| 3 European nations condemn North Korea's missile launches Posted: 27 Aug 2019 05:10 PM PDT  Three important U.S. allies on Tuesday condemned the "repeated provocative launches" of ballistic missiles by North Korea, saying they violate U.N. Security Council resolutions banning any such activity. The United Kingdom, France and Germany issued a joint statement after a closed council briefing by U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo that they requested because of serious concerns at the series of missile launches in recent weeks by North Korea. The three European council members urged North Korea "to engage in meaningful negotiations with the U.S.," as President Donald Trump and its leader Kim Jong Un agreed to on June 30 at their meeting in the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas.
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| Judge orders Iraq to pay millions to slain contractor's firm Posted: 27 Aug 2019 04:26 PM PDT ![Judge orders Iraq to pay millions to slain contractor's firm]( "Judge orders Iraq to pay millions to slain contractor's firm") A military contractor whose top executive was killed in Iraq under mysterious circumstances 15 years ago has won a judgment of roughly $140 million against Iraq to reimburse the contractor for funds it never received. The judgment of nearly $89 million plus interest and attorneys' fees issued Tuesday by a federal judge in Washington caps a decade-long legal battle between Pennsylvania-based Wye Oak Technology and the Republic of Iraq. Wye Oak says its president, Dale Stoffel, was slain in Iraq in December 2004 after complaining that his company wasn't paid more than $20 million it was owed for refurbishing tanks to help the Iraqi military get back on its feet after the 2003 war.
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| US approves $3.3bn sale of anti-ballistic missiles to Japan Posted: 27 Aug 2019 02:46 PM PDT  Washington approved the $3.3 billion sale of anti-ballistic missiles to Japan Tuesday, following close behind a series of new ballistic missile tests by North Korea that could threaten the US ally. Japan will buy up to 73 of the Raytheon-made SM-3 Block IIA missiles, which are designed to be fired by the ship-board Aegis system to intercept incoming ballistic missiles, the Pentagon said. The sale came as North Korea is expanding its offensive missile capabilities, having proven over the past two years the ability to launch medium- and long-range ballistic missiles, potentially nuclear-tipped, that could hit both Japan and the United States.
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| Could Trump gamble big on Iran? Skepticism reigns Posted: 27 Aug 2019 02:36 PM PDT  US President Donald Trump is not afraid of surprises but could he take one of the biggest shifts of all in his foreign policy -- easing sanctions on Iran? Washington is widely skeptical that Trump will shift course on Iran, with his hawkish advisors long pushing a hard line aimed at crippling the clerical regime. Responding to a suggestion by Macron, the host of a Group of Seven summit in the coastal resort of Biarritz, Trump said that Iran "may need some money to get them over a very rough patch" in the form of a line of credit.
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| UPDATE 1-Canadian court grants new trial to two men charged with attempted train bombing Posted: 27 Aug 2019 12:05 PM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Canadian court grants new trial to two men charged with attempted train bombing]( "UPDATE 1-Canadian court grants new trial to two men charged with attempted train bombing") Two men found guilty of terrorism charges in 2015 for an attempted bombing aimed at derailing a VIA Rail passenger train two years earlier, have been granted a new trial, a provincial court in Canada said on Tuesday. Canadian police had arrested and charged Raed Jaser, now 41, and Chiheb Esseghaier, 36, ahead of the planned attack, saying the operation was backed by the al Qaeda militant group in Iran. U.S. officials said at the time that the attack would have targeted a rail line between New York and Toronto, a route that travels along the Hudson Valley into New York wine country and enters Canada near Niagara Falls.
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| The Latest: Russia to help rebuild NW town retaken by Syria Posted: 27 Aug 2019 11:59 AM PDT  The Russian military says it will help reconstruction efforts in a town in northwestern Syria that has been reclaimed by the Syrian government. Maj. Gen. Ravil Muginov said in remarks released by the Russian Defense Ministry Tuesday that the military's Reconciliation Center has delivered humanitarian supplies to Khan Sheikhoun, which was captured by the Syrian army last week. Muginov said the Russian military will help Syrian authorities rebuild the town's infrastructure.
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| Macron's G-7 performance arms him for likely troubles ahead Posted: 27 Aug 2019 11:28 AM PDT  Also wields a deft touch that helped placate the mood of U.S. President Donald Trump. French President Emmanuel Macron used the three-day summit of G-7 leaders he hosted to remind the world — and his skeptical country — of something easily forgotten during months of anti-government protests that wounded his presidency: For all of his short-comings, Macron certainly isn't without talent. "He was brilliant," said Francois Heisbourg, an adviser at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies and at the Paris-based Foundation for Strategic Research.
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| Jair Bolsonaro demands Macron withdraw 'insults' over Amazon fires Posted: 27 Aug 2019 10:47 AM PDT  Brazilian and French presidents continue feud over G7 aid package for wildfires raging in Amazon rainforestBrazil's far-right president and his backers have escalated their row over the Amazon with Emmanuel Macron, attacking the French president's "lamentable colonialist stance" as fires continued to rage in the world's biggest rainforest.As Brazil said it would reject a $20m (£16m) G7 contribution to fight the fires, Jair Bolsonaro spurned Macron's criticism of his environmental record and flaunted Donald Trump's support for his far-right administration."We have nothing against the G7. We have something against one of the G7's presidents," Bolsonaro told a summit of governors from the nine states that make up the Brazilian Amazon.Brazil's leader said he had been cheered by an earlier tweet in which the US president said Bolsonaro was "working very hard on the Amazon fires and in all respects doing a great job for the people of Brazil".Bolsonaro responded tweeting: "Thank you, President Trump. We're fighting the wildfires with great success. The fake news campaign built against our sovereignty will not work."Macron has been less kind to Bolsonaro, a rightwing nationalist who campaigners accuse of greenlighting a new era of environmental destruction and being partly responsible for the scale of this year's Amazon burning season.Last week, Macron sparked a diplomatic skirmish with Bolsonaro when he called for emergency talks on the Amazon at the G7 summit – a move Bolsonaro responded to by mocking the appearance of Brigitte Macron, France's first lady, on Facebook.On Monday, Macron lamented Bolsonaro's "extraordinarily rude" attack on his wife and said he hoped Brazil would soon have a leader worthier of the office.Bolsonaro and his backers hit back on Tuesday. Bolsonaro condemned what he described as Macron's meddling in Brazilian affairs and insisted he would only consider the G7's Amazon aid package if Macron withdrew his "insults".Gen Augusto Heleno, Bolsonaro's hawkish institutional security chief, took a particularly hard line, lambasting "Macron's lamentable colonialist stance"."Ninety percent of [former] French colonies are in a deplorable state," Heleno, the former head of the Brazil-led United Nations stabilization mission in Haiti, told the gathering of governors."Wherever they went they left a trail of destruction, chaos and misery. They shouldn't be giving anyone advice. This is a joke."Mauro Mendes, the governor of the Amazon state of Mato Grosso, accused Macron of "surfing on the ashes" of the Amazon conflagration for political and economic purposes."Macron isn't worried about our environment. He's worried about creating mechanisms to introduce possible barriers [to Brazilian products]," Mendes claimed.The Amazon assembly in Brasília was convened to discuss responses to the blaze currently sweeping through swaths of the region.But Bolsonaro used the encounter to repeatedly pillory environmentalists and what he called the "psychotic" demarcation of indigenous reserves, claiming both had hamstrung Brazil's economy.He said: "This environmental question has to be dealt with rationally and not with the almost savagery that it has been throughout previous governments. We cannot allow a country as rich as ours to be in the situation it finds itself in." He vowed to "take the decisions that need to be taken" to turbo-charge development of the Amazon.Bolsonaro insinuated that indigenous reserves had been created by previous governments as part of a foreign conspiracy designed to hinder Brazil's economic development.He complained: "Indians don't do lobbying. They don't speak our language. And somehow they've ended up with 14% of our national territory."He added: "One of the aims is to make us unworkable."Bolsonaro also accused Brazilian journalists of waging a "a massive, anti-patriotic, sell-out campaign" against his government by reporting on the Amazon fires.Many of the Amazon governors cheered Bolsonaro's vision.The governor of Rondônia state, Bolsonaro ally Marcos Rocha, said: "We have always had presidents who thought about environmental protection. Today, we have a president who thinks about protection but who puts human development first."But there was also pushback.Mendes, the governor of Mato Grosso state said he was "very worried" about how Brazilian farmers might be affected by the negative international reaction to the crisis."Sixty percent of our GDP comes from our exports," Mendes noted.The governor of Pará, Helder Barbalho, cautioned against spurning foreign aid mechanisms such as the Amazon Fund – to which Norway and Germany recently suspended contributions because of Bolsonaro's environmental policies.Barbalho warned that Bolsonaro's clash with Macron was a distraction when Brazil should be attempting to avoid a costly boycott of Brazilian products.He said: "I think we are wasting too much time on Macron. We should take care of our own country and get on with our own lives. we should be taking care of our own problems and showing our environment diplomacy to the world, which is essential to agribusiness."Flávio Dino, the Communist party governor of Maranhão, also opposed rejecting much-needed international support for environmental protection."We cannot tear up money – tearing up money is not sensible," said Dino, a staunch Bolsonaro critic who has described the Brazilian president as the "insane" leader of a "minority sect".Dino also warned against the "satanization" of environmental NGOs, which Bolsonaro has vowed to expel from the Amazon and accused, without evidence, of starting this year's fires."It isn't by setting NGOs on fire that we are going to save the Amazon," Dino warned, urging Bolsonaro to show "moderation".
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| Canadian court grants new trial to two men charged with attempted train bombing Posted: 27 Aug 2019 10:42 AM PDT ![Canadian court grants new trial to two men charged with attempted train bombing]( "Canadian court grants new trial to two men charged with attempted train bombing") Two men found guilty of terrorism charges in 2015 for an attempted bombing aimed at derailing a VIA Rail passenger train two years earlier, have been granted a new trial, a provincial court in Canada said on Tuesday. Canadian police had arrested and charged Raed Jaser, now 41, and Chiheb Esseghaier, 36, ahead of the planned attack, saying the operation was backed by the al Qaeda militant group in Iran. U.S. officials said at the time that the attack would have targeted a rail line between New York and Toronto, a route that travels along the Hudson Valley into New York wine country and enters Canada near Niagara Falls.
