<p>STRASBOURG (Reuters) &#8211; The European Union should offer a free trade agreement to the whole of the African continent and a new investment alliance, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in a keynote speech on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Among various proposals for EU action to bolster prosperity in the world’s poorest continent and Europe’s close neighbour, the Commission chief called for a more equal partnership and investment rather than aid, as Europeans look for ways to stem an economic divide driving Africans to try to migrate northward.</p>
<p>Juncker said he had talked with African leaders and was proposing an alliance to boost sustainable investment, which he said could create up to 10 million jobs in Africa in the next five years.</p>
<p>While it was clear that a free trade pact would be some way off, and well after Juncker steps down in a year’s time, the EU would look to take advantage of African efforts to forge a free trade area within the continent to work towards a comprehensive continent-to-continent trade agreement.</p>
<p>Trade between Africa and Europe, said Juncker, was not insignificant &#8211; 36 percent of Africa’s trade is with the European Union, compared to 16 percent with China and 6 percent with the United States.</p>
<p>“But this is not enough,” Juncker told the European Parliament.</p>
<p>“I believe we should develop the numerous European-African trade agreements into a continent-to-continent free trade agreement, as an economic partnership between equals.”</p>
<p>The European Union already has a series of deals with individual African countries, largely in North Africa, as well as additional economic partnerships with African blocs, such as the Southern African Development Community.</p>
<p>Other agreements with other African blocs and countries, designed to increase access to the EU market and promote development, are pending or partly in place.</p>
<p>Reporting by Alastair Macdonald; editing by Philip Blenkinsop</p>


EU could offer the African continent a free trade agreement, what you need to know…

<p>By <span class="fn author-name"><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/francis-vergunst-230743" rel="author">Francis Vergunst, </a>Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Developmental Public Health, Université de Montréal, <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/helen-louise-berry-8608" rel="author">Helen Louise Berry, </a>Professor of Climate Change and Mental Health, University of Sydney and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/massimiliano-orri-549142" rel="author">Massimiliano Orri, </a>Marie-Curie and CIHR Postdoctoral Fellow, McGill University.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Extreme heat has gripped the northern hemisphere in recent months, and the year 2018 is on track to be among the hottest ever recorded. Higher global temperatures are expected to have detrimental effects on our natural environments and our physical health, but what will they do to our mental health?</p>
<p>New research from an international team of scientists suggests that one of the most tangible impacts may be an <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-018-0222-x">increase in suicide rates</a>.</p>
<p>Suicide is already among the leading causes of death worldwide. For people aged 15-55 years, it is among the top five causes of death. Worldwide nearly one million people die by suicide each year — <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/more-people-die-from-suicide-than-from-wars-natural-disasters-combined/2438749.html">more than all deaths from war and murder combined</a>.</p>
<p>Using historical temperature records from the United States and Mexico, the researchers showed that suicide rates increased by 0.7 per cent in the U.S. and by 2.1 per cent in Mexico when the average monthly temperatures rose by 1 C.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0222-x">The researchers calculated</a> that if global temperatures continue to rise at these rates, between now and 2050 there could be 9,000 to 40,000 additional suicides in the U.S. and Mexico alone. This is roughly equivalent to the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4473496/">number of additional suicides that follow an economic recession</a>.</p>
<h2>Spikes during heat waves</h2>
<p>It has been known for a long time that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.106.031948">suicide rates spike during heat waves</a>. Hotter weather has been linked with higher rates of hospital admissions for <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25849087">self-harm</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-14-681">suicide</a> and violent suicides, as well as increases in population-level psychological distress, particularly in combination with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0164190">high humidity</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.07.098">Another recent study, which combined the results of previous research on heat and suicide, concluded</a> there is “a significant and positive association between temperature rises and incidence of suicide.”</p>
<p>Why this is remains unclear. There is a well-documented link between <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/341/6151/1235367">rising temperatures and interpersonal violence</a> and suicide could be understood as an act of violence directed at oneself. Lisa Page, a researcher in psychology at King’s College London, notes:</p>
<blockquote><p>“While speculative, perhaps the most promising mechanism to link suicide with high temperatures is a psychological one. High temperatures have been found to lead individuals to behave in a more disinhibited, aggressive and violent manner, which might in turn result in an increased propensity for suicidal acts.”</p></blockquote>
<p>Hotter temperatures are <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/heat-wave-health/">taxing on the body</a>. They cause an <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180425131906.htm">increase in the stress hormone cortisol</a>, reduce <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3427038/">sleep quality</a> and disrupt people’s physical activity routines. These changes can reduce well-being and increase psychological distress.</p>
<h2>Disease, water shortages, conflict and war</h2>
<p>The effects of hotter temperatures on suicides are symptomatic of a much broader and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-018-0102-4">more expansive problem</a>: the impact of climate change on mental health.</p>
<p>Climate change will increase the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32464-9">frequency and severity</a> of heat waves, droughts, storms, floods and wildfires. It will extend the range of infectious diseases such as Zika virus, malaria and Lyme disease. It will contribute to food and water shortages and fuel forced migration, conflict and war.</p>
<p>These events can have devastating effects on people’s health, homes and livelihoods and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20033251">directly impact psychological health and well-being</a>.</p>
<p>But effects are not limited to people who suffer direct losses — for example, it has been estimated that up to half of Hurricane Katrina survivors developed post-traumatic stress disorder even when they had <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3276074/">suffered no direct physical losses</a>.</p>
<p>The feelings of loss that follow catastrophic events, including a sense of loss of safety, can erode community well-being and further undermine mental health resilience.</p>
<h2>Building resilience through community</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-018-0222-x">Scientists caution</a> that there are no quick fixes.</p>
<p>Vigorous greenhouse gas reduction strategies will reduce the chance of dangerous <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1810141115">runaway climate change</a> and help mitigate the worst effects of climate change on mental health, but these efforts may <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/aug/06/domino-effect-of-climate-events-could-push-earth-into-a-hothouse-state">not be sufficient</a>.</p>
<p>Installing more air conditioning units, for instance, may not significantly reduce suicide rates or mitigate the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4446935/">effects of extreme heat on health and well-being</a>. Adaptation, including substantial investment in mental health services, will be essential.</p>
<p>Unfortunately <a href="http://www.who.int/mental_health/action_plan_2013/en/">mental health services remain woefully underfunded and over-burdened</a> in most parts of the world. While government budgets are stretched to cope with front-line disaster relief, communities will bear the burden of responding to these challenges.</p>
<p>Building resilience through increased social connectedness within and between communities will be vital.</p>
<h2>Research is a matter of life and death</h2>
<p>Mental health problems have diverse manifestations that vary across contexts and throughout a lifetime. They are the result of long and intricate causal pathways. Climate change is not an isolated cause of suicide, but one of several factors.</p>
<p>Integrating these pathways into a conceptual framework — for example using <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-018-0102-4">systems thinking</a> — is a crucial step toward developing public policy, practice and research that will equip us to respond to climate change.</p>
<p>Climate change is a daunting global public health challenge without ready solutions and we have been far too slow to take the risks seriously. We have also missed promising opportunities to use climate change as a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10398560903045328">mechanism to promote improved mental health</a>.</p>
<p>There is an urgent need for research that informs our understanding of the mental health consequences of climate change so that we can prepare for the challenges ahead.</p>
<p>For some, it really is a matter of life or death.</p>
<p><em>International suicide prevention and support hotlines can be <a href="http://www.suicide.org/international-suicide-hotlines.html">found here</a>.</em><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102156/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/francis-vergunst-230743">Francis Vergunst</a>, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Developmental Public Health, <em><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/universite-de-montreal-1743">Université de Montréal</a></em>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/helen-louise-berry-8608">Helen Louise Berry</a>, Professor of Climate Change and Mental Health, <em><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a></em>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/massimiliano-orri-549142">Massimiliano Orri</a>, Marie-Curie and CIHR Postdoctoral Fellow, <em><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/mcgill-university-827">McGill University</a></em></p>
<p>This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-will-increase-deaths-by-suicide-102156">original article</a>.</p>

