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FILE PHOTO – Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo (R) shakes hands with Governor of Jakarta Anies Baswedan (L) during Jakarta Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) first-phase launching at Bundaran HI station in Jakarta, Indonesia, March 14, 2019 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Antara Foto/Hafidz Mubarak A/ via REUTERS
April 21, 2019
By Tabita Diela and Yerica Lai
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Even with Indonesia’s current presidential election result still to be officially confirmed, attention is turning to the next race for the top job in 2024 with some rising political stars and well-connected figures in the frame.
Sample vote counts by private pollsters from last week’s poll show that incumbent President Joko Widodo is headed for a second and final term in office though the results are being disputed by his challenger, ex-general Prabowo Subianto.
There are, however, a string of new leaders waiting in the wings for their chance including some who, like Widodo, cut their teeth running cities or provinces across the archipelago, and also the offspring of ex-leaders being groomed to take over.
Still, a candidate needs at least 20 percent of seats in parliament or 25 percent of the popular vote to stand, meaning it is conceivable for this year’s challenger Subianto, who is chairman of the Gerindra party, to run for a third attempt.
“We have a lot of potential leaders… The threshold should be lowered to give these people an open opportunity,” said Arya Fernandes, a researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
Here are some of the possible contenders for the 2024 vote.
Anies Baswedan, 49, is the governor of Jakarta. The former education minister, with backing from opposition parties and some hardline Islamist groups, defeated the popular ethnic-Chinese, Christian governor of the capital in a vote marred by religious tensions. Still, the Fulbright Scholar who comes from a family of moderate Muslim scholars is seen as appealing to younger voters and representing a more modern face of Islam.
Sandiaga Uno, 49, was elected vice governor of Jakarta in 2017, but stood down to be the vice presidential running mate for Prabowo. His private equity fortune made to a large degree with investments in Indonesia’s coal industry helped fund Prabowo and his campaign. Though a relative newcomer to politics, the campaign has allowed him to raise his profile across Indonesia and he proved a hit with millennial and female voters.
Ridwan Kamil, 47, is governor of Indonesia’s most populous province West Java and an ally of Widodo. A trained architect, he was previously mayor of Bandung where he is credited with rebranding the city to encourage creativity and use of technology. He has successfully used social media to connect with voters and has more than 10 million followers on Instagram.
Puan Maharani, 45, is a minister for human development and cultural affairs. She has political pedigree as the daughter of former president Megawati Soekarnoputri and granddaughter of Indonesia’s charismatic first leader, Sukarno. Her mother chairs the biggest party in parliament, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which is in the ruling coalition.
Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, 40, is the eldest son of former president and Democratic Party chairman Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The Harvard-educated politician followed his father by having a military career and despite his inexperience ran in the Jakarta governor race in 2017 where he lost in the first round. The Democratic Party has also not fared so well this year.
Other names being circulated by pollsters or the media include regional leaders such as Ganjar Pranowo, 50, the governor of Central Java, Tri Rismaharini, 57, mayor of Surabaya, and East Java governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa, 53.
In eastern Indonesia, Nurdin Abdullah, 56, the South Sulawesi governor, is also seen as a contender.
Deputy parliament speaker and vice chairman of the Gerindra party Fadli Zon, 47, is also seen as a possible candidate as a Prabowo loyalist.
Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, 52, the ex-governor of Jakarta, still has many supporters if he did try to get back into politics even with a blasphemy conviction for insulting the Koran.
Billionaire businessman Erick Thohir, 48, who orchestrated last year’s Asian Games and Widodo’s 2019 presidential campaign, has also been mentioned though he has denied interest in a political career and up to now lacks governance experience.
(Reporting by Tabita Diela and Yerica Lai; Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
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Apr 20, 2019; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Blues left wing Jaden Schwartz (17) handles the puck during the third period in game six of the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Winnipeg Jets at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
April 21, 2019
Jaden Schwartz had a hat trick, and rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington made 18 saves as the host St. Louis Blues eliminated the Winnipeg Jets with a 3-2 victory in Game 6 of their first-round Western Conference playoff series Saturday.
The Blues will face the winner of the Dallas-Nashville series in the next round of the playoffs.
