Virtually every American analyst agrees on what Trump should do to meet the No. 1 threat: drop his plans of confronting China on trade to obtain its assistance on “denuclearizing” the Kim regime.

This line of thinking is not new and ignores 13 years of American foreign policy failure. In fact, it’s possible the opposite is true, that waging a trade war on China may be the only way to obtain Beijing’s cooperation on North Korea.

It’s not hard to see why the outgoing administration thinks the North is such a danger. At this time, Kim Jong Un, the regime’s unstable ruler, can press a button and send three types of missiles to the lower 48 states, the Taepodong-2; the road-mobile KN-08; and the KN-08 variant, the KN-14. Richard Fisher of the International Assessment and Strategy Center thinks the KN-14 might be able to reach Washington, D.C.

The consensus is that North Korea cannot mate a nuclear warhead to these launchers, but in, say, four years, it will have that capability as well. The North already possesses a nuke that fits atop its Nodong intermediate-range missile, which can travel a little under a thousand miles.

How did North Korea, one of the world’s most destitute states, develop its nukes and missiles in the face of opposition of virtually all the international community? The simple answer is that Presidents Obama and Bush relentlessly pursued ineffective policies.

With the regrettable exception of about a month in early 2012, when his negotiators crafted the misguided Leap Day deal, Obama practiced a policy of “strategic patience,” not talking to the North Koreans until they showed good faith. At the same time, Washington worked with Beijing to impose sanctions as the North detonated four nuclear devices during the president’s eight years.

That Obama policy was an understandable reaction to Bush’s failed efforts. The 43rd president, placing a higher priority on integrating China into the international system than disarming the North, gave Beijing a lead role in multilateral negotiations, the so-called Six-Party talks.

BMW will rework the front and rear of the i3 and equip the car with a new battery to increase its range substantially beyond the current 300 km maximum, the paper said, adding that the increase would be below 50 percent.

BMW has been torn about whether to accelerate development of new electric cars given its expensive early investment has only resulted in lackluster sales, with 25,000 i3s delivered last year.

To help improve sales, BMW has already increased the battery range of its i3 city car by 50 percent this year.

BMW was not immediately available for comment on the newspaper report.

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz; editing by David Clarke)

Adobe Digital Insights (ADI) Saturday said the total represented a 21.6 percent increase from the same day of last year and 290 million dollars above the predicted 3.05 billion dollars sales for the traditional shopping day after Thanksgiving holiday.

The Black Friday this year also registered as the first day to ever generate over a billion dollars in online sales from mobile devices. Sales through mobile devices totaled 1.2 billion dollars, or 36 percent of all online sales for the day and an increase of 33 percent over the same day of last year.

The ADI research is based on the analysis of select, anonymous, and aggregated data from more than 5,000 companies that use the Adobe Digital Marketing Cloud to obtain real-time data and analysis of activity on websites, social media and advertising.

About 800 government officials and business leaders from the 2 countries took part in a forum in Beijing on Saturday to discuss environment-related issues.

Japanese industry minister Hiroshige Seko said that in the energy-conservation and environmental sectors, China is strong in production capacity, while Japan has experience and technological knowhow in both fields.

Seko added he believes the 2 countries can build "a win-win relationship."

He then signed a memorandum on energy cooperation with China's National Development and Reform Commission Minister, Xu Shaoshi.

The memorandum covers training of experts and the extending of financial assistance for energy-saving and environmental efforts.

During the forum, it was announced that public entities and companies of the 2 countries had signed up for 28 projects in the past year.

At a subcommittee meeting, the participants also heard about the results of joint research on setting up more charging stations for electric vehicles in China.

A Japanese participant said a meeting like this is significant as it allows the sharing of technology needed by China.

The protests, which began five weeks ago, were the largest in South Korea since pro-democracy demonstrations of the 1980s.
Those attending on Saturday came from a cross-section of South Korean society, with farmers, Buddhist monks and university students all involved.

"I was watching the news and thought this cannot go on - people really want her to step down but she hasn't," one of the protesters, Kwak Bo-youn, told Reuters.
"This is the second time for me to the protests, but the first time for my husband and kids."
Ms Park, whose approval rating has dropped to 5%, apologised earlier this month for putting "too much faith in a personal relationship", and has pledged to co-operate in an official investigation into the scandal.
South Korea's constitution does not allow a sitting president to be prosecuted, and Ms Park has 15 months left in her term.
But now that prosecutors have directly linked her to the scandal, it is possible she could be impeached for breaking the law.
Prosecutors are expected to bring charges against Ms Choi, along with two former presidential aides. She was arrested earlier this month.
Ms Choi is accused of trying to extort huge sums of money from South Korean companies, and suspected of using her friendship with Ms Park to solicit business donations for a non-profit fund she controlled.

Manturov says work on the intergovernmental agreement may be finished in the first quarter of 2017. Construction of the industrial park will start in 2018.

The decision to build a Russian industrial zone in Egypt was agreed by President Vladimir Putin and his Egyptian counterpart in 2014. Negotiations were temporarily frozen after a Russian airliner was blown up by terrorists over the Sinai Peninsula in October 2015.

The new industrial zone will have a friendlier tax regime for resident Russian firms. It is expected to provide 77,000 jobs, and the companies expect revenues to reach $11.6 billion. The tax rate for businesses in the project and personal income tax will be 10 percent. Sales tax will be abolished.