How climate change impacts mental health, could increase suicide rates

<ul>
<li>Alibaba said on Monday that CEO Daniel Zhang will take over as chairman of the board in a year, succeeding current executive chairman Jack Ma.</li>
<li>Ma will remain in his role as executive chairman for the next 12 months to ensure a smooth transition.</li>
<li>Ma, a former English teacher, co-founded Alibaba, which started as an e-commerce marketplace and has expanded to become a global tech juggernaut.</li>
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<p>By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/saheli-roy-choudhury/" rel="author">Saheli Roy Choudhury</a></p>
<p><a class="inline_quotes" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/10/alibaba-jack-ma-succession-plan-daniel-zhang-to-take-over-as-chairman.html" data-gdsid="">Alibaba</a> on Monday said that chief executive officer Daniel Zhang will succeed <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/jack-ma/">Jack Ma</a> as chairman of the board, starting September 10, 2019.</p>
<p>Ma will continue as executive chairman at Alibaba over the next 12 months for a smooth transition of the chairmanship to Zhang, the company said in a statement. After that, he intends to stay on the Alibaba board of directors until the 2020 annual shareholders meeting.</p>
<p>In a letter to Alibaba&#8217;s customers and shareholders, Ma said the transition &#8220;demonstrates that Alibaba has stepped up to the next level of corporate governance from a company that relies on individuals, to one built on systems of organizational excellence and a culture of talent development.&#8221;</p>
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<p>&#8220;Starting the process of passing the Alibaba torch to Daniel and his team is the right decision at the right time, because I know from working with them that they are ready, and I have complete confidence in our next generation of leaders,&#8221; Ma wrote. He added that he plans to continue his role as the founding partner in the Alibaba Partnership, which is a group made up of 36 senior leaders entrusted with the company&#8217;s mission, vision and values.</p>
<p>&#8220;I also want to return to education, which excites me with so much blessing because this is what I love to do,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>The move to appoint Zhang as a successor to Ma was not at all surprising, Gil Luria, director of research at financial services firm D.A. Davidson &amp; Co, told CNBC&#8217;s &#8220;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/asia-squawk-box/">Squawk Box</a>.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;(Ma) stepped back five years ago to become chairman,&#8221; Luria said, adding that Ma had left the stage for Zhang, Executive Vice Chairman Joe Tsai, Chief Financial Officer Maggie Wu and others to take over. &#8220;He&#8217;s done, he&#8217;s already worked on the succession for years. It seems to be going in a fairly orderly fashion.&#8221;</p>
<p>Luria also said not to expect too many changes as a result of the leadership succession.</p>
<p>&#8220;The communication to the outside world beyond the investment community may be a little different without Jack Ma. He&#8217;s a very colorful, charismatic figure, and that aspect of communication may go away,&#8221; he said. But the strategies put in place at the tech giant, including <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/18/alibaba-hema-stores-blend-online-and-offline-retail.html">an online-to-offline new retail strategy</a>, belong to Zhang, Luria added. &#8220;It&#8217;s his company now and as chairman, (Zhang) would most likely continue those strategies.&#8221;</p>
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<p>Last week, <a class="inline_asset" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/07/technology/alibaba-jack-ma-retiring.html">a report by The New York Times</a> said that the billionaire was retiring on Monday from the company he helped found, and that it would&#8217;ve made him one of the first founders among a generation of prominent Chinese internet entrepreneurs to step down. On Saturday, the South China Morning Post, which is owned by Alibaba, quoted a spokesman saying the Times&#8217; report was <a class="inline_asset" href="https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2163376/jack-ma-remain-alibabas-chairman-succession-plan-younger-talent">factually inaccurate, and taken out of context.</a></p>
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<h4 class="subtitle">Read Jack Ma&#8217;s full letter to Alibaba shareholders and customers below:</h4>
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<blockquote><p>Dear Alibaba customers, Aliren, and shareholders,</p>
<p>Today, as we mark the 19th anniversary of Alibaba, I am excited to share some news with you:<br />
with the approval of our board of directors, one year from today on September 10, 2019 which also falls on Alibaba&#8217;s 20th anniversary, Group CEO Daniel Zhang will succeed me as chairman of the board of Alibaba Group. While remaining as executive chairman in the next 12 months, I will work closely with Daniel to ensure a smooth and successful transition. Thereafter, I will stay on the Alibaba board of directors until our annual shareholders meeting in 2020.</p>
<p>I have put a lot of thought and preparation into this succession plan for ten years. I am delighted to announce the plan today thanks to the support of the Alibaba Partnership and our board of directors. I also want to offer special thanks to all Alibaba colleagues and your families, because your trust, support and our joint enterprise over the past 19 years have prepared us for this day with confidence and strength.</p>
<p>This transition demonstrates that Alibaba has stepped up to the next level of corporate governance from a company that relies on individuals, to one built on systems of organizational excellence and a culture of talent development.</p>
<p>When Alibaba was founded in 1999, our goal was to build a company that could make China and the world proud and one that could cross three centuries to last 102 years. However, we all knew that no one could stay with the company for 102 years. A sustainable Alibaba would have to be built on sound governance, culture-centric philosophy, and consistency in developing talent. No company can rely solely on its founders. Of all people, I should know that. Because of physical limits on one&#8217;s ability and energy, no one can shoulder the responsibilities of chairman and CEO forever.</p>
<p>We asked ourselves this question 10 years ago – how could Alibaba achieve sustainable growth after Jack Ma leaves the company? We believed the only way to solve the problem of corporate leadership succession was to develop a system of governance based on a unique culture and mechanisms for developing consistent talent and successors. For the last 10 years, we kept working on these ingredients.</p>
<p>Having been trained as a teacher, I feel extremely proud of what I have achieved. Teachers always want their students to exceed them, so the responsible thing to do for me and the company to do is to let younger, more talented people take over in leadership roles so that they inherit our mission &#8220;to make it easy to do business anywhere.&#8221; Carrying out this mission in order to help small businesses, young people and women around the world is my passion. This is not only our intent from day one but I feel blessed to have this opportunity. To realize the dream behind this mission requires participation by a lot more people than just Jack Ma and persistent effort by generations of Aliren.</p>
<p>Alibaba is amazing not because of our business or scale or accomplishments. The best thing about Alibaba is that we come together under a common mission and vision. Our partnership system, unique culture and talented team have laid a strong foundation for the legacy of our company. In fact, since I handed over the CEO&#8217;s responsibilities in 2013, the company has run smoothly for five years on the back of these institutional ingredients.</p>
<p>The partnership system we developed is a creative solution to good governance and sustainability, as it overcomes several challenges faced by companies of scale: continuous innovation, leadership succession, accountability and cultural continuity. Over the years, in iterating our management model, we have experimented with and improved on the right balance between systems and individuals. Simply relying on individuals or blindly following a system will not solve our problems. To achieve long-term sustainable growth, you need the right balance among system, people and culture. I have full confidence that our partnership system and efforts to safeguard our culture will in time win over the love and support from customers, employees and shareholders.</p>
<p>Since the founding of the company in 1999, we have been of the view that Alibaba&#8217;s future will need to depend on &#8220;droves of talent&#8221; to enable us to iterate on our management succession plans. After years of hard work, today&#8217;s Alibaba has a world-class talent pool in quality and quantity. The teacher in me feels extremely proud of our team, our leadership and our unique mission-driven culture, as well as the fact that we continue to develop exceptional business leaders and professional talent like Daniel Zhang.</p>
<p>Daniel has been with Alibaba Group for 11 years. Since he took over as CEO, he has demonstrated his superb talent, business acumen and determined leadership. Under his stewardship, Alibaba has seen consistent and sustainable growth for 13 consecutive quarters. His analytical mind is unparalleled, he holds dear our mission and vision, he embraces responsibility with passion, and he has the guts to innovate and test creative business models. Deservedly, China&#8217;s business news media has named him the No.1 CEO in 2018. For these reasons, he and his team have won the trust and support of customers, employees and shareholders. Starting the process of passing the Alibaba torch to Daniel and his team is the right decision at the right time, because I know from working with them that they are ready, and I have complete confidence in our next generation of leaders.</p>
<p>As for myself, I still have lots of dreams to pursue. Those who know me know that I do not like to sit idle. I plan on continuing my role as the founding partner in the Alibaba Partnership and contribute to the work of the partnership. I also want to return to education, which excites me with so much blessing because this is what I love to do. The world is big, and I am still young, so I want to try new things – because what if new dreams can be realized?!</p>
<p>The one thing I can promise everyone is this: Alibaba was never about Jack Ma, but Jack Ma will forever belong to Alibaba.</p>
<p>Jack Ma<br />
September 10, 2018</p></blockquote>
<p><em>Clarification: This article has been updated to clarify that the New York Times originally reported that Jack Ma said he would be stepping down as Alibaba chairman on Monday.</em></p>
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<div class="reporter-info"><span class="name"><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/saheli-roy-choudhury/">Saheli Roy Choudhury</a></span><span class="title">Reporter, CNBC.com</span></div>
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Alibaba’s co-founder Jack Ma reveals succession plan

