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Friday, March 31, 2023
Issued on: 17/03/2023
One of the rose windows below the damaged roof of Notre-Dame-de Paris on 16 April 2019, a day after a fire that devastated the cathedral. © Amaury BLIN / AFPText by: Michael Fitzpatrick
The fire that engulfed Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris four years ago exposed a long-hidden secret about the Paris landmark: it was the first Gothic cathedral in which iron staples were used as reinforcements during the construction of what was the tallest building of its time.
It took the near destruction and the ongoing restoration project to allow a team of archaeologists to discover the iron reinforcements.
The construction of the famous cathedral in the heart of the French capital began in 1160 and was not completed until almost a century later.
In the absence of detailed plans and documentation, architects have long been mystified as to how their medieval counterparts managed to build such thin walls to a then-unprecedented height of 32 metres, and have them support the cathedral's massive vaulted roof structure.
A study led by Maxime L'Heritier, an archaeologist at University Paris 8, shows that builders used as many as 1,000 iron staples to stitch the soaring structure together.
The 2019 fire exposed some of these previously invisible reinforcements, while others fell to the ground as they were dislodged by the heat of the blaze.
Dynamic Gothic architecture
The staples come in varying sizes, ranging from 25 to 50 centimetres long, some weighing several kilos.
They were found in many different parts of the cathedral, including in the walls of the nave, the choir tribunes and in parts of the roof-level cornice.
"This is the first truly massive use of iron in a Gothic cathedral, in very specific places," L'Heritier says.
Staples have been discovered in the walls, floor and pillars of the Gothic masterpiece, as documented in a study published in the journal PLOS One. © 2023 L’Héritier et al.Iron staples were used in construction since Antiquity, including in Rome's Colosseum and Greek temples.
But in those cases they were simply used to keep large stone blocks secure on the lower floors.
Notre-Dame shows a "much more dynamic conception of architecture", according to L'Heritier.
More than 200 scientists are among the teams of specialists working on restoring Notre-Dame, with the project due to be completed by the end of 2024.
Read also:
TikTok creators at a news conference to speak out against a possible ban of TikTok. — Reuters pic
Thursday, 30 Mar 2023
WASHINGTON, March 30 — US Republican Senator Rand Paul yesterday blocked a bid to fast-track a ban of popular Chinese-owned social media app TikTok, which more than 150 million Americans use, citing concerns about free speech and uneven treatment of social media companies.
“I think we should beware of those who use fear to coax Americans to relinquish our liberties,” Paul said on the Senate floor. “Every accusation of data gathering that has been attributed to TikTok could also be attributed to domestic big tech companies.”
Republican Senator Josh Hawley had sought unanimous consent for a TikTok ban bill. “It protects the American people and it sends a message to Communist China that you cannot buy us,” Hawley said, adding the app is spying on Americans.
“If Republicans want to continuously lose elections for a generation they should pass this bill to ban TikTok — a social media app used by 150 million people, primarily young Americans,” Paul said on the Senate floor. “Do we really want to emulate Chinese speech bans?... We’re going to be just like China and ban speech we’re afraid of?”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said last week he expects the house will take up a bill to address TikTok but the timing is unclear. It is also not clear what a final bill to address TikTok might look like.
A small but growing number of Democrats and Republicans have raised concerns, citing free speech and other issues and have objected to legislation targeting TikTok as overly broad.
TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew appeared before Congress last week and faced tough questions about national security concerns over the ByteDance-owned app.
Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a TikTok video on Friday opposed a TikTok ban, calling it “unprecedented” and said Congress has not gotten classified TikTok briefings. “It just doesn’t feel right to me,” she said.
Last week, three Democrats in the House of Representatives opposed a TikTok ban, as do free speech groups like the American Civil Liberties Union.
Earlier this month, the Biden administration demanded TikTok’s Chinese owners divest their stakes or face a US ban. Then President Donald Trump’s attempts in 2020 to ban TikTok were blocked by US courts. TikTok says it has spent more than US$1.5 billion on rigorous data security efforts and rejects spying allegations.
Many Democrats argue Congress should pass comprehensive privacy legislation covering all social media sites, not just TikTok.
Senators Mark Warner, a Democrat, and John Thune, a Republican, have proposed the RESTRICT Act, which now has 22 Senate cosponsors, to give the Commerce Department power to impose restrictions up to and including banning TikTok and other technologies that pose national security risks. It would apply to foreign technologies from China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba.
Paul said the bill “would basically be a limitless authority for the president to ban speech”.
A growing number of conservatives oppose the measure. Former Republican Representative Justin Amash said the “RESTRICT Act isn’t about banning TikTok; it’s about controlling you. It gives broad powers to the executive branch, with few checks, and will be abused in every way you can imagine.”
A Warner spokesperson said, “To be extremely clear, this legislation is aimed squarely at companies like Kaspersky, Huawei and TikTok that create systemic risks to the United States’ national security — not at individual users.”
by josh.barker and JESÚS CHUCHO GARCIA Translated by KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO
The current crisis rattling the Peruvian people is due to the impeachment of President Pedro Castillo.
A former union leader and schoolteacher, Castillo served as president of Peru from July 28, 2021, through December 7, 2022. He was impeached and arrested after he announced his intention to dissolve Congress, install an emergency government, and draft a new constitution. Legislators claimed he was attempting a coup d’état and had Castillo detained.
This led to an unprecedented spiral of violent protests, with people being killed in the streets in different parts of the country.