St. Louis became the first home team to win a game in the series, and the first winning team that didn’t need to overcome a deficit.
Dustin Byfuglien and Bryan Little scored for Winnipeg, and goalie Connor Hellebuyck stopped 33 of 36 shots. Both of the Jets’ goals came in the second half of the third period, after they were down 3-0.
Stars 5, Predators 3
Alexander Radulov and Jason Dickinson each scored two goals as visiting Dallas won Game 5 of its first-round Stanley Cup playoff series with Nashville.
The win gives the Stars a 3-2 edge in the series, putting them a victory away from advancing to the second round for just the second time in 11 seasons. The Central Division-winning Predators, meanwhile, are in danger of missing the second round for the first time in four seasons.
Jamie Benn had three assists for the Stars, while Tyler Seguin contributed a goal and an assist. The top line of Radulov, Benn, and Seguin combined for 16 of the Stars’ 26 total shots. The trio has 16 total points in the series.
Capitals 6, Hurricanes 0
Nicklas Backstrom finished with two goals and two assists, and Alex Ovechkin added a goal and two assists as Washington pounded Carolina in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference first-round series.
The Capitals took a 3-2 lead in the series and can close out the Hurricanes in Game 6 on Monday night in Raleigh, N.C. The winner of this series will meet the New York Islanders.
Tom Wilson finished with a goal and an assist as Washington’s top line — Ovechkin, Backstrom and Wilson — delivered in a big way with four goals and five assists. Evgeny Kuznetsov and John Carlson also added two assists apiece. Goalie Braden Holtby finished with 30 saves, 15 of which came in the second period, to earn the win.
–Field Level Media
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FILE PHOTO – A general view shows a newly built section of the U.S.-Mexico border fence at Sunland Park, U.S. opposite the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, in this picture taken from the Mexico side of the U.S.-Mexico border April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez
April 20, 2019
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico said on Saturday it had “deep concern” about armed groups that intimidate and extort migrants on the border, shortly after the ACLU and Democratic senators called for a probe into such citizen efforts to block migrants from crossing.
“These types of practices can drive human rights abuses of people who migrate or request asylum or refuge in the United States,” Mexico’s Foreign Relations Ministry said in a statement, referring to “militia groups” in New Mexico.
It added that patrols “on the margins” of the law create risks for the safety of migrants.
On Thursday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico condemned the United Constitutional Patriots, which patrols the southern U.S. border in New Mexico, as a “fascist militia organization” operating outside the law.
The group has posted videos showing members dressed in camouflage and armed with semi-automatic rifles holding groups of migrants, many Central American families seeking asylum, until U.S. Border Patrol agents arrive.
The small volunteer group says it is helping the Border Patrol deal with a surge in undocumented migrants at the southern border. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has toughened various policies and put pressure on Mexico in an attempt to discourage people from attempting to cross into the United States illegally.
Along with the ACLU, New Mexico Democratic senators Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall also called for an investigation into the border group.
“Threatening innocent children and families fleeing violence and seeking asylum is unacceptable and flies in the face of our values as a state and a nation,” they said in a joint statement on Twitter on Friday.
(Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Richard Chang)
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FILE PHOTO – Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia awaits the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron at Houari Boumediene airport in Algiers, Algeria December 6, 2017. Picture taken December 6, 2017 REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
April 20, 2019
ALGIERS (Reuters) – An Algerian court has summoned former Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia and current Finance Minister Mohamed Loukal, two associates of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in a probe into wasting of public money, state TV said on Saturday.
They are being investigated over “dissipation of public money” and “illegal privilege,” state TV said.
No more details were immediately available.
The move comes after army chief, Lieutenant General Gaid Salah, said last week he expected to see members of the ruling elite in the major oil and natural gas-producing country prosecuted for corruption.
Bouteflika stepped down after 20 years in power two weeks ago, bowing to pressure from the army and weeks of demonstrations mainly by young people seeking change in the country.
But the protests, which began on Feb. 22 and have been largely peaceful, have continued as many want the removal of an elite that has governed Algeria since independence from France in 1962 and the prosecution of people they see as corrupt.
Ouyahia served several times as prime minister under Bouteflika and is also head of the RND party, the coalition partner of Bouteflika’s ruling FLN party.