<p>(Reuters) &#8211; Amazon.com Inc (<span id="”symbol_AMZN.O_0”"><a href="https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=AMZN.O">AMZN.O</a></span>) on Tuesday joined Apple Inc (<span id="”symbol_AAPL.O_1”"><a href="https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=AAPL.O">AAPL.O</a></span>) in the $1 trillion club, becoming the second member of the group after its stock price doubled in 15 months.</p>
<p>If the online retailer’s share price continues at its recent pace, it will be a matter of when, not if, Amazon’s market valuation eclipses that of iPhone maker Apple, which reached $1 trillion on Aug. 2.</p>
<p>Apple took almost 38 years as a public company to achieve the trillion dollar milestone, while Amazon got there in 21 years. While Apple’s iPhone and other devices remain popular and its revenues are growing, it is not keeping up with Amazon’s blistering sales growth.</p>
<p>Amazon has impressed investors by successfully diversifying its business into virtually every corner of the retail industry, altering how consumers buy products and putting major pressure on many brick-and-mortar stores.</p>
<p>It also provides video streaming services and bought upscale supermarket Whole Foods. And its cloud computing services for companies have become a major driver of earnings and revenue.</p>
<p>“Amazon’s a little bit more dynamic than Apple because the iPhone has become more mature. Amazon’s cloud business is an extra growth driver that Apple doesn’t have,” said Daniel Morgan, portfolio manager at Synovus Trust in Atlanta, Georgia who describes Amazon’s cloud services as its “crown jewel.”</p>
<p>In the second quarter the unit accounted for 55 percent of Amazon’s operating income and 20 percent of total revenue, according to Morgan.</p>
<p>Apple started trading in December 1980 but its stock did not truly start to take flight for another 25 years, spurred by the iPhone, the breakthrough device that left competitors in the dust.</p>
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<p>Amazon &#8211; founded as an online book-retailer in Chief Executive Jeff Bezos’ garage in 1994 &#8211; started trading on May 15 1997 at $1.50 on a split-adjusted basis.</p>
<p>By October 2009 it had risen to $100 and the stock hit $1,000 for the first time on May 30, 2017. It has held above that level since October 27, 2017.</p>
<p>Just 10 months later, on Aug. 30, Amazon shares hit $2,000 for the first time, just $50 per share away from giving the company a $1 trillion market value. That milestone, just a month after it reached a $900 billion valuation threshold.</p>
<p>Amazon shares were last up 1.1 percent at $2,035.69, pulling back slightly from the milestone level of $2050.2677.</p>
<p>Amazon currently trades up 74.0 percent for the year to date. In comparison, Apple has risen about34.7 percent year to date.</p>
<p>Analysts expect Apple’s revenue to jump 14.9 percent in its fiscal year ending in September, according to Thomson Reuters data, a hefty rise but still far short of Amazon’s expected revenue growth of 32 percent for 2018.</p>
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<p class="Attribution_content">Additional reporting by Noel Randewich in San Francisco; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli</p>
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Amazon becomes second publicly traded U.S. company to reach $1 trillion market value, why it could pass Apple

<p>BEIJING (Reuters) &#8211; Chinese President Xi Jinping offered another $60 billion in financing for Africa on Monday and said Chinese companies will be encouraged to invest no less than $10 billion over the next three years, but he also warned against “vanity projects”.</p>
<p>Speaking at the opening of a major summit with African leaders, Xi promised development that people on the continent could see and touch, but that would also be green and sustainable.</p>
<p>China has denied engaging in “debt trap” diplomacy, and Xi’s offer of more money comes after a pledge of another $60 billion at the previous summit in South Africa three years ago.</p>
<p>Xi, addressing leaders at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, said the new $60 billion will include $15 billion of aid, interest-free loans and concessional loans, a credit line of $20 billion, a $10 billion special fund for China-Africa development, and a $5 billion special fund for imports from Africa.</p>
<p>Chinese companies will be encouraged to invest no less than $10 billion in the continent in the next three years, he said.</p>
<p>“China-Africa cooperation must give Chinese and African people tangible benefits and successes that can be seen, that can be felt,” Xi said.</p>
<p>Chinese officials have vowed to be more cautious to ensure projects are sustainable. China defends continued lending to Africa on the grounds that the continent still needs debt-funded infrastructure development.</p>
<p>Speaking earlier at a business forum, Xi said China had to be careful about where money was spent.</p>
<p>“China’s cooperation with Africa is clearly targeted at the major bottlenecks to development. Resources for our cooperation are not to be spent on any vanity projects but in places where they count the most,” he said.</p>
<p>Beijing has also fended off criticism it is only interested in resource extraction to feed its own booming economy, that the projects it funds have poor environmental safeguards, and that too many of the workers for them are flown in from China rather than using African labour.</p>
<p>Xi told business leaders Chinese firms in Africa had to be aware of their social responsibilities and make sure their investments served the community and improved their wellbeing.</p>
<p>“I hope that our entrepreneurs will act to fulfil social responsibilities and respect local culture and tradition,” he said.</p>
<p>“I also hope you will do more in staff training and bettering lives for the local people and will put more emphasis on the environment and resources,” Xi said.</p>
<p>‘AFRICA KNOWS BEST’<br />
Chinese officials say this year’s summit will strengthen Africa’s role in Xi’s Belt and Road initiative to link China by sea and land with Southeast and Central Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa through an infrastructure network modelled on the old Silk Road.</p>
<p>Xi said the plan, for which Beijing has pledged $126 billion, would help provide more resources and facilities for Africa and would expand shared markets.</p>
<p>China loaned around $125 billion to the continent from 2000 to 2016, data from the China-Africa Research Initiative at Washington’s Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies shows.</p>
<p>State media has accused the West of sour grapes over China’s prominent role in Africa and has angrily rejected claims of forcing African countries into a debt trap.</p>
<p>“In terms of cooperation with China, African countries know best,” widely read tabloid the Global Times wrote in an editorial on Monday.</p>
<p>“Western media deliberately portray Africans in misery for collaborating with China and they appear to have discovered big news by finding occasional complaints in the African media about Sino-Africa cooperation,” it said.</p>
<p>Every African country is represented at the business forum apart from eSwatini, self-ruled Taiwan’s last African ally that has so far rejected China’s overtures to ditch Taipei and recognise Beijing.</p>
<p>African presidents in attendance include South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Zambia’s Edgar Lungu and Gabon’s Ali Bongo.</p>
<p>There are some controversial guests. Sudan President Omar al-Bashir, who has been in power for nearly 30 years, is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes over killings and persecution in Sudan’s Darfur province between 2003 and 2008.</p>
<p>Xi told him on Sunday that “foreign forces” should not interfere in Sudan’s internal affairs, China’s Foreign Ministry said. China is not a party to the court.</p>
<p>“China has always had reservations about the International Criminal Court’s indictment and arrest order against Sudan’s president. We hope the ICC can prudently handle the relevant issue,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters.</p>
<p>Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Christian Shepherd; Additional reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Paul Tait and Darren Schuettler</p>