Afro Peruvian singer Susana Baca, a three-time Grammy award-winner who served as Peru’s minister of culture in 2011, condemned Dina Boluarte, who replaced Castillo as Peru’s president. The Peruvian National Police have violently repressed protests against the Boluarte presidency. So far, 67 people have been killed and more than 300 arrested by security forces. Amnesty International stated on March 17 that “thousands of people have been injured, several of them seriously, mostly in the southern regions of Ayacucho, Apurímac, and Puno.”
Baca told the investigative news program Hablemos Claro Exitosa, “I was very excited when they named her [Dina Boluarte] president, when they gave her the presidential sash. I said ‘at last a woman.’ We women have a very great intuition…But the only thing I can ask of this lady is [to] step down before she is accused of committing crimes against humanity.
“When you don’t have the qualifications for the position you hold, the best thing you can do is to step down. But before retiring, you have to get elections brought forward. We hope that because of this terrible situation, we will know how to make a better choice. That is the only way.”
The African presence in the Republic of Peru is the result of the painful slave trade and the ways in which slavery was maintained: through rigidly controlled productivity systems like sugar cane plantations and the nation’s gold and silver mines. Black people staged constant rebellions against enslavement, such as the one led by Francisco Congo in 1713, which led to the establishment of a liberated space called the Palenque de Guachipa.
Slavery was abolished on December 3, 1854, but social marginalization and racial discrimination have been a constant up through today. Afro Peruvian culture is expressed in its dances, cajon music, the quija de burro, the Peruvian waltz, marineras, the poetics of the Santa Cruz brothers, the creation of Pisco (an Afro Peruvian spirit drink), foods––from the carapulcra to the seafood batea to the ceviche. All represent a culture of resistance and creativity that gives a face to the cultural diversity of the country.
From the 1980s to the present day, Afro Peruvian social movements have been fighting against exclusion, racism, and racial demagogy.
Afro Peruvians have been speaking out about the current political climate in the nation.
Antonio Quispe, a lawyer, musician, and activist, said that “Peru is undergoing one of those cyclical crises that affect the capitalist system. This has existed since Peruvian society declared its independence from the colonial system: There is a coexistence of a conservative Peruvian society with the extreme tasks left unfinished by a liberal revolution. Today, when social protests have turned political, there is an obvious deficiency of leadership. This interim regime is a mockery of the 200 years of the Republic… its actions have not only exposed the infamous economic and social [class] inequality, but also a lack of class organization and political perspective from the popular sectors.
“The political crisis that we are living in Peru is against the economics of the people itself (particularly Afro Peruvians), who, despite not having suitable tools, continue to mobilize in search of better living conditions and opportunities. The slogans that are being chanted, almost spontaneously, reflect a history of exclusions and hardship.”
The human rights group Center for Ethnic Development (CEDET) said in a statement: “We express, first of all, our indignation and rejection of the loss of life that occurred during the period of December 7–9, 2022, and January 9, 2023, the date on which we write this proclamation.”
“Life being the principal and most sacred of all the rights of humanity, the attack against it constitutes the most flagrant opprobrium in a constitutional state of law. And here, treaties, norms, and all international jurisprudence fully agree that the government, through its officials, is politically, socially, and legally (criminally) responsible for its dissemination, protection, and effective compliance.
“Furthermore, it is evident the continuity of the exercise of power based on centralism, classism, and structural racism, because, as in the past, the victims of the crisis are the most vulnerable sectors, which, in their own way, or as they can, call for a fair and rapid solution to the crisis. We, therefore, demand from the Peruvian government (Executive, Legislative, and Judicial), the immediate cessation of the deaths of Peruvians; the cessation of the criminalization of protest; and the creation of bridges of dialogue that guarantee a period of peace and tranquility.
“Secondly, and not because it is secondary but rather because of the structural and historical nature of its correlate which requires greater political and social dialogues and agreements, we raise our voices, demanding the updating of the Social Pact, which will lead us to a more supportive and equitable society. At the end of the day, a more humane society. It is the political model or system that has collapsed in our country; we have had six presidents in the period corresponding to one, and that is only the tip of the iceberg…
“We, therefore, demand the immediate holding of general elections, guaranteeing true popular participation. We also call on all the forces of the nation to reflect on the need to re-organize the basic structures of the national government, to make it a true leader of the common welfare, and able to respect the unrestricted fundamental rights of all individuals and communities, collectives and peoples of our territory.”
by GIN
(GIN) — From the cinematic screen of “Hotel Rwanda” to solitary confinement in a Rwandese jail, Paul Rusesabegina has been there and back.
Now, after a round of quiet diplomacy with two U.S. senior officials of the Biden administration and a final meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Rusesabegina is free and heading to the U.S. to be reunited with his family in Texas. This ends an ordeal of 900 days linked to Rwanda President Paul Kagame and his war on dissent at home and against opponents abroad.
Rusesabagina was accused of terrorism over his ties to the Rwanda Movement for Democratic Change, a group that opposes Kagame’s rule. He has admitted having a leadership role in the group but denies links to its armed wing.
Found guilty of the charges, he was sentenced to 25 years in the Mageragere prison in 2021. His captors kept him blindfolded, and security forces stepped on his neck and denied him food and sleep. A cancer survivor with hypertension and a history of cardiovascular disease, Rusesabagina was threatened with shortages of food, water, and his medication.
In the Oscar-nominated film “Hotel Rwanda,” viewers were given a rare look inside Rusesabagina’s luxury Hotel des Mille Collines in the capital Kigali. There, 1,268 Rwandans, both Tutsis and Hutus, were saved from genocidal forces waiting beyond its walls. Rusesabagina was depicted as a hero who saved these lives.
