Philippines opens coast guard post after China build-up
China and the Philippines are enduring a bitter diplomatic dispute over rival claims to parts of the South China Sea
Coastguard says the post will be used to gather data
Updated 24 May 2024
AFP
MANILLA: The Philippines said Friday it had opened a coast guard post in the country’s far north to boost security following China’s “military build-up” near Taiwan over the past two years.
The outpost “shall gather essential maritime data and intelligence, enabling the (Philippine Coast Guard) to respond effectively to threats such as illicit trade, trafficking, piracy, and foreign intrusions,” National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano said in a statement.
“In 2022, the area around Itbayat witnessed a military build-up as China responded to political developments between Taiwan and the United States,” Ano said, announcing the opening of the station on the Philippines’ northernmost inhabited island.
“Securing peace, stability, and freedom of navigation along the Luzon Strait is crucial for ensuring Philippine national security and economic prosperity,” he added.
Itbayat is located around 150 kilometers (93 miles) south of Taiwan’s south coast.
China and the Philippines are enduring a bitter diplomatic dispute over rival claims to parts of the South China Sea.
China has built artificial islands and military installations in waters close to the Philippines.
China’s efforts to enforce its claims have in recent years including water cannon attacks by China Coast Guard vessels that damaged Philippine government boats and injured several crew members.
Itbayat is just outside the area designated by a vaguely defined map of dashes that China uses to claim most of the South China Sea.
Ano made no reference to war games that China began on Thursday in which it encircled Taiwan with warplanes and naval vessels.
WHO chief asks countries to push Washington to reconsider its withdrawal
A budget document presented at the meeting showed WHO’s health emergencies program has a ‘heavy reliance’ on American cash
The document said US funding ‘provides the backbone of many of WHO’s large-scale emergency operations,’ covering up to 40%
Updated 1 sec ago
AP
GENEVA: The World Health Organization chief asked global leaders to lean on Washington to reverse President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the UN health agency, insisting in a closed-door meeting with diplomats last week that the US will miss out on critical information about global disease outbreaks. But countries also pressed WHO at a key budget meeting last Wednesday about how it might cope with the exit of its biggest donor, according to internal meeting materials obtained by The Associated Press. A German envoy, Bjorn Kummel, warned: “The roof is on fire, and we need to stop the fire as soon as possible.” For 2024-2025, the US is WHO’s biggest donor by far, putting in an estimated $988 million, roughly 14 percent of WHO’s $6.9 billion budget. A budget document presented at the meeting showed WHO’s health emergencies program has a “heavy reliance” on American cash. “Readiness functions” in WHO’s Europe office were more than 80 percent reliant on the $154 million the US contributes. The document said US funding “provides the backbone of many of WHO’s large-scale emergency operations,” covering up to 40 percent. It said responses in the Middle East, Ukraine and Sudan were at risk, in addition to hundreds of millions of dollars lost by polio-eradication and HIV programs. The US also covers 95 percent of WHO’s tuberculosis work in Europe and more than 60 percent of TB efforts in Africa, the Western Pacific and at the agency headquarters in Geneva, the document said. At a separate private meeting on the impact of the US exit last Wednesday, WHO finance director George Kyriacou said if the agency spends at its current rate, the organization would “be very much in a hand-to-mouth type situation when it comes to our cash flows” in the first half of 2026. He added the current rate of spending is “something we’re not going to do,” according to a recording obtained by the AP. Since Trump’s executive order, WHO has attempted to withdraw funds from the US for past expenses, Kyriacou said, but most of those “have not been accepted.” The US also has yet to settle its owed contributions to WHO for 2024, pushing the agency into a deficit, he added. WHO’s leader wants to bring back the US Last week, officials at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were instructed to stop working with WHO immediately. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the attendees at the budget meeting that the agency is still providing US scientists with some data — though it isn’t known what data. “We continue to give them information because they need it,” Tedros said, urging member countries to contact US officials. “We would appreciate it if you continue to push and reach out to them to reconsider.” Among other health crises, WHO is currently working to stop outbreaks of Marburg virus in Tanzania, Ebola in Uganda and mpox in Congo. Tedros rebutted Trump’s three stated reasons for leaving the agency in the executive order signed on Jan. 20 — Trump’s first day back in office. In the order, the president said WHO mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic that began in China, failed to adopt needed reforms and that US membership required “unfairly onerous payments.” Tedros said WHO alerted the world in January 2020 about the potential dangers of the coronavirus and has made dozens of reforms since — including efforts to expand its donor base. Tedros also