| U.K. Conservatives Still Ahead of Labour in Opinion Polls Posted: 09 Nov 2019 04:26 PM PST ![U.K. Conservatives Still Ahead of Labour in Opinion Polls]( "U.K. Conservatives Still Ahead of Labour in Opinion Polls") (Bloomberg) -- The U.K.'s Conservative Party was ahead of the opposition Labour Party as the campaign for the Dec. 12 general election picked up steam., according to several polls published over the weekend. The ruling Conservatives had 41% support compared with 29% for Labour, according to Opinium's poll issued Saturday for the Observer newspaper. The Tories were at 42% last week and Labour at 26%.The Liberal Democrats were third, with 15%, followed by the Brexit Party at 6% and the Scottish National Party at 5%. The online survey of 2,001 U.K. adults was carried out from Nov. 6 to 8.There's a 9-in-10 chance that the true value of a party's support lies within 4 points of the estimates provided by the poll, and a 2-in-3 chance that they are within 2 points, according to Opinium.The YouGov poll for The Sunday Times also showed Conservatives at 41%, which was unchanged from the prior week.Labour was at 26%, Liberal Democrats at 17% and the Brexit Party at 10%. The poll surveyed 1,598 adults from Nov. 7-9 and the margin of error was not specified.The Conservatives maintained a 12 percentage points lead over the Labour Party from last week, according to Deltapoll's national opinion survey for the Mail on Sunday newspaper.Voting intentions for the Conservatives and Labour rose by 1 percentage point to 41% and 29% while support for Liberal Democrats increased 2 percentage points to 16%.The Brexit Party saw a decline of 5 percentage points to 6%, according to Deltapoll that surveyed 1,518 people online between Nov. 6 and 9.To contact the reporter on this story: Madison Park in San Francisco at mpark197@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Sebastian Tong at stong41@bloomberg.net, Steve GeimannFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| UK to quadruple quota for migrant farm workers -Sunday Telegraph Posted: 09 Nov 2019 01:50 PM PST ![UK to quadruple quota for migrant farm workers -Sunday Telegraph]( "UK to quadruple quota for migrant farm workers -Sunday Telegraph") Britain's government will quadruple the annual immigration quota for seasonal farm workers to 10,000 from next year to tackle labour shortages in the sector after Brexit, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported. Currently Britain allows 2,500 people from outside the European Union to work temporarily on British farms each year, a number that the sector says is too low. Many other farm workers come from poorer parts of the EU, and do not yet face a quota.
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| Iraqi forces kill 6 protesters, retake key Baghdad bridges Posted: 09 Nov 2019 11:53 AM PST  Iraqi security forces killed six anti-government protesters and wounded more than 100 others on Saturday, pushing them back from three flashpoint bridges in central Baghdad, medical and security officials said. Five of the protesters were killed by live ammunition, while the sixth died after being shot in the head with a tear gas canister. The deaths occurred Saturday as the protests intensified in the afternoon, when demonstrators tried to reach the three bridges spanning the Tigris River to the heavily fortified Green Zone, the seat of government.
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| 4 Syrian soldiers killed in clashes with Turkish-led forces Posted: 09 Nov 2019 10:59 AM PST  Intense clashes broke out Saturday between Syrian government troops and Turkish-led forces in northeast Syria, killing at least four Syrian soldiers, the country's state media and an opposition war monitor reported. Turkey invaded northeast Syria last month to push out Syrian Kurdish fighters near the border. The Kurdish groups called in Syrian government forces to halt Turkey's advance.
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| Angela Merkel leads ceremony marking 30th anniversary the fall of the Berlin Wall Posted: 09 Nov 2019 10:39 AM PST ![Angela Merkel leads ceremony marking 30th anniversary the fall of the Berlin Wall]( "Angela Merkel leads ceremony marking 30th anniversary the fall of the Berlin Wall") Leaders from Germany, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic attended a Saturday ceremony in Berlin honoring the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which is viewed as one of the pivotal moments in the final stages of the Cold War. The leaders placed roses along the remnants of the barrier that once divided the city between the communist east and capitalist west."The Berlin Wall, ladies and gentleman, is history," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said. "It teaches us: No wall that keeps people out and restricts freedom is so high or so wide that it can't be broken down."> WATCH: German Chancellor Angela Merkel lights a candle at the Berlin Wall memorial to mark the 30th anniversary of the fall pic.twitter.com/t0dCC5zhGj> > -- Bloomberg TicToc (@tictoc) November 9, 2019President Trump congratulated Germany on the anniversary, saluting the "courageous men and women from both East and West Germany" who united to "tear down a wall that stood as a symbol of oppression."But Nov. 9 is not a gleaming day in German history, despite the fall of the wall. It is also the anniversary of Kristallnacht, or the Night of the Broken Glass, in which Nazi paramilitaries carried out a pogrom against Jewish citizens in 1938. And in 1923, Adolf Hitler led the "Beer Hall Putsch," a failed coup attempt against the Weimar Republic. Those anniversaries, coupled with the rise of far right parties in the country, have some German citizens feeling reflective, rather than celebratory this year, The Guardian reports. Read more at The Associated Press and The Guardian.More stories from theweek.com 5 brutal cartoons about Trump's environmental assault How motherhood changes the brain The rich comedic tradition of beefcakes taking care of kids
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| Lebanese banks urge calm amid financial crisis, protests Posted: 09 Nov 2019 10:20 AM PST  The country's financial troubles have worsened since nationwide protests — initially against new taxes — snowballed into calls for the entire political elite to step down. Banks reopened Nov. 1 after a two-week closure amid the protests. The announcement by Salim Sfeir, chairman of the Association of Banks in Lebanon, came after a two-hour meeting between President Michel Aoun, several Cabinet ministers and top banking officials in search of solutions for Lebanon's deepening financial and economic crisis.
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| Beto O'Rourke reportedly considered Pete Buttigieg a 'human weather vane' Posted: 09 Nov 2019 10:08 AM PST ![Beto O'Rourke reportedly considered Pete Buttigieg a 'human weather vane']( "Beto O'Rourke reportedly considered Pete Buttigieg a 'human weather vane'") South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg's fellow Democratic presidential candidates find the 37-year-old and his mercurial rise to be, well, kind of annoying, The New York Times reports.That's not unexpected, as former President Barack Obama's chief strategist David Axelrod pointed out. "It is a natural thing when a young candidate comes along and has success for other candidates who feel like they've toiled in the vineyards to resent it," he said.Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), for example, reportedly became "extremely agitated" at the mere mention of Buttigieg's name during a conversation with fellow candidate Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) in the Senate chamber over the summer. But it turns out that it was former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas) who may have been most rankled by Buttigieg's emergence, per the Times. O'Rourke, who dropped out of the race last week, was another relatively young and inexperienced candidate, but he failed to reel in the support that the Indiana mayor has, both in terms of polling and donations.One O'Rouke aide told the Times that the former congressman viewed Buttigieg as a "human weather vane" that represented the worst of politics. Stranger things have happened, but it doesn't sound like Buttigieg can expect an endorsement from O'Rourke anytime soon. Read more at The New York Times.More stories from theweek.com Angela Merkel leads ceremony marking 30th anniversary the fall of the Berlin Wall 5 brutal cartoons about Trump's environmental assault How motherhood changes the brain
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| Giuliani's associates allegedly pressed Ukraine's previous president to launch investigations in exchange for a White House visit Posted: 09 Nov 2019 09:21 AM PST ![Giuliani's associates allegedly pressed Ukraine's previous president to launch investigations in exchange for a White House visit]( "Giuliani's associates allegedly pressed Ukraine's previous president to launch investigations in exchange for a White House visit") Two associates of President Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani reached out to the previous Ukrainian government as early as February in the hopes of getting Kyiv to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two Ukrainian-American businessmen who were clients of Giuliani and allegedly aided him in his quest to investigate the Bidens, reportedly sat down with former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at the offices of then-Ukranian general prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko. This meeting came after Fruman, Parnas, Giuliani, and Lutsenko met in New York in January and Warsaw, Poland, in February.At the meeting, Parnas and Fruman allegedly offered a White House visit in exchange for Poroshenko launching the investigation into the Bidens and alleged 2016 election meddling. Poroshenko, who eventually lost his re-election bid to President Volodymyr Zelensky, could have used the White House visit to boost his candidacy, the Journal notes. "[Poroshenko] wanted to come to Washington and meet with Trump and then after the state dinner he would have an interview," one of the sources told the Journal. "Then he would say he would investigate meddling in 2016 and the Bidens."None of that came to fruition, however, and it turned out to be Zelensky's government that got caught up in the Trump impeachment saga. But the Journal points out that the reports of the Poroshenko meeting, if true, show that Giuliani's associates were in contact with Ukraine's president earlier than previously thought. Giuliani's lawyer said Giuliani was not aware of the meeting, and none of the other parties involved responded to requests for comment. Read more at The Wall Street Journal.More stories from theweek.com Angela Merkel leads ceremony marking 30th anniversary the fall of the Berlin Wall 5 brutal cartoons about Trump's environmental assault How motherhood changes the brain
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| Germany urges US to reject 'egoism' in veiled swipe at Trump on Berlin wall anniversary Posted: 09 Nov 2019 08:52 AM PST  German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier urged the United States to be a "mutually respectful partner" and reject nationalism, in a clear salvo aimed at US leader Donald Trump as Germany on Saturday marked 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Recalling the United States' key role in helping to bring down the hated Wall separating communist East Germany from the capitalist West, Steinmeier said he still hears the late American president Ronald Reagan's cry of "tear down this wall" at the iconic Brandenburg Gate. But in a swipe at Trump's America First policy and his insistence on building a wall on the southern border with Mexico, Steinmeier voiced a yearning for a return of the transatlantic partner of the past. "This America as a mutually respectful partner, as a partner for democracy and freedom, against national egoism - that is what I hope for in the future too," said Steinmeier. The German president's sharp words, as he opened festivities at the spot where Reagan once stood, underlined growing tensions between the traditional allies. In November 1989 thousands of young East Berliners crowded on top of the Berlin Wall, near the Brandenburg Gate Credit: Gerard Malie/AFP Germany has been deeply rattled by Trump's go-it-alone attitude on issues ranging from Iranian nuclear policy to trade with Europe and climate change. From Washington, Trump sent a message of congratulations for the commemoration, adding that the US "will continue working with Germany, one of our most treasured allies, to ensure that the flames of freedom burn as a beacon of hope and opportunity for the entire world to see." At a solemn ceremony in a church standing on the former "death strip" that divided Berlin, Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up in East Germany, called on Europe to defend democracy and freedom, warning that such gains must not be taken for granted. The Berlin Wall reminds "us that we have to do our part for freedom and democracy," said Merkel. "The values upon which Europe is founded... they are anything but self-evident. And they must always be lived out and defended anew," she told guests from across the continent.
