The European Fee president is proposing to cut back Europe’s complete greenhouse emissions by 55% by 2030, a lot larger than the present objective of 40%
September 16, 2020, 8:54 AM
• 2 min learn
BRUSSELS — The European Union’s high official on Wednesday proposed a extra formidable goal for reducing greenhouse emissions in Europe, setting a discount objective of 55% by 2030, considerably larger than the present goal of 40%.
Talking within the European Parliament, EU Fee President Ursula Von der Leyen stated the brand new goal will probably be “an excessive amount of for some and never sufficient for others,” however ought to assist the 27-nation bloc obtain local weather neutrality by 2050.
“Our financial system and business can handle this, they usually need it, too,” Von der Leyen stated as she set out her priorities for the yr forward in her first State of the Union deal with to EU lawmakers.
EU leaders agreed final yr to make the bloc’s financial system carbon impartial by the center of the century.
Von der Leyen added that she needs 37% of the €750 billion coronavirus restoration fund adopted by EU nations this summer time to be spent on environmental aims, and that 30% of the fund ought to be raised by “inexperienced” bonds, whose proceeds are supposed to have a optimistic affect on the setting.
The EU additionally plans to dedicate 1 / 4 of its price range to tackling local weather change and to work to shift 1 trillion euros ($1.1 trillion) in funding towards making the EU’s financial system extra environmentally pleasant over the following 10 years.
Based on the EU, its greenhouse gasoline emissions already decreased by 23% between 1990 and 2018, with the financial system rising by 61% in that interval.
World leaders agreed 5 years in the past in Paris to maintain world warming beneath 3.6 levels Fahrenheit, ideally not more than 2.7 F by the tip of the century. Scientists say nations will miss each of these targets by a large margin except drastic steps are taken to start reducing greenhouse gasoline emissions.
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The strong dollar got stronger on Thursday, rising to a three-year high against a basket of trading partner currencies, after a steep slide in the Japanese yen called into question its safe-haven status while the rally in U.S. equities took a pause.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shortly after the opening bell in New York, U.S., February 6, 2020. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
Gold prices hit their highest level in seven years as investors sought safe-haven assets after a rise in the number of new coronavirus cases in South Korea and the price of oil rose, supported by China’s efforts to bolster its virus-weakened economy.
The dollar has surged almost 2% since Tuesday against the yen, reaching its highest in almost 10 months, and the greenback climbed to near three-year highs against the euro.
The dollar index of the world’s most-traded currencies rose 0.12% to its highest level since May 2017.
The index is up 3.6% this year. It also gained to its best levels of the year against China’s offshore yuan and MSCI’s index of emerging-market currencies.
A host of reasons were cited for the dollar’s move, ranging from the outperformance of the U.S. economy and corporate earnings to potential recessions in Japan and the euro zone.
A run of dire economic news out of Japan has stirred talk the country is already in recession and that Japanese funds were dumping local assets in favor of U.S. shares and gold.
“The strongest explanation (for the yen’s decline) is a widespread selling by Japanese asset managers amid growing fears about the health of Japan’s economy,” said Raffi Boyadijian, investment analyst at XM.
The yen’s slide is unusual because the exchange rate with the dollar has been unraveling from its close correlation to the price of gold and U.S. Treasury yields, a development that must be watched, he said.
“This raises question marks about whether the yen is losing some of its shine as the world’s preferred safe-haven currency,” Boyadijian said.
China reported a drop in new virus cases and announced an interest rate cut to buttress its economy. But South Korea recorded an increase in new cases, Japan reported two deaths and researchers said the pathogen seemed to spread more easily than previously believed.
A rally that had lifted major U.S. and European stock indexes to record highs this week lost steam, as investors fretted about the spread of the coronavirus outside of China.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe shed 0.84% and emerging market stocks lost 0.95%.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 0.62%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 283.03 points, or 0.96%, to 29,065. The S&P 500 lost 30.99 points, or 0.92%, to 3,355.16 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 131.33 points, or 1.34%, to 9,685.85.
