| UK's Johnson looks set for big win in 'Brexit election' Posted: 12 Dec 2019 05:44 PM PST  Prime Minister Boris Johnson's ruling party appeared on course for a sweeping victory in Thursday's snap election, an exit poll showed, paving the way for Britain to leave the EU next month after years of political deadlock. The pound jumped by about two percent against the dollar on the projected results of what all sides had painted as the most momentous election in Britain in a generation. Johnson had campaigned relentlessly on the promise to "Get Brexit Done", vowing to end years of political turmoil over Britain's future that has weighed on the economy and sharply divided the nation.
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| Boris Johnson Heads for Big Majority in U.K. Election, Exit Poll Says Posted: 12 Dec 2019 04:56 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Sign up to our Brexit Bulletin, follow us @Brexit and subscribe to our podcast.Prime Minister Boris Johnson is on course to win a decisive election victory, vindicating his gamble on an early vote and putting the country on track to leave the European Union next month. The pound rose.The official exit poll predicted his Conservatives will win 368 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons -- a large overall majority of 86 seats. The main opposition Labour Party is projected to secure 191 seats, a loss of 71 since the previous election. The Scottish National Party is seen securing 55.If the forecast is borne out by results, Johnson's majority -- the biggest for his party since Margaret Thatcher's in 1987 -- will give him more power to get his own way on Brexit, especially if he needs extra time to negotiate with the EU. Meanwhile, the plan is to hurry legislation through Parliament to meet the current departure date of Jan. 31."If the numbers play out the way they seem and we get that stable working majority, then we get real busy, real quick," Conservative Party Chairman James Cleverly told Bloomberg TV.For an interactive election map, click hereFor Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, the projection of heavy losses is a disaster. He staked everything on a radical plan to hike taxes for the rich and nationalize swathes of industry.Senior Labour officials expect Corbyn to announce his resignation as party leader if the exit poll is accurate. Two officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was no way he could carry on if the results are as bad as expected."I thought it would be closer. I think most people thought the polls were narrowing. If it's anywhere near this, it's extremely disappointing," Labour's economy spokesman John McDonnell told the BBC. "We knew it would be tough because Brexit has dominated this election. We thought other issues would cut through and there would be a wider debate."For the Scottish National Party, it was a different story. It was playing down the scale of its success until results are declared. The exit poll predicted it would win back all but one of the seats it lost in 2017 and leave just four districts in Scotland for the other parties. That would spur leader Nicola Sturgeon to reiterate her demand for another Scottish independence referendum, something Johnson has so far ruled out.The exit poll is based on a mass survey of tens of thousands of people after they cast their ballots. That has generally made it more accurate in predicting the outcome of U.K. elections than snapshot surveys of voters' intentions conducted during the campaign.The exit poll Parliamentary seat forecast showed:Conservatives to win 368 seatsLabour to win 191Liberal Democrats to win 13Brexit Party to win 0Scottish National Party to win 55Green Party to win 1Other parties to win 22For Johnson, a big majority would mark the culmination of an extraordinary rise to power. After he led the pro-Brexit campaign three years ago, Johnson watched as Theresa May tried and repeatedly failed to negotiate an EU divorce agreement the House of Commons would accept.When she called a snap election in 2017 expecting a landslide, she lost the majority she started with, plunging the U.K. into two years of chaos as a deadlocked parliament failed to agree on the way forward. May was finally forced to resign, allowing Johnson to take over as prime minister in July with a promise to deliver Brexit "do or die" by the end of October.Despite months of threats and bellicose rhetoric, he eventually secured a new Brexit deal with the EU, but couldn't persuade parliament to rush it into law in time for him to meet his deadline.That was enough to prompt the premier to trigger an early election -- the next one wasn't due until 2022 -- in the hope voters would give him the majority he needed, in his words, to "get Brexit done."If the exit poll proves correct again this year -- and most of the results will be declared overnight -- Johnson's bet will have paid off.(Updates with Scotland in eighth paragraph.)\--With assistance from Heather Harris, Robert Hutton and Anna Edwards.To contact the reporters on this story: Tim Ross in London at tross54@bloomberg.net;Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net;Greg Ritchie in London at gritchie10@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson at fjackson@bloomberg.net, Thomas Penny, Rodney JeffersonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| The absurd life of Boris Johnson the Brexit-backing UK Prime Minister who is set to win a huge majority in the 2019 election Posted: 12 Dec 2019 04:35 PM PST  Boris Johnson is a clownish character and a key campaigner for Brexit.
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| Your Evening Briefing Posted: 12 Dec 2019 03:45 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Want to receive this post in your inbox every afternoon? Sign up here President Donald Trump tweeted five minutes after markets opened in New York that the U.S. and China were very close to a trade deal, which predictably sent stocks skyward as Wall Streeters bet Dec. 15 tariffs on $160 billion in consumer goods would be tabled. They were right: Trump later signed off on a so-called phase-one accord. It's down to the wire with Brexit: To keep up with the latest news now that the U.K. election is over, sign up for our daily newsletter, follow us on Twitter and subscribe to our podcast.Here are today's top storiesA key exit poll after Thursday's U.K. election projected that Boris Johnson will likely retain the office of prime minister, allowing him to continue his effort to remove the country from the European Union.European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said the euro zone's economic slowdown is showing signs of bottoming out, suggesting further interest-rate cuts are unlikely any time soon.Justin Trudeau's main rival is stepping down as Conservative Party leader after failing to unseat the Canadian prime minister in October.Senator Bernie Sanders is rising in the polls once again as Democratic voters warm to his consistency on policy, especially Medicare for All, while rivals seek to modulate their positions. He's either tied for the lead or in second place in early presidential nominating states.Lev Parnas, an associate of Trump personal lawyer Rudolph Giuliani, got $1 million from an account in Russia a month before he was charged with conspiring to funnel foreign money into U.S. campaigns, prosecutors said as they asked a judge to jail him.Another party drug is showing signs of going legit as magic mushrooms cleared the first hurdle to become a treatment for depression.What's Joe Wesienthal thinking? The Bloomberg news director opines that the most interesting thing that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said at his press conference Wednesday was in response to the question of what it would take for him to characterize the labor market as "hot." Powell said it all came down to wages, and that he wasn't comfortable calling it hot because employers still aren't paying workers more despite low unemployment. Powell's answer made Joe think of former Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota, who recently told Bloomberg that one reason the Fed tightened rates in 2018 was an obsession with "normalizing" policy.What you'll need to know tomorrowThe Judiciary Committee is likely to approve impeachment tonight. Forget blackjack; Macau is about to become a financial hub. For 2020, JPMorgan says buy stocks and short gold. Here are the Best Books of 2019 according to business bigwigs. Russia's only aircraft carrier caught fire while in port. A former Credit Suisse executive said the bank had her followed. Pepsi is rolling out a coffee-cola drink with twice as much caffeine.What you'll want to read in Bloomberg PursuitsEvery week in Bloomberg Businessweek, editors test a wide range of products, whether the latest gadgets or high-performance sports equipment. Those luxury products that measure up the best eventually go into a page called "The One," and so in time for the holidays, we've collected a few of our favorites from 2019. (Corrects introduction to say Trump signed off on a proposed partial trade deal.)To contact the author of this story: David Rovella in New York at drovella@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| The campaign to stop Brexit is over and Britain is heading for another decade of Conservative dominance Posted: 12 Dec 2019 03:25 PM PST  If borne out in the results, the official exit poll suggests the UK is heading for Brexit and at least ten more years of Conservative government
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| Anti-Semitism order raises tough issue of defining prejudice Posted: 12 Dec 2019 03:03 PM PST  President Donald Trump's order to expand the scope of potential anti-Semitism complaints on college campuses is raising the stakes of an already tense battle over how to define discrimination against Jews. The executive order Trump signed on Wednesday tells the Education Department, when vetting alleged Civil Rights Act violations that can lead to a loss of schools' federal funding, to consider a definition of anti-Semitism that could include some criticism of Israel. Several major Jewish American organizations hailed the order, but more liberal-leaning groups warned it could be used to muffle campus organizing against the Israeli government and in support of Palestinian rights.
