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15 Candidates, Trump Posters, And A Conservative Divide In Korea – OpEd

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By Mitchell Blatt*

South Korea’s presidential election is coming up on May 9, and some supporters of break-away conservative candidates are using Donald Trump to make campaign appeals. Like most events that feature Donald Trump, it is chaotic.

Former president Park Geun-hye, who was the leader of the conservative Saenuri Party, was impeached in December, removed from office on March 10, and arrested March 31.

Her party quickly rebranded itself as the Korean Liberty Party, and Hong Jun-pyo, governor of South Gyeongsang Province, which borders Busan, was nominated as the KLP’s candidate for president in a primary that featured a paucity of strong conservative candidates. Former UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon briefly flirted with the idea of running for president as the conservative standard bearer, but apparently 2017, the year when the party is emerging disgraced from a major corruption scandal, just didn’t attract many takers. Hong is polling between 7-13 percent in recent polls.

Already Korean conservatives were divided by disaffection with Park. Even before the scandal was uncovered, the Baerun Party emerged as a group of conservatives in the National Assembly who didn’t strongly support Park. Now it includes 33 legislators and draws 3-4 percent of the vote.

Still, over a month after Park was removed from office, the grassy square outside of City Hall Station is filled with older conservatives waving Korean and American flags while bemoaning what they consider “a conspiracy to communize the South under the pretext of the unjustifiable presidential impeachment,” as a sign says.

Representing the Saenuri supporters who still can’t let go of impeachment is Rep. Cho Won-jin, a legislator who has newly constituted a party with the name Saenuri and says he will “punish those who led her impeachment and seek Park’s release.”

But even the new Saenuri Party isn’t enough to satisfy all never-let-go conservatives. So on April 19, outside Sinchon Station, a university district nearby Yonsei and Ihwa universities lined with bars and restaurants, flag-waving middle-aged and senior Koreans campaigned for Nam Jae-jun, who served as leader of the National Intelligence Service under Park.

Nam, who represents the Unification Korea Party (or Patriotic Korea Party), said in 2013, “Unification is possible in 2015. Let’s die together to bring about the unification of our land under liberal democracy.”

Besides waving American flags, his small group of supporters (no more than four dozen in a photo) displayed signs associating themselves with Donald Trump and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence.

“Make America Great Again by One Free Korea,” a sign said. (“One Free Korea” appears to be yet another interpretation of their party name.)

Trump’s aggressive style appeals to older Korean conservatives, especially those who still support Park. At a pro-Park rally on March 1, I noticed messages about the “lying media.” The press is a “weapon of mass murder,” one sign said.

Meanwhile, on the liberal and moderate side, there is a divide between the traditional liberals of the Minjoo Party, led by Moon Jae-in, and the reformist neo-liberals of the People’s Party, led by Ahn Cheol-soo. The People’s Party also appears to attract some conservatives who are either disenchanted with conservative leadership or who are voting strategically to stop Moon, who was an aide to controversial president Roh Myun-hoo. Roh was beloved by liberals but hated by conservatives for continuing Kim Dae-jung’s Sunshine Policy towards North Korea and publicly defending “anti-Americanism” in a national TV interview. After securing his party’s nomination, Ahn surged briefly, besting Moon in three polls, but recent polls have stabilized with Moon polling in the high 30’s or low 40’s, and Anh polling in the low-to-mid 30’s.

One notable thing about Korean campaign posters is that they all include the number of the candidate on the ballot. In Korea, candidates are listed on the ballot by representation in the legislature (largest party to smallest), and candidates for parties with no representatives are listed by lottery. That puts Moon at number one, Hong at number two, and Ahn at number three on the ballot.

This is different with the U.S., where each state does its own thing with the ballot. Many states list in proportional order either to their last presidential election or statewide elections. Minnesota lists in reverse proportional order (for major party candidates). Some states, like Ohio, randomly order ballots differently in voting areas across the state. Scholarship is divided about if and to what degree being number one on the ballot helps the candidate in a national election.

*Mitchell Blatt has been based in China and Korea since 2012. A writer and journalist, he is the lead author of Panda Guides Hong Kong guidebook and has contributed to outlets including The National Interest, National Review Online, Acculturated, and Vagabond Journey. Fluent in Chinese, he has lived and traveled in Asia for three years, blogging about his travels at ChinaTravelWriter.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @MitchBlatt.


Global CEOs Call For Greater Disclosure Of Climate Risks

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The heads of major global businesses are urging G20 governments to formally accept that companies should disclose climate-related financial risks.

The 27 business leaders were convened by the World Economic Forum and include the chief executive officers of global banks, consumer goods and utility companies.

They are asking G20 leaders to act on the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), an industry-led body chaired by the UN Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change and former New York Mayor, Michael Bloomberg.

Together, the business leaders represent $4.9 trillion in assets under management and almost $700 billion in total revenue.

In an open message, they say that climate change is not only an environmental problem but also a business one. Improving disclosure of the material financial risks companies face from climate change is critical to the financial stability of markets and would enable greater investment in low-carbon and climate-friendly opportunities.

The message is timed as G20 finance ministers meet in Washington DC for the Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund.

The business leaders stress that G20 support would “send a strong signal that government leaders desire more transparency from business on the short- and long-term impact of climate change on their operations'”. They added that they “welcome the current TCFD recommendations and will actively support their successful implementation”.

They believe that universal agreement on climate disclosure would help investors make more informed long-term decisions while highlighting the financial risks of the physical impacts of climate change and liability risks that may arise from inaction.

“There are real financial risks associated with climate change and financial opportunities for companies in transitioning to a low-carbon economy,” said Richard Samans, Head of the Centre for the Global Agenda, Member of the Managing Board, World Economic Forum Geneva. “One of the biggest risks to market stability and performance is asymmetry of information. Increasing companies’ disclosure of their climate risks – and standardizing that disclosure – will go a long way to addressing this current market failure and will help governments deliver the Paris Agreement.”

It would also create greater visibility on how companies are managing these risks and where they are able to take advantage of new opportunities. Greater visibility of climate risks would help an orderly transition to a low-carbon economy.

The group said that risk disclosure was not a climate change panacea but should be part of a suite of complementary approaches to recalibrate the financial system to support the transition to low-carbon economies, citing the need for effective carbon pricing and the phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies

Privacy Concerns Raised Over E-Patient Reports

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By Christian Raaflaub

Fitness watches, navigation apps and discount cards are well-known means of tracking and monitoring specific user data. The Swiss government now wants patient information to also be compiled electronically and centralised, but concerns remain about data protection issues.

From the middle of next year, the government would like the first Swiss patients to have the option of opening an e-patient dossier. Fans of such electronic records say patients in Switzerland would then no longer have to hand over their personal data every time they move between different hospitals and health centres. Their e-patient medical records would contain everything that doctors, nurses and healthcare staff need to know in order to make decisions about healthcare and treatments.

