A federal watchdog is criticizing the way the Trump administration handles taxes on imported steel and aluminum, saying a lack of transparency creates the appearance of “improper influence.”
The Commerce Department’s inspector general is raising questions about a process that lets steel and aluminum importers request relief from tariffs imposed in March 2018.
Other companies — mostly U.S. steel and aluminum producers that benefit from the tariffs — can object to the exemption requests.
In an Oct. 28 report, the IG said Commerce officials had discussed the requests with “interested parties” without mentioning the exchanges in official records. It also said Commerce had made it harder to get exemptions after hearing from a tariff supporter.
Commerce said it was taking the IG’s critique “seriously” and planned “to further improve transparency.”
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday cut interest rates for the third time this year, as expected, in a move to ensure the U.S. economy weathers a global trade war without slipping into a recession, but it signaled that its rate-cut cycle might be at a pause.
In lowering its policy rate by a quarter of a percentage point to a target range of between 1.50% and 1.75%, the U.S. central bank dropped a previous reference in its policy statement that it “will act as appropriate” to sustain the economic expansion — language that was considered a sign of future rate cuts.
Instead, the Fed said it would “monitor the implications of incoming information for the economic outlook as it assesses the appropriate path” of its target interest rate, a less decisive phrase.
Kansas City Fed President Esther George and Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren dissented from the decision. They have opposed all three Fed rate cuts this year as unnecessary.
View of economy changes little
The Fed’s description of the U.S. economy on Wednesday remained largely unchanged, with labor markets said to be “strong” and economic activity “rising at a moderate rate.”
As in its previous policy statement, the Fed said it took the action to reduce borrowing costs “in light of the implications of global developments for the economic outlook as well as muted inflation pressures.”
The Fed said business investment and exports remained “weak.”
Expectations for additional cuts after October have diminished significantly in recent weeks.
U.S. stocks, down modestly before the Fed’s statement, pared some of their losses and were little changed on the day. The benchmark S&P 500 Index, which had hit a record high earlier in the week, was down fractionally.
Bond yields also showed little reaction, with the 10-year Treasury note yield at 1.80%, down about 3 basis points on the day. The dollar edged up to the day’s high against a basket of the currencies of top U.S. trading partners.
“It’s pretty much what was expected,” said Jim Powers, director of investment research at Delegate Advisors. “The more important outcome is they removed the phrase ‘act as appropriate.’ It looks like the market is taking that to mean that there will be a pause in the declining rate path they were on beforehand. That’s what was expected, and that’s generally a good thing.”
Unusual situation
The central bank and U.S. economy are at an unusual juncture.
Unemployment is near a 50-year low, inflation is moderate, and data earlier on Wednesday showed gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 1.9% in the third quarter, a slowdown from the first half of the year but not as sharp a decline as many economists had expected and some Fed officials had feared.
But parts of the economy, particularly manufacturing, have stuttered in recent months as the global economy slowed.
Businesses have pared investment in response to the U.S.-China trade war that both raised tariffs on many goods and made the world a riskier place in which to make long-term commitments.
While that has not had an obvious impact yet on U.S. hiring or consumer spending, Fed officials felt a round of “insurance” rate cuts was appropriate to guard against a worse outcome. The Fed cut rates in July and again in September, and by doing so hoped to encourage businesses and consumers with more affordable borrowing costs.
The approach was successful in the 1990s when risks developed during another prolonged period of economic growth.
Saudi Arabia has been hosting more than 300 of the world’s political and economic leaders at its three-day “Davos in the Desert” conference, which is focusing on investments, infrastructure and technology for the future of the kingdom.
Saudi-owned media touted the economic gathering in Riyadh, which its chairman says has become “one of the top three such gatherings in the world.”
U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry and President Donald Trump’s influential son-in-law Jared Kushner were in attendance, while some international figures are expected to address the conference via satellite-link.
Participants watch U.S. White House senior adviser Jared Kushner on a screen during his speech in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 29, 2019.
Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdel Aziz Bin Salman told the gathering the long-expected IPO for Saudi oil-giant Aramco would take place when Saudi leaders determined it was the right time to do so.
Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV reported the IPO, according to its sources, would take place in December.
Jordan’s King Abdallah II told the gathering’s opening session that investing in the future of the Arab world and its youth is a wise move:
“The future starts here, in this region, with this talented, creative and forward-looking youth, 70% of our population. Their innovation knows no bounds, their energy knows no limits and their potential is so full of promise. You can find them all across the Arab world, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Gulf, and here in Saudi Arabia, you will find an eager youth cohort, ready to play their part, but incentivized by a leadership that speaks their language.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the participants in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 29, 2019.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also addressed the conference, vaunting India’s expected growth in the coming years and its attractive business environment.
