In August, 2014, planners in the northeastern Chinese city of Hunchun argued in state media that it should be included in the “One Belt, One Road” project, Beijing’s vision laid out the previous year of a new Silk Road across Asia to Europe.

In 2015, the official Xinhua news agency ran stories about how Hunchun was accelerating its “OBOR” plans, and early in 2016, China’s cabinet released a list of Chinese cities included in “OBOR:” Hunchun was on the map.

The fact that the list came about slowly, and that some cities felt moved to lobby to be included, underlines how the pet project of Chinese President Xi Jinping is as amorphous as it is ambitious.

The challenge of defining exactly what OBOR means will come to the fore later this month, when heads of state and senior officials from around the world gather in Beijing for the first major summit dedicated to the project.

“Frankly, I don’t really know what the belt and the road are. The reason being that I think Beijing doesn’t know either,” said Tom Miller of Gavekal Dragonomics, who recently wrote a book on the New Silk Road.

Reality is complicated

In theory, incentives for cities, companies and countries to be involved are strong: hundreds of billions of dollars are expected to be spent on roads, railways, pipelines, ports and industrial zones stretching from Sri Lanka to Djibouti.

But as Hunchun shows, the reality of OBOR can be complicated and requires buy-in from other countries.

The city’s position at the apex of Russia, North Korea and China is a blessing and a curse. While Russia is gradually opening up to more trade, North Korea has stalled.

Tantalizingly close to the sea but without a sea port after Russia’s annexation in 1860, local businesses said they wanted to ship more goods via Rason, a nearby North Korean port earmarked as an export hub to China, Japan, South Korea and beyond.

That would open a shipping route to southern China, but with sanctions in place against Pyongyang, global tensions rising over its arms programme and Rason developing slowly, expectations of progress are low.

“We currently transport goods by rail to southern China. We’d like to ship from Rason, but at present that’s not happening,” said Wang Hai, general manager of Guanghai Import and Export Trading Company in Hunchun, a small firm with 12 staff, both Chinese and Russian. “Hunchun is a hub for northeast Asia, so in theory it should play a big role in ‘One Belt, One Road,’ but for now it hasn’t been able to get its act together.”

Russia more promising?

North Korea remains largely shut to the outside world, and China, while remaining its main economic and diplomatic backer, has signed up for tough U.N. sanctions against it.

But China said on Tuesday that North Korea would be sending a delegation to the upcoming OBOR summit.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will also attend, reflecting his country’s importance in China’s OBOR strategy; in Hunchun, some enterprises are already seeing benefits from mutual trade.

Xingyang Seafood, for example, imports 90 percent of its seafood from Russia and 10 percent from North Korea, said chairman Zhao Yang.

“The main advantage of being in Hunchun is that we are close to Russia,” Yang told Reuters. The company is headquartered in northern China’s Shandong province, but in 2015 it opened a branch in Hunchun to exploit its proximity to Russia.

“How does North Korea help us? It doesn’t help us at all, they have hardly any seafood left there.”

Trade with Russia

Hunchun’s spokesman Hao Qiang declined to comment about the city’s relationship with North Korea, because of the “current political situation,” and would not say how many North Koreans were working in the city. “But we can talk about Hunchun’s trade with Russia, the city’s clean air and successful tree-planting initiatives,” he said.

In addition to oil and gas export opportunities between Russia and China, Putin has spoken of roads and bridges being built to strengthen links.

Russia has struggled, however, to lure enough people to sparsely populated regions bordering China’s northeast, and there are concerns among Russians of creeping colonization if too much land is leased to the Chinese.

“They [Chinese] will live there, their relatives will come, they will deepen their roots there, they will take Russian women as wives,” firebrand opposition politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky said in 2015, when proposals to lease Russian land to Chinese farmers were put forward. “We will only have problems. I see no advantages.”

For Hunchun, OBOR is the latest in a series of development programs aimed at revitalizing Jilin province and China’s northeast.

Benefits of investments are clear

In the 1990s, the United Nations backed the Tumen River Area Development Project, which became the Greater Tumen Initiative linking China, Mongolia, South Korea and Russia.

The benefits of large-scale state investment are clear. From 25th place among smaller cities in Jilin in terms of economic growth, Hunchun now stands third. Foreign trade has doubled since 2011, according to city statistics.

Whether OBOR can add value over the longer term is uncertain, Peter Cai wrote in a report for the Lowy Institute, an Australian think-tank.

“If the Chinese government fails to connect its domestic projects with overseas components, OBOR will be little different from other domestic infrastructure programs, greatly diminishing its economic and strategic value.”
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Mexico is embarking on a strategy to combat illegal pipeline thefts that includes going after those who purchase and deal in stolen fuel as well as the thieves, the country’s treasury secretary said Tuesday.

Jose Antonio Meade said it’s a problem that costs Mexico somewhere between 15 billion and 20 billion pesos a year, or $780 million to $1 billion, and one that requires a holistic approach to solve.

Mexico’s government wants to reduce the siphoning of gasoline and diesel from illegal pipeline taps by attacking “not only the supply but also the demand,” Meade said, according to a transcript of remarks during a Q&A session released by the Treasury Department.

Besides quick-response actions against thieves, authorities must work to make the illicit business less profitable and make those who buy it face consequences, he said.

Armed gangs add to problem

The topic is front-and-center in Mexico these days after gun battles between the army and suspected thieves killed four soldiers and six gunmen last week in the central state of Puebla. Armed gangs have gotten involved in the business of fuel thefts, and gunmen were said to have used civilians as human shields in one of the clashes.

Fuel thieves are also suspected of being behind a shocking crime in Puebla on May 2, when eight assailants raped a woman and her 14-year-old daughter, killed her toddler son, beat her husband, stole the family’s pickup truck and left on them on a highway at night. In March, three state detectives were abducted and killed by a fuel theft gang allegedly with the help of the local mayor and police officers.

