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▣ Are your holiday lights a fire hazard?
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All counterfeit products are illegal. But counterfeit electronics are not just illegal, they are dangerous. “These things can kill you,” says Brett Brenner, president of the Electrical Safety Foundation, an industry-funded organization based in Roslyn, Va. "A counterfeit purse or a CD isn't going to hurt you. But a counterfeit electrical product will hurt you.”
▣ 10 most dangerous toys of 2009
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A foam rocket launcher, children's book and Batman and Wolverine action figures are among the most dangerous toys on store shelves, according to a consumer watchdog group. World Against Toys Causing Harm (W.A.T.C.H.) unveiled its annual list of the 10 worst children's toys, just in time for the holiday shopping rush.
▣ Companies starting to spend on equipment
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Businesses are finally willing to spend more money on equipment, a healthy sign for the economic recovery. For the first time in nearly two years, companies ponied up more money for a category called "equipment and software" in the third quarter of the year.
▣ Why India's Garment Factories Have Proved Unreliable for New Workers
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Brown light filtered through dust fills a nearly empty railway station in the state of Karnataka in south India. A vendor pours milky, brown tea back and forth between a glass cup and a metal beaker to cool it. He hands it to the stationmaster, who sips and waits. The station, in the town of Gauribidanur, about 45 miles from the technology hub of Bangalore, starts to fill up as men and women arrive by the hundreds. They are on their way to jobs in textile factories in Doddaballapur, about 30 miles away, and in Bangalore.
▣ Tokyo car show spurned, automakers eye China
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This year's Tokyo Motor Show is a lonesome affair for the Japanese, with foreign automakers largely no-shows for the first time in decades as they cut costs amid the downturn and focus on fast-growing markets like China. The Japanese have always had a major presence at the Tokyo show, now being staged for the 41st time. But never before have this nation's top five automakers and their affiliates so dominated the biannual event.
▣ Skype's Life after eBay: Free in More Ways Than One
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▣ Toyota recalls 3.8 million vehicles
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Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday it will recall 3.8 million vehicles in the United States, the company’s largest-ever U.S. recall, to address problems with a removable floor mat that could cause accelerators to get stuck and lead to a crash. The recall will involve popular models such as the Toyota Camry, the top-selling passenger car in America, and the Toyota Prius, the best-selling gas-electric hybrid.
▣ Harley-Davidson trying to ride into India
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Harley-Davidson Inc. said Thursday it will begin selling motorcycles next year in India, the world's second-largest motorcycle market, where the company hopes its iconic, heavyweight bikes will find a niche among the country's rising middle class. The Milwaukee-based company said it has established a subsidiary near Delhi and has begun scouting the country for dealers.
▣ China's growth raises hopes for global economy
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China's economic growth accelerated in the second quarter amid a stimulus-fueled investment boom, boosting hopes the world's third-largest economy is emerging from the global downturn. The economy expanded by 7.9 percent in the April-June period from a year earlier, up from 6.1 percent growth in gross domestic product the previous quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics reported Thursday.
▣ Smoke alarms, tea kettles, basketballs recalled
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The following recalls have been announced:
* About 94,000 Kidde dual sensor smoke alarms, model PI2000, because an electrostatic discharge can damage the unit, causing it not to warn consumers of a fire...
▣ China won't press for new global currency at G8
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China will likely push for a bigger voice for developing countries in international monetary policy at the G8 meeting this week, but a top Chinese diplomat said it won't raise its proposal for a new global currency to replace the dollar. China is not one of the Group of Eight major economies but is attending the meeting in the Italian city of L'Aquila as part of a group of five large developing countries. President Hu Jintao arrived Sunday in Italy.
▣ Labor Pains: Is Industrial Unrest Growing or Slowing?
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Trouble is in the air. In June, India's national carrier -- Air India -- declared that it had nearly run out of money and that payment of employees' salaries would be delayed by 15 days. The Air Corporation Employees Union, the Aviation Industry Employees Guild and the Indian Aircraft Technicians Association threatened a "no pay, no work" agitation. Meanwhile, some 300 contractual security and commercial staff went on strike June 1 to demand that sacked contract staff be taken back. Though the strike was withdrawn on June 10 after intervention by the Central Labor Commissioner, the dispute continues to simmer.
▣ Chinese make largest overseas acquisition ever
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China's Sinopec will acquire oil explorer Addax Petroleum for $7.2 billion, flexing some of the country's economic clout in what would be the largest overseas takeover ever by a Chinese company. Sinopec, a refiner, would gain access to substantial reserves in West Africa and the Middle East if the deal is approved.
▣ Kids' hoodies recalled for strangulation risk
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The Consumer Product Safety Commission says Macy's will voluntarily recall about 33,000 hooded children's sweatshirts that pose a strangulation risk.
