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Minggu, 02 Juni 2019

Tiananmen Square: China minister defends 1989 crackdown - BBC News

China has defended the crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in a rare public acknowledgement of events.

Defence Minister Wei Fenghe told a regional forum that stopping the "turbulence" was the "correct" policy.

In spring 1989, students and workers occupied Beijing's Tiananmen Square in a massive pro-democracy protest. Many were killed in a brutal clampdown by the communist authorities.

Reporting on the events is heavily censored in China.

Tuesday marks 30 years since six weeks of demonstrations ended with the Beijing massacre of 3-4 June.

"That incident was a political turbulence and the central government took measures to stop the turbulence which is a correct policy," General Wei Fenghe told a security forum in Singapore, responding to a question from the audience.

"The 30 years have proven that China has undergone major changes," he said, adding that because of the government's action at that time "China has enjoyed stability and development".

The Chinese government has never said how many protesters were killed, although estimates range from the hundreds to thousands.

'Acts of forgettance'

There are no official acts of remembrance for the events of 1989 in Beijing. But that statement, although factually correct, is far too neutral.

In truth, what happened in Tiananmen Square is marked faithfully each year by a massive, national act of what might more properly be called "forgettance".

In the weeks leading up to 4 June, the world's biggest censorship machine goes into overdrive as a huge dragnet of automated algorithms and tens of thousands of human expurgators cleanse the internet of any reference, however oblique.

Those deemed to have been too provocative in their attempts to evade the controls can be jailed - with sentences of up to three and a half years recently handed down to a group of men who had tried to commemorate the anniversary with a product label.

Sabtu, 01 Juni 2019

Iranian president says talks possible only if Washington shows "respect" - Reuters

FILE PHOTO: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks during a cabinet meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 29, 2019. Official President website/Handout via REUTERS

DUBAI (Reuters) - President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday suggested Iran may be willing to hold talks if the United States showed it respect, but said Tehran would not be pressured into negotiations, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

Iran and the United States have been drawn into starker confrontation in the past month, a year after Washington pulled out of a deal between Iran and global powers to curb Tehran’s nuclear program in return for lifting international sanctions.

Washington re-imposed sanctions last year and ratchetted them up in May, ordering all countries to halt imports of Iranian oil. In recent weeks it has also hinted at military confrontation, saying it was sending extra forces to the Middle East to respond to an Iranian threat.

U.S. President Donald Trump says the 2015 nuclear deal was not strong enough and he wants to force Iran to negotiate a new agreement. Some U.S. officials have spoken of the possibility of new talks.

Trump said on Monday: “It (Iran) has a chance to be a great country with the same leadership... We aren’t looking for regime change - I just want to make that clear.”

Fars news agency quoted Rouhani as saying: “We are for logic and talks if (the other side) sits respectfully at the negotiating table and follows international regulations, not if it issues an order to negotiate.”

Iran’s top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Wednesday Iran would not negotiate with Washington. Rouhani had previously signaled talks might be possible if sanctions were lifted.

In Saturday’s speech to a group of Iranian athletes, Rouhani noted Trump’s recent remarks and suggested they were a climb-down from statements last year that encouraged regime change in Iran.

“The same enemy which declared its aim last year to destroy the Islamic Republic of Iran today explicitly states that it does not want to do anything to (our) system,” Rouhani said. “If we remain hopeful in the war with America, we will win.”

Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Toby Chopra and Peter Graff

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-iran-rouhani/iranian-president-says-talks-possible-only-if-washington-shows-respect-idUSKCN1T23BE

2019-06-01 19:03:04Z
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Mount Etna erupts in Italy, spewing ash and lava - CBS News

Catania, Sicily — Mount Etna, the largest of Italy's three active volcanoes, is spewing ash and lava once again, but officials say the activity is taking place at its summit and does not pose a risk to people and towns. Etna began a new phase of eruptions on Thursday as two new cracks in the volcano opened up, sending lava down its flank.

Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) noted that prior activity took place before the eruption, with a series of seismic events occurring in the weeks leading up to two fissures opening on Mount Etna's New Southeast Crater.

APTOPIX Italy Etna Volcano — In this photo taken on Thursday, May 30, 2019 and made available Friday, May 31, 2019 Mount Etna volcano spews lava during an eruption. Mount Etna in Sicily has roared back into spectacular volcanic action from Thursday morning, sending up plumes of ash and spewing lava. Salvatore Allegra / AP

Eugenio Privitera, Catania's INGV director, says this eruption is taking place at Etna's summit and does not pose risks to residents. But he says visitors to Etna must stay away from the summit for their own safety.

