U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expressing optimism that trade talks with China aimed at ending tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of products will be successful.

“It’s never over till it’s over, but they’ve made a lot of progress, and so I’m very hopeful that in the coming days and weeks, there’ll be a significant announcement,” said Pompeo on Monday in an interview in Des Moines, Iowa.

The top U.S. diplomat is in Iowa to discuss diplomatic efforts to promote American economic interests and American exports.

Iowa’s Farmers have been hit hard by the U.S.-China trade feud.

“President Trump has been determined to get Iowa farmers a fair shake, to stop the Chinese from stealing their intellectual property and denying them the ability to compete by selling products into China,” said Pompeo in another radio interview.

China’s agricultural imports from the U.S. have slumped since Beijing imposed tariffs on American agricultural products last year. Among the biggest losses for American farmers: oilseeds and grains exports, which are top agricultural products that Iowa farmers send to China.

Pompeo’s visit comes days after U.S. President Donald Trump demanded China instantly eliminate tariffs on American agricultural goods.

In a tweet on March 1, Trump said trade talks were progressing well and he had asked China to immediately end tariffs on U.S. agricultural products while delaying his own plan to impose 25 percent tariffs on Chinese goods. Trump had set a March 1 deadline to increase tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent.

Trump had forecast a summit meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to finalize details in a bilateral trade agreement to tackle deeper issues, including greater transparency around subsidies and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) from China, addressing U.S. concerns over forced technology transfer, and intellectual property protection.

The Wall Street Journal reported a summit between Trump and Xi could occur around March 27.

The London-based Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) said the possible deal “could be substantial enough to allow the U.S. to claim victory in the negotiations, allowing Mr. Trump to save face politically after a damaging fight over border security and wall funding.”

“For China, any such agreement would be politically challenging, but would provide a welcome respite from mounting economic pressures,” said EIU.

Nick Marro from the Economist Intelligence Unit argues while President Trump’s decision to delay a tariff increase on Chinese products is an important step to prevent the escalation of a trade war, these moves were a concession to the Beijing government, who Marro says has yielded little in its negotiating stance.

“Although we expect both sides to come to a deal around purchases of U.S. commodities, this will not be enough to prevent structural issues from worsening economic ties further,” he added.

“If the deal involves that President Xi agrees to purchase much of American commodities, and agreed to lowers certain tariffs,” according to the Cato Institute’s Director of Trade Policy Studies Daniel Ikenson, “there could be more progress, but if they just agreed to purchase these products and not address these major issues, I don’t see the very large deal.”

“I think the United States and China are going to continue to be in this sort of standoff for a number of years until there’s an adequate resolution,” Ikenson told VOA’s Mandarin service.

Jingxun Li from VOA Mandarin Service contributed to this story.
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From: MeNeedIt

After five years of imprisonment, prominent Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zaid was released and returned to his family Monday.

Zaid, popularly known as “Shawkan,” said he would continue his work as a journalist, despite harsh conditions to his release. Shawkan will remain under “police observation” for the next five years, required to check in with police every day at sunset and will be prohibited from managing his financial assets and properties during those five years.

Human rights groups, including Amnesty International and the Committee to Protect Journalists, welcomed his release but condemned the conditions.

“We are relieved to hear that Shawkan is finally free after spending over five years in jail and call on authorities to end their shameful treatment of this photojournalist by removing any conditions to his release,” said Sherif Mansour, Middle East and North Africa Program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Shawkan was one of hundreds of people arrested after Egyptian security forces stormed two Muslim Brotherhood sit-in camps in August 2013, several months after the military ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi after weeks of protests against him.

In September, an Egyptian court upheld death sentences against 75 of the over 700 defendants in the original mass trial. Shawkan, who was taking photos outside the sit-in camps in 2013, was given five years in prison — a term he had already served.

Last April, the United Nations’ cultural agency UNESCO awarded Shawkan the World Press Freedom Prize.

The mass trial and Shawkan’s imprisonment have elicited widespread criticism on the lack of press freedom in Egypt.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranks Egypt 161st out of 180 countries on its press freedom index. Over 30 journalists remain in Egyptian prisons, according to the rights group.
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From: MeNeedIt

The first American commercially built-and-operated crew spacecraft in eight years docked successfully Sunday at the International Space Station.

There was, however, no crew aboard the spacecraft, just a test dummy named Ripley, in a nod to the lead character in the Alien movies.

The docking was carried out autonomously by the Crew Dragon capsule, as the three astronauts on board the International Space Station watched.

The Space X Crew Dragon capsule lifted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket early Saturday from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.

