Category: Company News

The Chinese state agricultural conglomerate COFCO Group recently purchased a batch of soybeans amounting to “millions of tonnes” from the United States, it said in a notice on Saturday.

The purchase was part of the company’s efforts to implement a “consensus” on trade agreed between China and the United States, it said in a notice on its website.

Soybeans have been a crucial element in simmering trade tensions between the two countries. China – the world’s biggest soybean importer – cut off purchases from the United States in 2018, sending prices tumbling and leaving U.S. farmers struggling to sell off their record harvest.

Purchases ceased in July after Beijing slapped 25 percent tariffs on U.S. soybeans and other goods, retaliating against similar tariffs imposed by Washington.

The tit-for-tat trade war was enough to bring full-year Chinese soybean exports from the United States down to their lowest level since 2008, with shipments down by half at 16.6 million tonnes.

However, the two countries agreed a 90-day truce at the beginning of January, allowing China to resume purchases.

China offered to buy another 5 million tonnes of U.S. soybeans in the latest round of trade talks, a White House official said on Thursday.

However, market analysts warned that U.S. exports to China were unlikely to return to previous levels even if the two countries settled their trade dispute, with China expected to turn more to South America and other suppliers.

Russian oil output declined to 11.38 million barrels per day (bpd) in January, or by around 35,000 bpd from the October 2018 level, the baseline for the global oil accord, missing the deal’s target, Energy Ministry data showed on Saturday.

This was down from 11.45 million bpd in December, a record monthly high. In tonnes, oil output reached 48.113 million versus 48.442 million in December. Russian oil pipeline exports in January fell to 4.313 million bpd from 4.496 million bpd in December.

Rosneft , the world’s largest oil producer by output, reduced its production by 0.1 percent last month from December, while second-largest Russian oil producer Lukoil saw production cuts of 0.8 percent. Output at Rosneft’s largest unit, RN-Yuganskneftegaz, declined by 0.8 percent after a blaze ripped through Priobskoye oilfield in early January.

Production at Gazprom Neft , the oil arm of gas giant Gazprom , edged up by 0.1 percent.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak has said the country’s overall cuts would total 50,000 bpd in January from October.

The Organization of the Petroleum Producing Countries and other leading global oil producers agreed in December to cut their combined output by 1.2 million bpd in order to support oil prices and evenly balance the market. Of that, Russia has pledged to cut its production by around 230,000 bpd in the first quarter.

Novak has also said Russia was unable to reduce oil output sharply due to technical limitations but would try to do so more quickly. The slower than expected cuts have drawn a rebuke from Saudi Arabia, the OPEC kingpin.

Reducing production presents a challenge because Russia’s harsh winter climate can cause wells to freeze, Russian officials and analysts have said.

According to a Reuters survey, OPEC oil supply has fallen in January by the largest amount in two years. Russian natural gas production was at 67.43 billion cubic meters (bcm) last month, or 2.18 bcm a day, versus 67.04 bcm in December.

Russia has suspended the Cold War-era Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty after a similar move by the United States, President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday, also instructing the government not to initiate disarmament talks with Washington.

Moscow’s relations with the West have been at their lowest over a number of issues, including Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine as well as allegations of it meddling with the presidential election in the U.S. and being behind a nerve agent attack in Britain.

The row over the INF treaty is yet another twist in Russia’s worsening relations with the United States and the West on the whole.

“The American partners have declared that they suspend their participation in the deal, we suspend it as well,” Putin said during a televised meeting with foreign and defense ministers.

The United States announced on Friday it will withdraw from the INF treaty with Russia in six months unless Moscow ends what it says are violations of the landmark 1987 arms control pact.

Putin said Russia will start work on creating new missiles, including hypersonic ones, and told ministers not to initiate disarmament talks with Washington, accusing the U.S. of being slow to respond to such moves.

“We have repeatedly, during a number of years, and constantly raised a question about substantiative talks on the disarmament issue, notably, on all the aspects,” Putin said.

“We see, that in the past few years the partners have not supported our initiatives.”