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| The urgent lesson for America's voters in the UK's 'disinformation election': Analysis Posted: 12 Dec 2019 02:58 PM PST  Answer: because three years after a Brexit referendum campaign bursting with half-truths, exaggeration and just outright lies, it seems the U.K. has not learned its lesson. Both in the United States and here in the U.K., the focus has been on possible foreign interference. Spin has long been a part of political campaigning.
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| Boris Johnson: Britain's divisive Brexit champion Posted: 12 Dec 2019 02:43 PM PST  Boris Johnson persuaded British voters to back Brexit in 2016 and if exit polls are correct now has a chance to deliver, but he stands accused of Trump-style populism that risks further dividing the country. The Conservative leader campaigned relentlessly on a promise to "Get Brexit Done", by finally taking Britain out of the European Union next month. It indicates that Johnson, known by the public nationwide simply as "Boris", still has star power.
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| Early exit polls indicate huge victory for Conservatives in UK election Posted: 12 Dec 2019 02:28 PM PST  If early exit polls are any indication, Conservatives have won a huge victory in U.K.'s closely watched general election. Britain went to the polls for the third time in five years Thursday to determine whom the public wants to resolve the stalemate over Brexit. The victory would mean a clear vindication for Brexit-champion Boris Johnson, who would remain as prime minister.
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| Russia probe report spurs calls for FBI surveillance changes Posted: 12 Dec 2019 02:08 PM PST  Revelations that the FBI committed serious errors in wiretapping a former Trump campaign aide have spurred bipartisan calls for change to the government's surveillance powers, including from some Republicans who in the past have voted to renew or expand those authorities. Anger over the errors cited in this week's Justice Department's inspector general's report of the Russia investigation has produced rare consensus from Democrats and Republicans who otherwise have had sharply different interpretations of the report's findings. The report said the FBI was justified in investigating ties between the campaign and Russia, but criticized how the investigation was conducted.
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| Boris Johnson on Course for Blowout Election Win Posted: 12 Dec 2019 02:06 PM PST  LONDON—Boris Johnson will be re-elected as British prime minister in a landslide victory that is expected to wipe out Labour strongholds across the country.An exit poll commissioned by the country's main broadcasters predicted that the Conservatives would take as many as 368 seats, giving Johnson a majority in the House of Commons of more than 80 seats.If that proves accurate—as early results suggest—Jeremy Corbyn will have presided over the collapse of the Labour Party in its traditional heartlands of the Midlands and Northern England. Many of those areas have been Labour for a century, and Thursday's election result would represent the party's worst showing since 1935. As the recriminations began in the minutes after the shock exit poll was published, Corbyn's No. 2, John McDonnell, claimed the vote had become "a Brexit election" and the country had wanted to move on, accepting Johnson's claim that he would "Get Brexit done."That is half the story, but Labour candidates from across the country have admitted that Corbyn's brand of radical left-wing politics had gone down disastrously with working-class voters in Labour strongholds.The first big shock result of the night came in Blyth Valley, a North-East district that was created in 1950 and has been represented by a Labour member of Parliament ever since. With a swing of almost 10 percent, the Conservatives have taken the seat for the first time. Ronnie Campbell, who represented the district for 32 years, did warn The Daily Beast earlier this week that the party was in big trouble. "We're obviously going to take a little bit of a battering," he said, blaming Corbyn's handling of Brexit.'Spineless' Corbyn Risks Losing Labour's Heartlands After a CenturyFor generations Labour has represented a swath of seats that runs diagonally across the country from Blyth to North Wales in the West. That hitherto impregnable barrier to the Conservatives was known as the "red wall."Giddy at the scale of his party's win, Conservative MP Mark Francois told the BBC: "In 1989, Russia's Berlin Wall came down; in 2019 Labour's 'red wall' came down."Johnson's victory will easily give him enough votes to pass his Brexit deal through the House of Commons in time for the next deadline on Jan. 31. Matters will then become more difficult as he attempts to negotiate a trade deal in the remaining 11 months of the transition period, but by then Britain will have left the European Union.The straightforward narrative of completing Brexit has proved decisive with swings toward the Conservatives in Leave voting areas, according to early vote counts. The exit poll also projected that the Scottish National Party would strengthen its grip north of the border, which is likely to lead to renewed calls for another independence referendum.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| British Election Exit Poll Predicts Win For Conservative Party Posted: 12 Dec 2019 02:02 PM PST  The next government will decide how the country handles Brexit.
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| Weinstein lawyer says 98% of creditors agreeing to settle Posted: 12 Dec 2019 01:07 PM PST  Ninety-eight percent of The Weinstein Co.'s creditors are joining a tentative settlement that plaintiffs say includes $25 million for over two dozen actresses and former employees who claim Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed them, a lawyer said Thursday. The attorney, Karen Bitar, provided the estimate to U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer as she said the deal would cover "the overwhelming" number of individuals and entities potentially owed money. The discussion of the deal revealed by lawyers a day earlier arose during a hearing in Manhattan pertaining to a lawsuit filed against the company and the disgraced movie mogul by former Weinstein consultant Alexandra Canosa.
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| Traditional Thai massage gets UNESCO heritage status Posted: 12 Dec 2019 01:02 PM PST  At Bangkok's Reclining Buddha temple, Krairath Chantrasri says he is a proud custodian of an ancient skill -- the body-folding, sharp-elbowed techniques of Thai massage, which was added Thursday to UNESCO's prestigious heritage list. Originating in India and practiced in Thailand for centuries, the massage was popularized when a specialty school opened in the 1960s to train massage therapists from around the world. Nuad Thai's addition to UNESCO's list of "Intangible Cultural Heritage" practices "is historic," said the Thai delegate at the United Nations Economic, Scientific and Cultural Organization meeting in Bogota, Colombia.
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| Over 1,000 ancient relics recovered from Syrian museum Posted: 12 Dec 2019 12:27 PM PST ![Over 1,000 ancient relics recovered from Syrian museum]( "Over 1,000 ancient relics recovered from Syrian museum") More than 1,000 ancient relics and mosaics were saved from Islamic State group militants when staff at the museum of the Syrian city of Raqqa managed to hide them underground and in storehouses, Syrian officials and experts said Thursday. The Syrian Kurdish-led administration in northeastern Syria said the 1,097 pieces — which were part of the original nearly 7,000 relics in the Raqqa museum — have been saved. The museum was looted and damaged by militants in Syria's nine-year war, but was stripped of most of its belonging when Islamic State militants seized control of the city in 2014.
