| Venezuela Top Court Says Jailed Judge and Journalist Released Posted: 05 Jul 2019 04:52 PM PDT ![Venezuela Top Court Says Jailed Judge and Journalist Released]( "Venezuela Top Court Says Jailed Judge and Journalist Released") (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan courts released judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni nine years after her arrest and journalist Braulio Jatar, the country's top court said in separate posts on Twitter, without offering further details.Afiuni, writing on Twitter around mid-day on Friday, confirmed her release, saying she would post a message when she had the official high court resolution. As of Friday evening, Afiuni had not posted that information.National Assembly leader Juan Guaido said on Twitter that Afiuni and Jatar were released due to the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights report on Venezuela published on Thursday.United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said that 22 people were released on Thursday, without specifying if Afiuni or Jatar were included in that figure. "We welcome these releases and encourage the authorities to release others detained for the exercise of their human rights," Bachelet said in a statement.The United Nations report called on Nicolas Maduro's regime to take "immediate, concrete measures to halt and remedy the grave violations" of economic, social and civil rights.Venezuela's government responded, saying the UN report showed bias by minimizing measures to improve people's lives and ignored official data, while failing to mention violent actions by the opposition.To contact the reporter on this story: Jose Orozco in Mexico City at jorozco8@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ney Hayashi at ncruz4@bloomberg.net, Dale QuinnFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| IAEA to hold special meeting on Iran on 10 July Posted: 05 Jul 2019 02:00 PM PDT  The UN's nuclear watchdog said Friday it will hold a special meeting on Iran's nuclear programme next week, days after Tehran breached one of the limits set in a 2015 deal with world powers. The meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s board of governors would be held "on 10 July at 14:30," an IAEA spokesman said. Earlier, the US mission in Vienna said in a statement that the American Ambassador to International Organizations Jackie Wolcott had requested the special meeting to discuss the IAEA's latest report on Iran, issued earlier this week.
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| Johnson Set for Crushing Victory Over Hunt, Poll Suggests Posted: 05 Jul 2019 01:59 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Boris Johnson looks set for a landslide victory over rival Jeremy Hunt in the race to become Britain's next prime minister.According to a YouGov poll published in the Times newspaper, Johnson is backed by 74% of Conservative Party members with Hunt languishing on 26%.The survey also suggests that the vast majority of the 160,000 grassroots party members who will receive their ballot papers this weekend don't believe Hunt's claim that he's prepared to take Britain out of the European Union without a deal. Only 27% think Hunt would do so, compared with 90% for Johnson.In an interview with the Times, Hunt sought to play down perceptions that Johnson's status as the Brexit referendum's poster child would influence the outcome of the vote. Preparing for a exit without an agreement with Brussels is key, he said, adding that the best way to deliver Brexit would be do so with an accord."The choice on this election isn't actually between our approach to no-deal, it's who is the candidate who is most likely to negotiate a deal so that we don't have those difficult decisions to take," Hunt said.The new prime minister is expected to be announced -- and then take office -- during the week of July 22.To contact the reporter on this story: James Ludden in New York at jludden@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Matthew G. Miller at mmiller144@bloomberg.net, Steve GeimannFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| 10 years after deadly riots, China's Xinjiang under lockdown Posted: 05 Jul 2019 01:20 PM PDT  A decade after deadly riots tore through his hometown, Kamilane Abudushalamu still vividly recalls the violence that left him an exile. On July 5, 2009, Abudushalamu was hiding with his father on the 10th floor of an office tower in Urumqi, the capital of China's Xinjiang region that is home to the Turkic Uighur ethnic minority. Hours later, when he and his father stepped out to sprint home, he saw crowds of Uighurs stabbing Han Chinese in front of a middle school.
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| UN condemns attack on migrants, calls for Libyan cease-fire Posted: 05 Jul 2019 12:50 PM PDT  The U.N. Security Council on Friday called on Libya's warring parties to urgently de-escalate fighting and commit to a cease-fire, and it condemned a deadly attack on a detention center for migrants near the capital Tripoli. The U.N.'s most powerful body also called on the parties to rapidly return to U.N.-mediated political talks. The statement was spurred by Tuesday night's airstrike on the detention center in Tajoura, which the council said killed 53 people and injured over 130 others.
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| The Latest: Moroccan Navy rescues 330 migrants in 2 days Posted: 05 Jul 2019 12:46 PM PDT  Morocco says that the Royal Navy has rescued about 330 migrants trying to cross the Strait of Gibraltar in unseaworthy craft. With the route across the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy increasingly choked off, Morocco has become the major passage point for African migrants trying to get to Europe. Morocco has stopped about 25,000 migrants trying to reach Spain so far this year, mainly via the Strait of Gibraltar.
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| Iraq celebrates naming Babylon a UNESCO World Heritage site Posted: 05 Jul 2019 12:32 PM PDT  Iraq on Friday celebrated the UNESCO World Heritage Committee's decision to name the historic city of Babylon a World Heritage Site in a vote held in Azerbaijan's capital, years after Baghdad began campaigning for the site to be added to the list. The city on the Euphrates River is about 85 kilometers (55 miles) south of Baghdad and once was a main tourist attraction before Iraq suffered one war after another in the past four decades. The 4,300-year-old Babylon -- now mainly an archaeological ruin and two important museums -- is where dynasties have risen and fallen since the earliest days of settled human civilization.
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| Libya's Haftar Comments on Tripoli's Offensive, Oil: Transcript Posted: 05 Jul 2019 12:30 PM PDT ![Libya's Haftar Comments on Tripoli's Offensive, Oil: Transcript]( "Libya's Haftar Comments on Tripoli's Offensive, Oil: Transcript") (Bloomberg) -- Libya's eastern-based military commander Khalifa Haftar commented on his offensive to capture the capital, the future of oil exports and attempts to end the nation's crisis peacefully in written answers to questions sent by Bloomberg News.Following is the full transcript of the interview:Bloomberg: Will the army's command continue to secure oil fields against any acts of sabotage and calls for production to stop?Field Marshal Haftar: The national army's soldiers and officers have sacrificed their lives to liberate and protect oil ports, so how would we allow any sabotage? The wealth and institutions of Libyans will be protected with our lives, there is no question about it. The Libyan National Army has proved in all of the battles how extremely careful it's been to ensure the security of oil installations and not interfere in running them. The Libyan people know this well.Whoever is seeking to sabotage the installations and hurt the livelihood of Libyans will be dealt with severely and the army will stand in their way. This is our patriotic duty and we're well aware of its weight and it's not up for negotiations.Bloomberg: The head of the National Oil Corp. accuses the army of using oil airports for military purposes, what's your answer?Haftar: I am answering you, not him. We didn't need the oil airports so we didn't use them for the military so far. But if we need to -- and it's unlikely -- we won't hesitate. We are in a state of general mobilization and all of the state's capabilities are at the disposal of the armed forces.Bloomberg: Do you have any role in trying to convince OPEC or the United Nations to export oil through the national company based in Benghazi under the supervision of the army?Haftar: This is not a matter for the army. More importantly, the national company should live up to its name, working only for the benefit of Libyans, not under the control of any hegemony or foreign interventions, and for it to be devoid of any appearance of corruption. The company should not avail its capabilities to the service of terrorists and armed militias, and to avoid working against the army. It should only carry out the role mandated by law with all honesty. It should be accountable and under supervision. This is the basis of the oil sector. Anything else is just appearances.Oil is a vital sector that touches the livelihoods of Libyans. Its proceeds should be distributed through a just system that can benefit all Libyans equally. Manipulating it or using it for political purposes to serve certain parties is a violation that can't be left unanswered. This is a public-sector company owned by all Libyans. It's not a private company.Bloomberg: There was talk about the army selling oil illegally before. Did you do this?Haftar: The army is not a trader. The army is a regular defense force protecting the homeland. It doesn't sell oil, neither legally or illegally. Selling oil is exclusively the work of the National Oil Corp., which the army addressed to take up its responsibilities in running and operating the ports and exporting oil in the same statement that we announced liberating the oil ports in September 2016 from criminal, terrorist gangs who were blocking its export and smuggling it for their own private benefit.The main issue about oil is the just distribution of its proceeds equally among Libyans. It should not be employed to support terrorist organizations and armed militias. The oil sector should also be devoid of any corruption. This is where the attention should be.The selling of oil is governed by laws and legislation.Bloomberg: Has pulling out of Gharyan affected the army's operations to move toward the capital?Haftar: Advancing toward the capital is based on a comprehensive military operation and doesn't rely on one certain positioning.Pulling out of certain positions -- regardless of the reason -- is in our military calculations from the beginning. A military withdrawal is part of fighting and an essential component of the plan of any battle. It doesn't affect the entire operation because it's part of military planning to begin with. The leadership that doesn't put withdrawal under its consideration, and doesn't plan for it for an emergency or to reinforce the positions of its forces and re-organize them or any other reason, is a failed leadership par excellence.A withdrawal doesn't at all mean losing and it doesn't mean backing away from achieving the target of the battle. The army that doesn't know how to pull back has nothing but defeat. Advancing toward the capital is first and foremost subject to the safety of citizens, their property and possessions and the city's institutions. It's not subject to a technical withdrawal from one position to the other.This is what we have as our top priority, and will be clear to you when when orders are given to advance toward the heart of the capital and control it. This will happen soon, God willing.Bloomberg: Media reports suggested that Tripoli's General National Accord forces found U.S.-made weapons and ammunition in your positions in Gharyan. How do you respond to this?Haftar: This is nonsense. We don't own any American weapons and we didn't strike any weapons deal with the United States, and the entire world knows that the United States is one of the strictest countries in imposing the arms embargo so how can it be believed that it's exporting weapons to us.Even the countries that buy weapons from the United States can never give it to us because they will come under international condemnation and it will harm their ties with the U.S. In addition, the Libyan army hasn't received any training on U.S.