Modi said India is aiming for a $5-trillion economy in the next five years and is becoming a startup hub, from research and development to tech enterprise. He said it the world’s third largest startup ecosystem, and it is doing well in sectors from hospitality and medical treatment to tourism. Infrastructure, Modi emphasizes, is an opportunity multiplier.
Brazilian President Jair Balsonaro, also due to speak, told Arab media his country was a good place to invest.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro speaks during the Future Investment Initiative forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 30, 2019.
He said Brazil has truly changed, and the facts and figures of the economy are evidence of that change. More and more countries, he said, want to do business with Brazil, which stands with open arms to ensure that business opportunities take place via agreements and partnerships that allow everyone to win.
Saudi economic adviser Majed Soueigh told Saudi state TV the kingdom was hoping to take advantage of the Riyadh conference “to help propel its economy into the new, non-oil future, amid ongoing initiatives to improve non-oil sectors of the economy, including tourism and various economic projects now being undertaken.”
Theodore Karasik, Washington-based Gulf analyst, told VOA the conference is “successfully moving Saudi Arabia’s agenda forward,” especially in the areas of “investment and future strategies, despite dissenting voices.”
Karasik underscores the gathering also “demonstrates that Africa is a key part of the kingdom’s future.”
British and Belgian police are continuing to investigate the people-smuggling networks that helped to transport the 39 migrants who were found dead in the back of a refrigerated truck near London last week. It’s believed they suffocated in the sealed container. Henry Ridgwell reports on the growing industry in human cargo that brings tens of thousands of migrants to Europe every year.
Less than a week after the Africa-Russia Summit, Facebook has suspended three networks of Russian accounts it says were engaging in foreign interference in Africa.
Facebook said the accounts targeted Madagascar, the Central African Republic, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon. The accounts supported select political figures and derided pro-democracy activists in the countries.
Russia has had an increasing interest in engaging with African countries on trade and policy as sanctions continue to hurt its economy.
Russian President Vladimir Putin organized the first Russia–Africa Summit and Economic Forum, which promoted increased economic relations between Russia and the continent earlier in October in Sochi, Russia.
According to documents leaked by The Guardian, companies and groups affiliated with the Russian government have been cooperating with African politicians and interfering in elections. According to the documents, Madagascar’s president Andry Rajoelina won the election with Russian support. Rajoelina has denied the allegation.
The Stanford Internet Observatory also reported that Russia was working with local media organizations on the African continent to spread disinformation.
This represents a new tactic compared to what occurred with Russian influence ahead of the U.S. 2016 presidential election.
The three networks are among the first subjects of Facebook’s new policies aimed at curbing “coordinated inauthentic behavior.”
Facebook defined coordinated inauthentic behavior in an October press release as using fake accounts and deceiving people on the origins of pages and groups.
According to The Stanford Internet Observatory, a total of 1.72 million accounts “liked” the now removed Facebook pages. Though some of these “likes” could be from the same account across multiple pages.
The removal of the networks demonstrates Facebook’s commitment to prevent manipulation on its platforms, but it also shows the evolving nature of Russian methods since 2016.
Peru’s top court on Tuesday accepted a lawsuit to determine whether President Martin Vizcarra exceeded his powers by dissolving Congress last month amid a long-running standoff with lawmakers over anti-corruption reforms.
The seven members of Peru’s Constitutional Tribunal unanimously voted to admit the suit, court president Ernesto Blume said, the latest development in a battle between Vizcarra and lawmakers that has rattled the South American country.
Pedro Olaechea, the former Congress president who now leads a smaller permanent parliamentary commission, submitted the appeal earlier this month against the “arbitrary” dissolution of Congress.
Vizcarra’s shutdown of Congress garnered support from the armed forces in the copper-rich nation, as well as the police and Peru’s voters. A poll showed his popular support had jumped to the highest level during his administration.
The past three years in Peru have been marked by repeated clashes between the executive and legislative branches and back-to-back corruption scandals, including one that led former president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski to resign in March last year.
Blume said on Tuesday the court would not for now overturn the closure of Congress, and previously at least two members of the court have said that the legal process could take up to three or four months.
There are legislative elections already scheduled for Jan. 26 to elect new Congress members.
The exit of the “Games of Thrones” creators from the next “Star Wars” film left future stories in the science fiction saga up in the air Tuesday, although some fans welcomed their departure.
David Benioff and D.B. Weiss had been hired in 2018 to write and produce a trilogy of new movies in the blockbuster Walt Disney Co franchise, with the first scheduled for release in December 2022.
But the creators of HBO’s hit fantasy series said they were stepping away from the project to focus on new work for streaming service Netflix.
“We love Star Wars. When George Lucas built it, he built us too,” Benioff and Weiss said in a statement late Monday.
“But there are only so many hours in the day, and we felt we could not do justice to both Star Wars and our Netflix projects. So we are regretfully stepping away,” they added.
