| Foreign member of medic team killed in Syria's northeast Posted: 03 Nov 2019 04:57 PM PST  Shelling by Turkey-backed opposition fighters killed a Burmese medic and wounded another Iraqi member of the humanitarian team on Sunday in northeastern Syria where fighting between Kurdish fighters and Turkey-backed gunmen continued, the humanitarian group said. Eubank said the medic, Zau Seng, was hit in the head by shrapnel from a mortar shell that struck nearby as he was filming a video of the fighting. "He died right away and we brought him here to Tal Tamr," Eubank said in the video, which also showed one of the aid group's armored vehicles hit by shrapnel.
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| How Trump Reshaped the Presidency in Over 11,000 Tweets Posted: 03 Nov 2019 04:39 PM PST  In the Oval Office, an annoyed President Donald Trump ended an argument he was having with his aides. He reached into a drawer, took out his iPhone and threw it on top of the historic Resolute Desk:"Do you want me to settle this right now?"There was no missing Trump's threat that day in early 2017, the aides recalled. With a tweet, he could fling a directive to the world, and there was nothing they could do about it.When Trump entered office, Twitter was a political tool that had helped get him elected and a digital howitzer that he relished firing. In the years since, he has fully integrated Twitter into the very fabric of his administration, reshaping the nature of the presidency and presidential power.After Turkey invaded northern Syria this past month, he crafted his response not only in White House meetings but also in a series of contradictory tweets. This summer, he announced increased tariffs on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods, using a tweet to deepen tensions between the two countries. And in March, Trump cast aside more than 50 years of U.S. policy, tweeting his recognition of Israel's sovereignty in the Golan Heights. He openly delighted in the reaction he provoked."Boom. I press it," Trump recalled months later at a White House conference attended by conservative social media personalities, "and, within two seconds, 'We have breaking news.'"Early on, top aides wanted to restrain the president's Twitter habit, even considering asking the company to impose a 15-minute delay on Trump's messages. But 11,390 presidential tweets later, many administration officials and lawmakers embrace his Twitter obsession, flocking to his social media chief with suggestions. Policy meetings are hijacked when Trump gets an idea for a tweet, drawing in cabinet members and others for wordsmithing. And as a president often at war with his own bureaucracy, he deploys Twitter to break through logjams, overrule or humiliate recalcitrant advisers and preempt his staff."He needs to tweet like we need to eat," Kellyanne Conway, his White House counselor, said in an interview.In a presidency unlike any other, where Trump wakes to Twitter, goes to bed with it and is comforted by how much it revolves around him, the person he most often singled out for praise was himself -- more than 2,000 times, according to an analysis by The New York Times.The Times examined Trump's use of Twitter since taking office, reviewing all his tweets, retweets and followers and interviewing nearly 50 current and former administration officials, lawmakers and Twitter executives and employees. What has emerged is a rich account, with new analysis, previously unreported episodes and fresh details of how the president exploits the platform to exert power.It is often by brute repetition. He has taken to Twitter to demand action 1,159 times on immigration and his border wall, a top priority, and 521 times on tariffs, another key agenda item. Twitter is an instrument of his foreign policy: He has praised dictators more than a hundred times, while complaining nearly twice as much about the U.S.' traditional allies. Twitter is the Trump administration's de facto personnel office: The chief executive has announced the departures of more than two dozen top officials, some fired by tweet.More than half of the president's posts -- 5,889 -- have been attacks; no other category even comes close. His targets include the Russia investigation, a Federal Reserve that won't bow to his whims, previous administrations, entire cities that are led by Democrats, and adversaries from outspoken athletes to chief executives who displease him. Like no other modern president, Trump has publicly harangued businesses to advance his political goals and silence criticism, often with talk of government intervention. Using Twitter, he threatened "Saturday Night Live" with an investigation by the Federal Communications Commission and accused Amazon, led by Jeff Bezos, owner of The Washington Post, of cheating the U.S. Postal Service.As much as anything, Twitter is the broadcast network for Trump's parallel political reality -- the "alternative facts" he has used to spread conspiracy theories, fake information and extremist content, including material that energizes some of his base.Trump's use of Twitter has accelerated sharply since the end of the special counsel's Russia investigation and reached a new high as Democrats opened an impeachment inquiry, the analysis shows. He tweeted more than 500 times during the first two weeks of October, a pace that put him on track to triple his monthly average. (The Times analyzed Trump's tweets through Oct. 15. The total by the end of the month reached 11,887.)His more than 66 million Twitter followers have become his private polling service, offering what he sees as validation for his performance in office. But fewer than one-fifth of his followers are voting-age Americans, according to a Times analysis of Pew Research national surveys of adults who use Twitter.The White House press office declined to comment for this article and turned down an interview request with the president. Now, as Trump anticipates a bitter reelection battle and faces an impeachment inquiry by Democrats, the stakes are higher than ever before, and Twitter even more central to his presidency.His top campaign aides are embracing the outrage that Trump stirs with his tweets to reinforce his anti-establishment brand and strengthen his bond with the fiercely loyal supporters who propelled him into office. And as public backing for impeachment grows, the president is using the platform to build a defensive echo chamber.While people around Trump acknowledge that his tweets can cause political damage, the president is confident in his mastery of Twitter.This past week, as he announced that U.S. Special Forces had killed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State, Trump noted the terror group's digital prowess. "They use the internet better than almost anybody in the world," he said. "Perhaps other than Donald Trump."Policy Via TwitterWith a single tweet last fall, Trump sent his administration into a tailspin. "I must, in the strongest of terms, ask Mexico to stop this onslaught," he wrote in October 2018, angry about a caravan of migrants from Central America. "If unable to do so I will call up the U.S. Military and CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!"Trump's aides had tried for weeks to talk him out of shutting down the border; the logistics would be impossible and the economic pain extreme. The tweet prompted an emergency meeting down the hall from the Oval Office as aides scrambled to head off Trump's impulse, according to people familiar with the frantic scene. Like others in this article, they spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of angering the president.The aides succeeded in temporarily holding him off, but the tweet crystallized for cautious bureaucrats exactly what he wanted: to stop people from coming into the country. In the months that followed, Trump's threat helped to set off an effort inside the government to find ever more restrictive ways to block immigrants. Nearly six months later, Kirstjen Nielsen, homeland security secretary, was still trying to prevent a border shutdown when the president brought her resistance to an end."Kirstjen Nielsen," he tweeted, "will be leaving her position."This is governing in the Trump era. For President Barack Obama, a tweet about a presidential proposal might mark the conclusion of a long, deliberative process. For Trump, Twitter is often the beginning of how policy is made."Suddenly there's a tweet, and everything gets upended, and you spent the week trying to defend something else," said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. "This person thrives on chaos. What we may find disconcerting or upsetting or whatever, it is actually what keeps him going."In October 2017, Rex Tillerson, the president's first secretary of state, was in China with a team of diplomats negotiating sanctions on Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, when Trump weighed in on Twitter. Tillerson was "wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man," he wrote. "Save your energy Rex, we'll do what has to be done!"Two months later, a Reuters headline blared that Mick Mulvaney, who then was Trump's new pick to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, had decided to put "on ice" sanctions against Wells Fargo for consumer abuses. It was little surprise: Mulvaney was an ally of the financial industry. But Trump had other ideas."Fines and penalties against Wells Fargo Bank for their bad acts against their customers and others will not be dropped, as has incorrectly been reported, but will be pursued and, if anything, substantially increased," he tweeted.Political appointees at the bureau wanted to affirm Trump's desire publicly, despite long-standing policies against commenting on active investigations, according to former officials there. A spokesman for Mulvaney issued a statement saying only that he "shares the president's firm commitment to punishing bad actors and protecting American consumers."According to two people with direct knowledge of the Wells Fargo inquiry, career bureau officials took Trump's outburst as a green light to pursue aggressive negotiations with the bank, even as Mulvaney's team prepared to dial back penalties in other cases or shelve them. Wells Fargo ultimately agreed to a billion-dollar federal settlement, the bureau's largest-ever civil penalty.Over time, Trump has turned Twitter into a means of presidential communication as vital as a statement from the White House press secretary or an Oval Office address. The press secretary has not held a daily on-camera press briefing -- a decadeslong ritual of presidential messaging -- since March. Instead, Trump's Twitter activity drives the day.And Trump has removed any doubt that his tweets carry the weight once reserved for more formal pronouncements.In summer 2018, his aides repeatedly tried to reassure Republican lawmakers that the president backed their hard-line immigration bill, despite his remarks suggesting otherwise. But privately, Trump told several senators that there was only one certain sign of his support."If I don't tweet it," he said, according to two former senior advisers, "don't listen to my staff."Adapting a PlatformWhen Trump entered office, aides were determined to rein in his itchy Twitter fingers.In a series of informal conversations in early 2017, top White House officials discussed the possibility of a 15-minute delay on the president's account, a technical change not unlike the five-second naughty-word system used by television networks. But, one former senior official said, they quickly abandoned the idea after recognizing the political peril if it leaked to the press -- or to their boss.Several weeks later, a trio of close advisers presented Trump with another idea. Gary Cohn, the top economic adviser; Hope Hicks, the president's director of strategic communications; and Rob Porter, his staff secretary, argued that they should see the tweets before he sent them out.Trump was skeptical, worrying that delayed tweets would be irrelevant, according to a former White House official. But he agreed to a weeklong trial. Within 72 hours, the president had resumed tweeting from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.Three thousand miles away, in Silicon Valley, similar conversations were unfolding at Twitter's offices, where executives faced the same dilemma as Trump's inner circle: whether, and how, to restrain him.At the time, Twitter lagged far behind larger competitors like Facebook. While popular among politicians and journalists, it was struggling financially. But the president's incessant tweeting gave the company more currency.His Twitter account often drove more "impressions" -- a key company metric -- than any other in the world. But some of his messages seemed to violate the company's policies against abuse and incitement.On a now-defunct internal company message board known as Twitter Buzz, some left-leaning employees favored barring the president. Trump's behavior came up at almost every all-hands gathering and at many smaller meetings of executives. Some of them had set their phones to alert them whenever the president tweeted, according to a former employee who spoke on the condition of confidentiality."What I saw was a company coming to grips with an entirely new situation, a new level of scrutiny, a new level of vitriol," said Dianna Colasurdo, a former account executive on Twitter's political advertising sales team, "and working to adapt their policies in the moment to align with that."A turning point came in fall 2017, at the height of tensions with North Korea, when Trump tweeted that the rogue nation might not "be around much longer!" The country's foreign minister called that a declaration of war. On Twitter, users wondered if the company would allow Trump to tweet his way into a nuclear conflict.The response came the next day. Referring back to Trump's online declaration, Twitter announced in a tweet that it took "newsworthiness" into account when evaluating whether to remove a post that violated its policies.In an interview, Twitter executives said that newsworthiness had long figured into the company's internal enforcement guidelines and that officials there had been formulating the announcement, which applied worldwide, months before Trump's North Korea tweet. But former employees said they understood the announcement to be Trump-driven. Twitter did not want to be in the business of censoring the president.Late in summer 2018, White House insiders tried again