Author: CensorBiz

Jhon Jario Velàsquez, known by his alias “Popeye,” an assassin who worked for Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, died on Thursday according to a statement by Colombia’s prison institute.The statement said the 57-year-old, who had a long criminal history, died at the National Cancer Institute in Bogota, where he had been treated for stomach cancer.Velàsquez’s first stint in prison was for 23 years after plotting the murder of an ex-presidential candidate. But Velàsquez has admitted to committing over 300 murders himself and also helped coordinate the killings of nearly 3,000 people for Escobar’s Medellin drug cartel during the 1980s and 90s.After serving extensive prison time he gained fame as an author and YouTube celebrity with over 1.2 million subscribers. On his YouTube channel, he spoke angrily about leftist rebels, corrupt politicians and expressed a desire to run for a seat in Colombia’s senate.Velàsquez spoke openly about his career as an assassin during a television interview, expressing his preference for a revolver and saying he “worked from the eyebrows up.”He continued to confess to assisting in many of Colombia’s most notorious crimes, including the killing of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan in 1989, the kidnapping and murder of Colombian journalist Diana Turbay and the Avianca Airlines bombing, which killed 107 people.He was released from prison in 2014, but Velàsquez’s time out of jail was short-lived when authorities caught him partying with a wanted U.S. drug trafficker in 2017. By 2018, he was arrested on extortion charges.Velàsquez was hospitalized in late December, 2019 at the National Cancer Institute in Bogota where he died early Thursday morning.Even years after his run with Escobar’s cartel, Velàsquez continued to boast about his former boss, describing him as “a good friend and a good enemy.”Escobar founded the Medelli cartel and was shot and killed by Colombian security forces in 1993.
 
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U.S. President Donald Trump will make his first public remarks from the White House Thursday about his acquittal by the Senate on two articles of impeachment.A jubilant Trump announced his plans in a tweet Wednesday just hours after his acquittal, which he boasted was “our Country’s VICTORY on the Impeachment Hoax!”I will be making a public statement tomorrow at 12:00pm from the @WhiteHouse to discuss our Country’s VICTORY on the Impeachment Hoax!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 5, 2020During a solemn roll-call vote in the Senate chambers Wednesday afternoon with Chief Justice John Roberts presiding, the senators found Trump not guilty of abuse of power by a vote of 52 to 48, and not guilty of obstruction of Congress 53 to 47, ending a nearly four-month effort by congressional Democrats to remove Trump from office.The White House put out a statement saying Trump has been fully vindicated and exonerated. The statement calls for “retribution” against House Democratic leaders for lying and what it says was a manufactured case against the president.WATCH: Trump Acquitted of Both Charges in Articles of ImpeachmentSorry, but your player cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
In this image from video, Republican Senator Mitt Romney speaks on the Senate floor on the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, at the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 5, 2020.Lone RepublicanThe vote to acquit Trump of both charges brought by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives was strictly along party lines. The sole Republican dissension was Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney, who voted guilty on the abuse of power charge, but not guilty on obstructing Congress.In a dramatic speech ahead of the vote, Romney said, “What the president did was wrong, egregiously wrong,” in asking Ukraine to launch an investigation of one of Trump’s chief 2020 Democratic challengers, former Vice President Joe Biden, and his son Hunter’s work for a Ukrainian natural gas company.“If these names were not the Bidens, the president would not have done what he did,” Romney said in a floor speech. “The president is guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust. … It was a flagrant assault on our electoral rights, our national security and our fundamental values. Corrupting an election to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one’s oath of office that I can imagine.”Romney acknowledged he would face fierce attacks from Trump’s allies, but said his conscience would not allow him to clear Trump of wrongdoing.Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., walks back to the chamber following a break as the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress resumes in Washington, Jan. 31, 2020.Before the vote, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer made a last-ditch but fruitless effort to change Republican minds.“You cannot be on the side of this president and be on the side of truth,” Schumer said, accusing the Senate’s Republican majority of sweeping Trump’s crimes under the rug. But he said ultimately “there is justice in this world, and truth and right will prevail.”Majority Leader McConnell made no mention of whether Trump actually committed a crime, saying whatever he did comes “nowhere near justifying the first presidential removal in history.”He again accused Democrats of trying to rid the country of a president they simply do not like and looking to keep him from winning another term.“We cannot let factional fever break our institutions,” McConnell told the senators.Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, center, leaves the Senate Chamber on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Feb. 4, 2020.The president made no mention of impeachment during his State of the Union address Tuesday night. But he has derided the process as a “witch hunt,” and said he did nothing wrong.The articles of impeachment charged Trump with abusing his power by asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to launch the Biden investigations while he withheld $391 million in military aid to Ukraine that Kyiv wanted to help fight pro-Russian separatists.Trump released the assistance in September without Zelenskiy announcing any Biden investigations, which Republicans said was proof Trump had not engaged in a quid pro quo deal with Ukraine — the military aid in exchange for the politically tinged probes.The second impeachment article accused Trump of obstructing congressional investigations into his Ukraine-related actions by directing key aides not to testify before impeachment investigators or provide documents.Former National security adviser John Bolton leaves his home in Bethesda, Md., Jan. 28, 2020.Wednesday’ vote ends the two-week-long impeachment trial. The verdict may exonerate Trump in the eyes of the Senate majority, the president’s Republican supporters in the House, and Trump backers across the country.But Trump is running for reelection and as the campaign goes forward, he may find it impossible to put the matter behind him.The country has yet to hear from former national security adviser John Bolton, who was willing to testify if the Senate had voted to allow witnesses. Bolton alleges in a yet-to-be-published book that Trump personally told him he was withholding military aid to Ukraine in exchange for an investigation into the Bidens.House Speaker Pelosi has said Trump will always be an impeached president who was charged with violating the Constitution, his oath of office, and using the presidency for his own personal political gain — labels that cannot be erased.Moderate Republicans, independents and undecided voters will likely remember this in November, many Democrats say.Trump’s impeachment trial was the third against a president in the country’s 243-year-old history with the same likely result, acquittal after a Senate trial. Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998 were both exonerated and remained in office to finish their terms.
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A car ran down a group of Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem early Thursday in a suspected Palestinian attack and, in a separate incident, Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian during clashes in the occupied West Bank, authorities said.Long-simmering Palestinian unrest has been stoked anew by anger at U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan, which was embraced by Israel and rejected by the Palestinians when it was announced last week.The Jerusalem car-ramming took place on David Remez Street, which is close to the Arab neighborhoods of eastern parts of the city that Palestinians want for a state. A theater and late-night restaurants and bars are also located along the street.A military spokeswoman said 12 soldiers were injured. They were sightseeing after coming to the city to be sworn in upon completing basic training.Israeli police officers inspect the scene of an attack in Jerusalem, early Feb. 6, 2020. A Palestinian motorist slammed his car into a group of soldiers, wounding more than a dozen before fleeing the scene, Israeli police said.The Magen David Adom ambulance service said 14 people were injured, including one admitted to hospital with severe injuries and another with moderate injuries.“The incident is being investigated as a terror attack,” a police spokesman said. The driver was still at large.“It is just a matter of time — and not much time — until we get our hands on the attacker. Terrorism will not defeat us, we will win,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.In the West Bank city of Jenin, a 19-year-old man was shot dead by troops while throwing rocks at them, Palestinians said.An Israeli military spokesman said troops came to Jenin to demolish the home of a Palestinian who was involved in the 2018 killing of a Jewish settler. Troops opened fire at Palestinians who shot and threw bombs at them, the spokesman said.Palestinian medics said a Palestinian police officer was also seriously wounded by Israeli gunfire in the incident. The military did not immediately comment on that account.On Wednesday, Israeli troops shot dead a 17-year-old Palestinian elsewhere in the West Bank, saying he had thrown a fire-bomb at them during a violent protest against Trump’s peace plan. He was the first fatality since Trump’s plan was unveiled.There have also been several days of violence across the border with the Gaza Strip. Palestinians have launched mortar shells, rockets and balloon-borne explosives into Israel, causing panic but no serious casualties. Israel has carried out nightly air strikes against sites belonging to Gaza’s ruling Hamas Islamists.Hamas praised the West Bank clashes and Jerusalem attack.“The spreading resistance and clashes by our people in the West Bank and their resistance in the heart of occupied  Jerusalem is an active response against the destructive Trump deal,” said Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem.The Palestinians, who have long shunned the Trump administration, accusing it of bias towards Israel, say the peace plan falls far short of their demands for territorial and other rights. Washington deems many of those demands unrealistic.Israel supports the Trump plan, which would give it much of what it has sought for decades, including sovereignty over nearly all the occupied land on which it has built settlements.
