When the nation’s largest electric utility preemptively shut off power last fall to prevent wildfires in California, customers lost more than just their lights — some lost their phones, too.Data from the Federal Communications Commission shows 874 cellphone towers were offline during an Oct. 27 power shutoff that affected millions of people. That included more than half of the cell towers in Marin County alone.
The outages mean people who depend solely on cellphones couldn’t call 911 or receive emergency notifications, compounding the dangers associated with an unprecedented power outage in an era dominated by wireless communication.
On Wednesday, some Democratic lawmakers introduced legislation that would require telecommunication companies to have at least 72 hours of back-up power for all cell phone towers in high-risk fire areas. Telecom companies would have to pay for it.
Sen. Mike McGuire said he wrote the bill after meeting with telecom company officials last summer, where he said they assured him they had plans to prevent widespread outages during a power shutoff.
“As we all know, this wasn’t true. They were wrong. And, candidly, lives were put at risk,” McGuire said.
The federal government has tried to mandate backup power for cell phone towers in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. But the industry successfully fought it.
“Do I believe we are in for a fight? Hell yes,” McGuire said, adding: “This is no longer a discussion about cost.”
McGuire announced his bill on the same day representatives from AT&T and Verizon were scheduled to testify before state lawmakers about the outages and ways to prevent them. It’s the second time lawmakers will have hauled in private companies to account for the effects surrounding the widespread blackouts in the fall, the largest planned power outages in state history.
In November, lawmakers questioned executives from the state’s largest investor-owned utilities, including the leadership of troubled Pacific Gas & Electric, whose equipment has been blamed for sparking the 2018 Camp Fire that killed 85 people and destroyed roughly 19,000 buildings. The company filed for bankruptcy last year.
Telecommunications outages have worsened as wildfires have become more common and more destructive. A report from the California Public Utilities Commission found 85,000 wireless customers and 160,000 wired customers lost service during the 2017 North Bay Fires.
Most recently, the FCC says up to 27% of Sonoma County’s wireless cell sites were offline during a fire in October.
In advance comments to the legislative committee, California’s four largest wireless companies — AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon — say they generally make sure their major telecommunication hubs have at least between 48 hours and 72 hours of on-site backup power. They use mobile generators at other sites, but said the generators don’t work at every cell tower.
Also, the companies said the electric company warns them about blackouts just two hours ahead of time, making it hard for them to get their mobile generators in place and to keep them fueled.
AT&T spokesman Steven Maviglio said the company is experienced in managing large-scale outages, but noted “the power companies’ decision to shut off power to millions of Californians in October was the largest event our state had ever seen.”
“Today, we are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in our network resiliency to address these new challenges and will continue to work to ensure our customers have the connectivity they need,” Maviglio said.
Last year, the Legislature passed a law requiring telecommunications companies to report large outages to the Office of Emergency Services within one hour of discovering them. Officials are still developing regulations for that law.
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Month: January 2020
Cardi B’s Pledge to Seek Nigerian Citizenship Sparks Rivalry
Cardi B’s announcement that she wants to seek Nigerian citizenship has set off a Twitter feud between her West African fans in friendly rivals Nigeria and Ghana.The Grammy-winning rapper visited both countries last month on her African tour.Her announcement in a tweet on Friday criticized the U.S. airstrike in Iraq that killed Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani and sent Middle East tensions soaring.”Its sad this man is putting Americans live in danger. Dumbest move Trump did till date … I’m filing for my Nigerian citizenship,” she tweeted.Many in West Africa saw her tweet as proof that she preferred Nigeria.Ghanaians were quick to point out the pitfalls of living in Africa’s most populous nation, where traffic jams and power cuts are more visible than opulent nightclubs and luxury hotels.”Hope you have a generator to power your house (because) they don’t have light but we do,” one user tweeted, adding an emoticon of a Ghana flag.Some fans in Ghana expressed concern for her safety, warning about the Nigeria-based Islamic extremist group Boko Haram.Confusion, prideBut most Nigerian fans were quick to offer up a passport exchange, underscoring the mix of pride and confusion that the 27-year-old star would prefer Nigeria to America.This week she asked fans to weigh in on whether her Nigerian name should be CHIOMA B or Cadijat.Cardi B, who was born Belcalis Almanzar, is of Afro-Caribbean descent, tracing her roots to Trinidad and the Dominican Republic.It was not immediately clear how the rapper might acquire citizenship in Nigeria, though a number of celebrities have recently been given honorary citizenship in other African countries.British actor Idris Elba now has a passport from Sierra Leone, his late father’s birthplace. And fellow rapper Ludacris recently acquired citizenship in Gabon after marrying a woman from the Central African nation.
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US Allies See Mideast Strategy Vacuum That Putin Can Fill
He was the leader on the world stage, visiting troops stationed in a far-flung war zone for the holidays, shoring up alliances and economic deals in the Mideast, requesting a meeting with the German chancellor in his capital, portraying himself and his country as reliable partners in an increasingly uncertain world.Russian President Vladimir Putin has had a busy week, stepping into the aftermath of the American drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Putin’s visit Tuesday to Syria was emblematic of a reality that has been playing out in recent months: The U.S. strategic position in the Middle East is a mystery to many of its allies, and Russia is more than ready to fill any vacuum.
The shift has, in many ways, left U.S. allies in a bind — or turning to Russia themselves in search of a partner.Putin was the first world leader French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with just after learning about the drone strike on Friday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, meanwhile, is traveling to the Kremlin to discuss the crisis in the Mideast.Canada, Denmark and Germany moved their troops in Iraq to safety, as did NATO, which has forces stationed there as part of the international coalition against the Islamic State group. There was no sign that any had been warned by the Trump administration of the drone strike. Coalition activities froze, and NATO’s secretary-general described the killing as “a U.S. decision. It is not a decision taken by either the global coalition nor NATO. But all allies are concerned about Iran’s destabilizing activities in the region.”
The base targeted in northern Iraq was filled with coalition troops.
Putin offered an alternative to perceived chaos.
“Unfortunately, the situation in the region we are in tends to escalate. But Turkey and Russia are demonstrating different examples — examples of cooperation for the sake of our nations and all of Europe,” he said Wednesday in Turkey.
Israel, which has criticized the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, has been quiet about the drone strike aside from a brief statement of praise from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seemingly disinclined to escalate an already volatile situation between its closest ally and its sworn enemy. Trump’s first face to face meeting with an ally came Monday with the Saudi deputy defense minister, Khalid bin Salman. But he didn’t confirm it until a day later, after the prince revealed it in a tweet.
“We discussed Trade, Military, Oil Prices, Security, and Stability in the Middle East!” Trump tweeted.
The American president spoke by phone with Macron on Sunday and with Merkel on Tuesday.
Putin’s travel plans have continued apace. His visit to Russian troops for the Orthodox Christmas came unannounced, as was his meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who owes his continued rule to a combination of Russian and Iranian intervention. The message was unmistakable.
“Even NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, always ready to play along with the U.S., found it necessary to distance himself from the killing of the Iranian general by saying that the U.S. made this decision without NATO’s involvement. So Washington’s attempts to ex post facto shore up their European allies failed,” Alexei Pushkov, lawmaker in Russia’s upper house of parliament, wrote in a tweet Tuesday.
He added, “It’s emblematic that right in the middle of a pre-war crisis around Iran Merkel is heading to talks with Putin and not Trump. There is no point in talks with Trump.”
