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AP FACT CHECK: Trump hails 'new' VA as old problems persist
President Donald Trump speaks with pride about the progress of his overhaul of health care for veterans, declaring that the Department of Veterans Affairs already "is a whole new place." Old problems persist, though, and some of his steps are not as advanced as he advertises.
For Veterans Day, the White House came out with a two-page statement to support the contention that "tremendous progress has been made in a short period of time." And in Vietnam on Friday, Trump told a small group of U.S. veterans of the Vietnam War that Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin is doing an "amazing job" on "things that we are doing and in the process of doing. "
"In the process" is the key phrase, because some of Trump's big plans for veterans are lagging, and problems he has declared to be cured are still evident.
While the VA has made some strides under the leadership of Shulkin, a holdover from the Obama administration who began work on several of the changes before Trump took office, the White House statement doesn't tell the full story. It doesn't divulge that a key Trump administration effort to improve wait times by revamping VA's electronic medical record system may not be completed for eight more years — when Trump will be out of office.
Nor does it acknowledge that a bill recently signed into law to reduce delays in processing disability appeals from veterans unhappy with their payouts won't address the 470,000 pending claims.
Other announced efforts, such as the posting of VA wait-time data and a new White House complaint hotline, have since been shown to be narrow in scope or have been criticized as ineffective by lawmakers or veterans groups.
A look at statements and rhetoric on the subject:
WHITE HOUSE: "President Trump announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs will adopt the same Electronic Health Record as the Department of Defense. VA's adoption … will ultimately result in all patient data residing in one common system, enabling the immediate availability of service member's medical records and seamless care between the departments."
THE FACTS: While the administration did announce in June that it would overhaul VA's aging information technology system, Shulkin admitted to Congress last month that the project to revamp electronic medical records won't be completed for seven to eight years. The full costs of the project also are not known and have yet to be budgeted.
An upgraded IT system is key to VA's effort to reduce wait times for medical care as well as fulfill Trump's promise of increasing private care options for veterans. Under Shulkin's plan to expand the Choice private-sector program, the VA would outsource more routine veterans' care to private providers including MinuteClinics while treating more complex injuries. Success of that plan requires a seamless sharing of medical records not only with the Pentagon but also private physicians, a capability the VA does not currently have.
Shulkin also has yet to negotiate pricing for the no-bid contract with the company that designed the Pentagon's IT system, estimated to cost at least $16 billion. The big price tag has spurred bills in Congress to require regular updates from VA on timeliness and cost projections, as well as risks such as breaches to patient privacy.
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WHITE HOUSE: "President Trump signed the Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act of 2017, taking action to streamline the appeals process for disability compensation claims within the VA. More than 470,000 veterans are awaiting pending decisions regarding their appeals."
THE FACTS: Trump signed the bill in August, part of a bid to reduce a rapidly growing claims backlog, but its immediate impact is overstated, as it will have no effect on the 470,000 pending claims.
Under the legislation, veterans will be able to file "express" appeals if they waive their right to a hearing or the ability to submit new evidence.
While lawmakers hope the legislation ultimately could reduce average wait times to less than a year, it applies almost entirely to newly filed appeals.
Shulkin has said the VA would need Congress to approve an additional $800 million for "hiring surges" of additional appeals processors if VA hoped to clear its current backlog within 10 years.
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WHITE HOUSE: "President Trump has ensured continued access to care in the Veterans Choice Program by signing the VA Choice and Quality Employment Act, authorizing $2.1 billion in additional funds for the Veterans Choice Program."
THE FACTS: This statement glosses over one of several budget shortfalls by the VA. Congress was forced in August to approve $2.1 billion in emergency money to keep Choice running after the VA had repeatedly understated costs of the program, assuring lawmakers for much of the year that money would last until January. Shulkin subsequently revealed an emergency shortfall in June that threatened medical care for tens of thousands of veterans.
