Trump, Kim to Hold Second Nuclear Summit With World Watching

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27 February 2019, 11:32

Donald Trump, Kim Jong Un — President Donald Trump meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Sentosa Island in Singapore on June 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

HANOI — President Donald Trump is paying a courtesy call on his Vietnamese hosts while North Korea’s Kim Jong Un was expected to take in some sights Wednesday before the leaders open their second nuclear summit with a one-on-one meeting and private social dinner.

But the carnival-like atmosphere in the Vietnamese capital, with vendors hawking T-shirts emblazoned with the leaders’ faces, stood in contrast to the serious items on their agendas: North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Trump and Kim first met last June in Singapore, a summit that was long on historic pageantry but short on any enforceable agreements for North Korea to give up its nuclear arsenal.

North Korea has spent decades, at great economic sacrifice, building its nuclear program, and there is widespread skepticism that it will give away that program cheaply.

Trump has praised Pyongyang for ceasing missile tests and has appeared to ease up on demanding a timeline for disarmament. Trump hopes that Kim, who is seeking relief from crushing U.S. sanctions, will opt to give up his nuclear weapons program in exchange for help revitalizing his country’s economy.

“Vietnam is thriving like few places on earth. North Korea would be the same, and very quickly, if it would denuclearize,” Trump tweeted Wednesday, hours before he and Kim were due to meet again. “The potential is AWESOME, a great opportunity, like almost none other in history, for my friend Kim Jong Un. We will know fairly soon – Very Interesting!

Trump had a full day of meetings with Vietnamese officials before the one-on-one sit-down and dinner with Kim later Wednesday. Kim was expected to leave his locked-down hotel to visit various sites in Hanoi.

Trump remains eager to claim an attention-grabbing victory to offset the political turmoil he faces at home.

With the president outside the U.S., his now-disbarred former personal lawyer was testifying publicly on Capitol Hill later Wednesday about alleged misconduct by Trump. The Democratic-led House, with backing from several Republicans, approved legislation aimed at blocking the Republican president from steering billions of dollars to build barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border. A House committee also voted to subpoena administration officials over family separations at the border.

Michael Cohen, once Trump’s loyal attorney and fixer, has turned on his former boss and cooperated with special counsel Robert Mueller, who is looking into whether the Trump’s presidential campaign coordinated with Russia and whether the president tried to obstruct the investigation.

The president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., accused Democrats in Congress of scheduling Cohen’s testimony to overshadow the summit.

“After 60 years of failed attempts trying to end the war, trying to end nuclear proliferation on the Korean peninsula, you have finally a president who’s willing to do it,” he told Fox News Channel. “For the Democrats to try to counter program that kind of progress — to try to perhaps somehow distract him with this nonsense … it just goes to show you how much those Democrats really disdain Trump but also America.”

The president jabbed at Democrats too, saying in a tweet that they “should stop talking about what I should do with North Korea and ask themselves instead why they didn’t do ‘it’ during eight years of the Obama Administration?”

Story: Johnathan Lemire, Foster Klug, Deb Riechmann

Thai Election for Dummies: Guide to the Parties

By

Asaree Thaitrakulpanich, Staff Reporter

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27 February 2019, 11:14

Update: The list has been updated on March 7, 2019 to reflect the disbandment of Thai Raksa Chart.

There are 77 parties contesting the March 24 election, but only about a dozen are expected to make a showing. Connect the dots between the logos, candidates, policies, allegiances and support for military rule in this handy list based upon their size, past performance and overall hype.

Don’t see a candidate from your favorite one canvassing on your street? Keep in mind that only the largest parties are competing in every constituency.

Names all sound similar? Chart/chat means “nation,” pattana is “development,” pheu is “for,” phalang is “power.”

Read: Thai Election for Dummies: How, When, Where to Cast Your Vote

Pheu Thai

This is the OG Redshirt party, the latest in a line originally founded by former premier Thaksin Shinawatra that has won every election since 2001.