▣ Trade between China and the U.S
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As China and the U.S. continue to explore ways to do business together, an overarching question remains: How to balance the benefits of economic integration -- which accrue to the people of the U.S. and China, as well as American and Chinese businesses -- with concerns about such issues as environmental and human rights protection.
▣ China's economy shows signs of recovery
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China's economy is showing signs of a nascent recovery, but even officials who want to boost public confidence warn a rebound faces risks from the global crisis and is not yet certain. Imports of oil, iron ore and other raw materials rose in March, reflecting the impact of Beijing's multibillion-dollar stimulus spending on industry. Home and auto sales are up, suggesting consumers might be more willing to spend.
▣ China's trade decline eases in March
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China's export plunge eases in March; government says trade shows 'clear signs of improvement'
▣ China grapples with new world role
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With their economy still expanding and banks still awash with cash – and the government holding $2 trillion in foreign currency reserves, more than half of which is invested in debt that supports the United States – the Chinese are generally taking pride in their unprecedented new clout in world affairs.
▣ Yamaha recalls off-road vehicle after deaths
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Yamaha Motor Corp., USA recalled about 145,000 off-highway recreational vehicles for repairs Tuesday after three models were involved in 46 deaths. The two-passenger vehicles are designed for drivers over 16 years old with valid drivers licenses, although some reported deaths involved younger children who were passengers or who operated the vehicles against recommendations, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which announced the recall.
▣ China rejects Coke's bid to buy juice maker
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China rejected Coca-Cola Co.’s $2.5 billion bid to buy a major Chinese fruit juice maker Wednesday in a closely watched case that stirred nationalist opposition to the sale of a successful homegrown brand to foreigners. Coca-Cola’s purchase of Huiyuan Juice Group Ltd. was rejected on anti-monopoly grounds, the Commerce Ministry said. It would have been the biggest foreign acquisition of a Chinese company to date.
▣ Drop in China's exports accelerated in Feb.
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The decline in China’s exports accelerated in February, but Asia’s bleak picture was tempered by other news Wednesday of a jump in Chinese auto sales and a smaller-than-expected drop in Japanese machinery orders. Most Asian stock markets surged after Wall Street staged a massive rally on news that Citigroup is turning a profit, a welcome respite after weeks of gloom — although many analysts predict the market rebound will be short-lived.
▣ China stimulus package lifts recovery hope
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China announced an expected stimulus package Wednesday that could help limit the length and depth of the recession in the industrialized world. A legislative meeting starts Thursday in China and topping the agenda is what the government will do to lift growth rates, which have fallen in the wake of the global economic downturn. As one of the few major economies still expanding, China is being closely watched amid hopes its demand and trade can help the world weather the most severe global slowdown in decades.
▣ Post-crash Scenarios for Commodities and 'Turbo-coupled' Emerging Markets
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According to Ignatius Chithelen, managing partner of Banyan Tree Capital Management, an investment firm in New York City, emerging markets are not de-coupled but rather "turbo-coupled" to developed markets. In this opinion piece, Chithelen describes what he sees on the horizon for emerging markets and for commodities prices in the wake of the global economic crisis. Among his predictions: China will likely emerge as the big winner from the current worldwide recession, and Mexico's recent hedging of its oil exports will lead to a cap on commodities prices over the short to medium term.
▣ Toy makers not playing around in downturn
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There will be fewer $250 dinosaurs and $180 robotic dogs on offer during the next holiday season as toy makers rein in production and trim prices in response to the weakest holiday season in decades. The selection at the industry's annual trade expo American International Toy Fair, which officially starts Sunday, will include Elmo Tickle Hands from Mattel Inc., for instance. They're vibrating, furry red gloves that will stand in place of yet another iteration of the Tickle Me Elmo doll — and cost less too.
▣ To Save the Chinese Dream
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Everyone's familiar with the American dream: work and study hard and you'll get ahead. But China has its own version, which hopeful parents and their children have adhered to ever since the emperor started meritocratic civil-service exams during the Han dynasty. Like the U.S. variant, the Chinese Dream places firm faith in hard work, but perhaps even greater faith in the value of an education, which promises to boost young people out of poverty and secure better lives for them and their families. This vision has had special appeal since Deng Xiaoping opened China to the world and getting rich became glorious.
▣ China outpaces the U.S. in Car Sales
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It looks like China may have overtaken the United States as the world's biggest auto market. Official figures are due out this week that will show, for the first time ever, more vehicles were sold in China during January than in the United States.