Meade said those who “tear at the social fabric, who in a very cowardly fashion hide behind … women and children,” cause problems for communities and are “terribly dangerous.”

Corrupt workers a concern

Meade acknowledged it’s “very likely” that corrupt workers at state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, are involved in facilitating pipeline thefts. He said officials are working with the company to identify them.

Officials are also looking at gas stations that may be selling stolen fuel, as well as the mass transportation sector. To that end, authorities raided 13 gas stations last month after detecting irregular fuel-buying patterns, Meade said.

“There was even a gas station that had been shut down (by authorities) for a year but was continuing to sell gasoline, which of course was stolen,” he said.

Looking for help from Senate

The secretary said authorities are looking into technology that would allow them to better track illegal pipeline taps and “mark” gasoline to help identify fuel that has been stolen.

Meade also noted legislation passed in the Chamber of Deputies and pending in the Senate would make it easier to prosecute fuel theft.

“The theft is illegal, but possession of stolen gasoline … since we don’t catch them physically and flagrantly stealing, we often find it impossible to take legal action,” he said.

Stolen fuel part of local economy

The Puebla state Public Security Department reported Tuesday that in a series of raids it seized over 21,000 liters (5,600 gallons) of fuel and 12 vehicles apparently involved in thefts.

Some communities in Puebla and elsewhere have come to base much of their economies on selling fuel stolen from the thousands of taps that are drilled into state-owned pipelines each year. It can also be dangerous — on Sunday one such illegal tap exploded into flames.

Meade said Puebla is the state with the highest incidence of fuel theft, followed by Guanajuato and Veracruz.
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Four U.S. states filed a lawsuit Tuesday over President Donald Trump’s decision to restart the sale of coal leases on federal lands, saying the Obama-era block of the leasing program was reversed without studying what’s best for the environment and for taxpayers.

The attorneys general of California, New Mexico, New York and Washington, all Democrats, said bringing back the federal coal lease program without an environmental review risks worsening the effects of climate change on those states while shortchanging them for the coal taken from public lands.

“Climate change has to be considered when we are talking about compensating states and New Mexico citizens for their resources,” said Cholla Khoury, New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas’ director of consumer and environmental protection.

The U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management administers 306 coal leases in 10 states, producing more than 4 billion tons of coal over the past decade. Most of that coal — 85 percent — comes from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana.

Production and combustion of coal from federal lands accounted for about 11 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2014.

The Obama administration blocked the sale of new leases in 2016 to conduct an environmental study and a review of the royalties that mining companies pay the U.S. government for coal that’s extracted. Federal officials and members of Congress said the current royalty rates were shortchanging taxpayers.

In January, Interior officials said they were considering raising those royalty rates to offset the effects of climate change from burning the coal.

In March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to amend or withdraw the coal leasing program moratorium.

The next day, Zinke did so, saying the Obama administration’s environmental review would cost “many millions of dollars” and that improvements to the program can be made without a full-scale environmental review.

The lawsuit by the four attorneys general, which was filed in Great Falls, Montana, says the reversal was made “with no justification other than an objection to the time and cost of complying with the law.”

Lifting the moratorium without properly considering the environmental effects or ensuring that the program is providing fair market value for the publicly owned coal violates federal laws, they allege.

“They didn’t follow the law,” Khoury said. “You can’t make piecemeal changes without doing this assessment to fully understand all parts of this program.”

Interior Department officials did not return telephone and email messages seeking comment.
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Cambodia’s rapidly normalizing economy will receive an additional boost when it hosts the regional World Economic Forum (WEF) for the first time this week with business leaders looking for opportunities to diversify the country’s fledgling industries.

American lawyer and chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia, Brett Sciaroni, said Cambodia’s economy remained the fastest growing in Southeast Asia with annual GDP growth exceeding seven percent year-on-year.

Garments, tourism, construction and agriculture are key planks in the local economy, but he said he would prefer to see the number of industries substantially broadened.

“Well, we’re very hopeful that we’ll be getting more light manufacturing in the future because we do need to diversify the economy. Right now we have a strong agricultural sector and we have a strong garment sector but we want to graduate that light manufacturing from garments to other things,” he said. 

Sprucing-up Cambodia’s image

Across the capital, buildings are getting a lick of paint, parks are being cleaned-up and gardens manicured ahead of the arrival of 700 delegates from 40 countries for the May 10-12 forum with its focus on technology, growth and youth.

Sciaroni said the WEF, which Cambodia will host on behalf of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), would help improve Cambodia’s image and an international reputation that is often maligned by corruption and issues like human rights.

“Old views of Cambodia are frequently hard to change. So, I think there’s still an impression out there of Cambodia as a war-torn country with genocide and Khmer Rouge and land mines and so on,” he said. “But once people come here, scales fall from their eyes. They see all of the new buildings going up, they see so many developments going on.”

The economy has been a strong point for the ruling Cambodia People’s Party (CPP) and Prime Minister Hun Sen, who is facing commune elections next month and a national election in July of next year.

His heavy-handed autocratic style – often criticized – has characterized the government since three decades of war ended in 1998 when Cambodia was still struggling to shake off its image as a failed state. Since then, Hun Sen has been credited with ensuring national security that has underpinned an unprecedented period of economic growth.

Sciaroni’s sentiments were echoed by David Totten, the Phnom Penh-based director of Emerging Markets Consulting, who said the WEF was a great idea.

“Cambodia isn’t a perfect country, but not being perfect is not the same as being bad. In many industries, in many sectors, you will find vibrant, entrepreneurial communities setting up and running successful businesses and growing them year-on-year,” he said. 

Not everyone is happy with the Forum

Nevertheless, the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) and human rights activists are far from convinced that Phnom Penh is an ideal venue to host the WEF.

Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, said “Cambodia is one of the last places that a major meeting like the WEF should be held” adding that the human rights situation here is “in free fall”.

