South Carolina lawmaker awaiting trial on child sex abuse material charges resigns from office
RJ May's resignation letter was dated Thursday but didn't arrive at the offices of House leadership until Monday morning.
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Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Vietnam wants to be the next Asian tiger and it's overhauling its economy to make it happen
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Beneath red banners and a gold bust of revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi's central party school, Communist Party chief To Lam declared the arrival of 'a new era of development' late last year. The speech was more than symbolic— it signaled the launch of what could be Vietnam's most ambitious economic overhaul in decades. Vietnam aims to get rich by 2045 and become Asia's next 'tiger economy' — a term used to describe the earlier ascent of countries like South Korea and Taiwan. The challenge ahead is steep: Reconciling growth with overdue reforms, an aging population, climate risks and creaking institutions. There's added pressure from President Donald Trump over Vietnam's trade surplus with the U.S., a reflection of its astounding economic trajectory. In 1990, the average Vietnamese could afford about $1,200 worth of goods and services a year, adjusted for local prices. Today, that figure has risen by more than 13 times to $16,385. Vietnam's transformation into a global manufacturing hub with shiny new highways, high-rise skylines and a booming middle class has lifted millions of its people from poverty, similar to China. But its low-cost, export-led boom is slowing, while the proposed reforms — expanding private industries, strengthening social protections, and investing in tech, green energy. It faces a growing obstacle in climate change. 'It's all hands on deck…We can't waste time anymore,' said Mimi Vu of the consultancy Raise Partners. The export boom can't carry Vietnam forever Investment has soared, driven partly by U.S.-China trade tensions, and the U.S. is now Vietnam's biggest export market. Once-quiet suburbs have been replaced with industrial parks where trucks rumble through sprawling logistics hubs that serve global brands. Vietnam ran a $123.5 billion trade surplus with the U.S. trade in 2024, angering Trump, who threatened a 46% U.S. import tax on Vietnamese goods. The two sides appear to have settled on a 20% levy, and twice that for goods suspected of being transshipped, or routed through Vietnam to avoid U.S. trade restrictions. During negotiations with the Trump administration, Vietnam's focus was on its tariffs compared to those of its neighbors and competitors, said Daniel Kritenbrink, a former U.S. ambassador to Vietnam. 'As long as they're in the same zone, in the same ballpark, I think Vietnam can live with that outcome,' he said. But he added questions remain over how much Chinese content in those exports might be too much and how such goods will be taxed. Vietnam was preparing to shift its economic policies even before Trump's tariffs threatened its model of churning out low-cost exports for the world, aware of what economists call the 'middle-income trap,' when economies tend to plateau without major reforms. To move beyond that, South Korea bet on electronics, Taiwan on semiconductors, and Singapore on finance, said Richard McClellan, founder of the consultancy RMAC Advisory. But Vietnam's economy today is more diverse and complex than those countries were at the time and it can't rely on just one winning sector to drive long-term growth and stay competitive as wages rise and cheap labor is no longer its main advantage. It needs to make 'multiple big bets,' McClellan said. Vietnam's game plan is hedging its bets Following China's lead, Vietnam is counting on high-tech sectors like computer chips, artificial intelligence and renewable energy, providing strategic tax breaks and research support in cities like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Danang. It's also investing heavily in infrastructure, including civilian nuclear plants and a $67 billion North–South high-speed railway, that will cut travel time from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City to eight hours. Vietnam also aspires to become a global financial center. The government plans two special financial centers, in bustling Ho Chi Minh City and in the seaside resort city of Danang, with simplified rules to attract foreign investors, tax breaks, support for financial tech startups, and easier ways to settle business disputes. Underpinning all of this is institutional reform. Ministries are being merged, low-level bureaucracies have been eliminated and Vietnam's 63 provinces will be consolidated into 34 to build regional centers with deeper talent pools. Private business to take the lead Vietnam is counting on private businesses to lead its new economic push — a seismic shift from the past. In May, the Communist Party passed Resolution 68. It calls private businesses the 'most important force' in the economy, pledging to break away from domination by state-owned and foreign companies. So far, large multinationals have powered Vietnam's exports, using imported materials and parts and low cost local labor. Local companies are stuck at the low-end of supply chains, struggling to access loans and markets that favored the 700-odd state-owned giants, from colonial-era beer factories with arched windows to unfashionable state-run shops that few customers bother to enter. 