Larry Nassar: 2018

Sabtu, 20 Januari 2018

Ford plans $11 billion investment, 40 electrified vehicles by 2022

Ford Motor Company will significantly increase its planned investments in electric vehicles to $11 billion by 2022 and have 40 hybrid and fully electric vehicles in its model lineup, Chairman Bill Ford said on Sunday at the Detroit auto show.
The investment figure is sharply higher than a previously announced target of $4.
5 billion by 2020, Ford executives said, and includes the costs of developing dedicated electric vehicle architectures.
Ford`s engineering, research and development expenses for 2016, the last full year available, were $7.
3 billion, up from $6.
Ford Chief Executive Jim Hackett told investors in October the automaker would slash $14 billion in costs over the next five years and shift capital investment away from sedans and internal combustion engines to develop more trucks and electric and hybrid cars.
Of the 40 electrified vehicles Ford plans for its global lineup by 2022, 16 will be fully electric and the rest will be plug-in hybrids, executives said.
'We`re all in on this and we`re taking our mainstream vehicles, our most iconic vehicles, and we`re electrifying them,' Ford told reporters.
'If we want to be successful with electrification, we have to do it with vehicles that are already popular.

Lego partners with Tencent to create games and a social network for children in China

Lego has teamed up with Chinese internet giant Tencent to create branded video games and potentially a new social network aimed at children, the two companies announced Monday.
Tencent is one of Asia`s most valuable companies and is a massive player in mobile gaming and online video streaming.
Lego has struggled in recent times and was last year forced to cut around 1,400 jobs.
China is a bright spot for Lego, however, with revenues growing double-digit versus declines in the U.
and parts of Europe in the first half of 2017, the last time it released financial figures.
The toy-maker has been pushing further into China to help stoke growth.
Lego will develop a 'video zone' for children on Tencent`s video streaming platform as well as Lego-branded games.
Lego`s partnership also includes Lego Boost, a building and coding set that brings movement to its brick creations.
The two companies also said they will explore co-developing Lego Life, a 'safe social network for children' in China.
The Danish firm faces competition in China from rivals.
Last year, Mattel, the maker of Barbie, announced a deal to sell its products in China via Alibaba`s marketplace website Tmall.

Convicted Auschwitz guard asks for mercy

A former guard at the Auschwitz death camp has submitted a request for mercy to avoid jail in Germany.
In 2015 Oskar Groening, 96, was given a four-year prison sentence for being accessory to murder of 300,000 Jews in the camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.
Last year, Germany`s constitutional court rejected his appeal, ruling that Groening was fit to serve his sentence.
Groening - who is known as 'the bookkeeper of Auschwitz' - has admitted his 'moral guilt'.
During his trial, he testified that he oversaw the collection of prisoners` belongings and ensured valuables and cash were separated to be sent to Berlin.
He was sentenced even though there was no evidence of his involvement in specific killings.
On Monday, a justice ministry spokesman in the northern Lower Saxony said Groening`s plea had been passed on to prosecutors.
But Christian Lauenstein added: 'A plea for clemency does not have a delaying effect such as on starting the prison sentence.
' Who is Oskar Groening? `Bookkeeper of Auschwitz`.

China consumer group seeks answers from Apple about slowing iPhones

A Chinese consumer group has asked Apple for information about the slowing of older iPhones after operating system updates, demanding a reply before Friday, state news agency Xinhua reported.
The query from the Shanghai Consumer Council came in response to consumer feedback that old iPhones became sluggish after upgrading the software to iOS 10.
In a letter to Apple on Monday, the council requested an explanation for the slow-down and information about what Apple planned to do to rectify the problem, Xinhua reported.
The California-based company acknowledged in December that iPhone software can slow down some phones with battery problems and apologized for the issue.
It also cut battery replacement costs and said it would change its software to show users whether their phone batteries were working well.
The Shanghai Consumer Council, a non-government organization approved by the Chinese authorities, said it had received 2,615 complaints about Apple products and services in 2017, compared with 964 complaints in 2015.

US and Canada host North Korea nuclear meeting

The summit comes at a critical time.
But with diplomats` attentions absorbed by the delicate talks between the two neighboring countries -- which were initially focused on North Korea`s participation in the upcoming Pyeongchang Winter Olympics but have since broadened -- some analysts are skeptical that much will come out of the Vancouver meetings.
'I`m sure, given the circumstances on the peninsula right now, that the attendees to that meeting will be very careful about what they say publicly,' Joel Wit, of the US-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, told reporters last week, 'because I think most of them there would not want to `upset the apple cart` in any way.
' 'I think whatever they do, whatever they say,' said Wit, 'it`s going to be supportive of what the South Korean government is trying to achieve.
' Still, the Trump administration is optimistic it can use Tuesday`s discussions to advance its so-called 'peaceful pressure' or 'maximum pressure' campaign, which it believes is partly responsible for North Korea`s willingness to resume conversations with South Korea.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis will participate in the summit.
Tillerson`s efforts on North Korea have, at times, been complicated by bellicose rhetoric from his boss, President Donald Trump.
In October, for instance, Trump tweeted that 'Rex is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man.
'The two men have endured a rocky relationship in recent months, though Tillerson asserted in a recent CNN interview that he`s learned to 'better deal with' Trump, and plans to stay in his role at least through 2018.
with CNN, Tillerson said that through his tweets, the President 'has demonstrated to the world how high the stakes are.
'In a news briefing on Thursday, the State Department`s director of policy planning, Brian Hook, told reporters that North Korea is 'starting to feel the bite' from the campaign, adding, 'we think that this creates the kind of conditions that led to discussions between the North and the South about the Olympics.
'Negotiators from the two countries met again at the demilitarized zone Monday and agreed to further talks.
'We are going to be at this Vancouver ministerial doing an assessment of progress to date,' said Hook.
'We`ll be discussing sanctions -- the sanctions that we have done multilaterally and unilaterally to date -- and their effectiveness, and what we can be doing in the coming year.
'The United States and Canada will be joined at the summit by a group of 18 nations including South Korea and Japan.
But North Korea`s largest trading partner, China, will not be participating.
'We will give them a readout of this ministerial after it`s over,' said Hook, 'and we have been in discussions with the Chinese and the Russians leading up to this Vancouver ministerial.
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Reality Check: How good is North Korea at sport?

For all the buzz and political intrigue, North Korea`s participation at next month`s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang will live up to the old saying: 'It`s the taking part that counts'.
Their representation at the Games is still to be confirmed, but may be limited to two figure skaters.
Perhaps surprisingly, there are sports North Korea is pretty good at and in some cases even dominates.
Take the summer Olympics.
They have won far more medals than bigger countries like India and Nigeria - 54 in total.
Most of their Olympic glory has come in weightlifting and their athletes hold three world and two Olympic records.
At the last summer Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, they won seven medals, including two golds, putting them about halfway up the table.
North Korea`s women`s football team is ranked 11th in the world by FIFA.
And although they were surprisingly knocked out of qualifying for the 2019 World Cup, they won the East Asia Football Federation Championship in December last year.
That success followed winning the under-20s World Cup in 2016.
The team`s reputation had taken a hit in 2011 after five players tested positive for banned substances.
While the men`s football team has only taken part in two World Cups, and is ranked a lowly 126th, they are fondly remembered for a good performance at the 1966 Finals in England, reaching the quarter finals.
They put in another good display against Brazil at the 2010 tournament, narrowly losing 2-1, but they also slumped to a 7-0 defeat by Portugal.
In their most recent fixture, North Korea drew 1-1 with China under the stewardship of their Norwegian manager Jorn Andersen.
North Korea is expected to send a taekwondo demonstration team to the Winter Olympics and that is not a surprise because it`s a sport where they dominate.
Well, at least one branch of it.
Unfortunately it`s not the branch chosen by the Olympics, or by South Korea, but a version under rules governed by the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF).
At a recent major international competition held in Pyongyang, North Korea won 22 gold medals and the next best performing country was Russia, with seven.
North Korea have invested heavily in the sport and built two 'majestic' taekwondo facilities, says long-time ITF member and taekwondo historian George Vitale.
How do they do it? For taekwondo and other sports, the North Korean government has a system for identifying sporting talent at an early age.
Time and money is spent on turning these youngsters into proper athletes and selected children attend special sports schools.
Udo Merkel, an expert on sport in North Korea who has visited the facilities there, says despite the general levels of poverty, top-level athletes train in impressive, modern facilities.
Most ordinary North Koreans take part in some sporting or physical activity, which is common in communist countries.
Competitions are organised through the military, state organisations or labour unions.
In the 1980s, the central government launched public campaigns to train people in defence and combat sports like boxing, taekwondo and rifle marksmanship.
The regime thrives, says Michael Madden, founder of the website NK Leadership Watch, when it keeps the population busy with organised activity.
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Too old for DACA, man who spent 30 years of his life in U.S. is deported

