| Addiction in paradise: Seychelles battles heroin crisis Posted: 19 Feb 2020 05:28 PM PST  On a plain suburban street in Seychelles, far from the idyllic coastline and luxury resorts pampering honeymooners and paradise-seekers, heroin addicts queue anxiously for their daily dose of methadone. In comparison, 0.4 percent of the global population consumed opioids in 2016, half of them in Asia, according to a United Nations report that puts Seychelles among the top consumers alongside producing countries such as Afghanistan. The Seychelles' heroin boom, which took off over the past decade, gripped young and old alike and cut across class lines.
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| Donald Trump 'offered Julian Assange a pardon if he denied Russia link to hack' Posted: 19 Feb 2020 02:55 PM PST  * WikiLeaks published emails damaging to Hillary Clinton in 2016 * Ex-congressman denies being middleman for US presidentDonald Trump offered Julian Assange a pardon if he would say Russia was not involved in leaking Democratic party emails, a court in London has been told.The extraordinary claim was made at Westminster magistrates court before the opening next week of Assange's legal battle to block attempts to extradite him to the US, where he faces charges for publishing hacked documents. The allegation was denied by the former Republican congressman named by the Assange legal team as a key witness.Assange's lawyers alleged that during a visit to London in August 2017, congressman Dana Rohrabacher told the WikiLeaks founder that "on instructions from the president, he was offering a pardon or some other way out, if Mr Assange … said Russia had nothing to do with the DNC [Democratic National Committee] leaks."A few hours later, however, Rohrabacher denied the claim, saying he had made the proposal on his own initiative, and that the White House had not endorsed it."At no time did I talk to President Trump about Julian Assange," the former congressman wrote on his personal blog. "Likewise, I was not directed by Trump or anyone else connected with him to meet with Julian Assange. I was on my own fact finding mission at personal expense to find out information I thought was important to our country."At no time did I offer Julian Assange anything from the president because I had not spoken with the president about this issue at all. However, when speaking with Julian Assange, I told him that if he could provide me information and evidence about who actually gave him the DNC emails, I would then call on President Trump to pardon him," Rohrabacher added."At no time did I offer a deal made by the president, nor did I say I was representing the president."White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham told reporters: "The president barely knows Dana Rohrabacher other than he's an ex-congressman. He's never spoken to him on this subject or almost any subject.""It is a complete fabrication and a total lie," Grisham said. "This is probably another never-ending hoax and total lie from the DNC."Trump, however, invited Rohrabacher to the White House in April 2017 after seeing the then congressman on Fox TV defending the president.In September 2017, the White House confirmed that Rohrabacher had called the then chief of staff, John Kelly, to talk about a possible deal with Assange, but that Kelly had not passed on the message to Trump. Rohrabacher confirmed that version of events on his blog on Wednesday."I told him that Julian Assange would provide information about the purloined DNC emails in exchange for a pardon. No one followed up with me including Gen Kelly and that was the last discussion I had on this subject with anyone representing Trump or in his Administration," he wrote."Even though I wasn't successful in getting this message through to the President I still call on him to pardon Julian Assange, who is the true whistleblower of our time."Assange appeared in court on Wednesday by videolink from Belmarsh prison, wearing dark tracksuit bottoms and a brown jumper over a white shirt.Before Rohrabacher's denial, district judge Vanessa Baraitser, who is hearing the case at Westminster, said the claim of a deal was admissible as evidence.Until he was voted out of office in 2018, Rohrabacher was a consistent voice in Congress in defence of Vladimir Putin's Russia, claiming to have been so close to the Russian leader that they had engaged in a drunken arm-wrestling match in the 1990s. In 2012, the FBI warned him that Russian spies were seeking to recruit him as an "agent of influence".The publication of emails hacked from the Hillary Clinton campaign helped perpetuate an aura of scandal around the Democratic candidate a few weeks before the 2016 election.WikiLeaks put them online hours after Trump had suffered an apparent public relations disaster with the emergence of a tape in which he boasted of molesting women.Assange is wanted in America to face 18 charges, including conspiring to commit computer intrusion, over the publication of US cables a decade ago.He could face up to 175 years in jail if found guilty. He is accused of working with the former US army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to leak hundreds of thousands of classified documents.The extradition hearing is due to begin at Woolwich crown court on Monday, beginning with a week of legal argument. It will then be adjourned and continue with three weeks of evidence scheduled to begin on 18 May.The decision, which is expected months later, is likely to be appealed against by the losing side, whatever the outcome.Assange has been held on remand in Belmarsh prison since last September after serving a 50-week jail sentence for breaching his bail conditions while he was in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.He entered the building in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over sex offence allegations, which he has always denied and were subsequently dropped.Assange's claims of a deal emerged a day after Trump granted clemency to a string of high-profile figures convicted on fraud or corruption charges, including the former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich and the "junk bond king" Michael Milken. Trump has not excluded pardoning Roger Stone, a former aide who was convicted in November of obstructing a congressional investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race, and in particular for lying to investigators about his relationship with Assange and WikiLeaks.Stone once boasted that he had dinner with Assange but later said the claim was a joke.
