The sweet aroma of mutton smoke drifts through a maze of crumbling alleyways, a barbecue tang that for decades has lured meat-eaters from across Pakistan to the frontier city of Peshawar.

The ancient city, capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has retained its reputation for some of Pakistan’s tastiest cuisine despite bearing the brunt of the country’s bloody war with militancy.

University student Mohammad Fahad had long heard tales of Peshawar’s famed mutton.

“Earlier we heard of Peshawar being a dangerous place,” he told AFP — but security has improved in recent years, and he finally made the hours-long journey from the eastern city of Lahore to see if it could live up to the hype.

“We are here just to see what the secret to this barbecue is,” he says, excitedly awaiting his aromatic portion in Namak Mandi — “Salt Market” — located in the heart of Peshawar.

The hearty cuisine comes from generations-old recipes emanating from the nearby Pashtun tribal lands along the border with Afghanistan.

It is feted for its simplicity compared with the intricate curries and spicy dishes from Pakistan’s eastern plains and southern coast.

“Its popularity is owed to the fact that it is mainly meat-based and that always goes down well across the country,” says Pakistani cookbook author Sumayya Usmani.

The famed Nisar Charsi (hashish smoker) Tikka — named after its owner’s renowned habit — in Namak Mandi chalks up its decades of success to using very little in the way of spices.

For its barbecue offerings, tikkas — cuts of meat — are generously salted and sandwiched on skewers between cubes of fat for tenderness and taste, and slow-cooked over a wood fire.

Its other famed dish, karahi — or curry stew — is made with slices of mutton pan-cooked in heaped chunks of white fat carved from the sheep’s rump, along with sparing amounts of green chilli and tomatoes.

Both plates are served with stacks of oven-fresh naan and bowls of fresh yogurt.

“It is the best food in the entire world,” gushes co-owner Nasir Khan, adding that the restaurant sources some of the best meat in the country and serves customers from across Pakistan daily along with local regulars.

By Khan’s calculations, the restaurant goes through hundreds of kilograms of meat a day — or about two dozen sheep — with hundreds if not thousands served.

Hash and meat

The clientele at Nisar’s Charsi and other Salt Market eateries usually arrive in large groups, with experienced customers ordering food by the kilo and guiding cleaver-wielding butchers to their preferred cuts, which are then cooked immediately.

Peshawar’s improved security has given business a boost, Khan said.

“We had a lot of troubles and pains,” he admitted, remembering friends lost during the years of devastating bombings and suicide attacks.

But some customers said they had been loyal to Peshawar’s cuisine even during the bloodshed.

“I’ve been coming here for more than 20 years now,” said Hammad Ali, 35, who travelled to Peshawar with eight other colleagues from Pakistan’s capital Islamabad for a gluttonous lunch.

“This taste is unique, that’s why we have come all this way.”

Orders generally take close to an hour to prepare, with customers quaffing tea and occasionally smoking hash ahead of the meal.

“They smoke it openly here,” explained Nisar Charsi’s head chef Mukam Pathan. “When someone smokes one joint of hash, they eat around two kilos of meat.”

For those looking for a little less lamb, the city’s renowned chapli kebab offers an alternative.

The kebab is typically made of minced beef and a mix of spices kneaded into patties and deep fried on a simmering iron skillet.

Rokhan Ullah — owner of Tory Kebab House — said the dish is most popular on cold, winter days that see ravenous customers flocking to its four branches across the city, overwhelming staff and making orders hard to fill.

“They eat it with passion… because one enjoys hot food when the weather is cold,” explained Ullah, who plans to expand in major cities across Pakistan.

Customer Muhib Ullah has been eating kebabs three to four days a week for the last decade.

“This is the tastiest and most famous food in Peshawar,” he declared.

Hours-long meals

For regular barbecue eater Omar Aamir Aziz, it is not just the heaping portions of meat that attract foodies to Peshawari cuisine, but the culture that has built up around the meal.

Other cities in Pakistan and abroad have more in the way of entertainment and nightlife options.

But in deeply conservative Peshawar, eating out is the primary leisure activity.

Meals tend to last for hours after the meat has been consumed as conversation continues over steaming cups of green tea.

“That’s what we have and that’s our speciality,” says Aziz. “We’ve been doing this for two, three, four hundred years.”
…

New Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro issued an executive order Wednesday making the Agriculture Ministry responsible for decisions concerning lands claimed by indigenous peoples, in a victory for agribusiness that will likely enrage environmentalists.

The temporary decree, which will expire unless it is ratified within 120 days by Congress, strips power over land claim decisions from indigenous affairs agency FUNAI.

