German sporting goods maker Adidas said Wednesday it booked vaulting profits in 2018, but crimped its expectations for this year as it runs into limits on production capacity.
Net profit at the Herzogenaurach-based group leaped 45 per cent year-on-year, to 1.7 billion euros (USD 1.9 billion), Adidas said.
The firm booked an 3.0-per cent increase in revenues to a record 21.9 billion euros last year, a figure it aims to lift by "between five and eight per cent" in 2019.
But while Adidas claimed in a statement to see a "strong increase in demand" for its clothing, "supply chain shortages" mean it will not manage to keep up.
"Growth is expected to be negatively impacted, particularly in North America during the first half of the year," it added.
The region had been one of the "strategic growth drivers" contributing double-digit expansion to 2018's result alongside China and the group's growing e-commerce operation, chief executive Kasper Rorsted said.
Across the world, Adidas' flagship ...

Production bottlenecks to hobble Adidas in 2019

PTI Automatic

Long-term exposure to harmful smog particles increases the risk of diabetes, a new study in China has shown, providing evidence for a link between the country's air pollution and the disease.
China is facing the largest diabetes problem in the world with around 11 per cent of its population suffering from the metabolic illness, according to a United States study published in 2017.
Increased prosperity has brought changing diets and lifestyles, along with an air pollution crisis that the World Health Organization estimates causes over a million premature deaths every year.
The risk of diabetes rose by about 16 percent for an increase of 10 microgrammes per cubic metre in long-term PM2.5 particle exposure, researchers from Fuwai Hospital in Beijing and Emory University in the US found in a study published online by Environment International last week.
"Sustained improvement of air quality will help decrease the diabetes epidemic in China," Lu Xiangfeng, one of the study's authors, told .

Air pollution raises diabetes risk in China: study

Asian markets retreated Wednesday after two days of gains but the pound enjoyed a slight uptick after the previous day's sharp losses as British officials looked to ease concerns about the possible impact of a no-deal Brexit.
The sterling saw wild fluctuations Tuesday as it hit a near two-year high on news Prime Minister Theresa May had won a last-minute revision to her agreement with the European Union.
But it then tanked to a three-week low as it was tossed out by MPs at Westminster later in the day.
The decision means lawmakers will vote Wednesday on whether to leave the EU on March 29 without an economic agreement -- which is expected to fail -- then Thursday on whether to extend the deadline.
In a bid to ease concerns about the financial impact on the economy if MPs vote later in the day to leave with no agreement, officials in London said they will slash tariffs on 87 per cent of imports, and will not apply customs checks on the border with Ireland.
However, there remains a lot .

Asian markets sink but pound edges up ahead of new Brexit vote

Hong Kong on Wednesday barred Boeing 737 MAX airliners from its airspace, the latest in a series of government bans worldwide in the wake of a deadly plane crash in Ethiopia.
Despite Boeing's assurances in the wake of the disaster, the European Union, Britain and India joined China and other countries grounding the plane or banning it from their airspace as they await the results of the crash investigation.
The semi-autonomous Chinese city's Civil Aviation Department (CAD) said it was imposing a temporary suspension from 6 pm local time (1000 GMT) on Wednesday until further notice on "operation of Boeing B737 MAX aircraft into, out of and over Hong Kong".
The ban is "solely a precautionary measure to ensure aviation safety and protect the public", a CAD spokesman added.
The department added it had been in close contact in the past few days with the US Federal Aviation Administration and relevant organisations, including two airlines -- India's SpiceJet and Globus Airlines of Russia -- 

Hong Kong bans Boeing 737 MAX flights

The United Arab Emirates has slammed a European Union decision to add it to a tax haven blacklist despite the Gulf state's efforts to meet EU requirements.
The EU on Tuesday added 10 countries to the list, created in 2017 as part of efforts to battle tax evasion by the wealthy.
The UAE was among the new countries included.
"This inclusion was made despite the UAE's close cooperation with the EU on this issue and ongoing efforts to fulfil all the EU's requirements," said an official statement cited by state news agency WAM late Tuesday.
"The UAE remains firmly committed to its long-standing policy of meeting the highest international standards on taxation," it said.
The UAE "will continue to update its domestic legislative framework in this regard," it said.
The EU had included the UAE, the second-largest, most diversified and open Arab economy, on the initial 2017 list, but later removed it after Emirati officials assured their European counterparts it would meet EU requirements.
Its .