DETROIT — His arms wrapped around his wife and two teenage children, Jorge Garcia`s eyes welled up Monday as he looked into their eyes one last time near the entrance to the airport security gate.
His wife, Cindy Garcia, cried out while his daughter, Soleil, 15, sobbed into Garcia`s shoulder as they hugged, with two U.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents keeping a close eye on them.
After 30 years of living in the United States, Jorge Garcia, a 39-year-old landscaper from Lincoln Park, Mich.
, was deported on the Martin Luther King Jr.
holiday to Mexico, a move his supporters say is another example of immigrants being unfairly targeted under the Trump administration.
An undocumented family member brought Jorge Garcia to the U.
when he was 10 years old.
Today he has a wife and two children, all of whom are U.
14: Trump blasts Dems as DREAMer debate heats up► Jan.
13: Feds begin accepting DACA renewals following court order Jorge Garcia had been facing an order of removal from immigration courts since 2009, but under the previous administration, he had been given stays of removal.
Because of the Trump administration`s crackdown on immigration, in November Jorge Garcia was ordered to return to Mexico.
His supporters say he has no criminal record — not even a traffic ticket — and pays taxes every year.
Nevertheless, Jorge Garcia had to be removed, ICE agents said.
On Monday morning, accompanied by the government agents, Jorge Garcia went through security at Detroit Metropolitan Airport as supporters around him held up signs that read, 'Stop separating families.
' 'We love you, Jorge,' said Mayra Valle of Detroit as he hugged his wife and children.
'They`re a good family.
They`re hard-working.
This is so sad.
This is outrageous.
We never expected this would happen.
' Jorge Garcia is too old to qualify for the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allows children of undocumented immigrants who came to the United States before age 16 and were born after June 15, 1981, to legally work and study here.
Jorge Garcia said he had asked ICE officials if they could wait until new DACA legislation is passed, which might expand the age range for immigrants to qualify.
But they refused and said he had to leave by Jan.
'How do you do this on Martin Luther King Jr.
Day?' said Erik Shelley, a leader with Michigan United that advocates for immigrant rights and other issues.
'It`s another example of the tone-deafness of this administration.
If Jorge isn`t safe, no one is safe.
' Shelley said he`s concerned that minority immigrants increasingly are being targeted, citing remarks Trump has made about African and Hispanic immigrants.
Other immigrant advocates and an official with the United Auto Workers joined him at the airport.
13: Indonesian immigrant finds sanctuary in N.
12: Nearly 200,000 Salvadorans may be forced to leave U.
An ICE spokesman told the Free Press on Monday that he could not immediately comment because it was a federal holiday and ICE offices were closed.
'I feel kind of sad,' Jorge Garcia said Sunday night, his hands interlocked, pressed against his forehead in worry.
'I got to leave my family behind, knowing that they`re probably going to have a hard time adjusting, me not being there for them for who knows how long.
It`s just hard.
' Especially painful will be the separation from his children, Soleil and Jorge Garcia Jr.
The Garcias said their 12-year-old son has been taking the news hard, not expressing himself, which is concerning his parents.
'I`m going to be sad because I`m not going to be able to be with them,' Jorge Garcia said at the table of a friend in southwest Detroit hosting a farewell party for him.
It`s going to be kind of hard for me to adjust, too.
' Jorge Garcia may be barred from entering the U.
for at least 10 years, Cindy Garcia said.
Diego Bonesatti, legal services director for Michigan United, and others have been fighting for Jorge Garcia for years and now will try to get him back.
Jorge Garcia`s wife is a U.
citizen, but being married to a U.
citizen does not automatically qualify immigrants for legal residency.
Immigrant advocates say deporting people like Jorge Garcia is ripping up families and communities that have been losing population.
Immigrants such as Jorge Garcia are an asset that stabilize and grow metro Detroit, they said.
'It`s like plucking a main artery, like, their lifeline, taking it from them and then just putting it somewhere else,' said family friend Norma Garza Jones, 44, of Detroit.
'Those that are left behind are left to just try and compensate for that artery that main blood vessel, you know, that`s been pulled from them.
12: Deportation stay granted for caregiver `daddy` of paraplegic boy► Jan.
12: ICE 7-Eleven raids showcase new immigration strategy 'It`s heartbreaking,' Bonesatti said.
'If you`re going to pick someone who`s ideal,' he would be it.
'He came at age 10,' the Michigan United legal services director said.
'He`s never been in trouble, period.
He`s never even gotten a traffic ticket.
' Moreover, Mexico is a foreign place for him, and he`s worried about finding work and creating a new life.
8: How Trump`s wall pledge is complicating a DACA bill for `Dreamers`► Jan.
5: Each day, 120 `dreamers` lose protection from deportation 'This is his home,' Bonesatti said.
'This is the place he knows.
' The administration wouldn`t even stop the deportations on a national holiday, said Adonis Flores, an immigrant rights leader at Michigan United, calling it shameful.
Cindy Garcia, a retired Dearborn, Mich.
, truck plant worker, worries about supporting her family.
'It`s a nightmare coming to life,' she said.
'You have no choice but to face it head on and accept what is being thrown at you because there is nothing else that you can do.
' Follow Niraj Warikoo on Twitter: @nwarikoo Read or Share this story: https://usat.

The woman who chose a bull over marriage

Selvarani Kanagarasu, a daily wage labourer from the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, has shunned marriage so that she can take care of a prize-fighting bull.
BBC Tamil`s Pramila Krishnan talks to her about her life.
Ms Kanagarasu, now 48, was only a teenager when she decided that she wanted to follow in the footsteps of her father and grandfather, who raised bulls that competed in the state`s traditional bull taming contests known as Jallikattu.
Jallikattu has been popular for centuries in Tamil Nadu and is traditionally practised during the harvest festival of Pongal in January.
Thousands of men chase bulls to grab prizes tied to their horns.
The sport was not practised for two years, following a ban by the Supreme Court on the grounds of animal cruelty.
But following mass protests in the state, the federal government cleared the way for it to resume in January 2017, bypassing the ban.
'My father and grandfather both raised bulls and also considered them their children,' she says.
The task of continuing the family tradition would have ordinarily fallen to Ms Kanagarasu`s brothers, but she says they did not have the time to look after the animals.
So she decided to step in.
The bull she looks after, Ramu, is an 18-year-old animal who is a legend in local Jallikattu circles.
Ramu has won five of the seven Jallikattu events he has participated in, netting prizes like silk sarees and a gold coin for his devoted owner.
``Ramu is a son to me.
He won prizes but more importantly, he won honour for my family in the village,' she says, adding that Ramu is very 'loving' despite his size and his temper in the Jallikattu arena.
Over the years, scores of people have been gored or trampled to death in the contests.
Hundreds, including spectators, have been mauled or injured.
In some arenas, coir matting from coconut trees cushions the impact of a fall - but it provides no defence against a raging bull.
What is Jallikattu? She bought him when he was 10 years old.
The owner initially asked for a large sum of money but he agreed to give Ramu to her for a token amount after she told him she wanted to raise the bull but could not afford the price he was asking.
Ms Kanagarasu`s decision to look after the bull instead of getting married is highly unusual, particularly in rural India.
She says her relatives and family members were initially upset, but eventually accepted her choice.
And her dedication has even won her respect from her family and other villagers, as she takes care of the bull despite barely earning enough to eke out a living for herself.
Her tiny house comprises only a kitchen and a single room, which also serves as a hall, eating space and bedroom.
She earns only about 200 rupees (£2.
15) a day and uses almost all of it to make sure that Ramu is well cared for.
Given that he has to participate in competition, Ramu requires a special diet.
Apart from the hay and rice bran most cattle are fed in Tamil Nadu, he also eats coconut, dates, banana, sesame, groundnut oil cakes, millets and rice.
It is a diet that is often more nutritious than what Ms Kanagarasu has for the day.
'There were days when I ate only one meal so I could save money to buy Ramu his food,' she says.
Apart from his special diet, Ramu needs regular exercise.
So Ms Kanagarasu takes him every day to the village pond so that he can swim and strengthen his knees.
'My nephew Rajkumar also takes him for walks and trains him to ward off challengers in the Jallikattu ring.
And I get a fitness report from the veterinarian just before every Jallikattu event to ensure Ramu qualifies,' she says.
Given Ramu`s success in the arena, many people have offered to take the bull off her hands.
One of her relatives Indira Selvaraj says that she has turned away offers of more than 100,000 rupees for Ramu.
``She is interested in taking care of the bull.
Preparing the bull for the sport is the only aim of her life.
We failed trying to convince her to accept the offer.
We are now convinced there is no price for pursuing one`s passion', she told the BBC.
And although she has no children, Ms Kanagarasu has no intention of letting the tradition of raising Jallikattu bulls die with her.
She is currently training her 18-year-old niece, Devadharshini, to follow in her footsteps.
But although Devadharshini says she knows how to take care of Ramu, she is not as convinced that it is what she wants to do for the rest of her life.
'I am not sure,' she says.
'So far I have not thought about it.
I am still studying and I wish to be the first female graduate in my family.

