Influencer Andrew Tate has left Romania for U.S.: airport sources

WELCOME HOME TO TRUMPLAND

Agence France-Presse
February 27, 2025 

Andrew Tate is under judicial supervision in Romania (Daniel MIHAILESCU/AFP)

by Ani SANDU

Influencer Andrew Tate, facing charges of human trafficking and rape in Romania, left for the United States on Thursday, airport sources told AFP.

Romanian prosecutors allege that former kickboxer Tate, 38, his brother Tristan, 36, and two women set up a criminal organization in Romania and Britain in early 2021 and sexually exploited several victims

The brothers, who have a British and American nationality, insist they are innocent.

The Romanian organized crime squad DIICOT said the two brothers, who left for the US together, remained "under judicial supervision" and had to "appear before the judicial authorities at every summons".

"Violation in bad faith of the obligations incumbent on them may lead to the replacement of judicial control with a higher custodial measure," DIICOT said.


Romanian aviation news media BoardingPass said "a Gulfstream G550 private jet took off from Bucharest, Romania, bound for Fort Lauderdale" just after 6:00 am (0400 GMT).

"The flight... will be operated non-stop and will last 12 hours," it added.

Four British women who have accused Andrew Tate of rape voiced concern last week that the US government might push Romania to ease their travel restrictions.


The Financial Times has said U.S. President Donald Trump's administration brought up Tate's case with Romanian authorities earlier this month, calling for Bucharest to return the brothers' passports.
- 'Gaslighting' -

Romanian Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu said Trump's envoy Richard Grenell raised the case with him at the Munich Security Conference earlier in February.


The four women, who are bringing a civil case against Tate at the High Court in the UK accusing him of rape and coercive control between 2013 and 2016, urged Washington not to get involved.

"These are women who are the victims of the most horrible and horrific alleged crimes," the victims' UK lawyer Matthew Jury told BBC Newsnight.

"And to see the most powerful man in the world support their alleged abuser is incredibly traumatizing. It's retraumatizing for them. It's gaslighting of a sort," he added.


Andrew Tate moved to Romania years ago after first starting a webcam business in the UK.

He leapt to fame in 2016 when he first appeared on the UK's "Big Brother" reality television show, but was removed after a video emerged showing him attacking a woman.

He then turned to social media platforms to promote his often misogynistic and divisive views on how to be successful.


Banned from Instagram and TikTok for his views, Tate is followed by more than 10 million people on X watching his homophobic and racist posts.

A Romanian court has granted a British request to extradite the Tates to Britain, but only after legal proceedings in Romania have concluded.

Last year, the Tates were sentenced in a tax fraud case in Britain.


© Agence France-Presse

U.S. to remove trans troops from military unless they obtain waiver

Agence France-Presse
February 27, 2025 

The Pentagon (Daniel SLIM/AFP)

The United States will remove transgender troops from the military unless they obtain a waiver on a case-by-case basis, the Pentagon said in a Wednesday memo.

The memo became public as part of a court filing in a case challenging President Donald Trump's late January executive order that was aimed at barring military service by transgender personnel.

"Service members who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria will be processed for separation from military service," the memo said.

These troops may be "considered for a waiver on a case-by-case basis, provided there is a compelling government interest in retaining the service member that directly supports warfighting capabilities," it said.

To obtain such a waiver, troops must show that they have never attempted to transition, as well as demonstrate "36 consecutive months of stability in the service member's sex without clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning."

Another Pentagon memo issued earlier this month barred transgender people from joining the military and halted gender transition treatment for others who are already in uniform.


The latest memo also states that "applicants for military service... who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria are disqualified for military service," as are those with "a history of cross-sex hormone therapy or sex reassignment or genital reconstruction surgery as treatment for gender dysphoria."
- Shifting US policies -

Disqualified applicants can also obtain a waiver if there is a "compelling government interest" in them joining the military and they are "willing and able to adhere to all applicable standards, including the standards associated with the applicant's sex."


Transgender Americans have faced a roller coaster of changing policies on military service in recent years, with Democratic administrations seeking to permit them to serve openly, while Trump has repeatedly sought to keep them out of the ranks.