UAE regrets inclusion in EU tax blacklist

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres heads to Washington on Wednesday for talks on the UN peacekeeping budget after the United States drilled a hole in the world body's finances by capping its share.
The US, which is the number one financial contributor to the UN, said in December that it would cover no more than 25 per cent of the UN's multi-billion-dollar peacekeeping budget, down from 28.47 per cent.
Guterres will be meeting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton for talks that are also expected to touch on Yemen and Venezuela.
On Thursday, the UN chief heads to Congress for meetings on the budget, hoping to make allies in his campaign to keep the world's peacekeeping operations afloat.
The US cost-cutting has created a hole of about USD 220 million in this year's USD 6.7 billion budget, but the shortfall has been compounded by arrears that have pushed peacekeeping finances further into the red.
In January, unpaid contributions to the ...

UN chief heads to Washington to plug peacekeeping budget hole

At least 66 people have been killed and 141,000 affected after heavy rains deluged central and northern Mozambique, the government has said as it appealed for funds to manage the crisis.
"The government has decreed a red alert due to the continuing rains and the approach of the tropical cyclone Idai, expected to reach the country between Thursday to Friday," said cabinet spokeswoman Ana Comoana.
She spoke to reporters late Tuesday after a meeting of the Council of Ministers held in Maputo to discuss the deadly flooding.
The floods in one of Africa's poorest countries have already destroyed 5,756 homes, affecting 15,467 households and 141,325 people.
There are 111 people with injuries, 18 hospitals destroyed, 938 classrooms destroyed and 9,763 students affected.
More than 168,000 hectares of crops were also destroyed, the government spokeswoman added.
Authorities have ordered the compulsory evacuation of people living in flood-prone areas.
"Sixteen accommodation centres have been ...

Floods kill 66 in Mozambique

World number one Novak Djokovic was trying hard to take his shock loss at the ATP Indian Wells Masters in stride on Tuesday, but it wasn't easy.
"To be honest, I don't enjoy losing," Djokovic said after falling 6-4, 6-4 to 39th-ranked German Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third round.
Kohlschreiber notched his first ever victory over a number one-ranked player, ending Djokovic's bid for a sixth Indian Wells crown.
"Especially in a tournament like this, a tournament where I have had plenty of success in the past ..." Djokovic said. "But it just happens, one of those days."
Djokovic, playing his first tournament since lifting his record seventh Australian Open title in January, knew he'd have to work his way back into top form.
He admitted he was nervous in the early going of his 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, win over US qualifier Bjorn Fratangelo in his second-round opener.
Nevertheless, he thought he was poised for a deeper run, something he'll now try to achieve in doubles alongside Italian playing .

Defeated Djokovic will regroup at the double

Lewis Hamilton believes Ferrari have the edge going into the opening Grand Prix of the season in Melbourne, but the Mercedes ace remains quietly confident in his bid for a sixth world title.
The 34-year-old, who was dominant in 2018, is gunning to go one better than legendary five-time champion Juan Manuel Fangio and close in on Michael Schumacher's all-time record seven Formula One crowns.
But it was Ferrari who sizzled in pre-season testing to emerge as the early favourites in Australia, with Hamilton claiming the Italian team could be up to half a second quicker around Albert Park on Sunday.
"This is going to be the toughest battle yet," said the Briton, although Mercedes, who have won five drivers' and constructors' titles in a row, may not have shown their full hand yet.
- 'We've got the best team' -
=============================
"We've got the best team around us. We have experience, it's no coincidence that we are world champions so we have to be diligent and stay balanced," ...

Confident Hamilton predicts 'toughest battle yet' with Ferrari

Daniel Ricciardo says he's growing happier by the day at new team Renault, but warned home fans in Melbourne this week not to expect fireworks from their Formula One hero, at least not yet.
The seven-time grand prix winner stunned the paddock by ditching Red Bull after five years for a "fresh start" and said he was raring to go for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix at the weekend.
"We had a good winter test, I'm growing happier every time I step into the car and the first race will be especially exciting," said the Perth-born Ricciardo, whose contract with Renault is reportedly worth almost three times what he was getting at Red Bull.
"I feel comfortable within the team. Walking through the garage, stepping into the car all feels cool and real now." Ninth in the constructors' championship on their return as a team to Formula One in 2016 after taking over Lotus, Renault improved to sixth in 2017 and were fourth last season.
But Ricciardo is cautious about the team's chances of ..