Rio Tinto targets modest hike in 2018 iron ore shipments

Global miner Rio Tinto, said on Tuesday it could ship up to an additional 10 million tonnes of iron ore in 2018 worth $780 million at today`s prices after reporting a 1 percent rise in 2017 shipments.
The slight lift in 2017 output to 330.
1 million tonnes came as the average sales price for its ore jumped 20 percent over the year to $64.
80, buoyed by strong demand from Chinese steelmakers.
The price rise helped the world`s no.
2 iron ore miner boost returns to shareholders after a bumper first-half profit.
Rio is due to report its 2017 full-year profit on Feb.
7, with forecasts centred around $8.
5 billion, up 85 percent.
Rio on Tuesday also stuck to a target of 330-340 million tonnes of iron ore from its new Silvergrass mine, which is ramping up operations in Australia`s Pilbara.
Silvergrass yielded about 2 million tonnes in 2017 and at peak production should yield 10 million tonnes a year, according to the company.
The iron ore price stood at $78.
05 per tonne on Jan.
12, according to Metal Bulletin.
However, uncertainty over Chinese demand has led to forecasts for prices to fall as the year progresses, which could cut Rio`s take from any additional sales.
'The business performed well in the fourth quarter, and we finished the year in line with guidance across all major products,' Chief Executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques said in a statement.
Fourth-quarter iron ore shipments rose 3 percent to 90 million tonnes from the same period a year ago and 5 percent against the previous quarter.
The last quarter is typically the strongest as miners boost exports ahead of the first quarter, a high cyclone-risk period in Australia.
In other commodities, Rio Tinto stuck to a 2018 target of 510,000-610,000 tonnes of mined copper and 225,000-265,000 tonnes of refined copper.
Aluminium production will reach 3.
For 2017, aluminium production eased 1 percent and mined copper output fell 9 percent.
The mined copper decline followed a 43-day strike at Rio`s Escondida mine in Chile in the first quarter and a 22 percent drop in output from the Oyu Tolgoi open pit mine in Mongolia as sources of higher grade ore were fully depleted.
The slippage in copper output should be more than offset by better copper prices, which have climbed 25 percent in the past year, said Shaw and Partners analyst Peter O`Connor.
Separately on Tuesday, Rio Tinto subsidiary Turquoise Hill Resources said it was being asked to pay $155 million in tax arrears by Mongolia after an audit of Oyu Tolgoi`s tax payments between 2013 and 2015.
Turquoise Hill, which is 51 percent owned by Rio Tinto, said it was of the 'firm view' the mine had paid all required taxes and charges.
Turquoise Hill holds 66 percent of Oyu Tolgoi.

Shackled children found in California home

Two parents have been arrested in California after police found 13 people allegedly being held captive at their home, including some 'shackled to their beds with chains and padlocks'.
David Allen Turpin, 57, and Louise Anna Turpin, 49, were held on charges of torture and child endangerment.
The 13 people - aged between two and 29 - were found in a house in Perris, 59 miles (95km) south-east of Los Angeles, police say.
They are all believed to be siblings.
Officers were alerted by one of the victim, who on Sunday managed to escape and call the emergency number 'from a cellular device she found inside the house', the Riverside Sheriff`s Department said in a statement.
The girl - who police said appeared to be 'only 10 years old and slightly emaciated' - claimed that 12 of her siblings were being held captive by their parents.
Police officers later found 'several children shackled to their beds with chains and padlocks in dark and foul-smelling surroundings'.
But the parents were unable to immediately provide a logical reason why their children were restrained in that manner, the police said.
The officers were 'shocked' to discover that seven of those held in the house were actually adults aged between 18 and 29.
'The victims appeared to be malnourished and very dirty,' the police said.
All the victims are now being treated in local hospitals.

Pope Francis begins Chile visit

Pope Francis has arrived in Chile on a visit overshadowed by child sexual abuse accusations against almost 80 members of Chilean clergy.
Some priests have been convicted by the Vatican`s court, but protests against an alleged cover-up are expected during the pontiff`s three-day stay.
The highlight of Francis` visit will be an open-air Mass in the capital Santiago on Tuesday.
The Pope will also meet victims of Augusto Pinochet`s dictatorship.
The 81-year-old Argentine pontiff will then travel to Peru on Thursday.
This is Francis` first visit to Chile since he became pope in 2013.
He was met by President Michelle Bachelet at Santiago`s airport on Monday.
Ahead of his arrival, several churches in the country were attacked or vandalised.
When recently asked to evaluate Pope Francis on a scale of 0 to 10, Chileans gave him a score of 5.
3, the lowest ranking for any Pope.
Trust in the Roman Catholic Church as an institution fared even worse, polling at just 36% - the lowest in Latin America.
With such a low rating, it is not surprising that before boarding his plane from Rome, the Pope asked his congregation to pray for him.
It is estimated that more than 60% of Chile`s population identifies itself as Christian, and 45% belongs to the Roman Catholic Church.
It is the second most secular country in Latin America.
Some 38% of Chileans regard themselves as agnostic, atheist or non-religious.

Seoul announces free public transport to battle rising smog

Beginning Monday, Seoul officials waived public transport fees during commuter hours as the daily average density of ultra-fine dust remained above 50 micrograms per cubic meter — a level that`s widely considered harmful.
Authorities have also limited car use for public employees, closed 360 parking lots and reduced construction work on government-funded projects.
Those policies were first introduced last year when Seoul`s air quality index exceeded 179 micrograms per cubic meter of fine dust, the highest level among global metropolitan cities after New Delhi in India.
Experts say the country`s use of coal and diesel has resulted in increasing air pollution, exacerbated by smog from China.
The latest anti-pollution operations will likely stay in place for several days but aren`t expected to negatively impact private company operations, Miha Hribernik, senior Asia analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, said in a note.
Asia`s fourth-largest economy is the eighth-worst performing country in Verisk Maplecroft`s 2018 Air Quality Index.
India and Bangladesh took first and second place, respectively.

Japan investigates how to evacuate citizens from South Korea in crisis report

Japan is examining how to evacuate its roughly 60,000 citizens from South Korea in the event of a crisis that closes airports, with military ships being used as shuttles, a Japanese newspaper reported on Tuesday.
North Korea`s pursuit of its military and nuclear programs in defiance of U.
Security Council and other sanctions escalated tensions on the Korean Peninsula in 2017, which have only eased in recent weeks.
Working on the scenario of a crisis that shuts South Korean airports, the Japanese government has begun to look into plans for evacuations through the southern port city of Busan, the Yomiuri daily said, quoting multiple government sources.
Japanese and U.
military vessels would take Japanese and U.
citizens from Busan to Japan`s Tsushima island, roughly 50 km (30 miles) from Busan, before ferrying them to the southernmost main island of Kyushu a day or so later.
Government officials have already visited Tsushima to inspect hotels and other potential lodging facilities, as well as planning for stocks of food and water, the paper added.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference on Tuesday that the government is always considering various scenarios and making plans for its citizens` safety, but declined to give details, citing security concerns.
'It`s a totally natural duty as a nation to use every means at our disposal for the protection and evacuation of our citizens if they should face danger abroad,' he added.

Dow futures are pointing to a big open

Dow futures traded significantly higher late Monday night, pointing to a strong Tuesday showing for U.
HK/SIN, Dow Jones industrial average e-mini futures were higher by 0.
69 percent, or 178 points, ahead of American markets re-opening for trade after the long weekend.
stocks had soared to a record close in the last session, with the Dow finishing the session at an all-time high following robust corporate earnings reports.
The broader move higher in U.
index futures came on the back of dollar weakness in the past week, with the greenback falling to a three-year low against the euro in the last session.
Still, the softer dollar was supportive of U.
manufacturing and exports, explained Frank Troise, managing partner at SoHo Capital.
He added that the move higher in U.
stocks more generally was the result of markets 'starting to price in expectations of inflation.
' Markets could also be expecting strong quarterly reports after earnings at J.
Morgan and Wells Fargo beat expectations last week.
S&P 500 earnings are expected to increase by 11.
8 percent for the fourth quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Israel Turns the Screw on Tycoons