The U.S. military lifted a ban on transgender troops in 2016, during Democrat Barack Obama's second term as president.

Under that policy, trans troops already serving were permitted to do so openly, and transgender recruits were set to start being accepted by July 1, 2017.


But the first Trump administration postponed that date to 2018 before deciding to reverse the policy entirely.

Trump's controversial restrictions on transgender military service -- which underwent changes in response to various court challenges -- eventually came into force in April 2019 following a protracted legal battle that went all the way to the nation's top court.

Trump's Democratic successor Joe Biden moved to reverse the restrictions just days after he took office in 2021, saying all Americans qualified to serve should be able to do so.


After returning to office in January, Trump issued an executive order executive order that again took aim at transgender troops, saying: "Expressing a false 'gender identity' divergent from an individual's sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service."

Transgender issues have roiled US politics in recent years, as states controlled by Democrats and Republicans have moved in opposite directions on policies ranging from medical treatment to what books on the topic are allowed in public or school libraries.

© Agence France-Presse

Not planning too far ahead: Generational divides and the world of work


By Dr. Tim Sandle
February 25, 2025

DIGITAL JOURNAL


Workers at the new underground main station in the Stuttgart 21 project - Copyright AFP THOMAS KIENZLE

How do those in work feel about their professional future once they are in their chosen field? The company Kickresume has set out to determine precisely what professionals think about this topic.

To do so, the firm asked over 1,500 workers how they feel about the future of their careers. The survey asked respondents how far into the future they have planned their careers. The largest percentage said they plan 2-4 years into the future (29%) followed by a year (20%). 15% plan five years (or more) years ahead and the same percentage plan months ahead.

The survey was conducted in January 2025, gathered insights from 1,584 global participants on workplace music attitudes and policies.

Job role

In terms of job role, C-suite and senior level professionals were likely to plan 2-4 years ahead, or 5+ years. While many mid level and entry level employees plan ahead, many also admitted they do not plan at all.

The survey also asked workers to pick the words that describe their feelings about their professional future, and the most common feelings were excitement (39%), hope (38%), and optimism (38%). However, 30% said they felt uncertain, and 24% said they felt anxious.

Continuing with themes of emotional intelligence, survey respondents were also asked about how fast they regain their sense of hope after a setback at work. 30% said they bounce back within a few hours, and for 26% it only takes a day – 22% recover immediately. 13% feel better after a week, and 9% it takes longer.

New career

Respondents were also asked if they would be happy if they were still in the same job in 10 years. 57% said no while 43% said they would. The most likely career level to say they would not be happy were mid level executives (60%), and C-suite executives were the most likely to say they would be happy to stay in their current role (48%).

Generational divides

The generational differences from the findings are interesting, with Baby Boomers planning their career the furthest ahead compared to Gen Zs who are only planning 1-2 years ahead. The generation differences on how far ahead they are planning their career, as well as other differences in outlook are drawn out from the data.

In terms of future prospects, Gen Z were the most hopeful, Millennials felt positive but also frustrated, and Gen X were the most likely to feel anxious. The same pattern was repeated across entry level, mid level and senior employees.

The survey also asked people whether they felt more or less positive about their professional future than they had a few years ago. Gen Z and Millennials’ outlook had improved the most, but while many Gen X workers felt more positive, this was the only age group where people were more likely to feel worse than have remained the same.

There were variations noted for recovery time: 36% of Gen Z feel better within a few hours time, making them the fastest to recover. Gen X were the most likely to take longer than a week to recover (11%) and were also the most likely to take a day (29%). Again, a similar pattern is reflected across career levels, perhaps because more established professionals who are likely to be older may deal with greater responsibility at work.

GANGSTA STATE

‘Extreme brutality’: UN, aid groups warn Haiti unrest soaring


By AFP
February 25, 2025


Thousands in Haiti have fled violence in recent weeks, joining an estimated million of displaced people in the country - Copyright AFP TORSTEN BLACKWOOD

Haiti has seen a “wave of extreme brutality” in recent weeks, with numerous killings and thousands forced to flee their homes, a consortium of UN agencies, NGOs and donors is warning.