PM Candidates: Former health and agriculture minister Sudarat Keyuraphan, former transport minister Chadchart Sittipunt and former justice minister Chaikasem Nitisiri.

Policies: Pheu Thai is focused on an economic platform, which includes policies to increase minimum wage, strengthen private businesses, boost tourism, support farmers, expand public healthcare, abolish the military draft and slash defense spending.

Notable members: Thaksin’s only son Panthongtae “Oak” Shinawatra. While in office, Chadchart Sittipunt became an object of online veneration as the “World’s Strongest Minister.”

Phalang Pracharath

A proxy party for continued military rule, Phalang Pracharath has been accused of poaching politicians, campaigning unfairly and benefiting from gerrymandering of the electoral map.

PM candidate: Gen. Prayuth “Big Tuu” Chan-ocha. The coupmaker, general and songwriter who’s governed since the 2014 coup.

Policies: To “foster a democratic administration with His Majesty the King as the head of state. The state system will not be changed.” The party also pledges to expand welfare programs.

Notable members: Junta spokesman and former activist Puttipong Punnakan, the “Three Friends” group of political veterans, and former Redshirt Suporn “Rambo Isaan” Atthawong.

Democrat

The country’s oldest party hasn’t come out on top in an election since 1992. Though its democratic bonafides have been damaged by supporting past military interventions in civilian governance, some in the party have said they will not support further rule by Prayuth. Which way they go remains to be seen – even the junta leader has said he expects them to fall in line.

Leader: Abhisit “Mark” Vejjajiva, who served as prime minister from 2008 – 2011

Policies: Pro-market, pro-monarchy. Promises include price guarantees for cash crops such as rice, cassava, corn, palm and rubber; free hospital emergency care and a state-guaranteed minimum annual wage of 120,000 baht.

Notable members: Chuan Leekpai, PM from 1992 to 1995; Kanawat “Mhor Egg” Chantalarawan, a doctor and actor-turned politician; 2014 street protest leader and ultra-royalist Warong Dechgitvigrom; and Parit “Itim” Wacharasindhu, Abhisit’s nephew heading the party’s “New Democrats” youth wing.

Update: No Dem Agreement to Block Prayuth, Abhisit Admits

Future Forward

Founded one year ago by a billionaire progressive to contest the election, Future Forward is short on experience but long on ambitions.

Leader: Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the billionaire CEO of Thai Summit auto parts, who was a student activist in his youth. He also once served on the board of Matichon Group, which owns Khaosod English.

Policies: Openly defiant of military rule, the party says it will empower citizens to draft a new constitution to replace that written under the junta. Its liberal policies include government transparency, decentralizing power to the provinces and LGBT rights. It wants to pay for expanded healthcare and social security programs by cutting defense spending.

Notable members: Progressive law professor Piyabutr Saengkanokkul and longtime pro-democracy movement student leader Rangsiman Rome. Many have little direct political experience, such as 29-year-old Taopiphop Limjittrakorn, who was arrested for brewing homemade beer.

Action Coalition for Thailand

The ACT is led by Suthep Thaugsuban, the head of the whistleblowing protests which paralyzed Bangkok in 2013-2014 and helped annul an election by blocking polling places in the name of implementing unspecified national reforms. Suthep pleaded with Prayuth to stage a coup – and got just that in May 2014.

PM Candidate: Supports Phalang Pracharat’s Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha.

Policies: Tackling corruption and upholding the monarchy, Suthep said upon launching the party this past June.

Notable party members: Former Yellowshirt coordinator Suriyasai Katasila and famed political scientist Anek Laothamatas.

People’s Reform

“We humbly receive Lord Buddha’s teachings,” reads posters by the party stacked with pro-establishment politicians and activists who led the 2014 street protests alongside ACT’s Suthep Thaugsuban. Enraged Buddhists accused of exploiting religion for political gain, but it was cleared of wrongdoing.

PM Candidate: Supports Phalang Pracharat’s Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha

Notable party members: Former monk Mano Laohavanich and former Senator Paiboon Nititawan.

