TODAYS TOP HEADLINES
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Tuesday, December 4, 2018 3A
At Capitol, Bush saluted, remembered
ALEX BRANDON I Associated Press
Former President George W. Bush, Laura Bush, left, and other family
members watch as the flag-draped casket of former President George
H.W. Bush is carried by a joint services military honor guard to lie in state
in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, Monday, Dec. 3, in Washington.
BY CALIN WOODWARD, DARLENE
SUPERVILLE, JUAN LOZANO AND
NOMAAN MERCHANT
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The nation’s
capital embraced George H.W.
Bush in death Monday with sol
emn ceremony and tributes to
his service and decency, as the
remains of the 41st president took
their place in the Capitol rotunda
for three days of mourning by the
political elite and everyday citi
zens alike.
With Bush’s casket atop the
Lincoln Catafalque, first used for
Abraham Lincoln’s 1865 funeral,
dignitaries came forward to honor
the Texan whose efforts for his
country extended three quarters
of a century from World War II
through his final years as an advo
cate for volunteerism and relief
for people displaced by natural
disaster.
President from 1989 to 1993,
Bush died Friday at age 94.
In an invocation opening Mon
day evening’s ceremony, the U.S.
House chaplain, the Rev. Patrick
J Conroy, praised Bush’s commit
ment to service, from Navy pilot
to congressman, U.N. ambassador,
envoy to China and then CIA direc
tor before being elected vice presi
dent and then president.
“Here lies a great man,” said
Rep. Paul Ryan, the House
speaker, and “a gentle soul.... His
legacy is grace perfected.”
Sent off from Texas with a
21-gun salute, Bush’s casket was
carried to Joint Base Andrews
outside the capital city aboard an
aircraft that often serves as Air
Force One and designated “Special
Air Mission 41” in honor of Bush’s
place on the chronological list of
presidents.
Cannon roared again outside
the Capitol as the sun sank and
his eldest son, former President
George W. Bush, stood with his
hand over his heart, watching the
casket’s procession up the steps.
Bush was remembered just feet
away from what he called “ Democ
racy’s front porch,” the west-facing
steps of the Capitol where he was
sworn in as president.
He will lie in state in the Capi
tol for public visitation through
Wednesday. An invitation-only
funeral service is set for Wednes
day at Washington National Cathe
dral. President Donald Trump and
first lady Melania Trump are to
attend.
Although Bush’s funeral services
are suffused with the flourishes
accorded presidents, by his choice
they will not include a formal
funeral procession through down
town Washington.
The younger President Bush, his
wife, Laura, and others from the
family traveled on the flight from
Houston.
On Sunday, students, staff and
visitors had flocked to Bush’s pres
idential library on the campus of
Texas A&M University, with thou
sands of mourners paying their
respects at a weekend candlelight
vigil at a nearby pond and others
contributing to growing flower
memorials at Bush statues at both
the library and a park in downtown
Houston.
“I think he was one of the kind
est, most generous men,” said
Marge Frazier, who visited the
downtown statue on Sunday while
showing friends from California
around.
After services in Washington,
Bush will be returned to Houston
to lie in repose at St. Martin’s Epis
copal Church before burial Thurs
day at his family plot on the library
grounds. His final resting place
will be alongside Barbara Bush, his
wife of 73 years who died in April,
and Robin Bush, the daughter they
lost to leukemia in 1953 at age 3.
Trump has ordered the federal
government closed Wednesday for
a national day of mourning. Flags
on public buildings are flying at
half-staff for 30 days out of respect
for Bush.
Trump, who has not always
uttered kind words about the Bush
family, offered nothing but praise
in the hours after the former presi
dent’s death was announced.
“He was just a high-quality man
who truly loved his family,” Trump
said Saturday while in Argentina.
“One thing that came through loud
and clear, he was very proud of his
family and very much loved his
family. So he was a terrific guy and
he’ll be missed.”
