Balancing paid work and family care is a major challenge for female workers in Cambodia’s garment sector but investing in practical solutions to enhance gender equality is good for business as well as for workers, their families and communities, a new report has found.

Southern California may soon have more than a few problems with drones. Last week, the U.S. House passed legislation reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration. Among its many problematic provisions is one that would limit local authority to address community concerns about drones.

Drones have tremendous potential — from delivering emergency medical supplies to protecting wildlife. Earlier this year, for example, a mountain lion roamed an Azusa neighborhood until local police subdued it after stalking it with a drone.

But drones have a dark side, too. The Oceanside Police Department recently bought counter-drone equipment, partially due to drone interference with firefighters last year. Drones have a number of criminal applications, from delivering contraband into prisons to ferrying drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border.

But as Congress develops federal drone legislation, it risks leaving the management of local concerns about low-altitude drone operations in your neighborhoods — good and bad — to federal bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.

That poses serious headaches for property owners, businesses and consumers.

For example, Congress is considering requiring federal air carrier certification for anyone to enter the drone delivery business. That would burden a nascent industry with a costly and complex regulatory scheme. More importantly, it would block states and localities from setting and enforcing reasonable rules for drones operating mere feet off the ground, in their own communities.

Federal regulations known as Part 135 require companies that transport passengers or property for hire, across state and national borders, to obtain a certificate from the FAA and follow detailed federal operating rules. That may make sense in the high-altitude, high-risk, and logistically complex world of manned air traffic.

But drones operate almost exclusively at low altitudes, where airplanes cannot and do not fly. This raises countless local concerns, from whether drones should be flying over a local football game to nuisances caused by drones buzzing over backyards at all hours of the day and night.

On local issues, communities will want — and need — a say. Yet, another federal law, 49 U.S. Code § 41713, bars states from passing any laws “related to a price, route, or service of an air carrier.” That butts up against states’ inherent police powers to regulate conduct within their communities, inches off the ground.

Could localities establish local drone traffic rules, such as speed limits and no drone zones? What about nuisance ordinances addressing noise, light, and other environmental concerns? Or, zoning rules, use of private property, or the ability of local police to protect public assemblies?

Under federal air carrier rules, many of those local issues might come under congressional or FAA control.

Too many stories of federal regulators meddling in, and ultimately eroding, property rights, suggest that would be misguided, to say nothing of the huge burden drone micromanagement would place on agency personnel. Even atask group convened by the FAA to study drone issues reached “the general conclusion recognized by all participants that there ought to be reasonable time, place and manner regulations implemented at the state and local level.”

Local authorities are not infallible, but they have the direct accountability and knowledge of local conditions that are necessary to regulate local concerns.

Few people would think to ask federal permission to set local speed limits, to restrict drone flights over local events, or to prevent drones from buzzing through neighborhoods at night. And they shouldn’t have to.

At the same time, most people would think to call local police if they encountered a drone threatening public safety. But there, too, federal law is problematic.

Currently, federal law renders most counter-drone efforts illegal. According to the FAA, just damaging a drone is a federal crime.

So where does that leave the Oceanside Police Department? Without special federal authorization, using their counter-drone device would violate rules issued by the Federal Communications Commission and, possibly, several federal criminal statutes.

Law enforcement and security officials must be prepared to address the eventuality that drones are used for criminal purposes. Congress should grant necessary exemptions to federal laws that impede first responders’ ability to protect the public.

States and localities can help to optimize benefits and reduce risks of new drone technologies. But Congress will need to respect our constitutional values.

Jason Snead is a senior policy analyst and John-Michael Seibler is a legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation’sMeese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies.

A pedestrian struck and killed when he ran across lanes of the 57 Freeway in Diamond Bar was a San Bernardino County resident.

Adrian Pollard, 30, was from Bloomington.

The crash was reported at 4:38 a.m. Monday on the northbound Orange Freeway at Pathfinder Road, the California Highway Patrol said.

At least one vehicle struck the man, the CHP said.