Defense Secretary Mark Esper refused to say whether Trump had warned allies before the strike: “I’m not going to get into the details of our consultations.”
Stoltenberg said several U.S. briefers explained the “rationale” behind the Trump administration’s decision to kill Soleimani, but he declined to provide details or timing.
Trump campaigned on an “America First” policy and long has said he wants to reduce U.S. involvement in foreign wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
But his decision to bomb pro-Iranian militias and then to kill Iran’s best-known general in a missile strike outside Baghdad’s airport caught Middle Eastern and European allies unaware and confused. Since then, the U.S. also has given off conflicting signals on its intentions to exit Iraq even while it deploys more troops immediately for protection against a possible Iranian response.
Amelie de Montchalin, a top French diplomat, told lawmakers Wednesday that France’s solidarity was based solely on the international coalition against the Islamic State group.
“This was a decision made by the United States without consulting France for national security reasons, and it’s therefore an American initiative and it’s their sole responsibility,” Montchalin said.
The administration has held up Soleimani’s death as a master stroke that eliminated a region-wide troublemaker and saved American lives. Trump insisted that the United States would leave Iraq eventually, but that the Iraqi people wanted American soldiers to remain: “At some point we want to get out but this isn’t the right point.”
Putin’s trip to Turkey was planned a month ago, even if its timing this week was fortuitous. And his visit to Damascus was simply a continuation of the Kremlin’s growing reach in the Mideast and the diminishing sway of the United States, said Marc Pierini, a former EU ambassador to Turkey and a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe. Merkel’s trip to the Kremlin was scheduled late last month, but Iran has always been the main topic on the agenda.
“Putin doesn’t need to do much. He’s just watching. Everything you’ve seen for the past year or so, since December 2018 when Trump first announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, everything has gone the Kremlin’s way. There’s not much to do, there’s nothing to activate. The Russian policy in that region has been to talk to everybody, to capitalize on an American vacuum,” Pierini said.
The December 2018 announcement was widely criticized as an American abandonment of its Kurdish allies, who fought alongside U.S. forces against the Islamic State group in northeast Syria.
After U.S. forces withdrew, Turkey launched an offensive and the Kurds turned to Russia and the Syrian government for protection. It was a Russian deal with Turkey that ended the invasion. What little presence the U.S. military retains in Syria depends heavily upon logistical support from its bases in Iraq, and the outgoing Iraqi prime minister said Tuesday that American forces must leave.
“We have no exit but this,” said Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi, “otherwise we are speeding toward confrontation.”
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Swedish Parliamentarian Visits Opposition Leader in Cambodia
The Cambodian government will have to enact substantial political reforms if it wants to retain a preferential trade agreement with the European Union, a Swedish lawmaker has warned. Under the agreement, known as Everything But Arms, Cambodia can export goods to the EU duty free, but that arrangement is contingent on the nation complying with international conventions regarding human and labor rights.Cambodia needs to enact genuine democratic reforms, Asa Eriksson told Voice of America in an interview shortly after meeting opposition leader Kem Sokha at his house in Phnom Penh. “I haven’t seen any progress. We did see small, small things happening in late autumn. But it’s not enough at all. And I would say that … to me, at least, it looks more like cosmetics: things that should tell us that the process is going in the right way, but I’m not sure that the government is willing to do the changes that are needed,” she said.Eriksson is a member of the governing Social Democrats in Sweden and serves as their international trade spokesperson. She last visited Cambodia in 2017. That same year, Kem Sokha was arrested and his party, the Cambodia National Rescue Party, or CNRP, was forcibly dissolved.FILE – A banner of the outlawed Cambodia National Rescue Party hangs in a house in Siem Reap province, Cambodia, Oct. 11, 2019.Kem Sokha was released in November 2019 but remains banned from politics.The European Union has initiated an investigation into Cambodia’s human rights record that could lead to potential suspension of its Everything But Arms trade privileges. With the loss of EU assistance to reach European markets, some experts are concerned that key sectors in Cambodia such as garments and footwear could become smaller. The EU is expected to make a formal announcement in mid-February.Reaction from CambodiaWhile EBA was “necessary” and “critical” to Cambodia, government spokesman Phay Siphan said that officials prioritized “peace, stability, and sovereignty.”Phay Siphan added that withdrawing the trade agreement would be a blow to the Cambodian government, but could be mitigated.”We understand that it is a short period of impact … but the government [will] do our most critical thing to settle the crisis … such as finding a new market in the world,” he told VOA in a phone interview.Upcoming trialMeanwhile, Kem Sokha’s trial on charges of treason — which many view as unfounded — is scheduled to begin next week, two months after investigations closed.Eriksson expressed hope for Kem Sokha’s acquittal.”Of course, what Mr. Sokha hopes for is that he will be released and I hope so too,” she said. “[But] most people and organizations we have met with so far think that he will not be released, but may be pardoned by the king later.” Eriksson has said, in addition to releasing Kem Sokha, the government needs to reinstate his political rights, allow the CNRP to organize again and release all political prisoners.FILE – Phay Siphan, the Cambodian government spokesperson, speaks during a press conference at the Council of Ministers, Phnom Penh, July 25, 2019. (Kann Vicheika/VOA Khmer)Spokesman Phay Siphan said the matter rested entirely in the hands of the court, and that the government could not influence its decisions.The spokesman was asked about a recent case in which Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen had ordered the release of dozens of CNRP activists who had been arrested between August and November in anticipation of acting opposition leader Sam Rainsy’s announced return. Phay Siphan repeated that the courts were independent from the government. When pressed on the matter, the spokesman suggested the reporter lacked knowledge about the country. “I understand the buffalo, you understand the cow,” he said. “Go back to school, my friend. … You’re not smart.”The spokesman declined to elaborate.Even if Kem Sokha received a pardon, more substantial reforms were necessary to maintain the agreement, Eriksson said. They would include allowing for viable competition in an open democratic space, she said.The decision on whether to withdraw the EBA privileges was a sensitive issue and bore risks not only for Cambodia, the Swedish politician said.”What would be a disaster, I think, is that the EU doesn’t do anything when it’s so obvious that the Cambodian government breaks the rules for EBA, because the EBA is a privilege, something that developing countries can have if they commit the work for democracy and human rights,” she said.”From an EU perspective, there are very few countries who have the favor of EBA, and there are very clear rules to have the favor of EBA,” Eriksson added. “And if a country so clearly breaks those rules as Cambodia is doing, and if the EU doesn’t respond to that, well, then we will be irrelevant — then anyone can break any rules.”
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US Sanctions South Sudan’s Vice President Over Abuses
The United States has imposed sanctions on South Sudan’s Vice President Taban Deng Gai, citing his involvement in serious human rights abuses.The statement Wednesday is one of the sharpest actions taken by the U.S. against the South Sudan government amid Washington’s frustration over the country’s failure to achieve a stable peace after its civil war.The Treasury Department statement asserts that Deng has been involved in the disappearance and deaths of civilians. It also asserts that he has acted to divide the armed opposition in South Sudan, extending the country’s five-year civil war that killed nearly 400,000 people.The U.S. is among the countries pressuring South Sudan’s rival leaders to form a coalition government. A deadline for that looms next month after the parties failed to make one in November.The U.S., which backed the fight for South Sudan’s independence from Sudan, achieved in 2011, has been increasingly frustrated by the inability of President Salva Kiir and rival Riek Machar to reach a lasting peace. Meanwhile, the government faces widespread accusations by critics of mismanagement and corruption.
