| No Release Date Set So Far for Brazil’s Bolsonaro After Surgery Posted: 15 Sep 2019 05:24 PM PDT ![No Release Date Set So Far for Brazil's Bolsonaro After Surgery]( "No Release Date Set So Far for Brazil's Bolsonaro After Surgery") (Bloomberg) -- Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro continues to improve after surgery, but there is as yet no date scheduled for his release from hospital, according to the presidential spokesman.Speaking to journalists in Sao Paulo, Otavio Rego Barros said that the doctors left Bolsonaro's room "visibly impressed" with his progress Sunday morning. The president is reacting well to his new diet, which includes thicker porridge and soups, he added. Justice Minister Sergio Moro and his wife visited the president on Sunday afternoon. ``The man is strong,'' Moro wrote on his Twitter feed afterwards.Bolsonaro, 64, this month underwent his fourth surgery since he was stabbed in the abdomen during a campaign rally in September 2018. Initially, he was supposed to leave hospital on Friday, but his medical team suggested a longer rest period.The president is determined to recover in time to travel to New York to address the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 24. Rego Barros said that the medical team would reassess the president before he travels.A bulletin released by the hospital earlier on Sunday also stated that Bolsonaro's clinical condition continues to improve. The president isn't suffering from any pain or fever and his bowel movements are better, the hospital said in the update. Bolsonaro will continue physiotherapy and visitors will remain restricted.The president has been joined at the hospital by his wife, Michelle, son Carlos and some close advisers.(Adds Moro's visit in second paragraph)To contact the reporter on this story: Bruce Douglas in Brasilia Newsroom at bdouglas24@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Juan Pablo Spinetto at jspinetto@bloomberg.net, Ros Krasny, Linus ChuaFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Kim Jong Un Invited Trump to Visit Pyongyang, South Korean Media Reports Posted: 15 Sep 2019 05:04 PM PDT ![Kim Jong Un Invited Trump to Visit Pyongyang, South Korean Media Reports]( "Kim Jong Un Invited Trump to Visit Pyongyang, South Korean Media Reports") (Bloomberg) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un invited U.S. President Donald Trump to visit Pyongyang, Joongang Ilbo reported, citing multiple people familiar with the matter.The offer to hold another summit was made in a letter delivered on the third week of August, the report said. It came shortly after a separate letter from Kim that Trump made public in the first week of August.Trump said in early August that Kim had sent him a "very beautiful letter" that mostly complained "about the ridiculous and expensive" joint military drills between the U.S. and South Korea, adding that Kim had apologized for the short range missile tests. It's not clear whether Trump has responded to either letter, according to the report.Working-level talks on denuclearization have stalled since Trump and Kim's last official summit in Hanoi ended without a deal. While the pair agreed to restart talks in June at an impromptu meeting in which Trump made history by stepping across the border into North Korea, little progress has been made since then.North Korea last week agreed to return to talks at a "time and place to be agreed late in September," state media Korean Central News Agency said, citing vice foreign minister Choe Son Hui.Choe, however, threatened to walk away from future talks if the U.S. returns with the same "worn-out scenario," KCNA reported, without elaborating further.To contact the reporter on this story: Jihye Lee in Seoul at jlee2352@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Niluksi Koswanage at nkoswanage@bloomberg.net, Derek Wallbank, Daniel Ten KateFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Attack on Saudi oil sites raises risks amid U.S.-Iran tension Posted: 15 Sep 2019 03:56 PM PDT  The Trump administration places the blame squarely on Iran.
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| UPDATE 1-UK PM Johnson: Progress in next few days key to Brexit deal chances Posted: 15 Sep 2019 03:01 PM PDT ![UPDATE 1-UK PM Johnson: Progress in next few days key to Brexit deal chances]( "UPDATE 1-UK PM Johnson: Progress in next few days key to Brexit deal chances") British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday the next few days would be key to his chances of securing a Brexit deal, and that an agreement with the European Union was still his aim and still possible. With less than seven weeks remaining until Britain is due to leave the European Union, Johnson has yet to strike a deal with Brussels to manage the unprecedented separation between the world's fifth largest economy and its biggest trading partner. Johnson has pledged to leave the EU with or without a deal on Oct. 31, even though British lawmakers have passed a law which would force him to request a delay beyond that date if he is unable to reach a deal with the EU.
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| Egypt says no 'breakthrough' with Ethiopia over Nile dam Posted: 15 Sep 2019 01:07 PM PDT  Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told reporters that talks over the $5 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam had stopped for more than a year before restarting in Cairo earlier in the day. The long-running dispute centers on the filling and operation of what will be Africa's largest hydroelectric dam. Egypt fears the dam could reduce its share of the Nile River which serves as a lifeline for the country's 100 million people.
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| Trump does not rule out Rouhani meeting after Saudi oil attacks, as Iran denies involvement Posted: 15 Sep 2019 12:35 PM PDT  Donald Trump has not ruled out a potential meeting with Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian president, despite blaming Iran for devastating drone attacks on Saudi Arabian oil installations. Iran denied it was behind the attacks on Saturday, including a strike on the world's biggest petroleum processing facility, which slashed Saudi Arabia's output in half and threatened to destabilise global markets. Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebel group claimed responsibility, but there were questions over whether it had the capability to carry out the operation alone. Kellyanne Conway, Mr Trump's counsellor, said the development "did not help" prospects for a meeting between the US and Iranian leaders during the upcoming United Nations General Assembly, but she left open the possibility it could still happen. Mrs Conway said: "I'll allow the president to announce a meeting or a non-meeting. The president will at least consider his options." She added: "The Iranian regime is responsible for this attack on civilian areas and infrastructure vital to our global energy supply, and we're not going to stand for that... We will continue our maximum pressure campaign in Iran." Saudi television showed the aftermath of the attack over the weekend Credit: Al-Arabiya via AP Mr Trump pulled the US out of the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal last year, saying it would not stop Iran developing a nuclear bomb, and reimposed sanctions. But the president has made clear he is willing to meet Iran's leadership to renegotiate a nuclear deal. Following the Saudi attacks, Lindsey Graham, the Republican US senator and friend of the president, urged more aggressive action. He said: "It is now time for the US to put on the table an attack on Iranian oil refineries if they continue their provocations or increase nuclear enrichment." A spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry said: "Such fruitless and blind accusations and remarks are incomprehensible and meaningless." Satellite imagery showed the apparent drone attack on a Saudi oil facility Credit: Planet Labs Inc via REUTERS Mr Trump spoke by telephone with Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman to "offer his support for Saudi Arabia's self defence," a White House spokesman said. Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, called the strikes an "egregious attack on the security of Saudi Arabia" and a "reckless attempt" to disrupt global oil supplies. The targeted sites were 500 miles from the Yemeni border. Two sources told CNN the drones could have been launched from Iraq, an allegation the country's leadership forcefully denied.
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| Senior U.S. official: Saudi attacks did not come from Yemen Posted: 15 Sep 2019 12:20 PM PDT ![Senior U.S. official: Saudi attacks did not come from Yemen]( "Senior U.S. official: Saudi attacks did not come from Yemen") The scope and precision of attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities suggest the launch was not made by Houthis and came from a west-northwest direction, not south from Yemen, a U.S. official said on Sunday. "There's no doubt that Iran is responsible for this. Evidence points in no other direction than that Iran was responsible for this," the official told Reuters.
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| Syrian president issues new amnesty, reduces sentences Posted: 15 Sep 2019 12:14 PM PDT ![Syrian president issues new amnesty, reduces sentences]( "Syrian president issues new amnesty, reduces sentences") Syrian President Bashar Assad issued a decree Sunday granting amnesty and reducing sentences for all crimes committed before Sept. 14, state news agency SANA said. Similar amnesties have been issued on several occasions — most recently last year — since Syria's crisis began in March 2011. According to Sunday's pardon, life-long terms would replace death sentences, and a 20-year-long sentence at hard labor would replace life-long sentences at hard labor, and a 20-year sentence would replace long-life sentences.
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| Lawyers seek testimony for US woman charged with aiding IS Posted: 15 Sep 2019 11:25 AM PDT ![Lawyers seek testimony for US woman charged with aiding IS]( "Lawyers seek testimony for US woman charged with aiding IS") Attorneys for an Indiana woman accused of providing support to the Islamic State group received a judge's approval to seek depositions from three Yazidis who were taken as slaves by her husband, who she says died while fighting for IS. A federal judge in Hammond gave Samantha Elhassani's lawyers permission Tuesday to seek depositions from the two Yazidi women and a young Yazidi boy in hopes of bolstering her defense, the Post-Tribune reported. One of the women and the boy are in the Kurdish-controlled city of Erbil, Iraq, and the other woman lives nearby.
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| Israeli PM convenes Cabinet in West Bank ahead of election Posted: 15 Sep 2019 10:57 AM PDT  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his final pre-election Cabinet meeting on Sunday in a part of the West Bank he has vowed to annex if re-elected and laid out a plan to build a new settlement there, amid a last-ditch drive to galvanize his nationalistic base. The meeting, along with the new pledges, came despite an international outcry over Netanyahu's promise to annex the West Bank's Jordan Valley. Annexing the area, considered to be the heartland of any future Palestinian state, would all but extinguish any remaining Palestinian hopes for independence.
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| German state considers offer of €5000 to former residents to return to the region amid brain drain Posted: 15 Sep 2019 10:03 AM PDT  In the central German state of Thuringia, Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union party is hoping to lure former residents back to their "homeland" by offering a one-off payment of €5,000 for anyone who returns to live and work in the state. The plan was approved at the CDU state conference in Giesa on Saturday as part of its package of proposals for the upcoming state elections, with party chief Mike Mohring saying it was "an invitation to come back home and shape the future here". Thuringia is one of several formerly East German states which has experienced an ongoing brain drain in the three decades since Germany's reunification, with younger residents moving to the former West in search of job opportunities and higher wages. According to government statistics, Thuringia's population has fallen by hundreds of thousands since reunification. The CDU has not said how many people it hopes will return under the bonus scheme. While councils and state governments elsewhere in Europe have considered making payments to encourage immigration, most notably in Italy, the proposal is the first of its kind in Germany. The CDU's leader in Thuringia, Mike Mohring (right), said it was "an invitation to come back home and shape the future here" Credit: CLEMENS BILAN/EPA-EFE/REX The CDU are looking to reclaim political relevance in Thuringia ahead of the state election on Oct. 27. The party had held power in Thuringia since reunification, but lost the 2014 election to a centre-left coalition. They are also concerned about losing votes to the far-right Alternative für Deutschland, or AFD, which has eroded some of the CDU's support across Germany. The AFD picked up 23 per cent of votes in the state at the 2017 federal election, well above the national average of 12.6 per cent. "The question is, in the future, will Thuringia be governed from the margins or the middle?" Mohring said. Recent polls in Thuringia have the CDU at 24 per cent, trailing the left-wing Die Linke at 26 per cent but ahead of the AFD at 21 per cent. Earlier in September, Thuringia's Minister-President Bodo Ramelow of Die Linke lamented the state's economic situation, saying that the former East was still seen by those in the former West "as a colony". He ascribed the AFD's recent ascendancy in the region at least in part to economic uncertainty.
