| UN team gathers accounts of injuries during Chile's protests Posted: 02 Nov 2019 01:38 PM PDT  A U.N. human rights team is gathering testimony about hundreds of people allegedly injured by Chile's police during street protests in recent weeks. The team on Friday heard accounts about ruptured eyeballs, broken bones and other serious injuries inflicted by police pellets or the impact of tear gas canisters. "We are certain" that police have not respected their own guidelines about the appropriate use of force, said Dr. Enrique Morales of Chile's state Medical College.
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| Security forces kill protester in Iraq, wound dozens Posted: 02 Nov 2019 11:03 AM PDT  Iraqi security forces fired tear gas and live ammunition to disperse thousands of anti-government protesters Saturday, killing at least one and wounding more than 200 in the capital Baghdad and in the country's south, police officials and a semi-official human rights commission said. The largest protest took place in Baghdad, where tens of thousands of people gathered in and near a central square in defiance of a government crackdown that killed dozens over the past month. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been protesting, mostly in Baghdad and southern regions, since last month, demanding sweeping change to the political system established after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, which they blame for widespread corruption, high unemployment and poor public services.
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| Blast in Syrian town held by Turkey-backed gunmen kills 13 Posted: 02 Nov 2019 11:00 AM PDT  A car bomb exploded in a northern Syrian town along the border with Turkey on Saturday killing 13 people, Turkey's Defense Ministry said. The ministry said about 20 others were wounded when the bomb exploded in central Tal Abyad, which was captured last month by Turkey-backed opposition gunmen from Kurdish-led fighters. A spokesman for the main Kurdish-led force in Syria, Mustafa Bali, blamed Turkey for the blast, saying Turkey and the Syrian fighters it backs "are now creating chaos" in Tal Abyad to displace the Kurds who live in the town.
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| U.K. Conservatives Have Eight-Point Lead in Telegraph/ORB Poll Posted: 02 Nov 2019 10:23 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservatives have 36% support, ahead of Labour's 28%, the Sunday Telegraph reported, citing the results of a survey by ORB International.That was followed by the anti-Brexit Liberal Democrats, with 14%, and Nigel Farage's Brexit Party, with 12%.The results indicate a narrowing advantage for the Conservatives before the Dec. 12 election, the Telegraph said, citing four polls in the previous two weeks in which the Tories' lead was 13 to 16 percentage points.ORB conducted the survey of 1,510 voters Wednesday and Thursday. The Sunday Telegraph didn't indicate the margin of error.To view the source of this information click hereTo contact the reporter on this story: Jim Silver in New York at jsilver@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Sebastian Tong at stong41@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| IS says militants from Egypt, Bangladesh support new leader Posted: 02 Nov 2019 10:20 AM PDT  A media arm of the Islamic State group is reporting that militants from Egypt's Sinai and Bangladesh have pledged allegiance to the new leader, who succeeded Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in the first sign of support from the organization's global affiliates. Nasher news, which carries the group's news releases, posted pictures Saturday of a handful of militants purportedly from Bangladesh with their faces covered standing under the group's black flag.
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| New murals, same tension at ex-US embassy in Tehran Posted: 02 Nov 2019 08:40 AM PDT  Iran unveiled new anti-American wall murals on the former US embassy Saturday, two days before the 40th anniversary of the Tehran hostage crisis that has poisoned relations ever since. Stark images of a crumbling Statue of Liberty, a downed US drone and skulls floating in a sea of blood underlined the deep hostility that has flared again in the era of President Donald Trump. The political artworks were unveiled by the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Major General Hossein Salami, at a televised ceremony at the former mission that Iran calls the "den of spies".
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| Dresden declares 'Nazi Emergency' amid growing far-Right threat Posted: 02 Nov 2019 08:22 AM PDT  The Dresden City Council has officially declared a 'Nazi emergency' amid fears over the rise of far-Right groups in the eastern German city. Voting in favour of an official motion, supporters said it was necessary to 'strengthen civil society and democracy' in the city. The motion demanded increases in funding for education and civil engagement, while it also called upon council authorities not to approve any marches featuring far-Right elements. In calling for federal support to tackle the crisis, the motion stated "anti-democratic, anti-pluralist, misanthropic and right-wing extremist values and actions, including violence in Dresden, are increasingly becoming apparent." The council is run by a Left-wing coalition, but has a strong Alternative for Germany (AfD) membership. Leftist councillor Max Aschenbach, who developed the resolution, said the city needed to acknowledge extremism had reached crisis levels. "This city has a problem with Nazis and we need to do something about it," Aschenbach said. "There's been five years of (right-wing rallies), terrorist attacks and terrorist groups – and everyday news reports on Swastikas and Hitler salutes. "Politicians must finally be able to stand up and say 'no, this is unacceptable'," he said. In addition to Aschenbach's Die Partei (The Party), a satirical Left-wing party which has gained increasing mainstream support in recent years, the motion was also supported by the left-wing Greens and Die Linke (The Left), along with the centre-left Social Democrats and the centre-right Free Democrats. Chancellor Angela Merkel's centre-right Christian Democrats – along with the far-right AfD – both opposed the measure. A spokesperson for the Christian Democrats criticised the motion, telling the German Press Agency that it was an exercise in "pure symbolic politics" and represented a "linguistic error". Councillor Holger Hase (Free Democrats), whose party supported the motion, was however critical of the language used – particularly as the city was one of the contenders for the 2025 European Capital of Culture designation. Dresden, the largest city in the former East Germany, has had persistent problems with violence and far-right rhetoric in recent years. The city has seen a number of far-right rallies and demonstrations, particularly in the wake of Chancellor Merkel's pro-refugee policies were passed in 2015, while it is also the headquarters of the Pegida movement. Pegida, which in German stands for 'Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West', calls for restrictions on Islamic immigration. Since being founded in Dresden in 2014, the movement has spread across the globe in recent years.
