Business

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Facebook is building a massive solar farm in West Texas that’s believed to be one of the largest solar projects in the nation and the social media giant’s first direct investment in renewable energy.

Boston-based renewable energy developer Longroad Energy recently announced it was partnering with Facebook on the $416 million project, just as Facebook is finishing construction of a data center near Albuquerque.

SHANGHAI (AP) — Chinese tech giant Huawei said Tuesday it would have become the world’s number one smartphone maker by year’s end if it were not for “unexpected” circumstances — a hint that pressure from the U.S. may be hurting its sales.

“If we had not encountered anything unexpected, we would have become number one in the world by the fourth quarter,” Huawei’s chief strategist, Shao Yang, said at the Consumer Electronics Show in Shanghai.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — In Venezuela, the financial hopes of Eliset González are riding on a niche trade.

Each day, González sits at a market kiosk in Caracas and repairs broken lightbulbs for people who can’t afford new ones in the crisis-torn nation.

“I feel that with this I help the community, because these lightbulbs are super expensive nowadays. I help myself as well,” said González, who learned how to disassemble and rewire a bulb while spending several years in prison for theft.

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher Tuesday as investor jitters over trade eased after U.S. President Donald Trump suspended plans to impose tariffs on Mexican imports and said he expects to meet with the Chinese leader.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.4% in morning trading to 21,208.09. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 1.3% to 6,528.30. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.3% to 2,105.37. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng stood at 27,820.63, up nearly 0.9%, while the Shanghai Composite edged up 1.9% at 2,905.44.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A seed developer from the Netherlands credited with introducing high quality disease-resistant vegetable seeds to more than 60 countries including the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia was awarded the 2019 World Food Prize on Monday.

Simon Groot, a sixth generation seedsman, began his search to create better vegetable seeds to help farmers in Southeast Asia in 1981 at age 47 after his family’s company was taken over by a larger corporation.

United States: Customs and Border Protection said Monday that photos of travelers and license plates collected at a single U.S. border point have been exposed in a malicious cyberattack in what a leading congressman called a “major privacy breach.”

The federal agency did not name the subcontractor whose computer network was hacked, but the announcement followed news that a Tennessee-based company that bills itself as the sole provider of stationary license plate readers at U.S. borders had been compromised.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump complained Monday that President Xi Jinping enjoys a major advantage in the U.S.-China trade war in that he controls China’s central bank while Trump must deal with a Federal Reserve that is “very destructive to us.”

Trump made clear in an interview with CNBC his frustration with a system that provides political independence for America’s central bank — something most economists see as vital to its credibility. Trump noted that China’s president, by contrast, is essentially also head of the Chinese central bank.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a deal with Mexico to stem the flow of migrants at the southern border, the two countries appear unable to agree on exactly what’s in it.

Stung by criticism that the agreement mostly ramps up border protection efforts already underway, Trump on Monday hinted at other, secret agreements he says will soon be revealed.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s foreign minister warned the U.S. on Monday that it “cannot expect to stay safe” after launching what he described as an economic war against Tehran, taking a hard-line stance amid a visit by Germany’s top diplomat seeking to defuse tensions.

10 June 2019; AFP: British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, a contender to replace Theresa May as prime minister, said Sunday that German Chancellor Angela Merkel had indicated the EU would be willing to renegotiate the Brexit divorce deal.

Hunt, one of nearly a dozen Conservatives vying to succeed May after she resigned as party leader Friday, said he spoke with Merkel at this week's D-Day commemorations and was convinced changing May's agreement was possible.