U.S. and Chinese negotiators hold 'productive' trade talks

Abstract: BEIJING - Top U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators held productive talks in Beijing on Wednesday, the American side said, as the economic superpowers head toward an endgame in a dispute that has hit businesses with bruising tariffs. Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, a close aide to President Xi Jinping on economic matters, met with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin ahead of possibly decisive talks in the U.S. next week. The world’s two leading economies have exchanged tariffs on $360 billion worth of goods since President Donald Trump launched a trade war last year. “Ambassador Lighthizer and I just concluded productive meetings with China’s Vice Premier Liu He. We will continue our talks in Washington, DC next week,” Mnuchin wrote on Twitter. The U.S. and Chinese officials posed for pictures but made no statements to journalists about the outcome of the talks after they emerged from their hours-long meeting at the Diaoyutai state guest house. Liu and the Americans exchanged pleasantries before and after the behind-closed-door talks, joking about wearing the same color red ties. The Chinese vice premier gave U.S. Ambassador Terry Branstad a blue album with the Chinese state crest on it. Mnuchin told reporters earlier that he had a “nice” working dinner with Liu on Tuesday night. Liu is due in Washington on May 8 for the next round of talks. Mnuchin said earlier this week that the negotiations were in a decisive phase, telling the Fox Business channel “there’s a strong desire from both sides to see if we can wrap this up or move on.” “We hope within the next two rounds — in China and in DC — to be at the point where we can either recommend to the president we have a deal or make a recommendation that we don’t,” he said. Mnuchin said negotiators were close to agreement on tough enforcement provisions in any trade pact. The U.S. side is pressing China to overhaul its industrial policy by further opening its market to foreign firms, stopping massive subsidies to domestic companies and curbing the alleged theft of American technology. Beijing has made public displays of concessions, with Xi last week saying China would abolish “unjustified regulations, subsidies and practices that impede fair competition and distort the market.” China has also passed a foreign investment law that promises to protect the intellectual property of overseas companies. The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that Trump was dropping a key demand in the negotiations, with the U.S. likely to accept a watered-down commitment from China on commercial cyber theft. Such a concession could remove a major obstacle for a final deal in the fraught talks.

china
u.s .
trade
steven mnuchin
robert lighthizer
liu he


Trump slams Fed for 'incessantly' raising interest rates

Abstract: WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump slammed the Federal Reserve on Tuesday for “incessantly” raising interest rates and said cutting rates by a full point would make the economy surge. In a Twitter outburst on the first day of a two-day central bank meeting to decide the course of monetary policy, Trump said, “We have the potential to go up like a rocket if we did some lowering of rates, like one point.” He said China is boosting its economy by keeping rates low, but “Our Federal Reserve has incessantly lifted interest rates, even though inflation is very low.” The Fed has not raised the key rate this year and in fact signaled clearly that it will hold off on any further moves while it evaluates the U.S. economy and is widely expected to stand firm in its decision Wednesday. The central bank has tightened policy nine times since December 2015, moving from zero in the aftermath of the global financial crisis to the current range of 2.25 percent to 2.5 percent. Trump has repeatedly ignored norms designed to protect the Fed’s independence from political influence, which could undermine its credibility, although other White House officials have been more cautious. “Yes, we are doing very well at 3.2% (first quarter) GDP, but with our wonderfully low inflation, we could be setting major records & at the same time make our National Debt start to look small!” Trump tweeted. Trump and his economic team have promised that tax cuts and deregulation will accelerate economic growth to three or even four percent but economists say that is unlikely, especially as the U.S. trade war with China and others has dampened business confidence and investment.

china
u.s .
economy
federal reserve
interest rates
donald trump
trade war


Vodafone found security flaws in Huawei equipment in 2011 and 2012

Abstract: LONDON - Telecoms group Vodafone found security flaws in equipment supplied by China’s Huawei to its Italian business in 2011 and 2012, the two companies said on Tuesday. Vodafone, the world’s second-biggest mobile operator, said it had found security vulnerabilities in two products and that both incidents, first reported by Bloomberg, had been resolved quickly. Huawei, the world’s biggest producer of telecom equipment, is under intense scrutiny after the United States told allies not to use its technology because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has denied such accusations. Vodafone paused the deployment of Huawei equipment in its core networks in January as the British group waits for Western governments to give the Chinese company full security clearance. Last week Britain sought to navigate its way through the bitter dispute and two security sources told Reuters that it had decided to block Huawei from all core parts of its 5G network and restrict access to non-core parts. The British government is still deliberating on the use of Huawei equipment in a future 5G network but aims to announce its decision in the next month. A government report in March rebuked Huawei for failing to fix long-standing security issues and said that British security officials had found “several hundred vulnerabilities and issues” with the company’s equipment in 2018. However, mobile operators such as Vodafone have warned that a complete ban on Huawei would delay 5G, which will offer much faster data speeds and underpin future development in many industries, such as self-driving cars. The two companies said they had found software vulnerabilities in 2011 and 2012 that were fixed by Huawei. Vodafone said it had found no evidence of any unauthorized access and that Huawei could not have accessed the fixed-line network in Italy without permission. “The issues were identified by independent security testing, initiated by Vodafone as part of our routine security measures, and fixed at the time by Huawei,” a Vodafone spokesman said. Huawei said it was made aware of historical vulnerabilities in 2011 and 2012 and that they had been addressed at the time. “There is absolutely no truth in the suggestion that Huawei conceals backdoors in its equipment,” a Huawei spokesman said in a statement. It said the Bloomberg report “refers to a maintenance and diagnostic function, common across the industry, as well as vulnerabilities, which were corrected over seven years ago.” Vodafone said the vulnerability had stemmed from the use of Telnet, a protocol that was commonly used by many vendors for performing diagnostic functions. It allows equipment manufacturers to communicate with their products after they have been deployed. “It would not have been accessible from the internet,” Vodafone said. Spokesmen for the British government’s digital department and for the National Cyber Security Centre declined comment. BT, Britain’s biggest fixed and mobile operator, said that over the course of more than 10 years of working with Huawei it had not identified any security breaches or evidence of unsolicited communications. Huawei competes with Sweden’s Ericsson and Finland’s Nokia.

china security tech espionage vodafone nokia huawei


The relationship between Asian and U.S. stocks is falling apart

Abstract: SINGAPORE - Something strange is happening in the world of global stocks. After years of trading in line with American stocks, Asian equities are no longer moving in tandem. Asia’s regional benchmark has slumped about 6.5 percent in the past year, with the MSCI Asia Pacific Index still not recouping all of the losses during the global market rout if late 2018. By contrast, the U.S. S&P 500 is up 11 percent, hitting all-time highs as recently as Tuesday. Several themes have been playing out in Asia: A strengthening U.S. dollar has hurt investment flows to emerging markets. Weakening currencies prompted a number of Asian central banks to raise rates, coloring domestic growth prospects. Technology stocks, the sector with the largest weighting in Asia Pacific gauge, have slumped amid concerns surrounding chip demand. The U.S.-China trade war disproportionately affected Asian equities, as economies including Japan’s and South Korea’s saw their exports walloped. While China’s growth has stabilized, so far that’s only helped Chinese equities Japan in particular has been a laggard, losing its title as Asia’s biggest equity market as the economy decelerated. The nation now faces a blow from a sales-tax hike. “We’re starting to see a bit of a breakdown in the correlation as investors look a bit deeper into markets now that we’ve had such a successful start to the year,” said Nick Twidale, chief operating officer at Rakuten Securities Australia in Sydney. “Underlying data is certainly painting a better picture in the U.S. than in many other jurisdictions.” While the Asia Pacific index has done better since the start of the year, gaining 11 percent, it is still lagging behind the S&P 500, which has jumped more than 17 percent. And it’s done little since the end of January. Here’s some further perspective on the disconnect: Tech sector Most of the FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google) complex has posted strong earnings, but the semiconductor industry — which has had its best start to the year since the dot-com bubble — may have hit a rough patch. The fourth-largest contributor to the regional Asian index, Samsung Electronics Co., has been hit by setback after setback. Tuesday, it reported profit that missed recently reduced analysts’ estimates. That came after the tech giant delayed its first foldable smartphone, while grappling with falling memory-chip revenue. Prior to Samsung’s results, peers SK Hynix Inc. and LCD panel-maker LG Display Co. added to sector concerns after earnings results were lower than expected. Japan And then there’s Japan. The Topix index has slumped 8.8 percent in the past year and it’s still among the worst-performing equity indexes in the developed world in 2019. Fund managers have lost interest in Japanese stocks as trade-war and profit outlook concerns cloud the overall sentiment. China MSCI Inc.’s plan to expand the weighting of China-listed shares in benchmark indexes tracked by global investors, could be another reason for the rest of Asia falling behind. That decision could see billions of dollars flow into one of the world’s most volatile major stock markets. And the capital has to come from somewhere. While billions of dollars will head to so-called A-shares as a result, the weighting of Southeast Asian markets will likely drop to about 7.7 percent from 8 percent now, Morgan Stanley analysts Sean Gardiner and Aarti Shah wrote in a February report. Citigroup Inc. analysts also said in a report that India might get hit. Renewed Correlation? With Asian central banks largely following the Federal Reserve’s dovish pivot, policy direction is becoming better aligned. And all signs point to a U.S.-China trade deal in coming weeks or, at least, months, which may help turn regional export figures around. China’s economic stabilization in time could start lifting more boats. “The U.S. and Asian markets have shown a rise in correlation again,” looking at the first quarter of 2019, said Tai Hui, chief market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management in Hong Kong. “A more patient and dovish Fed, economic stimulus from China and ongoing negotiation between Beijing and Washington have prompted both markets to re-rate and recover.”

china yen trade stocks dollar topix currencies


Sudan army 'not serious' about handing power to civilians, says protest leader

Abstract: KHARTOUM - Sudanese protest leaders on Tuesday accused the army of not being serious about handing power to civilians, after differences emerged over the composition of a joint-military civilian ruling body. “The military council is not serious about handing over power to civilians,” Mohamed Naji al-Assam, a leader from the Sudanese Professionals Association, the group that is spearheading the ongoing protest movement, told reporters. “The military council insists that the sovereign council (the joint one) should be military led with civilian representation,” Assam said. Speaking at a news conference, he said the military had been seeking to “expand its powers daily. Assam said no new talks were scheduled on Tuesday, but the protest group would present its proposals to the army rulers “within hours. The protest leader criticized the military council’s demand to open some roads and bridges near the sit-in area outside the military headquarters. “It doesn’t make sense when you say we won’t disperse the sit-in but the roads have to be opened,” Assam said.


