| PRESS DIGEST- Financial Times - Nov 7 Posted: 06 Nov 2019 04:47 PM PST ![PRESS DIGEST- Financial Times - Nov 7]( "PRESS DIGEST- Financial Times - Nov 7") Tom Watson, deputy leader of Britain's Labour Party, said on Wednesday, he is standing down from both his frontline position and parliament at the forthcoming general election. UK's Prime Minister Boris Johnson has launched his general election campaign with a promise to deliver Brexit by January, to champion Britain's free market economy and to preside over a "moderate and compassionate" government. Britain's Virgin Media is ditching BT Group's mobile network for rival Vodafone Group Plc from late 2021 in a five-year deal that will allow it to launch new services such as 5G to its more than 3 million customers.
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| UN urges South Sudan warring parties to fulfill peace deal Posted: 06 Nov 2019 04:38 PM PST ![UN urges South Sudan warring parties to fulfill peace deal]( "UN urges South Sudan warring parties to fulfill peace deal") The U.N. Security Council called on South Sudan's warring parties Wednesday to publicly reaffirm their commitment to fully implement a peace deal signed over a year ago that calls for a coalition government to be formed on Nov. 12. Under the agreement, opposition leader Riek Machar is to return to the capital Juba on Nov. 12 and once again serve as President Salva Kiir's deputy, as part of a power sharing deal intended to pull the country out of a five-year civil war that has killed almost 400,000 people and displaced millions. South Sudan, the world's newest nation, has been slowly emerging from the civil war but the fragile peace deal signed in September 2018 so far has been marked by delays and continued fighting in some parts of the country.
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| The Longest U.K. Pay Slump in 200 Years Is Coming to an End Posted: 06 Nov 2019 04:01 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Living standards in the U.K. are on the cusp of returning to their pre-crisis levels in an election boost for Prime Minister Boris Johnson.In an analysis published Thursday, the Resolution Foundation think tank predicted that basic weekly pay will surpass 513 pounds ($661) by the end of the year, a level last seen in August 2007 after adjusting for inflation.The prospect of an end to the longest pay downturn in more than two centuries will almost certainly be seized on by Johnson's Conservative Party, which is campaigning for the Dec. 12 general election on a slogan of getting Brexit done so that Britain can focus on building on promising economic fundamentals.It marks a sharp contrast to the snap 2017 election, when Theresa May, Johnson's predecessor, was campaigning against a backdrop of shrinking pay packets and went on to lose her parliamentary majority. Low-paid workers in sectors such as retail and hospitality had benefited from big increases in the minimum wage, the Resolution Foundation said. But a risk for Johnson is that focusing on the metric reminds voters of the Conservatives' record on pay since they took office in 2010. Overall, Britons would be 138 pounds a week better off had pay continued to grow at its pre-crisis average of 2% of a year."Returning to pre-crisis levels is very different from making up any of the lost ground in the intervening decade," the research firm said in its latest quarterly Earnings Outlook.With nominal earnings growing at almost 4% a year, the labor market appears to have returned to full employment but cracks are emerging, it said. Vacancies are falling and the number of people switching jobs remains below pre-crisis levels, while falling productivity threatens to place a limit on pay growth.To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Atkinson in London at a.atkinson@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net, David GoodmanFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Head of UN Palestinian agency resigns amid ethics probe Posted: 06 Nov 2019 03:10 PM PST  The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has resigned amid an internal probe into alleged mismanagement and ethical abuses at the organization, the United Nations said Wednesday. "A short while ago, UNRWA's Commissioner-General, Pierre Krahenbuhl, informed the secretary-general that he was resigning, effective immediately," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told a news briefing.
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| Iraq protesters storm Baghdad bridge, medic killed Posted: 06 Nov 2019 02:34 PM PST  Anti-government protesters in Iraq stormed a bridge Wednesday in central Baghdad, where security forces pushed them back with batons and tear gas, wounding dozens. A medic was killed while aiding demonstrators. The military called on the protesters to stop blocking roads and ports, saying they had cost Iraq $6 billion, and it vowed to arrest those responsible.
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| Your Evening Briefing Posted: 06 Nov 2019 02:27 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Want to receive this post in your inbox every afternoon? Sign up hereThe top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine was deeply concerned about President Donald Trump's now-famous proposal to his equal in Ukraine—that he investigate former Vice President Joseph Biden and the 2016 presidential campaign in exchange for security aid and a White House meeting. This, the latest from unsealed transcripts of House impeachment testimony, came as Trump moved to bolster his public relations team, and perhaps with good reason: One House Democrat told CNN that quid pro quo is the wrong phrase to describe the transaction at the heart of the impeachment inquiry. He said it's really about "bribery and extortion." —Josh PetriHere are today's top storiesTrump and Chinese President Xi Jinping may not be able to sign a deal to partially resolve the trade war until December.Chinese state-owned entities are in talks about investing as much as $10 billion in Saudi Aramco's initial public offering. Republicans suffered setbacks in Virginia and Kentucky as part of Tuesday's elections.More U.S. millennials are suffering from chronic health problems that could limit their lifetime earning potential.K-pop became a global sensation by signaling the virtuousness of its stars. Sex trafficking, date rape, spy-camera recordings and bribery weren't supposed to be part of the bargain.Consumers are increasingly aware of their food's carbon footprint. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that plant-based meat companies are now selling themselves as climate-friendly.What's Joe Weisenthal thinking about? Profits are suddenly important again, the Bloomberg news director opines. Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son said a lesson of the WeWork debacle is that companies need to have an obvious road to the black. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said the same thing yesterday. Unsurprisingly, there's recently been a reckoning for companies with uncertain prospects of making money.What you'll need to know tomorrowThe IMF warns Europe to prepare for the worst. Elon Musk sets a date to unveil Tesla's new pickup. New Jersey Transit needs help moving stadium-sized crowds. New York City voted for a better way to vote. Ray Dalio says the "world has gone mad" with so much free money. The Las Vegas nightclub boom may be coming to an end. Vape shops will likely be exempt from coming E-cigarette restrictions.What you'll want to read in Bloomberg GraphicsThe land of golden dreams isa residential nightmare. The median price for a new home in California now tops $600,000, more than twice the rest of the country. The poverty rate, adjusted for the cost of living, is the worst in the nation. The state is home to 12% of the U.S. population, but a quarter of its homeless population. How did it get so bad? Let us explain.To contact the author of this story: Josh Petri in Portland at jpetri4@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Johnson tries to shake off rocky start as UK election begins Posted: 06 Nov 2019 02:09 PM PST  Prime Minister Boris Johnson told British voters Wednesday that they have to back his Conservatives if they want an end to Brexit delays, as he tried to shake off a rocky start to the governing party's election campaign. In fact, lawmakers approved Johnson's EU divorce deal in principle last month, but asked for more time to scrutinize it.
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| Yemeni officials: Rebels missile, drone attack kills 8 Posted: 06 Nov 2019 01:40 PM PST ![Yemeni officials: Rebels missile, drone attack kills 8]( "Yemeni officials: Rebels missile, drone attack kills 8") Yemen's rebels staged missile and drone attacks Wednesday on forces allied with the country's internationally recognized government in a Red Sea town, killing at least eight people, including three civilians, and causing large fires, military officials said. Wadah Dobish, a spokesman for government forces on Yemen's western coast, told The Associated Press at least four missiles fired by the Iran-backed rebels struck warehouses used by the allied force known as the Giants Bridges in the port town of Mocha. The media arm of the Giants Bridges force posted footage online showing flames and explosions were heard apparently from the warehouses.
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| Turkey's Erdogan to meet Trump in Washington next week Posted: 06 Nov 2019 01:20 PM PST  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's office says Turkey's leader will travel to Washington next week for talks with U.S. President Donald Trump. Erdogan's planned trip to Washington had been put into doubt following votes in the U.S. House of Representatives aiming to sanction Turkey and to recognize the mass killings of Armenians a century ago as genocide.
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| Erdogan: Turkey captured slain IS leader al-Baghdadi's wife Posted: 06 Nov 2019 01:19 PM PST  Turkey has captured a wife of the slain leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday. Erdogan made the announcement while delivering a speech in the capital of Ankara but gave no other details. A senior Turkish official, however, said the woman was among a group of 11 Islamic State suspects detained in a police operation in Turkey's Hatay province, near the border with Syria, on June 2, 2018.
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| UPDATE 4-Iran fuels centrifuges, resumes uranium enrichment at Fordow Posted: 06 Nov 2019 01:15 PM PST ![UPDATE 4-Iran fuels centrifuges, resumes uranium enrichment at Fordow]( "UPDATE 4-Iran fuels centrifuges, resumes uranium enrichment at Fordow") Iran resumed uranium enrichment at its underground Fordow nuclear facility, the country's Atomic Energy Organisation (AEOI) said on Thursday, further stepping away from its 2015 nuclear deal with major world powers. "After all successful preparations ... injection of uranium gas to centrifuges started on Thursday at Fordow ... all the process has been supervised by the inspectors of the U.N. nuclear watchdog," the AEOI said in a statement reported by Iranian media. Iran has gradually scaled back its commitments to the deal, under which it curbed its nuclear programme in exchange for the removal of most international sanctions, after the United States reneged on the agreement last year.
