Only a third of U.S. employers have taken new measures to prevent sexual harassment since the #MeToo movement sparked international debate about the issue, a poll said Tuesday. The Harris survey showed the movement had failed to trickle down to the wider population or bring about meaningful change, said Margaret Stockdale, a psychology professor at the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). “The high-profile stuff, while it’s important, doesn’t capture the typical portrait of a sexual harassment victim, who lacks access to power and resources,” she told Reuters by phone. Inspired by multiple accusations, including rape, against film producer Harvey Weinstein in October 2017, millions of women took to social and mainstream media to share stories of sexual harassment or assault, using the #MeToo hashtag. Since then, dozens of prominent men in fields including entertainment, politics and business have quit or been fired from high-profile posts, and police have opened investigations …

China accused the European Union on Tuesday of risking a return to the “law of the jungle,” telling a dispute hearing at the World Trade Organization that it was astonished by what it called the EU’s disregard for the WTO’s rulebook. China’s made its allegation during a dispute which some trade lawyers see as the most divisive piece of litigation in the WTO’s 28-year-history, pitting China’s claim to be treated as a market economy versus EU and U.S. claims that it does not deserve such treatment since it does not trade fairly. China told the confidential dispute hearing that it placed  extraordinary emphasis on the case, which was of critical importance — legally, economically and politically. Its case against the EU, and a parallel dispute against the United States, is based on a promise enshrined in China’s 2001 WTO membership agreement: that after 15 years Beijing would be granted “market …

Russian lawmakers Tuesday unanimously approved, in first readings, legislation to retaliate against the United States and other Western countries for last month’s imposition by Washington of sanctions on some of Russia’s biggest companies and business people. One measure would empower the Kremlin to impose sweeping “counter-sanctions” in response. Another would make it a criminal offense to observe sanctions imposed by the U.S. on Russia or to provide any information or advice on the punitive action. Refusing to supply services or do business with Russian oligarchs or companies sanctioned by the U.S. would be punishable by up to four years in prison, under the proposed legislation. The proposed measures have prompted investor alarm and opened up the prospect of a tit-for-tat cycle of retaliation. After the measures secured their first reading, Kremlin official Alexander Sinenko said the Russian government supports the parliamentary response to the sanctions aimed at punishing Moscow for …

A Kenyan court on Monday rejected a plea for a change to the laws on how property should be split in divorce cases, a ruling activists said was a blow for women’s rights in the country. Kenya’s High Court dismissed a 2016 petition from the Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya (FIDA), an advocacy group that had argued the Marriage Properties Act was unconstitutional because it entitled each partner only to what they contributed. The constitution states that married couples are entitled to equal rights and the group argued that the law unfairly impacted women, who were more likely to suffer financially from a marriage breakup. In its ruling, the court said that changing the law would “open the door for a party to get into marriage and walk out of it in the event of divorce with more than they deserve.” In response, FIDA head Josephine Mong’are said it …

The Turkish lira is increasingly under siege amid mounting international investors’ concerns. The publication Monday of unexpectedly poor economic data saw the lira approach record lows. The increasing financial turbulence comes as opposition parties begin to narrow the gap ahead of the June 24 presidential and general elections and voter concerns over the economy grow. “We are in such a knife-edge situation,” said analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners. “There is extremely fragile sentiment toward the lira. Sentiment is negative for emerging markets in general and in particular for Turkey. Investors smell blood and they are going to keep coming after the Turkish lira unless significant counter steps are taken.” With double-digit inflation, investors have increasingly been warning the Turkish economy is overheating. In the last year, the government has spent billions of dollars to boost the economy in a process that has accelerated with elections. With opinion polls …

Eurasian Economic Union includes Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan …

There’s a push to level the playing field for women in India, where women account for 42 percent of university graduates but only 24 percent are hired as entry level professionals. Of these, 19 percent are likely to reach senior level management. To make matters worse, the number of women who leave the work force is also higher than men. As Ritul Joshi reports, a specially designed management course for women in New Delhi is teaching them to make their way in a male dominated work force. …