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| Police say 8 killed in shootings in the German city of Hanau Posted: 19 Feb 2020 02:51 PM PST  Eight people were killed in shootings in the German city of Hanau late Wednesday, authorities said. Two hookah lounges reportedly were targeted. Authorities were searching for the perpetrators early Thursday, hours after the shootings at about 10 p.m. (2100 GMT), which police said also left about five people wounded.
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| Ship captain arrested in probe of arms trafficking to Libya Posted: 19 Feb 2020 02:22 PM PST  Authorities in northern Italy arrested the captain of a Lebanese-flagged cargo ship on suspicion of international arms trafficking Wednesday while they investigate if the vessel transported tanks, rockets and other weapons from Turkey to Libya. The captain is under investigation for allegedly transferring military goods to Libya with as-yet unidentified Turkish military officials in violation of a United Nations arms embargo, Italian prosecutor Franceso Pinto told The Associated Press. Italian authorities launched their probe based on allegations a crew member made after the cargo ship arrived in the port city of Genoa earlier this month.
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| Landmine blast kills 6 in Yemeni defense minister's convoy Posted: 19 Feb 2020 02:20 PM PST |
| Editorial Roundup: US Posted: 19 Feb 2020 01:41 PM PST |
| 80 is not the new 70: Age may bias heart care, study finds Posted: 19 Feb 2020 01:20 PM PST  Now researchers say something similar might be happening with age perception and heart surgery. A U.S. study out Wednesday finds that heart attack patients who turned 80 within the previous two weeks were less likely to get bypass surgery than those who were two weeks shy of that birthday, even though the age difference is less than a month. Guidelines do not limit the operation after a certain age, but doctors may be mentally classifying people as being "in their 80s" and suddenly much riskier than those "in their 70s," said the study leader, Dr. Anupam Jena of Harvard Medical School.
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| Cambodia Leader’s Virus Exposure Shows Risk to China’s Neighbors Posted: 19 Feb 2020 01:00 PM PST |
| Trump to-do list: Raise cash, deliver on policy, excite base Posted: 19 Feb 2020 12:54 PM PST  President Donald Trump is using Day 2 of his swing out West to check off the quintessential to-do list for a president seeking reelection: raising tons of campaign cash, delivering on policy for supporters, revving up his base — and, above all, trolling the enemy. It's an unusually long domestic trip for Trump, who prefers to sleep in his own bed. No coincidence, the visit places Trump in Nevada just as the Democratic candidates seeking to replace him are campaigning in the state ahead of Saturday's party caucuses.
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| Plaintiffs' attorneys take aim at Boy Scouts' `dark history' Posted: 19 Feb 2020 12:15 PM PST  Like millions of other Americans in the 1950s and '60s, Duane Ruth-Heffelbower spent his formative years learning to tie knots, build campfires and pitch tents with the Boy Scouts, whose wholesome, God-fearing reputation was burnished by Normal Rockwell's magazine-cover paintings of fresh-faced Scouts, brave, courteous and cheerful.
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| Lawyer: Assange was offered US pardon if he cleared Russia Posted: 19 Feb 2020 12:06 PM PST  WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange plans to claim during an extradition hearing that the Trump administration offered him a pardon if he agreed to say Russia was not involved in leaking Democratic National Committee emails during the 2016 U.S. election campaign, a lawyer for Assange said Wednesday. Assange is being held at a British prison while fighting extradition to the United States on spying charges. At a preliminary hearing held Wednesday in London, lawyer Edward Fitzgerald said that now-former Republican congressman, Dana Rohrabacher, visited Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in August 2017.
