The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Japan PM Abe makes third offering to war shrine but again stays away
- U.S. Congress ends default threat, Obama vows to sign bill
- U.S. government employees to return to work on Thursday
| Japan PM Abe makes third offering to war shrine but again stays away Posted: TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made his third ritual offering to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine for war dead, but again he did not visit in person to avoid angering Asian victims of Japan's war-time aggression. Visits by Japanese leaders to the shrine in central Tokyo have outraged China and South Korea, which suffered under Japanese occupation and colonisation in the 20th century, because war-time leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal are honoured there along with Japan's war dead. Abe made the offering in the name of the prime minister to mark the shrine's autumn festival, which runs from Thursday until Sunday, a shrine official told Reuters. The official said the offering was made before Thursday, but gave no details. A deputy government spokesman said Abe made the offering in his private capacity and that the government is in no position to comment, adding that it was not aware that the offering was disbursed from public funds. "I believe it's natural to express homage to those who fought and sacrificed their precious lives for the sake of their country, and to pray for the repose of their souls," Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters. It was the third time that Abe has sent an offering to the shrine since he returned to office after his December election victory. He has not visited the shrine in person because he wants to rebuild relationships with China and South Korea. His previous offering was made in August. Sino-Japanese ties have been troubled for months because of a sovereignty dispute over tiny islands in the East China Sea, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. Japan's relations with South Korea have also cooled over a separate territorial dispute. Abe, an outspoken nationalist, has said he regretted not visiting the shrine while he was prime minister in 2006-2007. Two ministers from Abe's cabinet are considering visiting the shrine during the autumn festival, Kyodo news agency reported. Sino-Japanese ties have been overshadowed for years by what Beijing says has been Tokyo's refusal to admit to war-time atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers in China between 1931 and 1945. Memories of a brutal Japanese occupation also run deep in South Korea. (Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Paul Tait and Michael Perry) |
| U.S. Congress ends default threat, Obama vows to sign bill Posted: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress on Wednesday approved an 11th-hour deal to end a partial government shutdown and pull the world's biggest economy back from the brink of a historic debt default that could have threatened financial calamity. Capping weeks of political brinkmanship that had unnerved global markets, the Senate and House of Representatives each passed the spending measure after Republicans dropped efforts to link the legislation to changes in President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law. The White House said Obama would sign the bill on Wednesday night, and Obama vowed to begin reopening the government immediately. "Employees should expect to return to work in the morning," said Sylvia Mathews Burwell, director of the Office of Management and Budget. The down-to-the-wire deal, however, offers only a temporary fix and does not resolve the fundamental issues of spending and deficits that divide Republicans and Democrats. It funds the government until January 15 and raises the debt ceiling until February 7, so Americans face the possibility of another government shutdown early next year. With the deadlock broken just a day before the U.S. Treasury said it would exhaust its ability to borrow new funds, U.S. stocks surged on Wednesday, nearing an all-time high. Share markets in Asia also cheered in early Thursday trade. Taking the podium in the White House briefing room after the Senate vote and just before the House took up the measure, Obama said that with final congressional passage, "We can begin to lift this cloud of uncertainty and unease from our businesses and from the American people." "Hopefully next time it won't be in the 11th hour," Obama said. "We've got to get out of the habit of governing by crisis." World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said "the global economy dodged a potential catastrophe" with congressional approval of the deal to raise the $16.7 trillion U.S. debt ceiling. The stand-off between Republicans and the White House over funding the government forced the temporary lay-off of hundreds of thousands of federal workers from October 1 and created concern that crisis-driven politics was the "new normal" in Washington. While essential functions like defence and air traffic control continued during the crisis, national parks and agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency have been largely closed. Senator John McCain, whose fellow Republicans triggered the crisis with demands that the Democratic president's "Obamacare" healthcare reform law be defunded, said earlier on Wednesday the deal marked the "end of an agonizing odyssey" for Americans. "It is one of the most shameful chapters I have seen in the years I've spent in the Senate," said McCain, who had warned Republicans not to link their demands for Obamacare changes to the debt limit or government spending bill. Polls showed Republicans took a hit in public opinion over the standoff. The Democratic-led Senate overwhelmingly passed the measure on a 81-18 vote, and the Republican-controlled House followed suit 285 to 144. POLITICAL DYSFUNCTION Although the deal would only extend U.S. borrowing authority until February 7, the Treasury Department would have tools to temporarily extend its borrowing capacity beyond that date if Congress failed to act early next year. In addition to lifting the federal debt limit, the deal calls for creating a House-Senate bipartisan panel to try to come up with long-term deficit-reduction ideas that would have to be approved by the full Congress. Their work would have to be completed by December 13. The agreement also includes some income verification procedures for those seeking subsidies under the 2010 healthcare law. But Republicans surrendered on their latest attempt to delay or gut the healthcare package or include major changes, including the elimination of a medical device tax. The congressional vote signalled a temporary ceasefire between Republicans and the White House in the latest struggle over spending and deficits that has at times paralyzed both decision-making and basic functions of government. The political dysfunction has worried U.S. allies and creditors such as China, the biggest foreign holder of U.S. debt, and raised questions about the impact on America's prestige. The Treasury has said it risks hurting the country's reputation as a safe haven and stable financial centre. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican leader Mitch McConnell announced the fiscal agreement on the Senate floor earlier in the day, and its passage was eased when the main Republican critic of the deal, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, said he would not use procedural moves to delay a vote. The agreement is a victory for Obama, who held firm and refused to negotiate on changes to the healthcare law, and a defeat for Republicans who have suffered a backlash from the American public, according to public opinion polls. There was no immediate sign that House Speaker John Boehner's leadership position was at risk. Several Republican lawmakers suggested he may have strengthened his standing among the rank-and-file, who gave him a standing ovation at an afternoon meeting. The fight over Obamacare rapidly grew into a brawl over the debt ceiling, threatening a default that global financial organizations warned could throw the United States back into recession and cause a global economic disaster. Fitch Ratings had warned on Tuesday that it could cut the U.S. sovereign credit rating from AAA, citing the political brinkmanship over raising the debt ceiling. A resolution to the crisis cannot come soon enough for many companies. American consumers have put away their wallets, at least temporarily, instead of spending on big-ticket items like cars and recreational vehicles. "We're sort of 'crises-ed' out," said Tammy Darvish, vice president of DARCARS Automotive Group, a family-run company that owns 21 auto dealerships in the greater Washington area. (Additional reporting by Thomas Ferraro, Steve Holland, Roberta Rampton and Mark Felsenthal, Amanda Becker, Patricia Zengerle, Susan Heavey, David Lawder and Jason Lange; Writing by Matt Spetalnick, Claudia Parsons and Ross Colvin; Editing by Grant McCool and Tim Dobbyn) |
| U.S. government employees to return to work on Thursday Posted: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama plans to sign legislation on Wednesday night ending the fiscal crisis, and federal government employees should expect to return to work on Thursday morning, Office of Management and Budget Director Sylvia Mathews Burwell said in a statement. Congress passed a bill late Wednesday that reopens the federal government and avoids a damaging default on government debt. (Reporting by Karey Van Hall; editing by Jackie Frank) |
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