest gain since February 2014 and the third straight monthly gain. The increase was more than twice what economists had expected.

Factory production rose 1 percent after declining 0.4 percent in March. Mine production increased 1.2 percent after falling 0.4 percent in March. And utility output rose 0.7 percent after surging 8.2 percent in March.

Factory production has risen three of four months this year. Manufacturing has recovered from a rough patch in late 2015 and early 2016 caused by cutbacks in the energy industry and a strong dollar, which makes U.S. goods costlier in foreign markets.

The overall U.S. economy grew at a lackluster 0.7 percent annual pace from January through March. But economists expect growth to pick up the rest of the year as consumers ramp up spending.

A healthy job market bolsters consumer confidence. Employers last month added 211,000 jobs and unemployment fell to 4.4 percent, lowest in a decade.

 
…

The new U.S.-China trade deal, which includes 10 initial agreements on agricultural trade, financial services, investment and energy, is drawing mixed reviews.

The agreement is being panned by some as a poor deal for the United States that does not address fundamental issues concerning the Chinese market. But others say the agreement represents incremental progress.

Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, argued the deal has failed to address issues facing advanced industries that are critical to the U.S. economic future.

In a statement, he said the plan, which opens up Chinese markets for mostly commodity-based and finance industries, has in return given, “China free rein to use its massive foreign reserves to buy up American companies in advanced industries.”

Atkinson urged the Trump administration’s simple focus on the trade deficit be shifted to two-way trade and demand real changes in Chinese policies related to America’s advanced, knowledge and technology-based industries.

Deal means nothing

Derek Scissors, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, argued that the deal, by itself, means almost nothing since the increase in market access that China now promises has been promised before.

“Even if they are fully implemented, [the increase in market access] can be easily undone,” Scissors wrote in an emailed reply to VOA, adding that he doesn’t foresee the U.S. trade deficit with China being reduced this year.

Scissors urged the United States to prioritize its negotiations with China on reduction of subsidies to Chinese state-owned enterprise, which he believes will improve foreign firms’ market access in China.

“It should also prioritize reducing Chinese complicity in theft of intellectual property [IP]. The IP goal should be accompanied by the threat of sanctions,” Scissors said, adding both steps would allow the emergence of the American competitive edge.

Incremental progress

Agreeing that it isn’t a major deal, Christopher Balding, a professor at Peking University HSBC Business School, however, said the agreement is a step forward for the Trump administration.

“If the agreement is actually implemented, it would represent, I think, a solid step forward for U.S. market access to China. And it needs to be viewed in that context, though, that it is one step further from where we were before,” Balding told VOA, disagreeing that President Trump got played or out-maneuvered.

Balding agreed China has employed what others called a “delay-and-diversion’ strategy and waited for years to honor its commitments, some of which dated back to China’s accession to the World Trade Organization in 2000.

Yet, the diplomatic reality is that, as an advanced economy, the United States doesn’t have a lot of leverage over China to open its market, the professor added.

However, China now appears to respond to embarrassment, triggered by Trump’s earlier angry tweets, which the professor said may provide some unconventional leverage in pushing China.

“If the Trump administration keeps public pressure on China, I do think it would be very likely that you could see additional incremental progress in various specific markets or industries,” Balding added.

While it’s urgent for the United States to demand full market access in China, C.Y. Huang, a partner of FCC Partners, warned U.S. companies are losing their edge in competing with their fast-growing Chinese rivals.

“China is no longer afraid of opening up its market and competition from the United States. Many U.S. companies can hardly compete with their Chinese counterparts in China,” Huang told VOA.

Gigantic steps

Washington heralded last week’s deal as “a Herculean accomplishment.”

According to U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, China will open its market to U.S. beef by mid-July while, in return the United States will issue a proposed rule to allow Chinese cooked poultry to enter U.S. markets by the same deadline.

Beijing will also allow U.S.-owned firms in China to provide credit rating and electronic payment services, the latter of which is already dominated by China’s UnionPay.

Ross said the deal, part of the 100-day plan after the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping last month, aims to reduce the U.S. trade deficit with China, which reached $347 billion last year.

“This is more than has been done in the whole history of U.S.-China relations on trade,” Ross told a news briefing at the White House, adding the deal takes three “gigantic” step to chip away at the country’s crippling trade deficit.
…

Cybersecurity experts warn that hundreds of thousands of computer users across the globe remain vulnerable following a large-scale virus attack in recent days. The so-called ‘ransomware’ virus struck governments and companies around the world, as Henry Ridgwell reports from London.
…

Chinese President Xi Jinping says countries participating in the two-day Belt and Road Forum have agreed to an action plan with a list of 270 goals

Speaking at the end of the forum, China’s leader said the 30 heads of state who attended the summit in Beijing and nearby Yanqi Lake signed a communiqué to promote an open global economy, rebalance globalization, and deepen trade liberalization. 

Xi’s Belt and Road development initiative focuses on connectivity and cooperation among countries primarily China and the rest of Eurasia.  It includes the land-based “Silk Road Economic Belt” and the oceangoing “Maritime Silk Road”. 

