Happy Friday! Here are this week’s news highlights 🙂

1. Amazon to Open a Physical Branch in New York
2. Trump says USMCA is “the most important”
3. Over 200 million Mobile Phones received a “Trump Alert”
4. Scientists may have discovered the first “exomoon”
5. Honda to Invest in Developing Autonomous Cars

Amazon to Open a Physical Branch in New York

The world’s largest online retailer and popular online shopping website is opening a ‘4-star’ store in New York. They aim to sell products that have received high ratings and good reviews on their website. More specifically, those with a rating of “four stars or more” will be displayed. Having a diversified range of products sold on their website, Amazon has decided to display mainly books, games, kitchen utensils, Amazon’s Echo Speakers, toys, household goods and “trending items”. This strategy is targeted towards customers who don’t prefer online shopping. It also eliminates competition from traditional retailers. Its store is said to have a more technological approach as compared to conventional stores. For instance, products will have digital tags for the business to be able to change prices efficiently. Moreover, excerpts of customer’s reviews from their website will be presented with the respective product.

Trump says USMCA is “the most important”

Donald Trump said the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) “would bring thousands of jobs back to North America” and that it’s “the biggest trade deal in the United States history”. This trade deal is said to have replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which phased out most tariffs, related to agriculture, textiles and automobiles, between Mexico, Canada and the United States. The USMCA, worth $1.2trn, aims to acquit threats over trade tariffs, as specified by the president.

Donald Trump has adopted an “America First” policy and has launched a trade war against China, which includes three rounds of tariffs. He has also imposed numerous tariffs, particularly on the steel and aluminium imported from Canada and Mexico.

The president has emphasised that this deal was ‘a victory’ especially for farmers, car workers and the manufacturing industry in the US as he believes they’ve “been mistreated by so many nations all over the world.”

Over 200 million Mobile Phones received a “Trump Alert”

On Wednesday, over 200 million people had received a test which was organised to check the implementation of a new emergency communications system. This system was arranged by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and it would be in direct control of the alerts in case of a real emergency. This presidential alert intends to warn people in situations such as terrorist attacks, missile attacks and natural disasters. There is no way to block these alerts, except if the respective device is switched off or has no internet connection. All users received a notification with a tone which stated, “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.” A 2015 law stated that this test must be run at least once in three years. The benefits and limitations of this feature is still being debated on; however, President Donald Trump currently intends to continue the action.

Scientists may have discovered the first “exomoon”

This ‘exomoon’ is reported to be as big as Neptune and is currently orbiting a planet the size of Jupiter. The moon was detected by Nasa’s Kepler spacecraft and then monitored using the Hubble telescope. However, scientists believe that further observations must be made to confirm their discovery. Dr Kipping from Columbia University in New York has stated, “We’ve tried our best to rule out other possibilities such as spacecraft anomalies, other planets in the system or stellar activity, but we’re unable to find any other single hypothesis which can explain all of the data we have.” According to BBC, astronomers have discovered more than 3,500 exoplanets – worlds orbiting stars other than the Sun. Two signs have implied the presence of a moon. Firstly, as the exomoon passed in front of the planet, scientists identified a reduction in the respective star’s brightness. The second indication was a delay as the planet transiting its star. Scientists believe that its planet’s gravity most likely attracted this Neptune-sized moon after the evolution of the planetary system.

Honda to Invest in Developing Autonomous Cars

Honda will be investing $2.75 bn dollars and take a stake in GM Cruise. This partnership is proved to be ideal for GM and Cruise as they gain access to Honda’s engineering techniques, such as those associated with interior designing. Through this more funds are raised to devote to research for the production of self-driven cars. Cruise has planned to launch a self-driving taxi service in 2019; the location is yet to be determined. However, consumers are still dubious about this invention due to a series of accidents that have happened in the past. This includes the self-driving car, categorised under Apple’s ‘secretive driving division’, which was involved in a crash earlier in September.

Have a great weekend!