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| Macron warns of 'profound shift' in Iran deal as new report finds Tehran is dominant power in Middle East Posted: 06 Nov 2019 01:10 PM PST  Iran's breach of the 2015 nuclear agreement by enriching uranium at an underground facility "marks a profound shift" which could signal the ultimate collapse of the deal, Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday. The French president, who has worked vigorously to save the nuclear deal since Donald Trump withdrew the US last year, said he was deeply alarmed Iran's decision to resume enrichment at Fordow, a nuclear facility carved into a mountain. "I think that for the first time, Iran has decided in an explicit and blunt manner to leave the JCPOA agreement, which marks a profound shift," Mr Macron said during a visit to China. His comments mark the gloomiest public assessment yet by a European leader about the chances of salvaging the agreement after the US withdrawal and as Iran continues to escalate its breaches of the deal. Meanwhile, a new report claims Iran has become the dominant power when it comes to fighting wars in the Middle East as a result of the "networks of influence" it has built throughout the region. Mr Macron spoke shortly after Iran began injecting uranium gas into 1,044 centrifuges at Fordow, a facility that Iran hid from the world until 2009 and which Western and Israeli officials have long feared could be used for developing a nuclear weapon. Iran tensions | Read more The 2015 nuclear agreement forbids any uranium enrichment at Fordow and Hassan Rouhani, Iran's president acknowledged the sensitivity of the site when he announced the move earlier this week. Mr Rouhani insisted that the move was reversible and said Iran would return to full compliance with the agreement if European countries found a way around US sanctions to deliver the economic benefits Iran was promised in 2015. The reopening of Fordow comes days after Iran announced it was deploying advanced new centrifuges that can enrich uranium faster. But neither move brings Iran significantly closer to obtaining a nuclear weapon. A weapon would require uranium enriched at 90 per cent, whereas Iran is currently enriching at around 5 per cent. Iran insists it has no intention of developing a nuclear weapon. The latest breaches have nonetheless alarmed European states and Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, repeated his warning this week it would take military action to stop Iran getting a bomb. "This is not only for our security and our future; it's for the future of the Middle East and the world," he said. Amid the growing tensions, it emerged that Iran briefly detained an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspector last week and seized her travel documents, the first such encounter since the nuclear deal. Q&A; | The 2015 Iran nuclear deal Iran confirmed it had stopped the inspector from entering its Natanz nuclear site out of suspicion she was carrying "suspicious material". Iran is believed to have begun secretly constructing the Fordow facility in the early 2000s but it was only known to the world when Barack Obama exposed it in 2009 and accused Iran of covertly working on a weapons programme. The base is around 80 metres underground, making it difficult to destroy with an airstrike, and is protected by anti-aircraft batteries. Israel came close to bombing the site in 2011 but ultimately decided not to move ahead. The network of alliances Iran has built with terror groups such as Hizbollah in Lebanon, as well a pro-Iranian Shia militias in Iraq, mean the balance of power in the Middle East is now in Iran's favour, according to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) think tank. At a glance | Key players in Tehran Iran's ability, moreover, to fight and win wars in the Middle East without resorting to conventional military forces has been allowed to develop because there has been no effective international response to Iran's activities in the region. According to the IISS's latest report, "Iran's Networks of Influence in the Middle East" which is published on Thursday, while the US and its allies still retain military superiority over Iran in terms of conventional forces, Tehran has proved to be more effective in waging war in what it calls the "Grey Zone" of conflict. This means Iran is able to avoid risking a traditional "state-on-state" confrontations, which it would be likely to lose. Instead, by building what the report calls "networks of influence" with proxies throughout the region, Tehran has succeeded in gaining a distinct advantage over rivals in the region, such as Saudi Arabia. "Iran is fighting and winning wars 'fought amongst the people', not wars between states," the report concludes.
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| Britain's Johnson launches election campaign on opposition turf Posted: 06 Nov 2019 12:56 PM PST  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday launched the Conservatives' election campaign in a traditional stronghold of the Labour opposition he hopes to win over by vowing to "get Brexit done". Addressing supporters who were dressed in t-shirts bearing the slogan, he urged voters to give him the majority needed to push his EU divorce deal through parliament and leave the bloc by the latest deadline of January 31. "We can't go on like this," Johnson told the crowd in Birmingham, Britain's second biggest city, after decrying the political paralysis that has so far stalled its departure.
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| Johnson’s Election Troubles Grow as U.K. Minister Quits Cabinet Posted: 06 Nov 2019 12:38 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Sign up to our Brexit Bulletin, follow us @Brexit and subscribe to our podcast.Things keep going wrong for Boris Johnson as he seeks to win a Conservative majority in the U.K.'s Dec. 12 general election.The prime minister's bid was rocked by a cabinet resignation on Wednesday, just minutes before he launched the campaign. Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns quit after reports he knew about a former aide's role in the collapse of a rape trial.The U.K.'s main opposition Labour party also suffered a blow when deputy leader Tom Watson announced he would be leaving full-time politics after 35 years. He has clashed in the past with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn over the direction of the party. But it will be Cairns's resignation -- the first by a cabinet minister during an election campaign for at least 100 years -- that resonates for Johnson. It is a blow for the Tories at the start of one of the most unpredictable contests in recent history. While they have a double-digit lead over Labour Party in several recent polls, the negatives are already piling up for the premier.Johnson sought to regain the initiative at his first campaign event, a rally in Birmingham, central England on Wednesday evening."Come with us and we will get Brexit done," he told a crowd of hundreds of cheering Conservative politicians and activists, holding up campaign placards.Johnson claimed he was most "proud" of the Brexit deal he negotiated with the European Union, and that it delivered everything he campaigned for in the 2016 referendum. That was aimed at countering the threat from Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage, who claims Johnson's deal is a betrayal and is urging Tories to abandon it. If Farage wins enough votes, he could seriously damage Johnson's chances of forming a majority government next month.The main slogan for Johnson's event, emblazoned on the lectern and on screens around the hall, was: "Get Brexit Done -- Unleash Britain's potential."Johnson said Corbyn wants more "dither" and delay, with another Brexit referendum in 2020. "This country is aching to move on," the Tory leader said, to cheers and chants of "Boris! Boris!" He added: "Let's get out of the rut of the last three years."Trial SabotageThe speech followed Cairns's resignation earlier on Wednesday over allegations he approved the selection of a former aide as a Tory candidate even though he'd been accused by a judge of sabotaging a rape trial. Cairns said in a letter to Johnson that he is "confident I will be cleared of any breach or wrongdoing."Conservative Party Chairman James Cleverly earlier gave a series of TV and radio interviews in which he tried to contain the fallout from comments by Leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg, who was forced to apologize for suggesting the 72 people killed in the 2017 Grenfell tower-block fire hadn't shown "common sense."Those remarks were then compounded by fellow Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen, who suggested Rees-Mogg would have survived the fire because he is more "clever" than the victims. Bridgen also apologized, but opponents said the pair's comments showed the party is out of touch with ordinary people.'Poisonous Heart'"What Rees-Mogg and Bridgen said goes to the poisonous heart of the Tories' attitude towards people in our communities," Labour's campaign coordinator, Andrew Gwynne, said in a statement.In another setback for the Conservatives, the country's most senior civil servant blocked the Treasury from publishing costings for the opposition Labour Party's policies. According to a Treasury official, the announcement had been ready to go on Tuesday, but after complaints from Labour, Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill refused to let it proceed.Also on Tuesday, former Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said he would be quitting Parliament after his expulsion from the Tory party. He didn't leave quietly, saying in a letter to constituents that he was "saddened" by the situation after 45 years of party membership."The Conservative Party that I have served has always had room for a wide range of opinions and has been tolerant of measured dissent," Hammond wrote. "Many Parliamentary colleagues have defied the party whip on occasions without any action being taken against them," he added in a swipe at Johnson, who himself twice voted against the Brexit deal secured by his predecessor, Theresa May.Johnson holds a rally on Wednesday evening in the West Midlands, where he will reiterate his core pledges to deliver Brexit and move on to addressing policing, health care and education. But there's a danger for the prime minister that the drip drip of negative stories may swamp that message.(Updates with Tom Watson resignation.)\--With assistance from Tim Ross.To contact the reporters on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net;Kitty Donaldson in London at kdonaldson1@bloomberg.net;Robert Hutton in London at rhutton1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Thomas Penny, Stuart BiggsFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Iranians plead guilty after arrest for spying on dissidents Posted: 06 Nov 2019 12:30 PM PST  Two men arrested last year for spying on Iranian dissidents in the United States have pleaded guilty to charges in a Washington court, the Justice Department announced Wednesday. Iranian-US dual citizen Ahmadreza Mohammadi Doostdar and Majid Ghorbani, an Iranian resident of California, tried to penetrate the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), a group of Iranian dissidents in exile, in New York and Washington from 2017-2018, according to the department. Doostdar traveled to the United States form Iran on three occasions to recruit Ghorbani and give him instructions and thousands of dollars in payments, according to the charges.