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| With Many Dents to Its Image, Nobel Peace Prize Is Hit With a Few More Posted: 12 Dec 2019 12:08 PM PST ![With Many Dents to Its Image, Nobel Peace Prize Is Hit With a Few More]( "With Many Dents to Its Image, Nobel Peace Prize Is Hit With a Few More") The Nobel Peace Prize has long been contentious, beginning with its origins in the will of Alfred Nobel, the 19th-century inventor of dynamite. But it is extraordinary that two winners are almost simultaneously battling accusations of behavior that is widely regarded as antithetical to the spirit and purpose of the award, first given in 1901.On Wednesday, Aung San Suu Kyi, the Myanmar leader who won the prize in 1991, appeared before the International Court of Justice and denied accusations that her government had committed genocide against the Rohingya minority. Her defense of Myanmar at the court was a jarring contrast to her onetime identity as an intrepid champion of human rights and democracy.And on Tuesday, the 2019 winner, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia, facing accusations of a heavy-handed crackdown on political protests, skipped a news conference after his acceptance speech.In some years, critics have questioned the worthiness of winners without marquee accomplishments -- like the 2012 award to the European Union, for example, or the 2009 award to President Barack Obama, just months into his first term.In other instances -- perhaps most famously the 1973 award to Henry Kissinger and his North Vietnamese counterpart, Le Duc Tho, as the Vietnam War was still raging -- the track records of winners have been ridiculed. (The singer Tom Lehrer famously said that the choice of Kissinger had rendered political satire obsolete.)In the case of Suu Kyi, some critics have suggested that the criteria for selecting winners should be reassessed -- including the possibility that the honor could be rescinded. Such questions are inherent to the prize regardless who is chosen, said Dr. Richard B. Gunderman, a professor at Indiana University who has written about the prize's history."The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize has always been fraught with peril, subject to the current drift of public opinion and political and nationalistic motives and prejudices," Gunderman said."Like all human judgments, the Nobel committee's decisions are prone to error," he said. "It should do the best it can and then live with the consequences."-- Here are some other notably contentious Nobel Peace Prize nominees and winners:Hitler and Stalin: Adolf Hitler was nominated in 1939 by a member of Sweden's Parliament, E.G.C. Brandt, who apparently meant it as a satire against the leader of Nazi Germany, and never intended the choice to be seriously considered. But the nomination created such outrage that it was quickly withdrawn. Josef Stalin, Hitler's nemesis and the leader of the Soviet Communist Party, was nominated twice -- in 1945 and 1948 -- for his efforts to end World War II. Despite Stalin's murderous purges and pogroms, those nominations were taken in earnest.Cordell Hull: The American statesmen Cordell Hull won in 1945 for his role in establishing the United Nations. Six years earlier, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt's secretary of state, he took steps that led Roosevelt to deny permission for 950 Jewish refugees aboard the liner St. Louis, fleeing Nazi persecution, to seek asylum in the United States. Many of the passengers on the trip, known as the Voyage of the Damned, later died in the Holocaust.Yasser Arafat: The chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization shared the 1994 prize with the Israeli leaders Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres for the Oslo Accords, still widely regarded as the basis for a peace process. But many critics assailed the choice of Arafat because of his role in acts of terrorism against Israelis.Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho: The 1973 prize was awarded to Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger and the North Vietnam statesman Le Duc Tho for having negotiated a cease-fire in the Vietnam War. Many critics of the war -- which would not be over for two more years -- ridiculed the choice of Kissinger, and his Vietnamese counterpart refused to accept the award on grounds that he United States had violated the cease-fire.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| Why On Earth Nikki Haley Thinks We Should Keep The Confederate Flag Posted: 12 Dec 2019 12:07 PM PST  When compared to the rest of President Donald Trump's straw men administration, Nikki Haley might seem like a standard run-of-the-mill diplomat — she wasn't really the subject of headlines (or tweets) for the better part of 2019. But in her recent book, With All Due Respect, it turns out that the former United Nations ambassador can dish out drama just as well as anyone else in Trump's cabinet.After resigning from the Trump administration in late 2018, Haley worked hard to build a profile for herself, penning a book that aimed to convey an independent mindset. So independent, in fact, that Haley reignited a national debate that perhaps we didn't need to bring around again: the dismantling of the Confederate flag. This week, Haley told conservative commentator Glenn Beck on his podcast that the Confederate flag symbolizes "service and sacrifice and heritage." As a result, the former South Carolina governor unleashed the ire of the internet, prompting her to pen an op-ed in the Washington Post slamming the media for perpetuating "outrage culture."But Haley's comments were particularly critiqued by black communities, especially considering her history governing over South Carolina. The former governor held office in the wake of the tragic Charleston church shooting in 2015. Shooter Dylann Roof killed nine black parishioners at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church on June 17, 2015, and his actions were widely accepted as a racially motivated attack. Roof was labeled an avowed white supremacist after he posted a racist manifesto and several photos of himself proudly raising the Confederate flag. In the aftermath of the shooting, as the photos of Roof spread online, pressure mounted for a confederate flag that was hanging above the South Carolina statehouse to be removed, and Haley helped lead the effort to have the flag taken down. Now, her comments completely dismantle an action that helped upheave a symbol that effectively laid historic groundwork for systemic racism.In her most recent comments, Haley now claims that Roof's racist attack "hijacked" the meaning of the flag, and while she does admit the flag is a symbol of slavery and discrimination, she also says, "for many people in our state, the flag stands for traditions that are noble — traditions of history, of heritage and of ancestry." One month after the Charleston church shooting, as the black community reeled from its loss, Bree Newsome had finally had enough of the confederate flag and all it symbolizes. The determined woman scaled the flagpole outside the South Carolina capitol building to remove the flag herself. "I just felt very strongly that we needed that moment. The people say enough is enough. We need to end the hate," Newsome told Good Morning America. > Yes. I hope I get the call to direct the motion picture about a black superhero I admire. Her name is @BreeNewsome. pic.twitter.com/BgMeaNsbYk> > — Ava DuVernay (@ava) June 27, 2015Haley's staunch support of Trump can at times seem incongruous with her racial identity, too — she says she's "the proud daughter of Indian immigrants" yet faithfully supports Trump's anti-immigration policies. She also supported legislation that limited the rights of the LGBTQ community. During her tenure as ambassador to the United Nations, Haley attempted to remove the word "gender" from human rights documents and replace it with "female." This was largely regarded as an attempt to remove legal protections for transgender people since "female" is not used as a gender, but rather an attempt to marginalize gender identity based on body parts. But, Haley did work her way up from the South Carolina state legislature to the governorship to the ambassadorship, and on the way she's encountered her own fair share of racism and sexism. According to the new author, she says she was falsely accused multiple times by her opponents of having extra-marital affairs and saw these as pointed attacks to the very thing that she seems to spend her career fighting for.Her tenure, for the most part, was largely controversy-free and she resigned from the post in hopes to spend more time with her family. So, why now, is she fanning the flames of confederacy?"Really, Nikki?! The Confederate Flag represented 'service, sacrifice and heritage'? To whom? The black people who were terrorized & lynched in its name? You said it should never have been there. Roof didn't hijack the meaning of that flag, he inherited it," read a viral tweet sent by Michael Steele, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee.Nikki Haley now blames "outrage culture" for the overwhelmingly negative response to her comment, though it's suspicious timing to be making waves in the midst of a (now) high-profile book tour. I can almost hear the mutterings of a multitude of social media users yelling in response that, "Ok, boomer." > do you ever feel proud to be from south carolina but then remember lindsey graham and nikki haley are also from south carolina and then immediately feel embarrassed> > — claire thee shetland pony (@clairedaniellem) December 7, 2019Related Content:Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?Kimberly Guilfoyle Is The Trump Girlfriend To KnowWhy Democrats Hate Tulsi Gabbard Even More NowIvanka Trump's Role In Russia Scandal, Revealed
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| New Jersey attackers linked to anti-Semitic fringe movement Posted: 12 Dec 2019 11:58 AM PST  The deadly shooting rampage at a New Jersey kosher market has cast a spotlight on a fringe movement known for its anti-Semitic strain of street preaching and its role in a viral-video confrontation at the Lincoln Memorial this year. Investigators believe that the man and woman who killed three people at the Jersey City grocery Tuesday in addition to gunning down a police officer at a cemetery hated Jews and law enforcement and had expressed interest in the Black Hebrew Israelites movement, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said Thursday. Not all sects of the movement spew hateful rhetoric, but many Black Hebrew Israelites subscribe to an extreme set of anti-Semitic beliefs.