to curb Trump's use of social media, according to two former aides. After a series of over-the-top weeks of tweeting -- including calling Omarosa Manigault Newman, his onetime aide, "wacky" and "a lowlife" -- several advisers suggested he go just two days without Twitter and see what happened. Trump nodded and then promptly discarded the advice.King, who said most of his Republican colleagues wished the president would tweet less, added that whenever he had raised the issue with White House staff members, they shrugged helplessly."It's not going to stop," he recalled their saying. "Forget it; we've all tried."Soon enough, Trump was as prolific as ever.On Sept. 13, he mocked Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, for claiming he could beat Trump in an election. "He doesn't have the aptitude or 'smarts' & is a poor public speaker & nervous mess," the president tweeted. Over the next 12 hours, Trump attacked two former FBI officials, accused The Wall Street Journal of getting a tariff story wrong and blasted former Secretary of State John Kerry for holding "illegal meetings" with Iran."BAD!" he wrote.First Things FirstTrump's Twitter habit is most intense in the morning, when he is in the White House residence, watching Fox News, scrolling through his Twitter mentions and turning the social media platform into what one aide called the "ultimate weapon of mass dissemination."Of the attack tweets identified in the Times analysis, nearly half were sent between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m., hours that Trump spends mostly without advisers present.After waking early, Trump typically watches news shows recorded the previous night on his "Super TiVo," several DVRs connected to a single remote. (The devices are set to record "Lou Dobbs Tonight" on Fox Business Network; "Hannity," "Tucker Carlson Tonight" and "The Story With Martha MacCallum" on Fox News; and "Anderson Cooper 360" on CNN.)He takes in those shows and the "Fox & Friends" morning program, then flings out comments on his iPhone. Then he watches as his tweets reverberate on cable channels and news sites.Early on Sept. 2 -- the start of a week in which he tweeted 198 times -- the president sent a few benign tweets, then lashed out at Paul Krugman as a "Failing New York Times columnist" who "never got it!" Over the next 44 minutes, he fired off 10 more tweets. He disparaged Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO ("Likes what we are doing until the cameras go on.") He called James Comey, the former FBI director, and his "dwindling group of friends" liars and traitors. He railed against The Washington Post and four women of color in Congress who called themselves "the Squad."Almost every morning that week, Trump kicked off the day with an attack on one critic or another: the "incompetent Mayor of London," or "Bad 'actress' Debra The Mess Messing" -- whom he accused of being racist -- or the "Fake News Media." He referred to conservative media outlets 45 times, berated the mainstream media 32 times and tweeted about conspiracy theories 12 times.Sometimes the president's apparent fury on Twitter is meant to troll his critics and get a rise out of them, many of his closest aides said. But they still brace themselves, knowing that they are likely to be blindsided by one of his tweets. Aides who gather for the early-morning staff meetings in the West Wing said their agenda was regularly blown up when their phones simultaneously went off with a tweet from the boss.Once Trump arrives in the West Wing -- usually after 10 a.m. -- Dan Scavino, White House social media director, takes control of the Twitter account, tweeting as @realDonaldTrump from his own phone or computer. Trump rarely tweets in front of others, those close to him said, because he does not like to wear the reading glasses he needs to see the screen.Instead, the president dictates tweets to Scavino, who sits in a closet-size room just off the Oval Office until Trump calls out "Scavino!" Often, he prints out suggested tweets in extra-large fonts for the president to sign off on. (A single-page article that Scavino recently printed out for him ran to six pages after the fonts were enlarged, according to one person who saw it.)Scavino's role in Trump's Twitter machine has made him an unlikely White House power broker and the go-to person for aides, business executives, friends and lawmakers who want the president to tweet something. Conway noted what she called the hypocrisy of many Republicans who begged her to get Trump to stop tweeting during the 2016 campaign and now come to Scavino with suggestions. Scavino declined to be interviewed for this article.He sometimes acts as a brake -- or tries to -- on the president's tweeting impulses. When Trump started angrily posting about the "Squad," Scavino told him it was a bad idea, according to an aide who witnessed the conversation. Along with Michael Dubke, who served as White House communications director for several months in 2017 and is from Buffalo, New York, home of the famous chicken wings, Scavino presented some tweets to Trump in degrees of outrageousness: "hot," "medium" or "mild." Trump, said one former official who saw the proposed messages, always picked the most incendiary ones and often wanted to make them even more provocative.And while many of Trump's tweets are shoot-from-the-hip attacks, he chews over others for days or even weeks, waiting for just the right moment to maximize the reaction, aides said.He plotted for days to tweet about Mika Brzezinski, liberal co-host of the popular MSNBC morning program, according to former White House officials, before finally posting one morning in June 2017. He called her "low I.Q. Crazy Mika" and wrote that she had been "bleeding badly from a face-lift" during a New Year's Eve party.In October of last year, the president started telling his aides that he planned to denounce Stormy Daniels, a pornographic-film actress who claimed to have had an affair with him more than a decade earlier. He said he wanted to call her a "horse face."Several current and former aides recalled telling Trump that it was a terrible idea and would renew accusations of misogyny against him. But he persisted.Finally, after watching a Fox News report days later about how a federal judge had thrown out a lawsuit by Daniels, the president tapped out the tweet."Great, now I can go after Horseface and her 3rd rate lawyer in the Great State of Texas," he wrote.A Love of 'Likes'For Trump, Twitter reinforces his instincts about his performance as president.After a rally in Dallas in mid-October, Trump's aides prepared a large-type printout of tweets gushing over his speech that day, including one from Tomi Lahren, a Fox News commentator and host of a show on the Fox Nation site. Trump scrawled a thank-you note on one copy to Lahren -- who then tweeted a picture of the letter back at the president.Aides said they often compiled positive feedback for Trump. He revels in the stream of praise from his most loyal followers on paper or as he scrolls through his phone early in the morning and late at night. He considers his following to be like the ratings on a TV show, better than any approval poll. After one weekend Twitter spree, the president told Sarah Huckabee Sanders, his press secretary at the time, he had expected a tweet he was particularly proud of to get more response than it did, according to a former administration official. Sanders said that if he tweeted 60 times, people wouldn't pay as much attention, the official said.The president is keenly aware of his number of followers and reluctant to acknowledge that any of them are not real. Trump has accused Twitter of political bias for its periodic purges of bot accounts across the platform, which have cost him -- and other prominent users -- hundreds of thousands of followers. When he met with the company's chief executive, Jack Dorsey, in April, Trump reportedly pressed him at length about the lost followers.There is plenty of evidence that Trump's Twitter following may not be a reliable proxy for what the American people think of the job he is doing.It is difficult, if not impossible, to determine with certainty how many of Trump's more than 66 million followers are fake. Some studies of his followers have estimated that a high proportion are likely to be automated bots, fake accounts or inactive. But even a conservative analysis by the Times found that nearly a third of them, about 22 million, included no biographical information and used the service's default profile image -- two signs the accounts may be rarely used or inactive. Fourteen percent have automatically generated user names, another indication that an account may not belong to a real person.Even if Trump is not shouting into the void on Twitter, he is often preaching to the converted. Data from Stirista, an analytics firm, shows that his followers tend to be the kind of users who are most likely to be his supporters -- disproportionately older, white and male compared with Twitter users overall.And they constitute just a fraction of the electorate. According to the Times analysis of Pew data, only about 4% of American adults, or about 11 million people, follow him on Twitter. Those followers represent less that one-fifth of his total, the analysis shows.According to data from YouGov, which polls about most of the president's tweets, some of the topics on which Trump got the most likes and retweets -- jabs at the NFL, posts about the special counsel's investigation, unfounded allegations of widespread voter fraud -- poll poorly with the general public.But people close to Trump said there was no dissuading him that the "likes" a tweet got were evidence that a decision or policy proposal was well received.Last December, after Trump announced plans to withdraw some troops from Syria, lawmakers came to the White House to argue against it. According to Politico, Trump responded by calling in Scavino."Tell them how popular my policy is," Trump asked Scavino, who described for the lawmakers social media postings that had praised Trump's decision. Aides said that for Trump, his Twitter "likes" were proof that he had made the right call.The reaction in the outside world was far less favorable. Within weeks, Trump's defense secretary and the special anti-ISIS envoy quit over the decision. U.S. allies were enraged. More than two-thirds of the Senate voted to rebuke Trump, who agreed under pressure to keep the troops in Syria.Almost a year later, U.S. troops in Syria became an issue again after Trump appeared to give President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey a green light to invade Kurdish-controlled areas in northern Syria.That resulted in another congressional rebuke for Trump and complaints even from loyal Republican allies. In subsequent days, Trump sought to defend himself on Twitter, alternately denying he had abandoned the Kurds and suggesting the United States had no stake in their safety, threatening Erdogan if the incursion continued and praising Turkey as an important trading partner.Many people took note of the back-and-forth, including Erdogan. "When we take a look at Mr. Trump's Twitter posts, we can no longer follow them," the Turkish president told reporters mockingly in mid-October, according to Hurriyet, a Turkish newspaper. "We cannot keep track."A Tool for ReelectionIn the months ahead, the man tasked with winning Trump a second term is hoping to focus the president's Twitter habit on its original purpose: connecting with voters.Brad Parscale, who served as Trump's digital director in 2016 and is now campaign manager, has worked closely with Scavino to shape perceptions of the president through social media. The two men speak a half-dozen times a day, according to people familiar with their interactions.Parscale criticized Twitter after it announced Wednesday that it would no longer allow paid political advertising on the platform, calling it "yet another attempt to silence conservatives." But the change may benefit Trump: He has a far larger organic Twitter following than any of his likely Democratic opponents and is therefore less reliant on paid ads to spread his message through the platform.While some campaign aides said Trump's tweets can be a distraction, they also view Twitter as an essential tool to present him as someone strong, willing to stand up to so-called political elites and what the president recently called the "unholy alliance of corrupt Democrat politicians, deep-state bureaucrats and the fake-news media."The aides seek to cultivate the image of a man who understands "regular people." Trump's team believes that his unvarnished writing, poor punctuation and increasing profanity on Twitter signals authenticity -- a contrast to the polished, vetted, often anodyne social media style of most candidates.Twitter, Conway said, is the president's most potent weapon when it comes to bypassing the powerful people he believes have controlled the flow of information too long."It's the democratization of information," she said. Everyone receives Trump's tweets at once -- the stay-at-home mom, the plumber working on the sink, the billionaire executive, the White House correspondent."They all hear 'ping,'" she said, "at the same time."----MethodologyThe New York Times reviewed every tweet and retweet sent by President Donald Trump from Jan. 20, 2017, through Oct. 15, 2019. Each one was evaluated and tagged for several factors: whether it included an attack or praise; who or what was attacked or praised; and for topics including trade, immigration, the military, the economy, the 2018 midterm elections, the Russia investigation and the House impeachment inquiry. In the Times analysis, retweets in each of those categories were counted as tweets.The Times reviewed each Twitter account that followed Trump by analyzing profile information, tweet frequency and the date the account was created. The Times also used data from Pew Research to estimate how many American adults follow Trump on Twitter. Pew Research conducted a nationally representative sample of American adults with personal, public Twitter accounts to analyze how many follow American politicians.