'It all feels cool': Home hero Ricciardo raring to go at Renault

Ferrari unveiled a 90th anniversary logo for Formula One's season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Wednesday after ditching branding by a tobacco giant's subsidiary over a potential breach of cigarette advertising laws.
The Italian team had earlier agreed to remove all references to Mission Winnow, a research subsidiary of tobacco firm Philip Morris, from their SF90 cars and team uniforms over concerns they could breach Australian laws on tobacco advertising.
The new logo honours the establishment of Scuderia Ferrari in 1929 by Enzo Ferrari and his associates, the team said. Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc will drive for Ferrari this year.
"The name of this year's car, the SF90, is already a celebration of this anniversary and, on top of that (we have) decided to honour this achievement in an even more evident manner in Melbourne," Ferrari said in a statement.
"Over the Australian Grand Prix weekend, the SF90 livery, the drivers' race suits and some of the team's track equipment .

Ferrari unveil anniversary logo after tobacco ad probe

California Governor Gavin Newsom will impose a moratorium Wednesday on carrying out the death penalty, granting temporary reprieve to the 737 inmates on the state's death row, the largest in the United States.
"The death penalty is inconsistent with our bedrock values and strikes at the very heart of what it means to be a Californian," Newsom will say, according to prepared remarks.
The governor plans to sign an executive order to block the death penalty that will also withdraw California's lethal injection protocol and close the execution chamber at San Quentin prison, his office said.
It does not provide for the release of any death row inmates from prison.

California governor to impose moratorium on executions

US President Donald Trump's former campaign chief Paul Manafort, sentenced to 47 months in prison last week for tax and bank fraud, returns to court on Wednesday to find out whether he faces even more jail time.
Manafort, who turns 70 on April 1, is to appear before Judge Amy Berman Jackson in a federal court in Washington for sentencing on two conspiracy charges to which he has pleaded guilty.
The veteran Republican political consultant and lobbyist faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each count.
Jackson can decide whether any sentence she imposes runs concurrently with Manafort's current sentence or is tacked on to the end.
Manafort's case is the highest-profile one yet stemming from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
He is one of a half-dozen former Trump associates and senior aides charged by Mueller, although none of them have been accused so far of direct collusion with Moscow to get Trump ..

Trump ex-campaign chief back in court for further sentencing

The United States plans to extend its policy of returning asylum-seeking migrants back over the southern border to await their court hearings, triggering backlash from Mexico over the "unilateral measure."
The policy -- US President Donald Trump's latest bid to deter undocumented immigrants -- will now be applied at a second border crossing: the one between Calexico, California and its Mexican sister city, Mexicali, the Mexican foreign ministry said Tuesday, citing US officials.
The measure, which has been criticized by rights groups, was first implemented in January at the crossing between Tijuana and San Ysidro, California.
"The Mexican government reiterates that it does not agree with this unilateral measure implemented by the US authorities," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The policy, known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, applies only to non-Mexican migrants.
Trump, who originally dubbed it the "Remain in Mexico" policy, unveiled the idea last year as a series of ..

Mexico lashes out as US extends policy of returning asylum-seekers

Nineteen passengers who were kidnapped from a bus last week in northern Mexico were migrants, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Tuesday, as investigators worked through the murky details of the case.
The men were crossing the violent state of Tamaulipas, on the US-Mexican border, on Thursday when four vehicles blocked the road and forced their bus to stop, according to authorities.
Armed men then boarded the coach and kidnapped 19 passengers whose names they had on a list.
"I can confirm that they were migrants," Lopez Obrador said, referring to the abducted men, without specifying their nationalities.
The bus was travelling from the port of Tampico to Reynosa, a border city across from McAllen, Texas.
Although the bus driver told authorities that 19 passengers were kidnapped, investigation sources have indicated the real number of victims could be as high as 25.
The president told a news conference that one line of investigation is the possibility the men could have staged ..

