eone else — so you can’t sneakily leave your phone on top of a stranger’s device at a bar — and it’ll autom
Pelosi urges members to back resolution terminating
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi urged members of Congress on Wednesday to bac
k a resolution halting the national emergency declared by President Donald Trump to fund a border wall.
Pelosi’s call to action comes as the White House plows ahead on transferring federal funds not contingent on Trump’s declara
tion toward building a wall along the southern border, despite already facing several lawsuits.
”I write to invite all Members of Congress to cosponsor Congressman Joaquin Castro’s priv
ileged resolution … to terminate this emergency declaration using the termination mechanism within the
National Emergencies Act,” the California Democrat wrote in a letter to her colleagues.
”All Members take an oath of office to support and defend the Constitution,” Pelosi added. “The P
resident’s decision to go outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the const
itutional legislative process violates the Constitution and must be terminated. We have a solemn responsibility to up
hold the Constitution, and defend our system of checks and balances against the President’s assault.”
Japan Inc poured billions into Britain. Now it’s having regrets
Japan’s top companies are losing patience with the United Kingdom as Brexit fast approaches.
Honda (HMC) became the latest to reduce its exposure to the British economy, announcing Tuesday that it will shu
tter its only manufacturing plant in the country by 2021, a move that is expected to result in the loss of at least 3,500 jobs.
The company denied any link with Brexit but auto industry experts sa
id the uncertainty over future market access and the risk of tariffs must have played a part.
Honda’s bombshell follows the decision by rival automaker Nissan (NSANF) to sc
rap plans to build a new SUV model in northern England. Electronics firms Sony (SNE) and Pan
asonic (PCRFF) have both said they will move their European legal bases out of the country because of Brexit.
Japanese executives are fed up after warning for years of the risks inherent in a rupture with Europe.
Within Japan, every professional person I speak to is bemused
by Brexit,” said Paul Bacon, a professor at Tokyo’s Waseda University who specializes in Japan’s relations with Europe. “It
is obvious here how economically damaging it will be, and also that it creates serious difficulties for Japan
ese industry.”Britain is set to leave the European Union in less than 40 days, but Prime Minister Theresa May has failed to
secure parliamentary backing for her plan for what happens next, heightening fears of a disorderly departure.
That’s infuriating for Japanese businesses and government officials, who have been aski
ng for years for reassurances that British leaders would limit the harmful effects of Brexit.
The “trust has evaporated” between Japanese companies and the UK government, s
aid Seijiro Takeshita, a professor at the University of Shizuoka’s School of Management and Information.
apan Inc has poured billions into the UK economy. More than 1,000 Japanese companies do bus
iness in the country, supporting more than 140,000 jobs, according to the most recent Japanese government figures.
Many of them used the United Kingdom as a launchpad into Europe. But if the country
exits the EU’s unified market, “it makes no sense for Japanese industries to base themselves in the UK,” Bacon said.
Around 60% of Japanese firms in the United Kingdom surveyed by the Japan External Trade Or
ganization in the fall of 2018 said they expected Brexit to have a negative impact on their future business.
hooks, lines or sinkers: Cambodians go traditional in fishing
Wielding handmade bamboo baskets and nylon nets, hundreds of people waded thigh-deep into a muddy lake in eastern Cambo
dia on February 9 for an annual fish-catching ceremony where only traditional tools are allowed to be used.
The ceremony is held each year in eastern Tboung Khmum Province after the crop
harvest to commemorate the country’s proud fishing history, said local chief Uch Yoeun.
The event – held in Choam Korvean commune, about 250 kilometers
from the capital Phnom Penh – attracts hundreds of farmers from surrounding villages.
They carry weaved baskets of different shapes, eager to try their hand at tr
apping the freshwater catfish and snakehead fish in the muddy Boeung Kroam lake.
“It has been a tradition since our ancestors’ time,” Uch Yoeun told AFP, adding that only one rule applies in this mass fishing event.
French court okays screening of film on priest’s abuse
French court on Monday approved cinema screenings of an award-winning director’s new film about the real-life story of a
priest accused of sexually abusing boy scouts, even though the case has yet to come to trial.
The 73-year-old priest, Bernard Preynat, had argued that a public release of the film, By the Grace of God, could prejudice his case.
His lawyer, Emmanuel Mercinier, said the court issued its decision on Monday morning.
The film by screenwriter and director Francois Ozon won the jury prize at the Berlin film festival this weekend.
It will hit the screens in France on Wednesday, a day before Pope Francis holds a summit
meeting of bishops at the Vatican to discuss the sex abuse of minors by clergy members.
The film, which Ozon worked on in secret for years, tells the story of the scandal which broke in 2015 wh
en a former scout, Francois Devaux, went public with allegations that Preynat had abused him as a child 25 years earlier.
