The Latest: Pope urges Davos to focus on people, not profits

Pope Francis has a message for the high-powered participants at the economic forum in Davos, Switzerland: people, not profit, should be at the core of public policy

DAVOS, Switzerland —
The Latest on the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland (all times local):

12:40 p.m.

Pope Francis has a message for the high-powered participants at the economic forum in Davos, Switzerland: people, not profit, must be at the core of public policy.

Francis issued written greetings to remind delegates of the “moral obligation” to place “the human person, rather than the mere pursuit of power or profit, at the very center of public policy.”

He says the forum provides an arena where “political will and mutual cooperation can be guided and strengthened in overcoming the isolationism, individualism and ideological colonization that sadly characterizes too much contemporary debate.”

Francis is also encouraging the forum’s deliberations to boost solidarity with those suffering “social and economic injustice and whose very existence is even threatened.”

A Vatican cardinal is representing the pope at the gathering, which started Tuesday.

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12:20 p.m.

U.S. President Donald Trump is selling the United States to the global business community.

In an address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said America’s economic turnaround has been “nothing short of spectacular.”

He addressed a crowd of business and political leaders hours before his historic impeachment trial was set to reconvene in the U.S. Senate in Washington. His participation will his ability to balance his anger over being impeached with a desire to project leadership on the world stage.

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11:45 a.m.

The founder of Chinese tech giant Huawei has shrugged off U.S. pressure on his company.

Ren Zhengfei struck a casually defiant tone at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland when asked about the U.S. government’s blacklisting of Huawei.

He said Tuesday that being added to a U.S. list of sanctioned companies “didn’t hurt us much.”

“We basically withstood the challenges,” Ren said.

President Donald Trump’s administration has been lobbying allies in Europe and elsewhere to block wireless carriers from using Huawei’s equipment in next-generation superfast mobile networks over concerns it could facilitate cyberespionage by the Chinese government. The company has denied the allegations.

Ren spoke just as Trump arrived in Davos to deliver a speech and meetings.

“This year the U.S. might further escalate their campaign against Huawei but I feel the impact on Huawei’s business would not be very significant,” Ren said, speaking through an interpreter.

Huawei has learned from its experiences and put in a stronger team, Ren said.

“We are more confident that we can survive even further attacks,” he said.

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