The $2.1 billion was intended to last until February. But weeks after receiving the money, the VA acknowledged that money for Choice would again run out sooner than expected, requiring Congress to approve additional stopgap financing before the end of the year or face disruptions to veterans' health care.
Lawmakers have yet to act, in part as the Trump administration sorts out longer-term costs to the private-sector program.
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WHITE HOUSE: "The VA has launched its 'Access and Quality Tool,' allowing veterans to see online the wait times at VA locations."
THE FACTS: An effort started by Shulkin when he was VA undersecretary of health in the Obama administration, the VA website www.accesstocare.va.gov provides data on wait times as well as veterans' satisfaction ratings in getting timely appointments, something that no other health care system in the country does.
Still, major veterans groups such as Veterans of Foreign Wars have faulted the data for being misleading and not depicting wait times the way a typical person would view it.
The Government Accountability Office, for instance, has noted that the data do not include the amount of wait time from when a veteran initially asks for care and when a scheduler reaches out to set an appointment, which it said could be lengthy. In addition, GAO earlier this year continued to find evidence that VA data can be unreliable due to schedulers recording wrong dates or changing dates outright, though the VA says it is implementing new checks and training to help identify "outliers" in scheduling.
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WHITE HOUSE: "The White House has opened a brand new VA Hotline staffed principally by veterans and direct family members of veterans to ensure that no complaint goes unaddressed."
THE FACTS: It opened, but it did not get off to a smooth start. Trump pledged during the presidential campaign to create a "private White House hotline" answered by a real person 24 hours a day to take complaints from veterans, leading VA to create a hotline beginning June. Originally scheduled to be fully operational by Aug. 15, it has encountered some delays. In a letter to VA last month, Sen. Jon Tester, the top Democrat on the Veterans Affairs Committee, complained "the White House is frequently routing these calls back to local VA offices, which are often understaffed and do not have the ability to address the additional casework in a timely manner."
Tester noted the VA already had several existing options for receiving complaints from veterans and urged better coordination to make sure no one falls through the cracks.
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TRUMP: "We … extended Veterans' Choice. … Can you imagine going to your doctor and having him say you'll have to wait for 11 days? … And now they go, right outside, they go to a doctor in the area, we pay the bill, and it's the least expensive thing we can do and we save everybody's life and everybody's happy." — Sept. 22 rally in Huntsville, Alabama.
THE FACTS: It's not true that all veterans needing care are getting it without delay. Wait times of more than two months have been recorded during his administration.
The Department of Veterans Affairs' Choice program allows veterans to see an outside doctor if they must wait more than 30 days (never mind 11) for a medical appointment or travel more than 40 miles to a VA facility. But Choice has faced delays of its own, with wait times potentially as high as 81 days, according to the Government Accountability Office. Over the summer, an unexpected budget shortfall in the program forced VA to limit the outside referrals, leading to additional delays in care.
Shulkin has acknowledged problems with Choice even as he seeks to expand it, noting that his main legislative focus "is getting the Choice program working right."
Not "everybody's happy," as Trump claimed.
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Associated Press writer Cal Woodward contributed to this report.
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Find AP Fact Checks at https://apnews.com/tag/APFactCheck
EDITOR'S NOTE _ A look at the veracity of claims by public figures
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Russia named as likely source of Europe radioactivity spike
An apparent accident at a Russian facility is suspected of causing a recent spike in radioactivity in the air over much of Europe, according to a report by France's nuclear safety agency.
The Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety says the release of the isotope Ruthenium-106 posed no health or environmental risks to European countries. It said the "plausible zone of release" was between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains, and suggested random checks on food imports from the region as a precaution.
In a report released Thursday based on monitoring in multiple European countries, IRSN said the Ruthenium appeared to come from an accident in late September involving nuclear fuel or the production of radioactive material. The French agency said the Ruthenium didn't appear to come from an accident in a nuclear reactor because that would have released other elements.
Germany's Federal Office for Radiation Protection said last week that elevated levels of Ruthenium were reported in Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and France since Sept. 29, but posed no threat to public health.