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| Egypt to try train conductor in death of youth Posted: 02 Nov 2019 08:15 AM PDT ![Egypt to try train conductor in death of youth]( "Egypt to try train conductor in death of youth") Egypt's top prosecutor says a train conductor who allegedly forced two poor street vendors without tickets to jump off a moving train, leading to the death of one of the youths, will stand trial. The incident took place earlier this week in the Nile Delta town of Tanta and has stirred public outrage and calls for the resignation of Egypt's transportation minister. The conductor allegedly demanded the youths "pay for tickets but they refused," after which he reportedly opened a carriage door for them to jump out.
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| Iran student leader says he regrets 1979 US Embassy attack Posted: 02 Nov 2019 08:11 AM PDT  His revolutionary fervor diminished by the years that have also turned his dark brown hair white, one of the Iranian student leaders of the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover says he now regrets the seizure of the diplomatic compound and the 444-day hostage crisis that followed. Speaking to The Associated Press ahead of Monday's 40th anniversary of the attack, Ebrahim Asgharzadeh acknowledged that the repercussions of the crisis still reverberate as tensions remain high between the U.S. and Iran over Tehran's collapsing nuclear deal with world powers. Asgharzadeh cautioned others against following in his footsteps, despite the takeover becoming enshrined in hard-line mythology.
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| The Latest: Car bomb kills 13 civilians in northern Syria Posted: 02 Nov 2019 08:07 AM PDT  Turkey's Defense Ministry says a car bomb went off in the northern Syrian town of Tal Abyad, killing 13 civilians. The ministry says that about 20 others were wounded when the bomb exploded Saturday in central Tal Abyad, which was captured last month by Turkey-backed opposition gunmen from Kurdish-led fighters. Turkey last month invaded northeastern Syria to push out Syrian Kurdish fighters, who it considers terrorists for their links to a Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey.
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| Iran unveils anti-American murals at former US Embassy Posted: 02 Nov 2019 07:45 AM PDT  Iran has unveiled new murals painted on exterior walls of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran ahead of the 40th anniversary of the 1979 takeover of the embassy. Iran will commemorate the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Embassy takeover on Monday by staging a rally in front of the compound. The embassy in downtown Tehran remains frozen in time since 1979, when revolutionary students took over the compound after Washington allowed ousted Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to leave the country and travel to the U.S. for medical treatment.
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| Nobody Waved Goodbye: Trump’s Relationship With New York Was Already Over Posted: 02 Nov 2019 07:06 AM PDT  The chorus of Bronx cheers from New York officials at the news that President Donald Trump changed his primary residence to Florida was confirmation of what friends and advisers have said for months: Resuming his former life in Manhattan would be impossible.But Trump's decision to shift his home base to his resort in Palm Beach, which a person close to the president said was primarily to escape New York taxes, also comes at a time when the president has been disengaged from daily operations at the Trump Organization, which he once ran from Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue.Trump turned over the family real-estate company to his sons after his election, and company executives say they doubt he will have a day-to-day management role in the business when he leaves the White House.Since his inauguration, the Trump Organization has become more of a real-estate management firm than a fast-growing development company. Revenue at the company declined modestly in 2018, his most recent financial disclosures show.The ribbon cuttings and news conferences to celebrate new deals have slowed considerably, and more recent plans to open certain brands, like midlevel hotel chains under the names Scion and American Idea, have been dropped. The company also recently announced that it was considering selling its landmark hotel in Washington, which has been one of its hottest assets since it opened in 2016.Beyond his business, Trump does not relate to New York City anymore, a person close to him said, and is angry about the attacks on him by New York politicians."They haven't treated me properly," the president told reporters Friday. "I paid millions of taxes, millions and millions of dollars in New York." Trump also tweeted that although he loved New York, "New York can never be great again under the current leadership" of Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill DeBlasio.DeBlasio had greeted Trump's departure from New York with "Don't let the door hit you on the way out." Cuomo responded with "good riddance."The insults were reminders that three years into his presidency, the New York City that Trump once saw as synonymous with himself no longer exists. As the son of a wealthy real-estate developer who inherited many of his father's political connections, and who sought to become a celebrity and power broker in his own right, Trump viewed the city as his playground for nearly four decades. He went to parties, squired beautiful women and avoided a boring life at all costs.The tabloid gossip pages saw him as a valuable commodity who dangled morsels of news about himself. New York welcomed his help rebuilding a long-troubled ice-skating rink in Central Park. Paparazzi followed him from one social event to another. He appeared as himself in television shows and movies.Although he was always an outsider to Manhattan's financial and social elite, he earned a measure of goodwill for donating to local politicians and supporting Democratic issues, including at various points gun control and abortion rights. But his slash-and-burn presidential campaign erased even that.On Election Day in 2016, Trump arrived at his local polling place to jeers and laughter, caught on a video recording by someone who posted it to the internet. "You're going to lose!" one man could be heard taunting Trump.Three years in the White House have only made his relationship with his lifelong home worse. Trump's name has been taken off residential buildings around Manhattan after protests from residents. Even the Central