| Australian student released in North Korea says 'I'm OK' Posted: 04 Jul 2019 05:45 PM PDT  An Australian student released after a week in detention in North Korea arrived in Tokyo on Thursday after telling reporters he was in "very good" condition, without saying what happened to him. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced to Parliament that Alek Sigley, 29, had been released by North Korea following intervention from Swedish diplomats and described him as safe and well. After Sigley's arrival in Beijing, he later went to Tokyo to reunite with his wife, who is Japanese.
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| Iran blasts Britain's 'piracy' after Royal Marines detain oil tanker in Gibraltar Posted: 04 Jul 2019 04:03 PM PDT  Britain has been plunged into a diplomatic row with Iran after Royal Marines seized an Iranian oil tanker as it passed through the Strait of Gibraltar, in a move likely to further inflame tensions in the Gulf. The Grace 1 super-tanker was boarded in the early hours of Thursday morning to prevent it from delivering a cargo of crude oil to Syria in defiance of EU sanctions, apparently following a request to the UK from the United States. The move provoked fury in Iran, which accused Britain of bowing to US pressure to blockade its oil exports and summoned the British ambassador to the foreign ministry in Tehran to express "its very strong objection to the illegal and unacceptable seizure" of the 300 meter vessel. Abbas Moussavi, a spokesman, called the move "destructive" and said it could increase tensions in the Persian Gulf, where six oil tankers have recently suffered attacks that Britain and the US have blamed on Iran. In an interview on Iranian television, Mr Mousavi said it was "a form of piracy" that proved Britain was following "the hostile policies of the US". Tanker impounded Gibraltar US National Security Advisor John Bolton said the British move was "excellent news." "America & our allies will continue to prevent regimes in Tehran & Damascus from profiting off this illicit trade," Bolton said on Twitter. The drama began when a specialist team from the Royal Marines' Maritime Operations Unit swooped on the 330 meter super-tanker as it paused to take on supplies off Gibraltar overnight. The 30 commandos inserted on a Pacific 24 high-speed boat and by 'fast-roping' from a Wildcat helicopter, allowing 16 Royal Gibraltar Police officers to search the vessel in a safe manner. The operation was over in minutes with no shots fired. Fabian Picardo, Gibraltar's Chief Minister, said he authorised the assault and a police request for Royal Marine assistance because he believed the ship was bound for the Baniyas refinery in Syria. "That refinery is the property of an entity that is subject to European Union sanctions against Syria," he said. The foreign minister of Spain said Britain had acted as the request of the United States. Josep Borrell, the Spanish foreign minister, said Madrid was assessing the implications of the incident because it took place in waters it considers its own. Spain disputes British ownership of Gibraltar. The Foreign Office said Rob Macaire, the UK ambassador in Tehran, told the foreign ministry when he was summoned that the move was about enforcing sanctions on Syria, not on Iran, and that Britain views Iranian oil exports in general as legitimate. Gibraltarian police and customs and a detachment of Royal Marines halted the vessel Credit: Marcos Moreno/ AP Lloyd's List, the shipping publication, said the 300,000-tonne, Panamanian-flagged tanker loaded oil off Iran in April before sailing around the Cape of Good Hope, a lengthy route apparently taken because the ship was too heavy to use the Suez canal. The vessel was one of four tankers found to be involved in shipping Iranian fuel oil to Singapore and China in violation of US sanctions by a Reuters investigation earlier this year. Its seizure will further inflame the difficult relationship between Britain and Tehran, which regularly clash over Iran's foreign policy and the fate of jailed British dual nationals including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. It may also complicate British, French, and German efforts to save the 2015 nuclear deal and to defuse a confrontation between the United States and Iran in the Gulf. Hassan Rouhani, Iran's president, said on Sunday that Tehran will increase its enrichment of uranium to "any amount that we want" after it breached the 300 kilogram limit laid out in the nuclear agreement in protest at US attempts to strangle its oil exports. The Panamanian-flagged Grace 1 is thought to be carrying oil from Iran Credit: REUTERS Britain officially defends Iran's right to export oil under the 2015 nuclear deal, which offered the Islamic Republic economic incentives in exchange for curtailing its nuclear program. But the United States, which quit the deal last year, has attempted to blockade Iranian oil exports under a "maximum pressure" policy designed to force Tehran to accept more restrictive limits on its nuclear program, curtail its ballistic missile program and abandon covert military operations in the Middle East. The policy has reduced Iran's exports to well below 500,000 barrels of oil a day, a fraction of the 1.8 million economists believe the country needs to operate. Iran has said it will continue to breach some of its nuclear commitments unless the remaining signatories of the deal - Britain, France, Germany, the EU, Russia, and China - find a way for it to sell oil and access the revenues.
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| UPDATE 1-U.S. asks federal court to throw out Huawei lawsuit Posted: 04 Jul 2019 03:22 PM PDT ![UPDATE 1-U.S. asks federal court to throw out Huawei lawsuit]( "UPDATE 1-U.S. asks federal court to throw out Huawei lawsuit") The U.S. government filed a motion on Wednesday asking for the dismissal of a lawsuit by Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd that claimed the United States had acted illegally when it blacklisted Huawei's products. Huawei sued the U.S. government in early March, in a complaint filed in federal court in Texas, saying that a law limiting its American business was unconstitutional. The company has been a component of the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China that has hung over financial markets, with President Donald Trump recently agreeing to loosen restrictions on Huawei after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 summit.
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| Russia's whale release plan called success despite criticism Posted: 04 Jul 2019 01:55 PM PDT  Russian scientists said Thursday that an effort to put nearly 100 illegally captured whales back in open water has been successful so far, but some environmentalists claimed it was badly organized. The condition of 97 belugas and orcas kept in cramped conditions in Russia's far east has drawn international concern, and President Vladimir Putin has personally ordered authorities to investigate the case and release the animals. Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Gordeyev told Putin Wednesday the whales have since fully readapted to a natural habitat.
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| U.S. asks federal court to throw out Huawei lawsuit Posted: 04 Jul 2019 01:42 PM PDT  The U.S. government filed a motion on Wednesday asking for the dismissal of a lawsuit by Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd that claimed the United States had acted illegally when it blacklisted Huawei's products. Huawei sued the U.S. government in early March, in a complaint filed in federal court in Texas, saying that a law limiting its American business was unconstitutional. The company has been a component of the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China that has hung over financial markets, with President Donald Trump recently agreeing to loosen restrictions on Huawei after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 summit.
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| The Latest: Group says 54 migrants rescued north of Libya Posted: 04 Jul 2019 12:44 PM PDT  An Italian humanitarian group says its boat rescued 54 migrants north of Libya, where an airstrike on a detention center killed at least 44 migrants this week. Beppe Caccia, a coordinator for Mediterranea Saving Humans, said the crew of the Alex performed the rescue Thursday after Italian authorities told them to stand down and let the Libyan coast guard handle it. Groups that operate rescue ships on the Mediterranean Sea say neither the European Union nor the United Nations consider Libya a safe port.
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| Deadly land, deadly sea: Libya migrants face brutal choice Posted: 04 Jul 2019 12:40 PM PDT  A boat from Libya carrying 86 migrants sank in the Mediterranean and left only three survivors, authorities said Thursday, after an airstrike on a detention center near the Libyan capital killed dozens of others. The twin tragedies illustrate the almost unthinkable choice facing those who have reached the North Africa coast while seeking a better life in Europe: Risk a hazardous sea voyage in a flimsy, rubber-sided boat, or face being crammed into a detention center, where some of the migrants say they have been forced to assemble weapons for someone else's war. "I fled from the war, to come to this hell of Libya," said one teenager from sub-Saharan Africa who suffered minor injuries in Tuesday night's airstrike near Tripoli.
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| UN Says ‘Grave Violations’ of Rights Committed in Venezuela Posted: 04 Jul 2019 12:19 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The United Nations called on the Venezuelan government to take "immediate, concrete measures to halt and remedy the grave violations" of economic, social and civil rights, in a report following High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet's visit to Venezuela last month.Nicolas Maduro's regime has used social programs in a discriminatory manner based on political grounds as a tool for social control, the report said. At the same time, the ruling authorities persecute groups and individuals it perceives as threats, including members of the opposition. Security forces often resort to torture or inhuman treatment, including electric shocks, suffocation, beatings and sexual violence to extract confessions.The report recommends the dissolution of the national police's feared Special Action Force, known by the Spanish abbreviation FAES, which it blames for thousands of extrajudicial executions, mainly of young men, who have been killed in confrontations with state forces during recent years. It also calls for the disarmament of colectivos -- gangs loyal to Maduro."I sincerely hope the authorities will take a close look at all the information included in this report and will follow its recommendations," Bachelet said in an emailed press release. "We should all be able to agree that all Venezuelans deserve a better life, free from fear and with access to adequate food, water, healthcare, housing and all other basic human needs."The report comes on the heels of an attack on 16-year-old high school student Rufo Chacon, who was blinded on Monday after police fired buckshot at protesters in the western state of Tachira, and the death of Rafael Acosta Arevalo, a navy captain who died days after he was arrested on treason charges in Caracas. In a hearing the day before his death, Arevalo was seen using a wheelchair, his face bruised and his nails marked with blood.The UN findings also note the shortages of 60 to 100% of essential drugs in four of Venezuela's major cities, including Caracas. Lack of all types of contraceptives have led to higher risk of HIV and an increase in preventable maternity mortality, with an estimated 20% linked to unsafe abortions.In a 11-page response, Venezuela's government said the UN's report showed ``an openly biased truth'' that minimized measures taken by the state to improve people's lives and ignored official data. It also fails to mention the opposition's violent actions, the statement shared by Venezuela's Information Ministry said.Bachelet's VisitIn a visit in late June, Bachelet said she spoke to families of people tortured by the government and those of government supporters whose rights have been violated. She also visited opposition leader and National Assembly head Juan Guaido, who raised the issue of the nearly 700 political prisoners detained in Venezuela, according to NGO Penal Forum.In a nod to the Venezuelan government's claims about the country's crisis, she acknowledged that recent sanctions have made the situation worse, but added that its economy was already in distress before their implementation.Roughly 4 million citizens have fled Venezuela's spiraling economic and political crisis, according to the latest figures from the United Nations.Venezuela has denied victims of their "rights to truth, justice, and reparation," the report said. "If the situation does not improve, the outflow of Venezuelan migrants and refugees will continue, and the living conditions for those remaining will worsen."(Includes Venezuelan government response in seventh paragraph)To contact the reporters on this story: Patricia Laya in Caracas at playa2@bloomberg.net;Alex Vasquez in Caracas Office at avasquez45@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Cancel at dcancel@bloomberg.net, Bruce DouglasFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Holocaust survivor Eva Kor dies at age 85 Posted: 04 Jul 2019 12:14 PM PDT  Holocaust survivor Eva Kor, who championed forgiveness even for those who carried out the Holocaust atrocities, died Thursday during an overseas trip for a museum she founded in Indiana, her son said. Kor was in Krakow, Poland, for an annual educational trip with the CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Terre Haute, Indiana, and died in the morning in her hotel room. While her health had recently improved, Kor had a tough year medically with a heart surgery and respiratory issues, said her son Alex Kor, who was with her when she died.
