When politicians try to win votes by blaming foreigners for stealing jobs, economists say they ignore technology, which is what is really replacing many of these jobs. However the issue remains that many workers and small businesses do not benefit from foreign trade as much as corporations do, and that is something Vietnam hopes to fix.

Hanoi is trying to avoid the mistakes of the U.S., Britain, and other countries where lower income citizens felt left behind by global trade, and one part of its approach is to focus on small business loans. Vietnam hopes to make loans available to family businesses and other small businesses, which in many cases do not have the right connections or the expertise to get these loans.

Last week the State Bank of Vietnam cut interest rates in an effort to encourage banks to lend to the less advantaged. The central bank said short term loan rates for small and medium size businesses would decrease to 6% from 6.5%. This decreased rate also applies to other priority areas, such as agriculture, high tech businesses, and supporting industries.

That last category, which can include small businesses, is important because Vietnam hopes to get more domestic companies to supply to foreign ones. That would get them involved in foreign trade, thus spreading the benefits of trade more widely across the Southeast Asian nation.

“Local producers and suppliers urgently need efficient financing to support their trade cycles with global partners,” Julius Caesar Parrenas, who coordinates a financial forum under an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation business organization, said. He added that there is a need to establish a finance ecosystem for “emerging markets like Vietnam, where trade is growing.”

Organizations like his should provide “government agencies with good insight to improve an effective regulatory framework for supply chain finance in Vietnam,” Ha Thu Giang, who is deputy director of the credit policies for economic sectors department at the State Bank of Vietnam, said.

The government is also working with donor agencies to increase accessibility of loans. It worked with the U.S. Agency for International Development in Hanoi, for instance, to have a guide published this year that helps small businesses find sources of financing.

Advocates say financing is needed because small business sometimes do not have the capital needed to expand, or to tide them over so they can cover the cost of meeting large orders and wait for payment. However critics caution that too much focus on financing is risky, and that small businesses are right to worry about taking on more debt than they can handle.

The private sector is interested in lending to Vietnam’s mom and pop businesses too. Validus Capital is a peer-to-business lending platform based in Singapore that expanded to Indonesia and Vietnam this year.

“We want to provide growing SMEs [small and medium enterprises] faster access to zero-collateral financing,” Vikas Nahata, who is co-founder and executive chairman of Validus Capital, said.

A lot of nations say they want “inclusive trade” so that less advantaged people do not feel left out of the benefits of globalization. For Vietnam, small business loans are one way to get there.

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From: MeNeedIt

Hong Kong pro-democracy forces won a landslide victory in local elections Sunday. Though primarily symbolic, the vote represents a stunning rebuke to Beijing, as VOA’s Bill Gallo reports from Hong Kong.

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From: MeNeedIt

Uruguay will have to wait a few more days to find out who will emerge as the winner of Sunday’s presidential election.

“There was never such a tight ballot,” Jose Arocena, head of the country’s Electoral Court said.  

With almost all of the ballots counted, the conservative National Party’s Luis Lacalle Pou, who is 46, has about 30,000 more votes than ruling leftist Broad Front’s Daniel Martinez, who is 62.    

Opinion polls since October’s first round had indicated that Pou would comfortably win the run off.  

Uruguayan presidents are not allowed to serve consecutive terms, but Broad Front has been at the helm of the country since 2005.

Outgoing president Tabare Vazquez said Uruguay will not fall victim to the turmoil some South American countries are experiencing.  He predicted a smooth transfer of power.  

“The people of Uruguay can rest assured that we are going to achieve this,” Vazquez said.

Despite the polls predicting that the center-right Pou would win, Jenny Pribble, an associate professor of political science at the University of Richmond in the United States, said Broad Front remains popular.  “Their signature policy initiatives – public health expansion, the creation of a national care system, marriage equality and the legalization of abortion and cannabis – advanced citizen rights and have earned the party a strong following.”  

A slowing economy, rising unemployment and crime were the major issues of concern to voters.

Results are not expected until the end of the week.