Disney had said the trilogy from Benioff and Weiss was expected to tell a story separate from the Skywalker series that began with the 1977 film starring Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford, and which is due to conclude with the December movie “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.”
Disney and Lucasfilm did not return requests for comment Tuesday on how their withdrawal would affect the planned 2022 movie, details of which had not been announced.
The “Star Wars” franchise is one of the most valuable in Hollywood. The 2017 film “The Last Jedi” took $1.3 billion at the global box office and Disney earlier this year opened “Star Wars” lands at its theme parks in California and Florida.
Fans ‘relieved’
Fans seemed relieved at the exit of Benioff and Weiss, given widespread disappointment at the conclusion earlier this year of their medieval fantasy TV series “Game of Thrones.”
“I am very relieved to read that D.B. Weiss and David Benioff have stepped away from their Disney/Lucasfilm deal (to create a new trilogy). The last two seasons of #GameOfThrones proved without source material … they are lost,” wrote Marty Kottick on Twitter.
Others hoped their departure would clear the way for the first woman, or person of color, to direct or write a “Star Wars” movie.
“Consider how many people who aren’t white men LOVE #StarWars, and would be more than happy to be a part of the next phase of the franchise!” tweeted a user, Liz Shannon Miller.
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy in a statement called Benioff and Weiss “remarkable storytellers.”
“We hope to include them in the journey forward when they are able to step away from their busy schedule to focus on Star Wars,” she added.
In the works
Disney also has announced a separate “Star Wars” trilogy in the works by “The Last Jedi” director Rian Johnson. No release date has been unveiled.
Meanwhile, “Star Wars” embarks on another phase on Nov. 12 when spinoff TV series “The Mandalorian” begins streaming on the new Disney+ service.
Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s death will mean nothing to 19-year-old rape victim Jamila unless the Islamic State militants who enslaved her are brought to justice.
Jamila, who asked not to be identified by her last name, is one of thousands of women from the Yazidi minority religion who were kidnapped and raped by IS after it mounted an assault on the Yazidi homeland in northern Iraq in August 2014.
“Even if Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead, it doesn’t mean Islamic State is dead,” Jamila told Reuters outside the tent that is now her temporary home in the Sharya camp for displaced Yazidis in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.
FILE – This file image made from video posted on a militant website July 5, 2014, purports to show the leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, delivering a sermon at a mosque in Iraq.
“This doesn’t feel like justice yet,” she said. “I want the men who took me, who raped me, to stand trial. And I want to have my voice heard in court. I want to face them in court. … Without proper trials, his death has no meaning.”
Baghdadi, who had led IS since 2010, detonated a suicide vest after being cornered in a raid by U.S. special forces in northwest Syria, U.S. President Donald Trump announced Sunday.
Inspired by his edicts to enslave and slaughter Yazidis, whom IS regard as infidels, his followers shot, beheaded and kidnapped thousands in a rampage which the United Nations called a genocidal campaign against them.
Along with thousands of other women and children, Jamila said she was enslaved by the militants and kept in captivity for five months in the city of Mosul along with her sister.
She was just 14 when she was seized. But her problems did not end after she and her sister managed to escape when, she said, their guards were high on drugs.
“When I first came back, I had a nervous breakdown and psychological problems for two years, so I couldn’t go to school,” she said.
No plans to go home
Now instead of working or catching up on her years of lost schooling, she looks after her mother, with whom she shares her cramped tent at the camp.
“My mother can’t walk and has health problems, so I have to stay and take care of her because my older siblings are in Germany,” she said.
The prospect of going home to Sinjar in northern Iraq is not an option for Jamila, and many others. The city still lies in ruin four years after the IS onslaught, and suspicion runs deep in the ethnically mixed area.
“Sinjar is completely destroyed. Even if we could go back, I wouldn’t want to because we’d be surrounded by the same Arab neighbors who all joined IS in the first place, and helped them kill us (Yazidis),” she said.
Displaced people from the Yazidi religious minority buy vegetables at the Sharya camp, in Duhok, Iraq, Oct. 29, 2019.
IS trials
Thousands of men are being tried in Iraqi courts for their ties to IS. Iraq has so far not allowed victims to testify in court, something community leaders and human rights groups say would go a long way in the healing process.
“It is deplorable that not a single victim of Islamic State’s horrific abuses including sexual slavery has gotten their day in court,” said Belkis Wille, Iraq Researcher for Human Rights Watch. “Iraq’s justice system is designed to allow the state to exact mass revenge against suspects, not provide real accountability for victims.”
For some of the nearly 17,000 Yazidis at the Sharya camp, Baghdadi’s death was a first step in that direction, though they fear the IS fighters who are still alive.