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| Germany, allies mark 30 years since Berlin Wall fell Posted: 09 Nov 2019 08:40 AM PST  Germany marked the 30th anniversary Saturday of the opening of the Berlin Wall, a pivotal moment in the events that brought down Communism in eastern Europe. Leaders from Germany, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic attended a ceremony at Bernauer Strasse — where one of the last parts of the Berlin Wall remains — before placing roses in the once-fearsome barrier that divided the city for 28 years. "The Berlin Wall, ladies and gentlemen, is history," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said later at a memorial service inside a small chapel near where the Wall once stood.
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| India's Supreme Court rules in favor of Hindus over disputed religious site Posted: 09 Nov 2019 08:34 AM PST ![India's Supreme Court rules in favor of Hindus over disputed religious site]( "India's Supreme Court rules in favor of Hindus over disputed religious site") India's Supreme Court ruled Saturday that a Hindu temple could be built on the site where a mosque was illegally razed by Hindus in 1992 in the town of Ayodhya, ending a decades-long dispute.Many Hindus believe the site to be where the god Ram was born, and that a Hindu temple once stood on the spot before India's Muslim rulers built a mosque there in the 16th century. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Hindu who in his initial 2014 campaign promised to build the temple, urged for calm Saturday, as did Muslim leaders, The Washington Post reports.> The Honourable Supreme Court has given its verdict on the Ayodhya issue. This verdict shouldn't be seen as a win or loss for anybody. > > Be it Ram Bhakti or Rahim Bhakti, it is imperative that we strengthen the spirit of Rashtra Bhakti. > > May peace and harmony prevail!> > -- Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 9, 2019So far, that's held, although Ayodhya reportedly remains alert, and a heavy security presence has taken over the streets to prevent any clashes. Some people were reportedly happy to have a ruling one way or the other in the hopes that it will mean the end of tensions. Still, lawyers for the Muslim parties rejected a five acre land grant as consolation, and they will ask the court to review its decision. It's reportedly unlikely to be overturned.Ultimately, the decision is seen as another victory for Modi, under whom Hindu nationalist movements have strengthened, often at the expense of India's Muslim community. Read more at The Washington Post and Deutsche Welle.More stories from theweek.com Angela Merkel leads ceremony marking 30th anniversary the fall of the Berlin Wall 5 brutal cartoons about Trump's environmental assault How motherhood changes the brain
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| Egypt officials: 2 security forces killed in Sinai blast Posted: 09 Nov 2019 08:23 AM PST ![Egypt officials: 2 security forces killed in Sinai blast]( "Egypt officials: 2 security forces killed in Sinai blast") EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) — Egyptian officials said a roadside bomb has killed two members of the security forces on Saturday in the restive northern Sinai province. The explosion hit their armored vehicle in Rafah, a town on the border with the Gaza Strip. Two other security force members were wounded.
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| Merkel Champions Democracy as Germany Marks Wall Anniversary Posted: 09 Nov 2019 08:13 AM PST ![Merkel Champions Democracy as Germany Marks Wall Anniversary]( "Merkel Champions Democracy as Germany Marks Wall Anniversary") (Bloomberg) -- Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Europe to fight harder for its values as Germany marked 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall on Saturday."The values on which Europe is based -- freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law, safeguarding human rights -- these are anything but self-evident," Merkel, who grew up in communist East Germany, said in a speech at the wall memorial in the center of the once-divided capital."They must be experienced and defended anew again and again," said the 65-year-old. "In times of far-reaching technological and global change, this is more relevant than ever."German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Bundestag President Wolfgang Schaeuble and heads of state from Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic also attended the ceremony."The Berlin Wall is gone and that teaches us that no wall that excludes people and restricts freedom is so high or so wide that it cannot be broken through," Merkel said.U.S. President Donald Trump said the fate of the wall should be "a lesson to oppressive regimes and rulers everywhere.""The Cold War has long since passed, but tyrannical regimes around the world continue to employ the oppressive tactics of Soviet-style totalitarianism," Trump said in a statement released by the White House."We will continue working with Germany, one of our most treasured allies, to ensure that the flames of freedom burn as a beacon of hope and opportunity for the entire world to see."(Adds Trump comments from sixth paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Iain Rogers in Berlin at irogers11@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Marion Dakers, James AmottFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| The Latest: Iraq officials: 4 protesters killed, 100 wounded Posted: 09 Nov 2019 07:33 AM PST  Iraqi medical and security officials say four anti-government protesters were killed and 108 wounded in the capital Baghdad. The officials said the deaths and injuries occurred Saturday afternoon when protests intensified in Baghdad after security forces cleared three main bridges over the Tigris river. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, say three protesters were shot dead while the fourth was killed by a tear gas canister that hit him in the head.
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| Here's who House Republicans want to testify in the impeachment inquiry Posted: 09 Nov 2019 07:18 AM PST ![Here's who House Republicans want to testify in the impeachment inquiry]( "Here's who House Republicans want to testify in the impeachment inquiry") House Republicans have their impeachment inquiry wishlist.Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the GOP's top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, named multiple witnesses his colleagues would like to appear during the inquiry's upcoming public hearings in a letter sent to Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Saturday. Among the names are former Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, who used to sit on the board of a Ukrainian gas company that President Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani wanted Kyiv to investigate, and his business partner Devon Archer. Nunes also listed the unnamed whistleblower whose complaint about Trump's phone call in July with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky originally spurred the inquiry, among others.> BREAKING: HIll GOP just released its desires witness list for impeachment hearings, which includes -- wait for it -- Nellie Ohr, Hunter Biden, another Burisma board member as well as Alexandra Chalupa. > > They also want the whistleblower, plus Kurt Volker and Tim Morrison> > -- Rachael Bade (@rachaelmbade) November 9, 2019Democrats will have final say over which witnesses will appear, however.Nunes wrote that the names were essential for providing "transparency" to the Democrats' "otherwise opaque and unfair process," especially concerning the whistleblower. "It is imperative that the American people hear definitively how the whistleblower developed his or her information, and who else the whistleblower may have fed the information he or she gathered and how that treatment of classified information may have led to the false narrative being perpetrated by the Democrats during this process," he wrote.The letter follows another one Nunes sent Friday evening, in which he requested that none other than Schiff himself testify behind closed doors about any conversations he had with the whistleblower in August. Schiff has maintained those conversations did not take place, although it was revealed that the whistleblower did have contact with the congressman's office before the complaint was issued.More stories from theweek.com Angela Merkel leads ceremony marking 30th anniversary the fall of the Berlin Wall 5 brutal cartoons about Trump's environmental assault How motherhood changes the brain
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| GOP Unveils Wild Wishlist of Impeachment Witnesses Including Hunter Biden and the Whistleblower Posted: 09 Nov 2019 07:08 AM PST  Jonathan Ernst/ReutersRepublicans on House Intelligence Committee unveiled their wishlist for impeachment witnesses on Saturday rolling out a group that appears to be more about pushing far-right conspiracy theory talking points than actually investigating Donald Trump's interactions with Ukraine. The list, which Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee handling the impeachment are only required to take as a suggestion, appears to be aimed at reviving old Fox News storylines from the Robert Mueller investigation, including allegations that the Ukrainian government interfered in the 2016 election. For example, Republicans want to call Nellie Ohr, whose job at opposition research firm Fusion GPS and marriage to a Justice Department official made her the subject of fevered speculation on the right during the Mueller investigation. Republicans claim that interviewing Ohr buttresses their claims that Trump's request for the Ukrainian government to investigate the United States' 2016 presidential was legitimate and not an effort to dig up dirt on Democrats."Given President Trump's documented belief that the Ukrainian government meddled in the 2016 election to oppose his candidacy, which forms the basis for a reasonable desire for Ukraine to investigate the circumstances surrounding the election and any potential Ukrainian involvement, Ms. Ohr is a prime fact witness who can assist Congress and the American public in better understanding the facts and circumstances surrounding Ukrainian involvement in the 2016 election," the letter reads.Inside the Republican Plan to Deep-Six the Trump Impeachment HearingsThe witness list is the latest GOP move to bolster Trump ahead of the first public impeachment hearing on Nov. 13. Earlier this week, Republicans moved famously combative Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) to the intelligence committee this week in an apparent effort to boost Trump's impeachment defense on the committee.Other witnesses Republicans want to call include former Democratic National Committee staffer Alexandra Chalupa, who figures prominently in right-wing conspiracy theories about Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election. Chalupa has denied collecting opposition research for the DNC. Republicans also want to interview Hunter Biden, former Vice President Joe Biden's son. Trump's attempt to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate the younger Biden's seat on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma have played a key role in the Democrats' investigation into Trump and Ukraine. But Republicans say that interviewing Biden and former Burisma board member Devon Archer will help them understand "Ukraine's pervasive corruption"—a talking point popular with Russian President Vladimir Putin."Mr. Biden's firsthand experiences with Burisma can assist the American public in understanding the nature and extent of Ukraine's pervasive corruption, information that bears directly on President Trump's longstanding and deeply-held skepticism of the country," the letter reads.Republicans also want to interview the anonymous whistleblower whose complaint about Trump's phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky led to the investigation. Additionally, Republicans want anyone involved in the drafting of the whistleblower complaint to be called, alluding to right-wing claims that the whistleblower complaint was orchestrated by anti-Trump forces."It is imperative that the American people hear definitively how the whistleblower developed his or her information, and who else the whistleblower may have fed the information he or she had gathered and how that treatment of classified information may have led to the false narrative being perpetrated by the Democrats during this process," the letter reads. While Democrats have said they'll only consider Republican witness requests, Republican Ranking Member Devin Nunes, of California, claimed in the letter that refusing to request the witnesses Republicans want would mean denying Trump "fundamental fairness.""Your failure to fulfill Minority witness requests shall constitute evidence of your denial of fundamental fairness and due process," Nunes wrote.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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| Egypt says inflation drops to 2.4%, lowest in 2 decades Posted: 09 Nov 2019 07:01 AM PST ![Egypt says inflation drops to 2.4%, lowest in 2 decades]( "Egypt says inflation drops to 2.4%, lowest in 2 decades") Egypt says its annual inflation rate dropped to its lowest in nearly two decades, down to 2.4% in October from 4.3% the previous month. The figures, announced Saturday by the state statistics bureau, were driven by a decline in food and beverages prices. Khaled el-Sayed, who heads the bureau's statistics department, tells The Associated Press that the Oct. 2019 rate was the lowest since the year 2000.