Brazil's Bolsonaro backs Venezuela uprising, saying country is 'enslaved by dictator'

Abstract: BRASILIA - Brazil’s right-wing government threw its support behind Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido’s push to oust the “Maduro dictatorship” with street demonstrations on Tuesday, and called on other nations to do the same. President Jair Bolsonaro wrote on his official Twitter account that the people of Venezuela are “enslaved by a dictator” and that he supports “freedom for our sister nation to finally become a true democracy.” His security adviser, retired Gen. Augusto Heleno, said he was shocked by images of armored cars of Venezuela’s National Guard apparently running over protesters. But he said the situation was not clear, Guaido’s support among the military appeared to be “weak” and it was uncertain whether military officers were abandoning leftist President Nicholas Maduro. Guaido, who is recognized by Brazil, the United States and dozens of other Western nations as the country’s interim leader, called anew for his countrymen to take to the streets on a day he vowed would be the last for Maduro’s stay in power. Brazilian presidential spokesman Gen. Otavio Rego Barros read out a statement expressing support for the “Venezuelan people fighting for democracy” and called on other nations to support Guaido’s effort to end the “Maduro dictatorship.” Earlier, Brazil’s foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo said his country supported a democratic transition in Venezuela. He said Brazil hopes its neighbor’s military will abandon Maduro. “Brazil supports the democratic transition process and hopes the Venezuelan military will be part of that,” Araujo said. He added that it was “positive” to see movement of some Venezuelan military toward recognizing Guaido as the legitimate president of their country. While Brazil has recognized Guaido as the interim leader of Venezuela, it has never considered military intervention there to overthrow Maduro’s socialist government, Heleno said.

brazil
venezuela
nicolas maduro
jair bolsonaro
juan guaido


Jailed Russian agent Maria Butina slams 'absurd' conviction in U.S.

Abstract: MOSCOW - Maria Butina, the only Russian arrested and convicted in the three-year investigation of Moscow’s interference in U.S. politics, on Tuesday called her conviction absurd and a “disgrace” for American justice. Butina, a 30-year-old gun activist, spoke to Russian reporters by phone after she was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Friday. “I did not expect such a severe punishment,” she said. “This is absolutely absurd. This is a huge disgrace for the U.S. justice system.” Butina’s lawyer, Robert Driscoll, confirmed Butina’s participation in the news conference. She had admitted one count of conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government without registering — an “espionage-lite” charge the U.S. has used before against alleged Russian spies. U.S. prosecutors said that although she worked openly and was not tied to any Russian intelligence agency, she was sending back reports to a high-level Russian official, Alexander Torshin, and posed a threat to the United States. On Tuesday, Butina said fellow gun activist Torshin “was and remains a dear person to me” even though he had gone incommunicado once her troubles began. “My parents have tried to reach him unsuccessfully,” she said. “He has not gotten in touch.” The redhead also said her trial has saddled her family with a whopping debt of around 40 million rubles ($618,000) and she needed help in paying that money back. “We need money very much,” she said, asking Russians for their help. “I know that Russians are kind at heart. Please support your compatriot,” she said. Her case played out against a backdrop of tension between Moscow and Washington over what U.S. intelligence says was a concerted effort by Russian spies to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, using hacking and social media manipulation to help President Donald Trump to victory. Special counsel Robert Mueller charged 25 Russians with conspiracy for those activities, but, with all of them believed to be in Russia, none have been arrested. U.S. prosecutors acknowledged that Butina had nothing to do with those cases but alleged that she was part of a “spot-and-assess” operation to identify potential recruits. Butina said U.S. officials working on the Mueller report had spoken to her for “all of five minutes. “I have nothing to do with this report,” she added. She again denied she was a pro-Kremlin political activist, saying she was a gun campaigner and worked toward better U.S.-Russian relations. “I was in favor of improving ties between Russia and the United States. I love my country,” she said. Russian President Vladimir Putin over the weekend slammed Butina’s jailing as “arbitrary,” adding that he did not understand why she had been incarcerated. Butina said she had had to cooperate with U.S. authorities or would have faced between five and 15 years in prison. She was given credit for nine months already served and will be deported when she is released. A gun rights campaigner who attended NRA events and invited top gun lobby officials to Russia, Butina lived as a graduate student in Washington with her boyfriend, a Republican and NRA activist. Her activities brought her into contact with top Republicans, including Trump at a rally in 2015. Butina said that while in prison she would work and read classic literature, including Dostoyevsky.

nra
u.s .
vladimir putin
russia
espionage
robert mueller
donald trump
russia probe
maria butina
alexander torshin


Two dead and four injured in North Carolina campus shooting

Abstract: CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - A man armed with a pistol opened fire on students at a North Carolina university during the last day of classes Tuesday, killing two people and wounding four, police said. Officers who had gathered ahead of a campus concert raced over and disarmed the suspect. The shooting prompted a lockdown at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte and caused widespread panic across campus as students scrambled to take shelter. “Just loud bangs. A couple loud bangs and then we just saw everyone run out of the building, like nervous, like a scared run like they were looking behind,” said Antonio Rodriguez, 24, who was visiting campus for his friend’s art show. Campus Police Chief Jeff Baker said authorities received a call in the late afternoon that a suspect armed with a pistol had shot several students. He said officers assembling nearby for a concert rushed to the classroom building and arrested the gunman in the room where the shooting took place. “Our officers’ actions definitely saved lives,” Baker said at a news conference. He said two people were killed, and three remained in critical condition late Tuesday. He said a fourth person’s injuries were less serious. Students were among the victims, but officials would not say how many. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department identified the suspect as Trystan Andrew Terrell, 22. They said he’s in custody with charges pending. Monifa Drayton, an adjunct professor, was walking onto campus when she heard the shots. She said she directed students fleeing the scene to take cover inside a parking deck. “I heard one final gunshot and I saw all the children running toward me,” she said. “We started to get all the children pulled into the second floor of the parking deck and the rationale was if we’re in the parking deck and there’s a shooter and we don’t know where he is, he won’t have a clear shot.” She added: “My thought was, I’ve lived my life, I’ve had a really good life, so, these students deserve the same. And so, whatever I could do to help any child to safety, that’s what I was going to do.” The suspect’s grandfather Paul Rold of Arlington, Texas, said that Terrell and his father moved to Charlotte from the Dallas area about two years ago after his mother died. Terrell taught himself French and Portuguese with the help of a language learning program his grandfather bought him and was attending UNC-Charlotte, Rold said. But Terrell never showed any interest in guns or other weapons and the news he may have been involved in a mass shooting was stunning, said Rold, who had not heard about the Charlotte attack before being contacted by an Associated Press reporter. “You’re describing someone foreign to me,” Rold said in a telephone interview Tuesday night. “This is not in his DNA.” Shortly after UNC Charlotte issued a campus lockdown, aerial shots from local television news outlets showed police officers running toward a building, while another view showed students running on a campus sidewalk. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department later said that the campus had been secured and that officers were going through buildings to let people who were hiding know that it was safe to come out. The university has more than 26,500 students and 3,000 faculty and staff. The campus is northeast of the city center and is surrounded by residential areas. Spenser Gray, a junior, said she was watching another student’s presentation in a nearby campus building when the alert about the shooting popped up on everyone’s computer screens. She said she panicked: “We had no idea where he was … so we were just expecting them at any moment coming into the classroom.” Susan Harden, an UNCC professor and Mecklenburg County Commissioner, was at home when she heard of the shooting. She went to a staging area, she said, to provide support. Harden said she has taught inside the Kennedy building, where the shootings occurred. “It breaks my heart. We’re torn up about what’s happened,” Harden said. “Students should be able to learn in peace and in safety and professors ought to be able to do their jobs in safety.” Gov. Roy Cooper said at a briefing late Tuesday that a “hard look” was needed into how the shooting happened and how to keep guns off campus and out of schools. “A student should not have to fear for his or her life when they are on our campuses,” the Democrat said. “Parents should not have to worry about their students when they send them off to school. And I know that this violence has to stop. … In the coming days we will take a hard look at all of this to see what we need to do going forward.”