Loukal was central bank governor under the former president.
Bouteflika has been replaced by Abdelkader Bensalah, head of the upper house of parliament, as interim president for 90 days until a presidential election on July 4.
Hundreds of thousands protested on Friday to demand the resignation of Bensalah and other top officials.
Bensalah appointed Ammar Haiwani as acting central bank governor, state TV earlier said. The position had been vacant since Loukal was made finance minister by Bouteflika before he had resigned.
(Reporting by Hesham Hajali, Lamine Chikhi and Hamid Ould AhmedWriting by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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Central American migrants eat mangoes for breakfast as they walk during their journey towards the United States, in Mapastepec, Mexico April 20, 2019. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas
April 20, 2019
By Jose Cortes
MAPASTEPEC, Mexico (Reuters) – So many migrants have stopped in the southern Mexican town of Mapastepec in recent months that longstanding public sympathy for Central Americans traveling northward is starting to wane.
Hundreds of migrants have been camped out for weeks in Mapastepec, where locals say six migrant caravans have arrived since last Easter. By far the biggest was a group of thousands in October that drew the anger of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Ana Gabriela Galvan, a local resident who helped to provide food to migrants in the October caravan, told Reuters the small town in the impoverished state of Chiapas, which borders Guatemala, felt overwhelmed by the number of Central Americans.
“It’s really bad, because they’re pouring onto our land,” she said, noting that some locals were reluctant to leave their homes. “They ask for money, and if you offer food, they don’t want it; they want money and sometimes you don’t have any.”
Following a surge in apprehensions of Central Americans trying to enter the United States, Trump last month threatened to close the U.S.-Mexico border if the Mexican government did not stop illegal immigration right away.
The administration of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has stepped up migrant detentions and tightened access to humanitarian visas, slowing the flow of caravans north and leaving hundreds of people in Mapastepec.
The humanitarian visas allow migrants to stay temporarily and get jobs. The documents also make it easier for them to travel through the country or seek longer residence.
According to government social development agency Coneval, Chiapas in 2015 had the highest poverty rate of Mexico’s 32 regions, at 72.5 percent. Some 20,000 people live in Mapastepec, the seat of a municipality of the same name where poverty levels were fractionally higher than the state average in 2015.
A month ago, a large knot of migrants began forming in Mapastepec when the National Migration Institute closed its main office in the nearby city of Tapachula. The closure prompted hundreds to travel north to the sweltering town on the Pacific coast where the agency has a smaller outpost.
Since then, bedraggled groups of men, women and children have been staying in and around a local sports stadium, hoping to be issued humanitarian visas.
Central Americans today make up the bulk of undocumented migrants arrested on the U.S. border.
Southern Mexico has long sent thousands of migrants north and support for them has traditionally been strong there. Concentrations of Central American migrants on Mexico’s northern border caused tensions in the city of Tijuana when caravans arrived late last year.
CONCERNED MEXICANS
Recent studies show that while Mexicans still have sympathy for migrants, many are concerned that Mexico will not be able to cope with the arrival of thousands of people from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador fleeing violence and poverty at home.
A survey of around 500 adults in February by the Center of Public Opinion at the University of the Valley of Mexico (UVM) found that 83 percent of respondents believed the Central American migrants could cause problems for Mexico.
Rising crime, increased poverty and a decline in social services were the top risks identified by the poll.
Offered a binary choice on what should be done, 62 percent of those polled said Mexico should be stricter with migrants entering its territory. The other 38 percent said Mexico should help to develop Central America, as Lopez Obrador argues.
The study did not publish a margin of error.
Jesus Salvador Quintana, a senior official at the National Human Rights Commission, said in Mapastepec the body had noticed a decrease in assistance from the public but urged people to keep helping the migrants on their often arduous journeys.
“There are children, pregnant women, whole families that sometimes need this humanitarian aid,” he told Reuters.
Anabel Quintero, a young Honduran mother in Mapastepec, said when her caravan passed through the nearby town of Huixtla some shops closed rather than sell to migrants seeking medicine for sick children.
“It’s a bad feeling,” she said. “They told us they didn’t want us sleeping in the park, and we had to leave.”
Residents of Mapastepec are also running out of patience.
