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FILE PHOTO: Mar 15, 2019; Tampa, FL, USA; Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson works out prior to the game between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
April 16, 2019
Quarterback Russell Wilson will not sign a long-term deal with the Seattle Seahawks if he and the team fail to reach agreement before his self-imposed deadline of midnight Monday passes, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported earlier in the day.
With the NFL draft next week, reports that franchise-tagged defensive end Frank Clark is on the trade block, and the team having only $12 million in available salary-cap space, it could be a busy two weeks ahead for the Seahawks.
Wilson previously informed the team he wanted a new long-term contract by April 15. According to reports, the two sides have engaged in discussions that would net Wilson one of the top deals — perhaps the highest-paying — in the NFL, approaching $30 million annually.
Wilson’s current contract expires after the 2019 season.
–Kansas City receiver Tyreek Hill was in attendance as the Chiefs opened offseason workouts, coach Andy Reid confirmed to reporters, as authorities investigate two alleged incidents of suspected child abuse last month at Hill’s home. Hill, 25, has not been charged with any crimes.
The second alleged incident occurred March 14 and involved a juvenile, according to multiple published reports. The Kansas City Star reported that Hill’s 3-year-old son sustained a broken arm in the incident. Overland Park police responded to the same address on March 5 to investigate a report of child abuse or neglect. Hill’s name is listed on the report.
–Former Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray scheduled a visit with the Washington Redskins, and Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins will meet with the New York Giants this week.
Murray is projected to be a top-10 draft pick, with speculation the Arizona Cardinals want the Heisman Trophy winner with the No. 1 overall pick. Haskins, ranked by most outlets as the No. 2 quarterback in the draft, has already worked out for the Oakland Raiders and visited with the Denver Broncos and Redskins.
–Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz says the stress fracture in his back hasn’t fully healed, but he still plans to be ready for the start of organized team activities, which begin May 21.
Wentz, 26, was diagnosed with the injury in mid-December and missed Philadelphia’s last three regular-season games and both playoff contests. He said he is taking things “week by week” and that he has been cleared to run and throw some.
–Oakland Raiders receiver Antonio Brown has settled a lawsuit filed by a man who claimed his toddler was nearly hit by furniture Brown threw off a balcony last year, TMZ.com reported.
Ophir Sternberg said that his 22-month-old son was walking near the pool at a Florida apartment complex in April 2018 when “large objects started to fall from the building many floors above them.” Per TMZ, the settlement terms are confidential.
–Eagles running back Josh Adams reportedly will miss the start of the offseason conditioning program as he recovers from shoulder surgery he underwent following Philadelphia’s divisional-round playoff loss against the New Orleans Saints.
Adams, 22, was given a six-month timetable for his recovery and is expected to join the team for training camp in July. The undrafted free agent rushed for a team-high 511 yards and three touchdowns in 14 games in 2018.
–New England quarterback Tom Brady and newly acquired defensive end Michael Bennett were no-shows for the team’s first day of voluntary workouts, ESPN reported. Brady skipped the workouts last year while Bennett reportedly does his training at his offseason home of Hawaii.
–The Minnesota Vikings signed former Los Angeles Rams quarterback Sean Mannion and former Denver Broncos wide receiver Jordan Taylor. The team also announced that a pair of restricted free agents, safety Anthony Harris and offensive tackle Rashod Hill, had both signed their tenders.
–San Francisco 49ers kicker Robbie Gould was a no-show for the start of voluntary team workouts, according to a report from NBC Sports Bay Area. The 36-year-old kicker has not signed his one-year franchise tender with the 49ers. The deal would be worth $4.97 million if Gould signs it.
–Field Level Media
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: Japan’s Minister of Economic Revitalization Toshimitsu Motegi speaks during the signing agreement ceremony for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, in Santiago, Chile March 8, 2018. REUTERS/Rodrigo Garrido/File Photo
April 16, 2019
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Japanese Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Monday that he had confirmed with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer that new bilateral trade talks would proceed based on the two nations’ joint statement issued last September.
