| North Korea says released Australian student was spying Posted: 06 Jul 2019 07:55 AM PDT  North Korea said Saturday that an Australian student who it detained for a week had spread anti-Pyongyang propaganda and engaged in spying by providing photos and other materials to news outlets with critical views toward the North. Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, said North Korea deported Alek Sigley on Thursday after he pleaded for forgiveness for his activities, which the agency said infringed on the country's sovereignty.
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| Turkey's Erdogan meets head of Libya's UN-supported gov't Posted: 06 Jul 2019 05:46 AM PDT ![Turkey's Erdogan meets head of Libya's UN-supported gov't]( "Turkey's Erdogan meets head of Libya's UN-supported gov't") Turkey's president met with the head of Libya's U.N.-recognized government, following heightened tensions between Turkey and forces loyal to a rival Libyan authority. In a statement by his office late Friday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated his support for Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj's "legitimate" government. Libya is split between two warring governments.
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| From Libya to Texas, tragedies illustrate plight of migrants Posted: 06 Jul 2019 05:18 AM PDT  They are trapped in squalid detention centers on Libya's front lines. As their choices narrow on land and at sea, migrants are often seen as a political headache in the countries they hope to reach and ignored in the countries they flee. Many are still on the move in 2019, or trapped like thousands in detention in Libya, where an airstrike on Tuesday killed at least 44 migrants and refugees locked away in the Tripoli suburb of Tajoura.
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| North Korea accuses freed Australian student of spying Posted: 06 Jul 2019 05:01 AM PDT  North Korea's state news agency said on Saturday an Australian student who was expelled from the country after 10 days' detention had committed "spying acts" through his work with foreign media. Alek Sigley, who had been held in North Korea since June 25, was an active social media user and also a regular contributor to international media organizations including NK News about his time in North Korea. "Investigation revealed that at the instigation of the NK News and other anti-DPRK media he handed over several times the data and photos he collected and analyzed while combing Pyongyang by making use of the identity card of a foreign student," the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. His latest post, uploaded on April 30, describes his dining experiences in Pyongyang, according to the NK News website. "The six articles Alek published represent the full extent of his work with us and the idea that those columns, published transparently under his name between January and April 2019, are "anti-state" in nature is a misrepresentation which we reject," Chad O'Carroll, CEO of NK News publisher the Korea Risk Group, said in a statement. "Alek Sigley's well-read columns presented an apolitical and insightful view of life in Pyongyang which we published in a bid to show vignettes of ordinary daily life in the capital to our readers," O'Carroll added. KCNA said Sigley admitted his "spying acts" and repeatedly asked for a pardon. It added that he was expelled from North Korea on Thursday. On Friday Sigley said he was safe and well in Tokyo and intended returning to normal life, but did not comment on the reason for his detention or on what happened to him in Pyongyang.
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| Rebate rule would harm seniors, taxpayers: Readers sound off Posted: 06 Jul 2019 04:54 AM PDT  From Big Pharma, to updating election practices, to North Korea, our readers react to recent headlines.
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| Sudan rebels criticize protesters' deal with the army Posted: 06 Jul 2019 04:52 AM PDT  Sudanese rebel groups have criticized a power-sharing deal between the military and the country's pro-democracy movement aimed at ending weekslong political deadlock. The protest leaders in the capital, Khartoum, and the ruling military made public an agreement to form a joint government on Friday. A faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement, led by Minni Minnawi, said late Friday a peace deal had to be reached with rebel groups before embarking on the deal's planned transition.
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| China Dismisses U.S. Criticism of South China Sea Missile Tests Posted: 06 Jul 2019 04:22 AM PDT ![China Dismisses U.S. Criticism of South China Sea Missile Tests]( "China Dismisses U.S. Criticism of South China Sea Missile Tests") (Bloomberg) -- China's military said its recent "live-fire drill" in the South China Sea didn't target any country and wasn't held to achieve specific objectives, after the U.S. denounced the missile tests as "coercive acts."China fired at least one missile into the sea last weekend and was expected to continue testing until July 3, NBC News reported Tuesday, citing anonymous U.S. officials. The launch occurred while U.S. President Donald Trump was in the region for a series of summits, including a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on resuming trade talks."The relevant report does not match the facts," the Chinese Ministry of National Defense said in a fax to Bloomberg News. It said the drill was a part of its annual training plan organized by the Southern Theater Command.The Chinese statement refers to an exercise "in nearby waters" of Hainan Island, while Pentagon spokesman Dave Eastburn said the missile launch was near the Spratly Islands, roughly 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) south of Hainan in the South China Sea.China asserts control of more than 80% of the South China Sea, overlapping with claims by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan."The Pentagon was aware of the Chinese missile launch from the man-made structures in the South China Sea near the Spratly Islands," Eastburn said in an email earlier this week. "What's truly disturbing about this act is that it's in direct contradiction to President Xi's statement in the Rose Garden in 2015 when he pledged to the U.S., the Asia-Pacific region, and the world, that he would not militarize those man-made outposts."To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Gao Yuan in Beijing at ygao199@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Stanley JamesFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Reports: Deadly airstrike in north Syria kills 13 people Posted: 06 Jul 2019 04:17 AM PDT ![Reports: Deadly airstrike in north Syria kills 13 people]( "Reports: Deadly airstrike in north Syria kills 13 people") A war monitor and first responders group say an airstrike has killed at least 13 people in a village in northwestern Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the dead, most of them internally displaced persons, include seven children and three women. Opposition-allied first responders known as the White Helmets also reported the attack and the casualties.