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| Venezuela: UN report accuses Maduro of ‘gross violations’ against dissenters Posted: 04 Jul 2019 11:26 AM PDT  In withering report, human rights chief details how Maduro's security forces allegedly torture members of the oppositionVenezuela's president Nicolas Maduro. Photograph: HANDOUT/ReutersThe UN has issued a withering appraisal of the human rights situation in Venezuela, as horrific details emerged of the injuries inflicted on a navy captain allegedly tortured to death during a crackdown on alleged plotters against president Nicolás Maduro.A report by UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet – which follows a three-day mission to the South American country last month – accuses Maduro's security forces of committing a series of "gross violations" against Venezuelan dissenters and urges him to disband a notorious special forces group blamed for a wave of politically-motivated killings.The 16-page document also contains chilling details of the techniques allegedly being used by Venezuela's security and intelligence services to interrogate and intimidate members of the political opposition, as Maduro battles to retain power.The report says that in scores of cases identified by researchers from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) "women and men were subjected to one or more forms of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including electric shocks, suffocation with plastic bags, water boarding, beatings, sexual violence, water and food deprivation, stress positions and exposure to extreme temperatures"."Security forces and intelligence services … routinely resort to such practices to extract information and confessions, intimidate, and punish the detainees," it adds.The report is also highly critical of FAES, a shadowy special forces unit activists suspect has been tasked with subduing opposition to Maduro in Venezuela's impoverished periphery.The report said Bachelet's team had interviewed relatives of 20 young men killed by FAES between June 2018 and April this year, all of whom described a similar modus operandi. Heavily-armed, balaclava-wearing agents would storm homes and separate their targets from their families before shooting them."According to their relatives, almost all of the victims had one or more shots in the chest," the report said.Maduro's government rejected the "distorted" report in an 11-page rebuttal that accused Bachelet of offering "a selective and openly biased vision" of human rights in Venezuela. "The imprecisions, mistakes, descontextualizations and false claims are innumerable," it said.The UN report was released amid growing outrage over last Friday's killing of Rafael Acosta, a Venezuelan navy captain who had been detained during a roundup of supposed anti-Maduro conspirators.Acosta's wife has claimed he was tortured to death by military counter-intelligence officers – claims supported by a copy of the homicide squad's preliminary autopsy that was leaked to a pro-government newspaper on Wednesday.The newspaper said pathologists had given the cause of death as "severe cerebral edema [brain swelling] caused by acute respiratory failure caused by a pulmonary embolism caused by rhabdomyolysis [a potentially life-threatening breakdown of muscle fibers] by multiple trauma".Doctors reportedly identified internal bleeding in Acosta's digestive tract, colon and neck as well as a pulmonary embolism and broken ribs.A separate report claimed Acosta had suffered 16 broken ribs and a whiplash-like back injury during the alleged torture session.At a press conference in Caracas on Thursday, opposition lawmaker Delsa Solorzano said the autopsy left in no doubt what had happened."There are lots of technical words that those of us who aren't doctors can't fully understand," Solorzano told reporters. "But at the end of day what they mean is they beat him to death."Venezuelan authorities have moved quickly to portray the killing as the act of a small group of intelligence officers, acting independently.On Monday attorney general Tarek Saab – a close Maduro confidant – said he had ordered two agents suspected of involvement in the "unfortunate incident" to be arrested on manslaughter charges.Saab promised an "objective, independent and impartial" investigation and said the culprits would receive "exemplary punishment".Bachelet's report suggested neither was likely to happen.It said: "The Attorney-General's Office has regularly failed to comply with its obligation to investigate and prosecute perpetrators … Institutions responsible for the protection of human rights, such as the Attorney-General's Office, the courts and the Ombudsperson, usually do not conduct prompt, effective, thorough, independent, impartial and transparent investigations into human rights violations and other crimes committed by State actors, bring perpetrators to justice, and protect victims and witnesses."
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| UN: 5,287 killings in Venezuela security operations in 2018 Posted: 04 Jul 2019 11:17 AM PDT  Venezuela's government registered nearly 5,300 killings during security operations last year linked to cases of "resistance to authority," the U.N. human rights chief reported Thursday, denouncing a "shockingly high" number of extrajudicial killings. Michelle Bachelet's report focusing on the last 18 months follows her trip to the troubled South American country last month and draws upon over 550 interviews conducted by her office with rights defenders, victims, witnesses of rights violations and other sources.
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| Jeremy Hunt's China crisis could be bad news for British exports Posted: 04 Jul 2019 11:15 AM PDT  The so-called "golden era" in UK-China relations has lost some of its shine after foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt refused to rule out sanctions against Beijing over escalating tensions in Hong Kong. Then-Chancellor George Osborne's charm offensive in 2015 promised a new period of booming trade and investment with China. However, Mr Hunt - who is competing with Boris Johnson to become prime minister - angered Beijing earlier this week, saying China could "face serious consequences" over its treatment of protesters in the former British colony. His warning comes just as Britain looks for new friends ahead of Brexit. Liu Xiaoming, China's ambassador to the UK, said Mr Hunt's comments urging Beijing to not use the protests as "pretext for repression" had damaged relations between Britain and a major trading partner only growing in importance. China was only 15th on the list of Britain's trading partners 20 years ago. Today it is fourth, accounting for 7.5pc of all UK trade - a five-fold increase. UK total trade with China While the bulk of goods trade between the two countries flows from the East, UK exports to the world's second-largest economy have also leapt in that period. China has surged from the 40th to the seventh-biggest export market for UK businesses since 1998, worth almost £40bn last year. A burgeoning middle class in China has become a key market for the likes of luxury fashion house Burberry, while London's mining giants have ridden the country's construction boom. Deteriorating UK-China relations could also deal Britain's already embattled car industry another blow. More than a quarter of UK exports entering China are vehicles, making them the top export, followed by petroleum products and pharmaceutical goods, according to official figures. UK goods trade with China China's rising financial clout has also made it a key investor in major UK infrastructure projects. Chinese companies have been involved in the development of the Hinkley Point nuclear power plant, upgrades to Manchester airport, while talks have been held with Chinese businesses about over building parts of the High Speed 2 rail link. Kerry Brown, professor of Chinese Studies at King's College London, explains that "you have a China that is more and more potentially important to the UK as we look to exit the EU". He added that Britain's departure from the bloc could lead to a relationship that "is unburdened by the history and more transactional". The UK remains the top European destination for foreign direct investment from China and will need to continue to attract cash from Beijing in the post-Brexit era. Prof Brown warns that tensions over Hong Kong come at a time when "China is way, way more powerful than ever before and a China which is more significant to the UK". He adds: "The UK now potentially needs China more than it seems China needs the UK."
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| UPDATE 1-Europe trade channel with Iran close to 1st deal in days - France Posted: 04 Jul 2019 10:54 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Europe trade channel with Iran close to 1st deal in days - France]( "UPDATE 1-Europe trade channel with Iran close to 1st deal in days - France") French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday he hoped a special trade channel set up with Iran would complete a first, limited transaction in the coming days. Set up by France, Britain and Germany, Instex is a barter trade mechanism that aims to avoid direct financial transfers by offsetting balances between importers and exporters on the European side. The mechanism is aimed at making it possible for trade between European Union members and Iran to continue in the face of stiff U.S sanctions since Washington quit a 2015 nuclear accord between Tehran and world powers last year.
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| Creams, massage and police escort: how Russian whales were freed Posted: 04 Jul 2019 10:35 AM PDT  Whales were massaged and lathered in special balm as they rode toward the ocean in a motorcade as part of their release from a "jail" in the Russian far east, the institute overseeing the operation said Thursday. Two killer whales and six beluga whales were freed last week after months of captivity and a public backlash that eventually saw President Vladimir Putin endorse their release. "The hardest thing in the release was that nobody has done this before," said the director of the All-Russian Fisheries and Oceanography Institute (VNIRO), Kirill Kolonchin.