Thai Raksa Chart

Update March 7, 2019: Thai Raksa Chart has been disbanded.

In late 2018, Pheu Thai spun off three splinter parties to overcome the numerical difficulties in forming a new government under the constitution. Written under junta supervision, the constitution disadvantages large parties (read: Pheu Thai) in favor of smaller ones. The spin-offs are Thai Raksa Chart, Puea Chat and Pheu Tham.

Thai Raksa Chart may soon be disbanded for trying to pull of what was a first in Thai political history: The nomination of a member of the royal family to the premiership. The short-lived candidacy of Ubolratana Mahidol, a former princess who renounced her titles four decades ago, was quickly blocked by her younger brother, King Rama X.

~~PM Candidate: Ubolratana Mahidol (disqualified)~~

Leader: Preechapol Pongpanich

Notable members: Former education minister Chaturon Chaisang and former Bangkok Post editor Umesh Pandey.

Bhumjaithai

Leader and PM Candidate: Anutin Charnvirakul

Policies: Bhumjaitai has gone all in on popular measures, including the full legalization of marijuana, ride-sharing service Grab and homestay service Airbnb. The party is also calling for four-day weeks for workers and students to decrease car pollution, along with construction of a public co-working space in each of Bangkok’s nearly 200 subdistricts.

Chartpattana

The sports party, Chartpattana is now headed by sporting officials and brothers Suwat and Tewan Liptapanlop. They have utilized athletes in their campaigns and recruited an Olympic taekwondo bronze medalist to run for Bangkok’s Bang Khae district. Its power base remains in the rural east.

PM Candidates: Suwat Liptapanlop, Deputy PM from 2004 to 2006 and president of the Lawn Tennis Association of Thailand; his younger brother Tewan Liptapanlop, chairman of the Nakhon Ratchasima Football Club; and former Energy Minister Wannarat Channukul.

Policies: “Using sports to build people, build the nation, and create teamwork and cooperation to end conflict,” reads one of their taglines. Proposed policies include: mini sport complexes in every district nationwide, alternative energy sources, eliminating smog, aid for people with disabilities.

Chartthaipattana

The Silpa-archa clan’s conservative party was first led by Chumpol Silpa-archa, younger brother of Banharn Silpa-archa, the 21st PM known for developing his home of Suphan Buri. The party continues to have a strong following in the area.

PM Candidate: Kanchana Silpa-archa, daughter of the late Banharn Silpa-archa.

Policies: With its stronghold in the northern central provinces, Chartthaipatthana is appealing to farmers in the area on familiar planks of decentralization and technological development of agriculture and education.

Notable members: senior members Jongchai Thiengtham, a former labor and commerce minister who represented Suphan Buri; and Somsak Prisnananthakul, a nine-time representative of Ang Thong province.

Puea Chat

Puea Chat is one of the four Pheu Thai spinoffs. (See: Thai Raksa Chart)

Policies: Populist policies such as improving provincial healthcare, urban transportation, the environment and lowering agricultural transport taxes.

PM Candidate: Supporting Pheu Thai’s candidates.

Notable members: Jatuporn Prompan, a Redshirt leader jailed for about a year for libeling Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva.

Prachachart

With its base in the Deep South, Prachachart is a pan-Muslim party running on a platform of peaceful religious coexistence, finding solutions to the 15 years of insurgent violence that have wracked the region and cracking down on drugs.

PM Candidate: Wan Muhamad Noor Matha, the first Thai Muslim to serve in parliament and leader of the Wadah Group, a coalition of southern Muslim politicians.

Though widely seen as another Pheu Thai ally, the party said in September upon its founding that it was open to supporting Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha’s nomination.

Seri Ruam Thai (Thai Liberal)

Seri Ruam Thai is centered around the brash personality of former police commissioner Gen. Sereepisut Temeeyavets, with an ardently anti-junta support base in the capital and some central provinces.