It says the Agriculture Ministry will now be responsible for “identification, delimitation, demarcation and registration of lands traditionally occupied by indigenous people.”

The move stoked concern among environmentalists and rights groups that the far-right president, who took office Tuesday, will open up the vast Amazon rainforest and other ecologically sensitive areas of Brazil to greater commercial exploitation.

The executive order also moves the Brazilian Forestry Service, which promotes the sustainable use of forests and is linked to the Environment Ministry, under Agriculture Ministry control.

Additionally, the decree states that the Agriculture Ministry will be in charge of the management of public forests.

NGOs criticized

Bolsonaro, who enjoys strong support from Brazil’s powerful agribusiness sector, said during his campaign he was considering such a move, arguing that protected lands should be opened to commercial activities.

Brazil’s 900,000 indigenous people make up less than 1 percent of the population, but live on lands that stretch for 106.7 million hectares (264 million acres), or 12.5 percent of the national territory.

“Less than a million people live in these isolated places in Brazil, where they are exploited and manipulated by NGOs,” Bolsonaro tweeted, referring to non-profit groups. “Let us together integrate these citizens and value all Brazilians.”

Critics say Bolsonaro’s plan to open indigenous reservations to commercial activity will destroy native cultures and languages by integrating the tribes into Brazilian society.

Environmentalists say the native peoples are the last custodians of the Amazon, which is the world’s largest rainforest and is vital for climate stability.

Adding to the gloom for NGOs, Bolsonaro also signed an executive order to give his government potentially far-reaching and restrictive powers over non-governmental organizations working in Brazil.

The temporary decree mandates that the office of the Government Secretary, Carlos Alberto Dos Santos Cruz, “supervise, coordinate, monitor and accompany the activities and actions of international organizations and non-governmental organizations in the national territory.”

Good news for farm lobby

After she was sworn in on Wednesday, new Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina Dias defended the farm sector from accusations it has grown at the expense of the environment, adding that the strength of Brazil’s farmers had generated “unfounded accusations” from unnamed international groups.

Dias used to be the head of the farm caucus in Brazil’s Congress, which has long pushed for an end to land measures that it argues hold back the agricultural sector.

“Brazil is a country with extremely advanced environmental legislation and is more than able to preserve its native forests,” Dias said. “Our country is a model to be followed, never a transgressor to be punished.”

In comments to reporters after her speech, she said that decisions over land rights disputes were a new responsibility for the Agriculture Ministry. However, she indicated that in practice, the demarcation of land limits would fall to a council of ministries, without giving further details.

Bartolomeu Braz, the president of the national chapter of Aprosoja, a major grain growers association, cheered Wednesday’s move to transfer indigenous land demarcation to the Agriculture Ministry.

“The new rules will be interesting to the farmers and the Indians, some of whom are already producing soybeans. The Indians want to be productive too,” he added.

Environmental fears

Three-time presidential candidate and former Environment Minister Marina Silva, who was beaten by Bolsonaro in October’s election, reacted with horror to the move.

“Bolsonaro has begun his government in the worst possible way,” she wrote on Twitter.

Dinamã Tuxá, a member of Brazil’s Association of Indigenous Peoples, said many isolated communities viewed Bolsonaro’s administration with fear.

“We are very afraid because Bolsonaro is attacking indigenous policies, rolling back environmental protections, authorizing the invasion of indigenous territories and endorsing violence against indigenous peoples,” said Tuxá.

Under the new plan, the indigenous affairs agency FUNAI will be moved into a new ministry for family, women and human rights.

A former army captain and longtime member of Congress, Bolsonaro said at his inauguration on Tuesday that he had freed the country from “socialism and political correctness.”

An admirer of Donald Trump, Bolsonaro has suggested he will follow the U.S. president’s lead and pull out of the Paris climate change accord.

In addition to the indigenous lands decree, the new administration issued decrees affecting the economy and society on Wednesday, while forging closer ties with the United States.
…

Lawyers for South Koreans forced into wartime labor have taken legal steps to seize the South Korean assets of a Japanese company they are trying to pressure into obeying a court ruling to provide them compensation.

Lawyer Lim Jae-sung said Thursday the court in the city of Pohang could decide in two or three weeks whether to accept the request to seize the 2.34 million shares Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. holds in its joint venture with South Korean steelmaker POSCO, which are estimated to be worth around $9.7 million.

Lim said Nippon Steel has been refusing to discuss compensation despite a ruling by South Korea’s Supreme Court in October that the company should pay 100 million won ($88,000) each to four plaintiffs who worked at its steel mills during Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. The court made a similar ruling on Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in November, triggering a diplomatic spats between the countries.

