Month: June 2019

Battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd will invest up to 1.8 billion euros ($2.05 billion) in expanding its European production and research base.

The investment will be used to construct a lithium-ion battery production base and a center for product research, development and testing, CATL said in a statement on Tuesday.

The investment in the project, located in Thuringia, Germany, would amount to a maximum of 1.8 billion euros, up from the previous plan of 240 million euros last year, according to the statement.

Construction is estimated to last no less than 60 months, and the project will cover around 70 hectares, the statement said.

According to CATL’s earlier announcement, the project will start operation in 2021, and have the capacity of 14 gigawatt-hours by 2022. The newly released statement did not mention or update this information.

“Based on the 1.8 billion euros investment, we estimate that the final capacity of the project may exceed 14GWh,” analysts from Sinolink Securities said in a report on Wednesday. Equipment manufacturers are expected to benefit from the project, according to the analysts.

The report noted that the new energy vehicle sector has grown rapidly in Europe in recent years, while its battery industry lags behind. The battery capacity of the European Union accounts for less than 4 percent of the world’s total, according to the data from Bloomberg.

CATL, which was established in 2011, has set up branches in countries including the United States, Canada and Japan.

Cui Dongshu, a senior researcher with the China Automobile Dealers Association’s research institute, said the move would help CATL better serve local clients, and will further consolidate the battery giant’s position in foreign markets. Cui said many Chinese battery manufacturers have improved their technology and have the capability to expand overseas.

“Homegrown firms remain at the forefront of EV battery innovations, driven by their technological strength and solid client base,” said Zou Hui, an analyst at Orient Securities.

Other leading homegrown players in the EV battery sector include automaker BYD and Guoxuan High-Tech Co Ltd.

The Chinese government’s efforts to popularize electric vehicles have underpinned the fast expansion of battery companies. China’s new energy vehicle market has experienced a boom, despite sluggish sales for gasoline-powered vehicles.

Data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers show that new energy vehicle sales in May reached 100,400 units, up 1.8 percent year-on-year. The growth rate was 18.1 percent in April and 85.4 percent in March.

Themed “Live green, live better“, the Beijing International Horticultural Exhibition, or Expo 2019 Beijing, officially opened following a spectacular ceremony on April 28.

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Our reporter Cao Zinan takes you on a personal tour of the exhibition in this video.

The Norwegian prodigy is set for the next step up in his career, moving to the Bundesliga having shone in the Eredivisie

He is a Real Madrid prodigy whose name is known worldwide, but up until now, his sole taste of the Champions League was a five minute cameo in an already lost second qualifying round back in 2014. Then, Martin Odegaard was a 15-year-old lining out for Norway’s Stromsgodset, having become the youngest player and youngest goalscorer in Tippeligaen history just a couple of months earlier.

Less than a year later, Odegaard turned down the advances of the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United and Bayern Munich to sign for Real Madrid. The plan was to have the wonderkid adapt to life in Spain by playing for Real Madrid Castilla before progressing into the senior side once he had proven his worth. But over the next three years, he played just one league game and one cup game before Real decided that loaning him abroad may be the best way to realise his talent.

Since 2017, he has been on loan in the Netherlands, first at Heerenveen and then at Vitesse. Finally, the boy with enormous potential had started to blossom. In 2018-19, he helped Vitesse challenge for Europe and was named in the official Eredivisie Team of the Season. Odegaard’s 122 chances created were more than any other player in the league, while he was one of only four players to complete over 100 dribbles, finishing with the highest completion rate of those four.

Odegaard’s performances last season did not go unnoticed, but with Madrid in the midst of their biggest spending spree in years, his path to the first team is blocked once more. Now 20, the attacker was happy to leave the club again but was hoping his future would be resolved quickly after a frustrating summer in 2018 where his Vitesse deal was not agreed until late in the window. By then, the club had already been knocked out of Europe.

“It has been a good year, I have made big strides and developed my game,” Odegaard told VG. “I don’t want what happened last summer to happen again. I want to go on vacation and enjoy a break.

“Real Madrid are very happy with me, but it’s difficult to play there and it probably will be the case next season as well. They’ve sold many players with a re-purchase clause. I don’t care much, I just want to go somewhere where I have the opportunity to play and a coach who believes in me.”

After impressing in the Netherlands, Odegaard now has the chance to step up another level at Bayer Leverkusen, where he will play under Peter Bosz. The former Ajax head coach has extracted the best out of young players and shown a willingness to give them more responsibility, like with Kai Havertz last season.