“Entire families have been brutally wiped out in their homes, while others, including children and babies, have been shot dead as they tried to escape,” the group, organized by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said in a statement Monday.

Gangs control large portions of Haiti, including the majority of the capital, and violence has soared despite the arrival of hundreds of police personnel as part of a Kenya-led multinational security support mission (MSS).

“We are deeply alarmed and dismayed by the unacceptable and inhuman intensity of the violence raging in Haiti, a wave of extreme brutality which, since the end of January, has resulted in the loss of many lives,” the group said.

It said 4,000 people had been forced to flee the Kenscoff area of the capital, along with 2,000 more from the Delmas, Port-au-Prince and Petion-ville municipalities.

The group called on “all parties involved in this violence to break this cycle of terror and put an end to this uncontrolled spiral.”

Fresh attacks occurred late Monday nights, said residents of two neighborhoods in the capital.

“They set fire to our house with my father inside. It’s cruel,” a resident who managed to flee the area told AFP.

Another said the attack came early in the morning as vigilante security forces were resting. “The bandits attacked us by surprise,” she said.

Haiti, the poorest nation in the Americas, has long been mired in instability, but conditions severely worsened early last year when gangs launched coordinated attacks in the capital to force then-prime minister Ariel Henry to resign.

He handed power to an interim government, which along with the MSS has struggled to wrest back control from the gangs.

The UN-approved MSS has around 1,000 personnel from six nations, though mostly from Kenya, out of 2,500 initially expected. One Kenyan officer died after being shot on Sunday.

UN officials have repeatedly called for more support for the mission and a surge of resources to the nation, where an estimated one million people have been displaced by the violence.

Last week, the UN launched an appeal for over $900 million in aid for Haiti this year, a sharp increase from 2024, which was only 44-percent funded.

The UN recorded 5,600 deaths linked to gang violence last year, in a 20-percent increase compared to 2023, as well as 1,500 kidnappings, nearly 6,000 gender-based violence cases, 69 percent of which were instances of sexual assault.

On Monday, Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime said authorities were “at war” with the gangs.

“We are relentlessly committed to enabling the police, the army and MSS to put gangs out of action,” he promised in a speech to mark his 100 days in office.

Nauru sells citizenship to fund climate change mitigation


By AFP
February 25, 2025


Nauru was once one of the wealthiest places on the planet but lucrative supplies of phosphate deposits have long dried up

 - Copyright AFP TORSTEN BLACKWOOD

Laura CHUNG

Pacific microstate Nauru is selling citizenship to fund its retreat from rising seas, President David Adeang told AFP, opening a contentious “golden passport” scheme as other climate financing runs dry.

The low-lying island nation of around 13,000 residents is planning a mass inland relocation as creeping seas start to eat away at its fertile coastal fringe.

It will drum up funding by selling passports to foreigners for US$105,000 each, despite fears such schemes are ripe for criminal exploitation.

“For Nauru it is not just about adapting to climate change, but about securing a sustainable and prosperous future for generations to come,” Adeang said.

“This is about more than survival. It is about ensuring future generations have a safe, resilient and sustainable home. We are ready for the journey ahead.”

The island republic sits on a small plateau of phosphate rock in the sparsely populated South Pacific.

With a total landmass of just 21 square kilometres (eight square miles), it is one of the world’s smallest nations.

Unusually pure phosphate deposits — a key ingredient in fertiliser — once made Nauru one of the wealthiest places, per capita, on the planet.

But these supplies have long dried up, and researchers today estimate 80 percent of Nauru has been rendered uninhabitable by mining.

What little land Nauru has left is threatened by encroaching tides — scientists have measured sea levels rising 1.5 times faster than global averages.



– Golden passports –



Existing climate funding efforts are “not sufficient” to address the challenge, said Edward Clark, who runs Nauru’s new Economic and Climate Resilience Citizenship Program.

“Debt financing places an undue burden on future generations and there is not enough aid,” he told AFP.

