Celebrate Christmas, New Year With Heart-Warming Festive Dining Activities at Bangkok Marriott Hotel the Surawongse (Sponsored)

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28 November 2018, 13:58

With the festive season in full swing, let’s up the ante on happiness by celebrating this joyous time of the year with your loved ones, family or best friends at the four outlets of Bangkok Marriott Hotel The Surawongse. The various outlets offer the warm, perfect setting for every special meal as well as fun and relaxing activities for guests of all ages to pep up the upcoming special occasions as we ring in the New Year.

First up, food lovers have plenty to excite their taste buds about during the festive season at Praya Kitchen. The plush Thai restaurant will take diners back in time to revisit beautiful childhood memories of Christmas and New Year. The restaurant maintains menus of original-recipe Thai cuisine, local delicacies and rare dishes. Praya Kitchen focuses on the use of high-quality ingredients to create its repertoire of quintessential Thai delights for everyone to enjoy. Diners have the opportunity to witness live cooking playing out at the buffet station as they await their order to arrive on the table. Any meal at Praya Kitchen promises to keep diners’ seated with pleasure.

The Christmas Eve buffet dinner on December 24, 2018 is a sumptuous feast with a range of buffet lines that stand out with bountiful fresh seasonal ingredients. Boosting excitement levels at Praya Kitchen during the festive season will be live music, the “Kids Corner” and Santa Visit that promise to turn every meal into a truly memorable dining experience. The buffet dinner costs THB 2,288++.

Food lovers keen on celebrating the arrival of the New Year will be delighted by an impressive New Year’s Eve dinner buffet on December 31, 2018 from 18.00 – 22.30 for THB 2,288++. The dinner menu is a dazzling array of chefs’ childhood memories dishes available from different food stations and using imported premium and local ingredients.

For every meal planned during the festive season at Praya Kitchen, children aged less than six dine for free. Kids aged from six to 12 are entitled to a 50 percent discount while teenagers aged over 12 are subject to normal adult prices.

Furthermore, Yào Restaurant, known for its seamless blend of classic and modern designs, is set to provide a special dining experience to all food lovers. The atmosphere is Chinese vintage with an air of metropolitan luxury, leaving diners feeling like they are celebrating the holiday season in the heart of Shanghai. Yào Restaurant maintains an extensive menu of original-recipe Cantonese and Shanghai cuisines plus a range of contemporary Chinese dishes. The selection here is greater than that of any other Chinese restaurant in town. Yào Restaurant is determined to keep diners’ spirits up during the festive season by making sure every meal is a scene of jubilation.

Yào Restaurant’s New Year’s Eve set menus (starting from THB 3,888++) are on offer for lunch from 11.30-14.30 and dinner from 18.00-01.00. Prices for private dining at the restaurant’s private rooms start from THB 5,888++. The restaurant looks set to titillate the palates of dim sum lovers with a New Year’s Day dim sum lunch set from 11.30-14.30 for THB 1,888++.

Yào Rooftop Bar has lots of fun and drinks in store at the New Year countdown party that will culminate with a spectacular firework display sure to illuminate Bangkok’s night sky for added nighttime ambience. Set to wow the guests starting 21:00 hrs are fantastic Chinese dance and art performances, cold fire display, a selection of delectable drinks and DJ entertainment.

On New Year’s Eve (December 31, 2018), guests are welcome to go partying from 17.00-20.00 take advantage of early-hour packages priced at THB 888++ (free-flowing Chang beer and soft drinks), THB 1,888++ (add free-flowing white wine and red wine), THB 3,888++ (add free-flowing prosecco and house spirits) or THB 5,888++ (add free flowing Taittinger champagne).

For the countdown party On New Year’s Eve, guests are welcome to go partying from 21.00-02.00 to take advantage of packages priced at THB 5,888++ (free-flowing Chang beer and soft drinks, white wine and red wine and house spirits), THB 8,888++ (add free-flowing prosecco) or THB 10,888++ (add free flowing Taittinger champagne). All packages include canapé snacks. Reservations are required as seats are limited.

Another cool place for celebrating the festive season is The Lobby Lounge, a stylish luxury spot. The Lobby Lounge is gearing up to provide the best festivities like no other. If you’re looking for Christmas gifts, family activities, or a place to relax in during the holiday season with relaxing afternoon tea, then The Lobby Lounge is exactly the right place to be as it has everything in one place. The lounge will be holding festive activities for kids from December 6 to January 1 with cooking workshops for children on December 24 and 25.