A protester holds a placard bearing portraits of (from left) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, and businessman Isaac Tshuva on Feb.
3, 2016, in front of the Supreme Court in Jerusalem where a hearing took place on a contentious natural gas deal.
For years, Shaul Elovitch lorded over Israel’s communications industry like an emperor.
The 69-year-old Polish émigré controlled the country’s largest provider of fixed-line phone and internet service; he owned a news website read by millions; and he was a top investor in the nation’s only satellite TV provider.
It didn’t hurt that his chum Benjamin Netanyahu had his back.
All that changed in November, when authorities recommended Elovitch be indicted for securities violations at Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Corp.
, where he’s the top shareholder.
Investigators say Bezeq executives helped Elovitch boost the price Bezeq paid for his satellite TV operator and colluded with the industry regulator, appointed by Netanyahu, to shape rules to the company’s benefit.
Investigators haven’t yet indicted Elovitch, and he denies any wrongdoing.
But three major banks have asked an Israeli court to break up his holding company, citing concerns about debt, and rival investors are now seeking to take over Bezeq.
Elovitch is the latest Israeli tycoon to suffer from increased scrutiny over close ties between government and industry.
As the country shifted away from its socialist roots in the 1980s, a select group of businessmen used their political connections to scoop up state assets and keep competition at bay.
Monopolies and oligopolies flourished, driving up prices for everything from housing to groceries.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in 2016 said the cost of living in Israel was 20 percent higher than in Spain and 30 percent higher than in Korea, though all have a similar per capita gross domestic product.
Six years ago hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets to protest high prices.
Government officials responded by scapegoating the wealthiest and stepping up regulation.
“There are efforts to open up the economy everywhere you look, which is dangerous for entrenched interests who have benefited from a lack of competition,” says Manuel Trajtenberg, a former Labor Party legislator who led a committee to improve social welfare.
“They are on the losing side.
” Nochi Dankner controlled Israel’s biggest mobile phone operator, its leading supermarket, and a top insurance company but struggled to pay his debts after the government wrote new rules for those industries.
A court found that Dankner, with his empire under threat, sought to artificially inflate his company’s stock price before a planned equity sale by prodding associates to buy shares.
In December 2016 he received a two-year jail sentence for securities fraud; Dankner, 63, is appealing the conviction.
Idan Ofer, 62, oversees an industrial conglomerate that includes the country’s largest oil refinery, fertilizer maker, and shipping company; its value has fallen by more than half since ministers raised taxes and blocked the sale of his chemicals unit.
Energy mogul Isaac Tshuva, 69, was ordered to relinquish control of a leading insurer and scale back his dominant position in offshore gas production in accordance with new rules aimed at igniting competition in both industries.
As Elovitch watched his fellow tycoons grapple with investigations and tighter regulation, his own vulnerabilities became clear: Any drop in Bezeq’s profitability could bring him down because of the mountain of debt he carries from a 2010 deal to take control of the carrier.
After Israel’s telecommunications regulator sought to challenge Bezeq’s near-monopoly, Netanyahu in 2015 replaced the agency’s administrator with his former chief of staff, Shlomo Filber.
Citing Netanyahu’s close ties to Elovitch, Israel’s attorney general in 2016 demanded that the prime minister—who simultaneously served as minister of Communications—recuse himself from any decisions regarding Bezeq.
Netanyahu complied, but the Israel Securities Authority alleges that Filber allowed Bezeq executives to craft industry regulations, including a proposed rule change that would have saved the company roughly $100 million annually.
“It always disappoints us to find that controlling shareholders in public companies forget that the shareholders in the public are their partners,” says Shmuel Hauser, who led the probe before stepping down from ISA in December.
Dror Arad Ayalon, an attorney representing Filber, says all of his client’s contacts with Bezeq were in line with his duties as a regulator.
Netanyahu isn’t a suspect in the Elovitch matter, but he’s being investigated in at least two other cases of alleged influence peddling involving prominent businesspeople.
Elovitch laid the foundations of his empire in 1985 when he and his brother bought Eurocom, a phone manufacturer and importer of Panasonic electronics gear.
In the 1990s, Eurocom became the Israeli distributor of Nokia handsets—which provided ample cash to buy stakes in satellite TV, internet services, and radio companies.
Elovitch took a controlling interest in Bezeq—Israel’s onetime phone monopoly—in 2010, for 6.
7 billion), more than two-thirds of which came from banks.
Although it was expected to take at least four years for Bezeq to generate sufficient dividends to pay off the debt, the company seemed a good bet.
After all, it was Israel’s only provider of TV, internet, and telephony.
But Elovitch hadn’t counted on new regulations that would open the market and bring down prices.
Since 2012, Israel has gone from three cellular operators to five and from two providers of pay-TV and high-speed internet to four.
Bezeq’s profit has fallen by a third as the average mobile phone bill has plunged more than 80 percent.
With Bezeq’s dividend payment falling far short of what Elovitch had expected, he faced a cash crunch.
He sought to create breathing room with a $285 million deal to sell Space Communication Ltd.
, a Eurocom unit that funds and launches satellites.
But those hopes evaporated after a rocket carrying a Spacecom satellite exploded in 2016.
With increasing competition under the new regulatory regime, Bezeq’s profits are still falling as it continues to lose customers.
And that’s likely to send Elovitch down the same path as other Israeli industrial titans who’ve lost control of their empires.
“The era of the tycoons is over for the next decade, at least,” says Yedidia Stern, a board member of Bank Leumi Le-Israel Ltd.
, which isn’t a Eurocom creditor.
“Israeli banks aren’t going to finance empty deals anymore.

American-citizen children follow their deported dad to Mexico

ATLANCA, Mexico — After Antonio Cuahua was deported to Mexico in late November, his four children, who are U.
citizens, faced a stark reality: Leave the United States or enter foster care.
Family members who live in the United States couldn`t afford to support the children.
Their father, 33, had been sole caregiver for Cecily, 10; Anthony, 8; Marrissiah, 6; and Enrique, 5, as they grew up in Owensboro, Ky.
, about 80 miles southwest of Louisville.
“It’s a big mess,” Jacqueline Lynn Linares, the children’s aunt, said in mid-December.
She was their temporary legal guardian after Cuahua was taken into custody Sept.
“If we can’t come up with the money, these kids are going to end up in foster care,' she said then.
'Frankly, we aren’t going to be able to carry on much longer.
15: Too old for DACA, man who spent 30 years of his life in U.
is deported► Jan.
14: Trump blasts Dems as DREAMer debate heats up► Jan.
13: Feds begin accepting DACA renewals following court order Last week after donors from across the USA chipped in more than $2,500 to provide the means to get copies of the children`s birth certificates, apply for passports and process documents that will enable them to apply for Mexican citizenship, the kids took their first plane ride, courtesy of the Mexican Consulate in Indianapolis.
They had a tearful reunion Thursday at Veracruz International Airport in the Mexican state of Veracruz and arrived at their father`s house, almost 1,500 miles from Owensboro, on Thursday night.
The extended Cuahua family lives together in a small grouping of cement structures built on the side of a mountain about 75 miles from the Gulf of Mexico.
In one structure is a kitchen where the children’s aunt and grandmother cook over an open, wood fire.
In another are the family living rooms, where the children watch movies on a flat-screen TV.
Antonio Cuahua and now his children, too, live just up the hill from his brother’s family and his mother.
“Things are a little bit different here,” said Cuahua, deported after ICE agents stopped his car in September and discovered a series of misdemeanors.
“They’re going to have to get used to new things.
” After spending the morning blowing up balloons and playing with their father, the children scattered to explore their new world.
“Daddy said we can be as loud as we want,” Anthony said with a grin.
His little brother Enrique squealed as he ran by.
The Cuahua children have been ecstatic to see their father, who had been gone for three months.
But after the newness wears off, experts say they likely will experience a rough transition to life in Mexico.
12: ICE 7-Eleven raids showcase new immigration strategy► Jan.
12: Deportation stay granted for caregiver `daddy` of paraplegic boy “What it is creating for them is exceptional and extremely unusual hardship,” said Luis H.
Zayas, dean of the Steven Hicks School of Social Work at the University of Texas, Austin.
Zayas spent years researching what happens to American children of undocumented immigrants who return to their parents’ native countries.
At least 500,000 such children live in Mexico alone, many in rural areas where their parents struggle to provide for them, he said.
“Many of the people who come to this country undocumented come to find work,” Zayas said.
“They’re manual laborers.
They’re from rural areas, and that’s where they take their children back to.
” Antonio Cuahua fits this pattern.
He left his hometown when he was 16 and immigrated illegally to the U.
He worked on Kentucky tobacco farms and in restaurants as a teenager before finding more stable employment as a construction worker.
He lived in the United States for 17 years and during that time had four children.
Cuahua had sole custody of all his kids; their mothers have not been in the picture for five years, Linares said.
“Things are a little bit different here,” Cuahua said.
“They’re going to have to get used to new things.
” None of his children know Spanish.
Anthony, the oldest boy, met his cousin who is about the same age and does not speak English.
The two were a little confused at first, then Anthony offered his cousin one of the Nerf guns he brought from Kentucky.
The two laughed and chased each other around the house, diving under tables and hiding around corners.
While they played, Cecily, the oldest, went out to see what her grandmother and aunt were doing.
10: Court victory for DREAMers may prove short-lived► Jan.
5: Each day, 120 DREAMers lose protection from deportation She stood at the edge of the family’s large water basin, where water is brought via hose from an underground supply her uncle found about a mile up the mountain.
From across the basin, Cecily watched her grandmother washing clothes.
Her grandmother`s arms moved quickly, scrubbing the clothes against an old washboard, pausing just long enough dip a Tupperware container into the water.
Cecily grabbed a plastic dish and mimicked her grandmother’s motions.
The elder woman smiled at her.
“Cecily, come here,” her uncle, Filipe Cuahua, called from the kitchen.
Filipe and Antonio Cuahua are the only family members here who speak English.
Filipe Cuahua also immigrated illegally to the United States as a teenager and lived in Kentucky.
His English is rusty though.
He has not used it since he returned to Mexico years ago.
Cecily walked into the family’s kitchen, where her aunt was boiling chayotes, a Mexican squash, and black beans.
Her aunt and uncle spoke in Spanish for a moment, then Filipe Cuahua turned to Cecily.
“You like bistec, don’t you?” he asked, using the Spanish word bistec instead of the English word 'steak.
' Cecily looked confused.
“Bistec?” he repeated.
18: Somalis faced `slave ship conditions` on failed deportation flight► Dec.
8: New Jersey DREAMers arrested after protest inside U.
Capitol The girl blushed and looked quickly at the floor.
Filipe Cuahua and his wife exchanged helpless looks, then he moved forward and hugged his niece.
“It’s OK,” he whispered.
Antonio Cuahua has not yet found a job in Mexico but said he will start looking after his children start going to school.
He plans to enroll them but has to teach them some Spanish before they go because none of the teachers speak English, he said.
30: He`s been a U.
citizen for 20 years, yet ICE detained him for 3 days► Nov.
29: Churches give sanctuary to immigrants facing deportation The whole family will help, he said.
“I have plans for my kids,” Antonio Cuahua said.
“I have to look after them first.
(They must) learn a little bit of Spanish before I can do anything.
” Follow Jessie Higgins on Twitter: @ECP_Higgins Read or Share this story: https://usat.