Joining Leverkusen will finally provide Odegaard an opportunity to play in the Champions League proper and prove himself against the best players in Europe. ‘Boszball’ will also offer him the freedom to continue to play the way he did at Vitesse, dribbling past opponents and using his vision to play the killer pass to team-mates.

A year in the Bundesliga was the perfect testing ground for Dani Carvajal back in 2012-13. The full-back was unable to break through at Real Madrid, so transferred to Bayer Leverkusen before being bought back a year later thanks to an incredibly low release fee in his contract – meaning it essentially was a one-year loan deal to the Bundesliga.

Before moving to Leverkusen, Carvajal had not played a single minute for Real, but immediately became first-choice right-back once he returned to Santiago Bernabeu. In the Bundesliga, Carvajal had been a revelation and was nominated for Bundesliga Team of the Season, only to miss out on a spot to Bayern Munich’s legendary full-back Philipp Lahm.

“I learned a lot, especially living alone there, going to another country, another league,” Carvajal told reporters when he left Leverkusen. “I matured a lot as a person, and was able to compete in elite football and European competition.

Being young, you acquire a lot of experience, and the tactical and physical aspects make you a better player. Tactically, I’m more complete. Coming up against footballers from around the world makes you improve.”

Odegaard will have a similar experience at the BayArena, where Bosz will give him the confidence and freedom to shine. He will also finally get a chance to play in the Champions League, five years after he first had a tiny taste of the competition.

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The USWNT defender has joined the list of players not willing to visit the POTUS and has backed her team-mate

The war of words continues between Donald Trump and the U.S. women’s national team, with Ali Krieger having sent her support to Megan Rapinoe and joined her in saying she would not be visiting the White House.  

For those keeping count, that’s now three of the USA’s biggest female stars, with Alex Morgan having made her stance on the matter clear as well, who have publicly said they would not visit the President should they be invited.  

Trump, who has hit out at Rapinoe on multiple occasions, did so again via tweet on Wednesday, but offered an invitation to the entire team, win or lose, after the World Cup.  

“Women’s soccer player, Megan Rapinoe, just stated that she is ‘not going to the F…ing White House if we win’,” Trump wrote on Twitter.  

“Other than the NBA, which now refuses to call owners, owners (please explain that I just got Criminal Justice Reform passed, black unemployment is at the lowest level in our country’s history, and the poverty index is also best number EVER), leagues and teams love coming to the White House. 

“I am a big fan of the American Team, and Women’s Soccer, but Megan should WIN first before she TALKS! Finish the job! 

“We haven’t yet invited Megan or the team, but I am now inviting the TEAM, win or lose. 

“Megan should never disrespect our country, the White House, or our flag, especially since so much has been done for her and the team. 

“Be proud of the flag that you wear. The USA is doing GREAT!” 

But Krieger has joined a growing list of players who say they will not be making the trip to visit Trump, and hit back at the President for his treatment of women, the LGBTQ+ community and other minority groups.  

“In regards to the “President’s” tweet today, I know women who you cannot control or grope anger you, but I stand by @mPinoe & will sit this one out as well. I don’t support this administration nor their fight against LGBTQ+ citizens, immigrants & our most vulnerable.” 

Krieger’s support of the LGBTQ+ community should come as no surprise. The defender is engaged to goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris, with the two having gone public with their relationship prior to the World Cup. 

As for Trump, it will be interesting to see if his invitation holds as the list of players unwilling to attend grows.  

The President pulled his invitation to NBA champion Steph Curry for “hesitating” to accept in 2017, prompting NBA superstar LeBron James to call him a “bum”. 

The USWNT has more pressing business to attend to for the moment, however, with a quarter-final against host nation France coming up on Friday. 

The former Blues midfielder’s arrival at Stamford Bridge would be ‘perfect timing’ for both player and club, according to his old accomplice

Frank Lampard is “better equipped” than any other prospective candidate to succeed at Chelsea should the club hire him as manager, says former team-mate John Terry.

The Derby County boss is in talks to to take over the vacant position at Stamford Bridge, reuniting with the club where he made his name as one of the best midfielders of his generation.

Former Blues coach Maurizio Sarri was allowed to leave after just one year in order to take charge of Juventus in his home country, leaving the Premier League outfit looking for a replacement.

