11-07-2019

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ECONOMY & BUSINESS 10 THURSDAY, JULY 11, 2019 Md. Arfan Ali, President & Managing Director of Bank Asia and Sayed Mostahidal Hoq, Chairman of Daraz, largest e-commerce platform in the country, are seen handing over a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on providing e-commerce services for rural population through agent banking network. Deputy Managing Directors Mohammad Borhanuddin, Md. Sazzad Hossain and Mohammad Ziaul Hasan Molla, Senior Executive Vice President & Head of Channel Banking Division Sarder Akhter Hamed of Bank Asia and Head of Offline Sales of Daraz Zubaer Siddique and Manager Sk. Farhan Uddin are, among others, seen at the program held at the Corporate Office of Bank Asia recently. Photo: Courtesy Asian markets hit as US jobs data dent hopes for big rate cut Asian markets retreated Monday and the dollar held gains after a blockbuster US jobs report dashed hopes that the Federal Reserve would slash interest rates this month, reports BSS. Labor Department data showed that despite recent disappointing indicators, the world's top economy continues to show resilience as it created far more posts than expected in June. The news took traders by surprise and sent all three main indexes on Wall Street falling from record highs, while the dollar bounced against its main peers. Investors had been hoping the Fed would cut borrowing costs by as much as 50 basis points at its next policy meeting at the end of the month, but Friday's report reduced the chances of that happening. And Asian investors extended the selling, with Shanghai losing more than two percent, Hong Kong down 1.5 percent and Tokyo off one percent. Sydney, Singapore and Mumbai sank more than one percent. Manila, Wellington, Taipei, Bangkok and Jakarta were also lower. Seoul sank 2.2 percent, hit by a simmering trade row between South Korea and Japan. Tokyo last week imposed restrictions on exports used by South Korea's tech companies in a dispute over court rulings linked to Japan's wartime forced labour policy. Samsung fell 2.8 percent and LG Display sank almost five percent. "Markets remain convinced the Fed will cut rates at the end of the month," said OANDA senior market analyst Edward Moya. "But the strong labour market has many questioning whether we will see just two rate cuts in 2019 and not what some call the required three to see US stocks make another 3-5 percent push higher into uncharted territory." He added that the focus will now turn to Fed boss Jerome Powell's congressional testimony this week, with investors hoping he will provide some forward guidance on the bank's plans. "The testimony this week will be crucial around how they are seeing the evolution of the US economy," Anne Anderson, at UBS Asset Management, told Bloomberg TV. Also up this week is the release of minutes from the Fed's June meeting, while US and Chinese officials are working to schedule top-level trade talks. On currency markets, the dollar maintained Friday's gains against the yen, pound and euro. And it surged more than three percent on the Turkish lira after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sacked the head of the country's central bank following months of tensions over high borrowing costs. Erdogan, who is battling to boost the struggling economy, has repeatedly railed against high interest rates and called for them to be lowered to stimulate growth. The removal of Murat Cetinkaya at the weekend fuelled speculation the bank will slash borrowing costs. Win Thin, global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co, wrote in a note: "Deputy governor Murat Uysal was named as the replacement, though we all know who really controls monetary policy now." European markets rebounded from opening losses. London rose 0.2 percent, while Frankfurt and Paris were each 0.1 percent higher. Tokyo stocks open lower on US falls, Iran concerns Tokyo stocks opened lower on Monday, tracking falls on Wall Street, as geopolitical worries linked to Iran added to the market's woes, reports BSS. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.35 percent or 76.43 points at 21,669.95 in early trade, while the broader Topix index was down 0.25 percent or 3.99 points at 1,588.59. US stocks retreated from records and lost ground Friday as better-thanexpected US job data clouded investors' hopes for steep cuts in interest rates in the world's biggest economy. "The good news from Friday night was that the US labour market remains in rude health, but the not so good news was the negative reaction" by US Treasury yields and US equities, Rodrigo Catril, senior strategist at National Australia Bank, said in a commentary. "The solid US jobs report triggered… a pullback in Fed rate cut expectations," he said. Geopolitical concerns may be weighing on the market "following news on Sunday that Iran had breached the nuclear deal's cap on its stockpile of low-enriched uranium," he added. Deutsche Bank says to slash 18,000 jobs by 2022 Chinese yuan strengthens slightly last week China's yuan strengthened slightly against a basket of currencies last week, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) index, reports BSS. The CFETS yuan exchange rate composite index, known as the CFETS RMB Index, which measures the yuan's strength relative to a basket of currencies, came in at 92.92 on July 5, the last trading day of last week, an increase of 0.26 points from a week earlier, according to the CFETS. The index compares the yuan to the value of 24 