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| UN says 40 migrants feared drowned in capsizing off Libya Posted: 27 Aug 2019 10:40 AM PDT  A boat carrying dozens of migrants bound for Europe capsized Tuesday in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya, with at least 40 people missing and presumed drowned, U.N. officials said, as a support group reported it had gotten a call from someone on the vessel "crying and shouting" that passengers had died already. At least 65 migrants, mostly from Sudan, were rescued, said Ayoub Gassim, a spokesman for Libya's coast guard, with a search halted for those still missing.
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| House Foreign Affairs Urges Sanctions for Turkey S-400 Purchase Posted: 27 Aug 2019 10:40 AM PDT ![House Foreign Affairs Urges Sanctions for Turkey S-400 Purchase]( "House Foreign Affairs Urges Sanctions for Turkey S-400 Purchase") (Bloomberg) -- Members of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee are pressuring President Donald Trump to sanction Turkey for the purchase of the Russian-made S-400 anti-aircraft missile system.The Trump administration said last month that it wouldn't allow Turkey to buy and help build the F-35 stealth warplane in retaliation for the country's decision to defy the U.S. and purchase the S-400, which officials warned could compromise U.S. intelligence and allow Russia to gain information about the F-35's technology.The committee, through its Twitter account, urged Trump to impose sanctions.The pressure is being applied as Russia and Turkey said they will deepen defense cooperation and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.Under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, or CAATSA, the U.S. is required to impose penalties on Ankara over the missile-defense move. The law doesn't say how quickly the president has to put those sanctions in place, however.A bipartisan group of senators urged Trump to impose sanctions on Turkey for the S-400 purchase in July.To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Flatley in Washington at dflatley1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Wendy BenjaminsonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| UK alone will be to blame for no-deal Brexit: EU tells Johnson Posted: 27 Aug 2019 10:40 AM PDT  Britain will be solely to blame if it crashes out of the EU in a chaotic "no-deal" Brexit, the bloc told Prime Minister Boris Johnson Tuesday in the latest clash between Brussels and London. With the clock ticking and Johnson adamant the EU must accept significant changes to the existing withdrawal agreement, fears are growing that Britain could leave without a deal, causing major economic turmoil. Days after Johnson and EU Council President Donald Tusk traded jibes over who would be responsible if Britain leaves the bloc on October 31 without an agreement, European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker waded into the row.
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| U.K. Sees Room for Maneuver on Brexit After Merkel, Macron Talks Posted: 27 Aug 2019 10:23 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Follow @Brexit, sign up to our Brexit Bulletin, and tell us your Brexit story. The U.K. government sees an opportunity to restart Brexit negotiations with the European Union after Prime Minister Boris Johnson's meetings last week with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.The two leaders appeared to relax their language on the Brexit withdrawal agreement and the need to retain the so-called backstop provision for the Irish border, a U.K. official said on condition of anonymity. Johnson has demanded the EU drop the backstop, a fallback mechanism that is meant to keep the frontier free of checks after Brexit but which is despised by Brexiteers who argue it will keep the U.K. tied to the bloc.Alarmed by the prospect of the U.K. crashing out of the bloc without an agreement if talks with the EU fail, the leaders of U.K. opposition parties seeking to block a no-deal split held a closed-doors meeting, convened by Labour's Jeremy Corbyn, to discuss what they'll do when Parliament returns next week.Parliament ChallengeEarlier this month, Labour proposed they should call a vote of no-confidence in Johnson's government, with a view to installing Corbyn as a caretaker prime minister mandated to delay Brexit and call an election. That idea was rejected by both rebel Conservatives and some on the opposition benches. Instead, the statements after Tuesday's meeting focused on finding legislative routes to stopping a no-deal Brexit.That sets up the prospect of a fight in the House of Commons after Parliament returns from its summer recess next week.The pound extended gains, with investors citing a warmer tone from Brussels and plans to coordinate opposition to a no-deal split as reasons for the rally.Both Merkel and Macron seemed willing to engage in talks on Johnson's concerns and suggestions for alternative technology-based solutions, including trusted trader programs, the U.K. official said. That could pave the way for the EU to agree to reopen the deal negotiated by Johnson's predecessor, the official said.Standing FirmJohnson has repeatedly said he wants a new deal but has also been clear that he'll take the U.K. out of the EU regardless on Oct. 31. Following talks in Berlin and Paris last week, and with European Council President Donald Tusk on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in France over the weekend, the focus is on trying to create space for negotiations, the official said.On Tuesday afternoon, Johnson spoke by phone to outgoing EU Commission President Jean=Claude Juncker to press his position. Juncker's office said afterwards that he had repeated his "willingness to work constructively" with the prime minister "and to look at any concrete proposals he may have" -- as long as they were compatible with what had already been agreed. He also said that while the EU is "fully prepared" for a no-deal Brexit, it would do everything possible to avoid one. "A no-deal scenario will only ever be the U.K.'s decision, not the EU's," Juncker's office said.Next month Johnson is due to visit Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar in Dublin. That trip will be crucial to any compromise with the EU over the backstop, which the EU regards as necessary to both protect its single market and ensure the peace process in Northern Ireland isn't jeopardized by Brexit. Following a call with Johnson on Tuesday, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Twitter the EU is open to any "concrete proposals" from the U.K. as long as they're consistent with those aims.But even if Johnson is successful in removing the backstop from the deal, he still faces a fight at home from both sides of the Brexit argument.Labour's Corbyn wrote to 116 Tory MPs, including former Prime Minister Theresa May and former Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, seeking their support to find a "practical way to prevent" a no-deal Brexit following his meeting with other opposition party leaders on Tuesday."Prime ministers come and go but we've never seen one like this who has the potential to threaten the very nature of our democracy," Labour's economy spokesman John McDonnell said in a speech in London. "We will not stand aside and let that happen. We will use whatever mechanism necessary."Meanwhile, Nigel Farage said his Brexit Party has now selected candidates for every parliamentary constituency and is ready to fight a general election. "Can you trust Boris Johnson on this issue?" he asked the audience at a party event in central London. "No!" they chorused. "Can you trust the Conservative Party on this issue?" "No!" they replied.Farage called the withdrawal agreement as negotiated by May "a betrayal" of the 2016 referendum result, and warned that if Johnson tries to push it through, the Brexit Party would run against his Conservative Party in every constituency. While they might struggle to win many seats, they could take enough votes away from the Tories to seriously damage them. Farage said his message to Johnson is "deliver or politically die."(Updates with Juncker comment in ninth paragraph.)\--With assistance from Charlotte Ryan and Thomas Penny.To contact the reporters on this story: Jessica Shankleman in London at jshankleman@bloomberg.net;Robert Hutton in London at rhutton1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Robert Hutton at rhutton1@bloomberg.net, Stuart Biggs, Mark WilliamsFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Iran journalist flees Zarif delegation to stay in Sweden Posted: 27 Aug 2019 10:04 AM PDT  An Iranian journalist covering Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif's Nordic tour has fled the official delegation and applied for residency in Sweden, officials here said Tuesday. The Swedish Migration Agency said Amir-Tohid Fazel, a political reporter for Iran's ultra-conservative news agency Moj, had "applied for a residence permit in Sweden on 21 August 2019". Fazel was travelling with Zarif's delegation as part of an international tour to Finland, Sweden and Norway and other countries.
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| Israel's shadow war with Iran bursts into the open Posted: 27 Aug 2019 09:43 AM PDT  The long shadow war between Israel and Iran has burst into the open in recent days, with Israel allegedly striking Iran-linked targets as far away as Iraq and crash-landing two drones in Hezbollah-dominated southern Beirut. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is looking to project strength three weeks before national elections, while Iran has taken a series of provocative actions in recent months aimed at pressuring European nations to provide relief from crippling U.S. sanctions. Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Iran-backed Hezbollah, vowed to retaliate after a drone crashed on the militant group's Beirut media office and another exploded midair early Sunday.
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| Turkey's Erdogan visits Russian air show as Putin's guest Posted: 27 Aug 2019 09:39 AM PDT  In a show of burgeoning security ties between Russia and Turkey, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended the opening of an annual Russian air show as a guest of President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday and expressed interest in purchasing the latest Russian fighter jets. NATO member Turkey started taking deliveries last month of Russia's S-400 air defense system. The United States had pushed Erdogan's government to scrap the deal, arguing that its purchase would aid Russian intelligence and compromise a U.S.-led fighter jet program.
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| Russian humanoid robot boards space station after delay Posted: 27 Aug 2019 09:38 AM PDT  It was second time lucky on Tuesday as an unmanned spacecraft carrying Russia's first humanoid robot docked at the International Space Station following a failed attempt over the weekend. Copying human movements and designed to help with high-risk tasks, the lifesize robot, Fedor, is due to stay on the ISS until September 7. Speaking to Russian cosmonauts on the ISS via a video link-up, President Vladimir Putin lavished praise on them for the way they handled the glitch.
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| Senate tangles with Russia after Trump's overtures to Putin Posted: 27 Aug 2019 09:16 AM PDT ![Senate tangles with Russia after Trump's overtures to Putin]( "Senate tangles with Russia after Trump's overtures to Putin") The moves come as Trump has sought Putin's inclusion into the G-7.