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Pew Survey: Trump Viewed Negatively Around the World
President Donald Trump is viewed negatively by the public in many countries, but the image of the U.S. itself is generally favorable, according to a survey published on Wednesday by the Pew Research Center.Sixty-four percent of those surveyed outside the US said they do not have confidence in Trump to do the right thing in foreign affairs, while just 29 percent expressed confidence in the U.S. leader.The survey looked at public opinion in 33 nations and was conducted among 37,000 people between May and October 2019.Trump is viewed particularly poorly in Western Europe, Pew said.Only 13 percent of those polled in Germany said they had confidence in Trump, 18 percent in Sweden, 20 percent in France, 21 percent in Spain, 25 percent in the Netherlands and Greece and 32 percent in Britain.In Russia, 20 percent said they have confidence in the U.S. president to do the right thing in world affairs.In Mexico, 89 percent do not have confidence in Trump, Pew said.In some countries, the public did express support for Trump: India (56 percent), Nigeria (58 percent), Kenya (65 percent), Israel (71 percent) and the Philippines (77 percent).There was overall disapproval, however, of some of Trump’s signature foreign policy initiatives.Researchers used the median — the middle value in any list of numbers — to summarize non-U.S. opinion on Trump’s performance.A median of 68 percent opposed his imposition of tariffs, 66 percent opposed the withdrawal from climate change agreements and 60 percent were against the U.S.-Mexico border wall.Trump’s direct negotiations with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un met with 41 percent support and 36 percent disapproval.Pew also asked respondents for their views on other world leaders.Germany’s Angela Merkel received top marks with 46 percent expressing confidence in her leadership, followed by France’s Emmanuel Macron (41 percent), Russia’s Vladimir Putin (33 percent) and China’s Xi Jinping (28 percent).Overall attitudes towards the United States, however, were favorable, Pew said.The most positive reviews in Europe came from Poland, where 79 percent said they have a favorable attitude towards the United States, followed by Lithuania (70 percent) and Hungary (66 percent).The lowest ratings for the United States in Europe came from the Netherlands (46 percent), Sweden (45 percent) and Germany (39 percent).
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Australians Should Brace for Protracted Summer of Catastrophic Fires
The World Meteorological Organization warns Australians should brace for a protracted summer of catastrophic bush fires, blaming climate change for record-breaking heat waves and persistent drought.Australia’s summer fire season usually begins in late January or early February, but got off to an early and catastrophic start in September 2019 in the states of Queensland and New South Wales. The bush fires have killed more than 22 people, destroyed hundreds of homes, burned large swathes of land, and caused massive devastation to wildlife, ecosystems and the environment. WMO spokeswoman Clare Nullis says naturally occurring climate variability is playing a role in these unprecedented events, adding that another driver is a phenomenon called the Indian Ocean dipole, which was very strong last year.FILE – Firefighters try to protect homes around Charmhaven, New South Wales, in this image dated Dec. 30, 2019, and provided by NSW Rural Fire Service via their twitter account.”That has the effect of making Australia drier,” Nullis said. “It has the effect of making East Africa wetter, which is why we saw the floods in East Africa. So, on the one hand, you do have the natural climate variability. On the other hand, climate change is playing a role and we should be in no doubt about that.”A report by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology says climate change is causing temperatures to rise and contributing to long-term increase in extreme fire weather. It says Dec. 19, 2019, was the hottest day on record, with an average temperature of 49.9 degrees centigrade recorded at Nullarbor in South Australia.The fires in Australia are having far-reaching consequences.”The fires have led to hazardous air quality, which is a threat to human health in major cities in Australia, spreading to New Zealand, and sent smoke drifting thousands of kilometers across the Pacific to South America … and NOAA’s (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) satellite sent out a tweet that the smoke is in the process of circumnavigating the planet,” she said. WMO scientists warn wildfires harm the global climate by emitting carbon dioxide. They say forest loss leads to the reduced uptake of CO2 from the atmosphere, further fostering climate change.
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Cameroon Anglophone Villagers Attack Separatist Camps Over Abuse
Several communities in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions have within a week attacked at least five camps belonging to separatist fighters, whom they accuse of destroying civilian homes, looting and killing innocent people. The angry civilians say they do not know who to trust, as they say the military commits similar crimes against them. A group of 150 women and children in the northwestern village of Babungo sing a song against anglophone rebels.
They sing that they will together fight the separatists, who they say have been abusing villagers.
The leader of the group, 55-year-old farmer Mary Najela, says rebels in December accused her husband of helping Cameroon’s military and then killed him.
Najela says they are saying no to separatists’ plans to either eliminate all of them or see them suffer. She says all of them, including women and children, must work together to protect each other and their property.
The women and children on Tuesday sang and marched to the house of their local, traditional ruler, Ndofua Zofia.
Villagers saved him from being abducted on Monday night by seven rebel fighters, who they managed to chase off.
Zofia says he is grateful to his people and angry with the rebels, who say they are fighting for the rights of English-speaking Cameroonians.
“Why should my people and I be tortured like this?” he asks. “The rebels have abducted candidates for the local council and parliamentary elections, looted, collected ransoms, and killed civilians. Enough is enough.”
Babungo is not the only anglophone village in Cameroon with growing anti-separatist feelings over rebel abuses. Authorities, local media reports, and a rebel spokesman confirmed villagers have been attacking separatist camps.
Last week, people from the English-speaking village of Balikumbat stormed rebel camps and seized their guns, along with items stolen from them, including goats and cows.
The villagers say the retaliation was sparked after rebels stole a taxi driver’s motorcycle because he refused to give them $10 in support.
Cameroon’s rebels have confirmed their fighters committed abuses.
On Sunday, separatist fighters in the southwestern town of Kumba killed their commander, say local media reports, because he ordered them to torture civilians.
Tapang Ivo Tanku is a U.S.-based spokesman for one rebel group — the Anglophone Defense Forces. Speaking via WhatsApp, he says they have ordered their fighters, who he calls soldiers, to arrest anyone who abuses villagers, including fellow rebels.
“We are strongly condemning all of these soldiers [fighters] who are turning their weapons against civilians or who are stealing civilians’ properties and not protecting civilians. This is adversely affecting the revolution [struggle for independence],” he said.
But Tanku also accused the government of often framing rebels to tarnish the image of those fighting for the independence of English-speaking regions from French-majority Cameroon.
FILE – Governor Deben Tchoffo, Nov. 5, 2018. (Moki Edwin Kindzeka/VOA)Governor of the English-speaking Northwest region, Deben Tchoffo, denies any such manipulation.
He says government troops are gaining public confidence and working to bring peace.
“The security forces, the administration, the traditional rulers and the entire population are doing their best to bring back normal, civil life. We are enjoying relative calm, even if we still have hot spots,” he said.
Rights groups accuse both Cameroon’s military and separatists of using excessive force during three years of armed conflict.
Unrest broke out in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions in 2016, when teachers and lawyers protested the dominance of the French language and French-speaking officials.
Rebels took up arms a year later, demanding a separate English-speaking state they call “Ambazonia.”
The conflict with Cameroon’s military since then has killed about 3,000 people, many of them villagers caught up in the fighting.
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EU Chief Warns UK Must Compromise to Get Brexit Trade Deal
The president of the European Commission warned Britain on Wednesday that it won’t get the “highest quality access” to the European Union’s market after Brexit unless it makes major concessions.