The strategy underlines China’s push to take a bigger role in global affairs.  Xi stressed China would not base cooperation on ideology or use the Belt and Road to pursue a political agenda, allaying concerns of critics who have highlighted the massive project’s possible geopolitical impact.

“We have every reason to have full confidence in the prospects for the Belt and Road initiative,” Xi said.  “At the same time, the Belt and Road initiative is an expansive project and the road ahead is very long and cooperation is key.” 

Expansive Belt and Road 

Although many of the more than 100 countries and organizations participating in the summit welcome China’s efforts to boost trade and to play a bigger role in global affairs, participation in the forum was mixed.  Some countries sent representatives, but have yet to officially back the project.

The forum included representatives from the United States and North Korea. 

Countries such as the United States and Germany have emphasized the need for transparency and a level playing field. 

“Germany as a country has not asked to be a part of the initiative, but German companies have asked to be part of it,” said Brigitte Zypries, German Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, who attended the forum.  “It is obviously relevant to know what is going to be built and the procedures to take part in this building are the same for every company and every country.” 

“The Belt and Road Initiative originates from China, but it belongs to the world,” Xi said, in remarks before the leaders’ summit Monday.  “The Belt and Road construction spans different regions, development phases and civilizations.  It is an open and inclusive cooperation platform.” 

Sunday, Xi outlined his vision for the plan and pledged to use development to fight a wide range of problems from terrorism to poverty.  Xi’s plan involves the creation of six economic corridors that would link China to 65 countries.  The participation of those countries would account for 60 percent of the world’s population and 30 percent of global GDP. 

An estimated $900 billion would be spent on connectivity projects across land and sea, making the Belt and Road initiative the most expensive development plan in history, several times larger than the U.S. Marshall Plan that was used to rebuild Europe after World War II. 

China has offered to shoulder a big slice of the responsibility, pledging $124 billion, which is double of what the World Bank lent in 2016.  Analysts said Beijing can easily bear the burden.  China has foreign exchange reserves exceeding $3 trillion.  Last year, Chinese companies invested $170 billion in overseas projects. 

Empire building 

Xi offered to establish 50 scientific laboratories with participating countries, train 5,000 foreign scientists and invited 500 foreign research groups to visit China.   The plan will also launch 100 “happy home” projects, 100 poverty alleviation projects and 100 health care and rehabilitation projects in countries along the Belt and Road, he said.  

But based on how the project has been outlined, China appears to be trying its hand at a new form of economic colonization, said Mohan Malik, a professor at the Institute of Asian Security in Hawaii. 

“China is in an empire-building mode: an empire of exclusive economic enclaves that would create a Sino-centric unipolar Asia,” Malik said in an emailed response.  “Chinese officials, in jest, talk of buying off smaller countries instead of invading them.” 

Malik adds that with its slowing economy, China risks “imperial overreach” with such a massive venture. 

David Kelly, director of research at the private China Policy consultants said if successful the outcome could be a positive thing, but the Belt and Road is swiftly becoming a measure of China’s global standing. 

“But if it doesn’t work, if it runs into problems, if it’s impractical, if it’s too costly, if it falls over, it will cost China’s standing in the world.  And that is what worries people because it is essentially an educated bet, an educated gamble,” Kelly said.
…

China says nearly 30 heads of state who were attending its first Belt and Road forum joined Beijing in signing a communiqué pledging to fight protectionism and ensure free and inclusive trade. China also used the meeting to assure other countries about the scope and aims of the ambitious initiative. VOA’s Bill Ide has more from Beijing.
…

Голова КНР Сі Цзіньпін звернувся до урядів із закликом домагатися «більшої відкритості і співпраці» і «відмовитися від протекціонізму» задля глобального економічного зростання. Про це китайський лідер заявив 15 травня в Пекіні на форумі «Один пояс, один шлях», учасниками якого є представники 29 країн Азії, Європи та Африки.

«У світі зростання, взаємозалежності і викликів жодна країна не може давати раду цим викликам або вирішувати світові проблеми самотужки», – сказав Сі, який сидів поруч з президентом Росії Володимиром Путіним.

Сі Цзіньпін пообіцяв виділити додатково 124 мільярди доларів на реалізацію торговельної ініціативи Китаю, який прагне сполучити країну з Африкою, Азією і Європою через мережу портів, залізниць, автошляхів і промислових парків.

Пекін нині декларує себе захисником вільної торгівлі в час, коли президент США Дональд Трамп поставив під сумнів вигоду від торговельних угод із іншими країнами.

Росія дотепер обережно реагувала на ініціативу Пекіна, оскільки, як вважають аналітики, реалізація задумів керівництва КНР може посилити вплив Китаю в Центральній Азії за рахунок Москви. Але 15 травня Путін висловив підтримку цьому плану і додав, що Росія має намір бути активно залучена.
…

Historic rivals China and Vietnam are working on substantive agreements that could cover trade, investment and maritime resource sharing despite a bitter sovereignty dispute that had snarled relations less than a year ago.

