It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Malaysia's Anti-Corruption Commission has released a series of audio recordings allegedly revealing former Prime Minister Najib Razak seeking help from Abu Dhabi's crown prince and colluding with a former prosecutor to conceal wrongdoings linked to a massive corruption scandal.
The voice clips, released on Wednesday, marked a new blow to Najib, who has denied any misdeeds in the multimillion-dollar looting of the 1MDB state fund and is on trial for corruption after losing office in elections held in May 2018. More:
Commission chief Latheefa Koya said the nine phone conversations, recorded between January and July 2016, revealed a "clear cover-up and criminal conspiracy" by Najib to stifle investigations, fabricate false evidence and obstruct justice in the 1MDB scandal.
The agency has verified that the clips were genuine but she declined to say how it obtained them. She said the clips will be given to the police for further action.
In a July 26, 2016, conversation, Najib purportedly called Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed to seek an urgent meeting to resolve an "impasse" over payment between 1MDB and Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Co.
That came just days after the US Department of Justice said at least $3.5bn had been misappropriated from the fund by people close to Najib and filed lawsuits to seize allegedly ill-gotten assets linked to 1MDB.
Najib also allegedly asked bin Zayed to forge a loan agreement to help his stepson and Hollywood producer Riza Aziz, who was named in the US lawsuit.
Najib said a loan agreement would show the 1MDB money to Riza's production firm Red Granite came from a legitimate source.
"I don't want him to be a victim when he was totally unaware of the source of money," Najib told the prince, according to the phone recordings.
Red Granite later paid $60m to drop the US lawsuit but Riza was charged in Malaysia last year for money-laundering.
"We can confirm their absolute authenticity. The contents are shocking; it's a cover-up and subversion of justice," Latheefa said. Najib could not be immediately reached for comment. Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak faces dozens
of charges over 1MDB, trials are continuing
[File: Lim Huey Teng/Reuters]
Najib set up 1MDB shortly after taking power in 2009 as a way to boost economic development, but it accumulated billions in debts and sparked investigations in the US and other countries.
In another recording on January 5, 2016, then-Public Prosecutor Dzulkifli Ahmad allegedly told Najib that the 1MDB investigation outcome was detrimental but that he and then-Attorney General Apandi Ali could handle the matter on the legal side.
On January 26 that year, Apandi held a news conference to clear Najib of any wrongdoing. Dzulkifli was promoted to anti-graft agency chief in August 2016.
Another conversation between Rosmah and Najib revolved around plans to invite representatives from the UAE to settle a financial dispute between 1MDB and IPIC without arbitration.
Latheefa said the agency decided to make the clips public as they were of national interest. She said the release would not be prejudicial to Najib's ongoing trials.
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THAT OTHER FELLA THE AMERICAN'S ASSASSINATED Hashd deputy leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis buried in Iraq's Najaf
Mourners gathered in the holy city to pay their respects before the armed group leader was buried at Salam Cemetery. by Arwa Ibrahim
Al-Muhandis was killed alongside Soleimani, the commander
of Iran's Quds Force near Baghdad airport on Friday [File: Aziz Taher/Reuters]
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a leader of Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi), has been buried at the Salam Cemetery in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf.
Al-Muhandis was killed alongside Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and several others in a US air raid outside Baghdad airport on Friday.
His body was taken to Iran for the DNA test and was returned on Tuesday.
"The DNA testing was completed successfully and he was flown to Basra, his hometown, for mourners to pay their respects," said PMF media representative Mohannad Hussein.
"We were meant to bury him tonight [Tuesday], but because of the huge crowd that gathered at the funeral procession in Basra, things took longer than expected," said Hussein.
Al-Muhandis, whose real name was Jamal Jaafar Ibrahimi, was the top Iraqi adviser to Soleimani and founder of the Kataib Hezbollah armed group. He was also the de facto leader of the PMF, an umbrella group of mostly Iranian-backed Shia armed groups.