Nauru’s government expects to reap US$5.7 million in the programme’s first year, equating to around 66 successful applications, Clark said.

It hopes this will gradually increase to US$43 million -– or about 500 successful applications — which would account for almost 20 percent of total government revenue.

Nauru officials believe 90 percent of the population will eventually need to move to higher ground.

The first phase of this mass relocation is estimated to cost more than US$60 million.

To pay the bill, Nauru has pinned its hopes on the new citizenship-by-investment programme.

Clark said it was a kind of “innovation”.

“It is well known that developing climate-vulnerable countries are disproportionately impacted by climate change, and there is therefore an urgent need to ensure they disproportionately benefit from climate innovation,” he said.

Nations such as Nauru “have both a need and a right to be prosperous”, Clark added.

Nauru claims its passport will provide visa-free entry into 89 countries, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong.



– A ‘pioneering’ fix? –



More than 60 different nations offer some form of migration for investment schemes, Australia’s Lowy Institute has found.

Pacific nations such as Vanuatu, Samoa and Tonga have all dabbled in selling passports, according to the think tank.

Australian National University expert Henrietta McNeill said while these schemes helped bolster government revenue, they were also prone to exploitation.

She said criminals could use these documents to evade law enforcement, launder money or exploit visa-free entry rules.

A previous Nauru attempt to sell passports ended in disaster.

In 2003, Nauru officials sold citizenship to Al-Qaeda members who were later arrested in Asia, according to Australian broadcaster ABC.

Clark said this time Nauru would only offer passports to like-minded investors that passed “the strictest and most thorough due diligence procedures”.

“This programme isn’t just about acquiring another passport,” he said.

“It’s about joining a community dedicated to pioneering solutions for global challenges.”

Nauru has accepted millions of dollars from the Australian government since 2012 for housing migrants who had sought asylum in Australia.

But the scheme was gradually scaled back following 14 detainee deaths, multiple suicide attempts and at least six referrals to the International Criminal Court.

Nauru still held 87 people as of August 31, 2024, according to latest Australian government figures.

Trump proposes $5 million 'gold card' for wealthy investors, including Russians

By Andrew Naughtie with AP
Published on 26/02/2025 - 

The US's existing investor visa has already been flagged domestically as a fraud risk, but the new proposal did not come with any details of enhanced vetting for applicants.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he plans to offer a "gold card" granting wealthy applicants a path to citizenship at a price of $5 million (€4.76 million), replacing an investor visa that has existed for 35 years.

Describing the people he wanted to see apply, Trump told an Oval Office press conference: "They'll be wealthy and they'll be successful, and they'll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people, and we think it's going to be extremely successful."

Asked whether Russian oligarchs would be eligible for the gold card, Trump responded: “Yeah, possibly. I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people.”

Two men publicly flogged in Indonesia for gay sex

LGBTQ RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS


By AFP
February 27, 2025


A man, found guilty of sexual relations with another man under the strict Islamic sharia law, is publicly flogged in Banda Aceh - Copyright AFP Zain JAAFAR

Two men were publicly flogged in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province on Thursday after they were found guilty of sexual relations by a court operating under strict Islamic law.

While gay sex is not illegal elsewhere in Indonesia — the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation — it is outlawed in Aceh, which imposes a version of sharia, the Islamic legal code.

The flogging began before midday at a park in provincial capital Banda Aceh, with one man accused of instigating the relationship lashed 82 times and the second man 77 times.

Both were caned with a rattan stick as dozens watched on, according to an AFP journalist present.

The men’s sentences were reduced by three lashes for three months spent in detention.

In November, locals raided a rented room in Banda Aceh and found the two men — both students at a local university — together.

They were taken to sharia police for the alleged crime of sexual relations.

Rights advocates slammed the punishment as part of a wider trend of discrimination against LGBTQ people in the country.

“The intimidation, discrimination and abuses against LGBTQ individuals in Aceh are like a bottomless well,” Andreas Harsono, Indonesia researcher at Human Rights Watch, told AFP.

“The Aceh government should learn from these mistakes and review their Islamic criminal code.”