He also noted Cambodian authorities were prone to rounding-up poor people, the homeless and sex workers, who in the past have been thrown into detention as part of a so-called ‘beautification campaign’ ahead of major events in the capital.

Hun Sen has also faced international criticism for a crackdown on the CNRP over the past 18 months. Party supporters have been jailed for criminal defamation and other charges while senior leaders have also been threatened with prison terms and legal maneuvers which could bar them from holding public office.

Robertson said the WEF should speak out on such issues while Mu Suchua, a senior CNRP figure, said human rights should be a part of the world economy and country’s like Cambodia should be required to significantly improve before being given the privilege of hosting the WEF.

Spokespeople for the WEF and the government were unavailable for comment.

Cambodia’s youth

Cambodia’s demographics are changing as rapidly as its economy with post-war baby boomers maturing. WEF organizers noted the median age here is 23.8 years and young people are demanding higher pay and skilled work alongside life’s luxuries.

At elections in 2013, the youth vote sided with the CNRP resulting in Hun Sen being returned to office, but with a substantially reduced majority.

Despite the political issues, Muoy Piseth, a spokesman for the Federation of Cambodian Intellectuals and Students, said Cambodia was ready to hold the WEF event and it should improve the country’s reputation and lead to further economic partnerships and investment.

“Cambodia needs investment and cooperation. The lack of human resources and modernization, when compared to other ASEAN member countries, is still a challenge that needs to improve,” he said.

Molyny Pann contributed to this story.
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The International Monetary Fund called on Asian economies to learn from Japan’s experience and act early to cope with rapidly aging populations, warning that parts of the region risk “getting old before becoming rich.”

Asia has enjoyed substantial demographic dividends in the past decades, but the growing number of elderly is set to create a demographic “tax” on growth, the IMF said in its economic outlook report for the Asia-Pacific region on Tuesday.

“Adapting to aging could be especially challenging for Asia, as populations living at relatively low per capita income levels in many parts of the region are rapidly becoming old,” the report said. “Some countries in Asia are getting old before becoming rich.”

The population growth rate is projected to fall to zero for Asia by 2050 and the share of working-age people – now at its peak – will decline over the coming decades, the report said.

The share of the population aged 65 and older will increase rapidly and reach close to two-and-a-half times the current level by 2050, it said.

That means demographics could subtract 0.1 percentage point from annual global growth over the next three decades, it said.

The challenges are particularly huge for Japan, which faces both an ageing and shrinking population. Its labor force shrank by more than 7 percent in the past two decades, the IMF said.

The high percentage of its citizens living on pensions may be behind Japan’s excess savings and low investment, which are weighing on growth and blamed in part for keeping inflation below the Bank of Japan’s 2 percent target, the report said.

“Japan’s experience highlights how demographic headwinds can adversely impact growth, inflation dynamics and the effectiveness of monetary policy,” it said.

The IMF called on Asian nations to learn from Japan’s experience and deal with demographic headwinds early, such as by introducing credible fiscal consolidation plans, boosting female and elderly labor force participation, and revamping social safety nets.
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Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo will travel to Washington next week for talks about sugar exports, he told reporters on Monday, in an attempt to break an impasse that threatens to trigger tit-for-tat duties on sweeteners.

U.S.-Mexican trade relations are already under strain as U.S. President Donald Trump seeks to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement pact with Mexico and Canada and build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border and have Mexico pay for it.

The U.S. sugar industry pressed the Commerce Department late last year to withdraw from a 2014 trade agreement that sets prices and quota for U.S. imports of Mexican sugar unless the deal could be renegotiated.

Mexico and the United States last week extended a deadline to June 5 to reach an agreement on how much Mexican refined and crude sugar can enter the United States.

Speaking at an event in Mexico City, Agriculture Minister Jose Calzada said Mexico was willing to react in-kind to any U.S. duties imposed on its sugar.

“If we were to have to pay … tariffs on Mexican sugar imports, the federal government would energetically consider similar measures on some U.S. product,” Calzada said.

Mexico is the top foreign supplier of sugar to the United States, a coveted market of 12 million tons where the U.S. government gives export quotas to about 40 sugar-producing countries each year through trade programs.
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Katie Ryerson and her father took a train from their hometown of Columbus, Ohio, to Omaha, Nebraska, for her first Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shareholder meeting, a weekend the conglomerate’s billionaire chief Warren Buffett calls “Woodstock for Capitalists.”

They were part of a crowd expected to top last year’s estimated 37,000. Shareholders filled the downtown CenturyLink Center’s 18,000-seat arena, plus overflow rooms, on Saturday for the meeting itself with the man dubbed “the Oracle of Omaha.”

“My dad bought shares of Berkshire for me when I was born,” said Ryerson, a student at Michigan’s Hillsdale College.

“It is amazing,” she said in an exhibit hall where stockholders thronged to buy products made by Berkshire units.

“So many people are dedicated to the same thing. I’m kind of overwhelmed.”

Buffett and Berkshire Vice Chairman Charlie Munger taught and entertained shareholders as they answered more than five hours of questions at the meeting, the weekend’s main event.

It was also a time for many to shop and eat.

The Fruit of the Loom unit erected crowd-control barriers after crowds overwhelmed its display area last year. A line to get inside early on Friday afternoon stretched 150-deep.

“Very interesting, like a carnival atmosphere,” Les Magee, a retired accountant from Gainesville, Florida, who was attending his first meeting, said as he waited on that line. “It’s like Disney, because of the lines.”       

See’s Candies sold most of the 21,714 pounds of confections it brought. And by the time doors were closing on Saturday afternoon, Dairy Queen was down to two boxes of unsold frozen treats. It had brought 25,000 dessert bars and Blizzards.

Buffett got his usual vanilla-orange bar for free this year.

“We’re always going to buy a few things,” said Joseph Schwartze, a retired carpenter from Omaha, after he purchased Ginsu knives. “We never go to the meeting. He starts talking about derivatives, and I would go to sleep.”