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The World Health Organization on Wednesday called for $675 million to fight the novel coronavirus, mainly through investment in countries considered particularly at risk. This comes as the number of deaths nears 500 with more than 24,300 confirmed cases in China. Outside of China there are 191 confirmed cases in 24 countries. VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo reports.
 
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The World Health Organization is not yet calling the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, although some infectious disease experts are saying it could lead to one. The virus has spread to more than two dozen countries, although the vast majority of cases – and deaths – have been in China. VOA’s Carol Pearson asked experts experienced on disease outbreaks what they would do to stop this one.
 
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The focus of the 2020 presidential election campaign has now moved on to the New Hampshire Democratic primary after confusion over the delayed results from the Iowa caucuses made it difficult for the leading presidential candidates to capitalize on any momentum. New Hampshire’s primary on Tuesday will be the second state contest for the contenders seeking their party’s presidential nomination, but as VOA’s Brian Padden reports, the race remains very unsettled.
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One of the last survivors of Hollywood’s golden age, movie legend Kirk Douglas, has died.His son, actor Michael Douglas, announced his father’s death Wednesday afternoon in Los Angeles. He was 103 years old.The son of poor Russian Jewish immigrants, Douglas appeared in 90 films over a 60-year career.He worked a number of different jobs to pay for his college education and to study at New York’s American Academy for Dramatic Arts.Douglas appeared in his first film in 1946 following a brief career on Broadway and serving in the Navy in World War II. His title role in 1949’s The Champion, playing a merciless boxer who refused to let anyone get in his way, cemented his stardom and brought his first Oscar nomination.In this file photo taken on March 25, 1985, actor Michael Douglas applauds his father Kirk Douglas during the 57th Annual Academy Awards, in Hollywood.Tall with a strong handsome face and a cleft in his chin that became his trademark, Douglas became a major star in the 1950s and 1960s — earning two more Oscar nominations for The Bad and the Beautiful and as painter Vincent van Gogh in Lust for Life.Appearing in 1959’s Spartacus, Douglas hired screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who had been blacklisted in Hollywood for alleged communist activities, forcing him to write under pseudonyms and forgoing credit for his work.Douglas openly defied the blacklist by hiring Trumbo and allowing him to write the script for Spartacus under his own name, openly and without fear.Douglas suffered a major stroke in 1995 that nearly killed him. But he recovered enough to write his best-selling autobiography The Ragman’s Son, write fiction, and make occasional film and stage appearances, including his critically acclaimed one-man autobiographical show Before I Forget.Despite his screen image as powerful, tough and ruthless, those who knew Douglas off-screen called him a gentle, compassionate and charitable man who loved children and donated millions to various charities.”My mother said to me, ‘You must take care of other people,’ ” he once said. “That stayed with me.”