For those looking for gifts from their loved ones, The Lobby Lounge has a full range of gifts for the holiday season available for purchase from December 6, 2018 to January 1, 2019. There’s a delightful afternoon tea set designed specially for a good time over Christmas and New Year from December 6 to 30, 2018. Festive platters for these special occasions are available from December 24, 25, 31, 2018 and January 1, 2019.

Besides the delightfully scrumptious food, the hotel’s four restaurants are blessed with a relaxed, fun atmosphere which is perfect for top-notch dining that cannot be found elsewhere. The festive season at Bangkok Marriott Hotel The Surawongse will be overflowing with delight, beauty and happiness. Booking a festive dining package in advance is highly recommended. For more information, call 02 088 5666 or www.bangkokmarriottsurawongse.com .

Bangkok Roads to Close Sunday For Cycling Event Rehearsal

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JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI

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28 November 2018, 12:59

Cyclists prepare for a mass cycling event December 2015 in Bangkok.

BANGKOK — Several major roads in Bangkok will be closed to traffic Sunday for rehearsal of an epic cycling event to be led by His Majesty the King next month, officials said.

The 39-kilometer route for the Un Ai Rak Bicycle Ride event will be blocked from noon to 7pm for the nearly 90,000 cyclists who registered to practice. The military said a number of roads around the main route can also be affected.

Cyclists will start at the Royal Plaza and head toward the Democracy Monument, Sanam Luang, Phra Pok Klao Bridge and Wongwian Yai. From there, they will continue to the southern edge of Bangkok in Phra Pradaeng to Lat Pho Park before making the return trip to the Royal Plaza via the Memorial Bridge.

The affected roads will be Ratchadamnoen, Sanam Chai, Maha Rat, Chao Fa, Charoen Krung, Chakkrawat, Prachadhipok, Suk Sawat, Somdet Phra Chao Tak Sin, Nakhon Khuean Khan, Somdet Phra Pinklao, Arun Amarin, Wisut Kasat, Itsaraphap, Lat Ya, Somdet Chao Phraya, Chak Phet, Tha Phra and Intharaphithak.

Nearby roads that can be impacted are Sam Sen, Rama V, Nakhon Ratchasima, Ratchawithi, Sri Ayutthaya, Phra Sumen, Lan Luang, Bamrung Muang, Yaowarat, Rama III, Charansanitwong, Ratchaphruek, Phetkasem, Charoen Nakhon, Thonburi, Thoet Thai, Chom Thong, Ekkachai, Rat Burana, Pracha Uthit and Phuttha Bucha.

The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority said free buses and shuttle services will be available from 7am to 9pm for those attending the actual event on Dec. 9.

Commuters with bikes can also get on the BTS and MRT for free that day. Tolls will be waived for those carrying a bike in their cars, the Transport Ministry said.

A total of 638,601 people nationwide have signed up for the main or local events in their communities, according to the Interior Ministry. Registration has closed.

Clarification: The story is updated with a list of roads along the main biking route and those nearby that can be affected.

King to Rehearse Big Ride Friday at BKK Airport

King to Lead Return of ‘Bike for Dad’

UNESCO Answer Soon on Khon as Heritage of Thailand, Cambodia

By

Teeranai Charuvastra, News Chief

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28 November 2018, 12:49

BANGKOK — The United Nations is slated to decide as soon as Thursday whether to recognize traditional Thai mask dance as intangible cultural heritage.

Deliberations are underway at a UNESCO conference in Port Louis, Mauritius, where 50 other submissions will be considered including Cambodia’s version of Khon, called Lkhol Khol.

Results are expected Thursday or Friday, according to UNESCO media officer Jeremy Walden-Schertz.

Khon is a masked drama dance based on the Ramakien epic, which tells the story of a war between a monkey army led by a god-king against demonic giants. The tale hews closely to the Indian saga Ramayana. It has been performed, mostly in the royal court, for hundreds of years.

Read: Thai-Cambodian Flame War Erupts Over Traditional Dance. Both Are Wrong.

The Thai government earlier this year proposed Khon to the UNESCO, asking the agency to list it as intangible cultural heritage, a distinction given to oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festivals and more. Thailand has also applied for Thai massage to be considered next year.

The move to register Khon angered some in Cambodia, whose government also submitted its variation of Khon to the committee.