What you need to know about China’s $60 billion offer to Africa

<p>By <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/karen-newbigging-290441">Karen Newbigging</a>, Senior Lecturer, <em><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-birmingham-1138">University of Birmingham</a></em></p>
<p>Poor mental health among young people is on the rise in the UK, while access to support and treatment <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/chief-medical-officer-cmo-annual-report-public-mental-health">remains patchy</a>. There is now a pressing need to build resilience in young people to minimise their risk of poor mental health later on, as our <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/impact/policy-commissions/mental-health/index.aspx">latest report argues</a>.</p>
<p>There are 12.5m young people in England, and one in ten will experience poor mental health. Half of all lifelong mental health problems <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17551351">start before the age of 14</a>, but only one in four young people uses mental health services. An <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/impact/policy-commissions/mental-health/index.aspx">extra 23,800 staff, at a cost of £1.77 billion</a>, is needed so that every young person who needs mental health support can get it. In the short term, though, this is unrealistic.</p>
<h2>Treatment gap</h2>
<p>To address this treatment gap, we need to invest in building young people’s resilience in order to minimise their risk of developing poor mental health in the first place. A <a href="http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/888/news/47341">recent study from Wales</a> showed that people with high resilience in childhood are less than half as likely to develop a mental health condition, compared with those who have low resilience during childhood. The early years, <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/understanding-effective-approaches-to-promoting-mental-health-and-preventing-mental-illness_bc364fb2-en">before the age of 18</a>, are the best time to build resilience as it provides lifelong mental health benefits.</p>
<p>Resilience is the ability to deal with life’s challenges and stresses in a healthy and positive way. This involves drawing on personal resources, such as the ability to manage anxiety and negative thoughts, as well as social resources, such as having positive relationships with family, friends and adults, including teachers.</p>
<p>Social and economic circumstances also affect a child’s ability to develop resilience. Children from low-income families are much <a href="https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/download-children-of-the-new-century">more likely to experience poor mental health</a>, compared with children from high-income families.</p>
<figure class="align-center "><img decoding="async" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233896/original/file-20180828-86153-fi17cr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Power in positive relationships.</span><br />
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/two-little-boys-holding-hands-running-686208856?src=FwYha6uV_-YUDpNlIIYZ-A-1-37">Olga Enger/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure>
<h2>Two-pronged approach</h2>
<p>Preventing poor mental health in childhood and in later life needs a two-pronged approach. First, parents need support so they can provide a secure home for their children. Alongside this, parents, schools and youth organisations need to help children develop positive relationships and teach them how to deal with relationship problems and other difficulties in life.</p>
<p>Second, we need to minimise the risk to children’s mental health. These risks include all forms of abuse, poverty and other negative experiences during childhood, such as being bullied. Positive relationships with family members, friends, teachers and other adults can act as a buffer against these negative experiences.</p>
<p>Investing in <a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/business-and-consultancy/consulting/consulting-reports/commissioning-cost-effective-services-for-promotion-of-mental-health-and-wellbeing-and-prevention-of-mental-ill-health">prevention</a> would save the government, the NHS, education, the criminal justice system and employers money in the long run, so investing in the resilience of children should be everybody’s business.</p>
<p>While there have been repeated <a href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100407162639/http://www.newhorizons.dh.gov.uk/index.aspx">calls for action</a> over the past ten years, progress has been sluggish. Many areas lack a strategy, and investment in preventative activity is often <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/stocktake-of-local-mental-health-prevention-planning-arrangements">short term</a>.</p>
<p>Planning for a resilient generation requires public health to work with health, education, parents, young people and other partners. Together they need to identify the actions they can take for the whole population as well as for those groups that are particularly at risk. And they will need to prioritise what to invest in. There is good evidence for specific interventions that will improve mental health and deliver an early payback on the investment. For example, providing social and emotional learning in schools can achieve a saving of <a href="http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/32311/">£5 for every £1 invested over a three-year period</a>.</p>
<p>Local government also needs to take action to ensure that vulnerable families and young people have a secure income, housing and access to health, education and employment. This includes a concerted effort to reduce the harm caused by negative childhood experiences, such as abuse, and by focusing on young people who are particularly at risk of poor mental health, as is the case with young people who have been in care.</p>
<p>Even with a robust resilience programme, there will always be young people who experience poor mental health, so it’s still important to respond quickly to the first signs of distress. This has implications for all of us in knowing how to respond well and how to access the right support.</p>
<h2>One-stop service</h2>
<p>Mental health services for young people have long waiting lists and we need to develop accessible and friendly one-stop-shop services that can better meet their needs, such as the Australian organisation, <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2015/202/10/services-provided-young-people-through-headspace-centres-across-australia">Headspace</a>, a national youth mental health service, designed with input from young people.</p>
<p>Building resilience, minimising risks to mental health and ensuring effective support is available has the potential to halve the number of children experiencing poor mental health within a generation. The benefits of this will be realised not only by young people and their families but also by wider society and the economy.</p>
<p>Investing in the resilience of young people is everybody’s business. It is time for the hand-wringing about the poor mental health of children and young people to stop and for action to be taken. A first step is for investment in the resilience of children and young people to be a clear priority for government and public services.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99776/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/key-to-lifelong-good-mental-health-learn-resilience-in-childhood-99776">original article</a>.</p>

Why building resilience in childhood can minimise risk of poor mental health later on

