| Tata Steel Will Axe 3,000 Jobs Across Europe as Crisis Bites Posted: 18 Nov 2019 05:01 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Tata Steel Ltd. plans to axe about 3,000 jobs across its European operations to cut costs in the latest blow to the region's industry, with the move coming amid a heated general election campaign in the U.K.About two-thirds of the reductions would be office-based staff, according to a statement. The company -- which has steel-making facilities in the U.K. and the Netherlands, as well as other manufacturing operations -- didn't give a detailed breakdown of where the job losses would be made."Stagnant EU steel demand and global overcapacity have been compounded by trade conflicts, which have turned the European market into a dumping ground for the world's excess steel capacity," Tata Steel said.The European steel industry has faced growing headwinds this year amid declining demand, slowing growth and the consistent threat from supplies from overseas, including exports from Turkey, Russia and China. British Steel Ltd., the U.K.'s No. 2 steelmaker was put into liquidation in May, and has been taken over China's Jingye Group Co. Apparent steel demand in the European Union will contract 3.1% this year, lobby group Eurofer warned last month.The steelmaker's European operations are facing "unprecedented severe market conditions," Henrik Adam, chief executive officer of Tata Steel in Europe, said in the statement. Other steps to pare costs included boosting sales of higher-value steels, increasing efficiency and cutting procurement costs.General ElectionVoters in the U.K. go to the polls next month in a rare winter general election, and Tata Steel's move is likely to feature as an issue in the showdown, which has been dominated by the Brexit crisis. In the contest, Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson is squaring off againt Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.Tata Steel Europe's Ebitda collapsed 90% to 31 million pounds ($40 million) in the first six months of the current financial year, which started in April, on revenue of 3.25 billion pounds. The program of job cuts and other moves targets positive cash flow by the end of the year to March 2021.In a measure of the challenge facing local mills, steel production in the EU slumped in August to the lowest since the financial crisis amid a record jump in imports. The bloc's output dropped to 11.45 million tons that month, according to World Steel Association data. That's the lowest level since 2009.ArcelorMittal, the world's top steelmaker, said this month that European steel consumption will drop by up to 3% this year, the most since 2012. Austrian steelmaker Voestalpine AG has also been lowering its profit outlook as the industry downturn spreads.(Updates to add location of plants in second paragraph)To contact the reporter on this story: Jake Lloyd-Smith in Singapore at jlloydsmith@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Phoebe Sedgman at psedgman2@bloomberg.net, Jake Lloyd-SmithFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| China signs defence agreement with South Korea as US angers Seoul with demand for $5bn troop payment Posted: 18 Nov 2019 04:55 PM PST  The defence ministers of South Korea and China have agreed to develop their security ties to ensure stability in north-east Asia, the latest indication that Washington's long-standing alliances in the region are fraying. On the sidelines of regional security talks in Bangkok on Sunday, Jeong Kyeong-doo, the South Korean minister of defence, and his Chinese counterpart, Wei Fenghe, agreed to set up more military hotlines and to push ahead with a visit by Mr Jeong to China next year to "foster bilateral exchanges and cooperation in defence", South Korea's defence ministry said. Seoul's announcement coincided with growing resentment at the $5 billion (£3.9bn) annual fee that Washington is demanding to keep 28,500 US troops in South Korea. That figure is a sharp increase from the $923 million that Seoul paid this year, which was an 8 per cent increase on the previous year. Seoul's decision to terminate the intelligence sharing pact with Japan risks sending the "wrong message", said General Robert B. Abrams, commander of United States Forces Korea Credit: STAFF SGT. MARCUS BUTLER/UNITED STATES FORCES KOREA/AFP via Getty Images An editorial in Monday's edition of The Korea Times warned that the security alliance between the two countries "may fall apart due to Washington's blatantly excessive demands". Mr Trump has previously threatened to withdraw US troops if his demands are not met, with the editorial accusing the president of regarding the Korea-US mutual defence treaty "as a property deal to make money". The vast majority of Koreans agree, with a recent survey by the Korea Institute for National Reunification showing that 96 per cent of people are opposed to Seoul paying more for the US military presence. There is also irritation at the pressure that Washington is applying to the South to make Seoul sign an extension to a three-way agreement on sharing military information with the US and Japan. The General Security of Military Information Agreement is due to expire at midnight on November 23 and South Korea insists that it will only agree to an extension if Japan cancels restrictions on exports of chemicals critical to the South's microchip industry. Japan is widely believed to have imposed the restrictions as the latest incident in its troubled relationship with South Korea, which includes the issue of compensation for labourers put to work during Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. US Defense Secretary Mark Esper, left, and South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo, hold a joint press conference Credit: Jung Yeon-je/Pool Photo via AP The two nations' defence ministers held discussions with Mark Esper, the US defence secretary, at the weekend but hopes that a breakthrough might materialise came to nothing. Just days before an agreement designed to protect the allies from North Korean belligerence runs out, Tokyo and Seoul merely reiterated their long-held positions. The US demanded in July that Japan pay $8 billion a year to keep 54,000 US military personnel in the country, Foreign Policy reported late last week. Tokyo currently contributes $2 billion a year to US military costs in Japan. "This kind of demand, not only the exorbitant number, but the way it is being done, could trigger anti-Americanism", Bruce Klinger, an analyst at the Heritage Foundation think tank, told Foreign Policy. "If you weaken alliances, and potentially decrease deterrence and US troop presence, that benefits North Korea, China and Russia, who see the potential for reduced US influence and support for our allies". Daniel Pinkston, a professor of international relations at the Seoul campus of Troy University, was more blunt in his assessment. "It's just extortion", he told The Telegraph. "It's little more than a mob boss going around and demanding protection money. The numbers that the US is demanding are politically impossible for Seoul and Tokyo to swallow and that is just fuelling resentment."
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| US ends sanction waivers for Iran's Fordow nuclear plant Posted: 18 Nov 2019 03:43 PM PST  The United States announced Monday it would halt sanctions waivers for Iran's Fordow plant, likely ending a key component of a landmark nuclear deal after Tehran said it had resumed enrichment activities. Piling pressure as protests hit Iran, the move is intended to discourage work led by Russia's state-owned nuclear company Rosatom at the once-secret site, which was supposed to be transformed into a civilian research center under the 2015 agreement. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pointed to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's announcement of renewed activity at Fordow -- one of a series of steps taken by Tehran as it presses Europeans to make good on sanctions relief promised for compliance.
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| Iran exceeds authorised heavy water reserves: IAEA Posted: 18 Nov 2019 03:04 PM PST  The UN's nuclear watchdog said Monday that Iran's stock of heavy water for reactors has surpassed the limit set under its agreement with world powers. The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement that Iran's heavy water production plant was in operation and that its stock of heavy water reserves was 131.5 tonnes, above the 130-tonne limit.
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| 'No one needs to be a billionaire', Britain's Labour Party says Posted: 18 Nov 2019 02:30 PM PST !['No one needs to be a billionaire', Britain's Labour Party says]( "'No one needs to be a billionaire', Britain's Labour Party says") Britain's opposition Labour Party will on Tuesday take aim at "obscene" billionaires, pledging a radical redistribution of wealth to cut the power of the super rich who it says bankroll Prime Minister Boris Johnson in return for tax breaks. The Conservatives are promising to deliver Brexit while Labour says it wants to be the most radical socialist government in British history. Labour said almost a third of Britain's 151 billionaires have donated more than 50 million pounds ($64.8 million) to the Conservatives since 2005 in return for tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations worth 100 billion pounds.
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| Washington silent as US-crafted regime under fire in Iraq Posted: 18 Nov 2019 02:24 PM PST  The US posted tens of thousands of troops in Iraq, huddled with its leaders and helped craft its laws -- but with the country swamped by deadly protests, Washington is staying out of the fray. Its apparent absence during a key turning point in Iraq lays bare how much its interests and influence have waned since the 2003 US-led invasion that opened the door to fellow Shiite-majority neighbour Iran. "The (US-Iraq) gulf has never been so big, and keeps getting bigger," a senior Iraqi official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
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| Attorney: Ex-Marine held by Iran seeks victim’s fund payment Posted: 18 Nov 2019 02:17 PM PST ![Attorney: Ex-Marine held by Iran seeks victim's fund payment]( "Attorney: Ex-Marine held by Iran seeks victim's fund payment") A former Marine who was imprisoned by Iran on suspicion of spying is seeking payment from a fund intended for victims of state-sponsored terrorism. Attorney Scott Gilbert says he filed the lawsuit Monday in federal claims court on behalf of Amir Hekmati. A federal judge ruled in 2017 that Iran must pay Hekmati $63.5 million.
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| US ends sanction waivers for Iran's Fordow nuclear plant Posted: 18 Nov 2019 02:10 PM PST The United States announced Monday it would halt sanctions waivers for Iran's Fordow plant, ending a key part of a landmark nuclear deal after Tehran said it had resumed enrichment activities. The move is intended to end Russian and European cooperation with Iran on the once-secret site, which was supposed to become a civilian research center under the 2015 agreement. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pointed to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's announcement of renewed activity at Fordow -- a series of steps taken by Tehran as it presses European allies to make good on sanctions relief promised for compliance.