guns
north carolina
charlotte
u.s. mass shootings


Senate showdown: William Barr to face Robert Mueller report grilling

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday will face lawmakers’ questions for the first time since releasing special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia report, in what promises to be a dramatic showdown as he defends his actions before Democrats who accuse him of spinning the investigation’s findings in President Donald Trump’s favor. Barr’s appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to highlight the partisan schism around Mueller’s report and the Justice Department’s handling of it. It will give the attorney general his most extensive opportunity to explain the department’s actions, including a press conference held before the report’s release, and for him to repair a reputation bruised by allegations that he’s the president’s protector. Barr is also invited to appear Thursday before the Democratic-led House Judiciary panel, but the Justice Department said he would not testify if the committee insisted on having its lawyers question the attorney general. His appearance Wednesday will be before a Republican-led committee chaired by a close ally of the president, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who is expected to focus on concerns that the early days of the FBI’s Russia investigation were tainted by law enforcement bias against Trump. Democrats are likely to focus on Barr’s statements and actions in the last six weeks that have unnerved them. The tense relations are notable given how Barr breezed through his confirmation process, picking up support from a few Democrats and offering reassuring words about the Justice Department’s independence and the importance of protecting the special counsel’s investigation. The first hint of discontent surfaced last month when Barr issued a four-page statement that summarized what he said were the main conclusions of the Mueller report. In the letter, Barr revealed that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had cleared Trump of obstruction of justice after Mueller and his team found evidence on both sides of the question but didn’t reach a conclusion. Barr is likely to defend himself by noting how he released the report on his own even though he didn’t have to under the special counsel regulations, and that doing so fulfilled a pledge he made at his confirmation hearing to be as transparent as the law allowed. Barr may say that he wanted to move quickly to give the public a summary of Mueller’s main findings as the Justice Department spent weeks redacting more sensitive information from the report. After the letter’s release, Barr raised eyebrows anew when he told a congressional committee that he believed the Trump campaign had been spied on, a common talking point of the president and his supporters. He also equivocated on a question of whether Mueller’s investigation was a witch hunt, saying someone who feels wrongly accused would reasonably view an investigation that way. That was a stark turnabout from his confirmation hearing, when he said he didn’t believe Mueller would ever be on a witch hunt. A person familiar with Barr’s thinking has said that Barr, a former CIA employee, did not mean spying in a necessarily inappropriate way and was simply referring to intelligence collection activities. The FBI did obtain a secret surveillance warrant in 2016 to eavesdrop on the communications of Carter Page, a former Trump campaign aide. Then came Barr’s April 18 press conference to announce the release of the Mueller report later that morning. He repeated about a half dozen times that Mueller’s investigation had found no evidence of collusion between the campaign and Russia, though the special counsel took pains to note in his report that “collusion” was not a legal term and also pointed out the multiple contacts between the campaign and Russia. In remarks that resembled some of Trump’s own claims, he praised the White House for giving Mueller’s team “unfettered access” to documents and witnesses and suggested the president had the right to be upset by the investigation, given his “sincere belief that the investigation was undermining his presidency, propelled by his political opponents, and fueled by illegal leaks.” It remained unclear Tuesday whether Barr would appear before the House committee. That panel’s Democratic chairman, Rep, Jerrold Nadler of New York, said witnesses could too easily filibuster when questioned by lawmakers limited by five-minute time limits. Having lawyers do the questioning enables the committee “to dig down on an issue and pursue an issue.” “And it’s not up to anybody from the executive branch to tell the legislative branch how to conduct our business,” Nadler said. The committee will vote on allowing staff to question Barr at a separate meeting on Wednesday, at the same time Barr takes questions from the Senate. The top Republican on the House Judiciary panel, Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, sharply criticized the plan. Nadler “has taken a voluntary hearing and turned it into a sideshow,” Collins said. The Justice Department’s stance appears consistent with the Trump administration’s broader strategy of “undermining Congress as an institution,” said Elliot Williams, who previously served as deputy assistant attorney general in the department’s legislative affairs office in the Obama administration and as a lawyer on a Democratic-led Senate Judiciary Committee. He said that if he were still advising an attorney general, he would resist the idea of staff questioning a Cabinet official. “It’s a rational response to not want them questioning the attorney general,” Williams said.

u.s .
congress
lindsey graham
robert mueller
donald trump
russia probe
william barr


Venezuela's Juan Guaido calls for uprising but military loyal to Maduro for now

Abstract: CARACAS - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on Tuesday made his strongest call yet to the military to help him oust President Nicolas Maduro but there were no concrete signs of defection from the armed forces leadership. Early on Tuesday, several dozen armed troops accompanying Guaido clashed with soldiers supporting Maduro at a rally in Caracas, and large anti-government protests in the streets turned violent. But by Tuesday afternoon an uneasy peace had returned and there was no indication that the opposition planned to take power through military force. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told CNN that “as we understand it” Maduro had been ready to depart for socialist ally Cuba, but had been persuaded to stay by Russia, which has also been a steadfast supporter. In a message posted on his social media accounts on Tuesday evening, Guaido told supporters to take to the streets once again on Wednesday. He reiterated his call for the armed forces to take his side, and said Maduro did not have the military’s support. “Today Venezuela has the opportunity to peacefully rebel against a tyrant who is closing himself in,” Guaido said. Maduro appeared in a state television broadcast on Tuesday night flanked by Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino and socialist party Vice President Diosdado Cabello, among others. “Today the goal was a big show,” Maduro said, referring to the military members who sided with Guaido as a “small group.” “Their plan failed, their call failed, because Venezuela wants piece.” He said he had reinstated Gustavo Gonzalez Lopez as the head of the Sebin intelligence agency, without providing details on the exit of Manuel Cristopher Figuera at the helm of the agency. Cristopher Figuera replaced Gonzalez Lopez at Sebin last year. Other U.S. officials said three top Maduro loyalists- Padrino, Supreme Court chief judge Maikel Moreno and presidential guard commander Ivan Rafael Hernandez Dala- had been in talks with the opposition and were ready to support a peaceful transition of power. “They negotiated for a long time on the means of restoring democracy but it seems that today they are not going forward,” said U.S. envoy for Venezuela Elliott Abrams. U.S. national security adviser John Bolton said: “All agreed that Maduro had to go.” Neither provided evidence. Venezuela’s U.N. Ambassador Samuel Moncada rejected Bolton’s remarks as “propaganda.” Flanked by uniformed men, Padrino said in a broadcast that the armed forces would continue to defend the constitution and “legitimate authorities,” and that military bases were operating as normal. Moreno issued a call for calm on Twitter. Guaido, the leader of the National Assembly, invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency in January, arguing that Maduro’s re-election in 2018 was illegitimate. But Maduro has held on, despite economic chaos, most Western countries backing Guaido, increased U.S. sanctions, and huge protests. Bold, but risky, move Tuesday’s move was Guaido’s boldest effort yet to persuade the military to rise up against Maduro. If it fails, it could be seen as evidence that he lacks sufficient support. It might also encourage the authorities, who have already stripped him of parliamentary immunity and opened multiple investigations into him, to arrest him. Tens of thousands of people marched in Caracas in support of Guaido early on Tuesday, clashing with riot police along the main Francisco Fajardo thoroughfare. A National Guard armored car slammed into protesters who were throwing stones and hitting the vehicle. Human rights groups said 109 people were injured in the incidents, most of them hit with pellets or rubber bullets. Venezuela is mired in a deep economic crisis despite its vast oil reserves. Shortages of food and medicine have prompted more than 3 million Venezuelans to emigrate in recent years. The slump has worsened this year with large areas of territory left in the dark for days at a time by power outages. “My mother doesn’t have medicine, my economic situation is terrible, my family has had to emigrate. We don’t earn enough money. We have no security. But we are hopeful, and I think that this is the beginning of the end of this regime,” said Jose Madera, 42, a mechanic, sitting atop his motorbike. In a video on his Twitter account, Guaido was accompanied by men in military uniform and leading opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez, a surprise public appearance for a man who has been under house arrest since 2017. Chile’s foreign minister said later Tuesday that Lopez and his family had entered Chile’s diplomatic residence. Oil prices topped $73 before easing, partly driven higher by the uncertainty in Venezuela, an OPEC member whose oil exports have been hit by the U.S. sanctions and the economic crisis. Who backed who? The crisis has pitted supporters of Guaido, including the United States, the European Union, and most Latin American nations, against Maduro’s allies, which include Russia, Cuba and China. The White House declined to comment on whether Washington had advance knowledge of what Guaido was planning. Carlos Vecchio, Guaido’s envoy to the United States, told reporters in Washington that the Trump administration did not help coordinate Tuesday’s events. “This is a movement led by Venezuelans,” he said. But accusations flew back and forth, with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza saying the events had been “directly planned” in Washington and Bolton saying that fears of Cuban retaliation had propped up Maduro. Neither provided evidence. Trump threatened “a full and complete embargo, together with highest-level sanctions” on Cuba for its support of Maduro. Brazil’s right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro threw his support behind Guaido and said Venezuelans were “enslaved by a dictator.” But his security adviser, a retired general, said Guaido’s support among the military appeared “weak.” Russia’s foreign ministry on Tuesday accused the Venezuelan opposition of resorting to violence in what it said was a brazen attempt to draw the country’s armed forces into clashes. Turkey also criticized the opposition. The United Nations and other countries urged a peaceful solution and dialogue.

