In Mao's league? Xi Jinping's BRI a political masterstroke, says expert

The One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative must be seen as a political and economic masterstroke by Chinese President Xi Jinping, in terms of its domestic as well foreign impact, an expert has said.

"The singular contribution of the man now vying for a place next to Mao in the pantheon of Chinese leaders, Xi Jinping, is the One Belt, One Road project. It was a public relations triumph: Mao destroyed the old order, Deng Xiaoping laid the foundations of a modern economy, Xi is making China great again," said Philip Bowring, who has been writing on regional financial and political issues successively as correspondent for the Financial Times, editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review and columnist for the International Herald Tribune, in an article published in nybook.com.

"This plan, now more often known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), to use China's money and know-how to develop relations with a host of developing countries across Eurasia and to the coasts of Africa has proved a political masterstroke at home and abroad," he added.

He mentioned that for foreigners, China appears to be extending a hand of friendship, economic development, and trade across half the world.

ALSO READ: China: Activists fear more arrests and crackdowns in Xi's 'new era'

Bowring said for the Chinese people, it is an expression of new-found pride in the nation's power and wealth.
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Donald Trump may name Jerome Powell as next Fed Chair: Bloomberg

US President Donald Trump is leaning toward nominating Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell as the next leader of the central bank, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.

Citing three people familiar with the matter, Xinhua reported that the decision isn't final and Trump could change his mind at any time.

Trump has recently finished interviews of five candidates for the next Fed Chair, including Powell, Stanford University economist John Taylor, former Fed governor Kevin Warsh, White House National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn and current Fed Chair Janet Yellen, whose term expires next February.

Trump said on Monday that he was "very, very close" to making a decision on who is going to lead the central bank.

Trump's advisors have been steering him toward choosing either Powell or Taylor for the job. Powell is favoured by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, while Taylor is favoured by Vice President Mike Pence.

While Powell and Taylor are both Republicans, they would have much different approaches to running monetary policy at the central bank.

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Spain crisis: Independent Catalonia wakes up under Madrid's control

Catalonia woke up on Saturday under the direct control of Madrid as the Spanish prime minister took drastic measures to quash secession, deposing the region's leaders and dissolving its parliament hours after lawmakers declared independence.

In a dramatic escalation of a political crisis that has stoked alarm in Europe and sent shockwaves through Spain, Mariano Rajoy also decided to call snap Catalan elections on December 21 to "restore normality" to a region in turmoil.

All eyes this weekend will be on whether Catalonia's separatist executive willingly steps down and independence supporters carry out their threat of peaceful resistance to Madrid's takeover.

In the Spanish capital, protesters were due to hit the streets today against Catalonia's declaration of independence, which while lacking any legal basis has caused strife in a region deeply divided on whether to split from Spain.

On Friday in Barcelona and other Catalan cities, thousands celebrated their regional parliament's motion for independence, which passed with 70 votes for, 10 against and two absentions in a 135-seat chamber that anti-secession MPs had deserted in protest.

Demonstrators in Barcelona broke out in ecstatic shouts of: "Independence!" as the result was announced, while separatist MPs cheered, clapped and embraced before breaking out in the Catalan anthem.
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Catalonia crisis: US comes out in support for unified Spain

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has reiterated the United States' stand for a unified Spain.

When asked about any comment on the secession of Catalonia and Spain at a press briefing, the Press Secretary said, "I'm not aware of any phone calls today, but we certainly echo the State Department and again reiterate our support for a unified Spain."

Yesterday, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy dissolved Catalan Parliament to impose direct ruler over it and called for a new regional election on December 21, according to media reports.

This came hours after the Catalonia parliament voted to declare independence from Spain and proclaimed to be a republic.

Prime Minister Rajoy called for maintaining calm and said the rule of law would be restored in Catalonia, which is gripped in political crisis since the last three years.

Reports further said that the Catalan declaration was celebrated by a large number of independence supporters, who gathered outside the regional parliament in Barcelona, shouting "Liberty" in Catalan, as the independence vote went through.

In the vote, boycotted by the opposition, 70 approved in favour of the motion declaring independence while 10 voted against it.

This major development comes just weeks after the Catalan independence referendum of 2017, which was declared illegal, where 92 percent of the people voted backing independence.
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Rohingya crisis: Mass exodus to Bangladesh continues

The influx of Rohingya refugees arriving in Bangladesh after fleeing violence in Myanmar continued on Saturday despite the two countries signing an agreement to stop the exodus.

"I do not see that the Rohingya influx has stopped. Normally, 1,000 to 2,000 Rohingyas enter Bangladesh daily, and it is continuing," Shah Kamal, secretary of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, told Efe news on Saturday.

"The influx did not stop. We cannot even say it has slowed down."

According to the official, at least 500 Rohingyas entered the county on Friday.

He said that in the last four to five days, 500-700 Rohingyas had been arriving every day.

"We do not see any change in the number of Rohingyas entering Bangladesh after the agreement."

In its latest report on Friday, the UN Inter Sector Coordination Group said that around 605,000 Rohingyas had arrived in Bangladesh in the last two months, excluding around 1,125 who had arrived a day before and had not been counted as they were still in transit.

The crisis began on August 25 when an insurgent group of the Rohingya Muslim minority staged a series of attacks on police and army posts in Myanmar's Rakhine state, to which the Myanmar military responded with an ongoing large-scale offensive.
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Will release all John F Kennedy files to end 'conspiracy theories': Trump

US President Donald Trump today said he will release all files associated with the assassination of former president John F Kennedy to end all "conspiracy theories".

Trump said this in a tweet a day after the National Archives, at his direction, released more than 2,800 secret files related to the assassination of Kennedy on November 22, 1963.

At the same time, he agreed to the request from various intelligence and security agencies mainly FBI and CBI, to withhold quite a number of such files, which remains away from the public domain, thus increasingly providing fodder to conspiracy theories.

In his tweet, Trump said after strict consultation with his Chief of Staff, General John Kelly, the CIA and other agencies, "I will be releasing ALL JFK files" other than the names and addresses of any mentioned person who is still living.

"I am doing this for reason of full disclosure, transparency and in order to put any and all conspiracy theories to rest," Trump said, a day after he ordered a large number of JFK files still be under the wraps.

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Gujarat CM links IS suspect to Ahmed Patel; Cong leader rubbishes charge

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Friday night demanded resignation of Congress veteran Ahmed Patel from the Rajya Sabha alleging his possible links to a suspected terrorist arrested earlier in the week from his home district of Bharuch. Ahmed Patel rubbished the charge.

Rupani, who also sought Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi's clarification on the matter, was referring to Mohammed Qasim Stimberwala, one of the two alleged IS operatives arrested by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad from Surat on Wednesday.

Stimberwala had resigned recently as an eco-cardiogram technician in the Sardar Patel Hospital and Heart Institute in Ankleshwar, which Patel had helped grow into a modern facility.

Patel was one of the trustees during the hospital's formative years as a modern hospital and the only one in the entire Bharuch district with latest equipment and technology with facilities for heart surgery. He had resigned as a trustee in 2014 facilitating a new board of trustees to take over the facility.

The ATS, which picked up Stimberwala and Ubed Ahmed Mirza, claimed that they were planning to attack a Jewish synagogue in Khadia area of Ahmedabad and had even carried out reconnaissance of their target.
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