Nigeria proposes broad oil sector overhaul, sale of stakes in NNPC

Nigeria outlined a plan to overhaul state oil company NNPC and eventually list it on the stock exchange in a bid to modernise and streamline an industry known for graft and mismanagement.

The ministry of petroleum released a draft late on Thursday to underpin industry reform stalled for a decade amid disagreements and political infighting over how best to manage the nation's energy resources.

The ministry seeks, in the proposal, to end the OPEC member's reliance on oil exports and shift to a "gas-based industrial economy," and said Nigeria needs to reform the oil sector or risk output falling.

"Unless there are additions to reserves and those reserves are brought into production, Nigeria can expect to see absolute declines in production from around 2020," the plan said.

As a key step to improve crude output of around 2 million barrels a day, Nigeria wants to transform NNPC from an bureaucratic empire where little work gets done into an entity functioning like the private sector.

"NNPC will be made autonomous from the state, it will relinquish all its policy making and regulatory activities, and it will be treated on an equal basis with private sector operators for projects," the draft said.

The West African nation has been mulling a sale of oil assets to raise hard currency as a slump in vital oil revenues has eroded the budget.   

The proposal said a newly formed corporation could sell stakes "so long as the government shareholder retains effective control and ownership." The listing itself is unlikely to happen soon, as foreign investors worried about a new currency devaluation have exited the Nigerian bourse.

The ministry said it will consult with lawmakers over the reform, but it faces serious challenges. Some members of parliament, including from the president's All Progressives Congress (APC), have objected to government plans to sell oil and other assets to raise hard currency.

"It's commendable that they have actually tried to make a petroleum sector policy," said Aaron Sayne, senior governance officer with the Natural Resource Governance Institute.
But he said the lack of details, specific targets and the backing of a broad coalition would make it difficult to achieve many of the aims.
"Where this is short on details is where the vested political interests are the strongest," he said. "It's not clear that it has the political support."
REFINERY REVAMP
The ministry's draft proposes a similar approach to spur investment in the nation's sclerotic refineries, allowing the closure or privatisation of them unless they can become profitable. It would also eliminate any remaining fuel subsidies and aim to deregulate fuel prices.
It also included placing more responsibility for oil spills and pollution on the companies operating them, including criminal "prosecutions of company directors where necessary."
The issue is sensitive for oil majors operating in the Niger Delta oil hub where militants and villagers fight for a greater share of oil revenues and higher compensation for oil spills.
Shell, one of the largest international companies operating in Nigeria, Chevron, and ExxonMobil declined to comment on the plan. ENI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

- Reuters

Donald Trump Makes Two Key Appointments

US President-elect, Donald Trump, has awarded key roles in his incoming team to a top Republican party official and a conservative media chief.

Chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), Reince Priebus, will be his Chief of Staff while Stephen Bannon, from the right-wing Breitbart News Network, will serve as Mr Trump’s Chief Strategist.

In a statement on Sunday afternoon, the transition team emphasized that the two men would work “as equal partners to transform the federal government”.

Mr Trump described Mr Priebus and Mr Bannon as “highly qualified leaders who worked well together on our campaign and led us to a historic victory”.

Mr Bannon said on Sunday: “I want to thank President-elect Trump for the opportunity to work with Reince in driving the agenda of the Trump administration.

“We had a very successful partnership on the campaign, one that led to victory. We will have that same partnership in working to help President-elect Trump achieve his agenda.”

DMO selects banks for $1bn Eurobond sale

The Debt Management Office has selected some banks to manage the planned sale of $1bn Eurobond, according to a Reuters report.

It was, however, learnt that the Federal Government had yet to make a final decision on the list.

The government is planning to sell $1bn in Eurobonds by the end of the year, although no bank has been appointed yet to arrange the issue.

A government official, who did not wish to be identified, told Reuters that the list had been sent to the Bureau of Public Procurement, after which the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, would offer the names to the cabinet for approval.

He did not disclose how long the process might take.

“The names have been picked but it has to go through government process; the issue will happen this year,” he told Reuters.

Adeosun has said that the Federal Government has $500m of commitments for the planned Eurobond and any decision to increase the size of the offer will depend on pricing.

The official said Adeosun met with Moody’s Investors Service on Friday to discuss Nigeria’s ratings before the bond sale.

Moody’s had in April downgraded Nigeria’s sovereign rating to B1 from Ba3, citing risks to government efforts to diversify revenues away from oil, its mainstay.

Citibank and Deutsche Bank managed previous issues by Nigeria in 2010 and 2013.

South Sudanese flee country as ‘potential for genocide’ grows

More than 10 percent of South Sudan’s 11.3 million people have fled the country in a mass exodus that is now accelerating, the United Nations reports.

In addition to the nearly 1.3 million South Sudanese living in refugee camps, about 1.6 million more have been displaced inside the country, the UN says. Some 200,000 are sheltering in or near UN peacekeepers’ bases.

About 40 percent of South Sudan’s remaining inhabitants are facing impending famine, the UN’s food agencies warn.

At least five simultaneous disease outbreaks are threatening lives as well, international health specialists say. Malaria, measles, cholera, guinea worm and kala azar (a parasitic killer) are all spreading amidst a breakdown in sanitation and health care resulting from the three-year-long civil war.

