BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Thursday launched a key module of its planned permanent orbiting space station, state media reported, the first in a series of steps needed to complete the station around 2022.
The module, named "Tianhe", or "Harmony of the Heavens", was launched on the Long March 5B, China's largest carrier rocket, at 11:23 a.m. (0323 GMT) from the Wenchang Space Launch Centre on the southern island of Hainan.
An investigation into a suspected murder case has been launched after four people were found dead at a care home in the German city of Potsdam, police said late Wednesday.
The victims were found at the Thusnelda-von-Saldern-Home, which is part of the Oberlinklinik hospital complex, a spokesperson said. Initially, police said they were found at the hospital.
By David Lawder and Rajesh Kumar Singh
WASHINGTON/CHICAGO (Reuters) - The Biden administration faces a major dilemma in its dispute with the European Union over Trump-era steel and aluminum tariffs: back down to avoid acute pain for Harley-Davidson Inc and whiskey distillers or stick with the duties even though they are now exacerbating acute shortages for U.S. manufacturers.
The EU has threatened to double the tariffs on Harley-Davidson motorcycles, American-made whiskey and power boats to 50% on June 1, cutting off any residual hope of exports to the continent.
President Joe Biden has pledged that he will maintain the tariff protections for the steel and aluminum industries until the problem of global excess production capacity - largely centered in China - can be addressed.
His sentiments were echoed by U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Wednesday, and his Commerce secretary, Gina Raimondo, said https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-tariffs-biden/update-1-u-s-commerce-chief-metals-tariffs-helped-save-some-u-s-jobs-idUSL1N2M027O earlier this month that the tariffs "helped save American jobs in steel and aluminum industries."
Harley-Davidson has also been hit by a European court ruling that its bikes produced in Thailand will be treated as U.S. made, subjecting them to the 50% tariff as well - on top of the normal 6% tariff.
"If not for the tariffs, which are now threatening our recovering export potential, we could be investing in jobs at our American facilities," Harley Chief Executive Jochen Zeitz told an earnings call. "Instead, we are facing huge tariffs in a trade war - in a trade war not of our making."
The Milwaukee-based company is betting heavily on Europe, its second-largest market, to help fuel its turnaround strategy. But higher tariffs would give its rivals including Triumph, Honda and Suzuki a massive pricing advantage.
In Bristol, Pennsylvania, the craft distiller of Dad's Hat Pennsylvania Rye Whiskey recently managed to ship its first pallet to a European distributor in over two years after the current 25% tariffs stunted a growing export business in 2018.
"If you double those tariffs, forget about it. It would be done," Mountain Laurel Spirits LLC owner Herman Mihalich said of his export prospects.
STEELWORKERS: HOLD THE LINE
The United Steelworkers union and the mills that employ its members are urging the administration to continue backing the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum, arguing that lifting them would allow subsidized Chinese steel to flood back into the U.S. market via third countries.
USW President Tom Conway acknowledged the pain for Harley but said the protections needed to remain in place until Chinese excess capacity was reduced.
"Some people get hurt when this sort of stuff goes on. So, I understand what they're saying. But I don't think the 232 can be lifted," Conway told Reuters, adding that perhaps the issue could be settled with steel import quotas for Europe.
U.S. Trade Representative Tai told senators that she is working with EU counterparts to find a solution, but they must address the issue of excess capacity in China, which produces half the world's steel.
She said she hopes that EU officials see the problem "as serious a challenge to their ability to produce and compete in steelmaking as we see it, and working together we will be able to resolve these sets of tariffs so that we can join forces on the bigger picture."
The EU has never accepted the premise of the 25% steel and 10% aluminum tariffs imposed by former president Donald Trump in March 2018, duties based on a Cold War-era trade law to protect domestic industries deemed critical to national security.
Critics from the EU to metals-consuming industries and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce argued that the metals were commodities available in ample quantity to meet U.S. defense needs and that European producers in countries that are trusted U.S. allies present no threat to U.S. security.
Sabine Weyand, director general of the European Commission's trade section, said earlier this month that she feared the two sides were "running out of time."