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Iran will support Palestinian armed groups as much as it can, Iran’s supreme leader said Wednesday, urging Palestinians to confront a U.S. plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace. “We believe that Palestinian armed organizations will stand and continue resistance and the Islamic Republic sees supporting Palestinian groups as its duty,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a speech carried on his website. “So it will support them however it can and as much as it can, and this support is the desire of the Islamic system and the Iranian nation.” U.S. President Donald Trump announced a U.S. plan last month that would set up a Palestinian state with strict conditions but allow Israel to take over long-contested Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Palestinian leaders have rejected it as biased toward Israel. Trump’s plan is to the detriment of America, and Palestinians should confront the deal by forcing Israelis and Americans out through jihad, Khamenei said, according to his official website. Drone, missile strikesTensions have spiked between Iran and the United States after top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad on January 3, prompting the Islamic Republic to retaliate with a missile attack against a U.S. base in Iraq days later. Separately, Khamenei called for a high turnout in parliamentary elections on February 21, broadly seen as a gauge of support for authorities after all-out war with the United States almost broke out last month. “It’s possible that someone doesn’t like me but if they like Iran they must come to the ballot box,” Khamenei said, according to his official website, noting that the elections could help solve Iran’s international problems. Last week, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani lashed out at hardliners over the mass disqualification of candidates for the election. Iran’s economy has been battered after Trump pulled out of a multilateral nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic in 2018 and reimposed sanctions. 
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British companies have made bigger profits investing in Africa than in any other region of the world, according to a new report from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), which urges firms to seek profits on the continent rather than seeing it as a place to do charitable work.With 1.2 billion people and eight of the world’s 15 fastest-growing economies, the ODI says Africa offers world-beating returns on investment.The report looks at investment by British firms in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. Its authors say the “young population, growing middle class, and planned industrial growth make the continent a great place to do business.”In 2019, the rate of return on all inward foreign direct investment in developing African countries was 6.5 percent, higher than the rates in developing Latin America and the Caribbean at 6.2 percent, and also higher than the 6 percent return in developed economies.The report was published as Britain formally left the European Union on January 31. The government repeatedly has said its ambition is to create a “global Britain” with new trading partners beyond the European continent. As part of the effort to court new partners, London hosted the Britain-Africa Investment summit last week.Proactive approach neededRecent data from agency the International Trade Center show France and Germany export more than double the value of goods to Africa than Britain does. London must get proactive post-Brexit, according to Lourenço Sambo, director general of Mozambique’s Investment Promotion Center, who spoke to VOA on the sidelines of the summit.FILE – Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson, center, visits the Pavegen stand, a company that converts footsteps into energy, at the Innovation Zone during the UK Africa Investment Summit in London, Jan. 20, 2020.”Nowadays, we very often say, ‘we are not just talking about Africa, we have to talk with Africa,’ Sambo said. “The UK [Britain] has to talk with Africa. If the UK just sits down, the vessel will go, that train will move.”Nigerian entrepreneur Samuel Onwubu said the days when foreign companies could dictate terms to Africa are gone.”UK companies need to come and work with the African business model,” he told VOA.British companies believe they have an edge against their rivals in the field of technology. The UK Space Agency is backing satellite firms that offer services to African farmers, such as PRISE, or Pest Risk Information Service.”It’s taking terabytes of satellite data and sending out text alerts to farmers, which can tell them when pests might become a problem in the future,” explained Chris Castelli, director of programs at the UK Space Agency.Investment in AfricaAfrican entrepreneurs are seeking investment in proprietary technology. Mobihealth is a mobile app that seeks to offer top-level health care access across Africa. Founder Funmi Adewara believes Britain’s expertise in finance could help.”Ninety percent of our doctors are from Western countries, 10 percent from the rest of Africa,” Adewara said. “They provide video consultation, prescriptions, diagnostic tests. We are looking here to connect with people who can help us to scale up our business and take this global.”The secretary-general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Mukhisa Kituyi, told VOA in a recent interview that African nations need to work harder to attract investment.”We need to develop this human resource as a contribution to the world’s economy, we need to create the conditions to make Africa the next factory of the world. Then you can say, can Britain step in, just like any other friend of Africa, and offer some of the solution?”Britain says it can offer solutions. Many analysts warn, however, that negotiations over its future relationship with Europe likely will dominate trade talks in the coming months and years.