During the meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also accused the United States of violating the INF and other arms deals, such as the non-proliferation treaty.

Putin said that Russia will not increase its military budget for the new weapons and it won’t deploy its weapons in Europe and other regions unless the United States does so.

France’s yellow vest protesters are taking to the streets to keep pressure on French President Emmanuel Macron’s government, for the 12th straight weekend of demonstrations.

Multiple protests are planned Saturday in Paris and other cities to denounce Macron’s economic policies, seen by critics as favoring the rich.

This week, demonstrators in the French capital are planning to pay tribute to the yellow vests injured during clashes with police.

The government says around 2,000 people have been injured in protests since the movement began Nov. 17, including at least four serious eye injuries. Separately, 10 people have died in road incidents related to yellow vest actions.

France’s Council of State has ruled Friday that security forces have a right to use controversial high-velocity rubber ball launchers for crowd control.

France’s yellow vest protesters were back on the streets Saturday to keep pressure on French President Emmanuel Macron’s government and denounce the large number of people injured in demonstrations they say is the result of police violence.

Multiple protests were planned in Paris and other cities to denounce Macron’s economic policies, seen by critics as favoring the rich, for the 12th straight weekend of demonstrations.

This week, demonstrators in the French capital want to pay tribute to the yellow vests injured during clashes with police.

The government says around 2,000 people have been injured in protests since the movement began Nov. 17, including at least four serious eye injuries. Separately, 10 people have died in road incidents related to yellow vest actions.

Several hundreds of demonstrators gathered at midday on a plaza in eastern Paris. Chanting anti-government slogans, they were heading toward the Republic plaza, in the northeast of the city center.

Among them, Jerome Rodrigues, a prominent member of the movement who suffered an eye injury last week, was widely applauded by the crowd.

A French police investigation was still ongoing to determine how Rodrigues was injured. Video images show Rodriguez collapsed on the ground last Saturday near the Bastille monument, where protesters throwing projectiles clashed with police seeking to disperse them.

France’s Council of State ruled Friday that security forces have a right to use controversial high-velocity rubber ball launchers for crowd control.

Benjamin Cauchy, a yellow vest spokesman from southern France who came to the Paris protest, called it a “regrettable decision” on BFM television, saying the weapon “is extremely harmful, imprecise and in the end is causing more sorrow than security.”

The Council of State noted the frequency of violence and property destruction at protests, some of which deviated from approved routes or weren’t declared in advance. It concluded that authorities’ use of the devices doesn’t constitute a “grave attack” on the freedom to demonstrate, or the right not to be exposed to inhuman or degrading treatment.

Around 69,000 people nationwide took part in protests last week, down from more than 80,000 during the previous two weekends, according to the French Interior Ministry. The movement was named after the fluorescent safety vests that French motorists must carry in case of emergency.

DraftKings expects to see a record volume of bets for Sunday’s Super Bowl LIII, now that sports betting is legal in eight states, Jason Robins, CEO of the fantasy sports platform, told CNBC.

“Not surprisingly, it’s the biggest day of the year for us,” he said Friday on “Closing Bell.” “I’ve heard people estimate there could be over $100 million bet in New Jersey on the Super Bowl this year, which would be amazing.”

One establishment taking advantage of the nascent industry, which was cleared for states to legalize it after a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, is Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Super Bowl Sunday has been a quiet day for the casino in the past, but Borgata Sportsbook President and COO Marcus Glover told CNBC it will be different this time around.

“We have reservations throughout the weekend,” he said Friday on “The Exchange.”

Glover projects that millions of dollars will be wagered on the casino’s book when the New England Patriots face the Los Angeles Rams in Atlanta. The house will take a 5 percent cut of the volume-based wagers, and Borgata anticipates benefiting from “ancillary revenue,” Glover said.

New Jersey and Nevada are among the states to have legalized sports betting since the Supreme Court case. Robins predicts that as many as 10 more states will move to authorize the activity sometime this year.

“The momentum is real, and I think you’re going to see a lot of movement again this year,” he said.

