| S. Korea says N. Korea fires 2 short-range missiles into sea Posted: 24 Jul 2019 05:35 PM PDT  North Korea fired two short-range missiles into the sea on Thursday, South Korea's military said, the first weapons launches in more than two months as North Korean and U.S. officials struggle to restart nuclear negotiations. A South Korean defense official, requesting anonymity citing department rules, said that the United States analyzed one of the missiles that flew longer than 430 kilometers. Some observers say the North's intentions could be to show the U.S. and others what would happen if diplomacy fails.
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| Trump vetoes congressional effort to block Saudi arms sales Posted: 24 Jul 2019 05:24 PM PDT  President Donald Trump on Wednesday vetoed a trio of congressional resolutions aimed at blocking his administration from bypassing Congress and selling billions of dollars in weapons and maintenance support to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last month cited threats from Iran as a reason to approve the $8.1 billion arms sale to the two U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf, which are enemies of Tehran.
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| North Korea fires two 'projectiles' into sea as talks with US stall Posted: 24 Jul 2019 04:26 PM PDT  North Korea fired at least two unidentified projectiles early on Thursday from its eastern coast, in a sign of its growing impatience with the lack of progress in talks with Washington over its nuclear weapons programme. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the projectiles flew from the eastern coastal city of Wonsan for about 267 miles but gave no other details. It was not known what type of projectiles were fired but past similar launches have involved missiles or artillery. Some analysts speculated that it could be the test of a KN-23, a "quasi ballistic missile." The launch was the first weapons test since Donald Trump, the US president, took a historic few steps into North Korea at its heavily armed border with the South in Panmunjom late last month, and indicates that the unprecedented gesture did not win much capital with Pyongyang. The leaders agreed to resume talks to disarm Kim Jong-un's nuclear and missiles programme, which Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, said would likely begin in mid-July when the two sides had agreed their negotiating teams. However, tensions escalated again last week when North Korea threatened to call off its suspension of its 20-month nuclear and missile tests, and the talks remain deadlocked. The warning pre-empted a planned joint US-South Korea military exercise in August, which it called "a rehearsal of war, aimed at militarily occupying our Republic by surprise attack." A foreign ministry statement said Mr Trump had pledged to suspend the military drills at his first historic summit with Kim Jong-un in Singapore last year, which he reiterated at their short meeting on the border. It added: "With the US unilaterally reneging on its commitments, we are gradually losing our justifications to follow through on the commitments we made," stressing the military drill would also affect talks if it went ahead. North Korea has shown increasing signs of dissatisfaction with the direction of its relations with the US and South Korea since a summit between Kim and President Trump in Hanoi in February ended in failure. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits a submarine factory in an undisclosed location, North Korea Credit: Reuters It also tested weapons in May, including both short-range missiles as well as smaller rockets. At the time, Kim oversaw the first flight of a previously untested weapon - a relatively small, fast missile experts believe will be easier to hide, launch and manoeuvre in flight. On Tuesday, North Korea's state news agency KCNA reported Kim inspected a large, newly built submarine, accompanied by missile programme leaders. It potentially signalled continued development of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) programme. Vipin Narang, a securities professor at MIT, tweeted that "if it is KN-23, it isn't long range and ROK (South Korea) can still call it a "quasi ballistic missile", so Kim can go tit-for-tat with impending exercises while Trump and Moon live in denial." He added: "What it does show..is Trump's trip to Panmunjom may not yet have had its desired effect."
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| Libya says 38 migrants taken to bombed detention center Posted: 24 Jul 2019 04:14 PM PDT ![Libya says 38 migrants taken to bombed detention center]( "Libya says 38 migrants taken to bombed detention center") Libya's coast guard said Wednesday it intercepted around three dozen Europe-bound migrants off its Mediterranean coast and took them to a detention center that was bombed earlier this month. Spokesman Ayoub Gassim said a rubber boat carrying 38 migrants, mostly Egyptians, was stopped on Tuesday off the coast some 65 kilometers, or 40 miles, east of the capital, Tripoli. The United Nations expressed deep concern Wednesday that the new migrants were taken to Tajoura, where the U.N. refugee agency says over 200 refugees and migrants are thought to be detained.
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| N. Korea fires two 'projectiles': South Korean Joint Chiefs Posted: 24 Jul 2019 04:09 PM PDT  North Korea fired two "unidentified" projectiles into the sea on Thursday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, after warnings from Pyongyang over military exercises between Washington and Seoul next month. The North has warned the war games could affect the planned resumption of denuclearisation talks between Washington and Pyongyang.
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| British PM Johnson overhauls cabinet with Brexit hardliners Posted: 24 Jul 2019 03:50 PM PDT  New Prime Minister Boris Johnson named Brexit hardliners to top posts on Wednesday, replacing most of the cabinet after vowing to get a new divorce deal with the European Union or leave without one by October 31. The former London mayor has pledged to break the political deadlock that has left Britain in crisis and forced his predecessor Theresa May to delay Brexit twice. Watched on by his 31-year-old girlfriend Carrie Symonds, the 55-year-old leader said "the doubters, the doomsters, the gloomsters are going to get it wrong again".
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| North Korea launches 2 unidentified projectiles Posted: 24 Jul 2019 03:47 PM PDT  North Korea launched two unidentifiable objects on Wednesday that traveled 267 miles into the Sea of Japan, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff. Two U.S. officials confirmed that North Korea had launched at least one projectile, one of the officials described it as a short range missile. "North Korea today launched two unidentifiable objects at 5:34 and 5:57 am," according to a statement from South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff.
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| Trump in the White House is a national security nightmare – and Mueller knows it Posted: 24 Jul 2019 03:38 PM PDT  Mueller is at his core a moralist and a patriot – and the House intelligence committee knew it as they lured him out of his heavily guarded Fortress of His Own Rectitude 'it is telling that Robert Mueller ... said, in effect, that Donald Trump in the White House represents the essence of a national security nightmare.' Photograph: Susan Walsh/APA word of belated advice for dejected House Democrats: believe Robert Mueller next time he tells you in advance that he would be a terrible and reluctant public witness on legal matters.Appearing before the House judiciary committee Wednesday morning, Mueller was even more buttoned-down than his crisp white shirt. Not only did the former special counsel refuse to read aloud from his own report ("I'm happy to have you read it," he said repeatedly), but a flustered Mueller also failed to remember which president had appointed him to his first major justice department post. (It was Ronald Reagan and not, as Mueller guessed, George HW Bush.)The predictable and sometimes tedious judiciary committee hearing proved that Mueller lacks both the prosecutorial zeal and the performance skills to star in a remake of Watergate. Democrats may still try to make the case that Donald Trump perverted justice, but it is hard to see how Mueller helped their cause with his mantra, "I'm not going to speculate".By the time the hearing ended at lunchtime, it was not safe for impeachment-minded Democrats to pass too close to an open window on a high floor.But then in a dramatic rescue mission, reminiscent of the cavalry riding over the hill in an old-time western, Adam Schiff transformed the political equation as he convened the afternoon hearing of the House intelligence committee, which he chairs.Schiff instinctively understood that Mueller – the straight-arrow marine and former FBI director – is at his core a moralist and a patriot.Playing to an audience of one in his compelling opening statement, Schiff said: "The story of the 2016 election is a story about disloyalty to country, about greed and about lies. Your investigation determined that the Trump campaign – including Donald Trump himself – knew that a foreign power was intervening in our election and welcomed it, built Russian meddling into their strategy, and used it."After describing Trump's panting eagerness for Russian aid as "disloyalty to country", Schiff added a sentence that does not normally pop up in the gospel according to MSNBC: "That disloyalty may not have been criminal … but disloyalty to country violates the very oath of citizenship."An unfortunate legacy of Watergate is that liberals see everything through a legalistic lens. As we get caught up in the technicalities of what constitutes obstruction of justice (the key offense that brought down Richard Nixon), we tend to lose sight of the deliberate Vladimir Putin-spawned conspiracy to undermine western democracy. And we forget the degree to which Trump was – and may well still be – Moscow's willing enabler.> At times in 2016, Trump seemed more passionate about building a Trump Tower in Moscow than he was about winning the White HouseAs the Republicans tried to undermine Mueller by embracing every handy conspiracy theory (somehow they missed the faking of the moon landing), the Democrats on the intelligence committee kept reminding the nation that Trump lied repeatedly about having no business interests in Russia. In fact, at times in 2016, Trump seemed more passionate about building a Trump Tower in Moscow than he was about winning the White House.This set-up the dramatic final round of questioning as Schiff finally lured Mueller out of his heavily guarded Fortress of His Own Rectitude.After discussing the potential for Russian blackmail, Schiff asked Mueller: "So if candidate Trump was saying 'I have no dealings with the Russians' but the Russians had a tape recording, they could expose that, could they not?" And rather than refusing to speculate or retreating back to the wording of his report, Mueller uttered a powerful one-word answer: "Yes."Emboldened Schiff went further as he said, leading the witness: "That is the stuff of counterintelligence nightmares, is it not?" Again, rather than ducking the implications of the question, Mueller replied: "Well, it has to do with counterintelligence and the need for a strong counterintelligence entity."Maybe this soundbite will not play powerfully on television (alas, the current standard for political relevance) since there was no yelling or pointing of fingers. But it is telling that Robert Mueller – a terse and reluctant witness who probably wouldn't speculate about tomorrow's weather – said, in effect, that Donald Trump in the White House represents the essence of a national security nightmare.It is folly to immediately predict the reverberations from the most anxiously awaited congressional hearings of the Trump era. But it would be fitting if Trump – like another strutting autocrat named Napoleon – saw his imperial dreams begin to crumble at the gates of Moscow.
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| North Korea Launches Two Projectiles, South Korea Military Says Posted: 24 Jul 2019 03:31 PM PDT ![North Korea Launches Two Projectiles, South Korea Military Says]( "North Korea Launches Two Projectiles, South Korea Military Says") (Bloomberg) -- North Korea launched at least two projectiles early Thursday from the eastern part of the Korean Peninsula just hours after U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton departed South Korea.A statement from the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff called the projectiles "unidentified" and said that they flew 430 kilometers, or about 267 miles. The statement offered few other details other than to say the projectiles were fired from Wonsan, where North Korea has previously tested missiles.The projectiles seemed to be of similar range as the short-range ballistic missiles launched by North Korea in early May. At that time, U.S. President Donald Trump downplayed their significance, even though the move was in violation of international sanctions, saying "I don't consider that a breach of trust at all."In Washington, a senior administration official said that the White House was aware of the launches, but provided no further comment.The early-Thursday launch occurred less than a month after Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas. The leaders agreed to restart nuclear talks after their hour-long meeting on June 30. During their encounter, Trump became the first American leader to set foot in North Korea while in office."We want to get it right," Trump said of nuclear talks that had been stalled for months since a failed summit with Kim in Vietnam. "We're not looking for speed. We want to get it right."But lower-level talks between North Korea and the U.S. have yet to restart and there's been little progress on the issue of denuclearization since Kim and Trump's first meeting in Singapore more than a year ago.The Thursday launch may also be interpreted as a not-too-subtle message to Bolton, who had just left South Korea following a visit to Japan. Bolton has long been a hawk on North Korea issues.\--With assistance from Justin Sink.To contact the reporter on this story: Jihye Lee in Seoul at jlee2352@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael Shepard at mshepard7@bloomberg.net, John HarneyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Russian opposition leader Navalny jailed for 30 days, as police raid allies' homes Posted: 24 Jul 2019 03:21 PM PDT  Russian police raided the homes of several opposition politicians on Wednesday soon after top Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was sentenced to 30 days in jail, in an apparent bid by authorities to crush a new wave of protest. The latest crackdown on Russia's opposition politicians comes as they fight to get on the ballot for the Moscow parliament elections in September amid falling approval ratings for President Vladimir Putin. More than 22,000 people crowded a Moscow square on Saturday, the largest such demonstration in years, as anger grows over authorities' refusal to put popular independent candidates on the ballot.