“But the challenge will be to build a system that is as secure as possible so that the patient can decide who can access his data, and so unauthorized persons cannot use it,” Beat Rudin, the Data Protection Officer of canton Basel City, told swissinfo.ch. The canton currently runs a pilot project.

“Hackers are no longer just IT experts trying to break into computer systems – they are hacking for commercial reasons. In this respect, hackers are being given instructions to get hold of specific data,” he warned.

Over the past twenty years, transparency has become a buzzword as new technologies push citizens to hand over more and more personal data. But this development can raise unanticipated problems. Here is a brief overview.

Health data

Fitness watches, bracelets and mobile phone apps promise us better health. However, at the same time they are compiling data and sharing it with third parties – that is if you don’t do anything about it in your security settings. In an interesting development last year, Switzerland’s leading health insurance firm CSS announced a discount on annual private health schemes for those willing to hand over personal fitness data. Anyone using an electronic pedometer that sends data to the insurance company receives a discount of up to CHF150 ($150) a year on their premium – if they reach more than 10,000 steps a day.

“We often believe that things will get a little cheaper if we hand over data. The question of whether it really is cheaper if we complete 10,000 steps a day, or whether it becomes much more expensive if we don’t do them, needs to be looked into,” said Rudin, who is also president of Privatim, the Association of Swiss Data Protection Commissioners.

Location data

If you use a navigation device or app, you usually – depending on the settings – send information about your movements automatically to the manufacturer or to a third party. The same applies to mobile phones, cameras and video cameras with a GPS function. Hackers can use this information to recreate an individual’s precise movements.

“There is a danger that people can get hold of data that can be used against you. From your profile, they could find out where you normally go every Thursday evening. For example, perhaps no one might be at home,” said Rudin.

User data

The so-called ‘internet of things’ – connected smart devices – also hoovers up huge amounts of personal data. According to a recent report on Swiss public television, SRF, only one in three car owners realize that new vehicles are connected to the internet and transfer driver data to manufacturers. Many drivers only notice the improved technological security measures to combat theft.

“The main question is: who does this data belong to? To my car, to me, or does it belong to the manufacturer? Can the manufacturer claim responsibility for extracting the data, or even hand it over to the police? I should be able to choose which data I make available. Today, data is often processed without my agreement,” said Rudin.

Why Malaysians Want TV Preacher Zakir Naik To Leave And Defend Islam In India Where He Is Wanted – OpEd

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I think Zakir Naik needs to defend Islam in India, more than tell us Malaysians what Islam should look like in a multicultural country. He needs to answer the charges presented to him.

Just when Malaysians are about to realize the need to have more transcultural, inter-faith dialogue, and to understand each religion and each ethnic group as unique worldviews we can learn from, in order to forge a nation of progressive and tolerant and collaborative peoples – as how Tunku Abdul Rahman envisioned – we have these types of preachers to mess things up.

The discourse of the ongoing devastating Muslim-Hindu conflict in India – of a conflict that has taken so many lives, since even before the India-Pakistan separation, is now going to be brought to Malaysia through TV evangelicalism.

Already statements antagonizing the non-Muslims are being made by this fugitive preacher, by this man brought over for the Umno-PAS alliance, as perhaps a main attraction for the speeches for the coming elections.

Just when we are about to realize how much the non-Malays and non-Muslims are to be brought back as equal and equitable partners in this multicultural entity and polity called ‘Malaysia’, we have this type of speaker brought in, harboured, protected, well-fed, promised an island, and given Islamic-Malay type of awards – to speak on “troot… troot… troot” (truth, as pronounced in Mumbai English) till Islam is now seen as a defensive and for-no-reason-jihading religion in a political climate of “attack… attack… attack” as if we are all a society of reptiles with sub-standard reptilian brains holding to the art of war of ‘fight or flight’.

That’s what the climate is now. Implosive. Explosive. Impulsive. Divisive. Chaotic. Corruptive, Corrosive Cataclysmic. You add to this list.

Nauseating it has been to go through the videos on how Islam is presented by this Indian preacher.

He debunks Darwin in a single saliva-spitting breath, he called Westerners pigs and said that they love to swap wives after wild parties, he argues about theories and facts and confuses the two in his attempt to promote his ideas, he talks about Islam as if it is a simple mathematical calculation of 2+2=4 and therefore the only truth, and a range of other deranged misrepresentation of the religion as a buffoonish, simplistic, one-argument- fits all cultural philosophy, and he uses half-baked perspectives of alternative views to spice his spittances and spurtations of what Islam is.

I am sure many of us have sat down and listened to his speeches on YouTube and perhaps many Muslims outside of India and Pakistan and his ‘PeaceTV’ radar have cringed and crawled in search of intellectual/philosophical solace after consuming the views.

Real or staged?

And those ‘conversions’, live on TV – are those real, or staged? I can never know. Perhaps for many watching those TV shows, especially Muslims, this might be heartwarming and even emotionally spiritual, or even ecstatically and catatonically pleasurable to watch someone ‘taking the shahadah on TV’ and suddenly finding enlightenment after being asked a few questions on the truth or falsehood of this or that religion by this TV preacher wanted in another country.

What does it mean to be a celebrity convert then?

Fruitless it ought to be, should one debate with those whose weapons of argumentation consists of faulty premises and half-baked, touch-and-go anthropological perspectives on religion and cultural philosophies.

Is Islam a religion of quick-draw-McGraw kind of conversion via televangelical interrogation watched by millions? Or it is a cultural philosophy that requires the mind and heart to engage in a very long and life-long process of inner-debate and dialogue – almost in the Cartesian, Darwinian, and Averrosian modes, in a dialectical fashion of the interplay of the thesis-antithesis-synthesis of doubt-certitude-doubt, and experience and intuition, etc – in order to ‘convert’?

Isn’t Islam about philosophical quest and not TV-conversion spectacle? Isn’t it about taming the Ego and humility and about the nurturing of inner sensibility and learning from other spiritual worldviews – rather than to be dumbed down and numbed by some preacher whose microphone ought to be taken away?

Isn’t Islam a religion that has more dignity than that – promoting the idea of deep thinking about other philosophies, rather than one used to provoke people of other faiths and ethnic groups when a major election is around the corner?

Malaysians are very peaceful people. Before the ‘Islamisation Process’ of the Anwar Ibrahim-Mahathir Mohamad Era started, we need not have to bring in any Mumbai or Bollywood preacher to tell us how to provoke each other using religion. We had the vision of Tunku Abdul Rahman to live by.

Today is different. Things are getting worse in terms of race relations and religion. Even worse when we have people from outside telling us how to divide, dehumanise, and demoralise each other. As if Malaysia, our beloved country, is now a setting for a Bollywood movie of Kabbali vs The Talibans. Worse, a fertile ground for this thing called the ‘Islamic State’ to be grown.

