Markets Cautiously Lower as U.S.-China Trade Threat Looms

BUSINESSLeave a comment

Supported by Business Day Markets Cautiously Lower as U.S.-China Trade Threat Looms Photo Deutsche Boerse in Frankfurt in February. Major world stock markets opened less than 1 percent lower on Friday, led by Germany. Credit Daniel Roland/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images HONG KONG — Global markets fell modestly on Friday, hours after President Trump threatened to worsen trade relations with China with potential tariffs on another $100 billion in Chinese goods.
The market reactions were initially quiet, as investors waited for details of any tariffs that might stem from Mr. Trump’s remarks. On Thursday he said he had instructed United States trade officials to determine whether new tariffs were warranted and, “if so, to identify the products upon which to impose such tariffs.”
Major world stock markets opened less than 1 percent lower on Friday, led by Germany. Asian markets were mixed, with China on holiday and Hong Kong just returning from one. The dollar fell in value slightl..

Sugar tax: the soft drinks that slashed their sugar ahead of the levy

ECONOMYLeave a comment

The UK’s first ever sugar tax comes into force on Friday.
Soft drinks manufacturers will have to pay an extra levy on drinks that contain a high amount of sugar, which is expected to bring the treasury an extra £240m.
Some big name brands slashed their sugar content ahead of the first day of the sugar levy, while others have decided to shrink the size of their bottles and increase prices.
Read more Co-op group is back in the black as it reveals members got £74m reward The Treasury estimated on Friday that over half of manufacturers reduced the sugar content in their drinks since plans were first announced in March 2016.
Irn-Bru’s decision to slash its sugar content attracted vocal opposition from some of its customers in Scotland, where its popularity verges on the iconic.
AG Barr, the company that makes Irn-Bru, went ahead with its plan in early 2018 to reduce its sugar content by over half, from 10.3g to 4.7g per 100ml.
Ribena also followed Irn-Bru by slashing its sugar by ..

Co-op group is back in the black as it reveals members got £74m reward in 2017

ECONOMYLeave a comment

The group has put previous struggles, including the near-collapse
The Co-operative Group swung back into profit last year, with sales up and debt “significantly reduced”, in a marked turnaround from the past few turbulent years.
Members of the Co-op received a total reward of £74m in 2017, the firm said, comprised of £61m in personal rewards and £13m going towards community projects. Active membership grew by 15 per cent to 4.6 million last year.
Read more How the Co-op went from near collapse to 100 new stores The group reported pre-tax profit of £72m for 2017, compared with a loss of £132m the year before. Underlying pre-tax profit was £65m, up 25 per cent on the £52m reported in 2016, while operating profit fell to £126m from £148m.
Revenues were flat at £9.5bn, with like-for-like food sales up 3.4 per cent, and convenience sales up 4.3 per cent.
The Co-op said revenues from its funeral and life planning business rose 4 per cent to £343m, with sales in will writing and p..

Bright Lights, Big Shoulder Pads: A Timid Japan Recalls Its Bubble Era

BUSINESSLeave a comment

Supported by Business Day Bright Lights, Big Shoulder Pads: A Timid Japan Recalls Its Bubble Era TOKYO — Kaori Masukodera remembers, barely, riding as a child with her mother, her hair teased and her lips bright red, in the family’s convertible to the beach. It was the last gasp of the 1980s, a time of Champagne, garish colors and bubbly disco dance-floor anthems, and the last time many people in Japan felt rich and ascendant.
A so-called Lost Decade and many economically stagnant years later, the family’s convertible and beach vacations are long gone — but Ms. Masukodera is helping to bring the rest of Japan’s bubble era back. She performs in a pop-music duo called Bed In that borrows heavily from the keyboard lines, electric drums and power chords of the ’80s. They dress ’80s, too: The shoulder pads are big, the skirts are mini and the hues are Day-Glo when they aren’t just plain shiny.
Bed In, a pop duo, has borrowed the sounds and the looks of Japan's 1980s bubble era. V..

Volokolamsk journal: ‘When a City of 40,000 People Gets Poisoned, They Don’t Care’

WORLD NEWSLeave a comment

‘When a City of 40,000 People Gets Poisoned, They Don’t Care’ Photo An aerial view of the Yadrovo landfill site near the town of Volokolamsk, west of Moscow. Credit Dmitry Serebryakov/Associated Press VOLOKOLAMSK, Russia — Five years ago, Aleksei G. Stelmakh thought he had built his little wooden house in one of the best neighborhoods around Moscow. Every day he could walk out onto his porch, breathe fresh air and scan the picturesque pine forest nearby.
E105
30 MILES
Volokolamsk
Yadrovo landfill
Balashikha
M-9
Moscow
E30
M2
RUSSIA
300 MILES
FINLAND
RUSSIA
LAT.
Area of
detail
BELARUS
KAZAKHSTAN
UKRAINE
APRIL 5, 2018
By The New York Times Now, all he sees is a giant landfill, a heap of trash about 100 feet tall, so big that trucks on it look like insects. The fresh air is now s..

Body of Missing C.D.C. Employee Found in Atlanta River

SCIENCELeave a comment

Body of Missing C.D.C. Employee Found in Atlanta River Photo Timothy J. Cunningham, whose body was found Tuesday. Credit via Terrell Cunningham The body of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employee who went missing two months ago was found in a river in Atlanta on Tuesday, the authorities said on Thursday.
In February, the authorities announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and indictment in the disappearance of Timothy J. Cunningham, 35. But on Thursday the authorities said there did not appear to be any signs of foul play in his death.
“Right now the preliminary cause of death is drowning, but the investigation is still open,” Dr. Jan Gorniak, the chief medical examiner of Fulton County, said at a news conference. “We do not have a manner of death or whether it is an accident or suicide or anything other than that.”
Mr. Cunningham was last seen leaving work on Feb. 12 after telling colleagues he did not feel well.
His body was spotted on Tuesday in..