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| Spy Sub Down: How a Secret Russian Nuclear Submarine Caught Fire Posted: 06 Jul 2019 03:40 AM PDT  A fire broke out on a Russian research submarine earlier this week, killing fourteen sailors in what is Russia's worst submarine disaster since 2008.Russian authorities have remained tight-lipped on the nature of the data being collected by the submarine and the circumstances of the fire. "On July 1, fourteen submariners - sailors died in Russian territorial waters as a result of inhaling combustion products aboard a research submersible vehicle designated for studying the seafloor and the bottom of the World Ocean in the interests of the Russian Navy after a fire broke out during bathymetric measurements," reads the Defense Ministry's press release.As of the time of writing, the Russian government and its official channels have abstained from naming the submarine in question; however, it is widely believed to be the Project 210-- also known as AS-12, with "AS" referring to "nuclear deepwater station"-- Losharik special missions submarine. Losharik is speculated to be a pillar of Russia's deepwater intelligence gathering program, headed by the Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research, or GUGI.Russian President Vladimir Putin has since spoken on the matter, but only to express his condolences. Putin added that the submarine was an "extraordinary" vessel, manned by "a highly professional crew." Seven of the fourteen sailors held the rank of captain and two were "heroes of the Russian Federation" (Russia's highest honorary title), corroborating the speculation that Losharik occupied a high-level role within GUGI.
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| Iran says UK should fear revenge attack on British tanker Posted: 06 Jul 2019 03:32 AM PDT  Iran warned Britain that it "should be scared" that a British ship will be seized in the Gulf in a tit-for-tat retaliation. Tensions continued to rise as a senior cleric renewed the threat of a revenge attack after the Royal Marines boarded a ship taking Iranian oil to Syria in breach of EU sanctions. A general in Iran's Revolutionary Guard had already threatened to seize a British ship on Friday after marines took control of Grace 1, a tanker owned by a Dubai-based company with ties to Tehran, was believed to be carrying two million barrels of crude oil to Syria Bashar Assad's regime. Fears of a reprisal intensified on Saturday when Mohammad Ali Mousavi Jazayeri, a member of the powerful Assembly of Experts clerical body said: "I am openly saying that Britain should be scared of Iran's retaliatory measures over the illegal seizure of the Iranian oil tanker." An editorial in the Kayhan Daily, an Iranian newspaper, said the "UK must be made to regret its seizure of our oil tanker. Those in our government who call for restraint are at best stupid and at worst the fifth column of Britain." For much of Saturday morning all eyes were on a British supertanker stalled for several hours in the Gulf, with many observers fearing it had fallen victim to an attack by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. A ship tracking website showed the Pacific Voyager coming to a halt off the coast of Iran Maritime tracking programs showed the British-flagged Pacific Voyager had stopped in the ocean early in the morning, with its status marked as "not under command." Iran was quick to dismiss "false reports" of a seizure, and it was later confirmed that the ship was merely waiting for access to a Saudi port. But the incident did little to sooth fears in the region. "Given the heightened tension amid the UK and Iran, the unusual trajectory of the tanker so close to Iranian waters was bound to attract attention," said Michelle Bockmann, a commodities shipping analyst and editor at Lloyd's List. Iran has before made many threats about blocking the strait of Hormuz and not followed through. Ms Bockmann described the rhetoric as the "same sabre-rattling category as the bellicose rhetoric emerging from the Trump administration." However, she added: "The risk for any vessel with commercial interests encompassing the US and UK – and its allies – appear much greater for those sailing in the region, and are seen rising al the time." Britain's decision to seize the Grace 1 tanker had provoked fury in Iran, which accused Britain of bowing to US pressure to blockade its oil exports, even summoning the British ambassador to the foreign ministry in Tehran to express "its very strong objection to the illegal and unacceptable seizure" of the 300-meter vessel. "Islamic Iran in its 40-year history has never initiated hostilities in any battles, but has also never hesitated in responding to bullies," Mr Rezai said on Friday. Gibraltar officials however said that it had acted independently and denied seizing the tanker at the request of the US or any other country. 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. The US and Britain have blamed Iran for a series of sabotage attacks against tankers near the Strait of Hormuz in May and June. Addition reporting from Ahmed Vahdat