Malaysians, peace-loving people – what then must we do? Or should we all stay home and read Huston Smith, for example, on how to approach the teaching of world religions? Or has Zakir Naik read Huston Smith the late Harvard scholar on comparative religion, at least to get a feel of how not to talk down about religions and present each as faith of equal standing?

After all, isn’t Islam just another culture in search of a philosophy, more than an organised religion, too? In this sense. One has to understand the meaning of all three – culture, philosophy and religion. Before going out to preach and converting people, in public.

Wage peace. Not war. We are Malaysians. We take pride in our diversity.

Mattis, Israeli Prime Minister Discuss Security Issues

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By Karen Parrish

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, speaking to reporters alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today in Jerusalem before a sit-down meeting, said the United States is committed to achieving peace in the Middle East.

Mattis said he was honored to be in Israel, “our longtime friend and ally in the region.”

Addressing Regional Threats

The secretary said he’s in Israel to discuss “the two dangers [Iran and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria] that face Israel and all of the other nations … that are trying to maintain a stable and peaceful and prosperous region.”

Mattis noted that he was particularly glad to be visiting the week before the Holocaust Remembrance.

“I think it’s important we remind ourselves that if good people don’t band together, then bad people can do a lot of damage in this world,” he said. “We’re committed to stopping that and doing whatever it takes to pass on peace and freedom to the next generation.”

Security Partnership

Netanyahu said he had heard and read a lot about the secretary and that it was a pleasure to welcome him to Israel.

“I think this is a propitious moment,” the prime minster said. “Israel has no better friend than America, and America has no better friend than Israel. This is a partnership based on common values in the deepest sense of the word.”

Netanyahu praised both Mattis and President Donald J. Trump for “forthright” words about Iran and “forthright deeds against the use of chemical weapons by Iran’s proxy, Syria.”

He referred to the April 6 U.S. launch of 59 Tomahawk missiles against Al-Shayrat Air Base in Syria that Trump authorized in retaliation for the regime of dictator Bashar Assad using banned chemical weapons to attack his own people April 4.

The U.S. response to the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons against its own people “has been appreciated around the world and in our region,” the prime minister said.

The Israeli prime minister said the United States and Israel face common dangers from “militant Islam: the Shiite extremists led by Iran, [and] the Sunni extremists led by [the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria].”

Netanyahu added, “We are committed to thwarting these dangers, as we are committed to seize the common opportunities, the great opportunities, that I think are before us.”

Afghanistan: Taliban Killed 140 Soldiers In Attack At Army Base

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At least 140 soldiers were killed when Taliban militants disguised in military uniforms attacked an Afghan army base in northern Balkh province on Friday, a local official told dpa.

More than 160 people were wounded, said Mohammad Ibrahim Khair Andesh, the head of Balkh’s provincial council, on Saturday.

The attack took place at an army command centre a few kilometres from Mazar-e Sharif, the capital of Balkh province.

Taliban militants in three military vehicles with forged documents launched the attack by shooting a rocket at the entrance of the army base, a military official told dpa.

Ten militants first targeted a mosque inside the base where army staff were performing Friday prayers before moving on to a dining facility, the source said.

The Taliban claimed that more than 500 soldiers were killed and wounded. The militant group also claimed that four of the attackers were soldiers who had served at the base and had knowledge of the facility.

The militants released a picture of the purported attackers, dressed in military gear, with their faces blurred.

The army corps in Mazar-e Sharif is the command centre for northern Afghanistan and where a contingent from the German army is based. No German soldiers were affected by the attack.

This is the second such attack on a secure facility in recent months. In early March, Daesh militants attacked a military hospital in Kabul, killing 49 people and leaving 76 wounded.

Original article

Could Genetics Influence What We Like To Eat?

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Have you ever wondered why you keep eating certain foods, even if you know they are not good for you? Gene variants that affect the way our brain works may be the reason, according to a new study. The new research could lead to new strategies to empower people to enjoy and stick to their optimal diets.

Silvia Berciano, a predoctoral fellow at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, will present the new findings at the American Society for Nutrition Scientific Sessions and annual meeting during the Experimental Biology 2017 meeting, to be held April 22-26 in Chicago.

“Most people have a hard time modifying their dietary habits, even if they know it is in their best interest,” said Berciano. “This is because our food preferences and ability to work toward goals or follow plans affect what we eat and our ability to stick with diet changes. Ours is the first study describing how brain genes affect food intake and dietary preferences in a group of healthy people.”

Although previous research has identified genes involved with behaviors seen in eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia, little is known about how natural variation in these genes could affect eating behaviors in healthy people. Gene variation is a result of subtle DNA differences among individuals that make each person unique.

For the new study, the researchers analyzed the genetics of 818 men and women of European ancestry and gathered information about their diet using a questionnaire. The researchers found that the genes they studied did play a significant role in a person’s food choices and dietary habits. For example, higher chocolate intake and a larger waist size was associated with certain forms of the oxytocin receptor gene, and an obesity-associated gene played a role in vegetable and fiber intake. They also observed that certain genes were involved in salt and fat intake.

The new findings could be used to inform precision-medicine approaches that help minimize a person’s risk for common diseases–such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer–by tailoring diet-based prevention and therapy to the specific needs of an individual.

“The knowledge gained through our study will pave the way to better understanding of eating behavior and facilitate the design of personalized dietary advice that will be more amenable to the individual, resulting in better compliance and more successful outcomes,” said Berciano.

The researchers plan to perform similar investigations in other groups of people with different characteristics and ethnicities to better understand the applicability and potential impact of these findings. They also want to investigate whether the identified genetic variants associated with food intake are linked to increased risks for disease or health problems.

Arlene, First Atlantic Tropical Storm Of The Season Forming

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The first tropical storm of the Atlantic Ocean hurricane season formed 40 days before the official kick off of the season. Tropical Storm Arlene formed in the North Central Atlantic Ocean and NOAA’s GOES-East satellite provided forecasters with a look at the storm, swirling far from land areas.

Arlene formed on April 20 as Tropical Depression 1 and strengthened into a tropical storm at 5 p.m. EST that day. On April 20 at 15:12 UTC (11:12 a.m. EDT) NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite captured a visible image of Tropical Depression One as it was strengthening into a tropical storm. The image showed a large area of thunderstorms over the southwestern and northeastern quadrants of the storm.

NOAA’s GOES-East satellite captured a visible image of Tropical Storm Arlene on April 21 at 1145 UTC (7:45 a.m. EDT). Thunderstorms wrapped tightly around the center of circulation and a large band of storms circled west of center. Located to the west of Arlene were clouds associated with another frontal system.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said at 5 a.m. EST (0900 UTC), the center of Tropical Storm Arlene was located near 40.0 degrees north latitude and 48.0 degrees west longitude. That’s about 1,135 miles (1,825 km) west-northwest of the Azores.