Super Bowl LIII will kick off at 6:30 p.m. ET Sunday.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said he will not leave his office despite pressure from prominent lawmakers to resign over a racially offensive photo that appeared on his medical school yearbook page. The photo shows one person in blackface and another wearing a Ku Klux Klan robe.

Northam held a press conference on Saturday afternoon at the governor’s mansion where he once again apologized for the image, but said he had nothing to do with it. He said the first time he saw the photo was on Friday, he did not attend that party and the picture is not of him.

“I reflected with my family and classmates from the time and affirmed my conclusion that I am not the person in that photo,” North said, calling the image “offensive, racist and despicable.”

Read more from NBC News:

Trump says U.S. to leave key nuclear arms treaty with Russia

Booker 2020 campaign: ‘Folks are feeling left out…left behind’

White House rescinds Education Dept. watchdog pick after ethics concerns

One of the reasons Northam said he remembers that he is not in the image is because he participated in a dance competition the same year the yearbook was published — 1984 — in which he used shoe polish to darken his face for a Michael Jackson costume.

“It is because my memory of that episode is so vivid that I truly believe that I am not in that picture of the yearbook,” Northam said.

“I certainly take responsibility for what happened in San Antonio,” Northam added later. “I have learned from that. But this was not my picture, that was not my costume, as either black face or KKK.”

The governor said he does not expect everyone to believe his account, at least not immediately, nor does he expect to be immediately forgiven. He said he would not resign because that would be the easier path.

“I am ready to earn your forgiveness, and I am ready to begin today,” he said.

Northam originally apologized Friday on Twitter “for the decision I made to appear as I did in this photo and for the hurt that decision caused then and now.”

But Northam told Virginia State Senator Louise Lucas earlier on Saturday that it was not him in the picture, according to the senator’s spokesperson. The apology Friday, which called the image “clearly racist and offensive,” acknowledged his appearance in the photo and suggests he did, at one point, think he might have been one of the people pictured.

An hour after he made that statement, Northam said he realized that it was not him in the image after all.

“When I was shown this last night it was horrific. It really horrified me. We did what we needed to do last night and that was to reach out and apologize to those who may be hurt, but the more time I’ve had, I’ve realized I have no recollection of dressing up like that,” the governor said at the press conference on Saturday.

A second Virginia Democrat told NBC News that Northam said earlier Saturday that he did not believe he was in the image and would not resign. Northam also said that classmates of his from Eastern Virginia Medical School told him that they believed some of the pictures in the yearbook had been mixed up, according to the source.

The Democratic Party of Virginia released a statement on Saturday after learning that Northam did not plan to resign. “We made the decision to let Governor Northam do the correct thing and resign this morning — we have gotten word he will not do so this morning.”

Despite Northam’s expected announcement and claims that he is not in the image, the state party said their views had not changed.

“We stand with Democrats across Virginia and the country calling him to immediately resign,” the statement said. “He no longer has our confidence or our support. Governor Northam must end this chapter immediately, step down, and let Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax heal Virginia’s wounds and move us forward.”

Northam resisted calls for his resignation in that statement, however, stating in a video of the apology that he would keep on fighting for Virginia. “I’m committed to continuing that fight through the remainder of my term,” he said.

But pressure continued to grow as the Virginia House Democratic caucus, Senate Democratic caucus and Virginia black caucus all came out against the governor.

“We are having trouble reconciling our experience with Governor Northam with what we see in this photo,” the House Democrats said in a statement Friday. “We regret to say that we are no longer confident in the Governor’s representation of Virginians.”

Fromer Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, Northam’s predecessor and a close ally, notably joined the calls for him to resign. “The situation that he has put himself and the Commonwealth of Virginia in is untenable. It’s time for Ralph to step down, and for the Commonwealth to move forward,” he tweeted.

With the state party maintaing their position, it is unlikely these particular Virginia Democrats will reconsider their position after Northam’s latest claim. Nevertheless, a notable statement came from former Virginia Governor Doug Wilder, the first and only African-American to serve as governor in Virginia.