-made weapons even under the previous regime. So how can we get American weapons? These militias think they will achieve victories with these claims and harm us, while we achieve victories in the field and not through telling lies in the media.Bloomberg: What does the army's command say about Turkey's threat to target your forces?Haftar: I don't follow what Turkey's foreign minister says because our time is precious, and our people are waiting for the announcement that Tripoli has been liberated from terrorism. We are going ahead with our struggle regardless of any political statements here and there. What we care about is our relationship with the Turkish people, and we respect them. And in any case, if this was true, the interim government has a foreign ministry that can answer if deemed necessary. We won't respond through the media.Bloomberg: It's been 80 days since the army's advance toward Tripoli and still the fighting is at the outskirts of the capital. What's delaying the army's advance and do you have a plan to do so soon? Do you have a time frame for the operation?Haftar: Many people superficially say that the national army was relying in its plan on liberating the capital in days or hours but failed to do so. This is nonsense that can only come from someone who is ignorant and doesn't understand the lessons presented by the national army in military planning. We all understand the situation in Tripoli from all sides and we know the positions of the terrorist groups, their leaderships, movements and communications, their ammunition depots, backup, fighting capabilities and other accurate information using our professional intelligence-gathering methods.We also understand the great precautions needed to ensure the safety of innocent civilians first, and for the city's institutions and installation to avoid destruction. If we didn't put this into consideration we would have been done with a sudden storming of the capital in less than 24 hours. We take these precautions out of patriotic duty and not in response to any pressure because the operation itself is to protect the citizens, their freedom and dignity. We can't accept for the citizens to become the victims. You won't find anyone more careful about this than the national army.The various forces of terrorism and the armed militias didn't spring up overnight to be wiped out in hours. They took years to form, expand their influence and tighten their grip on the capital, in addition to bringing in weapons and money, setting up ties with countries that support terrorism and recruit unemployed youths through money.The main element in the spreading of these groups is the slowness and the deliberate delay in reaching a peaceful political solution in order to safeguard the interests of those who are benefiting from the status quo. The longer the delay, the more that these groups will spread.The armed forces have, since the announcement of the liberation operation, offered them a peaceful solution that ensures their safety by dropping their weapons and letting our forces enter the city without a fight. But they preferred confrontation and bloodshed. The choice of war was theirs, which necessitates the liberation of the capital by force. However, the peaceful choice is still on the table for them to surrender their weapons before it's too late.Tripoli is the capital of all Libyans and includes the main state institutions. A state cannot rise when its capital is ruled by militias with medium and heavy weapons, where terrorist leaders hide in its neighborhoods. This is something nobody can disagree with. The city has to be liberated and the army is the only institution that is qualified and ready for this.The time of the liberation is coming soon to announce an era that Libyans are waiting for.Bloomberg: Is there any time left for negotiations with the GNA? Any contacts through mediators to reach a settlement?Haftar: What we are doing now is a patriotic duty that has nothing to do with the so-called GNA. There is nothing to negotiate with them about. In reality, the GNA -- starting with its head -- is nothing but a mouthpiece for the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood organization and its armed militias, and a soft tool in their hands, does what it's ordered to do.This is the truth that all Libyans know from the start and the world now knows. What the national army is doing is the continuation of a comprehensive liberation and not against any political process or societal dialogue: it's specifically against terrorists and armed groups that have kidnapped the capital with all its political and economic institutions, and started to terrorize the people and blackmail them by force. They're standing against the creation of a state and the transition to a period of security, stability and development.We don't see any need for mediation with what you call the GNA because it's outside what we do and it's not the target of our military operation. Any in any case, it's been proven from experience that it can't commit to any pledge without taking the permission of the Muslim Brotherhood and the militias. This is a fact that everyone knows.Bloomberg: What's your comment on Fayez Al-Sarraj's initiative?Haftar: Unfortunately, the man can only say what he's told to say. The decision isn't his to make. It's all echo that doesn't deserve to be answered because our time is precious. Our attention is now focused on liberating the capital as soon as possible and with minimum losses, and then for the post-liberation phase.At the same time, we don't oppose any political solution to resolve the crisis. Let the politicians present their peaceful initiative and with it disarm the militias of the tank and the missile and the rifle. We would be the first to support this. It would be great no doubt, because it will spare us the need to fight and its tragedies. We would announce then a ceasefire immediately.But the comic initiatives aimed for media attention, to gain time and give the fake impression that it's for peace and the stemming of bloodshed -- they die at their birth.Bloomberg: In Al-Sarraj's initiative, he mentions that it's aimed at those who are against the militarization of the state. Is this a hint at your desire to militarize the state?Haftar: Since the launch of Operation Dignity in 2014 our military goals haven't changed: eradicating terrorism, regaining sovereign control and security in the country. And before all this, to preserve the citizen's dignity. The shape of the state and how it's governed, this is something for Libyans to decide by their free will.Our role is to eliminate the obstacles facing the people and pave the way for them to be the decision makers. The armed forces can't impose its will on Libyans. The opposite is true. And I am certain that Libyans mock the phrase you mentioned because they appreciate the role of their army in restoring the homeland and freeing it from terrorism. They also appreciate the sacrifices made. Libya didn't suffer in its history since independence more than it did under the militias, the Muslim Brotherhood and the terrorists.Libya at the end of the day will be, God willing, a free, civil and sovereign state according to what the Libyans decide. The most precious element of the state is the citizen who enjoys all of his constitutional rights without oppression.The Libyans' wealth will be for them to spend on building their present, future and the future of next generations. Anyone who committed a crime against the Libyans will be dealt with only by the justice system the day when the state rises and victory is declared.As for convening meetings, the army has never intervened or stopped this before.Bloomberg: How do the U.S. and Russia as well as Arab states view the army's advance toward the capital?Haftar: The entire world has recognized the nature of the groups that the army is fighting at the outskirts of the capital, and not just the United States and Russia. The entire world has believed that security and stability in Libya and its surrounding areas can't be achieved as long as these armed groups are carrying weapons and imposing their influence over every institution in the capital.The thing that some countries fear the most is for the oil sector to be affected by military operations. Reality has proven that these fears are unfounded. Some neighboring countries fear that the military operations would lead terrorists to flee to their territories. To eliminate those fears, we are working to enhance joint security work to monitor the terrorists' moves across the borders.To contact the reporter on this story: Alaa Shahine in Dubai at asalha@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael Gunn at mgunn14@bloomberg.net;Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Moscow thwarts downtown rally for teen girls who killed abusive father Posted: 05 Jul 2019 12:26 PM PDT  Authorities have refused to approve a rally in downtown Moscow in support of three teenage sisters accused of murdering their abusive father, charges that have sparked calls to address Russia's domestic abuse problem. They offered to approve a protest in the city outskirts, but activists said protesters on Saturday will instead stand in line near the Kremlin to conduct single-person pickets, which can be held without permission. "We are also suggesting people hold pickets near their own flat blocks, because domestic violence is happening in in these flat blocks, and so abusers … won't feel they can act with such impunity," said organiser Darya Serenko. They will try to hold a full protest later this month. After 57-year-old Mikhail Khachaturyan was maced, hit with a hammer and stabbed 36 times by his three teenage daughters at home in Moscow's northern outskirts last July, investigators hit the girls with the toughest murder charges on the books. They face up to 20 years in prison. But behind closed doors, the prominent local businessman and churchgoer had insulted, humiliated, threatened and "subjected his daughters to physical and sexual violence," according to state commission findings reported by Russian media. The lurid case has since prompted calls for reform in Russia, where female victims find little sympathy amid Vladimir Putin's rhetoric on defending traditional values. A theatre performance in support of the Khachaturyan sisters in Moscow on Thursday Credit: Pavel Golovkin/AP In 2017, lawmakers decriminalised domestic violence unless it leads to broken bones or occurs more than once a year. Last year, parliament declined to take measures after MP Leonid Slutsky was accused by three female journalists of sexually harassing them. Alexei Parshin, lawyer for one of the Khachaturyan sisters, argued that the girls acted in self defence after their father frequently threatened to kill them. Ivan Melnikov, a prisoner rights monitor who was the first outsider to see the sisters after their arrest, said they had been "desperate" in the conditions of abuse and de facto slavery. "Appeals to the police didn't lead to any result, they thought there wasn't any way out of this situation and he could murder them," he said. "This needs to be taken into account." But self defence arguments can be fraught here. In the Zabaikalye region on Friday, a woman with prosthetic legs was sentenced to 18 months in prison for stabbing her drunken husband to death when he continued to attack her after two police visits. The court ruled she had used excessive force in defending herself. In 2016-18, 80 per cent of all murder charges against woman in Russia were connected with domestic violence, according to judicial news site Mediazona, yet only one in 20 was acquitted. This week, Mr Putin's human rights council said it had drafted legislation to allow restraining orders to be issued against abusers and establish shelters for victims. The head of the council called the Khachaturyan sisters' case an "example of what state indifference to violence within the family leads to". Human rights council member Yekaterina Schulmann said attention around the Khachaturyan case offered a chance to win over the Kremlin, "because when you talk to decision-makers they ask … 'Is this just a Western fashion?'" On Thursday, human rights ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova, who is believed to have raised the issue during a meeting with Mr Putin last month, called on the court to take into consideration the "violence and humiliation" they reportedly suffered. A recent survey found nearly half of Russians believe the state shouldn't interfere to stop domestic abuse, but activists hope public opinion will be influenced by the discussion around the Khachaturyan sisters' case. More than 229,000 people have signed a petition to throw out the charges against them, and Russian and international celebrities have spoken in their defence. Darya Ageny, a 19-year-old who was charged last year with assault after stabbing a man she said was trying to rape her, has started a social media campaign around the phrase "I'm Not to Blame". "We have a stereotype that if a girl is in skirt, if it's nighttime, if God forbid she's drunk, then she herself is to blame (for violence against her)," she said. "The goal of this action is to show and explain everyone that in any case the abuser is to blame."
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| U.S. Says Trade Talks Resuming as China Demands End to Tariffs Posted: 05 Jul 2019 12:25 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The Trump administration said trade talks with China are starting up again as Beijing reiterated that it's essential the U.S. removes all existing tariffs for a deal to be reached.President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed last month to re-start trade talks and suspend new tariffs, but they gave no time-frame for further negotiations or a deadline to strike an agreement. While Trump said he would hold off imposing additional tariffs on $300 billion of Chinese goods as part of the truce, his top trade negotiators have insisted that some duties will stay in place even after a deal as a way to enforce it.White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Friday that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have been speaking with China's top trade negotiator, Liu He by phone and that more talks are planned. He didn't elaborate on the substance.A face-to-face meeting is also "in the cards" and will happen "at some point in the near future," Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, said on Bloomberg TV on Friday. "There is no timeline, the issue is if you want quality, we do not have to have speed."'Imposed Tariffs,' HuaweiNegotiations between the world's two largest economies collapsed in May after U.S. officials accused China of backtracking on draft commitments, and amid key sticking points like China's demand that the U.S. lift all the punitive tariffs put in place since the trade war started almost a year ago.On Friday, an influential blog connected to Chinese state media said the talks will "go backward again" without the removal of U.S. tariffs, echoing the line from the Ministry of Commerce's weekly briefing on Thursday."If the two sides are to reach a deal, all imposed tariffs must be removed," Ministry of Commerce Spokesman Gao Feng said Thursday. "China's attitude on that is clear and consistent."Scrapping all the punitive tariffs the U.S. imposed is the "most important" request and that won't change during the trade talks, according to a commentary by Taoran Notes, a blog run by the Economic Daily under a pseudonym on the WeChat platform.Separately, Kudlow says it's likely that Huawei Technologies Co. will "remain on the entity list" although the Commerce Department may expand licensing for American companies to complete transactions with the Chinese telecommunications firm. "We will not open licenses for any national security areas, be they chips or whatever," Kudlow said.Following his summit with Xi, Trump said he would ease a ban on Huawei by allowing U.S. supplies to sell the company components if they don't pose a national security concern.