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| U.K. Parliament to Elect Replacement to Speaker John Bercow Posted: 03 Nov 2019 04:00 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- The U.K. House of Commons will elect a new speaker on Monday to replace John Bercow before it dissolves for the country's general election in just over five weeks.The vote will probably be the last major decision of this Parliament, which Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called "dead" and repeatedly attacked for stymieing his Brexit plan.When Parliament dissolves on Wednesday, it will mark the official start of the campaign. Not all current members of parliament who vote for the new speaker will return. Some, like Bercow, are stepping down, while others may lose their seats in the Dec. 12 poll.Bercow's rulings during Brexit debates have made him the most controversial speakers in recent memory, while his idiosyncratic style made him a minor celebrity in the U.K. and overseas. His decision last month not to allow Johnson to hold a second vote on his Brexit deal -- two days after members had rejected it -- played a key role in the premier failing to get it passed in time for the Oct. 31 deadline.His deputy Lindsey Hoyle is seen as the favorite to win the ballot, according to bookmaker Ladbrokes. The Labour MP has framed himself as an "antidote" to Bercow and said his style of using humor can diffuse tensions, whereas Bercow's bellicose remarks can add fuel to the fire.The speaker has a pivotal role in Parliament, shaping debates, ordering politicians to stop speaking, and smoothing proceedings in what can be a rowdy lower chamber.The Nastiness of PoliticsHoyle, 62, has said one of his first acts will be to call a summit with all the party leaders to find a way of taking the "nastiness" out of politics. On Saturday, Armed Forces Minister Mark Lancaster said he won't be standing again, following Culture Minister Nicky Morgan a few days earlier. Along with their former Conservative Heidi Allen, they cited abuse for doing their job.But the "exhaustive ballot" voting system could deliver a surprise result on Monday. If no candidate wins a majority, the individual with the fewest votes is eliminated and MPs continue voting until one candidate gets a majority.Labour member Harriet Harman and Eleanor Laing, who also were deputies for the 56-year-old Bercow, are seen as the closest rivals to Hoyle among the eight expected candidates.Speakers have the power to select amendments, and rule on which motions are in order for the House to consider. Amendments have been one of the key tools MPs have used to take control of the daily agenda and shape the U.K.'s divorce from the European Union. That includes the Benn Act, which forced Johnson to request a delay to the Oct. 31 deadline.The election adds a new level of unpredictability to the decision, as some MPs may already be in their constituencies campaigning rather than in London to vote for the new speaker.In other developments:Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage confirmed he won't stand at this election, which would have been his eighth attempt to get a seat in ParliamentBoris Johnson apologized to Tory party members for missing the Oct. 31 Brexit deadline, which he had promised to deliver "do or die"Tory MP Ross Thompson stood down following accusations that he sexually assulted a Labour MP in a bar in ParliamentLabour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he'd instructed his shadow cabinet to fall into line after divisions on Brexit sparked a row over whether to go for an electionLabour economy spokesman John McDonnell said the party could scrap plans for a third runway at Heathrow Airport if elected, in line with its climate change policyTo contact the reporter on this story: Jessica Shankleman in London at jshankleman@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, James Ludden, Steve GeimannFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| German leader wants 1 million EV charging points by 2030 Posted: 03 Nov 2019 03:19 PM PST  Electric car charging stations are still relatively few and far between, but they might be ubiquitous within a decade -- in Germany, at least. Chancellor Angela Merkel has declared that the government wants a "million charging points" in the country by 2030. That would represent 50 times more than the roughly 20,000 points available now. Not surprisingly, Merkel didn't expect this to happen through sheer force of will. The industry will need to "participate in this effort" if it's going to come about, she said.
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| Iraqi protesters attack Iran consulate in Karbala Posted: 03 Nov 2019 02:28 PM PST  Dozens of Iraqi protesters attacked the Iranian consulate in the Shiite holy city of Karbala on Sunday, scaling the concrete barriers ringing the building, bringing down an Iranian flag and replacing it with the Iraqi flag, eyewitnesses said. Security forces fired in the air to disperse the protesters who threw stones and burned tires around the building on a street corner in Karbala south of Baghdad. There were no immediate reports of casualties in the incident, which comes amid ongoing protests in the capital Baghdad and majority-Shiite provinces in the south.
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| Burkina Faso Lawmaker Killed in Area Ravaged by Militants Posted: 03 Nov 2019 01:47 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- A Burkinabe Parliament member, who was also one of the last authorities in a region ravaged by militants, was killed in a suicide bomb attack in the northern Djibo region on Sunday, security and government officials said.The lawmaker, Oumarou Dicko, who had gone to officiate the launch of a Red Cross program to tackle youth employment, was traveling back to the capital Ouagadougou when his car hit a roadside bomb that killed the driver before gunmen opened fire and killed the lawmaker, a civil servant and Dicko's cousin.The assault comes as Burkina Faso grapples with an Islamist insurgency that has displaced more than half a million people, according to the U.N. Over 200,000 people have been displaced in the last four months, most of them from the West African nation's northern regions.The Sahel, a semi-arid region on the southern fringe of the Sahara, stands out as a region where violent extremism is on the rise in contrast to progress made fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.The spike in violence has lead to increasing discontent with how President Roch Marc Christian Kabore's government is tackling the situation. Senior opposition politicians have called for Kabore step down.On Saturday 20,000 people gathered at a stadium in Ouagadougou to show support for the country's security forces, according to the organizers.\--With assistance from Katarina Hoije.To contact the reporter on this story: Simon Gongo in Ouagadougou at sgongo@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: James Ludden at jludden@bloomberg.net, Matthew G. MillerFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Competing protests in Lebanon bring thousands to the streets Posted: 03 Nov 2019 01:08 PM PST  Tens of thousands of people held competing rallies in Lebanon Sunday, including thousands who flocked to the presidential palace in support of the country's president and others who gathered in downtown Beirut as part of ongoing protests that aim to sweep from power Lebanon's entire political elite. The agreement ending the war distributed power among Christians, Shiites and Sunnis, but led to decades of corruption and economic mismanagement culminating in a severe fiscal crisis. Around noon Sunday, President Michel Aoun addressed thousands of his supporters at a rally near the presidential palace outside of Beirut.
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| Trump: Farage and Johnson should 'come together' for general election Posted: 03 Nov 2019 12:51 PM PST  * PM has dismissed idea he should work with Brexit party * Farage says he will not stand as MP in general electionDonald Trump speaks to reporters at the White House. Photograph: Manuel Balce Ceneta/APDonald Trump has waded into British politics again, addressing the key question facing pro-leave right-wingers in the forthcoming general election.The president said he hoped prime minister Boris Johnson, a "wonderful guy", and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage would come together on a united political platform.The president spoke to reporters at the White House after returning from a visit to New York to watch a UFC fight, an evening which produced both boos and cheers and stoked fierce debate on Sunday.Asked which British politician he would side with if he had to choose, Trump said: "I like them both … So I think Boris will get it right. They're both friends of mine. What I'd like to see is for Nigel and Boris to come together. I think that's a possibility."Farage said on Sunday he would not run for a seat in the general election. Johnson has already rejected the suggestion from both Trump and Farage that he should work with the Brexit party.Instead, Johnson has talked up the prospect of a post-Brexit trade deal with the US as one of the biggest prizes of leaving the European Union.Trump said: "Boris is the right man for the time. He's really for the times. He's a great gentleman. He's a wonderful guy. He's tough, he's smart and I think he's going to do something."Speaking to Farage on the British politician's LBC radio show earlier this week, Trump said Johnson's proposed Brexit deal would prevent the UK and US from striking a trade deal of their own and described the situation as "completely ridiculous". Downing Street rejected that claim.On Sunday, Trump indicated that if the UK made a clean break with Europe, as opposed to remaining in the customs union in any form, the US would be in a better position to strike a trade deal."We're far and away the No1 economy in the world," Trump said, "and, if you do it a certain way, we're prohibited from trading with the UK. That would be very bad for the UK because we can do much more business than the European Union."In his broadcast conversation with Farage on Thursday, Trump also disparaged the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn.In response, Corbyn tweeted: "Donald Trump is trying to interfere in Britain's election to get his friend Boris Johnson elected."
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| Israeli PM's son, driver strike settlement over leaked tape Posted: 03 Nov 2019 11:25 AM PST  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's son has reportedly reached a court settlement with a former driver whom he sued for releasing a recording made while he was joyriding with his friends during a drunken night at Tel Aviv strip clubs. Israeli media said Sunday that Roi Rozen has agreed to pay Yair Netanyahu $8,500 and publicly apologize for leaking the covert recording. In the recording, Yair Netanyahu and his friends make disparaging comments about strippers, waitresses and other women.
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| UN agency for Palestinian refugees resolves strike in Jordan Posted: 03 Nov 2019 10:24 AM PST ![UN agency for Palestinian refugees resolves strike in Jordan]( "UN agency for Palestinian refugees resolves strike in Jordan") The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees reached an agreement with its employees in Jordan to end a strike launched on Sunday. The agency's more than 6,000 workers went on strike Sunday, paralyzing its schools, health care and garbage-collection services in refugee camps. Classes were canceled for some 120,000 students in Jordan.
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| Thousands of protesters burn tyres and block roads in Baghdad protest Posted: 03 Nov 2019 09:46 AM PST  Iraq's capital Baghdad was paralysed on Sunday as tens of thousands of demonstrators burned tyres and blocked major thoroughfares in an escalation of major anti-government protests. Crowds obstructed roads with wooden pallets, barbed wire and by burning old furniture, with large numbers gathering in the central Tahrir Square and others occupying a bridge in the heavily fortified Green Zone. Some held up a banner reading "Roads closed by order of the people" amid calls for an end to the political system established in the aftermath of the 2003 US-led invasion. More than 250 people have been killed since the demonstrations began a month ago as security forces have fired live rounds at protesters as well as tear gas and rubber bullets. A mid-October government-led enquiry into security forces' actions alleged excessive force was used. Since that report was released, another 100 people have died. On Saturday Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi underscored the need to preserve the safety of protesters in a meeting with security officials. The same day, unknown assailants abducted Siba al-Mahdawi, an activist and physician who had offered medical care to protesters. The semi-official Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights called on the government and security forces to reveal Ms al-Mahdawi's location, but no more is known of her whereabouts. An Iraqi demonstrator uses a slingshot to hurl rocks Credit: AFP Despite Ms al-Mahdawi's disappearance and rising levels of violence, demonstrators have grown bolder, criticising not just their own leaders and political system, but the Iranian forces that underpin this country. In unprecedented displays of anti-Iran sentiment, demonstrators chanted "Out, out, Iran! Baghdad will stay free!" Footage posted online showed Iraqis hitting pictures of the leader of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Qassem Soleimani with their shoes, a scathing insult in Arab culture. The vast majority of demonstrators are young, as is much of the Iraqi population, which is characterised by a youth bulge. Their lot is largely bleak. Despite Iraq's petroleum wealth and the lavish spending of the country's political elite, young Iraqis have a one in five chance of living below the poverty line. One in four young people is unemployed. Analysts believe that these young people are unlikely to compromise with the government as they seek the dismantling of the political system installed after the US-led invasion, which is rife with corruption and lacks accountability. "Concessions won't do it this time. The only thing that will change the situation is true revolution, but I don't think we are there yet," said Iraq researcher Abdullah Hawez. "The protesters want radical change, but the ruling class would lose everything if such change came to pass. What's being offered is some sort of symbolic change or early elections, but recent years have shown that elections are not a solution in Iraq."