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| Ukraine Seeks to Move On With U.S. Now That Impeachment Is Over Posted: 19 Feb 2020 11:28 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Ukraine wants to move on in its relationship with the U.S. after the country was pulled into domestic politics during the impeachment process of President Donald Trump, the country's foreign minister said.The Ukrainian government is "happy that the whole investigation, the whole impeachment part, is over," Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said Wednesday in an interview with Bloomberg Television in New York. "We hope that nobody will poke their nose in our elections. That's what we are trying to do here, staying away from your local affairs, with your elections, especially in the electoral year."Ukraine was pulled into a bitter U.S. political fight after a phone call between Trump and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy set the impeachment process in motion. The president was acquitted by the Senate last month for pressuring the Ukrainian government to announce investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden to help his re-election.Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat, said in Kyiv last week after meeting Zelenskiy that it was time for Republicans and Democrats to get past the crisis and support Ukraine with security assistance. Murphy spoke during a visit along with Republican Senators Ron Johnson and John Barrasso. Witnesses in the House impeachment inquiry said Trump held up such aid for months last year to pressure Zelenskiy to announce probes into Biden and the Democrats.The Ukrainian government doesn't believe its relationship with the U.S. needs to be "reset," Prystaiko said. Ukraine was "dragged" into this affair but "we don't believe that it affected our relations," he added.Ukraine remains locked in a bitter struggle with Russia after President Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea in 2014 in a conflict that has claimed more than 13,000 lives. Talks mediated by Germany and France have yielded some progress, including prisoner exchanges, but there's still no resolution in sight.A Ukrainian soldier died Tuesday as Russian-backed fighters sought to advance beyond territorial lines established under a five-year-old peace accord, Ukraine's military said. The incident comes just days after the Kremlin offered grounds for encouragement by handing control of Ukraine policy to Dmitry Kozak, a senior official with a reputation for pragmatism.Ukraine has been at war with Russia for six years because "we are making the same choice as American people did -- market-driven economy and the just democratic freedoms," Prystaiko said.Ukraine will use international pressure to persuade Iran to cooperate to provide more information on the circumstances that led to the shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger plane in January, the same night Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps fired a barrage of missiles at a U.S. base in Iraq."We do have some instruments in our power to push them, maybe, if they are not cooperating enough," Prystaiko said. "We believe that they don't have the technical capacity to do it in a way that everybody in the world will believe that this is" helping the investigation.Ukraine is pressing Iran to send the so-called black box recorders from the Boeing Co. plane that was shot down after taking off from Tehran last month, Prystaiko said earlier this month. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said his country won't let the flight recorders leave Iran and be decoded without the presence of Islamic Republic envoys.\--With assistance from Daryna Krasnolutska.To contact the reporters on this story: Glen Carey in Washington at gcarey8@bloomberg.net;Vonnie Quinn in New York at vquinn@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, Larry LiebertFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Pakistan says soybean dust, not gas, killed 14 in Karachi Posted: 19 Feb 2020 10:50 AM PST |
| How John Bolton won the war on Iran policy Posted: 19 Feb 2020 10:29 AM PST  During his tenure as national security adviser, John Bolton succeeded in shaping the direction of the Trump administration's Iran policy, overriding resistance from the Defense Department and the rest of the government.
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| Super PACs aid Warren, Klobuchar whether they like it or not Posted: 19 Feb 2020 10:22 AM PST  Democrats Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar are getting help for their presidential bids from separate super PACs, whether they like it or not. Persist PAC started running ads Wednesday in Nevada to support Warren. Kitchen Table Conversations PAC is running ads in Nevada and South Carolina to help Klobuchar.
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| Coronavirus kills two Iranians, first Mideast deaths Posted: 19 Feb 2020 10:13 AM PST  Two people have died in Iran after testing positive on Wednesday for the new coronavirus, the health ministry said, in the Islamic republic's first cases of the disease. According to YJC news agency, a branch of state television, the pair who died were Iranian citizens and residents of the holy city of Qom. State news agency IRNA quoted Kianoush Jahanpour, a ministry spokesman, as saying the virus was detected in two elderly people with immunity problems in Qom, south of the Iranian capital.
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| Blagojevich praises, endorses Trump as justice reformer Posted: 19 Feb 2020 09:37 AM PST  Former Illinois Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich gushed about Donald Trump a day after the Republican president set him free from a federal prison, delivering a 20-minute monologue Wednesday outside his Chicago home that sounded like an extended campaign commercial. Standing before a crowd of more than 100 reporters and well-wishers at the steps of his house, the governor-turned-convicted felon even offered an endorsement of Trump's bid for a second term. The carnival feel of his first scheduled press event since going free included a giant photo of Blagojevich's head, which the two-term governor signed for the person holding it.
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| EU’s Hogan to Business: Brace for ‘Massive’ Change in U.K. Ties Posted: 19 Feb 2020 09:22 AM PST |
| In S Carolina, Sanders may get boost from billionaire Steyer Posted: 19 Feb 2020 09:21 AM PST  Billionaires are the consistent villains in Bernie Sanders' campaign narrative. Steyer's aggressive courtship of black voters in the state, coupled with tens of millions of dollars in advertising, has put him in a surprisingly strong position that could siphon support from former Vice President Joe Biden.
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| U.S. medical schools boost LGBTQ students, doctor training Posted: 19 Feb 2020 09:18 AM PST  Aliya Feroe recalls the flustered OB-GYN who referred her to another physician after learning she identified as queer. For Rhi Ledgerwood, who was designated female at birth, identifies as trans and doesn't have sex with men, it was a doctor advising about condoms and pregnancy prevention. For Tim Keyes, who came out as gay at age 17, it's when doctors automatically assumed he sleeps with women.