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| U.S. Natural Gas is the New, Global, Soft-Power Weapon Posted: 27 Aug 2019 08:51 AM PDT  U.S. carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the power sector, and broader economy have declined 61 percent between 2006–2014; mainly from "switching from coal-to-gas-powered generation," according to the U.S. Department of Energy's Second Installment of the Quadrennial Energy Review, January 2017. These environmentally sound numbers from higher use of natural gas can also be translated globally to help with pollution in countries such as China, India, and across the continent of Africa.The United States now uses natural gas converted to liquid natural gas (LNG) from shale deposits in states such as Texas, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania to transform geopolitics. Lower LNG prices stymie terrorist-financing budgets in Tehran and lower the ability for Vladimir Putin's Russia to weaponize their energy assets for geopolitical adventures in Ukraine, Crimea, Syria, Central Asian and the Middle East.How this new soft power of energy transforms the world economically, geopolitically, and positively towards western-aligned institutions is through increasing LNG exports, which "hit a new record high at 4.7 billion cubic feet per day in May 2019." The United States is approximately the world's third largest LNG exporter. Illustrating this power has seen the United States add four new LNG trains "with a combined capacity of 2.4Bcf/d come online since November 2018." Countries with heavy LNG deposits can transform their national fate and redirect their foreign-policy and national-security initiatives without deploying their militaries. Energy economics overtakes military significance, because everyone needs the power generation and electricity that clean burning, LNG exports provide.Positively, it means the United States no longer has to rely on Middle Eastern authoritarians to power its economy, and the world order that has depended on the United States for global security since the end of World War II. Negatively, since the United States no longer needs Saudi oil or Qatari LNG then the debate over protecting the Strait of Hormuz, where "90 percent of oil exported from the Gulf, (and) about 20 percent of the world's supply passed through," would be a nonstarter.Europe, led by Germany, is where the LNG's soft power persuasiveness is changing continent-wide dynamics. In the first half of 2019 according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA): "Roughly 40 percent of U.S. LNG exports went to Europe, and in January, Europe surpassed Asia as a buyer of U.S. LNG for the first time." This is a direct, soft power approach to countering Germany moving forward with the Russian-backed Nord Stream 2 pipeline that the United States and other European countries have deeply opposed.Additionally, this newfound purchasing of U.S. LNG in Europe is another poker chip that can be used against Turkey leaning away from NATO over the purchase of the Russian S-400 anti-aircraft weapon system. It can also be used as a deterrent against the Turkish vessels that are continuously encroaching on Cyprus' coast as they seek to illegally drill for oil and natural gas. Thus, this puts the entire Mediterranean security profile at risk, says, "Athens' newly elected government."But coercion, and diplomatic solutions, without shots being fired, or crippling sanctions, are the opportunities the soft power of LNG provide large and small nation-states. With the United States since 2017 being the world's top producer of petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbons this offers opportunities never dreamed of during the Cold War when it was the United States and the west versus Russia for global supremacy.Beating Russia at weaponization of oil and natural gas can be traced to 2009 when "U.S. natural gas production surpassed that of Russia." Russian firms heavily influenced or owned by the Kremlin—Rosneft and Gazprom—took a serious blow, which meant they no longer had free reign to manipulate prices in Central Asia, Eastern and Western Europe whenever it suited Moscow's needs.As an example, the first cargo delivery of LNG arrived in Poland earlier this summer from PGNiG (a Polish firm), and U.S. LNG provider Cheniere Energy at President Lech Kaczyński LNG Terminal in Świnoujście. The long-term contract, which was signed in November of 2018, will total approximately thirty-nine billion cubic metre of natural gas over the twenty-four year period of the agreement.Piotr Woźniak, President of PGNiG Management Board said:"Our portfolio of contracts with U.S. suppliers covers over 9 billion cubic meters of natural gas after regasification annually – that is more than we import from Russia. Such a volume strengthens Poland's energy security, but also gives us the opportunity to actively participate in LNG trading on the global market." This bolsters "energy relations" between Poland and the United States without involving military friction that normally precipitates NATO movements against Russia. Instead, U.S. LNG blocks Russian energy from interfering in Polish internal affairs or economic development.Global security and European Union foreign policy against Russian LNG will also speed ahead in the coming years and decades ahead. New oil and natural gas project spending is expected to jump five-fold in 2019, according to Wood Mackenzie. Even smaller, geopolitical players like Mexico are seeking ways to boost their natural gas production 50 percent through government-owned, oil firm, Petroleo Mexicanos (PEMEX).Fossil fuel—particularly, natural gas and/or LNG—will be at the forefront when it relates to soft power, national security, and robust economic growth for mature and emerging markets. Natural gas markets are dominated by U.S. energy decisions translated into policy more than ever before, "as Washington prosecutes a trade war with China and takes a hard line on Iran."The dominance takes place, because U.S. gross imports of crude and natural gas have steadied or declined whereas "rising LNG exports provide another point of US entry into world energy markets." This balances world LNG markets, provides stability, and moves international energy trade forward in a soft power direction and platform over the weaponization of energy assets seen from Russia, China and Iran.There is an LNG, soft power drama playing out on the world stage to engage international relations. LNG keeps major wars from erupting, and that is a positive economic and human longevity aspect of energy that few people, companies and governments seem to understand these days.Todd Royal is an author and consultant specializing in global threat assessment, energy development and policy for oil, gas and renewables based in Los Angeles, California.Image: Reuters
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| Russia and China’s Strategic Marriage of Convenience Posted: 27 Aug 2019 08:47 AM PDT  Last month, there was a peculiar event occurring in the skies over the Sea of Japan. Military aircraft from Russia and China were conducting a joint air patrol and entered the respective Air Defense Identification Zones (ADIZ) of Japan and South Korea. The patrol, which was the inaugural joint exercise of long-range nuclear-capable bombers for Moscow and Beijing, should raise significant eyebrows for the United States and its allies in the region. Magnifying concerns on the incident was the fact that the Russian planes twice intruded into the airspace of the disputed Takeshima-Dokdo islets, which are administered by South Korea but claimed by Japan.In response, Seoul scrambled fighter jets and fired more than three hundred warning shots, according to Korean defense officials. This drew a sharp rebuke by Japan, which also dispatched its air force in response to the incursion. A Japanese official called the Korean maneuvers "totally unacceptable and extremely regrettable," as they occurred over islands that Tokyo considers its sovereign territory. Given the number of aircraft involved and the repeated intrusions into the air defense zones, the incident was likely carefully designed by Russia and China to elicit a strong reaction from Tokyo and Seoul as well as to further undermine their already strained bilateral relationship, which has reached its lowest point in years over historical matters and a brewing dispute over new export control restrictions levied on South Korea.Why is this incident important? First, the patrol, while provocative in and of itself, is only the tip of the iceberg. It is illustrative of a fast-developing strategic partnership between China and Russia, a trend that poses a threat to the U.S.-Japan alliance as well Washington's other alliances and partnerships in the region. Indeed, the security interests of Beijing and Moscow are increasingly aligning in East Asia. Russia continues to face a deep chill in relations with the United States and its European allies, most recently evidenced by Washington's decision to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty as a result of Moscow's material breach of the pact. The Defense Department has also raised concerns in Moscow and Beijing by noting that it hopes to deploy these previously banned capabilities to the Asia-Pacific theatre in the near future.Further pushing two sides together is China's gradual approach to look at Russia as a key partner to offset the pressure from the United States and its alliance network in Asia, especially with Japan—where relations have been tense as a result of their territorial row around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. Chinese and Russian leaders espouse similar worldviews and the same opposition to the international liberal order, democracy and human-rights issues on which Japan and the United States stand at the opposite end of the spectrum. China and Russia also share the same immediate strategic objective of weakening the United States' presence and undermining its alliances in the region. The air patrol and the reaction to it directly contributed to the latter goal.Of course, China and Russia are not formal allies, and there remains a degree of distrust, especially on the part of Moscow. For example, Russia remains quietly wary of Beijing's intentions in Central Asia with its Belt and Road Initiative, worried that China may be looking to unseat—at least partially—Russian dominance in the region. Likewise, Russia also remains concerned about the surge of Chinese investment in its Far East, which carries economic benefits but also potentially disadvantages Russian businesses.Nonetheless, shared grievances with the United States and pragmatic considerations have driven the leaders of both countries to deepen cooperation on many fronts in order to advance their international agendas. This has been evidenced, among others, by their voting records at the United Nations Security Council—often thwarting Western initiatives—and a growing number of joint military drills, including the large-scale Vostok exercises in 2018, which involved more than three thousand Chinese troops.The strengthening Beijing-Moscow partnership highlights the importance of the U.S.-Japan alliance as well as Washington's relationship with like-minded regional partners. But while the need for a sustained commitment to allies and friends has never been more salient, the Trump administration's approach has made the United States appear unreliable to those who most count on a strong American presence. President Donald Trump's tendency to slight allies by taking measures usually reserved for adversaries—such as tariffs or demands for renegotiated trade and burden-sharing deals—have given rise to ill-feelings that China and Russia will be wont to exploit.Finally, the potential challenge posed by Sino-Russian convergence also underscores the urgency of enhancing U.S.-Japan-South Korea trilateral cooperation, which is currently undermined by Japan-South Korea tensions. While the deep rift between Tokyo and Seoul may not be resolved until there is a change of administration in either capital, all parties, including Washington, should look for an exit ramp to de-escalate the conflict. Unfortunately, the United States has appeared unwilling, thus far, to get involved in the tiff between its two allies. Unless the Trump administration is willing to hand Beijing and Moscow a golden opportunity to advance their strategic interests, it will have to change course.J. Berkshire Miller is a senior fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs. He is also deputy director and senior fellow at the Macdonald Laurier Institute.Benoit Hardy-Chartrand is an Adjunct Professor on East Asian politics at Temple University Japan.