Hundreds of people gathered on the streets of Najaf on Tuesday night to pay their final respects. Earlier, thousands of mourners had gathered in his hometown of Basra. Many raised flags of the paramilitary group and chanted "Death to America".
Funeral processions were also held in several Iraqi cities earlier this week, including Baghdad and Karbala, where funeral prayers were held. Mourners gather during a funeral procession for Abu Mahdi
al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iran-backed militias
in Basra [The Associated Press]
'Strong retaliation'
Mourners in Najaf told Al Jazeera that al-Muhandis's death was a great loss to Iraq. Others called for a strong response and an end to the US presence in Iraq.
"We gathered in Najaf to pay our final respects to Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a symbol of bravery and sacrifice," Falah Abdel Hassan, 45, told Al Jazeera. "Muhandis was a real hero in our eyes. He did a great deal to protect Iraq and fight ISIL."
The PMF, which was founded as a loose network of Shia-majority factions fighting the ISIL (ISIS) group in Iraq, was formally absorbed into Iraq's security forces. Critics say that some of the factions, including Kataib Hezbollah, still operate independent of government forces.
Abu Bakir al-Janabi, a 35-year-old mourner, told Al Jazeera he attended the funeral procession to condemn the US for killing al-Muhandis and Soleimani.
"We are here to pay our respects to this great leader and to condemn his killing. He was a symbol of resistance against the US," said al-Janabi.
"We want revenge. We call on the PMF and the government to retaliate strongly. The US troops' presence in Iraq must end immediately," he added.
Al-Muhandis fought alongside Soleimani and other prominent Iraqi armed group leaders, including Badr Organisation chief Hadi al-Amiri, who is now set to succeed al-Muhandis.
"He was Soleimani's man in Iraq. He was instrumental in the rise of the PMF and in its normalisation, centralisation and institutionalisation," Fanar al-Haddad, a research fellow at the Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore, told Al Jazeera.
"Admirers see him through the prism of the fight against ISIL. Critics see him as the face of Iran in Iraq," he added.
In a recorded video of his will that was shared after his death, al-Muhandis called on his supporters to continue resistance.
"I pray, I spend the afterlife with ... those I fought with, from Kuwait, to Iran, to Iraq. The Badr youth, and later the resistance against the occupation, and now the PMF youth. I command you to take care of the Shia in the region and in the world," he told his followers. Additional reporting by Ahmed al-Okaishi in Najaf
Indian woman faces arrest for carrying 'Free Kashmir' placard #KASHMIR IS #INDIA'S #GAZA
Activists criticise police move to file case against Mumbai woman for raising 'Free Kashmir' poster at a protest rally. by Parth MN Agitations in Mumbai have hit the headlines, with Bollywood celebrities also joining protests [Rafiq Maqbool/AP Photo]
Mumbai, India - Activists and political analysts in India have criticised Mumbai police for launching an investigation against a woman for holding a "Free Kashmir" poster during a protest against mob violence inside New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).
The woman has since apologised for carrying the placard during the 24-hour sit-in staged at the iconic Gateway of India located in the financial hub of Mumbai along with similar solidarity protests across many Indian cities.
The protesters chanted slogans, recited poetry, sang songs, and carried posters but a senior leader from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) raised an objection to the "Free Kashmir" poster.
Modi's Hindu nationalist government stripped the Indian-administered Kashmir's special status and imposed a lockdown in the region on August 5. Since then, the Muslim-majority region has largely been without internet access and thousands of people, including pro-India politicians, have been thrown into jail.
The Mumbai police spokesman, Deputy Commissioner of Police Pranay Ashok, said a complaint has been filed under section 153(B) of the Indian Penal Code against the woman for displaying the poster.
If found guilty, she faces up to three years of imprisonment or fine or both.
"We will look into whether the incident is true, and what was her motive behind it," Ashok told Al Jazeera. 'Serious infringement of individual rights'
In a video message on Facebook, Mehek Mirza Prabhu, the woman with the poster, said the incident has been "blown out of proportion". Students have realised that this regime is not doing much for them. And the minorities have realised they need to fight back.
