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Davos 2019 Day 2: Shinzo Abe, Angela Merkel address forum

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Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel addressing the World Economic Forum attendees. (Screenshot/WEF)
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rince William, Duke of Cambridge and New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern join a panel discussing mental health. (Screenshot/WEF)
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Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, revealed further details of a Saudi investment deal at the Davos forum. (WEF)
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The second day of panels and addresses is taking place in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday. (WEF)
Updated 25 January 2019
Arab News
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Davos 2019 Day 2: Shinzo Abe, Angela Merkel address forum

  • The second day of panels and addresses is taking place in Davos, Switzerland
  • Highlights include addresses by Japanese PM and German chancellor
Updated 25 January 2019
Arab News

DAVOS: The second day of panels and addresses is taking place in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday. Follow Arab News' live coverage below...

17:45 - If you want an alternative view of the comings and goings at Davos, you couldn't do much better than our reporter Frank Kane's 'Davos Diary' for a more tongue-in-cheek look at the World Economic Forum...

Davos Diary: From chalets to snow boots, how to master the WEF logistics

Davos Diary: An evening in the life of WEF, from Brexit to biodiversity

Davos Diary: Central Lounge — the networking hub of the universe

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17:10 - Missed the address by German Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier? Don't worry, you can read/watch everything she had to say by clicking here...

16:45 - Earlier on Wednesday, Giuseppe Conte dismissed fears Italy is headed for a recession, insisting that the country's economic growth could climb as much as 1.5 percent and said there was no need for a budget adjustment to meet targets. He was speaking to Bloomberg on the sidelines of Davos.

16:30 - Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte is speaking now on stage. Follow live below:

15:30 - A fascinating conversation on mental health and the discussions now happening around the world and what is being done to help those suffering...

15:10 - Prince William says he found that one thing linked all the different charitable causes he had worked on - mental health. Speaks about how breaking down barriers and removing the stigma was key to what he wanted to achieve...

15:00 - Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern join a panel discussing mental health - one in four people will experience mental illness in their lives, costing the global economy an estimated $6 trillion by 2030. What can the global community do to promote mental health across all facets of society? Find out by watching the panel live below:

14:30 - Wang Qishan has proven to be a bit spiky with some of his answers to Klaus Schwab's questioning during this panel, and has made some very odd references. He even manages a sly dig at European economies and corruption throughout history via Charles Dickens' Tale of Two Cities - slightly awkward, if compelling, viewing...

14:15 - We now have a special address by Wang Qishan, the Vice-President of China. Watch his address and comments below:

13:55 - Merkel departs the stage, staying tight-lipped about her future after politics and when told she is welcome back at Davos anytime, she quips: "Well, you have me today - be grateful for what you have." Fiesty...

13:30 - Angela Merkel has defended global institutions set up in the aftermath of World War II, saying they have made the world a better place - and says the current global system will only be maintained if political compromises are made. She also says confidence in global financial systems has been shaken and must be restored.

"For a long time emerging countries like China and India influenced the world economy in a very strong way and when an existing system takes too long to react the consequences are that others (countries) make themselves noticeable through new institutions." 

13:15 - Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel takes to the stage, watch her special address below...

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13:05: Meanwhile, now time for some Saudi Arabia-focused Davos news - according to Kirill Dmitriev, boss of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, a quarter of Saudi Arabia’s pledged $10 billion investment in Russia has been deployed, he said on Wednesday. The Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) in 2015 signed an agreement to invest up to $10 billion in Russia through a partnership with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).

READ MORE: Davos 2019: Saudi investment in Russia ‘hits $2.5bn’

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12:50 - Ethiopia's PM Abiy Ahmed is discussing the rapid transformation the country has gone through in such a short space of time, something the panel host says leaders in Europe could learn from. Talking about the wider, regional influence Ethiopa could have, he quotes: "If you want to go first, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."

12:30 - Change of pace now, as we go over to a conversation with newly appointed Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who is talking about the country's rapid pace of reform and what will be needed to realize Ethiopia's potential. Watch live below:

12:15 - Jack Ma has just spoken about the potential of Africa - he says he can sense a fear of future in Europe, but not so in Africa (or China) where there is a great optimism for the future. He says Africa, and developing countries, need the 'Four Es' in order to suceed - "entrepreneurs, education, e-frastructure (internet access) and e-government." 