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| Johnson Tears Up Cabinet to Drive U.K. Out of EU: Brexit Update Posted: 24 Jul 2019 03:12 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Boris Johnson promoted a succession of pro-Brexit allies to his cabinet, naming Dominic Raab foreign secretary and effective deputy prime minister, and appointing Sajid Javid as Britain's new chancellor of the exchequer. The new prime minister is lining up a completely new team at the top of his government, with 18 ministers -- including the outgoing premier, Theresa May, leaving the cabinet.Key Developments:Jeremy Hunt, Greg Clark, Liam Fox, Penny Mordaunt, James Brokenshire and Damian Hinds are out, joining Philip Hammond, Rory Stewart and David Gauke, who quit earlierBoris Johnson Has Put the Old Brexit Gang Back Together AgainJohnson brings Brother Jo Into His Cabinet (11 p.m.)Johnson has also brought his brother, Jo Johnson – a remainer -- into the cabinet. Jo quit a job as a junior minister in the Department for Transport in November in protest against May's deal, and has argued for a second referendum. He returns to a ministerial role straddling the departments of business and education, and will sit in cabinet. It looks like a return to the universities and science brief he held before moving to transport.Jacob Rees-Mogg Gets His First Job in Government (10 p.m.)Rees-Mogg, 50, is appointed as leader of the House of Commons, moving from the back to the front benches of the chamber. What does that entail? He will be responsible for planning and managing the government's legislative program. It's an important position and he would have a direct line to the chief whip, whose job it is to ensure members of Parliament vote with the government and do not go rogue. That's been a problem for Theresa May for example in her three failed attempts to try and get her Brexit bill through.A cult figure among Conservative Party members, Rees-Mogg, like Johnson, is an Old Etonian and he's also a figurehead for the Tories' staunchest Brexit backers. A father of six, he's admitted to never changing a diaper and he wore suits as an undergraduate at Oxford University. He's supported Johnson from the start and is devoted to the cause: he once posted a video on social media of him teaching his toddler his first word: Brexit.Julian Smith Appointed Northern Ireland SecretaryJohnson appointed Julian Smith as Northern Ireland secretary, succeeding Karen Bradley. Formerly Theresa May's chief whip in the House of Commons, Smith was a key figure behind-the-scenes in trying to build a majority in Parliament for May's Brexit deal. Smith's new role will involve addressing the sensitive issue of the Irish border as part of the Brexit negotiations.Grant Shapps Appointed U.K. Transport Secretary (9:12 p.m.)A former housing and international development minister, Shapps has worked closely with Johnson in recent weeks and helped on his leadership campaign. The 50-year-old stood down from his ministerial role in 2015 after claims he'd ignored allegations of bullying in the Conservative Party.Shapps will be in charge of issues such as whether to expand Heathrow Airport and preparing Britain's transport infrastructure for a potential no-deal Brexit. He replaces Chris Grayling.Johnson to Make Statement to Parliament (8:55 p.m.)The new premier will set out his priorities in a statement to the House of Commons on Thursday, according to an official. On his first full day in charge, he'll chair a meeting of his cabinet before making a statement and taking questions in Parliament later in the day.The official said Johnson plans to complete his cabinet appointments on Wednesday evening, and will then name junior ministers on Thursday.Amber Rudd Stays as U.K. Pensions Secretary (8:44 p.m.)Boris Johnson keeps Rudd in her role. Formerly Home Secretary, Rudd was one of the most high-profile pro-EU members of Theresa May's government, until she had to resign in 2018 over failures in immigration policy. She was brought back as Pensions Secretary, and revived her opposition to a no-deal Brexit. The 55-year-old has since cooled on that stance, saying she now accepts the option as part of the government's negotiating strategy.Andrea Leadsom Gets Business Secretary Post (8:30 p.m.)An ardent advocate of Brexit, Leadsom made it to the final pair in the 2016 Tory leadership contest, before dropping out. In the 2019 battle, she was knocked out in the first round.Leadsom served Theresa May as environment secretary and Leader of the House of Commons, delivering reforms in the latter role. She quit when May offered Parliament a chance to vote for a second Brexit referendum. The 56-year-old worked in financial services before entering politics. She replaces Greg Clarke.Culture, Technology Job Goes to Nicky Morgan (8:27 p.m.)Morgan becomes Britain's secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport.A former Education Secretary who was sacked by May in 2016, Morgan is currently the chair of Parliament's Treasury Select Committee. Despite backing Remain, Morgan has recently worked on compromise efforts to get a Brexit deal through the House of Commons.Gavin Williamson Becomes Education Secretary (8:24 p.m.)It was a fast comeback for a man who was sacked as defence secretary less than three months ago.Williamson has been a key member of Johnson's team since leaving government, after an internal inquiry found he'd leaked sensitive information.Before he moved to defence, he was an effective chief whip, who maintained the government's relationship with its Democratic Unionist Party allies.Villiers Is Named Environment Secretary (8:10 p.m.)A former Northern Ireland secretary, 51-year-old Theresa Villiers campaigned for Britain to leave the EU. Part of her job will include helping farmers and the U.K.'s food industry prepare for a potential no-deal Brexit. She replaces Michael Gove.10 Downing Street made the announcement, like the others, on Twitter.Matt Hancock Is Named Health Secretary (8 p.m.)Hancock stays on as Britain's health secretary, 10 Downing Street said in a statement.The 40-year-old, who ran for the Tory leadership but pulled out after slim support in the first round, first rose on the coat-tails of his old boss, former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne. He supported Remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum. Despite their differing approaches to Brexit, Hancock endorsed Johnson after quitting the leadership race, saying he was the best candidate to unite Britain.Truss Gets International Trade Job (7:25 p.m.)Liz Truss, who was chief secretary to the Treasury under Theresa May, has been appointed to Liam Fox's old job as International Trade Secretary.Tasked with readying the U.K. for new free-trade deals after Brexit, Truss is a Thatcherite who co-authored a 2012 book which claimed British workers are among the world's most idle.Some of her public appearances have attracted mockery, such as during a 2014 speech to the Conservative annual conference when she said: "We import two thirds of our cheese. That. Is. A. Disgrace." Truss grew up in a left-wing household in Yorkshire, northern England, before rebelling and joining the Tories.Johnson Appoints Ally-Turned-Rival Gove (7:10 p.m.)Johnson appointed Michael Gove, the man who sabotaged his bid for the leadership in 2016, as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the job held by David Lidington under Theresa May.The former journalist has a complicated relationship with Johnson. They worked together at the top of the Brexit referendum campaign, and Johnson appointed Gove to manage his first leadership bid. Gove then turned on Johnson and launched his own bid.In this year's contest, Gove supporters accused Johnson of getting his revenge by lending support to Jeremy Hunt to ensure that Gove was kept out of the final two. The 52-year-old has been Education Secretary, Justice Secretary, Chief Whip and Environment Secretary.Stephen Barclay Stays as Brexit Secretary (7 p.m.)In a piece of continuity with the old regime, Stephen Barclay will stay as Brexit Secretary, Downing Street said.Barclay took up the position in November 2018, after his predecessors David Davis and Dominic Raab resigned over Theresa May's Brexit approach.Raab Is Foreign Secretary and Deputy PM (6:58 p.m.)Johnson picked Dominic Raab -- the former Brexit secretary and leadership candidate -- to be Britain's new foreign secretary and first secretary of state, making him Johnson's effective deputy.Knocked out in the second round of voting in the Conservative leadership election, Raab is a former Brexit secretary who resigned in protest at May's draft deal to leave the EU. A prominent Brexit campaigner during the 2016 referendum, the 45-year-old is a karate black belt and trained as a lawyer.Priti Patel Returns to Become Home Secretary (6:48 p.m.)Johnson made his ally, the prominent Brexit backer Priti Patel Britain's home secretary, in charge of policing and domestic security. It is a spectacular return to the front-line for Patel.The 47-year-old had to resign as international development secretary in 2017 after it emerged that she'd held a series of off-the-record meetings with Israeli government officials during her summer vacation. Her role as home secretary will make her one of the most powerful Britons of Asian heritage.Johnson Names Sajid Javid Chancellor (6:43 p.m.)Johnson appointed the former home secretary Sajid Javid as his new Chancellor, succeeding Philip Hammond. A onetime managing director of Deutsche Bank AG, Javid will be tasked with managing the economy through Brexit.The 49-year-old becomes the first ever ethnic minority minister to run the Treasury and the first since Norman Lamont in the early 1990s to have worked in the finance industry.Read more: Sajid Javid Picked to Steer the British Economy Through BrexitIreland's Varadkar Tells Johnson to Get Real (6:30 p.m.)Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar delivered a blunt message to Boris Johnson: Get real.In an interview with broadcaster RTE, he said "any suggestion a whole new deal can be negotiated in weeks or months is not in the real world." European leaders have no plans to meet before October, Varadkar added."Confidence and enthusiasm is not a substitute for a European policy," Varadkar said. He told the broadcaster that he's confident the U.K. Parliament would block a no-deal Brexit -- an indication that Ireland feels little pressure to water down the contentious border backstop.Mundell Joins The Backbench Awkward Squad (6:15 p.m.)Sacked Scotland Secretary David Mundell made clear that he's not going to go quietly after he was sacked by Johnson and will "hold him to account" from the backbenches.Mundell's tweet suggests he's set to join former Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond and former Justice Secretary David Gauke in the backbench awkward squad of former ministers.Hunt Says He's Leaving Government (6 p.m.)Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has quit the government, saying Boris Johnson offered him a different role which he turned down."I would have been honored to carry on my work at the FCO but understand the need for a new PM to choose his team," Hunt said on Twitter. "Now is the time to return to the backbenches from where PM will have my full support."Johnson Clears-Out May's Ministers (5:35 p.m.)Boris Johnson's cabinet reshuffle is shaping up to be a comprehensive clear-out of Theresa May's most senior ministers as he prepares a radically new team to deliver on his election pledges.Trade Secretary Liam Fox, Business Secretary Greg Clark, Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt, Communities Secretary James Brokenshire and Education Secretary Damian Hinds have all announced their departures on Twitter. U.K. media also reported that Transport Secretary Chris Grayling and Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley are also out of the top team.May's de facto deputy, David Lidington, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, Justice Secretary David Gauke and International Development Secretary Rory Stewart all resigned earlier Wednesday before May had left office and before they could be sacked.Clark and Fox out as Johnson Builds Cabinet (5:00 p.m.)Trade Secretary Liam Fox and Business Secretary Greg Clark have both confirmed they're leaving the cabinet, as Boris Johnson continues building his team of top ministers.Johnson "is right to appoint a new team for a new premiership and I wish him and them well for the vital work ahead," Clark tweeted.Fox, for his part, tweeted that he's "sadly" leaving the government. "I look forward to supporting @BorisJohnson and the government from the backbenches," he wrote.Defence Secretary Mordaunt Leaves Government (4:45 p.m.)Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt is leaving the government, she said in a posting on Twitter, without saying if she'd jumped or been pushed."I'm heading to the backbenches from where the PM will have my full support," Mordaunt said. "Thank you to everyone who's helped me get things done, especially our Armed Forces and civilians in defence for the last 85 days. We achieved much."A Royal Navy reservist and daughter of a paratrooper, Mordaunt was the first woman to serve as armed forces minister and entered the Cabinet as international development secretary last year. She was promoted to Defence Secretary in May.Johnson Pledges Free Ports Amid Crime Warnings (4:10 p.m.)Johnson said during his speech that he will create tax-free zones – also known as free ports – which were singled out as a potential money-laundering risk in a report published by the European Commission on Wednesday.The ports were originally intended as a place to keep goods temporarily on EU soil, but have become popular as a place to store art and other valuables on a permanent basis, according to the study."This is something we have to focus more on," Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova told journalists earlier on Wednesday.Johnson Promises to Get Ready for No-Deal (3:55 p.m.)Turning to Brexit, Johnson promised "a new partnership with our European friends" but insisted he would get the country ready to leave the bloc without a deal in October if necessary.Johnson repeated the guarantee of residency rights to three million EU citizens to give them "absolute certainty.""I am convinced we can do a deal without checks at the Irish border because we refuse under any circumstances to have such checks," he said. "It is of course vital at the same time that we prepare for the remote possibility that Brussels refuses any further to negotiate and we are forced to come out with no deal."Johnson Says Brexit Critics Are 'Wrong' (3:50 p.m.)Boris Johnson promised to deliver Brexit on Oct. 31 "no ifs or buts." In a speech outside the prime minister's Downing Street office, he said this would involve reaching "a new deal, a better deal" with the European Union."The doubters, the gloomsters, the doomsters are going to get it wrong again," he said. "Never mind the backstop, the buck stops here.""I have every confidence that in 99 days we will have cracked it," Johnson said. "We aren't going to wait 99 days. The time has come to act. To take decisions. To give strong leadership and change this country for the better."Palace Makes Official Statement of Appointment (3:46 p.m.)And it's official. Shortly after Johnson left, Buckingham Palace released its statement:"The Queen received in Audience The Right Honourable Boris Johnson MP this afternoon and requested him to form a new Administration. Mr Johnson accepted Her Majesty's offer and kissed hands upon his appointment as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury."Boris Johnson Appointed Prime Minister (3:45 p.m.)Johnson left Buckingham Palace after meeting Queen Elizabeth II and being asked to form a government. He is expected to make a speech when he returns to the prime minister's residence at 10 Downing Street.Boris Johnson Held Up by Protesters (3:08 p.m.)A group of red-clad environmental protesters formed a human chain across the Mall, the road leading up to Buckingham Palace, to block Johnson's motorcade as he approached his meeting with Queen Elizabeth II.The activists were bundled away by police and Johnson went in for his meeting with the monarch, at which he will be appointed prime minister. Greenpeace later said in a statement that it was responsible for the protest, which was to draw attention to climate change.May Formally resigns As Prime Minister (3:05 p.m.)Buckingham Palace released a short statement confirming Theresa May's resignation as prime minister:"The Right Honourable Theresa May MP had an Audience of The Queen this afternoon and tendered her resignation as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury, which Her Majesty was graciously pleased to accept."Now it's Boris Johnson's turn to meet the monarch.May's Parting Shot to Johnson (2:30 p.m.)Theresa May's final words contained what could be a hidden warning for her successor. Johnson must deliver Brexit, she said, "in a way that works for the whole U.K."Having rejected a no-deal Brexit herself, it's clear May doesn't think that would qualify. A light moment came when she was interrupted by a heckler yelling: "Stop Brexit!" May paused: "I think not." Her husband Philip joked: "it wasn't me."Elsewhere in her short speech, May offered her support to Johnson. "I wish the government he will lead every good fortune in the months and years ahead," she said. "This is a country of great aspiration and opportunity and I hope every young girl who has seen a woman prime minister now knows for sure that there are no limits to what they can achieve."May Leaves Downing Street Office for Last Time (2:25 p.m.)Theresa May called for a "national renewal" as she left her Downing Street office for the last time as prime minister.She spoke to reporters before heading to Buckingham Palace to resign to Queen Elizabeth II. She said she would advise the monarch to appoint Boris Johnson as prime minister.Lidington Says He's Quitting Front Bench (2:15 p.m.)David Lidington, Theresa May's defacto deputy, said he will step back from frontline politics when the prime minister resigns to the Queen on Wednesday afternoon."After 20 yrs on the front bench it's the right moment to move on," Lidington said. "I shall do all I can to help new govt secure a deal to allow an orderly departure from the EU," he said in a posting on Twitter.In a line that may spell difficult for Johnson in the future he added: "I'm now relishing the prospect of speaking and campaigning freely."Stewart Adds to Cabinet Exodus (1:55 p.m.)Rory Stewart, who was a surprise success in the votes among MPs as they whittled down the list of candidates for the Tory leadership, quit as international development secretary, joining Justice Secretary David Gauke and Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond in leaving before Boris Johnson announces his cabinet.All three rejected Johnson's call for a no-deal Brexit to be kept on the table in negotiations with the EU, saying that it would be catastrophic for the U.K. economy.Gauke made his position clear in his resignation letter. "Given Boris's stated policy of leaving the EU by 31 October at all costs, I am not willing to serve in his Government," he wrote. "I believe I can most effectively make the case against a no deal Brexit from the backbenches."Labour Holding Fire on No-Confidence Vote (1:45 p.m.)A Labour spokesman repeated the party's position that it will call for a vote of no-confidence in the government when it sees the best chance of success, rejecting suggestions there won't be enough time for such a step when Parliament returns from its summer vacation.The spokesman added that Labour is in touch with rebel Conservative MPs to discuss ways of preventing a no-deal Brexit.Hammond Quits as Chancellor of the Exchequer (1:30 p.m.)Philip Hammond resigned as chancellor of the exchequer -- making good on his promise to do so before Boris Johnson becomes prime minister.Hammond said he bequeaths his successor "genuine choices" once a Brexit deal is done, between increased public spending, reducing taxes, higher investment or faster debt reduction."After a decade when the aftermath of the 2008-09 recession meant we had no choices, this is a luxury which our successors should use wisely," said Hammond, who has criticized Johnson's spending plans during his leadership campaign.Speculation sees Javid at Treasury, Raab FCO (12:45 p.m.)Both the Times and ITV suggest that Home Secretary Sajid Javid will be appointed chancellor of the exchequer and former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab as foreign secretary in Boris Johnson's cabinet, without saying where they got the information.The Times also suggests Environment Secretary Michael Gove may be appointed as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Johnson's de facto deputy and Priti Patel as home secretary.May Calls on Corbyn to Resign (12:15 p.m.)Theresa May closed her final parliamentary exchanges with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn with a call for him to resign, needling at his running disputes with his own members of Parliament."As a party leader who has accepted that her time was up, perhaps the time is now for him to do the same," May said. Corbyn had earlier called for Boris Johnson to call a general election.May 'Pleased' To Hand Over to Johnson (12:05 p.m.)Theresa May said she is "pleased" to hand over to Boris Johnson when she resigns as prime minister on Wednesday afternoon."I'm pleased to hand over to an incoming leader of the Conservative Party and prime minister who I worked with when he was in my cabinet and who is committed as a Conservative... to delivering on the vote of the British people in 2016 and delivering a brighter future for this country," May told MPs in the House of Commons in her final session of prime minister's questions.May said she will continue as MP for Maidenhead after she resigns as prime minister and will back Johnson. "My successor will continue to deliver the Conservative policies that have improved the lives of people up and down this country," May said. "I look forward from the backbenches to giving my full support."Who Are Boris Johnson's New Advisers? (11:15 a.m.)Edward Lister, known as Eddie, (see 10:30 a.m.) is described as "cool, calm and efficient" by Teresa O'Neill, who sat on the board of Homes England with him. As chief of staff to Johnson as London mayor, Lister was known as "Steady Eddie," and was responsible for making structural changes to smooth operations.By contrast, the mercurial Dominic Cummings does not mince his words. He described Brexit as a "train wreck" and said triggering Article 50 -- the divorce process with the EU -- too soon was like "putting a gun in your mouth and pulling the trigger."The appointment of Cummings, who directed the Vote Leave referendum campaign, will be seen as a commitment to leave the EU by Oct 31. Even so, Cummings is a divisive figure, who was found in contempt of Parliament.Cummings, Frost, Lister to Advise Johnson (10:30 a.m.)Former Vote Leave director Dominic Cummings, Edward Lister and former diplomat David Frost will be joining Boris Johnson's top team as senior advisers, according to two people familiar with his plans.Frost, who worked with Johnson when he was foreign secretary, will be his adviser on the European Union, the people said. Lister was chief of staff to Johnson as mayor of London.Johnson to Appoint Cummings as Adviser: BBC (9:40 a.m.)Dominic Cummings, the director of Vote Leave during the 2016 Brexit referendum, is expected to become senior adviser to incoming Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg said in a tweet, without saying how she obtained the information.Cummings, played by Benedict Cumberbatch in a recent television drama, is known for his combative style, and was found in contempt of Parliament this year for refusing to answer lawmakers' questions about targeted online advertising during the 2016 Brexit campaign.He was previously an adviser to Cabinet minister Michael Gove, who along with Johnson, was the public face of the Vote Leave campaign.While the appointment -- if confirmed -- would further bolster the pro-Brexit credentials of Johnson's administration, it also risks a potential conflict with the Tory party's anti-EU caucus. Cummings has called the European Research Group "useful idiots" for the Remain campaign to keep the U.K. in the EU.Duncan Smith: 'One Last Shot' at Regaining Trust (9:20 a.m.)Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith said Parliament and especially his party has "one last shot" at regaining the trust of voters by delivering Brexit by Oct. 31, warning that the Brexit Party is ready to take advantage if it doesn't happen."The truth is that Nigel Farage is sitting in the wings with the Brexit Party, and I think they will be rubbing their hands with glee at the thought of the U.K. not leaving on October 31st," Duncan Smith told the BBC on Wednesday.It's a reminder of the difficulty Boris Johnson is likely to face as he tries to unite the Tories to deliver Brexit. Sticking to the Oct. 31 deadline to appease Brexiteers including Duncan Smith will further alienate prospective rebels on the pro-EU wing of the party.Irish PM Set to Speak to Johnson in Coming Days (9 a.m.)Irish European Affairs Minister Helen McEntee told RTE radio that Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and his incoming British counterpart, Boris Johnson, are expected to speak by phone in the coming days. McEntee also said a no-deal Brexit would be catastrophic for the U.K."I think the intention is for the Taoiseach to speak to him as soon as possible, whether that's a phone call later today or tomorrow, or the next few days," she said.Hancock Rules Out Tory Electoral Pact With Farage (8:30 a.m.)Cabinet minister Matt Hancock -- who is hoping to serve in Boris Johnson's new administration -- ruled out an electoral pact with Nigel Farage, after the Brexit Party leader told Sky News there was a "possibility" of a deal."There is no way we are going to have any kind of electoral pact with the Brexit Party, with Nigel Farage," Hancock told BBC radio. "I don't want to see an early election, Boris doesn't want to see an early election."The Conservatives currently have a single-figure governing majority that includes the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party, and an election may be the only way to break the parliamentary stalemate over Brexit. In theory, the Brexit Party could agree not to run candidates in key Tory districts, as long as Johnson keeps his promise to leave the EU by Oct. 31."Theresa May told us 108 times we were leaving on March 29 and we didn't, so just because Boris says we're leaving on the 31st October doesn't mean we're going to," Farage told Sky. "There is a possibility of an electoral pact but we would need to believe them, and at the moment that's not very easy."Earlier:Johnson Seeks to Build Team to Deliver Brexit as Revolt LoomsBoris Johnson Needs to Get Serious for Britain: EditorialU.K. Plc Urges Johnson to Soften 'Hugely Worrying' Brexit StanceBrexit Bulletin: Team Johnson\--With assistance from Thomas Penny, Dara Doyle, Peter Flanagan, Caroline Alexander, Alexander Weber, Kitty Donaldson and Robert Hutton.To contact the reporters on this story: Joe Mayes in London at jmayes9@bloomberg.net;Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net;Kitty Donaldson in London at kdonaldson1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Thomas PennyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Turkey: Belarusian diplomat shot and wounded by neighbor Posted: 24 Jul 2019 02:54 PM PDT ![Turkey: Belarusian diplomat shot and wounded by neighbor]( "Turkey: Belarusian diplomat shot and wounded by neighbor") Turkish officials say a diplomat from Belarus was shot by a neighbor who later committed suicide. Ankara Gov. Vasip Sahin says diplomat Alexander Poganshev was taken to a hospital to undergo surgery after being attacked by a retired military officer in the Turkish capital Wednesday.