Senior officials from the United States, Canada and Mexico ended the latest round of talks on the North American Free Trade Agreement without any major breakthroughs on how to renegotiate the deal. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said Friday after a week of talks in Washington that the United States will continue to work with its partners to update the 1994 trade pact.  “The United States is ready to continue working with Mexico and Canada to achieve needed breakthroughs on these objectives,” he said. The talks involved all three of the top officials in the NAFTA negotiations: Lighthizer, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo. The talks have come under increased pressure to produce a deal quickly after U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan said this week he would need to be notified of a new agreement by May 17 to give the current Congress a chance …

British Prime Minister Theresa May and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed in a phone call Friday that talks were needed to discuss how U.S sanctions on Iran would affect foreign companies operating in the country. Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of the Iranian nuclear deal and revive U.S. economic sanctions has alarmed the leaders of Britain, France and Germany who remain committed to the deal and who have significant trade ties with Tehran. “The prime minister raised the potential impact of U.S. sanctions on those firms which are currently conducting business in Iran,” her spokeswoman said. “They agreed for talks to take place between our teams.” The spokeswoman said May had told Trump that Britain and its European partners remained “firmly committed” to ensuring the deal was upheld as the best way to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. The two leaders also condemned Iranian rocket attacks against Israeli forces …

A senior United Nations official says trade protectionism, rising private and corporate debt, and shortcomings in revenue raising are growing challenges to the economic outlook for the Asia Pacific. Shamshad Akhtar, executive secretary of the UN’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), noted the threats of trade wars undermining the region’s positive economic growth outlook. The United States has pressed states, notably China, to reduce trade and current account deficits with the U.S., recently imposing tariffs on steel exports from several countries. Akhtar said such trade protectionism represents “quite a big threat” along with nontariff barriers, which have been rising since the 2008 global financial crisis, such as cross border restrictions that further limit trade. “If you look at the trends, there has been a post-2008 crisis, there has been an increase in nontariff barriers that face the Asia Pacific region as a whole. [The U.S. …

Virginia Wallen is a wife, a mother of three, and a woodworker. She achieved what she has never imagined she would — turning her carpentry hobby into a business. The entrepreneur isn’t just succeeding in her new career, she’s tearing down stereotypes and building a new role model. It happens for a reason Wallen, who grew up helping out on her family’s farm, developed all the skills required by a professional woodworker early on. “It wasn’t so much as a passion — growing up doing woodworking – as much as a requirement: help mend a fence or work on the farm or do things like that,” she recalls. “When given a choice in high school between home economics and woodshop class I picked woodshop and welding. But the passion happened a lot later when the HGTV [TV channel for home improvement] came out.” Still, carpentry wasn’t her first career choice. Wallen …

Wall Street surged on Wednesday as surging oil prices boosted energy stocks following U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision the previous day to quit a nuclear agreement with Iran. Gains were broad and volume was high, with all but the utilities and telecom sectors advancing as investors who had moved to the sidelines in recent days ahead of Trump’s decision returned to the market. “It’s classic ‘buy on the terrible news,’ ” said Ian Winer, director of trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles, referring to the wider market’s rally. “People had gotten way too nervous about this.” Trump’s decision for the United States pull out of the international agreement aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon was good news for investors betting on a rise in oil prices. Crude hit its highest level in 3½ years as investors bet the U.S. withdrawal would increase risks of conflict in the Middle East and curtail global oil supplies. The S&P energy index jumped 2.03 percent, …

Saudi Arabia is monitoring the impact of the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal on oil supplies and is ready to offset any shortage but it will not act alone to fill the gap, an OPEC source familiar with the kingdom’s oil thinking said. U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday abandoned a nuclear deal with Iran and announced the “highest level” of sanctions against the OPEC member. The original agreement had lifted sanctions in exchange for Tehran limiting its nuclear program. Iran is the third-largest oil producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries after Saudi Arabia and Iraq. During the last round of sanctions, Iran’s oil supplies fell by around 1 million barrels per day (bpd), but the country re-emerged as a major oil exporter, especially to refiners in Asia, after sanctions were lifted in January 2016. “People shouldn’t take it for granted that Saudi Arabia will …