The Communist neighbors are inching toward new trade and investment ties that analysts say would help shore up overall relations. Some believe the two might later approach stickier topics such as joint use of disputed waters or humane treatment of each other’s fishermen. The two countries still contest sovereignty over tracts of the vast, resource-rich South China Sea east of Vietnam and southwest of Hong Kong.

Prospects of some kind of agreement came into focus during Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang’s visit to China, which ends Monday. He suggested the two sides work on complementing each other’s trade and investment advantages with a view toward improving overall relations, state media from Hanoi said.

“President Quang is in China, and China promised a lot,” said Yun Sun, senior associate with the East Asia Program under Washington-based think tank the Stimson Center. “From an economic point of view, it is certainly practical and beneficial for Vietnam to have some sort of deal, but then again I think this still relatively early to tell.”

In a meeting with Quang Thursday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for more cross-border economic cooperation zones and joint infrastructure building, according to  China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported. China pledged to “mitigate” its trade deficit with Vietnam and increase direct investment, Sun said.

“Talking probably does help lower tensions and improve the odds of things happening,” said Alaistair Chan, an economist covering China for Moody’s Analytics.

The Vietnamese president suggested China finalize rules on opening the Chinese market for farm products, dairy and seafood, media outlet vietnamnet.vn said. He also called on China to make more “preferential loans” and urged a working group to develop renewable energy investment projects that play on China’s strengths and demand in Vietnam, the Vietnamese news report said.

On Friday companies from both countries signed agreements on milk distribution, tourism and rice processing.

China is the largest trade partner of Vietnam, with imports and exports worth about $72 billion last year. Vietnam also calls China one of the top 10 investors in the country.

But both countries are likely to hedge on letting outsiders invest in infrastructure, a possible source of direct investment, Chan said. “If they can get there purely on trade and stay away from investment, a touchy subject in both countries, I think that’s probably where they can get their quickest gain,” he said.

China and Vietnam stepped up dialogue after July 2016, when a world arbitration court ruled that Beijing lacked a legal basis to claim more than 90 percent of the sea, a boon to rival claimants in Southeast Asia: Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. China responded to the ruling by seeking one-on-one dialogue with each country. Vietnam was one of the most hostile toward China before the court ruling.

Beijing and Hanoi dispute sovereignty over much of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea, including two chains of tiny islets. Beijing’s go-ahead for a Chinese oil rig in contested waters set off a clash in 2014. The two countries also still face distrust fanned by centuries of political rivalry as well as a border war in 1979.

Both countries stake their fast-growing economies on export manufacturing. Vietnamese companies resent China for using their larger production scales to sell goods in bulk at relatively low prices.

Relations got a lift in September when the Chinese premier and Vietnamese prime minister agreed to manage maritime differences. Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong the two countries get along with a visit to China in January.

Another boost came as China emerged last year as the top single-country source of tourism for Vietnam. About 2.2 million Chinese visited Vietnam from January to October. Chinese tourists have reshaped the economies of Hong Kong and Taiwan over the past decade.

Agreements on managing disputed tracts of the South China Sea may come later if the two sides keep getting along, experts say.

Vietnam and China have agreed to an “informal” median line in the tract of sea where their claims overlap, said Carl Thayer, Southeast Asia-specialized emeritus professor of politics at The University of New South Wales in Australia. They might eventually work on expanding joint exploration for oil under the seabed and a way to ensure “humane” treatment of fishermen, he said.

“It’s to stop the ramming, boarding, seizing fish catches and radio equipment and in the old days taking them hostages for money,” Thayer said. Under a human treatment agreement, he said, “If you find them, you report them to the other side and return them rather than bash them up and take everything.”
…

Міністерство економічного розвитку і торгівлі України та Китайська корпорація доріг і мостів домовилися про реконструкцію Шулявського шляхопроводу у Києві, інформує у неділю урядовий портал з посиланням на очільника українського міністерства Степана Кубіва.

Згідно з повідомленням, крім реконструкції столичного мосту, китайська сторона дала згоду на будівництво мосту біля Кременчука. Як повідомив перший віце-прем’єр, міністр Економрозвитку Степан Кубів проектні пропозиції щодо цих двох об’єктів оцінюються у 400 мільйонів доларів.

«Пропоную вам завершити підготовчі роботи щодо цих проектів не пізніше вересня, щоб після цього можна було перейти до укладення кредитних угод та договору на виконання робіт з корпорацією», – сказав Кубів 14 травня у Пекіні на зустрічі з керівництвом Китайської корпорації доріг та мостів.

27 лютого у Києві обвалилася частина бетонної огорожі на Шулявському шляхопроводі, що є важливою транспортною артерією міста. Причинами обвалу конструкцій назвали минулі пожежі біля шляхопроводу і корозію бетону. Тоді внаслідок обвалу ніхто не постраждав, але уламки пошкодили припарковані під мостом машини. Рух мостом нині дозволено із деякими обмеженнями.
…

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Saturday after meeting with officials from the world’s other industrialized democracies that he thought they were more at ease with Donald Trump’s economic policies.

“People are more comfortable today, now that they’ve had the opportunity to spend time with me and listen to the president and hear our economic message,” Mnuchin said after a two-day meeting in Bari, Italy, with members of the Group of Seven, industrialized nations commonly known as the G-7.