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| Gut Check: A Good Guide to the Use of Military Force? Posted: 06 Jul 2019 03:30 AM PDT  As expected, the decision to support the strike felt much more difficult when one or more Americans had died.Why did U.S. President Donald Trump recently call off a retaliatory strike against Iran?The answer was proportionality: Trump said the American response to Iran's downing of an American drone should be on a similar scale.That decision, Trump said, came from his "gut."Because the drone was unmanned, Trump said it would be disproportionate for a U.S. strike to result in approximately 150 Iranian deaths, the estimated number of likely casualties.The decision to call off the strike at the last minute may have been the right one. But years of research on valuing human lives, conducted by us and many others, make a compelling case that deciding what is proportional based on gut feelings is a profound mistake.A decision-making process that relies on intuitive feelings, rather than careful deliberation, invites a host of biases that make bad decisions, and disproportional consequences, far more likely.
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| Rome’s Five Star Mayor Gets Trash Ultimatum From Political Rival Posted: 06 Jul 2019 03:16 AM PDT ![Rome's Five Star Mayor Gets Trash Ultimatum From Political Rival]( "Rome's Five Star Mayor Gets Trash Ultimatum From Political Rival") (Bloomberg) -- Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi got a warning from a political rival over the capital's trash crisis.Nicola Zingaretti, president of the Lazio region that includes the capital, told Rome's waste-disposal agency to clean up the city within seven days or he'd create a commission to do the job. Garbage around "sensitive'' sites such as hospitals, schools, markets and restaurants must be removed within 48 hours, Italian newspapers quoted him as saying on Friday.The move is politically charged because Zingaretti is also head of the opposition Democratic Party, while Raggi is a high-profile figure in the populist Five Star Movement led by Deputy Premier Luigi di Maio. Raggi responded by accusing Zingaretti of making "ridiculous promises" and saying he has failed to come up with a waste-management plan for the region in seven years.Raggi is come under increasing pressure for the piles of garbage and overflowing refuse bins that mar the streets of the capital. Il Messaggero published photographs of several locations where Russian President Vladimir Putin would have seen uncollected waste during his ride through Rome on Thursday. Matteo Salvini, head of the League party and Italy's other deputy prime minister, has also clashed with the mayor over the issue.Rida Ambiente, a company that manages Rome's waste, said it can't increase capacity, according to Il Messaggero. It's unclear if the Lazio region has the power to impose a solution on the capital.To contact the reporter on this story: Ross Larsen in Rome at rlarsen2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrew Davis at abdavis@bloomberg.net, Patrick Henry, Andrew BlackmanFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Heatwave Shows Germany Needs More Action on Climate, Merkel Says Posted: 06 Jul 2019 02:49 AM PDT ![Heatwave Shows Germany Needs More Action on Climate, Merkel Says]( "Heatwave Shows Germany Needs More Action on Climate, Merkel Says") (Bloomberg) -- The blistering heatwave that struck Germany and other parts of Europe last month shows the country needs to take further action to protect the environment, Chancellor Angela Merkel said in her weekly podcast."Extreme weather events are becoming more common," Merkel said. "Together we must react to the situation."The increased use of renewable energy, along with efforts to prevent the Earth's temperature from climbing by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (a change of 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), demonstrate that "we're on the right track," Merkel said. "However, we must do more."Meteorologists blamed climate change for sending a blast of air from the Sahara desert into Western Europe. The sweltering heat echoes a sustained drought in 2018 across Germany that halted shipping on the Rhine River, hampered power generation, sparked forest fires and forced the country to import grain for the first time in 24 years.Under the Paris climate accord, Germany has pledged to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 55% by 2030. However, it's falling behind and a cut of only 32% is expected by next year. The government's climate cabinet will decide later this year what measures to take to cut CO2 pollution caused by vehicles and buildings.In her podcast, the chancellor said the government has introduced a program to make towns and cities "greener," and is helping farmers to overcome extreme weather conditions from droughts to torrential rain. Part of the solution is to develop soil and crops that are more resistant to climate change, Merkel said.To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Blackman in Berlin at ablackman@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, James AmottFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Top official says Iran ready for higher uranium enrichment Posted: 06 Jul 2019 02:31 AM PDT |
| Five years into war, Yemen at 'rock bottom' Posted: 06 Jul 2019 02:30 AM PDT  Like most residents of Amran, a strategic gateway to Yemen's capital Sanaa, Mohammed al-Najri thought the capture of his city by Huthi rebels five years ago would not last long. Fifty kilometres (30 miles) north of Sanaa, Amran was taken by the Iran-backed Huthis on July 8, 2014. It was the first major city to fall, in a military campaign that saw the rebels seize vast swathes of Yemen from the internationally recognised government.
