Top U. S. diplomat in Hong Kong describes Beijing's legal ruling as 'unfortunate'

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January 10, 2017

The former British colony, governed by China since 1997 under a „one country, two systems“ formula that grants it a high degree of autonomy, was rocked last year by controversies that critics saw as signs of a squeeze by Beijing on its freedoms.
The year began with the disappearance of five Hong Kong booksellers, among them two British and Swedish passport holders, who were widely believed to have been abducted by Chinese security and held in custody on the mainland.
In November, China’s parliament intervened in a Hong Kong court case that ultimately disqualified two pro-independence lawmakers for failing to take an official oath, by passing a ruling on the city’s mini-constitution during the hearings.
„The unwarranted disappearance of the booksellers, as well as the unfortunate, preemptive interpretation of the Basic Law by the National People’s Congress with respect to official oath-taking, have contributed to a sense among many in Hong Kong that Beijing may be losing sight of the importance of respecting Hong Kong’s autonomy,“ Tong said in some of his strongest public comments since taking over as U. S. consul general five months ago.
The remarks came a day after the Hong Kong Bar Association kicked off the legal year with a warning that political expedience „must not be given precedence over the rule of law,“ referring to Beijing’s intervention.
Tong, added, however, that he remained „hopeful“ Beijing would respect Hong Kong’s autonomy, urging Hong Kong residents to go ahead and tackle various issues of the day, and „spend less time worrying about what Beijing thinks“.
Ten days before Donald Trump is inaugurated, Tong said he did not expect any major shift in the U. S.-China relationship, despite the U. S. president-elect’s often critical Twitter remarks about China’s economic, military and foreign policies.
„Overall, I would tend to expect more consistency than inconsistency in our approaches to the region, and that includes Hong Kong,“ Tong said of the incoming administration.
(Reporting by Venus Wu and James Pomfret; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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Former HK chief executive Donald Tsang found guilty of misconduct

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January 10, 2017

Hong Kong’s former leader Donald Tsang abused power and was „hopelessly compromised“ while in office, prosecutors said Tuesday in opening arguments at his high-profile corruption trial.
Tsang, 72, held the leadership post of chief executive for seven years from 2005 and is the highest ranking Hong Kong official to be taken to court for graft.
While Hong Kong has earned a reputation as one of the world’s most open and transparent markets, Tsang’s is the latest in a string of misconduct cases which are fuelling public suspicion over cosy links between authorities and business leaders.
„This case is about integrity, honesty, standards of conduct in public life,“ said prosecutor David Perry at Hong Kong’s high court.
Tsang „exploited his position as chief executive“, said Perry, in what he termed a „classic conflict of interest“.
Perry said Tsang „abused“ his power to further his personal interests instead of acting on behalf of the Hong Kong public.
The former leader has pleaded not guilty to three charges of misconduct and bribery relating to his time in office, each of which carries a maximum jail sentence of seven years.
He is accused of failing to disclose his plans to lease a luxury penthouse in the neighbouring city of Shenzhen from a major investor in a broadcaster — which at the time was seeking a licence from the Hong Kong government.
Tsang allegedly approved the company’s application for the licence, and also failed to declare that an architect he proposed for a government award had been employed as an interior designer on the flat.
Another of the investor’s companies also paid for a refurbishment of the flat, said Perry, including a gym, tea room and calligraphy room.
Perry called Tsang’s behaviour „a betrayal of public trust“.
Tsang, wearing a trademark bow tie, sat solemnly in court, coughing often during the afternoon session.
In 2012 he apologised for separate allegations that he accepted inappropriate gifts from business friends in the form of trips on luxury yachts and private jets.
Hong Kong’s unpopular current leader Leung Chun-ying also faces allegations of corruption over receiving a reported payment of HK$50 million ($6.5 million) from Australian engineering firm UGL before he took office.
In 2014, Tsang’s deputy Rafael Hui was jailed for seven-and-a-half years after being found guilty of taking bribes from Hong Kong property tycoon Thomas Kwok.

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Pen power: China closer to ballpoint success