SUHAS PALSHIKAR, POLITICAL SCIENTIST
"The placard meant freedom to express themselves, freedom from the internet lockdown which many people have been voicing for," she said. "I was voicing my solidarity for basic constitutional right. This situation is scary for a woman like me. If by being naive in understanding the impact it would have, and in the process create this stir. I apologise."
Suhas Palshikar, a political scientist based in Pune city, called the police complaint a "serious infringement of individual rights".
"Everyone these days is worried of being branded as anti-national," he said, explaining why Kashmir is a no go for most Indians.
"There is a misconception among people that even talking about autonomy to Kashmir, which was part of the Indian constitution, is seen as tantamount to anti-national activity."
The ruling BJP has long campaigned against Article 370 of the Indian constitution that granted Kashmir a measure of autonomy. After Modi won re-election in a landslide victory in May, his government moved to scrap Kashmir's autonomy.
While the authorities in Mumbai have been quick to file a complaint against Prabhu over the poster, the Delhi police have not made a single arrest in connection with the assault on the students of JNU two days ago.
In an FIR, the police have admitted to being witness to a mob attacking students, but did not do anything to protect them. Several videos and reports have pointed towards the involvement of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the parent organisation of the BJP.
Instead, Delhi police filed a complaint against the JNU student's union president, Aishe Ghosh, for allegedly vandalising on-campus property a day before the mob attack on Sunday. Ghosh has endured head injuries during the Sunday's attack. Protest against citizenship law
The protests following the attack in JNU come as a series of organic agitations going on across the country since the Modi government pushed through a legislation on citizenship last month.
The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) gives nationality to persecuted minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, but it singles out Muslims from seeking refuge in India, drawing parallels with Myanmar's refugee and citizenship policy.
Critics say that the CAA is part of Modi government's Hindu supremacist agenda and runs against the spirit of India's secular constitution.
Government's decision to implement nationwide counting of citizenship (National Register of Citizens) has caused alarm among India's largest minority, Muslims, who have held mass protests in the past several weeks. More than 20 people have been killed in police action.
Indians have protested against police brutality on students at the Jamia Millia Islamia university, Aligarh Muslim University and the JNU.
Teesta Setalvad, an activist based in Mumbai, said, "Muslims have realised they are a political target."
"But non-Muslims, because they believe in constitutional principle of parity, have also taken to the streets, which is heartening," she told Al Jazeera.
"People have realised that having documentary proof is only a privilege of the elite. The poor and marginalised would be queueing up to prove their existence."
Agitations in Mumbai have hit headlines, including the one where Bollywood celebrities took to streets, and sang songs, recited poems. Top Bollywood star Deepika Padukone visited the JNU campus on Tuesday to show her solidarity with students.
Palshikar said the protests are a result of a combination of factors along with the NRC and the CAA.
"Students have realised that this regime is not doing much for them," he said. "And the minorities have realised they need to fight back."
WHAT CAUSED THE WILDFIRES IN AUSTRALIA? AMID WORST BLAZES FOR A DECADE, 24 PEOPLE ARE CHARGED WITH ARSON BY BRENDAN COLE ON 1/7/20
Police in Australia have arrested and charged two dozen people they say deliberately lit blazes during the wildfire season that has so far killed at least 18 people, destroyed thousands of homes and ravaged over 10 million acres of land.
New South Wales police said that since the beginning of November, 24 people have been charged over allegedly deliberately lighting fires as officers continue to investigate the role that arson has played in the devastation. Starting a wildfire can result in a jail sentence of up to 21 years.
"Investigations into the cause, origin and overall impact of fires are continuing and since the latest State of Emergency was declared...Strike Force Tronto has provided expertise to six police area commands and eight police districts," NSW police said in a statement.
"As inquiries continue, police are appealing to the community to provide footage and/or images from phones, dashcam, or other devices, that show any of the fires in their infancy, even if only from a distance."