 
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In Dakar, Senegal’s international airport is taking steps to prevent the coronavirus from entering the country after the first suspected case in Africa was flagged in January.  But while the suspected case in Ivory Coast tested negative, Senegal’s Blaise Diagne Airport – West Africa’s busiest regional airport – is preparing just in case.  Estelle Ndjandjo reports from Dakar.   
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Three men who are members of an Iranian separatist group, the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz, have been jailed in pre-trial custody in Denmark until Feb. 27, suspected of spying for an unnamed Saudi intelligence service.The three members of the London-based group were arrested Monday in Ringsted, 60 kilometers (40 miles) southwest of Copenhagen, for the suspected spying on people and companies over a period of six years from 2012.They appeared before the nearby Roskilde City Court where judge John Larsen on Tuesday ordered the hearing held behind closed doors, meaning no details were made public.Heavily armed police officers with machine guns guarded the courthouse in Roskilde, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Copenhagen. The men who can’t be named under a court ban, pleaded not guilty. The men are facing preliminary charges of espionage under a milder paragraph that could give them up to six years in jail.On Monday, the Saudi ambassador to Denmark, Fahad bin Maayouf Al Ruwaily, was summoned to the Danish foreign ministry.In the same case, another man was arrested Monday in the Netherlands – the historic Dutch city of Delft – for allegedly plotting one or more terror attacks in Iran and for membership of a terrorist organization.
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Israel struck Hamas militant targets in Gaza early Wednesday in response to rocket fire toward Israeli communities overnight, the military said, the latest flare-up following the release of the Trump administration’s Mideast plan, which has been fiercely rejected by the Palestinians.The military said it targeted a Hamas weapons manufacturing site and that no one was wounded. The exchange comes amid an uptick in cross-border rocket and “explosive balloon” launches from the Hamas-controlled territory, as well as violent protests in the West Bank.The Gaza Strip has been relatively calm in recent months as part of an informal truce between its Hamas rulers and Israel, but tension increased this week, after President Donald Trump unrolled his plan, which hugely favors Israel.Under the plan, Israel would be allowed to annex all Jewish settlements in the West Bank, as well as the strategic Jordan Valley. The Palestinians were offered limited self-rule in Gaza, parts of the West Bank and some sparsely populated areas of Israel in return for meeting a long list of conditions. The Palestinians, as well as much of the international community, view the settlements in the West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem -territories seized by Israel in the 1967 war -as illegal and a major obstacle to peace.Hamas had recently curbed rocket fire from Gaza and rolled back weekly protests along the frontier that had often turned violent. In return, Israel eased the blockade it imposed on Gaza after the Islamic militant group seized power from forces loyal to the Palestinian Authority in 2007.Hamas rejected the Trump plan and vowed that “all options are open” in responding to the proposal, but the group is not believed to be seeking another war with Israel.In the West Bank, Palestinians have held scattered protests in recent days condemning the Trump initiative, burning U.S. and Israeli flags and portraits of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Firebombs have been hurled at Israeli troops, with one exploding on a solider, who was only lightly wounded. The Israeli military has thus far instructed its troops to “contain” the protests and not respond forcefully, for fear that any Palestinian casualties would set off further violence.Following the latest rocket fire, the military said it viewed the incident with “great severity and is prepared for various scenarios.”