▣ Restructuring Guangdong's Economy
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For Guangdong province, the export-oriented powerhouse whose rise has underpinned China's dramatic growth, 2008 was a memorable year for all the wrong reasons. Due partly to the global slowdown, export growth plunged from 22.3% in 2007 to a mere 5.6%. Meanwhile, Guangdong authorities say GDP expanded 10.1% in 2008, versus 14.7% in 2007.
▣ Global slump casts pall over Chinese New Year
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Painter Wei Haibin is carefully weighing every purchase as he heads home to Hebei province for China's biggest family holiday — a time when the economy typically enjoys a bounce.
▣ Toymakers say lead law harms workshops
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Worries over lead paint in toys made the holidays a little brighter for handcrafted toy makers last year, but now the government's response to the scare has some workshops fearful that this Christmas might be their last.
▣ China's exports fall for first time in 7 years
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China's exports shrank unexpectedly in November as global demand plunged, raising the threat of heavy job losses that could fuel political unrest, and a sharper downturn in the world's fourth-largest economy.
▣ How risky is business in India?
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Until Nov. 26 the strongest force pushing India forward was a mix of good fundamentals and that intangible something that industry calls "sentiment." Forged in the years of 9 percent growth, this euphoria inspired Indians to economic greatness and lured outside investors eager to be part of the Indian miracle.
▣ Fewer toys with high lead levels, group finds
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After the high-profile recalls of millions of lead-contaminated toys last year, a watchdog group said Wednesday that its tests found fewer toys with high levels of chemicals in them this year. But about a third of the toys tested still contained a worrisome level of chemicals.
▣ FDA detains all dairy-based imports from China
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Believe it or not, the FDA has finally issued an alert that will detain all Chinese products containing milk at the border, not allowing them to enter the country and go to market until they can be tested for traces of the toxic chemical melamine.
▣ A Bigger Clubhouse
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In the days immediately before last week's G20 summit in Washington, the Russian government quietly reached out to the governments of China, India and Brazil to coordinate a meeting on the fringes of the main event. It was one of many recent signals that the international order born in the wake of World War II is giving way to one rooted in the realities of this new century. The G20 summit itself is another such sign of this trend, proof that the leaders of the world's established powers can no longer manage the challenges of the world economy without effective collaboration with an emerging class of potential rivals who have become vital partners.
▣ CHINESE BRACE FOR CRACKS IN 'MIRACLE' ECONOMY
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China is greeting the financial crisis with a sense of alarm.
"The economic crisis has arrived, are you ready?" asked one Chinese blogger recently.
It was one of the many tell-tale signs that the tumult is beginning to touch China’s once booming economy.
▣ Obama likely to boost FDA oversight of imports
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The Food and Drug Administration, bedeviled by a salmonella outbreak and tainted medicine from China, is likely to monitor imports and fresh produce more closely under an Obama administration.
With President Bush no longer a roadblock, health officials also can expect new powers to control tobacco, from cigarettes to the recently introduced smokeless products called snus.
▣ CHINESE BRACE FOR CRACKS IN 'MIRACLE' ECONOMY
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China is greeting the financial crisis with a sense of alarm. "The economic crisis has arrived, are you ready?" asked one Chinese blogger recently. It was one of the many tell-tale signs that the tumult is beginning to touch China’s once booming economy.
▣ Government warns about inexpensive toys
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Federal safety officials worry that the economic downturn will drive discount-seeking parents to buy used toys tainted by lead or with dangerous designs.
Government safety officials are particularly concerned that money-conscious parents will purchase holiday gifts from secondhand, online sellers, who may not be aware of safety issues.
▣ China announces $586 billion stimulus plan
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China's massive stimulus package is its "biggest contribution to the world," Premier Wen Jiabao said Monday, as hopes rose that heavy spending on construction and other projects would help support global growth by fueling demand for imported machinery and raw materials.
▣ China's economic certitude crumbles
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Armed with bags full of cash totaling half a million dollars, accountants began distributing the money so the 900 former employees would have something to get by on. The Chinese officials who made the emergency payments on Oct. 21 called it an "advance," part of a "back-pay insurance fund." But the reality was obvious to everyone: It was a government bailout.
▣ China's animal feed tainted with toxic chemical
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Shoppers walk past the eggs on display for sale together with a notice, left, bearing the words "No Melamine Contain" inside a supermarket in Beijing
▣ China delayed disclosure of tainted eggs
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The revelation was the latest in a growing scandal over food products tainted with the industrial chemical and followed the recent disclosures that Chinese authorities and a leading dairy producer also delayed reporting for months that baby formula had been tainted with melamine. The contamination caused kidney stones in babies and was blamed for killing four infants and sickening 54,000 children. More than 3,600 children remain sick, health officials say.