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January 10, 2017

It has sent rockets into space, produced millions of the world’s smartphones and built high-speed trains. But until now, one bit of manufacturing had perhaps unexpectedly eluded China: the ballpoint pen.
A year ago Premier Li Keqiang went on national television and bemoaned the failure of his country to produce a good quality version of this seemingly-simple implement.
Locally-made versions felt „rough“ compared to those from Germany, Switzerland and Japan, Mr Li complained.
The problem was not the body of the pen, but the tip – the tiny ball that dispenses ink as you write.
It might be something we take for granted, but making them requires high-precision machinery and very hard, ultra-thin steel plates.
Put simply, China’s steel has not been good enough. And it has struggled to shape its pen tips accurately.
Without that ability, China’s 3,000 penmakers have had to import this crucial component from abroad, costing the industry a reported 120m yuan ($17.3m; £14.3m) a year.
But according to People’s Daily, the state-owned Taiyuan Iron and Steel Co thinks it has cracked the problem, after five years of research.
The first batch of 2.3-millimetre ballpoint pen tips has recently rolled off its production lines, the paper says.
And once lab tests are completed, it’s expected China could phase out pen tip imports completely within two years.
On one level, whether China can make a great pen is not hugely important in the scheme of things.
High-tech and innovative manufacturing lie at the heart of the central government’s Made in China 2025 programme – designed to help domestic growth.
Relatively low-value items, like ballpoint pens, have not been a priority.
But the pen-conundrum is a symbolic one.
Despite producing more than half of the world’s crude iron and steel, China has still heavily relied on imports for high-grade steel.
It was a failing that Mr Li said highlighted the need to upgrade China’s manufacturing capabilities.
„Historically, China has never been able to do precision engineering very well and the ballpoint pen is an example of that,“ says Professor George Huang, head of the University of Hong Kong’s department of industrial and mechanical engineering.
„Its parts are so small and very precise, and it’s not easy to solve this problem“
Precision engineering is thriving only in certain sectors such as aerospace and defence where the government has placed a high priority, says Prof Huang.
Even when it comes to smartphones and computers, the high end computer chips are usually imported from Japan and Taiwan.
Prof Huang says that China lacks a culture of excellence in precision engineering.
He uses the Mandarin term „fucao“ or „floating grass“, a euphemism for something that is not 100% solid or reliable.
„The culture is different from the Japanese and Germans,“ he says, who are known for innovation in engineering.
„We Chinese are supposed to be craftsmen, but somehow the spirit is not as good. “
Additional reporting by the BBC’s Tessa Wong.

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Trump gives key White House post to son-in-law

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January 10, 2017

There’s been quite a bit of attention paid in recent months to Donald Trump’s adult children, who’ve taken on a controversial role in their father’s transition team, making the president-elect’s conflict-of-interest problems considerably worse.
But when it comes to post-inaugural influence, it’s not just Trump’s adult kids who’ll need scrutiny; it’s also his son-in-law .
President-elect Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who emerged as a key figure in the Republican’s successful 2016 campaign, will be named senior adviser to the president, the campaign announced Monday. […]
Kushner was an influential behind the scenes confidant to his father-in-law during last year’s election and has continued to be a leading voice in Trump’s transition to the White House. But a number of legal questions potentially complicate the billionaire real estate developer’s role in the incoming administration.
Transition officials insist there’s no controversy here, but there are three main angles to keep an eye on.
First, appointing Kushner to this post may not be entirely legal. Anti-nepotism laws have been on the books for decades, limiting a president’s power to appoint his relatives to powerful governmental posts. As a Washington Post report noted, it’s “not completely clear whether this law applies specifically to White House staff,” and Kushner is taking steps – including foregoing a federal salary – to help mitigate potential legal trouble.
It’s a safe bet there will be a lawsuit anyway, just as there was when then-President Clinton appointed his wife to lead a health care task force in 1993.
Second, there are the potential conflicts of interest. Kushner has said he’ll step down from his real-estate company and sell many of his assets, but as the New York Times reported , “[B]ecause he plans to sell to his brother or to a family trust controlled by his mother, some ethics lawyers interviewed questioned how meaningful the divestiture would be.”
What’s more, just last week, Kushner was working on “a deal with a major Chinese financial group with close ties to the Chinese government. The Kushner family business has done billions of dollars of business with foreign companies that threatens to complicate his role at the White House.”
Finally, presidents usually appoint senior White House advisors who have some kind of political or governmental expertise. Kushner is the 36-year-old head of his family’s real-estate company, with no relevant experience in government.
Indeed, the transition office’s press statement announcing Kushner’s role as a senior advisor to the incoming president said he’ll “work closely with Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and Chief Strategist Stephen K. Bannon to execute President-elect Trump’s agenda.” And while I’m sure they’ll try, Priebus and Bannon have as much experience in government as Kushner – which is to say, none.
We can go even further down this road. The president-elect, the first in American history to have literally no background in any kind of public service at any level, will have a chief of staff, a chief strategist, a chief counselor, and a senior advisor with a combined total of zero days of governing experience. Literally, none.
It’ll be quite an experiment in how amateurs perform in the White House.