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| Emmanuel Macron's Iran Maneuver at the G7 Posted: 27 Aug 2019 08:43 AM PDT  French president Emmanuel Macron, only two years into office, has already enjoyed at least four different phases in his relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump. First, there was Macron the establishmentarian's reaction to Trump's ascension. In 2017, he thumped Marine Le Pen of the National Front to become France's youngest leader since Napoleon; Le Pen had been tacitly supported by major White House allies, including the then-Chief Strategist Steve Bannon. Macron's runaway victory was seen as vinegar on the acidic rise of populism internationally. Second, there was Macron the Trump toady. Macron surprised observers in forging a tight relationship with Trump's Washington. With the British on their backs with Brexit, and Trump's relationship with Germany's Angela Merkel intractable, the cunning Macron smelled opportunity. The duo's wives hit it off; Melania Trump decades her husband's junior, with Brigette Macron, decades her husband's senior. They were 2017's odd couple. Macron was granted the first state visit to Washington of the Trump era.But third came the break. By spring 2018, the French president believed he could persuade the Jacksonian in the White House to stay in the Iran nuclear deal and staked significant political capital in attempting that outcome. He failed, and by summer, Trump had a new, more hawkish national security team, anchored by the deep Iran skeptics Mike Pompeo at the State Department and Ambassador John Bolton at the National Security Council. But now, there is a fourth turning, and a chance at rapprochement. Trump's militarist supporters are bristling at an apparent maneuver by Élysée Palace—effectively smuggling in the notorious Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif, to the sidelines of the G7 in Southwest France. There were no signs that Trump actually met with the diplomat, but for hawks, the damage is already done. Speaking at the final day of the summit, Trump said he is "not looking for leadership change" in Tehran, news to an administration on a de facto regime change footing.Former Trump attorney Rudolph Giuliani told me last year, while caveating he did not speak for the administration, that America's policy on Iran is essentially regime change. Anytime Trump signals otherwise, panic sets in throughout the president's inner sanctum. Macron further doubled up with Trump over the weekend in signaling an openness to readmitting Russia to the group; Boris Johnson, "Britain's Trump," opposed."If the French did in fact invite Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif to the G7 without consulting the US, it would be a signal of great weakness to Iran and terribly disrespectful to President Trump," South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham said. "Hope President Trump maintains steady resolve against Iranian aggression."Further, some noted that something was amiss with Pompeo's absence at the summit. "Why wasn't Pompeo at the G7?" a former senior administration official asked of the Secretary of State. "Unreal: why no Pompeo?" Pompeo's State Department, which has quietly warred with Bolton's NSC, has nonetheless been the anchor of a steadily, more fierce Iran policy, from overseeing the nullification of the JCPOA, the Iran deal, to designating the most elite facet of the regime's military a terrorist organization.Foggy Bottom has hit stormy weather as of late, however, with the unceremonious sacking of policy planning director Kiron Skinner, among the most senior, black, female officials in government and the occupant of the seat once warmed by George Kennan. In her place, Pompeo has installed Peter Berkowitz, a figure in neoconservative circles, adding to the skepticism of Pompeo's staffing choices on the Trumpist Right. And now comes the news that Bolton could again be in trouble. In June, when the ambassador was sidelined in outer Mongolia, a senior administration official and Bolton ally conceded that Bolton had been put in time out by POTUS. Now, a person familiar with internal administration deliberations says Bolton's departure will come in October. Regardless, potential Bolton replacements are keen to defend Trump's new course. "Despite enormous resistance inside the beltway to President Trump's determination to forge a solution to the crisis in the Gulf, Trump emerges triumphant from the G-7 thanks to Macron's assistance with Zarif's timely appearance," former Col. Douglas Macgregor, an NSC contender, told me.Curt Mills is a foreign-affairs reporter at the National Interest. Follow him on Twitter: @CurtMills.Image: Reuters
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| Sudanese activists say tribal clashes killed 37 in port city Posted: 27 Aug 2019 08:17 AM PDT  An eastern Sudanese port city remained volatile Tuesday after tribal clashes last week killed at least 37 people, including a child, activists said. The fighting in Port Sudan, in the Red Sea province, erupted last Thursday between the Bani Amer tribe and the displaced Nuba tribe. The Sudan Doctors Committee said late Monday at least 17 people of the 37 were killed by gunshots.
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| Macron's art of the deal on display at G7 Posted: 27 Aug 2019 07:48 AM PDT  For some, the mere fact that Donald Trump stuck around marked out this week's G7 summit in Biarritz as a resounding success for his French host Emmanuel Macron. "These days, that Donald Trump has not walked out constitutes a triumph," Britain's Economist magazine wrote, recalling last year's edition of the rich-country jamboree in Canada, when Trump left early after withdrawing his signature from the final communique. For others, the show of unity among the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States on issues ranging from Iran to the Amazon fires to the pro-democracy demonstrations rocking Hong Kong was proof that the demise of multilateralism has been greatly exaggerated.
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| Hezbollah planning "calculated strike" against Israel after drones - two sources close to Hezbollah Posted: 27 Aug 2019 07:37 AM PDT ![Hezbollah planning "calculated strike" against Israel after drones - two sources close to Hezbollah]( "Hezbollah planning \"calculated strike\" against Israel after drones - two sources close to Hezbollah") Iran-backed Hezbollah is preparing a "calculated strike" against Israel in response to two drones that crashed in Beirut at the weekend, two sources close to Hezbollah told Reuters on Tuesday. A reaction "is being arranged in a way which wouldn't lead to a war that neither Hezbollah nor Israel wants," one of the sources said.
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| UK accused of failing British-Iranian nationals after another is convicted on spy charges Posted: 27 Aug 2019 07:29 AM PDT  Iran on Tuesday convicted another British-Iranian on espionage charges, prompting the husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe to accuse the UK government of shirking its responsibility towards detained dual nationals. Iran's judiciary said it had sentenced London businessman Anousheh Ashouri, 65, to 12 years for allegedly passing information to Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, which the Telegraph understands brings to seven the number held by Tehran with links to Britain. They include Mr Ashouri, charity worker Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, British Council worker Aras Amiri, whose 10 year sentence for spying was upheld today, academic Kameel Ahmady, and three others who have not made their cases public. Mr Ashouri has been detained since August 2017 but was sentenced this week by a court in Tehran, which accused him of "being connected to Mossad and receiving money from them as an informer." The judiciary did not make public the evidence against him. Academic Kameel Ahmady was arrested in Tehran earlier this month Credit: Family handout His daughter Eilka, an actress living in London, said last night that her father, a businessman who has lived on-and-off in the UK since the age of 17, was in Iran visiting his mother when he was detained. "My father has nothing to do with politics and told us not to get involved in politics," she said, adding that her father had run a building supplies company before he retired. "He is a peaceful, easy-going person who was looking forward to his retirement and going on cruises. We don't know why the announcement has been made. It is a chess game and they decided to move the piece." She told The Times: "He is not able to see a lawyer or the evidence against him. It is preposterous to suggest he is a spy." She said his appeal had already been rejected. Speaking to the Telegraph, Richard Ratcliffe questioned whether the UK had "any idea" how to respond to an increasingly belligerent Iran, which has demonstrated its willingness to use dual nationals as pawns in its standoff with the West. "It is really not clear if the UK has any idea how to respond to this," he said. "A responsible government does not leave ordinary people to fend for themselves in cases of state hostage-taking. How much worse does it need to get? "The Iranians are signalling an increasing hostility these days - from the renewed abuse of Nazanin, with last month's transfer to a mental hospital in chains and now banning child visits, to the new trumped-up sentences for Aras, the arrest of Kameel and now Anousheh." Mr Ratcliffe believes the Islamic republic is using them as diplomatic leverage as tensions with the UK escalate. Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of imprisoned Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, protesting outside the Iranian Embassy in London Credit: REX He said he would be meeting Dominic Raab, Foreign Secretary, for the first time on Monday to discuss his wife's case and the others. James Tyson, Miss Amiri's fiance, levelled similar accusations against British officials for "offering platitudes while remaining utterly blind to their own responsibility". Miss Amiri, 33, a UK resident of 10 years who was arrested last year while visiting her ailing grandmother in Iran, worked for the British Council, which is partly funded by the government, on arts projects. Mr Tyson, who also works for the British Council, said officials initially refused to meet to discuss the case and claimed they could not help Miss Amiri because she was an Iranian citizen. He blamed both the Iranian and UK governments for failing to enter into dialogue. Writing in the Guardian over the weekend, he said: "She's caught in the middle of two global powers who refuse, or don't know how to talk to each other." Sir Alan Duncan, a former foreign minister, in his July resignation letter cited the British government's failure to negotiate a release for Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who is eligible for parole after serving half of her five-year-sentence. Coast Guardsmen with Maritime Security Response Team East during a training exercise in the Persian Gulf Credit: Reuters Sir Alan criticised Boris Johnson's handling of the case when he was foreign secretary: "I remain deeply upset that some fruitful discussions I had initiated about the possible release of Nazanin Ratcliffe were brought to such an abrupt halt," he wrote. The case involving Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's has been widely cited as one of Mr Johnson's most damaging episodes at the Foreign Office, after he erroneously told a Commons committee she was involved in training journalists. An FCO spokesperson said: "We have been supporting the family of a British-Iranian dual national since his detention and our embassy in Tehran continues to request consular access, The treatment of all dual nationals detained in Iran is a priority and we raise their cases at the most senior levels. "We urge Iran to let them be reunited with their families."
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| Netanyahu warns Hizbollah after its leader threatens response to Israeli strikes 'within days' Posted: 27 Aug 2019 07:15 AM PDT  Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister, has told Hizbollah's leader to "calm down" after he said his movement was preparing a response within days to Israeli strikes. Mr Netanyahu warned Hassan Nasrallah, secretary general of the Lebanese Shia group, to "be careful" with their words and actions. "I want to say to him and the Lebanese state, which is hosting this organisation that aims to destroy us, (...) Be careful about your words, and even more cautious about your actions," he said on Tuesday. "He knows very well that the state of Israel knows how to defend itself well, and to repay its enemies." Tensions between the two sides are more fraught than usual after Israel was accused of carrying out a drone attack on a Hizbollah facility in Beirut on Sunday and of striking an armed Palestinian faction in eastern Lebanon - its first such hostile action since the 2006 war. Investigators of Lebanon's military intelligence inspect the site after an alleged attack carried by two Israeli drones, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon Credit: Rex The Israeli military has been regularly flying drones over neighbouring Lebanon since the month-long Summer War of 2006, but had limited its activity to reconnaissance. In a speech made on Sunday, Nasrallah, whose group receives funding and support from Tehran, issued Israel with a threat: "I say to the Israeli army on the border from tonight, stand guard (on high alert). Wait for us one, two, three, four days." Lebanon's President Michel Aoun, meanwhile, called Israel's actions a "declaration of war". The attacks on Lebanon came days after a Israeli strike on Hizbollah units in Syria which left two members dead and on Iran-allied militia groups in Iraq - an unprecedented flurry of activity that raises fears of a wider conflict. Mr Netanyahu has pledged to stop Israel's arch-enemy Iran from entrenching itself militarily in Syria. He has also warned of Tehran's proxies in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the media at the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem Credit: Reuters Israel, which has hit targets in Syria hundreds of times but rarely claims responsibility, immediately claimed the strike near Damascus on Sunday, saying it was to thwart an imminent drone strike against Israel. Any new conflict between Israel and Hizbollah would be much more costly for both sides than the 2006 war. The militia has grown considerably in strength in the last 15 years - thanks to Iranian arms shipments - and is now represented in Lebanese parliament. Israel has said that it would now see the whole of Lebanon as fair game in any future war.
