| Hong Kong’s Democracy Forces Rebuke China With Huge Election Win Posted: 24 Nov 2019 05:42 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong residents handed an overwhelming victory to pro-democracy candidates in a vote for local district councils on Sunday, a stunning repudiation of the city's Beijing-backed government after months of increasingly violent protests seeking meaningful elections.The candidates took at least 278 seats of the 452 up for grabs, according to the South China Morning Post, about seven times more than the pro-government camp. Pro-democracy groups gained control of at least 12 of the 18 district councils after failing to win a majority in any of them four years ago, the report said. The vote saw record turnout of 71%, with more than 2.94 million people casting ballots -- roughly double the previous high in 2015.The vote came at a time of unprecedented political polarization in the city, with divisions hardening as the protests become more disruptive and the government refuses to compromise. While the district councils are considered the lowest rung of Hong Kong's government, the results will add pressure on the government to meet demands including an independent inquiry into police abuses and the ability to nominate and elect the city's leader, including one who would stand up to Beijing.The district councilors have few real powers, mostly advising the chief executive on matters like fixing up parks and organizing community activities. Most importantly, they help appoint 117 of the 1,200 electors who select the chief executive, which would give pro-democracy forces more choice over candidates who must still be approved by Beijing.The result will make it harder for establishment forces to put in their preferred candidate in the next race for chief executive, said James Tien, a former pro-establishment lawmaker."It will be very difficult for government to manage a win, and then I think it's more difficult to govern right now," he told Bloomberg Television on Monday. If the violence dies down after the vote, he said, the government will have "no excuse" not to appoint a commission of inquiry by January.The vote shows dissatisfaction with Chief Executive Carrie Lam's government following months of protests triggered by legislation allowing extraditions to mainland China, which has since been withdrawn. Unhappiness with the administration rose to 80% from just 40% a year ago -- well before the unrest began -- according to surveys by the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute. Lam's popularity has fallen to record lows as the protests evolved into a wider pushback against Beijing's grip.Hong Kong "is at the precipice" and could fall off if authorities don't heed the message of the vote, said Steve Tsang, the director of the China Institute at London's School of Oriental and African Studies and the author of several books on Hong Kong."An overwhelming majority of voters have sent a clear signal: they want their Hong Kong back," Tsang said. "It's now time for the government in Hong Kong to hear what people have said and use this electoral result and the way this election has happened as a basis to work for a political solution."The vote has been closely watched around the world, particularly as U.S. lawmakers look to support the protesters while President Donald Trump seeks to finalize a phase one trade deal with China. Trump on Friday declined to say whether he would sign a bill that passed Congress with near-unanimous support, saying he supports both the demonstrators and Chinese President Xi Jinping.Elizabeth Warren, a leading Democratic candidate for president, said the vote sent a "powerful message that they want to keep their democracy -- and Beijing must respect that."Among the early winners were Civil Human Rights Front organizer Jimmy Sham, who was previously hospitalized after he was attacked by hammer-wielding thugs. Starry Lee, chairwoman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, the city's largest pro-Beijing party, won her re-election even though many other pro-establishment figures lost."The high turnout rate did benefit the pro-democracy camp," said pro-democracy candidate Kelvin Lam, who won after standing in for activist Joshua Wong, who was banned by the government from participating. "The result is like a referendum of the current administration, like a confidence vote."The election unfolded peacefully despite concerns it could be delayed or disrupted by violence following unrest in the leadup, with voters facing unusually long lines at polling stations across the city. Its elections have typically been plagued by low voter turnout and aren't hugely competitive, compared with those for the Hong Kong's more powerful Legislative Council."I came out to vote because of the current situation in society now," said Ken Lam, 19, a student and first-time voter. "The government is ignoring voices in the public. Policy-making lacks transparency in every aspect."(Updates with former lawmaker's comments)\--With assistance from Aaron Mc Nicholas, Josie Wong and Shelly Banjo.To contact the reporters on this story: Julia Fioretti in Hong Kong at jfioretti4@bloomberg.net;Iain Marlow in Hong Kong at imarlow1@bloomberg.net;Fion Li in Hong Kong at fli59@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Ten Kate at dtenkate@bloomberg.net, Linus ChuaFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| CKGSB Wins China Social Impact Award for "Poverty Alleviation" and Named a Finalist for "Women's Empowerment" and "Employee Engagement" Posted: 24 Nov 2019 05:02 PM PST ![CKGSB Wins China Social Impact Award for "Poverty Alleviation" and Named a Finalist for "Women's Empowerment" and "Employee Engagement"]( "CKGSB Wins China Social Impact Award for \"Poverty Alleviation\" and Named a Finalist for \"Women's Empowerment\" and \"Employee Engagement\"") Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) has been awarded the 2019 China Social Impact Award in "Poverty Alleviation" by the British Chamber of Commerce in China and United Nations for its positive impact and efforts in reducing poverty in China. The awards were handed out across seven categories from a field of more than 250 companies and organizations competing in total.
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| Police fire tear gas as groups clash in Lebanon capital Posted: 24 Nov 2019 02:57 PM PST  Security forces fired tear gas amid confrontations in central Beirut that went into Monday morning between Hezbollah supporters and demonstrators protesting against Lebanon's political elite. The confrontations began after dozens of supporters of the Iran-backed militant group arrived on scooters and attacked the protesters with clubs and metal rods, chanting pro-Hezbollah slogans.
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| Trump impeachment: Schiff calls on Bolton to testify and slams Republicans Posted: 24 Nov 2019 12:19 PM PST  * Ex-adviser at heart of Ukraine affair has secured book deal * Schiff: I would act same way against Democratic president * Reich: Impeachment shows US officials at their bestJohn Bolton seen in Minsk in August, when he was still Donald Trump's national security adviser. Photograph: Sergei Gapon/AFP via Getty ImagesHouse intelligence committee chairman Adam Schiff blasted former national security adviser John Bolton on Sunday, for failing to appear for testimony in the impeachment inquiry while teasing a forthcoming memoir.Bolton "wanted to wait for a book instead of telling the American people what he knew", Schiff told CNN's State of the Union, drawing a contrast between Bolton and his former deputy, Fiona Hill, who appeared before the committee on Thursday."The obligation right now to show the courage Dr Hill did," Schiff said. "She made the decision that this is the right thing to do. John Bolton should make the same decision."Bolton, who has said he had conversations with Trump and others relevant to the investigation, has resisted testifying, warning through a lawyer that he will file suit if subpoenaed for testimony.While he said he would prefer for witnesses such as Bolton and secretary of state Mike Pompeo to answer the committee's questions, Schiff warned that moving the impeachment process forward was "urgent", in order to prevent Trump tampering in the 2020 election.embed"There is a sense of urgency when you have a president who is threatening the integrity of our elections that we need to act now," he said. "If there is not deterrent … we can darn well be sure this president will commit even more egregious acts in the months ahead."Schiff said the impeachment investigation was ongoing and "we have continued to learn more information every day", but added that "the evidence is already overwhelming" and said he hoped Republicans would rise to what he called a "constitutional duty" to consider impeachment.The intelligence committee is working on a report it is expected to submit to the judiciary committee in early December, although the report could have "addenda", Schiff said. "We don't foreclose the possibility of more depositions or hearings," he said. "We are in the process of getting more records."The judiciary committee will decide if impeachment proceeds, and on what grounds. A vote in the House could likely pass largely on party lines but conviction in the Senate seems unlikely.The White House is preparing for a Senate trial, Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said on CBS's Face the Nation, but Trump's team also has not ruled out that an impeachment vote would not be taken in the House."We're preparing for both eventualities," she said. No Republicans in the House or Senate have said they favour impeachment.Schiff said he "would hope there would be Republicans who would be willing to step forward. It shouldn't matter that this is a Republican president. If this had been a Democratic president, I would be among those leading the way and saying we have to" pursue impeachment.On NBC's Meet the Press, Schiff said: "I mean they seem to be saying, 'Unless Donald Trump writes out 'I bribed Ukraine', the evidence will be insufficient."Are we prepared to say that soliciting foreign interference, conditioning official acts ... to get political favors is somehow now compatible with the office?" he asked.> They seem to be saying, 'Unless Donald Trump writes out 'I bribed Ukraine', the evidence will be insufficientOn Sunday afternoon, the Washington Post cited three anonymous sources in reporting that an internal White House review had uncovered "extensive efforts to generate an after-the-fact justification" for the decision to withhold aid, efforts involving acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney which "could at a minimum embarrass the president", causing political and even legal problems.Mulvaney is among Trump officials who have refused to co-operate with the impeachment inquiry. Schiff continued: "Are we also prepared to say that Congress will tolerate the complete stonewalling of an impeachment hearing or process? Because if we do it will mean that the impeachment clause is a complete nullity."Schiff said a party-line vote on impeachment was a possibility: "I think it will mean a failure by the GOP to put the country above their party and it will have very long-term consequences if that's where we end up."Hill testified that US officials were engaged on a "domestic political errand" in Ukraine, at odds with national security policy."It became very clear the White House meeting itself was being predicated on other issues," she said, "namely investigations and the questions about the election interference in 2016."Schiff was asked about a CNN report which said his top Republican colleague on the intelligence committee, Devin Nunes, traveled last year to Austria and met with Ukrainians on a political errand targeting Joe Biden. The Democrat said the matter was for the ethics committee.If Nunes "was traveling on taxpayer funds to dig up dirt on Biden, that will be an ethics matter, that's not before our committee", Schiff said.Nunes has denied wrongdoing and threatened to sue CNN and the Daily Beast, which also reported the story.Adam Schiff speaks at a House intelligence committee hearing. Photograph: Yara Nardi/ReutersOver the weekend, Republicans continued to ignore a warning issued by Hill not to advance the "fictional narrative" of Ukrainian election hacking, which "has been perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves."Trump has taken lead in advancing the narrative, out of an apparent desire to rewrite the history of Russian tampering meant to boost his 2016 campaign.Louisiana senator John Kennedy told Fox News Sunday it was impossible to know who was behind the 2016 hacking of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign."I don't know," Kennedy said. "Nor do you. Nor do any of us."The US intelligence community has unanimously concluded that Russia was behind the election tampering, which has been forensically traced to an operations center inside Russia, whose Russian funding and ultimate direction by President Vladimir Putin has been documented.