Both Thais and Cambodians claim ownership over the masked dance, and a feud erupted online two years ago when Cambodia first filed for recognition.

But culture minister Veera Rojpojanarat said at the time that Thailand would not contest Cambodia’s proposal because it’s a tradition shared by many Southeast Asian nations.

“There’s no restriction that only one country can register it. If Cambodia wants to register Khon as its world heritage, Thailand can do so as well, because it’s a shared tradition,” Veera said in 2016. “I think there won’t be any problem.”

Game Not Over in ‘Ralph Breaks the Internet’

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Associated Press

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28 November 2018, 12:11

In a battle between the internet and John C. Reilly, who among us wouldn’t root for the latter? Leave us IMDb.com and a few podcasts, John, but by all means, go smashy-smashy with the rest.

Having liberated arcade game characters from their rigidly ordained roles in 2012’s “Wreck-it Ralph,” its sequel, “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” sends our charmingly lopsided duo – the hulking, big-fisted Ralph (Reilly) and the glitchy pipsqueak candy-colored racer Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman) – into that expansive netherworld where clickbait lurks and pop-ups proliferate.

For a pair of pixelated beings whose existence has heretofore been limited to a handful of video games, they’re decidedly not in Kansas anymore. The web of “Ralph Breaks the Internet” is a strictly PG-rated, sanitized version; there are no dark turns down 4chan alleys or face-to-faces with Infowars conspiracies. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t cruel truths that Ralph must confront in cyberspace – none more than when a crestfallen Ralph sees the responses to his popular viral video. Never read the comments.

In trading Qbert jokes for eBay ones, “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” directed by Rich Moore and Phil Johnston, does more than shift the puns. If “Wreck-it Ralph” was a nostalgic “Toy Story”-like trip into ’80s arcade games, “Ralph Breaks the Internet” is more current. It’s ultimately about male-controlling impulses run amok.

Life inside the arcade has gotten repetitive for Vanellope, who’s tired of winning the same old rainbow-colored races in her game, Sugar Rush. But while the video-game characters are convening in their Grand Central-like terminal, a new plug labeled “WiFi” arrives above. “It’s either Wiffle ball or an arranged marriage,” says Ralph. Soon after, the impending unplugging of Sugar Rush (due to a malfunction) prompts a kind of migrant crisis. All of the game’s characters flee before they get trapped in the shutdown and need new, adoptive homes.

Vanellope crashes with Ralph, but he can see his friend – and their friendship is indeed endearing – is feeling lost. Ralph resolves to journey into the internet to purchase the replacement part that will save Vanellope’s game. Crawling through the router, they speed through optical cables and arrive in an infinite, glittering cityscape populated by towers of tech (Amazon, Google) and byzantine byways of zipping digital avatars.

It’s an idealized vision of the internet. There are no trolling Russian bots here, just some distracting ads and a quite charming, bespectacled search engine (voiced by Alan Tudyk) that will try to finish every sentence. The pair’s initial plans prove more complicated once they discover the online world isn’t just a game, but a place dictated by real money. To raise the money, Ralph quickly turns video star, churning out meme-inspired videos with the help of a Buzztube executive (Taraji P. Henson). Many, especially those in newsrooms, will watch with jealousy at just how quickly Ralph is able to monetize clicks.

There are other adventures, too. Vanellope finds a far grimier, “Grand Theft Auto”-like racing game called Slaughter Race, a realm presided over by a stylish driver voiced by Gal Gadot. It’s hardly the kind of game that anyone would imagine a good fit for a petite ponytailed pixie. But she thrills to the more grown-up racing world, eager to test her skills. Online, you can find your niche.

Other cyber doors are less appealing. In one self-referential diversion, Vanellope walks into a room of Disney princesses. Jasmine, Moana, Cinderella, Ariel, Snow White, Belle and others are sitting around, waiting to participate in an online quiz: “Which Disney princess are you?” They all speak a little similarly (and they note, none have mothers) in a segue of self-deprecation for Disney that’s both a welcome gag and, for the media behemoth, false modesty.

There’s much that’s clever in “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” but it’s the film’s heart – thanks to Reilly and Silverman’s voice work and easy rapport – that has made them more than a whiz-bang graphical blast. These are fragile and sensitive protagonists trying to be themselves in a world of pop-culture-prescribed roles. In “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” it’s Ralph who has to do some soul-searching.