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| Germany's Kramp-Karrenbauer wants Merkel to stay until 2021 Posted: 06 Nov 2019 11:59 AM PST ![Germany's Kramp-Karrenbauer wants Merkel to stay until 2021]( "Germany's Kramp-Karrenbauer wants Merkel to stay until 2021") There is no reason for German Chancellor Angela Merkel to leave office before her planned departure in 2021, her protegee and would-be successor Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said as they both face criticism from fellow Christian Democrats. Party veteran Friedrich Merz ripped into Merkel after the Christian Democratic Party (CDU) slumped in a state vote last month. Merz, an erstwhile Merkel rival, narrowly lost to Kramp-Karrenbauer in a contest for the CDU leadership last December, when Merkel stepped aside to allow her protegee to boost her profile before 2021.
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| Head of UN agency for Palestinian refugees resigns Posted: 06 Nov 2019 11:57 AM PST  The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees resigned on Wednesday following a preliminary internal investigation that raised "management issues," reflecting concerns over allegations of possible sexual misconduct, nepotism and other abuses of authority at the agency. The allegations in a confidential U.N. ethics office report came amid a financial crisis for the agency, sparked by the unprecedented loss of all funding from the United States, its largest donor.
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| UN mulls slow DR Congo drawdown despite ongoing bloodshed Posted: 06 Nov 2019 11:45 AM PST  UN peacekeepers should progressively withdraw from DR Congo by the end of 2022 at the earliest, a strategic review said Wednesday, in the first tentative timeline to exit a country grappling with militia violence and Ebola. The report comes as 10 civilians were killed in an attack in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo blamed on an Islamist-rooted armed group based in Uganda, as the army launches a sweeping offensive against militancy that has plagued the troubled region for nearly a quarter of a century. The United Nations's MONUSCO mission to the country -- one of its biggest deployments encompassing some 16,000 peacekeepers -- began two decades ago and has an annual budget of over $1 billion.
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| Attacker stabs 8 at popular Jordanian tourist site Posted: 06 Nov 2019 11:41 AM PST  A young man from a Palestinian refugee camp on Wednesday stabbed eight people, including four foreign tourists and their tour guide, at a popular archaeological site in northern Jordan, security officials said. The suspect's family identified him as Mustafa Abu Tuameh. "Today he told his mother that he has only 35 piasters (50 cents) and he was going out and might not come back," said an uncle, Younis Abu Amrah.
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| 90 Minutes a Day, Until 10 p.m.: China Sets Rules for Young Gamers Posted: 06 Nov 2019 11:41 AM PST  BEIJING -- No playing video games after 10 p.m. No more than 90 minutes of gaming on weekdays. Want add-ons like virtual weapons and costumes? Keep it to $57 a month.The Chinese government has released new rules aimed at curbing video game addiction among young people, a problem that top officials believe is to blame for a rise in nearsightedness and poor academic performance across a broad swath of society.The regulations, announced by the National Press and Publication Administration on Tuesday, ban users younger than 18 from playing games between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. They are not permitted to play more than 90 minutes on weekdays and three hours on weekends and holidays.The limits are the government's latest attempt to rein in China's online gaming industry, one of the world's largest, which generates more than $33 billion in annual revenue and draws hundreds of millions of users.Under President Xi Jinping, officials in China have taken a more forceful approach in regulating large technology companies and pushing them to help spread cultural values advanced by the ruling Communist Party.Video games have become a popular target. The state-run media has likened some games to "poison," and the government has blocked sales of some titles on the grounds that they are too violent.Xi spoke publicly last year about the scourge of poor eyesight among children, putting more pressure on officials to act.The National Press and Publication Administration said that minors would be required to use real names and identification numbers when they logged on to play. The rules also limit how much young people can spend on purchases made through apps, like virtual weapons, clothes and pets. Those purchases are now capped at $28 to $57 a month, depending on age.Chinese officials said the regulations were meant to combat addiction."These problems affect the physical and mental health of minors, as well as their normal learning and living," the National Press and Publication Administration said in a statement that was published by Xinhua, the official news agency.Analysts said the regulations had been largely anticipated by the industry and were unlikely to hurt revenue. Many of the biggest technology companies, including Tencent and NetEase, have already imposed limits on younger users.Young gamers are also likely to find ways around the regulations, such as using a parent's phone and identification number."There are always going to be loopholes," said Daniel Ahmad, a senior analyst at Niko Partners, a research and consulting firm.But Ahmad added that China is now one of the most heavily regulated video game markets in the world, and that technology companies in the country and abroad would be forced to more closely follow the government's policy announcements."I think compared to the West, it's very extreme," he said. "Publishers and developers need to be very aware of the content of the games they are developing for the market."In a sign of the growing global importance of the Chinese gaming market, Activision Blizzard, a U.S. company, recently suspended an e-sports player who had voiced support for antigovernment demonstrations in Hong Kong during a live broadcast, a move that was seen as a concession to Beijing.The rules were greeted skeptically by some parents and gamers.Yang Bingben, 35, the owner of an industrial technology firm in eastern China, said he worried that many children would still find ways to play video games. For example, he noted that his 7-year-old son often played games that did not require an internet connection and were difficult to regulate."We have to develop new things to replace games," he said. "Our minds should be focused on building more stadiums, football courts and basketball courts."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| Exclusive: Tony Blair on regulating Big Tech, Facebook, Russia, China and Brexit Posted: 06 Nov 2019 10:38 AM PST  What to do in the era of "Big Tech?" Living in 2019, we know more than ever before about how Big Tech, particularly in the shape of Facebook, Twitter and Google -- as the prime arbiters of information and social media online -- have shaped and affected politics today. At the same time, we're about to face several huge sea-changes in the global system, not least of which will be the next U.S. election, Brexit, the rise of China and challenges of the climate crisis. Speaking at Web Summit in Lisbon this week, former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair brought out a new report from the Institute which bears his name to address the turmoil of Western politics from the prism of the backlash against globalisation after the 2007-2008 financial crisis, the rise of populist movements and the effects technology is having on society, politicians and policymakers.
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| The Latest: UN agency chief for Palestinians resigns Posted: 06 Nov 2019 10:13 AM PST  The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees has resigned effective immediately following the preliminary findings of an internal investigation that found "managerial issues" that need to be addressed. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric made the announcement Wednesday.
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| Merkel's CDU at loggerheads with local party amid calls for coalition with AfD Posted: 06 Nov 2019 09:58 AM PST  A bitter fight has erupted in Germany's conservative CDU party over whether they should consider working with the far-right Alternative for Germany in the eastern state of Thuringia. Angela Merkel's party face an invidious choice in Thuringia after recent elections made the building of a stable state government next to impossible. Ms Merkel's CDU only managed to muster 22 percent of the vote, as voters flocked from the centre ground towards parties with links to darker chapters in German history. Winners in the state poll were Die Linke, a party set up by apparatchiks of the communist East German regime. Meanwhile the nationalist AfD beat the CDU into third place. With the vote split between the far-Left and far-Right, CDU politicians in Thuringia have publicly called for the party to start talks with both fringe parties to try and find a workable government. But the CDU leadership in Berlin immediately shut down talk of a deal with the AfD on Tuesday, describing the suggestion as "crazy." Party secretary general Paul Ziemiak told broadcaster ARD that cooperation with the AfD was "a taboo" that cannot be broken. "We are not talking about tactical games or parliamentary majorities. This is an issue that affects the CDU's core values," said Mr Ziemiak. While the AfD are controversial nationwide, their Thuringian branch are particularly renowned for extremism. State leader Björn Höcke heads a radical faction inside the party called der Flügel which is under observation by domestic intelligence services over its anti-Islam agenda. Mr Höcke, a former school teacher from the west of the country, is believed to have written regular columns for a neo-Nazi magazine under a pseudonym. On Wednesday, Mr Höcke wrote a letter to the CDU offering an informal cooperation which would involve his party supporting a minority government made up of the CDU and the pro-business Free Democrats. Meanwhile on Wednesday, the German government gave itself the green light to continue its work for the next two years. Ms Merkel's government of CDU and Social Democrats had decided to take stock in a "half-time report" after two years to decide whether enough had been achieved to make further coalition worthwhile. The 80-page report found that the government had already achieved two thirds of the goals set out in the coalition agreement signed in early 2018. "This shows we are capable of working together and we are willing to work together," Ms Merkel said of the country's fragile and unpopular coalition.
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| Today's Pickup: India Gains $755 Million In Additional Exports To The US Due To US-China Trade War Posted: 06 Nov 2019 09:49 AM PST ![Today's Pickup: India Gains $755 Million In Additional Exports To The US Due To US-China Trade War]( "Today's Pickup: India Gains $755 Million In Additional Exports To The US Due To US-China Trade War") A study conducted by the United Nations trade and development body UNCTAD has revealed that India gained roughly $755 million in additional exports to the U.S. in the first half of 2019, profiting from the U.S.-China tariff war. To put these numbers in perspective, China lost $35 billion in exports this year in the U.S. market. A lose-lose trade war is not only harming the main contenders, it also compromises the stability of the global economy and future growth," said Pamela Coke Hamilton, UNCTAD's director of international trade and commodities.
