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If we could get foreigners to sell us goods and services in exchange for dollars that they merely hoarded and did not spend on U.S. products, this would be a wonderful deal, along the lines of manna falling from heaven. And to some extent we have this deal.
Because the U.S. dollar has a pretty stable purchasing power, it is often used in trade outside the United States. For example, U.S. currency is commonly used (legally or illegally) in trade within countries that do not have a stable-value currency. In fact, most of the U.S. currency in existence is owned and held by f...
Furthermore, foreign countries hold foreign currency reserves – pools of foreign money and other foreign-currency denominated financial assets – and much of the foreign currency reserves that foreign countries hold are denominated in U.S. dollars. The chief way that foreign countries acquire U.S. dollar-denominated fin...
It is a wonderful deal for the U.S. But the willingness of foreign individuals and businesses to export goods and services to the U.S. in exchange for U.S. dollars that they merely hold is limited. For the most part, at least in the long run, foreigners are going to spend the proceeds from their exporting to the U.S. o...
Dennis Starleaf is an emeritus professor of economics at Iowa State University.
BOSTON -- Madison Kocian of Dallas and Kyla Ross watched the women they won Olympic gold with step forward one by one over the last 18 months to detail their abuse at the hands of disgraced former USA Gymnastics national team doctor Larry Nassar.
In 2016, Kocian became the latest in a proud line of Dallas-area gymnasts to compete for the U.S. in the Olympics. Carly Patterson (2004) and Nastia Liukin (2008), who, like Kocian, trained at World Olympic Gymnastics Academy in Plano, went on to win all-around gold.
KIGALI, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Rwanda’s biggest brewer, Bralirwa Ltd, will start making Heineken beer locally next month in a move that will allow it to cut retail prices by a fifth, it said on Monday.
Bralirwa, which produces local beers like Primus, has been importing Heineken made in the Netherlands. The company said the switch to brewing Heineken locally was made possible by investments in its plant.
The beer will also be exported to neighbouring countries. These include Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo.
The price per bottle of Heineken will drop to 800 francs ($0.9231) from 1,000 francs, once local production kicks in.
Rwanda will join Nigeria, Namibia, South Africa, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and Ethiopia as local producers of Heineken in Africa.
USM defensive back Picasso Nelson has received recognition for his community outreach with a nomination to the 2018 AllState ACFA Good Works Team.
Southern Miss defensive back Picasso Nelson earned a nomination for the prestigious 2018 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team® on Wednesday for making a significant impact on his community through his volunteer accomplishments.
Nelson is one of the 169 college football players from across the country that were nominated this year for their remarkable “good works” off the field. Since 1992, the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team has been one of the most coveted community service awards in college football, bringing together student athletes from al...
Nelson boasts an impressive resume of accomplishments, including serving as the football team representative on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, volunteering at the South 28th Avenue Baptist Church and the Disciples of Christ Family Center and assisting with cleanup efforts after Hattiesburg’s deadly tornado in ...
From the 169 nominees, a final roster of 22 award recipients — comprised of 11 players from the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision and 11 players from the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, Division II, Division III and the NAIA (and one honorary head coach) — will be unveiled in September.
College football fans are encouraged to join in on the conversation by using #GoodWorksTeam on social media.
The second-largest PC maker will start selling several tablet models from $299 to $699 starting November 23.
As it had strongly hinted the past few months, Acer is going to make its own line of tablets.
They will be introduced at an event in New York on November 23, Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci told Dow Jones Newswires today. Lanci did not elaborate on screen sizes, but revealed that the price of the models will range from $299 to $699. Neither did he say what operating system they would run, though Acer has said in the ...
It's a safe bet at least one of the models will have a 7-inch screen. Lanci showed a prototype tablet of that size at an event in Beijing this past spring. The one he showed also had a physical keyboard similar to Amazon's Kindle.
As for how the price could start as low as $299, it's a safe bet they will be sold through wireless operators who will subsidize the cost for customers who sign up for a 3G service plan. In May, Lanci said carriers would be an "obvious" channel through which to sell the tablet.
When the Denver Broncos received their Super Bowl rings Sunday, defensive coordinator Wade Phillips’s jewelry had the wrong name. (It was engraved with the name “Peters.”) He showed a photo of the correct ring Thursday, along with the erroneous one.
These photos are much better than the ones from his White House trip.
China and the United States held their 19th Human Rights Dialogue in Washington last week during which officials from the two sides discussed the human rights situations in both countries and exchanged views in a candid and professional manner.
However, an Associated Press story released on Friday, one day after the dialogue was concluded, said China plays down US human rights concerns, citing a US State Department's top official who pointed to growing US alarm over the human rights situation in China.