Morgan Stanley’s multibillion-dollar buyout for E*Trade Financial boosted the discount brokerage’s shares.
E*Trade jumped 24.4% after Morgan Stanley offered to pay $13 billion in an all-stock deal, the biggest acquisition by a Wall Street bank since the financial crisis.
Morgan Stanley’s shares fell 3.6%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.5% overnight, led by drops in Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and South Korea’s KOSPI.
Spot gold rose 0.3% to $1,616.74 an ounce, after hitting its highest since February 2013 at $1,622.19.
Oil prices rose further after a U.S. report showed a draw in gasoline inventories and a much smaller-than-anticipated rise in crude stocks.
U.S. gasoline stockpiles fell 2 million barrels in the week to Feb. 14. Analysts had estimated an increase of 400,000 barrels.
Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed that crude inventories rose only 414,000 barrels last week, compared with a 2.5 million-barrel rise that analysts had expected in a Reuters poll. [EIA/S]
Brent crude futures rose 58 cents to $59.70 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate gained 91 cents to $54.20 a barrel.
Demand for safe-haven U.S. Treasury debt was robust, driving the 30-year bond yield below the psychologically significant 2% level to its lowest since September 2019.
The 30-year bond last rose 39/32 in price to push its yield down to 1.9626%.
Benchmark 10-year notes last rose 17/32 in price to yield 1.5135%.
Reporting by Herbert Lash; additional reporting by Ritvik Carvalho in London; editing by Jonathan Oatis
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has met top European Union officials on a visit to Brussels
By
KELVIN CHAN Associated Press
February 17, 2020, 4:35 PM
3 min read
LONDON —
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg met top European Union officials on a visit to Brussels on Monday, days before the bloc is expected to release new proposals on regulating artificial intelligence.
The billionaire social network founder is the latest U.S. tech executive to make the trip to the headquarters of the EU, which is becoming an increasingly important player in technology regulation. Zuckerberg’s visit came as the company warned that potential regulation risked stifling innovation.
Zuckerberg met Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s powerful executive vice president in charge of making Europe “fit for the digital age.” He also had audiences with Thierry Breton, commissioner for the internal market, and Vera Jourova, vice president for values and transparency.
Vestager is set on Wednesday to release the first draft of the EU’s proposed regulations on artificial intelligence, including facial recognition, and a digital strategy, which could have major implications for tech giants such as Facebook, Google and Apple.
The EU has already pioneered strict data privacy rules and issued multibillion-dollar antitrust fines against the likes of Google.
In an op-ed published in the Financial Times, Zuckerberg said big tech companies such as Facebook need closer government supervision.
“I believe good regulation may hurt Facebook’s business in the near term but it will be better for everyone, including us, over the long term,” he wrote. He said new rules should be clear and balanced and it shouldn’t be left up to individual companies to set their own standards.
Also Monday, Facebook released a “white paper” on content regulation outlining challenges and principles for authorities to consider when drawing up new rules on how to deal with harmful material such as child sexual exploitation or terrorist recruitment.
Well-designed frameworks for regulating harmful content can outline clear ways for governments, companies, and civil society to share responsibilities and work together, the company said. “Designed poorly, these efforts risk unintended consequences that might make people less safe online, stifle expression and slow innovation.”
Facebook said tech companies shouldn’t be punished for publishing illegal speech, because it would be impractical to require internet platforms to approve each post. “Retrofitting the rules that regulate online speech for the online world may be insufficient. New frameworks are needed,” the paper said.
The company’s recommendations include requiring companies to set up “user-friendly” channels to report harmful content and regularly release enforcement data. It suggested that governments should define what illegal content is.
Speaking after their meeting, Jourova said Zuckerberg was coming around to the European approach on regulations. But it’s unfair for the company to shift all the burden to authorities, she added.