Canada, U.K. Renew Demands on Boeing to Drop Bombardier Dispute

Canada and the U.
are continuing to press Boeing Co.
to drop its trade challenge of Bombardier Inc.
, with one Canadian minister saying any resolution must also include the cancellation of U.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and U.
Business Secretary Greg Clark wrote to Boeing Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg last month to urge a resolution to the dispute “without the need for further legal proceedings.
’’ Boeing responded with a letter of its own from Bertrand-Marc Allen, president of the company’s international arm, expressing confidence that the parties would find a way to “mend” their relationship -- though without saying how.
Bloomberg obtained copies of both letters.
Bombardier is facing the prospect of import duties of almost 300 percent on the C Series, its most advanced commercial jetliner, if the U.
International Trade Commission confirms a preliminary Department of Commerce ruling later this month.
The trade case, initiated by Chicago-based Boeing, has soured diplomatic relations between the U.
and Canada -- while also angering the U.
, where Bombardier operates a plant that builds wings for the C Series.
“We’re willing to engage, we’re willing to set up a table, we want solutions.
That solution means that there should be no tariffs,’’ Canadian Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains said Monday in a telephone interview when asked about the standoff with Boeing.
“We’re going to be very clear that we’re going to defend the aerospace sector.
’’ Bains declined to say whether discussions between Boeing, Canada and the U.
Read more: Boeing says Bombardier dumping puts smallest new 737 at risk Last month, Canada’s federal government escalated the trade fight by scrapping plans to buy 18 Boeing Super Hornet fighter jets while launching a search for new military aircraft under parameters that could hamper future bids from the U.
British Prime Minister Theresa May, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon and Clark have all said the case puts at risk Boeing’s chances of winning future contracts from Britain.
“We hope you will agree that it is in our collective interests for this issue to be resolved as soon as possible and would welcome an opportunity to see how we could settle this case in a reasonable way for all concerned,’’ Freeland and Clark told Muilenburg in their joint letter, dated Dec.
“is now likely to explore a wider range of procurement alternatives in the future than would have otherwise been the case, in line with requirements on all U.
procurers to consider social economic objectives,’’ the ministers added.
Read more: Trudeau plans to buy used Australian jets amid Boeing spat Dan Curran, a Boeing spokesman, confirmed Friday that Boeing received the letter from Freeland and Clark.
“Suggesting retribution against Boeing for calling out Bombardier’s illegal trade practices is regrettable,” Curran said in an emailed message.
“The case is between two companies and concerns fairness in the aerospace market.
This letter overlooks our long relationships with Canada and the U.
, and the sustained and significant economic investments we have made in each country.
” Writing on behalf of Muilenburg and Boeing’s executive council, Allen said in a letter dated Jan.
5 that the company “very much’’ regrets the impact the dispute with Bombardier had “on our longstanding relationship last year.
’’ Allen went on to list the economic benefits of Boeing’s presence in both countries in terms of employment and purchasing commitments, adding: “We value and treasure the relationships that we have had and continue to have with you.
And we always will.
I have every confidence that, in the year ahead, we will find a way to mend our enduring relationship, to the benefit of each of us.
” — With assistance by Alex Morales.

Marriott Pulls Banned ‘Books’ From China Hotel to Avert Backlash

Marriott International Inc.
, which apologized to China last week over perceived political slights on its website, has removed from a local hotel decorative copies of a bookthat alleges government abuse of the banned Falun Gong spiritual group.
As recently as Sunday, hollow, cardboard copies of “Bloody Harvest: the Killing of Falun Gong for Their Organs” appeared on bookshelves in the lounge of the Element by Westin hotel in Chongli, a ski area about three hours northwest of the Chinese capital that is being developed as an Olympics site.
China branded the Falun Gong an “evil cult” in 1999 after about 10,000 followers surrounded the Communist Party headquarters in Beijing in a silent protest.
After being informed about the titles’ presence by Bloomberg News, the hotel pulled them down and alerted the local Public Security Bureau, Element Chongli said in an emailed statement Tuesday.
“As we are assisting the PSB with their enquiries we will not be commenting further,” the hotel said via a Marriott representative.
Multiple copies of “Bloody Harvest” were stacked among other mock English-language tomes on the history of the stiletto and the Statue of Liberty.
Hotels, restaurants and retailers can furnish their properties with such items ordered through suppliers and it was unclear how the faux book ended up on Element Chongli’s shelves.
China’s National Tourism Administration didn’t immediately respond to a faxed request for comment.
Less Tolerance The incident illustrates the challenge that multinationals face in trying to avoid political controversies in China.
The global lodging company apologized last week for listing Tibet and Taiwan as “countries” on its Chinese-language website.
China regards both as part of its sovereign territory.
Emboldened by its growing economic and geopolitical clout, China is stepping up scrutiny of foreign companies and showing less tolerance for what it sees as violations of political red lines.
The treatment of Tibet and Taiwan on Marriott’s website drew intense criticism online, leading the company to declare its respect for China’s sovereignty.
China has also asked Delta Air Lines Inc.
and Inditex SA’s Zara clothing line to purge similar “illegal” content from their sites.
Qantas Airways Ltd.
said Monday that it was changing some web pages where some Chinese territories were “incorrectly listed as countries.
” Human Rights The 164-room Chongli property is one of nine Element by Westin hotels in China, according to its website.
The chain comes under Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide LLC, a company acquired by Marriott in 2016.
The area of Hebei province is being developed as a ski destination for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, which is seen by the government as a chance to showcase China on the global stage.
Chinese guests would probably not find the actual book comfortable fireside reading.
The 2009 book is based on a research report by former Canadian lawmaker David Kilgour and a human rights lawyer David Matas.
It has been cited by the U.
government as evidence of human rights abuses against the Falun Gong.
— With assistance by Emma O`Brien, Rachel Chang, Keith Zhai, and Peter Martin.

Plan for joint Olympics team with the North gets an icy reception in South Korea

While Seoul forges ahead with plans to use the upcoming Winter Olympics to showcase inter-Korean unity, some South Korean athletes are 'furious' at proposals to form joint teams with North Koreans, highlighting a broader lack of enthusiasm for some of the government`s peace-making plans.
Officials from both countries are still engaged in talks over exactly how the North will participate in next month`s games in Pyeongchang.
But the backlash may trip up Seoul`s plans to use the sporting event to improve bilateral ties after a year of high tensions over Pyongyang`s nuclear and missile programs.
South Korea`s women`s ice hockey team was the first to be singled out for possible integration with North Koreans, with Sports Minister Do Jong-hwan saying the government would ask Olympic organizers to expand the team`s roster from 23 to more than 30.
That came as a shock to team members, who had just returned to South Korea last Friday after training in the United States for the past three weeks, a senior official with the Korea Ice Hockey Association said.
'They were just furious and found the idea absurd,' the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
'We are utterly speechless that the government just picked us out of blue and asked us to play with total strangers at the Olympics.
' The proposal has also sparked an outcry from thousands of South Koreans, who have signed online petitions asking the presidential Blue House to drop the idea.
'I cannot help but think the government is abusing its power to make political gains from the Olympics,' said one comment on the petition.
'Taking roster spots from South Korean athletes who have put so much effort for the Olympics — a dream stage for all South Korean athletes - for the North Koreans is not fair at all.
' More than 70 percent of South Koreans oppose forming a joint team with the North, according to a Jan.
11 survey released by the office of the South`s National Assembly Speaker and television network SBS.
More than 80 percent, however, said they welcomed the North`s participation in general.
A spokesmen for the Blue House referred questions to the ministries involved in the talks with North Korea.
The sports ministry said it was discussing the matter with the International Olympic Committee to 'minimize any disadvantage' for the South Korean team.
'We will also be taking the public opinion into consideration prior to making the final decision,' a ministry official told Reuters.
The unification ministry declined to comment.

Google denies report that claimed it was re-launching its mapping services in China

Alphabet Inc`s Google said on Tuesday it has made 'no changes' to its mapping platform in China, denying an earlier media report that claimed it was re-launching the function in China, where many of its services are blocked.
Japan`s Nikkei reported earlier that Google had set up a China-specific version of the Google Maps website for the first time in eight years and introduced a map application for Chinese iPhones for the first time.
Google, however, stated that the Google Maps browser has been available in China for many years while there is no Maps application offered in the country.
'There have been no changes to Google Maps in China.
Maps has been accessible on desktop for years, but does not have an official presence in Android or iOS app stores in China,' Google Spokesman Taj Meadows said in comments sent to Reuters.
A Chinese version of Google Maps was accessible on Tuesday on mobile and desktop browsers with certain functions available, but Reuters was unable to find a Google Maps app available in Chinese app stores.
Nikkei reported users could find an app, but if they tried to use features like navigation they were automatically transferred to an app from AutoNavi, a mapping company owned by China`s Alibaba Group Holding.
AutoNavi did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for a comment.
Google has tried to re-enter the China market, where its main search platform is blocked along with its popular video platform YouTube, limiting its access to China`s internet users.
Google joined an investment in Chinese live-stream mobile game platform Chushou earlier this month after ramping up an artificial intelligence (AI) push last year, including launching an AI lab in December and hosting a match of the board game Go between its AI project Alpha Go and Chinese Go champion Ke Jie.
Last month, Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai spoke at a high-profile tech event in China organised by the Cyberspace Administration of China, which oversees internet censorship.
A full Google Maps app has not been available in China since the company pulled many of its services in 2010 after refusing to self-censor its search results.
Since then, it has maintained a limited presence in the world`s top smartphone market.