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| Johnson Plays Safe With ‘Sensible’ Manifesto for U.K. Vote Posted: 24 Nov 2019 11:58 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Boris Johnson unveiled a safety first program of policies for a "sensible" Conservative government as he aimed to consolidate his lead in opinion polls ahead of the Dec. 12 U.K. general election.Outlining his party's manifesto, Johnson carefully avoided the radical language and out-of-the-blue policy announcements that derailed his predecessor Theresa May's campaign in 2017.Instead, he set out a center-ground Conservative agenda on British domestic policies, including promises to cut taxes, and to put money into the nation's beloved free-to-use National Health Service.There was one big condition Johnson said must be met first -- to deliver Brexit and end years of deadlock and division over the U.K.'s divorce from the European Union. The only way of ending the trauma, Johnson claimed, was to elect a majority Conservative government."For the last three and a half years, this country has felt trapped, like a lion in a cage," Johnson wrote in the introduction to the 59-page manifesto. "We can see the way ahead. We know where we want to go -- and we know why we are stuck."The pound rose in early Asian trading, buoyed by several polls showing the Tories with big leads over Labour and as one predictive model suggested the Conservatives will win a 48-seat majority. Sterling climbed as much as 0.2% to $1.2863.U.K. Conservative Manifesto Launch: Boris Johnson's Key PoliciesBrexit PledgeJohnson won the leadership of Britain's ruling Conservative Party in July with a pledge to deliver Brexit by Oct. 31. But despite negotiating a new deal with the EU, he failed to persuade lawmakers in London to rush the divorce contract into law -- and pushed them into triggering a snap election instead.The election campaign has turned into a clash between Johnson, who is promising to "get Brexit done" and move on, and opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is vowing to tax the rich and spend on nationalizing swaths of industry and boosting public services.Corbyn proposes an 83 billion-pound program of spending, to be paid for by tax raising measures, while Johnson's manifesto outlines a more modest spending plan. Johnson described the Labour agenda put forward by Corbyn and his finance spokesman John McDonnell as "madness" and "a recipe for chaos."Tories Lead Labour as Brexit Party Loses Ground, Polls Show"All Labour governments end with an economic crisis," Johnson told an enthusiastic audience of Tory activists who had traveled through the rain and fog to the launch event in Telford, central England. "The only difference I can see with Corbyn and McDonnell is they want to start with an economic crisis."The headline pledges in the Tory manifesto include:To deliver 50,000 more nurses, reinstating maintenance grants during training. This includes 12,500 nurses hired from other countries, and measures to stop existing staff quitting their jobsBringing Johnson's Brexit deal back to Parliament before Christmas, leaving the EU by Jan. 31, and guaranteeing there will be no extension of the transitional period beyond the current cut off of Dec. 31 2020Cutting taxes and guaranteeing there will be no hikes to income tax, value added tax or national insuranceSpending 100 billion on infrastructure over the next five years, financed through government borrowing14 billion pounds of extra funding for schools and a boost for child careBut Johnson ditched several policy options the Tories had previously proposed, including allowing the party's MPs to choose how to vote on ending the ban on fox hunting; tax cuts for relatively wealthy earners; and radically overhauling the way care for elderly people is funded.'Disappointed'Paul Johnson, the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said he was "disappointed" in the Conservatives' commitment not to raise income tax, VAT or national insurance."It's tying the hands of the chancellor for the next five years in terms of the most obvious increases you could put into place if you wanted to transparently raise more money," he said, before adding he expects there will be tax increases in other areas outside of the locked three.He also said the 33.9 billion pounds investment in the NHS should not be considered the biggest boost ever made to the health service, as claimed by the prime minister.(Adds sterling reaction.)To contact the reporters on this story: Tim Ross in Telford, England at tross54@bloomberg.net;Kitty Donaldson in Telford, England at kdonaldson1@bloomberg.net;Greg Ritchie in London at gritchie10@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson at fjackson@bloomberg.net, Thomas Penny, Stuart BiggsFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Top US general meets Israeli brass amid Iran tensions Posted: 24 Nov 2019 11:02 AM PST ![Top US general meets Israeli brass amid Iran tensions]( "Top US general meets Israeli brass amid Iran tensions") The top U.S. general is visiting Tel Aviv for meetings with Israeli military leaders amid heightened tensions with Iran in the Mideast. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley met Sunday with Israeli counterpart Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi. Milley's visit comes amid rising tensions between Israel and regional rival Iran.
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| Cocaine Trade, Coups Shadow Guinea-Bissau Vote Posted: 24 Nov 2019 10:31 AM PST ![Cocaine Trade, Coups Shadow Guinea-Bissau Vote]( "Cocaine Trade, Coups Shadow Guinea-Bissau Vote") (Bloomberg) -- Sign up to our Next Africa newsletter and follow Bloomberg Africa on TwitterBags of rice, cell phone credit and mobile phones were just some of the freebies that politicians in the remote West African nation of Guinea-Bissau handed out in the run-up to Sunday's presidential election.Many voters regarded their generosity with skepticism: Cocaine trafficking has been big business in Guinea-Bissau for at least a decade, and suspicions abound about the origin of some of the 12 candidates' money.While many hope that the vote will restore stability in the country that's known nine coups and coup attempts, as well as the 2009 assassination of then-President Joao Bernardo Vieira, that's unlikely to happen.Until President Jose Mario Vaz assumed office in 2014, no elected head of state had finished his mandate for two decades. Vaz completed his five-year term, but his tenure was marred by record cocaine seizures and a power struggle with the party that's dominated national politics since independence in 1974, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde, or PAIGC."A political elite that's constantly jostling for position and depends on patronage to stay in power is always looking for money," said Mark Shaw, an analyst at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. "For some, this includes drug trafficking."Uninhabited IslandsGuinea-Bissau has been a transit hub since the mid-2000s for drugs bound for Europe. After small, twin-engine planes make the 3,000-kilometer (1,900 mile) Atlantic crossing from Latin America to a smattering of uninhabited islands off the coast, their cargo moves further north through Mali and Niger infiltrated by militants taking advantage of the lack of state control. Smugglers also transfer drugs into small boats from cargo ships.About $1 billion worth of cocaine transited through West Africa on its way to Europe in 2016, according to the most recent estimates from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.Guinea-Bissau's judicial police in September recorded the nation's biggest drugs bust, finding 1.8 tons of cocaine hidden in flour bags. It said the shipment came from Colombia and was destined for the Islamist militant organization al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Just months before, in March, authorities seized 790kg of cocaine in a fish truck bound for Mali.Despite help from the UN, which invested in bolstering the police and judiciary, and the regional body Ecowas, which mediated talks and sent troops, politicians have been unable, or unwilling, to stem the drugs trade, This year's seizures have raised fears that smugglers may ramp up cocaine trafficking as production of the narcotic is expanding in Latin America, Shaw said.Two GovernmentsA near-paralysis of government hasn't helped. Vaz has been at loggerheads with the PAIGC since firing Domingos Simoes Pereira as prime minister in 2015. The PAIGC typically controls Parliament and nominates a prime minister. Earlier this month, in yet another attempt to wrest control from the party, Vaz appointed his own prime minister to try remove Prime Minister Aristides Gomes, leaving Guinea-Bissau with two governments for about 10 days. Finally, Ecowas stepped in and forced Vaz's prime minister to resign.Pereira is now running against Vaz as the PAIGC candidate, while the incumbent is an independent candidate. A second round is due Dec. 29 if no candidate wins a majority in the first round.While Vaz put in place subsidies to increase cashew production, living standards haven't improved. More than 70% of Guinea-Bissau's 2 million people live in poverty, according to data from the national statistics office."Not once during Vaz's five-year term has he given the government the support to move forward on judiciary and security sector reforms," said human-rights activist Luis Vaz Martins."We need reforms to fight drug trafficking, money laundering and corruption, but that's only possible with the backing of the president," he said.(Adds date of second round in second paragraph under Two Governments subheadline)\--With assistance from Alonso Soto.To contact the reporter on this story: Katarina Hoije in Abidjan at khoije@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net, Pauline Bax, Gordon BellFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| The Latest: Iraq officials: 13 killed in south in 24 hours Posted: 24 Nov 2019 10:24 AM PST  Iraqi officials say 13 anti-government protesters have been killed in one of the "worst" days of clashes in southern Iraq. Security and hospital officials, who requested anonymity in line with regulations, say seven protesters were killed in the southern province of Basra, near the Umm Qasr port. Iraqi officials say 13 anti-government protesters have been wounded by security forces amid ongoing clashes in central Baghdad.
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| Germany repatriates Islamic State bride and children from Syria Posted: 24 Nov 2019 09:10 AM PST  An "Isis bride" and her three children arrived back in Germany on Saturday, marking the first case of Berlin assisting in the repatriation of an adult Islamist from war-torn Syria. The German government confirmed to news agency DPA that the mother and children arrived safely at Frankfurt Airport after boarding a flight from northern Iraq. They had originally been living in a refugee camp in the Kurdish-controlled area of northern Syria. European governments have generally refused to take back any citizens who joined the Islamist terror group during their insurgency in northern Syria and Iraq in the years from 2012 onward, in some cases stripping them of their citizenship. But in Germany, where courts have a high degree of power to overturn government policy, a ruling from early November forced Angela Merkel's government into a rethink. A Berlin court ordered the government to take the 30-year-old mother back along with her three children, dismissing the government's insistence that she posed a security threat. Germany's foreign ministry had initially stated that it was only prepared to organise the return of the children, aged eight, seven and two. But the judges ruled that the traumatised children are dependant on the protection provided by their mother, arguing that the constitutionally enshrined protection of the family trumped security concerns. Prosecutors have opened investigations against the woman on suspicion of joining a foreign terror unit and neglecting the duty of care to her children. According to local media reports, she comes from the central state of Hesse and left for Syria in 2014 along with her two oldest children. The third child was born while she lived in the Islamists' self-proclaimed caliphate. A spokesperson for the Frankfurt prosecution service told DPA that no arrest warrant had been issued for her. Up until now Germany has arranged for a few children of Isis members to be brought home. In August three orphans and a sick child with German parentage were flown home. Adult Isis members have also recently returned, but only after being deported by Turkey. In other European countries, including France and the Netherlands, courts have dismissed legal attempts to force repatriations, stating that such rulings would interfere in an area of government prerogative. The news is nonetheless likely to increase pressure on the British government, which has resisted efforts to bring back around 60 children believed to be stranded in camps in northern Syria. Home secretary Priti Patel has reportedly cited security concerns for her refusal to countenance rescue operations for children, a stance that has come in for hefty criticism from rights groups.