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From: MeNeedIt

More than three dozen people are reported dead in a series of security-related incidents in Afghanistan, including a fatal attack on a U.N. vehicle in the capital, Kabul. Several of the dead were civilians.

Afghan officials said Sunday that Taliban rebels assaulted a security outpost in central Daykundi province overnight, killing eight soldiers and wounding four others.

Senior provincial authorities claimed the ensuing firefight also killed at least 20 assailants, though the Taliban disputed those claims.

Meanwhile, doctors and residents in western Farah province said an Afghan government air strike has killed at least nine civilians and injured several others.

The mainstream local TOLO news channel reported Sunday relatives took to the streets with bodies of the victims to protest and demand an immediate investigation into the deadly incident.

In Kabul, interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said one foreign national was killed and five people were injured by a hand grenade hurled at a U.N. vehicle in the Makrorayan area of the city. The spokesman did not provide details but local news reports suggest the death toll may climb.

The United Nations condemned the attack and confirmed the death of an international employee in the Sunday night attack. It said two other staffers, including a foreigner and an Afghan, were injured.

“No further information about the identity of our international colleague who was killed, nor of those injured, an Afghan and another international colleague, will be released in the immediate future,” said a U.N.statement.

The world body demanded Afghan authorities swiftly investigate the attack and bring the perpetrators to justice.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack. Both the Taliban and militants linked to the Afghan branch of the Islamic State terrorist group have taken credit for previous attacks in Kabul.

TOLO quoted protesters in Farah province saying the worshipers were leaving a mosque in the Pusht Rod district after offering Saturday evening prayers when the air strike hit them.

Provincial authorities told the media outlet anti-insurgency operations were carried out in Posht Rod and a nearby district, but they would not confirm whether the action caused any civilian casualties.

Civilians continue to bear the brunt of the Afghan war. The United Nations has documented around 2,600 Afghan civilian deaths in the first nine months of 2019 while more than 5,600 were injured.

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From: MeNeedIt

Interim Bolivian President Jeanine Anez agreed to withdraw the military from protest areas
and repeal a law giving them broad discretion in the use of force as part of a preliminary “pacification” deal struck early on Sunday with protest leaders.

In exchange for the concessions, more than a dozen leaders of indigenous groups, farmers and unions who took part in the talks agreed to order their followers to end their
demonstrations.

The 12-point pact follows the unanimous passage of legislation by Bolivia’s Congress on Saturday to annul contested elections and pave the way for a new vote without former
President Evo Morales, a major breakthrough in the political crisis. Anez signed the bill into law on Sunday.

At least 30 people have died in clashes between protesters and security forces since the Oct. 20 election, which was dogged by allegations of vote-rigging. Most have died since Morales stepped down on Nov. 10.

Social leaders blame the military for the deaths. Anez’s government denies the charge.
“If there’s no need for the army to be in the streets, it won’t be,” Anez said in comments broadcast on state TV at the end of the talks at the presidential palace.

“It’s due to extreme necessity that the army was deployed,” she said. “It wasn’t to abuse anyone or to show power.”

As part of the agreement, military officers will remain on guard at strategic state companies to prevent vandalism. The deal also commits the government to protect social leaders and
lawmakers from persecution, provide compensation for family members of people killed in clashes and free those arrested in protests.

Anti-government protesters lifted road blockades — including one at a natural gas plant where nine people were killed in clashes this week — ahead of the weekend’s talks.
Talks resume on Sunday at 5 p.m. to finalize a bill that Anez said she would send to Congress for passage later in the day. Sunday’s talks will include for the first time Andronico Rodriguez, an influential leader of coca growers who called for protests after Anez took the presidency citing the constitutional line of succession.

“From that moment on there will be pacification, social peace, across the national territory,” said Juan Carlos Huarachi, the head of Bolivia’s largest federation of labor unions, who acted as a mediator in talks. “We’ve advanced 99%.”

Huarachi’s federation of unions once backed Morales but along with the military was key in pushing him to step down after an audit of the election found serious irregularities.

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From: MeNeedIt

Iraqi security forces fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse crowds of protesters Saturday, killing two people in a third day of fierce clashes in central Baghdad, security and hospital officials said. 
 