At the same time, “there is a strong risk of violence escalating along ethnic lines with potential for genocide,” Adama Dieng, the UN special advisor on preventing genocide, declared on Friday at the conclusion of a five-day visit to South Sudan.

““Throughout the week, conversations with all actors have confirmed that what began as a political conflict has transformed into what could become an outright ethnic war,” he added.

Close to 6000 people fleeing these conditions entered Uganda on a single day earlier this month, bringing the total number of South Sudanese refugees in that neighbouring country to over half a million.

“The current extremely high sustained trend of arrivals is expected to continue, and puts pressure on all aspects of the response, which is currently very under-resourced,” the UN refugee agency said in an update last week.

Another 323,000 South Sudanese refugees have gone to Ethiopia, with about 600 arriving on average each day.

Life is so difficult in South Sudan that more than a quarter-million of its citizens have sought refuge in Sudan, the country from which it separated five years ago. Many of the refugees have crossed into Sudan’s Darfur region, where war has been raging for 13 years.

Similarly, about 60,000 South Sudanese have fled to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the site of fighting that has taken tens of thousands of lives in recent years.

Kenya has received 90,000 South Sudanese refugees, and 5000 have moved into Central African Republic, where another civil war continues sporadically.

Many of the South Sudanese who have recently entered Uganda say they were motivated to leave by “arbitrary killings, forced recruitment of boys and men by armed groups, continued conflict in towns and villages, food insecurity and lack of services,” the UN refugee agency recounts.

“New arrivals from Kajo Keji (near the Uganda border) allege that the civilian population have been given 21 days’ notice to leave by militias, who are reportedly gearing up for war.”

A plea for $251 million in donor funding for South Sudanese refugee assistance has drawn a tepid response. Less than $50 million has been received “despite the rapidly growing need,” the UN refugee agency says.

500,000 People Sign Petition Asking Electoral College to Pick Clinton as President Instead of Trump

A petition on Change.org calling for the Electoral College to elect Hillary Clinton as President has earned over half of the signatures needed for it to be sent to the governing body.

The petition, launched on Wednesday after Donald Trump was elected President, calls for the Electoral College to “ignore their states’ votes and cast their ballots for Secretary Clinton.”

Although Trump won over the 270 necessary electoral votes to secure the Presidency, Clinton narrowly earned the nation’s popular vote.

The Electoral College – which was first introduced in 1804 – is comprised of 538 electors. Each state’s number of electors is decided by its number of members in Congress, which is dependent on the state’s population. So, when American citizens cast their ballots, they aren’t directly voting for president – they’re voting for electors. This year, Trump took 279, to Clinton’s 228.

Most states use a “winner-take-all” system when it comes to electoral votes, although there is no Constitutional provision or federal law that requires electors to vote a certain way. Twenty-six states and Washington, D.C., do, however, “bind” their electors to vote for the promised candidate on Dec. 19 – in this case, Trump. In many cases, “faithless electors” are forced to pay a fine if they vote against the popular choice.

Maine and Nebraska follow a different method, called the congressional district method, which allots two electoral votes to the popular vote winner, and additional votes for each congressional district won by the candidates.

Faithless electors have not ever reversed the presidency.

The Change.org petition, which was at over 500,000 signatures on Thursday afternoon, said that Clinton supporters would be happy to pay any fees accrued by those who choose to be faithless electors.

“Mr. Trump is unfit to serve,” the petition claimed. “His scapegoating of so many Americans, and his impulsivity, bullying, lying, admitted history of sexual assault, and utter lack of experience make him a danger to the Republic. Secretary Clinton WON THE POPULAR VOTE and should be President.”

President-Elect Trump Calls Obama 'Very Good Man'I atfer they meet at White House

President Obama meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Thursday.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

President-elect Trump, who rose to political fame by falsely questioning the birthplace of the sitting president, said he had "great respect" for Obama, called him a "very good man" and said he would seek his "counsel" in the future. Trump, who noted that the two had never met before, said they were slated to speak for maybe 10 to 15 minutes, but the meeting, which lasted more than an hour and a half, could have gone on even longer. Trump said they talked about "difficulties" around the world but also about accomplishments.

"I very much look forward to dealing with the president in the future, including counsel," Trump said. "He's — he explained some of the difficulties, some of the high-flying assets, and some of the really great things that have been achieved."

Obama described it as an "excellent conversation" and "wide-ranging" — from how to organizationally set up a White House to foreign and domestic policy.

"I believe that it is important for all of us, regardless of party and regardless of political preferences, to now come together, work together to deal with the many challenges that we face," Obama said, adding that he wanted Trump and his wife, Melania, the incoming first lady, to feel "welcome" as they make the transition.

"And most of all," Obama continued, "I want to emphasize to you, Mr. President-elect, that we now are going to want to do everything we can to help you succeed, because if you succeed, then the country succeeds."