Amnesty International called the punishment a “horrifying act of discrimination” against the two men.

“Intimate sexual relations between consenting adults should never be criminalised, and no one should be punished because of their real or perceived sexual orientation,” Amnesty’s Deputy Regional Director Montse Ferrer said in a statement.

Two other men were flogged at the same park 34 and eight times respectively on Thursday for online gambling, according to prosecutors.

Medical services were on standby for all the men.

Caning retains strong support among Aceh’s population as a common punishment for a range of offences that include gambling, drinking alcohol and adultery.

The region started using religious law after it was granted special autonomy in 2001, an attempt by the central government to quell a long-running separatist insurgency.

Rights decline but bright spots in South Asia: Freedom House

The non-profit group has planned layoffs after President Donald Trump froze money aimed at democracy promotion.

By AFP
February 26, 2025


A voter casts his ballot at a polling station during Bhutan's general elections in January 2024 - Copyright AFP/File Money SHARMA

Shaun TANDON

Freedom declined around the world last year with authoritarians solidifying their grip, but South Asia led a series of bright spots, Freedom House said Wednesday in its annual report.

The Washington-based pro-democracy research group elevated two countries to the status of “free” — Senegal, where the opposition triumphed after the outgoing president’s attempt to delay elections was defeated, and Bhutan, the Himalayan kingdom which consolidated a transition to democracy with competitive polls.

Tiny Bhutan gained the distinction of being the only South Asian country classified as free. But others in the region made strong gains in the index without changing categories — Bangladesh, where iron-fisted leader Sheikh Hasina fled in the face of a revolt, and Sri Lanka, where Anura Kumara Dissanayake was elected president on an anti-corruption platform after breaking the stranglehold of the two long-dominant parties.

The largest score improvement in the index, which tracks both countries and territories, was in Indian-administered Kashmir, which held elections for the first time since the Hindu nationalist government in New Delhi revoked the Muslim-majority region’s special status in 2019.

But Freedom House said India as a whole saw further deterioration as it pointed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to gain influence over judicial appointments. The group downgraded the world’s largest democracy from “free” to “partly free” in 2021.

Yana Gorokhovskaia, the co-author of the report, said it was the 19th consecutive year that freedom fell on a global level, but that 2024 was especially volatile due to the high number of elections.

“The big picture is that this was another year of the same trajectory of a global decline in freedom but because of all the elections, it was more dynamic than previous years,” she said.

She said that both Bangladesh and Syria, where Islamist-led fighters toppled longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad in December, saw immediate improvements in civil liberties — but that it would be a longer road to see gains in political representation.

Political rights largely “depend on institutions. And those are easy to destroy but very hard to build up,” she said.

– Four countries become ‘not free’ –

A rare bright spot in the Middle East was Jordan, which was upgraded from “not free” to “partly free.” Freedom House pointed to reforms that allowed more competitive elections in the kingdom.

On the other hand, four countries were downgraded from “partly free” to “not free” — Kuwait, Niger, Tanzania and Thailand.

Thailand — which has repeatedly shifted in the Freedom House categories — saw a court disband the party which won the most votes in elections and then dismiss the prime minister from the second-ranking party after an ethics complaint by senators backed by the powerful military.

Kuwait’s emir disbanded parliament after elections, while in Tanzania, Freedom House pointed to a crackdown on protesters under President Samia Suluhu Hassan.

Niger came under full grip of the military after a 2023 coup ousted elected president Mohamed Bazoum.

Tunisia, El Salvador and Haiti also saw steep declines. The only country given a perfect 100 score on freedom was Finland, with New Zealand, Norway and Sweden all right behind at 99.

Freedom House, founded in 1941 with bipartisan US support, receives US government funding but is independently administered. The non-profit group has planned layoffs after President Donald Trump froze money aimed at democracy promotion.

EU was born to ‘screw’ US, Trump says

TRUMP'S PARANOID  GEOPOLITICS 

By AFP
February 26, 2025


US President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House - Copyright AFP Roman PILIPEY

Shaun Tandon and Beiyi Seow

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the European Union was born to “screw” the United States, laying bare his hostility to the longtime US partner as he detailed new tariffs.