"Africans want change, the continent has many smart young people. Europeans always wants to keep yesterday. When you worry about the future, you will never be an entrepreneur."

12:00 - Alibaba founder Jack Ma is speaking to young people, technology experts and Global Shapers - the first question he is posed regards whether or not he ever had doubts whether his company would be a success. He says he definitely had fears and doubts, but he says he was completely "transparent" about that with his team and that helped build trust with the group that would make it a success. Watch it live here:

11:45 - As pretty as Davos looks in the previous update, it appears the reality is much like anywhere else in the world - traffic on the morning commute, as our reporter Frank Kane discovered...

11:30 - So much of the action in Davos happens indoors, and we rarely see outside the conference center - but what is the Swiss resort actually like? We've assembled a small collection of images for you, so you can see. Rather pretty, really...(All images: AFP)

11:15 - So what do we have coming up for you today? Shortly, Abiy Ahmed, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, will be making a special address. Then we will have German Chancellor Angela Merkel on stage. She will be talking about growing uncertainty in Europe over the impending Brexit after British lawmakers last week voted down Prime Minister Theresa May's deal with the European Union. Will Britain crash out of the bloc without a deal or will it end up extending its date of departurefrom the current March 29?

The trade conflict between the US and China will also be in focus when China's vice president, Wang Qishan, addresses the conference later. On Tuesday, Mike Pompeo said he was "optimistic" that there will be a "good outcome" in upcoming trade discussions with China in Washington. A high-level Chinese delegation is due to arrive in the US capital on Jan. 30 as the two sides seek to strike an accord to end their trade conflict.

READ MORE: Mideast CEOs turn gloomy on global economy, PwC study finds

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10:35 - Shinzo Abe has delivered an engaging and interesting address (not something you can say about everyone at the forum...) and this line about tackling Climate Change being a potentially profitable, rather than costly, exercise stood out...

10:20 - Shinzo Abe's address is all about his policies that have helped raise wages in Japan, put two million women into work and helping the notoriously elderly population transition into an evolving workforce. The fact he is addressing Davos in English is also particularly impressive - a sign of his hopes to open up Japan to the world a bit more?

10:15 - Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe begins his address to the forum...

10:00 - Haifaa Al-Mansour, the first female filmmaker in Saudi Arabia and a winner at this year's WEF Crystal Awards, was speaking this morning. The acclaimed director spoke about her dedication to breaking boundaries and shaping new stories, at a panel entitled “An Insight, An Idea with Haifaa Al-Mansour.”

You can watch a recap of her discussion here

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09:45 - Another bit of news from the first day was the meeting between Dubai's crown prince Sheikh Hamdan and WEF founder Klaus Schwab, you can read about their meeting here...

09:30 - More senior world leaders will take to the stage today, with the Japanese prime minister, the German chancellor and the prime minister of Ethiopia all on the agenda. Stay tuned to keep track of all Wednesday's action.

One of the highlights of the first day was the story and impassioned plea of refugee Mohammed Hassan Mohamud - a Somalian displaced person currently in a camp in Kenya.

Topics: Davos 2019 Davos Switzerland World Economic Forum (WEF) WEF WEF19

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A tiny village in India where Kamala Harris has ancestral roots is praying for her victory

Updated 9 sec ago
AP
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A tiny village in India where Kamala Harris has ancestral roots is praying for her victory