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| Former military insider tries to rally Egypt's opposition Posted: 06 Nov 2019 09:48 AM PST  A self-exiled businessman who claims to know the secrets of Egypt's ruling military says he is marshaling political groups to try to topple President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, despite the opposition movement's increasingly bleak prospects. Mohamed Ali, 45, pitches himself as a former government insider. "All of the opposition groups outside of Egypt are now agreeing with me.
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| Costa Rica Turns to Chromalox to Further Decarbonization Posted: 06 Nov 2019 09:26 AM PST  The Central American nation partners with Chromalox to address climate change Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania--(Newsfile Corp. - November 6, 2019) - In the wake of the 2019 United Nations Climate Summit and being awarded the 2019 Champions of the Earth Award by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE) has recognized Chromalox as the preferred partner for utilizing its renewable energy for carbon-free industrial steam and heating applications. On Oct. 24, ...
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| Iran says to start enriching uranium at midnight Posted: 06 Nov 2019 09:17 AM PST  Iran announced Wednesday another step towards reducing its obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal, sparking concern by some of the remaining parties to the troubled agreement. Iran's atomic energy agency said its Fordow plant would begin enriching uranium from midnight (2030 GMT). "In the coming hours, the process of injecting (uranium hexafluoride) gas into the centrifuges at the Fordow site will be finalised," said agency spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi, quoted in the semi-official news agency ISNA.
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| U.K. Election Campaigners Brace for Fiscal Reality Check Posted: 06 Nov 2019 09:12 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Explore what's moving the global economy in the new season of the Stephanomics podcast. Subscribe via Pocket Cast or iTunes.U.K. budget officials are set to deliver a warning shot to politicians on Thursday amid fears that the campaign for the Dec. 12 general election could turn into an arms race of tax and spending promises.The Office for Budget Responsibility may add as much as 20 billion pounds ($26 billion) to its budget-deficit forecast for next year when it unveils projections updated to reflect the impact of recently introduced methodological changes.With borrowing in 2020-21 expected to be restated at close to 40 billion pounds, the fiscal watchdog will in effect set a baseline for any fiscal pledges made by the main political parties during the election campaign.The actual outturn for government borrowing is almost certain to be much worse. The OBR forecast will not include the extra 13.4 billion pounds of day-to-day spending pledged by Chancellor Sajid Javid in September or the effect of weaker growth and stronger spending than predicted back in March.And further giveaways can be expected, whoever wins the election, as leaders make good on vows to end a decade of austerity. Jeremy Corbyn's opposition Labour Party has said it will borrow to fund its 250 billion-pound investment program, while Boris Johnson's Conservatives have held out the prospect of significant income-tax cuts and a major boost for infrastructure.There is now little chance that Britain will meet fiscal rules requiring the structural budget deficit to be below 2% of GDP in 2020-21, the equivalent of around 45 billion pounds. According to Capital Economics, a post-election stimulus could see borrowing soar to around 70 billion pounds even if Britain avoids a no-deal Brexit.New Rules"It's unsurprising that both parties have signaled that they would change the fiscal rules," said Ruth Gregory, senior U.K. economist at the London-based research firm. "And given that both parties seem aligned in their desire to increase investment spending, we suspect that they will couch their new fiscal rules in terms of the cyclically adjusted current budget deficit, which excludes investment spending, accompanied by some form of debt guidance."The OBR is issuing the new forecasts to comply with reporting requirements after Javid canceled plans to hold a full Budget on Nov. 6. The changes largely relate to the treatment of student loans, as debt that will never be repaid is now added to government spending.To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Atkinson in London at a.atkinson@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net, Brian Swint, David GoodmanFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| AP Analysis: Activity at Iran's nuclear site raises risks Posted: 06 Nov 2019 08:51 AM PST  Ten years ago while flanked by the leaders of Britain and France, then-President Barack Obama revealed to the world that Iran had built a "covert uranium enrichment facility" amid tensions with the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program. A decade later, Iran's Fordo facility is back in the news as Iran prepared Wednesday to inject uranium gas into the more than 1,000 centrifuges there to pressure the world after President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from Tehran's nuclear deal.
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| Israeli robotics delegation to Dubai marks warming Gulf ties Posted: 06 Nov 2019 08:51 AM PST  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greeted the country's triumphant teen delegation to the unofficial "Robotics Olympics" on Wednesday after its groundbreaking visit to Dubai, giving public expression to the growing, and increasingly open, relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. The countries have long had back-channel security and cyber ties, mostly based on their shared enmity for regional foe Iran. The team's high-profile performance at the FIRST Global Challenge — finishing second after being edged out in a nail-biting, back-and-forth final — and their unabashed display of the Israeli flag and Hebrew language also gave the event an increased sense of normalization.
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| Leading intellectual in Benin, Albert Tevoedjre, dies at 89 Posted: 06 Nov 2019 08:51 AM PST ![Leading intellectual in Benin, Albert Tevoedjre, dies at 89]( "Leading intellectual in Benin, Albert Tevoedjre, dies at 89") Albert Tevoedjre, a Benin political scientist and one of former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's most trusted experts on social and economic development strategies for Africa, has died in Porto-Novo, Benin, at the age of 89. Tevoedjre served for two years as Annan's special representative to the Ivory Coast, the West African country where a 1999 coup shattered decades of prosperity and calm, displacing hundreds of thousands of people.
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| Exclusive: U.S.-China trade deal signing could be delayed to December; London a possible venue - source Posted: 06 Nov 2019 08:49 AM PST  A meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to sign a long-awaited interim trade deal could be delayed until December as discussions continue over terms and venue, a senior official of the Trump administration told Reuters on Wednesday. One possible location is London, where the two leaders could meet after a NATO summit that Trump is due to attend from Dec. 3-4, the official said. Iowa, which Trump has suggested, appeared to have been ruled out, the official said.
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| Heavy rains, flooding displace hundred of thousands in East Africa Posted: 06 Nov 2019 08:39 AM PST ![Heavy rains, flooding displace hundred of thousands in East Africa]( "Heavy rains, flooding displace hundred of thousands in East Africa") PIBOR, South Sudan/Nairobi, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Heavy rains and floods have killed more than 50 people and forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes across East Africa as researchers warn warming oceans are causing unpredictable weather patterns in the region. South Sudan declared a national emergency last week after 420,000 people fled from the floods, the United Nations said. Workers from charity Medicins Sans Frontieres are working to combat potential disease outbreaks in the town of Pibor, about 340 km east of the capital Juba near the Ethiopian border, after rising waters destroyed homes and livestock.