The tone and grace of the meeting stood in stark contrast with the contentious campaign and the history between these two. President Obama openly mocked Trump at a White House Correspondents' Dinner. Less than a year ago, last December, when Trump was ascendant in the polls, this reporter wrote:

"[Obama] joked in 2011 that Trump, who was hot on the trail of Obama's birth certificate, was a conspiracy theorist waiting to reveal the fake moon landing, then roasted him for making the hard decisions — like firing Gary Busey instead of Lil' Jon or Meatloaf on Celebrity Apprentice.
"Just eight months ago, Obama joked that Trump was 'here. Still.' That got big laughs.
"But it's Trump's supporters who are laughing now."

Trump has been a thorn in Obama's side. He rose to political fame using the birther movement to translate his pop-culture notoriety as a reality-TV star into an improbable winning presidential campaign. That birther movement questioned the president's place of birth and thereby the legitimacy of the first African-American president. The president, of course, was born in Hawaii. Trump finally later acknowledged that during this campaign but made no apology for his crusade.

Trump used the issue to stir up a base of antipathy toward this president. It wasn't even so much that the largely rural, white, populist voters who eventually propelled Trump into the White House really believed the accusations and innuendo to be true. But they liked that Trump spoke to them when they felt ignored — by the professional class, the Washington establishment and the media elites — and was willing to annoy and disrupt them all.

What Trump accomplished is nothing short of a populist, white working-class revolt — even as he lost the national popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump was able to win giant margins in white, rural counties, especially in the Industrial North and Midwest, like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. It was enough to offset Clinton's margins in the cities and suburbs, upending decades of the fundamentals of political thought and analysis.

 

First Lady Michelle Obama meets with Melania Trump for tea in the Yellow Oval Room of the White House on Thursday.

Chuck Kennedy/White House

Also at the White House on Thursday, first lady Michelle Obama and Melania Trump met. White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough was spotted by the White House pool taking a walk on the White House grounds with Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. Kushner is married to Trump's daughter Ivanka. Kushner played a key role in Trump's campaign.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus has been rumored to potentially serve as Trump's chief of staff, though he told NBC he has had "no conversations" about that. Kushner also appears poised to play a key role as an adviser in President Trump's inner circle; it would be remarkable, though, if he were tapped as chief of staff, given he's a member of the family. He's also the publisher of the New York Observer.

Trump also met with Republican leaders on Capitol Hill this afternoon.

After meeting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Trump spoke briefly saying his "really great" priorities will be immigration, "big league jobs" and health care. As NPR's Ailsa Chang reports, when asked if he's going to ask Congress to pass a Muslim ban, he declined to answer the question and walked on.

Chief of Staff Denis McDonough takes Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner for a walk on the South Lawn of the White House. Kushner, husband of Ivanka Trump, played a key role in Trump's campaign.

Edward-Isaac Dovere (Politico)/White House Pool

Trump also met with House Speaker Paul Ryan in the speaker's office, saying after the meeting: "I think we are going to absolutely spectacular things for the American people and I look forward to starting —- quite frankly we can't get started fast enough."

Ryan praised Trump's victory as "one of the most impressive" ever seen and also conveyed a sense of urgency saying the two talked about "how we are going to hit the ground running to get this country turned around and make America great again." The two also said they looked forward to working together on health care, immigration, lowering taxes and other issues.
According to a pool report from Politico's Edward-Isaac Dovere, Trump said he had a "great meeting" with Ryan and then the speaker led him out onto his balcony.

Ryan pointed to various sites in the city and as well as Trump's new hotel in downtown D.C. saying "that's it right there, that's the Old Post Office Building."

Trump called the view "absolutely beautiful."

Expert to African leaders: Don’t expect much from Trump’s Presidency –

A policy and governance expert, Mr Oseloka Obaze, has advised African leaders to look inward for solutions to their political and economic challenges.

Obaze, the Managing Director of Selonnes Consult, said in a statement in Awka on Friday while reacting to the emergence of Donald Trump as U.S. president-elect.

He said that the emergence of Trump as the president-elect, in spite of the bookmakers’ predictions, was “American Wonder’’.

Obaze, who is also a retired diplomat, said that Trump presidency might hold some fortunes for Africa.

He called for more strategic positioning on the part of African leaders to maximize the relationship.

According to him, Nigeria should not expect much in terms of economic assistance under the ensuing order, but hope that unlike Barack Obama, Trump will visit Nigeria while in office.

“He is likely to deal with Nigeria in the African context, if his foreign engagement is purely strategic, and it will mean seeking partners like Nigeria to outsource the regional challenges.

“Depending on his immigration policies, it will favour Nigerians that need to be regularized.

“On Nigeria’s socio-economic challenges, we should expect little or no assistance.

“Yet, I predict he will visit Nigeria, within his first four years, something Obama did not do in eight years,” he said.

CBN sets May 2017 for interchange fee regime execution

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has set May 1st 2017 for implementation of the new interchange fee regime for operators in the payment cards industry.

In a circular dated November 1st but posted on its website yesterday, the apex bank stated that as from that date, the interchange fee will replace the Merchant Service Charge (MSC), adding that Merchants and Acquirers will be required to negotiate the MSC, while it (CBN) will control the interchange fees paid by Acquirers to the Card Issuer and other regulated service providers.

Director, Banking & Payments System Department, Mr. Dipo Fatokun, who signed the circular, stated that the interchange fee was introduced as a result of the limitations of the MSC regime and the objectives of the Payments System Vision 2020.