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| UK's Johnson urged to embrace no-deal Brexit Posted: 27 Aug 2019 07:00 AM PDT  Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to lead Britain out of the EU without a divorce deal, threatening to fight his party "in every seat" otherwise. "Given where we are, no deal is the best deal," Farage told more than 500 prospective parliamentary candidates from his recently-formed party, which topped the European elections in May. Farage, a leading force behind the Brexit vote in 2016, warned Johnson against attempting to strike an agreement with Brussels, urging him to pursue a "clean break Brexit" instead.
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| Syrian Kurds begin pullout from Turkish border Posted: 27 Aug 2019 06:39 AM PDT  The main U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish militia has begun withdrawing its fighters from two towns near Turkey's border, part of a deal for a so-called safe zone in northeastern Syria involving the U.S. and Turkey, the Kurdish-led regional administration in northern Syria said Tuesday. Turkey has been pressing for a safe zone, running east of the Euphrates River toward the Iraqi border, to push U.S.-allied Syrian Kurdish militias away from its frontier. Turkey wants to control — in coordination with the U.S. — a 19-25 mile (30-40 kilometer) deep zone within civil war-ravaged Syria.
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| UPDATE 4-British opposition parties unite to try to force PM to seek Brexit delay Posted: 27 Aug 2019 06:31 AM PDT ![UPDATE 4-British opposition parties unite to try to force PM to seek Brexit delay]( "UPDATE 4-British opposition parties unite to try to force PM to seek Brexit delay") LONDON/BRUSSELS Aug 27 (Reuters) - Opposition parties said they would try to pass a law which would force Prime Minister Boris Johnson to seek a delay to Britain's departure from the European Union and prevent a potentially chaotic no-deal exit at the end of October. The United Kingdom is heading towards a constitutional crisis at home and a showdown with the EU as Johnson has pledged to leave the bloc in 66 days without a deal unless Brussels agrees to renegotiate the Brexit divorce.
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| Denmark May Cut Economic Outlook Amid Brexit, Trade War Threat Posted: 27 Aug 2019 06:23 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Terms of Trade is a daily newsletter that untangles a world embroiled in trade wars. Sign up here. Danes may be facing a gloomier economic outlook by the end of the year as the list of global threats grows more ominous.The country's finance minister, Nicolai Wammen, told reporters there's a possibility the next economic forecast he presents will be "gloomier" than the numbers he unveiled in Copenhagen on Tuesday. For now, his ministry predicts the economy will grow 1.7% this year and 1.6% in 2020."The global decline will also hurt Denmark," Wammen said. "It's important to be mindful of the risks." He pointed to Brexit, a global trade war and signs of economic trouble in Germany as reasons for concern.Speaking in an interview, Wammen said that "there are greater elements of uncertainty than is usually the case," but "the estimate we've put forward today is our best bet, based on how things looks today."Denmark has so far weathered the worst of the trade war between the U.S. and China, as well as a weakening European economy. With its biggest exporters selling products like pharmaceuticals and renewable energy, Denmark has continued to find buyers. But Las Olsen, chief economist at Danske Bank, said that may soon change. The "most realistic scenario is that we'll also feel the slowdown," he said. "There are already signs that it's happening, including in companies' expectations." Tore Stramer, chief economist at Nykredit, called the government's forecast "too optimistic."Wammen said that any further escalation of the trade war will hurt production in Danish companies. He also said there's "no doubt" that a disorderly Brexit will hit businesses in his country, with direct exports to the U.K. currently estimated at about 85 billion kroner ($13 billion).Wammen is part of a Social Democratic government, which has been in power since winning elections in June. The administration of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has promised to spend more on welfare, even if that means raising taxes.The government's latest set of economic forecasts, published on Tuesday, contained the following details:Private consumption seen at 1.9% in 2019, 2.1% in 2020Business investment seen at 0.2% in 2019, 4.4% in 2020Export growth seen at 2.7% in 2019, 2.2% in 2020To contact the reporter on this story: Morten Buttler in Copenhagen at mbuttler@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Christian Wienberg at cwienberg@bloomberg.net, Tasneem Hanfi Brögger, Nick RigilloFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Iran sentences 3 to long prison terms on spying charges Posted: 27 Aug 2019 06:09 AM PDT ![Iran sentences 3 to long prison terms on spying charges]( "Iran sentences 3 to long prison terms on spying charges") Iran on Tuesday said it sentenced three people — one woman and two men — to lengthy prison terms on security and spying charges. The men were convicted of spying for Israel's Mossad intelligence agency. Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said in remarks broadcast on state TV that the convicted woman is Aras Amiri, who had worked for the British Council while allegedly spying on cultural activities in Iran.
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| UPDATE 2-UNHCR says at least 40 feared dead or missing in shipwreck off Libya Posted: 27 Aug 2019 06:03 AM PDT ![UPDATE 2-UNHCR says at least 40 feared dead or missing in shipwreck off Libya]( "UPDATE 2-UNHCR says at least 40 feared dead or missing in shipwreck off Libya") About 40 people are feared dead or missing after the latest wreck of a boat carrying migrants bound for Europe off the coast of Libya, while about 60 people may have been rescued, the U.N. refugee agency said on Tuesday. "Terrible news coming in of potentially large loss of life in a shipwreck off the coast of Libya," UNHCR spokesman Charlie Yaxley said in a tweet, adding that details were still sketchy. Libyan coastguard spokesman Ayoub Qassem said the bodies of five migrants had been recovered and 65 migrants had been rescued about 9 miles off the coast of the city of Khoms.
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| China’s Crackdown on Dissent Claims Free-Market Think Tank Posted: 27 Aug 2019 06:02 AM PDT ![China's Crackdown on Dissent Claims Free-Market Think Tank]( "China's Crackdown on Dissent Claims Free-Market Think Tank") (Bloomberg) -- One of China's most prominent independent think tanks will cease operations after years of attempts by government officials to silence it.The Unirule Institute of Economics, which advocated free-market economic theories and is well known in U.S. academic circles, has decided to shut down after district officials in Beijing declared that it was operating without authorization, the organization said in a statement dated Aug. 26. Although Unirule said it intends to fight the government determinations, it will nonetheless halt its activities and stop updating its website apart from notices relevant to the winding-down process.The end of Unirule closes down one of the last venues for open debate on economic issues in China. Founded in the early 1990s by a pair of celebrated Chinese economists, Mao Yushi and Sheng Hong, Unirule once enjoyed a broad following in business and political circles, producing widely read analyses of government policies and financial issues. But that changed dramatically under President Xi Jinping, who has implemented a broad crackdown on dissent since taking power in 2012.The banning decisions "seriously violate Article 35 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China," which guarantees freedom of speech, Unirule said in its statement. The measures, it said, "infringe on the general constitutional rights of all citizens and organizations" and contradict the "'rule of law' advocated by the Communist Party."China's State Council Information Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Unirule's statement.Unirule's fate signals that the space for uncensored discussion in China is narrowing even further as Xi navigates a trade war with the U.S. and continuing protests in Hong Kong. While Mao and Sheng mostly confined their advocacy to economics, not politics, both have frequently criticized China's failure to rein in state-owned companies, arguing that only a vibrant private sector can deliver prosperity."This move should finally put to rest any speculation that Xi is looking to eventually pivot to economic or political reform," Jude Blanchette, Freeman Chair of China Studies at the Center for Strategic International Studies, said of the government declaration that Unirule Institute was operating without authorization. "This also raises profound questions about the direction of China's political development. Without independent voices offering alternative viewpoints, how can China's leaders make effective decisions?"Before this week's decision, Unirule had endured years of official and unofficial efforts to halt or circumscribe its activities. Its website and social media channels were blocked from access within mainland China in 2017, shortly before the institute was forced to move from its longtime Beijing office. It was later evicted again, by a landlord so eager to bar access to Unirule's premises that some of its staff found themselves briefly welded inside. Sheng, meanwhile, was barred from leaving the country in 2018 on the grounds that he was a threat to national security.(Adds quote in seventh paragraph.)To contact the reporters on this story: Matthew Campbell in Singapore at mcampbell39@bloomberg.net;Peter Martin in Beijing at pmartin138@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Ten Kate at dtenkate@bloomberg.net, Sharon Chen, Ryan LovdahlFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Far-Right Vies for Lead in German Regional Election, Poll Shows Posted: 27 Aug 2019 06:00 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats and the German Social Democratic Party are barely holding their ground against the insurgent far-right Alternative for Germany in two states holding elections on Sunday, two polls showed.The SPD, which has governed the eastern state of Brandenburg since German reunification in 1990, gained 2 points to 21% there. It is neck and neck with the anti-immigration AfD, which also gained 2 points compared with a survey three weeks ago, according to a survey by Insa published in Bild newspaper.In Saxony, a CDU stronghold, Merkel's party gained a point to 29% and is now four percentage points ahead of the AfD, according to a second poll in the same paper. The upstart far-right party surged more than 15 percentage points from the last election in 2014, while the SPD and CDU, both in Merkel's coalition, together plunged by as much.Nazi Salute in Dresden Shows Cracks With Merkel, GermanyWith Merkel's fourth-term government saddled with infighting and deep losses for the SPD, the Sept. 1 election in the two states that were once part of communist East Germany risks prompting an early collapse of CDU-led coalition in Berlin. After almost 14 years in office, Merkel has said she won't run again for chancellor.Several leaders of the center-left SPD have blamed their poor showing in polls on their coalition with the center-right CDU, saying they've abandoned their traditional values.To contact the reporter on this story: Patrick Donahue in Berlin at pdonahue1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Raymond Colitt, Iain RogersFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Yemen government takes more southern areas from separatists Posted: 27 Aug 2019 05:41 AM PDT ![Yemen government takes more southern areas from separatists]( "Yemen government takes more southern areas from separatists") Yemeni officials say government forces have reclaimed more southern areas from separatists backed by the United Arab Emirates in clashes this week that killed at least 48 on both sides. The officials said Tuesday that government forces took back several districts and towns in Abyan province, followed by a declaration of a cease-fire, in response to a call by the Saudi-led coalition. Last week, government forces took control of the city of Ataq, the capital of oil-rich Shabwa province.