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| Pompeo slams Iran 'intimidation' of IAEA inspector as 'outrageous' Posted: 09 Nov 2019 06:36 AM PST  The top US diplomat said Iran "detained" the inspector, who the International Atomic Energy Agency has said had been briefly prevented from leaving Iran. Iran said Thursday it had cancelled the inspector's accreditation after she triggered an alarm last week at the entrance to the Natanz uranium enrichment plant. The alarm during a check at the entrance to the plant in central Iran had raised concerns that she could be carrying a "suspect product" on her, Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said in a statement posted online.
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| 10 things you need to know today: November 9, 2019 Posted: 09 Nov 2019 06:08 AM PST ![10 things you need to know today: November 9, 2019]( "10 things you need to know today: November 9, 2019") 1.Two new transcripts of impeachment depositions from two witnesses, Fiona Hill and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, were released Friday by House committees conducting an impeachment inquiry into President Trump. Vindman, the National Security Council's top Ukraine expert, told Congress "there was no doubt" Trump wanted Ukraine to investigate his political opponents in order to secure a White House meeting. He said Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, who did not show up for his scheduled deposition Friday, had reportedly arranged the demand. Hill, Trump's former top Russia and Europe adviser, also testified that Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland said "in front of the Ukrainians" that "he had an agreement" with Mulvaney "for a meeting with the Ukrainians if they were going to go forward with investigations." [The Washington Post, House Intelligence Committee] 2.Former New York City Mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg filed paperwork to enter the Democratic presidential primary in Alabama on Friday. He has been weighing a bid for weeks, a Bloomberg adviser told The New York Times on Thursday, and has not yet made a final decision on whether to launch a full-fledged campaign, but entered the race in Alabama, where there is an early deadline to file. The adviser said Bloomberg, a moderate, feels "the current field of candidates is not well positioned to" defeat Trump. Bloomberg is reportedly planning to focus on Super Tuesday states if he runs, rather than sink time and resources into early-voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire. [Montgomery Advertiser, The Associated Press] 3.President Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton knows about "many relevant meetings and conversations" connected to the House impeachment inquiry, his lawyer Charles Cooper wrote in a letter to the House general counsel. House investigators want to interview Bolton about Trump's interactions with Ukraine, but they have refrained from issuing a subpoena to avoid getting drawn into lengthy court proceedings. In the letter, Cooper said Bolton would be willing to cooperate, but only if a court rules he can ignore the White House's objections. Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, who skipped his scheduled deposition Friday, also filed to join a lawsuit started by Bolton's former deputy Charles Kupperman asking for a judicial ruling on whether they are obligated to comply with the congressional requests. [The New York Times, CNN] 4.On Friday, Facebook announced it would take down any posts containing the name some conservatives are alleging belongs to the Ukraine whistleblower. Spreading the name "violates our coordinating harm policy," Facebook said in a statement, so it is "removing any and all mentions of the potential whistleblower's name." Under that policy, Facebook prohibits "outing of witness, informant, or activist." That would include the Ukraine whistleblower, who raised concerns about President Trump's call with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in which Trump pushed for an investigation into the Bidens. Right-wing sites have started speculating on the identity of the whistleblower, but Facebook said it would only reconsider its decision if their name was "widely published in the media or used by public figures in debate." [CNN] 5.Thousands gathered Saturday in Hong Kong's Tamar Park next to the central government offices to mourn Chow Tsz-lok, a 22-year-old student at Hong Kong's University of Science and Technology who died after a high fall while police were dispersing pro-democracy, anti-government protests in the city earlier this week. The vigil, which was called "Heaven bless the Martyrs," was approved by police, unlike many recent marches. The demonstrators reportedly sang hymns and carried flowers, though there were also reportedly calls for revenge, as protesters have long accused Hong Kong police of using excessive force when breaking up rallies over the last several months. [The South China Morning Post, Reuters] 6.India's Supreme Court ruled Saturday that a Hindu temple could be built on the site where a mosque was illegally razed by Hindus in 1992 in the town of Ayodhya, ending a decades-long dispute. Many Hindus believe the site to be where the god Ram was born, and that a Hindu temple once stood on the spot before India's Muslim rulers built a mosque there in the 16th century. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Hindu, urged for calm Saturday, as did Muslim leaders. So far, that's held, although Ayodhya reportedly remains alert, and a heavy security presence has taken over the streets to prevent any clashes. Lawyers for the Muslim parties in the case said they will ask the court to review its decision, but it's reportedly unlikely to be overturned. [The Washington Post, Deutsche Welle] 7.President Trump's former adviser Stephen Bannon testified Friday that fellow adviser Roger Stone was the "access point" between the 2016 Trump presidential campaign and WikiLeaks, which unveiled a slew of stolen emails damaging to Trump's opponent Hillary Clinton in the lead up to the election. Stone is facing charges of making false statements, obstruction, and witness tampering over his connections to WikiLeaks. Bannon also said he believed Stone "had a relationship" with the website's founder, Julian Assange, and that he and Stone discussed WikiLeaks on several occasions even though Stone told the House Intelligence Committee under a sworn statement that he never discussed Assange or WikiLeaks with any members of Trump's campaign. Bannon did testify, however, that he was not aware of Trump's campaign formally asking Stone to communicate with Assange about the emails. [The Hill, Reuters] 8.After Brazil's Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a law requiring convicts to be imprisoned after losing an appeal, former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was freed from prison on Friday, on a judge's orders. Lula was sentenced to eight years in prison after being convicted of taking bribes from engineering firms when selecting government contracts. The Supreme Court's ruling was controversial because some analysts say the law was important in unraveling large-scale corruption cases by encouraging suspects to negotiate plea deals with prosecutors. Lula was president from 2003 until 2010, and was the frontrunner in the 2018 election until his arrest, which cleared the way for President Jair Bolsonaro's victory. [Al-Jazeera] 9.Students across the country walked out of school on Friday in a demonstration to call for the protection of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. DACA recipients, undocumented students, and supporters alike joined the walkout, organized in part by United We Dream, a youth-led immigration nonprofit. The Trump administration has moved to end DACA, which provides protections and temporary work permits for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children. The walkout was organized in tandem with a 16-day march from New York to Washington, D.C., which is set to end Tuesday, the first day that the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a lawsuit demanding DACA be preserved. [ABC News] 10.Nike launched an "immediate investigation" Friday to hear from former athletes of the Oregon Project, which was shut down last month after a doping scandal that resulted in coach Alberto Salazar being banned from the sport for four years. Mary Cain, who at 17 was the youngest American track and field athlete to make a World Championships team, said that after signing with Nike in 2013, an all-male staff told her she had to get thinner, and encouraged her to take birth control pills and diuretics to do so. Salazar told her she needed to be 114 lbs., and would publicly shame her if she wasn't losing weight, she said. Salazar denied the now-23-year-old Cain's claims in an email to The New York Times. In a statement, Nike said Cain had "not raised these concerns" before. [The Washington Post, The Week]More stories from theweek.com Angela Merkel leads ceremony marking 30th anniversary the fall of the Berlin Wall 5 brutal cartoons about Trump's environmental assault How motherhood changes the brain
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| Merkel Successor Hit by Fresh Poll Blow as Party Congress Looms Posted: 09 Nov 2019 05:53 AM PST ![Merkel Successor Hit by Fresh Poll Blow as Party Congress Looms]( "Merkel Successor Hit by Fresh Poll Blow as Party Congress Looms") (Bloomberg) -- Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer's chances of succeeding her mentor Angela Merkel as German chancellor took another hit Saturday as she scored poorly against potential rivals in a poll.Less than a year after picking Kramp-Karrenbauer to head the CDU, consensus is building among party officials that she's not suited for the top job, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg earlier this week. The Christian Democrats, who also saw dwindling support in Saturday's survey, face the prospect of an open power struggle at the party's national convention starting on Nov. 22 in Leipzig.The party lost two percentage points from the previous week to reach 26% support in the latest Forsa poll for RTL/n-tv, with the Greens gaining one point to 21%. The embattled Social Democrats, Merkel's junior coalition partners, remained stuck on 13%, level with the far-right AfD party.Only 13% said they backed Kramp-Karrenbauer for chancellor in a head-to-head with Social Democrat Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, who scored 34%. Against Greens co-leader Robert Habeck, she scored 14% to his 31%.While Kramp-Karrenbauer, who is also defense minister, was popular in her home state of Saarland, she has struggled to connect with voters on the national stage.Basic PensionOriginally, the CDU planned to nominate its chancellor candidate next year ahead of the election scheduled for late 2021. But if the Social Democrats decide to leave the coalition earlier, the party may be forced to pick a candidate by the end of 2019.In an Emnid survey last week over who would be the best CDU candidate, Kramp-Karrenbauer's support was 19% compared with 31% for Friedrich Merz, who narrowly lost to her in the CDU leadership vote last December.Coalition negotiations on a basic pension are a key test of relations and leaders are due to meet Sunday in Berlin to try and hammer out a deal. If the SPD fails to push through its plan for minimum retirement benefits, it could hasten the government's collapse.Forsa polled 2,501 people Nov. 4-8 and the survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 points.To contact the reporter on this story: Iain Rogers in Berlin at irogers11@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Marion Dakers, Namitha JagadeeshFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Stephen Bannon's testimony didn't look great for Roger Stone Posted: 09 Nov 2019 05:15 AM PST ![Stephen Bannon's testimony didn't look great for Roger Stone]( "Stephen Bannon's testimony didn't look great for Roger Stone") Well, that probably didn't help.President Trump's former adviser Stephen Bannon testified Friday that Roger Stone, a longtime Trump adviser, was the "access point" between the 2016 Trump presidential campaign and WikiLeaks, which unveiled a slew of stolen emails damaging to Trump's opponent Hillary Clinton in the lead up to the election. Stone is facing charges of lying to the House Intelligence Committee, obstruction, and witness tampering over his connections to WikiLeaks.Bannon also said he believed Stone "had a relationship" with the website's founder, Julian Assange, and that he and Stone discussed WikiLeaks on several occasions even though Stone told the Intelligence Committee under a sworn statement that he never discussed Assange or WikiLeaks with any members of Trump's campaign. In cross-examination from Stone's lawyer, however, Bannon did testify that he was not aware of Trump's campaign formally asking Stone to communicate with Assange about the emails.Bannon, who said he valued Stone for his propensity for opposition research and "dirty tricks," made it clear that he was only testifying because he was compelled by a subpoena, although he reportedly answered questions from the prosecution without argument. Read more at The Hill and Reuters.More stories from theweek.com Angela Merkel leads ceremony marking 30th anniversary the fall of the Berlin Wall 5 brutal cartoons about Trump's environmental assault How motherhood changes the brain