Speaking to reporters in Washington, D.C., Motegi said he had a “frank and good exchange” with Lighthizer. The two would meet again on Tuesday, after which Motegi said he would explain the contents of their talks.
(Reporting by David Lawder in Washington, writing by Kaori Kaneko in Tokyo; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: Members of Kia Motor’s union chant a slogan during a protest against the Gwangju joint-venture project, in Gwangju, South Korea, January 31, 2019. Hong Jae-kwan/Kia Motor’s union/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
April 15, 2019
By Hyunjoo Jin
GWANGJU, South Korea (Reuters) – Park Byung-kyu once led Kia Motor’s union in the city of Gwangju, fighting for labor protections against the powerful, family-run chaebol that dominated the economy during South Korea’s rapid industrialization.
But about 20 years ago, Park was assaulted by unionized workers wielding steel clubs after he campaigned for the rights of temporary workers at another company, leaving him paralyzed on the right side of his body.
The attack also left him disillusioned with the approach of South Korea’s forceful and often militant unions, which have faced increasing criticism for protecting their interests at the expense of other workers.
Now, Park is working for the city of Gwangju on a proposed joint venture with Hyundai Motor Co to build a new low-wage car factory, Hyundai’s first new factory in South Korea in 25 years.
The $616 million plant would create 1,000 jobs, but at less than half the wages of Hyundai’s unionized workers and without many of the privileges they currently enjoy.
“The labor unions with vested interests should change. If not, their interests will be taken away,” said the 53-year-old Park. “Unionized labor should face up to the reality.”
The unions of Hyundai and affiliate Kia Motors, which together form the world’s fifth-largest automaker by volume, have staged strikes and rallies to protest the plant.
They say it will create “bad jobs” and take away production and employment from existing factories.
But in a city that has seen a steady exodus of manufacturing jobs move to low-cost countries, many job seekers say they would work for the plant in a heartbeat.
Employment is a key focus for President Moon Jae-in’s administration as Asia’s fourth-largest economy struggles to create jobs in the face of a slowing China economy, U.S. trade protectionism and increased minimum wages.
The Moon government plans to provide financial assistance to the Gwangju plant, and also introduce similar government-business ventures in two other cities by June.
Officials hope it will lead to a “U-turn” of Korean companies which would otherwise build factories overseas.
“This is a bold experiment to resolve jobs and labor relations problems,” said Park Myung-joon, a senior research fellow at state-funded Korea Labour Institute, who has been involved in the project since its beginning in 2014.
The carmaking venture, the first of its kind in South Korea, is the biggest threat to date for legacy unionized auto workers, who have largely maintained high wages and benefits even with youth unemployment near a record high and the economy sluggish, Park said.
“The expensive union jobs will gradually disappear.”
POOR CITY
The proposed Hyundai factory will offer annual wages of 35 million won ($31,492) – just over a third of the average 92 million won that existing Hyundai workers earn, but higher than the average 33 million won salaried workers make in Gwangju.
Home to Kia Motor’s largest domestic production facility, Gwangju is South Korea’s No.2 motor city after the southeastern city of Ulsan, generating over 40 percent of its manufacturing output from the auto sector.
Like Ulsan, which has declined as Hyundai production has retreated, Gwangju’s fortunes have waned as Kia’s output fell to its lowest level in eight years last year.
Gwangju is now South Korea’s second-poorest metropolitan city, with average monthly wages some 13 percent below the nationwide average in 2017, according to labor ministry data.
Kim Jae-seung, who studied business management in college, said he is willing to apply for a blue-collar job at the planned plant. “Its wage is still above the average worker’s wage. In that sense, it is not a bad job. It is a good job,” the 32-year-old Kim said at a recent job fair held at the city hall.
Other job seekers in Gwangju interviewed by Reuters said they too were interested given high levels of unemployment among the city’s younger workers.