Officials from the G-7 countries hoped to learn more about the U.S. president’s plans, which they feared would revive protectionist policies and result in a global regression on issues such as banking reform and climate change.

After the meeting, officials from Japan and member European countries remained concerned about the economic shift in Washington, particularly after Mnuchin said the U.S. reserved the right to be protectionist if it thought trade was not free or fair.

“All the six others … said explicitly, and some very directly, to the representatives of the U.S. administration that it is absolutely necessary to continue with the same spirit of international cooperation,” said French Finance Minister Michel Sapin.

Don’t ‘backpedal’ on free trade

Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said continued uncertainty about U.S. policy could dampen optimism within the G-7 about the global economy’s gradual recovery from the financial crisis that began nearly a decade ago.

De Galhau echoed the sentiments of Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso, who said, “We must not backpedal on free trade, as it has contributed to economic prosperity.”

European officials complained that the U.S. meaning of “fair trade” remained unclear and that the only way to establish fairness was to abide by the multilateral framework developed by the World Trade Organization.

A senior Japanese Finance Ministry official said the most significant question pertained to Trump’s U.S. tax cut proposal that could fuel America’s economic recovery.

Trump has proposed slashing the U.S. corporate income tax rate and offer multinational businesses a steep tax break on overseas profits brought back to the U.S.

The G-7 is composed of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the U.S.
…

Мінімальний страховий стаж для отримання пенсій українцям буде збільшено із 15 до 25 років у рамках пенсійної реформи, сказав в ефірі «112 Україна» прем’єр-міністр Володимир Гройсман.

«Ми вважаємо, що до 25 років це буде абсолютно оптимальний стаж, який притаманний більшості українських громадян», – заявив прем’єр.

При цьому, наголосив він, підвищення пенсійного віку наразі не планується.

Загалом, як зазначив Гройсман, він сподівається представити проект пенсійної реформи до кінця травня, а з 1 жовтня він обіцяє, що понад 5 мільйонів українських пенсіонерів отримуватимуть підвищену пенсію.

Пенсійна реформа є одним із ключових пунктів меморандуму про співпрацю між Україною та Міжнародним валютним фондом. 18 квітня голова місії МВФ в Україні Рон ван Роден наголосив, що пенсійна реформа потрібна Україні терміново.

Раніше прем’єр-міністр України Володимир Гройсман повідомив, що пенсійна реформа передбачає підвищення пенсій для 9 мільйонів пенсіонерів з 12 мільйонів. За його словами, уряд має намір забезпечити оновлення пенсій від 200 гривень до тисячі гривень на місяць для понад 5 мільйонів пенсіонерів.

Тим часом, як повідомив в ефірі Радіо Свобода міністр соціальної політики Андрій Рева, найбільше зростання пенсій стосуватиметься тих, хто отримує пенсію вже давно.

У 2016 році держава продотувала Пенсійний фонд на понад 140 мільярдів гривень.
…

A global cyber attack on Friday affected British hospitals, government agencies and companies in 99 countries, with Russia, Ukraine and Taiwan the top targets, security software maker Avast said.

Hacking tools widely believed by researchers to have been developed by the U.S. National Security Agency that were leaked online last month appear to have been leveraged to launch the attacks.

Around 1,000 computers at the Russian Interior Ministry were affected by the cyber attack, a spokeswoman for the ministry told Interfax.

Some of the companies affected:

FedEx Corp

Telefonica SA

Portugal Telecom

Telefonica Argentina
…

Агентство Standard&Poor’s підтвердило рейтинги України зі стабільним прогнозом

Міжнародне рейтингове агентство Standard&Poor’s підтвердило довгострокові і короткострокові рейтинги в іноземній і національній валютах на рівні «B–/B» зі «стабільним» прогнозом.

Як мовиться в повідомленні агентства, такий рівень відображає необхідність для України в осяжному майбутньому виплачувати значні боргові суми, а також політичні виклики і блокаду на сході країни, що вповільнює економічне зростання і впливатиме на стан економіки.

За оцінкою агентства, рівень напруженості з Росією і, як мовиться у прес-релізі, «квазі-сепаратистськими регіонами» на сході погіршився від часу попередньої оцінки.

Але той факт, що на наступні 12 місяців уряд України збереже доступ до підтримки офіційних кредиторів, дає підстави висловити стабільний прогноз, мовиться в повідомленні.

Наприкінці квітня ще одне з провідних міжнародних рейтингових агентств Fitch теж підтвердило свій суверенний довгостроковий рейтинг України в іноземній і національній валютах на рівні «B–» зі «стабільним» прогнозом.
…

From the United States and Canada to small islands in Europe and the Caribbean, Chinese are spending billions on new passports and visas to move their families away from their homeland.

China’s middle and upper classes are demanding better schools, cleaner air and a more secure life for their children. And as China gets wealthier, millions of families have the means to purchase a new life elsewhere.

Their demand has transformed a once obscure market for immigration by investment. To study China’s impact, the Associated Press collected statistics from 13 countries that offer citizenship or permanent residency for a price.