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| Yes, Iran Was Behind the Saudi Oil Attack. Now What? Posted: 15 Sep 2019 10:00 AM PDT ![Yes, Iran Was Behind the Saudi Oil Attack. Now What?]( "Yes, Iran Was Behind the Saudi Oil Attack. Now What?") (Bloomberg Opinion) -- Following the Houthi attack on Saturday on Saudi Aramco's crude-oil processing facility, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made an obvious and necessary point: Blame Iran.It is obvious because the Houthi rebels in Yemen lack the drones, missiles or expertise to attack infrastructure inside Saudi Arabia. In 2018, a United Nations panel of experts on Yemen examined the debris of missiles fired from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen into Saudi Arabia and concluded there was high probability the weapons were shipped in components from Iran. As one Hezbollah commander told two George Washington University analysts in 2016: "Who do you think fires Tochka missiles into Saudi Arabia? It's not the Houthis in their sandals, it's us." Hezbollah, of course, is a subsidiary of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.Pompeo's response is necessary because, historically, Iran pretends to seek peace as it makes war. This is why it sent Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to France last month to plead with the world's great economic powers as it escalated its proxy war against Saudi Arabia. Iranian diplomacy depends on its adversaries treating the aggression of its proxies as distinct from its statecraft.What is surprising is that Pompeo's remarks have already drawn fire from leading Democrats. Even Senator Chris Murphy's more nuanced view (or at least as much nuance as is possible in a tweet) gets the big picture wrong — and it's worth dwelling on why.Murphy starts by lamenting the secretary's "irresponsible simplification" of "Houthis=Iran." He is smart enough to acknowledge that Iran "is backing the Houthis and has been a bad actor." He then strikes a note of naivete. "The Saudis and Houthis are at war," he tweeted. "The Saudis attack the Houthis and the Houthis attack back."This kind of neutralism is regrettable for a few reasons. To start, the sheer scale and devastation of Saturday's attack (the Saudis estimate that half of their oil production has been taken out) counts as an escalation. The effects are not limited to Yemen or the Persian Gulf. The world economy will suffer.And while Murphy is correct to criticize Saudi brutality, as he has in the past, the two sides in this regional conflict are not equivalent. Iran is a revisionist power, challenging the status quo throughout the Levant and the Gulf. The U.S. and its allies are trying to keep Iran in check. The U.S. has tried to pressure Saudi Arabia to de-escalate, whereas Iran is pushing the Houthis to dig in.Fortunately, Murphy and other Democrats will not decide how to respond to this latest aggression. This decision falls to President Donald Trump. And now is a good time to re-evaluate his recent push to negotiate with Iran. The president could start by reaffirming Pompeo's 12 conditions for sanctions relief for Iran. Last month, Trump pared them down to three, narrowly related to its nuclear program. Indeed, the Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia shows just how important it is that any future deal commit the Iranian regime to ending its adventures in the Middle East.Trump also now needs to reconsider military options to deter future escalations. As I have reported, U.S. intelligence agencies have mapped the precise locations of Iranian bases and commanders in Yemen and the Middle East. If Trump wants to respond militarily without attacking Iranian territory, he has many targets outside the country.If Trump continues to pursue negotiations with Iran's regime, he will be inviting more attacks on America's allies. This is exactly the strategy — and the consequences — followed and paid by his predecessor, Barack Obama, in his second term. During and after the negotiations for the nuclear deal, Iran armed and trained its proxies in Syria and later in Yemen. The Middle East is now paying for these mistakes. Trump would be a fool to repeat them.To contact the author of this story: Eli Lake at elake1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Newman at mnewman43@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Yes, Iran Was Behind the Saudi Oil Attack. Now What? Posted: 15 Sep 2019 10:00 AM PDT ![Yes, Iran Was Behind the Saudi Oil Attack. Now What?]( "Yes, Iran Was Behind the Saudi Oil Attack. Now What?") (Bloomberg Opinion) -- Following the Houthi attack on Saturday on Saudi Aramco's crude-oil processing facility, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made an obvious and necessary point: Blame Iran.It is obvious because the Houthi rebels in Yemen lack the drones, missiles or expertise to attack infrastructure inside Saudi Arabia. In 2018, a United Nations panel of experts on Yemen examined the debris of missiles fired from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen into Saudi Arabia and concluded there was high probability the weapons were shipped in components from Iran. As one Hezbollah commander told two George Washington University analysts in 2016: "Who do you think fires Tochka missiles into Saudi Arabia? It's not the Houthis in their sandals, it's us." Hezbollah, of course, is a subsidiary of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.Pompeo's response is necessary because, historically, Iran pretends to seek peace as it makes war. This is why it sent Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to France last month to plead with the world's great economic powers as it escalated its proxy war against Saudi Arabia. Iranian diplomacy depends on its adversaries treating the aggression of its proxies as distinct from its statecraft.What is surprising is that Pompeo's remarks have already drawn fire from leading Democrats. Even Senator Chris Murphy's more nuanced view (or at least as much nuance as is possible in a tweet) gets the big picture wrong — and it's worth dwelling on why.Murphy starts by lamenting the secretary's "irresponsible simplification" of "Houthis=Iran." He is smart enough to acknowledge that Iran "is backing the Houthis and has been a bad actor." He then strikes a note of naivete. "The Saudis and Houthis are at war," he tweeted. "The Saudis attack the Houthis and the Houthis attack back."This kind of neutralism is regrettable for a few reasons. To start, the sheer scale and devastation of Saturday's attack (the Saudis estimate that half of their oil production has been taken out) counts as an escalation. The effects are not limited to Yemen or the Persian Gulf. The world economy will suffer.And while Murphy is correct to criticize Saudi brutality, as he has in the past, the two sides in this regional conflict are not equivalent. Iran is a revisionist power, challenging the status quo throughout the Levant and the Gulf. The U.S. and its allies are trying to keep Iran in check. The U.S. has tried to pressure Saudi Arabia to de-escalate, whereas Iran is pushing the Houthis to dig in.Fortunately, Murphy and other Democrats will not decide how to respond to this latest aggression. This decision falls to President Donald Trump. And now is a good time to re-evaluate his recent push to negotiate with Iran. The president could start by reaffirming Pompeo's 12 conditions for sanctions relief for Iran. Last month, Trump pared them down to three, narrowly related to its nuclear program. Indeed, the Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia shows just how important it is that any future deal commit the Iranian regime to ending its adventures in the Middle East.Trump also now needs to reconsider military options to deter future escalations. As I have reported, U.S. intelligence agencies have mapped the precise locations of Iranian bases and commanders in Yemen and the Middle East. If Trump wants to respond militarily without attacking Iranian territory, he has many targets outside the country.If Trump continues to pursue negotiations with Iran's regime, he will be inviting more attacks on America's allies. This is exactly the strategy — and the consequences — followed and paid by his predecessor, Barack Obama, in his second term. During and after the negotiations for the nuclear deal, Iran armed and trained its proxies in Syria and later in Yemen. The Middle East is now paying for these mistakes. Trump would be a fool to repeat them.To contact the author of this story: Eli Lake at elake1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Newman at mnewman43@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| A look at the corruption scandals facing Israel's Netanyahu Posted: 15 Sep 2019 09:38 AM PDT  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to hold on to power in Tuesday's historic repeat election as the shadow of various corruption charges loom over his future. Israel's attorney general has recommended pressing criminal charges against him in three separate corruption cases, pending a long delayed pre-trial hearing scheduled for early October — just three weeks after the election.
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| Netanyahu Takes Cabinet to West Bank to Hammer Home Vote Message Posted: 15 Sep 2019 09:31 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brought his cabinet to the West Bank on Sunday to legalize a Jewish settlement outpost, as he recycles a familiar litany of promises and warnings to try to win a tight re-election race.Polls show his Likud party and former military chief Benny Gantz's Blue and White bloc in a dead heat ahead of Tuesday's election, and Netanyahu has gone on a campaign blitz warning that a government led by his rival would make dangerous concessions to the Palestinians and Iran. Facing a potential indictment for bribery and fraud, Israel's longest-serving prime minister is in the fight of his political life.The prime minister has been in power a total of 13 years, but annexing West Bank territory -- a cause dear to hawkish voters' hearts but widely opposed internationally -- hadn't been a part of his agenda until the last election in April. Yet with nationalist rivals making it a centerpiece of their platforms in Tuesday's revote, Netanyahu called a "dramatic" news conference last week to announce plans to go ahead with such a move.He followed up on Sunday by convening his cabinet in the West Bank's Jordan Valley to approve the legalization and expansion of a previously unauthorized settler outpost."It is important that we ensure the future of the Jordan Valley as part of the State of Israel," Netanyahu said.Annexation of West Bank land is anathema to Palestinians who see that territory as the core of any future state. Netanyahu's plan has been denounced by the United Nations and European powers who see annexation as a violation of international law.Final polls released Friday gave Likud a slight bump, but if they're on the mark, his right-wing and religious allies will still need help forming a governing coalition either from fickle former protege Avigdor Liberman or the opposing camp. His political messaging is designed to avoid that scenario and assure his political survival with a clean win at the polls.Besides annexation vows, other tactics Netanyahu's repeddling include:Donald TrumpNetanyahu is drawing on his close bond with the U.S. president and the rewards that's produced, like the transfer of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and American recognition of Israeli control over the Golan Heights. Trump tossed out another bonbon on Saturday when he announced that he and Netanyahu discussed the possibility of moving forward with a U.S.-Israel defense treaty.Frequent FlyerJust in case Trump is not enough of an ace in the hole, Netanyahu's jetted off this month to London and Russia to display his diplomatic chops in meetings with Boris Johnson, Vladimir Putin and U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper.IranOne of Netanyahu's signature issues is keeping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. In the lead-up to voting he laid out new allegations that Iran conducted nuclear experiments it sought to hide and confirmed Israeli military action against Iranian targets in Syria. Rivals accuse him of politicizing national security and intelligence.ArabsThere was a late-day surge in 2015 voting after Netanyahu warned that Arabs were "coming out in droves" to vote. This time he's trying to juice Likud turnout by warning that a Gantz-led government would be propped up by an Israeli Arab party. His party's Facebook chat bot was suspended after it called on voters to block formation of a left-wing government that will rest on "Arabs who want to destroy us all -- women, children and men -- and allow a nuclearized Iran that will annihilate us," the Haaretz newspaper said. Netanyahu said the message was posted "mistakenly" by a campaign employee.Vote-Splitting BogeymanNetanyahu has warned nationalist voters that if they vote for other parties, his party might not be the largest and won't be tapped by President Reuven Rivlin to form the next government. While party size isn't the only determiner, he's trying to avoid giving Blue and White any possible edge -- and deny leverage to his would-be governing allies.To contact the reporter on this story: Ivan Levingston in New York at ilevingston@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel, Tarek El-TablawyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Underfire PM calls up Hulk, claims 'huge' Brexit progress Posted: 15 Sep 2019 09:26 AM PDT  Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday declared Britain would break out of the European Union just like the comic book hero "The Incredible Hulk" and hailed "huge" progress towards getting a divorce deal. The Conservative leader made the comments ahead of meetings with European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker and EU negotiator Michel Barnier in Luxembourg on Monday. Johnson told the Mail on Sunday newspaper he was "very confident" of getting a divorce deal at an EU summit on October 17, in time for Brexit on October 31.