In a friendly but frank message to the U.K., Ursula von der Leyen said negotiating a new U.K.-EU trade deal will be tough. She also said the end-of-2020 deadline that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has imposed on negotiations makes it basically impossible'' to strike a comprehensive new agreement in time.With every choice comes a consequence. With every decision comes a trade-off,
Von der Leyen, who took over as head of the EU's executive branch on Dec. 1, is visiting Johnson at 10 Downing Street in London later Wednesday for the first time since the British leader's election victory last month.
Johnson's Conservatives won a substantial parliamentary majority in Britain's Dec. 12 election, giving him the power to end more than three years of wrangling over Brexit and take the U.K. out of the EU on Jan. 31. It will be the first nation to ever leave the bloc.
Britain's departure will be followed by a transition period in which the U.K.-EU relationship will remain largely unchanged while the two sides negotiate a new trade arrangement.
Johnson says the U.K. is seeking a free trade deal, but doesn't want to agree to keep EU rules and standards. Britain wants to be free to diverge from EU regulations in order to strike new trade deals around the world.
Downing St. said when Johnson meets von der Leyen, he “will likely underline that the upcoming negotiations will be based on an ambitious FTA (free trade agreement), not on alignment.”
That could cause problems. Speaking at the London School of Economics before her meeting with Johnson, von der Leyen warned that “without a level playing field on environment, labor, taxation and state aid, you cannot have the highest quality access to the world's largest single market.”
she warned.both British and EU citizens rightly expect negotiations on an ambitious free trade agreement to conclude on time.”
International trade agreements typically take years to complete, but Johnson has ruled out extending the post-Brexit transition period beyond the end of 2020, although the EU has offered to prolong it until 2022. Downing Street said Wednesday that
Von der Leyen said the time frame was “very, very tight” and made it basically impossible'' to negotiate anything but a skeleton deal.a partnership that goes well beyond trade and is unprecedented in scope.”
“The more divergence there is, the more distant the partnership has to be,” she said. “And without an extension of the transition period beyond 2020, you cannot expect to agree on every single aspect of our new partnership. We will have to prioritize.”
The German EU chief who studied in Britain in the 1970s and has proclaimed herself a friend and fan of Britain, did have some encouraging words for Johnson. She said the bloc was ready to strike a tariff-free and quota-free trade deal with Britain, and
She said the new relationship could encompass “everything from climate action to data protection, fisheries to energy, transport to space, financial services to security. And we are ready to work day and night to get as much of this done within the time frame we have.”
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Survey: US companies added 202,000 jobs in December
U.S. companies added 202,000 jobs in December, led by robust hiring in construction, trade, transportation and utilities, according to a private survey.Payroll processor ADP said Wednesday that the bulk of the hiring was among smaller and mid-sized businesses with fewer than 500 employees. Hiring in November was also revised upward to 124,000, a sign that the job market was stronger than past surveys initially suggested.
It typically takes roughly 100,000 or so new jobs a month to absorb population growth and keep the unemployment rate from rising.
Friday’s government employment report is expected to show an increase of 155,000 jobs with the unemployment rate holding at 3.5%. ADP’s figures don’t include government hiring and frequently diverge from the government’s official report.
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Britain Condemns Iran Missile Attacks As Europe, NATO Urges Restraint
Britain condemned Iran’s missile strikes Wednesday on two military bases used by American and Western coalition troops in Iraq – and urged Tehran not to repeat what it called the “reckless and dangerous attacks.” America’s European allies have urged de-escalation on all sides – but it is not clear if the missile attacks mark the end of Tehran’s retaliation for the U.S. killing of the country’s top general Qassem Soleimani. As Henry Ridgwell reports from London, NATO has suspended its training mission in Iraq and several allies have pulled out troops from the country as fears grow of an escalation in violence
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Philippines Orders Evacuation of Filipinos from Iraq, Iran
The Philippine government has ordered the mandatory evacuation of Filipino workers from Iraq and Iran and is sending a coast guard vessel to the Middle East to ferry its citizens to safety in case hostilities between the United States and Iran worsen, officials said Wednesday.The Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila said the government has raised the alert level in Iraq to the highest level, requiring Filipinos to leave the country due to escalating security risks. Filipinos can leave on their own or be escorted out with the help of their employers or the Philippine government, officials said.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said Filipino workers should also move out of Iran and Lebanon, adding that the government was indefinitely banning Filipino workers from traveling to the three countries amid fears of more hostilities.
The Philippines, one of the world’s leading labor providers, would face a gargantuan crisis if hostilities between the U.S. and Iran escalate and embroil other Middle Eastern countries that host large numbers of Filipino workers, such as Israel and Saudi Arabia.
“It will be a nightmare, but we are not helpless,” Bello said at a news conference in Manila.
Other Asian nations with large populations of expatriate labor may weigh similar decisions after Iran fired missiles at two Iraqi bases housing U.S. forces in a major escalation of hostilities. The strikes were retaliation for last week’s killing of Iran’s top general in a U.S. drone attack in Baghdad.
India, which has a large number of workers in the Middle East, advised its citizens to avoid non-essential travel to Iraq. It also urged its nationals living in Iraq to remain alert and avoid travel within the country.
There are an estimated 15,000-17,000 Indians now in Iraq, mostly in the Kurdistan region, Basra, Najaf and Karbala. About 30,000-40,000 Indians visit Baghdad, Karbala, Najaf and Samarrah each year for pilgrimages.
Philippine officials have reported differing numbers of Filipinos in Iraq and Iran. The problem has been compounded by the huge numbers of Filipinos who have entered the countries illegally and avoided reporting their presence to Philippine Embassy officials.
Department of Labor records show that 2,191 Filipinos work in Iraq, some in U.S. facilities, while more than 1,180 others are based in Iran, including Filipino women married to Iranians.
There could be more than 2.1 million Filipinos across the Middle East, including many illegal workers, Bello said.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and top officials have been holding emergency meetings since the weekend to discuss evacuation plans.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the plans include the possible deployment of one battalion each from the army and marines to secure and evacuate Filipinos in case of a major flareup of violence anywhere. Navy ships and three air force cargo aircraft were also being readied for possible deployment, the military said.
Duterte said late Tuesday that he has deployed a special envoy to get assurance from the leaders of Iraq and Iran that Filipinos would be spared in case of any major outbreak of violence.
“Just to get the assurance that my countrymen will have the egress just in case hell breaks loose,” Duterte told reporters.
While evacuation plans were being finalized, Manila’s coast guard said a new patrol vessel en route to the Philippines from France has instead been ordered to head to the Middle East in case Filipino workers need to be immediately extricated from any danger. The vessel can ferry up to 500 people at a time.
“In case of conflict, overseas Filipino workers will be brought to safer ports where they may be airlifted, as the need arises,” the coast guard said, adding that an initial plan was for the Philippine vessel to temporarily stand by in Oman or Dubai.
About a tenth of the Philippines’ more than 100 million people have worked abroad for decades, mostly as household help, construction workers, sailors and professionals, to escape grinding poverty and unemployment at home. They are hailed as heroes for sending huge incomes that keep Manila’s economy afloat. Many have risked staying in Middle Eastern nations, where they face abuse and even death and often get caught up in violent turmoil, to provide for impoverished families back home.
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Ukrainian Plane Crashes in Iran Killing 176
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said there were no survivors from a Ukraine International Airlines plane that crashed Wednesday shortly after taking off from Iran’s capital.
