inesses, McMillon said brick-and-mortar stores have become hybrid, and forward fulfillment centers.
22
Apr, 2019
19
Apr, 2019
In early April, the US increased military interactions
with the island by officially acknowledging that military personnel have been posted in the Taipei office of the American Institute in Taiwan since 2005.
US weapons manufacturer Raytheon was also granted a $9 million contract to upgrade Taiwan’s Patriot missile defense system.
Senior Colonel Liang Fang, a professor at PLA National Defense Universit
y, said the recent drill will test and enhance the PLA’s joint operating capabilities.
“It will increase the PLA’s ability to protect national sovereignty, and warn thos
e who are trying to undermine it to abandon their illusions,” she said. “Similar drills
will be more common in the future, with increasingly sophisticated equipment and training methods.”
Xiu Chunping, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences’ Institute of Taiwan Studies, said the recent drill serves to warn the US and separati
13
Apr, 2019
EU gives PM May ‘flexible’ Brexit recess to Oct 31
European Union leaders gave Theresa May a new Brexit deadline of Oct 31, four months longer than the p
rime minister asked for, in a move the EU summit chair said would let Britain resolve its domestic deadlock on the issue.
“EU27/UK have agreed a flexible extension until 31 October,” European Council Pres
ident Donald Tusk tweeted after eight hours of talks that went into the early hours of Thursday.
“This means (an) additional six months for the UK to find the best
possible solution,” Tusk added on the eve of what would otherwise have been the day Britain
crashed out of the bloc with no deal to smooth the departure for businesses and citizens.
Britain, he stressed, could still leave earlier if May secures parlia
mentary backing for her Brexit treaty, or it could amend what it wants from a future trade pact. “Until t
he end of this period, the UK will also have the possibility to… cancel Brexit altogether,” Tusk added.
The agreement gives May more than the three months to June 30 that she asked for to bui
ld a parliamentary majority behind the withdrawal treaty she negotiated with the EU last year.
5
Apr, 2019
Instead of solely emphasizing high yields, the Green Su
Super Rice project is geared to guarantee stable yields while beefing up crops’ resistance against drought, flooding and diseases,” Li said.
“Thus, farmers are able to save a large amount of resources, such as fertilizers or irrigation water, to fight those issues,” he added.
The sustainability of the approach is welcomed by Philippine agricultural researchers and farmers, according to Jose
Yorobe, a consultant with the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. He attended a meeting in Beij
ing on Tuesday, along with dozens of representatives from participant countries, that marked the project’s conclusion.
“Because of climate change and population growth, developing countries are now pressured to increase rice prod
uctivity,” he said. “Some high-yield modern varieties are still vulnerable to inclement weather, pests and disease.”
3
Apr, 2019
The terraced fields are where my roots are. They are the
golden rice bowls passed down from our ancestors,” said Lu, 61. “We cannot afford to lose them.”
The local terraced fields have been in existence for about 1,300 years when
the Hani people built a complicated channel system to direct water from the forested hillto
p to nurture paddies on mountain slopes. The natural and cultural wonder was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2013.
It has not always been plain sailing. In the 1960s, a blight caused for
est coverage to drop to just 17 percent, threatening the terraced fields with a devastating drought.
The situation improved in recent decades after China tightened its crackdown on illegal lumb
ering and returned marginal farmland into forest, breathing new life into the local forests as well as terraced paddies.
But as economic takeoff swept across China, the Hani villages faced new trouble, as their old w
ays of farming and the limited output failed to keep young laborers from leaving for better-paying jobs in the cities.
31
Mar, 2019
Elwell defended the agency’s reliance on experts from ma
anufacturers and said the current system had produced an unprecedented safety record i
n the US. He said the FAA was “fully involved” in the certification of the Boeing 737 Max 8, including “133 of the 297 flight tests”.
Senator Richard Blumenthal questioned the FAA’s oversight of the Boeing 737 Max jet, argu
ing that reliance on the manufacturer put “the fox in charge of the henhouse”.
Blumenthal said Boeing rushed to get the 737 Max in the air to compete with Europe’s Airbus and disregarded critical safety features.
“There needs to be rigorous reform so the FAA is put back in charge of safety,” he said. “The
fact is that the FAA decided to do safety on the cheap, which is neither safe nor cheap,” he said.
Senator Jerry Moran asked what it would take for the FAA on its own to certify airc
raft. Elwell said: “Ten thousand additional FAA employees and $1.8 billion” per year.
30
Mar, 2019
Currently, all special purpose local government bonds are
domestically rated “AAA”, the safest level. The sale to individual investors is mainly of project-link
ed special-purpose bonds, a type of local government bond vigorously promoted by the government in re
cent years. The cash flows generated from the underlying projects will be used as the primary repayment sources.
In China, there are two types of local government bonds: general bonds and special purpose bonds. According to the country’s 2019 budget repor
t, which was approved by the top legislature earlier this month, the budgeted deficit for local governments is 930 billion yuan, up 100 billi
on yuan compared with 2018, and this fund gap will be supplemented by general bonds.
In the meantime, 2.15 trillion yuan of special purpose bonds will be issued to support la
rge infrastructure projects, such as shantytown renovation projects and railways, said the ministry.
Letting individual buyers invest in local government bonds is a way to narrow the government’s financin
g gap, said Hu Yijian, a tax professor at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. The gap is expected to expand, as policym
akers decided to cut about 2 trillion yuan in taxes and fees this year while at the same time increase spending on investment.
28
Mar, 2019
She said she hoped to hold a third vote on the agreement l
later this week and was working to build support for the deal, which sets out the terms of withdrawing from the EU and the outline of future relations with the bloc.
May warned opponents that continuing to reject the deal could lead to a “slow Brexit” that postpones the country’s departure indefinitely.
With the March 29 Brexit day set almost two years ago days away and the withdr
awaal agreement lacking Parliament’s approval, European leaders agreed to a postponement last week to avoid a ch
aotic cliff-edge departure that would be disruptive for the world’s biggest trading bloc and deeply damaging for Britain.
However, the EU granted a shorter delay than May sought. It said if Parliament approves
the proposed divorce deal, the UK would leave the EU on May 22. If not, the government has until April 12 to tell the
27 remaining EU countries what it plans to do – leave without a deal, cancel Brexit or chart a path to a new option.
28
Mar, 2019
According to the Ministry of Commerce, as of the end of N
ovember 2018, France had invested in 5,647 projects in China, with actual investment value amounting to $17.49 billion.
“There are no official rules for French enterprises to succeed in C
hina. The main rule is to respect the Chinese people,” said Raffarin.
Well-known by many Chinese people as a “good friend” of China,
the 70-year-old said he has visited China more than 100 times since his first trip in 1970.
Residents in Chinese mainland will be able to apply for passpo
rts and travel permits at every exit and entry management department across the coun
try starting from April 1, according to National Immigration Administration on Tuesday.
The travel permits refer to the documents allowing mainland residents to travel to and from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, it said.
27
Mar, 2019
The two countries should work together to promote free
trade and facilitate investment, continue to enhance communication on major global issues, help push reform of the Worl
