State of the Union address sparks off new immigration showdown between Donald Trump, Democrats

Washington: A showdown over US immigration policy loomed on Wednesday after President Donald Trump laid out a tough deal in his State of The Union address that offers citizenship to 1.8 million "Dreamers" in exchange for sharp overall cuts to immigration.

Less than two weeks after Democrats forced a three-day shutdown of the government over the issue, the Republican president said he would not give in to anything less than a harsh cutback on existing immigration and massive funding for a wall on the Mexican border. In exchange, Trump is offering a 12-year pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million people who came to the US illegally as children, 700,000 of whom are set to lose their current protection from deportation on 6 March.

Democrats are pushing for the fate of the Dreamers to be tackled as a priority, and are resisting Republican efforts to tie it into a broader bargain on immigration. The stalemate led Democrats to block a one-month budget extension on 19 January, forcing a partial shutdown of the federal government, and the same threat looms over the new deadline for a long-term budget, 8 February.

In his annual speech before Congress late Tuesday, Trump again portrayed legal and illegal immigration as a threat to the country, highlighting murders by gang members from other countries and terror attacks by people who entered the United States legally. "For decades, open borders have allowed drugs and gangs to pour into our most vulnerable communities. They have allowed millions of low-wage workers to compete for jobs and wages against the poorest Americans. Most tragically, they have caused the loss of many innocent lives," Trump said.

"My duty, and the sacred duty of every elected official in this chamber, is to defend Americans — to protect their safety, their families, their communities, and their right to the American Dream. Because Americans are Dreamers too."

Democrats: Trump 'uncompromising'

With the immigrant population a crucial part of their voter base, Democrats sought to frame Trump's speech as demeaning and uncompromising.

Representative Joe Kennedy, chosen by the party to answer Trump's speech, began with a paean to new foreign arrivals and their contributions to the country. "We are here in Fall River, Massachusetts — a proud American city, built by immigrants," he said.

Speaking in Spanish, he tried to assuage the mostly Latino Dreamers. "To all the Dreamers watching tonight, let me be clear: You are a part of our story. We will fight for you. We will not walk away."

Speaking on NPR radio, early Wednesday Democratic Senator Chris Murphy accused Trump of using the Dreamers as "political pawns." "The president doubled down on his rhetoric, demonising immigrants and trying to make Americans afraid of people who are crossing our border to come here to seek a better life," he said.

"We didn't get any closer to a deal on immigration or on the federal budget. We got further away," he said.

Dreamers vs. immigration cuts

Democrats have pressed since 2017 for separate legislation to deal with the fate of 690,000 "Dreamer" immigrants who are registered under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, established by president Barack Obama in 2012 to protect their presence in the country.

Trump cancelled the program in September, but is now offering a 12 year path to citizenship that goes beyond DACA recipients, extending to all those who arrived in the country as youths and children and have grown up here. As a counterpart, however, he wants $25 billion for a border wall, an end to the "green card lottery," and a sharp cutback to family-based, or "chain" migration.

Immigration groups say that will reduce overall immigration by as much as half, and Democrats say the chain migration cutback will hurt families.

Democratic Representative Steny Hoyer called Trump's proposal "draconian." "His immigration proposal betrays family values and uses Dreamers as a bargaining chip to harm other families."

Democratic Congresswoman Jackie Speier said Wednesday that Trump's stance was a non-starter. "I think we are nowhere," she said on CNN. Without a "clean" DACA fix, and a budget bill without his immigration demands, "I think we will be teetering on another shutdown, which is horrible."

"Nobody wants a shutdown," she said. "What we need to do is be responsible adults and realise we're not going to get everything we want, and carve a pathway forward."

Japan's labor crunch leads to tightest job market in 40 years

Japan's job availability rose to its highest in 44 years in 2017, the government said Tuesday, the latest sign that labor is in increasingly short supply as the country enjoys a phase of modest economic growth.

The jobs-to-applicants ratio improved to 1.50 in 2017, the highest since 1973 when it hit an all-time high of 1.76. This means that 150 positions were available for every 100 job seekers.

The unemployment rate, meanwhile, fell for a seventh straight year to 2.8%, the lowest since 1993, government data showed.