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| Iran refutes US accusations over Saudi attacks Posted: 15 Sep 2019 09:25 AM PDT  Iran on Sunday dismissed US accusations it was behind drone attacks on Saudi oil installations, suggesting Washington was seeking a pretext to retaliate against the Islamic republic. "Such fruitless and blind accusations and remarks are incomprehensible and meaningless," foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi was quoted as saying in a statement. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned Iran after Saturday's attacks, which knocked out half of Saudi Arabia's oil production.
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| UPDATE 1-U.S. won't rule out Trump-Rouhani meeting after blaming Iran for Saudi attacks Posted: 15 Sep 2019 08:58 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-U.S. won't rule out Trump-Rouhani meeting after blaming Iran for Saudi attacks]( "UPDATE 1-U.S. won't rule out Trump-Rouhani meeting after blaming Iran for Saudi attacks") The White House on Sunday did not rule out a potential meeting between President Donald Trump and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, even after Washington accused Iran of being behind drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities. White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said the attacks on Saturday "did not help" prospects for a meeting between the two leaders during the United Nations General Assembly this month but she left open the possibility it could happen.
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| Kashmir flashpoint risks nuclear war, says Imran Khan Posted: 15 Sep 2019 08:56 AM PDT  Pakistan's dispute with India over Kashmir is now a flashpoint with the potential to escalate into nuclear war, Imran Khan has warned. Pakistan's prime minister said he was disappointed in the international response to Narendra Modi's decision to end self rule in Indian administered Kashmir and accused India of conducting genocide. The former cricket star told Al Jazeera: "I am anti-war but what I said clearly was that when two nuclear-armed countries fight - if they fight a conventional war - there is every possibility to end up in a nuclear war." Asked if he shared the views of his foreign minister that the situation could spark an accidental war between the nuclear armed neighbours, he said: "Absolutely". Tensions remain high in the disputed Himalayan region after New Delhi's controversial decision last month to revoke the territory's decades old semi-autonomous status. Much of Indian administered Kashmir remains under curfew and a communications blackout. Mr Khan predicted India would try to divert attention from what it was doing in Kashmir by blaming Pakistan for any militant unrest in Kashmir. The two countries came close to conflict in February when Delhi launched an air strike against Pakistan in retaliation for the suicide bombing of a security forces convoy in Pulwama. Kashmir | Read more Pakistan has attempted to draw international attention to India's actions and tried to court support for the United Nations to intervene. The response has been lukewarm, with countries apparently unwilling to alienate the trading power of India. Mr Khan said: "Unfortunately, because of this whole thing about big markets, [some] countries look at big markets, they look upon India as a market of one billion people, they don't realise that if they do not intervene right now, it will have consequences for not only the subcontinent but the world's trade — everyone will be affected by this." Kashmir has seen an average of nearly 20 protests per day in six weeks since the removal of its special status, a senior government source told AFP. Altogether there have been 722 protests since August 5, with Baramulla district in the northwest and Pulwama in the south the biggest hotspots after Srinagar, the source said. Since that date, nearly 200 civilians and 415 security force members have been hurt, according to the source. Ninety-five of the civilians were injured in the last two weeks, the official said.
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| Trump may meet Iran leader despite Saudi attacks: White House Posted: 15 Sep 2019 08:50 AM PDT  The White House said on Sunday President Donald Trump may still meet his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani, despite the US accusing Iran of masterminding drone attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities. White House counselor Kellyanne Conway did not rule out the possibility in a television interview broadcast as Saudi Arabia raced to restart operations at oil plants hit by drone attacks that slashed its production.
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| UPDATE 1-Britain's Liberal Democrats formally adopt 'Stop Brexit' policy Posted: 15 Sep 2019 08:47 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Britain's Liberal Democrats formally adopt 'Stop Brexit' policy]( "UPDATE 1-Britain's Liberal Democrats formally adopt 'Stop Brexit' policy") Britain's Liberal Democrats party on Sunday toughened its anti-Brexit stance, formally adopting a policy to stop the country from leaving the European Union if it wins power at a national election. The party holds just 18 seats in Britain's 650-seat parliament but has cast itself as the only 'Stop Brexit' party, hoping to pick up votes from the 16 million who voted to remain in the EU in 2016 and win enough seats to form what would be an unprecedented Liberal Democrat government. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a Conservative, is promising to leave the EU on Oct. 31 with or without a Brexit deal.
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| Attack on Saudi Arabia Demands a United Response Posted: 15 Sep 2019 08:47 AM PDT ![Attack on Saudi Arabia Demands a United Response]( "Attack on Saudi Arabia Demands a United Response") (Bloomberg Opinion) -- The attack on Saudi Arabia's oil and gas facilities in Abqaiq, which has suspended half of the kingdom's processing — corresponding to 6% of world supply — is a blow to one of the main arteries of the global economy. The Trump administration should use the United Nations General Assembly this week in New York to marshal a global response.Responsibility for the attacks has been claimed by the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who say they used a swarm of drones to inflict great damage. But there's also suspicion that Shiite militias in Iraq were the culprits, and that they used cruise missiles.In geopolitical terms, it might not make much difference: The Houthis and Iraq's militias are both proxies for Iran, which supplies them with money and materiel, including weapons capable of striking deep into Saudi territory. The Islamic Republic denies any role in the attacks, but it has a long history of using proxies and cutouts to attack its regional rivals. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has put the blame squarely on Iran, adding that there "is no evidence the attacks came from Yemen."The Trump administration should act swiftly to present proof of Iran's culpability before the international community, and press for a unified response, especially from the other major world powers: China, Russia, Germany, France and Britain.These nations were, along with the U.S., signatories to the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran. They have tended to be sympathetic toward the Islamic Republic since President Donald Trump's unilateral decision to abrogate that deal last summer. They have indulged Iran's recent attacks on shipping in the Persian Gulf, and its decision to accelerate enrichment of uranium.However much they disapprove of the Trump administration's policies, these countries need to recognize that a regime that willfully endangers the global economy deserves no sympathy. In word and deed, they should put Tehran on notice that its behavior will no longer be tolerated.The General Assembly this week provides the perfect platform from which to do this. A resolution from the Security Council condemning Iran's actions would be a good start. The other signatories should also reimpose economic sanctions on the regime, and be prepared to join a U.S.-led naval force protecting the Persian Gulf.In the days preceding the annual UN gathering, President Trump seemed of a mind to soften his posture on Iran, even considering easing some sanctions in order to facilitate a meeting in New York with President Hassan Rouhani. It seems the Iranians have acted in manifestly bad faith, rejecting several offers of negotiations. The attacks on Abqaiq — and by extension, on the global economy — should clarify Trump's thinking. This is the moment to rally the international community to deal with the threat from Iran.\--Editors: Bobby Ghosh, Clive Crook.To contact the senior editor responsible for Bloomberg Opinion's editorials: David Shipley at davidshipley@bloomberg.net, .Editorials are written by the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Ethiopia releases Lebanese businessman held since last week Posted: 15 Sep 2019 08:04 AM PDT ![Ethiopia releases Lebanese businessman held since last week]( "Ethiopia releases Lebanese businessman held since last week") The Lebanese Foreign Ministry says Ethiopia has released a Lebanese businessman who had been detained in the African nation since last week. The ministry said Sunday that Hassan Jaber will head from Ethiopia to the African nation of Gabon and later will return to Lebanon. On Friday, the ministry had summoned Ethiopia's charge d'affaires demanding information about Jaber, whom it said was detained in Addis Ababa on Sept. 7.
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| Spanish King Now Holds Key to Whether It’s Election Time Again Posted: 15 Sep 2019 07:39 AM PDT ![Spanish King Now Holds Key to Whether It's Election Time Again]( "Spanish King Now Holds Key to Whether It's Election Time Again") (Bloomberg) -- Spanish King Felipe VI is set to hold talks with political parties in a final attempt to gauge whether Socialist Pedro Sanchez has enough support to stay on as prime minister, averting the fourth general election in four years.The head of state will meet with 15 party leaders on Monday and decide Tuesday whether there is a candidate able to win a parliamentary vote and form a government. If not, he will dissolve the parliament, paving the way for an election on Nov. 10.Months of talks between the Socialists and the anti-establishment group Podemos have led nowhere, leaving politics in the euro area's fourth-biggest economy deadlocked after Sanchez failed to form a government in July. Podemos, whose backing in parliament is essential for Sanchez, had conditioned its support on being granted cabinet posts under a coalition agreement.Political uncertainty isn't new in Spain, which has become increasingly ungovernable over the last four years as corruption scandals and the Catalan independence crisis have caused political allegiances to splinter. Failure to form a government would pitch the country into further uncertainty as it faces the challenge of further unrest in Catalonia and the impact of a potentially hard Brexit, as well as the increased likelihood of a euro-area recession.Sanchez rejected on Thursday Podemos' latest proposal of forming a trial coalition to rule together until the approval of the country's budget. After the refusal, Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias said his party would abstain on a confidence vote if Sanchez doesn't change his stance.Although the acting prime minister initially signaled he was willing to offer Podemos some ministerial posts, he later backtracked, arguing that a lack of trust made a formal partnership impossible.Political RiskEarly elections could be a risky bet. Although polls have recently shown an increase in Socialist support, right-wing parties may reach an absolute majority if the frustration for having missed an opportunity to govern keeps leftist voters away from the polls, according to an NC Report survey published by La Razon newspaper.Even if the Socialists boost their parliamentary seats from 123 to less than the 176 needed for a majority, Sanchez is betting he will emerge with a stronger hand in negotiating support from other parties.Spain has been drifting politically since 2015 when former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of the conservative People's Party lost his majority. Sanchez took power last year when he ousted Rajoy in a no-confidence motion backed by Podemos and other groups including Catalan separatist parties.What's nextSept. 16: King Felipe meets eight party leaders, starting with smaller partiesSept. 17: Felipe holds seven more meetings, including with Sanchez and Iglesias. He plans to decide the same day whether any candidate could be elected prime ministerParliament must elect a prime minister by Sept. 24 if the king gives the green lightIf the king decides there is no suitable candidate or if parliament fails to elect a premier by Sept. 23, Felipe dissolves parliament and calls new electionsTo contact the reporters on this story: Thomas Gualtieri in Madrid at tgualtieri@bloomberg.net;Rodrigo Orihuela in Madrid at rorihuela@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Charles Penty at cpenty@bloomberg.net, ;Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Sara Marley, Tony CzuczkaFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| White House does not rule out Trump-Rouhani meeting after Saudi attacks Posted: 15 Sep 2019 07:12 AM PDT ![White House does not rule out Trump-Rouhani meeting after Saudi attacks]( "White House does not rule out Trump-Rouhani meeting after Saudi attacks") The White House on Sunday did not rule out a potential meeting between President Donald Trump and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, even after Washington accused Iran of being behind drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities. White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said the attacks on Saturday "did not help" prospects for a meeting between the two leaders during the United Nations General Assembly this month but she left open the possibility it could happen.