After reports of a Ruthenium-106 leak from a plant in the southern Urals first appeared, Russia's state-controlled Rosatom corporation said in a statement last month that it hadn't come from its facilities.
"The claim that the contamination had a Russian origin is unfounded," it said.
The French report says the radioactivity peaked in late September and early October and affected a "majority of European countries" but is no longer detected in the atmosphere over Europe. However it said if such an accident had happened in France, authorities would set up a perimeter around the accident site to monitor health, safety and food quality.
Ruthenium-106 is used for radiation therapy to treat eye tumors, and sometimes as a source of energy to power satellites.
The French agency also said Ruthenium releases could come from the re-entry of a satellite into the Earth's atmosphere, but that the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that no satellites powered by Ruthenium re-entered the atmosphere during the time period.
France, which has an extensive nuclear energy industry, has reported a series of low-level nuclear incidents recently but none involving Ruthenium or threats to public health.
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Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed.
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As Philip Hammond prepares for his Budget, in just over two weeks' time, he has a bit of good news on the UK economy to mull over today.
Firstly, there was news that industrial output grew in September at its fastest rate this year, notching up a month-on-month increase of 0.7% that was more than double the 0.3% growth rate that City economists had expected.
The biggest contributor to that was manufacturing production, which grew at an annual rate of 2.7%, thanks mainly to stronger car and medical equipment output.
Industrial output accounts for 14% of UK GDP and so the figures will provide encouragement that a revival in manufacturing can help make up for what, judging by recent trading updates and surveys from the high street, looks to be a slowdown in consumer spending.
The other good news came in the latest trade figures.
These revealed that the UK's trade deficit in goods with the rest of the world narrowed to £11.3bn in September from £12.4bn in August.
The expectation was that the goods deficit would actually rise to £12.8bn. The overall trade deficit, meanwhile, narrowed by £700m.
The three-monthly picture, however, was less encouraging. In the three months to the end of September, the total trade deficit widened by £3bn to £9.5bn, reflecting increased imports of goods – particularly machinery – and fuels. And ominously, given the UK's desire to cut trade deals around the world post-Brexit, this was because a £1.7bn drop in exports to non-EU countries more than offset a £900m rise in exports to EU countries.
Elsewhere, there was gloomy news from the construction sector, where there was an unexpected 1.6% month-on-month drop in output in September.
Construction output rose during September on a year-on-year basis by just 1.1%, meanwhile, making it the weakest rate of annual growth during the sector since March last year.
What does it all mean? Well, firstly, the figures seem unlikely to change the dial for overall economic growth during the third quarter, for which the Office of National Statistics has already published an initial estimate of 0.4%.
And it is also worth noting that, while the manufacturing data is quite positive, the ONS notes that the strong three month performance to the end of September partly reflects strong car production in July.
Things have deteriorated since then, with the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders reporting recently that car manufacturing in September fell by 4.1% year-on-year, thanks to a shocking 14.2% drop in domestic demand during the month due mainly to the demonisation of diesel cars by politicians such as Sadiq Khan, the London Mayor and Michael Gove, the Environment Secretary.
Nonetheless, the narrowing of the UK's goods deficit is encouraging, offering evidence that the longed-for improvement in the balance of trade, following the fall in the pound, is finally starting to materialise.
Another cause for optimism are the recently-published Purchasing Managers Index surveys for October. These are forward-looking indicators in which anything over 50 represents growth and anything below that contraction.
The October numbers for manufacturing (56.3), services (55.6) and construction (50.8) were all ahead of the numbers for September and suggest that the final quarter of 2017 has got off to a solid if unspectacular start.
It certainly is reasonable at the moment to assume that the UK economy will grow in the final three months of the year at least at the same pace as it did in the third quarter.
That said, the slowdown in consumer spending is worrying, as highlighted by the 1% fall in like-for-like retail sales in October reported earlier this week by the British Retail Consortium.
