Demand for Space Travel Is Out of This World – Bloomberg

1) Space Flights Could Launch Next Year

Pack your bags. Richard Branson, the billionaire founder of Virgin Group, says his goal is to get commercial passenger flights into space by the end of 2018. Branson told Bloomberg News that hes gearing up again towardgettingnon-astronauts like you and meinto space. Afatal crash in 2014 killed co-pilot Michael Alsburyand put the mission on hold. That hasnt scaredpeople off, Bransonsays. Far from it. We will never be able to build enough spaceships, he said. The demand is enormous. Hes competing with fellow billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, both of whom have their own rocket companies. There is definitely the demand for all three, Branson said.

And maybe thatsjust fine with President Donald Trump, who ran on isolationismand has since championed the need tothinkabout America before anyone else. (Pittsburgh, not Paris!) Such rhetoric pushed China and Germany closer together at the Group of 20 meeting, which is taking place over the next two days in Hamburg. Diplomats and officials involved in the massive affair say the two countries are working closely on the meetings agenda. The two most important leaders in the world are President Xi [Jinping]and Chancellor [Angela] Merkel at the moment,said Diego Ramiro Guelar, ambassador to Beijing for G-20 member Argentina. Even former President Barack Obama took a jab at Trump on leadership. While in Indonesia, he described the Paris climate deal as an agreement that even with the temporary absence of American leadership will still give our children a fighting chance.

Motorcycle makers are giving up the whole hog. Companies are throwing their efforts into bikes designed for new riders who arent enamored with classic, massive Harleys. Sales plummeted after the 2008 financial crisis and havent recovered. The industry is trying to pivot to a younger audience, because most of its current customers are agingfast. Theyre doing that by focusing on smaller, lighter bikes. For example, Harley-Davidsons Street 500 costs about $7,000, has an engine thats around 500ccroughly half the size of some of Harleys most popular models. Kawasakis Ninja 300 is about $5,000 and is smaller than its well-known standard model. If all goes as planned, these little rigs will help companies like Harley-Davidson coast for another 50 years,Bloombergs Kyle Stock reports.

Motorcycle Industry Council

Women dont make as much as men in the Trump White House, according to salary data released by the administration. But a White House official said thats because they are doing different jobs; more men have been hired in senior positions. Sixteen men and six women in the White House earn the top salary of $179,700. In comparison, men in the Obama administration made up 56 percentof the top-paid roles. Comparing like-for-like positions, the numbers go back and forth, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Female assistants to the president make an average of $664 more than male ones. Male deputy assistants, the second-highest rank, earn $4,603 more than their female counterparts.

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Especially Europeans. A group of gastroenterology experts issued a warning this week that were ignoring the cancer risks that come fromeven moderate consumption, considered about two drinks a day. Worldwide, the heaviest boozersare Europeans, who have from one to four drinks a day, according to a report from United European Gastroenterology, a nonprofit coalition of specialists. That increases the risk ofcolorectal and esophageal cancers, the group said. This epidemiological evidence is clear about the association, said Professor Helena Cortez-Pinto, a gastroenterologist at Hospital Universitrio de Santa Maria in Lisbon.

WHO Global Information System on Alcohol and Health, 2010

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Demand for Space Travel Is Out of This World - Bloomberg