The flight was bound for Kyiv, and Ukraine’s prime minister said it was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members.One of the engines of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752, a Boeing 737-800 plane that crashed after taking off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport on January 8, 2020, is seen in this still image taken from Iran Press footage.Ukraine International Airlines President Yevhen Dykhne said at a briefing that the plane was one of the best the airline had, “with an amazing, reliable crew.”The airline is indefinitely suspending flights to Tehran following Wednesday’s crash.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said the dead included 82 people Iran, 63 from Canada, 11 from Ukraine, 10 from Sweden, four from Afghanistan, and three each from Germany and Britain.
He said Ukraine expresses its condolences and is continuing to investigate the crash.
The plane’s manufacturer, Boeing, said it is aware of reports of the crash and is gathering more information.
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Fears of Becoming a New Hong Kong Steer Taiwan Presidential Election
Taiwanese voters will pick a president Saturday, setting the course for how to handle political and military rival China amid fears that Taiwan could be taken by the Communist government or become another protest-wracked Hong Kong.The electorate of some 18 million people will decide whether to let incumbent Tsai Ing-wen serve another four-year term. She takes a guarded stance toward China at the risk of further angering the Communist leadership, which has already sent naval ships and military aircraft near the island as warnings since 2016.Many analysts believe Tsai will beat her closest rival Han Kuo-yu, the mayor of Taiwan’s major port city and an advocate of dialogue with China on Beijing’s terms.Tsai is riding the tailwinds of particularly strong U.S. relations, which Taiwanese see as a sign of strength in case they need help repelling China, and perceptions that she can best stop Taiwan from becoming another Hong Kong, experts say.Hong Kong’s protesters, some violent, want China to relinquish their territory from its “one country, two systems” rule that means Beijing is in charge but with a degree of local autonomy. Militarily stronger China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and insists on ruling it someday as it now governs Hong Kong. Taiwan and China have been separately ruled since the Chinese civil war of the 1940s.”In this election, all possible factors that should help Tsai Ing-wen have taken shape, including the China factor, the U.S. factor and the Hong Kong protest factor, and also including the factor of comparisons made to the other presidential candidates,” said You Ying-lung, chairman of the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation survey research organization.Protesters set up barricades with debris and umbrellas in Hong Kong, Jan. 1, 2020.China’s influenceTsai’s approval ratings rose from the 20s in late 2018 through last month, when the foundation released a poll giving her a 49.3% “favorable” rating.The 63-year-old law scholar with the Democratic Progressive Party spoke out multiple times in 2019 against China’s idea for “one country, two systems” rule over Taiwan and openly sided with Hong Kong’s protesters. Her tone felt “strong”, said Shelley Rigger, a National Taiwan University, social sciences college visiting researcher.”She didn’t say anything new but she said old stuff in a way like she was defending Taiwan, telling the truth,” Rigger said.Voters say they’re taking her China policy seriously. “The issue matters because it would directly impact the way we live,” said Taipei voter Dong Yu-hsin, 23, a social service industry worker. “We have such a free and open society, and on the other hand the government in China places a lot of restrictions on its people.”If you look at the three candidates, then Tsai Ing-wen’s point of view is the one I agree with most,” he said. “I hope Tsai Ing-wen can keep her perspective on autonomy and uphold today’s status quo.”Some voters think the election comes down to whether Taiwan remains democratic, said Huang Kwei-bo, vice dean of the international affairs college at National Chengchi University in Taipei.”I feel at least an obvious number of people are going to vote this time because they have a fear their country will perish,” Huang said. “And, in addition, there are those who fear there’s not more going to be more democracy.”Since Tsai took office, she has angered China by rejecting its condition that both sides hold talks as parts of a single China. The December 24 poll found that about 73% of Taiwanese advocate keeping at least today’s distance from China, including more formal independence.Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen attends a campaign rally ahead of the presidential election in Taipei, Taiwan December 21, 2019.Taiwan’s government, officially called the Republic of China, still claims China under its constitution, just as the Communists claim Taiwan under theirs.Talks with BeijingTsai’s election rival Han advocates a return to 2008-2016 when his Nationalist Party’s president Ma Ying-jeou was in office.Ma agreed to China’s condition for talks, allowing the two sides to sign more than 20 deals on trade, transit and investment. The two sides shelved political differences then to build trust. But by 2014 Taiwanese had worried so much about growing too close to China that they held weeks of street protests in Taipei.Han, a populist who won the mayoral seat just 14 months ago, can handle China without political risk, said Jason Hsu, a Nationalist lawmaker and member of Han’s policy advisory team.”What we are trying to convey is the message that we can manage the relationship with China better than the DPP (Democratic Progressive Party) and at the same time not compromise democracy and our sovereignty,” Hsu said. Tsai’s approach of “alienating” China will eventually “backfire,” he said.Voters will also elect a new parliament Saturday. The ruling party now has 68 seats and many party members are running tough re-election campaigns. Parliament has the authority to ratify any deals with China and pass laws affecting interaction between people from the two sides.
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World Reaction to US-Iran Tensions Focuses on De-escalation
Governments are urging the United States and Iran to take steps to de-escalate tensions after a series of attacks on each other’s interests in Iraq.British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Wednesday condemned Iran’s missile attack on two Iraqi air bases that house U.S. and coalition forces, including British troops.”We urge Iran not to repeat these reckless and dangerous attacks, and instead to pursue urgent de-escalation,” Raab said.He added that a war in the region would only help Islamic State, the militant group at the center of the coalition’s mission in Iraq.FILE – Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga attends a news conference at Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s official residence in Tokyo, May 29, 2017.Japan’s Chief Cabinet spokesman Yoshihide Suga expressed concern about the situation in the Middle East, and called for all nations involved to exert whatever diplomatic effort they can to improve relations.United Arab Emirates Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash tweeted it is essential for the region to pull back from what he called “current and troubling tensions.””De-escalation is both wise & necessary. A political path towards stability must follow,” Gargash wrote.
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Some Commercial Airlines Reroute Flights Amid Mideast Risks
Some commercial airlines on Wednesday rerouted flights crossing the Middle East to avoid possible danger amid escalating tensions between the United States and Iran.Australian carrier Qantas said it was altering its London to Perth, Australia, routes to avoid Iran and Iraq airspace until further notice. The longer route meant that Qantas would have to carry fewer passengers and more fuel to remain in the air for an extra 40 to 50 minutes.Malaysia Airlines said that “due to recent events,” its planes would avoid Iranian airspace.Singapore Airlines also said that its flights to Europe would be re-routed to avoid Iran.The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said it was barring American pilots and carriers from flying in areas of Iraqi, Iranian and some Persian Gulf airspace. The agency warned of the “potential for miscalculation or mis-identification” for civilian aircraft amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran.Such restrictions are often precautionary in nature to prevent civilian aircraft from being confused for ones engaged in armed conflict. The FAA said the restrictions were being issued due to “heightened military activities and increased political tensions in the Middle East, which present an inadvertent risk to U.S. civil aviation operations.’’Following the FAA, India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation advised Indian commercial carriers to avoid Iranian, Iraqi and Persian Gulf airspace.At least two Kazakh airlines – Air Astana and SCAT – were considering rerouting or canceling their flights over Iran following the crash of a Ukrainian plane that killed 176 people.The plane had taken off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in the Iranian capital when a fire struck one of its engines, said Qassem Biniaz, a spokesman for Iran’s Road and Transportation Ministry.Kazakhstan’s officials said that Air Astana, the country’s flagship carrier, “is currently holding a meeting on whether to reroute or ban” flights. SCAT, one of the largest airlines in Kazakhstan, told Russia’s Interfax news agency that they were also considering rerouting flights. The emergency flight restrictions follow Iranian ballistic missile strikes Tuesday on two Iraqi bases that house U.S. troops. Those strikes were retaliation for the U.S. killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike near Baghdad last week.