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| Trump Says China Trade Deal Will Be Signed Somewhere in U.S. Posted: 03 Nov 2019 09:46 AM PST ![Trump Says China Trade Deal Will Be Signed Somewhere in U.S.]( "Trump Says China Trade Deal Will Be Signed Somewhere in U.S.") (Bloomberg) -- The "Phase One" trade deal with China, once completed, will be signed somewhere in the U.S., President Donald Trump told reporters on Sunday at the White House.Trump had previously suggested Iowa, the largest U.S. corn and hog producing state, as a natural setting for the trade agreement to be formalized.Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Sunday in Bangkok that Alaska and Hawaii, as well as locations in China, were all possible locations for Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to sign the deal. The leaders had been expected to meet at this month's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Chile, but that event has been canceled due to unrest in the country.To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer Jacobs in Washington at jjacobs68@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Ros KrasnyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Give therapeutic animals the same legal rights as guide dogs, campaigners say Posted: 03 Nov 2019 09:34 AM PST  Therapeutic animals that give owners emotional support should get the same legal rights as guide dogs, campaigners have said. The idea has taken off after celebrities including James Middleton praised pets for aiding their recovery from bouts of anxiety and depression. In America, any creature can qualify as an "emotional support animal" (ESA) if a doctor says it is vital for their human companion's wellbeing. French bulldogs, pitbulls, pigs, hamsters and peacocks have been granted the special status, which means they can go on some flights and stay in housing where animals are not usually allowed. Now, ministers have been urged to give ESAs the same rights in Britain, with nearly 13,000 signing a petition in support of the move. Which dog breed is most suitable for you? The organisers of the Change.org campaign wrote: "Sadly, unlike in America, Emotional Support Animals are still not recognised as a certified assistance animals in the UK. "This means that the rules that apply to other assistance animals, such as guide dogs, do not apply to emotional support pets. "This means the pet could be taken away from them, not allowed in housing etc... this list goes on. "At the end of the day, they could be separated from their pet, which would severely impact on their quality of life and emotional well-being." In the UK, assistance animals that are "trained to perform specific tasks" to improve their owners' quality of life are given rights under The Equality Act 2010. This means a certified assistance animal, such as a guide dog, is allowed to accompany its client, owner, or partner, at all times and in all places. Brexit election | The best comment and analysis UK airlines allow assistance animals to fly with their owners for free and they can travel in taxis and enter buildings where animals are normally prohibited. For a dog to qualify for these benefits in the UK, it must be trained and certified through Assistance Dogs International or the International Guide Dog Foundation. ESAs are not considered assistance animals in the UK because they are not trained to perform specific tasks. They are not allowed onto flights by any UK airline, and any business can refuse them entry or ask owners to leave the premises. Supporters of the online petition said their pets had helped them to survive through struggles with mental illnesses including agoraphobia, severe anxiety, depression and PTSD. A recent study in the peer-reviewed journal BMC Psychiatry suggested that owning an animal can help relieve stress and boost positive emotions. James Middleton and his fiancee French financial analyst Alizee Thevenet Credit: Instagram In September, Middleton, 32, said the "unconditional love" he received from his nine dogs - a Golden Retriever, a black Labrador, two Cocker Spaniels, and five black Spaniels - "played a vital role in my recovery from clinical depression". The late Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher registered her French Bulldog Gary as an ESA in America, while pop singer Ariana Grande says her pig, called Piggie Smallz, helps her to deal with anxiety. A group called The Emotional Support Animal Registry is campaigning for ESAs to get legal recognition in Britain so flights from the UK would have to allow them on board. Critics have said the US system has been abused, with America's United Airlines receiving 76,000 requests for support pets to board flights last year. The company has cracked down on ESAs this year, saying only "clean and well-behaved" cats, dogs and trained miniature horses could be brought onto flights if their owners have a doctor's note.
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| Sudanese protests demand answers over June crackdown deaths Posted: 03 Nov 2019 09:33 AM PST  Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in Sudan's capital and across the country on Sunday, demanding the disbanding of the former ruling party that underpinned Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir's three decades in power. The demonstrations were organized by local groups linked with the Sudanese Professionals' Association, which spearheaded the uprising that toppled al-Bashir in April. In the capital of Khartoum, the protesters also called on authorities to step up an investigation into the hundreds of people who went missing on June 3, when security forces dispersed the main sit-in outside the military headquarters.
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| As Iraq and Lebanon protests flare, Iran clings to hard-earned sway Posted: 03 Nov 2019 09:33 AM PST  Iran has worked to turn sweeping anti-government protests in Iraq from a threat to its hard-earned influence over its neighbour into an opportunity for political gains, analysts say. In Lebanon too, where similar rallies against corruption and government inefficiency have broken out, Iran's main ally Hezbollah has managed to maintain its influence. "Very clearly, Iran in both Lebanon and Iraq wants to protect the system and not allow it to fall apart," said Renad Mansour, researcher at London-based Chatham House.
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| Turkish bus driver slams into stop, stabs people; 13 injured Posted: 03 Nov 2019 09:11 AM PST ![Turkish bus driver slams into stop, stabs people; 13 injured]( "Turkish bus driver slams into stop, stabs people; 13 injured") Police in Istanbul say they have detained a driver who rammed his bus into a crowded stop and attacked people who tried to prevent him from escaping with a knife. A police statement said the 33-year-old bus driver was detained Sunday after he jumped into the sea to try and get away from the scene. Police said three Iranian nationals and two children were also among those injured.
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| Russia Held Up an Ailing American Military Attaché From Leaving Moscow Posted: 03 Nov 2019 08:51 AM PST  WASHINGTON -- Russian officials in August held up the evacuation from Moscow of a sick American military attache to a hospital in Germany in the latest episode of a long-running campaign of harassment against American diplomats in Russia.Diplomatic protocols allow for the fast evacuation of diplomats facing medical emergencies. But the departure of the plane sent to evacuate the attache was delayed for hours for no apparent reason despite protests from embassy officials and the State Department in Washington, according to several Trump administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive diplomatic issue that some other officials prefer to play down.The Russians eventually relented, and the American, a uniformed officer, was safely evacuated, the officials said.While State and Defense Department officials confirmed there was a medical incident in Russia, they declined to identify the officer and would not provide any details of the case or why he was being evacuated."There was a Department of Defense official from the U.S. Embassy in Russia that had to be medevacked from the U.S. Embassy out of Russia," said Carla Gleason, a Pentagon spokeswoman.Military attache offices operate openly in most U.S. Embassies, and are managed by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon's intelligence arm. A webpage for the office in Moscow says that it "serves as the primary point of contact for all joint U.S.-Russia military activities and communications on defense matters."The State Department's undersecretary of state for management, Brian Bulatao, raised the episode with Russian officials in early September during a meeting in Vienna convened to discuss what one of the Trump administration officials called "bilateral irritants," including the harassment of Americans. But it is not clear how the Russian officials responded.Former U.S. officials with experience in Russia said they could not recall a similar incident happening before and viewed the episode as potentially representing an escalation by Moscow. But they said it would also be consistent with years of intimidation tactics against American diplomats in the Russian capital."If we were bringing in a plane, that means this was really serious. That does not happen very often," said Michael A. McFaul, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Moscow during the Obama administration."When I was ambassador, we felt like we were under siege all the time," McFaul said. He said that delaying a medical flight would fit "the kind of classic harassment that for many years now our people have been putting up with. It's inexcusable, it's horrible."Russia's internal security service, which Vladimir Putin once directed, "wants foreign officials and their families to feel like they're on enemy soil inside Russia," said Daniel Hoffman, a former CIA station chief who spent five years in Moscow. "They want officials and their families to be under duress," and unable to focus on their jobs."The idea that they would interfere with medical care or put someone's life or well-being at risk is taking the harassment for which Russia has been known since the days of the KGB to a new and dangerous level," Hoffman added.Adding to the diplomatic strain is the Russian detention since December of Paul N. Whelan, a former U.S. Marine whom the Russians arrested in Moscow and charged with spying. Whelan, who denies the charges, faces up to 20 years in prison.And in mid-October, Russian authorities removed three American diplomats from a train headed to an Arctic town near the site of a recent nuclear accident. The State Department said they "were on official travel and had properly notified Russian authorities of their travel."It is also a sensitive moment for the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. The American ambassador to Russia, Jon M. Huntsman Jr., left his post last month, and President Donald Trump has nominated John Sullivan, the deputy secretary of state, to succeed him.In a statement, Russia's Foreign Ministry played down the delay of the attache's departure. It said that the ailing American military officer had passed "right through" border control while still in an ambulance, and that a "slight delay" of about 20 minutes occurred during boarding because the diplomat's "foreign doctors" were mistakenly declared as crew members and required boarding passes, which took time to process."We also inform you that the illness of the American diplomat was not serious. He recovered a long time ago and returned to his place of work in Moscow," the statement added.But an American official said the Russians insisted that the ailing employee undergo "needless" security screening, which required separating him from his doctors and medical equipment."It was eventually smoothed over through diplomatic channels," said the American official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to address delicate diplomatic interactions.The official said the officer returned to Moscow and his duties at the embassy soon after "a medical appointment" in Germany. The official said the officer's condition was not urgent, but could not immediately explain why he needed a medevac aircraft rather than a commercial flight.The Russian statement also pointed a finger back at the United States, charging that it had interfered several years ago with the medical care of Russia's former prime minister and foreign minister, Yevgeny Primakov. A Russian diplomat in the United States was detained by American authorities after going to a pharmacy to buy medicine for Primakov, who was gravely ill with cancer in Moscow, the statement said,"The medicine was delivered to Russia only after the U.S. Secretary of State, J. Kerry, got involved," the Russian statement charged, referring to John Kerry, who served in that role under President Barack Obama. "But time was wasted."Primakov died of cancer in June 2015 at age 85. Several U.S. officials familiar with the episode said the Russians had been illegally procuring the drugs, drawing the attention of FBI officials who were unaware of Primakov's connection to the matter.Despite Trump's outreach to Putin, relations between Washington and Moscow remain generally hostile, and Russian intimidation of American officials in their country has reached levels unseen since the Cold War, current and former American officials say.And while Trump continues to speak in forgiving tones about Putin -- and even suggesting that Russia might rejoin the Group of 7 -- many senior Trump administration officials are furious over the Russian harassment campaign.Harassment of American officials has increased in recent years as relations between the United States and Russia have steadily deteriorated, particularly after the imposition of sanctions to punish Russian aggression against Ukraine and the Kremlin's 2016 election interference. The problem grew serious enough that Kerry personally raised the issue with Putin during a March 2016 meeting.That exchange did little good. Three months later, a Russian security guard stationed outside the U.S. Embassy in Moscow tackled an American diplomat trying to enter the building, breaking his shoulder before the American managed to get inside. Russia's Foreign Ministry insisted the diplomat was a spy."The more the US damages relations, the harder it will be for US diplomats to work in Russia," the official account for Russia's Foreign Ministry tweeted soon afterward.Russian officials in America are not harassed or intimidated in the United States, current and former U.S. officials say, although they are closely monitored."We debated whether we should respond in kind," McFaul said, including by more conspicuously tailing Russian officials or staging protests outside the Russian Embassy in Washington. No such actions were ever taken, McFaul added, "because we didn't want to become them."But the United States did expel dozens of Russian diplomats after the poisoning last year of the former Russian spy Sergei V. Skripal and his daughter in Britain.The Russians responded by kicking out dozens of U.S. embassy employees and shutting down the American Consulate in St. Petersburg. Both the American and Russian government are interested in returning some of their employees, but officials described the summer episode as a potential obstacle.Hoffman warned that, without pushback from Washington, American diplomats in Russia would continue to suffer harassment and intimidation."When Russia has in rare circumstances crossed the line, it has been important to hold them accountable and make it a part of our bilateral relationship," he said. "If we fail to do so, then we will risk Russia continuing to do so."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| The Latest: Tens of thousands protest in Lebanese capital Posted: 03 Nov 2019 08:44 AM PST  Tens of thousands of Lebanese have packed into central Beirut for the biggest anti-government demonstration since supporters of the militant Hezbollah group rampaged through their main protest site last week. The demonstration on Sunday came hours after a much smaller rally of thousands was held in support of Lebanon's president and foreign minister, two of the main targets of the anti-government protests, which first erupted Oct. 17. The protesters called for a general strike Monday and for the government to speed up the political transition following Prime Minister Saad Hariri's resignation last week.
