Russia’s Lavrov begins Africa tour in Guinea

Russia’s Lavrov begins Africa tour in Guinea
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (L) shaking hand with his Guinean counterpart Morissanda Kouyate (R) during their meeting in Conakry. (AFP)
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Updated 03 June 2024
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Russia’s Lavrov begins Africa tour in Guinea

Russia’s Lavrov begins Africa tour in Guinea

CONAKRY: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was in Guinea on Monday on the first leg of an African tour aimed at buttressing Moscow’s influence in the world’s poorest continent.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced the visit on the Telegram social media app with a photo of Lavrov arriving at Conakry airport. It was his first visit to Guinea since 2013.

He was received by Guinean counterpart Morissanda Kouyate. 

Lavrov planned to meet Guinea’s junta leader Mamady Doumbouya, in power since a 2021 coup, Guinea’s Foreign Ministry said.

Guinea is poor despite considerable mineral and natural resources and has endured decades of dictatorial rule.

State news agency Tass said Guinea would be part of a tour of African countries but did not give details on which other nations Lavrov would visit.

However, Russian news agency afrinz.ru said he was expected in Chad on Wednesday “at the head of an important delegation.”

The same article also said that a trip to Burkina Faso was possible, without providing a specific date.

In July, Russian President Vladimir Putin invited African leaders to a summit in Saint Petersburg.


Mauritius holds election with cost of living on everyone’s minds

Mauritius holds election with cost of living on everyone’s minds
Updated 29 sec ago
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Mauritius holds election with cost of living on everyone’s minds

Mauritius holds election with cost of living on everyone’s minds

PORT LOUIS: Mauritius was holding a parliamentary election on Sunday with Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth and his main rivals all promising to tackle a cost of living crisis in the Indian Ocean archipelago.
Polling centers opened at 7 a.m. (0300 GMT), with small numbers of voters seen moving to check their names in the register before picking their ballots, a Reuters witness said. Voting was expected to end at 1400 GMT.
The country of about 1.3 million people markets itself as a link between Africa and Asia, deriving most of its revenues from a flourishing offshore financial sector, tourism and textiles.
It has forecast 6.5 percent economic growth this year compared with 7.0 percent last year but many voters are not feeling the benefits.
Jugnauth’s Alliance Lepep coalition has promised to raise minimum wages, increase pensions and reduce value-added tax on some basic goods.
It says it will use payments from the UK under an October agreement for Britain to cede the Chagos Islands while retaining the US-UK Diego Garcia air base.
Mauritius also receives aid from China.
“The alliance led by the prime minister is selling the economic prosperity card, with promises of more money to different segments of the population,” said political analyst Subash Gobine.
The opposition is also pledging to increase pensions as well as introduce free transport and Internet services and reduce fuel prices.
It is dominated by the Alliance du Changement coalition led by Navin Ramgoolam and two other parties running in the Linion Reform alliance, whose leaders, Nando Bodha and Roshi Bhadain, plan to alternate as prime minister if they win.
“It is the youths who will make the difference in these elections,” voter David Stafford, 36, said in the capital Port Louis, explaining that people were looking for economic innovation and job opportunities as much as fiscal changes.
Just over a million people are expected to choose lawmakers for the islands’ 62 seats in parliament for the next five years from a list of 68 parties and five political alliances.
Last week, Jugnauth’s government blocked social media platforms until a day after the election, when results are expected, citing national security concerns after conversations between public figures were leaked. It lifted the ban a day later after opposition parties criticized the move.
Whichever party or coalition gets more than half the seats in parliament also wins the prime minister’s post.


Canada reports first case of bird flu in a person

Canada reports first case of bird flu in a person
Updated 37 min 13 sec ago
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Canada reports first case of bird flu in a person

Canada reports first case of bird flu in a person
  • The person is receiving treatment in a children’s hospital for H5 avian flu
  • The source of contagion and any possible contacts are being investigated