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Medical Holography Market Analysis By Product (Holographic Display, Laser, Touchable, Piston, Semi-Transparent, Microscope, Print, Software), By Application, By End Use And Segment Forecasts, 2014 – 2025

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January 10, 2017

11:04 ET
Preview: Anti-counterfeit Pharmaceutical Packaging Market: APEJ Regional Market to Register Healthy CAGR During the Forecast Period: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2016-2026
10:56 ET
Preview: Pharmacy Automation Systems Market: North America Projected to Dominate the Global Market Through 2026: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2016 – 2026

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What Brexit? Why Snapchat picked London for its new headquarters

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January 10, 2017

January 10, 2017
— Snap, the parent company of picture messaging service Snapchat, will anchor its international headquarters in London, a move that dismisses fears of the UK’s departure from the European Union and possible shakeup the financial sector.
While several tech companies seeking to capitalize on low tax rates have chosen Ireland or Luxembourg for their international headquarters, a few have ramped up their investments in London, seeing value in the city’s booming creative hub. That’s good news for British leaders and workers, who have faced a future of financial uncertainty since the country voted to leave the EU in the controversial “Brexit” vote last June.
It is expected that 2017 will be a record year for Snap, which plans to go public after four years of developing and expanding its operations. The company has noted that the growing creative and tech centers in London could prove helpful to boosting their international efforts.
„We believe in the UK creative industries,” Claire Valoti, general manager of Snap Group in the UK, said. “The UK is where our advertising clients are, where more than 10 million daily Snapchatters are, and where we’ve already begun to hire talent. “
Snapchat, which was first released in 2012, has grown from a instant picture messaging service to an expanded social media operation, allowing users to not only communicate with one another but also to engage with news stories and advertising. It has become increasingly popular with middle- and high-school aged teens, who often opt to use the service over its more established competitors like Twitter and Facebook.
The UK headquarters will be responsible for recording both sales made in the UK and to clients outside of the US where the company has not set up a sales force.
The company already has a small staff of about 75 people in its London office, but plans to expand its base. Google, Amazon, and Facebook have all increased their investment in the area as well, with Google planning to hire 3,000 additional employees and Facebook amping up its efforts by 50 percent.
The trend brings some solace to post-Brexit London , which has proved its skilled workforce, booming advertising industry, and relatively low tax rates can still attract firms and talent in a time when markets have been disrupted by the vote. Some even speculate that EU crack downs on lower tax rates in Ireland and Luxembourg could push more companies to explore expansion options in the UK following its EU departure.
While Snapchat boasts 150 million daily users worldwide and a valuation of some $20 billion, it has yet to turn a profit, and may not be too concerned thus far about a slightly higher tax rate in London. That is expected to change in 2017, with the company forecasting revenue of as much as $1 billion. While that falls significantly behind that of Snapchat’s peer tech companies, the messaging service is growing in users at a rate some eight times that of its competitors, with 50 million of its users hailing from Europe.
This report contains material from Reuters.

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CES 2017: Robots can now fold your laundry ::

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January 10, 2017

Posted 5:00 a.m. today
By Liesl Nielsen, KSL.com
LAS VEGAS — It’s official. The future is here.
Seven Dreamers Laboratories, Inc. revealed the world’s first laundry-folding robot of its kind at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, NV on Jan. 7.
The bot is called Laundroid and can both sort and fold clothes, unlike any other robot on the market.
According to Seven Dreamers, the average household of four members spends about 18,000 hours in a lifetime doing laundry and 9,000 of those hours are used sorting, folding and moving the laundry to the respective drawers and closets. In other words, most people spend about 375 days — or more than a year — doing laundry.
Laundroid wants to put an end to that.
The bot, which demonstrated its laundry-folding prowess for CES-goers Saturday, is operated with the press of a button. Load your washed and dried laundry and Laundroid will do the rest with the press of a button.
Laundroid, a large, rectangular box that looks a bit like an overgrown fridge, picks up the clothes, spreads, recognizes them, folds and sorts them automatically. When the laundry is folded, the machine’s button will turn yellow and the consumer can open up the shelves and pull out the folded clothes.
Laundroid will even separate the clothes into piles.
Laundroid operates in two modes. In the first mode, it sorts by type: the bot separates the laundry based on the type of object (shirt, pants, towel, etc.). In the second, it sorts by family member: the bot will place the clothes into a dedicated section for each individual family member.
To sort by family member, Laundroid does require the user to „register“ the clothes of each person through an app, allowing the bot to recognize whose are whose.
To sort and fold, the bot utilizes three different technologies: image analysis, artificial intelligence and robotics. It’s also connected through the Internet of Things, or the ever-growing network of everyday physical objects that have their own IP addresses and are connected to the internet.
The bot first picks up the clothes inside and uses image recognition and artificial intelligence to recognize the type of clothes. Once recognized, the bot folds the clothes with its robotic arms and places them in a specific section on a shelf.
Seven Dreamers also hopes to create a Laundroid by 2020 that, within the integration of a smart home, will be able to wash, dry, fold, sort and deliver the clothes into the respective drawers throughout the house.
Pre-sales for the Laundroid will begin in March 2017.