Street vendor Brenda Marisol Ballesteros told Reuters it was time for authorities to move the migrants onward.
“Why?,” she said. “Because things are in a real mess.”
(Additional reporting by Roberto Ramirez in Huixtla; Editing by Dave Graham and Cynthia Osterman)
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Members of the Libyan internationally recognised government forces gather around an armoured personnel carrier at Khallat Farjan area in Tripoli, Libya April 20, 2019. REUTERS/Ayman al-Sahili
April 20, 2019
By Ulf Laessing and Ahmed Elumami
TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Heavy clashes broke out in the southern districts of the Libyan capital Tripoli on Saturday, with shelling audible in the city center, residents said, as the death toll from two weeks of fighting between the country’s rival governments rose to 220.
The spike in violence happened after the White House said on Friday that President Donald Trump spoke by phone earlier in the week with Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar, who started an offensive against Tripoli on April 3.
The disclosure of the call and a U.S. statement that it “recognized Field Marshal Haftar’s significant role in fighting terrorism and securing Libya’s oil resources” has boosted the commander’s supporters and enraged his opponents.
Western powers and the Gulf have been divided over a push by Haftar’s forces to seize Tripoli, undermining calls by the United Nations for a ceasefire.
Despite the offensive, Haftar’s Libya National Army (LNA) force has not been able to breach the southern defenses of forces allied to the internationally recognized administration based in the city.
On Saturday, shelling was louder and more frequent on Saturday than in previous days and audible even in central districts more than 10 km (6 miles) away from the frontline, residents said.
Both sides claimed progress in southern Tripoli, but no more details were immediately available.
A Reuters TV cameraman visiting the southern Khalat Furgan suburb heard heavy shelling but saw no apparent major change in the frontline.
On Friday, two children were killed in shelling in southern Tripoli, residents said. The fighting has killed 220 people an wounded 1,066, the World Heath organization (WHO) said.
It was unclear why the White House waited several days to announce Monday’s phone call.
On Friday, Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said “a military solution is not what Libya needs.” He said he supported Haftar’s “role in counterterroism” and that Washington needed Haftar’s “support in building democratic stability there in the region.”
On Thursday, both the United States and Russia said they could not support a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Libya at this time.
Russia objects to the British-drafted resolution blaming Haftar for the latest flare-up in violence when his LNA advanced to the outskirts of Tripoli earlier this month, diplomats said.
The United States did not give a reason for its decision not to support the draft resolution, which would also call on countries with influence over the warring parties to ensure compliance and for unconditional humanitarian aid access in Libya.
The country has been gripped by anarchy since Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in 2011.
While the Tripoli battle continued, municipal elections took place in seven towns, mainly in the south, the election commission said.
The vote is part of elections for local councils across Libya. Security differs from region to region as the country is controlled by rival governments, tribesmen and armed groups.
In western Libya polls in several communities had been postponed a week ago due to the fighting.
(Reporting by Ulf Laessing, Ahmed Elumami and Ayman al-Warfalli; Editing by Hugh Lawson, William Maclean)
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Climate change activists practice yoga on Waterloo Bridge during the Extinction Rebellion protest in London, Britain April 20, 2019. REUTERS/Simon Dawson
April 20, 2019
LONDON (Reuters) – More than 700 climate change activists blocking roads at some of London’s most famous landmarks have been arrested over the last six days, police said on Saturday, up from a total given on Friday of more than 682.
The protests, organized by climate group Extinction Rebellion, have for several days disrupted travel through parts of central London, including at Oxford Circus, Marble Arch and Waterloo Bridge.
Extinction Rebellion has called for non-violent civil disobedience to force the British government to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2025 and stop what it calls a global climate crisis.
“As of 10:00 a.m. on Saturday … more than 718 people have been arrested since Monday. Twenty-eight people have been charged,” London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
The police reiterated that protests were only allowed to continue at Marble Arch, but have not said if or how they will clear the hundreds of demonstrators from other locations.
On Friday star Emma Thompson joined activists at Oxford Circus, at the heart of one of the capital’s most popular shopping districts, to read poetry praising Earth’s bounties.