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| John Bolton seemingly doesn't want House impeachment investigators to give up on him just yet Posted: 09 Nov 2019 04:55 AM PST ![John Bolton seemingly doesn't want House impeachment investigators to give up on him just yet]( "John Bolton seemingly doesn't want House impeachment investigators to give up on him just yet") If the House is willing to hold out just a little bit longer, John Bolton might have something to say. But no one's got much of a grasp on what that might be.President Trump's former national security adviser apparently knows about "many relevant meetings and conversations" connected to the House impeachment inquiry that have not yet been discussed in previous testimonies, his lawyer Charles Cooper wrote in a letter to the House general counsel.House investigators want to interview Bolton about Trump's interactions with Ukraine, but they have so far refrained from issuing a subpoena to avoid getting drawn into lengthy court proceedings. In the letter, Cooper said Bolton would be willing to talk to cooperate, but only if a court rules he can ignore the White House's objections to his doing so. Bolton's former deputy Charles Kupperman filed a lawsuit asking for a judiciary ruling on whether potential witnesses are obligated to ignore the White House's directions and comply with the investigation, but the House doesn't seem willing to let that play out right now.Nobody is really sure what Bolton would say in a potential hearing, so it remains to be seen if the possibility of his testimony is tantalizing enough for the House to reconsider its options. CNN reports, though, that Bolton -- who historically has supported executive power -- might not think Trump "acted inappropriately" toward Kyiv "even if he's willing to help take down others in the administration." The New York Times, on the other hand, notes that Bolton would at least be able to bring direct knowledge of what Trump has said about the matter, rather than just describing what people around the president have said. Read more at The New York Times and CNN.More stories from theweek.com Angela Merkel leads ceremony marking 30th anniversary the fall of the Berlin Wall 5 brutal cartoons about Trump's environmental assault How motherhood changes the brain
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| How the law barely protects whistleblowers Posted: 09 Nov 2019 03:55 AM PST ![How the law barely protects whistleblowers]( "How the law barely protects whistleblowers") Whistleblowers who hold public servants to account are protected by law -- but they often suffer consequences anyway. Here's everything you need to know:What's a whistleblower? It's a government employee who reports fraud, waste, crimes, or threats to public safety. The origin of the term is uncertain, but it's probably a reference to policemen or referees who blow whistles when they see a crime or foul play. As far back as 1778, the Founding Fathers called reporting official misconduct a "duty," commending 10 sailors and Marines for alerting Congress to the Navy's abuse of British prisoners. But the term "whistleblower" wasn't applied to this kind of truth telling until the 1970s. It was during that tumultuous decade that military analyst Daniel Ellsberg disclosed the Pentagon Papers, which revealed the Vietnam War's false premises. A year later, The Washington Post broke the Watergate scandal, thanks to leaks from "Deep Throat" (who turned out to be disgruntled FBI Associate Director Mark Felt). To encourage such truth tellers to come forward, Congress passed the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989, which outlined a process for federal employees to report misconduct and challenge retaliation they might face for doing so. Despite that law, whistleblowers often pay a steep price for reporting misdeeds by superiors, said Mandy Smithberger of the Project on Government Oversight, a nonpartisan organization. "One has to go in with the assumption," she said, "that it's career suicide."What safeguards exist? Federal law protects whistleblowers from being fired, demoted, or reassigned as a form of punishment. But those protections are void if whistleblowers fail to follow protocol and file their complaint through official channels -- generally, with a federal agency's inspector general. Among those who did not qualify for whistleblower status are Chelsea Manning, who disclosed a massive trove of military secrets to WikiLeaks in 2010; Edward Snowden, who revealed the National Security Agency's global surveillance programs in 2013; and Reality Winner, who leaked a U.S. intelligence report about Russia's election interference efforts in 2017. Since they leaked information to the media, all were charged with crimes under the 1917 Espionage Act. That law "is blind to the difference between whistleblowers and spies," said Jameel Jaffer, head of the Knight First Amendment Institute. If indicted under the Espionage Act, an employee in the intelligence agencies is prohibited from arguing that a leak was made in the public interest.Where does the law fall short? Even if whistleblowers follow all procedures, their legal protection can prove to be more theoretical than real. More than one-third of government whistleblowers responding to a 2010 survey said they faced threats or punishments. "I thought what all whistleblowers think," former FBI agent Jane Turner said. "I thought, 'The truth will rescue me.'" Assigned to the World Trade Center investigation, Turner noticed a Tiffany crystal globe on a colleague's desk. After finding out that FBI employees claimed it as a "souvenir" from Ground Zero, Turner reported them. The story became a national embarrassment for the FBI, yet rather than receive pats on the back, Turner says, she was treated like a "snitch" and later fired. Last year, four high-ranking officials at the Environmental Protection Agency flagged rampant wasteful spending by their administrator, Scott Pruitt, who paid $43,000 for a soundproof phone booth for Pruitt's office. The four were reassigned, demoted, or placed on leave without pay.What about the Ukraine whistleblower? In August, a CIA officer working at the White House filed an official whistleblower complaint to the intelligence community's inspector about a July 25 phone call President Trump made to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. That complaint led to the impeachment inquiry now underway in the House. In response, Trump branded the White House whistleblower a "spy," accused him of "treason," and suggested he be treated the way traitors were "in the old days." Republican defenders of the president have reportedly made an educated guess at his identity in an effort to portray him as a Democratic partisan. Under the law, the motivations of whistleblowers are irrelevant, and many do have axes to grind; what matters is whether what they report is true.What if he's identified? Whistleblowers are guaranteed the right to anonymity within the process, but that protection is thin. If Trump or his allies manage to figure out the identity of the whistleblower, there's no law barring them from naming him publicly. There are other loopholes in the protections as well: If Trump orders that the whistleblower be fired, the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act does not empower the inspector general to force the CIA to rehire him. In 1982, after whistleblower A. Ernest Fitzgerald sued President Richard Nixon for wrongful termination, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that presidents can't be sued for monetary damages, even if they've broken the law. (A dissenting opinion said the court had placed the president "above the law.") The whistleblower also won't be able to sue if he's publicly identified and suffers adverse consequences, such as damage to his career or continuing death threats. Trump's threats are "absolutely shocking," said whistleblower attorney David Colapinto. "If the identity of the whistleblower is unmasked against that person's will, then retaliation is sure to follow."The 'SOB' fired by Nixon A. Ernest Fitzgerald was long known as "the patron saint of government whistleblowers," or, alternatively, "the most hated man in the Air Force." A financial manager in the Air Force, Fitzgerald appeared before Congress in 1968 to discuss the purchase of a fleet of Lockheed's C-5A transport planes. Superiors told him to gloss over the rising costs of the plane, but Fitzgerald did not, informing astonished legislators the planes were running $2 billion over budget. Fitzgerald said he was merely "committing truth." In an Oval Office tape revealed later, President Nixon admitted he had instructed an aide to "get rid of that son of a bitch." Fitzgerald was stripped of his duties, sent off to study cost overruns on an Air Force bowling alley in Thailand, and finally had his position eliminated. After three years of fighting the government in court, he finally had his position reinstated. That case underscored the need for formalized whistleblower protections.More stories from theweek.com Angela Merkel leads ceremony marking 30th anniversary the fall of the Berlin Wall 5 brutal cartoons about Trump's environmental assault How motherhood changes the brain
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| The therapeutic benefits of taking out the garbage Posted: 09 Nov 2019 03:55 AM PST ![The therapeutic benefits of taking out the garbage]( "The therapeutic benefits of taking out the garbage") For 30 years my wife and I have owned a getaway home 95 miles north of New York City. Our village has many charms and there's much to do, from foraging at the farmer's market to riding a scenic rail trail. There's a great book store and first-run movie theater, plus horse, dairy, and alpaca farms within a 10-minute drive. I've spent many an afternoon shagging fly balls to my two sons at the local ball fields.But one of my favorite weekend activities -- I kid you not -- is taking out the garbage. Let me explain.In the city, garbage and recycling bags are piled on the sidewalk, stuffed down trash shoots, and jammed into tiny containers outside of brownstones, which are magnets for oversized rats. I live in a service building, so I'm lucky I can place my trash and recyclables outside the kitchen door in a stairwell where a porter comes to whisk them away. I dutifully break down boxes, separate the bottles and yogurt containers, and bundle the newspapers but I can't wait to get it over with and get back into our apartment.The country is different.At our house, the garbage bins stand at the far end of our backyard fronting the street behind us. Of course, I could simply march through the yard to reach them but at night the grass is wet and there are bats flying around. Recently some mammal -- a groundhog or raccoon -- has been leaving piles of dung. Plus, you have to slip through a tricky gate, where I've twisted my ankle more than once.Instead, I wait until the kitchen is spotless after dinner -- usually around 10:30 p.m. -- grab the garbage and haul it around the block to the bins. I look like a hobo Santa carrying two large Hefty bags over my shoulder, sometimes in my socks. But I get a glimpse into people's homes, sample the night air and take stock of worldly affairs in the way that mindless chores allow. I could just go for a walk, but taking the trash has its own purpose and satisfaction that has nothing to do with exercise and everything to do with closure. It's the perfect punctuation to an otherwise stressful week.Therapy works in all sorts of surprising ways. Recently I learned how therapeutic garbage detail can be. Something bad happened at work the week before, an outlier, black swan mistake for a client. But it had consequences and none of my usual coping mechanisms -- walking the dog, listening to jazz, being with family -- were helping shake the nauseating kick to my self-esteem. I was losing sleep and heading to dire places. Another few days of this negative loop and I would have sought out a trained professional.It was the last night of a holiday weekend at the house and I dreaded restarting the cycle of doubt going back to work, so I took extra time with my route around the block. Rewinding for the hundredth time the what-ifs around what happened as I slogged down the street with my Heftys, I noticed the crickets were especially noisy and a streetlamp was flickering, animating the trees and bushes. Someone had left a bunch of FREE stuff on their curb -- including a vintage sewing machine.I saw a small bonfire in a neighbor's yard -- "Just getting rid of kindling and old letters," she said going in and out of her shed. I stopped to admire her enchanted garden with its illuminated orbs and a plastic bird light that slowly changed from cardinal red to green to amber. My bag of bottles and cans clanked when I set them down. Continuing around the corner and up the hill, I looked in on the extended South American family watching a soccer game together on a large-screen TV in their den. Something rustled past me -- a cat? No, a skunk, which left a mild, telltale sign of its presence.I arrived at the bins and dragged them away from the fence to line up for the carting truck, which would make its appointed rounds on Tuesday after the holiday. Lifting the lids, I glanced up and was overwhelmed by a sky awash in stars -- clusters, constellations, asterisms, loners in deep space. I located Orion's belt and tried to guess the billions of miles stretching from the Big Dipper's handle to the farthest end of the pot in another galaxy. I think I spotted Venus glowing over our garage roof.Standing under the show until my neck strained, I suddenly knew that what happened at work was of zero consequence, not only among the heavens, but to my own life. I looked back down at our house a few dozen yards away -- my wife and daughter were talking in the kitchen and I knew our granddaughter was asleep upstairs. I closed the lids and walked briskly back home, letting go at last.Thank you, garbage therapy.More stories from theweek.com Angela Merkel leads ceremony marking 30th anniversary the fall of the Berlin Wall 5 brutal cartoons about Trump's environmental assault How motherhood changes the brain
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| Iran says prepared to show footage of inspector incident Posted: 09 Nov 2019 03:50 AM PST  Iran said Saturday it is prepared if necessary to release footage of an incident with a UN nuclear inspector last week that led to it cancelling her accreditation. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Iran of "an outrageous and unwarranted act of intimidation," while the European Union voiced "deep concern". Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said that a check at the entrance gate to the Natanz uranium enrichment plant "triggered the alarm multiple times, showing (the inspector) was either contaminated with certain materials or had them on her".