Park skating rinks that he revived -- there are two -- have largely been stripped of the word "Trump."Federal prosecutors in Manhattan brought a case against the president's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, who is now serving in prison. The district attorney in Manhattan, Cyrus Vance, has issued subpoenas to obtain Trump's tax returns, which the president has refused to make public.A person close to Trump noted on Friday that Trump was in New York City for only a handful of days last year, including the U.N. General Assembly and a few fundraising events.It was not a surprise that Trump's tweets Thursday night announcing his "change in domicile" were raw with anger."I cherish New York, and the people of New York, and always will, but unfortunately, despite the fact that I pay millions of dollars in city, state and local taxes each year, I have been treated very badly by the political leaders of both the city and state. Few have been treated worse," he wrote in a series of Twitter posts.Advisers to Trump said that he has been infuriated by Vance's subpoena, part of an investigation into money Cohen paid to buy the silence of Stormy Daniels, a pornographic film actress who said she had an affair with Trump. The president is also angry about an investigation by the New York attorney general of four major Trump Organization projects.In addition, protests and social rejection seemed an inevitable aspect of Trump's post-presidency if he returned full-time to New York.He has told aides that he feels bad about the traffic blockades that the Secret Service requires for his travel disrupting the businesses near Trump Tower, and that he has found it less disruptive to spend time at his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.Aides say that he misses his former life and that being cosseted in the White House has been suffocating for him. But he will have an easier time at his club in Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago, where he likes to play host and greeter to guests and members.Some Trump advisers see a political upside to his new affiliation. Trump's 2020 campaign manager, Brad Parscale, said months ago that a Florida residency could be helpful to the president in a state that is a must-win in 2020, according to two people familiar with the discussions.Even as Trump has made an official break with New York, in a quirk of scheduling he is to make a trip to the city this weekend. The main event on Trump's schedule is attending an Ultimate Fighting Championship at Madison Garden, including a welterweight fight between Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal.That event is characteristic of the degree to which Trump is from New York but no longer of it. He will be ensconced at the arena watching a fight on the same weekend that thousands of mostly upscale runners take part in one of the city's elite events, the New York City Marathon.At a news conference Thursday, Masvidal said "money that he's made, the obstacles that he's conquered" made Trump admirable, "no matter what your political views are."Masvidal, who grew up in Miami, acknowledged that his support of Trump could anger many of his fans. "I don't want to get too much into politics, though, you know," he said. "A lot of my Latin community might get upset at me."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| Impeachment Gets Real, Brexit Doesn’t Materialize: Weekend Reads Posted: 02 Nov 2019 05:01 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Want to receive this post in your inbox every day? Sign up for the Balance of Power newsletter, and follow Bloomberg Politics on Twitter and Facebook for more.This week made history both for what did and didn't happen. The U.S. House set Donald Trump on the path toward becoming only the third president to be impeached, while U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's "do-or-die" deadline for Britain's divorce from the European Union came and went. Meanwhile, the Hong Kong police officer who fired his gun at protesters is now getting death threats, and Baltic leaders are fretting about the implications of Trump's recent actions in Syria. Dig deeper into these and other topics — and don't miss our exclusive interview with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — in the latest edition of Weekend Reads. Pelosi Sets a High Bar for Impeachment Inquiry: 'Ironclad' ProofIn an exclusive interview with Bloomberg reporters and editors, Pelosi offered her most expansive view of the impeachment probe to date and said she decided to advance the inquiry after Trump's phone call with Ukraine's leader provided her with the "clarity" that prior allegations against the president lacked. Click here for more on what the speaker had to say about the 2020 election.Hong Kong Policeman Who Fired His Gun Now Faces Death ThreatsIain Marlow and Blake Schmidt spoke to Jacky, who fired a live round as he and his fellow officers clashed with demonstrators in increasingly violent street battles. "It was the first time I felt that way — not that I would necessarily die, but that something was going to happen to me and my unit," he said.What If Trump Calls Putin? Balts and Poles Worry After SyriaEstonia is more than 2,000 miles from the Levant, yet ripples from Trump's recent actions in Syria are reaching all the way to the Baltic Sea, Ott Ummelas, Aaron Eglitis and Marek Strzelecki report.The Drone Wars Are Here, and They're EscalatingThe skies of Syria, Yemen, and Libya swarm with armed and dangerous unmanned aerial vehicles. And the technology is spreading. Gwen Ackerman, Selcan Hacaoglu and Mohammed Hatem take a closer look. The Rash of Protests Around the Globe Have One Thing in CommonFrom Iraq to Chile, it feels like protests are everywhere. While each case of unrest has specific complaints, Rosalind Mathieson explores something they all have in common: the lack of a clear leadership structure.As Brexit Radicalizes British Politics, There's Nowhere to HideThere's no room for moderates in next month's election battle as populists push all parties to the extremes, Jess Shankleman reports.Two Foreign Exchange Traders, Three Votes and a Brexit MeltdownSince suffering a historic fall in value in the days after the U.K.'s 2016 vote to leave the EU, the pound has become one of the world's most volatile currencies. Kit Chellel and Gavin Finch rode along with two FX traders as they bet on a slow-motion car wreck. Life on the Zambezi Is Hard. The Climate Crisis Makes It DeadlyFor millions across southern Africa, the 1,700-mile Zambezi River serves as a highway, fishing ground, water fountain and swimming hole. But as Matthew Hill found on a two-week