U.S. producer prices barely rose in April after strong gains in the first quarter, held back by a moderation in the cost of services such as hotel accommodation and healthcare, which could ease fears that inflation pressures were rapidly building up. The slowdown in wholesale price growth reported by the Labor Department on Wednesday is, however, likely temporary as manufacturers have been reporting paying more for raw materials. Economists also expect oil prices to surge after President Donald Trump on Tuesday pulled the United States out of an international nuclear deal with Iran. “Inflation isn’t breaking out, although with Trump exiting the Iran nuclear deal, higher energy prices could kick-start a new round of inflation at the producer level,” said Chris Rupkey, chief economist at MUFG in New York. The Labor Department said on Wednesday its producer price index for final demand edged up 0.1 percent last month after increasing …

For generations, farmers planted the lush earth of Awedai and nearby areas in eastern Ethiopia with coffee trees, earning a livelihood from a crop that is now the country’s main export. But the centuries-long practice is now being abandoned in favor of khat, a leafy plant chewed as a stimulant in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. “Coffee comes only once a year. But you can harvest khat twice a year,” said Jemal Moussa, a 45-year-old farmer and father of six who depends on the narcotic leaf for income. “Khat is much more useful.” He said it was in the early 2000s that farmers in the Awedai area started planting khat as its popularity rose and coffee prices remained stagnant. One kg of coffee sells for between 50 and 60 birr. A bunch of khat, while not measured in kilograms, goes for 100 birr. Jemal said by this …

Sub-Saharan African nations are at growing risk of debt distress because of heavy borrowing and gaping deficits, despite an overall uptick in economic growth, the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday. The sober assessment came as African countries continue to tap international debt markets and issue record levels of debt in foreign currencies, spurred on by insatiable investor demand for yields. “What really we’re concerned about is the pace of increase, rather than the average,” IMF Africa Director Abebe Aemro Selassie told Reuters at the launch of its economic outlook for the region in Accra. “What we’re calling for right now is that those countries are going to need to go through fiscal consolidation,” he said, adding that oil producers and other resource-dependent economies were seeking the sharpest growth in their debt loads. The Fund projected the rate of economic expansion would rise to 3.4 percent this year, up from 2.8 …

Soon after presenting his credentials to the German president, the new U.S. ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, told German companies to start leaving Iran. “As Donald Trump said, U.S. sanctions will target critical sectors of Iran’s economy. German companies doing business in Iran should wind down operations immediately,” Grenell tweeted Tuesday. His tweet came as U.S. President Donald Trump announced he is pulling the United States out of the nuclear deal with Iran and reimposing sanctions. Businesses continuing to work with Iran could be subject to U.S. penalties. Germany is one of the signatories, and Chancellor Angela Merkel believes the U.S. should have remained in the deal. …

Wooden dhows crammed with secondhand Japanese cars have been sailing unhindered into Yemeni ports for the past three years despite rigid wartime controls on imports of aid and other vital supplies. Like many Yemeni traders, Ali al-Mahry jumped at this chance to turn a profit by supplying customers at home with cars bought cheaply at auction in the United Arab Emirates. A Saudi-led military coalition, of which the UAE is part, has been battling Houthi rebels since 2015 with the aim of restoring the Yemeni government in exile. The coalition has imposed controls to deny arms to the Houthis, fighters aligned with Iran who control the capital Sanaa and Hodeidah, the largest port. The measures have choked off supplies of fuel, food and medicine to Yemen, where millions face starvation and disease. Yet coalition forces appear to have turned a blind eye to the dhows that regularly carry cars from …

The Trump administration is unveiling a multibillion-dollar roster of proposed spending cuts but is leaving this year’s $1.3 trillion catchall spending bill alone.   The cuts wouldn’t have much impact, however, since they come from leftover funding from previous years that wouldn’t be spent anyway.   The White House said it is sending the so-called rescissions package to lawmakers Tuesday. Administration officials, who required anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said the package proposes killing $15 billion in unused funds. A senior official said about $7 billion would come from the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, which provides health care to kids from low-income families, though that official stressed the cuts won’t have a practical impact on the popular program.   The administration is trying to use its authority to prod Congress to “rescind” spending approved years ago, but even if the package is …