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| Iran defends its decision to block UN atomic inspector Posted: 09 Nov 2019 03:43 AM PST ![Iran defends its decision to block UN atomic inspector]( "Iran defends its decision to block UN atomic inspector") Iran defended on Saturday its decision to block an U.N. inspector from a nuclear site last week. A spokesman for Iran's atomic agency, Behrouz Kamalvandi, said that the Iranian government "legally speaking" had done nothing wrong in stopping the female inspector from touring its Natanz nuclear facility on Oct. 28. Iran alleges the inspector tested positive for suspected traces of explosive nitrates.
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| 5 of the best point-and-shoot cameras Posted: 09 Nov 2019 03:35 AM PST ![5 of the best point-and-shoot cameras]( "5 of the best point-and-shoot cameras") 1\. Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS200 ($698)People must be tiring of smartphone cameras, because "a creative renaissance" is happening in the category of compact point-and-shoots. Most new models can also shoot HD video, but few if any rivals offer the 15X optical zoom of Panasonic's new 12-ounce ZS200. Buy it at Amazon.2\. Sony Cyber-shot RX100 VI ($1,100)Though the latest addition to Sony's RX100 series costs hundreds more than its excellent predecessors, "it's pretty much the best compact camera around right now," according to Digital Camera World. Features include "super-smooth" 4K video and a pop-up electric viewfinder. Buy it at Amazon.3\. Canon PowerShot G9 X Mark II ($430)Novice shutterbugs should check out this "supremely compact" Canon. Though it lacks 4K video, it's the smallest and cheapest camera with a 1-inch image sensor, and the intuitive interface "makes transitioning from smartphone shooting simple," per The Wirecutter. Buy it at Amazon.4\. Olympus Tough TG-6 ($450)Need something indestructible for an outdoor adventure? This shockproof, waterproof, coldproof, and "just plain durable" camera works up to 50 feet underwater. And though images come in at just 12 megapixels, the Olympus measures up in every other respect. Buy it at Amazon.5\. Ricoh GR II ($546)Though it's "on the big side" and "not great for video," the Ricoh GR II has developed a cult following online, and for good reason. Thanks to its DSLR APS-C sensor, "it's capable of downright gorgeous photos," according to Wired. And it's far cheaper than the new GR III, Ricoh's admittedly more capable update. Buy it at Amazon.Editor's note: Every week The Week's editors survey product reviews and articles in websites, newspapers, and magazines, to find cool and useful new items we think you'll like. We're now making it easier to purchase these selections through affiliate partnerships with certain retailers. The Week may get a share of the revenue from these purchases.More stories from theweek.com Angela Merkel leads ceremony marking 30th anniversary the fall of the Berlin Wall 5 brutal cartoons about Trump's environmental assault How motherhood changes the brain
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| Airline credit cards are getting a much-needed makeover Posted: 09 Nov 2019 03:25 AM PST ![Airline credit cards are getting a much-needed makeover]( "Airline credit cards are getting a much-needed makeover") Here are three of the week's top pieces of financial advice, gathered from around the web:End-of-the-year tax checklist Now is the time to make moves to lower your tax bill, said Laura Saunders at The Wall Street Journal. Many filers are still getting used to the new rules following the 2017 tax overhaul. At the top of many tax advisers' to-do lists: "Check your withholding or estimated taxes." One more late-in-the-year project: setting up a solo 401(k) if you are self-employed. These plans have higher contribution limits than other tax-advantaged retirement accounts -- generally $56,000 a year. You can fund your solo 401(k) for 2019 until Oct. 15, 2020. "But the plans must usually be set up by Dec. 31, 2019, even if contributions come later."Two-tier pickups for airport Ubers "Is there a good solution to the Uber crunch at airports?" asked Josh Barro at New York magazine. Because ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft require each driver to find "a specifically assigned passenger, rather than picking up whichever passenger the driver finds first," congestion is at an all-time high. More airports have now started to move Uber pickups to locations far from the terminals. At Los Angeles International, for instance, to hail an Uber you first need to take a shuttle bus -- with some wait times reportedly as long as the flights themselves. But LAX is also testing out a two-tier pricing strategy. If you want to take a standard UberX, Lyft, or taxi, hop on the shuttle. "But if you call an Uber Black car or Uber SUV," which are more expensive, you can get picked up at the terminal. "Uber Black was already about twice the cost of UberX, and the price gap may only grow."Airline credit cards improve With better bonuses and new perks, airline credit cards are getting a much-needed makeover, said Eric Rosen at Bloomberg. After getting left in the dust by rewards cards in recent years, airline-sponsored plastic is making "an aggressive bid to attract" travelers. The United Explorer card from Chase now earns two miles for every dollar spent at hotels and restaurants on top of "airline-specific perks like free checked bags." Delta's Reserve card from American Express caters more to the frequent flier -- it is "adding access to Amex's excellent Centurion lounges and boosting earning bonuses" to three points per dollar -- for a fee of $550 per year. But the Blue Delta SkyMiles American Express is "attractive enough for relatively new and infrequent travelers," waiving foreign transaction fees and earning two points per dollar on restaurants.More stories from theweek.com Angela Merkel leads ceremony marking 30th anniversary the fall of the Berlin Wall 5 brutal cartoons about Trump's environmental assault How motherhood changes the brain
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| Germany celebrates 30th anniversary of Berlin Wall's fall Posted: 09 Nov 2019 03:22 AM PST ![Germany celebrates 30th anniversary of Berlin Wall's fall]( "Germany celebrates 30th anniversary of Berlin Wall's fall") Germany on Saturday marked the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall that separated East and West Germany, with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier thanking Eastern European neighbours for enabling a peaceful revolution. The toppling of the wall, which had divided the Communist-ruled East and the capitalist West in Berlin for nearly three decades and became a potent symbol of the Cold War, was followed a year later by the reunification of Germany in 1990. "Together with our friends, we remember with deep gratitude the events 30 years ago," Steinmeier said during a ceremony at the Bernauer Strasse Berlin Wall Memorial, which was also attended by Chancellor Angela Merkel and heads of state from Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
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| 6 cozy suburban Boston homes Posted: 09 Nov 2019 02:35 AM PST ![6 cozy suburban Boston homes]( "6 cozy suburban Boston homes") Newton. This six-bedroom, Queen Anne Victorian on 0.6 acre lies near two parks. The 1898 home retains original details like leaded glass windows, carved oak paneling and wainscoting, and dentil crown molding.The chef's kitchen was updated in 2014. Lined with stone paths and walls, the property has a patio, mature trees, and perennial landscaping. $3,050,000. Jayne Friedberg, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage-Brookline, (617) 899-2111.Lincoln. Lying on 17.1 acres next to conservation land, this mid-century modern, four-bedroom home was built in 1972 and restored in 2012. The living room has a double-height ceiling and an oversize fireplace, and the chef's kitchen includes Viking appliances and a full pantry.The property features two ponds, a saltwater gunite pool, a Zen garden, and a three-stall horse stable. $3,750,000. Thomas Kennedy, Gibson/Sotheby's International Realty, (617) 947-9201.Cohasset. This 2011 modern structure has two full sides of floor-to-ceiling retractable glass doors that open onto a private beach. The three-bedroom house includes vaulted ceilings and exposed rafters.Outside, there's a deck that runs the length of the home and leads directly onto the 1.5-acre beachfront property. $3,495,000. Frank Neer, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage-Cohasset, (781) 775-2482.Weston. Built in 2019, this five-bedroom, 8,000-square-foot modern home on 1.7 acres abuts conservation land. The open-concept house, with 75 architectural-grade windows that look onto mature trees, has a kitchen with quartz slab walls, an island, and pale wood floors throughout.The property includes a privacy fence, a stone patio, and a three-car garage. $4,195,000. Andrea Jackson, Barrett/Sotheby's International Realty, (617) 571-1888.Natick. Known as the Jeremiah Bacon home, this five-bedroom, 1710 farmhouse lies next to the Charles River. There are six fireplaces, and original wood details include wide-plank floors and exposed beams. Updates have been made to the eat-in kitchen and master suite.The 4.3-acre property has a two-car garage with a workshop and spans woods, lawns, and gardens. $950,000. Stephanie Barber, William Raveis Real Estate, (508) 314-0398.Chelsea. This one-bedroom, renovated condo sits on the top floor of an 1857 brick townhouse.Featuring exposed brick walls, hardwood floors, and high ceilings, the apartment includes exclusive roof rights and is a short walk to shops and the Chelsea River. $299,900. Paul Campano, Keller Williams Real Estate-Cambridge, (617) 304-3686.More stories from theweek.com Angela Merkel leads ceremony marking 30th anniversary the fall of the Berlin Wall 5 brutal cartoons about Trump's environmental assault How motherhood changes the brain
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| Inside Russia’s Shady Seduction Schools, Where Desperate Women Learn How to Lure Rich Men Posted: 09 Nov 2019 02:25 AM PST  DOCNYCAccording to School of Seduction, working-class women have few options in patriarchal Russia, and all of them involve finding a man. To aid young ladies in that quest, there are seduction schools where they can learn the timeless art of bumping, grinding and butt-wiggling their way into a prospective partner's heart and pants—in particular, the pocket where he keeps his wallet.Focused on a trio of women navigating this warped and sexist landscape, Alina Rudnitskaya's documentary (premiering on Nov. 9 at the DOC NYC festival) is an eye-opening snapshot of gender dynamics in modern Russia. Praised by President Vladimir Putin as a place where "a man is a man and a woman is a woman," it's a country that instills in its female population the belief that independence is a pathway to ostracization and sorrow, and that marriage and parenthood is the primary means by which happiness can be attained. As a result, there can be no greater aim than to land a man willing to put a literal ring on it—regardless of whether love is also part of the matrimonial package.That's where the schools of seduction come in. In crowded classrooms, scores of women dressed in underwear and revealing outfits follow the instructions of a middle-aged male teacher who guides them through exercises in which they must bend over a chair in order to receive some rear-end grinding, wiggle their asses in the air, and participate in dance routines where they're grabbed by the neck and thrashed about, crotch-to-crotch, in a display of intense macho attention (the more violent, the more genuine, apparently). The overarching lesson is clear: self-worth only comes from the interest of a man, and women should use whatever sexual tools they have at their disposal to catch one. With a shamelessness that's almost as startling as its chauvinism, the program strives to turn women into veritable Venus flytraps.Alex Gibney: How Donald Trump Is Morphing Into Vladimir PutinThe Russian Sleazeball Peddling Girls to BillionairesThe first of Rudnitskaya's subjects, Lida, isn't especially gung ho about the shady methods promoted by the School of Seduction. However, stuck living with a mother she