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| How Activists Are Getting Around Iran’s Internet Blackout Posted: 18 Nov 2019 02:00 PM PST  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- The latest unrest in Iran is about something far more serious than rising gasoline prices. The proof is that, over the weekend, the regime took most of the country offline.NetBlocks, a nongovernmental organization that monitors digital rights, says that by Saturday, Iran's internet connectivity was 5% of what it was earlier in the week. The clampdown began on Friday, coinciding with demonstrations and protests throughout Iran, with intermittent outages in major cities such as Tehran and Shiraz. By Saturday, the group said, it had "proceeded to a disconnection of all mobile networks followed by a near-total national internet and telecommunication blackout." And yet the images from inside the country have kept coming. In the past few days, the rest of the world has been able to see videos from inside the country showing mass demonstrations and at times violent crackdowns from security services. "I keep getting these videos," says Masih Alinejad, an Iranian activist who began the anti-hijab protests and is now based in Brooklyn. Anticipating the regime's actions, many Iranians have developed a kind of digital resilience. They take advantage of networks that remain online and at times connect to the internet through satellites or service providers in neighboring countries.In some cases, Iranians are also taking advantage of the country's two-tiered approach to internet access. Despite the near national blackout, regime and university networks have remained online. "The government people have internet," says Mariam Memarsadeghi, co-founder of Tavaana, a web platform that works to build civil society inside of Iran. "There are good reasons to think the friends and families of people who have government connections will use them to get the word out."Abdullah Mohtadi, the secretary general of the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan, says Kurdish activists use Iraqi SIM cards to gain access to the Internet. The participation of the Kurds in the national protests this time also marks a change. Kurdish Iranians have protested the regime for decades, but their protests are often against the regime's treatment of the Kurdish minority. This time, he says, Iranian Kurdish parties are coordinating their activism with the national movement.But Alp Toker, the director NetBlocks, warns that there is no reliable way to circumvent the regime's restrictions. Roaming SIM cards can be cut off, he points out, while satellite internet is expensive and slow. At the same time, some apparent connections may actually be operated by the government as a ruse — tricking users into thinking their communications are safe.The U.S. government, meanwhile, is doing what it can. It has helped fund organizations such as Memarsadaghi's, for example. It has worked to help Iranians get access to equipment that would make it easier to get online through satellite connections instead of the on-the-ground internet service providers controlled by the regime. One U.S. official tells me that the State Department has asked some of the big social media companies to suspend the accounts of Iranian regime leaders and entities as long as Iranian citizens are kept offline. Alinejad herself has called on Twitter to shut down the personal accounts of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.But banning Khamenei's account, and those of other regime figures, is the least that Facebook and Twitter should do. It's in their interest to develop easy-to-use technologies to circumvent internet bans such as Iran's; Iranians use Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Telegram like anyone else.More important, the digital resilience of Iran's freedom movement is a U.S. national security issue. It's too soon to say whether these latest convulsions will topple a regime that has made war throughout the Middle East. But it's clear that online activism was enough of a threat to Khamenei and his deputies that he tried to turn the internet off. The rest of the world should be grateful that so many Iranians have found ways to defy his orders.To contact the author of this story: Eli Lake at elake1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Newman at mnewman43@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| How Activists Are Getting Around Iran’s Internet Blackout Posted: 18 Nov 2019 02:00 PM PST  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- The latest unrest in Iran is about something far more serious than rising gasoline prices. The proof is that, over the weekend, the regime took most of the country offline.NetBlocks, a nongovernmental organization that monitors digital rights, says that by Saturday, Iran's internet connectivity was 5% of what it was earlier in the week. The clampdown began on Friday, coinciding with demonstrations and protests throughout Iran, with intermittent outages in major cities such as Tehran and Shiraz. By Saturday, the group said, it had "proceeded to a disconnection of all mobile networks followed by a near-total national internet and telecommunication blackout." And yet the images from inside the country have kept coming. In the past few days, the rest of the world has been able to see videos from inside the country showing mass demonstrations and at times violent crackdowns from security services. "I keep getting these videos," says Masih Alinejad, an Iranian activist who began the anti-hijab protests and is now based in Brooklyn. Anticipating the regime's actions, many Iranians have developed a kind of digital resilience. They take advantage of networks that remain online and at times connect to the internet through satellites or service providers in neighboring countries.In some cases, Iranians are also taking advantage of the country's two-tiered approach to internet access. Despite the near national blackout, regime and university networks have remained online. "The government people have internet," says Mariam Memarsadeghi, co-founder of Tavaana, a web platform that works to build civil society inside of Iran. "There are good reasons to think the friends and families of people who have government connections will use them to get the word out."Abdullah Mohtadi, the secretary general of the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan, says Kurdish activists use Iraqi SIM cards to gain access to the Internet. The participation of the Kurds in the national protests this time also marks a change. Kurdish Iranians have protested the regime for decades, but their protests are often against the regime's treatment of the Kurdish minority. This time, he says, Iranian Kurdish parties are coordinating their activism with the national movement.But Alp Toker, the director NetBlocks, warns that there is no reliable way to circumvent the regime's restrictions. Roaming SIM cards can be cut off, he points out, while satellite internet is expensive and slow. At the same time, some apparent connections may actually be operated by the government as a ruse — tricking users into thinking their communications are safe.The U.S. government, meanwhile, is doing what it can. It has helped fund organizations such as Memarsadaghi's, for example. It has worked to help Iranians get access to equipment that would make it easier to get online through satellite connections instead of the on-the-ground internet service providers controlled by the regime. One U.S. official tells me that the State Department has asked some of the big social media companies to suspend the accounts of Iranian regime leaders and entities as long as Iranian citizens are kept offline. Alinejad herself has called on Twitter to shut down the personal accounts of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.But banning Khamenei's account, and those of other regime figures, is the least that Facebook and Twitter should do. It's in their interest to develop easy-to-use technologies to circumvent internet bans such as Iran's; Iranians use Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Telegram like anyone else.More important, the digital resilience of Iran's freedom movement is a U.S. national security issue. It's too soon to say whether these latest convulsions will topple a regime that has made war throughout the Middle East. But it's clear that online activism was enough of a threat to Khamenei and his deputies that he tried to turn the internet off. The rest of the world should be grateful that so many Iranians have found ways to defy his orders.To contact the author of this story: Eli Lake at elake1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Newman at mnewman43@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| North Korea uninterested in 'useless' Trump meetings after president's tweet Posted: 18 Nov 2019 01:22 PM PST  The leader of North Korea is not interested in another meeting with Donald Trump, even though the American recently signalled they would be coming together soon.That's according to a statement from North Korean Foreign Ministry adviser Kim Kye Gwan, who told the state news agency that Mr Trump's Sunday night tweet saying "See you soon!" was not expressing a mutual desire.
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| McConnell Urges Trump to Speak Out on Protests: Hong Kong Update Posted: 18 Nov 2019 01:17 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam urged protesters holed up in a university to heed police calls to surrender, as tens of thousands of protesters marched to support the trapped demonstrators.Police and protesters clashed around Hong Kong Polytechnic University for much of the day, leading to multiple arrests and injuries. Running battles have occurred, with police firing tear gas and rubber bullets at demonstrators who threw bricks and Molotov cocktails.Demonstrations seeking greater democracy in the Beijing-controlled territory have become increasingly violent in recent weeks, with protesters vandalizing transportation networks and China-friendly businesses as they push for demands including an independent probe into police violence and the ability to nominate and elect city leaders.Key Developments:Lam decries violence near universityTens of thousands march to rescue campus demonstratorsOfficial says chaos putting Sunday's election at riskMediators try to persuade protesters to leave campus peacefullyHere's the latest:McConnell Urges Trump to Speak Out on Protests (5:09 a.m.)U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell urged President Donald Trump to speak out on behalf of the protesters in Hong Kong."The world should hear from him directly that the United States stands with these brave women and men," McConnell said Monday afternoon on the Senate floor.McConnell said Trump should make Hong Kong's autonomy a focus of America's bilateral engagement with China, not just trade. The Republican leader's comments come as the Senate moves to expedited passage of legislation this week which would place Hong Kong's special trading status with the U.S. under annual review.Pompeo calls on Lam to allow independent probe (4:06 a.m.)Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said the U.S. is "gravely concerned" about rising violence in Hong Kong and called on Lam to allow an independent probe of protest incidents.Speaking to reporters in Washington on Monday afternoon, Pompeo said violence by any side in the dispute is "unacceptable," but he singled out Hong Kong's government as having a primary responsibility to keep events peaceful.Pompeo's comments followed an earlier White House statement calling on Beijing to "honor its commitments under the Sino-British Joint Declaration and to protect Hong Kong's freedom, legal system, and democratic way of life."Tsang, school principals try to coax out protesters (11:54 p.m.)Former Legislative Council President Jasper Tsang and law professor Eric Cheung tried to persuade protesters to leave the campus peacefully, pledging to accompany them to police stations to ensure they won't be treated violently. "If there's tear gas, I will get it first," Tsang said.Separately, some 20 secondary school principals arrived at the campus to escort students off the premises as clashes continued between demonstrators and police in the nearby area. An estimated 150 secondary school students are stuck, with some suffering injuries, Li Kin-man, one of the principals told reporters. Police have promised to let those under 18 years old leave after recording their identity, he said.Thousands reinforce trapped campus demonstrators (9:55 p.m.)Tens of thousands of protesters heeded calls to reinforce and save the demonstrators trapped in the PolyU campus, using umbrellas to battle back tear gas and water cannons in nearby Tsim Sha Tsui.Police fired tear gas at high points of the campus buildings after a number of protesters tried to escape by abseiling out, according to Radio Television Hong Kong.U.K. government 'seriously concerned' (8:45 p.m.)The U.K., which handed Hong Kong over to Chinese rule in 1997, said it was "seriously concerned" by the escalating violence from both protesters and authorities around university campuses in the city."It is vital that those who are injured are able to receive appropriate medical treatment, and that safe passage is made available for all those who wish to leave the area. We need to see an end to the violence, and for all sides to engage in meaningful political dialogue ahead of the District Council elections on Sunday," according to a statement attributed to a Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesperson.Officials warn public to steer clear of PolyU (6:20 p.m.)Top Hong Kong officials urged the public not to approach or reinforce the PolyU campus amid calls for rallies near the university. Security Secretary John Lee urged those remaining at the campus to surrender to police in an orderly and peaceful manner. He condemned the use of weapons by protesters, including remote-controlled bombs, catapults and petrol bombs.As the standoff ground on, Matthew Cheung, the city's No. 2 official, vowed that the government was determined to tackle "deep-seated problems" and that ending violence remained its top priority.Violence putting election at risk (5:36 p.m.)The escalating violence in recent days has "reduced the chance of holding" citywide District Council elections as scheduled Sunday, Patrick Nip, secretary for constitutional and mainland affairs, told reporters Monday. Nip said staff at polling stations and candidates must feel safe on election day and that people need to be able to get to the polls without disruption."Postponing would be a difficult decision," Nip said, adding that the government wouldn't take such a step "unless absolutely necessary."Lam decries PolyU violence (5:18 p.m.)Lam, Hong Kong's chief executive, decried the chaos around PolyU in a Facebook post Monday, blaming "rioters" for continuing "to escalate the level of violence." "Police have repeatedly made appeals and people in PolyU campus should listen," she said.Protesters call for rallies (5:14 p.m.)Protesters have called for rallies from 7 p.m. in Tsim Sha Tsui, a location near the university, to support those who are stuck in PolyU.City's No. 2 to meet media (5:11 p.m.)Hong Kong Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung and Secretary for Security John Lee will meet the media at 6 p.m. local time at the government headquarters, according to a statement.Police tell university protesters to surrender (4:23 p.m.)Protesters inside PolyU should stop their violence immediately and surrender as the situation is getting "risky," Cheuk Hau-yip, regional commander of Kowloon West, told reporters at a briefing on Monday. He said all protesters leaving the university would be arrested for participation in a riot.Police are most concerned about fires being lit as "rioters" charge at them outside PolyU, he said, without giving an estimate on how many protesters are still there. He also said police arrested a group of demonstrators who claimed to be volunteer first aid workers and journalists.Police said they allowed Red Cross volunteers into the