With the party-line 23-17 vote, Trump became just the fourth president in U.S. history to face impeachment for “high crimes and misdemeanors.” The committee took just 10 minutes to approve both articles, following a 14-hour session Thursday, teeing up a history-making floor vote next week and a Senate trial in January to determine Trump’s fate. “For the third time in a little over a century and a half, the House Judiciary Committee has voted articles of impeachment against the president for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said in brief remarks after the vote. “The House will act expeditiously.”

The first impeachment article alleges Trump abused his power by withholding military aid and a critical White House meeting from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, while pressuring him to launch political investigations targeting Democrats. Trump’s blanket refusal to cooperate with the Democratic investigation is the basis of the “obstruction of Congress” impeachment article.

Trump, expressing confidence that the Senate would acquit him, dismissed the vote Friday as “an embarrassment to this country.”

Nadler and other Democrats said it was a “solemn and sad” moment as they cast votes aimed ousting a president from office. But the sense of sobriety quickly gave way to flashes of anger as Democrats lashed out against the man who holds immense sway over how the Senate trial might proceed: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

In a late Thursday interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, McConnell, R-Ky., all but guaranteed a Trump acquittal, saying there was “zero chance” the president would be removed from office. He promised “total coordination” with the White House and Trump’s defense team.

“The case is so darn weak coming over from the House,” he said. “We all know how it’s going to end.”

Those remarks – and McConnell’s pledge to “take my cues from the president’s lawyers” – infuriated House Democrats. After deciding to back articles of impeachment that would force a trial in the Senate, many said the upper chamber appeared to be rigged in the president’s favor.

“I was very disappointed in Senator McConnell’s remarks and I really think he should recuse himself from this impeachment inquiry,” said Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla. “He’s working hand in hand with the White House, the president’s attorney. And yet we are supposed to expect him to manage a fair and impartial impeachment inquiry? I think he should recuse himself.”

It was a sign that the partisan brinkmanship that locked the House Judiciary Committee in hours of heated debate over impeachment this week could spill over into the Senate, shaping the contours of the trial expected to take place in January.

The full House vote on impeachment, expected to take place on Wednesday, is likely to fall largely along partisan lines. It will be the culmination of the House’s three-month investigation, which has featured dramatic testimony from civil servants, an anonymous whistleblower from the U.S. intelligence community and hundreds of tweets by a president determined to disrupt the process.

As the Senate prepares to receive the impeachment articles, McConnell’s comments could put additional pressure on moderate Republican senators who want to be seen taking the process seriously ahead of tough reelection battles next year. While Trump has previously said he wants to use the Senate trial to mount a robust defense by interrogating multiple Democratic witnesses, it is not clear there is majority support in the Senate for such a scorched-earth strategy.

On Friday, Trump appeared to back down slightly from his demand that the Senate call witnesses, including House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and the anonymous U.S. intelligence official whose complaint sparked the impeachment inquiry. He has also said he wants the Senate to interrogate former vice president Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. Trump’s push to have Zelensky investigate both men is at the heart of the “abuse of power” charge he now faces.

Trump accused Democrats of “trivializing impeachment,” predicting that they would ultimately regret the decision.

“I tell you what: Someday there’ll be a Democrat president and there’ll be a Republican House, and I suspect they’re going to remember it,” he said Friday, accusing Democrats of using impeachment “to try and get a political gain.”

When asked if he preferred a long or short trial in the Senate, Trump demurred.

“I’ll do whatever I want,” he said. “We did nothing wrong. So I’ll do long, or short.”

McConnell and other senators have tried to convince Trump that a truncated trial without witnesses would allow him to be acquitted quickly.

But the president is also being influenced by his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who has sought to go on offense in recent weeks. Giuliani, who recently traveled to Ukraine in an attempt to do his own investigation of the Bidens, met with Trump on Friday. He arrived at the White House just before the House Judiciary vote to impeach the president.

Giuliani also took to Twitter to deride the impeachment inquiry and repeat his claim that he has evidence of misconduct by the Bidens.

“The American people have already made up their mind on this #ImpeachmentScam,” he tweeted. “This is a SMOKESCREEN for the Obama-Biden administration’s corruption. It will soon be proven.”