can't stand, and mired in a relationship with a married man, Sergei, who's initially unwilling to leave his wife for her, she has few alternatives. Lida blames her problems on the fact that she "never had an example of a good family." Still, TV and radio broadcasts that play intermittently throughout School of Seduction—providing macro context for the micro action at hand—suggest that the root cause of her predicament is the widely disseminated and accepted notion that women aren't whole unless they're the subservient half of a marital couple. That concept is backed by the school itself, where Lida nods in agreement as her teacher states that men want women to have brains in a business context but in other things, "no one needs them."Lida's subsequent marriage to Sergei and—four years later—dreary housewife existence with a daughter proves the lie that domesticity guarantees bliss. On the contrary, Rudnitskaya's clear-eyed vérité gaze reveals that, in these circumstances, it just brings about marginalization (once a professional, Lida now cooks and cleans), victimization (she suspects Sergei is cheating on her), and crushing displeasure. Unhappiness similarly plagues Vika, a student trapped in a loveless union with husband Denis, with whom she's opened a lingerie shop. Vika admits to her therapist that she wants to leave Denis but fears being lonely and scorned by her peers. Meanwhile, she only feels truly alive (and on "fire!") when partaking in hypersexualized dance classes at the school.Economics play a significant factor in both Lida and Vika's cases. Aware that they can't earn as much as their male counterparts, and endlessly told that marriage is the end "goal" (as Vika's mom outright states to her), Russian women are socially conditioned to feel bad for having independent desires—even though marriage itself, forged out of convenience and necessity more than love, is often a one-way ticket to regret, resentment and despair. Images of Lida's daughter prancing around in her mother's high heels underline the inherited corrosiveness of such an ideology, where sexual attractiveness is celebrated above all other qualities, because it's what allows women to conform to their prescribed (if frequently unrewarding) role as dutiful wives and mothers.School of Seduction most strikingly addresses the consequences of Russia's misogyny via Diana, a young single mother introduced being chastised by Vika for her schoolgirl outfit and blonde pigtails (which Vika says would, if she wore it, make her "feel like a prostitute"). While that dig may be unduly nasty, there's some truth to the idea that Diana—and those like her—are intent on selling themselves as sexual objects in direct exchange for financial support. Diana is depicted turning down a boyfriend because he can't offer her the apartment and money she bluntly claims she requires. And she eventually marries an author who gives her those very things, and yet still fails to satisfy her, as illustrated by her attempt, six years later at a gala ball, to accept a stranger's offer to take her on vacation sans husband.In late scenes of Diana attending an etiquette school where she dresses in regal gowns and performs a scene from the Nicole Kidman-headlined Grace of Monaco, Rudnitskaya's film provides a candid view of the brainwashing that's been perpetrated against these women, all of whom have been led to believe that they can achieve their "fairy tale" by becoming appealing enough to nab a suitor. School of Seduction incisively exposes that idea as a carefully-constructed trap designed to keep them in their place as material "decorations," striving for emotional fulfillment they can't possibly attain, and then forced to settle for whatever affection and support they ultimately receive from their less-than-well-suited mates.The fundamental futility of this paradigm is finally expressed by Diana's son Sascha, who at film's conclusion tells his mom that, no matter how hard she tries to be cheerily elegant, "your attitude changes" when the camera is off and no one is looking. In Russia, women may be trained to think that securing lifelong joy comes from transforming themselves into sexual temptresses or majestic queens. Yet as School of Seduction illustrates, both reductive guises only lead, in the end, to the same old everyday misery.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. 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| The Night the Cold War World Turned Upside Down Posted: 09 Nov 2019 02:23 AM PST  Gerardy Malie/GettyThe scene was Potsdamer Platz in the heart of divided Berlin at about 5 a.m. on Nov. 12, 1989. On the far side of the Wall that had become the quintessential symbol of Moscow's brutal domination in Eastern Europe the first hint of dawn was breaking.I've always thought I remembered it well, but it's been a long time.Floodlights had been brought in on the western side, the free side, where U.S. President Ronald Reagan had stood more than two years before and called on the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall." But it had stood until this moment, and it was covered with the graffiti of anger, of despair, of hope, messages on top of messages. Someone had written "Free Estonia" with a rough outline of that captive Baltic republic. On top of that, someone else had drawn a bold equation: the hammer and sickle = the swastika.The first breaches in the infamous barrier that symbolized so perfectly the Iron Curtain had come a couple of days before, but they were more a matter of gates opening than walls falling. Berlin was still divided, West Berlin was still a sealed-off island of freedom in the heart of oppressive East Germany. But we had heard that the communists were going to open up a passage here in Potsdamer Platz—truly open up the city—so we waited in freezing air that was filled with our vaporizing breaths and expectations and, every so often, a spray of sparkling wine. The top of a small crane appeared on the East German side and we could see men in uniforms attaching it to a segment of the Wall. Sparks flew as acetylene torches burned through the rebar holding the pieces together. The crowd waited, and chanted, and waited.* * *Two and a half days earlier, on Nov. 9, 1989, thanks in part to a fumbled press statement by the spokesman for the East German government, the narrow checkpoints long manned by fearsome guards had suddenly opened up, and the people of the East, trapped for so long, had started flooding through. Grim-faced border guards began to smile. Some ripped the insignia off their uniforms. Was it all ending? Was their long captivity over? People started driving their sputtering East German Trabant cars into the land of BMW and Mercedes. Young men climbed the wall to dominate it and beat it, sometimes pounding it with their fists as if they could break it apart with their bare hands.Prize-winning photographs by my friends, the great photographers David Turnley and Peter Turnley, convey the emotions of those days as well as anything I have ever seen. But nobody knew how long the moment would last. Could the checkpoints close again? Would new guards be brought in to reimpose the Soviet communist order? Whether for good or evil, anything seemed possible. I had arrived late to the party, flying in from Paris on Friday, Nov. 10, but through the weekend, day and night, I did not sleep and neither did the city. For our team of Newsweek magazine reporters and photographers, there was a blur of logistics and filing issues. Media were flooding to the Wall, the major networks built stages in front it, famous anchors were flying in. But by the night of the 11th, with our magazine deadlines past, there was a chance to explore.Under a full moon, with my fellow Newsweek correspondent Karen Breslau as a guide, we walked in the Tiergarten, following the path that the Wall cut through the park. A blind man could have done the same, just listening to the noise of picks and hammers and screwdrivers as people chipped away at the barrier. They were not looking for souvenirs that night, they were looking to break into the prison of East Berlin, to tear it down like a vast Bastille, hammering at the idea of the Wall. But it resisted. It would not give way.We went to Checkpoint Charlie, made famous in countless Cold War spy movies as the entrance for foreigners passing from what was once the American zone into what had remained, essentially, the Russian zone of the city. We just walked through. On the western side, and even on top of the Wall, the mood was riotous, a dance of shadows backlit by the television lights. But in the east there hung in the air, still, a menacing stillness.So much had happened so quickly, and so much was left unresolved.* * *Slightly more than half of the world's population today was not yet born in November 1989, and even those who were 10 or 15 years old at the time have no idea, really, what the Cold War was like for people on both sides of that great divide. Some of the recent binge fare on television gives an inkling. Chernobyl, about the nuclear disaster in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in April 1986, is a devastating and largely accurate picture of the stultifying, ultimately self-destructive qualities of Soviet communism. The Polish film Cold War is a love story set against a more subtle but equally enervating and ominous background. The Americans is full of evocative anachronisms, but The Lives of Others (2006) is a more realistic portrayal of the way the police state of the KGB and the East German Stasi insinuated themselves into every aspect of life and love. Even in the faraway United States, whole generations grew up in a Strangelovian world of nuclear confrontation, an anxious peace based on the idea that humans could stumble into an apocalypse as the governments of the West and of the Soviet Union pursued policies under the rubric MAD, for Mutually Assured Destruction. Berlin was always at the center of it.* * *At the end of World War II, Europe had been divided between the Allied forces coalescing as NATO and the Soviets under Joseph Stalin. Defeated Germany was split between East and West, and Berlin itself partitioned. In the summer of 1948, Stalin imposed a blockade to try to bring the Allied-occupied part of the city to its knees, but the United States responded with a massive airlift that lasted almost a year, before, finally, a secure land corridor was opened. That was the good news. The bad news: later that same summer, the Soviets exploded their first nuclear weapon and the race toward MAD began.Men and women now in their sixties and seventies grew up drilling in schools to survive nuclear attacks by hiding under their desks in the improbable hope that it might help them make it through the first blast, then rushing into well-marked fallout shelters where they were told they might be able to live for weeks or months underground protected from radioactive dust. In fact, the generation now quaintly dubbed "boomers" grew up thinking the entire planet could be blown straight to hell. When the East Germans first started building the Berlin Wall in August 1961 to keep their people from crossing to the West, the sense of crisis, echoing the earlier blockade, was enormous and a huge test for the new U.S. administration of President John F. Kennedy. It came just four months after the abortive Bay of Pigs attempt to overthrow the Soviet-backed regime of Fidel Castro and was part of a succession of aggressive tests by the Soviets that seemed to have the world on the brink of destruction. The omens of apocalypse culminated in the crisis of October 1962 when Kennedy confronted the Russians over nuclear missiles placed in Cuba. Remarkably, the Soviets backed down in public in exchange for certain assurances Kennedy made in private and the world stepped back from assured destruction. But it was not until the summer of 1963 that Kennedy went to West Germany and then to West Berlin. In a kind of victory lap, he declared, "All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words 'Ich bin ein Berliner.'" I am a Berliner.1989 was 26 years later and mutually assured destruction had given way to gradual efforts at arms control, but the threat remained, and despite the invocation of Reagan (who was consciously trying to build on Kennedy's speech), the Wall remained.That weekend in November, we did not know for certain if the world of the Cold War was ending, but we could feel it being turned upside down. The Soviet Union's grip on Europe had been loosening for months, and now the harshest of its satellites seemed to have lost control completely.