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| ICC Prosecutor Calls for Investigation Into Rohingya Atrocities Posted: 04 Jul 2019 09:33 AM PDT ![ICC Prosecutor Calls for Investigation Into Rohingya Atrocities]( "ICC Prosecutor Calls for Investigation Into Rohingya Atrocities") (Bloomberg) -- A prosecutor for the International Criminal Court on Thursday formally requested judges to authorize an investigation into alleged crimes against humanity and "other inhumane acts" carried out against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.According to the court documents, the prosecutor alleges that there is a "reasonable basis" to support that Myanmar's armed forces, along with police and civilians, carried out "crimes against humanity" that facilitated the mass deportation of Rohingya across the nation's western border into Bangladesh starting in 2016.The request comes days after United Nations investigators warned that fresh human rights violations are being committed against civilians still in the area by Myanmar security forces."At least 700,000 Rohingya people were deported from Myanmar to Bangladesh through a range of coercive acts," the office of the prosecutor wrote in a statement. "That great suffering or serious injury has been inflicted on the Rohingya through violating their right to return to their state of origin."Genocidal IntentLast year, ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda opened a preliminary investigation into the atrocities. The UN and others have accused Myanmar's military of murdering thousands of Rohingya Muslims in western Rakhine state with genocidal intent.Read more: Asean Leaders Pressured to Push Myanmar on Rohingya RepatriationMyanmar's armed forces have repeatedly denied committing atrocities against the Muslim minority, dodging accusations that include gang rapes, murder and torching whole villages.Last month, Malaysia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Saifuddin Abdullah called for justice to be brought to the perpetrators of the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar as Southeast Asian leaders gathered in Bangkok for its biannual Asean summit.The prosecutor's request is now with the court's judges, who will render a decision.To contact the reporter on this story: Philip J. Heijmans in Singapore at pheijmans1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at rpollard2@bloomberg.net, Chris Kay, Flavia Krause-JacksonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| The Anti-China Graffiti in Hong Kong’s Legislature: In Pictures Posted: 04 Jul 2019 09:01 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The images of July 1, 2019, left an indelible mark on Hong Kong. After hundreds of thousands of protesters peacefully marched on the anniversary of the former British colony's return to China, a small group broke into the Legislative Council, ransacking and vandalizing the chamber before police chased them off with tear gas. They left behind messages.The graffiti painted on the walls of the defaced chamber -- some in Chinese, some in English -- help explain the deep social and political divides underpinning this summer's protests in Hong Kong. The separatist, anti-China -- and at times desperate -- slogans show the challenge Beijing faces in trying to quiet dissent in the Asian financial center.Here are some of the messages they left in the legislative complex:The portraits at the center of the chamber are of Police Commissioner Stephen Lo, Chief Executive Carrie Lam, Justice Secretary Teresa Cheng and Security Secretary John Lee. Protesters have been demanding Lam's resignation and Lo has been criticized for police reaction after a similar attempt to storm the legislature on June 12. Painted on the wall is the slogan "Release the righteous fighters." Other slogans say: "There are no rioters, only tyranny" and "Carrie Lam step down." Also painted is: "Sunflower HK," a reference to the 2014 Sunflower movement in Taiwan when a group of students wary of Chinese influence occupied parliament. The message shows how Beijing's critics in both places are drawing inspiration from each other.Painted on the pillar amid the rubble of the chamber in Chinese is what translates to: "It is you who taught me that peaceful marches are useless," referring to protesters' frustration that government officials had not acceded to their demands after as many as 2 million people, by the organizers' count, demonstrated earlier in June. It's a sentiment that suggests protests could get more violent.A phrase that translates to: "This murderous administration is not my government" is painted on the wall. Lam's government sparked the crisis by backing a proposal that would have allowed extraditions to China, which many in Hong Kong view as a way to limit the "high degree of autonomy" that the Basic Law promises to preserve for 50 years after the 1997 handover.Police stand together after the chamber is cleared, with "HK Is Not China" painted on the pillar behind them, contradicting the Basic Law's assertion that the city "is an inalienable part of the People's Republic of China." The defaced legislative chamber is home to the only democratically elected legislature under China's control.On the wall above the seats in the chamber is the phrase, "The heavens will destroy the Chinese Communist Party." Anger at Beijing has grown in Hong Kong with Lam's extradition proposal, which is one in a series of moves by the Communist-controlled government that are viewed at restricting Hong Kong's autonomy. In China, a similar comment could result in a lengthy prison sentence.On the wall is written in English: "China will pay for its crimes against Uighur Muslims." It is a reference to China's crackdown on an ethnic minority in the country's far west. The United Nations says as many as 1 million Uighurs are being held in detention camps in the region of Xinjiang, a number disputed by Chinese authorities. The message will likely stoke Communist Party fears about its various domestic critics finding common ground.Several portraits of past Legislative Council presidents were destroyed and removed from the wall, including those of Rita Fan, the first president after the 1997 handover, Jasper Tsang and current president Andrew Leung, a regular target of protesters' ire. What's interesting is the ones they sparred: John Swaine (far right), and Andrew Wong (left) -- who served in the last years of colonial rule.With a view of the Hong Kong's sparkling skyline, the Chinese graffiti reads: "Face the people." From the start of the demonstrations, protesters have called for Lam and government officials to scrap the extradition policy and address their concerns. While she has promised to be more "open and inclusive" in governing, she condemned the storming of the chamber, saying "nothing is more important than the rule of law in Hong Kong."To contact the reporter on this story: Jodi Schneider in Hong Kong at jschneider50@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Karen LeighFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Iran is Stepping Up Its Cyber Attacks Posted: 04 Jul 2019 08:00 AM PDT  Days earlier, Trump abruptly called off a plan for airstrikes against the Islamic Republic based on the concept of proportionality after Iran shot down a U.S. Navy drone.WASHINGTON — State-backed Iranian hackers have stepped up cyberattacks on the U.S., according to the Department of Homeland Security's cyberagency.There has been a "recent rise in malicious cyberactivity directed at United States industries and government agencies by Iranian regime actors and proxies," Christopher Krebs, the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said Saturday in a statement.The news of increased cyberattacks by Iran comes amid heightened tension between the U.S. and Iran dating back to the U.S. withdrawal a year ago from the 2015 nuclear deal. The U.S. has sent additional troops to the Middle East and, on Saturday, President Donald Trump said that the U.S. will impose another round of economic sanctions on Iran.Days earlier, Trump abruptly called off a plan for airstrikes against the Islamic Republic based on the concept of proportionality after Iran shot down a U.S. Navy drone.In the cyber domain, Iran's attacks are "looking to do much more than just steal data and money," Krebs said in the statement. "What might start as an account compromise, where you think you might just lose data, can quickly become a situation where you've lost your whole network."
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| Report: Iraq gov't detains thousands in degrading conditions Posted: 04 Jul 2019 07:49 AM PDT  A leading international human rights organization criticized the Iraqi government Thursday for holding thousands of prisoners, including children, in degrading and "inhuman" conditions. Human Rights Watch cited extreme overcrowding in three pretrial detention facilities in northern Iraq's Nineveh province where prisoners are held mostly on terrorism charges. In a statement Thursday, it says the three centers have a combined maximum capacity of 2,500 people and are holding about 4,500 detainees.
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| The Latest: Australian held in North Korea arrives in Japan Posted: 04 Jul 2019 06:51 AM PDT  An Australian student released from detention in North Korea has arrived in Tokyo. Alek Sigley left North Korea via Beijing on Thursday and was reuniting with his Japanese wife. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed he had been detained in announcing his release on Thursday.
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| Iran Will Only Negotiate With U.S. If Supreme Leader Gives Nod Posted: 04 Jul 2019 06:42 AM PDT ![Iran Will Only Negotiate With U.S. If Supreme Leader Gives Nod]( "Iran Will Only Negotiate With U.S. If Supreme Leader Gives Nod") (Bloomberg) -- Iran will only negotiate with the U.S. if the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei agrees to it, a minister said."Negotiation between Iran and America will take place if the supreme leader gives the permission," Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi was cited as saying by state-run IRNA news agency on Thursday. "The U.S. president thought that sanctions would bring Iran to its knees but the Islamic Republic will not succumb to negotiations under the pressure of global arrogance."Major state-run news agencies, including IRNA, later simultaneously ran a statement from the intelligence ministry denying that there was any mention of negotiations by the minister.Iran's leaders, including Khamenei, have repeatedly refused to negotiate with the U.S. while under crippling sanctions.