Author name: admin

PRINCETON, New Jersey – Not only is Donald Trump back in the White House, but the far right is poised to occupy the Austrian chancellorship for the first time in the country’s postwar history and Germany is hurtling toward a fraught election this month following the collapse of its “traffic light” coalition government. Is each of these countries unhappy in its own way (to paraphrase Tolstoy) or is there a common denominator to their unhappiness? While many commentators have settled on the idea of widespread “anti-incumbency” bias in recent political outcomes, this does not tell us why voters have turned against incumbents. One explanation, of course, is inflation. But another, largely underappreciated cause, is the fallout from the pandemic, which left many communities not only with a lingering sense of loss, but also with unresolved conflicts and deep-seated distrust. Source link

The main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan plans to present a “full package” of revisions to the government’s fiscal 2025 budget bill in mid-February, a CDP lawmaker said in a televised debate on Sunday. A debate participant from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party indicated the ruling bloc’s willingness to revise the budget bill and sought cooperation from the opposition camp to pass the budget bill by the end on March 31 of fiscal 2024. The CDP’s upcoming revision package will include a gasoline tax cut, free school lunches and tuition-free high school education regardless of parents’ income levels, party member Kazunori Yamanoi said in the debate aired on public broadcaster NHK. “We will also secure funding (for budget revisions),” Yamanoi noted. “If the government revises its budget bill, the opposition camp has to come up with proposals by mid-February to make it on time,” he added. “We would respond to (proposals for) necessary revisions,” said Shinji Inoue of the LDP. Referring to the country’s dire fiscal situation, meanwhile, Inoue urged the opposition camp to consider stable funding measures as well. Kazuyoshi Akaba of Komeito, the LDP’s coalition partner, said his party will “positively discuss” revisions to the budget bill, as well as funding measures. Kee Miki of Nippon Ishin no Kai reiterated her party’s call for tuition-free high school education. The Democratic Party for the People’s Satoshi Asano urged the ruling bloc to accept the party’s demand to raise the minimum taxable annual income to ¥1.78 million from the current ¥1.03 million. Source link

WASHINGTON – U.S. President Donald Trump has pushed into new trade law territory with an emergency sanctions law to justify his punishing 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports and an extra 10% duty on Chinese goods to curb fentanyl and illegal immigration into the U.S. Trade and legal experts said the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) is untested for imposing import tariffs and Trump’s action will likely face swift court challenges that could set important precedents. As widely expected, Trump declared a national emergency under IEEPA on Saturday, citing the “extraordinary threat” from fentanyl and illegal immigration. The law gives the president broad powers to impose economic and financial sanctions in times of crisis, including against Russia over its war in Ukraine. Source link

Canada braced for economic turmoil and laid out a retaliation plan after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing 25% tariffs on almost everything the U.S. imports from the country, and 10% on energy. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, speaking from Parliament Hill on a bitterly cold night in Ottawa, said Trump’s move left his government with no choice but to respond forcefully. Canada will place 25% counter-tariffs on 155 billion Canadian dollars ($107 billion) worth of American-made products, starting Tuesday. The first phase will touch about CA$30 billion of goods from U.S. exporters, including orange juice, peanut butter, wine, coffee, motorcycles and cosmetics. A much larger list of U.S.-manufactured products — cars and trucks, steel, aluminum, beef and boats, among other items — will be subject to tariffs later in February after a 21-day consultation period. Source link

Saitama – On Jan. 25 to 26, the Vietnamese Association in Saitama hosted its first major Tet gathering, an event that brought together tens of thousands of attendees from around the region to celebrate the Lunar New Year. For Vietnamese people, Tet is the most significant cultural celebration of the year, a time when heaven, earth and humanity are believed to be in harmony. The holiday, thought to sweep away bad luck and usher in good fortune, is marked by festive feasts and the joy and warmth of family reunions. Since moving to Japan in 2013, I have attended multiple Vietnamese cultural festivals, including the Vietnam Festival held annually in Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park, but never a Tet festival. So when I heard this would be the biggest Tet gathering in the Kanto area, I decided I had to go. Source link

Manila – Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo believes Manila’s ties with the United States and the trilateral partnership with Japan will continue to be robust — despite what some say is the threat of a more transactional approach to alliances by U.S. President Donald Trump. “We’re very committed to the trilateral arrangement with the United States,” the Philippines’ top diplomat said in a recent interview with The Japan Times in Manila. Referring to his Jan. 22 phone call with U.S. State Secretary Marco Rubio, Manalo said the talks, in which the two sides agreed on a possible meeting in “the near future” between Trump and his counterpart, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., “reinforced in many ways our ongoing cooperation with the United States” going back to the previous administration and “even the first Trump administration.” Source link

Al-Ain resumes the battle to retain its continental crown when the Asian Champions League Elite returns on Monday, with the club from the United Arab Emirates hosting Qatar’s Al-Rayyan in a must-win game for Leonardo Jardim’s beleaguered side. Al-Ain lifted the Asian title in May with victory over Yokohama F. Marinos under Hernan Crespo, but has since put on a faltering defense that has seen the Argentinian replaced by Jardim and the club on the verge of elimination. With just two points from six matches in the league phase of the competition, Al-Ain sits three points adrift of the qualifying spots for the knockout rounds with two matches to play in the recently reconfigured competition. Source link

Palm Beach, Florida – Tariffs in the United States date back to 1789, when Alexander Hamilton saw them as a solution to two crises facing the newborn republic: a desperate need to raise revenue and a desire to industrialize a nation that seemed dangerously dependent on England. But in modern times, they have almost always been a negotiating tool — economic coercion in the service of diplomacy, a cudgel to force other nations to the table. What makes U.S. President Donald Trump’s move Saturday against Mexico, Canada and China different is that he seems uninterested in pursuing deals. For now, at least, the tariffs, in his view, are the point, a means of bolstering the nation’s finances as he simultaneously seeks territorial expansion and strategic advantage over an increasingly assertive China. Source link

Not every country’s financial market is suffering fallout from Donald Trump’s return to the White House — and money managers say relations with the U.S. are playing a growing role in deciding where to invest. As the likes of Colombia and Mexico are rattled by tariff fears, assets of nations seen as benefiting from close ties with the U.S. leader, like Argentina and Ecuador, are getting an extra lift. While that’s particularly true in Latin America, where most countries count the world’s largest economy as a key trade partner, the Trump “friend-or-foe” factor is impacting emerging-markets across the globe, from India to Vietnam. “Winners here are not the traditional ones that we’d think about — there’s a new set of countries that will emerge as winners,” Amer Bisat, a managing director and head of emerging markets fixed income at BlackRock, said at a recent industry panel. In today’s world, a country that “aligns itself politically to the U.S. ends up being the winner — and that becomes much more of a transactional relationship.” Source link

For a Kentucky native who first landed in Japan on a business trip, Brian Hutto has carved out an impressive niche in Yokohama’s sake scene. At Craft Sake Shoten, or “Brian’s Bar,” as regulars affectionately call the watering hole located steps from Yokohama Station, the cozy, second-floor space brims with tipsy bonhomie. Customers move between standing tables against the wall and two large coolers flanking a wide picture window. Hutto stands behind the small bar at the rear, dispensing sake wisdom and warm conversation in equal measure. The path that led him here began in 2010, when Hutto was working at a banking institution in San Francisco. Source link