19 migrants kidnapped from bus in Mexico: President

Boeing 737 MAX

Despite Boeing's assurances that the plane is safe and reliable, EU, Britain and India joined China and other countries in either grounding the best-selling plane or banning it from their airspace

Despite crash, US regulator says 'no basis' to ground Boeing 737 MAX planes

Press Trust of India

New Zealand's aviation watchdog joined counterparts worldwide on Wednesday in banning Boeing 737 MAX aircraft from its airspace in the wake of a deadly plane crash in Ethiopia.
New Zealand's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said it was imposing the temporary suspension after consultation with other regulators.
"The CAA's assessment has taken into consideration the level of uncertainty regarding the cause of the recent Ethiopian Airlines accident plus its review of the aircraft design," the CAA said in a statement.
The regulator said only one airline, Fiji Airways, flew the 737 MAX to New Zealand.
Flag carrier Air New Zealand does not have any of the aircraft in its fleet. On Sunday, a new Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX 8 went down minutes into a flight to Nairobi, killing all 157 people on board.
The crash came after a Lion Air jet of the same model went down in Indonesia in October, claiming 189 lives.

New Zealand bans Boeing 737 MAX flights

Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido vowed Tuesday to take Nicolas Maduro's place in the presidential palace "very soon," as thousands of people took to the streets of Caracas to protest.
"We need an office to work in, so very soon, and when we have the armed forces totally on our side, we'll go to find my office there in Miraflores. Very soon," Guaido told supporters, who chanted back: "Yes, you can!"
Demonstrators banged pots and sounded car horns at the protest in a square in the east of the capital. Many waved large banners calling on Maduro to go.
"The situation is very difficult, we are hoping that this government will change. We've had enough of this chaos!" said one of the demonstrators, Miguel Gonzalez.
"With courage and strength I asked you to believe in yourselves, that Venezuela would emerge from the darkness, that the end of the usurpation is very close," said Guaido, who is recognized as interim president by more than 50 countries.
Venezuela's state prosecutor, ...

Guaido vows to oust Maduro from office as thousands of Venezuelans protest

UN sanctions monitors are investigating Kim Jong Un's luxury purchases of a Rolls-Royce, Mercedes-Benz limousines and Lexus four-wheel-drive vehicles rolled out during the North Korean leader's recent international meetings, the head of the panel said Tuesday.
Kim drew the attention of sanctions experts when he turned up at a meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Pyongyang in October in a brand-new Rolls-Royce Phantom limousine.
At the Singapore summit with President Donald Trump in June, Kim's entourage was ferried in a fleet of Mercedes-Benz luxury cars, none of which had license plates.
And a number of Lexus LX570 all-wheel drive luxury vehicles were used by the North Korean delegation at an inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang in September.
"The North Koreans procure what they want. They get the best when they need it," Hugh Griffiths, who for the past five years has been the coordinator of the UN panel of experts investigating sanctions-busting by North Korea, told ...

UN says North Korea defied sanctions with luxury vehicles

The British parliament's rejection of the Brexit agreement makes crashing out of the EU without a deal much more likely, the bloc said Tuesday, as it warned there is no more it can do.
Lawmakers inflicted another crushing defeat on beleaguered Prime Minister Theresa May, voting to reject the divorce deal, even after she secured further guarantees from Brussels.
Senior EU officials lined up to voice regret at the result, and to hammer home the message that Brussels would not make any further concessions to help May win over recalcitrant MPs.
If parliament fails to approve an accord the UK will crash out of the bloc without a deal on March 29 -- unless a delay is agreed, something the EU said it would be willing to consider.
A spokesman for Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, said he regretted the result, but warned that from Brussels' viewpoint "it is difficult to see what more we can do".
"With only 17 days left to 29 March, today's vote has significantly increased the 

EU warns of no-deal Brexit, says cannot offer more

The United States said Tuesday it supports the right of the Algerian people to "free and fair elections," amid fears that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is seeking to prolong his two-decade rule.
In a surprise announcement Monday, the ailing 82-year-old Bouteflika said he would not stand for a fifth term -- but also cancelled next month's presidential election in the North African country.
"We support the rights of the Algerian people to vote in free and fair elections," State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said, after thousands of protesters returned to the streets of Algiers on Tuesday.
Palladino did not directly address Bouteflika's decision, simply saying: "We're closely monitoring reports that Algeria's elections have been postponed." "We support efforts in Algeria to charter a new path forward based on dialogue that reflects the will of all Algerians and their aspirations for a peaceful and prosperous future," he said.
"We respect the rights of the Algerians to assemble ..

AFP

AFP

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