said he believed the US departure was “not about the money” but more about the “void” in outbreak details and other critical health information that the United States would face in the future. “Bringing the US back will be very important,” he told meeting attendees. “And on that, I think all of you can play a role.” Kummel, a senior adviser on global health in Germany’s health ministry, described the US exit as “the most extensive crisis WHO has been facing in the past decades.” He also asked: “What concrete functions of WHO will collapse if the funding of the US is not existent anymore?” Officials from countries including Bangladesh and France asked what specific plans WHO had to deal with the loss of US funding and wondered which health programs would be cut as a result. The AP obtained a document shared among some WHO senior managers that laid out several options, including a proposal that each major department or office might be slashed in half by the end of the year. WHO declined to comment on whether Tedros had privately asked countries to lobby on the agency’s behalf. Experts say US benefits from WHO Some experts said that while the departure of the US was a major crisis, it might also serve as an opportunity to reshape global public health. Less than one percent of the US health budget goes to WHO, said Matthew Kavanagh, director of Georgetown University’s Center for Global Health Policy and Politics. In exchange, the US gets “a wide variety of benefits to Americans that matter quite a bit,” he said. That includes intelligence about disease epidemics globally and virus samples for vaccines. Kavanagh also said the WHO is “massively underfunded,” describing the contributions from rich countries as “peanuts.” WHO emergencies chief Dr. Michael Ryan said at the meeting on the impact of the US withdrawal last week that losing the US was “terrible,” but member states had “tremendous capacity to fill in those gaps.” Ryan told WHO member countries: “The US is leaving a community of nations. It’s essentially breaking up with you.” Kavanagh doubted the US would be able to match WHO’s ability to gather details about emerging health threats globally, and said its exit from the agency “will absolutely lead to worse health outcomes for Americans.” “How much worse remains to be seen,” Kavanagh said.
Musk says shutting down USAID in government efficiency drive
Foreign aid agency USAID disbursed $72 billion in fiscal year 2023
Aid covers women’s health, clean water, HIV/AIDS, energy, anti-corruption
Updated 33 min 13 sec ago
Reuters
WASHINGTON: Billionaire Elon Musk, who is heading US President Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink the federal government, gave an update on the effort early Monday, saying they are working to shut down the US foreign aid agency USAID.
Musk, who is also CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, discussed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in a Monday social media talk on X, which he also owns. Trump has assigned Musk to lead a federal cost-cutting panel.
The conversation, which included former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Republican Senator Joni Ernst, began with Musk saying they were working to shut down the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
“It’s beyond repair,” Musk said, adding that President Trump agrees it should be shut down.
On Sunday Reuters reported the Trump administration removed two top security officials at USAID during the weekend after they tried to stop representatives from billionaire Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from gaining access to restricted parts of the building, three sources said.
USAID is the world’s largest single donor. In fiscal year 2023, the US disbursed $72 billion of assistance worldwide on everything from women’s health in conflict zones to access to clean water, HIV/AIDS treatments, energy security and anti-corruption work. It provided 42 percent of all humanitarian aid tracked by the United Nations in 2024.
The online chat comes amid concerns about Musk’s access to the Treasury system, first reported by the New York Times, that sends out more than $6 trillion per year in payments on behalf of federal agencies and contains the personal information of millions of Americans who receive Social Security payments, tax refunds and other monies from the government.
Democrat Peter Welch, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, called for explanations as to why Musk had been handed access to the payment system and what Welch said included taxpayers’ sensitive data.
“It’s a gross abuse of power by an unelected bureaucrat and it shows money can buy power in the Trump White House,” Welch said in an emailed statement.
Musk has Trump’s support. Asked if Musk was doing a good job Sunday, Trump agreed. “He’s a big cost-cutter. Sometimes we won’t agree with it and we’ll not go where he wants to go. But I think he’s doing a great job. He’s a smart guy. Very smart. And he’s very much into cutting the budget of our federal budget.”
Musk’s team have been given access to or take control of numerous government systems.
Reuters reported on Friday, that aides to Musk charged with running the US government human resources agency have locked career civil servants out of computer systems that contain the personal data of millions of federal employees, according to two agency officials.
Musk has moved swiftly to install allies at the agency known as the Office of Personnel Management. A team including current and former employees of Musk assumed command of OPM on Jan. 20, the day Trump took office, the sources added.