(Updates with denial in 3rd paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Arsalan Shahla in Dubai at ashahla@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Shaji Mathew at shajimathew@bloomberg.net, Lin NoueihedFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| July 4th 2019: How a tax on playing cards and a thwarted tea shipment led to American Independence Day Posted: 04 Jul 2019 06:21 AM PDT  July 4 1776 was a prominent day in American history, as the 13 colonies successfully claimed their independence from the British Empire. In what is now known as Independence Day, the US' most beloved national holiday is celebrated annually on the Fourth of July, with millions of Americans coming together to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of their nation. From the history behind America's independence to the modern celebrations, here is everything you need to know. What is Independence Day? Independence Day commemorates the day the Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776. Introduced by the Second Continental Congress, the statement outlined that the 13 American colonies were united, independent states, who were no longer subject to British monarch. Recognised annually by Americans, fireworks, parades and other patriotic celebrations are held every year on the Fourth of July to celebrate the colonies breaking free from British control. Why did the Americans want independence? The relationship between the settlers and British had been amicable, however tensions started to escalate over the imposition of British laws and taxes. To help control settlements in the western territories, King George III introduced the Royal Proclamation of 1763, preventing the colonists settling along the Appalachian Mountains. After the French and Indian War came to a close, the Quartering Act was passed in 1765, ordering the American colonies to help house the British soldiers. Also in 1765, Britain then introduced the Stamp Act to help handle war debts; this required colonists to pay a tax on printed paper including newspapers, licenses and playing cards. Colonial governor Thomas Hutchinson (1711 - 1780) escaping from local rioters after demanding Stamp Tax from them Credit: Getty Images/Hulton Archive Unsurprisingly, the colonists were not pleased. 'No taxation without representation' became the cry around 1765 after a rise in Britain's national debt forced the colonists to raise import tariffs and crack down on smuggling to raise funds. There was also a growing sense of nationalism in these largely agricultural colonies and acts of American colonial defiance began in the form of rebellions, fighting and protests. Social unrest escalated further in 1773, when patriots in Boston famously destroyed a shipment of tea by boarding three ships in Boston harbour and throwing 342 chests overboard in protest over the Tea Act. This became known as the 'Boston Tea Party'. These rebellions over taxes led to full-scale revolutionary war. What happened in the Revolutionary War? Determined to fight for their independence, Great Britain's 13 North American Colonies fought for control over colonial affairs. They included: New Hampshire Massachusetts Connecticut Rhode Island New York New Jersey Pennsylvania Delaware Maryland Virginia North Carolina South Carolina Georgia George Washington led the American forces to victory and, thanks to the diplomatic efforts of Thomas Jefferson, France and Spain acted as allies, providing arms for the war. Independence was formally declared on July 2 1776; on July 4 1776, the final version of the Declaration was approved by Congress, announcing that the 13 colonies were free from British rule. While the Fourth of July marks the adoption of the Declaration of the Independence, most of the Congress members actually signed the document on August 2, 1776. Following the Declaration of Independence, they went on to become the United States of America – however conflict continued up until 1783. How is the day celebrated in the US? In what was a simple but powerful mark of respect to each of the colonies, 13 gunshots were fired as part of the first celebration of independence on July 4 1777, a year after the Declaration of Independence was approved. George Washington commemorated the Fourth of July the following year in 1778 by ordering a double ration of rum for his soldiers at Ross Hall, near New Jersey. Meanwhile outside the US, Benjamin Franklin and John Adams organised a celebratory dinner for Americans in Paris. The Fourth of July was officially acknowledged as a state celebration by the Massachusetts General Court in 1781, and Moravians in North Carolina, observed the day with The Psalm of Joy music programme in 1783. Nearly 100 years on from the Declaration's approval, Independence Day was made an unpaid holiday for federal employees in 1870, and it was later established as a paid holiday by US Congress in 1938. Nowadays it's typically marked by patriotic activities - usually outside. Think parades, camping, barbecues, beers and fireworks, with as much red, white and blue as possible - all punctuated with a backing track of "Star spangled banner", "Yankee Doodle" and "God Bless America". Politicians also like to make a point of appearing at Independence Day celebrations and praising the nation's heritage, history and people. Who celebrates it apart from Americans? The Philippines and Rwanda also observe Fourth of July anniversaries for their own reasons. The US gave the Philippines independence on that day in 1946 and the Rwandan genocide ended with US help on July 4 1994. Rather more bizarrely, Denmark also celebrates the US version - it started with European expats in 1911, but now is just an "excuse for a nice day out". When is Britain's Independence Day? Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage made a case for the 23rd June to be Britain's Independence Day in 2016, because that was the date of the 2016 Brexit vote in which he said the nation "took back control" from the European Union. However, he was criticised by some who pointed out that liberation from colonial ownership was not really equivalent to Brexit. And the point that most independence anniversaries around the world celebrate breaking from the British Empire has also been well made. Best American recipes for Independence Day From sweet treats to traditional dishes, the US is famous for its cuisine, with Americans tucking into an array of classic foods every year on Independence Day. If you're celebrating the Fourth of July in the UK, here are some of our favourite American recipes to try and taste with your family and friends. Perfect homemade beef burgers Juicy beefburgers, served with roughly torn lettuce, ripe tomatoes and thinly sliced mile cheese in a bun of your choice, are perfect for any Independence Day barbecue. Mississippi mud pie Mouth-melting dark chocolate combined with delicious praline, biscuits and cream. This Mississippi mud pie makes a great, indulgent Independence Day treat. Credit: Andrew Crowley Cheat's mac and cheese Diana Henry's simple recipe for mac and cheese requires no sauce-cooking or pasta-boiling, helping you to serve the American favourite in minimal time. The best cornbread This tasty cornbread, coated in melted butter and honey, is another perfect dish for your Independence Day feast. Classic shrimp and grits Get a real taste of American cuisine with this classic Shrimp and grits recipe. This traditional Southern dish is creamy, versatile and packed with coastal flavour. The best American pancakes with banana, blueberries and maple syrup Credit: Barry Taylor Whip up a stack of these banana and blueberry pancakes, best served with a drizzle of maple syrup, to satisfy your sweet-tooth craving. Salt beef New York-style salt beef is delicious with pickles, horseradish, English mustard or piccalilli and can be enjoyed both hot and cold. Prepare it yourself in the comfort of your own kitchen, following this simple and affordable recipe.
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| Vladimir Putin finally admits fire-hit Russian submarine was nuclear powered Posted: 04 Jul 2019 04:42 AM PDT  Vladimir Putin has admitted that the fire that killed 14 sailors on Monday happened on a nuclear submarine, although the defence ministry said the reactor was not damaged. Ministry head Sergei Shoigu met with Mr Putin on Thursday upon his return from the Arctic naval town of Severomorsk, where the stricken submersible was taken. During their conversation, Mr Putin asked him about the nuclear power unit on board, according to a Kremlin readout. Moscow had not previously confirmed the presence of a reactor and still has not said what kind of submarine was involved, arguing that these are state secrets. Mr Shoigu told Mr Putin that "the nuclear power unit has been sealed off and all personnel have been removed". He also said the cause of the disaster was a "fire in the battery compartment which then spread". The blaze happened on Monday but was only announced the next day by Russian authorities, who have refused to give many details about the incident. Russia rescue personnel return from a dive in a mini submarine to the Kursk on the sea bed Credit: RU-RTR Russian Television via AP It is believed that the fire occurred on an AS-31 deep-water research submarine in the Barents Sea. Nicknamed "Losharik" after a Soviet cartoon horse, it is operated by a navy division responsible for reconnaissance and intelligence gathering and can reportedly dive to depths of 10,000 feet. The submarine is reportedly able to cut underwater cables that carry much of the world's internet traffic. All 14 of the sailors who died were officers, leading to speculation that it was on a top-secret mission. The defence ministry said they were performing "bathymetric measurements" of the ocean floor. One sailor put a civilian in a compartment and shut the hatch to return to fighting the blaze, it said. Arctic neighbour Norway said it had been informed of a gas explosion on the submarine, but the Russian defence ministry denied this. Norwegian authorities said they had not detected abnormal levels of radiation in the Barents Sea.
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| EU consults nuclear deal partners as Iran warns of new steps Posted: 04 Jul 2019 04:26 AM PDT  The European Union says it's in contact with signatories of the Iran nuclear agreement and will discuss with them what steps to take should the country ramp up uranium enrichment this weekend. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says Tehran will increase its enrichment of uranium to "any amount that we want" beginning on Sunday, ramping up pressure on European nations to save the faltering nuclear deal from the damage inflicted by U.S. sanctions. Iran announced Monday that it had already breached the pact's limitations on stockpiles of low-enriched uranium.
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| Trump news – live: President delivers July Fourth speech as protests and storms threaten to overshadow event Posted: 04 Jul 2019 04:25 AM PDT  Donald Trump has delivered a speech at his "Salute to America" event in Washington DC, as the country celebrates Independence Day.Earlier in the day on Thursday, he pleaded for people to attend his Fourth of July celebration amid fears of a low turnout and concerns that the heavy tanks on display could damage the Lincoln Memorial.A new Morning Consult poll revealed the president to be losing support in key states he won in 2016, including Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Ohio and Florida, as his Republican opponent Justin Amash announces his resignation from the GOP in opposition to Mr Trump's "dehumanising rhetoric".Undeterred, the president has been on angry form on Twitter, hitting out at migrants over reports of squalid conditions in US border detention centres and warning Iran against making threats by issuing one of his own: "They can come back to bite you."Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load
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| Iraqi PM takes a gamble with move on Iran-backed militias Posted: 04 Jul 2019 04:04 AM PDT  The Iraqi government's move this week to place Iranian-backed militias under the command of the armed forces is a political gamble by a prime minister increasingly caught in the middle of a dangerous rivalry between Iran and the U.S, the two main power brokers in Iraq. Facing pressure from the U.S. to curb the militias, the move allows Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi to demonstrate a tough stance ahead of a planned visit to Washington, expected to take place in the coming weeks. It is unlikely, though, that he would be able to rein in the powerful Iran-supported militias, and he risks coming off as a weak and ineffective leader if he doesn't.