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| Trump Vowed to Shrink Trade Gap. It's Growing. Posted: 06 Nov 2019 08:27 AM PST  WASHINGTON -- The overall U.S. trade deficit widened in the first nine months of 2019, to nearly $500 billion, a sign that the Trump administration's approach to trade has so far done little to make a dent in the imbalance.The trade deficit for both goods and services in the first three quarters of the year jumped by 5.4%, to $481.3 billion, from the same period last year, according to data released by the Commerce Department on Tuesday. Total American exports fell by $7 billion from the previous year, while imports grew by $17.8 billion.After the Trump administration and China came to a temporary cease-fire last month in a conflict that has begun to weigh on the global economy, negotiators are still at work trying to reach an interim trade deal. Some worry that any agreement will fall short of the transformative changes the Trump administration originally sought and ultimately may not be worth the pain of U.S. tariffs on China.So far, the global trade war President Donald Trump has initiated has not had the effect he desires in terms of bolstering American manufacturing and exports. In fact, some business executives say they have been hurt by the uncertainty it has created.Peter Bragdon, the executive vice president at Columbia Sportswear, said his company was accustomed to navigating bad public policy but "nobody is used to navigating public policy that is this horrible. It's chaotic and incoherent.""It's not surprising that investments have slowed in the United States because of the chaos," Bragdon said.Trump administration officials insist their negotiations will alter the terms of trade yet and have been in discussions with the Chinese to try to reach a deal in the coming weeks. China has been pressing the administration to roll back more tariffs as a condition of its officials' traveling to the United States to sign an agreement. Administration officials are considering the proposal but insist the final decision will hinge on further concessions by China and be made at Trump's discretion, according to people with knowledge of the deliberations.Speaking at the opening of an import fair in Shanghai on Tuesday, President Xi Jinping of China broadly endorsed free trade principles and promised to welcome foreign investment to China while also denouncing the kind of unilateralism that the Trump administration has pursued. He did not mention when, where or even whether an agreement might be signed.Trump has long pointed to the trade deficit -- when the value of what the country imports exceeds its exports -- as proof that unfair practices by China and other countries have been hurting the United States. But economists have argued that the figure is a poor metric for measuring American well-being or the health of the economy. They say the trade deficit continues to widen largely because the United States is growing faster than other countries, leading to greater purchases of foreign products by Americans and slowing sales abroad.On Oct. 11, Trump announced that he had reached an interim, or phase-one, trade deal with China that would strengthen intellectual property protections, open its financial markets and include large purchases of American agricultural products. In return, U.S. officials said they agreed to cancel increases in tariffs planned for October and potentially for December, although not roll back existing tariffs on more than $360 billion of Chinese products.But officials have continued to spar over its terms. The cancellation of a summit of global leaders in Chile, where the United States and China planned to sign their deal, has further thrown plans for the trade agreement into flux.Trump administration officials have pushed for a signing in the United States, with Trump publicly floating the possibility of signing the agriculture-heavy pact in the farm state of Iowa."First, we'll see if we get the deal," he told reporters Saturday. "And if we get the deal, the meeting place will come very easily. It'll be someplace in the U.S."But the Chinese have been reluctant to send Xi to the United States without a firm commitment for a deal that will not end up embarrassing them."I doubt very much that Xi Jinping would agree to any meeting in the United States without the certainty of tariff reductions," said Myron Brilliant, the executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "But I don't think the administration will do that without some clarity on the enforceability of the agreement and progress of areas of concern in the intellectual property arena."In return for significant concessions, some Trump administration officials have been willing to roll back tariffs placed Sept 1. on roughly $112 billion of Chinese goods. These weigh more heavily on American consumers than the strategic Chinese industries that endured Trump's initial tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese products.But not all advisers agree. Some officials view the tariffs as a powerful tool for ensuring China keeps its commitments, saying they should be rolled back only after China makes key reforms. They also see the tariffs as helping to ward off political criticism that Trump is folding to China.Trump administration officials insist the agreement will help rebalance a trading relationship in which the United States has too often been on the losing end. But critics say they fear that the deal's provisions, which are not yet public, appear to fall short of accomplishing the administration's ambitious goals and may not be worth the pain that tariffs have imposed on American businesses.The two sides have mostly completed large parts of the stage-one agreement, including provisions pertaining to currency, automotive trade, financial services and large Chinese purchases of American agricultural goods like soybeans and pork. After signing the pact, China and the United States will continue negotiating on more reforms, Trump has said.But the administration is still pressing Chinese officials to make more significant commitments to protect intellectual property, beyond tougher enforcement of patents and trademarks, those familiar with the discussions say. And the agreement also does not appear to touch on more difficult areas, including the role of state-owned enterprises, China's restrictions on data flows and its huge subsidies to its companies.In an interview in Saudi Arabia last week, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he believed that phase one of the deal was "on track.""We're trying to get the documents done in time for the two presidents to meet and sign. That's our objective," he said. "It's a very extensive agreement that includes intellectual property rights, structural changes to agriculture, financial services currency and FX and an enforcement/dispute resolution chapter."While officials from both countries continue to haggle, the economic toll of the trade war is adding up.A survey by researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta estimated this week that trade tensions and tariffs subtracted roughly 40,000 new jobs a month from the economy in the first half of the year, a total that is set to grow. Last month, the International Monetary Fund estimated that the U.S. trade war with China could cost the global economy around $700 billion by 2020, a loss equivalent to the size of Switzerland's entire economy.Organizations including the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund and the Federal Reserve have all warned that the trade war is weighing on investment and potentially weakening the economy."It is likely that some of the weakness in capital spending is a result of elevated uncertainty, for foreign growth generally but also specifically for trade developments," Randall Quarles, an official at the Federal Reserve, said in a speech Friday.Monthly figures released Tuesday also provided the first look at how tariffs imposed on more than $100 billion of Chinese goods Sept. 1 affected trade. While the trade deficit in goods and services in September narrowed from the previous month to $52.5 billion, both imports and exports of goods to China ticked down as the new levies went into effect. Imports of cellphones, toys, machinery and semiconductors fell, suggesting that American businesses and consumers are growing more cautious. And the data showed American companies shifting to buy more goods from other locations, including Mexico, Vietnam and Taiwan."In a very narrow sense, higher tariffs on China are working: They clearly have reduced trade and thus the trade deficit with China," Brad Setser, an economist at the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote on Twitter. But "imports from both Taiwan and Vietnam are up substantially," he added.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| U.S. sets sights on shipping companies for sanctions evasions Posted: 06 Nov 2019 08:01 AM PST  The United States will target shipping companies that are in breach of sanctions and aggressively enforce measures across the globe to clamp down on such practices, a top U.S. official said on Wednesday. In one of the biggest sanctions actions taken by the U.S. government since its crackdown on Iranian oil exports, Washington imposed sanctions on Chinese companies in late September for alleged involvement in moving crude oil from Iran. COSCO Shipping Tanker (Dalian), a subsidiary of China's state-owned shipping group COSCO, was one of the companies blacklisted.
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| Head of UN Palestinian agency suspended amid probe Posted: 06 Nov 2019 07:35 AM PST The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has been placed on administrative leave as an internal probe into alleged mismanagement at the organisation proceeds, the United Nations said Wednesday. Pierre Krahenbuhl, commissioner general of the agency known as UNRWA, will be replaced on an interim basis by the agency's acting deputy chief Christian Saunders, his agency said. A separate statement from UN headquarters said Secretary General Antonio Guterres had decided to place Krahenbuhl on administrative leave for now.
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| Protest-hit Chile vows to punish any abuses by security forces Posted: 06 Nov 2019 07:34 AM PST ![Protest-hit Chile vows to punish any abuses by security forces]( "Protest-hit Chile vows to punish any abuses by security forces") Chile's President Sebastian Pinera on Thursday promised to ensure police and soldiers found guilty of rights violations were prosecuted with the same force as rioters and looters during nearly three weeks of violent protests. A team sent by Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. human rights chief and former Chilean president, and another from Amnesty International, are also in Chile interviewing alleged victims. "This president is committed to total respect for human rights at all times and in all circumstances," the center-right Pinera said from La Moneda presidential palace in Santiago.
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| Putin: New weapons will offer Russia reliable protection Posted: 06 Nov 2019 06:42 AM PST  Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Russia's new weapons have no foreign equivalents but he insists the country will not use them to threaten anyone. The Russian leader claimed that the new weapons systems are designed exclusively to "ensure our security in view of the growing threats," and vowed to pursue arms control efforts. Russia's relations with the West have plunged to the lowest levels since the Cold War years over the conflict in Ukraine and other disputes.