The movie isn’t always quite up to the task. It would be better if it went further and wrestled more with the online world than used it as another bits and bytes background. Really, it doesn’t quite live up to the title. Ralph could have done more damage.

“Ralph Breaks the Internet,” a Disney release, is rated PG for some action and rude humor. Running time: 112 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

Story: Jake Coyle

Disney Says ‘No Merit’ to Malaysia Resort Company Lawsuit

By

Associated Press

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28 November 2018, 12:06

Genting Theme Park is pictured Tuesday at Genting Highland Resort in Pahang, Malaysia. Photo: Yam G-Jun / Associated Press

KUALA LUMPUR — Resort developer Genting Malaysia’s lawsuit seeking USD$1 billion in damages from Walt Disney Co. and Fox Entertainment Group for alleged breach of contract related to a theme park, is “without merit,” Disney said Tuesday.

The lawsuit filed Monday in the Central California District Court cites damages from Fox’s withdrawal from an agreement set in 2013 to license its intellectual property for a Fox World theme park in Resort World Genting, a sprawling facility perched on a mountain in Malaysia.

The theme park would have been Fox’s first. According to Genting’s complaint, Fox issued a “notice of default” aimed at ending the agreement.

Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox apparently raised issues because Genting’s resort includes a casino, which conflicts with Disney’s stance against gambling.

“The claims made against Disney in this matter are utterly without merit,” Disney said in an emailed statement.

Despite disagreements over the specific terms of the deal, Genting said Fox had no grounds to pull out. The complaint also alleges that Disney and 21st Century Fox interfered with the malacontract and caused Twentieth Century Fox Licensing and Merchandising, part of Fox Entertainment, to breach it.

Genting says it has invested nearly $180 million in the Fox project. Its most recent quarterly report said the group was focused on developing its resort and on preparing to roll out the “highly anticipated 20th Century Fox World Theme Park” as well as another attraction, the Skytropolis indoor theme park.

The opening of the Fox themed park had been planned for the first half of 2019.

Shoppers, It’s Time to Save the Nation – Again

By

Chayanit Itthipongmaetee, Staff Reporter

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28 November 2018, 11:28

Update Dec. 4: The cabinet approved the campaign Tuesday, saying it will take effect Dec. 15 through Jan. 16.

BANGKOK — Get new wheels. Enjoy a tax break. Help rubber farmers. Save Thailand.

That’s the logic behind this year’s annual campaign asking consumers to “save the nation” in return for tax breaks, but this time with much fewer eligible items.

On Tuesday, the Finance Ministry said it had proposed for the junta’s year-end tax break to run again for a fourth year. It had a much narrower scope, with only three types of goods proposed: car tires, books (e-book included) and One Tambon One Product, or OTOP, products.

The spending cap remains the same: up to 15,000 baht that can be written off annual tax bills.

According to Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong, the ministry expects cabinet approval by Tuesday.

Apisak said the ministry believes there’s no need to stimulate consumer spending, so this year’s campaign is meant to bolster sales of goods that need a boost.

With the military government’s support in the south strained by low rubber prices, it cited research that nearly half of Thailand’s rubber production is used to make car tires. Therefore the car tires eligible for the tax break must be made in Thailand.

According to Apisak, books were chosen to encourage reading, while OTOP products are a perennial favorite for supporting communities and municipalities nationwide.

The “Shopping to Save the Nation” campaign will again run a full month, Dec. 15 to Jan. 15. Shoppers must save receipts and request tax invoices from registered businesses.

New Year Shopping Tax Break May Run Full Month

Tax Deduction For Shoppers to be Announced Friday

US Sued for $60 Million After Infant in Detention Later Died

By

Associated Press

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28 November 2018, 11:09

Signs are seen in 2015 at the entrance to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. Photo: Eric Gay / Associated Press

HOUSTON — The mother of a toddler who died weeks after being released from the nation’s largest family detention center filed a legal claim seeking USD$60 million from the U.S. government for the child’s death.

Attorneys for Yazmin Juarez submitted the claim against multiple agencies Tuesday. Juarez’s 1-year-old daughter, Mariee, died in May.

Juarez’s lawyers said Mariee developed a respiratory illness while she and her mother were detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. They accused U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of releasing the pair while Mariee was still sick.

The girl died six weeks later in Philadelphia.

Washington-based law firm Arnold & Porter said it will file a lawsuit if the government doesn’t settle its claim. R. Stanton Jones, a lawyer at the firm, said the government has six months to respond before his firm can file suit.