\--With assistance from Jonathan Ferro.To contact the reporters on this story: Sarah McGregor in Washington at smcgregor5@bloomberg.net;Ryan Haar in New York at rhaar3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Margaret Collins at mcollins45@bloomberg.net, Sarah McGregor, Robert JamesonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Libya Uncovers Alleged Russian Plot to Meddle in African Votes Posted: 05 Jul 2019 11:47 AM PDT ![Libya Uncovers Alleged Russian Plot to Meddle in African Votes]( "Libya Uncovers Alleged Russian Plot to Meddle in African Votes") (Bloomberg) -- Libyan security forces have arrested two men accused of working for a Russian troll farm seeking to influence elections in the oil exporter and other African countries.A letter from the state prosecutor of the internationally-backed Tripoli government to a Libyan security chief said the men were involved in "securing a meeting" with Saif al-Islam al-Qaddafi, the fugitive son of the ousted dictator and a potential presidential candidate who enjoys the backing of some officials in Moscow.Russia's foreign ministry said it was aware of the reports and was seeking to verify them. "We haven't received an official notification from the Libyan side regarding this matter," the foreign ministry's press service said.Laptops and memory sticks found with the suspects showed that they worked for an outfit identified as Fabrika Trollei, Russian for Troll Factory, that "specializes in influencing elections that are to be held in several African states" including Libya, the letter, stamped by the attorney general's office and obtained by Bloomberg, stated. Two Libyan government officials with direct knowledge of the matter confirmed the authenticity of the document.Fabrika Trollei was the moniker given to a network of media and political outfits connected to Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, who's been accused by the U.S. of funding and organizing operations to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.Troll FactoryLibya had planned to hold elections this year as part of a UN-sponsored roadmap to heal the divisions that have plagued the OPEC member since the 2011 NATO-backed revolt that ended Moammar al-Qaddafi's four-decade rule. That initiative has been upended since eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar launched in April a military assault to capture Tripoli.Haftar himself has presidential ambitions and is fighting to seize the capital from the United Nations-backed government led by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, which carried out the arrests. The offensive has descended into a proxy war with each side accusing the other of inviting foreign interference.Haftar is supported by the U.A.E and Egypt, and had received Russian assistance, though Russia has also tried to cultivate other partners in Libya, including Saif al-Islam, as it looks to expand its role in North Africa and build its geopolitical might.Saif al-Islam's aides have previously said he had the clout to rally disparate Libyan tribes with a promise to restore stability. Others say his influence is over-stated in a country where the rebels and dissidents who ousted his father now vie for power."Russia is trying to increase its influence across Africa, it is trying to play its game. And this game is very diverse, it differs from country to a country," said Alexander Baunov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center. "Sometimes it is via private actors, sometimes it's through state actors. Prigozhin is one of Russia's proxy agents."With U.S. Absent in Libya, Russia Courts a Leader Named QaddafiPutin's ChefOne of the Libyan officials said the detained Russians had met Saif al-Islam twice between their arrival in Libya in March and their arrest in May. They had also confessed to taking part in a campaign to influence elections in Madagascar, he said. Three Libyans, including the son of a Qaddafi-era foreign minister, had also been arrested. The men have yet to be charged.The prosecution document, dated July 3, named one of the men detained as Maxim Shugalei, a Russian political consultant who works for the Moscow-based Foundation for the Defense of National Values and whose head until recently ran a news website linked by the U.S. to Prigozhin.Shugalei's employer confirmed that he and an unspecified number of other employees were detained in May by Libyan authorities. It said in a statement on its website that they didn't intervene in the country's electoral process and were just carrying out sociological studies. The other man detained was Samer Hassan Seifan, identified by a colleague as an Arabic speaker who was acting as their interpreter.Alexander Prokofiev, named in the Libyan document as a third Russian man who escaped arrest, said he was working with Shugalei in Libya on research commissioned by the foundation and confirmed that they interviewed Saif al-Islam. "This is a wild and absurd situation," he said by message. "The topic of meddling in elections that don't exist is complete nonsense."Known as "Putin's chef" for his Kremlin catering contracts, Prigozhin has previously denied any role in U.S. election meddling. He didn't immediately respond to an emailed request for comment via his Concord Catering company.Shugalei is a political consultant from St. Petersburg who has experience in Africa and is known to work for Prigozhin, said Petr Bystrov, a senior member of the Russian Association of Political Consultants. "He's a fairly highly-qualified expert," Bystrov said by phone.Putin's Indicted 'Chef' Descends on Africa, Mercenaries in TowAlexander Malkevich, the head of the Foundation for the Defense of National Values, was previously editor-in-chief of USA Really news website, which has been named by the U.S. Treasury department as one of the outlets linked to Prigozhin and engaged in efforts to post content on divisive political issues. Malkevich said he had left USA Really in February and denied any link to Prigozhin.Qaddafi ComebackSaif al-Islam, one-time Libyan heir apparent, was held by the Zintan militia in western Libya after his capture in the 2011 war that toppled and killed his father. The rebels freed him in 2016 but he's been in hiding ever since and his whereabouts are unknown. An aide did not immediately respond to a call for comment.Qaddafi's son remains wanted by The Hague-based International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity relating to a violent crackdown on demonstrations against his father's rule and it wasn't clear whether he'd be eligible to run for president given the ambiguity over his legal status.(Updates throughout Russian comment, details from paragraph 3.)To contact the reporters on this story: Samer Khalil Al-Atrush in Cairo at skhalilalatr@bloomberg.net;Ilya Arkhipov in Moscow at iarkhipov@bloomberg.net;Henry Meyer in Moscow at hmeyer4@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Benjamin HarveyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Europe is Getting An American Anti-Missile System That Might Not Work Posted: 05 Jul 2019 11:30 AM PDT  America's missile defense umbrella is supposed to protect Europe from Iranian (and perhaps Russian) ballistic missiles.But vital tests haven't been performed, and there are delays in building missile defense sites in Poland. All of which means that the anti-missile shield over Europe may be leaky.The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has conducted only seven out of eleven planned tests in 2018, or just 64 percent, according to a Government Accountability Office study. At the same time, problems with contractors have delayed construction of an anti-missile system in Poland by eighteen months.Begun by the Obama administration, the U.S. missile defense effort in Europe—the European Phased Adaptive Approach—has three parts. Phase I, completed in 2012, comprises a missile defense radar in Turkey and command center in Germany, supporting U.S. Navy ships equipped with the naval version of the Aegis missile defense system. Phase II was completed in 2016, when an Aegis Ashore site in Romania became operational. The delay has been in phase III, in which an Aegis Ashore site in Poland was supposed to be ready.The Aegis Ashore sites in Romania and Poland are land-based versions of the naval Aegis, each consisting of a powerful SPY-1 radar and twenty-four SM-3 interceptor rockets. Aegis Ashore is aimed at stopping short-, medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles. Iran has built an arsenal of ballistic missiles, including intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) that could—in theory—be armed with nuclear warheads if Iran develops them.
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| Both sides in Sudan political crisis hail power-sharing deal Posted: 05 Jul 2019 11:25 AM PDT  Sudan's ruling military council and its pro-democracy movement both welcomed a new power-sharing agreement reached Friday, raising hopes that the deal would end a three-month political crisis that has paralyzed the country and led to scores of deaths following a violent crackdown on peaceful protesters by authorities. News of the deal, which one analyst said followed regional and international pressure on both sides, touched off street celebrations in the capital of Khartoum with hundreds dancing and waving Sudan's flag as drivers honked their horns. The crisis has gripped Sudan ever since the military ousted longtime autocrat Omar el-Bashir in April.
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| UNESCO adds Iranian forest to World Heritage List Posted: 05 Jul 2019 11:00 AM PDT  UNESCO's World Heritage Committee voted Friday to add Iran's Hyrcanian forests to its World Heritage List, praising the area for its "remarkable" biodiversity. The ancient Hyrcanian forests in northern Iran run 530 miles (850 kilometres) along the coast of the Caspian Sea, according to the global body. "Their floristic biodiversity is remarkable," UNESCO said, with some 44 percent of Iran's known vascular plants found in the Hyrcanian area.
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| NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn't happen this week Posted: 05 Jul 2019 10:07 AM PDT  None of these is legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. THE FACTS: Special Agent in Charge Anthony Ornato accompanied Trump into North Korea as he met with Kim Jong Un, the country's leader. Posts circulating on Facebook and Twitter falsely assert that Trump walked into North Korea on Sunday without security guards, but photographs of the diplomatic greeting prove otherwise.
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| Venezuelan envoy rejects 'biased' report at UN rights body Posted: 05 Jul 2019 10:06 AM PDT  Deputy Foreign Minister William Castillo insisted the report from High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet "does not reflect the reality in our country." He said Venezuela would heed "constructive" recommendations. "We demand that its contents be corrected, and we urge you to act in a balanced and respectful way," Castillo told the U.N-backed Human Rights Council through a translator. Bachelet, after presenting the report published Thursday to the council, insisted that she heard from victims on both government and opposition sides, and defended the methodology.
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| Algerians protest, celebrate independence day amid tensions Posted: 05 Jul 2019 09:51 AM PDT ![Algerians protest, celebrate independence day amid tensions]( "Algerians protest, celebrate independence day amid tensions") Tens of thousands of Algerians took to the streets for the 20th straight Friday to demand new democratic leadership and celebrate their country's hard-fought independence from colonial France. Amid extra-high security and resurgent anger at authorities, crowds wearing Algerian flags on their shoulders, heads and waists poured into the capital Algiers for Friday's pro-democracy protest on the country's national holiday to mark Algeria's 1962 independence. The peaceful revolt that began in February helped drive out longtime President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in April.
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| Babylon, world wonder and jewel of Iraq's national narrative Posted: 05 Jul 2019 09:50 AM PDT  Babylon was once hanging gardens and opulent temples before parts were excavated and smuggled to Europe. Like Iraq, the 4,000-year-old Mesopotamian city has borne witness to the heights of grandeur and lows of destruction, a long legacy now recognised on the United Nations' list of World Heritage sites. The World Heritage Committee met on Friday in Azerbaijan's capital of Baku and voted to include Babylon on the prestigious list, a rank Iraqi authorities had been lobbying since 1983 to reach.
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| The Latest: US wants meeting with UN nuke agency on Iran Posted: 05 Jul 2019 09:28 AM PDT  The U.S. says it is requesting a special meeting of the board of the United Nations' nuclear agency to discuss the latest developments in Iran's atomic program. The IAEA on Monday said its inspectors had confirmed Iran had surpassed the limit set on its stockpile of low-enriched uranium established in the 2015 deal promising the country economic incentives in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.
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| UPDATE 1-U.N. nuclear watchdog's board to meet on Iran at request of U.S. Posted: 05 Jul 2019 09:28 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-U.N. nuclear watchdog's board to meet on Iran at request of U.S.]( "UPDATE 1-U.N. nuclear watchdog's board to meet on Iran at request of U.S.") The United States has called an emergency meeting of the U.N. atomic watchdog's 35-nation Board of Governors to discuss Iran, the U.S. mission to the agency said on Friday, after Tehran breached its 2015 nuclear deal with major powers. Any country on the board can call a meeting, and the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed in a note to member states that the meeting would be held next Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. (1230 GMT) after the IAEA this week said Iran had exceeded the maximum stock of enriched uranium allowed under the deal.
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| Merkel seeks to reassure Western Balkan nations of EU future Posted: 05 Jul 2019 08:57 AM PDT  German Chancellor Angela Merkel sought Friday to reassure Western Balkan nations aspiring to join the European Union that there is strong support for the process in the EU, saying that the bloc sees their integration to be in its strategic interest. Merkel, along with British Prime Minister Theresa May and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, joined a high-level meeting in Poznan, Poland, between leaders from the Western Balkans and from some EU countries that aimed to show that the integration process remains robust, despite an apparent slowdown. The EU membership candidates are Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania, while Bosnia and Kosovo are potential candidates.