venezuela
nicolas maduro
coups
juan guaido


New entrant Joe Biden surges to lead in 2020 Democrat race, poll shows

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Joe Biden has taken a commanding lead in the crowded 2020 Democratic presidential nomination race, polling showed Tuesday, boosting the former vice president’s standing as he began campaigning in early-voting Iowa. The results of the CNN poll solidify front-runner status for Biden, showing him breaking away from the pack of 20 candidates with 39 percent support among Democratic or Democratic-leaning voters. Liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders was a distant second at 15 percent. Progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren, young South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former congressman Beto O’Rourke of Texas were bunched together with 8, 7 and 6 percen,t respectively. But the survey also signaled that Americans are still a long way from making up their minds this far out from the statewide primaries, which kick off next February. Only 36 percent of respondents with a preference said they will definitely back the candidate they currently support, while 64 percent said they could still change their minds. The poll of 1,007 respondents was conducted by SSRS research in the days after Biden officially joined the field last week, and shows his support surging by 11 percentage points since the previous survey, in March. Biden, 76, officially joined the field last week and has hit the ground running. After a high-dollar fundraiser in Philadelphia, he took his campaign across Pennsylvania — seen as critical for Democrats to regain the White House — to address union workers in Pittsburgh on Monday. Biden, who served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009-2017 and describes himself as a “Biden-Obama Democrat,” further aligned himself with his former boss in a new campaign video released Tuesday. Obama has yet to weigh in on the 2020 Democratic field, and Biden was adamant that he personally asked Obama “not to endorse” him. The video nevertheless features excerpts of the then-president’s glowing speech when he presented Biden with the Medal of Freedom in 2017, in which he describes his deputy as “resilient, loyal, and a patriot.” The opening salvos of Biden’s campaign have centered on directly taking on Donald Trump as he makes the case that the current president is a “threat” to America and lacks the moral decency to serve the nation. “If I’m going to be able to beat Donald Trump in 2020 it’s going to happen here,” he told the crowd in Pittsburgh, a blue-collar city remaking itself as a tech hub. In an interview that aired Tuesday on ABC, Biden said he seeks to “end this god-awful deliberate division” being created by Trump. Biden traveled Tuesday to Iowa, which votes first in the party nomination process, for a two-day debut campaign swing through the state.

u.s .
joe biden
democrats
bernie sanders
donald trump
2020 u.s. presidential race


Special counsel Robert Mueller disputes U.S. attorney general's take on his Trump probe

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Special counsel Robert Mueller expressed frustration to Attorney General William Barr last month about how the findings of his Russia investigation were being portrayed, saying he worried that a letter summarizing the main conclusions of the probe lacked the necessary context and was creating public confusion about his team’s work, a Justice Department official said Tuesday night. Mueller communicated his agitation in a letter to the Justice Department just days after Barr issued a four-page document that summarized the special counsel’s conclusions about whether President Donald Trump’s campaign had conspired with Russia and whether the president had tried to illegally obstruct the probe, the official said. Mueller and Barr had a phone call the following day where the same concerns were addressed. The letter lays bare a simmering rift between the Justice Department and the special counsel about whether Barr’s summary adequately conveyed the gravity of Mueller’s findings, particularly on the key question of obstruction. The revelation is likely to sharpen attacks by Democrats who accuse Barr of unduly protecting the president and of spinning Mueller’s conclusions in Trump’s favor. And it will almost certainly be an expected focus of Wednesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at which the attorney general will defend his handling of Mueller’s report. “After the Attorney General received Special Counsel Mueller’s letter, he called him to discuss it,” Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement. “In a cordial and professional conversation, the Special Counsel emphasized that nothing in the Attorney General’s March 24 letter was inaccurate or misleading. But, he expressed frustration over the lack of context and the resulting media coverage regarding the Special Counsel’s obstruction analysis,” she added. In a March 24 letter, released two days after the Justice Department received the report, Barr said Mueller did not establish a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election. The letter also noted how Mueller had not reached a conclusion on whether the president had obstructed justice despite presenting evidence on both sides of the question. Justice Department officials were confused because Mueller had not made a determination, prompting Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to step in and decide the evidence was insufficient to support an obstruction charge. The letter did not detail the obstruction evidence Mueller’s team accumulated and did not describe Mueller’s legal analysis as he examined nearly a dozen episodes of potential obstruction. The report makes clear that Mueller’s thought process was shaped in part by a Justice Department legal opinion that says a sitting president cannot be indicted. Barr has sought to downplay any disagreements with the special counsel, and has brushed aside allegations that he mischaracterized Mueller’s findings. Barr said Mueller answered “no” when he asked him whether he would have recommended indicting Trump but for the Justice Department’s legal opinion. And at a congressional hearing last week that occurred after his phone call with Mueller, Barr said, “I don’t know whether Bob Mueller supported my conclusion.” Barr and Mueller did discuss on the call whether additional context from the report could be released. But Justice Department officials have said they decided it made more sense to release the bottom-line findings of Mueller’s report rather than include the detailed legal analysis behind them. They also decided against releasing summaries that Mueller’s team had prepared. The letter is likely to be a central focus at Wednesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with Barr. The appearance is Barr’s first since he released a redacted version of Mueller’s report on April 18 and comes amid deepening Democratic skepticism about his impartiality. Those concerns have been fueled in part by Barr’s statements at a press conference announcing the release of the Mueller report, where he repeated multiple times that Mueller’s investigation had not found collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia — even though the report notes that collusion is not a legal term. The Washington Post was first to report the contents of the letter. The newspaper said Mueller complained that Barr’s summary “did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of this office’s work and conclusions.” “There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation,” according to Mueller’s letter. “This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.” Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which has been negotiating with Barr over a Thursday appearance, demanded that the Justice Department produce the letter by Wednesday morning. “The Attorney General has expressed some reluctance to appear before the House Judiciary Committee this Thursday,” Nadler, a New York Democrat, said in a statement. “These reports make it that much more important for him to appear and answer our questions.” Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, said: “This is exactly why I said Mr. Barr should never have been confirmed in the first place. At this point he has lost all credibility, and the only way to clear this up is for Mr. Mueller to testify publicly.”

u.s .
congress
russia
robert mueller
donald trump
2016 u.s. presidential election
russia probe
william barr


Trump seeks to declare Muslim Brotherhood terrorists

Abstract: WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump is seeking to blacklist the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group, a far-reaching step that would place the United States firmly on the side of its authoritarian allies in the Middle East. “The president has consulted with his national security team and leaders in the region who share his concern, and this designation is working its way through the internal process,” said White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders. The Brotherhood, a nearly century-old Islamist movement born in Egypt with pockets of support across the Arab world, was designated a terrorist organization by Cairo after the military in 2013 ousted Mohamed Morsi, a democratically elected president with roots in the movement. Placing the Muslim Brotherhood on Washington’s list of foreign terrorist organizations would make it a crime for any American to assist the group and would ban from the United States its members, who are active in political parties in several countries. The move comes three weeks after Trump welcomed Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has cracked down heavily on the Muslim Brotherhood as well as other movements ranging from Islamic State extremists to secular activists. During their White House talks, Trump praised Sisi for “doing a great job,” saying the United States and Egypt had “never had a better relationship.” The terrorist designation would delight Sisi as well as Saudi Arabia, which despite its ultra-conservative Wahabi ideology disdains the Muslim Brotherhood due to its support for political change in the kingdom, including over Riyadh’s alliance with Washington. But targeting the movement would be a major new impediment in U.S. ties with NATO ally Turkey, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pushed an Islamist foreign policy that includes support for the Muslim Brotherhood inside Egypt. Another U.S. ally friendly toward the Muslim Brotherhood is Qatar, with the issue becoming a key source of friction with its neighbors Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been a longtime supporter of designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group, co-sponsoring legislation with fellow conservatives to take the step when he was a member of Congress. The Muslim Brotherhood has emerged in recent years as a favorite bugbear for the U.S. far-right, with numerous social media users on Tuesday hailing Trump’s push by sharing unfounded conspiracy theories that the group had infiltrated former president Barack Obama’s administration or was attempting to impose Islamic sharia law in the United States. But the proposal has seen pushback from policymakers who say that it is inaccurate to lump together the Muslim Brotherhood, which includes more moderate and democratic strains, with groups set on apocalyptic violence such as the Islamic State movement and Al-Qaeda. Human Rights Watch has argued that a terrorist designation would “unfairly taint anyone alleged to be linked to the Muslim Brotherhood,” meaning that people based in the United States could face prosecution — or, if not citizens, deportation — for backing charities or advocacy groups accused of ties to the movement. Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which generally backs hawkish policies in the Middle East, doubted that the whole Muslim Brotherhood could be declared a terrorist group under normal processes. “There is near zero likelihood of the entire network, with all its disparate parts, meeting legal criteria,” he tweeted. “But targeting the violent branches is certainly viable. That, in turn, can enable further designations based on financial ties.” The debate comes less than a month after the Trump administration took the sweeping decision to declare Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards a terrorist group, the first time it has designated a unit of a government. Egypt is one of the biggest U.S. strategic partners — an Arab country that made peace with top U.S. ally Israel 40 years ago and remains one of the largest recipients of U.S. aid, at more than $1 billion a year. Trump has all but ended criticism of Egypt’s rights record. When Sisi took over in 2013, security forces killed some 700 protesters who had assembled in two Cairo squares — with courts then sentencing to death 75 people, including Muslim Brotherhood leaders, over the uprising.

u.s .
terrorism
saudi arabia
egypt
muslim brotherhood
turkey
abdel fattah al-sisi
donald trump
mike pompeo


U.S. senators blast 'insane' Trump plan for 23% foreign aid cut and seek Venezuela plan