Australia’s government is expected to release annual spending plans on Tuesday with a focus on winning votes at elections due within a year. Cheaper craft beer plus personal tax cuts compensated by strengthening company tax revenue have been flagged as well as more investment on roads and rail to stimulate economic growth. Some media have reported that the government might better its timetable for returning the budget to surplus by the 2020-21 fiscal year by balancing the books 12 months earlier. New budget starts July 1 Treasurer Scott Morrison, who will reveal to the Parliament later Tuesday his economic blueprint for the year starting July 1, said the government would live within its means. “The plan for a stronger economy that I will be announcing tonight is about improving the opportunities for all Australians to live in a stronger economy,” Morrison told reporters outside Parliament House. “It’s a plan to …

U.S. oil giant ConocoPhillips is pressing for control of Venezuela’s key offshore operations in the Caribbean, seeking to recoup $2 billion from a decade-old dispute with the nation struggling to feed its people, a source confirmed Monday.   The Houston-based ConocoPhillips is asking a court in the Dutch Antilles for control of facilities that Venezuela’s state-run oil firm PDVSA operates, a person familiar with the claim confirmed to The Associated Press. The person was not authorized to discuss the legal action.   PDVSA relies heavily on the facilities on the islands of Curacao, Bonaire and St. Eustatius used to refine and store Venezuela’s heavy crude before shipment to the U.S., China and India, three major global markets. Dozens of ships that transport oil pumped from Venezuela sat idle Monday docked in the country’s ports, according to an online vessel-tracking website.   Venezuela holds the world’s largest underground oil reserves but …

Air France’s share price dived Monday after its CEO quit and the French government warned that the country’s flagship carrier might collapse. A new strike Monday over wage demands, meanwhile, prompted the cancellation of about 15 percent of Air France flights worldwide. The number of striking staffers appears to be slightly declining as the airline enters its 14th day of walkouts this year, but the labor action has already cost the company more than 300 million euros ($360 million) in a matter of weeks.   Air France’s share price plunged nearly 13 percent at the open Monday and was trading 10.9 percent lower at 7.21 euros early afternoon Paris time amid questions about its future management and direction.   The share price woes follow the resignation Friday evening of Air France-KLM CEO Jean-Marc Janaillac after workers rejected the company’s latest wage proposal.   The Air France drama is posing yet …

The Trump administration has drawn a hard line in trade talks with China, demanding a $200 billion cut in the Chinese trade surplus with the United States, sharply lower tariffs and advanced technology subsidies, people familiar with the talks said Friday. The lengthy list of demands was presented to Beijing before the start of talks Thursday and Friday between top-level Trump administration officials and their Chinese counterparts to try to avert a damaging trade war between the world’s two largest economies. A White House statement did not mention specific demands, but said the U.S. delegation “held frank discussions with Chinese officials on rebalancing the United States-China bilateral economic relationship, improving China’s protection of intellectual property, and identifying policies that unfairly enforce technology transfers.” The statement gave no indication that U.S. President Donald Trump would back off on his threat to impose tariffs on up to $150 billion in Chinese goods …

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Peoples Bank of China (PBoC) have agreed on a currency swap worth $2.5 billion to reduce their reliance on the U.S. dollar in bilateral trade. CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele led Nigerian officials, while the PBoC governor, Yi Gang, led the Chinese team to the signing ceremony in Beijing last week. The agreement is aimed at providing sufficient local currency liquidity for Nigerian and Chinese industrialists and other businesses and to reduce difficulties as they search for a third currency. The deal, purely an exchange of currencies, also will make it easier for Chinese manufacturers seeking to buy raw materials from Nigeria to obtain naira, the Nigerian currency, from Chinese banks to pay for their imports. According to Nigerian economist Yusha’u Aminu, excluding United States in the agreement would help to lower the exchange rates between both countries. This report originated in VOA’s Hausa …