Arlene was moving toward the west near 31 mph (50 kph) and this general motion is expected to continue today. Maximum sustained winds were near 50 mph (85 kph) with higher gusts. The estimated minimum central pressure was 993 millibars (29.33 inches). Arlene was beginning to lose its tropical characteristics as the cyclone interacts with a frontal zone and also moves over cooler water. The new official intensity forecast continues the trend of the previous advisory, which shows Arlene degenerating to a post-tropical cyclone by 12 hours, and dissipating by 24 hours when the system is expected to be absorbed into the larger baroclinic low.

The National Hurricane Center noted “Tropical storms in April are rare and Arlene is only the second one observed in this month during the satellite era. It should be noted, however, that this type of storm was practically impossible to detect prior to the weather satellite era.”

Little change in strength is expected, and Arlene is forecast to become absorbed by a large extra-tropical low pressure area and dissipate later.


Origins Of Indonesian Hobbits Finally Revealed

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The most comprehensive study on the bones of Homo floresiensis, a species of tiny human discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003, has found that they most likely evolved from an ancestor in Africa and not from Homo erectus as has been widely believed.

The study by The Australian National University (ANU) found Homo floresiensis, dubbed “the hobbits” due to their small stature, were most likely a sister species of Homo habilis — one of the earliest known species of human found in Africa 1.75 million years ago.

Data from the study concluded there was no evidence for the popular theory that Homo floresiensis evolved from the much larger Homo erectus, the only other early hominid known to have lived in the region with fossils discovered on the Indonesian mainland of Java.

Study leader Dr Debbie Argue of the ANU School of Archaeology & Anthropology, said the results should help put to rest a debate that has been hotly contested ever since Homo floresiensis was discovered.

“The analyses show that on the family tree, Homo floresiensis was likely a sister species of Homo habilis. It means these two shared a common ancestor,” Dr Argue said.

“It’s possible that Homo floresiensis evolved in Africa and migrated, or the common ancestor moved from Africa then evolved into Homo floresiensis somewhere.”

Homo floresiensis is known to have lived on Flores until as recently as 54,000 years ago.

The study was the result of an Australian Research Council grant in 2010 that enabled the researchers to explore where the newly-found species fits in the human evolutionary tree.

Where previous research had focused mostly on the skull and lower jaw, this study used 133 data points ranging across the skull, jaws, teeth, arms, legs and shoulders.

Dr Argue said none of the data supported the theory that Homo floresiensis evolved from Homo erectus.

“We looked at whether Homo floresiensis could be descended from Homo erectus,” she said.

“We found that if you try and link them on the family tree, you get a very unsupported result. All the tests say it doesn’t fit — it’s just not a viable theory.”

Dr Argue said this was supported by the fact that in many features, such as the structure of the jaw, Homo floresiensis was more primitive than Homo erectus.

“Logically, it would be hard to understand how you could have that regression — why would the jaw of Homo erectus evolve back to the primitive condition we see in Homo floresiensis?”

Dr Argue said the analyses could also support the theory that Homo floresiensis could have branched off earlier in the timeline, more than 1.75 million years ago.

“If this was the case Homo floresiensis would have evolved before the earliest Homo habilis, which would make it very archaic indeed,” she said.

Professor Mike Lee of Flinders University and the South Australian Museum, used statistical modeling to analyse the data.

“When we did the analysis there was really clear support for the relationship with Homo habilis. Homo floresiensis occupied a very primitive position on the human evolutionary tree,” Professor Lee said.

“We can be 99 per cent sure it’s not related to Homo erectus and nearly 100 per cent chance it isn’t a malformed Homo sapiens,” Professor Lee said

Philippines: Communists Honor Priest-Turned-Rebel Leader

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Communist rebels in the Philippines have honored a Catholic priest-turned-rebel leader who played a key role in the resumption of peace negotiations between the government and the insurgents.

The rebel National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) cited Luis Jalandoni for his “inspiring record of struggles, sacrifices, and contributions to the revolutionary struggle.”

Jalandoni “retired” last year as chief peace negotiator of the rebel group. He had been chairman of the panel in peace talks with the government since 1989.

In 1972, Jalandoni helped organized the underground Christians for National Liberation while he was a priest serving in the central Philippine region of Negros.

In a statement, the NDFP said the former priest acted as “one of the pillars” of the communist movement who helped “unite progressive and revolutionary” Catholic and Protestant church people.

Mariano Orosa, chairman of the executive committee of the NDFP, said Jalandoni’s dedication to the revolution “made him forsake a birthright of landed privilege.”

The then-Father Jalandoni sold a vast area of farmland, which he inherited from his family in the 1960s, and distributed it to landless farmers.

In 1973, he was arrested with former religious nun Coni Ledesma, who later became his wife.

The late Cardinal Jaime Sin of Manila formalized the wedding after they received special dispensation by the Vatican.

Hungarian PM Orbán Moves On Slovenian Media

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Apparently no longer satisfied with dominating the media in Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán seems to be trying to extend his control to media outlets in neighbouring countries. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said it is concerned to see that three Hungarian media groups linked to Orbán associates have just bought 45% of the shares in the privately-owned Slovenian 24-hour TV news channel Nova24TV.

Each of the three Hungarian companies, Modern Media Group (MMG), Ridikul Magazin and Ripost, has acquired a 15% stake in Nova24TV, whose capital has increased by 800,000 euros. Arpad Habony, Orbán’s leading political adviser, is reportedly behind the move. In the past, Habony helped create several Hungarian media groups including MMG, a loyal supporter of the ruling Fidesz party.

By coordinating the three separate acquisitions, Habony has managed to circumvent a Slovenian law under which the acquisition of more than 20% of the shares in a Slovenian media company requires the prior approval of the Slovenian authorities.

Ever since its launch in 2016, Nova24TV has been seen as the propaganda mouthpiece of the Slovenian Democratic Party, a conservative party led by former Prime Minister Janez Jansa, who has always praised Orbán and his policies. By backing Nova24TV financially, Orbán is also supporting an ally and is consolidating support in the region.

“As well as circumventing Slovenian law, this acquisition of a stake in Nova24TV by the Hungarian prime minister’s associates provides yet further evidence of his attempts to influence media content,” said Pauline Adès-Mevel, the head of RSF’s EU-Balkans desk. “Viktor Orbán’s sway now extends beyond Hungary’s borders and poses a real threat to media independence in Slovenia.”

The increasing authoritarianism of the Hungarian government, which recently adopted a controversial university law and now plans to target NGOs, has triggered the biggest wave of protests since Orbán’s return to power in 2010.

The latest major development in Orbán’s increasing dominance of Hungary’s own media was the opposition daily Népszabadság’s sudden closure in October 2016.

Hungary is ranked 67th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2016 World Press Freedom Index.