Mayan Sinu, 25, can dream of a new life after the camp as she and her three children have been granted asylum by Australia. But she also wants the men who shot her husband in the legs and dragged him off to be brought to justice. He has been missing since the incident five years ago.
“I hope Baghdadi is suffering more than we ever did, and my God we suffered,” said Sinu. “I wish he (Baghdadi) hadn’t blown himself up so I could have slaughtered him myself with my bare hands.”
Hungary is set to reappoint its chief prosecutor to a new 9-year term and will remove its main judicial administrator, in moves that critics say highlight premier Viktor Orban’s mixed success in influencing the judiciary which remains one of the most independent bodies in Hungarian society.
Despite constant clashes with Western partners over the rule of law, the conservative populist Orban has solidified his grip over most walks of Hungarian life.
He rejects allegations that his government has eroded checks and balances and has said his strong mandate received in democratic elections empowers his Fidesz party to change laws.
While the country’s prosecution system has been under the direct control of chief prosecutor Peter Polt, an Orban loyalist, the National Association of Judges has resisted Orban and has been engulfed in a bitter dispute over administrative attempts to rein it in, via appointments or financial pressure.
President Janos Ader, a former head of Fidesz party and Orban’s key ally, proposed reappointing Polt as chief prosecutor for a second nine-year term on Tuesday. He gave no reasoning.
Parliament, where Fidesz holds a large majority, will have to confirm Polt.
The European Union said in 2019 Hungary lacked determined action to prosecute corruption in high-level cases and “the effective functioning of the prosecution service remains a concern.”
Polt has dismissed those claims as “baseless”.
Tunde Hando, the wife of Fidesz stalwart and European Parliament member Jozsef Szajer, will leave her position as chair of the judiciary administration a year early.
As chief administrator she was ultimately responsible for the operation of the court system, with a say over issues like the nomination of new senior judges or budgeting.
Hando said she always acted by the law, adding Hungary’s Constitution makes clear the fundamental division of powers.
Balazs Toth, a legal expert at the rights group Hungarian Helsinki Committee, who has represented clients in cases against the government, said Fidesz wants a country without checks and balances, but judges have withstood the propaganda and pressure.
Fidesz has nominated Hando to the Constitutional Court, once Hungary’s top arbiter of law but greatly weakened after Orban’s party started to appoint its members.
Prosecutors filter criminal cases and decide which cases to investigate and how, choosing which cases to refer to the courts – a power that critics have said it used selectively to block cases detrimental to Fidesz or Orban’s associates.
When investigating a case of suspected fraud in 2014 involving Orban’s son-in-law Istvan Tiborcz, Polt’s prosecutors found no wrongdoing. A later probe by the European anti-fraud body OLAF however, detailed alleged fraud totalling 13 billion forints ($44 million) and recommended Hungary investigate.
Polt reopened the case but again dismissed it.
Tiborcz has not commented on the case, in which he and his business partners were never charged, as matters did not proceed to court.
Guinea-Bissau President Jose Mario Vaz named a new prime minister on Tuesday but his sacked predecessor refused to step down, intensifying a bitter power struggle between Vaz and the ruling party weeks ahead of a presidential election.
Vaz, who is running for again in the Nov. 24 poll, dissolved the government late on Monday saying the political situation was undermining the normal functioning of state institutions in the West African country.
It has suffered repeated bouts of instability since it became independent from Portugal in 1974, including nine coups or attempted coups and a surge in cocaine trafficking from South America that has been linked to senior military officials.
The country has been largely peaceful since Vaz came to power in a 2014 election that followed a coup two years earlier.
But he has repeatedly clashed over the balance of power in the semi-presidential system with a string of prime ministers put forward by the African Party of the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), which controls a majority in parliament.
In a decree on Tuesday, Vaz named as prime minister Faustino Fudut Imbali, who served in the same post from 2000-2003 and represents the small Manifest Party of the People.
FILE – Aristide Gomes, speaks to journalists, Nov. 13, 2008, at his party’s headquarters in Bissau.
Aristides Gomes, who was put forward for the job by PAIGC, told Reuters he was refusing to go: “I am in my office, working.”
Gomes said Vaz’s orders were illegitimate since the president’s term technically expired on June 23. West African regional bloc ECOWAS declared a few days later that Vaz could stay in office through to the November election.
Vaz won the 2014 presidential election as the PAIGC’s candidate but fell out with the party after sacking his prime minister in 2015. He is now running for re-election as an independent candidate.
In a rare political protest, demonstrations from a party opposed to Gomes’s government took to the streets of the capital Bissau at the weekend, demanding the election be postponed so that voter lists could be checked for irregularities.
One protester died on Saturday and several were wounded, according to the government, a hospital source and march organizers.
Instability in Guinea-Bissau has typically taken the form of military coups, led by officers drawn mostly from a narrow military elite who fought for independence in 1963-1974.