“There are not many quality jobs out there. Given the current economic situation, I will be thankful for the 35 million won wage,” said Goh Chang-hoon, a 27-year-old law major.
DEFUNCT GERMAN MODEL
Park, the former union leader, first proposed the low-wage factory in 2014 and later took a leave of absence from Kia to work full-time for the city government.
Park said he borrowed the idea from Volkswagen’s now-defunct low-cost division Auto 5000, which was created in 2001 to keep jobs from moving out of Germany. The project came to end in 2009, after the automaker won wage concessions from its powerful and highly paid legacy workers.
The new factory would have an annual capacity of 100,000 mini, gasoline-powered SUVs starting 2021.
Gwangju also hopes to make electric vehicles at the plant in the future, although it has yet to be agreed with Hyundai.
James P. Rooney, an international finance professor at Sogang University in Seoul, said to be successful, the plant should make electric cars.
“The joint venture shouldn’t be thought of a place of getting away from union and high labor cost. It should be based on the product of the future, not product of the past.”
Hyundai said it has decided to participate in the project, because the city, local community and the joint venture pledged to “build collaborative labor relations and maintain proper wage levels”.
“Under such conditions, we believed that we would be able to secure competitiveness when we outsource mini-vehicle production to the newly created corporation,” Hyundai said in a statement to Reuters.
Kim Yong-gu, chief executive of Hyundai Hitech, a Gwangju-based parts supplier for Kia, is hoping the new Hyundai factory will help make up for reduced output at Kia.
Kia’s Gwangju plant produced 455,252 vehicles last year, well short of its production capacity of 620,000.
“Kia can’t make the car with current labor costs,” Kim said.
In addition to lower wages, the joint venture will break away from the union’s tradition of striking almost every year during annual wage talks.
South Korea’s reputation for militant unions and rigid labor practices has long been cited as contributing to high labor costs and a persistent discount for corporate Korea.
To make up for lower pay, Gwangju plans to build 1,100 homes as well as daycare and gym facilities in the factory complex, with the central government’s help.
WHITE ELEPHANT?
The plan is not without its critics, who question the wisdom of adding another plant at a time when automakers are grappling with excess capacity amid sluggish domestic demand, falling exports to the United States and weak sales in China.
Auto production in South Korea is expected to fall to 3.65 million vehicles this year, just three quarters of total capacity of 4.66 million vehicles, auto unions say.
They also argue the project is politically motivated, with Gwangju long a political stronghold of Moon’s liberal government.
“We have been agonizing over how to create jobs at a time when low growth and low employment have become structural issues,” Jung Tae-ho, the presidential job secretary, said at a recent briefing.
“The project will be key to revitalizing the struggling local economy.”
Local officials acknowledge the plan is not the panacea to all the problems Korea’s manufacturing industry faces, but say it can show one path forward.
“This is not just about creating jobs in Gwangju, but about addressing Korean Inc’s structural problems of low growth, low employment and high cost,” Gwangju Mayor Lee Yong-sup told Reuters. “Korea Inc needs a breakthrough.”
(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Additional reporting by Edward Taylor in FRANKFURT; Editing by Soyoung Kim and Lincoln Feast.)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump talk in the garden of the Metropole hotel during the second North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi, Vietnam February 28, 2019. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo
April 15, 2019
By David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump and his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday brushed aside North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s demand for Washington to show more flexibility in nuclear talks by year-end, with Pompeo saying Kim should keep his promise to give up his nuclear weapons before then.
Asked about Kim’s statement last week that he was only interested in meeting Trump again if the United States came with the right attitude, Pompeo told reporters that the president was “determined to move forward diplomatically.”
But Pompeo said Kim had made a commitment to denuclearize and “we collectively need to see that outcome move forward.”
“Our teams are working with the North Koreans … to chart a path forward so that we can get there. He said he wanted it done by the end of the year. I’d love to see that done sooner.”