He said: “CBN hereby gives a period of six months, starting from November , 2016 to stakeholders to sensitise their merchants on the changes expected, and for card schemes to reconfigure their systems to the new pricing structure.

The interchange regime will commence live operations effective 1st May, 2017.”

The CBN Director noted that the introduction of the new pricing regime would bring about: “even greater payment card issuance and utilisation, investment in loyalty programmes and the expansion of acquirer network infrastructure across the country.”

He stated that modalities for aspects of the implementation of the new regime would be developed and communicated by the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), within three months from the date of the circular .

Trump economic ideas good for Nigeria

The US President-elect, Donald Trump’s economic ideas will affect Nigerian professionals positively, Ibrahim Garba, a Security consultant, said on Wednesday.

Garba spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in a telephone interview from Abidjan.

He decried the attitude of Nigerians projecting the image of the country in a bad light.

According to him, Nigerians need to change their business orientation to reflect positive ideas in the new era.

The security expert said Trump, as a business mogul, would certainly jump at good business relationship with Nigeria in the interest of both countries.

“This would affect Nigeria because things would be more competitive; Trump is a man who knows about your money; he does not throw money around.

“For you to do any business in America you have to be serious. From a business perspective, if Nigerians know what they are bringing to the table and it’s of value, Donald Trump will approve it.”

He added that Trump won the election because he was a successful businessman and a politician.

“Every country needs a strong economy; Trump has records of growth with his years of experience in business and  that can be applied to the nation’s economy.

“With this development I hope he has more to offer than we expect from him and also an opportunity for the Americans to see a different side.”

The newly-elected president has  pledged to be president for all Americans and to build the country’s economy while  relating with nations that support his ideas.

NAN

Divorce Case: Brad Pitt wins Angelina Jolie

An investigation into whether Brad Pitt was abusive toward his son on a private flight in September says the case has been closed with no finding of abuse by the actor, a source familiar with the inquiry said Wednesday.

The source, who was not authorised to speak publicly, told The Associated Press that the investigation was closed within the past few days.

Multiples sources have said the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services had been looking into allegations Pitt was abusive toward his 15-year-old son on the flight in mid-September.

Pitt’s wife, Angelina Jolie Pitt, filed for divorce days after the incident, and her attorney said it was “for the health of the family.”

A department spokesman said the agency could not confirm it investigated Pitt.

Custody of the actors’ six children has been the primary issue in their divorce. Jolie Pitt is seeking sole custody of the children, while Pitt is seeking joint custody.

Pitt has had visitation with his children under terms agreed upon by the former couple.

Jolie Pitt’s representatives said Monday that an agreement on custody had been reached, although a final agreement will be part of the couple’s divorce judgment when it is entered.

California law favours joint custody, although details about custody arrangements are rarely made public in celebrity divorce cases.

A representative for Jolie said the actress is relieved that the inquiry is over and that the custody arrangements in place will allow the children to heal.

A representative for Pitt declined comment.

Pitt and Jolie were married for two years and together for 12 years after becoming close while filming 2005’s “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.”

Trump: Protests in US cities, 5 shot

Republican Donald Trump’s surprise U.S. presidential election win, sparked spontaneous protests across many cities on Wednesday, with marchers  blasting his stance on immigrants, Muslims and other groups.

In New York, thousands of protesters filled streets in midtown Manhattan as they made their way to Trump Tower, Trump’s gilded home on Fifth Avenue. Hundreds of others gathered at a Manhattan park and shouted “Not my president.”

In downtown Chicago, an estimated 1,800 people gathered outside the Trump International Hotel and Tower, chanting phrases like “No Trump! No KKK! No racist USA.”

Chicago police closed roads in the area, impeding the demonstrators’ path. There were no immediate reports of arrests or violence there.

“I’m just really terrified about what is happening in this country,” said 22-year-old Adriana Rizzo in Chicago, who was holding a sign that read: “Enjoy your rights while you can.”

In Seattle, a gunman opened fire following an argument and wounded five people, one man critically, not far from protests.

The police claimed the shooting was not  connected to the anti-Trump demonstrations but instead stemmed from a personal argument..

“It appears that some type of argument took place. This individual began to walk away from the crowd, then turned and fired into the crowd,” said Robert Merner, assistant chief of the Seattle Police Department.

He said the suspect then fled from the area on foot and remained at large more than an hour later.

The most seriously injured victim, a man, was rushed to nearby Harborview Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition on Wednesday night.

The other four victims, identified only as one woman and three men, all sustained non-life threatening wounds to their legs, police said.

Hundreds also gathered in Philadelphia, Boston and Portland, Oregon, on Wednesday evening, and organizers planned rallies in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Oakland, California.

In Austin, the Texas capital, about 400 people marched through the streets, police said.

A representative of the Trump campaign did not respond immediately to requests for comment on the protests. Trump said in his victory speech he would be president for all Americans, saying: “It is time for us to come together as one united people.”

Earlier this month, his campaign rejected the support of a Ku Klux Klan newspaper and said that “Mr. Trump and his campaign denounces hate in any form.”

Earlier on Wednesday, some 1,500 students and teachers rallied in the courtyard of Berkeley High School, in a San Francisco Bay Area city known for its liberal politics, before marching toward the campus of the University of California, Berkeley.