Here’s a look at AP’s analysis of the market, by the numbers.

China’s favorite programs

Consulting firms in China’s biggest cities hawk investor visa programs in weekly sessions at hotels and on social media. The market leader is the United States, as urban Chinese are widely familiar with American schools and culture.

Here are the five countries in the AP’s analysis with the most visas issued to Chinese investors and their families in the last decade:

— 43,448: the United States’ investment visa program, known as EB-5.

— 35,278: Canada’s investment bond programs, including a program offered by the province of Quebec.

— 7,875: Portugal’s “golden visa” program for real estate investors.

— 6,405: Hungary’s residence bond program, recently suspended by the government.

— 4,640: Australia’s program for high-dollar “significant investors.”

What they buy

Depending on the country, Chinese investors looking for a second home can join business projects, invest in bonds or make an outright payment to the government. Currency conversions are as of May 11.

— $250,000: the minimum price of citizenship in Antigua & Barbuda for an investor who donates to the island government’s development fund and pays a $50,000 government fee.

— $380,000 (350,000 euro): the minimum value of real estate investors must purchase in Portugal’s “golden visa” program.

— $500,000: the minimum business investment in the United States’ EB-5 program, with a “green card” given to investors whose money creates or saves 10 jobs.

— $584,000 (800,000 Canadian dollars): the minimum amount of interest-free investment to be made or financed for residence in the Canadian province of Quebec. (Canada closed a similar national program in 2014.)

— $3.7 million (5 million Australian dollars): the required investment in Australia’s Significant Investor Visa program in a mix of developing businesses and funds as defined by the government. Australia’s program is by far the most expensive in the AP survey.

What they spent

To understand how China has changed the global investor migration market, the AP estimated how much Chinese families have invested at a minimum in foreign countries for a visa or passport. The AP multiplied the number of investors, excluding family members, by the minimum investment level for each year, in each program for the last decade. In some cases, the AP estimated the number of investors with the help of government data or experts on investment migration.  

The figures below are an undercount because some investors put in more than what’s required. Investment amounts for each year were converted to U.S. dollars based on the average exchange rate that year. The figures have not been adjusted for inflation.

— $7.7 billion: estimated minimum investment in the United States through the EB-5 program.

— $6 billion: estimated minimum investment in Australia through its Significant Investor Visa program.

— $4.3 billion: estimated minimum investment in Canada, including Quebec, through its immigrant investor programs.

— $1.96 billion: estimated minimum investment in the United Kingdom through its Tier 1 investor program.

— $1.71 billion: estimated minimum investment in New Zealand through its investor and entrepreneur programs.
…

In a move that is likely to give a boost to China’s Belt and Road Forum, the United States has announced that it will participate in meetings on the initiative beginning this weekend in Beijing.

The decision to attend is part of a 100-day plan and new deal between Washington and Beijing that was initially hammered out when President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping met early last month in Florida.

The interagency delegation from Washington will be led by Matthew Pottinger, a top adviser to the Trump administration and National Security Council senior director for East Asia. China is pleased with the decision.

“We welcome all countries to attend. And we welcome the United States’ attendance as the world’s largest economy in the relevant activities of the Belt and Road initiative,” said Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao.

Fact and fiction

China has long been playing up the global benefits of its ambitious trade project, but analysts note that the plan is opaque and vague. Besides, the economic benefits for developed nations such as the United States are still unclear.

For many, the project still seems largely China-centric. It boasts six economic corridors, all of which are to enhance links with China through connectivity and trade infrastructure. Those include connections between China and Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

“It’s about making China great again — in Trumpian terms — and making China great on the international stage,” said Tom Miller, author of China’s Asian Dream: Empire Building Along the New Silk Road.

Domestically, China’s leaders present the project as part of their attempt at the grand rejuvenation of the Chinese people. Internationally, Beijing is trying to convince the world that it is a cooperative win-win plan that will equally benefit all participants.

So far the response has been mixed, but Beijing hopes that its forum on Sunday and Monday, which will include heads of state from 29 countries and official delegations from several other countries, will bring more clarity.

For starters, there is no official map of the grand plan, and the scope of the project continues to balloon. Beijing is entirely in the driver’s seat and the direction of the initiative is fuzzy at best, analysts said.

“What actually gets built will depend on what deals Chinese companies make with other countries abroad or on the deals that Chinese government makes with other governments abroad, and no one knows exactly what those are going to be,” Miller said.

Bumps on China road

There are also the geopolitical implications of the project.

Many developing countries along the route will obviously welcome and be eager and open to receive Chinese investment, infrastructure and development, said Paul Haenle, director of the Beijing-based Tsinghua-Carnegie Center for Global Policy.

In addition to communicating with developing countries, China needs to proactively engage with developed nations such as the United States and others as well.

China “should explain fully what the objectives are for the initiatives,” Hanele says. “And if it doesn’t do a very good job, I think then China risks these nations projecting their worst fears onto the Belt and Road initiative.”

While China-backed infrastructure projects could bring many benefits to developing countries, they could also make them reliant on Beijing’s largesse.

“The more power that China gains economically, [the more] it will have a geopolitical impact,” Miller said. “And in that sense, you can say that it does equate to a double win for China.”