Trump and Kim have met twice, in Hanoi in February and Singapore in June, seeming to build personal goodwill but failing to agree on a deal to lift sanctions in exchange for North Korea abandoning its nuclear and missile programs.
The Hanoi talks collapsed after Trump proposed a “big deal” in which sanctions would be lifted if North Korea handed over all its nuclear weapons to the United States. He rejected partial denuclearization steps offered by Kim.
Breaking his silence on the summit in a speech to North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly on Friday, Kim said it was “essential for the U.S. to quit its current calculation method and approach us with a new one.”
He said the outcome in Hanoi led him to question the strategy he embraced last year of international engagement and talks with the United States.
Kim said his personal relationship with Trump was still good, but that he had no interest in a third summit if it were a repeat of Hanoi.
He said North Korea would “wait for a bold decision from the U.S. with patience till the end of this year,” raising the potential for the unresolved North Korea nuclear issue to become a liability for Trump during his 2020 re-election bid.
TRUMP: NORTH KOREA ISSUE ‘MOVING ALONG’
In a speech on Monday in Burnsville, Minnesota, Trump nevertheless maintained an upbeat tone on North Korea, saying the issue was “moving along” with Pyongyang sticking to a freeze in nuclear and missile testing in place since 2017.
He again stressed his “very good relationship” with Kim “who just said the other day he looks forward to more talks.”
“Talk is OK. Talk is OK,” Trump said adding that he did not want the process to move fast. “It doesn’t have to move fast. Right now it’s moving along just perfectly. And we have a good relationship, the sanctions are on … there’s a lot of constructive things going on.”
On Saturday, Trump said a third summit with Kim “would be good in that we fully understand where we each stand.”
Despite Trump’s and Pompeo’s remarks, U.S. officials have acknowledged that the two sides have failed to agree on a definition of denuclearization. And in a year of talks, Pyongyang has given no public indication of willingness to abandon its weapons program unilaterally as Washington has demanded.
At a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in Washington last Thursday, Trump expressed a willingness for a third summit with Kim but said Washington would leave sanctions in place.
On Friday, Kim accused Washington of escalating hostility “despite its suggestion for settling the issue through dialogue” and called the U.S. policy of sanctions and pressure “as foolish and dangerous an act as trying to put out fire with oil.”
Last month, a senior North Korean official warned that Kim might rethink the test freeze unless Washington makes concessions such as easing sanctions.
(Reporting by David Brunnstrom, Matt Spetalnick, David Alexander and Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Tom Brown)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: A logo of China Evergrande Group is displayed at a news conference on the property developer’s annual results in Hong Kong, China March 28, 2017. REUTERS/Bobby Yip
April 15, 2019
HONG KONG (Reuters) – China Evergrande Group became Asia’s biggest bond market borrower excluding Japan so far this year after a $1 billion tap of its latest issue took the mainland property developer’s total sales so far to $6.6 billion.
China’s third largest developer said on Monday it had sold $200 million in three-year notes, and an additional $400 million each in four- and five-year bonds.
The notes carry coupons of between 9.5 and 10.5 percent, and have the same terms and conditions as $2 billion of bonds Evergrande sold last week.
Evergrande has now tapped bond markets for a total of $6.6 billion this year, according to data from Refinitiv, including those issued through subsidiary Hengda Real Estate Group.
Its latest sale took it past Chinese gaming giant Tencent, which sold $6 billion of bonds earlier this month.
Including Japan, Evergrande is Asia’s second-largest borrower this year, with the top spot taken by Japan’s biggest bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group which has raised $7.3 billion in dollar bonds so far, according to Dealogic data.
Sales of Asian junk bonds have had a blistering start to the year on expectations for lower interest rates and as a market rally has stoked risk appetite, with a record $27.5 billion sold in the first quarter, Refinitiv data showed.