If Lampard were to take the reins, he would be expected to at the very least match the success enjoyed under Sarri, including a top four finish and a Europa League crown, while contending with a transfer embargo.

Terry, who will feature in the top flight next season as assistant to Dean Smith with newly-promoted Aston Villa after they beat Derby in the Championship play-off final, feels that his old friend is the right man for the job, implying that the 41-year-old would thrive in the pressure that the position would bring.

“After the season he has had with Derby and with Chelsea’s transfer ban in place, there is no-one better equipped than Frank to succeed at Chelsea,” the 38-year-old was quoted in the Daily Mail. “It is perfect timing for him and the club.

“Frank was under pressure to succeed at Chelsea the day he arrived from West Ham and he never hid from that. He revelled in it and went on to become Chelsea’s greatest-ever player. He is just as exacting on himself now as a manager.

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The former defender added that he did not feel there would be backlash from fans in hiring Lampard, who has only his loan season with Derby under his belt in terms of experience.

“I don’t believe there will be any trepidation from supporters,” he added. “They love him. [He] is a legend and now is the right time for him to come home.

“He would welcome that responsibility to make Chelsea more competitive. He has the tactical knowledge, enthusiasm and will have the backing of the players and fans to prove what he can do.”

The London outfit will hope to confirm their new manager within the coming weeks, particularly ahead of their pre-season trip to Asia, when they will face La Liga champions Barcelona.

Old Trafford’s head honcho is keen to bring in a certain type of player as he attempts to restore glory days in the red half of Manchester

As Ole Gunnar Solskjaer goes about shaping the Manchester United squad in his image this summer, you may hear or read about the term ‘Manchester United DNA’.

Solskjaer has been tasked with bringing the club back to the summit of English football and in order to achieve that, he needs to identify players who have the ability to propel them towards that target.

“You can see the Man Utd standards – the DNA – in many of these players,” Solskjaer said in April when asked about whether or not he needs to make wholesale changes.

“We have to get players in and some players will have to go out.”

So what exactly is ‘Manchester United DNA’ and, more importantly, who has it?

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What is ‘Manchester United DNA’?

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‘Manchester United DNA’ is an abstract concept which has been used by Solskjaer and others to describe a set of desirable qualities that should be possessed by players who play for Manchester United.

The term gained popularity during the 2018-19 season in the early days of the Norwegian’s tenure as Red Devils boss, which saw him win his first six league matches, beating the record previously set by Matt Busby.

According to former Red Devils defender Rio Ferdinand ‘Manchester United DNA’ is basically a winning mentality and a refusal to rest on one’s laurels.

Bravery and a willingness to play with a sense of adventure appear to be key traits encoded into the DNA too, with attitude prized ahead of talent levels.

“Ole gets a blank canvas now to go into the club, do what he wants to do and move it forward,” Ferdinand said in March, following Solskjaer’s permanent appointment as manager.

“It doesn’t matter how many players because the turnover has been so great over the last seven or eight years. It’s what players you get – because you have to get the right players.

“Players who are fit to play for Manchester United, players who play off the front foot, players who are brave. There’s a DNA there that should be going through a player who goes to Man United.

“Hunger needs to be brought into that squad. I look at the squads I was in, there were hungry people in there.

“Forget abilities sometimes. Are you hungry enough? Have you got a desire to come in and improve yourself and try to improve this team with respect to what has gone on before you?”

Of course, there is nothing particularly groundbreaking in Ferdinand’s comments about the DNA – don’t all clubs want diligent, hard-working players? – and he is light on specifics.

Is there anything in the DNA about how a player carries themselves off the pitch? In this day and age, what about social media usage? Just how far does it go?

Despite the veneer of lofty idealism presented by Ferdinand, it is unclear whether having ‘Manchester United DNA’ extends much further than being “hungry” to win.

The concept of a unique ‘Manchester United DNA’ dovetails with the idea that there is a ‘Manchester United Way’, which refers to the club’s tradition of playing attacking, exciting football.

Each serves to expand the mythos of the club, but, ultimately, they are nothing more than snappy self-anointed tags for vaguely defined ideals.

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Which players have ‘Manchester United DNA’?

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When Solskjaer, Ferdinand and Manchester United fans talk of ‘Manchester United DNA’ they are no doubt thinking of club heroes whose traits helped deliver glory.

The likes of Roy Keane, Bryan Robson and Michael Carrick, who each wore the captain’s armband during their time at Old Trafford are template examples.