<figure><img decoding="async" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233858/original/file-20180828-86147-1xhaopz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="File 20180828 86147 1xhaopz.jpg?ixlib=rb 1.1" /><figcaption><span class="attribution"><span class="source">31moonlight31 / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/patrick-byrne-520375">Patrick Byrne</a>, <em><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/liverpool-john-moores-university-1319">Liverpool John Moores University</a></em> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/karen-hudson-edwards-538369">Karen Hudson-Edwards</a>, <em><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-exeter-1190">University of Exeter</a></em></p>
<p>Nearly <a href="https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Mobile-Phone-Smartphone-Usage-Varies-Globally/1014738">five billion people</a> worldwide will use a smartphone by 2020. Each device is made up of numerous precious metals and many of the key technological features wouldn’t be possible without them. Some, like gold, will be familiar. Others, such as terbium, are less well-known.</p>
<p>Mining these metals is a vital activity that underpins the modern global economy. But the environmental cost can be enormous and is probably far greater than you realise. Let’s walk through some of the key metals in smartphones, what they do, and the environmental cost of getting them out of the ground.</p>
<h2>Catastrophic mine waste spills</h2>
<p>Iron (20%), aluminium (14%) and copper (7%) are the three <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/270454/top-10-materials-in-a-smartphone/">most common metals</a> by weight in your average smartphone. Iron is used in speakers and microphones and in stainless steel frames. Aluminium is used as a lightweight alternative to stainless steel and also in the manufacture of the strong glass used in smartphone screens. Copper is used in electric wiring.</p>
<p>However, enormous volumes of solid and liquid waste (termed mine “tailings”) are produced when extracting these metals from the earth. Typically, mine tailings are stored in vast impoundment structures that can be several square kilometres in area. Recent <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0883292718300246">catastrophic mine tailings spills</a> highlight the danger of improper construction methods and lax safety monitoring.</p>
<p>The largest spill on record occurred in November 2015 when a <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-should-we-blame-for-the-brazil-mining-dam-disaster-50521">dam collapsed</a> at an iron ore mine in Minas Gerais, Brazil, releasing approximately 33m cubic metres (enough to fill 23,000 Olympic swimming pools) of iron-rich waste into the River Doce. The waste inundated local villages killing 19 people and travelled 650km until it reached the Atlantic Ocean 17 days later.</p>
<p>This was just one of <a href="http://www.grida.no/publications/383">40 mine tailings spills</a> that have occurred in the past decade and the long-term ecological and human health impacts remain largely unknown. One thing is clear though – as our thirst for technology increases, mine tailings dams are increasing in number and size, and so is their risk of failure.</p>
<h2>Ecosystem destruction</h2>
<p>Gold and tin are common in smartphones. But mining of these metals is responsible for ecological devastation from the <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/05/gold-mining-shifts-course-peruvian-river-will-destroy-ecosystems/">Peruvian Amazon</a> to the tropical islands of Indonesia.</p>
<p>Gold in smartphones is used primarily to make connectors and wires but gold mining is a major cause of <a href="https://www.brilliantearth.com/gold-mining-environment/">deforestation</a> in the Amazon. Furthermore, extraction of gold from the earth generates waste rich in <a href="https://theconversation.com/acid-drainage-the-global-environmental-crisis-youve-never-heard-of-83515">cyanide and mercury</a> – two highly toxic substances that can contaminate drinking water and fish, with serious implications for human health.</p>
<p>Tin is used for soldering in electronics. Indium-tin oxide is applied to smartphone screens as a thin, transparent and conductive coating that gives touchscreen functionality. The seas surrounding Indonesia’s Bangka and Belitung Islands supplies about a third of the world’s supply. However, large-scale dredging of the seabed for the tin-rich sand has <a href="https://friendsoftheearth.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/tin_mining.pdf">destroyed the precious coral ecosystem</a> while the decline of the fishing industry has led to economic and social problems.</p>
<h2>The most polluted place on the planet?</h2>
<p>What makes your smartphone smart? That’ll be the rare earth elements – a group of 17 metals with weird names like praseodymium that are mined mostly in <a href="https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/mcs/2018/mcs2018.pdf">China, Russia and Australia</a>.</p>
<p>Often dubbed “technology metals”, rare earths are fundamental to smartphone design and function. Crystal clear smartphone speakers, microphones and phone vibration are possible due to small yet powerful motors and magnets manufactured using neodymium, dysprosium and praseodymium. Terbium and dysprosium are also used to produce the vibrant colours of a smartphone screen.</p>
<p>Extracting rare earths is a difficult and dirty business, typically involving the use of sulphuric and hydrofluoric acids and the production of vast amounts of highly toxic waste. Perhaps the most disturbing and thought provoking example of the environmental cost of our smartphone thirst is the “world’s tech waste lake” in <a href="http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150402-the-worst-place-on-earth">Baotou, China</a>. Created in 1958, this artificial lake collects the toxic sludge from rare earth processing operations.</p>
<div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{&quot;tweetId&quot;:&quot;678465188580823042&quot;}"></div>
<p>The valuable metals used to manufacture smartphones are a finite resource. Recent estimates indicate we will run out of some rare earths in the next <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/112/14/4257">20 to 50 years</a>, which makes you wonder if smartphones will still be around then. Reducing the environmental impact of smartphone use requires manufacturers to increase product lifetimes, make recycling more straightforward and be open about where they source their metals and the environmental impact. Around the world mining companies have made huge strides in practising more sustainable mining. But we as consumers also need to consider smartphones as less of a throwaway item and more of a precious resource that carries an enormous environmental burden.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102148/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/patrick-byrne-520375">Patrick Byrne</a>, Senior Lecturer in Geography, <em><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/liverpool-john-moores-university-1319">Liverpool John Moores University</a></em> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/karen-hudson-edwards-538369">Karen Hudson-Edwards</a>, Professor in Sustainable Mining, <em><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-exeter-1190">University of Exeter</a></em></p>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/three-ways-making-a-smartphone-can-harm-the-environment-102148">original article</a>.</p>