Critical eye

Having developed countries such as the United States, Germany and Britain participate in the meeting could help make it more transparent.

Other developed European countries and the United States are right to look at Chinese behavior that is opaque and poorly defined with a critical eye, Haenle said.

He added Washington’s decision to attend and not shun the gathering, as it did during China’s formation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) two years ago, is a better approach.

The United States would do well “to ask about what the rules will be and what the purpose is behind this, but at the end of the day, the U.S. should not have a hostile attitude,” Haenle said.

Friday’s last-minute announcement has raised questions about whether the United States may reverse former President Barack Obama’s decision to stay away from the AIIB and join. The bank is hosting a special press conference on Saturday to announce new members.
…

Напередодні націоналізації «Приватбанк» оформив 110 мільярдів гривень кредитів на понад 30 фірм, більшість із яких мають ознаки фіктивності. Такого висновку дійшли журналісти програми «Схеми», отримавши доступ та проаналізувавши аудиторський звіт про фінансово-господарську діяльність банку, складений аудиторською фірмою Ernst&Young.

Проаналізувавши список фірм-боржників, кожна з яких винна тепер вже державному «Приватбанку» від півмільйона до майже п’яти мільярдів гривень, журналісти виявили, що ці юрособи не ведуть реальної господарської діяльності, мають у статутному капіталі в середньому не більше ніж 1000 гривень, а їхні засновники та директори – це люди, що не мають стосунку до бізнесу.

За допомогою Єдиного держреєстру юридичних осіб журналісти дізналися адреси реєстрації нових фірм, їхніх засновників та директорів і вирушили до них, щоб запитати, як їм вдалося отримати мільярдні кредити в «Приватбанку» і як вони планують розраховуватися. 

За адресами реєстрації цих фірм, їхніх засновників та керівників або нікого немає, або там перебувають зовсім інші люди.

 Деякі компанії оформлені за адресою масової реєстрації, на автозаправних станціях, станціях техобслуговування або в квартирах житлових багатоповерхівок.

За реєстрацією інших фірм розташовані вже нові компанії. 

За вказаними в реєстраційних документах номерами телефонів або ніхто не відповідає, або вони вже не обслуговуються.

«Виходить, що коли банк був приватним – він роздав понад 100 мільярдів гривень фірмам-бульбашкам. А зараз ті винні гроші вже державному «Приватбанку». І якщо не повернуть, то за них розрахуються звичайні громадяни – платники податків, – тому що держава вже влила в установу облігації внутрішньої державної позики (ОВДП) на суму понад 100 мільярдів гривень, щоб він не збанкрутував», – мовиться в матеріалі журналістів програми «Схеми», спільного проекту Радіо Свобода та телеканалу «UA:Перший».

Журналісти «Схем» звернулися до вже колишніх його акціонерів – Ігоря Коломойського та Геннадія Боголюбова, а також екс-голови правління банку Олександра Дубілета. Ніхто з них не висловив бажання прокоментувати ці факти.

Матеріали аудиту Ernst&Young, до якого вдалось отримати доступ «Схемам», – це останній перед націоналізацією «ПриватБанку» незалежний звіт, документ датований 22 листопада 2016 року.

Журналісти звернулися до Ernst&Young з проханням підтвердити або спростувати справжність документу та повідомити, чи вносились у нього ще якісь зміни. У компанії відмовились від коментарів, посилаючись на внутрішню політику організації.

У Нацбанку кажуть, що у позичальників ще є час, щоб повернути кошти, – до 1 липня. «Якщо ж цього не відбудеться, то, звичайно ж, власник нинішній «Приватбанку» – Міністерство фінансів, менеджмент «Приватбанку», його незалежна наглядова рада повинні почати ті процеси, які роблять всі банки, коли позичальники не погашають кредити. Це претензійна робота, це суди з метою повернути активи, які були виведені з банку», – заявила заступниця голови НБУ Катерина Рожкова.

Економісти вважають, що якби Нацбанк раніше ухвалив рішення про націоналізацію, збитки державі були б набагато менші.

«Я впевнений, що фахівці Нацбанку прекрасно знали (тому що весь ринок знав) про бізнес-модель функціонування «Приватбанку», але чому вони покривали її – я думаю, що тут окреме розслідування потрібно проводити», – зазначив економіст Ерік Найман.
…

A sweeping trade agreement, ranging from banking to beef, has been reached between Washington and Beijing, the U.S. Commerce Department announced on Thursday.

“It was pretty much a Herculean accomplishment to get this done,” said U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. “This is more than has been done in the whole history of U.S.-China relations on trade.”

The breakthrough results from an agreement U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping made during their meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on April 6.

Trump “was briefed more or less every single day” as negotiations progressed since then, Ross said.

Beef imports

Following one more round of “technical consultations,” China has agreed to allow U.S. beef imports no later than July 16, consistent with international food and animal safety standards, Ross told reporters at the White House.

The United States Cattlemen’s Association applauded the agreement, saying market access to China is crucial for its members.