“Facebook cannot push away all the responsibility,” because regulations will never solve every problem, she said. “It will not be up to governments or regulators to ensure that Facebook wants to be a force of good or bad.”
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Audio recordings from the Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders might be made obtainable to the general public for the primary time in digital kind after practically two years of labor performed in secret.
The Memorial of the Shoah in Paris will formally settle for the recordings at a ceremony Thursday night.
The information seize a number of hundred hours of the primary, high-profile trial of prime Nazi leaders in Nuremberg, Germany, after World Struggle II. Since 1950, they’ve existed solely on 2,000 massive discs housed in picket bins within the Worldwide Court docket of Justice library within the Hague, Netherlands.
Now, curious listeners will have the ability to take heed to the whole lot of the judicial proceedings in studying rooms on the Hague, the Shoah Memorial in Paris, and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Shoah Memorial head archivist Karen Taieb mentioned she hopes the newly digitized audio information will permit researchers and college students to higher perceive a robust and emotionally fraught second in historical past. Researchers beforehand had entry to trial transcripts.
“You’ll be able to learn the trial, however if you hear the trial, it is totally different,” Taieb informed The Related Press. “For the victims, for instance, it is totally different to listen to their voices. The voices are essential, and the hesitation in them.”
The trials, which passed off from 1945 to 1949, marked a watershed second in worldwide legislation. They make clear the extent of Nazi atrocities throughout the Holocaust and set new worldwide precedents for outlining and prosecuting struggle crimes.
Through the first and most well-known trial, held between November 1945 and October 1946, a world panel of judges discovered 18 high-ranking Nazi leaders responsible on not less than one rely and sentenced 12 of them to loss of life. Solely 28 hours of the proceedings had been filmed.
Fabien Theofilakis, a professor on the Sorbonne College who researchers the Holocaust, mentioned the recordings will show invaluable to historians.
“Now we would wish these archives to have an actual existence not just for researchers, but in addition for a broader public,” he mentioned.
A day after the assault on a synagogue within the German metropolis of Halle on Judaism’s holiest day, Theofilakis pressured that this digital entry will assist make sure that the reminiscence of the Holocaust might be sustained from one technology to the subsequent.
“We did lots in Europe, in Germany, in France, to struggle towards antisemitism, to teach … But antisemitism elevated lately,” he pressured.
French sound restoration agency Gecko was commissioned to digitize the audio. Mission head Emiliano Flores mentioned they stored the challenge secret to guard the delicate Nuremberg discs from neo-Nazis or zealous collectors.
“We’re extraordinarily proud but in addition a bit relieved it’s completed,” he mentioned.
Along with the audio recordings, movie clips introduced as proof of Nazi atrocities throughout the trial —in addition to 250,000 pages of paperwork and a few pictures —might be obtainable on the Shoah Memorial for public viewing, Taieb mentioned.
FILE PHOTO: Spain’s performing Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez seems on throughout a information convention on the Moncloa Palace after a gathering with King Felipe in Madrid, Spain, September 17, 2019. REUTERS/Javier Barbancho
MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s performing prime minister Pedro Sanchez mentioned on Saturday he would search to defend the nation’s agricultural sector within the face of “unacceptable” proposed U.S. tariffs on European agricultural items.
The USA introduced plans for brand spanking new tariffs on a spread of EU items on Wednesday after the World Commerce Organisation (WTO) dominated this week that some subsidies EU states paid to Airbus had been unlawful, giving america the proper to reply with tariffs price $7.5 billion.
“We’re an administration that wishes to keep up the very best transatlantic relations…however my duty as prime minister is to defend the agricultural sector within the face of any try and railroad us with tariffs,” Sanchez mentioned at an convention within the southwestern area of Galicia.
Spain estimates the brand new tariffs, which Washington mentioned it’s going to impose on merchandise together with wine and cheese, will have an effect on about 1 billion euros of exports a 12 months.