TIGHT MARKET
When the tariffs were imposed, the steel industry looked very different from its current supply-constrained condition. Imports were flooding in, taking nearly 30% of the U.S. market, and holding U.S. Midwest hot-rolled steel spot prices below $600 per ton.
The goal of the tariffs was to return U.S. steel mills to 80% of capacity use, a level at which they could thrive, and imports sank to around 15% of the U.S. market in January.
But this week, amid severe shortages caused by the coronavirus pandemic, that spot price is pushing $1,500 a ton, making it cheaper in some cases to import steel and pay the 25% tariff, some steel users say.
Steel imports jumped 20.7% in March over February to 2.3 million tons, even though the year-to-date total was up just 3.1%, according to American Iron and Steel Institute data https://www.steel.org/2021/04/steel-imports-up-more-than-3-year-to-date-through-march.
"I think you just have a perfect storm going on in terms of capacity constraints with demand surging. And the mills, rightly or wrongly, are managing it with price," said Todd Leebow, president of Majestic Steel USA, a Cleveland-based steel service center firm that specializes in supplying American-made steel.
"If we want to go buy spot (steel) from the mills right now, we can't get it," Leebow said, adding that supplies are tight worldwide, with long waits for imports.
The industry had shut down as much as 30% of its capacity during the coronavirus pandemic, and it has been slow to reopen. Several blast furnaces shut last year remain idled, and newly built electric-arc furnace mills prompted by the tariffs have been slow to ramp up production.
The industry has also consolidated, increasing its pricing power, with iron ore miner Cleveland-Cliffs Inc last year acquiring both AK Steel and the U.S. assets of Arcelor Mittal, while U.S. Steel bought Arkansas mini-mill producer Big River Steel. Both are still idling older plants.
Nucor Corp, the largest U.S. steelmaker, last week reported the highest-ever first quarter profit in its history, citing strong demand and higher prices.
JOBS MIRAGE
The Trump administration had promised a rust belt jobs revival when it imposed the tariffs in 2018. But after rising in 2019 followed by COVID-19 shutdowns, iron and steel mill employment in February was down about 2,300 jobs from pre-tariff levels, according to Labor Department data.
Graphic: Impact of Tariffs on Steel Employment , https://graphics.reuters.com/USA-ELECTION/STEEL/bdwvkkxyxvm/chart.png
Kevin Dempsey, president of AISI, which represents major steelmakers, argues that the consolidation is a sign of health and increased investment for the industry, and the current supply shortage is a temporary bottleneck being experienced by many other industries, including semiconductors.
He cited a March study https://www.epi.org/publication/why-global-steel-surpluses-warrant-u-s-section-232-import-measures by the Economic Policy Institute showing the industry has committed to $15.7 billion in new or upgraded American steel facilities since the tariffs were implemented in 2018, which will add 3,200 direct new jobs.
With the Biden administration now pushing a massive $2 trillion infrastructure plan, the demand for steel is expected to grow, and some doubt that demand can be met if the tariffs remain in place.
"It's going to become largely unaffordable to build all of these new infrastructure assets or upgrade infrastructure assets if the price of steel is $1,300 a ton," said Kip Eideberg, who heads government and industry relations at the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, which represents over 1,000 companies including Caterpillar Inc and Deere & Co.
Leebow, the Cleveland steel distributor, said he supported the Section 232 tariffs, but it was now time to modify them.
"I would remove the tariffs from Europe and put a quota system in place for Europe and keep the tariffs in place on countries that are bad actors," he said.
(Reporting by David Lawder in Washington and Rajesh Kumar Singh in Chicago; Additional reporting by Phil Blenkinsop in Brussels; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden took aim at China in his first speech to Congress on Wednesday, pledging to maintain a strong U.S. military presence in the Indo-Pacific and promising to boost technological development and trade.
By Farah Master
HONG KONG (Reuters) - In Hong Kong's famed party zone Lan Kwai Fong, dormant bars and clubs are revving up to serve customers again, but only if they have had at least one vaccine shot - one of the few examples globally of offering greater freedom for the vaccinated.
