Tag: Americas

New Study Reports Widespread Forced Labor Abuses

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Forced labor generates $236 billion a year in illegal profits, a dramatic increase of $64 billion since 2014, a new study by the International Labor Organization reported on Tuesday. The study said the increase is due to a growing population of people forced into labor and the correlation between higher levels of exploitation and higher profits. Traffickers and criminals who use forced labor can generate around $10,000 per victim. The most prevalent use of forced labor is commercial sexual exploitation, the study found. While accounting for 27% of the total…

Canada reaches settlement with Michael Spavor over detention in China

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Canada’s federal government has reached a million-dollar compensation settlement with Michael Spavor, a businessman who was held by China for nearly three years amid a broader diplomatic feud between the two countries. Spavor and Michael Kovrig, who became known as “the two Michaels”, were detained by Beijing in December 2018 in apparent retaliation for the arrest in Vancouver of the senior Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a US warrant. All three were later released. In November Spavor was reported to have threatened to sue both Canada and Kovrig, alleging that…

For Some Chinese Migrants, Few Options in Xi’s China

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Lajas Blancas, Panama / Washington —  With only a backpack, a portable tent and a small shoulder bag, Cong, a 47-year-old Chinese migrant, was one of more than a dozen migrants to step out of a narrow wooden boat on the stony shore of the Chucunaque River in Lajas Blancas, Panama. The stop was one of dozens he had made over the past month, and it was where he met with VOA’s Mandarin Service on his journey toward the United States — a journey that began in China’s southwestern province…

Scientist fed classified information to China, says Canada intelligence report

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A leading research scientist at Canada’s highest-security laboratory provided confidential scientific information to Chinese institutions, met secretly with officials and posed “a realistic and credible threat to Canada’s economic security” according to newly released intelligence reports. The dismissal of Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng has been shrouded in mystery ever since the couple were escorted from Winnipeg’s National Microbiology Laboratory in 2019 and formally fired two years later. Intelligence assessments released late on Wednesday afternoon alleged that Qiu’s “close and clandestine relationships” with Chinese institutions which showed a…

Chinese Automaker BYD Looking for Mexico Plant Location, Executive Says

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MEXICO CITY —  Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD is looking for a location in Mexico to set up a factory aimed at boosting the company’s share of the local market, BYD Americas CEO Stella Li told Reuters on Wednesday. The company expects to choose a location for the plant, which is set to have a production capacity of 150,000 cars annually, by the year’s end, Li said. BYD outpaced former market leader Tesla in EV sales globally in the fourth quarter of 2023, and auto industry officials say its push…

US Should Block Chinese Auto Imports From Mexico, US Makers Say

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WASHINGTON —  The U.S. government should block the import of low-cost Chinese autos and parts from Mexico, a U.S. manufacturing advocacy group said Friday, warning they could threaten the viability of American car companies. “The introduction of cheap Chinese autos — which are so inexpensive because they are backed with the power and funding of the Chinese government — to the American market could end up being an extinction-level event for the U.S. auto sector,” the Alliance for American Manufacturing said in a report. The group argues the United States…

Weather tracker: Contrasts in cold and heat break records in China

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China’s Xinjiang region, in the far west of the country, experienced record-breaking low temperatures of -52.3C on 18 February, surpassing a 64-year-old record for the region. The figure was just shy of the lowest national temperature of -53C, which was recorded in the Heilongjiang region in January last year. The extreme weather has caused big disruption after the lunar new year celebrations, with blizzards and ice leaving people stranded on roads and railways. On the same day, Badu in the south of China recorded a maximum temperature of 38C, meaning…

Mexico Overtakes China as Leading Source of Goods Imported to US

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WASHINGTON —  For the first time in more than two decades, Mexico last year surpassed China as the leading source of goods imported to the United States. The shift reflects the growing tensions between Washington and Beijing as well as U.S. efforts to import from countries that are friendlier and closer to home. Figures released Wednesday by the U.S. Commerce Department show that the value of goods imported to the United States from Mexico rose nearly 5% from 2022 to 2023, to more than $475 billion. At the same time,…

Canada Starts Inquiry Into Election Interference by China, Others

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Vancouver, British Columbia —  An official commission is about to get underway in Ottawa as Canada tries to determine to what extent China and other countries interfered in its last two elections. The investigation also will examine whether Russia and India interfered as well. All three countries have denied the allegations. Former Conservative Member of Parliament Kenny Chiu (Canadian House of Commons) Justice Marie-Josee Hogue will oversee the commission, which is the latest attempt to find out how countries — predominately China, Russia and India — may have sought to…