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| Bolton's White House exit signals new hope for US-North Korea talks despite summer of missile tests Posted: 15 Sep 2019 07:01 AM PDT  The apparent firing of US National Security Adviser John Bolton has boosted the chances of fresh nuclear talks with North Korea, despite its summer of missile tests. The departure of Mr Bolton, who has long been furiously criticised by Pyongyang for his hawkish views, comes amid months of stalled diplomacy over the dismantlement of Kim Jong-un's nuclear and missiles programmes. It also follows a series of North Korean tests of short-range ballistic missiles and a multiple rocket launcher system that has stymied Mr Trump's ongoing attempts to revive working-level negotiations since May. On Wednesday, the president announced by tweet that Mr Bolton's services were "no longer needed," citing strong disagreements with many of his suggestions. Mr Bolton immediately tweeted back, implying that he had first "offered to resign". His awkward exit came shortly after an unexpected olive branch from North Korea that it may be willing to resume talks in late September if the US alters its approach "based on a calculation acceptable to us". Kim Jong-un inspects the testing of a multiple rocket launcher system in September Credit: KCNA via KNS/AP Mr Trump has since publicly castigated Mr Bolton for blocking progress with Pyongyang, telling reporters that he "set back" diplomatic outreach by suggesting a nuclear deal should follow the so-called "Libyan model". In 2004, Muammar Gaddafi, Libya's strongman, agreed to hand over his nuclear programme to the US. He was then killed in 2011 and the country has been in turmoil ever since. "I don't blame Kim Jong-un," Mr Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "He wanted nothing to do with John Bolton. And that's not a question of being tough; that's a question of being not smart, to say something like that." The changes at the White House now give the president leverage to start afresh with North Korea, said Vipin Narang, a security studies professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "When Bolton got fired that raised an opportunity to say that the hold-up was all Bolton and now I'm ready. There is an opportunity to reset in ways that may actually get the North Koreans to sit down," he said. The timing of North Korea's announcement has raised speculation that the relaunching of talks could coincide with the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 22-26. Mr Trump is expected to hold a summit on the margins of the assembly with Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president, it was revealed on Friday. With Mr Bolton out of the picture, the president also appears to be considering easing sanctions on Iran to meet at the UN with its leader President Hassan Rouhani. "We'll see what happens," said Mr Trump. His former NSA had opposed such a step. President Trump wants to clinch a nuclear deal with North Korea ahead of the US elections Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP Keen to keep negotiations with North Korea on track, the US president has repeatedly played down the significance of Kim's weapons tests, describing them as "small" and insisting that the North Korean leader has not breached his pledge to enforce a moratorium on long-range missiles. But nuclear experts have warned that the importance of North Korea's technological advances this summer should not be underestimated. Important progress on solid fuel technology and manoeuvrability in short-range weapons systems could be transferred to longer-range missiles at a later date, cautioned Mr Narang. "They are getting comfortable with development and operationalisation." While Mr Bolton's retreat is a positive sign for resuming talks, analysts have warned that it will be no easier to reach an agreement with Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons. "Getting to such a deal in itself will be a long slog. My hope is that Steve Biegun [US North Korea envoy] can meet his North Korean counterparts and at least start this process in a serious way before the year ends," said Ankit Panda, an adjunct senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists.
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| Johnson Set to Defy Ban on No-Deal Brexit and Fight On in Court Posted: 15 Sep 2019 06:23 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Follow @Brexit on Twitter, join our Facebook group and sign up to our Brexit Bulletin.Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to defy a new law designed to stop him forcing the U.K. out of the European Union with no deal next month, and is braced for a fight to settle Brexit in the British courts.According to a senior official in the U.K. government, Johnson has resolved on a hard-line plan as he prepares for his first face-to-face negotiations with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Monday.Nightmare on Downing Street as Team Johnson Fears Brexit MutinyThe premier is vowing to do everything he can to secure a divorce deal with the EU and ratify it in Parliament before the deadline for leaving expires on Oct. 31. But he will tell Juncker that there is just one month left to finalize that agreement and he won't ask for a delay if the negotiations are fruitless. Johnson will say he'll reject any extension to the deadline if one is offered by the EU's other 27 leaders at a summit next month.Instead, Johnson will ignore a new British law requiring him to ask the EU for Brexit to be postponed and prepare to fight his opponents -- including opposition Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn -- in court.How Brexit Could Unleash a U.K. Constitutional Crisis: QuickTake"Don't be fooled by Corbyn and the ringleaders -- on the one hand they say I don't want a deal, on the other they want to force me to extend," Johnson said in a statement. "Both are wrong. I am straining to get a deal, but I will also end the uncertainty and take us out on the 31 October."In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, Johnson said the U.K. will break out of its "manacles" like the comic-book character the Incredible Hulk.The prime minister's hardened stance dramatically raises the stakes in the U.K.'s political and constitutional crisis over its tortured exit from the EU. After voting to leave the trading bloc in 2016, the country is no closer to completing the divorce in a way that avoids the chaos of a sudden rupture without an agreement to soften the blow.The tactics used in that referendum are still causing controversy. Sunday saw newspapers publish the first extracts of the memoirs of David Cameron, prime minister at the time of the referendum, in which he criticizes what he called the "liars" of the Leave campaign and said Johnson, one of the leaders of that camp, didn't believe in Brexit.New DefectionThree-and-a-half years on, members of Parliament across the political spectrum have watched Johnson's approach with growing alarm. He says he is determined to take the U.K. out of the EU with no deal if that is the only way to deliver Brexit on time. Earlier this month, MPs took matters into their own hands, inflicting a series of defeats on Johnson in an attempt to force him to moderate his strategy.Late Saturday, former universities minister Sam Gyimah joined the Liberal Democrats, accusing the prime minister of "playing fast and loose" with the constitution. He's the sixth lawmaker to move to the Lib Dems in recent weeks.Under a new law passed by Parliament this month, against Johnson's wishes, the prime minister must write to the EU to seek an extension if an agreement has not been agreed on by Oct. 19 and Parliament hasn't given consent to leaving without a deal.Johnson will refuse to write this letter, the senior government official said. If no agreement is reached with EU leaders at a summit in Brussels on Oct. 17-18, the government will pursue a no-deal Brexit, the official said.Legal BattleHe will prepare to fight the legal challenge his opponents are likely to mount to this policy in court, immediately after that Oct. 19 deadline for seeking a delay passes, the official said. Opponents of a no-deal split are also likely to bring forward draft laws in Parliament aimed at canceling Brexit altogether, revoking the so-called Article 50 notification that triggered the U.K.'s legal divorce proceedings, the official said.Liberal Democrats leader Jo Swinson said on Sunday the party would cancel Brexit if the party wins the next election, telling the BBC's "The Andrew Marr Show" that "if people put into government, as a majority government, the stop Brexit party, then stopping Brexit is exactly what people will get."At vote at the party's conference on Sunday, Lib Dem members overwhelmingly backed the policy.Johnson says he wants an agreement. Talks are still stalled on the contentious issue of the Irish border backstop, a policy intended to ensure there are no checks on goods crossing the U.K.'s land border with Ireland.Hard-line Brexiteers have signaled they would be willing to vote for a Brexit deal if Johnson can win meaningful concessions on the Northern Ireland backstop, according to the Sunday Times.On Sunday, two cabinet ministers reiterated Johnson's desire for a deal, with Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay telling Sky News's "Ridge on Sunday" there have been "detailed technical talks" and there is a a "landing zone" for an accord. Meanwhile Home Secretary Priti Patel said Johnson is fully committed to getting a deal and leaving on Oct. 31.In a later radio interview, Barclay suggested that the U.K.'s transition period after leaving could be extended beyond 2020 to sort out the issues relating to the backstop.With the U.K. in Turmoil, Brexit Talks Are Slipping BackwardThe prime minister will fly to Luxembourg on Monday for his first significant meeting with Juncker, accompanied by officials including his senior aide David Frost and Barclay. They will discuss how to reach an agreement over a working lunch of snails, salmon and cheese.(Adds comment from Swinson interview in 14th paragraph.)\--With assistance from David Goodman.To contact the reporter on this story: Tim Ross in London at tross54@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson at fjackson@bloomberg.net, Sara Marley, Andrew BlackmanFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Britain's Liberal Democrats formally adopt 'Stop Brexit' policy Posted: 15 Sep 2019 05:39 AM PDT ![Britain's Liberal Democrats formally adopt 'Stop Brexit' policy]( "Britain's Liberal Democrats formally adopt 'Stop Brexit' policy") Britain's Liberal Democrats party on Sunday toughened its anti-Brexit stance, formally adopting a policy to cancel leaving the European Union if it wins power at a national election. The party holds just 18 seats in Britain's 650-seat parliament but has cast itself as the only 'Stop Brexit' party, hoping to pick up votes from the 16 million who voted to remain in the EU in 2016 and win enough seats to form what would be an unprecedented Liberal Democrat government. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a Conservative, is promising to leave the EU on Oct. 31 with or without a Brexit deal.