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| Blow to Boris Johnson’s Campaign as Minister Quits Cabinet Posted: 06 Nov 2019 06:35 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Sign up to our Brexit Bulletin, follow us @Brexit and subscribe to our podcast.Boris Johnson's bid for re-election as British prime minister was rocked by a cabinet resignation on the day the Conservative leader launched his campaign.Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns quit after claims he knew about a former aide's role in the collapse of a rape trial. It's a blow for the Tory Party at the start of one of the most unpredictable British election contests in recent history.Johnson was trying to get his campaign back on track after another cabinet minister -- Jacob Rees-Mogg -- was forced to apologize Tuesday for comments he made about people killed in a tower-block fire.Must read: Doubts Over Russia's U.K. Meddling After Johnson Sits On ReportKey Developments:Welsh Secretary quits after row over collapse of rape trial, adding to Tory troublesJohnson gave statement outside Number 10, blaming Parliament for postponing Brexit and warning Labour would waste "the whole of 2020 in a horror show" of more delays.Johnson compared Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to Stalin in Telegraph column.Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson will visit a school in London at 2.30 p.m.Johnson plans a rally in the West Midlands on Wednesday eveningLast Minister to Quit During a Campaign? 1931 (2:15 p.m.)When did a minister last resign during an election campaign? According to "Butler's British Political Facts", there's Desmond Brayley, who quit as a defense minister during the second election of 1974 over a corporate scandal. But he was in the House of Lords.For a better parallel, we have to go back to 1931 and the resignation of two Welshmen, Gwilym Lloyd George, parliamentary secretary to the Board of Trade, and Goronwy Owen, a whip. They quit the National Government in protest at the calling of the election, but neither was in the Cabinet. There's no record of a Cabinet minister quitting during a campaign since the start of the 20th century.Johnson: Labour Would Be 'Horror Show' (12:45 p.m.)Johnson spoke outside his Downing Street office, formally announcing a general election and expressing his frustration that Parliament had repeatedly blocked Brexit. Postponing the U.K.'s exit from the EU is "disastrous" for trust in politics -- but a Labour government would usher in a "horror show" of more "dither" and delay, he said."I've got to the stage where I've been wanting to chew my own tie because we are so nearly there, we got a deal," Johnson said. The delay is "bad for the country and the economy."Johnson cast the election as a choice between his Tories who will invest in schools and hospitals and "champion enterprise" -- and Jeremy Corbyn's Labour which believes in "high taxes for everyone" and has, Johnson alleged, "done a deal" with the Scottish Nationalist Party for a second referendum on Scottish independence."If I come back here with a working majority in parliament then I will get parliament working again for you," the Tory leader said.Corbyn Won't Engage With 'Stalin' Slur (12:30 p.m.)Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said he wouldn't engage in personal attacks after Boris Johnson compared him to Soviet despot Joseph Stalin and claimed the Labour leader has a "hatred" of wealth creators."I don't do personal attacks," Corbyn told supporters after he was asked about Johnson's claims in an article in the Tory-supporting Daily Telegraph newspaper. "For me real politics, the politics that I stand for, is about sharing power and wealth."Corbyn said Labour's National Executive Committee will meet later today to decide the party's election manifesto.Johnson: Parliament Paralyzed (12:15 p.m.)Boris Johnson said he'll be able to get his Brexit deal through Parliament in "a few weeks" if his Conservatives win a majority.In a video shot in his car on the way to visit Queen Elizabeth II, he said "she always asks the best questions," and that today's question is why there is a general election. "There's only reason: I'm afraid that Parliament is paralyzed," he said.If the Tories win on Dec. 12 "Day one, we'll put that deal back to Parliament, get it through in a few weeks from December, come out in January," he said.Johnson Loses Second Cabinet Minister (12:05 p.m.)Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns quit Boris Johnson's cabinet, the second minister to do so since the election was called.Cairns said he was resigning over allegations relating to a former aide. The aide had been criticized by the judge in a rape case for giving inadmissible evidence, which he said had sabotaged the trial. At issue was how much Cairns knew about the case before the aide was chosen as a Welsh Assembly candidate."This is a very sensitive matter, and in light of continued speculation, I write to tender my resignation as Secretary of State for Wales," Cairns wrote in a letter to Johnson. "I will cooperate in full with the investigation under the Ministerial Code which will now take place and I am confident I will be cleared of any breach or wrong doing."It's the second ministerial resignation since the election was called, after Nicky Morgan quit as Work and Pensions Secretary last week. She said she was leaving politics, citing the impact on her family and the "abuse" faced by politicians.Corbyn Targets Leave Supporters (11:15 a.m.)Corbyn hit the campaign trail in Telford, where the Tories have a majority of just 720 votes. It's a key seat because Labour needs to convince the 63% of residents who voted to leave the EU in 2016 that it's a party which can still represent them.The scale of the challenge was shown in a YouGov poll published Nov. 1, which found only 43% of past Labour voters who also voted leave still intend to back the party."Many people in our country have grown weary of politics," Corbyn told the rally in Telford, Shropshire. "Westminster hasn't exactly covered itself in glory recently. It's a long, long way from the reality of people's lives."In an appeal to traditional Labour voters, Corbyn repeated his call-and-response chant that the state-run National Health Service is "not for sale." He also attacked Jacob Rees-Mogg's comments on the Grenfell fire tragedy (see 8 a.m.). "Do you want leaders who think they are above us all?" he asked, as he portrayed the Tories as rich and out-of-touch with the concerns of voters.Johnson Meets Queen as Campaign Begins (10:30 a.m.)Boris Johnson traveled to Buckingham Palace to meet with Queen Elizabeth II to formally inform her of the start of the general election campaign.The prime minister and the head of state spoke for about 25 minutes before Johnson returned to his office in Downing Street. He will make a statement to cameras at 1 p.m. before traveling to his campaign launch on Wednesday evening, his office said.Labour Struggles to Shake Antisemitism Charge (8:30 a.m.)The opposition Labour Party is seizing on Cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg's comments about the Grenfell Tower fire (see 8 a.m.) to try to demonstrate the Conservatives are out of touch with ordinary voters."I think it reflects an arrogance about Jacob Rees-Mogg which is not going to help the Tory Party at this election," Labour's home affairs spokeswoman Diane Abbott told BBC radio earlier.Yet Labour faces its own perception battle after three Jewish newspapers called leader Jeremy Corbyn a danger to their community for failing to tackle antisemitism in his party. Abbott said Labour is trying to stamp out the problem but also added: "It's not every element of the Jewish community that believes Jeremy is an antisemite."Cleverly on Back Foot Defending Rees-Mogg (8 a.m.)Instead of launching his party's election campaign, Conservative Chairman James Cleverly had the task of defending colleagues amid the fallout from Jacob Rees-Mogg's remarks about the Grenfell Tower fire, which killed 72 people in 2017. The leader of the House of Commons was forced to apologize after he said in a radio interview it would have been "common sense" to flee the building -- against fire service advice.But his remarks were amplified by Tory MP Andrew Bridgen, who suggested Rees-Mogg would have survived the fire because he is more "clever" than the victims. Bridgen himself apologized on Wednesday.Johnson's Tories Stumble as Senior Minister Forced to Apologize"What they said was wrong and they have apologized for that," Cleverly told ITV's 'Good Morning Britain' program on Wednesday. "We want to focus on the future and indeed on the priorities of all of the whole of the U.K. including people who live in hardship and poverty." Cleverly later told the BBC Rees-Mogg and Bridgen don't need to resign because they had apologized.Farage Offers Pact with Rival Candidates (7:40 a.m.)Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage said he is in talks with euroskeptic Conservative and Labour Party candidates about standing aside in their constituencies in exchange for a promise not to support Boris Johnson's EU withdrawal agreement in Parliament.It comes after Johnson rebuffed an offer from Farage for a nationwide pact. Farage said he would back a no-deal Brexit, while Johnson said he was pressing ahead with the agreement he struck with the EU."We are happy to talk to Conservatives, or indeed Labour MPs," Farage told BBC TV. "I will always put country before party to get us free."Earlier:Johnson Tries to Get On Front Foot After Day of SetbacksDoubts Over Russia's U.K. Meddling After Johnson Sits On Report'Get Brexit Done' Rings Hollow for Baffled British Businesses\--With assistance from Thomas Penny, Robert Hutton and Greg Ritchie.To contact the reporters on this story: Kitty Donaldson in London at kdonaldson1@bloomberg.net;Alex Morales in London at amorales2@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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| One-legged skeleton found under Russian dance floor is Napoleon's 'lost general', DNA tests confirm Posted: 06 Nov 2019 06:32 AM PST  More than 200 years after he died of his battlefield wounds in Russia, one of Napoleon Bonaparte's favourite generals has been formally identified thanks to DNA tests on a one-legged skeleton found under a dance floor. His heirs are now calling for him to receive a state funeral in his native France. Charles Etienne Gudin, whose name is inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, died aged 44 on August 22, 1812, after being hit by a cannon ball during Napoleon's unsuccessful invasion of Russia. Gudin was personally known to and respected by Napoleon. A bust of his likeness resides in the Palace of Versailles, and a Paris street bears his name. After his death his heart was cut out and carried to Paris to be placed in a chapel in the French capital's Père Lachaise cemetery but the precise location of the rest of his body was unknown. Then in July, a team of French and Russian archaeologists said they unearthed what they believed to be Gudin's missing remains during a dig in the Russian city of Smolensk, 250 miles west of Moscow. Gudin's remains lay for more than 200 years before being discovered Credit: DENIS MAXIMOV/AFP via Getty Images Records from the period indicate that Gudin was seriously wounded in the Battle of Valutino near Smolensk, close to the border with Belarus, in which 7,000 French perished. His leg was amputated and he died three days later from gangrene. The search for his remains began in May, funded by a Franco-Russian group headed by Pierre Malinowski, a historian and former soldier with ties to the French far-right and support from the Kremlin. The team was confident that the skeleton they found belonged to Gudin but to dispel any doubt sent samples for genetic cross-analysis with DNA from the general's descendants. "I came back with to France with a piece of femur and teeth," said Mr Malinowski. He handed them over to an expert in Marseille, southern France, who compared them with remains of Gudin's brother and sister from the family crypt at Saint-Maurice-sur-Aveyron in the Loiret, central France. The brother had also been a general of Napoleon. DNA tests prove that archeologists have found one of Napoleon's favourite generals who fell in Russia in 1812 Credit: Corbis Historical "The DNA fits 100 per cent," Mr Malinowski told France Bleu. "There is no longer any doubt." "This is the greatest day of my life. Napoleon was one of the last people to see him alive which is very important, and he's the first general from the Napoleonic period that we have found. "We were very lucky to find a skeleton after all the tragedies that Russian went through in 1812. And even more incredible, there was more usable DNA on (Gudin's) remains that in the bones conserved in a dry place for the past 200 years." He said the remains would soon be returned to France. Albéric d'Orléans, a direct heir of the general, hailed the news as historic. He called for a proper burial at the Invalides in Paris, the military complex housing the tomb of Napoleon and other great French military leaders. "This is the man who stood up to the Prussians during the Battle of Auerstaedt (in which Napoleon defeated Frederick William III), he deserves a national tribute," he said. Archaeologists worked at the site of Gudin's burial place in a park in Smolensk Credit: DENIS MAXIMOV/AFP via Getty Images According to Mr Malinowski, President Vladimir Putin of Russia has taken a personal interest in the case and offered to fly the remains to France. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, was also aware of the discovery. "Both presidents are enthusiastic" he said, adding that he hoped for a joint ceremony in the general's honour. "It will help to bring France and Russia closer together." Gudin is said to have been one of Napoleon's favourite generals and the two men attended military school together. The team in Smolensk first followed the memoirs of a subordinate of Gudin, Marshall Davout, who organised the funeral and described a mausoleum made of four cannon barrels pointing upward, said Nikolai Makarov, the director of the Russian Institute of Archaeology. When that trail dried up, they checked another theory by a witness of the funeral and found pieces of a wooden casket buried under an old dance floor in the city park. A preliminary report concluded that the skeleton belonged to a man who died aged 40-45. Napoleon had hoped to defeat the Russian army at Valutino but it managed to escape and Russian Tsar Alexander refused to discuss peace. "This battle could have been decisive if Napoleon hadn't underestimated the Russians," said Mr Malinowski. "Heavy losses in this battle showed Napoleon that he was going to go through hell in Russia." The French leader's campaign ended in a disastrous retreat as Russians used scorched earth tactics and even ordered Moscow to be burnt to sap Napoleon's resources. Less than ten per cent of his forces survived the Russian invasion.