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Northern lava flow reached a distance of more than 1 mile while southern lava flow reached nearly double that distance, reports INGV.

The volcano previously erupted in December. That eruption was linked to an earthquake which caused injuries and extensive damage to buildings on and near the volcano's slopes.

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https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mount-etna-erupts-in-italy-sending-ash-and-lava-into-the-sky-2019-06-01/

2019-06-01 17:33:14Z
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Pentagon Report Slams China for Pursuing ‘Predatory Economics’ - Bloomberg

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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-01/pentagon-report-slams-china-for-pursuing-predatory-economics

2019-06-01 17:03:37Z
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Pentagon Report Slams China for Pursuing ‘Predatory Economics’ - Bloomberg

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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-01/pentagon-report-slams-china-for-pursuing-predatory-economics

2019-06-01 16:35:24Z
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President Trump Backs Boris Johnson in U.K. Leadership Race Before State Visit - TIME

Trump Backs Johnson in U.K. Leadership Race | Time

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http://time.com/5599422/trump-boris-johnson-united-kingdom/

2019-06-01 15:05:10Z
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What Are Mexico's Biggest Exports to the United States? - The New York Times

It’s not just avocados.

President Trump’s threat to impose new tariffs on Mexican imports could affect prices for cars, televisions, clothing, alcohol and the fuel that Mexico regularly sends to the United States.

The tax, which is meant to take effect on June 10, would start at 5 percent and “gradually increase” unless the flow of undocumented immigrants across the United States border is stemmed, Mr. Trump said Thursday while announcing the tariff on Twitter. It could rise to 25 percent.

Several business groups — including corn growers, pork producers and retailers — pushed back. The United States Chamber of Commerce called it “exactly the wrong move.” The head of the National Association of Manufacturers said it was a “Molotov cocktail of policy.”

Mr. Trump also recently threatened to close the border entirely, jeopardizing nearly $1.7 billion in products and services that traverse it each day. Many items are made in Mexico using materials or parts first produced in the United States. And no country supplies the United States with more agricultural products.

Mexico, the United States’ largest trading partner, delivered $346.5 billion in goods to its northern neighbor last year, according to the Census Bureau. American exports to Mexico totaled $265 billion.

Here are just some of the Mexican imports Mr. Trump’s tariff could hit.

$115.8 billion in autos, accessories and parts

The automotive industry’s manufacturing apparatus sprawls across North America, with supply chains working in concert on both sides of the border. Companies such as General Motors and Fiat Chrysler make passenger cars, trucks, buses, vehicle accessories and production components in Mexico.

The Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association, which represents auto parts makers, said on Friday that Mr. Trump’s tariff threat came as the industry was struggling with uncertainty and weakening sales. It “only serves to increase this anxiety and unease, and to further undermine American businesses’ stability and job growth,” the group said.

$36.6 billion in computers, TVs and video tech

Electronics manufacturing is a global enterprise, with components often bouncing from continent to continent before reaching consumers. Mexico is a popular stopping point for assembly. The country is the second-largest exporter of computers behind China, and the United States is by far the largest recipient of the machines, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The value of computer exports to the United States quadrupled in a decade to $24.9 billion; exports of computer accessories alone were worth $2.5 billion last year, according to the Census Bureau.

GoPro said recently that most of its cameras bound for the American market would be produced in Guadalajara by the latter half of the year. Universal Electronics also announced plans to move production of its remote controls for North American customers to Mexico from China. Foxconn, the Taiwanese manufacturing giant known for assembling iPhones for Apple and PlayStations for Sony, has multiple Mexican facilities.

$5.2 billion in alcohol

Mexico is the largest exporter of beer to the United States, with more than 360 million cases of Mexican beer entering the country by the end of the year, according to the Beer Institute, an American trade group. Most of that alcohol is made using barley and hops grown in the United States, the group said on Friday, adding that “the last thing we need is more hardship imposed on the beer industry and American beer drinkers.”

The tariff would increase the cost to beer importers by $12.5 million in June, potentially reaching $984 million per year at the maximum tariff rate, according to the group.

Shares of Constellation Brands, which makes its Corona and Modelo beers in Mexico, fell nearly 6 percent on Friday. Tequila brands such as Jose Cuervo and Casamigos, which counts the actor George Clooney as a co-founder and was purchased by Diageo, could also suffer.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/01/business/what-goods-come-from-mexico.html

2019-06-01 13:01:46Z
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