It could be that shoppers were simply taking a breather, following a decent September on the high street, or that clothing sales were hampered by unusually warm weather in October.
The cause for concern will be that it was instead due to shoppers drawing in their horns in response to higher food price inflation – a phenomenon sparked by the weaker pound but which could, in coming months, be made worse by the recent surge in oil prices back above $60 per barrel.
More business analysis
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Clearing ruins launches new phase in California fire cleanup
Rumbling bulldozers and front-loaders have started scraping up the ash, charred wood and crumbled bricks and concrete left from thousands of homes and buildings destroyed by blazes in California wine country, launching a new phase in the largest wildfire cleanup in state history.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contractors began the work this week in flattened, blackened blocks of Santa Rosa's Coffey Park neighborhood. It experienced some of the most-sweeping destruction last month when fierce winds drove flames that killed at least 43 people and destroyed 8,900 houses and other buildings across Northern California.
On Santa Rosa streets where hundreds of houses once stood, "you look across the landscape and see nothing but burned everything," Army Corps spokesman Rick Brown said as crews and heavy equipment around him began clearing debris from lots.
U.S., state and local agencies are working on the cleanup, which includes testing soil, air and water samples from burned areas for contamination. Authorities say they expect to have the lots cleared for property owners by early 2018, although rebuilding is expected to take years more.
California puts the insured losses at $3.3 billion so far, among the highest of any U.S. wildfires in recent decades.
In hard-hit Sonoma and Napa counties, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finished the first phase of cleanup at most properties: removing potential hazardous substances before the heavy equipment moves in.
Generally, the fires overran housing developments and rural areas rather than industrial sites, so the hazardous waste is mainly what's in garages and barns — propane tanks from barbecue grills, cans of motor oil, and pesticides, officials say.
That contrasts with Hurricane Harvey, which flooded more than a dozen Superfund sites in Houston and other coastal areas this year, raising fears that contamination may have reached a wide area. The damage is still being assessed.
In California, crews have started scraping up home foundations and the top 3 to 6 inches (75 to 150 millimeters) of ash, debris and soil, said Brown of the Army Corps of Engineers. In some of the more upscale developments on ridgetops, the work is complicated by ruins that have tumbled downhill, he said.
The Army Corps is taking soil samples near burned homes and buildings and will take more from the lots after they have been scraped, Brown said. The state will test the samples for contaminants such as asbestos or other metals and chemicals to ensure the sites are clean enough for rebuilding.
If not, "we'll scrape a couple more inches of soil, take that back to the lab, and let them decide if that does it," Brown said.
Some of those who lost homes have been confused over warnings of possible hazardous substances in the ruins of their neighborhoods. Watching the heavy equipment at work this week, survivor Larry Keyser admitted worrying over contamination but wasn't sure what the cleanup crews would be testing for.
"Like any concerned citizen, you want to be concerned about your environment," Keyser said.
Officials, meanwhile, have placed about a dozen air monitors around Sonoma County, including four at schools. The wildfires burned for more than a week and shrouded much of the San Francisco Bay Area in smoke, creating some of the worst air-quality readings on record there.
The air in the burned region is again testing at healthy levels, said Melanie Turner, spokeswoman at the California Air Resources Board.
Around the wildfire zones, teams from local water departments, the U.S. Geological Survey and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories also have been working to reduce and monitor any hazardous runoff into hundreds of waterways.
Teams have spent weeks positioning bundles of straw and bags of gravel or sand between blackened neighborhoods and creeks critical to people and native species, such as local coho salmon.
Devastated areas have received only light rain so far, but heavy downpours could sweep massive amounts of debris and contaminants into waterways.
With more showers at midweek, Rich Fadness at the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board readied a dozen staffers to grab samples of runoff flowing into creeks at four key sites.
"Any time there's a fire, there's always issues," Fadness said. "With the amount of work we're doing, I hope it will be minimized."
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Associated Press photographer Jeff Chiu contributed to this story.