Dozens of people were injured as Colombian demonstrators protesting tax reform plans clashed with police in several cities across the country.
A total of 42 officers were were injured in the violence, Interior Minister Daniel Palacios said on Wednesday. Forty suspects were arrested.
By Patricia Zengerle and Jonathan Landay
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. lawmakers grilled President Joe Biden's Afghanistan peace envoy on Tuesday about how women will be protected if the hard-line Islamist Taliban take control after U.S. troops withdraw, and threatened to withhold funding if rights gains are reversed.
"I don’t believe under any circumstances that the United States Senate will support assistance for Afghanistan, especially under the World Bank’s program which provides budget support, if the Taliban has taken a governing role that ends civil society advances and rolls back women’s rights," said Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez.
Zalmay Khalilzad, special envoy for Afghanistan Reconciliation, testified at the committee's first public hearing on Afghanistan policy since Biden announced plans to withdraw troops by Sept. 11 after two decades of war.
When Biden made his announcement on April 14, he said Washington would continue providing assistance to Afghan security forces and civilian programs, including those for women and girls.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Biden administration was working with Congress to provide nearly $300 million in civilian aid to the country.
Members of Congress, many of whom are skeptical about the plans to bring home the 2,500 remaining troops, worry the departure would cede control to the Taliban, whose 1996-2001 rule severely curtailed activities for Afghan women.
Lawmakers of both parties expressed concerns about rights, the potential for civil war and whether Afghanistan would again become a refuge for extremists.
"I'm concerned that the administration's decision may result in a Taliban offensive that topples the government," said Senator Jim Risch, the committee's top Republican.
The State Department on Tuesday ordered government employees out of its embassy in Kabul if their work could be done elsewhere, citing increasing violence in the Afghan capital.
'ACCOUNTABILITY'
The international community has poured billions into Afghanistan since the Taliban was driven from power. Gains for women and girls in access to education and public life are repeatedly touted as a major success.
Women have been underrepresented during peace talks despite promises that they would have a place at the table.
Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the only woman on the committee, said Khalilzad, who also served under former Republican President Donald Trump, had not made including women enough of a priority.
She said there was too much uncertainty about the plans for Afghanistan after Sept. 11 to know whether women's rights would be protected. She said women in Afghanistan remain targets of violence, something that must be stopped.
Shaheen referred to seven women who had been killed by the Taliban for advocating for human rights.
"I will not support any efforts that will allow them to continue to commit these horrific acts without any accountability," Shaheen said.
Khalilzad insisted Washington was pressing for women and minorities to be included in future peace talks. He said Washington and partner countries would punish backtracking in Afghanistan with isolation and sanctions.
Blinken echoed that sentiment. "I can say very clearly and categorically that an Afghanistan that does not respect their rights, that does not sustain the gains we've made, will be a pariah," he told CNN.
Under the Taliban, women were barred from education or work, required to fully cover their bodies, and could not leave home without a male relative. "Moral offenses" were punished by flogging and stoning.
The Sept. 11 deadline - 20 years after the attacks that sent Washington to war - extended the U.S. presence there beyond a May 1 deadline negotiated under Trump.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Jonathan Landay; additional reporting by Daphne PsaledakisEditing by Kieran Murray, Sonya Hepinstall and Jonathan Oatis)
A wooden phallus sculpture erected in the middle of a traffic roundabout in the southern German state of Bavaria last week has gone missing again.
The large penis, which suddenly appeared in the middle of a roundabout in the town of Heimenkirch, went missing overnight on Sunday.
The European Parliament has voted to ratify the Brexit trade deal between the European Union and Britain, the last major step in the pact's approval.
Out of the 697 EU lawmakers who cast their vote, 660 were in favour, five were against and 32 abstained, the legislature's President David Sassoli announced on Wednesday morning.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said the kingdom hopes for positive relations with Iran as long as it quits what he said was negative behaviour, as he employed a softer tone while speaking of his country's main rival in the region.
He also defended Saudi Arabia's role in the Yemeni conflict, and hoped the Iran-backed Houthi rebels would come to the negotiating table.