Police in the state have also taken legal action against a further 159 people. Among them are 53 people who allegedly failed to comply with a total fire ban and 47 people who allegedly discarded a lit cigarette or match on land. What Caused the Wildfires in Australia?
There has been much debate about the links between climate change and the fires. Australian National University climate scientist Imran Ahmed told the BBC there was a direct link "because what climate change does is exacerbate the conditions in which the bushfires happen."
Glenda Wardle, an ecologist from the University of Sydney, told the BBC: "It's not every weather event that is the direct result of climate change. But when you see trends…it becomes undeniably linked to global climate change."
Unseasonably high temperatures and drought over the last three months have contributed to the conditions that have allowed the fires to proliferate.
Residents defend a property from a bushfire at Hillsville near
Taree, 350 kilometers north of Sydney on November 12, 2019.
Two dozen people have been arrested on suspicion of
starting fires during the wildfire season.
PETER PARKS/GETTY IMAGES
"One of the key drivers of fire intensity, fire spread rates and fire area is temperature. And in Australia we've just experienced record high temperatures," Mark Howden, director of the Climate Change Institute at Australian National University, told Reuters.
A report by the Australian Government's Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said that last Spring, there was the highest fire weather danger with record high values right across the country.
"The dangerous fire weather conditions during spring 2019 is consistent with the increasingly severe fire weather seen in many areas of the country, owing to increasing temperatures and reduced cool season rainfall," the report said.
Meanwhile, dry lightning was to blame for sparking a number of fires in December in Victoria's East Gippsland region, according to Victoria Emergency, and the unusually hot weather has accelerated the flames.
Arson has been cited as making matters worse. In December, NSW Rural Fire Service Inspector Ben Shepherd told The Australian that most of the fires had been lit and the flames had been exacerbated by people flouting total fire bans.
"This kind of activity is dangerous and stupid…and the real issue is the severity of the risk when the environment is so dry and windy, and conducive to fires spreading extraordinarily quickly," he said.
Firemen prepare as a bushfire approaches homes on the
outskirts of the town of Bargo on December 21, 2019 in
Sydney, Australia. Debate centres around the link between
the fires and climate change.DAVID GRAY/GETTY IMAGES
The wildfires are among the worst to hit Australia since the so-called Black Saturday fires in 2009 which killed 173 people, according to news.com.au. In 1974, 117 million hectares of land was burnt in wildfires in central Australia.
Meanwhile, police have also warned that those who exploit the devastation of the fire will face the full force of the law, as three people were charged over alleged looting in bushfire-affected areas on the South Coast.
In a press conference, NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys said: "It's disgusting behavior. It's behavior we won't tolerate simply because the community will not tolerate it either. People's homes are their castles and particularly in these times of devastation it really does go against the grain of Australian people…we will take action."
Australian Army Burying Thousands of Dead Animals Killed by Bushfires READ MORE
Newsweek has contacted New South Wales Police for further comment.
The impact on wildlife continues to be felt, with with the University of Sydney estimating that as many as half a billion mammals, birds and reptiles have perished.
The group Wildlife Rescue (WIRES) said that the flames have devastated numbers of koalas, possums, kangaroos and wallabies. "We have lost countless precious lives in these fires and many more are likely to die of their injuries and starvation. The fire affected areas are vast and remote.
"Our beautiful and diverse World Heritage listed National Parks which provide our native wildlife with their best protections have been devastated," Vickii Lett, WIRES NSW Koala coordinator told Newsweek in a statement.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionWang Zhimin served a little over two years as director of the liaison office
China has sacked the official in charge of relations with Hong Kong, Chinese state media reports.
Wang Zhimin was director of Beijing's liaison office for the territory.
The Xinhua news agency said Mr Wang had been replaced by Luo Huining, the Communist Party secretary for the northern province of Shanxi.
The sacking follows six months of often violent pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong that have tested Beijing's patience with top officials there.
Carrie Lam, the chief executive of Hong Kong, remains in office with the public support of the mainland leadership, despite being the face of a proposed bill which initially sparked unrest in March 2019.