Other shareholders get little sleep. As usual, several hundred lined up before daybreak on Saturday to enter the arena, many to get good seats.

They are not allowed to hold places once inside. But that is not the rule outside, where Mark Hughes, an investment adviser from Ashton, Maryland, attending his 26th meeting, said he got on line at 2:15 a.m.

“I’m here with a lot of friends,” he said. “I don’t trust them to get up in time to get a good seat.”
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An Airbnb host who was renting out her Trump Tower apartment is among the first to pay a fine to New York City under a law banning advertising listings for short-term rentals.

The host and owner of the Trump Tower apartment, Yelena Yelagina, paid a $1,000 fine to the city.

A city official tells the New York Daily News the new law will further discourage people from turning their apartments into hotels. It is already against the law in New York to rent out an entire apartment for less than 30 days without the owner present, but the new law bans advertising short-term listings.

An Airbnb spokesperson says the law doesn’t distinguish between New-Yorkers who occasionally share their home and illegal hoteliers.
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China is extending its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to troubled Afghanistan, causing analysts to wonder if Beijing is trying to expand its role in the Middle East and also putting itself at the center of the international battle against terrorism.

China’s connectivity program involves extending the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is part of BRI, to Afghanistan, and then stretching the “belt” to its neighbors -Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Iran.

Reseacher Ahmad Bilal Khalil, with the Center for Strategic and Regional Studies in Kabul, who is in close touch with the Afghan government on the development plans, provided details in an interview with VOA.

The projects include two highways, two railway lines and a major hydroelectricity dam over the Kunar river. The idea is to lay a road linking Pakistan’s Peshawar to Kabul and also to Kunduz in Afghanistan and further into Central Asia. Railway lines are expected to run from Landi-Kotal in Pakistan to Afghanistan’s Jalalabad, and also from Pakistan’s Chaman to Spin Buldak in Afghanistan.

Ahmad Bilal Khalil said China needs to enter Afghanistan with economic projects to ensure the unhindered progress of its ongoing $50 billion project in Pakistan.

“If Afghanistan becomes involved in these two (highway) projects, so it will somehow affect the security situation in Afghanistan, and it will bring more Pakistani and Chinese economic interests into Afghanistan,” he said.  “If there is insecurity in Afghanistan, (it) can also affect CPEC and One Belt, One Road.”

Link to world power

China’s plans are indeed ambitious, and prompted by its foreign policy objective to be regarded seriously as a big power. It is important for China to show it can do what the U.S. has failed to achieve in the Middle East, analysts said.

“If the interest of the Belt and Road is to run through the Middle East, Afghanistan is an area where China hopes to make a difference,” David Kelly, Director, Geopolitics of Beijing-based consulting firm, China Policy said.

“It hopes that its investments in connectivity will ameliorate the tensions that are in that country, and that they can achieve something that the Americans and before them the Soviets were unable to do, that is to dampen the sectarian violence and conflict,” he said.

But these plans are easier said than done. There are clashes on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan which have killed more than 50 people in the past few days. 

Uzbekistan has opposed the plan for extending rail and road connectivity to Central Asia saying they will be utilized by terrorists for expanding their activities.

Terrorism dangers

Ambitions apart, there are some real-life dangers concerning terrorism that China wants to tackle by presenting itself as a benefactor in Afghanistan. Violent separatists based in China’s Xinjiang region are known to have cross-border links with the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and also with Islamic groups in Central Asia.

“If  drugs or ‘afim’ [opium] can be transported or exported from Afghanistan to central Asia, there is also a huge possibility that terrorism and extremism will also be exported to central Asia. That’s where the Chinese [have] concerns,” Khalil said.

China has invested heavily in the copper mines of Afghanistan although the results have not been encouraging because of political and infrastructural challenges. It wants to build connectivity to access the mountain country’s minerals.

“One trillion dollars worth of mineral resources are available in Afghanistan. Extending the BRI to Afghanistan will facilitate extraction of the minerals to the Chinese economy. It will also facilitate export of China’s industrial surplus to Afghanistan, ” said M.K.Bhadrakumar, author and Indian diplomat.

Analysts said China is also laying the pathway for the massive construction business that will be available once the process of reconstructing war torn Afghanistan gets underway. But Beijing’s main objective is advancing its strategic and security interests beyond Pakistan.

“Indeed, the Belt corresponds with China’s increasingly proactive security concepts, which stress common security through development and economic cooperation,” said analysts at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in a recent report.

But it is more than an uphill task.

“Furthermore, at this stage, the Belt has little potential to help thaw relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, but there may be prospects for this over the medium to long term… the pathway to this scenario is long and fraught with obstacles,” wrote SIPRI researchers Richard Ghiasy and Jiayi Zhou.

There are some risks inherent in China’s view of the world, as well. Beijing believes it is possible to replace religious fundamentalism by offering economic benefits. But this policy has been proven wrong in the past, said Kelly of China Policy.

“We see that the problem is that the Taliban do not have a central authority in the same sense that China is used to,” he said. “So, whereas China can negotiate with the Vatican, they may find that the political structure of power in Afghanistan and with the Taliban is dispersed”.

 
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Warren Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Saturday faulted Wells Fargo & Co for failing to stop employees from signing up customers for bogus accounts even after learning it was happening.

Wells Fargo, whose largest shareholder is Berkshire, with a 10 percent stake worth roughly $27 billion, gave employees too much autonomy to engage in “cross-selling” multiple products to meet sales goals, Buffett said.

This “incentivized the wrong type of behavior,” and former Chief Executive John Stumpf, who lost his job over the scandal, was too slow to fix the problem, Buffett said.

Wells Fargo was among many topics discussed at Berkshire’s annual meeting in Omaha, where Buffett, 86, and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, 93, fielded dozens of questions from shareholders, journalists and analysts.

“If there’s a major problem, the CEO will get wind of it. At that moment, that’s the key to everything. The CEO has to act,” Buffett said. “The main problem was they didn’t act when they learned about it.”