It’s unlikely the Japanese companies will follow the South Korean rulings. The Japanese government has expressed strong regret over the rulings and considers all wartime compensation issues settled by a treaty both countries signed in 1965.

Lawyers for forced laborers for Nippon Steel had set a Dec. 24 deadline for the company to respond to their request to begin compensation discussions, but the steelmaker did not respond. Lim said the lawyers decided not to file for a court order that would force Nippon Steel to sell its shares in the South Korean joint venture because they still hope to “amicably” settle the matter through negotiations.

Among the four plaintiffs in the Nippon Steel case, only 94-year-old Lee Chun-sik has survived the legal battle, which extended nearly 14 years.

South Korea says Japan used about 220,000 wartime Korean forced laborers before the end of World War II.
…

Національний банк України повідомив, на яку суму оштрафував банк «Сбербанк», що є дочірньою структурою однойменного російського банку в Україні, за повторне здійснення ризикової діяльності у сфері фінансового моніторингу на загальну суму понад 3 мільярди гривень – сума штрафу склала майже 95 мільйонів гривень.

Як мовиться в повідомленні Нацбанку, він застосував щодо АТ «Сбербанк» захід впливу у вигляді штрафу в розмірі 94 737 499,80 гривень. Ризикова діяльність, як інформує НБУ, полягала, зокрема, у продовженні проведення (у тому числі на підставі документів, що не відповідають дійсності) великомаcштабних фінансових операцій видачі з рахунків клієнтів-юридичних осіб готівкових коштів, які містять ознаки таких, що можуть бути пов’язані з легалізацією кримінальних доходів, здійсненням фіктивного підприємництва. В НБУ нагадали, що вже не раз застосовували щодо «Сбербанку» заходи впливу через аналогічні фінансові операції у 2015 і 2017 роках. Крім того, ще однією причиною нинішнього штрафу стало проведення фінансових операцій, що полягали в розрахунках платіжними картками за кордоном у закладах, які проводять азартні ігри.

«Так, після отримання попереднього акта перевірки НБУ, в якому було зафіксовано здійснення банком ризикової діяльності на загальну суму понад 1 мільярд гривень, які, зокрема, полягали у видачі з рахунків клієнтів-юридичних осіб готівкових коштів, банк не припинив таку діяльність, змінив схему видачі готівки і в багато разів збільшив обсяг операцій, які містять ознаки таких, що можуть бути пов’язані з легалізацією кримінальних доходів, здійсненням фіктивного підприємництва», – навели в Нацбанку приклад порушень «Сбербанку».

Крім того, до цього ж банку НБУ вжив іще один захід впливу, цього разу у вигляді письмового застереження. Причина, мовиться в повідомленні, – незабезпечення виявлення фінансових операцій, що підлягають обов’язковому фінансовому моніторингу; неналежне виявлення та вивчення публічних діячів; недотримання порядку надання інформації спеціально уповноваженому органові; порушення порядку зупинення фінансових операцій; а також за здійснення ризикової діяльності у сфері фінансового моніторингу, яка полягала, зокрема, у здійсненні операцій за рахунками клієнтів-юридичних осіб на підставі документів, що містять недостовірну інформацію.

Український «Сбербанк», дочірній банк однойменного російського банку з російським державним капіталом, від 2017 року перебуває в Україні під низкою санкцій, разом зі ще кількома схожими дочірніми компаніями російських державних банків. Російський «Сбербанк» того ж року оголосив про бажання якнайшвидше вийти з українського ринку, але наразі не зміг продати свою «дочку» в Україні.

Відділення «Сбербанку» в Україні також час від часу зазнають нападів радикально налаштованих націоналістів, які посилаються на належність цього банку банкові з країни-агресора, якою в Україні визнана Росія.
…

When Mahmoud Othman tried to figure a way to save his cafe business in the beleaguered Gaza Strip, he was amazed by online videos of tourists in Turkey getting fish pedicures.

That got him thinking and a unique idea was born.

After getting Israeli approval, he recently imported hundreds of Garra rufa fish, a species of small freshwater fish nicknamed “doctor fish,” from Turkey and added a fish spa section to his hookah bar and cafe in Gaza.

The fish, which feed off the top layers of the toughened, dead skin of the feet, have been used in spas as a peeling method for years around the world.

“We wanted to introduce a new idea and service at the cafe,” Othman said. “Doctor fish has remedial and recreational sides.”

Among the benefits, he believes the treatment “helps the body get rid of negative energy.”