Evergrande will use the proceeds to refinance existing indebtedness and for capital expenditure, it added.
Fitch said in a release the developer expected to spend 20 billion yuan on non-property businesses, including the research, development and production of electric vehicles. This compares to the 16 billion yuan in non-property capex in 2018.
“The key concern is the company has been issuing more bonds since there’s been an easing in liquidity, both onshore and offshore, and part of the proceeds are not used for refinancing,” said S&P analyst Matthew Chow.
“We need to see whether its overall spending appetite including doing more financing via other means such as trust loans also increases. There could be a risk that the situation could be different from what we expected earlier, but we believe that it is still in the hands of the company.”
Evergrande has one of the highest debt ratios in the industry, but has pledged to cut its net gearing ratio – a leverage measure which compares its net debt against the book value of its equity – to about 70 percent by June 2020 from 240 percent in June 2017.
Though the ratio was lowered to 152 percent at the end of last year, its total borrowings rebounded from the end of June. Chief Financial Officer Pan Darong attributed the rise to investments in new energy vehicles, but added he expected the debt ratio would decline to an industry average soon.
Credit Suisse was sole lead manager for Monday’s bond sale.
(Reporting by Clare Jim and Julia Fioretti; Editing by Kim Coghill and Louise Heavens)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: Headquarters of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, is pictured in Beijing, China September 28, 2018. REUTERS/Jason Lee
April 15, 2019
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s central bank said on Monday that the Chinese economy has shown some positive changes in the first quarter, reiterating its pledge to continue with a prudent monetary policy and ensure reasonably ample liquidity in the interbank market.
Authorities will strengthen coordination between monetary policy, fiscal policy and other policies to fend off risks as they seek to maintain stable growth, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said in statement on its website following a quarterly meeting of its monetary policy committee.
The yuan currency will be kept basically stable, according to the PBOC.
(Reporting by Beijing Monitoring Desk; Editing by Kim Coghill)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in sits takes part in a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
April 15, 2019
By Hyonhee Shin
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in said on Monday he will pursue “in earnest” another summit with Kim Jong Un despite the North Korean leader’s recent criticism of Seoul’s self-proclaimed role as a mediator in stalled nuclear talks.
Moon has been eager to regain momentum in talks with North Korea since Kim’s second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, in Vietnam in February, failed due to conflicting demands by Pyongyang for sanctions relief and by Washington for sweeping North Korean measures to abandon its nuclear program.
Kim said in a speech on Friday that he was willing to hold another summit with Trump if the United States changed its calculation and offered a “proper attitude and a methodology”, setting a year-end deadline.
While North Korea and the United States have been discussing the North’s denuclearization, U.S. ally South Korea has been taking steps to improve its ties with its old rival.
Moon and Kim have held three meetings over the past year, and Moon’s administration has been keen for a fourth, possibly to mark the anniversary of the first one on April 27.
Moon, who visited Washington to meet Trump last week, said Kim’s latest address “set the stage” for a fourth inter-Korean summit, which could be a “stepping stone for an even bigger opportunity and a more significant outcome”.
“Now is the time to begin the preparations in earnest,” Moon told a meeting with senior secretaries, noting that as soon as the North Koreans were ready, he was willing to meet Kim “regardless of venue and form”.
In his first public remarks since Kim’s address, Moon said he “very much welcomed” that speech, saying it showed Kim’s “unwavering” commitment toward denuclearization and the reopening of negotiations.
But Moon did not specifically respond to Kim’s criticism that South Korea was too subservient to the “anachronistic arrogance and hostile policy of the United States”, and that the South’s military persisted in “veiled hostility” by conducting exercises with U.S. forces.
Kim said South Korea should not “pose as a meddlesome ‘mediator’ and ‘facilitator’” between the North and the United States.
North Korea’s state media on Saturday issued a commentary criticizing South Korea’s purchase of fighter jets, including two recently delivered F-35A jets from the United States, calling it a “serious provocative act” that could intensify tension on the Korean peninsula.