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Republican and Democratic U.S. senators blasted President Donald Trump’s proposal for a 23 percent cut in the U.S. budget for foreign aid and diplomacy as “insane” and “short-sighted” on Tuesday, and said it would not pass. “We’re not going to approve this budget reduction. It’s insane. It makes no sense,” said Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the State Department and foreign aid budget. “I don’t know who writes these things over in the White House, but they clearly don’t understand the value of soft power,” the Republican senator, a close Trump ally on many issues, told a subcommittee hearing on the foreign aid budget. Graham also called the plan “short-sighted” and said the Appropriations panel would restore funding to previous levels, rather than enacting the 23 percent cut Trump proposed earlier this year. Graham also asked Mark Green, the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, to send Congress a plan for how it would assist Venezuela in case of a change in government in the troubled South American state. The hearing took place on Tuesday against a backdrop of upheaval in Venezuela, where Washington’s desire to ship in millions of dollars in foreign aid has been a central theme of the Trump administration’s push for a change in government. The Senate subcommittee’s top Democrat, Sen. Patrick Leahy, also opposed the cuts, citing the importance of “soft power” like foreign aid to U.S. influence around the world. “Our soft power should not be a partisan issue, it should be an American issue and we’re going to try to keep it that way,” Leahy said at the hearing, at which Green testified on Trump’s proposed budget. Graham asked if Trump’s administration had a plan in place to help the Venezuela people if President Nicolas Maduro’s government were to fall. Graham suggested that the administration submit an emergency funding request for Venezuela to his committee, including a plan. “I think most members of this committee would gladly help you with some resources to stabilize Venezuela when Maduro falls, not if. In that regard, we would very much appreciate any advice you give us about what a good response would look like,” Graham said.

u.s .
congress
venezuela
lindsey graham
nicolas maduro
foreign aid
donald trump


Russia accuses Venezuela opposition of 'fueling' conflict and urges talks

Abstract: MOSCOW - Russia on Tuesday accused Venezuela’s US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido of fomenting violence and urged talks, after the self-proclaimed leader said troops had joined his campaign to oust President Nicolas Maduro. The Russian foreign ministry said it was important to avoid bloodletting as President Vladimir Putin discussed the unfolding crisis with members of his security council at the Kremlin. “The radical opposition in Venezuela has once again turned to heavy-handed methods of confrontation,” the foreign ministry said in a statement, accusing Maduro’s opponents of “fueling” conflict. “It is important to avoid unrest and bloodletting,” said the foreign ministry, urging talks between the conflicting sides. “The problems Venezuela faces should be solved through responsible negotiations without pre-conditions,” said the foreign ministry, warning that third countries should not interfere in the crisis. In March, Moscow sent troops and equipment to Venezuela, saying they would remain in the country “for as long as needed.” Tensions in crisis-stricken Venezuela have been ratcheted up to a critical level this year, after Guaido, who is head of the opposition-ruled National Assembly, announced in January that he was the acting president under the constitution. He said Maduro had been fraudulently re-elected last year. Maduro has presided over economic chaos, with the oil-rich country unable to provide basic medical and food supplies to much of the population. Earlier Tuesday Guaido said troops had joined his campaign to oust Maduro while the government vowed to put down what it called an attempted coup. Guaido is recognized by the United States and about 50 other governments but Moscow, along with China, backs Maduro. Russia has accused Washington of seeking regime change in Venezuela.

china
u.s .
vladimir putin
russia
venezuela
nicolas maduro
donald trump
juan guaido


U.N. condemns attacks on Syria health facilities blamed on Assad regime and Russia

Abstract: HBEIT, SYRIA - Shelling of areas in northwestern Syria in the past three days has damaged a medical center and put two hospitals out of service, the United Nations said on Tuesday. “The U.N. is deeply disturbed by three separate reported attacks on hospitals and health facilities in northwestern Syria, depriving thousands of people of their basic right of health,” said David Swanson of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. “Such violence is completely unacceptable,” he told AFP. The U.N. did not specify who was behind the attacks but the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights blamed the Syrian government and its ally, Russia. On Tuesday, a medical center in the town of Hbeit in the south of jihadist-held Idlib province was “severely damaged” in artillery shelling, Swanson said. Regime shelling blew a crater into the walls of the center, said an AFP correspondent who visited the facility. Its interior was littered with rubble, he said. Earlier on Monday, an airstrike hit a hospital in the town of Latamna in neighboring Hama province, putting it out of service, Swanson said. The hospital used to carry out 1,300 outpatient consultations and more than 300 operations a month before it was attacked, he said. A third facility — The Madiq Castle hospital in Hama — was also put out of service when it was hit by an air strike two days ago, causing heavy damage to its outpatient clinic, pharmacy and laboratory, Swanson said. The hospital had served about 8,000 people a month, he added. “All three incidents further limit civilians’ access to basic health care in northwest Syria,” he said. “The U.N. continues to call on all the parties to the conflict to end the destruction of hospitals and other civilian infrastructure that is essential for the civilian population.” Russia and rebel-backer Turkey in September inked a buffer zone deal to prevent a massive regime offensive on the Idlib region, near the Turkish border. But the region of some 3 million people has come under increasing bombardment since former al-Qaida affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham took full control of it in January. The escalation has killed more than 200 civilians since February, the U.N. said last week. The Observatory said two civilians were killed in Tuesday’s shelling on Idlib and neighboring Hama. Despite the low casualty count, it said Tuesday’s attacks were the most intense since the September truce. The civil war in Syria has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions since it began with the bloody repression of anti-government protests in 2011.

conflict
russia
syria
u.n .
al-qaida
bashar assad
hospitals
idlib


Australia election favorites Labor vow pivot to Asia

Abstract: SYDNEY - Australia will see a “step change” in engagement with Asia and a more “considered” policy toward China if Labor wins the next election, the party’s would-be foreign minister vowed Wednesday. Penny Wong — who would become the country’s first Asian-Australian top diplomat if her party continues to lead the conservative government into the May 18 vote — signaled the election would bring a foreign policy pivot to Asia. Promising policies that would see more Asian languages taught in Australian schools and an increase in Aussie diplomats abroad, Malaysian-born Wong also signaled her wish to have a more constructive relationship with Beijing. “We don’t pre-emptively frame China only as a threat,” she said, drawing contrast with Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s administration. Like Labor governments before, she promised a “more considered, disciplined and consistent approach to the management of Australia’s relationship with China.” Successive Australian administrations have struggled to balance a vital trading relationship with China and the Chinese government’s authoritarian reflex. That balance has become more fraught as Xi Jinping has consolidated power and looked to exercise China’s regional clout to take advantage of waning U.S. influence. Wong acknowledged that the relationship with China “may become harder to manage in the future.” “At times our interests will differ. And challenges in the relationship may intensify … . We must be grounded in the realities. China is not a democracy nor does it share our commitment to the rule of law.” But she said the realities of the region were changing: “Those realities include the fact that China will remain important to Australia’s prosperity.” “It is not simply a matter of a ‘diplomatic reset.’ Fundamentally, we are in a new phase in the relationship.” Across Asia, smaller nations like Australia are grappling with a China that is both more important and less wedded to the rule of law — more willing to act in retribution if its growing influence is challenged. A decision to limit Huawei’s role in developing Australia’s 5G network has brought furious condemnations and coincided with some Australian coal exports to China being blocked at ports of entry. Donald Trump’s accent to the U.S. presidency and his limited interest in international rules, norms and decades-old alliances has only complicated matters further for Canberra, traditionally one of Washington’s closest allies. Wong backed a relationship with the United States that is “fundamental” to Australian security, but acknowledged “power is shifting.” “The global order we have known and relied upon since World War Two is being transformed.” That change has raised difficult questions in Australia, which has long seen itself as an outpost of Westernism in the South Pacific, but which demographically, culturally and economically is becoming more closely intertwined with Asia. “Australia’s prosperity and security is shaped by the region in which we live — the Indo-Pacific,” Wong said, adding that the possibility of an Asian-Australian foreign minister was testament to that fact. “What is significant about that possibility is not my personal attributes,” she said, “rather, what would be significant about an Asian Australian being our foreign minister is what it says about us. What it says about who we are.” “Southeast Asia is not just our region, it is where I was born” Painting Australia as “independent, multicultural” and “confident of our place in the world,” Wong said her first visit abroad as foreign minister would be to Indonesia and Malaysia.

china
australia
elections
xi jinping
penny wong


No major system failures reported due to shift to new Japan era: Yoshihide Suga

Abstract: There have been no reports of major system failures from the public or private sectors as a result of the change from Heisei to Reiwa, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Wednesday. All sectors are required to report immediately to the Cabinet Secretariat if any malfunctions occur in their systems due to the era change, Suga told a news conference after a Cabinet meeting. “We’ll do all we can” to deal with any system problems related to Wednesday’s era change, Suga continued. Systems at some government agencies still need updating, but the work will finish before their offices reopen on Tuesday after the 10-day Golden Week holiday period, he said. Although no significant system failures were reported regarding the change of the era, it was discovered on Monday that when bank transfer requests were made on Sunday or later using cash cards issued by Hokkaido Bank, Hokuriku Bank and the Bank of Yokohama at convenience store ATMs, the year 1989, the first year of Heisei, appeared on the monitors and statements instead of 2019. The banks posted apologies on their official websites, explaining that the actual transfers will be made on the correct dates.

banks
transfers
heisei
reiwa
information system failures


Among Asian countries, Japan is least satisfied with its democracy, survey finds

Abstract: More people across the globe are unhappy with the state of democracy in their countries than are content, according to a new poll that showed 56 percent of people in Japan voicing dissatisfaction. The survey, released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center, found that 56 percent of Japanese — the highest among democracies in Asia — said they were unhappy with the state of their government while 40 percent were satisfied. Across 27 countries surveyed, a median of 51 percent said they were dissatisfied with the way their democracy is functioning, compared with 45 percent who were satisfied. “Discontent varies somewhat across regions of the globe,” Pew said. “Those in the Asia-Pacific region, for example, tend to be satisfied with how democracy is working in their countries. “Only in Japan do a majority say they are dissatisfied,” the poll noted. According to the survey, a median of 74 percent of people in Japan cited a struggling economy, while 69 percent voiced dissatisfaction with the state of freedom of speech in the country and 70 percent said elected officials ignore ordinary people. Those results were similar to the United States, where 80 percent cited economic concerns, 74 percent said free speech was a major issue and 67 percent saw elites as uncaring and out of touch. Dissatisfaction increased significantly between 2017 and 2018 in roughly half of the countries polled, including in Japan where it jumped 9 percentage points year-on-year, the survey found. Japan has sought to improve its democratic process in recent years, including steps intended to bring more women into government and encouraging youth participation in elections. However, the country, which has been led by the Liberal Democratic Party continuously since the party’s 1955 foundation save two brief exceptions, has witnessed a number of political and corruption scandals in recent years that have damaged public trust in government.