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| ICE, IRS search Hispanic grocery stores in Atlanta area Posted: 12 Dec 2019 11:28 AM PST ![ICE, IRS search Hispanic grocery stores in Atlanta area]( "ICE, IRS search Hispanic grocery stores in Atlanta area") Federal agents executed search warrants at multiple branches of a Hispanic grocery chain in the Atlanta area and took three people into custody on Thursday, an official said. Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were working alongside the IRS at six Super Mercado Jalisco locations, said ICE spokesman Lindsay Williams. Super Mercado Jalisco has seven locations in the Atlanta areas, according to its website.
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| Senate backs measure affirming century-old Armenian genocide Posted: 12 Dec 2019 11:23 AM PST  Mass killings of more than a million Armenians by Ottoman Turks a century ago were genocide, the Senate declared Thursday in a vote that prompted angry denunciations by Turkey and accusations that the U.S. was undermining its relations with a key NATO ally. The Senate action follows a vote by a Senate committee to impose sanctions on Turkey after its offensive in Syria and purchase of a Russian S-400 missile system. The actions were the latest by Congress to push President Donald Trump to take a harder line against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
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| Iran post office delivers box to minister in drone test Posted: 12 Dec 2019 09:57 AM PST ![Iran post office delivers box to minister in drone test]( "Iran post office delivers box to minister in drone test") Iran's post office has used a drone to test fly a box to the country's telecommunications minister. Officials say using drones might one day reduce air pollution and traffic in the capital Tehran. Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, in video posted on his Twitter account, shows Thursday how he received the box.
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| Countries blocking progress at crunch UN climate talks: hosts Spain Posted: 12 Dec 2019 09:45 AM PST  Some rich and developing countries are barring progress in vital United Nations climate talks, the COP 25 host Spain said Thursday. Nations gathered in Madrid are struggling to finalise the rulebook of the 2015 landmark Paris climate accord, which aims to limit global temperature rises to "well below" two degrees Celsius and to a safer cap of 1.5C if possible. "There are two very clear visions," Spain's minister for energy and climate change Teresa Ribera told reporters on the penultimate day of the two-week negotiations.
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| UN summit 'parallel universe' to climate emergency: NGOs Posted: 12 Dec 2019 09:28 AM PST  Campaigners denounced the United Nations climate process as a "parallel universe" on Thursday, as vital talks make glacial progress despite the increasing global challenges of the climate emergency. Nations are at the COP 25 summit in Madrid to finalise the rulebook for the landmark 2015 Paris accord, which aims to limit temperature rises to "well below" two degrees Celsius. The UN said this month that more than 20 million people are likely to be forced from their homes this year alone due to climate change.
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| Race against time to complete controversial gas pipeline between Russia and Germany before US sanctions Posted: 12 Dec 2019 09:24 AM PST  A race against time is underway to complete a controversial gas pipeline between Germany and Russia before US sanctions approved this week can be imposed against it. The world's largest construction ship, the Pioneering Spirit, is currently laying the final offshore section of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline under the Baltic Sea. But the Swiss company that owns the vessel could be forced to pull out of the project or face US sanctions within weeks. Less than 100 miles of the pipeline remains to be laid under the Baltic Sea, and Gazprom, the Russian state energy company, says it will be finished in five weeks. But in a move that threatens to strain relations between Germany and the US, the House of Representatives this week voted to impose sanctions against any company that takes part in its construction. That has left Gazprom facing a race to complete the pipeline before the sanctions come into effect. US lawmakers led by Senator Ted Cruz are forcing the sanctions through Congress after the Trump administration declined to impose any. President Trump says he will sign the law once it is passed. Senator Cruz and his allies accuse Russia of using Nord Stream 2 to weaken Ukraine's economy by bypassing existing pipelines to western Europe that cross its territory. And they warn the new pipeline will leave Germany and Europe dangerously dependent on Russia for their energy. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, another of those behind the sanctions, said in a statement this week that they "send an unmistakable, bipartisan message from Congress to Vladimir Putin that the United States will not sit idly by while the Kremlin seeks to further spread its malign influence". Mr Trump, has been more conciliatory, telling reporters at this months' Nato summit: "That's a problem that Germany will have to solve for itself. Perhaps it will not be a problem for Germany. I hope it is not a problem." The pipeline will double the capacity of gas Russia can pump directly to Germany Credit: TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP Germany argues the pipeline is only one component of its energy strategy, and Angela Merkel's government said this week that it "rejects extraterritorial sanctions that affect German and European businesses." German business leaders have called for the EU to impose counter-sanctions against the US. The company most clearly in the crosshairs of the new sanctions is Switzerland's Allseas SA, the owner of the Pioneering Spirit and a global leader in offshore construction. Under the measures approved by the House of Representatives this week, its directors could be barred from entering the US and have any assets there frozen. The law, which still has to be approved by the Senate, mandates the State Department to compile a report on companies involved within 60 days. Businesses would then have another 30 days to remove themselves from the project or face santions. But the State Department has said it will issue a report within a week — meaning there could be a race to complete the pipeline before sanctions take effect. The €9.5bn (£8bn) Nord Stream 2 pipeline will double the capacity of gas Russia can pump directly to Germany to 110bn cubic metres. Germany, which relies heavily on gas for heating but has no supplies of its own, is the world's largest importer of natural gas. German businesses have accused the US of seeking to block the pipeline in a bid to force Berlin to buy more expensive American gas exports. "We should respond to sanctions that damage Europe with counter-sanctions," Matthias Schepp of the German-Russian Chamber of Commerce said this week. "It is time for Berlin and Brussels to take a clear political position and respond with targeted countermeasures. "Germany needs low energy prices in order to be able to compete worldwide with its energy-intensive industries. The EU is clearly needs Russian gas less than Russia needs foreign exchange income."
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| The real story behind a charred Iraqi shrine: Resentment of Iran Posted: 12 Dec 2019 09:18 AM PST  Is Iran's power waning in Iraq? Popular resentment toward Iranian overreach is growing, as the violence at a Najaf shrine showed.
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| Mary Kay Advances Commitment to Global Female Empowerment at United Nations Global Compact Gender Equality Forum Posted: 12 Dec 2019 08:40 AM PST  DALLAS-(BUSINESS WIRE)-In its ongoing commitment to female empowerment and entrepreneurship, Mary Kay Inc., alongside Warner Bros., Qualcomm and more, recently addressed the economic, social and sustainability benefits of global gender equality at the United Nations Global Compact for Gender Equality, an event organized by Global Compact Network USA (GCNUSA) in Los Angeles, California. The regional […]
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| Pentagon watchdog investigating $400M border wall contract Posted: 12 Dec 2019 08:32 AM PST  The Defense Department's internal watchdog is investigating a $400 million border wall contract awarded to a firm that used multiple appearances on Fox News to push for the job. The Pentagon's inspector general sent a letter Thursday to House Homeland Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson telling him the contract awarded to North Dakota-based firm Fisher Sand and Gravel Co. would be audited. Thompson, D-Miss., asked for the review last week, in part over concerns the proposals did not meet operational requirements and prototypes came in late and over budget.