“Having made the decision to jail small children, the U.S. government is responsible to provide living conditions that are safe, sanitary and appropriate,” Jones said.

ICE and other agencies listed in the claim said they wouldn’t comment on pending litigation.

Jones has also submitted a $40 million claim against the city of Eloy, Arizona, which officially operated the Dilley detention facility under a “pass-through” agreement with ICE and the private prison company CoreCivic. ICE and CoreCivic replaced its agreement with Eloy in September with an arrangement made with the city of Dilley.

Advocates have long complained that medical care in Dilley is substandard and that detaining families damages their mental health. ICE has defended the care it provides at Dilley, saying detainees have access to medical professionals.

“ICE takes very seriously the health, safety and welfare of those in our care,” spokeswoman Jennifer Elzea said in a statement.

Dilley is now being used to detain mothers and children, some of whom were reunited in detention after being separated earlier this year under Trump administration policy.

Story: Nomaan Mechant

Trump Backs Use of ‘Very Safe’ Tear Gas on Crowd of Migrants

By

Associated Press

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28 November 2018, 11:02

Migrants run from tear gas launched by U.S. agents, amid photojournalists covering the Mexico-U.S. border, after a group of migrants got past Mexican police at the Chaparral crossing Sunday in Tijuana, Mexico. Photo: Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press

SAN DIEGO — President Donald Trump is strongly defending the U.S. use of tear gas at the Mexico border to repel a crowd of migrants that included angry rock-throwers and barefoot, crying children.

On Tuesday, U.S. authorities lowered the number of arrests during the confrontation to 42 from 69. Rodney Scott, chief of the Border Patrol’s San Diego sector, said the initial count included some arrests in Mexico by Mexican authorities who reported 39 arrests.

Scott also defended the agents’ decisions to fire tear gas into Mexico, saying they were being assaulted by “a hail of rocks.”

“That has happened before and, if we are rocked, that would happen again tomorrow,” he told reporters.

Critics denounced the action by border agents as overkill, but Trump kept to a hard line.

“They were being rushed by some very tough people and they used tear gas,” Trump said Monday of the previous day’s encounter. “Here’s the bottom line: Nobody is coming into our country unless they come in legally.”

At a roundtable in Mississippi later Monday, Trump seemed to acknowledge that children were affected.

“Why is a parent running up into an area where they know the tear gas is forming and it’s going to be formed and they were running up with a child?” the president asked.

He said it was “a very minor form of the tear gas itself” that he was assured was “very safe.”

Without offering evidence, Trump claimed some of the women in Sunday’s confrontation are not parents but are instead “grabbers” who steal children so they have a better chance of being granted asylum in the U.S.

The showdown at the San Diego-Tijuana border crossing has thrown into sharp relief two competing narratives about the caravan of migrants who hope to apply for asylum but have gotten stuck on the Mexico side of the border.

Trump portrays them as a threat to U.S. national security, intent on exploiting America’s asylum law. Others insist he is exaggerating to stoke fears and achieve his political goals.

The sheer size of the caravan makes it unusual.

“I think it’s so unprecedented that everyone is hanging their own fears and political agendas on the caravan,” said Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank that studies immigration. “You can call it scary, you can call it hopeful, you can call it a sign of human misery. You can hang whatever angle you want to on it.”

Trump rails against migrant caravans as dangerous groups of mostly single men. That view figured heavily in his speeches during the midterm election campaign, when several were hundreds of miles away, traveling on foot.

The city of Tijuana said that as of Monday, 5,851 migrants were at a temporary shelter, 1,074 were women, 1,023 were children and 3,754 were men, including fathers traveling with families, along with single men.

The U.S. military said Monday that about 300 troops who had been deployed in south Texas and Arizona as part of a border security mission have been moved to California for similar work.

The military’s role is limited largely to erecting barriers along the border and providing transportation and logistical support to Customs and Border Protection.

Democratic lawmakers and immigrant rights groups blasted the tactics of border agents.

“These children are barefoot. In diapers. Choking on tear gas,” California Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom tweeted. “Women and children who left their lives behind – seeking peace and asylum – were met with violence and fear. That’s not my America.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said the administration’s concerns about the caravan “were borne out and on full display” Sunday.

McAleenan said hundreds – perhaps more than 1,000 – people attempted to rush vehicle lanes at the San Ysidro crossing. Mexican authorities estimated the crowd at 500. The chaos followed what began as a peaceful march to appeal for the U.S. to speed processing of asylum claims.