PolyU campus around 2 p.m. to offer medical assistance to those injured. Some of them were brought to the hospital, according to a statement on Facebook.About 600 still trapped, SCMP reports (4:07 p.m.)About 600 people are still trapped on the PolyU campus, the South China Morning Post reported, citing Derek Liu Kin-kwan, president of the university's student union.Clashes as protesters flee university (2:05 p.m.)Police fired tear gas and made arrests as dozens of black-clad protesters ran to escape Hong Kong Polytechnic University, which is under siege by officers. Television images showed police wrestling some protesters to the ground, and at times beating them with batons, while others climbed down trees next to an overpass to avoid arrest.It was unclear how many protesters remained in the university. Several police appeared to point guns at protesters, but there were no indications that anyone was shot.Schools to remain closed (1:30 p.m.)Hong Kong's Education Bureau said schools will remain closed Tuesday "since there are still unstable factors affecting the roads and traffic conditions and more time should be given for schools to make good preparation for class resumption." Schools have been suspended since last Thursday on safety concerns. Some primary and secondary schools are expected to resume classes Wednesday, while kindergartens, schools for children with physical disability or intellectual disability will remain closed till Sunday.Mask ban found unconstitutional (1 p.m.)A Hong Kong court ruled that the mask ban imposed by Chief Executive Carrie Lam's government was incompatible with the Basic Law, the mini-constitution that governs the financial hub. The High Court ruled that the ban, which has been widely ignored by protesters, went further in curbing people's fundamental rights than the situation warranted.Hong Kong's government had invoked a colonial-era Emergency Regulations Ordinance to pass the prohibition on face-coverings, angering protesters and igniting fresh protests. Recent protests have seen thousands of people wearing masks in contravention of the law, and many have been arrested for violating it.Protesters gather once again in Central (12:45 p.m.)Protesters, including many professionals and office workers, have started gathering and blocking roads in Hong Kong's Central financial district. Last week, there were five-straight days of lunch time protests in the heart of Asia's key financial hub, with many white-collar workers hitting the streets to chant protest slogans. Police fired numerous tear gas volleys in the area last week, sending bystanders and office workers running for cover past the area's luxury retail outlets.Goldman Sachs cancels anniversary event (12:30 p.m.)Goldman Sachs Groups Inc. is postponing a Hong Kong event to mark the firm's 150th anniversary. The celebration was scheduled to be held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong, but was delayed because of ongoing protests, according to an email the bank sent to attendees.Police urge protesters to drop weapons (11:46 a.m.)In a series of Twitter posts, Hong Kong's police force urged protesters to drop their weapons, remove their gas masks and leave PolyU in an "orderly manner" without making any menacing moves toward officers. A large group of "masked rioters" armed with petrol bombs charged at police cordons around 8 a.m., police said.Carrie Lam visits officer in hospital (11:30 a.m.)Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam visited an injured police officer at the city's Kwong Wah Hospital, according to the South China Morning Post, which tweeted a video of her emerging from a hospital building. She declined to take any questions.Protests block roads in Kowloon (11:10 a.m.)Small groups of protesters blocked roads in the Jordan and Tsim Sha Tsui areas, not far from the standoff at PolyU. Activists had issued calls on social media for demonstrators to come out to the Kowloon area, as well as Central, to support protesters still at the university. So far, there were no significant crowds in Central.Military defends clean-up effort (10:35 a.m.)A spokesman for China's military defended the decision by the local People's Liberation Army garrison in Hong Kong to come out into the streets Saturday and help clean up from last week's protests. The soldiers "joined the citizens in clearing these road blocks and their efforts were welcomed by the Hong Kong citizens," Senior Colonel Wu Qian told a briefing Monday on the sidelines of a regional security meeting in Bangkok."Ending violence and restoring order is the most pressing task we have in Hong Kong," Wu said, citing a similar statement by Chinese President Xi Jinping last week.Dozens of protesters detained (9 a.m.)Police detained dozens of protesters in Tsim Sha Tsui East, near the PolyU campus, where clashes have been the most intense in recent hours. At least 30 could been seen on television feeds sitting on the ground with their hands restrained. It was unclear how many protesters and students were still on campus.\--With assistance from Stanley James, Linus Chua, Sebastian Tong, Shelly Banjo, Glen Carey, Fion Li, Shawna Kwan, Karen Leigh and Laura Litvan.To contact the reporters on this story: Natalie Lung in Hong Kong at flung6@bloomberg.net;Iain Marlow in Hong Kong at imarlow1@bloomberg.net;Annie Lee in Hong Kong at olee42@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Chris Kay, Bill FariesFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| UN envoy: Libya peace possible if outside interference ends Posted: 18 Nov 2019 12:28 PM PST  An agreement between Libya's warring parties to end their conflict is possible, but only if all Libyans reject outside interference, the U.N. envoy for the oil-rich North African nation said Monday. Ghassan Salame told the Security Council that preparations for an international summit in Berlin are underway and that a "crucial" meeting of senior officials Wednesday aims to reach agreement on an outline of actions needed to end the conflict. A civil war in Libya in 2011 toppled Moammar Gadhafi, who was later killed.
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| UPDATE 1-U.S. to no longer waive sanctions on Iranian nuclear site, watching Iran's protests -Pompeo Posted: 18 Nov 2019 12:14 PM PST ![UPDATE 1-U.S. to no longer waive sanctions on Iranian nuclear site, watching Iran's protests -Pompeo]( "UPDATE 1-U.S. to no longer waive sanctions on Iranian nuclear site, watching Iran's protests -Pompeo") Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday that the United States is terminating its sanctions waiver related to Iran's Fordow nuclear plant, adding that it is closely monitoring protests in Iran and is deeply concerned by reports of several fatalities. "The right amount of uranium enrichment for the world's largest state sponsor of terror is zero ... There is no legitimate reason for Iran to resume enrichment at this previously clandestine site," Pompeo said at a press briefing about the Fordow site, where the U.N. atomic watchdog says Iran has been enriching uranium. Pompeo went on to say that Iran was making "another clear attempt at nuclear extortion" that would lead to further economic and political isolation from the world.
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| US cancels civil nuclear cooperation waiver for Iran Posted: 18 Nov 2019 11:34 AM PST  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday he is canceling one of four sanctions waivers that had allowed foreign companies to work with Iran's civilian nuclear program without U.S. penalties. Pompeo also warned Iran's leadership not to crack down on protests that recent fuel price increases have sparked. The waivers are among the last remaining components of the 2015 nuclear deal the Trump administration withdrew from last year.
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| U.S. to end sanctions waiver related to Iran's Fordow nuclear site -Pompeo Posted: 18 Nov 2019 11:31 AM PST ![U.S. to end sanctions waiver related to Iran's Fordow nuclear site -Pompeo]( "U.S. to end sanctions waiver related to Iran's Fordow nuclear site -Pompeo") Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday that the United States is terminating the sanctions wavier related to Iran's Fordow nuclear plant, adding that it is closely monitoring ongoing protests in Iran and is deeply concerned by reports of several fatalities. "The right amount of uranium enrichment for the world's largest state sponsor of terror is zero...There is no legitimate reason for Iran to resume enrichment at this previously clandestine site," Pompeo said at a press briefing about the Fordow site, where the U.N. atomic watchdog says the country has been enriching uranium.
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| UN envoy slams foreign interference, air strikes in Libya Posted: 18 Nov 2019 11:30 AM PST  The UN's Libya envoy pleaded with foreign actors to honor an arms embargo on the conflict-torn country as he said an attack on a Tripoli factory Monday may amount to a war crime. Ghassan Salame accused unnamed countries of worsening the violence in Libya in a strongly worded address via video link to the United Nations Security Council in New York. Salame called for external actors to adhere to a UN arms embargo imposed on Libya since 2011.
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| US angers Palestinians with reversal on Israeli settlements Posted: 18 Nov 2019 11:11 AM PST  The Trump administration on Monday said it no longer considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be a violation of international law, reversing four decades of American policy and further undermining the Palestinians' effort to gain statehood. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the U.S. is repudiating the 1978 State Department legal opinion that held that civilian settlements in the occupied territories are "inconsistent with international law." Israeli leaders welcomed the decision while Palestinians and other nations warned that it undercut any chance of a broader peace deal. Pompeo told reporters at the State Department that the Trump administration believes any legal questions about settlements should be resolved by Israeli courts and that declaring them a violation of international law distracts from larger efforts to negotiate a peace deal.
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| UN expert: 100,000 kids in migration-related detention in US Posted: 18 Nov 2019 11:08 AM PST ![UN expert: 100,000 kids in migration-related detention in US]( "UN expert: 100,000 kids in migration-related detention in US") An independent expert working with the U.N. human rights office estimates that over 100,000 children are being held in migration-related detention in the United States. Human rights lawyer Manfred Nowak said Monday the U.S. is holding "far more" than are other countries for which he has reliable figures. Nowak said country-specific figures for the U.N. Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty, a version of which was released in July, will be published Tuesday.
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| Brexit or Corbyn? U.K. Business Agonizes Over Election Choice Posted: 18 Nov 2019 11:01 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Caught between a Brexit they don't want and a firebrand socialist they fear, business executives were not impressed after the leading candidates in Britain's upcoming general election tried to win their support.Speeches by Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson and opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn failed to resonate with attendees at the Confederation of British Industry's conference in London on Monday."These guys should be hanging their heads in shame for the last three years of nonsense that's gone on," said Phil Smith, non-executive chairman of IQE Plc, a maker of semi-conductor products. "If that was in business, most of them would be gone by now."Smith's comments captured the mood of executives as they poked holes in Johnson's Brexit plan while warning against Corbyn's economic policies, which include nationalizing large swathes of industry. Delegates were divided over which posed a greater threat to Britain: pursuing a hard break from its largest trading partner, the European Union, or embracing a socialist agenda.Brexit ParalysisThe U.K. is heading for its third election in 4 1/2 years on Dec. 12 after Johnson failed to get Parliament to ratify his Brexit deal, and was unable to deliver on his promise to leave the European Union by Oct. 31. Business leaders complain that three years of political paralysis have stalled investment since the Brexit referendum vote in 2016.When the alternative is a Corbyn-led government, Johnson may not need to try too hard to persuade businesses to embrace the Tories. At the CBI on Monday, the premier rowed back on a plan to cut corporation tax from 19% to 17% in 2020, saying the government could save money and spend more on voters' priorities like the National Health Service.For his part, Corbyn confirmed in a Bloomberg television interview that Labour would nationalize the railways, water companies, the electricity grid and Royal Mail Plc, following up on his pledge to take ownership of broadband infrastructure.Boris Johnson Cancels 2020 Tax Cut for Businesses: U.K. VotesTrade FearsRegarding Brexit, CBI boss Carolyn Fairbairn reiterated her concern that there is not enough time for the U.K. to negotiate a new trade deal with the EU before a transitional bridging period runs out at the end of 2020.With that in mind, she called on Johnson to extend the transition period in order to avoid Britain being forced to trade with the bloc on damaging World Trade Organization terms. Johnson rejected her plea."You can't do a trade deal of any value in that period," said Ian Wright, chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation, echoing Fairbairn's view. "There's not enough time."None of the 16 business leaders interviewed by Bloomberg News at the conference gushed about any one candidate but when asked to choose, a few offered a clear view.Nicola Stopps, chief executive officer of corporate social responsibility consultants Simply Sustainable, said she plans to support the Tories in the election even though she voted to remain in the EU, because Johnson has pledged to pull the U.K. out of the bloc quickly.Going UnderBrexit uncertainty is significantly affecting her business advising big firms, and it may force the company to go under, Stopps said. "We have very large clients who are postponing projects," she said.'Get Brexit Done' Rings Hollow for Baffled British BusinessesRichard Clarke, commercial director of O'Donovan Waste Disposals, a London-based construction and demolition waste company with 200 employees, echoed Stopps's view. Clarke said the Conservatives are more pro-enterprise and he disagreed with Labour's policy of holding another Brexit referendum."Corbyn is definitely worse," he said. "And we need to heal the social divisions of Brexit."The pro-EU Liberal Democrats struggled to resonate at the conference, even though many executives were sympathetic with the party's mission to stop. While leader Jo Swinson declared them to be "the natural party of business," few executives saw them as likely to win many seats.To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Mayes in London at jmayes9@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Rebecca Penty at rpenty@bloomberg.net, Tim RossFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Chile's president condemns police violence after four weeks of unrest Posted: 18 Nov 2019 10:48 AM PST  President Sebastian Pinera condemned on Sunday for the first time what he called abuses committed by police in dealing with four weeks of violent unrest that have rocked Chile. Furious Chileans have been protesting social and economic inequality, and against an entrenched political elite that comes from a small number of the wealthiest families in the country, among other issues. Accusations of police brutality and human rights violations have been levelled since the protests broke out, prompting the United Nations to send a team to investigate.