journey down the river, intensifying global warming has put residents increasingly at risk of food shortages. Fixing India's Financial System Is Like Playing Whack-a-MoleEven after billions in government aid, India's banks have the highest percentage of stressed loans of all major economies. Abhishek Vishnoi, Marcus Wright and Suvashree Ghosh explore why. Death Canal Comes to Life as Export Gateway for European WheatRomania and Bulgaria are becoming agricultural heavyweights again, 30 years after the end of communism. James Gomez, Irina Vilcu and Slav Okov chart how a notorious canal from the Danube River to the port of Constanta has become an export lifeline for two of the EU's poorest members. And finally … After the global success of 2000's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the Chinese film industry exploded, and multibillion-dollar mega studios were built to house and shoot these productions. In Once Upon a Time in Shanghai, the photographer Mark Parascandola has documented the industry's boom. To contact the author of this story: Kathleen Hunter in London at khunter9@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Winfrey at mwinfrey@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Iran unveils new anti-US murals at former embassy Posted: 02 Nov 2019 04:42 AM PDT Iran on Saturday unveiled new anti-American murals on the walls of the former US embassy as Tehran prepares to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the storming of what it labels the "den of spies". The new murals -- mainly painted in white, red and blue, the colours of the US flag -- were unveiled by Major General Hossein Salami, the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, at the former mission turned museum. A third showed the American Global Hawk drone that was shot down by Iran in June over the Strait of Hormuz, with bats flying out of it.
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| Russia's 'sovereign internet' law takes effect Posted: 02 Nov 2019 03:37 AM PDT  Russia's "sovereign internet" law, which President Vladimir Putin signed back in May, has taken effect on November 1st. As the BBC explains, it gives the country's government power to block access to content whether from within or from outside Russia "in an emergency." Of course, it's up to the government to decide what constitutes one.
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| North Korea Keeps Showing the World Why Its Long-Range Artillery Is a Threat Posted: 02 Nov 2019 02:30 AM PDT  North Korea has deployed around 13,000 artillery pieces and rocket launchers along the demilitarized zone between it and South Korea. Much of Pyongyang's artillery is in range of the Seoul Greater Metropolitan Area, which begins just 25 miles south of the DMZ.
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| UPDATE 3-UK PM Johnson rejects calls for no-deal Brexit in election pitch Posted: 02 Nov 2019 02:17 AM PDT ![UPDATE 3-UK PM Johnson rejects calls for no-deal Brexit in election pitch]( "UPDATE 3-UK PM Johnson rejects calls for no-deal Brexit in election pitch") LONDON/SWINDON, England, Nov 2 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson drew an angry backlash from Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage on Saturday after he rejected calls to drop his Brexit deal and embrace a clean break from the European Union, potentially splitting the eurosceptic vote. Johnson had previously pledged to take Britain out of the EU with or without a deal on Oct. 31, before lawmakers voted to force him to seek an extension until Jan. 31.
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| To Shake Up Trump, Kim Jong Un Gets All Mystical—Then Launches Missiles Posted: 02 Nov 2019 02:09 AM PDT  Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Korean Central News Agency/APFrom sacred Mount Paektu, the Korean peninsula's highest peak on the North's border with China, to the 10,000 spire-like pinnacles of Mount Kumgang just above the line with South Korea, Kim Jong Un has cast himself of late as the bold, fearless, iconic leader literally daring to ascend the highest peaks in pursuit of power over the divided country.There's nothing remotely subtle about the campaign that has pictured him on a white stallion riding through the early snows of another frigid winter on Mt. Paektu or striding up the slopes of Kumgang.It's all about projecting the image of a hero in a campaign of intimidation aimed at both the U.S. and South Korea in a climactic drive to get President Donald Trump and the South's President Moon Jae-in to yield at last to his demands. North Koreans Think Trump Admin Talks Are 'Sickening.' So Should You.And now Kim had added some very important missile tests to his message. In a sequence that clearly had been pre-scripted as the second act after those daring ascents, North Korean gunners test-fired what the North's Academy of Defense Science proudly described as "super-large multiple rocket launchers."Kim, having already appeared as a fit if somewhat portly outdoorsman, did not have to be standing by to press the button. While that image of the brave warrior dominated the state media, the academy reported "the perfection of the continuous fire system" as "verified through the test-fire to totally destroy with super-power the group target of the enemy and designated target area by surprise strike of the weapon system of super-large multiple rocket launchers."The ferocity of the test, at least as claimed, carried one especially disturbing message. That kind of firepower isn't for use against American or Japanese soil, but could devastate America's largest overseas base at Camp Humphreys, 40 miles south of Seoul, 60 miles below the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas.The base, no doubt shielded by all manner of sensors, missiles and other wizardry, has got to be a sitting duck for the North's increasingly advanced weaponry. Most of America's 28,500 troops in Korea, plus families and civilian employees, are now there after the closure of U.S. bases below the DMZ and withdrawal of the central headquarters for U.S. Forces Korea from the historic Yongsan base in Seoul. Nearby Osan Air Base is headquarters for the Seventh Air Force, also an easy target."Megabase in Korea's Danger Zone," is the cover story in this week's Army Times magazine. The North Koreans "said they've been developing these weapons to be able to strike a 'fat target,'" David Maxwell, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, who spent years in Korea as an army officer, is quoted as saying. "We assume that the 'fat target' is Camp Humphreys as well as Osan Air Base."Even as U.S. forces were moving