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| U.K. Conservative Manifesto Launch: Boris Johnson’s Key Policies Posted: 24 Nov 2019 09:06 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Sign up to our Brexit Bulletin, follow us @Brexit and subscribe to our podcast.U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveiled his Conservative Party's election manifesto on Sunday with a promise to end the "seemingly unending Brexit box-set drama."In a 40-minute speech, Johnson promised 50,000 new nurses and said the National Health Service will not be "on the table" in post-Brexit trade talks, lines that sought to neutralize attacks by the opposition Labour Party. He also pledged not to raise income tax, value-added tax or national insurance rates.Even so, the policies are far less radical than those proposed by Labour, which published its manifesto on Thursday -- perhaps reflecting the Conservative Party's already strong lead in the polls.Here's a breakdown of the Conservatives' key proposals:Brexit, TradeRatify Johnson's divorce deal with the European Union before the Jan. 31 deadline; legislation would be introduced to Parliament before ChristmasOnce the U.K. has left, negotiate and ratify a free-trade agreement with the EU quickly enough to ensure there's no need for an extension to the transition phase beyond its scheduled end in Dec. 2020.Aim to have 80% of U.K. trade covered by free-trade agreements within three yearsTaxation, SpendingBorrow more to invest in infrastructure under loosened fiscal rules, which would allow an increase of 13.8 billion pounds ($17.7 billion) in spending across all departments by 2021The rates of income tax, national insurance and VAT would not riseRaise the threshold for making National Insurance contributions from 8,628 pounds year to 9,500 in the government's first budget, with a goal to raise it to 12,500 pounds at an unspecified future dateReduce the "overall burden" of business ratesIncrease the tax relief on buildings and research and developmentThe party has shelved a planned cut in corporation taxLaborRaise the minimum wage to 10.50 pounds an hour by 2024Establish a National Skills Fund, which would give individuals and small businesses the chance to receive vocational trainingEnsure workers have the right to request a more predictable contractEnvironmentMake the U.K. carbon neutral by 2050, including by planting an additional 75,000 acres of trees a year by 2023Spend 6.3 billion pounds on energy efficiency measures to cut fuel bills in millions of homesA ban on exporting plastic waste outside OECD countries to reduce ocean damageSet up a new independent Office For Environmental Protection and introduce new legal targets, including for air qualityHealth CareDeliver 50,000 more nurses, some of whom will be newly-trained, some hired from abroad and some from staff retention. Also the reintroduction of bursaries for nurse trainingA 2.7 billion-pound investment to build 40 hospitals. This has been widely disputed by opposition parties and fact-checkers, who put the actual number of new hospitals at six over five yearsCommit 1 billion pounds per year in extra funding for local authorities to better deal with demands for social careNo specific plan to resolve the U.K.'s social care crisis; aim to build a "cross-party consensus" on a new policy to ensure nobody needs to sell their home in order to afford itEnd hospital car park charges for some staff, patients and visitorsEducationA 1 billion-pound investment to boost childcare provisionsExtra 14 billion pounds funding for schools by 2023HousingBuild at least 1 million more homes by 2024Ban the sale of new leasehold homesIntroduce a 3% surcharge for foreign buyers of homes in EnglandBan "no fault evictions," where tenants are evicted before the end of their contract without a proper reasonLifetime rental deposits program, allowing payments to be transferred when tenants move houseLaw, PolicingRecruit 20,000 new police officersIncrease stop-and-search powers for policeEnsure those guilty of premeditated murder of a child are never eligible for releaseAdd 10,000 prison places, with 2.75 billion pounds already committed to refurbishing existing prisons and building new onesTransportNew fund to reopen disused railway lines axed in the 1960s, beginning with northern EnglandInvest 2 billion pounds to repair the U.K.'s roadsImmigrationAn Australian-style points-based visa system to prioritize skilled workersImmigrants from the EU will only be able to access unemployment, housing, and child benefits after five yearsTo contact the reporter on this story: Greg Ritchie in London at gritchie10@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Stuart Biggs, Thomas PennyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| As internet restored, online Iran protest videos show chaos Posted: 24 Nov 2019 08:40 AM PST  Plainclothes security forces grab, beat and drag a man off the street to an uncertain fate. As Iran restores the internet after a weeklong government-imposed shutdown, new videos purport to show the demonstrations over gasoline prices rising and the security-force crackdown that followed. The videos offer only fragments of encounters, but to some extent they fill in the larger void left by Iran's state-controlled television and radio channels.
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| Rights researcher deported by Israel vows to continue work Posted: 24 Nov 2019 08:32 AM PST  A human rights researcher who is being deported from Israel over his alleged boycott advocacy said Sunday he will remain in his position and continue doing the "important, urgent work" of documenting violations in Israel and the Palestinian territories from abroad. Omar Shakir, the Israel and Palestine Director for Human Rights Watch since October 2016, must leave the country Monday after the Supreme Court upheld a deportation order earlier this month following a long legal battle. Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, said Israel was joining a "fairly ugly group of governments," including Iran, Egypt and Venezuela, that have barred its researchers.
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| Johnson Pledges NHS Boost to Fend-Off Labour Attacks: U.K. Votes Posted: 24 Nov 2019 08:20 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Sign up to our Brexit Bulletin, follow us @Brexit and subscribe to our podcast.U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson sought to neutralize attacks by the opposition Labour Party by pledging to recruit 50,000 nurses and promising the National Health Service will not be "on the table" in post-Brexit trade talks. He also said his Conservatives won't raise income tax, value-added tax or national insurance rates as he unveiled his program for government.The Tories hold a double-digit lead in most opinion polls heading into the Dec. 12 general election, and one analysis suggests the party will win a 48-seat majority in the House of Commons.https://t.co/dwXnXm6LOG— Bloomberg TicToc (@TicToc) November 24, 2019 Key Developments:Tories unveil manifesto, including pledge not to raise several key taxes; the party is set to win 48-seat majority, study suggestsLabour promise compensation for women affected by changes to retirement age brought in by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition in the early 2010sLiberal Democrats say their chances have been hit by Brexit Party decision not to stand in Conservative-held seatsRead more: U.K. Tory Party Says Capital Spending Plans Won't Exceed RevenueCorbyn: It's a Manifesto for Billionaires (4 p.m.)Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn dismissed the Conservative manifesto as a promise of continued uncertainty, cuts and failure. He said Johnson "can't be trusted" to deliver on the promises he made."Boris Johnson has launched a manifesto for billionaires. They bought it and you'll pay for it," Corbyn said in an email. "After a decade of the Conservatives cutting our NHS, police and schools, all Boris Johnson is offering is more of the same: more cuts, more failure, and years more of Brexit uncertainty."The Labour leader highlighted the needs of older people, a crucial voting demographic, who he said "face a triple whammy as he has failed to protect free TV licences for over 75s, refused to grant justice to women unfairly affected by the increase in the state pension age, and not offered a plan or extra money to fix the social care crisis."IFS Critical of Triple Tax Lock (3:45 p.m.)Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said he was "disappointed" in the Conservative's commitment to not raise income tax, VAT or national insurance."It's tying the hands of the chancellor for the next five years in terms of the most obvious increases you could put into place if you wanted to transparently raise more money," he said, before adding he expects there will be tax increases in other areas.He also said the 33.9 billion pounds investment in the NHS should not be considered the biggest boost ever made to the health service, as claimed by the prime minister."In cash terms it's broadly true," Johnson said. "But in real terms when you take into account spending is a lot higher than it was in the past, it's not such a big increase. It's a substantial increase, the biggest we've seen over the last 10 years, but it's not in line with the average the NHS got in the 40 or 50 years before that."Tory Plan for Extra Nurses to Cost 800 million (3:15 p.m.)Training to deliver the 50,000 extra nurses promised by the Conservatives will cost around 800 million pounds a year, a Tory spokesman said. Students will also receive a maintenance grant of between 5,000 and 8,000 pounds each year during their course, according to the manifesto.The 50,000 figure will be made up of about 19,000 newly trained nurses and 12,500 hired from abroad, the official said, with the remainder coming from staff retention.Johnson Pledges to Protect Hospital in Target Seat (3 p.m.)Boris Johnson left the hall in Telford to a standing ovation from supporters. During the question and answer session with reporters, the prime minister committed to keeping the accident and emergency department at the local hospital open. It's a sign of how key this seat is, with the Tory MP Lucy Allan holding the constituency by only 720 votes, as Labour make it one of its key targets to rob Johnson of a parliamentary majority.Johnson Denies Knowledge of Twitter Fact Check (2:50 p.m.)Boris Johnson was asked to respond to a stunt by the Tories during Tuesday's ITV debate with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, when the Conservatives changed their official Twitter account name to FactCheck U.K. -- to pose as an independent fact-checking website.Johnson claimed to know nothing about it, despite there being massive furore at the time. He then claimed Labour is running a similar account. "The Twittersphere is not really my province," he said. "But I'm informed Labour have some sort of operation that is very similar."Johnson Says He Still Wants Tax Cuts (2:40 p.m.)Boris Johnson insisted his Conservative Party's plan for government doesn't mean he's opposed to cutting taxes."I haven't lost any of my tax-cutting zeal," he said. "I believe in cutting taxes where you can. That's why we're cutting taxes on national insurance." He said that "at this time" it is right to focus his tax cuts on people who need them most.Pressed on whether his new fiscal rules risk damaging his party's economic credibility, Johnson said his spending plans are sensible. "This is a new government, it's a very active government, it's a very dynamic and positive government," he said."Now is the time to invest in our public services -- in education, in the NHS and in infrastructure -- but to do it in a way which maintains the long term prosperity of the U.K. economy."Johnson: Brexit Will Restore Trust (2:35 p.m.)Boris Johnson took a swipe at MPs for preventing him from meeting his "do-or-die" Oct. 31 deadline to leave the EU. "We are working very hard to secure a working majority and get a Parliament that works for the people of this country," he said.He said the biggest issue of this election is whether the public can trust politicians, and delivering on the 2016 referendum is the way to prove they can."Parliament did vote to stop us leaving the EU the way I wanted on Oct. 31," he said. "That was the decision taken by Mr Corbyn, Jo Swinson and the Scottish nationalists. We have a deal to do this now."Johnson Attacks Corbyn on Brexit, Business (2:25 p.m.)Boris Johnson attacked Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's new policy of remaining neutral on the referendum he has promised on any new Brexit deal negotiated with the EU."We don't yet know of any Labour MP -- or indeed any MP -- who will support this deal," he said, adding voters don't even know if Corbyn would.Johnson also said the polices of Corbyn and Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell would result in higher taxes and poorer economic performance for the U.K..Brexit at Heart of Manifesto (2:15 p.m.)Johnson's campaign phrase of "Get Brexit Done" is emblazoned on the front of the Conservative manifesto. Look inside to the first page there are guarantees he will get his deal through Parliament, secure extra funding for the NHS and bring in an Australian-style points-based visa system -- if he gets elected with a majority."Our manifesto presents an agenda for government characterized by the energy, the optimism, the ambition the prime minister is famous for," Conservative Party chairman James Cleverly said in a speech introducing Johnson at the launch.Tories Set Out Plans for Trade Deals (2:10 p.m.)Boris Johnson's Conservatives said they would get his Brexit deal through Parliament by Christmas as they set out their plans for a post-Brexit Britain. The party would not extend the implementation period beyond December 2020, the party's manifesto said.The party would also be prepared to walk away from any future trade talks if they are "not in the national interest," while seeking market access for British business and lowering the cost of trade, the document said.Pledging to "drive a hard bargain" in trade talks, the Tories also plans to defend the nation from dumping and other anti-competitive practices, they said. Rebutting Labour's claim that any trade deal will involve selling off parts of the state-run National Health Service, the manifesto insists "the services the NHS provides are not on the table."Conservatives Publish Costings (2 p.m.)Boris Johnson's Conservative Party released a document showing costings for the policy commitments and tax cuts in their manifesto. It marks a change from 2017, when the Tories did not release costings of their manifesto.It states that all the party's manifesto proposals are in line with Sajid Javid's proposed fiscal rule announced earlier this month. The Conservatives have ditched their commitment to eliminating the overall budget deficit, with the new rule seeking to balance the day-to-day budget in three years and limit net public investment to 3% of gross domestic product.Scottish Poll Shows SNP Surge, Labour Wipeout (10:45 a.m.)The first Scottish poll of the electoral campaign shows the Scottish National Party gaining ground, while suggesting Labour may lose six of the seven seats it won north of the border in 2017.The Panelbase poll of 1,009 voters in the Sunday Times puts the SNP on 40%, up from 37% in 2017 with Labour -- which once dominated Scotland's seats in the Westminster Parliament -- down to 20% from 27%. The Liberal Democrats are up to 11% from 7%, and the ruling Conservatives are down a point on 28%.Because of the distribution of support, the poll would see Labour only retain the Edinburgh South seat held by Ian Murray, a critic of party leader Jeremy Corbyn, according to the Sunday Times. The SNP would win 41 seats, up from 35, while the Liberal Democrats would gain one seat, to hold five in total. The Tories would lose just one seat, leaving them with 12.Scottish Politics have proven volatile in recent general elections. In 2010, Labour won 41 of Scotland's 59 Westminster seats. Five years later, the SNP seized all but three of them, with the traditional big three parties claiming one apiece. In 2017, the Tories, Labour and the Liberal Democrats took a combined 21 seats off the SNP, though it remained the biggest party by a considerable margin, with 35.Liberal Democrats See 'Squeeze' on Votes (10:15 a.m.)Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson, who kicked off her election campaign saying she could be the next prime minister, acknowledged on Sunday that her party's chances have been hit by the Brexit Party's decision not to stand in Conservative-held seats."Clearly there's been a squeeze," Swinson told the BBC. "The result of Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage stitching up that deal between them has clearly affected the shape of that campaign."Still, she said the Liberal Democrats are the "best-placed party to stop" Johnson's Conservatives getting a majority. "We are making real inroads, but we need to make sure we win those seats from the Conservatives and we are in a position to do that in a way that Labour simply is not," she said.She also suggested the Liberal Democrats could allow Johnson's Brexit deal to pass in Parliament -- as long as it's then put to a referendum, with remaining in the European Union as an option. She emphasized she's "not doing a deal" with the Tories."I'm not putting Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn into Number 10, but if there is a law in Parliament that I can vote for that makes sure that the Brexit deal is put to the public with the opportunity to remain, I will vote for that," she said.Welsh Party Puts Price of Support at $26 Billion (10 a.m.)Adam Price, leader of the Welsh nationalists Plaid Cymru, said if there's a hung Parliament, the price of his party's support is 20 billion pounds ($26 billion)."It has to be this 20 billion pounds in investment in Wales," Price said when asked what he'd want, referring to a program of spending his party has laid out. "It has to be fair funding for Wales. Of all the devolved nations in the U.K., yet again, Wales is the one with the worst funding settlement."Price's costing dwarfs the 1 billion pounds of investment the Democratic Unionist Party secured for Northern Ireland as its price for supporting Theresa May's minority Conservative government following the 2017 general election.Labour Plan Sends Power Firms Offshore: Paper (9:20 a.m.)Two of Britain's biggest power providers have created overseas holding companies to protect their shareholders from a cut-price nationalization if Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party wins power, the Sunday Times reported.SSE Plc has put its U.K. business into a new holding company in Switzerland, while National Grid Plc has shifted its gas and electricity activities into new subsidiaries in Luxembourg and Hong Kong, the newspaper said, citing the companies. Those countries have bilateral treaties with the U.K. that ensure a government must pay shareholders a fair price if it wants to buy them out.Javid Promises to Cost Tory Manifesto (9 a.m.)Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid said he'll publish "a very detailed costings document" for the Conservative Party's manifesto at the same time as the program for government is published later on Sunday."It will take every additional cost that's in our manifesto, every single thing that is tax or anything else, and we will set out exactly how we're going to fund it in the lifetime of the Parliament," Javid told Sky News. "It will in fact be the most detailed, most transparent costings that have ever been published in British electoral history."That's a change from the 2017 general election, when Labour published costings of its manifesto, but the Tories didn't. Labour published a costings document again earlier this week, at the same time as releasing its manifesto.Javid also promised that a Conservative government will ensure debt will be lower at end of the next parliament than now.McDonnell Won't Be Neutral in New Referendum (8:30 a.m.)Labour's Finance spokesman, John McDonnell, said individual members of a Labour government "will be able to campaign on the basis of their judgment" if there's a second referendum on European Union membership that pitches a Labour-brokered deal against remaining in the bloc.McDonnell said he won't be neutral in a second referendum, telling Sky News in an interview that he'd wait to see the basis of the deal before deciding which way to campaign. He's previously said he would campaign for Remain. His comments come after leader Jeremy Corbyn said Friday he would be neutral in any second referendum, and pledged to implement the result.Tories Enjoy Double-Digit Poll Lead (Earlier)Boris Johnson's Conservatives enjoy a double-digit lead over the main opposition Labour Party in at least five different polls released on Saturday. Deltapoll, BMG Research and Opinium give the Tories a 13-point lead, YouGov gave them a 12-point lead, and Savanta ComRes put them 10 points ahead.Separately, analysis of YouGov polls by Datapraxis suggests the Conservative Party will win a 48-seat majority in the general election.Labour Pledge Compensation for Older Women (Earlier)Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party pledged to compensate women whose pensions are affected by changes to the retirement age made by the 2010-2015 Conservative-led coalition government. The women will receive payouts of as much as 31,000 pounds ($40,000), with an average payment of 15,000 pounds, the party said in an emailed statement.According to Labour, about 3.7 million women were affected by the changes when David Cameron's government raised the women's state pension age, to 65 in 2018 and 66 in 2020. The announcement comes after Boris Johnson was challenged Friday by an audience member in the BBC's Question Time show to say what he would do to help women affected by the changes. He made no promises, saying he knew that it would be expensive.Labour estimated the total cost of the compensation package at 58 billion pounds to be paid over 5 years. It suggested it would fund the cost through borrowing.Tories Promise No Tax Hikes in Manifesto (Earlier)Boris Johnson's Conservatives will promise not to raise raise several key tax rates when it unveils its manifesto on Sunday, the ruling party said in a statement. The headline pitch is a promise not to raise the rates of income tax, national insurance or value-added tax during the next Tory government.The manifesto also includes plans for record spending on infrastructure, science and training the workforce, as well as more money for childcare and a promise not to export plastic waste to non-OECD countries."Our positive, One Nation agenda will unite this great country not just for Christmas but for years to come," Johnson said. "We are offering hope and optimism where the Labour Party only offer hate and division."Earlier:Johnson's Conservatives Pledge to Lock U.K. Income Tax RatesU.K. Conservatives Would Win 48-Seat Majority, Datapraxis SaysCorbyn Says He'd Stay Neutral in Second U.K. Brexit ReferendumTories Lead Labour as Brexit Party Loses Ground, Polls Show (2)\--With assistance from James Ludden, Kitty Donaldson, Thomas Pfeiffer, Tim Ross, Brian Swint and Alex Morales.To contact the reporters on this story: Greg Ritchie in London at gritchie10@bloomberg.net;Kitty Donaldson in London at kdonaldson1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Stuart Biggs, Thomas PennyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Syrian troops capture village from insurgents in Idlib Posted: 24 Nov 2019 07:52 AM PST ![Syrian troops capture village from insurgents in Idlib]( "Syrian troops capture village from insurgents in Idlib") Syrian government forces captured Sunday a northwestern village from insurgents after clashes that left more than a dozen killed on both sides, state media and an opposition war monitor said. State news agency SANA said Syrian troops captured Msheirfeh early Sunday after clashes with insurgents that left some of them killed or wounded. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the village was taken by government forces in fighting that left six troops and nine insurgents dead.
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| Iran vows to punish 'mercenaries' behind street violence Posted: 24 Nov 2019 07:26 AM PST  Iran vowed Sunday to severely punish "mercenaries" arrested over nationwide street unrest sparked by a fuel price hike, as much of the country came back online after a week-long internet blackout. The government said the fuel price hike would allow it to provide welfare payments to the needy in Iran, where many have struggled to make ends meet since the US reimposed sanctions after withdrawing from a landmark nuclear deal.
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| Buy London Property, Hong Kong Rebound Uncertain: Christie’s Posted: 24 Nov 2019 07:20 AM PST ![Buy London Property, Hong Kong Rebound Uncertain: Christie's]( "Buy London Property, Hong Kong Rebound Uncertain: Christie's") (Bloomberg) -- London and Hong Kong, two premier financial hubs, have been stifled by ongoing political tension. But for real estate, the cities face different futures, according to the property arm of the world's largest auction house.Prices in London, suppressed in part as the U.K. grapples with Brexit, will rebound quickly, said Dan Conn, chief executive officer of Christie's International Real Estate. But improvement is far less certain in Hong Kong, after five months of violent protests, he said.The three-year fight over Brexit may be coming to a head with the Dec. 12 general election. Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson is gambling an election will finally give him the numbers in Parliament to push through Britain's often-delayed divorce from the European Union.His rival, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, could put the whole thing to a second referendum, though he is trailing badly in polls. The EU has granted a three-month Brexit delay to Jan. 31.London CallingConn likes London because the U.K. market has been "hammered" for years, offering deals in what he calls a "great market." Home prices in London's most expensive districts have declined by 20.4% since their peak in 2014, according to broker Savills Plc. Brexit has also weighed on pricing, with values down 13.6% since the referendum vote, the broker's data show."It's depressed -- it has the potential to come back relatively quickly," Conn said in an interview in New York. "If you're a buyer now, you can take advantage of the last four or five years that have been not so great."But Johnson may impose a potential roadblock. His party said it plans to hit foreign buyers in England with a new tax intended to cool prices and help locals begin buying again.Hong Kong on HoldIn Hong Kong, the standoff with pro-democracy protesters has continued to dampen investor confidence -- with no immediate sign of resolution.Earlier this month, the city revised down its estimate for economic growth this year, with the government now forecasting the first annual contraction since the global financial crisis a decade ago. That makes any prediction for a rebound less certain."If you bought in Hong Kong two years ago, and you had to be a seller today, yeah, you probably have a little bit of indigestion," he said.Hong Kong Home Prices Look Immune to Protests: Nisha AngolanIn Asia, Conn likes Taiwan. It's "now becoming a perceived relatively safe place to deploy capital because it has great infrastructure, and there's a good concentration of wealth," he said.Looking ahead, a broader economic downturn is another challenge for real estate globally. Conn doesn't anticipate a recession until the next U.S. president is sworn in following the elections in November 2020. "If you looked at it in the ordinary course, my guess would be 2021 at the earliest, but probably not much later either," he said.While interest rates are low, even lower ones would help, Conn says. He can't remember a time when so many geopolitical factors -- from trade wars, Hong Kong protests, Brexit, to state and local tax deductability in U.S. -- are lining up against property investors."I've been surprised by the policies of the current administration because they don't favor real estate in a lot of cases," Conn said.To contact the reporter on this story: Hailey Waller in New York at hwaller@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: James Ludden at jludden@bloomberg.net, Linus Chua, Ian FisherFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| The Latest: Blast in capital Kabul targeted UN vehicle Posted: 24 Nov 2019 07:07 AM PST ![The Latest: Blast in capital Kabul targeted UN vehicle]( "The Latest: Blast in capital Kabul targeted UN vehicle") An Afghan official says a blast in that capital Kabul targeting a United Nations vehicle has left at least 1 dead. Nasrat Rahimi, spokesman for the Interior Ministry, says five others were wounded in the attack. An Afghan official says Taliban insurgents have stormed a checkpoint in a central province, killed at least eight Afghan soldiers.