The Dragon brought supplies and test equipment to the space station where it will spend five days as astronauts conduct tests and inspect the Dragon’s cabin.

NASA has awarded millions of dollars to Space X and Boeing to design and operate a capsule to launch astronauts into orbit from American soil some time this year.

It is not immediately clear whether that goal will be reached.

Space X is entrepreneur Elon Musk’s company. Musk is also the CEO of electric carmaker Tesla.

Currently, America relies on Russia to launch astronauts to the space station.

Russia charges about $80 million per ticket.

 
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From: MeNeedIt

Exercise and diet are keys to a healthier life, as many studies show, but a heart specialist also recommends something more.

“One, two, three — twirl.”

Kendra Martin is taking photographs of three little girls in chiffon dresses. As they twirl, Martin tells them to smile.

“All right, big smiles!”

“I tell people to fake laugh, and they feel stupid doing it, but the result is theyʼre laughing, and it turns into a genuine smile,” Martin said.

And, in this case a giggle.

Big grins and giggles pay off on camera. The girls may be too young to have heart problems, but the smiles can promote heart health.

Brain rewiring

Dr. Anand Chockalingam is a heart specialist at the University of Missouri Health Care who tells his patients to smile.

“When we smile, the brain wiring gets altered. The chemicals that are released are more positive,” he said.

Chockalingam’s advice is supported by a number of studies. He says smiling is a first step in fighting stress and its ill health effects.

When you feel stressed, your body releases a surge of hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol.

Adrenaline increases your heart rate and blood pressure. Cortisol, the primary stress hormone, increases sugars in the bloodstream. If you are truly in danger, these hormones can help, but too much of these stress hormones too frequently can lead to heart disease and stroke.

​Bad habits arise

People who are stressed look for ways to cope. The American Heart Association says smoking, overeating or drinking alcohol as a way to reduce the stress can harm your heart and other organs.

“Once people smile, they are relaxing,” Chockalingam said. “This relaxation directly lowers blood pressure, improves sugar levels in the blood.”

Chockalingam tells his patients to smile 20 times an hour. It might seem like a lot, but it doesn’t involve drugs or have any negative side effects.

“If we are smiling, we are breaking that link between stress and health,” he said.

Smiling is something Martin does to improve her photography.

“Waking up in the morning with a smile on my face, you know, itʼs gonna put everybody in a better mood,” she said.

And it provides a little boost to everyone’s heart health.
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From: MeNeedIt

Exercise and diet are keys to a healthier life, as many studies show, but here’s something that may surprise you: A heart specialist also recommends smiling to improve your health. VOA’s Carol Pearson explains.
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From: MeNeedIt

Striving to improve behavior at soccer matches, FIFA President Gianni Infantino sees women as role models for male players.

There is less simulation and time-wasting in the women’s game, according to Infantino, and it’s time for men to clean up their act to improve the image of soccer.

“The men’s game has developed incredibly, positively, but a few maybe side effects have unfortunately developed as well that we are fighting now,” Infantino said Saturday. “Let’s take the example of the women’s game.”

Infantino’s admiration for the conduct of female players stands in contrast to predecessor Sepp Blatter, who urged them to wear tighter kits to make the game more popular.

“Women are nicer than men, probably, generally,” Infantino said. “Sometimes we men feel that we need to show how strong we are, probably in the human nature, and this is reflected as well in some of the behavior in society in general but also on the football pitch.”

On field behavior

Infantino was speaking after the game’s lawmaking body, the International Football Association Board, discussed ways of improving on-field behavior at its annual meeting, including treatment of referees. Yellow and red cards for misconduct by team officials are now entered in the laws of the game after successful trials.

“When it comes to behavior,” Infantino said, “if there’s something to learn from the women’s game … it’s certainly this: This is much less time lost and wasted on simulations or on other situations we criticize in the men’s game. We are intervening now.”

Such as ensuring someone substituted “doesn’t greet all the players before going out (leaving the pitch) and so on — wasting time,” Infantino said. “All the things you don’t see in the women’s game.”

Diving has been reduced by the introduction of video review, Infantino said, while announcing his support for VAR at the June 7-July 7 Women’s World Cup in France. The decision will have to be ratified by the FIFA Council at a meeting in two weeks in Miami.

“Players now know that it’s not just sufficient to have a look where is the referee, so if he doesn’t see me I can simulate, because he or she will be caught,” Infantino said. “That’s why VAR automatically helps the fight against simulation and diving in a very efficient way.”

Handballs

To reduce controversies, the handball law has been adjusted.

Referees won’t necessarily have to decide if there was deliberate handling, but judge the outcome and whether an unfair advantage was obtained by gaining possession or control of the ball.