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How to Deal With Trump's Cabinet

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January 10, 2017

Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world.
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+1 212 318 2000
Europe, Middle East, & Africa
+44 20 7330 7500
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+65 6212 1000
Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world.
Americas
+1 212 318 2000
Europe, Middle East, & Africa
+44 20 7330 7500
Asia Pacific
+65 6212 1000

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Jeff Sessions to fight racism charges at Senate hearing: ‘We will do it right’

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January 10, 2017

Sen. Jeff Sessions will fight back against the assault on his character Tuesday, defending his reputations against painful accusations that he is a racist, sexist and homophobe at a Senate hearing on his nomination to become attorney general.
The former federal prosecutor and Alabama attorney general will insist that his lifetime commitment to law and order includes the protection of the rights of every American.
“I deeply understand the history of civil rights and the horrendous impact that relentless and systemic discrimination and the denial of voting rights has had on our African-American brothers and sisters. I have witnessed it,” Mr. Sessions plans to tell the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to his prepared opening remarks.
SEE ALSO: Democrats scheme to stall confirmation of Trump nominees as hearings begin
“I understand the demands for justice and fairness made by the LGBT community. I understand the lifelong scars born by women who are victims of assault and abuse,” the Alabama Republican says in the statement.
Mr. Sessions is the first of President-elect Donald Trump ’s Cabinet nominees to face the scrutiny of a Senate confirmation hearing, and he is one of the most controversial nominees.
He is the chief target of liberal groups hoping to derail Mr. Trump ’s agenda. Activists for civil rights, gay rights, illegal immigrants and marijuana legalization are pressuring Senate Democrats, some of whom have served alongside Mr. Sessions for 20 years in the Senate, to oppose him.
But Mr. Sessions will try to present himself to his colleagues and the American people as someone not only qualified for the job but also reverent of the responsibilities of serving as the country’s top law enforcement officer.
“I feel the weight of an honor greater than I have aspired to. If I am confirmed, I commit to you and to the American people to be worthy of that office and the special trust that comes with it,” he says. “While all humans must recognize the limits of their abilities — and I do — I am ready for this job. We will do it right.”
The chief complaint about Mr. Sessions has been over race, stemming from accusations that as U. S. attorney in Alabama in the 1980s he improperly prosecuted black voting rights activists and made racially insensitive comments. He is accused of joking one time that he thought the Ku Klux Klan was OK until he learned its members smoked marijuana.
In 1986, the same accusations derailed his nomination for the federal bench when he also was grilled by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Mr. Sessions has vehemently denied making racially insensitive statements or holding racist views. He has pledged to uphold the law fairly and equitably. But his critics are far from satisfied.
“I come before you today as a colleague who has worked with you for years, and with some of you for 20 years. You know who I am. You know what I believe in. You know that I am a man of my word and can be trusted to do what I say I will do,” Mr. Sessions says in the opening statement.
“You know that I revere our Constitution and am committed to the rule of law. And you know that I believe in fairness, impartiality, and equal justice under the law,” he says.
Mr. Sessions will outline goals for battling gun crimes, illegal immigration, drub-trafficking cartels and other criminal gangs. He also will pledge to protect voting rights, support local law enforcement agencies and build mutual respect between police and minority communities.
“In my over 14 years in the Department of Justice, I tried cases of nearly every kind — drug trafficking, firearms, and other violent crimes, significant public corruption cases, financial wrongdoing, civil rights violations, environmental violations, and hate crimes,” he says. “Protecting the people of this country from crime, and especially from violent crime, is the high calling of the men and women of the Department of Justice. Today, I am afraid, that has become more important than ever.”
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President Obama To Deliver Farewell Speech Tonight In Chicago

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January 10, 2017

WASHINGTON (CBSNewYork/AP) — President Barack Obama is returning to the city that launched his unlikely political career to give one final speech.
He’ll deliver in Chicago a parting plea to Americans not to lose faith in their future, no matter what they think about their next president.
PHOTOS: Iconic Moments From Barack Obama’s Presidency
Obama’s speech before thousands at the McCormick Convention Center on Tuesday evening is his last chance to try to define what his presidency meant for America, and a fitting bookend. Chicago is where the nation’s first black president declared victory in 2008 and where he cultivated his decidedly optimistic brand of American politics.
Obama said in a video preview that he’ll be reflecting on lessons learned from his presidency, including that Americans are fundamentally good and that the democratic system responds to ordinary people pursuing a better future.
Thousands of tickets for the event were distributed free of charge.
Obama leaves office in 10 days.
The speech will be aired live on CBS2, 1010 WINS and WCBS 880 at 9 p.m.
(TM and © Copyright 2017 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)