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Solar power is making a strong showing in Vietnam after years of shuttling from one extreme to the other, with the nation looking sometimes like it would revert to coal, and other times like it would invest in renewable energy.By the end of last year Vietnam had surpassed Malaysia and Thailand to reach the largest installed capacity of solar power in Southeast Asia, with 44% of the total capacity, according to figures from Wood Mackenzie, a firm that sells consulting services in the energy industry.The figures show that Vietnam is serious about solar power, an issue that had been up for debate for years. Solar supporters were encouraged to see the government offer a high feed in tariff (FIT), a fee pioneered in Germany to let solar panel owners sell power to the grid. This helped push Vietnam to reach 5.5 gigawatts of solar capacity last year.Vietnam is also planning to construct more power plants fed with coal, casting doubt on the goal of more clean energy. Public resistance to coal appears to have shelved some of the construction, at least for now.“FITs have proven to be an effective policy tool to induce rapid growth in renewables, and Vietnam’s build is another example of that,” Rishab Shrestha, a solar analyst at Wood Mackenzie, said. He added that “project economics will continue to remain attractive in large parts of Vietnam.”Like other nations, Vietnam has yet to deal with some of the potential drawbacks of solar power, such as how to dispose of photo voltaic panels responsibly. The panels contain toxic chemicals like lead and cannot be recycled easily.However solar and other renewable power, such as from wind, remains one of the cleanest options for Vietnam at the moment. It joins a growing global trend, from California, which enacted a law this year to require all new homes come with solar panels, to India, where railways are switching to solar power.Next, Vietnam will have to decide how much it will pay for solar power. The tariff used to be more than nine U.S. cents per kilowatt hour but that price expired in June. Investors are waiting on a decision, which is being jointly prepared by three ministries, the Office of the Government, and the state power utility, according to Duane Morris Vietnam LLC, a law firm that advises clients on solar power. As part of the process, Vietnam Electricity, the state utility, sent a letter to the trade ministry with recommendations on how to set the tariff and who would be eligible.“The submission letter is not very clear,” said Oliver Massmann, general director of Duane Morris Vietnam LLC, in a blog post.However he predicts that the government will settle on a tariff of just over seven U.S. cents per kilowatt hour for ground-mounted solar power projects, and a slightly higher tariff for floating solar power projects. Vietnam is pushing investors to provide power more affordably as consumption needs rise in the fast-growing economy.
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With many Chinese cities on a virtual lockdown and businesses closed until next week at the earliest, there are growing concerns about coronavirus’s impact on the global economy. On Tuesday, automaker Hyundai Motor said  it will suspend production in South Korea, its biggest manufacturing base, becoming the first major automaker to do so outside China due to disruption in the supply of parts resulting from the coronavirus outbreak. VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo reports.
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Japan’s first robot bartender has begun serving drinks in a Tokyo pub in a test that could usher in a wave of automation in restaurants and shops struggling to hire staff in an aging society. The repurposed industrial robot serves drinks in its own corner of a Japanese pub operated by restaurant chain Yoronotaki. An attached tablet computer face smiles as it chats about the weather while preparing orders. The robot, made by the company QBIT Robotics, can pour a beer in 40 seconds and mix a cocktail in a minute. It uses four cameras to monitor customers to analyze their expressions with artificial intelligence (AI) software. “I like it because dealing with people can be a hassle. With this you can just come and get drunk,” Satoshi Harada, a restaurant worker said after ordering a drink. “If they could make it a little quicker it would be even better.” Finding workers, especially in Japan’s service sector, is set to get even more difficult. The government has eased visa restrictions to attract more foreign workers but companies still face a labor shortage as the population shrinks and the number of people over 65 increases to more than a third of the total. Service companies that can’t relocate overseas or take advantage of automation are more vulnerable than industrial firms. In health care alone, Japan expects a shortfall of 380,000 workers by 2025. Service during OlympicsJapan wants to use the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games beginning on July 27 to showcase service robot technology, with organizers planning to use robots built by Toyota and Panasonic to help visitors, workers and athletes. The robot bartender trial at the pub, which employs about 30 people, will last two months after which Yoronotaki will assess the results. “We hope it’s a solution,” Yoshio Momiya, a Yoronotaki manager, said as the robot bartender served drinks behind him. “There are still a number of issues to work through, such as finding enough space for it, but we hope it will be something we can use.” At about 9 million yen ($82,000), the robot costs as much as employing a human bartender for three years. 