PM Candidate: Police Gen. Sereepisut Temeeyavets. Under his tenure as chief in 2007-2008, he was known for purging mafia bosses. Today he’s known for his brash, outspoken criticism of the ruling junta. “I would have shot him in the head if I was there,” Sereepisut said of Prayuth’s 2014 coup.

Policies: Anti-military policies such as downsizing the armed forces and relocating them out of the capital, as well as developing provincial economies by decentralizing power, cracking down on corruption and solving the deep south conflict.

Thai Local Power

An unconventional band of colorful personalities, Thai Local Power is largely a cult of personality built around its candidate for the premiership. The party launched with an LGBT-lit party on Bangkok’s Silom Road.

PM Candidate: Chatchawal Kong-udom, a former senator, newspaper owner and business tycoon. He’s more commonly known as “Chat Tao Poon,” a reference to his status as a godfather-type figure in Bangkok’s Tao Poon neighborhood

Policies: Bolstering the provinces and decentralizing Bangkok’s power to decrease the need to find work in the capital through policies such as cracking down on drugs, improving language education and boosting rubber prices.

Notable members: Singer-turned-politician Rattaphoom “Film” Toekongsap; Assadayut Khunviseadpong, the winner of the first season of Drag Race Thailand, and now Ploypilin Rattanasatian, a Maha Sarakham candidate who went viral for her sexy pics.

Viral Video Uses Pooches to Explain Dog-Eat-Dog Thai Elections

Candidates Register to Run in 1st Post-Coup Election

Thai Election for Dummies: How, When, Where to Cast Your Vote

Army Revokes Order to Broadcast ‘Red Scare’ Song

Parties Fume Over New ‘Gerrymandered’ Electoral Map

Correction: An earlier version of the article listed the total number of parties running as 54, when in fact it is 77.

Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this article listed Newin Chidchob as the founder of Chartpattana Party.

Labour Voice Hotline: A Right Call for Worker Rights in Thailand

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Khaosod English

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27 February 2019, 10:46

The Labour Rights Promotion Network Foundation (LPN) has been working closely with the government, private sectors and the workers themselves to promote human rights in Thailand and abroad for decades. One of the most painful truths that we have found is that their voices can barely be heard. In many cases, the workers, especially migrant labours, do not even knows that they have a right to raise a concern.

Initiated in late 2017, Labour Hotline and Workers Training Program are co-project between LPN and Charoen Pokphand Foods (CP Foods), a leading Thai agro-business conglomerate, to promote labour rights, helping the workers, especially migrant group, to raise their concerns, ensuring fair treatment as well as gaining access to health and social benefits.

LPN believes that this service will be a crucial governance mechanic to build equality for all level of employees.

Normally, migrant workers report their concerns directly to their employers, which take a long time and complex. It has caused a lot of stress and anxiety to the workers. Labour Voice is working as a third party that listen to all concerns as a friend without any bias opinion and shorten the process. It also offers services in Thai, English, Burmese and Cambodian to facilitate workers, making them feel comfortable to talk.

LPN also shares useful information about labour laws in many languages and various channels such as Facebook to keep workers up to date with new regulations.

Nowadays, the workers are engaged with reporting process. They trust in this new system and are happy to share their ideas and also invite their friends and families to use the service. Subsequently, CP Foods are able to understand the root of problems and promptly deliver solutions.

Besides the hotline, LPN is raising awareness on labour rights and laws to local and migrant workers, who work for CP Foods nationwide through training programs.

24 training sessions were organized last year to help over ten thousands of the company’s workers, regardless where they came from, understand their rights and gain access to welfare, resulting better quality of life.

In the second year, the project will focus on engagement activities with migrant workers such as house visit, in-depth worker interviews, group interview and social network communications.

The purpose is to deeply understand problems of those workers, enabling LPN to form a proactive solutions that can help them to adjust to life in Thailand easier and have a happy life throughout the time with CP Foods.

LPN believe that the partnership with private sector, for example, CP Foods, will bring a positive change to the workers’ life, making their voice to be heard and setting the new and internationally recognized standard for labour management in Thailand.