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| Stormy weather to slam Eastern Mediterranean through the weekend Posted: 12 Dec 2019 08:16 AM PST  Two storms will travel across the eastern Mediterranean Sea, spreading flooding rainfall and snow from Greece and Turkey to Iraq.Wet weather first stretched from southern Greece to Syria on Thursday evening and is expected to spread inland across the Middle East into Friday. Parts of Syria, Iraq and even western Iran will end up with a period of showers.The heaviest rain is likely to remain along the Mediterranean Coast, where the most moisture will be available. Coastal cities like Antalya and Mersin in southern Turkey, as well as Latakia in western Syria will have the highest chances for flooding to occur. Motorists should be cautious during their travels, and remember not to drive through flooded roadways. Only a small amount of water is needed to take control of a vehicle.Cold air on the northern side of the storm will allow for snow across parts of central and eastern Turkey, Armenia and far north-western Iran. High-elevation areas will be most susceptible of significant accumulations and slippery roadways.In the mountains of northeastern Iraq, just enough cold air could be present for a wintry mix of snow, ice and rain, depending on the time of the day.On Saturday, a second storm will move into Greece, bringing another dose of heavy rainfall. Locations hardest hit by the first storm will be the most susceptible for flooding the second time around.A bit of wind is expected with the second storm, particularly across southern and western parts of Greece and western Turkey. Widespread wind gusts up to 60 km/h (37 mph) will be possible, with higher gusts up to 75 km/h (47 mph) on the windward-facing shores.Should the track of the second storm change, so too would the location of the strongest winds. If the storm dives farther south, the strongest winds will remain well offshore.As the storm moves into the far-eastern corners of the Mediterranean Sea on Sunday, the storm may lose some intensity. Still, showers are expected from southern Turkey, along coastal parts of Syria, Lebanon and even Egypt.A more southerly track will bring more rainfall into northern Egypt.With a lack of moisture, not much rain is anticipated in the deserts farther inland of the Middle East. Should the storm hold together, it could again start bringing rain to locations near the Persian Gulf on Monday, including southern Iran and eastern Saudi Arabia."Following these storms, a ridge of high pressure is expected to develop in southeastern Europe, which will help to bring drier weather next week," said AccuWeather Meteorologist Rob Richards.While a storm track from the Ionian Sea into the Middle East is not a frequent one, historically, they are most common from the months of November to February.AccuWeather meteorologists predicted in their winter outlook earlier this year for some storminess to reach the region, although infrequent.Download the free AccuWeather app to check the forecast in your area. Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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| Israel’s Bad Bet on ‘Friends’ in the Middle East Posted: 12 Dec 2019 08:13 AM PST  JERUSALEM—Last year Oman's Foreign Minister Yousuf bin Alawi told a gathering of Middle Eastern leaders in Bahrain that it was time to treat Israel like part of the Middle East. His speech came in the wake of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's trip to Oman. This year, when Jordan's King Abdullah spoke after being honored at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, he said that unless the U.S. could help solve the Israeli-Palestinian dispute Israel would not be fully integrated with its neighbors.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Will Be Indicted. But Will He Step Down?The two statements frame a debate that is fundamental to Israel's relations with the the Arab and non-Arab Muslim-majority countries in this region. While several Arab states today either have relations with Israel or see some shared interests with Israel, the powerful non-Arab countries on their periphery, Iran and Turkey, are both deeply opposed to Israel and to Jerusalem's policies. This is a major change from decades ago. In Israel's early years it had closer relations with Tehran and Ankara and its main existential threat came from Cairo and an array of Arab states. The reversal has left Jerusalem, now, with a handful of Arab capitals that share some interests with it, and two very strong regional states that seek to isolate it. The leaders of the Iranian regime say flatly that they want to destroy Israel and will leverage Iran's role in neighboring states to do so.How did Israel get here? Increasingly the Jewish state has appeared to have not only a cold peace with Egypt (since 1979), and a slightly warmer one with Jordan since 1994, but potential cooperation with some Arab states in the Gulf. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made this rapprochement central to talking points about his success over the last 10 years as he faced two elections this year and indictments for corruption. In early December, reports suggested the U.S. and Israel were even pushing a non-aggression agreement with Oman, Bahrain, the UAE, and Morocco. Netanyahu met Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Portugal, and Pompeo traveled to Morocco on December 6.But at the same time, Israel's greatest enemy, Iran, is entrenching itself in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. Trump Bet the Whole Middle East on Khashoggi's Alleged Murderer. Now He's Doubling Down.On November 20, Israel carried out widespread airstrikes on Iranian targets in Syria, where it has conducted more than 1,000 such airstrikes over the last five years. But Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander, Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, is optimistic Iran can confront Israel. He said in September that "this sinister regime [Israel] must be wiped off the map, and this is no longer a dream… but an achievable goal."Israel says the IRGC has launched drones and fired rockets toward the Galilee at least five time since February 2018. Iran is also transporting missiles to Iraq, which may be transiting to Syria through a new border crossing.As Israel faces Iran's threats, it also confronts Iran's allies. This includes a war of words with Hezbollah in Lebanon and concerns that the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen could seek to strike at Israel. Israel also has carried out airstrikes in Iraq against Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias, according to the Iraqi government and U.S. reports. So far Iran hasn't found a way to respond, but the general assessment is that it is only a matter of time until it does.While Iran and its allies are a military threat, Israel also has faced a major diplomatic offensive from Turkey over the last decade. This began in earnest when Turkish-backed peace talks with Syria and the Palestinians broke down during the 2009 war and after Turkey sent a flotilla of hard-line activists toward Gaza in 2010. In September 2019 at the United Nations, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan compared Israel's "massacres" in Gaza to "the genocide Nazis committed against Jews." Turkey seeks to champion the Palestinian cause, and organized a special session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in 2017 to oppose President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Turkey also went to the U.N. to oppose the American policy. Turkey and Iran have increased their role in the Palestinian issue at precisely the time the Arab states, particularly Saudi Arabia, have decreased their role. For instance, Iran supports Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, where Israel has fought three wars since withdrawing in 2005's Disengagement. In the last year and a half, more than 2,000 rockets have been fired from Gaza at Israel and Israel has carried out numerous airstrikes against Hamas and PIJ.Israel has slammed Turkey for its invasion of Kurdish areas of Syria and accused it of destabilizing and supporting terror in the region.So, this is Israel's position today. While Netanyahu has indicated that Israel maintains covert ties with many regional states and has "widespread relations" with Arab states, Israel's potential allies are fearful of conflict with Tehran. Turkey and Iran, two of the Middle East's strongest militaries and largest economies, oppose Israel, while Israel shares more interests with countries such as Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. But Israel doesn't have relations with those countries. Those interests are primarily linked to the Iranian threat, and perhaps some idea that economic relations could benefit them all at a time in the future.All of this is a far cry from the '50s when