Hundreds of high school and college students also walked out in protest in Seattle, Phoenix, Los Angeles and three other Bay Area cities – Oakland, Richmond and El Cerrito.

A predominantly Latino group of about 300 high school students walked out of classes on Wednesday morning in Los Angeles and marched to the steps of City Hall, where they held a brief but boisterous rally.

Low demand for dollar forces naira up at parallel market

The low demand for dollar at the parallel market on Wednesday forced naira to appreciate further against dollar, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.

NAN reports that the Nigerian currency gained N5 in Lagos to exchange at N460 to a dollar from N465 recorded on Tuesday.

Also, the Pound Sterling and Euro closed at N560 and N500 respectively.

At the Bureau De Change window, the dollar was sold at N385, being the Central Bank of Nigeria controlled rate.

Also, the Pound Sterling and Euro traded at N560 and N503 respectively.

However, the naira weakened against the dollar at the interbank market, losing N2.49 to close at N307.26 against N305.27 recorded on Tuesday.

Traders at the market said that the demand for the green back was low due to the political situation in the US.

Harrison Owoh, a BDC operator, said that stakeholders in the market were painstakingly watching the political situation in the US and its effect on the country’s economy.

Owoh said that in the coming days, the demand for the dollar was likely to remain low until the successful transition from a Democratic to a Republican Government in US.

NAN

He is a fool and would destroy America himself - ISIS slams Donald Trump victory

Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has slammed the victory of Donald Trump in the just concluded election saying he is a fool and would destroy America himself thereby giving Jihadis opportunity to seize power. They went on to refer to him as a donkey saying he is "an indication of the end of the American empire".

"What we want is their country be delivered to a donkey like Trump who will destroy it. In the end, they are all our enemies and we will only meet them on the battlefields. It is either them or us. We ask Allah to make their destruction caused by their own plans and their death come among themselves. The world is going to experience a change and this change will put Islam in the leadership position as the end result" One ISIS Jihad said.

Few hours ago, al-Qaeda group also said that Trump's win will give extremists across the Middle East a common enemy – sparking fears of a major attack on US soil

How Trump won: The revenge of working-class whites

For the past 40 years, America's economy has raked blue-collar white men over the coals. It whittled their paychecks. It devalued the type of work they did best. It shuttered factories and mines and shops in their communities. New industries sprouted in cities where they didn't live, powered by workers with college degrees they didn't hold.
They were not the only ones who felt abandoned by a rapidly globalizing economy, but they developed a distinctly strong pessimism in its face.
On Tuesday, their frustrations helped elect Donald Trump, the first major-party nominee of the modern era to speak directly and relentlessly to their economic and cultural fears. It was a “Brexit” moment in America, a revolt of working-class whites who felt stung by globalization and uneasy in a diversifying country where their political power had seemed to be diminishing.
It was a rejection of the business-friendly policies favored at various points by elites in both parties, which deepened trade relationships with foreign countries and favored allowing more immigrants in. And it was a raw outburst at the trends of rising inequality and economic dislocation that defined America's economy thus far this century.
Whites without a college degree — men and women — made up a third of the 2016 electorate. Trump won them by 39 percentage points, according to exit polls, far surpassing 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney's 25 percent margin. They were the foundation of his victories across the Rust Belt, including a blowout win in Ohio and stunning upsets in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
In polling, these voters have expressed deep racial and cultural anxieties. In exit polls they were more likely than the country as a whole to say that illegal immigrants should be deported. But those polls also suggested economic concerns and hostility toward leaders in Washington were much more important factors driving them to Trump.
Half of these voters said the economy was the most important issue in their vote, compared to 14 percent for immigration. A majority said international trade takes away American jobs. Three-quarters said the economy is “not good” or “poor” and nearly 8 in 10 said their personal financial situation was the same or worse than it was four years ago. Two-thirds said they preferred Trump to handle the economy instead of Democrat Hillary Clinton, compared with less than half of the electorate overall.
These frustrations were not new. They had mounted for decades, boiling over in the slow recovery from the Great Recession. That was particularly true among men. From 1975 to 2014, according to census data analyzed by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, white male workers without a college degree saw their median incomes fall by more than 20 percent, after adjusting for inflation. Their incomes fell 14 percent between 2007 and 2014.
Last year, amid a much improved U.S. economy and a tightening labor market, their incomes had jumped by 6 percent, according to the Center's analysis. But that increase was nowhere close to enough to make up the ground lost in the recession — let alone since the 1970s.
“It’s completely understandable how these workers feel left behind,” said Jared Bernstein, an economist at the center who is a former aide to Vice President Biden.
At the same time, these working class whites have seen the fruits of American prosperity increasingly go to the very rich. “Superstar” cities, like San Francisco, Boston and yes, Washington, gained even more wealth, and they have been responsible for an increasingly large share of the country's job growth.
Meanwhile, non-college whites saw jobs go away and businesses fold in the rural communities and smaller cities where they are more likely to live, particularly in the Rust Belt.
“Their access to economic opportunity in large measure comes down to the luck of geography,” said John Lettieri, co-founder of the Economic Innovation Group, an advocacy group whose research also showed that this group of voters is underrepresented in America's most prosperous regions.
Many of the downtrodden areas have lost factory jobs over the last several decades, as expanding trade and advancing technology pushed the economy away from production work and into services. Some areas suffered as coal mines closed. Others experienced rapid growth in high-paying energy extraction and support jobs several years ago as hydraulic fracturing boomed, only to watch many of those jobs evaporate when oil prices fell.
The workers increasingly came to see trade deals as the culprit — namely the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada in the 1990s and the effort to open up trade up trade with China in 2000, a decision that economic research suggested has cost America at least 2 million jobs on net.
Trump courted working class whites by promising a restoration of the old industrial economy — through renegotiated trade deals and tariffs on imports; by pledging to deport immigrants, which he said would reduce competition for native-born workers; and by promising rapid economic growth from tax cuts, deregulation and more drilling.
Many economists, including several conservative ones, warn Trump's plans will not deliver the relief those workers are seeking. Some say tariffs won't bring back jobs and could actually lead to recession. Others say Trump's plans ignore more critical issues for the working class, such as the need for improved worker training or measures to encourage workers to migrate to higher-opportunity regions.
“That’s the most disappointing part of the 2016 election,” said Abby McCloskey, an economist who focuses on the middle class and who advised some of Trump's rivals for the GOP nomination. Like Clinton, she said, Trump had “resorted to partisan talking points that the system is rigged against these workers.”
Trump's message did not resonate with black or Latino workers, who earn less at every education level than whites do. Those workers lean Democratic by various degrees but appeared especially repelled by Trump's attacks on immigrants and his stoking of racial resentments.
Critically, his huge margins among blue-collar whites would not have sufficed to deliver him the presidency, if he had not also maintained a slim advantage among whites with college degrees as well. As a group, those workers have been the winners of the new economy, blessed with cheaper imported consumer goods and a persistent wage advantage over their non-college counterparts.
Trump's challenge was inspiring the blue-collar whites without alienating the college-educated ones. He succeeded, and it won him the White House.