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| Trump Offered Assange Pardon if He Covered Up Russian Hack, WikiLeaks Founder’s Lawyer Claims Posted: 19 Feb 2020 09:15 AM PST  LONDON—A lawyer for Julian Assange has claimed in court that President Donald Trump offered to pardon Assange if the WikiLeaks founder agreed to help cover up Russia's involvement in hacking emails from the Democratic National Committee. Assange's lawyers said on Wednesday that former Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher offered Assange the deal in 2017, a year after emails that damaged Hillary Clinton in the presidential race had been published. WikiLeaks posted the stolen DNC emails after they were hacked by Russian operatives.The claim that Rohrabacher acted as an emissary for the White House came during a pre-extradition hearing in London.Assange has argued that he should not be extradited to the U.S. because the American case against him is politically motivated. He spent almost seven years hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy in Central London claiming that he would be jailed in the U.S. if he wasn't granted asylum. He was kicked out of the embassy last year.His lawyers told the court that Trump's alleged offer to pardon Assange proved that this was no ordinary criminal investigation.Edward Fitzgerald, who was representing Assange in court, said he had evidence that a quid pro quo was put to Assange by Rohrabacher, who was known as Putin's favorite congressman.GOP Lawmaker Got Direction From Moscow, Took It Back to D.C.Fitzgerald said a statement produced by Assange's personal lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, included a description of "Mr. Rohrabacher going to see Mr. Assange and saying, on instructions from the president, he was offering a pardon or some other way out, if Mr Assange... said Russia had nothing to do with the DNC leaks."Rohrabacher weighed in on Wednesday afternoon, insisting he never spoke to Trump about Assange prior to his personally-funded "fact finding mission" to London. He said he told Assange that he would "call on" Trump to pardon him if he was able to say who gave him the hacked emails."I was not directed by Trump or anyone else connected with him to meet with Julian Assange," he said in a statement. "At no time did I offer Julian Assange anything from the President because I had not spoken with the President about this issue at all."Rohrabacher said he spoke briefly with then chief of staff John Kelly after the trip to let him know that Assange would provide information about the hacked DNC emails in exchange for a pardon. "No one followed up with me including Gen. Kelly and that was the last discussion I had on this subject with anyone representing Trump or in his Administration," he said.District Judge Vanessa Baraitser, who is presiding over the pre-trial hearing in Westminster Magistrates' Court, said the allegation would be admissible during Assange's extradition hearing, which is due to begin next week.If Assange appears in court in the U.S., he will face 18 charges including conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, which could total a prison sentence of 175 years.On Twitter, WikiLeaks' verified account claimed there were more "bombshells" to come in the court hearing.Two months after Rohrabacher's trip to visit Assange, the Wall Street Journal reported that he was trying to arrange a deal for Trump to pardon Assange. The White House confirmed at the time that Rohrabacher had spoken to Kelly about the plan to free Assange, but it was not clear if Trump had personally spoken to Rohrabacher either before or after his mission to London. In 2018, Rohrabacher told The Intercept that he had been blocked from discussing the plan with the president because Kelly and other White House staffers were scared it would look like collusion. Rohrabacher, who lost his California re-election fight in 2018, has been accused of helping push Kremlin lines in the U.S. in the past. A few months before he went to London to meet Assange, his staff director was ousted after a report by The Daily Beast exposed close links between Russia and Rohrabacher. The congressman had worked with Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who met Trump's campaign team at the infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting, part of a lobbying operation designed to promote Kremlin aims in Washington.Stephen Colbert Can't Believe Trump Trusts Julian Assange More Than American IntelligenceWhite House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham on Wednesday denied that Trump played any role in the offer of a pardon. "The President barely knows Dana Rohrabacher other than he's an ex-congressman," she said in a statement. "He's never spoken to him on this subject or almost any subject. It is a complete fabrication and a total lie. This is probably another never ending hoax and total lie from the DNC."Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| UN: Thousands fleeing Syrian offensive, kids dying in cold Posted: 19 Feb 2020 09:13 AM PST  Hundreds of thousands of people fleeing a Russian-backed Syrian offensive are being squeezed into ever smaller areas near Turkey's border "under horrendous conditions" in freezing temperatures that are killing babies and young children, the U.N. humanitarian chief said Wednesday. Mark Lowcock told the U.N. Security Council that "the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe" in northwest Idlib province, which is the last major rebel stronghold, has "overwhelmed" efforts to provide aid. "I am getting daily reports of babies and other young children dying in the cold," he added.
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| Austrian minister to travel to Iran amid nuclear tensions Posted: 19 Feb 2020 09:03 AM PST  Austria's foreign minister said Wednesday that he will travel to Tehran this weekend amid efforts by European countries to keep alive Iran's nuclear agreement with world powers. Alexander Schallenberg said after meeting his German counterpart in Berlin that he will be taking a "European message" to Tehran on Saturday and Sunday after also meeting the European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, this week.
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| Iran Reports First Deaths From Coronavirus Posted: 19 Feb 2020 08:37 AM PST |
| Trump ousts top defense official who certified Ukraine aid Posted: 19 Feb 2020 08:31 AM PST  President Donald Trump has ousted the Pentagon's top policy official who had certified last year that Ukraine had made enough anti-corruption progress to justify the Trump administration's release of congressionally authorized aid to Kyiv in its conflict against Russian-backed separatists. John Rood resigned Wednesday, saying he was leaving at Trump's request. The Trump administration's delay in releasing the aid to Ukraine was central to the president's impeachment by the House on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
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| Germany releases Iranian wanted by US; Iran lets German go Posted: 19 Feb 2020 08:29 AM PST |
| Critics slam UK post-Brexit immigration plans Posted: 19 Feb 2020 07:47 AM PST  Britain's government on Wednesday faced a backlash over its new post-Brexit immigration plans, which are designed to cut "cheap labour from Europe" in favour of high-skilled English speakers and boosting the homegrown workforce. Critics of the proposed points-based system, due to start on January 1, 2021, said the new measures could cause staff shortages in sectors heavily reliant on foreign workers. Health and social care, construction, hospitality and food and drink firms could be worst affected, warned the Confederation of British Industry, which represents employers.