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| UPDATE 1- Iran hardliners likely to gain from tensions over Aramco attacks Posted: 15 Sep 2019 05:35 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1- Iran hardliners likely to gain from tensions over Aramco attacks]( "UPDATE 1- Iran hardliners likely to gain from tensions over Aramco attacks") Iran distanced itself on Sunday from attacks on Saudi oil facilities but hardliners in Tehran might chalk the assaults up as a win against Washington's tougher policy toward the Islamic Republic, officials and analysts said. Iran has denied allegations made by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that it was behind the attacks on Saturday, which were claimed by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group. Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite-led Iran back opposing factions across the Middle East, from Yemen and Syria to Lebanon and Iraq.
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| Trump's Worst Fear: Iran Attacks U.S. Bases and Aircraft Carriers with Missiles Posted: 15 Sep 2019 05:04 AM PDT  Iran is continuing to develop increasingly long-range ballistic missiles -- and is firing some shorter-range missiles in combat -- despite demands from the U.S. government that the Islamic republic totally give up any weapons that could, in theory, carry a nuclear warhead.
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| Iran dismisses U.S. allegation it was behind Saudi oil attacks Posted: 15 Sep 2019 04:48 AM PDT ![Iran dismisses U.S. allegation it was behind Saudi oil attacks]( "Iran dismisses U.S. allegation it was behind Saudi oil attacks") "The Americans adopted the 'maximum pressure' policy against Iran, which, due to its failure, is leaning towards 'maximum lies'."
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| Barclay Says Progress Being Made on Reaching Deal: Brexit Update Posted: 15 Sep 2019 02:29 AM PDT ![Barclay Says Progress Being Made on Reaching Deal: Brexit Update]( "Barclay Says Progress Being Made on Reaching Deal: Brexit Update") (Bloomberg) -- Follow @Brexit on Twitter, join our Facebook group and sign up to our Brexit Bulletin.Prime Minister Boris Johnson has resolved on a hard-line plan as he prepares for his first face-to-face negotiations with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Monday.Johnson will tell Juncker that there is just one month left to finalize that agreement and he won't ask for a delay if the negotiations are fruitless, according to a senior official in the U.K. government. The premier is also set to defy a new law designed to stop him forcing the U.K. out of the European Union without a deal next month, and is braced for a fight to settle Brexit in the British courts. In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, Johnson said the U.K. will break out of its "manacles" like the comic-book character the Incredible Hulk.Key Developments:Former Education Minister Sam Gyimah joined the Liberal Democrats on Saturday after his opposition to the government's no-deal Brexit policy led to his ejection from the ruling Conservative Party.David Cameron, prime minister at the time of the referendum, has criticized what he called the "liars" of the Leave campaign in his memoir, and said Johnson didn't believe in Brexit, the Sunday Times reports.Lib Dems Would Cancel Brexit, Swinson Says (9:51 a.m.)Liberal Democrats leader Jo Swinson says the party would cancel Brexit if it wins the next election.It would be "bizarre" to suggest that the election will be about anything other than Brexit, she said, adding that "if people put into government, as a majority government, the stop-Brexit party, then stopping Brexit is exactly what people will get."Johnson Committed to Securing a Deal, Patel Says (9:34 a.m.)Johnson is fully committed to getting a deal and leaving on Oct. 31, according to Home Secretary Priti Patel.There is a "great deal" of work being done behind the scenes, and the government is focused on solving the Northern Ireland backstop issue, Patel said on the BBC's "The Andrew Marr Show."Labour Is a "Remain Party," Khan Says (9:30 a.m.)Labour is a "remain party," Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said in an interview on the BBC's "The Andrew Marr Show."Khan said the U.K. should revoke the so-called Article 50 notification that triggered the U.K.'s legal divorce proceedings, and then give the U.K. public a final say on the nation's EU membership.Progress on Deal Is Being Made, Barclay Says (8:45 a.m.)Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay said that progress is being made on reaching a Brexit deal with the EU. There have been "detailed technical talks" and "a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes," he said.Speaking on Sky News's "Ridge on Sunday," Barclay rejected Cameron's suggestion that Johnson only led the Leave campaign in 2016 to further his own career, saying he was "committed" to the cause.Brexiteers May Back Deal, Sunday Times Reports (8:23 a.m.)Hard-line Brexiteers have signaled they would be willing to vote for a Brexit deal if Johnson can win meaningful concessions on the Northern Ireland backstop, according to the Sunday Times.The newspaper cites four unnamed figures in the pro-Brexit European Research Group as saying they would vote for such a deal to prevent the U.K.'s exit from being cancelled altogether -- something it says raises the chances of the nation leaving with an agreement in place at the end of next month.Cameron Hits Back at Leave Campaign (Earlier)Former Prime Minister David Cameron's new memoir says the leaders of the leave campaign lied to the public to win the 2016 Brexit referendum, according to extracts published in the Sunday Times.Cameron also said that the leaders of the Brexit campaign waged "open warfare" on him and singled out Boris Johnson's rival and cabinet minister Michael Gove as disloyal on more than one occasion. During campaigning, Johnson "left the truth at home," Cameron wrote, while Gove was "an ambassador for the truth-twisting age of populism."Earlier:Johnson Set to Defy Ban on No-Deal Brexit and Fight on in CourtFormer U.K. Education Minister Joins Lib-Dems in Brexit RevoltNightmare on Downing Street as Team Johnson Fears Brexit MutinyTo contact the reporters on this story: Tim Ross in London at tross54@bloomberg.net;David Goodman in London at dgoodman28@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Gordon at pgordon6@bloomberg.net, Andrew Blackman, Stephen TreloarFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Iran's Zarif says U.S., allies are "stuck in Yemen" Posted: 15 Sep 2019 02:21 AM PDT ![Iran's Zarif says U.S., allies are "stuck in Yemen"]( "Iran's Zarif says U.S., allies are \"stuck in Yemen\"") Iran's foreign minister Mohammed Javad Zarif said on Sunday that the United States and its allies were "stuck in Yemen" and that blaming Tehran "won't end the disaster". "Having failed at "max pressure", @SecPompeo's turning to "max deceit".. US & its clients are stuck in Yemen because of illusion that weapon superiority will lead to military victory. Blaming Iran won't end disaster," Zarif said on Twitter.
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| Fotofest Co-Founder Fred Baldwin Reveals His Extraordinary Career Was Inspired by Encounter With Picasso Posted: 15 Sep 2019 02:12 AM PDT  © Fred BaldwinDuring Fred Baldwin's last year in college in 1955 he took a leap of a faith and delivered a letter to Pablo Picasso of his own drawings in hopes to trigger his sense of humor. At this point Baldwin had no pre-existing knowledge in art training and photography. However, Picasso found his drawings humorous and allowed Baldwin to enter freely in his studio and in his Villa La Californie. This defining moment changed Baldwin's life forever. Any barrier generated by fear had been crushed and a new skill had been discovered. Shortly after he finished college, Baldwin commenced a new career as a photojournalist. He was persistent and used his wit and charm to acquire friends in positions of power who would assist him with gaining access to locations where few or no photographers had gone before. Dear Mr. Picasso: An Illustrated Love Affair with Freedom provides a versatile archive including hundreds of astonishing black-and-white and color photographs capturing integral moments of his career. From capturing a day and a night with the Ku Klux Klan, southern poverty, coverage of a star-studded Nobel Prize ceremony, cod fishing in the Arctic Norway, polar bear expeditions near the North Pole, and much more. Baldwin worked for an array of publications throughout his freelance career. His work was published in TIME, National Graphic, The New York Times, Smithsonian, Esquire, Natural History and many more. In 1983, Baldwin co-founded Fotofest, one of the most imperative and substantial photography festivals in the world. Fred Baldwin sits down with The Daily Beast and shares some of his most exhilarating moments throughout his extensive career. All photographs are from Dear Mr. Picasso: An Illustrated Love Affair with Freedom by Fred Baldwin and is published by Schilt Publishing.For more information: click hereFred Baldwin (center) with Pablo Picasso, at the painter's home in Cannes, July 1955.© Fred BaldwinDid you ever explore photography prior to your meeting with Picasso? Was there a specific moment during this experience when you met with Picasso that ignited your passion for photography? I bought my first camera, an Argus C-3, prior to going to Korea in 1950. I took nine rolls of film when I was serving as a Marine combat rifleman, but I didn't continue the process seriously after I returned to civilian life. My photographs of Picasso taken five years later were made with a friend's Rolleiflex. The Anscochrome color film in combination with the camera were sufficiently forgiving to allow me to get pictures on July 28, 1955, which was a miracle as I had no light meter and had never used the camera. The pictures proved that I was there but my passion was ignited, not by this miracle but by the combination of events that I call the Picasso Mantra: I had a dream—to meet Picasso; I used my imagination—to write him an illustrated letter with my own drawings; I overcame my fear—I was scared to death of making a fool of myself, but more important than anything else – I acted. Over four days I changed from being a college student terrified about finding a job and figuring out how to survive in the real world to a person who could do anything they wanted to do. I decided after graduating from Columbia in 1956 to become a photographer. Lofoten Islands, Norway, March 1959. Curious cod fish in a net swim up to Baldwin's underwater camera.