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| Magnitude 5 earthquake strikes southern Iran Posted: 06 Nov 2019 05:59 AM PST ![Magnitude 5 earthquake strikes southern Iran]( "Magnitude 5 earthquake strikes southern Iran") A magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck Iran's southern province of Hormozgan on Wednesday, according to the country's seismological center. The center's website said the 5.4 magnitude quake struck at 11:10 a.m. local time, some 125 kilometers (77 miles) west of the port city of Bandar Abbas. Iran is located on major seismic faults and experiences one earthquake per day on average.
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| Boris Johnson’s Election Campaign Gets Off to an Utterly Disastrous Start Posted: 06 Nov 2019 05:56 AM PST  REUTERSBoris Johnson has spent decades perfecting his act as Britain's most famous buffoon—and the election campaign he's spent his life preparing for has, fittingly, started like a clown car, immediately falling to pieces around him and leaving him clutching a steering wheel attached to nothing.It's hard to think of a campaign that's ever gotten off to a worse start—and most of the damage was done before the campaign had officially begun. Johnson left Downing Street on Wednesday to visit Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace and explain to her exactly why he's forced her and the country to go through a third general election in just over four years.But, while he was inside the palace, the latest in a string of campaign catastrophes struck. One of his cabinet ministers announced his resignation, forced to quit after a rape victim accused him of lying about whether he knew of allegations that a former aide sabotaged a rape trial. Last week, Alun Cairns claimed he was unaware of his ex-staffer's role in the failed rape trial, before the BBC published an email showing the opposite.A cabinet resignation would be enough to create a huge storm cloud over any campaign launch—but it's arguably not even the most damaging piece of news suffered by Johnson in the past 24 hours. Another member of his cabinet provoked equal parts fury and disbelief Tuesday when he suggested that the victims of 2017's catastrophic Grenfell tower block fire in London, in which at least 72 people died, lacked "common sense."Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the House of Commons, made the callous comments live on radio Tuesday, telling LBC: "The more one's read over the weekend about the report and about the chances of people surviving, if you just ignore what you're told and leave you are so much safer. And I think if either of us were in a fire, whatever the fire brigade said, we would leave the burning building. It just seems the common sense thing to do."Rees-Mogg was forced to apologize after victims' families expressed their horror at what he said—but that was far from the end of the matter. One of his Conservative Party colleagues then took to the airwaves to defend Rees-Mogg for the comments he'd already profusely apologized for and retracted. Andrew Bridgen suggested Rees-Mogg would have made a "better decision" than those who died in the fire because he's highly educated.Speaking on BBC Radio on Tuesday, Bridgen said: "What he's actually saying is that he would have made a better decision than the authority figures who gave that advice [to stay inside]." Asked if he was implying that Rees-Mogg was more intelligent than the people who died, Bridgen replied, after a long pause: "But we want very clever people running the country, don't we, Evan? That is a by-product of what Jacob is and that is why he is in a position of authority."Inevitably, Bridgen was also forced to apologize by Wednesday morning. He admitted that his comments had caused "a great deal of distress and offense" to the survivors and families of victims of the tragedy.So, if you're keeping count, that's one cabinet resignation, and two public apologies for offending the families of victims of one of the most horrific tragedies in modern British history, all in the 24 hours before Johnson officially launched his master plan to win a parliamentary majority.But that's just the start of a long list of problems that has beset the Conservatives since it was agreed an election would be held in December to try to break the Brexit deadlock. For example, last week, evidence that could lead to criminal charges against Johnson's 2016 pro-Brexit campaign was passed by police to the criminal prosecution authorities.Johnson is also under heavy fire over accusations from lawmakers that he's intentionally delaying the release of a report into Russia's influence in British politics until after the election. The report's authors say it was supposed to be released before the vote, but it has been mysteriously held back. Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry said the delay was because the report "risks derailing their election campaign" by exposing links between Russia and Johnson's Brexit campaign.The Conservatives were also accused of Trump-like social-media tactics after the official Twitter account was caught misleadingly editing and posting a video of the Labour party's Sir Keir Starmer to give the false impression he failed to answer a question on the party's Brexit position.Johnson was also condemned Wednesday for writing an article for The Telegraph in which he compared Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to mass-murdering Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. Johnson accused Corbyn of hating wealth so much that he and others "point their fingers at individuals with a relish and a vindictiveness not seen since Stalin persecuted the kulaks."All the gaffes, mishaps, and disasters culminated Wednesday morning when Conservative Party Chairman James Cleverly was empty-chaired by Sky News after failing to appear for an interview. Host Kay Burley instead used the segment to list her questions about the terrible campaign start all while Cleverly's lonely chair was alone on the screen.Apparently undeterred, Johnson told the nation in a speech outside Downing Street on Wednesday afternoon, in the official start of the campaign, that he wants to win a majority to push forward with Brexit.Johnson said a majority Conservative government would return to parliament in December and have Brexit completed by the end of January. If the start of his campaign is anything to go by, there's absolutely no guarantee that this election will give him the result he wants.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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| The Latest: UK's Johnson: "No choice" but to have early vote Posted: 06 Nov 2019 05:16 AM PST  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has kicked off the Conservative Party's campaign for the Dec. 12 election, accusing the political opposition of blocking Brexit. Johnson criticized left-wing Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, claiming inaccurately that Corbyn had "sided with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin" after a former Russian spy and his daughter were attacked with a nerve agent in the English city of Salisbury.
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| The daily business briefing: November 6, 2019 Posted: 06 Nov 2019 05:10 AM PST ![The daily business briefing: November 6, 2019]( "The daily business briefing: November 6, 2019") 1.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked President Trump to lift his new tariffs on Scotch whiskey and other goods, a Johnson spokesperson said Tuesday. Johnson, who is struggling to save his Brexit plan, also asked Trump in the same phone call not to impose levies on imported British cars. The White House declined to provide details on the trade discussion, offering only a general statement. "The two leaders again reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening the special relationship through a robust bilateral free trade agreement once the United Kingdom leaves the E.U.," the White House said. "The president also stressed the need for NATO allies to robustly fund their defenses," it said. The Trump administration last month imposed a 25 percent tariff on Scotch and several other products to retaliate for European Union aircraft subsidies. [Reuters] 2.AT&T has agreed to a $60 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission for allegedly misleading customers about its "unlimited" data plans. The FTC sued AT&T in 2014, saying it failed to "adequately disclose" to people who signed up for unlimited data plans that their data speeds would be throttled if they used a certain amount of data in a billing cycle. Under the settlement, AT&T can't represent its data plans as "unlimited" without "disclosing any material restrictions on the speed or amount of data." The $60 million will be deposited into a fund used to provide partial refunds to current and former customers who signed up for the unlimited plans before 2011. [The Verge] 3.SoftBank Group said Wednesday it took a $4.6 billion financial hit from its investment in struggling U.S. office-sharing startup WeWork. Masayoshi Son, leader of Japan's SoftBank, acknowledged that he had misjudged WeWork's ousted leader and co-founder Adam Neumann. "I overestimated Adam's good side," he said, adding that he had "turned a blind eye" to Neumann's negative traits, "especially when it comes to governance." Still, Son defended the investment against recent criticism, saying his tech conglomerate's recent bailout of WeWork was "not a rescue" but a chance to buy discounted shares to reduce the average cost of SoftBank's shares in the company. "We may not be able to make a big gain, but at least we may be able to get back our investment," he said. [The New York Times] 4.U.S. stock index futures were flat on Wednesday, bouncing between slight gains and losses after Tuesday's fresh record for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Futures for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite were down, but by less than 0.1 percent. The Dow gained 0.1 percent on Tuesday, marking its third straight day of gains. Investors are showing caution as they await new signs of progress toward a deal toward ending the U.S.-China trade war. China is urging President Trump to lift new tariffs imposed in September on $125 billion worth of Chinese imports as the two sides try to negotiate "phase one" of a deal. Also on Wednesday, corporate earnings season continued with reports from CVS Health before the bell, and from Qualcomm and several others after trading closed. [CNBC] 5.An attorney for black customers asked to change tables at a Chicago-area Buffalo Wild Wings over their skin color held a news conference Tuesday calling for the restaurant chain to make broad changes or face a discrimination lawsuit. A racially mixed group of about 20 people went to the restaurant on Oct. 26 for a child's birthday party, and say an employee asked them to move to a different table because a regular customer didn't want to sit near black people. "I was appalled," Justin Vahl, one of the adults in the party, said. The franchise fired two employees involved in the incident and said others would undergo sensitivity training, while the customer who started the controversy was banned from the chain's 1,200 restaurants. [The Associated Press, Chicago Tribune]
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| Lawyer: British editor should serve 2 years in Dubai killing Posted: 06 Nov 2019 04:57 AM PST ![Lawyer: British editor should serve 2 years in Dubai killing]( "Lawyer: British editor should serve 2 years in Dubai killing") The lawyer of a British newspaper editor convicted of killing his wife with a hammer asked a Dubai court on Wednesday to reduce his client's sentence to two years in prison, meaning he could be freed before the end of the year if the court grants his request. Former Gulf News editor Francis Matthew had been sentenced to 15 years in prison for bludgeoning his wife Jane Matthew to death at their home in 2017. Matthew's lawyer Ali al-Shamsi told the court that evidence proves the crime was not premeditated and that he had no previous intent to kill.