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| Iran 'calmer' despite more riots over oil price hikes Posted: 18 Nov 2019 09:27 AM PST  Iran said it still faced riots even though the situation was "calmer" Monday after days of violent protests sparked by a shock decision to hike petrol prices in the sanctions-hit country. Officials have confirmed the deaths of two people -- a civilian and a policeman -- although the toll could be as high as eight, according to unofficial reports published by various Iranian news agencies. Its commander Brigadier General Gholamreza Soleimani accused Iran's arch-enemy the United States of instigating the unrest and said "America's plot failed", according to semi-official news agency ISNA.
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| More than 100,000 children in migration-related US detention: UN Posted: 18 Nov 2019 09:16 AM PST  More than 100,000 children are currently being held in migration-related detention in the United States, including those held with their parents and minors detained alone, the UN said Monday. "The total number currently detained is 103,000," said Manfred Nowak, lead author of the United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty. Nowak told AFP the figure was a "conservative" assessment, based on the latest available official data as well as "very reliable" additional sources.
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| Hungary signs special agreement with Orthodox Jewish group Posted: 18 Nov 2019 09:16 AM PST  The Hungarian government has signed a special agreement with an Orthodox Jewish group, granting them a status in the country enjoyed only by a small number of churches. The accord, for example, provides the Unified Hungarian Jewish Congregation's institutions, such as schools, the same financing given to similar state institutions. A controversial law introduced in 2012 by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government tied the recognition of churches to parliamentary approval, and slashed the number of officially recognized churches from around 370 to 32.
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| Libyan officials: Airstrike kills 7 workers in Tripoli Posted: 18 Nov 2019 09:02 AM PST  An airstrike slammed into a biscuit factory in Libya's capital Monday killing at least seven workers, including five foreign nationals and two Libyans, health authorities said, in what the U.N. envoy to Libya said could be a war crime. Tripoli has been the scene of fighting since April between the self-styled Libyan National Army, led by Gen. Khalifa Hifter, and an array of militias loosely allied with the U.N.-supported but weak government that holds the capital. The Tripoli-based health ministry said the airstrike took place in the capital's Wadi el-Rabie neighborhood, south of the city center where fighting has been raging for months.
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| Boris Johnson Cancels 2020 Tax Cut for Businesses: U.K. Votes Posted: 18 Nov 2019 08:40 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Sign up to our Brexit Bulletin, follow us @Brexit and subscribe to our podcast.U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his Conservatives are canceling plans to cut corporation tax next April so the government can save money to spend more on voters' priorities, including the state-funded National Health Service.The rate was due to fall to 17% from 19%, but Johnson said businesses had already gained from a succession of corporation tax cuts in recent years. He spoke to the Confederation of British Industry to try to get the focus of his general election campaign on his Conservative Party's pro-business policies.Must Read: What Scares Business More: Brexit or Corbyn? U.K. Campaign TrailKey Developments:Johnson tells CBI he will keep Sajid Javid as Chancellor of the Exchequer after electionJohnson also says corporation tax cut will have to waitJeremy Corbyn tells CBI Labour would keep U.K. close to or inside the EU -- and the richest must pay more taxLiberal Democrats and SNP court case over their omission from ITV leaders' debate on TuesdayA Survation poll for Monday's Good Morning Britain TV show put the Tories on 42%, Labour on 28%, the Liberal Democrats on 13% and the Brexit Party on 5%Lib Dems, SNP Lose Case Over ITV Election Debate (4:30 p.m.)The Liberal Democrats and Scottish National Party lost their suit against broadcaster ITV over a head-to-head television debate between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn."The TV debate scheduled for tomorrow evening between the leaders of the Conservative party and Labour party can lawfully go ahead," Judge Nigel Davis said in London's High Court.The two parties argued that ITV's decision to exclude them breached impartiality rules because an anti-Brexit perspective won't be heard. The broadcaster had said it would cancel the debate if it lost the case.Swinson Attacks 'Extreme' Labour and Tories (3:30 p.m.)Jo Swinson said she would not help either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn become prime minister if they come up short of a majority after the Dec. 12 election. Both Labour and the Conservatives have moved so far to extremes that she's not even sure her party could support them with new leaders, she told Bloomberg TV."We're being very clear: we're not going to support Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn," the Liberal Democrat leader said. "Both of those parties have moved to extremes under those leaders, so it's not at all clear that even if the leader changed the direction of travel would be any less extreme."Swinson did leave open the possibility of working with fellow anti-Brexit MPs in the new Parliament. "What we will do is that for every Liberal Democrat MP we have is work to stop Brexit and work to pursue the other priorities we're outlining in our plan for the future," she said. "In the last few years, we have worked constructively with people of all different parties."Swinson said the Liberal Democrats, if they win a majority, would abolish Business Rates and replace them with a Commercial Landowner Levy, which would be based on the value of land. The move would cut taxes for businesses in 92% of local authority areas in the U.K., the party said.Swinson Makes Lib Dem Business Pitch (2:40 p.m.)Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson said her party is the "natural party of business" because it wants to keep the U.K. in the EU. Being part of one of the most successful economic blocs in the world is the best guarantee for British businesses, she said."If you want to get Brexit done, or get Brexit sorted, you are not the party of business," Swinson said in a speech to business leaders at the CBI conference in southeast London. "With the Conservatives in the pocket of Nigel Farage and Jeremy Corbyn stuck in the 1970s, we are the only ones standing up for you.""If we don't win a majority, we will still want to stop Brexit and will continue to pursue a People's Vote," Swinson said when asked about the terms under which she would enter a coalition government.Corbyn Sets Out Nationalization Plans (1:27 p.m.)Jeremy Corbyn has confirmed the businesses that his Labour Party will want to take government control of if he wins power. As well as broadband infrastructure, there's Royal Mail Plc, the operation of the railways, water companies, and the electricity grid.He also said he would be encouraging local authorities throughout the country to take control of bus services, which in most of the country outside London are run by private companies. That could affect companies including Stagecoach Group Plc, Go-Ahead Group Plc and Firstgroup Plc."We need to integrate bus and rail services, we need to re-empower local authorities to develop bus services if they wish," Corbyn told Bloomberg television. He insisted his plans shouldn't scare business. "I'm not proposing massive nationalization. What I'm more interested in is a growing economy with a more skilled workforce."He said his plan for closing the poll gap with Boris Johnson's Conservatives was to "campaign, get our message across."On the question of whether he'd ask Bank of England Governor Mark Carney to stay on, he said he'd made no commitments to anyone, but "we've worked very well with Mark Carney up to now."Corbyn Insists He's Fighting Antisemitism (12:15 p.m.)Jeremy Corbyn defended himself against charges that antisemitism has flourished within his Labour Party. Asked at the Confederation of British Industry conference in London if Labour was "for the many, not the Jew," Corbyn replied: "I have lived my whole life as somebody who hates racism in every form whatsoever."Corbyn Calls Out Miners Over Damage (12 p.m.)Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn called on commodity and oil companies to be socially responsible and consider their environmental impact.While acknowledging that many have social impact funds and support community projects, Corbyn said he is concerned by "the behavior of very big oil and mineral companies in other countries and the environmental problems" they cause. A Labour government would work with the companies to rectify issues, he said.Corbyn: Labour Isn't Anti-Business (11:38 a.m.)Jeremy Corbyn said his opposition Labour Party isn't anti-business. Speaking to the CBI conference, he said he wouldn't apologize for wanting to raise taxes on the richest and for planning to take key businesses into public ownership."It's not anti-business to be against poverty pay," he said. "It's not anti-business to say the largest corporations should pay their taxes just as smaller companies do. It's not anti-business to want prosperity in every part of our country, not only in the financial center of the City of London."Crucially, he said Labour would keep Britain close to, or inside, the European Union.Johnson: I'll Keep Javid as Chancellor (11:20 a.m.)Boris Johnson has confirmed that Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid will keep his job if the Conservatives win the election. "I will keep Sajid Javid as my Chancellor," the prime minister told the CBI conference. "I think he's a great guy, he's doing a fantastic job and I'm proud to have him as a colleague."Johnson Scraps Corporation Tax Cut (11:15 a.m.)Boris Johnson said he's postponing a plan to cut corporation tax, paid by business, saving the government 6 billion pounds ($7.8 billion) to spend on priorities such as the NHS. "It is the fiscally responsible thing to do at the current time," he told business leaders at the Confederation of British Industry conference in London.Corporation tax was due to fall to 17% from 19% next April. Canceling that puts the pre-announced Conservative Party plan to lower business taxes by around 1 billion pounds into perspective.The move will save the government money to "put into the priorities of the British people," Johnson said. "We proudly back business across this country because we understand it is you who is creating the wealth that pays for the NHS," he said. "And by the way, because the NHS is the nation's priority and because we believe emphatically in fiscal prudence I hope you won't mind that we also announce today that we are postponing further cuts in corporation tax."Johnson Pitches Brexit Certainty to Business (10:55 a.m.)Boris Johnson made his pitch to business leaders at the confederation of British Industry conference in London: let him get Brexit out of the way, and use the ensuing certainty to help the economy grow. The prime minister said the U.K. economy "is still not achieving what it should" and had "so much more natural energy waiting to be unleashed."He said his Brexit deal "gives business complete stability and certainty as we come out in January." He also added a new line to his repertoire about leaving the EU, that it would make people feel better: "It's time for us to get Brexit done because it's the best thing for our national mood."CBI's Allan Criticizes Politicians' Brexit Failings (10:30 a.m.)John Allan, president of the Confederation of British Industry, criticized political parties for failing to offer pro-business solutions to the Brexit gridlock at the general election, which he described as "kryptonite" for investment."It's not as simple as getting Brexit done, sorting Brexit in 6 months or stopping Brexit," Allan said at the CBI's annual conference in London. said, referring to the various parties' election promises on Brexit. "Whatever happens in this election we'll be negotiating with the EU for years to come."Leaders to Address CBI Business Lobby (10 a.m.)Attendees at Monday's Confederation of British Industry conference will be faced with very different economic options: A large regulatory border between the U.K. and the European Union offered by Boris Johnson, who reportedly dismissed the concerns of industry over Brexit with a four-letter epithet, or Jeremy Corbyn's pledge to nationalize key utilities if he wins power.Johnson will address the conference in London first, offering an olive branch of tax cuts worth an estimated 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion) to make up for the disruption of Brexit. "Let's not beat around the bush, big business didn't want Brexit," Johnson will say, according to speech extracts released in advance. "But what is also clear is that what you want now -- and have wanted for some time -- is certainty."A very different view will be represented by Corbyn, who speaks after Johnson. Labour has already promised tax rises both for business and for the wealthy. On Friday, the party shocked industry by announcing that if it won the election, it would take the U.K.'s broadband infrastructure into public ownership.Arcuri Had 'Very Special Relationship' With Johnson (8 a.m.)Jennifer Arcuri, the American businesswoman at the center of a controversy over her ties to Boris Johnson, again refused to confirm directly whether she had an affair with the prime minister during his time as London mayor."As you can tell there was a very special relationship there," she said in a live broadcast interview on ITV on Monday. Arcuri insisted she was not a "victim" and had entered her relationship with Johnson willingly, but said she wanted him to call her to acknowledge she'd been made "collateral damage in his quest for greatness."In the interview, she described an occasion when she asked Johnson how many children he has. He responded by saying there were four by his second wife, and indicated another child had been born to a former lover. Johnson declined to answer in a recent broadcast interview when he was asked how many children he has.Controversy surrounding Arcuri has threatened to blight Johnson's Dec. 12 election campaign. The Independent Office for Police Conduct agency is reviewing whether to open a criminal investigation into Johnson's links with the U.S. technology entrepreneur during his time as mayor of London. Arcuri has acknowledged that her cyber-security business, Hacker House, benefited from joining a mayoral trade mission to Tel Aviv in November 2015.Earlier:Johnson Offers Business an Olive Branch as U.K. Election Revs UpWhat Scares Business More: Brexit or Corbyn? U.K. Campaign TrailWhy U.K. Conservatives Are So Good at Winning: Tim Bale\--With assistance from Greg Ritchie, Jessica Shankleman, Robert Hutton, Anna Edwards, Guy Johnson and Ellen Milligan.To contact the reporters on this story: Joe Mayes in London at jmayes9@bloomberg.net;Greg Ritchie in London at gritchie10@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Stuart BiggsFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| North Korea hits back at Trump implying another summit Posted: 18 Nov 2019 08:35 AM PST  Pyongyang hit back hard in response to President Donald Trump's recent tweet suggesting another summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. North Korea is no longer interested in holding a "fruitless" summit with the United States, according to a statement Foreign Ministry Adviser Kim Kye-gwan released to the state media outlet, Korean Central News Agency.