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(As prepared for delivery)Three years ago, we launched the Great American Comeback. Tonight, I stand before you to share the incredible results.…In just three short years, we have shattered the mentality of American Decline and we have rejected the downsizing of America’s destiny. We are moving forward at a pace that was unimaginable just a short time ago, and we are never going back!…The vision I will lay out this evening demonstrates how we are building the world’s most prosperous and inclusive society – one where every citizen can join in America’s unparalleled success, and where every community can take part in America’s extraordinary rise.…From the instant I took office, I moved rapidly to revive the U.S. economy —slashing a record number of job killing-regulations, enacting historic and record-setting tax cuts, and fighting for FAIR and RECIPROCAL trade agreements.…In 8 years under the last administration, over 300,000 working-age people DROPPED OUT of the workforce. In just three years of my Administration, 3.5 MILLION working-age people have JOINED the workforce.…Thanks to our bold regulatory reduction campaign, the United States has become the number one producer of oil and natural gas in the world, by far.  .…We are restoring our nation’s Manufacturing Might, even though predictions were that this could never be done. After losing 60,000 factories under the PREVIOUS two administrations, America has now GAINED 12,000 NEW factories under my Administration.…Many politicians came and went, pledging to change or replace NAFTA – only to do absolutely nothing.  But unlike so many who came before me, I KEEP MY PROMISES.  Six days ago, I replaced NAFTA and signed the brand new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement into law.…Days ago, we signed the groundbreaking new agreement with China that will defend our workers, protect our intellectual property, bring billions of dollars into our treasury, and open vast new markets for products made and grown right here in the USA.…To safeguard American Liberty, we have invested a record-breaking $2.2 trillion dollars in the United States Military. […] We created a new branch of the United States Armed Forces, the Space Force.…The next step forward in building an inclusive society is making sure that every young American gets a GREAT Education and the opportunity to achieve the American Dream.  […] NO PARENT should be forced to send their child to a failing government school.…A good life for American families also requires the most affordable, innovative, and high-quality healthcare system on earth. […] We will always protect patients with pre-existing conditions.…We will never let socialism destroy American healthcare!…I was recently proud to sign the law providing new parents in the federal workforce paid family leave, serving as a model for the rest of the country.…The United States of America should be a Sanctuary for Law-Abiding Americans – Not Criminal Aliens!…My Administration has undertaken an unprecedented effort to secure the Southern Border of the United States.…My administration is also strongly defending our national security.…As we defend American lives, we are working to END America’s wars in the Middle East.…Our ancestors built the most exceptional Republic ever to exist in all of human history— and we are making it greater than ever before!
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Global business is catching a chill from China’s virus outbreak.Mink breeders in Denmark called off a fur auction because Chinese buyers can’t attend due to travel curbs imposed to contain the disease.Airlines have canceled 25,000 flights to and within China after ticket sales collapsed, according to travel data provider OAG. General Motors Co. and other automakers are telling employees to limit travel to China, their biggest market.On Tuesday, the Chinese gambling enclave of Macau announced it was closing casinos for two weeks as a precaution. The territory is a big moneymaker for U.S. casino operators Wynn Resorts Ltd. and Las Vegas Sands Corp.Hyundai Motors, meanwhile, said it is suspending production in South Korea due to disruptions in the supply of parts as a result of the outbreak. It said it is seeking alternative suppliers in other regions.Global companies increasingly rely on China, the world’s No. 2 economy, as a major buyer of food, cars, movie tickets and other goods. But that has left them more exposed than ever to the pain of its latest abrupt slump.The Singapore Air Show, due to open next week, announced Tuesday it is canceling a business conference due to the absence of Chinese participants.Tourism revenue in Thailand and other Asian destinations that rely on China for up to 30% of their foreign visitors plunged after Beijing canceled group tours. Business people were told to put off foreign trips.