Since taking office 11 days ago, Trump has embarked on a massive government makeover, firing and sidelining hundreds of civil servants in his first steps toward downsizing the bureaucracy and installing more loyalists.
Taiwan and China need peace given ‘multifold changes’ internationally, president says
Lai Ching-te, who China detests as a ‘separatist, has repeatedly called for talks with Beijing
China has stepped up its military and political pressure against the democratically-governed island
Updated 03 February 2025
Reuters
TAIPEI: Taiwan and China need to talk to each other to achieve peace given the “multifold changes” in the international situation, Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te said on Monday, calling for dialogue instead of confrontation.
Lai, who China detests as a “separatist,” has repeatedly called for talks with Beijing, which has stepped up its military and political pressure against the democratically-governed island it sees as sovereign Chinese territory.
But both China and Taiwan face pressure from the new administration of US President Donald Trump, who has imposed tariffs on China and threatened similar measures against imported semiconductors, a sector Taiwan dominates.
Speaking in Taipei to members of the Taiwanese business community who have invested in China, Lai said Taiwan and China’s common enemies were natural disasters and their common goal was the well-being of people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
“Therefore, we should, especially at a time of multifold changes in the international situation, have a good dialogue and exchanges between the two sides of the strait in order to achieve the goal of peace,” he said.
Taiwan very much welcomes talks with China on the basis of equality without preconditions and dialogue should replace confrontation, but Taiwan’s future can only be decided by its people, Lai added.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China says Taiwan must accept that the two sides of the strait are part of “one China,” something Lai and his government have refused to do.
Lai said there can be no illusions about peace, and Taiwan should aim for peace through strength by bolstering its defenses, and must stand shoulder-to-shoulder with other democracies.
“Only with sovereignty is there the country. Only with Taiwan is there the Republic of China,” he added, referring to the island’s formal name.
The defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s communist forces, who set up the People’s Republic of China in Beijing.
FBI staff ordered to reveal their role in Jan. 6 probes by Monday
Latest action stokes fear about a fresh round of firings at the law enforcement agency
Critics say Trump’s team is carrying out a purge of FBI and Justice Department officials
Updated 03 February 2025
Reuters
WASHINGTON: FBI employees were ordered on Sunday to answer a questionnaire about any work they may have done on criminal cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, stoking fear about a fresh round of firings at the law enforcement agency. The list of questions in the memo, seen by Reuters, direct employees to give their job title, any role they played in the investigations into the Jan. 6 riot by supporters of President Donald Trump and whether they helped supervise such investigations.
“I know myself and others receiving this questionnaire have a lot of questions and concerns, which I am working hard to get answers to,” Chad Yarbrough, the assistant director of the Criminal Investigative Division at FBI headquarters, wrote in a weekend email seen by Reuters.
Yarbrough told employees the answers are due by 3 p.m. ET (2000 GMT) on Monday.
An FBI spokesperson declined to comment on the questionnaire.
Democrats and other critics have said Trump’s team is carrying out a purge of FBI and Justice Department officials who played roles in the criminal cases against Trump and the Jan. 6 rioters.
On Trump’s first day back in office on Jan. 20, he commuted the sentences of 14 people in connection with the Capitol attack and pardoned the rest — including those who violently attacked law enforcement officers.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove on Friday demanded that the FBI by Tuesday at noon ET (1700 GMT) turn over to him a list of every employee who worked on Jan. 6 cases, as well as a list of those who worked on a criminal case filed last year against leaders of the militant Hamas group in connection with the Gaza war.
He also fired eight senior FBI officials from agency headquarters as well as the heads of the Miami and Washington, D.C., field offices.
Bove last week fired more than a dozen career Justice Department prosecutors who worked on the two now-dismissed criminal cases brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith against Trump, one involving actions taken to try to overturn the 2020 election results and the other involving classified government documents.
Mark Zaid, a lawyer who specializes in national security, said in a letter to Bove that his actions appeared to be in violation of due process and if an individual’s information was made public, it could threaten their safety.
“If you proceed with terminations and/or public exposure of terminated employees’ identities, we stand ready to vindicate their rights through all available legal means,” the letter, which Zaid released on X, said.
Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll, in an email to staff on Friday announcing details about the order from the Bove, said the request “encompasses thousands of employees across the country who have supported these investigative efforts.”
“I am one of those employees, as is acting Deputy Director (Robert) Kissane,” Driscoll noted.