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| UPDATE 1-UK should be 'scared' of Tehran's response over tanker, cleric says -Fars Posted: 06 Jul 2019 01:59 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-UK should be 'scared' of Tehran's response over tanker, cleric says -Fars]( "UPDATE 1-UK should be 'scared' of Tehran's response over tanker, cleric says -Fars") Britain should be "scared" about Tehran's possible retaliation for the capture of an Iranian supertanker by Royal Marines in Gibraltar, the Fars semi-official news agency on Saturday reported an Iranian cleric as saying. "I am openly saying that Britain should be scared of Iran's retaliatory measures over the illegal seizure of the Iranian oil tanker," said Mohammad Ali Mousavi Jazayeri, a member of the powerful clerical body the Assembly of Experts.
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| Will Legal Restrictions Prevent Mark Esper from Being Secretary of Defense? Posted: 06 Jul 2019 01:51 AM PDT  It's unclear what happens if we hit the 210-day deadline with no confirmed secretary, and without a nomination sent to the Senate, but the timeline is getting tighter by the day.It's a good thing we're not racing headlong into a war with Iran or some other equally daunting geopolitical catastrophe, because the task of actually filling the Pentagon's top job is starting to look like an increasingly messy task.After Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan withdrew from consideration for permanent secretary, President Donald Trump tapped Army Secretary Mark Esper to take over as his second Acting Secretary of Defense in five months.But unfortunately for both Trump and Esper, a federal law from 1998 puts a number of legal hurdles in their way.
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| Whose Idea Was It to Send 1000 Troops to the Middle East? Posted: 06 Jul 2019 01:46 AM PDT  The latest deployment comes little more than three weeks after the Defense Department dispatched about 900 additional troops to the U.S. Central Command region and extended about 600 service members already there.The Pentagon is sending nearly 1,000 more troops to the Middle East as part of an escalating crisis with Iran that defense officials are struggling to explain.While the U.S. government has publicly blamed Iran for recent attacks on merchant vessels in the Gulf of Oman, not a single U.S. official has provided a shred of proof linking Iran to the explosive devices found on the merchant ships.At an off-camera briefing on Monday, Navy officials acknowledged that nothing in imagery released by the Pentagon shows Iranian Revolutionary Guards planting limpet mines on ships in the Gulf of Oman.U.S. Central Command has identified a boat from which men detached one of those mines as belonging to Iran, but they were unable to say how that was determined. The boat has no distinctive markings and is flying no flag in pictures released by the Pentagon.Yet Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan announced late on Monday that he is sending roughly 1,000 more troops to the Middle East "for defensive purposes to address air, naval, and ground-based threats."
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| Ultimate Weapon? Sanctions on Iran's Supreme Leader Really a Game Changer? Posted: 06 Jul 2019 01:45 AM PDT  Despite the limited reach of the United States to directly affect some areas of the Iranian economy with sanctions, it does have room to add effective secondary sanctions.The United States, reacting to the shooting down of a U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle last week, launched two sanctions-related salvos against Iran on June 24. It layered sanctions on top of those already targeting commanders in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which are unlikely to have more than a limited effect on the Iranian economy. The second set of sanctions, targeting Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his appointees, could bite much deeper than typical sanctions issued by the United States by hampering Iran's engagement with the world and damaging its economy.An Executive Order Lays the GroundworkAn executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump freezes all property subject to U.S. jurisdiction that is held by Iran's supreme leader or the supreme leader's office. In addition, the order allows the U.S. Treasury Department to similarly sanction any person or entity the supreme leader, or his office, appoints, such as a state official or the head of an entity such as a company leader. The order also extends that connection a step further, allowing sanctions to be placed on any appointment made by an appointee of the supreme leader, as well. It also threatens sanctions against anyone who provides support for people or entities sanctioned under those designations.