Culled from The Washington Post

Trump win shocks Wall Street: Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. election causes Wall Street to panic.

Photo credit: cnnmoney

U.S. stock futures are dropping as traders consider a future with Trump in the White House.
Investors are concerned about Trump's unpredictable nature and anti-trade stance, which could result in global turmoil during his presidency. But there are hopes that President Trump will be different than candidate Trump.
"The first speech by President elect Trump has had a calming effect on the markets," said Kathleen Brooks, a research director at City Index in London. "Trump definitely sounded more presidential than he has done at any stage during the election campaign."
It's worth noting that regardless of which candidate wins, stocks typically sell off the day following an election. Case in point: The S&P 500 dropped just over 5% the day after President Obama was elected in 2008.
Looking abroad, European markets posted minor declines in early trading, with many indices down by 1% to 2%.
Asian markets closed out the day in the red. Tokyo's Nikkei led the declines with a 5.4% loss.
The main Middle Eastern markets also declined by about 1%.
Before the Bell newsletter: Key market news. In your inbox. Subscribe now!
 Peso plunge: The Mexican peso is getting clobbered in reaction to the U.S. election results.
At one point overnight, the peso was down as much as 11% versus the U.S. dollar, hitting an all-time low. It's since recovered a bit, but is still down by about 8% in early morning trading.
Mexico's largest trade partner is the U.S. But Trump has attacked Mexico from Day 1 of his campaign and threatened to build a wall between the two countries. The peso is falling hard as traders fret about deteriorating relations between the countries.
Seeking a safe haven: Investors typically rush to invest in gold during times of market uncertainty. Today is no exception.
Gold prices rose by 3% as investors bought into the so-called safe haven asset.
The Swiss franc and Japanese yen also got a boost because they are viewed as steady rocks during times of turmoil.
Mining and pharmaceutical stocks were also performing well in Europe.

If Hillary Clinton had been elected, she would have strengthened gay marriage – Reno