Japan's economy, which grew at an annualized rate of 2.5% in July-September, is considered to be in its second-longest expansion cycle in the postwar era, helped by strong overseas demand.

The jobless rate stayed below 3% for much of 2017, but labor shortages have yet to translate into more robust wage growth, a headache for policymakers as the Bank of Japan is still far from hitting its 2% inflation target.

Women's workforce participation rates have been on the increase, while companies have also been encouraging elderly people to return to the workforce.

The number of women on payrolls hit a record-high 28.59 million in 2017, pushing down the female jobless rate to a 24-year-low of 2.7%, from 2.8% in 2016. Male unemployment came to 3%, down from 3.3%.

In December, job availability rose to 1.59, up for the third straight month, hitting its highest level in 44 years, but unemployment rose to 2.8% from 2.7% in November, worsening for the first time in seven months, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

"The situation may be different depending on the sector and between regular and part-time workers but it's evident that labor shortages are severe as the economy has been expanding," said Yuichiro Nagai, an economist at Barclays Securities Japan Ltd.

"The working population saw strong growth earlier but such growth appears to be more or less flat in recent months," Nagai said. Under such circumstances, small and medium-sized companies will likely offer better pay to secure workers, he added.

Despite improving labor market conditions, household spending lacked strength. The key indicator of private consumption slipped 0.1% from a year ago to 322,157 yen, marking the first fall in three months.

Rising fresh food prices apparently dented consumer sentiment in December, although an internal ministry official said there is no change to the view that "consumption is recovering as a trend."

The spending figure came after the government earlier this month lifted its monthly assessment on private consumption, which accounts for nearly 60% of the country's gross domestic product, for the first time in seven months.

Economists say consumers need to increase spending to support economic growth powered by domestic demand.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is now asking companies to raise pay by 3% during this year's wage negotiations between management and labor unions in his latest effort to jolt the economy out of deflation.

The average monthly income of salaried households with two or more people marked a 0.4% year-on-year gain, up for a seventh straight month to 940,875 yen. Many Japanese workers receive winter bonuses at this time of year.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the government will accelerate efforts to improve labor market conditions that directly affect the lives of ordinary people under the "Abenomics" policy mix.

"We also aim to promote labor reform to curb long working hours and realize equal pay for equal work," the top government spokesman said at a press briefing.

Companies are reluctant to hike wages partly because of uncertainty over their economic outlook and some apparently prefer raising pay for part-timers to secure labor rather than for regular workers, according to a recent government analysis.

Reliance Jio planning its own cryptocurrency called JioCoin

Good news for e-currency investors around globe. New e-currency introduced in India. It is  good time to invest.



After disrupting the telecom sector with its free offers and hyper-competitive tariffs, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd plans to create its own cyptocurrency, JioCoin.

With Mukesh Ambani’s elder son Akash Ambani leading the JioCoin project, Reliance Jio plans to build a 50-member team of young professionals to work on blockchain technology, which can also be used to develop applications such as smart contracts and supply chain management logistics.

“The company plans to hire 50 young professionals with average age of 25 years for Akash Ambani to lead. There are multiple applications of blockchain (for the company). The team would work on various blockchain products,” a person familiar with the development said on condition of anonymity.

Blockchain is a digital ledger for storing data including, but not limited to, financial transactions. In simple terms, blockchain decentralizes information without it being copied. The information is held on blockchain through a shared database which can be accessed on a real-time basis. This database is not stored on physical servers but on the cloud, which makes it easy to store unlimited data.

The most popular application of the technology has undoubtedly been cryptocurrency, and Reliance Jio also plans to create its own version called JioCoin.

“One (application) is cryptocurrency. We can deploy smart contracts. It can be used in supply chain management logistics. Loyalty points could altogether be based on JioCoin,” the person cited above said, adding that all of this was “in proposal stage”.

An email sent to Reliance Jio seeking a response remained unanswered till press time.

“Reliance Jio also aspires to get into Internet of Things (IoT). Blockchain technology would come in handy there,” the person said.