Two protesters were struck with rubber bullets and died instantly and over 20 others were wounded in the fighting on Rasheed Street, a famous avenue known for its old crumbling architecture and now littered with rubble from days of violence. Sixteen people have died and over 100 have been wounded in the renewed clashes. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. 
 
At least 342 protesters have died in Iraq’s massive protests, which started October 1 when thousands of Iraqis took to the streets to decry corruption and lack of services despite Iraq’s oil wealth. 
 
Separately, Iraq’s parliament failed to hold a session Saturday because of a lack of a quorum. Lawmakers were supposed to read reform bills introduced to placate protesters. The next session was postponed until Monday.  

The fighting has centered on Rasheed Street and started Thursday when protesters tried to dismantle a security forces barricade on the street, which leads to Ahrar Bridge, a span over the Tigris River that has been a repeated flashpoint. Security forces responded with tear gas and live ammunition. 
 
The violence took off again Friday afternoon. Live rounds and tear gas canisters were fired by security forces from behind a concrete barrier on Rasheed Street. 
 
On Saturday, fighting picked up in the late afternoon and again in the evening, with security forces firing rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse crowds. 
 
Protesters have occupied part of three bridges — Ahrar, Jumhuriya and Sinak — in a standoff with security forces. The bridges lead to the fortified Green Zone, the seat of Iraq’s government. 

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From: MeNeedIt

Hong Kongers are voting Sunday in a local election widely seen as a de facto referendum on pro-democracy protests that have recently taken a more aggressive turn. 

The territory is on edge following days of intense clashes between police and groups of mostly student protesters, though the violence has subsided in the past few days. 

Though the district council members being chosen Sunday have little power, pro-democracy forces still hope for a big win that will confirm public support for the protests. 

Police have promised a heavy security presence at voting locations. Public broadcaster RTHK reports officers will be stationed inside and outside polling stations in riot gear. 

“If there’s any violence, we will deal with it immediately, without hesitation,” Chris Tang, Hong Kong’s police commissioner, said. 

District councils

Hong Kongers are choosing more than 400 members of 18 district councils scattered across the tiny territory. The district councils essentially serve as advisory bodies for local matters such as building roads or schools. 

“I think the political message is more important than anything else,” Ma Ngok, a political scientist and professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said. “If the democrats really score a landslide victory, it will show very clearly that the public is in support of the movement.” 

Hong Kong has seen five months of pro-democracy protests. The protests initially took the form of massive demonstrations against a reviled extradition bill, which could have resulted in Hong Kongers being tried in China’s politicized court system. 

The protests have escalated in recent weeks, with smaller groups of hard-core protesters destroying public infrastructure, defacing symbols of state power and clashing with police. Protesters defend the moves as an appropriate reaction to police violence and the government’s refusal to meet their demands. 

Despite the protester violence, polls suggest the movement still enjoys widespread public support. Meanwhile, the approval of Hong Kong’s Beijing-friendly chief executive, Carrie Lam, has fallen to a record low of about 20%. 

Quasi-democratic system 

Under Hong Kong’s quasi-democratic system, district councils have no power to pass legislation. But the vote could affect how the territory’s more influential Legislative Council and chief executive are selected in the future. 

“That’s a big deal,” said Emily Lau, a former Legislative Council member and prominent member of the pro-democracy camp. “Because of this constitutional linkage, it makes the significance of the district council much bigger than its powers show you.” 

The pro-democracy camp has tried to use the protests as a mobilizing force ahead of the vote and is fielding an unprecedented number of candidates. 

But they have a lot of ground to make up. Pro-government forces make up the majority in all 18 district councils, with the so-called “pan-democrats” taking up only about 25% of the overall seats, Ma said. 

Hong Kong has seen a major surge in voter registration, particularly among young people. Nearly 386,000 people have registered to vote in the past year, the most since at least 2003, according to the South China Morning Post. 

Voter sentiment mixed 

At a recent pro-democracy rally in central Hong Kong, many protesters said they plan to vote, but they were divided on whether the election will lead to real change. 