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| Exhausted EU Leaders Send Mixed Signals to West Balkan Hopefuls Posted: 05 Jul 2019 08:29 AM PDT ![Exhausted EU Leaders Send Mixed Signals to West Balkan Hopefuls]( "Exhausted EU Leaders Send Mixed Signals to West Balkan Hopefuls") (Bloomberg) -- Fatigued by their longest-ever summit that laid bare the bloc's struggles in decision-making, European Union leaders sent mixed signals to western Balkan nations seeking membership.The EU's largest eastern member Poland voiced hope at an annual gathering with the mostly ex-Yugoslav countries that all of them may join the bloc soon. Still, momentum for integration had already been undercut when French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that there would be no further expansion before "deep" EU reforms are agreed.German Chancellor Angela Merkel tried to bridge both sides, telling reporters Friday at the end of the three-day meeting that the French position isn't in opposition to accession talks with the Balkan nations, while agreeing with Macron that the integration process can be improved."I don't see any contradiction," Merkel told a news conference in Poznan, a Polish city about halfway between Warsaw and Berlin. "We didn't make as much progress as we wanted but France has said in recent days and weeks that it plans to strengthen its engagement in the Western Balkans and I find that good."Albania, Serbia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina have long expressed frustration at the slow progress toward accession, especially as many of them started difficult overhauls needed to join the world's largest free trade bloc."EU membership was a catalyst for Polish reforms and we want that perspective to be available for the Western Balkans," Polish President Andrzej Duda said. "Not everybody shares this view and and I'm saddened by decisions" made by EU leaders delaying accession, he said.The political tide has turned against rapid membership for any countries. The EU executive's recommendation in May to quickly start negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia was shot down by member states.Failure to keep membership promises would hurt the EU's credibility and could push the region into the hands of Russia or China, with "strings attached," Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn warned this week.North Macediona's Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said the failure to start entry talks within moths could weaken support for pro-EU forces including his government, while boosting nationalist and populist ones.Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic expressed frustration on Thursday, publicly questioning the "purpose of such meetings, especially after certain European leaders say that have no intention to discuss enlargement." His boss, Premier Ana Brnabic, spoke of the positive aspects of integration on Friday, calling for the removal of regional trade barriers as part of preparations to join the world's biggest trading bloc.The nomination of Josep Borrell as the bloc's foreign-policy chief for the next five years may also signal additional obstacles. The Spanish foreign minister is a fierce opponent of separatist movements and his country doesn't recognize the independence of Kosovo, which unilaterally seceded from Serbia a decade ago and now seeks to get candidate status so it can start EU entry talks.The volatile region has lagged behind its eastern European peers in EU integration and economic growth partly as a result of the wars that ravaged it following the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s."It would be impossible that 18 million Balkan citizens remain outside the European space," said Montenegro's Premier Dusko Markovic. "Today, it was clearly stated that the vision of enlargement is alive and that we should continue meeting our obligations" to become EU members.(Updates with Merkel, other politicians' comments from second paragraph.)To contact the reporters on this story: Misha Savic in Belgrade at msavic2@bloomberg.net;Marek Strzelecki in Warsaw at mstrzelecki1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrea Dudik at adudik@bloomberg.net, ;Irina Vilcu at isavu@bloomberg.net, Wojciech Moskwa, Andrew LangleyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| UN envoy for Syria urges Russia to help stabilize Idlib Posted: 05 Jul 2019 08:14 AM PDT  The U.N.'s special envoy for Syria on Friday urged Russia to help stabilize the violence in northwestern Idlib province and support drafting the nation's new constitution. During talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Geir Pedersen voiced hope that Russia and Turkey could help reduce tensions in Idlib.
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| Russian official arrested on high treason charges Posted: 05 Jul 2019 07:51 AM PDT  An aide to the presidential envoy to Russia's Urals region has been arrested on charges of high treason, in the first publicly known case of a government official being arrested on suspicions of treason in post-Soviet Russia. The aide, Alexander Vorobyov, told Moscow's Lefortovsky District Court on Friday that he worked as an assistant to President Vladimir Putin's envoy to the region, Nikolai Tsukanov.
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| Egypt hikes fuel prices by up to 22 % Posted: 05 Jul 2019 06:55 AM PDT ![Egypt hikes fuel prices by up to 22 %]( "Egypt hikes fuel prices by up to 22 %") The Egyptian government hiked up fuel and cooking gas prices Friday in another round of subsidy cuts designed to overhaul the country's ailing economy and meet the requirements of a large bailout from the International Monetary Fund. The new prices were announced in Egypt's official Gazette late Thursday and came into effect Friday morning. The price of 92 octane gasoline increased by about 18 %, from 6.75 to 8 Egyptian pounds per liter.
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| Why Trump's bizarre airport claim may have been his gaffe correction strategy backfiring at the most embarrassing moment Posted: 05 Jul 2019 06:53 AM PDT  Donald Trump's surprising claim that George Washington's revolutionary troops "took over the airports" during the War of Independence could be explained by his method of correcting himself when he misreads his autocue - doubling down and trying to incorporate the mistake into his speech.His bizarre ad lib, suggesting there were airports to seize more than 100 years before the first successful flight, came moments after he seemed to stumble over a phrase in his speech.Describing how Washington's patriots defeated the British between 1775 and 1783, the president told crowds gathered to hear his Fourth of July address: "Our army manned the air." At that point he paused briefly, apparently realising he had misspoken, before continuing: "It rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do …"Seemingly thrown by the mistakes, he then alluded to Fort McHenry, a Maryland stronghold best known for its role in a completely different conflict - the 1812 war with Britain.It's not clear exactly how the speech was meant to read.However, it is not the first time that Mr Trump - who is more comfortable speaking off the cuff - has stumbled while reading an autocue, only to try to bluff his way out of it.His most common technique after getting a word wrong is to pause briefly and then add the correct word as if both happen to be correct, in the hope that he can style it out.This can make for some odd pronouncements.In a speech at the Values Voter Summit for conservative political groups in 2017, the president mixed up the words "future" and "furniture" – but clearly hoped that no one would notice.Praising hardworking Americans, he said: "And we see it in the mothers and the fathers who get up at the crack of dawn; they work two jobs, and sometimes three jobs. They sacrifice every day for the furniture … and future … of their children."An address at the United Nations presented several difficulties which the president resolved in the same way.Before the representatives of almost 200 countries he spoke of "authority … and authoritarian … powers", and declared that "hope is a word … and a world … of proud independent nations".He invoked people who "struggle to reclaim their religious … and righteous ... destiny"; spoke of "reported … and repeated … warnings"; and declared that "tolerance for human struggling … and human smuggling … and trafficking is not humane".On occasion Mr Trump tries a different approach, improvising a route from the wrong word to the right one. At the US Coast Guard graduation ceremony in 2017, he mistook the word "standard" for "stranded" – but had a nautical digression on hand to try and cover his mistake."What standard … and really, if you think of it, when you talk about the great sailors and the great sailors of the world, we have them … but what stranded sailor doesn't feel relief when those red racing stripes break the horizon?"In his 2018 State of the Union address, he paid tribute to a Homeland Security special agent named Celestino Martinez – who had apparently already suggested he be called by the wrong name.Mr Trump told the joint session of the United States Congress: "He goes by DJ … and CJ … he said call me either one. So we'll call you CJ."In April, talking about the Mueller report, he mispronounced the word "origins" as "oranges" three times. Appearing to realise it wasn't coming out right he tried to clarify what he meant: "The Mueller report I wish covered the oranges – how it started, the beginnings of the investigation."The former developer and reality TV star is famously loath to admit any mistakes, which could explain his need to try to cover his slips of the tongue – and as someone accused of making more than 10,000 false or misleading statements in his presidency so far he has gained a reputation for not being scrupulously attached to details.But the ridicule he has faced over his latest verbal misstep – particularly embarrassing since it took place at a vanity event he has been planning since Bastille Day 2017 - suggests he might be better off just acknowledging the occasional error and moving on.
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| Turkey: 2 killed in explosion near border with Syria Posted: 05 Jul 2019 06:44 AM PDT  A bomb went off in a car near Turkey's border with Syria on Friday, killing two Syrians who were inside the vehicle, Turkey's interior minister said. A third Syrian was injured. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the explosion appeared to be terror-linked.
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| Feel Good With Johnson or Be Good With Hunt? U.K. Tories Decide Posted: 05 Jul 2019 05:45 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- It's hard to think of a more damaging story to hit a candidate for British prime minister than one claiming he had been judged a security risk. But then it's hard to think of any candidate except Boris Johnson who could make a joke out of it."It's not true," he told a Conservative Party leadership event in Darlington, Northern England, on Thursday. "But I obviously can't comment any further on intelligence matters." The audience laughed. He smiled.British media had reported that Theresa May had tried to block Johnson from seeing some secret MI6 intelligence. "I'm sure that the prime minister wouldn't comment either," he said, smiling again.Johnson and his rival Jeremy Hunt are touring Britain, speaking on the same stage, one after the other, each trying to convince 180,000 Conservative members who get to vote in the party's leadership election that he's the right man to succeed May. Johnson remains the clear favorite, but Hunt is trying to use the national tour to close the gap.Decision TimeBy the end of the month, they will know who has won. At stake is the future political make-up of the U.K., and, of course, the direction of Brexit. Johnson says he's determined to get the country out of the European Union at all costs -- including the potential economic crash of a no-deal Brexit -- by the deadline of Oct. 31. Hunt is more cautious, saying he'd wait a little longer if it meant leaving with a deal.Tired of Waiting for Brexit, U.K. Tory Members Gamble on JohnsonOn Thursday evening in York, a little way south of Darlington, time was running out for Hunt. The postal ballots had arrived through many party members' doors that morning, and one Tory at the event was proudly showing his friends a photocopy of the vote he'd already sent in -- for Johnson.David Coates, a 77-year-old retired banker, agreed. "He's the one that will unify the country," he said. "A clean Brexit, that's what we want." Did that mean leaving the EU without a deal? "Absolutely." He and his friend Bob Umbers were both sporting "Back Boris" badges.Johnson has been the darling of the party's grassroots members for years. Indeed he's just about the only British politician who has a claim to non-political celebrity, known everywhere simply as "Boris."Feeling GoodHis opening speech was typical of his style: a series of political points woven between anecdotes in which he seemed in danger of forgetting the punchline, before finally getting there. It was greeted with gales of laughter. A local line thrown in demanding the widening of a nearby trunk road raised cheers from the