On Election Day 2016, I urged all my friends to go out and vote for Donald Trump with the following message: “Get out and vote for the unborn fetus, get out and vote for God ordained marriage between a man and a woman, get out and vote against transgender bathrooms, get out and vote against Roe V Wade, get out and vote for Donald J. Trump! He might not be perfect, but he will promote those conservative values that have kept a check on the moral fabric of society and nominate conservative Supreme Court Justices,”’ I had called. Also listen to: Why some Africans will be voting Trump – Reno So many African Americans and Black Africans were appalled by my support for Donald Trump ever since my interview on the BBC on November 1st, 2016 when I called for Africans and others eligible to vote in the US elections to vote Donald Trump. And why were my people so appalled? Because we are an emotional people who take decisions based on what we want right now rather than what we want eventually. Most African Americans voted for Hillary because they bought into the lie peddled by the mainstream media that Trump is a racist. Most Black Africans supported Hillary because they did not want Trump to clamp down on immigration into the US. But my people failed to take into account the big picture! What are our cultural values as a Race? Do we as Black people, whether African American or Black African, really support gay rights and gay marriage? Trust our copy cat culture, if Hillary had been elected she would have strengthened the gay marriage lobby and her Supreme Court nominees would have made it a reality and the next thing you know we would want to copy it hook line and sinker. As a race, we suffer disproportionately from abortions more than any other race in America. African Americans and Black Africans make up 13% of the US populations yet 37% of all abortions in the US are done by Black women. It has gotten to the point where the most dangerous place for a Black child to be is in its own mother’s womb! Can we afford to continue with such a shameful record? We need somebody that is committed to ending Roe V Wade and outlawing the practice of on demand abortion. I believe in a woman’s right to choose but that right is asserted by any woman the minute she chooses to have unprotected sex. But let me get technical. What did Hillary Clinton do for Nigeria or Africa when she was Secretary of State? My people are just too sentimental and forget how she dithered and resisted naming Boko Haram as a terrorist group. We have forgotten how she led the effort to use the Leahy Law to frustrate Nigeria’s efforts to buy weapons from the US and when we could not buy from them she and her contemporaries also frustrated our efforts to buy from Israel. The annoying thing is that it was her disastrous intervention in Libya that led to the escalation of the Boko Haram insurgency because the overthrow of Gaddafi destabilized much of North and West Africa by putting sophisticated light weapons in the hands of non state actors like Boko Haram. And yet when we as a nation were faced with the consequences of her actions she would not help us. Nigeria was reduced to buying weapons for cash on the Black Market. The thing is that Gaddafi may have been a nasty piece of work but at least he made Libya stable. Today, ISIS has a foothold in Libya and from there supports insurgents like Boko Haram and Al Shabbab who are causing instability in Nigeria and Kenya. My big question to Nigerians especially is this-Who Hillary Clinton Epp? Our follow follow is too much. In real economic terms what did we stand to gain from Hillary Clinton? Though I have been a lifelong Republican since first coming to America as a nine year old, I suspend that status in 2008 to support a fellow Black man, President Obama out of purely primordial reasons (he is Black as I am) but to be honest, what has Africa and Nigeria gained from eight years of Obama in the White House? He never visited Nigeria. He never packaged any special economic package for Nigeria or Africa. Say whatever you want to say about former President George W Bush but no other US President has been as radical in his support to Africa as Bush number 43! For giving more than $5 billion in humanitarian aid to Africa annually, President Bush goes on record as having given more assistance to Sub Saharan Africa than any other president including President Obama! AIDS and Malaria are some of our biggest challenges in Africa and Bush met us at the point of our need. Before President George W Bush intervened in the fight against HOV/AIDS, only 100,000 Africans were on antiretrovirals but in 2003 he set up the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and by the time he left office in 2009 that number had grown to 2 million. When Congress resisted his efforts for funding to the time of $1.2 billion to fight malaria in Africa in 2007 Bush persuaded them by saying “There’s no reason for little babies to be dying of mosquito bites around the world.” Now I ask you, what similar effort have President Obama and Hillary put forward while they had power? Yes Obama has held summits like the first US/Africa Leaders Summit and the US Africa Business Summit but do we eat summits? What came of it other than talk and mostly Obama talking down at African leaders in a way he would never do with Asian leaders. At least with Trump we know that he will take on ISIS and other radical Islamic groups and that includes Boko Haram! Moreover, Trump has pledged to curb China’s global dominance and to do that he would have to match China dollar for dollar in Africa and when China and the US compete Africa gains. But be that as it may I am very proud to have publicly supported Donald Trump from the beginning to the end. Where are all those people who insulted me for my support for Donald Trump? They all seem to have gone missing in the ‘other room’! Omokri is the founder of the Mind of Christ Christian Center in California, author of Shunpiking: No Shortcuts to God and Why Jesus Wept and the host of Transformation with Reno Omokri

President Putin congratulates Donald Trump

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday congratulated Donald Trump for his victory in US elections, hoping to work with him to improve relations, the Kremlin said in a statement. Putin “expressed hope for mutual work on bringing US-Russia relations out of their critical condition” and said that “building constructive dialogue” would be in the interest of both countries and the world community, the Kremlin statement said.

Donald Trump elected president of United States

Donald Trump has become the 45th president of the United States after Hillary Clinton conceded.

The billionaire has been on stage to give a victory speech.

Clinton supporters were seen stony-faced or crying at what was supposed to be her victory rally in New York before being sent home by her campaign manager.

John Podesta insisted her campaign was “not done yet” and would have more to say once Americans wake up.

“They are still counting votes, and every vote counts,” he told the crowd.

But across town a triumphant Mr Trump is preparing to address his supporters.

Early exit polls had provided the Democrats with optimism, but shortly after 2am UK time the momentum began to shift as it emerged Mr Trump was edging ahead in a number of key states.

The first swing state to be called for Mr Trump was Ohio at just before 3.30am – and Florida, Iowa, North Carolina and Pennsylvania all followed for the billionaire.

Mrs Clinton looks set to win the popular vote across the nation – but it is Electoral College votes that count.

World markets began to respond as the US map turned Republican red, with falls reported across Asia and the Mexican peso dropping to a record low against the dollar.

Mr Trump will not be inaugurated until 20 January – but thoughts are already turning to what his presidency will look like following promises to build a wall at the Mexican border and to ban Muslims from entering the US.

The 70-year-old will be the oldest person ever inaugurated as US president.