IoT is a network of devices such as smartphones, wearable devices, home appliances and vehicles, connected to the internet, which enables these objects to connect and exchange data. Experts have also pointed out that blockchain could potentially address security risks to IoT as it provides a shield against data tampering by labelling each block of data.

Significantly, the Indian government has cautioned against cryptocurrencies, stating that virtual currencies were not backed by assets and posed risks such as money laundering. On 2 January, finance minister Arun Jaitley told the Rajya Sabha that the government was still studying the issue.

“A committee under the chairmanship of secretary, department of economic affairs, is deliberating over all issues related to cryptocurrencies to propose specific actions to be taken,” Jaitley said, adding that the government does not consider cryptocurrencies to be legal tender.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have come under the scanner of governments across the world as their soaring prices attracted speculators and unsophisticated retail investors in droves. On Thursday, Bitcoin dropped as much as 12% to $12,801, its lowest since Christmas day, as South Korea’s justice minister reiterated his proposal to ban local cryptocurrency exchanges, Bloomberg reported.

For more on cryptocurrency  read this.

China's Advanced Hypersonic Missile Threat To US, Japan

The report in the South China Morning Post comes after Tokyo-based magazine "The Diplomat" reported that China's rocket forces conducted two tests late last year of a new "hypersonic glide vehicle" or HGV, known as the DF-17

BEIJING:  China's new "hypersonic" ballistic missiles will not only challenge the defences of the US but also be able to more accurately hit military targets in Japan and India, a media report said today.

The report in the South China Morning Post comes after Tokyo-based magazine "The Diplomat" reported that China's rocket forces conducted two tests late last year of a new "hypersonic glide vehicle" or HGV, known as the DF-17.

Citing US intelligence sources, The Diplomat last month reported that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force carried out the first test on November 1 and the second one two weeks later.

Both tests were successful and the DF-17 could be operational by around 2020, the US intelligence sources were quoted as saying.

Asked about the two tests, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang today declined to react saying the Defence Ministry should be approached for information on this.

HGVs are unmanned, rocket-launched, manoeuvrable aircraft that glide and "skip" through the earth's atmosphere at incredibly fast speeds.

Compared to conventional ballistic systems, HGV warheads can travel at much higher speeds, lower altitudes and less trackable trajectories. The approach leaves defence systems less time to intercept the warhead before it drops its payload.

The DF-17 test missiles were launched from the Jiuquan launch centre in Inner Mongolia and flew about 1,400 km during the trial, The Diplomat reported.

Chinese state media first reported on the country's HGV technology in October, with footage of the system in a hypersonic wind tunnel in various arrays.

Beijing-based military analyst Zhou Chenming said HGV technology has become part of the nuclear strategy between the world's three big nuclear powers: China, the US and Russia.

"Compared to conventional ballistic missiles, HGVs are more complex and difficult to intercept," Zhou told the South China Morning Post.

"The US, Japan and India should be worried about China's developments in HGV technology because it can reach targets quicker and more accurately, with military bases in Japan and even nuclear reactors in India being targeted," he was quoted as saying by the daily.

China eyes artificial intelligence for 'fire-and-forget' cruise missiles.

Chinese military specialists said the DF-17 was one of several iterations of glider systems developed by the PLA, including the DF-ZF which has been through at least seven tests.

Song Zhongping, a former member of the PLA's Second Artillery Corps, the rocket wing's predecessor, said the DF-17 was the weaponised model of the DF-ZF prototype.

Song, a military commentator for Hong Kong's Phoenix Television told the Post that the HGV system could be used with various kinds of ballistic missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles with a range of at least 5,500 km.

He also said multiple HGV warheads could be used with the DF-41, which has a range of at least 12,000 km and can hit anywhere in the US in less than an hour.

Macau-based military observer Antony Wong Dong said HGVs could also be used to target and destroy a US anti-missile system known as THAAD, or Terminal High Altitude Area Defence, which are currently deployed in South Korea to war doffattacks from North Korea.

"China's HGVs ... could destroy the THAAD radar system if there is war between the two countries," Wong said.

"Once the THAAD radars fail to function in the first stage, it could reduce the window to raise the alarm about the PLA's [ICBMs] ... leaving the US without enough time to intercept," he said.