Updated 9 sec ago
AP
THULASENDRAPURAM: The temple reverberated with rhythmic Sanskrit and Tamil hymns, as a Hindu priest held a flame before the god. As this tiny South Indian village gathered to pray for Kamala Harris, a gaggle of reporters jostled for space and camera angles.
There's little to distinguish the village of Thulasendrapuram from any other rural community in Tamil Nadu, except its connection to a woman who could become America's first leader with South Asian roots.
As millions of Americans vote, Harris has people rooting for her from thousands of miles away in a village surrounded by rice paddies and coconut trees, where her mother's family has ancestral ties. They talk about her at the local tea shop. Banners and billboards bearing her face are seen throughout the community.
“Our deity is a very powerful God. If we pray well to him, he will make her victorious,” said M. Natarajan, the temple priest that led the prayers in front of the image of Hindu deity Ayyanar, a form of Lord Shiva.
Harris’ maternal grandfather was born in the village, about 350 kilometers (215 miles) from the southern coastal city of Chennai, more than 100 years ago. As an adult, he moved to Chennai, where he worked as a high-ranking government official until his retirement.
Harris has never visited Thulasendrapuram and she has no living relatives in the village, but people here still venerate the family that made it big in the U.S.
“Our village ancestors' granddaughter is running as a U.S. presidential candidate. Her victory will be happy news for every one of us,” Natarajan said.
The village's sudden fame has helped bring money into the village. Recently, construction began on a water storage tank with funds donated by a local bank. Village residents say it will carry a plaque with Harris’ name.
Harris’ late mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was born in India. After moving to the U.S. to study, she married a Jamaican man, and they named their daughter Kamala, a Sanskrit word for “lotus flower.”
Other than trips during her childhood, Harris hasn’t visited India much — particularly not since becoming vice president — but she has often spoken emotionally about her ties to her late mother’s country of birth. On Tuesday, she released a campaign video highlighting her mother, who arrived in the U.S. at age 19 and became a cancer researcher.
Titled “Mother,” the video ends with a narrator saying: “This daughter of Shyamala, this daughter of the American story, is ready to lead us forward.”
Harris has often talked about how she was guided by the values of her Indian-born grandfather and mother. She has also spoken of her love of south Indian food, especially a type of steamed rice cake called idli.
Harris’ name is engraved in a list of donors — her aunt Sarala Gopalan gave money to the temple in her name — along with that of her grandfather. Outside, a large banner wishes “the daughter of the land” success in the election.
On Tuesday, the village temple also received rare international visitors: two American tourists and one from the U.K., all wearing black t-shirts that said “Kamala Freakin Harris.”
Manikandan Ganesan, a villager who runs a small store near the temple, said Harris’ bid for the presidency has made the village famous. He hopes Harris will eventually visit them.
“Even if she mentioned that she would visit our village, it would make us very happy,” Ganesan said. “Her victory itself will be a big source of happiness for us.”
Village residents also prayed for Harris’ victory in 2020, and set off firecrackers when she became the U.S. Vice President.
For women of the village, the candidate's journey is a source of inspiration.
Local politician Arulmozhi Sudhakar said Harris embodies a significant step toward female empowerment in places like Thulasendrapuram, where a majority of women continue to face discrimination and gender inequality.
“From the time when women were not even allowed to step out of their house, to now a woman from our village contesting in the U.S. presidential election — this brings happiness for us,” Sudhakar said. “The coming generations will see her as a role model to succeed in life.”

Ukraine’s military says it shot down 48 drones and two missiles overnight

Updated 15 min 24 sec ago
Reuters
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Ukraine’s military says it shot down 48 drones and two missiles overnight

Updated 15 min 24 sec ago
Reuters

KYIV: The Ukrainian military said on Tuesday it shot down 48 out of 79 drones and two missiles launched by Russia overnight.
The air force said the location of 30 other drones had been lost, while another had returned to Russia.

Topics: Russia ukraine war

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India foreign minister says vandalism of Hindu temples deeply concerning

Updated 05 November 2024
Reuters
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India foreign minister says vandalism of Hindu temples deeply concerning

  • Vandalism incident happened weeks after Ottawa expelled six Indian diplomats, linking them to killing of Sikh separatist leader in 2023 
  • Canada has accused India of conducting a broad campaign against South Asian dissidents in Canada, which New Delhi denies 
Updated 05 November 2024
Reuters

SYDNEY: India foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Tuesday the vandalism of a Hindu temple in Canada on Monday was deeply concerning.
“What happened yesterday at the Hindu temple in Canada was obviously deeply concerning,” he told reporters in the Australian capital Canberra while on an official visit.
The incident happened weeks after Ottawa expelled six Indian diplomats, linking them to the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in 2023 in Canada. Canada has accused the Indian government of conducting a broad campaign against South Asian dissidents in Canada, which New Delhi denies.
The incident has increased tensions between Canada and India, and between Sikh separatists and Indian diplomats.
Two Hindu temples were also vandalized in Canberra last month, which Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said was upsetting for members of the Indian community.
“People across Australia have a right to be safe and respected, people also have a right to peaceful protest, people have a right to express their views peacefully,” she told reporters.
“We draw a line between that and violence, incitement of hatred or vandalism,” she added.
Wong said Australia had expressed its views to India about Canada’s allegations over the targeting of Sikh separatists, and Canberra respected Canada’s judicial process. Jaishankar said it was unacceptable that Indian diplomats had been placed under surveillance by Canada.
“Canada has developed a pattern of making allegations without providing specifics,” he said.