A 30-minute session costs 30 shekels, about $8, a hefty sum for most of Gaza’s 2 million inhabitants. Gazans in the coastal territory are struggling to get by under an 11-year-old blockade by Israel and Egypt that has devastated the local economy.

The Israeli blockade has made it difficult to import many goods into the strip. Othman said it took him three attempts and over a month to get the necessary permits to bring the fish into Gaza.

He didn’t know what to expect but business has been surprisingly brisk — despite unemployment soaring over 50 percent and half of Gaza residents living under the poverty line.

Othman said he gets 30 to 40 customers a day. Many of them see the service not only as good for the health, but also as a small luxury and temporary escape from the difficult situation around them.

For four years, Mohammed al-Omari, 25, has suffered from warts that made it hard for him to wear shoes. Upon an advice from a friend, he tried the fish treatment and now believes it works for his condition.

“The first time I tried it, I had a very beautiful feeling. I came for a second, third and today a fourth time,” he said after drying his feet and putting on socks. “When I find something to relieve the pain and improve my mentality, 30 shekels becomes nothing.”

On a recent evening, seven young men sat in a room lit by blue neon lights, pants rolled to the knee and feet dipped into glass tubs. As the tiny fish clustered around their toes, the customers chatted or touched and swiped their smartphones.

“It’s a beautiful thing,” said Mahmoud al-Dairi, who came for the leisure factor.

Many of those frequenting the cafe are unaware of widespread health warnings over fish pedicures — especially the high possibility of infections. Several U.S. states and Canadian provinces consider the practice unsanitary and some animal rights groups denounce it altogether.

But Othman is aware of the pitfalls.

He said he has a strict set of procedures to sanitize the 16 tubs by giving the fish a respite of half an hour after every session and obliging the customers to wash their feet twice and apply sterilizers before dunking their feet.

 
…

З 1 січня в Україні набрали чинності нові правила проведення валютно-обмінних операцій. Про це повідомляє прес-служба Національного банку України.

«Зміни затверджено постановою Правління Національного банку України №63 «Про внесення змін до деяких нормативно-правових актів Національного банку України» від 07 червня 2018 року. Вони набувають чинності з 01 липня 2018 року. Для впровадження нових вимог, що стосуються застосування РРО під час проведення обміну валют через платіжні пристрої та оформлення відповідних розрахункових документів РРО, квитанцій та чеків банкомата, фінансовим установам надано шестимісячний перехідний період… Проводити валютно-обмінні операції за новими правилами вони почнуть з 1 січня 2019 року», – йдеться в повідомленні.

Зокрема, регулятор надає можливість банкам та фінансовим установам проводити валютно-обмінні операції через платіжні пристрої.
…

Many of today’s jobs did not exist 10 years ago. And a decade from now, technology will likely replace some jobs we do today. What can workers do when machines become a prominent part of almost every industry? VOA’s Elizabeth Lee finds out from a technical college in Los Angeles.
…

Laborers milled around an unfinished eight-story building in an expansive field in Konza dotted with zebra and antelope — the only visible sign of progress in a decade-old plan to make Kenya into Africa’s leading technology hub by 2030.

Grandiose plans, red tape and a lack of funding have left Konza Technopolis — the $14.5 billion new city to be built some 60 km (37 miles) southeast of Nairobi — way behind schedule on its goal of having 20,000 people on site by 2020.

“It has taken too long and I think people have moved on,” said tech entrepreneur Josiah Mugambi, founder of Alba.one, a Nairobi-based software company, who was initially excited by the government’s ambitious project.

Dubbed the Silicon Savannah, Konza aims to become a smart city — using tech to manage water and electricity efficiently and reduce commuting time — and a solution to the rapid, unplanned urbanization which has plagued existing cities.

About 40 percent of Africa’s 1 billion people live in towns and cities and the World Bank predicts the urban population will double over the next 25 years, adding pressure to already stretched infrastructure.

Konza’s dream is to become a top business process outsourcing hub by 2030, with on-site universities training locals to feed into a 200,000-strong tech-savvy workforce providing IT support and call center services remotely.

But the first building has yet to be completed on the 5,000-acre former cattle ranch, three years after breaking ground, and business has shifted its focus to other African countries, like Rwanda, with competing visions to become modern tech hubs.

“Nobody can wait that long for a city to be built. For a tech entrepreneur, they think about where their startup will be two to three years down the line,” said Mugambi.

Other smart cities planned across Africa include Nigeria’s Eko Atlantic City near Lagos that will house 250,000 people on land reclaimed from the sea, Ghana’s Hope City and an Ethiopian city styled as the real Wakanda after the film “Black Panther.”