The bill would have allowed for criminal suspects to be extradited from Hong Kong to mainland China, raising fears that the new law would be abused to detain dissidents and remove them from the territory.
Image copyrightREUTERSImage captionAnti-government protesters were detained on New Year's Day in Hong Kong
Hong Kong's protesters welcomed the new decade on Wednesday with a New Year's Day rally, which saw tens of thousands of people join a pro-democracy march. The gathering was largely peaceful, save for some small pockets of violence.
Police used water cannon to clear the Mong Kok market district and fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters.
Some 40 parliamentarians and dignitaries from 18 countries sent an open letter to Ms Carrie Lam on New Year's Eve, urging her to "seek genuine ways forward out of this crisis by addressing the grievances of Hong Kong people".
Hong Kong was a British colony until 1997, when it was returned to Chinese control under the principle of "one country, two systems". While it is technically part of China, the territory has its own legal system and borders, and rights including freedom of assembly and free speech are protected.
Hong Kong's Lam promises to work closely with Beijing's new envoy
City's chief executive makes no mention of prolonged protests and pledges to return Hong Kong to 'right path'. 6 Jan 2020
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said she hoped
the territory would return to the 'right path', echoing
comments made by China's top official in the city,
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Tuesday that she would work closely with Beijing's top official in the territory to get the city back on "the right path" after more than six months of pro-democracy protests.
The appointment of a new head of the Chinese government's most important office in Hong Kong, Luo Huining, was unexpectedly announced at the weekend in a sign of Beijing's frustration with the latter's handling of the crisis. More:
The Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region reports to China's State Council or cabinet, and is the main platform for Beijing to project its influence in the city.
"I would work closely with director Luo in the coming future, committing to 'one country, two systems', and the Basic Law, for Hong Kong to ... return to the right path," Lam said in her first news conference of the year, referring to the city's mini-constitution and system of governance.
Luo on Monday, in his first remarks since taking office, used the same language, saying he hoped the city would return to the right path.
Lam did not mention the protests in her opening remarks, which focused on health risks related to an outbreak of a respiratory virus in the city of Wuhan on the mainland. Democracy protests resumed over the New Year after a
lull during December; Chief Executive Carrie Lam says
she hopes the territory will return to the 'right path'
[File: Tyrone Siu/Reuters]
Authorities have identified 21 cases in Hong Kong, of which seven people have been released from hospital.
Broad support
Clashes between police and protesters intensified over the year-end holiday following an early-December lull in violence after an overwhelming win of the pro-democracy camp in city district council elections yielded no government concessions.
The protests in Chinese-ruled Hong Kong, which began over a now-dropped extradition bill, have evolved into a broader campaign for democracy with demands for universal suffrage and an independent inquiry into complaints of police brutality.
The police maintain they have acted with restraint.
Many people in Hong Kong are angered by what they see as Beijing's ever-tightening grip on the city which was promised a high degree of autonomy under a "one country, two systems" framework when it was returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Beijing denies interference and blames the West for heightening the unrest.
The protest movement is supported by 59 percent of city residents polled in a survey conducted for Reuters by the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute, while 57 percent of them wanted Lam to resign.
SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES Dozens held in Hong Kong after violence at parallel trading march
Protests target mainlanders’ practice of bulk-buying goods to sell at profit in China
Agence France-Presse in Hong Kong Sun 5 Jan 2020
Police pour water on a protester who was
pepper-sprayed while being detained in
Sheung Shui.
Photograph: Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters
Petrol bombs have been thrown at a Hong Kong police station and dozens of people arrested after a march against parallel trading near the Chinese border.
The Democratic party said about 10,000 people marched peacefully in Sheung Shui district on Sunday, but violence erupted after police ordered protesters to disperse.
Several petrol bombs were thrown at Sheung Shui police station, about 1.5km (1 mile) from where the rally took place.
A pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong has been demanding greater freedoms from Beijing for nearly seven months.