Though the nation hopes to keep away from mutually dangerous tariffs, it’s going to reply ask the EU to use counter measures to defend its pursuits if negotiations fail, the federal government mentioned in an announcement on Friday night. Spain on Friday summoned the U.S. ambassador to Madrid to precise its full rejection of the tariffs.
“It’s one thing that fills us with concern”, Sanchez mentioned of the proposed tariffs.
Reporting by Sam Edwards; Enhancing by Kirsten Donovan
BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) – The USA received approval on Wednesday to impose tariffs on$7.5 billion price of European items over unlawful EU subsidies handed to Airbus, threatening to set off a tit-for-tat transatlantic commerce conflict as the worldwide economic system falters.
FILE PHOTO: An Airbus A350 takes off on the plane builder’s headquarters in Colomiers close to Toulouse, France, September 27, 2019. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau/File Photograph
The choice by the World Commerce Group pushes a 15-year company dispute over unlawful help for transatlantic aircraft giants to the middle of caustic world commerce relations and comes on high of a tariff conflict between Washington and Beijing.
The European Fee stated in response {that a} U.S. transfer to impose commerce sanctions on EU imports could be “short-sighted and counterproductive” and risked inflicting harm on either side of the Atlantic.
The WTO has discovered that each Europe’s Airbus (AIR.PA) and its U.S. rival Boeing (BA.N) acquired billions of {dollars} of unlawful subsidies on the planet’s largest company commerce dispute, a authorized marathon relationship again to 2004.
The 2 instances are anticipated to result in tit-for-tat tariffs, starting with the U.S. measures, posing new issues for companies and monetary markets all over the world.
The main focus of nervous markets will now shift to Washington the place the U.S. Commerce Consultant is predicted to maneuver rapidly to slim down a preliminary record of products in line for tariffs, a U.S. supply stated.
The company’s provisional record of merchandise which might be eligible to be focused with tariffs ranges from Airbus jets themselves to helicopters, wine, purses and cheese.
Earlier than any tariffs could be imposed, the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Physique should formally undertake the arbiters’ report in a course of anticipated to take between 10 days and Four weeks.
Its subsequent scheduled assembly is on Oct. 28, however Washington may request a particular assembly 10 days after the arbiters’ report is revealed, suggesting an earliest attainable closing nod on Oct. 12.
Within the largest case ever dealt with by the WTO, Washington had requested permission to impose tariffs on as much as $11.2 billion of EU items. Brussels is pushing for tariffs of round $10 billion on American items in parallel course of to be determined by the WTO early subsequent yr.
On Tuesday, the top of Irish finances airways group Ryanair (RYA.I) urged the US and EU to tug again from the brink of a tariff conflict and stated neither facet’s aviation trade would survive a protracted dispute.
However Peter Harrell, a senior fellow on the Washington-based Middle for a New American Safety, noticed no instant peace deal.
“My sense is that there can be a settlement solely after either side have imposed tariffs on one another,” he stated.
FRAGILE MARKETS
Whereas the extent of tariffs quantities to lower than three days price of annual commerce between Europe and the US, importers led by U.S. airways that purchase Airbus jets have urged Washington to be selective when selecting industries to hit to be able to keep away from inflicting collateral harm to the U.S. economic system.
The WTO award within the dispute may gasoline rising commerce tensions, diplomats say.
FILE PHOTO: A emblem is pictured exterior the World Commerce Group (WTO) headquarters subsequent to a purple site visitors gentle in Geneva, Switzerland, October 2, 2018. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photograph
EU producers are already going through U.S. tariffs on metal and aluminum and a risk from U.S. President Donald Trump to penalize EU automobiles and automotive elements. The EU has in flip retaliated.
The Trump administration has concluded tariffs had been efficient in bringing China to the negotiating desk over commerce, and in convincing Japan to open its agricultural market to U.S. merchandise. Washington is unlikely to skip the chance to implement tariffs within the case over plane subsidies, in accordance with present and former U.S. officers.