It won’t be an offense if the arm or hand is very close to the body but it will be if they are in an elevated position when the ball is handled. But even if a player accidentally handled while scoring, the goal would be ruled out.

Kicks and penalties

Disruptive behavior around free kicks should be reduced from June. The attacking team will not be allowed within 1 meter (yard) of the defensive wall in an attempt to stop players jostling and matches being delayed by the necessary intervention of referees.

In two changes affecting goalkeepers, goal kicks won’t have to leave the penalty area and only one foot will have to remain on the line when facing a penalty.

Substitutes

To speed up the game, players being substituted must leave the field at the nearest point rather than at the halfway line.

“It’s a fairly standard time-wasting tactic that when a manager wants to make a substitution, he can send a player to be substituted to the opposite end of the pitch,” said Scottish Football Association chief executive Ian Maxwell, one of the eight IFAB members.

FIFA has four delegates and the British nations have the other four, with six votes required for a change to the laws which come into effect from June.
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From: MeNeedIt

A new dance style, born in Chicago, is recognized around the world. It’s called hiplet and combines hip-hop and ballet. Ksenia Turkova traveled to Chicago to meet the Godfather of hiplet, Homer Hans Bryant.
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From: MeNeedIt

Jason Cerda is a professional dancer and recording artist. He’s performed on stage with Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin and other big-name musicians and now uses his expertise to teach young performers how to dance. Maxim Moskalkov has the story.
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From: MeNeedIt

Northern California is famous for many things, the sun, the surf, the wine, but it has also been infamous for its smog. Smog is a noxious collection of nitrogen and sulfur oxides, along with smoke and dirty particles, which all combine to form a foglike haze in the air. But some new technology is promising to turn a roof into an air cleaner. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.
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From: MeNeedIt

America’s newest capsule for astronauts rocketed Saturday toward the International Space Station on a high-stakes test flight by SpaceX.

The only passenger was a life-size test dummy, named Ripley after the lead character in the “Alien” movies. SpaceX needs to nail the debut of its crew Dragon capsule before putting people on board later this year.

This latest, flashiest Dragon is on a fast track to reach the space station Sunday morning, just 27 hours after liftoff.

Five day round trip

It will spend five days docked to the orbiting outpost, before making a retro-style splashdown in the Atlantic next Friday — all vital training for the next space demo, possibly this summer, when two astronauts strap in.

“This is critically important … We’re on the precipice of launching American astronauts on American rockets from American soil again for the first time since the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. He got a special tour of the pad on the eve of launch, by SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk.

An estimated 5,000 NASA and contractor employees, tourists and journalists gathered in the wee hours at Kennedy Space Center with the SpaceX launch team, as the Falcon 9 rocket blasted off before dawn from the same spot where Apollo moon rockets and space shuttles once soared. Across the country at SpaceX Mission Control in Hawthorne, California, company employees went wild, cheering every step of the way until the capsule successfully reached orbit.

Looking on from Kennedy’s Launch Control were the two NASA astronauts who will strap in as early as July for the second space demo, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken. It’s been eight years since Hurley and three other astronauts flew the last space shuttle mission, and human launches from Florida ceased.

Private companies

NASA turned to private companies, SpaceX and Boeing, and has provided them $8 billion to build and operate crew capsules to ferry astronauts to and from the space station. Now Russian rockets are the only way to get astronauts to the 250-mile-high outpost. Soyuz tickets have skyrocketed over the years; NASA currently pays $82 million per seat.

Boeing aims to conduct the first test flight of its Starliner capsule in April, with astronauts on board possibly in August.

Bridenstine said he’s confident that astronauts will soar on a Dragon or Starliner, or both, by year’s end. But he stressed there’s no rush.

“We are not in a space race,” he said. “That race is over. We went to the moon and we won. It’s done. Now we’re in a position where we can take our time and make sure we get it right.”
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From: MeNeedIt

Scientists estimate half of the world’s corals have been devastated as climate change has led to warmer oceans. When water temperatures get too high, corals become stressed and expel the algae that coats their tissues and provides the corals’ primary food source. The corals gradually lose their color, known as bleaching, and many of them die. But surprisingly, there are corals in one sea in the Middle East that are resistance to the rising temperatures. VOAs Deborah Block explains why.
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From: MeNeedIt

White House officials are worried that unless more American students study math and science the United States won’t be able to compete with China, India and other nations. The U.S. administration has just published a five-year plan to boost the number of kids who go into Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, or STEM subjects. VOA’s Sahar Majid has more in this report narrated by Bezhan Hamdard.
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From: MeNeedIt