Trump’s month back in the White House has been marked by soaring friction within the Western bloc, with the United States abruptly shifting gears on support for Ukraine and Germany’s likely next leader urging Europe to seek defense independence from Washington.

“Look, let’s be honest, the European Union was formed in order to screw the United States,” Trump told reporters as he gathered his cabinet for the first time.

“That’s the purpose of it, and they’ve done a good job of it. But now I’m president,” Trump said.

The United States for decades cheered on European integration, seeing the formation of the European Union in 1993 as a historic achievement to end conflict on a continent ravaged by two world wars.

Trump applauded Britain when it left the European Union and has taken a strident “America First” policy, vowing to pursue self-interest above any abstract concepts of partnership.

Trump said at his cabinet meeting that the European Union has “really taken advantage of us.”

The United States had a trade deficit to the 27-nation bloc of $235.6 billion last year, according to official US figures.

Asked if he had made a decision on tariff levels for the European Union, Trump added: “We’ll be announcing it very soon and it’ll be 25 percent, generally speaking.”

He said that cars would be among the products to be hit — grim news for Germany whose export-driven economy has been in a slump.

Trump has also slapped tariffs on US neighbors Canada and Mexico as well as rival China, citing issues including illegal immigration and fentanyl smuggling.



– EU meeting scrapped –



Trump, who has made the deportation of mostly non-Western undocumented immigrants a top priority, acknowledged his origins in Europe, saying wryly: “I guess I’m from there at some point a long time ago, right?”

But whatever the common heritage, tensions have risen sharply with the European Union on a series of issues starting with Ukraine.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas was visiting Washington on Wednesday and had earlier announced that she would meet Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The meeting was canceled, with a European Union spokesman citing “scheduling issues.” Trump, however, saw French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday and meets British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday.

On Monday, the United States sided with Russia and against nearly all European allies at the United Nations in backing a resolution that called for a swift end to the war without insisting on Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

Trump insisted Wednesday it was up to Europe, not the United States, to provide security guarantees to Ukraine, even as President Volodymyr Zelensky prepared to fly to Washington to sign an agreement giving US control of much of his country’s mineral wealth.

“We’re going to have Europe do that,” Trump said. “Europe is their next-door neighbor, but we’re going to make sure everything goes well.”

The winner of Germany’s election on Sunday, Friedrich Merz, is a longstanding supporter of the transatlantic alliance but has warned not to be under illusions about Trump.

Merz said that Europe must move quickly to “achieve independence” from the United States on defense matters.

Rubio, in an interview broadcast Wednesday with Fox News, said that the NATO alliance was “not in jeopardy” but that Europe needed to spend more on its own defense.

“We’re not saying do your own thing. We’re saying do more. It’s their continent, right?” he said.

US hardens visa sanctions over Cuba medical program

TRUMP ATTACKS ON GLOBAL HEALTH

By AFP
February 25, 2025


A man greets Cuban doctors on a bus after their arrival at Palmerola International Airport in Honduras in February 2024 - Copyright AFP/File Orlando SIERRA

The United States on Tuesday expanded visa restrictions over Cuba’s dispatch of doctors overseas, a program Havana sees as a source of influence and revenue but which has long faced accusations of exploitation.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American and vociferous foe of the communist government in Havana, said the United States will now also bar visas to foreign government officials who assist the program.

He said that the United States was immediately imposing visa restrictions under the expanded policy on several people from Cuba’s ally Venezuela and that immediate family members of sanctioned officials would also be affected.

“Cuba continues to profit from the forced labor of its workers and the regime’s abusive and coercive labor practices are well documented,” Rubio said.

“Cuba’s labor export programs, which include the medical missions, enrich the Cuban regime, and in the case of Cuba’s overseas medical missions, deprive ordinary Cubans of the medical care they desperately need in their home country,” he said in a statement.

Cuba, which frequently highlights its universal health care system, has sent doctors around the world since the 1960s as it promotes itself in developing nations.