currencies, including the U.S. dollar, euro and Japanese yen, which was expanded from a basket of 13 currencies in 2016. Last week also saw an index that measures the yuan against the Bank for International Settlements currency basket up 0.28 points to 96.37. Sensex tanks over 400 pts on global selloff Domestic equity benchmark BSE Sensex cracked over 400 points in early trade Monday dragged by losses in HDFC twins, L&T and RIL stocks, amid heavy selloff in global equities, reports BSS. The 30-share index was trading 405.67 points, or 1.03 per cent, lower at 39,107.72 at 0930 hours. Similarly, the broader Nifty sank 128 points, or 1.08 per cent, to 11,683.15. Top losers in the Sensex pack included Hero MotoCorp, L&T, Maruti, Bajaj Auto, M&M, Tata Motors and HUL, falling up to 3.44 per cent. While, Yes Bank, HCL Tech, Sun Pharma, Infosys, ITC, Vedanta and PowerGrid were among the gainers, rising up to 6 per cent. In the previous session, the 30-share gauge finished 394.67 points, or 0.99 per cent, lower at 39,513.39, and the Nifty sank 135.60 points or 1.14 per cent, to 11,811.15, after the Union Budget proposal to raise public shareholding threshold fanned fears of oversupply of new papers in an already overbought market. On a net basis, foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 89.38 crore, while domestic institutional investors purchased shares to the tune of Rs 275.63 crore, provisional data available with stock exchanges showed Friday. Besides overhang from the Union Budget, domestic equities extended losses tracking a major selloff in global equities, traders said. Other Asian markets opened significantly lower as hopes of steep cuts in interest rates by the US Federal Reserve faded after the world's largest economy posted better-than-expected jobs data Friday. Shanghai Composite Index plunged 2.46 per cent, Hang Seng 1.64 per cent, Nikkei 0.99 per cent and Kospi tumbled 1.85 per cent in their respective early sessions. On the currency front, the Indian rupee depreciated 15 paise to 68.57 against the US dollar. Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude futures were trading 0.06 per cent higher at 64.27 per barrel. Put off by US, Chinese students eye other universities Caught in the crossfire of the US-China trade war, Chinese students are looking for alternative study destinations - threatening to turn off an important source of revenue for American universities, reports BSS. China accounts for nearly a third of foreign students on US campuses who pour billions of dollars into the economy, but in March their numbers dropped for the first time in a decade. Visa delays, concerns over being shut out of research projects and safety fears have turned off Chinese students, according to several admissions consultancies and nearly a dozen parents and students interviewed by AFP. Rival education powerhouses such as Britain, Australia and Canada are the biggest beneficiaries, a survey by New Oriental China's biggest private education provider said. Japan and South Korea - traditional study abroad destinations for the Chinese elite - and parts of Europe, especially Germany and Scandinavian countries with strong engineering programmes, have also seen an uptick in applications, the survey found. The chilling effect started mid-last year, after President Donald Trump's administration slashed the visa duration of students in science and technology fields from five years to one in some cases. "Now there's a lot of uncertainty on whether they can even finish their studies," said Gu Huini, founder of boutique college consultancy Zoom In. Over one third of the roughly 360,000 Chinese students in the US study in "STEM fields" - science, technology, engineering and mathematics - according to the Institute of International Education in New York. But the number of Chinese students in the US dipped by two percent in March compared to the previous year, the first drop since 2009, data from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows. Melissa Zhang, a high school senior in Beijing, said she has abandoned plans to go to the US and was instead taking German lessons, in the hope of getting into a robotics programme in Dresden. "I've already wasted a year preparing for my SATs," the 17-year-old said, referring to the standardised test needed to enter a US university. "But what's the point in going to the US if I might be shut out of a research lab, just because I am Chinese." Her mother, Mingyue, said "the American dream is losing its shine" to many Chinese students. "If America makes them feel unwelcome, they'll go elsewhere… this generation feels the whole world is open to them." Chinese students contributed $13 billion to the US economy last year, a figure that includes tuition fees and living expenses, according to NAFSA: Association of International Educators. Top US universities including Yale and Stanford have complained that the trade war has affected campus recruitment. Rafael Reif, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote in an open letter on June 25 that students and faculty felt "unfairly scrutinised, stigmatised and on edge - because of their Chinese ethnicity alone". The State Department has said the increased scrutiny was prompted by a rising number of students who were coopted by foreign intelligence while in the United States. Eric Wang, 25, a doctoral student at Purdue university in Indiana, said he was nervous about having to renew his visa every year. "It's difficult to plan long-term research projects or even think about going