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| Saudi-led coalition says Yemeni rebels hijacked vessel Posted: 18 Nov 2019 08:30 AM PST ![Saudi-led coalition says Yemeni rebels hijacked vessel]( "Saudi-led coalition says Yemeni rebels hijacked vessel") Iran-aligned rebels have hijacked a vessel south of the Red Sea, the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said on Monday. Saudi Arabia's state-run news agency quoted coalition spokesman Col. Turki al-Malki as saying that Houthi rebels seized the vessel while it was towing a South Korean drilling rig the previous day. In a meeting with the South Korean ambassador to Yemen, Yemeni Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdullah al-Hadrami sharply condemned the seizure of the ship and called for its immediate release, according to a government statement.
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| Conservative Majority Looks Increasingly Likely, Bookies Say Posted: 18 Nov 2019 08:22 AM PST ![Conservative Majority Looks Increasingly Likely, Bookies Say]( "Conservative Majority Looks Increasingly Likely, Bookies Say") (Bloomberg) -- Sign up to our Brexit Bulletin, follow us @Brexit and subscribe to our podcast.The odds on a Conservative Party majority were slashed to the shortest in two years.U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has a 69% chance of winning a majority on Dec. 12, according to gambling exchange firm Betfair. When he became Tory leader and premier back in July, it was about a 30% shot. On Monday, Ladbrokes gave Johnson the same odds of winning a majority, cutting its odds from 1/2, or 66%, over the weekend."Political punters seemingly fancy a Tory majority at next month's election and we've cut odds for the second time in as many days as a result," said Alex Apati of Ladbrokes.Analysts and traders study bookmakers' odds to help predict the outcome of market-moving events, though their reliability was dealt a blow in the 2016 referendum on the U.K.'s membership of the European Union.To contact the reporter on this story: Dara Doyle in Dublin at ddoyle1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Flavia Krause-JacksonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| US: Egypt could face sanctions over Russia warplanes Posted: 18 Nov 2019 08:12 AM PST ![US: Egypt could face sanctions over Russia warplanes]( "US: Egypt could face sanctions over Russia warplanes") A senior U.S. official warned Egypt on Monday that if it purchases Russian fighter jets it risks American sanctions. R. Clarke Cooper, the State Department's assistant secretary in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, made the comment to journalists on the sidelines of the biennial Dubai Airshow. Egypt has concluded a deal to buy Russian Su-35s jets, according to military officials in Cairo, which it says are to help combat a yearslong Islamist insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula.
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| UPDATE 2-Iran exceeds heavy water limit in latest nuclear deal breach - IAEA Posted: 18 Nov 2019 07:34 AM PST ![UPDATE 2-Iran exceeds heavy water limit in latest nuclear deal breach - IAEA]( "UPDATE 2-Iran exceeds heavy water limit in latest nuclear deal breach - IAEA") Iran has breached another limit in its nuclear deal with major powers by accumulating slightly more than 130 tonnes of heavy water, a substance used in a type of reactor it is developing, a U.N. nuclear watchdog report showed on Monday. The restriction is the latest Iran has exceeded in protest at the United States for withdrawing from the deal last year and imposing punishing economic sanctions on Tehran. Washington says its "maximum pressure" will force Iran to negotiate a broader deal that will also include its role in Middle Eastern conflicts.
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| Lebanese banks to reopen as withdrawal limits made official Posted: 18 Nov 2019 07:08 AM PST  Lebanon's bank staff union announced Monday it's ending a week-long strike after increased security and new regulations that officially limited withdrawal and dollar transfers. Banks have been at the center of anti-government protests, as demonstrators accused them of corruption and mismanagement. The financial crisis in Lebanon predates the protests, which were sparked by new proposed taxes, including on the free call and messaging service Whatsapp.
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| We Shouldn’t Strip U.S. Terrorists of Citizenship Posted: 18 Nov 2019 07:00 AM PST ![We Shouldn't Strip U.S. Terrorists of Citizenship]( "We Shouldn't Strip U.S. Terrorists of Citizenship") (Bloomberg Opinion) -- U.S.-born Hoda Muthana should be in an American prison for joining Islamic State, the caliphate that terrorized, murdered and raped innocent civilians. Instead, she and her 2-year-old son are stuck in a refugee camp in Syria — because the U.S. government, relying on a technicality, has stripped her of her passport and told her that she and her son are not citizens. A federal judge has just held that government had the authority to do so.It's hard to feel sympathy for Muthana. But the judge's decisions, and the government's before that, set a terrible precedent for others whom the government might try to strip of their citizenship in the future. A person who reasonably believes she was born a citizen, and has been issued a passport on that understanding by the government, should be treated as a citizen unless she has lied to get that passport in the first place.The backstory to the Muthana case starts with the fact that various European governments have been dealing with people who joined Islamic State by actively stripping them of their citizenship to stop them from coming home. Ordinarily, the U.S. government can't do that. U.S. law doesn't have provisions for taking away citizenship once it is conferred, except if it was obtained by fraud.But in apparent imitation of those European states, the Obama administration in 2016 decided to take away Muthana's citizenship. She had a high public profile after BuzzFeed publicized her Twitter efforts to recruit for Islamic State.The way the Obama administration did it was to insist that Muthana had never been a citizen at all. She was born in the U.S., which is usually a guarantee of citizenship under the Constitution, but her father was a Yemeni diplomat at the United Nations. And under prevailing U.S. law, children of active diplomats don't become citizens even when born in the U.S.Here's where things get complicated. When Muthana was born, her father was no longer serving his diplomatic mission, but he hadn't officially informed the U.S. government that he was no longer a diplomat. According to treaty-based rules, a diplomatic mission doesn't end until the host government is told about it. So technically, the government maintained, Hoda didn't become a citizen by birth.Yet the Muthana family didn't know those technical rules, it would appear. Hoda seems to have believed herself to be a citizen her whole life. When her father became a U.S. citizen, he sought to naturalize his older children, recognizing that they weren't citizens. He didn't do that for Hoda, presumably because the family thought she was already a citizen by birth. Importantly, the U.S. government seemed to agree, issuing her the passport on which she traveled to join Islamic State.The federal judge considering the case ruled that he had to accept the U.S. government's decision. That ruling is highly unfortunate. It fails to take account of the fact that Muthana genuinely and reasonably believed herself to be a citizen — and that the government effectively agreed by giving her a passport. In other words, she relied on her citizenship her whole life. If the government hadn't been angry at her for joining Islamic State, she'd be considered a citizen still.You can lose naturalized citizenship if your citizenship application was false. But Muthana never applied to be naturalized. She never appears to have knowingly lied to get her citizenship; all along, she's thought she was a natural-born citizen. That might have given the judge the tiny bit of legal leeway to find that her citizenship could not so easily be stripped.Of course, part of a judge's job is to adhere to technical rules. But the law should recognize a legitimate reliance interest on U.S. citizenship for someone who doesn't know every last technicality, and then travels outside the U.S. on a passport issued based on the theory that she is a citizen.Muthana is extremely unappealing as a claimant for citizenship. President Donald Trump has tweeted that she will be kept out of the country; it was the Obama administration that first canceled her passport. What's more, she doesn't seem to have paid any attention to the cancellation until the caliphate collapsed and she wanted to come home.Yet there's an old legal maxim that says hard cases make bad law. The fact that Muthana is morally culpable shouldn't distract us from the concern that her case will set a precedent. The next time a U.S. citizen abroad offends public sentiment, you can expect the government to start looking for ways to pull his or her citizenship. That prospect is worrying to say the least.And there's her child to consider. If Hoda isn't a citizen, neither is the toddler. And he, unlike his mother, is genuinely an innocent bystander in this train wreck of case.The blame here ultimately lies with the Obama administration, not the judge, who is trying to do his job and apply the law. But sometimes we need judges to step up and find legal means to do the right thing. This is one of those situations — not for Muthana, but for the rest of us.To contact the author of this story: Noah Feldman at nfeldman7@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Sarah Green Carmichael at sgreencarmic@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is a professor of law at Harvard University and was a clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter. His books include "The Three Lives of James Madison: Genius, Partisan, President." For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| The West Needs to Measure Russian Election Meddling. Here’s How. Posted: 18 Nov 2019 06:38 AM PST ![The West Needs to Measure Russian Election Meddling. Here's How.]( "The West Needs to Measure Russian Election Meddling. Here's How.") (Bloomberg Opinion) -- An article over the weekend in The Sunday Times says that a parliamentary report in the U.K. has concluded that it was impossible to quantify the impact of Russian efforts to influence the 2016 Brexit referendum. That largely matches research on the 2016 U.S. election by the eminent communications expert Kathleen Hall Jamieson, who has nevertheless argued that Russia played an important role in President Donald Trump's victory.This doesn't mean, however, that foreign propaganda's impact couldn't be measured quite precisely in the future — if, that is, anyone really wanted to quantify it.The U.K. Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee oversees the British intelligence services, and its report on Russian interference uncovered by The Sunday Times would be the rough equivalent of the U.S. intelligence community's 2017 assessment of Russian activity in the run-up to the 2016 presidential contest. The British government, however, has refused to release the report before the parliamentary election scheduled for Dec. 12, and has been widely criticized for it, including by Hillary Clinton, the 2016 loser in the U.S. The critics wonder if the government is trying to protect information concerning wealthy donors to the pro-Brexit campaign and the ruling Conservative Party. The leak in The Sunday Times doesn't reveal any new information on that matter, but it shows that the report tried to assess the influence of the Russian propaganda outlets RT and Sputnik. The Intelligence and Security Committee calculated that 260 anti-European Union articles published by the two outlets in the six months before the Brexit referendum were retweeted so widely that they could have been seen up to 134 million times, about three times the combined number of Twitter impressions generated by the two biggest pro-Brexit campaign groups, Vote Leave and Leave.eu.But did people who saw the material change their mind about how they should vote on Brexit, or did those who agreed with the anti-EU propaganda turn out in greater numbers than they would have done otherwise? Those are the billion-dollar questions for those trying to figure out whether Russia helped cause the Brexit mess or put Trump in the White House.Jamieson, the University of Pennsylvania professor for whom the study of media inputs into voting behavior is an academic specialty, made a valiant attempt to answer these questions in her 2018 book, "Cyberwar: How Russian Hackers and Trolls Helped Elect a President: What We Don't, Can't, and Do Know." The point Jamieson made in that work was that based on previous studies, the Russian trolls and hackers probably did affect the outcome, including by mobilizing potential Trump voters, discouraging liberal voters who weren't keen on Clinton and shifting traditional media's agenda in the final phase of the campaign.She also wrote, however, that quantifying the impact of the Russian activity was impossible in the absence of "real-time, rolling cross-sectional polling data tied to media messaging and exposure in each of the three decisive states," Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Even with such real-time panels, she wrote, it would be hard to separate the effect of specific Russian propaganda efforts because of the difficulty of finding a