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| UK leader Boris Johnson sorry for missing Brexit deadline Posted: 03 Nov 2019 08:34 AM PST  Britain's election campaign heated up Sunday with Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying he would apologize to Conservatives for failing to take the U.K. out of the European Union by Oct. 31 and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage saying he won't personally run for a seat in Parliament. Johnson's failure to deliver may cost him some backing from voters drawn to his fiery rhetoric on the need to finalize Brexit, including his famous statement that he would rather "die in a ditch" than seek another extension. The EU has granted a three-month Brexit extension until Jan. 31.
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| Merkel in fresh push for nationwide e-car charging network Posted: 03 Nov 2019 08:10 AM PST  German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday said her government was stepping up efforts to roll out a vast network of electric car charging points in a bid to encourage drivers to make the switch and help the country meet its climate targets. In her weekly podcast, Merkel said the rapid expansion of reliable, easy-to-use charging stations across Germany was necessary to give drivers "the confidence to buy an e-car". "That's why we want to create one million charging points by 2030, and the industry will participate in this too," she said.
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| Israel may charge policewoman who shot Palestinian in back Posted: 03 Nov 2019 07:46 AM PST ![Israel may charge policewoman who shot Palestinian in back]( "Israel may charge policewoman who shot Palestinian in back") Israel's Justice Ministry said on Sunday it will soon decide whether to file charges against a former policewoman who allegedly shot an unarmed Palestinian man in the back with a sponge-tipped bullet, following possible new video evidence. The case has drawn new attention to frequent but hard-to-prove Palestinians claims that Israeli security forces use excessive or unnecessary force against them. Israel's Channel 13 TV station broadcast late Saturday what it said was a newly obtained video of last year's incident, in which the young Palestinian was stopped outside Jerusalem as he tried to enter Israel.
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| About 200 Arrested as Hong Kong Protesters, Police Clash Posted: 03 Nov 2019 06:57 AM PST ![About 200 Arrested as Hong Kong Protesters, Police Clash]( "About 200 Arrested as Hong Kong Protesters, Police Clash") (Bloomberg) -- At least 200 people were arrested in Hong Kong as protesters seeking greater democracy and police accountability blocked roads, vandalized public facilities and set alight exits of subway stations.More unrest broke out on Sunday, when police and protesters clashed at malls full of afternoon shoppers. Riot police used pepper spray and detained several people. Shopfronts were vandalized and subway turnstiles were damaged, police said.A Mandarin-speaking man attacked several people with a knife at Cityplaza shopping center and bit off part of pro-democracy district councilor Andrew Chiu's ear, RTHK reported. The incident at the Swire Properties Ltd.-owned mall ended with more bloodshed as bystanders punched and kicked the attacker in retaliation, the report said.On Saturday, police fired multiple rounds of tear gas and deployed a water cannon on black-clad demonstrators who built barricades across busy streets, including a highway, and threw flaming objects in Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island. MTR Corp., operator of the city's rail system, suspended services at the main Central station after arsonists set alight at least two subway-stop exits.Petrol bombs were also thrown outside Cheung Kong Center -- the nerve center of billionaire Li Ka-Shing's business empire, whose tenants include Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp., according to the South China Morning Post. The offices of China's official Xinhua News Agency were vandalized.People were arrested for offenses including unlawful assembly, possession of an offensive weapon, criminal damage and using facial covering while at an unlawful assembly, police said. Four men and a woman were held for possession of an offensive weapon, and officers seized weapons including 188 firebombs, several extendable batons and pepper sprays, according to the police.Hong Kong's economy entered a recession in the third quarter as almost five months of increasingly violent protests hurt local businesses. Tourism has plummeted across the board, especially arrivals from mainland China, which accounts for almost 80% of all visitors to the city.Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Saturday the recent unrest has "inevitably affected the confidence of local and overseas sectors" toward the city, but its "unique edge" is unharmed under the "One Country, Two Systems" principle."Hong Kong can surely start anew through strict law enforcement, sincere conversation and return to calm," Lam told a conference in Nanjing, China.Later in the week she plans to attend the China International Import Expo in Shanghai, where President Xi Jinping will give a keynote speech. Lam will then meet Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng in Beijing and attend a meeting about the Greater Bay Area before returning to Hong Kong on Thursday.Upcoming ElectionsEarlier on Saturday, thousands gathered in the vicinity of Victoria Park as pro-democracy candidates for upcoming district council elections held campaign events. Tension built up as police repeatedly issued warnings to protesters that they were participating in an unauthorized assembly and violating a ban on face masks.Victoria Park, near the shopping district of Causeway Bay, was the venue for several peaceful rallies in recent months, and hosts the city's annual June 4th commemoration of China's 1989 crackdown on democracy activists in Tiananmen Square.Saturday's demonstrations follows a chaotic Halloween of revelry and protests, where tear gas rounds were fired to disperse costume-wearing demonstrators.Hong Kong's High Court on Thursday granted the local government its second injunction in a week limiting online speech -- the latest was a 15-day ban on internet posts that incite violence or property damage.As protests rage in Hong Kong against China's increased grip over the city, Beijing signaled it would intervene more in everything from education to the selection of the city's top leader.The Chinese government on Friday outlined a series of broad, but vaguely worded commitments to address some of Hong Kong's most divisive issues, including a pledge to "improve the system and mechanisms for appointing and removing the chief executive and other principle officials."Communist Party leaders also vowed stronger measures to teach "patriotism" to young people and public officials, according to a communique released by the Central Committee after their first meeting in more than 20 months."There may be more control of freedom of speech after the plenary session," a 20-year-old protester who would only be identified as Cheung said Saturday.(Adds Sunday clashes, attack on councilor in second and third paragraphs.)\--With assistance from Shawna Kwan, Justin Chin, Karthikeyan Sundaram and Rebecca Choong Wilkins.To contact the reporters on this story: Stanley James in Hong Kong at sjames8@bloomberg.net;Natalie Lung in Hong Kong at flung6@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Sara Marley, Amy TeibelFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Supreme leader: Iran has outflanked US since 1979 revolution Posted: 03 Nov 2019 06:22 AM PST  Iran's supreme leader said Sunday that his country has outmaneuvered the United States in the four decades since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran has "trapped the other party in the corner of the ring in many cases," adding that U.S. aggression toward Iran has only grown "wilder and more flagrant" over the years. Khamenei was quoted on his official website in a speech to thousands of students, a day before the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Embassy takeover in Tehran.
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| UN chief urges Myanmar to resolve Rohingya crisis Posted: 03 Nov 2019 06:02 AM PST  U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern Sunday over the plight of the 730,000 Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar's Rakhine state, calling on Myanmar's government to take responsibility by dealing with the "root causes" of their flight to Bangladesh and working toward their safe repatriation. Guterres spoke as he held a meeting with leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to which Myanmar belongs.
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| Iran's Khamenei rules out talks with US Posted: 03 Nov 2019 05:14 AM PST  Iran's supreme leader on Sunday again ruled out negotiations with Washington, a day before the 40th anniversary of the hostage crisis at the US embassy in Tehran. "Those who see negotiations with the US as the solution to every problem are certainly mistaken," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said during a speech to mark the anniversary, according to his official website. On November 4, 1979, less than nine months after the toppling of Iran's American-backed shah, students overran the embassy complex to demand the United States hand over the ousted ruler after he was admitted to a US hospital.
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| French minister: New Jan. 31 Brexit date 'not negotiable' Posted: 03 Nov 2019 04:54 AM PST  Minister for European Affairs Amelie de Montchalin tells Europe 1 radio on Sunday that she's advising French companies to continue preparing for a scenario in which Britain leaves the bloc on Jan. 31 without a divorce deal, despite getting a three-month Brexit extension from the European Union. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had promised to take Britain out of the EU by Oct. 31 with or without a deal but the British Parliament blocked his plans.