However, Kim said he remained committed to improving relations with South Korea if it showed its “sincerity by practical action, not by words”.
Any significant improvement in ties between the two Koreas could depend on progress between North Korea and the United States on the North’s denuclearization and that looks doubtful, with neither side showing willingness to make concessions.
Trump emphasized during last week’s talks with Moon that he was willing to meet Kim again but would not lift sanctions until the North took meaningful steps to dismantle its nuclear programs.
(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Josh Smith and Robert Birsel)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: Workers are seen at a construction site in Beijing’s central business area, China January 18, 2019. REUTERS/Jason Lee
April 15, 2019
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s first-quarter economy growth likely cooled to the weakest pace in at least 27 years, a Reuters poll showed, but a flurry of measures to boost domestic demand may have put a floor under slowing activity in March.
Signs of improvement in the world’s second-largest economy would add to growing optimism that Washington and Beijing are nearing a trade deal, reviving business confidence and easing worries of a significant slowdown in global growth.
But analysts do not expect a sharp rebound in China’s economy like recoveries in the past, which created a strong reflationary pulse worldwide, noting its latest stimulus measures have so far been relatively more restrained.
Analysts polled by Reuters expect China to report gross domestic product (GDP) grew 6.3 percent in the January-March quarter from a year earlier, the slowest pace since the first quarter of 1992, the earliest quarterly data on record.
That would mark a further loss of momentum from the previous quarter’s 6.4 percent, but policymakers and investors are more likely to focus on any signs of a turnaround in March activity data, which will be released at the same time on Wednesday.
Premier Li Keqiang recently said “changes” in the economy in March had exceeded expectations, with the economy operating in a steady manner in the first quarter.
Analysts say unexpectedly strong March credit data on Friday set the stage for a recovery in investment in the second half of the year, though export and import readings were mixed, suggesting domestic demand remains sluggish.
In March, Beijing announced billions of dollars in additional tax cuts and infrastructure spending on top of measures last year.
But top officials have repeatedly vowed not to resort to “flood-like” stimulus like that rolled out in past downturns, which led to a mountain of debt.
China’s economic growth cooled to 6.6 percent in 2018, weighed down by multi-year clampdowns on riskier lending and pollution that have deterred fresh investment, and by escalating U.S. and Chinese tariffs on each others’ goods.
Economists polled by Reuters expected a further pullback to 6.2 percent in 2019 – the slowest in nearly 30 years.
On a sequential basis, economists estimated GDP grew 1.4 percent in the first quarter, easing from 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter.
SIGNS OF SPRING
March data will provide more details on the health of China’s domestic demand, covering industrial output, retail sales, property sales and investment, and fixed asset investment.
Business surveys for March had shown the manufacturing sector unexpectedly return to growth, while service sector activity accelerated, but analysts have cautioned some of the March gains were likely due to seasonal boosts.
Industrial output is expected to have increased 5.9 percent from a year earlier, quickening from 5.3 percent in the first two months, which was the weakest pace in 17 years.
Retail sales are seen growing 8.4 percent, better than the 8.2 percent in the first two months.
China’s auto sales fell for the ninth straight month in March but the pace of decline slowed, industry data showed, as carmakers reduced prices to boost business after Beijing handed out tax cuts to spur consumer spending.
Further evidence of Beijing’s infrastructure spending spree is expected in fixed-asset investment, which is expected to grow 6.3 percent in the first quarter on-year from 6.1 percent in the first two months of the year.
MORE POLICY SUPPORT SEEN NEEDED
While some economists have reduced expectations of further policy easing in light of recent, largely upbeat data, most believe further support is needed to ensure a sustainable recovery.
Support measures will take time to fully kick in, and corporate balance sheets are expected to remain under stress if profits are slow to recover from their worst slump in more than seven years.