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| 10 things you need to know today: November 24, 2019 Posted: 24 Nov 2019 06:41 AM PST ![10 things you need to know today: November 24, 2019]( "10 things you need to know today: November 24, 2019") 1.Hong Kong on Sunday was wrapping up what has turned into the city's largest ever district council elections. Since the early hours of the morning, millions of people flocked to polling stations. The number of voters had reportedly shot past the final total of voters from the 2015 elections by lunchtime. It's an important election for the city, which has been mired in turmoil for months. The result should serve as a barometer for support for the pro-democracy, anti-government protests, as well as for the city's Chief Executive Carrie Lam, whose leadership has been called into question by the demonstrators. The protest groups had called upon voters to refrain from disrupting the elections and so far there has reportedly been no sign of trouble. [BBC, The South China Morning Post] 2.Vice President Mike Pence made an unannounced trip to Iraq on Saturday. Pence and his wife, Karen, served Thanksgiving lunch to U.S. troops stationed at Al Asad Air Base in the Al Anbar province, where the vice president reportedly called upon Congress to quicken the pace of military funding, blaming "partisan politics and endless investigations" for the hold up. Pence also traveled to Erbil to meet with Iraqi Kurdistan President Nechivran Barzani. Pence said an "enduring bond exists between the Kurdish people and the people of the United States," despite the Trump administration's decision to re-position troops in northeastern Syria, leaving Kurdish forces vulnerable to Turkish military attacks. Barzani reportedly thanked Pence for his visit and said he hopes the Kurds' relationship with Washington "will continue to develop further." [Politico, USA Today] 3.Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer said Saturday he has no intentions of resigning and that if President Trump orders the Navy to halt its process of deciding whether four Navy SEALs are fit to continue serving in the force, the Navy will comply. "I work at the pleasure of the president," Spencer said. "I do not interpret what the president does. I do what he says." Spencer did, however, add that he does not consider a tweet to be an order, so the process will only stop in light of an official directive. Earlier reports indicated Spencer and Rear Adm. Collin Green were ready to resign if Trump intervened in the process, but Spencer has denied the rumor and said he doesn't believe Green has any intention of stepping down either. [The Washington Post, The New York Times] 4.Rescue workers have recovered at least 24 bodies from the wreckage of a small plane that crashed Sunday in a densely populated area of Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, though the exact number of casualties is still unknown. Those killed are believed to be both passengers and people on the ground who were struck by the plane. No survivors are expected from the disaster. The plane was operated by a recently established local company called Busy Bee. It reportedly crashed shortly after takeoff en route to Beni, a city 220 miles north of Goma. One of the company's maintenance workers at the site reportedly blamed a "technical problem" for the crash. [The Guardian, Al Jazeera] 5.Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, said he is wary of another attack from Iran in the Gulf region. "I think the strike on Saudi Aramco in September is pretty indicative of a nation that is behaving irresponsibly," McKenzie said. "My judgment is that it is very possible they will attack again." The general said he fears that Iran could orchestrate a drone- and missile-heavy attack, in the same vein of the Aramco attacks, which the U.S. and its European allies blame Tehran for, despite the latter's denial. One official told Foreign Policy that the U.S. is particularly focused on potential threats on desalination plants in the Gulf region. An attack on the plants would put the region's primary source of drinking water at risk, which could spur a humanitarian crisis. [Foreign Policy, The New York Times] 6.Aides for Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) announced Saturday that lawmakers on the House and Senate Appropriations committees had reached a bipartisan agreement on allocations for each of the 12 spending bills. There's still a lot of work to be done, but it should mean that at least a few of the bills should get passed by the Dec. 20 deadline, many of them quickly. Congress is expected to move the bills in packages of four at a time, leaving some of the more contentious elements, like the Department of Homeland Security funding measure to be negotiated over time. Those matters will reportedly be handled at the subcommittee level. [The Associated Press, CNN] 7.House Armed Services Committee Chair Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said Saturday that Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, will likely face an ethics probe after the attorney for businessman Lev Parnas, an associate of President Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, said Nunes traveled to Vienna in 2018 to meet with former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin. The two men allegedly discussed accusations of corruption against former Vice President Joe Biden. Nunes lashed out at CNN, which first reported the Parnas news, calling the impeachment-related claims "demonstrably false" and "scandalous." Records show Nunes did travel to Europe at the time Parnas reportedly alleges, but he was not required to disclose specifics about the trip, including if he went to Vienna. [Axios, The Daily Beast] 8.Protests against Colombian President Iván Duque continued in Bogotá and countrywide on Saturday for the third straight day. The demonstrations began Thursday with more than 200,000 taking to the streets as a result of multiple grievances against Duque's right wing government. The marchers have accused security forces of brutality, while the government claims an outbreak of looting and vandalism alongside the protests is an orchestrated terror campaign. Some small factions of demonstrators have clashed with security forces, though the majority of protests have been peaceful. Still, tear gas was reportedly used on those crowds. One 18-year-old protester was reportedly hit in the head with a tear gas cannister and severely wounded. The protests were inspired by similar movements in Chile, Ecuador, and Bolivia. [The Wall Street Journal, Al Jazeera] 9.The Supreme Court announced Saturday that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized after experiencing chills and a fever. Ginsburg was admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, where she was reportedly treated with intravenous antibiotics and fluids before the symptoms abated. She was expected to be released from the hospital as early as Sunday morning. While it was a quick stay, the 86-year-old Ginsburg has dealt with various health issues in the past year, including undergoing surgery for lung cancer and receiving radiation treatment for pancreatic cancer. Ginsburg has remained committed to serving on the court as long as she is physically healthy and mentally sharp. [The Associated Press, The New York Times] 10.Demonstrators rushed the field during halftime of the Harvard-Yale football game Saturday in New Haven, Connecticut, to demand the presidents of both universities divest in fossil fuels and call attention to climate change. The protest began with a few dozen people staging a sit-on on the field, but it eventually swelled to about 500 people, most of whom left after about an hour when they were escorted off the field by police. About two dozen people remained and were subsequently placed under arrest. The Ivy League called the protest "regrettable," while Yale said it had issues with the tactics, but stood "firmly for the right to free expression." Yale coach Tony Reno, however, didn't seem too bothered. "It's what makes Yale Yale," he said, adding that events like this are what makes the rivalry with Harvard "special." Yale won "The Game" 50-43. [ESPN, The Boston Globe]More stories from theweek.com Outed CIA agent Valerie Plame is running for Congress, and her launch video looks like a spy movie trailer Democrats, don't hand impeachment to Mitch McConnell The 10 best classic Thanksgiving dishes, ranked
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| Stephen Miller: the white nationalist at the heart of Trump's White House Posted: 24 Nov 2019 06:21 AM PST  The revelation of an email trove in which the senior aide trafficked in far-right ideas provoked outrage but little surpriseStephen Miller is one of the few survivors from Donald Trump's original White House team. Photograph: Evan Vucci/APThe extraordinary email leak came with a sense of inevitability. The senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller promoted white nationalist articles and books in emails to a writer at Breitbart, who after leaving the hard-right website leaked 900 messages to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).It was a discovery that would end the careers of most political figures. But among calls for Miller's resignation, a common theme emerged: a lack of surprise that the architect of Donald Trump's anti-immigrant agenda endorsed white supremacist views."Stephen Miller has stoked bigotry, hate and division with his extreme political rhetoric and policies throughout his career," a coalition of 55 civil rights groups wrote to the president this week. "The recent exposure of his deep-seated racism provides further proof that he is unfit to serve and should immediately leave his post."A columnist at the conservative newspaper the Washington Examiner, Tiana Lowe, wrote that while the public doesn't know for a fact how Miller feels inside, he has historically shown an unwillingness to bend his hardline stance on immigration, thereby threatening more mainstream Republican policies."It's long past time for Trump to dump Miller," Lowe wrote.In a turbulent White House, the 34-year-old has been the driving force behind controversial policies such as family separation, the travel ban on Muslim-majority countries and a rule that would penalize legal immigrants for using public benefits.Courts have ended, amended or put the policies on hold but they are standout examples in a portfolio of changes to legal and humanitarian immigration frameworks happening at such a rapid pace it is difficult for most Americans to comprehend.What the American public does understand is Miller's laser focus on blocking immigration to the US.Before the emails were released, Miller was called a fascist at a Mexican restaurant in Washington DC. He also reportedly threw away $80 of takeout sushi, after a bartender followed him into the street.Miller's uncle, who has admitted he has not had many conversations with his nephew in the past 10 years, wrote an opinion piece charging that Miller was an "immigration hypocrite", because his ancestors included Jews who came to the US to escape pogroms in Russia.In an interview with the Washington Post published in August, Miller dismissed charges of racism."It is a scurrilous and scandalous lie," he said, "born of a complete and total lack of understanding of the harms done by uncontrolled migration to people of all backgrounds, and born of a contempt for this nation, for our law enforcement officers and for the citizens who live here – and oftentimes, I might add, born of a personal grudge against this administration."He told the Post he had no plans or ambitions beyond his job, because of his focus on the president."You cannot understand me, you cannot understand anything that I say, do or think if you do not understand that my sole motivation is to serve this president and this country, and there is no other," Miller said.Such religious attachment to Trump might have seemed unlikely for a Californian from a predominantly liberal, beachside community like Santa Monica. But Miller started early as a conservative provocateur."Am I the only one who is sick and tired of being told to pick up my trash when we have plenty of janitors who are paid to do it for us?" he asked while running for class president in high school.Before graduating, he had appeared on a nationally syndicated conservative radio talkshow more than 70 times.In the Trump administration, as one of few surviving initial appointees, he has deployed a similarly inflammatory style.In response to questions about Trump's authority to implement the travel ban, Miller said the president "will not be questioned".His response to the four Democratic congresswoman known as the Squad? "They want to tear down the structure of our country."How to explain the zero-tolerance policy which allowed for mass family separations at the border? "A simple decision."The email leak, however, showed a new depth to Miller's anti-immigration agenda. In reports published in the past two weeks, the SPLC showed that Miller disseminated conspiracy theories positing a United Nations-inspired plan to colonize America and recommend a book which claims refugee resettlement – a program Miller has helped nearly destroy – is part of a plan to erase American sovereignty and culture.There has been a steady drumbeat of calls for Miller to go. This week, Hillary Clinton tweeted: "Every day Stephen Miller remains in the White House is an emergency."On Thursday night, more than 100 Democrats in Congress signed a letter to Trump demanding Miller's removal."A documented white nationalist has no place in any presidential administration, and especially not in such an influential position," the letter said.The White House has supported Miller. But it has not denied the emails came from him; nor has it addressed the emails' content.Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, said the SPLC was an "utterly discredited, long-debunked far-left smear organization". Hogan Gidley, her deputy, claimed the criticism was related to Miller's Jewish identity."He loves this country and hates bigotry in all forms – and it concerns me as to why so many on the left consistently attack Jewish members of this administration," Gidley told the New York Times.On Friday morning, a coalition of Jewish groups called on Trump to fire Miller, in order "to make clear that white supremacy has no place in the White House or the United States of America".