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| Becoming American Posted: 03 Nov 2019 03:55 AM PST ![Becoming American]( "Becoming American") This article first appeared in The Washington Post. Used with permission.On the day that President Donald Trump slashed refugee admissions to their lowest level in four decades, the arrival of a dazed traveler at Dallas' international airport last month offered a quiet rebuke.The newcomer was walking the final steps of an improbable, 15,000-mile odyssey. There to greet him were four others who had followed the same epic path to an American life, along with a native-born citizen clutching a hand-drawn, red-and-blue sign: "Welcome to Texas!"None would have been there had Trump had his way.In a nearly three-year campaign that has encompassed walls, travel bans, and the forced separation of children from their parents, the Trump administration has reshaped vast tracts of the U.S. government's approach toward refugees and immigration.But in one of his first attempts to bend policy to his will -- an effort to block the arrival of refugees who had been detained by the Australian government on remote South Pacific islands -- Trump lost."I guarantee you they are bad," the president said during a testy exchange with the Australian prime minister a week after his inauguration. "That is why they are in prison."Now more than 600 of them are in the United States, living freely from California to Georgia and dozens of places in between.After enduring years locked up by Australia for seeking asylum, they are making the most of their second chance -- finding jobs, honing their English, and putting down roots in a country half a world away from the one they had intended to reach.To refugee advocates, their largely successful integration in their new land proves that the president's loss has been the country's gain."The resettlements have been incredibly smooth," said Krish Vignarajah, chief executive of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, whose organization has helped dozens to get started in the United States. "They're becoming Americans."Here in the sprawling suburbs west of Dallas, Ali Reza Ataie and Ali Hesar -- "the Alis," as the pair of slim and soft-spoken 22-year-olds is known by friends -- have been emblematic of the speedy transitions.A year and a half after their arrivals, they both work full time and volunteer to help other refugees in their free time. Having left home as children and finding only closed doors as they ventured thousands of miles by land, air, and sea, they have finally found a home in Texas."We were never welcomed anywhere before," Ataie said. "But we were welcomed here."They have even become part of the family for Holly Walsh, an Iowa-born, Mississippi-raised flight attendant who the young men affectionately call "mom." She, in turn, treats them as sons.Animosity toward refugees "has been in my face plenty of times, with people saying 'Why are you bringing these terrorist-cell groups into our country?'" said Walsh, who is one of the Dallas area's most active volunteers in helping refugees to resettle."I say, 'Let me just tell you about my boys.' I mean, how can you not love my boys?"Refugees detained on the Manus and Nauru islands weren't criminals, as Trump had assumed. But they were treated like they were, held for years amid wretched conditions as a warning to others not to follow their lead.Their origins trace a wide swath of the globe, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Somalia, and Myanmar. But they shared a common destination: Australia, where they had intended to escape from war, oppression, or poverty.The Australian government disrupted those plans in 2013, enacting a policy of forbidding asylum arrivals by sea. Instead, those arrivals were sent to Manus and Nauru -- tiny islands far from the mainland -- and told they would never be allowed to settle in Australia.The government insisted the policy was meant to discourage dangerous boat journeys that enriched smugglers and cost asylum seekers their lives. Human rights groups countered that it was a cruel measure fueled by xenophobia.The policy change came as the Alis were already en route.The pair shared much: Both were teenage, firstborn sons whose families opted to send them abroad rather than keep them in a country where they faced ethnic persecution and a war without end. But they had never met in their native Afghanistan.They each set off alone. First to India, then Malaysia, then Indonesia. A harrowing days-long sea journey in a rusty fishing boat packed to twice its capacity brought them to Australia's Christmas Island and, they thought, their new lives.But instead of entry to Australia, they were given a one-way ticket to Nauru -- an eight-square-mile nation in the Pacific. The rocky land had been long since exhausted by strip mining, and with few other resources to offer, converted into a detention center for Australia's unwanted migrants."We had gone through all of these countries, gone through the ocean. And then we were in prison," said Ataie, who was 15 years old when his journey began. "It was the most terrible situation of my life."Despite sweltering temperatures, the detainees were housed in overcrowded tents. They were each given two minutes to shower, and addressed by staff with an alphanumeric code, rather than their names. As desperation grew, some detainees sewed their lips shut in protest. Others committed suicide."Everything I had heard indicated that the situation was very grim," said Anne Richard, who was then the Obama administration's point person for refugee policy.As Barack Obama's presidency came to an end in late 2016, and as the global population of displaced people swelled to record numbers, the administration was looking for ways to accept more refugees. It also wanted to encourage other nations to do the same.Richard struck a deal with the Australians that fall that was intended to accomplish both: The United States would accept up to 1,250 refugees from Nauru and Manus if the Australians took in more people from other parts of the globe.In Nauru, the deal offered a rare dose of hope."As soon as I heard about it, I signed up," Hesar said.Ataie was more skeptical. He wasn't sure the United States would actually follow through.Then Trump was elected, and the transcript of his combative call with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was published in The Washington Post.Obama's agreement, Trump told his Australian counterpart, was "disgusting." What if the next Boston marathon bomber was among the refugees, he asked?"They are not going to be wonderful people," the president fumed before abruptly ending the call.Across the globe, in Nauru, a familiar despair returned."I stopped dreaming about what life would look like in the United States," Ataie said.But both Alis kept going with a process for screening refugees that Trump had dubbed "extreme vetting." In interviews, every moment of their lives was reconstructed. The investigators homed in on possible inconsistencies. Medical and background checks followed.After more than a year, they got approval. But they still didn't know for sure that Trump would let them in."I thought, 'We're either going to be the luckiest people because we'll get out, or the unluckiest because we'll have everything done and then we'll sit in Nauru,'" Ataie said."Even when they gave us a flight date, we were like, 'Is it going to happen?'" Hesar added.On Feb. 11 last year, they left Nauru for the first time in four years. Under intense pressure from the Australians to uphold the agreement -- "a deal is a deal," Turnbull had told Trump -- the president had relented.Ataie and Hesar had educated themselves about Texas by watching vintage cowboy movies. When they landed in Dallas, they were astonished: Not a 10-gallon hat to be seen, nor any boots with spurs. No horses, even.When they ordered sodas at KFC, the cup was so large they could scarcely wrap their hands around it. A visit to Walmart left them speechless, awed by the scale. But a smile and a few words from the checkout clerk reassured them."Welcome to America," she said upon learning they were newly arrived refugees.They had heard in Nauru that some Americans dislike foreigners. But they said they have never experienced hostility firsthand."When people hear that we've been to several countries, they say, 'Oh, what's it like there?' They find it interesting," Ataie said.Still, Ataie and Hesar do their best to fit in and not call attention to their outsider status. During their first few weeks in America, they walked everywhere. Passing motorists would slow down and stare, confused by the sight of pedestrians. Some even stopped to ask if they were OK.Now, like the Texans they're fast becoming, they drive everywhere, even if it's just to the gym two blocks from their apartment, a comfortable and spotless three-bedroom that they share with three other Afghans.At work, they don't talk with colleagues about the fact that they're refugees. They want to be known for their professionalism, not for their past.Their job -- doing quality control for an exhibits company -- has them up before dawn. They often work late. When Ataie gets home, he spends hours online studying for a degree in cybersecurity.New refugee arrivals have to find a job fast because the support from the local resettlement office doesn't last long: just three months before they need to become self-sufficient."When they get here it's, 'Welcome to Dallas. Here's your welcome meal.' And the first thing they ask is, 'When can I start looking for work?'" said Jacqueline Buzas, who coordinates refugee arrivals for the Dallas office of Refugee Services of Texas.The newcomers from Nauru and Manus have had little apparent trouble finding jobs. Jenny Leahy, an Australian aid worker who lived on Nauru, visited dozens of them in the United States last month -- from San Diego to New York. All were supporting themselves, a fact consistent with studies showing that refugees generate far more in government revenue, through employment and entrepreneurship, than they cost in state services."They're hard workers, and they're the most honest, generous, and considerate people you could ever hope to meet," she said as she sipped tea with the Alis at their apartment. "It breaks my heart that they're not in Australia. Who wouldn't want them as neighbors?"In the Dallas area, plenty of people do. Buzas said that even as U.S. policy moves toward a more restrictive stance toward refugees, the response in the Dallas community has trended the opposite way. "I'm flooded by people interested in helping," she said.Among those who have been inspired to assist is Walsh. As a flight attendant, she travels the world. But it's in her adopted hometown where she has forged connections with people from Congo, Iraq, Myanmar, and well beyond."I put myself in their shoes: What if it were me having to go to another country because I couldn't go home?" said Walsh, whose pilot husband and teenage daughter have also become avid volunteers. "They really blow me away. They can come here with nothing and rebuild their life. These are people with superpowers."She and the Alis regularly visit each other for meals. They share holiday and birthday celebrations, along with confidences and jokes.Early on, she offered occasional guidance -- how to buy a car, where to shop. But after awhile, they didn't need much help.So when her phone rang early one spring morning, she knew something was wrong. Their apartment was flooding, they told her in a panic. She was rushing to call the plumber when they revealed their discovery of a great American tradition: "April Fool's!"Even as they adapt to their new lives, their old ones retain a magnetic pull. They video-chat regularly with their families in Afghanistan, and worry about relatives left behind.With the Trump administration admitting so few refugees -- a move justified by the need to focus on asylum seekers arriving at the southern border -- any prospect that their families might join them in the United States has grown more remote. And with the war still raging, a return to Afghanistan is out of the question.In the meantime, they do what they can to keep alive their memories of home. That included a trip to an Afghan restaurant on one recent evening, their first since they left the country.Set in a lonely strip mall where Texan suburbia meets undeveloped prairie-land, the restaurant featured tables decorated with baseball cards and comic strips -- a dash of Americana in an establishment serving up specialties from central Asia."My mouth is watering already," said Hesar as he pored over a menu stocked with savory beef dumplings known as mantu and delicate potato-filled flatbreads called bolani."Remember when we tried to make bolani at our place?" asked Ataie, laughing. "We had to take down the smoke alarms."The pair have been teaching themselves how to cook Afghan food via YouTube videos. But they're not sure how well their training has worked.Ataie imagined how the family he hasn't seen since he was a teen might respond if he ever gets the chance to cook for them: "You've been eating this?"The refugee population on Nauru is now dwindling, and new arrivals have slowed. But last week, one of the Alis' last friends there became the latest to land in America.Walsh brought her homemade welcome sign. Ataie wore a black T-shirt with "Straight Outta Nauru" emblazoned across the front. Three others who had traveled the unlikely path to Dallas, via a detour in the South Pacific, joined in.No one mentioned the news, only hours old, that fewer refugees will be resettled in the United States next year than at any time since 1980.For long minutes after the flight landed, there was no sign of the newcomer. But then he emerged, smiling, weary from his travels and apologizing for the delay. Jafar Alizada had gotten lost after landing, and came through the wrong door.His friends hugged him and helped him with his bag -- an average-sized backpack, not even full. They had much to discuss: Alizada's journey, the latest news from Nauru, life in America. But first he needed sleep.Moving quickly, they got into their car, and sped off into the Texas night.