“Success in this arena will drive the U.S. cattle market and increase demand for U.S. beef” in China, association president Kenny Graner told VOA.

In exchange, Washington and Beijing are to resolve outstanding issues that would allow imports to the U.S. of cooked poultry from China “as soon as possible,” according to the Commerce Department.

Another significant breakthrough will see American liquefied natural gas (LNG) going to China. Under the agreement Chinese companies will be permitted “at any time to negotiate all types of contractual arrangement with U.S. LNG exporters, including long term contracts,” according to the Commerce Department.

This is “a very big change,” said Ross, noting China is trying to wean itself off coal at a time “it doesn’t produce enough natural gas to meet its needs.”

Financial, other business services

Among other action listed in the 100-Day Action Plan:

* China is to allow, by July 16, “wholly foreign-owned financial services firms” to provide credit ratings services and to begin licensing procedures for credit investigation.

* U.S.-owned suppliers of electronic payment services (EPS) will be able to apply for licensing in China under new guidelines.

* China is to issue bond underwriting and settlement licenses to two qualified U.S. financial institutions by July 16.

* China’s National Biosafety Committee is to meet by the end of this month to conduct science-based evaluations of all eight pending U.S. biotechnology product applications “to assess the safety of the products for their intended use.” Those that pass the tests are to get certificates within 20 working days.

The outcome of the joint dialogue will also see a United States delegation attending China’s Belt and Road Forum in Beijing next week.

A U.S.-China Comprehensive Economic Dialogue will be held this summer, according to the Commerce Department, to deepen engagement on these and other issues.

“There are probably 500 items you could potentially discuss” in the wider one-year plan for bilateral trade, Ross added.
…

Kongkaew Vonusak smiles when he recalls the arrival of Chinese investors in his tranquil village in northern Laos in 2014. With them came easy money, he said.

The Chinese offered villagers up to $720 per hectare to rent their land, much of it fallow for years, said Kongkaew, 59, the village chief. They wanted to grow bananas on it.

In impoverished Laos, the offer was generous. “They told us the price and asked us if we were happy. We said okay.”

Elsewhere, riverside land with good access roads fetched at least double that sum.

Three years later, the Chinese-driven banana boom has left few locals untouched, but not everyone is smiling.

Experts say the Chinese have brought jobs and higher wages to northern Laos, but have also drenched plantations with pesticides and other chemicals.

Last year, the Lao government banned the opening of new banana plantations after a state-backed institute reported that the intensive use of chemicals had sickened workers and polluted water sources.

China has extolled the benefits of its vision of a modern-day “Silk Road” linking it to the rest of the world – it holds a major summit in Beijing on May 14-15 to promote it.

The banana boom pre-dated the concept, which was announced in 2013, although China now regards agricultural developments in Laos as among the initiative’s projects.

Under the “Belt and Road” plan, China has sought to persuade neighbors to open their markets to Chinese investors. For villagers like Kongkaew, that meant a trade-off.

“Chinese investment has given us a better quality of life. We eat better, we live better,” Kongkaew said.

But neither he nor his neighbors will work on the plantations, or venture near them during spraying. They have stopped fishing in the nearby river, fearing it is polluted by chemical run-off from the nearby banana plantation.

Chinese frustration

Several Chinese plantation owners and managers expressed frustration at the government ban, which forbids them from growing bananas after their leases expire.

They said the use of chemicals was necessary, and disagreed that workers were falling ill because of them.

“If you want to farm, you have to use fertilizers and pesticides,” said Wu Yaqiang, a site manager at a plantation owned by Jiangong Agriculture, one of the largest Chinese banana growers in Laos.

“If we don’t come here to develop, this place would just be bare mountains,” he added, as he watched workers carrying 30-kg bunches of bananas up steep hillsides to a rudimentary packing station.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said he was not aware of the specific issues surrounding Chinese banana growers in Laos, and did not believe they should be linked directly to the Belt and Road initiative.

“In principle we always require Chinese companies, when investing and operating abroad, to comply with local laws and regulations, fulfil their social responsibility and protect the local environment,” he told a regular briefing on Thursday.

Laos’ Ministry of Agriculture did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment for this article.

China is the biggest foreign investor in Laos, a landlocked country of 6.5 million people, with over 760 projects valued at about $6.7 billion, according to Chinese state-run media.

This influence is not only keenly felt in the capital Vientiane, where Chinese build shopping complexes and run some of the city’s fanciest hotels. It also extends deep into rural areas that have remained largely unchanged for decades.

Banana rush

Lao people say Chinese banana investors began streaming across the border around 2010, driven by land shortages at home.

Many headed to Bokeo, the country’s smallest and least populous province.

In the ensuing years, Lao banana exports jumped ten-fold to become the country’s largest export earner. Nearly all of the fruit is sent to China.

For ethnic Lao like Kongkaew, Chinese planters paid them more for the land than they could earn from farming it.

For impoverished, hill-dwelling minorities such as the Hmong or Khmu, the banana rush meant better wages.

At harvest time, they can earn the equivalent of at least $10 a day and sometimes double that, a princely sum in a country where the average annual income was $1,740 in 2015, according to the World Bank.