Serbia: Holocaust Survivors Recall Escape From Nazis – Analysis

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As Serbia marks Holocaust Remembrance Day, two Serbian Jews who survived the Nazi occupation of the country as children told BIRN how they managed to avoid death.

By Vanja Djuric*

Serbian state officials and Holocaust survivors gathered on Saturday to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day at the former Staro Sajmiste concentration camp in Belgrade, while two men who are now in their eighties also recalled their memories of the Nazi occupation during WWII.

Eighty-two-year-old Jozef Baruhovic and his friend, retired Belgrade University professor Aleksandar Ajzinberg, were fortunate enough to survive when some 80 per cent of the pre-war Jewish population of Serbia of about 33,000 were wiped out.

Ajzinberg’s father was one of them. He was killed in a gas wagon at Staro Sajmiste, a former trade fair complex that was transformed into the largest concentration camp in south-east Europe, known as Judenlager Semlin.

Ajzinberg only found this out at the end of WWII, when he returned to Belgrade with Russian troops when it was liberated from the occupation.

At the beginning of the war, his family was living in Belgrade, but after the Nazis moved in, they decided to flee.

“In 1941, on April 6, when Belgrade was bombed, we went to [the municipality of] Sopot, and there the Germans found us and put yellow armbands on our arms [to indicate they were Jews],” he recalled. “So we escaped to some village, close to Belgrade.”

As early as May 1942, the Nazis claimed that Serbia was judenfrei – free of Jews – one of the first nations in Europe to be given this designation.

Ajzinberg’s family acquired false documents and moved to the hills in Homolje in eastern Serbia to seek refuge. On the way there, they were stopped by Chetniks, Serbian nationalist fighters, who assumed they were Germans.

“My mother was so frightened so she passed out and later admitted who we were. She wanted us to be victims and to spare the people in the village who were going to take us in and hide us. The Chetnik then took off his headgear, made a cross with his hands and said, ‘You should thank God for inspiring you to tell the truth,’” he said.

Until the end of WWII, they were hiding in the woods in Homolje. But Ajzinberg’s troubles didn’t stop there, because after the war he was arrested by the Yugoslav intelligence agency, UDBA, on suspicion of collaborating with the Nazis.

“They were wondering how it happened that I, a Jew, survived. I was only a 13, 14-year-old boy and I spent 65 days in prison. I saw terrible things there like people being beaten up,” he said.

Jozef Baruhovic escaped death by hiding out in several cities across the Balkans like Pristina in Kosovo, Sarajevo, Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Skadar in Albania.

“I was in Sarajevo when the [Nazi-allied] Independent State of Croatia, the NDH, took it over, and the fascist Ustasa movement came. Our next-door neighbour came and told us that it was not the moment for us to live together here, we had to leave,” Baruhovic recalled.

In Socialist Yugoslavia, after WWII, he said that the government made serious efforts to erase the idea of ethnically-divided nations and to build a state based on the slogan of “brotherhood and unity”.

“Only the working class was important, but in the end they failed and nationalism boiled over again,” he said.

The two men were speaking to BIRN in the northern city of Novi Sad, where they were giving a workshop to high-school students to coincide with Serbia’s annual remembrance day for the victims of Holocaust, genocide and other fascist crimes.

“There are never enough meetings with young people,” noted Ajzinberg. Baruhovic agreed that education is crucial for preventing extremism: “People with less formal education can easily believe in propaganda and be seduced by some ideology,” he suggested.

Both men said however that they fear that society has not learned enough from the atrocities committed during WWII, and that there is always the possibility that Nazism could rise again, given the wrong circumstances.

“Remember the ’90s!” said Baruhovic, recalling the Balkan war years. “So we didn’t learn a lesson and there is always the possibility for something like that. It takes only a moment for a good, average man to turn into your enemy.”

Pence Meets With Indonesian Business Leaders, Departs For Australia

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As the first member of US President Donald Trump’s administration to visit Southeast Asia, Vice President Mike Pence said it was his honor to speak with the Indonesian Business Community and the American Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia in Jakarta.

In a statement posted on the White House website, Pence said, “During my discussion with these business leaders, American and Indonesian businesses also signed historic agreements that will draw our nations closer together and benefit both our people. All told, these companies signed no fewer than 11 major deals worth more than $10 billion.”

Nevertheless, Pence said he made it clear that the United States and Indonesia can do much more to improve their trade relationship.

“We seek trade with Indonesia that is both free and fair – to create a “win-win” for both our nations and all our people,” Pence said, adding, “President Trump and I will work with President Joko Widodo to reduce barriers to trade and investment and to create a truly level playing field where all of our businesses have equal opportunity and market access.”

Pence will now be visiting Sydney, Australia to meet with government officials from that country.

Moscow Can’t Jail Everyone, Say Jehovah’s Witnesses And Supporters – OpEd

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Less than 48 hours after the Russian Supreme Court banned the activities of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia, Russian officials in various parts of the country have launched “a wave of force” against that religious community, according to Yaroslav Sivulsky, a member of the denomination’s administrative center in Russia.

He told Vladimir Oyvin of the Portal-Credo religious affairs portal that the Jehovah’s Witnesses “will not be able to conduct our major activities” but that members of the group will “continue to meet in private homes, a serious limitation on [religious] freedom” (portal-credo.ru/site/?act=authority&id=2256).

In St. Petersburg, Sivulsky said, persons unknow threw stones through the windows of the Jehovah’s Witness Congress Hall; and in Russian-occupied Crimea, police broke into meetings of the group to break up the service and then sealed the building so that the Jehovah’s Witnesses can’t use it now.

As for the Administrative Center of which he is a member, the religious leader continued, “it has in essence ceased its customary activity: its account has been frozen and no one is allowed to come to work in its office. We are obeying the court ruling, and we cannot for the time being do anything else.”

He said that each individual member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses must decide whether to continue their efforts to spread the word of the Bible by visiting the homes of others. And many will do so because “practice shows that no court decisions can stop a Christian from fulfilling the tasks set by Jesus Chris or God.”

Anton Chivchalov, a Russian Jehovah’s Witness, said that the Russian decision to ban his denomination and equate it with the Islamic State as extremist was backfiring on the Kremlin. He described this perhaps unexpected turn of events on his Facebook page (facebook.com/achivchalov/posts/206993539790287).

“If there’s one thing that I’m pleased with in the current situation,” he says, “it’s that more and more people begin actively defending us. More and more experts, lawyers, journalists, even prominent Orthodox figures who never defended us, now do. In social networks common people talk about absurdity of the situation and even draw cartoons emphasizing this.”

“Other denominations write appeals to the President in our support. All this was unthinkable even six months ago,” Chivchalov continues.

“And this means that it won’t be possible to jail everyone,” he says. “With the wave of indignation and support now rising, jailing the first 10 people will simply result in the fact that not almost everyone, but plainly everyone will speak out in our defense. Each prison where a Witness sits will have round-the-clock pickets and processions.”