Bush’s passing puts him back
in the Washington spotlight after
more than two decades living the
relatively low-key life of a former
president. His death also reduces
membership in the ex-presidents’
club to four: Jimmy Carter, Bill
Clinton, George W. Bush and
Barack Obama.
One of Bush’s major achieve
ments was assembling the inter
national military coalition that
liberated the tiny, oil-rich nation
of Kuwait from invading neighbor
Iraq in 1991. The war lasted just
100 hours. He also presided over
the end of the Cold War between
the United States and the former
Soviet Union.
A humble hero of World War II,
Bush was just 20 when he survived
being shot down during a bombing
run over a Japanese island. He had
joined the Navy when he turned 18.
Shortly before leaving the ser
vice, he married his 19-year-old
sweetheart, Barbara Pierce, and
forged the longest presidential
marriage in U.S. history. Bush
enrolled at Yale University after
military service, becoming a
scholar-athlete and captaining the
baseball team to two College World
Series before graduating Phi Beta
Kappa after just Vh years.
UN chief: Climate change is ‘most important issue we face’
CZAREK S0K0L0WSKII Associated Press
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during the
opening of COP24 UN Climate Change Conference 2018 in
Katowice, Poland, Monday, Dec. 3.
BY FRANK JORDANS AND
MONIKA SCISL0WSKA
Associated Press
KATOWICE, Poland
— U.N. Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres issued a
dramatic appeal to world
leaders Monday to take the
threat of global warming
seriously and to act boldly to
avert a catastrophic rise in
temperatures before the end
of the century.
Guterres, who spoke at the
opening of the U.N. climate
conference in Poland, called
climate change “the most
important issue we face. ”
“Even as we witness devas
tating climate impacts caus
ing havoc across the world,
we are still not doing enough,
nor moving fast enough, to
prevent irreversible and
catastrophic climate disrup
tion,” Guterres told delegates
from almost 200 countries
who gathered in the city of
Katowice.
Famed British natural
ist Sir David Attenborough
echoed his warnings, telling
the gathering that the “col
lapse of our civilizations
and the extinction of much
of the natural world is on
the horizons” if no urgent
action is taking against global
warming.
The 92-year-old TV pre
senter blamed humans for
the “disaster of global scale,
our greatest threat in thou
sands of years.”
The U.N. chief chided
countries, particularly those
most responsible for green
house gas emissions, for fail
ing to do enough to back the
2015 Paris climate accord,
which set a goal of keeping
global warming well below
3.6 degrees Fahrenheit —
ideally 2.7 degrees F — by
the end of the century.
Citing a recent scientific
report on the dire conse
quences of letting average
global temperatures rise
beyond 1.5 degrees, Guterres
urged countries to cut their
emissions 45 percent from
2010 levels by 2030 and aim
for net zero emissions by
2050.
Net zero emissions mean
that any greenhouse gases
emitted need to be soaked up
by forest or new technologies
that can remove carbon from
the atmosphere.
Such cuts, which experts
say are the only way to
achieve the 1.5-degree goal,
would require a radical over
haul of the global economy
and a move away from using
fossil fuels.
“In short, we need a com
plete transformation of our
global energy economy,
as well as how we manage
land and forest resources,”
Guterres said.
He said governments
should embrace the opportu
nities rather than cling to fos
sil fuels such as coal, which
are blamed for a significant
share of human-caused
greenhouse gas emissions.
The U.N. chief’s remark
was directed at conference
host Poland, which relies
on coal for 80 percent of its
energy. Polish President
Andrzej Duda said during a
news conference later Mon
day that the coal-rich coun
try would work to reduce its
reliance on coal but never
entirely give up its “strategic
fossil fuel.”
Guterres also urged nego
tiators not to forget that the
challenges they face pale in
comparison to the difficul
ties climate change already
is causing millions of people
around the world whose
homes and livelihoods are
threatened by rising sea lev
els, drought and more power
ful storms.
A 15-year-old Swedish
activist who takes time out of
school to highlight the danger
of global warming echoed his
appeal, sentiment, old Greta
Thunberg said world leaders
who skip the climate summit
are “very irresponsible.”