Bayer AG won U.S. antitrust approval for its $66 billion takeover of Monsanto Co., clearing the last major regulatory hurdle to form the world’s biggest seed and agricultural-chemicals provider after a nearly two-year review.

The companies reached a settlement with the Justice Department that resolves the government’s concerns the merger as initially structured would harm consumers and farmers, the U.S. said in a statement Tuesday. The agreement requires the sale of assets to BASF SE that Bayer has previously announced. The divestiture package is worth about $9 billion, the largest in a U.S. merger enforcement case, the government said.

“America’s farm system is of critical importance to our economy, to our food system, and to our way of life,” Makan Delrahim, the head of the department’s antitrust division, said on a call with reporters. “American farmers and consumers rely on head-to-head competition between Bayer and Monsanto.”

For Bayer, acquiring Monsanto is the last step in a corporate transformation as the 154-year-old company shed its plastics business and remade itself as a life-science company with equally-sized health and agriculture units. Once the deal is through, three global behemoths will dominate the world’s agriculture industry, a prospect that has left farmers worried about the possibility of higher prices and less choice.

Significant divestitures

The settlement came together after Justice Department antitrust officials pressed for significant divestitures to remedy the competition problems from combining the two companies. The companies have received antitrust approval from most jurisdictions around the world. Bayer has said it’s confident the deal will close by the June 14 deadline.

Bayer expects to receive the approvals it needs from Canada and Mexico in the coming days, according to a statement from the Leverkusen, Germany-based company. The European Union approved BASF as the buyer of the assets Tuesday.

Bayer can then close the deal once it has the remaining approvals even though the integration of the two companies won’t happen until the BASF divestitures are finished, which will probably be in about two months. Monsanto, based in St. Louis, said it was pleased with the U.S. approval.

Merger wave

The Monsanto takeover extends a series of tie-ups in the agricultural industry. Last year, U.S. and EU regulators approved two other major deals in the sector, Dow Chemical Co.’s merger with DuPont Co. and China National Chemical Corp.’s takeover of Syngenta AG. With about $48 billion in sales from their combined businesses, Bayer and Monsanto will surpass those of both DowDuPont Inc. and China National.

The Justice Department said without the asset sales, the merger would have created a range of competitive harms. Both companies sell seeds and chemicals to farmers, and the combination would have raised prices and reduced choice, the U.S. said. The deal as initially proposed also would have combined Bayer’s seed treatments with Monsanto seeds, giving Bayer the incentive and ability to raise prices that rival seed companies pay for treatments, the government said.

Both companies also compete in developing technology that improves crop yields for farmers, the government added.

“When BASF combines the divestiture assets with its existing portfolio of crop protection products, it will have the breadth of product offerings to step into Bayer’s shoes and be an effective competitor to the other integrated agricultural technology companies,” Delrahim said.

More divestitures

Bayer initially agreed in October to sell some of its seed and chemical businesses to BASF for 5.9 billion euros ($6.8 billion). The deal included the Liberty herbicide brand, cotton and soybean seeds, and seed-trait and breeding capabilities.

Then in April, Bayer said it was selling more pieces of its agricultural business to BASF for as much as 1.7 billion euros to satisfy regulators. That deal covered Bayer’s vegetable-seeds business, other herbicides, research on wheat hybrids, and Bayer’s digital farming business. Those businesses had combined sales of 2.2 billion euros last year.

Bob Young, president of Agricultural Prospects in Grasonville, Maryland, said the merger is a good idea given that DowDuPont deal was approved. Currently, only DowDuPont has the advantage of streamlining both seed and chemical research and development within one company.

“If you were going to let Dow-DuPont go forward, then you probably want this one to go forward, too,” Young said.

‘Toxic mega-merger’

Friends of the Earth, an environmentalist group, criticized the government’s decision to approve the merger, calling it a “toxic mega-merger” that will hurt farmers and consumers.

“The DOJ’s weak divestment requirements will do nothing to stop Bayer-Monsanto from controlling more and more of our food system,” Tiffany Finck-Haynes, senior food futures campaigner with Friends of the Earth, said in a statement. “This merger will damage the bargaining power of family farmers, prevent farmers from accessing diverse seed varieties, and allow seed prices to rise.”