“How will this affect the Kingdom work? You can think for yourself.”

Juncker Says EU Would Survive ‘President Le Pen’

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By Georgi Gotev

(EurActiv) — European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker sees no need for “contingency planning” regarding the French presidential election, as the EU is strong enough to survive even if the Eurosceptic candidate wins, his spokesperson said Friday.

Asked if the EU executive was preparing for a possible ‘Frexit’ following the election, the first round of which is on Sunday (23 April) with the runoff taking place on 7 May, Commission Deputy Chief Spokesperson Mina Andreeva said there was no reason for contingency planning.

She mentioned Juncker’s “love for elections”, and that the French election was “another opportunity for democracy”.

France's Marine Le Pen. Photo by JÄNNICK Jérémy, Wikipedia Commons.
France’s Marine Le Pen. Photo by JÄNNICK Jérémy, Wikipedia Commons.

The EU is strong enough to survive even if the Eurosceptic candidate would win the election, Andreeva said. She added that Juncker would want the pro-European forces to have the upper hand but ultimately the French electorate will decide.

Asked if Juncker believed that the EU can survive if Marine Le Pen becomes president of France, she quoted an interview Juncker gave to the German weekly Welt am Sonntag on 19 March: “If Marine Le Pen would win the election, it would not be the end of the European project”.

The Commission president view appears to contrast with those of other leaders, including French Commissioner Pierre Moscovici who said that electing Marine Le Pen and leaving the EU would deal a fatal blow to the European project.

Le Pen has said herself the EU will die “because the people do not want it anymore”.

Technically it would not be easy for France to leave the EU, even if Le Pen wins. Unlike Britain, France has a written constitution that states “the Republic is part of the European Union”. So a “Frexit” would require a constitutional change which experts say is difficult, but not impossible.

During her campaign, Le Pen has promised to seek revised terms for France’s EU membership, and then ask in a referendum if voters want to leave.

France’s constitution says that proposed laws on the organisation of state powers, reforms relating to economic, social and environmental policy, or a request for authority to ratify a treaty can be decided by referendums.

But it stops short of providing the power to withdraw France from an existing international agreement. Consequently, if a government or a president wants France to get out of the EU, the constitution would have to be modified.

Article 89 of the constitution says that any such change must first be approved by the National Assembly and the Senate.

Then, a president can either put it to a referendum, or seek approval from a three-fifths majority in Congress – a combined sitting of both houses of parliament.

That could be a long shot even for ‘President Le Pen’. But the eventuality that she would win would have a psychological effect in the entire EU, leading to the unravelling of the European project.

Pundits in the Brussels bubble assume that even if Le Pen wins the first round on 23 April, she would be beaten in the runoff, as many voters would back her likely opponent, Emmanuel Macron.


China Mimics Central Asian States: Bans Long Beards In Restive Xinjiang Region

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By Gary Sands*

Chinese President Xi Jinping called recently for the creation of a “great wall of iron” in an effort to curb extremist violence in China’s troubled far-western province of Xinjiang. Shortly thereafter, the Xinjiang People’s Congress adopted legislation that targets Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking, mostly Muslim ethnic minority.

The new legislation, which came into effect April 1, prohibits the wearing of full-face coverings by women and long beards by men. Such attire and facial hair are “deemed to promote extremism,” according to the English-language version of the state-owned newspaper China Daily.

Implementation of the legislation is being overseen by Chen Quanguo, who took over as Xinjiang’s top Communist Party official last August, after serving as party boss for five years in Tibet. In his new post, Chen has instituted many of the same security and surveillance measures that he employed in Tibet, including setting up special taskforces at regional, prefectural and county governments, and the evaluation of local leaders on counterterrorism efforts. Another feature of Chen’s administration in Xinjiang is occasional shows of force in the form of parades featuring thousands of armed police.

The new regulations in Xinjiang also establish a broad definition of extremism, saying it constitutes anything that uses or displays “radical religious beliefs to interfere with others’ lifestyles and comments.”

Overall, the law bans 15 types of behaviors deemed to be “manifestations” of extremism. Among newly banned practices are: marrying or divorcing according to religious practices; interfering with the enforcement of family planning policies; damaging national identity cards, household registration books or the currency; following Halal rules in non-food-related areas; and preventing children from obtaining national education.

The legislation also makes it illegal to refuse to watch state television and listen to state radio.

Supporters contend the new regulations will help distinguish between extremism and protected religious activities.

Critics say the legislation is overreaching and, in effect, places curbs on the Uighur cultural identity. “Many aspects of Uyghur cultural and religious life are now being deemed ‘abnormal’ and ‘manifestations’ of extremism, and thus subject to punitive enforcement,” James Leibold of La Trobe University in Australia told the South China Morning Post.

Leibold argued the new legislation could “increase their [Uighur] sense of cultural insecurity and thus ultimately undermine the party-state’s attempts to create a more socially cohesive and stable society in Xinjiang.”

Xinjiang has been the scene in recent years of violent incidents that authorities blame on Islamic militants. Uighur nationalists complain that measures being implemented by national and regional officials under the guise of combating terrorism unfairly restrict the minority group’s civil and cultural rights.

Some Eurasian states, including Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, have imposed restrictions on attire and grooming that are targeted specifically against Muslim believers. Such initiatives, however, have not had a proven effect on discouraging extremism, and in some cases, their implementation has stoked protests.

*Gary Sands is a Senior Analyst at Wikistrat, a crowdsourced consultancy, and a Director at Highway West Capital Advisors, a venture capital, project finance and political risk advisory. He has contributed commentaries to US News and World Report, Newsweek, Washington Times, The Diplomat, The National Interest, International Policy Digest, Asia Times, Eurasia Review, Indo-Pacific Review, the South China Morning Post, Global Times and China Digital Times.

Pakistan And The Panama Papers Verdict – Analysis

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By Rana Banerji*

The long awaited Panama Papers verdict on 20 April, 2017, by the five-judge bench of Pakistan’s Supreme Court has stopped short of disqualifying Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and given him a temporary reprieve by ordering investigation by a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) of officials, including those from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI), within 60 days, under Court supervision.

The 3-2 split verdict suggests that while there may have been enough substance to justify that Sharif may not have been either `sadiq’ (honest) or `ameen’ (trustworthy), thus meriting disqualification under Articles 62 and 63 of their Constitution, this power could not be exercised by the Supreme Court in its `original jurisdiction’ powers under Art 184(3), as it did not relate to a question of public importance related to a Fundamental Right. It purports though, that there were enough grounds to believe that the prime minister and his family members had obfuscated the money trail about the off-shore accounts and especially, the transaction pertaining to purchase of the Mayfair flats in London.