The central bank has already slashed banks’ reserve requirement ratio (RRR) five times over the past year and is widely expected to ease policy further in coming quarters to spur lending and reduce borrowing costs, especially for small and private firms vital for growth and job creation.
Economists in the latest Reuters poll released on Friday (ahead of the credit data) forecast three more cuts to RRR of 50 basis points each in this quarter and the next two, but do not expected the central bank to cut its benchmark lending rate this year or next. [ECILT/CN]
The global economy is slowing more than expected and a sharp downturn could require world leaders to coordinate stimulus measures, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday as it cut its forecast for 2019 world economic growth for the third time.
(Reporting by Kevin Yao; Polling by Khushboo Mittal in Bangalore and Jing Wang in Shanghai; Editing by Kim Coghill)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: President of the Asian Development Bank Takehiko Nakao arrives for the sixth Mekong Greater Sub-Region Summit (GMS-6) in the National Convention Center (NCC) in Hanoi, Vietnam 31 March 2018. Minh Hoang/Pool via REUTERS
April 15, 2019
TOKYO (Reuters) – The head of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Monday that regional economies in Asia were sustaining solid growth led by domestic demand and the services sector despite some negative effects of the Sino-U.S. trade war.
Trade friction between the world’s two largest economies is impeding growth in China, ADB President Takehiko Nakao told reporters in a group interview.
“It’s natural for the Chinese economy to slow,” said Nakao, a former Japanese vice finance minister for international affairs.
(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: Apr 2, 2019; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Colorado Rockies pitcher Guillermo Heredia (54) throws a pitch against the Tampa Bay Rays during the sixth inning at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
April 15, 2019
Guillermo Heredia capped a five-run eighth inning with a two-run, pinch-hit home run to help the visiting Tampa Bay Rays defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-4 on Sunday afternoon.
Mike Zunino added a two-run, pinch-hit single in the eighth as the Rays took two of three games in the series and have now won six of their last seven games, all on the road.
Freddy Galvis and Billy McKinney homered for Toronto, McKinney also adding two doubles.
Rays starter Charlie Morton gave up four hits, three walks and one run over 4 2/3 innings. He struck out four. Adam Kolarek (1-0) pitched one perfect inning to pick up the win.
Blue Jays starter Marcus Stroman (0-3) surrendered three hits, four walks and three unearned runs while striking out five in four innings.
The Blue Jays scored once in the first when leadoff batter McKinney doubled and Galvis singled him home.
The Rays answered with an unearned run in the third. Michael Perez singled, Blue Jays second baseman Lourdes Gurriel Jr. threw errantly on Ji-Man Choi’s two-out grounder, Avisail Garcia walked and Brandon Lowe hit an RBI single.
Gurriel was replaced at second base by Alen Hanson in the fourth, but the Rays scored two unearned runs in that inning. Kevin Kiermaier reached second base on Stroman’s throwing error after a bunt. Willy Adames followed with an infield single, Perez walked, and Austin Meadows and Yandy Diaz each produced RBI groundouts.
Thomas Pannone replaced Stroman in the fifth and struck out the side on nine pitches. He also was perfect in the sixth and seventh.
Toronto left the bases loaded in the fourth and the fifth, Kolarek replacing Morton to get the final out of the fifth. Kolarek retired the first two batters of the sixth before Chaz Roe replaced him and pitched around an Adames error.
Galvis hit his fifth homer this season against Ryne Stanek with one out in the seventh. But after Justin Smoak singled, Diego Castillo induced a double-play grounder to end the inning.
The Rays tacked on five runs in the eighth. Javy Guerra surrendered Garcia’s leadoff double and issued a one-out walk to Daniel Robertson. Tim Mayza yielded an RBI double to Kiermaier, Zunino’s two-out single and the first homer of the season by Heredia, who batted for Meadows.
Wilmer Font walked Danny Jansen and gave up McKinney’s first homer of the season in the ninth.
–Field Level Media
Source: OANN
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