MAY 28

Suspicious person in a vehicle: 6:47 p.m. 0 block of Stone Creek Lane

Vandalism report: 6:45 p.m. 24000 block of Avenida de la Carlota

Suspicious vehicle: 5:55 p.m. Alicia Parkway and Hon Avenue

Citizen assist: 4:20 p.m. 24000 block of El Toro Road

Patrol check: 11:34 a.m. Tasman Road and Velasquez Road

Pedestrian check: 9:16 a.m. El Toro Road and Avenida de la Carlota

Disturbance – music or party: 12:10 a.m. 24500 block of Los Alisos Boulevard

MAY 27

Suspicious person/circumstances: 10:19 p.m. Cabot Road and La Paz Road

Disturbance – music or party: 10:12 p.m. 25800 block of Via Lomas

Suspicious person in a vehicle: 5:57 p.m. 25900 block of Rich Springs Circle

Citizen assist: 11:50 a.m. 25200 block of La Paz Road

Patrol check: 11:50 a.m. Del Lago Drive and Alcalde Drive

Trespassing: 4:38 a.m. 24200 block of Avenida de la Carlota

Assist outside agency: 1:23 a.m. 25100 block of Cabot Road

MAY 26

Disturbance – music or party: 8:36 p.m. 27700 block of Hidden Trail Road

Drunken driving: 8:06 p.m. 25700 block of Via Lomas

Suspicious person/circumstances: 5:42 p.m. 25300 block of Alicia Parkway

Patrol check: 4:25 p.m. Wilkes Place and York Circle

Citizen assist: 2:44 p.m. 25300 block of Alicia Parkway

Reckless driving: 11:50 a.m. Moulton Parkway and Santa Maria Avenue

Burglary in progress: 10:58 a.m. 25500 block of La Mirada Street

Suspicious person in a vehicle: 9:32 a.m. Kennington Drive and Paseo de Valencia

Burglary report: 9:23 a.m. 27700 block of Pinestrap Circle

MAY 25

Patrol check: 10:05 p.m. Sundowner Drive and Rapid Falls Road

Pedestrian check: 8:15 p.m. Alicia Parkway and Paseo de Valencia

Petty theft report: 7:20 p.m. 25500 block of Paseo de Valencia

Vandalism report: 7:12 p.m. 24500 block of Woodcreek Drive

Suspicious person in a vehicle: 6:36 p.m. 24700 block of Jorie Drive

Assist outside agency: 12:38 p.m. 23000 block of Lake Forest Drive

Suspicious person/circumstances: 10:48 a.m. 22900 block of Mill Creek Drive

Suspicious person in a vehicle: 10:36 a.m. 0 block of Aspen Creek Lane

Petty theft report: 10:32 a.m. 26000 block of Moulton Parkway

MAY 24

Citizen assist: 8:55 p.m. 23900 block of El Toro Road

Vandalism report: 7:12 p.m. 25700 block of Via Lomas

Citizen assist: 12:55 p.m. 25400 block of Paseo de Valencia

Suspicious person/circumstances: 2:41 a.m. 24400 block of Health Center Drive

Petty theft report: 1:19 a.m. 24300 block of Patricia Street

MAY 23

Assist outside agency: 11:12 p.m. 24400 block of Creekview Drive

Pedestrian check: 3:52 p.m. 25500 block of Alicia Parkway

Investigate person down: 1:37 p.m. Avenida de la Carlota and Paseo de Valencia

Citizen assist: 1:37 p.m. 25400 block of Paseo de Valencia

Suspicious person in a vehicle: 10:29 a.m. 24800 block of Alicia Parkway

Suspicious person/circumstances: 9:21 a.m. Via Lomas and Alicia Parkway

MAY 22

Suspicious person/circumstances: 11:51 p.m. 0 block of Clear Creek Lane

Assist outside agency: 10:09 p.m. 25200 block of La Paz Road

Drunk in public: 7:03 p.m. 25200 block of Stockport St

Suspicious person in a vehicle: 4:41 p.m. 25700 block of Via Lomas

Burglary report: 10:52 a.m. 22800 block of Caminito Manresa

Suspicious vehicle: 9:17 a.m. 26000 block of Terra Bella Avenue

Police log compiled by Magda Liszewska

By Christopher Rugaber, The Associated Press

The Trump administration has renewed its threat to place 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese goods in retaliation for what it says are China’s unfair trade practices.