The marchers were protesting against parallel trading, by which thousands of mainlanders cross the border every day to bulk-buy goods such as infant formula to sell at a profit in China.
There is significant resentment against the practice, which frequently leaves goods in short supply in border towns, and has driven up the price of commodities as well as shop rents.
Dino Chan, a Sheung Shui district councillor and one of the rally organisers, said: “If the police could spare one of the cars they drove here to handle the march to instead deal with the trading problem, we would not have to organise this protest.”
He said 42 people were arrested following the violence.
The anti-government protests have been blamed for helping plunge Hong Kong’s economy into recession for the first time in a decade.
The protests were triggered by a proposal to allow extraditions to mainland China, but have morphed into a broader revolt for democratic freedoms.
On Sunday, the violence was not at the level seen during many previous protests, with police using pepper spray to disperse crowds but not teargas.
China and the Hong Kong administration have refused to bow to protesters’ demands, which include direct elections, an inquiry into alleged police misconduct and an amnesty for the nearly 7,000 people arrested so far.
Tea and tear gas: Hong Kong's shops on the economic front line As visitor numbers and retail sales figures plunge due to protests, some Hong Kong shop owners stand their ground. by Caroline Malone 6 Jan 2020
Lo Bak Jun, owner of a well known tea house in Hong Kong, says business is the worst it has ever been for him, as violent pro-democracy protests show no sign of ending, driving tourists away [Caroline Malone/Al Jazeera]
Hong Kong, China: Lo Bak Jun and his family have been running their successful tea house in Hong Kong for about three decades. He puts in approximately 70 hours a week, but despite the hard work, business is suffering.
"It's gotten worse since June this year. Business this year is the worst in 30 years for the shop," Lo told Al Jazeera.
Lo's parents started the Kam Yuen Tea House in the early 1990s when Hong Kong's economy was booming. But now, the city is in recession, tipped over the edge by more than six months of unrest and a protracted trade war between the United States and China.
Small businesses like his are on the financial front line, as tourists stay away and retail sales plunge.
He sells traditional and specialist Chinese teas such as Jasmine, Tieguanyin and Pu'er at the teahouse. He warmly welcomes customers, inviting them to sample different brews, and is happy to host regulars for hours who sip and chat.
"Some tourists will sit here all day and drink all the tea they are given."
In the past, at least one tour group would visit the shop a day. Now, days go past without a single foreign customer.
Government data shows Hong Kong visitor numbers were down 56 percent in November from a year earlier, after a 44 percent drop in October when tourism is usually thriving around China's national Golden Week holiday.
Lo misses his foreign customers but says he relies on locals for most of his business. For every 20 Hong Kong dollars ($2.57) spent by a tourist in his shop, a Hong Kong local would spend approximately 100 Hong Kong dollars ($12.85). "Hong Kong people love tea," says Lo.
Kam Yuen Tea House is in the bustling residential and commercial neighbourhood of Sai Ying Pun, west of Hong Kong's central business district.
Beijing's liaison office is on a parallel road nearby.
The area was the scene of some of the first provocative acts last year by protesters, who vandalised the Chinese emblem and threw eggs at the building. The police response was harsh, with liberal amounts of tear gas and mass arrests. It was the start of an escalation in violence that has seen protesters fighting and throwing petrol bombs while police use rubber bullets, bean bag rounds and even occasionally live gunfire to quell the unrest.
Lo says he had to close the shop twice when protesters passed by. But he is sympathetic. "The students are polite," he continues, "the government needs to do better."
It all started earlier in 2019, when the Hong Kong government tried to rush through a new extradition bill. People protested over concerns it would give Beijing a legal avenue for political persecution, but it also stoked deeper resentment over a lack of universal suffrage in Hong Kong. Growing frustration, shrinking economy
There is also pent-up frustration over stagnating living standards in a city with some of the world's most expensive real estate, making Hong Kong one of the least affordable places to live on the planet.