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| UK PM Johnson to get Brexit done and unleash 'tidal wave' of investment Posted: 24 Nov 2019 06:14 AM PST ![UK PM Johnson to get Brexit done and unleash 'tidal wave' of investment]( "UK PM Johnson to get Brexit done and unleash 'tidal wave' of investment") British Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised on Sunday to get Brexit done to restore business confidence and unleash what he said would be a tidal wave of investment. "Get Brexit done," Johnson said at the launch of his Conservative Party election manifesto.
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| US citizen jailed in Lebanon as country deals with crisis Posted: 24 Nov 2019 06:10 AM PST  In September, Amer Fakhoury closed his New Hampshire restaurant to take his first vacation in years to visit family in his native Lebanon — a country he hadn't been to for nearly two decades. Soon after his arrival in Lebanon, the 57-year-old American citizen was detained by authorities and remains jailed there. Doctors report that he is in poor health and that his condition is life-threatening, his family said.
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| Britain's Conservatives says they will not extend Brexit implementation period Posted: 24 Nov 2019 06:00 AM PST ![Britain's Conservatives says they will not extend Brexit implementation period]( "Britain's Conservatives says they will not extend Brexit implementation period") Britain's governing Conservative Party will not extend the Brexit implementation period beyond December 2020, it said in its election manifesto on Sunday, reiterating Prime Minister Boris Johnson's vow to "get Brexit done". "The only way to deliver Brexit is with a Conservative majority in parliament," the manifesto said, adding if in government, people coming to Britain from the EU would only access unemployment, housing and child benefit after five years.
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| UAE to host European-led mission to monitor Gulf waters Posted: 24 Nov 2019 05:08 AM PST  A European-led maritime mission to monitor Gulf waters will be stationed at the French naval base in Abu Dhabi, the French defence minister said Sunday, amid regional tensions with Iran. Since May, tensions in the Gulf have escalated following a string of attacks on oil tankers that the United States and its allies blamed on Tehran. Washington insisted the aircraft was in international airspace.
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| Egypt: Independent media outlet says police raided its HQ Posted: 24 Nov 2019 04:58 AM PST  Security forces on Sunday raided the offices of one of Egypt's last remaining independent media outlets, briefly detaining its top editor and two other journalists and later releasing them, the outlet and officials said. The outlet, Mada Masr, has produced investigative pieces looking into some of Egypt's government institutions, including the intelligence agencies, military and presidency. A group of plainclothes security agents stormed the outlet's offices Sunday afternoon and locked staff inside for hours, Mada reported on Twitter.
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| Duterte Fires Vice President from Post on Anti-Drug Body Posted: 24 Nov 2019 04:54 AM PST ![Duterte Fires Vice President from Post on Anti-Drug Body]( "Duterte Fires Vice President from Post on Anti-Drug Body") (Bloomberg) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has fired Vice President Leni Robredo from a government body against illegal drugs, less than three weeks after appointing her to help run it.Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea confirmed Duterte's decision, which was first reported by CNN Philippines.Robredo, who was elected separately from the president and heads the opposition Liberal Party, accepted Duterte's appointment to co-chair the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs on Nov. 6. Duterte's decision to fire Robredo came days after saying that he couldn't trust the vice president because she was from the opposition.The 74-year old Philippine leader, who's been criticized for a drug war that has killed thousands of people, dared Robredo last month to run his campaign after the vice president urged a review of the program.Since accepting the post, Robredo has called for the rehabilitation of drug users instead of going after them through police operations that have killed thousands of suspects. She has also met with officials from the U.S. and the United Nations to discuss best practices in solving the country's illegal drug problem.Robredo has also asked a Philippine government drug enforcement agency for data including a list of high-value targets, a request that Duterte's camp has rejected.Robredo was housing secretary at the start of Duterte's six-year term in June 2016 but left before the end of that year, after she was told not to attend cabinet meetings.\--With assistance from Andreo Calonzo.To contact the reporter on this story: Clarissa Batino in Manila at cbatino@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Karen Leigh, Sara MarleyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| U.K. Conservative Manifesto Launch: What We Know, What We Expect Posted: 24 Nov 2019 04:12 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Sign up to our Brexit Bulletin, follow us @Brexit and subscribe to our podcast.U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveils his Conservative Party's election manifesto on Sunday with a promise to end the "seemingly unending Brexit box-set drama."The Tories have pledged to loosen fiscal rules to allow more government spending, cut business rates and boost investment in schools and policing -- without raising income tax, value-added tax or National Insurance rates.Even so, the announcements so far have been far less radical than the Labour Party, which published its policies on Thursday. Based on statements and interviews with politicians, here's what we expect the Tory plan to contain:BrexitRatify Johnson's deal with the European Union before the new Jan. 31 deadlineOnce that's done, negotiate and ratify a free-trade agreement with the EU quickly enough to ensure an extension to the transition phase -- scheduled to end at the end of 2020 -- is not neededTaxation, Spending Borrow more to invest in infrastructure under loosened fiscal rules, which will allow an increase of 13.8 billion pounds ($17.7 billion) in spending across all departments by 2021The rates of income tax, national insurance and VAT will not rise Raise the threshold for making National Insurance contributions from 8,628 pounds year to 9,500 in the government's first budget, with a goal to raise it to 12,500 pounds at an unspecified future dateReduce the "overall burden" of business ratesIncrease the tax relief on buildings and research and developmentThe party has said a planned cut in corporation tax is shelvedLaborRaise the minimum wage to 10.50 pounds an hour by 2024A National Skills Fund, which will give individuals and small businesses the chance to receive vocational trainingEnvironmentMake the U.K. carbon neutral by 2050, including by planting 30 million treesSpend 6.3 billion pounds on energy efficiency measures to cut fuel bills in millions of homesA ban on exporting plastic waste outside OECD countries to reduce ocean damageHealth CareAn extra 34 billion pounds a year in funding for the state-run National Health Service by 2024A 2.7 billion-pound investment to build 40 hospitals. This has been widely disputed by opposition parties and fact-checkers, who put the actual number of new hospitals at sixCommit 1 billion pounds per year extra funding to local authorities so they can better deal with demands for social care End hospital car park charges for some staff, patients and visitorsEducationA 1 billion-pound investment to boost childcare provisionsMore funding for schools as part of a broader increase in public spendingHousingBuild at least 1 million more homes by 2024Introduce a 3% surcharge to foreign buyers of homes in EnglandBan "no fault evictions," where tenants are evicted before the end of their contract without a proper reasonLifetime rental deposits program, allowing payments to be transferred when tenants move houseLaw, PolicingRecruit 20,000 new police officersIncrease stop-and-search powers for policeEnsure those guilty of premeditated murder of a child are never eligible for releaseTransport New fund to reopen disused railway lines axed in the 1960s, beginning with northern EnglandInvest 2 billion pounds to repair the U.K.'s roadsImmigrationAn Australian-style points-based visa system to prioritize skilled workersTo contact the reporter on this story: Greg Ritchie in London at gritchie10@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Stuart Biggs, James AmottFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Blast targets UN vehicle in Afghanistan, kills 1 foreigner Posted: 24 Nov 2019 04:08 AM PST  A United Nations vehicle was targeted in a bombing Sunday in the Afghan capital Kabul and initial reports indicated at least one foreign citizen was killed, an Afghan official said. Nasrat Rahimi, Interior Ministry spokesman, said five others, including two Afghan U.N. workers, were wounded in the attack. In central Daykundi Province, at least eight soldiers were killed when Taliban fighters stormed their checkpoint, said provincial Gov. Anwar Rahmati.
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| Tories Lead Labour as Brexit Party Loses Ground, Polls Show Posted: 24 Nov 2019 03:50 AM PST ![Tories Lead Labour as Brexit Party Loses Ground, Polls Show]( "Tories Lead Labour as Brexit Party Loses Ground, Polls Show") (Bloomberg) -- Sign up to our Brexit Bulletin, follow us @Brexit and subscribe to our podcast.U.K. Conservatives remain ahead of Labour by at least 10 percentage points with less than three weeks to the general election, according to five different polls on national voting preferences released on Saturday. A separate analysis of recent polls indicates the Tories would win a 48-seat majority in parliament.Brexit Party lost 3 percentage points after its decision not to stand in more than half of seats, three of the surveys show.SNP seen taking 40% of vote in Scotland, Tories winning 28%The general election is Dec. 12.Datapraxis StudyTories would win 349 of the 650 seats up for grabs, an increase of 57 seats from the 2017 election, according to analysis of YouGov polls by Datapraxis published in the Sunday TimesLabour 213 (minus 30)Liberal Democrats 14 (minus 6)SNP 49 (plus 14)Plaid Cymru 5Greens 1Study also suggests that five big Tory names, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, are in danger of losing their seats if Britons vote tactically.Panelbase Poll on Scotland40% of Scots plan to vote SNP, according to poll for the Sunday TimesTories in second place with 28%Labor 20%YouGov PollTories unchanged at 42%, YouGov poll for The Sunday Times showsLabour unchanged at 30%Liberal Democrats up 1 point to 16%Brexit Party down 1 point to 3%SNP unchanged at 4%Greens unchanged at 4%Pollster surveyed 1,677 adults nationally Nov. 21-22Savanta ComRes PollTories unchanged at 42%, according to a Savanta ComRes poll for the Daily Express Sunday editionLabour up 1 point to 32%Liberal Democrats unchanged at 15%Brexit Party unchanged at 5%SNP down 1 point to 3%Greens unchanged at 2%Pollster surveyed 2,038 British adults online Nov. 20-21DeltapollConservatives at 43%, down 2 points, according to the most recent Deltapoll for The Mail on SundayLabour unchanged at 30%Liberal Democrats up 5 points to 16%Brexit Party down 3 points to 3%Deltapoll interviewed 1,519 British adults online Nov. 21-23Opinium PollOpinium Research poll showed the Tories are now supported by 47% of voters, up from 44%Labour unchanged at 28%Liberal Democrats fall 2 points to 12%Brexit Party falls 3 points to 3%SNP rises 1 point to 5%Greens unchanged at 3%Perceptions of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn have not improved in light of their first head-to-head debate on Nov. 19, Opinium saidPollster surveyed 2,003 U.K. adults nationally Nov. 20-22BMG PollTories gained 4 points to 41%, according to the most recent BMG Research poll for The IndependentLabour at 28%, down 1 point"The increase in the Conservative lead can be attributed to the Brexit Party's decision not to stand in more than half of seats:" BMG's head of polling Robert StruthersLiberal Democrats at 18%, up 2 pointsGreens unchanged at 5%Brexit Party at 3%, down 6 pointsPoll continues to show a majority support EU membership, with Remain leading Leave by 54% to 46%, unchanged from a week agoBMG surveyed 1,663 British voters Nov. 19-21(Updates with Datapraxis Study, Panelbase poll)To contact the reporters on this story: Giulia Camillo in New York at gcamillo@bloomberg.net;Natasha Doff in Moscow at ndoff@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Giulia Camillo at gcamillo@bloomberg.net, Andrew DavisFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| 13 dead in 1 of the ‘worst’ days of protest in southern Iraq Posted: 24 Nov 2019 03:26 AM PST  Thirteen anti-government protesters were killed Sunday by Iraqi security forces in one of the "worst" days of clashes in the country's south, as protests swept through the oil-rich area, officials said. Demonstrators outraged by rampant government corruption and poor services burned tires and blocked main road arteries. Seven protesters were killed in the southern province of Basra, near the Umm Qasr port, when Iraqi authorities used live fire and tear gas to disperse them, said security and hospital officials, who requested anonymity in line with regulations.