Utopian

Bringing such utopian schemes to life is no easy task for African governments that are struggling to provide adequate roads, power, water and security to their existing cities.

“Upgrading infrastructure in places like Kibera (slum) in Nairobi to provide water and a better sewerage system is equally as important as building a new city such as Konza,” said Abdu Muwonge, a senior urban specialist with the World Bank in Kenya.

Some critics say Konza was ill-conceived from the start.

“The vision is wrong; the vision is too big,” said Aly-Khan Satchu, a Nairobi-based independent financial analyst.

“This is miles from anywhere. There are not leveraging the existing infrastructure … It is assuming that you can bring in academia, you can bring in venture capital, you can bring in corporates.”

The first serious hurdle arose in 2012 when the National Land Commission (NLC), which manages public land, introduced a cumbersome land acquisition procedure, said Bitange Ndemo, who led a team that conceived Konza Technopolis in 2008.

“The NLC was saying we should follow the processes of acquiring public land, which would take years to complete,” Ndemo, now an associate professor of business at the University of Nairobi, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The delays caused at least one deal with a German university to fall through, he said, as the process was much slower than the old one where investors signed deals directly with government ministries which took care of land leases.

To resolve this, the government transferred ownership of the site to the Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KoTDA), set up in 2012 to co-ordinate development of the new city, which now allocates land to investors on 50-year renewable leases.

Cold Feet

Financing has also proven a major issue.

In its strategic plan, the government promised to fund 10 percent of Konza, laying the infrastructure, while the private sector would come in with the rest of the money to build universities, offices, housing and hotels.

But the government was slow to contribute its share and has yet to pass a law to create KoTDA as a legal entity which would make it easier to sign contracts with external lenders, said Lawrence Esho, one of Konza’s project planners until 2013.

“They are way behind schedule partly because the government took time to give Konza money,” he said, adding that no money came in until 2013.

“This stopped any work from starting at the site and investors may have developed cold feet as they waited.”

KoTDA’s chief executive, John Tanui, said the government has committed to invest more than 80 billion shillings ($780 million).

“When I say committed does not mean we have absorbed. Our absorption is less than 10 percent of that figure,” he said, without elaborating.

The government has stepped up funding since 2017, said Abraham Odeng, deputy secretary at Kenya’s Information Communications and Technology ministry, without giving figures.

Odeng pointed to a 40 billion shilling contract signed in 2017 with an Italian firm to build roads, water and sewerage infrastructure by 2021, funded by the Italian government.

“That is a concessional loan, which is a long-term loan that the Kenyan government will pay,” he said.

Drop in the Ocean

But Kenya’s growing reliance on loans is causing jitters, with the International Monetary Fund warning of an increased risk of default.

The Washington-based lender forecast Kenya’s total public debt will reach 63 percent of economic output or GDP for 2018, up from 53 percent in 2016, citing the government’s public investment drive and revenue shortfalls.

The World Bank’s Muwonge said the issue is eliminating challenges for the private sector to do business.

“Getting Konza city off the ground will require that we pull in private capital with concessions for them to deliver certain kinds of infrastructure for which the government may not have resources,” he said.

Five local investors, including Nairobi-based software developer Craft Silicon and the state-run Kenya Electricity Transmission Company, are expected to build offices, residential buildings and hotels by 2020, KoTDA head Tanui said.

But critics say it is not enough.

“What (investors) have allocated so far is still a drop in the ocean,” said Ndemo, the former government technocrat.

And international interest is shifting elsewhere.

Rwanda — widely regarded as the least corrupt country in East Africa — launched its Kigali Innovation City in 2015, designed to host 50,000 people in universities and tech companies on a 70-hectare site outside the capital.

The $2 billion plan, due for completion by 2020, is seven times cheaper than Konza.

“All these other (cities) have better proximity, have better density and have better collaborative feedback loops,” said financial analyst Satchu. “We are now at a serious disadvantage vis-a-vis these other countries.”

($1 = 102.5000 Kenyan shillings)
…

Think of public spaces in big cities, and formal parks, bustling markets and grand squares come to mind.

Think again.

In the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, residents have redrawn the map and come up with innovative ways for locals to congregate in their ancient and fast-changing city.

A boxing ring was built on a bridge. Next to it — architects installed art to amuse commuters as they hurried over the river.

The grimy gaps between garages were turned into a ‘stadium’ where locals could face off over dominoes. Inside the disused garages, bakeries, barbers and beauty salons plied their trade.