control group not exposed to them. Jamieson recalled how she and her colleagues analyzed the impact of individual ads in the 2000 election by comparing data from battleground and non-battleground states. That was no longer possible in 2016:Because we lack a reliable way to locate either internet advertising and messaging or those exposed to it, and, in the case of media coverage of the hacked content, the entire nation was exposed to the resulting reporting, our 2000 model no longer works.None of these obstacles would be insurmountable, though, if dedicated researchers, or, indeed, governments, now that foreign interference — be it by Russia, Iran or the U.S. — is in everyone's sights and considered to be an important threat to democracy. A representative panel of both voters and nonvoters would be needed, citizens who would be willing to allow their social-media feeds to be tracked. Given what researchers already know about the propaganda networks run by various states and contractors, it wouldn't be difficult to document the spread of propaganda and the panel members' exposure to it. Panelists could be polled at regular intervals to check how the content has affected them. By the end of the project, researchers wouldn't even need to know how they voted — it would be enough to establish that they'd gone to the polls.Let's face it: Thanks to social media, it's much easier for governments and private influencers to deliver propaganda to any corner of the world, regardless of what restrictions are placed on political advertising. RT and Sputnik don't need to buy ads to generate tens of millions of impressions. Before any vote that has a bearing on Russian interests — and that means most European and U.S. national elections, as well as many in Asia and Africa — the Russian propaganda machine is going to manufacture lots of authentic-looking content, which will be spread by both paid trolls and true believers. That means opportunities will arise to measure the effect of these influence operations. In fact, many such opportunities already have been missed: Elections have come and gone without a serious effort to figure out exactly how Russian internet-based meddling has affected results.In one recent analysis of 20 recent elections, Lucan Ahmad Way and Adam Casey of the University of Toronto wrote that "almost all cases of success by candidates whose policies dovetailed with Russian interference efforts can be explained by the actions of powerful domestic actors." But separating the Russia effect from those actions would only be possible with the kind of real-time panels mentioned by Jamieson.A tantalizing example of the kind of results they could produce came in a paper published last year by Leonid Peisakhin and Arturas Rozenas of New York University. They analyzed the impact of Russian television broadcasts on voting in Ukrainian elections, relying both on data on where these broadcasts could be received in Ukraine and on polling. Peisakhin and Rozenas found that watching Russian TV mainly strengthened existing pro-Russian attitudes rather than altering beliefs — but by doing so, it also mobilized support for pro-Russian candidates and parties at the ballot box.Data-based research like this is what's needed in Western societies to figure out the best responses to Russian propaganda and trolling. Do counter-propaganda efforts work? What would be effective in mobilizing voters who aren't receptive to the Russian messages? Does it even make sense to push back against the Russian propaganda messaging, as an entire academic and media industry that has emerged since 2016 has maintained — or is the real impact of that messaging negligible? All these questions, bafflingly, remain unanswered three years after Trump's victory and Brexit, and they can't be answered on the basis of the limited data available about those two momentous events. What's known about the suppressed U.K. report is further evidence of that.To contact the author of this story: Leonid Bershidsky at lbershidsky@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Jonathan Landman at jlandman4@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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| The West Needs to Measure Russian Election Meddling. Here’s How. Posted: 18 Nov 2019 06:38 AM PST ![The West Needs to Measure Russian Election Meddling. Here's How.]( "The West Needs to Measure Russian Election Meddling. Here's How.") (Bloomberg Opinion) -- An article over the weekend in The Sunday Times says that a parliamentary report in the U.K. has concluded that it was impossible to quantify the impact of Russian efforts to influence the 2016 Brexit referendum. That largely matches research on the 2016 U.S. election by the eminent communications expert Kathleen Hall Jamieson, who has nevertheless argued that Russia played an important role in President Donald Trump's victory.This doesn't mean, however, that foreign propaganda's impact couldn't be measured quite precisely in the future — if, that is, anyone really wanted to quantify it.The U.K. Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee oversees the British intelligence services, and its report on Russian interference uncovered by The Sunday Times would be the rough equivalent of the U.S. intelligence community's 2017 assessment of Russian activity in the run-up to the 2016 presidential contest. The British government, however, has refused to release the report before the parliamentary election scheduled for Dec. 12, and has been widely criticized for it, including by Hillary Clinton, the 2016 loser in the U.S. The critics wonder if the government is trying to protect information concerning wealthy donors to the pro-Brexit campaign and the ruling Conservative Party. The leak in The Sunday Times doesn't reveal any new information on that matter, but it shows that the report tried to assess the influence of the Russian propaganda outlets RT and Sputnik. The Intelligence and Security Committee calculated that 260 anti-European Union articles published by the two outlets in the six months before the Brexit referendum were retweeted so widely that they could have been seen up to 134 million times, about three times the combined number of Twitter impressions generated by the two biggest pro-Brexit campaign groups, Vote Leave and Leave.eu.But did people who saw the material change their mind about how they should vote on Brexit, or did those who agreed with the anti-EU propaganda turn out in greater numbers than they would have done otherwise? Those are the billion-dollar questions for those trying to figure out whether Russia helped cause the Brexit mess or put Trump in the White House.Jamieson, the University of Pennsylvania professor for whom the study of media inputs into voting behavior is an academic specialty, made a valiant attempt to answer these questions in her 2018 book, "Cyberwar: How Russian Hackers and Trolls Helped Elect a President: What We Don't, Can't, and Do Know." The point Jamieson made in that work was that based on previous studies, the Russian trolls and hackers probably did affect the outcome, including by mobilizing potential Trump voters, discouraging liberal voters who weren't keen on Clinton and shifting traditional media's agenda in the final phase of the campaign.She also wrote, however, that quantifying the impact of the Russian activity was impossible in the absence of "real-time, rolling cross-sectional polling data tied to media messaging and exposure in each of the three decisive states," Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Even with such real-time panels, she wrote, it would be hard to separate the effect of specific Russian propaganda efforts because of the difficulty of finding a control group not exposed to them. Jamieson recalled how she and her colleagues analyzed the impact of individual ads in the 2000 election by comparing data from battleground and non-battleground states. That was no longer possible in 2016:Because we lack a reliable way to locate either internet advertising and messaging or those exposed to it, and, in the case of media coverage of the hacked content, the entire nation was exposed to the resulting reporting, our 2000 model no longer works.None of these obstacles would be insurmountable, though, if dedicated researchers, or, indeed, governments, now that foreign interference — be it by Russia, Iran or the U.S. — is in everyone's sights and considered to be an important threat to democracy. A representative panel of both voters and nonvoters would be needed, citizens who would be willing to allow their social-media feeds to be tracked. Given what researchers already know about the propaganda networks run by various states and contractors, it wouldn't be difficult to document the spread of propaganda and the panel members' exposure to it. Panelists could be polled at regular intervals to check how the content has affected them. By the end of the project, researchers wouldn't even need to know how they voted — it would be enough to establish that they'd gone to the polls.Let's face it: Thanks to social media, it's much easier for governments and private influencers to deliver propaganda to any corner of the world, regardless of what restrictions are placed on political advertising. RT and Sputnik don't need to buy ads to generate tens of millions of impressions. Before any vote that has a bearing on Russian interests — and that means most European and U.S. national elections, as well as many in Asia and Africa — the Russian propaganda machine is going to manufacture lots of authentic-looking content, which will be spread by both paid trolls and true believers. That means opportunities will arise to measure the effect of these influence operations. In fact, many such opportunities already have been missed: Elections have come and gone without a serious effort to figure out exactly how Russian internet-based meddling has affected results.In one recent analysis of 20 recent elections, Lucan Ahmad Way and Adam Casey of the University of Toronto wrote that "almost all cases of success by candidates whose policies dovetailed with Russian interference efforts can be explained by the actions of powerful domestic actors." But separating the Russia effect from those actions would only be possible with the kind of real-time panels mentioned by Jamieson.A tantalizing example of the kind of results they could produce came in a paper published last year by Leonid Peisakhin and Arturas Rozenas of New York University. They analyzed the impact of Russian television broadcasts on voting in Ukrainian elections, relying both on data on where these broadcasts could be received in Ukraine and on polling. Peisakhin and Rozenas found that watching Russian TV mainly strengthened existing pro-Russian attitudes rather than altering beliefs — but by doing so, it also mobilized support for pro-Russian candidates and parties at the ballot box.Data-based research like this is what's needed in Western societies to figure out the best responses to Russian propaganda and trolling. Do counter-propaganda efforts work? What would be effective in mobilizing voters who aren't receptive to the Russian messages? Does it even make sense to push back against the Russian propaganda messaging, as an entire academic and media industry that has emerged since 2016 has maintained — or is the real impact of that messaging negligible? All these questions, bafflingly, remain unanswered three years after Trump's victory and Brexit, and they can't be answered on the basis of the limited data available about those two momentous events. What's known about the suppressed U.K. report is further evidence of that.To contact the author of this story: Leonid Bershidsky at lbershidsky@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Jonathan Landman at jlandman4@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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| Iran breaches another nuclear deal cap, on heavy water stock -IAEA report Posted: 18 Nov 2019 06:30 AM PST ![Iran breaches another nuclear deal cap, on heavy water stock -IAEA report]( "Iran breaches another nuclear deal cap, on heavy water stock -IAEA report") Iran has breached another limit of its nuclear deal with major powers by accumulating more than 130 tonnes of heavy water, a moderator used in a type of reactor Iran is developing, a report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Monday. "On 16 November 2019, Iran informed the Agency that its stock of heavy water had exceeded 130 metric tonnes," the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report to member states obtained by Reuters.
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| UPDATE 2-Merkel, Scholz push back against demands for higher public spending Posted: 18 Nov 2019 06:29 AM PST ![UPDATE 2-Merkel, Scholz push back against demands for higher public spending]( "UPDATE 2-Merkel, Scholz push back against demands for higher public spending") Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz on Monday brushed aside a rare joint demand from German businesses and unions that they "wake up" the stagnant economy by ditching the balanced budget policy and funding infrastructure with debt. The call by the BDI, Germany's most influential business lobby group, and the DGB umbrella union shows how much public debate has shifted in a country long obsessed with its "black zero" policy of no net new borrowing. With the economy barely growing and Berlin's borrowing costs at record lows, Merkel and Scholz are facing growing pressure at home and abroad to drop their self-imposed balanced budget pledge, which limits the fiscal room to hike public spending.