Thunberg, who protests
outside Sweden’s parliament
each week and has inspired
students in other countries,
said absent leaders such as
U.S. President Donald Trump
and German Chancellor
Angela Merkel “don’t realize
how much power they have. ”
China, US delay tariffs but tech issues remain
BY JOE MCDONALD
Associated Press
BEIJING — Buy more
U.S. exports? Done. Tinker
with technology tactics that
irk Washington and other
trading partners? Maybe.
But scrap those plans, seen
by Beijing as a path to pros
perity and influence? Prob
ably never.
The agreement by Presi
dent Donald Trump and his
Chinese counterpart Xi Jin
ping on a cease fire on tar
iffs postpones the threat of
more disruption for China’s
exporters and their Asian
suppliers. Some economists
said Xi might be ready to
negotiate in earnest.
Still, Beijing gave no sign
of a changed stance on tech
nology ambitions that Wash
ington says violate Chinese
market-opening obligations
and might threaten U.S.
industrial leadership.
Trump’s complaints
strike at the heart of the
ruling Communist Party’s
state-led economic model
and plans to restore China to
its rightful place as a politi
cal and culture leader by
creating global champions
in robotics and other fields.
“It’s impossible for China
to cancel its industry poli
cies or major industry and
technology development
plans,” said economist Cui
Fan of the University of
International Business and
Economics in Beijing.
At his weekend meeting
with Xi in Argentina, Trump
agreed to postpone planned
U.S. tariff hikes on Chinese
imports by 90 days while
the two sides negotiate. The
90-day clock starts January
1. Xi revived promises to
narrow China’s multibillion-
dollar trade surplus with the
United States by purchasing
more American exports.
The outcome was “as
good as we could have
expected,” the chairman
of the American Chamber
of Commerce in China,
William Zarit, said in a
statement.
Also late Sunday, Trump
said on Twitter that Beijing
agreed to cut import duties
on U.S. autos. There was
no Chinese confirmation
of the move, which would
have little impact on trade
because most American
vehicles sold in China are
made here.
Treasury Secretary Ste
ven Mnuchin told reporters
at the White House Monday
that there was an “an imme
diate focus on reducing auto
tariffs,” though he did not
provide details or timing.
Asked if there was a specific
agreement to remove the
tariffs, he said: “Yes, there
was.”
Yet Larry Kudlow, the
top White House economic
adviser, later Monday said
that “We don’t yet have a
specific agreement on that,”
referring to the auto tariffs.
“But I will just tell you
as an involved participant
we expect those tariffs to
go to zero,” Kudlow added
in a conference call with
reporters.
Mnuchin stressed that the
two leaders had detailed
conversations on 142 items
and said the goal now was
to turn the talks into a “real
agreement.” He said both
leaders had extended invi
tations to visit their respec
tive countries and said he
expects them to meet in the
“near future.”
Investors were pleased
by the news. The Dow Jones
industrial average surged
320 points in later afternoon
trading.
Trump’s promise gives
Xi political room to negoti
ate after Beijing said earlier
talks were impossible while
Washington “holds a knife”
of tariff threats to China’s
throat. But both leaders face
a mix of economic national
ists, free trade advocates
and other conflicting forces
at home.
The outcome wasn’t
the result of a “significant
change” by China, Louis
Kuijs of Oxford Econom
ics said in a report. Wash
ington instead chose to see
Beijing’s argument that it
already is making changes
“in a more positive light.”
One sign of how far apart
the two sides are: China’s
foreign minister announced
in Buenos Aires that Trump
agreed to stop raising tar
iffs, rather than that he
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promised a 90-day suspen
sion. Wang Yi failed to men
tion industrial policy or
Trump’s demand that Bei
jing make progress toward
changing it or face renewed
increases.
Those omissions sug
gest Beijing doesn’t recog
nize how important those
demands are to Trump, said
Nick Marro of the Econo
mist Intelligence Unit.
“As a result we expect
trade hostilities to resume
in 2019,” Marro said in a
report.
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