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| UPDATE 6-UK's Johnson offers up new Brexit promise for Christmas Posted: 24 Nov 2019 03:01 AM PST ![UPDATE 6-UK's Johnson offers up new Brexit promise for Christmas]( "UPDATE 6-UK's Johnson offers up new Brexit promise for Christmas") British Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised on Sunday "to get Brexit done", with his Conservative Party making an election pledge to bring his deal to leave the European Union back to parliament before Christmas. With Britain heading to the polls on Dec. 12, the governing Conservatives rolled out an election manifesto that promised more public sector spending and no further extensions to the protracted departure from the EU.
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| US senator visits home of imprisoned Bahrain rights activist Posted: 24 Nov 2019 02:58 AM PST  A U.S. senator has visited the home of a detained human rights activist in the Mideast island kingdom of Bahrain. Activists shared photographs with The Associated Press showing Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, visiting the home of Nabeel Rajab on Saturday night. Rajab has been detained since June 2016 on internationally criticized charges over comments he made on Twitter and in a TV interview.
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| Iran vows to punish 'mercenaries' behind street violence Posted: 24 Nov 2019 02:32 AM PST  Iran will severely punish "mercenaries" arrested over a wave of street violence that erupted after a sharp hike in fuel prices, a Revolutionary Guards commander warned Sunday. The Islamic republic says it has restored calm after the unrest that broke out on November 15, hours after the surprise announcement that petrol prices would go up by as much as 200 percent. Citing law enforcement officials, Fars news agency said Sunday that 180 ringleaders had been arrested over the protests that saw highways blocked, banks and police stations set alight and shops looted.
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| Will Netanyahu's party stick with him? Senior leaders quiet Posted: 24 Nov 2019 02:07 AM PST  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looked to project business as usual Sunday as he returned to work following his indictment on corruption charges, but a wall of silence from his usually loyal Cabinet ministers could mean tough times ahead for the embattled Israeli leader. Netanyahu is determined to fight the charges from the prime minister's office in what promises to be a lengthy court battle. A show of support from his Cabinet would give Netanyahu a boost as he tries to rally the party and public behind him.
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| A Marijuana Strain Nicknamed ‘Creepy’ Is Helping to Fuel Colombia’s Narco War Posted: 24 Nov 2019 02:01 AM PST  Photo Illustration by Kelly Caminero/The Daily BeastTORIBÍO, Colombia—When they kill one of your friends, something within you dies, too.Jesús Mestizo, known to those close to him as Chucho, was murdered earlier this month by cartel gunmen in the so-called "Golden Triangle" of southwest Colombia, one more victim in a series of massacres and targeted assassinations that have claimed scores of lives in the Triangle this year.Only this time the victim was my friend.I first met him in late 2015. As the leader of a human rights group, Chucho was able to arrange for me to meet with farmers growing illicit coca and marijuana plants. Because such sites often are hidden away in remote corners of the sierra, Chucho came along to act as liaison. Some of the farmers were understandably unnerved seeing a hapless gringo stumbling around in their black-market gardens. But Chucho, in his early forties, was a wise guide. He always defused the tension with a swift joke, often at my expense.Once, for example, when a jittery farmer asked how he could be sure I wasn't a DEA agent from the States, Chucho said: "Because no agent would be stupid enough to come out here alone." Inside Colombia's (New) Cocaine ExplosionChucho was just one of at least 54 activists and community leaders murdered so far this year in the Golden Triangle, a major narcotics production zone in the northern neck of Cauca state. Eleven were killed within the last month, including an attack on Nov. 19 that left one dead and five more wounded. Those numbers mean 2019 already has eclipsed last year's body count, when 46 social leaders were slain within the Triangle, according to the Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca (ACIN). And that death toll is part of a larger, nation-wide trend. According to one independent study, 734 activists and community leaders have been killed across Colombia since 2016.Chucho, like most of the other victims in Cauca, was a member of the indigenous Nasa people. He was also the founder and leader of a local NGO called the Avelino Ull Association, with a special focus on protecting indigenous rights. "He stood up to them [the narcos], and they killed him for it," says his widow, 28-year old Ceneida, when we sit down to talk on the porch of the same house on the outskirts of Toribíowhere I'd first met her husband four years ago. The wave of killings has brought a Colombian military task force to this small, impoverished hamlet. Delegations from the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and Doctors Without Borders have come to Toribío as well, all of them staying in the town's lone hotel and cruising its unpaved streets in their shiny white SUVs. Several large, illegal, cartel-owned marijuana plantations are clearly visible in the foothills that surround the town, but no one goes out there, least of all the soldiers. "They'd already threatened Chucho," says his wife, who was six weeks pregnant at the time he was killed. "The sicarios would call and send text messages saying not to speak out against them. Or else. But he always said he would continue the struggle," Ceneida says. "He said he would fight them to the death."* * *"They kill all who get in their way"* * *The Nasa are Colombia's second-largest ethnic group, and the ACIN network is made up of 22 communities, most of them rural towns and villages scattered throughout these lush foothills. The rich soil and sprawling, lawless wilderness are perfect for illicit crop cultivation, which is what gave rise to the Golden Triangle moniker, after the same term used for an infamous drug-producing region in Southeast Asia. The Triangle—which produces an extremely potent, much-coveted, and oft-killed-for strain of marijuana aptly nicknamed "Creepy"—sits centered among the towns of Toribío, Caloto, and Miranda, smack in the middle of ACIN's territory.The Triangle is also home to a number of drug-fueled paramilitary crime groups, all of which are directly at odds with the Nasa cabildos, or leadership councils, a handful of NGOs like Chucho's, and the insanely brave members of the Guardia Indigena, or indigenous guards. Members of the Guardia have been particularly hard hit by the recent violence, as it's their job to be the first line of defense for communities plagued by cartel attacks. They're an all-volunteer force that routinely faces off against narcos and guerrillas, and does so without weapons. Using sheer force of numbers they're known to seize drugs and guns, and then destroy those seizures in public ceremonies before the cabildos. They also sometimes capture cartel foot soldiers, who are then tried before the assemblies. (Indigenous justice for these captives can be severe, including public lashings and up to 40 years incarceration and "re-education.")And the Guardia accomplish all this armed with nothing but their traditional bastones—short, tasseled staffs believed by the Nasa to be endowed with spiritual powers. Instead of wearing Kevlar, as do their enemies, the guards wear simple blue tunics emblazoned with the Nasa words "Cxhab Wala Kiwe" (Land of the First People)."The indigenous guards are self-protection mechanisms that these communities have developed over time [using only] presence and political solidarity," Gimena Sánchez-Garzoli, director for the Andes at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), writes in an email. "For example, if a person is under threat by an illegal group, the guard will go to the area with some 50 indigenous people making it difficult for the actor to carry out the killing," says Sánchez-Garzoli, who likens the Guardia to "the 'Guardian Angels' of the NYC subway in the 1980s."Unfortunately, solidarity, strength in numbers, and sacred staves are often not enough against automatic weapons. Such was the case on Oct. 29, less than a week before Chucho was killed, when five members of the Guardia, including a Nasa regional governor, were massacred in the village of Tacueyo, just a few miles outside of Toribío. Six other Nasa guards were wounded in that encounter. A few days after that, a group of four engineers and topographers were gunned down near Caloto while scouting a new roadway."The armed groups involved in the illicit economy want to rule our lands. They want to move drugs freely through our villages, and tell us where we can go and when," said Mauricio Capaz, a regional coordinator for ACIN, when we met in the group's headquarters in Santander de Quilichao, on the edge of the Triangle. (A few weeks after our encounter, last Friday night, a car bomb exploded in front of the Santander police station, killing two officers and wounding 10 more.)Capaz went on to list several armed groups present in the Triangle, including the Army for National Liberation (ELN), and the People's Liberation Army (EPL), both of which count on narcotics sales to fund their campaigns against the government. Colombia remains the world's top producer of cocaine, despite Washington's insistence that Bogotá adopt a controversial, hard-core eradication policy. Meanwhile, the genetically modified Creepy species of cannabis now fetches farmers as much as 20 times more per pound than cocaine, making this "super weed" the crop of choice in the Triangle. It's also a coveted source of revenue for a wide variety of underworld actors, who can sell the Creepy for up to $1,800 a pound on the U.S. market.The Mexican Cartels Are Becoming a Hemispheric Threat—With Trump's HelpIn addition to the guerrillas, Capaz says, there are also more "traditional" crime groups operating in the Triangle, with names like Pelusos, the Gaitanistas, Clan Golfo, and even Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, all of them madly sharking up the Creepy strain to ship it north to the U.S. by land and sea."But the most dangerous ones in the Triangle," says Capaz, his voice instinctively falling to a whisper, "are los Disidentes," the dissidents. This group, he tells me, is responsible for the massacre of the governor and her party, the engineers, and most of the other murders and acts of mayhem in northern Cauca over the last few years. According to Chucho's family and other sources in the Toribío cabildo, they're also the ones behind Chucho's assassination."No one can challenge the Disidentes and get away with it," Capaz tells me. "They kill all who get in their way."* * *"You can't eat ideology"* * *The Disidentes are a splinter group of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). They are also known as the ex-FARC mafia. The FARC was a force of Marxist guerrillas that battled the Colombian government for over 50 years. The longest-running conflict in modern history cost some 260,000 lives, and left the country with 7.3 million internally displaced persons, the highest number in the world. A peace agreement signed in 2016 was supposed to have ended the fighting, and thousands of guerrillas did demobilize as part of the accords. Many others, however, refused to lay down their arms. Only now, instead of fighting for leftist values and the rights of the poor, as their predecessors claimed to do, the FARC dissidents were concerned only with enriching themselves. Comprised of some of the most battle-hardened and anti-social members of the old guerrilla force, the ex-FARC mafia quickly set out to take control of the Colombia's underworld, but they continued to operate under the guise of classic FARC units and brigades to give themselves an air of legitimacy. "Los Disidentes are FARC only in name," says a source in the Colombian armed forces, who agrees to speak only on condition of anonymity. "The old FARC doesn't exist anymore. These new guys are just pure narcos, and nothing more." Unlike the original FARC, the new breed are "undisciplined and ruthless. They're young, out of control. They only cause they follow is their own."Robert Bunker, a professor with the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College who specializes in cartel violence, describes the ex-FARC movement as a "commercial or criminal insurgency," which has learned that "you can't eat ideology."Bunker describes the Disidentes as a "21st century type of insurgency as opposed to mid-20th century Maoist or old-school political insurgency [like] the FARC. This new form of insurgency is all about materialism—getting money, power, and women—but also has an oblique political component. The leader of the band of brigands ruling the local town or plaza ends up becoming a 'gangster warlord,'" Bunker says. The most powerful warlord operating in Cauca today is Gerardo "Barbas" Herrera, commander of the dissident FARC's Dagoberto Ramos Mobile Column of the Sixth Front. The massacre of Nasa Governor Cristina Bautista and four of her indigenous guards on Oct. 29 occurred shortly after they'd detained the 35-year-old Barbas and another high-ranking commander traveling with a handful of sicarios in a lone truck. A few minutes later, the armed forces source says, Barbas' reinforcements arrived, surrounded Bautista and her men, and opened fire.The killing of the engineers a few days later apparently happened because they refused to pay an extortion fee. They were executed to send a message to others who might resist control by the "Dagoberto Ramos Front," says ACIN's Capaz.According to Bunker, the new breed of profit-first rebels are far more dangerous than their ideologically motivated counterparts: "Criminal insurgents are much tougher to contain and combat than old-school insurgents," a model that is dying out.That's because, he says, "previous insurgencies existed and interacted primarily in state level economies," while the criminal variety, "are tied into the globalized and predatory economy that has since emerged."