U.K. Growth Outlook Dims as Household Spending Seen Weaker

economy isn’t going to pick up for at least the next two years as consumers struggle to lift spending.
Respondents to Bloomberg’s first U.
survey of 2018 showed few signs of new year optimism.
The median forecast for growth this year was kept at 1.
4 percent, and no acceleration is seen in 2019.
While gross domestic product probably gained 1.
6 percent in 2017, more than previously estimated, that’s still the slowest in five years.
The economy started cooling last year as accelerating inflation fueled by the pound’s post-Brexit vote slump squeezed consumers.
But that didn’t stop the Bank of England raising interest rates for the first time in a decade on concern about domestic price pressures.
According to the survey, another hike is likely this year, with Scotiabank saying it could come as early as May.
Data Tuesday showed price growth may have peaked, as inflation slipped to 3 percent in December from a 5 1/2-year high of 3.
1 percent a month earlier.
Yet that’s still above the BOE’s 2 percent target and faster than average income gains, leaving retail sales struggling to gain traction.
Household consumption is projected to weaken to 1.
2 percent this year, and pick up only slightly to 1.
3 percent in 2019, the survey showed.
3 percent in the five years through 2016.
If wages pick up and consumption strengthens, the BOE may raise its key rate from 0.
5 percent sooner than the fourth quarter, a minority of economists said.
By contrast, a few see policy makers waiting another two years before raising borrowing costs from emergency lows again.
The median forecast shows the next increase in interest rates coming in the final three months of the year, but 10 of the 41 economists say it could be as soon as the second quarter, putting the BOE’s May meeting into the spotlight, as that’s when it will update its own projections.
“I’m more aggressive than the market and a number of forecasters in thinking we could see a hike in May,” said Scotiabank economist Alan Clarke in a Bloomberg Radio interview.
“If that trajectory for growth continues to improve as inflation goes down and wages go up, we could get another one in November.

Why French leader Macron could outshine Trump at Davos

The latest opinion polls show the president is popular among French voters, with one survey by Harris Interactive suggesting that 59 percent were optimistic for 2018, the highest level since 2010.
The survey`s results also marked a departure from mostly negative sentiment during former president Francois Hollande`s tenure.
As well as galvanizing the French electorate — at least, most of those on the center-right rather than the left — and the wider euro zone establishment, analysts believe that Davos attendees will be listening to Macron`s speech carefully for more clues to closer integration.
'This is an opportunity to revise his timeline for euro zone reform given that the delayed government formation in Berlin has upset the quick timetable he outlined in his September Sorbonne speech,' Mujtaba Rahman, managing director of Europe at Eurasia Group, told CNBC ahead of the Forum.
TS Lombard`s Fenby noted Macron`s 'ambitious plans' to reform Europe and the euro zone, but said domestic politics and reforms were at the top of Macron`s agenda.
'Macron`s main priority is, of course, at home where he has set a three-year horizon for reform to have its impact,' he said.
'He started with the labor laws but now moves into the trickier matter of cutting the budget deficit.
He sensibly puts stress on job training to cut unemployment.
' France`s economy is certainly on an upwards trajectory and is expected to have grown 1.
8 percent in 2017, according to French statistics agency INSEE.
Now voters and other leaders will watch whether Macron can continue to preside over its continued improvement.
'He (Macron) has often been accused of being the typical `Davos man,` so this is his opportunity to show how he is using the positive international press to attract investment and improve the lives of those who perhaps didn`t vote for him,' Fenby said.
Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook.

Frozen food powerhouse commits to ban on plastic packaging

supermarket Iceland, which specializes in frozen food, has made a commitment to eliminate plastic packaging from its own brand products by the end of 2023.
In an announcement Tuesday, the retailer said it had already removed disposable plastic straws from its own label range.
It added that its new food ranges would use paper-based food trays instead of plastic ones.
Richard Walker, Iceland`s managing director, said that the world had 'woken up to the scourge of plastics.
' Walker added that the onus was on retailers to take a stand and 'deliver meaningful change.
' 'There really is no excuse any more for excessive packaging that creates needless waste and damages our environment,' he said.
'The technologies and practicalities to create less environmentally harmful alternatives exist, and so Iceland is putting a stake in the ground.
' Greenpeace Executive Director John Sauven described Iceland`s commitment to go plastic free within five years as bold.
'It`s now up to other retailers and food producers to respond to that challenge,' he added.
'The tidal wave of plastic pollution will only start to recede when they turn off the tap.
' Iceland is not the only business looking to tackle the issue of packaging.
Sandwich and coffee shop Pret A Manger now offers a 50 pence (69 cents) discount on hot drinks for customers who bring in a reusable cup.

Workplace Lawyers Race Against the Trump Clock

While employers across America paid a record amount in settlements for workplace violations last year, don’t expect it to be the beginning of a trend.
Think of it more as the storm before the calm, as labor lawyers rush to lock in payouts ahead of a shifting legal landscape.
Settlements from the 10 biggest class-action lawsuits reached a record $2.
72 billion in 2017, the highest amount since the law firm Seyfarth Shaw began cataloging litigation accords in 2003.
Cases filed by federal agencies empowered to sue over discrimination and hour, wage, and safety violations were among the most prominent in a litigation sector also filled with private practitioners seeking to recover damages on behalf of employees.
“The government litigated more cases, filed more cases, and got higher settlement values for those cases in 2017 than at any time in the last decade,” said Gerald Maatman, Jr.
, co-chair of the class action defense group at Seyfarth Shaw, which represents companies.
But the reasons behind those record numbers map out a darkening horizon for labor litigators and workplace rights advocates.
The prospect of a more business friendly administration has changed their tactics, company lawyers said.
President Donald Trump took office a year ago, but the U.
Labor Department, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and other government agencies that litigate workers’ cases have been slow to staff up.
In the meantime, lawyers in and out of government have been scrambling to get as much as they could for workers while they can.
“I think that what we see is a race to settle,” said Paul DeCamp a lawyer at Epstein Becker & Green who represents employers.
“I’ve seen it in my practice.
Cases that plaintiffs’ counsel felt very strongly about and seemed more bullish and willing to go to trial, since the election they were more eager to settle those cases.
” Seyfarth’s Maatman said he has received more calls from government attorneys wanting to settle.
“Typically, they wouldn’t do that,” he said, explaining that in the past some of these cases may have been worth taking to trial.
But times have changed.
They think “better to settle now than wait for changes [to the administration].
” Unsurprisingly, litigating workers can expect far fewer payouts this year, said Paul Secunda, Director of Marquette Law School`s Labor and Employment Law Program.
“As far as class action wins and the size of those wins, I would expect those both to go down,” he said.
During the Obama administration, Secunda served on the U.
Department of Labor’s advisory council on employee benefits law, eventually becoming chairman.
“In a Democratic Department of Labor, you’re going to have more enforcement actions; they tend to use the stick more than the carrot,” he said.
“And then in Republican administrations, it’s just the opposite.
” “There’s definitely going to be a fairly abrupt fall-off on enforcement activity,” said Secunda.
While there might be an uptick in sexual harassment lawsuits as a result of the #MeToo movement, “they tend to be more individual [cases] than class cases.
” But even before the change in administrations, things didn’t look good for employee class actions.
Companies are increasingly asking workers to surrender their right to pursue workplace claims in court as a prerequisite for employment, and have been successful in defending that tactic.
More than half of non-union private-sector employers make their workers sign mandatory arbitration agreements, according to a report last year from the Economic Policy Institute.
And as far as the courts are concerned, labor advocates have another reason to be pessimistic.
According to Seyfarth, the annual success rate for employers opposing class certification for wage and hour litigation was up 20 percent last year, to 63 percent.
Moreover, recent U.
Supreme Court rulings have favored employers, perhaps foreshadowing the result in a trio of pending cases dealing with the scope of arbitration and class actions.
And as the Trump administration and a Republican-controlled Senate proceed to fill hundreds federal court vacancies with conservative judges, the odds of labor friendly rulings may diminish further.
— With assistance by Josh Eidelson.

Chinese central bank official reportedly says virtual currency trade needs to end

A senior Chinese central banker says authorities should ban centralized trading of virtual currencies as well as individuals and businesses that provide related services, an internal memo from a government meeting seen by Reuters showed.
In the memo outlining details of discussions at a meeting of internet regulators and other policymakers last week, PBOC Vice Governor Pan Gongsheng said the government would continue to apply pressure to the virtual currency trade and prevent the build up of risks in that market.
National and local authorities should ban venues that provide centralized trading of virtual currencies, of which bitcoin is the biggest, Pan said.
They also need to ban individuals or institutions that provide market-making activities, guarantees, or settlement services for centralized trading of the currencies, such as online 'wallet' service providers.
Chinese regulators last year banned initial coin offerings, shut down local cryptocurrency trading exchanges and limited bitcoin mining - but activity in the cryptocurrency and bitcoin space has continued through alternative channels in China despite the crackdown.
'The financial work conference clearly called for limiting `innovations` that deviate from the need of the real economy and escape regulation,' Pan said, according to the memo, referring to last week`s meeting.
Authorities should also block domestic and foreign websites and close mobile apps that provide centralized virtual currency trading services to Chinese users, and sanction platforms that provide virtual currency payment services, Pan said.
He also called for local authorities to investigate services that help people move funds overseas.
Bloomberg reported on Monday that Chinese authorities plan to block domestic access to Chinese and offshore cryptocurrency platforms that allow centralized trading.
China has grown into one of the world`s biggest sources of cryptocurrency mining, but Pan said authorities should work to end the practice.
He proposed local governments use regulations around electricity prices, land use, tax and environmental protection to guide businesses involved in such activities 'toward an orderly exit'.
'Pseudo-financial innovations that have no relationship with the real economy should not be supported,' he said.
Reuters on Jan.
3 reported on China`s plan to reduce the scale of bitcoin mining in the country.