As Rusesabagina, a Hutu married to a Tutsi, described in his autobiography, “An Ordinary Man,” it was his ability to persuade the killers against targeting those who had sought refuge in the Hotel des Mille Collines that spared them.
He was also able to use his connections and call in favors with some of the high-profile people who used to pass through the upmarket hotel. He also had cash.
The international community was slow to learn the horrific details of the Rwandan genocide as described in “We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families,” a book by Philip Gourevitch, staff writer of the New Yorker magazine. Gourevitch wrote about a Hutu pastor, Elizaphan Ntakirutimana, and his son Gerard, who were found guilty of summoning the Hutus to butcher the Tutsis in what became the worst single massacre in the entire 1994 genocide.
The Hollywood movie may have saved the disaster from oblivion as audiences filled theaters to watch Don Cheadle in the role of Rusesabagina in 2004.
The U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom was among the honors awarded to Rusesabagina over the years for risking his life to shelter hundreds of people when ethnic Hutus killed more than 800,000 people, mostly from the Tutsi minority.
“Rusesabagina’s release will conclude a case that has highlighted Rwanda’s blatant disregard for international norms when it seeks to target people deemed [enemies] of the state—even those far beyond their border,” Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch, told Al Jazeera.
Meanwhile, on the International Right to Truth Day (March 24), Kagame critic Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza called for an independent commission of inquiry to investigate mysterious deaths and disappearances of opposition members, “including those of my friends and colleagues.”
Alibaba’s overhaul: a ‘smart’ move after China crackdown
By AFP
March 29, 2023
Alibaba has said it will split its $220 billion empire into six businesses
Alibaba, China’s biggest e-commerce company, has announced plans to split its business into six groups, in one of the most significant overhauls of a leading Chinese tech firm to date.
Below is what we know about this major shake-up:
What is happening to Alibaba?
Alibaba has said it will split its $220 billion empire into six businesses: focusing on logistics, cloud computing, entertainment, e-commerce, and two others offering services to global businesses.
Its logistics arm, Cainiao, helped deliver Chinese vaccines around the world during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Its cloud computing service was seen as a rival to Amazon until last year, when the Chinese government suspended a partnership with Alibaba, saying the company failed to quickly address cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
The entertainment unit runs Youku, one of China’s biggest online video-sharing platforms.
Each unit will be managed by its own CEO and board of directors, allowing them to raise their own funds and pursue public listing plans separately.
Alibaba itself will only retain full ownership of its China e-commerce unit, Taobao Tmall Commerce Group.
The company described the restructuring as the “most significant” organisational overhaul in its 24-year history.
“The market is the best litmus test, and each business group and company can pursue independent fundraising and IPOs when they are ready,” CEO Daniel Zhang said.
What’s behind the overhaul?
Dividing the monolith into smaller units could make Alibaba more nimble and help insulate parts of the business from government crackdowns, analysts said.
“Revenue in Alibaba’s core e-commerce business declined last year, because pressure from competition was… high,” said Li Chengdong, founder of Dolphin, a technology-focused think-tank in Beijing.
“By splitting up, Taobao actually becomes a little lighter and can cope with… new types of competition.”
Alibaba has been a prime target of China’s regulatory crackdown, prompted in part by Beijing’s fears that too much power and capital had been accrued by a small number of tech behemoths.
“Splitting things up is a smart move,” said Jeffrey Towson, partner at Techmoat consulting.
“Now (Alibaba) won’t be seen as such a dominant, solitary player,” he added.
“If there is a political issue with one part, it won’t hit the rest of the business.”
Why is it happening now?
Signs now suggest the crackdown from regulators may be easing.
Officials at China’s annual rubber-stamp parliamentary session this month pledged more support for the private sector, ravaged by almost three years of harsh Covid restrictions.
Alibaba’s overhaul comes as its talismanic co-founder, Jack Ma, returned to China this week after an extended absence from the public eye.
Ma has kept a low profile since late 2020, when a speech he made attacking Chinese regulators was widely believed to have provoked Beijing into pulling a mammoth IPO by Alibaba’s affiliate Ant Group.
In January, Ant Group said Jack Ma no longer held controlling rights in the company — a move analysts speculated might have helped pull Ant and Alibaba out of the regulatory doghouse.
Will others follow suit?
Chinese tech shares rallied in Hong Kong on Wednesday on speculation that other big players could follow Alibaba’s example.
The tech giant’s fate has been held up as a cautionary tale for others also caught in Beijing’s crosshairs — and its restructuring plan could serve as a template for its peers.
“Investors could get hyped on the positive side in the short term,” Willer Chen, senior research analyst at Forsyth Barr Asia Ltd, told Bloomberg News.
“Alibaba’s shakeup plan may also lead investors to think of the potential for other tech firms like Tencent to follow suit.”
According to Towson, Alibaba has always been “ahead of the curve”.
“Many are looking at whether other companies will now follow its path. But I don’t know of anyone doing it right now.”
Instant View: Alibaba to split into six units
(Reuters) - Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said it plans split its business into six main units covering e-commerce, media and the cloud, adding that each will explore fundraising or initial public offerings.
Alibaba's U.S.-listed shares rose 7% in pre-market trading.
Here are comments from analysts: THOMAS HAYES, CHAIRMAN AT GREAT HILL CAPITAL, NEW YORK
"This is the ultimate value unlock and this is going to enable the sum of the parts valuation to be realised much more quickly as you'll have faster growing business segments that will ultimately be awarded much higher multiple by the market when they're either IPO or spun to shareholders.