© Fred BaldwinPrior to your experience photographing cod fish in 1959, did you ever photograph wild life? The answer is no. When I arrived in the remote Arctic islands of Lofoten in January 1959, I did what was now routine behavior for me: I checked in with the local officials, police and newspaper. It turned out that one of the reporters at the Lofotposten, Kare Skevik, who had been a radio operator in the Norwegian underground during World War II, loved to tease young foreigners like me. When I asked Skevik about the well-known annual cod fishing season in the Lofotens he said as a joke: "You should do something different. Photograph the fish from their point of view." I asked him if the water was clear. He said: "Yes, and very cold." With help from the Norwegian Navy, among others, what started as a joke ended in a series of images of cod fish that I photographed in nets underwater. They were later purchased by National Geographic. Lofoten Islands, Norway, March 1959 – Baldwin holding an underwater camera in preparation for a dive in freezing waters to photograph cod fish. © Fred BaldwinWhat was running through your mind when you worked with the Norwegian Navy with no prior knowledge on how to use Scuba equipment? How long did the process take? The learning consisted of doing what I was told to do. For deep dives down to 50 meters I had a rope that was tied around my waist and after 13 minutes there were three jerks on the line and I would start up to the surface in order not to have to go into a decompression cycle. Apart from that the suits were warm in the almost freezing water and I dove alone most of the time but a frogman would always be suited up and ready to come in for an assist. But luckily this was never necessary. Ku Klux Klan, Reidsville, Georgia, 1957 – A Klan member, the Chief of Police and the Sheriff wait for the decorated KKK cars on their way to a ceremony to pass by. © Fred BaldwinYou mentioned capturing the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia in 1957 was an accident while preparing for your first documentary project. Was that the first time you experienced photographing the racial divide in the South? This accidental contact with the KKK in 1957 was my first attempt to break out of being a children's photographer. On my way to photograph a tobacco auction in rural Georgia, inspired by the work of Farm Security Administration photographers like Walker Evans and Dorothea Lang, I accidentally stumbled upon the Klan. Prior to this encounter in 1957, I had passed by a KKK cross burning one night near Savannah in the late 1940s but I had no camera with me and I'm not sure I would have had the nerve to stop if I had a way of recording it. In 1957, years later with a camera in tow, I stopped. Perhaps it was the Picasso Mantra that led to this decision. During the Civil Rights Movement you mentioned setting up a free photography service while photographing both white and black churches. Can you describe what that service entailed and how it was received in both communities?In 1963 and 1964, I made my photography available to the CCCV (Chatham County Crusade for Voters) that was associated with Dr. King's organization. I worked with Hosea Williams, who led the organization in Savannah. Hosea would contact me whenever he needed photographic coverage for the CCCV newspaper. This provided me with an inside look into what was going on in the Civil Rights Movement in Savannah. It wasn't the fire hose and police dog coverage that photographer Charles Moore was getting in Selma, but it was what was happening in the First African Baptist Church where Mrs. Coretta King came to speak. I photographed mundane events that ultimately became significant such as voter registration efforts. The only time I photographed in a white church was to cover an integrated service at Christ Episcopal Church in downtown Savannah as a tribute to Dr. King after his assassination. Civil Rights Movement, Savannah, Georgia, June 1964. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks at the Civic Auditorium.© Fred BaldwinWhat was your experience working with Martin Luther King Jr. as a freelance photographer capturing the inner workings of the Civil Rights Movement? Working with the CCCV was a vitally important experience for me. This was the first time that my photography was not connected to an ego enhancing experience. For many years I had observed the consequences of exploitation. I saw it first hand when I worked at the family factory alongside poor whites and blacks. The photography that I practiced in Europe and Mexico dealt with dramatic tale telling and was based on a need to attract as much attention as possible. Now it was different. I came to understand that in order to fit into the middle of this new situation, I had to give up my God-given self-importance – especially my God-given white self-importance. Peace Corps, India, 1966, Haystacks. "My attempt to photograph the Peace Corps program in India was fraught with frustration as I found India a compression of opposites both hideous and beautiful. The twelve hundred volunteers working there in 1966 sought to make progress among half-a-billion people. They were needles in the haystack, so I decided to spend several months photographing the haystack instead of the needles." © Fred BaldwinWhat was one of your biggest challenges early on in your career and how did you overcome it? When I decided to become a photographer after graduating from Columbia I had to start from scratch. Apart from investing in equipment, Leicas and a professional enlarger, I went to every museum and gallery that showed photography in New York and looked at every photography book I could get my hands on. I signed up for a workshop with Lisette Model but only lasted one session as I couldn't consume the intellectual scrambled eggs that this tough brilliant artist provided me. I just needed a "camera club" approach to help me make sharp pictures. It was a shame because it turns out that Diane Arbus was in the same class. The other challenge was to support myself. Moving in with my mother in Savannah only solved part of my survival problem. I borrowed the FSA idea of making long lists when I photographed the children of family friends. I asked the children from my list what they wanted to do for a day – fly a kite, go fishing, build a tree house and so on. I would shoot ten rolls of film, develop them in the bathroom and print the ones that survived my ignorance. Over six months my day rate rose from $40 a day to $400, a small fortune in those days but I didn't want to be paid out of Mom's cookie jar forever so this led me to the tobacco auction and my encounter with the KKK.Ku Klux Klan, Reidsville, Georgia, 1957 – A car being decorated for a Knights of the KKK meeting.© Fred BaldwinMy lack of confidence was also a huge barrier. Just after I finished the KKK shoot, I went to New York and visited Magnum Photos and the great photographer and curator of photography at MOMA, Edward Steichen. I showed them my children's work. Magnum was not impressed but Steichen bought one for MOMA. But I made a huge mistake. I didn't show my KKK work because I didn't think it was any good. If I had shown these to Magnum they would have said, "You connected with the KKK. Go spend six months with them and nail this story." What do you try to achieve with every photograph you take?Photos that Wendy Watriss and I took in Texas between 1971 to the mid 1980's captured an intimate look into the everyday lives of people in four regions of the state. People allowed us into their lives and our work was enriched by their welcoming behavior. This work is being used to make a film called The Low Turn Row. In the film, the description of contemporary black family life is used to ground the cruel historic reality of racial discrimination and the failures of the Reconstruction and black voter registration since the 1900's. The film is a history lesson about the long-embedded power of racism, class and discrimination. The images that I took while following the Sami reindeer herders had another purpose. The extraordinary effect of the Lapland nature; both its breathtaking beauty and grim dangers of avalanches and whiteouts were the inspiration. They set up an agenda that put the reindeer in charge of the direction of their awe-inspiring story. I was following the reindeer because nature was in charge in Arctic Lapland. Reindeer Migration Post Easter 1960, Kautekeino, Norway. An enlightening "Coffee Cook" with herders, Anders and Nils-Peter Sarah. "I met Anders and Nils-Peder Sara in Kautekeino, Norway which means in Samisk "between the reindeer grounds of the winter and the summer pasture by the sea." An arduous education in 'cultural communication' was made possible by the frequent 'coffee cooks' where I learned from my hosts the Samisk survival lifestyle on many levels." © Fred BaldwinIt takes a huge and sustained effort to make good photographs. I try to answer the question: "What do you try to achieve with every photograph you take?" The answer is: try to find new ways to create a surprise and raise questions. Southern Poverty, Savannah, Ga., 1967. A tiny, isolated, poor community located not far away from Savannah's wealthiest parts. It was reported that families here suffered from five generations of inbreeding.© Fred BaldwinYou and your wife Wendy Watriss had a collaborative photography partnership. Can you describe your working relationship on the Texas project? What was your biggest take away from this project? When Wendy and I met in June 1970 there was an instant connection. She had just returned from West Africa where she was on assignment. Wendy's approach was different from mine. She was not a storyteller who told stories about herself, but rather a natural born journalist who never stopped asking probing and intelligent questions with charm and conviction. She is also a voracious reader, and her ideas come from many points of view. It's necessary to understand that both Wendy and I had both, by choice and circumstance, spent much of our private and professional lives away from the United States. In my case, I was able to find more in myself away from the comforts of my own culture. Wendy's work in Africa and Eastern and Western Europe did this for her. Our separate but mutual experiences formed a bond that enriched our relationship and shaped our collaboration. We talked about 're-discovering' our own country and decided to start in Texas, which Wendy considered more exotic than Bulgaria. We lived in a 13-foot trailer pulled by my old Mercedes Cabriolet and we did everything together, including photography and interviewing. When we parked on the back pasture of an African American farmer, things got more intimate as we had to create our own toilet with a USMC entrenching tool in a field. Texas became a ten-year project, off and on: We worked on the old southern, corn and cotton frontier; the German Hill Country; and the Mexican American border, from east to west - four different cultural frontiers of Texas. Grimes County, Texas, 1972. For three years Baldwin and his partner Wendy Watriss lived in this 13-foot trailer parked on the back pasture parked on the back pasture of the African American family of Willie Buckhannon. "This was the base from which we photographed, collected oral history, and collected local history of the county.© Fred Baldwin and Wendy WatrissSouthern Poverty, Georgia, 1982. Baldwin returns to the poor community he first photographed in 1967 where families are reported to suffer from five generations of inbreeding. © Fred BaldwinWhat was your biggest take away from this project? The fragility of democracy and the unending struggle to maintain it.What inspired you both to create FotoFest in 1983 alongside European gallery director, Petra Benteler? In 1982 Wendy and I went to Les Rencontre d'Arles de la photo in the south of France. There we found droves of photographers in the Hotel D'Arlatan, gathered around Jean Claude Lemagny, Director of the Bibliothéque Nationale in Paris. When we later learned about Le Mois de la Photo (Month of Photography) in Paris, where photography exhibits had been held in the city's museums every two years since 1980, Wendy and I decided to combine the idea of Arles with the Mois de la Photo, with international exhibitions and portfolio reviews alongside a broad range of related programs. The first FotoFest was launched in March 1986, an internationally-oriented non-profit that was about bringing creative people together, here and all over the world. It's also about important civic issues and social justice. It's about men and women from many countries bringing their personal experience to give us a better understanding of what is happening in a larger world. Petra Benteler, who had been involved with the original idea, returned to Germany after the first FotoFest due to a family illness. * * *You've mentioned various times throughout your career that you still believe there is much work to be done in photography. What do you hope can be accomplished in the future of FotoFest? Over the last thirty-three years FotoFest has interacted with photographers in North and South America; Asia from Japan to Singapore; East, West and Central Europe; Arab Countries; India – from over sixty-five countries and we need to continue our exploration through exhibitions, exchanges, and on-site visits. The world is filled with talented photographers and we have been asked to extend further regions, such as Africa and India, as FotoFest has recently done. In 2000, FotoFest formed a loose confederation of twenty international and U.S, festivals. We meet annually in Paris but we need to do more with this organization to encourage collaborative projects. Looking to the future, we instigated a transition in the last few years and now FotoFest has an executive director, Steven Evans. Do you have any advice for young photographers interested in photojournalism? Working as a photojournalist was never easy but it is far more difficult today. It is always necessary to have an aggressive approach, learn to work in unfamiliar environments and learn foreign languages. Magazines and newspapers provide a fraction of the time and resources that were once available. However, there are institutions that can help the survival process and a young photographer needs to find out about NGO's and institutions that can help reduce the pain. It is also necessary to broaden your skills to include video, film and sound recording and work with platforms like Photoshop. It also doesn't hurt to learn how to write. Training in photojournalism is only the beginning of the process. A young photographer needs to understand the history of a chosen geographic target. There are organizations who you can work with to broaden your horizons: Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam, and the United Nations are good examples. Photojournalism oriented organizations such as Noor and Panos are also important. Online social documentary platforms like Magnum Residencies for Photojournalists and World Press Photo Classes are worth looking into. The most important attribute is the same as it always has been: an unswerving dedication to pushing as hard as you can in your chosen direction.