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Celebs Donate Millions to Aid Australia Wildfire Efforts
Elton John and Chris Hemsworth are among the celebrities donating big bucks to help aid the efforts for the engulfing wildfires in Australia.Hemsworth, the Australian actor, took to social media on Monday to share that he will donate $1 million and asked his plethora of followers to show support as well. He said that “every penny counts.”So far, the wildfires have scorched an area twice the size of the U.S. state of Maryland. The blazes have killed 25 people and destroyed 2,000 homes. The fires, fueled by drought and the country’s hottest and driest year on record, have been raging since September, months earlier than is typical for Australia’s annual wildfire season.”Like you, I want to support the fight against the bushfires here in Australia,” he said in a video on Twitter. “Hopefully you guys can chip in too. Every penny counts so whatever you can muster up is greatly appreciated. In my bio I’ve added links to support the fire fighters, organizations (sic) and charities who are working flat out to provide support and relief during this devastating and challenging time.”John announced during his Farewell Yellow Brick Road concert in Sydney, Australia, that he will also donate $1 million. The singer said he wanted to bring attention to the devastation that wildfires have caused, saying it has reached a “biblical scale.”Hemworth and John joins a growing list of celebrities who have pledged to donate toward relief efforts including Nicole Kidman, Pink and Keith Urban.”I am totally devastated watching what is happening in Australia right now with the horrific bushfires,” Pink wrote in a recent social media post. “I am pledging a donation of $500,000 directly to the local fire services that are battling so hard on the frontlines. My heart goes out to our friends and family in Oz.”At the Golden Globes on Sunday, Phoebe Waller-Bridge said she would auction off her Globe outfit and have the proceeds go to firefighter relief.Russell Crowe wasn’t at the Globes to accept his trophy for best actor in a limited series or TV movie for playing for playing former Fox CEO Roger Ailes in the Showtime miniseries “The Loudest Voice.” Instead, the actor was in Australia trying to protect his home from the wildfires, sending a speech read by Jennifer Aniston.”Make no mistake, the tragedy unfolding in Australia is climate change-based,” Crowe’s statement read. “We need to act based on science, move our global workforce to renewable energy and respect our planet for the unique and amazing place it is. That way, we all have a future.”
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Iran Tensions May Prompt S. Korea to Rethink US-led Patrols
The escalating U.S.-Iran conflict is complicating South Korea’s possible participation in a U.S.-led maritime coalition to protect international shipping in and near the Strait of Hormuz.There are increasing calls in South Korea for the government to reject, or at least rethink, U.S. requests to join the force, amid fears South Koreans could get caught up in the violence.The conflict escalated Wednesday, with Iran launching what it called “tens” of ballistic missiles toward at least two Iraqi military bases that house U.S. and international forces.Iranian officials said the attack was in retaliation for the U.S. killing of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike outside the Baghdad airport last week.The situation is delicate for South Korea, a key U.S. ally that also views Iran as an important potential trading partner.’Situation totally changed'”The pressure from the United States (to participate in the maritime force) is going to be higher, but now the situation has totally changed,” says Jang Ji-Hyang, a Middle East specialist at Seoul’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies.It could become a volatile domestic political issue, just months before South Korea’s parliamentary election, if South Korean troops were to become targets overseas, Jang says.”If the government decides to send our soldiers, South Korea could be mired in a war between Iran and the United States,” said an editorial in South Korea’s conservative Joongang Daily. “Iran is not our enemy and can emerge as a huge market once economic sanctions are lifted.”The liberal Hankyoreh newspaper also noted that the violence is causing South Korea to “rethink” its contribution to the maritime force.The U.S.-South Korea alliance has already been strained by U.S. President Donald Trump’s demand that Seoul pay substantially more for the cost of the U.S. military presence in South Korea.Although U.S. negotiators have reportedly dropped their insistence that Seoul increase their contribution by five times, the two sides failed to reach a deal before the current cost-sharing deal expired at the end of the year. Another round of talks is expected as early as next week.There were reports that South Korean participation in the maritime force could factor into the cost-sharing negotiations.Amphibious assault vehicles of the South Korean Marine Corps travel during a military exercise as a part of the annual joint military training called Foal Eagle between South Korea and the U.S. in Pohang, South Korea, April 5, 2018.No decision yetIn an interview Tuesday, Harry Harris, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, said he hopes Seoul will contribute to the maritime force, noting that South Korea imports “so much” of its energy from the Middle East.South Korea’s defense and foreign ministry officials said this week no decision has been made on sending troops to the region, but vowed to assist international efforts to reduce tensions.Following an emergency meeting Monday, South Korea’s National Security Council expressed the “deepest concern” over the tension and reviewed the possible impact on South Korean citizens, businesses, and ships in the region.Around 1,600 South Koreans are in Iraq, mostly working on construction projects, according to South Korea’s foreign ministry. Nearly 300 South Koreans live in Iran.South Korea and Iran have tried to maintain economic ties, though the relationship has been impacted by Trump’s more aggressive approach toward Tehran.South Korea, which relies on foreign energy imports, had been one of the top buyers of Iranian oil, but halted those imports in 2019 when its waivers from U.S. sanctions on Tehran expired.Maritime forceAs U.S-Iran tensions escalate, oil prices have surged.There are concerns Iran may attempt to disrupt international oil flow in the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that serves as a crucial chokepoint for global oil supplies.The strait was the focus of U.S.-Iran tensions last year, when six oil tankers and a U.S. drone were attacked in the area. The U.S. blamed Iran for the attacks – a claim denied by Tehran.The U.S. has attempted to form a broad international military coalition to help protect merchant ships in the strait.South Korea has for months said it is considering participating. Reports say Seoul could extend the scope of an existing anti-piracy unit operating off the coast of Somalia, possibly to include the Strait of Hormuz. The unit includes a 4,500-ton destroyer, an anti-submarine helicopter, and three speed boats.It may be difficult for South Korea to reject U.S. requests to join the mission, in part because of South Korea’s close military relationship with the U.S. and its past commitments to international peacekeeping missions, say analysts.South Korea hosts over 28,000 U.S. troops. South Korean soldiers fought alongside U.S. soldiers in Vietnam. South Korea also sent non-combat military personnel to help with U.S.-led missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, though Seoul’s Afghan operations were scaled back after the Taliban kidnapped a South Korean church group in Afghanistan, murdering two of its members.”It will be tough not to participate,” says Lee Jae-Seung, a professor at Korea University who has written about international energy policy. “However, this can also create a hostile relationship with certain countries, so the government needs to be careful.”
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Ukrainian Plane Crashes in Iran
A Ukrainian commercial jet crashed shortly after taking off from an airport in Iran’s capital on Wednesday killing everyone on board.
Iranian state media reported the plane was carrying 170 passengers and crew, and quoted emergency officials and the head of Iran’s Red Crescent saying there were no survivors.One of the engines of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752, a Boeing 737-800 plane that crashed after taking off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport on January 8, 2020, is seen in this still image taken from Iran Press footage.Authorities are investigating what caused the plane to go down. The state media reports said mechanical issues were the suspected cause, but there has been no official confirmation.