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| Trade War Spurs Recession Risk in Singapore Posted: 24 Jul 2019 02:00 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The U.S.-China trade war is threatening to drag export-reliant Singapore into a recession and aggravating underlying risks facing the former tiger economy.Singapore's economic data have gone from bad to worse this month. Exports slumped to their second-worst rate since the global financial crisis, the purchasing managers index slipped into contraction for the first time since 2016, and the economy shrank the most in almost seven years in the second quarter.After spending much of early 2019 enjoying relative resilience, a recession is now looming. That's a warning shot for regional and global economies, since Singapore's heavy reliance on trade makes it somewhat of a bellwether for the rest of Asia.The severity of the slump may be down to trade tensions and a global slowdown, but Singapore has been grappling with longstanding economic threats that have been slowly eroding the city state's growth potential: rapid aging, labor market shrinkage, and sluggish productivity among them. Those risks will become more acute for policy makers now."Any undue turbulence or prolonged stresses from the trade war are only going to compound the challenges of all the other issues -- productivity, demographics, anything else," said Vishnu Varathan, head of economics & strategy at Mizuho Bank Ltd. in Singapore. "External demand concerns will be at the top of the list for now, because if you don't get that one right it's that much more difficult to solve everything else."Singapore remains one of the most export-reliant economies in the world, with trade equivalent to 326% of GDP, according to World Bank data. That puts the city state at the center of the storm stirred up by its top two trading partners sparring over tariffs.The shock GDP figures earlier this month prompted some analysts to downgrade their Singapore forecasts for the year to below 1%. The government is set to revisit its own 1.5%-2.5% range next month, but for now, it's remaining calm, seeing no recession for the full year.What Bloomberg's Economists Say..."Barring a swift rapprochement in U.S.-China trade relations, our forecast for a 0.2% year-on-year contraction in Singapore in 2019 remains on course.The government has ample firepower to cushion the blow, but it may not be enough to avoid a recession."-Tamara Henderson, Asean economistThe slump is largely contained so far to manufacturing, which makes up about a fifth of the economy, but could soon spread to other sectors such as retail and financial services. That increases the risk of job losses at a time when businesses like International Business Machines Corp. are already laying off workers and banks such as Nomura Holdings Inc. cut staff.The number of retrenched workers in Singapore rose to the highest in more than a year in the first quarter, though the unemployment rate has remained fairly steady at 2.2% amid a recovery in construction.While those cyclical headwinds buffer the outlook, policy makers are also grappling with structural impediments to growth.Faced with a rapidly aging population, the government has been on an aggressive campaign to re-skill its labor force and prepare workers for a postponed retirement. The median age is set to rise to 46.8 years in 2030 from 39.7 in 2015, faster than the other top economies in Southeast Asia as well as the world as a whole, according to United Nations projections.Tied to its rapid aging is Singapore's productivity conundrum.As the labor pool shrinks and gets older, the city state's answer to the productivity challenge has been to automate and digitize. With an ambition to become a "Smart Nation," the government has poured money and energy into digitization projects of all kinds, from helping seniors fine-tune smartphone skills at digital clinics to attracting financial technology giants to set up shop and test their ideas.It's that technological advancement, along with its world-beating infrastructure and efficiency, that continues to make Singapore attractive to businesses like Dyson Ltd., the U.K. manufacturer that picked the city state for its location to build its first electric cars. It's also a reason why officials are confident Singapore can meet its foreign investment targets for this year."They're saying the right thing, doing the right thing," said Edward Lee, chief economist for South and Southeast Asia at Standard Chartered Plc in Singapore, who has penciled in 1% growth for 2019. "Retraining, ongoing structural reforms on the labor side -- those are the right things."\--With assistance from Cynthia Li.To contact the reporter on this story: Michelle Jamrisko in Singapore at mjamrisko@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net;Malcolm Scott at mscott23@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| The Great Purge: Boris Johnson Culls Cabinet to Make His Brexit Mark Posted: 24 Jul 2019 01:28 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Boris Johnson executed a brutal clear-out of more than half of his predecessor's top team, installing supporters in key roles as the new prime minister signaled his intent to deliver Brexit in 99 days.In total, 18 of the 29 ministers who sat in Theresa May's cabinet on Wednesday morning were out of their jobs by the evening. There were top jobs for Sajid Javid, who was named chancellor of the exchequer, Priti Patel, who becomes home secretary, and Dominic Raab, the new foreign secretary.It sent the unequivocal message that Johnson wants to stamp his authority and change the direction of government. But although the new cabinet has a much more hard-Brexit flavor, the ejection of so many ministers could have a paradoxical effect.Johnson has now stacked the back benches of the House of Commons with Conservative members of parliament who owe him nothing and won't support a no-deal Brexit, a policy the new prime minister reiterated on Wednesday that he wanted to keep on the table. If he is indeed serious about no-deal, Johnson will have to find a way to sideline Parliament -- or change its make-up by calling an election.Shortly after visiting Buckingham Palace, where Queen Elizabeth II formally appointed him the U.K.'s new leader. Johnson's convoy swept through the gates of Downing Street past a small crowd of pro- and anti-Brexit protesters, who chanted loudly as he delivered his first address outside the door to Number 10.He promised to take Britain out of the European Union on Oct. 31, declaring he will get the country ready for the "remote" prospect of a no-deal Brexit if it's the only way to leave the bloc on time."The doubters, the doomsters, the gloomsters -- they are going to get it wrong again," Johnson said. "We are going to fulfill the repeated promises of Parliament to the people and come out of the EU on Oct. 31, no ifs or buts, and we will do a new deal, a better deal."The 55-year-old faces an enormous challenge to deliver on that promise, hemmed in by the clash between his own pledge to renegotiate the deal secured by May and the EU's stance that the agreement is non-negotiable.Johnson insisted the economy would be ready for a no-deal Brexit if necessary. "The ports will be ready, the banks will be ready, the factories will be ready, business will be ready," he said. "The British people have had enough of waiting. The time has come to act."The premier has put his one-time nemesis, Michael Gove, in charge of those Brexit preparations, alongside his former aide Dominic Cummings. When the three men were last working together, on the 2016 Leave campaign, they turned the country upside down.Now Cummings and Gove have the chance to deliver a revolution in the way the government functions -- something both men have long yearned for.After his address, Johnson headed to Parliament, where in his office behind the chamber, away from the cameras, he conducted a swift succession of firings. One of the ministers told that his services were no longer required confided afterward that he'd felt sorry for Johnson having to give so much bad news so quickly after taking office.Others had little time to feel bad for the man bringing their careers to a halt. Penny Mordaunt, Defence Secretary for less than three months, was stunned, according to a person familiar with her thinking. Johnson told her there was no room for her in the cabinet, without further explanation.Jeremy Hunt, who Johnson defeated to become prime minister, had hoped stay on as foreign secretary. Just before 6 p.m., he walked out of Parliament with his wife, to say goodbye to his officials. In a tweet, Hunt said it was time for him to be "GOOD DAD" to his three kids.Johnson then headed back to 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's official residence, to begin giving the good news. Appointees to his Cabinet would get the glory of walking past the cameras up to the front door.Javid was in first, then Patel, then Raab. As well as being named foreign secretary, the former Brexit secretary was appointed first secretary of state, a title normally reserved for the premier's deputy. Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay was one of the few ministers to stay in his post; Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd did so too.Liz Truss, who had heavily hinted she wanted to be made chancellor, was named trade secretary; Ben Wallace was put in charge of defense. Andrea Leadsom moved to the Business Department.On the terrace of Parliament, overlooking the Thames, those who had left their jobs sipped beer and Pimms and accepted commiserations, while those hoping to be summoned for promotion clutched their phones.In his speech in Downing Street, the new premier pledged to take "personal responsibility for the change I want to see."\--With assistance from Robert Hutton.To contact the reporters on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net;Joe Mayes in London at jmayes9@bloomberg.net;Kitty Donaldson in London at kdonaldson1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Flavia Krause-Jackson, Caroline AlexanderFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Investigation into illicit abortions prompted after no girls born in 132 Indian villages Posted: 24 Jul 2019 12:47 PM PDT  Authorities in India's northern Uttrakhand state are investigating whether sex-selective abortions were carried out in 132 villages in one of its 13 districts, where not a single girl was born since April. The investigations follow official revelations that among 216 births over the past three months in Uttarkashi district, 250 miles northeast of New Delhi, all were boys. The district administration has marked these villages as a 'red zone', and instituted a team of 25 officials to investigate abortions of female foetuses, a practice that was banned in 1994 but continues unabated. "We have identified areas where the number of girl childbirth is zero or in single-digit numbers" said Uttarkashi district magistrate Ashish Chauhan, adding that the authorities were monitoring these areas to examine what was affecting the ratio. Kalpana Thakur, a women's rights activist and social worker however, claimed that the statistics in these villages clearly indicated the prevalence of female foeticide. "It cannot be just a coincidence" she said, " as it clearly indicates female foeticide is taking place in the district and the administration is not doing anything to prevent it". India has a long history of female infanticide: of baby girls poisoned, suffocated, drowned, starved or simply abandoned and left to die. India's last population census in 2011 revealed a skewed sex ratio of 943 girls for every 1,000 boys, which studies show has since dropped to 896 girls. A United Nations report in 2014 said the dwindling number of girls in India had reached 'emergency proportions' and was primary cause for the exponential rise in the number of rapes and other sexual crimes against women in the country. Traditionally girls are considered a liability, as expensive dowries have to be paid at their weddings, while boys are seen as assets for carrying the family name and being allowed to perform important Hindu rites. Activists said many families want only boys, and keep aborting unborn daughters until they get a son. "It's a primeval instinct which legislation cannot change" said Seema Mustafa of the Centre for Policy Analysis in New Delhi. Meanwhile, a 'bride crisis' is afflicting the northern states of Punjab and Haryana, where thousands of young men are failing to find brides following decades due to a shortage of women. Some families have started importing brides from poorer states in the hope that they will produce male offspring.
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| Dominic Raab: Karate kid flies into UK Foreign Office Posted: 24 Jul 2019 12:05 PM PDT  Britain's new Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is a karate-loving hardcore eurosceptic who has rapidly chopped his way to the top of British politics. Raab had a rocky three months as Britain's Brexit minister last year, quitting in November saying Theresa May's doomed divorce deal offered Brussels too many concessions. During his stint, Raab went viral on social media for admitting that he "hadn't quite understood" the economic importance of the port in Dover -- which handles 17 percent of Britain's entire international trade.
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| Officials: Disturbed man grabs police gun, wounds 3 in Cairo Posted: 24 Jul 2019 11:41 AM PDT ![Officials: Disturbed man grabs police gun, wounds 3 in Cairo]( "Officials: Disturbed man grabs police gun, wounds 3 in Cairo") A disturbed Egyptian man snatched a gun from a policeman in Cairo and opened fire at passers-by on Wednesday, wounding at least three people, security officials said. The officials said the incident took place outside a busy bus station a few miles from the city's central Tahrir Square, the symbol of the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Egypt has battled Islamic militants for years in the Sinai Peninsula in an insurgency that has at times spilled over to the mainland, striking security forces, minority Christians and occasionally tourists.
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| Pentagon chief aims to ensure safe passage in Persian Gulf Posted: 24 Jul 2019 11:32 AM PDT  The U.S. military intends to protect American commercial ships against Iranian threats in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz but will not provide naval escorts in every case, the newly installed defense secretary said Wednesday. The aim of the U.S. naval and air presence in the Gulf area is to deter Iran from threatening to stop or seize any American commercial ship, Mark Esper told reporters on his first full day as Pentagon chief. Esper, who previously served as the Army's top civilian official, was confirmed by the Senate and sworn at the White House on Tuesday, ending a seven-month absence of a confirmed defense secretary.