Match Mooning May Cost Football Club 45,000 Baht

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

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26 February 2019, 18:14

Prachuap FC bared it all in a moment of cheeky defiance Sunday in Bangkok. — A Muangthong United fan bared it all in a moment of cheeky defiance Sunday in Bangkok.

BANGKOK — A football team in northern Bangkok faces a 45,000-baht fine for a display of team spirit gone too far, a sporting authority said Tuesday.

Muangthong United is under investigation for an incident during a Sunday match at the SCG Stadium in which a fan removed his trousers and showed his buttocks while the away team was about to take a penalty.

Thailand Football Federation official Amnuay Nimmano said the team has a week to find the perpetrator.

“This is something that should not have happened. I think it even warrants a criminal case because it’s public indecency,” said former police commander Amnuay, who’s in charge of Thai football’s disciplinary committee.

Similar to their European counterparts, Thai football clubs are held responsible for any rule violations or disruptions during matches.

Football regulations state that a club whose fans behave inappropriately are subject to a maximum 30,000-baht fine. It also says an additional half of the total fine will be added if the club fails to identity the wrongdoers.

The lewd display took place about 28 minutes into the match, when visiting side Prachuap FC were awarded a penalty. Undistracted by the sight, Brazilian forward Herlison Caion scored to secure the only goal in Prachuap’s 0-1 matchday-one victory.

Correction: A previous version of this article misspelled Muangthong United’s name.

Cabinet Approves 2 More Suburban Bangkok Rail Lines

By

JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI

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26 February 2019, 17:56

Update March 5: The cabinet on Tuesday approved construction of the Red Line between Taling Chan and Siriraj Hospital, which they say could be complete in three years.

BANGKOK — The construction of two new commuter rail lines serving suburban Bangkok was approved by the cabinet Tuesday with a budget of nearly 17 billion baht.

The additions to a suburban network being built by the state railway will extend the Light Red Line in western Bangkok nearly 15 kilometers to the Salaya area and the Dark Red Line another 9 kilometers past Rangsit to Thammasat University’s Rangsit Campus, Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said.

The Rangsit extension will run at ground level and service four stations. The Taling Chan line will be both at ground level and elevated. He said construction of both lines would start later this year and open in 2022.

Another planned 5.7-kilometer line connecting Taling Chan to Siriraj Hospital will be proposed to the cabinet in the near future at a cost of 6.6 billion baht, Arkhom said.

As for progress on completing lines connecting Bang Sue to Rangsit (Dark Red) and Taling Chan (Light Red), Arkhom said signalling systems are being installed and test runs could commence in November 2020 before the targeted launch in January 2021.

He added that the central station being built in Bang Sue, meant to be the capital’s new transit hub to complement Hua Lamphong, will be completed in November.

Construction of the Red lines has been faulted for failing safety standards following several fatal accidents, including three workers who were killed in 2017 after support beams collapsed near the Wat Don Mueang school.

Thai Film Archive to Show Best of Female Filmmakers

By

Chayanit Itthipongmaetee, Staff Reporter

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26 February 2019, 17:25

An image of Pratuang Srisuphan, who is billed as the first female cinematographer and director of Thailand. Photo: Thai Film Archive / Courtesy

BANGKOK — The national film archive will celebrate the works of Thai women filmmakers by screening their movies throughout March.

To celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8, the Thai Film Archive will show 13 films directed by Thai women as part of “Wonder Women: When Women Make Movies.”

Read: Bangkok ‘Fem Film Fest’ to Celebrate Power of Women

Highlights include Kanittha Kwanyoo’s “Arpat,” which was temporarily banned from release due to scenes of a novice monk behaving inappropriately, and Anocha Suwichakornpong’s award-winning “By The Time It Gets Dark,” an indie film related to the 1976 massacre at Thammasat University.

Directed by by Pimpaka Towira, a road-trip movie set in the Deep South, “The Island Funeral,” will show on the silver screen again after its first outing in 2016.