Both Joe and Hunter Biden – who served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company while his father was vice president – have denied any wrongdoing.

Ahead of next week’s vote, Democrats have begun to amass increasing support within their caucus for impeaching Trump. While some lawmakers representing districts carried by Trump are expected to vote against one or both articles, several moderate Democrats said this week they would back impeachment.

Reps. Susie Lee of Nevada and Tom O’Halleran of Arizona, both moderate Democrats representing districts Trump carried in 2016, said Friday they would vote in favor of both articles of impeachment.

“President Trump abused the power of the presidency and broke his oath of office when he bribed the nation of Ukraine by withholding military aid they had already been promised in exchange for help investigating a political opponent,” O’Halleran said in a statement. “I will vote to impeach the President because this bribery and abuse of power violated the constitution and put our national security and our international relationships at risk.”

The House has impeached only two presidents in history: Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998. President Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 before the full House could vote on articles of impeachment in the Watergate scandal. The House Judiciary Committee voted to advance three articles of impeachment against Nixon before he stepped down.

Both Johnson and Clinton were acquitted by the Senate and remained in office.

Speaking to reporters during an Oval Office visit by Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benítez, Trump said that impeachment would benefit him in the end.

“It’s a very sad thing for our country, but it seems to be very good for me politically,” he added. “The people are absolutely disgusted. Nobody’s ever seen anything like this.”

Trump also ticked off several now-familiar terms he’s used to describe the process, including “witch hunt,” “hoax” and “sham.”

McConnell’s comments about coordinating with the White House lawyers forced Republicans to defend their handling of the impeachment process. Many Democrats pointed out that senators must take an oath to “do impartial justice” once the impeachment trial begins.

“Making sure the Senate conducts a fair and honest trial that allows all the facts to come out is paramount,” Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a brief statement Friday.

Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., said Democrats had no standing to question Republicans on impartiality.

“They didn’t act as a fair arbiter of facts,” he said of House Democrats. “And they convicted long before they started investigating this.”

Buck advocated for a thorough examination of evidence in the Senate, saying “this is not something to be rushed.”

Rep. Jim Jordan, D-Ohio, also defended McConnell.

“I think he’s just telling you the truth. He’s not predicting an outcome,” he said. “He’s just saying, this is the facts. The facts on the president’s side. This is a ridiculous case that the Democrats are bringing.”

Great cities across the world are renowned for their vibrant nightlife—be it Shanghai or New York. And that is directly related to the large numbers of tourists they attract. But Nepal is still stuck with archaic policing methods, which have prevented Nepali cities from discovering their tourism potential. This is one of the main reasons the country punches way below its weight in the tourism sector.

Visit Nepal 2020 aims to attract 2 million tourists to Nepal. But that will remain a farfetched dream should we be unable to give them what they want. Nepal is a beautiful country, no doubt. But the government needs to stop engaging in chest-thumping over the same thing, and look for newer ways to rebrand the country. Nepal’s beauty is given by nature, but the authorities too need to put in some effort and come up with policies and ideas to give tourists what they want. One great way of doing this is having nightlife in the cities.

Nightlife is part of tourism. Granted, some tourists come to Nepal to see the mountains and trek. But it’s important for the authorities to understand that observing nature and trekking might not be everyone’s cup of tea. Tourists often visit other countries to relax and have a good time. Unless any country can guarantee that, its tourism industry can’t really be thriving.

Take Kathmandu, for example. The city is home to many cultural heritage sites yet nighttime activities remain sparse. The Nepal Police often cite security reasons, but that stems from an outdated mindset that frowns upon night-time entertainment. What’s more, if security is a concern, it is the duty of the police to ensure that tourists feel safe. Draconian and blanket bans that hamper people’s right to leisure should not be official policy. Markets in nearby Bangkok bustle as tourists take a leisurely walk while ours are characterised by an eerie silence even before the clock strikes 10.

As it is, according to statistics released by the Tourism Ministry, the average spending per tourist per day last year dropped to $44, the lowest in seven years. The average spending was $54 per day in 2017. In 2003, during the height of the Maoist insurgency, the per day spending of tourists was at a record $79.1. Nepal is behind India (34th) and Sri Lanka (77th) in terms of travel and tourism competitiveness in South Asia. It has also been ranked 91st in terms of safety and security.