The plane’s manufacturer, Boeing, said it is aware of reports of the crash and is gathering more information.
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Storms Bring Relief and Danger to Australian Wildfires
Thunderstorms and showers brought some relief for firefighters battling deadly wildfires across Australia’s drought-parched east coast on Wednesday, but also raised concerns that lightning will spark more fires before dangerous hot and windy conditions return. Around 2,300 firefighters in New South Wales state were making the most of relatively benign conditions by frantically consolidating containment lines around more than 110 blazes and patrolling for lightning strikes, state Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said.
“Unfortunately with lightning strikes, it’s not always the next day they pop up,” Fitzsimmons told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“They can smolder around in trees and in root systems for a couple of days and pop up under drier, hotter conditions, so we are very mindful of that as we head into Friday,” he added.
The unprecedented fire crisis in southeast Australia that has killed 25 people, destroyed 2,000 homes and shrouded major cities in smoke has focused many Australians on how the nation adapts to climate change. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has faced fierce criticism both domestically and internationally for downplaying the need for his government to address climate change, which experts say helps supercharge the blazes.
The center-left opposition Labor Party has made political capital from the crisis by promising more ambitious policies than the ruling conservative coalition to tackle climate change. Opposition climate spokesman Mark Butler wants the government to allow a debate on climate change in Parliament when it returns in February.
“Hopefully we could fashion a bipartisan position,” Butler told ABC. The two sides last held a bipartisan position on climate change in 2007, and have remained bitterly divided ever since on issues such as making carbon polluters pay for their emissions.
Labor had pledged to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 45% below 2005 levels by 2030 and achieve zero emissions by 2050 if it had won last year’s elections.
The coalition government has committed to reduce emissions by 26% to 28% by 2030 and warns that Labor’s more ambitious target would wreck the economy. The government argues that Australia is responsible for only 1.3% of global emissions and more ambitious targets would not ease the current fire crisis, which follows Australia’s hottest and driest year on record.
The unfolding disaster in Australia, which is likely to continue throughout the Southern Hemisphere summer, has galvanized calls for more global action on climate change.
Elton John and actor Chris Hemsworth are among the celebrities donating big bucks to help aid the firefighting efforts. Hemsworth, an Australian who lives in the drought-affected New South Wales town of Byron Bay, wrote on Twitter that he was donating $1 million and asked his followers to show support. “Every penny counts,” he wrote.
John announced during his Farewell Yellow Brick Road concert in Sydney on Tuesday that he will also donate $1 million. The singer said he wanted to bring attention to the devastation that wildfires have caused, saying it has reached a “biblical scale.”
Hemsworth and John joins a growing list of celebrities, including Pink, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, who have pledged to donate toward relief efforts.
Prince Charles, who is next in line to become the British monarch and king of Australia, said in a video message from Scotland that he and his wife Camilla had been in despair watching the infernos burn across Australia.
“I fear this is a hopelessly inadequate way of trying to get a message to all of you that both my wife and myself are thinking of you so very much at such an incredibly difficult time and in such impossible and terrifying circumstances,” the prince said.
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Stacey Abrams Book on Voting Rights to be Published in June
Stacey Abrams has a new book coming out next summer that will focus on her signature cause, voting rights.
Henry Holt and Company announced Tuesday that “Our Time is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America” is scheduled for June 2020. Based on research and her run for Georgia governor in 2018, her book calls for reforms that make it easier for people to vote. Abrams, a Democrat, narrowly lost to Republican Brian Kemp last year in a campaign that raised numerous questions about everything from the purging of voter rolls to the limited access to voting booths in black precincts.
“The future of our democracy depends on correcting all that is wrong with our elections process, including the insidious practice of voter suppression,” Abrams said in a statement. “And we must remind voters of their power to be seen and to demand action not simply on election days but every day.”
Abrams, 46, is widely regarded as a rising star in the Democratic Party and has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate in the 2020 election. Now heading the voting rights organization Fair Fight, she is a former Georgia state legislator and author of “Lead From the Outside.” She was the first African American woman to be a major party nominee for governor.
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Democrats Focus on Wisconsin for 2020 Convention, Election
The head of the Democratic National Convention promised Tuesday that the event in Milwaukee this summer to choose the party’s presidential nominee will be focused more on substance than spectacle as part of a strategy to be more successful in key states such as Wisconsin.
Democrats failed in 2016 to communicate as effectively as they could have in key states, said Joe Solmonese, a longtime Democratic strategist and executive officer for the convention. He spoke to reporters at a media walk-through event Tuesday at the Fiserv Forum, six months before the July convention.
The event and more than 1,000-related events will bring an estimated 50,000 people to Milwaukee, bringing added emphasis to the importance of Wisconsin in the presidential race.
“We are the center of the political universe right now,” said Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, a Milwaukee native. He, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Treasurer Sarah Godlewski spoke with reporters at the event.
Evers said that in order to win, Democrats need a better turnout in Milwaukee and among young people than in 2016.
“The message is focusing on some really specific issues, making sure we do it in a pragmatic way,” Evers said.
Barnes said Democrats need to “show up everywhere” in Wisconsin, not just Milwaukee, and communicate better with their core supporters than they did during the last presidential campaign.
“That matters,” he said. “People need to know you care about them.”
Having the convention in Milwaukee is more than just a “great party,” it’s also an organizing opportunity to reach thousands of volunteers, said David Bergstein, battleground state communications director for the DNC.
“We can’t take anything for granted,” Bergstein said. “We have to reach out to every possible voter that we can.”
Trump campaign spokeswoman Anna Kelly said holding the convention in Milwaukee will highlight Democratic policies and “only remind Wisconsin voters why they delivered their 10 electoral votes to President Trump in 2016 and why they will do so again in November.”
Wisconsin, along with Michigan and Pennsylvania, are part of the so-called “blue wall” traditional Democratic strength that Trump broke through to win in 2016.
Both parties are pouring millions of dollars into the states, anticipating they’ll be just as critical in the 2020 presidential contest.
Milwaukee’s hosting of the convention has symbolic significance for Democrats, as the party’s 2016 nominee, Hillary Clinton, never campaigned in the state after losing the primary. That was one of the factors cited as why she lost the state to Donald Trump by less than 23,000 votes. Holding the convention in Milwaukee sends a clear signal that Democrats don’t plan to overlook Wisconsin this time around.
Trump was the first Republican presidential candidate to carry the state since 1984. Other than Barack Obama’s two wins, Wisconsin has been decided by less than one percentage point in three of the past five presidential elections.
Solmonese pledged that the convention will reflect what voters in key states like Wisconsin will want to see and hear.
“When we bring the convention to Milwaukee, we’re going to remind the American people of what Democrats stand for,” he said.
Organizers painted Milwaukee as a vibrant, up-and-coming urban center, while giving a nod to its blue-collar roots.
To show off the city, convention organizers provided tours of Milwaukee landmarks and neighborhoods to hundreds of members of the media from around the world who will be covering the event July 13-16.
It will be the first time in more than a century that Democrats will nominate their presidential candidate in a Midwestern city other than Chicago. Instead, the spotlight will shine for a week on a metro area of about 1.6 million people.
The presidential campaigns have been relatively quiet in Wisconsin in recent months, but that’s going to change quickly. Trump has scheduled a Jan. 14 rally in Milwaukee, the same night as a Democratic presidential candidate debate in neighboring Iowa. Presidential voting kicks off in Iowa with its caucuses on Feb. 3. The Wisconsin primary is April 7.