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| Sudan's army chief among several arrested in new coup plot Posted: 24 Jul 2019 11:08 AM PDT  Sudan's army chief was among several people arrested in a coup plot, the country's military said Wednesday, shortly after reports emerged of at least a dozen high-ranking army officers and Islamists being taken into custody in the conspiracy. This was the second coup plot reported this month in Sudan, where talks between the military and the country's pro-democracy movement have dragged out over the final and crucial part of a power-sharing deal for the nation's transitional period. Earlier in July, the military council that took over the country after ousting longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir in April, said it arrested at least 16 active and retired military officers over an attempted coup.
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| Six dead and Mogadishu mayor wounded in blast at his office Posted: 24 Jul 2019 11:06 AM PDT  Six people were killed and the mayor of Mogadishu wounded in a bombing at the mayoral offices in the Somali capital, the government said on Wednesday, in an attack claimed by Al-Shabaab jihadists. United Nations special envoy James Swan had met the mayor, Abdirahman Omar Osman, and left just before the blast at the headquarters of the Banadir district, which encompasses Mogadishu, according to the mission's Twitter account. "Six people, including two district commissioners and three directors, were killed in the terrorist attack this afternoon," Information Minister Mohamed Abdi Hayir Mareye told reporters.
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| Deaths as bomber detonates in Mogadishu mayor's office Posted: 24 Jul 2019 10:15 AM PDT  A suicide bomber walked into the office of Mogadishu's mayor and detonated explosives strapped to his waist, killing six people and badly wounding the mayor minutes after a visit from the new United Nations envoy, Somali officials said Wednesday. The attack claimed by the al-Shabab extremist group occurred after the envoy to Somalia, James Swan, paid the mayor a "courtesy call" and left the compound, an official at the mayor's office told The Associated Press. The U.N. mission in Somalia in a tweet before the bombing posted photos of the smiling mayor and envoy, saying Swan had received an overview of the "challenges" in the region.
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| Italy PM faces Russia cash questions after Salvini refusal Posted: 24 Jul 2019 10:13 AM PDT  Italian premier Giuseppe Conte on Wednesday tried to answer parliament's questions about an alleged bid by Matteo Salvini's League party to broker covert Russian funding after the far-right minister refused. Interior Minister Salvini, an admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin who has denied taking Moscow's money, called a national security council meeting that coincided with the timing of the Senate's Russia questions. The anti-immigrant League's coalition partner the Five Star Movement (M5S), which was elected on a strong anti-corruption platform, boycotted the session over Salvini's refusal to attend.
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| With a Bang, Israel’s Explosive Politics Move Into Palestinian Territory Posted: 24 Jul 2019 10:06 AM PDT  Anadolu Agency/GettyDARSALAH, West Bank—The bulldozers came early to Wadi Hummus, the whimsically named hamlet in Sur Baher, a neighborhood in southeastern Jerusalem. They rumbled in slowly Monday at 6 a.m., and immediately their maws began to carve huge chunks out of buildings, most of them partially built. The din of the de-construction was heard far and wide, and activists embedded on-site to protest the demolition activity said that two hours earlier they'd seen soldiers place explosive charges in the vicinity of a multi-story building, so a big bang was anticipated as journalists assembled.In point of fact, Gal Berger, a veteran Palestinian affairs correspondent for the Kan News broadcaster, chided his Israeli colleagues for suddenly paying so much attention to something that "happens every week." But this operation is set against the backdrop of an ugly election campaign as right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu struggles not only to keep his office but to avoid criminal indictments. A hard line against Palestinians will be seen as a plus by some in his base. After the Netanyahu Fail, What Is Trump's Israel-Palestine Solution? Let Others Pick Up the PiecesAnd with these demolitions, Israel was destroying structures located in the West Bank's Area A, which is defined under the Israeli-Palestinian Oslo Accords as exclusively administered by the Palestinian Authority. In a statement, Israel's Civil Administration, which is in fact the Israeli army department responsible for civilian life in the West Bank—which has been under Israeli military occupation since the war of 1967—said the demolition of 12 "illegally constructed" buildings and two foundations fell in an area "under an injunction prohibiting building signed by the Central Command on the outskirts of Sur Baher in close proximity to the security fence."The reference is to a 2011 military order prohibiting construction within about 300 yards of Israel's security barrier, which went up after a succession of terror attacks in 2002. Israel claims the buildings in question were erected after 2014. The demolitions followed an Israeli Supreme Court ruling accepting the army's contention that the buildings, including those in Palestinian-administered territory, constituted "a security danger to the area of the security fence."On Monday, there was no access to the actual site of the Wadi Hummus demolition, an Israeli army operation supported by military police, and, beyond the official statement, no information was available from Israeli authorities. In turn, spokespeople for the Israel Defense Forces, the police, the military police and the civilian administration claimed not to be responsible for the task. Official sources varied in the number of buildings affected by the demolition order, but most of the structures were uninhabited. Only two families were physically displaced.As Iran-U.S. Tensions Rise, Hezbollah Readies for War With IsraelThe entire undertaking could be seen and heard from a few hundred feet away, across the "security fence," which U.S. President Donald Trump has extolled as a wall, but which, in the segment that slices through Wadi Hummus, is in fact merely a dusty road flanked by fairly loose barbed wire fencing along each side. At about 8 a.m., Khaled Abu Mahmid, a middle-aged attorney clad in a plain black suit, stood on a neighbor's balcony and surveyed the ruins of the home he'd built just on the Palestinian side of the road-acting-as-fence, in the small town of Darsalah.Until Monday morning, he resided in the four-story dwelling with his wife and four children, one of whom is a married son who lived in the multi-family unit with his own wife and three young children. Abu Mahmid, a West Bank Palestinian, held to a lawyerly argument. "The Israeli high court's decision to destroy the home is not a legal decision. It is political, because the home was built in 2008, before the security road was built."His home was in Area B, which, following Oslo, is under Palestinian civil control and joint Israeli-Palestinian security control. Area C, 61 percent of the West Bank, is fully under Israeli control. Nobody—not Abu Mahmid, not the Israeli representatives—mentioned the fact that the Palestinian Authority, the undisputed sovereign of Area A, and the civilian authority in Area B, had no role in Israel's internal debate about the right of the buildings to stand.Whenever Abu Mahmid's home was built, no one disputes one thing: the buildings demolished on Monday are interspersed among other preexisting buildings unquestionably built prior to 2011, at equal distance from the security road, and their continued presence does not, apparently, constitute a substantial threat.Accompanying Abu Mahmid was Khaled el-Khatib, the mayor of Darsalah, a town located in Bethlehem's administrative district, who said "we gave them the approval to build, through the Palestinian local government." It is almost impossible for Palestinian residents of east Jerusalem to receive building authorizations from Jerusalem city hall. Speaking to the Israeli daily Haaretz, Aviv Tatarsky, a researcher for the left-wing Ir Amim advocacy group, said "residents who didn't want to build without a permit sought a creative solution and were granted construction permits from the Palestinian Authority to build in areas A and B, where Israel has no authority concerning construction plans."Israel's "insistence to prevent this solution is a very cruel act," he added. Asked where he would sleep that night, Abu Mahmid glanced at the rubble and turned away, for once overcome.For Jamal Darawy, chairman of the Bethlehem district's eastern sector, "The main reason for demolishing is to weaken the Palestinian Authority, to show the world that we are not good enough to have a state."He scoffed at the contention the Sur Baher homes posed a threat to Israeli security as "a fake reason," pointing out that Arabs live on both sides of the security road, and Israelis, in any event, remain free to "continue guarding with their cameras and their border police units." "Actually," he said, "these homes are no danger to any Jews or Israelis or any human being." No terror attacks have originated in Wadi Hummus. Asked why the homes in the neighborhood were judged a security threat, military police spokesman Baruch Honig said "the state of Israel does not wait for a terror attack to take place before acting."At about 7 p.m., Nizar Amer, the acting spokesman for Israel's foreign ministry, tweeted that "Israel has the full right to demolish the illegal buildings adjacent to the security fence in Sur Baher. This was carried out following a High Court of Justice ruling that these constructions constitute a security danger to Israeli civilians. This is a deliberate provocation by the Palestinian Authority. Those who knowingly built illegal houses took the law into their own hands."About an hour later, a video started making the rounds of Israeli and Palestinian WhatsApp groups, showing an Israeli Border Police officer embracing a soldier, turning around for a smiling selfie and exulting "mazal tov!" as, behind them, an unfinished multi-story building in Wadi Hummus was detonated, neatly crumpling floor by floor. The video was taken at 7:30 p.m., police spokesman Honig said, and was "congratulatory at the conclusion of a 17-hour operation in intense heat." 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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| Iran's president hints at quid pro quo for seized UK ship Posted: 24 Jul 2019 10:04 AM PDT  President Hassan Rouhani suggested on Wednesday that Iran might release a U.K.-flagged ship if Britain takes similar steps to release an Iranian oil tanker seized by the British Royal Navy off Gibraltar earlier this month. It's unclear how the new government will respond to Rouhani's suggestion or the impasse with Iran. "We do not seek the continuation of tension with some European countries," Rouhani said in comments carried on his website.
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| UPDATE 1-U.S. sees European maritime security effort in Gulf as 'complementary' Posted: 24 Jul 2019 10:03 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-U.S. sees European maritime security effort in Gulf as 'complementary']( "UPDATE 1-U.S. sees European maritime security effort in Gulf as 'complementary'") KABUL/WASHINGTON, July 24 (Reuters) - The United States believes a proposed European initiative to bolster maritime security in the Gulf would complement ongoing U.S. efforts there instead of being a "stand-alone" operation, the top U.S. general said on Wednesday. Washington in June first proposed some sort of multinational effort open to all allies and partners to bolster maritime security in the Gulf after accusing Iran of attacking oil tankers around the Strait of Hormuz, a critical maritime chokepoint between Iran and Oman.
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| The Latest: Iran diplomat warns Brazil over 2 stranded ships Posted: 24 Jul 2019 09:49 AM PDT  Iran's ambassador says Tehran will reconsider imports from Brazil if it continues to refuse to refuel two Iranian vessels stranded there. Seyed Ali Saqqayian was quoted by Iran's semi-official Fars news agency as saying Wednesday Iran could easily find new suppliers of corn, soybeans and meat. Iran's Foreign Ministry hasn't commented on the issue of the two Iranian vessels, one reportedly loaded with corn, stranded at a Brazilian port due to lack of fuel.
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| UPDATE 1-With a swipe at "gloomsters", UK PM Johnson promises a bold new Brexit deal Posted: 24 Jul 2019 09:49 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-With a swipe at "gloomsters", UK PM Johnson promises a bold new Brexit deal]( "UPDATE 1-With a swipe at \"gloomsters\", UK PM Johnson promises a bold new Brexit deal") Boris Johnson launched his premiership with a pledge to do a bold new Brexit deal with the European Union by Oct. 31, rebuking "gloomsters" and the political class who he said had forgotten the people they should serve. Johnson took office on Wednesday, replacing Theresa May who stepped down having failed to deliver Brexit or implement many of the reforms she promised when taking office in 2016.