▣ Premier says China to ensure safe food
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China's premier said Saturday the country will take steps to improve its food safety, blaming the tainted milk products believed to have killed four babies and sickened thousands of children on a failure of regulation.
▣ Top Countries in Global Competitiveness
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Of the record 134 countries surveyed this year, the majority at the top of the list remain European, while the U.S. continues to hold on to the No. 1 spot and Canada squeezes into the top 10. As in previous years, Singapore and Japan are the only Asian countries included at the top of the list, though Hong Kong comes close, at No. 11.
▣ INDIA ASKS WHAT ELECTION MEANS FOR 'WORLD'S BACK OFFICE'
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As Election Day approaches, India is looking nervously at the United States. Pundits here are asking how big an impact the U.S. economic downturn will have on the booming outsourcing business, and how the next U.S. president will react to pressures to protect American jobs.
▣ China forecasts growth in its economy will slow
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China said Sunday its economy can weather the effects of the global financial turmoil, but growth will decline as the expansion of business profits and public revenues slows.
▣ At Indian call centers, another view of U.S.
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As economy falters, debt collectors hear stories from the land of plenty.
▣ Indonesia As the New India
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This stable democracy with a hot market economy resembles another Asian giant in the 1990s.
▣ Chinese lawyers pressured to drop milk cases
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A pedestrian walks past a billboard advertising White Rabbit candies in Shanghai, China. China's iconic White Rabbit candy is back in production after being pulled out of stores around the world last month in the wake of the country's tainted milk scandal, a state-run newspaper reports.
▣ China Vows Overhaul of 'Chaotic' Milk Industry
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▣ Tainted Cadbury chocolate found in Hong Kong
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Hong Kong said Sunday it found two Cadbury chocolate products contained considerably more of the industrial chemical melamine than the city's legal limit in a growing scandal over tainted food made in China.
▣ Chinese snoop on Skype, but are they alone?
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A Canadian researcher has discovered that a Chinese version of eBay Inc.'s Skype communications software snoops on text chats that contain certain keywords, including "democracy."
▣ Cure for crisis: Chinese medicine?
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Recent government actions in China won't soothe the world's financial ills overnight. But there are 5 reasons they could eventually breathe new life into global markets.
▣ Vietnam's inflation hits 27.9 percent in Sept
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Vietnam's inflation rose 27.9 percent in September, easing slightly from the 17-year high hit in August, the government said Monday.
The soaring consumer price index was driven by price increases in food, transportation, housing and construction materials, said the General Statistic Office, which often issues the data ahead of the month's end based on estimates.
▣ Weaker global economy slowing U.S. recovery
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The global slowdown has sent crude prices tumbling from nearly $150 a barrel in late June to about $105 currently. Some analysts believe oil could be headed back down to $80.
▣ Few safeguards found for Mexican produce
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At the end of a dirt road in northern Mexico, the conveyer belts processing hundreds of tons of vegetables a year for U.S. and Mexican markets are open to the elements, protected only by a corrugated metal roof.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration suspects this packing plant, its warehouse in McAllen, Texas, and a farm in Mexico are among the sources of the United States' largest outbreak of food-borne illness in a decade, which infected at least 1,440 people with a rare form of salmonella.
▣ China launches nationwide baby formula probe
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Investigators believe dairy farmers added a dangerous chemical to milk that has been linked to kidney stones in dozens of babies and one death in China’s latest product safety scandal.
▣ The Real China Threat
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Will its takeover over the U.S. economy really matter?
▣ Mom says child's toy had a mouth like a trucker
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Fisher-Price walkie-talkie picked up drivers’ strip club, drug discussions
▣ China's slowing economy could affect world
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Fuel, raw materials harm growth that had offset U.S., European malaise. The growth of textiles exports, a usually strong suit of the Chinese economy, is slowing.
▣ Why India Offers 'An Extraordinary Opportunity for Spanish Investors' - Jyoti Gupta
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The world’s emerging nations offer numerous investment opportunities for companies that want to go beyond their borders and continue to grow. Nevertheless, not all these nations offer the same legal security and stability, or a familiar work culture that facilitates commercial relationships.
▣ Weathering the Storm
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The specter of global stagflation looms, but in Brazil, things couldn't be better. How a sleeping giant became the world's hottest market.
▣ Lawmakers agree to ban toxins in kids' items
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Linda Root, laboratory manager at Specialized Technology Resources, Inc., uses a razor blade to demonstrate a lead-paint removal technique on a toy car at a laboratory in Enfield, Conn. Concerns over lead and other toxins in toys have prompted lawmakers to call for a ban on a class of chemicals used in many children's products.
▣ Senate passes foreign-made toy safety bill
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Proposal adds staff, money to Consumer Product Safety Commission.