Business

12 July 2019; AFP: US President Donald Trump on Thursday accused China of backsliding on promises to increase purchases of American farm exports.

The president's latest salvo on Twitter comes the same week that US and Chinese trade officials had their first contact in months in an effort to revive negotiations that nearly collapsed in May.

12 July 2019; AFP: China's economy grew at its slowest rate in nearly three decades in the second quarter, according to an AFP survey of analysts, hit by the US-China trade war and weakening global demand.

The world's second largest economy expanded 6.2 percent in April-June, the poll of 10 economists predicted ahead of the official release of gross domestic product figures Monday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A software engineer is accused of stealing trade secrets from the Illinois locomotive company he once worked for and taking the information with him to China, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

The Justice Department unsealed an indictment charging Xudong Yao, also known as William Yao, with nine counts of trade secrets theft.

11 July 2019; AFP: French President Emmanuel Macron's top diplomatic advisor met with Iran's president Wednesday winding up a day of talks in Tehran aimed at saving a landmark 2015 nuclear deal and easing tensions between Tehran and Washington.

But as Emmanuel Bonne pressed the high-level talks, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to warn that US sanctions against Iran would soon be "increased substantially", charging Tehran had "long been secretly 'enriching'" uranium.

HAVANA, July 10 (Xinhua) -- Increasing sanctions imposed by the United States have failed to discourage foreign investors from doing business in Cuba, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Wednesday.

Addressing a parliamentary session to assess economic and social issues, Diaz-Canel acknowledged Washington has stepped up its sanctions regime against Cuba in an effort to cut off its access to revenue and capital.

However, foreign businesses continue to propose new investment projects, signalling their confidence in Cuba's economy, said the president.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is launching an investigation into France’s proposed tax on internet giants like Google, Amazon and Facebook — a move that could lead to U.S. taxes on French imports.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer expressed concern that the tax, expected to be passed by the French Senate Thursday, “unfairly targets American companies.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress might need to extend the government’s crucial ability to borrow money before leaving the Capitol for its August recess, Trump administration officials said Wednesday. The timetable would heap extraordinary pressure on lawmakers to cut a deal on a measure that usually requires lengthy and politically delicate negotiations.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea is requesting the United States mediate in a bitter diplomatic row with Japan over Tokyo’s moves to tighten controls on high-tech exports to its neighboring U.S. ally.

South Korea said Thursday its Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha discussed the issue with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo by phone and conveyed Seoul’s view that Japan’s “undesirable” trade curbs could disrupt global supply chains and hurt trilateral cooperation among the countries.

MOSCOW, July 9. /TASS/: Just like any other member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran has the right to possess as much uranium enriched to 4.5% as it needs, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the Vienna-based international organizations Mikhail Ulyanov said on Tuesday.

10 July 2019; AFP: A diplomatic adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron held talks in Tehran Wednesday aimed at saving the 2015 nuclear deal and easing tensions between Iran and the United States.

Emmanuel Bonne met Rear-Admiral Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, and was set to meet with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif later on Wednesday.