Still, Buffett’s support of current management and board was key to ensuring the re-election of the entire board last month.

Wells Fargo spokesman Mark Folk said “we agree” with Buffett’s comments, and have taken “decisive actions” to fix the problems and “make things right for customers.”

Asked whether Berkshire’s decentralized structure could lead to a similar scandal, Buffett said “as we sit here, somebody is doing something wrong at Berkshire,” whose units employ 367,000 people. But he said Berkshire has an internal hotline to flag possible misbehavior, which gets 4,000 calls a year.

Succession and dividends

The meeting also included discussions about Berkshire’s succession plans, its controversial partnership with Brazilian firm 3G Capital, and whether it will start paying dividends or make an acquisition.

Buffett has said Berkshire could have a new chief executive within 24 hours if he died or could not continue, and that nothing had changed just because he praised fewer managers than usual in his February shareholder letter.

He said it may have been harder to single people out because “we have never had more good managers.”

But he also said it would be a “terrible mistake” if capital allocation were not the “main talent” of his successor.

Buffett did lavish much praise on top insurance executive Ajit Jain, who some investors believe could be that successor, saying “nobody could possibly replace Ajit. You can’t come close.”

On 3G, with which Berkshire controls Kraft Heinz Co and tried to merge it with Unilever NV, Buffett acknowledged a dislike for the cost-cutting for which the Brazilian firm is known.

But, he said, “it is absolutely essential to America that we become more productive,” and 3G was “very good at making a business productive with fewer people.”

Buffett also raised the possibility Berkshire could pay its first dividend since 1967, if “reasonably soon, even while I’m around,” the company had too much cash it could not reasonably deploy.

“It could be repurchases, it could be dividends,” he said.

Berkshire ended March with more than $96 billion of cash and cashlike instruments, and Munger said it could do a “$150 billion” acquisition now if it wanted.

Airlines and IBM

Buffett defended Berkshire’s foray into airlines, where it is a top investor in American Airlines Group Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc., Southwest Airlines Co. and United Continental Holdings Inc.

He had long disdained the industry, which had gone through many bankruptcies, but said he is confident it will not resort to “suicidally competitive” pricing strategies that could spell doom.

Munger added: “You’ve got to remember railroads were a terrible business for decades and decades and decades, and then they got good.” Berkshire bought the BNSF railroad in 2010.

Buffett also admitted he was wrong to think International Business Machines Corp. “would do better” when he started amassing 81 million shares six years ago.

Berkshire recently sold about one-third of those shares even as it built a huge stake in Apple Inc., which Buffett said is more as a “consumer” company that a technology company.

He also addressed criticism that Berkshire discloses too little about businesses such as aircraft parts maker Precision Castparts Corp, which it bought last year for $32.1 billion.

“We want you to understand what you own,” he said, and “there are just a million things that are of minor importance” at Berkshire, whose market value is about $411 billion.

Buffett also noted that Berkshire reported far fewer investment gains in the first quarter, which dragged on results, but said the company now has a slight preference for taking tax losses, which could lose value if Washington lawmakers reduce the 35 percent corporate tax rate.

The annual meeting, expected to draw more than last year’s estimated 37,000 shareholders, is the main event of a weekend of events that Buffett calls “Woodstock for Capitalists.”

Buffett and Munger took questions after the traditional shareholder movie, and after Buffett had roamed a nearby exhibit hall featuring products from Berkshire companies.

He was joined at the traditional newspaper tossing contest by friends including Microsoft Corp co-founder and Berkshire director Bill Gates, and Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh.

Hundreds of shareholders lined up early outside downtown Omaha’s CenturyLink Center for the meeting. Several said they got there nearly five hours before doors opened around 6:45 a.m.

“Every year it seems I have to come earlier,” said Chris Tesari, a retired businessman from Pacific Palisades, California who said he arrived at 3:20 a.m. for his 21st meeting. “It’s a pilgrimage.”
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Berkshire Hathaway Inc Chairman Warren Buffett fumed Saturday that health care costs are eating away at the U.S. economy like “tapeworm” and said the Republican approach to overhaul Obamacare is a tax cut for the rich.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday narrowly approved a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, a victory for Republican President Donald Trump who has called the 2010 law a “disaster.”

Speaking at Berkshire’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Omaha, Buffett said his federal income taxes last year would have gone down 17 percent had the new law been in effect.

“So it is a huge tax cut for guys like me,” he said. “And when there’s a tax cut, either the deficit goes up or they get the taxes from somebody else.”

The Republican bill would repeal most of the taxes that paid for the law formally known as the Affordable Care Act. The party’s leadership has promised that the new American Health Care Act, which faces a likely overhaul and uncertain passage in the Senate, would address growing health care costs.

Buffett said rising health care costs are crippling the competitiveness of U.S. companies abroad.

Unlike in many other countries where much of health care spending is publicly financed, employers provide health insurance coverage for nearly half of Americans and often face skyrocketing rates.

Buffett said health care costs have risen much faster in the United States than in the rest of the world and “will go up a lot more.”

“Medical costs are the tapeworm of American economic competitiveness,” he said. “That is a problem this society is having trouble with and is going to have more trouble with.”

Buffett is a Democrat who vocally supported Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful bid for the presidency against Trump. The fourth richest man in the world with a net worth totaling $74.3 billion, according to Forbes magazine, Buffett has vowed to donate nearly his entire fortune to charity.

Berkshire Vice Chairman Charlie Munger added that he thinks neither political party “can think rationally” about health care because they “hate each other so much.”
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Президент України Петро Порошенко підписав закон про ратифікацію угоди з Європейським інвестиційним банком, кошти від якої спрямують на розвиток громадського транспорту у різних регіонах. Про це інформує прес-служба глави держави.