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Climate Activists Don’t Know How to Talk to Christians Posted: 15 Sep 2019 01:56 AM PDT  Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / Photo GettyThis story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 220 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. Religious Christians are the key to America taking action on global warming. And yet, the way climate activists frame the issue often alienates the very people they most need to persuade. First, the math. Seventy percent of Americans say they want the government to take action to combat global warming. But the Republican Party has, in the last two decades, gone from accommodating a wide range of perspectives on climate change to marching lock-step to the energy industry's climate denial tune.Most Republicans, however, don't work for the energy industry. Over half of Republican voters identify as conservative Christians—either evangelicals, Catholics, or others. These voters may be right-wing on social issues, right-wing on immigration, and right-wing on 'big government.' But they're not necessarily right-wing on allowing the Earth's climate to be radically disrupted—and if they move, the Republican Party will have to move too.But according to two new studies conducted by the Yale Program for Climate Communication and published in the journal Science Communication, most religious Christians understand global warming in very different terms from others.The first study "found that 'protect God's creation' is one of the most important motivations that Christians report for wanting to mitigate global warming." Resonant messages included "God made humans responsible for taking care of His creation"; "We can use nature for our benefit, but it is not OK to destroy God's garden that He entrusted to us"; and the language of "stewardship" over the Earth.And the second study found that framing the issue of global warming in moral and religious terms was crucial for Christians to care about it, because it suggested that "people like themselves" care about the issue."People derive values, a sense of self, and social norms from the groups to which they belong," said Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Program and a co-author of the two studies. "Messages that resonate with group identities may be especially effective in influencing people's attitudes."In other words, we think the way our group thinks. If we believe that no one in our group cares about a certain issue, we're less likely to care about it. If we believe that our core values have nothing to do with a certain issue, we're less likely to care about it.Unfortunately, when one turns to how the issue is framed in public, these messaging frames are conspicuously absent.For example, the introduction to next week's U.N. Climate Action Summit reads, in part:> Global emissions are reaching record levels and show no sign of peaking. The last four years were the four hottest on record, and winter temperatures in the Arctic have risen by 3°C since 1990. Sea levels are rising, coral reefs are dying, and we are starting to see the life-threatening impact of climate change on health, through air pollution, heatwaves and risks to food security.> > The impacts of climate change are being felt everywhere and are having very real consequences on people's lives. Climate change is disrupting national economies, costing us dearly today and even more tomorrow. But there is a growing recognition that affordable, scalable solutions are available now that will enable us all to leapfrog to cleaner, more resilient economies.If you're like me—highly educated, privileged, urban-dwelling, and liberal—that language is probably pretty effective. But according to the new Yale studies, it will probably ring hollow for the constituency that's most central to changing the United States' current intransigence on climate science and climate action.Indeed, the U.N. language doesn't even include the "most important reason to reduce global warming" chosen by both Christians and non-Christians in the Yale studies, namely: "Provide a better life for our children and grandchildren." Instead, it provides a bunch of ecological verbiage about coral reefs and food security.Nor, of course, is the problem confined to the United Nations.The Environmental Defense Fund—one of the more centrist and mainstream of American environmental organizations—likewise only mentions the environmental impacts of global warming on its page "why fighting change is so urgent": "extreme weather events… chunks of ice in the Antarctic have broken apart… wildfire seasons are months longer… coral reefs have been bleached of their colors… mosquitoes are expanding their territory, able to spread disease." And yet it doesn't provide the primary reasons given by people in general (leaving a better world for our children) or Christians in particular (protecting God's creation). Of course, these omissions make sense in some ways. First, obviously, plenty of atheists, Jews, Muslims, and people of other religious backgrounds care about climate change. Especially anyone with kids or grandkids.But it's also unlikely that the people writing copy for climate change websites are religious Christians themselves, and are using language that "preaches to the choir," which in this case means other secular environmentalists. But if no one speaks in terms that Christians, especially conservative Christians, care about, then climate activists are only going to be talking to themselves.Which is exactly what's happened. Levels of understanding and concern about climate change have more or less plateaued in the last few years. On the political level, nothing is happening. Thirty-four percent of Americans still do not "believe" that global warming is being caused by humans, and only 44 percent of Americans say they "worry a great deal" about it. Another recent Yale study found that voters rank it just 17th among issues of concern.Given the extreme likelihood of an unprecedented refugee crisis brought on by rising seas and changing crop patterns, mass extinctions, and global food shortages, all of those numbers are shocking. According to the World Health Organization, 250,000 people will die each year from 2030-2050 because of increased rates of malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress. Climate denial, meanwhile, is now a billion-dollar industry, with energy-funded think tanks, pseudoscience, lobbying, and media campaigns. The energy industry is using the most persuasive, most effective methods to persuade people about global warming. Why isn't the environmental movement?Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| UK Liberal Democrat leader says her party will not support any Brexit deal Posted: 15 Sep 2019 01:53 AM PDT ![UK Liberal Democrat leader says her party will not support any Brexit deal]( "UK Liberal Democrat leader says her party will not support any Brexit deal") Britain's Liberal Democrats party leader Jo Swinson said on Sunday there was no Brexit deal that her party would vote for in parliament, saying her priority was to stop Britain leaving the European Union. "I am very clear I don't think there is a good Brexit deal.
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| Trump must consider attack on Iran after drone strikes on Saudi Arabia, Lindsey Graham urges Posted: 15 Sep 2019 01:43 AM PDT  A key ally of Donald Trump has urged the US to consider attacking Iran in response to the drone attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil industry.Republican senator Lindsey Graham, a prominent foreign policy hawk, suggested that hitting the country's own refineries would "break the regime's back".
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| UPDATE 1-Iran says U.S. bases and aircraft carriers within range of its missiles - Tasnim Posted: 14 Sep 2019 11:48 PM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Iran says U.S. bases and aircraft carriers within range of its missiles - Tasnim]( "UPDATE 1-Iran says U.S. bases and aircraft carriers within range of its missiles - Tasnim") An Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said on Sunday that U.S. bases and aircraft carriers in the region were within range of Iranian missiles after the U.S. accused Iran of leading attacks on Saudi oil plants, raising tensions in the Middle East. Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group said it attacked two Saudi Aramco oil plants on Saturday at the heart of Saudi Arabia's oil industry, knocking out more than half the Kingdom's output. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Iran of being behind the attacks, ruling out Yemeni involvement and denouncing Tehran for engaging in false diplomacy.
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| AP PHOTOS: Ex-army chief hoping to be Israel's next premier Posted: 14 Sep 2019 11:37 PM PDT  As former army chief of staff Benny Gantz campaigns to be Israel's next leader, he is relying less on policy specifics than on the archetypal image of a military man who can rise above the political fray and defend a country that feels perpetually under siege. With piercing blue eyes and the reserved manner of a lifelong soldier, Gantz has vowed to unify the country and restore national institutions after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decade-long rule, which has deepened Israel's religious and political divides and been roiled by corruption allegations. Gantz failed to unseat Netanyahu in April's elections, but will have another shot in Tuesday's unprecedented do-over, which was prompted by Netanyahu's inability to form a government.
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| Embattled Israeli PM fights for survival in do-over election Posted: 14 Sep 2019 11:15 PM PDT  A visibly frantic Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in the fight of his political life as the country heads to national elections for the second time this year. With Netanyahu locked in a razor tight race and facing the likelihood of criminal corruption charges, a decisive victory in Tuesday's vote may be the only thing to keep him out of the courtroom. A repeat of the deadlock in April's election, or a victory by challenger Benny Gantz, could spell the end of the career of the man who has led the country for the past decade.
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| Iran says U.S. bases and aircraft carriers within range of its missiles - Tasnim Posted: 14 Sep 2019 11:13 PM PDT ![Iran says U.S. bases and aircraft carriers within range of its missiles - Tasnim]( "Iran says U.S. bases and aircraft carriers within range of its missiles - Tasnim") An Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said on Sunday that U.S. bases and aircraft carriers were within range of Iranian missiles, a day after Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group attacked two Saudi Aramco plants. "Everybody should know that all American bases and their aircraft carriers in a distance of up to 2,000 kilometres around Iran are within the range of our missiles," said the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps Aerospace Force Amirali Hajizadeh.