The JIT has been tasked to work on a `thirteen point’ list of items pertaining to the money trail covering the setting up of the Gulf Steel Mill in Dubai; subsequent sales in Saudi Arabia and Qatar; and details of purchase transactions of the Mayfair flats. The judgment virtually dismisses the veracity of the Qatari Sheikh, Jabbar al Thani’s bailout letters about the money transactions. It also opens up the possibilities of re-opening of the Hudaibiya Paper Mills money laundering investigations of the early 1990s by either the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) or the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The role of NAB Chief Qamar Zaman in not challenging the September 2014 Lahore High Court verdict exonerating the Sharifs in the Hudaibiya case has been castigated. The JIT’s would now be `a criminal investigation’, which would have to be placed before a fresh bench of the Supreme Court to finally decide on the matter.

Ironically enough, in the convoluted social milieu of denial that prevails in Pakistan, the judgment was `celebrated’ with distribution of sweets and `bhangras’ by both the plaintiffs and the respondents. The Opposition, led by the leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), Imran Khan, hailed the landmark verdict and called for the prime minister’s resignation. Pakistan’s former President and Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Asif Zardari criticised the majority judgment while hailing the dissenting notes recorded by the two senior judges, Justices Asif Saeed Khosa and Gulzar Ahmed, both of whom could ascend to the post of Chief Justice after the incumbent’s term ends in January, 2019.

Khosa in particular, has been very caustic in commenting on Nawaz Sharif’s lack of probity, belying any familial loyalty or leanings toward views of his father-in-law, late Chief Justice Nasim Hassan Shah, who restored Nawaz Sharif to power briefly in June 1993 – after Ghulam Ishaq Khan had dismissed him as prime minister – using powers under the now abolished Article 58(2)(b).

Ruling party sources have chosen to ignore the `Damocles’ sword’ that still hangs on their leader. Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (PML(N)) supporters take succor from the fact that four of the JIT’s six members would be appointees of the civilian leadership. The JIT itself may effectively lead to a dead end. It is unlikely that a JIT comprising government officers would be able to press the ruling family to retrieve official documents from the British Virgin Islands (BVI) registrar of companies or the BVI Financial Services Commission (BVIFSC) regarding beneficial ownership of all offshore companies linked to them, or be able to prove that these were transferred in their name only in 2006 and that too from the Qatari royal family. Obtaining unavoidable documentary evidences from offshore jurisdictions without proper information sharing agreements would be difficult. Without these documents from offshore jurisdictions, complicated riddles regarding beneficial ownership of offshore companies and the year of their transfer in the name of the Sharifs would not be resolved.

Views of the legal fraternity in Pakistan have been mixed. Some luminaries have deemed the verdict as appropriate though definitely not bereft of political overtones. Noted Human Rights activist and lawyer Asma Jehangir felt `confused’ over the import of the judgment. The PPP’s Aitzaz Ahsan suspected that the formation of the JIT could enable the Sharifs to eventually wriggle out from the clutches of law.

What is concerning about the composition of the JIT is the inclusion of two Military Intelligence representatives. This sends a signal about the judiciary’s lack of institutional trust in civilian institutions or even about its own role in the past, acquiescing in the `doctrine of necessity’ to validate repeated military takeovers. It may be quite another matter whether the Army leadership under Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa would like to involve itself in this probe. If past precedents are to be relied upon, there could be no guarantee of soft peddling merely because Nawaz selected Bajwa to head the Army despite his low position on the eligible Generals’ seniority list. It goes without saying that during this interregnum, Nawaz Sharif would hardly be able to undertake any India friendly initiatives on matters of security policy.

The judgment reveals yet again how long-standing political families in Pakistan have been able to use the system to enhance their personal wealth. Credit for pushing that simple idea, both intuitively and with circumstantial evidence to support it all the way to the Supreme Court, and against a serving prime minister, must go to Imran Khan and his PTI. Whether this can be converted to political benefit in the 2018 polls is too early to predict and would depend on how effectively he can contain or dismantle the grip the Sharifs have so assiduously built up over the biradari (clan) networks in a still predominantly feudal rural Punjab.

* Rana Banerji
Member, Governing Council, IPCS, & former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India

Sri Lanka: National Interests In A Globalized World – OpEd

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By Asanga Abeyagoonasekera*

The first 100 days of the US President Donald Trump’s administration revealed the complexity of a head of state’s task. One of his predecessors, former US President John F Kennedy during his first 100 days had learned a costly lesson with the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion. His reaction to the event was to “splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the wind.” Most presidents realise the gravity of decision-making during the initial 100 days; and this applies to Sri Lanka as well.

In this new emerging global order, Sri Lanka, a nation in transition from the third world to the second with a per capita income of USD 3200 will need to craft its path to be able to become a developed country. Even in its current economic state, with 27 per cent of the population living in poverty, a small section in the Sri Lankan society is extremely wealthy. In a recent article, Malinda Seneviratne argues that “beggars can’t be choosers.” Sri Lanka will beg more from the international community given the relative weakness of the domestic industries. The Central Bank projection of achieving a per capita income of USD 7000 by 2020 will be unachievable with the current state of the economy.

In March 2017, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena became the first Sri Lankan Head of State to visit Russia in several decades. President Sirisena’s official visit will strengthen Sri Lanka’s relations with a geo-strategically important country. This was Sirisena exercising his own foreign policy, carefully calibrated in the right direction. No previous Sri Lankan president has held in high esteem the values and teachings of Vladimir Lenin and Karl Marx. In contrast, their pictures are placed in the main boardroom of the current president’s residence. This is a clear indication of the deep socialist values that President Sirisena holds.

These values probably echo in reminding the president not to sell any state resource. If the United National Party (UNP) is the pro-Western business-oriented party that advocates joint ventures, Sirisena is the inward looking farmer attempting to advocate the importance of an indigenous economy. Russia, with its gilded chambers suffering from the imperial hangover, is a reminder of deep nationalistic values.

Neither the US, Europe or China want it to be strong. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s gesture of handing a 19th century sword belonging to Sri Lanka to President Sirisena was a reminder of the need to preserve the Sri Lankan values and historical treasures smuggled or taken out of the island nation.

There have been some recent developments regarding the future of two strategic projects in Sri Lanka, one undertaken by India in Trincomalee and the other by China in Hambantota. According to Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, he has saved the nation from a joint venture with the Chinese. He claimed that he was able to negotiate a better, less harmful deal with China as compared to the one agreed to by former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

On these strategic long-term projects, it is unclear how public input has been taken. Elected representatives are appointed for a period of six years for the Executive and five years for Members of Parliament. If they agree upon a deal that will conclude beyond their tenure, it is important to include public observations. If a certain project is awarded for 99 years of lease agreements, most of the policymakers who decide today will not live to see its conclusion. In China, a large-scale strategic foreign project will not be approved if there is no national security clearance. Sri Lanka should also think of national security clearance when deciding on large-scale strategic foreign projects. The clearance or the study report could be preserved for the next generation as a point of reference.