steady with your girlfriend," said Wang. Trump attempted to allay Chinese students' fears after reaching a trade war truce with President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit last week, saying they would be treated "just like anybody else". He also proposed a "smart person's waiver" that would make it easier for the brightest minds to get a Green Card allowing permanent residency. A Chinese government travel warning last month citing "gun violence and robberies" in the US has also given Chinese high school students and parents cold feet. "State media have been pumping up reports about crime in the US and families, especially from smaller Chinese cities, feel America isn't safe," said Li Shaowen, who organises foreign college tours. "We have over 250 families visiting universities in Europe and the UK during this summer break, while only 75 families are going to the US," he said. "The numbers were reverse last year." Chinese students and parents start hunting for prospective colleges two to three years before application deadlines. "The pipeline is drying up," said Dorothy Mae, an independent college consultant in Beijing. "US universities will see fewer students from China for several years." Germany's biggest lender Deutsche Bank said Sunday it would cut 18,000 jobs by 2022, as the former leading light of the country's financial sector looks to escape years of turmoil, reports BSS. The slashing of around one in five of its workforce, to 74,000 employees, is an unprecedented round of departures for Deutsche. The bank said the layoffs would reduce annual costs by six billion euros ($6.7 billion) over the same period. "Today we have announced the most fundamental transformation of Deutsche Bank in decades," chief executive Christian Sewing said, dubbing the scheme "a restart for Deutsche Bank". The lender did not immediately make clear where the axe would fall. But with executives looking to find synergies in the integration of subsidiary Postbank and central infrastructure roles, many jobs are likely to go in home country Germany. The new round of job cuts comes on top of some 6,000 already carried out over the past yer. Bosses expect the restructuring plan to sap second-quarter results by some three billion euros this year, making for a net loss of 2.8 billion. Over the whole year, Deutsche is likely to plunge back into the red after a brief flirtation with profitability in 2018. The bank does not plan to pay out dividends this year or next. " Last chance? - The restructuring could be a last chance for Deutsche after muchhyped merger talks with crosstown rival Commerzbank fell through earlier this year. Negotiations collapsed despite the backing of the finance ministry in Berlin, which feared seeing a vital link in the financing of the country's economy bought up from abroad. Over the past four years, the firm's market capitalisation has fallen by 75 percent, making it a potential target for takeovers by bigger fish. As markets closed Friday, Deutsche was worth 15 billion euros ($17 billion), placing it firmly at the back of the pack in a European industry dominated by the likes of HSBC (165 billion euros), Spain's Banco Santander (69 billion) and France's BNP Paribas (54 billion). "Deutsche plays in the first division, and should lay the foundations for things to stay that way" over the weekend, urged economy minister Peter Altmaier in the tabloid-style Bild's Sunday edition. Since he took the helm in early 2018, Sewing has attempted to refocus the sprawling group on stable revenue-generating business areas, including retail banking and so-called transaction banking for businesses. Meanwhile Deutsche's focus has shifted from its attempt to compete with US-based global giants back to its home turf of Germany and Europe. In particular, tough cuts to the former flagship investment banking unit have been on the agenda since May. Sunday's announcements target the once-proud division. Deutsche will stop almost all share trading activity, and is in talks with France's BNP Paribas to sell off some of its business and staff in the field. On Friday, Garth Ritchie, the head of Deutsche's South African investment banking unit, was first out of the door. The unit's business had fallen back by 20 percent in the first quarter of 2018 alone, and it was no longer bringing in the fat profits of former years. Especially in the US, it was for years plagued by lawsuits and scandals, including some linked to the so-called "Panama Papers" leak of sensitive documents about offshore dealings. On top of the rank-and-file cuts, Deutsche is also rebuilding its board, sending away compliance chief Sylvie Matherat and two other executives. The group will also create a socalled "bad bank" unit to host some 74 billion euros of low-quality assets, notably those linked to derivatives transactions - highly speculative financial products. Deutsche's woes are a microcosm of a struggling German banking sector that was once widely envied. Last year, more than 32,000 jobs were cut in the industry, or 5.4 percent of the total workforce of 565,000, according to Barkow Consulting figures. Bosses complain that low interest rates in the eurozone, sluggish economic growth and competition from new online platforms are sapping their performance. Md Mahbub ul Alam, Managing Director of Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd, inaugurating Financial Excellence Campaign with the slogan "Islami Bank with you for financial excellence and secured deposit" at Islami Bank Tower in the city on Monday. Additional