They are also most exposed to the chemicals.

Most Chinese planters grow the Cavendish variety of banana which is favoured by consumers but susceptible to disease.

Hmong and Khmu workers douse the growing plants with pesticides and kill weeds with herbicides such as paraquat. Paraquat is banned by the European Union and other countries including Laos, and it has been phased out in China.

The bananas are also dunked in fungicides to preserve them for their journey to China.

Switching crops

Some banana workers grow weak and thin or develop rashes, said Phonesai Manivongxai, director of the Community Association for Mobilizing Knowledge in Development (CAMKID), a non-profit group based in northern Laos.

Part of CAMKID’s work includes educating workers about the dangers of chemical use. “All we can do is make them more aware,” she said.

This is an uphill struggle. Most pesticides come from China or Thailand and bear instructions and warnings in those countries’ languages, Reuters learned. Even if the labeling was Lao, some Hmong and Khmu are illiterate and can’t understand it.

Another problem, said Phonesai, was that workers lived in close proximity to the chemicals, which contaminated the water they wash in or drink.

In a Lao market, Reuters found Thai-made paraquat openly on sale.

However, some workers Reuters spoke to said they accepted the trade-off. While they were concerned about chemicals, higher wages allowed them to send children to school or afford better food.

There is no guarantee the government’s crackdown on pesticide use in banana production will lead to potentially harmful chemicals being phased out altogether.

As banana prices fell following a surge in output, some Chinese investors began to plant other crops on the land, including chemically intensive ones like watermelon.

Zhang Jianjun, 46, co-owner of the Lei Lin banana plantation, estimated that as much as 20 percent of Bokeo’s banana plantations had been cleared, and said some of his competitors had decamped to Myanmar and Cambodia.

But he has no plans to leave. The environmental impact on Laos was a “road that every underdeveloped country must walk” and local people should thank the Chinese, he said.

“They don’t think, ‘Why have our lives improved?’ They think it’s something that heaven has given them, that life just naturally gets better.”
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Ideas were flying at a brainstorming session to create a slogan for a group of North Carolina Democrats when Catherine Cloud blurted out a phrase that made a colleague’s eyes light up: “Because this is America.”

The words were quickly scrawled on a notepad, and the New Hanover County Democratic Party in Wilmington began its scramble to own the phrase. It applied days later for a trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

From President Donald Trump’s dash to own “Keep America Great” for his 2020 re-election campaign — even before he took office — to a rush by a foundation for the victims of the September 11 attacks to claim “Let’s Roll” just days after New York’s Twin Towers were reduced to rubble, Americans are rushing to trademark catchy phrases.

There were 391,837 trademark applications filed last year, with the number growing an average of 5 percent annually, government reports show. The USPTO does not break out how many of those applications were for phrases.

‘That’s Hot’

The surge is the result of headline-grabbing cases like socialite Paris Hilton’s winning settlement of a lawsuit over her trademarked catchphrase “That’s Hot” from her former television reality show, said trademark attorney Howard Hogan of Washington.

“It can’t help but inspire others,” Hogan said. “It feels good to get recognition of something you feel you have created.”

Trademarks can mean cash from everything from bumper stickers to thongs printed with the protected phrase. More important for some, however, is claiming ownership of a powerful message.

” ‘Because this is America’ is a rallying cry that focuses on what we have in common, rather than what divides us,” Cloud said.

The phrase is the tagline in a commercial that was set for online release Thursday about the New Hanover Democrats’ key issues: “Clean water. Because this is America,” “Quality education for every child. Because this is America,” and “No matter your ethnicity, you are welcome here. Because this is America.”

Mindful that the slogan that could easily be employed by rival Republicans, the county Democratic committee filed to trademark it just 18 days after Cloud said it.

Trump looks ahead

Two days before Trump’s inauguration on January 20, Donald J. Trump for President Inc. applied to trademark the phrase he said he intends to use for his 2020 re-election campaign: “Keep America Great,” both with and without an exclamation point. The campaign committee already owns the trademark for Trump’s 2016 slogan: “Make America Great Again.”

Just 15 days after Todd Beamer inspired fellow airline passengers to overwhelm hijackers above a Pennsylvania field on September 11, 2001, the Todd M. Beamer Memorial Foundation applied to trademark his rallying cry, “Let’s Roll.”

Three days after “Nasty Woman” grabbed headlines when Trump used it to describe his opponent Hillary Clinton in an October 19, 2016, debate, entrepreneurs across America started filing trademark applications for the phrase. There are at least 11 applications pending to trademark “Nasty Woman” for the sale of products as wide-ranging as pillows, wine, firearms, scented body spray, mugs, backpacks and jewelry.

Typically it takes about 18 months for the Patent Office to grant a trademark.

But it can take much longer, as cartoonist Bob Mankoff of The New Yorker learned when he tried to trademark the caption to a 1993 cartoon. Two decades passed before he was allowed to register it on January 19, 2016.

Ironically, the phrase aptly describes Mankoff’s anticipated payday from the sale of merchandise, bearing the words that first appeared under his cartoon of a businessman trying to schedule a meeting: “How about never — is never good for you?”
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