Here’s how smartphones are hurting the environment

<p>Want to get rid of poverty, lessen inequality and provide financial stability in a world of precarious work? Well, why not simply give everyone enough money to ensure basic sustenance?</p>
<p>This is the deceptively simple solution proposed by advocates of <a href="https://theconversation.com/basic-income-is-a-radical-idea-bound-for-the-political-mainstream-heres-why-69695">universal basic income</a> (<a href="https://basicincome.org/basic-income/">UBI</a>). Just transfer enough money to everyone, every month, to guarantee a basic livelihood. The policy is universal and unconditional (you get it no matter who you are or what you do).</p>
<p>This means no bulky bureaucracy to administer the programme, or onerous reporting requirements on the poor. Nor do you have to wait to file paperwork to benefit: whether you lose your job, decide to strike out on a new career path or take time away from work to care for a family member, the money is already there.</p>
<p>But the UBI movement has a major problem: both critics and even many supporters don’t understand how much the programme would really cost. To calculate the cost, most people just multiply the size of the monthly income (say, $1,000) by the population (it’s universal, after all) and – voilà – a number that seems impossibly expensive.</p>
<p>But this is not how much UBI costs. The real cost – the amount of money that actually needs to be taken from someone and redistributed to someone else – is just a small fraction of these estimates.</p>
<p>The key to understanding the real cost of UBI is understanding the difference between the gross (or upfront) and net (or real) cost. Here’s a simple example: imagine a room with 15 people who want to set up a UBI for the room of $2 per person. The upfront cost of the policy would be $30. The ten richest people in the room are asked to contribute $3 each towards funding it. After they each put in $3, raising the total $30 needed, every person in the room gets their $2 universal basic income. But because the ten richest people in the room contributed $3, and then got $2 back as the UBI, their real, net contribution is in fact $1 each. So the real cost of the UBI is $10.</p>
<p>Estimates that just multiply the size of the UBI by the population of a country do the equivalent of claiming that the cost of UBI in the room above is a whopping $30. But the real cost in this scenario – the money redistributed from the wealthy – is only $10.</p>
<h2>The billionaire’s dilemma</h2>
<p>It’s important to understand who will be gaining money through a UBI and who will be contributing to it. The common mistake is to double count the net contributors. Yes, they get a UBI, but in contributing to the UBI pot they first return their UBI, and then throw in some money on top of that. So it’s incorrect to count them when calculating the true UBI cost.</p>
<p>This is a fundamental point that often gets missed: those that are taxed to pay for the UBI will get some of that cost back – by getting their UBI. You can also think about it in reverse: while the UBI goes to everyone, the rich in effect give it back in the first chunk of taxes they pay, so you don’t need to count their UBI in cost estimates.</p>
<p><span style="color: #111111; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 27px;">True costs</span></p>
<p>This also resolves UBI’s “billionaire’s dilemma” – why give someone like Bill Gates a basic income? The answer is that Gates would simply return that UBI through his taxes – and help pay for others. But if Gates becomes suddenly destitute, the UBI will still be showing up for him to use every month. And since his tax bill will drop, he’ll become a net beneficiary rather than contributor.</p>
<p>Any UBI estimate that just multiplies the size of the UBI by the population is a red flag that the cost has been over-inflated. A true cost estimate will always discuss who the net beneficiaries will be, who the net contributors will be, and the rate at which we gradually switch people over from being beneficiaries to being contributors as they get richer (this is sometimes called the claw-back rate, the withdrawal rate or the marginal tax rate – which is not an overall tax, but simply the rate at which people start to return their UBI to the communal pot as they earn more).</p>
<p>Cost estimates that consider the difference between upfront and real cost are a fraction of inflated gross cost estimates. For instance, economist and philosopher Karl Widerquist <a href="https://works.bepress.com/widerquist/75/">has shown</a> that to fund a UBI of US$12,000 per adult and US$6,000 per child every year (while keeping all other spending the same) the US would have to raise an additional US$539 billion a year – less than 3% of its GDP. This is a small fraction of the figures that get thrown around of over <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/poverty-and-opportunity/commentary-universal-basic-income-may-sound-attractive-but-if-it-occurred">US$3 trillion</a> (the gross cost of this policy). Karl’s simplified scheme has people slowly start contributing back their UBI in taxes to the common pot as they earn, with net beneficiaries being anyone individually earning less than US$24,000 a year.</p>
<p>This point still holds if you’re raising money for UBI from other sources than income or wealth taxes. If you use a corporate or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/15/the-guardian-view-on-universal-basic-income-tax-data-giants-to-pay-for-it">data tax</a>, or a <a href="https://qz.com/1205591/a-universal-basic-income-experiment-in-alaska-shows-employment-didnt-drop/">natural resource</a> or <a href="https://basicincome.org/news/2017/02/conservative-carbon-dividend-proposal-welcome-development-introduction-partial-basic-income/">carbon tax</a> to finance a UBI, you are still redistributing money that would otherwise ultimately be profits that go to Google shareholders or BP executives. And you’re taking less away from them than you would think – because they too get a UBI. So the money they end up losing through the new tax is offset by the UBI they receive. The same holds if you’re paying for a UBI by <a href="https://medium.com/basic-income/if-we-can-afford-our-current-welfare-system-we-can-afford-basic-income-9ae9b5f186af">reshuffling your budget</a>.</p>
<p>Some people get confused and question whether UBI is really universal if only a portion of the population actually ends up with extra income, while another portion pays for it. But any policy that is universal yet redistributory <a href="http://www.scottsantens.com/negative-income-tax-nit-and-unconditional-basic-income-ubi-what-makes-them-the-same-and-what-makes-them-different">works this way</a>. Public transit, roads and schools are all universal benefits, but some people pay a lot for their funding through their taxes, while others enjoy them for free or at a lower cost.</p>
<p>In light of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/9/8/6003359/basic-income-negative-income-tax-questions-explain">huge</a> <a href="https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/less-work-more-time-universal-basic-income-feminist-utopia">benefits</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-new-labour-struggle-less-work-same-pay-and-basic-income-for-all-76903">available</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/time-for-degrowth-to-save-the-planet-we-must-shrink-the-economy-64195">from</a> a UBI, it’s a <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/20/15821560/basic-income-critiques-cost-work-negative-income-tax">waste</a> of time to argue <a href="https://basicincome.org/news/2017/05/real-cost-universal-basic-income/">over</a> <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/100137b4-0cdf-11e8-bacb-2958fde95e5e">wildly</a> <a href="http://socialprotection-humanrights.org/resource/universal-basic-income-proposals-in-light-of-ilo-standards-key-issues-and-global-costing-ess-%e2%94%80-working-paper-no-62/">inflated</a> <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-hughes/the-case-for-cash-for-all_b_10004590.html">cost</a> <a href="https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2015/05/23/basically-unaffordable">estimates</a>. The numbers are out there – we can pay for a basic income.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101134/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/elizaveta-fouksman-364893">Elizaveta Fouksman</a>, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, <em><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-oxford-1260">University of Oxford</a></em></p>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-universal-basic-income-costs-far-less-than-you-think-101134">original article</a>.</p>

Here’s the true cost of the proposed ‘universal basic income’ that could lessen inequality

<p>CAPE TOWN (Reuters) &#8211; Britain will use its international aid budget to boost its national interest and deepen trade ties with Africa, Prime Minister Theresa May will tell an audience in South Africa on Tuesday.</p>
<p>May, battling to unite her divided party over her plan to take Britain out of the European Union, will also visit Nigeria and Kenya as part of a three-day visit to Africa alongside a group of business delegates.</p>
<p>She is expected to recommit to maintaining the overall British aid budget at 0.7 percent of economic output but will add that she will be “unashamed” to use it in a way that helps Britain.</p>
<p>The target has previously come under fire from many of May’s own lawmakers who say it is a blunt tool that is too high and should be spent elsewhere or in Britain itself.</p>
<p>May will say she wants Britain to become the biggest investor in Africa out of the countries in the Group of Seven nations, overtaking the United States, by using the aid budget to help British private sector companies invest on the continent.</p>
<p>“I am unashamed about the need to ensure that our aid programme works for the UK,” May will say in her speech, according to extracts released by her office.</p>
<p>“Today I am committing that our development spending will not only combat extreme poverty, but at the same time tackle global challenges and support our own national interest. This will ensure that our investment in aid benefits us all, and is fully aligned with our wider national security priorities.”</p>
<p>Writing by Kate Holton; editing by Michael Holden</p>


May in South Africa to discuss Britain’s plans to boost trade in Africa, what you need to know…

<p>JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; The United States poultry industry will press its government to retaliate if South Africa suspends a quota that excludes some U.S. imports from an anti-dumping tariff, the head of a poultry trade group said.</p>
<p>The South African Poultry Association (SAPA) has filed a lawsuit seeking to force the government to suspend the quota in response to the Trump administration’s decision to impose tariffs on aluminum and steel imports from South Africa.</p>
<p>“We will certainly be encouraging our government to take appropriate action,” James Sumner, president of the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council, told Reuters late on Tuesday.</p>
<p>The looming row could put at risk duty-free access to the U.S. market for nearly $2 billion worth of South African exports, government officials and trade experts say.</p>
<p>South Africa levies a tariff on “bone-in” poultry that it says is exported by major world producers, including the United States, at prices below the cost of production.</p>
<p>The U.S. poultry industry believes the anti-dumping tariff is illegal.</p>
<p>Threatened with losing its benefits under AGOA &#8211; the United States’ flagship trade legislation for Africa &#8211; South Africa agreed to a quota in 2015 allowing some 65,000 tonnes of meat from U.S. producers to be imported tariff-free each year.</p>
<p>AGOA grants qualifying countries duty-free access to the U.S. market for thousands of goods. More than $1.8 billion in South African exports to the United States were covered by AGOA last year.</p>
<p>However, South Africa’s poultry association is arguing that tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum imports imposed by Washington earlier this year violate the quota agreement by curtailing AGOA benefits.</p>
<p>“We hope that the U.S. and South Africa will amicably resolve and differences they have over the (steel and aluminum) tariffs but it should not interfere with agreements already reached on poultry trade,” Sumner said.</p>
<p>Reporting by Joe Bavier; Editing by James Macharia and Richard Balmforth</p>