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| A people without a state Posted: 03 Nov 2019 03:45 AM PST ![A people without a state]( "A people without a state") The U.S. withdrawal from Syria left Kurds at the mercy of Turkey, Russia, and Syria. Why are the Kurds still homeless? Here's everything you need to know:Who are the Kurds? A tough mountain people, the Kurds are the fourth-largest ethnic group in the Middle East -- after Arabs, Persians, and Turks -- and have their own distinct culture and language. Nearly all are Sunni Muslims, but they have many tribes and are far from a monolithic group. Over the centuries, they have handed down their traditions through music, with bards singing folktales and stories of Kurdish feats in battle. Spread out mostly over four countries and now numbering some 30 million, the Kurds have pressed time and again for a homeland since the 19th century, only to have their hopes dashed when great powers broke their promises. Several times since the 1970s, the U.S. gave them military aid to fight a common foe, and then abandoned them, leaving thousands of Kurds to be killed and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee. As a Kurdish proverb says, the Kurds have "no friends but the mountains."Why don't they have a country? After the Ottoman Empire was defeated in World War I, victorious Western powers agreed in the 1920 Treaty of Sevres to create a Kurdish state. But three years later, in the wheeling and dealing over the boundaries of modern Turkey, Britain and France dropped their demand for a Kurdish homeland, and Kurds were left as large minorities in Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran, with small minorities in the Caucasus. All the nations where Kurds now live are opposed to granting them a homeland or true autonomy -- particularly Turkey.How have they fared in Turkey? For nearly a century, Turkey has oppressed the Kurds, who make up nearly a fifth of its population of 80 million. In response to Kurdish uprisings in the 1920s and '30s, Turkish authorities banned Kurdish dress and names and severely restricted language use. It even tried to erase the Kurds' identity by designating them "Mountain Turks." In the 1980s, a separatist militant group, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, began waging a terrorist insurgency, bombing Turkish military and police outposts. The decades-long fight has killed some 40,000 people from both sides, including many civilians.How has the U.S. treated them? The U.S. has frequently used the Kurds as a dispensable pawn in a game of geopolitical chess. In the 1970s, when the U.S. was allied with the pro-Western Shah of Iran, our country funneled military aid to the Iraqi Kurds as a way to undermine the Soviet-allied Iraqi regime. But in 1975, Iran struck a deal with Iraq's Saddam Hussein and closed the Iran-Iraq border, leaving the U.S. with no corridor to continue assistance. Kurdish leader Mustafa Barzani appealed desperately to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. "Our people are being destroyed," he said, and the U.S. had a "moral and political responsibility" to help. But the U.S. stood by as Saddam crushed their uprising. Later, after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran caused the U.S. to switch to supporting Iraq, America again did nothing as Saddam waged a vicious campaign against the Kurds, culminating in a chemical attack at Halabja. After Saddam invaded Kuwait in 1990, the U.S. led a war against him and urged the Kurds to rise up and fight. But when President George H.W. Bush decided not to topple Saddam, the Iraqi dictator ordered air attacks that killed thousands of Kurdish civilians. Only then did Bush establish no-fly zones to safeguard them.What happened after the Iraq War? Iraqi Kurds were able to set up a semiautonomous enclave in northern Iraq. Once the U.S. decided to invade in 2003, Kurdish peshmerga fighters fought alongside U.S. troops, and Saddam was captured and executed in 2006. Iraqi Kurdistan became formally autonomous as a federal republic, enjoying arguably the most freedom Kurds had ever had. But thanks to the rise of ISIS, they were not to be at peace. By 2014, when ISIS proclaimed a radical Islamic caliphate in Iraq and Syria, courageous Kurdish fighters helped spearhead the U.S. coalition against ISIS, losing 11,000 soldiers in the fierce fighting. Meanwhile in Syria, Syrian Kurds were able to take advantage of the civil war that began in 2011, winning control of key cities.What was the most recent betrayal? America's NATO ally Turkey was never comfortable with U.S. support for Syrian Kurds, saying the Syrian units were just an offshoot of the PKK. To appease Turkey, the U.S. persuaded the Kurds to withdraw their heavy weapons near the Turkish border, promising that the American troops there would deter a Turkish invasion. But after a phone call from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President Trump abruptly agreed in early October to withdraw about 1,000 U.S. troops in Syria. Turkish tanks rolled into Syrian Kurdish lands, killing scores of fighters and civilians. Desperate to avoid a massacre, Syrian Kurds last week struck a Russian-brokered deal with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to retreat from the border area to a region further south. "If we have to choose between compromises and the genocide of our people," said Kurdish commander Mazloum Abdi, "we will surely choose life for our people."Gassed at Halabja In the worst chemical attack in modern times, Iraqi jets dropped mustard gas and nerve agents on the Kurdish town of Halabja on March 16, 1988. An estimated 5,000 people, mostly women and children, died gruesomely that day, and thousands more were injured. Birth defects and high cancer rates persist in the population to this day. The attack, the first time a government used chemical weapons against its own people, came during Saddam Hussein's genocidal Anfal campaign against Iraqi Kurds, which killed some 100,000. The two men responsible, Saddam and his cousin "Chemical Ali" Hassan al-Majid, were hanged in 2006 and 2010, respectively, and the Iraqi High Criminal Court has recognized the Halabja massacre as an act of genocide. Kurds in Halabja say the poisoned air smelled like rotten apples, and today nearly every family in the town keeps decorated apples as a memorial to those they lost.
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| Boris Johnson Says Sorry for Missing Brexit Deadline Posted: 03 Nov 2019 03:41 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Sign up to our Brexit Bulletin, follow us @Brexit and subscribe to our podcast.U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson admitted he's at least partly responsible for failing to deliver on his "do or die" pledge to deliver Brexit by Oct. 31 and apologized for not being able to get it done, as the country enters its third election-campaign period in four years.Johnson has repeatedly blamed Parliament for stymieing his Brexit plan and said an election is the only way to break the deadlock. He's accused Parliament of causing the delay after lawmakers refused to back his plan to rush his Brexit deal through with just three days of scrutiny.Speaking to Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Johnson said he also takes responsibility for failing to deliver Brexit by Halloween. He said it was "a matter of deep regret," apologizing to Conservative Party members who voted for him to become leader based on his promises to deliver Brexit by that date come what may.The five-week election campaign kicks off in earnest this week, and the parties are already laying down their markers. In an interview with the Sunday Express, Johnson promised to push his Brexit deal through Parliament "very fast" and avoid any further dithering if his Conservative Party wins the general election on Dec. 12.Johnson also once again ruled out a pact with Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage, who on Sunday said he wouldn't make an eighth attempt to run for Parliament. Farage told the BBC's Andrew Marr show that his time would be better used helping other Brexit Party candidates."Do I find a seat, try and get myself into parliament, or do I serve the cause better traversing the length and breath of the United Kingdom, supporting 600 candidates?" he said. "I've decided the latter course is the right one."Four polls released over the weekend show the Brexit Party in fourth place behind the Liberal Democrats. A YouGov poll for the Sunday Times showed a gain of 6 percentage points for Labour from Wednesday to Friday. It put the Brexit Party at 7%, down from 13% over the same period.What's Keeping Britain's Pollsters Awake Ahead of the Election?John McDonnell, Labour's economy spokesman, told Marr the polls are "beginning to move in our direction" and that "we know how far we are behind in the polls."The party has consistently pointed to the 2017 election to show how polls can get it wrong. Two years ago, Labour trailed in the polls, but in the end the party saw an unexpected surge in support. Labour has been criticized by some over the lack of clarity in its Brexit position.Labour's business spokeswoman Rebecca Long-Bailey repeatedly refused to confirm that the party would support a remain position in a second referendum. She said Labour would hold a special conference with its members to decide whether it would back any Brexit deal that leader Jeremy Corbyn negotiated with the EU, if he were to be elected."We have to make a judgment on whether we think the final deal is good enough for us to take forward, but ultimately that decision will be taken at the time," she told Sky News.She also said Labour "wouldn't stand in their way" if the Scottish government wanted to pursue a second independence referendum after the next Scottish Parliamentary election, but she made it clear Labour would campaign against the breakup of the U.K.To contact the reporter on this story: Jessica Shankleman in London at jshankleman@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, James Amott, Tony CzuczkaFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| UK's Johnson 'sorry' for Brexit delay Posted: 03 Nov 2019 03:31 AM PST  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday apologised for not taking Britain out of the European Union by October 31, while Brexit figurehead Nigel Farage said he will not stand in next month's general election. "It is a matter of deep regret," Johnson told Sky News, before criticising US president Donald Trump for saying his Brexit deal with Brussels would prevent a future Britain/US trade agreement.
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| Merkel Successor’s Sinking Popularity Opens Door to Challengers Posted: 03 Nov 2019 03:14 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Chancellor Angela Merkel's successor as head of Germany's governing party slumped in a poll, opening the door to a renewed leadership challenge by one of her biggest antagonists.Friedrich Merz, who has support among the Christian Democratic Union's business wing and social conservatives, polled 31% support in an Emnid survey asking who would be the best CDU candidate to run for chancellor. Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, whom Merkel backed in her bid for the party leadership in 2018, tallied 19% in the poll of 505 people.The CDU's choice of chancellor candidate will have potential implications for Europe's biggest economy, relations with the U.S. and German domestic policy. Merkel has said she won't run for a fifth term in the next election, which needs to be held by late 2021.Merz, 63, lost to Kramp-Karrenbauer in the CDU's last leadership vote. He has been needling Merkel's government, which includes the Social Democrats as junior partner, saying on Twitter last week that he can't imagine it'll last a full term. Another tweet showed Merz with former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in what he said was a discussion about trans-Atlantic relations.Kramp-Karrenbauer has stumbled as party head and is facing questions about her leadership after a historic state election defeat in October. Once dominant in eastern Germany, the CDU finished third in voting for the Thuringia state assembly, falling behind the anti-capitalist Left party and the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany, or AfD.Combined support for the CDU and the CSU, its Bavarian sister party, fell 2 percentage points from the previous week to 27%, according to Emnid polling for Bild am Sonntag newspaper. The Social Democrats and the AfD each gained 1 point to 16% and 15% respectively. The Greens party dropped 2 points to 18%.Kramp-Karrenbauer, who's also defense minister, reiterated last week that she intends to run for chancellor. She told party members who disagree to raise the matter at a regularly scheduled CDU national convention in December.Thomas Strobl, a deputy national leader of the CDU, warned the party that has dominated German politics since World War II against tearing itself apart."The chattering damages the CDU," Strobl was quoted as saying in Bild am Sonntag. "It would be bad if the signal is sent before the party conference in Leipzig that the CDU is concerned above all with itself."To contact the reporter on this story: Iain Rogers in Berlin at irogers11@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Tony Czuczka, Sara MarleyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Merkel wants Germany to have 1 mln electric car charging points by 2030 Posted: 03 Nov 2019 03:11 AM PST  Germany should have one million charging stations for electric cars by 2030, Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a video message on Sunday, ahead of meetings on Monday with the car industry on how to speed the move to low-emission battery-powered vehicles. "For this purpose, we want to create a million charging points by the year 2030 and the industry will have to participate in this effort, that is what we will be talking about," Merkel said. Germany now has just 20,000 public charging points.
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| Iran's Khamenei rules out talks with US Posted: 03 Nov 2019 03:00 AM PST Iran's supreme leader on Sunday again ruled out negotiations with Washington, a day before the 40th anniversary of the hostage crisis at the US embassy in Tehran. "Those who see negotiations with the US as the solution to every problem are certainly mistaken," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said during a speech to mark the anniversary, according to his official website. On November 4, 1979, less than nine months after the toppling of Iran's American-backed shah, students overran the embassy complex to demand the United States hand over the ousted ruler after he was admitted to a US hospital.
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| NATO: Islamic State leader's death a 'milestone' in fight Posted: 03 Nov 2019 02:48 AM PST  NATO's secretary general says the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is a "milestone" in the fight against the extremist group but is cautioning that the struggle is far from over. Stoltenberg says "the Islamic State doesn't have any territory any more, but it still lives. IS maintains sleeper cells, secret networks and is working to come back.
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| What does Brexit mean for the US? Posted: 03 Nov 2019 02:19 AM PST  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in September he'd "rather be dead in a ditch" than have the United Kingdom leave the European Union later than Oct. 31. Instead, the U.K. will hold an early general election on Dec. 12 with the set date of its EU withdrawal extended to Jan. 31, 2020. With nearly daily twists and turns in the U.K.'s ongoing Brexit saga, the impending departure from the EU likely will have a global impact, both economically and geopolitically.