Topics: India Canada

India foreign minister says vandalism of Hindu temples deeply concerning

Updated 05 November 2024
Reuters
Follow

India foreign minister says vandalism of Hindu temples deeply concerning

  • Canada has accused the Indian government of conducting a broad campaign against South Asian dissidents in Canada, which New Delhi denies
Updated 05 November 2024
Reuters

SYDNEY: India foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Tuesday the vandalism of a Hindu temple in Canada on Monday was deeply concerning.
“What happened yesterday at the Hindu temple in Canada was obviously deeply concerning,” he told reporters in the Australian capital Canberra while on an official visit.
The incident happened weeks after Ottawa expelled six Indian diplomats, linking them to the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in 2023 in Canada. Canada has accused the Indian government of conducting a broad campaign against South Asian dissidents in Canada, which New Delhi denies.
The incident has increased tensions between Canada and India, and between Sikh separatists and Indian diplomats.
Two Hindu temples were also vandalized in Canberra last month, which Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said was upsetting for members of the Indian community.
“People across Australia have a right to be safe and respected, people also have a right to peaceful protest, people have a right to express their views peacefully,” she told reporters.
“We draw a line between that and violence, incitement of hatred or vandalism,” she added.
Wong said Australia had expressed its views to India about Canada’s allegations over the targeting of Sikh separatists, and Canberra respected Canada’s judicial process. Jaishankar said it was unacceptable that Indian diplomats had been placed under surveillance by Canada.
“Canada has developed a pattern of making allegations without providing specifics,” he said.

Topics: Hindu temple Subrahmanyam Jaishankar Canada India

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Trump wants the presidential winner to be declared on election night. Why that’s unlikely

Updated 05 November 2024
AP
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Trump wants the presidential winner to be declared on election night. Why that’s unlikely