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| North Korea says it 'will no longer gift' Trump with fruitless talks 'he can boast of' Posted: 18 Nov 2019 06:10 AM PST ![North Korea says it 'will no longer gift' Trump with fruitless talks 'he can boast of']( "North Korea says it 'will no longer gift' Trump with fruitless talks 'he can boast of'") Former White House National Security Adviser John Bolton told a group of bankers in Miami two weeks ago that his former boss President Trump "believes his personal chemistry with foreign leaders, including authoritarians like Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, means that the U.S. relationship with those countries is a positive one," Axios reported last week. If that's the case, America's relationship with North Korea is ... complicated.Kim has set a year-end deadline for a breakthrough in the U.S.-North Korea nuclear talks, and Trump tweeted Sunday that Kim "should act quickly, get the deal done." U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Sunday that the U.S. had indefinitely scrapped joint military exercises with South Korea as an "act of goodwill" toward Pyongyang to create space for diplomacy.On Monday, North Korean Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan poured cold water on the Trump administration's outreach. "The U.S. only seeks to earn time, pretending it has made progress" with North Korea, he said. "We are no longer interested in such talks that bring nothing to us. As we have got nothing in return, we will no longer gift the U.S. president with something he can boast of."North Korea has been ramping up its missile tests and publicizing its military drills. It's not clear what Kim is willing to put on the table, but along with suspending the joint military exercises with Seoul, Trump has asked Tokyo to pay four times as much to host U.S. troops in Japan and demanded that South Korea pay nearly five times as much, Foreign Policy and Reuters report. Bolton delivered the news in July."This kind of demand, not only the exorbitant number, but the way it is being done, could trigger anti-Americanism" in close allies, Bruce Klingner at the Heritage Foundation tells Foreign Policy. "If you weaken alliances, and potentially decrease deterrence and U.S. troop presence, that benefits North Korea, China, and Russia who see the potential for reduced U.S. influence and support for our allies."More stories from theweek.com The potential lie that could actually destroy Trump The coming death of just about every rock legend How China can win a trade war in 1 move
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| OSCE Slams Belarus Vote as Opposition Shut Out of Parliament Posted: 18 Nov 2019 06:03 AM PST ![OSCE Slams Belarus Vote as Opposition Shut Out of Parliament]( "OSCE Slams Belarus Vote as Opposition Shut Out of Parliament") (Bloomberg) -- Opposition groups in Belarus lost their only two seats in parliamentary elections criticized by international observers, as the country's authoritarian leader focused on looming trade negotiations with Russia.The vote "did not meet important international standards for democratic elections," Margareta Cederfelt, who leads the short-term observer mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, told reporters Monday at a press conference in the capital, Minsk.The OSCE also has concerns about whether results from Sunday's elections were counted and reported honestly, she said, adding that the "restrictive environment" in Belarus had "inhibited" opposition participation.The newly elected 110-seat lower house of parliament will be packed with loyalists to President Alexander Lukashenko, who has controlled the former Soviet republic of 9.5 million since 1994. The two sitting opposition deputies and many other opposition activists were barred from running. Among the newly elected members is Maria Vasilevich, the 2018 Belarusian representative to the Miss World competition.Critics say the parliament is little more than a rubber stamp. The outgoing set of deputies, elected in 2016, didn't vote down a single piece of draft law submitted by the president or government.Lukashenko, who faces his own re-election campaign in 2020, has recently made overtures to the European Union as the Kremlin increases pressure on Minsk to integrate with Russia. This month Lukashenko made his first official trip to the EU since it dropped sanctions against him in 2016, ahead of upcoming negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin on energy issues and integration."They keep palming off new conditions on us, and as a result we keep losing, losing, and losing something in the economy," Lukashenko said about his country's tie-up with Russia as he cast his ballot in Minsk. "Who the heck needs a union like that?"(Updates with OSCE comments from second paragraph)To contact the reporter on this story: Aliaksandr Kudrytski in Minsk, Belarus at akudrytski@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net, Tony Halpin, Andrea DudikFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Marie Yovanovitch represents something Americans are desperate for: decency Posted: 18 Nov 2019 05:18 AM PST  Trump calls her 'bad news', but the public won't be convinced by his smear 'Trump could not resist bursting out his tweet trying to defame her. Photograph: Ron Sachs/CNP/Rex/ShutterstockDonald Trump finally jumped the shark on Twitter last week when he smeared the former ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch while she was testifying to the House intelligence committee.Immediately the words of Joseph Welch, a native of Primghar, Iowa, and general counsel to the army in 1954, sprang to mind:"Have you no sense of decency, sir?"They were written on her stunned face and echoed in the standing ovation Yovanovitch received as she was escorted from the Capitol hearing room on Friday.embedThis woman of understatement and restraint has become a symbol of something America yearns for down to its very core, as it did in the McCarthy era ended by Welch's seven words of exasperated pleading.Decency.Marie Yovanovitch was cloaked in it.You could hear it in the timbre of her quiet voice and see it in her downward gaze as congressmen, even Trump's most ardent backers, praised her patriotism and selflessness for 33 years of diplomatic service – including five hardship postings in places like Somalia.Trump calls her "bad news" to world leaders. He told the president of Ukraine that she would be going through some things.She felt threatened. She was told by a friend to watch her back in Kyiv. What does that mean? Get home on the first flight, she was told at 1am. What was going on? She took the call not long after her corruption-fighting Ukrainian patriot friend had been murdered by acid. We imagined her fear.Why did Trump and Giuliani smear her? To what lengths will they go? And what will stop their recklessness and lawlessness?Yovanovitch and others of courage stood erect, raised their right hands to tell the truth, and defied Trump's orders not to testify.The deputy assistant secretary of state George Kent and William Taylor, the acting Ukrainian ambassador, provided a sober recitation of the facts on the first day of the impeachment hearings: President Trump demanded that Ukraine investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, on trumped-up corruption charges already proven baseless. We knew that before the impeachment hearings. Public opinion was not going to change by repeating the facts out loud. What, or who, could move the Senate Republican caucus still standing firm with a corrupt but feared president?The daughter of refugees from the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, that's who. An immigrant, no less, who earned her citizenship.America knew from the moment she spoke that she represented honesty and true loyalty to the constitution, that safe harbor we always seek in a storm. Yovanovitch is our lodestar, just like Joe Welch, himself the son of immigrants.She said her service was an expression of her gratitude for what this country gave her family, and what she sought to spread to Ukraine through diplomacy: freedom.That's the powerful stuff that we were taught in school to believe. Who could rebut her? Not Representative Jim Jordan in shirtsleeves, certainly.Trump could not resist bursting out his tweet trying to defame her. That's where the reality TV circus stopped.Yovanovitch told Congress she felt threatened and intimidated. Devastated.She looked down at the table and moved the paper cup from her right side to her left, took a brief sip through pursed lips, and then looked up and sideways wishing to avoid the attention. Most right-thinking Americans – truth be told, secretly, some Republican senators – wanted to embrace her right then.Or name her ambassador to the United Nations. Or secretary of state, if she would take it for the needless scars already suffered.House Republicans could not defend Trump in the face of this 61-year-old woman whose song was her work in the cause of freedom by means of rooting out corruption.She rooted out Trump in the middle of the hearing as he blurted more bile. It changed the course of the impeachment hearings. It will change the course of politics, just as Joe Welch did. We were reminded of the redeeming power of decency, which properly resides in a healthy sense of shame that is very much alive right now. It will take down Trump and revive the Republic. * Art Cullen is editor of the Storm Lake Times in Iowa and won the 2017 Pulitzer prize for editorial writing. Cullen is the author of Storm Lake: A Chronicle of Change, Resilience, and Hope from a Heartland Newspaper
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| Boris Johnson's Brexit tightrope Posted: 18 Nov 2019 04:54 AM PST ![Boris Johnson's Brexit tightrope]( "Boris Johnson's Brexit tightrope") Everything seems to be falling into place for Boris Johnson. The polls show the Conservative prime minister way out in front in the U.K.'s upcoming December 12 election. His conviction is infectious, and "Get Brexit Done" -- his core campaign message -- is beguilingly simple. The opposition is divided, and may chip away at each other's vote share in key constituencies. On top of that, the Brexit Party recently unilaterally decided not to contest Conservative seats in the election. In other words, if voters want to throw their weight behind the Leave campaign, Johnson is their only choice.The result of this election will determine the nation's future more than any for generations, but while Johnson seems on course for victory, his plan to achieve it requires an organization and discipline that he and his seem to lack. With less than four weeks to go before the nation votes, Johnson's victory is not a sure thing.The stakes are very high for the Conservatives. They are the only party that needs to win a majority in December, because in betraying their only potential coalition partner, Northern Ireland's DUP, they have no potential allies in the U.K. Parliament. If they fail to win a majority -- or to at least come within one or two seats of a majority -- their opponents will likely coalesce, and there will almost certainly be a second Brexit referendum, if not a reversal of the process altogether. Perhaps more painfully for Johnson, a man who has wanted to be "world king" since childhood, he would become the shortest-serving British prime minister in 100 years.Conservatives' strategy is to make this election about Brexit, and in doing so, transpose the 2016 referendum coalition that voted to leave the European Union into December's general election. But the 52 percent of U.K. voters who voted Leave in 2016 straddled the political and social spectrum. Crucially, some of the areas with the highest proportion of Leave voters are found in the traditional Labour heartlands of Northern England and Wales, an area that has been dubbed the "red wall." Tories know they will lose a number of seats in Scotland, and in Remain voting constituencies in the South, so breaking the "red wall" has become the aim. But Britain is a nation with deeply ingrained party-political loyalties built up over time. Many Leave voters have long-held bitter resentment of Conservative leadership, and decades of family history voting for the Labour party, currently the Tory's main opposition. Success in December's election for the Tories rests on whether voters' fealty to Leave overrides these ancient affiliations. If the gamble pays off, the public will deliver a massive Conservative majority.The polls give us a vague indication of where the public stands now. The Guardian's poll of polls -- an average of all polls -- has Conservatives enjoying a dominant 11-point lead over Labour, with 40 percent of the vote. This advantage translates into an imposing 50-seat majority in the House of Commons.Still, it remains unclear where voters will stand after weeks of campaigning. In 2017, Johnson's predecessor Theresa May called an election buoyed by a 22-point lead in the polls. Her election strategy was similar: She wanted to unite Leave voters under a Conservative flag. But after a gruelling campaign that spiralled out of her control, May lost her party's majority in the Commons, and U.K. politics has been at loggerheads ever since. The Conservative Party is also at odds with itself: Many senior figures, moderate by temperament, have been cast out for being insufficiently loyal to the Brexit cause, while others have said they will not stand again in the coming election. Among them were some of the party's most proven and disciplined campaigners.To tip the balance, the Tories have revealed a host of policies designed to sway voters in "red wall" constituencies, in the form of heavy investment in the three "people's priorities": schools, law and order, and health. On its face, this is a necessary, bold piece of populist electioneering, but it also opens the campaign up to non-Brexit policy issues where the opposition is strong. Born out of the ashes of Brexit, the current crop of Conservative leaders believe they can repaint themselves as a group of radicals who do not need to defend their predecessors' record, but in reality, a campaign about the National Health Service, policing, and education could be a quagmire for the Tories, who only recently under Johnson have emerged from years of "austerity" that left public services in tatters. A Labour government founded the NHS, and has a much stronger record funding it. Recently they pledged 6 years of free education to adults as part of their vision for a cradle-to-grave national education service. None of this is about Brexit, and all of it is appealing to "red wall" voters.Johnson also wants to pitch the election as a presidential standoff between himself and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Years of floundering opposition have hurt Corbyn's popularity: A recent poll gave him a -43 public approval rating, compared to Johnson's +4. Naturally, Johnson's team wants to go for the jugular. The problem is that the Labour chief comes alive in a campaign. It was his brand of campaigning, with its digital expertise, an army of activists, and a radical forward-looking vision that outmaneuvered Theresa May in 2017. He managed to make the election about issues other than Brexit.Of course, the colorless May, a dour professional politician, is the antithesis of Johnson. Nevertheless, while Boris plays well with the electorate, he, like his party, is also ill-disciplined, often unprepared, and gaffe-prone. Last week, as parts of the country flooded, Johnson was pilloried for his sluggish response. Again the Conservative party looks out of touch and unconcerned with the lives of the people whose votes it needs.The campaign to come will decide December's result. Johnson's team is betting that for the next four weeks, they can keep the narrative under tight control, but they face an opposition of skilled campaigners who relentlessly steer the conversation away from Brexit and onto broader campaign issues. Even though the Conservative path to victory is visible, it is perilously narrow, and the Tories lack the qualities to walk it safely.More stories from theweek.com The potential lie that could actually destroy Trump The coming death of just about every rock legend How China can win a trade war in 1 move
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| Iran downplays, demonizes protests amid internet shutdown Posted: 18 Nov 2019 04:26 AM PST  Iran on Monday alternatively downplayed and demonized ongoing protests across the country that have killed at least five people and renewed pressure on the government as the country struggles under the weight of U.S. economic sanctions. The full scale of the protests, which began shortly after a 50% increase in gas prices took effect early Friday, was unknown after Tehran shut down the internet over the weekend, blocking Iranians from sharing videos and information with the outside world. State media and authorities have released little information and a government spokesman predicted during a news conference that the unrest would be over in two days.