into Humphreys, writes Kyle Rempfer, "North Korea has developed large caliber rockets and ballistic missiles as well as a nuclear capability" within range of the expanded 3,500-acre base. "North Korea's 300-millimeter multiple rocket launchers and new KN-23 short-range ballistic missiles both have an advertised capability to reach Camp Humphreys."Not-to-worry is, nonetheless, the soothing message from Moon and his aides. Echoing Trump's earlier expressions of non-concern about the North's short-range missile tests, South Korea's national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, said the latest shots, the 12th this year but the first in a month, were not "very grave threats." In fact, he argued, "our missile defense and intercept capabilities" are "absolutely superior."With two months to go before the end-of-year "deadline" set by the North for the U.S. to propose a new deal, however, the testing assumes seriously intimidating overtones. At the top of the North's demands are an end to sanctions and a "peace declaration"– but no real end to its nuclear program, long since sanctified in the North's constitution.As for Moon, Kim has come up with a bargaining tool that demonstrates the futility of any deal with North Korea. He's demanding South Korea demolish or remove an entire tourist resort at the foot of Mount Kumgang, aka Diamond Mountain, heaping scorn on what was once the most visible showcase for promoting North-South rapprochement.North Korea's state media is dressing up the demand with images of Kim, sporty in a white shirt tailored to fit his contours, appearing to conquer Kumgang on foot just as he rode up the slopes of Paektu on a white horse. Whether he got to the top of Paektu on the horse as claimed, the imagery from Kumgang leaves no doubt he trudged only far enough for a photo-op that provided the setting for his message to Moon.Packing 290 pounds on his rotund five-foot seven-inch frame, Kim was not at all fit for the hike. Missing are photographs showing him at the majestic Kuryong waterfall, which tumbles 84 meters down granite cliffs. Only four kilometers up the trail, it's the destination for just about everyone else who's been there.Also further up the trail, a special wooden bench, lovingly painted and repainted a sparkling dark blue, is said to be exactly where Kim Il Sung sat to gaze on Mount Kumgang, some of whose many pinnacles are often lost in the clouds far above. A low-lying chain link fence keeps disrespectful tourists from sitting where the late "Great Leader" once sat. No doubt Kim Jong Un would love to plant his ample posterior on granddad's bench, but he got nowhere near it.Rather than at the falls or on the bench, Kim is seen with imagery selected and edited to give an impression of an indomitable figure conquering the mountain. Shots show him with a stout walking stick standing on a footbridge, smiling with aides in a clearing, edging by large boulders, his coyly smiling wife, Ri Sol Ju, close behind. Viewers don't need to know all these photos were staged where the trail begins.The scenic setting provides the backdrop for a shocking message to South Korea—and the U.S, too. In a devastating setback to South Korea's efforts at reconciliation, Kim declared the facilities built by South Korea's largest construction firm, Hyundai Engineering and Construction, were "ugly" and "unpleasant" to look at. North Korea has demanded South Korea set a date in writing for removal or demolition of all of them, including 10 hotels, sports and entertainment facilities, a duty-free shopping center and dozens of individual structures to accommodate tour groups.Kim's denunciation of the facilities at Kumgang, which also include an 18-hole golf course and a hot springs spa, is a calculated rebuff to President Moon, who still fantasizes about reopening the resort to South Koreans. Seoul has barred them from going there ever since a South Korean woman was shot and killed by a North Korean soldier in July 2008 while wandering outside the tourist area to gaze at the sunrise. Another problem is how to get around sanctions blocking commercial transactions with the North.It was as though Kim wanted to portray himself as a daring sportsman, a larger-than-life character afraid of nothing before getting down to the serious business of dissing the South as punishment for Moon's failure to stand up to U.S demands for the North to give up its nuclear program.As for the U.S., Kim's heroics provided the window-dressing for a series of intimidating messages for his friend President Trump. After the North's state media put out photos showing Kim as a virile figure fit to climb any mountain, subordinates came out almost daily with threats against the U.S. for dithering on a deal."The Korean peninsula is at a critical crossroads," said the country's second ranking leader, Choe Ryong-hae, at a confab of the so-called non-aligned movement in Azerbaijan. The choice was "either moving towards durable peace along with the trend of detente, or facing again a touch-and-go crisis."That warning came after another top leader, Kim Yong Chol, resurgent after having been reported in May to have been executed for the failure of the Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi, said Trump had better not count on his friendship with Kim to keep the North from testing nukes and missiles."The U.S. is seriously mistaken if it has the idea of exploiting the close personal relations" between Trump and Kim, said Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the Workers' Party Central Committee, in a statement carried by Pyongyang's official news agency. The U.S., he said, is now "more desperately resorting to the hostile policy" toward North Korea. Those stern words, coming right after Kim's shows on Kumgang and Paektu, left the South Koreans with no convincing response.South Korea's unification ministry called for "creative solutions" to the entire problem of dismantling the resort complex and keeping Kim happy. North Korea turned a cold shoulder to the South's suggestions for "individual" tours that might avoid sanctions.Kim's current observations from the bottom of Kumgang were meant to show how South Koreans desecrated this scenic wonderland when they opened it to tourism in deals made by South Korea's Kim Dae-jung, the country's president from 1998 to 2003."Mt. Kumgang is our land of blood," Kim Jong Un is quoted as saying. "We have our own sovereignty and dignity on the cliffs and trees." Those hideous South-made structures, he said, were "severely damaging the landscape" and "neglecting the management of cultural tourism."While Trump Shrugs, North Korea's Building Better MissilesRead 