MONTREAL: A teenager in British Columbia has become the first person in Canada to test positive for bird flu, authorities said Saturday.
This person is receiving treatment in a children’s hospital for H5 avian flu, the provincial health department said.
The source of contagion and any possible contacts are being investigated.
Officials said the infection probably came from a bird or animal.
“This is a rare event,” British Columbia Health Officer Bonnie Henry said.
“We are conducting a thorough investigation to fully understand the source of exposure here in B.C.”
Bird flu is most commonly found in wild birds and poultry, but has more recently been detected in mammals, with an outbreak in cattle seen across the United States this year.
It can occasionally infect humans through close contact or contaminated environments.
Scientists have voiced concern about the growing number of mammals becoming infected by bird flu, even if cases in humans remain rare.
They fear a high rate of transmission could facilitate a mutation of the virus, which could enable it to be passed from one human to another.
In September officials said a person in Missouri became the first in the United States to test positive for bird flu without a known exposure to infected animals.
All previous bird flu cases in the United States have been among farmworkers, including the very first, in 2022.
In the decades since H5 has been found in humans, there have been rare cases where an animal source cannot be identified.
But there has so far not been evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission, which would significantly increase the threat level.


Trump completes swing state sweep by taking Arizona

Trump completes swing state sweep by taking Arizona
Updated 10 November 2024
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Trump completes swing state sweep by taking Arizona

Trump completes swing state sweep by taking Arizona
  • CNN and NBC projected Donald Trump had obtained Arizona’s 11 electoral votes
  • Scale and strength of Trump’s comeback sent shockwaves through the defeated Democratic Party

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump won the state of Arizona in this week’s US presidential election, US TV networks projected on Saturday, completing the Republican’s sweep of all seven swing states.
After four days of counting in the southwest state with a large Hispanic population, CNN and NBC projected Trump had obtained its 11 electoral votes as he defeated Vice President Kamala Harris.
Outgoing President Joe Biden scored a narrow but crucial victory in Arizona in 2020 that condemned Trump to defeat after his first term in office.
The scale and strength of Trump’s comeback, which also saw the real estate tycoon win the popular vote by a margin of around four million votes, has sent shockwaves through the defeated Democratic Party.
The Republicans have already regained control of the Senate and look well set to retain a majority in the House of Representatives thanks to support from white working class voters and a large share of Hispanics.
CNN has called Republican victories for 213 seats in the House, with 218 needed for a majority in the lower chamber.
The networks’ figures show Democrats on 205 seats, although senior party figures are still hoping they can pull off a slim victory that would significantly curtail Trump’s powers.
NBC sees the Republicans with 212 seats so far, and 204 for the Democrats.
The other six swing states won by Trump in the presidential race are Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada and Georgia.
The latest good news for Trump came as the White House said Biden would meet with the president-elect at the White House on Wednesday.
Trump — who never conceded his 2020 loss — sealed a remarkable comeback to the presidency in the November 5 vote, cementing what is set to be more than a decade of US politics dominated by his hard-line right-wing stance.
This type of meeting between the outgoing and incoming presidents was considered customary, but Trump did not invite Biden for one after making unsubstantiated election fraud claims that culminated in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot.
Trump also broke with precedent by skipping Biden’s inauguration, but the White House has said the Democratic president will attend the upcoming ceremony.
Biden’s meeting with Trump will take place in the Oval Office, the White House said Saturday, with the clock ticking down to the ex-president’s return to power.
Trump, the 78-year-old ex-reality TV star, won wider margins than before, despite a criminal conviction, two impeachments while in office and warnings from his former chief of staff that he is a fascist.
Exit polls showed that voters’ top concerns remained the economy and inflation that spiked under Biden in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.


Ukraine commander says challenges increase in war with Russia

Ukraine commander says challenges increase in war with Russia
Updated 10 November 2024
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Ukraine commander says challenges increase in war with Russia

Ukraine commander says challenges increase in war with Russia
  • Russian advances focus on two cities in Donetsk region
  • North Korean troops prepare to join Russia’s campaign