New U.S. Embassy derided by President Trump opens in Britain

LONDON — The new U.
embassy in Britain, described by President Trump as a 'bad deal,” opened its doors to the public in the capital Tuesday.
Trump said last weekthat he canceled a planned trip to London because he didn`t want to cut the ribbon at the high-tech $1.
The embassy moved from Mayfair in central London — where it had been since 1960 — to Nine Elms, a former industrial area on the south bank of the River Thames that is currently being regenerated.
Woody Johnson, the U.
ambassador to Britain, said the move was necessary for security reasons after 9/11.
'Reason I canceled my trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for `peanuts,` only to build a new one in an off location for 1.
2 billion dollars,' Trump tweeted late Thursday.
Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO!' More: Trump calls off trip to London, blaming Obama for Bush embassy decision More: New $1 billion U.
Embassy in Britain: Things to know However, Trump`s tweet misrepresented the history of the U.
According to the State Department and the U.
Embassy itself, it was the administration of President George W.
Bush — not Obama — that decided to build a new embassy in 2006 and chose the new location in 2008.
The billion-dollar price tag is typical of an embassy construction of that size.
Officials also said that it was financed entirely by the sale of other U.
property in England — not new taxpayer money.
Ambassador Johnson said it didn`t cost U.
taxpayers 'a cent.
' British newspapers reported that fears of mass protests had put a stop to the trip.
A poll from last year found that about 4% of Britain`s population — roughly 2.
5 million people — would protest a state visit by Trump.
The Madame Tussauds waxwork attraction in London moved its model of Trump to the embassy after Trump`s tweet, where members of the public gleefully posed with it.
Contributing: Gregory Korte in Washington and Kim Hjelmgaard in London.
Read or Share this story: https://usat.
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Macron to tell UK: Do more over migrants

President Emmanuel Macron is visiting Calais as he tries to tackle tensions over hundreds of migrants camped out in the area, trying to get to the UK.
Many are congregating around the French port after a large camp known as the Jungle was dismantled in October 2016.
Mr Macron is expected to defend his controversial plans to stem the flow of people into France.
On Thursday, he will travel to Britain, where he is expected to demand the UK government does more to help.
France received a record 100,000 asylum claims in 2017, making it one of the main destinations in Europe.
In his first official visit to Calais, Mr Macron will meet migrants and groups working with them, as well as residents and local authorities who are calling for more measures to prevent another large camp from emerging.
But two groups have refused to meet the president in protest at strict measures used by the French police against migrants.
Mr Macron is expected to unveil a new migrant policy next month which includes speeding up the application process for asylum seekers and faster removal of those who fail to be accepted.
Macron to tell May: Do more During last year`s French election campaign, Mr Macron said he wanted to renegotiate or scrap the 2003 Le Touquet agreement, which established French border controls in Britain and UK controls in Calais.
As a result, undocumented migrants barred from entering the UK stay in France - many in makeshift camps.
Mr Macron will demand the UK do more to help ease the migrant burden when he meets British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday, French officials say.
He will ask the UK to allow in unaccompanied children and adults with family members already in the country and more money to help with border security.

Brexit Bulletin: Boris Fights Back

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Boris Johnson is back, spelling out his vision of Brexit, just as the government gets down to defining what kind of future relationship it wants with the EU.
Johnson used an interview in the Guardian to defend the now infamous claim on the side of a pro-Brexit campaign bus that £350 million ($483 million) a week could be channeled to the National Health Service instead of the EU after the split.
The claim was widely criticized, with the U.
Statistics Authority saying it was potentially misleading and official data showing the amount the U.
sends the EU per week is about £180 million.
“There was an error on the side of the bus.
We grossly underestimated the sum over which we would be able to take back control,” Johnson was quoted as saying.
“As and when the cash becomes available – and it won’t until we leave – the NHS should be at the very top of the list.
” As the government intensifies its discussions on what kind of relationship it is going to seek with the EU after the split – and what concessions it will make in return – and amid growing speculation about the chances of a second referendum, Johnson is justifying his own record during the 2016 campaign and also pressing to get his version of Brexit delivered.
The Cabinet remains divided on how close ties should be to the bloc after 2019, with access to the single market and the fate of Britain’s huge services industry at stake.
Johnson was reported at the weekend to be preparing his own speech on Brexit in the coming weeks.
The Sun said he had told friends he would prefer to stay in the bloc than leave on terms similar to Norway’s arrangement – Norway is in the single market but not the EU and so accepts rules from the bloc without having a say in making them.
But does he agree with Nigel Farage that there should be another referendum to safeguard the result of the first? “We’ve just had one, and I think it went pretty well; but it was something that caused an awful lot of heartache and soul-searching, and everybody went through the wringer on it,” he said.
“I’m not convinced that the public is absolutely gagging for another Brexit referendum.
” Brexit Latest Labour Line Hardens | Labour’s Brexit spokesman, Keir Starmer, told his party’s lawmakers to stop trying to reverse Brexit and focus instead on getting the best possible deal for Britain, the Huffington Post reports.
He said a second referendum wouldn’t happen until at least 2021 – as he said “I don’t think we are going to know what ‘out’ looks like until 2021 at the earliest.
” Killing Success| Moves that could force investment firms to transfer hundreds of U.
jobs to the European Union after Brexit are being described by asset managers as a threat to one of the continent’s biggest success stories, Bloomberg’s Julie Edde reports.
The investment-management arms of JPMorgan Chase, Axa and Standard Life Aberdeen are among firms criticizing a possible clampdown on mutual funds known as UCITS that are officially EU-based but often managed from elsewhere under a system known as delegation.
Such funds oversee about €9.
Worst Threat | Airbus Chief Executive Officer Tom Enders slammed Brexit and U.
President Donald Trump’s pro-America trade policies as presenting twin threats to its business, while singling out the U.
’s vote to leave the European Union as the bigger issue.
Brexit will weaken British industry and aerospace manufacturing by increasing costs and curtailing competitiveness, he said, and “the net result I’m afraid will be negative.
” Hit to Scotland | Scotland’s GDP would be about £12.
7 billion lower by 2030 than it would be under continued EU membership if it fails to remain in the single market or to secure a free-trade agreement, according to an economic analysis by the Scottish government.
A Canada-style deal with the EU would reduce Scotland’s GDP by £9 billion.
Tougher Transition | The EU has toughened the language in its directives on the transition arrangement, demanding that the U.
seek permission from the bloc to continue benefiting from EU trade deals with third parties and giving stronger residency rights to EU citizens arriving in the U.
during the transition period, the Financial Times reports.
On the Markets | As the pound held close to its highest level against the dollar since Britain voted to leave the EU, Tatton Investment CEO Lothar Mentel says U.
assets are being supported by hopes the U.
may avoid a hard Brexit.
“In the City, the term ‘fake Brexit’ is making the rounds quite a bit,” Mentel said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
The idea is “we will get something that’s called Brexit but whether that’s what the electorate initially thought Brexit would be, that’s a completely different matter,” Mentel said.
Still, JPMorgan Chase remains relatively glum on the pound’s prospects, saying there’s still a “non-negligible risk” that Brexit talks collapse, Charlotte Ryan reports.
The pound traded at $1.
3782 early on Tuesday.
Coming Up | MEPs in Strasbourg will debate the outcome of the December summit with EU President Donald Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and the EU`s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier.
Sam Woods, CEO of the Prudential Regulation Authority, speaks to the Treasury Select Committee at 9:15 a.
The EU Withdrawal Bill is back in the Commons, though no rebellions are expected.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond takes questions in Parliament at 11:30 a.
, Environment Secretary Michael Gove speaks to House of Lords committee at 11:30 a.
, Johnson is in Canada, and there’s a Cabinet meeting at 9:30 a.
Add Jersey Royal new potatoes to the list of crops under threat from Brexit.
The Guardian reports that farmers on Jersey are struggling to recruit enough workers because of the uncertainty over immigration rules and the drop in the pound.
Producing the new potatoes is labor intensive as they are grown on slopes called cotils and have to be hand-lifted as mechanical harvesters can’t cope with the steep inclines, according to the newspaper.
For more on Brexit follow Bloomberg on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Trump to Arab Gulf Countries: Cool Your Jets