On what turned out to be a dream night for the Republicans, the party also retained control of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Naira crashes to all-time low of N375 to dollar

Nigeria’s foreign exchange market may have taken a new turn as a rare movement in exchange rate happened between Monday and yesterday with massive swing in the value of Naira in the interbank official market against relative stability in the parallel market.

At the interbank market yesterday, Vanguard learnt banks were forced to reverse their high bid rates to rescue the Naira from a massive depreciation of almost 23 per cent to all time low of N375/USD against the average N308/USD it had traded consistently for over two months.

Reuters had reported that the official trading platform, FMDQ Plc, confirmed a single trade worth USD10,000 had been made at a rate of N376.63/ USD early on Tuesday.

However, by the close of trading, it was forced back to N305 with dealers claiming the rate was false. The currency had traded within a band of N304 and N308 to one US Dollar for some months now before dropping to N310 last weekend.

But surprisingly, parallel market has remained stable with the local currency appreciating marginally against the US Dollar, closing at N465/USD against N470 last weekend. The local currency had recovered from a low of N490/USD in the parallel market in September this year.

Usually depreciation in the official interbank window is followed by a corresponding depreciation in the parallel market windows, while in many instances the parallel market depreciates even when there is stability in the interbank window. This is the first time parallel market would be stable while interbank depreciates.

Vanguard investigations revealed that uneasy calm had been the climate in the interbank market in the past two months when banks began to feel CBN was not transparent in managing demand and supply as well as placing remote controls over exchange rates.

Consequently, according to one of the foreign exchange dealers in a bank, several violations of the rules have been happening at the background, with banks trading the officially sourced foreign currency at rates far above the official interbank rate.

He explained that the situation could only be supressed for a while, adding that what happened yesterday was an unveiling of the true market situation.

He also expressed concern that the rate may be forced back to the controlled region, if it continues to trend in the direction of depreciation, which may hit N400/USD.

The development may be connected to the speculation that the latest spike in interbank rate was triggered by the purchase of USD60 million last week at N390/USD by a major bank, which in turn sold the foreign currency at parallel market rate of over N450/USD.

Though other banks have been involved in various unwholesome trades in foreign currencies at rates close to parallel market, the said transaction last week appeared too glaring, according to dealers.

However, no bank has been sanctioned by CBN for such transactions so far, a development which may have piled more pressure on the Naira, while encouraging more underground dealings.

The illicit trading in foreign currency is said to be boosting the earnings of banks who are engaged in it as spread between purchase and selling prices (profit margin) widened to over 20 per cent as against 2.5 to 3.0 per cent.

North Korea: Obama’s ‘failed regime’ will enter the ‘cesspool of history,’

North Korea's official mouthpiece, the Korean Central News Agency, issued a blistering message on President Obama's eight years in power ahead of the U.S. election, denouncing the White House's policies in East Asia. The KCNA article — a “white paper” titled “US collapse is its fate in history” — mocked the Obama administration's “pivot to Asia” and criticized its plans to counter nuclear proliferation.

KCNA, which has referred to the U.S. president as a “wicked black monkey” in the past and described Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's appearance as that of a “pensioner going shopping,” declared over the weekend that the United States is home to a “completely failed regime” that “will certainly be buried.”

Its white paper purported to summarize the failings of U.S. policy — or “imperialist moves” — during Obama's tenure. It called out U.S. efforts to halt North Korea's nuclear program, saying they have been consigned to the “cesspool of history” and reflect only Washington's “ambition for nuclear monopoly.”

It offered some characteristic (and delusional) tough talk: “The Obama administration's hostile policy toward the DPRK [North Korea] and its strategy for dominating Asia are going totally bankrupt [through] the toughest counteraction of Songun Korea to terminate the empire of evil,” KCNA said, referring to Pyongyang's formal state ideology.

North Korea has spent years developing its covert nuclear program, much to the alarm and ire of the United States and its Asian allies. The specter of the pariah state's nukes has hung over the election campaign, with Republican Donald Trump suggesting earlier that he would welcome other friendly countries in the region perhaps obtaining their own atomic weapons — something that flies in the face of decades of Washington policy.

Nuclear proliferation experts who watch North Korea believe the regime is refining its strategic thinking around when it could deploy its nuclear arsenal, moving away from simple Cold War-era deterrence to actually considering using tactical nukes in conventional warfare.

“It looks like North Korea is thinking about what it would look like if they had to use these weapons on their own,” Vipin Narang, a political scientist at MIT, told my colleague Anna Fifield last month. “This program is no longer a joke.”

Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of the Atlantic, this week published a doomsday assessment of how a potential nuclear escalation by Pyongyang could spell disaster under a Trump presidency:

No country in recent years has consistently thwarted the national security objectives of U.S. presidents in the way that North Korea has. Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and their top advisers and negotiators have tried, and failed, to curtail North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. Their failures, though, were of the manageable sort: So far, at least, a misstep by an American president has not led to a nuclear exchange on — or beyond — the Korean peninsula.

Goldberg adds: “There is nothing in Donald Trump’s record to suggest that he has the self-possession, discipline, analytical sophistication, and capacity to assimilate new information that would allow him to cope with a North Korea-sized challenge.”

Source: WP