The White House also said Tuesday, May 29 it would place new restrictions on Chinese investment into the United States and limit U.S. exports of high-tech goods to China.

The threats come just over a week after trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies had seemingly eased. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said May 20 that the trade conflict was “on hold.” Mnuchin’s comments followed a commitment by China to significantly increase its purchases of U.S. farm goods and energy products, such as natural gas.

Commerce Department Secretary Wilbur Ross is scheduled to visit China on Saturday to negotiate the details of that agreement. Some trade experts said the tariff announcement is likely intended to strengthen Ross’s hand.

Other analysts, however, say the newly confrontational stance may be intended to appease congressional critics of a deal the Trump administration made Friday that allowed Chinese telecom giant ZTE Corp. to stay in business. The tariff threat is unlikely to derail ongoing talks, they said.

“This is really about Congress,” said Derek Scissors, a China specialist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. “I don’t think it blows up a deal with the Chinese.”

China’s Ministry of Commerce responded in a mild fashion Tuesday. The Ministry said the White House’s announcement “is contrary to the consensus the two sides have previously reached,” according to China’s official news agency, Xinhua. The statement did not reiterate China’s own previous threats to impose $50 billion in retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods.

Members of both parties in the House and Senate slammed the agreement the Trump administration reached with ZTE Friday, in which the Chinese firm agreed to remove its management team, hire American compliance officers, and pay a fine. The fine would be on top of a $1 billion penalty ZTE has already paid for selling high-tech equipment to North Korea and Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions.

In return, the Commerce Department lifted a seven-year ban on ZTE’s purchase of U.S. components that it had just imposed earlier in May. China had complained strongly that the ban would put ZTE out of business, costing 70,000 jobs. Trump tweeted last month that the ban threatened too many Chinese jobs and he wanted to get the company “back in business, fast.”

GOP and Democratic Senators attacked the deal as insufficient punishment for a company that defied U.S. sanctions policy.

The White House said Tuesday that it will focus the tariffs on cutting-edge technologies, including those that China has said it wants to dominate as part of its “Made in China 2025” program. Under that program, China aims to take a leading role in areas such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and electric cars.

The list of imports subject to the duties will be announced by June 15, the White House said, and the tariffs will be imposed “shortly thereafter.” The list will be based on a previous compilation of 1,300 goods released in April that will be narrowed based on public comments the administration has received. The list includes computer equipment, aerospace parts, medical devices, and industrial machinery.

The tariff threat could still disrupt Ross’s China talks.

“If Beijing was under the impression that Trump’s $50 billion of tariffs were actually on hold, they may find this confusing,” Chad Bown, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said. “It could very well complicate Wilbur Ross’s visit.”

Trump has bemoaned the massive U.S. trade deficit with China — $337 billion last year — as evidence that Beijing has been complicit in abusive trading practices. The White House, and many American companies, say that China forces U.S. firms to turn over technology as part of joint ventures with Chinese companies to gain access to its market. China also subsidizes many favored industries.

Trump has frequently focused on the trade deficit, urging China to boost its imports and lower the gap by $200 billion, while China has refused to agree to any dollar amounts.

Many experts and U.S. companies, however, warn that China’s efforts to protect its high-tech industries and capture U.S. technology represent the larger threat.

Scott Kennedy, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that many foreign leaders are learning to not overreact to Trump’s threats, which are frequently seen as just part of negotiating strategy. That’s good for global stability, he added.

“But that means the United States’ credibility is incredibly low,” he said. “I don’t think you can keep doing about-faces, and have everyone pretend the threat is as ominous as it was before.”

