Predictions about donald trump presidency

FLORIDA: Former US president Donald Trump will be allowed back on YouTube but only when the threat of his inciting violence abates, the head of the popular online video sharing platform said on Thursday (Friday in Manila). YouTube in late January suspended Trump’s channel, joining other social media platforms in banning his accounts following the deadly January 6 Capitol riot. “We will lift the suspension of the Donald Trump channel when we determine that the risk of violence has decreased,” YouTube chief Susan Wojcicki said during a streamed Atlantic Council interview. “Given just the warnings by the Capitol Police yesterday about a potential attack today, I think it is pretty clear that that elevated violence risk still remains.” Wojcicki said that when the Trump channel is reinstated, it will remain subject to the same “three strike” system as everyone else at YouTube. Uploading videos that break YouTube rules such as those against inciting violence or falsely attacking ... » Learn More about Trump to get back page, YouTube says

DUBAI/AMMAN - Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma have tested positive for Covid-19 after showing minor symptoms, his office said on Monday. The Syrian leader and his spouse, who announced her recovery from breast cancer in 2019, were in good health and would keep working in isolation at home, the statement said. Syria has seen a sharp rise in infections since mid-February, a member of the government’s coronavirus advisory committee told Reuters last week as the country kicked off its vaccination campaign. Health and aid officials say it remains difficult to gauge the full size of the outbreak given the lack of testing facilities in a fragile health system devastated by a decade of war. As of Sunday, the health ministry reported 10,374 infections and 1,063 related deaths out of a population of around 18 million. Assad joins a growing list of world leaders who have tested positive for Covid-19, alongside Britain’s Boris Johnson, France’s Emmanuel Macron and ... » Learn More about Syria’s President Assad and his wife test positive for Covid-19

As Donald Trump continues to defy the results of the election, the globe is searching for parallels to discern where its biggest economy is headed. Trump continues to dispute the US election results its uncanny how may many similarities of his power relate to Thailand former Prime Minter Thaksin Shinawatra. Vladimir Putin ’s name comes up quite a bit. So does that of Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko and others who refused to concede defeat. But the best Asia-region corollary may be Thailand’s Thaksin Shinawatra, the man whose long shadow has stretched across his nation—and economy— for much of the 14 years since he left the premiership. In 2006, Thaksin was ousted in a coup that resulted in a period of post-leadership chaos in Bangkok that many in Washington are now seeking to avoid. The easiest way to think of Thaksin is as the Silvio Berlusconi of Southeast Asia. The telecom billionaire harnessed his wealth, national profile and raw charisma to excel in politics. ... » Learn More about Is Trump Taking a Page From Thaksin Shinawatra’s Playbook?

President Rodrigo Duterte came under fire after ordering soldiers to shoot female communist rebels in the vagina. The statement was made during a dinner in the company of 217 former communist rebels in Malacañang last Wednesday night, Feb. 7, where it prompted laughter from the audience. President Duterte was found repeatedly mentioning the word “bisong” to his guests, which translates to “vagina” in Bisaya, according to an INQUIRER report today. President Duterte’s comment was met with criticisms from personalities and netizens who took to social media to air their grievances, with musician and activist Jim Paredes being one who refused to mince words. “ Walang modo. Walanghiya! Walang respeto sa kababaihan. Hoy! May nanay, asawa, kabit, anak kang babae!” (You have no shame. You have no respect for women. Hey, you have a mother, a wife, a mistress and a daughter — they are women!) Image: Twitter/@Jimparedes Paredes followed his tweet with another, wondering out loud ... » Learn More about President Duterte slammed by writers, activists for ‘shoot in the vagina’ statement

NEW YORK CITY — The trial of an alleged Honduran drug-trafficker, whose case implicates Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez and other high-ranking officials, gets underway in the Southern District of New York on Monday. Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez, 50, was arrested trying to leave Miami in 2020 and has pleaded ‘not guilty’ to charges of conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the United States and related weapons charges. References to Hernandez appear frequently in the filings against Fuentes Ramirez, as well as in a drug-trafficking case against Hernandez’s brother Tony, who was convicted of drug trafficking and related weapons charges in October 2019. In that trial, U.S. prosecutors said Juan Orlando Hernandez had accepting millions in bribes from drug traffickers. The president has repeatedly denied the allegation. FILE PHOTO: Honduras’ President Juan Orlando Hernandez addresses the audience during the CEO Summit of the Americas in Panama City on April 10, 2015. Hernandez ... » Learn More about Trial implicating Honduran president in drug trafficking begins in New York