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Brexit talks: Some progress on citizens' rights – Barnier
"Some progress" has been made in the Brexit talks, the EU's Michel Barnier has said, following the latest round of negotiations with the UK in Brussels.
He was speaking after meeting Brexit Secretary David Davis for further talks on citizens' rights, the Irish border, and the UK's "divorce bill".
Mr Davis said it was time for both sides "to work to find solutions".
Before the talks, Theresa May said she wanted the UK's exit date set in law, and warned MPs not to block Brexit.
- May warns rebels as Brexit timing set out
- Brexit: All you need to know
- Reality Check: Where are we really with Brexit?
- Brexit is 'getting dramatic', says EU
US Air Force official: Missile targeting Saudis was Iranian
Iran manufactured the ballistic missile fired by Yemen's Shiite rebels toward the Saudi capital and remnants of it bore "Iranian markings," the top U.S. Air Force official in the Mideast said Friday, backing the kingdom's earlier allegations.
The comments by Lt. Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigian, who oversees the Air Force's Central Command in Qatar, further internationalizes the yearslong conflict in Yemen — the Arab world's poorest country.
Saudi Arabia long has accused Iran of giving weapons to the Shiite rebels known as Houthis and their allies, though Tehran has just as long denied supplying them. Riyadh quickly backed up Harrigian's allegations in a statement to The Associated Press.
"There have been Iranian markings on those missiles," Harrigian told journalists at a news conference in Dubai ahead of the Dubai Air Show. "To me, that connects the dots to Iran."
There was no immediate reaction from Tehran.
Saudi Arabia says it shot down the missile Nov. 4 near Riyadh's international airport, the deepest yet to reach into the kingdom. Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry later said investigators examining the remains of the rocket found evidence proving "the role of Iranian regime in manufacturing them." It did not elaborate, though it also mentioned it found similar evidence after a July 22 missile launch. French President Emmanuel Macron similarly this week described the missile as "obviously" Iranian.
Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said in a statement Tuesday that the July launch involved an Iranian Qiam-1, a liquid-fueled, short-range Scud missile variant. Iran used a Qiam-1 in combat for the first time in June when it targeted Islamic State group militants in Syria over twin militant attacks in Tehran.
Harrigian declined to offer any specifics on what type of missile U.S. officials believed it was, nor did he show any images of the debris. He also didn't explain how Iran evaded the blockade by the Saudi-led coalition, which intensified after the missile targeting Riyadh.
"How they got it there is probably something that will continue to be investigated over time," the lieutenant general said. "What has been demonstrated and shown based on the findings of that missile is that it had Iranian markings on it. That in itself provides evidence of where it came from."
The Houthis have described using Burkan-2 or "Volcano" Scud variants in their recent attacks, including the one Nov. 4. Those missiles are reminiscent of the Qiam, wrote Jeremy Binnie of Jane's Defense Weekly in a February analysis.
"The Burkan-2 is likely to heighten suspicions that Iran is helping Yemen's rebel forces to develop their ballistic missile capabilities," Binnie wrote.
Adding to that suspicion is the fact that Yemen's missile forces previously never had experience in disassembling and rebuilding the weapons, said Michael Knights, a fellow at The Washington Institute For Near East Policy who previously worked in Yemen.
It is "not a stretch to believe that Tehran is supporting the Houthi missile program with technical advice and specialized components," Knights wrote in an analysis Thursday. "After all, the Houthis have rapidly fielded three major new missile systems in less than two years while under wartime conditions and international blockade."
Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Culture and Information later contacted the AP and sent military briefing papers alleging Iran smuggled weapons into Yemen by boat and truck.
"The parts are later assembled under supervision of Iranian military experts, who also help the Houthi militia plan attacks targeting Saudi civilians," the ministry said in a statement to the AP. "Smuggled Iranian Qiam or Zelzal warheads are mounted onto Yemeni-made Burkan ballistic missiles."