“Rak Niran” (“Eternal Love”) by Poranee Suwannatat, circles around a love story that takes place in Hong Kong. The 1970 film stars Sombat Metanee and Petchara Chaowarat, the legendary actress just named a national artist.

More movies to show are “Rak Rissaya” (1979), a tale of forbidden love created by the doyen of Thai performing arts Patravadi Mejudhon, and a story about a woman who keeps losing husbands to deadly accidents in “Pumaree Si Thong,” a 1988 film directed by Nantana Weerachon.

As a bonus, 2017’s American superhero film “Wonder Woman,” directed by Patty Jenkins, will be shown on March 8, which is International Women’s Day.

Admission is free. Find the event’s complete schedule online.

Thai Film Archive’s Sri Salaya Theatre is located on Phutthamonthon Sai 5 Road, west of Bangkok in Nakhon Pathom province. It can be reached by bus No. 515 from the Victory Monument in front of Rajavithi Hospital.

Chelsea Keeper Apologizes for Refusing to Leave Field

By

Associated Press

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26 February 2019, 17:08

LONDON — Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga apologized in a club statement on Monday for refusing to be substituted in the English League Cup final.

The world’s most expensive goalkeeper was fined one week’s wages.

“Although there was a misunderstanding, on reflection, I made a big mistake with how I handled the situation. I wanted to take the time today to apologize fully,” Arrizabalaga said in the statement.

Manager Mauricio Sarri ordered Arrizabalaga to be substituted on Sunday as the final against Manchester City at Wembley Stadium was heading to a penalty shootout. Arrizabalaga had been cramping, but gesticulated wildly that he was not going to leave the pitch. Sarri was furious, too. His authority undermined by Arrizabalaga’s insubordination, he walked down the tunnel and returned just before the end of extra time.

Arrizabalaga played on and City won in the shootout.

Arrizabalaga and Sarri continued to describe what happened as a misunderstanding.

“Arrizabalaga and I have spoken about the incident. It was a good conversation,” Sarri said in the statement on Monday. “There was a misunderstanding yesterday but he realizes he made a big mistake in the way he reacted. He has apologized to me, his teammates and the club.

“For me, this matter is now closed. Everyone’s focus is now on the next game and we must all now put this behind us.”

Arrizabalaga’s refusal to obey instructions overshadowed the final, and a resolute performance by Chelsea after recent miserable results.

The performance was tamping doubts about Sarri’s future at the club, until his credibility was undermined by Arrizabalaga and he was publicly humiliated, raising questions about his authority going forward.

Junta Deputy to Lead Selection of Senators

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

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26 February 2019, 16:49

Junta chairman Prayuth Chan-ocha displays a toy bearing his face today at Government House

BANGKOK — Deputy junta chairman Prawit Wongsuwan on Tuesday said he will lead a committee that will appoint all members of the upper house.

Prawit maintained the selection process will be fair and impartial, despite widespread criticism from political parties that the junta-appointed senators will interfere with the elected parliament. Under the new charter – drafted by the junta’s rubber-stamp parliament – 244 of the 250 senators will be chosen by the regime, while the rest will be selected by commanders of the armed forces.

“The committee will be headed by me,” Gen. Prawit said. “As for who will make up the committee, you’ll know soon. But it will consist of civilians, academics and ordinary people. We won’t bring in the military.”

Read: Suthep Endorses Constitutional Loophole to Keep Prayuth in Power

He declined to comment when a reporter asked him whether senators will simply end up voting for junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha to be the next prime minister – a common complaint among junta critics.

Prawit’s committee is expected to sift through hundreds of applications from senate hopefuls. All senators must be confirmed by April 27.

The next premier will be chosen through a simple majority of 500 elected MPs and 250 appointed senators. Since Prayuth is expected to have the support of the entire upper house, the junta leader will only need 126 house representatives to secure the top post for another term.

The junta chairman himself insisted the senators will cast votes based on their consciences.