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| Kosovo woman faces terror charges for joining IS group Posted: 19 Feb 2020 07:35 AM PST |
| Teen killed in clashes between Palestinian forces, gunmen Posted: 19 Feb 2020 07:28 AM PST |
| Merkel predicts 'very tough' EU budget summit Posted: 19 Feb 2020 07:17 AM PST  German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday that talks to set the European Union's budget for the coming seven years will be "very difficult" at an extraordinary summit beginning Thursday. Germany and Finland belong to the circle of mainly northern European EU members that pay more into the EU budget than they get out, known as "net contributors". Such countries are keen to cap spending at around one percent of the bloc's total GDP, while the European parliament has demanded 1.3 percent.
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| Iran defends barring of candidates as campaign ends Posted: 19 Feb 2020 07:10 AM PST  Iran's electoral watchdog on Wednesday defended its decision to disqualify thousands of candidates for a crucial parliamentary election in two days, as a lacklustre campaign neared its end. Conservatives are expected to make an overwhelming resurgence in Friday's vote, which comes after months of steeply escalating tensions between Iran and its decades-old arch foe the United States.
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| Germany's Merkel won't interfere in choice of party leader Posted: 19 Feb 2020 07:10 AM PST  German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday she won't try to interfere with her center-right party's choice of a new leader, a person the party will likely try to turn into her successor as Germany's leader. Merkel, who has ruled Germany since 2005, gave up the leadership of the Christian Democratic Union in late 2018, when Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer — clearly her preferred heir-apparent — won a three-way race for the job. Merkel said when she gave up the party leadership that she won't seek a fifth term as chancellor.
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| Record Number of 397 Foreign Companies Invest in the Netherlands Posted: 19 Feb 2020 07:00 AM PST  In internationally challenging times, the Netherlands continues to be a country of choice for foreign companies, with Brexit helping to drive a record-breaking year for foreign direct investment in 2019.
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| German conservative big guns rally behind Merkel Posted: 19 Feb 2020 06:53 AM PST |
| UNifeed, the United Nations broadcast quality video news platform, joins Reuters Connect Posted: 19 Feb 2020 06:00 AM PST  Reuters today announced that UNifeed, the United Nations broadcast quality video news content platform, has joined the award-winning digital content marketplace, Reuters Connect, as a content distribution partner.
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| Coronavirus reaches Iran: report Posted: 19 Feb 2020 05:51 AM PST  Two people in Iran tested positive Wednesday for the deadly new coronavirus, the health ministry said, in the Islamic republic's first cases of the disease. Kianoush Jahanpour, a ministry spokesman, said the cases were detected in the holy city of Qom, south of the Iranian capital. "In the past two days, some suspect cases of the new coronavirus were observed in Qom city," he said, quoted by state news agency IRNA.
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| RPT-NEWSMAKER-Iranian 'action man' sets sights on parliament Posted: 19 Feb 2020 05:51 AM PST |
| NEWSMAKER-Iranian 'action man' sets sights on parliament Posted: 19 Feb 2020 05:39 AM PST |
| Merkel Says She Plans to Stay Out of Search for Successor Posted: 19 Feb 2020 05:37 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Angela Merkel said she won't get directly involved in choosing a new leader for her party or a candidate to succeed her as German chancellor, appearing to row back on previous comments."My historical experience is that predecessors should stay out of such things," Merkel said at a news conference after hosting Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin in Berlin. "That's what I will do," she said, adding that she's still open to speaking with potential candidates.Merkel, who plans to leave politics when her fourth term expires next year at the latest, previously said she plans to "cooperate very well" in the effort to find a new head for the Christian Democratic Union, who would have the inside track to be the party's chancellor candidate in the next national election.The leadership race was thrown open last week when her chosen successor, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, unexpectedly announced she would step down after a state chapter defied her orders and threw its lot in with the far-right AfD.Three senior CDU figures are the leading contenders for CDU chief: Friedrich Merz, the former head of Merkel's parliamentary caucus, Jens Spahn, her health minister, and Armin Laschet, the premier of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.Norbert Roettgen, head of the Bundestag's foreign affairs committee, made a surprise announcement Tuesday that he will also run.While Laschet is considered a Merkel acolyte, Merz, Spahn and Roettgen are all seen as antagonists, raising the prospect of an early end to her chancellorship if they decide to try to force her out.Kramp-Karrenbauer -- widely known by her initials AKK -- is overseeing the succession process and met with Merz on Tuesday and Roettgen on Wednesday morning. She is due to hold talks with Spahn and Laschet later on Wednesday before making a recommendation to CDU leaders on Feb. 24 on how to proceed.'Unusual Times'Roettgen and other senior CDU figures are putting pressure on AKK to accelerate the succession."We have to have clarity. These are unusual times," Roettgen told reporters Wednesday, according to news agency DPA. "I think it must be done before the summer break," he added, reiterating that the CDU cannot afford months of self-obsession and calling for an open process that avoids what he termed a "back-room solution."Herbert Reul, the CDU interior minister in North Rhine-Westphalia, warned against the kind of protracted search for a party leader that he said has contributed to a collapse in support for the Social Democrats, Merkel's