South Africa’s poultry industry at odds with U.S, here’s why…

<p>MBABANE (Reuters) &#8211; The Kingdom of eSwatini will not switch its allegiance from Taiwan to China, its foreign affairs minister said on Wednesday, after China said it expected Taiwan’s last diplomatic ally in Africa to switch allies soon.</p>
<p>“They must not play mind games because our relationship with Taiwan is over 50 years so we will not dump them,” Mgwagwa Gamedze told Reuters from Taiwan, where he was on a visit. “We have no desire to change camps since Taiwan has been good to us.”</p>
<p>eSwatini was formerly known as Swaziland.</p>
<p>El Salvador this week became the third country to switch allegiances to China from Taiwan this year.</p>
<p>Reporting by Lunga Masuku; Writing by James Macharia; editing by John Stonestreet</p>


This country is Taiwan’s last remaining ally in Africa, says it won’t switch to China

<p>MOSCOW (Reuters) &#8211; Russia and the Central African Republic will sign an agreement on military cooperation on Tuesday, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying.</p>
<p>Russia this year delivered light arms to the Central African Republic’s security forces and said it deployed 175 military and civilian instructors to train them.</p>
<p>Three Russian reporters were killed last month in the Central African Republic while investigating Russian mercenaries reportedly active in the country.</p>
<p>Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; Writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by John Stonestreet</p>


What you need to know about Russia’s military agreement with Central African Republic

<ul>
<li>Tesla shares surged more than 10 percent after being halted for more than an hour.</li>
<li>Musk issued a string of tweets about possibly taking the company private at $420 a share.</li>
<li>Later, the company issued a blog post that said a final decision had not yet been made.<br />
Tesla&#8217;s market value at $420 a share would be about $71 billion.</li>
</ul>
<div class="source"><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/robert-ferris/" rel="author">Robert Ferris</a> | <span class="twitter-url"><a href="https://twitter.com/RobertoFerris">@RobertoFerris</a></span></div>
<p><span id="sourcelogo-cnbccom" class="sourcelogo">CNBC.com</span></p>
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<p><span class="video-icon"><a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/08/07/elon-musk-tweets-tesla-private.html" data-videoid="7000034748" data-videotype="0"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="" title="Here's what four experts are saying on Tesla potentially going private" src="https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2018/08/07/105382239-3ED5-BL-MuskMash-080718.600x337.jpg?v=1533678314" alt="" width="687" height="386" /></a></span></p>
<div class="headline"><a class="inline_quotes" href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=TSLA" data-gdsid="74213" data-inline-quote-symbol="TSLA">Tesla</a> CEO <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/elon-musk/">Elon Musk</a> stunned investors Tuesday with a string of tweets saying he is considering taking the company private, in what would be the largest deal of its kind.</div>
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<p>&#8220;Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured,&#8221; Musk said in a tweet shortly before 1 p.m. Musk <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/07/tesla-says-no-final-decision-has-been-made-to-take-company-private.html">discussed the plans further in a blog post</a> later Tuesday.</p>
<p>From there Musk tweeted several times. In responses to questions on Twitter, Musk said he will ensure the prosperity of shareholders &#8220;in any scenario.&#8221; If Tesla went private, current investors could keep their stakes in Tesla through a special fund, or sell their shares at $420, he said.</p>
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<p>Shares jumped after Musk&#8217;s first tweet, trading as high as $371.15 before giving back gains. Later the stock was halted for more than an hour. When it reopened shares surged more than 10 percent.</p>
<p>Tesla shares were already trading higher on a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/07/tesla-shares-jump-on-report-saudi-arabia-sovereign-wealth-fund-has-2-.html">report of a new stake from the Saudi Arabia sovereign wealth fund</a>.</p>
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<p>In the past year, Tesla shares have traded as low as $244.59 in April and as high as $389.61 in September.</p>
<p>Tesla went public in 2010. Its current market value is $61 billion. At a share price of $420, the company would be worth $71.3 billion.</p>
<p>Although Musk mentioned funding in his initial tweet, a blog post from Tesla did not include any mention of financing. CNBC also contacted a number of Wall Street banks and none of them was aware of any transaction or had committed to funding a leveraged buyout of Tesla.</p>
<p>The Securities and Exchange Commission also declined to comment on the matter. However, <a class="inline_asset" href="https://www.investor.gov/additional-resources/news-alerts/press-releases/sec-says-social-media-ok-company-announcements-if">companies are allowed to use social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter to announce news</a>, the SEC said in 2013.</p>
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<p>He also said he does not currently have a controlling vote in the company and wouldn&#8217;t expect a single shareholder to have one if the company were private. He said he had no intention of selling his stake, and he said he would remain as CEO.</p>
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<p>Taking Tesla private could remove some of the pressure on the closely watched company. Private firms, for example, are not required to publicly report quarterly earnings. Musk also said being private would end &#8220;negative propaganda from shorts.&#8221;</p>
<p>Musk has said he expects Tesla to begin being profitable in the third quarter of 2018.</p>
<p>Investors have been concerned about the amount of cash Tesla has been burning through and whether the company would need to raise additional funds to support its growth plans, which include introducing a semi-truck, a crossover SUV called the Model Y, more factories around the world, and other projects.</p>
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Did Elon Musk break just announce he’s taking Tesla private over a tweet?

<p><a class="inline_quotes" href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=AAPL" data-gdsid="8016" data-inline-quote-symbol="AAPL">Apple</a> hit a $1 trillion market cap on Thursday, making the iPhone maker the first publicly traded U.S. company to reach the record valuation.</p>
<p>But it isn’t the first company to claim the $1 trillion title. In 2007, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/apples-market-cap-hits-1-trillion-1533225150">WSJ</a> notes, <a href="http://quotes.wsj.com/PTR">PetroChina</a>&#8216;s market cap surpassed that level and Saudi Arabian Oil, the state-owned oil company in an initial public offering, that later stalled, was valued at as much as $2 trillion.</p>
<p>The stock rose nearly 3 percent following a strong <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/31/apple-earnings-q3-2018.html">third-quarter earnings report</a> earlier this week, briefly hitting a session high of $207.05 in midday trading before falling back below $207.</p>
<p>Based on a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/01/apple-1-trillion-share-price-threshold.html">recently adjusted</a> outstanding share count of 4,829,926,000 shares, a stock price of $207.05 nudged Apple over the finish line in the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/19/amazon-is-hot-on-apples-trail-in-the-race-to-1-trillion.html">race to one trillion</a>. Investors had previously been looking for a share price of $203.45, but the company&#8217;s <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/01/apple-buybacks-q2-2018.html">hefty stock buybacks</a> moved the threshold higher.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think it just speaks to just how powerful the Apple ecosystem has become over the last few decades,&#8221; GBH Insights analyst Dan Ives told CNBC after the historic market move. &#8220;This is not the end, that they hit $1 trillion. I view this as just kind of speaking to a new a stage of growth and profitability.&#8221;</p>
<p>Ives credited the company&#8217;s growing <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/31/apple-q3-2018-services-revenue.html">software and services revenue</a> with driving the valuation. The catch-all category — which includes the App Store, AppleCare, Apple Pay, iTunes and cloud services — posted record quarterly revenue of $9.55 billion for the June quarter.</p>
<p>&#8220;It just speaks to the vision that [co-founder Steve Jobs] and now [CEO Tim Cook] have had in making sure Apple isn&#8217;t just a hardware company,&#8221; Ives said.</p>
<p><a class="inline_quotes" href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=AMZN" data-gdsid="9399" data-inline-quote-symbol="AMZN">Amazon</a> had also been approaching the threshold, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/17/amazon-announces-2018-prime-day-results.html">surpassing $900 billion</a> in market value in July. Apple had quite the head start, though, hitting $900 billion <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/08/apple-aapl-market-capitalization-hits-900-billion-dollars.html">back in November</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/01/wall-street-gushes-over-apples-earnings-path-to-trillion-intact.html">Many on Wall Street</a> noted earlier this week Apple was firmly on the path to $1 trillion. The so-called &#8220;dean of valuation&#8221; said the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/01/wall-street-dean-of-valuation-damodaran-says-apple-still-a-value.html">stock is still cheap</a> even at $1 trillion.</p>