The U.S. already is involved in the war in Yemen and has launched drone strikes targeting the local branch of al-Qaida, though it stopped offering targeting information under the Obama administration over concerns about civilian casualties. That prohibition continues today, though the Air Force continues to refuel warplanes in the Yemen theater and offers support in managing airspace over the country, Harrigian said. The Saudi-led coalition also uses American-made bombs and ordinance in its attacks.
The U.S. has come under attack once amid the Yemen war. In October 2016, the U.S. Navy said the USS Mason came under fire from two missiles launched out of Yemen. Neither reached the warship, though the U.S. retaliated with a Tomahawk cruise missile strikes on three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemen's Red Sea coast.
At the time, authorities said the missiles used in that attack were Silkworm missile variants, a type of coastal defense cruise missile that Iran has been known to use.
When the Houthis seized Sanaa in September 2014, their allied fighters also took control of the country's ballistic missile stockpile. The Yemeni military was widely believed to possess around 300 Scud missiles at the time, though exact figures remain unknown.
The Saudi-led coalition entered the war in March 2015 on the side of Yemen's internationally recognized government. It then attacked Sanaa's ballistic missile base in April 2015, touching off massive explosions that killed several dozen people. Saudi Arabia implied at the time that the Scud arsenal in Yemen had been seriously degraded, if not entirely destroyed, as a result of the airstrikes.
But by June 2015, the rebels fired their first ballistic missile into Saudi Arabia near the southwestern city of Khamis Mushait. In the time since, Yemen's rebels have fired over 70 ballistic missiles into Saudi Arabia, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies' missile defense project.
For its part, Iran long has denied offering any arms to Yemen, though it has backed the Houthis and highlighted the high civilian casualties from the Saudi-led coalition's campaign of airstrikes.
But others in Iran have been coy about the ballistic missiles in Yemen. Mehdi Taeb, an influential hard-line cleric who is a brother to the intelligence chief of the hard-line Revolutionary Guard, said in April that Iran tried three times to send missiles to Yemen. The Guard, answerable only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, oversees Iran's missile program.
The cleric said ultimately the administration of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani ordered the transfers stopped over negotiations on the nuclear deal with world powers, without offering a specific time for the attempted shipments.
"They said come back because the Americans said, 'If you send missiles to Yemen, we will end the negotiations,'" Taeb said.
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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/jongambrellap . His work can be found at http://apne.ws/2galNpz .
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Stars won’t promote Louis CK film following allegations
WATCH Louis CK accused of sexual misconduct by 5 women
Some of the stars in the upcoming movie "I Love You, Daddy" have decided against promoting it after co-star Louis C.K. was accused by several women of sexual misconduct.
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Charlie Day released a statement to The Los Angeles Times that he "was as appalled as everyone to read the allegations."
“I do not condone sexual misconduct and, in light of the allegations, will not be promoting the movie further," he said in the statement.
Jeremy Chan/Getty ImagesThe Orchard, the distribution company for the film, had already canceled Thursday's New York City premiere.
Read: Louis CK accused of sexual misconduct by 5 women
But Day isn't the only actor in the film to speak out. Chloë Grace Moretz, who plays the CK's teenage daughter in the film, already pulled out of the film's promotion two weeks ago “when she was made aware of numerous possible accusations,” her publicist also told The L.A. Times.
Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesThe official synopsis of the film, according to IMDB, involves "a successful television writer's daughter [becoming] the interest of an aging filmmaker [John Malkovich] with an appalling past."
"I Love You Daddy" was slated to hit theaters nationwide on Nov. 17. The Orchard said in the statement that it was now "giving careful consideration to the timing and release of the film and continuing to review the situation."
According to The New York Times, which first published the allegations against CK, comedy duo Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov said CK had invited them to his hotel room for a nightcap after their late-night show in 2002. He then allegedly proceeded to "take all of his clothes off, and get completely naked, and started masturbating," Goodman said.
Another comedian, Rebecca Corry, also alleged to the NY Times that in 2005 the comedian "asked if we could go to my dressing room so he could masturbate in front of me." She said she declined.