«Метою угоди є залучення під державні гарантії до 200 мільйонів євро кредитних коштів Європейського інвестиційного банку, що будуть спрямовані на покращення роботи міського громадського транспорту у деяких містах України (Івано-Франківськ, Біла Церква, Київ, Луцьк, Львів, Кременчук, Одеса, Суми, Тернопіль, Харків, Чернігів)», – інформують у прес-службі.

Документом передбачається, що залучені кошти витратять на придбання автобусів, тролейбусів, трамваїв, вагонів метро, будівництво та реконструкцію тролейбусних та трамвайних ліній, депо, впровадження інформаційних систем, зокрема створення автоматизованої оплати проїзду.

Фінансова угода між Україною та Європейським інвестиційним банком набирає чинності з дати набрання чинності закону України про її ратифікацію.

Угоду з Європейським інвестиційним банком Україна підписала у листопаді 2016 року. 12 квітня 2017 року її ратифікувала Верховна Рада. 
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The venture fund 500 Startups has been making a splash in Southeast Asia, most recently with Khmerload, a Cambodian entertainment news website modeled after the American media giant Buzzfeed. Binh Tran, a venture partner with the firm, sat down with Sophat Soeung of VOA’s Khmer service to talk about how entrepreneurs in developing countries could attract such investors. Here’s some of his advice for them:

Remember, Silicon Valley investors are a click away

I think first is to understand the whole startup ecosystem. All this information is at your fingertips. The world’s shrunk, and for resourceful entrepreneurs, they have this incredible amount of knowledge that they can tap into, to get themselves familiarized with how to build a company, how to launch it, how to monetize, and also understand investment. All that is available.

Not everyone can be a tech entrepreneur. It’s incredibly hard, but for the ones that are resourceful … the tools are there. And we want to be the ones to provide that dry powder to help you grow. So once you have achieved some progress and some [traction], then come talk to us.

Don’t overthink — there is no ‘right’ sector

I’m pretty sector-agnostic. … If you’re building something that is obscure to me … the fact that you can make a business out of it, you’re making some money out of it, that’s great. And if it’s technology-enabled, it’s done through software, or done through some algorithm that you created, that’s where I think I can help. That’s where I think the opportunities are.

Look for a growing user base

All ecosystems around the world are somewhat new. Even China is a decade or two [old] for venture capital. … If these companies are making money and they’re growing, that’s great. You see companies who have been more focused on revenue early on. So I think Southeast Asia has a lot of opportunity, because you do have that 4 million-new-internet-users-a-month type of growth, but the business models are not quite as risky [as those seen in Silicon Valley].

Pay more attention to operational rather than business risk

I think there’s going to be a small percentage of my portfolio that’s always reserved for the crazy, one-in-a-million-chance ideas. But for the most part, these startups should be solving basic problems. Across many sectors in Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam, businesses have barely adopted Web 1.0 technologies. There’s opportunities for entrepreneurs to solve basic problems such as helping business attract, serve and support customers more efficiently.

So instead of investing in a new, risky, innovative business model as you would in Silicon Valley, the innovation these companies we’re investing into is the way they’re hiring and training employees and how they’ve mastered how to operate within highly regulated environments. These companies also deeply understand their customers’ problems and have demonstrated their ability to market to and sell to locals.

So the innovation we’re seeing is less about business model or technology innovation, but I do hope that changes.

Build your reputation, and be patient

You’ve got to do what you say you’re going to do. This is one of those things where your reputation is so important. … [Also,] realize that it’s going to take a while. It’s not easy. Don’t be caught up in the buzz or the hype — just focus on the fact that this is going to be a long, hard journey. And hopefully that sets up the right expectations.

This report originated on the VOA Khmer service.
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President Daniel Ortega downplayed the possible impact of a U.S. bill that would condition international lending to Nicaragua on a range of democracy and rights issues, saying it’s more of a political than an economic threat to his country.

“The world is not going to disappear, the economy is not going to disintegrate” if the so-called Nica Act passes, Ortega said late Thursday after meeting with representatives of the International Monetary Fund during a visit to the Central American nation.

The bill before the House and Senate calls for the U.S. to oppose most loans to Nicaragua’s government through organizations such as the IMF, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, with the exception of funds for humanitarian purposes or to promote democracy.

That would be the official U.S. position unless the secretary of state certifies that Nicaragua is taking steps to hold fair and competitive elections, safeguard political rights, strengthen the rule of law and fight corruption, among other conditions.

Similar legislation last year failed to advance in Congress.
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More Americans age 65 and over are still punching the clock. In fact, the last time the percentage was this high was when John F. Kennedy was in the White House.

Last month, 19 percent of Americans age 65 and over were still working, according to government data released Friday. That’s the highest rate since 1962, and the trend has been upward since the figure bottomed out at 10 percent in 1985.

As America grows older and as life expectancy gets longer, some workers keep heading to the office because they like it and still feel engaged. But many others are continuing to work for a simpler, darker reason: They can’t afford not to.

More than a quarter of workers age 55 or older say they have less than $10,000 in savings and investments, according to the latest retirement confidence survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. Perhaps because of small nest eggs, nearly a third of workers in that age group say they expect to work until at least 70, if they retire at all.

Older workers still heading for jobs may also be the lucky ones. Many older Americans would like to work but say they can’t find a job, whether because they lack the skills or because employers are looking for someone younger. The unemployment rate for workers age 65 and over was 3.7 percent last month. That’s a tick higher than its median over the last 30 years, though it’s down from earlier this year.

The numbers may rise higher, critics say.

Congress this past week voted to overturn a federal rule designed to help states give more workers access to retirement savings plans.

Several states have been pushing to create their own plans to get more workers into plans like a 401(k) that automatically deduct savings from each paycheck. Low-income workers tend to have much less access to savings plans through their jobs.

Republicans and players in the investment industry, though, argue that the state-run plans could end up being much more expensive than imagined and would water down safeguards in place to protect investors.
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The United States office that handles highway safety announced it would investigate complaints that brakes can malfunction on Nissan’s popular Murano SUV.