"It also takes any residual regulatory overhang off the table as six smaller species pieces can fly under the radar, versus one behemoth."
OSHADHI KUMARASIRI, ANALYST AT LIGHTSTREAM RESEARCH, WHO PUBLISHES ON SMARTKARMA
"I think Alibaba is pursuing easier regulation by splitting its business into six entities. This could potentially allow each entity to operate under a more manageable regulatory framework, rather than having one large entity that may be subject to more stringent regulations.
"It is likely that the geopolitical risks associated with Alibaba will persist as long as the tensions between China and the U.S. continue to exist. However, this split would allow investors to pick and choose areas where that risk is at the lowest."
SUSANNAH STREETER, HEAD OF MONEY AND MARKETS AT UK-BASED HARGREAVES LANSDOWN
"The break-up would allow Alibaba to raise external investment and grow its cloud business. Alibaba would be able to more easily unlock value in the cloud business and be less weighed down by the more cumbersome nature of a sprawling empire."
"Hong Kong would be the priority (for IPOs), given how things stand at the moment."
DANIEL TU, FOUNDER OF ACTIVE CREATION CAPITAL, HONG KONG
"Alibaba has suffered a couple of tough years and faced slowing economic growth at home. That has resulted in considerable losses in its share price and valuation. Furthermore, it has struggled with growth in the past few quarters. Therefore, the reorganisation is an attempt to reinvigorate growth.
"With Jack Ma and many of the original partners no longer with the company, the question for some will be whether the culture and resiliency the co-founders once built are still embedded in today's leadership team in order for them to successively carry out the reorganisation and the long-term competitiveness of the six business units."
ALFREDO MONTUFAR-HELU, HEAD OF THE CONFERENCE BOARD'S CHINA CENTRE, BEIJING
"From Alibaba's side, the restructuring will do a lot in terms of clearing the way for it to continue growing. Each of the six units operate in different areas, and therefore must respond to different sets of regulations.
"For instance, separating the logistics business from the cloud business should be better for the former because the data security requirements on cloud are stricter. And of course cloud business executives are better placed at responding to these requirements."
ART HOGAN, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST AT B RILEY WEALTH, BOSTON
"When you get to a certain size and have multiple different disciplines inside your business model, it's hard to have ascribed the value that would be the sum of the parts.
"Alibaba planned to split into six different units to ascribe an appropriate value to each of its different units; likely makes sense if they're able to pull this off."
XIAOYAN WANG, ANALYST AT 86RESEARCH
"We believe that the separation of Alibaba's businesses is a good thing for its stock price as it will unlock value and make each business more flexible and competitive.
"As for regulation, we think it's also a positive development. After the businesses are spun off from Alibaba, the regulatory risks they face may actually decrease, rather than being subject to Jack Ma's personal risk. This will make it easier for investors to assess regulatory risks more clearly."
DAVID BLENNERHASSETT, ANALYST AT BALLINGAL INVESTMENT ADVISORS
"This somewhat mirrors Alphabet's path, in which it also became a Holdco for a number of operations. Sounds like a sound practice for the siloed ops to independently carve out their own brand/narrative, if you will, IPO and uplift funds to the parent.
"Although this may provide added granularity to Alibaba's various businesses, it doesn't necessarily translate Alibaba is more attractive if it continues to control each segment - or holding minority/equity-accounting stakes and the market assigns discounts on discounts.
"I do wonder if there is some regulatory angle here, ringfencing some outfits that may face greater scrutiny. Interesting timing as this announcement coincides with Ma visiting China again."
STUART COLE, HEAD MACRO ECONOMIST AT EQUITI CAPITAL, LONDON
"I am not sure how quickly Alibaba could be broken up. I am sure they have done some work on this before announcing it, but it seems quite a large job to create six companies out of one. But it does inject an element of flexibility and adaptability into the company, which currently is something of a behemoth.
"And it will allow the more successful of the six new companies to potentially raise finance more easily and cheaply than the parent company can as they will not be burdened by the slower, less profitable parts of the business. So for investors, they get the opportunity to put their funds in the parts they like whilst avoiding the parts they do not, unlike the current situation.
"It does seem something of a coincidence that this is happening just as Jack Ma seems comfortable returning. To me, it suggests something that Alibaba has been wanting to do for some time, but has been waiting for the opportunity to do so."
KENNY NG, STRATEGIST AT CHINA EVERBRIGHT SECURITIES, HONG KONG
"It releases additional value. With this expectation, investors will be more positive on Alibaba. It may reflect a new round of development for the business and reduce worries of regulatory issues."
(Reporting by Yuvraj Malik, Selena Li, Eduardo Baptista, Johann Cherian, Scott Murdoch, Shashwat Chauhan, Josh Ye, Kane Wu and Tom Westbrook; Compiled by Anshuman Daga; Editing by Louise Heavens, Andrew Heavens and David Goodman)
PUBLISHED FRI, MAR 31, 2023
KEY POINTS
On Friday, the government said it will join the 11-member Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, unlocking access to a region with a total GDP of £11 trillion ($13.6 trillion).
The U.K. said this was the country’s largest post-Brexit trade deal and makes it the first European nation to join the CPTPP.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the deal puts the U.K. at the center of a dynamic and growing group of Pacific economies.
A Union Jack flag flies near the Elizabeth Tower, commonly referred to as Big Ben, at the Houses of Parliament in central London, U.K., on March 29, 2017.
Britain struck a historic trade deal to join a vast Indo-Pacific trade bloc after nearly two years of intense negotiations.