* * *Through the many years since then, certain images and moments have come back to me often. But I made no pictures and took few notes at the time, thinking foolishly that such an experience would live forever in my memory. But I know too much now about how we remember things to be confident that what has stayed with me as recollection and anecdote has real validity as fact. We imagine history more often than we remember it.Sometimes I wonder how Vladimir Putin, a Soviet KGB officer serving in East Germany at that time, imagines what happened that weekend in November. Everything suggests he has twisted it into a vast plot by nefarious Western governments, and in the 20 years he has ruled the remnants of the Soviet Union, now called the Russian Federation, he has devoted his cunning and intelligence to rebuilding the old empire, reviving the Cold War, challenging successive American administrations until, in the present one, he found a friend and, often, an advocate.None of that could be foreseen in 1989 or even in the first few years that followed, although there were hints. Americans are dangerously careless about the dignity of those they defeat, and so it was with Russia, where some sentiment of revindication and revenge was inevitable. In societies where "free enterprise" had been deemed a crime, as one East European businessman long exiled in the West told me, it was like girls in a strict boarding school suddenly discovering they could kiss a boy and the sky would not fall, so why not go all the way? Democracy was an alien ideal, kleptocracy became the norm.For me, images come back from that full-moon Saturday night traveling through the two sides of Berlin with Karen Breslau as if I were being shown the way from the Inferno to Purgatory. We descended into the U-Bahn, the subway, in hopes we could get back to the West that way, but no luck. We went back to the surface again, and it was getting late, really late–it must have been about four in the morning–but cars were still heading toward some passage to the West. Was it Checkpoint Charlie? I can't be sure. But what I do remember is that we stuck out our thumbs and we were picked up by two Palestinians who'd been studying in East Germany. Having spent a lot of time in the Middle East, I suspected they were connected to one of the many organizations dubbed terrorist by the U.S. government, but they got us close enough to where we wanted to go, which was Potsdamer Platz.* * *A few days ago I called Karen, who now lives in San Francisco, and whom I had not seen or talked to for many years. On FaceTime we reminisced about that night. And her memories were not mine at all. She recalled the big political developments she was writing about at the time, the invasion of the network anchors, the befuddled guards, the sense of celebration, the cold of that night, but not the Palestinians, not the U-Bahn. OK. She lived in Berlin. What was special to me on a brief visit was not so unique for her. But there was one particular moment that I wanted to confirm, and as I described it there were glimmers of recognition, but the memory wasn't quite there.The image that had stayed with me was the East German crane on the far side of the Wall fighting to lift out the first segment. It was reinforced concrete 3.6 meters high, almost 12 feet, and L-shaped, and even when the rebars connecting it to the rest of the Wall were severed it had to be rocked back and forth like a tooth fighting extraction before, finally, it broke out, was lifted high, and an East German officer stepped through to shake hands with a West German counterpart.What struck me that night was the graffiti on that particular piece of concrete. The image was too perfect, even though the East Germans working the crane could not have known. But Karen didn't remember and I wondered if I misremembered.So I did what one does these days and googled videos of Potsdamer Platz on Nov. 12, 1989.They are grainy and lines of static cut across them every so often. The time stamps run beneath, counting the minutes and seconds after 5 a.m., and the images I remember in bold relief, I see, would not have been so clear as I recall them though the fog or my breath and the spray of champagne. But they are there. High in the morning sky, sliced out of the old graffiti context and given a whole new one, floated the broken hammer and sickle, and the word "Free."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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| Poland Picks Ex-Banker as Fifth Finance Minister Since July Posted: 09 Nov 2019 12:58 AM PST ![Poland Picks Ex-Banker as Fifth Finance Minister Since July]( "Poland Picks Ex-Banker as Fifth Finance Minister Since July") (Bloomberg) -- Explore what's moving the global economy in the new season of the Stephanomics podcast. Subscribe via Apple Podcast, Spotify or Pocket Cast.Poland's Premier Mateusz Morawiecki picked Tadeusz Koscinski, a former banker, to become the country's fifth finance minister in as many months as the ruling Law & Justice party shuffles its cabinet after last month's election.London-born Koscinski worked at the lender now known as Santander Bank Polska SA, where Morawiecki used to be the chief executive officer, as well as several other Polish banks. Before his promotion, which is set to officially take place next week, Koscinski served as a deputy finance minister and a government official tasked with luring foreign investors, according to his official profile.Morawiecki has made a number of changes to his finance team since minister Teresa Czerwinska left in July following clashes over election-year stimulus. The prime minister said Friday that Jerzy Kwiecinski, the latest incumbent, has left the government without specifying the reasons behind the move.Koscinski's nomination comes as Poland's economic growth looks set to decline next year as Germany, its biggest trading partner, loses momentum. Senior ruling party officials have signaled that a budget deficit is becoming more likely, despite Morawiecki's proposal ahead of the elections to balance the books in 2020.Morawiecki used the slowdown argument when appointing Jacek Sasin, the current deputy prime minister, as a minister in charge of state-run companies, the supervision of which was spread among several ministries."Jacek Sasin will look for synergies among the companies," Morawiecki said. "There's a significant economic slowdown around Poland, so using all possible reserves is in our utmost interest."Morawiecki also dissolved the Energy Ministry, creating a Climate Ministry for the first time. It will be in charge of fighting air pollution, setting renewable energy goals and talks with the European Union on environmental policies, an area in which Poland wants to agree additional subsidies to finance its transition away from coal. Morawiecki has said Michal Kurtyka, head of last year's United Nations climate conference in Katowice, will run the ministry."We want a full focus on climate negotiations, which in the next 12 to 24 months will be incredibly hard and very important for our economy and society as a whole," Morawiecki said.(Updates with details of other appointments from fifth paragraph.)To contact the reporters on this story: Dorota Bartyzel in Warsaw at dbartyzel@bloomberg.net;Maciej Martewicz in Warsaw at mmartewicz@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrea Dudik at adudik@bloomberg.net, Marion Dakers, James AmottFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Iran says case open on ex-FBI agent missing there on CIA job Posted: 09 Nov 2019 12:47 AM PST  Iran is acknowledging for the first time it has an open case before its Revolutionary Court over the 2007 disappearance of a former FBI agent on an unauthorized CIA mission to the country, renewing questions over what happened to him. In a filing to the United Nations, Iran said the case over Robert Levinson was "on going," without elaborating.
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| Which Political Party Has the Best Track Record for U.K. Stocks? Posted: 09 Nov 2019 12:00 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Want the lowdown on European markets? In your inbox before the open, every day. Sign up here.The winner of next month's U.K. election is increasingly hard to predict. Equities watchers may take some comfort in knowing that historically, it hasn't really made much difference who was in power.The old adage suggests that the Conservative Party is pro-business and better for markets than the left-of-center and, in this election, socialist-leaning Labour Party. Yet taking real returns, adjusted for inflation, for U.K. equities from 1900 to the present day, Kleinwort Hambros found little difference between the two major parties.Conservative governments have held office for a total of 67 years during that period, delivering a 7.6% real return, according to a recent report from the private bank. Labour has had 37 years in power and returned 7.7%. The remaining years had the Liberal Party in office in the early part of the 20th century, and investors would have lost 0.7% in real terms under their tenure.Ultimately, "the basic inference is that it really doesn't matter," who is in Downing Street, said Fahad Kamal, chief market strategist at Kleinwort Hambros.Clearly, there are caveats. This period includes two world wars, market crashes and global geopolitical troubles from the Cuban missile crisis to 9/11. And the correlation between the benchmark FTSE 100 and the S&P 500 as well as the MSCI World has been increasing over the years and is now close to the perfect value of 1, signaling that U.K. equities are much more sensitive to global and U.S. market movements than internal political affairs such as Brexit.As Britain prepares to head for the polls, early data gives the Conservatives a clear lead. But because it's effectively a second referendum on Brexit, foretelling the impact on equity markets could turn into a fool's game as sentiment shifts during the campaign."The outcomes here are very messy" and something of a "a dog's dinner," said Nathan Thooft, head of global asset allocation at Manulife Investment Management. "Even if you know what the possibilities are, you don't know what the probabilities are and furthermore, you don't know what the market interpretation will be because there are so many moving parts."To contact the reporters on this story: Sam Unsted in London at sunsted@bloomberg.net;Ksenia Galouchko in London at kgalouchko1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Beth Mellor at bmellor@bloomberg.net, Jon Menon, Namitha JagadeeshFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Hopes of young Lebanese to escape sectarianism put to test Posted: 08 Nov 2019 10:47 PM PST  Singer Tania Saleh grew up amid a civil war that robbed her of her childhood, of her friends and neighbors and of the Lebanon she so loved. Based on a poem written in 1975, the year the war broke out, the lyrics still felt searing and relevant enough for Saleh to add to an album in 2017. The demonstrators have provided those eager to see the country move past its sectarian legacy with a glimpse of what can be.
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| Iranian media say injuries jump to 520 in Friday quake Posted: 08 Nov 2019 10:09 PM PST  Iran's state TV is saying the number of injured people from a magnitude 5.9 earthquake on Friday has jumped to 520 from more than 300. Saturday's report said the updated figure followed the end of rescue operations in more than 80 remote villages Tark county in Iran's Eastern Azerbaijan province, some 400 kilometers (250 miles) northwest of the capital, Tehran. Iran experiences an earthquake per day on average.
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| Why Iran's Military Is So Focused on Missiles (Think History and a War with America) Posted: 08 Nov 2019 10:00 PM PST  The increasing number, precision, range, and lethality of Iran's missiles indicate the seriousness of the Iranian government's determination to strengthen its defensive capabilities as one of the most important pillars of its national security.