junior coalition partners.AKK's replacement will likely have "the best cards" in the race to be the next conservative chancellor candidate, but there is no rush to decide who will run, he said in an interview Wednesday with Deutschlandfunk radio.Whoever the party chooses, it would be wrong for them to try to force Merkel out before the end of her term, he added."I don't understand the rush at all," Reul said. "She is doing her job as chancellor, she is the most popular politician in Germany. For me, there is no reason for her to resign."To contact the reporters on this story: Patrick Donahue in Berlin at pdonahue1@bloomberg.net;Iain Rogers in Berlin at irogers11@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Chris ReiterFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Conagra Brands Issues 2019 Update To Its Citizenship Report Posted: 19 Feb 2020 04:30 AM PST  Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE: CAG) today announced it has published its 2019 Citizenship Update Report (available online here), which provides a look at Conagra's recent progress against key social and environmental initiatives. The Report focuses on actions that support each of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which are designed to achieve a better and more sustainable future by addressing poverty, inequality, climate change, water scarcity and other global challenges. Because Conagra Brands acquired Pinnacle Foods in fiscal 2019 and is still integrating opportunities from the combined portfolio into our Corporate Social Responsibility program, the 2019 Report is a high-level overview on recent progress. Please see our full, GRI-compliant citizenship report, released in May 2019, for additional details on environmental, social and governance management practices across all our CSR pillars.
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| China's Xi urges more protection for medical workers after deaths Posted: 19 Feb 2020 03:54 AM PST  China's President Xi Jinping called Wednesday for greater protection of medical staff fighting the new coronavirus after the deaths of prominent doctors sparked national anger at the government's handling of the outbreak. At least seven medical workers have died from the virus, while 1,716 have been confirmed as infected, most at the epicentre of the epidemic in central Hubei province where hospitals have dealt with a huge influx of patients. Staff have faced shortages of masks and protective bodysuits, with some even wearing makeshift suits and continuing to work despite showing respiratory symptoms, health workers have told AFP.
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| Sri Lanka says it will withdraw from UN rights resolution Posted: 19 Feb 2020 03:49 AM PST |
| Erdogan criticizes EU move to enforce Libyan arms embargo Posted: 19 Feb 2020 03:41 AM PST  Recep Tayyip Erdogan also hailed a decision by Libya's U.N.-supported government — which he backs militarily — to withdraw from talks with rivals, following an attack Tuesday on the sea port of the Libyan capital, Tripoli. EU foreign ministers agreed earlier this week to end Operation Sophia, the bloc's naval mission in the Mediterranean Sea. Instead, they'll concentrate on implementing the U.N. arms embargo around Libya, which is routinely being flouted.
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| Iran's FM says his meeting with US senator spooked Trump Posted: 19 Feb 2020 03:40 AM PST  Mohammad Javad Zarif met last week with Sen. Chris Murphy on the sidelines of an international security conference in Germany. The Connecticut Democrat defended the meeting on Tuesday after his actions were questioned in conservative media, and as President Donald Trump suggested they may have violated U.S. law. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he hoped anyone who meets with Zarif would be reflecting the U.S. position with Iran.
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| A Counter-Revolution Is Brewing in the U.K. and Europe Posted: 19 Feb 2020 03:10 AM PST  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- Behind the headlines about Brexit, a counter-revolution has quietly occurred in Britain in recent years. Its reverberations seemed certain to reach beyond the English Channel when last week the guillotine unexpectedly came down on Sajid Javid, the Chancellor of the British Exchequer.Javid, a devotee of the libertarian philosopher Ayn Rand and alumnus of Deutsche Bank, was edged out of Boris Johnson's cabinet largely because he seemed too much a foot soldier of the ideological revolution that occurred in the 1980s in, first, Britain, and then, the United States.In that upheaval, the hyper-individualist free-marketeering of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan became dominant across the West. Thatcher aimed to "roll back the frontiers of the state." Her ideological kin Ronald Reagan claimed that "government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem."In this view, the primary, if not the only, legitimate economic role of the government is to guarantee price stability rather than to intervene repeatedly to stem inequality and protect the weakest members of the population. Today, however, many citizens buffeted by global economic headwinds have come to see government yet again as a necessary player in the national economy.Javid is actually the latest casualty of the counter-revolutionary urge to overthrow obsolete pieties. The much bigger victims have been left-leaning parties across Europe, such as the Labour Party, the creator of Britain's welfare state.Rebranded as New Labour under Tony Blair, it embraced Thatcherism — to the point where Thatcher identified Blair as her heir. During its 13 years in power, New Labour pushed through Thatcher-style deregulation and privatization, often disguising it through "public-private partnerships."Failing to check de-industrialization, or rising social inequality, New Labour started to lose the party's traditional working-class base in the manufacturing and mining districts of North England.Claiming to be Blair's "true heir," the Tory Prime Minister David Cameron, together with his Chancellor of Exchequer George Osborne, more aggressively advanced policies of "austerity" that further shrunk the remnants of the welfare state.The eventual outcome of Thatcherism on steroids was Brexit: a furious