On Friday, the government said it will join the 11-member Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, unlocking access to a region with a total GDP of £11 trillion ($13.6 trillion).
The U.K. said this was the country’s largest post-Brexit trade deal and makes it the first European nation to join the CPTPP, since it came into force in 2018.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hailed the deal and said it puts the U.K. at the center of a dynamic and growing group of Pacific economies.
“We are at our heart an open and free-trading nation, and this deal demonstrates the real economic benefits of our post-Brexit freedoms,” he said in a statement. “British businesses will now enjoy unparalleled access to markets from Europe to the south Pacific.”
The trade bloc spans Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia, among others. The agreement is expected to be formally signed by year end, after final approval from Parliament and the 11 member states.
The trade pact evolved out of the now-defunct Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, that originated in the United States but fell apart after former President Donald Trump scrapped U.S. involvement.
Trade benefits
Britain said the deal will cut tariffs on exports of food, drink and cars, and will grant access to a market of around 500 million people and will be worth 15% of global GDP once the UK joins the trade bloc.
The U.K. estimates joining the CPTPP will boost its economy by £1.8 billion in the long term and lift wages by £800 million compared with 2019 levels.
The trade secretary, Kemi Badenoch, said the deal sends a “powerful signal” that Britain is using its “post-Brexit freedoms to reach out to new markets around the world and grow our economy.”
Natalie Black, the U.K.’s trade commissioner for Asia Pacific, called it a “progressive deal” for Britain.
“This deal is, yes, about economic performance today. But is very, very much about economic performance in the future,” she told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Friday.
“This is the part of the world that is going to drive economic growth, and also drive the rules of the road of trade going forward. We want to be part of those discussions.”
Still, it remains to be seen how much the deal actually benefits Britain’s growth prospects. Based on the government’s own estimates, the deal will raise long-term domestic GDP by just 0.08%, which will have little impact to offset European trade losses as a result of Brexit.
Deborah Elms, executive director of the Asian Trade Centre, said it’s very hard to calculate these trade figures, especially based on existing trade flows.
“If you are a U.K. company, you probably have limited existing trade flows to many of the CPTPP countries like Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Singapore, ” she told CNBC’s “Capital Connection.” “Simply, because the distance is far and because you used to be very tightly enmeshed with the European Union.”
The trade flows are always “under what you actually are likely to see in the reality as businesses recognize the benefits and start to use a trade agreement like the CPTPP,” she added
High bar for entry
Still, negotiations to finalize the trade deal, haven’t always been easy. An impasse between Britain and Canada over agricultural market access had to be smoothed over to remove the final hurdle in closing the agreement.
“This has been a complex deal to negotiate,” acknowledged Black. “We’ve been negotiating across multiple time zones across a range of complex issues. And they’re not always straightforward. But, ultimately, all parties have agreed that the U.K. is a great new member of CPTPP.”
China has also applied to join the trade bloc but has not made as much progress as the U.K.
There are many “aspirant economies” who have either “declared that they want to formally join or we know are interested in joining,” said Black.
While the trade commissioner said it “wouldn’t be appropriate” to comment on individual economies, she noted the barriers to joining the trade bloc are very high.
“It’s really up to those who come behind us to make sure they meet the expectations of members of having high quality applications.”
In Depth: New Business Comes With Old Risks for China’s Struggling Tutoring Industry
China’s after-school education industry was caught flat-footed after Beijing rolled out a policy in mid-2021 that outlawed most after-school classes for K-12 students in an effort to reduce inequality in education.
The ban — which covered both online and in-person instruction — effectively sent the industry into survival mode as companies sought to replace the revenue they lost from classes they were no longer allowed to offer. E-commerce offered one potential path. Last year, New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc., once a heavyweight in English language education in China, made headlines when it began running live-streaming sessions in English to hawk products like books and food. Other private education companies started taking their own products right to the consumer. In the year and a half since the industry shake-up, most companies that once specialized in K-12 tutoring began selling items like smart table lamps and e-printers, with many offering a line of devices called “learning tablets.”
Beyond just another revenue source, these premium-priced devices have provided companies like Shanghai Liulishuo Information Technology Co. Ltd., Gaotu Techedu Inc. and Youdao Inc. a way to deliver course work to their customers without violating the government’s restrictions on offering after-school classes for K-12 students.
In the third quarter of 2021 — in the wake of the clampdown on such classes — shipments of education-oriented tablets rose 6.9%, ending a streak of declines that had lasted four straight quarters, according to research firm IDC. For the entire year, sales grew 3% to 12.9 billion yuan ($5 billion), according to data from another research firm Frost & Sullivan.
And the outlook looks promising for the immediate future, with IDC predicting that China’s education-oriented tablet market will grow rapidly over the next few years. The company forecast that shipments this year will grow 7.7% to 3.82 million.
For the education companies, however, selling tablets and other hardware is far from a panacea. Although they have good reasons for getting into the business, it remains unclear whether sales will be lucrative enough to replace the revenue that the education companies lost from the education business. Meanwhile, competition in the learning tablet segment is growing as one of the main selling points of the devices — artificial intelligence-driven features — has attracted a host of big-name tech companies with far more expertise in the field. And then there are the regulators, who may not look favorably on a pricy education product that could exacerbate the very problem they are trying to solve.
Turning to tablets
The education companies were able to shift into the device business despite their lack of experience because of China’s highly developed ecosystem for manufacturing electronics, said an engineer who works for an internet firm with an education hardware business. That made it easy to find suppliers that could produce a finished product at a low cost.