BEIJING – The tariff war between Washington and Beijing poses one of the biggest challenges yet for Chinese President Xi Jinping, potentially exposing his political vulnerabilities at a time when the Chinese economy is already slowing. The U.S. effort to win concessions from China on strategic industrial policies has put Xi’s own prestige on the line. In this Wednesday, May 8, 2019, photo, a worker drives an electric cart past a display featuring the U.S. and Chinese flags in a special trade zone in Qingdao in eastern China’s Shandong province. China said Thursday it will retaliate if President Donald Trump goes ahead with more tariff hikes in a fight over technology and trade, ratcheting up tensions ahead of negotiations in Washington. (Chinatopix via AP) It also has cast into question the ruling Communist Party’s social contract with the Chinese people: keeping authoritarian, one-party rule and ruling class privileges in exchange for delivering robust economic growth, ... » Learn More about Trade dispute with US a political challenge for China’s Xi

The Chinese government's top diplomat, Wang Yi, said on Sunday that Beijing is willing to communicate with the United States on the basis of mutual respect and hopes Washington will remove all "unreasonable" restrictions on cooperation as soon as possible. Last week US President Joe Biden singled out a "growing rivalry with China" as a key challenge facing the United States, with his top diplomat describing the Asian country as "the biggest geopolitical test" of this century. State Councillor Wang, speaking at his annual news conference, said differences between China and the United States must be managed carefully and that the two sides must advocate healthy competition not zero-sum finger-pointing. The United States and China are at odds over influence in the Indo-Pacific region, Beijing's economic practices, Hong Kong, Taiwan and human rights in China's Xinjiang region. The Biden administration has indicated it will broadly continue a tough approach to China taken by former ... » Learn More about China says hopes US will remove ‘unreasonable’ restrictions on cooperation

WASHINGTON, D.C.: As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden promised to make a pariah out of Saudi Arabia over the 2018 killing of dissident Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi. But when it came time to actually punish Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Biden’s perception of America’s strategic interests prevailed. The Biden administration made clear on Friday that it would forgo sanctions or any other major penalty against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Khashoggi killing even after a US intelligence report concluded the prince ordered it. The decision highlights how the real-time decisions of diplomacy often collide with the righteousness of the moral high ground. And nowhere is this conundrum more stark than in the United States’ complicated relationship with Saudi Arabia, the world’s oil giant, a US arms customer and a counterbalance to Iran in the Middle East. “It is undeniable that Saudi Arabia is a hugely influential country in the Arab world,” State Department spokesman ... » Learn More about Biden retreats from vow to make pariah of Saudis

Hi all, In today's bulletin: Two people were killed and several others injured when Myanmar police fired on protesters in northern Myitkyina town; American and Chinese spacecraft reach Mars in quick succession last month, sparking talk of a space race between the two major powers; Indonesia eases rules to attract foreign investment; and more. Reading this on the web or know someone who might enjoy receiving Asian Insider? Our sign-up page is here . More killed in Myanmar protests as unions call for economic shutdown Two people were killed  and several others injured when Myanmar police fired on protesters in the northern town of Myitkyina on Monday (March 8), witnesses said. This was as shops, factories and banks were closed in Myanmar’s biggest city Yangon on Monday (March 8), after major trade unions called for a shutdown of the economy as part of the uprising against the country’s military rulers who had ousted the civilian government in a Feb 1 coup. ... » Learn More about Asian Insider, March 8: More deaths in Myanmar protests; US-China rivalry extending to space

DUBAI (Reuters) - The United States said on Monday it is committed to defending Saudi Arabia following drone and missile strikes claimed by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement, including on a Saudi facility vital to oil exports. Saudi authorities said there were no casualties or property losses from Sunday's attacks targeting an oil storage yard at Ras Tanura, site of a refinery and the world's biggest offshore oil loading facility, and a residential compound in Dhahran used by state-controlled oil giant Saudi Aramco. [L1N2L502H] The attacks, which drove Brent crude prices above $70 a barrel to their highest since January 2020, come at a time of friction in the decades-old alliance between Saudi Arabia and the United States as President Joe Biden puts pressure on Riyadh over its human rights record and the ruinous Yemen war. "The heinous Houthi assaults on civilians and vital infrastructure demonstrate lack of respect for human life and disregard for peace efforts," the U.S. ... » Learn More about U.S. commits to Saudi defence after Houthi attacks on oil heartland