IN BRIEF (Page 8)

United States

Pelosi wants Trump 'bribe' claim to stick

Democrats in the House of Representatives are refining part of their impeachment case against the president to a simple allegation: Bribery. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday brushed aside the Latin phrase "quid pro quo" that Democrats have been using to describe President Donald Trump's actions toward Ukraine. As the impeachment hearings go public, they're going for a more colloquial term that may resonate with more people. "Quid pro quo: Bribery," Pelosi said about Trump's July 25 phone call in which he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for a favor. Trump says the call was perfect. Pelosi said: "It's perfectly wrong. It's bribery." The House was expected to hear from a singular witness on Friday in the impeachment hearings: Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine.

Bolivia

Interim leader rules out Morales poll bid

Bolivia's interim president Jeanine Anez on Thursday ruled out exiled leader Evo Morales from standing in new elections as thousands of demonstrators marched through La Paz in support of the political icon and against the new, acting leader. Columns of people streamed into the seat of government La Paz from the neighboring town of El Alto for the second day running to press their argument that Morales's departure was not a resignation but the product of a coup. The interim government announced on Thursday that talks with Morales's Movement for Socialism party had begun in a bid to bring peace to the deeply polarized country.

Republic Of Korea

Seoul asked to pay more for US troops

US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper pressed the Republic of Korea on Friday to pay more for the cost of stationing US troops in the country and to maintain an intelligence-sharing pact with its other Asian ally, Japan, that Seoul is about to let lapse. Speaking after a high-level defense policy meeting with his ROK counterpart, Jeong Kyeong-doo, Esper said the ROK "is a wealthy country and could and should pay more" for the US military deployment. A ROK lawmaker said last week that US officials demanded up to $5 billion a year, more than five times what Seoul agreed to pay this year under a one-year deal.

United Nations

11 million Syrians need humanitarian aid

More than 11 million people across Syria need aid - more than half the country's estimated population - and the United Nations and other organizations are reaching an average of 5.6 million people a month, the UN humanitarian chief said on Thursday. Mark Lowcock told the Security Council that across northern Syria, 4 million people are supported by UN cross-border deliveries, including 2.7 million in the northwest, the last major opposition-held area in the country.

Japan

Emperor finishes last major accession rite

In the chill pre-dawn hours of Friday, Japan's Emperor Naruhito emerged from a shrine compound where he had spent a symbolic night with the sun goddess from whom conservatives believe his family descends, completing the rituals of his accession. The "Daijosai" rite, centered on the goddess Amaterasu Omikami, began soon after sunset on Thursday and is the most overtly religious of all the rituals around Naruhito's succession after his father Akihito abdicated in April. Amid flickering torchlight and chanting by priests, Emperor Naruhito emerged from behind the white curtains of the shrine at around 3 am, concluding a ceremony observed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and 400 dignitaries in an outdoor pavilion.

Agencies

(China Daily 11/16/2019 page8)