According to documents released Friday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nearly 60 people have complained that the brakes on their cars lose pressure when trying to stop on a low-friction surface.

Some drivers reported increased stopping distances after pushing the pedal all the way to the floor. The investigation will cover upwards of 100,000 Muranos from the 2009 model year.

In a statement, Nissan said it is cooperating with the probe and encouraged any drivers experiencing brake problems to visit their local Nissan dealership.

Some drivers cited in the complaint said they replaced the anti-lock brake hydraulic control unit in their SUVs and that apparently fixed the problem.

The investigation will determine if Nissan needs to issue a recall on the vehicles. The NHTSA said the problem generally involves older, higher mileage vehicles.
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After yet another viral video has surfaced of people being kicked off an overbooked plane. Delta Air Lines has apologized.

In a statement, the company said it was “sorry for the unfortunate experience.”

The video, posted by Brian and Brittany Schear, showed them and their two toddlers being told to exit the flight or be arrested after a dispute over a seat the Schears bought for their teenage son.

The couple posted the video on YouTube and showed Brian Schear arguing with someone aboard Delta flight 2222 before take-off from Maui to Los Angeles.

The dispute started over whether Brian Schear could use the seat he had bought for his teenage son for his toddler and if the toddler was required to use a car seat or could sit in an adult’s lap.

“You will hear them lie to me numerous times to get my son out of the seat. The end result was we were all kicked off the flight,” Schear wrote in a blurb about the incident.

“They oversold the flight. When will this all stop?”

The Schears ended up leaving the flight and stayed at a hotel before leaving the following day.

“Delta’s goal is to always work with customers in an attempt to find solutions to their travel issues. That did not happen in this case and we apologize,” Delta’s apology stated, adding it would refund their travel expenses and provide additional compensation.

The incident came about a month after another incident was captured on video showing a man who was injured when forcibly removed from a United flight. The airline announced an undisclosed settlement with that man last month.
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The U.S. job market staged a rebound in April with employers, adding 211,000 workers to their payrolls and the unemployment rate fell to a 10-year low of 4.4 percent.

April’s employment numbers are a big improvement from March when the economy added only 98,000 jobs.

Analysts say that makes it more likely the Federal Reserve will remain on track to raise its benchmark interest rates again in June.

Job gains in April came from hospitality and leisure services, followed by health care and financial services.

Average hourly earnings grew modestly, up 2.5 percent from the previous year.

Despite volatility in March, the economy has now added an average of 185,000 jobs per month in 2017.
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Котирування нафти еталонної північноморської марки Brent обвалилися впродовж останніх двох днів. На торгах 4 травня ціна подолала психологічно важливу позначку 50 доларів за барель і опустилася до рівня близько 48 з половиною доларів. Зранку 5 травня падіння триває, станом на 7:45 за Києвом ціна становить 47 доларів 5 центів за барель.

Аналітики пояснюють такі події на ринку невпевненістю інвесторів щодо дотримання країнами-нафтовидобувниками узгоджених у листопаді минулого року обмежень. Також учасники торгів не знають, чи продовжать члени ОПЕК і країни поза межами картелю дію своєї угоди на другу половину 2017 року.

Іншим чинником, який впливає на котирування ціни «чорного золота», є постійне зростання видобутку у США в цілому і на сланцевих родовищах цієї країни зокрема. Міністерство енергетики США раніше цього тижня повідомило, що обсяг видобутку сирої нафти в країні зростає 11 тижнів поспіль, що стало найбільш тривалим таким трендом з 2012 року. Видобуток у США зріс до 9,29 мільйона барелів на день, що є максимальним значенням із серпня 2015 року.
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The European Union said Thursday that it’s preparing new regulations that could force a key financial market — and potentially thousands of jobs — to move away from London once Britain leaves the bloc.

The EU Commission said it will present next month new rules on the oversight of this market, the so-called clearing of euro-denominated trades.

In financial markets, clearing is the business of acting as an intermediary in a trade to reduce the risks from defaults by ensuring funds are delivered to the seller. Some 75 percent of euro-denominated interest rate derivatives are cleared in the U.K. — and tens of thousands of jobs depend on the business.

Some European authorities want this euro-clearing business to be located in a country in the EU, as the bloc is tightening its oversight of banks and financial services in the wake of the financial crisis.

When asked Thursday whether clearinghouses would be forced to leave the U.K. if they wanted to continue handling euro-denominated trades, Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said the EU was “looking at this issue.”

“Of course, in a context of Brexit we see that the situation is changing,” Dombrovskis told reporters in Brussels. “The bulk of EU-denominated derivatives are cleared in the U.K., and therefore we need to assess what implications it has for financial stability.”

While the commission did not specify what the new rules would be, it expressed concern that after Brexit a “substantial volume” of euro-denominated transactions would be cleared outside the EU, meaning they would not be subject to the bloc’s regulations and supervision.

The commission said it wants to ensure clearinghouses are subject to the “safeguards provided by the EU legal framework” in areas where they play a key role in the stability of financial markets and monetary policy.

Talks on separation

The statement comes as the EU and Britain begin two years of complex negotiations over the separation of two economies that have been intertwined for more than 40 years. A German newspaper reported Sunday that European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said British Prime Minister Theresa May was in a “different galaxy” in her expectations for Brexit. May yesterday accused EU officials of making “threats” to influence next month’s general election in Britain.

Treasury chief Phillip Hammond said Britain would consider any proposed clearing regulations but that the EU must be careful not to disrupt growth and investment in the U.K. and Europe.

“London is the world’s No. 1 financial center, with high standards of financial supervision, including long-standing cooperation with EU institutions,” Hammond said. “This benefits the entire continent. We trust everyone in the negotiations will see the value in not undermining that.”

TheCityUK, which lobbies on behalf of Britain’s financial services industry, was more blunt.