McAleenan said four agents were struck with rocks but were not injured because they were wearing protective gear.

Border Patrol agents launched pepper spray balls in addition to tear gas in what officials said were on-the-spot decisions made by agents. U.S. troops deployed to the border on Trump’s orders were not involved in the operation.

“The agents on scene, in their professional judgment, made the decision to address those assaults using less lethal devices,” McAleenan told reporters.

The scene was reminiscent of the 1980s and early 1990s, when large groups of migrants rushed vehicle lanes at San Ysidro and overwhelmed Border Patrol agents in nearby streets and fields.

The scene on Sunday left many migrants feeling they had lost whatever possibility they might have had for making asylum cases.

Isauro Mejia, 46, of Cortes, Honduras, looked for a cup of coffee Monday morning after spending Sunday caught up in the clash.

“The way things went yesterday … I think there is no chance,” he said.

Mexico’s Interior Ministry said in a statement it would immediately deport the people arrested on its side of the border and would reinforce security.

Border Patrol agents have discretion on how to deploy less-than-lethal force. It must be “objectively reasonable and necessary in order to carry out law enforcement duties” and used when other techniques are insufficient to control disorderly or violent subjects.

Story: Colleen Long, Elliot Spagat

Asian Stocks Mixed After Wobbly Trading on Wall Street

By

Associated Press

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28 November 2018, 10:51

Yip Wing-keung, a trading manager at local brokerage Christfund Securities, wears his red trading jacket in 2017 at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Photo: Kin Cheung

TOKYO — Asian shares were mixed Wednesday after a wobbly day of trading on Wall Street, and uncertainty loomed as investors looked toward the G-20 meeting of world leaders later in the week.

Keeping Score

Thailand’s SET was trading at 1,640.34, a 0.4 percent gain. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.9 percent in morning trading to 22,140.95, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged down 0.2 percent to 5,717.50. South Korea’s Kospi was little changed, inching down to 2,098.23. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.6 percent to 26,498.33, while the Shanghai Composite gained 0.3 percent to 2,581.64. Southeast Asian benchmarks were also mixed, with shares down in the Philippines but higher in Indonesia.

Wall Street

The S&P 500 index rose 8.72 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,682.17. The index jumped 1.6 percent Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 108.49 points, or 0.4 percent, to 24,748.73. The Nasdaq composite inched up 0.85 points to 7,082.80 after surging 2.1 percent a day earlier.

Eyes on G-20

World leaders are arriving in Buenos Aires for this week’s G-20 summit, where a variety of issues are gaining attention, from trade worries to the presence of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. His possible involvement is under scrutiny in the slaying of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Trade Worries

Worries remain about pan-Pacific trade tensions, which could hurt Asian economic growth. President Donald Trump told the Wall Street Journal this week he expects to raise tariffs on USD$200 billion in Chinese imports on Jan. 1. His administration recently imposed a 10 percent tax on those imports, and at the start of the year that’s scheduled to rise to 25 percent. Trump has also threatened to place tariffs on all remaining U.S. imports from China.

The Quote

“Traders had been hoping that we would have seen an improved tone between the two powers by now,” said Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at City Index, about U.S.-China talks. “Any market optimism of easing trade tensions is misplaced.”

Energy

Benchmark U.S. crude rose 33 cents to $51.80 per barrel. It fell 0.1 percent to $51.56 a barrel in New York Tuesday. Brent crude, the international standard, added 34 cents to $60.74 a barrel.

Currencies

The dollar edged up to 113.80 yen from 113.48 yen late Tuesday in Asia. The euro felt to $1.1292 from $1.1340.

Leicester to Play Man City in League Cup Quarterfinals

By

Associated Press

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28 November 2018, 10:40

Leicester City play Manchester City in 2017. Image: Kinry Double / YouTube

LEICESTER, England — Leicester set up an English League Cup quarterfinal match against Manchester City by beating Southampton 6-5 in a penalty shootout on Tuesday.

Nampalys Mendy converted the winning penalty after Manolo Gabbiadini’s attempt was saved by Leicester goalkeeper Danny Ward. The teams had both scored their first five penalties.

The match finished 0-0 after 90 minutes.

It had been rearranged after being originally scheduled for the Tuesday after a helicopter crash that killed Leicester’s Thai owner, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, and four other people on Oct. 27.

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