rejection by Britain's working class of a long ideological status quo that seemed to benefit only a rich metropolitan minority.An early beneficiary of the anti-establishment mood was Jeremy Corbyn, who, in elections held one year after the Brexit referendum, dramatically increased his party's vote share.Corbyn belonged to the marginalized left wing of the Labour Party, which had always seen the European Union (EU) as an enforcer of free-market fundamentalism, drastically constraining the British state's ability to intervene in the economy. Accepting that Brexit had to get done, Corbyn offered in his popular election manifesto of 2017 a bonanza of spending promises. The manifesto was pathbreaking not only because it broke with the Thatcherite orthodoxy of non-intervention that for decades had prevailed inside the Labour Party.It was extraordinary also because the Conservative party, traditionally representatives of big business and the landed aristocracy, rushed to imitate Corbyn's rhetoric, and to disown Thatcherism, claiming in own manifesto that "we do not believe in untrammeled free markets" and that "we reject the cult of selfish individualism.""She has even adopted," the Economist complained of the then-British Prime Minister Theresa May, "Labour's 'Marxist' policy of energy-price caps."In last year's elections, the Conservative Party under Johnson competed even more fiercely with Labour to offer spending plans (much to the despair of orthodox economists and balanced-budget diehards).Johnson carefully distanced himself from his posh Tory pals, such pro-EU architects of austerity as Cameron and Osborne. He promised to use Brexit to re-engineer British laws in favor of British people. He even abandoned an earlier promise to cut corporation tax from 19% to 17%.Johnson, closely identified all his life with Tory free-marketeers, was responding to an altered public mood. According to a recent British Social Attitudes survey, 60 percent support more government spending.As it turned out, Johnson's gamble succeeded. While the London-based leadership of the Labour party strove futilely for a second referendum on Brexit, many of its lifelong voters in the Northern England lent their support to a party that seemed more capable of extracting Britain from the EU and turning on the spending taps. Johnson is moving fast to please his new and potentially fickle constituency, nationalizing Northern Rail and increasing public spending. Sajid Javid, with his tattered copy of The Fountainhead, clearly stood in his boss's (and neighbor's) way, insisting that Britain should run a balanced budget by 2023. Javid's replacement, Rishi Sunak, a hurriedly promoted Johnson loyalist, has no such constricting goal. As a political insider told the Financial Times about the new occupants of Downing Street: "It wasn't a question of what they wanted to spend more money on; it was more a question of whether there was anything they didn't want to spend more money on." Johnson is, of course, an opportunist; and his actual ability to spend, already limited, may shrink even more by the time Brexit gets done. Moreover, he has barely started on his impossible task: triangulating the clashing demands of rich Tory grandees and North England's immiserated working class. Nevertheless, the political alignments and re-alignments of the last three decades are now in plain sight.During the ideological hegemony of Reagan and Thatcher, left-leaning parties with electoral bases among working classes moved right — or, to the "center," in their preferred euphemism.One unexpected outcome of this shift is that, today, they appear complicit in extensive social and economic breakdown. Worse: Their founding ideas about beneficent government, which they have steadily discarded since the 1980's, are being stolen by carpetbaggers and the far-right.Indeed, Boris Johnson's success in the UK could be paralleled by Marine Le Pen in France.Presidential elections are due in two years, and Le Pen, pitted against a weakened Emmanuel Macron (hailed early and fatefully in his tenure as the "French Blair") is surging on the back of her promise to deepen the activist role of the state in the national economy.France may witness in 2022 what has already occurred in Britain: a counter-revolution that sends both free-marketeers and self-proclaimed "centrists" to the guillotine.To contact the author of this story: Pankaj Mishra at pmishra24@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: James Gibney at jgibney5@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Pankaj Mishra is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. His books include "Age of Anger: A History of the Present," "From the Ruins of Empire: The Intellectuals Who Remade Asia," and "Temptations of the West: How to Be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet and Beyond." For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Why Trump Features in Iran’s Election Posted: 19 Feb 2020 02:52 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Want to receive this post in your inbox every day? Sign up for the Balance of Power newsletter, and follow Bloomberg Politics on Twitter and Facebook for more.Iran's conservatives are making a comeback.The so-called "principlists" wedded to the theocratic ideals of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution look set to win parliamentary elections on Friday. That will give them momentum for next year's presidential vote and the eight-year political cycle to follow, Marc Champion and Arsalan Shahla report.Long gone is the euphoria evoked by the moderate President Hassan Rouhani's victory in 2013. Hopes that the nuclear deal two years later would trigger a wave of foreign investment and open the nation of 84 million to the West have long since faded.President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the accord cost Rouhani credibility, and U.S. sanctions have pounded the economy, which shrank 9.5% last year.Relations with key Middle East nations are at rock bottom. While China provides some succor, it is reluctant to risk U.S. penalties by buying much more Iranian oil.For the current leadership in Tehran, there's a faint glimmer of hope that Trump will lose office in November. With the economy at least stabilizing for now, they appear confident they can ride out sanctions until then.At a time when the Iranian electorate