“A forced relocation of euro-clearing would lead to disruption, uncertainty and fragmentation of the market,” Chief Executive Miles Celic said in a statement. “A potentially less liquid and less competitive EU market would result in higher costs for European savers and investors. This would ultimately be detrimental to people and businesses in Britain and in Europe. This is in no one’s interest and is entirely avoidable.”
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Nancy Lopez came to the United States 18 years ago from Mexico when she was two. While undocumented, she’s an undergraduate at City College of New York and also holds down two jobs, one at school and the other at a garden center.  She pays taxes on her earnings.  

“What is a misconception,” Lopez maintains, “is that undocumented people don’t pay taxes.  The way I see it, paying taxes is the contribution to the economy and a contribution to everybody’s needs.”

Lopez is a beneficiary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, an Obama-era initiative that granted temporary protected status to some 750,000 young people who were brought to the U.S. as young children. DACA allows recipients to go to school and work in the U.S.— and is renewable every two years.

Lopez is not the only DACA taxpayer in New York State. A new study shows that DACA recipients contribute $140 million in New York state and local taxes.

“Their contributions are very substantial.  They’re a big part of the promise for the future,” said David Dyssegaard Kallick, director of the Fiscal Policy Institute Research Institute and co-author of the study.  Kallick added, “I think it’s not recognized enough that what they’re doing is, in fact, making a real contribution.”

The study, which was co-conducted by the Institute of Taxation and Economic policy, shows that the 1.3 million young people who are eligible for DACA (not all have applied), paid more than $2 billion nationally in state and local taxes in 2015. 

Taxes ≠ legal status

Undocumented immigrants pay taxes in the hopes that following the rules will weigh in their favor as they apply for permanent legal status in the U.S., even though they are not eligible for some of the benefits that taxes pay for like health insurance and pension benefits.

DACA recipient Mouhamed Kaba (28), now studying for his Master of Business Degree at NYU says he doesn’t mind paying taxes.

“It is some of the revenue the city and state depend on to do more programming for the constituency,” he said.

But he wonders what is in the tax returns that President Donald Trump has not released.

“There’s been some articles being circulated stating that the President doesn’t pay federal taxes,” he says.  “That’s kind of amusing and also alerting.”

Paying taxes does not guarantee that DACA recipients will remain legal. Trump can end the program anytime, and during the campaign, he threatened to, saying during an August speech in Phoenix that he would “immediately terminate” Obama’s “illegal executive amnesties.”

“In my head, the first thing that came to mind was that many people think we don’t pay taxes,” said Ivy Teng Lei, 26, who was brought to America by her parents 19 years ago from Macao.

Trump softens his stance

Teng Lei both works and goes to school.

“On the night of the election,” she revealed, “I broke out in hives. With a stroke of a pen my work permit can be taken away, my job security, my future, everything I own and everything I want can be taken away.”

Trump has since moderated his stance on DACA and the program remains in place, but nothing has been said that defines its status.

In 2015, according to Fiscal Policy Institute Research Institute, America’s undocumented immigrants paid an estimated $11.7 billion in state and local taxes across the 50 states. 
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Farmers in some parts of Afghanistan are trying to revive pistachio crops as an alternative to the opium poppy crops, but they are running into problems with Taliban taking a cut to supplement its income.

“We work hard here to cultivate pistachio and benefit well,” said Ata Mohammad, a farmer in Herat province’s Karrokh district. “This crop is better than others. This is a productive and Halal [legitimate or religiously legal] crop.”

The pistachio, a hardy tree that is more like a bush, originated in Central Asia and the Middle East. While California’s crop helps the United States rank second in global production behind Iran, the nuts from traditional producers in the region are generally more coveted by connoisseurs. Herat’s crop is exported to the Gulf countries, India, Turkey and some European countries, including Germany.

The trees used to grow wild in Afghanistan and were harvested by local villagers, but fell victim to a combination of drought, war and neglect. Forests, which once covered 450,000 hectares, were cut in half, according to the Agriculture Ministry. Many trees were felled for firewood.

The country now ranks ninth in worldwide production with a small fraction of the crop. Processing plants and marketing are scarce.

The national government, along with aid agencies like the U.S. Agency for International Development, have been trying to nurture a resurgence to help Afghans find a sustainable, healthy and lucrative food source and to undercut the poppy crops that yield an estimated 90 percent of the world’s heroin.

They have helped plant hundreds of thousands of seedlings, and there are plans for construction of storage facilities.

But safeguarding the pistachios has been a challenge, with the government shifting its security priorities to urban areas and leaving much of the rural area to the Taliban, which is now estimated to hold at least 40 percent of the country.

Herat Chamber of Commerce officials say most of the province’s pistachio trees are in insurgent-dominated areas. They estimate that the Taliban is making several million Afghanis — less than $100,000 from the nuts — but other estimates suggest the insurgents could be making millions of dollars a year.

The situation has led to premature harvesting that officials say has cut pistachio hectares in the province from 15,000 to 12,000, impacting the country’s reputation for quality. Herat exported only 120 tons of pistachio nuts last year.

“Unfortunately, due to insecurity and lack of government authority, the pistachio harvest is done prematurely, and it damages the agriculture and economy of Afghanistan enormously,” said Saad Khatabi, president of the Herat Chamber of Commerce.

Jilani Farhad, spokesperson for Herat’s governor, admits that insecurity exists and insurgents destroy the pistachio trees.

“God willing, the security will be ensured to safeguard pistachio tree terrains, and insurgents will be prevented from getting access to the area,” Farhad said.

Farmers elsewhere in the country have similar complaints. In Kunduz province, they say the Taliban go around the areas they control and collect one-tenth of the harvest by force. Farmers say if they pay, Taliban use the money to buy weapons, prolonging the conflict. If they don’t pay, however, there is a risk they would be killed.

Taliban fighters appeared during the harvest collection and beat those farmers who refused to pay the one-tenth of their harvest. Others also were threatened with jail time and torture if they refused to pay.
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