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| Trump Proposed DMZ Meeting in Letter to Kim Before Visit: Asahi Posted: 05 Jul 2019 08:07 PM PDT ![Trump Proposed DMZ Meeting in Letter to Kim Before Visit: Asahi]( "Trump Proposed DMZ Meeting in Letter to Kim Before Visit: Asahi") (Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump's blitz meeting with Kim Jong Un at the demilitarized zone between the Korean nations on June 30 was planned ahead by the two sides, the Asahi reported, citing unnamed U.S. and North Korean diplomats.Trump suggested the DMZ meeting in a letter to the North Korean leader, which was sent to Pyongyang in June by a senior U.S. official, the Japanese newspaper said. The North Korean side agreed to give a "sign" if the meeting were to go ahead, according to the report.White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed in a statement that month that a letter was sent by the president. Kim said the letter had "excellent content," state media KCNA reported at the time.The day before the summit, while in Japan for the G-20 gathering, Trump tweeted about his willingness to cross the border to meet Kim. He said he "put out a feeler" and that he didn't know where Kim was at the time. Hours later, North Korean diplomat Choe Son Hui called Trump's tweet "a very interesting suggestion." According to Asahi, that was the signal to the U.S.'s special envoy to North Korea, Stephen Biegun, to begin preparations for the meeting.While Trump has met Kim twice before at summits in Singapore and Hanoi, no U.S. president had ever sat down with a North Korean leader at the DMZ. Kim said he was "surprised" by Trump's request to meet, and called the U.S. president's short walk over the demarcation line into North Korea "a very courageous and determined act."To contact the reporter on this story: Pavel Alpeyev in Tokyo at palpeyev@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Cormac MullenFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Williamson warns US elections could become more like Iran's Posted: 05 Jul 2019 07:47 PM PDT ![Williamson warns US elections could become more like Iran's]( "Williamson warns US elections could become more like Iran's") Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson on Friday warned that American elections could become more like voting in countries like Iran. Speaking at a campaign event in Dover, New Hampshire, the author described an "illusion of choice," and criticized the "political media elite establishment. Williamson added: "It's kind of like countries like Iran, where you can vote for whoever you want, among the people that they tell you it's OK to vote for.
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| Trump administration admits that the threat of Huawei spying was enough for a ban Posted: 05 Jul 2019 07:05 PM PDT  It seems the Trump administration has finally explained the rationale for its actions against Huawei that culminated in a sweeping ban of US companies doing business with the Chinese consumer electronics giant. A ban that also led to a series of newsworthy consequences, including FedEx making headlines several times for its confusion over how to handle Huawei-related packages, Huawei acknowledging that its phone sales this year will be off by millions and Google moving to cut off Huawei from Android updates, forcing the Chinese company to ratchet up plans to make a mobile operating system of its own.Huawei is challenging in federal court here the government's ban of the firm, which Huawei says was groundless and that the US has no proof to support its national security concerns. Meanwhile, the government's position, outlined in a new court filing per The New York Times, basically amounts to: So what? More specifically, that even just the potential for Huawei to act as a proxy for China's state security apparatus is reason enough for the US to ban the company's phones and other technology here.Said another way, that a potential end justifies the actual means.Huawei has filed a lawsuit challenging the legislative implementation of the US' Huawei ban, saying that it amounted to Congress passing a so-called "bill of attainder" against Huawei even though such a bill is prohibited. Congress is not supposed to use its power to single out companies or individuals for punishment.In the court filing this week, though, the US claims that the point of the action was not to punish Huawei but instead to keep US consumers safe. Also, per the NYT, the filing says that Congress enacted the Huawei ban because close ties to the Chinese government made "Huawei's products particularly susceptible to the prospective threat of wrongdoing by the Chinese government."Adding even more complexity to this whole thing, President Trump in recent days met with his Chinese counterpart, president Xi Jinping, at the G20 and reportedly backed off the Huawei ban a little. While everyone is still trying to sort out what that means and where the fault lines still lie in this dispute, Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei gave a recent interview to the French publication Le Point, in which he said that notwithstanding any reversal of the actions that led to Google cutting off Huawei, Huawei is still going to press full steam ahead on the mobile operating system it's been working on as an Android replacement.
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| Otto Warmbier's Parents File Claim For North Korean Ship Seized By The U.S. Posted: 05 Jul 2019 06:04 PM PDT  "We are committed to holding North Korea accountable for the death of our son, and will work tirelessly to seize assets," said the dead student's family.
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