The design collective at MM6 is toying around for resort, quite literally. In stark contrast to the modernist, all-silver Space-Age gloss from fall, the latest collection from the Margiela subsidiary focused on the nostalgia of childhood, running the gamut of maximized takes on children’s clothing to tops with screen-printed games like “connect the dots” and “paint by numbers” begging to be played (all complete with marker). Even jewelry referenced elastic coil bands and split-heart pieces shared by best friends.
It began with vintage children’s items, from which the design team reckoned into eclectic variations, like chunky knit polos or nautical schoolyard uniforms with detachable scarfs. The scarves appeared in degrees of functionality, accenting collars and hoods, providing pops of color and lightweight alternatives to belts.
The boxy, giving silhouettes most prominent in the lineup took their cue from little girls’ Sunday dresses; the one literal offering skewed madame, while iterations with playful floral prints or in military green were the approachable pieces pulsating with youthful charm. The boxy shape was also applied to tops and outerwear, rendered in denim and straddling a line of street and refinement.
There were references to house codes as well, namely the denim but also shirting (all playfully

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Alice Temperley said she’s more fascinated by women who go against the grain, while being immaculately dressed, of course. “Kay Petre was our muse for this season, she was a race-car driver in the Thirties, at a time where this was not a norm for women, but she would still be impeccably dressed in pale blue silk overalls,” the designer, who was also inspired by Formula One drivers, said.
Evening gowns were bias-cut and embellished with hand-painted florals or stars, while slouchy separates took on a jacquard check influenced by racing flags. There were also big knitted jumpers for day. “We used a lot of bias cutting this season, not only do they make this easy slouchy Thirties-inspired shape, but they’re creating chevron [patterns] throughout, which is reflecting this racing motif,” Temperley said.
Temperley also drew heavily from vintage Monaco Léman posters with deep greens, dusty blues and rich reds making up her day and night palette. Tire track treads left their mark up the front of skirts, down the legs of loose-fit trousers and in sequined form on feminine dresses.
Monaco isn’t the only Mediterranean hot spot to have inspired Temperley this season: On June 1, the designer will open her first pop-up store in

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EVERLASTING FASHION: After a successful debut exhibition in London earlier this year, The Commonwealth Fashion Exchange, a major project that teams fashion design talent with artisans from across the Commonwealth’s 53 countries, is planning a New York installation.
In September, fashion pieces made through the initiative will be shown at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. The show will be staged in a new yet-to-be-named exhibition on the New York campus’ John P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center. Renovations are under way in the building’s lobby, which will double the exhibition space to 4,000 square feet.
This fall’s event, which is designed to encourage the exchange of creative ideas, will be scheduled during United Nations General Assembly is in session. In London, the CFE exhibition bowed in late February as a lead-up to the 25th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which was held in April. During London Fashion Week in February, a celebratory reception was held at Buckingham Palace, where the Duchess of Cambridge helped to mark the occasion.
Fashion 4 Development founder Evie Evangelou developed the partnership with FIT. She also hosted a high tea for spouses of the heads of state of the Commonwealth countries at Claridge’s to celebrate the

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CAPPING FAST FASHION: Mention of mushrooms conjure all sorts of images, but for Dutch textile designer Aniela Hoitink mushroom mycelium can be a course for fashion.
Among this year’s winners of The Global Change awards, Hoitink is taking part in an incubator program in New York this week. The crash course is made possible through Accenture, KTH Innovation of Sweden and the H&M Foundation. Other winners include Agraloop, which makes sustainable textiles from leftover crop harvests; Swerea, which separates cotton and polyester blends for a new textile fiber; Algalife, which transforms algae into eco-friendly dye; Resortecs, which creates a dissolvable thread and the Early Bird winner Tandem Repeat, which uses self-healing textiles to reduce garment waste.
Four years ago Hoinik started working with mycelium — mushroom roots, but it took two years to figure out a way to create a flexible material. The trick was to figure out how to avoid the brittleness that is a result of drying it. The second step was how to make materials from it without having a standard supply chain. Combined with 3-D technology, they’ve found a way to produce custom-made clothes out of this new natural fiber without the need to cut and sew. Once

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