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February 1, 2018
American English edition
Issue Number 320

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COVER
STORY
Newspaper contents

New handfish population

President of the Czech
Republic
Amazon Go doors open
Donald J. Trump, the president of the USA, speaking at the World Economic Forum, in Davos
Regeneration decoded

Davos
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a
four-day event. It takes place in Davos
during the month of January every year.
Davos is a small town high in Switzer-
land’s mountains. It is also a popular ski
resort. Some people describe the WEF
as “an annual meeting of the global and
political elites”. Nowadays, most people
simply call it “Davos”.
This year’s WEF was between Janu-
ary 23 and 26. No decisions are made at
Davos. People who attend discuss many
of the world’s current problems. In the
modern world, organizations and busi-
nesses usually have a slogan. This is an
easily remembered phrase. It is meant to
explain, in simple language, what the or-
ganization’s purpose is. The WEF’s slo-
gan is “committed to improving the state
of the world”.
Klaus Schwab founded the WEF. He
is a German economist. The first WEF
debate
Two minutes to midnight
Australia Day
meeting took place in Davos, in 1971. Saiga mystery explained
Then, the organization was called the Eu- Mountain emergency rescue
ropean Management Forum. Mr. Schwab
Humanity Star in orbit
wanted to introduce American manage-
IKEA’s founder dies
ment techniques and practices to senior
European businesspeople. He believed Electric inland barges
that the best way to do this was to organ- Cloning primates
ize an informal meeting in a small town. Turkey starts offensive
Later, Mr. Schwab decided to include Land gift in Chile
discussions about worldwide events
Ageless naked mole-rats
such as finding solutions for conflicts. In
Election dispute in
1987, he changed the name to the World
Honduras
Economic Forum. Mr. Schwab then be-
gan to invite important and powerful Glacier archaeology in
people, from all over the world. People Norway
who go to the forum are encouraged to Gabon’s orange underground
share their ideas. Each of the WEF’s an- crocodiles
nual meetings has a theme. This year it Glossary Crossword and
was “Creating a Shared Future in a Frac- Wordsearch Puzzle
tured World”.
Only those invited to Davos can at- subscribe at
tend. The guest list usually includes: the www.newsademic.com
February 1, 2018 Newsademic.com™ – American English Cover Story edition page 2
bosses of the world’s biggest com-
panies, economists, environmental-
ists, religious leaders, politicians,
and heads of state, as well as some
musicians, actors, artists, royalty,
and journalists. Around 3,000 peo-
ple were invited to this year’s event.
During the four days, there are many
talks, lectures and panel discussions.
Meetings like the WEF usually
have keynote speakers or speeches.
At Davos, these are on the first and
last days. Last year, Xi Jinping, the
president of China, gave the open-
ing speech, or keynote address. This
was the first time that a Chinese
president had attended the WEF.
This year, India’s prime minister,
Narendra Modi, was the “opening”
keynote speaker. Donald J. Trump,
the president of the U.S., was in-
vited to give the closing keynote
address. Mr. Trump had just marked
his first year as American president.
He surprised many people when
he won the presidential election. A
successful businessman and televi-
sion personality, he had never been
a politician before. Mr. Trump was
the first American president to at-
tend Davos for 18 years. As a busi-
nessman, he had never been invited.
Currently, India is the world’s
fastest growing economy. Mr. Modi
planned to talk about the advantages
of globalization. After he became
the American president, Mr. Trump
has frequently threatened to put
taxes (or tariffs) on goods imported
into the U.S. Imposing these types
of tariffs is often described as “pro-
tectionism”. This is the opposite of
globalization. Therefore, the two
keynote speakers were expected to
outline the importance of two op-
posing ideas.
Before talking about globaliza-
tion, Mr. Modi said that there were
two threats facing the world. One
Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, at the
World Economic Forum, in Davos
was climate change and the other
terrorism. He urged all countries
to work with each other to solve
these problems.
Globalization began hundreds
of years ago. Yet, over the last five
decades it has dramatically speeded
up. Globalization is the process by
which the world is becoming more
and more interconnected. Now,
goods, or items, made in factories
are transported all around the world.
People travel to, and live and work
in, different countries. Larger com-
panies are international and employ
people in many other nations.
Easy movement of people, mon-
ey, goods, and services increases the
speed of globalization. Mr. Modi
said that governments should lower
trade barriers so that this process can
continue. Trade agreements remove
barriers to further globalization and
“easy movement”. Import tariffs
and non-tariff barriers block, hinder
or slow it down. Tariffs are taxes, or
extra costs. Non-tariff barriers are
“paperwork” or complicated rules
and regulations. If no barriers ex-
ist, it is known as “free trade”. Not
everyone thinks that globalization is
a good idea. It may increase wealth
in developing, or poor, countries.
Yet recent history shows that it is
unlikely to narrow the gap between
the richest and poorest nations.
Mr. Trump traveled to Davos on
the last day of the forum. He arrived
on an American military helicop-
ter. When he spoke, the conference
room was full.
Before he was elected, Mr.
Trump frequently used the slo-
gan “make America great again”.
He argued that globalization and
complicated multi-country trade
agreements had damaged parts of
America’s economy. Due to glo-
balization, companies could easily
move their factories and operations
to other parts of the world. There,
it was less expensive to employ the
workers they needed. Globalization
meant that many American workers
had lost their jobs.
If elected, Mr. Trump promised
to bring back the “lost jobs”. Import
tariffs are one way of doing this.
Another is lowering the amount of
corporation tax. This is the tax that
companies pay on the profits they
make. Mr. Trump claimed that pre-
viously signed complicated trade
agreements were unfair. They ben-
efitted other countries more than
the U.S. These agreements, he said,
would have to be ended or renegoti-
ated. Mr. Trump described this pro-
cess as “America first”.
During his speech, Mr. Trump
explained how America’s economy
was improving. He urged the busi-
nessmen in the audience to set up
in the U.S., or expand their ex-
isting operations. Mr. Trump de-
clared that he was willing to sign
new trade agreements, but insisted
that they must be fair. He ended
by saying “America first but not
America alone”  