Uber agrees settlement with family of self-driving car victim

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Elaine Herzberg died after being hit by an Uber self-driving car in the US earlier this month
The family of a woman killed by an Uber self-driving vehicle in Arizona has reached a settlement with the ride services company, ending a potential legal battle over the first fatality caused by an autonomous vehicle.
Cristina Perez Hesano, attorney with the firm of Bellah Perez in Glendale, Arizona, said “the matter has been resolved” between Uber and the daughter and husband of Elaine Herzberg, 49, who died after being hit by an Uber self-driving SUV in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe earlier this month.
The terms of the settlement were not given. The law firm representing Herzberg’s daughter and husband, whose names were not disclosed, said they would have no further comment on the matter as they considered it resolved.
Read more Uber agrees $10m settlement in gender and race discrimination lawsuit An Uber spokeswoman declined to comment.
The fallout from the accident could stall the de..

U.S. Exempts Some Allies From Tariffs, but May Opt for Quotas

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U.S. Exempts Some Allies From Tariffs, but May Opt for Quotas Photo The United States trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, outlined the exemptions during questioning in the Senate Finance Committee. Credit Win Mcnamee/Getty Images WASHINGTON — The Trump administration began imposing stiff tariffs on imported steel and aluminum early on Friday morning. But it granted a brief exemption to some allies, and in a twist, said it might impose import quotas to prevent too much foreign metal from flooding into the United States.
The White House detailed the decision in a pair of presidential proclamations late Thursday night. They gave allies that won exemptions a May 1 deadline to negotiate “satisfactory alternative means” to address what the administration calls the threat to United States national security resulting from its current levels of steel and aluminum imports. The exempted group includes Canada, Mexico, the European Union, Australia, Argentina, Brazil and South Korea.
President..

Responding to Trump, China Plans New Tariffs on U.S. Goods

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Responding to Trump, China Plans New Tariffs on U.S. Goods Photo Chinese border police officers watching the arrival of a container ship at a port in Qingdao in Shandong Province. On Friday, China said it planned to impose tariffs on a wide range of American products. Credit Chinatopix, via Associated Press BEIJING — China announced Friday that it planned to impose tariffs on $3 billion worth of American-produced fruit, pork, wine, seamless steel pipes and more than 100 other goods, hitting back at the United States hours after President Trump proposed tariffs on about $60 billion worth of Chinese-made products.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce issued the threat in an online statement that said its proposed measures retaliated against the Trump administration’s earlier decision to impose tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum. The timing, though, also appeared to be a warning shot against Mr. Trump’s latest action on the trade front, on Thursday, when he took specific aim at a much wide..

Trump Administration Retreats on Tip-Sharing Plan in Compromise

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Trump Administration Retreats on Tip-Sharing Plan in Compromise Photo Under a compromise plan, employers would be able to redistribute workers’ tips only under limited circumstances, and would not be able to keep a share for themselves. Credit Leslye Davis/The New York Times The Trump administration has backed away from a proposed regulation that would have allowed restaurant owners and managers to pocket the tips of their workers.
The change was negotiated by Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, and Labor Secretary R. Alexander Acosta after the proposal encountered months of opposition. Labor advocacy groups argued that the regulation would transfer billions of dollars from workers to employers.
The restaurant industry had backed the proposal, saying it would allow the tips given to waiters and waitresses to be shared with so-called back-of-house workers, like cooks and dishwashers.
Under the compromise, inserted into the congressional spending bill that won final approval ea..

Built to Flood: Houston Speculators Make a Fast Buck From Storm’s Misery

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Houston Speculators Make a Fast Buck From Storm’s Misery

HOUSTON — The yard signs appeared almost immediately. Canyon Gate was still in ruins, its streets strewn with moldy furniture, the stench of rot everywhere. But somehow, someone had managed to plant dozens, maybe hundreds of them across the tiny Houston suburb. One proclaimed “Dump Your Home!” Another, stuck into the dirt, read “Flood Damage? We Can Help.”
Bernadette Leaney, 67, one of the thousands of Houston residents whose homes were swamped in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, hated them. She and her neighbors were just beginning their grim reckoning with the damage. Who could be looking to make a buck this soon? She tried to ignore the come-ons. “But then I realized I just couldn’t stand looking at them anymore,” she said. “They were adding to our despondency.”
She tore down every sign she came across — 114 by her count — until another resident told her it was one of their own neighbors who had posted many of them. His nam..

Budget Deal in Congress Includes Help for Affordable Housing

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Budget Deal in Congress Includes Help for Affordable Housing Photo An affordable-housing complex under construction in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco in January. The low-income housing tax credit has been a major lever in financing residential construction for the poor. Credit Jim Wilson/The New York Times When Congress voted last year to sharply reduce corporate income taxes, it undermined the nation’s largest subsidized housing program. This week’s federal spending compromise may help shore it up.
The program, called the low-income housing tax credit, enables corporations to lower their taxes by helping to finance low-cost housing. Lower corporate tax rates made the credit less useful, alarming developers and agencies that provide housing for the poor in rural America and large cities.
Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington, negotiated a provision in the spending bill to increase the number of affordable-housing credits for the first time in a decade. Developers..

Tariff Battle: Where the U.S. and Chinese Moves May Lead

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Tariff Battle: Where the U.S. and Chinese Moves May Lead Photo As Beijing absorbed the news about American tariffs, China responded Friday with tariffs of its own. Markets around the world tumbled on the trade restrictions, but the measures are likely to barely dent the Chinese economy. Credit Roman Pilipey/EPA, via Shutterstock President Trump pushed forward with a two-pronged trade offensive this week, enacting tariffs on imported aluminum and steel on Friday, a day after announcing levies on up to $60 billion in Chinese goods. The target of both actions is China, a country that Mr. Trump has called “an economic enemy” of the United States.
For now, the administration has given exemptions from the first set of tariffs to multiple nations, making it clear that the main point is to curb the influx of cheap Chinese metals.
Beijing’s initial response has been muted, setting the stage for what could be a methodical escalation of retaliatory measures. The Chinese government announced Frida..

How Trade Wars Begin

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How Trade Wars Begin
The Trump administration this week raised fears of a trade war after it authorized a series of tariffs explicitly — and implicitly — aimed at China.
Tariffs, and the specter of trade wars, are nothing new.
The United States and the European Union spent much of the 1990s fighting over bananas. Threats and tariffs flew back and forth across the Atlantic. What had started with a call for free trade in bananas by Costa Rica, in 1991, escalated into an all-out battle between two of the world’s economic superpowers.
At the time, the so-called banana wars were seen as a test of the sustainability of the newly formed World Trade Organization, as Europe and the United States fought over whether Europe could give preferential treatment to bananas imported from former colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific regions.
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