Despite reports about other firings throughout the bureau, emails seen by Reuters from both the FBI Agents Association and from James Dennehy, the assistant FBI director in charge of the New York office, made it clear that no one else had been asked to resign.
Nevertheless, some employees on Friday started to clear out their desks amid concerns they might be next, according to the FBI Agents Association email seen by Reuters.
“Today, we find ourselves in the middle of a battle of our own, as good people are being walked out of the FBI and others are being targeted because they did their jobs in accordance with the law and FBI policy,” Dennehy wrote on Friday, saying he gave credit to Driscoll and Kissane for “fighting for this organization.”
Dennehy added that other than the select group of people named in Bove’s memo, “NO ONE has been told they are being removed at this time.”
After imposing sweeping tariffs, Trump announces talks with Canada and Mexico
China, Mexico and Canada are the top three US trade partners and all have vowed to retaliate when the tariffs take effect Tuesday
Experts warn that Trump’s tariffs could reduce US economic growth and throw Canada and Mexico into recession
Says Americans may feel economic “pain” from his tariffs, but argued it would be “worth the price” to secure US interests
Updated 03 February 2025
Agencies
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said he will discuss the punishing tariffs he has levied on Canada and Mexico with both countries on Monday, after arguing that Americans may feel economic “pain” from the 25 percent duties but that it will be “worth the price.”
Speaking to reporters after he flew back to Washington Sunday evening from a weekend in Florida, Trump said he was “speaking with Prime Minister (Justin) Trudeau tomorrow morning, and I’m also speaking with Mexico tomorrow morning.”
“I don’t expect anything very dramatic,” he added.
Trump has also hit China with a 10-percent tariff in addition to levies already in place.
A fervent supporter of tariffs, Trump had always maintained that their impact would be borne by foreign exporters, without being passed on to American consumers, contradicting the opinion of a broad range of experts.
Earlier Sunday he acknowledged, in a series of messages on his Truth Social network, that Americans may feel economic “pain” from his tariffs, but argued it would be “worth the price” to secure US interests.
China, Mexico and Canada are the top three US trade partners and all have vowed to retaliate when the tariffs take effect Tuesday.
“Will there be some pain? Yes, maybe (and maybe not!)” Trump wrote Sunday morning in all-caps on his Truth Social media platform.
“But we will Make America Great Again, and it will all be worth the price that must be paid.”
Analysts expect the trade war to slow US growth and increase prices, at least in the short term, something the president had resisted acknowledging after frustration over rising costs was seen as a major factor in his 2024 election win.
Seeking to limit a spike in fuel prices, Trump has put the levy on energy imports from Canada at only 10 percent.
The president has cited illegal immigration and the trafficking of the deadly opioid fentanyl as reasons for the “emergency” measures.
But on Sunday he also expressed general outrage at trade deficits, which he has long viewed as signs of unfair treatment against the United States.
“The USA has major deficits with Canada, Mexico, and China (and almost all countries!), owes 36 Trillion Dollars, and we’re not going to be the ‘Stupid Country’ any longer,” he wrote.
The tariffs announcements capped an extraordinary second week of Trump’s new term, with the president facing the worst US aviation disaster in years — even as his administration moved to drastically overhaul the government in actions decried by critics as illegal.
While some economies believe the levies are likely to be temporary, the outlook is unclear because the White House set very general conditions for their removal.
A White House fact sheet gave no details on what the three countries would need to do to win a reprieve.
Trump vowed to keep them in place until what he described as a national emergency over fentanyl, a deadly opioid, and illegal immigration to the United States ends. China left the door open for talks with the United States. Its sharpest pushback was over fentanyl.
Canada hits back
In a separate social media post, Trump took particular aim at Canada, repeating his call for America’s northern neighbor to become a US state.
Claiming the United States pays “hundreds of billions of dollars to SUBSIDIZE Canada,” Trump said that “without this massive subsidy, Canada ceases to exist as a viable Country.”
“Therefore, Canada should become our Cherished 51st State,” he said, reiterating the expansionist threat against one of his country’s closest allies.
The US Census Bureau says the 2024 trade deficit in goods with Canada was $55 billion.
Canadian backlash was swift, with video posted to social media showing fans at a Toronto Raptors game Sunday booing during the US national anthem.