'The private sector remains heavily constrained,' said Nguyen Khac Giang of Singapore's ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute. Again emulating China, Vietnam wants 'national champions' to drive innovation and compete globally, not by picking winners, but by letting markets decide. The policy includes easier loans for companies investing in new technology, priority in government contracts for those meeting innovation goals, and help for firms looking to expand overseas. Even mega-projects like the North-South High-Speed Rail, once reserved for state-run giants, are now open to private bidding. By 2030, Vietnam hopes to elevate at least 20 private firms to a global scale. But Giang warned that there will be pushback from conservatives in the Communist Party and from those who benefit from state-owned firms. A Closing Window from climate change Even as political resistance threatens to stall reforms, climate threats require urgent action. After losing a major investor over flood risks, Bruno Jaspaert knew something had to change. His firm, DEEP C Industrial Zones, houses more than 150 factories across northern Vietnam. So it hired a consultancy to redesign flood resilience plans. Climate risk is becoming its own kind of market regulation, forcing businesses to plan better, build smarter, and adapt faster. 'If the whole world will decide it's a priority…it can go very fast,' said Jaspaert. When Typhoon Yagi hit last year, causing $1.6 billion in damage, knocking 0.15% off Vietnam's GDP and battering factories that produce nearly half the country's economic output, roads in DEEP C industrial parks stayed dry. Climate risks are no longer theoretical: If Vietnam doesn't take strong action to adapt to and reduce climate change, the country could lose 12–14.5% of its GDP each year by 2050, and up to one million people could fall into extreme poverty by 2030, according to the World Bank. Wednesdays What's next in arts, life and pop culture. Meanwhile, Vietnam is growing old before it gets rich. The country's 'golden population' window — when working-age people outnumber dependents — will close by 2039 and the labor force is projected to peak just three years later. That could shrink productivity and strain social services, especially since families — and women in particular — are the default caregivers, said Teerawichitchainan Bussarawan of the Centre for Family and Population Research at the National University of Singapore. Vietnam is racing to pre-empt the fallout by expanding access to preventive healthcare so older adults remain healthier and more independent. Gradually raising the retirement age and drawing more women into the formal workforce would help offset labor gaps and promote 'healthy aging,' Bussarawan said. ___ The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Leaving a top Trump administration post? The president may have an ambassadorship for you
WASHINGTON (AP) — Diplomacy may be soft power, but in President Donald Trump 's administration, it is also lately a soft landing. National security adviser Mike Waltz was nominated as United Nations ambassador after he mistakenly added a journalist to a Signal chat discussing military plans. Trump tapped IRS Commissioner Billy Long to be his ambassador to Iceland after Long contradicted the administration's messaging in his less than two months in the job. And Trump last weekend named State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce as deputy representative to the U.N. after she struggled to gel with Secretary of State Marco Rubio's close-knit team. The new appointments can be viewed as consolation prizes for leaving a high-profile post in the Trump administration following rocky tenures. But they also reflect the degree to which Trump is trying to keep his loyalists close, even if their earlier placements in the administration were ill-fitting. Breaking with the reality TV show that helped make Trump a household name, the president is not telling his top appointees 'You're fired!' but instead offering them another way to stay in his administration. 'It's not like 'The Apprentice,'' said John Bolton, another former Trump national security adviser, who has since become a Trump critic. Trump's first term featured more firings During his first White House tenure, Trump was new to politics, made many staffing picks based on others' recommendations and saw heavy staff turnover. Trump has stocked his second administration with proven boosters, which has meant fewer high-profile departures. Still, those leaving often are the subject of effusive praise and kept in Trump's political orbit, potentially preventing them from becoming critics who can criticize him on TV — something that didn't happen to a long list of former first-term officials. Ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president, and Trump can nominate anyone he likes, though many ultimately require Senate confirmation. Typically, top ambassadorships are rewards for large donors. 'It is a tremendous honor to represent the United States as an ambassador — which is why these positions are highly coveted and reserved for the president's most loyal supporters,' said White House spokesperson Anna Kelly. 