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| Grand EU Bargain Foreshadows Frustration From Poland to Kosovo Posted: 04 Jul 2019 03:38 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- European Union leaders may have sought to balance political, national and geographic interests when choosing the bloc's new leadership, but ex-communist nations both inside and outside its borders look to have ended up with the short end of the bargain.While the EU's biggest eastern members helped torpedo German Chancellor Angela Merkel's plan and celebrated the proposal of French President Emmanuel Macron winning approval, the picks for three tops jobs create the risk of conflict and disappointment for governments stretching from Poland to Kosovo.The agreement left the region with no representative in a top position. The nomination of Ursula von der Leyen to lead the executive Commission and Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel as European Council president -- replacing Poland's Donald Tusk -- gives positions of power to two staunch critics of the erosion of democratic values at a time when Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic are clashing with Brussels over whether they're upholding the rule of law."Eastern Europe, by not getting any of the main posts, is being punished for its outrageous behavior," Zarko Puhovski, political science professor at the University of Zagreb, said Wednesday. "In the next period, eastern Europe will be in the bloc's second league, including even those eastern countries that have behaved well."There was further bad news for the six south-eastern European states seeking to join the world's biggest trading bloc, whose leaders are slated to meet Merkel at a summit that started Thursday in Poznan, Poland.Albania, Serbia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina have long expressed frustration at the slow progress toward membership. But any hope of new momentum was undercut Monday, when Macron said there'd be no further enlargement unless "deep reform" in the EU happens first.Macron was speaking from a position of power, after objections from the EU's eastern members helped scupper Merkel's plan for the commission to be led by Frans Timmermans, a Dutch Socialist who has led the effort to sanction countries for undermining democratic standards.'Growing Strength'The governments in Warsaw and especially Budapest were jubilant in the immediate aftermath of the deal. The outcome "demonstrated our growing strength and influence," tweeted Zoltan Kovacs, a spokesman for the Hungarian government.But for Hungary, the leader of the illiberal camp, and Poland, the largest eastern EU state, Von der Leyen isn't necessarily better. For a start, her appointment hands more power to Germany, which they say already has too much sway.She also triggered outrage in Warsaw in 2017 for backing anti-government protesters that denounced efforts to overhaul the courts and other moves they say move the nation toward autocracy."It's a rather bad twist of things for" Poland and Hungary, said Marcin Zaborowski, a senior associate at Visegrad Insight, a think-tank. "Von der Leyen has been standing firm on the side of the rule of law."Michel, who's set to lead the European Council, has also criticized the erosion of democratic checks and balances in the EU's eastern members. Last year, he proposed establishing a peer review mechanism on the rule of law, in which EU members would "submit themselves to regular scrutiny by other member states," an idea Poland and Hungary reject."If someone thought the choice of someone other than Frans Timmermans as the head of the commission would weaken the will and determination of the EU that the law be followed everywhere and that the rule of law be observed in all of Europe, they were mistaken," Tusk told reporters in Brussels. "It's the exact opposite."The nominees are also unlikely to bring any sudden breakthroughs in the molasses-slow pace of bringing more members into the bloc.Outgoing Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn, who has four months left in the job, warned in Poznan that failure to keep promises made to western Balkan states would hurt the EU's credibility. He urged the start of accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia in October after members shot down a commission recommendation to begin them last month."Those countries have delivered on reforms," Hahn said. "We as the European Union must now live up to our commitment." The earliest date for any country to join -- with Montenegro the most advanced -- is 2025.The nomination of Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell as the bloc's foreign policy chief may also complicate negotiations.Borrell is a fierce opponent of separatist movements and his country doesn't recognize the independence of Kosovo. The Balkan nation is seeking candidate status to start entry talks, for which it needs to improve ties with Serbia. Brussels-mediated negotiations to end their standoff stalled last year.Any delay in progress may reduce membership aspirant's incentives to tackle the economic, political and social reforms demanded by the EU for entry. And according to Hahn, it can let other global powers, including Russia, China and Turkey, steal the march in the struggle for influence in Europe's most volatile region."It would only help the geopolitical competitors put themselves on Europe's doorstep," he said in Poznan.(Updates in fifth with Poznan summit, 15th with Commissioner Hahn)\--With assistance from Slav Okov, Gordana Filipovic, Jan Bratanic, Marek Strzelecki, Jasmina Kuzmanovic and Andras Gergely.To contact the reporters on this story: Michael Winfrey in Prague at mwinfrey@bloomberg.net;Misha Savic in Belgrade at msavic2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrea Dudik at adudik@bloomberg.net, Balazs Penz, Andrew LangleyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| New 'bacteria-phobic' material could stop the spread of superbugs in hospitals Posted: 04 Jul 2019 03:35 AM PDT  The creation of a new 'biomaterial' that stops bacteria sticking to medical devices such as catheters could help in the fight against superbugs. Researchers at Nottingham University have developed a new family of biomaterials - materials such as plastics and metals which can be introduced into the body - called Bactigon, which they hope will have a major impact against antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Drug-resistant infections kill around 700,000 people worldwide each year and a United Nations report published in April warned that this figure could increase to 10 million a year by 2050 - prompting the UN to call for urgent global action to avert an imminent crisis. Morgan Alexander, professor of biomedical surfaces at Nottingham University who is leading the work into Bactigon, said it could be a vital addition to the current limited range of biomaterials, as well as helping in the fight against AMR. The new material is being showcased in the Royal Society's summer exhibition as an example of cutting edge science. 'It was my only choice' | Man loses leg to superbug after knee surgery Prof Alexander said: "We're still in the trial stages, but by focusing on new plastics that are better at resisting the attachment of bacterial colonies, we hope to see a reduction in the rates of healthcare-acquired infections." Biomaterials are used in a range of medical devices from catheters to artificial hip replacements to contact lenses. But if they do not remain sterile bacteria can stick to them and form biofilms, which act as a reservoir for infection. The new class of 'super' polymers prevents infection by stopping biofilm formation at the earliest possible stage. Prof Alexander and his team are currently trialling the new material as a coating for urinary catheters, which they hope will reduce the high rates of catheter-related urinary tract infections (UTIs) in hospital patients. Around half of UTIs in hospitals are associated with catheters, costing the NHS hundreds of millions of pounds every year. Prof Alexander said it was too early to say what impact the new biomaterial was having. Predicted deaths from superbugs, 2014 to 2050 - AMR "So far we've tested the catheter on hundreds of patients, but we'll need to wait until we've tested on thousands to say for definite what the reduction rate would be," he said. He would also like to test the material in other devices. "We're looking at other ways to improve materials. Hip replacements can often cause a weakening of the bone or be rejected - which is no good if you've already cut someone open and then you need to do it again - so we're trying to develop materials which will control this auto-immune response," he said. Dr Tim Knott from the Wellcome's Innovations team, which part-funded the biomaterials project, said reducing infection rates was vital for hospitals around the world. "This new material could be hugely important in helping prevent the spread of potentially deadly infection and in addressing an urgent global health problem," said Dr Tim Knott. "We are pleased to see promising early results from the first human trial of this novel 'bacteria-phobic' catheter." Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security
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| AP FACT CHECK: Trump often is wrong about military matters Posted: 04 Jul 2019 03:24 AM PDT  In his Fourth of July remarks, President Donald Trump will be celebrating the armed forces and showcasing what he's done for them. President Barack Obama signed the law getting it done in 2014. Trump also made the flatly false statement that he won troops their first raise in a decade, suggested he's made progress reducing veteran suicides that is not backed up by the numbers, and contradicted the record in claiming that North Korea is cooperating on the return of the remains of U.S. troops.
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| The Latest: Iran-backed militia criticizes Iraq PM's order Posted: 04 Jul 2019 03:12 AM PDT  One of the largest Iran-backed militias in Iraq is criticizing an order by the prime minister to incorporate the militias into the military and place them under the army's command. A statement issued by the Hezbollah Brigades, or Kataeb Hezbollah, did not address whether the group would abide by Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi's orders issued this week. The group, which has close ties to Iran, says the government's foremost responsibility is to remove what it described as U.S. occupation forces and their business affiliates, which constitute a "major threat" to Iraqi security.
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| Iran says no talks with US unless supreme leader approves Posted: 04 Jul 2019 03:04 AM PDT ![Iran says no talks with US unless supreme leader approves]( "Iran says no talks with US unless supreme leader approves") Iran's intelligence minister says any negotiations with the United States would have to be approved by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and would require the lifting of U.S. sanctions. Khamenei has until now ruled out talks with the United States, saying it cannot be trusted. On Thursday, the official IRNA news agency quoted Information Minister Mahmoud Alavi as saying "if the supreme leader permits, negotiations between Iran and the United States will be held." He added, however, that Tehran would not negotiate under pressure.
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| Tory Leadership Race Snared in China Tensions Posted: 04 Jul 2019 03:01 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Want to receive this post in your inbox every day? Sign up for the Balance of Power newsletter, and follow Bloomberg Politics on Twitter and Facebook for more.It's a fight by a prime minister with one foot out the door. But perhaps out of a sense of duty, and an eye on her legacy, Theresa May is picking one with China.The U.K. has a vested interest. It handed back Hong Kong to Chinese rule in 1997 and negotiated the conditions whereby Beijing would govern the city for the next 50 years.May waded in after weeks of violent protests in the former colony against a proposed law to allow extraditions to China. Her call for respect of Hong Kong's autonomy prompted a rare televised rebuke from China's ambassador.Beijing won't need to deal with May for much longer. Instead, it will face either former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson or current Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, the final two in the contest to become Tory leader.Hunt warned China today of unspecified "serious consequences" if it abandons the deal on Hong Kong. That's even as he has championed close ties with Beijing, especially for trade. Johnson has also backed the protesters.With the U.K. on a tortuous path through Brexit, it will need China ready and willing to do a quick trade deal afterward. The risk is that China tensions become entangled in the U.K. leadership process, with both Hunt and Johnson pushed to take a strong stance.Global HeadlinesTalks, accusations | There will be "lots of communications" between U.S. and Chinese officials, including face-to-face meetings, as they work to resolve their trade war, White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow said. His comments came as President Donald Trump leveled another accusation of currency manipulation at China, suggesting progress in the talks will be unpredictable despite a recent thaw between the two powers.Shifting focus | His front-runner status becoming more tenuous, Joe Biden is returning to the campaign trail with a new determination to contrast his more moderate views with those of other Democratic presidential hopefuls. After focusing attacks on Trump in the first two months of his campaign, the former vice president turned his attention to rivals in his own party as he began a two-day swing across Iowa, the first state to vote for a nominee in seven months from now.EU angst | The picks for the European Union's top jobs have set the stage for frustration for governments stretching from Poland to Italy. The nominations strengthen the hand of those fighting against democratic backsliding amid clashes with Poland and Hungary over the rule of law. They also confound efforts by Italy's de facto leader, Matteo Salvini, to steer Brussels away from its doctrine of fiscal prudence that he and fellow populists loathe.Fast