Democrats will nominate their presidential nominee in Milwaukee. Republicans are set to gather in Charlotte, the largest city in battleground North Carolina, on Aug. 24-27.
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Follow Scott Bauer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sbauerAP
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US Trade Deficit Falls to Lowest Level in More Than 3 Years
The U.S. trade deficit fell in November to the lowest level in more than three years as U.S. exports rose while imports declined, putting the country on track to see the first annual decline in the trade deficit in six years.The Commerce Department said Tuesday that the gap between what America sells and what it buys abroad narrowed by 8.2% in November to $43.1 billion, the smallest deficit since October 2016.Through the first 11 months of 2019, the trade deficit is 0.7% smaller than in the same period in 2018. If that trend holds in December, the country will finish 2019 with a deficit slightly below last year’s $627.7 billion imbalance, which had been a 14.1% jump over 2017.That would mark the first year-to-year improvement since the deficit narrowed in 2013.Economists said the third monthly decline in the trade deficit should give a boost to overall growth as measured by the gross domestic product in the fourth quarter.Andrew Hunter, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics, said he believed GDP growth would come in around 2% in the October-December period with the trade improvement providing much of that strength.But he cautioned that the improvement was built on a number of special factors that will not be repeated, such as the end of the strike at General Motors which boosted auto exports. Still, he said with global manufacturing starting to improve, the worst of the trade slump may be over.”The stabilization in global manufacturing activity and the trade truce with China suggest that the drag on the U.S. economy from weak growth overseas has now run its course,” Hunter said.China, U.S. tradeThe politically sensitive deficit with China declined by 15.7% to $26.4 billion. Through the first 11 months of 2019, the U.S. trade deficit with China, the largest with any country, is 16.2% lower than the same period in 2018.Trade flows between the world’s two biggest economies have been disrupted this year by the tit-for-tat trade war as both nations have imposed tariffs on the other nation’s products.Trump withdrew a new round of tariffs covering popular consumer items such as cellphones that had been scheduled to go into effect in December after progress was made in reaching a so-called phase one trade agreement. That deal is scheduled to be signed on Jan. 15 in Washington, but business executives are braced for more trade turbulence if the phase two talks covering more contentious U.S. demands do not go well.While Trump sees the U.S. trade deficit as a sign of economic weakness that can be overcome with tougher trade deals, mainstream economists said the deficit reflects an economic reality that doesn’t yield much to changes in government policy: Americans consume more than they produce, and imports fill the gap.Petroleum, goods Imports and exports of petroleum both fell in November but imports declined by a larger amount, pushing up the size of the U.S. surplus in petroleum to $832 million, the third straight month the country has run a petroleum surplus and the largest amount on record going back to 1978.In November, the United States ran a $63.9 billion deficit in the trade of goods such as autos, food and appliances. But it ran a $20.8 billion surplus in services, including education and banking.The deficit with Japan rose to $5.4 billion in November while the deficit with the countries of the European Union declined to $13.1 billion. America’s deficit with Mexico rose to $8.3 billion while the deficit with Canada totaled $1.4 billion, a drop from $3.3 billion in October.
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Putin to Visit Istanbul Amid Increasing Differences Over Syria, Libya
Russian President Vladimir Putin is visiting Istanbul Wednesday, where he will meet his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Bilateral relations have dramatically improved much to Ankara’s western allies’ concern, but escalating regional differences threaten to sour those bilateral ties.Putin is officially going to Istanbul to inaugurate a key new gas pipeline between Russia and Turkey.The Turk Stream pipeline will supply Istanbul with Russian gas. “This ceremony tomorrow will mark a new beginning of Russian gas supply increasing to Turkey and European markets,” says Mehmet Ogutcu, head of the London Energy Club.Turkey, as a market and transit country for Russian energy, is widely seen as the bedrock of deepening bilateral ties.Former Turkish ambassador Mithat Rende says personal chemistry can facilitate efforts to resolve escalating tensions. (Dorian Jones/VOA)”Cooperation in the field of energy is high on the agenda of Turkish Russian agenda,” said former Turkish ambassador Mithat Rende, who is now an energy expert. “It’s important because we are not oil-rich or gas-rich, and we are quite dependent on gas and oil.”While energy cooperation continues to deepen, there are rising bilateral tensions. Turkey is facing a new Syrian refugee crisis, because of a Russian-backed offensive by Damascus forces, against the rebels’ last enclave in the Idlib province.”We are seeing signs of friction over Syria, the Idlib situation is quite worrisome, and Russia is bombing there, and there is a huge exodus of people fleeing toward the Turkish border,” said Ogutcu. “If you have another 250,000 refugees crashing the border and coming, that will have serious domestic implications for Erdogan, as well.”With Turkey already hosting more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees, there is growing Turkish public discontent. A series of recent local election setbacks suffered by Erdogan’s ruling AKP Party is widely blamed on a toxic combination of a slowing economy and anger over the ongoing presence of refugees.More than 3 million people are trapped in Idlib, and analysts suggest it will top the agenda of Erdogan’s talks with Putin.Truckloads of civilians flee a Syrian military offensive in Idlib province on the main road near Hazano, Syria, Dec. 24, 2019.”Idlib is the biggest issue,” concurs Huseyin Bagci of Ankara’s Middle East Technical University “Idlib will remain an unresolved conflict between Russia and Turkey. Idlib is a big threat to Turkey; there is a real fear of a huge wave of refugees.”The Libyan civil war is another potential flashpoint. Erdogan is sending soldiers in support of the Tripoli-based government, which is fighting forces of General Khalifa Haftar backed by Russian mercenaries linked to the Kremlin.”It looks like General Haftar gets a very strong push by forces supported by Putin. So it seems the regime supported by Turkey is losing,” said Ogutcu.”So Erdogan will be looking for common ground so that Turkey, Russia, Algeria, Tunisia can work together. But I am not sure Putin is ready for that. It’s going to be a hard bargain.”The widely reported personal chemistry between Erdogan and Putin has overcome previous policy differences. Experts say that chemistry likely will be called upon again in the latest escalating rivalries.”The two leaders, they get together very often. They seem to get along very well,” said Rende. “So it’s important to try to maintain a dialogue aimed at narrowing the differences and trying to find a common denominator in the interests of the people of the region and the interests of Syria as a whole.”Sorry, but your player cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline. Embed” />CopyThe dynamics of the Putin-Erdogan relationship are increasingly surrounded in a veil of secrecy.”There is good personal chemistry between Erdogan and Putin. But we don’t really know what they are discussing. It’s not a normal state-to-state relationship. It’s more a personal relationship at the highest level,” said Rende.”When they meet, it’s usually only with their closest aides present or just a translator,” he added. “I don’t think the establishment, at least on the Turkish side, is involved in what is discussed between the two leaders. But there is an imbalance in favor of Russia in relations. The relationship is not of equals. It’s not balanced; it cannot be long-lived, and both sides have to understand that.”Analysts point out, at least in the short term, there appear strong incentives for both Ankara and Moscow side to continue working together. However, escalating tensions over conflicting regional interests are likely to continue to challenge bilateral relations.Istanbul is in the grip of a winter storm that kept a visiting Russian cruiser at sea. For Erdogan and Putin, they will be hoping such weather is not a harbinger for their talks Wednesday.
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