“Don’t they have their own brains?” Gen. Prayuth shot back at reporters last week when asked about the issue.

But a junta supporter and former lawmaker seemed to confirm suspicions in a leaked video in which he said the 250 senators were a mechanism solely for securing Prayuth’s hold on power.

“The [junta] already has 250 people that will vote for them as prime minister,” Wanchai Sornsiri told junta supporters at a dinner in a video that surfaced in December. He also took credit for coming up with the idea to the applause of junta supporters in the audience.

Prayuth is running as a premier candidate for Phalang Pracharat, a party stacked with junta officials. Party executive Kobsak Pootrakool refused to give a clear answer when confronted by a host during a TV debate.

“If the government only has 126 MPs, they won’t be able even to just propose a policy,” Kobsak said.

“No, I didn’t ask about that. I asked if what they say is true, that Phalang Pracharat already has 250 votes,” Channel 9 debate host Weera Teeraphat said, pressing the question.

“I don’t think that’s an important issue,” Kobsak said.

Asian Shares Lower as Tariffs Delay Rally Fades

By

Associated Press

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26 February 2019, 15:47

A man walks past an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm Feb. 4 in Tokyo. Photo: Eugene Hoshiko / Associated Press

BANGKOK — Shares were mostly lower in Asia on Tuesday, backtracking from Monday’s rally spurred by news that President Donald Trump had pushed back a deadline for raising tariffs on imports from China to allow time for more negotiations.

Mainland China indexes rose, however, after a report in the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post reported that a deputy chairman of the Banking Regulatory Commission, Wang Zhaoxing, had said risks from soaring debt had been contained.

The SET was trading at 1,667.62 on Tuesday afternoon, at 0.3 percent drop. The Shanghai Composite index added 0.9 percent to 2,988.47, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 index lost 0.4 percent to 21,450.83. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.4 percent to 28,838.10.

Australia’s S&P ASX 200 lost 1.1 percent to 6,117.80 as falling prices for oil and other commodities hit energy companies.

Overnight, stocks closed modestly higher after shedding most of their gains from an early rally spurred by the Trump administration’s decision to hold off on a March 2 increase in punitive duties on USD$200 billion worth of Chinese imports.

Investors welcomed the move, which averted an escalation in the damaging trade war between the world’s two largest economies. The fight is over U.S. complaints that Beijing steals technology or pressures companies to hand it over.

But many questions remain about the prospects for a deal that would unwind the tariffs already slapped by both sides on billions of dollars of each other’s goods. Trump’s conflicting comments on the status of the talks have added to the uncertainty, said Jingyi Pan of IG.

“As it is, we continue to view the trade matter through an opaque screen and make assumptions from the shadows of President Donald Trump,” Pan said in a commentary.

The S&P 500 index added 0.1 percent to 2,796.11. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 0.2 percent to 26,091.95, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.4 percent, to 7,554.46. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies dropped 0.1 percent to 1,588.81.

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.3 percent and India’s Sensex fell 1 percent amid mounting tensions with Pakistan. Shares were lower in Southeast Asia.

Pakistan’s military spokesman tweeted that Indian aircraft crossed into Pakistan and then “released payload in haste,” but said there were no casualties. The Indian side had no immediate comment.

Energy

U.S. crude oil gave up 32 cents to $55.16 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost 3.1 percent to settle at $55.48 a barrel in New York after Trump criticized rising oil prices in an early morning tweet. Brent crude dropped 20 cents to $64.56 per barrel.

Currencies

The dollar fell to 110.83 yen from 111.04 yen on Monday. The euro strengthened to $1.1361 from $1.1356.

Story: Elaine Kurtenbach

Main UK Opposition Party Takes Step to Back New Brexit Vote

By

Associated Press

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26 February 2019, 15:33

Britain's main opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn gives a speech Saturday at the Labour Women's Conference in Telford, England. Photo: Aaron Chown / Associated Press

LONDON — Prime Minister Theresa May returned from a seemingly unproductive meeting with European Union leaders Monday to a growing attempt by British lawmakers to stop her from taking Britain out of the EU on March 29 without a divorce deal.