* * *"The poor have no choice but to 'go criminal.'"* * *Bogotá's response to the series of massacres this fall in northern Cauca has been divisive, to say the least. After Governor Bautista and the engineers were killed, far-right Colombian President Iván Duque vowed to send an additional 2,500 troops into the Triangle. That surge doesn't sit well with either local indigenous residents or international observers like WOLA's Sánchez-Garzoli:Duque "ordered the militarization of the area," she says, "the one thing indigenous communities have shouted over and over does not work to protect them, but rather places them further in harm's way and in the middle of combat operations between the different illegal groups."ACIN's Capaz says that the Nasa, "don't want any armed actors" operating on ancestral lands. "The narcos want to dominate our lands and treat us like slaves. But the government also wants to control our territory, and to access our natural resources for their own gain," he says. How Cuba Helped Make Venezuela a Mafia State"The state wants to exterminate us, and our culture," another Nasa governor tells me in Toribío, "but we're not going anywhere." The U.S.-backed Colombian military has a long history of human rights abuses, including some 10,000 "false positives"—extrajudicial killings of civilians that are then claimed as insurgents to prop up a given unit's body count. Nasa authorities allege the army is responsible for two false positive cases in their territory within the last three months, including a human rights worker whose murder the army tried to pin on the Dagoberto Ramos Front. Another eight false-positive killings in a nearby district—all of them minors—prompted the resignation of Duque's defense minister earlier this November.Unfortunately, the violence in northern Cauca tracks with a general spike in killings of indigenous peoples and social leaders since Duque took office in 2017.WOLA Director Sánchez-Garzoli attributes that in part to the fact that Duque has failed to implement the "Ethnic Chapter" of the peace accords between FARC and the government, which would have promoted crop-substitution programs aimed at replacing marijuana and coca cultivation on indigenous lands, while also strengthening and providing funds for Indigenous Guardia units. In addition to walking back on promises made in the armistice, Duque has also persisted in vocally denigrating his country's minority groups, including the Nasa, portraying them as "an obstacle to development," Sánchez-Garzoli writes."This also degrades and dehumanizes ethnic minorities and stigmatizes them," she adds. "It basically puts red targets on the back of ethnic groups in the eyes of illegal armed groups."Bunker, of the Strategic Studies Institute, agrees with Sánchez-Garzoli that the Duque regime's strategy is off target."Colombia will gain no ground against Clan Golfo, Sinaloa, or the Disidentes until it addresses the underlying lack of economic opportunity and the chasm between rich and poor in its society, he says. "The rich—with their links to multinational corporations— have the formal economic markets locked up, so the poor have no choice but to 'go criminal.'" * * *"He gave himself up to save us."* * *During our talks, Chucho had said what worried him most was that the children growing up in Nasa villages inside the Triangle would come to see drug cultivation as a normal way of life. And I understand his concern. The hills above Toribío are lit up each night like Christmas trees by hundreds of outdoor grow lights, while men openly smoke enormous joints of Creepy in the town's unpaved streets."It is like a sickness among us," Chucho Mestizo told me once, "and so the cartels rob us of a true future." As part of his work, Chucho had been pressuring the national government to assist farmers with legal crop substitution programs within the Triangle, in accordance with the 2016 peace agreement. On Nov. 3 of this year, in the wake of the recent massacres by Barbas' outfit, Chucho and other NGO members gave speeches to the cabildo assembly, urging the village elders to stand up to threats from the Dagoberto Ramos Front. That same night, according to his wife, armed men surrounded the family home and ordered Chucho to come out. "I begged him not to go," says Ceineda, fighting back tears. Not only was she pregnant but the couple's 4-year-old son was also in the house with them that night. "He knew they could break in to get him if he didn't go out," she says. "And so they might've killed us all. He kissed me and told me not to worry. That everything would be all right. And then he gave himself up to save us."And so Chucho went out into the night. And spoke to the men who had come for him, although Ceineda couldn't hear what he said. Perhaps he even tried to defuse the situation with a joke, as he had with the skittish coca farmers we'd met. A few minutes later, Ceineda says, she heard three evenly spaced gun shots, followed by an extended burst of automatic fire. When Nasa neighbors arrived and found Chucho he was already dead, shot six times in the head and chest. Ceinada tells me that in the days after Chucho's murder by the ex-FARC's next-gen insurgents she began to have severe cramps. She went to the doctor, and was told the shock of her husband's death had claimed the life of their unborn child. "I don't know what to do now. We're not safe here anymore," she says, clutching her surviving son to her chest. "I just wish we could go back to the way things used to be." 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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| US committed to securing trade deal with China by year's end but can't turn blind eye to Hong Kong violence, top official says Posted: 24 Nov 2019 01:41 AM PST  The Trump administration is keen not to anger Xi Jinping, who is unhappy with Congress' almost unanimous support of the Hong Kong protesters.
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| Green Party manifesto 2019: A summary of key policies Posted: 24 Nov 2019 12:40 AM PST  The Green Party has revealed the details of its general election manifesto, titled If Not Now, When? The party has announced 10 new laws that would be ready to be implemented if co-leaders Sian Berry and Jonathan Bartley won an against-the-odds majority on Dec 12. Here is an at-a-glance look at what is in the 89-page manifesto. Environment The manifesto pledges a £100million-per-year investment plan to deliver a Green New Deal over the next 10 years. It would look to totally overhaul the use of fossil fuels by switching transport and industry to renewable energy sources, while upgrading household heating systems and planting 700 million trees within a decade. The party wants to use the measures to create a net-zero carbon economy by 2030. Brexit The pro-European Union party has re-committed itself to a second referendum and to campaign for Remain. It says staying in the bloc would help "lead the fight against the climate emergency". General Election 2019 | Key questions, answered Crime Restorative justice would be expanded to allow those affected by crimes to meet offenders as part of a bid to cut the prison population by 50%. Misogyny would be made a hate crime under a Green-led administration and the personal use of drugs, including some Class A substances, would be de-criminalised. Heroin would be available on prescription and cannabis clubs would be permitted, allowing marijuana to be grown and consumed by adults. Welfare The Greens would introduce a universal basic income, providing every UK citizen with £89 per week in state funding. It would provide a boost to those in work and leave no-one on benefits worse off, according to the manifesto. Health Party leaders have promised to increase funding for the NHS by at least £6 billion each year until 2030 - a 4.5% increase on the 2018/19 budget. Privatisation in the NHS would also be abolished, while mental health care would be put on an "equal footing" with physical care. Education The party pledges to boost education funding by at least £4 billion per year and to lay down a long-term aim of reducing classes to 20 pupils and below. Ofsted would be replaced with a "collaborative system of assessing" schools and a new law would put onus on teaching children about climate change. In higher education, tuition fees would be scrapped and those who paid £9,000 a year to study would have their debt wiped.
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| China State Media Steps Up U.S. Criticism for Hong Kong Meddling Posted: 23 Nov 2019 11:07 PM PST ![China State Media Steps Up U.S. Criticism for Hong Kong Meddling]( "China State Media Steps Up U.S. Criticism for Hong Kong Meddling") (Bloomberg) -- Chinese state media stepped up criticism of the U.S. and accused it of meddling in China's domestic affairs, as President Donald Trump deliberates signing into a law an amendment that would require annual reviews of Hong Kong's special trading status with it.Attempts to use Hong Kong "to contain China's development is a pipe dream," according the state-run People's Daily, while Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday called the U.S. the "biggest destabilizing element." American politicians risk pushing the city into a "more dangerous abyss" as they use the "Hong Kong card" to contain China's growth, the official Xinhua News Agency said on Sunday."Some U.S. politicians have gone into a frenzy to do whatever to curtail and contain China, by fair means or foul," the People's Daily said in a front-page commentary. "Their evil hope is that Hong Kong will go down in chaos and become a card in their hands to hold back China's development."Trump has declined to say if he will sign the amendment to the United States-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992, which was passed by the House and Senate. He has the option to sign it into law or allow it to become law without his signature by taking no action for 10 days. Alternatively, he could return it to Congress with a veto. At that point, Congress can override the veto with two-thirds votes in both chambers.The changes to the Act would require annual reviews of Hong Kong's special trading status under U.S. law to determine if it remained "sufficiently autonomous" from Beijing to justify its privileges.Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in a meeting with his Dutch counterpart in Japan on Saturday, said Washington's move was a threat to Hong Kong's stability."The U.S. has interfered in China's internal affairs and tried to damage our 'one country, two systems' principle and the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong," according to remarks made by Wang Yi published on the Foreign Ministry website. It "violates the UN Charter and the basic norms governing international relations," he said.Read more: Why Hong Kong's 'Special Status' Is Touchy Territory: QuickTakeThe U.S. president said last week that "we're going to take a very good look at it," but declined to say if he would sign it. Trump told Fox News that the only reason Chinese President Xi Jinping isn't sending soldiers into the Hong Kong "is because I'm saying it's going to affect our trade deal".Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan took a conciliatory line on Saturday, according to state-owned China Global Television Network. In a meeting with former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the vice president called on both sides to handle strategic issues in bilateral ties with a broader vision and a longer-term perspective.The two countries, which have many more similarities than differences, would benefit from cooperation and would both suffer in any confrontation, CGTN cited Wang as saying.The nations should follow the "direction and the principles set by Chinese President Xi and U.S. President Trump in their meetings," and should "consider a series of major strategic issues in bilateral ties in an objective and reasonable manner," he said, according to CGTN.China has vowed to take countermeasures against the U.S. legislation but has to balance its response and the effects it would have on trade talks with Washington, which are entering their final stages in phase one of a deal.To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Dandan Li in Beijing at dli395@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Stanley JamesFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Protests Show That Iran Is Having Trouble Controlling the Middle East Posted: 23 Nov 2019 08:30 PM PST  A combination of escalating internal dissent with an increasingly unfavorable regional environment is presenting challenges to Iran's state interests and, more particularly, to the legitimacy of the mullah-dominated regime that Tehran.
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