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| Boris Johnson Vows to Get a Better Brexit Deal or Leave EU Without One Posted: 24 Jul 2019 09:34 AM PDT ![Boris Johnson Vows to Get a Better Brexit Deal or Leave EU Without One]( "Boris Johnson Vows to Get a Better Brexit Deal or Leave EU Without One") (Bloomberg) -- Boris Johnson became British prime minister on Wednesday and immediately declared he will get the country ready for the "remote" prospect of a no-deal Brexit if it's the only way to leave the European Union on time.Shortly after visiting Buckingham Palace, where Queen Elizabeth II formally appointed him the U.K.'s new leader, Johnson's convoy swept through the gates of Downing Street past a small crowd of pro-EU and pro-Brexit protesters, who chanted loudly as he delivered his first address outside the door to Number 10.Johnson insisted the British economy would be ready for a no-deal Brexit if necessary. "The ports will be ready, the banks will be ready, the factories will be ready, business will be ready," he said. "The British people have had enough of waiting. The time has come to act."Johnson faces an enormous challenge to deliver on that promise, hemmed in by the clash between his own pledge to renegotiate the deal secured by Theresa May and the EU's stance that the agreement is non-negotiable. His determination to leave without a deal if the EU won't co-operate puts him on course to collide with members of Parliament, who have voted repeatedly against such an outcome.Johnson insisted he could get a better deal from the EU. "I am convinced we can do a deal without checks at the Irish border because we refuse under any circumstances to have such checks," he said. "It is of course vital at the same time that we prepare for the remote possibility that Brussels refuses any further to negotiate and we are forced to come out with no deal."The new premier was keen to show his administration will have priorities beyond the U.K.'s European divorce. He announced promises to increase schools funding and "fix the crisis in social care," while pledging to take "personal responsibility for the change I want to see."Johnson also made various pro-enterprise promises. It was an overture to corporate Britain designed to show he is on their side, despite his widely-reported comment to an EU ambassador: "F*** business."On Wednesday, he pledged lower taxes on capital investment and research, new road and rail infrastructure, plus full-fiber broadband. He said he wanted to free the U.K.'s bio-science sector from anti-genetic modification rules, and for the U.K. to develop its own satellite systems.To contact the reporters on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net;Joe Mayes in London at jmayes9@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Stuart BiggsFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Mueller testimony: Democrats extract little from former special counsel as partisan war over Russia report clouds hearings Posted: 24 Jul 2019 09:20 AM PDT  The pattern as to what would unfold over the three and half hours of Robert Mueller's first appearance answering questions about his investigation into whether Donald Trump was the Muscovian candidate for the White House, became clear early on.The former special counsel was not going to give a loquacious account of his findings to fire up the cause of impeaching Trump, the information had to be prised out with patience by the Democrats from often monosyllabic answers. The Republicans were not going to dwell on the two-year inquiry's conclusions damaging to their president, but focus on the beginning of 'Russiagate', much of which took place in London, including the dossier produced by former MI6 officer Christopher Steele.The most damning testimony against Trump came within minutes of the House judiciary committee session beginning at Room 2141 of the Rayburn House Office Building at Capitol Hill. Mueller dismissed Trump's claims that he had been " totally exonerated" by the inquiry. "It is not what the report said, the president was not exculpated for the acts that he allegedly committed" he said. As well as issues of obstruction, the Special Counsel's investigation, he stressed, had discovered a huge Russian plot to manipulate the election which brought Trump to power and that Kremlin believed that Trump would be more favourable to its interests than rival Hillary Clinton.Mueller also went on to say that although Justice Department guidelines stated that sitting presidents could not be indicted, that immunity ends when they leave office. This confirmation came from an early question by Ken Buck, a Republican; a swift, and very important, own goal.The Republican congressmen, in response, went on attacks on multiple fronts --- from questioning Mueller's integrity, his supposed lack of legal knowledge to the main thrust of their case, the origins of the investigation. They portrayed Trump as a victim of persecution, a latter day Dreyfus, with many of them wanting to zoom in on the origins of the investigation. They threw around, with abandon, names like Mifsud, Papadopoulous, Downer, Simpson – names which those of us who have followed this story for a long time may have known, but would have meant little to the general public.The construct of their case was that it was a triple, or possibly quadruple, sting by Western intelligence agencies and also factions of anti-Trump, so by extension anti-Putin, Russian intelligence officers. These Moscow operatives, according to a particularly florid Republican member of the panel, Jim Jordan, a strong Congressional ally of Trump, may have deliberately planted on Steele the material in his report to sabotage Trump's election prospects.There is a strategy behind this. Sean Hannity of Fox News, a Trump consigliere, had, according to reports, been tutoring the Republican congressmen to take this approach and try and pin the blame on the "deep state" of entrenched bureaucrats that Trump believes is ruining his presidency . William Barr, the recently Trump appointed attorney general who has been accused of trying to misrepresent the Mueller report and give the President a clean bill of health, has launched a FBI investigation into the Russia investigation at the behest of Trump and right-wing Republicans.Questioned on these issues by the Republicans, Mueller pointed out that he could not answer as there was a separate FBI investigation under way. The campaign to show there a grand conspiracy will continue, with Donald Trump Jr tweeting: "In other words 'I will not answer questions as to how Democrats tried to overthrow the duly elected President of the United States in the greatest hoax ever perpetrated'. The whole thing started with the BS dossier and he won't address it? What a sham."Faced with Mueller's refusal to read from his report, the Democrats guided the former special counsel through what it had said. There was plenty to go on—Trump's efforts to have Mueller fired and ordering White House counsel Don McGahn to do so; his attempts to pressurise Attorney General Jeff Sessions; Trump's orders to his staff to falsify records, Trump's refusal to be questioned face to face by Mueller's team despite being told that this was vital to the inquiry.Mueller, who had served as a Marine in Vietnam before a distinguished career in law, was sometimes hesitant in his answers, but unruffled facing the more hostile questioning, only becoming combative briefly in defending his staff against charges of partisanship from the Republicans.Towards the end, Ted Lieu, a Democrat, got Mueller to reiterate that the only reason that Trump was not indicted was because he is a sitting President. As the hearing ended a number of senior Democrats --- Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Beto O'Rourke --- were calling for impeachment proceedings to begin. Although in front of the House intelligence committee later, Mueller corrected himself and said that the sitting president policy prevented him from making any determination on whether the president should be charged.But there is a degree of regret among Trump's many critics that Mueller had not followed up some lines of inquiry on collusion with the Russians, had not subpoenaed Trump to give evidence under oath and had been more clear in his report on legal and constitutional avenues open to pursue the president's alleged obstruction of justice.The hearing heard, once again, Trump's despairing cry when told by Jeff Sessions that a Special Counsel has been appointed: "Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm f*****." The President, for the time being at least, has survived that fate.
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| Boris Johnson Could Be The Next Churchill If He Delivers A Favorable Brexit Deal For The U.K. Posted: 24 Jul 2019 09:16 AM PDT ![Boris Johnson Could Be The Next Churchill If He Delivers A Favorable Brexit Deal For The U.K.]( "Boris Johnson Could Be The Next Churchill If He Delivers A Favorable Brexit Deal For The U.K.") Boris Johnson, Member of Parliament representing Uxbridge and South Ruislip, has been elected as the new Conservative Party leader after winning comfortably by a margin of 45,497 votes against rival Jeremy Hunt. Apart from the bombastic speeches, a general disdain towards immigrants from the developing world, and an impossible-to-ignore physical likeness, the two also seem to vociferously undermine the spirit of the EU – a trait that will have a lasting impact on the future of the U.K. In the context of Brexit, Johnson has always been in the thick of things.
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| With a swipe at "gloomsters", UK PM Johnson promises a bold new Brexit deal Posted: 24 Jul 2019 09:00 AM PDT ![With a swipe at "gloomsters", UK PM Johnson promises a bold new Brexit deal]( "With a swipe at \"gloomsters\", UK PM Johnson promises a bold new Brexit deal") Boris Johnson launched his premiership with a bid to do a bold new Brexit deal with the European Union by Oct. 31, rebuking "gloomsters" and the political class who he said had forgotten the people who they should serve. Johnson took office on Wednesday, replacing Theresa May who stepped down having failed to deliver Brexit or implement many of the reforms she promised when taking office in 2016.
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| Boris Rebranded: The Making of Britain’s Prime Minister Posted: 24 Jul 2019 08:52 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- In a luxury hotel in the heart of one of London's most expensive neighborhoods, Boris Johnson celebrated his victory in the race to become U.K. prime minister on Tuesday night.Gathered with his team at the reception in Brown's Hotel in Mayfair, he and guests swapped stories of the six-week contest over salmon mousse and sausages on sticks. They toasted the triumph with glasses of premium rosé champagne. The entertainment was a magician performing card tricks.But the most spectacular act of wizardry had already taken place: the transformation of a politician derided as a failure 12 months earlier into the most powerful man in Britain.This story is based on conversations with parliamentarians, advisers and ministers and shows how Johnson convinced his skeptical colleagues to put their faith in him. Now he needs to maintain that support if he's going to survive as prime minister and deliver his promises to negotiate a better Brexit deal.In truth, the public face of the Brexit campaign was always popular with grassroots party members desperate to get out of the EU. But he faced one persistent question: was he popular enough among the 300 or so Conservative members of Parliament to be elected to lead them? A media star with a gift for comedy, Johnson won fame and fans among the British public in a way few politicians ever achieve. But the people's touch never before had translated into acceptance among his peers in the Westminster.The point was made vividly during the leadership election after David Cameron quit in 2016 following the referendum to leave the EU. Johnson couldn't even convince his own campaign manager and Brexit ally, Michael Gove, that he would make a good prime minister. Gove stood as a rival himself, citing his conviction that Johnson was simply not up to the job.A year ago, Johnson was at one of the lowest points in his career. He had just resigned from Theresa May's cabinet in protest at her Brexit policy. He had given up his prestigious role of foreign secretary to wage a campaign against the deal May was proposing with the EU. He said it would bind Britain indefinitely to European trade rules and undermine the whole point of leaving the bloc of 28 countries.Read More: The Rivalry Shaping British PoliticsIn the corridors and cafes of the U.K. Parliament during the summer of 2018, Johnson often cut a solitary figure. His hands would be stuffed into his pockets, shoulders hunched, as he shuffled through the atrium on his own or with a loyal friend.When he stood up in the House of Commons chamber to make a speech on Brexit, few MPs in the room paid him any attention in the bitterly divided parliament. His record at the Foreign Office had been marred with gaffes. It was a lonely time, according to one of Johnson's allies.But Johnson, 55, played the long game. He worked on a strategy with a few trusted allies, including Lee Cain, his media aide, and Conor Burns, the MP who had served as his parliamentary bag-carrier.Another key figure in Johnson's career was also on the phone with him daily: Lynton Crosby, the Australian election consultant who delivered him two terms as London mayor and helped win general elections for Cameron in 2015 and Scott Morrison in Australia this year.Between them, Johnson and his supporters decided their man must keep a low profile. Let the world forget he exists so he can rebuild his brand from the ground up. He set out policy positions beyond Brexit in his weekly column for the Daily Telegraph newspaper, and worked to persuade his colleagues that he could be disciplined, serious and trustworthy.Johnson turned to James Wharton, a former Tory MP as his campaign coordinator, to help win friends in the House of Commons. Wharton set up a tight schedule of 15-minute meetings for Johnson and individual MPs so the candidate could gather their views and sell his credentials as the man who could defeat Labour's Jeremy Corbyn and the Tory nemesis, Brexit hard liner Nigel Farage. Johnson was put on a fitness regime, with a diet to lose weight, a new haircut and smarter suits.Two more recruits to Johnson's campaign were key. Grant Shapps, the former Conservative Party chairman, who knew Crosby from the 2015 Tory general election campaign, and Gavin Williamson, who May fired as defense secretary.Williamson brought experience organizing MPs as the government's former chief whip, but Shapps had a different weapon: a sophisticated spreadsheet on which he had mapped all his Tory colleagues and their leadership preferences.Before he agreed to join Johnson's campaign team, Shapps demanded that the candidate promise to work on the MPs who his data showed were vital. Johnson was as good as his word. He would hold face-to-face meetings with 16 Tory MPs every day, before going home to make dozens of calls in the evenings and at weekends, reinforcing his message to his colleagues.Williamson would then marshal an army of 78 handlers who would follow up with the MPs to check whether they were moving to support Johnson, sticking with a rival, or still undecided. The handlers fed back the answers through WhatsApp, and Shapps – who received advice from Crosby – crunched the numbers.The other key figure in Johnson's team was his girlfriend, Carrie Symonds. A former Tory aide, Symonds knew the discipline that would be needed and kept Johnson focused. She would take a list of 40 or 50 MPs home and make sure Johnson called every one of them, as he'd promised to do.All this preparation meant that when May quit and the leadership campaign formally began in early June, Johnson was ready. The duo of Shapps and Williamson took on the work of marshaling MPs to vote for their man."I came to the view that he's the most trusted person to deliver Brexit, which is obviously the important issue of the day," said Tory MP and minister Rishi Sunak. "He has a track record of delivery – not only winning elections, which he has done, on numerous occasions but also delivering in government," he said. "That was the package."Inside the campaign, secrecy was key. Wharton banned Shapps from sharing the results of his survey of MPs with Johnson. In early June, however, Shapps met Johnson in private and revealed he was going to win at least 105 votes, enough to guarantee him a place on the ballot of party members.On June 12, the night before the first vote among Tory MPs, Johnson was desperate for an update. "Come on Grant, tell me," he said. Shapps gave him a low estimate of 108 votes of the 313 MPs eligible for the ballot.As the voting unfolded the following day, the Johnson team's data became increasingly sophisticated. Shapps was eventually able to predict exactly that Johnson would win 114 votes during that first round of the contest before the result was declared.From the start, Johnson's team wanted to take on Jeremy Hunt in the final two. They believed Hunt was the weakest of the rival candidates and would go down badly with the membership. In the final round of voting, some MPs suggested Johnson's backers switched to support Hunt to ensure he went through and Home Secretary Sajid Javid was knocked out."I think there's more churn than the average washing machine," said Trade Secretary Liam Fox, a Hunt supporter.Perhaps the most valuable endorsement for Johnson was the support he had from the uncompromising pro-Brexit European Research Group of Conservative MPs. Steve Baker and Jacob Rees-Mogg, who organize the ERG, united their colleagues behind Johnson's campaign.Maintaining that support will be vital if Johnson is to keep the job he just won. Key to that will be following through on his promise to exit the EU by the deadline of Oct. 31 – with or without his new deal."We have at last got our man where we want him," Baker said. "What he has pledged I expect him to stand by."\--With assistance from Robert Hutton, Kitty Donaldson, Thomas Penny, Stuart Biggs and Caroline Alexander.To contact the authors of this story: Tim Ross in London at tross54@bloomberg.netJess Shankleman in London at jshankleman@bloomberg.netAlex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson at fjackson@bloomberg.net, Rodney JeffersonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Swedish owner of tanker seized by Iran says crew 'safe' Posted: 24 Jul 2019 08:36 AM PDT  The Swedish company that owns the UK-flagged oil tanker seized by Iran said Wednesday it had finally been able to contact its crew being held on board and they declared themselves "safe". Stena Bulk said in a statement that the ship's captain "advised that everyone was safe with good cooperation with the Iranian personnel onboard". Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized control of the Stena Impero tanker last Friday as it was navigating through an international passage in the middle of the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow chokepoint at the entrance of the Gulf.