Israel had strong relations with Iran and Turkey but was in conflict with Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq. That era was embodied by Israel's "periphery" policy. While the Arab League and especially the Arab nationalist states led by Gamal Abdel Nasser opposed Israel, innovative leaders in Jerusalem enjoyed warmer ties with Tehran and Ankara.In 1979 Iran's Islamic Revolution brought upheaval throughout the region, and a lot of strategic recalculations. Israel lost Iran but it signed a peace deal with Egypt. More recently, the rise of Erdogan soured relations with Turkey. The lack of a peace deal with the Palestinians didn't help. And it is always worth remembering that Turkey has the second biggest army in NATO, after the United States. Most importantly, Erdogan's AKP party is rooted in the Muslim Brotherhood. As a result, Turkey's leaders see themselves as in regional conflict with the monarchies of Saudi Arabia and the UAE in proxy conflicts from Libya to Egypt and beyond. The Brotherhood even met with Iran's IRGC in 2014 in Turkey to discuss opposing Riyadh together. Israel is part of this because it is fighting Hamas, which Turkey supports, and has decent relations with Egypt's leadership, which Turkey opposes.Although Israel appeared to weather the storm of the last few years in the Middle East by choosing a cynical but pragmatic path of no peace negotiations and no new wars, it now faces a real challenge. The aftermath of the war on ISIS, the winding down of the Syrian conflict, and Iran's increasing ability to leverage its allies in Iraq and Lebanon leave Israel isolated with only a handful of southern Arab states it can work with. Jordan says its relations with Israel are at an all-time low in 25 years of peace, even if security cooperation continues on several levels, most of them in the shadows.Israel didn't play a public role in discussions at the recent Manama dialogue in Bahrain and doesn't seem to have built on its Oman visit to improve Gulf relations. In fact Oman is seeking to mediate between Iran and the Gulf after a high level visit by Bin Alawi to Tehran, the third this year.The Iranian attack on Saudi Arabia's Abqaiq oil facility in September showed that while Gulf countries may oppose Tehran, they don't want a conflict and will not likely be involved in any future conflict between Israel and Iran. That means their shared interests boil down to quietly supporting Israel's airstrikes and not pressuring Israel on the peace negotiations with the Palestinians, but not doing much else. The emerging military powers in the region remain Iran and Turkey. Every week Iran announces new military technology, such as air defense and cruise missiles. Turkey's recent attack on the Kurdish region of eastern Syria enabled it to showcase its drones and military abilities. It is strong-arming NATO and increasing its role in the Mediterranean.The U.S. strongly backs Israel, but Washington is reducing its presence and influence in the region. Faced with these challenges, Israel has increasingly reached out to Russia to discuss Syria as Moscow is the main backer of the Assad regime. And Russia works closely with Turkey and Iran. This will leave Israel out in the cold in many meetings in the region where Israeli officials are not officially welcome. Netanyahu put faith in clandestine relations and support, but Israel had covert relations in the '60s and '90s as well. Facing a technologically advanced, aggressive Iran, a hostile, powerful, Turkey, and lukewarm or even cold relations with Arab states represent a danger for Israel in the coming years. This is a situation that is not all Israel's fault, but it may have turned away from the peace process hoping that it can get good relations with the Arab states anyway, only to find out that in the end Jordan was right, Israel needs to make progress on the smaller issues closer to home to improve its integration in the region. Without the periphery, the center needs attention.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Denmark to send frigate to European-led mission in Gulf Posted: 12 Dec 2019 08:07 AM PST ![Denmark to send frigate to European-led mission in Gulf]( "Denmark to send frigate to European-led mission in Gulf") Denmark said on Thursday that it will send a frigate with a crew of about 155 and a helicopter to a European-led military mission aimed at monitoring shipping lanes in the Persian Gulf. The mission was put together after Iran seized a British oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz in July. Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said that his country has a "special interest" in protecting maritime security in the Strait of Hormuz, as it has a large merchant fleet.
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| Iraq mob lynches 16-year-old after he attacked and killed anti-government protesters Posted: 12 Dec 2019 07:47 AM PST  An angry mob killed a 16-year-old and strung up the corpse by its feet from a traffic pole after the teen shot and killed six people on Thursday, including four anti-government protesters, Iraqi officials said. Dozens of people pointed their cellphones at the body dangling high above them in a central Baghdad square. Videos circulating on social media showed the young man being beaten and dragged across the street. The violence underscored the growing fears and suspicions swirling around the 8-week-old protest movement, which engulfed Iraq on October 1 when thousands took to the streets to decry government corruption, poor services and scarcity of jobs. A string of mysterious acts of bloodshed by unknown groups has put anti-government protesters on edge and eroded their faith in the ability of state security forces to protect them. Last Friday, 25 protesters were killed when gunmen in pickup trucks opened fire in Baghdad's Khilani Square. That same week, mysterious knife attacks targeted over a dozen anti-government protesters in Tahrir Square, the hub of the protest movement. In recent days, abductions and assassinations of high-profile civil activists have stoked paranoia among demonstrators. Protesters largely blame Iran-backed militias for the attacks and see the violence as a campaign to instill fear and weaken their peaceful movement. Thursday's bloodshed began when the young gunman opened fire in Baghdad's Wathba Square, killing two shop owners and four protesters. Security officials said the teen was wanted by police on drug-related charges and was running from security forces at the time. An enraged mob beat the young man to death, security and health officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. At least eight people were wounded, the officials said. Influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called those who killed the teen "terrorists" and warned that if they were not identified within 48 hours, he would order his militia to leave the square. Members of Saraya Salam, or Peace Brigades, are deployed in the square to protect protesters. Protesters refer to them as the "blue hats." The killing of the teenager was condemned by the wider protest movement in Tahrir Square, which said in a statement that the perpetrators were not part of their peaceful demonstrations. "We can't allow the image of our pure revolution to be distorted, so we declare that we are innocent as peaceful demonstrators to what happened this morning in Wathba Square," the statement said.
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| 'Turf wars' alarm Florida panel probing Parkland shooting Posted: 12 Dec 2019 07:47 AM PST  A Florida grand jury looking into last year's Parkland school shooting chided schools, law enforcement and other local jurisdictions over continued "turf wars" that could hamper the response to another crisis. In a report released late Wednesday, the statewide grand jury said the continued squabbling and other "systemic" failures were urgent enough for it to speak out before its term. It suggested that lawmakers give the state Department of Education authority to monitor and enforce compliance with a raft of laws put in place after the shooting that killed 17 people, including 14 students, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February 2018.
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| Chile: Plane that vanished en route to Antarctica found Posted: 12 Dec 2019 07:37 AM PST  Searchers combing Antarctic seas have recovered parts of a military transport plane and human remains belonging to some of the 38 people aboard who vanished en route to the frozen continent, Chilean officials said Thursday. Air Force Gen. Arturo Merino said at a news conference that based on the condition of the remains, he believed it would be "practically impossible" that any survivors would be pulled from the water alive. An international team of searchers continued the hunt, while officials on shore said they would use DNA analysis to identify the crash victims.