Canada said on Sunday it will take legal action under the relevant international bodies to challenge the tariffs.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also encouraged Canadians on Sunday to boycott their longtime ally after ordering retaliatory tariffs against $155 billion of US goods, from peanut butter, beer and wine to lumber and appliances.
Canadian officials said they were preparing measures to help business who might be hurt by the trade war.
Trudeau vowed Saturday to hit back with 25 percent levies on select American goods worth Can$155 billion ($106.6 billion), with a first round on Tuesday followed by a second one in three weeks.
Leaders of several Canadian provinces have already announced retaliatory actions as well, such as the immediate halt of US liquor purchases.
The White House has not publicly announced what actions could end the tariffs.
“It’s hard to know what more we can do, but we’re obviously open to any other suggestions that come our way,” Canada’s ambassador to the United States Kirsten Hillman told ABC News on Sunday.
Mexico, China push back
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she, also, was awaiting Trump’s response to her proposal for dialogue.
She said she had directed her economy minister to “implement Plan B,” which includes unspecified “tariff and non-tariff measures,” promising to detail Monday the steps she intends to take.
Trump said Sunday he also planned to hit the European Union with tariffs “pretty soon,” to which the EU said earlier it would “respond firmly.”
“Fentanyl is America’s problem,” China’s foreign ministry said, adding that China has taken extensive measures to combat the problem.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, raising her fist in the air in a speech outside the capital, vowed resilience.
She accused the United States of failing to tackle its fentanyl problem and said it would not be solved by tariffs.
Sheinbaum said she would provide more details on Monday of the retaliatory tariffs she ordered this weekend.
Warnings of inflation, recession
EY Chief Economist Greg Daco said Trump’s tariffs could reduce US economic growth by 1.5 percentage points this year, throw Canada and Mexico into recession and usher in “stagflation” — high inflation, stagnant economic growth and elevated unemployment — at home.
Trump’s move was the first strike in a what could be a destructive global trade war that Paul Ashworth of Capital Economics said would lead to a surge in US inflation that would “come even faster and be larger than we initially expected.
US crude oil futures jumped more than $2 to hit $75 per barrel, while stock futures fell. The S&P 500 E-mini futures were down 2 percent, while Nasdaq futures were down 2.75 percent.
The Trump tariffs, outlined in three executive orders, are due to take effect 12:01 a.m. ET (0501 GMT) on Tuesday. Markets were awaiting developments with anxiety, but some analysts said there was some hope for negotiations, especially with Canada and China.
“The tariffs look likely to take effect, though a last-minute compromise cannot be completely ruled out,” Goldman Sachs economists said in a note Sunday.
The tariff announcement made good on Trump’s repeated 2024 campaign threat, defying warnings from economists that a trade war would erode growth and raise prices for consumers and companies.
Trump declared a national emergency under two laws, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the National Emergencies Act, which give the president sweeping powers to impose sanctions to address crises.
Trade lawyers said Trump could face legal challenges for testing the limits of US laws. Democratic lawmakers Suzan DelBene and Don Beyer decried what they called a blatant abuse of executive power. Others warned about rising prices.
“No matter which way you slice it: costs are going to climb for consumers,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said, vowing to try to “undo this mess.”
Republicans welcomed Trump’s action.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week showed Americans were divided on tariffs, with 54 percent opposing new duties on imported goods and 43 percent in support, with Democrats more opposed and Republicans more supportive.
Investors look ahead
Investors were considering the effects of additional tariffs promised by Trump, including those related to oil and gas, as well as steel, aluminum, semiconductor chips and pharmaceuticals. Trump has also vowed actions against the European Union.
A European Commission spokesperson said the EU “would respond firmly to any trading partner that unfairly or arbitrarily imposes tariffs on EU goods.” Europe’s biggest carmaker, Volkswagen, said it was counting on talks to avoid trade conflict.
Automakers would be particularly hard hit, with new tariffs on vehicles built in Canada and Mexico burdening a vast regional supply chain where parts can cross borders several times before final assembly.
Trump imposed only a 10 percent duty on energy products from Canada after oil refiners and Midwestern states raised concerns. At nearly $100 billion in 2023, imports of crude oil accounted for roughly a quarter of all US imports from Canada, according to US Census Bureau data.
White House officials said Canada specifically would no longer be allowed the “de minimiz” US duty exemption for shipments under $800. The officials said Canada, along with Mexico, has become a conduit for shipments of fentanyl and its precursor chemicals into the US via small packages that are not often inspected by customs agents.