Players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham and Eric Cantona, who demanded the best from themselves and those around them, too, not to mention Ferdinand and Solskjaer themselves.

Figuring out which players have the elusive ‘Manchester United DNA’ is the job of the club’s transfer chief Ed Woodward and coaches are expected to foster it in those under their remit.

The first signing of Solskjaer’s tenure as Red Devils manager was Daniel James and Aaron Wan-Bissaka is set to follow. After all the talk of ‘Manchester United DNA’, both players must be felt to have it’ in them or, at the very least, to be capable of developing it.

Solskjaer warned back in April that players who did not possess the Manchester United DNA would be shipped out of the club.

While it is difficult to say for sure which players exactly he had in mind, certain stars have come in for sustained criticism over the past few seasons – Alexis Sanchez and Paul Pogba, for example, though both players might well protest their credentials.

Northern pearl Dalian in Northeast China’s Liaoning province is gearing up for the 2019 World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions, or Summer Davos Forum, from July 1 to 3, officials said in Beijing Tuesday.

Dalian will hold a green, secure and innovative Annual Meeting of the New Champions, equipped with 5G technology, cloud computing, facial recognition and virtual reality, said Jin Guowei, vice-mayor of the Dalian municipal government, at a news conference.

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Themed as Leadership 4.0: Succeeding in a New Era of Globalization, this year’s Summer Davos Forum will be more open and cooperative, attracting about 2,000 international participants from more than 100 countries and regions. The percentage of international participants will reach as high as 70 percent, a historical record compared to all past annual meetings, Jin said.

Noticeably, the number of US representatives ranked second, following host country China, and about 300 representatives from the US will participate in the event amid China-US trade frictions, Jin added.

Li Bin, counsel for the department of international cooperation at the National Development and Reform Commission, said economic globalization is an irreversible trend and China will continue to firmly support globalization and join hands with stakeholders to safeguard world economic openness and inclusion.

China will also comprehensively strengthen its international cooperation in technological innovation and grasp new opportunities for a technological revolution to promote its quality economic growth, Li said.

“At this Annual Meeting of the New Champions, we hope that through the sharing and exchanging of views, participants from diverse communities will learn how to succeed in a new era of globalization, thus providing strong momentum for China’s quality economic growth and global well-being,” said Li.

David Aikman, chief representative officer of the World Economic Forum Greater China, said people should look beyond the headlines and focus on cooperation and collaboration behind the scenes.

There is tremendous cooperation taking place between China and the world, including the United States, and one of the examples is a series to bring the mayors of the world together to look at sustainable and smart cities, he noted. What can people learn from China’s experience of pilot cities and smart cities? How do we leverage 5G in the internet of things to make our cities more sustainable and better for living? This is just one example of the ways in which behind the scenes people are collaborating and working together, Aikman added.

As many international participants would like to open the channel for economic and trade cooperation with China at the annual meeting, the organizer has for the first time arranged a special department to provide long-term, professional and individual services to member enterprises of the forum, according to Jin.

An enterprise exchange meeting will also be held in the evening of July 2 for business representatives from State-owned companies, foreign enterprises, local companies and private companies to communicate for business cooperation, Jin added.

Dalian held the first Summer Davos Forum in September 2007 and this is the seventh time for Dalian to hold this forum, rotating with Tianjin.

The municipal government of Shanghai said it will make Pudong New Area contribute more to the high quality development of the nation and achieve the goal of 2 trillion yuan ($290.7 billion) GDP (gross domestic product) in seven years, official sources said on Tuesday.

Shanghai has announced a batch of new measures to deepen reform, further opening-up, technological innovation, industrial upgrading and modern urbanization of the Pudong New Area, and strives to double the area’s GDP to 2 trillion yuan by the area’s 35th anniversary of opening up, said Ma Chunlei, deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai Municipal Government and director of the city’s Development and Reform Commission.

According to the guidelines issued on June 15 on supporting Pudong New Area’s further reform and opening up, the municipal government of Shanghai will provide a better development environment for the new area in policy innovation, economic development, governance and eco-environment.

Pudong, or east of the Huangpu River, was mostly farmland only 40 years ago, when reform and opening up kicked off. But since the State Council announced the plan to develop Pudong in April 1990, the area has in the past 29 years changed into a powerhouse of the city, Shanghai’s growth engine and a calling card of China’s modernization and development, said Ma.