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| Merkel Faces Revolt Over Huawei as Lawmakers Seek Full Ban Posted: 12 Dec 2019 07:30 AM PST ![Merkel Faces Revolt Over Huawei as Lawmakers Seek Full Ban]( "Merkel Faces Revolt Over Huawei as Lawmakers Seek Full Ban") (Bloomberg) -- Want the lowdown on European markets? In your inbox before the open, every day. Sign up here.German Chancellor Angela Merkel is facing a potential revolt in parliament by lawmakers seeking to override her China policy and effectively ban equipment supplier Huawei Technologies Co. from the country's fifth-generation wireless network.A bill drafted by lawmakers in Merkel's ruling coalition stipulates that German authorities should be able to exclude "untrustworthy" 5G equipment vendors from "core as well as peripheral networks." That goes beyond previous calls that sought to ban the Chinese firm from the more sensitive core network alone.The effort in the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, is a major challenge to Merkel's attempts at balancing security considerations over 5G with Germany's delicate economic ties with China. Hawks in her government, including German intelligence agencies and the Interior Ministry, have warned that Huawei's ties to the government in Beijing pose a security risk.While the draft doesn't explicitly name Huawei, it's tailored to the Chinese company and comes after months of debate about 5G security. Huawei has repeatedly denied allegations over potential espionage and sabotage.The draft legislation obtained by Bloomberg News says that security guidelines set out by Merkel's government, which include a certification process and a declaration of trustworthiness, don't go far enough. The political and legal systems in a vendor's country of origin must also be taken into account, the draft says in a direct allusion to China.While negotiators haggle over a final draft, the stringent security standards set by lawmakers in Merkel's Christian Democratic Union-led bloc and in the Social Democratic party illustrate the momentum building against the Shenzhen-based technology giant. CDU lawmakers approved a motion at a party convention last month calling for further restrictions.European SolutionsCalling 5G technology Germany's "digital nervous system," lawmakers said that Europe already possessed two companies that represent an alternative to "state subsidized" competitors posing a threat -- a reference to Finland's Nokia Oyj and Sweden's Ericsson AB."It is thus in Germany's own interest to rely on European solutions with respect to the 5G network expansion and to cultivate European champions," the draft said.Excluding Huawei from the peripheral network -- and not just the more sensitive core -- would create headaches for Germany's telecom companies, who have warned that banning the vendor would delay the county's 5G build-out and make it more expensive.Telefonica SA's German unit, which operates the country's second-largest wireless network, earlier this week said Wednesday it picked Huawei and Nokia to take an equal role in supplying its 5G network upgrade.The Merkel government had proposed a compromise that imposes partial restrictions that Telecom executives were prepared to accept as long as the Chinese vendor had access to less sensitive parts. But the lawmakers' proposal would even go beyond a recommendation by Merkel's spy chief, Bruno Kahl, the head of the Federal Intelligence Service. While Huawei is too dependent on the Chinese Communist Party and "can't be fully trusted," Kahl said in October, "there may be areas where a participation doesn't have to be excluded."(Updates to add detail throughout)\--With assistance from Stefan Nicola.To contact the reporter on this story: Patrick Donahue in Berlin at pdonahue1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Raymond ColittFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Prison fire in Saudi capital kills 3 inmates, 21 injured Posted: 12 Dec 2019 07:24 AM PST ![Prison fire in Saudi capital kills 3 inmates, 21 injured]( "Prison fire in Saudi capital kills 3 inmates, 21 injured") A fire that broke out at a prison in Saudi Arabia's capital of Riyadh killed three inmates and injured 21 others on Thursday, state media reported. Saudi media, quoting officials, reported that the fire broke out at 5 a.m. in Ward 7 of al-Malaz prison. Officials said inmates were immediately evacuated and others transferred to the hospital for treatment.
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| Varney: America should pay ‘close attention’ to UK election Posted: 12 Dec 2019 07:20 AM PST ![Varney: America should pay 'close attention' to UK election]( "Varney: America should pay 'close attention' to UK election") The U.K. election is not just about Brexit -- it also involves President Trump, said Stuart Varney.
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| Brazil paves highway to soy, sparking worries about Amazon Posted: 12 Dec 2019 07:04 AM PST  Night falls in Brazil's Amazon and two logging trucks without license plates emerge from the jungle. "There was a dream of colonization, of getting land and seeing if here we could have better financial conditions," Dedé Diniz, 69, said in his home.
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| US warnings over spate of Iranian-backed rocket attacks on its bases in Iraq Posted: 12 Dec 2019 07:02 AM PST  Attacks on bases hosting US-led coalition forces by Iranian-armed militias are heading towards a red line for the coalition, who would respond with such force that "no one would like the outcome," a senior US official warned on Wednesday. Just hours later a further two rockets hit near the military section of Baghdad airport. The attack is the tenth of its type since October, targeting joint US-Iraqi military facilities that host forces from the US-led coalition to defeat Isil. Speaking to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, the US official reportedly said that while there were no claims of responsibility for the attacks, intelligence and forensic analyses indicated Iranian-backed Shi'ite Muslim militia groups are behind them. The Iraqi paramilitary groups and the US are trading blame on the series of attacks. "We're waiting for full evidence...If past is prologue, I'd say there's a good chance it was Iran that's behind it," David Schenker, the US Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, told reporters last Friday. Two further attacks have happened since. The rocket attacks come amid US accusations that Iran has capitalised on the continued unrest in Iraq to secretly move short-range ballistic missiles into the country. The Trump administration hit Iran with fresh sanctions on Wednesday in an effort to intensify their "maximum pressure" campaign against Tehran's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. The sanctions target several transportation firms in the Islamic Republic, including the state-shipping line, as well as a China-based company that has been involved in delivering missile parts to Iran. Piling economic sanctions and ramped up rhetoric have been a pillar of the "maximum pressure" campaign since Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal with Iran in May 2018. Iran has since taken several major steps away from the deal amid fears of a war with the US, further exacerbating tensions. An attack on Monday saw four Katyusha rockets hit a base near Baghdad airport, wounding five members of Iraq's elite Counter-Terrorism Service. A larger 240-millimetre rocket was used in a similar attack near the airport on Friday, which is thought to have not been used in Iraq since 2011.
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| Geopolitical Jumble: UK Election Results, US Tariff Decision, Front And Center Posted: 12 Dec 2019 06:27 AM PST ![Geopolitical Jumble: UK Election Results, US Tariff Decision, Front And Center]( "Geopolitical Jumble: UK Election Results, US Tariff Decision, Front And Center") With the Fed meeting out of the way and rates unchanged, the countdown toward UK parliamentary results and a U.S. decision whether to impose promised new tariffs on China stand front and center as trading begins Thursday. The UK election could help determine how quickly and even whether Brexit happens.
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| Myanmar's Suu Kyi's defense of army puzzles former admirers Posted: 12 Dec 2019 06:22 AM PST  What drives Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Myanmar who this week defended her country at the International Court of Justice against charges that it carried out genocide against its Muslim Rohingya minority? There was a time when Suu Kyi was the hero of human rights advocates, whose nonviolent struggle against her country's military dictatorship was admired by people around the world and won her the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. More than 700,000 Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh to escape a brutal 2017 counterinsurgency campaign by the army, which the U.N. and rights groups say involved murder, mass rape and the razing by fire of entire villages.
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| N. Korea says US 'foolish' for calling UN security meeting Posted: 12 Dec 2019 05:57 AM PST  North Korea's foreign ministry on Thursday criticised the United States as "foolish" for convening a UN Security Council meeting over growing concern about short-range rockets fired from the isolated state. Washington on Wednesday used the meeting to warn of consequences for North Korea if it followed through with its promise of an ominous "Christmas gift" in the event that the US does not come up with concessions by the end of the year. Trump has met three times with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to discuss Pyongyang's nuclear programme, but frustrated North Korea is seeking a comprehensive deal that includes sanctions relief.
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| Ex-Turkish prime minister forms party challenging Erdogan Posted: 12 Dec 2019 05:13 AM PST ![Ex-Turkish prime minister forms party challenging Erdogan]( "Ex-Turkish prime minister forms party challenging Erdogan") A former Turkish prime minister established a new political party on Thursday, in a move that represents a challenge to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party. Ahmet Davutoglu submitted a formal application to register his breakaway "Future Party" with the Interior Ministry, Cumhuriyet newspaper and other media reported. The party is the first of two splinter parties to be founded by former Erdogan allies amid reports of discontent within the ruling party over his authoritarian style of governing.