release | Australian student Alek Sigley was freed from detention in North Korea after going missing on June 24. Sigley, who was doing postgraduate work at Kim Il Sung University, regularly posted about the secretive country on social media. It was a relatively fast release: U.S. student Otto Warmbier was held for more than 17 months and died shortly after he was sent home in a coma in 2017.Pension watch | Brazil investors are closely watching a lower house committee where lawmakers are discussing President Jair Bolsonaro's proposed pension overhaul. While the government has the votes to push the changes through the committee, a delay today could make it impossible for the lower house to approve the constitutional amendment before Congress's mid-year recess. That would rattle markets that consider the reform essential to stanch the bleeding in public accounts.What to WatchTrump speaks at the Lincoln Memorial tonight, remaking the capital's July 4th festivities into a display of military might mixed with presidential politics. The White House says Trump's message won't be political, but it comes as the 2020 campaign heats up. Campaigning started today in a Japanese upper house election that could determine Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's chances of achieving his long-held ambition of changing the pacifist constitution.And finally... Images of tanks rolling through Washington's streets have inflamed Trump's critics ahead of his revamped celebration. While some past presidents have spoken on or around the annual national holiday, none has done it in quite the same way. Barack Obama delivered Independence Day remarks from the White House. Ronald Reagan gave a "Star Spangled Salute to America" speech on the National Mall in 1987, but on July 3. Richard Nixon recorded an address that played at the 1970 celebration. \--With assistance from Karen Leigh, Walter Brandimarte, Michael Winfrey and Kathleen Hunter.To contact the author of this story: Rosalind Mathieson in London at rmathieson3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Halpin at thalpin5@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| What Was That Secret Russian Sub Doing Before It Caught Fire? Posted: 04 Jul 2019 02:45 AM PDT  APA fire broke out on a secretive Russian research submarine on Monday, killing 14 people and potentially slowing Russia's efforts to develop new undersea weaponry.Flames roared through the nuclear-powered Project 1083 Losharik submarine apparently while the vessel was near its home port of Severomorsk on Russia's Arctic coast. Among the crew who died in the accident are at least seven senior officers, two of whom had received the Hero of Russia award, the equivalent of the United States' Medal of Honor. Russian President Vladimir Putin described Losharik's burning as a "big loss." "This is not a regular vessel, you and I know this," Putin told reporters. Fishermen told SeverPost, a Murmansk news agency, they observed Losharik surfacing near Kildin Island in the Barents Sea around 9:30 p.m. local time on Monday. "It came out of the water, all of it," one fisherman said. "I'd never seen anything like that before," the fisherman added. "There were people running, rushing on the deck." "Fire is the biggest nightmare for sailors serving on submarines," Alexander Golts, an independent military analyst, told The Daily Beast. "Anything could cause a fire. A short circuit, somebody's negligence—anything."The Losharik fire is Russia's worst submarine disaster since 2008, when a fire-suppression system malfunctioned on the Russian navy attack submarine Nerpa, asphyxiating 20 people as the vessel underwent trials in the Sea of Japan. Eight years earlier in 2000, the missile submarine Kursk suffered an explosion and sank in the Barents Sea, killing 118 people. The Kursk's sinking and Putin's slowness to respond were major scandals in Russia.Nerpa and Kursk were fleet submarines with front-line military missions. Losharik by contrast is a deep-diving research vessel that belongs to the Kremlin's Directorate of Deepwater Research. Losharik's roughly 200-foot-long hull consists of seven titanium compartments that protect the vessel from the high pressure of extreme depths. Norman Polmar, a submarine expert and naval adviser to top U.S. government officials, estimated Losharik can dive as deep as 20,000 feet. Fleet submarines, including the U.S. Navy's Virginia-class vessels, typically dive no deeper than 600 or 700 feet.Since launching in 2003, Losharik has undertaken some dangerous missions of national importance. In 2012 the submarine and an accompanying vessel drilled to a depth of almost two miles on the Arctic seabed in order to retrieve soil samples and identify the outer limits of Russia's continental shelf.Many of the vessel's other duties are shrouded in mystery, but could involve trials of new sensors and weaponry. "It's a very useful submarine," Polmar said. Research submarines such as Losharik arguably are more important than ever for Russia's strategic plans. The Russian navy for years clung to its position as one of the world's most powerful fleets largely by refurbishing Cold War-vintage surface warships. But those ships and their support infrastructure are becoming harder to maintain. In October 2018 a fire broke out aboard PD-50, a 38-year-old floating drydock that at the time was cradling Admiral Kuznetsov, Russia's sole aircraft carrier. PD-50 sank, damaging the carrier and killing two workers.Russia's Biggest Warship Steams to SyriaWith no cheap or easy way to replace PD-50, the Kremlin is considering decommissioning the aging, unreliable Admiral Kuznetsov as part of a wider cull of Cold War-vintage vessels. To replace the old surface ships, Moscow has leaned on its historical strength as a builder of submarines. Putin's government in recent years has accelerated production of new subs while also developing high-tech new weapons to arm the vessels. Russia plans to maintain a fleet of around 50 modern submarines, roughly matching the U.S. Navy's own undersea strength. Russia's submarine build-up includes the 574-foot-long Moscow, which is part-science vessel, part-spy ship, part-commando transport, and part-"mothership" for mini-subs and drones. Russia also is developing "Status-6," an undersea drone that packs a radiological warhead that could contaminate vast stretches of enemy coast.It's unclear what Losharik was doing when the fire broke out. The Russian Defense Ministry did not respond to questions The Daily Beast sent via email. Michael Kofman, a Russia expert with the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., said the fire was probably the result of "a demonstration gone awry, perhaps of some new technology.""You will note the casualty list includes seven captains first rank, on a submarine that would at most have one such officer serving," Kofman noted. "This was an extraordinary crew of top elite captains," Golts told The Daily Beast. "Whoever put them together on that vessel gave these captains a complicated task, which required their expertise and experience in oceanographic research."Submariners are folk heroes in Russia. It's not for nothing that the Russian public "is locked on the accident," according to Pavel Podvig, an independent expert on the Russian military. Orthodox churches in the Russian port cities of Murmansk and Severomorsk on Wednesday held memorial services for the victims of the fire.Perhaps fearing another scandal like the Kursk sinking, Putin swiftly responded to the Losharik incident. On Tuesday he canceled a planned event and summoned Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to discuss the fire.The damage and loss of life could have been much worse, Shoigu claimed. The defense minister told reporters the crew heroically saved the life of a civilian aboard Losharik and closed hatches to prevent the flames from spreading. It's unclear how much damage Losharik sustained and whether, or how quickly, the Kremlin could restore the vessel. The fire at least has stymied Russia's undersea ambitions, according to Pavel Luzin, a professor of political science at Perm University in Russia. "Definitely, Russia temporarily lost one of its most advanced naval capabilities that is aimed at maintaining Russia's strategic operations."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Thomas Jefferson Blasted Despotism. Trump’s Holding a Celebration of It. Posted: 04 Jul 2019 02:44 AM PDT  Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Alamy/GettySo Thomas Jefferson said to John Adams hey, why don't you take a crack at a first draft? Adams was older, had more seniority as it were. But he said no, and the following exchange ensued, writes Merrill D. Peterson in Thomas Jefferson and the New Nation:"Why will you not? You ought to do it.""I will not.""Why?""Reasons enough.""What can be your reasons?""Reason first—you are a Virginian, and a Virginian ought to appear at the head of this business. Reason second—I am obnoxious, suspected, and unpopular. You are very much otherwise. Reason third—you can write ten times better than I can."And that's how it came to pass that Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. He sat in his little study in Philadelphia toiling over drafts until he was pleased. The text needed to do two or three different kinds of work. It needed to announce bold principles to the world in a way that would stand the test of time. It needed to rally the citizenry.But most of all, it needed to make a case to the world that the colonists' cause was justified. That was the main thing, and the main way it did that was in its series of indictments against King George III. The bulk of the text consists of 27 bullet points, as we'd say today, alleging this and that act of infamy and tyranny on the king's part. His only interest in the people of the colonies, Jefferson wrote, was "to reduce them under absolute despotism." That was the point of the document: It was a brief against despotism.Trump Gets Ready to Ruin the Fourth of JulyAnd now, here we are, 243 years later, with a man sitting in the Oval Office who yearns to be a despot. You think he's ever read the Declaration of Independence? He may have started it once or twice. But finished it? Actually, we'd better hope not, because the only lesson he'd take away from those 27 bullet points would be that he ought to try a few of them out (one of them, incidentally, notes that King George "has obstructed the administration of justice").We laugh at Trump. We have to laugh at him to stay sane. This military parade is a joke. This speech at the Lincoln Memorial. Is he kidding? Where Martin Luther King summoned our best angels, that buffoon is going to stand there and give a semi-literate lecture about things he knows nothing about? Maybe he'll mention "Western liberalism" again, which is clearly to blame for all those junkies in L.A. he told Tucker Carlson about.We laugh, but we also know that this is not very funny at all. The situation is without precedent and it is terrifying. A president who has no personal morality and nothing but contempt for democracy. A Senate Republican leader who cares only about party power. A congressional GOP that will disagree with the president here and there, on tariffs, but on the fundamental crimes he commits on a weekly basis—his abuse of power, his destruction of norms, his bending and breaking of the law—not only turns a blind eye but actively cheers him on.The parade (which now appears to be stationary!) is a joke—but it's not. Who else has military parades? Yes, France. Hilarious, don't you think, that conservatives now cite France of all places to defend their actions? The Bastille Day Parade dates to 1880, around the dawn of the rise of Social Darwinism, and when France was still licking its wounds from the Franco-Prussian War and the calamities of the Commune. The Third Republic was on shaky ground. So, voila, a military parade!So France—but among civilized democratic nations, basically only France. Other than France, guess where?The number of military parades has increased dramatically in China under Xi Jinping. Of course it has! He named himself president for life. For a big parade in 2015, nearby factories were shut to ensure that the air would be clear. Dogs, falcons, and monkeys were deployed to scare away birds.Who else loves parades? Vladimir Putin. Obviously. The biggest one every year is held on May 9 to celebrate the victory over the Nazis. The biggest one ever was held in 2015, with 200 armored vehicles and 150 planes and helicopters.Finally, Trump's buddy in North Korea. Loves parades! Loves showing off his missiles.See a pattern here?Let's just say it. Big military displays are totalitarian. Small-d democrats don't have them. Small-d democrats don't freeze airplane travel in and out of National Airport for two hours to accommodate flyovers and extended fireworks. The only people who think of these things are people with inferiority complexes who don't know that democracy requires humility. Jimmy Breslin once memorably called Rudy Giuliani a "small man in search of a balcony." Twenty years later, Giuliani's client is a bloated man in search of a rally grounds. He thinks he has found one, in front of the Lincoln Memorial. So: On our most sacred national day, a day that honors the battle against despotism, in front of the majestic temple built to pay tribute to the man who saved the republic—a temple, by the way, that was expressly designed on the idea that a memorial built "to a man who defended democracy should be based on a structure found in the birthplace of democracy" (Greece)—our despot despoils that site and everything it stands for by turning the holiday into a celebration of himself.The event will pass. The crimes will not. In 243 years, maybe we've built up enough defenses to save us from this despot. We know for sure that we're going to find out in this next year and a half if we have. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. 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| Australian student detained in North Korea 'released, safe' Posted: 04 Jul 2019 02:03 AM PDT  A 29-year-old Australian student detained in North Korea surfaced in Beijing on Thursday, saying he felt "great" after being released. For days Sigley's family received no word about his whereabouts or wellbeing, stoking fears he may have been the latest in a long line of foreigners to become entangled in North Korea's police state.