Companies like Liulishuo and Gaotu began launching their learning tablets in late 2021 at prices that analysts said were easily double those of most equivalent products. Liulishuo, which had once offered English language lessons through an app, sent its tablet to market with a price tag as high as 4,000 yuan, while Gaotu, a former purveyor of online lessons on a wider range of subjects, priced its device at almost 5,000 yuan.
In exchange for the higher price, these companies packed their devices with education content that had amassed from their years in the after-school tutoring industry, giving them some advantage over other electronic hardware manufacturers, said an industry source who previously worked for an online tutoring firm.
Liulishuo’s management believe its product will cater to parents who value its education content, according to a source familiar to with the company’s business strategy.
The content loaded into learning tablets usually incudes exam prep and other subjects that the companies had been barred from offering in classes to the public after the government crackdown. This helped meet some of the demand for after-school lesson that had been left unfilled, analyst said.
It remains unclear just how much of a revenue generator learning tablets can be, especially considering that the size of China's K12 tutoring industry was 168.7 billion yuan in 2020, the year before the crackdown, according to research firm Frost & Sullivan.
For Youdao, the online learning and dictionary service company, hardware sales made up about 27% of its total net revenue in the fourth quarter of 2022, which was up 38.6% year-year to 1.5 billion yuan, according to its quarterly earnings report.
For Gaotu, it’s murkier. Its latest quarterly report didn’t break out hardware sales as a share of net revenue, which was down 50.6% from the fourth quarter of 2021, according to the report.
Last May, Liulishuo was forced to delist from the New York Stock Exchange after failing to meet the listing requirements due to its low valuation. In November, Gaotu received its own delisting warning from the exchange.
Competitive space
The tutoring companies have faced competition in the education hardware segment from the early entrants to the business, such as BBK Education Electronics Co. Ltd. and Readboy Education Technology Co. Ltd. Both founded in the late 1990s, the companies started out selling traditional hardware such as electronic dictionaries before adding the learning tablet to their product line-up in recent years.
However, the competition doesn’t end there. One of the ways that the tutoring companies have justified the high prices of their devices is by touting their advanced artificial intelligence (AI) features. For example, Youdao has hyped its tablet’s ability to check and grade homework. In addition, the tablet’s software can also craft content precisely tailored to the user, according to a company marketing statement.
These kinds of capabilities have apparently resonated with parents. During the final quarter of last year, sales of Youdao’s smart devices rose 28% to a 407 million yuan.
Still, these AI features has been way overhyped, said Zhang Jidong, vice president at the education unit of Iflytek Co. Ltd., a leading Chinese AI firm that has expanded its lineup of education hardware products in recent years. To truly provide such tailored services requires immense set of data that can deployed to train an AI model, and companies like that are few and far between, Zhang said. And most of the private tutoring companies remain focused more on shoring up their education content than on AI research and development.
Still, all the attention has drawn bigger technology firms with a lot more experience with developing AI, such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Tencent Holdings Ltd., Baidu Inc. and Bytedance Ltd. Companies that have gotten into the education hardware game since 2021 also include Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., smartphone-maker Oppo Co. Ltd., home appliance heavyweight Haier Group Corp., and TV manufacturer Skyworth Group Ltd.
Regulatory risk
Over the past three years, the government has turned a blind eye to the development of the education hardware business because officials believed it played a positive role in supporting online classes that became more prevalent in China during the pandemic, a Ministry of Education official told Caixin.
But the government could tighten regulation on the use of education hardware, now that the pandemic is over, the official said.
However, with the end of the strict zero-Covid policy in December, it seems unlikely that schools will again be required to move all classes online again.
Consequently, concerns have resurfaced about how pricy instructional products can leave poorer families at a disadvantage, potentially widening the inequality gap that had led the government to crack down on the after-school education business in the first place.
There have been signs that another round of regulatory tighten is on the way. Late last year, the Communist Youth League of China added learning tablets to a list of “new types of connected devices” that should be restricted for use by minors.
And in September, an article written by Yu Weiyue, the head of the Ministry of Education department charged with overseeing after-school education attracted widespread attention. In the article, Yu didn’t explicitly mention education hardware, but wrote that “after-school instruction is a matter of national security that need to be tightly regulated.”
Israel’s prime minister has brushed aside criticism of his judicial overhaul plan from President Joe Biden
By JOSEF FEDERMAN - Associated Press
Mar 29, 2023
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a weekly cabinet meeting at the prime minister's office in Jerusalem on March 19, 2023. Netanyahu on Wednesday, March 29, rebuffed President Joe Biden's suggestion that the premier “walks away” from a contentious plan to overhaul the legal system, saying the country makes its own decisions.
By JOSEF FEDERMAN - Associated Press
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s prime minister on Wednesday brushed aside criticism of his judicial overhaul plan from President Joe Biden, saying the matter was an internal Israeli issue and would not be influenced by outside pressure.
While both sides tried to play down their differences, it was a rare bout of public disagreement between the two close allies, and reflected what has been a lukewarm relationship between the Biden administration and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government. It also marked the latest sign of cooling ties between Israel and the Democratic Party.
The disagreement came after months of unrest in Israel over Netanyahu’s proposed overhaul of the country’s judicial system. Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges, says the plan is needed to rein in the powers of an interventionist judiciary. Critics say it will push the country toward authoritarianism by weakening an independent court system.
Following especially heavy protests, Netanyahu this week froze the plan and launched negotiations on a compromise with his political opponents. The timeout prompted Biden’s ambassador, Tom Nides, to tell Israeli media that he expected Netanyahu to soon be invited to the White House.