Managing Director Mohammed Monirul Moula, Deputy Managing Directors Abu Reza Md Yeahia, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Qaisar Ali, Taher Ahmed Chowdhury and Md Omar Faruk Khan, among others, were present. Photo: Courtesy Power outage hits Venezuela's largest refinery complex: lawmaker Venezuela's largest refinery complex has been hit by a power outage, at a time of acute fuel shortages in parts of the crisistorn oil producer, an opposition lawmaker said Sunday, reports BSS. Luis Stefanelli, a deputy in the National Assembly, told AFP there was a "general blackout" at the Amuay and Cardon refinery complex Saturday night. "Access to both refineries has been closed and they have been taken over by the National Guard and officials of the SEBIN intelligence service," he said. "Some workers have been detained," Stefanelli added. Despite having the world's largest oil reserves, Venezuela has experienced growing fuel shortages as corruption, mismanagement and, more recently, US sanctions take their toll on the oil industry. Power failures are common in Venezuela and have grown in frequency since March especially in the interior of the country, which has also seen long lines at gasoline stations.State oil company PDVSA has made no comment on the situation, which Stefanelli said had left most of the Paraguana peninsula where the refineries are located without power. A Paraguana resident told AFP that telephone lines were down and surrounding areas "continue to be without light."Stefanelli said it was the third such incident at the refinery complex since 2015. According to Stefanelli, production at the Paraguana refineries has fallen to about 80,000 barrels of gasoline a day. At their peak they refined 950,000 barrels of crude a day, producing 280,000 barrels of gasoline and 220,000 barrels of gasoil for domestic consumption.
MISCELLANEOUS THURSDAY, JULY 11, 2019 11 Nushrat Jahan Nisa (Extreme Right), a Rover-Mate of Girls in Scout of Daffodil International University Air Rover Scout Group visiting Tiger Hill of India during Study Tour in India organized by Girls in Scout Division of Bangladesh Scout. Photo : Courtesy US returns first asylum seekers to violent Nuevo Laredo A U.S. policy to make asylum seekers wait in Mexico while their cases wind through clogged U.S. immigration courts expanded to a fourth Mexican border city Tuesday with the arrival of a first group of migrants to the violent city of Nuevo Laredo, reports UNB. The 10 migrants crossed the border to seek U.S. asylum Monday and will now have to wait in Mexico as their applications are processed. Lucía Ascencio of Venezuela had waited for three months in Nuevo Laredo with her husband and two young sons just for the chance to make her asylum petition in Laredo, Texas. She was stunned by her return to Mexico as they walked from the bridge carrying plastic bags containing a bottle of water, a bottle of juice and an orange. "We hadn't thought that they were going to send us back," she said. Her 1 killed, 8 rescued as under-construction building collapses in India One person was killed and eight others rescued after an underconstruction building collapsed Wednesday morning in southern Indian city of Bengaluru, officials said, reports UNB. The building collapsed in the Pulikeshi Nagar area of Bengaluru, the capital city of Karnataka. "One person identified as Sambu Kumar of Bihar was killed today after an under-construction building collapsed here," a police official said. "Eight people have been rescued." Following the collapse, police, firefighters and disaster response personnel reached the spot to carry out rescue operations. The injured according to officials have been removed to Bowring and Lady Curzon hospital. Municipal officials said the building was constructed in violation of the rules. "The building collapsed because an extra floor had been built, violating the rules," Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) mayor Gangambika Mallikarjun said. "I have instructed officials to take strict action and to demolish such buildings." Deadly accidents due to failing infrastructure (either new or old) is common in India. Construction experts blame the lax administration and corruption in India for flouting building rules that often results in using poor quality materials, inadequate supervision and poor safety standards for workers. family was given a date in September to return for the next step in their process. A spokeswoman with Mexico's immigration agency confirmed that the first group of 10 returned Tuesday under the program, which is formally known as the Migrant Protection Protocols. U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials did not immediately comment. Nuevo Laredo marks the first new city for the policy since U.S. and Mexican officials struck an agreement on June 7 that called for its immediate expansion. Extending what U.S. officials name the "Migrant Protection Protocols" policy was a key piece of the accord to stave off President Donald Trump's threat of tariffs to see if new measures reduced the flow of migrants. U.S. officials announced Tuesday that UN report: Climate change is undermining poverty eradication Hunger is growing and the world is not on track to end extreme poverty by 2030 and meet other U.N. goals, mainly because progress is being undermined by the impact of climate change and increasing inequality, a U.N. report said Tuesday, reports UNB. The report on progress toward achieving the 17 U.N. goals notes achievements in some areas, including a 