KYIV: Ukraine’s top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Saturday that Ukraine faced increasing difficulties in its fight against Moscow’s invasion as Russian forces advance and North Korean troops prepare to join the Kremlin’s campaign.
Syrskyi, relating comments he made to a top US general, said outnumbered Ukrainian forces faced Russian attacks in key sectors of the more than 2-1/2-year-old war with Russia.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a nightly address that Ukraine’s military command was focused on defending around the town of Kurakhove — a target of Russia’s advances along with Pokrovsk, a logistical hub to the north.
He decried strikes on civilian targets and urged European countries to provide more air defense systems.
Syrskyi, writing on Facebook, said he told General Christopher Cavoli, who heads the US European Command: “The situation remains challenging and shows signs of escalation.
“The enemy, leveraging its numerical advantage, is continuing offensive actions and is focusing its main efforts on the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove directions,” Syrskyi said.
Russian forces, intent on capturing Ukraine’s eastern Donbas province, made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, have been regularly capturing new villages as they move toward Pokrovsk.
Ukraine’s general staff, in a late evening report on Saturday, said 40 armed clashes had occurred around villages near Kurakhove.
Both Ukrainian and Russian military bloggers on Friday said Russian forces sought to encircle the city.
The United States, Western European countries and Ukraine say that North Korea, which entered a mutual defense pact with Russia in June, has sent troops to its ally.
“We have numerous reports of North Korean soldiers preparing to participate in combat operations alongside Russian Forces,” Syrskyi said.
Zelensky has said 11,000 North Korean soldiers have arrived in Russia, specifically in the southern Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces staged a large incursion in August.
Both Zelensky and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said this week that North Korean soldiers had already been involved in combat there.
The United States has been by far the biggest contributor of aid and arms to Ukraine, though Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election has raised questions about future policy.
Zelensky was among the first leaders to congratulate Trump after his victory on Tuesday. The Ukrainian president described his telephone conversation with Trump as “wonderful” and said contacts would continue.


Frustrated Americans await the economic changes they voted for with Trump

Frustrated Americans await the economic changes they voted for with Trump
Updated 10 November 2024
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Frustrated Americans await the economic changes they voted for with Trump

Frustrated Americans await the economic changes they voted for with Trump
  • In returning Trump to power, tens of millions of Americans expressed their confidence that he can restore the low prices and economic stability they recall from his first term
  • Inflation has since plummeted and is nearly back to normal. Yet Americans are frustrated over still-high prices