It is not how most cities do public spaces, but Tbilisi — which stands at the crossroads of Europe and Asia — has a long history shaped by diverse masters, all of whom left their architectural imprint on the Caucasus.

As the city shakes off decades of Soviet rule and reinvents itself again, developers have bent once-tight planning rules and a building boom is underway — one that is changing the face of the city and jeopardizing the open areas where Georgians meet.

“Left behind … (in) the construction boom, public spaces are still important and constitute a resource, a big treasure to be preserved,” says Nano Zazanashvili, head of the urban policy and research division at Tbilsi’s Department of Urban Development, a city office. “The main challenge of the City Hall is to protect these areas.”

Boxing Bridge

The DKD bridge — which connects two Soviet-era residential districts — is a perfect example of how locals adapted centrally-imposed urban design to fit their own suburban needs.

Flat dwellers in this northeastern sprawl live in the sort of anonymous, concrete blocks typical of any Soviet city.

Beauty is not their selling point, so in the 1990s architects installed informal shops, a hotel and a boxing gym on the bridge, which connects two identikit micro-districts.

The bridge building was part of an outdoor exhibition created for the Tbilisi Architecture Biennial earlier this year.

The event – the first since Georgia regained independence in 1991 – brought together experts to study the city’s rapid transformation and to involve locals in the debate.

“It is the very beginning, not even a first step,” Tinatin Gurgenidze, co-founder of the Biennial, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “The local community needs to understand what is the necessity of working on these issues.”

Rich Mix

Downtown, the cityscape makes for an eclectic backdrop.

Deco mansions jostle with Soviet constructivism. Ancient sulphur baths and tiny churches squat at the feet of futuristic skyscrapers, while rickety wooden houses lean into the hills, their gaily painted balconies perched in thin air.

Much of this history is fading into oblivion, sagging walls propped up with outsize beams to stop whole ghost streets crashing to dust.

Other parts of town are bulldozed and built over.

The city center is a decade into a frenetic construction boom, but the drab Gldani suburb mostly cleaves to its 1970s integrity, an era when uniform blocks were built to accommodate workers relocated from older, central neighborhoods.

This dormitory suburb became the area of the city with the highest density of population – and as communism and central control began to crumble, residents stole the chance to tack on ad-hoc balconies, garages and makeshift gardens.

With Georgian independence came a headlong rush to architectural deregulation, free of any supervision or control, changing the look, feel and use of once sacred public spaces.

“People came up with their own solutions to the problems,” said Gurgenidze, who trained in Georgia as an architect. “The informal structures need to be taken into consideration when decision makers and architects plan the future of these areas.”

Informal and Changed

Take the garages — erected in front of flats to park cars in the 1990s, they were later transformed into basic fruit and vegetable shops, bakeries, barbers and beauty salons.

Rented for 40-100 lari ($15 to £38) a month, the self-declared shops generate extra income for the residents and many were legalized after the fact into formal commercial spaces.

Now they face a possible next life.

The mayor of Tbilisi, former soccer star Kakha Kaladze, this year launched an initiative with local backing to replace the ‘garages’ with playgrounds or gardens.

So far, the plan has had limited success.

But according to architect Nikoloz Lekveishvili, locals are regaining the tiny spaces in between to play dominoes, soak up the greenery and relax with neighbors.

“People see this public space as an opportunity,” he said.

Lali Pertenavi, an artist who grew up in Gldani, temporarily turned Block 76 — a local residential building — into an exhibition space in October as part of the biennial. Residents opened their homes to artists, who in turn transformed them into social spaces recalling the best of Soviet-era collectivism.

While a master plan for the whole city is under discussion at municipal level, public spaces for ordinary people are low in the pecking order of priorities.

“Public spaces and green areas are a hot topic in the local debate but people don’t have enough time to fight for it,” said Anano Tsintsabadze, a lawyer and activist managing the Initiative for a Pubic Space, an NGO that focuses on urban planning and supports residents fighting for public spaces.

In parts of the city, such as Saburtalo and Didi Digomi, the community is slowly mobilizing against the privatization of public spaces amid a drive to keep them free and accessible.

“The social tissue has grown more than the local government.

People know what happens in Europe and are asking for more organised, clean urban spaces,” said architect Nikoloz Lekveishvili, co-founder of Timm Architecture, an international network stretching from Milan to Moscow, Istanbul to Tbilisi.

($1 = 2.6550 laris)
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During the past year, the United States and China have clashed increasingly over trade, their visions for the world and national security. In 2019, the question of whether the world’s two biggest economies can work out a trade deal is something that is set to have an impact not only on their relationship, but the broader Chinese economy as well.