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| RIP GOP review: how Democrats can usher fall of the house of Trump Posted: 14 Sep 2019 10:00 PM PDT  Stanley Greenberg makes key points about Republican decline – but the president's opponents face tough challenges tooDonald Trump speaks to the media at the White House. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty ImagesNearly 35 years ago, the pollster Stanley Greenberg took a hard look at Macomb county, Michigan, wanting to better understand the political DNA of "Reagan Democrats". He concluded: "These white Democratic defectors express a profound distaste for blacks, a sentiment that pervades almost everything they think about government and politics."A supporter of Robert Kennedy in 1968, Greenberg saw class, not race, as the lever of choice in wooing Democratic voters. A quarter-century later, he was Bill Clinton's pollster in his victorious 1992 presidential bid.Now Greenberg delivers RIP GOP, in which he predicts that the rage engendered by Donald Trump will lead to his defeat in 2020, Democratic control of the Senate and the collapse of the current Republican party. Imagine the past midterms on steroids.An illustration of a dead elephant lying on a mound of dirt, all four legs skyward, graces Greenberg's cover. Apparently, the author is less interested in unifying the US than in forging durable coalitions. Think math, not therapy. It's about 50% +1.RIP GOPThe book is methodically and meticulously researched. It portrays an America where white voters without a four-year degree remain nearly a majority and suburbia is home to half of the population. A country grown less worshipful and more diverse. We really do live in a bubbling cauldron of contradictions and countervailing forces.In Greenberg's telling, a galvanized Democratic party led by minorities, single women, younger voters and women with degrees will upend a decade of Republican ascendance built on the Koch brothers' money, hostility toward modernity, racial resentment and nativism. It's a bold prediction, even if Trump's approval ratings are underwater and the GOP is scrapping primaries to avoid embarrassing their guy.First, presidents seldom lose re-election, and unlike Bush 41, Trump is not mired in a recession. Inverted yield curves are not the same as actual negative growth or mass unemployment.Second, Greenberg is betting progressive economics tethered to multiculturalism will not cost the Democrats the White House, a wager open to debate if the latest polling from Wisconsin, a state Trump won, is reflective of the state of play.In the Badger state, Joe Biden, an establishment liberal with a marked following among older voters and African Americans, is the only Democrat holding a solid lead (nine points) over the president. Elizabeth Warren, whose kind words grace RIP GOP's jacket, is in a dead heat with Trump. Reminiscent of 2016, she and the president are both weighed down by negatives.> Greenberg is betting progressive economics tethered to multiculturalism will not cost the Democrats the White HouseA full-throated progressive, Warren has called for decriminalizing US immigration policy, which puts her at odds with Biden and most of the US. A plurality of Democrats and nearly two-thirds of Americans disagree with Massachusetts' senior senator.Looking at Brexit and immigration, Greenberg acknowledges that he has long been "critical of center-left parties for not showing that managing immigration was first principle and not showing that they would prioritize citizens over non-citizens".As part of his examination of the topic, Greenberg refers to the 15th amendment of the constitution as the legal foundation for "birthright citizenship", by which those born within the US are automatically deemed to be citizens. Here Greenberg errs. That rule is enshrined in the 14th amendment, which secures equal protection and due process. The 15th amendment guaranties the voting rights of former slaves.If history is a guide, the embrace of identity politics results in pushback. Hillary Clinton's defeat was not just about having a tin ear to economic anxiety or income stagnation, a source of finger-pointing by Greenberg. Nor was it solely due to Trump's race-baiting.Clinton's loss also stemmed from her worship at the altars of multiculturalism and political correctness. Showcasing Lesley McSpadden, mother of the late Michael Brown, at the Democratic convention may have been too much for too many after police were gunned down in Dallas and Baton Rouge earlier that July.> The concerns and interests of middle-aged suburbia do not necessarily line up with those of the Squad or Bernie SandersTrump fell into a similar trap. He persisted in harping on grievances, real and imagined, long after taking the oath of office. He continued to demonize minorities and migrants and made no attempt to reach to the center. Charlottesville and Pittsburgh indelibly stain his already toxic legacy.Furthermore, bashing Colin Kaepernick hurt more than it helped in suburbia and swing districts. In those precincts, the public turned a deaf ear as the president kept on yammering about caravans and gangs.Greenberg is optimistic that if the Democrats win they will be able to press for a more activist government. To a point.The concerns and interests of middle-aged suburbia do not necessarily line up with those of the Squad or Bernie Sanders. Culture counts. If the midterms taught us anything, it is that imposing a check upon an untethered president should not be equated with a desire for a revolution or turning the US on its head.Preserving the social safety net is different from unbridled government expansion. Safeguarding social security, Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare brings a larger constituency than stripping people of private insurance for the sake of single-payer healthcare. If the Democrats succeed as Greenberg predicts, they will do so by bringing some Republicans along for the ride, by definition a moderating action and influence.Having been stung by the effective abolition of the deductibility of state and local taxes, wealthier coastal voters will also likely be resistant to a potpourri of costly initiatives. Infrastructure is one thing. The Green New Deal is probably something else.Trade is another issue that may pit Democrats against each other. Although Greenberg has long sounded the klaxon concerning the impact of trade on America's vulnerable, Trump's embrace of protectionism has made free trade popular among Democrats.Trumpism won't be disappearing anytime soon. Rural Americans and evangelicals will not stop making themselves heard. Calls to blood and soil will continue. Meanwhile, Trump's minions endeavor to enshrine a dynasty. Our political landscape has changed.
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| Ex-PM Cameron slams Johnson over Brexit Posted: 14 Sep 2019 09:10 PM PDT  Former British prime minister David Cameron launched a blistering attack on the UK's current leader Boris Johnson in extracts of his memoirs published Sunday, accusing him of only backing Brexit to further his own career. Damningly, he also said that Johnson privately believed there should be a second referendum to confirm the terms of Brexit -- something the premier has strongly resisted since. In extracts published in the Sunday Times newspaper, Cameron -- who led the failed "Remain" campaign to stay in the EU -- also accused his "Leave" rivals of lying to the public.
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| What's Worse Than Corrupt Billionaires? Socialism Posted: 14 Sep 2019 05:00 PM PDT  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- What's worse than billionaires who bribe government officials? The "Gangnam Left," stock pickers may say.The term, and subject of a book by Chonbuk National University professor Kang Junman, is a dig at South Korea's wealthy elite who advocate socialist policies, such as boosting the minimum wage and spending billions to create public-sector jobs. Some of these technocrats have found themselves in hot water recently: President Moon Jae-in's recently appointed justice minister is now facing corruption allegations. Moon came to power after a bribery scandal involving some of the countries biggest family-run conglomerates, or chaebol, led to the impeachment of his predecessor, Park Geun-hye. To his credit, Moon, South Korea's most left-wing president in a decade, has made some progress toward his campaign promise of chaebol reform. Companies including Samsung Electronics Co. and Hyundai Motor Co. have restructured, while the Kospi Index's payout ratio – the share of profit firms return to their investors – has hit the highest level in at least two decades. Yet the notorious Korea discount, which stems from investors' wariness about chaebol, hasn't narrowed. Rather, the Kospi's valuation has sunk to a decade low, as measured by its price-to-book ratio. So much money has been lost that Seoul last month talked up re-instituting a ban on short selling, which was lifted in 2013. You could be tempted to blame the U.S.-China trade war. South Korea's economy is built on exports, often in highly cyclical industries such as semiconductors. Yet shares of manufacturers like Samsung, for instance, haven't suffered much this year. What's troubling traders now is Moon himself. While he remains largely popular with the public, the corporate community is deeply skeptical of his policies. A case in point: The private sector's capital-investment growth, a measure of the country's business outlook, has been declining since Moon took office in 2017, well before the trade war began in 2018.As I've written, a double-digit hike in the minimum wage over the past two years has burdened smaller businesses with more expensive staff. Meanwhile, draconian measures to cool the real-estate market, such as imposing a pre-sale price cap in Seoul, have caused new housing starts to tumble in tandem with construction stocks. To make matters worse, there's a growing feeling that Moon has mishandled South Korea's spat with Japan and is in danger of alienating the U.S. Seoul's decision to end an intelligence-sharing agreement last month irked Washington. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has said the country should pay "substantially more" for American protection against North Korea. In recent decades, post-World War II political allegiances have evolved into economic dependencies; to prosper, an export-oriented emerging market needs to stay close to the U.S. South Korea is now wading in uncharted waters.The country also will have a tough time staying neutral as the fight for technological supremacy between Beijing and Washington intensifies. China is by far the largest recipient of South Korea's exports, which account for 44% of its GDP. Unfortunately, the U.S.'s move to block chip sales to the mainland only backfires on an American ally: Semiconductors account for roughly a third of South Korea's shipments to China. Ironically, South Korea could have served as a haven in a global sell-off, with its 10 biggest chaebol accounting for more than half of the Kospi's market capitalization. Billionaire heirs certainly won't be quick to rush out the door – and could even prop up their conglomerates' stock prices with share repurchases. By adding another layer of political uncertainty, however, the Moon administration is only increasing South Korea's market-risk premium, steepening the Korea discount that the president has been trying to close. By definition, stock markets celebrate capitalism and entrepreneurship. Chaebol, with their murky political ties and complex cross-holdings, have been no allure to investors. Adding a socialist government only saps animal spirits further. To contact the author of this story: Shuli Ren at sren38@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Rachel Rosenthal at rrosenthal21@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Shuli Ren is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asian markets. She previously wrote on markets for Barron's, following a career as an investment banker, and is a CFA charterholder.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| What's Worse Than Corrupt Billionaires? Socialism Posted: 14 Sep 2019 05:00 PM PDT  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- What's worse than billionaires who bribe government officials? The "Gangnam Left," stock pickers may say.The term, and subject of a book by Chonbuk National University professor Kang Junman, is a dig at South Korea's wealthy elite who advocate socialist policies, such as boosting the minimum wage and spending billions to create public-sector jobs. Some of these technocrats have found themselves in hot water recently: President Moon Jae-in's recently appointed justice minister is now facing corruption allegations. Moon came to power after a bribery scandal involving some of the countries biggest family-run conglomerates, or chaebol, led to the impeachment of his predecessor, Park Geun-hye. To his credit, Moon, South Korea's most left-wing president in a decade, has made some progress toward his campaign promise of chaebol reform. Companies including Samsung Electronics Co. and Hyundai Motor Co. have restructured, while the Kospi Index's payout ratio – the share of profit firms return to their investors – has hit the highest level in at least two decades. Yet the notorious Korea discount, which stems from investors' wariness about chaebol, hasn't narrowed. Rather, the Kospi's valuation has sunk to a decade low, as measured by its price-to-book ratio. So much money has been lost that Seoul last month talked up re-instituting a ban on short selling, which was lifted in 2013. You could be tempted to blame the U.S.-China trade war. South Korea's economy is built on exports, often in highly cyclical industries such as semiconductors. Yet shares of manufacturers like Samsung, for instance, haven't suffered much this year. What's troubling traders now is Moon himself. While he remains largely popular with the public, the corporate community is deeply skeptical of his policies. A case in point: The private sector's capital-investment growth, a measure of the country's business outlook, has been declining since Moon took office in 2017, well before the trade war began in 2018.As I've written, a double-digit hike in the minimum wage over the past two years has burdened smaller businesses with more expensive staff. Meanwhile, draconian measures to cool the real-estate market, such as imposing a pre-sale price cap in Seoul, have caused new housing starts to tumble in tandem with construction stocks. To make matters worse, there's a growing feeling that Moon has mishandled South Korea's spat with Japan and is in danger of alienating the U.S. Seoul's decision to end an intelligence-sharing agreement last month irked Washington. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has said the country should pay "substantially more" for American protection against North Korea. In recent decades, post-World War II political allegiances have evolved into economic dependencies; to prosper, an export-oriented emerging market needs to stay close to the U.S. South Korea is now wading in uncharted waters.The country also will have a tough time staying neutral as the fight for technological supremacy between Beijing and Washington intensifies. China is by far the largest recipient of South Korea's exports, which account for 44% of its GDP. Unfortunately, the U.S.'s move to block chip sales to the mainland only backfires on an American ally: Semiconductors account for roughly a third of South Korea's shipments to China. Ironically, South Korea could have served as a haven in a global sell-off, with its 10 biggest chaebol accounting for more than half of the Kospi's market capitalization. Billionaire heirs certainly won't be quick to rush out the door – and could even prop up their conglomerates' stock prices with share repurchases. By adding another layer of political uncertainty, however, the Moon administration is only increasing South Korea's market-risk premium, steepening the Korea discount that the president has been trying to close. By definition, stock markets celebrate capitalism and entrepreneurship. Chaebol, with their murky political ties and complex cross-holdings, have been no allure to investors. Adding a socialist government only saps animal spirits further. To contact the author of this story: Shuli Ren at sren38@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Rachel Rosenthal at rrosenthal21@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Shuli Ren is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asian markets. She previously wrote on markets for Barron's, following a career as an investment banker, and is a CFA charterholder.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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