News Headlines - 15 July 2019

▽China GDP growth slumps to lowest in 27 years as the trade war hits - CNN

China's economic growth has slumped to its lowest level in nearly three decades as the world's second largest economy feels the effects of a prolonged trade war with the United States.
The country's gross domestic product grew at 6.2% in the quarter ended June, the slowest quarterly growth rate since 1992 and down from 6.4% in the previous quarter, according to government figures released on Monday.
And the Chinese economy will continue to face "downward pressure" in the second half of this year, the country's National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.

▽Taiwan's KMT picks Han as presidential candidate | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News

Taiwan's main opposition party has announced the mayor of the southern city of Kaohsiung will represent the party in next year's presidential election.
The Nationalist Party, or KMT, announced on Monday that polls it conducted have found Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu has the highest support rate of 44.8 percent.
Han beat his four contenders, including his closest challenger, former Hon Hai Precision Industry Company Chairman Terry Gou.

▽Toyota ordered to pay auto dealer $15.8 million in trial over Prius defects - Los Angeles Times

An Orange County jury Monday morning ordered Toyota to pay $15.8 million to one of its largest dealers in Southern California, who alleged that the company’s recalls to fix the electric power system of its popular Prius models did not remedy safety defects.
Roger Hogan, who operates dealerships in Claremont and San Juan Capistrano, contended in a two-month trial in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana that the automaker retaliated against him after he began raising concerns about the safety of the Prius’ electric power system in 2017 and for his effort to promote a safety recall software system in 2011.
The jury, on a vote of 9 to 3, decided that Toyota had breached its contracts with Hogan, violating good faith and fair dealing. That claim related specifically to Hogan’s allegations that the Prius recall in 2014 did not remedy safety defects, according to Hogan’s attorney, Amnon Siegel.

▽IKEA closing only US furniture factory, cutting 300 jobs

IKEA said it will close its only US factory at the end of the year, cutting 300 jobs, as it will be more cost effective to make the products in Europe and import them.
The global big-box furniture store, known for its Swedish meatballs and sometimes incomprehensible assembly instructions, said raw material costs were too high compared to plants in Europe meaning prices at the plant in the southern Virginia town of Danville were "significantly higher."... The factory, which opened in 2008 to produce wood shelves and storage units for the US and Canadian markets, will close in December.

▽At Vatican, empty tombs add new twist to missing girl mystery - Reuters

The Vatican opened two tombs on Thursday to see if the body of a girl missing since 1983 was hidden there and ran into a new mystery when nothing was found, not even the bones of two 19th century princesses supposed to be buried there.
Experts were looking for the remains of Emanuela Orlandi, the daughter of a Vatican clerk who failed to return home following a music lesson in Rome. Her disappearance has been the subject of wild speculation in the Italian media for years.
Exhumation work began after a morning prayer in the Teutonic Cemetery, a burial ground just inside the Vatican walls used over the centuries mainly for Church figures or members of noble families of German or Austrian origin.