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| London Chamber of Commerce says CEO Frost moving to UK government Posted: 24 Jul 2019 08:26 AM PDT ![London Chamber of Commerce says CEO Frost moving to UK government]( "London Chamber of Commerce says CEO Frost moving to UK government") The London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) said Chief Executive David Frost has stood down to take up a new position in Boris Johnson's government, adding that it had no doubt he would be a key asset in the next stage of Brexit negotiations. "David's diplomatic, international trade and business experience is extensive. LCCI has no doubt he will be a key asset to the UK in the next stage of the Brexit negotiations," the Chamber's chairman, Jeff Adams, said.
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| New UK PM Johnson says Brexit on October 31 'no ifs or buts' Posted: 24 Jul 2019 08:19 AM PDT Newly-installed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday promised to deliver Brexit on October 31, "no ifs or buts", and prove wrong "the doubters, the doomsters, the gloomsters". Speaking outside his new Downing Street office, Johnson -- who spearheaded the "Leave" campaign in the 2016 Brexit referendum -- promised to do a "new deal" with Brussels. After being formally appointed by Queen Elizabeth II, Johnson set out his mission statement, insisting that the vote to leave the European Union must be respected.
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| U.S. sees European maritime security effort in Gulf as 'complementary' Posted: 24 Jul 2019 08:12 AM PDT ![U.S. sees European maritime security effort in Gulf as 'complementary']( "U.S. sees European maritime security effort in Gulf as 'complementary'") The United States believes a proposed European initiative to bolster maritime security in the Gulf would complement ongoing U.S. efforts there instead of being a "stand-alone" operation, the top U.S. general said on Wednesday. Washington in June first proposed some sort of multinational effort open to all allies and partners to bolster maritime security in the Gulf after accusing Iran of attacking oil tankers around the Strait of Hormuz, a critical maritime chokepoint between Iran and Oman. Britain called this week for a European-led naval mission to ensure safe shipping through the strait after Iran seized a British-flagged tanker, raising questions about whether the U.S. initiative would move ahead separately.
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| Israel welcomes US vote against boycott movement Posted: 24 Jul 2019 08:03 AM PDT  Israel on Wednesday welcomed a U.S. congressional resolution opposing the Palestinian-led boycott movement against Israel, while Palestinians said the decision was a blow to human rights and free speech. The House of Representatives passed the resolution by a 398-17 margin on Tuesday, rejecting the boycott movement and its efforts to target U.S. companies that do business with Israel. The BDS movement promotes boycotts, divestment and sanctions of Israeli institutions and businesses in what it says is a nonviolent campaign against Israeli abuses against Palestinians.
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| Johnson’s Acerbic Brexit Guru Wants a Political Revolution Posted: 24 Jul 2019 07:27 AM PDT ![Johnson's Acerbic Brexit Guru Wants a Political Revolution]( "Johnson's Acerbic Brexit Guru Wants a Political Revolution") (Bloomberg) -- Dominic Cummings, the director of the 2016 campaign to get Britain out of the European Union, is one of the most acerbic and divisive figures in British politics. His appointment as one of Boris Johnson's senior advisers could signal a radical shake-up in Westminster.Cummings was made famous outside political circles earlier this year when he was portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch in a TV drama about the referendum campaign. It captured his eccentric manner and his often difficult relationships with more conventional political figures.It also showed how, in the months before the referendum, pro-Brexit members of Parliament, who regarded him as a maverick, tried to have him fired. He regarded them as harmful to their own cause.Since the referendum, he has retreated from public politics, offering only the occasional blog post, often thousands of words long, setting out his views about government, technology and educational systems, but especially on why he believed the government was making a mess of Brexit.His tone was often contemptuous: Brexit Secretary David Davis was "thick as mince, lazy as a toad and vain as Narcissus." Pro-Brexit MPs were "useful idiots" who spent their time "spouting gibberish."In 2018 he described Theresa May's approach to Brexit as a "surrender" and said that Article 50 -- the divorce process with the EU -- was triggered too early, akin to "putting a gun in your mouth and pulling the trigger.'' He said the success of Brexit won't be known for decades, and tweeted in 2017 that there are "possible branches of the future'' where leaving will have been an error.Cummings's main thesis is that Britain's system of government is "systematically dysfunctional" and designed to keep the U.K. as closely tied to the EU as possible. He's called for a radical shake-up of Whitehall, saying Brexit cannot be delivered without it.Nigel Farage, another key figure in the referendum and current leader of the Brexit Party, said the move was a good appointment."He's putting in place people who believe in Leave," Farage said on BBC TV Wednesday. But the Brexit Party leader added that he needs to "find out where Dominic stands on a second referendum," which Farage opposes, and that the most important appointments will be those including Brexit secretary, foreign secretary and Northern Ireland secretary.The 48-year-old Cummings, who worked as a special adviser to Environment Secretary Michael Gove when he was Education Secretary, was also found in contempt of Parliament in March for refusing to answer MPs' questions during an investigation into fake news.(Updates with Farage comment from eighth paragraph.)\--With assistance from Kitty Donaldson.To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Mayes in London at jmayes9@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Robert Hutton, Thomas PennyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Iran Warns Brazil Over Stranded Ship Barred From Refueling Posted: 24 Jul 2019 07:07 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Iran has threatened to cut its imports from Brazil unless it allows the refueling of at least two Iranian ships stranded off the Brazilian coast, a sign of the global repercussions of U.S. sanctions on the Islamic republic.Iran's ambassador in Brasilia, Seyed Ali Saghaeyan, told Brazilian officials on Tuesday that his country could easily find new suppliers of corn, soybeans and meat if the South American country refuses to permit the refueling of the vessels. Brazil exports around $2 billion to Iran a year, mostly commodities like corn, meat and sugar. Tehran buys one third of all Brazil's corn exports.While corn shipments to Iran jumped over 30% last year compared to 2017, other agricultural exports items fell, according to Brazil's government data. Beef shipments to Iran declined 38% and sugar tumbled 84% in the same period."I told the Brazilians that they should solve the issue, not the Iranians," Saghaeyan said in a rare interview at the Iranian Embassy in Brasilia. "If it's not solved, maybe the authorities in Tehran may want to take some decision because this is a free market and other countries are available."State-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA refuses to supply the ships -- which have been floating for over a month off the port of Paranagua, about 450 kilometers (280 miles) south of Sao Paulo -- due to the risk of U.S. sanctions. Petrobras has said it was a business decision and other companies could sell fuel to the vessels. Without the fuel, the ships carrying Brazilian corn are unable to return to Iran. While Brazil has a long history of good relations with Tehran, President Jair Bolsonaro's commitment to ripping up the country's traditional foreign policy has put those ties in doubt.As a strong supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, Bolsonaro warned exporters of the risk of trading with Iran, adding that Brazil sides with the U.S. on its policy toward the Middle East country."We are aligned to their policies. So we do what we have to," Bolsonaro told reporters this week.To resolve the stand-off, Iran is considering sending fuel to the stranded ships, although this option would take longer and prove costly, Saghaeyan said."Independent and big countries like Brazil and Iran should work together without interference from any third party or country," he added. Saghaeyan has requested a meeting with Brazil's foreign minister, Ernesto Araujo, but has yet to receive an answer.Brazil's foreign office said in a statement it's working with the court that will rule on the ships. It added that the case has been filed under seal. (Updates with Brazil's exports to Iran in third paragraph.)To contact the reporters on this story: Samy Adghirni in Brasilia Newsroom at sadghirni@bloomberg.net;Sabrina Valle in Rio de Janeiro at svalle@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Juan Pablo Spinetto at jspinetto@bloomberg.net, Bruce Douglas, Walter BrandimarteFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Turkey not satisfied with US proposal for Syrian safe zone Posted: 24 Jul 2019 07:05 AM PDT  Turkey on Wednesday slammed a new U.S. proposal for a so-called "safe zone" in northern Syria, saying it was "not satisfactory" and warning that Ankara may launch a new offensive to secure its border if an agreement isn't reached soon. According to Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, U.S. envoy James Jeffrey and other U.S. officials held talks with Turkish officials in Ankara about Syria, including the setting up of a safe zone along the Turkey-Syrian border.
