Month: February 2020

FILE PHOTO: A logo of Toyota is pictured at Bangkok Auto Salon 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand, July 4, 2019. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha/File Photo BEIJING/TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese automaker Toyota plans to build a new electric vehicle plant in the Chinese city of Tianjin with its local partner FAW Group, a document from the local authorities showed. The joint venture between Toyota and FAW plans to invest around 8.5 billion yuan ($1.22 billion) in the planned car plant in Tianjin, according to a document issued by authorities of the China-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city. The plant will have manufacturing capacity of 200,000 new energy vehicles a year, the document showed. In China, new energy vehicles include battery-only, plug-in hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles. Toyota declined to comment on th...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Friday said it would focus on concluding new trade agreements with Britain, the European Union and Kenya over the coming year, while strictly enforcing trade laws and pushing for reforms of the World Trade Organization. FILE PHOTO: U.S. and European Union flags are pictured during the visit of Vice President Mike Pence to the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium February 20, 2017. REUTERS/Francois LenoirIn its annual report to the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said members of the global trade body needed to fundamentally rethink what it called “an outdated tariff framework” that no longer reflected economic realities. USTR delivered a scathing indictment of the WTO in the 338-page document, callin

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bernard Madoff’s former customers will soon see their total recovery approach $14 billion, a court-appointed trustee said on Friday, as the dying swindler awaits a decision on whether the U.S. government will support his request to leave prison early. FILE PHOTO: Bernard Madoff exits the Manhattan federal court house in New York on January 14, 2009. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File PhotoIrving Picard, the trustee liquidating Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, said he has begun distributing $369 million to holders of 854 accounts, bringing the total payout to all eligible customers to $13.93 billion. The payout, including money committed by the Securities Investor Protection Corp, represents 80% of the $17.5 billion that Picard has said customers lost in Madoff’

LONDON (Reuters) - British budget airline easyJet (EZJ.L) said on Friday it would cancel flights and cut costs across its business after the coronavirus outbreak hit demand for travel to Italy and other European markets. FILE PHOTO: An Easyjet plane takes off from Manchester Airport in Manchester, Britain, January 20, 2020. REUTERS/Phil Noble/File PhotoThe short-haul airline, which operates predominantly in Europe, said it was too early to determine what the impact of the outbreak would be on its outlook for the current year nor its guidance for either the airline or its holidays business. Its shares fell 4.6% in early trading, extending losses for the year to 26% and underperforming the broader market. EasyJet said it had seen a “significant” softening of demand into and out of its nort