Airbus has stated this is able to result in a “lose-lose” commerce conflict and has revealed a video stressing its contribution to the U.S. trade by means of native meeting crops and 4,000 direct jobs, headlined “Collectively, let’s hold American aerospace nice”.
Extra reporting by Stephanie Nebahay in Geneva, Jospehine Mason in London and Andrea Shalal in Washington; Enhancing by Mark Potter and Pravin Char
Apple CEO Tim Prepare dinner on September 10, 2019Picture: Getty Pictures
The European Union has ordered Apple to pay roughly $14.three billion (13 billion euros) to cowl again taxes the EU says is owed to Eire. However Apple is placing up a combat and stated the tax invoice “defies actuality and customary sense” in a brand new assertion to a European court docket this morning.
Apple, which has a European headquarters in Eire for tax functions, was initially ordered to pay the again taxes in 2016 after the corporate paid a tax price of simply 0.005% within the nation for 2014. However Apple’s legal professionals insist that the EU is simply making an attempt to get “headlines by quoting tiny numbers.”
“The Fee contends that basically all of Apple’s income from all of its gross sales exterior the Americas have to be attributed to 2 branches in Eire,” considered one of Apple’s many legal professionals on the case, Daniel Beard, advised the EU Basic Court docket on Tuesday, in accordance with Reuters.
Beard reportedly identified that Apple’s merchandise, from the iPhone to its App Retailer, have been all developed within the U.S. and that making an attempt to tie income from elsewhere in Europe to the Eire headquarters can be unfair. Final 12 months Apple paid $0.00 in federal tax within the U.S. regardless of making $11.2 billion in revenue.
Beard stated that if the European Court docket needed to claw again income from Apple they need to “change the worldwide tax system,” a proposal that would seem absurd on its face as a result of even the EU has limits to what it could accomplish exterior of Europe.
Eire is on Apple’s aspect on this dispute, largely as a result of it likes being a tax haven for big multinational companies.
“The Fee’s choice is essentially flawed,” Paul Gallagher, a lawyer for Eire reportedly advised the court docket at the moment.
Apple didn’t reply to a request for remark despatched early Tuesday.
An aerial photograph reveals Boeing 737 MAX plane on the Boeing amenities positioned on the Grant County Worldwide Airport in Moses Lake, Washington, September 16, 2019. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson
(Reuters) – A panel of worldwide air-safety regulators is ending a report, which is predicted to criticize the preliminary U.S. approval course of for Boeing Co’s (BA.N) 737 MAX jets, the Wall Road Journal reported, citing folks briefed on the conclusions.
As a part of the panel’s findings, the duty drive will name out the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for what it says is a scarcity of readability and transparency in the way in which the company delegated authority to Boeing to guage sure flight-control options, the Journal reported on Monday.
The ultimate conclusion in a few of these important design modifications didn’t obtain sufficient consideration from the FAA, the report added.
The panel is predicted to name for better data-sharing and transparency amongst completely different governments, WSJ reported, with the draft report recommending reviewing and updating FAA steerage and day-to-day certification procedures to make sure the company’s early involvement in new onboard techniques.
The multi-agency panel is known as the Joint Authorities Technical Overview (JATR) and contains air-safety regulators from Canada, China, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, the European Union, Brazil and america. It’s anticipated to launch the report within the subsequent few weeks, the report mentioned.
“We sit up for the publication of the JATR report when it’s full,” a Boeing spokesperson mentioned in a press release, including that the corporate continues to work with world regulators to soundly return the 737 MAX to service.
Boeing’s 737 MAX was grounded worldwide in March after two lethal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia inside 5 months of one another. The FAA on Monday mentioned its new chief, Stephen Dickson, plans to journey to Seattle this week to fly “newly configured” Boeing 737 MAX software program in a simulator.
FAA didn’t instantly reply to Reuters’ request for remark.
Reporting by Sathvik N in Bengaluru, further reporting by Akanksha Rana and Aakriti Bhalla in Bengaluru, Modifying by Sherry Jacob-Phillips