49% fall in child mortality between 2000 and 2017 as well as electricity now reaching nearly 90% of the world's population. But Liu Zhenmin, the U.N. undersecretarygeneral for economic and social affairs, said that despite some advances, "monumental challenges remain." He said at a news conference the most urgent area for action is climate change, which "may impact the progress made over the last several decades" in reducing poverty and improving life for millions of people around the world. According to the report, biodiversity loss is happening at an accelerated rate, and "the risk of species extinction has worsened by almost 10 percent over the last 25 years." Global temperatures have risen, ocean acidity China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 2.7 percent year on year in June, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Wednesday, reports UNB. The reading, in line with market expectations, had the same year-on-year expansion as that of May. On a monthly basis, consumer prices edged down 0.1 percent last month. For the first half of this year, CPI increased 2.2 percent compared with the same period last year, according to the NBS."Extreme poverty today is concentrated and overwhelmingly affects rural populations," the report said. "Increasingly, it is exacerbated by violent conflicts and climate change." Food prices grew 8.3 percent year on year last month, up from 7.7 percent in May. However, the prices edged down 0.3 percent the number of arrests and people stopped at the Mexican border dropped 28% in June compared to May to 104,344. That decrease was 11 percentage points more than the same period in 2018, suggesting that it was more than the usual summer decline. The June arrest tally marks the first month-to-month this year, which has been marked by large number of Central American asylum-seeking families overwhelming Border Patrol detention facilities. "We are working with the government of Mexico to expand Migrant Protection Protocols to allow the U.S. to more effectively assist legitimate asylum-seekers and individuals fleeing persecution and deter migrants with false or meritless claims from making the journey," the Department of Homeland Security said. has increased 26% since pre-industrial times and "investment in fossil fuels continues to be higher than investment in climate activities," it said. Liu said the report also shows "inequality is rising and too many people are left behind." He said that "is another big challenge for the world." The first of the 17 goals adopted by world leaders in 2015 is to eliminate extreme poverty - people living on less than $1.90 a day - and the second goal is to end hunger, achieve food security and promote sustainable agriculture. According to the report, neither goal is likely to be achieved by 2030. While the number of people living in extreme poverty declined to 8.6% of the world's population in 2018, the report said the pace is slowing and projections suggest that 6% of people will still be living in extreme poverty by 2030 if current trends continue. Francesca Perucci, chief statistician in the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said an estimated 736 million people still living in extreme poverty globally, including 413 million in sub-Saharan Africa. China's inflation remains stable at 2.7 pct in June on a monthly basis. In June, fruit prices hit a record high by climbing 42.7 percent from a lower base last year and 5.1 percent month on month. The price of pork expanded 3.6 percent month on month due to tight supply. Non-food prices rose 1.4 percent year on year, 0.2 percentage points lower than that of May. The CPI in urban and rural areas both registered a 2.7-percent growth year on year. NBS official Dong Yaxiu said the carryover effects resulted in a rise of 1.5 percentage points in the CPI growth in June, while new factors contributed to 1.2 percentage points. Wednesday's data also showed that China's producer price index, which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, rose 0.3 percent year on year in the first half of 2019. Japan's Hayabusa2 space probe begins descent to asteroid to collect samples Japan's Hayabusa2 space probe on Wednesday began its descent to an asteroid called Ryugu about 250 million km from earth where it will collect samples from an artificial crater that may contain water and organic substances, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said, reports UNB. This will be the second time the probe has landed on the asteroid, with the latest landing aimed at collecting debris from a crater made in April by the probe when it fired a projectile at the Ryugu's surface, the agency said. Organic substances and water may be contained in the new samples to be collected by Hayabusa2, and along with a number of exploratory activities, JAXA's mission to Ryugu and the probe's findings are hoped to possibly reveal clues about the solar system's evolution and possibly the beginning of life itself. According to JAXA, the probe began its descent at around 11:00 a.m. local time, from a position of 20 km above the asteroid's surface, at a speed of 40 centimeters per second. When the probe is five km above Ryugu's surface on Wednesday night, its speed of descent will be slowed to 10 cm per second, said JAXA. UN calls for ceasefire in southern Libya The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) on Tuesday called for an immediate ceasefire in southern Libya following tribal fighting, reports UNB. "UNSMIL is greatly concerned about ongoing