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| Trump mocks Greta Thunberg less than 24 hours after Time names her person of the year Posted: 12 Dec 2019 05:10 AM PST ![Trump mocks Greta Thunberg less than 24 hours after Time names her person of the year]( "Trump mocks Greta Thunberg less than 24 hours after Time names her person of the year") President Trump is once again mocking 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, this time accusing her of having an "anger management problem."Thunberg on Wednesday morning was named Time's 2019 person of the year, prompting Trump to, nearly 24 hours later, lash out at the decision as "so ridiculous."He also mocked Thunberg by saying she must "work on her anger management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill!"> So ridiculous. Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill! https://t.co/M8ZtS8okzE> > — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2019Trump himself was also one of Time's finalists, having been named person of the year in 2016 and suggesting since he deserves it again. Asked last year who should be the 2018 Time person of the year, Trump responded, "I can't imagine anybody else other than Trump, can you imagine anybody else other than Trump?" Time could.This comes after Trump also mocked Thunberg, who has Asperger's syndrome, following her passionate United Nations speech in September, sarcastically writing, "She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!" It also comes just over a week after first lady Melania Trump's criticism of an impeachment witness for mentioning 13-year-old Barron Trump's name during her testimony. "A minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics," she wrote."Asperger's is difficult for teenagers through under any circumstance," The New York Times' Maggie Haberman observed. "Being mocked by the president of the US - whose allies get very angry about what gets said about some children - is its own category."Following Trump's attack, Thunberg's Twitter bio now reads, "A teenager working on her anger management problem. Currently chilling and watching a good old fashioned movie with a friend." More stories from theweek.com Trump's pathological obsession with being laughed at The most important day of the impeachment inquiry Jerry Falwell Jr.'s false gospel of memes
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| Baghdad mob kills teen gunman and strings up his corpse Posted: 12 Dec 2019 05:08 AM PST  An angry mob killed a 16-year-old and strung up the corpse by its feet from a traffic pole after the teen shot and killed six people Thursday, including four anti-government protesters, Iraqi officials said. Dozens of people pointed their cellphones at the body dangling high above them in a central Baghdad square. The violence underscored the growing fears and suspicions swirling around the 8-week-old protest movement, which engulfed Iraq on Oct. 1 when thousands took to the streets to decry government corruption, poor services and scarcity of jobs.
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| UPDATE 2-Island states, threatened by disasters, demand urgent action at U.N. climate talks Posted: 12 Dec 2019 05:08 AM PST ![UPDATE 2-Island states, threatened by disasters, demand urgent action at U.N. climate talks]( "UPDATE 2-Island states, threatened by disasters, demand urgent action at U.N. climate talks") Island nations at risk of being erased from the map by rising seas accused rich countries of losing sight of the urgency of the climate crisis on Thursday as a marathon U.N. summit in Madrid entered its final stretch. The two-week negotiations are being watched for signs that governments are ready to honour the 2015 Paris Agreement to combat global warming by submitting more ambitious plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions next year. Simon Stiell, environment minister of Grenada, part of the Alliance of Small Island States, a bloc of low-lying countries, said there was a disconnet between expressions of concern by many countries and their stances at the talks.
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| Israeli leader welcomes Trump's college anti-Semitism order Posted: 12 Dec 2019 04:57 AM PST  Israel's prime minister welcomed on Thursday President Donald Trump's executive order targeting what the White House describes as a growing problem of anti-Semitic harassment on U.S. college campuses. The order instructs the U.S. Department of Education to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of anti-Semitism — which can include criticism of Israel — when evaluating discrimination complaints under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
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| Famine stalks millions in South Sudan after droughts, floods - U.N. Posted: 12 Dec 2019 04:52 AM PST ![Famine stalks millions in South Sudan after droughts, floods - U.N.]( "Famine stalks millions in South Sudan after droughts, floods - U.N.") Famine threatens the lives of up to 5.5 million people in South Sudan, where droughts and flooding have destroyed crops and livestock, compounding "intense political instability", the United Nations warned on Thursday. The U.N.'s World Food Programme (WFP) said it needed $270 million urgently to provide food to hungry South Sudanese in the first half of 2020 and avert mass starvation in the world's youngest country.
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| Citizen K review: an oligarch in exile does battle with Putin Posted: 12 Dec 2019 04:48 AM PST  Dir: Alex Gibney. Cast: Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Vladimir Putin, Leonid Nevzlin, Boris Berezovsky, Igor Malashenko, Anton Drel, Martin Sixsmith, Derk Sauer, Tatyana Lysova, Arkady Ostrovsky, Maria Logan. 15 cert, 126 mins The "unchanging present" of Russian politics is the landscape of Alex Gibney's latest documentary, Citizen K – a wide-ranging rummage with an unlikely hero and a seemingly invincible villain. The hero is Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former oil oligarch – once the country's wealthiest man – who was judged so dangerous to Putin's supremacy he became a political prisoner in 2003. And the villain, of course, is Putin himself, who couldn't brook Khodorkovsky's opposition and hauled him up, first for fraud and tax evasion, and then on contradictory charges of embezzlement and money laundering in 2010. After his release in 2013, Khodorkovsky immediately moved to Zurich, and thence to London in 2015 – a dangerous place to reside for even mid-level diplomatic enemies of the Putin regime, let alone the man who's been called the Kremlin's leading critic-in-exile. Gibney gets this oft-enigmatic figure on camera for his considered, cynical, occasionally mischievous point of view. But this isn't a biopic in documentary form, or the kind of one-on-one interrogation Errol Morris might have done. It's a sprawling overview of how the Russian popular vote has been devalued since the Yeltsin years, in what Gibney, borrowing a phrase from Khodorkovsky himself, calls an era of "gangster capitalism". The illusion of freedom and democracy that came in with Yeltsin quickly started to look like smoke and mirrors, especially when that president became an ailing puppet, vastly unpopular with the Russian people, who wanted Putin for his successor when he resigned on New Year's Eve 1999. Of course, Khodorkovsky had his own role to play in the economic collapse of that period, having seized the opportunity to make his fortune like a particularly cut-throat Monopoly player: he was one of the seven oligarchs who controlled half the country's finances by the mid-1990s. When he forced employees at his oilfields to agree to whopping pay cuts, and then laid off tens of thousands of them, he says with sober afterthought that business "ceased being a game". But however much the element of fun leaked out of it, he still succeeded in reaping the profits, up to a peak net worth of $15bn. Then an unforeseen turning of the tide occurred, thanks to the oligarchs' shaky alliance with Putin, that once-minor KGB official whose takeover they'd even enabled, anxiously fending off a backslide towards Communism. It didn't take long before Khodorkovsky was speaking out against the undemocratic evils of state corruption, and being sentenced to a decade in Siberia for his troubles. Gibney's film certainly appreciates the irony of Khodorkovsky's position – billionaire poacher turned pro-transparency gamekeeper is a tricky look to pull off – and gets plenty of mileage out of this audacious rebranding. But there's not much in the way of mea culpa from Putin's smiling, hyper-intelligent nemesis. It's left to other interviewees to describe Khodorkovsky as a changed man after prison, after swallowing his medicine with shrugging stoicism and coming back to combat Putin by any means necessary. Film newsletter REFERRAL (article) At two hours plus, the film strays off-target at times and doesn't give the horrors of Siberia enough consideration. But it's an interesting thematic grab-bag, scored with sarcastic grandeur with cues from Shostakovich and Prokofiev, and one pointed musical joke at the start – Zbigniew Preisner's Song for the Unification of Europe, the epic choral theme from Three Colours Blue, over shots of flaming oil towers above the frozen Russian wastes. That's certainly not a number you'll ever catch Putin humming, with his allergy to sanctions and Darwinian wish for all forms of power to wither but his own.
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| Chilean host: "no excuses" for not reaching agreement at U.N climate talks Posted: 12 Dec 2019 04:36 AM PST ![Chilean host: "no excuses" for not reaching agreement at U.N climate talks]( "Chilean host: \"no excuses\" for not reaching agreement at U.N climate talks") Carolina Schmidt, the Chilean president of U.N. climate talks in Madrid, told governments on Thursday there could be no excuses for not reaching an agreement as the talks entered their final stretch. "There cannot be any excuses for not reaching agreement," Schmidt told delegates at the two-week annual negotiations, which are due to conclude on Friday.
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