Going forward, the trade war will be a big part of the story because of the uncertainty it creates, noted Scott Kennedy, director of the Project on Chinese Business and Political Economy at the Washington D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“Not because of high tariffs per se, but the effect that it has on Chinese companies’ willingness to invest at home and abroad,” he said.

​Economic crossroads

As 2018 drew to a close, the Chinese economy was at a crossroads. Real estate and retail sales started to falter. Car sales too started to sputter.

The stock market dropped more than 20 percent and the government was taking measures to control unemployment.

Increasingly, some academics and former officials began to question decisions the communist party has made, be it economic policy or the government’s approach to the trade dispute with Washington.

Some such as former World Trade Organization negotiator Long Yongtu has knocked the government’s decision from the get-go in the trade war — to slap a 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybean imports — calling the decision “unwise” and “ill-thought out.”

When the trade tussle with Washington began kicking into gear earlier last year, China repeatedly said that while it did not want a trade war it would fight to the end. There were many who expressed confidence that China would not only fight, but win.

Others are not as sure. In a recent address in Shanghai, senior economist Xiang Songzuo said China needed to reflect on not only the slowing economy and mounting economic pressures, but the trade war and the impact it is having as well.

“We need to reflect on the mistakes we’ve made. We need to reflect on the future and the real steps that we can take to lift up the economy and help it to truly continue to see stable growth,” Xiang said.

​My way

As some see it, the choice is simple: Do some heavy lifting and further liberalize or face an even sharper slowdown in economic growth.

China says it wants reform, but on its own terms — a message China’s powerful leader Xi Jinping drove home at recent meeting marking 40 years of reform and opening up.

He also had this ominous warning: “Every step in our reform and opening up is not easy. In the future, we will inevitably face all sorts of risks and challenges, even unimaginable tempestuous storms.”

No one knows if 90 days will be enough for the U.S. and China to make a deal. At best, analysts said the two sides can hopefully figure out what they can take care of now and what will have to put off for later, but not forever.

​Grand bargain

For years, the United States took a patient approach to China, trying to work with Chinese authorities bilaterally and through multilateral institutions to push forward liberalized reform.

Now, that approach has shifted to one that is more impatient and sharper elbowed, analysts note. The approach is pressing China to make big changes in a short amount of time.

President Donald Trump’s policies are having an impact on global supply chains that is driving a shift away from China and having an impact on Chinese access to technology as well, said Jerome Cohen, a professor at New York University School of Law.

“We’re going to find the danger of China and the U.S. separating economically, and it is going to have a bad impact on both countries, more severe on China than on the United States,” Cohen said.

The arrest of high-tech giant Huawei’s chief financial officer has added to the complexity of the trade tussle. For now, Washington and Beijing are trying to keep the two issues separate, but clearly, the trade war is about much more than trade.

It’s also about assumptions that have long been the foundation of U.S.-China relations, said Kennedy.

“I think the U.S. goal still is to right the ship to find a place where we can interact with each other peacefully on the commercial side while protecting our national security. I don’t think the U.S. has decided to give up and say forget it, we can’t interact with these folks, we have to have a divorce. It’s going to be cold war number two,” he said.

For now, whether that happens depends on how the Chinese respond, he added. Going forward, however, deep uncertainty at the commercial and government level will continue.
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З 1 січня 2019 року дві категорії пенсіонерів отримують виплати в збільшеному обсязі, повідомив віце-прем’єр-міністр України Павло Розенко наприкінці 2018 року.

У перший день нового року зроблений черговий перерахунок пенсій для військовослужбовців. Також розмір пенсії з 1 січня зросте для тих осіб, які мають великий трудовий стаж.

«Стартує нова пенсійна програма перерахунку пенсій, яка стосуватиметься осіб, яким виповнилося 65 років і вони мають трудовий стаж 35 років – для чоловіків, 30 років – для жінок. Це приблизно два мільйони пенсіонерів», – сказав він.

Розенко також нагадав, що підвищення пенсій для інших пенсіонерів відбудеться з 1 березня 2019 року. «Найбільший перерахунок пенсій, який стосуватиметься близько 11 мільйонів громадян, буде зроблений з 1 березня наступного року. Це буде осучаснення пенсій за новими розмірами заробітних плат», – розповів віце-прем’єр-міністр.

За словами Розенка, розмір підвищення пенсій становитиме від 15% до 40%.

Раніше в грудні «Укрпошта» заявила, що домовилася з Пенсійним фондом про доставку пенсій у 2019 році. «Укрпошта» продовжить виплачувати пенсії у 2019 році та доставляти їх, як і раніше, в усі населені пункти країни: як у великі міста, так і в найменші та найвіддаленіші села», – заявив генеральний директор компанії Ігор Смілянський.