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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| Iranian Official Says U.S. Sanctions Sign of Diplomatic Weakness Posted: 02 Nov 2019 01:35 AM PDT ![Iranian Official Says U.S. Sanctions Sign of Diplomatic Weakness]( "Iranian Official Says U.S. Sanctions Sign of Diplomatic Weakness") (Bloomberg) -- The "repetitive" U.S. sanctions on Iran are a sign of diplomatic weakness and inefficiency and should be dropped, the Islamic Republic's Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on messaging app Telegram.Mousavi also called on the U.S. to meet its nuclear agreement pledges. The latest wave of U.S. sanctions targeted the construction sector and the country's elaborate missile programs, with U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo saying the decision is intended to keep a close watch on Iran's civil nuclear program and constrain its ability to shorten its "breakout time" for a nuclear weapon.Read: Trump Orders More Sanctions on Iran After Attack on Saudi ArabiaTo contact the reporters on this story: Arsalan Shahla in Tehran at ashahla@bloomberg.net;Mahmoud Habboush in Abu Dhabi at mhabboush@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Nayla Razzouk at nrazzouk2@bloomberg.net, Renee Bonorchis, Sara MarleyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Do Iran's Speedboats Have Any Chance Against The U.S. Navy? Posted: 02 Nov 2019 12:00 AM PDT  Iran has been honing its asymmetric warfare capabilities for just this scenario.
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| Baghdad building now a landmark in anti-government protests Posted: 01 Nov 2019 11:25 PM PDT  Then they move inside the building, dine together, play dominoes and sing patriotic songs until the early hours of the morning. The 14-story, Saddam Hussein-era building on the Tigris River has emerged as a landmark in the anti-government protests gripping Iraq.
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| Migrants endure rape and torture on route through Yemen Posted: 01 Nov 2019 11:24 PM PDT  RAS AL-ARA, Yemen (AP) — Zahra struggled in the blue waters of the Gulf of Aden, grasping for the hands of fellow migrants. Hundreds of men, women and teenagers clambered out of a boat and through the surf, emerging, exhausted, on the shores of Yemen. "What will they do to us?" Zahra thought.
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| Iraq’s Top Cleric Warns Iran to Stay Out Posted: 01 Nov 2019 11:00 PM PDT  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- To understand what Iraq's Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is saying, you have to translate him twice: first from Arabic to English, then from politesse to plain-speak. In the first translation, a key passage from his Friday sermon in the holy city of Karbala went like this: "No person or group, no side with a particular view, no regional or international actor may seize the will of the Iraqi people and impose its will on them."The second translation: "Back off, Khamenei!"That is how it would have sounded to Sistani's audience in Karbala, where it was read out for the ailing octogenarian by an aide; in the streets of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities, where a bloody crackdown on largely peaceful protesters has taken more than 200 lives; in the Iraqi parliament, where lawmakers are negotiating a response to the demonstrations; and in Tehran, where Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has been struggling to respond to the rising anti-Iran sentiment that undergirds uprisings in Iraq and Lebanon.Khamenei has unleashed Iran's proxies in the streets — Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Shiite militias in Iraq — to intimidate the protesters. He has also dispatched his chief enforcer, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps commander Qassem Soleimani, to the Iraqi parliament, to rally Shiite parties behind the feckless Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi.But if anything, these responses will only fan the anger in the streets against Iranian interference in Iraqi and Lebanese politics. Not even Khamenei, who is practiced in the art of ignoring popular resentment, can have failed to notice the anti-Iran slogans echoing through Iraqi cities. Nor will it have escaped his attention that the loudest chanting comes from Iraqi Shiites, a community he expects to favor his Islamic Republic. The Supreme Leader's anxiety was palpable in his tweets on Thursday, when he tried to blame Tehran's usual suspects — "the U.S., the Zionist regime, some Western countries, and the money of some reactionary countries" — for the protests.Sistani's sermon was a riposte, designed to set Khamenei right. Although born in Iran, he is no fan of Khamenei and other hardliners in Tehran, preferring the likes of President Hassan Rouhani.Iraq's Grand Ayatollah has been in a quandary over the protests. Every Iraqi government since 2005 has had his personal imprimatur: His word has united factions among the Shiite majority. Prime Minister Abdul-Mahdi, too, has his blessing. As such, Sistani is complicit in the corruption and ineptitude that have brought the Iraqis into the streets.His early pronouncements on the protests vacillated between bromides against corruption and calls on the protesters to abjure violence. But as the demonstrations have persisted, Sistani has grown progressively more critical of the government, blaming it for the violence.His Friday sermon puts him squarely on the protesters' side. In addition to interfering Iranians, the leaders who have long benefited from his validation came under attack. As the politicians in Baghdad struggle to devise a response that will satisfy angry Iraqis, the so-called sage of Najaf warned that Iraqis have a right to a "referendum on the constitution" to change how they are governed. By invoking the prospect of a referendum, Sistani may have given the protesters a new focus for their energies, and Iraqi politicians a way to break the toxic pattern of inconclusive elections and compromise prime ministers. Much will depend on the reaction of another cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, who has also taken the protesters' side — even joining them in the streets — and has called for Abdul-Mahdi's removal.Sadr, frequently described as a firebrand, has little in common with the preternaturally placid Sistani. But the prospect of the protests being led by one and backed by the other is certain to rattle turbaned heads in Tehran. And if Sistani and Sadr were to throw their combined weight behind demands for a referendum — and who knows, maybe even inspire emulation by the Lebanese — that might be the stuff of Khamenei's nightmares.To contact the author of this story: Bobby Ghosh at aghosh73@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: James Gibney at jgibney5@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Bobby Ghosh is a columnist and member of the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board. He writes on foreign affairs, with a special focus on the Middle East and the wider Islamic world.