“Its 1 trillion yuan GDP, its achievements including establishing the nation’s first free-trade zone, have laid solid foundations for the new area to make a greater contribution to China and Shanghai’s high-quality development in the coming years,” said Ma.

More policies are in the pipeline to enhance the city’s innovative reform, leadership in opening-up, explorative innovation, competitiveness, governance capability to ensure Pudong expands its GDP to 2 trillion yuan in 2025.

“Such a goal is difficult but achievable as long as the new area can realize between 7 and 8 percent growth annually,” said Ma.

Taking up one-fifth of Shanghai’s land and a quarter of its population, Pudong created one-third of the business hub’s GDP, 40 percent of the strategic industrial output of Shanghai, and 60 percent of its foreign trade value, said Hang Yingwei, head of the Pudong New Area.

Shanghai’s GDP grew 6.6 percent year-on-year to 3.27 trillion yuan in 2018, while Pudong contributed more than 1 trillion yuan, which snowballed more than 165 times from 6 billion yuan in 1990.

In the meantime, the disposable per capita income of urban and rural residents in Pudong has exceeded 60,000 yuan, said Hang.

The area will continue to create high quality life for its residents by adding more cultural and sports facilities and optimizing its eco-environment, added Hang.

“Led by the further development of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, comprehensive high standard reform and opening-up will be launched for the development of Yangtze River Delta region, the Belt and Road Initiative and China as a whole,” said Hang.

As part of the city’s target of building Shanghai into a technological innovation hub with high quality development, six key industrial clusters including semiconductors, medicines, manufacturing, aviation, new energy vehicles and connected cars, as well as software and information services will be developed.

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“Compared with previous measures, the new round of development will be characteristic with more permission granted to the Pudong new area government in economic regulations, administrative approval, planning and governance,” said Ma.

In the new measures announced by the municipal government, Pudong can give people graduating from domestic universities or overseas universities Shanghai hukou (household registration) as a way to attract talents.

“Shanghai is the first municipal government to allow its district government to have approval power in hukou, and this new measure will give Pudong an advantage in attracting talents as well as its better reform and opening-up, because talents are the most important resource,” said Yu Chengbin, vice-director of Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau.

If the future promises to be fully autonomous and sustainable, as seems inevitable, then you’ll need the right kind of navigation to get you through its developing narrative.

So what better way to steer a course than with your new best friend, PAL, a prototype for an intelligent, modular personal transport system that embraces artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to offer flexible and convenient “last-mile” travel for Chinese electric vehicle maker NIO and its Nomi system, an advanced AI assistant for its line-up of smart electric cars.

For this project, NIO has partnered with British industrial designer Benjamin Hubert, founder and creative director of Layer, a design agency working across product, digital, brand and installation design. Through experience, the mobile lifestyle PAL becomes accustomed to a user’s routes over time and, eventually, becomes autonomous in taking its user from point A to point B.

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Former secretary-general of the Boao Forum for Asia Zhou Wenzhong has published a book recalling his eight years in the organization and summarizing its development.

The BFA, founded in February 2001, is a non-governmental and nonprofit international organization dedicated to promote and deepen economic exchanges, coordination and cooperation within the region and with the rest of the world.

Hainan’s opening-up to the outside world played an important role in establishment and development of the BFA, while the organization, in turn, has accelerated Hainan’s opening-up and development, and promoted economic cooperation within Asia and also globally, Zhou said at the launch of My Eight Years in BFA at his alma mater, the University of International Business and Economics, in Beijing on Saturday.

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The annual conference held in Boao, South China’s Hainan province, since 2002 was initiated by former top leaders of some Asian countries as Hainan — one of China’s special economic zones — was the country’s pilot zone for deepening ties with the international community, according to Zhou.

Zhou, 74, served as Chinese ambassador to the United States from 2005 to 2010 before taking over as BFA’s secretary-general the same year.

The BFA has always discussed practical and institutional issues regarding Asia’s development, he said. And since 2011, it has put inclusive development on the agenda and been echoing the Belt and Road Initiative, actively promoting a regional community with a shared future, building the consensus on enhancing cooperation and seeking mutual development while calling for the liberalization of trade and investment and standing up for globalization, he added.

Gu Yongjiang, China’s former vice-minister of commerce, said the book is a meaningful reference for the new round of opening-up because the author is an important figure who has witnessed the development of the organization, that of Hainan province and also the international spread of China’s voice and wisdom over the years.