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| Salvini May Soar in Polls But His Takeover of Italy Hit a Snag Posted: 04 Jul 2019 01:59 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- For all his seemingly unstoppable climb in the polls, Matteo Salvini's campaign to radically change Italy hit a few snags this week.The deputy premier and de facto leader of the country's populist government promised a "fiscal shock" with radical tax cuts next year to jump-start the economy. To make that happen, he was counting on fresh faces at the European Union to steer Brussels bureaucracy away from the doctrine of fiscal prudence that he and fellow populists loathe.Instead, he now has to reckon with a traditional Franco-German duo leading Europe's biggest institutions. Adding to complications, his finance minister Giovanni Tria made fresh budget commitments to avoid an EU sanction that will probably curtail his ambition to slash taxes. And to top it off, European lawmakers elected a member of the opposition Democratic Party as their head -- the only prize Italy was able to snatch after a frantic week of horsetrading for top EU jobs between the bloc's leaders.A discussion on regional autonomy, one of Salvini's key electoral promises, was postponed again during a ministers meeting Wednesday evening. Even on immigration, the issue that propelled him to a resounding victory in European elections in May, he has had a setback. Carola Rackete, the 31-year-old German captain of a charity ship that rescued dozens of migrants stranded in the Mediterranean, defied Salvini and entered the port of Lampedusa, where they eventually disembarked. She was arrested but, to the interior minister's ire, freed just two days later.Soaring AppealThe events of the past few days are probably just a temporary upset for Salvini. His popularity in Italy shows no signs of abating. His League party climbed to 38% in a poll this week, within shooting distance of the 40% that would allow him to claim a majority in Parliament without the need to build alliances.But those events also show that Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Finance Minister Tria's efforts to hem in the populist leader's most disruptive ambitions are having at least partial success.Concessions on the budget that allowed Italy to defuse the threat of disciplinary action for excessive debt from the European Commission might turn out to be particularly significant. Tria not only committed to 7.6 billion euros ($8.6 billion) in spending cuts and extra savings to bring the 2019 deficit in line with EU demands, he also promised to stick to the same course for next year -- even if he was careful to keep his words vague.Read more: How Countries Keep Testing the EU's Fiscal RulesIn sharp contrast, Salvini has vowed that Italy won't submit to further commitments for 2020. His promised "fiscal shock" is forecast to cost between 10 to 15 billion euros, on top of the 23 billion euros needed to offset an automatic VAT increase. How Tria will come up with the money, and how much he will have to bend to Salvini's demands even if it means flouting the truce with Brussels, will probably dominate Italian politics this fall.Another point of contention might be the choice of a candidate for the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, where Italy risks having no representative for the first time since the euro's birth.For now, though, markets are helping. Italian benchmark 10-year government yields sank to a 32-month low as Italy avoided a EU deficit procedure, giving the populist coalition respite."Salvini will have less room to blame the EU for being the institution that does not allow Italy to reform and grow, and this rhetoric will be weakened," said Lorenzo Pregliasco, a political analyst and founder of consultancy YouTrend. "But for Salvini and Di Maio it would have been almost impossible to introduce costly measures in the advent of an infringement procedure. Salvini will try and push the boundaries as much as he can on the flat tax."In Brussels, the selection of a German as Commission President and of a French national to head the European Central Bank was announced just hours after Salvini said "the future of Europe should not be decided only between Berlin and Paris." He had also asked for a commission chief who'd be ready to change the EU's budget rules.Conte eventually supported a deal between EU leaders that also saw Ursula von der Leyen, a close ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, nominated to lead the EU's executive arm. The compromise found only lukewarm praise from Salvini, who was forced to issue a statement reiterating his demands for an overhaul in Brussels "regardless" of those chosen as the bloc's new leaders.As the premier was negotiating in Brussels, Salvini took to social media a dozen times to comment on everything from migration to Italy's low birth rate -- "the real crisis the country is facing" \-- to the use of electric guns by police."Salvini has been distracted by the clash with SeaWatch captain Carola, but migration remains his clash point with the European Union," said Vincenzo Longo, analyst at IG Markets in Milan. On the budget front, he warned, the reprieve for Italy is only temporary and "we should expect tensions to bubble up again after the summer."(Updates with details of ministers meeting Wednesday.)\--With assistance from Samuel Dodge and Lorenzo Totaro.To contact the reporters on this story: Alessandro Speciale in Rome at aspeciale@bloomberg.net;Chiara Albanese in Rome at calbanese10@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Caroline Alexander, Marco BertaccheFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| UN says Libyan guards reportedly shot at migrants fleeing airstrikes Posted: 04 Jul 2019 01:53 AM PDT ![UN says Libyan guards reportedly shot at migrants fleeing airstrikes]( "UN says Libyan guards reportedly shot at migrants fleeing airstrikes") The United Nations said on Thursday it had information that Libyan guards shot at refugees and migrants trying to flee from airstrikes that killed at least 53 people, including six children, in a migrant detention centre late on Tuesday. A U.N. humanitarian report said there were two airstrikes, one hitting an unoccupied garage and one hitting a hangar containing around 120 refugees and migrants. "There are reports that following the first impact, some refugees and migrants were fired upon by guards as they tried to escape," the U.N. report said.
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| N. Korea says US 'hell-bent' on sanctions despite Trump-Kim meet Posted: 04 Jul 2019 01:48 AM PDT  North Korea has accused the US of being "hell-bent on hostile acts" just days after the countries' leaders agreed to resume denuclearization talks. US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held an impromptu summit on North Korean soil on Sunday, where they smiled and shook hands, ending a standstill in discussions.
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| Iran's Most Powerful Weapon Against America: Meet the IRGC Posted: 04 Jul 2019 01:48 AM PDT  No other branch of the Iranian military can claim the notoriety that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has earned for itself over the last several decades.Earlier this year, the White House took the unprecedented step of designating the IRGC as an organization that "actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft." It was an IRGC fast attack craft that almost sparked open military conflict between the U.S. and Iran in June by staging an unprovoked attack against two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman.The IRGC continues to comprise a substantial part of the Iranian armed forces, but their influence—both within Iran and across the Middle-East region—extends far beyond raw combat capabilities. To understand the full extent of IRGC's current role within the Iranian military, we must go back to back to the birth of the Iranian Islamic Republic.The IRGC was founded in the aftermath of the 1979 Iranian revolution. Skeptical of the intentions of the inherited government and wary of a counter-coup, Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini founded the IRGC as a counterweight to the existing Iranian security apparatus.
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| UPDATE 2-Iran could consider talks with US only if sanctions lifted, Khamenei permits - minister Posted: 04 Jul 2019 01:45 AM PDT ![UPDATE 2-Iran could consider talks with US only if sanctions lifted, Khamenei permits - minister]( "UPDATE 2-Iran could consider talks with US only if sanctions lifted, Khamenei permits - minister") Iran's intelligence minister has said Tehran and Washington could hold talks only if the United States ended its sanctions and Iran's top authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, gave his approval, state news agency IRNA reported on Thursday. "Holding talks with America can be reviewed by Iran only If (U.S. President Donald) Trump lifts the sanctions and our supreme leader gives permission to hold such talks," Mahmoud Alavi said late on Wednesday. Trump said last month that he had aborted a military strike to retaliate for Iran's downing of an unmanned U.S. drone over the Strait of Hormuz on June 20 because it could have killed 150 people, and signalled that he was open to talks with Tehran.
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| Iran says "active resistance" is an antidote to Trump's warnings - TV Posted: 04 Jul 2019 01:45 AM PDT ![Iran says "active resistance" is an antidote to Trump's warnings - TV]( "Iran says \"active resistance\" is an antidote to Trump's warnings - TV") Iran said on Thursday that "active resistance' was an antidote to U.S. President Donald Trump's warning over Tehran's commitments to the 2015 nuclear deal, state TV reported. Trump warned Iran on Wednesday to "Be careful with the threats, Iran.