Apple first publicly traded U.S. company to hit a $1 trillion market cap

<p>Justina Crabtree</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/12/zimbabwe-launches-space-agency-to-modernize-economy.html">Zimbabwe launches a space agency to modernize and revive its economy</a></p>
<ul>
<li>Zimbabwe has launched a space agency as part of its effort to industrialize and modernize.</li>
<li>The Zimbabwe National Geospatial and Space Agency will contribute to areas including agriculture, disease surveillance and infrastructure management, among others.</li>
<li>The southern African country is preparing for its first election in nearly four decades without former President Robert Mugabe on the ticket.</li>
</ul>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cdn.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/14080223/105173405-GettyImages-948122764.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Jekesai Njikizana | AFP | Getty Images"/></p>
<p>Zimbabwe has launched a space agency as part of a trifecta of new schemes announced this week, aimed at helping the southern African country industrialize and modernize itself.</p>
<p>The Zimbabwe National Geospatial and Space Agency is intended to contribute to the country’s capabilities in agriculture, disease surveillance, infrastructure management, mineral exploration and wildlife conservation, according to state-run newspaper The Herald.</p>
<p>Alongside the space agency, Zimbabwe also inaugurated a National Critical Skills Audit, aimed at identifying skills deficits and surpluses in different sections of the economy, as well as a National Qualifications Framework, which will regulate educational qualifications in the country.</p>
<p>Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa said Monday that the initiatives would “serve as a catalyst for our country’s international competitiveness and growth.” He added that the government would set aside 1 percent of its gross domestic product to support research and development.</p>
<p>Mnangagwa’s administration aims to transform Zimbabwe, whose economy has been left in tatters after decades of mismanagement, into a middle-income country by 2030.</p>
<p>The latest plans are intended to “leapfrog our economy in line with local, regional and global trends,” he said.</p>
<p>The country is preparing for an<br />
historic vote on July 30<br />
 as it holds its first general election in nearly four decades without former President Robert Mugabe on the ticket.</p>
<p>Mnangagwa<br />
took power in November 2017<br />
 after Mugabe was ousted in a coup, and has trumpeted the mantra that Zimbabwe is open for business as he attempts to resurrect the country’s basket case economy.</p>


Zimbabwe launches a space agency to modernize and revive its economy

<p>Justina Crabtree</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/09/ethiopia-eritrea-declare-end-to-war-economies-could-benefit.html">Ethiopia and Eritrea declare an end to war — and this could mean a lot for their economies</a></p>
<ul>
<li>Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki signed an agreement on Monday ending a long-standing war between their two countries.</li>
<li>Several deals between Ethiopia and Eritrea were announced over the weekend ahead of the official rapprochement, including Ethiopia&#8217;s access to an Eritrean port and the reopening of embassies in both countries.</li>
<li>The news could help Ethiopia as it grows as a East African manufacturing hub, opening up a new market in Eritrea and shoring up trade routes for its exports.</li>
</ul>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cdn.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/12100213/105318125-1531144243697gettyimages-984393678.1910x1000.jpg" alt="" height="1000" width="1910" data-licensor-name="Yonas Tadesse | AFP | Getty Images"/></p>
<p>The leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea declared the end of a two decades-long war on Monday, and announced a raft of agreements which could boost economic growth in the East Africa region.</p>
<p>“The state of war has come to an end,” tweeted Fitsum Arega on Monday, the chief of staff to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.</p>
<p>Abiy and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki signed a Joint Declaration of Peace and Friendship which included the agreement that “Transport, trade and telecommunication ties will be resumed; diplomatic ties and activities renewed,&#8221; according to a tweet by Eritrean Minister of Information Yemane Meskel.</p>
<p>Abiy arrived in the Eritrean capital of Asmara on Sunday. After talks with his counterpart Afwerki, a series of deals were announced, including Ethiopia’s access to an unnamed Eritrean port on the Red Sea, the reopening of embassies in both countries and the restoration of telephone lines that have been severed for two decades.</p>
<p>TWEET</p>
<p>According to Reuters, the prices of Ethiopian dollar-denominated bonds hit their highest in 10 weeks on Monday, following news of the rapprochement. The news agency also reported thousands of Eritreans cheering Abiy’s arrival on Sunday, waving the flags of both countries.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Gutteres is to meet with Abiy in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on Monday, sources told Reuters.</p>
<p>The news comes as Ethiopia continues its emergence as a regional manufacturing hub. The landlocked country on the Horn of Africa has seen double-digit economic growth as recently as 2017 thanks to its state-led development model which has espoused the mass opening of industrial parks.</p>
<p>According to Jared Jeffery, political analyst for Ethiopia at NKC African Economics, warmer relations will benefit Ethiopia’s economy on multiple fronts.</p>
<p>The rapprochement “will give Ethiopia access to the underdeveloped Eritrean market,” he told CNBC via email. This, in combination with Red Sea port access allowing Ethiopia more scope to ship its goods – as well as bargaining leverage with other ports it uses – will benefit its trade.</p>
<p>“Ethiopia struggles with foreign exchange and this is just one more step to partly alleviate the situation,” Jeffery added.</p>
<p>TWEET</p>
<p>Ethiopia is Africa’s second-most populous country with over 100 million inhabitants, and is banking on economic growth to create jobs for its youthful society.</p>
<p>Eritrea, a former province of Ethiopia, achieved independence in 1993. But, relations between the two countries have been marred by conflict for decades. The weekend meeting between Abiy and Afwerki was the first of its kind since a post-independence war from 1998 to 2000 which killed approximately 80,000.</p>
<p>Abiy’s overtures to Eritrea began last month. As part of an olive branch to end the war, he announced that flag carrier Ethiopian Airlines would resume flights to the country. Abiy himself has been in power for a<br />
matter of months<br />
, pushing a reformist agenda after his predecessor Hailemariam Desalegn<br />
resigned in February<br />
 amid mass protests.</p>
<p>Pariah state Eritrea is considered one of the world’s most secretive countries. Its system of indefinite military conscription has caused many young men to leave the country, forming a significant proportion of African migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe.</p>


Ethiopia and Eritrea declare an end to war — and this could mean a lot for their economies

<p>By Sara Salinas	| @saracsalinas</p>
<p>Facebook is buying a British AI firm to help tackle fake news, TechCrunch reported Monday, in what would be a notable change of strategy for the social media site as it continues to face content issues.</p>
<p>Facebook has vowed in recent months to beef up human editors and problem-spotting AI as it addresses concerns about election meddling and abuse of the platform. The company recently expanded fact-checking resources to more countries ahead of global elections.</p>
<p>The acquisition of London-based Bloomsbury AI would cost only $30 million at the upper end of reported estimates, but could signal Facebook is now looking outside the company to round out its own efforts.</p>
<p>Facebook declined to comment.</p>
<p>Bloomsbury AI develops natural language tools for question-and-answer functionality. The company&#8217;s product, Cape, reads text documents and answers questions about the content, including questions that involve reasoning and synthesis, according to the start-up&#8217;s site.</p>


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