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Business & Economy

Asian stocks retreat as China-US jitters set in

SINGAPORE (AP) — Asian shares slipped Wednesday on expectations that a trade dispute between China and the United States would simmer and possibly weigh on growth.

With a lull in economic releases closer to home, investors digested President Donald Trump’s comments that the country was “not ready” for a trade deal with China. Trump spoke to reporters in Tokyo on Monday.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gave up 1.1% to 21,020.72. The Kospi in South Korea tumbled 1.3% to 2,021.84 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was 0.5% lower at 27,267.94.

US national security adviser in UAE amid tensions with Iran

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, a longtime hawk on Iran, is visiting the United Arab Emirates amid heightened tensions across the Persian Gulf.

John Bolton tweeted he had arrived in the Emirates for meetings Wednesday “to discuss important and timely regional security matters.”

Huawei asks court to deem US security law unconstitutional

SHENZHEN, China (AP) — Chinese tech giant Huawei filed a motion in U.S. court Wednesday challenging the constitutionality of a law that limits its sales of telecom equipment, the latest action in an ongoing clash with the U.S. government.

Huawei’s chief legal officer Song Liuping said at press briefing that Huawei had filed a motion for summary judgment asking the court to rule on whether it is constitutional for the U.S. to implement a military spending provision that bars the government and its contractors from using Huawei equipment.

Qatar plane lands in Saudi for first time since siege

28 May 2019; MEMO: The plane of the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani landed at Jeddah airport in Saudi Arabia for the first time since the outbreak of the Gulf crisis two years ago.

“Qatar Airways is landing at Jeddah airport for the first time since the outbreak of the Gulf crisis and the siege of Qatar,” Qatar Airways said on its Twitter account.

Newscoop: A Facebook for news similar to UMMnews

28 May 2019; DW: The idea of Newscoop was conceived during the height of the Bosnian War. Back then, the online platform's founder Camilla Warrender, a professional pianist, was working in Sarajevo with her friend, Swedish actress Bibi Anderson, to ease the pains of the victims of the conflict through her musical renditions.

The political advocate in her soon realized how information was being manipulated by the Bosnian Serb forces to carry on genocide during the war.

Impact of U.S. tariff hikes on China's manufacturing sector controllable

BEIJING, May 27 (Xinhua) -- Tariff hikes by the United States will to some extent result in an increase of enterprise operation costs, lower competitiveness and fewer orders, but their impact on China's manufacturing sector is generally controllable, a senior official told Xinhua in an interview.

The 200 billion U.S. dollars worth of Chinese goods on which the United States imposed additional tariffs accounts for 41.8 percent of China's exports to the country, but only 8 percent of China's total exports, said Wang Zhijun, vice minister of industry and information technology.

Merkel, Macron at odds over top European Commission job

 28 May 2019; DW: Ahead of a summit to discuss EU election results, the French and German leaders have disagreed over how to choose the next European Commission president. Emmanuel Macron has said the process should not be automatic.

Speaking ahead of a special EU summit, Chancellor Angela Merkel has said Germany still favors choosing the top candidate from the winning party of Sunday's EU elections as the next president of the European Commission.

U.S. imperialist, interventionist policies blamed for Mideast turmoil as U.S.-Iran standoff escalates

ISTANBUL, May 27 (Xinhua) -- Amid the spiralling tensions in the Gulf caused by the U.S. sanctions and sabre-rattling against Iran, many Turkish analysts and citizens said the U.S. imperialist and interventionist policies are largely blamed for the turmoil and instability in the Middle East region.

No threat, only good partnership - Huawei in eyes of U.S. rural telecom carrier

STAHLSTOWN, the United States, May 27 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. government's latest move to blacklist Huawei has forced the Chinese telecom giant's business partners in the United States to brace for mounting uncertainty.

Among them is LHTC Broadband, a telecom company focused on the rural area of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It offers telephone, TV and Internet services to 7,000 rural locations, of which 1,600 are served with Huawei gear.

"WE STILL HAVEN'T SEEN ANY PROOF"

Chinese tourism to US drops for 1st time in 15 years

Detroit (US), May 28 (AP/PTI) After more than a decade of rapid growth, Chinese travel to the U.S. is falling. And that has cities, malls and other tourist spots scrambling to reverse the trend.

Travel from China to the U.S. fell 5.7% in 2018 to 2.9 million visitors, according to the National Travel and Tourism Office, which collects data from U.S. Customs forms. It was the first time since 2003 that Chinese travel to the U.S. slipped from the prior year.

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