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| UK PM Johnson: Let's get Brexit done or face "horror show" of Corbyn Posted: 06 Nov 2019 04:56 AM PST ![UK PM Johnson: Let's get Brexit done or face "horror show" of Corbyn]( "UK PM Johnson: Let's get Brexit done or face \"horror show\" of Corbyn") British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged voters to back his Conservatives in a Dec. 12 election or face the "horror show" of two referendums next year if Labour's Jeremy Corbyn was elected. Officially launching the start of campaign from outside his Downing Street residence, Johnson said that if he was returned to power with a majority he would get on with ratifying his Brexit deal straight away. "Come with us, get Brexit done and take this country forward, or, and this is the alternative next year, spend the whole of 2020 in a horror show of yet more dither and delay," he said.
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| Israel frees 2 Jordanians held without charge Posted: 06 Nov 2019 04:34 AM PST ![Israel frees 2 Jordanians held without charge]( "Israel frees 2 Jordanians held without charge") Israeli authorities on Wednesday released two Jordanian citizens who'd been detained for two months and returned them to Jordan, easing a standoff that has soured relations between the countries just as they marked a chilly 25th anniversary of their historic peace deal. Israel and Jordan announced earlier this week that the two Jordanians held without charges would be freed and Heba al-Labadi and Abdul Rahman Miri crossed the King Hussein Bridge back into Jordan on Wednesday.
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| 10 things you need to know today: November 6, 2019 Posted: 06 Nov 2019 04:30 AM PST ![10 things you need to know today: November 6, 2019]( "10 things you need to know today: November 6, 2019") 1.Gordon Sondland, U.S. ambassador to the European Union, has revised his testimony to House impeachment investigators and acknowledged he told a high-ranking Ukrainian official that the U.S. would "likely" withhold military aid unless Ukraine publicly promised to investigate Democrats. In four new pages of testimony released Tuesday, Sondland confirmed he participated in spelling out a quid pro quo he previously did not admit. Sondland said he did not know who suspended the aid, nor when or why they did it. Congress also released a transcript of former NATO Ambassador Kurt Volker's testimony. Volker described how he pushed Trump to meet with Zelensky but was denied. Trump maintains there was no quid pro quo, and says his phone call with Zelensky, which triggered the impeachment investigation, was "perfect." [The New York Times] 2.Democrats claimed off-year election wins Tuesday in Kentucky and Virginia. In Kentucky, Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear declared victory over Gov. Matt Bevin. Bevin, behind by 0.4 percent, has refused to concede. President Trump tried to give the unpopular Republican incumbent a boost with a last-minute Monday rally, telling supporters a Bevin loss would be seen as "the greatest defeat in the history of the world" for Trump. Virginia Democrats flipped both houses of the legislature, gaining full control of the longtime swing state's government. They are expected to pass gun control measures and become the final state needed to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. Republicans claimed victory in Mississippi, where Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves won the race to replace outgoing Gov. Phil Bryant (R). [CNN, The Associated Press] 3.Iran plans to further retreat from its landmark 2015 nuclear deal by injecting gas into centrifuges at its Fordow uranium-enrichment facility, President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday. The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran on Wednesday will start putting gas into more than 1,000 centrifuges at the plant, Rouhani said. That marks the beginning of a process used to enrich uranium. Under its deal with world powers, Iran is allowed to keep 1,044 centrifuges at Fordow, but they are supposed to be empty. The deal also banned Iran from enriching uranium at the site for 15 years after the 2015 deal was signed. Rouhani's announcement came hours after the U.S. formally told the United Nations it was withdrawing from the nuclear accord. [The Washington Post] 4.Drug cartel gunmen killed six children and three women from a prominent Mormon family Monday evening in an ambush on a dirt road in northern Mexico, local authorities said. The victims, all U.S. citizens, included 8-month-old twins. Another eight children survived by hiding in nearby brush. The victims lived in Sonora state in the hamlet of Mora, which was founded by a fundamentalist offshoot of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mexican Security Secretary Alfonso Durazo said the attackers might have thought the large SUVs belonged to a rival drug gang. President Trump, in a tweet, offered to help Mexico "wage war on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth." Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador agreed to meet with Trump. [The Associated Press] 5.A group of 11,258 scientists from 153 countries are declaring "clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency." In an article published Tuesday in BioScience, William J. Ripple and Christopher Wolf of the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society at Oregon State University write it is their "moral obligation to clearly warn humanity of any catastrophic threat." The declaration of a climate emergency comes one day after the Trump administration notified the United Nations that the United States is removing itself from the Paris climate accord. The article lays out six steps that should be taken to ease the worst impacts of climate change, pertaining to energy, short-lived pollutants, nature, food, economy, and population. [BioScience] 6.Jury selection began Tuesday in Roger Stone's criminal trial on charges of lying to Congress and witness tampering to obstruct lawmakers' Russia investigation. Stone, a longtime confidant of President Trump, was excused from the proceedings after he complained of food poisoning. Jury selection was nearly wrapped up Tuesday and opening statements are expected to start Wednesday. Stone was the last person charged under former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Stone faces charges of falsely telling the House Intelligence Committee that he never spoke to any Trump campaign associates about WikiLeaks' plans to post hacked emails that could be damaging to the Hillary Clinton campaign. [The Washington Post, CBS News] 7.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked President Trump to lift his new tariffs on Scotch whiskey and other goods, a Johnson spokesperson said Tuesday. Johnson, who is struggling to save his Brexit plan, also asked Trump in the same phone call not to impose levies on imported British cars. The White House declined to provide details on the trade discussion, offering only a general statement. "The two leaders again reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening the special relationship through a robust bilateral free trade agreement once the United Kingdom leaves the E.U.," the White House said. "The president also stressed the need for NATO allies to robustly fund their defenses," it said. The Trump administration last month imposed a 25 percent tariff on Scotch and several other products to retaliate for European Union aircraft subsidies. [Reuters] 8.AT&T has agreed to a $60 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission for allegedly misleading customers about its "unlimited" data plans. The FTC sued AT&T in 2014, saying it failed to "adequately disclose" to people who signed up for unlimited data plans that their data speeds would be throttled if they used a certain amount of data in a billing cycle. Under the settlement, AT&T can't represent its data plans as "unlimited" without "disclosing any material restrictions on the speed or amount of data." The $60 million will be deposited into a fund used to provide partial refunds to current and former customers who signed up for the unlimited plans before 2011. [The Verge] 9.A pro-Beijing Hong Kong lawmaker, Junius Ho, was stabbed while campaigning Wednesday. The anti-government assailant reportedly approached Ho to give him flowers and ask to take a photo with him, then drew a knife from a bag and stabbed the politician in the chest. Ho and several others quickly overpowered the man, who called Ho "human scum." Pro-democracy demonstrators oppose Ho because of his alleged links to violence against them. After armed masked men attacked demonstrators at a subway station on July 21, Ho was seen shaking hands with some attackers, whom police later identified as members of triad organized crime gangs. The subway attack marked an escalation in tensions between anti-government demonstrators and leaders of the semi-autonomous former British colony. [The Associated Press] 10.An attorney for black customers asked to change tables at a Chicago-area Buffalo Wild Wings over their skin color held a news conference Tuesday calling for the restaurant chain to make broad changes or face a discrimination lawsuit. A racially mixed group of about 20 people went to the restaurant on Oct. 26 for a child's birthday party, and say an employee asked them to move to a different table because a regular customer didn't want to sit near black people. "I was appalled," Justin Vahl, one of the adults in the party, said. The franchise fired two employees involved in the incident and said others would undergo sensitivity training, while the customer who started the controversy was banned from the chain's 1,200 restaurants. [The Associated Press, Chicago Tribune]
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| Egypt lawmaker says parliament could sack him for criticism Posted: 06 Nov 2019 04:12 AM PST  An Egyptian opposition lawmaker said Wednesday that the country's parliament has referred him to an ethics committee for posting a video criticizing President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, the latest episode in a widening crackdown by authorities on dissent. The lawmaker, Ahmed Tantawi, also told The Associated Press that security forces arrested a worker in his office and an unspecified number of friends on Cairo. The development comes after the parliament, stacked with el-Sissi supporters, on Tuesday moved against Tantawi, and referred him to an ethics committee, which could ultimately remove him from parliament.
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