Asked about the legislation on Tuesday, Biden told reporters, “I hope he walks away from it.” He said Netanyahu’s government “cannot continue down this road” and called for a compromise. He also said there were no immediate plans for a White House visit, saying: “No, not in the near term.”
Netanyahu responded with a statement expressing appreciation for Biden’s years of support for Israel and vowing to seek a “broad consensus” over the legal program. But he also dismissed the outside pressure.
“Israel is a sovereign country which makes its decisions by the will of its people and not based on pressures from abroad, including from the best of friends,” Netanyahu said.
Members of his coalition reacted even more harshly, saying Biden had no business interfering in an internal Israeli matter.
Israel “is not another star in the American flag,” said National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, leader of the ultranationalist Jewish Power party. “I expect the U.S. president to understand this point.”
Netanyahu later tried to soothe tensions in a speech to the U.S. “Summit for Democracy,” a virtual gathering of global leaders, saying that while the United States and Israel have “occasional differences,“ the ties between them are “unshakeable.”
A senior Israeli official, speaking to reporters, described the spat as a “tempest in a teacup” and said there have not been any discussions with the Americans about a Netanyahu visit to Washington. He spoke on condition of anonymity because to discuss behind-the-scenes diplomacy.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby also tried to play down the disagreements, saying Biden's comments about the judicial overhaul plan have remained “completely consistent.” He also dismissed suggestions they caused tensions in an “unshakeable” relationship.
“The great thing about a deep friendship is you can be that candid with one another,” Kirby said.
While they may get through this latest dispute, it will not erase the deeper differences between them.
After five Israeli elections in under four years, Netanyahu managed to cobble together a coalition government with a group of ultra-Orthodox and ultranationalist partners late last year.
These include far-right partners who oppose Palestinian statehood and have strong ties to the West Bank settler movement — putting them at odds with U.S. support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Since taking office, there have been repeated run-ins with the Americans over Israeli settlement construction on occupied lands and comments by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who called for a Palestinian town to be “erased” and later said the Palestinian people don’t exist. Washington has called his comments “repugnant” and snubbed Smotrich during a recent U.S. visit.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid, who enjoyed good ties with Biden during a brief period as caretaker prime minister last year, accused Netanyahu of harming Israel’s most important relationship.
“For decades, Israel was the USA’s closest ally,” Lapid wrote on Twitter. “The most radical government in the country’s history ruined that in three months.”
That relationship, however, has been repeatedly tested in recent years by a growing partisan divide in the U.S. over support for Israel.
Netanyahu has long been seen as favoring the Republicans over the Democrats. During his 2009-2021 term as prime minister, he cultivated close ties with U.S. evangelical Christian groups.
Netanyahu had several public spats with the Obama administration — in which Biden served as vice president — over Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians and the Iranian nuclear issue. In 2015, he infuriated the White House by addressing Congress to rail against a U.S.-led nuclear deal between world powers and Iran.
His close relationship with former President Donald Trump further alienated U.S. Democrats.
Democratic lawmakers, particularly in the party’s progressive wing, have grown increasingly outspoken in their criticism of Israel.
A Pew poll published last May found Republicans expressing far more favorable views of the Israeli government than Democrats. The poll found that Democrats — especially young voters — have increasingly expressed favorable views about the Palestinians.
This gap has spread to the American Jewish community, a key base of support for Israel, which tends to lean heavily toward the Democrats.
A separate Pew poll published in 2021 found that Jewish Democrats, especially the younger generation, have lower levels of support and connection to Israel.
The Netanyahu government’s attempts to reshape the judiciary now risk accelerating these trends. Business leaders, top economists and former security chiefs have all come out against the plan, saying it is pushing the country toward dictatorship.
It has also drawn criticism from Israel’s supporters in the U.S., including American Jewish organizations, as well as Democratic members of Congress.
The plan would give Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges, and his allies the final say in appointing the nation’s judges. It would also give parliament, which is controlled by his allies, authority to overturn Supreme Court decisions and limit the court’s ability to review laws.
Critics say the legislation would concentrate power in the hands of the coalition in parliament and upset the balance of checks and balances between branches of government. They also say that Netanyahu has a conflict of interest while on trial.
After this week’s freeze of the overhaul, the rival sides have several months to find a compromise.
But Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli consul-general in New York who is now a columnist for the liberal daily Haaretz, said the damage has already been done.
“This is not about an invitation to the White House,” he wrote Wednesday. “This is about a fundamental crisis of trust. Worse, it is about asking whether a dependable U.S. ally is becoming unstable, unreliable and untrustworthy.”
Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed reporting.
JAMEY KEATEN and COURTNEY BONNELL Associated Press
Mar 29, 2023 U
GENEVA — Credit Suisse violated a plea agreement with U.S. authorities by failing to report secret offshore accounts that wealthy Americans used to avoid paying taxes, U.S. lawmakers said Wednesday, releasing a two-year investigation that detailed the role employees at the embattled Swiss bank had in aiding tax evasion by clients.
The U.S. Senate Finance Committee pointed to an ongoing, possibly criminal conspiracy tied to nearly $100 million in accounts belonging to a family of American taxpayers that the bank did not disclose. It also said Credit Suisse helped a U.S. businessman hide more than $220 million in offshore accounts from the IRS.
Credit Suisse revealed that it had found 23 accounts each worth more than $20 million that were not declared to tax authorities, many of them unveiled just days before the report was released, according to the committee. It said its findings show that more than $700 million was concealed in violation of the bank's 9-year-old plea deal with the U.S. Justice Department.