26 жовтня генеральний директор «Укрпошти» Ігор Смілянський заявляв, що «Укрпошта» вимушена буде відмовитися доставляти пенсії з 1 січня 2019 року, якщо Пенсійний фонд не сплачуватиме послугу за економічно обґрунтованими тарифами.

У листопаді Верховна Рада підтримала державний бюджет, у якому «Укрпошті» надали 500 мільйонів гривень, щоб компенсувати доставку пенсій.
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Зростання тарифів на гарячу воду та опалення з 1 січня пов’язане з підвищенням цін на газ, вказано в постанові Національної комісії, що здійснює державне регулювання у сферах енергетики і комунальних послуг (НКРЕКП).

Регулятор затвердив нові тарифи 10 та 11 грудня 2018 року, рішення оприлюднили в газеті «Урядовий кур’єр».

Голова НКРЕКП Оксана Кривенко вказала, що підвищення тарифів на опалення та гарячу воду пов’язане з рішенням уряду про підвищення тарифів на газ, оскільки газ в середньому по Україні займає 76% в ціні виробництва теплової енергії.

Водночас вона заявила, що нові тарифи не перевищують розміру підвищення цін на газ для населення (на 23,5%).

Зокрема, тариф «Київтеплоенерго» на виробництво тепла для жителів Києва зріс на 22,7%.

Підвищення цін на газ було однією з умов схвалення МВФ та іншими глобальними фінансовими організаціями нових програм співпраці з Україною.
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Equities around the world rose Monday as possible progress in resolving the trade dispute between the United States and China engendered some investor optimism in what has been a punishing end of year for markets.

The U.S. benchmark S&P 500 stock index advanced in light trading volume after U.S. President Donald Trump said he held a “very good call” with China’s President Xi Jinping on Saturday to discuss trade and said “big progress” was being made.

Chinese state media were more reserved, saying Xi hoped the negotiating teams could meet each other halfway and reach an agreement that was mutually beneficial.

The rise in U.S. equities mirrored that in Asian and European markets, which were also buoyed by trade optimism.

Despite Monday’s advance, equities ended the year largely in the red, victims of investor anxiety over trade tensions and slowing economic growth. Asian and European shares had been sluggish for much of the year, and in recent months, U.S. stocks followed suit.

“If the European economy continues to decelerate and the Chinese economy decelerates because of tariffs, there is definitely going to be spillover to the United States,” said Shannon Saccocia, chief investment officer at Boston Private.

The S&P 500 dropped more than 9 percent in December, its largest decline since the Great Depression. For the year, the index slid more than 6 percent, its biggest drop since the 2008 financial crisis.

Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan ended down 16 percent for the year, while the STOXX 600 was more than 13 percent lower.

MSCI’s gauge of stocks around the globe fell 11.1 percent in 2018.

A further blow to the Chinese economy could spur a quicker resolution to the U.S.-China trade dispute and thus boost global equities, Saccocia said. Survey data on Monday showed Chinese manufacturing activity contracting for the first time in two years even as the service sector improved.

On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 265.06 points, or 1.15 percent, to 23,327.46, the S&P 500 gained 21.11 points, or 0.85 percent, to 2,506.85 and the Nasdaq Composite added 50.76 points, or 0.77 percent, to 6,635.28.

MSCI’s emerging markets index rose 0.32 percent, while the MSCI world stock index gained 0.66 percent.

No more hikes

Yields on U.S. Treasuries fell on Monday, keeping with the trend over the past two months as investors moved to lower-risk investments.

Benchmark 10-year notes last rose 15/32 in price to yield 2.686 percent, compared with 2.738 percent late Friday.

The fall in Treasury yields reflects expectations of a slowdown, if not a pause altogether, in the Federal Reserve’s progression of interest-rate hikes.

The precipitous drop in yields has undermined the U.S. dollar in recent weeks. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, was down 0.3 percent and on track to end December with a loss. It is, however, still set for its highest yearly percentage gain since 2015.

On Monday, the dollar fell to a six-month low against the yen.

The euro was up 0.2 percent to $1.1459, on track to end the year down nearly 5 percent against the dollar.

Oil posted its first year of losses since 2015, with Brent crude futures down 19.5 percent and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures down 24.8 percent.

On Monday, Brent crude settled 59 cents higher, or 1.11 percent, at $53.80 a barrel. U.S. crude settled up 8 cents, or 0.18 percent, at $45.41 a barrel.
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