(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Editing by Alison Williams and David Holmes)
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Men carry injured people outside the building of Ministry of Communication and Information Technology in Kabul, Afghanistan April 20, 2019. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail
April 20, 2019
By Abdul Qadir Sediqi and Rupam Jain
KABUL (Reuters) – An explosion hit the center of the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday and unidentified attackers appeared to have entered a multi-storey building housing the communications ministry where they were battling security forces, officials said.
Gunfire could be clearly heard by witnesses in the city center, but the area around the site was cordoned off by security forces.
Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi confirmed there had been gunfire around the ministry of communications and information technology but provided no further details.
The attack followed several months of relative calm in Kabul, which coincided with talks between U.S. and Taliban officials aimed at opening the way for formal peace negotiations to end more than 17 years of war in Afghanistan.
One security official, who declined to be identified by name, said the initial blast appeared to have been caused by a suicide bomb at the entry to the ministry. There was no confirmation from Afghan police, and no militant group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.
A witness quoted by the Tolo News television channel said attackers appeared to be fighting security forces on the first floor of the ministry headquarters.
The explosion, in one of the main commercial areas of the city, was also close to the heavily fortified Serena Hotel, one of the very few Kabul hotels still used by foreign visitors.
The attack, just days after a planned meeting between Taliban officials and Afghan politicians and civil society representatives in Qatar was canceled, underlined the hurdles facing efforts to reach a peace settlement.
While heavy fighting has carried on across Afghanistan and Taliban militants have announced their now customary spring offensive, there had been no large-scale attacks on civilian targets in Kabul in recent weeks.
(Reporting by Abdul Qadir Sediqi, Rupam Jain, James Mackenzie; Editing by Nick Macfie and Kenneth Maxwell)
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Larry Fink, Chief Executive Officer of BlackRock, stands at the Bloomberg Global Business forum in New York, U.S., September 26, 2018. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
April 20, 2019
BERLIN (Reuters) – There are no signs that the global economy is sliding toward a recession in the next 12 months, BlackRock Inc’s Chief Executive Larry Fink said in remarks published on Saturday.
In an interview with German business daily Handelsblatt, Fink warned, however, that the global economy was in the late stage of a long growth cycle, suggesting that downturn was becoming more likely.
“I see no signs of a global recession in the coming 12 months,” said Fink, who leads the world’s largest asset manager.
“The central banks have loosened their policy above all because of the weak fourth quarter of 2018. We will go through a phase in which things are not great but also not bad.”
He added: “But we are naturally in a late phase of the economic growth cycle.”
The International Monetary Fund cut its global economic growth forecasts for 2019 this month and said growth could slow further due to unresolved trade disputes and the risk of Britain leaving the European Union without a deal.
The global lender said some major economies, including China and Germany, might need to take short-term actions to prop up growth and that a severe downturn could require coordinated stimulus measures.
German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz has ruled out taking on new debt to stimulate growth in Europe’s biggest economy, saying tax cuts, higher investments and a solid labor market will continue to provide growth impetus.
(Reporting by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Alison Williams)
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National Security Advisor John Bolton adjusts his glasses as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks while meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 2, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
April 20, 2019
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea has criticized U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton’s “nonsense” call for Pyongyang to show that it’s serious about giving up its nuclear weapons, the second time it has criticized a leading U.S. official in less than a week.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said he is open to a third summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but Bolton told Bloomberg News on Wednesday there first needed to be “a real indication from North Korea that they’ve made the strategic decision to give up nuclear weapons”.
“Bolton, national security adviser of the White House, in an interview with Bloomberg, showed above himself by saying such a nonsense,” North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui told reporters when asked about his recent comments, the Korean Central News Agency said on Saturday.
“Bolton’s remarks make me wonder whether they sprang out of incomprehension of the intentions of the top leaders of the DPRK and the U.S. or whether he was just trying to talk with a certain sense of humor for his part, with its own deviation,” she said, referring to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.
“All things considered, his word has no charm in it and he looks dim-sighted to me.”
The North Korean vice minister also warned that there would be no good if the United States continued “to throw away such remarks devoid of discretion and reason”.
North Korea said on Thursday it no longer wanted to deal with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and that he should be replaced in talks by someone more mature, hours after it announced its first weapons test since nuclear talks broke down.
(Reporting by Joori Roh, Josh Smith; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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