audience.Hunt calls him a populist, but Johnson has always made Tories feel good about themselves. Asked about a no-deal Brexit, he said if that happened, it would be fine. "The planes will fly, and there will be clean drinking water, and there will be Christmas dinner."Johnson loves to please a crowd. His reluctance to deny the audience what they want on Thursday brought him to the brink of a major spending announcement. He was asked if he'd agree to pay an extra 8 billion pounds ($10 billion) towards elderly care, as requested by a report that morning. "I will certainly commit..." Johnson began, before changing course and offering a vaguer approach.The MaybotThe Tories certainly want to be cheered up. They have suffered divisions, defections and election losses during the three years in which they've been led by May, a buttoned-up vicar's daughter whose mechanical communication style and inability to connect with voters earned her the nickname "the Maybot.""We're a great party!" Johnson told his audience, discussing accusations of racism within their ranks. Trailing in the polls and struggling to deliver their central policy of Brexit, it's a message the crowd wanted to hear.Johnson had delivered his opening speech from a podium, but with a stream of consciousness air that charmed his audience. Hunt spoke without notes, but delivered conventionally structured rhetoric.Jacket off, sleeves slightly rolled up, the foreign secretary's argument was one of taking responsibility. "To govern is to choose," Hunt began. He insisted there was little difference between himself and Johnson. "Who of the two of us is most likely to be able to negotiate a deal?" he asked.The SurgeonHunt's manner was reminiscent of a surgeon explaining that treatment is serious, and carries risks, but remains the right course. "What I don't say is that it's going to be easy," he said.Hunt used the evening to make this his defining difference with Johnson. When one audience member challenged him about foreign aid spending, something many Tories hate, and got a big round of applause, he made a little sad face."Oh dear, I'm afraid you're not going to like the answer I'm going to give," Hunt began. "But sometimes, well, you want someone who tells you what they think." He set out the case for helping poorer nations, and won his own round of applause.Some in the audience crept out of the hall before the end of Hunt's session, but among those who remained he had some fans. "I slightly favor Jeremy Hunt," said Philip Bartle, 70, a land agent. "It's about the standing of the prime minister, whether Hunt would have more respect in the world." Of Johnson, he was less impressed. "I've always thought of him as being a buffoon. I was slightly surprised that he managed to control himself."Reality CheckPolling of Conservative members has put Johnson well ahead. Could those polls be wrong, as other have been? The Conservative Party collects no data on its members' age, gender or even location, which makes it harder for pollsters to judge whether their samples are balanced."It's extremely difficult to do," said Anthony Wells, of YouGov. "We don't have a reality check to compare our sample with." But for all that, Wells was confident that Johnson was ahead in every group of Tory members they had looked at.Leaving the venue, farmer Stephen Batty set out his dilemma. "Jeremy Hunt will make a better prime minister," he said. "But Boris Johnson is the one who will see Brexit through. I'll have to go home and think about it."To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Hutton in Darlington, England at rhutton1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Emma Ross-ThomasFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| The strangest stories from the golden age of plane hijacking Posted: 05 Jul 2019 05:36 AM PDT  In the last decade, 20 aircraft around the world have been hijacked. That figure still seems worryingly high in a post-9/11 world - how could an airline allow a stranger to wrestle control of a plane full of passengers? - but historically speaking the number is indicative of a comprehensive victory in the battle against crime in the skies. Track back 50 years and hijackings were commonplace. In 1969 there were 86 in 12 months, according to statistics from the Aviation Safety Network; in 1970 there were 70. In five years, between 1968 and 1972, more than 130 aircraft were hijacked in the US alone, sometimes two on the same day. The startling regularity of seizures at 36,000 feet has led to the era being dubbed "the Golden Age of Hijacking". So who was to blame? Broadly speaking, Cuba. So keen were some to share in the bounty of the Cuban Revolution of the Fifties that they were prepared to take over a plane and direct it south to the island some 90 miles of the Florida coast. "Take me to Cuba" soon entered satirical lexicon, with Monty Python among those to create a skit on the theme. Coinciding with the advent of mass air travel, hijackings became common enough that airlines, and indeed passengers, greeted the act not with fear and concern but weariness and acceptance. The Golden Age | Plane hijackings from 1962-82 Time magazine in 1968 ran a piece titled "What to do when the hijacker comes", revealing that in the past 11 months "more than 1,000 Americans have visited Cuba unexpectedly". For travellers a planejacking meant a diversion to Havana and a lengthy delay, but not much else. For pilots, they had in their cockpit maps of the Caribbean and knew the routine off by heart. Brendan I Koerner in his book The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking dissects the phenomenon. "Most skyjackers earnestly believed that upon reaching Havana, their sole destination during the mid-to-late Sixties, they would be greeted as revolutionary heroes," he wrote. "Every skyjacker was an optimist at heart, supremely confident that his story would be the one to touch Castro's heart." Before long the US government decided enough was enough and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was tasked with tackling the problem. Not least, because Fidel Castro was charging American airlines $7,500 a pop to retrieve their planes. Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba in 1959 Credit: getty The FAA was initially unsure on what could be done. At a senate hearing in 1968, the FAA's Irving Ripp said hijackings were an "impossible problem short of searching ever passenger". "If you've got a man aboard that wants to go to Havana, and he has got a gun, that's all he needs," he said. The aviation administrator then turned to the populace, inviting ideas from the general public on how to halt the upward trend. Suggestions ranged from the sensible to the downright ridiculous: have all passengers wear boxing gloves so they cannot hold guns; install trapdoors outside the cockpit; play the Cuban national anthem before take off and arrest anyone who knows the words. One standout piece of blue sky thinking, Koerner notes, was building a replica of Havana airport on the southern tip of Florida so that pilots could trick the hijacker into thinking they've landed in Cuba when really they were still on American soil. Another was the idea of free one-way flights to Cuba for anyone keen enough never to return to the US; Castro was not game and dismissed the ideas as "good riddance flights". Air stewardesses with National Airline after a hijacking in 1969 Credit: getty Eventually, in 1973, the FAA created its first hijacker profile before introducing passenger screening, metal detectors and bag searches; the birth of airport security. But not before the hijackings continued. "Starting in '69, you had hijackers demanding to go to other places," Koerner explained to Vox. "The first was Raffaele Minichiello, a Marine who demanded to be flown from Los Angeles to Rome. And the airline complied with his request. So you had hijackers saying, wait a minute, we don't have to just go to Cuba. We can go anywhere! You have people demanding to be taken to Algeria and North Korea and Sweden and Argentina, and other different locations on the map." All the while airlines were compliant, which may have helped spur on the Seventies extortion hijackings. "Through the end of '71 and '72, hijackers were demanding hundreds of thousands of dollars, or sometimes gold bars — lots of material wealth in exchange for the passengers," said Koerner. The incredible tale of DB Cooper and the most fascinating hijacking case in history One such man was DB Cooper - one of history's most mysterious characters. In short, Cooper (which may or may not be his real name) in 1971 hijacked a Northwest Orient Airlines flight, demanded and was given $200,000, before parachuting out the back of the Boeing 727; he was never found and the FBI only recently gave up on the case. As the Golden Age drew to an end, hijacking continued around the world, some politically motivated, some purely criminal, but with increasingly brazen demands and a preparation to use more and more lethal force. In between 1968 and 1971, despite scores of hijackings, there were only 21 related deaths. This number rose in the subsequent years, with 114 reported in 1977. The growing death toll led authorities to take the threat more seriously; snipers were placed at airport tarmacs and plain-clothed officers boarded aircraft. Koerner says that the hijacking of a Southern Airlines flight in 1972 by three men who threatened to fly it into the atomic reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee helped wake the US government to the potential catastrophic consequences of the fad. Security was still nothing compared to today - much introduced in the wake of September 11 - and hijackings continued. The Aviation Safety Network recorded dozens of seizures through the Seventies and Eighties - in 1993 there were 36 hijackings; 27 in 2000. Through the Noughties, as airport and aircraft security tightened exponentially (prior to 2001, for example, it was not uncommon for cockpit doors to be open or unlocked during flight), the number of instances plummeted. There were, however, in the 2000s, incidents involving Cuba, only this time hijackers taking control of planes on the island and demanding to be flown to the US. Telegraph Travel Awards 2019: Win one of 15 luxury holidays worth £500,000 Hijackings today are now incredibly rare and make for major news: consider the coverage of EgyptAir Flight 181 in 2016, which was commandeered by an Egyptian man who was labelled not a terrorist but "an idiot". In 2015 there was not a single hijacking around the world, for the first time since 1964. The feat was repeated in 2017. From the comfort of a hijack-free airline industry it is easy to look back at the Golden Age of Hijacking as a peculiar, amusing blip in air travel, but it is also clear that the lessons learnt then have the made the sky the much safer place it is today. Inspiration for your inbox Sign up to Telegraph Travel's new weekly newsletter for the latest features, advice, competitions, exclusive deals and comment. 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| Is Russia Creating A Nazi-Style Army of Genetic Supersoldiers? Posted: 05 Jul 2019 05:30 AM PDT  Want to be a Russian paratrooper or tank commander? Then you'd better hope you have the right genes.The Russian military will be assigning soldiers based on their "genetic passports.""The project is far-reaching, scientific, fundamental," Alexander Sergeyev, the chief of Russia's Academy of Sciences, told Russian news agency TASS (English translation here). "Its essence is to find such genetic predispositions among military personnel, which will allow them to be properly oriented according to military specialties.""It is a question of understanding at the genetic level who is more prone to, for example, to service in the fleet, who may be more prepared to become a paratrooper or a tankman."Advances in medical technology are making genetic testing a common medical procedure. It is used to detect genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis, or the risk of developing certain diseases such as colorectal cancer. Pregnant women can also choose to be tested to determine whether their baby has genetic abnormalities such as Down syndrome.But Russian President Vladimir Putin has embraced genetics with a passion. In March, the Kremlin issued a decree that called for "implementation of genetic certification of the population, taking into account the legal framework for the protection of data on the personal human genome and the formation of the genetic profile of the population." Ostensibly this is to protect Russia's population against chemical and biological attack, as well as safeguard Russia's genetic patrimony from Western spies and saboteurs.
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| Putin awards seamen killed by fire on navy's submersible Posted: 05 Jul 2019 04:44 AM PDT  Russian President Vladimir Putin has awarded the nation's highest honors to 14 seamen who died in a fire on one of the navy's research submersibles. Putin's decree published Friday posthumously awarded four naval officers with the Hero of Russia medals and the others with the Order of Courage. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported to Putin Thursday that the vessel's nuclear reactor wasn't damaged by the fire and would be put back in service following repairs.