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| UNHCR says shipwreck off Libya may have cost many lives Posted: 27 Aug 2019 05:38 AM PDT ![UNHCR says shipwreck off Libya may have cost many lives]( "UNHCR says shipwreck off Libya may have cost many lives") The latest shipwreck off the coast of Libya may have cost many lives, although preliminary information suggested that about 60 people may have been rescued, U.N. refugee agency spokesman Charlie Yaxley said on Tuesday. "Terrible news coming in of potentially large loss of life in a shipwreck off the coast of Libya," Yaxley said in a tweet, adding that details were still sketchy. Unseaworthy vessels overloaded with migrants trying to reach Europe regularly capsize off Libya.
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| Russia Plays a Game of Nuclear Strip Poker Posted: 27 Aug 2019 05:20 AM PDT ![Russia Plays a Game of Nuclear Strip Poker]( "Russia Plays a Game of Nuclear Strip Poker") (Bloomberg Opinion) -- Russia has released new data that appears to show a nuclear reactor was involved in a mysterious explosion when a weapons test went wrong on Aug. 8. The announcement narrows down the list of weapons that could have been undergoing testing – and, once again, poses the question of why Russia is giving out information piecemeal if the truth is going to come out anywayThe chronology of the official Russian reports of the accident is baffling. First, on Aug. 8, the authorities of Severodvinsk, a city close to the Nyonoksa test site, reported a radiation spike; the report was promptly pulled down from the city's website. Then, the same day, the Defense Ministry reported that a liquid fuel missile engine had blown up, without explaining the radiation spike. On Aug. 10, Rosatom, the state company in charge of the Russian nuclear program, put out a press release saying its five employees who died in the accident had been "servicing isotope power sources on a liquid fuel engine." The statement suggested that whatever weapon was being tested, it used, in addition to a rocket engine, a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) – a kind of long-lasting battery that doesn't run a chain reaction but uses the heat released by the natural decay of radioactive materials.Then, Russia didn't issue any more explanations for a while, but Lassina Zerbo, executive secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, tweeted on August 18 that two Russian monitoring stations close to the accident site were experiencing technical problems. The organization also published a hypothetical model of how fallout from the accident theoretically could have traveled. On August 20, Zerbo reported the monitoring stations were back online and "backfilling data." Finally, Rosgidromet, the Russian weather monitoring service, put out a statement on Aug. 26, saying the radiation spike in Severodvinsk had been caused by four short-lived isotopes: Strontium-91, Barium-139 and -140 and Lantanum-140. To experts, this suggests that a reactor, not an RTG, was involved. The environmental organizations Greenpeace Russia and Bellona came out with statements pointing out that these particular radionuclides normally would be produced by a chain reaction. The Bellona statement quoted Nils Bohmer, head of research and development at the government agency Norwegian Decommissioning, who told the Barents Observer website that the presence of isotopes were "proof that it was a nuclear reaction that exploded."The head scientist of Rosatom's Sarov nuclear center had already hinted that a reactor could have been involved, mentioning the U.S. Kilopower project, which produced a small nuclear reactor, as an example of a Western program similar to the one involved in the accident.There are still plenty of unknowns about the blast. For example, even if Bohmer said he thought the reactor had "exploded," that's not certain. If, as U.S. President Donaldbershi Trump had tweeted, the weapon being tested had been a missile known as Burevestnik in Russia and Skyfall in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization member states, its reactor almost certainly would have left an isotope trail as it went up, accounting for the release of the radionuclides; if its engine then exploded, that would explain the casualties but leave it open whether the reactor was intact and whether it was subsequently recovered.According to leaks, Skyfall has a solid fuel engine, not a liquid fuel one. The likely combination of a liquid fuel engine and a reactor, as well as the use of a marine test site, point toward a different superweapon, mentioned, like Skyfall, in Russian President Vladimir Putin's 2018 state of the nation address: The Poseidon underwater drone, or its rumored seabed-launched sibling, the Skif.Obviously, if any of the superweapons were involved, which appears likely, the Russian government's immediate instinct would have been to cover its tracks. But the problem with such knee-jerk reactions is that truth about nuclear accidents is impossible to hide in the modern world. You can't take monitoring stations offline without having to account for it; you can't hide the results of measurements taken by an official agency like Rosgidromet, because international partners will demand answers even if you don't care about your own population doing the same. The Russian Defense Ministry's desire for maximum secrecy is untenable given the pressure to provide specific information to the rest of the world. So a multi-stage process resembling strip poker has ensued. The Russian government has cast off one garment after another, finally to uncover enough for observers to reconstruct a more or less coherent picture of what the garments hid. This is a game Russia also played after annexing Crimea: First, flat denials, then hints, then a straight admission.Perhaps a future Russian government will realize that coming out with the truth isn't just a more honorable policy – it's also a less embarrassing one. For now, we should expect more information on what actually happened to the reactor during the Aug. 8 test – but not because Russia wants us to know the full story.To contact the author of this story: Leonid Bershidsky at lbershidsky@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephanie Baker at stebaker@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Leonid Bershidsky is Bloomberg Opinion's Europe columnist. He was the founding editor of the Russian business daily Vedomosti and founded the opinion website Slon.ru.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| UK opposition parties agree to work together to stop no-deal Brexit Posted: 27 Aug 2019 05:05 AM PDT ![UK opposition parties agree to work together to stop no-deal Brexit]( "UK opposition parties agree to work together to stop no-deal Brexit") Britain's opposition parties said on Tuesday they had agreed to work together to try and prevent a no-deal Brexit, including through passing legislation or holding a vote of no-confidence in the government. Parliament returns from its summer break next week and is preparing for a battle with new Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has vowed to take Britain out of the European Union at the end of October, with or without an exit agreement. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn hosted talks with the Scottish National Party, the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and the Independent Group for Change on Tuesday to discuss tactics to prevent a no-deal exit.
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| Iranian president: First lift sanctions, then let's talk Posted: 27 Aug 2019 04:49 AM PDT  Iran's president back-pedaled Tuesday on possible talks with Donald Trump, saying the U.S. president must first lift sanctions imposed on Tehran, otherwise a meeting between the two would be a mere photo op. Hassan Rouhani's change of heart came a day after Trump said Monday that there's a "really good chance" the two could meet on their nuclear impasse after a surprise intervention by French President Emmanuel Macron during the G-7 summit to try to bring Washington and Tehran together after decades of conflict.
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| UPDATE 1-Farage offers UK PM Johnson an electoral pact for no-deal Brexit Posted: 27 Aug 2019 04:27 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Farage offers UK PM Johnson an electoral pact for no-deal Brexit]( "UPDATE 1-Farage offers UK PM Johnson an electoral pact for no-deal Brexit") Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage offered British Prime Minister Boris Johnson an electoral pact if he goes for a no-deal EU exit, but warned that if he tried to fudge Brexit then he would face a battle over every seat at the next election. More than three years since the United Kingdom voted 52-48% to leave the European Union, Brexit remains up in the air: Options range from an acrimonious divorce on Oct. 31 and an election to an amicable exit or even another referendum.
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| Aid groups warn against Kenya's UN bid to sanction Al-Shabaab Posted: 27 Aug 2019 03:56 AM PDT  Kenya is urging the UN to list Al-Shabaab under the same sanctions as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, but foreign donors say the move could leave millions in drought-stricken Somalia without aid. The proposed listing -- which could take effect as soon as Thursday -- comes at a critical time in Somalia, where 2.2 million people, or nearly 18 percent of the population, face the risk of severe hunger. Al-Shabaab is already targeted under broader sanctions imposed by the United Nations on Somalia, which is heavily aid-dependent after three decades of conflict and economic ruin.
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| Farage warns UK PM Johnson: go for no-deal Brexit or face election battle Posted: 27 Aug 2019 03:34 AM PDT ![Farage warns UK PM Johnson: go for no-deal Brexit or face election battle]( "Farage warns UK PM Johnson: go for no-deal Brexit or face election battle") Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage offered British Prime Minister Boris Johnson the possibility of an electoral non-aggression pact if he goes for a no-deal EU exit, but warned that any Brexit fudge would provoke opposition across the United Kingdom. "We would put country before party and we would do it every time," Farage said of the scenario in which Johnson goes for a no-deal Brexit but faced an election. "We would be prepared in those circumstances to help him, to work with him, perhaps, I don't know, in the form of a non-aggression pact at the election," he said.
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| UPDATE 2-Japan minister, meeting Iranian counterpart, urges Iran to abide by nuclear deal Posted: 27 Aug 2019 03:15 AM PDT ![UPDATE 2-Japan minister, meeting Iranian counterpart, urges Iran to abide by nuclear deal]( "UPDATE 2-Japan minister, meeting Iranian counterpart, urges Iran to abide by nuclear deal") Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said he urged Iran to abide by a 2015 nuclear deal during a meeting on Tuesday with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif. The men agreed to maintain close communication between Japan and Iran, which historically have had friendly ties, to ease tension between the United States and Iran, Kono told reporters afterward.