WASHINGTON: Fed up with high prices and unimpressed with an economy that by just about any measure is a healthy one, Americans demanded change when they voted for president.
They could get it.
President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to topple many of the Biden administration’s economic policies. Trump campaigned on promises to impose huge tariffs on foreign goods, slash taxes on individuals and businesses and deport millions of undocumented immigrants working in the United States.
With their votes, tens of millions of Americans expressed their confidence that Trump can restore the low prices and economic stability they recall from his first term — at least until the COVID-19 recession of 2020 paralyzed the economy and then a powerful recovery sent inflation soaring. Inflation has since plummeted and is nearly back to normal. Yet Americans are frustrated over still-high prices.
“His track record proved to be, on balance, positive, and people look back now and think: ‘Oh, OK. Let’s try that again,’ ” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former White House economic adviser, director of the Congressional Budget Office and now president of the conservative American Action Forum think tank.
Since Election Day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has skyrocketed more than 1,700 points, largely on expectations that tax cuts and a broad loosening of regulations will accelerate economic growth and swell corporate profits.
Maybe they will. Yet many economists warn that Trump’s plans are likely to worsen the inflation he’s vowed to eradicate, drive up the federal debt and eventually slow growth.
Trump policies could boost inflation
The Peterson Institute for International Economics, a leading think tank, has estimated that Trump’s policies would slash the US gross domestic product — the total output of goods and services — by between $1.5 trillion and $6.4 trillion through 2028. Peterson also estimated that Trump’s proposals would drive prices sharply higher within two years: Inflation, which would otherwise come in at 1.9 percent in 2026, would instead jump to between 6 percent and 9.3 percent if Trump’s policies were enacted in full.
Last month, 23 Nobel-winning economists signed a letter warning that a Trump administration “will lead to higher prices, larger deficits, and greater inequality.”
“Among the most important determinants of economic success,” they wrote, “are the rule of law and economic and political certainty, and Trump threatens all of these.’’
Trump is inheriting an economy that, despite frustratingly high prices, looks fundamentally strong. Growth came in at a healthy 2.8 percent annual rate from July through September. Unemployment is 4.1 percent — quite low by historic standards.
Among wealthy countries, only Spain will experience faster growth this year, according to the International Monetary Fund’s forecast. The United States is the economic “envy of the world,” the Economist magazine recently declared.
The Federal Reserve is so confident that US inflation is slowing toward its 2 percent target that it cut its benchmark rate in September and again this week.
Americans are deeply unhappy with prices
Consumers, though, still bear the scars of the inflationary surge. Prices on average are still 19 percent higher than they were before inflation began to accelerate in 2021. Grocery bills and rent hikes are still causing hardships, especially for lower-income households. Though inflation-adjusted hourly wages have risen for more than two years, they’re still below where they were before President Joe Biden took office.
Voters took their frustration to the polls. According to AP VoteCast, a sweeping survey of more than 120,000 voters nationwide, 3 in 10 voters said their family was “falling behind’’ financially, up from 2 in 10 in 2020. About 9 in 10 voters were at least somewhat worried about the cost of groceries, 8 in 10 about the cost of health care, housing or gasoline.
“I don’t think it’s either deep or complicated,’’ Holtz-Eakin said. “The real problem is the Biden-Harris team made people worse off, and they were very angry about it, and we saw the result.’’
The irony is that mainstream economists fear Trump’s remedies will make price levels worse, not better.
Tariffs are a tax on consumers
The centerpiece of Trump’s economic agenda is taxing imports. It’s an approach that he asserts will shrink America’s trade deficits and force other countries to grant concessions to the United States. In his first term, he increased tariffs on Chinese goods, and he’s now promised much more of the same: Trump wants to raise tariffs on Chinese goods to 60 percent and impose a “universal’’ tax of 10 percent or 20 percent on all other imports.
Trump insists that other countries pay tariffs. In fact, American companies pay them — and then typically pass along their higher costs to their customers via higher prices. Which is why taxing imports is normally inflationary. Worse, other countries usually retaliate with tariffs on American goods, thereby hurting US exporters.
Kimberly Clausing and Mary Lovely of the Peterson Institute have calculated that Trump’s proposed 60 percent tax on Chinese imports and his high-end 20 percent tariff on everything else would impose an after-tax loss on a typical American household of $2,600 annually.
The economic damage would likely spread globally. Researchers at Capital Economics have calculated that a 10 percent US tariff would hurt Mexico hardest. Germany and China would also suffer. All of that depends, of course, on whether he actually does what he said during the campaign.
Deportations would rattle the US job market
Trump has threatened to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, potentially undermining one of the factors that allowed the United States to tame inflation without falling into recession.
The Congressional Budget Office reported that net immigration — arrivals minus departures — reached 3.3 million in 2023. Employers needed the new arrivals. After the economy rebounded from the pandemic recession, companies struggled to hire enough workers, especially because so many native-born baby boomers were retiring.
Immigrants filled the gap. Over the past four years, 73 percent of those who entered the labor force were foreign born.
Economists Wendy Edelberg and Tara Watson of the Brookings Institution’s Hamilton Project found that by raising the supply of workers, the influx of immigrants allowed the United States to generate jobs without overheating and accelerating inflation.
The Peterson Institute calculates that the deportation of all 8.3 million immigrants believed to be working illegally in the United States would slash US GDP by $5.1 trillion and raise inflation by 9.1 percentage points by 2028
Big tax cuts could swell the federal deficit
Trump has proposed extending 2017 tax cuts for individuals that were set to expire after 2025 and restoring tax breaks for businesses that were being reduced. He’s also called for ending taxes on Social Security benefits, overtime pay and tips as well as further reducing the corporate income tax rate for US manufacturers.
The University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Wharton Budget Model estimates that Trump’s tax policies would i ncrease budget deficits by $5.8 trillion over 10 years. Even if the tax cuts generated enough growth to recoup some of the lost tax revenue, Penn Wharton calculated, deficits would still increase by more than $4.1 trillion from 2025 through 2034.
The federal budget is already out of balance. An aging population has required increased spending on Social Security and Medicare. And past tax cuts have shrunk government revenue.
Holtz-Eakin said he worries that Trump has little appetite for taking the steps — cuts to Social Security and Medicare, tax increases or some combination — needed to bring the federal budget meaningfully closer to balance.
“It’s not going to happen,” Holtz-Eakin said.