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Iraq’s Top Cleric Warns Iran to Stay Out Posted: 01 Nov 2019 11:00 PM PDT  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- To understand what Iraq's Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is saying, you have to translate him twice: first from Arabic to English, then from politesse to plain-speak. In the first translation, a key passage from his Friday sermon in the holy city of Karbala went like this: "No person or group, no side with a particular view, no regional or international actor may seize the will of the Iraqi people and impose its will on them."The second translation: "Back off, Khamenei!"That is how it would have sounded to Sistani's audience in Karbala, where it was read out for the ailing octogenarian by an aide; in the streets of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities, where a bloody crackdown on largely peaceful protesters has taken more than 200 lives; in the Iraqi parliament, where lawmakers are negotiating a response to the demonstrations; and in Tehran, where Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has been struggling to respond to the rising anti-Iran sentiment that undergirds uprisings in Iraq and Lebanon.Khamenei has unleashed Iran's proxies in the streets — Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Shiite militias in Iraq — to intimidate the protesters. He has also dispatched his chief enforcer, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps commander Qassem Soleimani, to the Iraqi parliament, to rally Shiite parties behind the feckless Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi.But if anything, these responses will only fan the anger in the streets against Iranian interference in Iraqi and Lebanese politics. Not even Khamenei, who is practiced in the art of ignoring popular resentment, can have failed to notice the anti-Iran slogans echoing through Iraqi cities. Nor will it have escaped his attention that the loudest chanting comes from Iraqi Shiites, a community he expects to favor his Islamic Republic. The Supreme Leader's anxiety was palpable in his tweets on Thursday, when he tried to blame Tehran's usual suspects — "the U.S., the Zionist regime, some Western countries, and the money of some reactionary countries" — for the protests.Sistani's sermon was a riposte, designed to set Khamenei right. Although born in Iran, he is no fan of Khamenei and other hardliners in Tehran, preferring the likes of President Hassan Rouhani.Iraq's Grand Ayatollah has been in a quandary over the protests. Every Iraqi government since 2005 has had his personal imprimatur: His word has united factions among the Shiite majority. Prime Minister Abdul-Mahdi, too, has his blessing. As such, Sistani is complicit in the corruption and ineptitude that have brought the Iraqis into the streets.His early pronouncements on the protests vacillated between bromides against corruption and calls on the protesters to abjure violence. But as the demonstrations have persisted, Sistani has grown progressively more critical of the government, blaming it for the violence.His Friday sermon puts him squarely on the protesters' side. In addition to interfering Iranians, the leaders who have long benefited from his validation came under attack. As the politicians in Baghdad struggle to devise a response that will satisfy angry Iraqis, the so-called sage of Najaf warned that Iraqis have a right to a "referendum on the constitution" to change how they are governed. By invoking the prospect of a referendum, Sistani may have given the protesters a new focus for their energies, and Iraqi politicians a way to break the toxic pattern of inconclusive elections and compromise prime ministers. Much will depend on the reaction of another cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, who has also taken the protesters' side — even joining them in the streets — and has called for Abdul-Mahdi's removal.Sadr, frequently described as a firebrand, has little in common with the preternaturally placid Sistani. But the prospect of the protests being led by one and backed by the other is certain to rattle turbaned heads in Tehran. And if Sistani and Sadr were to throw their combined weight behind demands for a referendum — and who knows, maybe even inspire emulation by the Lebanese — that might be the stuff of Khamenei's nightmares.To contact the author of this story: Bobby Ghosh at aghosh73@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: James Gibney at jgibney5@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Bobby Ghosh is a columnist and member of the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board. He writes on foreign affairs, with a special focus on the Middle East and the wider Islamic world.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| In Britain’s Clash of Radicals, There’s Nowhere to Hide Posted: 01 Nov 2019 10:01 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- In the week Boris Johnson became British prime minister, two men in northeast England were jailed for throwing bricks through the office windows of their local member of Parliament in a politically motivated attack.The lawmaker, Helen Goodman, voted to stay in the European Union. People in her district of Bishop Auckland voted overwhelmingly to leave and she says she regularly receives a torrent of abuse online over her Brexit stance. Her seat, held by the Labour Party for the past 84 years, is now a prime target of Johnson's Conservatives.The problem for Goodman is that she wants a compromise—a version of Brexit that keeps close ties with the continent—but compromise isn't on offer. "What's happened since the referendum is there's been quite a lot of polarization," she said. "So people who were very 'Brexity' before are even more 'Brexity' now and people who voted remain are even more 'Remainy.'"To suggest that Britain's election campaign will be the most vitriolic in living memory is an understatement as parties dig in over if, when and how to leave the European Union. But the danger is that the radicalization of the country's political system also looks entrenched.Read More: Brexit Is Bringing Out the Worst in BritainEurope has seen its fair share of