With May and the EU at odds over not just how, but when Brexit should happen, her political opponents were getting increasingly desperate to take control of Britain’s muddled departure from the bloc.

At an EU-Arab League summit in Egypt, the EU warned Britain it faces the prospect of delaying its planned March 29 departure or the consequences of a chaotic exit. European Council President Donald Tusk, who chairs meetings of EU nation leaders, said Monday it would be “rational” to postpone Brexit day.

May insisted she intends for Britain to leave as planned in a little more than a month. But her often divided opponents may be coalescing around a plan to prevent Britain crashing out of the EU with no agreement in place.

The main opposition Labour Party took a big step Monday toward backing a new referendum on the country’s EU membership.

The party has previously said it would support a referendum as a last resort if it could not secure a new election or make changes to May’s EU divorce deal. Britain’s Parliament has so far rejected the deal struck between May’s government and the bloc, and is due to hold a series of votes Wednesday on next steps in the Brexit process.

Labour has proposed its own withdrawal plan as an alternative to the government’s deal with the EU. The party said Monday it would back a second public vote if the House of Commons rejects its plan this week, as is widely expected.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the party is committed to “putting forward or supporting an amendment in favor of a public vote to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit being forced on the country.”

The party did not specify what voters might be asked to consider in any future vote, though it has previously said the option of Britain remaining an EU member would be included.

Labour has previously said it would only support a second referendum as a last resort if it could not secure a new general election or make changes to May’s divorce deal.

The change in approach follows the resignations of nine Labour lawmakers last week, partly over the party’s failure to back another Brexit referendum. It is likely to cheer many party members, who have backed calls for a so-called “people’s vote.”

While there is little chance of a second referendum taking place without the support of Labour, the path to another Brexit vote is far from clear. It would require the support of numerous lawmakers from the governing Conservative Party, for example.

Since lawmakers rejected May’s deal with the EU last month, the prime minister has sought to get changes from Brussels on a provision for the border between the U.K.’s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland.

The mechanism, known as the backstop, is a safeguard that would keep the U.K. in a customs union with the EU to remove the need for checks along the Irish border until a permanent new trading relationship is in place.

May wants to revise the deal to reassure opponents from her Conservative Party, as well as from a Northern Ireland party that props up her minority government, the backstop would only apply temporarily.

But EU leaders insist that the legally binding Brexit withdrawal agreement, which took a year and a half to negotiate, can’t be reopened.

The impasse has raised concerns that Britain will leave the EU without a deal, a scenario that would likely mean new tariffs on British exports and serious disruption to trade between the two sides. The Bank of England has warned that the British economy could shrink by 8 percent in the months after a disorderly Brexit.

May has said a new vote on any revised Brexit deal won’t be held this week and could come as late as March 12.

A number of British lawmakers are seeking to wrest control of the process from the government and are looking to get support for an amendment that would require May to seek an extension to the Brexit date if Parliament fails to back her deal.

“I don’t see how businesses can plan. I don’t see how public services can plan, and I think it’s just deeply damaging,” Labour lawmaker Yvette Cooper, one of those behind the move, told the BBC.

On Monday, the EU’s Tusk warned that the chances of a withdrawal agreement being concluded in time are receding, and that sticking by the planned Brexit date would be too risky.

“I believe that in the situation we are in, an extension would be a rational solution,” Tusk told reporters at an EU-Arab League summit in Egypt after talks with May that he said included discussions over extending the Brexit process.

May insisted a deal in time was still possible.

“It is within our grasp to leave with a deal on 29th of March and I think that that is where all of our energies should be focused,” May said.

She said that “any delay is a delay. It doesn’t address the issue.”

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte warned her against “sleepwalking” into a chaotic Brexit next month.

“It’s absolutely unacceptable. And I think your best friends have to warn you for that,” Rutte told the BBC. “Wake up. This is real.”

Story: Jill Lawless, Lorne Cook

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