is showing little enthusiasm for the vote, Trump's actions have largely empowered the conservatives. They never supported the nuclear deal in the first place. Global HeadlinesFirst look | Michael Bloomberg, whose rise in the polls has rattled the Democratic presidential field, will face rivals eager to take him on in person for the first time on a debate stage, injecting a new, untested candidate into what had become almost routine campaign events. For many voters, tonight's event in Las Vegas will mark an initial chance to see the former New York mayor live instead of in a television ad. (Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.) Trump is set to rally voters today in Arizona, where an influx of new residents challenge the president's hold on the Republican-dominated state.Brexit redux | Anyone who thought that Brexit turmoil was over when the U.K. left the European Union on Jan. 31 looks sadly mistaken. The British government is playing hardball with the EU, threatening a violent rupture when the transition period ends on Dec. 31. That has business alarmed, and is breathing new life into the remnants of the Remain campaign fighting to stay close to the single market, Alex Morales and Olivia Konotey-Ahulu report.U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is looking at Australia's "points-based" skilled workers' program as a guide for how to tackle immigration post-Brexit. Read more here.Giving out pardons | Trump announced a set of clemencies and pardons, including for former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted of public corruption, and for financier Michael Milken, who was found guilty of securities fraud. He also pardoned former New York City police Commissioner Bernard Kerik and Edward DeBartolo Jr., who owned the San Francisco 49ers football team for 23 years.Attorney General William Barr has told associates he might resign in response to Trump's comments and tweets about Justice Department investigations.Critical phase | It's already spread wider than SARS in 2003 and it's more dangerous than swine flu. And while the coronavirus doesn't kill at anywhere near the terrifying pace of Ebola in 2014, it can be passed through the air. In less than three months, it's infected tens of thousands of people. Experts warn if it remains a severe virus and takes off in other parts of the world, it could be almost as serious as the 1918 flu pandemic.Media crackdown | China revoked the press credentials of three Wall Street Journal reporters following a dispute over a controversial headline in the newspaper's opinion section. The government took action after it said the Journal refused to apologize for a "racially discriminatory" op-ed that described China as the "sick man of Asia," a phrase used by 19th century European powers. It ran as Beijing began its battle against the deadly coronavirus.What to WatchTrump is casting doubts over the likelihood of an anticipated trade deal with India, just days before a scheduled visit to the South Asian power Afghan's incumbent president, Ashraf Ghani, was finally declared the winner of a dispute election that began in September. His main rival, Abdullah Abdullah, rejected the outcome and declared himself the victor. U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo sought yesterday to reassure African allies that Washington is committed to fighting Islamist militants even as the Trump administration weighs cutting troops stationed across the continent.Tell us how we're doing or what we're missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net.And finally ... China's Communist Party invented a duo of virtual social media influencers in its latest bid to win over millennials. Instead, they did the opposite. The regime's Youth League this week debuted the anime characters — adolescents in traditional garb with names straight out of Mao Zedong's poetic oeuvre — on the social site Weibo. It ignited an onslaught of ridicule and vitriol, prompting the Youth League to pull them offline within hours. \--With assistance from Kathleen Hunter and Ruth Pollard.To contact the author of this story: Karl Maier in Rome at kmaier2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Alan Crawford at acrawford6@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Pompeo to raise case of US doctor on trial in Saudi Arabia Posted: 19 Feb 2020 02:42 AM PST  U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday he planned to raise U.S. concerns about human rights during a visit to Saudi Arabia, in particular the case of a Saudi-American doctor facing trial there who was barred from leaving the kingdom and allegedly tortured. Pompeo was scheduled to arrive in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and will remain there until Friday, before departing to Oman, a close U.S. ally that has ties with both Saudi Arabia and Iran. Pompeo said that during his time in Saudi Arabia, he will speak with the kingdom's leadership about security issues, threats posed by Iran, the economic relationship between the two countries, and issues of human rights.
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| Germany to tighten screws on online hate speech Posted: 19 Feb 2020 02:42 AM PST  With the danger growing from far-right extremists and torrents of threats against politicians, Germany plans to toughen online speech laws and tighten the screws on social networks. Ministers in Chancellor Angela Merkel's government approved a new package of measures on Wednesday, days after 12 men were arrested for planning deadly attacks on mosques, communicating in part via chat groups. The draft law now passes to parliament for MPs to deliberate.
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| Iran state news agency says new virus has killed 2 citizens Posted: 19 Feb 2020 02:40 AM PST  The new virus has killed two elderly Iranian citizens, Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported Wednesday. IRNA quoted Alireza Vahabzadeh, an adviser to the country's health minister, as saying that both victims had been carrying the coronavirus and were located in Qom, about 140 kilometers (86 miles) south of the capital Tehran. Earlier on Wednesday, Iranian authorities confirmed two cases of the new virus, the first in the country, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.
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