populists over the past five years, though whether it be Syriza in Greece or the Five Star Movement in Italy, they pitted themselves against the establishment before being brought to heel by the realpolitik of an integrated continent. What makes Britain different also makes its politics all the more febrile: it's radical versus radical, with both cajoling an angry electorate.Goodman, 61 and a parliamentarian since 2005, is defiant and is campaigning to retain her seat, but many others in Westminster aren't. The list of electoral casualties is lengthening as more moderate members of Parliament quit or are pushed out.Culture Minister Nicky Morgan on Wednesday announced she wouldn't stand while former cabinet colleague Amber Rudd was barred from running for a seat as a Conservative as the party blamed her for disrupting Brexit. Morgan, along with former Conservative Heidi Allen, cited abuse for doing their job when announcing they would not contest the election."If you're a politician who stands in the center ground on Brexit, you're just going to be losing to more extreme parties on either side of you," said Jonathan Mellon, a research fellow in politics at the University of Manchester. "It's only by taking a position that's as extreme as the smaller parties that the larger parties can hope to win."Both Johnson and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn accuse the other of representing the worn-out establishment, saying only they are championing people left behind by globalization.Corbyn, 70, is trying to steer the debate away from Brexit and onto the fraying of Britain's social contract. He's promising to nationalize utilities, reduce the working week to four days and scrap student tuition fees. Johnson, 55, is making the Dec. 12 vote all about his quest to "Get Brexit done" after he was forced to seek an extension until the end of January by Parliament. He needs to neutralize the campaign by arch-Euroskeptic Nigel Farage's Brexit Party. The two parties that have claimed the center ground, meanwhile, also have flagship policies that reflect the polarization of British politics. The Liberal Democrats are threatening to halt the departure from the EU all together while the Scottish National Party's core policy is to end the United Kingdom and get independence for Scotland.The Conservatives lead Labour by 10 percentage points on average, which would give them back the majority in Parliament they lost two years ago. That said, surveys suggested Johnson's predecessor, Theresa May, would sail home in 2017 only for her to witness unexpected surge in support for Corbyn.Johnson needs to attract voters who have left Labour for the Brexit Party, while Corbyn needs to appeal to voters who want to stay in the EU and support the Liberal Democrats, said John Curtice, politics professor at Strathclyde University in Glasgow and Britain's leading psephologist. "You're talking about which of these parties manages to lose less," he said. From areas like Kensington, home to London department store Harrods but also housing projects with some of the capital's worst poverty, to places like Bishop Auckland with some of the country's highest unemployment, Brexit has redrawn tribal divisions and thrown up battlegrounds that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.Once one of the safest Conservative seats in the country, Kensington voted to stay in the EU and swung dramatically to Labour in 2017, with voters drawn to Corbyn's softer Brexit stance. Labour snatched victory by just 20 votes. Now it's too close to call between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, though Labour also has retained support.Janette Froud, a market stall owner in Portobello Road, will vote for Labour just to stop any renewed prospect of leaving the EU without a deal to secure trade. "I would vote Lib Dem if I could afford to, but they're probably not going to get in, so I would vote tactically," she said.Back in Bishop Auckland, Johnson needs to smother claims by Corbyn that a decade of austerity is responsible for the North East's lagging average incomes, productivity and employment levels. Instead, he has to persuade them that leaving the EU and curbing immigration is the answer. Corbyn, meanwhile, needs to defeat the Liberal Democrat party, which says he's pro Brexit because he refused to take sides and Labour now wants another referendum.The plan is already working for people like Phil Mason, and that leaves Labour lawmaker Goodman clinging to her majority of just 502 votes. Mason, 66, reflected how, like many people in the former mining town, he has voted Labour all of his life and could never have considered backing a Conservative—until Johnson came along with his hard line on Brexit."Boris is wanting to get us out," said Mason, a retired factory worker. "Jeremy Corbyn keeps changing his mind. I don't think he has a clue what he wants to do."To contact the author of this story: Jess Shankleman in London at jshankleman@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Rodney JeffersonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| US extends protection for 6 nations' migrants for a year Posted: 01 Nov 2019 06:46 PM PDT ![US extends protection for 6 nations' migrants for a year]( "US extends protection for 6 nations' migrants for a year") The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced Friday it is extending temporary protected status coverage for migrants from El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua and Sudan through Jan. 4, 2021. The status, which has been granted because of disasters or conflicts in those countries, had been set to expire in January 2020, or in Nepal's case, March. Trump administration has been trying to end TPS for those countries since 2018, but that move has been tied up by court appeals.
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| State Dept warns of rise in 'racially-motivated' terrorism, expansion of ISIS 'toxic ideology' Posted: 01 Nov 2019 03:42 PM PDT  The State Department is warning about a "rise in racially or ethnically motivated terrorism" that is "learning from their jihadist predecessors," according to its top official for counter-terrorism. In its annual report on terrorism, the department also highlighted Iran's enduring support for terrorism and terrorist groups and the end of ISIS's hold on territory, but the spread of its "toxic ideology" -- even warning of "vengeance" from its members over the recent death of its leader during a U.S. raid. "We know that white supremacists and other racially motivated organizations or networks communicate across international borders.
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