The official said that the topic would feature at the summit meeting in September between US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Li Junhua, director of the international division of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, who headed the Chinese delegation in last week's dialogue, said China is open to human rights discussions but the issue should not dominate the upcoming Xi-Obama summit.
China wants to cultivate a good, cordial atmosphere for the upcoming meeting between Xi and Obama, as this will help both sides achieve fruitful results. But the entire world knows Beijing and Washington cannot see eye to eye with each other over human rights issues.
Unlike the US which often uses human rights as an excuse to push its own hidden agendas worldwide, China has no intention either to play up or to play down the human rights issue.
So far, its approach in handling its differences in human rights with the US and other Western countries has been both practical and far-sighted.
Due to differences in historical and cultural backgrounds as well as in political and social systems, there is a big divide in each side's perceptions on human rights and the ways to realize human rights protection objectives.
China is willing to gradually reduce that discrepancy so that the two sides can put their differences at bay and jointly push for cooperation that can contribute to global efforts to protect human rights.
This explains why China has conducted rounds of dialogues on human rights over the years with various Western countries including the US, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia.
After rounds of dialogues and consultations, the China-US human rights dialogues mechanism has helped the two countries built more consensus and deepened understanding about each other's perceptions and ideals concerning human rights.
It has gradually shifted from focusing on isolated cases to a more balanced and comprehensive agenda. More importantly, the dialogue has involved into a platform through which both can learn from each other's good practices, rather than merely a stage for negotiation and bargaining.
As a country that perceives itself as a human rights champion and a "beacon" of freedom and democracy, the US has been accustomed to preaching to others on human rights.
Naturally, there has been growing opposition worldwide to the US's condescending manner and interference into other countries' internal affairs under the pretext of human rights.
What has happened in the US in recent years also indicates it is difficult for the country to present itself as a qualified role model now.
Earlier this month, on the eve of the anniversary of the Ferguson turmoil triggered by the killing of black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer, a 19-year-old black man was shot dead in Texas by a white officer during a burglary call.
The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2014, released by China's State Council Information Office in June, has criticised the long-standing racial discrimination in the US, citing multiple cases of arbitrary police killing of African-Americans, which has exposed the lie of racial "equality" in the US and the r...
The only reasonable approach the US can take is to stop pointing its finger at others and start reflecting on its own human rights issues, rather than preaching its double standards.
Apple is promoting the development of a standard API that would allow web browsers to access GPU features for 3D graphics.
The team behind Apple's WebKit browser engine proposed a community group at the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) called the W3C Community Group for GPU on the Web that would be charged with providing an interface between the web browser and modern 3D graphics and computation capabilities in native system platforms.
"The goal is to design a new web API that exposes these modern technologies in a performant, powerful, and safe manner," the community group proposal states. "It should work with existing platform APIs, such as Direct3D 12 from Microsoft, Metal from Apple, and Vulkan from the Khronos Group." Beyond generic computationa...
Browser engine developers, GPU hardware vendors, 3D software engineers, and anybody else interested in 3D graphics are invited to participate. As part of the launch of this effort, Apple is sharing its WebGPU API proposal. It will also be releasing a prototype of the API to the WebKit open source project.
The WebKit team anticipated a next-generation graphics API several years ago and began prototyping in WebKit to show it could expose a low-level GPU API to the Web and still improve performance. Apple's effort so far is not expected to become the actual API in the standard.
W3C released a statement in support of the effort. Google and Microsoft did not comment Wednesday on whether they might participate in Apple's effort. Mozilla said Apple's proposal would be useful in the design process, but it was far too early to say more.
The current standard for rendering graphics on the web is WebGL. However, since WebGL was created, both GPU technology and software APIs for tapping the power of these processors have improved. These newer APIs -- such as Direct3D, Metal, and Vulkan -- generally offer better performance than WebGL, but they are not ava...
Sport provision at Market Rasen De Aston and Caistor Yarborough will not be included when West Lindsey looks to renew its management contract.
The contract, currently held by Everyone Active, runs out in May 2018 and three sites currently in operation - De Aston, Yarborough and one in Gainsborough - will all be missing from the new tender.
Speaking at Caistor Town Council’s August meeting, Karen Whitfield, leisure and culture manager, said the decision was made on usage.
“There were 1,765 visitors at Caistor for the whole year, which works out at about 35 visitors a week,” she said.
“De Aston was used more, about 21,500 visitors a year, but that is not enough on a commercial basis.
“Both sites are just open outside school times so have limited opportunity to develop.
Other sporting opportunities are available at Caistor and Coun Alan Caine said he also knew of a commercial gym looking to open in the town.
Good news, however, has come to Market Rasen, with West Lindsey exploring new plans to deliver sports and leisure facilities in the town.
The council has undertaken an assessment of leisure need within the district, which has been linked to the Central Lincolnshire Local Plan and the authority believes there is an opportunity to explore a dry leisure facility.