Many private enterprises pledged equity to borrow money
stock or real estate investment, instead of investing in their main business, which is not recommended. What we should encourage is tha
t companies should finance R&D and technology, which is conducive to economic development.
Cai Fang, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
What lies behind the economic slowdown is the disappearance of the demographic dividend, which has ca
used a decline in the potential growth rate, meaning there is no longer a gap between actual growth rat
es and potential rates. Now, the natural unemployment rate has climbed from 4 to 5 percent, indicating there is no cyc
lical unemployment at present and thus excessive strong stimulus is unnecessary.
The government should focus policymaking on public employment services like
training and appropriately use macroeconomic policy tools to regulate the economy.
Lou Jiwei, chairman of the National Council for Social Security Fund
Industrial policy played a certain role in the early economic developmen
t stage, but later, the actual role of industrial policy was not all positive. Take the auto ind
ustry as an example. The current “big three” private car manufa
cturers have basically broken the constraints of industrial policies to grow up.
But Myanmar still has some obstacles to deal with in order
attract foreign capital. The first is instability in the job market and relatively low labor efficiency. Particularly, the recent years have seen an increasing number of strikes and the failure of the g
overnment to ease industrial relations conflicts with effective measures has crippled investor confidence in the country. Some foreign ent
erprises even withdrew from Myanmar and shifted to neighboring countries, denting the image of the nation.
Second, Myanmar’s backward infrastructure may deter potential investors. A small nu
mber of power generation facilities and fragmented grids cannot ensure stable and sufficient po
wer supply. Access to electricity is limited to only 26 percent of the population, impeding Myanmar’s economic development.
Third, some Myanmese are prejudiced against foreign investment. Worrying that Myanmar’s eco
nomic and social interests may be impaired, they turned their backs on foreign investment. Demonstrators r
allied in Kachin State to demand the government permanently halt the Myitsone dam project, without giving any constructive suggestion on the fo
llow-up arrangements. It’s fair to say some movements against foreign-invested projects, driven by nationalism an
d so-called environmental concern, are of no help in improving the country’s investment environment, and have hijacked economic development. Re
specting the spirit of the contract is a basic requirement for modern states and their people. Myanmar State Councilor Aun
g San Suu Kyi recently said an administration shouldn’t terminate foreign-invested projects approved by its predecessor.
It was after his retirement that Li’s influence reached the
pinnacle. Since the end of the 1980s, he had made his voice heard constantly and had been labeled the “CPC veteran cadre + CPC critic.”
As a representative figure among veteran outspoken officials, he was hailed among Chinese liberals and Western public opin
ion. Among his propositions, the most famous was opposing the construction of the Three Gorges Dam.
Looking back on Li’s life, the prime of his life was embedded in the wave of the Chinese Revolu
tion and the country’s early development; he suffered a lot during that period of time.
In his later years, he participated in the creation of a special type of “veteran cadre + critic.” Stronger opinion was not at al
l unusual in those years, but the label of a retired official helped increase the gravity of Li’s voice and consolidated his stance.
Li’s later years were a success from another perspective as well. He had been enjoying a
generous pension and lavish benefits after retirement until he died in Beijing Hospital.
While benefiting from the privileges the state provided, he was also supported by China’s do
mestic anti-establishment forces and some Western powers. He was one of China’s least lonely old men and veteran cadres.
It should be noted that Li in his later years became a symbol of the diversificat
ion of Chinese society. Considering the meaning of this symbol, different conclusions can be drawn.
Supporters may hold that he had added a voice and more importantly a “scarce voice,” while
opponents would argue that he had become a tool for hostile and unfriendly forces to attack the Chinese system.
Li’s later years demonstrated a special way of boycotting China’s mainstream path. Such a role played by him may reflect various value judgments.
What apparently has shattered the confidence of the ruling
its poor performance in recent polls in three key Indian states.
One key factor that apparently sealed the fate of the BJP was prevailing anger among upper castes. So the first thing the prime
minister did was to grant 10 percent job reservation to the less well-off among the upper castes.
The BJP projected the move as a “game changer” which it claimed would win it the support of a certain section of society bu
t now finds itself on the back foot as the Congress came out with a proposal promising “minimum income guarantee” fo
r every poor villager if the party was voted to power. The idea has left the BJP leadership unnerved.
The head of the Pakistan Navy hailed the Chinese navy’s participation in the Aman 19 multinational maritime exercise during a visit to the
warship Kunlunshan on Sunday, saying that the Chinese naval presence in the Indian Ocean is vital to regional security.
Pakistan is holding its sixth multinational maritime naval drills, Aman 19, from Friday to Tuesday in Ka
rachi, with navies and observers from 46 countries including China, Russia and the US participating in the exercise.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLA Navy), which has participated in all
previous Aman exercises, sent two warships from the Task Group 998 for the exercise.
“The PLA Navy has always been a very big participant, we are really grateful for that,” Ch