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| 'Faux guacamole' raises alarm for taco lovers as avocado prices soar Posted: 24 Jul 2019 07:05 AM PDT  High avocado prices have forced some taquerias to substitute squash in their guac recipes – and it's hard to tell the differenceThings are not always what they seem. Photograph: Cristina Baussan/APFrom horsemeat labeled as beef to tilapia passed off as grouper, fraud has long plagued the food world. Now, taco lovers are crying foul over the discovery that their guacamole might not be what is seems.First uncovered on social media and reported in Chilango, the magazine that covers Mexico City, some taco stands in Mexico are substituting "calabacitas" – a bright green mexican squash – for pricier avocados in the famous dip. Once boiled and blended up with a holy combination of ingredients – tomatillo, cilantro, garlic and jalapeno – it can be hard to tell the difference.> ¿Que edad tenían cuando se enteraron que la salsa de 'aguacate' de los puestos de tacos no tiene aguacate sino calabacita cocida que le da el color y la textura? �� pic.twitter.com/cy7ZhwaZ4x> > — Karligrafia �� (@Karligrafia) July 4, 2019No one knows how long the guac bait-and-switch has been going on, and it likely isn't just limited to taquerias in Mexico.Some side-by-side testers at LA Taco declared the squash sauce just as tasty, with a hint of sweetness. But for other taco lovers, something just isn't right. The faux-guac doesn't have the same chunky consistency ideal for dunking chips, even if it does make a convincing stand-in for the drizzly avocado sauce that eaters dab onto juicy meat- or cheese-covered tortillas.The reason behind the substitution is likely the soaring price of the beloved avocado. "Basically, the prices have gone up significantly over the last year," says Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada.That's due to a poor crop last year in Mexico that many are still paying for – wholesale prices have doubled and retail prices have tripled, Charlebois says. Rising border trade tensions are also forcing up prices. In addition, the crop in California was low, due to last summer's devastating heat wave in central and southern California, which slowed down the trees' blooming. "As the world gets hotter, we'd expect more viruses and problems with the crop," says Charlebois.At the same time, the demand for the fruit is going up. From toast to tacos, avocados are everywhere. No diet discriminates against avocados – not vegans, vegetarians, keto diet followers or omnivores, Charlebois points out. "Everyone eats avocados," he says.According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, the amount of agricultural land dedicated to growing avocado around the world grew from 381,000 hectares in 2006 to 564,000 hectares in 2016.A large part of that land is in Mexico, the avocado's ancestral homeland. But there are problems beyond the climate: farmers are turning forests and mountain ranges into avocado plantations.The good news? When Mexico's crop begins to hit the US in September, prices will begin to come down. But it remains to be seen whether taquerias that have started using squash as a substitute will return to their old avocado-filled ways. "People always want the real thing," says Charlebois.Chef Christy Lujan Kist, who cooks at LA taco spot Cacao Mexicatessen, is sympathetic to businesses using the squash sauce – to her, it's just another salsa recipe. "We here at Cacao use real avocados in the recipe but when we describe it we do call it an 'avocado salsa'," she said.Keeping and maintaining avocados is not easy either, says Kist. "Their shelf life is ridiculously short and they are very expensive by the case." She says she can understand why a small business would seek to find a loophole – or a local street taquero would try to avoid spending $2 per avocado when selling tacos for $1.50. "It's quite smart," she adds. "I've made mock guacamole at home with just onion, garlic and jalapenos on emergency. So I don't really think it's a big deal – just another recipe."
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| Eyeing power, Merkel protegee starts high-stakes defence job Posted: 24 Jul 2019 07:03 AM PDT ![Eyeing power, Merkel protegee starts high-stakes defence job]( "Eyeing power, Merkel protegee starts high-stakes defence job") Chancellor Angela Merkel's protegee, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, pledged on Wednesday to push for increased military spending "in our own interests" as Germany's new defence minister - a role likely to make or break her chances of succeeding her mentor. Kramp-Karrenbauer, who lacks high-echelon government experience, grabbed the defence role to build her credentials for the chancellery - a high-stakes move that will demand she build up a military many Germans remain uneasy about deploying.
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| Forget the Media: Here's What 31 Air Force Pilots Love About the F-35 Posted: 24 Jul 2019 06:54 AM PDT  Bringing all the tactical sensors of the F-35A into a single display (sensor fusion) is still not optimized, and most pilots complained of "ghosts" or multiple displayed contacts for the same threat.Air Force Gen. Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle, commander of Air Combat Command, this week declared the F-35A fighter jet ready for combat. While many pundits and politicians have questioned the worth of this jet, the only people who know the ground truth are the pilots themselves.A total of 174 U.S. pilots currently have been trained to fly Lockheed Martin's F-35A Lightning II. The Heritage Foundation interviewed 31 of these former F-15C, F-15E, F-16C, and A-10 pilots. Each expressed a high degree of confidence in the F-35A, their new fifth-generation platform.Recommended: Air War: Stealth F-22 Raptor vs. F-14 Tomcat (That Iran Still Flies)Recommended: A New Report Reveals Why There Won't Be Any 'New' F-22 Raptors
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| Central African court probing war abuses needs more help: rights group Posted: 24 Jul 2019 06:35 AM PDT  A special court investigating human rights abuses in Central African Republic must intensify its work to deliver justice on war crimes and violations, Human Rights Watch said. In a report released on Wednesday, the rights watchdog said the Special Criminal Court needs to recruit more judges, prosecutors and staff and get more government and international support. It is backed by the United Nations and the European Union.
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| Near the top of Boris Johnson's in-box: Iran tanker standoff Posted: 24 Jul 2019 05:59 AM PDT  Boris Johnson's premiership will no doubt end up being judged by Brexit, but that won't come to a head just yet. Perhaps the most immediate problem in his in-tray as he enters 10 Downing Street is the continued presence of a British-flagged oil tanker in a heavily-guarded Iranian port. The Stena Impero was seized by Iranian forces Friday while transiting the vital Strait of Hormuz — providing the first test for Johnson on becoming prime minister Wednesday afternoon.
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| Iran Says Some Detained U.S.-Linked ‘Spies’ Worked in Military Posted: 24 Jul 2019 05:50 AM PDT ![Iran Says Some Detained U.S.-Linked 'Spies' Worked in Military]( "Iran Says Some Detained U.S.-Linked 'Spies' Worked in Military") (Bloomberg) -- Some of the 17 Iranians detained on charges of spying for the CIA were active members of the military and security forces, state-run Fars news agency reported, citing judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili.Iran said earlier this week that it had handed down death sentences to several nationals accused of being part of a CIA-trained spy network uncovered earlier this year. The 17 citizens are accused of spying for the U.S. on the Islamic Republic's nuclear and military facilities as well as economic interests. U.S. officials have dismissed the claims.The announcement of the arrests and death sentences marked a show of force by Iran at a time of turbulent ties with the U.S. after the Trump administration withdrew from the 2015 nuclear accord and reimposed crippling sanctions on the Iranian economy.To contact the reporters on this story: Golnar Motevalli in Tehran at gmotevalli@bloomberg.net;Ladane Nasseri in Dubai at lnasseri@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel, Mark WilliamsFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| UPDATE 4-Top U.S., China trade negotiators to meet in Shanghai next week Posted: 24 Jul 2019 05:46 AM PDT ![UPDATE 4-Top U.S., China trade negotiators to meet in Shanghai next week]( "UPDATE 4-Top U.S., China trade negotiators to meet in Shanghai next week") Top U.S. and Chinese negotiators will meet face-to-face next week for the first time since Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed to revive talks to end their year-long trade war. The governments of the world's largest economies have levied billions of dollars of tariffs on each other's imports, disrupted global supply chains and shaken financial markets in their dispute over how China does business with the rest of the world. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will meet with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He for talks in Shanghai starting on July 30, the White House said in a statement on Wednesday.
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| Iran's president offers Britain a quid pro quo to resolve tanker standoff Posted: 24 Jul 2019 05:32 AM PDT  Iran's president has suggested he will release the British tanker seized in the Strait of Hormuz if the UK releases an Iranian tanker seized off Gibraltar, in his most explicit offer yet to resolve the crisis through an exchange. Iran initially claimed it captured the Stena Impero last Friday for violating international maritime rules but in recent days officials have made clear that the seizure was a tit-for-tat response to UK actions in Gibraltar. Hassan Rouhani, Iran's president, said Wednesday that if Britain reverses its "wrong actions, including what they did in Gibraltar" then "they will receive a proper response from Iran". There was no immediate UK reaction to Mr Rouhani's offer. The UK has insisted that it seized the Iranian tanker because it was taking oil to Syria in violation of EU sanctions, while condemning the Iranian action as "state piracy". Britain denies that it took the Iranian ship off Gibraltar at the request of the Trump administration or any other state. Meanwhile, the operator of the Stena Impero said it had been allowed to speak to the 23 crew members being held in Iran for the first time and that the sailors all appeared to be in good health. Iranian speedboats circle the Stena Impero Credit: Morteza Akhoondi "We had direct contact with the crew on board the vessel last night by telephone and they're all okay and in good health and they're getting good cooperation with the Iranians on board the vessel," said a spokesman for Stena Bulk, a Swedish shipping firm. "We see this as a first step and progress towards a resolution," the spokesman said. British officials have denied a claim by the Iranian supreme leader's chief of staff that the UK sent a mediator to try to resolve the standoff. "A country that at one time appointed ministers and lawyers in Iran has reached a point where they send a mediator and plead for their ship to be freed," said Mohammad Mohammadi-Golpayegani, a senior aide to Ayatollah Khamenei. UK officials said the claim was not true and that any communication with Iran's government would be managed by the British embassy in Tehran or through the Foreign Office. Iranian media has been transfixed by the standoff with the UK and many Iranian newspapers carried coverage of Boris Johnson's elevation to prime minister on their front pages, often comparing him to Donald Trump. The conservative Javan newspaper ran a cartoon of Mr Trump and Mr Johnson with their blonde hair intertwined. "Trump's double in London," the headline read. Front page of Iran's Javan newspaper this morning: 'Trump's Double in London' pic.twitter.com/01aruxvYjB— Golnar Motevalli (@golnarM) July 24, 2019 Even amid the change of government in London, British officials continued discussing plans for a European-led naval mission to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. The UK has spurned a US offer to join an American-led mission, known as Operation Sentinel. France said last night that the European mission would be "the opposite of the American initiative" and was not intended to provoke Iran. Despite positive initial reactions from European states to the British suggestion, it remains unclear if the project will get off the ground or what naval assets EU countries would commit to the mission. Meanwhile, Iran and the US continued a verbal spat over the downing of an Iranian drone by the USS Boxer last week. British oil tanker seized in the Gulf The US claims to have brought down at least one Iranian drone and suggested on Tuesday that it may have taken down a second drone but could not be sure. Iran denies that it has lost any drones to the US. Hossein Salami, the commander of the Revolutionary Guard, challenged the US to prove it had taken out any Iranian aircraft. "Publish the video footage of destroying our drone if you want to prove your claim," he said.
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| Iran Claims It Has A Sniper Rifle That Can Kill from 1,600 Meters Away Posted: 24 Jul 2019 05:24 AM PDT  The Heidar also has a side-mounted magazine and a recoil-reducing muzzle brake, the latter which is pretty much a necessity given such a powerful cartridge.Iran regularly over-hypes its military technology, and in some cases, shows off bogus equipment for propaganda purposes. Iran's military industry is also resourceful and produces interesting weapons which the Islamic republic then proliferates into very real conflicts.(This first appeared back in 2017.)As a latter example, Iran in April 2017 revealed the .50-caliber, semi-automatic Heidar sniper rifle to coincide with the annual Iran Army Day, an event for showcasing new hardware. The odd-looking weapon is an anti-material rifle primarily designed to destroy equipment and vehicles.It's not the most impressive entry in the genre. Iran's state news agencies reported the Heidar as possessing an effective range of 1,600 meters, 200 meters below the U.S. military's Barrett M82 and the French Hecate II. The U.S. Army's Foreign Military Studies Office noticed the Heidar in its newsletter and described the weapon as "curious."Recommended: Uzi: The Israeli Machine Gun That Conquered the WorldRecommended: The M4: The Gun U.S. Army Loves to Go to War With
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| UPDATE 1-Jazeera cites Iran official warning of confrontation if Hormuz status changed Posted: 24 Jul 2019 05:20 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Jazeera cites Iran official warning of confrontation if Hormuz status changed]( "UPDATE 1-Jazeera cites Iran official warning of confrontation if Hormuz status changed") The military adviser to Iran's supreme leader was quoted on Wednesday as saying that any change in the status of the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran says it protects, would open the door to a dangerous confrontation. In a series of news flashes, Al Jazeera TV quoted Hossein Dehghan, a commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, as also telling the channel that Tehran would not negotiate with the U.S. administration under any circumstances and that if Washington decided to go to war then all American bases in the region would be targeted. Britain has called for a European-led naval mission to ensure safe shipping through the world's most important oil artery after Iran seized a British tanker last week.
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