Updated 05 November 2024
AP

Former President Donald Trump is stepping up his demands that the winner of the presidential race be declared shortly after polls close Tuesday, well before all the votes are counted.
Trump set the pattern in 2020, when he declared that he had won during the early morning hours after Election Day. That led his allies to demand that officials “stop the count!” He and many other conservatives have spent the past four years falsely claiming that fraud cost him that election and bemoaning how long it takes to count ballots in the US
But one of many reasons we are unlikely to know the winner quickly on election night is that Republican lawmakers in two key swing states have refused to change laws that delay the count. Another is that most indications are this will be a very close election, and it takes longer to determine who won close elections than blowouts.
In the end, election experts note, the priority in vote-counting is to make sure it’s an accurate and secure tally, not to end the suspense moments after polls close.
“There’s nothing nefarious about it,” said Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. “The time delay is to protect the integrity of the process.”
Trump’s demand also doesn’t seem to account for the six time zones from the East Coast to Hawaii.
David Becker, an elections expert and co-author of “The Big Truth,” debunking Trump’s 2020 election lies, said it’s not realistic for election officials in thousands of jurisdictions to “instantly snap their fingers and count 160 million multi-page ballots with dozens of races on them.”
Trump wants the race decided Tuesday night
During a Sunday rally in Pennsylvania, Trump demanded that the race be decided soon after some polls begin closing.
“They have to be decided by 9 o’clock, 10 o’clock, 11 o’clock on Tuesday night,” Trump said. “Bunch of crooked people. These are crooked people.”
It was not clear who he was targeting with the “crooked people” remark.
Timing is one example of why Trump’s demands don’t match the reality of conducting elections in the US By 11 p.m. Eastern time, polls will just be closing in the two Western swing states of Arizona and Nevada.
Trump has led conservatives to bemoan that the US doesn’t count elections as swiftly as France or Argentina, where results for recent races have been announced within hours of polls closing. But that’s because those countries tabulate only a single election at a time. The decentralized US system prevents the federal government from controlling elections.
Instead, votes are counted in nearly 10,000 separate jurisdictions, each of which has its own races for the state legislature, city council, school boards and ballot measures to tabulate at the same time. That’s why it takes longer for the US to count votes.
Declaring a winner can take time
The Associated Press calls races when there is no possibility that the trailing candidate can make up the gap. Sometimes, if one candidate is significantly behind, a winner can be called quickly. But if the margin is narrow, then every last vote could matter. It takes a while before every vote is counted even in the most efficient jurisdictions in the country.
In 2018, for example, Republican Rick Scott won the US Senate race in Florida, a state conservatives regularly praise for its quick tally. But the AP didn’t call Scott’s victory until after the conclusion of a recount on Nov. 20 because Scott’s margin was so slim.
It also takes time to count every one of the millions of votes because election officials have to process disputed, or “provisional,” ballots, and to see if they were legitimately cast. Overseas ballots from military members or other US citizens abroad can trickle in at the last minute. Mail ballots usually land early, but there’s a lengthy process to make sure they’re not cast fraudulently. If that process doesn’t start before Election Day, it can back up the count.
Some states, such as Arizona, also give voters whose mail ballots were rejected because the signatures didn’t match up to five days to prove they actually cast the ballot. That means final numbers simply cannot be available Tuesday night.
Election rules are to blame in some states
Some of the sluggishness is due to state-specific election rules. In Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, two of the most important swing states, election officials for years have pleaded with Republican lawmakers to change the law that prevents them from processing their mail ballots before Election Day. That means mail ballots get tallied late, and frequently the results don’t start to get reported until after Election Day.
Democrats have traditionally dominated mail voting, which has made it seem like Republicans are in the lead until the early hours of the next morning, when Democratic mail votes finally get added to the tally. Experts even have names for this from past elections — the “red mirage” or the “blue shift.” Trump exploited that dynamic in 2020 when he had his supporters demand an abrupt end to vote counts — the ballots that remained untallied were largely mail ones that were for Joe Biden. It’s not clear how that will play out this year, since Republicans have shifted and voted in big numbers during early voting.
Michigan used to have similar restrictions, but after Democrats won control of the state Legislature in 2022 they removed the prohibition on early processing of mail ballots. That state’s Democratic Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, said she hopes to have most results available by Wednesday.
“At the end of the day, chief election officials are the folks who have the ability to provide those accurate results. Americans should focus on what they say and not what any specific candidate or folks who are part of the campaign say,” said Jen Easterly, director of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Trump allies urge him to declare victory swiftly
Some of Trump’s allies say he should be even more aggressive about declaring victory this time around.
Longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon, who in 2020 predicted the then-president would declare victory before the race was called, advocated for a similar strategy during a recent press conference after he was released from federal prison, where he was serving time for a contempt of Congress conviction related to the investigation into Trump’s effort to overturn his loss in 2020.
“President Trump came up at 2:30 in the morning and talked,” Bannon said. “He should have done it at 11 o’clock in 2020.”
Other Trump supporters have taken a darker tone. His former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, suggested during a recent interview on the right-wing American Truth Project podcast that violence could erupt in states still counting ballots the day after Election Day because people “are just not going to put up with it.”
Trying to project a sense of inevitability about a Trump win, the former president and his supporters have been touting early vote data and favorable polls to contend the election is all but over. Republicans have returned to voting early after largely staying away at Trump’s direction in 2020 and 2022. In some swing states that track party registration, registered Republicans are outvoting Democrats in early voting.
But that doesn’t mean Republicans are ahead in any meaningful sense. Early voting data does not tell you who will win an election because it only records who voted, not how they voted.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has been explicitly targeting Republicans disillusioned by Trump. In each of those states where more Republicans have voted, there also are huge numbers of voters casting early ballots who are not registered with either of the two major political parties. If Harris won just a tiny fraction more of those votes than Trump, it would erase the small leads Republicans have.
There’s only one way to find out who won the presidential election: Wait until enough votes are tallied, whenever that is.

Topics: US Election 2024

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