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The world’s largest jet engine maker GE Aviation, an operating unit of US industrial conglomerate General Electric, is looking to incorporate Vietnam into its global supply chain, taking advantage of the group’s strong presence in energy manufacturing in Vietnam. David Joyce, president and CEO of GE Aviation told VIR that GE Aviation was “actually looking at putting some of our work in GE’s operating energy facility in Vietnam”. Joyce did not go into detail about the plan other than claiming that it was likely “this will happen”. Joyce referenced the Haiphong manufacturing complex located in the northern port city of Haiphong, which GE has invested more than $110 million in since 2009 and now employs more than 500 local engineers and skilled workers. Wind turbine generators and other energy products manufactured at the Haiphong facility are exported to GE’s manufacturing and service centres around the globe. With GE Aviation’s … [Read more...] about GE Aviation eyes Vietnam as global supply chain link World news

Firefighters have contained a huge forest blaze that had threatened the picturesque Chilean port city of Valparaiso, officials said on Sunday (Mar 15), adding the government plans to charge those responsible for the fire. SANTIAGO: Firefighters have contained a huge forest blaze that had threatened the picturesque Chilean port city of Valparaiso, officials said on Sunday (Mar 15), adding the government plans to charge those responsible for the fire. One person died and thousands were evacuated on Saturday from around the UNESCO World Heritage site, known for its narrow and steep roads, as the blaze raised fears of a repeat of a destructive 2014 fire that killed 15 in the same area. "We are keeping the Valparaiso fire contained and so its spread is under control," said Deputy Interior Secretary Mahmud Aleuy. Aleuy said police will charge the owners of an illegal landfill where the fire was believed to have begun Friday afternoon due to molten metal in the dump. The charges are expected … [Read more...] about Chile contains huge blaze threatening UNESCO city World news

LONDON: Britain is drawing up contingency plans in case its Brexit negotiations with the EU fail, a minister said Sunday (Mar 12) as speculation mounted that the withdrawal process could start this week. Brexit minister David Davis said it was in "everybody's interests that we get a good outcome", but said the government was "planning for the contingency, all the various outcomes". He was speaking after MPs warned that ministers must prepare for the possibility that, with EU treaties allowing just two years to agree a new relationship, Britain might well leave without a deal. Prime Minister Theresa May has said she is optimistic about settling the divorce and a new trade agreement with the EU within the timeframe, but would walk away rather than accept a bad deal. The cross-party parliamentary foreign affairs committee said this "represents a very destructive outcome leading to mutually assured damage for the EU and the UK", citing economic losses and legal confusion. Davis told the … [Read more...] about Britain plans for all options as Brexit nears World news

VINA DEL MAR, Chile: Asia-Pacific ministers said on Wednesday (Mar 15) they would seek to move forward on a trade agreement resembling the Trans-Pacific Partnership after President Donald Trump killed the deal by withdrawing the United States. After two days of high-level meetings in Chile, officials from the 11 other countries in TPP - plus China and South Korea - wrapped up their talks with no clear plan to replace the defunct deal but a dogged determination not to throw out years of painstaking negotiations. "We have decided to move forward together, in particular with the Asia-Pacific countries," Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray told a news conference, without specifying which ones. "The withdrawal of a very important member of TPP opens up new opportunities," he said. Negotiated under former US president Barack Obama, who wanted to counter China's rising influence, TPP was to have slashed tariffs and tightened trade ties between countries accounting for some 40 per cent of … [Read more...] about Asia Pacific seeks to save TPP trade deal without US World news

Three contract workers at a strike-hit American-owned mine in eastern Indonesia have been shot dead in an ambush and three people wounded, police said Saturday. Police from the Mimika district in Indonesia's restive Papua province said two bodies were recovered Friday from a burning Freeport-owned car on a road to the mine, and the third nearby. "The three men were found dead yesterday and are yet to be identified. Today we will continue to investigate who the attackers might be and how the shooting happened," Mimika police spokesman Mada Laksanta told AFP. "Two military officers and a Freeport security guard were also shot. The officers were shot in the leg and the guards in the right arm." More than 8,000 of Freeport's 23,000 workers at the mine, near the town of Timika, have been on strike since September 15, demanding significant wage increases. The dispute, coupled with strikes at Freeport's South American mines, has raised concerns of a copper shortage, but analysts say … [Read more...] about 3 Freeport contractors shot dead in Indonesia World news