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| U.K.’s Johnson Apologizes for Delayed Brexit: Election Update Posted: 03 Nov 2019 01:30 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Sign up to our Brexit Bulletin, follow us @Brexit and subscribe to our podcast.Prime Minister Boris Johnson sought to lay down markers on Brexit in campaigning ahead of the U.K. general election on Dec. 12, saying a trade deal with the U.S. remains possible.With just days to go until Parliament dissolves for the early election, Johnson challenged Donald Trump over trade after the U.S. president took sides in a radio interview with Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage last week.Key DevelopmentsJohnson apologizes for failing to deliver Brexit on Oct. 31Prime minister says Brexit will happen fast if Tories winNigel Farage says he won't try again to become a member of parliamentFarage Won't Run in Election (9:20 a.m)Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage says he won't make an eighth attempt to win a seat in the House of Commons.Speaking to BBC's Andrew Marr show, the Brexit Party leader said he's decided he could have more impact supporting other candidates in his party than running himself."I don't want to be in politics the rest of my life. Do I find a seat, try and get myself into parliament, or do I serve the cause better traversing the length and breath of the United Kingdom, supporting 600 candidates?" he said. "I've decided the latter course is the right one."Labour Could Allow Second Scottish Referendum (9 a.m)Rebecca Long-Bailey, Labour's business spokeswoman, said the party could allow a second independence referendum in Scotland in some circumstances, but wouldn't support the break up of the union. Speaking to Sky's Sophy Ridge, she said Labour would allow the poll if it was the will of the Scottish government and people. But she said Labour would campaign against independence in another referendum.In contrast Boris Johnson ruled out offering another vote on Scottish Independence.Johnson Apologizes Over Brexit (8:30 a.m)Johnson said "it's a matter of deep regret" and that he was sorry he didn't deliver Brexit by Oct. 31, despite repeatedly promising he would.In an interview on Sky's Sophy Ridge show, Johnson said he personally took responsibility for the failed deadline, while blaming Parliament for refusing to back the accelerated timetable he asked for to pass the deal he negotiated with the European Union.Trump is "patently in error" with his comment that the deal could derail a U.K.-U.S. trade deal after Britain leaves the EU, Johnson said.Johnson Promises Fast Brexit If Tories Win (Earlier)Johnson will push his Brexit deal through Parliament "very fast" and avoid any further dithering if his Conservative Party wins the general election on Dec. 12, he told the Sunday Express newspaper in an interview.Read More:U.K. Conservatives at 39%, Labour 27%: YouGov/Sunday Times PollTelegraph Issues Correction for Errors in Boris Johnson's ColumnU.K. Conservatives at 36%, Labour at 28%: Deltapoll/Daily MailTo contact the reporter on this story: Jessica Shankleman in London at jshankleman@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Lars Paulsson, Sara MarleyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| UK PM Johnson says my deal is only way to get Brexit done Posted: 03 Nov 2019 01:49 AM PDT ![UK PM Johnson says my deal is only way to get Brexit done]( "UK PM Johnson says my deal is only way to get Brexit done") British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his failure to deliver Brexit last week as he had promised was a "matter of deep regret", but his deal remained to only way to get Britain out of the bloc. "The only way out of the EU now, the only way to get Brexit done, is to go with the deal that we've got," he told Sky News in an interview at the start of his campaign for next month's election.
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| AP Analysis: Iran, US still captive to 1979 hostage crisis Posted: 02 Nov 2019 10:57 PM PDT  The 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover in Tehran may have ended after 444 days, but both America and Iran still remain captive to a crisis that began 40 years ago. While those held hostage at the embassy ultimately would be released, Iran to this day holds dual nationals and those with Western ties as bargaining chips for negotiating deals. Cries of "Death of America" still echo through hard-line rallies as Iran's supreme leader criticizes the untrustworthiness of the "Great Satan" over President Donald Trump unilaterally pulling the U.S. out of the 2015 nuclear deal.
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| Facebook and Twitter spread Trump’s lies, so we must break them up Posted: 02 Nov 2019 10:00 PM PDT  The social media giants have a monopoly on news but no interest in protecting democracyDonald Trump has 66.5 million followers on Twitter. Photograph: NurPhoto/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesMark Zuckerberg of Facebook says he'll run political ads even if they are false. Jack Dorsey of Twitter says he'll stop running political ads altogether.Dorsey has the correct approach but the debate skirts the bigger question: Who is responsible for protecting democracy from big, dangerous lies?Donald Trump lies like most people breathe. As he's been cornered, his lies have grown more vicious and dangerous. He conjures up conspiracies, spews hate and says established facts are lies and lies are truths.This would be hard enough for a democracy to handle without Facebook sending Trump's unfiltered lies to the 45% of Americans for whom it is the main source of news. Twitter sends them to 66 million users every day.A major characteristic of the internet goes by the fancy term "disintermediation". Put simply, it means sellers are linked directly to customers with no need for middlemen.> If a president and his enablers are peddling vicious and dangerous lies, we need reliable intermediariesAmazon eliminates the need for retailers. Online investing eliminates the need for stock brokers. Travel agents and real estate brokers are obsolete. At a keystroke, consumers get all the information they need.But democracy can't be disintermediated. We're not just buyers and sellers. We're citizens who need to know what's happening around us in order to exercise our right to self-government, and responsibility for it.If a president and his enablers are peddling vicious and dangerous lies, we need reliable intermediaries that help us see them.Intermediating between the powerful and the people was once mainly the job of publishers and journalists – hence the term "media".This role was understood to be so critical to democracy that the constitution enshrined it in the first amendment, guaranteeing freedom of the press.With that freedom came public responsibility, to be a bulwark against powerful lies. The media haven't always lived up to it. We had yellow journalism in the 19th century and today endure shock radio, the National Enquirer and Fox News.But most publishers and journalists have recognized that duty. Think of the Pentagon Papers, Watergate and, just weeks ago, the exposure of Trump's withholding $400m in security aid to Ukraine until it investigated his major political rival, Joe Biden.Zuckerberg and Dorsey insist they aren't publishers or journalists. They say Facebook and Twitter are just "platforms" that convey everything and anything – facts, lies, conspiracies, vendettas – with none of the public responsibilities that come with being part of the press.Rubbish. They can't be the major carriers of the news on which most Americans rely while taking no responsibility for its content.Advertising isn't the issue. It doesn't matter whether Trump pays Facebook or Twitter to post dishonest ads about Joe Biden and his son, or Trump and his enablers post the same lies on Facebook and Twitter. Or even if Russia and Iran repeat the lies in their own subversive posts.The problem is we have a president who will say anything to preserve his power, and two giant entities that spread his lies uncritically, like global-sized bullhorns.We can't do anything about Trump until election day or until he's convicted of an impeachable offense. But we can and should take action against the power of these two super-enablers. If they're unwilling to protect the public against powerful lies, they shouldn't have as much power to spread them.The reason 45% of Americans rely on Facebook for news and Trump's tweets reach 66 million is because these platforms are near monopolies, dominating the information marketplace. No TV network, cable giant or newspaper even comes close. Fox News' viewership rarely exceeds 3 million. The New York Times has 4.7 million subscribers.Facebook and Twitter aren't just participants in the information marketplace. They're quickly becoming the information marketplace.Antitrust law was designed to check the power of giant commercial entities. Its purpose wasn't just to hold down consumer prices but also to protect democracy. Antitrust should be used against Facebook and Twitter. They should be broken up.So instead of two mammoth megaphones trumpeting Trump's lies, or those of any similarly truth-challenged successor, the public will have more diverse sources of information, some of which will expose the lies.Of course, a diverse information marketplace is no guarantee against tyranny. But we now have a president who lies through his teeth and two giant uncritical conveyors of those lies. It is a system that invites it. * Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. He is also a columnist for Guardian US
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| Trump's 'Take the Oil' Strategy in Syria Is Not What You Think Posted: 02 Nov 2019 10:00 PM PDT  For now, it seems the heavy armored infantry are deployed in Syria not so much to reap profits from oil fields as to prevent other actors in Syria's multi-faceted conflict—ISIS, Iran, Russia and to Bashar al-Assad's government, from profiting from their absence.
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| Iran Wants To Avoid War, So It Attacked Saudi Arabia's Oil Facilities Posted: 02 Nov 2019 09:30 PM PDT  Iran has a strategy.
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| Tear Gas Fired in Downtown Hong Kong as Protesters Defy Ban Posted: 02 Nov 2019 08:39 PM PDT ![Tear Gas Fired in Downtown Hong Kong as Protesters Defy Ban]( "Tear Gas Fired in Downtown Hong Kong as Protesters Defy Ban") (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong police fired multiple rounds of tear gas at protesters who rallied for a 22nd consecutive weekend despite authorities denying them a permit to gather.Police arrested dozens, and deployed a water cannon on black-clad demonstrators who had built barricades and threw fire-lit objects in Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island. Arsonists set alight an exit of a subway stop, forcing operator MTR Corp. to suspend services at Central station.Others threw petrol bombs outside Cheung Kong Center -- the nerve center of billionaire Li Ka-Shing's business empire -- and vandalized the offices of China's official Xinhua News Agency, according to the South China Morning Post. Companies including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp. have offices in Cheung Kong Center.Hong Kong's economy entered a recession in the third quarter as increasingly violent protests hurt local businesses. Tourism has plummeted across the board, especially arrivals from mainland China, which accounts for almost 80% of all visitors to the city.Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said on Saturday the recent unrest has "inevitably affected the confidence of local and overseas sectors" toward the city, but its "unique edge" is unharmed under the "One Country, Two Systems" principle."Hong Kong can surely start anew through strict law enforcement, sincere conversation and return to calm," Lam told a conference in Nanjing, China. Later in the week she plans to attend the China International Import Expo in Shanghai, where President Xi Jinping will give a keynote speech, and then she'll head to Beijing for a meeting about the Greater Bay Area before returning to Hong Kong on Thursday.Upcoming ElectionsEarlier on Saturday, thousands gathered in the vicinity of Victoria Park as pro-democracy candidates for upcoming district council elections held campaign events. Tension built up as police repeatedly issued warnings to protesters that they were participating in an unauthorized assembly and violating a ban on face masks.Victoria Park, near the shopping district of Causeway Bay, was the venue for several peaceful rallies in recent months, and hosts the city's annual June 4th commemoration of China's 1989 crackdown on democracy activists in Tiananmen Square.Saturday's demonstrations follows a chaotic Halloween of revelry and protests, where tear gas rounds were fired to disperse costume-wearing demonstrators. Authorities are trying to gain greater control over the unrest that has gripped the city for almost five months.Hong Kong's High Court on Thursday granted the local government its second injunction in a week limiting online speech -- the latest was a 15-day ban on internet posts that incite violence or property damage.As protests rage in Hong Kong against China's increased grip over the city, Beijing signaled it would intervene more in everything from education to the selection of the city's top leader.The Chinese government on Friday outlined a series of broad, but vaguely worded commitments to address some of Hong Kong's most divisive issues, including a pledge to "improve the system and mechanisms for appointing and removing the chief executive and other principle officials."Communist Party leaders also vowed stronger measures to teach "patriotism" to young people and public officials, according to a communique released by the Central Committee after their first meeting in more than 20 months."There may be more control of freedom of speech after the plenary session," a 20-year-old protester who would only be identified as Cheung, said Saturday.(Updates with Lam's visit to Beijing in sixth paragraph)\--With assistance from Shawna Kwan, Justin Chin and Karthikeyan Sundaram.To contact the reporter on this story: Natalie Lung in Hong Kong at flung6@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Daniel Ten KateFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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