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| Biden Attacks Trump as He Tries to Pivot From Busing Debate Posted: 05 Jul 2019 04:41 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Joe Biden said he wasn't prepared for the friendly fire he's taken from Democrats over busing, and instead tried to refocus his message on differences with President Donald Trump.In an interview with CNN, the former vice president said his decades-old comments on school desegregation were taken out of context and that his position isn't that different from his challengers, including California Senator Kamala Harris."I wasn't prepared for someone coming at me the way she came at me," Biden said in the interview, broadcast Friday.Polls have tightened since the two clashed on the issue over the past week, with Harris eating into Biden's lead in recent surveys.Biden has stepped up his visibility on the campaign trail in Iowa as he's tried to focus more Trump than his fellow Democrats."This guy is a divider-in-chief," he said. "This guy is acting with racist policies. He's the bully I knew my whole life. He's the bully I've always stood up to."Biden specifically drew a contrast with Trump on foreign policy, saying the president is "embracing thugs" from North Korea's Kim Jong Un to Russia's Vladimir Putin.Biden said Trump has only given Kim more legitimacy and would insist the North Korean leader "show me something ahead of time" before more talks."The idea that this trade battle is benefiting anybody in the United States is absolutely ludicrous," he said."We're not dealing with China's problem for us. The problem is that China is stealing our trade secrets, and cybersecurity," Biden said. "While he's tweeting, China's going to own the 5G market."Embracing his place as a moderate in the 24-candidate Democratic field, Biden said he's open to a woman on the ticket but that it would have to be someone he's "sympatico" with."The vast majority of Democrats are where I am on the issues," he said. "It's center-left. That's where I am. Where it's not is way left. That's what this debate is about."Still, Biden defended federal health care spending for undocumented immigrants. "How do you say, 'You're undocumented. I'm going to let you die,' man?"(Updates with more from Biden starting in 11th paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Gregory Korte in Washington at gkorte@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wasserman, Kathleen HunterFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Venezuelan ‘death squads’ killed thousands and covered it up, UN says Posted: 05 Jul 2019 03:07 AM PDT  Venezuelan special forces have carried out thousands of extrajudicial killings in the past 18 months and then manipulated crime scenes to make it look as if the victims had been resisting arrest, the United Nations said on Thursday in a report detailing wide-ranging government abuses targeting political opponents.Special Action Forces described by witnesses as "death squads" killed 5,287 people in 2018 and another 1,569 by mid-May of this year, in what are officially termed by the Venezuelan government "Operations for the Liberation of the People," UN investigators reported.Laying out a detailed description of a lawless system of oppression, the report says the actual number of deaths could be much higher.It cites accounts by independent groups who report more than 9,000 killings for "resistance to authority" over the same period."There are reasonable grounds to believe that many of these killings constitute extrajudicial executions committed by the security forces," the investigators said.The report, which UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet will present to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Friday, delivers a scathing critique of President Nicolás Maduro's embattled government and its handling of Venezuela's deepening political and economic crisis.Since 2016, the report says, the government has pursued a strategy "aimed at neutralising, repressing and criminalising political opponents and people critical of the government."Venezuela's Foreign Ministry rejected the findings on Thursday, saying the report offered a "distorted vision" that ignored most of the information presented by the government to UN researchers."The analysis is not objective, nor impartial," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, listing what it said were 60 errors."The negative points are privileged in the extreme and the advances or measures adapted in the area of human rights are ignored or minimised."Human rights activists welcomed the spotlight the report is turning onto government repression and abuses."The government's reaction shows it hits the right points," said Tamara Taraciuk Broner, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch.The New York Times
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| Libyan Strongman Wants to Control Tripoli, Not Peddle Oil Posted: 05 Jul 2019 03:00 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Libya's most powerful military leader said the state oil company in Tripoli has the sole right to sell the nation's crude, a statement that might ultimately help stabilize production that has swung wildly for almost a decade because of ongoing conflict.The National Oil Corp., or NOC, in Tripoli has the "exclusive" right to export Libya's crude, Eastern commander Khalifa Haftar said in a written response to questions from Bloomberg News. His remarks are telling because at one stage last year, he briefly handed control of key ports to another NOC based in the east of the country.Haftar pledged to continue to protect oil facilities while urging the state oil producer not to use its resources to "support terrorists and armed militias, and to avoid interfering" with his army or working against it. He denied accusations that his forces seized NOC airports, while retaining the right to use them if needed."The army isn't a trader," Haftar said, referring to his self-styled Libyan National Army. "It doesn't sell oil, legally or illegally."Haftar began an offensive on Tripoli in April. Mustafa Sanalla, the chairman of the NOC in the Libyan capital, said in May that continued fighting could obliterate oil output, the country's main source of revenue. Libya is divided between two rival governments with troops vying to control a country that holds Africa's largest proven oil reserves."Sale of oil is an exclusive" jurisdiction of the Tripoli NOC, Haftar said. "The issue of selling crude is governed by a number of laws and binding legislations."Efforts to broker a cease-fire between the factions have failed. This week was unusually violent after an attack on a detention center in Tripoli killed at least 44 people in what the United Nations envoy called a war crime.The UN-backed government in Tripoli accused Haftar of ordering the strike. Haftar's army said the Tripoli-based government was to blame, the pan-Arab TV channel Al-Hadath reported.The conflict is rapidly turning into another regional proxy war, pitting Egypt and the United Arab Emirates against Turkey.Libya is producing about 1.3 million barrels of oil a day, according to Sanalla, the highest level in six years. He has repeatedly warned of a potential collapse in output due to the conflict. Output has been among the most volatile of any producer in the world since the overthrow of dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011. The OPEC member's oil production plunged by 800,000 barrels a day within a matter of days last June, when eastern officials blocked tankers hauling Tripoli-sold cargoes from loading, leading to the closure of eastern ports. Forces loyal to Haftar initially handed the facilities to the eastern NOC, which is based in Benghazi. Libya lost almost $1 billion in revenue before Haftar passed the terminals back to the Tripoli NOC."The biggest fear of some countries, specifically those concerned with the global economy, is the effect of military operations on the oil industry," Haftar said. "Reality has proven that those fears are unwarranted."(Adds quotes in sixth paragraph, context throughout.)\--With assistance from Salma El Wardany.To contact the reporter on this story: Hatem Mohareb in Benghazi at hmohareb@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Nayla Razzouk at nrazzouk2@bloomberg.net, Alaric Nightingale, Amanda JordanFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Populists Beware — Don’t Make False Promises Posted: 05 Jul 2019 03:00 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Want to receive this post in your inbox every day? Sign up for the Balance of Power newsletter, and follow Bloomberg Politics on Twitter and Facebook for more.If Italy's Matteo Salvini is curious about what happens when populists promise more than they can deliver, he should look no further than the case of Alexis Tsipras, the Greek iconoclast who vowed to bring down the establishment but then found himself part of it.For Germany's Angela Merkel, Tsipras is the leader who took his country to the brink of financial ruin and ultimately saw sense. But back home, he caved in to the demands of international creditors for more spending cuts and tax increases. Instead of ending austerity, he enforced it.In Sunday's parliamentary elections, the Greek prime minister is set to be ejected from office. Eleni Chrepa traveled to the northern town of Florina and with Paul Tugwell reported how the once-unshakable support for his radical left Syriza party has crumbled.People are fed up. "It's like telling a kid that you will get them an ice cream and ending up giving them nothing, not even chewing gum," says one store owner.Salvini may be at the opposite side of the ideological spectrum, but the lessons of Tsipras are a reminder that disappointed voters can turn on you.Global HeadlinesReality check | Kamala Harris says she supports "Medicare for All," and she has co-sponsored legislation with Bernie Sanders. But unlike her Democratic presidential rival, she says her plan wouldn't end private insurance. As Sahil Kapur writes, that's misleading. Meanwhile, Harris renewed her criticism of Joe Biden for his opposition to federally mandated busing to end race segregation in schools as a senator in the 1970s, extending a dispute sparked at last week's debate.Rights abuses | The United Nations has urged the Venezuelan government to halt its "grave violations" of economic, social and civil rights. The UN documented discrimination, threats to opposition members and torture by security services under Nicolas Maduro's regime. The report recommends the dissolution of the feared Special Action Force, which it blames for thousands of extrajudicial killings. Venezuela called the UN's report "an openly biased truth" that minimized state measures to improve people's lives.Missing Lagarde | Christine Lagarde not only gave Argentina the IMF's largest-ever bailout, she was also a true friend of the country — often speaking with President Mauricio Macri over the phone and even keeping a WhatsApp chat with Economy Minister Nicolas Dujovne. Now that she will head the European Central Bank, will the next IMF managing director offer Argentina the same sympathetic treatment?Union state | Boris Johnson, the front-runner to replace Theresa May as British prime minister, said he would prioritize the union of the U.K. over leaving the European Union, while also saying that delivering Brexit is key to keeping the country together. May traveled to Scotland yesterday to warn that a no-deal exit, which both Johnson and his rival Jeremy Hunt have left on the table, would have "undoubted consequences for the economy and the union."Anti-China graffiti | After hundreds of thousands of protesters peacefully marched on the anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China, a small group broke into the Legislative Council, ransacking and vandalizing the chamber. The graffiti messages they left behind — some in Chinese, some in English — help explain the deep social and political divides underpinning the protests.What to WatchOne of the producers of "The Wolf of Wall Street" film, Riza Aziz, the stepson of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, pleaded not guilty to money-laundering charges linked to the scandal-plagued 1MDB state investment fund. Sudan's ruling transitional military council and the opposition alliance agreed to share power for a period of three years or more before holding general elections.And finally… Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has assets worth $684,000, operates four foreign currency accounts and owns four goats. The cricketer-turned-politician doesn't own a car but takes a helicopter to work, the Express Tribune reported. Khan has been leading a cost-cutting drive, moving out of the official residence and selling unnecessary government assets including luxury cars. \--With assistance from Kathleen Hunter and Jess Shankleman.To contact the author of this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson in London at fjackson@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at rpollard2@bloomberg.net, Anthony HalpinFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Iranian commander warns British ship could be seized if oil tanker detained in Gibraltar is not released Posted: 05 Jul 2019 02:35 AM PDT  An Iranian general on Friday warned the country could seize a British ship in retaliation after Royal Marines boarded and impounded a tanker carrying Iranian oil. "If Britain does not release the Iranian oil tanker, it is the authorities' duty to seize a British oil tanker," Mohsen Rezai, a Major General in the Revolutionary Guards Corps and head of the country's influential Expediency Council, which advises the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "Islamic Iran in its 40-year history has never initiated hostilities in any battles but has also never hesitated in responding to bullies," Maj Gen Rezai added. Iran's foreign ministry accused Britain of "piracy" and summoned the British ambassador in Tehran after Royal Marines helped customs officers impound the Grace 1 supertanker near Gibraltar on Thursday. The tanker was seized by British Royal Marines from 42 Commando Credit: Ministry of Defence The British and Gibraltarian governments said the ship, owned by a Dubai-based company with ties to Tehran, was believed to be carrying two million barrels of crude oil to Syria, in breach of European Union sanctions against Bashar Assad's regime. The government of Gibraltar said on Friday that the crew of Indian, Pakistani, and Ukrainian are being interviewed as witnesses in order to establish the nature of the cargo and its destination. On Friday Gibraltar's Supreme Court granted an order to the territory's authorities allowing them to hold the tanker for another fortnight. The Gibraltar government said the ruling had been made on the basis that there were "reasonable grounds" to believe the ship was breaking EU sanctions by transporting oil to Syria. The incident has damaged attempts to tried to remain neutral in a brewing confrontation between the United States and Iran. The US on Friday requested an emergency meeting of the UN's nuclear watchdog to discuss Iran, days after Tehran breached a uranium enrichment limit set in a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Britain publicly defends Iran's right to sell oil under the 2015 nuclear deal and opposes US attempts to blockade its exports, and diplomats in London have insisted that the seizure was connected only with European Union sanctions against Syria, not US sanctions against Iran. The transport of oil to Syria would breach EU sanctions Credit: Ministry of Defence France said on Thursday that a special trade mechanism, Instex, aiming at making it possible trade between EU members and Iran to continue in the face of US sanctions, would complete a first, limited transaction in the coming days. But the foreign minister of Spain, which disputes British ownership of Gibraltar, said the UK acted on a request by the United States. An Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday the incident showed Britain was following "the hostile policies of the United States, which is unacceptable to Iran". The government of Gibraltar said it acted entirely independently and denied seizing the tanker at the request of the United States or any other country. "There has been no political request at any time from any Government that the Gibraltar Government should act or not act, on one basis or another," it said in a statement on Friday. The US and Britain have blamed Iran for a series of sabotage attacks against tankers near the Strait of Hormuz in May and June, and General Rezai's threat will be taken seriously by maritime security operators. Gibraltar has denied detaining the tanker on the request from the United States or any other government Credit: Ministry of Defence But following through on the threat to seize a British ship would be complicated by the often opaque structure of modern shipping. "What is a British vessel? It is not so straightforward. You could be company registered in Liberia and be flagged in Panama but have a British owner. Or you could be a UK flagged vessel with the company registered in France with a German owner," said Michelle Bockmann, a commodities shipping analyst and editor at Lloyd's List. "On the balance of probabilities it is the kind of threat being made in line with previous threats to close the strait of Hormuz. There is always bellicose rhetoric, but let's hope it is unlikely to materialise." At least one British-flagged tanker, a super-tanker called the Pacific Voyager, passed through the strait of Hormuz en route to the Saudi port of Ras Tanura on Friday. It is Japanese-owned, operated by a Singaporean company, and hired by a subsidiary of a South Korean firm. Maersk, the Danish shipping giant, on Thursday announced it would levy a war risk surcharge on cargos transiting the Persian Gulf.
