World Humanitarian Summit
ASEAN added 3 new photos.
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ASEAN opened its booth at the Exhibition Fair of the World Humanitarian Summit which begins tomorrow, May 23, in Istanbul. H.E. Vongthep Arthakaivalvatee, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for Socio-cultural Community and H.E. Kyung-wha Kang, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator for UN OCHA cut the ribbon for the exhibition assisted by the Deputy Mayor of Istanbul. The booth showcases ASEAN experience and knowledge in disaster management and humanitarian actions.
Kerry traveled to Burma
U.S. Department of State added 4 new photos.
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On May 22, Secretary Kerry traveled to #Burma to meet with key leaders in Naypyitaw to signal U.S. support for the new democratically elected, civilian-led government and further democratic and economic reforms. Secretary Kerry met with Burmese Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi and later with Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hliang. See additional trip photos:https://flic.kr/s/aHskAfCetW
China in Maoming, 429.5 millimeters of rainfall
An extremely rare round of torrential rainfall that happened once in more than 200 years hit a city in south China’s Guangdong Province, local authorities said Saturday.
Xinyi, a small, county-level city in Maoming, saw 429.5 millimeters of rainfall in just six hours, according to the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.
Eight people died and four others were reportedly missing in Xinyi.
The provincial civil affairs department has declared the second highest state of emergency and dispatched working teams to Xinyi.
Dilma Rousseff:Temer’s interim government is damaging
Brazil’s suspended President Dilma Rousseff said Friday that the interim government is causing “enormous damage” to the country’s social safety system.
In an interview with Web users on Facebook, Rousseff, accompanied by former Social Welfare Minister Carlos Gabas, criticized the measures of Michel Temer’s interim government.
Rousseff said Temer’s government has caused enormous damage to the country’s social security system. “They got rid of the Social Welfare Ministry. This is absurd. It is part of the heritage of Brazilian workers.”
In his first week in office after Rousseff was temporarily suspended from her duties, Temer has merged the Social Welfare Ministry with the Finance Ministry.
“It is not known what will happen with the social welfare agencies that we modernized to increase services over the past few years. However, the interim minister said that the agencies are vacant spaces. Is he going to close the agencies? That is absurd,” said Rousseff.
On May 13, Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles said that the reform “is an evident necessity,” and social security has to be “self-supporting in the long term and it needs to have solvency from the government.”
As one of the main measures for the reform, Meirelles proposed establishing a minimum retirement age for the National Institute for Social Security.
The interim government on Monday invited unions to a meeting to discuss reforming Brazil’s generous pension system, something that analysts say is necessary to begin pulling Brazil out of its worst recession since the 1930s. In Brazil, many public workers can retire by their early 50s.
Chile, Argentina, Uruguay call for effective dialogue in Venezuela
Venezuela’s National Bolivarian Armed Forces (FANB) began the military exercises for “Independence 2016,” with the main objective of guaranteeing the country’s “sovereignty,” Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said on Friday.
The practice aims to strengthen the civil-military union, expand the military plans and implementation, said the minister during an interview with the government-owned television channel Venezolana de Television.
The government official said a “reconnaissance patrol all over the region” will begin, including at the South American nation’s border areas.
The governments of Chile, Argentina and Uruguay on Friday urged Venezuela’s ruling party and right-wing opposition groups to hold talks and end their country’s political crisis.
In a joint statement issued in the Chilean capital of Santiago, the Foreign Ministries of the three countries expressed concern for the current political situation in Venezuela and called on the different political camps to reach an understanding.
“With full respect for the principle of nonintervention in internal affairs, we believe that Venezuela’s problems should be resolved by the Venezuelans themselves, in keeping with its institutions and observing international commitments to fully protect human rights and individual freedoms,” said the statement.
“We are confident that the Venezuelan people will know how to honor their long democratic tradition and historic commitment to consensus and peaceful political solutions, thus discouraging radical alternatives that will lead away from democratic ways,” it added.
The message was addressed to Venezuela’s government, National Assembly as well as political and social groups.
Venezuela has been embroiled in political troubles in recent months with some opposition groups campaigning to unseat President Nicolas Maduro.
The president said Tuesday that a “systematic aggression” against his country from the outside was underway with the aim of “creating conditions” for a military intervention.
G7 agrees to boost measures
G 7world economic issues that they are believed to have discussed are the slowing Chinese economy and lower crude oil prices.
Before the meeting, Japanese officials said they hoped to play a leading role in discussions on a proposal for coordinated action to put the global economy back on track.
But not all G7 members are on board. Germany and Britain are not enthusiastic about the idea of additional public spending.
The finance chiefs are said to have discussed ways of dealing with tax evasion and questionable tax avoidance. This is in reaction to disclosures in the Panama Papers.
They are also believed to have exchanged views on how to stop the flow of money to terrorist groups.
The Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank chiefs have agreed on the importance of fiscal, monetary, and structural reform policies to sustain the global economy. They have also agreed to step up measures against tax avoidance.
They ended a 2-day meeting in Sendai, northeastern Japan on Saturday. Japan’s Finance Minister Taro Aso and Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda spoke to reporters, summarizing the outcome of the discussions.
They said that with increasing uncertainty in the global economy, the finance leaders agreed on the importance of implementing monetary, fiscal and structural reform policies based on the situation of each member country.
They also confirmed that excessive or disorderly currency volatility may adversely affect economies. They agreed to refrain from competitive devaluation.
The participants discussed tax avoidance following the leak of massive documents, known as the Panama Papers, on tax havens.
They agreed to strengthen international monitoring of illegal asset concealment and tax evasion. This will be conducted through the regular exchange of information by tax authorities on the holders and the balance of bank accounts possessed by companies and individuals.
The finance leaders also adopted an action plan to boost the exchange of information to stamp out terrorist funding. Identity verification will be enforced more strictly to prevent terrorists from illegally using means of settlement such as virtual currency and prepaid cards.
At the meeting, Japan and the United States called for aggressive public spending to promote global economic growth, while Germany in particular remained reluctant to boost such spending.
It remains to be seen whether the Group of Seven leaders would come up with a strong united message for growth when they meet in Japan’s Ise-Shima region beginning next Thursday.NHK news
Two moderate earthquakes hit Tibet
Two 5.3-magnitude earthquakes hit the southern part of Tibet in southwest China on Sunday morning, with no casualties reported to local authorities so far. No casualties reported to local authorities so far.The first quake happened at 9:48 a.m. in Dinggye County, Xigaze City. The second occurred at 10:05 a.m. in Tingri County
The first quake happened at 9:48 a.m. in Dinggye County, Xigaze City. The epicenter was monitored at 28.36 degrees north latitude and 87.6 degrees east longitude, with a depth of 10 km.
The second, at 10:05 a.m. in Tingri County, was monitored at 28.41 degrees north latitude and 87.59 degrees east longitude, with a depth of 6km.
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