“It has never been right, in Virginia, nor anywhere else to participate in or condone such mockery or insensitive behavior and for that Gov. Northam should be criticized,” the former governor wrote on Twitter, noting that many had asked him to respond to this latest revelation.

The elder statesman of Virginia politics, however, declined to call for Northam’s resignation.

The choice of his continuing in office is his to make,” Wilder concluded.

Still, several Democrats who have announced interest in a 2020 presidential run — Julian Castro, Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand — called for Northam’s resignation.

“Racism has no place in Virginia,” said Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Jack Wilson in a statement before Northam apologized. “These pictures are wholly inappropriate. If Governor Northam appeared in blackface or dressed in a KKK robe, he should resign immediately.”

The photo from the 1984 Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook ran alongside pictures of and personal information about Northam.

NBC News verified the yearbook pictures with the school. NBC News is not aware of the identities of both of the men in the picture in blackface or the Klan robes. All the other photos on the page are clearly of Northam: one in a suit jacket, one in a cowboy hat where he is holding a beer, one sitting next to a Corvette.

Vincent Rhodes, chief communications officer for the school, said the production of the yearbook was a student activity, adding, “We don’t know when or where the picture was taken and we don’t know anything about its content.”

The NAACP also said the Virginia Democrat should step down. “Black face in any manner is always racist and never okay. No matter the party affiliation, we can not stand for such behavior,” said the organization’s president, Derrick Johnson.

Northam, a doctor, came under fire from Republicans earlier this week, who accused him of supporting infanticide because of comments he made in support of allowing late-term abortions when the fetus is severely deformed or would be unable to survive after birth.

He was elected governor in 2017 in a hotly-contested race against Republican Ed Gillespie. Northam said he supported taking down Confederate monuments, a stance Gillespie blasted him for.

In his victory speech, Northam, an Army veteran and pediatric neurologist, said, “Virginia has told us to end the divisiveness, that we will not condone hatred and bigotry.”

“It’s going to take a doctor to heal our differences. And I’m here to tell you, the doctor is in!” he declared.

The yearbook photo was first reported by Big League Politics, a far-right website that often promotes conspiracy theories.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said he will not leave his office despite pressure from prominent lawmakers to resign over a racially offensive photo that appeared on his medical school yearbook page. The photo shows one person in blackface and another wearing a Ku Klux Klan robe.

Northam held a press conference on Saturday afternoon at the governor’s mansion where he once again apologized for the image, but said he had nothing to do with it. He said the first time he saw the photo was on Friday, he did not attend that party and the picture is not of him.

“I reflected with my family and classmates from the time and affirmed my conclusion that I am not the person in that photo,” North said, calling the image “offensive, racist and despicable.”

Read more from NBC News:

Trump says U.S. to leave key nuclear arms treaty with Russia

Booker 2020 campaign: ‘Folks are feeling left out…left behind’

White House rescinds Education Dept. watchdog pick after ethics concerns

One of the reasons Northam said he remembers that he is not in the image is because he participated in a dance competition the same year the yearbook was published — 1984 — in which he used shoe polish to darken his face for a Michael Jackson costume.

“It is because my memory of that episode is so vivid that I truly believe that I am not in that picture of the yearbook,” Northam said.

“I certainly take responsibility for what happened in San Antonio,” Northam added later. “I have learned from that. But this was not my picture, that was not my costume, as either black face or KKK.”

The governor said he does not expect everyone to believe his account, at least not immediately, nor does he expect to be immediately forgiven. He said he would not resign because that would be the easier path.

“I am ready to earn your forgiveness, and I am ready to begin today,” he said.

Northam originally apologized Friday on Twitter “for the decision I made to appear as I did in this photo and for the hurt that decision caused then and now.”

But Northam told Virginia State Senator Louise Lucas earlier on Saturday that it was not him in the picture, according to the senator’s spokesperson. The apology Friday, which called the image “clearly racist and offensive,” acknowledged his appearance in the photo and suggests he did, at one point, think he might have been one of the people pictured.

An hour after he made that statement, Northam said he realized that it was not him in the image after all.