C.K. has yet to speak out about these accusations, but his publicist, Lewis Kay, told ABC News that the comedian would issue a written statement "in the coming days."
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Today is 'Singles Day' in China, the anti-Valentine's Day holiday when everyone goes shopping
WATCH What is China's 'Singles Day?'
It’s that time of year again: the biggest shopping day of the year.
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No, it’s not Black Friday. It’s China’s Singles Day, which falls on Nov. 11 every year.
The online flash sale binge on China’s mammoth e-commerce giants, like Alibaba’s Tmall.com and its rival JD.com, begins at midnight Friday China local time and lasts for 24 hours.
For a few years now, Singles Day sales have far surpassed its U.S. counterparts of Black Friday and Cyber Monday — combined.
Xinhua/Huang Ruipeng via NewscomLast year, Americans spent a record $12.8 billion online between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday, according to analytics firm Adobe Digital Imprints. Impressive until you compare it to the $17.6 billion in sales generated by Chinese consumers in a single 24-hour period during 2016’s Singles Day.
This year, Citigroup told Bloomberg that Singles Day sales are expected to exceed $23 billion. That’s more than the gross domestic product of Iceland in 2016.
So what’s it all about?
Singles Day is China’s anti-Valentine’s Day — known as “Bare Sticks Day” or “Bare Branches Day” in Chinese — because the date "11/11" looks like bare branches and "one" is the loneliest number.
Legend has it Singles Day began in the early 1990s in the dorm rooms of Nanjing University, one of China’s oldest and most prestigious universities, when a group of single friends bemoaned the lack of significant others and decided to mark the day by organizing activities as a group of singles and soothing their loneliness by buying themselves a gift.
It was originally known as Bachelor’s Day, but soon became an unofficial day for all of China’s youth to celebrate — or at least feel OK — about being single.
Then in 2009, sensing a lull between the sales period of China’s National Day on Oct. 1 and Chinese New Year in late January or early February, Alibaba’s Jack Ma saw an opening: retail therapy to soothe lonely hearts.
The first year did only $7.5 million in sales, but just five years later, that record was broken in 12 hours.
What’s up this year?
The Countdown Gala
The countdown toward Singles Day has become a cultural event. Each year Alibaba holds a slickly produced live-streamed and televised countdown gala that has become more and more extravagant. The event held on the evening on Nov. 10 is basically a warm-up act until the flash sales go live at the stroke of midnight.
This year’s gala is set to features appearances by the likes musicians Pharrell Williams and Jessie J, basketball star LeBron James and tennis player Maria Sharapova. Alibaba’s Ma, a tai chi aficionado, is set unveil a short film starring himself performing martial arts alongside Jet Li, "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story"’s Donnie Yen and Thailand’s Tony Jaa.
Unlimited alcohol supply?
Vendors are also getting creative to cut through the competition. The Chinese liquor brand Jiang Xiao Bai is offering an enticing deal for those who have an insatiable craving for the strong distilled Chinese spirit know as baijiu. As of this writing, Jiang Xiao Bai is offering 28 limited sets of a "lifetime supply" of baijiu for ¥11,111 ($1,672). The pictures of the bottles are wrapped with the words "This liquor is your partner for life."
If you buy their Singles Day set, the company will send you 12 3.4-ounce bottles a month until you die of natural causes, or liver failure. It appears they have taken that into account. The purchase agreement the company is circulating online says that within five years of purchase you can transfer the supply to a family member in the event of the original purchaser’s death.
The agreement also says that if the company folds anytime within 30 years of the purchase then the lifetime supply will be voided.
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Trump at Apec summit: US will no longer tolerate trade abuses
President Donald Trump has said the US will no longer tolerate "chronic trade abuses", in a defiant address at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit in Vietnam.
He said he would always put US interests first and Apec nations should "abide by fair reciprocal trade".