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President Donald Trump has a message for the Arab world’s feuding monarchies: It’s time to cool your jets.
Trump called Qatari ruler Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani yesterday, after the buzzing of two Emirati passenger planes by Qatari fighter jets.
While Qatar denies it happened, the incident prompted a whipsaw of accusations and spooked investors, who briefly dumped Qatari assets on concerns of military escalation.
The president’s latest intervention, in which he praised Qatar for its efforts to fight terrorism, marks a shift from June, when Trump sided with Saudi Arabia in a spat that’s now in its seventh month and threatens to spark broader conflict in the region.
Complicating matters is the case of a Qatari royal who claimed on YouTube he’s being held in the U.
against his will, a charge that was also denied.
Saudi Arabia once courted the Sheikh and the U.
media touted him as a possible replacement for Al Thani, whom they accuse of supporting terrorism in the region.
officials, enough is enough — they say the standoff is distracting from the main threat to the region: Iran.
Global Headlines Immigration showdown | Republican congressional leaders are struggling to separate Trump’s immigration blowup from negotiations to avert a government shutdown at week’s end.
Democrats say the onus is on the president to help break the stalemate after he rejected a bipartisan proposal to shield young, undocumented immigrants from deportation and ignited outrage by reportedly disparaging Haiti and African nations as “shithole countries.
” FBI exposed? | With Trump and a small group of Republican congressmen intent on trying to undermine Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russian meddling probe, Chris Strohm and Greg Farrell explore whether the Justice Department’s decision to grant lawmakers new access to documents about FBI investigations risks exposing sensitive sources or material.
Brexit redo? | The possibility of a second British referendum on leaving the European Union is a top question after Nigel Farage, one of the champions of Brexit, said (somewhat provocatively) that it might just be a good idea.
The prospect was dangled in Brussels, where the divorce is seen as a colossal mistake the U.
can still avoid.
There’s no real traction for that yet in Westminster, but the seed has been planted.
Compromise candidate | As Italy potentially heads for a divided parliament, polls indicate stand-in Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni may actually represent the kind of stability voters are craving.
If neither a grand coalition of the governing Democrats nor Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia can form a government, he may end up staying on as leader — despite a 35 percent approval rating.
Nuclear winter | Norway’s wealth fund, the world’s largest, dumped four companies involved in making nuclear weapons and excluded others based on human rights concerns as the $1.
1 trillion investor steps up its of how corporations behave.
The fund takes into account ethical rules also encompassing corruption, the environment, coal and tobacco when deciding on its investments.
The world’s best-known autocrats — from North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un to Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro — are playing the latest investment craze: cryptocurrencies.
These currencies offer states a covert way to fund all sorts of mischief, from financing armed rebel groups to smuggling cash.
But even Bitcoin`s huge gains are not yet not enough to ward off the sharp bite of U.
-led economic sanctions.
— With assistance by Kathleen Hunter, and Karl Maier.

Adolf Hitler’s wartime car, the most ‘historically significant ever,’ is up for auction in the US

But as the war turned against Germany, the car was used much less and its latter wartime service remains unknown.
After Germany`s capitulation in 1945, the car was seized by American forces and used by U.
Army Military Police stationed in Le Havre, northern France.
It was shipped to the United States in 1946, where it was bought by Tom Austin, a rich tobacco planter from Greeneville, Tennessee.
After falling into disuse, with apparently little understanding of its provenance, the car was eventually recognized and restored by two classic car hunters in 1976 before being sold on to Ralph Engelstad, owner of the Imperial Palace Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas.
At the time, it had an odometer reading of just 33,309 kilometers and auctioneers claimed it has only added 50 kilometers over the subsequent 40 years.
Following the death of Engelstad, the car was sold in 2004 as part of a 21-car package of significant Mercedes-Benz automobiles.
The identity of the current owner has not been revealed, although onereport suggested it was last purchased by a Russian billionaire in 2009.
The auction begins at 5 p.
local time Wednesday in Scottsdale.

Unique close-up view of distant galaxy

The Hubble telescope has bagged an unprecedented close-up view of one of the Universe`s oldest known galaxies.
Astronomers were lucky when the orbiting observatory captured the image of a galaxy that existed just 500 million years after the Big Bang.
The image was stretched and amplified by the natural phenomenon of gravitational lensing, unlocking unprecedented detail.
Such objects usually appear as tiny red spots to powerful telescopes.
Distance and age are linked in astronomy; because of the time taken for light to traverse the vast expanse in-between, we see the galaxy as it was more than 13 billion years ago.
The detail evident in the image will help scientists to test theories of galaxy evolution.
'Pretty much every galaxy at that distance is an unresolved dot.
it`s kind of a matter of luck to get a galaxy that`s lensed in just the right way to stretch it out and get that much detail - it`s a pretty nice find,' the study`s lead author Brett Salmon told BBC News.
Dr Salmon, from the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, added: 'By analysing the effects of gravitational lensing on the image of this galaxy, we can determine its actual size and shape.
' The findings were presented at the 231st American Astronomical Society meeting in Washington DC.
Natural zoom lens Gravitational lensing describes the way light is bent as it passes around a massive object between the source and an observer.
This creates a kind of cosmic zoom lens, amplifying the image of a galaxy in the background.
In this case, a huge galaxy cluster not only boosted the light from the more distant one but also smeared the image of it into an arc.
'The lens is not unlike the bottom of a wine glass, distorting that background image,' said Dr Salmon.
The more ancient galaxy is relatively small, having about one-hundredth the mass of the Milky Way.
It may be typical of the galaxies that emerged a relatively short time after the Big Bang.
One key question for astronomers who study galaxy evolution concerns the origins of 'discs' - a key component of the large-scale structure of many galaxies, including the Milky Way.
Galactic discs are flat, rotating distributions of stars, gas, and dust.
Dr Salmon commented: 'We don`t really know how the first galaxies in the Universe assembled those nice rotating discs in those beautiful images we see.
So when did those discs actually start to form?' Galactic whirlpool Another study presented here at the 231st AAS meeting described evidence for rotation in galaxies that existed about 800 million years after the Big Bang.
That rotation could be indicative of the beginnings of disc formation.
Renske Smit, from the University of Cambridge, and colleagues, used the Alma array in Chile to show that the gas in these newborn galaxies swirled and rotated in a whirlpool motion, similar to the Milky Way and other, more mature, galaxies much later in the Universe`s history.
'We expected that young galaxies would be dynamically `messy`, due to the havoc caused by exploding young stars, but these mini-galaxies show the ability to retain order and appear well regulated,' said Dr Smit.
'Despite their small size, they are already rapidly growing to become one of the `adult` galaxies like we live in today.
' Expanding on why this was potentially important, Dr Salmon said: 'Once the galaxy settles into a disc, that sets in motion the rest of the evolution of the galaxy.
So finding out when that turbulent phase starts to settle down is a key initial condition.
' Computer simulations suggest that discs could be present in galaxies up to 600 million years after the Big Bang.
The galaxy discovered with Hubble could be one of the first to possess one.
This object is right at the limits of Hubble`s detection capabilities, but the James Webb Space Telescope should be able to provide much more detail.
Nasa`s Webb observatory is due to launch on an Ariane rocket in 2019.
'This galaxy is an exciting target for science with the Webb telescope as it offers the unique opportunity for resolving stellar populations in the very early Universe,' explained Dr Salmon.
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Pope must act on sex abuse, say Chileans

'The Pope and the Chilean bishops don`t think about us and it really upsets us and hurts our soul,' says Sylvia Aguilar Maldonado.
The 79-year-old is the oldest member in a group of parishioners who have travelled some 900km (560 miles) from southern city of Osorno to Santiago, to make their voices heard during Pope Francis`s visit to the Chilean capital 'We are all Catholics and believe in the same God.
We want to find a solution to this,' she says referring to her group`s vocal opposition to the ordination of Juan Barros as bishop of Osorno.
Bishop Barros was ordained two years ago despite stiff opposition among parishioners.
One thousand people signed a letter to Pope Francis asking him to review the appointment.
The parishioners accuse Bishop Barros of using his position in the Catholic Church to try to block an investigation into the actions of his mentor, Catholic priest Fernando Karadima.
`Neither lefties, nor stupid` In 2011, the Vatican found Fr Karadima guilty of sexually abusing young boys and ordered him to live a life of penance and prayer.
A Chilean court later found the allegations against Fr Karadima to be truthful but said he could not be prosecuted because too much time had passed.
Ms Aguilar is among some 35 parishioners with signs which say 'Ni zurdos, ni tontos' (Neither lefties nor stupid) lining the route taken by the Pope to the city from the airport.
The words were used by Pope Francis to describe the parishioners who are upset by Bishop Barros`s ordination and were caught on camera while he was speaking to a pilgrim in Rome in October 2015.
More than two years may have passed since the Pope uttered those words, but Ms Aguilar and the rest of her group are still deeply offended.
'Sadly when we asked the Pope to remove Bishop Juan Barros, instead of helping us, he accused us of being stupid and left-wing and that is why we are here,' she explains.
'He doesn`t even know us, so how can he accuse us of being such things? He thinks we are politically motivated even though we come from different parishes in Osorno and are doing this because we are against priests being allowed to abuse children.
' `The time for forgiveness is over` Apart from their roadside protest, the parishioners also organised a conference about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church to coincide with the day of Pope Francis`s arrival in Chile.
It was attended by a number of international organisations fighting for the rights of sexual abuse victims.
Juan Carlos Cruz is one of those who attended.
Mr Cruz, who was abused by Fr Karadima when he was a young boy, is adamant that 'the time for saying sorry and forgiving is over'.
'[Saying sorry] is not is not sufficient for a survivor.
What we want is for the Pope to take action.
' 'There are concrete things that he can do, like removing priests who have been accused and sentenced by the Chilean justice system or canon law and bishops who have covered up [sexual abuse],' he says.
The activists also demand more transparency from the Church, which they accuse of acting secretively.
Changing attitudes Juan Carlos Claret is the spokesman for the parishioners from Osorno who helped organise the conference.
Mr Claret says things have changed for the worse since Pope John Paul II visited Chile in 1987.
John Paul II condemned Gen Augusto Pinochet`s regime as 'dictatorial' and insisted that the Roman Catholic Church had to fight to bring democracy to Chile.
According to Mr Claret, back then, many Chileans opposed to the Pinochet regime would turn to the Catholic Church for help.
He says that the roles have been reversed and now he and other Catholics are asking Chilean society for help against the Church.
The Vatican spokesman, Greg Burke, has said that the Church has the utmost respect for those planning to protest against sexual abuse in the Church.
He also said that there was a possibility that Pope Francis would meet victims of sexual abuse in private, as he has on past trips, but there has been no official confirmation of such a meeting.