Coun Sheila Bibb, Chairman of the Prosperous Communities Committee, said: “This is a very exciting prospect for West Lindsey District Council who have been aware for some time that there is a need for leisure development in Market Rasen.
“Initial feasibility work has shown that the town could support a dry leisure facility.
“However, we need to remember that all councils are operating in very economically challenging times.
With the council’s current contract coming to an end and subject to further feasibility work, the council is investigating whether a potential new facility could form part of a new leisure contract.
The council is working closely with Market Rasen Town Council to see how these plans and the on-going work to refurbish the Festival Hall in the town can complement each other.
The Festival Hall has been making good progress, with an increase in bookings, more public events, better publicity and investment in stage lights.
Market Rasen Mayor, John Matthews, is pleased to see the two councils working together.
“The next stage of the (Festival Hall) project is all about building on this work to put together bids for the funding which we need to modernize and refurbish the venue.
“By working alongside the district council we will maximize our chances of securing funding to help the hall see it through the next 50 years.
“I am delighted to see West Lindsey’s expression of commitment to Market Rasen as the base for a future Leisure Centre.
Centre usage - Sporting provision at De Aston and Caistor Yarborough has been going for a number of years. Do you use the facility? What will the change mean to you?
Other sports - Both Market Rasen and Caistor have sports clubs in the towns. Will the changes impact on them or will it mean people will be looking to them for ways of keeping fit?
Let us know your views.
No other plant is more popular than succulents — for the moment. A Los Angeles area couple took advantage of that when they nabbed 600 of them.
No other plant is more popular than succulents — for the moment.
A Los Angeles area couple took advantage of that when they nabbed 600 of them.
The Southern California duo pleaded no contest to charges that they stole around 600 succulents from a Monterey County park. The plant is unique to the California coast and is prized in Asia.
Guanrong Rivera, of Palmdale, entered her plea to felony theft and vandalism charges Thursday in Monterey County Superior Court.
Her husband, Jose Luis Rivera, pleaded no contest earlier this month to misdemeanor destruction of succulents.
"I think this is the first of its kind in Monterey County," said Justin Lee, deputy district attorney for Monterey County.
On May 5, the pair were spotted at Garrapata State Park taking the succulents, Dudleya farinosas, and putting them in their vehicle, Lee said.
Carmel Valley resident Jade Davis was on her way to go hiking when her son dropped a toy and they pulled over to retrieve it for him, she said. That's when they noticed people coming off a trail carrying bags with root systems hanging out of them.
Davis snapped photos of the couple and their license plate and approached them, asking them if they knew stealing native plants was illegal.
She said the Riveras only smiled and were "very cavalier" about it but tried to keep their faces from her camera.
"I don't think a lot of people understand ... The ecosystem here is delicate and it won't stay this way if they take some of it home," Davis said.
Davis then contacted authorities and they took it from there.
California Fish and Wildlife agents tracked the thieves down to their home in Palmdale, just north of Los Angeles, Lee said.
They conducted surveillance and saw what appeared to be succulents in the Riveras' driveway, Lee said. On May 10, the agents searched the couple's home and found 600 of the plants in the garage, Lee said.
Guanrong Rivera told the agents they'd taken the plants from the Big Sur area on a vacation to Carmel and planned to sell them in China.
East Asian collectors provide a lucrative market for succulents, which are small plants that grow along the West Coast, Lee said.
“It’s a huge problem right now,” he said.
Agents also found messages in Mandarin with potential customers and someone identified as Guanrong's niece on the couple’s cellphones, Lee said.
"Conversations included concerns about getting the plants by customs, website management, pricing, and plans to visit other locations in California to harvest more succulents based on their customers’ demands," Lee said.
They also referenced an article on three Koreans' arrests involving the succulents earlier in 2018, Lee said.
Another photo sent to the niece showed a package's U.S. Customs and Border Protection form for one package of succulents. It listed "Make-up Vitamin" as the contents, "a practice commonly used by wildlife smugglers," Lee said.
Thieves have recently targeted succulents because the plants can fetch $40-$50 a piece in China and Korea, according to Fish and Wildlife.
Guanrong Rivera apologized to Judge Rafael Vazquez for purloining the plants.
“I just realize I did something wrong, because I don’t know anything about relevant laws and that I’m sorry,” she said through a Mandarin interpreter.
As part of Guanrong’s plea bargain, she must pay more than $10,000 in fines as well as make a $10,000 donation to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's Preservation Fund for the agency’s special operations unit, Vazquez said.
He noted it will go toward law enforcement efforts to fight succulent thieves.
He also sentenced her to 179 days in jail, though she could be eligible for home arrest or a work release program in Palmdale, Vazquez said.

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