The local economy benefits a great deal from a vibrant nightlife. It’s a simple fact that when restaurants, bars, theatres and nightclubs are open 24/7, it will boost employment as they would require staff to work two to three shifts, and in the process, increase state revenue too.

The problem here is not lack of ideas, but lack of support from state officials. If Nepal truly wants to increase the number of tourists and capitalise on the tourism sector, reclaiming the nightlife in the cities will have a significant role to play.

This recognition for silat, a traditional Malay martial arts form, was given at the 14th Session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage held in Bogota, Colombia on Dec 12.

At the meeting in the Colombian capital, 15 cultural practices have joined Unesco’s Representative List of Intangible Heritage, including Indonesia’s Pencak Silat and Thailand’s Nuad Thai (traditional Thai massage).

In a Bernama report, the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi, said that the decision to include silat was made by the international body consisting of 24 members.

All related documents with regards to the nomination of silat under the category, Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, were sent to Unesco in Paris on March 30 last year.

“It is a world class recognition for silat to be enlisted by Unesco as it is one of the country’s most enduring cultural heritage treasures,” said Mohamaddin.

He also said that recognition from Unesco will indirectly garner Malaysia a lot of attention from the world as it also reflects the country’s commitment in preserving traditional arts heritage. There are over 1,000 types of silat forms in Malaysia, including Silat Kuningan, Silat Sendeng, Silat Gayong, Silat Pukulan Melaka, Silat Lian Yunan and Silat Minangkabau.

“Silat is a combative art of self defence and survival rooted in the Malay Archipelago. Traced back to the early days of the Langkasuka Kingdom, Silat has now evolved into a fine practice of physical and spiritual training associated with traditional Malay attire, musical instruments and customs. There are many styles of silat, named after natural elements such as animals and plants from the area where they are practiced. Many practitioners have been trained, and silat is now a popular sport for health and leisure,” reads Unesco’s description of silat under the Representative List of Intangible Heritage.

In 2008, Unesco included Kelantanese traditional dance form Mak Yong in the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity category.

Last year, Dondang Sayang, a traditional Malay art still practised in Melaka by four communities: the Malay, Baba Nyonya, Chetty and Portuguese communities, also received recognition by Unesco under the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity category.

The area in and around the Airin area of Nishinari Ward, Osaka, long known as a day laborer’s neighborhood, is being transformed by a wave of internationalization.

Numerous businesses aimed at foreign customers have opened, and a “Chinatown concept” has been floated by Chinese business owners.

The district’s residents and others have expressed a mix of hope and bewilderment over the changes.

Looking to settle

At the end of September, a job training facility for foreigners called YOLO BASE opened on the north side of Shin-Imamiya Station, operated by West Japan Railway Co. (JR West) and Nankai Electric Railway Co.

At the opening ceremony, Taisuke Kaji, 43, president of the firm that manages the facility, said, “We want to present a new kind of culture as a neighborhood for foreign workers.”

The facility provides Japanese-language courses and internet training needed to obtain the “special skills” visa status that was created in April. Foreign workers are employed in the facility’s hotel and restaurant.

Nankai Electric Railway purchased what had been unused land from the city to create the facility.

In anticipation of the opening of the Naniwasuji Line, which is scheduled for 2031 and would allow direct travel between Osaka and Kansai Airport, the city is looking to engage in community-building in a way that encourages foreigners to settle down.

Shin-Imamiya Station, being a transfer station and close to the Tsutenkaku tower, has become a base for foreign tourists.

In June, Hoshino Resorts Inc. began building the OMO7 hotel north of the station. The hotel is scheduled to open in 2022.

“There are potential business opportunities in this neighborhood. We want to make it more lively,” said a representative of a council that includes Nankai and Hoshino Resorts.

Bustling neighborhood

It is now not uncommon to see foreign tourists pulling suitcases in the Airin area on the south side of the station.

The area, where about 2 million day labor contracts were made each year after the Great Hanshin Earthquake in fiscal 1995, has changed with the times.

After the economic bubble burst, the area saw an increase in homeless people, and since the 2000s, it has been home to many people living on welfare.