The protests against the bill evolved early on into five key demands including the release of protesters arrested during early demonstrations, an independent investigation into harsh police action against protesters and the right to fully vote for legislators and the Chief Executive, the head of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Anti-government protests in Hong Kong over the last six months have frequently turned violent [January 5: Tyrone Siu/Reuters]
After a tumultuous six months, the extradition bill is out, but Chief Executive Carrie Lam remains in.
The unrest has resulted in economic losses amounting to about two percentage points of Hong Kong's gross domestic product (GDP) - the sum of all finished goods and services produced in an economy - according to Financial Secretary Paul Chan.
The economy entered its first recession since the 2008-2009 global financial crisis. Recent official estimates showed the economy contracted by 3.2 percent in the third quarter.
As the government sees it: "Local social incidents dealt a very severe blow to an economy already weakened by a synchronised global economic slowdown and US-Mainland trade tensions."
Economists forecast the loss of tourism will have a significant impact on Hong Kong's annual GDP.
Iris Pang, Greater China economist with ING Wholesale Banking told Al Jazeera "The direct impact of loss of tourism should amount to three percent of GDP. Indirect damage is that the impact of unemployment and underemployment due to the loss of tourism activities will appear in GDP data gradually. These impacts include fall in local consumption."
ING forecasts that Hong Kong's GDP most likely contracted by 2.2 percent in 2019, and will shrink by a further 5.8 percent in 2020.
Chief Executive Lam and her embattled government have drip-fed a series of initiatives to support the economy. The latest for small and medium businesses is four billion Hong Kong dollars ($514m) in stimulus measures including subsidies on water and sewage bills, an instalment system for profits and salaries tax, and training programs.
There are about 340,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Hong Kong, which employ approximately 1.3 million people - or 45 percent of the workforce - in the private sector. In a place known for ease of setting up a business, SMEs make up more than 98 percent of all business establishments.
The Trade and Development Council says government support is vital: "The new round of measures will help ease the cash flow of SMEs, which will help restore confidence in affected industries by enabling them to continue their business."
Hong Kong-based Shanghai Commercial Bank Head of Research Ryan Lam told Al Jazeera his analysis shows the government's measures could help boost Hong Kong's GDP by 0.2 percent. "It is meaningful, because SMEs are likely to spend funds instead of stashing them under the pillow during a recession."
But for small business owners, like Lo, the government subsidies are not making any difference, especially while there is no end in sight to the unrest: "The students have made demands, but the government is not doing anything about it. So it's not going to stop." Tourists from near and far have frequented Lo Bak Jun's tea house in Hong Kong for 30 years [Caroline Malone/Al Jazeera]
Hong Kong's entire retail sector is feeling the pinch with data showing overall sales fell 23.6 percent in November compared with the same month in 2018. It was the tenth consecutive month of falling sales, and was only marginally better than the record 24.4 percent year-on-year plunge in October.
Hardest hit were sales of jewellery, watches, clocks, and valuable gifts, which plummeted by 43.5 percent in November; medicine and cosmetics sales slumped by 33.4 percent while clothing fell by 31.9 percent. Even food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco sales dropped by 11 percent. 'Chasing an elephant with a pop gun'
Enzio von Pfeil, economist and financial adviser with St James's Place Wealth Management in Hong Kong, told Al Jazeera the lack of government action to address social ills - expensive housing, income disparity, antiquated education and a lack of competition - is the real problem.
"Government measures are akin to chasing an elephant with a pop gun."
There is also the continued uncertainty with the US-China trade negotiations to consider.
"It's all going to be pretty gloomy. The structural forces of Hong Kong's domestic problems, the cyclical forces with worsening economic times, and random forces of Trump's political antics," Pfeil said, referring to the US president's negotiating tactics. Kam Yuen Tea House, Hong Kong [Caroline Malone/Al Jazeera]
Tommy Wu, senior economist at Oxford Economics, told Al Jazeera: "Retail sales and tourist-related sectors are experiencing their worst performance in over a decade and will remain under huge strain as a result of the plunge in inbound tourism and weak domestic sentiment,"
"This will lead to a spike in unemployment in 2020," said Wu.