hostilities in Murzuq that have regrettably caused several casualties," the mission said. "The mission expresses sympathy to the families of the victims and calls upon all parties to immediately end the fighting and exercise restraint. UNSMIL offers its good offices to resolve disputes through dialogue," the mission added. GD-1094/19 (8 x 4) Colombia court orders ex-rebel leader wanted in US detained Colombia's Supreme Court issued an arrest order for a blind ex-rebel leader wanted in the U.S. on charges of conspiring to traffic cocaine after he failed to appear Tuesday for questioning in a case that has touched a nerve in Colombia, reports UNB. Seuxis Hernandez went missing in late June after abandoning his security detail while visiting a transition zone for former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia rebels making the shift to civilian life under a 2016 peace accord. There was no order for his capture at the time, but the United Nations peace monitoring mission expressed concern for his safety while others openly speculated that he fled in order to escape potential prosecution. Arriving at court Tuesday, attorneys for the man best known by the alias Jesus Santrich said they have had no contact with him but believed he likely skipped his scheduled court date over concerns for his life. Over 100 former ex-combatants have been killed since the peace accord's signing. President Ivan Duque and others who have been clamoring for Santrich's arrest praised the Supreme Court's decision. "This decision is the one expected by all Colombians who are angry over this show of evading justice by the now fugitive alias Jesus Santrich," he said. The case has inflamed tensions over the peace accord to end Latin America's Ivanka Trump is applauding the recent passage of legislation in Ivory Coast related to changes she pushed during her April trip to Africa, reports UNB. The country is in the process of updating its family code to make it more equitable to women - a move President Donald Trump's eldest daughter and senior adviser praised as "a great step forward." "We are pleased to recognize and applaud the Ivorian government's recent passage of the marriage law, which supports women's equal management of household assets," she said in a statement to The Associated Press. While the legislation proposing the changes had already been in the pipeline at the time of Ivanka Trump's visit, her team is pointing to it as a sign of the potential impact of the global women's initiative she championed. It aims to empower 50 million women in developing countries around the world by 2025 by providing job training and financial support and supporting legal and regulatory changes. The White House's Women's Global Development and Prosperity Initiative was launched in February and received an initial investment of $50 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development. In her conversations with Ivory Coast longest-running conflict. Many Colombians were incensed when the country's nascent peace tribunal ordered Santrich released after a year behind bars. He was later allowed to take a seat in congress as stipulated in the peace agreement, and the sight of the former combatant in a house of power further angered his critics. Members of the political party formed by former FARC rebels denounced Santrich's failure to appear and urged him to comply with the accords. "Those who don't abide by the agreement should have to deal with the consequences," said Carlos Lozada, a former rebel who is now a senator. Santrich was an early proponent of peace who served in a key role during four years of negotiations held in Cuba with the Colombian government. He denied U.S. charges that he conspired to ship 10 tons of cocaine and promised to comply with the legal system as the Supreme Court investigated the case. Colombia's Special Jurisdiction for Peace ruled in May that Santrich should be released, contending authorities hadn't provided conclusive evidence to prove the alleged crimes took place after the accord signing. The agreement allows rebels to avoid extradition and jail time for crimes that happened before the signing if they provide a full account of any wrongdoings and make reparations to victims. Ivory Coast passes legislation encouraged by Ivanka Trump Vice President Daniel Duncan during her visit, Ivanka Trump said, she and her team encouraged the passage of legislation to advance women's rights and legal status, including doing away with laws that restricted women from owning or inheriting property. Under the revised code, husbands and wives will have more equal say in managing household assets and making financial decisions. That's in addition to other changes, such as new measures to ensure that widows are entitled to inheritances, additional protections against domestic violence, and setting the minimum age for marriage at 18 for both women and men. Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara's governing coalition dissolved in 2012 after some members resigned in protest of a proposed marriage law that would have made wives the joint heads of households. This time, however, the measures have drawn little protest. W-GDP and the Millennium Challenge Corporation, an independent U.S. foreign assistance agency, said in a joint statement that the laws' passage "signals a new direction in Côte d'Ivoire that recognizes the critical role women play in advancing economic prosperity in their family, community, and for their country."
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