In stark contrast, China's Xi Jinping said globalisation was irreversible and voiced support for multilateralism.
Mr Trump is currently on a five-nation Asia tour, with China one of his stops.
Apec brings together 21 economies from the Pacific region – the equivalent of about 60% of the world's GDP.
Since taking office, President Trump has pursued his "America First" agenda and pulled the US out of the regional Trans-Pacific Partnership – a major trade deal with 12 Apec nations – arguing it would hurt US economic interests.
- "Indo-Pacific" – Trump's latest catchphrase
- Trump, China and Twitter – what's going on?
- The hidden messages in Trump's Asian menu
What did Trump say?
In a speech in the Vietnamese port city of Da Nang on Friday, President Trump railed against the World Trade Organization, which sets global trade laws, and said it "cannot function properly" if all members do not respect the rules.
He complained about trade imbalances, saying the US had lowered market barriers and ended tariffs while other countries had not reciprocated. "Such practices hurt many people in our country," he said, adding that free trade had cost millions of American jobs.
But he did not lay the blame on Apec countries, and instead accused earlier US administrations of not acting earlier to reverse the trend.
He said America would make bilateral agreements with "any Indo-Pacific partner here who abides by fair reciprocal trade", but only "on a basis of mutual respect and mutual benefit".
Mr Trump has repeatedly referred to the region as "Indo-Pacific", a term used to define America's new geopolitical view of Asia.
- Trump says trade deficit not China's fault
The US president had travelled to Da Nang from Beijing, where he had also discussed America's huge trade imbalance with China. There too, he said he did not blame the country for "taking advantage".
How did his speech compare to Xi's?
Speaking minutes after his American counterpart, Chinese President Xi Jinping took to the podium to espouse his country's credentials as the new champion of world trade.
Globalisation, he said, was an "irreversible historical trend" but the philosophy behind free trade needed to be repurposed to be "more open, more balanced, more equitable and more beneficial to all".
In contrast to President Trump, the Chinese leader defended multilateral trade deals, which he said helped poorer nations to benefit.
"We should support the multilateral trading regime and practise open regionalism to allow developing members to benefit more from international trade and investment."
America First, or the Chinese Dream?
By Karishma Vaswani, Asia business correspondent
President Trump was clear – he wants bilateral trade deals and large, multilateral arrangements don't work for him. This was a speech saying that America is open for business, but on America's terms.
Contrast that with China's Xi Jinping, who spoke about the digital economy, quantum science, artificial intelligence – presenting a vision of the future that is connected, and comprehensive.
Increasingly whenever you see Mr Xi on the international stage he is the poster child for free trade and globalisation. Ironic, given that China itself has yet to become a fully free economy.
The US was the architect of many of the multilateral and free trade agreements for Asia. Under its tutelage, many of these countries opened up and reformed – playing by America's rules.
But under Donald Trump, that role has gone into reverse. Which has left China with a gaping hole to fill – and one it is only more than happy to take on.
Read more from Karishma
How are US-China trade relations?
The total trade relationship between the US and China was worth $648bn last year, but trade was heavily skewed in China's favour with the US amassing a nearly $310bn deficit.
Mr Trump has in the past accused China of stealing American jobs and threatened to label it a currency manipulator, though he has since rowed back on such rhetoric.
During the US president's visit on Thursday, China announced it would further lower entry barriers in the banking, insurance, and finance sectors, and gradually reduce vehicle tariffs.
Deals worth $250bn (£190bn) were also announced, although it was unclear how much of that figure included past agreements or potential future deals.
- Trump vs Xi: The two men compared
Before the Beijing talks, Mr Trump in Tokyo lashed out at Japan, saying it "has been winning" on trade in recent decades.
Japan had a $69bn (£52.8bn) trade surplus with the US in 2016, according to the US Treasury department.
Media playback is unsupported on your deviceAfter the summit, Mr Trump will pay a state visit to the Vietnamese capital Hanoi, before ending his 12-day Asian tour in the Philippines on 13 November.