Back at Kam Yuen Tea House, Lo says he understands people just do not have the same spending power they used to have.
"If I had the money, I would leave Hong Kong." He adds: "Just kidding, I'm staying."
Lo may be staying but he is having to adjust to a new normal in Hong Kong that has made business and everyday life much harder.
"Everyone is heartbroken about Hong Kong, " he says. "I'm not even going to look at the news today."
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA NEWS
On world stage Trump loathed as much as Obama was loved, Pew survey shows Kim Hjelmgaard USA TODAY
They love him in Israel and India. In the Philippines. And Kenya. Oh, and in Nigeria.
The Washington-D.C.-based Pew's study, released Wednesday, found that among people it polled in 32 countries, just 29% expressed confidence in Trump. Sixty-four percent said they lacked confidence in the current White House occupant.
The figures stand in marked contrast to the final years of Barack Obama's presidency, when a median of 64% expressed confidence in Trump’s predecessor to direct America's role in the world in a positive manner.
The survey published Wednesday was conducted in the spring and summer of 2019, well before the Trump administration's slaying of Gen. Qasem Soleimani, an action that has brought fresh scrutiny to one of Trump's signature foreign-policy moves: exiting the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. It has led to increased tensions between Tehran and Washington.
Pew noted that "observed shifts in foreign attitudes toward the U.S. and its leader" are sometimes "connected to U.S. policy or actions, as in the case of the Iraq War in 2003; sometimes they reflect domestic realities, such as the case of right-wing voters in Europe recently growing more favorable toward the U.S."
At home, Trump has an approval rating of roughly 45% and a disapproval rating of nearly 53%, with the remaining 2% not sure, according to an average of job approval polls published by RealClearPolitics, a website focused on political analysis.
Distaste for Trump was led by Europe, where approximately three-in-four people – 75% – in Germany, Sweden, France, Spain and the Netherlands lack confidence in Trump. Mexico, too, does not like him, where 89% do not have confidence in Trump.
Anti-Trump sentiment around the world was driven by his foreign policy actions, including increasing tariffs or fees on imported goods from other countries; withdrawing from the international climate change accord; and proposing to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. A majority of those polled also disapproved of Trump’s policies to allow fewer immigrants into the U.S. and his withdrawal from the Iran nuclear accord.
Trump's attempt to directly negotiate with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over that country's nuclear weapons program garnered the most support of all his various foreign policy actions across the 33 countries surveyed – although only a median of 41% of people approve of this action, compared with 36% who disapprove.
Pew, which describes itself as a non-partisan "fact tank" that does not itself take positions on policy decisions, tested the international popularity of four other world leaders in its survey: Germany's Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, Russian President Vladimir Putin and China's President Xi Jinping.
Trump was more negatively viewed than all the leaders asked about in the survey.
In 12 countries, men are more likely than women to rate Trump positively. For example, 28% of men in Sweden have confidence in the president; just 8% of women do.
Still, overall global attitudes toward the U.S. remain largely favorable, although there are large differences across the 33 nations surveyed for that part of the study. Three Central and Eastern European nations – Poland (79 %), Lithuania (70%) and Hungary (66%) – had the most favorable opinion of the U.S.
Outside of the EU, Ukraine (73%) also scored high, although views about Trump were less favorable (46%). -- and Pew notes the survey in Ukraine was conducted prior to revelations last year about Trump's July 2019 phone call with the country's new president. In Russia, just 29% of those polled viewed America positively.
Israelis give the U.S. its highest rating on the survey (83% favorable). Elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa, attitudes were more negative, especially the case in Turkey, where just one-in-five (20%) have a favorable opinion of the U.S., the lowest percentage registered in the survey.
The survey found that Trump was generally more popular among those on the political right in many of the nations that were polled. Trump's popularity in Israel (70%) partly reflects his decisions to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and to withdraw from the Iran nuclear accord.