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| NATO’s Defense Guarantee Is Potent Because It’s Vague Posted: 08 Nov 2019 09:00 PM PST ![NATO's Defense Guarantee Is Potent Because It's Vague]( "NATO's Defense Guarantee Is Potent Because It's Vague") (Bloomberg Opinion) -- French President Emmanuel Macron's doubts about the potency of the North Atlantic Treaty's one-for-all clause, expressed in his frank interview with the Economist, stem from Article 5's intentional vagueness. That vagueness, however, is also the greatest source of the commitment's power — and one reason Vladimir Putin's Russia hasn't tested it yet.During the drafting of the 1949 treaty, the NATO founders, especially the U.S., strove to avoid any language that would automatically force them to go to war in response to an armed attack against one of them. So Article 5 says only that each NATO country must respond with "such action as it deems necessary." That leaves a lot of space for legal and political interpretations, discussed at length in a 2019 article by Aurel Sari, an expert on international law at the University of Exeter. He points out, for example, that Dean Acheson, the U.S. secretary of state at the time of the treaty's signing, thought that an armed attack could mean "the combination of external force with internal revolution." But the International Court of Justice has ruled since then that providing weapons and logistical support to rebels doesn't constitute an armed attack, so all an adversary state fomenting a revolution or a secession needs to do is avoid directly controlling the insurgent forces.The legal side of what constitutes an armed attack and what doesn't leaves a lot of room for actors such as Putin, and his allies like Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, to come up with creative strategies that may or may not rise to the level of threat that would trigger Article 5. If the NATO member on the receiving end asks for help, the others, and above all the U.S., would need to decide whether to respond at all, and then what kind of response is commensurate with the threat.In his interview, Macron mentioned a realistic scenario that would require such decisions. "If the Bashar al-Assad regime decides to retaliate against Turkey, will we commit ourselves under it?" he asked. The retaliation is unlikely to look like a direct Syrian attack on Turkey, which would be suicidal given Turkey's military superiority. But Assad, helped by Iran and Russia, could stage deniable but deadly attacks on Turkish forces in the border areas they control. When the U.S. triggered Article 5 after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, it was important for the other NATO members that the attack was "directed from abroad." But what about attacks on Turkish troops in Syria planned from Syria — would they be treated the same?It's also worth contemplating what NATO would do if Russia decided to foment rebellions similar to those in eastern Ukraine in the areas of the Baltic states with significant Russian populations. Would a putative Narva People's Republic in Estonia, supplied with weapons and instructors across the Russian border, be considered part of a Russian armed attack or merely an insurgency?Would an uprising in Latvia meant to hand power to the Russian-speakers' party — which won a plurality in last year's general election but was again denied a role in the coalition government — qualify for Article 5? Would a more successful Russian-backed coup in Montenegro than the one in 2016 — but an equally deniable one — cut it now that the Balkan country is a NATO member?Russia doesn't have the resources or the political will to sustain a direct invasion of a hostile country even if there's no threat of NATO retaliation, as in Ukraine. But rebellions, secessionist movements and coups aren't out of the question. And then there are high-tech attacks. In August, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wrote an article claiming that "a serious cyberattack could trigger Article 5 of our founding treaty." But what does "a serious cyberattack" mean, and what kind of action would it set off? The U.S. and the U.K. have blamed Russia for the NotPetya ransomware attack, which hit civilian targets including hospitals in the U.S. and Europe and inflicted substantial financial damage, but there was no talk of an Article 5 response afterward. "What will Article 5 mean tomorrow?" Macron asked in his interview, and he's right that nobody, in the U.S. or elsewhere, can give him a clear answer. That, however, means that Putin doesn't know the answer, either. For all the doubts that European NATO members would want to go all in for Turkey, or that U.S. President Donald Trump would get into a war with Russia for Estonia or Montenegro, Putin — or, say, Assad — cannot confidently predict that it wouldn't happen.That uncertainty would be gone if NATO countries clearly specified their red lines. But doing so would be a direct invitation to adversaries to invent and carry out attacks that don't cross these red lines. The vagueness around Article 5 is a kind of protective shield because in the end, it's not the legal technicalities that count but the political decisions that NATO members will make, individually and collectively, in any given situation.For that matter, the mutual defense clause in the Treaty on European Union is almost identical to NATO's Article 5 both in its power and its purposeful lack of precision. By advocating a stronger EU-based defense union, Macron isn't investing in any stronger security guarantee than the one that exists in NATO. That's because a stronger one isn't really possible.To contact the author of this story: Leonid Bershidsky at lbershidsky@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Tobin Harshaw at tharshaw@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Leonid Bershidsky is Bloomberg Opinion's Europe columnist. He was the founding editor of the Russian business daily Vedomosti and founded the opinion website Slon.ru.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Pompeo hits Iran on IAEA inspector, amplifies claim of undeclared nuclear materials Posted: 08 Nov 2019 07:40 PM PST ![Pompeo hits Iran on IAEA inspector, amplifies claim of undeclared nuclear materials]( "Pompeo hits Iran on IAEA inspector, amplifies claim of undeclared nuclear materials") Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday criticized Iran for undermining international nuclear agreements, including allegedly possessing undeclared radioactive material and impeding an international inspector's work. During a special meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors on Thursday, representatives discussed an undeclared site outside Tehran that Israeli officials say holds an illegal stockpile of nuclear materials. The officials also said there were several other secret nuclear facilities run by the Iranian Defense Ministry outside its civilian program, the AP reported.
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| Nikki Haley: ‘There’s Just Nothing Impeachable’ About Trump’s Actions Posted: 08 Nov 2019 06:29 PM PST  Stephanie Keith/GettyAs the impeachment inquiry against him heats up, President Trump appears to have gotten perhaps his most dramatic defense yet from former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley: According to her, impeachment proceedings are akin to "the death penalty for a public official" and Trump simply doesn't deserve the death penalty. In excerpts from an interview with CBS News released late Friday, Haley scoffed at the idea that Trump would actually be removed from office."You're going to impeach a president for asking for a favor that didn't happen and giving money and it wasn't withheld?" Haley told CBS' Norah O'Donnell. "I don't know what you would impeach him on."The former ambassador, who resigned in late 2018, went on to liken impeachment proceedings to capital punishment."And look, Norah, impeachment is like the death penalty for a public official. When you look at the transcript, there's nothing in that transcript that warrants the death penalty for the president," she said, referring to a transcript of the July 25 phone call between Trump and the Ukrainian president that sparked the impeachment inquiry.O'Donnell pushed back, noting that the National Security Council's top Ukraine expert, Alexander Vindman—who listened in on the call—had testified to Congress that the rough transcript of the call released by the White House was not complete."There's still things that are missing from it," O'Donnell said."The Ukrainians never did the investigation, and the president released the funds," Haley replied. "I mean, when you look at those, there's just nothing impeachable there.""I think the biggest thing that bothers me is the American people should decide this," Haley added, apparently taking issue with Congress' constitutional right to impeach a president if deemed appropriate. "Why do we have a bunch of people in Congress making this decision?"The first public hearings of the impeachment inquiry are slated to begin next week—with former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and two top diplomats, William Taylor and George Kent, expected to testify. The inquiry was sparked by a whistleblower complaint about the July 25 call. The whistleblower raised concerns about Trump leveraging military aid to pressure Ukraine into investigating widely debunked corruption allegations against his potential political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, along with alleged 2016 election interference by Ukrainians.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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| Trump's maximum pressure policy on Iran has backfired and experts say it will fail Posted: 08 Nov 2019 05:42 PM PST  It's been one year-and-a-half since Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the nuclear deal with Iran – calling it the worst deal ever – and embarked on a policy of "maximum pressure".Mr Trump has been piling sanctions and heating up the rhetoric against the Islamic Republic.
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| Impeachment witnesses testify Mick Mulvaney was involved in attempted Ukraine quid pro quo Posted: 08 Nov 2019 11:58 AM PST ![Impeachment witnesses testify Mick Mulvaney was involved in attempted Ukraine quid pro quo]( "Impeachment witnesses testify Mick Mulvaney was involved in attempted Ukraine quid pro quo") Both impeachment witnesses who had their deposition transcripts released Friday mentioned Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney as being involved in coordinating an alleged quid pro quo with Ukraine.Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, in his testimony told Congress that at a meeting with Ukrainian officials, U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland mentioned Ukraine conducting investigations President Trump wanted was "required in order to get a meeting" between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump, and that "I heard him say that this had been coordinated with White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney."In the impeachment inquiry, House investigators are probing whether Trump improperly withheld aid to Ukraine in order to secure investigations involving former Vice President Joe Biden and his son and the 2016 election, and whether a White House meeting between Trump and Zelensky that Ukraine wanted was conditioned on the opening of these investigations. When asked precisely what investigations Sondland said were needed, Vindman testified, "he was talking about the 2016 elections and an investigation into the Bidens and Burisma," the gas company where Biden's son served on the board.Sondland in his testimony said he did not recall discussing a White House visit for Zelensky with Mulvaney, The Washington Post reports.Fiona Hill, President Trump's former top Russia and Europe adviser, also mentioned Mulvaney in her testimony, saying Sondland said "in front of the Ukrainians" that "he had an agreement with Chief of Staff Mulvaney for a meeting with Ukrainians if they were going to go forward with investigations."Mulvaney during a press conference last month initially admitted to tying aid to Ukraine to the opening of an investigation related to the 2016 election Trump wanted, saying, "we do that all the time." He later backtracked and claimed, "there was never any condition on the flow of aid related to the matter of the DNC server."More stories from theweek.com Angela Merkel leads ceremony marking 30th anniversary the fall of the Berlin Wall 5 brutal cartoons about Trump's environmental assault How motherhood changes the brain
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| GOP Rep. Jim Jordan is getting a spot on the Intelligence Committee ahead of public impeachment hearings Posted: 08 Nov 2019 11:49 AM PST ![GOP Rep. Jim Jordan is getting a spot on the Intelligence Committee ahead of public impeachment hearings]( "GOP Rep. Jim Jordan is getting a spot on the Intelligence Committee ahead of public impeachment hearings") Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is going wherever impeachment goes.Next week, the House Intelligence Committee will start public impeachment hearings -- something Jordan, as House Oversight Committee ranking member, wasn't supposed to be a part of. But apparently House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) found that to be a problem, so he gave Jordan a spot on Intelligence, he announced Friday.In McCarthy's eyes, the Intelligence Committee under Rep. Adam Schiff's (D-Calif.) leadership has "become the impeachment committee." So Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) is temporarily resigning from the committee and McCarthy is giving his spot to Jordan. Crawford wrote in a tweet that Jordan will "add critical bandwidth and legal expertise" to the committee, because apparently Schiff's law degree from Harvard University and time as an assistant U.S. attorney wasn't enough. After impeachment wraps up, Crawford says he'll be back on the committee.McCarthy's announcement comes just hours after yet another person involved with Ohio State University's wrestling program came to Jordan, then a wrestling coach, with allegations of sexual misconduct against university doctor Richard Strauss. Jordan allegedly ignored a referee who told him Strauss had masturbated in front of him, but Jordan denies ever hearing the claim.More stories from theweek.com Angela Merkel leads ceremony marking 30th anniversary the fall of the Berlin Wall 5 brutal cartoons about Trump's environmental assault How motherhood changes the brain
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