Russian companies will design and construct the industrial facilities, jointly produce and supply various types of equipment, and provide the necessary technical assistance.

It is estimated around $4.6 billion will be invested in the construction of the industrial park by 2035.

Two years ago Egypt announced the modernization of the Suez Canal, which is one of the world's major transportation routes. Originally, it was planned to complete the work in three years, but later it was reduced to 12 months. The new Suez Canal will include a vast range of services, as well as several industrial parks, including Russian, Chinese and Italian.

More than 4,000 households left France in 2014 (it’s the most recent year with available statistics), according to Les Echos newspaper which has obtained the report.

For those earning over €100,000 the trend has continued since 2007.

In 2014, about 589 people earning over €300,000 a year left the country. The figure was down from 659 the year before.

For those earning €700,000 or more per year, 127 people said ‘au revoir’ to France in 2014, down from 179 people a year earlier.

Experts cite France’s relatively high tax rate as one of the main reasons for the outflow of millionaires. Taxes were significantly increased in 2012 with a 'supertax' of 75 percent on the rich which was meant to force the wealthy help the country out of the economic crisis. The unpopular measure was introduced by France’s President Francois Hollande, but two years later the supertax was adjusted to a 50 percent rate due to accusations of it being anti-business.

The report, however, found that over half the top earners leave France for "professional reasons," while 30 percent move for personal or family reasons.

Some other studies also show the massive exodus was more likely linked with a new job, a change of scene, or for family reasons. Very few high earners blamed taxes for causing them to move.

Last month’s study from the Ipsos research company revealed the French are more pessimistic about the future of their country than anyone else in the world. A total of 88 percent of respondents said the country was heading down the wrong path. They considered terrorism to be the "most worrying topic" in France, followed by unemployment, taxes, and poverty/social inequality.

The SZHKSC will be launched on Dec 5, according to a joint announcement by the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong.

The SZHKSC is a mutually beneficial collaboration project. Following the successful implementation of the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, the SZHKSC will help further promote the opening up of the Chinese mainland's capital markets as well as the internationalization of the renminbi (RMB), according to a HKSAR government statement.

It will also reinforce Hong Kong's position as an international financial center and a premier offshore RMB hub, it said.

John Tsang, Financial Secretary of the HKSAR, said, "The SZHKSC will be implemented very soon. We will closely monitor its implementation so that it will contribute to the economic and financial reforms of our country and reinforce Hong Kong's position as an international financial centre."

Welcome from HKEX

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) welcomed the latest timetable for the launch of the SZHKSC.

The HKEX market has been ready in terms of technical systems and operations for the launch of program, said an HKEX statement.

HKEX has completed three rounds of connectivity testing and market rehearsals to ascertain technical readiness of the market infrastructure and operational readiness of market participants, the statement said.

"I want to thank everyone for their support to ensure a smooth launch of Shenzhen Connect," said HKEX chief executive Charles Li.

"We're ready for another milestone in our mutual market access initiative. Shenzhen Connect will open up another mainland market for international investors," Li said.

Welcome from HK Monetary Authority

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) welcomes the timetable.

Norman Chan, chief executive of the HKMA, said, as the second channel for mutual access to stock markets of mainland and Hong Kong, the SZHKSC is an important initiative to enhance Hong Kong's position as an international financial center.

The HKMA has recently appointed two additional primary liquidity providers and introduced measures to enhance transparency of the RMB market liquidity, Chan said.

"I believe this will further strengthen Hong Kong's role as the global hub for offshore RMB business in support of RMB internationalisation," he noted.

Ashen and grave, President Castro told the nation in a late night broadcast on state television that Fidel Castro had died and would be cremated on Saturday.
There would now be several days of national mourning on the island.
Barring the occasional newspaper column, Fidel Castro had essentially been retired from political life for some time, the BBC's Will Grant in Havana reports.
In April, Fidel Castro gave a rare speech on the final day of the country's Communist Party congress.
He acknowledged his advanced age but said Cuban communist concepts were still valid and the Cuban people "will be victorious".

"I'll soon be 90," the former president said, adding that this was "something I'd never imagined".
"Soon I'll be like all the others, "to all our turn must come," Fidel Castro said.

1926: Born in the south-eastern Oriente Province of Cuba
1953: Imprisoned after leading an unsuccessful rising against Batista's regime
1955: Released from prison under an amnesty deal
1956: With Che Guevara, begins a guerrilla war against the government
1959: Defeats Batista, sworn in as prime minister of Cuba
1961: Fights off CIA-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion by Cuban exiles
1962: Sparks Cuban missile crisis by agreeing that USSR can deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba
1976: Elected president by Cuba's National Assembly
1992: Reaches an agreement with US over Cuban refugees
2008: Stands down as president of Cuba due to health issues
Throughout the Cold War, Fidel Castro was Washington's bete noire.
An accomplished tactician on the battlefield, he and his small army of guerrillas overthrew the military leader Fulgencio Batista in 1959 to widespread popular support.
Within two years of taking power, he declared the revolution to be Marxist-Leninist in nature and allied the island nation firmly to the Soviet Union.
Yet, despite the constant threat of a US invasion as well as the long-standing economic embargo on the island, Castro managed to maintain a communist revolution in a nation just 90 miles off the coast of Florida.
Despised by his critics as much as he was revered by his followers, he outlasted ten US presidents and defied scores of attempts on his life by the CIA.