shinzo abe
u.s .
ldp
elections
scandals
cabinet
surveys


Japan's former emperor and empress to switch residences with their successors in Tokyo

Abstract: Emperor Emeritus Akihito and Empress Emerita Michiko are set to vacate the Imperial Palace following Tuesday’s abdication, to make way for the new emperor and his family as they hand over their public duties and look forward to leisurely days. The emperor emeritus and empress emerita will move to a temporary residence in Tokyo before settling at the former Crown Prince’s Residence, known from today as the Akasaka Residence, within the Akasaka Estate once renovation work is completed. The residence is currently home to the new Emperor Naruhito and his family. Their temporary residence will be the Takanawa Imperial Residence in Minato Ward, formerly home to Prince and Princess Takamatsu. The residence has been empty since the princess — aunt of Emperor Emeritus Akihito — died in 2004. When the works at the Akasaka Residence are complete it will be renamed Sento Imperial Palace, which translates as “the place where the retired imperial couple live.” The couple has fond memories of their final home, where they brought up their children when the emperor emeritus was crown prince. The emperor emeritus is handing off all public duties to the new emperor immediately. The couple will pray for the country and its people after they move, and spend more time with friends, listening to music and reading, according to Imperial Household Agency officials. A keen marine biologist, the emperor emeritus will periodically visit the Imperial Palace to continue his research on gobies, they said. “I am looking forward to being able to take my time to read every book that I have yet to read,” Empress Emerita Michiko said in a statement to the press last October.

royalty
emperor akihito
imperial family
imperial palace
empress michiko
abdication
takanawa imperial residence
togu palace


Man apparently kills himself with crossbow at imperial burial site in western Tokyo

Abstract: A man was found dead Wednesday morning at an imperial burial site on the outskirts of Tokyo after an apparent suicide, police said. The discovery came as a series of ceremonies took place in Tokyo at the Imperial Palace for the ascension of Emperor Naruhito following Tuesday’s abdication of his father, the Emperor Emeritus Akihito. The man was found dead at the Musashino Imperial Graveyard in Hachioji, where imperial family members — including the great-grandfather and grandfather of Emperor Naruhito — are buried. A crossbow bolt was embedded in the man’s body and a crossbow was found nearby, according to police. The body was in a closed area surrounded by fences where construction work has been underway. An official of the Imperial Household Agency found the body and called police at around 7:20 a.m. Further details were not immediately available.

tokyo
suicide
imperial family
hachioji
musashino imperial graveyard


English lessons, tennis and days out: Emperor's host in U.K. before Oxford recalls 'delightful guest'

Abstract: LONDON - As Emperor Naruhito ascended the throne Wednesday, the man who was entrusted with his care while he was studying in the U.K. wished the emperor every success in his new role. Col. Tom Hall, his wife, Mariette, and their children hosted the then prince for three months in 1983 before he spent two years attending the University of Oxford’s Merton College, where he studied transport on the River Thames. While staying with the Halls, the prince received intensive English-language training in preparation for university. The only language spoken in the house was English, and a normal day would involve English lessons combined with an excursion to a place of interest in the afternoon. He was treated as a member of the family, and they had all their meals together. He went with them on a skiing vacation to their chalet in the French Alps, was introduced to their friends at social gatherings and frequently played tennis with them. Reflecting on the prince’s stay, Hall, 91, told Kyodo News: “He was a delightful guest with a nice sense of humor, which was rather unexpected with his serious upbringing. He was always polite, friendly and discreet. He had a warm charm, and we got on well.” “I think he found a freedom here which he might not have had in Japan with the protocols of the Imperial Household Agency,” he added. Hall remembers that the prince, though generally treated like one of the family, always addressed him as “sir” at the start and end of each day. He recalls feeling honored when he was chosen by the Japanese Embassy in London to host the prince, who was known as Prince Hiro until he became crown prince in 1989. In 1983, the retired colonel met then-Crown Prince Akihito to discuss Prince Hiro’s stay in England. Hall thinks he was chosen as host due to several factors. He managed four English-language schools in Japan, had acted in a similar capacity for the Thai crown prince and was a member of Queen Elizabeth II’s household — so he had experience with royal protocol. “We also had a nice big house close to Oxford. When the prince was at the university, he often came back to see us. It was almost his second home in England,” he continued. Hall, who is also a farmer, looks back on the stay as a great success. Prince Hiro’s English improved enormously in preparation for Oxford and he received an extensive introduction to English life and society. The prince was delighted to meet members of the British royal family, who welcomed him warmly, said Hall. He was given free rein on the prince’s activities, though he consulted with the Japanese Embassy and its representative, Akira Fuji, with whom the prince played cello. Looking to the future, Hall believes the prince’s time in England will help him enormously in his new role. “Education and travel are always helpful. I like to think that his ability to speak English will make it easier in his relations with other countries,” Hall said. “We wish him and his family happiness and success in their new roles.”

u.k .
royalty
english
queen elizabeth ii
imperial family
study abroad
oxford university
oxford
emperor naruhito
tom hall


Tokyo welcomes Japan's new Reiwa Era in festive mood with countdowns and marriages

Abstract: Midnight countdowns, marriage registrations and celebratory events: People welcomed the dawning of the new imperial era, Reiwa, at various locations in Tokyo on Wednesday with a festive mood. In the middle of the unprecedented 10-day Golden Week holiday, a lot of municipal offices were busy accepting marriage registrations — many couples seemed to feel that the beginning of the new era was the perfect opportunity. Some offices even offered little extras, such as setting up special photo booths for the occasion. Officials at Sumida Ward, Tokyo, said they received a number of inquiries on how marriages could be registered on the first day of the Reiwa Era after the government disclosed the new era name last month. Takuto Masu and his wife, Aki, hold up the characters for Reiwa at the Sumida Ward office where they submitted their marriage registration on the first day of the era on Wednesday. | KAZUAKI NAGATA “We were thinking of when we wanted to submit the registration. And then the new era name was announced, so we thought this would be good timing,” said Yasuhiro Yamaguchi, a 32-year-old man who was at the Sumida Ward office. “Now that we are a family, I need to brace up and become a better person,” said his newlywed wife, Nao. Another couple also cited the era change as part of the reason they went to register their marriage. “We hope to build a happy family full of smiles,” said Takuto Masu, 31, who came with his wife, Aki. In addition to a photo booth the ward also prepared a news conference setting for the couples, where children who have been appointed as PR ambassadors for Sumida Ward acted as reporters and asked questions — such as what the newlyweds like about each other and what kind of family they would like to build. The ward said it saw about 280 marriage registrations on Wednesday compared to about the 70 to 80 it usually accepted on other busy days. While couples were registering marriages in a heartwarming mood, the exit from the Heisei Era in the business district of Shibuya, Tokyo, the night before had been more chaotic. Police officers control the pedestrian flow at the scramble crossing in front of Tokyo’s Shibuya Station shortly after the Reiwa Era began on Wednesday. | KAZUAKI NAGATA A huge crowd amassed near the famous scramble crossing in front of Shibuya Station, apparently wanting to experience the last minutes of Heisei and the dawning of Reiwa together despite the rainy weather. To maintain order, dozens of police officers were deployed to the site. Officers urged visitors not to linger about after 11 p.m. on Tuesday, shouting to tell those gathered that there was no countdown event. As midnight neared, police attempted to stop people from entering the crossing. While the scene did not seem to get out of control, some of the crowd still quickly occupied part of the space moments before the transition to Reiwa, with people cheering wildly and celebrating as the big moment arrived. Scramble crossing is a famous spot for people to gather on celebratory occasions, such as New Year’s Eve and Halloween, but is also notorious for such gatherings sometimes getting out of control. Even after midnight, police were kept busy controlling pedestrian flow around the crossing. While the festive atmosphere was palpable in the bustling area, some people voiced their enduring affection for the Heisei Era and melancholy at its passing. Two men wearing T-shirts printed with the Reiwa kanji character pose for a photo before the dawn of the Reiwa Era at the scramble crossing in front of Tokyo’s Shibuya Station on Tuesday. | KAZUAKI NAGATA “I am sad that Heisei is now over,” said Ayaka Nakanishi, a Tokyo resident who came to Shibuya with two of her friends. “We were all born in the first year of Heisei, so on the last day of Heisei, we wanted to get together,” she said. Nakanishi said Shibuya has always been a place to hang out since they were college students, which is why they wanted to spend their last Heisei night there. The Tokyo Skytree also held events Wednesday during the day featuring live calligraphy, a shishimai lion dance (which is traditionally believed to drive away bad spirits) and Japanese classic acrobatics. Hundreds of visitors enjoyed the performance while also receiving free sake.

tokyo
shibuya
marriage
imperial family
abdication
sumida ward
reiwa
imperial change
emperor naruhito