“Many national as well as international events are now already canceled,” the chief executive of Kopenhagen Fur, Jesper Lauge Christensen, said in a statement.The cooperative of 1,500 Danish breeders who account for 40% of global mink production called off this month’s auction of 2 million skins. Most of the group’s exports usually go to China and Hong Kong.Italy could lose up to 4.5 billion euros ($5 billion) in tourism revenue this year as virus fears keep visitors away, polling agency Demoskopika said in a study released Tuesday.In Milan’s luxury MonteNapoleone shopping district, dozens of luxury brands decked out their windows for Chinese New Year. But wealthy Chinese shoppers have failed to arrive in their usual numbers.The Italian National Fashion Chamber estimated that industry sales will decline 1.8% in the first six months, because of the virus. It had been expected to grow 3%.Chinese visitors are responsible for about one-third of all luxury purchases globally. In Italy, they spend more than Russians, Arabs and Americans combined.Chinese authorities have suspended most access to Wuhan, a manufacturing center at the center of the outbreak, and surrounding cities in Hubei province with a total of 50 million people.The eastern city of Hangzhou, the home of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and a center for telecom technology companies, imposed restrictions on movement in the city and said checkpoints will be set up to examine passersby for the infection’s fever.The government extended the end of the Lunar New Year holiday to keep the public at home and reduce chances infection might spread.China already was dealing with the impact of a tariff war with Washington and a separate outbreak of African swine fever that does not infect people but has disrupted pork supplies, causing food prices to soar.Streets and subways in many cities are still largely empty even after most of China officially returned to work this week. Thousands of restaurants and cinemas have been closed to prevent crowds from gathering. Hollywood studios lost Lunar New Year ticket sales, usually a revenue high point for the industry.Officials express confidence China can weather the latest trouble but forecasters say it could knock up to 1 percentage point off this year’s growth, which might fall to as low as 5.2%. The economy already was expected to slow after hitting a multi-decade low of 6.1% last year.Forecasters including Barclays and Morgan Stanley say the outbreak could depress this year’s global economic growth by 0.2 to 0.4 percentage points.China suffered similar woes during the 2003 outbreak of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome. Growth rebounded quickly afterward, and the global impact was limited.This time, even if China recovers quickly, the worldwide impact could be bigger than SARS, forecasters say. That is because China now accounts for 16.3% of global economic activity, more than triple 2003’s share of 4.3%, according to the International Monetary Fund.The anti-virus measures will drag down Chinese activity this quarter, which “will pose pressure on the global economy and spark fears in financial markets,” Louis Kuijs, head of Asia economics for Oxford Economics, said in a report.The lockdown of Wuhan, a manufacturing center of 11 million, has disrupted production of liquid crystal and light-emitting diode panels, according to IHS Markit technology research, now a part of Informa Tech. That has depressed supplies and pushed up prices for manufacturers that use them in computer displays, TV sets and other products.As the curbs wear on, the impact could spread, depressing auto production and sales and prices of oil, iron ore and other materials from Australia, Brazil and African suppliers to China’s huge industries, forecasters say.    China is the world’s biggest importer of many commodities, including oil. The price of Brent crude, the benchmark for international oil trading, has fallen to about $55 per barrel from $70 in early January, partly due to weak Chinese demand.Lower oil prices mean cheaper gas for Western consumers but they hurt exporters such as Indonesia that use the revenues to help pay for schools, health care and social services.Demand and prices “will depend on how quickly transportation and industrial activities will return to normal levels,” Fitch Ratings said in a report.Even smaller companies are directly affected by the outbreak because of increasingly tight links with China’s nimble, efficient manufacturers.Many manufacturers have yet to feel the impact, because factories closed for up to three weeks ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday. But forecasters say delays in reopening will quickly depress demand for imported components and materials such as copper and steel.As the deadly 2019-nCov strain of coronavirus has spread worldwide Asian communities around the world are finding themselves subject to suspicion and fear. 
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