“I’m not excited,” said Ip, giving only her first name. “I think voting is one of our ways to express our voice, but I doubt the results will be very good.” 

Another demonstrator, who gave the name Ms. Chan, said she also intends to send a message by voting. 

“The government needs to listen to the people,” she said. “They do many wrong things, so I think many people will go out and vote.” 

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From: MeNeedIt

President Donald Trump’s new national security adviser is criticizing what he says is silence from the rest of the world about China’s confinement of more than 1 million Muslims in re-education camps, linking the lack of a global outcry to China’s economic clout. 
 
National security adviser Robert O’Brien also questioned whether international leaders will stand up if Beijing carries out a Tiananmen Square-style crackdown on the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. 
 
O’Brien met with journalists and was interviewed by a moderator at the Halifax International Security Forum on Saturday. 

Speak up
 
“Where is the world? We have over a million people in concentration camps,” O’Brien said. “I’ve been to the genocide museum in Rwanda. You hear `never again, never again is this going to happen,’ and yet there are re-education camps with over a million people in them.” 
 
O’Brien said the lack of criticism is especially surprising from Islamic states. 
 
China is estimated to have detained up to 1 million minority Muslim Uighurs in prisonlike detention centers. The detentions come on top of harsh travel restrictions and a massive state surveillance network equipped with facial recognition technology.  

China has denied committing abuses in the centers and has described them as schools aimed at providing employable skills and combating extremism. 
 
China and the U.S. are locked in a trade war, and the Trump administration has alternated between blasting the country’s leadership and reaching out to it. Trump imposed tariffs last year on billions of dollars’ worth of Chinese exports to the U.S., seeking to ramp up pressure for changes in Chinese trade and investment policies. China has retaliated with tariff hikes of its own. 
 
O’Brien said that an initial trade agreement with China is still possible by year’s end, but that the U.S. won’t take a bad deal and won’t ignore what happens in Hong Kong. 
 
O’Brien also said U.S. allies should think hard before allowing Chinese technology giant Huawei into their next generation of telecommunication networks, citing surveillance concerns. 
 
“What the Chinese are doing makes Facebook and Google look like child’s play as far as collecting information on folks. Once they know the full profile of every man, woman and child in your country, how are they going to use that?” he asked. 
 
Huawei spokespeople did not immediately return an email seeking comment Saturday. 
 
Dolkun Isa, president of the World Uyghur Congress, said at Saturday’s conference that Trump himself has not addressed the camps publicly. Isa said his mother recently died in one of the camps.

Pompeo statements

O’Brien responded that the administration has spoken out about it. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is among the Trump officials who have raised China’s mistreatment of the Muslim Uighur minority, including citing it as a violation of religious freedom in a speech last month. 
 
O’Brien declined to say what the U.S. would do if there was a crackdown in Hong Kong that rivaled the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989. More than 100,000 Americans and over 300,000 Canadians live in Hong Kong. 
 
“I don’t want to get into tools or what the U.S. might or might not do,” he said. “But much of the world and many or our allies, and many of the countries represented at this conference, have been willing to forget Tiananmen Square and are heavily engaged in business with China.” 
 
O’Brien is the fourth person in two years to hold the job of national security adviser. He previously served as Trump’s chief hostage negotiator. O’Brien made headlines in July when he was dispatched to Sweden to monitor the assault trial of American rapper A$AP Rocky. 
 
As the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs at the State Department, O’Brien worked closely with the families of American hostages and advised administration officials on hostage issues. 

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From: MeNeedIt

Italian coast guards on Saturday said they had rescued 143 migrants off the island of Lampedusa, although around 20 others were apparently missing, according to the survivors. 
 
“The crews of four patrols rescued 143 people who had fallen into the sea” from a 10-meter boat, the coast guard said in a statement. 
 
Two men, an Eritrean and a Libyan, said they had been unable to locate their wives following the rescue. 
 
A search for those missing continued Saturday evening with two planes from Frontex — the border and coast guard agency for the EU’s Schengen area — and the Italian navy flying over the area. 
 