Celebrations across Japan mark start of Reiwa Era under new emperor

Abstract: Many Japanese celebrated the start of the Reiwa Era on Wednesday with their family, friends and loved ones — some with newborn babies — as Shinto shrines and popular spots across the country were crowded with visitors keen to take in the festive atmosphere. About 1,500 people gather in Dazaifu, Fukuoka Prefecture, to form the characters of Reiwa, the name of the new imperial era that started Wednesday. The name was drawn from an introduction to poems in ‘Manyoshu,’ the oldest existing anthology of Japanese poetry, which referenced a flower-viewing party held by poet Otomo no Tabito (665-731) in Dazaifu. | KYODO Some 1,500 residents lined up to form a human representation of the two Chinese characters for Reiwa in Dazaifu, Fukuoka Prefecture, where a plum-blossom viewing that inspired the era name took place in the eighth century. It took more than an hour for them to form the characters, each of which measured 30 meters by 30 meters. “I feel lucky to be part of the celebration,” said Hiroshi Nabeshima, 68, who traveled from the nearby city of Fukuoka to take part. A traditional dance is performed Wednesday at the Grand Shrines of Ise in Mie Prefecture to celebrate the new emperor’s ascension to the throne. | KYODO At the Grand Shrines of Ise, a Shinto shrine in Mie Prefecture, people started lining up from early morning to receive traditional Japanese sweets called rakugan that were given out in celebration of Emperor Naruhito’s enthronement. The shrine, which prepared about 40,000 boxes of rakugan, is dedicated to the Shinto sun goddess Amaterasu, from whom the imperial family is said to be descended. In Osaka’s Dotonbori district, mechanical drum-playing doll Kuidaore Taro, a famous landmark mascot, welcomed visitors with a speech bubble that read “I hope Reiwa will make good days” in English. Katsuyoshi Goto, 48, on a family trip from Gifu Prefecture, was taking photos of the doll. “I agree (with the message) because Heisei saw various natural disasters,” Goto said. Michiko Fumita holds her baby girl who was born Wednesday morning, the first day of Reiwa, at a hospital in Toda, Saitama Prefecture. | KYODO Many couples welcomed a newborn on the first day of Reiwa. “I’m surprised that my baby was born on the first day of Reiwa, when the whole country is in a festive mood,” said Michiko Fumita, 33, of Toda, Saitama Prefecture, who gave birth to a 3,054-gram baby girl at 6:47 a.m. at a hospital in Toda. “Maybe she herself chose (the day),” Fumita mused. To catch the first sunrise of the new era, some headed to scenic locations while others boarded a special flight from Haneda airport in Tokyo, although the weather was cloudy in many parts of the country. In the coastal town of Kushimoto, in Wakayama Prefecture, hundreds of people flocked to Cape Shionomisaki, the southernmost point of Honshu. Hankyu Travel International Co. in Osaka chartered a West Japan Railway Co. express train for tourists to view the sunrise off the cape, but clouds obscured the view. “The weather is unfortunate, but I hope the new era will be a good period,” said 54-year-old Tokyo resident Masami Oshiyama, who was on the train tour. Emperor Naruhito ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne on Wednesday, after his father, Emperor Emeritus Akihito, abdicated the previous day.

osaka prefecture
abdication
wakayama
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kushimoto
grand shrines of ise
dazaifu
reiwa
emperor naruhito


Tokyo lodges protest as South Korea court is asked to sell Japan firms' assets over wartime labor

Abstract: SEOUL - Japan protested Wednesday what it sees as inaction by the South Korean government to prevent Japanese corporate assets from being sold as part of a wartime labor dispute. The protest came after a team of lawyers for South Koreans who were awarded damages from Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel Corp. and machinery manufacturer Nachi-Fujikoshi Corp. over wartime labor said earlier in the day they had asked a court to sell assets seized from the firms in South Korea. Kenji Kanasugi, director-general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, called a senior South Korean Embassy official in Tokyo to lodge the protest. Kanasugi said Seoul has yet to take concrete steps to correct the violations of a 1965 bilateral accord that settled wartime compensation issues. Kanasugi also reiterated Japan’s demand for bilateral talks on the matter. The plaintiffs’ action is extremely regrettable, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on television. Nippon Steel and Nachi-Fujikoshi each have assets in South Korea in the form of stakes in companies. Some of their stakes were seized by South Korean courts in January and March, respectively, after both refused to compensate the plaintiffs after courts ruled against them. The lawyers in a statement accused the Japanese government of pressuring the firms to take no action about the compensation, and alleged that such inaction contravenes international law. The latest move will likely further aggravate ties between the two countries, as the Japanese government has hinted that it may retaliate if the interests of Japanese businesses are hurt over the dispute. Tokyo claims that the issue of compensation arising from its 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula was settled under a bilateral agreement signed when the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1965. But South Korea’s Supreme Court ruled on Oct. 30 that the right of victims of what it called “forced mobilization” during World War II to seek compensation was not terminated by the agreement. In the same ruling, the top court ordered Nippon Steel, then known as Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp., to pay plaintiffs a total of 400 million won (about $343,000) in compensation. Subsequently, the plaintiffs successfully sought the seizure of about 81,000 shares Nippon Steel has in Posco-Nippon Steel RHF Joint Venture Co., a joint venture with South Korean steelmaker Posco that is known simply as PNR. Nachi-Fujikoshi’s cases are still pending at the Supreme Court. Lower courts, earlier, ruled against the company. A court has seized the company’s stake in an affiliated company in South Korea estimated to be worth 765 million won. Besides the two Japanese companies, manufacturer Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. has had its rights to two trademarks and six patents in South Korea seized over wartime labor. Wednesday’s statement showed that the lawyers have asked Seoul Central District Court to request the Japanese manufacturer to specify all its South Korean assets apart from the ones that have already been seized. The lawyers indicated that the sales would take at least three months to complete, and that they could be stopped if the companies agree to compensation talks. Wednesday’s move comes just days after more South Koreans who claim they or their family members were forced to work for Japanese companies during the war sued nine Japanese firms, including Mitsubishi Materials Corp., Nishimatsu Construction Co. and Hitachi Zosen Corp., as well as the three companies.

wwii
history
south korea
nippon steel
wartime labor
south korea-japan relations
nachi-fujikoshi


Man who allegedly left knives on Prince Hisahito's school desk sent to prosecutors

Abstract: A 56-year-old man was sent to prosecutors Wednesday for allegedly trespassing on the grounds of Prince Hisahito’s school, where he is suspected of leaving two knives on the boy’s desk, a charge he has admitted to, according to the authorities. The police tracked down Kaoru Hasegawa, who had been on the run for four days since Friday, by piecing together footage from surveillance cameras in various locations. The incident took place as the country was preparing to celebrate the ascension of Emperor Naruhito to the Chrysanthemum Throne on Wednesday. Prince Hisahito is now second in line to the throne behind his father, Crown Prince Akishino, who is the younger brother of the emperor. Two knives were found around noon on Friday on the 12-year-old prince’s desk, with security camera footage showing a helmeted man clad in blue and wearing a mask and gloves entering Ochanomizu University Junior High School in Tokyo earlier in the day. The camera also spotted a man resembling Hasegawa, whose place of residence and occupation are unknown, leaving the school premises from the main gate at around 11:10 a.m., according to the police. A person thought to be him was later seen at nearby Myogadani Station, from where he apparently took a subway. By analyzing surveillance camera footage from different locations, the police were able to determine that Hasegawa took an indirect route to a hotel in the city of Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, around 50 kilometers southwest of the central Tokyo school. The police arrested him on Monday after he returned to the hotel. A woman in her 50s who was staying at the hotel said she saw Hasegawa being led away by two people, apparently investigators, after he told the front desk clerk his room number. “He looked quite calm,” she said. The police are investigating the motive behind the incident. The two knives were attached to the end of a 60-centimeter-long aluminum bar with duct tape, resembling a two-pronged pitchfork. The blades of the knives were painted pink, according to the police.

ochanomizu university junior high school


Disco's not dead: Japan grooves to bubble beat for Heisei Era sayonara

Abstract: Disco fans hit the dance floor and partied like it was 1989, reliving the glitz of the “bubble economy” heyday that defined the early years of the outgoing Heisei Era. Tuesday night was the last chance for nostalgic Japanese to bid sayonara to the three-decade era, which ended at midnight with the abdication of Emperor Emeritus Akihito. Emperor Naruhito’s reign began Wednesday, ushering in the Reiwa Era, which is said to mean “beautiful harmony.” In an echo of the heady “bubble economy” days of early Heisei, women in slinky dresses grooved to the beat at the Maharaja Roppongi disco while mirror balls glittered and veteran disco personality DJ Osshy spun the turntables, with the party culminating in a midnight countdown. “I used to go to Maharaja every Friday night in the early Heisei days. I feel like I’ve gone back in time,” said homemaker Yu Inada. Inada brought for the occasion a white feather fan, a must-have accessory in the bubble days that she has held on to ever since. “Back then everyday was fun. It was a gorgeous era. Nowadays things are a little plain,” she said before hopping onto the elevated stage to strut her stuff. Shirin Higashi, a 54-year-old aesthetician, came for the countdown. “I thought it would be more fun with everyone here than at home alone. I’m happy I could take part in the celebration,” she said. Heisei began in early 1989 at the height of a stock market and real estate bubble, where it seemed money came easily and the good times would never end. That exuberance fueled Japan’s nightlife, with discos like Maharaja and Juliana’s becoming a symbol of the fun and excess of the late ’80s and early ’90s go-go years. But with the collapse of the bubble in the early 1990s and the subsequent “lost decade” of economic stagnation, extravagance was out and the clubs eventually closed. Times change, however, and the strobe lights are coming back on. Maharaja relaunched under new management in 2010 and has now opened six locations, targeting 40- to 60-year-olds, while Juliana’s reopened in Osaka in October. DJ Osshy hosts regular Sunday Disco parties during adult-friendly afternoon hours, and last year established a national “Disco Day” on July 22 — the date when “Saturday Night Fever” premiered in Japan in 1978. “Disco music has the power to make people move their body and feel energetic and happy, regardless of what era we’re in,” said DJ Osshy after his set. “From kids to senior citizens, it’s something we all have in common,” he said. “It transcends generations.”

