Governatives

President Trump wants a wall along the border with Mexico, CNN has been told by multiple sources within the agencies involved in building, paying for and enforcing this barrier.

President Trump has been looking at various blueprints with his advisers, a senior administration official told CNN. He could ultimately insist on a concrete wall stretching across the entire border, as he has promised. It would be a far bigger and a vastly more expensive project, and any plan would need to be sent to Congress for funding approval.

The European Parliament has approved a landmark free trade deal with Canada. The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (Ceta) has been seven years in the making and its ratification is set to eliminate almost all trade tariffs between the European Union and Canada.

EU lawmakers backed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (Ceta) by 408-254 votes despite crowds of protesters contesting the deal outside. All 28 governments will need to give their approval to finalise the process of ratifying the agreement.

“The ratification in all the member states will start, there will be a long process and in most countries without any problems, in some, with more discussions: "We will try to be there, we will try the effects of the Canadian agreement, try to calm some of the concerns,” said EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom.

Swiss voters on Sunday approved a measure to make it easier for third-generation immigrants to become citizens, dismissing suggestions from the far-right that the move could pose a security threat.

In a referendum on Sunday, they backed a proposal to simplify naturalisation for third-generation immigrants. According to final official results, the "Yes" camp claimed 60% support and a victory in 19 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, meeting the two criteria needed for a win.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Britain should look to Switzerland on how to handle relations with the European Union, for a post-Brexit model of "close co-operation", according to Swiss newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung (NZZ) on Sunday.

"Britons should take as an example how cleverly Switzerland has linked national sovereignty and close cooperation with the European Union," he said, Britain needed a "wise political solution" to Brexit added.
A series of bilateral deals have been struck between Switzerland and the EU meaning it accepts free movement of people and certain rules on trade.

China and Switzerland have enjoyed a longstanding win-win partnership and China has an optmisstic economic outlook, the Swiss minister of Economic Affairs, Education and Research, Johann Schneider-Ammann said in an interview with Xinhua, chinese media on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.

"I am very proud that Chinese President Xi Jinping could come to my country and stay four days," Schneider-Ammann said "In April last year we established such good personal relationships, and I’m proud of this success."

George Soros, on the sideline of Davos Forum, gave his views on the state of the world. The EU, according to billionaire investor, is disintegrating following last year’s Brexit vote and Italian referendum, a course that must be reversed. The trading bloc has become dysfunctional because it is governed by laws that are "not appropriate to the current circumstances" and not easily changed, he said.

"If Europe breaks down, the consequences will be very dire," the investor said. "But I do see a way it could be saved, and this is also recognized by many of the people in Brussels. They can’t say so publicly, but they know that Europe is not functioning."

Chinese President Xi Jinping will deliver a speech at the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum (WEF) session in Davos, Switzerland on January 17, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong said Wednesday. China’s President will be the first Chinese head of state to do so at the annual gathering of business leaders, politicians and cultural icons.

"We are all aware that we are now in the transition in the world to a multilateral, to a multipolar, geopolitical and geo-economic structure," World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.

The 47th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum will focus on five critical leadership challenges in 2017: strengthening global collaboration, restoring a sense of shared identity, revitalizing economic growth, reforming capitalism and preparing for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The WEF will take place on 17-20 January 2017 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, under the theme Responsive and Responsible Leadership. More than 2,500 participants from nearly 100 countries will meet and participate in over 300 sessions.
The theme of the meeting calls on global leaders to renew the systems that have supported international cooperation in the past by adapting them to today’s complex, multipolar world in ways that foster genuinely inclusive and equitable growth.