“Credit Suisse got a discount on the penalty it faced in 2014 for enabling tax evasion because bank executives swore up and down they’d get out of the business of defrauding the United States,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, the Democratic chairman of the committee.
“This investigation shows Credit Suisse did not make good on that promise, and the bank’s pending acquisition does not wipe the slate clean,” he said.
The Swiss government pressed for a $3.25 billion takeover of long-troubled Credit Suisse by rival bank UBS this month amid turmoil in the global financial system. The collapse of two U.S. banks ignited wider fears that sent shares of Switzerland’s second-largest bank tumbling as customers withdrew their money.
The Senate findings pose new problems for UBS as it tries to absorb Credit Suisse and create a single Swiss megabank, coming the same day that UBS named a new CEO to help push through the takeover. It's also Credit Suisse's latest run-in with U.S. authorities, following settlements worth hundreds of millions of dollars over mortgage-backed securities that were behind the 2008 financial crisis.
Credit Suisse, whose yearslong troubles range from hedge fund losses to fines for failing to prevent money laundering by a Bulgarian cocaine ring, said it “does not tolerate tax evasion” and insisted that the Senate report described “legacy issues” — some dating to a decade ago — that have been addressed since
“We have implemented extensive enhancements since then to root out individuals who seek to conceal assets from tax authorities,” the Zurich-based bank said.
“Our clear policy is to close undeclared accounts when identified and to discipline any employee who fails to comply with bank policy or falls short of Credit Suisse’s standards of conduct,” it said.
UBS said it has assessed outstanding lawsuits and investigations as part of the Credit Suisse acquisition and expects the deal to be beneficial for shareholders. It's working to close the sale and get approval from regulators in the coming weeks or months.
The Senate report noted Credit Suisse’s cooperation with the investigation, including having appointed new leadership.
The Swiss lender paid a discounted fine of $1.3 billion to the U.S. Justice Department after pleading guilty in 2014 to conspiracy to aid and assist U.S. taxpayers in filing false income tax returns and other documents with the IRS.
The bank acknowledged “knowingly and willfully” helping thousands of Americans open accounts that weren't declared to tax authorities and concealing offshore assets. It avoided criminal charges in exchange for agreeing to report undeclared accounts and provide other information to U.S. officials.
The Senate committee said secret offshore accounts belonging to a family of dual U.S.-Latin American citizens and worth nearly $100 million were closed in 2013 but the money was transferred to other banks without telling U.S. authorities.
With that maneuver, "Credit Suisse enabled what appears to be potentially criminal tax evasion by a client to go undetected for almost a decade," the report says.
The committee said former senior bankers helped manage that family's accounts. In addition, Credit Suisse employees helped a U.S. businessman hide $220 million from U.S. authorities despite long knowing he was an American, according to the report, which said whistleblowers flagged the scheme after the plea deal.
Credit Suisse workers were incentivized to help accounts hide U.S. ties because their bonuses depend on the amount of money being managed, the report said. To that end, employees who had clients with assets above $20 million or $30 million may have given those accounts special consideration because it would mean they got larger bonuses, the committee said.
Investigators say bankers figured out how to code accounts for Americans who possess dual citizenship. Those bankers would use the non-U.S. passport of wealthy individuals to evade internal systems designed to look for identifying marks in U.S. passports.
By AFP
March 29, 2023
Banking giant UBS is bringing back Sergio Ermotti as CEO
Sergio Ermotti will return as CEO of Swiss banking giant UBS to pilot the controversial acquisition of troubled rival Credit Suisse, its board announced Wednesday.
Ermotti spent nine years restoring UBS’s reputation after its bailout by the Swiss government and the central bank during the 2008 global financial crisis, as well as the $2.3 billion in losses racked up by a rogue trader in 2011.
He is due to take over on April 5 from current boss Ralph Hamers, who has agreed to step down but will remain at his side during a transition period.
“The task at hand is an urgent and challenging one. In order to do it in a sustainable and successful way, and in the interest of all stakeholders involved, we need to thoughtfully and systematically assess all options,” Ermotti said in a statement from the board.
The marriage of UBS and Credit Suisse was hastily arranged by the government to prevent a global financial meltdown following fears of contagion from the collapse of three US regional banks.
The central bank has since admitted that the size of the resulting megabank could cause domestic problems in Switzerland.
UBS was already the biggest bank in the country — and will now become even larger after swallowing up the second-most important bank in the wealthy Alpine nation.
Switzerland, whose vibrant banking scene is a key part of the country’s culture, has been shocked to the core by the enforced merger.
A recent poll showed a majority of Swiss people reject the deal and blame Credit Suisse’s leadership for the outcome.
Swiss financial regulator FINMA is probing how to hold Credit Suisse bosses to account.
The Swiss parliament is planning a special session on Credit Suisse in April. It is also exploring whether to create an investigative committee to determine who was responsible for the debacle.
– Checkered past –
Credit Suisse was already embroiled in a series of scandals when its shares crashed on March 15 after the chairman of Saudi National Bank, its main shareholder, said his group would not up its stake in the Swiss lender.
A $54-billion lifeline from the central bank was not enough to stop the panic and the government brokered the weekend deal with UBS on March 19.
UBS and Credit Suisse were both among the 30 banks around the world deemed too big to fail and therefore considered Global Systemically Important Banks.
Credit Suisse was undergoing major restructuring before the takeover to repair trust after the implosion of the US fund Archegos in 2021, which cost the lender more than $5 billion.
That same year, its asset management branch was rocked by the bankruptcy of British financial firm Greensill, in which some $10 billion had been committed through four funds.