Some of the simple lodging houses for laborers transformed themselves into apartments for welfare recipients. Among Osaka’s 24 wards, Nishinari Ward had the highest proportion of welfare recipients at 23% as of July this year.

The neighborhood also has an aging and declining population.

It has been the foreign tourists who have made the place more lively. Simple lodging houses renovated to serve foreigners have been popular due to their low prices and easy access.

“We have to keep attracting people to make sure we don’t lose our vitality,” said Masahiko Sugiura, 49, secretary general of a trade association for simple lodging houses in Osaka Prefecture.

Real estate prices have also risen along with the changes. In valuations of land prices along major roads released by the National Tax Agency in July, the highest price in Nishinari Ward had increased by 15.8% over the previous year.

100 store plan

Chinese-owned businesses have flowed into the hollowed-out neighborhood.

Starting about 10 years ago, Chinese enterprises started moving into shops in a shopping district in the eastern part of the Airin area that had been left vacant due to aging proprietors or the decline in the number of laborers who had been the customers.

There are now about 100 karaoke pubs staffed by Chinese women and others. There are also reportedly more than 40 guest houses for Chinese tourists in the area.

A local real estate agent said: “Chinese people aren’t prejudiced against buying land. They are aggressive buyers who have renovated properties into guest houses.”

About 40 Chinese business owners and others formed the Osaka Ka Shokai business association in December 2017. They announced the Osaka Chinatown concept in February this year.

The plan is to build a Chinese gate like the ones in Yokohama and Kobe, and to open about 100 stores including Chinese restaurants and general stores. Local shop owners, however, are dead set against the scheme and it remains to be seen whether it will go smoothly.

The association’s vice chairman, a real estate agent named Wang Biao, 50, said, “We expect an economic effect of ¥25 billion per year.”

Support for diversity

How are people involved in community-building in Nishinari responding to the changes brought by increased outside investment?

The Osaka city government proposed the “Nishinari special zone concept” in fiscal 2013 and through this has pursued vitalization policies focused on Nishinari.

Collection of illegally dumped garbage and crackdowns on drug deals have greatly improved security and the environment. Discussions about how the future should look are continuing among residents, the administration, aid organizations, experts and others.

In these debates, while some believe the outside investment will create jobs in the area, there are concerns this will increase land prices, making it difficult for the area’s original residents to continue living there.

One of the experts on the panel, Tatsuya Shirahase, an associate professor of sociology at St. Andrew’s University, said: “Nishinari has historically received robust support from the administration and private organizations in areas such as jobs, welfare and housing. This strength should be valued.”

Starting this fiscal year, the city government increased its employment support for young people who receive welfare in the Airin area.

“We should aim to create a neighborhood that welcomes a diverse population, including foreigners, while accepting changes to the neighborhood,” Shirahase said.

Impact on poor

Gentrification is a pattern in which areas where poor and marginalized groups live undergo redevelopment and other changes, which causes land prices to rise and population to become relatively wealthy. This term often has a negative context because it tends to force out the poor.

According to Yoshihiro Fujitsuka, a professor of urban geography at Osaka City University, the term was first used in 1964.

An influx of the middle class into a working-class district of London caused housing prices to rise, which drove out the working class.

In 1970s New York, artists started moving into the Soho district, where sewing factories were concentrated, creating studios out of old garment factories. Cafes, bars and other businesses moved in, driving up real estate prices. In the 2000s, the same thing started happening in Brooklyn.

It has also occurred in Eastern Europe after the collapse of socialism. In eastern Berlin, the government has subsidized the renovation of old buildings.

In Japan, gentrification has occurred in places such as Chuo Ward, Tokyo, where small factories that moved out due to rising land prices were replaced by high-rise condominiums. Experts are divided as to whether gentrification will occur in Nishinari Ward.

A Chinese media outlet reported that Samsung has officially decided to execute the investment for the Xian plant.

Samsung’s headquarters in Seoul, however, declined to confirm the investment plan.

According to the report, the decision was revealed Tuesday during a meeting between an executive from Samsung’s semiconductor business unit and Wang Hao, the communist party secretary of Xian.