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| Trump’s Cherry-Picked Polls Still Show More than Half The Country Doesn’t Approve Posted: 05 Jul 2019 01:42 AM PDT  Photo Illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Daily Beast / Photos GettyAs he departed on a flight last week to Japan to attend the G-20 summit, President Donald Trump took the time to dash off a tweet celebrating the fact that he had hit "54%" in a new poll. The celebratory missive was notable only for the fact that no such poll appeared to exist. Public surveys done during that time period did not have the president's approval rating—ostensibly what he was talking about—at 54 percent. One done early in June had 54 percent of the public saying they believed he would be re-elected, but that total undoubtedly includes doomsaying Democrats who don't actually support him. The Trump campaign did not return a request for comment as to what poll he was, in fact, referencing. But if that poll did exist it would be, undoubtedly, among the best ever that Trump has referenced. Since the dawn of his presidency, Trump has been tweeting out polls that, he believes, show the American public warming to his job performance. Except, if you add up the numbers, the picture that these polls paint is not all that splendid. In all, President Trump has tweeted pictures of or references to 28 polls. The average approval rating of those polls is 49.07 percent. In other words, even the president's cherry-picked data shows that he hasn't broken through with the majority of the country.These polls, of course, are hardly a scientific sampling of Trump's job approval numbers. In fact, they skew heavily toward pollsters—one in particular—that tend to draw a more sympathetic result for the president. Of the 28 polls that Trump has tweeted out, 22 of them were done by the firm Rasmussen and three of them were simply screenshots of the front page of the Drudge Report, the powerhouse conservative website. The other three included a July 2017 ABC/Washington Post poll that had the president at a 40 percent job-approval rating, which he deemed to be "not bad at this time" of his presidency; an August 2017 Zogby Analytics poll that had him at 45 percent job-approval rating; and a December 2017 Morning Consult poll that also had him at 45 percent job-approval rating.Prior to the mysterious 54 percent poll that Trump tweeted about on his way to Japan, the highest poll he had mentioned was one conducted by the Georgetown University. That poll, Trump said, had him at 55 percent approval rating. Except, it didn't. The actual number was 43 percent. And for that reason, The Daily Beast did not include it in the overall average. Presidents have been re-elected heading into their re-election campaigns with approval ratings below 49.07 percent. At his 888th day in office (the rough equivalent of when Trump sent his 54 percent tweet), Ronald Reagan was at 47 percent in a Gallup poll; at his 900th day in office, Bill Clinton was at 48 percent in the Gallup poll; and at his 889th day in office, Barack Obama was at 43 percent in that poll.But Trump, of course, is not actually hovering around 49.07 percent. His latest Gallup number (taken 877 days into office) is 43 percent approval. And the rolling average of all poll numbers—not just the selectively chosen Rasmussen surveys—has him in an even worse position. According to the 538 averages, Trump's approval rating is at 42.2 percent as of July 1. Just how grave those numbers actually are is a debate for the pundits. But, for Trump's team, it may not matter. The president's campaign manager Brad Parscale told CBS News last month that polls were the "the biggest joke in politics.""The country is too complex now just to call a couple hundred people and ask them what they think… The way turnout now works, the abilities that we have to turn out voters—the polling can't understand that," he said. "And that's why it was so wrong in 2016. It was 100% wrong. Nobody got it right. Not one public poll."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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| HRW condemns 'pressure' on Syrians to leave Lebanon Posted: 05 Jul 2019 01:29 AM PDT  Human Rights Watch on Friday condemned Lebanon's order for Syrian refugees to demolish their hard shelters as tantamount to "illegitimate pressure" on them to return to their war-torn country. Lebanon, a country of some four million people, says it hosts at least 1.5 million Syrians on its soil after they fled the eight-year civil war next door, many living in informal settlements in the country's east. Nearly a million are registered as refugees with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
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| UPDATE 1-Jaguar Land Rover to build electric cars at UK plant Posted: 05 Jul 2019 01:25 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Jaguar Land Rover to build electric cars at UK plant]( "UPDATE 1-Jaguar Land Rover to build electric cars at UK plant") Jaguar Land Rover is making a multi-million pound investment to build electric vehicles in Britain, in a major boost for the UK government and a sector hit by the slump in diesel sales and Brexit uncertainty. Britain's biggest car company, which built 30 percent of the UK's 1.5 million cars last year, will make a range of electrified vehicles at its Castle Bromwich plant in central England, beginning with its luxury saloon, the XJ.
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| War Talk: Could U.S. Forces Execute an Amphibious Assault against Iran? Posted: 05 Jul 2019 12:42 AM PDT  One of the greatest truisms of life is that land wars in Asia are futile. The continent's vastness allows defenders to trade space for time, extending the logistical lifelines of invaders to the breaking point. This argument holds for Iran, which at a population of one quarter that of the United States and the size of the West Coast is too large for even the largest of modern armies to occupy. But what about an amphibious raid against select targets on Iran's coastline? Military action against the Islamic Republic is by no means imminent or even on the horizon, but it's important for the public to understand the tools the Pentagon—and the White House—believe they have in their toolboxes. As The National Interest noted last week, Iran has a sprawling coastline. At 1,550 miles, Iran's southern coastline is longer than that of California, Oregon and Washington combined. While such a long sea border is useful for projecting power into the narrow Persian Gulf, it is also a double-edged sword. The downside is that Iran has 1,550 miles of coastline it must defend from a highly capable amphibious force such as the U.S. Marine Corps.The Marine Corps trains for a broad spectrum of operations, from pilot and aircraft personnel recovery to full-scale amphibious and airmobile assaults. One type of operation the service specializes in is the amphibious raid: using a small landing force to capture an objective, occupy it for a short period for a specific purpose, and then evacuate back to the sea.
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| Jaguar Land Rover to build electric cars at UK plant Posted: 05 Jul 2019 12:35 AM PDT  Jaguar Land Rover is making a multi-million pound investment to build electric vehicles in Britain, in a major boost for the UK government and a sector hit by the slump in diesel sales and Brexit uncertainty. Britain's biggest car company, which built 30 percent of the UK's 1.5 million cars last year, will make a range of electrified vehicles at its Castle Bromwich plant in central England, beginning with its luxury sedan, the XJ.
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| Jaguar to make multi-million pound electric car investment in UK plant Posted: 05 Jul 2019 12:30 AM PDT ![Jaguar to make multi-million pound electric car investment in UK plant]( "Jaguar to make multi-million pound electric car investment in UK plant") Britain's biggest carmaker Jaguar Land Rover is making a multi-million pound investment to build electric vehicles in its home market, in a major boost to a sector hit by a slump in diesel sales and Brexit uncertainty. Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), which built 30 percent of Britain's 1.5 million cars last year, will make a range of electrified vehicles at its Castle Bromwich plant in central England, beginning with its luxury saloon, the XJ.
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| Trump says US troops 'took over airports' in war almost 100 years before planes were invented Posted: 05 Jul 2019 12:25 AM PDT  In a Fourth of July speech dedicated largely to American military might, Donald Trump claimed US Army troops "took over the airports" during a conflict which broke out almost a century before the first planes took flight. Allaying fears he would turn the "Salute to America" address at the Lincoln Memorial into a campaign-style rally, Mr Trump avoided political point-scoring and kept largely to a script, part of which detailed American military achievements throughout history."Our army manned the amparts (sic), it ranned (sic) the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do," Mr Trump said, apparently struggling to read from the autocue. Though it was unclear if he was referring to a moment during the Revolutionary War or the later War of 1812, which was also fought between British and American troops, Mr Trump was out by at least 89 years – the Wright brothers would not pilot the first powered flight until 1903.The comment sparked mockery from some of the president's critics. "This is a president too stupid to know what he's saying, a White House too incompetent to do basic fact checking, or someone with a serious reading problem," tweeted Chris Lu, former deputy secretary of labour in the Obama administration. Andrew Stroehlein, a director at Human Rights Watch, sarcastically hailed Britain's "legendary" air superiority in 18th century conflicts. Mr Trump's slip of the tongue came just days after he appeared confounded by questions about school "busing" and "Western-style democratic liberalism" during a press conference at the G20 in Japan. Asked about Vladimir Putin's claim liberalism was in decline, Mr Trump appeared to believe it was a reference to "liberals" in California, and launched into a rant against the leadership in Los Angeles and San Francisco. He also appeared to believe a question about busing – a method intended to help achieve racial integration in schools – was literally just about buses. "I mean, you know, there aren't that many ways you're going to get people to schools," Mr Trump said.
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| Australian freed in N. Korea keeps mum about detention Posted: 04 Jul 2019 11:00 PM PDT  An Australian student on Friday thanked Swedish and his country's diplomats for securing his release in North Korea but kept mum about what led to his weeklong detention. "I intend now to return to normal life but wanted to first publicly thank everyone who worked to ensure I was safe and well," Alek Sigley said in a statement released by his family's spokeswoman in Australia, a day after he was flew from Pyongyang to Beijing and then Tokyo to be reunited with his Japanese wife. Sigley, 29, had been studying at a Pyongyang university and guiding tours in the North Korean capital before disappearing from social media contact with family and friends on June 25.
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| Check out This Video: One of Iran's F-14s Fighters Performed a Night Scramble Posted: 04 Jul 2019 10:30 PM PDT  The following gorgeous video shows a night scramble of a fully armed Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) F-14A Tomcat.As you can see the several video clips show almost every air-to-air weapon carried by IRIAF F-14s.Noteworthy along with the M61A1 Vulan 20mm internal cannon, AIM-54 Phoenix radar-guided long-range air-to-air missile, AIM-7 Sparrow medium-range semi-active radar homing air-to-air missile and AIM-9 Sidewinder short-range air-to-air missile, Iranian Tomcats can be loaded also with the Fakour-90 air-to-air missile and MIM-23 Hawk surface-to-air-missile (SAM) used as air-to-air missile.The Fakour is a copy of the Hughes AIM-54 Phoenix missile that was sold together with the F-14 to Iran in the late 1970s.The missile was developed by the Iranian Army, Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, and IRIAF. In Oct. 2011, it was announced that the missile had reached the stage of mass production.
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| In Queens, revered Jewish leader's burial site draws crowds Posted: 04 Jul 2019 10:07 PM PDT  It's quiet in the middle of the day on the streets of this residential neighborhood in New York City's borough of Queens — except for the steady stream of visitors coming in and out of one particular small converted house next to a cemetery. The men and women, young and old, have made their way from around the city, the country and the world to this unassuming site, the burial place of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, to pay their respects to the leader of Judaism's Chabad-Lubavitch movement who died 25 years ago. While visitors come year-round, the crowds grow tremendously around the anniversary of his passing, which according to the Hebrew calendar falls this year on July 6, with people sometimes waiting a few hours to spend even a couple of moments at his mausoleum, where they pray and leave notes.