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| Iran Isn’t Keen to Be Trump’s New North Korea Posted: 27 Aug 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.If President Donald Trump's bid to negotiate with North Korea's Kim Jong Un is a work in progress — three meetings to date and no breakthrough — his suggestion of face time with Iran's leader appears dead on arrival.Iranian officials ruled out Trump talks with President Hassan Rouhani, who rejected a photo-op and said the U.S. must lift sanctions first.Rouhani faces a different domestic landscape to Kim and has to be more responsive to public pressure with parliamentary elections due in February. Iranians are suffering with an economy creaking under U.S. penalties reintroduced after Trump withdrew from the international nuclear deal, and politicians in Tehran are divided over whether to engage with Washington.There are perils for Trump too, from angering stridently anti-Iran allies in the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia and Israel — where Benjamin Netanyahu faces a tough repeat election next month — to Republicans who view Tehran as an arch-enemy of the U.S.That's not to say there isn't pressure on Iran to find some face-saving way back from the brink.For now, Iran joins other short-lived diplomatic breakthroughs to emerge from the Group of Seven summit, from a trade deal with China that now appears as distant as ever to aid for the Amazon rejected by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.Global HeadlinesSub-surface angst | There are growing tensions between Bernie Sanders's and Elizabeth Warren's allies as each presidential candidate makes a case to carry the progressive mantle in the 2020 race. If no clear choice emerges, it could split the Democratic Party's liberal wing and help moderate Joe Biden, who is leading in most polls with Sanders and Warren in a tight battle for second.Former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions's name is conspicuously absent from the list of Trump's honorary 2020 state campaign chairs for Alabama, even though Sessions was the first senator to endorse Trump in 2016.War talk | Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets Russian leader Vladimir Putin at a Moscow air show today for talks on the deepening crisis in Syria's Idlib. The Syrian army, with Russian air support, is attacking Turkish-backed rebels in the province, accelerating a refugee exodus toward Turkey. They may also discuss arms sales after the U.S. suspended NATO ally Turkey from its F-35 fighter jet program for buying a Russian S-400 missile system.ANC sunset | Soweto's links with the African National Congress are the stuff of legend: It was in the township that the party's constitution was adopted, and here that Nelson Mandela joined the struggle against apartheid. But as Antony Sguazzin and Pauline Bax report, even in this ANC heartland the disillusioned youth are abandoning the party after 25 years of South African democratic rule.Slow going | The prospect of snap elections in Italy increased after the Five Star Movement warned it would end coalition talks with the center-left Democratic Party unless Giuseppe Conte can remain prime minister. Conte's office canceled a meeting of the parties that was due this morning after Five Star said earlier talks that dragged into the early hours "arrived at nothing." President Sergio Matterella, who is consulting smaller parties today, is demanding that any new government have a solid parliamentary majority.No troops | Hong Kong's leader said her government can handle unrest without assistance from Chinese forces, and still wants to hold talks with protesters despite a flare up in violence. Carrie Lam and her Chinese overseers have refused to make any concessions until the turmoil subsides, but she reiterated today that work on the extradition bill — the original trigger for the protests — has stopped.What to WatchAn Australian writer held in China seven months ago has been formally arrested on suspicion of espionage, one of several detained foreign nationals whose cases have raised concerns about operating on the mainland. Lebanon accused Israel of attacking an area near its border with Syria and dispatching drones into the capital, Beirut, saying the incidents amounted to a "declaration of war."And finally … Emmanuel Macron is embroiled in an increasingly personal fight with the Brazilian president that's having real geopolitical implications. Brazil is rejecting the 20 million euros the French president announced on behalf of the G-7 to tackle the Amazon rainforest fires. "Thank you, but perhaps that money is better spent reforesting Europe," Bolsonaro's chief of staff told a G1 blogger. \--With assistance from Alan Crawford, Anthony Halpin, Kathleen Hunter and Flavia Krause-Jackson.To contact the author of this story: Karl Maier in Rome at kmaier2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at rpollard2@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| UK opposition seek ways to stop no-deal Brexit Posted: 27 Aug 2019 02:55 AM PDT  Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will on Tuesday attempt to bridge deep divisions with other opposition parties on how to avoid Britain crashing out of the EU on October 31. Corbyn said he would "do everything necessary" to stop a no-deal Brexit, following leaked official warnings that this could lead to food, fuel and medicine shortages. The Labour leader has said he plans to call a no-confidence vote in Prime Minister Boris Johnson next week and if he wins it would be ready to lead a caretaker government.
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| Young gun takes on innovation mission in top Chinese fighter jet job Posted: 27 Aug 2019 02:30 AM PDT  China has named a young aircraft engineer to head Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC) in a bid to rejuvenate one of its key makers of fighter jets.Qian Xuesong, 40, was named chairman of SAC last week, succeeding Guo Dianman, the oldest member of the management team, which is dominated by engineers in their 50s.A military insider, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the central government hoped that a younger leadership would help the company innovate."President Xi Jinping has expressed dissatisfaction over SAC's performance over the years. It developed the J-15 years ago," the source said.The fighter jet, the prototype of which made its maiden flight in 2009, has been involved in a number of fatal accidents in recent years. Last year, state broadcaster CCTV reported that the J-15's unstable flight control system might have contributed to the accidents and that the navy had grounded all of the jets for three months during an investigation.Qian Xuesong is the new chairman of Shenyang Aircraft Corporation. Photo: Handout alt=Qian Xuesong is the new chairman of Shenyang Aircraft Corporation. Photo: HandoutQian's appointment came just weeks after SAC said it would move its headquarters from Shenyang's downtown area to a new industrial park in the north of the city.The new headquarters will not only help SAC upgrade its facilities, but also give its affiliated Shenyang Aircraft Design Institute, or 601 Institute, more space to test new aircraft.In April, the institute established an aircraft research centre in Yangzhou, Jiangsu province, in collaboration with the municipal government.Military observers said that the leadership overhaul, the new headquarters, and the Yangzhou research centre were all steps taken to raise SAC's competitiveness and technology."Yangzhou is near Shanghai and Jiangsu's capital city Nanjing, where there are better aviation components supplies, better logistic support and a bigger talent pool," Hong Kong-based military expert Song Zhongping said."As a city in the booming Yangtze River Delta, Yangzhou has better weather and a better living environment, as well as a geographic advantage to help the 601 Institute hire and keep younger aviation experts and technicians."In May, the Yangzhou research centre started recruiting flight control system designers, specialists in aerodynamics, flight vehicle system designers and other aircraft technicians and specialists from the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and other universities, according to recruitment news websites.The institute has developed at least seven types of military aircraft including the early-generation J-5, J-6, and J-8, as well as the main fighters in China's air force today, including the J-11, J-15 and J-16, modelled on the Soviet-built MiG and Russian Sukhoi series aircraft.This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2019 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2019. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| Fearing a new 'red scare' atmosphere, activists and lawmakers fight targeting of Chinese-Americans Posted: 27 Aug 2019 02:30 AM PDT  As more Chinese-Americans find themselves targeted in the increasingly bitter stand-off between Beijing and Washington, legislators, community groups and legal experts are pushing back in hopes of sending a message that enough is enough.Prime objects of their frustration is the US government's justice and intelligence communities, which have investigated and filed a slew of cases against scientists of Chinese origin on industrial espionage, theft of trade secrets and other charges.Chinese-Americans readily acknowledge that Beijing targets people of Chinese descent and that the US has every right to defend itself. But a disproportionate number of recent cases end up snaring innocent people targeted through racial profiling, they argue, eroding constitutional guarantees and wreaking havoc with individual lives and the community's reputation."We are at an adversarial reset of US-China relationship 40 years after the opening of relations," said Jerome Wu, a founding member of Asian Pacific American Justice, a group fighting against discrimination. "There are some legitimate concerns, but these are inflated, and Chinese-Americans are being demonised. They're collateral damage, like children caught in a broken marriage."A cornerstone of recent efforts is an amendment to the National Intelligence Authorisation Act calling for greater accountability over the security establishment. Language contained in the act, which passed the House and awaits action in the Senate, would require the director of national intelligence to report how "the privacy and civil liberties of Americans of Chinese descent" are affected by counter-espionage efforts. It also calls for measures to prevent "unacceptable stereotyping, targeting and racial profiling"."Are we repeating history or in danger of doing so?" Representative Ed Case, a Democrat from Hawaii, said in introducing the amendment, citing the 120,000 Japanese-Americans interned during World War II. "This resolution is a flashing red light to our intelligence community: stop, look and listen."On other fronts, community and civil rights groups plan conferences next month in Washington and Palo Alto, California, to bolster unity and "fight against racial bias". They are also suing the government for discrimination and wrongful arrest, have mounted public awareness campaigns, met with the FBI in an effort to stem excesses and set up a website in English and Chinese to report racial profiling.Community groups acknowledge they're fighting a rising tide as tensions fuelled by the US-China trade war spill over into culture, tourism and education arenas, stoking prejudice and distrust. US President Donald Trump has ratcheted up the anti-China rhetoric, tough China policies represent a rare area of agreement in Congress and some 60 per cent of Americans now view China unfavourably, up from 47 per cent in 2018, according to a Pew Research poll released this month.The tensions crested on Friday, when Trump referred to Chinese President Xi Jinping as an "enemy" in a barrage of Twitter posts that also ordered US companies "to immediately start looking for an alternative to China". Trump made his comments after Beijing announced new tariffs on US imports and, after the stock markets closed sharply lower, said he would impose additional tariffs on Chinese goods. By Monday, Trump reverted back to praise for Xi, whom he called a "great leader" during a press conference at the G7 meeting in France, even though he retained a more adversarial tone with regard to the trade war."Asian-Americans are affected whether they choose to or not by dynamics between the US and Asia," said Aryani Ong, an advocate and former civil rights lawyer. She added that she was hearing of scientists who were discouraging their children from science careers, a step the US cannot afford strategically. "The current situation has created far more collateral damage than I've seen in 30 years of activism," she said.After the FBI and other security agencies urged colleges to monitor Chinese students and scholars over fears they may be stealing information for Beijing, 19 universities and associations " including PEN America " released a petition this month urging intelligence agencies to "tread carefully".US President Donald Trump has stepped up the anti-China rhetoric in the United States. Photo: Bloomberg alt=US President Donald Trump has stepped up the anti-China rhetoric in the United States. Photo: BloombergThe number of Americans of Chinese descent who have been investigated and prosecuted for espionage is worrisome, Case said. "Those convicted have received disproportionately high sentences and the too many exonerated have had their careers ruined," he added.In a bid to hold Washington more