Samsung had invested $7 billion to build the second memory factory in the city for the past three years. The first round of the investment is expected to be completed by the first half of next year.

If all goes as planned, the South Korean tech giant is injecting a total of $15 billion in the chip manufacturing facility in China.

Samsung has started mass production of first-generation V-NAND flash chips at its first plant in Xian in 2014. The company broke ground for the second plant in 2018.

The country had seen a soar in investment this year compared to 0.4 per cent last year.

This was stated in the Fintech in ASEAN report released by the United Overseas Bank (UOB).

Singapore took the leading position with 51 per cent, down from 53 per cent last year.

Indonesia stepped down one place to third with 12 per cent, compared to 37 per cent last year.

Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines accounted for less than 2 per cent of Southeast Asia’s total fintech investment, down sharply from about 10 per cent last year.

In Vietnam, the leading field attracting venture capital in fintech companies was payment.

VNPay, a Vietnamese e-payment solutions provider, took the lead in the report with total capital revealed to be US$300 million this year.

Singaporean insurance company Singapore Life ranked second with deals worth $110.3 million, while Vietnamese MOMO Pay e-wallet ranked third with $100 million.

After attracting just $35 million in 2014, the total amount of venture capital invested in the fintech sector in Southeast Asia has increased sharply over the past five years to $679 million last year.

The total figure has reached $1.14 billion from the beginning of this year.

With an annual growth rate of up to double digits, digital payment is expected to become the payment method of choice from nearly 50 per cent of transactions from now to 2025, and will exceed $1 trillion.

Fintech companies are targeting about 300 million adults in Southeast Asia who do not have bank accounts or access to associated investment, credit and insurance services.

The number of financial transactions made on mobile phones in Việt Nam had nearly doubled as of March 31 this year compared to last year, according to the State Bank of Việt Nam.

The Vietnamese mobile payment market is expected to reach $70.9 billion by 2025, up from $16 billion in 2016. — VNS

The other two are also Indian: HCL Corporation CEO and Executive Director Roshni Nadar Malhotra and Biocon Founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw.

This year’s Forbes has been topped by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, followed by President of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde in the second spot, and Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, ranked third. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ranks 29th.

“In 2019, women around the globe took action, claiming leadership positions in government, business, philanthropy and media. These trailblazers are not to be messed with,” Forbes said.

Ms Sitharaman, a newcomer on the Forbes most powerful women list, is ranked 34th. India’s first woman finance minister, Sitharaman has also served as the country’s defence minister.

She is the first woman to hold the portfolio full time. Before this, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi briefly took the additional charge of the ministry.

Ms Nadar Malhotra is ranked 54th on the list. As CEO of HCL Corporation, she is responsible for all strategic decisions for the US$ 8.9-billion technology company.

Ms Malhotra is also the chairperson of the company’s CSR Committee and is a trustee of the Shiv Nadar Foundation, which is focused on education and has established some of India’s top colleges and schools, Forbes said.

Ms Mazumdar-Shaw, ranked 65 on the list, is India’s richest self-made woman and founder of the country’s largest biopharmaceutical firm Biocon in 1978.

Biocon has “successfully forayed into the lucrative US biosimilars market, catching the attention of investors” and it also became the first company to gain approval from the USFDA for two different biosimilars of drugs used in certain cancer treatments.

Ms Mazumdar-Shaw has invested in research infrastructure and scientific talent with the aim of building a deep R&D-based biotech firm, not a copycat generics maker, Forbes said.

The Forbes list also includes Co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Melinda Gates (6), IBM CEO Ginni Rometty (9), Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg (18), New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (38), First Daughter and Advisor to President Donald Trump Ivanka Trump (42), singers Rihanna (61), Beyonce (66) and Taylor Swift (71), tennis star Serena Williams (81) and teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg (100).

Referring to Ms Pelosi’s recent “Don’t mess with me” remark to a reporter, Forbes said that could be the mantra for just about every one of the Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women.

“The top-ranked woman for the ninth year in a row, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, is crusading against anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe; Taylor Swift is battling industry stalwarts and private equity firms over musician song-ownership rights; and 16-year-old environmental activist Greta Thunberg- one of 23 newcomers to the list- is fighting inaction on climate change and galvanizing millions of young people around the globe.