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| The U.S. Shouldn’t Sanction Iran’s Foreign Minister Posted: 04 Jul 2019 10:00 PM PDT ![The U.S. Shouldn't Sanction Iran's Foreign Minister]( "The U.S. Shouldn't Sanction Iran's Foreign Minister") (Bloomberg Opinion) -- The Trump administration has not yet followed through on its threat to slap financial sanctions on Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif. Perhaps the White House has been unable to marshal the evidence that he deserves such punishment. Or, the delay may be a recognition of Zarif's increasingly unclear status in the Iranian regime. But one way or the other, sanctioning Zarif at this point would be at best a waste of effort.Zarif was never a Tehran power-player, but he did have a couple of years at the heart of the Islamic Republic's most important mission: negotiating a nuclear deal with the U.S. and other world powers. It was for this purpose that Zarif, a civil servant with no political constituency, was elevated to ministership in mid-2013.His qualifications for the task included a long spell in the U.S.—from 1977 to 2007, off and on, as a student in Denver and San Francisco, a neophyte diplomat in New York, and eventually as Iran's ambassador to the United Nations. Urbane and well-spoken, Zarif represented the gentler face of a regime that had come to be identified globally with the crude, boorish former president, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.Leading a team of Iranian negotiators, Zarif was able to capitalize on the eagerness of President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to make a deal. The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was greatly to Iran's advantage: in exchange for suspending parts of its nuclear program for periods of 10 or 15 years and accepting international supervision of the deal's implementation for 25 years, the regime would have some sanctions removed, and given access to billions of dollars in its frozen assets.What's more, the deal did not force Iran to suspend its other malign activities in the Middle East, such as supporting the genocide in Syria, sponsoring terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, and menacing neighbors with a ballistic-missile program.At home, the deal made Zarif a hero; even Iran's hardliners, who had been suspicious of Zarif's Westernized ways, welcomed his success. He was hailed internationally, too—with talk that he and Kerry might get the Nobel Peace Prize.But Zarif had made a strategic blunder. Although the Republicans would plainly undermine any deal struck by the Obama administration, Zarif had never reached out to them. He assumed that Obama's imprimatur only needed ratification by the United Nations, and not Congress. For a man who claimed intimate knowledge of American politics, this was a surprisingly poor grasp of Washington realities.Zarif did not even communicate with the Republicans when, near the end of the nuclear negotiations, 47 senators wrote an open letter, warning that "the next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen." When Trump did exactly that in 2018, Zarif channeled Captain Renault of "Casablanca" and affected theatrical surprise and dismay. The end of the deal ended Zarif's moment in the Iranian sun. He and his boss, President Hassan Rouhani, were excoriated by hardliners for being too credulous in their dealings with the U.S. The failure of the JCPOA's other signatories to save the deal only deepened suspicions that Zarif had bargained away Iran's only chip, its nuclear threat, for nothing in return.For all practical purposes, Iran's foreign policy is now run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps—specifically, Qassem Soleimani, who runs the Qods Force. When Syria's Bashar al-Assad visited Tehran recently, Zarif was not even invited to sit in on the dictator's meeting with the Supreme Leader.Soleimani was.In a fit of pique, Zarif enacted a faux resignation, via Instagram. He was easily mollified by Rouhani, and persuaded to remain. Since then, however, he has dropped the pretense of being a diplomat, adopting an increasingly belligerent anti-American tone, complete with juvenile name-calling and Twitter trolling. Descending to bazaar-level conspiracy-mongering, he accused Israel's Mossad of attacking oil tankers in a false-flag operation. He dubbed the most hawkish of Trump's advisers and allies the "B-Team," and responded to White House announcements with schoolyard taunts, like "Seriously?" This posturing may be a way for Zarif to say to hardliners, "Look, I'm just as tough on the Americans as you are." His transition, in rhetoric at least, from diplomat to politician has not gone unnoticed by Iranians. Some wonder whether he might be preparing to make that switch for real. Twice in the past few months, Zarif has had to deny speculation that he will run for the presidency when Rouhani's second term ends in 2021.But the hardliners in the Guardian Council, which vets all presidential candidates, are unlikely to allow Zarif to run. Nor, should Iran someday return to the negotiating table, is he likely to reprise his 2013-15 role. Among other things, his reinvention as Iran's troll-in-chief has cost him international credibility.American sanctions against him might bolster his stature in the eyes of hardliners. But it will only briefly postpone his gradual descent to the footnotes of history. Unless the Trump administration has evidence of specific wrong-doing by the foreign minister, it should let him simply fade away.To contact the author of this story: Bobby Ghosh at aghosh73@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: James Gibney at jgibney5@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Bobby Ghosh is a columnist and member of the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board. He writes on foreign affairs, with a special focus on the Middle East and the wider Islamic world.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| The U.S. Shouldn’t Sanction Iran’s Foreign Minister Posted: 04 Jul 2019 10:00 PM PDT ![The U.S. Shouldn't Sanction Iran's Foreign Minister]( "The U.S. Shouldn't Sanction Iran's Foreign Minister") (Bloomberg Opinion) -- The Trump administration has not yet followed through on its threat to slap financial sanctions on Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif. Perhaps the White House has been unable to marshal the evidence that he deserves such punishment. Or, the delay may be a recognition of Zarif's increasingly unclear status in the Iranian regime. But one way or the other, sanctioning Zarif at this point would be at best a waste of effort.Zarif was never a Tehran power-player, but he did have a couple of years at the heart of the Islamic Republic's most important mission: negotiating a nuclear deal with the U.S. and other world powers. It was for this purpose that Zarif, a civil servant with no political constituency, was elevated to ministership in mid-2013.His qualifications for the task included a long spell in the U.S.—from 1977 to 2007, off and on, as a student in Denver and San Francisco, a neophyte diplomat in New York, and eventually as Iran's ambassador to the United Nations. Urbane and well-spoken, Zarif represented the gentler face of a regime that had come to be identified globally with the crude, boorish former president, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.Leading a team of Iranian negotiators, Zarif was able to capitalize on the eagerness of President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to make a deal. The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was greatly to Iran's advantage: in exchange for suspending parts of its nuclear program for periods of 10 or 15 years and accepting international supervision of the deal's implementation for 25 years, the regime would have some sanctions removed, and given access to billions of dollars in its frozen assets.What's more, the deal did not force Iran to suspend its other malign activities in the Middle East, such as supporting the genocide in Syria, sponsoring terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, and menacing neighbors with a ballistic-missile program.At home, the deal made Zarif a hero; even Iran's hardliners, who had been suspicious of Zarif's Westernized ways, welcomed his success. He was hailed internationally, too—with talk that he and Kerry might get the Nobel Peace Prize.But Zarif had made a strategic blunder. Although the Republicans would plainly undermine any deal struck by the Obama administration, Zarif had never reached out to them. He assumed that Obama's imprimatur only needed ratification by the United Nations, and not Congress. For a man who claimed intimate knowledge of American politics, this was a surprisingly poor grasp of Washington realities.Zarif did not even communicate with the Republicans when, near the end of the nuclear negotiations, 47 senators wrote an open letter, warning that "the next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen." When Trump did exactly that in 2018, Zarif channeled Captain Renault of "Casablanca" and affected theatrical surprise and dismay. The end of the deal ended Zarif's moment in the Iranian sun. He and his boss, President Hassan Rouhani, were excoriated by hardliners for being too credulous in their dealings with the U.S. The failure of the JCPOA's other signatories to save the deal only deepened suspicions that Zarif had bargained away Iran's only chip, its nuclear threat, for nothing in return.For all practical purposes, Iran's foreign policy is now run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps—specifically, Qassem Soleimani, who runs the Qods Force. When Syria's Bashar al-Assad visited Tehran recently, Zarif was not even invited to sit in on the dictator's meeting with the Supreme Leader.Soleimani was.In a fit of pique, Zarif enacted a faux resignation, via Instagram. He was easily mollified by Rouhani, and persuaded to remain. Since then, however, he has dropped the pretense of being a diplomat, adopting an increasingly belligerent anti-American tone, complete with juvenile name-calling and Twitter trolling. Descending to bazaar-level conspiracy-mongering, he accused Israel's Mossad of attacking oil tankers in a false-flag operation. He dubbed the most hawkish of Trump's advisers and allies the "B-Team," and responded to White House announcements with schoolyard taunts, like "Seriously?" This posturing may be a way for Zarif to say to hardliners, "Look, I'm just as tough on the Americans as you are." His transition, in rhetoric at least, from diplomat to politician has not gone unnoticed by Iranians. Some wonder whether he might be preparing to make that switch for real. Twice in the past few months, Zarif has had to deny speculation that he will run for the presidency when Rouhani's second term ends in 2021.But the hardliners in the Guardian Council, which vets all presidential candidates, are unlikely to allow Zarif to run. Nor, should Iran someday return to the negotiating table, is he likely to reprise his 2013-15 role. Among other things, his reinvention as Iran's troll-in-chief has cost him international credibility.American sanctions against him might bolster his stature in the eyes of hardliners. But it will only briefly postpone his gradual descent to the footnotes of history. Unless the Trump administration has evidence of specific wrong-doing by the foreign minister, it should let him simply fade away.To contact the author of this story: Bobby Ghosh at aghosh73@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: James Gibney at jgibney5@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Bobby Ghosh is a columnist and member of the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board. He writes on foreign affairs, with a special focus on the Middle East and the wider Islamic world.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Head to Head: Could Iranian Submarines Imperil the U.S. Navy? Posted: 04 Jul 2019 10:00 PM PDT  Though the new Iranian boats may remain far from the cutting edge of submarine design, they could still prove dangerous adversaries in the confined and shallow waters of the Persian Gulf.The Iranian military has long planned for a defensive naval war in the Persian Gulf, in which it would leverage its large fleet of fast attack boats toting antiship missiles to launch swarming hit-and-run attacks on adversaries in along Persian Gulf, with the ultimate goal of shutting down passage through the Straits of Hormuz.Supporting this naval guerilla-warfare strategy are twenty-one indigenously produced Ghadir-class mini submarines, derived from the North Korean Yono class. The 120-ton vessels can poke around at eleven knots (thirteen miles per hour) and each carry two 533-millimeter torpedoes. All in all, shallow littoral waters are very favorable for mini-submarine operations, with interference from rocky shallows and loud surf reducing sonar detection ranges and giving mini submarines abundant opportunities to hide and wait in ambush. On the high end of the capability spectrum, Iran operates three much larger and more capable Kilo-class diesel-electric submarines purchased from Russia in the 1990s. These can comfortably hunt in the waters of the Indian Ocean.(This first appeared in October 2017.)Recommended: Could the Battleship Make a Comeback?
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| Trump’s Not-Crazy Speech Just Highlighted Norms He’s Crushed Posted: 04 Jul 2019 09:38 PM PDT  Joshua Roberts/ReutersIt was a triumph of low expectations.Donald Trump's "Salute to America" speech could have easily devolved into chants of "Lock her up!"—but instead he proved that he could, in fact, read a Teleprompter. And read he did. It was a speech that had all the excitement of an excerpt from one of Bill O'Reilly's YA history books. It was middle-school story time from hell.The problem is that not-so-insane Trump—much like his ultra-sanitized, faux-feminist daughter—doesn't have the oratorical skills to stir a crowd without the crazy. The other problem is that when Trump tries to speak on American values he inadvertently highlights all the norms he's crushed with his explosive rhetoric and banana republic-style presidenting. There was the irony of the president with all the sexual assault allegations bringing up women's suffrage. The strangeness of the president who called for the now-exonerated Central Park Five to get the death penalty bringing up the late Dr. Martin Luther King. And how about that name-check of Harriet Tubman, who was supposed to be on the $20 bill until Trump called the move to have her replace seventh president Andrew Jackson "pure political correctness." Perhaps the most bizarre moment of all? When the guy who managed to avoid the Vietnam draft five times told young Americans that they should "join our military and make a truly great statement in life. And you should do it."This July 4th Had Everything: Tanks, Trump—and ScandalThe stunning lack of self-awareness aside, it was a relief that the president stuck to the script, delivering a drone-like Ivanka-esque speech and not a scary Don Jr.-style speech; that he didn't make the event more political than it already was; that he didn't, you know, start a war.That must have been a comfort to the generals. The day before, CNN had reported that military chiefs feared the Fourth of July celebration would devolve into a partisan rally. And they couldn't have been reassured when Trump's staunchest defender, Fox Business' dystopian villain Lou Dobbs, rage-tweeted: "No wonder these Snowflake Generals haven't won a war since 1991."Let's be real; the whole thing was TOTALLY political. Look no further than the supposedly "free" fireworks on display. Phantom Fireworks donated $750,000 worth of fireworks on the very same day the president decided to forgo "$300 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods, which include fireworks." And of course nothing says bipartisanship like reserving VIP seating for GOP heavies and rewarding RNC donors with a view of the tanks. Still, it was one of Trump's least bonkers speeches. It didn't encourage violence! He didn't lead chants of "CNN sucks." He didn't talk about how much he loves Robert E. Lee. There were some gaffes—like his mention of airports during the war of 1812—but maybe that was just to let us know we weren't in some alternate reality.As he droned his way through history, with patriotic anthems filling the air and hand-picked loyalists sitting in attendance and military hardware on display, some commenters on social media said they were reminded of the spectacles North Korea puts on.Only five days earlier, Trump had hung out in the DMZ with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, his favorite unhinged dictator with a bowl cut. He seemed far more comfortable there than standing at the foot of a memorial to one of America's greatest leaders, reading from a teleprompter, spewing platitudes about all the things presidents are supposed to believe in.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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