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| Libyan officials: Airstrike kills 7 workers in Tripoli Posted: 18 Nov 2019 04:21 AM PST  An airstrike slammed into a biscuit factory in Libya's capital, Tripoli, on Monday killing at least seven workers including five foreign nationals and two Libyans, health authorities said. Tripoli has been the scene of fighting since April between the self-styled Libyan National Army, led by Gen. Khalifa Hifter, and an array of militias loosely allied with the U.N.-supported but weak government which holds the capital. Malek Merset, a spokesman with the ministry, told The Associated Press that the dead included five workers from Bangladesh, and two Libyan nationals.
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| Yemeni government back in Aden under deal with separatists Posted: 18 Nov 2019 04:19 AM PST  Yemen's internationally recognized government returned to the war-torn country on Monday for the first time since it was forced out by southern separatists during clashes last summer. Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed landed in the southern port city of Aden, fulfilling a key point in the power-sharing deal brokered by Saudi Arabia that ended months of infighting with separatists in Yemen's south. "The government's priorities in the next stage are to normalize the situation in Aden first and then consolidate state institutions on the ground ... as a guarantor of stability," Saeed told The Associated Press when he disembarked onto the tarmac.
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| Kuwait’s ruler fires son over feud with fellow minister Posted: 18 Nov 2019 04:15 AM PST  Kuwait's ruler on Monday fired his own son and another Cabinet minister after they publicly feuded over accusations of corruption, ordering the prime minister to form a new government. Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah issued the decree just days after Kuwait's Cabinet resigned amid a separate inquiry. Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al Mubarak Al Sabah, who has held the post since 2011, has asked the emir to relieve him of the task of forming a new government.
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| UPDATE 3-Iran's Guards warn of "decisive" action if unrest continues Posted: 18 Nov 2019 04:10 AM PST ![UPDATE 3-Iran's Guards warn of "decisive" action if unrest continues]( "UPDATE 3-Iran's Guards warn of \"decisive\" action if unrest continues") Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards warned anti-government protesters on Monday of "decisive" action if unrest over gasoline price hikes does not cease, state media said, hinting at a harsh security crackdown. The protests have spread across the Islamic Republic since Friday, with demonstrators demanding that clerical leaders step down.
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| The Case Is Only Growing for an Economic Forever War Posted: 18 Nov 2019 04:00 AM PST ![The Case Is Only Growing for an Economic Forever War]( "The Case Is Only Growing for an Economic Forever War") (Bloomberg) -- Want to receive this post in your inbox every day? Sign up for the Terms of Trade newsletter, and follow Bloomberg Economics on Twitter for more.President Donald Trump's trade war with China has become a bigger, broader economic forever war. It's hard to look ahead and see any outcome that undermines that emerging reality. A "phase one" deal may be in what U.S. officials say is its messy end stages. But that deal, if it comes, will be partial and more ceasefire than game changer. It also doesn't mean a larger peace is nigh. Moreover, there are three live truths that are becoming inescapable:While both the U.S. and China have worked hard to maintain a wall between their trade talks and other political developments, that's becoming harder with each passing week. The events in Hong Kong over the weekend, with police laying siege to a university, are escalating as are the calls in Washington for U.S. action. The weekend publication by the New York Times of documents detailing the official Chinese campaign against Muslim minorities in Xinjiang will only add to that sentiment. The art of the trade deal is the art of knowing how to exploit the domestic politics of your opponent. It's hard for a dispassionate observer to look at the impeachment inquiry, or the weekend gubernatorial election win for Democrats in Louisiana, and see strength for Trump. Beijing has long been best at misreading American politics and Trump has been a unique political phenomenon. But the reasons are only growing for China to hold out for elections that are now less than a year away. The search for survival strategies is afoot. At this week's Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Beijing the dominant discussion will be how to navigate a new era of technological competition between the U.S. and China. And the ideas are already flowing fully. In a Bloomberg Opinion column published last week, Jude Blanchette and Scott Kennedy called for a new strategy of "managed interdependence." In another over the weekend Gabriel Wildau called for the U.S. to return to a tradition of state-led technology investment (think Sputnik moment) and emulate rather than attack China's industrial policy.None of these things will go away if the U.S. and China, whose top negotiators spoke again late Friday, close an interim deal. Much as that may pacify — or even cheer — financial markets.Charting the Trade WarThe U.S.-China trade war reignited the debate over which developing countries in Asia could take over the mantle of the world's workshop. The front-runners? India and Indonesia.Today's Must ReadsFalling barometer | Global trade in goods will likely remain below trend because of heightened tensions and rising tariffs in key sectors, according to a WTO report. Limited damage | Japan's trade curbs on South Korea have so far been a case of "the bark was worse than the bite," with only limited fallout for South Korea's economy, according to Citigroup. Eyeing China | Ford is considering making its new electric Mustang Mach-E in China, depending on how the trade war plays out, the automaker's CEO said in an interview. Core constituency | Trump plans to tour an Apple plant in Texas this week to highlight how the company is assembling computers there after getting some Chinese parts excluded from tariffs. Adriatic dreams | Chinese money for a new high-speed rail line serving Italy's Trieste port is another example of President Xi Jinping's efforts to revive ancient trading routes under his Belt and Road Initiative.Economic AnalysisOutlook 2020 | Bloomberg Economics releases forecasts for the world economy in the year ahead. Three scenarios | Truce, peace, or war? Here are several scenarios for the global trade disputes.Coming UpNov. 20: Japan trade balance Nov. 21: South Korea exports and importsLike Terms of Trade?Don't keep it to yourself. Colleagues and friends can sign up here. We also publish Balance of Power, a daily briefing on the latest in global politics.For even more: Subscribe to Bloomberg All Access for full global news coverage and two in-depth daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close.How are we doing? We want to hear what you think about this newsletter. Let our trade tsar know.To contact the author of this story: Shawn Donnan in Washington at sdonnan@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Brendan Murray at brmurray@bloomberg.net, Zoe SchneeweissFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Polish Judicial Overhaul Faces Biggest EU Court Test Yet Posted: 18 Nov 2019 04:00 AM PST ![Polish Judicial Overhaul Faces Biggest EU Court Test Yet]( "Polish Judicial Overhaul Faces Biggest EU Court Test Yet") (Bloomberg) -- Poland's sweeping judicial overhaul faces its toughest test yet as the European Union's top court prepares to rule in the latest in a series of lawsuits challenging some of the populist government's most controversial policies.The EU Court of Justice will on Nov. 19 rule on the legality of a new disciplinary body of Poland's Supreme Court, whose member judges are chosen by a panel dominated by political appointees. An adviser to the Luxembourg-based EU court in June said the system failed to protect judges from political interference.A ruling against the disciplinary body may also have consequences for the National Council of the Judiciary. The recently overhauled council, partly elected by politicians, doesn't just pick the judges allowed to sit in the disciplinary chamber, it also selected hundreds of judges for numerous courts across the country.The legality of these nominations, as well as the rulings made by such justices, could be in question as a result of the EU verdict, according to experts including Laurent Pech, a professor of European law at Middlesex University in London.Preparing the ground for a potential negative EU verdict, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki set out conditions under which his government would respect the ruling: it must conform to the bloc's treaties as well as to Poland's constitution. While EU members are obliged to carry out the judgments of the top EU court, Poland asserts that the bloc doesn't have the jurisdiction to vet its justice-system changes.Upholding ValuesThe case goes to the heart of Poland's wide-ranging court overhauls, which have triggered numerous lawsuits by the EU's executive regarding the government's alleged failure to protect the rule of law and uphold the bloc's values. Some EU countries, such as France and the Netherlands, have suggested making access to the bloc's common budget conditional on fulfillment of democratic standards.While Poland -- the biggest net beneficiary of the EU budget -- backtracked on some changes, a string of cases have reached the EU court, including one in which the tribunal chided the nationalist government over discriminatory rules on retirement ages for male and female judges.If EU judges find that disciplinary chamber of the Polish Supreme Court "does not offer sufficient guarantees of independence as required under EU law, any decision issued by this chamber until or after the" EU court's ruling "must be considered null and void," said Pech.It could also have "indirect consequences on every single judge nominated by the" Judicial Council to any court, "and every single ruling which has been issued by them," according to the law professor.Uncharted TerritoryThe EU is in uncharted territory regarding its standoff over democratic backsliding against Poland at a time when the bloc has to deal with priorities such as immigration, security and its post-Brexit future.Three Polish judges brought the cases over the new authority, which was set up after the ruling Law & Justice party rallied against what it calls a self-serving "caste" of judges who distort justice for ordinary citizens. A number of disciplinary cases have been brought against judges who had criticized the government.While Poland argues it can freely shape its judiciary without kowtowing to Brussels, the EU's executive believes that independent courts are one of the founding values of the bloc's democracies.The cases are: C-585/18, C-624/18, C-625/18.To contact the reporters on this story: Stephanie Bodoni in Luxembourg at sbodoni@bloomberg.net;Marek Strzelecki in Warsaw at mstrzelecki1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Peter Chapman, Wojciech MoskwaFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| North Korea says it won’t give Trump a summit for free Posted: 18 Nov 2019 03:39 AM PST ![North Korea says it won't give Trump a summit for free]( "North Korea says it won't give Trump a summit for free") North Korea on Monday responded to a tweet by President Donald Trump that hinted at another summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, saying it has no interest in giving Trump further meetings to brag about unless it gets something substantial in return. The statement by Foreign Ministry adviser Kim Kye Gwan is the latest call by North Korea for U.S. concessions ahead of an end-of-year deadline set by Kim Jong Un for the Trump administration to offer mutually acceptable terms for a deal to salvage nuclear diplomacy.
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