Tag: XXVII76

Last week, the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act was passed by both houses of the U.S. Congress and then signed by President Trump. The bill imposes sanctions on any Chinese or Hong Kong official found responsible for human rights abuses against pro-Democracy protesters who have taken to the streets for over six months...

Picking up the year-long momentum of the grassroots Yellow Vest populist movement that was sparked by rising petrol taxes, a national strike has been called this Thursday by major trade unions, including Air France, railway workers, truck drivers, teachers, firemen, postal workers, and dockworkers.  The rallying cry is centered around reduced pensions, income inequality, and...

We have been reporting in the Trends Journal that nations are taking measures to distance themselves from the dollar by trading with their own currencies. Other steps being taken include Asia and Europe’s central banks’ plans to create their own digital currencies. In line with Venezuela’s Petro cryptocurrency and other central banks in Sweden, Uruguay,...

As reported in the Trends Journal over the past few months, the world auto market is in decline. Even the U.S., whose economy and currency appear solid in comparison to most in the global economy, the auto-market slowdown is hitting home. Stage 1: Delinquent U.S. auto loans (loans that are at least 90 days late)...

The German car industry is “in the middle of a far-reaching upheaval,” said Herbert Diess, the chief executive of Volkswagen (VW).  Last spring, the company said they laid off 7,000 employees to pay for research and development of electric vehicles (EV).  VW has cut 30,000 employees just within the last three years.  VW owns Audi,...

Last week, multi-billionaire Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor and well-known business tycoon, announced he was seeking the Democratic nomination for president. His announcement was preceded by a nearly $40 million media blitz. Bloomberg has said he will commit at least $500 million to his campaign. Under the rules of the Democratic National...

Researchers are reinventing wood for the 21st century, making it transparent and embedding it with electronic sensors. The reason: concrete, steel, and glass – the staples of commercial construction – are not only finite resources but making them also emits an estimated 11 percent of the world’s excess CO2. Growing a steady supply of construction...

Bioscientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science have brought a new version of the E. coli bacterium into the world. What’s notable is that this one can live without eating. Biologists generally divide life into two groups: one eats food and the other absorbs carbon dioxide and sunlight. Weizmann’s group has, for the first time,...

Diagnosing the early signs of Alzheimer’s Disease – before obvious symptoms develop – is still tricky. But it may become less so due to work done by Spanish scientists at Madrid’s Complutense University. Using noninvasive imaging methods, the researchers found that different layers of tissue in the retinas of Alzheimer’s patients’ thickened and thinned in...