accountable and raise the cost of filing racially tinged cases, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is suing the government for discrimination on behalf of Xiaoxing Xi, a Temple University physicist arrested at gunpoint by FBI agents in front of his family in 2015 on suspicion of transferring technology to China. He was cleared of all charges just a few months later.The ACLU is arguing that the same bias and discrimination that fuelled Xi's indictment has led the FBI and the Justice Department to wrongly pursue and prosecute other innocent Americans of Chinese descent.Legal scholar Andrew Chongseh Kim analysed 136 cases and found that defendants of Chinese descent accounted for just 17 per cent of those charged with economic espionage between 1997 and 2009. That figure tripled from 2009 to 2015, however, he wrote in a Cardozo Law Review article in December, as Washington increasingly focused on China's rise.Suspects of Chinese descent were also nearly twice as likely to see espionage cases dropped " suggesting that more defendants were innocent " and, if convicted, received average sentences twice as long as people with Western names, Kim found."The real risk is that legitimate concerns about China as an economic rival may be fuelling the flames of a new 'red scare'," Kim said.Recent high-profile indictments subsequently dropped include that of hydrologist Sherry Chen, accused in 2014 of accessing a restricted US government database and stealing government property. In 2015, federal prosecutors dropped all charges without explanation, but she was fired anyway and is now suing the government for compensation.Critics say many scientists and academics of Chinese descent also end up accused of such violations as using pornography, cheating on expenses or making inaccurate disclosures to investigators when prosecutors fail to find evidence of links to China."The way they're going about prosecuting these cases is completely ham-handed," said lawyer Peter Zeidenberg, who represented Chen in the database case. "There's more collateral damage than protecting against espionage."Sherry Chen, a US federal government worker, and Xiaoxing Xi, a physics professor at Temple University, speak in Washington in September 2015 about being falsely accused of spying for China. Photo: AFP alt=Sherry Chen, a US federal government worker, and Xiaoxing Xi, a physics professor at Temple University, speak in Washington in September 2015 about being falsely accused of spying for China. Photo: AFPSome of the worst collateral damage is to a scholar's reputation, which has been built up over decades, critics say."The headlines when you're indicted are vivid, and they're on page one," said Ronald Safer, who defended Michigan State University robotics professor Ning Xi over questionable expense-reporting charges. Xi was cleared and now teaches at Hong Kong University. "When the jury doesn't reach a decision and the charges are dismissed, it happens on page 16."The FBI didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Justice Department spokesman Marc Raimondi declined to comment on specific cases but said some 80 per cent of espionage cases and most trade secrets cases involved China. "The Department of Justice conducts its investigations and prosecutions impartially, without regard to ethnicity of subjects," he added.The department altered its review procedures after a spate of high-profile indictments were reversed in 2015 to more carefully vet prospective national security cases. In June, Tulane University scientist Kelin Hu was accused of intellectual property theft only to see charges dropped a month later after prosecutors conceded that they couldn't meet the burden of proof."The FBI's mindset has already led to overzealous investigations," said Patrick Toomey, a senior ACLU lawyer. "The fact that the Justice Department recently dropped yet another prosecution suggests that serious problems persist."In December, Wu, Ong, Kim and others met with FBI officials at the bureau's Washington headquarters in a bid to stem excesses. During the hour-long meeting, each side presented their talking points and the parties agreed to stay in touch."They brushed by the racial profiling concerns," Wu said. "I would hope, if it were an actual dialogue, they'd say they made some mistakes. We're not there. It was more like two monologues."FBI Director Christopher Wray says the bureau has nearly 1,000 economic espionage and intellectual property theft investigations open, nearly all leading back to China. Photo: AFP alt=FBI Director Christopher Wray says the bureau has nearly 1,000 economic espionage and intellectual property theft investigations open, nearly all leading back to China. Photo: AFPHarvey Rishikof, chairman of the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Law and National Security, said security agencies faced a tough challenge given that US industrial strength depends on innovation honed in universities and private labs. "How do we allow the best minds to work on these issues while still protecting against penetration in these area," he said.This situation is further complicated when a foreign government holds power over scientists through their relatives living in their country of origin. "It's a logical result that those without ties to China don't face," Rishikof said. "That's why for security agencies, those individuals may have a larger sense of being vulnerable."Community groups say the tone of suspicion is set from the top as administration officials speak of a US-China "clash of civilisations" and Trump rails against immigrants. In a 2018 private dinner as the trade war heightened, Trump told a roomful of chief executives that "almost every [Chinese] student that comes over to this country is a spy", according to Politico.Last month, FBI Director Christopher Wray said the bureau had nearly 1,000 economic espionage and intellectual property theft investigations open, nearly all leading back to China. This dovetailed with past comments by Wray that China uses professors, scientists and students to steal intelligence "in almost every field office that the FBI has around the country."Characterising students, professors and scientists as a national threat based on where they come from is misguided and would appear to encourage the profiling of Chinese-Americans who are engaged in innocent academic collaboration, said the ACLU's Toomey.Other say discrimination and crippling suspicion can end up driving Chinese-American scientists closer to China, creating a self-fulfilling prophesy. Last month, Bloomberg reported that Xin Zhao, a prize-winning physicist at the College of William & Mary in Virginia moved his start-up to China after a federal inquiry led to a failed sting, airport stops and an unfounded child pornography search. "Nothing could be better for China than for the United States to throw out all the Chinese immigrants," said Frank Wu, a law professor at the University of California at Hastings.The amendment to the intelligence bill is supported by Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia and vice-chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee; members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus; and others.Beijing "frequently exploits the openness of our society to gain advantage," said Nelly Decker, Warner's press secretary, although "Senator Warner recognises that the challenge lies with the Chinese Communist Party, not the Chinese people."The amendment " and other efforts to counter discrimination toward those of Chinese descent " faces multiple hurdles, said Wu of Asian Pacific American Justice. "But it's encouraging," he added. "I try to be an eternal optimist that progress is being made."This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2019 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2019. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| UPDATE 2-Britain's Corbyn 'will do everything necessary' to stop no-deal Brexit Posted: 27 Aug 2019 02:18 AM PDT ![UPDATE 2-Britain's Corbyn 'will do everything necessary' to stop no-deal Brexit]( "UPDATE 2-Britain's Corbyn 'will do everything necessary' to stop no-deal Brexit") LONDON/BRUSSELS Aug 27 (Reuters) - Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said he would do everything necessary to prevent Britain leaving the European Union without a divorce deal as he met senior lawmakers from other parties on Tuesday to discuss tactics. The United Kingdom is heading towards a constitutional crisis at home and a showdown with the EU as Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pledged to leave the bloc in 66 days without a deal unless it agrees to renegotiate the Brexit divorce.
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| Iran Spurns U.S. Talks as Rouhani Says No to Photo-Op With Trump Posted: 27 Aug 2019 02:15 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Top Iranian officials all but ruled out talks with the U.S. a day after President Donald Trump extended his most expansive offer yet to the Islamic Republic.The U.S. must lift sanctions on Iran if it wants to negotiate, President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday. His foreign minister, Javad Zarif, said during a visit to China and Japan that "a meeting between Iran's president and Trump is unimaginable." Zarif made a surprise appearance this week on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France.The reaction sets out the challenges facing Trump after he signaled he could meet with Rouhani and perhaps ease restrictions so Tehran can use some of its oil wealth to access credit. At a news conference before heading back to Washington from the G-7 gathering on Monday, Trump said he'd meet Rouhani "if the circumstances were correct or were right" to discuss their standoff over the 2015 nuclear deal that the U.S. president abandoned."We are interested in solving problems in a reasonable way, but we're not interested in taking photos," Rouhani said in a televised speech to officials in Tehran. "The key to changing the relationship is in Washington's hands."Trump's offer echoed his outreach to North Korea. That gesture resulted in three meetings with leader Kim Jong Un but no breakthrough deal.Big DifferenceUnlike Kim, Rouhani confronts a complex political landscape at home, with Iranians disappointed with an economy that's sputtering under the weight of U.S. sanctions, especially on its oil exports, and senior politicians often divided over whether to engage with Washington."If someone wants to have their photo taken with Hassan Rouhani, it's not possible; it's possible to do it with Photoshop," the Iranian president said in an apparent reference to the idea of meeting with Trump.Rouhani would need approval to enter talks from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, who so far hasn't signaled a willingness to engage with the U.S. The American president's top aides, including Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, have argued that Khamenei, not Rouhani or Zarif, must address U.S. demands if a lasting deal is to be struck.Trump imposed harsh sanctions on Iran after unilaterally abandoning the nuclear deal last year, an approach that has helped fuel inflation and undermined domestic support for Rouhani's government. The U.S. says it wants new talks to address Iran's missile program and its support for militant groups in the Middle East.Oil TankersTensions have spiked in recent months, with Trump saying he called off military strikes on Iran at the last minute in July following Tehran's downing of an unmanned American drone over the Persian Gulf. The U.S. has blamed Iran for being behind a spate of attacks on oil tankers. Iran has also detained a U.K. ship in apparent retaliation for the British seizure of an Iranian tanker, which has since been released.Iran has also withdrawn from some of its nuclear commitments under the 2015 accord and pledged further steps unless European nations step up their efforts to boost its economy.Zarif, who met with French officials during his visit to Biarritz, cast doubt on European attempts at mediation. French President Emmanuel Macron has led the European effort to salvage the nuclear deal, saying Sunday that leaders agreed they need to stop Iran developing nuclear weapons and destabilizing the region."Unfortunately Europeans need some permits from the U.S. to take measures and fulfill their commitments," Zarif said in comments carried by the state-run IRNA news agency. "This situation where independent countries need to obtain permits from other countries for taking legal measures does not offer a suitable prospect for the future of international relations."(Adds context of U.S.-Iran confrontation throughout.)To contact the reporters on this story: Abbas Al Lawati in Dubai at aallawati6@bloomberg.net;Arsalan Shahla in Tehran at ashahla@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Shaji Mathew at shajimathew@bloomberg.net, ;Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Mark Williams, Michael GunnFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Libyan self-styled army pushes to take key town near Tripoli Posted: 27 Aug 2019 02:14 AM PDT  The self-styled Libyan National Army says it has been advancing to retake a strategic town near Tripoli from militias allied with a U.N.-supported but weak government based in the country's capital. The force, led by Khalifa Hifter, says it advanced to wrest control of Gharyan late on Monday, capturing areas adjunct to the town. Gharyan is located around 100 kilometers, or 62 miles from the capital.
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