Furthermore, the report should also assess if these projects add strategic value to Sri Lanka’s economy. It is important to remember that given the volatile global order, what may be the best strategic option today may not be the same in a few years’ time. A simulator should be designed to deeply understand future events and scenarios.

Foresight analysis is a methodology that Sri Lanka could adopt to predict the best future scenarios. Has Sri Lanka assessed the strategic and economic significance of the Hambantota and Trincomalee port projects in 2030, 2050 and beyond? The Sri Lankan policymakers should take these questions into consideration while making strategic decisions. If they do not have the necessary data sets to decide, they should defer the decision. Due to Sri Lanka’s geographically strategic position, it cannot ignore regional and extra-regional entities’ interests in it.

The Sri Lankan government should view its national interest as the first point of reference.

* Asanga Abeyagoonasekera
Director General, Institute of National Security Studies (INSS), Sri Lanka & Columnist, IPCS

IMF’s Lipton: Central Bankers And Inclusive Growth, Building Framework For Financial Inclusion – Speech

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Good afternoon. Thank you, Tobias, and thank you all for joining us on this busy day.

This panel combines a long-term focus of the Fund’s work—central banking—with one of the policy challenges of our era—inclusive growth. This is where regulation and supervision can play a crucial role addressing the problem of inequality.

It’s a timely topic because the IMFC communique today called for policies to achieve inclusive growth through the promotion of opportunities for all.

Let me begin with a point about the work of central banks, and then I’ll offer some observations on financial inclusion.

Ensuring the healthy provision of credit while maintaining price stability and financial stability is among central bankers’ core objectives. But the rapid evolution of banking to enhance financial inclusion is presenting new risks.

Our research suggests that risks to financial stability increase when access to credit is expanded without proper regulation and supervision. Unfortunately, countries with the biggest gaps in access to the financial system also tend to have the lowest supervisory quality. So, investing in high quality supervision can pay big dividends as financial inclusion expands.

How big are the potential dividends? More than two billion people worldwide are still unbanked. Most are in the developing countries, but the problem exists in the advanced economies as well.

Many small businesses cite lack of access to credit as one of the main constraints on their growth. Women across the globe are denied access to financial services that could transform their lives. All of this means higher levels of unemployment or under-employment, and clearly means sub-optimal growth.

Recent Fund research underscores the micro- and macroeconomic importance of financial inclusion. Our staff compared countries with different types of financial access points such as automatic teller machines. They found that greater financial inclusion can make a 2-to-3 percentage point difference in economic growth

We know there already has been substantial progress. The rapid expansion of the middle classes in emerging market and developing countries over the past two generations has been accompanied by a proliferation of financial services and with a deepening of financial markets.

New digital platforms have come to play a very important role in spreading financial inclusion. Many of you are familiar with the rapid growth of mobile banking in countries like Kenya. Data from the Fund’s Financial Access Survey lists 17 economies in Sub-Saharan Africa where the number of mobile money accounts exceeds the number of depositors in commercial banks.

When I visited Kenya, I saw firsthand that mobile banking opens the door to all kinds of new opportunities. A company there has developed a program to electrify homes beyond the reach of the grid, providing solar panel technology to generate electricity, which people pay for on credit over their mobile phones.

Now, hundreds of millions are gaining access to the market economy in places where physical banking infrastructure is limited or absent. The transformative potential of marrying cell phones and banking cannot be underestimated—as anyone who spends time in developing countries is now able to see for themselves.

There are areas in which central bankers and other regulators can enable a major transformation—while also retaining their control over financial stability.

This involves the creation of regulations for the institutions, services and products that all support inclusion. It also means taking into account the risks that new financing opportunities present for providers and consumers, including consumer protection laws.

It also requires a financial architecture that facilitates the provision and sharing of appropriate information—for banks, access to information on borrowers; for consumers, it means facilitating the spread of financial literacy, particularly in developing countries.

Finally, central banks can foster an environment supportive of inclusion by enabling a level playing field for competition. This is important where institutions providing similar services are proliferating—for instance, with the competition between banks and nonbanks.

I am sure that our panelists will have much more to say on these matters.

Let me conclude by saying that the IMF will continue to deepen our work in this area. These issues are part of our analysis and policy work with our membership. They are important to our research into inclusive growth, and are a growing area of our capacity development efforts.

But it is the work of each and every country at the end of the day that is most vital to this effort. Thank you very much.

When Will OPEC Members Break Out Of Illusion Created By Western Media? – OpEd

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Since the Saudi-led OPEC agreed to curtail production, I have been saying that it is an attempt to gulp their market share. Western media, mostly owned by anti-Muslim groups, are still trying to persuade OPEC to further cut output to facilitate the US to attain the status of largest oil producing country.

Until recently, there was embargo on the export of oil from the US as the country was oil deficient. Now the US has attained membership in the club of oil exporting countries — and its exports are on the rise. Furthermore, shipment data also shows more oil being moved through the oceans than when cuts were put in place.

According to Reuters, oil prices tumbled more than 2 percent this past Friday, posting the biggest weekly decline in more than a month. The fall was prompted by rising US production and stockpiles. This completely frustrates attempts by OPEC to reduce the global crude glut.

During the week ended on Friday, Brent fell 7 percent, while WTI came down 6.7 percent. It was the largest percentage drop for both benchmarks since the week of March 10, when rising concern about the supply glut undermined big bets on an oil rally.

Many analysts suggest that OPEC should continue reducing its production for another six months. On Friday, an OPEC and non-OPEC member technical committee recommended extending cuts of almost 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) to be formally approved at the upcoming May 25 meeting.

While it is not clear that Russia would support an extension, it is also feared that OPEC, led by Saudi Arabia, if it supports a cut in production could leave the cartel vulnerable. The logic is simple, why should it support the US oil producers?

Reportedly, US drillers added oil rigs for a 14th week in a row, extending an 11-month recovery that is expected to boost US shale production in May in the biggest monthly increase in more than two years. Drillers added five oil rigs in the week to ending April 21, taking the total count up to 688, the most since April 2015. That is more than double the same week a year ago when there were only 343 active oil rigs.

Analysts projected that US energy firms would boost spending on drilling and pump more oil and natural gas from shale fields in coming years with energy prices expected to climb. After taking a hit last year when dozens of US shale producers filed for bankruptcy, private equity funds raised $19.8 billion for energy ventures in the first quarter – nearly three times the total as compared to the same period last year.

A US financial services firm said in a note this week that its capital expenditure tracking showed 57 exploration and production (E&P) companies planned to increase spending by an average of 50 percent in 2017 over 2016. The expected spending increase in 2017 followed an estimated 48 percent decline in 2016 and a 34 percent decline in 2015.

I am forced to arrive at a conclusion that those at the helm of affairs at OPEC are not being sincere with their own countries, but instead facilitating the US’ policy of attaining the status of largest oil producing and exporting country.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

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