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| Trump administration attempts to legally justify attack on Iran Posted: 04 Jul 2019 01:26 AM PDT  As it has contemplated military action against Iran, the Trump administration has opened the door to virtually every legal authority it might use to justify an attack, from tying Iran to al-Qaida, to President Donald Trump's assertion that it would not involve American ground troops and "wouldn't last very long".US Democrats, and some Republicans, have tried repeatedly to pin the administration down, including last week's unsuccessful attempt to muster 60 Senate votes for an amendment requiring Mr Trump to ask Congress before launching any military engagement.When asked directly about legal justification, senior administration officials have offered undetailed assurances that any action would "consistent with our Constitution", as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last month, or they deferred to lawyers."I'm not a scholar in this area," Brian Hook, Mr Pompeo's special representative for Iran, recently told the House Armed Services Committee under persistent questioning.Concern about the possibility of US military action against Iran has grown since the administration cited new intelligence that Iran or its proxies were planning to attack US troops or American interests in the Middle East.The United States has also blamed Iran for attacks on oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz. Most recently, Iran shot down a US drone it said – and the US denied – had crossed into its airspace.Mr Trump and Iranian leaders have traded insults following the US withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement and subsequent reimposition and escalation of sanctions, and Iran's announcement that it was stepping up its uranium enrichment.Following President Hassan Rouhani's assertion on Wednesday that Iran could enrich to "any amount we want" in the absence of a nuclear deal, Mr Trump warned him to "be careful with the threats ... they can come back to bite you like nobody has been bitten before".Although Trump cancelled a US strike against Iran following the drone shoot-down, the administration has continued to lay the legal groundwork for a strike.Mr Pompeo, in both public and classified testimony, according to lawmakers, has said there are ties between Iran and al-Qaida.Such a relationship would seem to provide the foundation for military action against Iran under the 2001 congressional Authorisation for Use of Military Force (AUMF) against the perpetrators of the al-Qaida attacks that year.Such a determination has doubters even within the administration.Defence officials have taken unusual steps in recent weeks to distance themselves from Mr Pompeo's assertion, amid fears that the administration may be driving towards a conflict that most Pentagon officials expect would be long, costly and detrimental to American interests in the region.In a statement, Commander Rebecca Rebarich, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said the department "does not believe 2001 AUMF can be used against Iran".That position has been affirmed by the Pentagon's top lawyer, Paul Ney Jr, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to address internal deliberations.While Pentagon officials do not deny that al-Qaida has had ties to Tehran, those links are generally seen as limited and non-operational.Taking up Mr Hook's suggestion to ask government lawyers about both the 2001 AUMF and a subsequent 2002 congressional resolution authorising the US invasion of Iraq, Armed Services Committee Chairman Eliot Engel wrote last week to Marik String, who became acting State Department legal adviser six weeks ago.Mr Engel asked for "any and all legal analysis" relating to whether either measure was "applicable to any actions that could be undertaken by the Executive Branch in or against the Islamic Republic of Iran".A brief reply from the State Department's legislative affairs bureau came three days later."The administration has not, to date, interpreted either AUMF as authorising military force against Iran," it said, "except as may be necessary to defend US or partner forces engaged in counter-terrorism operations or operations to establish a stable, democratic Iraq."Democrats have interpreted that response as leaving the door open to administration assertions that such authorisation is justified in the future."We're very concerned the administration hasn't categorically said Congress hasn't authorised war with Iran," a Democratic congressional aide said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the concerns of lawmakers. "The AUMF has already been stretched."Three successive administrations have cited the 2001 AUMF as a basis for fighting an array of militant groups across the Middle East, South and Central Asia, and Africa, as Congress has failed in repeated efforts to pass a new authorisation that would apply to military actions that seem far afield from those originally authorised.Moreover, the legal caveat referring to Iraq, the subject of the 2002 authorisation, appears to cast a wide net over any interference in US or partner forces operations in that country.The State Department did not respond to questions about the scope of its statement.The other legal authority available to the president, short of Congress's approval under its constitutional authority to declare war, is the president's own constitutional power as commander in chief of the armed forces, in charge of keeping the nation secure.Here, previous presidents and the current Justice Department have laid a broad foundation for action that Congress has done little to constrain.The only public statement the administration has made interpreting those powers was a 31 May 2018 opinion by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Council (OLC) on authority for the April 2018 US airstrikes against Syrian chemical weapons facilities.The strikes were legal, the OLC concluded, because "the President reasonably determined that this operation would further important national interests" and that "the anticipated nature, scope and duration of the operations were sufficiently limited that they did not amount to war in the constitutional sense and therefore did not require prior congressional approval".The Justice Department OLC did not respond to requests for comment.The 2018 opinion, which drew substantially from an Obama-era justification for the 2011 air operations in Libya, put an attack against Iran squarely in the context of decades of US military operations, including Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo, Libya and many others, conducted without authorisation from Congress.Citing previous definitions of the "national interest", the Trump OLC opinion cited protection of US persons and property, assistance to allies, and the promotion of regional stability – all of which have been mentioned by the administration as US goals regarding Iran.The second test examined whether US troops would be directly involved in hostilities, noting that the Clinton administration OLC, in judging the Bosnia deployment, concluded that the size and duration of operations, and the deployment of ground troops, were key tests.In an interview last week with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, Mr Trump said that "If something should happen, we're in a very strong position. It wouldn't last very long, I can tell you that. It would not last very long"."And I'm not talking about boots on the ground, I'm not talking we're going to send a million soldiers. I'm just saying if something would happen, wouldn't last very long."Washington Post
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| Turkey offers to mediate between US, Iran Posted: 04 Jul 2019 12:21 AM PDT ![Turkey offers to mediate between US, Iran]( "Turkey offers to mediate between US, Iran") Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he is willing to mediate between the United States and Iran to ease tensions over Iran's nuclear program. In comments published Thursday, Erdogan said he had discussed the issue of a possible mediation with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of a G-20 meeting. Erdogan says Abe asked the Turkish leader whether Turkey and Japan could act together, to which Erdogan responded that he would be willing to meet with Iran's leaders.
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| UPDATE 3-Putin, after three days, says fire-hit Russian submarine was nuclear-powered Posted: 04 Jul 2019 12:08 AM PDT ![UPDATE 3-Putin, after three days, says fire-hit Russian submarine was nuclear-powered]( "UPDATE 3-Putin, after three days, says fire-hit Russian submarine was nuclear-powered") Russian President Vladimir Putin disclosed on Thursday for the first time that a secret military submarine hit by a fatal fire three days ago was nuclear-powered, prompting the defence minister to assure him its reactor had been safely contained. Moscow's slow release of information about the incident has drawn comparisons with the opaque way the Soviet Union handled the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power station disaster, and another deadly submarine accident -- the 2000 sinking of the nuclear-powered Kursk, which claimed 118 lives.
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| Australian student detained in N. Korea 'released, safe' Posted: 03 Jul 2019 11:07 PM PDT A 29-year-old Australian student detained in North Korea surfaced in Beijing airport on Thursday, saying he was in "very good" spirits after being released. For days Sigley's family received no word about his whereabouts or wellbeing, stoking fears he may be the latest in a long line of foreigners to become entangled in North Korea's police state. Then, with little warning, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday told lawmakers that Sigley had "been released from detention in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea" and that "he is safe and well".
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| War crimes court-martial ends with Navy SEAL walking free Posted: 03 Jul 2019 10:20 PM PDT  One of the U.S. military's most significant war crimes cases ended with a decorated Navy SEAL walking out of court a free man after acknowledging moral and ethical mistakes, including posing in photographs with the body of an Islamic State captive he was cleared of killing. Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher will spend no time in jail for the only charge he was convicted of — posing with a human casualty — despite being given the maximum sentence of four months' confinement for the offense Wednesday by a military jury. Gallagher turned to his wife, shook his head and pretended to unpin his "anchors" — the insignia of a chief — and fling them across the courtroom.
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| DMZ Summit Lifts South Korea's Moon to Seven-Month Polling High Posted: 03 Jul 2019 10:17 PM PDT ![DMZ Summit Lifts South Korea's Moon to Seven-Month Polling High]( "DMZ Summit Lifts South Korea's Moon to Seven-Month Polling High") (Bloomberg) -- Support for South Korea's president jumped to a seven-month high after he stood with U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the border between the two Koreas, bolstering his prospects for parliamentary elections in April.South Korean leader Moon Jae-in's support jumped 4.8 percentage points from a week ago to 52.4%, according a Realmeter tracking poll released Thursday. Moon had seen support for his government plumb new depths a few months ago as U.S.-North Korea nuclear talks sputtered and South Korea's gross domestic product shrank the most in a decade.In another bit of welcome news for Moon -- a progressive who has staked his political capital on bridging differences between Trump and Kim -- support for his main conservative opposition, the Liberty Party Korea, slid to a four-month low, according to the tracking poll conducted from Monday to Wednesday.Moon hailed Sunday the Trump-Kim summit in the Demilitarized Zone buffer dividing the peninsula as a milestone for peace. At the hastily arranged meeting, Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to set foot in North Korea and his almost hour-long discussions with Kim led to an agreement to resume nuclear disarmament talks that had stalled since their last summit collapsed in February.Moon has faced heat over his signature policy to raise the minimum wage, which has been blamed for increasing unemployment rather than raising incomes.To contact the reporter on this story: Shinhye Kang in Seoul at skang24@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Jon HerskovitzFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Alek Sigley, Australian missing in North Korea, is 'alive and well' in China Posted: 03 Jul 2019 10:08 PM PDT  Missing Australian citizen Alek Sigley, who was feared detained in North Korea, has been found "safe and sound" in China, NK News reported on Thursday. Masters student Mr Sigley, 29, disappeared last Tuesday in Pyongyang, sparking desperate international diplomatic attempts to find him. His "release from detention" in North Korea and arrival in China was confirmed to the Australian parliament by Scott Morrison, the Australian prime minister, who extended his "deepest gratitude" to Sweden for its help in the case. "I'm sure we all could not be more pleased that we not only know where Alek is but that we know that he is safe," he said. No details have been released about what happened to the student, but Mr Sigley, who also runs Tongil Tours, which arranges cultural exchanges to North Korea, is expected to return to his wife in Tokyo later on Thursday. First images of the Australian pushing his luggage through Beijing airport emerged around lunchtime. Mr Sigley, accompanied by three Western men, smiled and said "I'm very good" to waiting reporters but declined to reveal any more. Alek Sigley went missing in North Korea last week Credit: AFP NK News, a site specialising on North Korean affairs, which Mr Sigley had previously written for, reported that his apparent release followed a visit to the hermit kingdom by a special envoy of the Swedish government, which many had speculated was tied to his mysterious disappearance. Australia does not have an official diplomatic presence in North Korea, but consular assistance is provided to Australian citizens by Sweden. Mr Sigley, who speaks fluent Mandarin and Korean, has been the only Australian living in North Korea, and since 2018 one of only a handful of Western students at Kim Il Sung university, studying contemporary North Korean literature. He has written regularly for Western media outlets about his day to day experiences in the reclusive nation, and has been prolific on social media. Alek Sigley, the Australian student who went missing in North Korea His sudden silence on Twitter prompted concerns among friends last week and his family later confirmed that he had not been in contact since Tuesday morning, while the Australian foreign ministry said it was "urgently seeking clarification" about reports of his arrest. The treatment of foreign citizens, most usually from the United States, by the secretive North has been a contentious issue over the years. Some have been held as prisoners for extended periods, and Mr Sigley's sudden vanishing triggered immediate fears that his case could resemble that of Otto Warmbier, a US student who received a hefty jail term in 2017 after he fell foul of the North Korean authorities by allegedly stealing a poster. Alek SIgley transits through Beijing airport Credit: Kyodo/Reuters Warmbier tragically died after falling into a coma during his 17-month detention. Mr Sigley was well-versed in North Korean culture and often spoke fondly of his experiences there, leaving many surprised about reports of his possible detention. Before studying in the North, Mr Sigley had visited the country multiple times as a tour operator and chose to host his wedding to his Japanese-born wife in Pyongyang last year. He earlier told Sky News that he was not concerned about being monitored as he was sensible about online posts. "I've never felt threatened and this whole year has been a period of rapprochement," he said.
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| Australian student missing in North Korea released from detention Posted: 03 Jul 2019 09:33 PM PDT ![Australian student missing in North Korea released from detention]( "Australian student missing in North Korea released from detention") An Australian student who went missing in North Korea has been released from detention and has safely left the country, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday. Alek Sigley, 29, went missing last week. "Mr Alek Sigley has been released from detention in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," Morrison told Parliament, referring to North Korea by its official name.
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