Police were also searching the Lampedusa coast to see if any of the migrants had swum ashore. 
 
Those rescued were taken to Lampedusa, where they disembarked. 
 
Meanwhile, Italy, Germany, France and Malta jointly asked the European Commission to activate a migrant-relocation scheme for 213 migrants on board the Ocean Viking rescue ship, the Italian Foreign Affairs Ministry said. 
 
The ministry said “this is the first time this has happened” since the four nations in September signed a pre-agreement for the automatic distribution of rescued migrants in the Mediterranean. 
 
The Ocean Viking, chartered by SOS Mediterranee with Doctors Without Borders, has rescued 215 people in three operations in recent days. One injured man and a pregnant woman had already been taken off the boat. 

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From: MeNeedIt

A Hong Kong university campus under siege for more than a week was a deserted wasteland Saturday, with a handful of protesters holed up in hidden refuges across the trashed grounds, as the city’s focus turned to local elections.

The siege neared its end as some protesters at Polytechnic University on the Kowloon peninsula desperately sought a way out and others vowed not to surrender, days after some of the worst violence since anti-government demonstrations escalated in June.

“If they storm in, there are a lot of places for us to hide,” said Sam, a 21-year-old student, who was eating two-minute noodles in the cafeteria, while plotting his escape.

Another protester, Ron, vowed to remain until the end with other holdouts, adding, “The message will be clear that we will never surrender.”

Many arrests

About 1,000 people have been arrested in the siege in the Chinese-ruled city, about 300 of them younger than 18.

Police have set up high plastic barricades and a fence on the perimeter of the campus. Toward midday, officers appeared at ease, allowing citizens to mill about the edges of the cordon as neighborhood shops opened for business.

Rotting rubbish and boxes of unused petrol bombs littered the campus. On the edge of a dry fountain at its entrance lay a Pepe the frog stuffed toy, a mascot protesters have embraced as a symbol of their movement.

Scores of construction workers worked at the mouth of the Cross-Harbour Tunnel, closed for more than a week after it was first blockaded, to repair toll booths smashed by protesters and clear debris from approach roads.

The road tunnel links Hong Kong island to the Kowloon area.

Elections Sunday

The repairs got underway as a record 1,104 people gear up to run for 452 district council seats in elections Sunday.

A record 4.1 million Hong Kong people, from a population of 7.4 million, have enrolled to vote, spurred in part by registration campaigns during months of protests.

Young pro-democracy activists are now running in some of the seats that were once uncontested and dominated by pro-Beijing candidates.

The protests snowballed since June after years of resentment over what many residents see as Chinese meddling in freedoms promised to Hong Kong when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Beijing has said it is committed to the “one country, two systems” formula by which Hong Kong is governed. It denies meddling in the affairs of the Asian financial hub and accuses foreign governments of stirring up trouble.

Trump says he spoke to Xi

In an interview with Fox News Channel on Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he had told Chinese President Xi Jinping that crushing the protests would have “a tremendous negative impact” on efforts to end the two countries’ 16-month-long trade war.

“If it weren’t for me Hong Kong would have been obliterated in 14 minutes,” Trump said, without offering any evidence.

“He’s got a million soldiers standing outside of Hong Kong that aren’t going in only because I ask him, ‘Please don’t do it, you’ll be making a big mistake, it’s going to have a tremendous negative impact on the trade deal,’ and he wants to make a trade deal.”

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From: MeNeedIt

U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland has been a key witness in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. Sondland was appointed to his post after donating $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee. The practice of awarding ambassador positions to wealthy political supporters is not new to either party, but some lawmakers and presidential candidates say it is time to limit the practice. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from the State Department.
 

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From: MeNeedIt

In late December, it will be one year since Moscow detained U.S. citizen Paul Whelan on espionage charges. During his 11 months in the infamous Lefortovo prison, Whelan has denied the allegations and complained of systematic mistreatment. His family in the U.S. is working to bring the former Marine home. Yulia Savchenko met with Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth, in Washington to get the latest on the case.
 

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From: MeNeedIt