'Mike Waltz, Billy Long and Tammy Bruce are great patriots who believe strongly in the America First agenda, and the President trusts them fully to advance his foreign policy goals.' From 'glitch' to a new job Waltz's days appeared numbered after The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg revealed in March that Waltz had added him to a private text chain on an encrypted messaging app that was used to discuss planning for a military operation against Houthi militants in Yemen. Trump initially expressed support for Waltz, downplaying the incident as 'a glitch.' Roughly five weeks later, the president announced Waltz would be leaving — but not for good. He portrayed the job change as a cause for celebration. 'From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our Nation's Interests first,' Trump posted in announcing Waltz's move on May 1. 'I know he will do the same in his new role.' Vice President JD Vance also pushed back on insinuations that Waltz had been ousted. 'The media wants to frame this as a firing. Donald Trump has fired a lot of people,' Vance said in an interview with Bret Baier of Fox News Channel. 'He doesn't give them Senate-confirmed appointments afterwards.' Bolton, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush before becoming Trump's national security adviser in 2018, called it 'a promotion to go in the other direction' — but not the way Waltz went. 'The lesson is, sometimes you do more good for yourself looking nice,' Bolton said of Trump's reassignments. Bruce also picked for a UN post Ironically, Bruce learned of Waltz's ouster from a reporter's question while she was conducting a press briefing. A former Fox News Channel contributor, Bruce is friendly with Trump and was a forceful advocate for his foreign policy. Over the course of her roughly six months as spokesperson, she reduced the frequency of State Department briefings with reporters from four or five days a week to two. But Bruce had also begun to frequently decline to respond to queries on the effectiveness, substantiveness or consistency of the administration's approaches to the Middle East, Russia's war in Ukraine and other global hotspots. At one point, she told reporters that Witkoff 'is heading to the region now — to the Gaza area' but then had to concede that she'd not been told exactly where in the Middle East he was going. Trump nonetheless posted Saturday that Bruce did a 'fantastic job' at the State Department and would 'represent our Country brilliantly at the United Nations.' Former U.S. deputy U.N. ambassador Robert Wood, who served as deputy State Department spokesman during President George W. Bush's term and as acting spokesman during President Barack Obama's term, voiced skepticism that Bruce's new position was a move up. Wood later became the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Conference on Disarmament through the rest of the Obama's tenure and all of the first Trump administration. 'Given the disdain in MAGA world for anything U.N., it's hard to imagine Tammy Bruce's nomination as U.S. Deputy Representative to the U.N. being seen as a promotion,' referring to Trump's 'Make America Great Again' movement. During her final State Department briefing on Tuesday, Bruce said Trump's announcing that he wanted her in a new role 'was a surprise,' but called the decision 'especially moving as it allows me to continue serving the State Department, to which I'm now quite attached.' 'Exciting times ahead!' Then there's Long, a former Republican Missouri congressman, who was the shortest-tenured IRS commissioner confirmed by the Senate since the position was created in 1862. He contradicted administration messaging on several occasions. Long said last month that the IRS' Direct File program would be eliminated. An IRS spokesperson later indicated that it wouldn't be, noting requirements in the tax and spending law Trump has championed. The Washington Post also reported that Long's IRS disagreed with the White House about sharing taxpayer data with immigration officials to help locate people in the U.S. illegally. After learning that Trump wanted him in Reykjavik, Long posted, 'Exciting times ahead!' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to say Tuesday why Long was removed as IRS chief and being deployed to Iceland. 'The president loves Billy Long and he thinks he can serve the administration well in this position,' she said. 'These things usually don't work out' The soft landings aren't always heralded by Trump. Former television commentator Morgan Ortagus, who was a State Department spokesperson during Trump's first term, is now a special adviser to the United Nations after serving as deputy envoy to the Middle East under Steve Witkoff. Trump foresaw that Ortagus might not be a good fit. He posted in January, while announcing her as Witkoff's deputy, that 'Morgan fought me for three years, but hopefully has learned her lesson.' 'These things usually don't work out, but she has strong Republican support, and I'm not doing this for me, I'm doing it for them,' Trump added. 'Let's see what happens.' Ortagus lasted less than six months in the role. ___ Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Fatima Hussein in Washington contributed to this report.
Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
What newly released videos and records reveal about the Uvalde school shooting
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Anguished pleas from parents. Confused police officers. The horrifying scene that emergency crews found when they first got inside the classrooms at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Newly released records surrounding the May 2022 massacre, including hundreds of pages of files and hours of body camera video, show in greater detail the heartbreak and failures of one the worst school shootings in U.S. history. Nineteen children and two teachers were killed. The documents offer a deeper portrait of the teenage gunman and actions of hundreds of law enforcement officers who rushed to the rural South Texas campus. They're the final batch of records local authorities had withheld during a yearslong legal battle over public access. Family members of the victims were among those pushing for their release. Although state and federal investigations over the past three years have extensively examined the shooting, the batches of records provide new glimpses of the panic and indecision by law enforcement officials as they waited more than an hour to confront the shooter. Parents are heard begging police to stop the gunman The official narrative that police quickly rushed to confront and kill 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos had been quickly dismissed by parents who stood outside the school begging for officers to go inside or let them get to their children. Audio released Tuesday detailed their desperation. 'Whose class is he in?' one parent can be heard asking on a deputy's body camera. Another comes up and yells, 'Come on man, my daughter is in there!' Their pleas continued. 'Either you go in or I'm going in bro,' one parent says, adding seconds later, 'My kids are in there, bro. … Please!' Some officers urged quick action. One deputy, who first responded to reports of Ramos shooting his grandmother moments before the school attack, rushed to campus after the first gunshots there. As he donned his ballistics vest, a voice says, 'Something needs to be done, ASAP.' After some children run from the school and officers report finding an AR-15 rifle, one officer can be heard saying, 'We need to get in there, fast.' It would be another hour before law enforcement breached the classroom and killed Ramos. Gunman's mother told deputies she was scared of son months before attack Law enforcement records showed sheriff's deputies were called to a physical disturbance at the home of Ramos' mother, Adriana Reyes, a few months before the attack. She told deputies that he became angry and kicked a wireless modem after she turned off the internet. She had to hold him down to calm him, according to an incident report. She told deputies Ramos never hit her, but they made a note in their report: 'Ms Reyes stated she was scared of Salvador and wanted help.' Ramos' grandmother took him to her house and deputies took no further action. Ramos would end up shooting his grandmother before attacking the school. She survived. School records, meanwhile, showed a pattern of spiraling trouble that emerged at a young age. Ramos was described as a 'motivated thinker and learner' in kindergarten, but by middle school he was getting suspended or disciplined for harassment and bullying. He also failed to meet minimum statewide testing standards. In October 2021 — seven months before the shooting — Ramos withdrew from high school because of 'poor academic performance, lack of attendance.' Records showed he failed nearly all his classes. Video shows officers unsure of shooter's location Some officers were initially unsure about just where Ramos was, how they might get to him and whether children might be trapped or hiding. Some tried finding a way in but also knew Ramos was heavily armed. Crouched behind the school building sizing up an assault on the classroom from the outside, an officer says, 'I just don't want to be crawling and he's just looking down on me.' Former school police chief Pete Arredondo, who has been described as the incident commander, can be heard shouting to Ramos, asking him put down his weapon. 'These are innocent children. We don't want anyone else hurt. Please talk to me,' but there is no response. Once police realized there were children hiding in other classrooms, Arredondo is heard telling officers crouched around him they want to clear those rooms before breaching the classroom where Ramos is holed up. 'We don't know if there are kids in there,' Arredondo says. 'We're gonna save the lives of the other ones.' What comes next The law enforcement response included local, state and federal officers, but Arredondo and former school district police officer Adrian Gonzales are the only two to face criminal charges. Both face multiple counts of child endangerment and abandonment and have pleaded not guilty. Arredondo has said he has been wrongly scapegoated as the one to blame for mistakes that day. The indictment against Arredondo contends that he didn't follow his active shooter training and made critical decisions that slowed the police response while the gunman was 'hunting' victims. Trial is set for October. Gonzales on Monday requested that his trial be moved out of Uvalde County, arguing he cannot receive a fair trial in the community. ___ Associated Press reporters John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Missouri; Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia; Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas; Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia; and Ed White in Detroit contributed.