tokyo
roppongi
abdication
disco
clubbing
heisei
bubble era
reiwa
maharaja


World leaders from Trump to Xi and Moon send congratulations to Japan's new emperor

Abstract: Leaders around the world have offered congratulations to Emperor Naruhito, who ascended to the Chrysanthemum Throne on Wednesday a day after his father, Emperor Emeritus Akihito, abdicated. U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump sent their “profound congratulations.” “We will renew the strong bonds of friendship between our two countries,” Trump said in a statement that referred to Japan’s new imperial era of Reiwa, which the accession ushered in. “Reiwa means ‘beautiful harmony,’ and it is our sincere wish that our alliance continue to flourish and deepen in this spirit,” Trump said. The Trumps are set to be the first state guests welcomed by Emperor Naruhito, when they visit Japan on May 25-28. South Korean President Moon Jae-in said in a message of celebration that he expects Emperor Naruhito to continue to walk toward peace as his father did, according to the foreign ministry. He also asked the new emperor to pay much attention to developing affectionate ties between the two countries, which have been strained by actions during Japan’s wartime past. Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory telegram in which he said both countries “have a long history of friendly exchanges.” “The two sides should work together to promote peaceful development and create a bright future for bilateral relations,” Xi wrote in the telegram, according to Chinese media. Xi also sent a message and expressed his greetings and wishes to Emperor Naruhito’s father on the occasion of his abdication Tuesday, media outlets reported. In a letter dated Wednesday, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong extended his “warmest congratulations on Your Majesty’s accession to the throne,” according to the city-state’s foreign ministry. “As we celebrate the auspicious dawn of your reign, I am confident that the relations between our two countries will reach even greater heights. May the Japanese people achieve their aspirations of peace and unity in the new Reiwa era,” he wrote.

lee hsien loong
xi jinping
abdication
donald trump
moon jae-in
imperial change
emperor naruhito


Former Japanese adult film actress Sora Aoi reports birth of twins in online streaming event

Abstract: Japanese actress Sora Aoi, who is hugely popular in China, gave birth to twin boys on Wednesday and reported their safe delivery to her fans from her hospital bed in a live online video viewed more than 1 million times. Smiling at the camera, Aoi said “I did it, Yay!” in the video with a simultaneous interpretation in Mandarin that was streamed by online broadcaster Abema TV. The 35-year-old former adult film actress has many fans in mainland China and Taiwan, where pirated versions of her videos are still popular. The birth was done via cesarean section.


Trump tweets threat to hike Chinese tariffs to 25% this week

Abstract: WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump turned up the pressure on China on Sunday, threatening to hike tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. Trump’s comments, delivered on Twitter, came as a Chinese delegation was scheduled to resume talks in Washington on Wednesday aimed at resolving a trade war that has shaken financial markets and cast gloom over the world economy. Trump turned up the heat by saying he would raise import taxes on $200 billion in Chinese products to 25 percent from 10 percent on Friday. He’s twice pushed back deadlines — in January and March — to raise the tariffs in a bid to buy more time for a negotiated settlement. But on Sunday, Trump, who has called himself a “tariff man,” said he’s losing patience. “The Trade Deal with China continues, but too slowly, as they attempt to renegotiate. No!” Trump tweeted. The two countries are locked in a high-stakes dispute over China’s push to establish itself as a technological super power. The U.S. charges that China is resorting to predatory tactics — including cybertheft and forcing foreign companies to hand over technology — in a drive to establish Chinese companies as world leaders in advanced industries such as robotics and electric vehicles. Last July, the Trump administration gradually began slapping import taxes on Chinese goods to pressure Beijing into changing its policies. It now has imposed 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports and 25 percent tariffs on another $50 billion. The administration has repeatedly suggested that the negotiators are making progress. A month ago, Trump said that the two countries were “rounding the turn” and predicted that “something monumental” would be achieved in the next few weeks. But last week, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin seemed to temper expectations, suggesting that Washington was willing to “move on” if it can’t get the deal it wants. A substantive deal would require China to rethink the way it pursues its economic ambitions, abandoning or scaling back subsidies to its companies, easing up on the pressure for foreign companies to share trade secrets, and giving them more access to the Chinese market. Philip Levy, senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and a White House economist under President George W. Bush, said the talks are too complicated for Trump’s high-pressure tactics to work. “The president treats this like we’re haggling over the price of a used car,” Levy said. The prospect of higher tariffs and heightened tensions could alarm investors when markets open Monday. “When the president puts his foot down, it makes the market go down,” Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Union Bank, wrote in a research note Sunday. “Tariff man is back just in time to make the stock market dive, dive, dive.”

china
u.s .
tariffs
donald trump
trade war


Trump's trade threat leaves Beijing stalling as hopes for trade deal dim

Abstract: Washington/Beijing - Talks between the U.S. and China to resolve their yearlong trade standoff appeared to be on life support Monday, with Beijing struggling to respond to a pair of tweets by President Donald Trump that threaten an escalation of tariffs by the end of the week. China’s foreign ministry said that officials were still planning to travel to the U.S. for the next round of talks — but was unable to confirm when amid signs that a delay is now being considered. Meanwhile, a media blackout on Trump’s threat left investors baffled as stocks and the yuan tumbled on rumors that the trade war is now back on. “We are now trying to get more information on the relevant situation,” ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a briefing in Beijing. “What I can tell you is that the Chinese team is preparing to travel to the U.S. for trade talks.” Trump on Sunday raised pressure on Beijing to strike a trade deal by announcing he would increase tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports Friday to 25 percent from 10 percent. He also floated the possibility of extending a new 25 percent duty on another $325 billion of imports not already covered. “Risks of a full-blown trade war are escalating,” Chua Hak Bin, a senior economist at Maybank Kim Eng Research Pte. in Singapore, said before the ministry’s announcement. “Trump’s threat may backfire as China will not want to negotiate with a gun pointing at their heads.” Global equities tumbled and Treasury futures climbed on the news. The yuan slumped alongside crude oil. Futures on the S&P 500 Index sank as much as 2.2 percent, signaling a punishing start to the week on Wall Street, while European stocks slid and Chinese equities plunged. China was considering delaying a U.S. trip this week by a trade delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He after Trump’s tariff threat, according people familiar with the matter. Liu and about 100 other officials had been scheduled to arrive Wednesday for what was shaping up to be the final round of negotiations. It was unclear whether the threat reflected deeper concerns by Trump, who stunned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by walking away from their nuclear summit in February, or a negotiating tactic. The U.S. had been targeting May 10 to announce a deal, which would be finalized and signed by Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later at an official summit, people familiar with the negotiations said last week. The two sides have been locked in intense negotiations since last year for an agreement to address U.S. concerns over China’s trade surplus, alleged theft of intellectual property and forced technology transfers. Trump and Xi agreed to a tariff truce on Dec. 1 to allow senior officials time to negotiate. The truce helped soothe investors concerns about a further escalation in a trade war between the world’s two largest economies, which imposed tariffs on about $360 billion of each other’s good last year. Trump’s latest tweets mark an abrupt reversal in stance for the White House after both sides had been saying for weeks that negotiations were going well. That shift reflects growing U.S. frustration with China’s backpedaling on some of its earlier commitments, including on the crucial matter of technology transfer, two people familiar with the situation said. That’s emboldened trade hawks within the Trump administration to push for a harder line, including the raising of tariffs, the people said. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Fox News that the president was “issuing a warning.” While “great progress” has been made in the talks, structural and enforcement issues remained, he said. Trump imposed duties of 25 percent on an initial $50 billion of Chinese goods last year and then 10 percent on an additional $200 billion in products in September. Those duties were set to rise to 25 percent on Jan. 1 and then again on March 1, but Trump delayed that as talks continued. China has imposed tariffs on $110 billion of U.S. exports in retaliation and repeatedly warned it would counter tariffs with actions of its own. That means there’s a risk China would counter any extension of U.S. levies, though the smaller size of its imports may constrain its ability to do so. “China isn’t likely to make concessions that the U.S. want with a big stick hanging over its head,” said Zhou Xiaoming, a former Ministry of Commerce official and diplomat. “If the tariffs that Trump threatens are implemented on Friday, China has to respond.” Based on calculations by Bloomberg Economics, tariffs at the current level add up to a 0.5 percentage-point drag on China’s gross domestic product growth this year. An increase to 25 percent tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese exports from 10 percent would raise the drag to 0.9 percentage point. Tariffs on all of China’s exports to the U.S. would increase the burden to 1.5 point. Just as China’s stock markets were opening, the People’s Bank or China announced it would inject 280 billion yuan ($41 billion) of longer-term funds by lowering the proportion of deposits smaller banks need to lock away. Previous releases on such reserve required ratio cuts have taken place mostly in the evening or at weekends. “The choice of announcing the targeted RRR cut today is very likely to be used to offset the negative impact of the sudden shift of the U.S.-China trade talks,” said Lu Ting, chief China economist at Nomura Holdings Inc. in Hong Kong.

china
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trade
xi jinping
tariffs
donald trump
trade war
_asia