“When I was shown this last night it was horrific. It really horrified me. We did what we needed to do last night and that was to reach out and apologize to those who may be hurt, but the more time I’ve had, I’ve realized I have no recollection of dressing up like that,” the governor said at the press conference on Saturday.

A second Virginia Democrat told NBC News that Northam said earlier Saturday that he did not believe he was in the image and would not resign. Northam also said that classmates of his from Eastern Virginia Medical School told him that they believed some of the pictures in the yearbook had been mixed up, according to the source.

The Democratic Party of Virginia released a statement on Saturday after learning that Northam did not plan to resign. “We made the decision to let Governor Northam do the correct thing and resign this morning — we have gotten word he will not do so this morning.”

Despite Northam’s expected announcement and claims that he is not in the image, the state party said their views had not changed.

“We stand with Democrats across Virginia and the country calling him to immediately resign,” the statement said. “He no longer has our confidence or our support. Governor Northam must end this chapter immediately, step down, and let Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax heal Virginia’s wounds and move us forward.”

Northam resisted calls for his resignation in that statement, however, stating in a video of the apology that he would keep on fighting for Virginia. “I’m committed to continuing that fight through the remainder of my term,” he said.

But pressure continued to grow as the Virginia House Democratic caucus, Senate Democratic caucus and Virginia black caucus all came out against the governor.

“We are having trouble reconciling our experience with Governor Northam with what we see in this photo,” the House Democrats said in a statement Friday. “We regret to say that we are no longer confident in the Governor’s representation of Virginians.”

Fromer Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, Northam’s predecessor and a close ally, notably joined the calls for him to resign. “The situation that he has put himself and the Commonwealth of Virginia in is untenable. It’s time for Ralph to step down, and for the Commonwealth to move forward,” he tweeted.

With the state party maintaing their position, it is unlikely these particular Virginia Democrats will reconsider their position after Northam’s latest claim. Nevertheless, a notable statement came from former Virginia Governor Doug Wilder, the first and only African-American to serve as governor in Virginia.

“It has never been right, in Virginia, nor anywhere else to participate in or condone such mockery or insensitive behavior and for that Gov. Northam should be criticized,” the former governor wrote on Twitter, noting that many had asked him to respond to this latest revelation.

The elder statesman of Virginia politics, however, declined to call for Northam’s resignation.

The choice of his continuing in office is his to make,” Wilder concluded.

Still, several Democrats who have announced interest in a 2020 presidential run — Julian Castro, Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand — called for Northam’s resignation.

“Racism has no place in Virginia,” said Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Jack Wilson in a statement before Northam apologized. “These pictures are wholly inappropriate. If Governor Northam appeared in blackface or dressed in a KKK robe, he should resign immediately.”

The photo from the 1984 Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook ran alongside pictures of and personal information about Northam.

NBC News verified the yearbook pictures with the school. NBC News is not aware of the identities of both of the men in the picture in blackface or the Klan robes. All the other photos on the page are clearly of Northam: one in a suit jacket, one in a cowboy hat where he is holding a beer, one sitting next to a Corvette.

Vincent Rhodes, chief communications officer for the school, said the production of the yearbook was a student activity, adding, “We don’t know when or where the picture was taken and we don’t know anything about its content.”

The NAACP also said the Virginia Democrat should step down. “Black face in any manner is always racist and never okay. No matter the party affiliation, we can not stand for such behavior,” said the organization’s president, Derrick Johnson.

Northam, a doctor, came under fire from Republicans earlier this week, who accused him of supporting infanticide because of comments he made in support of allowing late-term abortions when the fetus is severely deformed or would be unable to survive after birth.

He was elected governor in 2017 in a hotly-contested race against Republican Ed Gillespie. Northam said he supported taking down Confederate monuments, a stance Gillespie blasted him for.

In his victory speech, Northam, an Army veteran and pediatric neurologist, said, “Virginia has told us to end the divisiveness, that we will not condone hatred and bigotry.”

“It’s going to take a doctor to heal our differences. And I’m here to tell you, the doctor is in!” he declared.

The yearbook photo was first reported by Big League Politics, a far-right website that often promotes conspiracy theories.