The program has become a major source of needed cash, particularly after the Soviet Union’s collapse deprived Cuba of a major benefactor.

According to Cuban official figures, Cuba sent 22,632 medical professionals to 57 countries in 2023, with Cuba earning $6.3 billion in 2018 and $3.9 billion in 2020, in part in the form of oil from Venezuela.

Critics characterize the program as forced labor, and the United States under former president George W. Bush launched a program to encourage Cuban doctors overseas to defect.

Human Rights Watch has said that the Cuban doctors are deprived of fundamental freedoms as they live under draconian rules overseas.

Since returning to office last month, President Donald Trump has swiftly sought to ramp up pressure on Cuba.

He reversed a decision by his predecessor Joe Biden to take Cuba off a list of state sponsors of terrorism. The Biden administration agreed to lift the designation, which has severe effects on investment, in return for Cuba’s release of political prisoners.

 AUSTERITY...

Hong Kong to slash public spending, build AI institute

...WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS


By AFP
February 26, 2025


Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan announced public spending cust as he looks to end a string of deficits - Copyright AFP Peter PARKS

Hong Kong will cut public spending and restore fiscal balance by mid-2027 after a string of huge deficits, the city’s finance chief said Wednesday as he unveiled growth plans including an artificial intelligence institute.

Officials are under pressure to balance the books as Hong Kong faces its toughest fiscal test in three decades, with annual deficits exceeding US$20 billion in four of the past five years.

It is also being weighed by China’s economic malaise and a looming US-China trade war, following an opening salvo of tariffs from President Donald Trump.

The economy is expected to grow between two and three percent this year, on par with last year’s 2.5 percent.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan said in his annual budget speech that the government will contain spending in a way that minimises the impact on public services and livelihoods.

A “cumulative reduction” of government recurrent expenditure by seven percent through to 2027-28 would take place, he said.

“It gives us a clear pathway towards the goal of restoring fiscal balance in the operating account… within the current term of the government,” which ends in June 2027, he added.

Chan announced a pay freeze for all branches of government and said around six percent of its 170,000-strong civil service will be trimmed by April 2027.

Other spending curbs include a cap on a transport subsidy for people aged above 60.

Hong Kong has long relied on land-related revenue to fill government coffers, but income from that plunged last year to US$1.7 billion — the lowest in two decades.

Chan said Hong Kong’s asset market was “under pressure” and that land-related revenue will rebound to US$2.7 billion this year.

The government said it would not put commercial land up for sale in the coming year amid high office vacancy rates.

– ‘Northern Metropolis’ –

To reverse the property slump, Hong Kong will also lower the stamp duty of homes valued under US$515,000.

Marcos Chan, from commercial real estate firm CBRE Hong Kong, said the budget had “fewer policy measures aimed at directly boosting property demand”.

The finance chief said Wednesday that the government would spend HK$1 billion (US$129 million) to set up a Hong Kong AI Research and Development Institute, in a bid to make the city “an international exchange and co-operation hub for the AI industry”.

The city is eager to lure back international visitors after its reputation took a hit from political unrest and pandemic-related curbs.

The government will allocate US$159 million to its tourism body to promote “distinctive tourism products” such as panda tourism and horse-racing tourism.

Chan’s speech saw no public opposition, as authorities continued to crack down on dissent in the city.

Activists from the League of Social Democrats, one of the last remaining pro-democracy groups, cancelled their annual pre-budget petition citing “strong pressure”.

The group planned to call for pay cuts for top officials, greater government accountability and halting costly infrastructure projects such as the “Northern Metropolis”.

But Chan said on Wednesday the government will push ahead with the project, which aims to integrate Hong Kong more closely to its neighbour Shenzhen.

“We must accelerate the development of the Northern Metropolis. It is an investment in our future,” he said.

The government will issue up to US$25.1 billion in bonds every year until 2029-30 to fund its infrastructure ambitions.

The International Monetary Fund said last month that Hong Kong was “recovering gradually after a protracted period of shock”.

The city’s benchmark Hang Seng Index, which has rallied to a three-year high thanks to a recent surge in mainland tech companies, rose more than three percent Wednesday.